♪ ♪ >> you can sing along if you want to. it goes like this. ♪ in the morning sun i'll be sitting till the evening comes watching the ships roll in and then watch them roll away again yeah just gonna sit on the dock of the bay watching the tide roll away ooh-ee sitting on the dock of the bay wasting time... ime i left my home in georgia

headed for the frisco bay i have nothing to live for and look like nothing's gonna come my way so i'm just gonna sit on the dock of the bay watching the tide roll away ooh-ee sitting on the dock of the bay wasting time ah-ah look like nothing's gonna change everything still remains the same i can't do what people tell me to do so i guess i'll remain the same sitting here

and this loneliness won't leave me alone 2000 miles i roamed just to make this dock my home i'm just gonna sit on the dock of the bay watching the tide roll away ooh-ee sitting on the dock of the bay wasting time... ah >> whistle along with me, y'all. ♪ [whistling] yeah [whistling] >> thank you. (applause) [cheering and applauding]

>> other than that, how about a san francisco welcome? [cheering and applauding] >> now, a few words about otis redding and that absolutely gorgeous song. can you think of a better song for this great wharf? as you probably know, otis redding was in san francisco to perform at the fillmore in the summer of 1967 and he found himself for a week on a sauselito house boat. on the bay came the inspiration for this incredible song. a couple months later he recorded the song and tragically passed 2008 way in a plane crash in 1967.

this song became the last recorded song by otis redding. it is an incredible song, it is so befitting and it is something we thought would inspire everyone who comes to this wharf, not just today, but ongoing. and the otis redding family has graciously allowed us to use some of his famous lyrics here at the wharf. they will be permanently engraved at one of the markers down at the far end of the port. i'm sorry, of the park. and they will be here to inspire visitors and locals alike as they come to this place on our amazing bay. and otis redding left a legacy greater than just his music. he left his wife zelma and his wonderful children, four of whom are still with us. and this is otis redding iii also known as a genius. (applause) >> and he came all the way from los angeles to help us christen this wharf with that tremendous

song. so, please, join me in welcoming otis redding, jr. (applause) >> thank you so much. i'd like to say thanks. this is a really beautiful thing. and our family, my mother sends her love, my sister carla and dexter, my sister dee-dee. we all send our love here. we really appreciate this opportunity to, to keep fulfilling and continuing the legacy of otis redding. we have the otis redding foundation and our mission is simple. it's progress through education and enlightenment through music. and it was founded in 2007 and we're doing very well. and you can always go to otis redding.com to learn more about our foundation and thank you very, very much. this is a beautiful thing. thank you very much. (applause) >> thank you, mr. redding.

truly, it is such an inspiration for all of us. seeing all of you here today is also inspirational. so many of you have made today possible. i wish i could name and thank all of you as i look around this amazing crowd. unfortunately i can't. i would be here all day. i do want to take a moment to recognize some of the folks standing behind me. of course, our honorable mayor, mayor ed lee. (applause) >> president of our board of supervisors, david chiu. board supervisor jane kim. representative from leader pelosi's office, dan bernau. (applause) >> larry bobans, director of the bscbc. the port commission president, doreen ruho, port commissioner and former supervisor leslie tack. dbi director tom huey. san francisco fire chief hayes white. fire and port commissioner [speaker not understood]. planning commission president rodney fong, and aloe ons and

aloe ons of vips among you out there. so, thank you all for joining us today. ~ in the 45 years since that beautiful song was written, our own san francisco port waterfront has transformed. so, nothing has stayed exactly the same, we're proud to say. and just like sitting on the dock of the bay is a jewel among otis redding's collection, the new braniff street wharf is a jewel among the port's park open space collection, and we are so amazingly proud of it. it has taken a very long time and hundreds of people. the transformation of this kind of a waterfront doesn't come easy. for those of you who know it keenly, it was a thousand feet of failing edge, dilapidated pier and a tried but true seawall. and today as you look around, it is a thousand feet of public space, a place where we can walk along and experience the bay peacefully, playfully, we can gather here, we can work

here, we can recreate here and we can celebrate here. and i am so pleased and thankful to all of you who have made this moment possible. i want to take a short second to recognize some truly deserving port staff. first and foremost, planning project manager dan hodep with byron red, dianne, linda, several interns and a whole planning division. (applause) >> engineering project manager stephen real, lead architect wendy proctor. architect alan jen. i'd like to know the architectural work was done in-house at the port. we're very, very proud of that. and the entire engineering division. our dedicated real estate staff led by susan reynolds, our maintenance staff led by tom carter who has made this place look just amazing for all of you today. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. our maritime staff led by peter dealy, and our finance and administration staff led by

