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Tuesday, March 20, 2012
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do [Roll-call]
chairman nolan will be absent today. You do have a quorum.
Please be advise the ringing and use of self phones and other sound producing devices are prohibited. Any person responsible for one
going off May be asked to leave the room.
approval of minutes for the March 12 regular meeting.
A motion to approve? All in favor?
There will be no discussion of anticipated litigation in closed session today.
New or unfinished business? And board members?
i do have one thing I would like to bring up. And now we' re going to have the
budget before us on April 3 and that wondering what type of outreach we have done in anticipation of some of the
items regarding the affairs and
fee increases.
i would hate to get there and have increases without first
knowing there was some kind of
community outreach.
>>
the outreach has largely
taken the form of the March 3 budget hearing.
and we have had four of those
and the fifth one is tomorrow
night at 6:00 P.M. At the waldorf school.
We have been putting out information and getting
feedback via e-mail.
I have been meeting with individual members of the board
of supervisors and there has
been right up in the media, but that is the extent so far.
there has been as much non-
budget discussion and talk and
feedback as there has -- very
little on the proposed budget
ideas. I can' t say we' ve gotten a lot of feedback.
>> when we do have the budget before us, I' m assuming the
items that include changes will
have some kind of idea how it will be ruled out.
those are the ones I am most concerned about.
>> we will do that between now
and the third.
I should add we do have our
budget presentation before the budget and finance committee
wednesday, the 28 and we -- once
we have put together our budget package which will be published
next thursday, we will be making
sure the information is out in
the media and other forms and I
May try to do a roundtable to make sure we get a good media coverage so folks know what is
in the budget and can choose to
submit comment or appear on April 3.
We will make sure to have information on how anything that is a change will be rolled out.
>> item 7, the directors' report.
>> a good afternoon.
-- a good afternoon.
members of the staff and members
of the public, Madam Secretary
-- a few very briefings to report out on.
What does something we' re very
proud of that you will be to --
sf park has received a number of
forms of recognition, including
2012 excellent and it innovation award presented in
washington D.C. Last week by the
american council for technology and advisory council.
we were recognized for pioneer race -- pioneering the most
advanced system for use of sensors and new meters and real
time parking and the demand
response of pricing and for the goal of reducing congestion and
benefiting the transportation system.
A very big honor I reported
recently on -- just last night,
we have an award for the whole
team --
they were honored by the
city municipal government awards.
this is a process
facilitated and the board has of the
previous directors of it. It' s kind of a big deal in municipal government.
It is the highest recognition you can receive and the city.
ed harrington won a lifetime achievement award.
They created a video we should
put up on our web site, but yet
another high honor for sf park.
the world' s eyes are upon us and
what we are doing, largely in a
favorable way and I want to
commend the staff folks,
including the ones who are recognized for their groundbreaking work.
Sunday streets -- I should have mentioned in my last report.
They had their kickoff of that on March 11.
It was a 5.5 mile route along the embarcadero.
the skies cleared and people came out and it was a very good day.
We have no
issues in terms of
parking control or manage and.
We had folks out there doing on
the spot out of reach and data
gathering, it was a great and successful event and we look for
to the same kind of success on April 15 in golden gate park.
The sunday street season is officially open.
the last item as we have scheduled our centennial kickoff.
It was on December 28 that muni
was founded the first real public transit system and the country.
this is our centennial year and
we are kicking off on thursday
April 5 at 10:00 with an event
that will be led by senator
dianne feinstein who is chairing the centennial committee.
she supported both the cable car system and bringing streetcars
back and has continued to be a strong supporter.
I had the opportunity to meet with her a couple of weeks back
and she asked detailed questions
about the fleet -- she is very dial them and we are are to have
her leading the effort .
What we will be doing is
introducing back into the fleet
car no. 1 which first appeared on the streets in 1912.
It has been meticulously restored.
It is waiting for this event and
we will be able to take a ride up the embarcadero and it will be back in service.
That is April 5, 10:00 on the embarcadero.
We will do that and from of the
market street railway museum and I look forward to seeing you all there.
>> any questions or comments?
>> I had one question asked of me which I did not know the answer.
We have been doing a fair amount of work and getting support from
legislators about disabled
parking placards and the abuses thereof.
One of my neighbors says he is convinced someone using a
parking placard in his neighborhood is not actually disabled.
