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Tuesday, July 17, 2012
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[Roll being called]
>> you have a quorum.
The use of sound-producing electronic devices are prohibited.
Cell phones that are set on
vibrate do cause microphone into parents.
Please put them in the off position.
>> to have any comments on the last meeting? To have a motion to approve?
--
do I have any comments on the last meeting? do I have a motion to approve it?
>> item 6, introduction of new
or unfinished business by board members. >> chairmen
and I met with the leadership of
the bicycle coalition regarding street safety and cyclist' s
ability -- cyclist
civility.
We have asked the coalition to come to a board meeting next
month to update the board on the actions they' re taking
regarding cycling, street
safety, and we would like in September to be a full board discussion around this.
I think the staff has a lot to
share our around our movements.
I know the director having recently come back from a trip
to copenhagen has some interesting things to say about
the approach they take their. We would like to go ahead and
get both of those things on the schedule.
On a personal note, I got back from a vacation part of which I
spent in montreal. they have an incredibly robust system and it made me more convinced than ever that it
could work in san francisco
because this is not visible.
It was very encouraging to see
how many people were using their bike share program, how many people were cycling in general.
some of the bike lanes go away and the winter. They are only there in the summer and months.
-- in the summer months .
This gives me hope on what san francisco can accomplish.
>> it is any new or unfinished business?
item 7, directors report. >> thank you.
I have quite a few items to cover, so I will try to go fairly quickly.
Starting with the best, the special recognition awards as we do each and every month.
First, I would like to call
forward our cfo and the real
estate team who today are being
recognized.
the reason why we are recognizing the entire team
today is because they have
really come together in advancing some pretty
significant real estate needs of the agency.
We are a pretty big landlord in
the city although we got often think of ourselves as much and
have a lot of interplay with the
other real estate of the city.
This small group is very busy and has been accomplishing a lot
of things. They have spearheaded the
acquisition of more than 365 private property interests, everything from full parcels to
licenses to access.
they manage an acquisition
budget of 36 million people.
They relocated 9 residential
households and 11 commercial tenants.
They did this not just to meet the bare bones requirement of the federal and local law that actually got some good success
stories in the process.
Some of the relocated tenants ended up becoming homeowners.
That is 1 of the businesses that
was relocated and end up buying the building. They were not just kept all but were better off as a result of the efforts.
a $1.6 billion program that was partly the extra mile they went
to make sure that process went well and smoothly.
In fact, we went through that
process of condemning a building, moving out all those
people and residents, enough for
a demolition was really not any concern. This is pretty phenomenal and I think that speaks to the work
that these folks have done.
This is not to central subway, they have been managing various
products -- projects.
The relocation of the pain
signed and the meter shops.
-- of the paint sign and the meter shops.
The transportation management center which will be open across
the street from our facility next year.
They have been put in charge of
managing operator restrooms which we know is a very
significant issue for us.
We have entrusted the
leadership and designated our chief restroom officer.
They have been managing our
funds trying to consolidate
spaces and relocate staff to process improve operations and to save money.
so far, they have saved us $2.5 million annually of getting us out of this space and consolidating.
They just recently negotiated a more than 12 and a half acre
parcel from the border with
brisbane to meet some of our
future needs.
This is not even speak to the big project plan that will be coming to you sometime this fall.
This is a once in a generation effort.
>> thank you, director.
They' re the best dressed team, by the way.
Not only have they been working
on some of the efforts, they
have done really great work as a
team and they never say no to anything. They do a small thing like moving the phone and they do a big strategic in negotiation.
They have never been as active
in the history of the agency as they have been in the past several years. Thank you for your great work and keep it up.
>> I am a senior manager for real estate.
I want to thank you for the special recognition award.
This is a valley it -- a very
talented team that helps us to address and implement the
agency short, medium, and long- term needs.
we can do it.
We work seamlessly with other
city departments including very closely with the city attorney' s office. With the unions, with the other
divisions, community
organizations and stakeholders.
We feel proud of having moved the central subway project acquisitions forward and to have
relocated their residents and businesses and to also -- we are
proud of the plan that will be coming before you and we are working hard with internal
divisions and others to bring
that to your approval and we are actively negotiating and
implementing other real estate projects and leases and acquisitions, so we look forward
to working with you closely in the future.
Thank you so much for this award. >> on behalf of the board of directors and the entire agency, thank you for the hard work you do. These recognition is so important because it lets the board directors and the rest of
the agency know what you are up
to and what the agency does. It reminds the public how important the job you are and the work you did with the
relocation system. Thank you very much and congratulations. [Applause]
>> next I will ask Mr. Haley if he will come up with two of his folks.
These are not coming up as a joint award but two different
individuals being awarded within transit.
the transit supervisor, he has been with us for more than 20
years and works as an operator.
he is considered a professor
with an honorary phd and new
operator training.
I did not know that we awarded
new honoraria ph.D. Is. They are met with a pleasant personality and added to that
focuses not only on training but
excellent customer service.
he also investigates and looks
for a way to reduce future
incidents of these types. We' re certainly a better organization today but because of the work he has done and the
way he has model behavior for
our new operators coming in.
next to him is john waller who
has been with us for 12 years
and was an operator of kirkland. The note says that he has
received more commendations van the new york stock exchange.
Most, for his exceptional customer service skills. He had the opportunity to be at
1 of the operator awards ceremonies.
He announces a traffic points,
he is courteous, and treats all customers and co-workers with
dignity and respect. At a time when we are trying to
reduce operator absenteeism, he has a perfect attendance record
which is an example for all employees.
I would like to thank both of you for your great surface to the people of san francisco and
making muni shine.
>> thank you. Congratulations.
[Inaudible]
>>
we talk about the importance of
not only preparing operators but
also something we emphasize is the individual leadership that
operators have shown in
influencing other operators and
showing them the ways of the road to ease their transition.
We show them how to handle a difficult situation.
we can express our appreciation
at a time when all of us are working hard.
I wanted to introduce -- if you would because it kirkland has
done a remarkable job with their attendance in getting their services on the street.
