Transcripts For SFGTV LIVE TA Full Board 20161213

Good morning, everyone. This is the tuesday, december, 13, 2016 meeting of the San Francisco county Transportation Authority. My name is eric mar im the acting chair of the Transportation Authority. Our clerk is mr. Steve stamos, could you please do the roll call . Item one, avalos . Here. Present. Breed. Present. Campos. Present. Cohen npresent. Ferrill, absent. Kim . Absent. Mar . Present. Peskin . Present. Tang absent. Commissioner yee. Present. We have quorum. Item two, chair report, as our director will be recounting the accomplishments of the year and we will hold our chair elections in a moment, i am going to make my remarks extremely brief. With the adoption of plan bay area preferred scenario by the mtc and abag we are well posed to advocate for the priority projects in the bridge toll talks, which commence this week at the mtc. That is the met political Transportation Commission. Thank you, so much, commissioner david campos for representing us in those discussions tomorrow and we look forward to see the culmination through 2017, 18, when the voters will have the opportunity to approve much needed funds for transportation, i am hopeful that our local communities will also come together next year to develop a companion local transportation funding measure that can integrate closely with the regional measure in 2018. To fund our local contributions to Bart Caltrain and high speed rail, as well as to fund critical local investments in infrastructure repair and main nens, and safety, and paving and transit and neighborhood, Traffic Management city wide. Before we turn these efforts over to the 2017, Transportation Authority board, however, we have one more piece of business to finish in the 2016 term. Thank you colleagues for being so flexible in scheduling our special meeting on january fifth to consider environmental and planning approvals for the geary corridor. Bus Rapid Transit project. This prop k, signature project has been ten years in the making. And it has been coordinated with the van ness project which has just gone into construction, i am really glad that these milestones to be over seen by this Transportation Authority body, which has reviewed and supported this comprehensive out reach and Technical Work on both projects as envisioned in our county wide, Transportation Plan, van ness and geary brt will fill the major gaps in our citys Regional Transit network, both projects upgrade, several miles of vision zero high injury networks, and are anticipated to leverage the significant, state and federal funds, in closing i would like to thank each of the commissioners for your camaraderie, leadership and collaboration on this body during 2016. And indeed over the past 8 years. It has been a pleasure serving with all of you. On the three committees especially our plans and programs committee, the finance committee and our Vision Zero Committee as well as in our capacity as a Treasure Island, mobility, Management Agency or tima, together we all planned funded and delivered critical transportation improvements in every neighborhood and across the region, my thanks, also go out to our hard working Citizens Advisory Committee or cac, led by the chair chris, and for reviewing every item that comes before us, and for providing us and our staff with valuable input and ideas. And of course, i would like to thank the amazing staff for the Transportation Authority im sure that we will all Work Together and cross paths again as i return to civilian life working alongside all of you to improve equitable access and Sustainable Transportation options for all. Thanks again for all of you, and with that icon include my acting chair remarks. Mr. Stamos call the next item. Public comment on item two . Mr. War field. Thank you, im the executive director of the Library Users speaking individually, although the Library Users all over the city use all of the public transit. The wonderfulness of the van ness and geary gus bus Rapid Transit has been mentioned by the acting director. And i wanted to make a few comments on those. I first got seriously interested in what mta was doing when it turned out that their socalled, 7th and 8th street, safety project was intending to bypass the library, the theater and the Asian Art Museum stops. But in doing further research on that, it seemed to me that the mta was particularly lacking in hard evidence in their studies of what kinds of accidents and Safety Record they had on the existing routes. And most particularly with regard to what the potential problems would be from having people walk extra distances and cross extra streets to deal with reduced bus stops and reroutings as well as the question of converting curb bus stops to island stops. And i think that is something that i am not familiar with this on these two projects but i imagine that if the research was as poor and as limited as it was in the one that i looked at, it wasnt good at all. And im very concerned in general with curb bus stops changing into island bus stops. And with the removal of bus stops which really hurts people who with mobility problems. I hope also that vision zero latests report showing no improvement makes an impression on you. Thanks. Thank you mr. War field. Is there any other Public Comment . If anybody that would like to speak could just come forward. Hello, commissioners i sent you a letter late yesterday, and i have copied to distribute in case you havent seen it. Im not really prepared to talk but have to add to mr. War fields comments that both van ness brt and geary brt really need a lot more attention. Removal of bus stops has not improved my ability to get around. Going ahead and going this on faith, which is what these projects really have been based on and not the study is a great disservice to the city. And since geary has not ad vansz r vanced to delay the approval on the ier and to have them wait on that and give the public more time to read that report. 17 days during the Holiday Season not sufficient. Van ness tree cutting will begin tomorrow, and the trees will come down and the lanes will be shut off. And disables and elderly will be inconvenienced to say the least. Year i urge you to look at the effect of these projects which individually may sound great, but arent terrific. They are really injury yus to us and beyond. I guess i will stop there. But i think you need a better way to evaluate these projects before they go into Ground Breaking. Thank you. Thank you. Any other speakers please come forward, we are going to close Public Comment. My make is robert and i am a director of san franciscans for sensible transit and we have written you a letter about the need to extend the period of time during which the review is made of the final eir on geary. My letter focus on you need to read more than 1,000 pages of the final eir to demonstrate that you have made an individual judgment. And are not acting based upon what you have simply been told by the Transportation Authority. Executives and planners. And frankly nobody is going to believe that you are going to interrupt your holiday to read the 1,000 pages of the final ier. Instead the voters in the richmond will see that even though they voted 80 percent in favor of the two leading candidates that had doubts about the recommended hybrid alternative, you agreed to hurry up this hearing at january 5th. Furer is going to be sworn in five days later but will be excluded from questioning a recommendation which she agreed with. The Transportation Agency lack of process to challenge ideas of planners and consultants. You should be aware of that. Executives have their plates full, and they cant inquire fully. Our group did and we found serious flaws you should hear about those during that 60 day period. I suggest that mr mrmr. Cordob a and i have the lecturm during that time, for the only fair way to proceed and the assurance that you can give that you have had an opportunity to individual judgment and we ask fon additional 60 days from the date of the publication, on december 9th. Thank you. Thank you. Is there any other Public Comment . Hi, my name is glen urban and i am a Small Business owner on geary boulevard, and i question to why there is a rush to have a meeting on january 5th regarding the eir, when the eis is still be reviewed by the fta and why the rush for certatiificate identification. Thank you. If you like to speak, please come line up. And we are going to close after this speaker. Good morning, everybody my name is david and i am a resident of the Outer Richmond district and i have two thoughts to offer you today. First of all we had a very large building project downtown that everybody thought the Due Diligence was done, and it has had the people taken a little bit of extra time, we might not be in the predicament that we are with the building leaning and the city in all kinds of additional trouble. I kind of feel the same way with the geary brt transit project, that its like my grandfathers old suit that needs to be updated. The concept of grandpas suit was great five years ago, but the lapels need a little bit of adjusting and the last time that grandpa wore it out he got the feedback from the people in the neighborhood that the pants didnt really fit. Well, now he is at the taylor again and ready to recraft the product a little bit and now the people are telling the tailor to rush the project. I think that if we take the time and study it closure and tune it up, then we can do the justice at that ten years that the project has been on the drawing board and get a useable product for the neighborhood and at the same time, avoid pitfalls where four or five years down the road, we are coming back and not saying good things about this project and having to dig in and spend more money and spend more tax for energy and resources, thank you. Thank you, mr. Hertz. , any other Public Comment . My name is cory and i am a Small Business owner at the shell gas station at the corner of cook, and i think that the board of supervisors should come out and take a look at geary boulevard, west, and see the fact that traffic flows freely, except for maybe an hour, in bound and an hour outbound. The buses speed up and down that corridor, all day, every day, west and spending money, on a bus Rapid Transit is a waist of tax payer money and that is the fact, thank you. Thank you, i see no other Public Comment, Public Comment is closed. I will just respond by saying that the Significant Community out reach done and Many Community meetings with many of you in the audience as well a lot of the staff work to produce the final