>> and usa is leading. america's cup 33 has been decided on the water. the america's cup is the american again. [applause] >> thank you, mayor newsom. i could not see that, but i am sure it was thrilling. maria kaplan is the executive director for the transbay joint powers authority and manages the $4.2 million transbay center project, the grantor central station of the west. she is as possible for the design, funding, and construction. she is one of the more extraordinary human beings i have ever met. as you know, the temporary terminal has been completed, transit operators have been moved, and construction will be beginning. for an update on what to expect, please welcome maria. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. they keep for having us here today. that was a great video. i think it rivals our videos now. after 40 years of planning, debating, talking about it, we are finally constructing the transbay transit center. it is remarkable for many of us who have been working on this for so long. as the mayor indicated, we had a wonderful groundbreaking on august 11. we had the u.s. secretary of transportation ray lahood, speaker of the house nancy pelosi, senator boxer, mayor newsom, who has been supporting this project since he was a supervisor, and the california high speed rail authority, all on hand to celebrate the groundbreaking of the first high-speed rail station in the united states. the first modern bus station built in this country in the past 40 years. on august 6 in the evening, we shut down the existing transbay terminal. the next day on august 7, we started operations at the temporary facility at main and beale. we are currently in demolition. so far, we have demolished the east ramp on howard we are working now on the west ramp. then we will have the demolition of the existing facility by november of this year. concurrent with that, we will be starting utility relocation as well. what we then expect to do is begin the excavation work for the transit center in the first quarter of 2011. so what is it that we will deliver to the public? we are delivering to the public a five-level, 1.4 million-square foot station that will accommodate 11 different transit systems for the eight counties in the bay area, including southern california with high- speed rail. we are accommodating golden gate transit, muni, amtrak, paratransit, greyhound, bicycles, taxi, etc. we are also building a new neighborhood. 2600 new homes. that number is rising as we work with the redevelopment agency, part of this anger for the neighborhood. if you could see the designs -- we have gone great lengths to make the design graceful, luminous, safe, and welcoming. the idea is to have a pleasant experience, if the public chooses to take public transit, as opposed to what they were subject to at the other transbay terminal. because the transit center stretches for five blocks, it will be visible along the north and south running streets, like at first and freemont. it will be an aluminous gem, helping to orient people in the city. what you see here are the connection that we have. across the breadth of the entire building, there will be multiple points of connection. we will have the grand hall, mission square, a natomas street, night. -- promenade. in the center of it all, you see the light column, which is a dramatic sculpture-steel structure rising up from the lower concourse to the park above, and topped by a large glass skyline. not only will it support the transit center, but it will draw on natural light into space below. as the light colorado passes through the floors, it connects to an reveals the various program elements above and below the station. it consequently becomes the organizing device and waistline of the new station, giving passengers an intuitive sense of the centers organization. you see here the concourse level retail promenade. the allied column drawing natural light and bringing people together. additionally, if you stand underneath that light column, you will be able to see the trees in the park above. muni bus plaza, retail space, movement of buses above will be emblematic of the bible and feeling. trees will be peeking out from above and you will also see that structure, and exterior -- it is sure to become one of san francisco's most recognizable buildings. here we see the exterior envelope of the new station which gets form and helps screen the interior of the building. we have had faceted glass panels with ceramic dots to soften the transparency of the glass and reduce the impact of some light and clear within the building. one of the things we are considering is belly the lights on the outside of the skin of -- led lights on the outside of the skin of the surface. imagine when the world series comes to town and we have the giants played in a world series game, we have the colors of the giants at this new station. here is a building in europe. this is a building in austria. this building was meant to celebrate the designation as the cultural capital of europe. these are some of the ideas we are exploring. within the building, at the transit center, commuters will have a clean, let, naturally ventilated spaces. at the platform level, they will also be clean and modern and will see a natural sunlight through the opening of the light colorado. in this way, the transit center will change your idea about what an urban traffic center will be like. sustainability has been an important component and has been one of our core missions for the project. in this cross section, we can see the energy techniques that were deployed. the building is on track for a gold leaf reading from the u.s. building council, a tremendous achievement for a transit building. the new station will consume 