for joining us. we're almost there, folks. but we have an important person i want to invite to the podium. the friends of the library to an amazing job of raising funds at the community level to ensure all of the furniture, technology, and everything else is in place. let's give a round of applause to the executive director of friends of the library. donna? [applause] >> good morning, everyone. so pleased to be here. not only not but last me -- not but -- last and not least, but last but most important. this community has done such a beautiful job envisioning this library, what is important, how it needs to work into the priorities of their community. i want to thank all of these kids in the red t-shirts.

[applause] they are here, exemplifying why the rest of us are here. we are so excited to see the day when you come rushing in and pick up those brand new books off the shelves. it will be a great day. so many of you have participated and given your wisdom and vision. we want to thank everyone of you. we have a great committee working on this project. you may know that we are raising money to provide all of the furnishings, the things that feel -- fill the building to make it feel like home. so i would like to ask all of you who participated, who are part of the committee, who have been helping us along with the vision, to raise your hand so that people can know. thank you. [applause] i want to encourage everyone, it is not too late to be part of

this. when we are back here cutting the ribbon in one year, we want to be able to have everyone feel like they were part of this, that they had a hand in it. many of those folks can let in know how to participate. i want to recognize a couple of local businesses that have helped. lowe's and brought over a carpet so that our young ladies could do some dancing. one of the great part of being in this part of the city is wendy's cheesecake. before you go, make sure you get a wonderful slice of that delicious cheesecake. come on in and join us. we will all be celebrating again soon. [applause] >> thank you, donna.

guess what, folks? we are almost there. i also want to point out this is multi generational. thank you, mrs. fuller, who is seated right here in front. she is the wife of the late mr. fuller, from the pharmacy here in the bayview. talk about wanting to see this come to fruition. thank you for being here today. also a shout out to the footprints, the community organization. thank you for your engagements and involvement in making this happen. here we are. we are going to ask the dignitaries to grab a shovel. we are going to have a countdown and then we will get this done.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. welcome to the beautiful and quiet powell street, here in downtown san francisco. i am the director of public

works. i am delighted to see all of you here today. we are here for a special occasion, a special group of folks that i want to introduce before we get going. starting to your far lesft, border supervisor david chiu. sitting next to him, the mayor of our great city, and elite. -- ed lee. [applause] the chief marketing officer for audi america, organizer of this event. [applause] the man whose design we will be enjoying, walter hood. and finally, the director of the business improvement district. [applause]

here in san francisco, on a beautiful, sunny day, it is time to celebrate the innovative spirit of san francisco. we innovate social policy, housing, the environment, on transportation and technology. we innovate when it comes to the weather. we call this summer, here in san francisco. and when it comes to the public way, it is hard to think about innovation. it was billed years ago and it is hard to change, at least that is what some people think. although much of the public rights of way in san francisco take up 25% of our city, they were built generations ago, in a different time to serve different needs with different sensibilities, largely built for people to pass through, as

opposed to being in. we are changing that in the city and we are showing that the environment can change for the better. what we have here today is an exemplar of that. i will let the other speakers tell you more specifically what we are talking about today, but i want to thank some of the folks, besides those up on the stage, who have been a part of making this happen. i will start with the shepherd of this project from the planning department, andres power. [applause] without his work, no question, from navigating the city bureaucracy, working with the city planner, public, this would not have happened without his efforts. from my department, his counterpart, nick ellser. from the mayor's office of

workforce development, the mother of our communities in our town, lisa pegan. and the guy from the mta who gets all the difficult job of figuring out how all this all works, jerry robbins. those are the folks on the city side. there are a lot of other folks to thank, a lot of other work that went into this. but now, it is my pleasure -- this man was progressive before it was cool to be progressive, and he was innovating in the public rights of way before it was cool. as a public works director, he started addressing alleyways in chinatown, in the tenderloin,

making them more attractive and welcoming, improving the public realm all over the city. he has since moved on to bigger and better things but has carried that affect on with him, forcing collaboration between city departments, the private sector, and this is the epitome of the kind of partnership that edwin lee is bringing to the city. it is my pleasure to introduce to you mayor ed lee. [applause] >> good morning, everybody. welcome to union square. one of my favorite places. you may know this, but two- thirds of our annual visitors make their way down here to union square. that is why 10% of our annual sales tax revenue comes from right here. people love coming here, and why not? why not link the historic cable

car stop on market street, and make the experience of making up here -- making it up here and the rest of the city and experience. one of the things that i love is we get to collaborate between our planning department, mta, department of public works, working with the private sector. working with some fantastic designers, like walter, and his fantastic design studio. and gaining the confidence of the people who protect this gem of the city, the business improvement district in union square. i want to thank everyone for coming together and blessing, with the contribution from audi of america, coming together to make these couple of blocks even

better, to modernize it, make it even more welcoming, and to make sure that it is people-friendly in every respect. i want to give a shout out to all of these departments because we are seldom recognized. collaboration is often behind the scenes, but this is out in front for everybody. i want people to get excited about the friendliness of this street, but you are doing to try to change the feeling here, make sure that the experience invites even more people to enjoy union square, powell street, the cable car experience. i also want to recognize the police department. as we transition this landscape, they are going to keep everyone safe, make sure we all have the opportunity to enjoy it. i want to thank everyone for this collaboration. so happy to be part of this.

