in the same exercise. i am wondering if that is possible. >> i will try it. i don't know if it is possible. i will work on it. supervisor mirkarimi: i appreciate that for much. thank you for your time today. this is a preliminary discussion. it is the first meeting of the new year. some subjects we will pull out that more focused hearings. thank you very much for your ongoing assistance and supporting us with this data. appreciate it. we will open this up for public comment now, if anybody would like to comment. >> good morning, supervisors. my name is douglas. i have lived in san francisco for 59 years. regarding public safety conditions, one overlooks aspects that i have been doing research on lately, there have

been feelings of anxiety for street cops. i question that because there has been plenty of discussion regarding the recent poa election of the head of the police union. for the fourth time it seems to me that there was a noticeable level of the agreement as to how poa was being run. there were serious allegations of who should be running the unit more efficiently. since there has been a noticeably high level of diversity in the police force, in my opinion, i think there has been a lot of anxiety in regards to how the police feel about their jobs toward each other and toward the citizen. unfortunately, in two dies -- in today's "examiner," another incident involved a police

officer. it seems like in the last 10 years, there have been too many cases of police misconduct. even if you look at the level of police chiefs, it seems like they're stress level has been excessive, since two of them have been in poor health and another one, unfortunately, passed away. i feel that maybe this committee should give policemen a chance to anonymously state how they feel about their own working conditions in this city. obviously, if you have a dissatisfied police force, it shows in their performance with the citizens. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you, sir. >> good morning. walter. ♪ come on city, now. smile on your brother

everybody gets together in the city right now come on city, now. smile on your brother and sister. everybody gets together try to get together and make safe conditions right now ♪ supervisor mirkarimi: any other public comment? public comment is closed. supervisor campos? supervisor campos: thank you. in terms of process going forward, in terms of when we get the report from the police department, does that happen -- how far in advance can we get the report? the written report? supervisor mirkarimi: which report are you referring to? the one we had today? this has been a little bit of a challenge. i am asking the department to

get it to us not the day of the hearing, but hopefully days before the hearing. that is what our instruction is to the department. supervisor campos: i don't know if the captain is here. did he leave? supervisor mirkarimi: he will hear this. supervisor campos: if there is someone from the department watching, if they could get it to us before the hearing so we have an opportunity to review it -- supervisor mirkarimi: that is the instruction. gleaning from the several topics that did come up in the discussion, we will settle on this. maybe continue to the call of the chair? very good. next item, please. >> item two, resolution authorizing the department of public health to except and expend a grant in the amount of 249,200 $16 from the san francisco county transportation

authority to participate in a program entitled "san francisco safe routes to school education and outreach program," for september 1, 2011, through august 31, 2012, weaving in direct costs and to delegate authorization to execute these agreements and any amendments thereto to the director of public health. supervisor mirkarimi: is there somebody who would like to speak to this from the office of supervisor chiu? >> i just wanted to ask if you could hold this item until a little later in the meeting, respectfully. there's a discrepancy between the resolution and the grant. i am trying to clarify that with the city attorney to make sure there are proper amounts and timeline. supervisor mirkarimi: not a problem. we will hold off. yes. absolutely. we will return to this item.

would you please read item 3? >> ordinance amending the san francisco police code by amending section 1290 and adding 1290.1 to at exceptions to the general prohibition on the discharge of firearms within the city. supervisor mirkarimi: from the mayor's office, welcome. >> we are submitting substitute language today just to clarify. we're moving toward the same goal of slightly modifying our language in section 1290 filed by the nra. we have become aware of changes from the supreme court requiring a change in the local ordinance. we have taken the narrowest interpretation possible. we do need to make the change on their request. supervisor mirkarimi: is it possible you can just delineate what was changed from the original?

