City and County of San Francisco Tuesday, June 19, 2012

>> thank you very much.

On behalf of the entire board,

we are excited that our new director is here.

She just received unanimous support from the board of supervisors last week.

she is an attorney and we are delighted you are with us.

>> I am very excited to join the

sfmta board and excited to help improve things further.

I am honored to be a part of such a great board of people.

>> item 3, please be advised that the ringing of sound

producing electronic devices are prohibited at the meeting.

Any personal responsible for one going off May be asked to leave the room.

item four, approval of the minutes from the June 5 meeting.

>> further discussion?

>> item 5, a communications. >> do we have any?

>> Mr. Chairman, I know of none.

>> I know we have some of that.

director ramos: I think we will

speak more to this later.

I want to address this recent

experience that we have been undergoing with the lack of operators that we have absorbed

into -- part-time operators that became full-time operators.

I know there has been a

discussion, word on the street

about covert service cuts.

I would love to be able to have

a deeper discussion about that at some blank.

with regards to part-time

drivers turning into full time drivers. The long-term approach. The reason why I am bringing

this up is because I have seen

service runs being missed out there on a regular basis.

i understand that once in a while, things happen and we have

to pull a run from one route and put it on in other.

At some point, I would like to have a deeper discussion about that and what we are doing and what the long-term effects of having no more part-time

operators and what we are doing to accommodate that.

I understand we might be

stretched.

If we need to go through a service cuts process, we should do that.

When people are depending on something to get to work and it

is not there consistently, I do not know that we' re being entirely honest about our operation.

I had the good fortune of

traveling to denmark last week.

I got to observe a lot of the

bicycling infrastructure and

culture in their with some sfmta staff.

It was phenomenal, the things that we saw there.

I would love to get an update or

a report or something from staff that May have been there.

At least have a follow-up

meeting in terms of what we can

do about changing the bike culture here in san francisco.

Develop the kind of support they have in and denmark for bicycling and the structure.

-- infrastructure.

Those kinds of things cost money, up but there is support for it in the public in terms of prioritizing.

Bicycling over there is not seen as an environmental statement.

It is not seen as exercise of quetta.

It is just seen the way we might

see a subcompact car, and mode

of transportation.

maybe we can further some

discussions.

>> and some of the alumni.

Director ramos:   anyone that has been.

>> I think it is an excellent idea.

we can ask the director to schedule some sort of presentation in the near future.

I am asking members of the board

to concur in adjourning the

meeting this morning in memory of chris heinicke.

thank you. Ok.

>> item 7, directors report.

>> we are going to present a

plaque to a very special person.

He has just arrived.

he will have to set the timer for his remarks, of course. 15 seconds is enough.

You serve with great distinction for a number of years in all kinds of way.

You did a great job.

he was part of the paratransit

council, the citizens advisory council.

Bruce always spoke the truth.

He was a passionate advocate on

behalf of all citizens of san francisco, particularly those with disabilities. i would like to invite anyone who would care to say anything to do so.

Anybody?

>> thank you so much for all of

your years of service on the mta board.

Thank you so much for everything I learned from you.

It was an honor to serve with you. we are going to Miss Your words of wisdom, your perspective.

I know you will go on to do more great things.

Director ramos: I wanted to

thank bruce

, really got a warm welcome from you.

I enjoyed the conversations that

we had.

I felt like we all hung on to every word that you said like it

was -- it really was valuable.

I had the good fortune of working with people in the east

bay as well and oakland that also know bruce over there.

Thank you for all of your

service to this city and to the region. I look forward to staying in

touch with you as we proceed in doing our best for transit.

>> service on the taxi commission. >> you are right.

director lee:   it has been a real

pleasure serving on the board with you. I know that when you spoke, he spoke from the heart. It has been a real pleasure.

I had the pleasure of going to

the nafta conference with you. I know we shared a lot of conversations.

I know that everything you said came right from the heart. Thank you very much.

>> it has been an honor to serve with you.

Thank you for being next to me ensuring our knowledge and information.

You are passionate about transportation and hope that passion continues.

That you will exuded to the

public and continue to fight for the people. Thank you.

>> I know I did not have the pleasure of serving with you, bruce. But I had the pleasure of meeting you.

i appreciate your graciousness and your thoughtfulness in terms of introducing me to everything that you did. Thank you.

Director heinicke: I had the pleasure of serving with you on this board and also on the taxi commission.

I could go on at length and say a lot of things, but if you were

still up here next to me, that would be the point for you would kick me and tell me to shut up.

I will focus on one thing which has impressed me over the years. some have spoken about your

passionists -- your passion and your willingness to speak out.

The thing has impressed me is your energy.

Never tired of going up against long or short odds.

Knew the importance of showing

up and losing your opinion.

-- and a voice in your opinion.

He attended all of the meetings, you attended the subcommittee meetings. He attended all the events.

Everybody knew you and a respected your energy.

That made you a very able

advocate.

i think some people in this game get respected for good speeches or good ideas.

At the end of the day, the

hardest thing to do is to go day

after day with the energy and a lack of bias and the passion. You did that every day.

>> [Inaudible]

He is san francisco' s only dodgers fan.

He had a san francisco at

giants poster.

It was the result of a lost that.

-- lost bet.

It was your goddaughter, wasn' t it?

>> she told me she would never sit next to me at a baseball game.

>> on behalf of the entire

board, bruce, and the entire

agency, I would like to present this to you. Thank you for your outstanding service. [Applause]

>> thank you so much.

Where can I start?

Let me start -- it has been a

pleasure serving with the you and knowing you for all of the years.

You when I met when you were --

>> I remember. >> we go way back.

believe me, we May not have

always agreed, but we have always agreed to disagree.

It has been a pleasure to work with you.

I have a lifelong friend .

Each of you are my friends.

i treasure the opportunities I was given.

I got to talk about a lot of things.

I have never done anything half- hearted.

everything has been with every ounce of energy I have had.

Believe me, it has been a pleasure serving with you.

i learned a long time ago, do not do anything that you do not believe then.

-- believe in.

I come from a family of advocates and rabble-rousers' .

[Laughter]

one thing I will say

, it has

been a pleasure working with you and your staff.

I look forward to many more opportunities to meet with you in the future.

I am not going away, folks. I am around.

all of you have my contact information. Call me anytime.

Director

brinkman, it has been a pleasure serving with you.

Believe me, I am not finished yet. I am here for the long haul.

he gave me the opportunity to serve the city the way I have.

Without him, I do not think I would have been up there with you.

I know that i

owe many people my

gratitude and my appreciation.

Over the years, because I worked

without stopping, members of my

family said, I do not want to make an appointment to see you.

I promised this

year I would sit back and enjoy life.

Up until now, I have been doing that.

the main thing is, I want to

welcome director rubke to the board of directors.

i am willing to meet with you

anywhere and whatever time you want.

I promise you, I will give my

heart and soul to the city of san francisco.

I think that is all I have to say. [Applause]

Chairman Nolan:   we have one person who would like to say a word to the board about you.

>> I have known bruce for a long time.

i am going to call you sir bruce.

He has done a great service to all the constituents of san francisco.

It was a

pleasure -- i said, I would like to say a few words. He said, I hope they are positive.

A nice person that not only represented the physically challenged, but human beings. we wish you all of the best.

>> [Inaudible] [Applause]

>> I want to echo a lot of the

sentiments.

Before I officially came on board, bruce, you were very

generous with your time and offering guidance and

suggestions and insights and support to me as I transition t ed in.

i really valued all of that.

It helped me in my transition and the generosity of your time and the expertise that you

brought as I started out and that you brought to the board,

not just at these meetings, but every day.

It is something, I think, at san

francisco was very lucky.

one of the things you said to me when we first met was no matter

what role I have taken in different commissions or

advisory boards, I will always be an advocate.

I think you had even said, whenever the time came to leave

the mta board, you would not be going away.

i am heartened to hear that that is still your results.

I look forward to continuing to work with you in your future.

A couple of things.

We do have the first meaning of the month, we do some employee recognition. One of the people that we were going to recognize was unable to make it today.

Another person we were going to

recognize chose not to be here

for his own concerns, did not want to be recognized in person.

I will recognize him in absentia.

this is a bus operator who works at one of our bus divisions. Coming up on the sixth

anniversary, and although very new to the sfmta, it demonstrated great potential as

an operator and functions as if

he has been here, he functions like a veteran.

one example is that he faced a

very dangerous situation when a

passenger discharged a gun from standing inside the vehicle aimed at someone inside the vehicle.

When the assailant ran from the

coach, the operator moved the coach out of danger. He notified central control for assistance.

he then subsequently helped the

police in their investigation,

which did lead to apprehension and a rest.

A very unnerving situation for

even the more time on folks. He acted like a true perot and

day true that iran.

-- a true -- he acted like a

true that iran.