The question was a procedural
one which is is there something a concerned citizen can do when
they see what they think is
disabled placard review -- placard abuse.
My immediate thought was to call 311. If that' s right, I thought that a be a good opportunity to remind the public that is what we would like them to do.
>> that is absolutely correct. They should gather as much
information as they safely can
and they will for that to the
police department as appropriate and we would encourage people to do that.
Hist but it is not always
evident why someone is
legitimately entitled to having
that kind of placard but there
is no harm in reporting any
suspicious activity and we would encourage fuel to do so.
>> they would not be required
to leave their identification. >> that' s right.
they always ask but never require. >> thank you.
I
will add my congratulations for the recognition and rewards.
A number of us were in
washington D.C. And most of them already have heard of the board
going on and those who did not
got a quick update and lessen and everyone found it
fascinating the eyes of the country are definitely on us, so congratulations.
>>
moving on, I do not see the Chairman Here today, so there is
no report from the advisory council.
This is an opportunity for
public to address the board.
Two people have turned in a speaker card.
>> good afternoon.
And the President Of to set a cab company. I' m going to direct my comments
today to talk about an issue I
think is one of the most primary concerns of the taxi industry.
We just deployed a brand new
dispatch system which is excellent.
I think our services are going
to reflect at and I am happy to announce we will be able to take
more calls from the neighborhood and it is an excellent system.
We are in a situation right now
since I have been involved in the industry almost 14 years,
one-third of the taxi cabs right now are not run by a cab
company, they are run by brokers
and individuals who are not held accountable and who are
exploiting taxi drivers and have have proper insurance.
This
is an all-time high and I' m
going to make a prediction.
if we do not in force and create high standards, there will be
serious accidents of people who
are not licensed and we' ve bill
have crimes was not just bandit taxicabs, people who do not have the proper license to do so.
this must be addressed immediately and if we do not,
the public safety is going to be affected very strongly. We are already seeing it.
One of the things the city needs to do is hold the industry
accountable -- cold high
standards for cab companies and medallion holders and cab drivers.
if we do not put standards in place, we have an industry not being held accountable, doing what everyone, and that' s why we don' t have the professional level of service we need. Thank you.
>> thank you.
I would endorse the remarks.
At the last meeting, we talked
about the medallions for cab
companies and how this was
stealing the future of over 500 cabdrivers who will be condemned to a dead-end job of the
benefits for job security while
this agency will gain 12 to $15
million more in permit fees.
This constitutes a direct
conflict of interest and you are putting our own interests ahead
of those people you are charged with regulating.
When taxi regulation was transferred to the mta, many of
our agency was scared.
They solemnly declared the tax the agency will not be a cash cow for the mta yet here we are.
When you took over tax
regulation, everyone knew it was about getting around the will of the voters.
Some of us were nice enough to believe you would recognize the
stark contrast between bus drivers at a cab driving.
a world apart in wages.
We do not regret it more privileged workers their jobs, pay and protections that we do not expect to achieve all they have for cells.
But instead of starting us in staff' s
proposal would move as backward, taking away opportunities for closing of futures.
Do you see the injustice in that, do you care, or is the
bottom line your one concern.
>> is there anyone else who wishes to address the board?
>> good afternoon.
i represent employees that work at the mta.
I was expecting to see an ally here with power and wanted to
speak briefly about free transit
passes for youth program which is currently being considered.
it seems there are a number of
options regarding this issue and
I want to say on behalf of our
organization that we give our
blessing to free passes to use
to the extent funds can be found and allocated for this program.
I understand there is federal
funding available and it is time sensitive.
It should be presented to you at the next meeting so it could be considered and voted upon.
On behalf of our allies, I would
encourage free passes for use be considered.
>> that is the last person has turned in a speaker card.
>> moving on to the consent
calendar -- directors -- and
number of the public has asked 10.2 be severed.
Shall we go ahead and vote on the rest of the consent calendar?
To have a motion to approve?
>> any opposed? Thank you.
with regard to item 10.2, this
has to do with establishing
parking on cesar chavez street.
member of the public, marine -- laureen navarro.
>> good afternoon.
Thank you for taking the time to hear public comment today. I' m here to address the project which includes the recent changes to establish a tollway
parking on the sell side of cesar chavez.
Speak on behalf of my parents
and members who live on the affect it blocked relief found
out about this on sunday which did not give enough time for many people to attend them person.
