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that we are doing. Perhaps, it is the most exciting, using the historic st.
Cars -- street cars , adding
service on the embarcadero.
We do have a couple of ball
games, one saturday at 1:00 P.M.
And another at 5:00 P.M. On sunday. This for help with this.
We are testing the people plan
earlier -- during this week.
Including the most notable ltd. And the 37 limited. Those will be connecting people
from bart up to event areas in the north of the city, the marina green.
It will provide connection to
the regular service and will continue to provide regular
service to our regular riders.
there will be increased demand
testing does, bart and the
ferry and the golden gate writers providing enhanced service.
There will also be freed valet bike parking at the green. And anyone who does need to
drive, despite all the great transit service and bike parking, should use the satellite parking lots.
There is good information on the america' s cup website and presumably on our website.
There is also a web page on the
511.Org
website for the america' s cup. We' re looking for a bigger event
in October and then another next year.
The next rail related item, just
an update on the central subway.
in terms of the full funding
grant agreement, it has advanced
from the executive branch of the federal government to the legislative branch.
That is moving well in terms of
construction. We'
re just about finishing the
second of our utility location contracts.
The tunnel contract work that
had already started at the south and where the machines are
going in and has now started at the south end where the machines are scheduled to be removed in north beach. Right now, we' re just during the utility location this year. We' re working very closely with the north beach community to make sure that any concerns are
being addressed as we' re working
with the union stair -- union square with stockton being
fully closed and the tanah location on going there.
We should be working on the next contract for the station next week.
And we will be free advertising
be chinatown station contract --
advertising again the chinatown station contract with the next few weeks.
I think some of the manifestation of the tunnel
work has started both on fourth street and north beach, but most significant right now at union square. Will be closing the elevated entrance to the board muni
station next week as well.
That will ultimately be the entrance to the muni station.
There is activity all along the
alignment, which is good news to see that continuing.
The final whaled-related to1I
item -- a rail related item the cable car competition will be coming back.
It will be September 6th at noon in union square.
everybody is, of course, invited. Next week, there' ll be a preliminary competition at the
cable car barn to get the
finalists lined up. We have 12 competitors right
now, of whom six will be chosen
to challenge leonard oates, who is not just the current
champion, but he won in 2007, 2008, and 2009.
No doubt, he wants to hold onto his title.
In addition to the professionals
that will be competing on September 6th, will also be
showcasing some amateur ringers competing on behalf of the charity of their choosing.
In addition, we will have the
49er gold rush cheerleaders, and a band performing.
It is a great tradition here in san francisco. This is the 49th annual.
I look forward to seeing you all out there.
We are going to be
hearing at
the September 18th board meeting an update on a lot of
bicycling activities.
To help set the stage for that and generate additional thoughts
on_/ that, we have asked the san francisco bike correlation to
join us here today and give us a bit of an update on some of what
they have been working on. And they are not here yet.
Let me go on to just one final
issue I wanted to note, which has gotten a lot of attention
recently and has to do with some advertisements that were
recently placed on -- I think it
is 10 of our buses that run out of the flinn division.
The board adopted an advertising policy in 2007, and the contracts that we have with our advertisers, whether for the
bus shelters or the vehicles , the contractor is required to adhere to that policy.
They are required to screen advertisements for compliance with the policy. The policy was drafted and approved by this board five
years ago, keeping in mind the
limitations that we as a public
entity have on governing free speech.
that is protected by the first amendment.
The recent advertisement came in through the process like all other advertisements do.
An advertiser -- or an organization approached our contractor. They were reviewed against the policy and found it to be
complied with the policy, which I believe it is. and they went ahead and enabled
the ads to go up, despite what
is clearly a lot of distaste by people in the agency, members of
the public, employees, and many
groups that were not
surprisingly offended by what was in those ads.
and we get a lot of consultation
internally and we issued a
statement a day or two after
this issue was brought to the four
re condemning the ads and we
have subsequently posted on the buses that the ads were
appearing of little bit more public condemnation of those
ads, even if they do fall under first amendment protection.
There have been many calls for
us to remove the ads or take other action.
We are working with the human rights commission and will be
holding a town hall meeting with many of the folks that we have
heard from in the public, who have been concerned about the ad
policy and those ads in particular. We have received a lot of support from the human rights
commission, the san francisco interfaith council as we try to
work through this. We will be scheduling that town
hall.P meeting probably sometime in September.
That has been kind of a big issue in the public realm.
I thought I would just raise it here.
And besides the bicycle coalition of state, which if they are not here, we May need
to continue to another time, that is the end of my report.
>> she will be here shortly. >> thank you. On the other part about the ad
copy -- the ad, I think it is important for this body to take a look at this policy. This certainly, we did not envision anything like this when
we adopted this policy in 2007.
>> that review is under way.
I have asked the city attorney' s office to help us in reviewing
the policy, looking at any more
recent case law or other
interpretations OFhn the first amendment that might inform changes we might want to make to the policy.
we May come out of that review recommending no change.
We will undertake that process as quickly as possible and I will come back with a recommendation to the board.
>> on behalf of the board, we
all take this issue very seriously.
I believe we received over 4000 e-mail' s on this. It was huge.
>> not 4000, but there were above 500.
Maybe 700.
There were a significant number.
>> ok. >> maybe this should have been under new business or whatever,
but the speed of the light rail
vehicles on the eureka corp., --
the eureka curve -- >> we cannot hear you. >> is that better? Thank you.
On the lrv vehicle speed issue
on the eureka curve, the last
time we had a report on this it was minor standing that the worker be done May be early or mid summer. And it would be best to have a
report back by deborah johnson when she was in your role.
when the track work was done, I believe the speed and the curve would increase.
My understanding that -- was that would happen over the summer.
It seems from my personal daily
commute we are still going at the reduced speed. I do not want to demand an answer today, but if we could
get a report back on the year recurve and where we are with its vehicle speed and the upgrade, I would appreciate it. >> ok.
The advisory council?
I do not see Mr. Mercer -- Mr. Murphy here.
>> no, but you do have members of the public who wish to address you. One person.
herbert weiner. >> is Mr. Weiner here?
>> I do not see him. >> I do not see Mr. Murphy year.
Oh, Mr. Weiner, here he is.
>> in respect to that offensive
sign that has been posted on the municipal vehicles, I am really
wondering how carefully that was reviewed before it was posted.
i think that the mta is so desperate for money they will take it from dubious sources.
Basically, the 11 south van ness
compound and its employees have
to start thinking outside of the muni bus.
it is unfortunate. Basically, maya understanding is
that the revenue will go to the -- my understanding is that this revenue will go to the human rights commission. Basically, it is blood money.
The mta has nothing to gain from this ad.
And now you have public protest in a town hall meeting. Let' s hope this never happens again. The anti-defamation league, the interfaith council, everyone is concerned about this.
Mr. Be a lesson to all of you.
You have to get money -- this should be a lesson to all of you. You have to get money legitimately.
And you cannot get it by a taxicab drivers or installing parking meters all over the city. There has got to be a better way. Maybe a basic -- a better way
would be to break up the municipal transit authority as a separate body and have the municipal railroad by itself.
[Tone]
and that way you can generate
money independently >>
.
>> and the former director of the by coalition will be here shortly. He just got the time wrong. >> that is the director' s report, right?
>> this is what I have to deal with on a daily basis.
Mta meter
maids or people .
But I do not know about that.
It is very disturbing, to say the least.
at the ballpark, one by one ticket in 1991, I got a to get there and it was very disturbing. That was a long time ago and nothing has changed.
This is the hostility we get for
serving the park illegally regardless of the time of the meter. F*[Tone]
Thank you.
>> the issue of free speech does not impinge on this situation.
when government creates a sign , then the information in this
kind is commonly understood to
be approved by -- in the sign is, men understood to be approved by government.
Everyone is looking at various obscenities, like the girl who
is massaging her clitoris or
the condom on the penis and
everybody thinks that is ok for government to do. It is not.
I ask you to not make a direct the course in between what you can do and what the people can
do, because you do not have the freedom of speech that the people do.
Do not try to go for the throat with the freedom of speech
approach to things that are objectionable in one way or another.
>> Mr. Chairman, we do have
members of the public who have
asked that item 10.2lm
nn , which
have to do with the vicinity of
bryant street and cesar chavez.
>> and
10.1a has been severed, correct? >> yes.
>> is there a motion on the consent calendar for the
remaining items?
Any further discussion? All in favor? All opposed?
Is there any discussion of
10.2lmnn?
>> Mr. Johnson.
>> my name is robert thompson.
I am a resident .
I am looking for to this project being implemented soon.
>> that is generous of you to come down.
I will move the item prepared -- the item.
>> there is a member of the public that would like to
address you on the issue of
10.2lmnn.
public comment is closed on that. He has moved on to the consent calendar.
>> we have a motion and a second to approve that. All in favor? All opposed? So ordered.
the only thing that is left is public comment, right? >> yes.
You May address the board on
matters before the board, but not on the agenda.
>> up until last week I was a
member of the taxi advisory council. There are three things I want to talk about. Number one, I' m very glad you' re doing all of the planning for the america' s cup race. It sounds great.
i hope you can forward this
information to taxi services, so
they can for it to all of the
cap companies, so we can direct
passengers to use muni in situations where a would be more efficient.
The second item is , June 5th, we
were told that the taxi advisory council report would be heard in August.
Is not going to be heard before
you take up item 11' s legislation.
And it is yet another -- yet
more evidence of the disdain and this regard with which the taxi advisory council has been held by your board.
I do not know if all of you were given our resignation letters,
or whether it was strictly
director nolan. It should have all been given them, fine.
If not, I have copies.
the third item, I cannot underline how emotional I feel
about this. It is yet another slap.
July 4th, you were enforcing the parking meters. [Tone]
on our independence day you enforce the parking meters. I' m jesus'
birthday -- on jesus'
birthday you don' t enforce the parking meters, but you do enforce them on our nation' s birthday? Shame on you.
>>
next speaker, please. >> matters not on today' s agenda. >> I would like to say that I
would like to underline the
resignation of the members of the taxi advisory council.
they made a wonderful attempt to improve the taxicab industry over the past couple of years.
They were treated rudely, as Ms.
Houseman just said.
None of their recommendations were even heard by this board. I think it is appropriate that they resigned, and I thank them for their work.
>> thank you. Next speaker, please.
>>r
good afternoon, directors.
I just came here during my cab shift.
I looked at the proposal, which i strongly disagree with, but I will leave it to others to get into that.
>> you realize that item has not been called.
These are things not on the agenda.
>> ok, but conspicuously out of all of that is the waiting list xh%
list.
it seems -- conspicuously out of all of that is the waiting list.
I am on the waiting list, never 38. It seems that has not been taking care of.
I spoke to someone who is first on the waiting list and he has been waiting about a year-and-a- half.
He just got an offer letter. there are people who have gotten
medallions who are off the
waiting list who are out there driving right now.
I really feel I should be given the chance to get my medallion,
the way many people -- I do not
know how many -- have gotten their medallion.
I say this with all due respect. I do not want to be disrespectful in any way.
But I see no other choice but to go to a lawyer in some way and
see if we can go that way. And I think it is terrible that i would have to do that. [Tone]
That is why I' m here and not working right now.
>> next speaker.
>>h the board.
pilot program.
>> that is item number 11 on today' s agenda. >> should we wait for that? Rex it will be out shortly.
>> -- >> it will be up shortly.
Again, these are items that are not on today' s agenda.
>>
i have been driving a cab in san francisco for 16 years.
I am also on the waiting list. I and 82.
-- I' m 82.
I do not think it is the
politics of the cab companies or for the drivers. I feel like it is the politics in san francisco.
i think this situation can be dealt with.
I do not think any of you have actually driven a cab.