and also to make sure that we are investing and renewing every part of our city, to make sure that the tourists enjoy this area, and even people like ourselves -- those of us now live in the city -- will love it even more. this will benefit everybody. i also want to introduce another champion, someone that i have worked with closely this past year, who has led a very positive dialogue. that is our board president, president david chiu. [applause] >> thank you, mr. mayor. i want to welcome everyone to what mark twain calls a classic summer day in san francisco. i am proud to be here as part of this announcement, and i am here on behalf of my colleague jane kim, who is stuck in city hall. the two of us have the honor of

representing the number one place in san francisco where people come to shop, and hello to everyone on the cable cars, spend time in our incredible city. this is an announcement of how we build 21st century city -- cities, how we can create communities on very busy dance streets. we know it takes a village to create a parklet. i want to thank the city department for being our partners. dpw, oewd, mta -- these acronyms refer to organizations and thousands of hours done to come up with this. three years ago, when i first came into office, a number of merchants from union square came

to me and said, david, we would like to tax ourselves more. we would like to triple the size of the business improvement district. today's announcement is part of that portion of that amazing vision. i want to thank the in square business improvement district for everything you are doing to make union square one of the best attractions that san francisco has to offer. and of course, in closing, one of the most amazing aspects of this partnership happens to be our partnership with the private sector. we could not do this without the generosity of an amazing car company. i do hope in addition to seeing the audi symbol here, i do hope that we see more of them traveling through the city, so feel free to donate any, if you would like. we look forward to continuing this green, clean, community-

based transformation that we are undertaking, here in san francisco. have a wonderful day. >> before i introduce our next speaker, i want to make sure to recognize the very important person on the stage as well. wayne is our ambassador here. he is in bright red. as you know, the business improvement district has been spared in making sure that not only are people safe, but that they are treated well when they come here. that is what keeps the economy going. as david said earlier, audi is a pretty special company. scott, i want to let you know, too, i am jazzed about that car

that i want which appeared in the "ironman" movie. when i saw it i said, i want that kind of car. not only does audi have great style and a great corporate image, but they are a fantastic partner. let me introduce scott of audi of america. [applause] >> it is a great pleasure for me to be here. i am the chief marketing officer for audi of america. it is crucial for companies, not only to celebrate things, but it is also important to do great things. whether you look at the racetracks up le mans, our electronic research lab, here in palo alto, or on the streets of

san francisco, it is important to do great things. of course, the concept that our design and technology can have far reaching ramifications. we spend billions of dollars in research and development, and i think you see a lot of those elements in this design. when we first started making cars out of aluminum frames, they said we were crazy. it turns out, aluminum is stronger and less weight. i think you will get a good sense of that design here. led lighting. people said it was madness to use them in cars. now you see it in every one of our cars and being imitated everywhere. the beautiful lines of our cars, walter had done a great job recreating that a static. and most importantly, wi-fi.

-- recreating that aesthetic. the ideals of audi were brought here to this, not. i am very thankful to be here. this is why it means so much to us. now i want to introduce david, the group president of the business improvement district, here in union square. again, sincere thanks. >> thank you, scott. on behalf of the union square business improvement district, property owners, and the businesses, i would like to thank mayor lee, supervisor david chiu, the city departments, the san francisco municipal transportation

agency, and audi of america, and a special thank you to those who supported this trend for this project. when we embark on this new project, it reminded us of where we have been and where we are going in union square. 164 years ago, jasper overall, who has a street named after him one week away, was commissioned by the city to lay out a design for its streets and parks, including union square. the park's design was designed to be infighting, accessible, beautiful, and memorable. today, architect walter put has applied those same qualities beautifully to the powell street promenade with a contemporary landscape design with features and heard of, like solar technology and wi-fi.

o'farrell may not have imagined at the time that 100,000 people would use this street every weekend, making it the busiest city corridor. now with this promenade, it will be one of the best places to enjoy the hustle and bustle of the city, out of its hustle and bustle by working with the city, audi, and union square business improvement district, we have demonstrated how partnerships can further a vision for a better sense of co that i know we all share. it is a great testament to see the public sector and private sector come together to create something so magnificent. thank you again.

>> welcome to culture wire. we're going to take a look at one of the biggest and most significant public art projects today. ♪ on june 26, mayor newsom and other officials gathered at the hospital to cut the ribbon and welcome the public into a beautiful new state-of-the-art

facility. >> 3, 2, 1. [applause] >> in has been 10 years since voters approved the measure for the new building. >> when they cast the vote, we have an exciting opportunities to rethink how art is done in a hospital setting. >> replacement program generated approximately $3.9 million in art enrichment funds for a comprehensive art program that contributes to the quality of life at the hospital by enhancing the environment and supporting the hospital's needs and therapeutic goals. artists were commissioned to create 100 original works of art. as was for the gardens and courtyard areas. >> be artwork does more than just hang on the wall.

it will enhance the therapeutics of the hospital and will include sensory stimulation, orientation, social interaction. >> it was set into like boxes to create color filled areas in the hospital. inspired by nature, the signature painting of native san francisco birds, clouds, and the surface of the ocean waves were translated into a variety of media including glass mosaic and tapestry. the playful clock encourages memory stimulation among the patients. they used the theme of the four

elements as they relate to vocation. it is a direct homage to the historical murals in the original laguna honda building. it features to large tile walls. by observing residents, the gardens created a public artwork in the form of the handrail. in one of the outdoor courtyards, the circular grouping of -- with a smooth finish. this features ten unique button sculptures with different pastel colors that function not only as a place to sit, but also as a

touchstone to something recognizable, familiar, and comforting. another key component included an art project that responded directly to the hospital's rich history. using archival images and artifacts, had designed 16 intricately woven tapestries that are inviting of significant events that shaped the hospital and the community over time. a >> it attracts a lot of visitors, and they are all and all - -in aw -- in awe over the variety of mediums used. >> i think we have given the city of san francisco and the