and i have been involved in not just this district but the city of san francisco. i came out here on a vacation in 1959 from new york to educate everybody. fell in love with the city and i'm still here, still shooting my mouth off. i am most grateful to our new captain, one of the first meetings that i had with him he responded to the issues that i am very concerned about in this district. i live on argalo and gamplete we have hot issues with -- gary. we have hot issues with traffic, pedestrian safety. bicycles on the sidewalk.

i've been a victim coming out of my own building, and i am involved in many, many areas of the community. i was a co-founder of cleanup clement street i was the co-founder of senior arks network. i am with the california alliance for retired americans. i've been out there shooting my mouth off and i am very happy to see this commission here. it's been three years and you need to hear from the community, but i am very grateful to the captain and also to lori, who has been my big support and i have one question to ask you this evening. some of my contingency have contacted me about the woman

that was killed in the crosswalk by a bicycle person on market street. and they want to know why nothing has been done about the bicycle person -- they have communicated with the -- the -- i'm having a senior moment. >> ok. with the attorney. and they want to know why nothing has been done. i have come very close down there on market street going to meetings for parra transit, where i sit on the executive committee, and being very closely endangered again with bicycles not complying with the laws.

and they want to know why nothing is being done, why no charges are being brought against this person that killed a woman. and that's all i have to say. you'll be hearing from me again. >> well, thank you. [applause] >> we don't ordinarily respond to the questions, but we will. the police foreman and police commission have no say what take place once an arrest has been made. that matter is referred to the district attorney's office, where they do a thorough investigation. i can tell you being a former assistant d.a., those things take a little time because they do accident reinstruction. they have witness statements and members of the police department who are trained in that to estimate speeds, distances, different things they look at this terms of the injuries and impact. so it will probably be a very

thorough investigation and at that time the district attorney will make a determination will whether to charge that. it's just up to the d.a. at this point. but i think your concerns are shared by many people, including my mother and other people. >> this is how we are outreaching people in the community with merchants that are putting these out. we don't need bicycles on the sidewalk. >> i agree. >> the city has spent thousands of dollars -- so i just want you to know that we're out there doing our thing and there's going to be more about it. i'm very happy to see all of you here and i'm sorry that there isn't a bigger attendance because we've got serious issues

out here on clement street, gary boulevard, and california street. >> ok, thank you very much. we appreciate it. next speaker, please? >> for public comment, sir? >> i'm john aly and i live in the central richmond district and i don't know whether this is the purview of the commission and i want to make it clear that my comments are disconnected from captain keith sanford or my colleagues on the community advisory board. i don't think i have to tell any of you that the public is under attack. i don't think i'm being pair noiled. when -- what i mean by that is entities that are in the public's trust like the police department, the fire department, the universities, the public schools are being defunded.

and one of the things to be very specific, i'm a university professor. i teach at san francisco sate and i'm acutely aware of how the economics work. my concern is -- and i don't know that we all have an answer, but i want to put this on the record that i really believe in what we're doing with the community advisory boards. i think the community action groups are splendid, but we do not and cannot do what uniformed gun-carrying badge-bearing officers can do. and i want to make it quite clear that i'm concerned about that. i happen to know that there have not been, and i'm not clear about the statistics, but there have not been graduating classes for the police academy. those have been put on hold. and i know it has to do, i should imagine, with the money issues. i am very concerned that there's

attrition going on in the police force like there's attrition going on in a lot of the other public sectors. the education, fire department, etc. i don't know what you can do but i wanted to make it quite clear that i'd like you, to the extent you can, commissioners, please lean on to whoever you need to lean on to get some academy classes going and lets -- let's get some graduates on the street. >> i just want to add that i particularly appreciate your comment. i appreciate that it's on tv. i encourage the public to continue to make that point to us, to your supervisors, to the mayor. the chief recently provided us with a 100-day update on beginning his tenure and we asked him at the end of his presentation what he saw as the top two or three issues facing

the department other the short mid terms and he said what we, i think all agree, which is staffing is the most important risk to the gains that have been made over recent years and we're cautiously optimistic at the board that the mayor is going to find -- that the board and the mayor is -- are going to find funding. contact your admissioners and the mayor's office because they understand and appreciate the importance of staffing, the importance of making sure the academy classes get back going. they can hear from us but nothing works better than hearing it from the community. so thank you for your comment. it is something i think all of us are very, very concerned about and appreciate you taking the time to come tonight to verbalize that and articulate it so thank you. >> next speaker? do you want to come forward and talk?

you're here. you might as well. >> we have a representative from an office here. appreciate it. is there anything you'd like to share with us this evening? put you on the spot. >> good evening. the last time i was here for a police commission meeting was three years ago and that was probably the last i went to. my name is bob toomey. i'm a direct director. by being on tv we actually take away from people that attend these meetings. i want to recognize captain sanford. we had a great relationship with him when he was at our station.

he did a fabulous job there. very excited to have him here at richmond steags. we spend a lot of time at the community meet skhgs we do a lot of work. ashley handles our district work at sunshine and even though we're not on the sexy side of town where a lot of important things are happening we do have needs out here and i appreciate you making sure that you pay attention to the washington, d.c. i want to thank all of you for what you do and hopefully we will get a new class into the academy soon so we can start beefing up the police force because a lot of these guys sitting in front of you aren't going to be here in three years. >> thanks very much. if you pass on the message that we'd like some state funding i you would greatly appreciate it. while you're here? any further public comment?

hearing no further public comment, public comment is now close. >> i just want to say anytime i come to a community meeting and someone doesn't show up to complain about an incident involving the police, i just want to say congratulations. i have gone to meetings where they've been lined up. there have been fewer but if they really feel like it they'll come to a community meeting because they know we're here, so congratulations. >> thank you. i feel compelled after we gave out that award at the beginning of the ceremony. we hear about a sacred heart recipient who tackled someone. then we heard from a police captain who said it was a little hard to catch people. sorry, captain.

i could tell. anyway, thank you very much, everybody. at this point we'll move towards adjournment. again, thank you very much for having us here tonight and i would like to see a bigger crowd next time but thank you, everybody. you should come see us every wednesday nuth. >> do we have a motion for ajoufment? >> a motion to adjourn. >> we have a motion to adjourn? >> thank you. >> ok. we will get started. i'm the senior communications

manager for the california department of trorbgs spokesperson for the san francisco oakland bay bridge. we have invited the media to give you an update on construction progress for our new bridge. a number of things are happening right now and will continue to happen the next two years as we get ready to open up the new bridge to public service. first, we have a transport ship that recently arrived during our final segment that will be put in place the next couple of months to complete the main deck for the suspension bridge. we also, the past few weeks, have constructed a cat walk system that is very visible to the public that will act as a platform for our construction team to erect, to basically place the main cable of what will be the world's largest self-anchored suspension bridge out in three-dimensional space.

that is another very visual element that continues. as we get closer to the end of the year, we will begin erecting equipment that will be placed out there. it will basically look like a giant conveying machine that will pull the cable strands across over what you see that is the cat walk system. that work will begin, the actual pulling, probably january of 2012. but the equipment is being installed now. you will get a chance to look at that in the field today. our contractors have been working long hours to ensure that the transition structure is completed on time. we have the westbound portion of that structure that would take you into san francisco. it is nearing completion and should be done by the end of this year. then we will begin construction on the eastbound portion.

it has started but you will see concrete being poured soon. then coming in the spring of 2012 we will complete an operation that started earlier this year. we moved eastbound traffic to the south on the oakland side of the bay bridge to accommodate for construction work that will be happening the next couple of years. that will allow us to open the bridge all at once approximately six months ahead of the original schedule. in the spring we will be basically closing the westbound bridge heading into san francisco for a period of days. we will come back with more information so you will know what will happen. this is similar to other closures. while closed we will shift the approach to the bridge after you come out fof the toll plaza traffic will be shifted to the south that. will allow us to surgically remove a portion of the bridge

that is currently in the way of the new bridge's alignment. while traffic is running on the new portion we will remove the old portion and allow us to put the construction crew there and basically complete the new bridge so we can open the entire thing at one time. this is a lot of information and you can go to the bay bridge info.org. before i break it down i want to say tonight is special. we are going to illuminate the construction lighting on the cat walk for the self-anchored suspension bridge for the first time. and most people when i say big deal it is construction lighting and maybe our architects would say that, but what happens is it is little bit of revealing. this is out there because they have to work at night and they need the pathways illuminated but ultimately it means you are getting an early look at what

the bridge will look like at night for the first time at 7:45 tonight. we wanted you to be aware of that. those are the main items we have asked you to see. this is one of the few times we have been able to work out with the contractor that we could allow you to come out and be physically on the bridge and go up inside the tower. we hope you will work with us, follow our safety standards. there will be a number of cal tran personnel to ask questions regarding safety or access. if you have any questions see me or tony. at this point in time we will -- mike, do you have a quick one? >> why today? just because the lights are going on? >> let's take the q&a. i will run through the presentation because it will help the folks that it is their first time doing it. >> paul, are you ready? this presentation is available

on line at our media bar. this is just to give you an understanding of the different elements for the bay bridge. the first piece is the arrival of the final steel deck segment on the transport ship that came in yesterday, on sunday. here is some of the footage of the pieces arriving in the bay underneath our western span. there is over 5,000 tons of steel on the transport ship and this is the last ship of its type coming in for the bridge. still a couple of hardware items we are awaiting but the bulk of the steel is now here. and what are we actually seeing today? basically, if you look at the very end of the self-anchored suspension bridge there is a gap between that and the sky walk. over the next couple of months the pieces that have arrived

will be filling that gap. here you can see, using google, we have outlined the gaps that exist. these are the pieces that recently arrived and need to be placed. the next couple of months you will see us in this order place 13 west, 13 east, 14 east, 14 west, and connect them into the bridge. over 350,000 bolts are used to connect this. there are 28 sections overall. these are the final four pieces that will complete that deck. they are some of the most complex ones we have had to build for the bridge because inside of them is the anchorage of the structure. the techniques topic are the cat -- the tphebnext topic is the c walks. we have seen this happened. you can see slightly different the process that they used to

put them in place. this is vintage footage but the same type of structure. steel cable, steel or chicken wire mesh that the workers work on. we have wooden platforms on top of the mesh. you see this guy struggling a little bit to get in place. these guys had to do some different things than we had to do. but again you can see there the cat walk creates the geometry of the bridge. in the 1930's when those came out that is when bay area residents saw what the west bands looked like. that is what you are seeing right now. in the past few weeks away put our cat walk in place. you see a couple of film images of what you will see on site as they connect to the top of the tower. this is our back expand, the short expand that goes toward the island. also online we have a couple of quick methods of i think this is some of the electrical work that

was done to put the lighting system in place as we get ready to place the main cable. here is a shot for scale that you can see. you see one person working there. the lights are the exact same fixtures that were used on the memorial bridge in 2002. american bridge procured them and is using them here. when we put those in place that was a preview of what that would look like at tphaoeufplt tonight, the same thing. that is the cat walk segment. the final deck segment installation. that is over the next couple of months. these shots show a little bit of a very large crane -- barge-mounted crane that does the heavy lifting to put the

segments in place. the pieces weigh over 1,000 tons and they are put down in place where they need to be and are pwoeplted together that. is a few shots of what the operation will look like the next couple of months. as we finish the year, the hardware will go in place for cable placement and as next year begins we will go into placing the main cable but what is the main cable and why is it different on this bridge? this bridge will be the world's largest self-anchored suspension bridge with one main tower and one cable. if you follow the arrows, you can see it starts on the east side, comes across traffic over the top of the tower, wraps around the back of the bridge, comes back across traffic up to the top of the tower and anchors back on the other side. if you think of a traditional suspension bridge as a hammock

connected on two sides, this is more like a sling, connected on one side and loops around the other. so, if that makes sense, then we can show you sort of what the next process is. in order to put this cable in place we have connections that will be happening primarily on t the eastern side of the self-anchored suspension bridge and the wraparound will be happening on the western side of the bridge. if we look at the eastern side first, you can see how the main cable comes down into the road that you drive on and like any traditional suspension bridge the cable fans out. this cable is made up of smaller wires. you look at the fact sheet, you will see there are 137 strands, of 127 wires each. the wires are about five millimeters in diameter. each could basically lift a military grade hummer and there are 17,399 of those wires in the

main cables of the bridge. so, as it comes down to the deck it comes through the stroud and fans out and ties back within that deck section. that is how it connects on the eastern side of the bridge. if we look back at the main span, the cable wraps around the western side at the island. unlike traditional suspension bridges where two cables move up and down, our one cable is moving on three plane, coming kraog across track and back. so we have changed the angle and we bring it around. another saddle about midpoint where during construction we can work with the tensioning on the cable so we get it where it needs to be for placement.

then on the other side you have the same three-dimensional saddle that takes the deviation as it comes across. so, i hope that makes sense. it is moving in three planes. it is not coming straight down. it is coming at an angle and across. that is on the western side. and there are steel cables inside that beam that are holding down that end of the bridge inside some of the strongest foundations in the world. the cable is made up of strands of wire, 127 of those wires are in one strand. there you can see the hexagonal pattern of one strand. we have 137 of those strands that make up that main cable. when they are in place and we have the rest of the hardware, the cable is compacted into a insul cylinder form.

that will be happening in 2012. then where we are going today? there. that is the top of the world's largest self-anchored suspension bridge. you can see it iis clearly part of oakland and downtown san francisco. that will be empty today and it weighs over 800 tons. over at the island we have another project to connect this back into the tunnel. here you can see the bridge has been designed, the eastern span, with side-by-side travel. as we come on to the island we have to reorient that traffic into a double deck configuration so it can go into the tunnel and on to the west. so we have the traffic detour

and right now we are building the westbound structure that will take the traffic off the suspension bridge and connect it to the top of the tunnel. after that is done we will have the eastbound traffic headed from san francisco to oakland slide underneath that structure and connect into the tunnel on different foundations for seismic regions. so you see here outriggers. they will support the westbound structure. there is a different foundation for the eastbound structure so the structures can move in a large scale earthquake. and that is what this project is all about. these are a couple of shots that will be clear when you get there. they were taken from a airplane, a helicopter. there is the westbound structure that is being cast right now.

you can see the columns down there below for the eastbound structure that we are getting ready to work on. and a shot from the platform of what it looks like toward the self-anchored suspension bridge. so, that is what is happening on the island. here, in oakland, there is a lot of work happening too on the open touchdown portion. i talked about that detour earlier. i want to try to break down for you what is happening here. with this image, you can see that we've got brand-new, very bright white colored structure that is a new bridge with westbound traffic on the outside, more to the north eastbound traffic sort of in the middle and the existing bridge is the one on the southern part. and here you can clearly see that there is a conflict with the eastbound bridge. why that is why we have only

built it that far. that triangle has to be removed before we can build the bridge. the strategy is earlier this year we put in an eastbound detour. we took people heading into oakland farther to the south to clear space so that we could do this westbound detour early next year. so, as you come out of the toll plaza next year after we do the closure we will be routing traffic slightly more south to open this area up. that red triangle right there is what has to be surgically removed. it will be cut off so that we open up that area in the middle so we can put a construction crew between the bridges and build it out at the same time that we are building the rest of the bridge. that is what is allowing us to open this bridge all at one time. that is what is happening on the oakland side. bridge right now. here is a quk