be complimenting the two machines that will be part of this sef fort and i am excited to hear the reving up of the tunnel bore machines and i understand that we can't do that today because of safety reasons and ones that notice starts happening once the digging starts and the tunneling starts then i think that we will have that great reflection of two and a half if not three decades of effort that has been here to make sure that we modernize our city and make sure that our communities are connected up. and i also want to give a big thanks to the collaboration of agencies that will be working for the next two and a half to three years. whether it is our police department, our parking patrol officers, on the streets, a public works making sure that the streets are safe for everybody. and connecting up a little bit of understanding about the destruction that we will have and some of the areas of the city, but knowing that it is our future that we are all doing this for. and working with the small businesses all along the way to

make sure that they are all included. we want to do it right, and this is why the federal government said yes, from president obama all the way down to our communities. we want to do it the right way, so i am here to say thank you to everybody, we look forward to this good work and we look forward to working with our labor teams and making sure that we train more people to get these jobs and include even more local participation as we enter this newest contract to do the newest stations in the work and our board and my office wants to continue promoting the local participation as much as they can. they deserve it because our city has worked so hard to get to this place. and we want everybody to share in this success, thank you very much. >> [ applause ]

thank you, mr. mayor, ed lee, and one of the main leaders and in washington, d.c. and nancy pelosi and there is no question that without her persist ans and her ten tenacity, and so we are pleased to be joined by her newly anointed staff someone who has been working close to this project for many years, please welcome robert edmonson. >> good morning and it is stufp a pleasure to be here today and the leader looked so disappointed and she is so excited about this event and we help to say thank you to so many people. to the mayor and the board of supervisors and to our partners at fta and the workers who are enjoying the fruits of this labor and i say thank you to the community that has worked so hard and so long to make this project a reality.

she asked that i read this on behalf of her. today's events marking the launch of the tunnel and subway is a celebration as we move closer to enhancing the infrastructure and connecting san francisco diverse communities. there are thousands of san franciscan that 30 stock every day and the subway with an easier commute and one of the most crowded corridors for china town, the better service and equal transportation access to the neighborhood's residents and all san franciscans this project is a project of consensus and an effort to improve mobility and protect the environment and promote the commerce and bring our city closer together. for the central subways means more jobs for workers and less congestion for commuters and less prolieusing pollution in the air. we prokured over a billion for this project and will pay off in a higher quality of life for the people of san francisco.

congratulations as you mark this major milestone and i look forward to joining with you in the future so we can celebrate the completing of the subway. >> thank you, robert and please, again, convey our thanks and gratitude to the leader. so, continuing on the path of leadership, from his time first coming into office one of the strongest voices at city hall and support not just of this project but transportation in general is someone who is both the president of the board, and someone who also represents the district which will serve as the term inus for the central subway and the light rail and those in the current phase and in the future phase and so we are happy to have you here joining with us the president of the board of supervisors and

also representing district three david chiu. >> the sun is shining on the central subway today. thank you so much for being part of this celebration, of the first tunnel boring machine. i have to say that it has been incredibly inpioneering to learn about the history of dr. margaret chung, who is otherwise known as mom chung and the role in our city's history. our country's first female chinese american doctor in the heart of china town, someone who adopted over 1,000 suns, mostly service men during world war ii. i can tell you as the son of a tiger mom, i have a good sense that mom chung was a tiger mom. and that is what we have needed to build this project. per the history of fighting is helping to build our city's future, we all know that over the past few decades, thousands of san franciscos have been fighting to implement the central subway and for someone who served on the advisory

committee before i was elected to office there are thousands of community members from the bay view and the vis valley to mission bay and union square and to china town who have fought to get us to where we are here today. there have been dozens of political leaders and i want to thank our good senators and nancy pelosi and generations of mayor, mayor lee and i want to thank my colleagues, including kim and breeder who are here today, after hundreds of community meetings and thousands of pages of studies and i think that tens of thousands of hours of debate. we are ready. the talk is going to continue, but the real action is going to go underground, mou is the time to tunnel and build the subway and now is the time to connect our north and south communities between the densist neighborhoods on the west coast and the city that will grow in the decades to come. >> as we celebrate today, i

