you. >> hi, i'm a renter. i am not even middle income. i am here on behalf of the red stone temple associating. i just like to say that i think we need to make it easier for nonprofit developers to help build for poor and working class people and this bill goes in the opposite direct and doesn't address that. i've been hearing the rising tide since the 80s and have seen no evidence of that whatsoever. i think the mass problem has to do with speculative capital and the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. thank you. >> good afternoon. i'm a renter in the richmond district. i'm able to live in san

francisco because i live in a four-storey multifamily apartment building built in the 1920s when apartment buildings were legal in the west side of san francisco. today, my building is illegal to build because the parcel is r h2. and 72% of the city is zoned rh 1 or 2, which means only expensive homes can be built in the districts. i want to welcome more neighbors, more friends and immigrant like myself into the city, but we can't do that if the west side is only providing 1% of the inclusion units in the city. 827 will increase affordable housing because we need more market rate housing for the inclusion requirements to kick in. please vote no on the resolution.

>> i'm a homeowner in cal hollow. we opened up our homes for many years, renting out rooms in our house to students. we've never raised the rent. we've taken this year a homeless student from columbia and refused to charge rent. >> you spoke earlier on this same item. everyone has one opportunity. >> neighborhood coalition. venice neighborhoods are in favor of housing and we're

building a lot of housing. the height limits go from who 240 feet. in cathedral hill in the last three years we've approved over one thousand units of housing, half have been built. those built are primarily market rate and rest of them cannot be built because they can't get the financing. so it's not just the question of permitting, it's a question of actually having affordable housing getting built. i oppose 827. and 828. >> good afternoon. cory on behalf of san francisco housing. i want to point out that according to "the chronicle". top three candidates have looked to directive for 5,000 new home. that's three times the current housing production. the city is going through a lot of changes. local control is a conservative

land use policy. it has created what my generation is dealing with. we're facing the realities of the decisions. so when we advocate for the status quo and not any sort of change, why would we think the results would be different? as the planning department said, this will result in more capital, lower case a, more housing that is affordable and with all that is going on in the world, the politics of no, which is really captured the country, i ask you to not say no to a solution. let's work with the senator to get this bill in a great placement thank you. i'm daniel, i'm part of castra for housing and part of the action. so displacement is guaranteed if

we don't building housing. that's how it works. 75% of residents who move into new housing which is is found by a study done by the city are people who come from the city. it's not new residents, it's people moving out of closets. please support 827, that will lower rents for people in the city. the people speaking tore the bill are younger class renters and a lot of those people can't come here because it's a work day. there is going to be misrepresentation here. thank you for your time. >> hi, supervisors, thank you for your time. i live in district 10. what we're experiencing here is a national housing crisis. about ten years ago a large generation, my generation, left home and entered the workforce. and as a result, we're trying to house the 21st century

population in the housing of only the 20th century. what we've experienced as a result is mass price increases and displacement. when i first moved here, quite some time ago, it was easy to find a studio for $900. that's not the case anymore. that's because the population has grown and jobs have grown. please oppose this resolution and support 827. thank you. >> hello. supervisors, i just wanted to point out a generational divide that is apparent here. 99% of the people supporting the resolution are 50 years old and older. everyone that opposes the resolution and supports 827 is of the younger generation. the older generation doesn't want change. they don't want their views blocked. they don't want new people here.

i will continue to live here far in the future. please don't stand in the way of the future and oppose this resolution. thank you. >> i'm going to call more speakers up. mark, daniel, eric, mark, please come on up. >> hi, my name is ben liberalby. it's a good example of regulatory capture. instead advances the commercial or political concerns of the sectors tasked at regulating. if we're serious about making

this an equitable city, we need to support 827 and a more generous housing policy. i have seen friends leave because of the high who'sing costs. -- housing costs. when i moved in 2016. i know how the less fortunate experience the housing crisis. unable to drive or use stairs, my brother's search was long and difficult and he paid a high price for a new unit. for him and many he fights for, san francisco's old walkup housing stock is inaccessible and the sprawl is isolating.

