before the 2013 date. >> this question is for ian. just a follow up on the court's question. a lot of interest in more specifically where the turning marks will be, and if you will go beyond the golden gate bridge, the demarcation line? >> there's a possibility -- and some of our briefings recently, we would like the golden gate bridge to come into play, likewise alcatraz, and this is the front. it's quite likely we could start to decide -- the market could go up to 1 mile to the west of the bridge and still maintain our course. we want to have a mix of courses. we want to have a degree of

difficulty. these boats will be very physical to sail. they have extremely large sails. many would be dealt with with mechanically driven motor. that's not the case here. to get these boats around two or 3 miles lengths of course various times, it is going to be tough. we envision the body of the course to be between alcatraz to just slightly west of the bridge, the city front. >> has a wind limit been decided upon? we heard a rumor from 3 knots to 33

>> i think one of the great criticisms about recent america's cup is that big old heavy vote did not sell in a lot of breeze but did not move in slight breeze. this class has been designed with two clauses of solid wing styles. a 32-meter one and a 40-meter one. obviously, the 40-meter one is for the lighter errors. -- airs. when we conceived the camerons, there was a desire to make it work for television. we decided that we wanted to sail between three and 30 knots. we want to sell whenever we can, but the reality is, the condition of the sea is just as important as the wind, whether it is an ebb tide or not.

there are many things that we are managing. there are many things that we will be dealing with. it takes me back to my skiff days. we will be able to manage pretty much any condition at san francisco can offer to us. >> there is a report out today that you made by the nba hornets and move them to san jose. >> to the best of my knowledge, they are owned by the nba. george jones sold them to the nba. the nba outbid me for the team. >> [inaudible] >> not true. i did offer $350 million for the hornets. i think i was slightly outbid by

the nba. >> david chiu alluded to the tough negotiations that took place to bring this to san francisco. i am sure there were some last- minute concessions to make this possible. specifically, the waterfront property to be transferred over versus least, the amount of money that you will be investing in san francisco? >> if i could go first on this. there has been a lot of misunderstanding as to what happened. when the city of offer their proposal -- and perfectly reasonable, we would move from one set of piers to another and we had to do an engineering assessment of the new location. it happened close enough to our deadline where we had made public commitments that we had to pick a location by the end of last year.

given the new location, we had done a thorough investment of the first set of piers. at the northern location, we had to do a new set of assessments to see if we could build a sailing village and get that done by 2013. that took some time. as a fallback, if we thought we could not do that, we would have to go to a city where the sailing facilities were already in place, like newport. if we could not build the sailing village in the new location, we were going to go to newport. that is what that was about. >> let me just say, maybe i am just old hat in some respects, being around labor negotiations for the past seven years, i did not think anything was particularly surprising about

the negotiations. it is surprising, as i sat up front, the team will be investing hundreds of millions of dollars over all. they are bringing something extraordinary to the city. they want to make sure there is some certainty in the process. michelle just referred to the fact, i refer to it prior, that there is less certainty because of venues because we have to build them. to answer your question, we have to work through some of those finer points in the last few weeks. it the end of the day, what was remarkable to me, we agreed and committed to a process and got to where we needed to go within the spirit of the legislation that the board of supervisors supported unanimously. so i was pleased with that process and certainly with the outcome. it was a very advantageous

process at the end of the day for both sides. we have more clarity on their needs, and i think, we have more clarity on what we need to do to process as well. >> we always wanted to come to san francisco but we needed to have a high degree of confidence that we could get the sailing village finished by 2013. that was the critical factor. we had enough information in terms of the engineering. we have to go through the ceqa process, which we know will take one year, we hope not longer, but we did not know as much about the northern location as the location near at&t ballpark. we have to do the engineering assessments and it came up positively. we are very confident, unless something very unanticipated comes up, we will be able to get the village built in time and have a great event in 2013. >> let me underscore this issue

of confidence, it is essential. when the board expresses unanimity, environmental organizations, community groups, one of the big benefits of this kind of project is when you have more support than when you began, it gives you a degree of certainty that he may not have otherwise received. the ceqa process will begin in earnest. there is no guarantee with ceqa, but we are about as close as we can with some certainty to get that done. >> just for clarification, the least versus ownership? >> it is an issue on see what 30 -- seawall lot 30. we will be working with what the board provided us. we believe confidently that we can get that approved through