please. >> the change we're making is to 1290, which apply to fires -- firearms. we are striking the language and adding it into section 4506. we are doing clarifying of that language. the discharge of a weapon must be allowed in self-defense and by law enforcement officials. we have consolidated all of that language and to set 4506. supervisor mirkarimi: the discharge of a weapon in self- defense by a citizen if they have a permit? >> the new language under this subsection state "persons and unlawful possession of a handgun who discharge that handgun in self-defense." we have put limitations on it. supervisor mirkarimi: what about the qualifier about it being a

permit? they have a permit for that weapon. >> lawful possession is the indicator. supervisor mirkarimi: there's nothing greater than the lawful possession that we know of. >> that we know of. these are subject to litigation. that is why we have added section 3 on the advice of the city attorney, which indicates where federal or state law allows the discharge. should there be a future change by a court, subsection 3 will resolve that. supervisor mirkarimi: supervisor campos? supervisor campos: thank you. good morning. trying to understand, looking at the ordinance, the language that is underlined, is that all new language being added? >> 4506? supervisor campos: i am looking at section 1290.

>> you may not have the substitute legislation in front of you. i can circulate that. all we are doing is tricking the word "firearms," and making it apply simply to fireworks, where we have more authority to limit their discharge, and removing all of the language regarding firearms to section 4502. supervisor campos: i see. ok. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: i almost wish -- i don't know if the city attorney can speak to this, but lawful self-defense in the city and county of san francisco -- does that also implicate the question of somebody who has a permit to carry that weapon? >> the use of the word "lawful" means the person has complied with every law requiring -- required to have a gun, including what types of firearms

are loud, whether the person has a permit, whether they are using it in a way that is lawful under the penal code. supervisor mirkarimi: ok. any other questions? thank you. public comment, please, on this. >> i'm not sure this is right to the item, but -- ♪ silence is golden, golden on item 3 silence is golden, golden on item, item three in the city ♪ supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. any other public comment? public comment is closed. colleagues, motion? supervisor campos: so moved.

supervisor mirkarimi: motion to advance with recommendation, without objection. so moved. very good. next item, please. >> item four, ordinance amending article 3 of division one of the san francisco transportation code to allow certain municipal sold transportation agency employees to enforce specified parking lots and board removal of vehicles, and amending article 7 of division one of the transportation code to make it a misdemeanor to operate a taxi, a dispatch service, or a color scheme, or to drive a motor vehicle for higher, without a permit to solicit or accept payment for referral of passengers to a motor vehicle for higher, to solicit or accept payment for motor vehicle for higher shifts, assignments or discussed calls, to knowingly make false representations in connection with application for renewal of possible relocation of or operation of a vehicle

pursuant to a permit issued under article 1100 of the san francisco transportation code, to refuse to pay the legal fair to a driver of a motor vehicle for hire, and to charge excessive rate for transport in a motor vehicle for hire, and amending the police code by deleting sections 1078, 1089, 1105, 1110, 1132, 1135, and 1145. >> i am the deputy director of taxis for the municipal transportation agency. the ordinance you have before you is an important building blocks in the administrative enforcement program, designed to improve the quality of taxi service to the public, and to address the proliferation of the legal motor vehicles for higher. this ordinance would help us in our path of creating a

specialized team of personnel who have the authority to issue certain types of parking violations that they might see with respect to regulating the motor vehicle for higher industry, as well as to authorize them on vehicles without having resources of the police department or parking control officers who may not be in the field at the times when enforcement actions are happening. we think this is an important step toward -- it is an important public safety issue, these vehicles in the streets of san francisco. every week, people get into cars when they don't know whether the drivers have been screened, if the vehicles have been checked, if there is liability insurance involved. we want to strengthen our enforcement capacity without relying on the scarce resources of the police department through administrative enforcement. this program also allows the taxi investigators to issue

