will condos sell for. construction costs, and there is soft costs, things like impact fees and interest. to get from today's world where there is no new construction to tomorrows where there hopefully is, some combination of those three factors have to shift. either projected housing prices have to go up or costs have to go down. this legislation and proposed affordable include general legislation will help bring costs down. it will lower soft costs and a construction start that much earlier period to give an example, let's use tower two. it is ready to go. 299 units, completely entitled, a full set of construction documents. all it needs is a pencil, and it does not do that yet. the combined impact of the deferred fees of this legislation and the exclusionary transfer fee being proposed would bring $19 million of savings to phase two.

almost all that is an interest expense. what that translates to is $62,000 per housing unit. looking at it a different way, this means construction can start when housing prices are $62,000 less expensive per unit than what would be needed today. that is a pretty big impact. overall, this $18 million to probably expedite things about two years. let's look impacts for the city. one, jobs. there will be approximately 800 union construction jobs created. two. fees. $80 million in fees, and finally, property taxes. a new condo towers here will pay $3.2 million more than a vacant piece of land is right now. this is an annual payment, so if products are its two years earlier, we're looking at 16.4 million extra dollars. the development community, the

building community would like to commend the mayor and the board for this first step, for this legislation, and we urge them to find a way to get the second deskilling so we can start bit of -- the second piece billing so we can start building and hopefully we will have the groundbreaking back here soon. thank you. >> thanks, mark. really appreciate those facts. we have one final speaker, the developer of rincon twer and future developer of rincon tower 2. >> good morning. we are very committed to san francisco, despite the worst financial collapse that we have seen since the great depression. we have gone ahead and pay off our construction loan in full, $200 million. we have paid off of $20 million in fees to the city in phase

one. we face this challenge where the economy is at and where the fees are at and what the mayor and board and michael had done singlehandedly is remove one of those two significant obstacles, and that the invigorates our commitment here, so we hope to see you all soon -- that reinvigorate our commitment here, so we hope to see you all soon when we have a lot of guys with shovels and cranes and all sorts of exuberance as we pull out of this terrible recession. thank you very much for coming here today. thank you for all your efforts. take care. [applause] >> with that, we are actually going to sign a real legislation. it is right over here. we have two ordinances. mr. mayor, if you could just have a seat.

>> [inaudible] >> [laughter] mayor newsom: that's it. [applause] happy to answer any questions.

all right, you want the developer back to answer your question, right? >> [inaudible] mayor newsom: affordable housing fee is one of a number of pieces of legislation we introduced. that deals with the inclusion very housing responsibilities for any new developer that is developing new units, and this would provide a deferral on those by creating a new transfer fee that would be permanently placed on the property, which would generate more revenue for our affordable housing trust fund and the current inclusionary housing fee. the concern is the transition to the new system and how we can find that gap, which we are working with the board of supervisors on, notably supervisor maxwell and others that have expressed concerns. the new financing the supervisor

dufty wanted will be a significant piece of legislation to help finance those costs, up front infrastructure responsibilities and fees for new development. we think that is less controversial. i believe we have the votes, so who knows? supervisor dufty feels confident -- he can speak for himself in a moment -- about the prospects of getting at past -- getting that passed. we have again identified 9 specific projects, over 2500 housing units, already in tidal projects, talk about shovel- ready. these things to get going today. they just have a financing gap. this would decrease the ups on costs and reduce the loans and debt burden, which is the interest that would be borne on the project, push it to the back, generate the support we hope of the lenders to actually

land on these projects and move them forward, generating revenue in terms of stimulating impacts of job creation and the benefits to our local economy and ultimately, the project may permit, property tax revenue and the baseline that the project will develop -- the project made permanent. i do not know if you have a sound bite in their -- good luck. this is really innovative legislation. this is taking responsibility. we can blame sacramento, blame the fed, or we could take some accountability. i think it is innovative and responsive to the conditions. i think it is among the most significant pieces of legislation that we have passed in the last year-and-a-half since this macro economic turndown in terms of helping stimulate our local economy, and no greater stimulus than construction jobs. no greater stimulus than

developing housing and improving your infrastructure, so this is where real jobs are created, real multiplier is developed, and a real opportunity in terms of addressing the biggest challenge we have right now, and that is unemployment. they are very supportive. they have been very supportive and very patient. i think all of them are looking at not only this legislation but the melarus legislation and also affordable housing. it's certainly complements it. if we get all this past, i am confident we will have dramatically shrunk the delay in terms of time before these projects start their development, meaning rather than waiting 30 months, we could see things happening in the next six months. rather than waiting two years, we could see things happening in the next few months. that is how important this

legislation package is. i thought those numbers were pretty compelling. this is not the minimus -- de minimus. this is real money. everybody is getting paid back, but they are not ultimately having to be the upfront costs, which in this climate of liquidity and credit crunch, is incredibly important. any other questions? fabulous. thank you all. congratulations. [applause] .