eir i think has been years in the make and there has been endless delays as well. And there is no rush going on, but this is an important process that we are moving forward, thank you for the Public Comment. Mr. Stamos call the next item. 3, the executive Directors Office this is an information item. And we have tang, the executive director. My report is on your desk and i will begin by reporting at the federal level that the president elect has announced chow has his intended nominee for secretary of transportation, as you may know, chow served as as the secretary under the president , george hw bush, and labor secretary under george w bush, and so she has the experience running federal agencies, certainly, that experience will be serve her well. We are also mindful of some of her track record in adjudicating some of those responsibilities so we will stay ever vigilant on her proposals and leadership with respect to transportation. We are encouraged that she and the president elect have indicated an interest in promoting Infrastructure Spending and investment and they acknowledge the difficulty of finding additional funding detailed the potential tax breaks and the other types of public, private partnership and private investment as one potential way to finance, the infrastructure and as we know, that is not a substitute for funding and so the details at this point, remain scant and we will stay, of course, on top of this through the coming year as the trags takes shape, and i will note that the Senate Majority leader has expressed skepticism, particularly as one of the 100 day initiatives and it sounds like he also, remains very interested in hearing what the administration is proposing as far as Funding Sources. In the meantime, at the stalevee remain encouraged that the new senate bills, won in the assembly and the senate side is the number of the bill is number one, by the chair phrafraiser a bell, and these two bells were introduced already. And as you will recall from last month, my report the governor and the legislature failed to pass a transportation state funding bill. And in the 2016 session. But we do already see the introduction of these two bills in the early part of the 2017 session. And so, they are about a 6 billion dollar, level of investment and they are very similar, as in addition to the additional 700 million dollar, one time Funding Source from repaid truck wait fee loans, and so we are hopeful, that this time, that we will find a path forward, and for infrastructure and there is a fiscal cliff at the state level where the previous funding programs have reached their end and in fact we delivered one of the Major Projects funded by the state program. And so that whole program is at the end, and the state of california, really needs to come together to figure out how we are going to maintain our existing system as well as repair and enhance the over all transportation system. Currently, the Funding Sources in both proposals on the state and senate side, include, revenue frz the gas tax, and the diesel fuel, and taxes and the higher vehicle, registration fees and opening up some of the unallocated tap and trade funds. So please stay tuned, we also are tracking some legislation where there is a potential constitutional amendment being proposed to allow the jurisdictions to approve the sale taxes with a lower, voter flesh hold at 55 percent, this is not a new initiative and it comes up every so often and so we will see if that actually moves ahead as well. So we will track both of those while also, of course, working as the chair mentioned our own potential local, path forward with new revenues at the local level and the regional level. That recently approved, the dedication transportation taxes merced, santa cruz. And i think that there is monterrey, thank you, and congratulations to those counties and we will be hosting this conference in San Francisco francisco. Eligible, street repair, and Pedestrian Safety and transit rely ability and transit improvements and we are reaching out through the offices and we welcome your thoughts and ideas as well as we are happy to follow up on any out reach to get the word out about the january 17th, deadline for this funding opportunity. And we will present recommendations to the board for approval in march. Turning to Pedestrian Safety, and vision zero, i just wanted to congratulate fmta to complete the two year effort to use the sales tax and funds to install, the quick and effective improvements along the corridor throughout the city. These were identified through the walk First Investment strategy and multi agency, and programs that was identified two years ago. And using performance based and data driven analysis to prioritize Infrastructure Investments and other Counter Measures to improve safety. The Vision Zero Task force as a reminder will be meeting at this chamber on thursday, december 15th in just a couple of days at 2 p. M. From 2 00 to 3 30, and the topics that we will be presented include the two year, Action Strategy up date for 2017 and 18. And as well as an up date on the 57, vision zero projects that we are tracking together with the various agencies sfmta and public works and others, as well as the status up date on the ch geary brt. Org for details. And in terms of management and administration issues, we would just want to mention that our request for proposals for general Engineering Consultant services was well received. We held a preproposal conference on november 9th and we had 94 attendty and by the end of the deadline, we received, 43 responses and the statements of qualifications and this will allow us to turn to a broader bench of expertise as we do our work and advise the board on a range of technical issues from engineering to project delivery, so the evaluation panel, of course is comprised of our staff, and the sfmta staff as well and we will bring in an award recommendation to the finance committee in january, so in closing, please let me say thank you and warm holiday greetings to all of the commissioners and your staff. Thank you for all of your work in 2016. It was a banner year, i am going to save the list of accomplishments for the next item. But i really want to appreciate on behalf of all of our staff, your guidance and leadership and support as we continue to work hard for the city and improving our transportation system. Thank you very much, and with that i am happy to answer any questions. Thank you. I see no questions lets open it up for Public Comment. Anyone from the public that would like to speak . I want to point out to you that the schedule that was set for the geary eir said that the federal eis had to be finished before the eir could be considered. Now what we see is that still remains open. You, as the commissioners, really need to inquire what is it about the federal problem that slows us down . We have had the er held up, the eir held up, because of the eis. And unless you inquire about that, you wont know. And if you are simply going to have a meeting on january 5th, and you wont know then, you will not have been able to prove your independent judgment. And independent judgment is critical in this, it is a requirement of sequa, it is not something that we invented that letter that i sent to every member, sets out what the standard is, it is easy to dismiss if you want and say that this has gone on for a long time, but that is not enough, there are flaws to this, which you ought to inquire about, and that is why i made the offer i did. To have a conversation right here about it. I think that you should be concerned about that. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker . If people could come line up to the right of the podium, that would really help. Mr. Warfield. Thank you mr. Chair. Im peter warfield, the executive director of the Library Users association. First of all thank you for commenting about the Public Comment mentioning significant public out reach and no rush to judgment as it were. My experience of the mta is public out reach in general, has been that it has been a business mr. Warfield, we are the San Francisco county, not the mta here. But you can still comment on that. Sure, i am referring to the report of the executive director. So, the Pedestrian Safety was mentioned and vision zero was mentioned. And at one of the Citizens Advisory Committee meetings it turned out that one of the members had a recent report from vision zero which i have yet to see. In which he said basically it was failing. That there was no reduction in pedestrian injuries year over year for the most recent, i believe, the most recent report. And that to some degree does not surprise me, now, i certainly think that if you are talking about vision zero lets get to the specific and see about them and hear about them. With respect to the Pedestrian Safety, once again, the funding of projects that convert, curb side bus zones, bus loading, bus stops to islands is to my mind just a shocking dof safety, as is removing stops and requiring a lot of extra walking. The socalled, 7th and 8th street, safety project, for example, didnt do any study of the additional streets being crossed by folks going from the dropped stops to the replacement stops. And my calculation was based on their own loading figures, 400 plus thousand extra crossings per year no calculation about the safety. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker . Diana scott, just to add a detail about vision zero, which a friend conveyed in a letter that i think that you have received, according to sfgov. Org score cards, traffic fatalities, the recent city statistics indicate a record 38 traffic fatalities for the fiscal year, ending in 2016, compared to 28 in 2015, and 34 in 2014. So, the question really still has to be asked, whether this program and everything it entails, all of the construction, is reducing injuries by reducing vehicles flow speeds, does that make people really want to drive faster . You know . When you are in a slow line of cars and you got to make that next light . Is it reasonable, dont we need to increase speed of many flows to achieve the goals that this county and city are trying to achieve, and prevent avoidable deaths, thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Im wondering if staff want to respond to any of the Public Comment before we move to the next item . Through the chair, yes, thank you. Chair mar, regarding the splitting of the federal document with the state document for the geary environmental review. There is something that we intended to bring Forward Together and planning to do so, preparing a joint document, throughout the summer, we had a bit of a conflicting direction from the partners suggesting that we up date the document in one way. And to up date to respond to Public Comments, as you know, there are three areas in which the project was modified in order to respond to Public Comment that we heard during the draft. This was related to vision zero and safety improvements, related to keeping the webster bridge up and one other area and it is escaping me, however, these three changes to the project, which respond to Community Requests and input, caused some additional need for documentation and review by the federal agency. They also would like a little bit more time and discussion with the shipo state, historic pre preservation, and they dont expect any issues and we have already, discussed some of those analysis areas. So as a matter of practicality, they felt like there was no reason why this board should not go ahead and take our local action as has always been the case, previously, and then the federal government could take its action and they have no objection and they have indicated as much to ourselves and sfmta and our attorneys have reviewed this process that allows this board to take that local action as has been done in the past before the feds take their approval action, and in doing so, the idea is that we are ready at the local level and it is really just been for administrative reasons that we have been continuing to be delayed and wait again, to meet the federal partners, wishes in terms of how we document the content, nothing in the content is going to change between the two documents, and we feel like this board is very well qualified and ready to take the local action. So, thank you. So, i see no comments from commissioners, so lets end the Public Comment. Or we already did, and colleagues, if you have no objections i would like to move item 13 out of order, to consider right now, which is the special recognition of the Outgoing Commissioners. Lets me call back up the executive director. Thank you, chair mar and this is adjust a quick item and it is quite hard for us. Sxh i just wanted to take this opportunity and particular to thank our commissioners campos, avalos and mar who will be retiring for the service and the leadership to this body, starting with campos, you served as chair of the authority for two terms in 2010, and 2011. You were our plans and programs chair, you served and led us on the metropolitan Transportation Commission and our regional body and you also served at the gold engate, on behalf of San Francisco and these and many, many areas in your regular duties as a supervisor you have been a leader on transportation for San Francisco, and during your tenure, we amoved the van ness, brt project, similar to the stage that we are out for geary and you see the fruits of that labor, happening outside, on van ness, avenue and we signed and we received our full Funding Grant agreement for central subway during your tenure, and you were able to over see so many of these local and regional projects and city wide projects in those two years and including the planned areas and sustain able strategies at the region and each of these efforts involved a complex set of transportation policy, but also, Affordable Housing and sustainability, and equitable policies as well and you were a fierce leader in the region for each of these areas and we are grateful to you for that. And during this time, in particular, the equity agenda, it came to the floor, through the discussion of the free, muni for youth, program which you championed and you were able to secure, the regional funding from the mtc in order to compliment our local, funding at the mta and you can see those benefits being utilized by about 50,000 or more youth, and even more seniors and disabled throughout the city. And you always encouraged us and in fact, demanded that we do thorough out reach, public engagement, and to all members of the community, and the cultural competent way. And multi lingual access and strong out reach, on the ground out reach, to communities. And you insured that we had strong oversight throughout our operations. And in terms of our own actions and agencies as well as those that we were funding, you insisted on the highest levels of integrity and transparency and accountability and so thank you very much for all of that leadership and locally in your district, we can already see the benefits of your leadership as well. And we have got the folsom and barlet, and mission, and san jose, and the offramp has been dieted for example, alamena and certainly, shared accomplishments across the districts but through your leadership and all of these traffic have been calmed and they have been made more news, and walking and transit and the emphasis on home zones and school zones and the list does go on. So for all of those accomplishments and contributions we thank you. We thank you very much. And wish you the best. Commissioner avalos you served this body in multiple ways. And you served as chair, and of course that stands out for me as that was the leadership year for and you are cheering the organization and the Decision Making through that process, and im very grateful for your confidence and your willingness to support and the body and this agency, and helping us to maintain the stability to be effective through that period. And it is a pleasure and an honor and i will be grateful for that. And you have over seen the culmination of the county wide, transportation, called the San Francisco Transportation Plan which was adopted at the end of that year, and at the end of 2013, in particular, you pushed us to do an Equity Analysis, and Equity Analysis that was deeper and more thorough than we had done in the past and this allowed us to examine the performance from all angles from the lens and making sure that the communities were not being impacted disproportionately, and benefiting in proportion to the noncommunities of concern. And that led, of course, to a few findings, we found that Traffic Safety and Pedestrian Safety had an income disparity, and we found that neighborhood planning and project pipelines were or had a disparity across the city and that we did not have very even planning studies and project pipelines and which, then led to the ration of the neighborhood, transportation improvement program, a popular project and a program that all of the supervisors here are able to then, provide their input in to prioritizing planning and studies as well as capitol projects in their districts. To make sure that we are getting some dedicated focused attention to every neighborhood across the city. We thank you for your work on equity, which also then will turn into the mta, and muni and the analysis, and as well as policies that are adopted at sfmta. You served as well at the air district and through the ftca funding and we were able to coordinate with you there, and you were a leader on bicycling and bike sharing. And so, that was back when we were not sure how we are going to expand bike share in the city and the region and you asked us to do a fundamental Foundation Alan sis there and now we do have the bike share throughout the region. You led on infrastructure, improvements and regional coordination at balboa, park, and the bart station which is an area of deep need, but we also saw some pretty major progress, and we saw the west side opening and we saw m east side access and the improvements and you got your, real time muni which you were absolutely, you know, not going to give up until you saw the real time muni, information and signage on those lines, and ocean avenue is getting better, gene va street scraping is hospitaling and Affordable Housing is going to go in in the upper yard, and so here you have the development and you have a comprehensive set of strategies and a community Advisory Committee that you appointed through the board of supervisors to over see this balboa, park station area. But it was not just the park, throughout the district eleven, and we saw the improvement on mission and gene va and the triangle. And we are continuing to work on. And finally, thank you for your leadership on these policy initiatives such as transportation and demand management and these are things that the people dont necessarily it is not a retail topic, but it really is the intersection of transportation and land use policy, and it is a way for us to manage our growth and to grow responsibly in a smart way thank you to you and your colleagues on the Land Use Committee for reviewing that progress. I hope that i have not missed anything, but thank you so much chair avalos. And chair mar. This now, allows me to finish strong with your thanks to you and your appreciation for your leadership. You have served as our chair of finance, and three years 11, 12, 16, as well as plans and programs for two years, you have seen every aspect of our operation, you have worked with all of our staff and we love working with all three of you and your staff. You have given us the time and your energy and your guidance and wisdom when it came to things like building city wide and regional coalition, around smart transportation, whatever the issue was, it could have been bike share and brt, where you and commissioner avalos were willing to take the time to go down and study other countries and how they did it in other communities, you have been tireless advocate, working the coalition across the nation on vision zero, and taking the best practice from here to the other places and bringing that back to this body as well. And you are able to advance our goals at the region through your leadership on abag, the association of governments and including through the planned bay area process. And for two Sustainable Community and strategies and earning really the multi modal mar in so many ways, through your very visibility and enthusiastic advocacy, and encouragement of the systems and programs, and in the district, you were able to move forward our first neighborhood transportation improvement project, the bike lanes and repaving project and we are working on 8th and 20, 15th and the 23rd, with the intersection of fulton and making it safer, we have had the unacceptable crash tlz and you have been a vocal advocate, and serving on our mission zero committee, we have seen you push forward for the solution and improvements on anza, balboa, clement and park, and senior zones, and a whole bunch of initiatives including all of really all of your free muni for youth, and equity proposals that insure that our whole Community Benefits from the transportation policies and investments