There is one other

acknowledgment I will -- he acted like a chiu veteran.

-- true veteran.

we are ramping up construction of the tunneling project. We have begun to excavate the

launch box.

It will be underneath the freeway on fourth street. It will be a large box or we will drop the tunnel machines

down.

At the same time, building the walls for two of the subway

stations, relocating some additional utilities and ensuring that we stabilize all of the area around where we will be digging. We are on track to begin

tunneling in early 2013.

We have been doing a lot of

outreach to let folks know of

this next round of construction work. Very exciting to see the dirt start to fly.

Related to that work, in about a

month, wednesday, July 11, the

southbound bayshore service will be routed to accommodate the

construction in union square and going south.

We had already rerouted the 30

and the 45.

The rest of the buses will be rerouted. We are doing all the outreach for that.

we got our bids for the chinatown station this past week.

We got four bids.

This is our biggest and most

complex of the station contracts. The engineer' s estimate was $235 million.

We had bids ranging from some of the above that to quite a bit above that.

we are still processing and

reviewing the bids, but should be able to announce the results of that sand.

-- of that soon.

The other end of the tunnel is in north beach.

As a

result of their announcing

some of the preliminary work, a

little bit of utility

relocation, and work on building the retrieval shack.

There has been a lot of concern expressed by folks in north beach. We have been working with supervisor chiu' s office to make sure we are addressing any of those concerns.

They are concerned about impacts on columbus avenue that might affect the commercial activity.

We did get $48.4 million right

of state prop 1b funds.

This was part of the funding plan.

we are pleased to get this next tranche of finding.

-- funding.

That keeps our cash flow healthy so we can keep this work at boeing.

-- this work going.

We are working daily with the

fta to make sure that is moving.

We believe we are still on track for early September.

Another small piece of our

funding puzzle is the $61 million high-speed rail connectivity funds. The california transportation commission will be acting on that next week or the week after.

I am pleased to note that the

staff is recommending full funding by the commission for

our share as well as the rest of the region' s share.

That is a big part of making the northern part of the high-speed rail work.

a lot of things moving with central funding. Good progress continues.

Our other big construction is church.

We have successfully completed the big shut down, but we do

have a number of weekend shutdown starting with the weekend after July 4. One more in July. one or two in August.

This will be mostly working from the intersection south towards

market streak.

-- market street.

We should -- we will also be working in the valley as well.

there will still be

-- we will

be managing the bus

substitutions and traffic rerouting. We' re pleased to be at the end of that.

If anyone has not gone through

that intersection, it is really night and day.

no matter how you are traveling.

The U.S. Open, which was just in

town, was largely managed from a

transportation perspective by the private sector.

In part, because of its somewhat remote location relative to the center of the city. we did have our taxi services

folks stepped up and step in , especially when one of the early

days coincided with the board' s

-- bart shutdown. We authorize the use of more

than 100 spare taxis after we

were able to verify their insurance was in place.

Many of the taxi companies have vehicles that are not in service. To the extent they have

insurance that covers the liability, we have the authority

to authorize their temporary use. It turned out to be very successful. We' re able to relieve the

pressure valve from some of the transportation backlog to make the event go more smoothly. A very important event for the city.

A lot of money and notoriety for the city.

Our taxi services folks stepped

up and that played a small role.

it also raises the issue of the

use of these permits.

It was a reminder that we need

to establish some clearer rules

so that we are ready to go when any such demand exists.

It was great work by the taxi staff on very quick notice to do the verifications.

you May have read in the

newspaper that we had engaged

with the improved

sf initiative.

it was to create a new logo for

the sfmta for the next 100 years.

The contest recently completed, and after review from public

input, and a panel of judges, we

had a winning logo that was selected at an event last tuesday night.

It was a local artist or local

graphic arts person who was the winning -- had the winning design. I think we will try to put it up

on the screen for you so you can take a look. That was the winner.

i do not remember the number, we got more than 40 submissions.

We had hundreds of comments

that this is what came out as the winner. We will be working with our

internal staff, to implement

this in various types of mta presence. This was done at zero cost to the taxpayers.

We were able to leverage some of the best creative minds in the city.

That is the way this process is supposed to work.

i will just mention with regard to the part-time operators, since that has come up a little

bit in the public, and it came up today, the part-time

operators have worked and worked well and have helped to meet

particular part of our service

needs that really lends itself to part-time resurfacing.

What has happened to -- it has not kept up with demand or attrition.

We were faced with the inability

to fill runs.

We are trying to bring the budget and on balance at the end

of the year, which we have to

do, was to bring a part-time operators on board to full time.

we did that.

We remain fully committed to

staffing up part-time operators.

We are working between operations and training at revamping and expanding the capacity of our training.

it was a stop-gap measure.

It was the fastest, most cost- effective way to close that gap.

In the long run, absolutely

great value from the part-time operators. We will continue to use them.

second to last, I' ve wanted to

acknowledge and welcome our new

director of capital programs, vince harris/

vince has a long and

distinguished career.

he was lured away six or so years ago and we had the good

fortune to lure him back.

>> [Inaudible]

>> he comes with requiring no learning curve.

We gave him about five minutes of high demand.

-- honeymoon.

He brings an understanding of capital programs and product delivery, but he had a couple of different stance on the capital funding and planning side.

That is really great value to us, having run the equivalent of

rta or mtc.

He brings that funding and planning expertise to the agency.

That is important to the

delivery of capital projects. We' re very glad to have him aboard. I do not know if you wanted to come up and say a few words.

>> welcome back, Mr. Harris. >> thank you, Chairman.

It is a great opportunity to be here.

It is an honor and privilege to

be back and the capacity, kind

of a rare opportunity to get to come back home. I think the director and the sport for this opportunity.

-- and the board for this opportunity.

It is my job to deliver quality

projects, working collaborative play with all the communities in the city and county of san

francisco .

>> the opportunity to recognize

employees is something that i look forward to a lot.

So many of them are doing such good work and they' re not that many opportunities to recognize them. When the certificates come across the desk, at reasons we

are recognizing them, it is a great thing.

One of the certificates came

across my desk and get -- my hand was shaking as I had to sign it.

It was bittersweet.

I want to ask Miss Johnson if she will step forward. [Applause]

we are giving debra special

recognition because this is not everyday that something like we have this opportunity.

Deborah has spent 20 years in

the transportation and transit business.

she worked at

bart, she worked

for wmata, which runs the metro ntc

in D.C.

she subsequently became director

of administration and accessible services.

Before I came, it you appointed her to be the interim executive director and ceo of the agency.

What you May not know is that

she is also President Of the northern california chapter of

the conference on minority transportation officials. She is active in the women' s transportation seminar.

She serves on the california transit association' s executive committee.

She is on urban habitats board of directors.

I know you will recognize how

phenomenal diver is for this

agency and for the city -- dabber is for this agency and for the city.

I met with her very early on.

I had a great conversation. From that moment forward, I have had the best of working relationships. In the success I have had I really a tribute to her support

and guidance .

She really knows this agency inside out. She really understands san

francisco, at extremely hard-

working, I am happy to recognize

her for all of that, it is a

little bit a bittersweet because we are recognizing her as she moves on to bigger and better things.

She is leaving to become the deputy chief operating officer for L.A. Metro.

back in the day, it might have

been a little transit system in a big city.

But now the growth of transit in los angeles is a phenomenal.

This is a phenomenal opportunity for her and for them.

A big loss for us, but great for l.A.

We wanted to take this opportunity to recognize her.

Before I turned over to her to

say a few words, I will turn it back to the chair.

>> when I got the e-mail, I said no. [Laughter]

it turns out I do not have that kind of authority. It has been wonderful working with you.

It has been wonderful, a very

warm, personable person who represents the agencies so well.

Colleagues, which to care to say anything at this point? >> no. [Laughter]

It has been wonderful to work with you. L.A. Is so lucky to have you.

I wish you all the best.

I know you will go on to have a continued amazing career. We will Miss You a lot.

>> probably the secretary of transportation.

Director ramos:   thank you so much for all of your dedication and hard work. When I first came on to the board, you were one of the people who impressed me the most. He served as an inspiration for

me to really dig in and give your heart and soul.

you just wowed me

all all around.

Thank you so much for all of your professionalism and your dedication and your inspiration. Best of luck to you.

>> members of the board?

director heinicke: the most

interaction I have had with you were with labor negotiations for you did a fantastic job.

Of all the things that have

impressed me about you, in this era of the new ground rules

under the new proposition, as you could go through those very

contentious interchanges an audience of all of that, he kept

your poise, but advocating free strenuously for the agency.

Everyone is still held great respect and admiration for you.

I think that is a real testament to your abilities as a person and a leader.

You can go through a process and have everyone still love you at the end.

if e-mail would have come to me, I would have been upset.