challenge all of us not to stop in china town. we should continue to come together quickly with a vision of where the central subway should go next to north beach, and the fisherman's wharf that is our next challenge. but we will take a moment today to celebrate what is a great day in san francisco, the amazing technology that these machines represent show that san francisco, we know how to make muni a world class transit system for the world class city, congratulations. >> thank you, president chiu and so the central subway ends in district three but the project starts right here in district six where we are standing and i mention that had we are underneath the cal transbut right on fourth street and we are all standing and sitting right on fourth street and so we are taking up a lot of real estate here in south of market and we have been under

construction for three years now and we have been working very hard to be neighbors so that the people and the employees of the businesses of district six and we are grateful for the support that we have in city hall who represents them and join me for welcoming supervisor jane kim. >> roughly about 12 or 13 years ago, the very first board of supervisors meeting that i attend was a land use committee meeting where i came to speak on behalf of the china town development center to speak in support of the central pro-yekt and the very first meeting that i attended at city hall and the first time that i spoke at public comment. >> 13 years later it is such a pleasure to be here today. and to honor a tunnel boring machine and also to be here to honor an asian american woman. i think that it is incredibly satisfying to know that we are

heading this way on this project and it feels like it is taking so long and it has taken so long. so many years of community advocacy, the thousands of meeting, and it is great to be here with some of my past colleagues and now with my current colleagues both from china town and our families collaborative and our residential association and those that i work with today from the (inaudible) to many of our south of market allies. this central subway is going to be an amazing expansion on both for the south of market and for china town, i used to ride almost every day and for those who have written, the thought for the buses know how heavily the lines are used by the youth, families and seniors. neflt over 90 percent of the residents don't own cars and

that is the type of smart, neighborhood development that we want to encourage and we also have to support the very residents that believe in that type of model that have an increase in structure and this is also important for south of market and we have plans for how we plan to expand the residential and commercial development along this line so we are supporting the infrastructure that is coming in as well. and we have so many working class families and seniors this south of market and they will be able to enjoy being able to go in through underground through china town and north beach and fisherman's wharf as well. it is awe inspiring to stand next to the giant tunnel boring machine that has been used around the world to bring major projects to life. although, our residents along this corridor are being very patient and have kindly not sent too many e-mails of complaints about the nose and

construction and i think that speaks to the work of the workers that are here today to make this project possible. >> this incredibly powerful tool that has been talked about will construct the entire length of both and 1.5 miles long and ranging from 40 to 120 feet and i am happy to be here today with so many supporters that have fought to make this project a reality and i look forward to the extension of the central subway in the future. thank you. >> thank you, supervisor kim. so we have the board of supervisors and remember, the members of the board of supervisors also sit as the county transportation commission, so they are not just kind of bringing their leadership in support from their representation on the board but also bringing the funding through the association of the prop case sales tax that is part of the funding of this. i want to thank the county

transportation authority as well, for their support, and their leadership. the other leader who is a member of the board of supervisors and transportation, county, transportation commission is supervisor london breed from district five and give her a hand, grateful for her support. more importantly she is my district supervisor, she represents the district that i live in and i am kind of feeling a little less doubt here that my supervisor is not talking about the subway stops that we are going to get. so i think that we will also plan for phase four where we are going to hook a left and come back south and get subway into district five. >> don't want to be left out. >> another district five resident is my boss. and we have great leadership from the federal government all the way down, but the kind of front line leadership is really the sfmta board of directors that threw the years had to

make the difficult discussions in terms of expenditures and contracts and use of the right-of-way and the changes in the transportation system and the hard decisions really come down to the sfmta board, where we are very lucky to have, i think, a very committed forward bringing board and they have been led for a number of years. i am not just saying kind words because i am a boss and could fire me, but he has brought great leadership and direction and stability to this agency and it has been a big part to why we are here today and so it is my great pleasure to welcome to the podium the chairman of the board of directors, mr. tom noland. >> thank you, i could listen to him introduce me all day long. on behalf of the board i am

