>> good morning, everybody. it's sunny in san francisco,

and we have a two-year budget. let's have fun. (applause) >> and i think maybe members of the board and other elected officials, but particularly the board, i think we're getting more and more used to calmness around our budget. and i really want to signal again my appreciation for the work and the hard work that it takes to have a unanimous vote at the board for passing the next two-year budget, which is very healthy. it's certainly a balanced budget. i'm proud of it. but how we got there was a reflection of a lot of good hard work and a lot of people to thank. i want to take this opportunity to thank the budget staff. they have been working really hard. and kate howard and steve, thank you very much for your

leadership. (applause) >> and the entire budget staff is here. they continue to be labeled the fiscal geniuses of the city. they works, of course, very closely with our controller and ben rosenfield, your staff have been extremely supportive and helpful. thank you very much. (applause) >> then, of course, our supervisors, the entire board and their budget analyst. harvey, thank you again for working with us. (applause) >> and the entire board. i want to thank each and every one of you because you along with, of course, all of our great department heads, but in particular we continue to promise that when we bring this budget forward each year, we have that conversation. sometimes difficult, sometimes emotional, but always in

support of our neighborhoods. and, so, when we come to each of the districts, each of you have been wonderful hosts. you have taken up a great responsibility to help all of us describe this budget because sometimes it's very hard to understand when people are just simply saying, i need to live in this city, i need to survive, i need to get a job, i need to have a safe neighborhood, i need to pay attention to the parks. i need to deal with all the things that perhaps the city doesn't provide. we need to pay attention to that. all those conversations have had -- each district has had a good opportunity to engage with our budget. so, i want to thank each of the supervisors for providing that kind of atmosphere where the budget could be discussed. in particular, this year for his first time, supervisor farrell led as the budget chair. i want to thank in particular his services for being there

and having so many extra meetings on top of the ones he's had to find the consensus building that we needed. and then for he and supervisor eric mar, supervisor john avalos, supervisor london breed and supervisor scott wiener, all of them being great participants in the budget committee. thank you as a group, as part of the whole board, appreciate that very much. (applause) >> and again, i signalled at the beginning i was expecting cooperation from mr. rose. we got it. thank you very much for that cooperation. this budget is not only balanced, but it is a responsible budget. it is a fiscally responsible budget, one that we've learned over many years -- and when you look at other cities across the country who have not paid that kind of attention in their

fiscal responsibility, you'll see some of the results that are horrible results to the rest of the country. and, so, we hope to continue being a model of how a balanced budget should have and fiscal prudence is always at a key cornerstone of it. we have the right attitude about our reserves and what we invest in. but this also is a budget about social responsibility and working with the board. and i know supervisor chiu is in abstein shad right now with another matter. but i want to thank him and his leadership as well ~. socially responsible budget also means that we engage our community leaders. we engage how we do services. we understand from the work of the departments that they can't do it alone. and, so, we look at all of our partners and have a budget that reflects the level of social

responsibility that will carry out whether it's in the health area, in the homeless advocacy area, in the mental health area, all of the different needs. we have an opportunity and i want to thank the community-based organizations for being such effective leaders in our communities because without them we wouldn't, i think, accomplish the social responsibility that we all want. so, thank you cbos and community leaders for your participation. (applause) >> finally, this is also a budget that is about investment. it investments in our neighborhoods. it investments in our infrastructure. and in the broad way, it investments in our city's future. and the future is incredibly important to the people who are standing right in front of me, the young folks, because we've always said that our budget

should reflect the values of the city. well, we're putting a lot of value in our youth so we have to invest in them. we have to invest in infrastructure that will last a long, long time and we'll have to invest in technology and all the future that we have. so, this is a very forward looking budget. it's a very expensive one, but it's a very forward looking one. and, so, when we look at the classes that we'll create, whether it's our police or fire or sheriff's department or all the other public safety departments that are challenged with heavy levels of retirement, or we're investing in departments programs or we're investing in education, like $105 million in our public school system in the next two years, people know what investment does. (applause) >> so, all of this, if you're a budget studier, you'll know that i'm speaking the absolute

