>> i am the director of the mayor's office of workforce development. thank you for joining us on the waterfront. we're here to talk about two incredibly important san francisco institutions. when the city was successful and won the bid for the america's cup, it allowed us to accelerate the development of our cruise ship terminal. we have had to face some changes that involve relocating long- term tenants have been such an important part of the port vitality. two of those tenants had some real challenges in terms of their space and operational needs. we're here to talk about their successful transition to another port properties and the

gratitude that we're keeping both of these institutions in san francisco. they employ hundreds. they work with thousands on a monthly basis. they greatly enhance the quality of life for san francisco residents and visitors. i like to introduce the mayor. then we will hear from the president and ceo of bower. first, mayor ed lee. [applause] >> thank you, jennifer. welcome to our port. we're all getting ready for america's cup. i want to remind everybody that this is a great opportunity for our city to host one of the world's greatest events. in doing so, we needed to make sure we will leave a good legacy for the city. part of that legacy and responsibility is to work with our report. i want to start by thanking the

port of san francisco, the staff, consultants, lawyers on both sides for all the work you have done together to help us begin a complex process. we're changing some of the tenancies and making sure we make room for the new footprint. we want to announce today two very important tenants of our report -- port, bowers transportation and the other. they are here to speak specifically about it. i know from the beginning they were very worried. i would have been if i was a successful employer. gary has had over 100 people employed consistently and growing.

norm has had 200 people artists and musicians that want to be the continued success of our ports and our food and entertainment industry. . supports that as well. there have been some really great tenants at the port. we wanted to make sure we announced the initial moves as a signal that while we have other tenants to work with, these two were complex. they needed assurances. i remember as a city administrator with jennifer and monique walking the parameters trying to figure out which offices would be the best. today we're standing on the option we chose would be the best for lozani's for their hopefully permanent home. it will make a great investment.

bower will be moving to. pier 50 along with other tenants and other things kept in storage. these are two significant moves. they demonstrate the level of cooperation we have always wanted to have with our tenants at the port. we need to move them in a sensitive way. they are moving to new places. i think when you talk to them and into the details of this site and. pier 50, they're going into better sites that will allow

them to grow and serve our city and visitors in great foer ways. i want to thank you for your wonderful stewardship of your companies and employees, working together with the port, our office, our event authority, and organizing committee to make this even successful and do so in a sensitive and smart way. these are great, solid businesses for the city. they employ a good number of people. we want to keep the entertainment and transportation going. thank you for your cooperation. thank you to the port for their leadership on this. [applause] >> we would like to invite gary bauer to say a few words. >> i appreciate the kind words.

we could not make this happen without the mayor and the rest of the port. we have been a tenant here for over 14 years. we have over 200 employees. if we were to move, we would be putting those people out of work. we just finished a few weeks ago in san diego. this is a great thing for the city. it is a great opportunity. we think it is a great opportunity with the cruise ships coming in. we're looking forward to our new location at pier 50. thank you so much. [applause] >> now i would like to invite norm to say a few words.

>> i would like to thank mayor lee, the former mayor, and others for all the hard work they have done in the city. it cannot happen, these kinds of activities, unless we have help from downtown. we really appreciate that a lot. we're really excited about the new location. [applause] it is terrific for us. this was the city gate to san francisco. you are standing on what was called the clark. point pier, it was the beginning of the barbary coast. teatro zinzanni is proud to

carry on the prague tradition of music in this city for many years to come. -- the proud tradition of music in the city for many years to come. there's a special order we have. it is the order of zinzanni. >> i am going to pin that on. do not bend down too quickly. [laughter] [applause] >> thank you. congratulations to everybody. >> i guess that is it. [laughter] it is the beginning of a new day. we look forward to being here. we look forward to the mayor joining us. >> use gary bauer's transit and

come to teatro. [applause] thank you.