delighted to be here this is a huge day for us and it has been a long, hard struggle. a number of people have been mentioned but there are some who are supportive who have not been mentioned one is former mayor and congressman, and of the dot, norman who was instrumental way back years ago. and our current dot director ray lahood and i want to call a special shout out to former member of our board who has been a supporter of this project for many years, will (inaudible), thank you. thank you, will. and steadfast support. and this is truly been a labor of love for the board and critics along the way and i am totally convinced, absolutely convinced that when this is opened, everybody will realize this was totally worth while and all of the struggles forward and a lng time coming and great leadership. and he and his team and we

appreciate that and we are it marks the beginning and i am looking forward, mr. mayor for dedication and whether i am able to rise this. and i did tell the mayor that i have a problem personally, and my term will be up before it is dedicated so i asked for one more term to be here on that great, great day. thank you all. >> so it is because of the leadership of the sfmta board of directors that we executed the contract for the tunneling work about a year and a half ago. our contractor is benard heely and they are the ones responsible for the site right underneath where you are sitting the first of the two tunnel boring machines and launching on june tenth or eleventh. >> and as you can see even before you take the tour, and i can do so if you are able and it is significant work and you can see the crane behind us

that is bringing in the pieces piece by piece, and 20-feet wide and it weighs 750 tons and the entire apparatus is longer than the football field and the two that are making the way from here underneath china town, and up to north beach and the second one, and that process will take about a year so for all of the hard work to move the facilities to build the tunnel work and remarkably fast, given the expertise that we have with the contractors and the technology that allowed this to happen with the minimal disruption above ground and from the tunneling. this happens below the ground and not ripping apart the streets to build the tunnel the way that they used to in the older days, a little more

vibration just as we are going about our business in the next year, quietly below the surface these machines will be steadily making their way north way, pretty impressive and so to close us out, i want to invite up, and i don't know about that. >> i want to invite up one of the great cheer leaders not just for the project but for china town and the whole city and the relatively new but long time member and now executive director of the china town community development center, the reverend norman fong. >> okay, two words, everyone say go giants. >> that is when... but also what we are doing here today, and we are here to help go giants boring machine.

okay? you got it? all right. and there are two of them and we have the family members of the... they are named after two excellent, wonderful people. one and david helped me with the infraon margaret chung who was known as mom chung and we will see it real soon and she was in san francisco from 1889 to 1959 and the first chinese american physician in the country and working in the heart of san francisco and she adopted a lot of american service men over 1,000 and one of them that she called and the congressman from minnesota to create the first female branch of the navy and here to talk about her is jena lowell rice, give it up for her.

>> mayor, lee, distinguished guest and friends and family. thank you, for honoring our great confident, dr. margaret mom chung, i have to admit, when we first heard about this they were really excited but we had no idea what it was. so we did a little research, and we found out what the tunnel boring machine was and we looked at each other and we said really? >> really? >> they are going to name a massive construction machine after our anti-doc? that is what we called her. >> and then we thought about it, this is perfect, there is actually quite similar. in several different ways. this tunnel boring machine is a pioneer as it will start the tunneling in phase two of the central subway and auntie was a pioneer as you have heard as the first american board chinese physician in the country and she started the

first western clinic in china town and why this will help to build a subway that will bring together neighborhoods of the city, and auntie brought together, serve men, politicians, hollywood and military brats, in their common dedication to fighting or in dedication to the allieed cause. mom chung is huge and will be a real power be reckoned with. mom chung had a personality that was larger than life. and she also was someone to be reckoned with as she lobbied for the formation of the navy waves, although she could not get credit for it, and could never join, because of the race and age and that the government has drafted (inaudible) and she

actually got involved in the way and forming it because after the pearl harbor and we joined the war, she volunteered to be a front line servant and she was turned down because she was a women and that drove her nuts and so therefore, they sent years and many, many meet togs get the waves created which she did finally have a handle in. and lately, san francisco is counting on mom chung to get the job done, and the real mom chung she got the job done. she through sheer determination and hard work, became a physician. she is the eldest child of 11 kids. back then, traditionally she should have been helping mom and dad take care of all of the younger kids. but no she wanted to be a doctor and she said that i am going to be a doctor. because the thing is that she

