Tuesday, 07/27/2010
Gov. Schwarzenegger Participates in Demolition Ceremony to Signify Beginning of Major Construction of March Memorial Hospital
MR. OSTOICH:
Good morning. My name is Mark Ostoich and I would like to welcome all of you here to this very momentous occasion. Thank you for coming on such short notice.
Before we get into the important part of this program, however, I have 57 people to welcome, distinguished guests that I'd like to acknowledge, starting with Richard Stewart, city of Moreno Valley and member of the March Joint Powers Commission; Mike Gardner, city of Riverside, member of the commission; Bill Batey, city of Moreno Valley, member of the commission; Mark Yarbrough, city of Perris, member of the commission; Daryl Busch, mayor of the city of Perris; Bonnie Flickinger, mayor of the city of Moreno Valley; Lori Stone, the executive director of the March Joint Powers Authority; Joanne Evans, council member, city of Perris; Jesse Molina, city of Moreno Valley councilmember.
And a few members of the Riverside Community College Board of Trustees: Virginia Blumenthal, the president of the board; Jose Medina, board member; Janet Green, board member; Monte Pérez, the president of the Moreno Valley campus of RCC; Greg Gray, the chancellor of Riverside Community College.
Jaime Hurtado, representing Supervisor Marion Ashley; Oscar Valdepeņa, the Moreno Valley Chamber of Commerce; David Morgan, representing Senator Bill Emmerson; George Price, representing Assemblyman Paul Cook; Mark Troast, representing Congresswoman Mary Bono; Jolyn Murphy, representing Congressman Ken Calvert; Dr. Steve Larson, the chairman and chief executive officer of Riverside Medical Clinic; and Judy Carpenter, the COO of Riverside Medical Clinic.
I'd like to introduce Ron Redfern, publisher of the Press-Enterprise and Hardy and Cheryl Brown, publishers of the Black Voice; Dr. Krish Raju, Kaiser, Moreno Valley; Cindy Roth, the president of the Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce; and finally, Colonel Mary Aldrian, the vice wing commander of the base, who is going to take it from here and we're going to salute the flag.
COLONEL ALDRIAN:
Thank you. (Applause) Ladies and gentlemen, please stand and join me in the posting of the colors and the Pledge of Allegiance.
(Posting of Colors)
COLONEL ALDRIAN:
Ready? Begin.
(Pledge of Allegiance)
MR. ECKER:
Good morning. It is with great pleasure that we have this event today. And Governor, some people say that I'm not a patient person but I would like to submit that six years and four months has taught me to begin to be patient. So thank you so much for joining us today.
Just very quickly, we want to thank the entire community for what we believe will be the first medical city in wellness in not only California but the United States and maybe globally. We later this morning will be dropping a banner off of the 722nd of the hospital. It is 20 by 35 feet, it actually has the Governor and "GoED" at the top of it and that is going to stay there until the hospital comes down sometime in the next six weeks. So all of the buildings that we are able to take down will be down in the next four to four and a half months.
I also would like to take this opportunity to thank the Governor for creating the Governor's Office of Economic Development. When you take on a project of this magnitude you need support not only from the local community but from our great state. The Governor appointed Director Joel Ayala and most of you know he's been here almost tirelessly since April 8th. We're also very delighted that we -- we say the March magnet was born on April 7th; GoED was born on April 8th. So, Governor, I think we have some great karma here.
But I would like to specifically thank Joel Ayala for the fantastic job he and his entire team have done and sometime before you leave we have a shovel that's engraved for the Governor and also for the GoED Office.
And with that, it's my pleasure to introduce Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Applause)
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Thank you very much. It's nice to be here today. But I just want to say, before I talk here a little bit, you guys have got to lighten up a little bit. (Laughter) It's not a funeral, OK? (Laughter) Lighten up. This is a celebration. We are celebrating so many different things here today, so get with the program. (Laughter, applause) All right? Get with the program. (Applause)
We are celebrating job creation. We are celebrating building something that no one has seen in the world. They have attempted to do that but to have a medical city being built? That's the first in the world -- not in the state, not in the country but in the world. And the extraordinary economic activities that they will bring to this area is something to celebrate. The amount of money that will be poured into this project is something to be celebrated. So there are extra revenues for the cities, for the county, for the whole state. That ought to be celebrated. So there are so many things that we are celebrating here today. That's why I want to make sure that everyone lightens up a little bit here and has a little smile on their face.
