on down, has been nothing short of extraordinary, i have to say that it is probably unprecedented in the history of san francisco that we have had, universal unanimous support from staoet and to all of our processes and everything that we asked for it has all happened and it is credit to you and your amazing team. >> you know, about three years ago, we formed chuck and i together formed a committee of our board and staff. to search for an architect for this ex-sxantion what we were looking for was an architectural firm through the work and the attitude through the work through the resume of experience, would express the values that this museum holds and that we want to address going forward, values of openness and generosity and sharing and welcome and transparency. and we also want to have a great building and obviously that would show all of our

collections off to the best possible advantage and great public spaces and we have a really exciting search and on the last day, of our last tour of duty, traveling around we were in oslow and we met with craig and his partner and at the end of that day, we knew and there was... we knew in no uncertain terms that this was the firm that we wanted to work with and i can only say that as i welcome craig up to the podium the last three

thought and it actually does, this is followed by a creative phase, and the creative phase is really the fun part, and then there is the pass that will move along. somehow this is a case of construction. and we will deliver this child. happily, at the end of this,

there is the miracle of birth, when the doors open and there is hopefully plenty of hugs and smiles when our guests enter the new sf moment and as of this great day, the building will mature slowly at first and will experience many challenges in its life alongside the days of joy and celebration >> while this metaphor was pretty good there is a difference that i would like to point out. unlike many marriages and births, the making of the building is not a monogomous relationship, it is a poly amorous relationship because there is a great deal of partners in this effort and we know how sticky that can be. >> there are a number of partner to consider along the way and each of these has a wedding ring so to speak and i have the privilege of representing this group of lovers here at the podium and the architects often receive a great deal of attention and that is important but it is

also tremendously large team that we represent, so i wanted to share with you rather quickly the names of our partners in this relationship and it is a wonderfully rich list representing groups from california and the united states and the interests abroad and here it goes in alphabetical order, we are going to start with afp and they are going to install the sprinklers and arab engineers are working with the av and the lighting. there is csi, group, and our friends, don and terry young were the managers who keep this ball around and rolling as the consulting group and the partners, and the architects and some of them are here in the audience today and the great partner to work with and closed and the hoert culture and we work with the green wall and jw, and the local projects and mka engineers and san anderson architects you are

here too so some of us are here today and my great friends and team members, some of you may have met. graphic design, tailor engineering and i suppose that the winner of the most apt name in this group is the fire consultants can anybody guess what job they have? and there is technology and finally the friends at web core are building this project and this is just a partial list, to give you some idea of the complexity that this project represents and the enormous amount of teamwork that goes into making it, all of these people are working together to create a museum for modern art that will be without equal. its collection is exceptional and the mission is generous and it is a gift for the youth of our future and its walls will signal a new direction for now we as the audience interacts with great works of art and with each other and how artists interact with museums and 2016, standing where we are right now we would have to look up 200

feet above us, twice the height of that parking garage, before we could see the top of the new sf mona, there will be over 160,000 square feet of space that is dedicated to experiences connected to art. that is more than triple just this area between mina and tona that we are standing in. all of these places are designed with the standard of lighting and environmental control coupled with a bold sense of planning to protect the environment and signaled by a 50-foot high and 150-foot long green wall that we planted on the side of this parking garage adjacent to us. the museum will be, which was once intraverted will be open f

helps us appreciate the sublime and the meaningful moments of our existence. we have been driven by the vision of so many here in san francisco, to make this happen. and we look forward to the next stage of our work together with you. a sincere thank you to neo, and ruth and the board and the members of the planning committee that are here today and the city officials that have brought us altogether to make this possible. thank you from the design and construction planning team. [ applause ]