The thing with driving a cab is that you sign up and you do it.
instead age your cap and you have 10 hours.
You have -- you a $150. You have to make that money to make your money. That is the job.
After you pay taxes, you have what you leave with. There is no health plan. That is ok. You' re a private}I contractor. In your shift to deal with
drugs, people throwing up,
people tried to attack you, people trying to touch you,
people swearing at you, roving organ donors.
Last saturday, I picked a big
gap with a guy and three of her sisters -- his sisters.
one woman literally had her legs around me trying to do something. I had to stop her from doing that.
The woman on the right ended up during outside the cab, thank God.
But she was missing one of her pink high heels and there was puke outside of my cab.
legally, I can charge them $100. They were happy drugs. It was fine.
I have people pulled guns on me.
I have had domestic squabbles.
That is a typical cabdriver job.
You signed up for it. That is cool. [Tone]
but what makes me angry is for
the mta to throw the cabdrivers in san francisco underneath that bus.
That is absolutely wrong. [Applause]
>> when I first started in this
business in 1984, dianne
feinstein and the mayor had a
thing with cabdrivers and she appointed a counsel to look at it.
And they appointed in lieutenant to study the industry.
he was supposed to talk to
everybody and get their opinion
and find out how the business worked. We have had a lot of trouble getting a hold of the sky.
He finally showed up about two months later.
He walked into the room and
started to tell us what the cab business was light. He did not ask one thing no question.
He spent two hours at the airport on a tuesday in April and he was telling us how the airport work. I corrected him and he started
screaming at me and if it came
down to a fight, the police would be cabdrivers.
-- beat the cabdrivers.
~rmove forward to 2009, and a
woman came and her words were that the M.T.A. Was coined to
get its money, -- going to get its money and it would be the best we can do for everybody and it would be totally fair.
We began to negotiate the price
deadpan, -- the pilot plan, which was totally fair.
Everybody got something and nobody got everything they wanted.
It was a pilot program for the rest of the country. and now we' re back to the lieutenant.
It is three years coming up with a plan that you guys decided to
throw in the trash, and for God knows what reason.
It is extremely disappointing to see why you are doing. [Tone]
>> thank you.
Next speaker, please.
>> is jeff johnson here? Herbert weiner?
christopher for ochres and --
CHRISTOPHERf* fulkerson?
>> these are comments by the
public.
One thing I am really wondering about is when this mess is going to stop.
There have been so many late muni buses, so many missing muni buses.
I have waited such a long time
that I have actually walked .H#rom
sacramento st. To 444 ministry one evening. there is simply no excuse.
The schedules have to be kept.
There is basically nothing wrong
with the existing muni schedules as long as they are capped.
There is no need for the transit effect of this project. No need for corridors or any of this fancy stuff.
it is simply a scenario from a nightmare in a science-fiction
movie the public has to be served, and that is what this
board is designated to do. They are not designated to go scrounging for money. They are designated to fulfill their civic responsibility.
I really wonder when this is going to stop.
we simply have to get relief with bus stops.
And one california industry, the bus sometimes does not show up for maybe 25 minutes.
A lot of the existing schedules are not being kept and I do not
like the turning around of buses. If anything should be turned
around, it is the management of the mta.
>> jeff johnson. Is Mr. Johnson here?
No, ok, christopher
fulkerson.
>> good afternoon, directors. I would like to make some observations about the political process chorion year. First, I would like to thank the
director FORxd selecting director kobayashi.
we must realize that today is the establishment is the new george 3.
Your tactics are deplorable.
There are so basic to methods that the public cannot approve, if they know them, that you really ought to change what you are doing.
The town hall meetings are an absolute sham.
They have never met through any number of town hall meetings
that terminate in one week, they
all be reversed -- get reversed, at your direction.
the tax advisory council has now
told you in a structural way that they can no longer go along
with a sham.
There is not political representation here.
We do not have the most basic
american freedom.
This is really as profound as taxation without representation.
You are taking our livelihoods and restructuring the entire way
our world works without our representation and you are doing it as a sham. What you' re doing is a complete sham. [Tone]
Please, get straight.
>> the next speaker, please. >> ron walther.
>> good afternoon.
>> my name is ron walther.
I am a taxi driver in the city.
i agree with the speaker that in
dealing with this agency we have no say and no representation. Under the taxi commission we had a member of the board. [Tone]
I' m out of time. >> peter witt.
>> get the camera on there.
get deleted from the
minutes.
Implementation of a congested
pricing system to slow demand and increased taxes applied.
that will incentivize a new taxi
sharing program that will lower
taxi fares and boost the taxi
driver revenue and increase the
taxi supply and efficiency in the city of san francisco.
In the city of love, why not?
15 years -- this batch is another story. 15 years of unprecedented
customer out rdata, comparables, even to the untrained executive director.
I have an anecdotal story -- story.
I took a survey the other day
about taxis at home at 8:00 on a
sunday I took a survey. To 48 questions, by the way, to
the average taxi driver is a little absurd. [Tone]
>> kory lamb, followed by david toronto.
>> good afternoon.
My name is kory lam.
one of the things I wanted to talk about at the last meeting, but got wrapped up in the emotions of everything we were
dealing with, during the golden gate celebration -- I drive a
taxi and I had some folks that
needed assistance closer to christie field than the marina safeway.
As I got closer and closer, the
dpp pearson -- the d p t person
would not allow me to even just
get 2 ft. Beyond the barricade soccer disembark. Instead, they May be brought to
the golden gate bridge, which is not where we could stop off anyway.
At the south side of the bridge
I stopped and got yelled at, but these people needed to get out. There'
s no place for me to drop off my passengers.
They were here for your event.
we need to look out closer for a drop off place for the folks who need access.
As a cabdriver, I' m not looking
to park at the marina green or at christie field. I will just be dropping off.
Maybe a little bit of consideration will be appropriate for the folks who need it.
i had one person in a wheelchair and their family and I had to drop them off way out of the way. [Tone]
I would appreciate more out reached in that regard. Thank you. >> thank you.
>> mary toronto followed by
david barlow.
the >> good afternoon, Chairman And directors.
I am troubled today.
Your only giving us two minutes. I hope on item 11 you will give us three{_ minutes, due to the
fact that is a major change to this industry.
i beg you not to give this short shrift. I urge you to give us three
minutes on number of love and particularly.
You know the tax does not exist at this point because all of these people reside.
I have seen some of these letters on line. It is troubling.
i think you should be concerned
as a body, not just one director, but all of you should
be concerned about why this occurred and should have a
discussion about this and actually get to see some of these letters. I hope you have seen some of these letters.
And if you have, you should be troubled by this.
as a general comment, you allow one commissioner to control the policy of the whole body.
That is a question , and if you have any doubts or concerns about the taxi industry today, please put off the other items
to get more information and attend a town hall meeting.
that is an important issue here.
And the next topic is crash-
rasheed -- CHRISf* hayashi.
I love her to death, but I call there and was told in a voice mail that she will be out until september 11th.
Why she involved in other projects, but she is supposed to be out? [Tone]
She is not returning CALLSf* or the mills from anyone in the industry. It we are all paying her salary.
We deserve to know. Don' t you want to know?
maybe you do know, but you do not want to tell us. [Tone]
>> david barlow.
>> good afternoon.
I am with taxicab workers.
my topic is not about the pilot
program, but something akin to the transit effectiveness project.
Maybe I missed it, but I wonder, has the commission drawn up and
published a plan for improving taxi service over the next four years?
Something that covers everything?
We need for the public convenience and necessity, for
the people to take -- who take
taxis, for the cabdrivers to have viable jobs, we need to
know the plan overall for taxi service. all we have seen is month-to-
month a new scheme.
We do not see improvement.
I think plenty of things that we used to rely on have been destroyed.
maybe I will give this example.
It has always been my understanding that the only
vehicles that will do taxi service in san francisco or decertify taxis.
Those are the ones that are --
are the certified taxis.
\@does the ones that are checked out and mark.
Others that perform the service
that -- [Tone]
They are breaking the law and can be put on a tow truck and hauled in.
It is that way in new york city. I expected that it was that way here.
now, uber is performing taxi service -- not a taxi.
And limos at hotels are performing taxi service.
When people ask for a taxi, they get pushed into a limo. That has to be controlled. [Tone]
>> next speaker, please.
good afternoon.
>> I am a san francisco taxi driver for 16 years.
I cannot believe that the medallion list would be done
away with. I have been waiting and been doing my time and I cannot
believe intelligent people would
rob other intelligent people of an opportunity that they have been waiting for, that I have
signed up for, that I' ve been driving in this city and serving in the city.
Please, do the right thing and keep those medallions that are coming out for the drivers that deserve them we have been working. we have been putting in our time.
You have no right to take that from us. That is what we signed on the dotted line for.
That is what the contracts are for.
If the contract is not up held, some action will come from it.
The people on the list deserve the cab' s before thea"s corporate companies, before the big companies.
We, the little people who you
represent, I you should be representing us faithfully. Thank you. [Applause]
>> thank you. Next speaker, please.
>> keith dennis.
>> good afternoon, Mr. Dennis.
>> God bless you, commissioners.
god bless the city and county of san francisco.
My name is keith dennis.
Today, commissioners, I would
like to reiterate -- actually, this was not spoken to you.
I brought this issue up a year ago to the mayor' s office of
disability how there are no bus shelters on fillmore and eddie street.
Today is a perfect example. It is very windy.
People are out there freezing because there is no bus shelter.
there is no bus shelter on
fillmore and daddy andeddi and
it -- fillmore and
eddie and they also need electronic signs for when we can catch another bus.
thank you >> -- thank you.
>> next speaker, please.
>> commissioners and members of the audience, my name
audienceemil lawrence.
-- my name is
emil lawrence. We' ve had a lot of testimony in
the past year about permits in the city. But without the drivers, you do not have anything.
They buy the taxis and repair the vehicles and ensure them.
if you think they are your
assets, we must be your slave spirited we have no benefits.
We have no medical. And when you get into an accident when it is not even
your fault, you get bills of
$2,800 from hospital, from the fire department, from the police department. That is not covered by any
insurance by the city and county of san francisco.
That is the reality.
Looking at citations in this
city, one of the drivers was
complaining about, no other
vehicle that is associated with
transportation in the city and county of san francisco get
parking tickets. The department of transportation
does not, muni does not, by -- but taxi drivers do.
When you look at all of this and combine it and you have a taxi
advisory commission -- [Tone]
you keep them in the dark and make decisions without consulting them.
That has been a part for the past two and half years.
It is under Mr. Nat ford and Mr. Reiskin, is now under you.
You do not consult the guys that work in the industry, that make
their >> next speaker, please.
>> good afternoon, directors.
I want to follow-up on some of the comments that some of the other speakers have made.
we have moved now from a
participatory process to a dictatorial process.
I call this the -- [Inaudible] Approach.
You shove regulations down our
throat and dine on the results.
This is wrong.
The message the taxi and treasurer councilmembers are sitting to is as loud as you could possibly hear from this
industry about our feelings about what is going on.
This is happening at a most precarious time for us.
We have unprecedented
competition from vehicles that
are laxly regulated by the state in an open entry system.
It is incompatible with the regulation that the city
performs in taxis and it is a threat to our survival and we
need to be working -- it is a
threat to the regulatory scheme as much as to our survival.
we need to all be working on
this in a cooperative fashion to
see to it that taxi service can
continue and the public can be served.
Instead, what are we getting- what we' re getting is a dictatorship. I.S. The need to talk about the
waiting LISTq
heard from who waited 14 or 15 or 16 years.
There will be left out in the cold and you' re not telling the truth.
You are pushing out the back door. Thank you.
>> good afternoon. Io
wanted to give francisco" magazine who
have voted luxury
cab the best of san francisco. >> thank you.
