>> good afternoon.

welcome to the may 3, 2011 meeting of the municipal transportation authority. [roll is called] >> you have a forum -- a quorum. before we move into the regular meeting -- if the could have the audience's attention, please. there is an overflow room, which is room for hundred eight. the people who wish to address the board are in that room. we will allow ample time for them to make their way here to address the board today. if we could have quiet, please. >> i think it is out in the hall. >> we will handle that one as well. item three -- announcement of prohibition of sound-producing items during the meeting.

the use of pagers or similar sound-producing electronic devices are prohibited at the meeting. any person responsible for a cell phone, pager, etc. going off may be removed from the meeting. cell phones that are set on vibrate dewclaws microphone interference. the board respectfully requests the be placed in the off position. item four, approval of the minutes from previous meetings. >> one clarification. i have asked for a public hearing on market street, but i want to clarify the second public hearing i asked for was not specifically on pedestrian safety, but was released around our enforcement work order. i know director lee ask for an update which falls under pedestrian safety, but that task force is in progress. i do not feel a need for an update on that at the moment.

i was focusing more on the influence. chairperson nolan: is there a motion to approve? all in favor say aye. >> item 5, communications director. i can 6, introduction of new or unfinished business by board members. director bridges: yes. thank you, chairman nolan. about four meetings ago, i brought to the board's attention pedestrian safety issues at geary and portola. i would like to hear where that

stands. i would like to find out what the fact finding ideas were at geary and park street. chairperson nolan: good afternoon. is your microphone on? >> i have some good news to report. we have looked at the location, and we recommended installing a new traffic signal at that location. because of the process involved to get it done, it will be several years before that can happen. in the interim, we have installed additional red zones in a dance. with the yield lines and yield to pedestrians signs -- those have already gone and two weeks ago. one thing we were able to report is we have savaged some previously used solar power

flashing beacons from other locations. we just got the parts to make them functional again. we are putting them in next week. there should be flashing beacon is facing both directions by the end of next week. chairperson nolan: thank you, and thank you, director bridges. director oka: i would just like to state that i think the complaint that taxi drivers were not picking up people who need paratransit service -- while they are loading the passenger, they are charging. i thought we had stopped that.

they are loading the passenger in and charging for it. that should not be happening. >> these are cetaceans related to assisting disabled customers into the taxi -- these are citations related to assisting disabled customers into the taxi? we will look into this. that should not be happening. i think we should be able to pull the citation statistics related to that. we will look and see what is going on. i think it has been our commitment between the enforcement personnel and the taxi industry that when they are waiting for a passenger, not to charge. we will get to the bottom of it. chairperson nolan: i am under the impression we will get a presentation at our next board

meeting on the pedestrian safety, a status update on what we have done. >> i believe so. if not, wiccan calendar it. >> first meeting in june. director brinkman: i wanted to remind everyone that sunday streets if this sunday, mother's day. this is the mission route. for the first time, the route is going to go along valencia instead of turning left at 19th. it will go all the way along valencia to dubose. the merchants are thrilled. if you have not been to send a streets in the mission, it is a great opportunity. i want to thank the mta staff that work done that. chairperson nolan: thank you. >> moving on, item seven, executive directors report. executive director ford: good afternoon.

as is customary with the first meeting of the month, the first item on my report is the recognition of employees who have distinguished themselves with their fine work and contributions to the agency. our first goes to jerry wong -- gary wong. he is in the cable car division and has been with the agency for 33.5 years. he is an exemplary cable car director with an outstanding record in terms of customer service. he has impeccable attendance. he maintains an excellent safety record with no avoidable accidents for the last 23 years. his outstanding customer service skills are highly praised by dispatchers and fellow peers. his words of wisdom are, "treat people nice and they will treae" gary will retire this june and we wish him a prosperous and healthy retirement. here to present the award is john haley, our director of

transit services. [applause] >> thank you. i will point out one thing. gary is, in addition to a successful record, is a practitioner of his words of wisdom. he has handled all kinds of folks. he is literally an ambassador for our organization and the city of san francisco, including presidents of countries as well as movie stars, including -- tell him. >> i was in a movie with macaulay culkin. [laughter] i enjoyed my 34 years with muni. i am going to miss everybody here. thank you. executive director ford: thank you, mr. wong. on behalf of the board of directors and san francisco, thank you for your outstanding service and enjoy your

retirement. well-deserved. next, i am pleased to recognize jodie mcdowell from the sustainable streets division. she works in our sign shop, in the unit operations selection system. could you please come up to the podium? >> thank you. i am here. executive director ford: she is a traffic survey technician and has been with the agency for 15 years. her duties include inspecting and gathering various forms of field data to support the maintenance and installation of traffic control devices including signals, meters, and markings. the information helps us provide valuable input for engineering analysis, requests for services, and resolutions of claims related to accidents and damages. she enjoys the challenge. the sign shop is in practice of acquiring a new system to replace an outdated system we inherited from dpw.

