>> good morning. good morning! all right. i am mohammed nuru. i serve as a city's director of public works. and the chairman of the transbay joint powers authority board of directors. on behalf of our board, i want to welcome you to the salesforce transit centre and the salesforce park. i will also be introducing you today to our masters of ceremony. the former mayor, willie brown, in a few moments to begin the program. before that, i want to start by personally thanking all of you for coming. you have been waiting for this day for a long time. you all received a commemorative pin and that is our official

opening date. august 11th, 2018. that is eight years to the date of the actual groundbreaking for the center. four years ago, i had the honor of being appointed to the tjpa board by mayor ed lee. i have watched this project, weather at challenging times and come together and exceed our expectations. the salesforce transit centre is the true regional partnership designed to help bay area commuters get to and from their destinations. it also will become a destination all over town with beautiful gardens, and out court -- outdoor amphitheater, public arts, and the children's play area. in the future, there will be cafés, and great places to shop. the center mean so much to our city. a mean so much to our economy.

the south of market neighborho neighborhood, and the future of transit. at this time, i would like to take a moment to introduce and welcome my fellow board members. jeff key is that by -- vice chair, james davis, greg hopper, supervisor jane kim, boris linkedin, ed risk in, nadia's essay, bruce r. instead, lisa ortiz, to me chan chan and former board member from transit. [applause] >> also i would like to give a shout out to the project team which was guided by the tjpa and ron alameda from public works as well as all the staff from all

the various agencies who worked on this project. let's give them a round of applause. [cheers and applause] >> this project, as many of you no kak has serious financial and schedule challenges that required a deep design or construction experience-based leadership approach. the creation of the salesforce transit centre provided san franciscans with thousands of new permanent jobs and tens of thousands of union jobs. in fact, between workers and materials, nearly every single state in the united states contributed to this project in some way. more than 5 million -- [applause] >> more than 5 million work hours where we logged for this center and we exceeded our city's a local hiring requirement. how about another applause for that. [applause]

>> we have a great program at hedge. before we get started, i would like to take a moment to acknowledge the late mayor, ed lee. mayor ed lee was instrumental in making sure that we would be sitting here today. he made sure that the transit centre was delivered in a physically responsible way and that it would be topped with a beautiful public park. he always shied away from taking credit because he just wanted to get the job done. but today, let us say thank you to mayor ed lee. [applause] >> now it is my great pleasure to introduce our mc, former san francisco mayor, willie brown. [applause] >> mayor -- mayer brown

supported the demolition of the old seismically unsafe transbay terminal to make way for where we are standing today. he saw a promise of a new neighborhood, he saw the promise of affordable housing, and economic opportunities for projects like this would create or our city and our region. quite simply, without him, the transit centre would not have been possible. let us welcome our mc, former mayor, willie brown. [applause] >> thank you very much for the very kind introduction. you will be introduced and presented to a whole lot of folks who are here who have something to do with the center. but none more probably than the two people in the halls of the legislature. one, a member of the assembly and one of the senate to, at the

time, that was needed to get the state on the right plan page for the center. i am speaking of course, of john l burton. where are you? and nancy skinner. [applause] >> john is somewhere. i thought he was, anyway. of course, there would be be no possibility without the consistency in the mayor's office provided by none other than the man who is going to be governor and will be called upon to finish financing. [laughter] >> every aspect of what is not yet paid for. [laughter] >> of course, i am talking about gavin newsom.

[applause] >> the next lieutenant governor. there will be some other people who we will run into as time rolls on. let me tell you, in the process, some of them will be making remarks. as they make the remarks, i will occasionally drop by. i want to get all of the business parts here. in my new role in life now, i do not offend anybody. [laughter] >> under any circumstances. it is better that way, for me and for them and for my clients. [laughter] >> so we will proceed in the proper order. i didn't go through the briefing. they had a flow of program briefing. and i was kept so busy visiting that i want to apologize to the people who plan to this event because i am winging it all the way. and in the process of winging

it, i know exactly how this program should start. this program should start with none other than the 45th mayor of san francisco, the second woman ever to be the mayor of the city, and the second african-american to be mayor of the city. but none of those things qualify her as much as her interest in every aspect of the quality of life for everybody in this city, regardless of their station in life and early on, she helped orchestrate the process by which resources were made available so that, in fact, as this fabulous centre would be a real reality. ladies and gentlemen, the mayor of the city and county of san francisco, my friend, london read. [cheers and applause] -- london breed.

