be protected? >> good question. there are two things that we try to do with candidates. number one, we ensure confidentiality will be maintained up until the time they come to san francisco for a face-to-face interview. once they come into this building or whatever building we're going to use then all bets are off and we don't know who they're going to run into, who is going to hear about it. we protect the confidentiality up to that point. we advise candidates when they need to release that information to their current employers so we give them coaching around that, when it's necessary, how to do it, how to keep the lid on. the preliminary references that we do is always done with individual who is will not jeopardize an individual's current employer so we're not talking to people like that. final references done with

those individuals. we abide by the open records laws, and the sunshine laws and i think in san francisco we haven't talked to the city attorney about that or your counsel about that but the open records laws and sean -- sunshine laws protect them up to appointment so we're not in a situation where every transmission of information is available to the general public. if that is the case or that becomes the case then we change the strategy around a little bit so we can help to protect the identity of the candidates, not necessarily the backgrounds, but the identity of the candidates by still abiding by those laws. >>i think one of the strengths of your team is the tremendous community involvement and

searches that you done. i find it interesting to the work you did in l.a. and many nonprofits. my hope is as our diverse communities expect topnotch transportation selection processes like this that we can involve them in as many of the aspects of the profile and the competencies that we can and i welcome a number of stakeholder groups and give you the recommendations as we sit down to one-on-one conversations. >> thank you. >> thank you. commissioner wiener. >> thank you mr. chairman. i am looking forward to working together. it's an incredibly important search for san francisco and our future and i look forward to that process, and i also apologize that i have to head to another hearing after i make this comments. i am hoping that we can resolve it so

it's not a standing conflict in the future, so i am glad to hear that you start locally and expand nationally. i don't know who is applying but i think we have strong internal talent at the ta but it's good to cast a broad net and i want to make sure if there is that exceptional candidate in south carolina or somewhere else we're not missing the opportunity to at least speak with that person. i also want to stress that this -- i think that the heads of all transportation agencies -- it's always interconnected with many agencies working together but in san francisco and the bay area and particularly this agency i think it's more so and one of the challenges in san francisco around transportation i can't remember whether it's 28 -- we have too many transit agencies

in the bay area and it causes a lot of challenges around -- we are a region and our focus at the transportation authority is san francisco first but also regional connections and making sure we're working well with all of the other agencies in the bay area so it takes a special kind of person to be able to navigate that. in addition internally in san francisco any land use and transportation are linked it's constant work with the mta, with the planning department, with the port, with the public utilities commission and mayor's office and caltrans and bay authority. it's a lot of different personalities, a lot of agencies working together so i think it's so critical for the next

director to be someone who can very, very effectively work collaboratively with all of these agencies and help bring them together too because the ta even though there is some project management primarily it's about planning and oversight and making sure that the tax dollars are being well spent so i want to encourage you to keep that very firmly in mind. this is a somewhat unique setting. >> i agree wholeheartedly. that's a good point, and it also speaks to commissioner mar's comments about outreach and inclusion in the stakeholder engagement process. if you look at the timeline today is march march 18. we have basically this week to do community engagement which means from the

standpoint of scheduling and making it happen that's a very, very aggressive timeline in order to produce a document that you will have to review and approve on the following week, so what i might suggest that we might want to do as part of this process is have some of that community engagement be on-going. the fact that we have a recruitment profile that has been produced does not necessarily impede us from listening to our stakeholders and being able to integrate additional comments into the selection and evaluation part of the process which is equally important as identifying what the key characteristics are, so even though we may not have completed the formal

stakeholder engagement and make sure we go through that process at the same time we go through the candidates so we hear all the voices in the community. that's my recommendation. >> i think it's inconsiderably important to do the. >> >> community outreach and make sure this person knows how to but my point is a little different and apart from the community outreach working with other agencies because i think there are some areas of the country or a region you have something -- for a lack of a lack of better term and it's all controlled by one agency and top down. in the bay area and san francisco it doesn't exist. it's dispersed and overlapping and as a transportation average s agency if you're working

collaboratively with these agencies you're not going to be effective and another layer on top of the community outreach. and i apologize for having to leave. >> thank you commissioner wiener and i see a dynamic process that can extend beyond the recruitment profile beyond that being made. i think that makes a lot of sense and there will be a lot of information that will come to you and hone things down as you move forward. commissioner wiener did talk about a number of groups to consult with in terms i believe it will be helpful in creating the recruitment profile. the departments, the puc, the port, the mta, i don't think he mentioned dpw but that is important to add in the mix, planning department, of course the mayor's office, and then you have the more regional bodies.