The projects were changed in scope and not communicated to the residents affected by this project.
We learned about this change by accident as result of an
engineering hearing that was
postponed to February 17 because
the postings were not placed on our block.
The failure of city agencies discredits the products planning
process and the residents now believe this was done on purpose to get the new plan approved quickly and quietly with little to no community feedback or involvement.
How else could a year was no communications passed?
We generally support the redesign efforts that we are
forced to struggle with the negative impacts included --
including the difficulty of
obtaining door-to-door services,
grocery services, especially for seniors and disabled residents as a result of parking
restrictions, helping the seniors and disabled residents of the house.
we are forced to load and unload from the street risking a parking citation.
A dangerous reeling is used by
bicycles and an increase in
traffic speeds and increased to our safety and loss of services.
i have a list of all of the residence on our block to sign this letter which I would be happy to give to you.
>> thank you.
Could we have a brief staff comment on this item?
>> thank you.
Is this -- my understanding is
cesar chavez bicycle changes,
this was not part of that are this is part of that?
>> good afternoon.
i am with sustainable streets.
These groups of changes are for
the cesar chavez west project.
You May remember we gave a detailed presentation about a year ago.
the other project is the other side of the interchange and some of those proposals will come to
you at the next meeting to
finish off the improvements we
are proposing for the bike lane
from that point east.
this particular project is on
the west and nt previously approved the package of improvements here.
These are additional fine-tuning type of details we encountered
during construction and design. Most of it involved adding
additional bolts on the corners and raise crosswalks to
emphasize the nature of the cross streets that traffic will be entering.
This particular
proposal involves the last block of cesar
chavez just before the on ramp
flares off to the right and side
and that is to accommodate the
bike lane that will help go through the interchange and emerge on the other side of the street.
>> how many spots? >> we' re talking about a couple of spaces.
It could continue through the interchange and come out on the east side.
>>
I have two questions -- why wasn' t it part of the plan originally?
The plan was presented and the neighbors are giving and --
given the opportunity for input.
I did not hear an explanation as to why this was added. It doesn' t seem like it' s a great many spots but it appears
there are several neighbors and have concerns that they did not have a chance to get them expressed.
I want to make sure their concerns have been heard.
but why was this added?
>>
this last part of the bike lane was always problematic.
It is difficult in terms of accommodating because of the geometry.
I don'
t think it was finally
decided when we presented the design to you.
The other changes mostly on
yours and the north side where we are shortening the crossing
distance for pedestrians and raising the crosswalk to be raised.
These changes act as a gateway for turning off the main
arterial on to the neighborhood streets straight >> I don' t think that is their concern.
They are concerned they are losing parking spots and from other residences and the answer
as I hear it is to make the bike lanes safe and that' s not
something that was understood to
be the issue when the plan was first presented.
do you think having more discussions with them might lead to a better alternative for is
it just the case that the bike lane is the bike lane and there'
s not much you can do
other than remove parking spots.
>> the other option is to remove one of the traffic lanes.
approaching the on ramp leading
to the other side -- I suppose the residents would say the other option is not to have a
bike lane there but that led sacrifice along by claim for a small piece of real estate. >> that is correct.
you will find that the next
meeting is one of the most major crosstown by crowds that we have connecting from the beach to third street.
It is a major bike route that
implemented and I think
it will help encourage bicycle riding throughout the city.
>> if we approve this, what kind
of time frame are we looking at?
>> within the next four or six months.
>> there is time for neighbors
to get used to the idea for notification to go out. I don' t see the option of trying to remove a traffic lane. That' s going to be disruptive.
I do appreciate the neighbors'
concerns but I have confidence in our parking control officers
that they recognized and some of the stopping temporarily to
unload a disabled passenger or
do something that is a brief
moment of time and not parking there. Thank you for the presentation. Do I have a motion?
>> I will but is that an rpp area? >> I don' t think it is.
If it becomes parking congest and that the neighbors -- if they can' t park, we can always get back to them about a program to address that.
>> we will be monitoring the conditions once this improvement is in place. If that turns out to be
problematic, we will come back to you.
>> this if we could ask you to
get this woman' s contact information so you have someone to follow up with.
>> do I have a second? All in favor?
thank you for coming.
We will get your contact information.
Moving on to your regular
agenda, the presentation regarding the transit effectiveness project.
>> this is one that got carried over from last meeting.
