we are in the forefront of certainly the rest of the states, probably -- in fact, certainly in the western hemisphere, california is in the lead. and that's important. but being in the lead doesn't mean we've arrived at the goal. got a long way to go and i hope the work you do here, the conversations, the relationships that are formed can help advance the cause of solar energy and renewable energy or generally. back when i was governor the first time, that was a long time ago -- some of you folks weren't even born then -- not too many. i see a few gray hairs here who are hanging around. that was a long time ago, 38 years ago, as a matter of fact. very few people get to be governor 38 years after they first started. [laughter] >> with a 28-year hiatus. (applause)

so, i guess i have to expiate my many political sins and i spent time in the wilderness. but i am back and i can reflect on how politics work, how it worked then, what's happened in the meantime, challenges we now face. i promoted solar energy back in 1975 when i signed a law that granted a 55% tax credit to the installation of solar. that time was mostly solar hot water. but 55% was a credit, not a deduction. so, you took it right off your state income tax. probably the biggest incentive that has ever been provided. but over the years times change, but still california at that time was leading the way in solar and building efficiency, and then very shortly after 1982 promulgated

appliance efficiency standards. so, we did get the sense of renewable energy, efficiency, elegance in the way we handle resources. today, of course, we know a lot more. we know about climate change. we know about population, several billion more. we know if the demographers are right, the world will add 2 billion people. we now have 2 billion cars. the last time there were a couple hundred million cars. in fact, cars are reproducing faster than people. [laughter] >> and as long as they're using oil we've got a problem. that's why in california we have a goal to have a million electric vehicles by 2025. (applause) >> so, that's -- just within

the last two months, we actually recorded over 2000 megawatts of solar energy being put into the grid, which is more than [speaker not understood] provided. (applause) >> of course, the solar works for six hours or so and nuclear works for, you know, four times as long. however, it leaves a little bit of a tail afterwards that has to be dealt with. so, but it's an important milestone. and california does have the goal of 33% renewable energy. we have the goal of a million solar rooftops. we already have over 130,000 installations on homes and small businesses. so, we're looking at utility, scale, installation of olar, at

homes, and businesses. so, wherever we can, we are encouraging it. we're number oned in the country. we're going to keep on going. it's very critical. now, i know from the idea to the execution to the secure realization, it takes a long time. and we have to have patience. we have to have staying power. so, that's the dilemma. we look at most of the countries. germany certainly an exception, but most are not stepping up to the plate. there is a complete disproportion between the knowledge and the magnitude of the knowledge about and the magnitude of climate change and what it's going to do to the way -- to our way of life and our response. the response is feeble compared to the challenge, and we've got to wake up to that fact. (applause)

>> the challenge -- one of the challenges is climate change is not news because it's too slow. news is fast. it's what happened yesterday. climate change has been happening gradually over time. there's a lot of other stuff that's going on that gets people all excited and i'm not saying you shouldn't get excited about a lot of trivial things. why not? it can distract you from other trivial things. [laughter] >> it may be more irritating. but still, we have to think of what's important and what our responsibility as human beings are. it's not just fun and toys and entertainment and shopping. there's some serious stuff that men and women in this world have to deal with, and those

things [speaker not understood], producing food, creating safe environment, schools, medicine, but energy is certainly one of the pillars of modern civilization. and there's a lot of oil in the ground. if we wait for peak oil to save us, we're done because we've got plenty oil. i remember somebody told me once, a stanford professor, our problem is not too little too late when it comes to oil, but it's too much too soon. in other words, there's plenty there. so, that's the problem. you've got something easy, coal, 40% now, but it's grown a lot. coal is pretty simple stuff. if you can't burn it in america, put it on a train, ship it over to china or india. so, we got market forces. and against that we have to marshal intelligence and

