days. [music] >> good morning everyone! and welcome to china basin park. [applause] my name is jack bear and for the last 30 years i had the honor of working for the san francisco giants and for a great many of those years, i had the distinct pleasure working with many of you on all of this. we are still putting a few finishing touches on the park, some light, way finding signs, picnic benches and will

reinduce the messages engraved in tiles and part of the park. more later, but not today. we removed the construction fencing surrounding the park just a few weeks ago. on the morning of giant opening day and what seemed like just minutes the park was full of people, exploring this corner of the waterfront. by all accounts, they liked it. we have a great lawn overlooking the bay. we have something that the neighborhoods of north beach and south beach do not have, a beach. [laughter] there is a gathering grove, a storm water garden, food trucks, and willie mccuvy returned perched gracefully on the shoreline of the china basin channel or some refer to it

mccovey cove. joining us today is the daughter, allison. today is about expressing our appreciation and gratitude to all who made this possible. this park did not happen overnight. we started planning for this day more then 15 years ago. it has been a long journey since our very first workshop at the port. throughout, it has been a very collaborative process, with active participation from virtually all possible stakeholders. before continuing with the program, i wanted to acknowledge someone who's unfortunately is no long er with us. i are can't help but remember corrine woods and the extraordinary force she was. i like to think corrine is

beaming with pride from above. she is represented today by her husband peter schneider. thanks for being here peter. this is a long program but it will be snappy. next to say a few words is the executive director of the port of san francisco, elaine forbes. [applause] she is our landlord, a kind and thoughtful leader and good friend. elaine. [applause] >> thank you jack. i will keep it snappy. i'm really really delighted to be here today and representing the port commission vice president gale gilman and commissioner harrington are here as chief operating officer michael martin and representing the leadership team. sl no prouder day we can

welcome an exceptional place that brings people to the shoreline and unparalleled beauty of the san francisco bay. this is a day port mission comes to life after 15 years of work. congratulation. this park was built with private money. the park was built with very complicated land use deal. very state of the art infrastructure and it took 15 years to get here, and are there are many of here in the process that 15 years of work and we can't how beautiful it is. i want to recognize former port director, monique moyer, i believe she is here today for her visioning early on in the project. thank you so much monique, you are such a inspiration. [applause] i have to name port employees because they worked so hard. [calling out names] people no longer with

us-thousands of hours of work. we thank you so much. [applause] also, among us is city staff and city partners who had to be here at the table to make this thing work and did incredible work, including the city attorney office. fire chief. carla short. [indiscernible] remember. sarah phillips here from workforce economic development. these partners made this work happen and our private partners, we could not hope for better partners in the san francisco giants who are our home team, who care about san francisco and are totally dedicated to this place, and to tischman-[indiscernible] what a successful collaboration. finally to the community. i remember when corrine woods demanded this park be built in phase 1 and i was someone who said, never, not

that financially makes no sense, please fight with her on that and she was right and the right decision to deliver it the park. thank you corrine and thank you to the community. it is my pleasure to introduce our next speaker who emphasized the importance keeping this work going during covid. imagine this was built post-pandemic, the first project to rise from the ashes that. she kept this work going, demanded our city departments work together. she marshaled resources for this. she is insuring our waterfront is safe, clean and viberant to welcome all san francisco residents and visitors. brave and visionary mayor, mayor london breed. [applause] >> i just realized there was a step behind me. first of all, it is so great to be at the new china basin park! [applause] and let me just say, because we

got to take this back not just 15 years, but over 25 years ago and maybe even further. how many of you remember when this was just railroad tracks? a golf shooting range and a espre outlet? in fact, kelly mission rock, the mission rock restaurant used to be the place we used to party when i first turned 21. so, that just shows you how far i go back with this area and to come here today and see what it has become over the years, because of visionary leadership of the past that looked at this area as a possible new neighborhood of san francisco. what people don't always talk about is, what san francisco has become as a result of mission bay and that includes, housing, the

university of california san francisco and its various institutions. it includes restaurants. it includes students. it includes residents, families, a new school being built. so much has changed. this is a new neighborhood of san francisco, but it is not in isolation. it is connected by different communities and the bay trails with the new bike lanes will connect the bayview hunters point community to this neighborhood that is in close proximity where not only people live, but so many people come to this area to work at chase center, oracle park and the concerts, the games, the hotels. this is a incredible example of the diversity of a neighborhood that continues to transform itself and are now with a dozen parks already

