very difficult job and the great majority of them do it extraordinary well. we have professionals like felicia that do this when we have that kind of professionalism and excellence. thank you again for your great work. [ applause ] >> so, the mayor referred to these buses as investments and that's exactly what they are. they are investment in the transportation system. while everybody has lots of ideas about what munis should do and mta should do and we all want great things to happen, it's about a community investment to direct where the funds are going to go and according to rules and that leadership comes

from the mta board of directors. they are the ones allocating the resources to best serve the needs of this city. now i would like to introduce the great member of the board to come and speak on behalf of the board. >> mr. mayor lee, good morning. i want to thank my colleagues here this morning. we've all been together on this and we work very well together to keep the whole city moving. i want to thank the director of transportation. lots of things are happening in this city. a lot of things are planning for the future. but this is so exciting because this is something that people can actually see. they will see it and ride it

the moment the service begins. thank john hailey for this experience. i'm glad to be part of the mta. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you, mr. mr. chairman. i had the pleasure of working with him. we are very grateful to have his partnership in helping us keep these buses. i love the mayor's challenge at least i heard of the challenge that years down the road we should look at these buses to look as good as they do today. we have support from all of san francisco to keep these great investments to continue to look good. the other one is our

transit director john daleey who has spent a lot of time to get these buses to hit the streets as soon as possible in a way that they will be providing great service for us for the next decade and more. to tell you a little bit more about the specifics of the buses i want to welcome job to -- john, to say a few words. >> thank you, everyone for coming. just a couple things to point out. we heard about the investment. one of the things about our bus fleet is it carries 3/4 of our rider ship. 7,000 trips a day are done on our bus fleet. this is the transportation for the city. it's clearly a billion dollar investment just in our bus fleet. you heard some of the features today. this has additional safety features both on the outside of the bus. it

has state of the art cameras, not only to help with toll lanes and exclusive transit lanes only but to see everything on the bus. cameras on the outside to help guide the drivers as numerous people have said we've worked closely with all the constituents and stake holders to design this bus. the number one cause of munis delay. we are having these buses roll on the streets as opposed to hit the streets. we want rolling. this is a big step for us but only the first one. as you heard of other programs the help of the mayor, his administration, our board analyzed -- and the leadership of ed. this is going to make a difference in moving us

forward. i will be happy to tell you more about the buses but more anxious for to you see them and take a ride. this is a collective effort and also we all own a stake in this bus and we are going to need everyone's help to work together to keep the fleet the best in the nation. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. i want to thank everyone, all the stake holders that worked hard to get us here today and i want to thank the leaders who were behind us who are not here but made this possible. i think we are ready to cut the ribbon and see the buses roll onto the street. thank you for coming. [ applause ]

>> okay. 3, 2, 1. let's roll em. [ applause ] ♪ with its elegant rotunda, the reflecting waters of the sub

rounding lagoon and fraying rant eucalyptus trees, special dates and memorable proposals. it is the perfect picnic spot to relax with that special someone by listening to water and fountain in the lagoon and gazing as the swans go gracefully by. beautiful to view from many locations along the lagoon and inside the columns is an ideal place to walk around with your loved one. the palace of fine arts is the most popular location in the city arts system. reservations for weddings and other events areality. >> i'm carl shannon i run a business here in san francisco. it's with huge pleasure that i get to welcome i here on this historic day on many fronts.

hundreds of people who are not here have been involved in making this promise a reality and i'm grateful to all of. you. i want to thank mayor lee and china founder and chairman and the projects architect of architect company. i'd like to (clapping) to say thank you to all of the supervisors and specifically to jane kim who is the district supervisor. we've had several changes of people who have been involved in the past and present. thank you to the planning commission and to those members of the commission including michael and a special thanks to

john ram who's done a outstanding job and the d b i staff they're here today. we live in an circlely special time and this neighborhood has exchanged dramatically in the passing last couple of years. it's really a pleasure to see the vision of creating the housing near housing and transit nearby downtown. i get a introduce the ceo to talk about our partnership >> thank you carl. first and for most i want to thank mayor lee for coming here on all days a day that will go down as a landmark event.

we are proud to be doing business here for two decades. we feel very much at the home we've been we would by the business community and we feel we're part of the fabric of this great city. today, we're celebrating two milestones the first is the largest promise for san francisco for residential. we will be conceding a project we build next door at the infinity at the finished a couple years ago. we're proudly proud to be adding another building. there's another mile stoop we're equally proud of that's the official beginning of our first

partnership with wong cook. let me introduce wong cook to those of you who may not be familiar with him. it's the largest real estate company in china and they're the largest residential real estate company in the world last year they sold 1 hundred and 40 units of housing. (clapping). our development represents wong first overseas investment in the university. he and we are exceptionally proud their choose us to be they're first trusted partner.

i think that they're creating a partnership that could set a standard for u.s. and chinese companies kword across all industries. it's now my player to introduce the founder and chairman of wong cook somebody i've gotten to know well, he's one of the most respected men in china and he's a good man. (clapping) thank you. >> thank you. thanks mayor lee.