the modern transit housing is not just preferable for people with disabilities, it's necessary. i urge you to vote against opposing it. >> there is a false dichotomy i've been hearing where it's more housing or tenant protection, but we can have boeing. this bill has lots of protection already. there is demolition controls, there is right to return. that just came out and we can strengthen them and make it only single family owner occupied buildings. how many people have a home and can think of four families that would be happy to live on top of them. it would be great to build those spaces.

and some people said that more housing makes unaffordability, but higher wages cause unaffordability, so we're enjoying the higher wages, we can harness them to build more units and with the units, more bmr. so i think the people [bell ringing] >> thank you. i'm going to call the remaining cards, brian, michael, henry, charles, kevin, and eric. and if there are any other members who want to speak and are in room 263, overflow. >> hi, my name is mark. i'm here to speak favor of the bill. in the eight years i've been lucky enough to be in san francisco, i've seen many friends and colleagues leave the city and some refuse to come.

they all leave because of the housing costs and the housing cost is due to not having enough housing. this gives an opportunity to build more housing and that's why i support it. thank you. >> hi, supervisors, my name is mark. i'm a resident of telegraph hill. and i'm a renter. i'm not a native san franciscan, and apparently in that city, that makes me a second class citizen. i work for a nonprofit that fights for immigration reform, i don't make a ton of money, i don't work for a corporation and it's hard to live in the city with the rents the way they are today. i think a lot of the other folks out here of my generation have expressed those same sentiments. i want to keep living here. i want our health care workers to work here, firefighters, police officers and they're having to leave the city because the city has done nothing while we're in urgent housing crisis.

people can barely afford to live here. local control has failed. it's time to give the state a chance. oppose this resolution, support 827. >> hi, i'm eric, from district 3. sb 827 would never have been drafted had neighborhoods evaluated proposed development on the merits for the good of the city, rather than gaining the system by using ceqa and other means to thwart the obvious means. assertions should not be used as basis of legislative administration. when it's a good problem to have, the alternative is detroit of san francisco. balance the onslaught of people

in the city. >> thank you for your time today. i urge you to support 827. it's time to start enacting policies that are progressive and help deal with the housing crisis in california so that people like me can afford to stay and contribute understand energy to making the bay place a great place to live. the situation where it's illegal to build apartments in over 80% of the city. people like to talk about hong kong, a constrained metropolis, but what about beijing, or seoul.

making sure that people like the folks in had room will not lose their homes because there is not enough areas or units to go around.

sb8 contains defensive measures

to protect vulnerable members and it allows sf to become the city it should be. environmentally ly and more affordable to all residents. please support it instead of opposing it. thank you. >> rick hall here. san francisco must oppose 827. it's a gentrification machine on steroids. we got protection for low-income communities of color. we had no leverage because the city had -- our own city had already supported it. at least formal opposition could provide measures to improve the bill. i don't think the build could be amended to be acceptable. it's outlandishly broad and the basis is unsound.

one size fits all it impacts california neighborhoods across the straight is impract cal -- i am impractical. i have a picture of a bus that says i'm your bus not your city planner. >> are there any other members who wish to speak and a didn't call your name, come on up. >> i'm here to support the resolution to oppose the bill. one thing we have not talked about is what's going to happen to the low income communities of color. there's talk about communities of color but there are no protections in place for us here and throughout the city and we haven't talked about the small businesses it's going to affect. the latino community will be

coming out and expressing our feelings. we've not been invite to the table and you'll hear from us shortly. thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. contrary so the claims of the lower park given as have you already have heard, san francisco is built moreover and it's met the quota of market rate housing and has under built low-income housing. what has not worked is the failure to ability to build affordable housing and it will not work and what it will do is

it make it far harder to build subsidized affordable housing by driving up land values and encoura encourage getting tenants out. >> hi, i'm jill roy. it doesn't give any thought to solve the house crisis. this has resulted in luxury mcmansion and paved the way for market rate housing. please keep local control not state control. please oppose this bill. thank you. >> hi, my name is natalia and i

work for eviction defense in the fillmore region and here to speak about sb827 and in favor of the peskin bill. and i want to point out there should be a protocol in the chambers for comments coming. i think it's really inappropriate to not be tolerated in the same way that other types of biassed comments should be tolerated. there is a homogenous population among supporters that could also be called out very easily. and i just want to say that the housing crisis is an affordability crisis and it will be solved not by building more luxury-rate condos but by expanding rent control, filling vacancies and -- >> thank you very much. are there any other members of

