it is my pleasure to be here. we are so enthusiastic about this being the new standard and also a great building that our employees will be proud to work in. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, mayor lee. our puc commissioners are the ones that actually make the decision about this building. all of them are here with us. the president of the department. [applause] >> thank you. it is an honor to be here for this topping ceremony. i want to thank my fellow commissioners who are here and also it knowledge a former commissioner, f.x. crowley, who

was formally on the commission, who has helped. this will be one of the greatest municipal buildings in the country, if not the greatest. i have to refer to my notes because some of these stats are pretty incredible. this building will design 55% less energy than most office buildings anywhere. that is one-third less energy than most buildings consume. over the next seven to five years, it will save an estimated $180 million in energy costs. that is a lot of money that will be saved by our ratepayers. we also talked about the reclaimed water. all of the sewage will be treated on site, as well as the gray water. that means all of the demand for the low flow toilets and your girls -- urinals will be met, and over 700,000 gallons of water will be saved annually.

it will also save an additional 900,000 gallons that we are using at the sustainability district. it is a significant water savings that we need to pursue throughout the city. i also want to thank the mayor for his leadership on this. beginning in his early dpw days. dpw, p u c, department of environment staff, everyone who has worked so hard on this -- i remember, it must have been 12 years now when we were first identifying different pilot projects through the city that could be brain model the. this was one of the building that they identified. -- green modeled. it is so rewarding to see this be realized as one of the greatest buildings in the country. thank you for coming and we look forward to moving in next year. -- greenest buildings in the country.

>> other members of the commission, andy moran, art kane is here, various members of the puc, the general manager for water, power, waste water, business services, and juliet ellis, external affairs. one of our stars is shelly campbell, our product manager. thank you. [applause] we're also joined by the department of the environment had. -- hea. d. we are going to wait for the fire trucks to go by. this started with the dpw project and we are a client now representing the dpw is ed

riskin. >> thank you. as the general manager and commission president referred to, dpw has been with this project for over a decade it has really become a labor of love for the department. it is an extraordinarily complex building project, unlike our typical library or fire station that we work on. and it is not because of the exceedingly high environmental performance, but exceedingly high seismic performance, business continuity performance. this will be one of the most advanced office buildings in the country. it is really a great partnership that we have working with the puc to make this happen, but also with our private sector partners, kmd stevens, webcor and their construction team. it has been a collaborative

effort. we are proud of the fact that we are not only getting this great building built that will serve the city for generations to come, but in doing it, we are putting a lot of local businesses and residents to work in the process. it is really a win win. i want to commend the general manager and commission for their bitter ship and foresight in seeing after this project had been stalled for many years, seeing this was a great investment for the repairs and people of san francisco. it was the smart thing to do. we are righproud to be part of . i want to thank the work of the rest of the pc team to get this done. starting with a man who is living and breathing this, has been for years, our project manager brooke. [applause]

he is working closely with edgar lopez, who manages all of our major projects, but was here pretty much from day one. they are being supported by our city engineers and the rest of the department coming together to deliver a great project to the ratepayers of san francisco. we're so happy to be a part of this. congratulations to the puc on getting to this point, the topping off ceremony. [applause] >> as the owners, we are certainly willing to move in, but we are not building the building. representing the builders is andy of webcor. [applause] >> it is great to be here. most people do not realize this building almost did not happen. i was at a green building

conference and i ran into mayor gavin newsom. he said, we are not going to build that building. we cannot afford to. i said, mayor, you cannot afford not to. this building will be an example of what all cities should build. with the energy savings that were mentioned, this building will be like no others. when the city starts to operate, they will say, why did we not do this before? it is a wonderful thing for the environment, the city, a wonderful thing for us being chosen as a builder. i am wearing a hard hat because i am a contractor, that is what we do. i want to thank my team. they are doing a wonderful job. [applause] recognize that this is not an easy building. it is a innovative and complex

structure. the first time it has been done here. there is a very sophisticated mechanical system. we have some great consultants here. it is always a pleasure to work with a team at the department of public works. you are wonderful to be with. edgar, we have done this before. brooke, you as well. ed harrington, when he came into this position, he said this building would be too much. we brought it down to $140 million, kept it as lede platinum. everyone on this team is absolutely first class. it is a pleasure partner with the city. we are in good hands with mayor lee.

he recognizes the importance of this kind of structure and it is always great to work with the city of san francisco and the mayor's office. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. just in time, the son has come out. mayor lee will lead us in having the crane operator bring a the beam up. >> everybody, on three, we are going to have frankie bring it up. we are going to say frankie, bring it up! >> frankie, bring it up! [applause]

>> the san francisco cons tri of flowers in golden gate park is now showing a new exhibit that changes the way we see the plants around us. amy stewart's best-selling book, "wicked plants" is the inspiration behind the new exhibit that takes us to the dark side of the plant world. >> i am amy stewart. i am the arthur of "wicked plants," the weeds that killed lincoln's mother and other botanical atrocities. with the screens fly trap, that is kind of where everybody went initially, you mean like that? i kind of thought, well, all it does is eat up bugs. that is not very wicked. so what? by wicked, what i mean is that they are poisonous, dangerous, deadly or immoral or maybe illegal or offensive or awful in some way. i am in the profession of going

