>> please direct your eyes to the water out over the bay.

just a quick note -- the 5:30 to net the lawn is not canceled -- to nebulon is not changed. for those wishing to change rocket ships, you can talk to spot. we have another rocket ship on the way, but this one is where they take off, any minute now. we have a couple of speakers here today. the first one is an lazarus from the port. public art like this is not done without partnerships, and the partnership that we have with the port of san francisco turned this space into an art space and has been spectacular. thank you, ford of san francisco. if you are representing the whole commission and some staff, though, ann if you want to say few words, that would be great. our boarding up is right here.

>> thank you all for being here today. i would like to thank mike for wearing his seersucker suit so we were sure to get some sunshine today. i'm assuming there is a cause and effect there. it takes a village to accomplish something like this, just as with everything else in life. as mike said, this has the complete, wholehearted endorsement of the port commission, all of us, of our staff, our planning staff, even all the way across to our maintenance staff, led by tom carter. i just want to say in closing and thanking everyone, who says we do not have ships down at this waterfront? [laughter] thank you. [applause] >> i also want to thank the opportunity thank thebcdc who helped us -- bank -- thank bcdc,

who helped us get a permit for this. i told people that the cost of putting something up like this cost the city about the cost of a billboard for one month, and they had a greater ability to create community and space, and it has been a fabulous addition to the port of san francisco. people will talk about this rocket ship forever. the next person we have is our district supervisor, david chiu. when david first came to the board of supervisors, he had a conversation with the cultural affairs director for the city and county of san francisco, and he made art in san francisco a priority. he wanted to make sure the money we were spending was spent on artists from the bay area. it was very important to him that this happened. as many of you may or may not know, san franciscans -- san francisco is one of the city with the most artists per capita. our government agencies spend

more money on arts than any other government agency per- capita, and the foundations that work in san francisco spend more of a percentage of their money on art in san francisco, so with that -- for them, we're all grateful, and we will talk more about them. without further ado, supervisor david chiu. >> hello, fellow travelers. i go to a lot of events every day, and i have to say, this was the event i was looking forward to all week. yes, and one feel that way? happy friday, by the way. i'm going to say a couple of things that elected officials probably should not. when i was a kid, one of my favorite pastimes was to launch off bottle rockets. and if i had gotten some better grades in physics, i might be helping to build these things as opposed to major in political science and becoming a politician, but at the end of the day, this is part of what is so special about san francisco,

and one other thing that i'm going to say that i probably should not say -- i have never gone to burning man, but i think it might be about time. i want to thank all of you who are part of this amazing community that has helped to move forward not just the arts community, but to really improve upon community collaboration, improve upon how we think about living together as san franciscans, as californians, as citizens of the universe. i think the last thing i want to say is, as someone who represents much of the waterfront here, this is obviously what i hope is just one of a number of amazing installations that i know that the local artist community is so incredibly capable of developing, and i look forward to future installations like this so that we can make sure that our art remains not just burned in our minds, but burned in the minds of everyone throughout the world and throughout the universe. congratulations.

thank you. [applause] >> this fabulous relationship that the city and county have started in about 2005, and we had some very creative project that had happened since then, and it all started with the executive director than coming into the mayor's office and saying that we want to do more public art. put more public are on the streets and the community of san francisco, and start trying to build community. then, it changed to melissa. she carried over, and we had more projects, and we kept coming back, and then, it started to go national. started happening in detroit and reno. if you want this to continue, you have to go and give. it does not happen without your support and supporting your

community. i know we all do it in different ways, but you have to try to find a way to do more so that stuff like this can continue happen. with that, tomas is going to talk a little bit about the project and the people responsible for it. [applause] >> he just said everything i was going to say, except when we saw this ship last year -- i do not know how many of you were there -- and friday night, when the incredible thing happened that nobody thought could happen -- this rock actually launched, and as it was out there, i had a feeling that it would probably land right here. thank you all for coming out. i do need to thank a number of people that made this possible.

chad, andrea lesser l --ester -- lester, thank you all so much, and also, to alex rosenthal who pulled together this event, thank you. have a good time. [applause] >> one of the great things about this art and the other art from the desert that has come to san francisco is to see how much the art changes in a different environment and how our perception of where we are at in our space and how this has changed -- it will change before. it is interesting looking at the perspective here. it is a really great day. i do want to bring up sean orlando, who is representing the artist.

