and pleasure to introduce our mayor, mayor ed lee. [ applause ] . >> morning, everybody. welcome to our bay view. as our poet said, he's about to wear a hat, so i was looking for a hat this morning. and i have a trunk full and i was looking for something that was representative, a world series type of hat because this is a world series event. when you look across our neighborhoods, you know it's probably one of the best examples of building a community center. and you know as much as this brick and mortar is beautiful, it's got a communicate center community center that is useful when the library is not even open. it

has the library with double number of computers and importantly how we put it together. it took longer and the reason it took a little longer was because people who lived in this community wanted the input they hadn't had in a long time. they wanted this building representative of them. it's more than a library. it is a community center, it is an example of how you get a contractor like freddie carter, [ applause ] to become romantic after 50 years of struggle. how he and working with public works and the architects and the library and the commission were able to get some 68 percent local businesses involved, 25 percent from bay view alone."

is this what we mean by invest in our neighborhoods? absolutely. so, when you look at this library, think of the people that put it together. think of the hours, think of the many hours that the kids and families will spend here safely learning, increasing their knowledge, improving themselves. think of the friends of the library that will continue to raise funds to keep the computers running, keep furniture and modern and keep the rooms active with the little study halls and the gardens. it's a community effort that what makes this library. now we are asking

louis what's next. that to me so important. with the supervisors here, david chew, the presence here, thanks to malia, we are investing some $800,000 more along the corridor to make the whole neighborhood involved. if it takes longer, we'll do it because the quality will be about. that's what a world series library looks like. so i want to thank you for all joining us today like mayor's get to do. i got a proclamation. i want to present this to our new librarian, beverly. thank you. to honor your leadership here and to declare this day to be bay view branch library day in san

francisco. >> thank you, mayor. so eloquently stated about what this library means to us. when we began planning for this library about six years ago, it's amazing how this community told us loud and clear that they didn't want to settle for a modest plan. they wanted a new library with more space for books, media, they want a library that had spaces for young people to hang out after school so they can learn. they wanted a space to provide dedicated areas for the teens to create and contemplate and to be engaged. they also wanted a state of the arts place of technology. a 20th century

library that no on the celebrates the community but looks towards the future. we have 19 computers. laptops, digital media throughout and the community room as the mayor stated is going to be wonderful for civic engagement and for the community to come together for lectures and programs for celebration. all of that has happened. this is your library. when you go inside, you will find a welcoming space that is going to serve many many generations to come, but it does take a wonderful and strong partnership. i'm very proud of the fact that we worked very closely with the community, but also very closely with the team of wonderful hardworking people between the department of public works, and the library. i want to take a moment to acknowledge the terrific work that the blip program manager has done throughout the

project. elena. where are you? it's a large team. i want to acknowledge my colleagues and department head mohammed, freddie carter. they were true partners in this endeavor. our deputy librarian, linda, linda is an institution in our neighborhood. we love what she does here. ed, where are you? he's back here. he's done a terrific job and elsie who has worked very diligently throughout. let's not forget some very important people are going to be here to serve you and to do a wonderful job in community building. you have already met beverly hayes, who has done a

great job here. our branch manager. the team is behind me. i'm going to call out their names, naomi jones, addison and rachel brooks. let's give them a round of applause. they have done a fabulous job for all of us. i wish you could all see the beautiful panels. when i talk about the community ownership. one of the highlights you will see is the culture and the history that is reflected on these art panels. we have an amazing architectural team that uses the history center for this library and it's reflected there to help us celebrate what a beautiful community this is and it captures the spirit, captures the identity of what the bay view neighborhood is all about. i want to take a moment to acknowledge the architectural team from tom and

associates, we have nick homg , carry, thank you for the fabulous work. that is the dream team as i call it that made it happen working hand in hand with the community. with that i would like to now introduce, i see that our supervisor is still not here. our board president is here. david chew. i now you have a wonderful opportunity throughout the day with chinese new years. >> thank you. good morning. the sun is shining on the bay view today. when i was in grade school, in first grade, second grade and third grade. my

