by the director when exercising discretion to waive this requirement, that those kind of thoughts be inculcated in the thinking and that the consideration on page 7 of the legislation regarding technical feasibility and the third regarding financial viability, be addressed appropriately and the regulations. and to that end, what i wanted to do was add a little bit of language that is not uncommon that would allow this board of supervisors to review the regulations and reject them for modify them by ordinance within a time frame of 60 days from when the director delivers those. and this is actually a template of what i might do in the ordinance. i want to put that on the

record. is that your understanding, charles? >> yes, i've seen the proposed amendment and staff is comfortable with the language. >> supervisor peskin: good. the other question i had, was not just on the commercial side, but the residential side. we're developing and in some cases have developed very large residential complexes that have garages over 100 -- i can think of at least one in my district and there is parkmore and one in supervisor yee's district. is there any movement afoot to expand to residential as well? >> the e.v. readiness would cover some of those properties that you mentioned that are in the planning or entitlement or yet to be built phase. so when they're built, they will be e.v. ready. that will take care of all new buildings going forward. the existing multifamily unit dwellings, that's still a challenge. we started with the e.v. readiness ordinance. we're now working on this

initiative for private sector garages. we've done the same for our municipal garages. so that is a bit of the next frontier. it's something we've been looking at, but it's challenging from a infrastructure and cost perspective, but it's still something we're working on. because the need for charging as we transition the entire fleet is going to continue to grow. we're on step 2 or 3 here and there is a few more after that. >> supervisor peskin: i look forward to having those conversations with you and your office going forward. any questions, supervisor safai? >> supervisor safai: yes, thank you. first of all, i would like to be added as a cosponsor. i think this is an important piece of legislation. i know that we -- i don't know if you said this -- a letter from the building owners and managers appreciating the hard work that was done in support of this piece of legislation. i think it's always great when the affected stakeholders have had the opportunity to weigh in and be part of the process.

even if they don't -- and then in the end come to the conclusion that they are suppor supportive of the legislation as drafted. i just wanted to say that for the record. i know chair peskin and supervisor haney got that letter today. that's good. thank you to the department of environment stakeholders and others that were part of that conversation along with the mayor and supervisor peskin and mandelman. the other question i had, the question i had is, in terms of the pricing. that's one of the things that wasn't discussed today, that encourages or discourages people from using the stations outside of their homes, right? because some people have solar-powered at their house, or access to different rates based on what has been negotiated as

part of a larger package. but has there been thought or conversation put into the pricing to encourage people to utilize these charging stations and parking garages? >> sure. so i believe both -- >> the prices can vary. i reason i know this, i have an electric car. >> right. so for electricity rates, i'll start there. there a couple of costs that go into charging your electric car. for rates, i believe pg&e and clean power sf have demand response rates to take advantage. >> you're couraged to -- when we drafted the ordinance, we wanted to make sure it wasn't one provider, but two providers,

e.v. station charging providers. so not only is the parking facility able to compete in the private sector, but also they can make sure that what is installed is going to be cost effective for the customers that are coming in to use the parking facility. i don't know how much the rates for electricity differ between like e.v. go or charge point. do -- they do have different rates. >> they do. so my question would be, if the city has gotten into the business of delivering energy -- i know they're not a vendor, but has there been conversation about the city having ownership over some of the stations since they have their own rates and structures and that might be a way to keep the cost down and encourage people to utilize the stations. >> i would mostly defer to my colleagues on that issue, but i do have history and experience. i think through 2013, maybe 2015, charging at city-owned

garages was free. it was a cost effective way to get things going. i think that has lapsed. but especially with some of the developments that may happen on grid ownership here in the city. that might open up unique opportunities for not only city-owned grid, but city-owned charging stations and rates for the charging stations. but i'm getting a little farther into the territory -- >> i get it. and again, i'm adding my name. i think this is a good piece of legislation, but sometimes we create policies and then we fall back less on implementation. and if people are not finding that this is cost effective, then only people that can afford that additional cost will take advantage of it on that level. and so i just -- i would like to see more thought put into actually the cost of utilizing it. because we can expand these to as many garages as possible, but if only people with the extra

