sheriff, and the sheriff said no, you're permitted to have a sign, and it can't be larger than a certain size. but no, you sat there with a straight face and set to his face, you can't have signs. that's the rules. you talk a lot about stuff you absolutely no nothing about. you all took sunshine ordinance training? ha! i doubt if any of you has ever even read that law, and yet, you sign a statement every year saying you understand. yeah, you understand it only to the point where you don't like it because it holds you accountable, and if there's one thing that nobody is able to do in this city is hold anybody accountable, and that's the way you like it. and that's why you don't bite the hand that feeds you; in other words, the body that appoints each and every one of you to this commission. >> president keane: we'll go now to item 10, discussion of the executive director's report. >> i have a brief report for you, commissioners. we continue with our organizational -- or staffing updates. we'll be working with the department of human resources through the new year to developing the positions with job postings. we expect three positions to be posted in december, but we'll be working closely with the department to be moving those closer to hiring completion. i also would note that the annual conference of the council on governmental ethics laws is taking this year in tlont. we are using salary savings to send two staff members -- three of them, actually. two of the three will be participating in panels, jessica blum will be comoderating the panel's discussion on monday. kyle will be on a panel along with others from wash wash d.c. talking about expanding conflict of interest laws in different areas and how elected officials raise funds, and i will be on a panel regarding measuring agency's success, so that should be an interesting discussion, as well, but we are looking forward to providing you with a full report. it's an extraordinary opportunity for our staff and to learn from our peers, so we look forward to reporting to you about that in december. >> commissioner chiu: if i may, so when you go, i hope that you'll have the opportunity to ask questions about what other jurisdictions might be doing in regard to the social media and election integrity and if they have, you know, have any insights or ideas to share, that would be great. >> thank you, we'll do that. >> president keane: okay. any public comment on agenda item 10? >> commissioner, ray hart, director of san francisco open government, and i'd like the executive director to ask a question. what is the policy in most cities regarding open government laws? are they enforced or are they not enforced? in this city, we have a body that functions, the sunshine ordinance task force, that does its job, and you may think it's all b.s., but that's your opinion, and you may think all the people are a bunch of cranks. that's your opinion. >> commissioner kopp: you use the term screwballs. >> okay. screwballs, but that's a personal opinion, and you know what? everybody has one, so the bottom line is why don't you ask them when you have a law that the body that is supposed to enforce it refuses to enforce, what do they do? i seem to remember a confirmation hearing when commissioner kopp was nominated where supervisor fewer asked him whether he would enforce laws that he didn't agree with, and he went through a long, convoluted explanation, never really answering the question, but we have the answer right here. i don't like the sunshine ordinance, i don't like the task force, so i am not going to enforce the law. and i dislike it so much, i want to do away with it so that we can then shove it under the rug and don't have to go through the pretense of holding hearings. and that's all they are, isn't it? how does due process comport with the idea that you always come out with the same result: the complainant loses and the respondent wins? the citizen loses, and the city wins? well, i've said it before, it's because number one, you can't enforce any of them, and you don't want anybody to know how impotent you really are. one ordinance referral you did pass against the city librarian, and you sent it to the mayor, and the mayor ignore it. not only did he ignore it, he reappointed the person. shows you how much the mayor thinks of you. you don't do anything except sit here, have meetings and shuffle paperwork. i've asked time and time again for any member of this commission to tell the public what exactly you have done that has made this city a more ethical place. never had a response. it's like rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. you shuffle papers, you fill out the forms, and that's the end of the story. and a city department head sepg $15,000 and then lying about it under penalty of perjury falls below your radar? shows you how good you are at what you do. >> president keane >> there's two points i'd like to make from friends of ethics. if the measure that was passed today on anticorruption and accountablity is watered down at the board and that is what happens, then i want you to know that friend of ethics and our allies will mount a significant campaign and put on the ballot a robust version stronger than what you've passed tonight, and i don't have any doubts tonight whatsoever what the public will do with it since we've seen it in the past. it will pass with virtually no campaign at all. that's one point. second point in terms of the ethic commission's ability to enforce the sunshine ordinance task force, is only someone in authority has the power to remove someone they've appointed. we've gone through this time and again. that's