>> san francisco. . >> san francisco is a sanctuary city. . >> san francisco is a sanctuary city. san francisco is committed to providing safe access to public services to our community. . there is really, only one boy... one girl... one tree... one forest... one deep, dancing ocean... one mountain calling...

one handful of sand through our fingers... one endless sky overhead... and one simple way to care for it all. please visit earthshare.org and learn how the world's leading environmental groups are working together under one name. earth share. one environment...

>> welcome to the san francisco civic center. if so the president of the san francisco arts commission. -- i am the president of the sentences " arts commission. we're pleased to present to you today this incredible temporary work of art. three heads, six arms by the internationally renowned artist. this is conjunction with the

30th anniversary city celebration. you will hear more about that as well. we're pleased to have you here. we're pleased to have the artist join us today along with our various partners in this effort. this piece will be with us for 18 months. everyone will have a chance to see it in various lights and from various angles and be able to enjoy his presence here and san francisco. i cannot imagine a more gorgeous morning to kick this off. thank you for joining us. we have the mayor, who told his staff and the folks at the san francisco arts commission that he wanted something spectacular to mark the anniversary. you will hear from the people who took that directive and got it done.

first and foremost is the executive director of the san francisco arts commission. working with the rest of the staff at the arts commission, the managed to gather the various components and people that needed to help to bring this to fruition and get it done in time for the celebration. without further ado, louis cansel. >> this is a phenomenal turnout. i am very pleased on behalf of the arts commission. i want to thank you for taking the time to join us for this dedication ceremony. the arts commission is especially grateful that mayor newsom, and others, and especially the creator of this

magnificent sculpture could all be here today to celebrate the dedication of this work in the heart of our city. mayor newsom, the staff, the commissioners, and i are especially proud to work for a mayor who normally supports the arts, the challenges us to do more, to be older -- bolder. i distinctly recall that about eight months ago, he said that he wanted something big. he said he wanted something impactful and controversy of that push the envelope. mr. mayor, i hope this is big enough for you. the arts commission celebrated its 40th anniversary and made history with the debut of the glass memorial. what is missing is at the

academy of silecience. we may to history again with the world premiere of the new sculpture by this artist. i think that is worth around applause. [applause] -- today, we make history again with the world premiere of the new sculpture by this artist. he gained international notoriety for his early performance art captured anin photographs that now grace the walls of some of the most significant museums, including the san francisco museum of art. after he moved to san francisco in 2005, he started a new chapter in his artistic career by embracing a more traditional mode of painting, drawing, and sculptures. tools work -- his work now

exemplifies a more traditional link with his culture. he continues to use the body is the primary vehicle for exploring questions related to tradition, history, and personal experience. this work is part of an important series of monumental works depicting be fragmented extremities of buddhist sculptures that inspired his discovery of religious sculptures that did been destroyed during the cultural revolution and were for sale in a tibetan market. mr. hcange was deeply -- he was deeply moved by the damaged sculptures. with this work, he believes he is able to alleviate the pain caused by their destruction. it is a commentary on the

changing reality the chinese people who are being forced to reconcile their deep-seated traditions in the face of the country's successful and rapid modernization. with this sculpture, mr. change presents us with a vision of hope that these two seemingly opposing forces can coexist with equal value. thanks to the gallery and the generosity of our many sponsors that our next speaker will address. i am happy to announce that the sculpture will be here through the end of 2011. i am also proud to announce the the national endowment for the arts award the arts commission is $70,000 grant, the second- highest this year, to support the bringing of this sculpture to san francisco.

we're grateful to the chairman for that support. i want to take a moment to introduce the person, part of the team here at the san francisco arts commission, but really the person who spent many sleepless nights trying to overcome the various obstacles associated with the transport and bringing this fabulous sculpture here to san francisco. please join me in welcoming and banking -- thanking jill for her great work on behalf of the city of san francisco. [applause] >> thank you. that was wonderful. welcome to everyone. can you hear me? i know that i have a soft voice. this is a glorious event. i am so happy that you are here to join us. i am amazed at how art to galvanize an entire city.

