opportunities work out for us? i have not heard anything about that. i know that she will deal with that and she will listen and she will care. you could not do yourself better than to support former supervisor katz. do it quickly and let's get moving. thank you very much. >> good afternoon. in the 1990's, it was my privilege to work with leslie on the domestic partner ordinance that required companies that did business with san francisco to mirror our san francisco policies and values. it was that kind of visionary work that she understood -- undertook. we take this for granted today.

i know that the visionary leadership she has has exhibited all throughout the years will serve her very well. not only hurt, but of the entire city of san francisco will benefit. -- not only her, but the entire city. she will make sure that the city grows in a sustainable and smart way for all of san francisco, not just for specific business interests. as a member of the democratic club board of directors, i also urge you to consider diversity in making your vote. we need qualified competent diverse members of the public to serve on our commissions in leadership roles and i don't think that we could get a better nominee before you than leslie katz. i urge you to support the nomination.

thank you. >> could afternoon. -- good afternoon. the blame the chair of -- democratic club, an organization that is nearing its 40th anniversary. we work on the issues of lgbt rights and concerns. also the promotion of our community members to be part of our city. over the years, over the nearly 40 years, we have worked within our community to bring about those who could serve in the public world. leslie katz is someone that we have been very proud of having

been in a former supervisor and serving in all of the activities that she does. on my behalf, i would like to encourage you to consider her and moved her confirmation forward. thank you. -- move her confirmation forward. >> good afternoon. i am a tenant of the port, and member of the central waterfront advisory group. we are down to three port commissioners right now out of fines. slie on the port. thank you. >> good afternoon. i am the acting chair of the ricon point citizens advisory

committee. i am also a member of the jewish community relations counsel. i am speaking as an individual and not in my capacity with those organizations. i have worked on the port- related matters through the south beach redevelopment project for the past 10 years and i know how it portraitist to have informed members on the port commission because we have worked with the commission frequently. -- i know how important it is to have informed the members on the port commission. we are excited to be working with the commission because piers 30 and 32 will be unimportant part of the america's cup process. i have known her for a number of years. i know her to be thoughtful. i have known her to be a strong

supporter of important issues. she will be a reasonable voice for all that is important to us in san francisco. she is a good person and i think that she will serve the city well. i hope that you will consider that when you consider your vote for her on the port commission. >> is there any other public comment? public comment is closed. colleagues, is there any other further comments or questions? seeing none, can i get a motion? >> second. >> without objection. >> the motion to confirm leslie katz is forwarded with recommendation. >> item number4, hearing to consider four members, terms

ending january 31st, 2013, to the golden gate bridge, highway, and transportation district. there are four people -- there are four seats and five applicants. >> can we take them in order t? >> my name is janet riley and i have been on the board of directors for the past 8 years. in december, i was elected president of that board which brings an 80-year presidency. -- two-year presidency. there will be a celebration at the gate will be a part of. there is a celebration of mate,

2012. i am the head of the planning committee for that celebration. -- there is a celebration in may, 2012. there is also the america's cup. hopefully the bridge will play a significant role. so, it is important that we have representation as a president from san francisco. besides the celebrations, these have been difficult years in the bridge. in 2009, we had a deficit. we have close to this to $89 million because we have created a fantastic plan. a financial stability plan. as long as we continue on that plan, we will close the deficit in a few years, which would be quite remarkable. we are working on a median barrier. we will finally have a barrier in the middle of the bridge so we can avoid any had done

collisions. that should be done in 2012. we have approved a suicide barrier which this board over the past 40 years has been talking about. we have decided that we would put a suicide barrier on the bridge. we have to go and find $45 billion to fund that barrier but i'm committed to that. we got 100 new buses at the bridge. we are trying to become more green and more claim which is important and everything we do in our ferry system. -- we are trying to become more green and more clean. i hope that i can continue my public service. thank you. >> thank you very much. colleagues, are there any questions for the candidates? >> actually, i have a few.

do you support charging pedestrians and cyclists a toll to cross the bridge? >> i do not. i have not seen a plan where it would make a significant amount of money. the goodwill it would destroy it is not worth the money. >> with a lot of that plans to improve the bridge such as the suicide barrier, the middle median, which is great, and the seismic retrofit, do you have plans to include more people, particularly from our to said vanished committees, to take advantage of the jobs? -- particularly from our disadvantaged communities, to take advantage of the jobs? >> we have expanded the way that we post our job listings. this is to all surrounding counties. there will be lots of

opportunities for people to participate in the 75th anniversary. >> thank you. >> next, we have lynne newhouse segal. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i stand before you today to respectfully request to the opportunity to continue my activism and leadership on the golden gate bridge highway and transportation district and serve as your eyes, ears, and force there. i have a record of 36 years of accessibility, government service, activism on the most important and contentious issues. i ask questions and demand transparency.