elaine forbes. so, it is now my honor to welcome the man who has dedicated his life to transforming and improving our city, mayor ed lee. (applause) >> thank you. thank you, monique, for that wonderful introduction. and mr. redding, thank you again. welcome back. >> thank you. >> for a moment i felt how it is to waste some time. [laughter] >> don't do that very often these days. and i'm sure my colleagues at the board of supervisors also don't know how that feels very much. but i want to thank and welcome everybody here to our waterfront. this is the kind of event that we're happy to not only engage in, but to bring more people to our waterfront. that has been the purpose of the port for so many years. and i want to just congratulate the port, its commission and the staff, because this is in fact 150 years of celebration of our port. and what a way to

celebrate with all these wonderful things that are happening here. it's taken 15 years for this project to get done, 15 years. that's a 10th of the history of the port of san francisco. and there's a lot of people to thank and monique's already thanked them, but it's worth repeating. i think the big conservation development commission, the port commission, our port staff, public works, all our departments behind me, rec and park, our federal partners have certainly been extremely important. thank you to everyone for getting to this point. and thank you for the contractors as well, because this has been one of the most visible projects where people along the waterfront have traversed this project for quite sometime and did not experience any public safety challenges along the way. so, i want to thank them for that high level of safety. 840 feet alongside our

embarcadaro promenade, really blessed to have two beautiful acres of open space to welcome more people to enjoy our waterfront. that is what our city does, especially in these times along our waterfront. you've seen all the things that we've done literally in the past year. brannon street wharf today. last june we had the privilege of opening up just up north jefferson street promenade. february earlier this year, we did the james cruise ship terminal, the cruise ship terminal at pier 27. of course, last november we all did a lot of great celebration just a little bit more south here at head park, 22 acres of open space. we're literally honoring our open space obligations and doing it the right way. this particular project is impressive not only for its beauty and opening up more space, but it does in a seismically safe way and in a

sustainable way accommodate some 75 years of projected sea level lies for our city. and that's incredible because we always are having to pay attention to all of our environment around our city. we're three quarters the bay. and, so, that's a respectful thing. we do it on ocean beach. we do it on the long golden gate. our maritime. of course, here in our waterfront. it's all also about history, not just with otis redding iii, not with the 150 years here, but the history that's represented by the panels you see, the interpretive art panels that are on display here. eight panels in total, but they will run the gamut of explaining some important history not only for our waterfront, but our whole history of our city. when it talks about the

maritime history of the waterfront, it will also talk about the history of asian immigration and the challenges of a certain family member who lived through generations of the history here. i'll talk about that family. it will talk about the labor history of our city and particularly the hard history of our waterfront labor struggles. and that international long shore and work house union, yes, very important part of our city's history. (applause) >> are reflected in these wonderful artistic and historic panels. and that will just give us even much more of a deeper sense of appreciation for what our city does with this. then this opens up a viewpoint that i know you know that i personally share because it's not just the history. we're also going to be opening up this area for even more people as we establish and get

going on piers 30-32 and transform what has historically been dying piers into the hopeful new entertainment and waterfront arena. i know in less than five years, an additional 13 acres of open space will had. more of that will be open more and more to the public. i want to see -- see gail hunter, viethv of the warriors here. i want to thank you for your commitment to working with the city to try to make this happen. ~ vice president i think this will be a wonderful great entertainment sports center for our city. but again, the purpose is to bring more people to the waterfront and enjoy what our city has. we're already starting to enjoy an event that everyone has been working on very hard for quite sometime, and i know i have with the board. and that is our 34th america's cup. and the jobs and benefits are starting to materialize even more deliberately and we're

celebrating again more open space. that event has allowed us and caused us to accelerate. this project was worth every dollar of the $26.1 million that was spent on this project. it's worth it. projects along the waterfront are not inexpensive. as everyone here behind me can attest to, because they have to do with the challenges of water, dying piers, and all our infrastructure work that has to go with it. and, so, it is not only appropriate. we are blessed with four very contributing great resources that we use to fund this $26.1 million. the federal water resources development act of 2007, you have to recognize that. the california coastal conservancy. federal appropriations. and, danielle, again, thank our leader pelosi for her wonderful support. (applause) >> always, always there for us.