>> good afternoon.
I' m the operations planning
manager and I' m excited to have the opportunity to share some
recent milestone on the trends of effectiveness project and
talk about at coming ou for the travel time reduction proposal.
the presentation I' m going to give focuses on the purpose of
our upcoming outreach process.
The transit preferential street'
s cool to it -- tool kit
will help to improve travel
time and we will walk you
through some of our next steps in this process.
The planning phase was completed in the fall of 2008.
During that time, we had
extensive dialogue and now reaching around the route proposal.
We looked at where we needed
more service because of crowding or different travel patterns that emerge in the city and
where we had underutilize routes
that we could redesign our shift resources to better allocate
fixed amount of resources.
we talked about the need to improve travel time and
reliability on our heaviest routes.
But we did not go into a lot of detail about what was going to
look like intersection by intersection.
we have focused on that design work in the last six to 12 months.
Over the next three months, we
are going to talk to residents,
merchants, and individuals about those proposals to find out where we got it right and where we want to make modifications.
other milestones -- the services
were implemented in 2009 in response to the budget shortfall.
We were fortunate that we were
doing a lot of examination that we could make changes to the overall system.
we had an opportunity to direct
the program to be in line with
the affect of this project.
We reached the mail milestone us
with a critical requirement for
further implementation and
issued a notice of preparation
this fall that included proposals we will be talking to
the community about this spring
and we will refine the proposals
based on that and put and
continue a community dialogue
when we a anticipate the e I are being certified. The board would have the
opportunity to approve or modify the proposals which will allow
us to implement as early as the fall of 2013.
the purpose of our outreach
coming up is to present detailed proposals for travel time
reduction and reliability and
customer amenities and to ring gauge takeovers of a dialogue
to find out where we have gotten things right and where we want to make modifications.
we want to help shape the
proposals but we want to
facilitate an inclusive process adds we'
re always looking for
innovative ways to reach out to stakeholders' that benefit from these proposals but don' t
typically come to a workshop for board meeting.
having dialogue with customers through their community groups
or talking to merchants
directly is going to be a key piece of this work.
Beginning March 31, we' re going to is 10 treated the workshops.
we will be reaching out to
numerous neighborhood residents and merchants associations.
We will provide updates to the advisory group and we for
working very closely with the muni accessible advisory committee.
They form a subcommittee that' s
me almost weekly to goes every
proposal and to do site visits
so they can get their feedback
on where they think the
proposals would benefit and where they would recommend changes.
We' re working with transportation advocacy groups,
which we think is an effective way to get the word out.
Doing a lot of internal
presentations both to coordinate
with other efforts and get input
from our operators and inspectors out managing the service.
they see issues and problems every day.
I am pleased our new union
leadership will be coasting this as part of their regularly
scheduled meeting and we will talk about those proposals together.
the muni rapid program is a combination of a set of
improvements -- the programs are in the works of their things we can deliver a believe in the
next six months or 18 months and it would be applied to the entire network.
There is a set of specific
proposals I was evaluating.
The first set of improvements are operational improvements.
These are met some bolts changes, there are enforcement
and supervision that improves the reliability of the travel time on our system.
Hist this includes boarding,
which I am really excited about and I appreciate all the strong leadership from this board.
That is going to have a
tremendous benefit of our
system and using the line
management center to better
manage gaps in service and reduce crowding on our vehicles.
We also have a series of capital improvements that are going to significantly improve the quality of the customer
experience, including the procurement of new vehicles which we' re very excited about.
they will deliver the quality of
service our customers expect.
It includes things like the radio project which will improve
our ability to do dynamic
supervision and create with our operators and service.
Network enhancement is the second piece of ongoing work.
Paul
there are a lot of places that
would already be so considered rapid transit.
We have limited stops, downtown, dedicated lanes, but we have
very little to indicate to our customers they are on a premium service.
Investing in the infrastructure
we already have
, better stops, the expansion of our next bus
program, we think those are important prisms to capitalize on the priorities we' ve already
made and then combine that with transit signal party which we
are excited to be rolling out.
The entire rapid network,
funding was built in to the street which was very exciting
and would allow us to reduce the amount of time buses spend
waiting at signals at our rapid network.
This includes funding for gps
wireless space priority at 600 intersections.
we only have about 1200
intersections city-wide, so it' s a substantial investment.