the public who wish to comment on item two? no one from the overflow room? okay. seeing none, public comment is closed. thank you all for coming out. supervisor peskin did you want to make remarks first? >> first of all -- >> sorry, you have now replaced supervisor safai so he is now a member of this committee. >> i want to thank all the speakers and i understand it's not just an intergenerational issue. the bay area the state of california and san francisco in particular, clearly, clearly has a profound affordability crisis. there's no question about that. you don't need to read the latest poll to know that's on everybody's mind. it's real. there's many ways to solve it. as i spoke to you earlier we have collectively over time

whether it's affordable housing bonds, excessive dwelling policy, tenant protections, home sf have been chipping away at it and everybody is entitle to their opinions but as my former supervisor wiener said you're not entitled to your own facts. it is true that san francisco has actually been albeit though we can do better at the forefront of creating luxury rate markets and more affordable units than our counterparts. and i appreciate the notion that senator wiener is coming forthwith which is that there should be housing equity around the region and around the state. but as that map shows, this

doesn't quite do that. this actually rezones a very small part of the bay area. i was part of the movement as were many of my colleagues to encourage our neighbors to the south to use the bay lands for thousand of units of new affordable house starts. that was something where the board of supervisors all agreed and i associate myself with the individuals who indicated this is not a one-size fits all solution. i want to say to senator wiener and his colleagues in the state legislature the simple notion which is show this money. you want to help, get us state resources. we weren't around when we used the redevelopment agency -- the old redevelopment agency was the history of displacement but the

agency that was dissolve was an affordable housing agency. give us those tools. give us state resources so that we can use the properties that we have for 100% affordable housing projects. i think the older generation can all support that. i can say as a district 3 supervisor, virtually every piece of vacant land whether it was broadway and battery or broadway and phantom we are looking to legislation at 530 phantom street with a mezzanine with a fire station where we could build 200 feet of affordable house. we're looking at those opportunities all over the city. there are tens of thousands of units in the pipeline.

to the individual who said this takes time, that is a true fact. much has been made of the planning commission's memo. there are actually two of them. the most recent dated march 8 that addresses the senate bill as revised and there's a lot in there for everybody but i want to call out a few top-line highlights and then want to go actually into the language of legislation pirp legislation. i know this is a highly emotionally charged issue. i don't know how many have read the legislation as amended but to the planning department, senate bill 827 may preclude the city from rezoning property to p.d.r., production, distribution and repair to protect industrial uses and districts in san francisco. that's important because

planning has to be done holistically it provides zoning intensity without time or resources for cities to concurrently adopt measures -- the transit richness bill is broad for corridors and speaks to that. i don't think anyone would say our department is not pro growth.

any person who moves from profit

in the boundary after a proposal subject to housing bonus is deemed complete. it goes on to say a development proponent shall prepare detailed relocation benefits and assistance plan. this is to make us happy and submit to the applicable local government for approval to determine if it complies with the requirements of this section which are as follows. a diagramatic sketch of the project area, projected dates of displacement, a written analysis of the relocations of all eligible relocation needs of all displaced persons as to how the needs are met. the written analysis of the relocation housing resources including vacancy rates. a detailed description of payments to be made and plan for dispersements. this goes on for pages.

after approves the relocation benefits an and resince stance. they shall notify all eligible persons of the availability every location benefits in the system. eligibility requirements of procedures for obtaining such, extent of their needs, supply each eligible person information concerning federal and statehousing programs. it goes on and on. here is where it gets disturbing. eligible applicant eligible for relocation and assistance shall cease if they move to comparable replacement dwelling and receives assistant and payments to which he or she is entitle. number two, eligible displaced person moves and refuses

reasonable officer offers of moving to a replacement dwelling and receives payments. flethree if they failed to loce the displaced person. three that is terrible. number four, from his or her dwelling unit refuses reasonable offers of assistance. who is going to enforce that? you can read it. it is all in there, but if the state wants to help cities with housing crisis we need to repeal hawkins, reform the ellis act, create a vacancy tax which i intend to propose for november. continue to strengthen the move in eviction controls and to do what we are going to do and hopefully more robustly. i think the plan needs more

