>> i have 2 job titles. i'm manager of the tour program

as well as i am the historyian of city hall. this building is multifaceted to say the very least it's a municipal building that operates the city and county of san francisco. this building was a dream that became a reality of a man by the name of james junior elected mayor of san francisco in 1912. he didn't have a city hall because it was destroyed in the earth wake of 1906. construction began in april of 1913. in december 1915, the building was complete. it opened it's doors in january 1916. >> it's a wonderful experience to come to a building built like

this. the building is built as a palace. not for a king or queen. it's built for all people. this building is beautiful art. those are architecture at the time when city hall was built, san francisco had an enormous french population. therefore building a palace in the art tradition is not unusual. >> jimmie was an incredible individual he knew that san francisco had to regain it's place in the world. he decided to have the tallest dome built in the united states. it's now stands 307 feet 6 inches from the ground 40 feet

taller than the united states capital. >> you could spend days going around the building and finding something new. the embellishment, the carvings, it represents commerce, navigation, all of the things that san francisco is famous for. >> the wood you see in the board of supervisor's chambers is oak and all hand carved on site. interesting thing about the oak is there isn't anymore in the entire world. the floors in china was cleard and never replanted. if you look up at the seceiling

you would believe that's hand kof carved out of wood and it is a cast plaster sealing and the only spanish design in an arts building. there are no records about how many people worked on this building. the workman who worked on this building did not all speak the same language. and what happened was the person working next to the other person respected a skill a skill that was so wonderful that we have this masterpiece to show the world today.

i want to welcome you all. this is a really extraordinary opportunity to have major lee -- mayor lee see some of the facilities that will be hosting the america's cup. we wanted to take this opportunity after having initially briefed mayor lee on the america's cup and having him have the opportunity to actually kind of see first hand some of the venues and the real opportunities of what the america's cup is going to bring to san francisco. we are going to hear from the -- representatives from the entire americas cup family and those folks that were responsible for helping to bring this event here. without further ado, mayor lee. [applause] mayor lee: good morning, everyone.

just walking through the peers with members of the port. i can not only say that not only did we make the right decision, the world has made the right decision. this is one of the most beautiful places on our -- earth that this 34th america's cup could possibly be. when you look out today, you'll get a glimpse of what millions of other people and viewers and visitors will see in 2013. my first thought was to let you know that this was a very high priority for me. many of you know i was not here december 31, so i have been looking for the unopened champagne bottle that was supposed to be left in room 200. maybe it is in some supervisor's office, but there has got to be one unopened bottle there to

celebrate because knowing that this is coming -- on december 31, it was a culmination of what i saw was a whirl wind, a solid year of activity. ever since the cut was one in february and the immediate negotiations that gavin newsom and others had started, culminating in the negotiations and certainly working very closely with our board of supervisors to make the very best deals that we could possibly have for our citizenry and for our visitors and for the city, and that culminating in -- on december 31, when i was not here, by the way, as you know, but yet, still celebrated. i was in hong kong at the time, and i heard the news that our family was jumping up and down. explaining to my friends in hong kong what that meant. that was extraordinary for them

to understand as well. by no means is if international event. it is what gavin has often told us. it is several world series events, several super bowls put together, strung together. i also know that it is not just a one-day event, as you all been educating yourself about this fantastic boat race. we will have entities from a round world building their boats here, coming here with their entourage, beginning now, actually, taking a look at the course and understanding what it is to build a boat here and then executing what they have to do to make sure their boats are ready. this happens now. it does not happen a year from now. they are all beginning to come now, so our restaurants and all of the businesses, the

procurements of what they need to support their staffs coming over here. they are all beginning now. that is part of that $1.4 billion economic outlook that we had when we made this decision and got the award. 9000 jobs -- that is a heck of a lot of jobs for san francisco to host in the coming years. and it is a great promise. i'm so proud of this city for having done everything it can for the full board and the mayor's office to have united on this front for the year and for the leadership that these two supervisors to my right have demonstrated to bring everybody together on this. it is a wonderful feeling, and i am so lucky to have been appointed and elected to this office at this time because it is one of my top priorities. i have said that to a number of you earlier, that the america's cup, to get it started, would be

very important to me. so today, not only do we have the various speakers here, but it is the beginning of the execution on the promise of a world-class event being hosted here in san francisco, and i want to let you know that my very first thought was -- "who is on this team? who is coming together to help me execute this thing? am i going to have to go it alone? of course not. there are thousands of people. the whole city, the work force, they are all very excited. certainly, the port is, but i wanted to let you know that the very first directive that i have issued -- and i'm not so sure i have to issue such a directive, but it is just a format, a way in which we operate to make sure everybody is on the same page. and my good friend, lt. governor newsom, is out there as well. he knows a lot more details about this, but we have been in

many of his previous pronouncements where, "how are you going to implement this? how are you going to get this done?" we are going to get this done with the lieutenant governor's help as well and his enthusiastic support and leadership. it is a great decision, and it is one that the city will cherish for years to come as we unveil all the new things that will happen. but i want to announce today, in light of what i said and what we know to be the importance of this is to put together a top- notch executive committee team to lead this effort. we are looking at a solid relationship with our event authority. we are looking at solid relationships with those private investors as well as all the different port entities that will be impacted. we are looking at solid relationships with our

communities, all of the communities of san francisco, all the different agencies that need to be coordinated, and in order to do that well and all the details, you have to have right at the start a very visible steering committee of people, of entities that reflect how important this is. so the first entity i'm looking towards -- you have heard from the director of the office of workforce development. they will be the lead in forming our relationship with the host city committee for the organizing committee with the authority and making sure that we honor all of the obligations that the board and the mayor and the city have already read and promise both to our citizenry as well as our businesses, as well as the agencies. we have a lot of regulatory and land use approvals that have to be done, and that office will be leading that effort as well. developing all of the event

logistics with the authority and in coordination with all the different agencies. we will be partnering through that office with the america's cup organizing committee on all the private fund raising that has to get done and also the obligations. we will also be working on a plan that promotes this city and the best we have been able to do. i know we have done a great defense in the city from the world series two super bowls and so forth. as i said earlier, this event will be a combination of all of those great events put together for literally the year -- the next two years leading up to it. so, of course, we will be promoting all of our great benefits and local restaurants, hotels, retailers, manufacturers, big businesses, but also small businesses. they are really a backbone.

once that i have served for many years. they will be included in all of the development and planning for this. our community relations -- i said it earlier people in hong kong did not know what the america's cup was all about. people in chinatown are still learning, and they are going to get a great dose of my opportunity to explain to all the communities what this is about and how inclusive it will be, how inclusive it can be. it is a chance for the america's cup to really rebranded itself, if you will, to make it an even bigger world-class event, and san francisco is the perfect place to do that. coordinating with our visitors convention bureau, with our other agencies to make sure that the millions of visitors to san francisco that will pay attention to this are taken care of. right with the office of economic and workforce development would be our sport of san francisco. we are standing here and sitting

here on their property. brad benson is here today representing them, along with their great director, and their whole staff are very geared to this event, and how to balance it with all the other developments we have been pushing very hard to do at the port. the cruise ship terminals, as you are well aware of, and also, they will be paying a lot of attention to any issues around displacement. if there's anything that the port has done, they have really communicated very well to their tenants. obviously, this will move things around a bit. i'm paying attention to that and working closely with the port to make sure that they fulfill all their obligations, and also, work with all the tenants throughout the port. our public works department will be part of this executive student committee, and i know that the dpw are all busy. they are busy already doing the work.