the reason why the librarian didn't have anything done to her is because the mayor has the power. only the appointing authority can remove a commissioner that they've appointed. that's how we ended up with mel murphy at the port board, even though the board of supervisors didn't vote unanimously for him. the president of the airport commission, who violated criminal laws trying to get a nephew appointed to a position at the airport. nothing is done, so if you are going to take a look at the sunshine ordinance task force, one of the things that you ought to take a look at is who are the lines of responsibility, and how are things held accountable? thank you. >> president keane: thank you. any further public comment on that? thank you. okay. is there -- on item number 11, does anyone wish to have a closed session? hearing none, we'll move to discussion and possible action on items for future meetings. we had a fair amount of discussion of that already. does anyone have anything further to add to that? initial opportunity for public comment on matters appearing or not appearing on agenda. pursuant to ethics commission bylaws, article 8, section 2. >> commissioners, ray hart, spec tor san francisco open government. sunshine ordinance task force ordinary determination in file number 16116, ray hart v. commissioner quentin kopp and the ethics commission. findings of law and conclusions of law. based on the testimony and evidence presented the sunshine ordinance task force found that commissioner quentin kopp and the ethics commission violated the sunshine ordinance section 67.15. if a member of a commission wishes to unlawfully interrupt a member of the public, that's okay with you. commissioner kopp did it, commissioner keane endorsed it, and the rest of you sat silent. but when a member of the public speaks out of turn, that is he -- that's a no-no. what hypocrites you are. you would use the rules to maintain order because you don't like what's being said or you don't like the way people are saying it, so mr. keane's comment last time about mr. hart's we had a democratic process, why don't you respect it, was b.s. it wasn't a democratic process, it was a show trial, a show hearing. it was a joke. particularly hypocritical was chair keane's comments last time that i respect the democratic process. frankly, i take quentin kopp's referral to me as quote, that person, unquote, a badge of honor. isn't it ironic that it comes from a person who has shown himself to be without honor? i mentioned the fact that under oath at the rules committee hearing for his nomination supervisor fewer asked commissioner kopp whether he would enforce laws with which he did not agree, and he assured her that he would. so what's with the sunshine ordinance? he doesn't like it so he wants to get rid of the sunshine task force and the ordinance, and to heck with it. so there's a vacuum there. that's fine with him because all he wants it so get rid of it because it took him and called him on the carpet. so same thing the board of supervisors did when they found against them, they left four seats vacant for two years so that every person who went before the task force had to either get a six out of seven or six out of six vote to get a finding. and then, you portray it as being conflicting decisions. that's bull. >> president keane: well, i'll entertain a motion to adjourn. >> commissioner kopp: so moved. >> commissioner chiu: second. >> president keane: all those in favor? we are adjourned. - working for the city and county of san francisco will immerse you in a vibrant and dynamic city that's on the forefront of economic growth, the arts, and social change. our city has always been on the edge of progress and innovation. after all, we're at the meeting of land and sea. - our city is famous for its iconic scenery, historic designs, and world-class style. it's the birthplace of blue jeans, and where "the rock" holds court over the largest natural harbor on the west coast. - our 28,000 city and county employees play an important role in making san francisco what it is today. - we provide residents and visitors with a wide array of services, such as improving city streets and parks, keeping communities safe, and driving buses and cable cars. - our employees enjoy competitive salaries, as well as generous benefits programs. but most importantly, working for the city and county of san francisco gives employees an opportunity to contribute their ideas, energy, and commitment to shape the city's future. - thank you for considering a career with the city and county of san francisco. >> good morning. welcome to the personnel committee of the san francisco transportation board. i'm commissioner peskin. next to commissioner tang, and our clerk is steve stamos. >> clerk: approve the minutes of the minutes. >> public comment is closed. is there a motion to approve the minutes for the personnel committee? commissioner? >> yes. approve. >> okay. motion to approve the minutes. we'll take that with -- out of objection. and next item please. >> clerk: item three, closed session item, evaluation of public employee performance and recommended approval of the performance agenda for 2018. >> as far as this is a personnel matter. we are going to go into closed session on this item. is there any public comment on item number three? miss. >> my name is naomi kelly the single-story for the 775 i started with the city and county in 1996 working for the newly elected mayor willie brown, jr. not only the chief of staff a woman but many policy advisors that were advising him everyday their supportive and nourished and sponsored united states and excited