supervisor avalos: good morning. welcome to the city operations and neighborhood services committee. joined to my left by a supervisor elsbernd and to my right by supervisor mar.

madam clerk, do we have any announcements? >> all persons attending this meeting are requested to turn off all cell phones and pagers. if you wish to submit copies of materials to members of the committee, please submit an extra copy for the file. if you wish to submit a speaker card, please put it in the container by the rail in front of you to your left. items recommended out of committee today will be considered by the full board tuesday of next week, march 22, unless another date is indicated. supervisor avalos: very good. thank you. please call item 1. >> item 1, resolution authorizing the department of aging and adult services to accept and expend a grant in the amount of $143,128 from the centers for medicare and medicaid services and the administration on aging, past through the california department on aging, to assist in expanding medicare beneficiary enrollment and out rejectees aimed at preventing

disease and promoting health -- enrollment and outreach activities. >> good morning. i worked as a program analyst with the department of aging and adult services. as was just indicated, we are here to request your approval so that we may accept and expend this grant for the medicare patient providers act. this funding will allow us to continue the work we have been doing for this last year. i should point out that this last year's grant that came through the california department of aging actually was very successful in meeting its benchmarks. the purpose of this funding is to actually do active asserted out reach into the communities

-- underserved communities, communities that would benefit from the low-income subsidies and medicare savings plan funding that is available to help offset some of the high costs of health care. so there is a plan by two of our service providers. one is community service sponsors, aging and disability resource center. they will be continuing the work that they have done, doing a sort of our region to the community, especially limited english-speaking community, communities of color, low-income communities, as will the health insurance advocacy project. they will also continue to do a lot of the publicity through the media and so forth, that we can

get the word out to those folks that do qualify for this program. that is our goal here, to try to get your support so that we can, in fact, expend this fund. this is an 18-month grant, so it will run until june 30, 2012. we do have a specific work plan that we have already set up and added to the state. so if there are any questions. supervisor avalos: just one for me. the program has already begun, so we will be accepting an expanding retroactively -- and expending retroactively. >> yes. supervisor avalos: any member of the public with a comet who would like to come forward? and we will close public comment. motion to move forward with recommendations. we will take it without objection.

madam clerk, please call item two. >> item two, hearing to discuss the safety regulations regarding the use of segways in golden gate park. supervisor avalos: thank you. this is an item sponsored by supervisor mar. supervisor mar: thank you. we have a number of stakeholders from the public here today. i'm also pleased to introduce sncc from the recreation and parks department to talk about the vendor currently providing segway tors -- tours in the park, but also the process gone through to prove they use in the

park. also, my limiting of the discussion here today is that we are talking about golden gate park only, not any other areas of the city, but also, we are trying to focus on the safety of the technology. i did go on a great tool -- tour by the vendor, i have ridden the segways, and i did see some of the routes that were used last year. also, i think this is an important issue that impacts the park. also, i know the recreation and parks apartment is a little bit understaffed right now with one of the main staffers out on leave right now. said he might not have all the answers to the questions that we have today, but thank you for being here. >> thank you, supervisor, for holding this hearing today.

we are excited about the opportunity to discuss safety regulations. there has been a lot of conversation and newspaper articles about this. we are very excited about offering segways in the park. to back up a little bit, in 2008, the department began a yearlong trial program where we first offered segway tors -- chores -- tours in the park. we have literally hundreds of people participate over one year, and the program had a perfect safety record. there were no incidents or collisions. also, the department received zero complaints about the pilot program, which i think is something we are very proud of and is not always the case, as we implement new programs that we receive such a little negative feedback from the

general public. it is approximately 9 miles in length, and it took people to a lot of the areas of the park that people do not necessarily always go to, which i think, for us, is one of the exciting elements. it offers people, especially people of limited mobility who might not have the ability to go and do a nine-mile walk in the park -- it offers them the ability to go and see what is really the crown jewel of our public park system in san francisco. with a year of operating data to evaluate the safety, house if this operation is, and its impact on the part, the recreation and park commission last year approved a contract with the san francisco electric tour company to begin offering these guided tours on a more permanent basis. we're working with community

stakeholders, including some of those the supervisor mentioned just a few moments ago. we amended the route to eliminate some of the more sensitive areas, so the route originally took people up to the top of strawberry hill. we eliminated strawberry hill. working with the golden gate park preservation alliance and friends of the music concourse, we revised the route so that it no longer went through the lower bowles of the music concourse, and we also worked with the company to develop safe operating procedures, building on a year of knowledge of how this operates within the park. just a little bit about the company. they are the largest segway tour company in san francisco. they have offered tours since