collaboration and political response, because this stuff is serious. and the fact that people aren't worried about it and don't talk about it doesn't mean it isn't serious. and that's the insidious character of this -- of this challenge, that some people know about it, 90, 97% of the scientists who deal in climate science all agree that when it comes to doing something it takes leadership. and not just political leadership, but business leadership, church leadership, academic leadership. and that's the context, i believe, in which you have come together. you're focusing on solar energy. that's a big piece. there's plenty of sun out there to take care of our energy. it's going to take time. it's going to take technology. it's going to take scientific breakthroughs, research, and development. and it's going to take storage. and it's going to take various insebastianvv stifle. just in california you have

some cities that charge 1800 bucks for a permit for somebody to put solar on their roof. we have to fight that. there are soft costs. we can bring that down. from the small incremental step to the long march in getting it done, those are all the elements that you have to deal with. and there are some pauses, sometimes things plateau. i know some utilities feel we have enough for 33 and a third percent which is our state goal. we have to find other states. we've got to get other people putting out that 33% renewable standard. we've got to get -- and we do, we have a law in california encouraging storage because we can't just rely on the sunlight. (applause) >> we've got to bottle the sunlight. you've probably heard about that. we're bottling sunlight. well, that' a metaphor for

storage. but we can get it done. you know, in a time of war when the invading army comes, people rise to the occasion. but when the invasion is more subtle and more gradual, then what? then it takes clarity, it takes courage, and it takes will, a lot of political will, a lot of personal will. and that's what i would urge upon all of you. you've got your businesses or your academic work. all of it has to flow into this transformation because climate change is happening. it's affecting the food supply. we have the number of people going up, the number of oil-fed cars going up, but we have food production now lagging behind. and, so, we're going to have to slow climate change while we take care of all these other economic challenges. and it's very easy to say, well, we can't turn off coal.

we can't go to solar. it's too expensive. well, you wait 10 years, you wait 15 years, it's going to be a lot more expensive, a lot more. so, how do we take the future and bring it forward so that we can act on the basis of what we certainly expect? and when i say "we," it's not we all of the people. it's we, a relatively small subset, people in this room, people throughout the country, but in rather limited numbers. and, so, you not only have to do what you're doing, but you've got to find a way to market the very idea of solar energy. the very idea that we have all the energy we need, we have to develop the technology to utilize it without at the same time filling up our atmosphere with methane and co2 and nitrogen oxide and all the

other emissions and pollutants that are going to reshape what life on earth is. when you hit 400 parts per million, as we did as reported by the monitoring stations over in hawaii, it hasn't been like that for 3 or 4 million years. when it was like that 3 or 4 million years, the sea was a lot higher. the ice at the poles was a lot less. so, we've got a lot of evidence. we've got to find now the step-by-step sequential movement toward the goal. and the goal is an energy system totally compatible with the rules of nature. (applause) >> we've got to get on the side of nature. (applause) >> now, a lot of people like to have fight nature, but we are nature. when we fight nature, we're fighting ourselves.

we're fighting our own life support system. that's really the challenge here. so, it's business. it's our livelihood, but it's also a calling to wake people up, to make the kind of progressive steps that are crucial to make sure that we keep going. so, we have 130,000 solar installations. we're going to get several hundred thousand more. and as governor of california, i guarantee we're going to get there because i'm going to move us out of all the obstacles. whoever, whatever they are, get out of the way. the sun is shining brightly in the state of california. [cheering and applauding] >> good morning. lauding]

thank you for being here. i'm here this morning with the mayor of south san francisco, mayor pedro gonzalez. i'm here with supervisor scott wiener, with our treasurer jose cisneros, our city administrator naomi kelly, representatives of mayor kwan in oakland, from our sfnta john haley, members of our work force and economic development teams and our assessor recorder carmen chu, along with our department of human resources mickey callahan. also to my immediate left here is california state secretary of labor, marty morgan stern. this morning we have come together to talk about the need to reach an agreement on our bart system.

the whole week, and certainly weeks in the past, i have engaged people working in our hotels, in our coffee shops, in our restaurants, small businesses the like. i couldn't even get a burrito without confronting somebody who asked that we take our stand object behalf of the public. that we need an agreement and not a is strike in our bart system. and that the public rider ship, the 400,000 people who use bart, need a voice at this table. we need to make sure that both management and labor have as their objective when they are meeting to negotiate out an agreement that they need to know it is no longer a matter of inconvenience to the ridership. it ietrdwork.

