mr. elliott? >> thank you, commissioners. jason elliott, from the mayor's office. thank you for giving us this opportunity to discuss the city's vision for high-speed rail. the mayor is committed to bringing it to san francisco at the earliest possible date. i will not deliver his support to much, but when he was in washington a couple of weeks ago, this was a topic of conversation that he brought very frequently. his support is strong and unwavering. this is the original northern terminus, as promised to the voters. it is the first statewide i still work -- high-speed rail project. this is actually broken ground and underactive construction. trans day represents a real commitment from the federal government and local partners to make high-speed rail a reality. as you mentioned, we are all grateful for the strong support. this past weekend he made some more reaffirming comments. this is a substantial investment in the future of california. ultimately, the mayor feels that this needs to get built now or in the future. not so much because of detractors in the city, b

mr. elliott. commissioners, we have a presentation that we would like to share with you. talking about a fast start concept. i do not want to take much time at all. the executive director has been leading the working group, and before he takes it away, i would like to, in a manner of framing the issue, say the following thing. i think everything has been said by the mayor's office and the commissioner. we all need to be reminded that in the next 40 years, california will add 20 million inhabitants to the current 40 million. we are adding a number of people to the state of pennsylvania, on top of the people already living in california. what appears to me to be outlandish is to try to do that without a transformative project like high-speed rail. we are all understanding now, not just in san francisco, but the local communities, a need for alternatives and transportation, saving us from the consequences of having to drive everywhere. we cannot do that without a major commitment at the state level without investment in infrastructure. lands that are grown from the grass roo

mr. elliott and mayor lee for their comments and decision to have this matter continued.hink it is testament to the kind of relationship this mayor has built with this board and supervisors that he is willing to approach it this way. and the reality is there are differences in opinion we may have on a specific issue. we are committed to working together. the thing about jobs is that i think on the issue of jobs, there's a lot more commonality then there are differences. and the key is to focus on that commonality. this mayor has set an example of how people can come together around an issue and the issue of what happened with pension reform is a perfect example. where you had instead of having a unilateral approach to have an approach that brought a number of people together. to the extent you want to talk about jobs, it is better to do it in the way you are proposing. i think those of us who had concerns about this what we recognize the intent simply felt that the charter amendment route was not the route. i think now we have an opportunity to engage in that discussion.

mr. elliott has demonstrated the real force of the new order of things. l, elliott left the congress for a great political opportunity. he became speaker of the south carolina state legislature. state house of representatives. but like so many african-americans in this era, elliott would very soon struggle later in life with the opportunity to participate in politics at the state level or even eke out an earning, and he died in obscurity in 1884 after jim crow laws and selling regaition had begun to redescend in the south, and he died of complications of malaria and with little public notice. so i want to move to the second generation that we profiled in the book. um, this generation of african-americans, this is a story that really is one, we date it between 1887 and 1929, and it's one of really contraction and decline and exclusion as african-americans are pushed out of the political process in the south. and it's unique from the narratives of women and hispanic-americans and some of the other groups who we've studied newly admitted to the political proc

mr. elliott has demonstrated a real force of a new order of things. well, he left the 43rd congress for greater political opportunity and became speaker of the south carolina state legislature, state house of representatives. like so many african-americans in this era elliott would very soon struggle later in life with the opportunity to participate in politics at this level or even eat out and earning, and he died in obscurity in 1884 after jim crow laws and segregation and began in the south and he died of complications of malaria and with little public notice. i want to move to the second generation of a profile of booked. this generation of african-americans, this is a story there really is one. we data between 87 and 1929, and it is one of really contraction and declined and exclusion as african-americans are pushed out of the political process in the south. and it is unique from the narrative of women and hispanic americans and some of the other groups who we steady to newly admitted to the political process because once women or hispanic americ

elliott jones. will you tell the trampoline story? [laughter] also, do you think that mr. holbrooke could in any way have had an interest in turning his perspective to the economic problem that is going on on diplomacy or would he be totally uninterested in the whole business? >> he wouldn't be an interested but he would be glad there are other people more interested than he. [laughter] there was nothing that he was not interested in me and that covers economics. but i think that strobe is correct. richard is a humanist. his brand of diplomacy was unique because he believed that diplomacy had to be based one human being at that time. he was not a bureaucrat. and therefore economics was really beyond his range of passion but i think that even since richard passed away, the world has changed so much that, you know, the unraveling of the world financial sector has happened so quickly and richard was such a quick study that i think that he would have immediately seen the intersection between economics and diplomacy as he salles for example the connection between a health probl