director :lee is present. mr. chairman, you have a quorum. please be advised that the reading of cell phones, pagers, and other electronic devices are prohibited. a person responsible for one going off in the middle of a meeting may be asked to leave the room. please be advised cell phones are set -- that are set on the buy right position create microphone interference. the board refects police -- respectfully requests libby set in the off position. chairperson nolan: is there a

motion to approve the minutes? all in favor, say aye. >> on 5, communications, please be advised that the closed session litigation has been removed from the agenda. item six, introduction of new or unfinished business by board members. >> two things. i wanted to bring up the pedestrian safety issue again and acknowledged the fact that since the last meeting we had a pedestrian fatality in the city in a crosswalk near gehry street. i know that last week there was the first presentation of the 15 mile per hour home zones to a community group. i will be interested to find out how that went. it will be interesting to see how the community group took

that suggestion of 15 m.p.h. home zones. one other thing. i was writing my book home this weekend -- i was riding my bike home this weekend at night and tried the new by klein's in division street, the physically separated lines. it has been six or seven years since i have ridden my bike on division street. those physically separated lines made such a difference. there were some bicycles in that little stretch and it was such a great connector. it closed a little gap in the route there that made it what normally would be a scary situation, and make it pleasant to ride those two blogs and turn onto 11th. that got me thinking about the increase we have seen in cycling of the past five or six years. it is a large increase. i think in the last five years, a 30% increase. chairperson nolan: at least that. there is a memo going out to the board to give you an update.

i believe it is on my desk not to be reviewed and signed. it may have been signed already. it outlines the significant progress we have made with the bike plan. we're well ahead of schedule of what was initially in the bike plan. that will also cover the particular improvement. director brinkman: it made me think if we had seen that much increase in redshift on muni, you would never get on a bus at rush-hour. if we had seen that much increase in car traffic, it would take twice as long to cross the city. it was a reminder we were able to increase the bicycle rider ship that much. to most people, it was probably invisible unless you're trying to cross crosswalks on market street and having to dodge some of the router cyclists. i am interested to see something like that on of unfilled. i think that is an equally important -- i am interested to see something like that on oakenfeld. that is an equally important gap

we need to fix. i have heard people say there will not ride bikes with children to drop them off for day care because they are terrified of that three block stretch between scott and the panhandle. that is the end of that. thank you. i appreciate the separated lines on division. fabulous. it would be great the beginning of the year next year to see some revenue measures come back to us, to take a look at them and have a fresh look. >> on the pedestrian plan, we talked about that last time. i believe will get a full report in the early new year. >> exactly. >> where we stand and what is planned. >> exactly. vice chairperson lee: two weeks ago, i had the opportunity to go visit some of the railyards that we have. i went to kirkland, peterero, wood station. i met some of the drivers to

talk about some of the issues and their concerns. i think the department for setting of the meeting. -- i think the department for setting up the meeting. the drivers and there were paraprofessional and voiced some legitimate concerns. -- the drivers there or paraprofessional -- the drivers there were very professional and voiced some legitimate concerns. there were some major issues raised. >> they were upset about the fact that we [unintelligible] >> when we did it, we did not look to the overall logistics of the parking in the facility. in some cases, we say they should pay if they are coming in, or they should take public transit. but some of these drivers start at 4:00 in the morning, and there is not public transit. >> i would consent with that.

chairperson nolan: anyone else have any new business? director heinicke: it is new and unfinished business. i see mr. haley is here. in my experience, the lrv service has been better in the last two weeks. i appreciated the explanation we have received. the public appreciated it. we have better understanding. we do not have another meeting in this calendar year. perhaps in one of the january meetings, it could be very brief. if you and roberta care to deem it a memo, ok. but i would like some public follow-ups on how john's fixes for those three issues have gone and how that affected service. at least in my personal view, i am -- we are not saying the same issues to work in october and november. i appreciate that. secondly, i will raise peak time

taxes again. i realize we're not going to be meeting, but some put we can have a follow-up with deputy director hiashi to see where we are on that. recent evenings in the rain have reminded me that our citizens and tourists who want to spend money are looking for taxicabs on friday and saturday night. finally, on the rain, i had the pleasure of writing in a cable car for my kids for most of sunday afternoon in the rain. we do not say it often enough. the cable car operators and coach operators -- the cable car operators were amazing, dealing with a crowded, what situation, making sure they got fares, and being courteous to our tourists and pointing out directions. maybe not knowing who i am, they were super nice to my children. in those difficult conditions, i was impressed with their attention to the customers and to safety.

