cannot make it down to your committee hearing or board. that is something that is very, very important to me. that's why you are here. you are here to represent the city. that city includes those that do not have stickers or buttons, that do not show up at 6:00 p.m., that also deserve your attention and your goodwill and your stewardship. those are really two points. otherwise, i'm very happy that you're here. i'm very thankful. thank you for coming down to city hall. supervisor duffy is sitting there with his arms crossed. what is it? are you ready? all right. anytime someone has his hands crossed, that means get going. they are shutting down. [laughter]

york physiology changed my standing up, and raising your right hand. when i say i, you state your name. why don't we go down here? larry will go back, and we will end with you. during such time, we hold the position of -- and then you will mention your respective commission board or body. is that easy? all right. you have your right hand up. i -- [inaudible]

i do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states, and the constitution of the state of california, that i bear trap, faith, and allegiance to the state, that i take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i am about to enter. and during such time, as i hold the position, as a member --

[inaudible] for the city and county of san francisco. congratulations, everybody. [applause] i appreciate how effective that was.

[applause] >> good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. today is a very special day in san francisco. it marks our celebration of the bicycle injunction we have been suffering under for about four years now. today, we are able to begin in earnest and aggressive bike plan implementation. divide plan implementation will increase the amount of bike lanes by 64% here in the city. we currently have 48 miles of land making us one of the most likable cities, and i think everyone recognizes that this is just another step in our

establishing ourselves as a world-class white city. with that, i would like to turn it over to our mayor, who has been a champion as we went through the legal battle we had to go through. -- establishing ourselves as a world-class bicycle city. gavin newsom thank you to the members of the -- mayor newsom: thank you to the members of the board that are here, to all the activism and intensity and passion that represents the people of the city that stepped up, step in since 2006. congratulations, and welcome to a new era of bicycling in san francisco. i think it is incredibly important and suggested that we sort of set the tone of bicycling in the city in this context, that since the injunction in 2006, remarkably, that basically shut us down in terms of being able to put up new bike racks for these boxes

or enhancing our bike lanes, we saw a 54% increase in bicycling. since the injunction was established, which is rather remarkable. meaning with no new enhancements, we saw a huge increase in the desire of pent- up demand to bicycle. what makes this so significant is that now, with this injunction lifted and the ability is now referencing the increase of 35 miles, another 45 projects to get us up to 75 miles of our network, to be able to move forward as we are today, to be able to do all of these things we have been wanting to do means that the growth is going to be exponential. you have seen this on valencia st. not a modest increase in the use

and utilization of bicycles once the bike lane has been put in, but a huge increase. talking anywhere from 200% to 300% increase in the use of bicycles once these bike lanes are established. we can conservatively estimate, and these are the numbers that the agency uses, that we would see a 50% increase in the utilization of bicycles when we paid -- as we stripe these bike lanes. you see that with the ability to enhance, and now, you see the enhancements, and that ability is going to follow and i think exceeded everyone's expectations. world-class city is a city that tries to democratize its streets, sidewalks, plazas, playgrounds, public realms. world-class cities now are competing for the best and brightest, and they understand the quality of life is that one differentiated that establishes

those that will be the leaders 5, 10, 15, 25 years from now. san francisco does not want to see its world-class status. -- does not want to cede its world-class status. means we have to be a city that is friendly to bicyclist. it means we have to restate that recognizes that we cohabitate. this is not the old days where it is about bicycles versus cars. this is about bicycles and cars. this is about, again, quality of life. i want to congratulate everyone who worked so hard to get us here. this took a lot of time, a lot of money, and at the end of the day, what did we prove? that you can delay things, but you cannot and things, so it is in the spirit of that recognition that there was a delay, but there is now a real progress that we are going to see things really take off. i'm really proud of all our team behind me and those that were

in the city attorney's office, the planning department, and other agencies. final point, what i think it's also important to note, when we had that partial injunction lifted a number of months back, you saw how quickly you part of public works went to work, the department of traffic went to work. mark my words -- you have seen nothing yet. they are ready to go, full-time commitment, a real energetic effort over the next few years. this is not going to be a big fish start -- fit/start. this is not something we're going to announce and and see people move away to complete other work. we will be doing along the lines of what portland -- i love portland, but i hate that they

are ahead of us on this. by the way, anyone in a sustained rain, we're always second in the country in terms of our environmental network because of the bike network. portland is finished. with all respect to the mayor, you are going down. this is the last piece of the puzzle that was missing. now, we are able to unveil this, and you ain't seen nothing. >> thank you, mayor newsom. we have a host of folks that were part of the effort to get us to where we are today. i see our director of sustainable streets is here. bridget smith, who heads up our sustainable streets effort, and she is doing a fine job. she has a great team of people working with her. another individual i need to bring up to speak to you today is our chairman of the mta, chairman tom nolan. [applause]