in many cases people trying to get to two places of work. it is hardship. for parents who need to get from work to their child care centers, to make sure that they make it on time. it is hardship for people and working class families who are screaming by -- screeching by to make sure ends meet, and yet are subject to have to pay high prices for parking a car that they would not have had to use if the system was working for them. and, so, on behalf of the rider ship, working families, parents and others, we together today standing solidly to give them a voice. this weekend, bart management and bart labor negotiators have to negotiate to an agreement, not to a stand still. we've already seen the negative

impacts that a strike has, and it is hardship. it is hardship for everybody. i feel it. that's why i'm here today with all the bay area -- as representatives that could make it here today, they needed a voice at this table and they need to remind people very strongly that it is not about inconvenience any longer, it is about their hardship and we need to focus on their dependency of a very serious investment that we've all made for years and years, and that is investment in our bart system. and, so, that is one point that we need to make. and i want to put a face on the ridership for all of us that we care about, the working families, the people that are every day struggling with their lives to make sure that they know we are representing them, to insist as strong as we can, negotiations should not be

about presenting to the public the differences that they have so much as using that time to reach an agreement by this weekend. this is the opportunity we have. we cannot waste that time. we have to get an agreement by everybody. that is the objective that we want to represent. it is incredible that we have to spend so much of our time these days planning for the impacts of what a strike will do. all of us are working overtime to prevent the hardships that are going to happen, that they have happened for the 4-1/2 days last month. to the tune of over $70 million of cost to all the bay area. all of us have also been in communications with the

secretary's office and the governor's office so that we want to continue to make sure that every opportunity of communication is open, but also that everybody do their job, which is get an agreement. and i want to then turn this over to present the secretary of labor for the state of california, marty morgan stern. marty. >> thank you, mr. mayor. i'll be very brief. governor brown shares the concern of mayor lee and the other public officials that we do not need yet another bart strike, that this is a great hardship for the people of the bay area and the economy of the bay area, for everybody who works here, lives here, goes to school here, travels here, and that the negotiators on both sides should be making every

possible effort that -- we don't expect them to leave the bargaining table without an agreement. i asked and they agreed to a 30-day extension of the contract. they've had another 28 days so far. we expect that the next couple of days that they will succeed. failure to reach an agreement will be a serious failure, one that leadership should not -- should not abide. the governor has set this as a top priority. we've had two of our best mediators in there for the entire time. we've had the head of the public employment relations board, our highest public official in this area, working daily on this situation. we've done everything possible. i've stayed in touch with them. the governor has been apprised of the situation. we have done everything

possible to help these bodies reach an agreement. now it is up to them to see to it that they find a way to reach a contract that's fair to workers, fair to management, and fair to the people of the bay area and the state of california by not closing down this vital transportation needs of the area. thank you. >> we'll take whatever questions people have. >> [inaudible]. >> [speaker not understood] will consider all the options. >> [speaker not understood]. >> i didn't hear the question. was that a question for me? >> yeah. my understanding is that bart is looking at possibly trying

to get managers formally trained -- >> you'll have to address that to bart management. >> [speaker not understood]. i was hearing yesterday 45% of the 22,000 city employees use some form of public transportation [speaker not understood]. what would be the impact on city operations? >> that is correct, and john haley is here from our mta to talk about the details of how we're preparing for it. but i'll tell you, it is a use of time that we shouldn't have to do, but we have to do it. and this is part of the burden that all of our cities, whether it's oakland or san francisco are facing, is that we've got to help our ridership get around the city for very necessary transportation needs that they have. and, so, john, if you're here, you can talk a little bit about the preparations that we're doing to get people around here. i know scott wiener is also engaged with public -- his ridership and the small businesses in his district as well. john.

