>> 7 and a half million renovation is part of the clean and safe neighbor's park fund which was on the ballot four years ago and look at how that public investment has transformed our neighborhood. >> the playground is unique in that it serves a number of age groups, unlike many of the other properties, it serves small children with the children's play grounds and clubhouses that has basketball courts, it has an outdoor soccer field and so there were a lot of people that came to the table that had their wish list and we did our best to make sure that we kind of divided up spaces and made sure that we kept the old features of the playground but we were able to enhance all of those features.

>> the playground and the soccer field and the tennis fields and it is such a key part of this neighborhood. >> we want kids to be here. we want families to be here and we want people to have athletic opportunities. >> we are given a real responsibility to insure that the public's money is used appropriately and that something really special comes of these projects. we generally have about an opportunity every 50 years to redo these spaces. and it is really, really rewarding to see children and families benefit, you know, from the change of culture, at each one of these properties >> and as a result of, what you see behind us, more kids are playing on our soccer fields than ever before. we have more girls playing sports than we have ever had

before. [ applause ] fp >> and we are sending a strong message that san francisco families are welcome and we want you to stay. >> this park is open. ♪ >> just a few steps away from

union square is a quiet corner stone of san francisco's our community to the meridian gallery has a 20-year history of supporting visual arts. experimental music concert, and also readings. >> give us this day our daily bread at least three times a day. and lead us not into temptation to often on weekdays. [laughter] >> meridians' stands apart from the commercial galleries around union square, and it is because of their core mission, to increase social, philosophical, and spiritual change my isolated individuals and communities. >> it gives a statement, the idea that a significant art of any kind, in any discipline, creates change. >> it is philosophy that attracted david linger to mount a show at meridian. >> you want to feel like your

work this summer that it can do some good. i felt like at meridian, it could do some good. we did not even talk about price until the day before the show. of course, meridian needs to support itself and support the community. but that was not the first consideration, so that made me very happy. >> his work is printed porcelain. he transfers images onto and spoils the surface a fragile shes of clay. each one, only one-tenth of an inch thick. >> it took about two years to get it down. i would say i lose 30% of the pieces that i made. something happens to them. they cracked, the break during the process. it is very complex. they fall apart. but it is worth it to me. there are photographs i took 1 hours 99 the former soviet union. these are blown up to a gigantic images. they lose resolution. i do not mind that, because my images are about the images, but

they're also about the idea, which is why there is text all over the entire surface. >> marie in moved into the mansion on powell street just five years ago. its galleries are housed in one of the very rare single family residences around union square. for the 100th anniversary of the mansion, meridian hosted a series of special events, including a world premiere reading by lawrence ferlinghetti. >> the birth of an american corporate fascism, the next to last free states radio, the next-to-last independent newspaper raising hell, the next-to-last independent bookstore with a mind of its own, the next to last leftie looking for obama nirvana. [laughter] the first day of the wall street

occupation set forth upon this continent a new revolutionary nation. [applause] >> in addition to its own programming as -- of artist talks, meridian has been a downtown host for san francisco states well-known port trees center. recent luminaries have included david meltzer, steve dixon, and jack hirsch man. >> you can black as out of the press, blog and arrest us, tear gas, mace, and shoot us, as we know very well, you will, but this time we're not turning back. we know you are finished. desperate, near the end. hysterical in your flabbergastlyness. amen. >> after the readings, the

crowd headed to a reception upstairs by wandering through the other gallery rooms in the historic home. the third floor is not usually reserved for just parties, however. it is the stage for live performances. ♪ under the guidance of musical curators, these three, meridian has maintained a strong commitment to new music, compositions that are innovative, experimental, and sometimes challenging. sound art is an artistic and event that usually receives short shrift from most galleries because san francisco is musicians have responded by showing strong support for the programming. ♪

looking into meridian's future, she says she wants to keep doing the same thing that she has been doing since 1989. to enlighten and disturbed. >> i really believe that all the arts have a serious function and that it helps us find out who we are in a much wider sense than we were before we experienced that work of art. ♪

