and the port as you know, was the beginning of our city, just a few blocks here and it is the basic of the tell graph hill and it started as agricultural and fishing village, right there where down's offices are was the first fisherman's wharf. >> and it is just amazing to see how it has transformed. of course, the thing that really set the city on fire was the gold rush and in the words of one historian, the gold rush catapulted our little city of san francisco into a far greater world ride prestige and enviable position than the tiny population really deserved and we have been in that role ever since and our port has evolved with the city as we welcomed new and improved ways of moving

not from what used to be a pier for substanence but something that is important to the city as food was and that is innovation and quality of life. and so i can't think of a project that epitomizes that more than the exporatorium like our city and port has continuously evolved and expand and rebuilt and on behave of the port commissioners who will raise their hands and be recognized. >> it is my honor to welcome the exporatorium as the ports newest coldest nugget to the world renoun catapulted water front and we look forward to celebrating the next 150 years, with all of you. and i would like to especially

thank the exporatorium's board, staff, consultants, and supporters and friends. for with you all who were the innovators behind this vision, you all who had this dedication for too many years to count and you all who will make this all possible and so my ring, which i like to point out is going on top of david's ring. and that was a silly thing to say, david. only when you go last. my ring, back to the point, mr. mayor, thank god that i work for you. my ring symbolizes the conductors and the communicaters and it is representative of the planners, the collaborative ra tores and the producers who created this vision and those of you who will keep it fresh for the next

150 years, please take a big bow all of you here today and it is truly an achievement, thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you, monique very much. >> my team before you here is almost finished, we are going to ring the bell in just a few moments, let me just take a moment to say, that it has been a great privilege to be a part of this. terrific morning, but more than that, over the last many months to be reporting here, and one of the great privileges of my job is the opportunity to be a part of this community in such a unique way and i am grateful for that, abc 7 is proud, television partner of the exporatorium and let me acknowledge the president and general manager, william burton, raise your hand if you would, and i want to say that because he has donated just countless amounts of television

time to promote this event and be a part of it and so we are very proud to serve in that community. and so we are around a tv anchor and a bunch of politicians that they talk so much that we have to switch interpreters and we have warn them out and thank you for being here. that is how bad it is, right? >> doctor rob stemp er is a renouned physicist and really is the thread that connects in so many ways, the history and the fundamentals and the core values of frank's mission with the new modern day advancements and discoveries of the new exporatorium. please welcome dr. rob semper. >> good morning, everyone. and welcome to the plaza, one of the wonderful things about the new exporatorium is that we have this wonderful outdoor space as well as in door space and would i like to think of us

as an inside out museum and invite, and those that have come behind us outside of the plaza. >> when i first came in, 1977, i was privileged to join, a band of 35 people who already had been working for 8 years with frank in the palace of fine arts a place dedicated to the proposition that individuals need to be encouraged to ex-mror the world to ask the only questions and by learning and doing. it was an appropriate place, and over the years, the staff and volunteers in the palace of fine arts established exist and produced 500 programs and hired 5,000 high school kids to be the ex-plainers. we built exhibits for over 100

museums from around the world and we design the museums for places as diverse as china and turkey. we published hundreds of papers on the work that we were doing about learning. we are first the website that brought the total solar eclipse live to millions of people and launched the first museum apps for tablets and all of this work was done by thousands of staff members and volunteers. nine years ago we talked to project to date and, we took everything that we learned in those 43 years and brought it over here and ported it into this building. we are so excited to show it off to you today, and to show off this new, 21st century learning center and we really hope that you enjoy what is here. i think of this moment, not as a break, from the past, but a continuation of the work that was started by the pioneers in 1969. we are still a place dedicated to the proposition that

individuals should be encouraged to explore the world by learning by doing and thinking for themselves. it was started in the cold war by frank for the idea that people need to think for themself and the world will be bet foreit. what we need now is just as much spirit and exporatorium will support that going forward. [ applause ] as i look around today, we are about to embark on this amazing new chapter, and i must say that i can't wait to see what happens over the next 40 years, with this wonderful facility. and to echo dennis, earlier we will not be here without the commitment and the support of our staff, board and donor and designers, and contractors and builders and civic leaders and it and we support our