housing not less. 7,000 units in that plan and this land use committee is not enough. we have an opportunity to build tens of thousands of units of housing in the plan and i hope we avail ourselves of that. supervisor tang, i look forward to ironing this out. i hope we can work to make reasonable amendments. first and foremost among those is the fundamental notion of value recapture. we need to set goals for the senator, nancy skinner and the entire assembly and senate delegations. put mile markers out there. i hope we can put forth a qualified opposition resolution saying we oppose it if we do not

get substantial meaningful amendments in the bill and with that i will relinquish the microphone. >> thank you for reading us the entire legislation. i hope everyone read it before they came here. i do agree with a lot of comments you made and i want to thank you all for coming out no matter which side you are on. i see value in the comments you made. i proposed some amendments to the resolution. instead of opposing i would like to urge amendments to sda27. i agree it does over reach in san francisco, and i am actually, you know, surprised but happy to hear some of the folks come out to say they appreciated it was they didn't

when i was working on it. when i was working on it i was trying to go for recapturing the value where we my give you two additional stories but a lot of studies went into why we chose two versus 10 or 9. the 30% affordable housing, no demolition of existing rent controlled units. including small business was first in the only program in the city with any development of affordable housing that says you must take all of these steps to notify, communicate with businesses, that there are restrictions around lot sizes and mergers for storefronts on the ground floor. i don't see any other programs doing that for small businesses. i am very concerned that sba27 does not consider all of those factors that our office, the

planning department, the small business commission, oawd spent two years negotiating to get through. i just want to, you know, help you understand also how much we have moved forward because also when we passed it we had 100% affordable housing program we passed prior to that. i wanted to eliminate condition use for that program was met with resistance. to this day we don't have a true 100% affordable program under the density bonus where you don't have a cu. there is a modified cu for that. i would say what we were working on years ago was reasonable. we wanted to capture the value of the benefits we are giving to developers at that time. now here we are. i do think it is extreme for san francisco. my since this bill is in the pro

since, it hasn't gone to smithty. it can be amended. i urge amendments to ensure the value of additional height and debs city is re-captured and the existing neighborhood character is preserved. again, while i do respect senator wiener and his work and at the state level this particular bill is troublesome to me. some of the other clauses that i have here i wanted to share with the public is that san francisco has spent years working with communities on planning efforts resulting in affordable housing and infrastructure impacts. the board of supervisors is committed to working with other jurisdictions and tenant advocates to address the crisis

by amending fb827. in the further clauses i wanted to urge the state leaders to fund affordable housing stream to address the housing crisis. that funding is a huge challenge. the last clause is board of supervisors will continue to monitor the progress and may provide additional comments as the bill is heard at committee hearings. that is my proposal to supervisor peskin. we do agree amendments need to be made but, of course, it will get down toward smithing here. do you have any comments, thoughts? >> madam chair as much as i would like to send a strong message to senator wiener and the state delegation, i think you have articulated that very well and in the spirit of working together i would like to

do a couple things. one is and i suspect we are getting the senator's attention at this point. by the way, if anybody wants to see our e-mails, i think we have gotten hundreds and hundreds of e-mails in opposition, and i would say less than the number i can count on my hand in support. we heard from a diversity of people today. by the way, these are not form letters, they are from the heart. i mean it is rather remarkable. i can say for the record that my office did no organizing on this. i think this has touch a nerve. having said that, and given the fact that i think we have an opportunity to negotiate with our senate representative from

san francisco, what i would like to do is send this to the full board as proposed by chair tang with recommendation, but set it for a hearing on april 3rd, long before it is going to get to committee in the state senate and reserve my right depending on what happens in the intervening three weeks to move my position at the full board to an oppositional or conditionally oppositional position depending what we see from senator wiener and assembly member tang i would support it for the hearing on 3 april 2018. >> that sound great to me. we will shoot for april 3rd full board meeting hearing on the resolution with the amendments that i proposed. >> the amendments are your amendments and the recommendation for april 3ed is