>> mayor breed: good morning everyone. welcome to the salesforce transit centre. at this place is absolutely beautiful. as a youngster, i used to come to the old place and i don't know if any of you are old enough to remember what it looked like, but it was a dark and dreary place. one that we try to avoid, or at least we went running to meet to get the greyhound bus faster than we would have liked to. this is an incredible accomplishment. not just for san francisco, but for the entire region. the entire state of california. this represents san francisco at our best. it reflects our commitment to innovation, to transportation, environmental sustainability, adds community development. it also shows what we can accomplish when we work collaboratively, together. this project could have not happened without our regional state and federal partners, many

of them who are here with us today. the salesforce center will make transit a seamless, easy, convenient and a very pleasant experience. i just walked across a beautiful bridge, that starting sunday, will bring people directly from the bay bridge into the heart of san francisco. it is critical that we build our infrastructure, our transportation infrastructure, not just for what we are going to do today, but for how we are going to grow in the future. our city is growing with jobs and people, adds we need to do a better job of moving everyone around through this region. this transit centre will do just that. the transit center goes far beyond a transportation hub. it is a thriving place of economic activity. it helps with critical housing needs and it creates new open

space while also protecting the environment. this project as a catalyst for providing much needed affordable housing. over 3,000 homes, and 41% of those homes will be affordable. i am confident that this spectacular centre will quickly become a worldwide destination with its beautiful public art, beautiful rooftop parks, with free events, activities, shopping and dining, i do not blame us if you missed your bus. because you are so distracted by everything that is going on around you. i want to take this opportunity to thank so many incredible people who made this possible. of course, our extraordinary leader, nancy pelosi who is fighting the good fight. [applause] >> mayor breed: in washington d.c.. she has not only been a fierce

advocate for this project, but she continues to fight for all the needs of our city and our region. i want to thank the transbay joint powers authority under the leadership of mohammed nuru. our assembly members david hsu and phil tang, are state senat senator, and also members of the board of supervisors who are here today. you will be hearing later from supervisor jane at kim who represents this district, as well as my, well, i was gorgeous a colleague, but new supervisors, vallie brown and raphael madeleine, as well is our city attorney who is here today and our sheriff. thank you all so much to the numerous departments. all the workers. all of the people that made this project possible. what an extraordinary and beautiful place and what an amazing representation of san

francisco at its best. i am looking forward to seeing this place packed with people, with kids, with activity and vibrancy. make sure that you don't miss your bus. thank you. [applause] >> at each stage of the decision-making process involved in this project, legal representation was more than important. it was totally and completely necessary in the decisions that had to be made quickly. no one provided better skill and guidance in that regard then our own city attorney who is here in the front row. [cheers and applause] >> on many of those calls, they ended up being received in washington by none other than the congressional representative

from this particular part of our city. from day one, my administration, she always told her colleagues, anywhere there is dirt to be turned, we ought to finance it if it means something for the benefit of the people. that reflected itself at each stage. i don't think there is been any single project in san francisco affecting this region that didn't always have federal assistance provided by and directed by and engineered by none other than the next speaker of the house. nancy pelosi. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, willie brown. and he said that about any project where there is dirt to

be turned is true. i would say to him if the community is together and there is consensus on a project, i can sell it in washington by saying, there is agreement. if we provide the money for san francisco, dirt will fly. [laughter] >> thank you, willie brown. it is an honor to be here with you and to see that this venue had to replace something that was even dangerous to the public good. thank you for your leadership in so many ways. it is visionary, for our city, both as our mayor and the speaker for so many years. i join you in recognizing assemblywoman skinner and john. john where is john? john burton for their leadership in getting us to this place and mayor breed. congratulations on the work you did as a supervisor and president of the board. but what you will be doing as mayor of san francisco, because

we have more to do. especially with this project. it is wonderful to be here with so many members of the official family of san francisco in terms of the mayor, members of the board, the city attorney, they have been acknowledged as well as our members from the state legislature. david hsu, phil tang and as well as supervisor jane kim who is with us here. this is a representation of what can happen when people work together. public, private, nonprofit. community. the word community has the word unity and it. if there is anything that demonstrates the unity of our community, the work of our skilled building trade workers to make this possible, let us applaud our union members who made all of this possible. [applause]