I might want to reveal a couple
of secrets or tricks . Could afternoon.
-- >> good afternoon.
Johnny is a good operator. He is known with his boss for
his currency -- he is known for his courtesy.
He is always very courteous.
He never fails to say good morning, good afternoon.
Not only that, in addition to
when he is out there, whether he
is on the bus or on property, he
is very caring to work with his co-workers.
i remember, one of the dispatchers coming in and telling me that she felt very
touched that on a day when she
seemed to be having a bad day,
he was there and he talked to her just to calm her down and help her out.
I also know that he never fails
to recognize his co-workers for the good job that they do.
We are all behind you.
You can see several of your co- workers after letting them know that you were being recognized by the board.
We came here to support you and to let you know that we appreciate the good work that you do.
The help you
give to all of us, thank you and congratulations. >> thank you. On behalf of the board of
directors, the agency, and the
entire city, congratulations.
i did not know that was you sitting there. My apologies.
I did not mean to come down and ignore you.
Would either of you like to say a few words?
>> thank you very much.
I would like to thank my lord
and savior, jesus christ. I would like to thank the
superintendent for nominating me for this award.
I am very grateful and humble and thank you to everyone. Thank you. >> thank you very much.
>> first of all, I would like to
think the board.
Also, my co-workers, I did not know that he was back here.
Anyway, I would like to thank
the mta as a whole. I enjoy my job.
I take pride in providing
service for us .
Regardless of age, race, creed, I' m here to do a job and I do it
to the best of my ability.
If I get recognition for it, it is fine. If I don'
t, that is fine, too. I' m having fun and I will continue to have fun.
>> do you drive the 21 route by chance?
>> no, I do motor coaches.
>> when my father was in town he
was raving about the drivers and
I thought maybe one of them with you. Thank you very much and congratulations. [Applause]
>> thank you. Thank you to all of the kirkland
folks for coming out .
>> every year, the city has a
green and blue awards process
and ceremony and these are to
celebrate the outstanding accomplishments and leadership in the field of city
sustainability.
The nominations come based on the climate action plan.
This year, we have four nominations. Peter brown was nominated for being a kreme pioneer.
-- for being a great pioneer.
We won two of those.
Just getting nominated was a great achievement.
they have a pretty great role to play in the stability of our city.
Moving on to other of dates, we
did participate with california
public utilities commission and a number of other transit
agencies and other agencies including other folks that we
regulate and a safety conference or a seminar that was held at their facilities a couple of weeks back.
None of you were able to attend, which was great.
I would be interested in any
feedback that any of you have from participating in that.
this was put on that as someone from the national transportation
safety board as well as from the
washington transit system which
gives some good insights on significant accidents and how to
bring a culture of safety to organization to hopefully prevent such things from happening.
we have been discussing internally with staff some follow-up things that we want to
do and 1 recommendation was
audits with the agency going
forward to make sure that they
have the discussion with those you will see audit reports
coming as well as other safety
information coming your way this leaves more broadly to thinking
about with the policy and
governance committee.
What I am proposing that we will
do when we discuss last week' s meeting is changing the
orientation a little bit and orienting the agenda to be lined
with our strategic plan, the first goal of which is the safety goal.
we would get an update on the plan.
What we would do is we would discuss any highlights or
challenges or encountering in terms of implementing the
strategic plan, so you have this ability not only to the safety
item but to the overall plan and
implementation.
Associated would be a review with the performance metrics that had been reviewed and adopted with the plan.
These would be off track.
So, we will get to the safety data that is available and we
will aim to shift to more monthly reporting so we should have more current and frequent
reporting and do it in a way
that tracks the plan and keeps
safety at the forefront. We have also discussed maybe
twice a year having more of a
workshop format to review where
we are with the whole board in a public session. we will continue working with
the board a chair and any
thoughts anybody has on the that, we certainly welcome. The idea is to make sure that you have all the information you need to perform your roles.
some good news to report on the funding front.
Locally, you had approved
issuance of revenue bond for the
first time since we were given authority by the voters.
Quite a bit of process, getting
all of the documents together.
Getting approval from his body and the board of supervisors. I am pleased to announce that we
sold bonds, the financing closed on July 11th.
The offering was designed to
give priority access to local
san francisco individual buyers , institutional investors and accounts. I don'
t know the value purchased by san franciscans. The good news is that there was a lot of interest in these
bonds.
our credit ratings were on par
with other transit agencies.
It was a good rating, a very good market reaction.
We had
155 orders totaling $154 million.
we do have 155 individual investor orders.
Folks in the city investing right into our system.
The good news is that to the true interest cost that we got because of the strong reaction on our good credit rating was
3.7%, which was better than we had hoped for.
A very low cost of capital to do the important work which you will recall is a state of good
repair investment and improvements in our parking garages.
A lot of great work but really a
great show of confidence in the
mta and transit system off. Great news, there. Reasonably good news in terms
of federal funding. Congress approved and the President Signed the
reauthorization of federal
transportation bill which had
been 3 years overdue since the
previous one had expired.
This new one is known as 21.
One of the chief architects was barbara boxer who demonstrated a lot of leadership to get this
through as well as nancy pelosi getting a house together to get
this done, which for a while was
looking like it might not happen.
Very good news to get that done.
In terms of funding levels, this is more or less the status quo
for us, which is good.
We got a healthy amount of
funding, particularly capital funding from the federal government.
that is maintained despite the unusual contention around this. It has always been a bipartisan
effort.
We will have more debate associated with it but it did
get past .
This supports the assumptions made in our capital plan.
That was on the authorizing, the
appropriations.
Of the houses of congress have
passed their appropriations .
There was a number of anti- transit amendments on the house side that we expect will come out. We have every confidence that it will come out when it comes together in a conference committee.
generally, the levels of appropriations seem to be in line generally with our
forecast. That is good news as well.
Really good news for the region and the state. The state legislature approved
the high-speed rail
at least the first couple of billion dollars that will help
the state pull down the match,
$3 billion or so from the federal government to make the first significant steps on that.