literally overnight, a think the buddha has become the talk of the town. my main purpose is to identify and thank the many people involved on both sides of the pacific ocean. without their help, this project could not been realized. to " the former first lady, hillary clinton, "it takes a village." with this project, that phrase could not be more true. as the project manager, i am the common thread connecting the many visible and invisible contributors to the project. i know that thank you's can be the most boring part of the ceremony and people generally to and out. please listen because my list will help you to learn the complex and dramatic sage of its dramatic journey from

shanghai to san francisco. it is very complex to bring a project of this sale to for -- of this scale to fruition at the top of my list, and must think the artist. [applause] he has given us the true honor and privilege of displaying his wonderful sculpture and our most public places. i also want to thank mayor newsom for giving me arts commission and the mandate to do something big and spectacular for the city. that is all i needed to hear to get something -- to get me going. i hope we have achieved what you desire. i am glad we pleased the mayor. we always want to do that. with the approval of my boss and

the arts commission -- without their approval, this would have been dead in the water. thank you to all of them for supporting this idea. with their usual enthusiasm for placing art, i p want i phiwantk the department of support of the sculpture. it was after was able to verify that the 30,000 pound weight would not crashed into the parking garage. engineering also contributed to this project. so many people gave and gave. this is somewhat chronological. there are still some big names to mention here. they provided the structural engineering calculations at no cost to the city. i was able to convince rec and pa the wickedrk -- i was able

to convince rec and park that we could install this without doing damage to the city property. the engineer told us it had to be within 12 inches of the center line of the plaza. it disturbs my sense of symmetry. i kept trying to move my head. we had to listen to the engineers. there was very little latitude for artistic intervention. now that i have the city approvals lined up for the most part, i asked the gallery in new york if they would consider my proposal. joe baptista from the gallery supported the idea and obtained approval from the artist. this was the make or break moment in the project's history.

thank you, pace gallery, joe, and zhang huan for loading us this wonderful piece of art. mr. howard adnd teresa hu met me for a drink. they asked what they could do. when i explained that i hoped it would help me to ship it from shanghai to san francisco at no cost to the city, that was my idea wish. my less than ideal wish was that they would do it and a great discounts. i caught them exchanging glances. howari caught them exchanging

glances. howard said it would take care of it. this is a great moment. [applause] please stand up so that we can recognize you. this is a san francisco-based company with offices anin shanghai and around the world. this project and the impact on the city appealed to them. thank you for your great gift. they went to work and quickly brought in victor. victor flew in from hawaii. provided the shipping free from shanghai along with a lot of the management and paperwork. stand up, victor. they did an excellent job. [sirens]

the torso was too big to fit in the container. they put it at the top of the ship. it was wrapped in red. i like to think of the buddha guarding the journey of this ship across the pacific. thank you so much, victor. [applause] i also want to thank the hus for giving us the expertise of their staff. scott. they didn't say ok, we will do this for you for free, but they actually had their staff work with us on a daly basis and help us really project manage the details and logistics and the complications of exporting a work of this scale and complexity. would you please stand as well diana, leslie and scott? i couldn't have done it without your expertise and guidance.

we are total novices at bringing 30,000 pounds of a copper and bronze sculpture from shanghai. thank you so much. [applause] now that we had the shipping and the export taken care of, the project really gained tracks, and with that, our development director was able to add that information to our pending grant with the national endowment for the arts that was mentioned, and we procured that $70,000, one of the highest awards given. everything builds up, and again, it takes a village. every day somebody else participated and added more. scott, the president of fine arts handling, puts his heart and soul into everything he does. he was so taken by the spirit of this project, that his

company also waived their administrative fees. everyone wanted to do it at virtually no cost to the city. that was amazing to me. city departments don't work that way. they say send the money over, and then i will do the work. i want to thank brian, the head of the crew who flawlessly with a crew of eight or 10 people the installation. they finished ahead of time. it involved them crawling inside the buddha to aattach and bolt it together. you did a flawless job, and i know the artist is happy. thank you. [applause] >> you are polite for clapping and applauding. i hope i am not boring you. i hope i am not boring you. everything we want well until