So I just want to say it's great to be here today. And Don Ecker, the founder of the March Health Care Development, a courageous man, a great visionary -- and that's what we celebrate here in California. That's what the state of California is known for, is that we have great visionaries, innovative people.
Joel Ayala, the director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development, terrific to have you here today and thank you for your great passion. And then, of course, Mayor Flickinger, we want to thank her for being here and Councilman Stewart. And there are so many other people that are out there that we want to thank. I don't want to mention all of them because that was already done. I think that you've done a great job for mentioning all of these people here.
But I just want to say this is the first in the world, like I said and I'm really happy to be part of this ceremony. We are in the middle of negotiations but I thought I'd come down here to put the spotlight on this specific project because it is so, so terrific to celebrate something like that. (Applause)
And like I said earlier, this is really terrific because it fits in so well with California, because California is number one in so many different areas, if it is in high tech, green tech, if it is in nanotech, biotech, or if it is Hollywood or Silicon Valley or the Mojave Desert or all of those things. It's unlike anything else in the world. And so we always are innovative in good times and in bad.
And we all know that the world has experienced an economic downturn in the last few years. But you know something? Other places may do that but we don't. We don't sit back and wait for good news to arrive. We create the action. We create the action; we do something about that.
We are doing something that no one else is doing, which is a win on every single level. We are creating fantastic jobs here in the Inland Empire and in an area that has been especially hit hard. We know that the unemployment rate here is 14.5 percent, where it is statewide 12.5 percent. But this is going to do something about it, because we are going to create here jobs, as I said earlier, a lot of jobs -- 12,500 jobs during the construction period, during the time this will be built -- 12,500 jobs. (Applause) And then after that there will be 7,200 jobs that are healthcare-related jobs on an ongoing basis, which is really terrific.
And just to show to you the magnitude and how big this project is going to be, we are talking here about six million square feet of construction -- six million square feet of construction on 236 acres -- $3.3 billion dollars will be invested in this project. Think about the enormous amount of money. This is going to be considered, when it's done, the Mayo Clinic of the West. So this is huge, huge, project. (Laughter)
And again, I just wanted to point out to you the different things that are going to happen. I mean, all of this land that you see here will be developed. And, of course, today we are celebrating also the destruction -- normally we celebrate the building but today we are celebrating the destruction, because sometimes you've got to get rid and say hasta la vista, baby, to a building. (Laughter, applause) And that's what we are doing here today. We are going to celebrate destroying some of these buildings and the next building will be right over there.
But there will be a hospital you will have here with skilled nurses, assisted living, a hotel, retail stores, shopping mall, recreational facilities, healing gardens and all kinds of things will be here. And that's what all together makes it so unique, because there will be no project like this anywhere in the world. So we are also -- (Applause)
Another thing we have to celebrate is veterans. You see, the veterans will get medical care here. They will get medical care better than in any other place in the country. (Applause) And that is something that is very dear to my heart, because I'm a big, big believer in our veterans. I love our veterans, because when you're an immigrant and you come over here from Austria, you know that you came here to the greatest country in the world. But it can only be the greatest country in the world when you have people fighting for that freedom and fighting for this great country. (Applause) You see?
And so when those people come back, when those brave men and women come back, we've got to take care of those veterans. We've got to give them the best care, we've got to give them everything that they need. Teddy Roosevelt talked already about that, that anyone that is willing to shed blood for this country and risk their lives ought to get a square deal when they come back. And that's what this is about right here. Where you're sitting there will be veterans that will be treated so well, better than any other place in the country, so that's another thing that we are celebrating. (Applause)
And, of course, we are doing all of this with the best and the brightest in the country. This campus is being designed by the number one architect firm, by an architectural firm called HOK. (Applause) That is great. You see, everything is number one -- everything is number one. And it is being built by California's top hospital builder, McCarthy, which is another great, great celebration. (Applause)
Now, I knew that we had to make this project happen here for the Inland Empire. And it was very difficult, as you have heard. It takes a lot of patience. Over the last six years they have been fighting and struggling to get the permits and to move along through the different agencies in California.