had her mother's support and that is what made everything okay. but could you imagine, 11 kids and your mom saying could you take care of them and she says no i am going to school. she was a real, and my dad once said, you know, auntie doc, she is a real, what did he call her? i can't remember, something the power that you don't want to mess with. and mom chung also supported the world war ii effort by adopting and supporting over 1500 service men and as i said before, she was instrumental in the formation of the navy ways and so fung is san francisco is going to have a wonderful subway and our family is proud and humbled that mom change has a part in building it. and i know that mom chung is

really smiling down upon us right now. thank you. [ applause ] >> the second machine, coming right up. it was named after big arm a, here in san francisco? 1881 to 1968 she is known as big ama because she was 6 feet tall. and the great grandmother of san francisco. ama was a wealthy socialite and among other persuaded her first husband, to fund and design the construction of the palace of legion of honors at lands end in san francisco and when she was younger she was a model. okay? and she is the inspiration for the victory, statute atop of athlete monuments in union square and we are honored today to have her here and the grandson and the great grandson that is taking a picture right now.

>> mayor lee, chairman, and members of the board of supervisors and members of the chung family and guests, what a remarkable contribution that mom chung made to the city of fung and while big al moves contributions in a different field, she too loves san francisco. she were two wonderful women who left their marks. as an architect you love construction projects and so did my grandmother and not only provide the infrastructure that our country needs but thousands of jobs as well. they also benefit to how the creativity and optism and confidence to the future. she was a model and studied art as what is known as the san francisco art institute. she is best known, however, for conceiving and delivering another construction project,

the california pal ace of legion of honor and it should be remembered that this museum was originally build as a memorial to all of the thousands who died in world war i. >> i am not sure what you have thought about having a tunnel boring machine named after her, but she had a good sense of humor. she worked with a number of mayors and often entertaining them over a martini or two. i suspect, although it is not in my script that i was one way of insuring the (inaudible) of a permit application, most pleased with this tribute. she will not stay on a job until august. however, she will have to work extra hard to keep up with mom chung. in closing, i wish to salute the engineers and contractors and thank the hundreds of men and women who arrived with their lunch pails and their hard hats each day for making this subway a reality.

thank you all very much and i think that it is fitting that we honor the past, and as we are building the future last year muni celebrated the 100th anniversary and we are the first public transit in the country and we are now the 7th largest and important part of the fabric of san francisco and honoring the path as we build the future i think is entirely fitting and so in closing, but before we cut the cake, i just want to acknowledge a few more folks that really it takes a village to make a project like this happen. and so i would acknowledge that the number of sfmta staff here from real estate to finance, the communications the construction, and they were all part of supporting this program going forward and maria from

the transportation authority and from the department of public works and julie from the city attorney's office and i saw hernandez from labor, local 261, and we have been partnering and work ng tunnels and it is a specialized part of the craft and so we are training people and getting them to work. all of the other partners in labor and the city and the community want to thank you all so incredibly much for being here, now the fun we are going to cut the cake, eat the cake and go down and check out the machines, thank you all for coming here today.

>> great for see you all here, i am the director and it is a profound pleasure to welcome you all to this ground breaking this morning. we are thrilled that you could join us, this is a defining moment in our history and it is great to have you with us. and i have to say before i begin, that the first person to arrive this morning, for the ground breaking was one of our trustees, brooks walker. and books arrival reminded me that 20 years ago, almost exactly, this was in another ground breaking on exactly this site. and we are here 20 years later and we are expanding upon that

remarkable step that the museum took in 1995. we moved here to third street from the vaness location and from the city hall location. and we were immediately pioneers in this neighborhood. obviously the south of market neighborhood was not what it is today. and very quickly pioneers became anchors. and that is quickly became a gathering place for anyone interested in the visual arts and who was a residents of san francisco or lived in the bay area or came here. over the course of 18 years since 1995, it has grown, i can only say exponentially in term of our programs, family visits everything has doubled and tripled in size. and our exhibitions reflect the diversity and range of this community and regularly travel around the world literally. so today, he