good morning. i want is start by that thanking mayor lee for starting first. there are two stories today, the one you read about in the papers today, the deal and the process. the deal, the transaction i believe is

good afternoon and thank you for coming. i'm delighted to announce that our first

effort is unleashed upon the world. [ applause ] . it's only been two-and-a-half years since the moment of conception of this idea. it's an amazing tribute to our community. it reached three levels of impossibility, of getting a permit and designing it and putting it on this structure and the impossibility of getting it funded. it really is a tribute to so many and a lot of faces that i'm looking at this room tonight. it comes down to as always people. i'm going through a few moments here to give a real thanks to people who made this night and the next two years possible. i'm going to list a couple of company names, but i want to

think of them as members of our community that made this project possible. that included, bloomberg, guchie, it includes the partners, magazine, california home and design, magazine, aluminum illuminary sponsors and the folks tonight. and, you know that first level of impossibility. i'm going to list some agency names. it comes down to a lot of people in this room to make it possible. my first phone call in this project was to cal trans. in cal trans working

together with the bay area with the mayor's office here in the county of san francisco and coast guard, official wild life, all of these came together to find a way when typically the system is designed to say no, people found a way to say yes to this project. the arts commission, this collusion support from the san franciscmuseum of modern art. i apologize for the folks i will be missing because this is a cast of a thousand that made this happen. we certainly love our lawyers in this process. morrison who helped it become a very established and professional way in getting the contract involved in getting

this project to an amazing legal footing. the technology network in san jose who made this a crucial project. i want to call out a thanks to or tactical team. we know how to make it small, not over 150 feet in the air. we have a studio, zone engineering and i have to say thanks to hmr who has been a rock star and directly one of the reasons this is happening. an extremely talented project. thank you all. i also want to just take a moment to really acknowledge that while leo and i have done a lot of things m in this

world, we would not be able to do it alone. there is only one person responsible for this project and that is executive director of the arts. luminarias. i can go on and on. i think i will throughout the night. do know that she's a special person and this entire community owes her a debt of gratitude. i want to thank leo and his family for bringing the level of artistic integrity for this work that somehow slipped through the progress of a work of contemporary art parallel in

art history. it has everything to do with leo and our interpretations with our discussion and that one minute that transformed how people will be receiving this project and how i can make this happen and lieutenant governor will join us at the ceremony at the bay light.org. i really want to thank our mayor who is a visionary in his own right and common good and who i had the pleasure of working with other projects and he's making this city better every single day. people should know that mayor embraced this team, this project ma way that had nothing to do with really -- even, it was a matter of passion, a

personal desire to see the work of art radiant and shine in our community it was an amazing gift. mayor lee, we owe you a great debt of gratitude. thank you so much. [ applause ] >> thank you. welcome everybody to the building in san francisco. gosh, your vision, i have been living with this vision for almost two years now ever since our city engineer said, come with me to this event and you are going to be surprised how we can turn infrastructure to a piece of art. i have worked with so many projects with roads and buildings that we oftentimes

cannot lift this heavy piece of metal or holes in the ground an construction and not be able to see the work of art that contributes to this city and future. amy, thank you for your incredible leadership on this. i met you first at this event here but was immediately sold on the possibility that we can unleash art in the most creative way. this is in fact a beacon for our arts community, for a world class city and it has the ability to attract some $50 million of contributions to our economic vitality a huge base of fans that will visit our city. there is going to be 150 million visitors, i think it's going to be $97 million

contribution to our committee already scaled by our travel association. so part of it is economics, but i actual, without even having those numbers in front of me knew that this was going to excite us. i actually know that when we unveil this tonight, the feeling that i'm going to be having, is we just won another world series because it's going to bring that kind of excitement into city. and to have this timed in a way in which we have just finished the 75th anniversary of the celebration of the bay bridge, we have opened the auditorium and on our bay for the first time we have just finished the world series and the 55 sealing

on our bay is a celebration for san francisco and this incredible rebounds that this city is experiencing can really only be complimented by the arts, because allows the arts to celebrate all the other things that we are trying to do economically to be covered, i think is an incredible cap on our future on what we can experience and exemplify to the rest of the world. this leaves me to an appreciation to the artist that he has not only visualized what 25,000 led lights can do but discovered a fashion in which will not see the same pattern at any time experience. this is kind that have innovation that we are experiencing in san francisco that creativeness, that we've always wanted to have from our

arts community to us with all the other things that we are doing in struggling everyday and sometimes there are good stories but art has always been an inspiration to me. you can imagine anything you want in these lights. the artist will say that leo has always said it and documented in so many other interviews to give yourself a chance to work with these 25,000 light is. to me it's the mustache. it will be for every child in us, the ability to celebrate, to see what's good and what we have done here, but i think it will be the beacon for world class to happen here in san francisco. i look forward to -- we talked about this being a 2-year commitment.

