To be a low see and feinstein and meeting with the congressional committee. Norman went on that treat or reverend fong. Sorry. And even 20 years ago, speaker a low sew and feinstein moved this project. China town needs this lifeline. But beyond the tremendous economic benefits of central subway will have, i want to share one impact that people outside of our community see. Several years back when tan and i were doing outreach on this street, there was one merchant who pointed out something i will never forget. I said central subway was more than action he economic benefit and having the world china town printed in a citywide map that everyone would see signaled something bigger and permanent for this community and the permanent of china town is not something we can take for granted. China town survived numerous attempts the relocation. First after the great quake 60 and the threat posed by the pandemic. The central subway means as mentioned, merchant implied and china town has been and is and will be forever a part of the fabric of San Francisco. Thank you. [cheers and applause] with no further or do, i have the honor of introducing the next speaker, someone who needs no introductions in these parts and not in this community, mayor breed has been a supporter of china town in the most important way and i have the honor of introducing our third chineseamerican lead, mayor london breed. [applause] i can truly attest to the fact that i definitely probably come in third and that mayor willy brown still comes in first every time he shows up to china town and so, im grateful for his leadership, for mayor ed lee and the work that they did to get us here today. But today, im going to take all the credit, now that i am mayor for moving this project forward which has been long awaited by this community and this city. But before i give my remarks, i want to take an opportunity to just express my condolences, many of you know that Queen Elizabeth the second passed away today and on behalf of the city and county of San Francisco, we have setup a book for those who are interested in coming to city hall to sign this book. We will then present it to our Council General here who represents europe and make sure that the community receives this book of condolences and so, thank you all so much, many people reached out to us to want to know exactly what San Francisco plans to do and thats exactly what we plan to do. She was a marvelous lady and she definitely will be missed. And again, thank you malcolm and welcome everyone. I want to start by really thanking our leader, our Speaker Nancy Pelosi and secretary butagy for joining or maybe mayor, i like to call him mayor still because he served as the mayor but we are proud of his work as transportation secretary because it is definitely needed, having a mayors perspective is so important because he really understands what it takes to get projects like this done and thank you for bringing us all here today. I want to recognize city staff, many who have worked tirelessly to plan and build this project and thank the community for their patience during the many, many years of construction. We know transit is the backbone of this city and our priority right now is on our recovery and reopening. That means bringing back the transit routes and connections that our communities rely on to get to work and school and around the city or come out on a Beautiful Day and hang out in china town. What we know is that when we invest in transportation, it benefits our city and it benefit peoples lives and in april we opened up finely the van necessary bus Rapid Transit system whip has been a huge success system which has been a huge success. People are saving up to 35 of their time now now that brt is here. Thats a big difference. That difference is bringing more people to ride the bus and we are going to see those benefits again when the central subway finally opens up later this fall. It will serve some of the dense neighborhoods in the city and help people from china town to oracle park and chase center and the bay views point and it will reduce travel time and ease congestion in the cities busiest areas and it will connect to our Regional Transit systems, bart and caltrain and we have representatives from those entities here with us today and thank you all for your partnership and your work. Its going to connect the entire bay area network. Thats what this is about. So, with central subway opening soon, we already are thinking of what is to come next. I was telling the speaker, im like you do so much for San Francisco and we give you love and as soon as we give you love just like family, what have you done for me lately and what can you do for me next . Madam speaker, we appreciate you and ask you this, you know, from the heart, we have the central subway coming soon and were already thinking about what is coming next. We have so much more to do, more planning, more maintenance and more building. We have two funding priorities, we want to bring our existing muni rail system up to the state of good repair after decades of disinvestment and second, we always want to have a subway under construction. I said my priority was, as a native of san franciscan to get this subway all the way to Fishermans Wharf but native san franciscans knows what im talking about, it will be amazing but next on our list is the tunnel to connect caltrain and highspeed rail to our are transit center. Thats for all the commuters in the bay area. Thats critical to the future of our city and downtown and yes, secretary, we have applied for federal grant to help