disposable income that can use it. and they will sit there empty or not utilized. >> that makes sense, supervisor, i'm going to take note of that, on the cost for charging. one of the things, when we think about making sure everyone has access. one of the things in the e.v. road map is the ability to educate and make aware to everyone, even those who don't think they have means, there are rebates and incentives by state agencies and entities for low-income residents, that can significantly reduce the cost of purchase. it's not exactly the charging up paradigm, but we're looking at reducing the cost of purchasing. >> supervisor safai: the other thing i would say as a person with one of these cars and drives it to the stations. they're not always very user friendly. if you're not a member, you have

to sit there and call a 1-800 number and you're looking for, this is 327 at this address. they're like, i can't find it. i don't know how to turn it on. so if you're trying to go into the shopping center and you're sitting there an additional 20 minutes. why do i want to spend 20 minutes trying to get into the charging station when i'll just drive it upstairs? so it's not necessarily user friendly. i appreciate that you're trying to get two vendors, but i think the conversation in terms of the contract when you do provide it in a city-owned lot and you're signing those contracts, it should also be about usability. >> i agree. >> supervisor safai: we should make it more user friendly. easy if you could just run your credit card, boom, it's done fast. but sit there and make a phone call and search for the number, it's not really user friendly. i get it.

it's new technology. just beginning. the last few years there has been more of explosion and availability of electric cars, but i don't want to see us pat ourselves on the back because we have 5,000 charging stations but no one is using them. >> the scenario you just described is what i experienced when i became a new e.v. owner and i went to charge up. >> 20-minute long conversation. >> there were several phone conversations. i was in the rush, panicked. i had no electricity in my new e.v. that's one of the things we're trying to address in the e.v. road map, education and awareness. i think you're exactly right. i know that from personal experience. >> supervisor safai: one last thing. the only one that i know of in -- again this is about garages -- but the only street-charging spot i know of is next the sfpuc.

is that discussed in this legislation? thought of? because another way also to expand peoples' opportunity is not just in garages, but you can add parking spots to the conversation. >> sure, so it's not discussed in the legislation. i know the sfmta is conducting a curbside use assessment and that is going to be due later this year. but that is their jurisdiction. so i defer to them on their study and what they're looking at for charging on the curb and what else they want to do for the curb and they're going to report back later after that assessment is done on that topic. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. i see a number of members of the public. and commissioner here. we will open up for public comment. please come up.

>> i believe it is good policy. one key thing i want to hammer home is question of equity, which supervisor safai talked on all three points. equity in terms of cost, in terms of usage and finally, geography, because the map is beneficial to the northeast section of san francisco. hopefully, we'll be able to build out e.v. infrastructure to support the west side, meaning the richmond district and sunset or low density. and the cars have created a car-driven culture, so hopefully curbside charging can address this. for bright line itself, we've worked in bayview hunters, so seeing the lack of charging infrastructure there is disheartening in us to try to promote electric vehicles. hopefully, we can make it

accessible for all. >> supervisor peskin: any other members of the public? seeing none, we'll close public comment. and colleagues, we have the aforementioned amendment before us which i've introduced and would make a motion to include. can we do that without objection? so that objection we will take that amendment. and send the item as amended with recommendation to the full board of supervisors. and that concludes our meeting. we are adjourned.

>> it's great to see everyone kind of get together and prove, that you know, building our culture is something that can be reckoned with. >> i am desi, chair of economic development for soma filipinos. so that -- [ inaudible ] know that soma filipino exists, and it's also our economic platform, so we can start to build filipino businesses so we can start to build the cultural district.