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 a win win for the city of san francisco and for the medical center and the center health system. by the name, my name is gerardo. this agreement ruts results in a significantly

larger hospital. 120 beds. a significantly smaller hospital. 255 beds. saint luke's hospital will be 25 of all the cpmc. it will continue to provide the level of care with no financial conditions or projections and i think we have solved what was an issue and initiated on the side of the hospital. over and above the on going care obligation of the hospital. the agreement is $90 million for

cash benefit and others related to health care, affordable housing and pedestrian safety. that's an overview of the deal and you will hear, i'm going to be to make some acknowledgements an those that negotiated the contract, the development agreement as to specifics. the process was one that i came into with somewhat or some bit of trepdation. i have been involved and know what i know from the board of supervisors from what i read in the newspapers. i was concerned about what it would be like to work with these young people who are responsible for the legislative function of our government. i also realized

that by san francisco definition that i was dealing with supervisors of three different levels, left, middle and right. and i need to say today that i have never been so impressed in my life by politicians to watch them come together as one and to develop a strategy along with a hospital team for the common good. [ applause ] >> we developed together a process that was transparent. the members of the board of supervisors and the members of the team were able to see all the numbers, budgets,

projections and brought in expertise to verify those numbers were real number. we got educated together. we politicized together and then we built trust. i'm not saying it's perfect trust, but we built trust. so i would like to single out david chu, david campos and mark ferrel for the great job they did. [ applause ] >> the mayor's office in particular a great deal of debt. he did a great job. i just don't know who i'm going to talk at midnight anymore. [ laughter ] . i also want to thank people from the department of public

health and others from the mayor's office. but colleen chav an and wagner were instrumental in helping us understand the projections and understand the construction cost, etc. i would also want to acknowledge the hospital team, mike, warn browner. ceo of cpmc, [ applause ] george, i want to say is it w u. and john gates creative cfo who works at the hospital and the chairman of the board mr. bob -- [ applause ] . throughout this process, i had the luxury of a number of

people helping and counseling me and encouraging me, but i would like to particularly thank bishop mark andrews who has been a tremendous supporter of saint lukes. and last but not least, i want to thank the san francisco coalition. we, as part of our process had meetings with the coalition in my office, their executive committee that varied from 10-13 in size from meeting to meeting and also their liaison mr. mark kumar who kept everyone a price apprised of what we were doing. i know that san francisco is still a city

that knows how and wants the city to work and cares about each other. congratulations to san francisco. i want to introduce our fine mayor ed lee. [ applause ] . >> thank you. i yelled out wife and family to make sure that there was a way in which to acknowledge the tremendous sacrifice that lou gerardo has given. when you see construction workers, you know something big is going to happen. it has in the same level of excitement that i have seen in the rebuilding of general hospital and the uc medical center. every time we touch our health care system, we have something that promises

a better life for people and barbara is as excited for this announcements as well. saint luke's are incredible institutions for san francisco. that's why we thought it would be best for the whole city to make this project happen because of the laws of the state of california that require that seismic upgrade of our health institutions, because of the tremendous pressure to improve san francisco and bay area and the economical structures that face this hospital and so many other hospitals. the job is never done. this is an announcement of where we are today, but we have to get this thing built, we have to make sure it's furnished like we are working on to make sure everything

happens at a time when there is economic pressure and institutions coming from national decision that don't necessarily compliment the economic recovery that we are experiencing in the bay area. so, i want to put this into perspective for one great acknowledgment that i want to make is that this was not easy to do. lou's assignment here and i don't know why he took this up because it really accounted for hundreds of hours of his time to keep everybody at the table , but it is an acknowledgment that i want to make to thank the board president chu, and supervisor ferrel. each and everyone of them to say this would not have

gotten done without their direct involvement. yes, i started some of the things and i was excited a year ago when we thought we had and agreement but realizing the hospital and this hospital reconfirmed for the future was important. we didn't have that agreement a year-and-a-half go and we had to put together a process to make it happen these three supervisors came together and they essentially made it happen with the support of ken rich and others and public health and so many others. lou's penetration, his workability, i have to say, when they got close and i heard they got close, i had to go down and get that clam chowder and sour dough bread to assure myself that it was happening in our

city. it takes strong personalities, it takes incredible amount of effort to depoliticized these issues. by the way, when you hear the real stories and they will probably come out, somebody will leak something, there was more than one time where everybody felt justified in walking away and i'm glad they found reasons to come back because these are important for our city and the needs of this area. it would not have been done without the board of supervisors and gaining the insight lou was creating for us. i would like to let the supervisor speak to what their passion was in keeping their focus together on it, but to say to you that it's