>> the last three people who have turned in a speaker card.
>> I am a taxi driver in san francisco for 24 years.
Where is my word that you give me? To give me nothing. You don' t care.
I come here today to read my letter of resignation.
it is with mixed emotions that
on August 21, I am resigning from my position on the committee.
The reason I have made this
decision is the board to which
we are advisory -- does not to
give -- take seriously any of our recommendations.
The board also continues to [Unintelligible]
Contains over
100 years of
driving experience.
we continue to lose ground and
the fact the medallions will be
sold and not earned. Our hard
work is continuing this respected.
I hope we take seriously at
some point of those who actually do the work that is a necessary
part of transportation in san francisco. I would like to add the arrogance of this board is amazing.
None of you know anything about [Inaudible]
accept malcolm
-- except malcolm
heinicke.
Please demand it go away.
thank you.
}I >> our last two speakers.
>> this afternoon, commissioners.
you have a nest egg, a golden goose.
You got $20 million from the taxi industry.
It cannot even run the buses.
You understand, I am not talking
about what you do to the drivers, what you do to anything.
But your massing --
you are
messing up the bus lanes.
Taxis tecolote to get from a to be so it costs more money and
there are not enough drivers -- taxis.
It cannot enforce the white zones.
so the taxis and everybody else double park or triple parks in
the whole of the downtown so you have gridlock. Why?
It is not about money because you could find these people. You could tell the hotels I am
sorry, this is not a parking zone. the white zone is for dropping off and picking up.
But you cannot do it.
You do not care. You'
re still getting money from us. We do not understand, you' re
not sending attorneys up to
sacramento are talking to other
cities on ways to defeat these
electronic new methods.
You do not understand.
When there are no taxis to pick up levees are taken to the
hospital or ANYTHINGr%~ else, maybe you will start crying.
>> thank you, next speaker.
>> I am President Of the sf taxi drivers'
association.
I am former vice President Of
the taxi advisory counc il.
after going to town hall
meetings and missing work and
discussing medallions and how the new plan would possibly
affect drivers and the jillian holders and then all the sudden before our report and
recommendations are sent to the board, you guys come up with is already written out ready to be voted on plan that has nothing to do with what we have talked about were considered things we talked about. It does regards drivers to put
their lives into the industry,
who have adjusted their lives because they' re on the medallion waiting list and they expect to
get a medallion up till two years ago.
They have been waiting up to 19 years waiting to get their medallion.
Maybe they have given up other careers like I did to get my medallion. Medallion holders who want to
get out of the industry now , they'
re offered less money and the mta wants to sell the permits for twice as much. I just think that this whole
thing has been a facade and you need to listen to some of these concerns and not just look at
medallions of the taxi industry
as a revenue source for the mta.
It is not serving the public.
Cabdrivers are not making a decent living if they feel they have no future, there will be less safe drivers. It is a public safety issue. If nothing else.
>> thank you.
>> good afternoon.
In 2008 and 2009, my income dropped roughly 50%.
There was a recession nationwide.
I and 10 and 11 we picked up something and we were ok.
2012, this year there are no tourists.
No europeans in america, no europeans in san francisco.
Go and look at the taxi stand.
They are jammed packed with cabs.
over the city taxis are looking for any customers for $5. And you'
re looking at 300,000, $500,000. I' m not talking about that item.
What are you looking?
Hoover cap is cutting as. Business is not there.
and your looking to put the
hands in my pocket and take every penny from my pocket.
You have to look for the ways to give kendry more business.
Not the way is to cut my income. You'
re looking at
-- 35 cabs at the start of this year. We'
re planning 50 calves and 85 more. 200 added three years ago.
Now you' re looking at 200 more
coming by September 4. Where are you doing with us?
Can you read, can you understand? Go look at the website and see how the economy is doing. Things are bad.
Terribly bad for the taxi drivers.
Are you working only for the many union?
Not for other taxi drivers? They' re not human because they' re immigrants? There from other countries? That is what you' re looking at, the taxi drivers? |hpthank you.
>> the last peter -- speaker.
>> I am a driver at national veterans' camp.
i am disappointed in a lot of what I' ve seen coming down the
pike here from the commission. We' re at a critical juncture in the taxi industry.
We have a fleet of pirate taxis
with electronic taxi healing technology on smart phones.
in the pirate taxis, charging
double and triple the rates of
authorized taxis in at the commission rather than
mandating and coming up with regulations for legitimate taxis
to have electronic taxi hailing uniformly applied, instead come
up with a way to make money from
sales of medallions and to limit
the amount of money occur in medallion holder can make from the sale of their medallion. It is asinine.
I think it is very clear that the commission is out of touch with what is going on at the
taxi advisory council and what is going on in the industry at large. We have got a lot of people here
in the room, maybe 100 and we have thousands of disenfranchised taxing workers out there.
The textile workers, myself included, many of us have seen
the light and there is this thing called a charter amendment.
It is a proposition that will do away with the mta and there are thousands on the street 24 hours
a day and once we start
collecting signatures, you might want to think of this as your constituency also. Thank you.
>> the last person who has turned in the speaker card.
Mr. Chairman, --
President Nolan: I note for
members, a member of the sfgtv
family passed away.
She w
did a great deal of work and
will be missed. I ask we adjourn in her memory
and send a letter to her husband and her son. Thank you.
>> with respect to the director' s report item, the
presentation by sfbc has been continued.
That would be item 11.
but we find that one. I' d love and amending the
transportation code division --
amending the transportation code
division to a long-term medallion transfer policy. >> thank you.
I have a brief presentation I will walk through.
just to provide context on how
we got here and the process that you heard quite a bit about.
There is a lot of passion in the voices your hearing coming to the mike and I appreciate that what we are contemplating here is very meaningful and it will have real impact of people.
I want to recognize and knowledge that. What we'
re proposing today as part of a larger scheme of
reform, some of which came forward on June 4.
i was intending to bring the reform proposal. I felt it was not ready.
What we have drafted -- while more comprehensive, it was too complex and there were too many unanswered questions.
It does fit into an overall package of things we' re doing
to improve taxi service.
To speak what is on the table
today the proposal before you is my proposal. It has everything else that
comes to YOUxd which is incumbent
upon me in a position, it comes
with my signature and reflects
my best thinking on what ever the item is including this one.
itk.'es not necessarily reflect ideas of the director or staff.
It is informed by discussions by recommendation I get from the taxi director and her staff.
It is informed by conversations
I have had with members of the board, with members of the board of supervisors, members of the public, and members of a lot of
different facets of the taxi industry.
Drivers, medallion holders, companies.
People involved with finance.
It does not mean that I take everything I hear and put it down on paper and handed to you. I did not see that as my job.
My job is taking what the taxi
staff provides and taking all
the input and putting it
together in what I think is the
best package this is my proposal. It is not a staff proposal.
it is nothing driven by anyone
sitting out here or anyone else out there.
It is my proposal. I want to make clear to the public this is not what the board has decided.
It is merely what I have proposed and their decision will be informed by what is proposed
and whenever they hear in public comment, there has been a lot
of comment provided in writing by e-mail.
We sent out this draft to encourage this comment.
i had also discussed with the
chair the board can hear
directly from the tac .
I am aware of the resignations and the impetus behind them.
Rather than being able to come to establish to have
established a quorum at the last
meeting to consider the proposal and come with recommendations including things you like for
dinallo like about these -- this
proposal, that opportunity, at least on this last proposal, it was not there.
It was not there to rubber-stamp the proposal made by staff.
It is to analyze and make recommendations. there was a lost opportunity there. To the extent that there is anything that is good in this
proposal, a credit all the different folks across the spectrum I have talked to. To the extent that there is
anything that folkestone obligor feel good but I take
responsibility for those. I think in presenting this to the board I do it in a spirit I believe they' re open to feedback including some of what we heard and have seen in advance of this
meeting to make it fair and workable and that is the spirit
in which this was developed.
i will walk through the couple
slides to take what is a complex
issue and try to lay it out.
That would be open to any clarifying questions or comments and I would like to yield to the
chair
for his response before public comment.
If we could go to the brief slide presentation.
Somebody made reference and appropriately so in public
comment to what is the overall
plan and the board did adopt a strategic plan for the agency
this past January when into effect this June and we' re building now action steps to
achieve the objectives under each goal of the strategic plan.
The transit first goal that is
within our strategic plan is one
that I think absolutely requires good taxi service in the city in order to make
transit for sterility.
If we want people to not have to
rely on their own private automobiles to get around, there will be times when transit or
bicycling or walking or car
sharing are not the right avenue
for them and taxi service will
need to play an important role and we need to improve taxi service to make transit first work.
So people can get by in san francisco largely without their
own vehicles, should they desire
to.
Taxi service is essential to the transit first policy.
there are more things , I made reference to this that we' re
doing from a regulatory perspective. We have been bringing the number of things to the board. We' re trying to set strong
standards for those in the taxi industry and enforce those that are operating outside of those standards.
I agree that we' re at an important time.
We have these external forces that are threatening the viability of the taxi industry which makes all the more urgent anything we can do to improve
TAXIxd service but also that we in
force against illegal cabs or anybody who is not play by the rules.
It did give your ascent for increased enforcement over what was in the original proposed
budget for taxi services and we have been meeting}I with police
department, the D.A.' s office,
cpc -- cpuc.
We have our best practices study under way.
everyone is looking forward to
that along the lines of improving service.
The public voices often not included in these discussions about the taxi industry.
Obviously an important voice and
there is medallion reform which is in part what we are comfortable -- contemplating today.
just the basic
, to put it in simple terms.
A medallion is a permit to
most have a driving REQUIREMENTr these permits are held by
individuals with the small
exception of some older permits.
And generally these permits
since 1978 have been non- transferable.
There is a little over 1500
medallions currently in use at their managed either by the medallion holder through an
affiliate lease or their
accompanying a method on behalf of the holder.
The pilot that folks have been
referring to was established by this board in 2010 and allowed
to transfer of medallions again.
Fees medallions were non- transferable. Under this pilot in allowed
transfer by certain holders to
transfer their medallions in exchange for a fee.
apportions windt -- portion went
a portion went to a drivers' fund.
the financial organizations have
been able to finance medallions
and the purse
rpose was designed to
study the effect of transfer.
We [Unintelligible]
Better six years or older or
that have prop k.
that would be opening up
relinquishment to all the xdholders 60 or older.
To use the waiting list as the recipient pool. All those folks who have been
waiting for a medallion, there would have a first right of
refusal for any medallions that or relinquished in this matter.
-- in this manner.
We would maintain the driving or
carmen -- requirement to ensure
that we have driving medallion holders which many people in the
industry feel is important for the strength and stability of
the industry.
When there is financing
involved, the financing requires
that it be a guest and gates model.
To try to make sure we do not
have illegal brokers or intermediaries between us and the medallion holder.
But I have proposed in this
proposal is providing $150,000 in exchange for a ruling which
medallion and establishing a transfer amount that would be indexed with inflation going forward.
The first transfer previously acquired under the pilot
program would have the same share of proceeds going to mta
and the travers fund.
For other transfers, it would
go up from 20% to a total of 30%.
25 to the mta, 5 to the driver fund.
I do believe as somebody said in
public comment that these
medallions are public assets and
the value of them really belongs
to the people of san francisco for the benefit of the entire transportation system.
There is a balance those trying to strike here in making sure
that enough was being invested
in the taxi industry to ensure
that driving a taxi in san francisco would be able to attract people to entertain
people in and is clearly from
some of the public comment,
there is a question on whether those right balance has been struck but that was the intent.
I feel like it is appropriate that the value of the
medallions are used to strengthen the entire transportation system but it
cannot be at the expense of four
to the detriment of the taxi industry.
we need a strong taxi industry
as part of our transit transportation system.