because i am fiercely independent, i build coalitions and get results when no one else has. i've distributed a list to you of some of my supporters. i was elected in december 2nd a vice president of the bridge district board by my colleagues. i am line to be president. in an organization like the bridge board which is governed by seniority, that is very important. i have been able to get to know my colleagues and forge relationships based on trust. as you have heard from the director, we have made a lot of strides on the suicide deterrent, other issues. now, we are facing major issues of automation and funding cuts. first amendment expression,

congestion pricing, visitors' centers, and every model of the ferry building. we were bringing the moral component of saving lives to our discussions. prior to my joining the board, the mental health aspects were in discussion. i brought neighborhood and community input to the table. by initiating meetings between leaders and regional transportation officials and four city officials. at our board members, i was the only one to show my colleagues to wait that and will drive construction would impact san francisco neighborhoods. i am the only one who regularly watches -- walks the bridges and trails that lead up to it. they rely on me to share my

experience as one of the many pedestrians on the bridge. i have experienced in land use, parts, transportation issues. i have an appreciation of the complex world with the transportation agency and a custodian of a landmark open space. i have working relationships with many of the public officials with whom we work. i was one of only two directors consistently speaking against commercialization of the bridge. i attended meetings and facilitated dialogue between british officials and the community resulting in a unanimous vote against the proposed sponsorship program and preserving the bridges iconic status. -- i attended the meetings and facilitated dialogue between various officials. i have the experience and judgment necessary as the district is about to launch its

75th anniversary celebration. to explore the options of opening and visitors center and part of a partnership with a nonprofit. i will make sure that this is done in a safe, democratic, profitable, and fun way. on the staff of congressman -- and as a commissioner of human rights, now as in golden gate bridge director, i have always been passionate about my responsibility to all segments of the community for could governments, -- for good governance, fact finding, and transparency. thank you. i respectfully request your appointment and the opportunity to continue to serve.

>> thank you. thank you for your desire to continue serving. are there any questions? i have a couple of questions. the same question i had before. on where you supportive of cuts to ferry and bus services? do you support charging pedestrians and cyclists tolls to cross the bridge? >> okay, fairy, bus service, polls -- ferry, bus service, tolls. i did not support raising tolls. i cannot support increasing f erry and bus service. we are encouraging public transportation but private cars

are finding public transportation. we have a huge shortfall, $89 million at this point. we have promised $75 million disappoint -- to support doyle drive. we have to raise revenue some time. this is a huge international tourist attraction. maybe the biggest. we have 10 million pedestrians and visitors. many of them a one not crossing it, certainly not to commute. i do with all the time for recreation. i do not think that we should have tolls for people who consistently exercised and use the bridge for those purposes. however, capturing the tourist

revenue that is there would be a wonderful boon to the bridge district and the bay area. there are tourist dollars that can be made from the tourist bicycles that hog the bridge and cause administrative problems. i am on the bridge all the time and this is very crowded. >> in the you support charging a toll for pedestrians and bicyclists? >> i would support a visitor's fee. something that would go into the tourist experience. we are going to offer a museum. after we offer our pedestrian renovations. >> you support a fee for tourists? >> exactly.

>> how would you distinguish between them and people who regularly exercise? >> i would not support a fee for bicyclist. i would like to increase access for bicyclist. i don't think that it has to be closed as often as it is. i would like to increase bicycle access. this is a wonderful mode of transportation. >> you support it for pedestrians but not for cyclists? >> i would not support a toll for cyclists unless we can do this through the tourist-rented cycles. >> there is a fee when you ride the bicycle? >> i don't know. we are exploring that. my city directors know that as part of my long term plan to

look into tolls for pedestrians. >> you voted against cuts to ferry and bus services? >> i do not support future cuts. >> you did support them in the past? >> i don't remember. i believe that we voted unanimously to do that. we are in a dire financial situation. it will get worse. if government funding as cut, we have less and less people on the bridge. a lot of jobs have been lost. many people are -- we need revenue. >> i think there was a split on the ferryboat. thank you. >> thank you. >> at this time, we have richard

grosboll. >> thank you. i have had the pleasure of serving on the board for the last four years. it has been a rewarding experience. i have a history of being involved with some neighborhoods in planning and transit issues. i have been involved in labor issues as well as well as a lot of transit environmental issues. i will not repeat what my previous us what the two previous candidates talk about. the financial problems are overriding. -- i will not repeat what the previous two candidates talked about. we have three significant projects going on. we have the seismic retrofit which is a major project. we hope to finish part of that in 2012 and then we will move on to a bigger part. that is just hanging over us.