chinese immigrant mother every sat morning would wake me up and say we are going to the local public library. this is where i read the children's book about abraham lincoln and caesar chavez and mahatma gandhi. this is what inspires who we are as a people, as a city. i want to thank you today. look around at this crowd today. we represent the diversity, the mows mosaic, not just of san francisco but the world. it's a library that gives us the knowledge and culture of what our world is about. i want to thank you for being part of this village that is not just the bay but san

francisco. i want to thank the city staff, our mayor, our local supervisor for coming together for building the 28 libraries. i'm very excited that we finished 27. no. 28 sin my district. it's time to get to north beach. i want to thank everybody in this community because every image is one of you here wanted to make sure that this library is fit for the 21st century. congratulations. >> thank you supervisor chew. just so you know your library is under construction. it's also my pleasure to welcome supervisor and he's got

libraries in his district as well. supervisor scott. >> thank you. congratulations to the community on this wonderful building, this wonderful library in community. i was here for the ground breaking ats and it's so wonderful to see the project complete. some people ask me why do you go to the library. i try share vicariously through other communities the joy of getting a new library. we might be divided into neighborhoods and directs and lecture supervisor by districts, but we are one city. if you are in castro or north beach or rich mond, we've to work together and i'm so proud of our city to supporting our library system. there are other parts in the state and country that are

shutting down libraries. we are improving our libraries. congratulations to the community and to all of us. this is a wonderful day. >> wonderful. our supervisor co-hen is here. but now this one is really the capstone to all the wonderful libraries. supervisor malia cohen. >> good morning. hello, young scholars. where are my little young people? hello. oh, my god! the bay view library is probably the crown joule jewel. this is one of the most

blessed occasions that we get to experience together as a community. this building harvest our arrest archives of our culture and that bay view and the entire city of san francisco. if that's not a reason to celebrate, i don't know what better reason there is. what better grand opening is there than the bay view library opening. here we are collectively coming together to share our thoughts, our experiences, our traditions right here on the corner. a pivotal corner that's been the corner of all the action along the 3rd street merchant corridor. today is exciting because it's a hallmark of not only of what's to do come but

what has to pass, our culture, our san francisco culture. this is a place where it's been welcoming people for decades. this is a time where you start to see change along the third street corridor and not be fearful of the change but understand it's embraces. this change is not about moving people out, but about moving people out through education, access and information. i want to acknowledge all of our city partners today, thank you for being here today, thank you mayor lee, and i see gina, i just want to say a couple words to you. you all look beautiful. i love you. all right. have a good day. we are going to utilize this resource. it is not going to be dormant. we are going to have this be the

center of excellence in learning. all right. amen. >> supervisors it's going to be one of the more vibrant places. you so right. thank you so much. another person that's been a supporter with the mission and library, it's none other than our assembly person. tom arg no.. >> thanks for the proposals promotion. i can be my first lady. good tidings. i remember the library in 1988 people were worried that people in the

neighborhood wouldn't be respectful of the library. we have proven that it takes a village and supported those bonds unanimously particularly building around the library. of course in san francisco it takes the village people. that's a little different. i remember teaching at the bay view school and how challenged the parents were to provide an education for these kids and now neglected this area was and we have turned this around because of our spirituality and work ethics and pride. so god love us all. this is a beautiful beautiful building and anytime you want any help, anytime night or day, please feel free to call supervisor malia. no, you can call me. thanks. >> thank you, tom. >> so we are getting excited about coming inside, aren't we?

we are almost there. once you are inside take a look at the beautiful art inside. the san francisco art commissions local artist and we are so proud that the local artist is from the bay view. his name is ron sanders. his artwork is truly inspiring. they are what they call photo grams. there is two of them, one is spirit of nature dancing together and the other one is symbiotic relationship. one of them is inside the beautiful courtyard and the other one is inside the library. enjoy that. i do want to thank the executive director from the san francisco art commission, tom is here. judy is here also from the arts commission. let's give them a round of applause. they do great work out here. i have

already told you about the wonderful beautiful admiration. mohammed. >> thank you. thank you louis. first of all i'm just proud of the partnership that the department of public works has with the library, the entire staff, the commission. today we are breaking ground on library no. 23. a big hand for this program, please. [ applause ] >> i'm also very fortunate to have a very great staff, elena chen, our city architect, edgar lopez, all put hands together to make this happen. but most importantly former director who is now head of mta, who started

