it is a promotional event for the america's cup. and the words on everybody's lips for the next few years will be san francisco. the end of the process will be the america's cup itself. this will be the new tour, and an annual champion will be crowned in the world series of the america's cup. part of that will also be here in san francisco in august of 2012. we are hoping and we are expecting to introduce a whole new generation of fans to this event. not only the sports fans, but to the general interest fans. how'd we do that? by top quality tv broadcasting, by making the sport and the event much more understandable than it has ever been, by guaranteeing race start times, by great industry standard television camera coverage, and by great programming. let's face it, this will be a great american story. it's an american defender of one of the greatest sporting trophies there is. sailing on american waters to fend off challenges from all over the world. it will be a great american story. [applause] let me just go back to the world seri

so wisely that had chosen sentences go as the venue for the 34th america's cup. it is an incredible pleasure to work with greg thompson, the director of the america's cup event of authority, who will be here facilitating the event and making sure that it meets all of the expectations of not just larry ellison and the oracle team, but all of the teams that will be competing here. [applause] >> thank you, jennifer. on behalf of all of us at the america's cup, all my colleagues, and everyone even associated with the cup in any way, we are pleased that the new mayor lee has chosen to stand up and recognize the cut so early in his term. it is a great sign of support and confidence in what we're doing. i have to say the whole city has warmly and enthusiastically embraced as. we feel like everyone is reaching out to us to offer a hand to help us make this the bet -- the best event possible. our job is to stage this event, working very closely together with the people from the city, the board of supervisors, the port authority, all the citizens of san francisco. the cup i

announcer: so, what's the biggest issue in america today? i don't think we're probably ever doing enough for our environment. the war in iraq religious yahoos freedom of speech i get angry about it, but it's like... ya' know, in my own apartment. i probably believe in all those causes, but i'm...i'm not really doin' anything. i want to welcome you all. this is a really extraordinary opportunity to have major lee -- mayor lee see some of the facilities that will be hosting the america's cup. we wanted to take this opportunity after having initially briefed mayor lee on the america's cup and having him have the opportunity to actually kind of see first hand some of the venues and the real opportunities of what the america's cup is going to bring to san francisco. we are going to hear from the -- representatives from the entire americas cup family and those folks that were responsible for helping to bring this event here. without further ado, mayor lee. [applause] mayor lee: good morning, everyone. just walking through the peers with members of

unfortunately, i've never won the america's cup. it is a dream come true. >> it really never dawned on me that we are not bmw -- we are the american team. i get chills just talking justit. pursuing the oldest trophy in sport, and people are chanting "go usa." yes, i'm very proud of representing my country. we would like to be the team that brings superb america's cup back to america. sfgtv ♪ ♪ >> bmw oracle as we're coming down to the final 10 seconds. five, four, three, two, one. >> america's cup, the two fastest yachts in america's cup history take sailing where it has never been. we have got a race on our hands here, folks. ♪ ♪ >> bmw oracle racing is leading with two legs to go. >> five minutes to go. ♪ ♪ >> finally, america's cup they 3 has been decided on the water. february 14, 2010, and valencia spain. the america's cup is america's again. [applause] >> usa usa. ♪ ♪ [applause] >> amazing. awesome. and better than that. [applause] [applause] >> and a couple things that need to be known about that boat -- the fastest ever be in

for the first time ever of the america's cup -- it moved to europe. t sailing nation, switzerland. [laughter] i love the suisse. they are good that tennis. they are good that a lot of things. it was russell the first one the -- won the america's cup for new zealand, and then won on behalf of the swiss team. there was a pattern i began to recognize. [laughter] russell is on team new zealand and a windy america's cup. he is on swiss team and they won the america's cup. i had this idea -- [laughter] i sailed a bunch with russell and against him. i decided it was a much better idea to sail with him than against them. i think the record speaks for itself. russell could not be here today. he is ill. he has pneumonia. he apologizes for not being here. russell has been our leader and organizer of this great team to win this trophy for him for the fourth time. he will be our leader again in defending the trophy against -- [applause] i decided not to make the mistake of letting russell go to another team. that would be a really bad idea. we signed him up again.