by supervisor peskin? >> send it as amended with recommendations for hearing on 3 april 2018. we will do that without objection. >> mr. clerk any other items before us? >> clerk: no further business. >> thank you. we are adjourned. >> my name is naomi kelley, and i'm the city administrator for

the city and county of san francisco. it is my honor to be here today. we are finally in the home stretch of seeing this moscone expansion completed. so it's my honor because i am -- two of the departments that oversee this project, the convention and facilities, and the department of public works all report up to the city administrator, and also, as a -- we have a representative on the tourism improvement district, which was very instrumental in forming with the hotel -- with the hotel community and sf travel to create this district that provided the self-assessment that's paid for by the visitors of san francisco to finance this project, and it's very important to the city and san francisco. it's an economic engine, and we're very happy to be here today for this topping out ceremony. when i look at the crowd today, we will be doing the finishing touches and signing the theme

later on when we get through this program, and we'll be able to sign our signatures on it. get the fattest pen so you can pet your name, like john hancock, so one day, we can tell your family and friends that your signature is on this building. so up next, i'd like to introduce our mayor, mark farrell, to give a few words. >> the hon. mark farrell: thank you, naomi, and kim. good morning, everybody. i am incredibly excited to be here today. as someone who remembers moscone center constructed over 30 years ago as a child, to celebrate in san francisco now the topping off of the new and improved moscone center. what we're doing here will keep san francisco at the forefront for visitors, for the tourism

industry. over 30 years ago, this center was constructed, and so think about what it has meant for our economy here in san francisco, for our businesses large and small is truly incredible. and what we're here today celebrating in my mind is the future of san francisco. this is the future. just look around you. just look at all the construction that is happening, all the crews that are working as we speak right now. we had a choice. moscone center, as the years went on was getting smaller compared to the conventions that were coming to san francisco, smaller compared to some of the conventions that were being diverted to other cities, and we had a choice. we decided to make the invest. the voters decided to make the invest in a new moscone center. so what we're doing today is celebrating the future of san francisco. the future of our workforce, the future of our economy, the future of our tourism industry, the future of our city, and that's exactly what we should

be doing. this expansion to the moscone center is increasing our convention space by 20%. the construction that's going on inside these walls is unbelievable, will make truly for a 21st century experience. you think about the streetscape and improvements that are happening for pedestrians that will finally be able to walk-through this street by the end of this year is going to be unbelievable. we did this, as well. we are going to be the highest lead certified convention center in the entire country, which is something incredible, and please give a round of applause for everybody who made that happen. [applause]. >> the hon. mark farrell: we have on-site water capture and treatment. we're going to have the biggest solar installation in the city of san francisco, and this entire moscone center will be zero emissions, which is an unbelievable feat for a project

this size. you know, last year moscone center held over 39 events and aaccount traed over 500,000 visitors to the city of san francisco during construction. imagine what this is going to do in 2019. this is a project that will be delivered on time and on budget, and i'm going to hold people to that during my time as mayor. mohamed is closing his ears, but we'll have a chat later today. but really what i would like to do more than anything is thank all the people that have been involved in this project for so many years. so first of all, so naomi kelley and the entire city administrator's office, nye owe me, thank you for your leadership. please give them a round of applause. [applause]. >> the hon. mark farrell: so mohamed nuru and the entire department of public works teams, mohamed, thank you so much. [applause]. >> the hon. mark farrell: to all of our partners in this effort, and there were so many. first of all, jodell underers

is here from sf travel. thank you to the entire board of supervisors. supervisor shsha satisfy sigh is here. thank you for your support. to the moscone travel district, this has been a truly collaborative effort. to webcor and all of the subcontractors, thank you for all of your hard work to making this happen here today. to our architects, skidmore, owens and yerrell, and really, i would like to thank -- and i want a huge round of applause for the men and women that come here to work every single day, those that are behind us here with our hard hats and our vests, thank you. thank you for what you do. [applause]. >> the hon. mark farrell: i know that has been years in the making. as we said earlier, this has