it is so great to have him here. he represents a team of many people, and i'm sure he is going to talk about those people. it is a great to see -- many times, artists have communities that follow them out there, but oftentimes, you do not have artists where community is the process. do you want to talk a little bit about your piece? . -- [applause] >> thank you all for coming out. this is really incredible. thank you to the port of san francisco for clearing the air space to allow us to crash land on pier 14. it is really quite an honor. this has been an incredible experience for us, working with brad and lesley trichet and the port and city to allow us to place this amazing work of art that was designed and built as a group project in a collaborative manner by artists and engineers and programmers from all round the bay area, and i'm really proud to work with them.

it is incredible that -- even more so, that this is the first ever rocket stop in the united states. virgin galactic, you have nothing on us. one of the new elements that we have added to the rocket, which you will notice in the background is the rockets thought, is our intergalactic bay area rocket transport or ibart. [laughter] thank you all for coming out. we have the phenomenon coming on in a little bit. we have the space cowboys, gastronaut and all their amazing food. thank you to all the volunteers. [applause] i want to go over couple of things. first off, braf has a table over

there, so if you can, and get more information about what they're doing across san francisco, across the country, and get them to try to dedicate a little bit of time, money, and cash to try to help them succeed in putting art like this together. here is the reason why -- if any of you have a chance, leslie wrote a piece about why flocked matters, which was a piece we put out in city hall a little while ago -- i guess three or four years ago. basically, it said that public art is art that you own. no one can tell you what to think about it. there's no one telling you how the field or believe is possible with this art. it is art that any opinion matters. one of the highlights for me was went 35 grammar school kids came up and tried to tell different people what they thought that that was, and it was so fascinating. with each piece, there is a different story and a different tale that the community is telling.

with david best's piece that went in his brain, some guys said thank you for that piece, and some guy said definitively without a doubt, but " this is a bird house", right? and everybody in the community saw an argument start between people in the community about a debate about what it was. another thing, the art that was created there has created another space, which is dedicated to art. out of that came the hayes valley coalition that continued to put up piece after piece and are committed to continue to bring artists into that space to show their work here in san francisco, which is really great. i'm trying to string a little bit of time out here before i introduce the mayor of san francisco, and i'm trying to get an indication of how far out he is. any indication? >> [inaudible] >> laugh i do not know any jokes, but we do have someone

here who wants to do some poetry. no poetry and no jokes, but what many of you may not know is that we built this rocket ship in 1944 and launched it in 1944. we got lost, so we -- throughout our travels, we have been traveling through space and time, picking up passengers, dropping them off, upgrading our rocket ship, collecting specimens and aliens, and some of the specimens and aliens are actually amongst you. we landed in san francisco because we thought you would not notice them as much, but the problem is that the customs agent approached me, and you all forgot your cards, your id cards, so aliens, if you could please come here and collect your cards, because you will get stock. there is one. thank you. thank you. they just blend right in, don't they?

thank you. great, here he is. ladies and gentlemen, the mayor of san francisco. gavin newsom thank you all for coming out. -- mayor newsom: thank you all for coming out. i want to thank all of you for being willing to once again allow the city to try new things. it was not that many years ago that we could not put a peace sign up at the panhandle. we could not put a spider on top of city hall, and we could not even put a giant foot down at the embarcadero. folks, in san francisco, for all our progressive politics and our aggressive policies, there's just something about public art where we are not always as

progressive as we should be. i made the distinction "public art." there is something about putting something on the streets and sidewalks that is incredibly personal to san franciscans, and as a consequence, incredibly controversial. when i came into office, one of my firm commitments was to break the rules. and i say that in a loving way, that the idea was that if we could not win by the current rules of the game, we either had to challenge those roles or change them. so what we did is we tried to reinvent our focus on public art by finding a loophole, and this was it. temporary public art. that has been the big differentiator. we went in, and we said, "don't worry. it will just be here for 30

days." 60 days. 90 -- was it a year ago? i thought it was just 60 days ago. the point was once people got used to it -- in fact, we found the spider right here. she was here. and people started to say, "what is that?" and then, two months, they would ask why we were taking it away. that has been the narrative and partnership with the black rock arts foundation and all those incredible artists that you guys represent, all those artists that are here that are represented in this extraordinary piece. we have done that 20 significant public arts installations in this city in the last couple of years, and that is pretty good. those are significant. thousands of others significant, but at a smaller level. we did the arts in the store

front. people thought we were crazy, and now that has been replicated and modeled all across the country. we had a budget with $500 million deficit, and they thought we were crazy when we said there would not be any cuts to arts programs and arts investment in the city, but we were able to do that as well. so we are moving in a different direction. i will just end by saying i think an exciting direction. i think we have raised the bar once again. the bar was always high in our city with our 40 years of our neighborhood arts program and all that contribution at all of you make with a set aside on every new public projects, but this is one of my favorites, and that is really what i was coming here to say. i think this is just incredible. this is going to get a lot of attention, appropriately, and deservedly. it is good attention.