>> good afternoon. i'm very proud to be here on behalf of the board of directors, joined with our distinguished vice chair. tomorrow, if the board of supervisors votes correctly, we will have a new chair, so we are very proud to report of the -- part of this. our board has had to do some very difficult things, had to make some really tough decisions in terms of budgeting, in terms of service, all kinds of things, but we are proud of what we have been able to achieve. i want to tell you that this was not hard for any member of our board. our board was unanimously supported every step of the way through, working with others in the city to make this great day happen. on behalf of all of our board, very proud to be part of this, and we look forward to the events coming shortly to make this plan a reality for all of us. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. next, we have renee rivera from

the san francisco by a coalition. >> thank you. this is a great day for bicycling here in san francisco. we are beginning, as the mayor was just saying, a new era for bicycling and for san francisco. as the mayor said, we are not going to be number two anymore. we are well on our way to being the most bike-friendly city in the country and -- a real green city. nothing is holding us back. the mayor still most of my numbers that i was going to share with you. he is just a little too sharp these days. but i wanted to share a survey we did recently. we learned that one in two people in san francisco said they would like more if there were more bike lanes. as the mayor mentioned, we have seen a big increase in people biking, even with the very few improvements we have had over the last few years.

we also know that seven out of 10 people rode a bike last year, seven out of 10 san franciscans. all of that adds up to a huge demand for the improvements that the city is going to be rolling out this year and next. these 35 bike lane projects are all planned. they are funded. they are ready to go thanks to the amazing work of the mta. i want to particularly thank bridget smith and her team for all their amazing work in making sure that we are ready to go when this day comes, and they are ready. after a decision that just came at 5:00 on friday afternoon. i applaud them for being ready. you are going to see amazing things on the streets here in san francisco. we really learned a lot, even in the last few months, we saw the

improvements on market street. people have just loved the green separated by planes on market street, and now that the injunction has been lifted, we are ready to move forward and have those separated green by plans on market street go the whole length. they are all projects in the by plan, but you are going to see more than that. san francisco is to be going to be transformed, and the streets are going to be just a wonderful place for everyone to travel. i wanted to also thank the city attorney's -- attorneys, dennis herrera and his staff who did a really great job on getting us past the injunction. and i swear that is the last time you are ever going to hear me say that word. thank you all for being out here. we are ready for this new era to

begin, and you are going to see the city become, as the mayor said, the number one most by a friendly city -- bike-friendly city in the country [applause] >> supervisor mirkarimi, do you want to say few words? strong champion of our bike program. >> thank you. we just jam from the budget committee to get over here. i would not miss this for the world. i just heard someone echo mayor newsom's comments about how san francisco aims to be and is serious about being extremely bike-friendly, and this is a challenge to the rest of the united states that this is an urban pledge and one that we will see no retreat to. i'm absolutely delighted to be here today to see us moving forward. the only time of the three-year paralysis due to the bike in

junction where we were able to successfully see some injunctive relief was in my district, the fifth district, where the city benefited from the first installation of a dedicated bike light. we're all very appreciative of that innovation as well as when we put in a new bike lane. they are what is called the we go, a great bike route that goes in throughout district 5. today, this is about making it city-wide and making sure that we double the amount of our bike lanes within the city, and that we keep to what the vehicle counts are, and that is that each year, we are seeing an exponential increase of san franciscans and commuters who want to use their bikes in this city. great to be here. great for san francisco. thank you. [applause]

>> thank you. next, we would like to hear from the chairman of the bicycle advisory committee, burt hill. >> one of the important things about this network is that it is truly a network. it not only covers the downtown city of san francisco, but it also applies to the west side where everybody lives and a lot of people drive. from my house, from there to park for free in this facility was 20 minutes. cheaply with the bike lanes, safely, healthy, at very low cost. all the economics and time and efficiency support that, and that is what this network is all about, offering multiple forms of transportation to get where we want to get easily, quickly, and healthy. thank you very much. [applause] >> that was a good question period that ends our speakers. we would like to take any

questions you may have, and then we're going to quickly go across the street, and the mayor will be striping the first of many lines that will be built over the next few months. this topic only. >> but want to encourage anyone who is on the fence as a grand jury member to do so. as former supervisor and as mayor, it is equally valuable for people to participate as grand jury members -- to feel connected to the community in a meaningful way. this is a place where you can