25% less energy required by the state due to its efficient lighting, ventilation, etc., and will draw most of its heat from one of the largest geothermal locations. here you see the light column which will be an integral participants in bringing light into the building, but will also contribute to the stack of affect. hot air as it is extended, will be collected and recycled, eliminating the need for air conditioning. transbay also takes a novel approach to water management. water will be recycled on a scale like never before seen in the country. it will be filtered and clean by the plant life in the park. the first rooftop where land in the united states. there are a lot of things that we are employed with the design. and of course, one of the most exciting elements, this 5.4 acre park. there are two reasons for the park. one was our commitment to sustainability. not only will it reduce our consumption, but it also promotes a holistic design, where grain features are integrated into the design. at the west end of the park, there will be a 1000-person amphitheater, similar to the shoreline mountain view and the theater today. there will be conference, movies playing. when not in use, there will be a lot where people can relax, read, -- lawn where people can relax, read, do some work for the day. in the front of the park will be the welcoming building. it will be a beautiful setting of foliage. there will be planting from bamboo growth to larger strayed trees. education and programs is important for us. we are working on what the programming will be. there will be stone walls that will meander through the park. there will be creative areas that will engage children. one thing that is very important to us is ouart. we have commissioned four artists who designed art, integrate it into the design of the new station. one of the artists is an julie chang, a local listens in the city. she has been commissioned to design the floor in the hall. her design comes from that a variety of cultural and historical touchdowns. of most importance to her is the dichotomy of san francisco architecture, and juxtaposition of the older victorian structure in the contemporary city. she is strong from the inspiration as well as from the fauna and flora of san francisco. in this slide, you see the beginnings of the concept work she has been providing to the transbay for a rich tapestry of color. we cannot wait until it opens. it is exciting. we will have hummingbirds, flowers, artifacts, in this wonderful floor that will be seen in the new transit center. another artist that we commissioned is jenny holzer who has worked at the broad trade center. she works with led lighting. there will be some words and sentences from some great artists in history. here is a look of what it looks like in the day. in the evening as well. another artist that we have commission is james carpenter. he will bring light to shot alley. he will be -- shaw alley. that will be one of the more active places in the retail station. his idea was to focus on the passage. two fields of luminous objects. a series of eliminated-sets and a series of 60 illuminated glass pavers. the two allied fields act in concert to divide the volume. you can see an example of that here. the idea is for visitors to come in, take public transit in the new station, learn about the fatah and foliage in the park, come to a concert on the rooftop, visit the art components that we will have in the new station, eat, shop, etc. in this next slide, the other artist we have is dead conn, who will be providing us with a wonderful -- a long pole with a series of jets will register the buses as they travel to those below. we are incorporating sensors in the ceiling of the bus level that will activate the jets of water above as the buses bought -- drive past. children will be able to play in the water, anticipating when the next bus will arrive. the water will shape the movement of the buses. this aerial image captures the spirit of this project, at a strip of green in the heart of san francisco. from a distance, it shows a calm place. i want to end with a video showing some of the interactive elements that will be a part of this new station. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you. very cool. a world-class destination such as san francisco deserves to have a world-class convention facility. prior to much of recent renovations, there are some who refer to our convention centers as third world. it is a really amazing when you consider what it might mean to lose something like an oracle open world and how that can impact the city's economy. the president and ceo of this san francisco the visitors center brings creative leadership to this industry. he took the helm in 2006, previously ran the portland, oregon visitors association. the bureau is one of the largest membership-based agencies in the country employing a staff of 80. under his leadership, san francisco passed the tourism and improvement district, which creates a sustainable funding model for tourism promotions and also for the future of the convention center. joe will tell us about future plans and why a convention center is so important to our economic vitality. please welcome joe alessandro. >> thank you, it is great to be here. these issues and project we are talking about are so important to this city, not only for its vitality but for quality of life, which is dependent on the future of the city. i want to talk about the state of where we are, talk about the current renovations going on. their error potential expansion some areas. and then a brief comment on proposition j, a brief comment on the hotel tax and how much damage it could do to the economy. first of all, the industry. we are seeing some mixed signals. there