>> please join me in welcoming our mayor, ed lee. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. i am very happy to join all of you here today. it is an exciting day to join our high school kids, our high

school, here at john o'connor. principal gomez, our deputy superintendent, our school board president, and our building trade, thank you for being here. the director of the joint power trended authority. we have the sfpuc, the school alliance, school district personnel. we are all here because we are excited about this wonderful announcement. we are here in a very green, multipurpose use building that has just been opened. this is going to be representing something that i am quite familiar with. i know mike and others closer to my age, we had a wood shop. we had metal shop in middle school. we had exposure to how to deal

with graphs. more importantly, you are talking to somebody who used to spend five years at the department of public works, as the director. we're having to pay attention to our infrastructure, one of the most important things any city can do. when we are trying to grow a new economy -- and as you know, i have gone around the city selling this idea about how the economy is about tech jobs, but we also have an important infrastructure to take care of. if we do not take care of the infrastructure, these other jobs will not be here. jobs at the transbay terminal, which we are already building, celebrating and historic project labor agreement. we also have a commitment to our growing kids, that we are going to get them there. they are not just going to

school to get bored. they have to have those jobs here, and we need them trained and ready for those jobs. so, in this new economy, when we are investing, like our city is, my commitment to the city is making sure we pay attention to infrastructure. we are going to do it right and make sure that our kids know, by fulfilling their educational goals, being exposed to a facility like this, where you are building our labor representatives with the curriculum that the school district has offered to work with the infrastructure agencies that we have just mentioned, we have a curriculum that will train them in the jobs to come. being able to pay attention to this overt -- capital structures of the city, our high school kids can be exposed and get the experience, whether it is

automotive, engineering, architectural design. they will get that exposure here in the center with all of the participants. so i am excited about this because it blends so much of what i believed in, what we have been doing in the city. all of our facilities that we are building in the city, whether you look at the mission bay, the building's at hunters point, treasure island, a partner said, all of these projects, or the hospital's going up, they will all meet plant engineers, in infrastructure commitments. for our high school kids, as you often heard, maybe not enough, i want to welcome you to the million-dollar club. that is the difference, what our school district is trying to teach all of you, to make sure that you know there is a difference between someone who

just graduated from high school, and someone who will go after their college education. it is a million-dollar difference. i want all of you to participate in that million dollar economy, because that will be the difference. and we will be working, not only through the school alliance, city colleges, local colleges to make sure we reinforce that. i am here to celebrate, participate, and the knowledge all of a great, wonderful entities that have come together to create this tech 21 center, where this exposure and experience will happen, with your leadership, printable gomez. these kids will be able to see they have a way forward in this challenging city, but one that will be there city, when they have all the skills. thank you very much for being here. [applause]

>> thank you. mr. mayor, we want to thank you on behalf of the 56,000 students in the san francisco unified school district, children of our community, for your tireless work on their behalf. we look forward to calling you a long-term partner. thank you. the mayor was gracious with his time. as you can imagine, he has a full schedule today and asked to be part of this ceremony today to show his appreciation for the work being done here. we want this to be a celebration and i would probably take until now until 3:00 to thank all of the dignitaries here, but i wanted to recognize some of our elected officials and dignitaries. of course, you met mayor lee, and we also have with us today two commissioners of our board

of education. commissioner sandra fuhr. we also have commissioner moss. [applause] we are very happy to with us also -- the mere mention her -- our transbay executive director maria ayerdi-kaplan. thank you for being here with us. and the executive vice president for the united educators of san francisco, linda, thank you. and our president of united educators of san francisco, denis kelly. thank you as well. whenever you go down this path, you are going to miss someone. with all due respect, as i see you, i will call you out as we go through the program.

thank you for being here. i serve as the separate -- deputy superintendent for social justice. what i would like to think about, as the good to this dedication ceremony, this is a tangible, real world artifacts of social justice. if we believe social justice is about kids having opportunities to explore career paths, opportunities to have jobs in the real world, if it was not for these types of opportunities, that is social justice. we are happy to have you here to be part of the celebration of social justice. on a personal level, i will say to you, this is so important to me, because i stand before you as the son of a dirty man she metalworker. local 353 in tucson, arizona. why is that important? it is important because mayor

lee mentioned, you cannot run a city, have infrastructure for a city, without these jobs. there is a connection between college and career and career and college. they are very much interconnected. as my father, who never graduated from high school, later earned a ged, the person who taught me geometry was not my geometry teacher, who had a master's degree. she was wonderful, but i was just one of those kids. i learned geometry with my father actually doing the work. when you are cutting out sheet metal, bending the angles, you have to make it fit and you have to measure. i learned about ankles and how geometry works by actually doing it. when i say that career tech education is about college readiness, it is about utilizing