the state agencies. we think it was an important thing for the event authority and advantageous from the city's perspective. >> mr. alliellison, there is a t of attention between city negotiators and your group. just wondering how you can work past that to make sure that this is a successful event? >> we are very excited about being in san francisco. we have a high degree of confidence we can get the village done by 2013. the relationship and morale with our team is high and we are excited to be here. our relationship with the city is positive. this is the beginning, not an end. we have to work closely together with a number of people in the city. i think both sides are highly motivated to make this the best america's cup that has ever been, one of the greatest

sporting events that has ever been. it is in both sides' interest to do a good job here. i think we get along fine. >> phase one is behind us. we have already entered into phase two. that is the past. frankly, a lot of it was while the overplayed. we are in very good stead, moving forward. >> mr. ellison, you are going to end up with a lot of our rights to develop. what are your plans along those piers once the america's cup is over? >> but i do not think i can lay out what we want to do pier by pier. a lot of them are not contributing to the city and could be more beautiful than they are now. we want to develop them in such

a way that is both environmentally friendly, makes an economic contribution to the city, and where residents of the city want to go, whether it is for lunch or a walk by the waterfront, or boarding one of these wonderful books to go for a sale. we want to in view that life into the city. >> there was talk about putting a hotel on pier 50. is that something that you would consider for one of the others? >> we have focused on the sailing village, not a hotel. our big focus by 2013 is to make sure, if we have 16 teams here -- which is what we are planning for. i hope we get that many. we want to make sure we can

house those teams, boats, their equipment, make sure all of that is in place so they can focus just on competitive sailing and not worry about logistics, problems with their facilities. >> behind the scenes, we are working on visas, providing the resources for these teams. there is an enormous amount of work that does not get attention. san francisco is very good at those things. our village is already built. our stadium is already built. we have to spruce up these facilities, and a lot of them you do not even have access to it. there will be investments made, and that will be the legacy of this race. it is an extraordinary thing, from san francisco's perspective. that is why so many san

franciscans support of this effort. >> mr. ellison -- >> we are almost out of time. two more questions. >> the america's cup is an enormous undertaking. i know many people have tried and failed and left. what is the driving force and motivation for you to keep going and accomplish this almost impossible goal? >> there is a personal and to that, why i pursued the america's cup, and then there is the sense and responsibility i have toward the sailing community. turning this from an elitist event into a popular sporting event. i sail primarily with

professional sailors. i sail on the professional circuit. i spend a lot of time with professional sailors. professional sailing is not as popular a sport as it could be, i think, because it has not done the right tv coverage, the boats we are sailing on are perhaps not as exciting to watch or sail, compared to somebody doing back flips off of a mogul. it is not an extreme sport, but we are trying to make it attractive. we want to attract young people, tv viewers. that would greatly benefit all the people who make their living selling. i have been a part of that community for a long time. i have a sense of obligation to them and that is why we are

trying to transform the america's cup, the number one sailing event, into something that is user friendly, fan- friendly. that is why we are in san francisco, this great amphitheater where people can watch from the shoreline. we went to the fastest boats that we could conceive of racing to make it much more fan- friendly, tv-friendly, and more commercial. that is going to raise the level of professional sailing to a point where it is maybe not at the level of professional tennis or baseball, but getting close. a lot of people take it seriously and follow it. the other answer is personal. why do i pursue sailing? why do i pursue my job? i believe human beings are

interested in discovering their own limits. i think life is a journey of discovery. one of the things that you find out is what you are good at and what you are not good at. a lot of my life is really testing my own limits. that is the personal answer to that question. >> thank you, everyone. thank you for mentioning moguls and backflips. that is a perfect way to end this press conference. and applause to everyone on stage. thank you, everyone, for coming, and let's celebrate.