>> the board and the staff leadership and team and the key community leaders and actually have the ground breaking. so i would like to begin with brooks walker and we are going to make our way down to like hollywood down the red carpet, brooks was the ground breaking, 20 years ago and brooks was our chair at that time and led the effort to get us to the third street. >> bob fisher who is our board president and the partner in this project and dennis wo ng and the trustee of the oversight committee. and january kim, the district six supervisor who has been such a great supporter and partner in this project and then i also would like to introduce special members that we like to serve into the enhanced education programs. the class of third graders from

carmichael school here in the neighborhood. >> as a member of the board

since 2003 and the board president for the last three years, i am incredibly excited to be able to kick off this ground breaking. on a personal note, kie not be more pleased that our families, art collection has found a home at sfmoma. and i would now like to introduce... thank you. >> i would now like to introduce a partner who has been with us every step of the way in leading this transformation, district six supervisor jane kim. >> thank you, bob. >> i just asked craig if he was looking forward to working on his next non-controversial project here in the city and county of san francisco? >> i always like to say this,

that i do represent one of the oldest parts of the city. but in many ways it feels like the newest neighborhood and the newest kid on the block here in the city, but i think that we take for granted the neighborhood that exists now and what it was like over 20 years ago and actually one of the first tenants that helped to transform the city wassan francisco mona and we are so glad that you took the chance to invest in the neighborhood and you helped with so many of our partners that are here today to transform it into what it is. >> it is particularly important for us to be here today to celebrate the moma for what it is and will continue to be in the future. i was dedicated to public

education and i am warmed that sf mona has made an incredible announcement that it is going to be opening the museum to those that are 18 and under for free. having grown up in a different city that had so many cultural and arts institution, new york, i actually grew up going to museums as part of my life as a school child and how important that cultural experience was to my development and as we continue to cut arts in particular, in our public schools, this will be such an important part of their curriculum in their lives, so i am excited that we can welcome another tenant of the south of market here as well and that is our betsy car michael k-8 elementary school that is here today. [ applause ] >> so i believe that it is a principal here today? >> lauren? well have a first grade class that will be representing the south of market community. so are you guys ready?

>> are you ready for the count down? >> all right, so we are going to get our shovels and then we are going to begin. >> 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. >> plause [ applause ]

>> thank you very much, we are in a construction site. and the work is under way, we want to make sure that we not only celebrate, but celebrate safely, but i am here to welcome you all in the morning, and thank you so much for coming my name is ed riskin and i am the director of transportation and i could not be happier to see all of you here today to celebrate what is pretty a tremendous milestone in the advancement of phase two of muni light rail project, otherwise known as the central subway, it is really just such a tremendous effort, and a cap stone of many, many years, and for some of you decades worth

of work, to get to this point. certainly something worthy of celebrating. we have got a lot of people who in one way or another, themselves or through their organizations are a part of how we got to this point i just want to acknowledge some of them. besides the people, some of whom you will hear from that are up on stage including on you mayor, members of the board, the supervisors members of the sfmta board of directors, we also are pleased to be joined by our lead federal funder, of the u.s. department of transportation administration, and leslie roger and give him a hand of the regional administrator. and he is the one that started delivering that big check to us. back in october. i don't know that he is here and another important partner and we are sit ng his right-of-way underneath the

structure, cal trans, region four director bj sartepi. we also have one of the central things that the subway does is bring connection to the transit including the upcoming high speed rail. so we have ben from the high speed rail authority, let's give him a hand, thank you for being here. we have a number of the our communities supporters as well, karin floods from the union square bid, very strong partner and they have been putting up with us as we have been working through her neighborhood, carlin diamond from the market street association. cathy, and andrew from the (inaudible) cvd and jim lazares that i was just talking to and he is already working on the next phase and we have the china town and many of our china ton including in the

front row miss rows pack and mr. gordon chin. and we have a number of members of our community advisory group for the central subway. people who have volunteered their time as everyone else just mentioned has year after year to suffer this project through to make sure that we are doing it well and doing it right. and finally, there is a lot of leadership and support from the communities, from the federal partners and from the government and from city hall that makes all of this happen, but at the end of the day, everybody has to drive this project forward and so i want to acknowledge the subway director, john sungi, since 2006 john has been working day and night living and breathing this project to make sure that it happens, i think that he has a central subway tattoo on his arm. i think that the tunnel manage machine down stairs has spent