about the future. >> my name is is jack listen and the executive director of a phil randolph institution our goal to have two pathways to sustaining a family here in san francisco and your union jobs are stroen to do that i have this huge way to work with the community members and i think i found my calling i started in 1996 working for willie brown, jr. i worked in he's mayor's office of housing in the western edition and left 3 years went to law school of san francisco state university and mayor brown asked me to be the director of the taxicab commission and through the process i very much card by the contracting process and asked me townhouse the city purchaser and worked with me and i became the deputy administrator and . >> having trouble struggling to make ends meet folks will not understand what importance of voting is so we decided to develop our workforce development services after a couple of years offering pathways to sustainable jobs. >> (clapping.) >> we've gotten to a place to have the folks come back and have the discussion even if participation and makes sense we do public services but we also really build strong communities when i started this job my sons were 2 and 5 now 9 and 6 i think so the need to be able to take a call from the principal of school i think that brings a whole new appreciation to being understanding of the work life balance. >> (clapping.) >> i have a very good team around me we're leader in the country when it comes to paid and retail and furiously the affordable-care act passed by 3079 we were did leaders for the healthcare and we're in support of of the women and support. >> in my industry i feel that is male dominated a huge struggle to get my foot in the door and i feel as though that definitely needs to change this year needs to be more opportunities for i don't know women to do what tell me dream i feel that is important for us to create a in fact, network of support to young people young women can further their dreams and most interested in making sure they have the full and whatever they need to make that achieveable. >> education is important i releases it at my time of san mateo high ii come back to the university of san francisco law school and the fact i passed the bar will open up many more doors because i feel a curve ball or an where you can in the way can't get down why is this in my way we have to figure out a solution how to move forward we solution how to move forward we can't let adversity throw in the - working for the city and county of san francisco will immerse you in a vibrant and dynamic city that's on the forefront of economic growth, the arts, and social change. our city has always been on the edge of progress and innovation. after all, we're at the meeting of land and sea. - our city is famous for its iconic scenery, historic designs, and world- class style. it's the birthplace of blue jeans, and where "the rock" holds court over the largest natural harbor on the west coast. - the city's information technology professionals work on revolutionary projects, like providing free wifi to residents and visitors, developing new programs to keep sfo humming, and ensuring patient safety at san francisco general. our it professionals make government accessible through award-winning mobile apps, and support vital infrastructure projects like the hetch hetchy regional water system. - our employees enjoy competitive salaries, as well as generous benefits programs. but most importantly, working for the city and county of san francisco gives employees an opportunity to contribute their ideas, energy, and commitment to shape the city's future. - thank you for considering a career with the city and county of san francisco. >> all right. good morning, everyone. i am mohammed nuru, the director of the san francisco public works department. i want to gyp by just thanking all of you by joining us to celebrate the completion of our new office of chief medical examiners' facility. [ applause ] just to acknowledge a couple of people that are joining us today i see the fire chief. his wife is here. i see commander laz is r is here, along with commander ewing from the police department. of course, our sheriff, sheriff hennessee, who will be actually providing security at this facility, tom dewey, the director, and the office of occi. the office of community engagement and involvement. yes. and, of course, all of you. i just again want to say thank you. what a tremendous project this is. it brings me great joy to welcome this new addition to the city's infrastructure to hunter's point the neighborhood the prom has been in the works for a while. we're glad to have it in bayview. not only is this facility a world-class facility, it's -- this facility has been delivered in a very fiscal matter and timely. i think, for me, one of the most important things that we like on a job and it happened on this job, it was delivered with a great safety record. not one injury in the two years this prom was built. this project is a support project. it's and as the director of the project i want to say how proud hi am to deliver this project. and i want to take this opportunity to thank the public works team in all of the work they did on this project. that was led by city architect edgar lopez. several of our project architects, magnidina royal. i also want to thank our talented construction crew and construction company, clock construction, who did a very, very good in delivering this. and, of course, k.m.d. architects, the designers of the facility. and, most important, our client and partner, dr. hunter, and his staff. and i can tell you, with all of the projects