came to the supervisor or mayor and said focus on our streets. now we have a deliberative plan and we are codifying this vision. it started in 2005, but then it started to take shape formally in 2007 when we asked the m.t.a., d.p.w., department of health, department of environment, public utilities commission and other departments to come together in a way they never had and say what are you planning to do? what are you thinking of doing? what are you asking for in terms of federal and state appropriations? what are we looking for in terms of general fund support? and put it on paper and we said here is the priority, here is the cost, let's do big projects. not the just little projects no one ever notices and let's reimagine our streets and connect the arts community to what we are trying to do. let's get the bicycle community, the pedestrian advocates and senior advocates together to be part of this vision and get the merchants to be part of this. so, here is a testament to all of that collective wisdom and hard work that has been advanced the last number of years. $6.1 million as ed said has been invested into this effort. brand-new trees, brand-new lighting. new artistic components that connect our past with the present and future. we have new trash receptacles. trust me, it is a big deal. we have the disability community part of this with more curb cuts. we looked at the sidewalks and said let's extend them. let's widen them. you will remember not long ago and a reminder of it you had this awkward wide street with narrow sidewalks and you had this weird median strip that really wasn't a median strip. it was just a mark with yellow lines and wouldn't necessarily marked with raised concrete which is in and of itself not so wonderful but it was awkward. now you have the ability for a merchant like there to say with the microclimate that is the mission where it is always 55 degrees even when it 20 in the marina, we can bring tables and chairs out because we have a wider sidewalk and folks in the mayor's office said we will be happy to support that because there is plenty of room for seniors to walk by and we can add more bike racks to encourage people to get on the road with alternative transportation. to allow somebody to walk through a street and see a butterfly because there are beautiful trees and there is something else happening in terms of urban environment. we put all of that in this plan, which finally got down called the better streets plan and this will anchor the future of this effort for decades and decades to come. s caesar chavez is. leyland avenue is next and though the next mayor will take the credit 19th avenue is next and that is long overview. this is what this represents. we told these ideas from all across the country. portland was doing some of this. but we don't like being second place to portland. so, eat your heart out, portland. we took a little bit from bloomberg in new york and that was the idea of payment to park land but we don't like to be second place, we are now doing more on that and we took the ideas from chicago. and i will say if there is any father or mother of these ideas it is mayor daley in chicago who is on these things years and years ago. i went out there when i first became mayor, got so jealous going down michigan avenue i said we have to do something so we stole their greening director and brought her out here and tasked here with putting these plans together and i want to specifically acknowledge astrid and her hard work and collaborative effort with all of you as well. i'm excited about this. i'm proud of this. this is a special day for me. thank you for all the hard works. this crease jobs, increases -- this creates jobs, increases values of property and increases the likelihood that people will come down and stay longer. it creates a sense of identity and place so we can marked our neighborhoods so it doesn't look like anyplace, u.s.a. so everything has its own unique character. that is why we are celebrating and why i'm honored that all of you took the time to be here and work so hard to get us here. i have nothing more to say, thank good from your perspective, except again to say thank you and particularly to the planning department for all of their work and to c.p.w. for their stewardship of this process and just get ready, caesar chavez is going to be exciting and leyland and you are going to see on 19th a similar effort very soon. thank you very much for coming out. [applause] >> thank you, mr. mayor. speaking of businesses like this, being in the midst of a construction project for many months can be challenging for small businesses, and i think all of the businesses up and down this stretch of valencia can attest to the fact that it was challenging and we worked hard to make it as smooth and quick as possible so they could be the beneficiaries with the rest of the neighborhood. i want to again acknowledge mike gillotti the contractor who built all of this. they did a great job. given the conditions we had they got done faster than we thought they would. i pt want to acknowledge our buu of construction management and public affairs, alex mario who worked hand in hand with the folks up and down here to make this as smooth as possible. so, you are not just hearing from us, interto ask our host here today -- i tonight ask our host here today and i can attest to the fact they make great margaritas. she will talk more about this project today.he fact they make margaritas. she will talk more about this project today.o the fact they m margaritas. she will talk more about this project today. >> hi, everyone. i'm not a regular public speaker i spend most of my team working so i have my notes. i represent my family here and i'm also part owner with other family members. i have been invited to speak for the merchants at the corridor. we have been here over 40 years. we are celebrating our 40th year this year, so, stay tuned, october some time. in those 40 you years we have s lots of changes. but this one was one long awaited change and we are all excited and pleased to have valencia street scape come here and beautify our corridor with these beautiful trees and the lighting and the posts and just the safer bike lanes. so we are all pleased and excited about all of this. we