[roll-call]

chairman nolan will be absent today. you do have a quorum. please be advise the ringing and use of self phones and other sound producing devices are prohibited. any person responsible for one going off may be asked to leave the room. approval of minutes for the march 12 regular meeting. a motion to approve? all in favor? there will be no discussion of anticipated litigation in closed session today. new or unfinished business? and board members? i do have one thing i would like to bring up. and now we're going to have the budget before us on april 3 and that wondering what type of outreach we have done in anticipation of some of the items regarding the affairs and

fee increases. i would hate to get there and have increases without first knowing there was some kind of community outreach. >> the outreach has largely taken the form of the march 3 budget hearing. and we have had four of those and the fifth one is tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. at the waldorf school. we have been putting out information and getting feedback via e-mail. i have been meeting with individual members of the board of supervisors and there has been right up in the media, but

that is the extent so far. there has been as much non- budget discussion and talk and feedback as there has -- very little on the proposed budget ideas. i can't say we've gotten a lot of feedback. >> when we do have the budget before us, i'm assuming the items that include changes will have some kind of idea how it will be ruled out. those are the ones i am most concerned about. >> we will do that between now and the third. i should add we do have our

budget presentation before the budget and finance committee wednesday, the 28 and we -- once we have put together our budget package which will be published next thursday, we will be making sure the information is out in the media and other forms and i may try to do a roundtable to make sure we get a good media coverage so folks know what is in the budget and can choose to submit comment or appear on april 3. we will make sure to have information on how anything that is a change will be rolled out. >> item 7, the directors' report.

>> a good afternoon. -- a good afternoon. members of the staff and members of the public, madam secretary -- a few very briefings to report out on. what does something we're very proud of that you will be to -- sf park has received a number of forms of recognition, including 2012 excellent and it innovation award presented in washington d.c. last week by the american council for technology and advisory council. we were recognized for pioneer

race -- pioneering the most advanced system for use of sensors and new meters and real time parking and the demand response of pricing and for the goal of reducing congestion and benefiting the transportation system. a very big honor i reported recently on -- just last night, we have an award for the whole team -- they were honored by the city municipal government awards. this is a process facilitated

and the board has of the previous directors of it. it's kind of a big deal in municipal government. it is the highest recognition you can receive and the city. ed harrington won a lifetime achievement award. they created a video we should put up on our web site, but yet another high honor for sf park. the world's eyes are upon us and what we are doing, largely in a favorable way and i want to commend the staff folks, including the ones who are recognized for their groundbreaking work.

sunday streets -- i should have mentioned in my last report. they had their kickoff of that on march 11. it was a 5.5 mile route along the embarcadero. the skies cleared and people came out and it was a very good day. we have no issues in terms of parking control or manage and. we had folks out there doing on the spot out of reach and data gathering, it was a great and successful event and we look for to the same kind of success on april 15 in golden gate park. the sunday street season is officially open.

the last item as we have scheduled our centennial kickoff. it was on december 28 that muni was founded the first real public transit system and the country. this is our centennial year and we are kicking off on thursday april 5 at 10:00 with an event that will be led by senator dianne feinstein who is chairing the centennial committee. she supported both the cable car system and bringing streetcars back and has continued to be a strong supporter. i had the opportunity to meet with her a couple of weeks back and she asked detailed questions about the fleet -- she is very

dial them and we are are to have her leading the effort. what we will be doing is introducing back into the fleet car no. 1 which first appeared on the streets in 1912. it has been meticulously restored. it is waiting for this event and we will be able to take a ride up the embarcadero and it will be back in service. that is april 5, 10:00 on the embarcadero. we will do that and from of the market street railway museum and i look forward to seeing you all there. >> any questions or comments?

>> i had one question asked of me which i did not know the answer. we have been doing a fair amount of work and getting support from legislators about disabled parking placards and the abuses thereof. one of my neighbors says he is convinced someone using a parking placard in his neighborhood is not actually disabled. the question was a procedural one which is is there something a concerned citizen can do when they see what they think is disabled placard review -- placard abuse. my immediate thought was to call 311. if that's right, i thought that

a be a good opportunity to remind the public that is what we would like them to do. >> that is absolutely correct. they should gather as much information as they safely can and they will for that to the police department as appropriate and we would encourage people to do that. hist but it is not always evident why someone is legitimately entitled to having that kind of placard but there is no harm in reporting any suspicious activity and we would encourage fuel to do so. >> they would not be required to leave their identification. >> that's right. they always ask but never require. >> thank you. i will add my congratulations for the recognition and rewards.

a number of us were in washington d.c. and most of them already have heard of the board going on and those who did not got a quick update and lessen and everyone found it fascinating the eyes of the country are definitely on us, so congratulations. >> moving on, i do not see the chairman here today, so there is no report from the advisory council. this is an opportunity for public to address the board. two people have turned in a speaker card. >> good afternoon.