truth, that this is fiscally responsible, it's socially responsible, and it's great investment. and with that, i really want to again give a great thanks to all the departments that work hard, the people that work in capital planning, all the fiscal officers for each department that cuts to come in, to compliment the argumentses the department heads make. i value that because i often leaned on my fiscal entities in my departments that i served to be the thought provoker for me to make sure that i was able to look around the corner and anticipate costs. and, so, when we are now doing two-year budgets, we have to do a lot better anticipation. we have to have better tools to do that. that's why we lean on our controller and the auditors to give us a good look, our capital planners to give us good looks. five-year financial planning is no longer an exception, it is

the norm. 10-year capital planning is now the norm. and we hope to breed that kind of fiscal approach to agencies that we don't fully control, but i know they appreciate it. whether it's a school district, the housing authority, city college, or all the other partners that we value, that they need to be a great part of this fiscal approach. then we can say to cities like detroit and others, we've got the answer, that you don't have to do what you did in the past or don't fall into the traps that we have the answer here in san francisco. and that will continue to be a consensus building approach taking care of our responsibilities. with that, i'd like to give the podium for a while to this year's chair of our budget committee, of course is mark farrell. (applause)

>> well, thank you to mayor lee for his great leadership during this process. you know, after months of debate in city hall, after six town halls in our different neighborhoods, after an online town hall, i think what i'm most proud of today is that we're signing a budget that is not only representative of the mayor and his team and the board of supervisors, but as we stated in the beginning, we wanted a budget that reflected the values of san francisco, of all san francisco. and i think we've achieved that today. i want to take a quick moment to thank all those involved, starting off with my colleagues on the board of supervisors, to everyone. i think we had all 11 members there the night we signed our budget, late into the night. i want to in particular thank my budget and finance committee members as well that we serve together, and single out in particular john avalos, supervisor avalos for your leadership in this year's budget, supervisor avalos. (applause)

>> who is real a great partnership working together. and i also want to thank so many people, but to quickly highlight what mayor lee mentioned and the people he mentioned ~. it's hard to -- you cannot overestimate how important so many people are in city hall to getting this budget done. it's a $7.9 billion budget. it's incredibly important and it matters to the residents of san francisco. and a few people in particular, first of all kate howard, the mayor's budget director. (applause) >> kate and her incredible team as well. every single person on kate's team. (applause) >> for those of you who don't know, they spend countless hours here in city hall, late, late nights, early mornings, hopefully no all nighters in

particular, but without them we wouldn't be here today. to ben rosenfield, monique zamuda and the entire controller's office team, thank you so much. (applause) >> kate and ben were really partners in crime in getting this budget done and with us every step of the way and such an integral part of what we do. to harvey rose and his entire team, thank you, mr. rose, for all of your efforts. (applause) >> to severn and deborah, your entire team, thank you for making your funds available so we can redistribute them at the board. [laughter] >> and also mentioned earlier our city attorney's office, jon givner, our board city attorney and to his entire team, thank you all to our city attorney's office. (applause) >> and certainly everyone else

from steve on down the entire mayor's staff that made this budget happen, thank you so much. and i want to give a special shout out from someone i continue to learn from on a daily basis, our former budget chair , assessor-recorder carmen chu. (applause) >> and last but not least the people i think at the end of the day are critical and most important, i want to thank the staff of all of the board of supervisors members. in particular, my staff kathrin stephanie is here who was on budget with me the whole year. thank you, kathrin. (applause) >> margo and jeff on my staff as well, but again, to every single legislative aide, to all of the board of supervisors members, we can't do without you and you play such an integral role. so thank you for all of why you support this year. with that, i want to thank everyone for being here. i want to thank mayor lee for

his incredible leadership not only on the budget but everything he does here in city hall. let's get this thing signed. thank you. (applause) >> somebody's check is in here. [laughter] >> today is? >> good question. >> 24. [laughter] (applause)