My idea here is this would create a path toward getting medallions to the waiting list
by increasing transferability .
And provides a way out for people who no longer want to be in the industry and realizes
that value for the whole presentation system including the taxi industry.
I think I will stop there and I would like to ask the chair to
come up.
>> that afternoon.
i would like to propose an
amendment.
The wonder IFf* there would be beneficial for him to hear them so he can comment. I think so.
I do not want to have you in a situation where you have spoken and you did not know what was
coming in the form of my imminent.
>> this will not take very long. I hope.
Thank you for that walk through and my comments to you for coming in to speed so quickly on what I can attest to.
also the openness you have shown to the industry in your meetings
is in my experience
unprecedented from a director and so I appreciate that. The amendments I would like to
propose to the director posey thoughtful proposal, I would like to bring the economics of this in line with the pilot
program which wd approve an economic model.
And when we need to be mindful
for -- mindful of.
Amending the provisions related to the amount of money going to
existing medallion holders who turn in their medallions. This would not affect people down the road who will sell
medallions or people who have
already bought medallions.
This is this transition where people would turn in medallions. There is no obligation for them to do so.
The proposal has it with them
getting $150,000 and the mta getting $150,000.
I propose we amend it to the medallion holder getting two-
thirds of the sale price subject
to a cap of $200,000.
We know that the $200,000 figure
has proven a valuable incentive for people to do this under the pilot program and brings the
number in line with the pilot program.
If we do that with the cap it
will stay.
The remainder of the money would
go to the mta as previously proposed.
>> let' s get a second on that one.
Is there a second? >> I will second.
>> the second proposal is a similar thing bringing us in
line with the pilot project.
That is the back end transfer fee. This is when someone sells it.
Separate from the initial transition.
This is one the medallion is being sold down the line.
Your proposal has a 30% chance for a fee which was blessed by
the finance years and it was something that would work financially.
I wonder if the goal here is to
expedite the sales, complete this transition process.
We might want to heed both the
programs'
previous mark which was tied%.
i suggest we take down the back
end transfer fee when someone sells one of these purchase
medallions from 30% to 20%. >> there is a second.
will go back and vote on the amendments and then the full thing. Is that right?
>> thank you for the work you put in on this. >> did not think me.
There are hundreds of hours in the afternoon.
Thank you for the appreciation.
I would like to
give the
secretary a copy I do not think that has been presented.
It would be beneficial for you to read it.
what we have done beyond that is
we have broken up our recommendations into a few categories.
driver'
s on the waiting list. It is what holds back the
industry from moving to a -- a new medallion transfer and program.
We do not believe that the
people should be put aside or forced to purchase. The city committed to giving the
medallions when they first entered into this agreement and they should be given the
opportunity to be considered for for medallions.
We were going to continue with
allowing medallion distribution.
The recommendations adopted or
are around an amount of core percentage of medallions to remain on transferable to be
given to the remaining people on the waiting list.
I would say that was the biggest
difference there with regard to the waiting list.
The continuation of
distribution according to seniority.
As well as keeping the
medallions distributed to qualified cabdrivers.
not get
through grade we thought you should be aware.
That is the highlight of our report.
Any questions?
Chairman Nolan: thank you.
Let me ask you about what you said about the waiting list.
would you recommend, is it a
certain number to be allowed to
continue as they are? >> yes.
Chairman Nolan: did you talk about any number of that?
>> the discussions were -- there is a lot of contention and
opinions.
Getting down to specific numbers
and figures is something we had
best left up to staff but the
general policy we wanted to get across to you guys.
chairman nolan: as I recall ,
that had not been actively utilized in any way.
>> it has been growing. We' re past couple million. There is a lot of discussion on how that can be used.
>>f* it is a positive SUGGESTIONxd and can be beneficial.
director heinicke: I have heard
most if not all of that beor fore.
One comment was the overall
sense of the body -- to make
sure medallions are ending up in
the full service cab companies.'
do you see anything in the
proposal is there with or without my amendments that would
undermine that effort or do you see any aspect of his proposal
that would further that effort
for is that a separate thing?
>> that is a separate issue that should be addressed.
>> if I May continue, the
director mentioned one detail
oriented or one specific detail which is important.
That is the idea that with these medallions been financed there
will be removed or requirement
to more chefs and my
understanding is that sort of
shifted that way would have interpreted the effect of
getting the least more to the full-service cab companies to 10
to operate on the gate and gas method.
>> that will impact the method and the role.
anyone taking alone -- a loan,
you see that shift in that direction.
It is up to the ihndividual operator.
>> that has been a gold mine is to oversee that shift and I
wanted to confirm -- you did not see anything that would undermine that. >> I do not think there is anything that would undermine it or prevent it. >> thank you.
if all that were accepted, would there be anything to preclude us
from looking at the list -- I
heard people talk about that number they have.
Can you speak to that? >> I should have mentioned that when I opened my remarks.
it is a big issue.
By a less comprehensive approach
is LESSr unresolved and I heard from different people that that level of certainty -- and
uncertainty is not desirable.
What this does is in talks about how the current medallions that are in circulation basically could be re-circulated.
What it does not speak to and what we' re are planning to bring
forward once we have the
necessity is what to do with any
medallions issued or ones that were revoked or come back to the
agency outside of whatever medallion transfer process we May choose to adopt.
If you adopt what I have proposed or what I have proposed
or amended, it leaves the
question open and I concur with
some of the speakers that -- we
do not want to continue to leave that question open so that is
something that would be opened
otherwise until we come back and assess the discussion but something we could discuss your
-- center in terms of providing a certainty.
The next person on the list will get medallions in a different way. that was a long way of saying
no by approving something today with regard to the current medallions does not preclude making that kind of
determination, providing that certainty later.
It would limit if you do not subsequently change this, the existing medallions in circulation would be under this
regime there are other
medallions, revocations or new medallions the board could make a future decision on.
I would concur with some strong
sentiment I have heard from others that we should provide that certainty to the people on the list.
>> I would support that sooner rather than later. If we can.
With all due deliberations and also the driver' s fund.
Is time we come up with something helpful to the drivers. I think that is something I would like to see in the near future.
>> anybody else?
>>
when is the time line that we would be able to take up the waiting list issue?
how long do we have?
>> I was -- [Unintelligible]
>> we are}if*
looking at January. I was suggesting and I heard from the Chairman We do not need
to wait for that point to have
that discussion and for the board to establish policy that would free that certainty sooner.
It is somewhat at the board pose a pleasure to bring it back any time after this meeting for discussion.
>>}I hopefully and others would be involved in helping. Anything else, members of the board? Let' s hear from the members of the public.
>> we have 19 speakers who submitted cards.
>> your timing question was pertinent.
This legislation is being
considered before and I wrote
this before the report.
I feel it is not fair that you are not going to be able to absorb the report before you
vote on this legislation and it
is not fair to the taxi advisory
council that this was sandwiched
in as part of this legislation
and that this was related to this legislation rather than
being considered on its own. Your considering this before
the best practices study which I am paying hundreds of thousands
of dollars for him the same with my fellow cabdrivers.
This is insulting ANDq
drivers on the waiting list . They have invested their lives
and livelihoods.
The resignation letter words it far better than I would.
it presents a
tax on the industry.
It ignores the driver'
s fund and makes too many concessions. Please continue this item of legislation to the call of the
chair and let it die a deserved death in the dark.
>>
I am -- was a member of the advisory council until this
latest [Inaudible]
< for the next 34 years of promise
was written, way your turn and you will receive a medallion.
If all of you are not aware, a one word to change will and hopes and dreams of those who waited because they were advised it should not buy a
medallion if you were less than trafford spotswood.
There are poised to rip that
promise away for our people who follow the rules and waited. This aspect is unspeakable
cruelty and explicitly affect immigrants and members of minority groups.
These drivers and not even
middle class and your about to snuff off their dream about
getting it one step up for a cab driver.
You are elite members of society. It is unseemly in the city to crush the less fortunate.
vote no and go back to the drawing board. Thank you. [Applause]
>> our next three years.
>> I am embarrassed and ashamed
to be part of an industry that
is a fractured and disorganized that it could stand by during
the ongoing robbery and rape that is happening here.
I am sorry , you have planted every bit of credibility and good will you have created during your last year here.
the six of you in the middle, I feel sorry for you.
I am sure you have been bullied
and intimidated and -- pressured to go along with the plan that has been put in place here.
It does not sound like it came from the director to me.
i imagine when you went down the path of public service you never thought you would come to a
point where you would have to
vote on the legitimacy of a rape of an industry like this.
if you go along in the same
vein, that is what we in the industry consider your doing.
It is not legitimate or necessary.
The need to stop it. You do not need to do this.
one man has come up with a plan since he first came into this
industry to take 100 million or
however much you can get and I
wonder what he tells his family at the dinner table at night.
And he tells them about the pain
and anguish he has brought to it -- so many of us or does he tell
them this is his path to the mayorship? Or to the white house or the governorship?
I am ashamed. I think there' s a lot of shame that should be happening in this room.
F* [Applause]
>> next figures.
-- speakers.
>> good afternoon.
Although I am not a taxi driver have written in many taxicabs in this great city.
Xdunder the pilot program we funded the majority of loans to
taxi medallion purchasers and portrait closely with the
industry and the mta to make this a successful pilot program. We want to first knowledge that
these medallion owners and the opportunity we have had to understand their financial
situation and work with them and becoming medallion owners.
Each of them -- each of the
goals of the program and objectives have been met and have been successful.
We now enter into this long term program.
We have advised the board to
closely listened to the feedback that is being provided so that a permanent sales program can be put in place that meets the
needs of the industry, the drivers, the mta, and the public that uses this valuable transportation system. We came prepared to this meeting
to offer of some suggestions.
They have been proposed in the
amendments and we prefer those amendments as proposed. The other amendment that we would like you to consider is to
look at a program to provide downpayment assistance to those
that are purchasing medallions.
Having strong industry support and readily available market for purchasers will strengthen the loan underwriting process and we
urge the board to carefully consider the amendments as proposed. Thank you.
>> next speaker, please.
>> I would like to commend the
director for being opened to the
y(Qq' proposed
and I concur completely with those proposed changes.
i think that the outrage has
been simmered, that was caused by the initial proposal.
The old saying if it ain' t broken, don' t fix it applies
here with some minor tweaks.
we strive=v quite hard to come up
and put the pilot program that it was rolling really well. I do not think that we need to
throw an impediment in front of it.
There were so many
thoughtful considerations that were put
into that pilot program and I
think that you could find there will be a lot more harmony in
this industry and a lot less and
the team towards you --
enmity toward you.
>>next speakers.
F*>> here I am again.
As far as I am concerned you do
not know the industry. You have never spoken to me or the committee, you do not know nothing.
Also chris weiss was absent for
the last six meetings.
We are not the managers, where the drivers. We' re the one that communicates with the people. Those people I have communicated
with do not agree with your recommendations.
You should revise this plan and you'
ve got.
This is supposed to be a liberal city and this is the most
conservative plan.
Your like conservatives -- republicans view.
{_
as far as the waiting list
goes, I have been on that waiting list for 17 years.
i give up a lucrative position
in the music business to drive a taxi because I liked it.
And now,}I you' re screwing me again. I have already been screwed by
these sales you have allowed.
Why take money off the taxi driver when you can take it off a lot of other people.
i believe you are all racist and
you think all immigrants drive taxis of the cares about them? I believe that. You do not care about long-term drivers. You do not care about the people on the commission.
You have never taken any advice from the commission. Never.
So what is the point of being there.
it is a bad -- about time you listened to the real drivers.
These people in this room come here of their own free will to
tell you you did not give a damn.
you don' t know nothing about it.
>> thank you.