$5,000 citations to anybody who does operate an illegal vehicle in san francisco. those funds are required to be applied back to the legal vehicle enforcement. we think this is an effective program. it is still in the process of being deployed. this ordinance is part of the foundation of that program. supervisor mirkarimi: could you just delineate a little more what an illegal vehicle is? >> there are several kinds of alito vehicles. it might be and out of town taxi. if someone cannot get business in oakland, tç they are picking up a few extra affairs. they could be an authorized limousine chartered by the state public utilities commission but çis acting illegally by picking up shares of the street. limousines are required by law to be prearranged, reserved rides. the third and most dangerous kind of illegal vehicle is where

someone just goes out and gets a lincoln town car and a suit and just drives around the bars at night picking people up. >> in otherç words, they are masquerading as a permitted vehicle and that is able to ferry passengers for pay but they have not obtained the necessary approvals to do just that. >>ç that is correct. >> what kind of statistics are there that have been captured of this problem? >> it is anecdotal. as soon as the sfmta took over the taxi industry, it was obvious this was the biggest concern the industry had. this represents, for the taxi industry, people competing for scarce resources out there. spçtaxi drivers are not highly d individuals.

in order to make their work profitable, it would be important to reduce the number of illegal vehicles operating. and to the public, itç is critically important because of the personal safety issue. i feel very concerned that there are a lot of people out there getting into vehicles and the driver has not been screened by any regulatory agency, the vehicle has not been inspected, and you do not know if there is any liability insurance if injured. >> in an urban areaç like ours, certainly in the high tourist areas, this would seem to be more of a reality in different pockets. but i would also think that this is true for the airport. airport. >> absolutely. i do not think anyone can deplane in san francisco without being approached by an illegal limousine operator. >> supervisor campos?

>> just a couple questions. with respect to theç changes involving the illegal vehicles, trying to provide service by taxis, whatç is the correct la? -- current law? what is the need for the amendment? >> part of it is transferring misdemeanors over into the transportation code. you will see another cleanup ordinance coming before you in the future to move up the articleç 16 motor vehicle for higher out of the police code and into the transportation code. with respect to new crimes that are created, these are specifically to address that contact that occurs inç the industry. operating a color scheme or

dispatch service without a permit should be just as illegal as operating a vehicle without a permit. we do have the legal brokers that operate as if they were a licensed company. we also want to make sure that if we have a crime in place, allowing someone to drive a taxi who is not aç taxi driver. there is currently no criminal penalty for that. hotel doorman are also a rampant problem in the industry with respect to illegal competition. any taxi driver can tell you, for $8 at any hotel you can get a referral to the airport. that is frustrating and demoralizing for the taxi driver who is trying to play by the rules. there is no current caught -- crime in place that is affected. is it that, extortion, bribery? those are pretty big words for $20 transactions. what we want isç a targeted, specialized misdemeanor that will address this specific

conduct that we can use as an effective enforcement mechanism to prosecute these individuals and businesses. also, there isç a crime of overcharging drivers. drivers are the ones that provide this service on the ground. they are often subject to a lot of overcharges by various contacts along the way in their work day. so we intend toç regulate the charges that can be charged to drivers. we want to make sure if those regulations are broken, it is more than a slap on the wrist. we believe this will haveç a gd deterrent effect. there is also one more crime in here that is already an administrative violation but is not a serious enough penalty. that is to sell a driver a shift, or a good car.

if you give me $500, i will let you work on a saturday night. we want to make sure there is a strong deterrent enforcement mechanism. >> could you talk about the enforcement of these new changes, how they would look? you were a doormanç who did soe of these81zzñ things, how does t look? is it realistic where you are actually going to prosecute someone or penalize someone for doing that? >> it would require an undercover work and surveillance. we intend to work with the police on that. we feel one or two prosecutions might have a good deterrent effect on the rest of the industry. >> makes sense. çis there any effort to educate folks about the changes? >> we did bring this through the taxi advisory council and the

mta board of directors. çgenerally speaking, we have a communicative relationship with the taxi industry. a few of them are here to speak about it. >> i think it makes sense to do that, but it also makes sense for us to disseminate the information about what the new rules are, city-wide, so that the people that could be impacted -- doormen, for example -- that there are severe penalties that would be in place. >> we have frequent contact with çthe hotel council, so we have pretty good communication channels, and we can certainly utilize that channel to get the information out. >> i do not have a problem around the changes of these vehicles. the question was more with the first piece of the changes that had to do with the actual twoin

owing of unauthorized vehicles, allowing staff to do that. çcan you talk about what that looks like, who would have that authority? i would like to know what kind of training is provided to these employees, how many employees are we talking about? if you could say a little bit about that. >> we are kind of new in the industry, i have been building my staff. we created a civil service class. çwe have a civil service class of taxi investigators. they will be doing administrative enforcement. we are working with the division now inç preparation for this program to develop field protocols and procedures that these individuals would be trained with. currently, i only have three inv. i hope to have a team of seven.

