here with us and the great work they have done. [applause] we have and the ball and the team for web core builders, who are going to be building a hospital for us. [applause] and we have a team of folks from jacobs engineering, who are providing the construction management. what we have for bringing this team together is not just a modern design and modern construction methods, but we have most modern means of delivering a complex project like this where we have all these folks working together and the pre-development funding enabled us to bring them together, and what that allows us to do is it allows the people who are going to be building the building to sit down with the people who are designing the building to test concepts such as prototyping.

the base isolation is going to make sure that this hospital is seismically safe. it allows us to make sure that the way that we are designing this is a way that we can also build that in a most efficient and effective way. it allows us to get ahead in terms of bidding for certain parts of the project. we just were able to bid the steel package, for example, pitting what we believe might have been the very bottom of the steel market, which is going to save us about $5 million from what we felt we were going to have to pay. again, i just want to reinforce the foresight that the mayor and the board had in providing this pro development funding to enable us to work collaborative lee and ultimately to get an accurate price, to save money for the city and enable us to deliver this project. what we bring is the project management, and to do that, we looked across the bay, and there was a guy who was finishing up

getting the highland hospital built over in alameda county, and we recruited him here, so our lead project manager is ron allen need a. i want to acknowledge 10. -- ron alameda. he is leading a great team devoted public servants in the department of public works. they are supported by edgar lopez, our head of project management, and our city engineer and deputy manager. it is with them and me that we are committed to doing as mitch said, which is bringing this project, delivering it to you on time and on budget as we promised when we got the support of the voters back last november. i also just want to mention that we are not only just building a hospital, but we are building a hospital that will meet the seismic requirements, very stringent seismic requirements that state law requires, and

that san franciscans desert to make sure that we will be safe in the event of the earthquake that we know is going to come. we are delivering this building to be a lead certified building, which means that over the life of the building, it will perform better, use less energy and water and other resources -- much less than the current hospital currently does, saving san franciscans money year after year down the road, and that in building this project, we are making every effort to make sure that that $887.4 million not only gets a great hospital built but along the way provides opportunities both for san francisco residents and for san francisco businesses. this is our local stimulus project, right here, nearly a billion-dollar project happening during this economy. could not have happened at a better time, and we are committed to making sure that san francisco businesses and

residents benefit from this. so we are very pleased to be here. thank you to the voters for giving us your vote of confidence last year, and congratulations to the board of health and city of san francisco for the great facility that is going to come. thank you. >> one of the challenges that you all will recognize is that you are standing on where the new hospital will be, but during the next five years, we cannot forget about the hospital there because that is where our patients are going to be. on that note, i want to thank and recognize kathy young, who has the responsibility of keeping all the other facilities going. are around here in the public sector, she does that with a lot of that tape. we have mops used to move certain engineering equipment. i know all of the secrets from having been here.

i want to also recognize we have a great chief of nursing who is here. the administrative team -- i saw you here somewhere. our chief making sure that it all works well. we are very grateful to you. i also want to note dr. thomas kean, who is now head of medicine at ucsf. our former head of medicine here -- he watches over us and make sure that the university is fully supportive of our efforts. we are very grateful. our chief medical officer. i also cannot miss the chance to say this, dr. elliott rappaport, the former dean, who also taught me everything i know about cardiology, which unfortunately, elliot, really is not that much. but we really appreciate the

number of years. dr. rapoport is one of those people who stayed six months and may now be up to 35 years. how many years? 49 years. that is the typical san francisco employees. i also want to say we are big believers in the health department, that people need hospitals. hospitals are critical, but hospitals are not where we want people. where we want people is in the community. we want to keep people healthy. we want people seeing their primary-care doctors, whether here or in the community or at the federally qualified health centers, and for the incredibly rich array of community-based services that either keep people out of the hospital or give them a warm place to go. it is now my honor to introduce

to you judy guggenheim, the president of the san francisco general hospital foundation. without them, we would never be in this position of being able to be talking about a new hospital. they have been our friends, our supporters. they have helped us to raise money, help us raise support, and no one has been a more enthusiastic spokesperson for this hospital then to the guggenheim -- judy guggenheim. [applause] >> thank you, mitch. every time i stand out and talk about san francisco general, i feel humble and proud. i feel humble because what goes on is in a public arena, the most remarkable consensus of all kinds of groups all across the city working to make this hospital something that not only can we be proud of, but that is

recognized all around the country as the very best of the best. our programs go nationwide. our research goes nationwide. every time i bring somebody here who has never been to the hospital before, they all go away just filled with energy and enthusiasm, thinking that this is the best place they have ever seen. that is why i feel humble. it is also why i feel proud. it is a remarkable thing to be able to stand up and say what goes on here because of the work of every single person involved here, and now, because of the work of 84.5% of the people in the city, is just unheard of. i know we are going to have a

fabulous new hospital. i know webcor is going to do a wonderful job. i think the mayor's office has just done a remarkable -- remarkable job and 8th board of supervisors and the unions and the republican party and democratic party and the business community. most of all, i think all of you and all the voters in this city have something to be really proud of. thank you. [applause] >> in closing, terry is the one from our side taking the lead on making sure that the hospital fits in terms of the new building and our facilities. we are going to walk down now to where you see the shovels. we hope you will stay and watch the mayor as well as the health commission and other elected officials. take that first shovel of dirt

that brings to the new hospital. thank you. i will start at 5 -- mayor newsom: i will start at 5 4 3 2 1 [applause] congratulations. well done.

>> in the store manager, and i would like to introduce the mayor of san francisco and the newly elected lieutenant governor of california, gavin newsom.