>> right on time. i am grateful that a number of you showed up today. i thought we had just a few people being sworn in. i kid you not. i was thinking we could do this in my office.

we would have only been able to get a 10th of you in there. i am grateful that you took the time to be here. i thought this would be my last swearing in as mayor but i have two people, supervisor dufty, tomorrow that i will quietly swear in. this is the last public swearing in of my tenure as mayor. i do hear some claps on the other side. i am glad i do not hear any on this side. somebody picked up on that. -- some of you picked up on that. [laughter] i am appreciative of department heads being here. of course, our city attorney dennis herrera, who has taken

the time to be here, phil ting, bevan dufty, the ubiquitous supervisor, and so many leaders, particularly from the labor community, chief of staff, and particular, the rank and file of my favorite local, 261. [applause] truly my favorite. they are here for you, vince. i am pleased to be swearing in six individuals and i am honored that two were recently and overwhelmingly supported by the board of supervisors as a member of their other applicants were rudely rejected for purely political purposes. but i am over that.

but i needed to state that publicly. that is sometimes the way people act when they cannot make the right decisions. sometimes they make the wrong ones. in this case, they made the right ones with the two of you and supported vince courtney to the public utilities commission -- [applause] i guess i should have appointed him four years ago. little did i know. i should have mentioned him last time. that is unfair to the other commissioners. i know jason does not even have a friend here. [laughter] he does, jason elliot,

department of the environment. leona bridges. we are proud of her as well. [applause] >> how many have dealt lta sigma theta in the house? [applause] >> our collegiate expert, supervisor dufty. we talk about behavioral health and mental health, and i say that in the context of anyone who wishes to serve on the mta board. leona clearly passed the test

and i am glad she did. it is pretty remarkable with all of the warfare as it relates to public transit in our city, dealing with $220 million in state cuts over the past few years. we have been running surpluses at muni had the state not gone in and drawn down nearly a quarter billion. that became the biggest challenge in your biggest frustration in the last few years. so we are navigating through that. that has been the struggle. we are going to be on a much firmer footing in the future. leona will be a big part of the new direction, particularly with the transit effectiveness plan. we have a real information to which we can make decisions about augmentation and changes, and that is the first time in over decades. ed harrington was a big part of

that as comptroller. i really do feel more optimistic than ever about muni. that is a hard thing to say, right? but i do have faith about its future. beverly, hang on. a big round of applause. [applause] this is a big deal. the mayor gets one appointment to the ethics commission. the ethics commission is a big deal, particularly when a lot of elections are going to take place, mayor's race, all of the public financing. we had a great meeting yesterday to talk about integrity, honesty, calling strikes, even if your friends are on the other side. you have to stand up and do the right thing. beverly was ahead of me on all

these things. i gave this a lot of thought and did not make a precipitous decision in terms of this appointment. i am very grateful that beverly said yes, and i am also grateful if you would also give her a round of applause. it is her birthday. [applause] happy birthday, beverly. [applause] i have known lorna for many years. she has been around since the old days of the school district. those were challenging days. we were on not getting along. it was challenging. lorna always stood out as someone trying to bridge those gaps, try to work for all those

challenges. she has done some amazing work with an organization that only does good work, focuses on best practices, mckinsey, a great think tank. we have talked a lot about how great she would be. she has been an advocate for women's rights, advocate for girls. we thought it was appropriate to appoint her to the commission on women. thank you for your willingness to serve. [applause] finally, i see francesca, our first department of the environment. there was an opening at the department of the environment and there wasn't a young guy that has driven a lot of us crazy because he is eager, enthusiastic, engage, and he plays above his weight, figuratively, not literally.

that is jason elliott, whom i am honored to have served on the commission of the environment. he has been my policy guide. i am just going to -- at peril of being judged -- to be bragadotious. i will put up our record that we have done in the environmental commission with any others. i am really proud of the work that has been done. i have great confidence jason will continue that work well beyond my tenure. which expires soon. [applause] the swearing in. i will ask each of you, if you could, to stand up, sit down if you must, but raise your right hand, which i insist upon. i will say i -- you will state

your name, and then we will go down the road. you got it. vince, you got it? i -- do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies foreign and domestic and i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that i take this obligation freely without any mental reservations or purpose

of evasion and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties of which i am about to enter, and during such time as i hold the position as a member for the city and county of san francisco. congratulations. [applause]