more time with tom than his family has. he has been bringing expertise and commitment to improving the transit in san francisco to bear in this project day in and day out for the last seven years now. so i know that this is a big day for him and i want to thank him and his excellent team and the sfmta staff and dpa staff and the contractors and all of whom have been working hard to get us here today. and then i also want to acknowledge some of the political leadership, that is really been a part of bringing this project forward. the significant federal commitment to this project between the first and second phase is nearly half of the funding has come from the federal government recognizing the regional and national significance of this project and so of course our senators and their offices have been behind us all of the way and then a particular our leader the leader of the house of

representatives nancy pelosi, has been one of the strongest supporters for this project and we are delighted to have the new chief of staff joining us if we could, give a round of applause for all of the officials fed and state that have been behind us. and we also have mike here and we are putting a lot of people to work with this project and it is not just a transit benefit that we get in 2019, when we turn on the switch and open the revenue service, but this immediate economic benefit that this project is bringing now to get people to work. and while the economy is a little stronger now than when we started work a year or so again it was not so much and we were getting people off the benches and in their booths working on the ground. and an important benefit of this project for the economy of san francisco today and not just tomorrow. and ultimately this is about public transportation and it is about investing in the future

of public transportation in the city and we are a transit first city and we need to better move the people who are trying to get around san francisco today, as well as those who will be coming to san francisco tomorrow. so this is really about building for the future, strengthening the transit system that we have today and i think that i am going to stop now because i have talked too long and bring up the people that you want to hear from starting with the leader in san francisco, a man who not only understands transportation and jobs, and i think that you have heard of him talk about jobs but understands the importance of infrastructure and investing in the economy and san francisco has pleased to follow him as public works director and i think that having been a public works director he really gets this stuff and as the mayor he has a bigger view of this and has done a great job

in leading it in infrastructure and please join in welcoming mayor ed lee. [ applause ] >> thank you, ed and thank you to you and your staff again, to your board of directors, tom, and the rest of the commissioners, thank you for your leadership. i also want to thank the board of supervisors for working so closely with us and a couple of them up here, i think that this is a really good reason to celebrate supervisors, that we have this great project, also i want to say a big thanks to our former mayers and i had the individual of being here at this time. but, i think back, and i know rose knows what i am talking about, two and a half willie br lieutenant nusom, and the mayors before us working in concert, with our federal

partners or working very closely with our neighborhood leaders. we are able to get and enjoy this day. i am looking forward to eating the cake. not just because i like cake but also because it represents a struggle for our communities for quite some years to say that we are going to be here and that we are going to be part of the future of this city and that is what this t-line extension really means, and central subway is a great transportation project but it is also a reflection, that they are also here to stay and prosper with staoet and yes we will have that conversation about the fu tu b about making sure that we connect up the north and south. the modern san francisco will have a transportation system that will reflect that and this is why it is so meaningful, is

because i do know in a few years that we will be saying why did it take this long to get here. this is such a great idea to connect up and i know this is at the heart of the feelings of the people who live in china town and whether it is in the projects and the small businesses along stockton street all the way down fourth street right to here and we are going to marvel at why we would not have done this faster and quicker. because we are going to grow with this system and i think in a very short time you are going to see the value of this system moving people as quickly as it does now when you see the subway of market street working a lot of people, and it is going to be the same thing and there is a lot of growth that is happening in the south east corridor and they want to connect up with the north east corridor. and so, this is our future, this is what we have been talking about and it it is right here before us and it starts and i also want to give

a big thanks, fong, you and rose, and gordon and so many other people have been such strong leaders of this effort along with the federal partners and the regional partners and to have the nails of the boring tunnel machines that are reflected here, (inaudible) chung, thank you for being here and you are a decent ant here and i believe that it is the grand niece, and then, of course, big alma which will be the boring tunnel machine that shows up next month, and it will be under construction and 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 abillion 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