thank you. out of respect for the in memorials. clerk calvillo: today's meeting will be adjourned on behalf of the following people, supervised el wrotesber -- supervisor elsbernd. item 26 will be recessed, and, mr. president, if you can direct me to process the remaining items from the agenda? president chiu: the meeting will be recessed until 3:00 on friday. that was item 26. now, if we can call -- clerk calvillo: today's meeting will be adjourned on behalf of the following people. [reading in memoriums]

president chiu: colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, do we have any more business in front of the board today? given that, colleagues, happy new year. item 26 is recessed. the rest of the meeting is adjourned for the rest of the evening.

today's meeting with notificaon. announcing the prohibition of some producing devices during the meeting. the board respectfully ask that phones, pagers, and sound producing devices be turned off rather than by rate because vibrate does cause microphone interference. approval of the minutes of the december 7 regular meeting. >> so move. director nolan: is the discussion? all in favor?

>> item 6, introduction of new or unfinished business by board members. item seven, executive director's report. director fored: good afternoon. i will begin my report by recognizing our staff for the outstanding service and contributions they have made to the agency and to the city and county of san francisco. the first award will be going to larry nichols. larry, could you please step up to the podium? larry is a transit fare inspector in our proof of payment division, and he has been with the agency for over four years. he has consistently been available to provide outstanding customer service to our customers during the special events, such as the giants world series championship parade and the playoffs and world series games. he has an excellent attendance history and has been one of the most dependable inspectors in our organization. he is a natural leader and often

steps into the role of lead inspector. larry and his wife have a son named kyle who is 11 years old, and when he is not work, he enjoys big and small game hunting throughout the usa and is a fishing enthusiasts. our director of transit services is here to present this award. john. >> thank you very much, board. this is really for all the folks that i work with. appreciate it. director ford: our next award will go to roll alvarez.

he has an outstanding attendance record and volunteers to make sure all of our ppc's are able to make it to passenger service. he played a larger role in the restoration of cars 62. he discovered and repaired wiring problems that prevented the scar from being placed into service. when he is not work, he spends his time restoring automobiles. also here to present the award is our director of transit services. john. >> happy new year to everybody. i would like to thank my supervisors out here. and for the whole shop. thank you very much. [applause] >> our next award goes to our.

albert is a flight engineer, providing engineering support to our maintenance team on the trolley fleet. he serves as a project engineer for the new flyer. over the 13 years that he has worked for the mta, he has developed and implemented rehabilitation strategies on the 18-year-old new flyer articulated strategies, including the design of a new cooling system for the artillery inverter and battery charger unit, specified cleaner air, dreier replacements, and developed and implemented the overhaul program. albert has saved the mta close to $1 million in the cost of replacing the eti trolly poll bases that were failing due to the cracking of the and for stricter. the manufacturer proposed a fix to the problem that would increase the thickness of the base at a cost of $1.4 billion.

he rejected that fix and redesigned the base by reinforcing certain sections of that at a cost of $400,000, using in-house labor. the reinforced trolly poll bases have been in operation for the past three years without any failure. when not at work, albert spends most of its time fishing and watching baseball and football, and he has a deep rooted love of the san francisco 49ers and giants. our director of capital programs and construction is here to present the award. >> good afternoon. mr. thang is not just one of our engineers. he is a forensic engineer. he specializes in finding out why we have problems with our vehicles, and his tenacity and professionalism have been demonstrated in that our trolley fleet is one of our best overall performing fleets. >> thank you for this award.

i'm honored. i want to thank my manager for the opportunity and support. thank you. [applause] >> our last award is in the area of finance and information technology, and this award goes to dale stein. -- gail stein. she has been with the agency for over 10 years. she began in the advertising area when she was named the contact person for the transit shelter advertising agreement, which lasted for approximately two years and ended with the agreement going into effect on december 10, 2007, and she is now serving as the contract

manager. as the contact person, she was responsible for managing communications between project staff and all outside parties, including the composers, the city, and staff. she did an exceptional job in this role, ensuring that a very public proposal process proceeded smoothly and fairly. she also has the responsibility of managing our vehicle at contract, and when not at work, she enjoys hiking in the summer and snowshoeing in the winter. our director of finance and information technology is here to present the award. >> thank you. first, i would like to thank mr. thang for saving $1 million. gail is also a lawyer and in addition to the advertising contract, she has been extremely helpful in negotiating some of the more complicated agreements of the agency.