The transit effectiveness
project would partner with those other programs to create
engineering improvements as well
as the service changes we discussed to improve service.
The travel time proposals are
focused on the rapid network and
we did that s for seven reasons.
we have the heaviest writer ship, there is the most benefit to the most customers.
When we are looking at trade-
offs between stop spacing wore a dedicated right of way that
makes sense to focus on our busiest routes where we benefit the most people.
it is based on a tool kit of traffic engineering and I' m
going to walk you through some of the highlights.
How they get applied to each street depends on the structure of the street.
The kind of treatments we can do
on san bruno are different than what we would consider in
downtown mission where we have two lanes in each direction.
When implemented, the ongoing improvements we talked about has the party -- has the potential
to reduce travel time by as much as 30%.
sphere that could be about 15 minutes in each direction.
This map here shows the muni rapid network.
The routes in red are the routes
we plan on focusing on in the
near term and these will be the focus of our community dialogue
that includes from the beach to martin street.
The entire length of mission
street, the southern portion of
the 8 x and san bruno would benefit the nine.
the stockton corridor into market street.
The second phase of routes are
shown in blue.
They represent important routes
on the network and we chose not to star with them.
in some cases because they had
fewer benefits her cost, but we
wanted to coordinate with other city-wide efforts.
It
is planned for major sewer
work and the 2018 timeframe so
we thought it stall -- it was ok
to coordinate with the larger projects.
The trends of preferential street' s tool kit is applied to
each of these corridors, but all
roll up to about five categories of engineering changes.
Hist first is lame modifications.
Aha a
this includes widening
cognition, fulton and stockton where a 10.5 foot bus is
traveling in a tight fit travel lane.
it is slow and creates a lot of friction and requires the best
to operate in two lanes of traffic.
We have corridors around j
church for we have frequent stop signs along the rail corridor.
we are recommending changing
those two traffic signals or where it is not warranted, other
improvements that would allow the cars and traffic' s to proceed to the intersection at a slower speed.
Allot of the
dialogue has been focused on places where we recommend eliminating stops.
There are places where surgically recommending
reducing with stop spacing. But there are also places where
we recommend lengthening stops
said that of two buses come they do not create a delay.
Everybody can call to mind a place in the system where we stop at a stop sign and the bus stop across the street.
That creates a delay.
we need to move the bus through the light to do that design.
The stop changes include several treatments as well as
creating places for buses to not have to pull in and out of traffic.
parking and turn restrictions is the fourth category.
There are locations on mission street where we restrict turns
to reduce the amount of left-
burning cars.
We recommend expanding that to
other locations to improve the throughput of the lanes we to have.
The fifth category is pedestrian improvement.
Improving the quality of the pedestrian environment we
believe is key and that can help with transit reliability.
Thus bulbs that shorten the
crossing distance produce delay.
19th avenue, creative curve
extensions this can also improve
the amount of green time for the
major corridor which can also help with transit travel time.
with all of those ingredients, we are headed out to the
community to find out where the proposal' s work and were they know.
We are also continuing to move
the the ir work forward and we anticipate having the initial
study completed and the draft
out this fall with the goal of
finalizing in the summer of 2013 and getting it certified.
The initial outreach will happen this spring.
we will refine the proposals and continue to be active in the
community to build consensus
with the goal of bringing you
the proposals for approval and the summer of 2013.
The ongoing work will continue while the process is under way.
i think a major milestone will
be used boarding delivery this are.
But the transit signal priority project is also under way and we
hope to have that up and running in about 24 months.
The rapid network enhancements i
spoke of -- we were already
working through issues like
this what kind of pavement cover
would we use and what of other cities learned from their experiences?
We have applied for grants to implement the enhancements on
mission and judah and the
southern portion of the 8 x and
we think we will show a track
record for delivering rapid network improvements while also
carrying the engineering work
for for the travel time proposals.
Thank you for your time, I' m happy to answer any questions.
>> thank you.
As a good presentation.
Questions or comments from the board members?
>>
I want to make sure in your
outreach that you are playing --
you are paying close attention
to reach out to the communities are most transit dependent and
making sure they understand what
is at stake and what stands to be improved.
If you are talking about
adjusting transit stops, I would
encourage you to reach out to senior citizens -- senior
centers or where people of
disability go to these types of
folks for whom moving a transit stop might be a challenge.
i am confident we can do it in a way that translates into a
benefit and what some folks see
as a potential of deficiency in service and the future.
