2013. san francisco san francisco municipal transportation agency board of

directors -- director reiskin, rubke, nolan, ramos. we have a quorum. >> item 3 for sound producing devices. please be advised that cellphone and other devices are prohibited. one going off in the room maybe removed from the meeting. we respect they be turned off. >> item 4. motion to approve the minutes. >> all in favor say, "aye". >> aye. >> thank you very much. >> please be advised that item 10.2g on the consent calendar was removed from the agenda at

the request of staff. in addition, please know that a number of members of the public are here with respect to tour bus restrictions in the vicinity of ---alamo square. that matter is not only agenda and will be on item 9 on the agenda in the future. >> item 6, introduction of new or unfinished business by board members. >> any unfinished business? no business. >> item 7, directors report. >> good afternoon, mr. reiskin. >> good afternoon members of the board and staff and the public. really just one item to update you on. i know we have a

big agenda today. the bus loop where we turn around some of our buses on ocean avenue by city college, we are celebrating a completion of the terminal reconfiguration as well as the ground breaking for the associated housing that is there tomorrow with the mayor and supervisor yee. these are the terminal reconfiguration plaza that will be adjacent to it and housing that is breaking ground tomorrow, a part of the critical elements of the balboa station plan by the community or developed by the community and an approved by the board of supervisors. it's at the corner of ocean and fill an, by the

city college, a few feet up the road. the project really is transforming that whole ocean intersection as well as making way for a public plaza and housing and what was basically a sea of asphalt and overhead wires. the new loop which is substantially completed includes an overhead wiring system, bus shelters, line escaping and one part remaining to be done is completion of operator restrooms behind the firehouse. there is also a little bit upgrade to the firehouse as part of this project. the loop itself has been in service since the beginning of may and the feedback we've gotten so far has been very positive. >> tomorrow at 12:30 the mayor

and supervisor will join us and other partners which include the department of public works, city college and housing and the fire department. we'll all join together for the ground breaking for the new affordable housing development where the buses used to turn around and celebrate the completion of a good partnership process. also, i wanted to note that we have working with the supervisors office in the community we have initiated a naming contest to name the new public plaza that will provide the buffer between the new housing and the new terminal configuration. the plaza will serve as the hub connecting business resident schools and munis and it's a place for community events such

as fairs and farmers market and makes a better access to the munis routes to the 49 and the k line t plaza construction will begin in february of next year and encourage people to go to sfmta.com to join in the naming contest. we are taking suggestions for the plaza name until october 15. that concludes my report. >> special interest director ramos, you have been interested in this issue for a while? >> yes. i'm really excited to see it moving along. this you very much. >> a great cooperation by all these different departments. that's wonderful. >> it's great by adjusting our transportation service we can enable affordable housing. it's what is critical and needed to keep this city strong. we are happy that we were able to use

our assets, the land that the housing will be built on was sfmta land and we are able to free up that land to provide greater housing and transportation. it's a great housing and transportation marriage. >> thank you very much. anybody have any comments? seeing none. >> item 8. citizens advisory report. no report. >> moving on to item 9 public comment. if there is any member of the public who wishes to speak, please fill out a speaker card and we'll call the names in the order that we receive the cards. it's a matter of the public to address the board on any issues and not on today's agenda. the first two speakers, gus hernandez

followed by frances alt man. >> good afternoon members of the board and chairman normal avenlt -- nolan. i'm the vice-president of the square association. i brought together a group of neighbors today because we are concerned with some of the proposals that the mta has regarding tour buses aroundal mow squares. there are a number of buses that are uncontrolled and unregulated by the city of san francisco. the

mta has put up -- we have asked them to decrease the number of tour buses that were accessing the square. over 2 years have passed and we have not seen a decrease in the tour bus. in fact they have been increasing. we have been having different committees a subcommittee meetings on this and the mta is now proposing a bus loading on hey street. this is unacceptable to our neighbors and community and contrary to all the efforts that we've been doing over the last 2 years. we are here to ask you to please listen to the community, to the neighborhood aroundal mow square and not implement a tour bus loading on hey street, this

is for hey and pierce. >> thank you. director, reiskin, when is this likely to come to the board? >> i believe we are currently on track to bring recommendation to the board in november. this is something that i think we had it seen governance committee and gone to our citizen advisory council. there is still at least one public hearing. likely it would be back to this body in november. we have time to continue to work with the neighborhood square association on this. >> okay. next speaker, please. >> frances.

>> you may remember i was here at the last meeting. the inherent danger on right lane trucks with heavy bike and truck usage that trucks be banned from making right turns. can i put something on the screen? >> sure. this is one victim killed by a truck. she's the third person killed this year by trucks. i listed the problems with this. my question for you, the board, is what has happened with this proposal ban

on right hand turning trucks? >> thank you very much. >> this is your time to talk. we don't respond to questions at this point. thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> see you next week. >> okay. >> jillian, heidi, kelly edwards. >> good afternoon, board. thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to speak about the tour buses in alamo square. i agree with everything that the other two people have said. the alamo square area is not designed to accommodate these extra large tour buses. the steep hills, the existence of schools, the existence of bus routes no. 21 and no. 5, homes

to the elderly, the churches. the churches have many funeral services. the bicycles, the pedestrians, all this creates reasons that make it unreasonable to have these enormous tour buses. the 21 and no. 5 bus provide regular service to tourist in alamo square. specifically i represent the people on mccullough street. that is the street on which the no. 5 bus runs very regularly. the street is narrow. there simply is not room on that street for large tour buses. additionally, the neighbors are upset about the diesel fumes, the very loud