2004 in some of our busiest neighborhoods -- fisherman's wharf, of north beach, and all along the northern waterfront. they have had over 65,000 people take their tours, and in all that time, there have been no collisions between segway users and collisions. -- users and pedestrians. in general, while they are a new form of transportation and as such have drawn some scrutiny, the studies we have seen are showing that segways themselves are rather say forms of transportation. a u.s. traffic study found that among motorized and non- motorized transportation devices they use both roads and trails, they have the second shortest braking distance, the

best sight lines, and the best response time to user input, making them among the most maneuverable of devices that use our roads and trails. a 2005 study found that segways present the same level of risk to other path users as joggers or children playing. notably, the segways are designed so that the tire pressure is very low, so they can actually run over a person's toes without injuring that person, further reducing the risk of injury to pedestrians for other park users -- or other park users. in working with the concessionaire to develop the proposal, we identified a number of safe operating procedures that we are acquiring the concessionaire to employ.

all riders must wear helmets and reflective vests. they're equipped with radios so that the guide can communicate instructions. rather than a certain weight and age is being committed, all eyes are trained in cpr and first aid. all riders are instructed on the etiquette of writing the segway theriding -- riding the segway in city parks. the -- namely, that this is not a race. they will slow down when approaching park users, and everyone has the right of way over segway users, so when a guided segway tour group, the practice we have implemented this that the group will come to a stop, let the pedestrian path, and then, they will continue on with the tour.

in addition, before any of the groups embarked on their tour of the park, all riders must undergo at approximately 45- minute training session. they are instructed on the basics of operating the transportation device. they learn how to perform emergency stops. they are required to navigate a slalom of cones, to learn and demonstrate their ability to navigate in tight corner in situations, and again, they are informed to cede the right of way to all pedestrians -- supervisor mar: i recall how difficult that was during the 35 to 40-minute tour, so again, the training is still about 35 to 40 minutes? >> it is exactly that. 45 minutes or so, i believe.

i think that the training is actually a little more difficult than what you encounter in the real world. trains are set very close together, and riders are expected to demonstrate a level of comfort navigating this. once in the park, the obstacles are not quite so closely place together, so it is a little bit easier to maneuver. supervisor mar: what would happen if someone kept crashing into the cones and could not get through the basic training? >> anyone that does not demonstrate a certain ability with the device is given a full refund and not allowed to go on the tour. anyone who just after the training session decides this is not for them, they are given a full refund and allowed not to go. we think again, those are two important stopgaps to ensure that the people operating the

segways are comfortable and familiar with the device. know that we are focusing today mainly on this -- the safety elements or safety procedures, but i did want to discuss briefly the route that the tour takes. it starts behind the music concourse. it goes along music concourse drive, and up through a pathway through rhododendron delaware -- rhododendron dell and over towards a conservator of flowers before going over to take a quick peek at the john mclaren large -- large -- lodge and doubling back towards the tennis complex and going back towards

stow lake. originally, we have proposed strawberry hill in the map, and that is proposed here, but as i said, we have eliminated strawberry hill after concerns from the community. once people get to stow lake, they start working their way back east. again, safety during the tour. all tours are led by highly trained staff. the tour guide goes first. participants are not allowed to pass the tour guide. the tour guide sets a modest pace for movement, and also ensures that any time the group approach is an obstacle, that the group comes to a complete stop. if it is a person or pedestrian or bicyclist, let that person has. if it is a crosswalk or stop sign, that they come to a

complete stop before moving on. again, anyone who begins the tour but becomes uncomfortable is allowed to stop, and support staff will come and pick up the person and pick up the segway before it continues. any person who demonstrates unsafe behavior during the tour is required to stop, and they are picked up by supports the theory that could be if someone is intentionally displaying reckless behavior, racing, not following directions, or if someone just after tour has begun, if there level of comfort with their device and their mastery of the machine is not sufficient enough to continue with tour, staff would stop that person from continuing on. there is a lot of talk about the device and how safe or not say if it may be. the average speed is

approximately 4 miles an hour. the machines can go up to 12.5 miles an hour, but i would say, similar to a car that has a top speed, they do not often operate at that top speed. much more often, they are going at a leisurely pace. the guide is describing what has happened in the park, and it is more to see the park rather than speed through it. supervisor mar: i know what happens when you go at 12 miles an hour and you try to go faster. can you explain physically what the machine does? >> i will try to. the machine has an electric limited. -- limiter. if you try to go faster than the 12.5 miles an hour, the machine pushes back, and you will feel sort of a slowing down or the machine redlining, so to speak.