gratitude. and so today i am adding the 7th ring, and supporters and champion and members and volunteers and all of the staff, past and present who have helped to build this place and will live in it going forward. >> notice that it is, the last ring. but it is not the last. i want to invite, now, dennis bartel and our explainers up to place the final piece on top of the bell. as rob said, sorry, you were bitter as well and we have one more piece to go but i would like to invite all of the speakers on stage if you could please, and while they are

coming up here, i wanted to also thank all of you, in particular, i know of a few of our pier colleague institutions from around the world from as far away as finland, and australia, costa rica and france have joined us here today and to all of our friends who come to share this moment with us, thank you so much. >> so, it is my honor to introduce the final piece through the future. our future. represented in our high school explainer gloria granatos, >> so this final piece represents our friends, our communities our visitors,

teachers, students and users worldwide. [ applause ] [ applause ] [ cheers ] and our artists makia. i believe that means, that the exporatorium is now open, please come inside. thank you, everybody. thank you. ♪

(music) >> herb theatre,open rehearsal. listen to the rehearsal. i think it is fun for them, they see our work process, our discussions, the decisions we make. it is good for us. we kind of behavior little bit when we have people in the audience. msk (music) >> we are rehearsing for our most expensive tour; plus two concerts here.

we are proud that the growth of the orchestra, and how it is expanded and it is being accepted. my ambition when i came on as music director here -- it was evident we needed absolutely excellent work. also evident to me that i thought everyone should know that. this was my purpose. and after we opened, which was a spectacular opening concert about five weeks after that the economy completely crashed. my plan -- and i'm absolutely dogmatic about my plans --were delayed slightly. i would say that in this very difficult timefor the arts and everyone,

especially the arts, it's phenomenal how new century has grown where many unfortunate organizations have stopped. during this period we got ourselves on national radio presence; we started touring, releasing cds, a dvd. we continue to tour. reputation grows and grows and grows and it has never stopped going forward. msk(music) >> the bay area knows the orchestra. you maybe take things for granted a little bit. that is simply not the case will go on the road. the audiences go crazy. they don't see vitality like this on stage. we are capable of conveying joy when we play.

msk(music) >> any performance that we do, that a program, that will be something on the program that you haven't heard before. string orchestra repertoire is pretty small. i used to be boxed into small repertoire. i kept constantly looking for new repertoire and commissioning new arrangements. if you look at the first of the program you have very early, young vibrant mendelson; fabulous opener and then you have this fabulous concerto written for us in the orchestra. is our gift. msk(music) >> and then you have strauss,

extraordinary piece. the most challenging of all. string orchestra work. 23 solo instrument, no violin section, now viola section; everybody is responsible for their part in this piece. the challenge is something that i felt not only that we could do , absolutely could do, but i wanted to show off. i can't tell you how aware i am of the audience. not only what i hear but their vibes, so strong. i have been doing this for a long time. i kind of make them feel what i want them to feel.

there is nobody in that audience or anywhere that is not going to know that particular song by the fourth note. and that is our encore on tour. by the way. i am proud to play it, we are from san francisco. we are going to play that piece no matter where we are. >> hi, i'm with building san francisco. and we have a special program of stay safe today where we're going to talk about what you can do to your home after an earthquake to make it waterproof and to be more comfortable.

we're here at spur in san francisco, this wonderful exhibit of safe enough to stay. and this is an example of what your home might be like after an earthquake. and we have today with us ben latimer from tvan. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> we'll talk about things you can do you don't have to be a professional contractor to make your home more livable after an earthquake. >> i want to talk about things a homeowner can do. we have comfort and we have things like a little bit of maybe safety if your front door is ajar and waterproofing if you have a leak in your roof, or if you have broken glass on the window. >> so unr, one of the most important fib use is keeping outside out and inside in. let's look at windows. >> let's assume this window is broken in the earthquake. we have wind and rain blowing in. one of the most important things you need to do as a homeowner is secure the plastic properly. if you just take staples or

