City and County of San Francisco Tuesday, March 06, 2012

>> gery -- jerry lee is absent with notification.

Nolan present.

Ramos present.

>> thank you for being here.

>> announcement of prohibition

of cellular devices during the meeting.

The use of sound producing electronic devices are prohibited. Any person responsible for the

ring or use of a cell phone,

pager, or similar electronic device May be removed from the meeting.

except on vibrate, they do cause microphone interference.

-- when set on a vibrant, they

do cause microphone into france, so please turn them off.

Chairperson nolan: approval of the minutes.

>> item 5, communications. we have none at this time.

Item six --

chairperson nolan: under new and unfinished business --

director brinkman: this past

week, I spent time with director

dunhaley and

others, and also kelly, getting a thorough

overview of s 78.

I spent time with the staff. it was so enlightening to get

the overview of the day-to- day operations. I want to thank everyone for the

time they spent with me, for the knowledge I have gained as a result.

It will help me perform as a better director. Thank you very much.

i wanted to let our director no

that it was very enlightening.

I will know what is going on. Thank you.

Chairperson nolan:   things were going up there and doing that.

-- thanks for going out there and doing that.

director he

nike:   director

brinkman and I got to walk through the areca curve and the

castro curve, touring the control center. I will let her speak on her own

behalf, but the experience was quiet in lightning.

It was clear these three folks understood what was going on

down there, and had ideas for the future.

Of particular interest to be

what comments about how will

upgrades might improve speed, or unable higher speeds in the twin

peaks tunnel.

As director bridges was saying, this is one of those opportunities where we got to

see things up front that helped

both of us understand the issues

of concern to us better I just

want to say thank you to those three for staying up late and

posting us on -- hosting us on that tour.

Director brinkman:   it is interesting.

A writer of the public transportation system, or as a

car driver, we see street cars, the operators, and do not realize that is simply the tip

of the iceberg of what keeps this transportation system running.

To see the people working down there in the tunnel while there

are no trains running through, and know they have three or four hours to do track maintenance

and repair -- that are doing that all the time.

We have the day shift, the swing shift, the night shift.

Those men and women are working while we are tucked home in bed.

I would just echo that thanks. It was invaluable. One other thing.

I had an e-mail from someone

about 14 mission, running on south venice street.

-- van ess street.

the buses are no stopping on few blocks from on mission street. He was thrilled at how much

faster the ride was with fewer stops, and possibly less congestion.

It sounds like the stops are clearly located.

People know where to go to find that bus. They know it is not going to be

on mission during the repaving project. It sounds like that is going well. He wanted to know if we could cut some of the stops when it was back to mission.

I do not know.

Chairperson nolan:   I want to

thank colleagues for attending

the town hall meeting we had on sunday on the budget, including director oka

it was an enlightened session.

There are four more coming up shortly.

Mr. Reiskin

did a fine job of walking us through it.

It was more of a discussion and a formal setting. there was an opportunity for give and take, which I think was very helpful.

Executive director reiskin:   good afternoon, members of the staff and public.

Happy again to start out today,

as we do the first reading of

the month, with recognition of staff, which I think we need to

be doing more of at the mta. We have three different

divisions, groups of folks we are granted derecognizing.

First, from the safety training,

security, and enforcement division, I am going to ask lance greenfield to come up.

he was hired at -- asa

a pco in 1987.

He has worked all over the city.

He once was the record- setter,

in 1991, writing 500 citations in a single day. I am not sure how that would even be possible.

these are good people enforcing

the regulations that the board of directors puts on the books.

If you comply with the parking

regulations, he is never going to write you a ticket.

But he always was diligent, and

has been diligent if signs were incorrect or markings were not

correct to make sure they got corrected so nobody would be incorrectly cited. Just as important, he is known

for an excellent work ethic and a good attitude. Based on all of that, he was promoted to supervisor 12 years

ago, and selected, because of his leadership, for some of the

more difficult assignments, because of his knowledge and expertise.

He was one of the key folks who has done something on the sf

park pay- by-phone project.

For all the expertise and

experience he has built over the years, he is someone the department has looked to when it

comes to innovative parking management. We are honoring him for all of that. Also, because of his quarter-

century with the department, he is retiring soon.

He will certainly be missed by

the men and women of the mta, if

not by the 500 people who were cited by him. I want to thank him for his service.

I invite our commander, our director of safety.

>> I am really pleased to be here.

Lance is somebody I have looked

to a great deal, when we have

moved toward innovative things. He is a mentor.

He really puts himself out

there with the folks who work with him.

I cannot tell you how much I am

going to Miss His knowledge, and just how he is as a man.

Thank you for your many years of service. [Applause]

>> good afternoon, chairman

nolan, directors, Mr. Reiskin.

I want to present a certificate to you for your 25 years of great surface.

He will be retired in 12 days

and will be answering early- morning e-mails from his wife with the honey-do. [Laughter] [Applause]

>> just a few words to the board.

I just want to thank all the pc o'

s I have worked with over the

years, supervisors, and our

staff, and everyone in the mta,

which was previously sfpd.

It has been an honor to serve the city and county of san francisco all these years.

Chairperson nolan:   on behalf of

the entire agency, thank you for your outstanding service.

we wish you all the best in retirement. These meetings are open to the public.

Thank you.

>> I am not sure attending the meetings is going to make the honey-do list.

But being a parking control officer is a very difficult job.

it is one that rarely, when you see one approaching, you are happy to see them.

When you yourself get caught ups, if you have not complied

with a parking regulation and they are properly citing you, it is not something they look forward to, but it is an

important part of how we manage transportation in the city.

These are hard-working professionals, doing a very

difficult job with very little thanks.

I think lance is the epitome excellence for the parking control officers and their supervision.

i want to commend them for the

hard work they do, despite the

lack of accolades they generally get.

Moving on, a good story, and one

that many of you have heard, but

we thought it bore repeated --

this is how muni can show love for san francisco. This is a valentine' s day story

that began on the morning of

February 14, where a woman who

was a regular rider of the 45 realized she had lost her purse.

She retraced her steps to a

coffee shop, thinking that she had left her purse there. She did not find it there.

She asked operator cedric

macarthur, who was driving the subsequent bust, if he could help out.

Maybe I should ask cedric macarthur and james white to join me and come forward.

like all other muni operators, these folks have a job to do.

They have to maneuver these

large vehicles through our hills and our crowded streets.

The have to deal with fare

transactions with passengers on

the bus, bicycles, taxes, all the traffic, and they have to do it safely and meet a schedule.

Cedric probably could have said, "I am sorry, ma' am. I have a job to do." but he did not do that.

He got the woman' s contact information. He contacted our control center and notified them of the situation.

They then found out it was indeed on the first bus that she

took that was operated by Mr. White, james white.

Cedric and james made an

arrangement whereby they would

exchange the lost goods, and provided the customer with a time where she could retrieve them.

really, on both of their parts, far above and beyond the call of

duty to make one person -- what otherwise would have been a bad day turn into a good day.

As a result, there was some very positive press coverage.

But perhaps more importantly, the customer stopped at a flower

stand and purchased red roses for each operator.

It was a small flecks.

A quote from the customer in the chronicle read "times like this,

I love san francisco." that is what we want people to

think of after their experiences with muni.

i want to think cedric and james for that.

I congratulate you for serving

the people in a way that many operators do every day. Thank you. [Applause]

>> I also want to introduce -- i

will turn this back over, but parents hall, the division chair

at the presidio, and deborah frank is the superintendent.

Of promised with a photo to

help in future elections, I would be on this side of terrance.

chairperson nolan:   on behalf of

all the people in the city, thank you for your help. This is a wonderful story.

Thank you for your hard work

every single day and the extra grace to bring to it. Gentlemen?

Mr. White, Mr. Macarthur?

>> I am cedric macarthur.

I would like to thank the board

for recognizing our work , considering the fact we all do an honest job on a day-to-day basis.

Everyone appreciates standing

before all of you today.

It was a wonderful story, and it

was unusual, but I have to thank

my colleagues, my co-workers, and also james white. We share the same line.

I believe the efforts and

strength that we work together honestly and nobly -- we can

have success stories like this, which makes us feel more

appreciated, to come in every day and do a job well done.

I want to thank the

superintendent, james frank, my

wife, who fixes lunch and

breakfast for me, to still have a good attitude and do a job well done.

I think all of you and accept the honor with great appreciation.

-- thank all of you except the owner with appreciation. >> james white.

i' ve been here for about 22 years. I enjoy my job.

I work with people.

I started in the restaurant business, so you know I love working with people.

I am glad the lady got her purse back.

i want to thank everybody.

Chairperson nolan:   thank you so much, Mr. White.

Appreciate with -- I appreciate it.

executive director reiskin: while these individuals went above and beyond, we were fortunate it got picked up in the media so we knew about it.

I do not think they were going to come forward and read about this.

There are good things to make people' s experience in san francisco better.

I want to thank them for the leadership they are

demonstrating and the example they are setting.

Finally, I want to ask Ms.

Johnson to step forward with

kitty wong, who is a personnel analyst and a six year veteran with the agency.

I had the opportunity to spend a good part of yesterday

afternoon getting briefed on the

personnel process and what it

takes to do what in many workforces is a fairly simple task -- hire somebody.

It turns out in the mta and city government, it is not that simple.

Between union rules, civil service rules, and our own

rules, it is a very complex system. It was a window into the

complexity for managing resources.

The daunting challenge of

managing a chart and the agency

gives me an even greater importance to somebody behind

the scenes working to make the process as smooth and equitable as possible.

She supervises the division services unit within our H.R.

Department, which handles referrals and processing, which

are basic elements of the hiring process.

She is an expert in many aspects of the very complicated and

convoluted rules, such as

premium pay and above the entrance requirements. She hopes the managers of the department figure out how to

work through the process, and to do so properly.

She singlehandedly has managed

and processed huge volumes of special pay built into our labor

agreements to make sure staff that properly paid for the work

they have done, and the agreements bargained for. She has mentored and trained

staff in some of these special

pay processes, which has made the entire unit more efficient and effective.

Part of her job is figuring out

how to make this work more efficiently and effectively, which she has done.

She has expertise in

adjustments, management, requisitions, and all these

things that are very complex things necessary to make the H.R. Process work, to get people into their jobs and get them paid properly.

She is known for providing

excellent customer service to every manager in the agency needs to use a church services.

everybody needs to hire and manage people.

For all of that, we are pleased to acknowledge her great service today.

>> good afternoon.

It is a great honor to stand

before you today, to be able to recognize Ms. Wong.

the human resource process in the city can be daunting.

You have to learn all the rules,

procedures, and policies associated with civil service

practices, as well as the exempt practices we have.

With all that being said, kitty

wong has stepped up to the plate. we have had staffing shortages from our budget process a couple of years ago. But still had and shoulders above the crowd.

She is able to provide stellar

customer service to employees at

the sfmta, as well as external

customers seeking to become members of the sfmta >

-- sfmta >

-- sfmta.

I have to say derek kim is

absent, who oversees the union

-- the unit, and is our deputy a

jar -- deputy H.R.

Thank you for improving the

quality of life for the members

of the transportation agency.

[Applause]

chairperson nolan: on behalf of the agency, thank you for your entire work.

I know you have a fan club with you today.

>> I would like to think the board for the recognition.

I want to think derek and also james, and thank them for their support and great leadership.

I want to thank all the colleagues who were made to come and support me.

This award actually should go to everybody in the operation. We all help each other.

We work to complete what we have actually accomplished.

Thanks again.

executive director reiskin:   just a couple other quick things.

Just some updates on work happening around town.

Jfk boulevard through golden

gate cart -- golden gate park -- the separated by plane is under construction.

We have just about completed the

first phase, which is installing curb ramps and installing some catch basins.

Will be starting this week the second phase, which is doing the

actual striping, which will take

a little over a month to get done, working with rec and park,

the museums, and the other impacted stakeholders.

It is a great project which will soon make for a safer and smoother ride on your bike through golden gate park. That is great news.

we have been making a number of presentations, doing a lot of

community work on this.

We are honing in on a recommended design.

It is a design that has parking impacts.

We are looking at ways to mitigate those impacts.

we are planning to go out this month to hold a community

meeting to bring back the feedback we have gathered, and what the current thinking is --

also what we are thinking about

for the 70 to 80 parking spaces

that could be impacted by this proposal.

the idea is to take feedback from community meetings in

March, finalize the proposal for

a public hearing this fall, and start construction next spring,

which was the schedule in our original funding request. There has been some public discussion that we have delayed the whole process.

We did delay doing a pilot, but the permanent project is on track.

It is only three blocks on both streets, but it is an important

gap right now in the bicycle not work that puts people into some pretty heavy traffic.

The separation will be a big step forward into making that

critical east-west connection more complete.

as most of us know, because we were woken early yesterday

morning with a 4.0 earthquake

that hit in the east bay, we see

it as a good reminder to us to make sure the art emergency

plans are current, and to

undertake our operating protocol, which is to sweep the

subway, to inspect the cable

cars, to do a check of the stations, to make sure the

system is safe before we resume operations. We did not have any damage.

i do not think there was any in san francisco. It was a good operation.

We were undertaking that process

for about 45 minutes to make sure the system was safe and

secure before going back into full operation. I wanted to acknowledge we have

had a lot of weekend work happening recently. We have been doing three different projects the past two weekends.

The line at church and the bows

-- dubose, continuing the streetscape upgrades.

We have added in some switched replacements in the outer sunset.

A lot of work happening.

a lot of good repair needs being met. A little bit of disruption. But we have been able to manage

both the noise and the traffic impact. We have had very little in the wake of complaints.

It is great to see this work finally moving forward. Once we are done with it, we

will have been much better operation through the corridor.

that concludes my presentation.