But yes, I am very proud of you. You were going to do great things and I wish to the best.

>> I would like to congratulate you. I think you have been phenomenal

and I wish you all of the best. I am sure we will see many

things from you in the years to come. You live all the attributes to do very well. Thank you for your leadership.

>> it has been a real pleasure working with the.

-- with you. You were the consummate professional.

Any time I called, you never had a bad day.

It was always a pleasure working with you. I want to wish you luck. I expect to hear great things about you.

>> [Inaudible]

[Applause]

>> first and foremost, I want to thank Chairman , members of the board, this is quite an honor.

These years have been truly

monumental in reference to my career.

As indicated, I have had the

opportunity to work did various transportation entities across the country.

San francisco is very dynamic and unique.

Each day is like no other.

I can recall one day, every time you turn over a rock, there

is another rock.

I just have moving them to the side.

i want to thank my colleagues.

The players May have changed,

but we still had that synergy.

It is very important that we do that on a daily basis.

I would be remiss not to the acknowledge the wonderful staff that we have here at the sfmta.

Oftentimes, we do not get are just do. People remember the bad things that happen.

I want to acknowledge the hard- working people that are so

committed to this city and

committed to delivering a viable transportation. I want to thank each and every one of you for the opportunity.

I will most definitely be in touch. It is about sustainability.

Thank you, once again. [Applause]

>> we can move on to public comment on the directors' report.

>> I want to ask a question about the director' s report.

We did talk about the issue of spare cabs. I think it would be a good idea

to look at a protocol for when we can do this again.

The U.S. Open is not going to be the last big event we have. I appreciate your looking at that.

thank you to the taxi community that brought this to the floor

as the U.S. Open was going on in

conjunction with the bart issue.

It speaks to the bigger issue of overall demand. We are doing a study on that right now.

There was some concern raised

that the folks doing the study had not spoken to the cab

companies yet and the dispatch services. I know the interviews are being scheduled now. I assume they will get around to talking to the cab companies.

We will make sure that they are talk to as part of the process.

>> there are some members of the

public who wish to address here.

-- you.

>> directors, what I want to bring to your attention is when

the third street light rail was

constructed, $700 million

project, over 85% of the businesses suffered.

When the market street light

rail was constructed, all the businesses were compensated.

i have worked in other ways with

the director, and he is one of

the few directors -- this is a difficult project.

we need to consult and bring the businesses, the small businesses, to the table.

With america'

s cup

, it is not fair.

vince harris was there when third street was done, so he knows me pretty well.

It is going to be a little bit

difficult, because he just

arrived, but we have to cater to the small businesses.

We have to put our best foot possible.

what I like about the director, he has accountability and transparency. You send him an e-mail, and quickly he response to you.

That means somebody is, you know, he is on the go.

That is what I like about him.

I want to thank you again for the two bus shelters. Thank you very much.

>> good afternoon.

I want to welcome the new director.

I want to let you know that more

than anybody else in the cab industry, I welcome your presence because you' re

predecessor, I had to file some ethics complaints against.

i am hoping you will get to know that. Transit system that the cab' s operate.

-- the

paratransit system that the cab' s operate.

I would appreciate if you would get yourself a debit card.

Mark is a great guy.

I hope he will also report some

of your experiences so we have

an idea of an independent person who has not been so entranced

with the cab industry -- entrenched with the cab industry. The use of this.

Cabs, there May be some issues that have to be resolved.

That was a pilot program to show

that if we use cabs during peak times, it that is the only necessary time to use them.

I think you can use that as your

starting point for why increased use of cabs during peak times is

the best way to go in this city.

This city is different than york.

In closing, I came here to say

goodbye to debra johnson.

She was one of the first people

I met under the new regime. She treated me with a huge amount of respect.

i want to say that I hope she enjoys los angeles. I spent four years there.

Maybe she can get the metro

system to go to the L.A.

Memorial coliseum, where she will learn how to be a trojan span.

chairman nolan: next speaker, please. >> good afternoon.

Welcome to the new director on this board.

Goodbye to debra johnson .

But left to her -- good luck to her.

coming to the issue about the

cabs, look at this and other way.

Pride week in san francisco, half a million people. We had a lick very comfortably.

-- we handled it very comfortably.

The U.S. Open was going on at

40,000 people, there was hardly a need for 100 cabs.

The rest of the cabs were all over the city working very well.

This cup is not a big deal.

fleet week, half a million

people in this town.

Who says we need more calves? Show me the reasons.

-- more cabs?

Show me their reasons.

we do not need more cabs. The people they' re telling you, they have financial interests.

It is not in the interest of the drivers.

There will not be half a million people in the world cup.

That is not the kind of -- even

the final of the baseball, we

handle it very comfortably.

There is no need for more cabs.

Chairman Nolan:   next speaker.

>> good afternoon, directors.

my comments are brief.

I want to thank very much this

agency for setting an excellent precedent of allowing us to put

out our spirit -- spare cabs.

It was a confluence of different events that happened.

Even our own statistics, we were not able to meet the demand this weekend.

The gay pride parade is next weekend. If we take the time to look at

those weekends and those events, we will have to maximize service, I would hope that we can do this in the future.

I want to say how affective this

was to be able to put out cabs,

have drivers go to work and meet the service demand. I hope this is something we can continue to do.

I have not had too much interaction with Ms. Johnson.

I would just like to say, as

much as the taxi world is very difficult, she has always been a professional.

i wish her the best of luck going to los angeles. Thank you.

>> good afternoon.

The people do not get it.

your pr is a little bit strange.

If you would like to change your

image, and you have to make

muni --

we have a team in order to -- safety is not the only problem.

you can use a sound.

When I was young, I heard it.

I came here 25 years already.

only one song, a million tourists.

I look at

-- they are using

manpower to catch up.

in china, you can hire 10 firefighters in china. They did the same job.

They never complain about the benefits or anything like here.

Chairman Nolan:   thank you. Ok.

The next item is the citizens' advisory council report. I do not see Mr. Murphy.

public comment, I believe.

Good afternoon.

>> I did send an internal memo to the board.

>> we have a number of speakers who wish to address the board. He was not first.

>> I did send a memo expressing

some of my concerns and I want to affirm one thing.

one thing that is very

symptomatic of the poor operations of mta, there is a

bus stop that does not have announced destinations and arrivals.

You have not installed a system that announces the arrival of

muni buses.

It is symptomatic of the flawed operations of mta.

The other symptoms are buses that do not arrive on time.

Even if you installed the most

ideal transit effectiveness

project, it would all bread down if they did not arrive on time.

-- break down if they did not arrive on time.

Would I would like to see is a

public disclosure of the internal operations on an annual basis.

There is an internal operational audit that is done every year.

i would like to see it public.

I think it is very important that it should be stated in lucid terms.

This is a very important saying.

In respect to the upcoming mta

budget, I suggest that the

project be halted and reexamined.

i do not see any marked

improvement in service delivery as a result of this project today. It should be scrutinized. You could save money doing it. Thank you.

Chairman Nolan:   next speaker, please.

>> good afternoon.

I guess you all know that this

article came out about the

conditions of the municipal railway equipment.

i have made arrangements to the director about the hostile working environment.

No one seems to get to me about that. No one seems to get to me about that.

This story has reached the 400

plus in the house of representatives, and the 100

senators we have representing the constituency of the united states of america. Want to meet with me to talk about this.

My thing is, we have to do something about this.

And then we have to rectify the

issue of the trend that came out of this.

The director of the bus transit

operations to the ethics commission.

I have been retaliated against

and terminated because I am an advocate for the health and safety of the citizens of san

francisco, as well as the health and safety of my co-workers.

Nothing has been done.

no one wants to talk to me about that issue.

My next move is to go legal.

I do not want to do that.

I would like to resolve this matter diplomatically and responsibly. Thank you.

>> next?

>> [Reads names]

>> directors, I am the director of justice advocacy.

One of the things I would like

you both to do is work with our university students.

we really do not have a general

management plan for this city, with a focused emphasis on transportation. You all know that.

The san francisco planning department knows that. The san francisco county transportation authority knows that. but no one does anything about it.

Directors, really, some of you all need to take some time to go to the southeast sector.

24, 73, you need to see.

If our seniors are serviced well.

One of the things that you look

at, logistics and planning, studying the demographics.

Here you are making statements

about this, that, and the other

thing, but if you do not have an

idea about the demographics and

the growing number of seniors, when people talk about the

wellness corridor and the space

of blocks far away, where

seniors can go three or four blocks without adversely

impacting them, someone needs a brain transplant.

that is where my advocacy comes through.

So, you, board of directors have to bring the seniors to the

table, respect our seniors, as

we have done before in san francisco.

Some of you all our seniors.

some of you are approaching that age. I know that one of you are.

[Tone]

Thank you. >> who are you talking about? [Laughter]

>> good afternoon, commissioners. Jane martin.