>> I just want you to be aware of the dynamic of this. These amendments are designed to buy off the potential legal challenge from the cab
companies that said they would challenge it if this was not done.
Rtheir concerns are being taking care of. Our drivers are not.
250,000 or 300,000 makes it that
much more difficult for a buyer -- for a cabdriver to buy.
A 20% transfer fee is already out rages.
raising it to 30% is off the map. You should be looking at ways to get it down, not keep it the
same period the fact
-- not keep it the same.
It is a mockery of a medallion program.
The other point I want to raise
-- and I want to be really,
really clear on this -- that
nobody has owned up that this makes a drastic change in the driver' s fund. Nobody has said this.
it changes the driver fund
constitution -- contribution
from a transfer fee contribution
of 5% to a retransfer fee
contribution of 5%.
That means the medallions that come back to the city by
subject of surrender will not be subject to a transfer fee.
You are putting the drivers fund into starvation mode for the
next 20 or 30 years with this proposal. This was the one light that came
out of the medallions sales program in my estimation,
something that could be done for
drivers who will never have a medallion.
Now you are stripping it,
tossing it into the trash can. [Applause]
>> [Reading names]
>> good afternoon, directors, again.
i would like to thank for the toqz"4 thoughtful comment -- I like to thank you for the thoughtful
amendment that malcolm heinicke made. It helps.
I would like to urge every one of you to get funding to start
enforcing the city regulations
and to push the mta to get an attorney. I mean, you' ve got hundreds of them out there.
To improve business for taxis.
This is your aim -- this is your
stated aim by the director. You want more taxis. you want more public transportation. You' ve got $20 million from us.
Under this proposal, you will get another $30 million.
Put some of it into enforcement.
Tomorrow if not today.
You WILLf* make a happier public, and you will make a happier taxi
industry. thank you.
Director nolan: next speaker please.
>> good afternoon.
I have been a luxury driver since 1979.
I have had mine medallions since 1996.
-- I have had my medallion since 1996.
There was a lot of time and effort that went into this, and
we agreed to what some would say
a rather users speak -- user is
-- usurous fee.
We agreed to it because it seemed like the city needed the money, and we needed the
program for an exit strategy.
Our a cards}i
are up to $82 a year.
They were $18 and I started.
But the city needs the money.
It seems reasonable. We are willing to pay.
We are willing to pay the 15%.
xdnow, you want another $50,000 out of my pocket when it comes time to sell my medallion.
At the same time, you want to
eliminate other drivers who have been in the industry for 20 years or more.
The original idea was 1 for 1 --
the city would sell one and offer one to the waiting list.
It seemed reasonable. The city needed the money.
The city received the money. Now, $50,000 more and the
elimination of the waiting list -- at what point do we get a break?
you have really got to think about this. This is serious business. We are not talking about a couple of people.
We are talking about thousands
in this}I industry.
I would like to say that you owe it to us.
Director nolan: next speaker please.
>> one correction to the
commissioner here -- in your first report their, you talked about the driving requirements
being established around 2005 --
in your first report there.
the full time driver requirement was established in 1978 by
proposition k, and it was the
idea of that proposition that only full time drivers would hold the medallion, and they would be obtained at low cost, and that driver would be the guy operating the vehicle.
He would have a direct interest
in the vehicle, have control of
that vehicle.
I am a really big fan of proposition k.
Some years ago, I interviewed
the author of the proposition, and one of the things I asked
was, "are you satisfied with the way the proposition has turned out?"
HEw3 said , "absolutely not.
The city has done an extremely poor job of implementing it."
one of the things was they were issuing medallions to people who were not taxi drivers. This has improved. It has gotten better. The other thing I want to clarify is when you pass this,
the list is dead. It is dead.
Maybe you can do something in
the future later -- you can do anything you want in the future later, but at this point, if you pass this, the list is dead.
Nobody on that list will get a medallion.
So far, I have seen every
speaker that has come up here
has told you not to pass this. Maybe you will get a cup -- a
couple of company owners saying they like this. And for the commissioner to say that this is not political, that
this is just his best judgment -- I do not buy it.
There is nothing more political
than who gets the money.
Director nolan: next speaker please.
manage it carefully. However, its value is somewhat uncertain at the moment. I urge you to date not to
devalue your brand -- I urge you
today.
It is in the interests of the people of san francisco that the
value of this brand go always up
and never down.
Please pass this item today.
I believe that in doing so, you will ensure that there continues
to be a robust interest in this spectacularly valuable asset. Thank you.
Director nolan: we are going to take just a brief break.
Ok?
>> good afternoon.
The purpose of a pilot program
is to see if an experimental idea will work. I think the medallion sales pilot worked very well.
The obvious thing to do is to stay the course. I do not think that the legislation in front of you
really did that, but with the
amendments director HEINICKEf* has put in, it gets more to that
realm.
I still think that the 20% resale is out of line.
In new york city, it is 5% .
People purchasing these are still under a heavy burden, and I hope that will get reduced further.
To me, using the drivers fund for down payment assistance would be a good idea.
The ideal performance standard for companies is very critical. What is happening now is the companies THATjf cut corners can
offer way more money to
medallion holders to all line
with their companies -- a ligj
-- align with their companies. I hope you will move on that soon.
The medallion waiting list is a monster.
I have a tremendous amount of and the nearest the top and zero for the people nearest the bottom.
people are in limbo all their
lives wondering where their name is going to come up.
I know you are having this
legislation, changing "shall" to "May."
I think you should make a verbal commitment today that you will give some and come back and say how many.
The guillotine was invented --
it is a great oxymoron, humane execution, but that is what it is for. I do not think you should pull the rug out right now.
Director
nolan: ok, we will take a brief break and be back in about 10 minutes.
director nolan: ladies and gentlemen, we are back in session.
please call the next several speakers.
>> [Reading names ]
>> good afternoon again. I want to thank you for tackling --
director nolan: we are back in session. Thank you.
>> go ahead.
>> ok, good afternoon.
My medallion number is 778.
I was one of the first hundred
to receive a medallion and was thankful to do it.
So I have some feelings for the guys that are on this list because that is how I got mine.
I want to thank you all for taking on this big issue here.
My concern is that it is a good start, but the problem that I see with this is at these prices, now that I' m getting to the age where I want to get out
of the industry is -- how long
will this money last me after I paid taxes and everything else?
From my point of view, it will not last too long. After we get rid of all the guys
that are sick or disabled, you
are going to have a bunch of old
guys driving these cabs are around that will not want to surrender them because there will not be enough money to make
it through the last 10 years of
their lives, and this is not an old man' s industry. Now that YOUf* have the waiting
list -- up to 17 years -- you' ve got another old man coming to
replace the old man.
You have a really big problem on
your hands.
You are going to replace us old
guys now with other old guys.
i think it is a good start, but
I think you have to consider the
amount at $150,000 will not
last anybody any amount of time, especially in the bay area. That is all I had to say. Thank you very much.
>> [Reading names]
>> good afternoon .
This is really tough. I first want to say the person
who should be running the town hall meetings is malcolm
heinicke, and I am not lying.
i sunshined some documents which back up some of the things I had to say. You as directors should realize that there is more to stories
then just hearing from intermediaries. If you had any direct contact
with malcolm heinicke, there may be some ethical issues involved
here because malcolm heinicke,
according to these e-mails, has
had a lot of input to go with implementing policy. There is a difference between creating policy and approving policy compared to how you implement it.
The director claims that it was
his plan.
The documents disagree with your
statements today, ed reiskin. They do. There' s a few paragraphs.
The first as early as August 3.
it says "I disagree.
I make sure we approve this."
also, who wrote this?
I believe chris hiyashi had a
lot to do with this, but she is supposed to be on leave.
According to what was discussed
at town hall meetings, the plan
was written by somebody other
than the staff in the office.
Also, regarding the waitlist, all current medallions would
remain non-transferable, and the drivers cannot drive anymore.
that was as early as May 17.
This plan is already in the
books as of May when they had a special meeting. I lost my time because you did not give it, but I want to let you know -- there is a lot of dispute. please do not make this decision today without getting all the facts. Please.
>> good afternoon.
I adjusted my comments a little bit based on the amendments that were made, but the thoughts
emily having -- I am really having is during the years the
tax advisory committee met , most
of the tender was --
tenor was the final program. That was pretty much everyone discussing this program.
I guess what I am reminded of --
we would not be having this discussion if we were still
into copy -- prop. K.
we were stuck under a program that had no flexibility. I appreciate the fact that we are under prop. A.
While the program presented May
not be perfect, I hope as things are analyzed down the road, there May still be opportunities to make adjustments as necessary, which was something that could not be done prior.
I hope there is continued tweaking that might go on as we move down the road.
Again, that is an opportunity that you have that we might not
have had under another type of legislation.
i support what your doing and
hope we continue to make it better.
>> good afternoon, directors.
i sent you an e-mail this
morning, and we already knew
that Mr. Malcolm heinicke was going to raise the price back to $200,000.
Why is he dictating this industry? Why is he meeting with people?
if this is a true story and if
he is running this, all of it is just for nothing. It is sad.
They have to lose their money to come here and speak.
they have to pay $300,000 when there is no business in the city now. It is a different year now.
When the drivers are circling around the city hall and did not come to this meeting, what did you do?
You just scratched them and did
not pay even one word -- you
just crushed them.
Same thing is going to happen.
You are adding 200 more calves
next meeting, crushing the drivers, but when the companies came and met with malcolm
heinicke and gave him the
indication they would go for a lawsuit, the price came back.
Why not cut $300,000 back to $250,000?
Why can you not run muni from some other source? why our pocket?
Why everything for the muni drivers?
Why the taxi driver money to feed you?
You are incapable, or they are making you incapable.
>> I guess I do not like very much the mood over the years,
but I think if director
heinicke makes an amendment, it will be followed. In this case, I sort of like the
amendment. Big improvement. i do not know -- this whole
idea of income strings from the taxi business is ultimately corrupted.
There is no satisfaction.
You find a problem and you go and pick it -- the average
salary in this business is $25,000. somebody gets $250,000 after
working 20 years is not getting very much money. You are raising the ceiling up
to $300,000.
There is no particular reason for it. Has the cost of living index gone up $50,000?
And then you want to not give any of that money to the drivers who have been driving for 20 or 30 years.
You are just playing with
arithmetic.
You are not dealing with any kind of reality about what is
going on in this business or the reality of what effect it will have on the drivers. What I really want to talk about is the driver'
s list that I think is a very good idea.
He seemed to be committed to
giving cabs the list.
I think you should throw this back into a couple of town hall meetings would be the best thing.
chris hiyashi is the only person with knowledge to run it. You might be able to come up
with something.
With your private plan, you had a consensus. You cannot.
-- you do not now. You just brought this out of the blue on us.
it needs to be worked through it once had the cab drivers. That is what you have to do. Thank you very much.
>> [Reading names] >
]
-- >> good afternoon, commissioners. I believe the community is an important part of local government.
There was mention of another potential committee to oversee the driver fund.
i would just hope that maybe in the regular report -- maybe there May be a regular report
back to the board of directors. We are short on time.
In regards to the current process, I am not sure how you guys are going to work out the
program with the waiting list.
i came back to the industry after you closed the waiting list.
I assume at some point that it got cut off and we will pick it back up somewhere else.
I do not see how the city would
after a successful pilot program take it away.
The program is here.
It is just a matter of tinkering with some of the nuances.
My suggestion would be to continue to work out some of the minor details before we come to
a final solution because there
are still some changes that have happened in the last three weeks that probably could be worked
out.
director nolan: next speaker please.
>> [Reading names]
>> good afternoon.
I have been a cabdriver in san francisco for just about 20 years.
I raised a family around this business.
i am very close on the list, and
I was wondering if this board could put in the amendments for
people on the list.
Is that a possibility?