>> i studied the bok chase choy her achbl heritage, and i discovered this awesome bok choy. working at i-market is amazing. you've got all these amazing people coming out here to share one culture. >> when i heard that there was a market with, like, a lot of filipino food, it was like oh, wow, that's the closest thing i've got to home, so, like, i'm going to try everything. >> fried rice, and wings, and three different cliefz sliders. i haven't tried the adobe yet, but just smelling it yet brings

back home and a ton of memories. >> the binca is made out of different ingredients, including cheese. but here, we put a twist on it. why not have nutella, rocky road, we have blue berry. we're not just limiting it to just the classic with salted egg and cheese. >> we try to cook food that you don't normally find from filipino food vendors, like the lichon, for example. it's something that it took years to come up with, to perfect, to get the skin just right, the flavor, and it's one of our most popular dishes, and

people love it. this, it's kind of me trying to chase a dream that i had for a long time. when i got tired of the corporate world, i decided that i wanted to give it a try and see if people would actually like our food. i think it's a wonderful opportunity for the filipino culture to shine. everybody keeps saying filipino food is the next big thing. i think it's already big, and to have all of us here together, it's just -- it just blows my mind sometimes that there's so many of us bringing -- bringing filipino food to the city finally. >> i'm alex, the owner of the lumpia company. the food that i create is basically the filipino-american experience. i wasn't a chef to start with, but i literally love lumpia,

but my food is my favorite foods i like to eat, put into my favorite filipino foods, put together. it's not based off of recipes i learned from my mom. maybe i learned the rolling technique from my mom, but the different things that i put in are just the different things that i like, and i like to think that i have good taste. well, the very first lumpia that i came out with that really build the lumpia -- it wasn't the poerk and shrimp shanghai, but my favorite thing after partying is that bakon cheese burger lumpia.

there was a time in our generation where we didn't have our own place, our own feed to eat. before, i used to promote filipino gatherings to share the love. now, i'm taking the most exciting filipino appetizer and sharing it with other filipinos. >> it can happen in the san francisco mint, it can happen in a park, it can happen in a street park, it can happen in a tech campus. it's basically where we bring the hardware, the culture, the operating system. >> so right now, i'm eating something that brings me back to every filipino party from my childhood. it's really cool to be part of the community and reconnect

with the neighborhood. >> one of our largest challenges in creating this cultural district when we compare ourselves to chinatown, japantown or little saigon, there's little communities there that act as place makers. when you enter into little philippines, you're like where are the businesses, and that's one of the challenges we're trying to solve.

>> undercover love wouldn't be possible without the help of the mayor and all of our community partnerships out there. it costs approximately $60,000 for every event. undiscovered is a great tool for the cultural district to bring awareness by bringing the best parts of our culture which is food, music, the arts and being ativism all under one roof, and by seeing it all in this way, what it allows san franciscans to see is the dynamics of the filipino-american culture.

i think in san francisco, we've kind of lost track of one of our values that makes san francisco unique with just empathy, love, of being acceptable of different people, the out liers, the crazy ones. we've become so focused onic maing money that we forgot about those that make our city and community unique. when people come to discover, i want them to rediscover the magic of what diversity and empathy can create. when you're positive and committed to using that energy, >> look at that beautiful jellyfish. the way to speak to students and motivate them to take action, to

save the planet, they do, they care and my job is to speak to them in a way that they can understand that touches their heart and makes them feel powerful with simple actions to take every day. ♪ ♪ >> i was born and raised in the desert of palm springs, california. my dad was the rabbi in the community there. what i got from watching my father on stage talking to the community was learning how to be in the public. and learning how to do public speaking and i remember the first time i got up to give my first school assembly, i felt my dad over my shoulder saying pause for drama, deliver your