If you could just make sure you
cover this places all of these corridors, it would be a
tremendous benefit to the overall product. >> thank you.
The last time we went through
this, I found the most effective way to do that as we talked by transit stop changes to do the
notice and our reach where we that the people are to begin with.
On the
issue of transit stops,
this is something the director
and I hear a fair amount about.
I think that' s based on some
unfounded fear and others based on concern.
Is there a general rule about there' ll be no transit stops so
close to each other unless it is
a steep hill or is this --
>> we have a general guideline we' re using.
The stop spacing standard is 800 feet to 1,000 feet on the bus.
Only about
70% -- 70% of our
stops do not conform to that standard. I thought this would be terrific.
Bring everything up to standard and it will be straightforward.
What we found is part of the
reason so few are meeting the
standard is because the streets themselves don' t lend themselves to the standards.
The norris-south blocks in
sunset and the richmond are 680 feet.
You are either under or over the standards in all locations.
We are evaluating a revised policy that would look at a
larger range and allow us to tailor to neighborhoods better. We'
re looking at 900 feet to a
quarter mile and making
exceptions for major generators,
senior centers, transfer points,
other community issues and going
down as close as 500 feet where we have steep grades. >> very good.
I support the effort and as you
do the outreach, I would not
only -- I think the reality is
if someone in the community is
coming back and saying I cannot
walk the extra to under 50 feet
to get to my bus stop, that is
an issue we should dress through
alternative means so we' re not just saying I' m sorry, we' re
moving the bus stop, and those of the end of the options.
My other question is even more
off the wall but it just
occurred to me as I look at the
rapid transit network and to
build the red lines, it will be
much faster which sounds onto market street.
There' s a reason -- there are a
lot of destinations there .
As you have several east, west and north-south lines that will
be rapid corridors for the existing lines, are there any
thoughts about channeling lines that do not currently run on
those rapid streets on to those streets so they are running more quickly?
The immediate action -- let' s
take for example the wild
success with the index bus.
It is not picking up passengers
between the end of its express route and downtown.
Now we have this line close to where it' s going. Are their thoughts about
channeling express lines to these rapid streets?
>> with the express routes, we are always looking for the quickest way to get from point a to point b.
To the extent these improvements
are better performing, we would certainly consider that.
We also looked at some of the parallel routes and if there is
an opportunity s to shift
resources or consolidate -- in some cases we did recommend that.
but where we had parallel routes that were very productive, we did not recommend that change.
That is something that we could definitely evaluate.
People vote with their feet.
As strong as it is, people are choosing it and the more we
provide people with quick options, the more they will gravitate to this route.
Hist >> any comments?
Before we move to public comment, I would just say this
is a good presentation. I am excited to see is progressing and the treads of
lanes enhanced through color or
something that helps drivers
recognize what they are anything
we can do to call the strands of planes to their attention is really good.
I' m looking for two all-or boarding and another have been
concerns about all door boarding causing mayhem with people
trying to push in but when we moved to that it will settle down.
people jump up there to make sure it' s an open and once they
know it will stay open --
perhaps a recorded message -- a thick and brought this up before and it hit home when my parents were visiting. It would be nice to encourage
seniors to use the front door and said of going into the back door.
I told my mom and dad to sit by the driver because I don' t want you falling off the steps.
It might be nice to enforce that so seniors don' t feel they
are breaking the rules.
>> that is where the priority
seating is -- exactly.
As we go with the public outrage, it is going to be
important to remember that we
just need to keep reminding the
community what they have to benefit because it' s easy to focus on what you might be losing.
We have to remind them they will benefit from overall trends
service across the system.
I think you can always find someone who is harmed by or feels they are harmed by at and
we have to remember the changes are in accordance with the policy and strategy and a lot of work has gone into it and we appreciate very much.
>>
>> herbert weiner, a former
member of muni and stakeholder.
I look forward to meeting with you next month.
Basically, the transit
effectiveness project is flawed.
It was based on no addition.
You had to make do with existing resources.
there were clearly more drivers and coaches needed.
Market economics were applied to public services in and neglect of human need.
There were trade-offs, that is true.
Now, I would like to propose a freeze on this project until
these assumptions are examined.
Until we can rectify the basic flaws. One thing that I would like to
do is consult with the medical community.