Director nolan: we will#wz discuss it.
jf>> for example, on the italian
sales by city, the wording has
been changed from "shall
continue" to "May."
is there any way that could~r be put back?
Director nolan: what number are you on the list? We will discuss it.
>> I am 11. Of my friends who did it have got them now.
The idea -- I think cabdrivers are assets. A lot of times, we are like ambassadors for the city. We are the first person they talk to. We bring them down to fisherman' s wharf. We bring them wherever. I love my job.
I started 22 years ago and have not looked back since. I hope you take this into
account, that I planned my life around getting this thing.
Director nolan: thank you, sir. We will talk about these for sure.
>> good afternoon. I am President Of national veterans cap company. First of all, I would like to
say that I think the amendments that were offered are an improvement to the proposal
director reiskin brought forth to us.
I am particularly concerned with the process and the way this
came to be brought before you can be brought before us as an industry.
When we set up the pilot
program, there were a number of town hall meetings, and we had several key problems we had to address.
One was house somehow to qualified people on the waiting list.
Many had no credit or bad credit. To purchase a medallion.
How to get a quality lender to engage on this process with them.
one of the key elements was to
set a price point where the seller could find it attractive enough to withdraw from the
industry and at the same time, the buyer could see this as an attractive proposition for himself.
We said that price point of $250,000 very carefully.
It was one that the entire industry basically contributed
to in terms of input of what their thoughts were. Many people thought it was too low.
Many people thought it was too high.
But people expressed their point of view. The point of view that this particular proposition has been brought before us in many ways I
do not think reflects the input of the industry.
I would say finally that the most important potential source
of revenue we have not tapped is
improved service on the part of "e this industry to the public. If we could partner together to
do that, the demand for taxicabs
is going to increase enormously. Thanks. >> [Reading names]
>> good afternoon, directors.
I think what you are getting here is something that I think
you should take really to heart.
This industry feels, and I think
rightly so, that decisions are
made behind closed doors without any real input from this industry.
The process and the way this
came up here -- we had to do some very hard lobbying in the last week because it was put in front of you and written up behind closed doors and
presented to us now in such a short time. That is disrespectful to the industry and the taxi advisory council that wants to help the
mta move in a smart direction.
We all inherited a system for 35 years that essentially gave the medallion to individuals to operate on their own.
When we transitioned to something else, we have to respect the fact that no one had a choice in the matter in the way the system was previously.
when the industry here is that we will only give you half the value of the medallion and charge a 30% fee on top of buying the medallion for
$200,000, it shows you do not
really respect us, our families, and the system we inherited. I am the first person to say we need to transition to a buy and sell system. I have been yelling and screaming that for years, but let'
s respect the industry smartly without throwing people under the bus. You'
re going to make $200 million. Let' s respect the existing medallion holders and the value
that they have, and let' s not profiteer and basically charge someone 20%. It is unheard of. I have never heard of someone
buying something for $300,000 and being told they will have to
pay a 20% fee when they sell it again.
No other city sells a medallion
and gives a 20% fee.
because it is perceived as if you want to profiteer on us. That is the problem.
This is why this industry is upset -- no inclusion, no
respect, and profiteering. Thank you. [Applause]
>> [Reading names]
>> good afternoon, directors.
Mr. Reiskin , I have a question. I do not know if you are allowed to respond.
You are the director of the mta board of directors. Have you ever gone to your
computer and typed in a global
search, the transfer fee on a
medallion in seattle or chicago or boston? Have you ever done that?
Director reiskin: this is your time to talk to us. >> it is nothing close to 20%.
The national standard is between 4% and 7%.
This proposal plans to keep the
profiteering status quo of 20%
and act like you are bringing it
down. It is ludicrous. It is crazy.
If you want people to sell the medallions, they have to have some sort of incentive to do so.
$150,000, $200,000 -- that is
not enough money to retire on, frankly. It just will not happen.
F*what is going to happen if you all vote on this is these old
guys will hold on to this until the bitter end.
the mta is taking too much of a cut. There is no way to retire on that. What do you do when you are 70
years old and have $150,000?
What if you live to be 100?
Finally, to the medallion holders in the room or those people on the waiting list -- put your medallion where your mouth is? You have jim gillespie from
yellow cabs here, and I support what you'
re doing here -- tim
gillespie from yellow cab -- jim
gillespie from yellow cab.
maybe it is time medallion holders put their medallion with their mouth is.
Director nolan: thank you. >> [Reading names]
Our last speaker.
Director nolan: good.
>> there just is so much to talk about.
this amendment is a 30-page document.
It is pretty much impossible for us to have gone through this 30-
page document and come up with any solution. I think you should reject this
plan right now and have some
town hall meetings where malcolm
heinicke and director reiskin show up at the town hall meetings and listened to what the drivers are saying and their concerns. All the other plans we have
discussed have included half the medallions at least going to those drivers on the list to have changed their lives. We' ve had no other choice.
For the last 32 years, there was no other option. they have made these career choices, and you are just throwing them under the bus.
As far as being assets to the
city, that originated from prop.
K which
says taxicab permits are the property of the people and city of san francisco and shall
not be sold,, or transferred.
The spirit of the statement was not to make them a revenue source for the city. It was to give them to taxi drivers and have them as a
revenue source for taxi drivers.
Now the mta is competing with cabdriver' s for the medallions themselves, who have been
waiting all their lives for this
promotion, and now the city wants to take that away and use it for their own revenue. The priority seems to be making
revenue for the city and not
fostering quality cabdrivers and encouraging cabdrivers to stay
in the industry.
there is not enough time to talk about this.
It is why I think we need a better process than this. This was just sprung on us at the last minute.
>> [Reading names]
Director nolan: good afternoon.
>> I am a medallion holder. I have been a driver for many years. I do not get it.
I do not get it at all.
I do not see where the vision is with this. It seems like these are ideas that are just being thrown out there.
I see nothing about any of this that has to do with customer service.
It is not going to do anything for the customer that will better their service. At a time -- we are at a time where we have real competition.
Putting a heavier debt and
charging more for a medallion just does not make any sense.
from a business point of view, none of this makes any sense.
Shutting out the drivers that are on the list, cutting them out does not make any good sense at all, either.
By adding medallions and bringing in drivers who are inexperienced, it will add to
the problem we already have in the industry. An experienced drivers.
-- unexperienced drivers and a low level of service.
The changing from "shall" to
"May" is just an abomination. I do not know how I could look at bill, who I have known for 25
years, and who has changed his entire life to get a medallion,
just to have it taken away like that. It is a shame.
[Applause]
>> [Reading names]
>> good afternoon, commissioners.
i always look at this as a celebration. A lot of people that had medallions that were not able to
sell them or get any money for
them -- now they are able to.
If you take this whole deal about a lot of people who are
speaking up here are medallion
holders -- when you look at the situation, medallions, when you have them, you just do not get them for free.
You pay taxes on them all the time. When you purchase something, you get to have a right off on the
interest that to purchase something, so I do not really see the difference in someone that is getting one for free or someone that is going to buy one because they are able to get to
have that right off -- write- off.
When you buy something, you have
an interest write-off for it for
an extended period fo time -- of time.
People who have been wondering what they will do with their medallions -- now they have an opportunity to sell them and have something where they had nothing before. I think this is a good thing. I think it needs to be turned up in some ways.
Raising the price, and lowering the fee could be looked at even
more, but it is a movement towards the right way, the right direction. We need cabs on the street.
We do not have any soldiers to
fight these, and I hope you
support these today and we move forward immediately. Thank you.
Director nolan: next speaker.
>> emile lawrence, 1978, so do the medallions in san francisco.
They traded like stocks until they were manipulated into bankruptcy. That is what happened. Those are the facts.
If you look it over about the medallion program in san francisco, you see 5000~r people that drive taxis.
Up to 3000 on the taxi list. What do you do?
You shall or May consider people
on the list.
I put in 14 years of making very
little money only to find out,
as you got closer to the to jt &e%ei the list, you were now going to
sell them to the highest bidder,
but they do not even have an asset.
What they have is a permit,
still controlled by the mta.
still money going into your checking accounts and not ours. I thank you for your time.
L!X>> the last person who has turned in a speaker card.
Is there anyone else who wishes to speak --
director nolan: ok, ok, ok, let' s go.
>> when I first came up to present, I was a little bit
flustered. The whole procedure today was not really clear. I was not aware I would be speaking because I did not see it on the agenda.
There is a lot I could say and a lot of folks have already said.
as an industry member, as a company owner, I want to say at the very least, you should postpone this vote until next meeting. The taxi advisory council has
spent countless hours getting recommendations from people who have spent decades in the industry and know what they are talking about when it comes to what the industry needs.
the reason I am asking you to postpone your vote is at the very least, this is the first
you have received a draft of our
proposal and our assessment. At the least, have a chance to
read over that period I know that will be distributed to you
soon -- at the very least, have a chance to read over the
-- that.
I know that will be distributed to you soon.
Have a chance to read that over when considering all the lives of the people in this industry.
As one speaker said, you have people who want to look with
you, who want to cooperate with the mta and better in the industry. You have a lot of folks who want to impart knowledge on you who want to help you out so you can
make better informed decisions. I think you should take advantage of that.
Director nolan: ok, the public
comment period will be over if there is no one else who wishes to address the board.
>> does anyone else wish to speak?
Director nolan: go ahead.
>> today, I drove my full shift,
and I had a really great day. I helped a little old lady in and r
q) Calves, helped a
blind guy get from point a to point b.
F*it is a rewarding job, and I am
kind of glad to say that I made the decision that there' s really not a future in this business
for your average working person.
That is what this amounts to. it is a nice job to have if you need to make a little bit of money and work on other things, and ultimately, that is what I
have decided to do.
In a couple of years that I have
been attending town hall meetings and doing whatever i
can, I feel
that the agency and the industry -- it is an old cliche, but it focuses mainly
on the cab companies and what is
good for them, what is in the
interests of the regulating
agency and what obviously concerns the medallion holders. the majority of the business
was made up of thousands of cabdrivers who were not medallion holders. For those people, there really is no future in this business.
I have decided that while I still am at an age where I have ANr opportunity to go do something different, that is what I have decided to do.
It has been a pleasure to serve you guys and come to these
meetings and everything like
that, and I hope that as you go
forward, you will remember that
most of this industry is not
being represented here I hope you will consider that as
your issue.
I hope you will this vote of until the next meeting.
>> anyone else care to address the board?
>>
that is the second time she
has left me off and allowed me
to speak.
I steady
-- study
ied and talk
about it and if I have not been
told greatly by my passengers, thanks for the education, you can call me a liar.
This is not the mere factoid.
The city of constantinople made
it a lot outlying -- outlining the actions of politicians to garner favor with the use of
illegitimate cherry
drivers -- terry drivers. What you' re doing is so
profoundly wrong that it is common sense that you should not be doing what you' re trying to do.
It should not retire the list.
you' re trying to retool the san
francisco taxi industry after the new york model. Those are the politicians that you are enabling.
Some of you are recognizable as republican in what your doing.
you' re buying of the people who have been involved.
You should not be selling medallions at all.
If you Miss Second we believe
you must sell -- mistakenly
believe you must sell, the city
must be -- must not be collecting money.
if you mistakenly believe you should collect more than a nominal fee or putting your
agency in the probable legal risk and moral doom. The problem with your men meant as other people have pointed out
is it sounds as though your tweaking matters before rushing them through.
please go now against the material on your desk.
>> the public hearing is now closed.
Members of the board, we have
two amendments. Any comments?
Will go to the amendments.
the first one if you will like -- would like to restate this.
>> to amend the provisions related to the transfer or
turning in, surrendering of them
existing medallions.
this would not affect
subsequent purchases.