words. when i was a kid, i wanted to be a teacher. and then when i got into high school, i decided i wanted to get into advertising and do graphic art and taglines and stuff like that. by the time i was in college, i decided i wanted to be a decorator. but as i did more work, i realized working my way up meant a lot of physical labor. i only had so much energy to work with for the rest of my life and i could use that energy towards making a lot of money, helping someone else make a lot of money or doing something meaningful. i found the nonprofit working to save the rainforest was looking for volunteers. i went, volunteered and my life changed. suddenly everything i was doing had meaning. stuffing envelopes had meaning, faxing out requests had meaning. i eventually moved up to san francisco to work out of the office here, given a lot of

assembly through los angeles county and then came up here and doing assemblies to kids about rainforest. one of my jobs was to teach about recycle, teaching students to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost, i'm teaching them they have the power, and that motivates them. it was satisfying for me to work with for the department of environment to create a message that gets to the heart of the issue. the san francisco department of environment is the only agency that has a full time educational team, we go into the schools to help teach children how to protect nature and the environment. we realized we needed animal mascot to spark excitement with the students. the city during the gold rush days, the phoenix became part of

the city feel and i love the symbolism of the phoenix, about transformation and the message that the theme of the phoenix provides, we all have the power to transform our world for the better. we have to provide teachers with curriculum online, our curriculum is in two different languages and whether it's lesson plans or student fact sheets, teachers can use them and we've had great feedback. we have helped public and private schools in san francisco increase their waste use and students are working hard to sort waste at the end of the lunch and understand the power of reusing, reducing, recycling and composting. >> great job. >> i've been with the department

for 15 years and an environmental educator for more than 23 years and i'm grateful for the work that i get to do, especially on behalf of the city and county of san francisco. i try to use my voice as intentionally as possible to suppo support, i think of my grandmother who had a positive attitude and looked at things positively. try to do that as well in my work and with my words to be an uplifting force for myself and others. think of entering the job force as a treasure hunt. you can only go to your next clue and more will be revealed. follow your instincts, listen to your gut, follow your heart, do what makes you happy and pragmatic and see where it takes you and get to the next place. trust if you want to do good in this world, that

>> well, well, we have one of the most exciting projects in district 11 in over a decade. supervisor safai, for the past 10 years, no one has been able to get a housing project of this significance built in this community, and guess what? you made it happen. [applause.] >> 116 new units, 50% affordable units for family of four making up to $123,000 a year. how incredible is that? this will provide housing for

low income families and for foster care youth. i mean, this is how you get housing done in san francisco, working together, working in partnership with sammy and people who love. the fact is people who love this community and didn't have to go above and beyond in providing higher affordability on this project but wanted to do something to support the city and county of san francisco and what we are dealing with as it relates to our housing crisis. we are grateful for you and the community is here, and i also know your family is here. i am so excited. this will make a difference. on top of that, that is not even all.

40% of the units that are built of the affordability housing will go to the people who live in this neighborhood first, neighborhood preference. the legislation that i worked on back in the day when i was on the board of supervisors. it is going to be used on this project so that we can make sure that the community who lives here, where they might be struggling to hold on to their unit and whatever capacity, they will have a real shot of being a part of this incredible new community. i am excited about this project. i am grateful to supervisor safai for his leadership. i can't wait to be here when we open the doors for people to walk in their new places, and it is absolutely amazing. the person who led this effort to make this happen, who also did more than just help get this

project through the process but also makes some zoning changes to make it possible to have as many units as we can on his site no other than supervisor safai. [applause.] >> supervisor safai: thank you, mayor breed. i feel like i am at a family reunion, but i did joke with sia and sammy i think we could put a runway strip here. this is the largest development in the history of this neighborhood in this community. there has never been any family affordable housing built in this community. i remember sitting with them a decade ago when they laid out the vision of wanting to do something to give back to the city that they feel made their

family anal -- and lifted them back up after going through a revolution in their country they. they came here with very little and they have worked 50 years to build what we are seeing happen today. this is truly a gift to the city and county of san francisco. this is not something that is required. this is completely private land, privately financed by a family that wanted to give back to the city. i want to say thank you to the family for everything and you will their children and siblings and relatives for everything they did to make this happen. it is truly a gift. this even out paces the giant's ballpark development omission rock, which is 40% affordable on

public land. 50% will below market rate. home-sf set the income. he said he wanted lower than what we laid out in the city. we tried to do the remaining 50% as rent control. sometimes the city gets in its way. i know they will continue to keep these rents affordable for this community. they are doing so much to give back to the city and county. we talked about this over a decade ago. we sat down with mayor lee before i became supervisor. he said he would prioritize this. the reason i bring that up is because this mayor has made not anything more of a priority than building housing. that was when we sat down with mayor lee, that was in the middle of 2016. we are going to the end of 2019.

even with everything that -- and i would get monday my phone would ring. every monday i would get the call from him and family members. we are still over three years into getting this project done. this was supposed to be one of the highest priority projects in the city and county of san francisco. i know this mayor is dedicated to finding a way to cut through the layers. when a family wants to give a gift to the city, we have to wait almost three and a half years to get this done. besides all of that, i want to shout out to crazio. she guided this every step of the way on behalf of the mayor's office. my team was guiding this every

step of the way. the planning department, the mayor's office of housing, city attorneys, all of the people working on behalf of the mayor. there is more to come, there are two more projects that are 100% affordable. she dedicated an additional $53 million in the budget. we break ground in october next year on two more projects. out of all of those together, almost 600 units, 65% will be affordable below market rate units in this community and affordable to the people living here. that is a big accomplishment. i am so lucky to have a partner in the mayor's office who prioritizes this community like no mayor has done in over 20 plus years.

[applause.] i could go on and on. i will hand it over to the patriarch of the family, the mind that doesn't let any little thing get away from him, but he has to be that way. three and a half years, he has to be that way. someone was bragging about him the other day. he knows how to get projects built in san francisco. he really does. i am honored to have him as a friend and invest in this community. [applause.] >> thanks everyone. mayor, my good friend, supervisor and my family and everybody who is here. this wouldn't have happened without participation of everyone for this to happen. he is right i call every monday morning. if i wouldn't have done it, it

would have taken seven years. this happened in three and-a-half years. i want to tell a story about my life, how i am here. i came with my wonderful life about 40 years as an immigrant from iran. i have been here 1973 i came here to san francisco. i was a student and i fell in love with the city. i still love this city. i always said we have got to do something. whatever i have, i got it through hard work. being in this wonderful diversified city. we talked a lot about it. this came about in 2007 when there was a melt down and i was able to purchase these. that is when me and sammy, she

is an advocat of foster and homeless kids. this came about. i said maybe we can do something about it. finally here we are. thernext step is the foundationd get the super structure. i want to thank the wonderful mayor. i am so proud of you. you are a wonderful mayor. you are a great person. i want to tell my brother-in-law who designed this property, my kids and this is all my family. i love them all. it is great to be here. too many persons. (laughter). it is a great thing. i am so blessed. i asked my wife to be by my

side. if i make a mistake she will say stage right. i think i have done go, right? she gave me a list and said memorize this. i said i will do this. that is not me, i have to talk how i feel. that is how i do it, you know. [applause.] >> i want to thank the mayor's office of housing.

wonderful job. i forgot about my wonderful friend tom. he is a big support. thanks a lot. >> my apartment burned down 1.5 years ago in noba. my name is leslie mccray, and i

am in outside beauty sales. i have lived in this neighborhood since august of this year. after my fire in my apartment and losing everything, the red cross gave us a list of agencies in the city to reach out to and find out about various programs that could help us get back on our feet, and i signed up for the below market rate program, got my certificate, and started applying and won the housing lottery. this particular building was brand-new, and really, this is the one that i wanted out of everything i applied for. and i came to the open house here, and there were literally hundreds of people looking at the building. and i -- in my mind, i was, like, how am i ever going to possibly win this? and i did. and when you get that notice that you want, it's surreal, and you don't really believe

