>> there are 11 ayes. >> the motion passed. now on the balance of the ordinance of item 43. [roll call vote] >> there are seven ayes and four noes.

>> the entire item will proceed to the ballot as is currently constituted and has been duly noted. the motion has approved. ok. why don't we mover to items 54-56. >> the board of supervisors have agreed to sit as a committee of the whole for items 54-56. there are public hearings to consider amendments to the proposed charter amendment to aend in charter and the city and county of san francisco, to provide for split appointments for the municipal transportation agency. >> we need to consider the amendments that were made at the last meeting to the two different versions of this m.t.a. chatter amendment that is being debated. let me ask if there are any members of the public that wish to speak to the issues of the specific amendments to this

proposed chart amendment. please step up. >> i'm not sure if i'm understanding it correctly but peter straws, former manager, service planning. if this goes ahead with the ballot, i want to commend the board for going ahead with this. i think it really does a number of things correctly and i want to just address two of these. first, with respect to funding. transit funding is the most important issue that is facing and that is true a lot of city services but true of muni over the next number of years. i support the version of this that is in the second draft. sets the trigger mechanism for funding. everyone i have spoken with including some who were originally opposed funding in

this supports the use of the trigger mechanism as correcting the flaws of the initial version and provireding funding that does not come out of the general fund and in fact, i think would support revenue measures such as the transfer tax going forward because what related polling has taken plays has always found that support for muni reliability has polled very well with the voters so i think this is a positive vote in terms of muni and in terms of securing the fund in general. i also want to address the allegations that have been made about this being a power grab by the board. i think that is a mischaracterization. i think the board has been very supportive of muni and of transit funding and i think the board is going to be involved in

transit funding, has been involved in transit funding and this just makes it explicit which is better government than having a circumspective than it has been over the last several years. i think it is a special agency. if i can just finish sentence. the appointments are actually appropriate for m.t.a. i had misgivings about it but because it is a special agency i think it is appropriate at this forum. >> thank you. any other members of the public? sing to us, walter. >> thank you. >> ♪ you can cause a munirumpus but don't lose the compass but don't appoint some commissioners appoint some commissioners and get me home and drive me on the bus on time ♪

>> any other members of the public that wish to speak on this committee of a whole regarding the m.t.a. chatter amendment. seeing none, this hearing has been held in close. items 55 and 56 with r-in the hands of the board. >> thank you very much. mr. president and thank you to the members to have public who waited to speak on this item. let me again by just thanking the co-sponsors of this charter amendment. besides myself, this charter amendment has been co-authored by the supervisor, by the president as well as supervisor marr. i want to thank each one of them as well as their respectsive offices that and all the work that has gone into this charter amendment. putting together a charter amendment, let alone a charter

amendment with this complexity with the number of co-authors that have been involved is a very challenging task and it has taken months and a lot of hard work to get to this point. it is clear that any one who has been following the board for the last few months can know that the issue of what's happening with the m.t.a. is a very important issue for the city and a very important issue for all of our constituents and what this charter amendment does is that it recognizes that the m.t. sambings broken. that even though there have been some improvements that the fact remains that there is a clear need for comprehensive reform. a few months ago this board of supervisors authorized the budget -- to conduct a -- analysts to conduct a performance audit of the m.t.a.,

an audit that has not been conducted for more than 14 years and in terms of a best practice, i think it says a lot about an agency that -- with a budget of close to $800 million would go for that long without a performance audit that ultimately looks at whether or not the seath complying with best practices. -- the agency is complying with best practices. rfplg muni will require a number of changes. it is not enough to simply identify one change and say that is going to get us to the result we want. the charter amendment does a number of things. it looks at the issue of the current governing structure and it recognizes that eeverpb though we're grateful for the fact that we have board members who want to preserve the city, it does not provide the kind of independent oversight that is needed. we have a board of directors

that has well-intentioned people but nonetheless have not demonstrated the kind of independent thinking that is needed to make sure that this agency is responsive to the needs to have -- and the perfect -- of the -- and the point made by the budget analysts that outlines the fact that even though mu ninch accounts for 40% of the city's overtime, not once has this m.t.a. board of directors actually discussed this issue on its agenda item. the chatter amendment tries to provide some balance to the appointment by creating a split of 3-3-1 with three members apointsed by the board of supervisors, three by the mayor and one jointly appointed by the mayor and the president of the board of supervisors. the second thing this chatter amendment does is that it also deals with the issue of work orders and we have repeatedly

heard time and time again about examples where money that should be spent on m.t.a. matters is going to things that may or may not be -- may have a connection or a nexus to public transportation. many of you have rightly identified that problem, identified that issue and we have a report from the comptroller's office that points out that even paveg things as having a written contract that the basic things that something as basic sthazz is not happening. so we have -- basic as that is not happening. the money that is being work ordered to other departments. this charter amendment makes a couple of changes beginning with the fact that it requires that