this is very expensive but it must be done. we are all excited about finally getting a move will build a barrier in. also a suicide barrier. -- we are all excited about finally getting a movable median barrier in. the suicide says -- the suicide barrier design phase should be completed soon. with the suicide barrier, between 25-35 people that we know of jumping off the bridge each year, i am excited about that. with respect to some of the other issues. we have dealt with issues such as the type of engines in the ferry's. our environmental can be be and still have reliable -- how

environmental can we be and still have a reliable ferry? i suspect that most of the bridges in the area will be without toll takers. i wanted to get more time for the workers to be able to train more to get some of the other jobs at to the bridge. second, there is a whole contingent. there are many people going across the bridge and who want to be anonymous. this was a close call and i understand the need to do it. i could have been more consistent with respect to the anonymous drivers. we have an excellent staff. it has been quite enlightening. our general manager and all the way down with the bridge workers and others. we have learned a lot from their

comments. i have enjoyed working on the bridge. i have enjoyed working with the transit issues. many of us for get that the tolls, people keep saying why you have such large polls? this is because we support the ferries, the buses come other transit issues. that is part of our policy. that is continuing that way and i supported that strongly. thank you, and i look forward to your vote. >> thank you for your service. are there any questions? do you support charging pedestrians and cyclists a toll to cross the bridge? >> i don't. we've talked about the challenge of whether you can somehow charge the taurus and did not the residents. -- tourists and not the res idents.

if it you were going to allow residents to cross for free, you would have to do it for all six counties. i have concluded that there's not a workable system to do it. maybe-maybe there will be a proposal. you have friends and colleagues telling me that there are all of those tourists walking across the bridge. there's a certain pride in having it be for free. people like to walk it and they liked the view. trudging people, up -- charging people, i am not quite ready for that. >> i know that there are some controversial votes on the board. i was curious about your vote for the cut in ferry service. why did you not support the cut? >> well, this was somewhat of a symbolic vote. i am a transit activist.

i support transit. i felt it was important to show that there was some disagreement. i wanted to voice it and share it with life -- a share it with my fellow members. i felt as a transit advocate i wanted to send a message to find some other funds or to something else but i realize there is no easy answer. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> next we have mr. david schneider -- david snyder. >> i am a 22-year resident hond to be here to request appointment to the bridge board. you have my resume, i will let

it speak to the details. i have 20 years of transportation policy experience mostly with bicycle safety but also with land use, walking, traffic. i would like to talk about my priorities. if i am appointed again to the bridge -- i will mention them in the reverse order in my optimism. the president mentioned the planned to get to fiscal stability. one of the items on there is incremental tolling for our electronic payment customers. we propose to do that right now starting three or four years from now but i would like to start of that right away. we have always had dollar increments because it is easier

to make change that way. with electronic tolling, we don't have to do that. i don't think that people notice and it will help our financial system of the lead. the second priority is to get a monthly pass for our transit users. we don't have that. i think that this hurts our transit ridership. i look forward to working with the san francisco chamber of commerce because it would encourage visitors. the bridge has challenges are around a monthly pass that muni does not have. i'd knowledge that this is challenging but it can be done. -- i acknowledge that this is challenging. i would like to improve bicycle safety on the bridge.

also alexander avenue leading to the property. i look forward to working with the staff on that. it takes and little while to learn the culture, plays, talents, perspectives of my fellow board members. i have developed a bad experience and the last two years. i look forward to using that to helping to make the district usable for all of its users. -- i have developed that experience over the past two years. >> what ideas and do you have are around collecting local residents to jobs? >> we at the bridge to conform to federal requirements.

those requirements are very low. this is a few percentage points. we get reports from that. as a board, we should consider increasing those requirements. i have not made that comment yet as a board member. when i heard the percentage that is required, for me, it sounded really low. >> you don't support charging a fee for pedestrians and cyclists? >> no. >> thank you. our next applicant is michael theriault.