there's the mtc of which commissioner wiener is on the seat on and as well as commissioner campos in cal trans and others that will come up i am sure that members of the committee might want to propose and within those departments we can probably work with you to figure out who would be the key people to talk to as well. we're 11 member body and there's probably 11 different points of view as well, so i think figuring out how to come up with the consolidated consensus as to the approach and the recruitment profile and other key qualities you want to see in the executive director. there is a lot of work to come up with that consensus and i will be as available as i can be and if you're at 24/7 i will be and other members expressed that interest so i think we have a good relationship to form to

help move this along. commissioners? okay. well, thank you for being here. we can check in just after the meeting would be great. >> i would like to take a moment and ask daphne to come up and talk about her experiences. i don't want to hog the mic because it really is a team and i would like you to hear for 30 seconds. >> by all means. >> she is camera shy and microphone bashful but come on up. >> good morning commissioners. thank you so much for allowing us to work on this very, very prestigious opportunity, executive director for the cta. definite nee lablonk is my name. >> >> transportation has really been an area that i have worked

in for some time now. i want to say 20-25 years i have been recruiting in this industry. i came into it through the transportation demand management employees transportation coordinators, ride share, trip reduction kinds of things and it's done really well for me. i love it. this search in particular will be a marvelous thing to do. i think the interesting things about this opportunity for someone to be attracted to just far out weigh anything that anyone might call too challenging. i think the type of candidate that will be able to meet you where you are and move forward, move you forward, i believe we will be able to get you a nice cluster of individuals to review, and as long as we're able to talk with everybody and get your

individual input as well as collective input i think that will help us to drill down -- if i put five people in front of you what makes you pick this one over this one? that is important in terms of the abbreviated time frame as well. >> thank you very much. thank you. >> good afternoon commissioners. i am brett buyers and i want to say i am looking forward to the opportunity of working with you all. as daphne and bill mentioned one of the cornerstones of our search process is getting to know you, getting to know the organization, getting to know the city and county of san francisco, so that we can put fortour best effort. secure some viable and transformational candidates for you all and in that process we look forward to being the extension of you as

the commissioners as well as san francisco transit authority so we can go out and get the most viable candidates for you and i look forward to working with and you conversing with you and learning more about what you desire. thank you. >> thank you very much. okay. mr. hawkins thank you. >> thank you. >> so this item we can open up for public comment. seeing none come forward we will close public comment. and i am very excited about moving forward and getting a fresh start to the search so thank you for joining us in that effort. our next item please. >> instruction of new items. this is information item. >> colleagues any comment? public comment is now open. we will close public comment. next item. >> number five public comment. >> this is general public

comment. seeing none one for public comment. we will close public comment. our next item. >> item six adjournment. >> thank you very much. colleagues, we are adjourned (music) >> herb theatre,open rehearsal. listen to the rehearsal.

i think it is fun for them, they see our work process, our discussions, the decisions we make. it is good for us. we kind of behavior little bit when we have people in the audience. msk (music) >> we are rehearsing for our most expensive tour; plus two concerts here. we are proud that the growth of the orchestra, and how it is expanded and it is being accepted. my ambition when i came on as music director here -- it was evident we needed absolutely excellent work. also evident to me that i thought everyone should know that. this was my purpose. and after we opened, which was

a spectacular opening concert about five weeks after that the economy completely crashed. my plan -- and i'm absolutely dogmatic about my plans --were delayed slightly. i would say that in this very difficult timefor the arts and everyone, especially the arts, it's phenomenal how new century has grown where many unfortunate organizations have stopped. during this period we got ourselves on national radio presence; we started touring, releasing cds, a dvd. we continue to tour. reputation grows and grows and grows and it has never stopped going forward. msk(music)

>> the bay area knows the orchestra. you maybe take things for granted a little bit. that is simply not the case will go on the road. the audiences go crazy. they don't see vitality like this on stage. we are capable of conveying joy when we play. msk(music) >> any performance that we do, that a program, that will be something on the program that you haven't heard before. string orchestra repertoire is pretty small. i used to be boxed into small repertoire. i kept constantly looking for new repertoire and commissioning new arrangements. if you look at the first of the program you have very early,

young vibrant mendelson; fabulous opener and then you have this fabulous concerto written for us in the orchestra. is our gift. msk(music) >> and then you have strauss, extraordinary piece. the most challenging of all. string orchestra work. 23 solo instrument, no violin section, now viola section; everybody is responsible for their part in this piece. the challenge is something that i felt not only that we could do , absolutely could do, but i wanted to show off.

i can't tell you how aware i am of the audience. not only what i hear but their vibes, so strong. i have been doing this for a long time. i kind of make them feel what i want them to feel. there is nobody in that audience or anywhere that is not going to know that particular song by the fourth note. and that is our encore on tour. by the way. i am proud to play it, we are from san francisco. we are going to play that piece no matter where we are.