From the premium for youth coalition.

I am part of the private community organization that organizes low-income riders every week. I came today to give you an

update on the premium for youth program.

As you know after approval, this

board needed funds approved and I am happy to report that they

did come through the commission. Now we are trying to work with the ntc.

Staff has recommended moving forward formally for the program.

Unfortunately, in the paper I see the commissioners and subcommittee in the last meeting did not move it forward to the full board.

They will be reconsidering it again in a subcommittee on the 11th.

The director has come to the meeting. We have come to the meetings.

We are optimistic that we can talk about this program.

The mayor has sent a program to them.

David," has been working hard with his colleagues.

-- campos has been working hard with his colleagues.

I am asking any of you to help us in our lobbying efforts.

I know that some of you have connections around the area and would be great if you could reach out to other counties to support us on this message.

Hopefully, we can move this forward in the upcoming months.

Lastly, we have been working

together again to work with staff on implementation, which

has been going very well, though there is still some work to be done. >> thank you. Next speaker?

>> [Reads names]

>> my name is charles.

I am here to support Mr. Maxwell.

He was fired for being a whistle-blower.

We will continue to let people know who we is and what he was fired for.

We will also be reminding people

that you folks with policy are responsible for the death of kenneth harding Jr.. You have not heard the last of that either.

Mr. Harding'

s mother has called

for a muni shut down on the days

that he was shot, one day ago, July 16.

We are talking about defending folks against attacks on meat --

union workers and the article that they represent.

So, I am not here to thank or congratulate anyone. You will be hearing from us.

we will be seeing justice for the fired workers and killed a

black people under your policies. >> thank you. >> [Reads names]

>> afternoon. My name is neil patel.

I would like to extend a warm

welcome to the new director. i look forward to working with you in the future.

I wanted to give you all a brief

update as the summer approaches.

The san francisco bicycle collision, we are proud to be a leading resource.

We have a full calendar in the

coming months of free urban cycling workshops on the road.

We would love your help in sending an invitation to the citizens of san francisco that

you know who are interested in

bicycling and would like to learn the rules of the road. Tonight we have a specific

course for women and transgendered individuals.

in July we have a course for san

franciscans who are seniors.

We are trying our best to reach all of them.

You can find our full calendar of mind. Please, do spread the word.

Lastly, I would like to thank this board for one year ago

approving parking relocation changes on 17th street.

As you might know, 17th street was long ago identified as a bicycle corridor.

One segment got held up for various reasons.

After additional community work,

you all approved this stretch.

bicycle lanes will be going in

in the next few weeks.

I know that a lot of our members are excited.

It is a narrow stretch of road where right now. Thank you again.

I look forward to discussing that with the wall in the coming weeks.

>> [Reads names]

>> good afternoon.

>> I brought some show and tell.

Good afternoon, commissioners.

My name is mason.

i started off behind the wheel of a cab.

Over the years, I was demoted to

a desk and a chair, manager at yellow cab.

I wanted to speak to the benefit of the commissioners I have not met.

I wanted to establish that i

have some basis for saying what I say.

I want to talk to you about regulations.

When I started in this business,

1965, I got this little package.

It is the company regulation for the new drivers. And a driver manuel.

when we were underneath the taxi commission, this was the regulation.

It looked like this, about 46 pages.

Two weeks ago we were considering this.

If you think that moving from

here to hear is a step forward,

there are some very attractive lots on the moon where you can look at the earth that I can offer you for sale.

I am not against

regulations,

but I think that any of the regulations that I have put before you, and I know you do

not have time to read this all, I do not have the time to read

this all, but the basic issue in

my mind is that if any of this

resulted in a better, more

efficient, more responsive taxi industry that serves the public

-- if it does not, if the staff that presents this stuff to you

cannot tell you how, think about that. Thank you. >> [Tone]

>> next speakers? >> [Reads names]

>> Mr. Toronto?

>> thank you.

first, I wanted to point out

that about the issue of taxis, there are certain days of the week where the demand is low.

There are some months where the demand is low.

this is the time .

we need to make a decision regarding the services.

I have spoken to staff.

it is in their hands.

They are not regulating these industries and they are

basically ignoring your staff,

our staff -- having paid for it -- to deal with these issues.

I ask you to come forward with a

resolution, please, asking them

to help you guys in regulating

these types of services, because

they are not doing it and they need to change the rules.

Regarding the staffing changes,

there have been losses in the

taxi services department that are very crucial.

I urge you, let the other

departments involved in dealing with shortages of time.

We need to speed up the hiring of necessary individuals that

are already paid for out of --

not general funds, but the taxi industry.

In closing, as a result, the

taxi industry is not represented at these key meetings. [Tone]

Please, help. Thank you.

>> next speaker, please. >> [Reads names]

>> good afternoon, directors. [Unintelligible]

The first one, as you heard

from, he already told you to look at this revolution.

The thing is , he and me, we both

work together to bring the taxi to the sfmta.

But you feel ashamed that you are incapable.

you have destroyed the whole situation.

Tested, 200 cabs bumper-to- bumper.

We did not want to bring people in the room.

And you did.

I gave you those papers today.

one of the papers is a paper

which shows that any leader, all

over the city, any cab, shows

how many trips, how many miles, how many everything.

Why would we need electronics? we do not need it.

You are trying to -- I have

given you these copies -- you

are trying to do something that

is totally the privacy of the citizens to deduct.

if I take a man to a brothel

place or a dance place, citizens do not exit.

They will go to the ballot and come to the next meeting with a protest.

There will be a strike here.

We are telling you that you are not understanding this industry.

just handle it nicely. You do not want it? What the fight to continue?

200 apartments here are watching you. Thank you.

-- 200 departments here are watching you. [Tone]

>> next speaker, please. >> [Unintelligible]

Kim.

Of course, you will never get a union agreement in this industry.

I have enormous faith in this industry in moving things

forward for the taxi industry.

I think that there is a capable

hand there to move things forward. I want to work very closely with

you to make this a world- class taxicab service.

Having said that, I want to exit -- echoed the concerns of the last meeting.

It was really about process.

We went through a serious bidding process that would have

provided equipment and installation.

I want you to understand that in

my opinion, you have now created a funded a mandate that is now an unfunded mandate.

This will have consequences for

companies like my own, and more importantly it did not address

the real problem, which is the same resistance that drivers will have is still going to be there.

It was not about the price.

It was about accountability and electronic waybills. The industry does not want to be accountable.

Drivers want to be off of the grid. We need to make sure that the

industry is accountable for providing service standards in this industry.

My concern is that companies

like mine, investing in these

services, are put in a position

of non-competitiveness when

there is no enforcement or standards being applied.

I cannot compete against 20 other companies that are not meeting those standards.

I ask you, as we go forward as

an agency, create high standards and applied them evenly across the board.

You will have a much better level of service. thank you.

[Tone]

>> next speaker?

>> overall, I would like to support the industry.

A couple of years ago they put the wrong side up on market street.

they spent a lot of money and

had to put it up again.

It was not that kind of agency, watching what we are doing.

I do not think that you are used to covering your operation

covers and you put too much money on this.

Spend too much time, too much money.

If you put some kind of money in

the right place, you will get a big benefit.

How much would cost to build a bullet train? $7 billion.

It will only take you 3.5 years to build it.

From beijing to lasa, it is a hard job, four years only.

We have more and more baby boomers. We have to stop now.

Your muni drivers, you have to

build them like a family.

i am a cab driver as well.

I have made money because I know

how to save my time and money.

I go to the right time and place to meet people and make money.

There is so much that is different, monday through friday.

supplies like this, friday,

saturday, there is a time when you make money on this.

I reached out from income. Thank you.

>> [Tone]

>> that is the last person.

These will be retained and if

the member of a public which has

an item severed -- I see that there is a comment.

>> I do not at all.

I do, however, want to make a

note of item 10.7.

labor agreements were posted 15 days ago, as required by the charter.

There have been some minor

changes made that we can walk through, if you want.

I wanted to let you know that that had happened. >> thank you.

any members of the board or public?

Motion on the consent calendar?

>> seconded. >> aye.

>> thank you very much.

>> I understand that there is a

request to call item no. 12 first.

>>

amending transportation code section 905 to permit the purchase of residential parking permit visitor permits on a

daily or weekly basis and limit the number of one day visitor

permits that May be purchased by residential address in a single year to 20 during the

permit year, amending section 960 per head of the contractor

parking permits to within 1,500 meters or three blocks,

whichever is greater, of the contractor is a registered business address or any

satellite office engaged in business related activity.

>> ok, good afternoon.

>> good afternoon, directors.

This item has two separate provisions for which we are seeking approval.

The first is to provide prepaid one day visitor residential parking permits.

They can be used with a 20

permit limit in the city, where

they have the availability to

come in and purchase on a one time basis.