written agreements be created before a work order actually is finalized. it also requires a closer nexus between the work order and the service. there that has to be a close connection between the service and the goals and the objective of the m.t.a. and before a work order is finalized i that members of the public and the m.t.a. ridership are given an opportunity to say whether or not their money should be used as proposed. the third issue that this charter addresses is the issue of service cuts. right now, we are facing pretty severe cuts that have been implemented because of the work of this board. we have managed to reduce the level of cutting of those services from 10% to 5%. there is a plan in place but the

fact is that service -- services are still being drastically cut to this ridership and we have a situation where many of us feel that the m.t.a. board of directors have circumvented the process that is in place that requires before a line is terminated that the board of directors comes before the board. that was circumvented because instead of eliminated bus lines they sid an across the board service cut that doesn't require board oversight and we're trying to address that circumvention by changing definition of line -- so that service cuts of a certain level actually require a public process and involved the board of supervisors. there is a creation by the inspector general position that provides an independent audit function for what other agencies and other parts of the country

we believe are following. we believe that is a best practice. that is the best practice that should be implemented by this agency and what we recognize and respect the work over the comptrollers office does, we believe there is a need for an independent party that reports directly for the board of directors to provide that function. lastly, we also recognize that there has to be a sharing of the pain if you will in terms of the financial stability and well-being of this agency and we, from a public policy standpoint, recognize that salaries should be set through bargaining and we in this charter amendment propose to take out the charter the provision is that sets the current salaries. we believe that that is something that should be left to collective bargaining and we owe it to the ridership that that change be made. in smarkse colleagues, we believe that this is -- summary,

colleagues, we believe this is comprehensive reform that we need now. i talked about some of the concerns that have been raised by the federal transportation administration about the ability of the m.t.a. to actually complete and oversee that project. i think that those of us who support the completion of that project have to recognize that for that project o or project s of that nature to be finalized that we need to implement a comprehensive m.t.a. reform, and we need to do it quickly and soobling. we cannot wait. again, y -- as soon as possible. again, i want to thank my co-authors. i ask for your support of this measure. the last thing i would say is is that a lot has been said in the last few weeks about the interrelationship between charter amendments and the very long and complicated budget

process that we have gone through. i have repeatedly said that when it comes to governing the city that we need to deal with each one of those items 13r59ly. that as important it is a budget process is, it has to necessarily be disconnected from the very important analysis of whether or not we need structural research. it is for that reason that i believe we need to move aggressively to reform this agency. again, i want to thank all of the co-sponsors and the office of the city attorneys that has worked diligently on this and my office, sheila has done a tremendous job in helpings to -- helping to put this together. >> thank you. before i ask kristin choo to speak, it is the amended motion and 56 is the amended that

deletes the set aside. are we all on the same page? >> thank you. colleagues, i have been one of the advocates along with the other co-sonsor of this measure for comprehensive reform. i don't think there is anyone in this chamber who does not think that muni and the m.t.a. needs very significant reform. i was very happy to use my name as a co-sponsor of this. i am very pleased today to help announce that the mayor's office, the m.t.a. and others have reached an agreement today on a set of four reforms that to help advance all of our shared goal s of improving the m.t.a. and fully restoring muni service. what i would like to do is

describe what the aspects are, those immediate reforms that we can put into place starting today. first of all, there is now going to be a plan for muni service restoration such that by december 1 of this year, the m.t.a. is going to issue a report outlining the agency's plan to restore the remaining 5% of service hours from the may 2010 service cuts of which 5% of those cuts will be restored in september 2010. that was one of the objectives of the originally proposed charter amendments. there is a group that is being put together that is going to be evaluating the various funding sources to restore service and to identify additional reductions of revenue service and from my perspective obviously i hope voters in san francisco will support revenue in november and we can use this that for muni service

restoration. the reform that we're announcing today is around governance and how we reform governance. by october 1 of this year, the government has -- with the board of supervisors to create a transportation task force to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of transportation governing of san francisco, and with the conference decision of the task force being broadly representative of the various transportation agencies with meaningful portis pation from the public. the third -- participation from the public. the third that we are goir to be able to immediately announce is the work orders. it has been a significant issue and a point of concern. by september 30 of this year the mayor's office will coordinate written agreement for each work order between the m.t.a. and another city department.