but we all know with the success this has, we are already and i will predict that people, including myself will want this to be on going certainly during my lifetime. [ applause ] >> so i have every expectation we'll about be right there hand in hand celebrating with you to create even more art in the city. by the way, it's budget time, so tom in the art commission, you have done very well with the opening of this timing with everybody else that we have the proper level of art to be creative, to bless us with all the things that are so positive and to exemplify the arts community for what it's done. with that, i would like to introduce our artist leo

villa real. >> thank you so much. i'm beyond thrilled to be here today. this has been an incredible 2-and-a-half years from the initial idea when ben davis asked me to consider the bridge and how it can be turned into a canvas and having thought about it and created an assimilation on the computer, animation that so many people saw and were inspired to get behind and enabled to happen. so many people to thank, but certainly folks at cal trans and mayor's office, governors office. there were so many hoops we had to jump through. getting the permit was one of the miracles. i thank you for

believing in public art and helping us get this done. amy has been amazing, our executive art director. [ applause ] amy was able to shepherd this impossible project through all the intricacies, i'm in incredibly grateful for her help, grateful for his efforts in another monumental task. he's raised $6 million of our $8 million. this project is an incredible gift by our pat patrons through the city. this is an incredible piece. you don't have to buy a ticket. it's there and available. a

very universal quality, it has some response to it. it's operating on a very primal level. i think we the technical team that put this piece up has been remarkable. zad and zoon has been a lifesaver. incredible individual who has never said no to me. everything is always been possible and bringing the team together to actually install this work. to make a photo shop simulation and 3d animation project. it was in incredibly inspiring. i

went out there on a cloudy day and it was incredible magic that was happening. i knew this was going to be fine if i can channel the interaction of all these systems into my work. so i'm very grateful for everyone who helps install this piece. we had lane closures. everything happened from 5 a.m. there were hundreds of thousands of cars and the contractors installing this 550 feet over the water. incredibly challenging work but here we are. i would like to thank my team and studio, everyone helping, our lead programmer, transit for helping with all

our networking, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes of help that nobody will know about, we have computers, wireless connections, i want to thank timothy child's who helps us invent this custom clip which we used to hang these lights on the bridge. there was a lot of behind-the-scenes that's it's taken to bring this work to a reality. i guess our patrons are also, that's a whole other -- unleashing generosity in the way that we have just really bologna way blown -- away. incredible innovation at work and thankful to phillips for their equipment and standing behind they are technology and

helping us achieve what we have done i guess we are here and ready to punch the button on the computer. we are using a laptop tonight and it's going to go on at 9:00. i'm just incredibly grateful and keep pinching myself that this is happening. i'm incredibly overwhelmed that this is happening and i'm eager to share this work with all of you. thank you. all right. every year we come out to celebrate arbor day

in the month of march and i'm happy to kickoff this year arbor day here at this special location. joined with us today we have several guest. i know dan is here, larry stringer is here and our colleagues and our partners in arbor day. today like many other days, trees will be dedicated in someone who has contributed to san francisco either through their work or given back to the environment through culture, through arts and through many of the hard work and we will unveil who will receive this dedication today. as many of you know trees are very important for our communities. they provide us shade, they

deter water from going into our storm systems, they provide a place for birds and butterflies and of course they help us clean our air. arbor day is a very important event. it is celebrated not just in america, but all over the world and i'm honored that we are kicking this event. i would like to thank the mayor for bringing arbor day back to san francisco. this is our 8th arbor day. i will welcome mayor lee to the stage. >> thank you the dpw, the recreation department, to all of those who helped us in

working today. arbor day, it is an annual celebration that we have struggled very hard to make sure this city appreciate because the trees are part of a great answer and solution to reducing carbon emissions and be sure we have greenery and beautification for our citizens. a lot of my friends celebrated chinese new years in china and this year for chinese new years, wilhelm wundt wilhelm wundt of the one of the gifts they gave to the employees is an air mask. if you don't start contributing to its purification, you don't get the kind of air like you do in san francisco. this is why trees are so important to our

nature and this is what i love about the city because when it comes to our environment, we do make some serious investments, whether it's green buildings, waste management or going into electric vehicles or getting everybody to change their habits, one of the habits that we want to continue having is planting trees. and so every year for the last 8 years, we have select a signatory to plant and we have taken the liberties of honoring people that have contributed to the quality of life for all of us. in past years, people like rosa parks, caesar chavez, people that we know and are familiar with, along with people that we are not that familiar with but have made some great contributions. today we thought

we would take this opportunity to celebrate an icon of san francisco. the brown twin sisters have been with us for many decades. mary is here today, she's here in celebration and memory of her sister as we all are and we want to take this opportunity to use the arbor day to have a cedar tree, a tree that will grow taller than mary or i. it will grow to be a hundred feet tall. it will be a tree that will be celebrated here in san francisco for generations to come and we thought it would be not only appropriate, but we thought it would be our honor

by planting this tree in recognition of vivian and her wonderful contributions to our city. and we are especially blessed with maryann honoring us with her presence. it's not that easy for her to get around these days but she has and continues to be part of an incredible twin sisters. but now she's also missing vivian as much as we are and we felt this would be a proper way to create a celebratory atmosphere on how we miss vivian, how much she meant to us and take this opportunity for arbor day to plant this tree in her name. how is that, maryann for a great celebration? >> wonderful. i know my sister from heaven is watching.

>> all right. she said vivian is up there applauding us and we have a great time of celebrate. ing. with that, supervisor lee, you should know, it's always been under dispute as to who is supposed to be responsible for this piece of land. was it the highway folks, the residents who built their homes here, was it dpw, we are trying to gift it to rec's and park for nothing because it's an incredible responsibility. look at how beautiful this place it. we do keep it up. it does barrier the intense traffic that we deal with here. i travel quite a bit and everyone i know always glances here and

takes a breath of fresh air a midst all of this traffic. this adds beauty and value to this area. i would like to give this proclamation to maryann and have her treasure this and the permanent memory of her sister and how we celebrate people who are part of our culture as the brown sisters have been and also have been on literally every page of our wonderful visitors galleries, they have been in movies, commercials, they have become a part of what we see in san francisco and how we advertise ourselves around the world as a great place to live and work in. with that,