street, you know that it is the most humiliating experience for anyone to get on, pushed around, get you and your family on, pushing your way past everyone else. central subway is going to expand transportation options for the chinatown residents. it will make the transportation experience a lot more palatable and, hopefully, even pleasant. it will hopefully address these underlying human conditions that we see every day on stockton. the other thing that i would like to quickly add, many things have been said here about the fda being would be manned -- fca being bogyman, but far from killing chinatown, this project is what is going to allow us to attract hud money towards a

transportation oriented affordable housing developments. thank you. supervisor campos: is there any member of the public that would like to speak that has not spoken? seeing no one, public comment is closed. colleagues, let me turn it over to my harvard classmate, supervisor chiu. supervisor chiu: i would like to thank everyone that came out to speak on this today. i do respect your perspective. i know that she cared deeply about the future of our community. that said, it is no secret that i have been a strong supporter of this project since i was educated about it when i served on the citizens' advisory committee. we know that we are talking about the densest neighborhoods on the west coast. neighborhoods that, since the collapse of the freeway, have had no true public transit

access. over the last few decades we have seen the impact of that on residents, families, merchants, and neighborhood corridors. we have had several decades of the discussion of what we need to do to move that forward. this project represents that work. frankly, this project represents hundreds of meetings and the input of thousands of residents who have come out to support this. part of what we have heard today is how the funding situation is truly ideal. we are fortunate and blessed during this difficult economic recession that we received top ratings from federal authorities and that our transit agencies are on board and united in supporting what we have figured out as a way to leverage the state and federal funds that we are talking about. if we are ever going to be a transit first city, we need to

have this first access in the northeast neighborhoods. i would like to thank my colleagues, the mayor, and federal officials for their strong support of this. i look forward to continuing that work. supervisor campos: supervisor chu? supervisor chu: thank you for coming out here today. i know that you have been working on this for quite some time. i am pleased to see that there is a pathway for word. i know that there are a number of things that need to be bought and, but this has been a good update for this committee. i want to address some of the things i heard in public comments. central subway is also a project that i am very supportive of.

it is important to chinatown and the regional area. we heard public comments about funding, like how this is robbing peter to pay paul. this is not the case. when we spoke to the departments, it was clear that the project and moneys that we were relying on, it does not take away from a previous project. it is the priority of the mta and the city to make sure that the central subway is built and that we have this connectivity. we had heard that federal funding could be easily reallocated. that is also not true. if anyone has been following the central subway conversation and advocacy around federal government, it is not easy to say that we would have $900,000 for one purpose and next week's

ugly spending is a more else, that simply does not happen. we would have to start over and that money would be reallocated to other places. i want to be clear that that is relieve the situation we are dealing with. there are always conversations about the sun set and how residents simply will not benefit from a connection to chinatown. i can tell you, for myself, the number of people taking that transit line in order to get to chinatown, when people say that it will only benefit a certain quadra of the city, that is really just not true. it is beneficial not only to sunset residents, but also to others in the city, making sure that not only can people get to chinatown but that the folks are able to connect to sunset. even though we might disagree on this, for many of the people

that come today, i would hope that we would be able to meet by to eye on the benefits of this project. thank you for all of the hard work from the departments. supervisor campos: supervisor dufty? supervisor dufty: i would like to join my colleague in expressing my support for the central subway project. i think that for the people in my district that want to be able to have that connection to the northeast portion of san francisco, i would say that having worked for much of my career in the transportation industry, the federal transit administration's concern is going to be about maintenance of the rest of the system. something that this board has been very focused on. we will go to our next meeting with a management audit looking at the mta with a focus on maintaining the integrity of the

system. i think that is what fta interest is going to be. we are not building a system to know where, where people do not have traditional riding transit. this is providing higher levels of quality and service to a community that has been very much in the forefront of using transit. i think it is an important keys down to the sustainability of the neighborhoods touched by this, providing even greater access to growth in this -- growth industries of clean and green technology and it will be the focus of our economic program over the next 30 to 40 years. supervisor campos: thank you, commissioner. thank you to the staff for both of this grant -- transportation authority and the mta bus transfer -- presentations. it is great to see both agencies working together well.

we hope that that continues. i would like to thank the members of the public that came out to speak on this. many smart and talented people on both sides of the equation. i do not usually disagree with the speakers that came out against the project. i understand where they are coming from. i will be the first one to say that i do have questions about some of these operational issues. that said, i still support this project. to the gentleman who asked how can someone with public transit going through the system in their districts support something like this -- i want people in chinatown to have the options that my residents have. i think that there is a way to do a project right to to address these similar concerns. with that, colleagues, any other

comments? we will close this item and file it to the call of the chair. can we call item no. 3, please? >> new items and informational items. supervisor campos: new items? any member of the public? seeing no one, public comment disclosed. >> item #4, public comment. supervisor campos: is there any member of the public that would like to speak on anything not in the agenda? seeing no one, public comment is closed. next item? >> item #5, adjournment. supervisor campos: seeing no one, public comment is closed. but -- seeing no one, we are adjourned.