thank you for your leadership on van ness and geary all the way through the end. We are really, it is an honor and a privilege to serve you all three and wish you the best in your future work. Thank you. We have a few special posters to appreciate your service and i think that eric young can bring that forward to you, and we will get a foe at the at the end of the meeting. Very good. Thank you. Colleagues, if oh, so we will take the photo after the meeting. Okay. So colleagues, if there are no comments, let me grab the framed poster. They are beautiful, thank you. Lets open it up for Public Comment. Is there anyone from the public that would like to speak . Is there anyone that would like to speak . If anyone that would like to speak, please come line up behind the podium, and we are going to close the Public Comment in a moment. Okay. Diana scott again and i just want to read a couple of paragraphs from a letter that chang has for each of the supervisors which is a printout of what i sent yesterday. Please note that while there is the board of supervisors land use and transportation committee, in San Francisco, that meets on issues like the ones that i address here, there is no urban environmental in the air Quality Committee to assess the impact on city residents, especially children, seniors, and those with disabilities. Or compromised res tory systems like myself. Of construction destruction, projects like the three that i mentioned in this letter. Which have to do. So maam we are on item 13. And the content is recognizing the outgoing, commissioners. Okay. All right, well then i will see this and i will hope that future meetings of commissioners will recognize the items that i have addressed in the letter that i hope you will each get a copy of thank you. Thank you, is there anyone else that would like to speak . Then Public Comment is closed. Thank you so much miss chang. Colleagues, lets move to item four. The process colleagues is we will open for nominations i believe they needed if to be seconded and then we will have comment and then call for a vote. And is that right . That is and we will take the Public Comment before the vote is that right . That is correct. Okay. So colleagues, its open for nominations. Director avalos followed by campos. Thank you. Colleagues im rising to nominate commissioner peskin for the chair for this next month. But i also think that he would make a great chair next year when there is a revote. But we are not determining that today. Supervisor commissioner peskin has along experience here at city hall. He was of course, the board president for a number of years, i think that it was like four years, between, 2005, and 2008. And as the board president , he was a very fair, and very collaborative and around the transportation, commissioner peskin lives in the district that is very transit rich. And i really believe based on his work as board president in the past, that he will have a real strong focus throughout the city, no the just his own district and he will be able to understand the huge needs that we have in under served neighborhoods that require a greater investment of transportation and infrastructure. And so im really pleased to be able to support his nomination. Or to nominate him. Aaron peskin also has had a huge role in providing good, strong, fiscal oversight over the Transportation Authority in the past. As plans and programs chair. And he was able to put in place project financing, and plans and actually enabled a lot of projects afterward to be able to be completed on time and on budget. Which is a significant thing that i think is set a real strong trend for the Transportation Authority since that time. That was about ten years ago. So i really feel that he has got a lot of the qualities that will be great to lead us through the next phase of our work on the Transportation Authority. And we also are looking at probably not seeing the kind of resources we have had over the past several years with our economy booming the way that it is, and so having the strong fiscal oversight will be really important. And so based on his experience and based on his real effort to be fair and collaborative, i am really pleased to nominate mr. Peskin for the chair. Thank you, commissioner avalos. Thank you. I second the nomination and i think that for all of the reasons that commissioner avalos noted. I still think its not clear what the landscape is going to look like at the National Level and therefore, the regional and local level. Because of the Incoming Trump administration and so i think that commissioner peskins knowledge and not only of San Francisco but also other regional players is important and you know, on a lighter note i think that those of us who are vertically challenged like myself, should get representation at the top. And i think that its only fair that we balance this scott weiner chair with peskin. So for those reasons, i will be proud to support commissioner peskin. Commissioner farrell . Great. Any other nominations . Then oh, commissioner peskin . So i want to thank commissioner avalos and commissioner campos for that nomination and second and if the commissioner will have me, i would be willing to accept that nomination. And look forward to working with you and hopefully to retaining that in the 2017 year if the new commission will see it fit. Thank you, commissioner peskin. I see no other nominees so i will close the opening of nominations, now, lets open up or are there any further nominations . Nominations nations are closed. And is there anyone from the public that would like to speak. And so now i call for a vote, on our one nominee commission peskin, roll call, mr. Stamos . On the motion of in favor of electing commission, peskin for chair for the remainder of the current term . Savolos. Aye. Breed. Aye. Campos. Aye. Cohen. Aye. Ferrill. Aye. Kim . Aye. Commissioner mar . Aye. Peskin . Aye. Commissioner yee . Aye. Motion passes. Thank you. And congratulations, new chair peskin, and i am going to hand the gavel over to him. Thank you colleagues, and just by way of a little bit of history, the Transportation Authority has really evolved from being a Funding Agency to an agency that really does Public Policy and oversight and i want to continue to build on that, i want to reflect on the boards that our executive director said, relative to our three Outgoing Commission members. You guys have put policies in place, particularly around transit equity and transit justice. And that i hope that we can continue to build on. What commissioner avalos said is just right, which is i have the pleasure of representing a corner of the city that is very rich in Transit Services and i think that our collective imperative is to make sure that we do that and bring that to under served areas of the city as well and that should be one of our primary focuses and the other thing that i want to say is that in a time of budgetary uncertainty, we do need to have robust conversations about what our priorities are. We have a number of remarkably challenging projects on the horizon, whether it is transbay, phase two, whether it is the various brt projects extensions of various subway routes. I think that we need to be fiscally prudent. And i hope that those of you who are here will see fit to retain me in the new year, and mr. Clerk, could you please read the next item. 5, approve the minutes of the november, 29, 2016 meeting this is an action item. Is there any Public Comment on the november 29th minutes . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. We have a different house. Mr. Clerk could you call the roll . Five, avalos. Aye. Breed. Aye. Campos. Absent. Cohen. Aye. Farrell. Aye. Kim. Aye. Mar. Aye. Peskin . Aye. Yee. Aye. Minutes are approved. Next item please . Item 6, approve the 2017 state and federal legislative program. This is an action item. Is there any Public Comment on this item . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Any comments from commissioners . Seeing none, could we take that the same house and the same call and the action is adopted. Next item threes . Item 7, increase the amount of professional Services Contract with par son brinckerhoff to 960,000, to not exceed, 1,210,000 for System Engineering services for the Treasure Island mobility management program. And authority the director to modify the contract Payment Terms and conditions, and this is an action item. Is there any Public Comment on item 7 . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. And same house same call. The action is approved. Next item, please . Item 8, reappoint chris waddling to the Citizens Advisory Committee. Is there any Public Comment . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Same house same call, we will reaappoint to the cac. Item nine, allocate 6,507,592 in prop k funds, with conditions, for five requests, subject to the attached fiscal year cash flow distribution schedules is there any Public Comment on this item . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. And we will allocate that 6 and a half million same house same call, item is adopted. Next item threes. Item ten. Adopt the proposed Agency Reorganization plans and job classifications this is action. Any comments from the circumstan commissioners on this item to expand our staff by 6 individuals . Seeing none, is there any Public Comment on this item . Seeing none we will adopt the proposed arguecy reorganization plan, the same house and the same call, and the item is adopted. And mr. Clerk, could you please call items 11 and 12 together. Public employee performance evaluation and approve the executive directors performance objectives for 2017. Amend the existing employment agreement and set annual compensation for the executive director for 2017 these are action. This can be a closed section, if you like to have a closed session. Commissioner yee . No, i just, you went by very rapidly, and efficiently and i appreciate that and i had a question, and on item number 8. And if i could. Okay, when we finish these items i will reskinn cind. The documents that are before us relative to our executive directors performance are quite clear. And would authorize an increase in executive directors compensation, for 2017, by 4 and a half percent, and commissioner farrell . It is actually my microphone is not working. Commissioner mar, i just wanted to say that on behalf of the Personnel Committee, commissioner cohen and tang and myself we had a great Personnel Committee meeting and i want to say that cythia is prepared to report out a little bit on the committees deliberation, but i think that chang was given the highest marks of exceptional and i think that it comes out of a committee that put in the time to think about her major goals and accomplishments and i wanted to congratulate and give her props for this amazing Transportation Authority. Commissioners, Deputy Director for finance and administration, the Personnel Committee met on november, 30, 2016, and what was determined is that they gave a ralting ever exceptionally good to the performance for the executive director, and it should be noted that the rating is between, exceptionally good and outstanding and in terms of the contract amendment, the committee would like to propose an extension of the contract for three years, to december, 31, 201 9, and the next proposal is a 4. 