No doctors were consulted about
along blocks that people have to
walk on oxygen or with a walker. none whatsoever. There should be consultation
with nurses and doctors to assess the impact.
Also, I would like to know who initially proposed this project to begin with?
To me it represents the dead hand of nat fort.
i would also like to know how
the overall process of muni -- hal has the service progressed since the implementation of this project?
Have the services gotten better, or not? I would like to know this.
These are things I would like to explore. Thank you. >> the last person who has turned in a speaker card. David [Unintelligible]
>> I also look forward to the stakeholder meetings.
As an almost vegetarian I guess that would make me a vegetarian stakeholder. But never mind. [Laughter]
two can -- two -- two comments on this, I mentioned this
morning at the transportation
authority meeting that some of
the near-term projects that were low cost and high impact would
be appropriate for that funding source. Those are not the big projects.
There will not be a lot of money
and it will not fix all of mission street, but the small
things that might be involved with stop optimization, way of
finding, other things on that long shopping list.
>> long shopping list?
>> very long shopping list.
finally, I should update the board that I have been in
conversations with julie in victoria at the planning department about what types of
projects, whether they are big or small, require different
types of approval by you, staff, the board of supervisors, and
what types of environmental review are appropriately triggered.
An ongoing conversation in which we are trying to make clear that
big projects requiring singles out changes probably do not, you
are probably looking at what is
in the middle and what is an appropriate public review process and if it relates to the
number of people impacted, the number of stops, the number of lines in the hours.
There are a number of different metric to be in use and we are having an ongoing conversation
about what is needed in review baskets for you and the public at large. >> thank you.
>> directors, if that is all, you move on to your next item as
to whether to conduct a closed session.
David wishes to address you on this matter.
>> david [Unintelligible]
Again.
two items on the close session.
Ctuc practices, I have not looked at the settlement agreement.
I do not know if it has been
made available to the public in terms of what practices would
change in this proceeding -- I
guess that is the best term for it.
If it has been made available, I
assume that it soon will be and
I would hope that staff could
soon explain in a public
session what those specific
changes are, not just by way of press statements.
i hope and trust that they will serve the citizens well in terms
of safety and the state in
terms of ensuring the oversight on practices.
I will leave that to your good judgment in a closed session.
The other item was the brent walker litigated claims.
i have noted before with this
board, and bill note again, this
is yet another settlement for a former employee.
I do not know the nature of the claim.
I do recall that as one of her
final acts as acting director, I believe that Ms. Johnson approved a change in organizational structure that resulted in eliminating the position that Ms. Walker was in.
I recall seeing an e-mail from last summer.
I do not recall the details around this.
As I understand it, this person
was serving in an at will
position, and it is those that will positions that cannot be used for organizational restructuring in a way that one
just decides we do not want that person any more.
If the city has to pay these
kinds of claims in damages for
this and other past actions, it
has ultimately cost us a lot of money.
i would hope that you would look carefully again at these kinds
of employee settlements, how much this costs, and what we can
do in future to avoid these costs. >> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> motion to convene a closed
session and incurred attorney-
client privile.
>> we discussed labor negotiations. There was no discussion of litigation. It would be appropriate to disclose or not disclose.
>> not to disclose. >> second.
>> directors, that concludes the business before you.
>> director week, two weeks in advance?
>> the third, which is a tuesday.
The thursday before is when the information will be provided.
I do not know yet when the complete budget book will be
ready, but we will certainly
provide you enough information
so that you can have an informed discussion, if not decision.
the secretary has already asked
me to hasten the production of the budget book.
I need to find out what the time line is.
>> I think roberta and those who will get it electronically and
who will request a paper path -- a paper copy.
>> you have built some time into this, haven' t you?
>> the first chance to review the proposed budget will be April 3.
You could take action on April 3. You could defer action to the
following meeting of April 17.
If you do that and decide you are still not ready to take
action, we can schedule a second meeting. i think we already have a place holder on the calendar.
>> the very last day of April.
>> should we want to go to the wire. We need to get it here. >> July 1?
>> as a procedural matter, we did not have, in my experience
-- have not always had that luxury. That is something we have talked about.
I do not know what we will do on April 3. But I appreciate you are building it that way.
>> I credit the board secretary for making that schedule. >> you are learning fast. >> thank you.
>> and we are adjourned.
>> thank you all.
>> good meeting. Thank you.
>> I should e-mail --