an incredible time for the city. these are major health care institutions that we have. this will lead to hundreds of jobs for the city, permanent, long-term jobs, but ultimately, it will be another great brick in the whole health we have to share in this effort to do so and i'm so happy not only the do this but acknowledge the importance of our board having direction conversations engaged in this effort. thank you lou, barbara and everybody else in making this happen. let's go forward with this effort and make sure that the path is clear and again, i want to

thank sutter, cpmc for their leadership because they are making another incredible investment in san francisco and this is now honor ed with this agreement. it's sensitive and everyone wonders what will occur to them for going forward. we make a great leap of faith of going forward as a family and i want to have this opportunity to reassure everybody. thank you. [ applause ] . >> thank you, mayor lee. i'm going to introduce 5 people that will say a few word and also to let you know the members of the board and mayor will be available to you for questions, not from the podium, but with everybody that is here today. i would first like to introduce supervisor mark ferrel and to say that mark has

been instrumental in every way towards bringing us to this point in our efforts and i would like to say that i think that mark is a great peace maker and has served us, this city well in this process. so i introduce to you supervisor mark ferrel. [ applause ] thank you lou and thank you all for being here today. today truly is a great day for the city of san francisco. we are proud to announce an agreement with cpmc that will bring two new hospitals to our city. two hospitals that meet the needs and concerns of our neighborhoods and alsoen insures that we have world health care for generations to

come here in san francisco. this is going to create thousands of jobs and permanent jobs here in san francisco. san francisco is the envy of a number of cities, not only through our state but also through our country and now we can add two new hospitals. supervisor chu and i will talk about the details of the deals we made with cpmc and now i want to thank some people. first of all my colleagues, supervisor campos, david chu, as much as lee mentioned it was an incredible honor to work together. it took a real effort, the three of us working with c p mc but it speaks not

only in this process but as supervisors, working together as colleagues. we certainly experienced this the last few years but speaks volumes that we come together to work in this manner. i want to thank my colleagues for their work and effort. to the mayor and his team, thank you for all your effort. i want to single out ken rich. i don't know why you are on the rope back there. c'mon up here. if anyone deserves and applause, it's ken. ken represent the mayor's office in all of our meetings. i think we talked earlier today. we met approximately 40 different times since the fall. all of us agree with the board of supervisors that none of us

have spent more time on any single projects as elected officials than we have on c pmc. that's why we are so proud. i would like to thank cpmc, and mike brown and who we have got tone to know so well in the past few months. it took a tremendous effort, good faith on all sides and i look forward to working with all of us and most importantly to lou gerardo who is in front of you. he's not only the most famous

baker, but i will tell you straight up, if it weren't for him, we would not have gotten through this process. it was lou gerardo who put this together. thank you so much for all your efforts. >> so i will briefly touch on the elements of this deal that are incredibly significant. first of all cathedral hill and new campus for cpmc, originally it was going to be 550 bed hospital, today it's 250 beds approximately half the size to also build additional 30 beds. while smaller, this does reflect the concerns of the

local neighborhood and as well as relating to saint luke's. but most importantly it does create a brand new hospital at cathedral hill. this hospital will be c pmc flagship. for our neighborhoods, it not only provides great access to health care but the facilities are located in our neighborhoods and making sure we heard the concerns of our neighborhood groups and coalitions and make sure those were met. we have please to have worked out arrangement, the campus, the new campus are all being met and that was an incredible part of what we do here in san francisco to listen

to our neighborhood and what we represent today and lastly the financial aspects of it, the financial and budget committee is something that i'm focused on. we spend over $800 million a year to health care. certainly that issue that we are going to be tackling soon is had $4.4 billion for our health care. this is what matter for our city. we have an agreement that protects our financial agreement as a city and we have also learned so much in this process and we are going to continue to keep our city our eye on the ball and make sure we have a secure city. and to thank people around the podium here for

different city departments, barbara garcia i , to all of our trade members, to the community coalition, to vince from the alliance, this has been a group effort and a group supporting us today. i couldn't be prouder to be part of it. at that point we turn it back to lou gerardo. [ applause ] . the next person that i would like to introduce is supervisor david campos. we talked about 40 hours of meetings but we didn't talk about the hours and hours of telephone calls and constituent meetings and i would say these fellows put out about over 200 hours in the process. david has been an incredible champion for this