The governor will be signing the bill in san francisco here tomorrow. Certainly a lot of leadership from him to get that done.
Great news for san francisco and for the bay area to get high- speed rail moving, which includes the electrification of
cal train and from cal train to
the trans bay terminal.
Part of what got approved work connectivity funds, some of
which were designated to muni and were part of that funding plan. You May remember a few months
ago, there was the resolution talking about how we would
address any shortfalls with these resolutions, which I do not think has been rendered
moot, so that is very good news.
Some smaller stuff, where we initiated some additional
reroutes three union square, as
well as ax and bx, kind of like
the 30 and 45 and 91 owl as we continue progress in union square.
This is work on the tunnel contract, which is progressing well.
we have 93% of the utility
relocation more complete, and we
should be done, the balance of it soon.
At
a at -- at where the mosconi station would be.
That is progressing forward well.
There has been some concern, and that is putting it mildly, to be
certain, with some merchants in north beach.
Where they are building it to put the machine in.
The machines in, they will come their way to north beach and will be retrieved.
We have heard some very strong concerns from the north beach
merchants as well as the supervisor about the construction impacts, so we will
continue to work with them and help them understand what
portrait was in proved and the impacts to mitigate.
They have asked us to look at some alternatives to the
machines, which is how our construction contract is based, we are working with them on that.
Since we last met, we implemented boarding.
A and that was of little later than you wanted us to.
a at -- we will report back to you. So far, so good.
Two more things.
On the
youth fast pass, it included money from the region.
The region has now considered this twice.
The staff has recommended a few different things, but two of the
options that will now go to the full commission, I think it is
next week, two of the options would send $4 million our way.
It is four out of five. One option would be looking at a more broad regional program
which would, I think, in effect delayed implementation.
The first two options that staff
is recommending, they will have
$4 million out of $5 million, so a pilot would have to be shorter
in duration because there is
less funding, and that would be more positive.
We are grateful to the staff for recommending this money.
While we certainly would like $5
million, as anyone who has
followed the discussion would
know, it has been a lot of work to try to get the region on board with supporting a plan
like this, and its approval is
by no means guaranteed, but we
continue to work with the city family and the region, and we hope to be able to bring forward
a plan to build a pilot up and running.
we have been working in the meantime.
We have been meeting with the
school district and the supervisor' s office and a number
of different stakeholders, folks
from the freedom unique coalition. I do not know what they' re calling themselves, but meeting
with them to work on implementation, are rich, distribution, all of that stuff,
so we are hoping we will get a
positive vote, and from there, we will move forward.
At this point, because of the
delay, we thought we would be
hearing from them a couple of months ago, but we are probably
looking at something like an
October start versus August or September.
Hopefully we will get approval on July 25.
And then my last, I promise, I' ve been here has to do with strollers.
strollers have been out in
public discussion recently, and
I think there was a supervisor
resolution urging us to look at
the issue, which we have done, and we did some research on the
other transit systems, and I found it is really all over the map.
from it is almost impossible to get a stroller onto no restriction.
Our current policy is you have
to fold it and carry it on.
As someone who did that at one
point, it is a little bit -- it
can be difficult, so we have
talked to the muni accessibility council, which I think has
renamed itself the multi modal advisory council.
I think we May be talked to me
-- the C.A.C. Looking at try to have a better proposal, and it looks like we' re going towards more of a common-sense proposal.
If you can safely get your stroller on and safely secured and, if you can do it in a way
that is not going to block people from moving in the
vehicle, then we would not restrict you in doing so and would encourage you to do so because we want to encourage
people to use muni even when
they have a child in the stroller.
There are some safety concerns, some mobility concerns.
We do not want folks with strollers taking the state' s
reserved up from fort people like seniors and those with
disabilities, but we believe given the relatively small amount of people that would be
trying to board with a stroller,
and more common-sense judgment- based policy, and that I believe
is the end of my report.
vice
chair brinkman: thank you.
This was a long process with a lot of work, so congratulations. The implementation of the
boarding, which we are calling
the ramos principle, I want to say again that it was director
ramos who pushed us in that direction, and they were incredibly supportive of this.
They have been out helping to educate people.
I have not had a chance to take
a good look, but I am hoping that is really helping to move things along. Thank you very much.
Secretary boomer: madam, you do
have a speaker card.
One person has turned in a speaker card. >> good evening, Chairman, board.
A very good report we got from
Mr. Reiskin.
$20 million on the bonds. They can help.
You see you are going to raise in 3.7%.
There is the money for the medallion loan. $20 million.
to loan your money below 4%.
Because we have a lot of threat from the market.
Limousines, cabdrivers, the food price of buying the medallion on the street.
muni is a good organization.
Then they give you a loan.
Going to pay the loan if we are buying a medallion.
Here we do not eat food when you have to pay the loan.
but this is coming.
It is no more for a single operator.
This is a completed obligation.
It is very nice now.
the neighborhood is very happy.
The cab driver is very happy.
The subway is finished by 2018 or 2017.
All of the visitors in the city,
but we have to be patient with all of the construction also.
it is a very good organization. Thank you.
Secretary boomer:
mr. Grueber,
the last person is turned in a speaker card.
>> I want to thank director
reiskin for returning taxis to their own department, directly under the director.
I think that is the right place for it.
I think it sends a bad message. it was underfinanced.
I do not find fault with the
finance director at all, but it just did not belong there, so
thank you for that and also, I would like to express the
feeling that I hope that chris
hiachi has done, I think she is the right for the job.
Secretary boomer: we will move to item eight, the report.
Vice chair brinkman: welcome.
>> I am with the citizens advisor recounts all.
Before I get started with our recommendations and some discussions, some previous recommendations, I want to
extend a warm welcome to our new
director on the mta
board, and I also have an invitation for you
to come visit us at one of our meetings.
You and of course all of your
colleagues on the board are
welcome to attend any C.A.C. Or committee meeting, and we are always happy to have members of the mta board there.