Chairperson nolan:   members of the board?

Director brinkman:   I will just say thank you to staff for the work on the bike lanes.

I happen to a couple of the

public meetings where you were gathering information.

Staff did such a good job answering questions and

presenting all the options, and gathering community feedback. I know there is some disappointment with the timeline

of the project, but it was the original timeline that was proposed.

It is unfortunate that things cannot be sped up a lot in the

city, but that is the reality of it. I think we will end up with a

project that has really good community support.

It is another example of people' s appetite getting ahead of us.

People are looking at this

stretch to take some of the

cyclists off the panhandling and move them onto the street.

We will have to ask staff at some point to let me have an

update on that, on whether it is something that is just as difficult or less difficult due

to the extra traffic lane that exists along the panhandle.

I want to say thank-you to staff for their work on the bike lanes.

I think it will yield a fabulous project.

>> I realize this is not quite

before us, but I understood from your comments of the current

direction of this -- and start over.

When we started this, there were a number of options presented.

One of the things considered was impact on traffic lanes.

What I am hearing you say is the current just of this, although

it is not finalized -- the impact would be to street

parking, but no reduction of traffic lines in that corridor.

Executive director reiskin:   that is correct. Stuff like that a number of options. Based on the feedback and

analysis, our recommended option would be removal of the parking

lanes on those three blocks, not impacting the traffic lanes.

chairperson nolan:   would anyone else care to comment?

>> item 8 is the citizen' s advisory council report. I do not see the chair here.

Chairperson nolan:   before the

public comment, I am assuming most people are here today to talk about the budget.

What we have in terms of the -- do we have much public comment other than the budget?

>> there are people that have

turned in speaker kurds for public comment.

Also for item 11, the budget.

There is an overflow room in the

south light court, and a spanish-language translators is also available.

chairperson nolan: we should get right to the budget part of it, since most people are here for that reason.

>> there were initially a few

taxicab operators that showed

up but were concerned about taxicabs. You might want to clear that up.

chairperson nolan:   and I know there are folks who want to talk

about free muni for youth. But those are not here except for in the budget.

There is not a separate item.

It is also important to note the board will not be taking action on the budget at this point.

before the presentation -- one

of the goals for today is for members of the board to indicate what specifically is possible.

We want to acknowledge that this

is a fluid document that is changing.

We have four more meetings to go with the public. We have lots of things that are good to happen between them.

It would be helpful for the

staff, the agency, and the public, if we were able to give

some sense of where we as a body

are, particularly relative to

the proposals listed for balancing the budget.

i will be prepared to do that, and I hope our one else will as well.

A presentation comes first.

Executive director reiskin:   I do

not have a presentation, as we provided one at the last meeting.

But I would maybe offer some opening comments to frame the

issues or refresh folks where we left out. Then we can move to public comment.

Where we had left off in terms

of the expenditure budget -- we made a number of -- I have

developed a number of proposed cuts to the budget.

if you recall, we started out

with projected shortfalls in the

$45 million range for the next two fiscal years.

I was able to find significant

savings or propose significant

reductions in various areas, from management to equipment

budgets, to bring down the expenditures below the level of the anticipated revenues.

What I also indicated two weeks

ago in the proposed budget is to properly fund the maintenance of the system.

Predominately, the muni system,

but also some maintenance on

the parking and traffic side, as

well as safety staff and crossing guard staff. These are areas that I think have been cut or frozen in the past that leave us with a system

that is not adequately resourced

in terms of maintenance. as an example, we had a switch

failure in embarcadero during

rush-hour, a critical switch that every train that runs

through the subway system is impacted by. It is a perfect example.

We did not stage this for the budget hearing, but it is a

perfect example of why we need

to have the person power to

maintain these switches.

The same goes for overhead wires and our buses and trains.

Over the years, as agency expenditures have been outpacing

revenues, and there has been an understandable reluctance to cut

service, we have cut maintenance. We have cut cleaning. We have cut training.

What I am proposing to do is to

bring to the board a budget that

reflects a much more adequately

those supportive services that directly impact the customer

experience, reliability, and safety of the system.

I was able to find a number of things to cut out of the budget.

But then I am proposing to add,

so we are properly maintaining the system and can deliver our service plan properly.

What that does is it creates,

based on what I presented last

time, a $19.60 million shortfall in the first fiscal year.

There are gaps we need to close

through either increased

revenues, which is really what is on the table today for public

comment, and/or a combination of service cuts or other expenditure cuts.

Before I turn it back, I want to

throw in some things that either

are still outstanding or have evolved since we last talked about this.

we already had a state court

house fee that was attached to parking citations, a $3 fee.

We are absorbing $2 of that,

something on the order of a $2.40 million impact.

We have since learned there was an additional state feet,

another $3 that the state has

imposed, starting this past January and running through the end of next fiscal year.

That has an additional $3.40

million impact that either adds

to our problem or we would pass through to people receiving citations. That is something I did not present last time.

We have taken a close look at our fare revenues.

Although we have seen a small increase in ridership over the

past year, plus the fact that

under commander milatello'

s direction, the fair inspection program has become more

efficient and productive --

based on those changes, we are

projecting fare revenues in

excess of 1 million the first

year and $1.50 million the second year. We also are anticipating good

news from the general fund, based on the report that will be coming out this week from the

controller and the mayor' s budget office that we think will be helpful in terms of additional revenues coming in.

There is some good news and bad news there.

On the expenditure side, what I indicated last time was

increasing fair enforcement to

come in line with all-or boarding. we want to budget for a full

year instead of a half year, which will be an additional half-million the first year.

What I did not include in the

expenditure budget, but are

really still open items -- we do

not know the impact of retiree health care. Those numbers have not yet been entered into the system from the controller' s office.

What we have not included is any

savings from labor negotiations.

As you know, we are currently in contract with the transit workers union. But all of the rest of the union' s that make up the

balance, more than half of the work force, our contracts are open.

We are negotiating with the department of cuban resources on new contracts.

For example, the 4.62%

decrease

in wages that those unions contributed to closing the gap

in the last two years -- those expired at the end of this year.

Then there are cost of living increases.

We have not anticipated and the labor savings.

That is something for your considerations.

this budget assumes a number of

positions to be grant funded

that in all likelihood will not be entirely grant funded. Some of the folks who work on

capitol planning have been budgeted as though they are grant funded, but they are

overhead position supporting capital projects. Not sure yet what the impact of

budgeting those folks in the

operating fund or overhead fund, where they should be, will be.

That is not something that has been incorporated in the expenditure budget.

we received a grant from the

federal government that has paid for a sergeant and eight police officers and have been working

undercover as the new task force.

From my understanding, they have been very effective in addressing some of the issues we

have had on unique. We recently had some pickpocketing reported.

This team was successful in achieving an arrest.

The grant expires at the end of the year.

We do not have an additional $2.50 million to backfill from our funds to keep that task force in place.

if between us, the police

department, and the city, we do

not identify those funds, we are going to lose that unit.

Those are some things on the revenue and expenditure side

that could change, the $90.60 million and $34 million gap we talked about.

Today' s hearing is one major way we are seeking public feedback. There was reference to the town

hall meetings we are having.

I also, with your consent, had convened a panel of

stakeholders from business, from

labor, from neighborhood groups, from advocacy organizations to

come together and understand our budget and make recommendations. While the work of that panel is

not complete, we did, in anticipation of today' s meeting, ask that panel to make

recommendations for the short term, for this coming budget.

While I do not think I can

officially report out -- it is something of an informal process, and I do not want to

get ahead of myself and speak for the panel.

I will just let you know what some of the thinking is.

There are some board members who might want to join in on this.

Among the options we had

previously proposed, the panel

was generally supportive of passing through the state fees

on the parking tickets, the court house fee I mentioned, as well as an additional $3 fee.

Generally supportive of sunday

parking meter enforcement.

Supportive of perhaps piloting

expanded parking meter hours in a few select neighborhoods.

these would be a few select sf

park neighborhoods where there would be an excess of demand for doing so.

Generally supportive of free

youth fast passes, at least for

low-income youth.

generally supportive of enforcing the existing parking

barack ordinance, planning code

section 155g, which applies to buildings built with parking after the passage of the

downtown plan, and finally, generally supportive of recommending that the city general fund as opposed to the

mta pay for the police department traffic company, which represents a $9 million part of our work order budget.

Those are at least preliminary thinking from this revenue panel.

the ideas they were considering were in the staff report. What is in the baseline budget

assumed are the indexing , the

fare indexing, and indexing of cost recovery fees that are

shown in exhibits one and two.

And in the staff report.

on page 5 and 6 of the staff

report, there are additional revenue sources that we

discussed the previous meetings, and that I have just identified.

And exhibits one, too, and three in the packet are included in the budget.

those are inflation indexing.

Appendix

a identifies other

potential fee and fine

increases, all of which are open for consideration today.

There will be considered in the final budget we will propose on April 3.

Chairperson nolan:   there are possible additional revenue sources. Is there anything that is on here now that has changed since

then went on here, as a result

of the town hall revenue panel or anything?

executive director reiskin: the town hall, we are really just

had -- I cannot say there is consensus out of that.

For the revenue panel, the

participation penalty increase, and this is just to pass through

the state cost, there was support for.

There was support for a possible pilot of extending parking meter enforcement hours.

Chairperson nolan:   is there anything that came off --

executive director reiskin:   the parking meter bagging fee was not recorded.

I will have to ask one of the

directors to speak on the new metred spaces. I frankly do not recall.

Director brinkman:   the new metred spaces was generally supported.

But I think people would like more information on where those readers would be.

And also keeping in mind that

the public process needs to be

followed -- some communication to communities.

Executive director reiskin:   and

the items on page 6 -- there was not consensus support.

Chairperson nolan:   the parking meter bagging feet -- there is some consensus around that because that might be part of something later on?

executive director reiskin:   one

of the -- in the transit sustainability fee that the

board was briefed on recently, there is going to be a much more

comprehensive nexus study-driven

approach to incorporating the impacts of residential

development into the impact fee system.

Frankly, this was my recommendation, the fact that this was coming and the fact

that the residential building market and the economy generally are still soft.

This would not be a good time to

consider putting the parking meter bagging feet up.

chairperson nolan:   all of the

rest of these on page 5, except

for that, are consensus, right?

And on page 6, there is not any consensus around those at all?

Executive director reiskin: correct.

>> I know we want to hear from the public before we have our

discussion, but are the inflation indexes such that --

obviously, we have had a relatively low. Of inflation.

-- low period of inflation.

If we index, will it actually increase revenue?

Meaning are the indexes such

that we could raise fares and fines consistent with the index?

Executive director reiskin:   page eight shows what would happen

when the transit fares -- the single fare is not shown here.

That would not increase.

But the adult fast pass would go

from 62 to 64 to 66.

the discount house would go to

-- pass would go to 23.

There are assumptions already built into the budget. Some of them go up only a little.

>> but the $2 cash fare under the indexing proposal would not go up absent further board action?

Executive director reiskin:   that is correct.

There is a rounding requirement. It continues to round down.

Director heinicke:   thank you very much.

Chairperson nolan:   let us hear from the public. >> public comment.

vera hale followed by makr gr --

mark frueberg.

Chairperson nolan: why don' t you read the third or fourth.

>> cathy hale,

revernd lang, jane martin.

>> good afternoon.

I am vera hale.

I am going to encourage you not to increase the senior fair with your indexing. There are several reasons for this.

one is that 45,000 elderly and disabled in san francisco have

had their ssi checks cut.

Ssi is only for very low income

people that have no more than $2,000 in the bank.

The governor has reduced the

state share so much that someone

who was receiving $907 a month

in 2009 lost $76, and now receives $830 a month.

They did not get any cost of living. I assume you think of their cost of living, but think of there' s also.

this is the first year you May split discounts of seniors and children. They have been together in discounts for years.

I do not think it is a good idea

to raise the senior fair at a time when you are talking about

free fare for youth.

While I understand there is good justification for it, I would

like to see you leave the senior fare alone for your next two years budget.

We appreciate the director

reiskin coming to the department of aging to talk about these concerns.

However, you of already had the

-- have already had the senior

meetings at noon, and the others are at 6:00.

This is not a senior-friendly time to have a public hearing.

I hope you will consider in

future years having more in the daytime. Seniors read the bus an awful

lot to doctors, to meals, to

shopping, and to many different things. It is very difficult when you

start wanting them to go out at

night, when they have trouble getting home.

>> kathy lipscomb and reverend

james the line -- delang.

>> I want to address the tax portion of your budget.

I note there is going to be an

across-the-board 9% increase in

all sorts of tax the fees --

taxi fees in the first year of

your budget, and a cumulative 14% increase in two years.

there was an increase in the the drivers paid last year.

A small fraction is going

toward regulation of illegal

cabs and limousines.

Far from enough to make a real dent in the problem.

In the meantime, you have

collected over $16 million to

date in taxing, none of which is going to solve this terrible epidemic we have in the taxi

industry of illegal providers of service.

I do not think it is right to be

raising these fees while at the

same time you are taking all of this money for your own purposes.

I also want to point out -- this is on behalf of green cab.

I want to point out a particular fee which think is highly unfair.

The color scheme renewal fee --

we have 16 medallions and pay 4000.

yellow cab has 500 medallions and pays $8,000.

Green cabbage is paying about $250 per cab.

Yellow cab is paying about $16 per tab -- cab.

This seems highly unfair. [Laughter]

-- [Applause]

chairperson nolan:   good

afternoon, Ms. Lipscomb.

>> thank you.

I am here to speak in favor of free muni passes for youth.

I am a member of the executive board of senior action network.