>> thank you, mayor. as the mayor said, we are prepared to do everything we can. in particular, our plan includes beefing up transit service in key corridors, in particular the balboa park area which means extra trains on the j line, extra service along the mission corridor which we saw last time was heavy. we're also -- some of the things that we learned from our first experience, we will in the afternoons, for example, increase the hours that we have, parking control officers to help with traffic flow to and from the bridge and along the key downtown streets. we will also expand the casual car pooling areas down there to help people get around. and our work force did an extraordinary job in coming to work last time to allow us to provide the extra service to help to ease some of the hardship that we're talking

about. but we're prepared to do everything we can. we'll have our management team out as ambassadors to provide information. so, we're committed to helping to ease the pain as best we can, but clearly expect crowding and there will be pain and no one will have -- going anywhere in the region who will have a normal kind of day. we can be assured of that. but we're prepared to do everything we can. >> [speaker not understood]. >> well, we will -- we are going to be ready as early as possible. obviously we're very aware of what's going on. we'll set up -- we have all of our plans in place. we learned, again from what we did last time, so, we expected people, in the event of a worst case scenario, we expect people will start come intion very early and we'll be ready for that.

>> [speaker not understood], does this lead to the governor to be more inclined to allowing transit workers to be able to [speaker not understood] what they have here in san francisco with muni? >> governor brown is concerned with avoiding a strike in this situation and he's concerned with neighborhood management finding a solution to the problem. that's where we are at this point. >> mayor lee, would you propose something statewide? >> you know, i focused on this weekend. i said it over and over again, there is an opportunity here to reach an agreement. negotiations should not be prolonged. they should definitely come to a conclusion with an agreement that both sides can live with. that's the goal. you know, we do have a system here in san francisco where there is no strike clauses and it's been helpful. labor piece has always been beneficial particularly with transit system. but at the same time we have an

opportunity this weekend to voluntarily do that with incredible investments that the public has made, and that's why i think we need a voice for the rider ship to really weigh in on the people at the table. we need an agreement to reflect all this effort, not ended up in the kind of economic hurt that all the families are trying to avoid. but they're speaking about it, the tremendous concerns for the quality of life here. >> second, do you feel like we're closer to an agreement now than when you started this 30-day cooling off period or do you think we're further apart? >> well, they haven't reached an agreement yet and that's my concern. the 30 days, there's been mediation. there's been involvement of officials all over the state and the area. and yet we haven't -- months of negotiation besides this month, and they haven't reached an

agreement yet and that's our concern. closer isn't good enough. they've got to reach a deal. >> [speaker not understood]. >> excuse me? >> would you give them another 30 days, more time? >> we don't want this to drag on. we want this settled already. as the mayor has already explained, there is expensive -- there is great expense getting ready for these potential strikes. we don't think the people of the bay area should be kept on pins and needles forever. it's time for this to end. >> thank you, everybody.

>> there are kids and families ever were. it is really an extraordinary playground. it has got a little something for everyone. it is aesthetically billion. it is completely accessible. you can see how excited people are for this playground. it is very special. >> on opening day in the brand- new helen diller playground at north park, children can be exp, hanging, jumping, and even making drumming sounds.

this major renovation was possible with the generous donation of more than $1.5 million from the mercer fund in honor of san francisco bay area philanthropist helen diller. together with the clean and safe neighborhood parks fund and the city's general fund. >> 4. 3. 2. 1. [applause] >> the playground is broken into three general areas. one for the preschool set, another for older children, and a sand area designed for kids of all ages. unlike the old playground, the new one is accessible to people with disabilities. this brand-new playground has several unique and exciting features. two slides, including one 45- foot super slide with an elevation change of nearly 30 feet. climbing ropes and walls, including one made of granite.

88 suspension bridge. recycling, traditional swing, plus a therapeutics win for children with disabilities, and even a sand garden with chines and drums. >> it is a visionary $3.5 million world class playground in the heart of san francisco. this is just really a big, community win and a celebration for us all. >> to learn more about the helen diller playground in dolores park, go to sfrecpark.org.