and then i think constantly what i always enjoy in addition to thanking our federal support is our taxpayers of san francisco. but for the 2008 clean and safe neighborhood parks bond, this would not have happened. and that's a big shout out to all of the taxpayers in san francisco. thank you, everybody, for coming and to celebrate. thank you for enjoying with me a brief moment of time wasted and remembered all in celebration of this great waterfront. thank you. (applause) >> thank you very much, mr. mayor. i really appreciate all those remarks, and i'm glad that you are as happy about it as i am. of the great features here is the fact that underneath where all of you are now standing is a fairly robust and rebuilt seawall. so, that was an important cadence of this project as well as a lot of great seismic

features we are piloting here at the park and piloting a response to sea level rise. so, we're very, very proud of everything you can see and a lot of what you can't see. and we'd also like to thank our partners at our other city departments starting with our dedicate and had hard working board of supervisors. the department of city planning. especially chelsea ford ham. department of public works [speaker not understood]. rec and park, and don, calem and nathan who helped us get this far. and i want to thank in particular president of the board, david chiu for always being there for the port when the waterfront has needs. and we look forward to a long future with him in that role. please join me in welcoming president chiu. (applause) >> thank you, monique, and good morning. so, when i was invited to come and participate at this event, i suggested that the elected officials, mayor lee and

supervisor kim, that the three of us do a rendition of sitting on the dock by the bay. [laughter] >> and i just want to say thank you, otis redding, for sparing us of that. one of the things so special about that song is it refers to otis reding's experience of coming from thousands of miles away. i suspect it is true for all the officials here, we all came from other parts of the country to this very sacred space called san francisco. and my guess is everyone here, you either came from somewhere else, or you are the child of the grandchild of someone who decided to pick up from another dock from another part of the world to be where we are today. and, in fact, over 160 years ago, this was the embarkation point for thousands of immigrants, particularly the first asian immigrants to this very spot. and i think it's very, very special that we are rededicating it as a community space. it takes a village for us to build a park and i want to very

much add the thanks to the so many city staff that came together who monique and mayor lee have already mentioned, but i want to thank in particular the port for your leadership over the many years, all the departments, mayor lee. i also want to thank an agency that i had the pleasure of serving on that many members of the public don't know much about, the bcdc, the bacon certification development commission. (applause) >> thank you, bcdc. so, those of you who don't know, bcdc is the commission that is responsible for protecting the bay, protecting the access of the public to the bay, protecting the fact that our bay had for many decades until bcdc came along, been encroached by developments that not everyone thought was appropriate. and i think it's so special that we are focused today on making sure that this very spot and spots around the entire bay are protected. one of the interesting design aspects of what we stand on right now is that this is built to withstand sea level rise

because we know over the next 50 years, it's estimated anywhere from 18 to 55 inches worth of sea rise will happen because of our environment. so, i want to thank bcdc for that. i also, of course, want to add and echo my thanks to the voters of san francisco for approving bond measures in 2008 and 2012 to get this done. we know that this spot for decades to come will allow us to celebrate the history of our city, allow us to celebrate the very best of the present of our city, and allow us to continue in making sure that san francisco is the most amazing destination in the entire world for the 21st century. thank you so much. (applause) >> thank you very much, president chiu. i really appreciate your kind words on behalf of all of us at the port and the other city departments. you know, this work was scheduled to be done by 2020. it's 2013. it's a really good thing. and it could not have come as

quickly or frankly as inspirationally without the work of all of our partners at the community advisory committees and our neighbors. and i want to say a special thank you to all of the volunteers who have dedicated themselves so tirelessly. i want to start by thanking our friend mimi for her leadership and tenacity on this. (applause) >> michael sweet who i saw in the crowd somewhere. [speaker not understood], and ellen in particular. karin woods, isabelle wade, [speaker not understood], and redmond. they have passed on but they left us something really beautiful and we're pleased about that. i just want to say a special word of thanks to all of the community that live here. thank you so much for your dedication to this project, for your patience, for your tolerance as we close bike lanes, we close passage through lanes, we close the sidewalks, we drove piles, we poured cement, we laid grass. it was all worth it, and we

really appreciate how tolerant and patient and the cheer leaders that you've been in doing that. so, thank you so much. and a special thank you to the district 6 supervisor who has remained equally vigilant, but also very tolerant and patient, our very own jane kim. please help me in welcoming supervisor kim. (applause) >> first of all, what a treat to have otis redding iii here with us this morning. i am a huge fan. and as an elected official, as a politician, many of my role models are musicians and otis redding is one of them. and he sang my favorite version of the sam cook song, a change is going to come. beautiful, beautiful rendition. and it is amazing to have you here to bless this site where he based his last song before

he died too young. as a district supervisor for this area, i am genuinely excited to welcome a new park into our district. many of our residents know this. we have the fewest parks and we have the smallest parks in the city. and compared to residents of other parts that may have 25 acres per residence, we have less than one, about .7. so, this park is a very important addition to completing the neighborhood that we live in. an active waterfront helps address this deficit and i'm excited to see 57,000 square feet of a park and 400 foot expansive green go up in this neighborhood. and monique said it, that this neighborhood really lives through that. and, so, i want to thank our residents. we fielded many calls as people lived through the building of the neighborhood around them. but i want to thank this

neighborhood because planners and architects and developers, we can build a neighborhood, but people have to choose to live here. and the residents who chose to live in south beach and rincon hill and mission bay knew they weren't just come tog a place where they could call their neighborhood home. they knew that it was a place where the neighborhood would continue to build while they invested their lives here. and it also meant they would have to continue to be engaged and active around the neighborhood planning and future of their neighborhood. and so many of our residents are here. i'll name a couple that have been incredibly active working with our office, working with the port, working throughout the neighborhood. katy lydel, rincon hill neighborhood. robert mans field. alice rodgers from southpark improvement association. mimi filbert, you were here way before many others were here with delancy street foundation.