their work also involve office work and field work, including such things as going to baseball games and helping with the taxi stand, callingç on enforcement efforts to be visible to the illegal operators so that they know there is someone out there watching? . >> maybe i am misreading the çamendment, extending the authority around parking regulations, which now allows any police officer, parking control officer to issue citations. now you are adding to that category other sf employees authorized to enforceç parking lot. >> an example could be a team of tax investigators who went out to a hotel. they might stick their head in a window to make sure a vehicle is

clean, make sureç that the tirs are not bald. there could be a limousine parked at the stand. they could then write a parking citation to the limousine for being a limousine in a taxi stand, as opposed to calling for a pco. if the limousine is unattended 1 that vehicle, instead of calling a police officer, they can call the compound right then and there. >> who are those individuals? >>ç currently, we have a team f three, i hope to hire as many as seven. we hope to hire high language skills, community outreach skills, and we will be trading on the motor vehicle for higher industry to make sure that they are knowledgeable within the

area in which they're working. >> what kindç of training do ty get now? >> currently, we have not deployed to the field. we are trying to build this program. we are also building feel protocols in conjunctionç with sfmta enforcement. when we have those protocols, we would be happy to share them with the board those individuals will be trained on those field protocols. >> i think it is great to do that. as a general rule, i would like to see the protocol sooner rather than later. if this authority is going to be provided,ç it would be good to know. i understand what you are doing. it makes sense. thank you. >> i am curious to know where in the city these inr c1 will be located. >> they have desks with the rest

of the sfmta. other than that, their efficiency relies on the element of surprise. they will be where they are needed, they will be visible to illegal operators so we can discourage that trade. >> you have seven now and you want to ramp upç to 11? >> we have three now and we hope to get seven so that we can have teams of two in the field periodically. >> what are the proposed ships for the teams? >> we have toç work on that as well. we need to apply some sort of flex time principle. if someone is working and enforcement shift on friday night, we do not need to see the next morning, perhaps. >> their ships are going to coincide outside of a regular 9:00 to 5:00 -- the clubs close at 2:00. you may have said this butç how do you plan to catch these taxi imposters? when you catch them, what do you

do? >> it is almost impossible not to find one if you go out on a friday night. çwe need to be present. it is like swatting flies. you need to make sure that people know there is movement in this place and you have to go somewhere else. did i answer your question? >> how do you plan to catch them? >> sometimes, enforcement may involve issuing them away -- çshooing them away, for exampl, some legitimate that drivers can pick up customers. going after any moving violations. they could be dealing with rather dangerous individuals, so we have to make sure they go out in pairs and we develop protocols for ways to approach a limousine or illegal operated to

issue a citation without getting run over. z with commissioner campos. i have a hard time envisioning your enforcement of this policy. çit seems so obscure and so big -- i do not even know if seven people could tackle this issue. >> we may not be detected in citing every illegal vehicle operator, but it will be important for the illegal operators to know that when they come, there is enforcement and there are consequences in the form of $5,000 penalties, getting your vehicle towed. currently, enforcementç involvs a police officer riding a citation for less than $200 and not telling the vehicle.

that is just the cost of doing business. >> is there some sort of policy that will incentivize other taxi driversç who are legally operating their car to turn in a fellow driver if their operation is not legal? >> we do not need to do that. they are begging us to take this enforcement action. i considered asking them to send us photographs but i do not want our taxi drivers to take photographs while they are driving. we are looking for every way that we can become effective. that has to do wiéh!fine amounts, field presence, being able to tow, and it has to do with being visible. >> are their current programsç that you are modeling this after?