That has been a fairly common occurrence in the past, which we
are fairly pleased about, again,
I welcome, and we hope to get to meet you and talk with you about
what we do and what you want to
do and all of that, so thank you.
and I also wanted
to note, extending welcome publicly to
the newest member of the C.A.C. Who was appointed by mayor ed lee.
He is from the market street railway board, in he replaces
james, who has left -- and he
replaces james , and we thank him for his service.
most of what -- my recommendations to they pertain
to the sfmta strategic plan.
I am probably going to get the
nomenclature wrong here, but the first set of goals, when they
came out for the sfmta strategic
plan, the c.C
A.C.'
s reaction to it was not particularly warm.
Director
reiskin talked about
it, and I sort of skeptically acknowledged that an agreed to
disagree and move on, but when
we got the full set of goals for the sfmta strategic plan, we thought it was a good document.
We thought it was warmly received. We have a lot of recommendations for changes, but I think
overall, we are pleased that it
reflected on the efforts to
allay skepticism.
and we also have a lot of informal conversation. The parts of the plan were split into three committees of
the C.A.C. About ways it could
be made better and a lot of changes to occurred just from
that kind of informal situation.
There were a lot of improvements that have been made which were
not codified in the recommendations that we have made to you today.
one of our recommendations
regards messaging in pursuit of the 50/50 goal.
Our recommendation on that is
this was to deliver real-time service information, particularly regarding planned
and unplanned delays and shutdowns, allowing people to make alternate plans. We would also like to seeing the
psr process inc. Said that
members of the public , they can do that through those means.
and we think that would be a
good way to enhance communication between eyunni and their customers. We also were looking at the
daily ops reports, that they also be available on the redesigned web site.
We believe it should be for both desktop and mobile platforms.
This is a very important part without people interact with the web, and we also think it is
important that should be -- the
site ever displayed ads, they
are disruptive in a bigger way
they are then in say a desktop way.
So if we ever go there, we want
to leave mobile out of that.
Another recommendation regards signage.
we believe that there should be
prioritized, including the word
"fees" on everything. That drives us crazy.
. This is hugely important.
We make so many of these ad hoc
changes, some of which are good.
For example, we had a meeting about the subway platform signs.
and we really think there needs
to be a comprehensive plan for san francisco, one that gives
people at every point of entry into the system enough information to ride the system.
We too often create tools that
are designed for people already know the system.
They are designed for us, and
san francisco is a tourist destination.
We want the system to be very
friendly to people and have not
been to san francisco before, for people who have never written transit before or four
people you have never ridden --
people who have never ridden
transit before or for people who
have never ridden muni before.
We think that needs to be a
priority for the agency going forward.
We have also made a similar recommendation with regard to tep.
we think that is an important part of the process.
We believe they should improve the existing U.D. Map.
--
existing muni9 -- muni mpa -- map.
We want to see this continued and built upon. It is a really good piece of
information design, and we' re anxious to see that remain in service. It is very, very useful.
With regard to the station agent
bullets, -- booths, we would
like to have a uniform situation with them.
It was here for many years when
I was at the agency, and I see
the director is smiling because he knows exactly what I am going to say.
there is a sign at one st. That
said in the station booth "this is not bart."
it is not helpful to tell people what this is not.
That is certain like the ultimate failure.
we think they too
often have
been neglected as an important point of information
distribution for the trans riders.
-- for the transit riders.
they should go with the communication the public has.
With regard to public announcement systems, we recommend that the public
address systems be improved and a lot of places. Even when the system is working,
which is not always, it is not really audible.
sometimes the announcements that come from central control are
very hard to year even under the best of circumstances.
There is a lot of eco.
And we think that operators and others and should receive more training on verbal communication
skills -- excuse me.
allergies are killing me today, and that they be made or more robust and pre-recorded impossible.
The stock announcements on some
of the buses have been, I think,
very helpful, as a been the announcements there, which have
the advantage of being
trilingual in a way that is
recorded by people of each of the languages represented, so that is a nice benefit to doing it that way as well.
We recommend that the electronic
signage inside stations be upgraded as well.
That includes the platform level, which we know the agency
is working on, and also the signage at the mezzanine level.
There was some discussion that
we do not do any signage at street level.
We understand there are maintenance issues around that
and challenges around that. We understand there are some agencies and the world that do that, and we will take a look at those in the future to see if there is something there that can guide us.
We also have a recommendation that the police department or
fire department get additional
information about not blocking transit and other modes of
transportation and removing obstructions to the traffic. We also recommend they get
additional transportation
education pertaining to san francisco. There are police and fire activities because of the
emergency action that must block muni, and we totally accept that.
There are times when they do not
have to, and we think that is something they should give some
consideration to, and also, they need to prioritize removing
obstructions to the flow of transit and other non automobile traffic. We think there is a lot of room for improvement there.
we reckon the track lessons
learned -- I think that is kind of self-explanatory. Every year, we are faced with a good number of special events.
There is another one coming up with the america' s cup.
But there is oracle world to sporting events, you know, all of these things, and we think
there needs to be some effort
to have a focused process of continual improvement based on what we learn about what works
and what does not with regard to those.
we also recommend that psr'
s reflect not just on officers.
St. Supervisors have the responsibility for service
delivery and not just operators, and we want to make sure they get incorporated into the
process of figuring out what
went wrong when it is something
that falls within their bailiwick.
at we want to call this out as something that should be a high priority for the agency.
There is also in their an objective to improve the service
management, including a fleet manageable online operations center. That is certainly something we agree with.
We recommend this also includes the designation of the vehicles at the embarcadero center.
It is very important I think to the functioning of the system that we do that.
Every time we send out three of the same vehicle in a row, we
are wasting resources, because
one is loaded, one is average loaded, and the third one is
empty, and it is awful to be
rolling around some very expensive equipment at a very
high cost when it is not carrying passengers.
we think there needs to be a
more even flow of winds coming
out of the embarcadero and that his designation is something that should be part of the strategy.
They also recommend a process
for vehicles towing vehicles be streamlined.
Muni officers should be able to
call, and they should be prioritized.