been a baby of people for many, many years, and thank you for your work on behalf of the entire city. lastly, as your 44th mayor, i do want to pay homage to mayor lee, who was a huge supporter of this from the beginning, and was a huge supporter until his untimely death last year. to mayor lee, to all of you who made this happen, and to the future of san francisco, congratulations, everyone. [applause]. >> thank you, mayor farrell. speaking of mayor ed lee, it made me bring back memories of moscone west when he was the director of dpw, and here we are in this project, and he kick started the moscone expansion, and it's just thank

you for the tribute to mayor lee. up next, we have jodella sanders, who we had a lot of conversations with, and we'll be working together to improve this facility. got to make sure that we always have money for that, joe. so up next, joe del aunderers. >> thank you, naomi, and i don't know why you looked at me when you said the on budget part. thank you so much. we have been looking forward to this for a very long time. topping off of this project, this incredible project for san francis francisco, and as the mayor said, this incredible project for san francisco. others have been talking about this for a very long time, and only ten more months left, and we're going to open the doors

to this incredible new building, not only a very much expanded building, but a very improved building. an improved building for this neighborhood, much more neighborhood friendly. it's a much better piece of building and design for the people of san francisco, and we're very excited about that. so on behalf of san francisco travel, i want to thank all of you for your role in making this happen. it's been a great day, and it's a great opportunity for us to celebrate the future. this has been a team effort, a collaboration between the moscone hotel district formed by the hotel community and the city and county of san francisco. it's very unique where the city and hotel industry come -- hospitality industry come together for this project. the complicated construction was executed to keep moscone up and running throughout the project. that's never been happened before. we expanded this major building while there's meetings and conventions happening here all the time. the patience of the

construction, too, the patience of bon and his team here to make sure this is all working for the -- the delegates, the customers, to make sure it's seamless as possible during construction is unheard of, but it's happening here in san francisco. san francisco welcomes over 24 million visitors each year, and more than 20% of those visitors pass through these doors. they come here to san francisco because of this building and spend millions and millions of dollars in our economy and create thousands of jobs. it is important that san francisco stays competitive with the expanded and upgraded convention facilities, and this project has achieved just that. when this project is complete, we will have over 500,000 square feet of exhibit space, more than 80 meeting rooms, a visitor information center and many upgraded neighborhood amenities. i am happy to welcome you to this major celebration and a major milestone in this project. i want to congratulation all the parties, the city,

skidmore, owens, and yerrell, to make sure to get it done on time and a building that all san franciscans can be proud of. we look forward to gathering here in just ten months from now to celebrate the dedication of the finest building and the finest convention center in the united states. ladies and gentlemen, welcome. it's a great day to celebrate. thank you very much for being here. [applause]. >> so before i bring up public works, i want to just thank some of the department heads who are here today. tom huey, the director of building inspection. thank you for helping us with the permits. john nogucci, our director of convention facilities. in addition i can-- nadia ducer director of ocii.

i have to thank brook novotnez and edgar hernandez, they're construction managers working day-to-day, managing all the contracts, managing all the finances, managing sf travel, making sure -- and working with the hotel industry to make sure that we deliver this -- this beautiful building, and so with that, their fearless leader, mohamed nuru, i'd like to bring up. >> good morning and thank you, naomi, thank you, mayor farrell. well, it's happening. can you feel it? yeah, right. really. three years ago, when we broke ground on moscone expansion project, we knew we had a long road ahead. and today, we're almost there. today's beam raising celebration for the final phase marks the final sprint.

one of the components of the moscone expansion project that i'm most excited about is the improvements to the public realm. when the project is done and the crews pack up, we will see and feel a different neighborhood, one that's safer, one that's more beautiful, and one that's more inviting. the changes are the result of a strong partnership that project team forged with residents, business owners and yerba buena and south of market neighborhoods. community members stepped up from day one to work with the project team to make sure our focus was just not buildings, but that it's also about making the surrounding area and public spaces better for everyone. long before construction started, we were giving shape to the project. we held dozens of community meetings and met with people in

small groups and one-on-one to cement a vision to improve moscone's connection to the neighborhoods. the conversations weren't always easy, and that's for sure. everybody wanted all sorts of stuff, but they were productive and effective, and at the end of the day, this will be a better neighborhood. a pedestrian friendly space will replace the 25,000 square feet of surface parking, exiting ramps that were all out here on our street. the project will add more than 8,000 square feet of public new open space, including a dynamic new tot lot play area for younger children, as well as a new learning garden and landscaping around the children's creativity museum and the carousel. for anyone who visits the area or lives here, we know the demand for more family play space is high.