in this city, none of them would be possible without the leadership of our mayor, ed lee. who, ed, before you became mayor, you were at the city administrator's office. you will hear from the city administrator today also. but his commitment and his dedication to making sure that we invest in capital improvements, especially towards our infrastructure project. and he has made that a top priority of his administration. and through his leadership, a lot of projects that the city desperately needs are actually happening. so i'm not going to say a lot of great things that ed has done, but let's hear from him, our mayor, ed lee. [ applause ] >> why aren't you going to say a lot about what i've done? what's wrong with that? well, let me say this: this is a fun day because a number of accomplishments are made. you know, i see our president, london breed, who is here just sitting down now because she's so busy doing so many other things. but she found the time. and working in partnership with the board is really born when it comes to earthquake safety and emergency response. so let me give you the larger picture of why today is so important. we have to get ready for the big disasters. we've seen it happen. it's gotten really close with the fires up north. and you realize how much things that should, could have been done to prevent that. but we also have the your honors in -- but we also have the hurricanes in the south. we have man-mades and we study them. that's why so many of our participants today are part of our first responder agencies and personnel because this facility is that important. when we were in recruitment and interviewing dr. hunter for this job as chief medical examiner, he asked because he toured the original place. i'm sure he mild at the recent news that we're getting as many people out of the hall of justice as possible. well, buried in the basement has been dr. hunter's office for quite some time. he smiled when he sat down with us and said, you're going to help us build a brand new facility, right? because he can't do the world-class modern toxicology laboratory work at this office that he's commanded to do. he can't have parents and families of people who want to know what happened on any incident be disrespected in the basement of the hall of justice and sometimes waiting for weeks, in fact, months to have some dignity for what happened h. you can't have sheriffs and other people waiting for the same reason. and you can't have less than professional standards operating in that office. and not only did we head up one of the best in the country for that office, we had this office. that's why i enjoy working with mohammed so much and the city administrator. we had this whole office and the chief medical examiner inform us about how to design this place adequately. that's with edgar and the k.m.d. actorra tects -- architects designed the building. when you involve the professionals, you are going to get a top-class product when you work with them at the top. and when we have the first-class responders of a world-class facility, then you're going to get that. but the real conversation is this: with supervisor cohen's support, with the entire board of supervisors, the conversation started back in 2010, where we want that conversation with the public -- what should we do better and be prepared better for? and they voted in a very strong, over 70% support for earthquake safety emergency response. and they did it twice in 2010 and again in 2014 when we asked that all of our police facilities, our stations, our fire stations, our department, our emergency response facilities get upgraded to withstand a major shake. now we have a world-class medical examiner's office that, for all of the reasons i said earlier, the public can trust. we did it, as mohammed said, on time and on budget. that's why i invest in public works. when we want to get something done, our board and mayor says let's get public works in charge and, with our city administrator, we get the job done. we also get the job done when we work with our partners in labor. and i must say to the carpenters' union, to the labors' union, thank you, thank you, thank you for making this such a safely built place, but also for your embracement of programs like city build and local hire. because there are 44 individuals from san francisco that help build this if facility with allf the work and that is a great milestone for the bayview community. because the saying says around here, if the community doesn't build it, nobody builds it. i know that's the feeling we accomplish right here in this building. and more an more of our public projects will always involve graduates of city build, local hire, the community. that's how we build things with the communities, with our own hands. it's not just these buildings. it's the downtown building. it's the chase arena for the warriors. when people say we built that, then 2010 and 2014 conversations with the public about general obligation bonds and all of the other financial tools that we have to have our voters vote on, they'll be that much happier. when we finish this project and i know our city administrators and our finance officers are really happy. when we retire debt, then we create even more room for the next bond programs. and the public will put trust in putting their votes in on that. not only did we do it in this fashion, as i said. we involved, yet, another examination that i think is becoming more and more important to the quality of work we do in these buildings. that was the art commission. the art commission got the first 2% out of this public project, the full 2%. and i know