it, and then it sinks in, yeah, i can have it, and i'm finally good to go; i can stay. my favorite thing about my home, although i miss the charm about the old victorian is everything is brand-new. it's beautiful. my kitchen is amazing. i've really started to enjoy cooking. i really love that we have a gym on-site. i work out four days a week, and it's beautiful working outlooking out over the courtyard that i get to look at. it was hard work to get to the other side, but it's well worth it. i'm super grateful to the mayor's office of housing for having this for us.

♪ oh, happy day ♪ in his rejoice [singing]

♪ ♪ in his rejoice [singing] ♪ oh, happy day ♪ oh, happy day ♪ oh, happy day

♪ oh, happy day ♪ ohhhhh ♪ oh, happy day ♪ oh, happy day ♪ oh, happy day ♪ oh, happy day ♪ oh, happy day ♪ oh, happy day ♪ oh, happy day >> announcer: ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage former all-pro nfl player-turned emmy award-winning broadcaster, ahmad rashad.

>> wow. thank you. thank you. hey, how about another round of applause for the open interfaith gospel choir. rock out pretty nice. [applause] good morning, everyone. what an incredible day. and it is really -- i really feel honored to be able to say, for the first time in history, welcome to chase center. cheer khaer [applause] [cheering] i'm honored to be the official host of the beautiful arena press conferences. it seemed like just yesterday we were standing on a giant pier just a couple of miles from here on a picture-perfect day announcing the warriors' return to san francisco and the intention to build a spectacular, new, 100% privately-financed sports and entertainment center here in

the city by the bay. [applause] and as i sort of look at it, it's actually 2600, 23 hours and 30 minutes ago. but who's counting? [laughter] it was around that time that the leaders of an up and coming basketball team decided to chase a dream. man, they chased that dream so hard that they actually named that dream just that -- chase center. [laughter] you can't make these things up. you can't make 'em up. it sounds like something straight out of a peter guber hollywood movie script. how did this happen 2600 days, 23 hours and 31 minutes ago? here's my perspective on that. many decades ago, legendary ucla coach john wooden created a pyramid of success which in his mind were the steps

necessary to achieve greatness and fulfillment. now based on the results, i think we'd all agree coach wooden was pretty damn successful. well, back in 2012, they decided to follow in the whims of his footsteps and created their own pyramid of success. after several long brainstorming session, here's what joe and peter came up with as a recipe, or pyramids, for success when trying to build the greatest sports and entertainment venue in the world. first off, seven straight trips to the playoffs. >> whew! [applause] five straight appearances in the nba finals. [applause] three nba championships. [applause] [cheering] two nba most valuable player awards. [applause] and at the top of that pyramids, one incredible,

astonishing, staggering, phenomenal, spectacular, remarkable, unbelievable, magnificent, outstanding, impressive, extraordinary, gorgeous, breathtaking, stimulating, world-class, beautiful fantastic masterpiece, chase center. [applause] [cheering] that simple. it's that simple. so here we are today, september 3, 2019, ready to cut the ribbon on a new arena, chase center. a 18,000-seat venue that will include more than two dozen restaurants and retail locations. two office buildings, a 5 1/2-acre park and incredible public gathering place called thrive city. not only will it rival any destination in north america, but any arena in the entire world. this will be the new home of steph curry, draymond green, klay thompson following nick berry, nate thurman and al adels and, by the way, inducted into the basketball hall of fame friday night in springfield. [applause]

so that is not it, though. of course the new home of every conceivable concert including shows that will feature metallica with the san francisco symphony, elton john, janet jackson, phil cold lynxer chance the rapper, dave matthews all in the same night. you talk about all-stars. not in the same night. not in the same night. check your local listings. but they're coming here. enough from me. now it's time to hear from the people who are actually responsible and making it a place to become a reality. let's introduce our esteemed panel starting with warriors president and chief executive officer chief executive officer rick welsh. [applause] the 45th mayor of the city and county of san francisco, london breed -- [applause] warriors co-executive chairman and chief executive officer