When we look at the process for
how vehicles blocking muni are
removed, and towed away, there are a lot of steps to that process, and we think you can
eliminate at least one of those
steps and thus get traffic flowing soon.
it is very important that we be
able to respond rapidly to new vehicles that are blocking the flow of muni.
We also recommend that mta,
bart, and cal train work on the bike plant, that that be a joint effort. We think that is self-
explanatory, and we also recommend a plan.
This is a concern that started
similar to the stroller issue.
Space is a very sensitive
subject, but we think we should
least put a toe in the water.
some have had some success with this, and we think looking at the best examples could be instructive.
Getting away from the strategic
plan for the last two
recommendations, we want to
recognize the changes to the parking system.
We know this had to go into
effect on June 1.
We recommend a proposal for a more fair and equitable system
be drafted no later than
September, allowing contractors to park at metered spaces but
without a metered limit on time.
We think a permit should allow
them to park in the area similar
to the proposed prepaid daily rpp'
s, that I believe the staff are recommending.
We also recommend that as we do
the new electronic signs, that there is that after you are new designations. -- signs per direction for two reasons.
One is that we have talked about
the possibility of doing double
berthing, and that leaves the
possibility of doing it 3-car
trains, which is something that has also been talk about in
context with the T.E.P.
Those are the recommendations we have for you.
That was quite a lot because our last meeting was cancelled due to or initiatives.
I want to say just a couple things about recommendations we have made in the past.
first, we are very happy to see that all door boarding have happened. This is something that we recommended I believe the very
first year we existed, which was
2000, so it is something we are very happy to see come to
fruition, and in fact, there is
a proposal that was made back in 1998, said this has been brewing for quite awhile.
It is very gratifying to see this finally happen, and we look
forward to reports on how it is going.
This is a very important program to speed up transit.
and finally, it is getting done. We are pleased about that.
And last and certainly the least, I just wanted to advise
the board that I have been
elected chair for an 11th term,
which is usually the sign of some kind of dictatorship of
some kind, but I swear there was
no coercion involved, and I note that and better for me than it
did for gaddafi.
also, my vice-Chairman Has been on this from pretty much the beginning. He has been reelected as vice
Chairman, and he also continues
not only to do that but also to
serve as the chair of the engineering maintenance and safety committee, for which we
are grateful, and so with that, that is all I have.
if you have any questions, I would be happy to answer that.
Chair nolan: I have been here
six years, and I have been congratulating you each year, so congratulations. Comments?
Director: it would be good to get something to strive for.
I want to thank q4 bringing up the live announcements, which I think are critical, but whenever
I hear them, and look around,
and everybody is, what did that person said? Even being able to speak english, because they are never
translated, so when I was in new york, I did hear these pre-
recorded emergency announcement that I think are brilliant.
They are not the regular announcements that we hear all of the time.
It is like an announcement when
there is a delay that is
expected to be relieved in a matter of minutes.
I really appreciate that suggestion.
i am wondering about -- I also appreciate the idea of police
and fire getting better training, because the number of
times, I had been traveling along, and this is very frustrating, it is very
frustrating to be riding in a
bike lane, for example, and see a police of a certain for no
apparent reason decided to blow over right there and bloggable
lane, and it is even worse for transit, obviously. Finally, I think it will be
interesting to have a dialogue
and May be some discussion, just
the idea that the committee is called the citizens advisory committee.
My father is not a citizen although he served in vietnam, so I would be interested to hear
about calling it a community advisory committee.
>> first, on the issue of the
way finding, there are a lot of good examples. We think a final product will look something like the transport for london style
guide, which is not completely appropriate in san francisco.
There is a total comprehensive
way fighting plan that we think san francisco should develop.
There are firms out there that specialize in best practices of way fighting.
they are used by transportation agencies, particularly outside of the united states.
They are often used by airports.
Very easy to move through, very
easy to find your gate, and other airports, I will not mention any by name, but their
initial of May be lax -- there initials' May be lax. You just have to ask people.
So we think this is something where the agency could really benefit from outside help.
This is not something we
recommend a lot, but this is an area where there are people who
really, really know this well, and know what the best practices are better than we would.
Director: I agree that there is
a need, and if we can just get some examples, that would be fantastic.
>> yes.
i believe we can make that happen.
On the last issue about the name, it is in the charter.
Changing the name of it would be a charter issue, which would be a fairly heavy lift.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Secretary boomer:
11 member of the public who wishes to address
here.
>> good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
This report is very good, but
they forgot to mention that you
are drawing too many bicycle lanes. I cannot.
It is about 7000 bicycle people using in this town.
Even 40 something bicycle.
I have not seen the director. Maybe I Miss Him. 7000 people.
We are the majority of the people living in this town with
a kid and a family you can afford to sit in the cab. They have to drive a car.
I always get a ticket.
hiding in a small alley.
They are holding up the whole
block for the bicycle lane, and
there is not very much distance to make a turn on howard street.
Only one car in position.
If you want to make a right turn
on harrison or howard st., you have to be very careful.
You cannot pull over.
This is a main major street.
They are making money.
Not only you.
they are making the citation for you.
I just try to make a right turn, and they try to chase me. Something is wrong. Very aggressive.
The bicycle lane.
they are trying to make money on the citizenship.
This country, what kind of direction are we headed to?
Secretary boomer: items
mentioned by the citizens advisory council only.
that would be appropriate under general public comment.
>> this is on your agenda.
Hair
n -- chair nolan: this is
only on the citizens' advisory committee. Next item.
Secretary
boomer: public comment, where members of the public May address the board on matters that are within the jurisdiction.
Members have two minutes.
>> I have come here today to talk to you about a serious urgency in the taxi industry.
You have heard me speak before.
In a very unusual circumstance,
yellow cab and others got
together this past week, and we discussed some of the serious
challenges that are facing us as companies to continue to be in business.
The bottom line is right now as
we speak, companies that do
dispatch services, have real properties, that are providing
gas and eight operations, where
we by the vehicle and put the
driver is at work are in a non competitive situation against
other companies that do not have these costs.