>> when you see and when you tour, you will see the beauty that our artists at their architects made here. so typical of san francisco. san francisco is the city that knows how. mohammed, thank you for your ongoing leadership. we have come together again and again the first to break ground, and then to pour cement, and then to unveil the penrose awning. i understand sir penrose is here with us. that beauty up at all. and today, to cut the ribbon. for something so spectacular, we will say to the rest of the country that these initiatives in our community are of national significance and modelled for the country. of all the things that mayor breed said about housing and economic development and jobs and success. i want to just say something about president barack obama. because this took resources over $400 million and even more of

that from the american recovery investment act. [applause] >> one day after his inauguration, we passed the american recovery and reinvestment act. for our region, that meant a billion dollars for the central subway. studio parkway over $300 million, the caltrain electrification, almost a billion dollars, over $400 million for this. closer to 700 if you add some of the appropriations. that bill was very very important to us. but the fact is, our community met the standards that our community would make. [applause]

>> again, a model for the nation of national significance. i just want to say something, i am so glad that mohammed reference our dear mayor lee. he was so operational having being the chief administrative officer. he got things done. we certainly miss him but will always remember him and acknowledge him. that he saw, and so many of you gathered here, sought that this is a truly revolutionary initiative, appropriate for this trail of innovation that we live in. the center does not only curb congestion and cut down commute, it transforms how we work and how we travel and how we live. and anything that has to do with infrastructure is about time. it is about time. the time we take people out of their cars pick the time the buses are not on the streets. it is about improving quality of life and improving quality of

air. it is about the good health of our children. it is about the time we save and that all the big buses will be taken off the streets. some of you no kak you created it. it is a remarkable thing. i want to associate it with something going on in california at this moment. at this moment, we are suffering some terrible, terrible wildfires lack of intensity and density exacerbated by climate crisis. and what we are doing here is to alleviate some of that. by removing our dependence on elements that would heat up the air. all that we are doing with mass transit and high-speed rail and all of those subjects are about making the planet a more wholesome place. lowering the temperature. lowering the heat. so we are all connected when we engage in infrastructure that is

truly green. and this infrastructure, the sales floor transit center is truly green. for these and so many other reasons, i want to join in acknowledging everyone who played a role in this. i want to acknowledge maria, she was here for all of those things. the groundbreaking's and pouring of cement. now here today for the ribbon-cutting. mark from the tjpa, the executive director, thank you. where is mark? thank you for your leadership. and yes, we are very proud to play a big role. we saw that it was very helpful with that and it helps to have a president who appreciates what we were trying to do here to help us to be on the appropriations committee and it helps to be speaker of the house to get the money. but it doesn't work unless there is all this matching initiative. whether it is the public paying their fair share in the bonding and the state and local

commitments to its. this, today, is about community. let us thank everyone in our community for the role they played in making this initiative of such natural significance. people visit here want to do it where they live and also see that we have more to come. thank you very much. these. [applause] >> as indicated by nancy pelosi, seldom, if ever it is a project of this size and this magnitude gets completed within the time period that any of us holds the public office. this project, is in particular, the beneficiary of a group of people who have handed it off from one time period to another, as they have managed to get

themselves collected public office. the city embraced and scent david to to the board of supervisors. his colleagues made him the president of that board and in his capacity of the board, he cast the deciding vote to replace newsom with ed lee as the mayor of the city. and then he promptly took over and became a member of the california state assembly and in the process, literally became one of the god angels of what happens with this transit centre. all the time, he had been part of the team, moving the project. ladies and gentlemen, a man who is a housing expert, as perceived by his colleagues in the legislatures, sustainable transportation, options, advocate, assembly member, david to -- chu.