all of those skills that we send kids to school every day to learn. this gives you a reason to read and write and do arithmetic, because you get to apply it. that is the duty of what is happening here today. happy to have you here. what a wonderful building. what do you think? do you like this building? [applause] this is our flexible use green building. we call it the text 21 building. we have not named it officially yet, but there is a naming opportunity for you, if you want to take advantage of that. just kidding. before we dive into the program, i would like to talk more about all the wonderful individuals that have made this a reality. this has truly been a collaborative effort on the part of our partners, union partners, labor partners, educators, former

administrators. you will hear from the former principal, dr. schultze, who was part of the original work. before we get to that, i want to introduce the current principal, martin gomez. this high school is named after one of san francisco's own labor champions, and john o'connell. i want to introduce to you the man leading the academic work in collaboration with all the wonderful teachers here at john o'connell high school. [applause] >> it is a lot more full than it was five minutes ago. as principal, i want to welcome everyone to this event. it is important, not only for o'connell students, but all of san francisco.

the district is making a push to include, improve, and pushed toward education. today, we are here to celebrate another reason of how o'connell is supporting and encouraging all students to be prepared for college and for a career. while some people are spending their time looking at what students are going to college, which are going to a career, with this new tech 21 program, the courses will support students to be prepared for a career, and for college. that is the difference between the programs of before and now. the new tech 21 courses will require students to be able to apply tougher math concepts. the program will recruit students that are college-bound and students that want to go

straight into the workforce. the whole purpose is to make sure that these students are prepared for the requirements that internships and jobs are asking for out of high school. we want to ensure all of the graduates are prepared for these requirements because we are promising them jobs and internships, which is huge for our students, and for san francisco. i want to thank mark, david, the entire ct department, all of the stakeholders, dr. schultze, the previous administration, for making this building, and the course of the reality, which is much needed in san francisco. it is an exciting time to be a high school student in san francisco, but particularly, that john o'connell, and if you

are excited about these tech 21 classis, please stay in touch with us as we figure out ways to continue supporting students. thank you for your time, thank you for coming out, and let's move this forward. [applause] >> when there is this a children's theater, it is a good theater. it is a good theater, you would like it, even if it is for children. that is what i think. i feel like it is both a story for kids and for much older

people. it is both about being a young child and letting a toy or a friend, and it is also about what it means to get old. ♪ >> in 1986, my son was two, and i decided i would like to go over the story of the velveteen rabbit, mind you i had never read it myself as a child. i only heard it as a mother. my first-time hearing it was a bedtime story recording. it was through that that i found the theme and determined how it was going to produce this story. it was through listening to it. when a first mated, i really did watch my son, because i took him

to live performances as soon as six months old. he loved it when someone was on the stage. he loved it when somebody was reading to him, the language. >> there was once a velveteen rabbit. >> usually when the bunny first comes out ago, ah, the rabbit. i think kids can relate to it. and they built love nana. nana is the man at all figure in the show, and she represents stern love. the ferry is also played by the same person. -- the fairy is played by the same person. it is like the love you have for your first child. pure love. >> i think nature is a beautiful thing.

all the wild rabbits come from nature. i like that. i think nature is mysterious, a beautiful, and not something our kids get very much these days. ♪ >> there is fantastical spectacle these days because of computers and films. i feel that in a live performance, being pared down, you can be more successful you can ask everybody to buy into the world you're in. if it is a simple world, they will buy into it, as long as the world is consistent that you have onstage. in some ways, i also want that message for kids. the world does not have to be spectacle. the world can be about relationships, how you feel, and having fun and taking them seriously. and not about being blown away.

>> what is real, asked the rabbit one day. >> it is a thing that happens to you when a child loves you for a long, long time. >> i think it is a success because, for the most part, if you are 3 or 7 years old, you sit in the sea, and the kids are engaged. they laugh and ask questions but that is part of the success. i think the fact that we tour and do it here and still have audiences says it is a lasting. i really want to say that it is lasting is because of the story is a gentle story. if it was just ok, it would not have lasted this long. i have had people come up to me and say that was the first dance

show i ever saw and that is why i am a choreographer today. i have had people come back after being in the shows and come back to see it when they're 20 and 23 years old. little kids and people in their 50s and 60s tell me how much they love it. and they come back more than once, year after year. ♪