susan's really happy she -- she doesn't like the 1%. she likes the 2%. and she's done really well because i'm -- i haven't gone in and seen it yet, but we've honored and i know dr. hunter is really joyful to honor somebody that he's known throughout the country having been the historic medical examiner hex pert for the city, dr. boyd stevens. and i know his own coat is somewhere in there in some remnant in some classic fashion of art work. so we honor our historic leaders, as well as our art and art for this, for them that will work here and people that will visit here. it is about infrastructure. it is about first responders. it's about the first level of medical professionalism in the medical examiner world. it is about having a world-class forensic toxicology laboratory. that's a lot of scientific words. what it comes down to sometimes is we need to know what happened. we need to have scientific trust to it so that our trust and public knows what happened to a person, what happened to a family, what happened in a major event. we need to have it safely done in this building. these bonds are going to be important constantly. when we build on time and when we build within the parameters that the public expects us to do, they're going to give us a lot more support for our public bonds and for our public programs. so public works, city administrator, to all of you and the way you did this, thank you very much. let's get on with not only opening this and having people move out of the hall of justice as quickly as possible. if the courts were smart, they would not be at the state level. they'd be at the county level. so they've got to get them out as well because we need everybody to be out of the hall of justice, quite frankly. it's not a safe building. everybody knows that. so let's get on with building the world-class, safe buildings for all of our staff. but, ultimately, these are public buildings. we want to respect every role that the event plays. when the event hits we want everyone to be prepared. don't forget your 72.org. and that's what they wanted me to say. thanks for supervisor cohen, for the bayview community supporting this. it is not easy having a medical issue in your neighborhood. sometimes people have a little issue with some of these public functions in their neighborhood. but this was embraced for the right reasons. we'll have a lot more people down here who will be active in creating a higher level of safety for everyone. and i want to thank our police department. we've got a couple of our officers at s.f. general right now. i pray for them for a quick recovery. they're doing the work we ask them to do. community policing isn't easy. it's not easy these days with the opioid epidemic and, perhaps, some of the things the medical examiner is going to be engaged with. we need to support our public safety agencies because they're doing a darn good job to keep them safe. thank you, everybody, for supporting this. congratulations. >> thank you, mayor lee. i see ken bukowski. he was definitely instrumental in making sure all the monies were there and on time and thank him for this. i see our director, john updike, who has also been helpful in many of the projects that the city has been implementing, so thank you also. and i know you heard the mayor talk about those 44 individuals from the community that were able to work on the job. those 44 people actually represent more than 40% of the work force that actually worked on this job. so i want to give a good congratulations and thank clark for giving our residents an opportunity to build something in their own back door. it gives them jobs and they're able to take care of their families. and i know, you know, as you heard the mayor, it takes a village. so there are a lot of people who were involved in making these projects happen. and at this time i'm going to welcome our president of the board of supervisors, london breed. if you would. >> thank you, mohammed. thank you, mr. mayor. i'm really excited to be here today. when i first became a member of the san francisco board of supervisors, i would get e-mails and phone calls from people who were trying to find out exactly what happened when their loved ones passed away. they wanted closure. they wanted to know what happened. because of the if a will silts the medical examiners was in, we were almost at risk of losing our accreditation. this is why this building was born to build. this is why we needed to build quickly. and, yes. as the mayor said, we needed to move rapidly in getting people out of the hall of justice. we know that no one should be in that building. here we are a step closer to moving one of those departments at least out of that building and into a state-of-the-art facility. members sometimes will have to make that journey to this particular place in order to find out exactly what happened. and the great news is that they will have a warm, welcoming, beautiful facility, incredible public art. i think that the staff will probably feel a lot better, too, working under these conditions. so i'm excited about the future. i'm excited about what is to come. i think this is a step in the right direction. i wish it were raping money all over the place so we can do this for every city department we know needs to be out of the hall of justice. i know everybody shaking their heads right now actually work in the hall of justice. we're going to get to each and every one of you. because here in san francisco, we're really fortunate, as the mayor said, to have some generous voters. emwho say, you know, when we put something on the ballot, they support it. they know it's the right