>> bonnie banks. bonnie banks. my definition of noise is uncontrolled music. without format. pretty simple affair. pancakes, and you're -- people get up on sundays around noon, weekends or whatever. should not be too hard to walk into place. have your audio alarm clock go off for two hours waking your up while you are eating breakfast with many interesting visuals once in a while. improvisation. listening or not to

the person you're playing up against or people or machines. trying to get as many different people in as possible. different genres, experimental noise, electronics, dissonance some drums.a tiny bit of ambient -- the first noise pancake shows, 1999, the first waffle noise, 2001. god-waffle noise, noise pancake came out of cubist art, place on mission street, brutallo, where the church -- opened up

his house and saturday morning cartoons. a big space. you can have everybody set up and barely move equipment around; small room for an audience to move around, walkover and get pancakes without getting burned up in the kitchen. there's like people in their hard-core gabber; people into really fast death metal; black metal. people who don't listen to music at all. guy like larnie bock (sounds like) set up huge, motor

driven harp. i don't know how to explain it. 40 foot of motors that he had running over strings and wires. and then played each string individually with the mixer. there is a feeling of euphoria when somebody's really good at what they do. experiencing a buffer, pushing your bowels out your rear. different. a lot of noise. you don't play clubs with a cleaning schedule, a guy coming in the morning emptying the beer bottles. you play the warehouse. if you travel around you will see the exact same kind of weirdos

doing their own thing. it is like in the bay area it's even more absurd. there seems to be more people that in a place like new york or tokyo. we did a show in new york, i didn't think that anyone was at hardly, and people come up and said i saw the show. i wish they had some kind of breakfast noise going on over there. i think a lot of people were being, walking out of the shows. that was incredible. i can't believe it's over already, after two hours. if you are reluctant to enjoy something like this it will probably take a mass of peers to sell you on it.

it's fine if you stay away. most of the people that come to the shows are pretty happy to be here. you may not be one of them. which is fine. >> a lot a ton with the community and we say to ourselves, there is this one and this one. we all compartmentalize them, we have our own agenda. our agenda is to create great work. if you are interested in that, you are part of our community. >> hello and welcome to brava theater. >> we are trying to figure out a way to make a space where theater and presentation of live work is something that you think of the same way that you think

of going to the movies. of course, it has been complex in terms of economics, as it is for everyone now. artistically, we have done over 35 projects in four seasons, from producing dance, theater, presenting music, having a full- scale education program, and having more than 50,000 visitors in the building almost every year. a lot of our emerging artists to generate their first projects here, which is great. then we continue to try to support figuring out where those works can go. we have been blessed to have that work produced in new york, going on to the edinburgh festival, the warsaw theater festival. to me, those are great things when you can watch artists who think there is nowhere else that might be interested in you being a woman of color and telling your story and then getting excited about it.

that is our biggest accomplishment. having artists have become better artists. what is. sheri coming back to brava, here you have this establish, amazing writer who has won a clue -- slew of awards. now she gets to director and work. even though she is this amazing, established writer, the truth is, she is being nurtured as a director and is being given some space to direct. >> the play is described as ceremony and -- where ceremony and theater me. in the indigenous tradition, when you turn 52, it is like the completion of an important era. the importance of the ceremony is to say, you are 52. whenever you have been caring for the first 52 years, it is time to let it go.

really, here, they have given me carte blanche to do this. i think it is nice for me, in the sense of coming back 25 years later and seeing personally my own evolution as an artist and thinker. the whole effort to put the chicano or indigenous woman's experience on center stage is, in itself, for euro-american theaters, a radical position. because of the state of theater, it is a hard roll to hold up in institution. it is a hard road. i am looking at where we are 25 years later in the bay area, looking at how hard it is for us to strive to keep our theater is going, etc. i like to think that i'm not struggling quite as hard, personally, but what i mean by

that, the intention, the commitment. particularly, to produce works that would not be produced in other places, and also to really nurture women of color artists. i think that is something that has not shifted for me in those 25 years, and it is good to see that brava remains committed to that kind of work. ♪ >> when people talk about the reflection of the community, we can only go from what we have on our staff. we have a south asian managing director, south african artistic director, latino community out rich person. aside from the staff, the other people, artists that we work with being a reflection of us,