is actually some hope out there. our hotel occupancy, demand, has been up this year. this summer has been a very strong with a number of people coming into san francisco. our international numbers are up, in large part, things to air service from europe, south america, and asia. those numbers are up 11%. meetings and conventions markets are holding and continue to be relatively strong. business travel has not come back. that is our weakest segment. people are not traveling nearly as much as they used to. although the demand is up, the spending is down, and that is reflective of the economy. our hotel rates are still much lower when they were -- and there were two years ago. -- much lower when they were two years agwhere they were two yea. so what about mscone and why should i care? you probably only go once or twice and it is underground. the mosconi center is and it credible economic generator for san francisco. it generates $2 million a year. when you think about what is important about having a convention come into town, the average city convention, for five days, is the equivalent of a mid-sized corp. moving into the city, in terms of how much spending and tax revenue it generates. when you have oracle open world, generating about $70 million per committee, $12 million in local tax revenue, for a five-day stay, that is the equivalent of relocating a major corporation here. mosconi, what it does and generates, is incredibly important for the economy and for the region. it is a showcase of san francisco. when a new high pad is unveiled, it is unveiled across the street. if we are truly the leaders of this high-tech bay area, not having an appropriate showcase for what we are all about is a huge mistake. mosconi south open 30 years ago, and for 30 years, it was neglected. you have a nice living room, you want to invite your friends over, but you have not painted in 30 years, the air- conditioning is not working. it is a bit embarrassing to be the showcase of san francisco to the world. we got together with different groups and we are filing under way on renovation projects. our goal is to take the current mosconi center and turn it from a third world and harassment, to a place that we can be proud of. this talk about some of the things that we are going to do. we are going to do carpeting, painting, hvac, new 24-hour rest rooms, ada compliance, cable upgrades in data, telecommunication. when someone comes from the moscow center two years from now, it will be a new building, something that we can be proud of. our goal is to have this silver certified. when you consider it is retrofitting a 30-year-old building, that is quite a an accomplishment. we will also be using recycled material. currently, if you are walking around mosconi, you do not know what city you are in, but by the time this is done, you will know. here is a diagram of mosconi north and south. the blue area will be the more high tech, the part that focuses more on the south part of the peninsula, silicon valley. mosconi north faces north, napa, marin, sonoma, and that will be a more natural color. and the famous conductor, the golden gate, will connect the two buildings. here is the mosconi south conference call one month ago. 30 years old. had not been painted, had not been renovated in 30 years. here it is two weeks ago when we transformed the ceiling. new lighting throughout the building. new finishing on the floors. in a couple of weeks, the south hall looks dramatically different. here is how the rest will look. here is an existing meeting room which is pretty much consistent around the building. not only are the color of old, and gaps in the walls, fabric is torn. here is clear we start to bring the elements of graphics into the building. the color of the bridge, graphics of the neighborhood. we are going to make sure, when people meet in san francisco, that they know they are in san francisco. here is what the ballroom looks like right now. with some change, graphics, enhanced lighting, a new ceiling, you will really change the feel of what the ball room looks like. there is another issue that we have to face. mosconi is too small. when we build mosconi's center, we thought it would last for ever. 10 years later, we had to build a mosque on the north because demand became so strong. we thought we could go on forever. then 10 years ago we open the mosconi west. soon after that, the demand started to fall. we have to look at how we can maximize the space we have to optimize the potential that we have in business. oracle is just one group. we are going to close howard street friday afternoon because they cannot fit anymore. luckily, we have the resources to do that. lots of groups say that they're about to come, but we are so small. so we are looking at obstacles to expand. we had one of the highest occupancy rates anywhere. we put together a task force a couple of years ago to look at options where we can expand. we know we want to stay in the neighborhood, in the heart of the city, a retail community. we have basically two options. here is the layout of moscow and the north, south, and west. unfortunately, they are three disconnected buildings. our major competitors, like san diego, they have contiguous space. people have to move around a lot here. two options we are looking at. one is to build mosconi east, which would be adjacent to mosconi south, and also contiguous. the other option -- the beauty about this is it would be contiguous exhibit space from south, under third street. the other option is connecting mosconi north and south under howard street, making it one contiguous building where you can have meeting space and an exhibition space. let me tell you briefly about mosconi east. located between howard, full sun,