thank you for bringing that to conclusion. her negotiating skills are wonderful. thank you for all your hard work and for everything you have done for the mta. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. i just want to say i am a retired lawyer. director ford: that concludes my recognition for our honorees for the month of january. moving on to ongoing activities, i'm happy to say that we are moving very smartly with our major capital reinvestment project, that we are advancing, which we promise a much brighter future for bicyclist, motorists in the city. first project i would like to see on is the california cable car project.

after months of preliminary work by the department public works, the second phase of the california cable car infrastructure improvement project of heavy construction on the california line. again, we are using our ambassadors to assist ambassadors in adjusting to the substitute service. i will be giving you periodic updates as we move forward with the process, which is scheduled to be completed in early summer of this year. st. francis circle project, as you are aware, we ended the mass of heavy construction real replacement project this summer. we did have some remaining items that need to be addressed in the field, starting january 18. we are working with the community in that area, and we haven't formed among the additional work that will be needed to be done to complete the project. with the holidays now behind us,

remaining activities now include sidewalk work, relocation of the bus shelter on the circle at slow boulevard, modifications to the traffic sign it, and roadway items. this work will start shortly and will be completed within the next eight weeks. motorists, bicyclist, and pedestrians will be assisted by construction flight personnel as well as off-duty police officers. on december 17 and 18, in conjunction with the mayor's office, we hosted a bicycle sharing technology. members of the public were invited to testify. we have some remaining technology currently in use in cities such as washington, d.c., of denver, montreal, london, chicago, and minneapolis. the mayor was on hand to inspect the bicycle systems and greet the vendors and attendees, and the attendees were invited to complete a survey about their bicycle use an interest in

bicycle sharing in the downtown civic center caltrain area. three vendors showcased their census. the mayor's office and mta have made bicycling a high priority for sanford cisco, and the december showcase comes on details of the october decision by the metropolitan transportation commission to approve a $4.29 million grant that will make bicycle sharing in san francisco and the region a reality. the bay area air quality management district will manage the grant, and san francisco and the air district are joined by their regional partners, the santa clara valley transit authorityvalleyvta, san mateo county, and met with city -- santa clara valley transit authority, vta. it will provide 100,000 bicycles and several hundred kiosk, including 500 bicycles and 50 kiosks in san francisco. the remainder of these vehicles will be located in redwood city, mountain view, palo alto, and

san jose. total project cost is approximately $7 million with $1.4 million in funding provided by the air district and $1.3 million in matching funds from our local partner. the demonstration showed this will provide us with useful information as we begin to develop our request for proposals this spring. as you recall, the old transbay terminal was closed in august to make way for construction of a new terminal. at that time, operators moved to the temporary terminal. operating locations and stop for the facility were temporary, and this allows for demolition of the freeway ramps. that demolition was completed, and on december 11, transit operators began moving to stocks that they will serve brought construction of the new terminal. muni began servicing its

reconfigured stops on december 16 and working in tandem with the transfer agent power authority and comprehensive communications campaign was launched, which included once again our mta ambassadors to assist customers during this transition. the repositioning 1 flawlessly, and we receive no compliance with the changeover -- the repositioning went flawlessly, and we received no complaints with the changeover. i'm available for any questions you may have. >> i have one thing. i have been invited to a conference at stanford university. are we participating in that? >> yes, we will be participating. >> the idea is to try to see if some kind of revenue stream can be found. right now, almost entirely

dependent on the riders, , the state, and the county's participating. >> we will be involved and look forward to participating. >> i just wanted to say how excited i am about the program. i know for a lot of people, 500 bags to be shared by not sound like a lot, but one of things that really increases safety is the sheer number of cyclists on the street. that is going to be really fascinating to see how the works out. >> they were very fortunate to receive that grant. it will be in partnership with the rest of our partners. >> moving on, directors, seeing that there is no member of the public who wishes to address you under the executive director's report at this time, item 8 is the citizens advisory council report. mr. murphy is not here. there will be no report. item nine, public comment.

this is an opportunity for members of the public to address board members of items within the jurisdiction but not on today's calendar. we do have several speakers. mr. chairman, would you like to set a time limit for the day? two minutes? ok. >> good afternoon. this microphone right here? i'm going to be short and sweet. i work at the kirkland diesel maintenance charge. this is the proposal to charge a parking fee for coming to work. i'm from the city. i grew up in glen park. we gave concessions to keep jobs and to keep a 40-hour work week. right now, taking home less. the cost of living is not diminishing. i have two kids in college. my household budget is not