>> the son is signing to shining on the transit centre. grand central west is open for business. the sceptic said that we wouldn't make the tough decisions. we wouldn't choose the tough decisions to make it happen. what we chose differently, we chose to address the congestion on our freeways and our airpor airports. we chose to tackle the environmental issues to reduce greenhouse gases. we chose to bring together the myriads of interest in our bay area. bringing together eight bay area counties to the center. bringing together 11 transit agencies to this centre. by the way, we have 60 more transit agencies to go. we have come so far. we have only been able to do it

because it takes a village to create the transit village. and all of you have been those village leaders. i have the honor of helping to recognize a couple of the state partners who are responsible for this -- responsible for the vision, the design, helping to fund debt and helping to build it. thank you to stay partners. i know caltrain is represented today. they are represented here today. the california transportation committee. i have a number of california state legislative colleagues here. representing berkeley, senator skinner. representing san jose, assembly member kara and representing oakland, assembly member rob popped up your act together with my colleagues and with all of you, the voters passed regional measure three in june. [applause] >> as he assembly leads, we are

talking about hundreds of millions of dollars that will go to help support this very project. there are to watch what hopes i want to mention as we move forward. last week, i had a meeting with fellow legislators from the states of washington and oregon. they do not want us to have the only grand central west on the west coast. they have a vision that we should be able to travel by train from san diego to l.a., to san francisco, to portland, to seattle, and to vancouver. a west coast a vision for how we live. [applause] >> i have one additional hope and that is the hope for my 2-year-old son. i mentioned that word, high-speed rail. [applause] >> it is my hope that someday,

my son gets on a train here that is like our experience of getting on b.r.t. and caltrain and he visits his friends in l.a. in the time it takes for me to visit my friend in san jose. some day that will happen. someday we will celebrate that. until that happens, we party on today here in california, here in san francisco. congratulations. [applause] >> as i stated, it is one relay process after another for the resources that are needed to. san francisco has always been blessed in the halls of the legislature, even though we have very few members, so to speak, in terms of members. our members always seem to project themselves and present themselves and their colleagues embrace them and give them great

assignments. the man that i am about to present to you is exactly in that category. you want to be nice to him because he is the budget chair. that means if and when there is a need for some immediate financing, he has the authority to leverage on behalf of san francisco in this region, on behalf of this project and we will hold him exactly to that. he did not have to leave the assessor's office and go to sacramento but he chose to do that. now he has the responsibility and the obligation of making good on that. ladies and gentlemen, phil tang. chair of the budget committee. [applause] >> thank you mr speaker and mr mayor. yourself, leader pelosi, have always set the example for what

responsible legislating is. for not just san francisco, before the bay area. i think we see our responsibility in ourselves, all of us to make sure that san francisco and the entire region gets the resources it needs to continue to be the economic powerhouse that it is. we have seen what happens today when we do not have enough housing at enough transit. we've done a phenomenal job creating jobs. our economy is doing incredibly well and we have a chance at a challenge to move people around. that is what this transit hub is. this transit hub signals not just to san franciscans, but really people all over the bay area and people all over northern california that we are a region. unless we think regionally, but it can move people regionally and house people regionally. we will not be successful. they used to be a time when the

city could go it alone and do it by itself. but that time has long gone. week are a complete region. sent this sculptor san francisco post's future is tied to oakland, berkeley, as it is to silicon vallie and san jose. our region has to work this way. we need to step up and sat -- sacramento and that is what we do every single day. i am proud to chair the bay area caucus and we are a caucus but we are fighting for the critical resources at the bay area. because if we don't, we will know there is an economy at stake and lives at stake and there's a quality of life at stake. we have seen what happens in washington and pelosi is fighting the good fight out in washington and we see what disastrous decisions have just -- occurred in the last 16 months. decision after decision is attacking the environment and attacking california. attacking everything that we