she has turned in outstanding work on the inventory system and has performed with the highest standard and met and exceeded her deadlines. her initiative, dedication, and creativity has been beyond the call of duty. she has done a masterful reorganization of the various types of signs, descriptions, and duplications at the sign shop. she is also a part-time surveyor for the color curbin program. she is the go-to person if you want a job done and an inspiration to her colleagues because of the level of inspiration she provides with her initiative and dedication. our director of sustainable streets is here to present this award. [applause] >> i just want to thank you for your hard work and dedication,

and for your being a role model for your colleagues. speaking of them, some of them from the sign division are in the audience, as well as your family. congratulations. >> thank you very much. i appreciate it. this is a very big honor for me. i have worked for the department 22 years, 15 of which have been permanent. i would also like to thank my supervisor for the opportunity to work on these projects. i love the project. i love a problem. i love to bring it to resolution. i feel like i am a very lucky girl, and i love my job. >> i understand you have special guests here with you tonight. >> i do have my daughter, melissa, my future daughter-in- law, and my son. along with that, i do have a crowd from the traffic sign group. executive director ford: thank

you so much, and congratulations. >> it is an honor. thank you. [applause] executive director ford: that concludes our special recognitions for the month of may. it was standing room only here at the sf park lunch here at city hall last thursday. we were joined by the mayor, who expelled the many benefits of our barack program -- of our bart program. we were also joined by members of the board of supervisors and chairman nolan. we also had directors brinkman and oka. as it relates to "bike to work" day, it is on your calendar, the

17th annual, set for next thursday, may 12. to attract more people, the mta posted a brown bag lunch and last week. members of the san francisco bike coalition shared a behind the scenes look into what made "but to work day" resounding success over the last three years. there have been expansions to the bike network since the injunction was lifted 18 months ago. we have included 19 bike lane projects, adding 11 miles to the bicycle route. we have installed 2400 and cameras on 24 miles of roadway. we have put into place by cracks and by corals. -- bike racks and bike corals. we have seen improved safety and

more people on bikes every year. we have seen an increase in 48% of 40 it -- we have seen an increase of 40% of people using bicycles in the last four years. please let our board secretary know if you plan on participating. you may be well aware that one of the other hats i hold is a board member with the caltrans operation. the board of directors decided not to reduce service, ensuring a continuation of the current 86 train schedules. we do have meeting scheduled to start discussing the next fiscal year the's budget, and trying to deal -- the next -- the next fiscal year path budget, trying to deal with the financial -- the next fiscal year's budget, trying to deal with the

financial struggles and our schedule. we shut down part of the cable car system as part of the cable car system improvement program. there was minimal inconvenience to residents and visitors. the highline was partially shut down. muni shuttle buses served cable car stops, except for areas that were impacted by construction. we had mta embassadors along the line to assist -- ambassadors along the line to assist customers. the next shot down will conclude it between june 1 and june 5. this will allow for system would work, requiring the shutdown of all three lines. those lines will resume service on june 6. we are currently scheduled to resume california line operations on june 19.

the next item is related to our taxi town hall meetings. it has been our practice periodically to schedule taxi town hall meetings to provide an open forum to discuss matters that affect the san francisco taxi industry. members of the taxi industry and the public are invited to attend to express their ideas and opinions about issues that are important to you relating to taxis in san francisco. we currently have two town hall meeting scheduled this month. there will be on wednesday, may 11, and monday, may 16. the items to be discussed in clues -- include major increases, the credit card fee, passenger information, and peak time medallions. we will announce additional dates as they are scheduled. metered fares have not increased

since 2003. we will come before you to recommend certain fare increases. those will have been discussed with the industry at the town hall meeting. later this spring, and we are targeting may 17, the staff will return to the board for further discussion and decision making around electronic waybills and credit card charges. the next board meeting, we plan to spend most of that meeting discussing tax issues with you as a board to get guidance on those very important issues. i also need to close by assuring the board and all that use public transportation in our city that we are taking the necessary security precautions in the aftermath of the death of osama bin laden. this focus on security includes intensified messaging, checking of parcels and packages, and increased vigilance across the city, notably in customer

facilities and on vehicles. to bolster these measures, we have also asked our customers to be alert to strange items and behaviors, and to immediately report such things by calling 911 or in forming an mta employee. that concludes my executive director's report. chairperson nolan: thank you. director heinicke: i have a question about something that was not discussed. i was under the impression we would get a report today on the twin peaks tunnel. i guess on speed in the twin peaks tunnel. am i mistaken? executive director ford: you will get a full briefing on that in the may 17 meeting. chairperson nolan: you mentioned in the taxi town hall meetings -- we receive messages saying these times do not work for some people. you say there will be another possibility of additional meetings?