The second change is the seller

procedure. We kind of do not have that.

The third item, where you do not

have the speaker, amending

section 9064 contract in parking meters within 1,500

feet, or three blocks, whichever is greater.

So, this issue came up and has

been coming up over several

years, since it was established. It is the only permit of its

kind, like that, that allows any

kind of business for a permit to park.

That is when they are doing

business with small contractors.

They usually allow the

conducting a business around the bases.

Their offices, that is what is happening.

these permits are not being used

by small contractors to park on

the street around their offices, thereby limiting the parking

availability for the businesses on the block. They are also taking these

permits and parking their personal cars within their

parking lots and putting these cars on the streets.

We are filing a violations.

The attempt of the permit is to allow contractors to do the business during the day.

We have been working with the

board on this, someone from the

port will also speak to this.

We are asking for the allowed

continuing permit for the one of its kind to prohibit these cars

from parking in the 1500 perimeter around home businesses.

If they want to permit the home business, they would be restricted to loading and unloading.

Otherwise they have to pay for it, like every other business.

cac approved it.

We did extensive outreach.

On April 20 of the initial notice was sent to all

contractors, who received about 15 comments.

A follow-up message was sent on the 14th.

opposition came out of a 670 permit holders.

So, we believe we have addressed the teenager issues and have

tweaked the original proposal, allowing these permits to be

eligible in a way that we had originally not allowed.

we allowed the contractors to use it while they were visibly loading and unloading.

>> is that the presentation? >> if you want to hear the report -- >> I just have a question.

So, a business, like every other

resident, has a right to a certain number of permits, right? >> yes.

If you are a business and are operating on the street, you have a limited number.

>> this would not affect that?

>> this has nothing to do with that.

>> this is just a special class of contractor permits.

If the contractor had an office , they could still apply for

permits for their staff and stuff? Ok.

With someone from the port might to speak to the board?

-- would someone from the port like to speak to the board?

Good afternoon.

>> good afternoon, commissioners.

Money misused -- susan reynolds,

director of real-estate for the port of san francisco.

We have been working to bring

parodying -- parity to the

process on the city side as opposed to the court side.

We have also had problems with some of these contractor

licenses that were there,

working in their offices, taking up street lighting. Hertz other businesses in the neighborhood because the

parking does not turnover.

We are in favor of the mandate

for pricing and parking process.

Especially on port property,

where we have limited space and a high demand.

This would help to turn cars

over and help with the traffic management in the area.

It would just help overall

movement of the sfmta and what

they are trying to achieve by coming to a more efficient

parking process of using the demand based parking process.

>> members of the board?

Thank you very much.

Members of the public? Someone else for the presentation?

>> good afternoon, directors.

I want to thank the sfmta for

these proposals to amend the code.

We support this proposal to

restrict contractor permits in front of the workplace.

We have been in a partnership to

manage part in for several years now.

I have been privileged to be a part of that journey.

We are at a time when every parking stall counts.

One of the goals for parking meter management is that we can

always find a stall in san francisco.

That is done through dynamics.

Them, with sensors

that tell us the occupancy

level at various times throughout the day.

These contractor permits give a false reading.

They allow for unrestricted use. There really is no way to regulate the permits.

The port of san francisco now

pays for parking citywide.

Suzanne and I issued parking at a city leader.

we asked if they approved of this regulation and a proposal.

They said they get paid for

parking in front of the business.

This would promote parking meter

management goals in san francisco. thank you.

>> that is the staff presentation.

>> yes. >> that is what they claim? >> right.

and that is in the tenderloin.

If we were to park a few blocks

away, parking in front of

someone else -- by the way, we

put the most money in our small businesses.

about one block out, the only point is the size size.

And when the sell-off last, i get a neighborhood parking sticker.

We are kind of shut out on that.

There needs to be

and there is

plating on seven days per week,

and from 4:00 until 6:00 every

day per week, it is tough enough

already.

Coming to the office and do we

do that per -- do we do that on everyone?

>> I understand you' re looking

for any stream of revenue possible.

There was no meter when I first moved to the neighborhood.

I read with some amusement that

some of the people had patched talking about the horrors of having to feed the meter.

so, we have gotten used to that.

The contractor permit, I assure

you that we are not using it as a free parking pass.

The idea that we are respite --

restricted and I know that this

is probably not a popular idea,

but the last that I knew, the residential parking permit was less than $100 per year.

and they feel like this is just

another one of those and laughing -- one of those kinds

of things, small businesses are

told that san franciscans constantly look at this.

I hope things will take a moment

to make it more tenable and it

is the head of E.F. And I do not

know how diligently the meter enforcement would be.

We would have to make sure we were actively carrying someone.

Thank you. >> that is the last person who

has turned in a cart on this one. >> [Tone]

>> ok.

What response would you give?

>> that the issue of parity , it is only the contractors will are

on the onus.

We have parsed out one group of

small businesses to contractors to get this permit. it gave six months of free

parking. They are getting the advantage

of what small businesses get, above and beyond.

This department would not exist

if we give them all resources.

>> considering this

recommendation, were different parts of the city considered?

>> we spoke to the small business commission and they

were across between the small business commission.

Part of their community is not getting the permits, tying up

space in front of their business frontage, where the

other contractors with it the advantage are concerned about the change.

They understood why we were moving forward with this. >> seems like different places

in the city, while the situation

in the tenderloin is a very dense population.

>> I guess it is difficult

across the city for enforcement, for different kinds

of administrative, as well as having to identify which business is aware.

Looking at that, I am not sure what it would be. Mostly constructive? From our perspective.

>> I am sure that that is playing out.

Do not think that we were

constrained by state law about the recovery program.

We cannot use it as a financial mechanism.

it leads me to a question of not

only what we can do, but what

our friends at organic mechanics have.

We are caught up so, the logical

thing here would be looking at

the other businesses and find the solution there. We can come back to revisit it.

>> the requiring of the survey

in the community with those

signatures, there is a certain segment of the block that becomes a petition in the mta?

That is historically something that they could do.

We are revisiting our policies to take initiative on.

>> we are taking away a and we

have certainly heard from them I do not want you to think they

knew have not been heard, and it seems to me that if your

neighbors feel the same way, it

would be to organize -- this

expansive -- expansion does that have to be massive. It could be by one mark.

If the neighbors in the area what the program, I suggest you might save money.

>> of the only question -- the only caution is we are

evaluating whether commercial district should have them.

The petition May come to our doorstep, but it May not signify anything.

>> I just do not want our friends to walk away thinking

that there is no resources -- recourse.

At least looking into whether you could have a zone.

>> I think staff will be able to meet with the gentleman.

>> one more question that is a clarifying question.

Their language prohibits the use of contract and parking 1,500 feet.

does that mean -- does that

mean prohibit free parking? >> correct. They can always pay.

>> I imagine that some of it is in the areas where we are trying to manage the demand?

>> members of the department?

>> what is the scope of the problem?

This is just sitting there without being dark -- productive. >> correct.

They are sitting at the spot all day.

They were where they work and come back to their offices.

It is around these offices where the vehicles to take up the spaces.

>> is this in an isolated section of town?

>> there are complaints across the city. >> across the city.

>> thank you.

>> would you like to come forward? >> we cannot go back on the rules.

>> Chairman, the board.

I am a member of the

contractors association.

We represent about 100 contractors in the city.

When the first letters came out, we were taken aback.

But we were given the chance to meet with the port.

Our cards were on the table and we understood where they were

coming from we felt we could pay

the meters in front of the property.

We felt it was a working thing that we could get together. We recommended the past.

>> is there a motion?

>> I would move this. but I would caution and be

careful about excluding commercial districts and businesses. As we look to the future we need to respect the rights of

business owners to have access to those parking spots as well.

>> that is a motion. Is there a second? >> aye.

>> so ordered, thank you.

>> moving back to the presentation discussion

regarding >> go ahead

--

>> item number

11, presentation and discussion regarding the status of the fiscal year 13 in

fiscal year 14 operating budget.

>> I have a short presentation for you. When I got the final budget to

you in April, I told you that

amongst the fingers -- >> ok. [Laughter]

>> one of the labor negotiations

that was under way, to back up for context, when we first brought this to you in november

at the workshop, what we had in

there was a baseline assumption.

You May recall that that

included 35 million in the first year.

And $89 million budget gap is

where we felt the process back in November.

a good chunk of that, maybe half

of that is based on anticipated labor increases.

We moved forward on some

standard cost-of-living basis, have we done that it would have

been something around $40

million in increases in labor costs.

fast forward to April, as we finalize the budget.

Recall our budget is due on May

1, in advance of the labor negotiations conclusion.

We started our negotiation

strategy with the city and the

department of human resources.

we worked side by side, we

literally negotiated and started at the same place.

I would say it was a good

process and a good outcome.