so wisely that had chosen sentences go as the venue for the 34th america's cup. it is an incredible pleasure to work with greg thompson, the director of the america's cup

we have such great public interest in the america's cup. there's concern that we go about its the right way. supervisor mirkarimi: on that point, relative to us shortening the solicitation for contract by four or five months, in my opinion, only then that adds more challenge and pressure on the city to do everything just right environmentally. that is why i framed my earlier remarks. i don't want us to roll the dice and be wrong. this is about so much more than san francisco and an event. i traveled to sacramento last saturday to speak to the planning conservation leak in the state conference. there were hundreds there to talk about the america's cup process. they see this -- it is interesting to hear the perspective of environmental leaders and elected officials who affiliate intimately with the environmental community from california. they see this event in san francisco as a one and only kind of the event that they want to assign a brand, maybe this will be, a kind of dream event. carbon neutral, perhaps carbon negative, perhaps a zero wa

i hope all of this is taken into account with the possibility of posting the america's cup. supervisor chu: thank you. are there other members of the public who wish to comment? >> good morning. as a general rule, i don't think you should give any waivers on competitive bidding. as you know, there will be a dwindling general reserve this year. you should have all contracts out for competitive bidding. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. are there other members of the public who wish to comment? public comment is closed. thank you very much for the presentations. i am willing to support this item. i do think we need to be cognizant of when we allow for waivers to exist for competitive bidding. given the tight time lines required for the america's cup, given the fact we did have a recent competitive bid for the agency did win and there is a clear connection to the two, i am willing to be supportive of this item. supervisor mirkarimi? supervisor mirkarimi: something that was not mentioned, but i think it would be a good time to refer to it, it was when in the earlier process o

two more questions. >> the america's cup is an enormous undertaking. i know many people have tried and failed and left. what is the driving force and motivation for you to keep going and accomplish this almost impossible goal? >> there is a personal and to that, why i pursued the america's cup, and then there is the sense and responsibility i have toward the sailing community. turning this from an elitist event into a popular sporting event. i sail primarily with professional sailors. i sail on the professional circuit. i spend a lot of time with professional sailors. professional sailing is not as popular a sport as it could be, i think, because it has not done the right tv coverage, the boats we are sailing on are perhaps not as exciting to watch or sail, compared to somebody doing back flips off of a mogul. it is not an extreme sport, but we are trying to make it attractive. we want to attract young people, tv viewers. that would greatly benefit all the people who make their living selling. i have been a part of that community for a long time. i have

the payment is structured to neutralize any effects of the america's cup on our rental revenue, while reducing for the liability. since the revenue from relocated tenants and increases in percentage rents will be a reduction in the city's payment to the board. because the mou relies on charter section b73.3.20, the payment in lieu of rent is essentially a budgetary set aside once it is approved. it provides for the new contribution to the cruise ship terminal, which i mentioned briefly. the project is also planned for newport debt. as previously reported, this project with a shortfall. we are picking up with dpw and other city agencies to understand the project financing plan and the context for america's cup. the proposed mou represents one avenue to address the shortfall, and it is a good start. it also provides a contingent on being further for expenses. as previously reported, we estimate there will be costs, and it states that these costs will be reimbursed, paid by private funds to the extent such funding is available. thebes acoc has pledged to -- the acoc has pledged to raise

what are your plans along those piers once the america's cup is over? >> but i do not think i can lay out what we want to do pier by pier. a lot of them are not contributing to the city and could be more beautiful than they are now. we want to develop them in such a way that is both environmentally friendly, makes an economic contribution to the city, and where residents of the city want to go, whether it is for lunch or a walk by the waterfront, or boarding one of these wonderful books to go for a sale. we want to in view that life into the city. >> there was talk about putting a hotel on pier 50. is that something that you would consider for one of the others? >> we have focused on the sailing village, not a hotel. our big focus by 2013 is to make sure, if we have 16 teams here -- which is what we are planning for. i hope we get that many. we want to make sure we can house those teams, boats, their equipment, make sure all of that is in place so they can focus just on competitive sailing and not worry about logistics, problems with their facilities. >>