thing to do. the infrastructure project, all of the things that we need to do to make sure not only that our city is working today. we need to make sure it is working for generations to come yes, we're all upset over the congestion. yes, we don't like van ness avenue right now and a couple of other places. but at the end of the day, it's going to be even better. this is an example of what we can accomplish when we make these projects work for san franciscans. so thank you to each one of you. thank you to the department of public works, thank you to clerk. thanks for these folks who had the opportunity to work in their backyard. this is really amazing for the city today. thank you so much. [ applause ] >> thank you, supervisor breed. next we're going to hear from city administrator, city administrator actually chairs our planning committee. when these projects get delivered or they get conceived, they actually go through a serious vetting process. it is a process to approve them. it is through her leadership that these projects are actually able to happen. when we work on these projects. when we have challenges or we have concerns, we always have to make sure the city administrator knows what happened h. we're very thankful to the voters. there's only so much money. we have to finish these projects on time and on budget. under her leadership, we developed another one. welcome as city administrator. >> thank you, mohammed. i don't know if anyone said it yet, but welcome to the new medical examiner facility. >> and you heard the mayor and supervisor breed talk about the hall of justice. we are trying to decant the hall of justice so we can demolish that building. i was watching the historic movie, "bullet" with steve mcqueen in the late 60s. they filmed a lot of the scenes in the medical examiner facility. i thought to myself, oh, my goodness. nothing has changed 50 years later. i don't know if there was even an upgrade or renovation. it was exactly the same thing. look at how we've evolved over the last 50 years, new technology. we were skinnier around the waist so it was for skinnier people and it was undersized and didn't meet standards. and this is a project near and dear to the city administrators' hearts. it started for me in 2013 when i was trying to get this facility to be part of the easer program and with the director of public finance we were successful in convincing our capital plan colleagues to put this as part of the 2014easer bond, which went to the voters. it was a $64 million bond. i want to thank the voters because they moved forward with us to bring this new facility, so i just wanted to thank all of you for that. so we hit the ground running in 2014. what you may or may not all remember. i had an interim director of the office of the chief medical examiner. he was not a doctor. he was not a forensic pathologist. he was not a toxicologist. he was a great administrator while we started the international search to find dr. bukowskih. it started the design. i've been working with public work works when we worked with recruitment. and i found dr. hunter. i'm telling you i found you just in time, dr. hunter. we tried our best. when he came in, our input into the facility made it -- when you go on a tour, i think you'll see what a state of the art facility is and how lucky we are to have this building. it was a lot of your great input. so thank you, dr. hunter. when you tour this facility, supervisor breed touched on it. the family room. i mean, this is a time when you are grieving, especially when the families who come here, it is you'rely an unanticipated death, so you're in shock. and the family room in here compared to what was at the hall of justice was just -- it will change the experience. it will try and -- it will be more comforting and warming to what you're already going through. and then for those who are squeamish, like myself, at the hall of justice, i would take circiquitous routes to make sure that i didn't pass out. the flow of this facility is excellent. like i said, all of you will be very impressed when you go on the tour. i want to thank clark, public works, the contract monitoring division and city build. because you heard the mayor and the director say that we hit all types of goals with our local business enterprise goals and our local hiring goals. 6,100 working hours of local residents on this building, half of them from the bay view hunter 's point neighborhood. 34 of the construction crews were from san francisco. i want to thank all of your leadership throughout the city. so thank you very much and enjoy the tour. >> okay. we're almost there. we're almost there. as i hear her speak i remember working for the city one of my jobs was to maintain the hall of justice. can i tell you that facility with the news we just heard with the leadership of the board of supervisors and the mayor we are all moving out of there and delivering this facility. one thing at public works that we take very, very important is to work closely with our client and make sure that we deliver the state of the art project that our clients expect to have. and leading that effort is our chief medical examiner, dr. hunter. please come up and speak. [ applause ] and i'm also impressed with the amount of dedication and hard work of mohammed's team at public works shepharding this project from infancy to completion and that is what we have here today. i would like to recognize two individuals that were dedicated to this project and really did get us to where we are today. they worked very closely with me and the finer points of this building, i think, is -- is due to that interaction. i do