dr. mitch kastz has been the architect of all of this. thank you for your leadership. there is the old play towline that if there is any hope for the future of those with lanterns will pass them on to others. let me talk about those that carry bright lights, that pass those lanterns on to others. many of them you will hear in just a moment, because they are appropriately on stage and will be recognized for their own work. one is the former mayor, willie gramm, who deserves a tremendous amount of credit for envisioning the bonds that brought us here. i want to thank in particular the leadership of the city attorney, who in some ways is responsible for us being here because she created that impetus to initiate a federal lawsuit against a tobacco company back when few people thought there was any hope and that there should not be much expectation of success. she carried that torch. she succeeded in that effort. she moved on, but she did not move away. she not only created the framework that allowed us to generate, all told, $141 million that contributed to this project to

he is not going to be allowed to, at least as far as i am around -- dr. mitch katz, who deserves so much credit for getting us here. i think the commission behind me for their stewardship, and to all the men and women at work in this remarkable place that change people's lives each and every day. 100,000 direct lives are changed, but every time i come here, i realize you are not just saving patients. you are taking care of families, mothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, mothers, brothers. i have seen it too many times, the faces of those parents. i cannot even keep a straight face because it is so difficult to see someone in pain, but to see the pride on their face because of the job you have done. i'm just happy we are here to extent that magic, to share our values in a most meaningful and substantive way. i'm glad to kick off this remarkable institution that combines the best of san francisco. congratulations to all of us for being here today. thank you, mr. mayor. -- >> thank you, mr. mayor. when i needed for this project to go forward to the voters, i needed fir

we all read in the newspapers that dr. mitch catts opposes this matter. i was actually trading phone calls with him earlier trying to understand what his opposition was based on. could you give the perspective of the department on laura's law? >> i can give the perspective of the department of psychiatry of san francisco general. i'm not sure that the doctor and i completely agree about some of these issues. in particular, i think in the item in the paper this morning, dr. catts, who i guess is not here, you know, i hate to contradict him in public, but my understanding is, for example, that medication is absolutely a part of this bill. the ability to give medication and i know mitch was quoted today as saying that medication is not possible as part of the treatment planning for these patients so that's -- that is one thing that i think is -- it's important to make clear because certainly the vast majority of the patients for whom this approach would be appropriate are people for whom medication is really the single -- probably the single most important a

i'm dr. mitch caps -- katz, director of the san francisco health department. we are very proud of san francisco general hospital. [applause] thank you. for 125 years on this side, this hospital has taken care of people, regardless of their ability to pay, no matter what their ethnicity was, whether they were a man or woman or transgendered -- would never came fourth, we took care of, and we are so proud to be here -- what ever came force -- whatever came forth, we took care of. we are so appreciative to all of you who helped us on this campaign. san francisco general hospital, when it went before the voters, received 84.3% of the vote. [applause] now, what i want you to think about is when did 84.3% of san franciscos agree about anything, that we got that high level of votes? we did not get that because of the campaign we ran, although we ran a very good campaign, and i'm very appreciative to all of the people here, from the labor unions -- especially 1021 -- who helped us -- [applause] thank you. through the business community, we were supported by democrats,