Where we ended up, and I will cover this more specifically on

the next page,

we anticipated $14.6 million over the next two years of savings.

That was basically based on our

opening positions, which were

not there at the time we concluded the budget.

on the slide, it adds up to less than $3 million.

That is $3 million over two years. That is the increase over the

current budget.

About $1 billion.

What we negotiated with our

unions, they have been making

concessions for the last few

years, amounting to a less than

1.5% increase in the labor budget, which is reasonable.

I just wanted to dismiss any

notion that city hall did

something that created a problem in the budget.

We worked side by side.

The negotiations generally went

well and were received well by

Mr. Johnson, Mr. Allison, and

their staff, side by side with

the department of human resources. Only one of them went to

arbitration over a somewhat minor, non-monetary items.

I think at this level of

compensation, more or less all of this city employees got the same deal, which is reasonable.

but nevertheless it did put the budgets -- the budget out of balance.

I am here to report to you on

how we are proposing to balance the budget again.

Moving on to the next slide, there have been changes in our favor.

they did not all go in the other direction.

There have been changes from city hall, changes we have

initiated with departments.

A few of them went the other

way, about 1.5 million to our benefit.

That is a little bit of good news.

moving on to expenditure

changes, one of the things that

we found, you will recall, a

theme of this budget was

investing in the maintenance of

the transportation department.

Particularly muni.

What we have budgeted for, or

intended to, was that these physicians would start in

January of the first fiscal year and be the equivalent of

half of the full-time equivalent of employees in the first fiscal year.

We inadvertently budgeted them

as full-time positions, though as much as we would like to there is no way we can get them

hired in the next few weeks.

Correcting for that was about $6 million. However, we took this

opportunity to evaluate some of

our parking enforcement.

We have had a management change in that area.

We have had a controllers audit going on.

From that, we have determined

that we could more completely

managed the current parking and

traffic rules on the books, but we would need more staffing to do that.

we are proposing adding traffic enforcement staff.

Likewise, we have had an increase of any instances of

legal taxis and limos,

increasing our staff in the

proposed budget with a slightly greater increase.

tep

, this had been budgeted incorrectly in the other direction.

Somehow, they were left out due to an error.

We are taking this opportunity to address that.

Finally, we are transferring one

function in from the police

department that has to do with

posting of no parking signs, which for current circumstances

is done by people billing to the station in the officers to go

out to post the signs, which is

not a good use of their time.

The revenue is offset for that.

There were a number of other miscellaneous and technical

changes that brought that out to more than $2 million.

It more or less offset the gains in our previous life.

Moving on to the next slide,

about $18 million in issues.

here is how we are addressing it.

First of all, the scientists at

the bottom, the cost recovery, we can get that with revenues and expenditures.

What is new here, the good news

from the city economy is that it continues to roll in hand the current figures that we have

from city hall in terms of our

baseline transfer will yield us

another $16 million.

This is in addition to be good news that I was reporting each

month, leading up to the budget approval.

The economic outlook continues to improve.

the condition of parking

enforcement traffic, as well as

existing staffing and the

efficiency of existing staffing,

we are moving more onto bicycles and there is much higher productivity. Much lower cost.

all of those things together,

yielding more than 6 million in

revenues over two years.

In terms of tax revenues, of they did not make significant

changes in revenue assumptions

based on policy changes yet to be decided.

We did look at the actuals from

this year, as well as the enforcement resources that we

would be adding without looking

forward to whenever reform

comes, adjusting our revenue estimates.

so, that is how we rebalance d.

Moving forward from here, we

will transmit these changes to city hall. It is possible that the budget

finance committee will want to

bring us back for a -- for a second hearing.

in the big scheme of things, $18

million is not substantive. We May not have a second hearing.

We will be updating members of

the board of supervisors on the changes. The new fiscal year starts July 1.

supervisors have until August 1

to except to not act, at which point they willfully reject or accept the budget.

I do not completely anticipate that happening.

Having spoken to the director on

the reporting to the governance committee, we will try to do is

bring much more comprehensive

reporting on the budget, so the board has good visibility into what we'

re doing on the expenditure side. I guess the only other footnote

I would add, Ms. Martin mentioned during public comment

that the board has recommended

$4 million in support of $5 million.

i recommend that we and shorten

the time line, with the balance of funding that we have, we

could do a 19 month by the -- pilot, giving us the benefit we' re looking for in terms of the policy.

i should note that the staff, in

making a recommendation for $4 million, they conditioned the recommendation on the city

coming up with an additional million dollars.

To keep the full five for the

full 22 months, I spoke at the committee last week.

they were not supportive of advancing the staff

recommendation at this time.

They requested that they removed that condition. We should acknowledge that it

was very generous of them to consider sending that our way for this pilot.

That $1 million condition is problematic, from our

perspective, that is my understanding.

My understanding was that it would have no further impact on our budget.

Unless there is someone outside

the transportation world, it is

not clear to me how we would be

able to do that, but the bill

continued to work with mtc staff and commissioners to the extent

necessary, as well as folks at city hall, to figure out how to

make a program out of this.

>> at one point we had a

schedule with a couple of special meetings.

When would they be? >> we have one special

committee going at the end of June.

>> and that is gone? >> the reaction would be whether

or not that what happened, but

if it did, it would be in July.

Recall if they are to reject the

budget, they have to provide

additional funds to operate in

the interim, which creates a high hurdle for them.

Theoretically, we would have an

opportunity at the next meeting.

>> so, we do not need to tentatively scheduled anything at this point? >> we will check. >> thank you very much.

The ballot measures that are out this fall, how might that affect

us directly or indirectly?

>> I do not think that there is

anything at the state level that is problematic in the preliminary budget.

Since they have fixed the transportation funding, it has

been off the table in terms of discussion.

they have left of the transportation funding alone.

The subsidy that we got from the state transit assistance, at least at this point it is stable.

Budget wise, I do not think we

have any issues for concern.

I do not know if there is anything else on the ballot.

>> operations on the capital

side, that is the only other issue that might affect this.

>> they will be considering that

at the June meeting with by the state legislature, which will be

wrapped up in the deception over high-speed rail.

If the state is going to move

forward and appropriate the $3

billion in funds, I am fairly confident that this will be a part of that.

If the state chooses not to do

that and they send the funds

back to washington, D.C., it is possible we will need to fill more.

>> what about the end of June?

>> that is correct.

If they do not act by the end of

July, that money will go back to washington, D.C..

>> thank you. Anything else on the budget?

>> just to revisit the subject

of work orders and those changes, the ones here seem to

be marginal changes.

You know, like maybe we can get

a slightly better price for

this, that, and the other thing, but there is no real restructuring of work orders.

the police and the traffic detail, part of that discussion

was -- if it will not come from the mta, where will it come from?

It is providing a vital service.

Do you have any sense as to whether there will be those kinds of discussions when you go to the board of supervisors committee?

Or do you get the sense that they are content with the status?

>> I do not want to speak for the board of supervisors.

there are definitely a few members who are concerned about the issue.

It came up in May.

I think that they appreciated

the direction that I got from

you to articulate how we would

spend those funds, which I did

in my transmittal letter, when I

sent the budget over at the end of April.

One avenue , at this point,

through the board of supervisors

process, they could add funds

back to the board department, reducing the need for our work order.

whether or not there was another

mechanism is really under serious consideration.

>> I would remain open to discussing this more structurally, but it has to

include, if the service is one

that is vital in this case, we would need to have a broader discussion about where the money would come from.

I am anticipating that we would

get pressure about work orders. I do not want you to be

flatfooted.

This is a discussion I am open

to, but it is a discussion that

needs to happen within and outside the mta. >> agreed. >> members of the board?

>> one member of the public has an interest. Mr. Toronto?

>> there are some topics that triggered my interest in this.

I can understand budget discussions better than the average member of the public.

I would like to thank the director for bringing up this issue.

we used to get these reports

from the representatives at the police department in the mta

about taxi enforcement and their

role at the traffic company. Now we are not getting these reports.

the director has not asked for them or presented them.

We have to know if they are getting their money' s worth. That is a valid question.

Some of that work that the

traffic company does, that is a related issue ended is a good question to ask.

people have brought up the topic

of the taxi industry becoming a cash cow.

Is it explained better, where

will this money come from in the taxi industry?

I think it would be important to let the stakeholders know about this, considering that there are

several town hall meetings scheduled for next week.

So, I want to let you know that

you have an obligation to let

the taxi industry know about their ability to participate.

You saw them bring all of these

rules and I think that, related

to the budget, if they are going

to continue to use the taxi

industry as an "cash cow," it is

important that this stakeholders

have ample opportunity to respond to these proposed regulations and rules. Thank you.

>> good afternoon.

>> I am with the department of public works.

>> do you remember him? >> a vaguely.

[Laughter]

>> that is too bad.

