infrastructure. that is nothing new, but it is a message that i think is worth delivering again. as you know, i spend a couple of weeks seemingly on vacation, but i was teaching a course in argentina on strategic planning for transportation investments. i came back with an invitation from the chancellor of the university there in rosario, my hometown, to try to open up an exchange program, and i will be pursuing those ideas a little bit further and will give you more of a report next month. it is very exciting to the topics are familiar to us, high- speed rail, parking pricing, bicycle lanes, how to deal with the density, all of the same issues we deal with here. i think it is an opportunity from all -- for all of us to learn. i spent a day on the way back from argentina in washington, d.c. our deputy of projects joined me there to have meetings with the

federal highway administrator to try to sort out the final stages of the federal funding byrd is a vision for the second phase of the presidio parkway project. which, as the chair mentioned earlier, is nearing completion on the first phase, which will be open to traffic on -- in february, but we need to make sure we do not have a gap on the start of the second phase in the private-public partnership. i anticipate that we will need further work with the mtc commissioners on this issue. there are some complex issues related to the funding plan . i will keep close to, but i am hopeful we will resolve one of our issues in time for the financial close of march 2012. the van ness windy environmental impact statement and report, the draft, as you know, is circulating. i want to remind people that the close of public comment is in

december 19, just next monday, and that the public can obtain information about the project in the eir at our website. i encourage everybody to heed that comment deadline. we have reached out to over 20 state groups in the last month since the eir draft was published. i anticipate that we will have the final ready for you to adopt in the fall. we have also been working diligently on the update of the countywide plan. i will not say a lot about that, but we're now at the stage where we have developed a framework for evaluation of projects and have over 100 projects submitted by the public and public agencies over the past couple of months. and we're now beginning to go through the evaluation of those

projects for performance. the public is invited to go to our website on the transportation plan, which is www.movesmartsf.com, to look at the details on what we're doing on that. i am very pleased to report that the jfk bikeway project is moving forward, that it obtained the approvals that it needed from the concourse authority and the recreation and park commission. you may recall that the authority allocated over4 over10 -- over $400,000 for prop k in september. the funding is in there, including approvals, so we expect the installation of the bikeway will start in january 2012. this is to not miss a the holiday season in the park.

but january 2012, we can look forward to biking along jfk on this brand new bikeway, paid for with prop k money. i think that is a very good news. there has also been in progress on the progressbikeway improvements project, but i will not go into detail there. you may recall that you also allocated $165,000 a prop k to that project. finally, two items. the central freeway, this is ancient history now, but the central freeway opened in 2006 -- i am is sorry, octavia boulevard, replacement of central freeway. at the time, we had an agreement with the city that when some of those parcels of land sold, we would do the ancillary projects that had been promised to the neighbors in the areas around the new boulevard. well, finally, the real estate

in that area is beginning to sell, and now the city is in a condition to start implementing those ancillary projects that were promised as part of the octavia boulevard plan, and you'll see some action in that plan starting very, very soon, i enginery 2012. that is already beginning to implement projects around the area as, including some of these small streets were the closure of the local streets to accommodate the landing at the new central freeway at market street generated some problems. so we're looking forward to seeing that happen. the final thing i have is a thank you to cynthia fong who is not here today because of a health issue, for giving us a seventh year of clean audits. they are in the packet for you to approve today.

it is really a testament to her very good work in the work of her staff. the last thing, and i will say it now so i do not say it later, i wish you all a very, very happy holiday season and a well- deserved rest until january. thank you two concludes my report. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you, mr. executive director. any public comment, please come forward. >> as you know, item number three and four are just informational items, but it is an opportunity on behalf of the concerns of san francisco to thank you, the chair, for doing excellent work. as no, you can do that because long before you became a

supervisor, you're an advocate. i would encourage the next chair to address quality of life issues. having said that, i listened to the long speech given by the director of the san francisco county transportation authority, where he touched on many topics, some local, national, and others international. i would like to ask the san francisco county transportation authority to address the heavy congestion on some of our avenues and streets, like market street, lombard, 19th avenue, third street, stockton, of van ness -- i could go on and on. san francisco is very well known

all over the world. but when it comes to ingestion on our streets, we do very poorly. so we can talk about conceptual plans and we can talk about international agreements, but when we go to ground zero and if you have the guts to address our issues magdalene to empirical data -- our issues by going to empirical data, particulates and more, and seeing that all of you who are supposed to be addressing quality of life issues impacting our constituents of san francisco have done very poorly.