Since our gate are set, we cannot get more revenue.
The only way we can get more revenues is to attract medallions to our companies.
We are losing medallions because other companies that do not have
these costs and services can
offer more money to medallion
holders, so we are in an unusual
circumstance where every dollar
is making us less competitive being in business in this environment. That is a fact.
We have come to a decision
despite, and if he knew the three of us, jim, john, and
myself, you know it is very difficult for us to get together and try to agree on anything, but this is what we have agreed to do. If we do not get the support from this industry, where going
to have to change and modify our businesses and moved into the sedan services.
The demand for services is so
great for companies like ours, they are taking over the industry. To compete, we will either have to move into that area of business, and we do not want to
do that, we want to have a
strong taxicab industry and
focus on the taxi business, but we have agreed to move into that direction.
Chair nolan: thank you. Next.
secretary boomer: [Reading name]
>> first, I want to welcome
chris to the board. Did any of you get my statement?
I have hard copies to hand out, which can be distributed.
first of all, my concern is why the information panels have not been installed at every bus stop.
I mentioned this to the board every time for the last month or
so at least, and I still do not
know what the arrival time is going to be.
secondly, I would like to know
if the department of parking and traffic can evaluate density of traffic.
The drivers have stated that the traffic has precluded them from
showing up on time, and frankly I do not see any changes.
3, I would like to know if the
buses do not arrive, and the buzz is missing, does the money go back to the general fund?
And fourthly, there was an
article in "the chronicle" about
cooking the books as far as the arrival time of the buses are
concerned, and this is a very serious matter.
i have noticed buses missing for
a very, very long time, and I want to know what you are doing
about this, and fit the, I would
like to read the restoration of the closed captions on the
screen, because there are no closed captions. There is no transcription.
I have the hearing problem,
though I would like to keep up. I have not received any
responses from email, but I would like to have answers from the board.
Chair
nolan: ok, we will look
into this, but checkered await the closed captions.
Secretary boomer: I will put a call into sfgtv.
>> last year, they were giving
very clear guidelines for this single operator permit.
it is a full- time operator and
limited hours, but now, this is not by your guidelines at all.
There are more and more hourly
on this new fleet 50 medallions
becoming a penchant type of medallion already.
Last night, we had a lot of drivers tried to get into the taxi lot at the airport.
They have to turn around five, six, seven, eight times.
It is not fully on the street
yet, because a lot of nights, they are very slow.
We still have a lot of drivers,
even with very low income, but
this medallion coming out with
the low-cost, they want more
cowardly to operate, and then
all the drivers have to pay for this price.
looking at what was videotaped in the meeting.
This will also improve the citizens service. That is why I came here. I support you.
Improve the service, more taxi.
but they should limit the time.
Now, it looks like it is out of line already.
The cabdrivers, the taxis on the
street, and the best time to
operate this is 6 days per week,
11:00 A.M. To 9:00 P.M.. We would like to take the 60 hours per week to run the medallion also.
Chair nolan: ok. Thank you.
Secretary boomer: [Reading names]
chair nolan: good afternoon, sir.
>> I am a cab driver.
I bought the medallion a couple of years ago.
The city put the price at $250,000.
we can get any airport from the hotel.
I want to request the city to pay attention.
driving in the middle of the road.
If the light
turns -- please pay attention.
And these go to the companies.
60 hours and 90 hours.
450. But they got a free medallion.
every month, every meeting, I
listened for it this, and there are new laws. Make one. Thank you.
Chair nolan: thank you.
Secretary boomer: [Reading names]
>> good afternoon, chairman
norman --
nolan and other commissioners.
With the taxi industry, I hope
that sonali bose' s blood pressure goes down.
it needs a more direct overview by your office. Thank you.
The next is that now that you have taken it over, we have to
make sure that the department is
fully staffed to do investigations and to make sure companies are meeting the standards that other companies are already doing, and it is a
problem.
some companies are getting away with it.
And also, you do not have a meeting August 7. Why not in August, your next
meeting, invite them to do a presentation.
Ask them to explain what is going on. What they are doing.
in the meantime, your attorneys,
and we are helping to pay for,
taxi drivers and others, they should work to find out if it is legal what they are doing.
Drivers and companies have different standards that they have to uphold. There was the document that you
were should of all of these rules and regulations. They do not.
What happened to capitalism? What happened to the technology that was quashed by some of the
members of the board.
We will not go into it, but some of you know it is true. You know it is true.
And the permits, they were
supposed to be 60 to 70 hours
per week, said they were out there when they were really needed.
Up to 90 hours per week? You are hurting the drivers that are barely making a living during a slow shift.
You have to know how it works. This is an abuse.
In closing, there are a town hall meetings that are scheduled, and we do not know about the topics.
You go to the website, and there is nothing topic about it. I ask you to help get the information out there.
Chair nolan: thank you. Next speaker.
Secretary boomer: [Reading names]
>> I have been driving almost 20 years.
I am on the waiting list, and I have had an expectation of getting a medallion for a number
of years now, and it does not seem to be moving in that direction, or I am not really
sure what is happening with it,
so I wanted to come in and kind of and for you to honor the people on the list, like myself.
Most cabdrivers' do not have insurance. I have medical insurance.
I pay $854 per month with my
medical insurance with a $2,900
deductible, which means, as you know, I have to pay the first
$2,900, and then I have to pay overtime, and the medallion money has helped matters a lot,
so I just wanted to come in and implore you to honor the people on the list.
There are people who have bought medallion on the waiting list, and I do feel that I should be
able to get one as well after
driving 20 years and not doing
things that I could have done with the expectation that I was
getting a medallion, thank you for your time.
chair nolan: thank you. Next speaker, please.
Secretary boomer: [Reading names]
>> I am a taxi cab driver in san
framy impression is that this board is not taking care of the taxicab business.
When I started, the only thing
we worry about is corruption,
and now it is out of control.
It really is out of control.
There are over 1000 limousines or towncar is on the street.
They have no insurance.
