i want to congratulation all the parties, the city, skidmore, owens, and yerrell, to make sure to get it done on time and a building that all san franciscans can be proud of. we look forward to gathering here in just ten months from now to celebrate the dedication of the finest building and the finest convention center in the united states. ladies and gentlemen, welcome. it's a great day to celebrate. thank you very much for being here. [applause]. >> so before i bring up public works, i want to just thank some of the department heads who are here today. tom huey, the director of building inspection. thank you for helping us with the permits. john nogucci, our director of convention facilities. in addition i can-- nadia ducer director of ocii. i have to thank brook novotnez and edgar hernandez, they're construction managers working day-to-day, managing all the contracts, managing all the finances, managing sf travel, making sure -- and working with the hotel industry to make sure that we deliver this -- this beautiful building, and so with that, their fearless leader, mohamed nuru, i'

to our architects, skidmore, owens and yerrell, and really, i would like to thank -- and i want a hugeound of applause for the men and women that come here to work every single day, those that are behind us here with our hard hats and our vests, thank you. thank you for what you do. [applause]. >> the hon. mark farrell: i know that has been years in the making. as we said earlier, this has been a baby of people for many, many years, and thank you for your work on behalf of the entire city. lastly, as your 44th mayor, i do want to pay homage to mayor lee, who was a huge supporter of this from the beginning, and was a huge supporter until his untimely death last year. to mayor lee, to all of you who made this happen, and to the future of san francisco, congratulations, everyone. [applause]. >> thank you, mayor farrell. speaking of mayor ed lee, it made me bring back memories of moscone west when he was the director of dpw, and here we are in this project, and he kick started the moscone expansion, and it's just thank you for the tribute to mayor lee. up next, we have jodella sanders, who