have fought for as a safety, as a state, everything that we believe in. our legislature, we are sitting here and we know we are the tip of the spear infighting and leading that resistance against what president trump is doing. we are not scared. we have amazing leadership. we are going to continue to represent this region and fight for projects like this and fight for our quality of life. fight for our economy and to make sure that we make good. if this is any evidence of what can happen when the feds, the state and the city can work together, we will make good on that for the coming generations. thank you was paul's -- [applause] >> as each decision is made in san francisco, and this board of supervisors and other boards of supervisors, you always have to acknowledge the members who have

done just that. unfortunately, there is only one of them here today who has done just that. the other two are newcomers. we want to be nice to them because they will have to vote accordingly. in the not too distant future. clearly, their introductions would be far more generous once they have performed. i'm speaking of course, of the recently appointed supervisor vallie brown who is here as part of the cooperation and former deputy city maternity dish attorney in oakland and now supervisor in our city, raphael mandelman. they will be of great assistance. and the person that will be calling upon them initially to do great assistance, as she did so carefully, so cleverly and so precisely with her other ten members during the course of the

last several years, is the district supervisor, from here in this particular district, the sixth district. she also became a member of the board of directors that orchestrated the joint powers authority and orchestrated this entire project. she has gone through all the steps of being able to help produce what you see today in a most dramatic fashion. i'm speaking of course, of the supervisor from this district, jane kim. [applause] >> when i joined this board, the board of supervisors and the transbay joint powers authority, in 2011, as many of you remember, we were in the depths of the recession. many of our construction workers hadn't seen a job for years jake i still remember the day that we

celebrated our groundbreaking with our director and our mayor ed lee, as we welcomed workers back to the job site for the first time in years. i think it would have been difficult for any of us to predict what would follow in the years following. even with the economic cycles and swings that we are all familiar with, i think the economic growth that this area and region has seen over the last seven years has truly been extraordinary. and as a representative of this board in the city and in particular, representing a part of the city that is absorbing close to 80% of san francisco process development, it has been my honor to oversee such tremendous growth here in san francisco. i do want to recognize, and this is quite a long program, because it has taken us close to two decades to get to this milestone. many people were involved in making not just this terminal

possible, but also this neighborhood possible. they have been recognized by state senator john burton. i just want to thank him because he not only fought to make sure that we were funding this terminal and the regional transportation network that would follow, we fought to ensure that this neighborhood would exceed any type of affordable housing standard that had ever been achieved before, which is 35% of low income working in class and middle class housing in this neighborhood. it is so important that as we build, we build a neighborhood that includes all people from those who were formerly homeless, to middle-class families and to the many workers in this region today. it is also been mentioned several times, but i want to thank our leader, nancy pelosi who has never missed a milestone in the center. she may not remember this, but at the cement pouring, i made the mistake of wearing high heels to the event.

i tripped, not only once, but twice on the walk over to the podium, in front of all the t.v. cameras. i still remember the one advice that she imparted on me to that date, about attending construction site openings. she turned over to me and she says, wedges, jane. [laughter] >> i have since taken that advice at future groundbreaking set i have attended. i mention all of these things because this was a huge project to bring to fruition. over 20 years. many partners, and i also sit on the san francisco county transportation authority. at our director is here. this authority has brought in over $200 million and sales tax to this project. of course, our state delegates,

to mtc and i -- i see our chair is here. to the multiple regional and federal transportation agencies that made this possible. i also, as a representative of the district want to thank the residents and our workers. i want to recognize our tjpa citizens advisory committee and our east kutch community benefit district. our director is here, for really working alongside this project for all of these years. and shoring it is one that not just would serve the region but serve our neighborhood workers and residents as well. i want to thank our residents for their immense patience over the many years as this neighborhood has become ground zero of construction, literally 24 hours a day. add to thank you for investing in this neighborhood, choosing to live here, and patiently living through the noise, the night construction can't get all of the traffic and continuing to advise the terminal in terms of

how it can continue to serve the neighborhood. the san francisco police department will also be a huge partner and making sure this terminal remains a beautiful centre for this neighborhood. i know our captain will be shepherding many of his resources here and his deputy chief will ensure that he will get those resources. i also want to recognize our commander who will ensure that have the proper community relations to make sure we are serving everyone in this neighborhood and that everyone is welcome here. it is quite extraordinary to see this no longer in a two dimensional piece of paper. but actually in real life. i should note that we are still celebrating phase i of this immense project. so we still have at least two more phases to go. i just want to thank, as mayor brown has, in advance, all of the many partners who will not