>> you are very lucky to have them.

I am here today to give you an

update on the better market street project and let you know what we have been working on and what the schedule is.

the goal of the better market

street project is to revitalize markets street from the

embarcadero to octavia boulevard and to reestablish the street as

the premier cultural civic transportation and economic line of the city.

We have three key goals around that.

one is around place making, mobility, and economic development.

Just briefly, the project team is fairly complex and involves

multiple city agencies headed by

the department of public works

in coordination with the planning department and mta staff and the county transportation authority.

and partnership with the puc as well.

On the consulting team, we have

a design team.

We have a fairly robust transportation team.

we have been coordinating with

multiple city efforts that are under way. They have components that are

partnering with the project,

such as the transit effectiveness project, the second street corridor, central subway.

We have also been working with some of our city partners on near-term implementation projects and coordination of pilot projects.

The team is working to support those efforts that are ongoing.

This graph shows the key survey components of our first round of outreach, which was held last year.

We surveyed the community on which of these key items they wish to see along the corridor.

Place making or public space activation was number one.

Walking and bicycling, economic

vitality, a civic -- connecting neighborhoods.

To summarize the modes we are

investigating, transit is very important to the market street corridor.

Automobile circulation, bicycle

secularization -- circulation, and pedestrian access. The objective is to improve reliability and to decrease travel time along the corridor.

Some of the tools you' re looking

at to accomplish those goals are

are larger boarding islands,

level boarding, prepayments,

enhanced way finding, enhanced

lane assignments >> transit-only lanes, and stop optimization.

This craft is a diagram to show

that we have two proposals on

the table for transit optimization.

the enhanced -- it reduces the

island stops by three.

It does very little to the curbside stops.

There are no lighting reassignments. This is somewhat similar to the current conditions.

The rapid option has more

reduction.

Not much impact on the curb stops, but also includes a

fairly robust look at the lane assignments for the transit lines.

In terms of private automobile

access, we have three options on the table.

additional access changes means

that we are building upon the required right turns in place

now at 10th and sixth in the eastbound direction. Looking at other key points for we could implement similar strategies.

Limited vehicle access builds upon that same idea.

It also includes potential car- free zone between fourth and

fifth, where we have the highest pedestrian volumes.

A fairly constrained right of way with the placement of the

board -- bart portals.

the car-free option proposes no private automobiles east of franklin. That is the most robust option.

In all three cases, we are

testing these options to see which accomplish our transit goals.

To decide which of these is the best strategy moving forward.

I should also note that these do

not include taxis, paratransit, loading and delivery vehicles.

Those of be excluded from these restrictions.

-- those would be excluded from these restrictions.

We have to over arching options, one is the shared land auction. This is somewhat similar to the condition we have today.

it is a fairly cost-effective alternative in at the curb does not mean to be relocated.

In order for this option to be

successful, and it would require additional bioko restrictions.

Such as I just explained. Those would require more of a requirement. the other benefit to the shared

land auction, it does allow for more of the public activation space.

The cycle track option it is physically separated bike facility.

That is a completely separated bicycle track.

this is from the conflicts standpoint, this is a better alternative. The mode is completely separate

from transit and pedestrians.

It does infringe on the public activation space somewhat.

And it is a more costly option.

in terms of pedestrian access,

we are focused on this as well.

The project proposes a

accessible pop of travel -- have the travel at a 15 foot minimum.

We'

re looking at other

accessibility issues, such as

materiality, crosswalks, other conflicts with pedestrians. In the intersection hot spots,

we have identified typical intersections up and down the corridor that because of the intersecting greg and the late cult of market street are

challenging for all --

intersecting grid and the layout of market street are challenging for all modes.

It is not all about speed, but

also about the design and layout of certain areas along the corridor.

Traffic and pedestrian said the

upgrades, there is a bit of a challenge in the western portion

of the quarter as you head west of the van ness.

The street is somewhat freeway- centric.

We' re looking at that as well.

on the other side of this

project are the urban design components and strategies we are looking at to integrate transportation and urban design and make a complete corridor.

These are the strategies that we are employing.

First is to create a unifying identity. Market street currently has a strong identity, most people

will say they know they are in market street based on

materiality and the orientation of the diagonal that crosses those to wo grids.

We want to continue to celebrate that identity.

enhancing the districts.

The corridor breaks out into

these districts, the embarcadero, the financial

district, the retail heart,

midmarket, civic center, and octavia.

Each of them have their own unique identity.

we are looking to enhance that.

The introduction of a street light zone.

This is part of our public space activation strategy.

This is often referred to as the site furnishings' sound.

Is the area from the curb to be acceptable -- accessible path of travel.

Often, this is where your light fixtures exist. On market street, there is not

much of a zone for activity. We' re looking to introduce that zone to really help activate the corridor.

This example is of a connector

or a more narrow street light zone. we would expect that a good majority of the corridor would

be this type of streetlight sound.

In some -- we would program or activities. This might happen at certain

places, such as powell street.

revitalizing major public spaces.

There are some very key public spaces up and down market street. Some of which are not currently to their potential.

They really can served also as

large nose of baxter -- nodes of

activation.

we are looking for at 3 at this moment.

Dusky public spaces up and down the corridor.

-- those key public spaces that are up and down the corridor.

Given their proximity to very large transit stops. We have a huge volume of people

coming up from the underground

comic a large number of people above ground. How can we capture those people

in public spaces and make a film titled places to be?

I

-- and make them a vital place to be?

We held our first round of outreach last year. We have since been preparing are

interesting best actress this research, those documents are

available -- best practices research, those documents are available on the website. Brown to about which will be in July.

-- round two of outreach will be in July. We will make sure we are on the

right track with what we heard last year.

We will then be refining those into concepts.

We will be bringing those out to the community at the end of this year.

At that point, in a larger project schedule, we will be

entering into environmental review with the goal of

construction 2015-2016.

Our public works -- I wanted to mention the dates have been set.

Those workshops will have one evening workshop, one saturday

workshop, July 17 and 21st.

We will also be holding a

webinar on July 19 from 12:00 until 1:00. I am happy to answer any questions.

>> thank you.

the board discussed market

street about six months ago, eight months ago. This board has been incredibly

supportive of continuing to make market street more of a transit and bicycle and pedestrian efficient corridor and focusing less on the private

auto traffic.

There are some great ideas in here.

A couple of questions, the first one has to do with funding.

I see there is no mention of funding. It is a fabulous design. If I had my way, we would implement everything tomorrow.

which I know he is not possible. What is the plan for funding?

I see that construction is

scheduled for 2015, which gives us time.

>> for construction implementation, we are looking

at fta funds.

we believe that we will be

competitive for that funding and that is our current plan for construction implementation.

The paving funds are already programmed. We would expect them to come from one of our sources.

The larger transportation improvement would come from fta fuinds.

-- funds.

>>

are we done with market street until the market street plan starts going in? Are we going to continue to do

what we can to?

I am sure all of us use market

street all the time.

There has been improvements, the things that stick out in my

mind -- they are two signs of the same coin.

it is horrible when I get stopped in front of a bus

because I cannot pedal fast enough.

I like the idea of physically separating the bicycles from transit.

Those

poor buses are going to

get stuck behind the bicycles more often.

I hate seeing the cyclist bill

between the -- go between n the

buses and the curb.

the poor bus driver, I cannot even imagine what that is like.

Somebody at the bicycle advisory suggested that we do stickers on

the back of the bus, saying

"bikes do not travel between the

bus and the curb."

when you are on the bus and you

see the cyclist do that, I view them as shark infested waters.

Maybe something else, a reminder

to the cyclist not to cross the

bus into the tracks.

I want to see us continue to

make changes to market street. I do not want us to wait for this project to begin construction in 2015.

In the last month, I have been

bullied twice by people in very expensive cars.

If I was

not a decent cyclist, I would have fallen.

She was in a convertible, I

caught up to her at the next flight and let her know that she terrified me. I was almost in tears.

I do not one has to wait until 2015 to continue to make improvements.

What you have here is gorgeous, I love it. I wish we could have it in tomorrow.

I think it would help so much and it would restore that street or change that street to what really can be. It is the backbone of the city.

Chairman Nolan:   what did the

woman in a convertible say?

>> she jumped. And then she cursed at me.

it happened.

Whatever.

We need traffic calming.

Chairman Nolan:   thank you.

director bridges: this is a great plan, by the way.

Is there a plan to go further ?

>> the current phase goes to octavia boulevard.

The upper portion of market is contained in the upper market plan.

We use that as a dividing line in recognizing the upper portion has already been planned.

We understand there will be some inconsistency there.

We had to drop a stopping line and that seemed logical.

director bridges:

will it be a coordination point between the two?

>> that is a good question. We are focusing on octavia to the east.

