>> it is similar to the one i did with supervisor maxwell a year ago. tragedies have befallen some of the clubs and some of the incidents that are more acute than they were a year ago. i think there will be the support for this when there wasn't for a similar initiative a year ago. i think the entertainment commission and supervisor chu have done a good job. i'm inclined to support it, whatever details appear on my desk. i am not naive to think one thing one day and the next day, think a little different. all of these are ideas. i think i have had a dozen meetings with club owners and promoters. we are just throwing out ideas. sometimes they get headlines.

we just want to get a sense of people. i am worried about civil liberties. i'm concerned people could share these lists. how do we know these lists are not shared? people have a right to know the lists will not be marketed or exploited. those things have to be worked out. there's a reality. we have not been able to address this in a substantive way. we had an incident during the world series in my neighborhood. i had some folks telling me the inevitable is going to happen. boy, it happened. we have to be aggressive. i told the promoters and the club owners this. we don't want to be too prescriptive. the majority of people do the right thing and are promoting safe venues. there are a few bad apples. we cannot let that continue. i think most of them get it. they don't want it to go too far.

we have to be sensitive to those concerns. >> [inaudible] >> i am not -- i have said more than you will never hear me say about the interim mayor. she is still close. i talked to them all the time. we share the same campaign manager. i have great confidence in what she did. that means i have great hope that she actually pulls this thing out. we will only know that in a week or two. both sides are prepared. >> [inaudible] >> i have never liked it. you know that. i cannot explain it. how do you measure it? when i ran for mayor, i said, i don't know what will happen to me. you said, it is all done. i was lucky.

if i had 49% of the vote, i might of lost the election. it is strange. i cannot figure it out. it is not a knock to the winner. when you cannot explain something, and even the people who put together -- it is easy. you ask them to questions and it embarrasses them. you know it is not a positive sign. i will admit this. i did the rank choice thing. i went, same person, same person, same person, and they said i could not do that. this is the incumbent mayor person who ran himself. i had forgotten. half of them are ranked choice. half or not. why are to the judges ranked choice? i doone, on -- can i do one, one, one? will that hurt the candidate? make it easier and more

transparent. we are making it a little harder. there are people working on that right now. trust me. i am open to it. i was open to a legal challenge. that was processed unsuccessfully. you know, it is not just because of oakland. even in local supervisor races, people are wondering what is happening. it is confusing. i don't know that is a good thing. i think you should make it less confusing. >> [inaudible] >> that is another thing. now you get into district elections. when i ran for supervisor, it took a 110,000 votes to get elected. that gave me a sense of responsibility to the city. now you can get 2000 votes for the same job. i get paid $30,000, and then i

get paid $100,000. it is something i have always been concerned about. every other city has district, but no other city is the small. their districts in l.a. county bigger than the city and county of san francisco. this is a city of neighborhoods. we were all connected. we have 11 supervisors when there was a homicidal inbayview. now you have one. it has proven itself, district elections. there is a more ideological reason to support it. addirv -- you add irv, and you have someone elected with a couple of thousand votes. i am a little uneasy about all of it. i think i told you guys this.

i have drafted legislation. it is on my desk right now. i will hand it to someone if they want to carry it and go a different way. there are two options for changing. old irv we just dusted off. these questions we raised a number of years ago when we were concerned about it are now coming home to roost. this could dramatically change the mayor's race next year and dramatically change the face of politics in the east bay and here in a way that might be unintended. >> [inaudible] >> what i said -- i hate to say it again. i promised myself not to talk about this. i said enough. the city is going to be fine matter who is in it. i think it will work itself out. it seems to be working. it is working itself out.