projects such as the america's cup or something else may happen that we do not know about, so we have some contingency funds in the temporary salary line. but we then want to bring in permanent people for a two-year or three-year project. that is the way we are addressing the blips in the mou's. >> one of the things that we have done this last year, in regards to the blips, we had taken the joint powers agreement for the transbay terminal and we divided it up neatly in five years -- equally by five years. there is always a delay in construction, or for instance, we build for the current year, 2.7 but we are projecting to get in 1.3. next year, we assume 2.7. so there is capacity as that revenue comes in, capacity, as you mentioned, to provide those levels of service to get things done in a timely basis. commissioner clinch: on the permit tracking system, is there anything we need to look at, given their refreshed, the dominant category will be equipped and that needs to be the end of its shelf life. >> if we were not doing the permit tracking system, we would still need to do the refr

america's cup organizing committee, was signed in december 31. it set forth a number of time lines for being able to deliver the 34th america's cup in 2013. the key date we are here to talk about today is that we are on track to deliver compliance with the california environmental quality act in 2011. the ceqa study work that we envision over the course of the next year is going to look at the impacts associated with all of the visitors who would come to san francisco to watch the events, and and all of the different locations where they will go to view the race on the bay, as well as construction activities for improving port property that are needed to be undertaken in 2012 in order to be ready for the 2013 event. it is quite a large amount of analysis. it is also a forum for public participation in the design of the event. we will talk about that a little later. the timeline to undertake a secret document like this in san francisco is 18 to 24 months. we are trying to accomplish a lot in about half the time. the proposal before you today would waive the competitive bidding requirements associated with professional services contract in t

[applause] richard worth and fred thompson of the america's cup event authority. of supervisors president david chiu. [applause] oracle racing team owner, larry ellison. [applause] we also have representatives of two of the teams that will be competing. from oracle, john. [applause] and paul. [applause] so let's start with the man who made this all possible, under his watch, america's cup and a world series, san francisco's mayor gavin newsom. [applause] >> thank you. welcome, everybody. this is a day many people did not think was going to happen. i could not been more proud of that so many of you took the time to be here to truly celebrate and reflect on an extraordinary moment in san francisco's history. this is a big deal. i will confess, though at my own peril, that i did not understand what a big deal this was when we started down this path and we walked down the steps, larry, about a year or so ago in february 2010. i've always loved sailing. as a vestige of my youth, i remember becoming more aggressively engaged in the defense of the america's cup as it was

to protect the purchase legacy's our ancestors have built here in north america over the past four centuries, we in america must return to the founders' goals for the country that of being the well-wishers of freedom and independence for all. the indicator of our own. thank you very much. [applause] >> we are going to have some questions after that speech. i would encourage you to freeze your question as a question and we will take one per person only. second row. the one behind you. we will get to you. >> i'm confused about the relationship about the saudi family and al qaeda. can you explain that a little bit more and particularly, what does the saudi family established the sales in the united states? how does that work? what is being done? >> the saudis are an offensive and pure realist purveyor of islam. they are indeed the people who want to build the caliphate worldwide. bin laden is more of a jihadists wanting to take back the land that he believed were taken from islam. the saudis and muslim brotherhood in egypt and elsewhere are both sponsoring and paying for subversive activities a

you are the spirit of america. movement going on across this country is the spirit of america. i happen to believe the spirit of america is going to show up again. not just on election day, but all the way up to election day, november 2012. it is going to show up in bigger rallies, bigger tea partiers, a bigger turnout, greater involvement to keep their feet to the fire. this movement is going to continue. that is what gives an unconventional ,never having held office candidates like me a chance. the reason is simple. it goes back to paraphrasing the last line of the gettysburg address. because if i run for president because of the spirits of america and the spirit of my forefathers and the spirit of the founders and the spirit of your our fathers, and if i run and if you elect me your president, i would be a president of the people because i am regular folk just like you. i would be a president by the people because the professionals are not going to be let me. the people are. i would be a president or the people. you would never have me try to jam legislation down your throat