completed and more to come, it is rapidly becoming the hippest hottest coolest neighborhood in san francisco. [applause] so, i am excitesed to be here today. a park is always something that makes people happen and in fact, san francisco has some of the best parks and this park is a great addition, especially because right here where the cove is we hope somebody gets the ball past over to china basin park. who knows it may happen. we are hopeful and excited what this park means and what this means entirely for the city and i really want to thank the port and the port staff. i want to thank tischman spire, mission bay development and the san francisco giants. i remember on the board of supervisors when we first and matter fact david chui was on the board at the

time and we were looking what this could be as it relates to a neighborhood with visa, with open ai coming here as well, how this could be such a diverse neighborhood and today we are living in the future by welcoming in this new park and we are so excited and happy about what this means for san francisco newest hippest coolest neighborhood. thank you all so much for being here. [applause] >> thank you mayor breed. she's always so incredible without notes. next up, larry goldspan. he returns bcdc rfx , the san francisco bay conversation development commission and been there a wlaung time. we worked together on the ball park project before we worked on this park, so larry, on behalf of bcdc.

[applause] >> thank you jack. it is positively marvelous to be here this morning. it happens our family have been giant season ticket holders about 30 years and our seats are in view box 323 so we had a direct view of lot a since the ball park started. that view includes the bay, mucevy cove and mission rock. it also happens the state agency which i work, insures the development along the bay provide maximum feasible public access to the bay. some people may be surprised to learn the giants and our regulatory agency have been great partners as the giants creative constructive teams design, redesigned and implemented where we are today. the gianted an expanded bay trail and it is gorgeousmentf resilient

to rising sea level in the future and it will be. and to provide different types of spaces within the park to entice and satisfy different users. as such, our working relationship only strengthened over that time and since the ball park was initial ly proposed. during yesterday game i spent a lot of time in 323 watching people walk and bike on the bay trail, picnic on this lawn, take pictures at the statute and activate this park. the space invites people to come in and will establish china basin as a great place to hang out whether waiting for friends before the game, finding a place to get lunch or just looking at the bay or ball park. in sum, this is the activating space the public deserves around the entire bay. china basin park is a winner and on behalf of it public who love this park and will continue to love this

park, thank you so much giants for making this public space so welcoming. [applause] >> hello everyone. beside me is john doneally, design principal escape and my name is chris murphy. as the director of design and construction for the mission rock partners, it has been a true privilege being a part of this incredible journey. i joined the team early 2020 under steve minden and matt to oversee design with it team. partner with the port through the permitting process and execute on the construction. as a san franciscans it is a unique and extremely humbling experience to play a role developing a new waterfront

neighborhood for enjoyment of the people for the great city. china basin park the cornerstone across from a world class ball park sument as a monumental public gathering space. my congratulations to our general contractor, web corp builders which brought the park from the page and into existence. of course, they had a lot of help from a wonderful group of subcontractors. our two all star lbe include taharo who placed all the architectural site concrete. [applause] and [indiscernible] who performed the mass greeting and geo form block install. [applause] also, special thank you to jensen, who brought all the gorgeous landscaping to life. [applause] list a few others, ranger, lify, [indiscernible] about a half dozen trades who completed the restroom behind me.

i was want to give a huge shout out all to the men and women who labored to turn this park into realty. you should be forever proud of your accomplishment: [applause] i would like to highlight one unique invasion that speaks to the sustainable approach mission rock partners utilized across the entire development. the park is designed to be 10 percent lighter then the existing surface parking lot that it replaced. so, even though it has grown as much as 16 feet in elevation, when you are at the top of the great lawn behinds me you are on top of tw feet of soil, 13 feet of light way geo foam, 7 feet of concrete and 2 feet of foam glass aggregate made from recycled bottles. [applause]

this is a truly complex mument layered engineering approach which achieves load off set and creating resiliency against future sea level rise. we are forch tunate to have a truly all star design team. i like to thank min design, [calling design team] [applause] all of these great firms worked under the direction of the wonderful team who artistic vision is a driving force for the park we are dedicated today. >> hello. today represents the culmination of decades of visionary thinkish, gritd and hard work. on behamp of the team, congratulations to everyone who played a role bringing

this park to life. i also like to say thank you tiffman spire, san francisco giants, the port of san francisco and all who entrusted the design to scape. much of the early efforts focus on building consensus what the park needed to be and how to best serve the public giant fans, local residents and members of the new mission rock community. this unmatched site is so inspiring and offered up so many aspets. oracle park, mucevy code, san francisco sky line and bayviews. i lost my spot. [laughter] and the new mission rock neighborhood. we work carefully to sculp the land and connections to the urban experiences. at the time a performative park that manage storm water through the mission rock neighborhood, enhance comfort protecting the site of realty

of sun and wind and anticipates the future of rising seas and climate changes. the soul of the park is the unique terrain of san francisco magnifying a landscape. the sweeping lawn with cypress trees. plant specious that shade the gathering grove chosen for special relationship to the city. the beach pavements and materials echo the gradients of coastal edge present across san francisco shoreline. design is inspired by waterfront landscape of san francisco and urban spectacle of game day splash hits. today china basin park is a multifaceted park greater then the sum of the parts. it is a collection of the spaces, diverse habitats and experience. flexible enough to accommodate both game day crowds and quite moments of reflection. the park serve community events and cr daily connections between neighbors and the bay. it is is a place that expresses

the diversity of the city and welcoming all people to mission rock, mucovey cove and the bay. we have been so honored to lead the creation of this new public space that serve san franciscans into the next century. thank you so much. [applause] >> up next, maggie and larry. [applause] >> hello. maggie from tischman spire side of the mission rock partners team. it is really surreal to be up here now standing in front of these buildings in this amazing park. john and chris highlighted resiliency elements of the park and i wanted to talk more about something near and dear to my heart which is irrigation system here for this. when you are building a tremendous amount of new green space, you see all the vegetation we have among us. it is hard to do when you are

in a drought ridden climate and something mission rock did, which is different and sets apart from other projb ects within san francisco and beyond is built a black water treatment plant which is no small feat. that treatment plant will serve to irrigate the entirety of this park and other open spaces within mission rock with water we recycle on site. it is another element how coming together with a public private partnership working directly with the port, the other city agencies have allowed private development to do things differently. we are excited how that can set the tone and be a example for other future project that think about design sustainability and build the project of tomorrow and excited to see that come to fruition here. i touched on the importance of public private partnership nature and the amount of people and faces standing out

here who i have interactsed with over the process and many beyond the people here that have had a hand in this. i have been able to see late nights early mornings that all come to bring this park to be reality and incredible this perseverance paid off to get to this point today. lastly, excited this park serves as the front yard to this new neighborhood. we have residents living in the canyon who can come out bring their dogs to play in this park, bring their kids out to have picnics and really serve the transit point for them getting to and from home and the office. we also have visa coming here and you see their sign very prominent behind me who is coming to make this neighborhood their new home within the next month and then you have cat gemini who moved in their space this week and have a place to have lunch on the lawn, they have the ability to enter their

space, have beautiful views of the park while they are working and it just serves as a landmark here in the southern waterfront and we are excited what it does for this great neighborhood, so we are incredibly happy to be here. there is so many people to thank in the process and wouldn't have been done without all the contributions of people thin crowd and well beyaunds. with that, thank you all and i'll turn it over to larry to say a few words. [applause] >> thanks maggie. hello everyone. wow. i was actually as i was standing here listening to maggie, i was looking out and i was looking out--it was a major wow, because as i was looking out in the few minutes that maggie was speaking, there was a jogger jogging on the bay trail, there was somebody walking a dog and somebody taking a

picture with willie mccovey in the background and ball park. it today crystalizes what so many worked on in a incredibly collaborative way for a long long time, as jack said, 15 years. i will start by just asking, we call them the mission rockers. everybody's in the giant family that worked on mission rock, because as jack alluded them to stand up and take a collective giants bow, because amazing work, including a wonderful alumni fran well who i will call out. fran lead the projbect for years and years and years and years and now on the east coast and doing wonderful things there. so, the collaborative nature of what this project is and was was how

it was conceived, super important to what we have today. i distinctly remember and this has been referenced, but want to highlight the decision to basically do the park first. to open the park at the front end and elaine and the mayor and all our city partners were very much on board with that. tischman spire. because what this feels like on the ground to folks that are coming as maggie said, the folks working here, people living here. we have 60 plus percent of the canyon filled. the red building. the green building will be opening later this year. we have more buildings residential and office to come. we have retail opening. to be able to have this park as an emenity for everybody in the neighborhood as when we went to the election in 2015 is a crucial part of being able to get off to a

great start with mission rock project. i want to especially call out the mayor again for all of her leadership, and while this project has crossed several administrations in our 15 years of working on it, getting all of these buildings open and there is more ribbon cuttings to come later this year, rest with the city apparatus as it exists today and it has been nothing but incredibly supportive as tischman spire as has the port of san francisco and all the community stakeholders as well. we are really looking forward to very shortly to have in this park movie nights and fitness and music classes, and food trucks, and all of this activating. already-yesterday before the day game it was great hearing larry looking at the park from 323, i also was

kind of seeing how people were interacting with the park before the game. tons of people were over taking instagramable moments. take a picture with willie mccovey and would say willie would be so proud of this park on the cove and just kisses and hugs to allison, willie's daughter. one more round of applause for allison who is here. stand up allison. we know her father no matter what ailment he was battling in the later years was so proud to be sitting in his perch in the broadcast level in the box looking out over mccovey cove and he would see the statute here fronting the beautiful park. thank you all so much. i wanted to call up a couple

community partners who have been wonderful throughout this project, and we got just a couple more speakers. hang on everyone. the folks we will introduce now are, ed hatter who was the chair of the southern advisory committee. edward. are you here? yep. come on up. and alice rogers who is a south beach rinconmission bay neighborhood association. they are the folks here and make this all happen, current residents. [applause] >> good morning. i'm edward hatter, chair of southern advisory committee for the port, and i promised i was going to be brief, but i got a history that just will not stop. [laughter] i look out here and i see the new home of the giants but i was a kid

of the old home of the giants candle stick park. i look at this park and look at the people and say giants good job, city great job. this very rarely that we are able to all come together and come out with a finished product such as this park. alright? i can't wait to get my kids from the neighborhood house down here playing in the fields and everything else and long the bay shore, but this is only the beginning. i want to make that very clear. the giants have an outstanding development team. the city has outstanding department heads. we can come together and start with china basin and at least finish at indian basin. with great parks, great housing, great buildings, great infrastructure. [applause]

and with this work, maybe we can even take it back to candle stick. thank you. i would like to introduce alice rogers. thank you. [applause] >> good morning. mr. hatter is a difficult act to follow. speeches are long, time is short, and what i really in essence want to say is thank you mission rock team for creating this incredible addition to the public waterfront. it has been said earlier, but can't be said often enough, in a properly ordered universe it would be corrine woods standing here in my place ushering the best of class commons. it was corrine's steady advocacy and as importantly, the respect she garnered from the port and from the giants that got us this park now today in

phase one of mission rock development as elaine said, normally public spaces bring up the rear when the cash-flow can support them, but great effort was made to have this now. it was corrine that put the heart and soul at the forefront of the neighborhood and generations who will inojoy this place will carry that forward. corrine set the keystone, but it was mission rock development team that really leaned into neighborhood engagement. throughout the entire 15 years plus of the development of this project, they included solicited the neighborhood input. they created interesting fun charrettes and for all of us to come and

brainstorm and think what would make this place unique. appropriate to the site and an addition to the neighborhood that everybody would anticipate. hundreds of neighbors joined over the years and it is really on their behalf that i'm here to say once again, thank you so much mission rock development for creating this incredible haven. in addition to all of those neighbors who worked so hard over 15 years, we have great new neighbors now, and i like to introduce the bomed family who are new residents in the canyon to what about what it feels like to live here. [applause] >> hello everyone. good morning and good afternoon.

we are canyon residents. we just moved here. we always wish to live in mission bay, mission rock neighborhood. we are lucky to get this project done. i want to thank everyone who contributed to get this done after hearing the challenges and the hard work. thank you. i cannot say enough about this, because we live like on the 11th floor and we are facing the giants. the view of the park, the beach. thank you for everyone who makes this landscape for us. i'm the father of three kids. we can enjoy it, play, riding their bikes. we are very lucky to be here.

thank you everyone. [applause] >> before i introducing the last speaker, i want to acknowledge stella willie's widow who arrived. thank you for coming stella. [applause] now, my colleague and the person who's will oversee the operation of this park-- [applause] >> for the record, i'll managing the fun. there are others doing the real important work. thank you jack and thanks everyone here who has come together and celebrate all the faces that planted the seeds to make this public space possible. if you build it they will come

and this is true for china basin park. it has open two weeks and we have seen dogs, dog parents, bikers, kids playing in the sand, we have seen our first bride and groom take photos in the park so people are making memories here and they will be the stakeholders we have to answer to when operating and managing this amazing public space. we'll build on this and bring great events and concerts and key amenities for this great urban space. may 11 we will have our first community event free to the public and open to families so nice to start a great season of programming. this concludes the speaking program so thank you everyone. that was a lot of important really great speakers. next we invite the mayor, director forbes, larry and maggie over to do our ceremony planting of the park, then fallowed by a ribbon cutting on the bay

trail and join us for photography on the steps and complementary free ice cream in the central plaza because what is a park if not having a good cone on somewhat warm day. thank you everyone and join us over here. [applause] >> alright,b here we go! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! [cheers and applause]by.

>> ph.d. >> my name is i'm a leader of the town in san francisco we try to provide japanese something we make like seaweed it creates like the many flavors we try to provide like more open japanese flavor as well as the james values like people get to experience in japan like a great

ex >> i'm eric tanaka. fourth generation japanese american born and raised in san francisco i work for the san francisco fire department station 10, truck 10 as a firefighter. i think about my journey i think about my family. my grandfather came to san francisco in 1917 we have been here for over 100 years. married my grand mother they were in the japanese camps. prior he was a successful business owner in the city. when he started to start over he was murdered. and i never met my grandfather. my grand mother and my mother were left to raise me, brother and sister my father was around but work. it was very challenging for me

growing up as a young kid in the city. trying to find my identity. and so i got myself in a lot of trouble. trying to defend myself and my heritage. that i was -- raised to be proud of. and there was a time i was ashamed. you know, thinking about and understanding my family's strug and he will had my grand mother and grandfather went through i was ignited a fire to keep moving forward. i decided to dedicate my life to service. servicing my family and community and the city. one of my goal in life is to reach out to our community youth and support them so they mack myself the potential to finds careers they never thought they were capable of. when i want my family tong of me i want to be proud. whenever career i chos is not about the money it is providing

a life that is honorable and thoughtful. so that -- the generations behind us see how hard my family worked make sure we have been able to sustain and thrive in san francisco. community is huge to me. it helped me become the person i am today. and our department. we got one of the busiest stations in the in addition, station 3. we have a surf rescue program program cliff rescue program. we have so many things to be proud of as a department. i can't say this enough, there is honestly no words to say how proud i am to work for the department and serve the community that i grew up in. [music]

>> the vibrant south of market neighborhood in san francisco is deep lee rooted filipino if

fluences to shape the cultural identity. soma pilipinas known for [indiscernible] night life and art scenes is home to growing filipino community that thrived for generations. >> soma pilipinas is a community, the village that has been over a hundred years in the making. this is home to many generations of filipino from the turn of the century, to the present. continues to be a gateway community for a lot of filipinos just arriving from the philippines. >> one of sth most prominent scines is filipino owned businesses become staples in the neighborhood. restaurants like manila bowl and jp restaurant offer [indiscernible] >> we call it [indiscernible] this is my passion. everybody's who came right now.

we feel good right here. community is like a family. >> the eatery serve mouth watering dishes and provide a sense of home to the filipino community, preserving traditions passed down generation. >> a filipino restaurant utilizing california ingredients we honor traditional family recipe [indiscernible] we shop in the market 2 to 3 times a week. we make the filipino cuisine proud in san francisco. >> along with the culinary deliteds, soma philippine ow is home to san francisco top mix aulgists. filipino artistry is a facet of soma pilipinas rich tapestry. the filipino cultural heritage

district transformed public spaces into canvases that depict the stories and experiences of filipino americans. >> parlt part of the work we do is support filipino artists to work with community to really create and develop community based art. this is murals and designs that really reflect the rich history, the culture and the struggles and triumps of the filipino community. >> the presence of the filipino cultural center which offer workshops, language classes and community resources is a testament to the community efforts to preserve and promote the heritage. >> features the [indiscernible] philippines which is a indigenous community weaving textiles and tapestry for hundreds of years so proud to feech were modern ones and very antique ones and showcase fashion from the community and

we are inviting everybody to come experience that with us. >> the center not only caters to the filipino community, but welcome all who wish to learn about and embrace this culture. >> we want to develop a cultural district where you have the young generation learn their history, language and culture and where you have also the seniors be part of the cultural and share their stories and their traditions, and continue to grow young in the neighborhood. >> the intersection of technology and culture in this part of san francisco provides a unique back drop for a thriving community embracing the past while looking to the future. the filipino influence ingrained in soma serves as remindser of the power of cultural diversity and importance of celebrating in our ever changing world.