diminishing as well. i voted for president obama and two of his items -- that everybody should be able to afford a home and said his kids to college. maintaining these are becoming harder and harder. all i have to say is -- would you please reconsider the $960 a year fee to park at where i worked at? as other employers do not charge for parking to come to work. >> good afternoon. i'm a representative from seiu local 1021. this parking proposal would adversely affect many of our members working at the lots and the bus slots. it is the union's opinion that it is a severe burden, and for individuals who do not make a lot of money a year, $960 a year

is quite an expense. it is effectively a mandatory pay cuts in light of the concessions that have been made recently. that is all at this time. thank you very much. >> good afternoon. i have a number of points i can only touch upon. tomorrow will be exactly eight years since there has been a general liter increase in san francisco taxi cabs. there was one 25 cent increase on the drop, which amounts to less than 2% in that time. in the meantime, receipts have gone up, gas prices has gone up, and the number of gas prices as increase. i would urge very strongly to take up the meter increase,

asap. there has been an epidemic of ticketing taxi drivers. i do not know if everyone else in the city is being ticketed to the same degree. we are being ticketed for doing our job. we must provide door-to-door service. we often do not have a place to pull over, and it seems ironic to me that the same agency that has seen to it that there is good taxi service is doing as the ticketing -- doing the ticketing. i think the simple solution is give us a warning before the ticket is issued. really simple. the card renewal process has been a terrible mess. i do not want to get into that, but i just want to mention that drivers are paying more than $20 more this year to renew their cards. the agency is reaping millions

from the sale of tax medallions, and drivers are being beamed with this additional charge, the biggest increase, i believe, in the card in history. it is not right. there is so little time, i will just leave the last point off. >> thank you. >> 9 you very much. echoing what mark said about the meter increases, it has been eight years since the drivers have had one. transportation code section 1122 does require you to hold a manual hearing on this. it is advisable to time any rate increase to begin july 1 so that paratransit people can plan their budgets. the last hearing was in front of the budget and finance committee in september 2006, and the controller at that time had represented a 8% increase to

help drivers meet the cost of living increases. the drivers are really being pummeled. at the last hearing, activists in the industry wanted to link the meter increase to the provision of health insurance for taxi drivers, and that did not work out. the meter increase recommendation fell through, fell by the wayside. i hope we can get together and plan this with director oka about this. the second issue is whether or not more taxi medallions are needed. i heard the director say you are going to issue more unbalanced to balance your budget. i think first, you need to have a hearing. -- issue more medallions. i agree that we need more part- time medallions. hopefully, you can set up something on the agenda, and we can work towards that. the federal credit union supporting the medallion pilot program sales is very

interested to have a similar program for single user permits to career and taxi drivers. it could be that you might want to assign permits on the weekend nights for the big company operators, sell them for a modest price. it was disturbing, so that you have a plan for big-time taxis you are dealing with, and we have not had any hearings. >> i came in late. is there an item 11 for items not on this agenda, or is this just plain public comment right now? ok. what is the difference between mta and the 49ers? mta has a longer losing streak. two things i want to comment on. people should not buy their fast

passes 1 south van ness ave. there is an administrative fee attached to the purchase. i found this out painfully. that area is worse than a crowded muni bus. it is really unbearable. it is a testimony as to how mta treats the public. it is really awful, and if you have handicap, it is very difficult, especially since there is low seeding there. also, i want to comment on bicycle lanes. the bike lanes are in a car lanes. it increases the risk to the bike riders because eventually, someone is going to be run over by a car. i know that with this new bike plan, there have been more accidents. that is all i have to say for

today. i just want to describe how muni plays baseball. mta is the bat, and the public is the ball. thanks. >> the last person who has turned in speaker car for this session. >> good afternoon. i'm executive director of wright line defense projects working on policy strategies to help protect and empower vulnerable communities. he -- we have spent the past year, probably year and a half at this point, working to help supervisor avalos the community advocates, labor, crafting a policy that went into affect on christmas morning, much to the delight of many. what i wanted to race to the commission was we know that staff had some concerns about the city implementing the mandatory as opposed to the

previous good face -- good faith efforts to get local residents on to the projects they are paying for with their tax dollars. it is now a mandatory requirement. it is going to be part of all city contracts, and we are going over the next few weeks, many of us advocates will be going to mta, puc, and the big contract the agencies to make sure you are changing all your contract to have all this new language. on february 25, pursuant to the new law, will be the last of 60 days in which all contractors are required to hire local community residents with targets for disadvantaged community members, and that is on the journey level side as well as the apprentice side within each trade. the commissioners can elicit from staff was the plan to get all that contractual language updated. there is a lot of high hopes riding on this. local hiring in san francisco is at an all-time low. at an all-time low. it dipped to 20% last year.