[applause] mayor newsom: is that me? supervisor, i'm not ready for this. welcome, everybody, and thank you all very much for coming out today on this special ribbon cutting. supervisor maxwell and i were colleagues on the board of supervisors when this project was first brought up. i remember the controversy like it was yesterday. originally, as you know, this was supposed to be home depot. exactly. i knew it would be like saying the dodgers of san francisco or something. people immediately started to align themselves up in tents, those that just could not imagine a home depot, could not

imagine a big box retailer in the city and county of san francisco. i remember all the community meetings of on the hill. all over. we were all over the city having community meetings about the basic future of san francisco and what kind of city we wanted. were we a city of neighborhoods, or were we just going to find a suburbanized san francisco as our future? that was the debate, and home depot had to come to the table, spend a great deal of time with supervisor maxwell. the other supervisors wanted nothing to do with it at the time. but supervisor maxwell was open and wanted to make sure if there was ever going to be a retailer like that or a big box like this, that there had to be some strong commitments to the community, and they needed to

take shape in a private meeting. they needed to be on paper. they needed to be in writing, and we needed to make sure the attorneys were there so that all those commitments were enforceable. then, home depot, out of nowhere, decided to take off, just like sirens on that engine, and all that work, the macroeconomics of the world started to change, and they decided they had gone through the entire process, those arrows, those slings, and they went through all of that, and we had this incredible untitled project. every single thing approved. all those commitments. and the supervisor -- i remember the day after that announcement. we were on the phone talking with michael cohen, saying what do we do? and we got this call from lowe's saying they might be

interested. i remember that conversation. we said, "can you believe this?" we were pinching ourselves saying, "this is too good to be true if." there were a lot of disappointments because of the commitments that were made and the negotiated agreements, and we had gone through all the politics of this, and we finally -- the community was very supportive out here. not unanimously, but overwhelmingly supportive. we thought it was time to follow through on our commitment to the people of bayview hunters point, particularly 94124 area code. days became weeks and weeks became months, and folks in the mayor's office, my office, and supervisor maxwell's office, and lowe's said they were willing to accept all the commitments that previous books made. we thought they would say they would commit to everything, but then we thought they would start

to unravel, and they would pull back. but the reality is they said they would commit and they committed. and here we are, and they did exactly that. the local hires i think are without precedent of any big project in this city. this is real on the destruction inside and the permanent jobs that are being created. that is a pretty extraordinary thing. 211 or so jobs. 88% are just from in and around the area. it is an extraordinary story. i'm really proud of lowe's. we are not jumping up and down four big boxes. we will be candid. we love the sales tax. this is a big deal.

but we are sensitive to what big stores do. because you guys are so good that some of the little guys can be threatened by it, but this location was the right location. this boulevard needed the economic stimulus, the anchor. look at all the fresh paint across the street. it did not always look like that. you are going to see in the next few years this boulevard take shape. if lowe's continues to be the employer they have proven to date, a lot of families will benefit because of the jobs created because of this, so thank you for following through on all your promises. so far, you are one of the good ones, and we want to keep saying that for years to come. i thank supervise the maxwell for getting in the mix and holding strong because it was not easy. i was watching those votes, and,

man. [applause] all the commitments on the work force training money, the day laborer program, all those new trees we were going to get -- thank you for holding steadfast. michael cohen and all the folks in my office that helped make this possible. we are on our way out. we have had the best dam year. this is like 1998 and again or something. there's so much to be proud of or thankful for. with that, your supervisor, supervisor sophie maxwell. [applause] >> thank you. i remember like yesterday those

five to six votes, but what made a difference was the community. what made a difference was young community developers and hard hats and yellow vests lining up the walls. 60, 70 of them, and each of them speaking about the opportunities that they wanted to become working people. they wanted jobs and they wanted a leg up, and that is what this was about, so that is what i remember. i remember 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning, but it was all worth it. i can hardly find a parking place this year. i'm really excited, and this boulevard -- you are right. we are working on becoming a home improvement district with lowe's being the anchor, so i think you are going to find a lot of fascinating things happening in this area, this district, so i want to thank the mayor and all of my colleagues.

the so-called progressive -- they do not relate like economic development that much. they like programs. so aaron said that it was going to be rough, and i told him to represent the people standing here, and he did. i want to thank all the people who are going to come here and the 50% from 94124 and 93134. thank you for that. >> and thank you to look of 22, local 261, to rsr construction. thank you very much. now, we are going to hand it back to lowe's and have the ribbon cutting. thank you.

>> with all of that, we just want to thank everyone. first from the city of san francisco for welcoming us. we opened the doors, and it has been wonderful hearing all the comments from the customers about how excited they were to come into lowe's and how they look forward to come into lows. i want to thank the community and neighborhood for welcoming guests -- welcoming us. i want to thank the honorable mayor of san francisco and sophie maxwell for welcoming us. i would like to thank rhonda simmons and her wonderful and entire staff for her guidance and support, and i would like to thank everyone for the partnership.

i would like to thank derek smith for his guidance with this whole project. without your advice, i think we would be wandering through, wondering where to go. i would also like to thank my district manager for his support and guidance, but most of all, i would like to thank short construction and the storm voice and their families for the hard work and dedication and the hours away from home that they spent building this store. it was a wonderful experience to bond with our group that were from this community. [applause] i would like to cite -- to thank malcolm x academy for allowing us to do a super heroes project

at their school where we repainted and unified their school and planted for them and help them with their nutrition project, but i would like to present the thurgood marshall high school a check for $1,000. from cost to you, -- from us to you, thank you so much. [applause] we would also like to present to san francisco city coalition at $5,000 tool donation. [applause]

now, lowe's would like to have the mayor and district supervisor do our board cutting ceremony. [applause]

mayor newsom: congrats, everybody. worked out. worked out for the neighborhood as well.