They have no license. you can buy a towncar and go around and pick people up.
The police do nothing about it, and we have a token force the people who supposedly do something about it, but they do not.
It is a minimum fine, so it is part of the cost of doing business to those people.
It needs to be addressed drastically.
I believe the taxicab industry
in this city will surely go out of business, and you have no
idea how important the taxicab industry is. It is very integral to the city.
it is keeping people moving and keeping tourists happy. We do an incredible amount of
work that you do not know about.
You drive a taxi, so what?
It is a very important decision,
driving a taxi.
It anyway, to close, I would
like to say that you have to seriously take a look at the
taxicab industry, especially you in particular, and make sure that things are not under handed.
Ubercab is out of control. They have to do something about
it, because we will all be out of work.
let alone the people and pay $250,000 for a medallion.
Secretary
boomer: [Reading
names]
>> good afternoon, commissioners.
God bless you.
God bless the city and county of san francisco, and God bless america.
Today, I come to talk to you
about the 89 laguna honda bus which is no longer in existence.
The laguna honda boss used to
run from forest hills to laguna honda. It would carry friends and
family members to see the
disabled and the sheraton , and people up there needed.
We need the 89 laguna honda, not
only for visitors to come to
see the patient but to also come
up that steep hill and go out into the community.
laguna honda, if you do not
know, is located in the
southwest corner of san francisco.
The weather is cold, wet, and windy.
it is a scientific fact that people knew have visitors to
come see them and friends, their
health improves, and how do I know this? I am a living testimony.
3.5 years I have lived in lebanon on the hospital and rehabilitation center.
it made my life, made my day,
when friends and family members would come visit me.
So in parting, board members,
commissioners, I asked you to
restore the 89 bus to laguna honda.
It is a matter of life and death.
chair nolan: thank you. Next.
Secretary boomer: ma
ry mcguire and others.
>> there are some about cat
lovers need to die and crazy
aunts need to die.
I guess I am kind of old. I cannot figure out.
It is not like a dog buns or anything.
i do not even know where these advertisements, from. They are really offensive.
So I alerted the spca and animal
control and other rescue groups, so I assume you' re going to be hearing from them, and I think
you should take as advertisements down quickly.
a kick, uber.
I am sure
-- ok, uber.
This was on television, and he
said his goal was to bring his
white glove operation to the masses.
Everyone' s private driver.
They want to move into tokyo,
paris, singapore.
The accused one agency of price fixing, and now they are
offering fares lower than
taxicabs in D.C.
they have grown 16 times larger
in one year in existence, and they have just received
millions in venture capital.
So first of all, where is
director hayashi?
where is the integrated dispatch she promised? We have to compete with them.
And what are you guys doing? By doing nothing, you are putting us out of business. I have a medallion. This is my job.
I am newly fearful I am not going to be in business by the end of the year, so do what you can.
Secretary boomer: [Reading names]
And then barry, last speaker.
>> the first thing, credit card fees, which were supposed to
come down on July 4 or July 5
from 5% to 3.5%, drivers of
major companies I am spoken to
it tell me they are still paying 5%. This is outrageous.
These companies have to lower the rate and have to refund the money that was I' m awfully
collected from those drivers
asap, and I would ask you to get on that.
New york city recently last week passed a new set of rules.
No charges to drivers at all.
They have eliminated the 5% fee.
This is the way this agency should have gone. It is the only way that makes sense. There was an article in today' s
paper about drivers and will not take credit cards.
It will make this invisible or transparent.
Tempore taxicabs, decisions made
in secret, to put our spares, certain companies. The rest of the industry was only informed after the fact.
It was too late for them to do anything about it.
A decision that has safety implications that I will not go into here. These things need to be
discussed, and so do the hours for a single operator permits.
It was 60 and then went up to 70, finally ending at 90.
Uber is a
taxi in all but name.
They are even trying to appropriate the name.
They call themselves and on deserved service.
You have to call for them on a cell phone.
they charged meter rates.
The meter is and the cloud, but
they are changing the same rates
as taxis, and now they are using taxis. There is.
This agency >> next speaker.
>> commissioners, good afternoon.
My name is in meal, lawrence -- a meal lawrence, for the record. .
-- emil lawrence.
san francisco is going bankrupt when are you going to stop
squeezing the taxi drivers got san francisco is going bankrupt with or the value.
If you keep squeezing the tax --
taxi industry as if there is no tomorrow.
I just paid $300 in fines.
i just putting a back seat in 4 $350.
This find for so much that I had
my drivers waiting at hospitals
for up to three hours only to
find out you richard them to end the mobile.
that is today called -- you
issued them to mv mobile.
San francisco pay them millions of dollars to pick up the handicapped. What are we doing? Picking up what is left over.
Every month, we have find
coming in, 45 neuflize coming in. When it' s all going to stop?
Your pensions are still going up
by 7% a year.
It is my suggestion also that he put together the taxi commission.
You do not even use these
committees for raising the medallion. Every time I talk to someone on
the commission they tell me you pay telephone -- you pay no attention to them.
It is like a horse and pony show in a darkroom.
And you think we are all deaf, dumb, and stupid.
[Bell]
I thank you for your time. >> thank you. Next speaker, please.
>> barry korengold, san francisco cab drivers association. I'
m here to make a few statements.
One is copper -- one is, I think a single operator permit is a good idea.
It was supposed to be originally 60 hours a week and there -- the
idea was that there would be one operator going out at the busy
times to take care of the peak problem.
Then it went up to 70 hours, 90
hours, which cannot be a single operator.
Because only -- one operator can
only drive seven days a week, 10 hours a day, and that would be 70 hours. This is up to 90. I' m hearing rumors that they want to move it up even more. I hope that is not true.
There are people on the waiting
list, like bryan rose ann, who just spoke.
He was expected to get one a couple of years ago when all of this happened.
Offer letters have gone out for people who want to buy them who are way down the list.
i hope you are giving a medallions to the people at the top who have earned them. They are not free. They have earned them.