The revenue share
would be 2
# -- two-thirds of the purchase price.
The
remainder going} the second amendment -- >> lets do the first one. Comments are questions?
{_>> I will start.
As a lot of people have pointed
out, it does follow the guidelines we said in a pilot program which did seem to work really well.
I think this is a good change to
this proposal.
I am hap,= p&e%ei
>> all those in favor of the amendment?
Ayes have it.
so ordered.
>> this is on the eventual sale of the medallion which would happen after this initial
transfer after a medallion is issued for sale when it is
resold by the now-purchasing owner.
It would change the transfer fee down to 20%.
relatively consistent with the
pilot program.
Chairman Nolan:
the ayes have it.
The recommendation as amended.
>> I am happy to -- I have a
question and comment.
>> I will go ahead and start. And want to thank everybody who came here and spoke.
Is always amazing to me how much we do learn in this.
I hear and I appreciate your call for us to delay a vote on
this but this has been looked at, this has been under way for a long time.
I feel like we do have enough information. We have looked at this enough so we can make a decision today.
A couple things we talked about
do stick out to me.
the list is such -- is such a huge topic and I appreciate hearing from those of you who showed up today who are on the list.
It is helpful to hear that point of view.
I like the idea of the>& downpayment assistance from the driver' s fund going toward those drivers who are on the list.
i understand that we could be
changing the way that we' re not
giving or awarding the medallions to the people on the
list with no cost but instead, we' re helping people to finance
the purchase of those medallions, the transfer of those medallions.
it is -- is a big concern ended -- a lot of us have been thinking about that a lot.
Can I have someone explain to
me what happens with the drivers fund? I understand with the first transfer of THExd medallion what percent goes to the driver' s fund. What happens going forward? What is the future of the drivers fund?
>> with the three-transfers there is 5% continues to go to the driver' s fund in terms of how the fund would be used.
That is something that between the mta and industry has not been determined.
There was an understanding that
through these various processes,
people or discussing today that
there would be some -- we would arrive at some consensus on how the funds would be used.
That has not happened today.
The funds are accumulating.
>> does the fund continued to
accumulate after this first round of medallion transfers?
>> every retrainsf
nsfer. [Unintelligible]
>> 5% would go into the fund.
>> what other -- one other I had questions on. What happens with the folks on
the list is somewhat of the elephant in the room.
You have talked about addressing this point at a future topic at a future time.
I would urge that that time be
swift because like our friend in the red sox jersey, he will have
to make a decision whether he buys a medallion which he will be eligible to do very quickly if this goes according to plan because we will follow the kehl
list -- k list.
If he could not wait to buy one, we should craft that quickly.
Under this plan he will be presented with the decision to buy rather quickly. Depending on what we do with that decision that we just
talked about, I, too, would favor looking at the use of the drivers fund for downpayment assistance.
I suppose there is a concern
that fund could be dwindled for
that but it would if there was -- if it dwindled by that, it would serve the people higher on
the list by virtue of going down the list for sales. That is something we should look at. That certainly is something
that our friends of the credit union or financing said it would appreciate.
It should be used only for
people who need the downpayment assistance.
I would also say that the
notions of having some group
that runs it , having investment- grade accounts and having input on how the fund would be managed would be wise.
Turning to the bigger proposal,
I favor it, which I am
sure comes as no surprise. Transition is difficult and we heard some of the growing pains that come with transition.
This is a proposal that will
move the industry forward and it is a proposal that addresses many of the concerns we have heard. Not perfectly but there can
never be perfect dressing of all concerns.
For drivers who are on the list , this creates a plan that will expedite the opportunity to PURCHASEq
realize the significant financial benefit of that.
I think it will also create a
long-term plan for financing these medallions. Thanks in large part to the folks at the credit union and
the fact we have set a fixed
price which in my opinion is lower than what the market price would be.
For drivers who are higher on
the list which is the most
sensitive group I suspect here,
I think I heard the Chairman And the director say they will address how this is going to be looked at going forward.
There have been some ideas talked about here and even if
there are no such ideas, this will expedite the chance for
them to get an
medallion.
Drivers who earn the right to buy that way.
Some proposals had seniority on the list being the determinant and I do not think that was fair. I think folks have ordered their lives and put their names on the
list, those of the folks who should get the first opportunity to buy the medallion and that is the way the director has proposed this and I agree.
For the bass group that is not here which is the citizens of san francisco,:
the people who ride cabs and people would drive the streets and people who take transit, this will create a
meaningful exit strategy for
older and disabled drivers who we have heard for years had no reason to give up their
medallions or work unsafely
driving the streets or
committing waybill fraud or both.
this will create a
revenue source for the mta. Some people decry that but there
are significant financial needs
of this agency including tax
enforcement and other changes that will allow taxis and other cars to move about the city more freely.
to get to the point that one of
the speakers made about the
limited impact of service, this will allow us to have a stable
system in place as we proceed to
the extent where believe in the
room -- reform package which is how we can assess whether we have enough taxicabs on the
street how to meet the demand and how to meet the dispatch needs. I favor the proposal for all those reasons and would be happy to move at.
Chairman Nolan: as the recession -- a second? Discussion? >> I thought a lot about the
idea of of postponing this.
I am not convince that more time will change a lot of this.
The proposal allows for areas I am concerned about.
}i it is an important item. The drivers fund is something we
have not paid nearly enough attention to and we should. I am ready to call the vote.
All in favor? Opposed?
The ayes have it.
we will come by the next items. 12 and 13.
>> do we go to closed session first?
>> item 12 makes -- amends sections of the san francisco
transportation code and that will not read through everything that it does.
item 13 amends the transportation code and establishes fines for new violations of the code regarding motor vehicles for hire.
>> are you doing a presentation? >> thank you.
This is the same item that was
before you in June.
We heard a lot of concern from
the industry over not having
enough time to review and preliminary concerns. At your direction, we continue
the item and went out and
solicit feedback and our -- we' re back with the revised item incorporating as much of that feedback as we thought appropriate.
i do want to suggest one change.
From what we propose based on
some feedback we got subsequent
and this has to do with section 1106. These are notifications we had
required in terms of notifying us each month of lawsuits,
claims of any kind.
It was somewhat broadly written which would create a burden on
both the industry and on us.
We would like to -- I would like to suggest for your
consideration an amendment that would change what we have
proposed to the following.
This is in section 1106.
Which would require color
schemes -- resulting in property damage or bodily injury.
we have significantly narrowed what we are asking for in terms of reporting each month to those things that we feel like we
need to minimally -- need
minimally to do our regulatory
function free otherwise staff is here to answer specific
questions .
Item 13 is establishing fines to
implement based on legislation previously approved by the mta board.
Staff is here to answer any questions.
Chairman Nolan: let' s go to the overall item.
An amendment has to be offered by the member of the board. Would any member care to offer that amendment?
Is there second? Ok.
The discussion -- we need to the public first. We' ll open it up to the public.
>> [Reading names]
>> neither are here.
Emile lawrence. Noit
t here.
Charles rathbone,
ANDf* jim gillespie.
>> allow me to
say thank you to your staff for incorporating in
this item many suggestions that
we made during the taxi town hall meetings.
those hours were long but there were well spent and much appreciated, particularly the
chains that director reiskin just made.
We have one other concern and
that is with the scheduled fiennes.
On the second page to the
bottom, the fine is $670 --
$617 to accepting gifts from drivers.
We believe this is too broadly worded. It makes a cab company liable
for frusen transactions that May occur between individuals that
we May not even be aware of and that we' re not party to.
To illustrate the problem, consider what happened at the
luxor cab office.
One of our long time drivers
brought in a beautiful chocolate cake to celebrate one of our staff members'
birthday.
there was no solicitation of the
cake, there was no quid pro quo
and about a dozen people enjoyed pieces of the cake.
Under this section would be
liable for over $600 in fines
for not producing this person pose the greatest gesture.
i would ask that that particular
section even though we are fully
in agreement with the purpose of
it which is to prevent abuses of
tips and gratuities, we would ask that be held in advance until your department has a
chance --
selection 1105 a10.
Seeking clarity of the language.
Chairman Nolan: next speaker.
Barry toronto.
>> followed by jim gillespie and
tarik mahmoud.
>> I May have
-- maybe losing -- wasting my time.
You' re not caring to understand how the taxi industry works.
i wish you would come to that taxi town hall meetings.
Bruce oka did go to some.
I did not agree with how he conducted himself but he took
the time to attend and understand what was going on.
It is important that some of you
besides malcolm heinicke get
some of these questions answered or see for yourself how operations work. Not just from one company but
maybe several or to go to the
town hall meetings or THExd tac if it is existing again. That is the question that should be resolved and you should hold an agenda item.
that is the one good thing that
nathaniel ford did due to agree the tax exempt it became a useless and a day. Regarding these items before you, there was a town hall meeting but the outrage was so
terrible .
the director decided information needs to get out earlier.
With regarding these, there has been little outrage and the
impact on the industry as great in some areas.
That -- [Unintelligible]
without more outreach. The average cab driver comes from a country where english is
f*not their first language, did
not get the american education, and understands the impact that these May have on their ability to do their business and do their job. You'
re making a lot of these cabdrivers' employees. There' s a lot of risk involved by treating these rules and regulations. also without the enforcement. They have not hired at the
investigators and they' re dragging their feet on this.
What is the industry gotten? I am concerned that this is moving too slowly in terms of helping the cab industry do a
better job in terms of customer service. the question you first asked is how does this improve customer service? Thank you. >> next speakers.
}I >>
no agent is allowed to accept or solicit gratuities.
i first drove in 1969 for looks
workout -- luxor cab.
I never paid for favors but I
want to give you a scenario.
A driver has got his money and
he is paying his money in and there' s no benefit there or anything else.
Some throw a
buck to the cashier to count them out. A lot of them to the gas man.
He will put the gas in and check their oil when they finish.
some drivers, not all through the mud driver.
The most abuse is there will have to pay extra money to get a
good captain drive and I can
tell you, I know some other companies, we follow that closely.
We fire someone for holding someone out.
Half of them are assigned shifts and have far side taxis. they' re not been told that to anybody.
And yet not all but many of them still throughout the book when
they throw -- when they' re at work.
This year -- this says if they' re caught doing that, giving someone a dollar, there
will be fined $600 and would like to see that revised.
chairman nolan: thank you. Next speaker? Not here.
>> are real 13 or 12? >> both together.
The one I want to talk about is
-- why is n
that no every driver.
it would be the long term lease
where they are not necessarily checking out.
That would be -- it needs to be included for safety.
More than anything else. I do not care about how many people drive but if we' re
putting the gas and the people into the same requirement, [Inaudible]
Chairman
Nolan: next speaker?
>> let me talk about this
1105 a10.
this prevents any personnel from taking anything of value from the driver.
And what you have heard here is ridiculous. They make it sound like it is about a chocolate cake or maybe
about somebody once in awhile throwing the book to somebody.
For every driver at these
companies is under the gun and
the vast majority of not 100%
are paying people off as protection money so they do not ill treated by that company and
that is typically $5 to $10 a shift. And if a driver what special
treatment, get out earlier, a
better cab, we are talking $10, $20 or more.
This goes on hundreds of times a day. It is in the rules, it is
against the rules and they' re worried they might get fined for it. I hope they do.
if you at their behest, she cannot change it.
There is no changing the rules here.
It is a question of the fine. That fine needs to be in there
BECAUSEsj} drivers in essence are
paying gates way BEYONDxd what they should be.
It puts other companies that are trying to do the right thing at a tremendous financial
disadvantage and it is not right.
This is ingrained corruption in this industry that needs to be
rooted out and not to be treated
with a wink and nod as it has been.
i' m about to speak out of turn.
What you did in that previous
decision is stripped the driver'
s fund of about $50 million that it would otherwise have received. Thank you.
>> Mr. Kim.