5, percent Salary Increase and, they would like to also to increase the severance period from six to nine months and they would like to rollover the term related to the Relocation Assistance allowance from rollover the remain 10,000 allowance that we are not using in the previous term, and lastly they would like to increase the professional development and allowance from 10,000 to 15,000 dollars. Colleagues any comments . Is there any Public Comment on item number 12 . Items eleven and 12. Items eleven and 12 . We dont need eleven, we are going to file, could we have a motion to file eleven, because we dont need a closed session. On colleagues could we take that without action and on item 12, thank you to your staff. And with that we have heard, item 13, why dont we have a motion to rescind on item eight, made by yee and seconded by mar, without objection. And mr. Eric cl, could you call item eight. Reappoint chris waddling to the Citizens Advisory Committee. I am story, i think that i have the wrong number. Colleagues, why dont we vote for item number eight, same house same call and, readopt the appointment of mr. Waddling and i assume that it is the 6. 5 item nine . Is there a motion to rescid made by yee and, seconded by mar without objection. Could you call, item nine. Allocate 6,507,592 in prop k funds, with conditions, for five requests, subject to the attached fiscal year cash flow distribution schedules. Commissioner yee sfl yeah, so i just have a question in regard to the replacement of the vehicles in light of our push for the vision zero. And these are large vehicles to me. So the question that i have is these vehicles would have adequate protections to make sure that they can see the pedestrians especially in front and they have what we call the cross over mirrors. And that helps with that a lot. And so the question is, whether or not these vehicles would have it because i think that its really important for us to push that. So thank you for the question and the suggestion, and i dont know the answer and we will find out and we will convey your, why dont we report back at vision zero, at the meeting on thursday. To that question. And we will convey that to the appropriate staff. I guess that the question then becomes if they dont have it, whether or not we could, condition. Yeah. I dont want to support the allocation. Why dont we bring this back to maybe, plans and programs with that language. I dont think that there will be a problem to continue or you could actually put the condition on todays action. But those are the options to bring it back to plans and programs . After consultation . Commissioner, what is your pleasure . I think that i would like to amend so that we put the condition in there. Okay. Great. So, so, as amended perhaps we could. More specifically, what does that condition look like subject to the confirmation that these vehicles will have those safety features, the pedestrian, cross over mirrors. Correct. Or other comparable, features. Okay. . Mendment made by supervisor yee as stated by executive director chang, is there a second for that amendment . Seconded by commissioner breed. Colleagues . On the amendment, can we take that same house same call . The amendment is adopted and on the item as amended, same house, same call. The item is approved as amended. Mr. Clerk woo you call item 14 . Introduction of new items. Commissioners . Is there any Public Comment on item 14 . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. And that is an information item only. Is can you read the next item. Tang. Thank you, chair peskin, i just wanted to thank the commission for your support on that personnel item and to behalf of our entire staff, thank you for your strong support and endorsement of our work. Thank you. Thank you. General Public Comment . Are there any members of the public who would like to make general Public Comment, thank you. Good morning. Andrew yip, last universe and population of this one time of inaudible force in circulation. One expects of the inaudible progress for trueself to improvement. inaudible kindness and justice. One inaudible everything above inaudible one mrashers of desty, and stability and the only way would be the coloration of the city meditation and out rage of mercy and the natural way inaudible thank you, are there any other members of the public . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Mr. Clerk, could you read the last item. Item is 16, adjournment. We are adjourned. Good morning were going to start the program now and my name is [inaudible] welcome to the groundbreaking summary for ocean wide center. During the heart of seafarers transbay help. I am proud to be here today. After working closely with the Opposition Team was two years ago to scare the project. You also the model what the site will look like once it is completed. That was in the front when you all walk in. First of all, i would like to mention that we are very delighted to have the following vips here today and are even. Of course we start with mr. Chairman lou chairman and founder china ocean wide group. [foreign language] [applause] of course we also my boss. Mayor edwin lee city and county of San Francisco [foreign language] [applause] counsel general [inaudible] counsel gen. Of the peoples republic of china [foreign language] [applause] we were expecting mayor willie brown but i dont think he has arrived yet but when he arrives im sure youll see him. [laughing] we are excited that mr. [inaudible] is your senior exec the power of foster and partners to [applause] scuttle executive Board Director and Vice President of china ocean Wide Holdings group good [foreign language] [applause] we also executive Board Director and chairman of china ocean Wide Holdings group. [foreign language] [applause] executive Board Director and president ocean Wide Holdings company limited. [foreign language] [applause] next we havechairman of the Supervisory Board of the china ocean Wide Holdings group. [foreign language] [applause] vice chairman of Supervisory Board china ocean Wide Holdings group. [foreign language] [applause] Board Director and Vice President china ocean Wide Holdings group. [foreign language] [applause] Board Director and Vice President ocean Wide Holdings. [foreign language] [applause] economic marshall counselor of the chinese consulate. [foreign language] [applause] we also have mr. Tomdirector of the San Francisco department of building inspections. [foreign language] [cough] [applause] were also delighted to mr. Todd rufo my other boss director of the opposite economic workforce development. [foreign language] [applause] we also have john update, dir. Department of real estate. He is here. Yes, he is here good im sorry. I was looking for you. [applause] we have chairman of Industrial Commercial Bank of china, usa. [foreign language] [applause] of course we have mr. Jeffrey heller president of heller manors architects. [applause] jeffrey of ceo of fullerton in corporative. [applause] Jeff Patterson of ceo of web court. [applause] mr. John vanderslice global head while the story of hotels and resorts. [applause] mayor rossini ceo oh Western Region of tishman construction. [applause] in addition we are delighted to have 11 top executives of the ocean wide. Join us today from china during [foreign language]now i have the privilege of introducing mr. From ocean wife holdings. [applause] hon. Mayor edwin lee, counsel generalchairman lou, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Good water morning. [applause] the groundbreaking ceremony this morning marks ocean wide Center Setting into constructing its an important milestone for San Francisco Center District developments in on behalf of ocean Wide Holdings group, i would like to thank you for taking the time to join us today for this momentous occasion. I would also like to thank all of you to supporting and helping ocean wide today to reach this important milestone. See fran has enjoyed strong Economic Growth in recent years and has Great Potential to continue attracting investment from all over the world. The groundbreaking ceremony today is symbolic step represents our confidence and inspiration for the city of San Francisco. Ocean wide center wishes to place an active part in economic and Cultural Development of this great city. Since our founding in 1985, ocean Wide Holdings group has grown substantially and become a Multinational Corporation with a remarkable arctic influence and social contributions in china and abroad. We have established an integrated platform that consists of finance and other business in multiple industries. Currently, we have operations in major cities in mainland china, hong kong, the United States, australia and indonesia. Ocean wide seeks longterm Strategic Partnerships with local businesses, communities, and governments. The statement from the society for the society, reflects our core values. Since we acquired ocean wide Center Project we have been listening to the concerns and comments from the local communities. Various governing bodies and the city departments. In addition to supporting a formal housing, ocean wide center we are happy to create a number of permits and local Job Opportunities. I truly believe that the success of ocean wide center will have a positive and Lasting Impact on the future of San Francisco. Ocean wide center is our First Development in San Francisco where building this operate and mixeduse property that comprises Office Residential hotel and retail. It is important strategic component in our Global Portfolio. Our vision for real estate is relevant, is creating a new urban life. Thank you. Our goal is to create highquality mixeduse real estate in downtown and establish our brand. We dedicate nearly half of our site to public open space. We also restored to buildings that are over 100 years old. Helping conserve the citys architectural heritage. Ocean wide center aims to achieve leed leed platinum supplication for the first hour and gold certification for mission tower. It is a great honor and responsibility for us to deliver a high quality iconic asset to this beautiful city. Finally, i wish those the best in the construction phase of this great [inaudible]. I look forward to standing here again with you ladies and gentlemen to celebrate the successful completion of ocean wide center in the near future. Thank you. [applause] thank you mr. [foreign language]. Next im happy to invite my boss, mayor ed lee. [applause] good morning everyone. This is a wonderful day and let me congratulate chairman lou four ocean winds holdings and their investment in the city. Let me thank our counsel general in his office for helping us guide a lot of the discussions and Relationship Building and let me also personally think supervisor kim for her leadership as well because her office was directly involved in discussing for at least a year, year and a half with all the representatives of ocean wide on establishing this project. You know, you look in the back here and you will see a wonderful top of a skyscraper and we can probably talk all day long about the new skyline and how this represents the second tallest building in San Francisco. But, i want to talk about how tall the benefits are for this project because it has never been an issue never be, that projects such as this are just discussed with respect to its design or to its brick and mortar. By the way, we have fantastic design on this building and fantastic contractors that will help us do this and do it well. [applause] so of course the jobs in the design and when you look at these concepts of a Platinum Building for the first as mr. Han said, and a Gold Standard for the second, when you look at the design of the new urban room that will connect up a lot of different open spaces, when you look at all that, youre probably going to appreciate this as one of the finest design skyscraper buildings that will probably match any of those but ive recently seen, especially in sable in beijing where i just returned from. They have fantastic buildings as well. But i do want to spend a little more time talking about more than just the building because what has happened particularly in the last year is that ocean wide, through the leadership of the counsel Generals Office and to all the representatives, created more than Historic Preservation opportunities, innovation in the design,. They created a partnership. A partnership that i believe after meeting with the mayor of beijing and many federal officials in china, that they seek all over United States. Its a partnership that says that because we have these opportunities in San Francisco , like this site, we can create a weak relationship right in the immediate area with everybody else so that we preserve valued buildings. That the increase open space, that we build more housing for city that says we are in a housing crisis. That we also say, to those that are most in need, we are going to make a tremendous contribution. In fact, a 44 million contribution in housing to make sure that people within the mile can benefit from this actual project. That people in chinatown can see more of their open space preserves and enhanced. There we build communities. This project is more than the skyscraper. It is a partnership that reflects a loss of sensitive discussions over the last year and a half good that reflected in almost 130 million of fantastic benefits to our city. So i want to say today, standing here before you is the mayor of San Francisco these are the kinds of projects that are more than just the concrete and the skyline. It is about building relationships among people. That is what i believe ocean wide came to do in San Francisco. That came to build strong relationships. So that when you see these benefits i dont want anybody to ever regret that these benefits make our city stronger. Make our state stronger make this whole area stronger. While the jobs will start out with great Construction Companies and great design firms working together the number of [inaudible] for the building and maintenance of the building, for the parks, for the housing that is part of the contributions, will be sustained over many many years. Including, even nonprofits like the africanamerican the aspera exam that is a direct benefit from the people here. They sought out so many great relationships to establish and create that i am so proud that its raining today because as darlene says, does a good luck charm that we break ground under time on which water is seen as a Great Fortune and particularly for northern california. We also use this as an opportunity to again, break ground with a partnership that has demonstrated particularly with vista belmont, a Relationship Building that will go on for many many generations. This is what im most proud of. Im proud of all the different agencies that got together whether it was our housing office, are recreation and Park Department are municipal Transportation Agencys among our partner with the Transbay Transit Center and all of the different advocates including our supervisors to say lets do this right. Lets have a development that is a Model Development that touches upon so many things that we constantly want to make sure progresses in our city. I am happy to see the officialgo back up again on the site. That is of course, the claim but i am also happy to say that with that comes a foundation for a very strong Relationship Building between the company that is well respected in china and now is going to be because of these contributions, well respected right here in San Francisco and all across our country. This is what we strive to do in great cities. Like San Francisco. Is to make these partnerships benefit thousands of more people for generations to come and have those programs sustained. But you are going to see a fine example of urban development and design and environmental contributions. But i think just as important is the human contributions that are made here to make sure that we have relationships that go for many many generations. So congratulations to everybody associated with this, to all the leadership, we are proud to break ground and we are proud to turn over the start in front of us. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you mayor sleight. The next im honored to invite counsel generalplease, to the stage. [applause] honorable mayor edwin lee and i would like to congratulate you. Very successful visit to china. [applause] mayor sleight paid a visit to beijing and he came back yesterday. Supervisor jane kim, chairman of china ocean wide, mr. Distinguished guest, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. It is my pleasure to be invited here to celebrate the groundbreaking of the ocean wide center. On behalf of the consulate general of in San Francisco i would like to express warmest congratulations to ocean Wide Holdings and the city and the county of San Francisco. In recent years the chinaus trade and investment relations have become much closer [inaudible] bilateral trade reached us 558 billion. China overtook canada as the largest trading partner of the United States in 2015. Chinese Companies Invested us 8. 4 billion in the us up by 60 from 2014. This year the twoway investment achieves even greater growth from january through october. Investment in china by us companies increased by 79. 8 while investment in the us by Chinese Companies increased by 173. 9 . Those figures demonstrate that businessman are confident with our countrys markets. [inaudible] industries us real estate market, the california real estate market, is one of the hottest fields by chinese invested lots of jobs. Lots of Job Opportunities are also created because of the investments. In 2015 chinese buyers surpassed canadian buyers as the biggest buyers of us homes. The report of the Chinese Investment in us real estate published by asia society and the Rosen Consulting Group just last may showed that over us 110 billion were invested by chinese into the us real estate between 2010 and 2015. More than one third went into california. A lot of it went into San Francisco so mayor sleight again, congratulations. [applause] it is wellknown that San Francisco is a city of [inaudible] hotspot of investment in a new center of renovation. Its name in chinese means [foreign language] old gold mountain. Which is derived from the gold rush and with good hope of fortune creation. Today we are here to witness groundbreaking of the ocean wide center. When it is finished it will be the second [inaudible] building in San Francisco and it becomes a good model to show the city prosperity and the relationship with china. Today, when i entered this i saw the model. This model, i think it is wonderful. It is a welldesigned. The architecture is very beautiful. Mr. , at the beginning he would wanted to build the building, the height, much higher. It would be the tallest building in San Francisco. But during the negotiations, there was a restriction because another building in the contract said in the future goal buildings should be taller than that one. So he was unable to build the tallest one could i said, it is okay. The second one is good because china is the second largest economy in the world. [laughing] [applause] really its a good model to show the citys prosperity and the long relationship with china. Ocean Wide Holdings is a famous private enterprise in china with several successful real estate projects in toptier cities like beijing, shanghai, etc. I believe that because of its personal expenses and [inaudible] in the Quality Control measures, ocean Wide Holdings will be able to build ocean wide center has a High Standard landmark of San Francisco to benefit the local community. Congratulations, to ocean Wide Holdings again. We wish you a very successful business in the future. Thank you, all. [applause] i always learn something when i hear counsel general speak. Always. Thank you. May i please invite supervisor jane kim to the stage, please. We are so delighted to have you here today. [applause] good morning. When i was running for office in this district in 2010 i would meet with residents in this neighborhood and they would ask me, when is the promise of the infrastructure and the parks and the office and the restaurants and all the many things that the city had promised us, when is that actually come to fruition . When i began office in the midst of the recession along with mr. Mayor ed lee we had seen the slowest rate of construction and development at the city at that time. We were excited to have the groundbreaking of the transbay terminal, where for the first time, many construction workers were finally going back to work. I dont think many of us couldve predicted what would follow in that year. I think that over the last six years i been really proud to preside along with the mayor over one of the fastest growth and about here in San Franciscos history. Every day im driving through San Francisco, walking through, and seeing the skyline, it is outstanding how much this neighborhood is changing. And how we are finally bringing the promise of jobs, housing, Affordable Housing, parks and open space are actually coming to reality. I want to welcome ocean wide get becoming a partner and neighbor in this what i call the newest and most exciting event in San Francisco is the transbay terminal. Now ocean wide had many challenges in coming to a city like San Francisco. For those of you that too Many Development projects here, you know there are already obstacles if youre already a wellknown player and even a homegrown developer to getting approval and the support of our communities here in San Francisco. But ocean wide doug in very quickly and they said, we want to build a project as soon as possible. I was a bit skeptical. Im still until i started chen wu in any chain at every event i went to. [laughing] i was started wearing they were trying to run for my seat. [laughing] they were every nonprofit banquet at arts galleries, visits, united players are clubhouses Youth Violence prevention work in the south of market and i knew they were serious. They were serious about being a new neighbor, demonstrating their commitment to wanting to be a longterm partner here in San Francisco. So this project comes as many think besides being the second tallest building here in San Francisco skyline, they have made a huge commitment to open space here in San Francisco. I want to thank ocean wide for working so closely with our park and rec commissioner alan welcome in Chinatown Community develop center to make sure that as we build the high density neighborhood but we also ensure there is healthy and active open space for residents and workers to plate and recreate injured because its not enough that we live and work oh we also need to be able to recreate in the city that we love to live in. Second, without any type of the goucher should, ocean wide came to my office and said they were committed to doing 33 Affordable Housing onsite. I have to tell you, that made my job incredibly easy. So i want to thank ocean wide for that commitment as well. Her charming ensuring we build in San Francisco we are ensuring a diverse neighborhood in a proud that here in transbay neighborhood that we will be building to 35 affordability and ocean wide is a big contributor in making sure that workingclass and middleclass families will be able to continue to live here in San Francisco. Finally, we would not have a great city if we do not invest in the arts. So i want to thank you for working with one of our key museums and arts organizations here and with linda harrison, director of the new museum of African Diaspora by making an investment through your arts the to ensuring that we are a city that is truly great because we love our arts and we invest in it the right way. So ocean wide, congratulations. Welcome to the neighborhood. I look forward to working with you or counsel general, thank you for talking about the importance of building these types of relationships. We dont have the type of High Density Development that china does. Not just one city but multiple cities. Throughout the country and so we are excited to have you a partner here in San Francisco as we continue to build. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you supervisor kim. Next i like to invite jeff heller of heller manner to provide some background in this process. [applause] thanks to everybody. I really am pleased to be here with so many friends and colleagues. This is a great day. I thought that the best thing i could do for all of us is to talk about how we got to today. This is a wonderful day and people talk about how some years ago this project started and all of that good this project and the very existence of the transbay district started 20 years ago. If that had not happened none of us would be here today, none of this would be happening. It happened because San Francisco realized that true sustainability was High Density Development around transit, and that shifted the city into understanding the need for high density corridor like this and it moved the politics to make this possible. Then from mayor brown to our mayor lee now the evolution of the plan took place , in a really started in about 2006 im sorry in 1996. So about a decade after that, the plan once again changed and developed to the plan that we have today. The heights and densities and the linkage of that to the transbay terminal became the core piece of making this all possible. That was the only path for which this could have happened because the thing that helped that was that San Francisco changed from a local provincial pretty tourist city to a global city. The global city also became the piece that drove this and this process to where we are today. So in about 2012 the plan gets approved. In 2012 the site that we are on was a complete real estate disaster. It was broken in two parts. There were holdouts. There were lawsuits. There were people fighting about this, what was the largest plot in the transbay and png and michaelwere able to somehow pull off the impossible and assemble the site into existence. Without that, we would not be here today. Then, after that, png directed a design process and i went to foster and partners because we are friends and we are colleagues for a long time. It was the natural choice. We think totally eye to eye on the philosophy and so in 20132014, the plan and the concept developed. Then after that, in 2015ocean wide comes and sees the opportunity and they see the vision of probably the greatest private project in the city and the headquarters for them in the United States. In doing that, theyve created this fantastic edifice in this fantastic plan. You know, i cant think chairman Lou Ann Chen Wu enough for bringing vision, professionalism, social consciousness and the overriding sense of quality to this project. It is clearly the finest project that most of us have come in contact work will. So with that, im going to introduce stefan billings, from foster and partners and i just want to say, on his coming and please, seven, [applause] that the wonderful part was that from day one we simultaneously totally got about the potential of the site. The way to do this site and execute on it and it has been wonderful, smooth, fabulous commendation of effort and almost effortless getting to today other than the really hard work. [applause] thank you very much. That was very kind. Hon. Mayors, counsel general, chairman lou, ladies and gentlemen on behalf of foster and partners, im and Norman Foster one 420 cannot be here today because he is not well. I would like to thank you for having us today and also tell you how honored we are to be part of this incredible Transbay Transit Center develop plan. We think it is one of the worlds unique projects in pushing high density and mixeduse next transit send it very much some thing that we believe in as a company. I would like to thank our client ocean wide especially chairman lou, for being incredible artist with a fantastic look working relation with mr. Wu and the team and it is a true collaboration. Everything we do is not us. It is all part of a much bigger piece. Hopefully, it will create an amazing project. I think Ground Breaking ceremonies for us architects is an incredible milestone because you realize its real. We are now going to do this building which is an extremely exciting get other working with something for three years you know projects can stop and start and when the groundbreaking starts and the diggers arrive on site, you think this is going to happen. So designing a tower in San Francisco is actually fantastic but also daunting task. The horn of the most beautiful cities in the world with an incredible skyline that everyone knows all the way around the world. The wood is very smug very difficult and its a huge responsibility to get it right. We have actually had some incredible dialogue with the city with mayor lee with john hwang rahaim the Planning Department have been exceptional partners, again in working with us on this project. It is all in the theme of teamwork with the city with the client with how you create a project which i think in this case would truly be for the people of San Francisco. The big image on the sign about the urban room that some of you have mentioned, to us is probably one of the most important achievements of the project. This will be a room that on a day like this, or on a hot day, everyone in the city of San Francisco can gather and enjoy lights. It is actually a little out ways, here you just see one of them. On that site is another one which will still exist good they will help these unique visual network of alleyways get even better than it is right now. Because i think it is very unique to San Francisco with its big urban grid and has a unique Little Network of alleys which we love right from the very beginning. I think would offer great facilities for the neighborhood. You will have restaurants. Youll have events. Not different programs. The of a lush landscape and art and i would think it will truly make life in the city a tiny little bit better. You obviously have to mixeduse towers. That is very important to realize how the mixed works that youre the Mission Street tower with the hotel, the waldorf hotel, which are very honored that they are part of the project. And beautiful residential units and then you have first street tower, with its incredible external structure which again is mixed use with offices, with an urban room at the base offices and then residential units at the back. You have all heard sustainable is an important part of this project. I think it is the only way to build buildings in the world and im very proud that ocean wide are also 100 behind creating such a Energy Conscious and sustainable building. Platinum rating for a superpower is actually not that easy to achieve. We worked with great engineer could again the teamwork. We have a huge team of extraordinary consultants. The external skeleton of this building, which is a unique feature of the first street tower, will make it 30 less waste. Total use 30 less material than other towers. Which makes it a lighter tower which ultimately, in this city where you all know the ground conditions are not the greatest in the world for towers, is very important and in this particular case, the piles of this tower will go down 400 feet, all the way down to the bedrock. That means its the deepest bylaws anywhere in the west coast in america. So with everything that technology and all the brains and working on this project no, this should actually bewell hopefully, the best. I think it is important to mention as jeffrey said, a very close collaboration with heller manners. Interior designers and i think at this moment i need to thank our team. The of an extraordinary teamwork on this project as the spokesperson you realize you are just a voice with our many people dedicated their lives to this project and work day and night with us. The model makers or whether it is the people designing the interiors were the rest. It is a fantastic team effort and thank you all very much. I think it is also very important to mention we breezily been joined byweb core fantastic contractors. We worked to some degree further down in the bay area and i think we are all looking very much forward to a fantastic team effort for the next phase of this project. I would like to now just to tell you how privileged we are to be part of this effort and we are humbled by people who say that the design is adequate and we hope at the end of the day that this will be a worthy addition to a wonderful city. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you. Most important, please sent our best to laura foster but im glad to get out of it now we can sense is bill we have a foster [inaudible] in San Francisco to make sure the project is big bill well we knew good content im delighted to invite jeffrey hoops [inaudible]. [applause] so some people call this a rainy day. As a builder in San Francisco, because a beautiful day. We call it heavy fog and we tell our craft workers, work fast. Get it done. I name is jeff hoops and im in the chairman ofbuilders based here in San Francisco. Im representing the swinton and web Core Organization today and am very excited and honored to be part of the ocean wide project team. Its an amazing team thats assemble to build this project. First and foremost, i want to extend my thanks to ocean wide and the chairman lou for their strategic investment here in San Francisco. This is one of the largest, in my estimation, and possibly the largest private Real Estate Investment in San Francisco in downtown. Its amazing what is happened here. Theres also two people i really want to thank for being part of this team and they probably dont want to be recollected im going to recognize them so theyll probably get embarrassed but chen will and kevin lee had been here from day one working diligently, hard, and ringing it to the start of construction which doing that in San Francisco, as supervisor kim said earlier, is difficult sometimes but we are here and jen will and kevin will have done a superb job and i really appreciate that. [applause] im still thrilled were gathered here to celebrate this investment and what id like and this partnership, and i would really like to do, again is thank ocean wide from both swinton web court for this state you have in San Francisco and the trust you have in us as your building partner. I would also like to thank foster and partners, heller manners, jeffrey, the ggf are designing for inspiring and out this is a beautiful structure. It really is. Im here to speak to you as a builder. I will start with that. Just think about the privilege we have a building these skyscrapers and these public spaces for the future of San Francisco that all San Francisco can be proud of its really an honor for us to be here and we really appreciate that. Our two companies came together that we have deep roots here in San Francisco the of 173 years of express right here in San Francisco. In fact my first job here was to build that property right there. Which is called 101st st. That was the tallest building south of mission 30 years ago and i though that. It is 27 stories and now it looks like a midrise. Its amazing what happened here over the years. So right now this winter to web 14 is building several projects here in the transbay Transit District. We just finished i 35, 350, block eight and now were currently building the court the Transbay Transit Center itself. Which is a huge project and what is interesting about the transbay Transit District is that this district will change the way people live and work in San Francisco. This project will be the jewel of this entire district. Its an amazing project and great statement as the mayor said, and i really want to share this with all of you, it is more than just about the buildings here. Theres a civic duty to be a developer in this community and to be a builder and live and work in this community its a huge civic obligation and this project provides the funds to mayor lee supervisor kim to revitalize our neighborhoods, for art, for parks, and most importantly, the supervisor kim said is for Affordable Housing which we sorely lack in the city. This project will bring a huge opportunity for us to fulfill our civic duties and continue to make and contribute to strengthen San Francisco as a worldclass city. I want to thank you for that. Again, its the future and this project all about San Francisco really the place we are honored to go home. With all make great financier today, bold visionary commitment to making this happen. I think we need to continue and deliver this project for the people to live here so they creep out of this for the millions and millions of people that visit here every year, and i want to thank you for that commitment today and or think ocean wide for making this project a reality. Thank you. [applause] thank you so much. Last but not least, one day we will have our own walled off the story of im excited to invite mr. John [inaudible] to the stage. [applause] thank you, darling. First i like to thank ocean Wide Holdings and ocean wide center for this fantastic event and mostly 40 10th. On this little day. Thank you to our honored guest. Mayor lee counsel generalsupervisor jane kim and most about chairman lou. Also our new partners. He was made to me when i walked in the room and everybody talked about the teamwork thats going on between foster and partners, swinton, my new friend, as well as heller manus would help the vision in getting us all here. You know, you all are sitting right now in what we call peacock alley. Peacock alley restaurant that is part of the waldorf astoria brand as a matter fact the people in the back are at the bar. Some really happy that you are here. [laughing] it wasnt a century ago we put the first hotel of its kind in new york. Since then, our name has become synonymous with elegance, style, and perfection. For those of you that are new to the waldorf astoria brand, we are Global Portfolio with 26 properties about the globe. I just got off the plane last night from a big luxury show in france and the growth of the waldorf astoria is a buzz in the industry. We also have projects under construction and we actually were in places like berlin, beijing at amsterdam shanghai and dubai and we are under construction in places like beverly hills, which will open in april, chengdu, bangkok, and now San Francisco. Those of you in the press pay very close attention over the next few weeks. Because we will be quite honored to offer a few new destinations with some very close partners. What was once the worlds most iconic hotel is now the most iconic portfolio of hotels. You know, each and every guest that checked into a waldorf astoria gets their own personal concierge. While the astoria was a luxury brand before Luxury Brands existed. There was no standard until we set it. Now, it seems like the Perfect Match for San Francisco and ocean wide to the waldorf astoria brand to set the new standard for San Francisco. I thank you for joining us this morning. I hope to post with the future of the waldorf astoria brand and really, the future of ocean wide and really the future of San Francisco. What a fantastic day. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you so much, jump back includes the Speaker Series for this program. However we have two more parts that one is of course the shovel part and then i last we will have a photo op. I would now like to invite the following people up. Please come out. As i call your name to mr. Jeff heller, stefan billings does everyone have their shovels . We are done. Go. [cheerring] [applause] thank you so much. Were here to raise awareness and money and fork for a good accuse. We have this incredible gift probably the widest range of restaurant and count ii destines in any district in the city right here in the mission intricate why dont we capture that to support the mission youths going to college thats for the food for thought. We didnt have a signature font for our orientation thats a 40yearold organization. Mission graduates have helped me to develop special as an individual theyve helped me figure out and provide the tools for me that i need i feel successful in life their core above emission and goal is in line with our values. The ferraris yes, we made 48 thousand they were on top of that its a nobrainer for us. Were in and fifth year and be able to expand out and tonight is your ungrammatical truck food for thought. Food truck for thought is an opportunity to eat from a variety of different vendor that are supporting the mission graduates by coming and representing at the parks were giving a prude of our to give people the opportunity to get an education. People come back and can you tell me and enjoy our food. All the vendor are xooment a portion of their precedes the money is going back in whats the best thing to do in terms of moving the needle for the folks we thought Higher Education is the tool to move young people. Im also a College Student i go to berkley and 90 percent of our folks are staying in college thats 40 percent hire than the afternoon. Im politically to clemdz and ucla. Just knowing were giving back to the community. Especially the Spanish Speaking population it hits home. People get hungry why not eat and give speaking foreign language. shop and dine in the 49 promotes local biz and challenges the san franciscans to do their shop and dine in the 49 within the by supporting the services we help San Francisco remain unique and successful and vibrant so where will you shop and dine in the 49 San Francisco owes itch of the charm to the many neighborhoods people coma greet and meet it has an personality