energy. i have said this for many years because i believe it is true. it will be cities like san francisco that will determine our future, as it relates to global climate change. at the end of the day, the total emissions in this world is the sum total of local commissions. the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions are occurring in cities, like san francisco. unless we can right that wrong, unless we can get our arms around it, we are not going to turn the tide. cities like san francisco are demonstrating how to actually get things done. we are demonstrating the capacity to actually move the ball and raise the bar. we do it by making these kinds of announcements. they are small, but in aggregate, the sum total, it is to begin. we are giving cities an example

that they can do these things in a way to grow their economy, create jobs, and at the same time, reduce greenhouse gas emissions. a number of years ago, we had a big press conference. i remember some of the reporters saying that it was a waste of time. we had a bunch of folks from think tanks, and we must have had other people at the city hall, committing to this vision of electric vehicles. we all talked in terms, the day that we converted our taxicab fleet, how we could do a electric car vehicle sharing, how we could eventually provide the ability to recharge your car in less time than it takes to fill up a tank of gas, and we talked about these charge points in the city where you can

access. we talked about new technology, including at the time, this company that nobody could pronounced, and everyone said that is fine, that sounds fine. it is a pretty extraordinary thing from my perspective. only a few short years later, here we are on the heels of the original announcement where we secured -- and this is one of the biggest stories that got lost in the election. we secured a $14 million grant from the mtc to actually deliver on that promise, the first phase, creating four switch stations where you can do

exactly what we thought we could do at the time, which is provide energy for 60 taxicabs in the city that will be an unfettered -- outfitted with batteries. you can switch those batteries out and switch them with a recharged batteries. those dollars are arriving. that commitment is now made real. 60 taxicabs, four switch stations that will have this technology. in addition, we are taking other taxicabs and making them electric. we will be the first big city in the nation to have an electric fleet. that will leverage roughly $30 million of local money, including the partnership's we are announcing today, with companies like mastercard.

all these things today are taking shape in real time, and i just think it is exciting. again, we are in the house business. we are proving how we can get this done. we are proving we can get it done in a business better and create a new opportunity to build the economy in this more sustainable future that we tried to build. i know we are here to announce this partnership, but i am here to celebrate that vision and celebrate that resolve and collective wisdom through our bay area bay quality district, our partners at the pork, -- port, the work of ed lee, the border supervisors, and through these public-private partnerships that we are now developing. this federal stimulus grant provides 4600 of these charge

points by october 2011. $37 million from the fed to do this. and they are doing it in cities that have demonstrated leadership first, and that is why this is the first partnership of its type, were like a clipper card, you can take your mastercard and touched it, be able to take one of these vehicles. i know everyone says, what is the big deal with public policy? leadership matters and it creates new economic opportunities and leverages federal dollars in ways that other cities are not. again, i am just very excited and proud of this. thank you to supervisor dufty for leading the church --

charge. i was working on that line "charge." >> wait till i get started. [laughter] >> thank you for his work on the board. everybody who went after these grants. the team at the department of the environment who have been real leaders. it is a nice story but it is part of a nicer narrative. we are really proud of the work, and the best is truly a to come. thank you all very much. [applause] now for the next electrifying presentation, supervisor dufty. [laughter] >> great to see everybody. as usual, the mayor cover the waterfront, so to speak, with all the details of this industry and what we hope to see happen.

so i can be light-hearted and say that becoming the next mayor of san francisco is almost as much of a growth. i am sure many will go to sleep tonight dreaming about the possibility of having an electric mayor's vehicle. i think they are already making plans. on a more serious note, i think i am like many people in the bay area. i have been driving my honda for 13 years, i love it, but i have held out thinking about a new vehicle. i think the infrastructure that will be made over the next year will really convince more and more people to make that choice. i think it is really exciting and another demonstration of the lasting legacy of this mayor, in terms of the environment, putting san francisco on the forefront of brain initiatives. i am thrilled to be here. coulomb is an exciting company.