want to -- it's magdalina ryer in the crowd? okay. magadelena was the project manager who worked with the staff to ensure the design and construction of the facility completed as desired. completed as desired meaning that is not an easy thing to do. we want this facility to be functional now and functional in the future. we want it to work. so we were arm in arm with public works and magdalena did a fan taftic job of making that happen. and did an amazing job at that. i would like to recognize a member of my staff. christopher warziak who is my director of operations. and christopher is right next to magdalena over there. and at this point, i suspect a lot of you in the crowd know christopher. if you had anything to do with this project or had anything to do with the coordination and the move, you know who christopher is. he's been dedicated to the office. you no he him as a fierce advocate for the office, the medical examiner. he's worked tirelessly from the early stages of the building design to construction and finally to coordination to make sure that this all come shz together and works cohesively. i cannot fully express my gratitude to christopher, other than to say thank you very much for a wonderful job. lastly, i want to thank the residents for the city and county of san francisco for making this facility possible. thank you, san francisco. [ applause ] >> let's give another hand to the medical examiner's office. they work hard jobs. i mean, these are tough jobs. okay. our last speaker is from the san francisco public art program when we do projects in the city we are required to set aside some funding for art. and i think that it's a very good policy because, when we do these buildings, we are able to also add some beauty and some art to the project. and speaking on behalf of the arts commission today is susan pontiaz, who will tell us a little bit about the art in the building. and when you get to tour it, it is beautiful, beautiful art that reflects the neighborhood and reflects san francisco. welcome, susan. [ applause ] >> thank you. save the best for last. we are really lucky to live in a city that values art to beautify its public spaces like san francisco. but many of you, to be blunt, may be asking: with what is the role of art in the morgue? many members of the public, when they come and are here in the midst of decent and deep grief with no art. yet, it is prove than certain kinds of imagery can reduce stress and anxiety. this was our very special goal from the very onset of this project. our goal was to select art that contributes to a sense of calm, peace, and tranquility. it is part of the way that the city expresses compassion, and we are really proud to be a part of that effort. and i know all of the artists who participated are also proud to be part of that effort. so as you enter the lobby, the first piece you'll see is my murial axelrod. is murial here? yes. murial is right there in the purple sweater. she has created a beautiful collage inspired by the salt marshes and wildlife of india basin. the work was created with thousands of pieces of fabrics that the artist has carefully arranged, pinned, and sewn together. i invite you to take a close look. it is really amazing. some of the fabric that is in the birds, as merilee mentioned was a jacket worn by g. boyd steven who's served the city over 30 years as the chief medical examiner. there's also a collection of framed art works on the walls in the publicly accessible areas of the building. and these, woulds are all by san francisco bay area artists, inspired by the unique beauty and scenes of the bay area. the artists are in the collection, and i ask you to raise your hand if you're here. susie barnyard, who i know -- right behind me there. whose studio is in the bayview. elaine kummes, there. stanley goldstein, b url e landow. there is b url e and alan mazetti. they're way in the back. and coming soon to the landscaped area right behind me will be a large-scale sculpture entitled alma by sculptor, richard doitch. i don't know if richard is here student. the stainless steel sculpture is inspired by alma, a flat-bottomed schooner built in 1891 by fred seamer in his shipyard at hunter's point. at 22 feet tall, it will help identify this facility as a civic building and provide a major art asset to the community si also want to give thanks to all of the artists for their great, would. i want to thank project manager, mary chu, from our office, who was on the front lines making sure all of this -- coordinating all of this work to get into the building. i also want to thank other staff from our arts commission, jennifer lavorne, who is our senior project manager, and jennifer krane-doyle who is here as one of our registrars. i want to thank elaine from d.r.w., the project manager for all of their support in helping us realize this project. thank you very much. >> okay. so at this time we are going to cut the ribbon. and after the ribbon cutting, the facility will be open for tours for just one hour. so we'll go from 12:00 to 1:00. so if you are available or have time, i would encourage you to walk through it. it is a very beautiful state-of-the-art facility to seeing how things work through to how things flow from all of the labs that are up there to these capabilities to what this modern lab will do for us. so thank you very much for coming out today. i just really appreciate it. we look forward to delivering more projects on your behalf. thanks. [ applause ] >> countdown. >> ready. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! whew! [ applause ] [music]

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