>> I think these rules and regulations were very well done. They took a lot of input from
the industry and it was handled quite well by staff. I support most of this.
There are some issues and others i have spoken about.
The process in coming up with these regulations was a good one.
Everyone had a chance to give their input. Something was put together and discussed. I want to talk about process again.
What I am upset about and I will tell you right now and there will tell the public, I will be your best advocate here to
support this agency in moving the taxi industry along. It is a long time coming.
Despite my concerns and
reservations, this is written behind closed doors.
I.S. Do what we go forward with
this, some people have given resignations.
i suggest have it vetted through this body.
Put capable people in the industry there.
Have them vet through these things and let them have input
before you put something here to be voted on very quickly.
There is not much time for us to basically say we want to change this or change that.
the board is going to do what is going to do.
Give us an opportunity to
realistically look at changes whether it is wholesale changes
for rules or regulations before the body looks at it. Be informed and have the industry give their input.
In this case here I support this legislation and I asked you in
the future let the industry have its rea !Nput before going forward. I think that is the biggest
concern this industry has which
is this lack of feeling of inclusion. Thank you.
Chairman Nolan: next speakers.
>> good afternoon.
I am a taxicab driver.
I saw lot of demand and changes good.
We are the servant to the public.
it is not the copany.
-- company.
We -- the problem is we do not have medallions.
I need a permit or licence.
Some people want my right eye can give them a ride.
now~y the direction is a good direction you' re headed to.
Cabdrivers are told to by a medallion. If they need a job, they want to have a stable income for the family.
This amendment change is ok. your office is not understanding
that gate and gas and long term lease drivers, they split it up.
This is iportant for our live.
Thank you ANDbw| make sure that they' re not being over a
stretch -- overcharged.
This is responsible by the medallion holder. This is the right way to do because of this guy won' t this medallion permits from you and
he had to respond -- responsible for how much gate he charged to
the driver who has to drive on the street. This is a good direction as well.
Thank you and this amendment changes good. Thank you.
Chairman Nolan: thank you. Next speaker.
>>
it is appalling that a
company like luxor or yellow cab
is being discussed of extorting drivers for.
Tipping -- for tipping.
Drivers are not exported to tip anything.
It has been a tipping business since I was 8 years old that I
can remember where drivers
shared with their dispatchers, their call takers about the tip
or their gasman for helping them out with cars or whatever.
It is not recommended, it is not
forced on, is a common courtesy to let individual if they want to share in what they have made for the day with people they work with on a daily basis.
that goes back to management exemption.
That is one of the items the
tac got on the agenda that never
got forward -- I do not know if she is our director but she never brought it to your
attention after we voted on it to have that done.
continuing to do that brings
people up on here to speak to you that have experience, educated to know what they' re talking about in the cab industry. It is a benefit to everyone of us including you to have that knowledge presented to us.
Talking about extorting drivers
is ludicrous. We have done}I everything to help our drivers with hybrid equipment to give them, save
money on fuel, to give them a quality car,r and to give them the most -- my job is to keep the meter on as long as I can for these drivers.
My job is to pick up the people of san francisco. I am not going to be slandered
when we do projectiles can act.
We do things for the city and county on a daily basis. We have the largest wheelchair
accessible van program in the U.S. And our customers are happy and we try to improve it daily on a daily basis.
Getting back to the reality of
the facts, the city needs more taxicabs. It needs to help the people of san francisco.
taxi stands are major issue in planting these programs and if
we do not do it, you have a set industry if we do not help out. Thank you for everything you have done. I know you' re tired and it has been a long day. God bless all of you.
F*Chairman Nolan: next speaker. >> I would like to speak about a
couple of things I have forgot about during my last times talking.
Since you people have taken over the cab industry, it has gotten
worse and worse and worse.
I am making $100 less a night than they used to make three or four years ago.
that is because of the situation' s going on. Everybody is paying everybody off.
I do not care about the company.
Brokers who are charging immense
amounts of money to lease out medallions and nothing is done. You do not care. You could care less.
Also with the limos and the town
cars and the pink cards, those people are ruining our business.
Taking all the rides and in front of the police. I was sitting on broadway and a limousine pulled up and ask somebody if it wanted a ride.
it would not get in my cab.
They got in the goddamn town car. That does not matter. You have done nothing about that. You' re letting it get worse, every week it gets worse and worse with more limousines coming in from out of town.
There is as many town cars and
limousines now have their taxis on friday and saturday. Thank you.
Chairman Nolan: next speaker.
>>
I wanted to make a comment on the -- I notice there is a fine
of $514 for tampering with equipment.
The rule is it would be for not
supplying taxi security camera
data to the sfmta.
I want to remind everybody that
it is illegal to record people pose a conversations without the
express consent and these
cameras that are in the taxicabs
to record audio and there is no way to tell whether they' re recording them or not.
It is also established through recent senate hearings in
california that drivers have the
right to disable these devices
and there is no easy way to disable these current cameras.
There is no on-off switch. You have to call them or pull the plug.
I think this needs to be revisited.
Maybe you need to make a fine.
If a taxi company installs a camera that is recorded audio, there should be a fine.
there is going to be some legal action soon if you do not do anything about it.
You need to step up and impose a
fine to cab companies to put
cameras in and recording audio. Terrace cannot be fined for disabling these devices. California law says we can. >> thank you.
>> I am coming in toward the end of this.
A major problem is it is difficult to address.
The witnesses against this would be working cabdrivers who would be fired.
there is an incredible amount of corruption in here.
I nearly died when I walked in
the room and heard john
lazar talk about and voluntary tipping.
He said the tip was $5 in and out. Still living voluntary is you
could voluntarily to the gasman $2 or not but he would not take care of you.
If you did}I not to appear right.
This is an industry standard. Nothing unusual.
It is hypocrisy.
There is only to companies I know that do not tip.
one is metro cab and the other is green.
And maybe the sadove -- desoto.
There has to be some way to if you are going to be giving these
people medallions, you have to be giving it to people who are not screwing their drivers if you will excuse my expression.
at
$10 or $20 a day.
Chairman Nolan: next speakers.
>> a few weeks back at the
outside lands, I was working on the day shift.
I dropped off and almost got a ticket but I did not. I got no tickets but as I was DRIVINGr
eastbound on fulton, another
taxicabs was dropping off
passengers for outside lands and
there was a dpt officer riding down the license plate as if he
was going to offer -- issue a ticket. The taxi driver was oblivious to the fact he was being issued a ticket.
{_I wish this would stop.
it was not a police officer who was issuing the ticket.
My assumption is that it was not a moving violation.
The cab driver was being cited
simply for dropping off on fulton street to outside lands.
My request is that when it comes to things like this is especially for the big events
where they do need public transit service that there would
be better coordination between
bus service,
dpt, and taxicabs. I asked if we could start thinking about other things
besides medallions and maybe some of the things we think about is when it comes to event
planning and how to service these large events that we can
include the taxicab industry representatives including
drivers to help coordinate the
sorts of things and please stop punishing cabdrivers just
because they' re providing transit services. Thank you.
>> next speaker.
>> good evening once again.
My name is emile
lawrence.
i am talking about the
requirement to give -- for vehicles to change color schemes. That is the number-one problem. If you go to newark city you
cannot get a cab between four and six because they are changing shifts. We'
re -- we have 1500 cabs.
500 are not available for pick ups. They' re changing the shift,
taking a cab in simply sell the market to get a new driver. They'
re not available at the hot spots when people go to dinner
between 4 and 7:00 P.M. Those caps are not available.
Soleil they' re requiring security cameras to be in calves. That is in there now.
I do not know if you have the approval from passengers to
have live stream information to the asaph pe and the mta.
I am not clear on that where the law stands. I'
m not sure where it is on a federal basis. It should be[:0nto.
we get no with information from sfpd on people that are committing murders nonstop in the city. If we' re going to do that maybe
we should make it a two-way street that we should}I have copies because a lot of
criminals in the city take
taxicabs all over town.
last is that the citations for
permit holders -- I do not know you mean by that.
You have changed almost nonstop in te2 with those proceedings are. Are they before separate tribunal? Are the before you?
It is not clear what that means.
part of the problem is for the
MAJORITYt(Of the last three taxi director pecs, the civil service
requirement and administrative analyst has been an attorney but
they picked an attorney instead. Thank you for your time.
>> thank you. Last speaker.
>> it afternoon.
as far as the issue of tipping
goes, it is contentious as you can see.
I tip guys when I get 10 bucks or 12 bucks.
if I do not like the dispatcher
will tip them less if I do NOTf* like the way they do their job or I feel they are an idiot.
If I like the guy I will take him more. That is just me. That is the way it has been since I have been driving.
That is me. Other drivers are different.
if there is an individual at a
cab company as a gatekeeper in
the position of power who is
found to accept giving cars away to people for $20 a shift,
$15, these are high numbers, those of the only people that are driving a cab on those
nights, they should be fined $600. They should be fined $1,000.
There are the gatekeeper controlling who goes out and
drive the shifts and if they are taking the highest bidder for
the shifts, instead of giving to the guys who are going to be
good drivers or take radio calls
or pick of handicapped people, you are doing a disservice to the city and the industry.
The regulation is good.
It protects against abuse.
The $600 fine I think that should be left in. Even though I May driver that tips myself.
I can see the situation coming where that would be useful. Thank you.
Chairman Nolan: the public hearing is closed on these items. The two items in general, do members have comments?
let' s go
to director reiskin' s amendment.
It was 10
116 -- 1106.
>> there is subsection 9 and less to do with requirements for reporting.
As proposed as written, which require color schemes to report
all lawsuits, notices, demands, claims of any kind involving
bodily injury or property
damage.
the proposal is to narrow that language.
The new language would say that
this would be in section 1106.
By the fifth day of each month,
each color scheme must file a report with sfmta listing each accident that occurred during the previous month involving
any taxi or -- affiliated with the color scheme resulting in property damage or bodily injury.
>> we need a motion and a second.
Chairman Nolan: all in favor? The ayes have it.
I am concerned about this one.
about the deaths, -- gift, the
gifts part of this thing. There is a division of understanding. I will see what other members of the board have to say.
>> I am happy to start.
This is something I know I have brought a lot when we talked
about taxis and the gift or tip culture does disturb me a lot as a lot of people have pointed out here today.
So many of our taxi drivers are recent immigrants and the come
from countries where bribes, graft, and corruption is a standard operating procedure.
I absolutely hate to think for
them that their first experience with american-style business is
something that is similar. I think it is easy for us to
understand the nuances between a $10 bill or a $20 bill and a slice of chocolate cake which is distributed among the entire staff but you have to put yourself in the position of someone who is new to this
country who might not understand there is the nuance and might not understand they' re not obligated to do that.
I stand firmly in favor of this language.
>> the language that is there is the existing language.
Is it changing to a fine level?
has your taxi department find anybody for bringing in a chocolate cake or doing anything like that?
The point coming back from the industry is to do not have a flat ban, it almost becomes a non-ban.
It can do one of two things. You can build exceptions into
the role and do it that way or you can keep a flat ban which
protect the people are -- that the director is talking about
and you are trusting officers not to find for chocolate cakes. I think that is fine.
>> the director has persuaded me. Do we have a motion and a second?
>> I have a motion to approve. >> is there a second?
Chairman Nolan: any further discussion? The ayes have it. Thank you very much. Closed session time. >> you have item 13.
Motion to approve? >> second.
Chairman Nolan: any further discussion? The ayes have it.
We are at the closed session.
>> there is a motion to conduct a closed session.
>> a motion for a closed session. >> second. All in favor?
f*
anticipated litigation with the city attorney.
Disclosing are not disclosing?
Chairman Nolan: all in favor?
We are adjourning in memory of
our employees who just died. Thank you.
>> thank you.