around and interviewing botanists, horticulturalists and plant scientists. they all seem to have some little plant tucked away in the corner of a greenhouse that maybe they weren't supposed to have. i got interested in this idea that maybe there was a dark side to plants. >> the white snake root. people who consumed milk or meat from a cow that fed on white snake root faced severe pain. milk sickness, as it was culled, resulted in vomiting, tremors, delirium and death. one of the most famous victims of milk sickness was nancy hangs lincoln. she died at the age of 34, leaving behind 9-year-old abraham lincoln. he helped build his mother's

casket by carving the woodallen petition douche the wooden petition himself. >> we transformed the gallery to and eerie victorian garden. my name is lowe hodges, and i am the director of operations and exhibitions at the conls tore of -- cons tore of flowers. we decided it needed context. so we needed a house or a building. the story behind the couple in the window, you can see his wife has just served him a glass of wine, and he is slumped over the table as the poison takes affect. a neat little factold dominion about that house is actually built out of three panels from old james bond movie. we wanted people to feel like i

am not supposed to be in this room. this is the one that is supposed to be barred off and locked up. >> the ole andersonner -- oleander. this popular shrub is popular in warm climates. it has been implicated in a surprising number of murders and accidental deaths. children are at risk because it takes only a few leaves to kill them. a southern california woman tried to collect on her husband's life insurance by putting the leaves in his food. she is now one of 15 women on california's death rowan the only one who attempted to murder with a plant. >> people who may haven't been to their cons tore or been to -- do serve tore or their botanical garden, it gives them

a reason to come back. you think let's go and look at the pretty flowers. these are pretty flowers, but they are flowers with weird and fascinating stories behind them. that is really fun and really not what people normally think of when they come to a horticultural institution. >> "wicked plants" is now showing at the san francisco conserve tore of flowers. unless next time, get out and play. >> is housed in a spectacular building described by the world renowned architect. it is the san francisco destination for provocative

expositions and programs that explore culture, history, art, and ideas. the director of cultural affairs told us more about the mission and to give us a tour of the latest exposition. ♪ >> today we find ourselves of the contemporary jewish museum. with me is the director of the museum. >> i am so happy you are here today. >> we're getting close to a milestone for the museum. it is your third anniversary coming up. >> it is. you were here to help cut the ribbon. it has been an extraordinary journey ever since. we welcome hundreds of thousands

of people into the building. we welcome school groups, interests -- tourists. >> the addition of the museum to the cultural pantheons of san francisco has been phenomenon. you have fabulous exhibits. there is one i want to talk about, "seeing gertrude stein." >> gertrude stein is a local woman. she was raised in oakland. she was an extraordinary individual who helped create -- many people call for the mother of modernism. years ago, i was introduced to someone doing research on her. i thought it would be an extraordinary exposition to take her and understand her at all for complexity. that is what we have on view during the summer of 2011. >> it is full of wonderful

drawings, paintings, and sculpture. >> there is incredible art on view. we have photographs. we have sculpture. we have a lot of different things. we have a little something made for her by picasso. there are five different ways of looking at her life. it is not in chronological installation. it is looking at how she is portrayed in help artists, painters, and photographers presented her and how she thought about her own style and presentation. many people think she always had short hair. it was not until she was 52 that she cut off all of her hair. the second element is called "domestic stein."

alice b. toklas was her lifelong partner. they had several different homes. we know about their home in paris, the famous salon. you get a taste of what their domestic life was like. >> one thing recreated is the fabulous wallpaper. the black-and-white photos do not convey the color. >> in doing a lot of research, you discover a little tidbits. with an exhibition, at the find ways to make it come together. we found beautiful photographs of the interior of their home. then we found a tiny scrap of the wallpaper. we saw how blue and vibrant it was. we had a designer recreate the image of the wallpaper. we had it made into wallpaper so we could all experience what it would have been like to be in their home.

it is dynamic and fantastic. they seem very monochromatic because you only know them through black-and-white photographs, but they had such a vibrant life. that is what the exhibition is also trying to show. the third one is the art of friendship. picasso and matisse were part of their second family. there were people she admired and worked with. we introduced the visitors to her second family in a sense. the fourth story is called celebrity stein. what a lot of people do not know is when she left united states in the early 1900's, she only came back once in 1934. we also have a section of every single first edition book she ever published. >> it is incredible to see all

the first edition books. >> it is really impressive to realize not only was she a grand dame of paris, but she had an incredible writing practice. she was a prolific writer. the fifth level really looks at her legacy and how artists continue to be inspired by her image, work, and concept. >> this is a compelling reason for people to visit the jewish museum. you also have life and theater. >> we are a non-collecting museum. any time you walk in the building, you will always be treated to a range of very different and wonderful exhibitions. in our first floor exhibition space, we have an exhibition on the work of charlotte sullivan.

she was a young artist in berlin. the nazis came into power. her parents sent her to the south of france to live with her grandparents. she put herself in a room for about 18 months and created 1200 small paintings telling her life story through a kind of reflection. it is another example of the way we try to bring a wide range of art and experiences to our public. we want them to find something meaningful to them. >> your institution has been in this neighborhood for three years. how do you like the neighborhood? >> this is the best neighborhood. we are the luckiest city in the world to have this kind of cultural district, to have so many museums and cultural institutions. the center of our tourist life is here because this is where

the convention center is. people from near and far can be introduced to the richness of the bay area. it is so wonderful and unique. >> the city thanks you for providing such wonderful leadership and vision. >> we're so happy to be part of the city and so honored to be part of "culture wire." >> to learn more about the exhibition and other upcoming events, visit the website. thank you for watching "culture