>> [inaudible] >> no, i can't. i could, but i'm not. >> [inaudible] >> yeah. yeah. >> [inaudible] >> there is no limitation to what you can do with the money. you can hire your best friend and pay them 50 grand per month and take the public money, and it is legal. that is time and budget deficits. it is a tough pill to swallow. i support public financing reform nationally. i understand it probably better than most. >> [inaudible]

>> you know, let's see how it fleshes out. we have not seen that in the past. you saw some supervisors use it. this is all just -- i am the guy that is leaving. talk to the people coming in. they have more to say. not yet. i know. i will just get in trouble. i want friends. i don't need enemies. i hate having opinions. >> please be seated.

thanks to the color guard for the colors and that wonderful rendition of the national anthem. [applause] good afternoon. i am jeff neally, with gsa region 9. this is a very exciting day. we all have the honor in participating the kickoff of the modernization process and the renovation of the historic united nations plaza, and for these events we have a number of special guests. i would like to recognize these guest speakers who are with us today. the first is honorable avenue some -- gavein newsom.

then dan bernal, speaker of the house nancy pelosi's director. we have megan miller, field representative for barbara boxer. also joinin us is the vice presidnent. moving here is a great treat for gsa. it will the -- be the hub of activity. this will be a state-of-the-art facility. during the depression, arthur brown jr. designed a new federal

building in san francisco. he went out of his way to make this a complementary feature of the nearly-completed pacific center area. the civic center is a scene of events of great importance, including the founding of the united nations and the peace treaties with world war ii. this shows as a poll reform moving to the united states. the architecture and plans are regarded as some of the finest and most complete manifestations of the beautiful movement. there is a scholar of classical architecture that says that this is the greatest ensembles of architecture in america. in 1899, the mayor was

considering concepts the proposed establishing the grand civic center for san francisco. and leon know what had happened. after the earthquake and devastating fire, there could be a new city hall to replace the one that was destroyed. over the next 17 years, there were new parts added to the civic center. promises of the federal building began in 1933, completing in 1936. this brought the civic center to completion. and of course, the history of this building is both interesting and witty. like the office of nimitz, who will be next to my office. [applause]

how cool is that? that is the reason this is a beacon of sustained design, with a green certification from the green council. this in the building is having a life brought back into this. gsa has an open-office environment and natural illumination. this includes five grades and environmental radiation, the plumbing systems, the restoration of the historic significant -- to create modern offices, and this will be a hi- performance building.

this is not the leak -- the new building that you make to keep standards, this is the old building that you preserved. this has lasted almost 80 years. this is without major renovation. the biggest impact is avoiding consuming raw resources. the configuration of the building has a lot -- direct control for the occupants. these are operable windows, and this is a very green concept. these will be high-efficiency, low-cost, and we will reuse the existing systems in the building. this was part of the image of gsa, serving the public and only seem minor changes and improvements, demanding very little investment.

after a couple of those california earthquakes, the government said that they have to meet new seismic standards. we determined that this would require major investments in the facility. and the question was just that. the cost of the seismic issues. we considered an option to dispose of the property. but there was some maintenance of this historic aspect. we thought of turning this over into the private sector. this was a creative and interesting idea and we reached an impasse trying to negotiate this. in 2008 it became clear that this would be the ideal tenant. 50 suits fits this

perfectly. we will leave 450 golden gate to this beautiful building. the space we empty will be backed up by the fbi. through the american recovery and reinvestment act, we are creating jobs and stimulating the local economy. this project will create and save more than 1300 jobs. there is also a number of contractors to advocate 46% of the contract in dollars to women who are disadvantaged and small businesses. i should take a moment to recognize the gsa team which got

this project moving. the deputy regional commissioner, tricia chang-lin. [applause] director of design and contruction, cathy lee. [applause] moncey eggleham. mat gier. and the san francisco service dorector jim caen. [applause] and all of the other team membes. none of these projects are possible without our many contractors. the team of hks and the multiple

consultants, the commission ferm, space climbers -- the artists at the cliff garden stidios. for -- studios. for all of those, a round of applaus. i could talk about how happy gsa is to gettng to this building. i could nnot be happier to introduce this man. he is born and raised in his city. mayor gavin newsom is here with us as we breathe life into the

civic center. hsi strong support -- his strong support is what this project needed. >> i an thankful to obama. and our speaker, nancy pelosi. to have the courage to step up and step in. and provide us the resources. this will get us over the hump. we will put people to work. this is a legacy of these times, but contributions, and the contributions that will provide the resources to put people to work on this project and projects throughout the city and county of san francisco. this is simply something that