>> the san francisco parks alliance is to inspire and promote civic engagement and philanthropy to protect the city and enrich san francisco parks, recreation, and green open spaces. today i think that you'll find that the and rincon hill is no

exception to that. you might know that back in the gold rush era, rincon hill where we're standing right now was one of the poshest addresses in san francisco. this was the place to be ~ . and then pacific heights took over and rincon hill fell into decline. then came the bay bridge and rincon hill really for decades was something of a back water. well, look at it now. we're surrounded by high-rise development, the presidential towers, built, getting built, and more of them planned. so, once again, rincon hill is one of the most sought after popular places to live in san francisco. but where are the parks? where are the public open spaces? where are the places where all of these thousands of residents can gather and reflect on the meaning of life and make connections and form community?

there's no public open space within nearly half a mile of where we stand today. that is about to change. so, it's now my honor to welcome to the podium alleyster mctag bert, the president of the emerald fund. the emerald fund is the owner of the department building at 333 harrison street. they're also the owners of this park we're standing in right now. the emerald fund is one of the bay area's premiere real estate developers. their focus is on developing and managing high-quality properties including residential, retail, mixed use, hospitality, and office spaces. as president, alastair identifies a new project, design, financing, approval, sales and marketing. i suspect a little bottle washing as well. all i stair received both bachelor's degree and mba from harvard university. alastair.

(applause) >> thanks, matt. as you heard, my name is all i stair mctaggert. along with my partner who isn't here unfortunately, we developed this apartment building and this park. not private, but park is the operative word. i am please today announce emerald fund via a conservation easement donated to the san francisco parks alliance is donating this beautiful park to the people of san francisco to be known as emerald park. emerald park will be open to the public every day of the year. and importantly, it will cost the city nothing. the city won't have to buy the land. it won't have to build the infrastructure. and it will not have to pay the

city upkeep going forward. emerald park will be a unique arrangement between the san francisco parks alliance and emerald fund. with an agreement known as the conservation easement that will ensure that forever this remains the public open space. and emerald fund by this agreement will forever give up its right to develop this land. park alliance will be a steward to make sure this remains a public open space. i moved to san francisco 16 years ago. i met my lovely wife here. we had both of our children here. and we used to live right in this building right behind us for many years. and i can tell you from firsthand experience there are very few parks around here, very few parks for children to run around in. and that's why saline and i decided to make this gift.

when all these buildings we talk about are complete, there will be thousands of new families around here, thousands. and this park is needed now and will be even more needed then. one of my favorite is the word respondent. which began, the world is too much with us. late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers, what we see in nature, that is ours. we hope it will make the busy urban space, emerald park, will remind us of a nature which is ours and provide a respite from a world which too often is too much with us. today my wife and i feel enormously blessed. san francisco has given us the best years of our lives and has given us the best in our live.

and we feel so fortunate to be able to give something back to the city wherein deed we've left our hearts. thank you. (applause) >> thank you, alastair. all of you are gathered here today should know that this gift was alastair's idea and that he and his family are the majority donors of the park. alastair and i and our partner peter started working on this park seven years ago. isabelle wade, one of the founders of the san francisco parks alliance, handled our community outreach and she did a great job. we had meetings with hundreds of neighborhood residents including one of our wonderful supporters jamie whit a kerr, right there, jamie, wave. these residents working with landscape architects cliff low

and katy taylor designed this park. later kirsten -- where is kirsten? a city planning and don of parks and rec as well as tradection professionals studied the park to ensure it met all the professional standards required of a san francisco city park ~. thank you, don. and kirsten, thank you, parks and rec. thank you, jamie, and thank you, cliff and katy for all your hard work. the children's play structure will be coming in the next few months. construction of the park is finished. the original plan for emerald park called for cities to buy the land and all the improvements as well as pay for the ongoing matesv. in these times of great stress on the city's budget, this solution proved difficult and we are so pleased to say today, let me reiterate alastair's words, that our arrangement with the wonderful parks

alliance, allows us to make a donation so that the people of san francisco, particularly those in rincon hill, will be able to enjoy emerald park 7 days a week forever with absolutely no cost to the city or to the people of san francisco. speaking for me as well as peter who couldn't make it today, this gift gives us an enormous amount of pleasure. i am also speaking as i rarely do for my wonderful wife, dr. rio, who is an equal donor with me. over the last 38 years, san francisco has been incredible to us and it is truly marvelous to pay back a little bit of our debt. we love the city and are so honored to be able to help in this small way. thank you. (applause) >> thank you. and now it is my pleasure to welcome to the podium rosemary