supervisor mar: kind of like an automatic brake? them at exactly. that is my presentation. with that said, i would like to make myself available for any questions the committee might have. supervisor mar: you said there were no accident incidence -- incidents from the one-year pilot until now? do you know if other safety studies -- is it the i2 segways? there's a certain type used that is more safe than other types of segways? >> i would have to defer to the vendor. i'm not familiar. i know that earlier models have some software issues. many of the more publicized incidents were related to that. a few years ago, there was a

recall, recalling all of the segways, and since that time, many of those safety issues have been addressed, but i'm not familiar with the different models. supervisor mar: thank you so much. through the chair, if it is ok, if we could open this up for public comment. we have a number of speakers from the sf electric tour company, and a number of organizations that requested the hearing through my office. i'm going to call community representatives first, and then we have what looks like segway representatives from other regions. i will be calling a number of speakers from the sf electric tour company. there's about 15 people here. i will just call people as their

hearts are filled out. >> thank you for holding this hearing. i am president of wall -- walk san francisco. we were involved when segways were banned from the sidewalks of san francisco. a representative from the company came to demonstrate the safety of the device. in our offices, they demonstrated it. somebody got scared. they jumped off. the segway hit the wall and cracked the grant -- granite. we understand that the representative has said it has gotten safer, but we were told it was safe then. it is my understanding that at their lowest setting, they can go as 6 miles an hour. representative mentioned that the average speed is four. it should be noted that the average speed of a pedestrian is still two or 3 miles an hour, so

it is going faster than pedestrians. that is why we have concerns with mixing segways with pedestrians, and it is for the same reason we have concerns about mixing cyclists with pedestrians. i'm impressed by their safety record in north beach and fisherman's wharf, though it should be noted that in both of those locations, they operate the segways on the roadway and off the sidewalks. there was a study done in washington, d.c., that found that the majority of segway injuries were caused by people on tours like this, so respectfully, we ask that recon park only allow -- rec and park only allow segways on the roadways and not on pedestrian paths to be consistent with the

city policy outside of rec and park property. thank you very much. supervisor mar: thank you. mr. ray holland from the planning association for the richmond. >> first of all, i would like to say we do not oppose segways in the park. we supported. most importantly, we support new revenue streams for the department, and we think this is a realistic one. what we oppose is having them operated on trails and pathways. we think it ought to be just like the rest of the city on the streets. we also think it should not be just to the eastern part of golden gate park. there are some unused streets in the western part of the park that not have cars on them at all. that is a remote part of the park that most people do not visit, and i think it would be

wise to use that. i want to point out that on the display of there, the safety issue was always looked at as one two parties confront one another on a pathway or trail. our concern is the opposite -- when at four miles an hour, they will overtake pedestrians. especially today. i'm a bicyclist. i ride in the park every day. when you come up behind pedestrians, especially if they happen to have ipads in their ears, they are completely oblivious to the rest of the world -- if they happen to have ipods in their ears. they do not know you are behind them. that is a potential danger, and i think that is probably the issue. a park is supposed to be a place of respite, and the complaints we get from our members is they want to just go over and have a nice, quiet walk in the park, and this is a motorized vehicle. it is like the elephant in the

room. you may want to deny it is there, but it is there. supervisor mar: can you reiterate the position? you are supportive of segways, but you would like to see them limited or eliminated from trails and pathways? >> correct. i also might point out that the pathways they pick vary from excuse pathways to those dedicated only for pedestrians and joggers, so you are going to have a real problem in what the rules are. supervisor mar: there was mention that there were some adjustments made with strawberry hill take it out, and you mentioned that there is one around the lower music concourse. you know the park better than maybe most people, and i know the rhododendron dell --

recently, the pavement has been approved in the past are very wide, so that is different than the narrow pathways to, like, seventh avenue, for example, or behind the conservatory of flowers. are there specific places you have concerns about? >> the other is the redwood forest to the north of jfk park. they have signs that were recently put up there about being prohibited for bicyclist. the reason is because they got complaints from pedestrians walking through the dells down below. they did not want bicycles there. if they did not want bicycles there, why would you but segways -- why would you put segways there? supervisor mar: i would just like to ask people if they try to be sustained, especially if somebody has already made the

point that they have already made. whatever people are the representatives of the electric tour company should speak first. [reading names] those are the electric tour company folks. people can just line up and

speak one after the other if you like. >> i'm not on that list because i thought i was speaking with nick. i'm the president of the electric tour company. good to be with you guys again. been spending more time in this building in the last six months than i have in my entire life in san francisco. it has been great, and a good lesson in civics from a person who grew up in louisiana where civics is somewhat challenged. we have been operating in san francisco since 2004. i wanted to make a couple of quick corrections. the top speed limit our tours to is 10 miles an hour. the only time we exceed the 4 miles an hour speed limit is usually on a designated by trail or going around stow lake on the trail. honestly, we are stopping a lot. the second thing, as one of my staff members will be talking about, is our etiquette. we do address the issue of