chief executive officer, joe bagham. warriors co-executive chairman peter guber. [applause] the 40th governor of the state of california, gavin newsome. [applause] j.p. morgan chase c.m.o. kristen limcow. now our first speaker is a man who provides incredible inspiration to anyone who dreams and aspirations of becoming involved in professional sport. in high school and college, he sold peanuts at anaheim stadium in an effort to put his way through college. now here today and lifting the golden state warriors into one of most successful franchises in professional sport, he is opening a world-class sports and entertainment arena in the city of san francisco. ladies and gentlemen, the warriors co-executive chairman and chief executive officer chief executive officer, joe lacob. [applause] >> ahmad, thank you.

you've said it all so i'm not sure we have to say much more. that was quite a talk. thank you very much. this is -- honestly the first words i can use are just wow. wow. unbelievable that we're here today. this is fantastic. i almost can't believe it's true, to be frank. oh, boy. i started out myself in a new towned new bedford, massachusetts and the first time i saw an indoor basketball court was the boys club. and i was like 9 years old and i tell this story often because it is the first hardwood floor that i ever saw. and i feel like my entire life i've been trying to build hardwood floor basketball courts. i once started a court in our home on the peninsula. it took me six years to build it and they had to call it a barn when it was done. we're not going to call this a barn, though, right, rick? no. but little did we know that in only one more year than that,

we could get this done! not so hard. well first, i'm not going to do a lot of thank yous. i do have to thank very briefly just a couple of people. first peter guber, my partner. man, did i choose right. when we hooked up a number of years ago, we didn't have any idea what it would be like to build a venue like this and become an entertainment company and he just had the perfect experience for it. he has been invaluable. thank you, peter. former mayor of san francisco, ed lee who's not here unfortunately today and our current mayor london breed. san francisco has welcomed us. it's not been easy. [laughter] but it's been a great process and we so appreciate being here and thank you for all of your help and for ed's inspiration

as well. [applause] i don't know if he is here today, but mark veniov. i have to call him out. without him, making a phone call, as has been well-chronicled to me and to us, we would not have this site. they were going to build $40 or $50 million architecting what they were going to build and decided to go to sales force tower at the last minute and we were the beneficiaries of that and we were able to go ahead and buy this land and build this building. which is pretty amazing. thank you, mark. [applause] rick welts. i have to just say -- i'm sorry, rick, i have to do this -- we met about eight years ago. he came to my house. he'll probably tell the story because he likes telling it. meet peter and i and we had a three or four-hour conversation. i said rick, you've done this two times before so i can be hard. we'll turn around this basketball team and turn around the business of basketball here

because it wasn't doing all that great. no big deal. by the way, we might try to build a new arena. that, none of us knew, would take so long or be so hard. eight years. he has done an unbelievable job. deserves so much credit. so much credit. everything you see here today. all the people that are hired, it all comes from rick. phenomenal job. i'm not sure there are many people on this plan -- plan thaet -- planet that could have done it. and i want to thank my wife nicole. [applause] she not only had a lot to do with a lot that went on in this arena, decorating and various things, but frankly she had to listen to me complain and moan for seven years and that is not something you'd want anybody to do. so, thank you very much. [applause] bigger applause. bigger. so, what was the vision of all of this when we started? you know, we purchased the team