As far as the big companies threatening to go into the limo business, I think there should
be a rule that you are either in the cab business or the limo business. The best calls are going to go to the limos. It is not true that they have no other way to make money. They have gas. They can make gas sales.
They have credit card charges, advertising, money that they get.
The yellow cab charges short shifts and then they rent the
cat out again for a full 8 ft.,
which is frankly, you legal, but nobody said anything about it.
-- for a full date street, which
is frankly, illegal, but nobody said anything about it.
If cabs cannot make money, they
start driving dangerously. They are picked off. It becomes a public safety hazard. >> thank you.
>> the last speaker.
>> good afternoon.
i just want to say [Unintelligible]
Where you doing that? we do not have enough cabs in
the city backed -- why are you doing that?
We do not have enough cabs in the city?
The other thing I have to say, the limo cabs are taking our
spot for the parking in the taxi zones.
we do not have any spot to park the taxis.
Please look at this, and do not
give eight to the limo city -- get it to the limo city.
>> Mr. Chairman, that was the
last person.
>> I would be interested in a presentation on it over and these other types of companies.
I do not know much about them, but we' ve heard a great deal about them today and we have certainly read some about them.
At some point in the future, if
we could hear that and how the
impact us at all of that. the other thing mentioned here
today, that instead of the 3.5% charged to the caps that they
are still getting 5% in some places. Can we take a look at that? Because that was supposed to
take place July 3rd or something like that.
>> [Unintelligible]
>> ok, July 4th.
>> and I want to clarify, I do not want to leave the public with the impression that when the laguna honda 89 was
discontinued, but there is
no way to get up the hill. There' s still a way for people to get up that hill.
>> public comment is over. Thank you.
>> moving on --
>> is there someone that can answer the gentleman' s question offline? Brecht' s Mr. Haley will. >> them next item.
>> the content calendar, these items are considered to be
routine and will be acted upon by a single vote.
Mr. Chairman, if you have a
request for item 10.2e to be severed and considered
separately, and no other request
has been.
>> is there a motion to approve? >> motion. Greg second. >> all in favor? The ayes have it.
>> 10.2e has to do with the nose toppings on monday through
friday from 3:00 P.M. To 7:00
P.M. On battery st. Between clay and bush. Mr. Toronto?
>> you can come up.
>> before idell into this, I would first like to say it would
be great to -- before I died
into this, I would like to say it would be great to hear a
staff report first so that I know why this is occurring.
>> ok, Mr. Ye
, what is up with 10.2e?
>> good afternoon.
you May remember back in January director lee asked for a report
from lots on all of the tolls zones in the city and which ones we feel are necessary.
We took a pretty detailed
evaluation and we came out with a report to you and identified a
list of locations where we feel they May no longer be justified, either because of traffic
conditions have changed or there
is no apparent reason why the report in to begin with, including a transit on it. And you do not gain an extra lane and so forth.
Battery was one of the streets that we identified, especially in the afternoon peaks.
We recommend that they be rescinded to restore the parking. But in the morning, we are
recommending that it be -- it be maintained because a good amount of traffic goes by on the west side and they have over 80 buses and how are going through that corridor.
the recommendation is only for the bnp.
>> thank you. Mr. Toronto? >> thank you for allowing me to
hear the staff report on this. The only thing is that it is a pretty drastic move.
Heavy commute hours ,
particularly and tell thursday'
s and drivers are using that as a main route to go to the bay bridge. Nickie back them up further on battery st. By taking away the
tollway elaine -- if you back them up further on battery st.
By taking away the tollway lane, you are making it worse.
It might be fair to reduce its
closer to sacramento, but has there been an environmental
determination as to this change ? It will not have an effect on
traffic?
Which is part of the environment, and on noise.
This is frustrating. I' m recommending a hold on this and you can get an environmental report on this.
It could impact traffic as well as to taxi service.
with a short agenda today, where you only giving people two minutes during public comment?
-- why are you only giving
people two minutes during public comment?
>> is there a motion to approve?
>> mssion. >> second. >> all in favor? the ayes have it.
>> moving on to the regular calendar.
Item 11, authorizing the
director to execute a contract
for replacement of surveillance vehicles in an amount not to
exceed $5.9 million over a term of four years.
>> good afternoon.
i am requesting that a decision on his contract be placed on hold.
[Unintelligible]
i feel that based on noncompliance of the technical
specifics has been rejected.
I have gone to great lengths to
make sure that our product need all the specifications. However, I was ranked lower and i would like further explanation.
Also, I have submitted copies.
Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> first, we are excited to have
this contract before you.
The $6 million will give us an upgrade in equipment that is really needed.
The state of the art and digital communications are advancing quickly.
but we have on our vehicles is
largely outdated.
This will bring a great chunk of our fleet into much more modern
equipment and that has been at
it for safety, legal reasons,
training reasons, -- benefit for safety, legal reasons, training reasons.
with regard to the competitive
process, I was made aware by Mr.
Barwad
of his concerns are the knost few months. Each of his concerns is one that I investigated with staff. I responded in writing on at
least two occasions . After meeting with him and some
of his associates, I asked our staff to bring in someone outside of the process that was not part of it to do an
independent revenue -- review
based on the concerns to ensure the integrity of the process and the completeness of the process was confirmed.
I believe that Mr. Barwad put forward a good proposal.
We lay out the criteria and we award to the highest bidder, which is what we are
recommending.
>> is there a motion on an issue? >> motion to approve.
>> is there a second? Greg second.
-- >> second. >> all in favor?
So ordered.
>> item 12 is whether to conduct a closed session. >> is there a motion? Rex motion.
>> second. >> all in favor?
We will be in closed session. Thank you all.
>> the board of directors
discussed the caldwell case.
the board took no action and bad to discuss real-estate
negotiations and voted
unanimously to authorize the
payment of $60,900 to clifford wong.
Resulting from the condemnation of the property.
266 and
286 -- the board met
with ed rieskin.
There was no discussion of anticipated litigation.
a motion to discuss or not disclose? Seconded.
Meeting is adjourned.
Good work, everybody.