Yesterday in preparing for these

hearings, I spoke with our public safety staff person. He said he hoped the years I was

not true regarding mta' s alleged

statement that if fares for use were free, then senior fares would have to be increased.

The mta officials are scheduled

for the membership meeting this coming thursday, and we will raise this issue with them.

This is called a divide and conquer strategy.

Senior support free fares for youth, who can wake up and not worry about how they can get the fair to go to school.

Family should not have to choose

between buying food and paying for muni. we all know about the increase

in poverty across the nation.

Especially in families of color.

Generally the money is not

conducive to study, learning, or happiness.

The problems of the transit police harassing you and

demanding proof of payment must end. Imagine the humiliation and embarrassment of this. I am sure that it has led to

more than one young person quitting school.

The san francisco unified school district will be cutting school

services by 23%.

We would like to give a special

thanks in shout out to supervisor compost for identifying federal funds that

can be used for free passes for the youth.

This speaks to the importance of the mta, board of supervisors,

and youth working together to make free passes happened.

>> the next speaker is [Reads names]

>> good afternoon. >> good afternoon. Welcome.

In the chair of the san francisco interfaith council,

here to speak on behalf of the many interfaith congregations in the city of san francisco.

I want to speak to the issue of

funding parking meter fees.

I want you to understand the

impact that this would have on

our christian congregations throughout the city.

Most people do not have parking lots. Some of them are historic

churches that were built well before the use of the automobile.

we can only imagine what would

happen, 15 minutes into the

service, when there is an exit to feed the parking meter. Some of these people have to

walk long distances to find their cars.

They would just give up, missing

out on their worship experience and very important fellowship

experience that happens afterwards.

We understand the need for more revenue.

One could understand this

extension as a way for the law of unintended consequences that could have a serious impact on

many communities of faith in our city.

We respectfully ask you to

reconsider your plan to extend parking meter fees during sunday' s. Thank you very much.

>> keeping a brief, if the

parking meter leaders were able to facilitate longer periods of

time if it was implemented near the various areas of worship, allowing for customers to

purchase longer periods of time

accommodating the service, would that address the primary concern of your coalition?

>> it would.

It would if it were three hours.

Quite frankly, some of our

christian churches hold services that lasts three hours.

They are not all 45 minutes masses.

>> thank you for answering my question and making me feel guilty at the same time. >> you are welcome. [Laughter]

>> [Leads names]

-- reads names]

>> that afternoon.

i am part of the free muni women' s rights coalition.

We are going to be organizing low-income youth past campaigns.

We are participating in the

revenue panel to look for revenue solutions. We want to be a part of that.

We really want to see solutions that improved muni without cutting service.

> the index affairs for any age level.

Muni has been a full partner in identifying funding to pay for the program in working with the office, as you have heard, and we have identified a full pending and for the pilot project in gives us years to work together on a permanent part source of funding.

There are some in the city, county, in regional sources that are designed to improve climate change and air quality to improve mobility for low-income communities of color and making transit youth more affordable.

More specifically, $5 million of

that will come from the npc, money that the city would not actually a normally receive and would lose the opportunity to

apply for if they do not take action soon.

For that reason, we urge you to move forward with conditional

approval if possible, a contingent of course on the

overall budget process in April in actually having the funds to move it forward.

>> the next speaker is [Unintelligible]

>> good afternoon.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> in a community organizer.

>> [Speaking foreign language] >> I have been recently speaking with a lot of parents and families about this campaign.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> I will share a story with du you of one of these people.

>> [Speaking for language]

>> coming home from work, she gets off at the time that is not convenient.

she has two children.

11, 10, but chilling as of

monday to pay for one of the children.

>> [Speaking foreign languages]

>> she lives on the hill and her

children attend a school that is very far away.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> the children were returning

from school, going home, and the driver asked them to pay the fare.

Only one of them could pay.

>> [Speaking for language]

>> the child without money asked the driver if he could get on, he did not have the fair.

>> [Speaking foreign language] .

>> probably it was a very busy

time that was stressful for the

driver, the driver yelled at the child to get off the bus.

>> [Speaking for language]

>> one of the passengers offered to pay the fare of the child.

the driver refused to accept the fair, the children had to get

off the bus and not ride home.

>> [Speaking foreign language ]

>> by the time that they got home, they were tired and frustrated.

She was obviously very desperate. She had already struggled a lot

to cover the fare for the one child that she could.

>> [Speaking foreign language ]

>> this is one of many stories

that we hear when we do outreach in the community -- [Tone]

And talk about this as a possibility for muni.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> I think that as a community, we have a responsibility to find out what the options are to deal

with this, because it is not right the children have to deal with this to get to school.

>> [ Speaking foreign language]

>> we need free passes for youth. Thank you.

>> the next speaker is [Leads

and names -- is [Reads names]

>> good afternoon.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> good afternoon, my name is [Unintelligible]

And I am here to ask you to pre

-- please approve the free passes.

The economic has really -- economic crisis has really

impacted poor families.

We have the responsibility to

help our children into schools, museums, the library.

So that they can study, work, and contribute to society. What [Speaking foreign language] -- >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> and also, the school buses, the yellow school buses have

been cut. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> so, it would be very grateful

to you if you approve these

passes for use -- for the youth. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> that is all. Thank you very much.

>> next speaker, please.

>> [Read names] >> good afternoon. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> hello, my name is -- oh, hello, my name this [Unintelligible]

from the family collaborative -- my name is [Unintelligible]

From the family collaborative. >> sfgov.Org

[Speaking foreign language]

>> I am really appreciative that the board is taking the time to hear this perspective.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> the free muni for youth proposal is something that we as parents and children all support.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> we want the assistance to

access transit, not only

something that children of families received, but something that all children have. By [Speaking foreign language]

-- have. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> I have often seen children riding the buses where they are fearful of getting a ticket, but

they needed to get to school.

It is creating a bad image and experience for them, to be

worried about writing transit. >> [Speaking foreign language]

-- writing -- riding transit. [Speaking foreign language]

-- >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> my son rides the bus every day. I want him to be able to ride

the bus with his friends, and

not be separated, to be able to access and contribute to the many things in the community. [Speaking foreign language]

>> we do not want me need to be

stigmatized as just for low- income youth, and we are

supporting free muni for all youth.

-- hence we are supporting free muni for all youth. >> [Speaking foreign language]

[Cell phone ringing]

>> we hope that you take action

in you and make muni fever -- free for all youth. Thank you. >> thank you.

Next speaker is?

>> [Reads names]

>> good morning. My name this [Unintelligible]

-- my name is [Unintelligible]

i would like to speak about free passes for all youth.

We appreciate the progress of board of supervisors.

However, we know that without

the mild voices of power and powerful allies speaking out, the way that they have come up

things rarely get done, if ever.

today it is all about funding

for free rides for all youth.

It is not a good idea to

separate the poor and the more well-off children, for a number of reasons.

Icahn particularly relate, as i have been homeless and have

needed to sneak onto trains and buses just to get around. This is a big issue.

And now, I strongly urge you to

make free transportation for all

youth.

At this point in time, I just

feel that there is plenty of

money in the budget for you to

be considering this and considering this seriously.

I think that it is particularly important at this point. thank you.

>> next speaker, please?

>> [Reads names]

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> good afternoon.

My name is [Unintelligible]

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> I have been here several times not to testify.

For the folks listening, all the testimonials from families were

struggling to meet the -- to make ends meet are no longer set

as gripping.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> the point is not for anyone

to feel guilty, as no one is guilty here. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> for us, for people like us

who are poor and are living in

poverty, this is the reality. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> again, I come to ask you to approve these free passes for

youth at a time that is critical and when a great

opportunity to make this work is being had.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> I hope that you are not offended by this and that you

understand and that this raises awareness that sunday your children, who had the privilege

to ride in cars, will someday be

able to get on the bus as well and ride with us.

>> who knows, [Speaking foreign language]

>>

I was not able to do this in my country.

I could not interact with

people of a higher economic status than me.

But here in san francisco, we have a great opportunity for

people, for youth to interact.

Rich, poor, young, old.

For them to learn their

differences and similarities .

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> I ask you that you, in this time of capacity within your

office, could please make this a reality. Thank you.

>> next speaker.

>> [Read the names] >> good afternoon.

>> I am sorry that you cannot see this picture.

Bid is students crossing the brooklyn bridge in brooklyn

bridge last year, 2011.

This is not just happening in san francisco, it is happening all over the country and I hope that it spreads.

In a supporter for free muni for all youth. I was involved with different

groups

, as well as the group -- including the group power.

We work really hard to get three

months of rimini for low-income youth. It was extremely difficult to do.

Outreach for distribution.

The M.T.A. Was at a loss.

It was a real obstacle to

getting these passes out to students who could use them.

Volunteers did the distribution in the outreach.

If it were free muni for all youth, people could just get on the bus.

They would not have to go through the bureaucratic

hurdles to get low-income youth.

The other thing that people are talking about a lot is tremendous growth in san francisco.

We talked about it this past weekend. Why is this growth?

I suspect -- what is this growth? I suspect that it is high income people. San francisco has to show a

commitment to keeping families and low-income youth, families,

in san francisco.

>> next speaker, please?

>> [Read names]

>> afternoon.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> good afternoon to all of you. >> [Speaking foreign language]

I am with power -- >> I am with power. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> I am here to support the

campaign of free muni for youth.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> I have done outreach in the streets. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> especially with parents and young people. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> the reality really is in the streets.

Anyone that watches knows how much stress can exist.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> parents are very stressed because there is no work.

>> sometimes the money is not enough to send the kids to school with a fast pass. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> the majority of people I have

talked to said that if they were

being truthful.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> I asked you to please move this forward and take action.

let' s [Speaking foreign language]

-- >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> said that this is no longer a

barrier for youth to get to school. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> the reality in the street is now.

>> next speakers?

>> [Leads names]

-- reads names]

>> good afternoon.

I am here to talk about some of my experiences.

In a member of power.

-- I am a member of power.

One of my most important reasons

I am here is because muni is important for me. My dad has not been working for months.

My mother is the only one working. She had to struggle to get food on the table.

I am one more young person the

struggles with muni in the city.

If it were free, it would

benefit me in fact -- thousands of other youth.

If they do not

have money for the past, they will not have

money for the $100 fine.

Many youth would be able to go around the city without being scared of being harassed by police.

Here is one solution for where the money would come from.

if the mta pays the police department $1 million to get on

the bus, that would be money that you could put towards youth.

I have been here several times,

but every time we come they make a decision.

if you do not take action now, we could boost the fund' s the begot. Thank you. >> thank you.

>> [Leads names

[Reads names]

>> good afternoon. My name is joanne.

I am a member of power and a

small business, new business working in the communities on

resources in ways that children

can get educated and get jobs in different stop.

i am speaking as an unemployed mother.

I give my daughter $3 per day.

One of my daughters refused that to get on the bus.

So, she gets pulled off the bus

by one of the transit agency.

She does not want to give them the information. She calls me on the phone and asked what she should do.

I said that she should go by the law and tell them the name, but they do not have -- that she does not have money to pay for a ticket.

She said she spent her money on a pizza.

She refuses to save bus fare, because she wants to eat.

They took 20 kids off the bus.

When I got here, there were 20 kids lined up. They were given tickets on their way from school.

I grounded her for something

that I did not know was going on.

I told her, sorry, I will have to speak about test.

They need to get to school safe

and get home safe on a daily basis to get educated.

That education, they are our future children. they need to think about the education and how they will get there.

The last driver said there was

no such thing as courtesy rides.

I feel bad, because I volunteer

my time for muni before. I feel like this. There is such thing as courtesy rides.

If you do not have it, you do not have it.

But if you have to get somewhere, you have to get somewhere.

[Tone]

>> thank you. Next speaker. Quack'

s [Breeds names -- >> [ Reads names]

>> we recognize the work here to

speak about the entire budget.

We are active on transit around multiple issues.

What is important to note is

that this is less than 1% of the mta budget and you have hundreds of people coming out here.

That it is actually in the interest of the mta to have this

many parents who were working,

because this is how serious the issue is today.

Many of you are where we are.

At 4:00 today, there are dozens of young people.

We know that taxi drivers have

to speak, but we are hearing numbers because we have been

fighting about this issue, there

were not yet those school buses like before. Parents are already struggling around this. We are passionate around this issue and passionate of transportation.

I want to just point out,

because he will let hear the voices of other young people, we

were part of looking at where we could do greater efficiencies.

Muni accounts for 40% of all

work orders in the city. This is a huge drain on the budget.

One of the most important things that was pointed out there is

that the mta is paying the

entire motorcycle fee for the police officers. It makes no sense.

Right now the transit authority

is looking at the nexus between

the budget, the work orders, and what is actually related.

>> next speaker, please?

>>

[Reads names]

>> I am with one of the groups

that is fighting for free muni for youth.

We have been going back and forth about whether or not this campaign should be for all of you were just low income you. For us it is important that it

is for all youth for a number of reasons. One is that setting up income

tax will make it difficult and

cost money, to be able to administer and fill out paperwork to see if they qualify

for programs such as this.

right now, the income level to

reduce lunch, for example , a

family that makes 45 low-income

that is the criteria that would

help him to qualify for something like rimini for youth.

Myself, I am a product of private school and was able to get a scholarship. It would have been difficult for

me to attend such an institution and be able to go to school if i

did not have a scholarship and the free metro card that I got as a youth.

This would make it difficult for

a lot of low-income families, especially undocumented families, and the children and parents that were put in the economy. these are the members that we

work with and the people that make up our organization.

So, for this reason, we are

asking for this to be in the

city for all youth.

>> next speaker, please.

>> [Reads names]

>> good afternoon.

>> my name is [Unintelligible]

And I am here to support the

idea that there would be freed muni for youth.