We should be thinking how the integration happens between those two plans. We will certainly think about that as a team. We can report back on that.

director heinicke:   we have had discussions about this as a board before.

I do not want to purport to speak on behalf of everybody.

My view is that the way we' re

going to reach the primary goal

one markets -- on market

is to limit traffic, limit private traffic, or eliminate private

traffic.

We need to recognize there is a

lot of surrounding streets that

can accommodate private traffic. Let' s look at history.

When the mayor implemented the

little sound with no traffic with automatic right turns, there were fears that would be the end of the world. It was not. Project we need to push further.

If we can continue with an agency to test for their

automatic right turn zones, a

test no-cars ounce

zones. Let' s do that.

We are already on the way on van ness.

Market street is a far better

candidate for that because there

is not the need for private traffic on that street that there is on van ness.

I think that is the view of this board.

If you all want to leverage the agency and suggest pilots or test programs we can implement please call on us.

>> I will echo that sentiment.

I was on n

the cac before.

i have seen these working, thoughtful people on this project. I definitely support a transit focused direction for this project.

Chairman Nolan:   plans develop. It is a lot of hard-anyone else?

Director ramos:   thank you very much for this great work. It is so exciting. I spent more time than I should on market street. I am a chess player. wonderful people there.

It is fantastic. If you hang out there for more than 20 minutes, you will notice there is no place to use the restroom.

People in debt utilizing door ways. It is a big mess.

it is an embarrassment, frankly.

It is disappointing.

On a positive note, I will help you will consider to capitalize on that.

I remember back in the 1970' s,

when the main stem used to be on market street.

The test tables or further up

the street closer to -- chess tables were closer up the street

closer to powell.

in new york, they actually have

built in chessboards and tables.

It is a place where people want to stay. I think that is the goal.

Having just gotten back from copenhagen, I can assure you

that the dedicated transit planes and bicycle tracks only

do work.

I have pictures.

Julie was with me.

We made a special plane to go back to a place where they had taken cars off the street.

beautiful dedicated bus lanes.

And there were taxicab' s that were going through.

I encourage that.

It is possible and we can look to copenhagen. Another thing we saw that i

experienced in copenhagen was

this problem of way to many

bikes not having a place to park. Looking back, if they would change anything, they would

build bike parking into a design.

i was thinking about this, you

have a slide of the gentleman leaning over a concrete thing.

That could be a bike rack.

I would encourage you to

integrate bicycle parking into design.

Whatever you need to do, to make it in such a way where seniors

do not have to lift a bike .

finally, I would hope that you

would stress the cycle track option.

There was a time in denmark or I

was able to sit and watch the number of bicyclist and it becomes a place itself, just watching them go by.

they do not consider themselves cyclists. It is people who ride bikes.

It is not an infringement on place making. It has become part of the place.

It is terrifying on market street to play chicken with

these buses and cars.

The cycle track is a phenomenal thing and I hope we can do more of it.

I think that is all I' ve got. Great work.

One more thing -- the bart

portals, I noticed that people ride their bikes on the sidewalk because they are in the middle of the bloc sometimes.

If you were coming down on a

bike on market street, you will ride your bike through the cut away at the intersections and write down the sidewalk to the

portals because -- a ride on the sidewalk to the portals.

it is kind of awkward and scary.

If there are places where we can

optimize back into the design, I would encourage it.

Near the center platforms, in

denmark, they had these bicycle lane crosswalks to transit.

Right now, if you did -- passengers will not go to the

crosswalk to cross the street at the intersection.

They will just cut through the traffic. if you could think about putting crosswalks just for the bicyclist its ts.

It would reduce the likely

occurrence of a pedestrian

transit rider and a bicyclist collision.

those would be my remarks. Thank you so much. Great work.

>> I thought it was a great presentation.

Tom nolan and I

remember when

market street was a major hub.

i am excited to see what plans we have for it.

I would love to see that come to be. Thank you very much.

Chairman Nolan:   excellent presentation.

>> most european cities will be thrilled to have the space that we have to work with.

We have such a wide street.

When we say we do not have room,

we cannot do something, we cannot separate the bike from transit, we have so much space to design with and to play with.

We have to keep in mind they

have done things would streets

much narrower.

It must be exciting as designers to have that space to play with. Great presentation. You were a very good presenter.

>> I want to thank the whole

team

, the planning department,

the office of economic development, the directors of all the agencies are getting together once a month to review this project.

It was about four years ago that

i started talking with the mayor about market street.

We had a need to repave it but

realized that tearing it up and

putting it back as it was, let' s take the opportunity to really fix it.

I would like to think I had some role at the beginning.

He will not find a bigger champion for this project than me.

I want to temper the enthusiasm

a little bit.

In terms of the funding question

and schedule, I would call it somewhat aspirational at the moment.

This is the timeline and we kind

of sad the paving and let' s all tried to get all the work done so that we can do it all together.

We do not have an identified funding source. But we are trying to do is get the conceptual design done and

get the preliminary engineering and environmental work done so

that we have a shovel ready project at that point that will

compete favorably for the regular funds or whatever grant

programs come in the next administration. We' re doing all the right things to make it as competitive as possible.

i think it is doable.

It certainly will happen.

The other thing I want to

caution, the idea of doing more pilots.

I think there is a lot we can do to continue to improve the conditions in terms of education

and enforcement.

We are going to run into an area

where we are entering the environmental review period it

and will be -- we will need to

be cautious of what we are doing under the guise of a pilot.

We do not want to risk the

overall movement of a project by throwing too many more of these pilots in.

Some of the ideas down around third and fourth street were a little bit limited right now

because of the central subway construction.

I want to caution and a little bit about the idea that we will be doing a whole bunch more

pilots or that the check is in the mail.

It is a great project and is a

great effort and a great community effort.

we have a strong cac, a strong

technical advisory committee, design experts. From a stakeholder perspective, this project has been done very well. It will be great to see it happen.

>> is there any possibility -- i

know we had discussed a change in the eir process as it relates to ceqa.

Director heinicke:

had brought

up the question at that point, will there be a time when it

makes more sense to wait for the new process? I do not remember what the change was called.

>> that transportation system and a bill latifi was introduced this month.

Or maybe -- the transportation system was introduced this month. Or maybe last month.

Depending on when we are ready

to launch into environmental review, it is possible we could hit that point where it would make sense to delay.

we will do the federal process as well.

That May change the equation a

little bit, although ceqa is the long straw.

We will be watching for projects that come up with the next year or two. There will be a point where we May want to make that determination.

Market street will have -- the

two things that drive the environmental review process are

transportation and -- the transportation system of the latifi change.

market street May have some historic issues that need to be dealt with.

I am sure there will be a lot of people -- a lot of things people will find to be historic.

Chairman Nolan:   thank you very much. >> thank you.

>> nobody has turned in speaker cards.

Chairman Nolan: next item.

>> item 14, declining to renew access transit liability personal injury and property

damage insurance coverage, return the sfmta to complete self ensuring personal injury and property damage claims by

third parties and placed on reserve the amount of the

premiums for any such coverage to cloud cover future potential claims.

>> I have read the written report and I understand a recommendation to be that we not renew the coverage.

Instead, we take the premium

amount and put that aside in our reserve. I' ve spoken with the director offline about this too was

polite enough to call me

that I am in favor of having an excess liability coverage. I still favor that, but I will

not jump up and down and do

anything other than vote know. I respect the staff' s recommendation. I have one question.

How can we

ensure good faith that we are setting aside money that would have been spent on a

premium and not just calling money that we would have spent

on the reserves, you know, how

can we be assured that we are

accruing an extra two or $3 million each year?

Maybe we maintain our reserve policy and say they are reserve

policy apply separately from this money. Going forward, we need to meet

our reserve policy or have the goal of that and separately have this set aside liability.

>> thank you for the question.

If the board decides to do

that, we would create a separate

designated reserve fund for insurance.

we would place -- you would see $2.4 million being identified as an expense line item on the budget.

Director heinicke:   that money would not count --

Chairman Nolan:   the biggest

single was $21 million. >> $22 million.

Chairman Nolan:   if we were to

get to a major claim against us, we have 10 years to pay it.

>> we would negotiate with the other party.

In some instances, we would want to push it out.

In other instances, we would want to pay it up front.

Chairman Nolan:   we all

understand that in no one here will we be paying $22 million.

We would have the right to negotiate for that.

>> installments, that is the state code.

chairman nolan:   I support it. Questions or comments?

Lawyers, financial people? >> a motion to approve?

Chairman Nolan:   let' s have a roll call on this.

>>

[Roll call vote]

6-1.

>> thank you for the diplomatic way you approach that with me. It was very respectful.

chairman nolan:

-- >> I will not

remind us what happened.

Chairman Nolan:   next topic.

>> item 15, discussion and vote as to whether conduct a closed session.

Chairman Nolan:

we are now in closed session. Thank you.