you have the new span on the eastern side of the bridge that is being done. you have the most environmentally friendly development in the history of this country that will happen next year on treasure island. you have a revitalized waterfront that slowly is evolving. organic produce, organic farming, our values being advanced here every single week. a lot to be proud of. a lot to be thankful up. in that spirit, great job. keep up the great work, and i am a proud san franciscan today. thank you all very much. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the phenomenon will be here shortly. they are still trying to land. they weren't the late, so it should be just another couple of minutes. thank you very much. >> ♪

>> in this fabulously beautiful persidio national park and near golden gate and running like a scar is this ugly highway. that was built in 1936 at the same time as the bridge and at that time the presidio was an

army and they didn't want civilians on their turf. and the road was built high. >> we need access and you have a 70 year-old facility that's inadequate for today's transportation needs. and in addition to that, you have the problem that it wasn't for site extenders. >> the rating for the high viaduct is a higher rating than that collapsed. and it was sapped quite a while before used and it was rusty before installed. >> a state highway through a federal national park connecting an independently managed bridge to city streets.

this is a prescription for complication. >> it became clear unless there was one catalyst organization that took it on as a challenge, it wouldn't happen and we did that and for people to advocate. and the project has a structural rating of 2 out of 100. >> you can see the rusting reinforcing in the concrete when you look at the edges now. the deck has steel reinforcing that's corroded and lost 2/3's of its strength. >> this was accelerated in 1989 when the earthquake hit and cal came in and strengthened but

can't bring to standards. to fix this road will cost more than to replace. and for the last 18 years, we have been working on a design to replace the road way, but to do in a way that makes it appropriate to be in a national park and not army post. >> i would say it's one of the most ugly structure, and it's a barrier between the mar sh and presidio. and this is a place and i brought my dogs and grandchildren and had a picnic lunch and it was memorable to use them when we come here. what would it look like when

the design and development is completed. and we are not sure we want an eight lane highway going through this town. and it's a beautiful area in a national seaport area on the planet. >> the road is going to be so different. it's really a park way, and it's a parkway through the national park. and they make the road disapeer to the national park. >> and the road is about 20 feet lower, normally midday, you go through it in two minutes. looking back from the golden gate bridge to presidioyou are more aware of the park land and less of the roads. and the viaduct will parallel

the existing one and to the south and can be built while the existing one remains in operation. and the two bridges there with open space between them and your views constantly change and not aware of the traffic in the opposite direction and notice the views more. and the lanes of course are a foot wider than they are today. and they will be shoulders and if your car is disabled, you can pull off to the edge. and the next area, the tunnel portal will have a view centered on the palace of fine arts and as you come out, you can see alkatrez island and bay. and the next area is about 1,000 feet long. and when you come into one, you can see through the other end.

it's almost like driving through a building than through a tunnel. and noise from the roadway will be sheltered. and the traffic will be out of view. >> when you come out of the last sort tunnel and as you look forward, you see the golden dome of the palace of fine arts and what more perfect way to come to san francisco through that gateway. >> it will be an amazing transformation. now you read it as one section, the road is a major barrier and then a wonderful strip along the water. all of those things are going to mesh together. >> right now the road really cuts off this area from public access. and with the new road, we will be able to open up the opportunity in a new way.

>> this bunker that we see now is out of access for the general public. we are excited to completely rework this side and to open up the magnificent views. and what we want to do is add to this wonderful amenity and restore this coastal bluff area and respect its military history and the doyle drive project is allowing us to do that recorrection. and this area is not splintered off. >> and we can see how dramatic a change it will be when doyle drive is suppressd and you have a cover that connects the

cemetery to this project. it's historic on the statewide and national basis, but you could rush the project or put thought and time to create something of lasting public benefit. >> we really want this, for everyone to feel like it's a win situation. whether you are a neighbor that lives nearby or a commuter or user of the park. that everyone will experience a much better situation than they currently have. >> the human interest to me is how people could work out so many challenging differences to come to a design that we believe will give us a jewel. landmark of a place. >> i am sure it will have refining effect like embark did. and there were people about

that and no one would think of that today. and when you look at growth and transformation of the embark, the same with doyle. it will be a cherished part of the city and a worthy addition to what is there. >> it will be a safe and beautiful entrance to a spectacular beautiful city. it will be the entry to golden gate that san francisco deserves.