nails and put them into the plastic, we're going to get a strong wind and rip it right off. what i'm going to have somebody do is they're going to have -- this is an old piece of shingle. you might have -- everybody has a piece of wood in their basement. it doesn't have to be fancy. they take out this rusty screw begun, and hopefully you have one of these. >> there is one at the neighborhood support center. >> at the neighborhood support center. you're going to wrap this plastic around this board, take your screw. and then screw that in. >> you need a permit for this? >> you do need a permit for this. and you can contact the former head building inspector to get that permit. that's it. now when the wind blows, it's tight and it's not going to pull through, having a single point of contact. >> great. what about this door? take a look at this door. what can you do? let's say it doesn't shut tight. what can you do? >> for the sake of argument,

we're on the inside. i can't lock my door at night. i have a very similar, very similar idea. i'm going to take my 2 by 4. i can put it across the jamb in the door. one. two. maybe i want another one up here, maybe another one down there. but i can go to sleep. and that quickly, i can get it off in the morning. >> terrific. what about the roof up here? we see people throw blue tarps over their roof after an earthquake. that seems reasonable. >> i think the blue tarp is reasonable. the things that people want to know that they need to know is if you have multiple tarps, how you overlap. starting from the bottom and moving up so that you're overlapping this way. so, rain running down doesn't slide under your tarp. >> right. >> and the same technique we did over here, as silly as it may sound, wrapping the end of that blue tarp with your board

and then securing that if you can underneath, if you have to on top is fine. but making sure that you don't have an area where the wind is going to get under and bill owe that tarp. >> the wind can rip it right off. >> and then you're back up there again. >> let's go inside and check out what we can do inside. >> old fun. here we go. >> so, ben, i see you have nails, universal tool right here. >> man's best friend. duct tape. let me show you a couple things we can use this for after an earthquake. this window right here, because it's off kilter, we have open seams all along. i have a lot of air coming through. i want to stay comfortable at night. i want to keep that air out. it's as simple as that, all the way around. >> excellent. >> now i don't have any air coming in. let's say this one is one that would annoy me. everything is a little off. my doors won't stay closed. i take a piece of my favorite duct tape here, close it up. and at least it will stay out of my way when i'm trying to

live throughout my day. if we're not talking about pressurized water, we're talking about just the drain, sometimes they're going to get a crack here. >> right, sure. >> and you're going to get a leak. duct tape around that is going to help us get through until we can get a plumber out and get that fixed as well. let's say we only have electricity in one room, so we're running extension cords across the house. if i'm going to run an extension cord from one room to the other, i don't want kids tripping on it. i don't want to trippon it. i take my trusty duct tape, tape it to the floor, and i don't have to worry about it getting kicked. >> great, great. look at this. let's look at the duct tape here because we see a big -- >> yes. in the event of an earthquake, i don't think we're going to have too many -- too much debris that's safe to put into a plastic bag, even as strong as it might be. these are called vice bags. this is what they use to put rice and things when they ship it. this is something where i take my glass, i can take broken pieces of wood, i can take

anything sharp and fill it. and it's not going to puncture and come out. it's not going to fall all over the floor. i've not going to have it sticking out, maybe scratch myself, cut myself or anything like that. these are a great thing to have. >> you have a little go-to box for emergencies. that's great. thanks very much for joining us, ben. it's really been interesting. and i want to thank you all for joining us here at the spur urban center. and we'll see you again >> what if you could make a memorial that is more about information and you are never fixed and it can go wherever it wants to go? everyone who has donated to it could use it, host it, share it. >> for quite a great deal of team she was hired in 2005, she struggled with finding the correct and appropriate visual expression. >> it was a bench at one point.