and the president of to set a cab company. i'm going to direct my comments today to talk about an issue i think is one of the most primary concerns of the taxi industry. we just deployed a brand new dispatch system which is excellent. i think our services are going to reflect at and i am happy to announce we will be able to take more calls from the neighborhood and it is an excellent system. we are in a situation right now since i have been involved in the industry almost 14 years, one-third of the taxi cabs right now are not run by a cab company, they are run by brokers and individuals who are not held accountable and who are exploiting taxi drivers and have

have proper insurance. this is an all-time high and i'm going to make a prediction. if we do not in force and create high standards, there will be serious accidents of people who are not licensed and we've bill have crimes was not just bandit taxicabs, people who do not have the proper license to do so. this must be addressed immediately and if we do not, the public safety is going to be affected very strongly. we are already seeing it. one of the things the city needs to do is hold the industry accountable -- cold high standards for cab companies and medallion holders and cab drivers. if we do not put standards in place, we have an industry not being held accountable, doing

what everyone, and that's why we don't have the professional level of service we need. thank you. >> thank you. i would endorse the remarks. at the last meeting, we talked about the medallions for cab companies and how this was stealing the future of over 500 cabdrivers who will be condemned to a dead-end job of the benefits for job security while this agency will gain 12 to $15 million more in permit fees. this constitutes a direct conflict of interest and you are putting our own interests ahead of those people you are charged

with regulating. when taxi regulation was transferred to the mta, many of our agency was scared. they solemnly declared the tax the agency will not be a cash cow for the mta yet here we are. when you took over tax regulation, everyone knew it was about getting around the will of the voters. some of us were nice enough to believe you would recognize the stark contrast between bus drivers at a cab driving. a world apart in wages. we do not regret it more privileged workers their jobs, pay and protections that we do not expect to achieve all they have for cells. but instead of starting us in staff's proposal would move as backward, taking away opportunities for

closing of futures. do you see the injustice in that, do you care, or is the bottom line your one concern. >> is there anyone else who wishes to address the board? >> good afternoon. i represent employees that work at the mta. i was expecting to see an ally here with power and wanted to speak briefly about free transit passes for youth program which is currently being considered. it seems there are a number of options regarding this issue and i want to say on behalf of our organization that we give our blessing to free passes to use to the extent funds can be found and allocated for this program.

i understand there is federal funding available and it is time sensitive. it should be presented to you at the next meeting so it could be considered and voted upon. on behalf of our allies, i would encourage free passes for use be considered. >> that is the last person has turned in a speaker card. >> moving on to the consent calendar -- directors -- and number of the public has asked 10.2 be severed. shall we go ahead and vote on the rest of the consent calendar? to have a motion to approve? >> any opposed?

thank you. with regard to item 10.2, this has to do with establishing parking on cesar chavez street. member of the public, marine -- laureen navarro. >> good afternoon. thank you for taking the time to hear public comment today. i'm here to address the project which includes the recent changes to establish a tollway parking on the sell side of cesar chavez. speak on behalf of my parents and members who live on the affect it blocked relief found out about this on sunday which did not give enough time for many people to attend them person.

the projects were changed in scope and not communicated to the residents affected by this project. we learned about this change by accident as result of an engineering hearing that was postponed to february 17 because the postings were not placed on our block. the failure of city agencies discredits the products planning process and the residents now believe this was done on purpose to get the new plan approved quickly and quietly with little to no community feedback or involvement. how else could a year was no communications passed? we generally support the redesign efforts that we are forced to struggle with the negative impacts included -- including the difficulty of obtaining door-to-door services, grocery services, especially for seniors and disabled residents as a result of parking restrictions, helping the

seniors and disabled residents of the house. we are forced to load and unload from the street risking a parking citation. a dangerous reeling is used by bicycles and an increase in traffic speeds and increased to our safety and loss of services. i have a list of all of the residence on our block to sign this letter which i would be happy to give to you. >> thank you. could we have a brief staff comment on this item? >> thank you. is this -- my understanding is cesar chavez bicycle changes,

this was not part of that are this is part of that? >> good afternoon. i am with sustainable streets. these groups of changes are for the cesar chavez west project. you may remember we gave a detailed presentation about a year ago. the other project is the other side of the interchange and some of those proposals will come to you at the next meeting to finish off the improvements we are proposing for the bike lane from that point east. this particular project is on the west and nt previously approved the package of improvements here.

these are additional fine-tuning type of details we encountered during construction and design. most of it involved adding additional bolts on the corners and raise crosswalks to emphasize the nature of the cross streets that traffic will be entering. this particular proposal involves the last block of cesar chavez just before the on ramp flares off to the right and side and that is to accommodate the bike lane that will help go through the interchange and emerge on the other side of the street.

>> how many spots? >> we're talking about a couple of spaces. it could continue through the interchange and come out on the east side. >> i have two questions -- why wasn't it part of the plan originally? the plan was presented and the neighbors are giving and -- given the opportunity for input. i did not hear an explanation as to why this was added. it doesn't seem like it's a great many spots but it appears there are several neighbors and have concerns that they did not have a chance to get them expressed. i want to make sure their concerns have been heard. but why was this added? >> this last part of the bike

lane was always problematic. it is difficult in terms of accommodating because of the geometry. i don't think it was finally decided when we presented the design to you. the other changes mostly on yours and the north side where we are shortening the crossing distance for pedestrians and raising the crosswalk to be raised. these changes act as a gateway for turning off the main arterial on to the neighborhood streets straight >> i don't think that is their concern. they are concerned they are losing parking spots and from

other residences and the answer as i hear it is to make the bike lanes safe and that's not something that was understood to be the issue when the plan was first presented. do you think having more discussions with them might lead to a better alternative for is it just the case that the bike lane is the bike lane and there's not much you can do other than remove parking spots. >> the other option is to remove one of the traffic lanes. approaching the on ramp leading to the other side -- i suppose the residents would say the other option is not to have a bike lane there but that led sacrifice along by claim for a small piece of real estate. >> that is correct. you will find that the next

meeting is one of the most major crosstown by crowds that we have connecting from the beach to third street. it is a major bike route that it will help encourage bicycle riding throughout the city. >> if we approve this, what kind of time frame are we looking at? >> within the next four or six months. >> there is time for neighbors to get used to the idea for notification to go out. i don't see the option of trying to remove a traffic lane. that's going to be disruptive. i do appreciate the neighbors' concerns but i have confidence in our