this project. wave your hand? [ applause ] . when ed was director, certain goals were set to accomplish this project. local business, the goal was set at 30 percent. can anybody guess how many percent local businesses got part of this library? 68 percent. [ applause ] >> subcontracting goals, more than 50 percent of the subcontractors came from this neighborhood. and most important, all the hours that were put to build this library, 25 percent of the work force from 94124. i would like to thank our contractors. freddie carter and mike. where is freddie? freddie, come up here. please,

a big hand for freddie. [ applause ] >> every time i would stop by early in the morning, 6:30 sometimes in the evening, 8:00 freddie was in that office making sure the work would get done. he held hands to many of the workers from our community and made this project possible. it is a very good example that people like freddie, when they go the extra mile teach our own residents and people who live here how to do things. we can do it. [ applause ] we can do it. and i hope this sets the pace for future projects in san francisco. all the neighborhoods from the various residents we can go and we can build more libraries, more stations, more fire houses, more community

facilities. thank you very much. >> now we also wanted an energy efficient library. you have a green living roof and also have solar panels and i think all due to the partnership we've had with the department environment of san francisco. this is actually going to be the highest rated lead which stands for leadership and energy environmental design. it's the lead goal at the top level. let's hear it for our friends from the department of environment. particularly mike palmer they are all here to be with us. another group that was dedicated to make sure the entire project was complete on time is the commission. they

gave us time. lee is the commissioner. >> thank you, lee, i know there are several other commissioners in the audience, we have theresa ono. let's give them a big round of [ applause applause. they deserve our acknowledgment. now we have people who have helped with the fund raising and the building capacity for the library. friends of the library, scott. >> thank you, louis. it's a great pleasure to be with friends. this was a community effort where we had donations from $3 to a $100,000. there is

a whole bunch of you, c'mon up. because these were the folks raising the money here in your community for this beautiful branch. [ applause ] also we have diane gray who is going to make a special presentation. >> hello, it is a glorious day and someone said the sun is shining on bay view. the sun always shines on bay view. my

name is diane gray and i'm one of the newer board members of the san francisco friends of the public library. i'm wearing a hat today. that organization i'm here with two of our other members, lydia vincent and ferjie newman. we get some funding through the san francisco foundation and we had commissioned actually a project that you will see in the library, in the courtyard of a tile project. it's a lovely project. we have some monies left over and we said we want that to be gifted further to the library moving forward for programs and anything else that the facility needs. so we decided as a group that $12,000

is going to be donated to the bay view library. [ applause ] >> thank you, diane. i also want to make a special thank you for funding the opening today and for their support for today's opening. louis? >> you know, i know it's tight here, crowded. what does that say? it says there is true ownership in our neighborhood for this library. fantastic. i want to take a moment to acknowledge some other partners. we've already mentioned the fellows who were terrific in help with planning and design process but also the ymca and gino, the executive directors out there, they helped us keep the library

services going throughout the construction project. gino, where are you? thank you so much for your help. we are almost done. i want to acknowledge two individuals that have volunteered their time for over 20 years in the neighborhood. it's called the council of neighborhood libraries. your representative were there from the very beginning because they that had vision of having a new library. i want to particularly acknowledge miriam and larry is back here. thank you so much for your wonderful support. thank you miriam. let's give them a big round of applause, folks. here they are. terrific. also in the neighborhood we had some returnis, folks that were

branch managers and librarians. fanny young, terrific. thank you for all of your work. we are ready just for our big celebration. as with transaction we have a ribbon cutting and we have the lion dancer bless the building. we are going to have them bless the ceremony since it's the lunar new year. we are going to call the mayor to the front and malia. could i ask the mayor and malia to do the count down from 10 to 1 do a count down. >> the ribbon is coming. >> you are going to help us

count from 10. we need help. >> all right, everybody. we are going to start at 10 and we are going down. ready? 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. all right. >> all right. let's hear it for the line dancer from the community center.