in 2010 and it was a team that really wasn't doing very well on the basketball court and missed the playoffs in 17 of its 19 previous seasons. the business, while people think it was doing pretty well actually wasn't doing so well. a lot of, frankly, free tickets that were being given away. we had a lot of work to do. so, the vision was to turn the business of basketball around and turn the basketball part of it around. thank you to steve kerr and bob myers and our players, particularly that we drafted and some we brought in. they did an incredible job. five finals, three championships. [applause] motor than -- more than we could have expected. [applause] we also had the oldest arena in the nba. now it was a great place to play and still is. and we loved the oracle in many ways. great sightlines. in fact, we replicated the lower bowl of the oracle to this building for the most part. but it was the oldest overall

building in the league. i had one kitchen. one kitchen to serve 19596 people. not so good. not easy. very narrow concourses and all the modern amenities just, unfortunately, weren't there and we had to make that change. we set out with that vision of trying to do that. and to be equally [inaudible] doing that as we ultimately were with building the team. we loved oracle. but at the end, food matters. [laughter] food matters. and all the other stuff that goes along with the arena matters and so here we are and you are going to love this arena for those purposes. great seating for all. we have to have great seating for everybody. it can't just be about the suites and the people on the floor. it has to be about everywhere. one thing i love about this building, and you will experience it, modelo cantina, in the upper most reaches touching the caoelg kind of part at the end of the arena is a spectacular place to see a game and every part of this arena we wanted to make so that everyone had a unique

experience. if we didn't do that, then we will have failed. we think we've done it. you be the judge. the arts. this is san francisco. s the bay area. i think you're going to find the art in this arena to be truly spectacular from commissioned paintings that were done by local artists to sports and the arts which came in here and did an incredible job. down every hallway, you'll see memorabilia from the paths of the warriors. and you'll also see a phenomenal, new piece of art in a world renowned artist on the other side of this building that seems fierce. and how many of you have seen it yet? not even half of you. you have to go around to the other side of this building today to see it because it will become someone that comes to san francisco is going to want to see. it is an amazing piece and it fits in with our arena so well. intimacy. growing up, seeing new basketball buildings and concert buildings built around the world.

the one thing that i have noticed from our first meeting, peter and i talked about this, do we want to see a building that was some giant building where you got lost in it and the sound wasn't as good in an older building. there is some great about older buildings, the way they were. we think we've tried to achieve that. we think maybe we've done it. the roof of this building inside is like the second or third lowest of any building in the nba. including all the new once. that means greater sound, reverberation, more of an intimate viefrments and you will find every seat in this sbllg as close to the court as the existing seat in oracle. which is pretty amazing thing to try to achieve. intimacy, very important. player experience. we had to have a great player experience. we want to be able to recruit free agents. great players want to play for the warriors. they want to play with a good organization and we won a lot and enjoy where they're going to be living and playing and if any of you have seen some of the practice facilitis in this building, it is all in the building, under the building.

two full-length practice courts and a locker room that is amazing. unlike any other maybe in the world and also, by the way, pays a tribute to oracle. the ceiling of it is the same ceiling that is in oracle arena. structurally. and it is a really exciting thing to see. so i encourage you. and also these guys have chefs and all kinds of great things that help keep them very happy. that had to happen and we think we've achieved that as well. private financing. very, very important to have private financing. because the truth is we didn't want to be the guys that come into town and say we need public money. it would take away from police, fire, all the city services. we took none. we asked for none. we took none. 100% privately financed and we're very proud of that. [applause] the final thing i want to spokesmensing that all of our employees are basketball

players, our staff, everybody that works for this organization is located in this building. one building. and work together. it's about teamwork, not just on the basketball court, but in an organization in its entirety. everybody will hopefully provide all of you with customers with a tremendous experience because they will be working together every single day and every single night in this building. and we're proud of that. [applause] that was the vision for it. you will be the judge as to whether we have achieved all of those things. i think we've done a good job. the journey, i'll just say very briefly, one of hardest things i have ever done, i know peter feels the same. maybe the hardest, it's just an incredibly complex building and building something this big in san francisco is not an easy thing to get done and we all know why. it's just a tough environment to do it. we did it and we're very proud of that. the journey has been difficult.