cameron the founding president of the board of the san francisco parks alliance. rosemary has pep her entire career in the public sector working in a regional and municipal parks and recreation, city management, legislative affairs, and communication. she continues to consult on marketing, branding, communication, social media, and fund-raising. rosemary has served as the president of the board of the parks alliance ever since its founding two years ago. rosemary. (applause) >> thank you, matt. and thank you all for being here today. this is a beautiful day in san francisco and it's a really special day in san francisco. what i would like to do is offer on behalf of the entire board of directors of the san francisco parks alliance confirmation that on tuesday evening, by unanimous vote, we agreed to accept the easement

from the emerald fund for this beautiful half acre park in the center of a neighborhood on the rise here. really central to the mission of the san francisco parks alliance is the promotion of the expansion of parks throughout san francisco for all san franciscans to enjoy. and what we are really especially humbled by and appreciative of and wish to say that emerald fund for this incredibly unique, generous, and creative way to provide a brand-new public open space in the middle of this rapidly developing neighborhood. we especially want to thank mr. mctaggert, and mr. erickson, and all from the emerald fund for really understanding the importance of parks, for

understanding how important open space and green space is for everyone in san francisco, but most especially for families and families with children who are rapidly moving into this area. and i understand there is going to be more and more of them over the years. so, getting this park in place at this point in time is truly significant. their commitment to providing the park is very significant. they spent over $2 million designing and building the park. there is a playground to come very shortly. and as you heard, they've agreed to provide the maintenance for it in perpetuity. this is a big win for san franciscans, a very big win for san franciscans. so, i really do want to offer my very special thanks to the entire emerald fund for this wonderful gift.

and i'd like to turn it back to matt. (applause) >> thank you, row mary. and now it is my special honor to welcome to the podium the mayor of the city and county of san francisco, mayor ed lee. (applause) >> thank you, matt. good afternoon, everybody. you know, i've been thinking about how special this announcement is today and it's just july. i've been trained all my life not to expect gifts until the end the year when it's closer to the holidays. but looking at this unique relationship of the parks alliance, with the emerald fund, and with the city and county of san francisco, it is very special. it is indeed a smart, very special gift to the city as a whole. and let me say why it is. you know, we used to and we

have been always talking about public-private partnerships. well, now there's three ps. it's public and then it's private, and then it's semi private. the parks alliance has been a semi-private entity ever since isabelle wade stepped in my doorway and said, we've got to do more. and matt owe grade i brought in the park avenue katz following and we've honored as much of the promises to them ~ because they work so well on behalf of the rest of the citizenry of san francisco. and, so, i suggest to you that the emerald park as it is announced today in a public-private and semi-private partnership that is occurring will be, i think, the signalling of a new model going forward for the rest of the city. that as we proceed with this incredible investor confidence

that the emerald fund has that the housing and development has, we'll also be asking for new types of partnerships to be created because it is no longer just the city that has to run the park system. we have to run it in a better and smarter way. and what can be better is that alliance that we have with the parks alliance. i think -- and i want to thank again the leadership and the private sector oz and alastair, and to your particularly spouses today, that you signal that this means so much to the city and to the families that we want to invite and the increasing populations to want to enjoy our city, that it is led by the park system. the parks are so valuable to the world class status of the city. and open space is incredibly important to us and we're going to continue to have those wonderful conversations and make commitments along the way that indeed signal that, and

continue to be the best urban park system in america that we earned last year and we want to continue earning for the rest of america and keep putting forth those models for the rest of the country to see so that my friends, be they the mayor of new york or the mayor of chicago can envy us on the eve of my going to the white house to receive, with the giants, the 2012 world series championship, recognition that we continue to also receive the world class recognition they would have for our park system. this is what it means. but it also means that challenges that were signalled literally just a few months ago when this park was established. how do you maintain a gift? how do you look the gift horse in the mouth and say, well, we can't accept it because we can't maintain it, for them to come up with one of the most innovative models for the rest of the country to follow is an important part of this everlasting gift.