have many shops. we have furniture stores. we have book stores. we have clothing stores. we have these great restaurants, one of them you are right in front of right here. valencia street has been a little secret and unless you have been here and heard from other people you wouldn't know that it existed. despite this, it has lots of people around it. i will put this here so i two shake so much. there are lot of people here.wo shake so much. there are lot of people here.o shake so much. there are lot of people her shae so much. there are lot of people here.d shake so much. there are lot of people here.o shake so much. there are lot of people here.n shake so much. there are lot of people her' shake so much. there are lot of people here.t shake so much. there are lot of people here. we have seen people from all over the world, the wider bay area and our neighborhoods. actually, with everything that we have here, i think that what we will be able to do is be more inviting neighborhood. i think mostly we have been having their businesses inside. but now with the expansion of the streets and lighting and everything else i think we will be able to create more of a community and be able to expand outside and bring our community not only to our businesses but to our neighbors and to our homes. some of us live here. we are excited about these changes and feel that everyone, merchants, customers, neighbors and people who live in the area will greatly benefit. it is my pleasure to be one of the many ministeerchants and i' excited about the new transition we are getting to see. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you very much. happy merchants is definitely one of the things we hope to get out of this project. in addition to happy pedestrians, cyclists and shall else who uses this part of our city. else who uses this part of our city. else who uses this part of our city. else who uses this part of our cit else who uses this part of our cit who uses this part of our city.e who uses this part of our city. else who uses this part of our cite else who uses this part of our citr else who uses this part of our city.y else who uses this part of our city. everybo else who uses this part of our citd else who uses this t of our city else who uses this part of our city. it takes a lot of the city working together and it has been a hallmark of the mayor's administration to compel the parts who appear to have different interests to work together to achieve things like this project. i want to acknowledge some of those folks. one of our biggest partners was the san francisco municipal transportation agency. the manager of the streets. thanks dan. anita watson. we heard kudos for the planning department. we are joined by john ram and david for their work. the mayor's office of disability. susan misner is here with us. our director of cultural affairs and there is a significant public art component of this. luis cancell is here. some of the funding was made possible through the county transportation authority and i want to thank jose luis most co-very much and their directaz. >> a few different organizations, spur, the bicycle coalition and people for public spaces come together and formed the great streets project. and they did what the mayor did and imported talent from chicago and led that. i want to bring up the leader of the great streets program now. >> thank you. what a beautiful day. the great streets projects facilitates this and we this is a great place. the street is a wonderful wide place to be. you want to bring your friends and family repeatedly. congratulations to the many agencies who have participated in making this possible. many community members and businesses participated along the way and it couldn't have happened without everyone rolling up their she was and coming together to make this possible. congratulations to everyone. i also want to point out this is a harbinger of things to come. it is a wonderful step forward for san francisco, the culmination of tremendous hard work by many people in the agencies and in the communities. i want to particularly acknowledge adam for his leadership on this. i want to acknowledge the m.t.a., p.t.w. m.o.d. and c.t.a. apnd departmet of public health. a lot of acronyms but they stand for a lot of great people in the city working together to make this possible and are working with community members and folk to bring together ideas that will make better streets possible throughout the city. congratulations to everyone and i look forward to enjoying valencia street and many other corridors around the city for many years to come. [applause] >> thanks to all much the organizations working with the city to make san francisco a better place. a few more acknowledgments. i did mention the deputy general manager is here for a significant part of the process and more significant part when we get to caesar chavez. we had a support from the better streets, league of conservation voters, state department of transportation, cal tran and many others and the merchants around here were wonderful to work with. i also want to acknowledge i mentioned our director of cultural affairs is here and we have a lot of art here. the artists on this project and i pt want to acknowledge michae with that project. modestly hiding behind his art. i want to finally bring up one of our partners in this process and it was not just a partner in name but a partner sitting at the table, not just as we designed but as we did the construction to make sure safe passage for what is one of the fastest growing modes of transportation in san francisco. i would like to bring up the acting executive director of bicycle coalition. renee rivera. >> thank you, ed. it is a wonderful day to be here at the san francisco bicycle coalition we are so excited about these wonderful changes to valencia street. we have been around san francisco for quite a few years now and have been working on making valencia street a better place for biking and for everybody for many years. in fact, i was thinking back to 1999 when we first saw the bike lanes that have just been improved put in on valencia street and what an incredible day that was for this street and bicycling in the city. one thing we saw after the lanes were put in is first of all