feel the kind of connection as a member of the grand jury, who is out there working in the interest of all san francisco's and holding in check members of our elected departments that need that kind of direction and advice from real people, not people with an ax to grind. not people with particular self- interest, but people that want to make our city a better place. thank you for your inspiration. i am encouraged by the fact you have taken enough time to pay attention to this. i am hopeful that you participate in this process, which i assure you will have great meaning in your life. >> i am grateful for having had the experience of being on a civil grand jury, for the difference it has made for the city and in my own life, just being able to share the experiences i have had, to feel good about myself and what i have done for the citizens of this city. >> i found the grand jury

rewarding because of the seriousness of the work and the prestige it gave me, the prestige of thing many of our elected officials, department heads, and many government employees work very -- were very kind in extending to us. it was very exciting. >> what i found most gratifying was, first of all, being part of a group of 19 incredibly different san franciscans, with a different backgrounds, different amounts of education, all kinds of professions -- stay at home spouses -- it was a great mix. there were people i never would have met unless i had been part of that. the second thing that was incredibly interesting all year long were the investigations we were conducting with different agencies and departments of the city government.

pulling together all of our different viewpoints in each of our presentations, and all our information and data -- we put that into a report. it was incredibly gratifying stuff. i guess the third gratifying thing was that in our particular year, 2000-2003, we had a number of reports that really made a difference. >> the court is now accepting applications for the civil grand jury. this watchdog body is comprised of 19 citizens selected by my colleagues on the court. the grand jury is charged with conducting independent, confidential investigations of city departments, to insure these agencies are operating effectively and ethically. at the conclusion of its term, the grand jury publishes its reports and submits them to the presiding judge in to the departments that have been

examined. departments have to respond to the findings of the grand jury and present their response at public hearings conducted by the board of supervisors. these hearings great public awareness and media attention for the challenges faced by city departments and provide a forum for civil dialogue to propose solutions to issues confronting our government. reports about disaster preparedness, the department of building management, and the fire department have an influential effect on change in the improvement of city services. >> a new reports and valuable, not only as a mayor but as a member of the board of supervisors. poor me, it is always helpful to get a third set of eyes with someone else's perspective -- an objective perspective. grand jury reports provide that employee. i am someone that likes being

challenged in terms of looking more critically at what we are doing in the city. i think grand jury reports provide the critical eye. i think the grand jury report that was most important from my perspective represented the first day i was in office as mayor. that was the report done years ago about the readiness of our disaster plans in san francisco. one of the recommendations that was made was to update our emergency operations plans. there were a number of specific -- specific recommendations we have completed. the consequences -- we were in better shape from a planning perspective because of the grand jury and the work that was done in that report. >> the grand jury axe as a city watchdog to work that city agencies cannot be focusing on. over the years, and asking the

tough questions that otherwise are not being asked. the civil grand jurors have the ability to ask questions of anything that they want within the city government. they get to ask the tough probing questions that we need our citizens to be asking. >> to me, the best thing was the impact that was made on the knowledge of the city. >> one of the things that is mandated is to visit your jails. that was absolutely fascinated.

all of the jurors went out into the community and we observed a lot of precincts. it was a terrific observation. you get to meet most major officials including the mayor, members of the board of supervisors and their offices and department heads as well as having interviews with a variety of public and private sectors and many other agencies i don't know about.

>> the followthrough was set for a particular concern to our grand jury. the toss grand jury reports have been given a great deal of initial support and attention and it will not always follow through. this will allow future grand juries to track the project of support for key issue is. the mayor's office was very supportive of helping to develop this database and spreadsheet. >> we will begin to put things on line next year.

we are improving our accountability. >> we have a very substantial debate about the reform. there is a crisis in our pension system. in the jury, they take issues that for whatever reason, they're complicated. they do the analysis. at the board of supervisors, we hold hearings on the outcome of the findings of the reports. we can educate ourselves on the the good that we have done. >> i would say that the current board of supervisors seems to have an interest in implementing many of the issues that we

raised. the future of the grand jury is very good. >> if you love the incredible community that we live then and we want to have a role in making it better and help serve the public. i cannot think it better way to do this than to serve the grand jury. >> we all do what we have come to do continuity. continuity is making sure that any recommendations have been considered publicly. >> you think it is over there

are ramifications for all of the hard work you have done. >> hello. the court is now recruiting specific grand jurors. we're looking to have a pool of candidates. >> we want to provide a broad range of points on the civil grand jury. >> if you would like to work with others and it is yes dick citizens, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury.