do. but even if it were able to accomplish, i did believe it meets the needs and i don't believe it is the answer. the fact is these credit card fees are inconvenience to the public in a variety of ways. many drivers, have to say are either discouraging the use of these cards or they simply refuse to take them. sometimes they will say the machine is broken. i know this from conversations with my own passengers and conversations with other drivers. it is not something that should be condoned but it is inevitable and it's human nature that someone who can make a little more on a transaction is going to do, even for requires a little fib to do it, they're going to do it. this is inconveniencing passengers, it could potentially lead to conflicts with

passengers and very uncomfortable situations. you are never going to be able to police this adequately. there is also a safety factor here because it is a good thing to reduce the amount of cash in the cab. cabdrivers have among the highest assault rates, homicide rates fell for a long time of year, they had the highest homicide rate of any occupation. to the extent you can reduce the cash in the cab, you make drivers less vulnerable to these attacks. the current policy has the opposite effect. thank you. >> next item. -- before we leave that, i think a comprehensive review of taxi policies was proposed.

ms. johnson represented that could be done in september but i trust that included members of the community as well. >> a point of clarification. what i was saying is we could do that assessment and bring back the ideas in an outline. not a fully vetted plan, but a skeleton of a plan we could discuss. >> thank you. >> on a regular calendar, deborah johnson serving as acting executive director. there is an amendment to the resolution that needs to be considered and discussed by the board. the agreement makes reference throughout to the city's memorandum of understanding with the municipal executive association and needs to be corrected because the mta has and mou and that is the

appropriate reference. the results clause needs to be amended to read the san francisco bids will transportation board of directors approves a -- approves an agreement for deborah johnson to service a active -- acting executive director -- >> do we have a motion to approve this? do we have a second? all in favor? does anyone in the public want to comment? >> for the record, but was on a motion to amend the agreement. >> we did it as the whole thing. >> you did as the whole question are >> i thought we were doing the whole thing. >> when somebody comes from

another town and gets appointed here and we don't know much about the person, we can say okay, fine, we will wait and time will come. debra johnson has been here for work many years. i did not play too much into your meetings, but a couple of times i got a chance and i found her not cable to communicate with the people. -- not capable to communicate with the people. with a flick of the phone, they can come on the line and talk to you and the issues, one strike in front of city hall and this department failed to communicate. if they would just pick up the phone and talk to 23 representatives. the issues are self decree -- herself created inside the department. these people are involved to

approve these things and to cover their faces they did not want to talk to the people. this blow up and went bigger and bigger and is still going more bigger, like a snowball coming down the hill. the way she is performing now: how you can imagine how she will run this agency. i never came and never said to view the city was cut up 50 times from sunset to downtown -- that is my district. this agency failed to deal with the situation in five years. this is a very small issue of taxing drivers that can be solved in less than five minutes and she did not show any potential. please look into this and i know you are appointing her, but this question will come back to you very soon.

>> does anyone else care to speak to the motion? >> my thought we were adopting the resolution as amended. >> it has been done. >> thank you. item number nine, approving tom to serve on the joint powers board of directors. no members of the public have indicated their issues with this. >> i have a lot of reservations. [laughter] >> i will move the item. >> second. >> any further discussion? all those in favor? just a little history while we are added [laughter] -- while we are at it. [laughter] i was on the body would was founded in 1988 and was the chairman for five years when we

purchased the right of way, selling off the right away between gilroy and san francisco. three counties came together to do that. they put together sales tax measures to help support it and it was going along really well. "there is no dedicated stream of revenue, so i look forward to joining -- i know pretty much everyone on this already. this is a vital part of bay area transportation so i accepted with reservations -- i will report to you periodically. thank you. >> item 10, room -- appointing roberta boomer -- no members of the public have indicated addressing you on this matter. >> is there a motion on this one?

a second? all in favor? congratulations, mrs boomer. >> i have no speeches. >> since nobody has indicated an interest in addressing you with matters in closed session, it would be appropriate to vote on this -- on having a closed session. need for discussion? all in favor? before we do that, we are going in here to discuss the mta director position. i want the public to know the efforts we have made to solicit input from the community, we received, we sent out a survey it and had over 600 respondents from all over the city. we talk to the citizens' advisory committee and ask them for their input. they had a vigorous response and we appreciate that. also, the many groups we work

with, the bike coalition, walked san francisco, senior advocates and the advocates for the disabled, members of the board of supervisors, the transportation authority, we have sought as widely as we could the inputs and i had a meeting with the senior staff recently and i want to tell you that this agency is extremely well served by the intelligence and professionalism of our senior staff. there are about 40 or 50 people there and everyone offered what i thought were very responsible -- responsible and thoughtful comments. we have done a great deal about reached on this and now calls for us -- falls to us to do the next debt. i wanted that to be known to the public that we have in fact done that. >> if i could just add to that.

to the folks who gathered and compiled the stakeholders' survey, that was very well constructed and well done. i would note that not only have we got a great deal of input from the community as to what factors and traits we should be looking for, thanks to your efforts, we received a great number of applications from a varied number of people. it is important the public understand that as well. we have had a great many people express interest and we have been able to look at those applications as we narrow in this process. >> we will go in then to a closed session. thank you. >> of the board of directors met in closed session to discuss the lawyer hiring. the board of directors took no action. it would be appropriate for your

action to disclose or not disclosed. >> move to not disclose. >> would there be anything wrong with everyone going out there? >> your microphones are on. >> are you adjourning the meeting? >> the meeting is adjourned.

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>> san francisco's buses and trains serve many riders who are blind or how low vision. muni is their lives line to get around. simple act of courtesy can help them access muni services safely. it is not just courtesy. it is the law. >> i used to take the 21 airlock. >> lot of times, when i would be waiting at the bus stop, the door would open and the driver would announce the bus line. >> 71. >> it is easier and preferable when a driver sees someone who is obviously visually impaired if they stop in front of me and say "this is the 71," "this is

the seven." >> our buses are setup to announce the lines when we pull up. when i see a customer with a guide dog or cane, make sure i let them know what line i am. >> every time i get on the bus, i tell the driver where i need to get off, even if i think there digital voice system is going to announce that. just so they know in the event that it is not working. i would say a good amount of the time, i do get acknowledgment, actually. >> good morning. >> morning. is your announcements system working? >> i'm sorry, it is not. >> could you let me know when we get to van ness and sacramento? >> i sure will. >> i have had a number of drivers be really helpful in terms of getting passengers to move down a few seats so i can sit in the front. >> can somebody give this lady a

seat? >> the bus driver was say, "please wait a moment. i want to make sure you have a seat." and i hear him or her announced that he needs a seat for a person with a disability. >> as soon as the person gets on the bus, i ask the passengers if we can have a seat for this person. >> anybody help us? thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> sides, federal law requires that the customers give their seats to the elderly and disabled if they should need it. >> buses should stop in zones that can accommodate multiple lines will stop behind one another. i cannot see what bus is behind -- i'm not even sure if there is a bus behind. the second bus does not come up to the front. oftentimes, it has caused me to be passed up by bosses, by

trains, and again, it makes me late for appointments. it makes me late for my job. >> i'm often anxious that i'm going to miss the bus that i need, simply because i'm not fast enough to scamper down and find out which bus is lined up behind the bus that is currently in front of me. what i'm going to work and i take the van ness street buses to work, sometimes, one of them will pull up right next to the other one. not in a bus stop, but parallel to it. and i do not know it is there. i also do not feel comfortable walking out into the street. >> is that my boss over there? i think that is my boss -- bus. i'm going to miss it. i don't know how many times i have missed buses because of this. >> i do not double park. it is not safe for our

customers, and especially the visually impaired. anything could happen, and it is muni's policy not to double park. normally what i do, if i can safely go in behind, i pull in the zone, offload my customers, load the customers that are waiting for me. when the bus in front of the leaves, i will pull to the front for the customers that did not see me. >> sometimes, the bus pulls up, and there is stuff in my way because the boys -- bus has not pulled up right in front of me. i have to figure out how to get around or through. i have to navigate through all of that in order to get onto the bus. >> when i pick up a visually impaired customers, i like to pull up right in front of them, make sure nothing is in the way so they can walk right on the coach. >> okay, take one big step forward.

>> when i drop off a visually impaired customers, make sure you do not pull up at the shelter. you want to give them a straight shot so they can go to the left or the right. you want to pull in front or behind the shelter. never around any trees or pose. i usually let them know that they have about 10 feet before you. a straight shot, and wallace 10 feet away, and they can make the decision what they want to do from that point. every now and then, and visually impaired customer wants to be dropped off right at the shelter. so they can go to the left or the right from there. >> ok, you want to take one big step when you step off. the shelter is straight ahead. >> if i get on the bus and asked a bus driver to please tell me when to get off at seven straight, the bus driver very often will tell me to just look at the sign, and i will say that i cannot see the sign because

and visually impaired. sometimes, the bus driver gets it. some of the time, the bus driver does not get it at all. it is really difficult when you do not see well to understand where things are. it is one of those issues where people do not see it from the outside. so when they see me having problems stepping off of curbs or stairs or running into the side of a building or things like that, it would appear to them as though maybe i had been drinking, but the problem is that there is no contrast between a great building and a sidewalk. >> it is difficult for some drivers i think to understand that i am blind. although i may look like i'm getting along very well, and it did happen to me on several occasions with drivers, questioning my ability to see. they would say, "well, you really are not that blind."

not only is that infuriating, but it is just something that cuts to my core. >> there are times that visually impaired customers get on the bus, and they are moving so well that makes me wonder how blind they are, but that is not for me to decide. i'm just here to take them some point a to point b safely. >> i moved all the way across the country specifically to live in san francisco because i knew they had great public transportation. i had the greatest interactions with muni drivers because i was thrilled to be on a bus and be able to get some more independently. i think the drivers can really feel proud that they are making people's lives possible in a way that it is not possible in other parts even of this country. >> the americans with disabilities act of 1990 is a wide-ranging federal civil- rights law that prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities.

title two of the ada addresses access to public services, including public transportation for persons with disabilities. tips for respectful communication for people with disabilities brochures are available. call sfmta accessible services at 415-701-4485 for copies.

>> [roll-call] >> thank you. >> as a reminder, please turn off all electronic devices that may sound off during the proceedings. if you would like to have a conversation, we ask you take them outside in order for the meeting to proceed as

efficiently as possible. if you would like to speak on an item today, please complete a blue card, unless announced by the president of the commission, anyone wishing to speak will have three minutes on each item. please address your comments to the item being heard. if you would like to speak under general public comment, that is either item four or nine. last, a drescher comments to the commission during public comment in order to allow equal time for all, neither the commission are staff will respond to any questions during public comment. the commission may ask questions of staff after public comment is closed. with that, we are on item number two, which is the president's report. >> thank you. very briefly, i would like to welcome back commissioner arata

and welcome her new baby. what is it? 10 weeks? >> 10 weeks. >> in the summer, it's nice to be out in places like golden gate park and celebrate the carrousel being renovated. we had a wonderful time out there. i congratulate the staff and everyone involved. we also had a nice presentation of a check from coca-cola in the amount of about a quarter of a million dollars. the general manager may say more about that later. behind the scenes, the san francisco planning and urban research association has been helping with a committee of concerned folks on the budget and future financial soundness of recreation and parks department. i appreciated and i look forward to a preliminary report shortly. with that, commissioner lee, you had some comments?

>> yes. i went up to camp made their on wednesday. there was a page one story in the chronicle about a stomach flu outbreak, focused on berkeley campus but also mention to camp maither. i'm happy to report it was minimally affected, if at all. there are cases not all related as far as i can tell speaking to the outbreak in berkeley. things were very well run. the camp is taking extra precautions in terms of urging

all of the guests to use hand sanitizer, the kitchen staff is taking extra precautions and it is probably safer now than it has ever been. i want to make sure the public knows and those campers who have signed up for the coming weeks, they have nothing to worry about. every precaution is being taken. it was a little bit on the chilly side for this time of year, but otherwise the streams were spectacular. there are waterfalls everywhere. i would encourage my fellow commissioners to go up and have a look. the camp is beautiful with all of the water. everything is green. there was a late spring fall

which turned all of the grass and leaves green, which is a change from the last six times i've been up there, where it was largely yellow because of the drought conditions. i think you would really enjoy it. the campus very well-run and i want to allay any concerns people may have generated from that article. the concern is there, but the story made the problem much larger than it actually is. i would urge the public to take that into consideration. the other observation about the camp is that this year more than

any other, i was really pleased to see some many young families going up. i noticed the week went there were a lot of younger kids, people with babies, so perhaps this is something commissioner arata might consider. i ran into a family with a new board of just a few months and it was their first trip up. i would encourage you to go. >> thank you. that concludes my report. >> is there any public comment under the president's report? >> good morning, commissioners. i'm with the golden gate park preservation alliance. i would like to let the public know the