you experienced the brunt we're experiencing today. it is a beautiful new addition to this area connecting to the blue greenway which will be a 13-mile corridor along san francisco's southeastern waterfront that started here. karin woods, already mentioned our citizen bay advisory committee. many these folks are advising us on an equally noncontroversial project on the waterfront. [laughter] >> which we'll hear more about in the next year and a half. i also want to welcome the relative of the late wong fu yen who is with us today. both mayor and chiu mentioned this. we have a new wall to recognize the special contribution that asians and asian americans have made to this part of the waterfront and the city. as was mentioned, 9 the waterfront was the place asian immigration came to the united states and the california gold rush certainly brought a steady influx of asian american

laborers who helped to build the infrastructure of this country, including our railroads. on june 23rd, 1877, a huge mob attacked chinese businesses here and headed for the local symbol of chinese immigration, the pacific mall wharf where we stand today. they tried to burn the beer, but failed. i think it's important that we recognize and remember our history because as we move forward, as we celebrate our victories, our progress, it's really important to remember those that came before us and the history that was here today. but most importantly, i'm here to celebrate this open space, will be an incredibly important addition and resource for our families, our kids, our seniors who want to encourage to continue to stay here in san francisco and be a part of this thriving, vibrant neighborhood and community. but again, i'm most grateful for the fact to work with residents who are so engaged, that care so deeply about the city and neighborhood, that

they volunteer tons of their hours when they can be doing other thing, making sure that they are a part of that. so, thank you. (applause) >> thank you, supervisor kim. we really appreciate it. if i could all direct all of your attention to her fabulous psychedelic boots, befitting of this moment. [laughter] >> i told mr. redding she put those on especially for him. it was very apropos as always. thank you so much. we've had many, many partners, and one of the biggest was from the federal government. as you may know, this project went from being about an $11 million project to about a $26 million project and had a few surprises for those that related to the seawall and some of the other things we wanted to do. with the help of congresswoman nancy pelosi, we were able to find $5 million in grant funds to close that gap and move this

project forward. and it created for us not just the ability to do this great project, but the ability to find ourselves a fabulous new partner in the united states army corps of engineers. so, i want to say a very big thank you to the [speaker not understood] people, especially tessa bernhardt for your dedication and your help in getting our old and blighted pier 36 out of this great bay to make room for this new addition. and i especially want to say thanks to leader pelosi for always advocating for ports around this country, especially our port, for the work that she does to make sure that the jobs that ports provide stay in place not just in our ports but around the country. and for one of her most brilliant decisions ever, which was the hiring of dan bernau as chief of staff for the san francisco office. [laughter] >> and his tireless leadership, his dedication to biking, our waterfront in preparation for

his statewide ride, and just his true great friendship. so, please join me in welcoming dan bernau. (applause) >> wow, thank you monique. well, leader pelosi was already disappointed she couldn't be here today, but wait until i tell her about otis redding and all our friends up here and in the audience, mimi, veronika, david liu which is, all of you here. she missed out. while she couldn't be here she asked me to bring a greeting which i'll read now. dear friends, thank you, mayor lee, members of the board of supervisors, and the port commission for inviting me to the special ribbon cutting at the new brandon street wharf. thanks for the port of san francisco and the san francisco bacon certification and development commission for their vision in preserving and enhancing our magnificent and historic waterfront. while congressional business keeps me in washington today, i join you in spirit to celebrate the transformation of a once dilapidated pier into an exciting new space for out door recreation. ~ i wish i could be with you on

this special day to enjoy otis redding's rendition of his father's dock of the bay. pier 36 was condemned due to deterioration. democrat laytion not only removed environmental hazards in san francisco bay, but opened the door for enhancing the connections between san franciscans and our beautiful waterfront. i have been proud to fight for federal resources to fill fa* sill tate for the south beach neighbors and all of san francisco. today the brannon street wharf with its public space is new park has become another jewel along san francisco's magnificent embarcadaro. the open spaces and plazas will provide a safe and healthy environment for san francisco's families and children to gather and the interpretive exhibits including the beautiful portrait of wong fu yen will help visitors and residents learn about san francisco's rich labor and maritime history and vibrant immigrant communit