only ensure the caltrain downtown extension but high-speed rail to ensure that san francisco and this terminal remains a major hub for the bay area and for the state of california. thank you very much to everyone involved. congratulations. thank you also to maria for shepherding this project. [applause] >> thank you very much supervisor jane kim garrick whenever such projects of this nature are envisioned, and in which it takes them to into account people from the entire region, joint powers authority was created for that express purpose. that joint powers authority has a responsibility to choose someone to guide them. that is before there is any dirt turned, that is before there's any selection of a person to

design the project. that is before before there is any selection of persons to build the project. in each one of those steps, somebody has to do the guidance. that guidance starts, with the feds ones that individual has been selected and it goes to the state and then it goes regional and then it goes local. believe me. and the challenge that you face in order to do that. you better select someone who can survive in every way back in every chance, and every opportunity that is presented and produced. i have the great pleasure serving as mayor of san francisco, to open the office on saturday mornings at 7:00. anybody could come in for ten minutes and talk to the mayor. one of the persons who came in for ten minutes and talk to the mayor was a young lawyer working

for one of the local companies here. the cut -- in the conversations with her became clear. she did not belong in the province sector. -- private sector, she belonged in the public sector picture became a staff member of my office and then she got stolen by the joint powers authorities to become the executive director, the first executive director of this effort. believe me, it was a great challenge. at every turn, as usual, in the public world, it was always underfunded and slow pay, great decisions that had to be made, acquisition of real estate that had become, sometimes, at the assistance of the city attorney. all those things had to be negotiated. nobody did it better and nobody executed more appropriately and got all of us to the point where we are celebrating today then did the first executive director of this project.

loblaws. >> -- [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, leader pelosi, mayor breed, distinguished guests, good morning everyone. it is a pleasure to be here at the inauguration of the salesforce transit centre. for nearly 20 years, i have been visualizing what the new center would look like, feeling it, thinking about it, having a lot of sleepless nights. but i have never experienced the joy that i feel today. i have finally seen it in its full grand jury. it is really a wonderful feeling and i am very happy about it. it is also very humbling to have been a part of creating such a timeless landmark and i am honored to have worked alongside and thousands of men and women

in the public and private sectors, across the entire united states who contributed to this historic achievement. i envision millions of visitors who will pastor the new center. many will be young people with hopes and dreams. it is these young people that i think about today. as i think about them, i reflect on the little girl that i was when i came to this country as an immigrant. immigrants can achieve great things when given the opportunity. mayor willie brown gave me this opportunity when i was entrusted to lead this project in 1998. for that, i will be eternally grateful. i hope my contribution to this center will inspire young people to learn about the meth and science -- learn about the mathematics and science behind this and appreciate arts and

nature and marvel at the engineering and technology behind the structure. i do want to make the world a better place and leave a lasting, positive mark. most of all, i hope these young people will learn what it takes to make their dreams come true. to have faith in yourself and have faith in your vision. to have curiosity, passion, uncompromising integrity. decisive leadership, and above all, this is the most important. above all, to have courage. speaking of leadership, i want to recognize and thank the countless people who work with me -- worked with me over the many years to make this dream a reality garrick leader pelosi was our angel investor. she was the person who believed, from the very beginning, that this project was worthwhile and it was worth pursuing. she gave us the first funding of close to $10 million to get it

off the ground. remember, this is a project that has been studied and debated since 1967. i have a picture of them looking at a model of what a new transbay terminal could look like and it wasn't until willie brown and leader pelosi, that we were able to get the first money to start the studies. of course, there was senator feinstein and senator boxer who were all by my side throughout all those years. senator burton deserves special thanks and recognition because he made this project possible by working to convince caltrain to transfer the 19 acres of land step built this project and the surrounding neighborhood. which of course, includes the iconic salesforce tower. we can all be grateful that he also helped us secure with the help of leader pelosi, senator feinstein and boxer, the