would not have been done if it was not for her leadership, barbara boxer's leadership. a round of applause for the political courage in washington. a final point. i know you think, what can be done to improve the area? [laughter] this is a big part of this. i will take credit for this. i need it. we have struggled. a great plaza. designed s one in 1989 we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the united nations, with people coming from

all over the world including the new secretary-general. we wanted to turn on the found. you do not want to know why we were shutting this town. you may want to lean over to ask a friend if you do not know what i mean. we began to build on this. we put together a new partnership to do whatever -- what every mayor has promised to do. i actually believe this. we're getting closer to the tipping point and in 2013 and 2014, we will have reached this place and beyond. just down the road we will do a demonstration, and the people out there and in the rainfall,

they have been out there as a part of the way to revitalize this, and we will be here for a couple of days to do this installation in the area. we have new retail establishments, anchoring the future of the mid market. this was approved by our friends in the board of supervisors. and we have a small-business loan program, that we finally got off the ground. one of these recipients was pearl ferguson, one of the great burger joints. 16 would be employed. blix arts is here. you have these organizations that are committed to this area.

arts are going to revitalize this area, as it was the case in manhattan, as it was the case in those very difficult parts. of new york. there is one of four in the country. this became a national model. and i sincerely believe that we are here, where things are going to take shape. and people will learn more about what all of you are doing, because this is critical to get 900 of you, coming in and out of this building, completely changing the dynamic. and i am convinced that this will happen. i believe that you have those restaurants opening up, and retailers coming back into the area. this is one of the unfinished

efforts of that goes backs and those with lanterns will pass by, and the legend has been passed by and i do not remember the order that they were in. brown, myself, mayor daily or -- daly or whoever is next. you are very interesting. i just want to remember this moment. this is a great moment in the revitalization of the city, in the heart of the city, with this 60 blocks that surround us. this is where the values are represented and the challenges are quite evident and visible. i am incredibly enthusiastic. congratulations on the day. thank you. [applause]

>> thank you very much. on behalf of gsa, a coin for the recovery act. you can't spend it, but you can have it. >> ladies and gentlemen. [laughter] [applause] >> i knew that. [laughter] >> that is a hard one to follow. we also have other people with us. i introduced dan, the speaker- director for pelosi for five years. her support for the recovery act has made it possible for gsa

to undertake this project. with her assistants, this will pay huge dividends for many generations to come. please welcome dan bernal. >> thank you. thank you, jeff and mayor newsom. this is the only $122 million coin in the country. in washington they have just extended the middle class tax cuts with the voting that was done. they worked hard for the recovery act, but none of this was congressionally directed. they understood what this would do for the country, what this would do for the economy in the bay area to create green jobs,

and this would set an example for the sustainable architecture. i would like to thank our friends with the architectural firm as well. she could not be here but ask me to read a few words to you. thank you for inviting me to join you at the construction kickoff ceremony for the renovation of the u.s. general services regional headquarters, the beautiful and historic 50 united nations plaza building. the american recovery and reinvestment act is making a very historic investment to upgrade and modernize federal buildings and make them energy- efficient, including $122 million for the united nations plaza building. this will save with pentecost's -- and this will create good- paying jobs in the green building industry.

the decision is good news for san francisco, for the civic center area, and our economy. renovating the building and making it more accessible will create and save jobs while using the facility as a gsa regional headquarters to improve the lives of those living and working in the regional civic headquarters area. it is not only significant for san francisco's economy but a vital part of our city's historical district. the architect also designed city hall, the opera house, and the veterans building, all of which give our city its unique character and contribute to its beauty. i would like to thank all those who made the renovation possible and to thank the acting regional administrator for his leadership in economically, sustainably, and efficiently managing our regional aspects.

we look forward to the day with the richest -- when the registration takes up residence in the building. warm regards, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house. thank you. [applause] >> please thank speaker pelosi, and we also happen to have another recovery act coin. >> is it $61 million? >> it is going to get cheaper as the day goes on, i'm sad to say. [laughter] >> as i said a moment ago, congress is in session. the house of representatives and senate are tackling major issues as we speak. barbara boxer is unable to be with us, but her field representative is standing in. we are grateful that the senator is also a stalwart supporter