cantonese and i want to talk freely in english but the limited in english so i - in english. since mayor lee it's a great to be here today to mark the beginning of our first promise in north america. we're excited to be working with this company. and proud to be part of a economic project san francisco

and the bay area is perfect place because it's all about diversity about innovation of the community. all our values they for almost thirty years. is the president for the organization process providing a mile people from northern areas for every year. the construction title will have phase up people will ask for a better communities and civil

societies. it's to learn some art of our zone and to learn for different things. for much more it is special and economical context. not just from the great - from our local communities. we're also here with international past. they start more of them there's a hundred of them every year. all can be great opportunities for international interests in

chinese organization. we looking for to get into partnership and hopefully, this experience will begin to share they'll help us build a better communities for china and for people. thanks (clapping) >> thank you, chairman wong. it's with great pleasure i get to introduce ed lee. i've known ed for a long time. i met him when he had a map on infinity and he was the chief operating office and find out how to get the map through the process more quibble ed is completely devoted to

making this city run smoothly and he as a business professional operating in this town and as i resident raising a family in this town i'm incredibly proud to have him >> welcome to 201 folsom street. pretty soon you're going to say crane 1 and 2 in the heart of those two towers. it's this partnership that truly represents another great solid foundation for confident building in this city. it's carl what i wanted to side in all my years working for city

government especially in the last year's where the economy was hard to deal with bringing back investment conversations especially international confidence in san francisco. i am here that this partnership takes place here and i want to say to dharm wong that pretty soon when the top floors done i've asked permission that we all toast with that floor is done that all of us can view at the top this high-level of standard of living in san francisco that we have but also celebrate the views that will be the views you you've seen twice

on top of mt. everywhere reiterate. it's a pretty special day. and for this to take place in the heart of our city where the hard work of our planning department through john ram and the commission and all of the staff has been working hard to make sure that high quality of housing takes place right at the center where we're building translation walking distances to at&t park. whether it is the walking distance to the new arena that will be on the waterfront hopefully in a few years.

the resident of those two towers stephanie up 42 floors on one and maybe 48 floors and 6 hundred 5 residential units they're going to be snatched up even faster. and if all of you were around in 2009 you would have known from all the real estate observers around the country the infiniti was the one to go so fast so i think that's why we can't wait to be in partnership. the wonderful restaurants and amenities for that living. it couldn't be done without of the planning of this whole area together. and it will be right down the block from grand central west

the place that will be the biggest building west of mississippi where high-speed rail will be there so transportation can bring all of the people from all over california to compliment the style of those two towers arrest i'm looking forward of seeing the design and the architect terry. i'm trying to not miss pronounce that name. but i will say too it's more meaningful to have partner particle from china. that's meaningful to me it will

represent our future in tourism in the enlightened challenge of students and there the leadership will open up a lot of conversations with our businesses and argue resident in china to compliment what's going on in san francisco. i can't wait to see those up and in 2015 will be here how we work with all our agencies the particular reason to the d b i and the oothsz other agencies to make sure we compliment not only great transportation and neighborhoods this will be so inspiring for the rest of the

country. congratulations to the partnership with china and also carl thank you for being such a great partner. you were there when the city was so successful and thank you to our new partners. we're going to continue to roll out those relationships and for china and the u.s. to invest together we make a statement the businesses will have a stronger relationship for all the world to see. thank you very much (clapping) >> thank you, mayor lee. the residents and amenities of 201 folsom street will be warm and modern light filled spaces that show the lights of the city

and it's landmarks. it's to be a vibrant community in downtown san francisco where we meet the waterfront. this new community will be called - >> all right. (clapping) in whining a corn stor stone are a foundation stone are a tradition at every new development they're to bring a blessing and good luck and prosperity. to commemorate that event this foundation stone will be laid on

the site (clapping) lumina begins construction and the sales center will be opened in 2014 and we hope to move the first people ♪ the summer of 2015. this copy choose the project to create lumina. we wanted lumina to work with and compliment infinity which horrify we look forward to him bringing his vision to a new higher standard in san francisco. it's with great pleasure i get to introduce this gentleman

(clapping) >> thank you very much. all of you. when i was asked to do this project i had to always think of my own inaccurate door neighbor that was the first high-rise in san francisco that broke the rectangle of shapes that did hug the streets. i choose to do that when i think of san francisco i think p of the city on the bay where shapes used to come and still come from all over the world where people sale but it's difficult to do a design for the next generation of a building and that's what i

tried to do here because there were some features that made infinity successful the curvature panoramic views along the sweeping kufrz of the neighborhood. that was more romantic picturesque and had formed. in looking at this design we sought to capitalize on those things but still do something that was different. but this building a new one we've designed is instead a series of glass place of residence that are rotating about the building and as they climb to the top they reach the

top to create a crown while the base is a creative rectangle. at the same time each time this creates a corner view that looks out to the skyline and bay of the city. it's important to see where those two towers sit. first their shifted so they don't face each other. there are soft shapes that actually avoid each other and create a large distance between the towers. they sit on a green roof a new park in the sky that creates a

setting that looks down to the park. this poumd that holds this park is surround by additional units that are the more urban units that follow the guy try of the downtown area. and in the center of this new garden there's a multiple level clubhouse imagine around the vertical spice where there's a swooim pool and it's surrounding it and around it are a series of amenity spaces for the resident. light filters from the top of this garden so it creates a heart of the edge of the residential but still faces the

street. so ex-what is it it distinguishes the building. it translates into lots of lights inside the unit. we know that light is a sustainable design. this will allow the buildings p to be light filed and open up the views of san francisco. it is this that makes the name lumina. thank you very much >> thank you. now mayor lee and sherman and the other ceremony