And this is why it was so important for us to create the Office of Economic Development, which is one office that is bringing all of the different agencies together, so that if you have a problem you get in touch with this office. And our director, Joel Ayala, has done such an extraordinary job. Let's give him a big hand for the great job that he has done to pull all of the state agencies together and to create the action. (Applause) And even coming to community meetings and all of this here to show our state's enthusiasm there.
So we are here today breaking ground on what is much more than just a center or a campus. It is a city, it is the first health and wellness city in the world. So I'm very excited about this because the world will be watching us to see the future in action.
So thank you very much for having me here today. and now I'm going to introduce Joel Ayala to talk a little bit about this project and about his participation and he maybe can share a little bit his passion for this project. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause)
DIRECTOR AYALA:
Thank you, Governor. This is a celebration, this is an exciting event. This is an opportunity that has really brought forth a culmination. It's a restoration of confidence in California. It's a time where we have existing resources that have been out there, we have surplus property, we have the industry, the medical need and we have a savvy developer able to bring this all together, to put forth one of the greatest medical institutions, medical cities, in the world. (Applause)
Similar to your Office of Economic Development, these are not new resources. Again, these are a current use and a more effective use of our current resources and our current partners. We first met the March LifeCare group at the grand opening of GoED. Their vision was huge but their passion was even larger. They saw what GoED represented and realized that this was a tool that they did not want to let out of their sight.
Thank you, March LifeCare people. To Don, his team, his partners, thank you for the incredible journey that you've put us on and to the development of this truly innovative health care project. Please count on the Office of Economic Development to be there for you, the veterans and the entire Riverside community.
Governor, please take one of these helmets, please take one of these shovels. You're going to need it for the budget negotiations going forward. (Laughter, applause)
At this time I'd like to introduce the chairman of the Joint Powers Authority, Mr. Richard Stewart. (Applause)
MR. STEWART:
Thank you, Joel. I had a lot of facts and figures and job numbers but I got trumped. (Laughter) And that's great, because those numbers are out there and I think we've heard them and it's going to be reality.
But I think that what I have to say is the fact that everything that we've done here has been a cooperative effort. The cities of Perris, Riverside, the county and Moreno Valley have cooperated together in the Joint Powers. The Governor has stepped in with the Office of Economic Development and helped us and cooperated to get this project going.
Our staff at March Joint Powers is a total of 13 people and they each have five different jobs that they do and they are dedicated to getting this project done in a timely manner so that we can all point to this as the single most important health facility in the world, as the Governor said. Thank you very much. (Applause)
I’m going to get fired. Mayor Bonnie Flickinger is following me. Usually I follow her. (Laughter) Sorry, Bonnie. (Applause)
MAYOR FLICKINGER:
Thank you, Richard. I appreciate the Governor's recommendation that we lighten up, (Laughter) because the excitement continues to build. From the day that Don Ecker introduced us to his vision and we said, "Wow, can he make this happen?" through the groundbreaking and the celebration of the partnerships and now the recognition of the state of California, the adrenalin just continues to flow.
Today, anyone who still doubts the possibility of March LifeCare will become a believer. Today this magnificent project becomes a physical reality. And today all of us become sidewalk superintendents as we watch this magnificent March LifeCare project materialize before our very eyes. So this is going to be an exciting ride and I encourage you to enjoy every minute.
It is my pleasure now to say thank you very much to the Governor of the state of California for recognizing the March LifeCare project. This is the second time this year that I've been able to welcome you to Moreno Valley and we're very happy to have you here, thank you. And now I think the stage is the Governor's. (Applause)
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Thank you very much. Thank you. I think that now we are doing some destruction, right?
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