i was reading in the paper about the america's cup and there was some type of presentation or whatever. i don't know if there are materials about that or maybe it is in the director's report. >> i would mention it later. but the department released the notice of preparation yesterday. so that was actually put out there was a discussion i attended with the media to answer any questions about that. but the commission might want to take a look at that because it is a good overview of the projects. >> ok. thank you. secondly apparently they are going to make the midmarket eastbound traffic permanent after the experiment. and this is not going to require any type of environmental review, if we could look into that. >> more grassroot rumors in support of the america's cup. i understand many of the local organizations and other venues in the golden gate club are stepping in so it becomes even a larger event than what is only described by the america's cup. i am glad to hear that because it is a mutual engagement because we have a much richer discussion on how to improve it. >> in this last we

is the push for democracy in the region is coupled with the america's arms dealing in the region and in fact it's america's arms dealing welfare recipients in the region who are i guess. pushing for something called democracy but as long as they get this welfare association with it meanwhile the people on the ground had enough and they revolted so what's going to go what's going to happen now going forward now that there's been this populist revolution in egypt for example to me it's going to cut into this pentagon welfare scheme i think it's going to be an open question what happens with the arms deals and the military aid certainly if democracy takes root there are other needs in these countries supporting agriculture education one of the roots of the. uprising had to do with the fact that people can get decent jobs even fairly well educated people so in an ideal world some of that would be reinvested in civilian activities but the military in egypt is still controlling the transition they've got longstanding ties to the united states military in the

the diversity of islam in america. we know in the media when people talk of islam in america, they talk about it as a monolith. very often by a masked the muslims to this and that and it's not muslim and when they look at media assume that we are all alike. we may look like what we are not. this is a global community and muslims in america literally from all of the corners of the globe, muslims from morocco, bangladesh, india, pakistan, egypt, all over the globe let's keep this in mind. these communities have brought their rich cultures to america. the troy the american feast, the tradition here is always immigrants from ireland, the jewish community's coming from east europe and so on bringing the rich culture to america. this is what they have done it number three, islam remains a very fast growing religion in the united states of america. paradoxically after 9/11 the koran sales rocketed. americans are curious people and want to know what is this religion so much in the news which is controversial? one of the interes

the america's cup and all of the exciting revitalization happening. i know that she is a consensus builder, she does not choke on ideology but she is a leader with a backbone who will work with so many diverse communities. i have seen it in my experience in the sheriff's department and as a resident of district 6. personally and professionally, i see no other person as quick as her and i urge you to have her on this board for everyone's sake. there will be many communities benefited by her leadership. thank you. >> thank you. my name is reverend townshend. i am here representing the san francisco naacp. dr. brown is out of the state right now. i am kind of glad because i get to come to this. there are some people that you come to testify for that you are glad to do and then there are those that you are excited to do. former supervisor katz is one of those. i have known more for a while -- i have known her for a while. we served on the democratic committee. i quit to list my own life. i was are twisted to continue as the alternate to dr. brown. you hav

. >>> if you want visual proof that the america's cup is coming to san francisco -- the america's cup is coming to san francisco, we'll tell you where you can see it. >>> nice and sunny right now. but that will change. we'll have the forecast in a minute. >>> also -- >> and the oscar goes to -- >> stars shined bright on hollywood's biggest night. ahead, hear more about the film that was treated like royalty. >>> the chp is clearing the scene in sonoma county between a big rig and a car. it happened around 9:45 on highway 16 near adobe road east of petaluma. the road was shut down for an hour and will be shut down shortly to tow the big rig. there were no fatalities, but at least one person was trapped in a burning car and needed to be cut free. officers say the driver of the car made an unsafe turn and hit the big rig. >>> sheriff deputies in san mateo county have a warning for people living in woodside. watch out for conmen posing as utility workers. investigators say two people are making the rounds, claiming they are checking out the damage from the recent storms. one person distra