a huge number of people coming out and biking on valencia street making it one of our most popular bike corridors in the city. but we have seen the neighborhood blossom and thrive and seen the businesses thrive. that is one thing that makes us so excited about today and the changes that have just been put in. because we know from our experience in the past how much these improvements and how much making better space for bikes, better space for pedestrians, making sure space for everyone of all ages and abilitys to use and enjoy the street. we know how much that makes the neighborhoods thrive and city thrive. and it is wonderful to see a business owner out here talking about how businesses are and when we look at the businesses on this block how many were not here in 1999. what a commercial corridor this has become because of the changes the city has put in. we appreciate the vision from the city, from the mayor's office, m.t.a., all the agencies that have come together with the vision to make fran -- make san francisco a better place for everybody. improving the streets where we live and enjoy every day. i also wanted to specifically thank ed and other folks from d.p.w. for making this construction process as little suffering is possible. construction is always difficult but they were incredibly responsive through the process and we have been a partner through the whole construction and that has made it as easy as it could possibly be. i want to also thank the contractor on this project for also being an incredible partner as we've gone through this construction phase. thank all for being here and we look forward to the better streets rolling out across the city and making many more of our streets and corridors to the city a wonderful place to bike, walk, take transit and enjoy. thank you. >> thank you, renee. a few final acknowledgments, the small project goes through different supervisor districts. i want to thank supervisors daly, tkufrt and campos. and the director and member of liveable cities. thanks for being a great advocate for these improvements. i want to acknowledge the deputy director for public works who oversaw the construction and deputy director for operations who now will be responsible for maintaining this beautiful landscape. if he doesn't do so the mayor will remind him. finally, i want to acknowledge the guy who led the team that designed this whole project, an outstanding project. a lot of effort went in to getting community consensus, to working out the technical details and coming out with a beautiful project. landscape architect john dennis. the designers. then last but most the project manager for valencia street and the great streets program within d.p.w. or project manager, chris. phenomenal job on this project. with that, we want to thank you for coming today to celebrate valencia street and the better streets plan. we would be happy to take questions if anybody has them for the mayor or anybody else. >> or we could do the ribbon cutting. >> on to the ribbon cutting. >> we will go five, four, three, two, one. five, four, three, two, one. [cheers and applause] >> walk your streets. there you go. i'm robert chief and i'm the park's supervisor in the parks in the sunset district. i've been working here for 3 years. we are 60-70 street below street level. the 64 acre park. the park is divided into 2 sections we are in the stern area. when you get over to pine lake meadow and pine lake, pine lake is considered a natural area. in 1847, the green family came out here, back then this was kind of an empty canyon and sand dun area. they claimed this property. in 1892. george green who's a second generation built the truckdaro club house. there was a hotel then. it was said this was the place to go if you were weary of the dirty city and the police. there were a couple of gun fights the front door has bullet holes. i don't ever repair them. 1931 stig mond bought the property from the green family. she donated it to the city of san francisco and had a specification, i'm giving it to the city that will be used forever for the enjoyment forever of the people of the city of san francisco. it has ever since. every summer the stern grove association in san francisco rec and parks put on 10 free concerts. usually people come out at 10 in the morning it's a family affair. everybody is on the lawn with picnics and it's free. anybody can come out. it's a great way to spend a sunday. >> goes to 1-2 in the afternoon and runs until 5. [music]. thanks to the stern grove association they renovated the concert meadow. it used to be a rolling grafsy area. put in a new stage and stage building. they put in terraces. we get from 8,000 to 12,000 people. and the meadow next to the concert meadow is full of people even though they can't see the music they hear it. i walked into the meadow several times and they don't even care. we do have literally events going on day and night. the concert association has kids days during the week. the performers come out for hundred 200 kids. now, the truckadero truck house gets rented out for weddings and retirement. the croquet clubs and horse shoes. 2 play grounds, tennis courts. we have from 25 to a hundred dogs here. it's like bisons going across the mid west. there are so many dogs they are covering the ground cht it's a get together. all the dog walkers know each other. if you go to pine lake day camp now, you will see 50 kids there. the r directors are wonder. >> the pine lake is natural. they take of the area around the lake. they plant natives that are drought tolerant. one that stands the dry summers here. the whole park is under going quite a bit of reconstruction. they will renovate the trails around the lake. and the big project is the capital project for pine lake meadow. they are going to returf the dog run and the meadow by the day camp. we are looking for a very busy fall. by the spring of next year should have major renovations to the mark thal make it an outstanding park. i don't ever refer to it as my park. all the parks belong to all the people. this park belongs just as much to the families in the bay view sdrishth as it does to the gentlemen that lives across the street. i'm happy and proud to be the caretaker for them. i wake up every day and thank that i havee