breaking and the microphones. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please? >> heidi nodel. >> hello. i live at the corner of folsom. we are probably one of the most popular places to visit. we wake up early in the morning at 7:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night. we casually watch for a few hours. we average a tour bus in front of our home every 4 minutes. we calculate 58 in a matter of a few hours. they are not from san francisco or from california. most of them are individually tour charters from

arizona, texas and nevada. they pay no taxes. they stay 4-10 minutes in the square. letting their riders off to take a picture of the pretty houses and they get back on and do no business in san francisco and head to yosemite or nap a this does nothing good for our neighborhood. these buses are over sized. there is a safety risk. there is a high school on hey street. they park in front of our homes, block drive ways. we have extremely limited parking room in our area. i live in 28 rooms and we have two parking spots. i think giving any type of parking or loading zone to these out of state companies is ridiculous and parking should be for the residents of the neighborhood and not from businesses that come from outside of the state.

>> next speaker, please. >> kelly edwards. and christy every. >> hi, that's my girlfriend. she helped me put this altogether. i have right here, this is the same schedule she was talking about the same weekend, the number of buses. the time started at 8:57 a.m.. i work from home and i'm going to put the city on notice. somebody is going to die on fulton and scott. i have plenty of pictures to show you. there is plenty of buses coming through neighborhood and there are pedestrians and children.

we love tourist. i often give them directions. these tour buses have to goechlt -- go. they are going to cause a death. they have added to increased traffic problem. when they reroute scott and scott became the little golden ticket for visit der oh. i have every bus that you have seen. also from talking to people over the weekend, the city is getting big bucks for letting them run in alamo square. i have 104 signatures to amend code 503b. to get large tour buses out of

alamo square. that is in 4 days. give me a week, i can overrun you this. somebody is going to die there. i'm going to put you on notice, there is going to be blood on your hands. >> good afternoon, directors. i'm just here to remind you about the serious crisis we are having right now with hundreds unlicensed unregulated commercial vehicles. we know they are -- sfuk sfpuc is coming up with rules. it's determined that this is not ride sharing. these are commercial businesses with profit and venture capital behind them. it makes a mockery of the existing taxi cab

industry where anyone can take a car and make-up their own rules and start picking up the public. the consequences to that is going to be without a doubt possibly for the first time i'm really thinking the taxi industry may come to an end in san francisco. we have had years of poor regulatory oversight. we need to be a more reliable service. where are the medallions to make us compete, where are you are the standards and professional services that we need to put onto these cab companies. we must professionalize this industry, put out medallions put out standard and make us compete. now we are competing against hundreds of cars and making our own rules and regretting the industry very quickly. every cab company has now a real shortage of drivers because people are realizing why do i

want to go to the expense to meet a driver when i can take my car and start picking up the public. it sounds great and about consumer choice and ride sharing. but it's about people not following the rules and making our industry come to an end. >> christy every? >> good afternoon. >> hi, this is my son maverick. we live right next to where the proposed parking is. how do you feel about tour buses. >> i'm scared about tour buses. >> i think that sums it up. we use that street to cross to go to the park, to go to school. not only that, we normally wake up to listening to birds, but

ever since -- to ground ourselves and getting ready for nature. ever since the increase in tour buses, there is more fumes, we can no longer open the window for him to look out because it's covered with soot from the tour buses. i have lived there for 24 years. maverick is 5 years old. there is problems with asthma and kids developing their lungs. concerned about his health and also the congestion in the area is, it's already really dangerous and quite often several times a day there is screeching, honking and shouting. the fumes are horrible and not to mention they are talking about

architecture and small animals and children. they have no visibility from these advance. it really is this neighborhood is a neighborhood for kids and small pets. and it's not for someone to make a dollar so my kid has asthma 10 years from now because they are making money or perhaps he gets run over. i don't understand why there is profiteering over safety of my child. >> mr. weiner? >> herbert weiner, stakeholder. one concern i have is about the inaccuracy of the travel panel at munis bus stops. they don't predict the arrival time. they say they are going to arrive 15 minutes and they arrive 3

minutes later. this happened on the 33 line 2 weeks boo. what is being done to make these panels more accurate? i think it's very important. the other thing is that scott wiener gave it away with the brt matter when he stated that well approval of the vallejo street on the brt, there are other stops that will be, you will have to make that adjustment. that is going to cost a lot of money. the thing about it is you do have a responsibilities to serve the most fragile populations in this city. the thing is that this is being really unnoticed. apparently bicyclist and taxi cab medallions appropriated by the board are favored over mta

service. it should be transit worse. you should really start giving transportation priority. i'm really concerned about this and also i don't like the idea -- supposed they were never given this again? what would it be? something to think about. >> tone lee. >> good evening. my name is toeney lee. you need a backdoor. when the building gets fire or the ship is going to waddle. it's a backdoor for a cab driver. who went through

the abuse including mta policy abuse. this is a backdoor for them. i look at it. even though i don't like it. beings need a backdoor. that's why you come with your permit. they are making money on your street and money that you put it on the good street. you cannot eat at all by yourself. used to be we and you eat the money. the third and fourth party coming to eat and you cannot over rule them. you have to lose them. the america cup is today is the last day. over packeting and -- that's obl -- only liberty -- a little bit that we got. this

is a change on the public resource. like you do the same way. back and forth interest. don't care about the public and the cab driver. if i see now, i don't see any hope for cab driver. they are really a little bit hope now. more and more business are going down turn. san francisco business how can longer like this? we don't know. please, when the bicyclist we gneiss -- need to make it all the way to coma. this is a happy ending for the bicyclist also. >> thank you. >> mr. chairman, that's the last person who has turned in a speaker card. >> moving on to consent calendar.