Thursday, December 11, 1999 Three years ago, our former County Administrative Officer walked into my office and recommended that the County pull the plug on the Disney Hall project. This region had been through the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. The County was teetering on the brink of insolvency, and our collective community confidence was at an all-time low. What a difference three years make! Today, we begin building the world’s greatest symphony hall and the most significant architectural contribution to Los Angeles in many generations, a new home for one of the world’s great orchestras: The Los Angeles Philharmonic. This event represents a great deal: First, it demonstrates that the region’s public and private sector can come together in common cause in pursuit of a truly civic project. This is L.A.’s most important civic construction project in generations. It is a tribute to L.A.’s can-do spirit --- its ability to dream big dreams and see them through to completion. Second, Disney Hall, along with Raphael Moneo’s Cathedral and several other projects, symbolize and palpably demonstrate that the revitalization of our center city is fully under way. And finally, Disney Hall will be a living and breathing monument to music and the performing arts. It will warm our hearts and inspire our souls. It will be the most enduring manifestation of who we are as a community and as a people. After all, it is through creative genius --- namely art, literature and architecture --- that we are most majestically revealed. It is a refined snapshot that we take of ourselves, that tells us, and future generations, a lot about who we are. Here, in this place, the music that is performed will allow us to dream, imagine, aspire and inspire. Disney Hall will be for the ages. On behalf of the County of Los Angeles, I want to thank the many people and institutions who made this project possible. First, the people of Los Angeles County who have invested more than $90 million to make this project a reality. Second, the indomitable trio of Mayor Richard Riordan, Eli Broad and Andrea Van de Kamp who resuscitated this dream, raised much of the funds and breathed much needed credibility into this project and into downtown. The County owes all three of you a great debt of gratitude. To Bill Siart, The Disney I Board and the staff of the project who have truly been partners as we have approached this day, we say thank you. Next, to my friend, Frank Gehry, whose imaginative design has been the focal point of our anticipation and our work for so long, thank you. It is fitting that one of your greatest and lasting works will adorn your hometown. It’s about time, and we’re proud of you. I want to thank our County staff --- our County Administrative Officer, David Janssen, who has understood the value of this project to the arts in general and to this area in particular; and our Department of Public Works, Harry Stone and Tom Remillard, who have gone the extra mile to get this project going --- thank you. And to my own staff – Ginny Kruger – who has worked as hard on this project as any other in the 20 years she has been a member of my staff: Thank you. Finally, it is said that a visionary is someone who can see the invisible. To the Disney family, who had the original vision of building a world class symphony hall here – what can we say? This project is about you. This Hall will be a lasting and living monument to your passion for the arts and your love of Los Angeles. It is wholly appropriate that the Disney name, which is synonymous with creative genius the world over, will once again be linked to such genius right here at the Disney Concert Hall. I thank you and Los Angeles thanks you.
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