expansion project also includes a number of urban design streetscape elements to make the surrounding streets and you can swas safer and more pleasing for people who walk and bike around here. third street will have a widened sidewalk, a new space for shops and dining to enliven the street scene. howard street is being redesigned to knit both sides of the street. a new bridge went in over howard street to connect the north and south portions of yerba buena gardens. the enclosed east bridge went in last month and will how's public parks by leo villareal when completed. leo villareal is the artist that did the lights on the bay bridge. the experience crossing howard street at ground level will be much, much more pleasant. the buildings themselves will play with lights and feel less bulky to allow for a more

visually appealing and friendly environment. the moscone expansion has given us once in a generation opportunity to make sure that this major convention center which hosts more than 1 million visitors a year enriches the area. that was a vision, and i am confident we will deliver this vision. as mentioned before, this has been a real team effort working with city, residents, businesses and property owners. this also wouldn't be possible without the support of our friends at sf travel and the moscone expansion district and of course our construction team, webcor. i know you can see their sign real big over there, webcor. there's webcor. what happened to public works and the rest of the team?

make sure our sign is up there. i also want to thank the mayor who was a really big part of this when this started, mayor farrell, naomi kelley, all the construction manager and project management teams, led by edgar lopez, brook mobratu, and others worked really hard to make sure this project will be delivered, and yes, mayor farrell, on time, and on budget. thank you very much. [applause]. >> before i bring up webcor, there's four people out in the audience that i would be remiss and i didn't give a shout out to and thank them for their advice on everything moscone, their advocacy for tourism in san francisco, and that's rick

swig, who thank you very much for being here today. he's on moscone expansion, and part of sf travel. ike kwon, rodney fong who was part of this project from the beginning, part of sf travel, and then, i'd also like to thank mark sultis for your work with us in making sure this project was running smoothly. up next, i'd like to introduce tony ringo -- i think after he finishes speaking he's going to get a public works banner, an sf travel banner, and a moscone banner up on that bridge -- and he'll pay for it. [applause]. >> definitely is a big sign. first of all, thank you very much. i was talking to spencer, one of our project executives on

this project, and we were awarded preconstruction back in december 2012, so five years later, we're here today. one thing i've released in construction, it's all about planning and partnerships and relationships, and i can say we all have that on this job. i want to give thanks to lynn, mark, our construct tors. it's been amazing. couple facts about the job. we've all already expended 1.2 man hours to date. right now, we have an average of 170 workers with 22 different subcontractors on the job, so it just tells you the coordination that's been involved. our safety record to date has been very good, and so life safety is the main force of what we do in construction on an every day basis. the team has removed -- this is an amazing fact. the team has removed over 48

million pounds of construction debris through demolition operations. we constructed a below grade bridge that carries the load for howard street. the total project has over 7,000 tons of structural steel. and obviously, we just erected the second bridge. we have two bridges spanning over howard street, and i was asking brook earlier, i can't think of another bridge of this size that spans a thoroughfare in san francisco, so it is he aa really amazing feat. phase one, phase two, and phase see re, we hit our targets each date, and we're on target to hit our date in december 2018 for the last phase. we did all this with conventions performing on a daily basis. i think we had 26 conventions on a yearly basis over four years. it's over 100 conventions that we built around, so a lot of planning, a lot of foresight, and that's not easy to do. i think what i want to say,

back to my original statement, you can't do this without a relationship, you can't do this without planning, you can't do that without trying to get along on a daily basis, so thank you, everybody. appreciate it. >> okay. so as we conclude, joe del asandra gave me a fact that because of this expansion, in 2018 we have more rooms booked than in the history of san francisco, so i just want to thank you, everyone, for being part of that. [applause]. >> so -- all right. so this is the time where we are going to start our topping out ceremony. the final beam is right there. it'll be hoisted in place after all of us get a chance to sign it, so we'll walk over there and sign, so please join me in signingh