Because when you use your card,

you -- when you use your car,

you use of fossil fuel, burning up the air that we breathe.

I ride muni to school every day.

And I want to encourage other kids to ride muni instead of

going to school in cars.

Please support free muni for

youth, because it is good for the environment. Thank you for your support.

>> thank you. [Applause]

>> next speaker?

>> hello, my name is angelina.

I am with the adoption program in chinatown.

The goal of muni is to increase

youth -- showing that there was

a continual decrease in the

trend of youth passed purchasing.

In 2010 it was 18,000 passes.

2011, when we face the clippers.

Only 10,000 of them have any money.

we want to change that trend to get all people on buses.

We want to revolutionize the way people think about transit. More so than ever, we'

re seeing schoolbus cuts for students.

I hope that you consider supporting free muni for all youth. Thank you.

>> next speaker, please.

>> good afternoon.

My name is anthony.

On behalf of the students with

the solidarity projects

, for the

use of that would have been

here, if the hearing had mean at 4:00, but unfortunately it was

pushed earlier to 1:00, I will read their letters and the voice of the students.

Understanding the context of

this budget for the free muni

for youth is less than 1%, about 1%.

Funding has been secured for a possible pilot, keeping that in mind for the budget.

"dear board, I am at 11th grade student.

I am a member of the student advisory council.

For the past year, we have been fighting for rights to be

believed we deserved for a long time.

unlike most of you, we used muni as the only means of transportation to get across this city.

This is a safe and comfortable place for all families.

You have done the following,

increased policing on the buses and searching for fare evaders.

By no means am I justifying evasion, but the fact of the

matter is that some of us cannot

afford what might seem like pocket change to you.

You have stalled and stalled.

you claim you are on a budget deficit.

Families have waited to enough of your bureaucracy. We are not asking, we are demanding.

We, the families of san francisco demand for emu meat for our youth.

>> next speaker, please.

-- demand premium me for our youth.

-- demand for the muni for our youth.

-- demand free muni for our youth.

>> next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> good afternoon, my name' s [Unintelligible]

Is and I am here with power -- my [Unintelligible]

Name is and I am here with power.

-- my name is [Unintelligible]

and I am here with power. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> I am here, along with my community, to ask you to vote in

favor of a free muni for youth, along with my community. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> we have already said that this is possible.

Using 1% of the budget for muni.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> this would

benefit 47,000 used in children of low-income.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> in this way, thanks to you,

we would be creating

if the nuclear regulatory industry were benefiting where every single power plant that

went up, we would think that

something is wrong and you would

want to benefit for every medallion under patrol.

It is a form of nationalization that does not resemble a

socialist-style nationalization that be have seen in the past.

It is a four run by capitalism

that creates an underclass below the people paying for it.

It is completely wrong. Please choose a different role.

>> in that -- I noticed that supervisor avalos who joined us. Sorry, your time is up. [Tone] [Laughter]

>> can you hear me?

First of all, thank you for

making time for me to speak and thank you for your work in service.

I know that this is one of the

most challenging apartments that we have worked for in terms of

making decisions which are very difficult.

I am here in support of the

universal fast pass program for young people. It is critical that we make

improvements where we can in the system.

We need to always be vigilant

about making improvements.

For me, having seen so many

young people around the city it

is critical that we provide universal access programs for

them , used cost-free. Something that many support as

well we have no barriers for

people wanting to participate for people providing that kind of access.

That discussion , it would be an

option for them to do that and they would have that

possibility it is an issue of fairness, making sure that we

are seeing the state poll a lot of funds away from our

transportation programs that help people get to school that

we could make examples of here

at the local level, which we do for supervisors.

i know that you are grappling with a lot of issues.

I want to make sure the you understood our position here at the board of supervisors,

helping to move forward with the program in san francisco.

>> thank you for joining us, supervisor.

>> next speaker , to resell

lunette and mendoza -- teresa

luna and mendoza. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> good afternoon. My name is maria.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>>

well, a lot has already been said.

We are here in support of you' ve been able to get to school.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> maybe you are bored her during the same thing over and

over, so you do not have to continue to hear it over and

over, please vote for free muni passes for youth.

[Applause]

>> next speakers.

[ Reads names]

>> good afternoon.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> I am the mother of five children.

two adults and three young people.

As a single mother, it is very

hard to find the money to pay

for the fast passes for the three that go to school and the eldest that go to university. >> [Speaking foreign language]

>> our youth in children already

have a lot to struggle with, to have to in addition to that worry about how to get to school.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> that is the reason I am here

to ask you to vote in favor of this free muni for youth. The funding is there.

It is up to you to vote yes.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> I know that the economy is

very bad right now, but those that are most affected are the

ones who are poor, working families who are struggling to make ends meet.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> id is our responsibility to

take this burden off of them.

I know that my own children get off of the bus afraid sometimes because I do not have enough

money for them to have the affair ended is not right for them to go through this.

>> [Speaking foreign language]

>> we would be very grateful, and we ask you to please support this.

We know the you are probably board of hearing all of this, but please support this, we

would be very grateful. >> thank you.

>> I know that the board is in

session, so I would like the

supervisor to come address us, out of order.

>> thank you very much, Mr. President. I want to balance supervisor kim, who is also here. We'

re both in the middle of the board of supervisors meeting. We wanted to take the opportunity to be here.

i want to begin by thanking the

board of directors, as well as the entire mta staff for the work that has been done on this project.

We on the board of supervisors oftentimes are responsible for

giving you unfunded mandates.

Many times, as you know, we have

asked the board to do a lot of things. We wanted to make sure that we did not approach this issue that way.

What we decided to do from the beginning, to the extent that we

were going to come and ask you

to provide free muni for youth,

we wanted to make sure that we

actually identified a source of funding to make sure that we not only had enough money to pay for

this project, but that we

identified sources of funding and that there would be no negative impact on the entire system.

You have now, before you, a funding plan that not only

covers the amount that had been identified, but actually provides a little bit more than

that, not even taking into account some of the private

funding we have talked about. Why is it that it is important

for you to make this important

decision to provide free public transit to all youth in san francisco?

You have heard, and will

continue to appear today, from many of the families that are struggling economically.

It has been a tough, tough

financial time for families.

It is important that low-income families have access to public transit.

The point that I want to emphasize is the importance of

making sure that it is not just free for low-income children,

but all children in san francisco.

When the board of supervisors

passed a resolution that was approved, it was a resolution

that called for public transit

to be free for all city children

-- all children in the city of san francisco.

when we talk about being a

transit first city, we want to make sure that we mean what we say.

It is about changing the way

that public transit is seen in

the city and county of san francisco. If it is transferring to what it

needs to be, it cannot just be

about poor children riding public transit.

It has to be something that

every child, in respect of that blast. We see public transit as an integral part of their lives. the cities that have implemented

this kind of a program, like new york city, have not made

discrimination based on income.

As an agency, we have a

responsibility to make a longterm investment in the viability of this system.

That is why free transit, free

public transit for all children is so critical. It is not only critical because of that new generation of

writers, but because we need to

make sure that we maintain

environmental detectives.

We have certain goals that we

have to meet as a city and we will not meet those goals if a

large segment of the youth of sentences go do not have access

or are able to ride public

transit to the level that we anticipate.

We need to make sure that every

child in san francisco rides public transit to meet those objectives.

Beyond that, we' re making investment in the education system.

When kids go to school, public school, the public school system does not ask how much their parents make.

They go because we value the importance of public education.

The same emphasis should be placed on public transportation.

That is why we are here and it

is why we are still import --

and it is why it is so important that we create public transit

policy that respects low-income youth and made it so that it is a universal thing.

These kinds of programs are all inclusive.

For a system like the public transit system to be the world class system that we wanted to

be, it has to belong to every san franciscan. That is why this is so important.

Since the funding source has

been identified, why not take the extra step?

With that, I ask you to do the right thing.

I do not know that an action will be taken today, but there

is a process you are following and we are very grateful you are taking this so seriously.

I have never seen this level of involvement that you have had

from youth and families across the city.

This is an opportunity for us,

especially the youth, to make --

to show that we are invested in the city. Lets not disappoint them. Let' s make sure that they see

for themselves the government works. That when you' ve organizes, the government will respond accordingly. We are here to tell you that we are very proud.

i think we are about to make

history and I hope that we will do the right thing.

With that, I will turn it back. [Applause]

>> we are also joined this afternoon by supervisor kim.

>> thank you so much for having

us here in letting us speak out of order.

I would also like to recognize the supervisor eric mar. Is here as well.

The school board commercial -- school board commissioner has been here as well.

I think the supervisor campos

has addressed the issue and why it is so important to our constituents.

as a former youth organizer in

the city, many of our youth do ride muni for free.

I will not put a value statement

on what is right or wrong, but

many of the youth ride muni for free because they cannot afford

to and they know that they need to get to school, back and forth from our city.

They are our natural transit first writers, because they do not have access.

I think that many of the kids to

grow up in a city and do not

learn how to bicycle or drive a car.

in fact, I was always writing in

new york city on the buses and subways.

We got bus passes depending on how far we live from school.

To pay to go to school is a foreign concept to me.

When I came to san francisco and I' ve learned that children the

hardships would wait for a bus driver that would recognize them so that they knew that they

could get on the bus, that is a

practice we should not accept in san francisco.

I often work with students that

have younger siblings and they are often a responsible adult member in their family.

From they do not have the funds to cover their siblings to go to school as well.

For multiple reasons, this is something that we should support.

It is the right thing to do and

it will be a huge benefit to the city in the end.

I think that it will codify something that already exists.

I think that ticketing young people for fair violations is wrong.

I do not know what kind of outcome we expect from that.

I am not really quite sure what our intentions are in doing that.

By codifying premium need for you if we will be saying that we think public transit is important in that we want them

to be able to access the

cultural amenities of the city, the diverse neighborhoods, and attending schools every day. Thank you for holding these hearings.

It means that lot to our community.

>> thank you so much, supervisor. Supervisor mar, good afternoon.

>> I wanted to say, what an

incredible coalition and groundswell of community support there is for this campaign.

And I think you all for listening and really working hard.

I know how terrible the budget challenges are for the mta.

my daughter takes the bus from

home to the city school.

This is an incredible place where we can turn young people into lifelong unique writers. I know you are debating whether

you should reduce the cost

versus free muni for youth.

Even if you reduce it, and I

know you are considering that, low-income parents will have to pay the price.

Supervisor campos mentioned we have identified different funding sources to make muni free for youth. I know it will be a challenge.

hopefully we can show this will work for san francisco. A debate within the youth commission came up about whether

it should be free for low-income youth or all youth. I know a lot of private and

parochial school students would become lifelong muni writers as well. this allows us to draw children

from middle-class and wealthy

background as well, so there is lowered stigma.

Thank you for a knowledge in the grass roots campaign before us. I would like to introduce my

colleague, supervisor olague, as well.

chairperson nolan:   the newest supervisor. Congratulations, and thank you.

Supervisor olague: I worked for

years at a senior organization. Hopefully one day we will be

able to look for ways limited

income people and disabled

people who are seniors can also have that considered for them.

I write muni every day.

I am on the five fulton every

morning, sometimes the 24 division thereof.

-- divisadero.

Every year, we seem to see more

and more educational cuts, whether that means larger classrooms or more burden placed

on parents around purchase and school supplies.

Now, of course, yellow buses no longer exist. That is a thing of the past.

Someday we will have a yellow bus in a museum, no doubt.

i think it is critical, since

the burden is placed on parents and families, that the city needs to provide this. School is mandatory.

It is not a choice to children.

They have to go to school.

So I think we have to make sure that we facilitate this for them.

at some point, I think the issue

of -- it probably has come up

before at other hearings -- the

issue of safe travel is important to consider.

There are some children I wait with in the morning.

They seem to have a different

parent or caretaker accompanying them on their way to school.

it is something to consider as

well, as well as the excess travelers on those buses during those times when people are going to school.

I noticed that sometimes the buses are really hard to get on during certain hours, because that is when children are trying to get to school.

>> theresa mendoza, followed by

sanjolie, marcy rain, george oy ama.

>> [Speaking spanish]

>> good afternoon.

my name is theresa mendoza.

I am a member of an organization.

i am here to ask for you to approve the free fast-passes for youth.

>> [Speaking spanish]

>> so that we do not have to suffer so much trying to divide

up our money between buying clothes or buying a fast pass.

Because sometimes we do not even have money for that.

>> [Speaking spanish]

>> and I do not have much more

to say, but I see you' re kind hearts and you'

re kind faces, and I think we can make this happen.

That is all I needed to say. Thank you.

Chairperson nolan:   thank you.

>> next speaker is sandra lee

hubbard, followed by mercy rain and georgia iowa.

-- george ayama.

>> I am here to lend support to

the idea of free muni for all youth in san francisco. As many previous speakers have

mentioned, we are phasing out our general education yellow school buses.

The governor has proposed to eliminate all funding for reimbursement for trips protection costs.

You can imagine the havoc it is causing in our school district.

We get calls on a daily basis.

How will we get children to school?

We have a system of free choice in our schools. That means parents can choose schools that are far from their

own neighborhoods, if there is performing the would like for their own children.

Access to free muni would give their children a chance to participate in language immersion programs and art

programs that are not in certain districts, but in other areas of the city.

We have, and I think you have heard, but we have an increasing amount of homeless families we are serving.

Two years ago, we were spending $11,000 a month for youth passes for homeless families.

We are spending in excess of that now.

It has used up all of our funds

to serve our homeless families.

still, there is great need every month.

It might be hard to imagine how

a muni fast pass might affect your family budget, but for many of our families, this means food on the table.