>> the court is now accepting applications for the civil grand jury. this investigative watchdog body is comprised of 19 public spirited citizens. >> we are seeking candidates from all walks of life, 18 or older, who will bring to the grand jury a wide spectrum of talent, ideas, and issues of concern. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or calll commissioner mirkarimi: good morning and welcome to the transportation authority. i am the commission in the chair. i would like to thank sfgtv for

their excellent an ongoing work. >> commissioner david chu. commissioner dufty. commissioner maxwell absent. >> thank you. please read item two. >> approval of minutes. >> public comment? public comment is closed. without objection, so moved. please read items 3 and 4. item three, chairs report. item four, directors' report. >> vercommissioner mirkarimi:

very good. my comments are a breeze. there's never a dull moment in transportation. especially here in san francisco. the main focus of activity this month was the sustainable communities process, which is being led by the metropolitan transportation commission. this is essentially the local implementation of the legislative mandate. it is very important to demonstrate that local jurisdictions working in concert with regional agencies can turn that into real actions on the ground. there are many dimensions to this challenge, such as land use policy, transportation, and other infrastructure policy, and other key policies related to schools. these work together to determine where people are located. we are moving in the direction

more closely integrating all those areas. it is a daunting task that is only the first go round. we can expect they will be far from perfect, but it's a great opportunity to look at things from a multi varied perspectives. the congestion management agencies around the region have taken the lead in coordinating county level meetings to ensure people are aware of the process. the authority has been very involved in actively fulfilling the role of these last several months. we have already had several meetings with the department meetings of mtc.

i attended one of those meetings last week to emphasize that san francisco department heads, the importance of this process of having san francisco taking a leading role in the region in this regard. i expect the process to intensify. it will have to. as the region debates alternative visions of how we move forward. finally, serious discussions about the funding plan for the central subway. interesting coverage lately in the press, and, of course, with in committee hearings. i'm delighted we've worked out what i believe will be with a feasible funding plan to close the $137 million funding gap before us in the mta. the way to get there is through a collaborative process. what we have is exactly that. i want to thank staff for taking the initiative, and thank you to the mta for coming to the table.

it will be a huge benefit for san francisco and almost $1 billion in federal funds secured, which she to happen in short time. i know that the solution we have at hand will have creative funding swaps including proposition k money. i hope the director will help us navigate through the steps. this is not the first time we're doing something like this with state and federal dollars. i'm looking forward to making a great case to securing the funds. with that, i will conclude my remarks. mr. executive director. >> good morning, mr. chairman and commissioners. i have a report on your desk that will highlight a few things. i think that the price this week goes to the high-speed rail

picture, where we have now had official guidance from washington to the fact that california must spend its high- speed rail allocation of over $3.2 billion. related investments totaling $4.3 billion. this is in one of two central valley sections. it will either be fresno or fresno to bakersfield. we're having trouble getting excited about the prospect of high-speed rail that is that far away from us. that has been the guidance so far to we are forced committed to working to continue to coordinate the segment that we have the most significant interest in.

it has of course had its share of challenges, particularly the mid peninsula section. it requires continued partnership. at the local level, the authority of staff continue to coordinate the city families and put into the high-speed process. we have been successful so far in getting the high-speed rail authority to accept a set of three alternatives that are the result of a consensus building process among the agencies. you're sure that will be included in the report. given the news that i'm sure you have all seen in the last 24

hours -- the incoming republican leadership in the house looking at high speed rail and california's allocation of money as a target of deficit reduction. we have at least a reason to be worried. come the beginning of the year, we will most likely be involved in a vigorous advocacy process to help the state retained the funds that are already at the state level to keep moving this project forward. of course, there are implications for projects within san francisco that we need to be worried about. it seems as though this topic will require continued education and continued

attention. we will continue to do that. i'm sure there will be some demands for your time as the advocacy in d.c. demands that we all be there in demonstrating support for these local projects. we had a mixed bag in terms of transportation as it regards to the november election. we have proposition 22, which went long way toward securing transportation funds. i hesitate to say dedicated transportation funds, because they turned out to not be dedicated in years past when the legislature has seen fit to borrow those funds to balance the budget. now we have a proposition that says the transportation funds can only be used for transportation and cannot be used to balance the budget. that is good news. unfortunately, the election coupled that good news with proposition 26, which has now turned every user fee into

potentially a tax, and raised the bar to a supermajority for getting those things passed. without boring you with the details, i think there are some implications you need to be aware of, especially in regards to the funding deal that was approved as part of the initial budget approval, the one that happened 100 days after the deadline. that budget included a swap where the sales tax oreplaced an excise tax. that was on a simple majority vote for the simple reason that there was a net no change in the amount of revenue generated, but there is a reid already that prop. 26 might change that. it is retroactive for certain measures back to january 1,