an operator named fisher and several other people i met the other day -- thank you. you guys are representing the city well. >> thank you for bringing up the tax issue. i have been getting a number of calls from the public saying that we need more taxes on the street. the cannot get calves when they want them. i am not talking about red tabs. -- they cannot get taxes when they want them. i am not talking about red cabs. people are not getting the cabs they call in a timely matter. -- a timely manner. it is becoming a concern. i would like to look at how many more taxes we need to take care

of this service issue. and how we can mitigate the concern -- address the concerns of the taxi drivers. we have too many cabs on the street already. you're going to take more money out of my pocket. i have been hearing that since i was on the taxi commission. i think that is not going to stop. but i think i would like to take a look at where we need more cabs or how we address this issue. >> i will get back to the board first of the year with some analysis on that. we do have a plan for peak taxes. that memo is coming out to you also, which will lay out a plan to deal with that issue, taking into account some assessment of the utilization out there so we can do with the differing

opinions in terms of the number of taxis here in the city. chairperson nolan: a couple of things i would like to mention under this section. we all received a quarterly report on capital projects. it was great to see all the green lights. everything is going according to the plan. the funding -- i think that is really good news. the auditors from the transportation department are looking at us in terms of example project. i think these reports are very helpful. they are easy to read and understand. the work behind them is outstanding. so many things are going on schedule. there are three or four items on the agenda today, and overarching comment that has to do with the report we will see from the chinese for affirmative action about the failure of good faith in terms of hiring policies. we have before us today four items that are contracts we are

talking about. one is very large with the creek project. this effort is going through the city in terms of more and more hiring from within the city. i think it is something -- i would be interested to see, even water requirements we have, if we can accommodate the spirit and intent of this thing. there may be complications i am not aware of. i hope we increasingly address depth in these contracts. i think it is about $28 million. just fyi. >> item 7, executive directors report. executive director ford: good afternoon. i will begin a report of recognizing our staff for the outstanding service and contributions they have made to the agency. our first awards will be going to the transit services division. this award will go to sue fong.

could you please step up to the podium? she is a conductor at our cable car operation and has been with our agency for over 32 years. he has an outstanding attendance record, reporting to duty on time for the past 26 years. he also has an exemplary safety record with no accidents in the last 15 years. he is an army veteran who has spent time working at the veterans hospital before joining the mta. when he is not at work, he enjoys riding motorcycles and traveling around the globe. >> mr. haley. good afternoon. >> thank you for the certificate. i really appreciate it. i will be retiring next year and this will be on my wall. [laughter] [applause] >> congratulations. >> i was glad you were here to

here director heinike's words on the cable car stuff and i hope you'll take the back to them. executive director ford: our next award will go to jose mendoza. he is a transit operator on our grain division and has been with the agency for over 21 years. he provides outstanding customer service to our passengers, as evidenced in the numerous commendations he has received. he provides safe rides, operating for over 20 years without an accident. he is recognized as a role model and the green division, and often provides advice to new light rail operators. he enjoys reading and taking long walks. to present the award to jose is our director of transit services. >> congratulations, mr. mendoza, on behalf of the board and all of the people for the grid or to

have been doing. >> i would like to thank you for this award. and i would like to thank my family and friends, co-workers who are present to share this award with me. i have my wife, my mom. [laughter] my sister-in-law. [laughter] i have my superintendent and the president. also, mr. ramos was also an operator who retired in february. he is here and i would like to thank him for the advice he gave me when i first started. above all, i would like to thank the ones who are basically

responsible for this award, who were the instructors -- the safety instructors in the division, who taught me the skills, the defensive driving techniques. keep your eyes moving. make sure they see you. all the trainers who implemented the skills to me, especially mr. jon kaufman, who passed away. he was my trainer in the role who implemented the skills for me. lastly, i would like to thank, on this special occasion that is

coming up on december 25, the one who was born at this time, and who many years ago was given a name in the original -- it was the name shalom, prince of peace, the one who is born on december 25. i would like to thank him for his grace and goodness to meet. he has given me grace to this point. thank you for the award, all of you. [applause] executive director ford: in our capital programs and construction division, our next awardee will be drew howard. can you step up to the podium? [applause] drew is the office manager of

our capital controls project relations at the capital programs and construction division. he has been with the agency for 19 years. his responsibilities have included the project management segment heading the civil and over had engineering groups. he was the driving force behind the successful third street light rail jobs program, which has evolved into the city build a program. -- city build program. he is also responsible for the insurance program and is focusing to have the greatest opportunity for local and small businesses in terms of doing work with this agency. he has been the manager of our softball team as part of the workers' children fund annual softball tournament for the last 10 years. he has been with the project from its early environmental phase to open the t-line and mme facilities. he worked to address the major

impact this construction has had on the neighborhoods. he has two daughters and one son. he enjoys softball, camping, fishing, and bowling. he is a very busy man. the award will be presented by carter, director of our capital improvement programs. >> andrew j. howard the first, drwew, is one of our premier project managers. his dedication to the agencies suggest -- agency's success is highly commendable. he exhibits a style that is very disarming. it brings consensus among peers and stickle average. -- and stakeholders. he is very efficient. i give him a task that takes four hours for the normal human being this morning, and it took

him 10 minutes. i am honored to be able to present the award to drew howard. [applause] chairperson nolan: mr. howard, congratulations and thanks on behalf of the agency and people of san francisco. >> as a san francisco native who has been writing muni -- riding muni since i was knee high to a grasshopper, it is a privilege to be able to give my services over the last 19 years to muni, to be part of it. i also need to think my wife, clare, who is born with me and i have been at innumerable community meetings like it at night. maybe daddy will come to dinner tonight. it has been a privilege. thank you very much. [applause]