I wanted to add one more thing in. We see san francisco as a wonderful place to raise children. we think it is a wonderful place

to have their children attend school.

We fully believe that the school district of san francisco is the classroom for our children.

I want to talk about field

trips I notices a side issue.

But we have seen a decrease in

the amount of schoolchildren trips.

schools simply cannot afford it.

This would allow them the opportunity.

The board of education last year unanimously supported a resolution to provide free muni for all youth.

>> good afternoon.

I work with urban habitat, which

is one of the organizations in support of free money for youth.

As an organization, we work for environmental, social, and economic justice.

I think you have heard the

content, but in so many words, when we are talking about needs

for all youth, we are talking

about a fundamental civil rights issue.

It is about equal access for everyone.

That is, I understand, what a civil right is. When you think about the history

of the civil rights organization, this is another step in the evolution of that.

When we say all, I want to hit one other point. These are really hard times.

San francisco is a really expensive city.

We are concerned that nobody falls through the cracks.

This includes students who may

be from undocumented families, or whose families May have trouble coming up with paperwork.

It also May affect students who

might look moderate income, but it is a really hard time when

somebody loses a job or has a health emergency.

All kinds of families can be affected by this. When we say for all, we do not

want to see anybody fall through the cracks.

I want also to echo the words of

our very youngest speaker, who,

when you think about it, had more future at stake than anyone else, reminding us that this is about the planet.

This is about the responsibility to do our transportation differently as a society.

The point many people made about

building a new generation -- I

am so struck by what the young

man said, thinking ahead the way he did. Thank you.

Chairperson nolan:   next speaker?

>> george koyama, laura zapato,

esella roas salez.

>> [ Speaking spanish]

>> I am here to support this campaign.

I am here to support the youth, because I understand the experience the korean people are

facing right now, young people

attending different schools and public schools. A lot of low-income youth who

are living in a time of economic

crisis need this.

>> [Speaking spanish]

>> I disagree that you should have to pay to ride.

Sometimes it is very difficult

for them to come up with the 75 cents.

It seems really unfair to those who do not have the experience

or the opportunity to work, and

who depend on adults, guardians

supervising them, to come up with this money, when they do not have it.

>> [Speaking spanish]

>> and I have also seen that they need to figure out ways to

come up with the money, whether

from a parent or guardian.

I have seen them literally pushed off of buses.

>> [ Speaking spanish]

>> it is very difficult for me

to see this as a latino.

I consider them the future.

So it is difficult for me to see this happening, and I want to support them.

Thank you, and we hope you can be on our side.

>>

laura zapato, estella rosares --

chairperson nolan:   how many speakers?

>> 20 more.

>> good afternoon, director, commissioners. i and the community organizer for the jamestown community center. Some of you have met with some of our kids.

They wanted to be here, but unfortunately, because the time

was not changed -- one of my students this year, but the majority could not be here to talk to you today.

We were lucky because it was early release today in the

school district, so we have some elementary and middle schoolers who were able to join us. That was happenstance.

But it would have been great if you could of passed this to 4:00.

We need this to happen. We have been working with you

guys for about 18 months, trying to make this happen.

We really need to have this happen.

We are wasting money and time.

Our families and our kids need this. It was all some of you guys to

put the $1.8 million last year

for free passes over the summer. We are at a position where we are figuring out what to do about that. We' re getting toward the end of the school year, and this program has not started.

We need this to be for everyone, for all kids.

The idea is that it will create an incentive to push kids who would normally drive or be in cars on to munich.

It gives them a reason to use

muni instead of buying cars, or kids who normally would get cars when they turn 16 -- there would

be more incentive for them to ride the bus.

This is a program we want for

all kids, lower class and upper class, because we really think

it will push our kids to become lifelong uni writers. We think that is really important.

It is an important part of what we are trying to work on.

I am working with the school

district and other cbo' s about

how to create lifelong muni

writers -- riders.

>> I am here to strongly encourage you to support this. A lot of our students to have been working on this for the past year were not able to make it. I am here to show my full support.

With all of the services that are being cut, access to school

is becoming really difficult for

a lot of families, and not just

low income families.

I hope this can become available to all san francisco youth.

>> and stella --

estella

rosales, mario ebida.

>> [ Speaking spanish]

>> good afternoon.

I am from power.

I am here again to ask that you

support the free bus passes for youth in san francisco. I am here representing the single mothers of the city.

This is a beautiful city, but it is also expensive.

We need these fast passes.

As parents, we have a responsibility to provide for

our youth, and the youth have a

responsibility to receive an education.

>> next speaker, and judy kwang.

>> good afternoon.

I am actually here to speak . I ran off the bus to talk to you.

I and the youth local coordinator for the occupancies leadership department program.

Thank you so much for kiki in, listening to all of the speakers. Thank you.

>> my name is alicia garza.

As you can see, power has been

doing an incredible job, in coordination with other organizations, drumming up community support for free fast passes for young people.

We are going to be organizing low-income riders.

Transit riders want to see a

budget that improves muni reliability and access without

cutting service or raising fares

higher than the cpi index increases. Our organizational vision is to put the burden on corporate

employers who benefit from the

service of muni, but do not pay their fair share.

We support progressive solutions that tax the rich and corporations.

we have collective disagreements.

While we understand efforts to

reduce congestion, many low income families and seniors still need to drive.

As transit advertisers, we will

not shy away, and we look

forward to coming up with creative solutions to the budget crisis.

we have also begun to discuss the budget crisis and the

importance of solutions that

prioritize taking transit over

driving in order to reduce our impact on climate and the environment.

We have just begun the process

of evaluating some specific proposals with our members.

We are much more supportive of an effort to tax downtown

parking garages instead of

implementing parking meters in areas such as bayview hunters point.

We appreciate the awareness about the burden of transit fares on low-income riders.

we would like to work together with you to find budget solutions and get voter approval. We do not have the big bucks that some of the other stakeholders have, but we do have people power.

We are part of san francisco rising.

It is a grass-roots coalition of nine base building

organizations working to build electric power in poor and working-class communities of color.

>> my commissioners are on the bus, coming. there are five of them.

A lot of them go to private school. I want to speak three bullet

points as to why a universally free pass is what this campaign is about, regardless of income.

It does not stipulate you have to be low income to receive it.

There was debate at the commission back in September, before we adopted this

resolution, about income stratification.

Ultimately, there were three policy reasons why the commission wants a free pass. The first is stigma.

Reduced or free lunch, general

assistance -- there is a stigma

that comes with being low-income and getting a service for it.

When you are pre pubescent, that is super messed up.

That is not the kind of public good the youth commission supports. The second point is the administrative difficulties.

the half price fast pass for low-income youth was never implemented because of the administrative burden.

In a final point that I think is

important to point out, 40% of

kids who could don' t.

We have a high proportion of private school students, but all those kids are not rich.

A youth commissioner was here.

some people off just want a good education. Thanks for your time.

Free for all.

>> thank you so much, Mr. Nolan. If you' re muni drivers do not need to eat, everything is free.

police -- we cannot make any

more for the public in this community. We have to teach the children what is duty.

Transportation is a duty.

If you want to live in a big city, you have to pay for it.

You cannot get free pizza at a pizza shop. You have to pay for it.

Yes, we need to take care of the low income.

Yes, we can make it more

affordable, a pass for the children. But that is all we can do.

we cannot say you get it free because you live in san francisco. We cannot send this message to the public anymore.

We are sending a strong message to the community and the

children, the next generation.

san francisco has reliable public transportation already.

In his been on the street for 22 years already.

The bus May be late a little bit or early a little bit.

At least we can depend on public occasion. This is why we have to pay a bit of money to get on the buses.

It is not because of five

supervisors.

We are a community, blah blah blah. But they do not know how much money you pay to run the system

-- the railroads, driver benefits. they are members of the public as well.

If I should live here, I should get free? That is not right. Do not send the wrong message.

>> thank you for hearing us. My name is fernand go.

i work with the central

american resource center, and an

after-school program right behind me.

Coming over here, we had to

split our group up because we

had left over bart tickets, but could not all right muni.

It would be helpful for parents who have their students come out

to our programs, and for field trips.

It comes up in all sorts of areas.

75 cents does not seem like a lot. That was a world of difference for me.

i remember when you could scrape

up 75 cents, you need to come back in the hour and a half block.

I definitely was one of those people who knew which corners I

could hit up so I could get on

the back of the bus and right knee that way.

chairperson nolan:   the board will have a 10 minute break. Ribble be back at 20 till.

-- we will be back at 20 till.

f you can please take your seats.

The next speaker. ready for the next speaker.

Chairperson nolan:   hang on a second.

Is Mr. Reiskin out in the hall? >> did you see him out there?

Chairperson nolan:   ok. We' re starting again.

ok, ladies and gentleman.

Before we start with more speakers, it has come to my

attention that some people seem

to think the board can take an action today. That is not possible.

It all has to do with the agenda.

It covers a discussion of budget priorities for the coming year. It is truly a discussion. If you are waiting for the board to say something and make a decision today, it is not going to happen. We cannot do it.

it is not on the agenda.

So far, we have heard 41 speakers.

We certainly get the message.

You are entitled to speak if you want to. What we are going to do is we will hear from five more

speakers, and then we need to go into a closed session for a couple matters of litigation. Then we will come back.

if you want to speak to us, we will be happy to hear from you.

>> the next speaker was lorena,

followed by anonymous, baby --

gabby rodriguez.

chairperson nolan:   that will be how many speak before our break for litigation.

>> I am the director of civic engagement at the central american resource center.

Chairperson nolan:   ladies and gentlemen, please. We need to pay attention to the speaker. >> I want to take the opportunity to introduce some of our youth.

more of our youth wanted to be here, but as you know it is hard

to get out of school early.

They came in muni here to make their voice heard.

I have been organizing in san

francisco for about 13 years.

I am a widow with a young child.

This is not only for families, but it is also important for me.

part of my work is to hear every

day of the struggles of families.

As a young woman just told me,

this is for families of real need.

I hope you remember the stories and testimonies people are sharing today. I want to give the microphone to you.

>> I go to mission high school. I do not live on mission street.

When I came to california , the

fast pass was paying $10.

now I am 18.

I have to pay like $31 just to go to high school.

I feel it is unfair, paying $31 just to go to school.

For me and some friends, we really need it.

It is not just we want. It is a necessity for us.

Chairperson nolan: thank you. Anybody else?

>> [Speaking spanish]

>> most of the people here are latinos. We do not have a lot of opportunities.

we have a lot of families.

Sometimes we only have one parent to come support us.

for some of the families, it is really hard for us to pay

nearly -- to pay muni.

>> I get at least three buses -- going to school, coming back

from school, going to an after- school program, where I have to

pay at least $3 every day or more.

i hope I can get your support.

Chairperson nolan:   thank you very much.

Next speaker.

>> my mom always goes to the park with my little brother.

We pay a lot of money.

we can use that money for buying

something else.

Me and my mom,

we go to -- my mom needs to pay me and my

sisters , needs to pay more money.

>> anonymous, followed by gaby rodriguez.

>> I am anonymous.

Chairperson nolan:   that will be

before the litigation session. >> also known as steve williams. A couple points.

First of all, I know the board has heard this issue for a while.

Several months ago, I remember distinctly board members saying this is a good idea, but we do not know where the money is.

Now the money is here, but the process is not being made here.

there are some important points about respect that I think need to be made.

First of all, it is not appropriate for this board to go into closed session when people are still waiting to speak.

Time and time again, people have asked for clarity about what the time when for the decision is going to be.

i understand this plan is a discussion to make a decision

regarding fares, but this board

is in a position to make a conditional endorsement of this program.

What we can promise you is that whether you go into closed

session or have other hearings, more and more people are going to continue to come speak.

the reality is whether you have

the hearing at 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 -- young people all across the city are paying attention to what this board is doing.

It is critical that free fast passes be provided to all young people.

We have said before, and this board, I think understands the importance of this, but it is

critical to understand that inevitably young people will wind up falling through the cracks, if you wind up setting

up any sort of discriminatory practice. We have heard about the bureaucratic red tape.

But the reality is that in san francisco public schools, more

than 80% of the kids to qualify for free and reduced lunch do

not wind up receiving it because of some bureaucratic mess up.

It is critical that newly not

follow that type of President Of

setting up obstacles --

precedent of setting up obstacles.

create the possibility of a new generation of transit riders to

step up to be able to prove the city can provide transportation not just to and from school, but

all over the city, so people can take a vintage of the incredible wealth and resources this city has. It is incumbent upon this board to make clear to the community

when it is you plan on making a

decision, and making clear that you support the program now that the community and public officials have done the hard work of finding and raising the money from other sources.

>> debbie rodriguez, followed by kevin.

-- gaby rodriguez, followed by kevin.

>> I am here to support free

muni for all youth.

It is a need, a necessity.

We need it for all youth.

Not only will it get us to

school, but it will open up other opportunities for us.

Students can join other clubs

outside of school and depend on muni to get there.

Lastly, muni is environmentally friendly.

The more people write it, the more it will be friendly.

I think we need free muni for youth. Thank you.

>> next speaker, kevin, coleman advocates.

Chairperson nolan:   is kevin here? >> carlos rios. Ymca.

Chairperson nolan:   that will be it before our litigation session.

>> good afternoon, everyone. My name is carlos rios.

I am here to support free muni for youth.

I understand all this hard work from community leaders.

the solution is just pass. I know it is not easy.

There has been a lot of apart from each party.

But I understand this is for the

community, and the community will appreciate the work you do for them.

I understand the politics and stuff like this is in play right now.

and of course it is obvious that all the people behind me want this to pass.

I understand also for you that you want to.

It is all about you wanting to pass this resolution. Thank you.

chairperson nolan:   let me say

once again the process here -- a process question was raised.

