Pelosi Remarks at Mission Bay TIGER Grant Press Conference
San Francisco - Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi delivered remarks at a press conference announcing a $10 million TIGER grant for transportation infrastructure at San Francisco's Mission Bay biotech cluster and UCSF hospital:
"Thank you very much for your kind introduction Mayor [Lee], for your very generous words. Chancellor [Desmond-Hellmann], for yours as well. To all of you, congratulations on all that this represents today - jobs now, jobs now, jobs now, that is our mantra, jobs now and jobs into the future. Madam Chancellor, your words about what your purpose is here are so inspiring and it is one of the reasons we are able to attract the resources that we can for this area.
"TIGER means, just so you know, and it's completely in keeping with what the Mayor said: Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery. Is this a perfect fit? A perfect example of what a TIGER Grant should be?
"I'm honored to join the Chancellor, and the Mayor, and the new title for Tiffany [Bohee], Executive Director of the successor agency to the Redevelopment Agency, and the Commissioners who are here. Mike [Theriault], you spoke about jobs and construction and the rest, and we all have worked together, Mayors, Admirals, Generals, you name it, right from the start of my 25 years to say: ‘how can we create jobs and grow our city, whether it's housing, transportation, health, education, whatever the subject?' And right off the bat nature gave us an opportunity with the earthquake. An unwelcome change, but nonetheless taking down, the decision that the people of San Francisco had to make, and the Mayor at the time, [Art] Agnos, about whether to take down a freeway or shore it up, and that decision to take it down, of course, led to so many things South of Market.
"The military decided that they were going to close three military bases in this small, teeny-tiny city, you know, 49 square miles, and three bases, which gavde us opportunity for the Presidio, Treasure Island, as has been mentioned, and of course, very important to us, your neighbor here at Hunter's Point. And so all of the mitigation, the removal of poisons of the past in some of these places, are all construction drives, initiatives. So, this today, as the Mayor said, this is small, 10 million dollars, but for this 10 million dollars, for every dollar, there are 20 times more requests for the grant. So, we were sort of pestering the Secretary about what this would mean in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, how we met the standard of that title.
"Of course, since President Obama became President, we passed the Recovery Act, so much has happened here. We start with the Presidio, Doyle Drive, and that one is in construction now, as well as Central Subway, the Transbay Terminal, as you mentioned, all of these things - before that [the] Third Street Rail - all coming out of initiatives, and I have to prove to my colleagues that there will be economic development that springs from these projects. I also have to prove that dirt will fly, that the community is together in support of the initiatives that we are putting forth, it doesn't mean we have unanimity; we'll never have that, I don't think, but that we have consensus in order to go forward.
"Mike spoke in some very health science metaphors, didn't he Madam Chancellor, talking about good bones and sinew, and Tiffany talked about the backbone and the rest of that, all to bring us back to where we are, [University of California, San Francisco]. UCSF, this incredible institution for research, for care, for improving the health of the world. So, with their excellence we are able to attract resources to the research, that research, in order to attract the talent, the Nobel Laureates and those who would be, need labs, need the infrastructure. So, it's all a circle: infrastructure attracts talent, talent builds additional infrastructure, attracts capital. And what some of the byproducts of some of what you have said, Mayor [Lee], the private sector, some great companies serving and meeting the aspirations of people in terms of drug development, you just need look at Byers and Benioff, Byers Hall, the names indicate so much of the success of the area.
"We also have to prove, as the Mayor said, that when there is a public investment that there will be private investment and non-profit investment that will follow. So, we see the philanthropy, we see the private sector investment, the market opportunities that springs for us. Perfect TIGER, perfect TIGER grant.
"So, I thank all of you for what you do to make this possible. I want to also acknowledge President Obama and the Recovery Act from which much of this has sprung. The TIGER grants first appeared in the Recovery Act, we are trying to get them in the appropriations bills, continue to get them in the appropriations bills. We do have one other bill on the table. It's 100 days since our Chairwoman, [Senator] Barbara Boxer, great of pride of California, passed in the Senate, in a bipartisan way, a transportation bill that received, on the record, 75 Members of the United States Senate. Democrats and Republicans - Senator Boxer, the Chairwoman, the ranking Republican on the committee, Senator Inhofe, they couldn't, as I say, you would have to be a contortionist to have further spectrum on how far apart they are on most issues, but together, on this transportation bill, because everything that we are talking about here is about jobs now. It's about connecting communities, about transportation. It's about quality of life, quality of air. It's about commerce, product, and [getting] people to work, and to market and back. It's about economic development that takes us, - [it's] about growth - about growth that takes us to a special place.
"And yes, our projects have to be of national significance, and we can compete with anybody on that score. So, while I accept your compliments, Tiffany, and others, on what I have done, all I can do is advocate for what is happening here. And what is happening here, in every respect, is excellent, excellence at UCSF, excellence in our ideas about sustainability in our communities, excellence in the contributions of philanthropy focused in a way to produce a result, excellence in our workforce that will respect our workers. And we have collective bargaining and Davis Bacon as part of it, recognizing that we want the best possible talent so that we can have the best possible results.
"So I am absolutely delighted. This is a very happy day for me. Usually, and last month, just earlier this month, $150 million loan to continue the work for Presidio Parkway , formerly known as Doyle Drive, or under another formation, Doyle Drive. So the federal government has recognized, and it's not, I mean people look at this and they say: ‘you get everything,' and I say: ‘well, you know, they're connected. We proved that we were deserving and now it opens another possibility.'
"So we celebrate this today for what it does, and thank you for spelling out what it does in terms of connecting to other transportation here when you talked about how it connects up to the other things, but it will also lead to other things.
"So, we're hoping to get this transportation bill passed so more possibilities spring from that, but I know the way you will exploit, and I mean that in a positive way, these resources. What it can also attract, what it can lead to. We'll be back celebrating for something else very soon.
"In closing, let me say that one of my big selling points on all of this is Mayor Lee. He, as you know, in the various jobs he has held, he has to get a job done. So, when he came to the Mayor's office, it was with the reputation of his experience at Public Works, his experience as the officer who had to get the job done for the city before he became Mayor. And so, when he was selected first, and then elected after that, it was very clear to anyone who met him when he came to D.C., or when we brought people here, that he could get the job done. He knew of what he spoke. He gave a clear-eyed presentation of what could happen. I wish you could see him when the federals, what do we call them, the federal officials come to town, whether we're looking at Central Subway or whatever the project is, chapter and verse, totally knowledgeable, understanding the possibilities. That's what our Mayor is about, and people know that when he says that he's going to do something, the job will get done - totally operational, very inspirational. We're very proud of you, Mayor Lee.
"Thank you all very much."