for any future change after september 30, work orders from between m.t.a. and other city departments, the staff sholed shall submit in writing, the impact they will have on the agency and finances and operation. lastly, one -- an additional component of reform that we are announcing today has to do with the stopic of auditing. which was an important component of the charter amendment that has been composed. the comp patroler is committing to convene a selection panel to select a new director who'll be tasked as serving as a liaison. the director of audit compliance will work with the comptroller's office. they will also work with the comptroller's city services auditor on all performance

audits in each of the six division of the m.t.a. the first audit shall include a broad vover view and shall be updated. administration taxing and services division, the capital programs and the finance and i.t. division, safety and training ux sustainable streets and transit. from my perspective, we need to move immediately with m.t.a. reform. i don't want to wait until november. i think even if this measure were to qualify and get on to the ballot this november, it would be another step towards significant muni reform. from my perspective i'm prepared to move forward with this today. i will be asking to take my name off of the proposed charter amendment. we have many things on the ballot in november. ygs it is important that we -- i

think it is important that we focus voter attention on important items on the ballot and girn that we have been criticized for an alleged paragraph here which i don't necessarily agree with, i do think, though, that it is important that we give voters many reasons to support all of the things we are supporting on the ballots. for that reason, i believe it is a reason to support what i think is m.t.a. reform. i express my commitmentened n the long-term to work with all of you colleagues and the comprehensive m.t.a. reform so our muni riders finally get a muni that deserver. >> if i may simply just briefly respond to president choo and simply begin by thinking him for his efforts to try to bring about immediate reform.

i saw this document and i think there are many things here that are steps in the right direction. and i appreciate the fact that the mayor's office, working with your office, is willing to do these things but let me just briefly, without belaboring the point, explain why i believe the chatter amendment is something that makes sense and that goes beyond some of the things a are here. if you look at the issue of service cuts, i think it is great that along the lines that the board of supervisors and the county transportation authority has been saying for the last few weeks, that there has been a hearing recognition to restore all of the service cuts that have been made. but again, i don't think that immediate reform -- i actually subscribe to the first section

of this document that calls for an evaluation of the funding needed without any commitment explicitly as to when the money will be restored. i think that evaluation and creation of a plan, good idea as it is, is not something that points to an immediate restoration, which is i think what we would like to see.

work order with another accident something that this mayor can do today. and there is no reason why we should wait until september 30. and with respect to the enhanced auditing function, i think there

has been progress made in is this proposal. but i would respectedfully submit that the inspector general position that this charter amendment that we have introduced and provides is a lot more probust and envisioned here in this document that you the comp patroler and the m.t.a. board of directors convening a selection panel from our perspective, it was important that that individual report directly to the board of directors and that the board of directors have the ultimate say of who it is what happened the responsibilities are and along those lines, the responsibilities and the authority that is provided into the charter amendment is a lot more robust than the responsibility s that areoutlined hire. there is no funding mechanism for that position nor does it

provide for the allocation of additional resources. the last thing we wanted to avoid, is to create an independent auditor position, whatever you call the position and then have one person that doesn't have the personnel or the staff, doesn't have the resources need to do r to do the job. for those reasons, among others, i welcome some of the change s that areoutlined in this are outlined in this document. they do not go far enough to constitute reform. thank you.

the resourceses to restore the -- there is no commitment to that in the framework. just some -- you know, some vague plans that don't need to be implemented. therefore cannot be required -- to be implemented. we actually don't even really have it set whether or not they are implemented past, you know, up or down votes on the budget. the real kicker here, of course, is governance reform. the only way we can get governance reform at the m.t.a. is by amending the charter. what we have in front of us is a charter amendment to have governance reform and that's

what the mayor of san francisco would most opposed to. he did not want to cede any of his power and wanted to hold it will budget of san francisco hostage. so we think that a transportation governance task force is going to be any more influence than thank god it is friday task force getting the mayor of san francisco to agree to a governance change. i think the only thing to get him to agree to a governance change is if he is not the mayor of san francisco, which may happen next year. this section probably, we might as well -- from the agreement and call it what it is. maybe some restorations. maybe not. and then some stuff around work order and work order and auditing. in terms of the mayor holding the board of supervisors and our

budget hostage, i know i'm sometimes out there and i'm kind of, you know, a lone wolf or what have you on a 10-1 vote or calling people out for stuff they are doing behind the closed doors but as of this afternoon i'm not the only one and probably words stronger than i even use, the san francisco bay garden elltorializing underlines the mayor's horrible deal. vote trading for all local officials including new sh. mayor gaven newsome put the supervisors in a terrible position when he held $43 million of critical services hostage to pack commissions with little hacks. the deal he presented to the board was shameful and the supervisors should have rejected it and now they should pass

legislation to make this log rolling illegal. the mayor's ill leeling budget plan included -- illegal. they found a way to add back more than $40 million in funding for strick beds at san francisco general helicopter -- psychiatric beds at san francisco general hospital. unless board would agree to reject two proposed charter amendments to reform the transportation agency and the recreation and park commission. let's remember the -- have nothing to do with the budget. the board wanted to overall haul this department and give them some appointments because they are a mess. it is a rubber stamped agency that goes nearly 100% tune in anymority on every issue. unanimity on every issue. the money was there but