it is great to have leaders in clean technology here. we want to have the technology, have a coming together of clean technologies here. seeing it work in san francisco will make consumers want to have ev's, and hopefully more companies will want to do great work, here in san francisco. [applause] >> i am the ceo of coulomb technologies. the mayor can say it any way that he wants. we appreciate you all being here today. this, for me, is truly a priceless event. i do not get home today if this charcard does not get charged. [laughter] my car has a range of 90 miles an office is 56 miles from here. if i do not charge, i will be

stopping at some point. this is priceless. very important for enabling somebody like me to be part of getting us off of oil. that is what we want to do for you. last year, we spent half a trillion dollars importing oil from companies that hate us. we want you to be part of the solution to get off of that. we do not always have wonderful days like this, when it is beautiful. we do not want to ruin this. we do not want to pollute the air. you ought to be part of the solution. cars like this, other electric vehicles, you will be able to be a part of the solution. with mastercard, is as easy as buying a coke.

these vehicles run on about $0.20 a day -- $0.02 since the day, compared to what you get for gasoline. we are lucky to be getting the mayor gavin newsom. we will miss him here, but sacramento will benefit. we do need that talent in sacramento. this can go from being a great initiative in san francisco to being a great initiative for the state. as the mayor pointed out, we were awarded this $37 million program from the stimulus grant with the government. we had to choose nine cities in the nation, and san francisco was on the list. in fact, it is the place to start. we are happy about that, but we

also expect leaders like gavin to take this further. we also want to thank priority parking. they have really led the effort. we did a similar event in sacramento. they have taken the lead, they have invested in this. aaron has been a wonderful partner. priority parking is making this happen, and he is making it happen with private funds. the city of san francisco has figured it out. people like bob hayden, ed, have figured out how to use other people's money to bring san francisco into the lead. these people i happy to do that. this kind of leadership makes a huge difference. i especially want to thank mastercard. mastercard has seen we need the convenience of their credit card in order to get these things easy to operate.

and very secure. part of the reason we are going with these credit cards is so that you do not have to worry. i have people at coulomb who are trained to keep your secret secret. there are rooms in my company that i am not allowed to go anymore because i am not approved. it will make it easy for you so that you can be part of the solution. we have been extremely fortunate. we have to thank the mayor for the weather. we are thankful to be in san francisco after all these years. thank you. [applause] >> we are going to get a few words now from mastercard. kathleen is the business leader of the u.s. emerging team, director for mastercard, and she will tell you about the weather in new york.

>> we much prefer this sunshine. thank you all and good afternoon. on behalf of mastercard, we are excited that coulomb technologies and their charge points have joined hundreds of thousands of merchants that already except mastercard pay past. we take pride in leading the charge to bring open looked payment technology to new channels, where speed and convenience is critical. nowhere is that more evident than in the whole transportation segment. we have enabled subways, buses, trains, taxis, parking, and now electric car charging stations. with mastercard paypass, all electric car vehicle owners, drivers, municipal fleet workers, all they have to do is go up to the charging station,

tap and go with a mastercard paypass card. it is very safe and secure and makes the experience easy. today, we have over 83 million kurds in the market today. -- cards in the market today. we are making everything more quick and convenient for our consumers. mastercard is thrilled to be part of this " were groundbreaking technology. what better place to launch than here in san francisco, the greatest city in the state. with that, i will turn the podium back over to the mayor and we are going to take a mastercard paypass card and charge away. [applause] >> hold a card right here for a moment.

now it is charging. now i get to go home. >> nothing else? >> tap and go. safe and secure. >> unbelievable. an extraordinary moment. >> give me a sense, how much will this cost? >> i do not know what the policies here will be, but typically, about $2 a day. >> no requirements on the card? are you going to turn it may for just $2? >> no, we do not. >> i have driven his car for over two years and i have yet to go to a gas station.

>> 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.