it was a darkened room at another point. but the theme always was a theme of how do we call people's attention to the issue of speci species extinction. >> many exhibits do make long detailed explanations about species decline and biology of birds and that is very useful for lots of purposes. but i think it is also important to try to pull at the strings inside people. >> missing is not just about specific extinct or endangered species. it is about absence and a more fundamental level of not knowing what we are losing and we need to link species loss to habitat loss and really focuses much on the habitat. >> of course the overall mission of the academy has to do with

two really fundamental and important questions. one of which is the nature of life. how did we get here? the second is the challenge of sustainability. if we are here how are we going to find a way to stay? these questions resonated very strongly with maya. >> on average a species disappears every 20 minutes. this is the only media work that i have done. i might never do another one because i'm not a media artist per se but i have used the medium because it seemed to be the one that could allow me to convey the sounds and images here. memorials to me are different from artworks. they are artistic, but memorials have a function. >> it is a beautiful scupltural

objective made with bronze and lined with red wood from water tanks in clear lake. that is the scupltural form that gives expression to maya's project. if you think about a cone or a bull horn, they are used to get the attention of the crowd, often to communicate an important message. this project has a very important message and it is about our earth and what we are losing and what we are missing and what we don't even know is gone. >> so, what is missing is starting with an idea of loss, but in a funny way the shape of this cone is, whether you want to call it like the r.c.a. victor dog, it is listen to the earth and what if we could create a portal that could look at the past, the present and the future? >> you can change what is then missing by changing the software, by changing what is projected and missing. so, missing isn't a static

installation. it is an installation that is going to grow and change over time. and she has worked to bring all of this information together from laboratory after laboratory including, fortunately, our great fwroup of researche e-- g researchers at the california academy. >> this couldn't have been more site specific to this place and we think just visually in terms of its scupltural form it really holds its own against the architectural largest and grandeur of the building. it is an unusual compelling object. we think it will draw people out on the terrace, they will see the big cone and say what is that. then as they approach the cone tell hear these very unusual sounds that were obtained from the cornell orinthology lab. >> we have the largest recording of birds, mammals, frogs and insects and a huge library of

videos. so this is an absolutely perfect opportunity for us to team up with a world renown, very creative inspirational artist and put the sounds and sights of the animals that we study into a brand-new context, a context that really allows people to appreciate an esthetic way of the idea that we might live in the world without these sounds or sites. >> in the scientific realm it is shifting baselines. we get used to less and less, diminished expectations of what it was. >> when i came along lobsters six feet long and oysters 12 inches within they days all the oyster beds in new york, manhattan, the harbor would clean the water. so, just getting people to wake up to what was just literally there 200 years ago, 150 years ago. you see the object and say what

is that. you come out and hear these intriguing sounds, sounds like i have never heard in my life. and then you step closer and you almost have a very intimate experience. >> we could link to different institutions around the globe, maybe one per continent, maybe two or three in this country, then once they are all networked, they begin to communicate with one another and share information. in 2010 the website will launch, but it will be what you would call an informational website and then we are going to try to, by 2011, invite people to add a memory. so in a funny way the member rely grows and there is something organic about how this memorial begins to have legs so to speak. so we don't know quite where it will go but i promise to keep on it 10 years. my goal is to raise awareness and then either protect forests

from being cut down or reforest in ways that promote biodiversity. >> biodiverse city often argued to be important for the world's human populations because all of the medicinal plants and uses that we can put to it and fiber that it gives us and food that it gives us. while these are vital and important and worth literally hundreds of billions of dollars, the part that we also have to be able to communicate is the more spiritual sense of how important it is that we get to live side by side with all of these forms that have three billion years of history behind them and how tragic it would be not commercially and not in a utilitarian way but an emotio l emotional, psychological, spiritual way if we watch them one by one disappear. >> this is sort of a merger between art and science and advocacy in a funny way getting

people to wake unand realize what is going on -- wake up and realize what is going on. so it is a memborial trying to get us to interpret history and look to the past. they have always been about lacking at the past so we proceed forward and maybe don't commit the same mistakes. everyo to san francisco's planning commission regular hearing for thursday, may 2nd, 2013. please be advised that the commission does not tolerate any disruption or outbursts of any kind. please silence any mobile devices that may sound off during the proceedings. and when speaking before the commission, please do state your name for the record. i'd like to take roll at this time. commission president fong? >> here. >> commission vice president wu? >> here. >> commissioner antonini? >> present. >> commissioner moore? >> here. >> and commissioner sugaya? >> here. >> commissioner borden is