$400 million to build the rail levels which will fulfil the mandate of the public to bring commuters and high-speed rail into the salesforce transit centre. i want to acknowledge all of them. there's too many people to thank you. i think all of you for all of your support. in closing, when you visit the new center, give yourself time to experience all it has to offer. reflect on the words circling the beautiful light column in front of me. walk-through the floor garden. can you identify the cultures represented by the patterns found in the florida? can you find the hidden key? make your way to the rooftop park. brief in the varied and lush plants that come from all over the world. have fun observing the whimsical water fountain as it announces the arrival of the buses below. stroll along the parks pathway. relax in the amphitheater.

the possibilities are simply endless. the dawn of a new transportation era has arrived. embraced it. treasure our new jewel in the city. protect it for the next generation. most importantly, make it something special and memorable to you. thank you. [applause] >> as the process unfolded in the newsom administration, as mayor of the city, it was totally and completely necessary at all times to have the talented person sharing the responsibility with mohammed nuru, to give guidance to this project, from the capacity of the person who does the bus on the transportation assistance and most of the roads that we

use in our city. as soon asthma mayor lee became mayor of the city, he tapped a friend of his who had participated in recruitment to come here from chicago and participate in running this city. he accepted this responsibility and one of the assignments was to be one of the board members of the joint powers authority that which completes this project it to this day. the director of the san francisco metropolitan division agency, ed ruskin. [applause] >> thank you mr mayor, madame mayer, madame leader and everyone here. it is great to see so many people here on this occasion. i see so many faces out here representing people and organizations and institutions that came together to make this center a reality, i can tell you that the director of

transportation for the city and county of san francisco, i could not be more thrilled that we are here at this milestone today. from a transportation standpoint, and i think we have heard from the speakers, this facility is about much more than transportation. from a transportation standpoi standpoint, this facility on the start of operations is a game changer for our city and for our region. the ability for people to get in and out of our downtown and particularly for those coming from the east bay, will be a significantly better and more pleasant experience. that is exactly what we should be doing. that is of course, as we heard, the first phase pick the next phase, when we have below us the normal -- the northern terminus of california high-speed rail and of caltrain, that will be yet another game changer for people going to end from downtown san francisco and to the peninsula, to san jose and

on to los angeles. i guess, eventually to san diego and to vancouver, as well. i guess that is phase four and five. i was fortunate to be able to join the board of directors of the tjpa in 2011, along with supervisor kim. it has been amazing to see this facility come from both visions that maria spoke about, too than the architectural renderings that she would bring to the board of directors. they look exactly like this. it is really amazing to see that this facility has come into being. it is an amazing facility. from my perspective, perhaps a biased perspective, we should be providing amazing facilities for the transit riders and the transit systems and our neighborhoods pick we certainly have done that here. the speaker mentioned that you

can't spell community without unity. you also can't spell community without muni. [laughter] >> this is, after all, a transit facility. it is at the heart of our community, but what makes this facility special is the integration with all of the other transit providers or with many of the other transit providers in the region. that is what makes this facility special. i do want to acknowledge my fellow transit agencies who will be providing service out of the center. we work very closely together throughout the region to make transportation ace seamless -- as seamless as possible. in addition, we will be served here by greyhound, west cat links, golden gate transit, amtrak and of course, the big dog in the center, a.c. transit

who will be serving thousands of people each day upstairs with the bus stops. i also have the honor to thank our funders. we have heard some reference to them, but it took a village from a funding perspective to make this happen. i do want to acknowledge, thanks to the leaders of support. the united states department of transportation has been a great partner in this project. the federal transit administration, and we are joined by the acting regional minister got the federal railroad administer and the bureau of finance working together to support the funding for this building. the state of california, the metropolitan transportation commission, the san francisco county transportation authority, the san mateo authority, a.c. transit, not just the user but also a funder and of course, the city and county of san

francisco. i want to thank everybody who had a hand in this. it is a lot of you. all the folks who bonded us and all the folks providing transit service here. i look forward to the ribbon-cutting for phase two ottawa. thank you. [applause] >> speaker pelosi, just reminded me, ed, as you are rolling out all the funders, just say we put our hands and everybody's pocket. [laughter] >> no pocket, however was bigger and no pocket was greater then the man i met for the first time today. he came up and had on a beautiful pink tie and he said, my name is jake mckenzie. how does my tie look? [laughter] >> he is the chair of the