The board does not have the authority to vote on something that is not on the agenda.

This board decided some time ago that we would have this issue as part of the overall

budget proceeding, which we are moving on as expeditiously as possible. Over the next couple of meetings, we will be able to make that decision.

We have explained that to a number of leaders of the organization. Thank you.

With that, we will have a closed session for litigation.

Is there such a motion? Is there a second?

any further discussion?

The ayes have it. We will be in closed session for litigation.

>> sylvia

ramos.

>> are any of those folks in the room?

>> anonymous, why do you not come forward? I know that you are here.

>> please come forward if name has been called.

Why do you not read the list again?

>> we have an anonymous, josh,

cortines, ramirez, stephanie, marcel.

>> I think we have one. Good afternoon.

>> I understand that the board

has more important issues to discuss.

I am here as a follow-up from the last meeting.

I left a letter for the board members.

I understand that they did not pass it on to you. They refused.

One of the issues that we

discussed was a letter that I

received from the mta.

A hearing was issued in response to the protest.

The date and time it was

installed was January 13, 2012.

the letter was written January 13, 2012.

The letter was written before

the boot was installed.

All of the other details of was talking about in that letter.

The secretary said that she

passed on the letter to the director and included the documents.

She said that she was not able

to reply because by email was not working.

The attachment was one of the documents that are included with my resume.

my email works.

I sen messagesd and get them back.

I had no reply.

My only venue

to address the problem was this meeting.

consider the issues are raised in the letter.

If I cannot appeal, I tried to appeal with the hearing office. He did not return my call.

>> thank you, next speaker.

>> isabel martinez.

>> good afternoon. Good evening.

We work on sustainable community strategies.

On behalf of disadvantaged communities to advance equity and opportunity.

We are proud to stand in

solidarity with members of the use coalition members. Young people who have come out today.

This is a sustained community strategy.

Muni can use this across the board.

The reason we have spent about

four hours in solidarity and as

long as it takes, the really

important thing to recognize is that this is not funded.

This is something that has been

gone through all the right steps.

Identify all of the concerns. This is something that has to happen.

one of the speakers that they talked about, there is a certain

stigma that occurs.

It happens in this country, too.

I grew up in the sacramento valley. I took public transportation.

a very stigmatizing.

I was very struck that that wasn'

t the case.

It needs to be across the board

free to all youth. Let'

s move forward with this.

I would love to be here and bask

in this energy.

We worked in coalition with power.

We are going to do the same. This has to happen. Let' s get it on the agenda.

this will make this agency among the most forward thinking in the country.

>> are any of those people here? Please come forward. It isabel martinez. Estella?

S

ilvia ramos?

Stephaie?

Claudia?

>> while some of these folks are

coming forward, this will be at the April 3 meeting.

It will be a part of the entire budget process.

>> howard.

>> are any of these folks here?

Anybody?

>>

[Speaking spanish]

>> good afternoon. My name is claudia.

I am here on behalf of my children.

It is difficult for them to come

forward before you and ask for free fast passes.

>> [Speaking spanish]

>> I just wanted to show you

right now all of the transfers

that I had to get an all the transfers I had to pay for.

My children travel a very long distance to get to school.

we really need the free fast passes.

>>

[Speaking spanish]

>>

I am a low income parent and a single mother.

we want to ask you to please approve the program.

You have a higher position than many in this room.

We ask you to support it.

>> [Speaking spanish]

>> we ask that you pay attention

to what we are asking, not just

the adults, but the youth here.

>> thank you.

Next speaker, please.

>> the next speaker is howard. Elisabeth.

Jose luis.

>> [Speaking spa nish]

>> good afternoon, my name is elizabeth.

i have been trying to understand the process.

Who has decisionmaking power in

the campaign we have been fighting.

It is you and other officials here.

I asked you and whoever is necessary to make this happen.

Just so you know, my own

children often have to get on three buses a day.

We want them to go to university and continue studying.

This is a need that youth have.

Once they leave the house, they are out all day.

they are dependent on muni.

>> thank you. Next speaker.

>> the next speaker, jose luis.

Kevin cho.

>> good afternoon.

>> I am jose luis.

i am from power.

I want muni free

because my mom

pays a lot.

I pay $2.

i hate it when I have to pay.

They always ask me and I do not like when I ask.

I

ned the muni free pass.

i have to pay 75

cents each day and I do not like it.

Every time I pay that, we lose money from our family.

every time when I pay 75 cents,

it goes to the atm.

That money, the atm has over 5

billion dollars in the money

that we pay kids, families and adults.

>> thank you. Good job.

Next speaker, please. >> ernest stokes.

>> good afternoon. I am a volunteer.

I will try to keep this brief.

Early on, we started talking

about free muni for youth.

People said that there was no money.

if you find the money, we can do it. We found the money.

We ask that you can the agreement.

Integrity matters. >> thank you. Next speaker.

>> next speaker, kevin cho,

theresa.

>> good afternoon. My name is kevin.

Part of the campaign is to get

free muni for youth.

I am a second year in college and it would not affect me personally.

it is important to speak up for the next generation. This has brought together a

broad coalition of youth and young people that are thinking

about how to make muni better for future generations.

It is exciting to see you talk

about environmental benefits.

this is a pro transit campaign that will not only encourage all

used to be lifelong riders, but stakeholders.

Some youth are at risk for being

fined on the bus to have access

to their education. Thank you. >> next speaker.

>> the next speaker followed by theresa.

>> good afternoon.

i am from the campaign academy.

I am a freshman at college.

Even though free muni will not

affect me, it is important.

I went to school in sunset.

my dad went to work in the mornings.

That was the only way to go to school.

Muni is more affordable.

School buses have been caught.

-- cut.

>> do you all want to come up together? Ok.

>> good afternoon. >> good afternoon.

Thank you very much for hearing us today.

i am the family neighborhood organizer with mission began.

I tom -- I am here on behalf of

our youth and families.

We hear stories about why kids

do not have enough money to get

to and from their programs and schools. I am here to advocate for all of the youth.

It is heartbreaking.

We hear the same things about the balanced scorecard.

They are waiting for the right bus driver to come around that they know will let them go on

the bus without any fare.

they are paying the price through their education.

I am here to honor their request.

I

urge you that you put this into motion to push this process further.

we need to send a positive

message to the youth and families.

Our kids have been very active and passionate about this from the start.

They created their own facebook

campaign to teach kids to be

better muni riders.

I pledge to give up my seat to the elderly and to not curse on the bus.

Do you all want to say something? >> good work.

Do you want to say something? Ok.

thank you.

>> nick, sarah.

>> good afternoon.

Hello, members of the board of mta.

i m-16 and I and ted -- attend

the arts and technology charter school. I am advocating for all of the

youth behind me in san francisco.

Every age, race, ethnicity or school or district that they come from.

They need to get what they

deserve which is free muni.

>> nick, sarah.

>> my name is nicklaus.

I am a sophomore in high school.

i am a member of the san francisco youth commission.

I am here in support of free

muni.

This does not go with what we see as values.

it is san francisco' s transportation system.

This encourages one of muni' s

main goals, which is service.

Allowing youth to get on the

first bus that they see and

instead of the know, this is service.

While we would appreciate a certain outcome, we can only give our opinion.

it is our right to have the vote on this soon.

Please give us the gift of a vote.

These sources have been identified further away and the school project will go further away and might not come back again. Let' s take the opportunity we have right now. let'

s make a decision.

>> sarah armstrong, eric.

>> my name is sarah armstrong.

I serve on the youth commission of san francisco. i want to speak on why I think

muni should be free for all youth.

Those kids need reduced passes

or they need to stay on the back of the bus.

we need to think of them as our

kids that we need to take care of.

It would unite the young people in san francisco.

Behind me, there are so many young people from so many different backgrounds that want

the same goal.

I would encourage you to make

muni free for all young people.

>> vivian.

>> good afternoon.

I am a

junior, so I am a little bit outside of the target range.

i am a prep -- at a private school.

This is on ocean and victoria.

They have a very diverse economic background with the

background and the students and racially and all of that.

there are a lot of things that could have divided us.

We all take the bus.

We all got on at the beginning and the end of the day and when we were trying to sneak out of

school and go off lunch for campus. We all took the train.

hey, I still see you on the bus.

Having free muni

would create a generation of transit rider. S.

By former classmates are all there.

that is an investment we can make into our future.

There is a testimony standing right in front of you.

There are young kids that maybe

you can see standing here in front of you.

I hope you can make the decision soon to prioritize future generations.

>> next speaker, please.

>> hello.

I am a member of the adopt an

alley way youth project.

My birthday was last week.

i had to purchase an adult fast

pass.

I was swept away by the increase

in price from $21 to $61.

I am advocating for a reduction for everyone, not just low- income youth.

Students aged 18 and above ride

muni just as much as below

those 17 in age.

We should not discriminate on their economic burden as well as age.

we want to encourage all of the

youth to use muni as a form of transportation.

It will collectively benefit all of us.

We want to factor in

environmental as a benefit of the pilot program. Thank you. >> thank you.

>> vivian,

annie, ralph.

>> I am part of the adopt an

alleyway.

this represents a tiny portion of muni'

s budget.

We have identified a path.

The economic recession is hitting the low income families hard. We don'

t want the issue -- we don'

t want the burden to be on the shoulders of low-income youth.

We have environmental goals that we want to me.

Hopefully, people would be more

inclined to ride muni instead of

drive, resulting in less carbon

dioxide emissions, which is beneficial to the environment. Thank you.

>> vivianne, annie, ralph.

>> my name is vivian.

I am part of the adopt an alleyway campaign.

Our question was, do you support

free muni for youth?

We had many responses.

Some thought it would reduce the effect of global warming.

kids do not make money to pay for transit.

Many families have financial burdens. Kids'

jobs

is to go to school and get an education.

Our job is to eliminate any obstacle that stands in their way.

>> annie wong.

>> good afternoon. >> my name is annie.

I am part of the adopt an

alleyway campaign academy.

I believe that students are the future.

education is free.

We rely on transportation to get to school.

Students are required to go to school.

Why should they be required to pay to go to school? >> thank you.

>> ralph.

>> my name is ralph.

I am a freshman at the high

school as well as a youth leader.

With the yellow school buses

drastically cut, many will have

to rely on muni for transportation.

afterschool they walk to chinatown.

This is a really long distance, trust me. That'

s because it'

s unaffor dable.

When I mean youth, I

mean all of them.

None of us should feel that muni

is a low-income form of transport.

>> michele, deron davis.

>> good afternoon. >> good afternoon.

i am in my

junior year in high school.

I am here to support free muni for youth.

My mom is a single mom.

she has two jobs to support my brother and myself.

She couldn' t afford it.

I was thinking of good way to

help my mom.

Also,

to make it family- friendly.

Thank you for your time.

>> my name is sandy.

I am here from abraham lincoln high school.

I am here for the leadership empowerment program.

I am here to support free muni

for all youth.

Transportation is extremely important.

Without it we would not be able

to get to school and received our education.

support free muni for all youth.

Every youth deserves an opportunity to learn. Thank you.

>> d michelle greater than

deron, juan.

>> my name is michelle. I am a senior at galileo academy.

>> I am a junior from abraham lincoln high school.

I am a leader for youth for a

single world leadership empowerment program.

>> my family has never been able to drive.

I have never woken up and said I am excited to take this bus.

I met my friends across the country.

They have a new york metro card.

They were so excited to go back home and take the bus.

I have never had that experience.

All youth can take the bus.

And be more excited about it.

That can have the experience and

have more access to take public transportation. We have identified the funding.

I feel n

if muni was more efficient and move money around

to not have so many overtimes,

we could have more muni and have

more people enjoy it.

>> I really

support this being

for all youth.

Thank you for listening to parents and us.

>> thank you so much.

>> deron davis, juan, santiago.

>> my name is davis.

I am a sophomore at galileo school of sciences.

I think that muni should be free

to youth.

a lot of youth has to travel a

lot of places whether it is going to or from school.

Just hanging out with friends.

A lot of them do not have money

to get on the bus all the time.

They have to ride the bus for free.

>> thank you. I appreciate it.

>> juan, enriquez.

>> I am the youth

organ as sizer

-- organizer with the community organization.

I want to make muni free for all young people. We have been here several times over the last few months. We have heard this from young

people and families and community members supporting this idea.

Their struggles to be able to

move around the city freely and to all of the things they want to do.

We are here as a board to take action.

When we first came here in

September, we came here to take action.

They said it was a good idea,

but you need to find funding.

They have been doing all of the leg work to find the funding. You have heard that this

proposal is only 1% of the entire budget of the mta.

this 1% can impact the lives of 47,000 young people.

This is not a question of budget.

The question is will this mta

board step up to the demands of the community?

We have been here and we have

yet to clearly get a response from the board on whether this

is going to be free or reduced.

whether it will be for all young people or some young people.

We need for this board to stop delaying the vote and the process and to take action.

We want to remind you that this

is a pro-muni campaign.

We went down people to feel a positive relationship to muni.

>> my name is alex.

I am a junior.

I am a part of an organization which stands for solidarity organizing product -- project.

As a passenger, I am also a student.

i use the bus to get to school and back.

Sometimes I do not have the 75 cents to go to school.

It is supposed to be free for our country and is required.

I come from a low-income family.

It is hard to get that 75 cents that we need to get an education.

i am here to take a stand for

free muni for the youth to get the education that we need.

>> next speaker.

>> santiago, enr iquez.

>> good afternoon.

I go to the elbow of high school. I am a ninth grader. I am here to talk about my

experience with muni.

when I do not have money for

muni, I have to hop on the

back.

I am scared because I might get a fine.