2010. it may be necessary for the legislature to reopen that deal and do it on a super majority basis. if it is not able to achieve that, that would mean a significant reduction in transportation money available around the state. and of course, we are talking about a reduction of budget that is already in the works. we're worried about it and we're watching this very closely. i will keep you posted about this as we begin to see it in the next month. there's an item on my report about the central subway, but you already heard from the chair. i'm delighted to say that we did come to a what we believe is a workable plan. i'm looking forward to continuing to work with the mta to make it happen. there are some of the sea items that will involve this board. there are some action items that

will involve the sport in regard to swaps of prop k money. you also need to do some advocacy with the california transportation division to make sure it is approved and timely manner. i will skip this item because the chair has recovered it. you should not be surprised to see some of the authority planners in your neighborhoods talking about the san francisco transportation plan. this is a 30-year look at transportation that it gets done every 30 years. we are in the middle of analysis in raising analysis around the neighborhoods on the importance of having this road map that will bury much navigate the sustainable community's strategy

to we've had many meetings, including the district 11 council, and we have a very long roster of other community divisions we will be in touch with. of course, we are delighted to take your suggestions for organizations we should be connected with in your district. finally, we want to rejoice in the fact that the bay area clinton program has awarded a total of $14 million for various projects that provide opportunities for innovative pilots in the area of regional like sharibike sharing, san frao city car share, and most notably, an electric vehicle battery swap program that mta will be doing. they are all exciting projects. the one that the authority is

leading is management partnership project that i think will be the colonel for some very interesting and innovative ways in mobility in alternative ways around town. it will involve employers and agencies around the city. that is a summarized version of my report. i'm glad to answer any questions. that concludes my report. commissioner mirkarimi: any comments or questions? any public comment on items three or item four? public comment is closed. >> we could go back to item one. i know that commissioner avalos is not here today. he has a sick child. he asked that he be excused for this meeting. commissioner mirkarimi: let me just finish on this item, but

absolutely. item three and four is closed. we will continue these items at the call of the chair. so moved. returning back, i'm hearing a motion to excuse commissioner of avalos. commissioner mirkarimi: very good. so moved. please read and item five. >> progress report on limited scope performance audit. commissioner mirkarimi: it was earlier this year, colleagues, that we recommended and then we pursued an audit of the municipal transportation authority. with the guidance of commissioner campos, we initiated a two phase process of the mta transportatiotransporta.

the first was by our own budget analyst and focused on compliance with state and federal regulation in identifying areas where there could be potential savings to the operating budget. that effort did identify some welcome opportunities, i think it would be fair to characterize those as marginal in terms of how much they could help with the structural deficit in our long-term concerns. when the phase was completed, we discussed the next steps. i proposed to move with a second phase, funded with proposition k dollars. there are opportunities to ensure through the capital program that the mta investment projects that result in better service for the people who take transit -- so we procured a

second audit process with a firm, cgr. the auditors are here today. it's still very early in the process. we are not expecting findings. a number of board members, commissioners, have been interviewed. this is an opportunity to further understand the scope of the audit and how it is proceeding and relevant to our ongoing concerns about budget matters and efficiency matters regarding the mta. commissioner campos and the staff have been working with cgr, as has my office. i want to ask commissioner campos if he has any comments before the presentation. commissioner campos: thank you very much, mr. chairman. i think you have essentially

summarize how we got here and where the work is. i just look forward to hearing from cgr in terms of the status and in terms of the process. i think it is good for the rest of the transportation authority to hear that. i do not have anything to add at this point. commissioner mirkarimi: thank you. cgr, will you please join us? >> mr. chairman, commissioners, my name is jim ayers. in a principal with cgr management consultants. my team members here are jim kennedy and keith kennedy. commissioner mirkarimi: i'm going to ask you to speak directly into the microphone. thank you. >> sorry.

just to refresh your memory is about the three functional areas that you chartered in the audit, these are the three. they are important for a couple of reasons. one, we want to focus very much on the questions and issues that you presented to us. we have also had some differences with mta in terms of setting up meetings and perhaps trying to limit the scope of the meetings and the coverage we can do with any individual to a preselected items on this list. we do not consider these three areas