metropolitan transportation commission. [applause] >> you all are wondering how i am just how this gig just how long this gig will go on. i was told my part was about two minutes. i appreciate the introduction and i appreciate your complement on my tie. my wife was very careful to say jake, don't wear one of your hawaiian shirts to this gig this morning. i did my best. but i really did it in honor of another man who is not here today. he is vacationing and he is retiring as executive director after 18 years in that role. and he says, don't say anything about me when you are speaking to dave. that is like when the stock gives me speaker notes as well. they should know better by now. anyway, a big shout out to steve up there in the wilds of oregon.

i used to commute into this building when it was old, on the golden gate bridge buses, and on the a.c. transit buses out of alameda for a couple of years. it was a miserable sort of place. [laughter] >> this is not a miserable place. this is cool. this place is cool. [applause] >> you will have gathered by now i am part of the entertainment section of this program. in any event, we are proud to -- i am the chair of m.p.c., by the way i have been five time mayor of the city. if i had worn my kilt today, i would have had a problem and then you would have said everybody will put up your hands in your kilt. [laughter] >> no, no, it is a purse. the staff did not write that part either. we go way back with this

project. in 93, m.p.c. authored -- this is in my notes. the original transbay terminal and the study. that was 25 years ago. goodness me. and then and then the commission adopted the improvement plan to the transbay terminal in 2001. here it is. it has a weird roof on it. it does not have a beautiful park. something must have happened in the design phases. but when you look at this thing and who signed off on it, mayor, willie brown, 2001. your fingers were in every pie. anyway. [laughter] >> that's not in the script. >> that is in my purse. anyway. [laughter] >> anyway, all of you out there have done well. i speak to you collectively as

citizens. you have put your hands in your pockets and you voted at the ballot box and as m.p.c., we also, this is the part i am supposed to say since 2004, m.p.c. has granted more than $350 million in voter approved bridge toll funds to the salesforce transit centre and provided $100 million in other financing to close, a funding gap. here we are. this is good to. this is great. but the guy whose remarks i was listening to today was assembly member to. because we are talking about the future here. this is phase one. it is gorgeous. you will love the park. ththe venue should be thinking about this two stories down. i was down there last friday. there are going to be trains there. it may not be in my lifetime. you have a 2-year-old son, it better be in his lifetime.

[laughter] >> because california has got to come into the 21st century. it has got to. [applause] >> the challenges are in all of us but is also a challenge to our successors. my term as m.p.c. chair finishes up in eight months. i will be sad because i will not be coming to gigs like this. on the other hand, i will have more free time. remember the future. the future is below us. the present is above us. commute on. [applause] >> i will have to have some conversation with him about when this is all over. something is going on with him. [laughter] >> i must tell you that m.t.c.,

the metropolitan transportation commission, we have to acknowledge how significant they really were and therefore we ask the vice chair to come over and say a few words as well. representing all the rest of the board members, other than those that jake spoke about. come on up and say some words. [applause] >> all right. thank you. >> this is my program. [laughter] >> this is your program, i'm sorry. he is such a busy mayor. he was doing a wedding ceremony at city hall. such a busy, busy man. thank you everyone for being here today. as a representative of the board of directors, it has been an honor to serve on the transbay joint powers authority. as you heard, i want to go back

even further and say thank you to the dreamers. thank you to the dreamers. thank you to the people who had the vision of what could be and where we are today is where -- what that dream was, for two years later. as you have heard, the salesforce transit centre is a major milestone but the hard work is not done yet. the next phase, bringing caltrain and high-speed rail to the salesforce center is critical to the region. today as we take time to celebrate, explore the transit centre, is a celebration time. but as we know on monday, we have to roll up our sleeves and get hard to work and bring the train to the train box two stories below us. my role today is to acknowledge, not only the thousand men and women that worked there, by the many partners that have been part of this vision and this dream. i will read a whole bunch of names, and at the very end we