fund that critical project, but welcome to San Francisco. [laughter] when we invest in transit we feel the difference, its faster and more reliable and its a comfortable way to get us to where we need to go, it helps our economy, it helps our family and seniors and it helps our workers who rely on it. September is transit month and i cant imagine a better place to celebrate that than with all of you. I continue to love seeing everyone ride, our kids riding free, like we did when we were kids even though we were supposed to pay but we made it legitimate. Tourist taking our cable cars and people commuting to work. This is what it means to experience San Francisco and you know what, it feels so good. We wouldnt be here if it wasnt for the help of our Speaker Nancy Pelosi and funding from sfta new starts program. Thank you madam speaker for everything that you always done. I mean, i should just, you know, print a thank you something that she can carry it. Thank you for San Francisco residents because when it comes to transit, housing, i mean, you name it, she is always delivering time and time again for this community and thank you to secretary butaga for your support and being in San Francisco and theres so many places across the country you could travel but youre here highlighting the great work we do and the Biden Administration prioritizing transit especially rail bus, Rapid Transit and streetcars. You prioritized connecting communities that have historically been cut out from Economic Opportunities and we appreciate that. And youve also prioritized street safety, recently, we received a federal grant to help make Howard Street in south of market safer for pedestrians and bicyclists, thanks to these two extraordinaria leaders right here. As former mayor, you understand how critical urban connections are to making our cities more livable and successful. Thats the kind of leadership we need and we are thankful that youre joining us here in San Francisco and if there are any other projects you think you might want to throw some funding at, just let us know much dont worry. We have ready to go shovel ready, whatever it takes, San Francisco is your place. But seriously, thank you for being here and all of your work and your leadership and your commitment to making Public Transit more equitable and efficient and more sustainable for our country and ladies and gentlemen, without further or do, mayor secretary of transportation, pete butaga. [applause] thank you so much mayor. I will also proudly answer to the title of mayor but i acknowledge its only gotten more demanding since i wore that title and youve got so much to be proud of so thank you for the warm welcome and congratulations on everything that has gone on here. I want to congratulate jeff tumlin and thank you for your tour and you and your team has so much to be proud of and well keep you busy with the work ahead. Director and sf mta and union worker whos have been working for a decade including during the worst years of the pandemic to bring this to life and to those who spoken to what this means to a community and in this place you can feel the distinctiveness, not only the bustle and the food and the richness and culture but the sense of belonging thats so very important and were glad this project will support. Of course, it is my honor to be at the side of Speaker Pelosi. Someone who brought so much transformative Infrastructure Projects like the central subway to the bay area but also has brought so many Good Investments to the entire country and i spent a few weeks on the road and tulsa and indianapolis, northern New Hampshire and Southern California and today we were in the inland empire and the projects we saw in common, it wouldnt have happened without the bipartisan infrastructure law and the infrastructure law wouldnt have happened without the leadership of Speaker Pelosi and were thankful for that. [applause] and the president recently signed the Inflation Reduction Act. Something thats going to make a difference to so many people here and across california. Extraordinarily legislative achieve making prescription drugs affordable for seniors and helping families save on their utility bills and while unfortunately it didnt get any republican votes in congress, that bill has widespread bipartisan support yong the American People and thats reason that it got done. Were hard at work implementing the bipartisan law funding, so many Great Projects and the thing that i see and feel everywhere we go and certainly felt it here during our visit to the central subway is the passion that people bring, not maybe because they are transportation wonks like me because because they are passionate about their community and families and work lives and we know how that will benefit from the investments made here. Now, when it comes to the central subway, there are so many to acknowledge. The activist chinese town, taught to stabilize china town rent and played a key role in the construction of the central subway. So, we said that planning requires setting sites at least one hundred years from now. And that kind of longterm thinking is what we believe we need to bring to the investments that were making today and it was a long time that this central subway has been in the works. The department was proud to support it, a decade ago under president obama who nearly had a billion dollars in funds and is going to pay dividends for years and the most densely populated neighborhoods in San Francisco to the social economic lifer of the city and bring tour ifts for food and shopping and making its why for those who live here to reach schools and jobs and resources in the city. When people can get around with Public Transit, that makes everyone better off and it means faster commute and cleaner air and for those who dont use transit, theres less congestion and its a win win. Its the kind of project were going to see more of thanks to this buy partisan infrastructure that contains the bipartisan infrastructure and were going to work hard to deliver on that. Its the same programming that funded this program like the ones that allowed us to bring that good news. We drove up to get to our first stop upgrading Howard Street safer and Green Infrastructure and more with 23 million in raised funds and ill end with a broader thought about the worker what it means for the people of this country. Im proud of all of the transportation pieces of the initiatives and the vision that is going on right now under this administration but it is just part of a Broader Vision to make the entire country better off. To make it easier to afford to get through life, to protect our veterans, to resure manufacturing jobs to america and make sure that families can thrive in a future that has been all too uncertain as we have looked at the years that have led us to this moment. And with that, i have the pleasure of turning it over to somebody who represents an important part of what this is about, the job creation that will come with this infrastructure spending, Rudy Gonzalez who will introduce the speaker, represents the San Francisco building and construction trades who we are eager to keep at work with the funding thats going on and very much turning to do help prepare the workforce that were going to need and count on and importantly, to ensure that workforce is inviting. You have been working to women and workers of color who didnt have a family inheritance but pass generational wealth to the next generation of their families thanks to the good paying jobs so thank you again for the chance to join you and rudy, over to you. [applause] thank you, mr. Secretary. In organized labor we get excited when we see and you can see it in our eyes when we see Movement Leaders and see champions and i kind of had a transit nerd moment when i looked over in the crowd and saw adam from tpg and telly from the sfca and they were looking at secretary pete because this is their guy and its exciting and its transit week and we can be excited about that. People ask me about the green job that exist. Where is it coming from . What is the transition going to look like for workers, what might it be . And i say look no further than Public Infrastructure and transit. Those are the green jobs of today, they are the green jobs of tomorrow and i would be remised if i didnt talk a little bit about the history and being an organized labor, we owe it to everyone in our community to be blunt and to be honest like my partner in crime kim, the head of our ceo will remind, tell me like it is, right, kim. Well, like it is has to do with racism and inequality. And it has to do with connecting the southeast of this city, who have been left out of the economy, let out of our unions historically and it has to do with the chinese immigrant experience and aaip community and their struggle not just for relevant but survival and legitimacy in this city. We champion liberate and San Francisco values we we have to acknowledge the hard work it stood to get to this place. And even the interference at times from the Political Class of seeing a project like this come to completion. I hope that anybody who stood on the sidelines and talked about a boone dogle will have to smile with excitement the same way travelers did when they first crossed the golden gate bridge. That was directed in four years and four and a half months of construction or people talked about of the bart tunnels that was built in a little more than four and a half years but built nonetheless and it took bold leadership at that time, years and years ago, bold leadership, not in the assembly or City Attorneys Office as he sits now but when now City Attorney david chiu championed the entitlement for this project, many, many years ago and role in the board of supervisors. Having a vision and articulate a plan and then going for it. Taking risks, taking risks thats political but on behalf of community. I can tell you that in the audience is one of my personal heroes, meg ann prior and shes not anybody. Shes a member of the International Union of operating engineers. And shes a black woman and a leader in the operating engineers and working mom and she graduated from the City Build Academy and found her way into apprenticeship and shes a journey man in the Skilled Trades and its lives like hers thats changed and communities like hers thats not only connected through this Green Infrastructure but that are lifted up into the working class and given a future and they can proudly hand that down to others. So whether were honoring veterans who put in time after discharge from the military or given new life or Second Chances to those justice involved and previously incars lating and the building and we want to put everybody to work. In the pro Union Administration we have seen in our lifetimes, we know thats possible. We know that the, that the country in a bipartisan way support investments in our communities not just in San Francisco but across the country and we know with bold leadership and vision today, we cannot only see the completion of our a project like this but breaking ground like the transit terminal and other Green Infrastructure to keep our peopl