could those accommodate evening meetings? executive director ford: we will take a look. i receive those comments also. we will see how we can cover anyone interested in speaking at those town hall meetings to try to cover the entire industry and make it easy to attend. chairperson nolan: thank you. i understand there are a number of speakers, pushing 80 at this point. i assume most people are here to speak about taxi-related issues. mr. ford has brought us up in his report. we can hear those now. we had a meeting a couple of weeks ago which had 40 speakers. we have about 80 this afternoon. we have at least two of town halls. the may meeting is on may 17. that will substantially deal with the tax issue. with all that in mind, if people want to talk about the tax issue, i will give everybody one minute. >> in light of that and for

members of the public, we now have a second overflow room. that is 408 on this floor. to accommodate people who wish to address the board who are going to be in other rooms, i will read the names of about five people in advance. the sheriff's will let people in if they say their name has been called. if people could then lineup against the wall, we will keep repeating the names and go to the list until everyone has had an opportunity to speak. chairperson nolan: one more thing. there will be no action taken by this body this afternoon. we know there is a lot of interest raised in it. >> the first five -- dominick roderick, mohammed edinae, jimmy

mankind, and bill mattingly. if he could speak into the microphone, sir, we're going to ask all speakers to state their names so i don't keep repeating the names of people who have already spoken. >> my name is madavi. i have looked 32 years in san francisco. i am opposed to credit card fees. i am already paying some percentage for many years. also, i am opposed on the electronic waybills. these are my to objections --

mike two objections. -- my two objections. >> dominic. i have been 30 years in the service of some francisco. a request one thing. whenever you have an agenda for the taxi industry, it should at least be on the bulletin board of the companies and at the airport, so everybody knows about it, not only the company. the drivers should be informed. it has to be a big letter, not a tiny letter, where it is visible. we have bulletin boards at the airport and at the companies. before you set up a meeting, i request you that you put it in bold letters so that all the parties involved will know about it. i recommend you guys that we would really appreciate that. you are very informative and everything like that. we are trying to improve the

industry. everybody is trying to do a good job. thank you. >> mohammed eddinae, jimmy mankind. >> good afternoon, everybody. i am here today for the credit card thing. i don't think it is right. i do not think anybody should come take my social security and open a bank account for me and tell me you are going to take 5% of your money. they tell me you're going to take 5% of your money and you are not going to see it today. you are good to see it two or three days. i have to pay $1.50 every time i talk to somebody. anywhere you go, people have choices. passengers have ci don't have t. they have different prices, cash

and credit. i believe this charge, if you can't live without it, passes to the passenger. it is fair. they have the option. i had a passenger from australia. passengers their pay 10%. -- passengers there pay 10%. >> david million -- nguyen. >> i would like to add to this invisible agenda that seems to be coming down upon cabdriver's constantly. that is evidenced by some of the alarming trends that have seemingly abused the cab driver more than the companies since the switch from the taxi commission to the mta. first of all, the $7.50 per shift means the cabbies are buying the vehicles that own the

company. that is $15 a day, $450 a month. i think you can afford something better than a hybrid. somebody has to be ready in some money on that. the companies were paying the credit card charges. we do not know what they are. we do not know what an average business charges for the right to use credit cards. everybody i have talked to says that is an extraordinary amount. >> if i can ask everybody to state their name. >> good afternoon. my name is bill manchin. i have been a resident of san francisco for four years. i have been a taxi driver for 21 years.

no one has given me an award for doing that. [applause] i would just like to talk about the setup you have about the selling of medallions. i am on the list. i have been on the list 15.5 years. my name has moved 3 places in the last year. i will be 90 before i get a cab. something has to be done about that. also, all the recommendations you have got before you today have no cabdriver recommendations. there is no representation of taxi drivers. i don't agree with any of these things. these things should all be done away with. if you don't like what i am saying, drive a cub for a while -- driving a cab for a while and you will find out. >> joe donohue.

>> my name is eric kragan. i have driven for 28 years. i would like 5% of all your checks. i would like you to pay 400% more than you have been to vendors. i pay 1%. why would i want to pay 5%? how about the legal part? we are not employees of the mta. how can you force a third party vendor on us when we are not your employees? we are independent contractors. you have gone out of the way to make sure we get none of the benefits of employees. how can you possibly treat us as employees after you have gone out of your way to make sure we are not employees? you cannot force a third party vendor on us at an incredibly high rate. thank you. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. my name is david.

i am a driver. i am here today because i am suspicious of what the mta is doing to taxi drivers. there is no information. all we do is get a letter, "you come here to pay the result now we want to collect the credit cards and the information -- you come here to pay." now we want to collect the credit cards and all the information. they are scared. i want to know. are they a scam or not a scam? we are suspicious. >> and joe donohue, sam aryan, alec dutt. >> good afternoon. i would like to thank the mta for taking the e