When I do not have a money, I

will have to wait for a bus that will let me on.

unlike the other students that

are on time, I am going to have

a hard time catching up with my work.

It will not just benefit me, but

other students across san francisco.

Families that have economic

crisis and are not able to pay for their children.

When I see you get fined, I think it is not fair that you

should get fiend for hopping on

the back when it is not hurting anybody. It gets me mad.

i cannot pay 75 cents for the bus.

The officers seize that.

I do not know how the officer thinks that they are going to be able to pay for it.

if muni were to be free, everything will change.

Students in san francisco would be able to get to school on time.

Some youth that held up their families by working, they would be able to get to work on time.

this is my

experience of the muni.

>> cynthia.

>> we have another?

>> spread the word.

Free muni for all our youth.

i am a proud part of power.

I have been writing muni since I was 3 years old.

I remember when they pass was 75 cents.

Now that I am a senior in high school, it is 75.

I have to spend $2 a day just to get to school.

It was hard enough to afford the fast pass and dealing with

mta giving me a ticket.

I resorted to walking to school.

$2 is simply too much.

because of the skyrocketing

prices, other young folks like myself that do not have the

money to pay for transportation

also have to hop on the back of

the bus and get fined.

This is only pushing us away.

i believe that young people of

low-income backgrounds are entitled to fair treatment.

I asked for a vote for this proposal.

Let young people have free transportation.

Let young people get to school

for free 1 day -- so they can succeed.

Let them get to the hospital.

Let them work and earn a living for free.

And back home at night for free. I urge you.

>> next speaker.

>> will.

>> my name is william.

I am a kid from third street.

I go to school on balboa.

The backdoor usually does not open.

that gets me late for school.

I am facing truancy for that.

I am an sop leader.

It is an associate of power.

We both come here with a common goal.

this campaign is to allow the use of san francisco to get free

muni rides.

What makes a youth different from riding the bus?

When you were a child, you became different from being an adult because you have the liberty of the school bus.

all we are asking for is free muni.

May you please give that to us.

We know that you guys are tired and so are we.

could we get an unchangeable

date?

>> this will be on April 3. It will be on the agenda.

That request is answered.

Next speaker.

>> tina, david, victoria.

>> good afternoon.

>> I am a junior at balboa

high school.

I am a part of the solidarity organizing project. We work together.

personally, every day is a

struggle for me to find 75 cents. The fact that I do not live with

both my parents because they are

separated is a struggle for the family I am living with.

they have kids of their own to take care of to give them bus

fare money.

I fell

el

like if public education is free, it should be

a free ride for all of our youth

in the morning. thakn

nk you.

>> david followed by victoria, amy.

>> my name is david.

I am a member of community youth center of san francisco.

i am here to support free muni for youth.

I have had a lot of problems with money.

It costs $21.

If you buy for 12 months, it

would cost a total of $252.

I have trouble paying for that.

All of my other family members had trouble, too.

Not to mention my mom and uncles.

They had to pay $62 a month because they could not pay for car insurance and everything else. They take. Bus.

$744

per parent.

For low-income families, it is a lot to pay.

We hope that you will help us.

>> and victoria followed by amy.

>> my name is victoria.

I am a sophomore at galileo high school.

This is a part of the community youth center.

I support free muni for youth.

I do not think that kids should have to pay to go to school.

Public education is free, but public transportation is not.

>> amy followed by roberto.

>> my name is amy.

i am also a peer leaderin young

asian women against violence.

I am here today to support free

muni for youth.

Many families cannot afford muni

passes.

Many families have low income. They do not have enough to pay

for muni passes.

It is enough to find

food for their families.

Many cannot find jobs because

our economy is struggling.

>> this is followed by ro berto.

Paulo is the last person. >> my name is paulo.

i come from balboa high school. I am a junior.

I would like to say thank you

for having this meeting finally.

Having a father who pays child support and has five other kids,

it is hard for me to ask for bus

money.

Having a mother who works all night, I feel bad asking for money.

I walk all the way from west

lake because I had no bus money.

if muni is supposed to be safe

for everybody, why do I feel

unsafe for somebody that will

give me a $109 a ticket for jumping on the back.

All I can say is let' s get this

done and spread the word, spread the truth.

Free muni for all our youth.

>> we have heard from everyone

who chose to address the board.

I will declare the public hearing part over.

it is time for the board members to talk about priorities.

They give to everybody who spent the afternoon with us.

We appreciate the testimony.

Especially the students and parents who are with us today.

We take it very, very seriously. I would like to ask my colleagues to talk about this one.

We have a number of revenue items.

This board has to give the staff some sense of how we should

approach it and how it should be

on April 3 the next time we see it.

that will include your recommendations. Members of the board.

>> I was at a lot of the budget breakout meetings.

If we are looking at the possible additional revenue sources, this is the one that we have already discussed.

the meter banking.

I know that director lee would

be speaking up for this one.

I think it is a wise choice to put this off.

We have the next study.

It was handed to each of us.

I think it makes sense to hold off on the meter banking fee.

the citation increase, it has

been increased again by the state.

We cannot continue to absorber that one. That will have to be passed on.

Parking meters into the evening

in select neighborhoods in selected areas.

We are lucky with this one.

Oakland tried to do this and it did not work.

They didn'

t have the data to back it up.

They could not show what kind of impact it would have on the business district. we do have a lot of the

background and information.

It does make a lot of sense to approach this as a neighborhood

by neighborhood thing.

We know not every meter needs to

go from 6:00 until 9:00 or 10:00.

it could help the business district. Certain neighborhoods are going to embrace this.

As we see how it works neighborhood by neighborhood, we

will be able to move forward to other neighborhoods.

The charge for parking, we thank the director for clarifying that.

it is not so much that they oppose paying for the meters on

sunday, it is so that they can

buy enough time to talk about their service or anything that happens after the church service.

Should we should absolutely facilitate that if we can.

It could be a situation where

the areas that we need those

meter time limits to be extended, we might not have the

right meters in place for that to be extended.

It could require work on our part.

As long as we take that into

consideration that people can

buy more time.

Adding more parking meter spaces, that makes sense to me.

We already have an idea of where that is going to go.

I am going to skip the last one.

That would make sense

as well.

We do not think that enhancing this has a great chance of succeeding.

>> what does that mean?

I was not here at the last one.

what is the part of the

ordinance that you are

trying to enforce?

>> right now the planning code

has legislation that any garage

killed after 1984 should only be

charters for the hour.

-- pills after

-- built after 1984 should only be charged for the hour. Good >> I feel like I have

talked about a lot of these so

much I knew them pretty well.

Charging for transfers, we came

down with and no on that, and I am worried it is going to slow

down the boarding of the buses. Good

although it seems like a good

idea, and I support doing everything we can to transition

people, we have a lot of concerns, like there was not

enough doubtless -- outlets.

they did confirm there are 110 locations where that can be

done, but there is so concerned it is going to make it more

difficult for people to get the

cash on their card, so I every -- I do agree we should be

continuing to transferor and as

part of all large policy.

Good

we did not succumb to of firm decision. Good

-- did not come to a firm decision on about one.

i am going to withhold comment. Going back to done

the youth passe, s,

that is a laudable goal, and I

did we need to have a

conversation about that.

We have not seen the funding

that has been identified, so are

icing we need that laid out. I think we need to keep this as

part of the budget process, if

we can do a two-year pilot and and have the goal of building it

into our budget going forward,

but I am not willing to say that we can afford to do it.

the budget panel did good work on coming to an agreement, and

we did bring up one thing I know you will take interest in.

If we cannot manage to close a budget gap, there is a possibility we back off on

adding to our rainy day funds,

which I do not think any of us

will be thrilled in doing.

We do have that option. >> how about us and just

collapsed -- how about I suggest that she has outlined her

position, and if you disagree, let'

s talk about those.

>> I favor increasing the cash they' re

fair.

I think this is not a fare

increase driven by a revenue concern.

This is driven by policy.

I hear the concerns.

I would favor increasing cash sir. With regard to all other fares, I would say we need to abide by

indexing policy . And one that was not mentioned I think we need to be very clear about is the general fund

payments for police protection of the system.

The work order never made sense to me. Now we are in a situation where

we have the ability to assess stock. A police protect the city.

I think we need to draw the line

and say unless there is critical information we mean to not pay

that we do we need to not paid out and build it into our work order.

if it is necessary, I would

favor service cuts to limited

use lines, service cuts that

will not affect sufficient amounts of writers.

-- rid ers.

We need to be as efficient of the service we are providing.

I believe they gave us more

latitude on this. I realize that is a harder thing

to do within the timeframe of

the budget, but this is something we have talked about,

and I think we need to put it on the agenda but there are some

lines that can be served with

smaller vehicles, and on the revenue enhancement side, i

would be in favor of looking at sunday or nighttime parking

enforcement in business districts where the business district office into it. Last time we got a lot of pressure from the supervisors to

look at it, and we put it to the supervisors to ask which one

wanted it in their district, and nobody wanted it in their

district, so I think we need to try a different approach, which is that we operate through the

community, and we need to see

how this works, and included is other groups like places of

worship.

As I said before, I do not think

we should break our indexing policy.

I have a concern about passing

on the court house free

ee , but if we need that to close the

budget, I would probably vote on it, but let me state the concerns.

If we keep passing on

every fee

without any discussion, guess

what is going to happen.

that is going to keep happening, and producer in a parking ticket

is going to be $100, even though

we have lived by our indexing

applies to the citizens , so at some point this has to come to a

stop, and I am not sure how to communicate about other than to

say we will not pass it on, but I have a concern that if we just

keep passing on these visas we

get them, a political body is

going to keep doing this because about a political body

has no repercussions .

Bagging of meters, we have received a convincing letter

about this, and I think it makes sense to wait and mixed up with

our new program.

i think it discourages

use, and

it is not a great idea. I am not in favor of eliminating

it passes for muni staff.

the costs would be marginal at best.

We discussed it, so there May be

a feeling we promised them.

The other thing, i want them

to be invested.

I give my friend credit for anticipating this. It is very tempting to avoid

reserves and rebuild its, --

reserve rebuilds, but I would

say to watch for the diligence of previous accords come to

fruition, that enables them to save critical services, and I

think we need to really remember

that and not violate our reserve

policy unless it is this essential.

>> you want to speak to the youth pass?

>> once we see the funding

reports and how it will work, I

know some people are

referencing my comments.

>> I agree with almost

everything he radioed -- everything he said.

I think there are some things we

need to look at, and I am

think our

employees could afford to pay for their rights and on our

system during road -- our system.

it would encourage them to

encourage others.

I am not convinced doing away with employees' taxes is a great idea.

now that I have heard everything

about it, that is a question.

What were the employees thinking?

i think the savings or the

revenues but will be generated , I do not think it would be

announced -- enough to risk a

moral issue.

I think we have an issue if we take something away that is not going to benefit costs

us.

i think it is time we realized set free parking is no longer

feasible . If we are going to contribute to

the city , we should not have to

pay the going rate for parking,

but we should pay something for parking.

i am not sure what I would be, but we need to look at that.

We need to do away with transfers.

all it did was caused people to

throw it out the window ,

operators tossing transfers out the window.

I know because I saw it happen,

so but is not going to work, and

so I would rather not see it go

away.

I think that is a bad idea .

We need to start charging in

downtown business scenarios

parking on sundays. We need to look at how about is

going to go, and we need to

explore every possible avenue to kill the revenue the is going to

keep our system not only saves

but driving.

I am not going to ride a system

I cannot rely on, and we need to

maintain our system.

we need to fix what is broken.

Our system is in need of serious repair. We need to make sure we provide

money to repair what is broken so we do not have an unscheduled service customers

ts because we do not

have the equipment to put up .

budgetary concerns should not include safety.

As our equipment is not maintained, it is not going to be safe.

i can guarantee that, and I am

not going to vote for in a fare increases of less I know our

system is safe and reliable.

with that, I will stop for now.

>> first, I would like to thank the director and staff for this comprehensive budget report.

I think they have done a great

job, and it is great to hold

these town hall meetings so

people can see what you are

doing, and I applaud you for that.

After looking at maintenance, I

need to applaud you for related

taking the initiative to look at maintenance.

the budget shows we are really

concerned, and this shows the investment we are putting in.

I will not cover what we have

already talked about. I will address some things we have concerns about. I will start with a parking

citation increase.

I agree the passing on fees

continuously sends a bad signal. Good

what happens when you keep

passing on the fees, where is the ceiling?

Do we end up at a place where

parking citations take us to the

wrong place in time?

You increase the fares, parking citations, so where do citizens

have to go with that?

The parking meter on sundays. Good

the rev. Made a crucial point that the faith based community will be impacted with this

issue, and I know it runs the

gamut.

Some run three hours, but I am

sure various -- sure there is a safety net.

We really should look at where

we can reach a happy medium,

because parking is very limited. Did they do not have parking

garages, so there is no way we

can compromise -- there is the

way we can compromise , so I

would love get some compromise.

Youth passes, I want to applaud the yough

th community. They showed solidarity.

Load

I understand their plight, so it

is something and now I said i

would support, and I would like to show the weekend and not

supported -- when I think we can

support its

. We have been to the other meetings were it has been cut,

but if we can augment some kind

of way where we can provide

this service to our youth, that

would be great, because I would hate to see them impacted because they cannot get to

school or their parents cannot

make a decision whether to feed

them or by a muni pass , so I think we should take a harder

look an offer something to the youth.

It is something important and something we owe to the community.

>> if I could add to that, I

have made it very clear that I am not going to support any

sane, -- support anything

because we run of of money. But if I am going to start a

program, I want us to be able to continue.

If we are going to provide

opportunities for youth to ride

our system, and we need to sustain the program so it never goes away.

I do not want it started and taken away because we do not

have any more money .

I want us to be able to provide

rides for our youth.

They need to know that we care

about them a.

>> the other thing I would say

is you save on one side but you spend the money on the other

side.

I would say you to look up both sides. you look up one side where you are saying you cannot find it

here, but we are going to find it on the other sides.

You want to prohibit a kid from

going one way or the other or help support done

them.

i want to look at data on the budget}g

n8d

looking at everything else,

except the free employment pass those

,

the other thing is the morale issue is so bad. It is a big issue with employees.

The first thing I heard about in every garage was a free employee passes and eliminating some of the benefits.

it seems like it affects some 100% when it comes to free

parking, so I think there is a

happy medium we can find, and if

you want to encourage

employees, you have to offer something, soup.

I looked around, and it was

empty, so I would love to see

something about the actual

versus the production -- projection.

I do not support of see on -- a

fee on transfers.

>> I want to thank the community members for coming out this afternoon. But I want to thank the

organizers and the other folks

but provided translation. i see that some day we would be able to provide that service.

You' re able to work twice as

hard, and I would like to coordinate thought, and we are

having an effective meeting, so thank you for taking the time of of your busy day.

i think it would be a wonderful

thing if we can funded it.

That has always been my direction.

I think by April 3 we should

have something we can often rally around and support your

good -- and support.

I am confident we can support anything as long as there is

money to pay for it, and I do

not see why anyone would want to oppose that.

there is no ideology as far as

not being able to help folks who need a hand.

There is no ideology, and I

personally would disagree . Once we can get a pilot project

going, we set a precedent, and

if we can demonstrate that is a

value on this board, we can assign staff and supervisors but

would need to get into motion to

make this a permanent program, so I am looking forward to discussion on the third.

Good there were some points made the

at implied we do not know what

it is like to have kids to ride

transit.

I want to make it clearer the families that are here to ride transit. We know what it is like to go

without eating and not taking the bus.

I used to walk to school hoping

I could find a soda bottle I

could read seem to get my fair

to ride to school, so I know

what it was like, and I would hope this community would take time to get to know us before

making assumptions, so please be

careful in what you are saying, because we want to build a spirit of camaraderie, but thank you for coming out.

With

respect to the budget, I do

agree with the comments on

everything she said. Your the things I particularly

want to talk about is my interest in finding revenues from parking and increasing

parking meters on sundays and after hours.

I think it is very ironic deaths

that we can continue to give free parking on sundays and after six, but we cannot find

the funding to give free passes

for youth.

I think it is backwards.

I hope you understand if we are

going to instill a sense of

value, and buildings future

transit riders shift, it has got

to come from everybody.

It is upon us us of all city of

demonstrating what we value, and

by charging people to ride muni

after 6:00 are well cars get to

ride for free after 6:00 or by

charging people to get to church well the people driving are

contributing to congestion and

greenhouse gas reductions, slowing down our transit are

parking for free on sundays, I think it is a backward and we need to straighten that out, and

I hope we will keep these

things in mind as we find a way

that does not impact on low-

income communities but works out

in such a way the communities

will benefit.

I know we can do it.

I said a lot already.

I not going to say much of.

i oppose the idea of increasing

any fair beyond where we have already committed soup.

I think that we have made that commitment. I would rather see a reduction in service as opposed to increasing the affairs. i would rather see all these

other fare revenue mechanisms approached first.

Aside from the past we give them as employees. I would rather take away

parking for our employees. We cannot expect them to operate

out of higher lovell than we expect community members, the

most vulnerable members of our

community, that are having to

find a way to get home from

work at 2:00 in the morning,

standing on market street waiting for a bus.

It is challenging, and I think it is important to understand

all our employees understand the

challenges, and we get free consulted because our colleagues are understanding what it is likely to be a burden trying to

get around after hours, so I

want to make sure I convey the.

I think that is all I need to stay for now.

I think we have given it another direction. Good >> you have not heard from me.

>> you did not mean to suggest

that our service was shoddy. >> I have been there.

The only thing I sense a conflict of opinion is this

concept of not paying into the rainy day fund and recognizing

that we are in on a horrible

scenario right down

now worse than

any of us has ever seen, I think we have gotten unique

challenges our generation has

never seen, and I think it would be prudent to make sure we can

sustain as much as possible, because I do not want to make it

in a harder -- any harder.

My brother was out of work for a year-and-a-half.

i know what it is like to suffer

and to pay more. It does not feel morally right to support something like the

offering funding . Thank you for much. >> thank you for your thoughtful comments. In

the bagging thing

-- I think there should be a place holder

in the event of whatever that is

does not have been sufficiently

for this revenue source. All the other things are fine.

I am still out somewhat of an

open mind for employees.

I think said points have been

made -- I think points have been made about the city. I am concerned about the end of

the trial. That would be a very difficult

problem two years from now if we

find special sources of property and they are gone.

Two points are raised.

1 is a college student talked

about how difficult is that your

your have 60 or 78.

i will look forward to the

financial analysis that will come from this.

I came up with

about $20 million. The most controversial was extending parking nights and

weekends.

If that is around $10 million, the only thing we have left is our serious service costs

uts.

it was awful. I hated to do that.

I would rather have qualities

service people can depend on as

opposed to promising things way

beyond our means.

i think we need to keep up in mind.

I want to say I have great faith

in the project as it goes forward no longer range. Good

it would be very exciting, and if we could go to 9 miles per

hour we would be saving $7 million a year.

>> can I asked about the cash fare increase?

>> not too excited about that.

>> can we circled back. It did not seem that was thought

controversial . There was a gentle man who made a comment if we are going to

have leaders were you can pay to

park $8 an hour, about this not

about revenue generation. I was speechless.

Of course it is about revenue generation.

They are there to help the businesses make revenue.

There are parking meters common

, and if

we were to turn our backs , that

is not making wise use of our

resources.

i think it was pretty

universally accepted at the

stakeholders meeting, and the thing that is going to be

interesting about sunday is those parishioners are probably

going to be able to park closer than they are right now.

And I think it is going to be

easier . I do not want to be shy about

saying we use parking meters to generate revenue, because we do

in your gut -- because we do. That is part of the reason we are there.

The parking policy has to sit

with our goals overall, but i

feel like it those who regard -- I feel like it does. I feel like there is going to

peace enforcement we have not had before.

People say they are going to church. they are going to the church of

yoga and to get a two-thirds. If the leaders are working on sunday we are going to have

turnover on the legal spot, and

we can cut our on illegal spots.

Everytime I see that I think about how many trips we are

facilitating .

That is another reason I am

really interested.

The other one, a citation increase to offset a court house see

fee.

Is it up

to $5 for a citation,

and is our total impact 3 million? >> here is what happened to

reagan -- here is what happened . My understanding is we have

passed through $1 of six.

-- $1 of it.

we are assuming not to have thought, so if we were to

increase the citations by $2 but

would be $2.4 million to close . There was a second court house the we were not aware of secure

a good -- but we were not aware of.

We have not assumed , so if we were to pass through the

additional $3, that will leave

us even if your ego -- even.

I just want to clarify I do not

think we currently have

indexing for parking citations, and that is something we discussed a little bit this

morning. That is something I would

recommend we do apart from

whether we do the pass through .

There was some discussion, that

by not passing it through you

sometimes obscure the impact of the state legislature for the

individuals.

There was even discussion about

indicating this its

-- indicating it. There is an argument to be made

in the other direction, and

there is a cap, so it could not go on forever.

in

>> I thought we had an across- the-board index policy.

>> we have not been applying anything on the parking side,

because we did come to indexing.

a discussion the you did not

want to raise the citation .

>> before we get to what we did

last year, two years ago we work closely to pass and indexing

policy. Five does apply to parking citations, but last year we

chose not to make what was a small increase.

i think the reality is it is

going to be very minimal, but if

we are applying indexing through fare increases, I think it is

fair to apply to the parking

citations, and one reason I

supported the index policy is it

allows for small increase those

s and what creates a promise but is

all we are going to do .

I think this is a much more regularized way, so I do not

mind indexing the citations for

indexing the fares, so that is what the policies as we are supposed to do. Good >> you said there is a

ceiling?

>> I believe it is generally

$100, so some of our citations

are already of the cab region --

already at the cap, so we stop there. And >> do you have any comments

at this point?

>> ip

the guy got a good

direction of -- I think I got a good direction of where people are out. Go

just to remind that our current

budget while we are locked in in

terms of the labor agreement,

the other half of the workforce agreements are open, and we will

be negotiating them.

We have correctly assumed no

concessions of any sort that the contribution they made before

would be restored.

it is possible there would be a gap to close for labor

recessions.

>> that does not mean we resign

ourselves to the fact there will not be concessions.

>> thank you all for a

thoughtful discussion.

Do we have anyone who wishes to speak?

>> he asks about

10.2d, but I am

not sure if he is still here,

>> I am simply speaking on the item.

You May be doing that at this time.

>> which one are you talking about right here?

>> the item having to do with

the u-turn at -- in front of ucsf.

Hillway -- and it

was described

by barry in the hall.

I understand that we get rides

on the other side of the street.

It is difficult on the other side of the street.

He would request you do not go

forward with this.

>> members of the board, are

there any questions on the consent calendar.

>> I am waiting for public comment.

>> we are not there yet.

>> that was item 10.2 s.

Public comment --

>> is there any further discussion?

moving this forward, the consent calendar is approved.

>> we do have some people have turned in speaker cards.

Brad dushem,

nushem,

brad nuberg --

>> Mr. Gruberg?

>> okay.

>> thank you. Mark gruberg.

I think you realize that there were a lot of cabdrivers who wanted to speak.

and -- the way that the meeting went, they were unable to do this.

I hope that I reflect the sentiments of many of them.

Listening to these budget discussions is kind of scary for

someone in our position.

it makes it very clear that this agency is a very hungry animal.

We' re finding different -- you are finding ways to extract money from us.

Selling the dalliance and the

direct medallion sales, single-

operator permits, that have not yet been implemented and now we

have this proposal to lease one- third of the fleet, to cap

companies, and this is going to

have a tremendous impact on taxi

drivers, with 500 medallions

going to cap companies, and it means the 500 drivers will not

get a medallion.

This is worse than taking their

money, it is robbing them of

their future, of any reason to remain as a cabdriver.

This will be a dead-end job for many of these people.

he would be condemning them to the tender mercies of corrupt

cab companies, and you are going to be selecting which companies

are the winners -- and they will further dominate the industry.

and it -- is wrong in so many

respects, that I would ask that

this be completely withdrawn, and reformulated. Thank you. >> next?

>> herbert weiner, for --

>> that is a highligher

hter for what the cab drivers think.

i have been idealizing -- the

same thing that happens to us is happening to you.

The demand keeps growing and you

have to divide this, and we' re going to go for sources of

revenue, and what we have seen

is, -- we would give everything

to you if this is enough for a good reason.

That would be fine with us.

But this will not solve the problem.

You have to look at the gauges

that you were working on,

laziness and productivity, creativity.

And we did the demonstrations, with the 600 cabs circling for

the first time.

If I was in your shoes I would

possibly do the same thing, try to go for the bigger pie.

But the thing is, with any of

you laid down, and see that others are making twice as much

as you, and let people walk over

you, so the next step would be

to keep you off our shoulders.

People are ready to put 200,000

-- 1000 if they have to, the 200 should do this.

To put this on the ballot and get you out.

this is not the first time in the history.

Then it -- the american indians were destroyed and some way different groups have been destroyed and we don' t want to end up like this.

>> thank you, so much.

you need to save money to upgrade your system or the

people who pay more money to pay

for the system -- you think

about these own district and the

system -- most of the people cannot go from union square to sunset.

they walk from the tender line,

to go to some kind of area -- so with every zone you only have a couple of bus stops.

They want the free passes and everything.

If you lived in cambodia or bangladesh they don' t have food to eat.

they will look at this and tell me that we Miss The turn.

Today, kids are very spoiled.

If you feed them they will come to you every morning.

The medallion is good and people need a job.

If you choose a cab co. -- if you use a driver you allow them to sub-lease.

This is in order to avoid the abuse of medallions.

they could not least this out, with another driver to make money.

This is also good for the public. This zone is very important.

You have to learn about the high

spot, and we' re making money on

the chinatown and union square.

you have a couple of bus stops and that is all.

People don' t mind walking three or four blocks.

I want to go to sunset -- or to richmond.

This is good because the kids

are too fat, they gain weight in the e to good. Thank you. >> david snyder?

>> the is not here?

>> >> good evening.

>> there were no cards here.

I am barry korngold.

i am on the taxi advisory council.

I came down here even though I

know you are not talking about

tax the items, but I know in the future you will talk about what

to do with medallion reform, and

I wanted to say that won' t -- although the industry needs

regulating, and you have been

given the task of regulating the

industry, there is a big

difference between making things

fair and safe, and going into

the business of the taxi

business, of selling or leasing the dalliance.

And when you do this for every medallion that he sell out

right, this is coming from some

career cab driver who has

sometimes waited decades, taking

all the risks of being on the

road, all of the stress coming

from that, there are a lot of things that I don' t think any of you really understand because you have not driven a cab.

this does not make you wrong, I am just trying to make you aware of that.

This has been the practice of

san francisco four years, to

have these medallions going to working cabdrivers.

It has been thrown about that you would lease them to the

companies, they will not be going to working cabdrivers.

So this system has kept a lot of good drivers in the industry.

I would like to think I am one of them who have stuck around

because I was going to get a

medallion, because the list you

to a management level, with more respect.

i am asking you not to do that because it will lower the

quality of cabdrivers and you will have problems you are not expecting.

>> thank you.

>> are we ready for adjournment?

we will stand adjourned until March 20. Thank you all.