and there are some tricks that people will bring. they're called machinations. [bell rings] and you can see that whatever is going to be done on a van ness, the comment period is kind of focused during the holiday season, and and what has been extended to december 19, i think from december 12. and i spoke about this before. more time should be given. having said that, i want to wish you, jerry mirkarimi, all the best as the sheriff. thank you very much. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you, mr. da costa. i appreciate that. any more public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> item number 5, accept the audit report for the fiscal year ending june 30, 2011, action item. supervisor mirkarimi:

discussion? public comment? cnn, public comment is closed. safehouse-st. paul. change car roll call. >> item number 5 -- >> supervisor avalos? >> supervisor campos? >> supervisor chiu? >> supervisor chu? >> supervisor cohen? >> supervisor elsbernd? >> supervisor farrell? >> supervisor kim? >> supervisor mar? >> supervisor mirkarimi? >> supervisor wiener? >> item passes. supervisor mirkarimi: next item. >> item 6 to authorize the executive director to execute a memorandum of agreement with the treasure island development authority in an amount not to exceed $100,000 for the fiscal year 2011-2012 operating budget and work plan to initiate implementation of the treasure island transportation program and authorize the executive director to negotiate the agreement. action item. supervisor mirkarimi: discussion?

public comment? step on up, please. >> at one of the committee meetings, i addressed this issue, and i would like somebody on the rep side of the san francisco county transportation authority to find out more about how exactly mechanisms have been put in place at treasure island. we know that redevelopment is phasing out, and i suppose a model called the ifd is going to be used. i would like to know how moneys are going to come to treasure island to address whatever projects are going to happen over there? i also stated that i think that

the san francisco county transportation authority has a lot to do within the projects were linked to the projects that it already has. i know this is a small amount of money compared to the millions that san francisco county transportation authority doles out, some $100,000, but i would like to know why some other independent entity could not do it. why does it have to be the san francisco county transportation authority? thank you very much. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you, sir. any other public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. i believe we have same house. take this without objection. >> item 7, increase the amount of the legal services contract with nossaman llp by $330,000 to

a total amount not to exceed $960,000 to provide general legal counsel services and authorize the executive director to modify contract terms. supervisor mirkarimi: public comment? seeing none, closed. safehouse-same call. some of. item eight. >> age, allocate $340,000 and prop k funds with conditions to the san francisco municipal transportation agency for balboa park fast-track intermodal of permits and appropriate 65,000 defender dollars in prop k funds with conditions for the balboa park station areas circulation's study. this is an action item. supervisor mirkarimi: public comment? >> again, at an earlier meeting, i have spoken about this, and i think we're looking at the balboa park station, and we need to look at it in a very holistic manner. and one of the factors that i discussed at the earlier

meeting was that we need to connect the third street light rail the other way. right now, it starts at fourth and king and ends in the middle of visitation valley. we should look forward somehow in the near future, like what you mentioned regarding the other projects, two connected from the middle of nowhere in visitation valley to balboa park. thank you very much. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. in the the public comment? seeing none, closed. safehouse-send all. next. >> item number 9, allocate $4,088,713 in prop k funds would conditions to the center and municipal transportation agency for five projects. one under $24,750 and prop k funds with conditions to the department of the environment

one project. $179,000 and prop k funds to the department of public works for one project. this is an action item. supervisor mirkarimi: public comment? the sea in none, public comment is closed. safehouse-7 col. so moved. next item. >> 10, certified the final environmental impact report pursuant to the california in our middle quality act, improve the findings of fact, a brief statement of overriding consideration, and adopted the avoidance minimize in -- avoidance, minimization, and mitigation monitoring plan for the yerba buena island rams improvement project. action item. supervisor mirkarimi: public comment. >> at an earlier meeting, i had pointed out to the gentlemen who was giving some sort of a presentation that we must all remember that this area we call san francisco belongs to the

first people. and in case you ladies and gentlemen do not know who they are, they are the [unintelligible] having said that, at yerba buena island, hundreds and hundreds of remains are found. so we have people who come and talk about the eir, and they talk about ceqa, and they talk about this, that, and the other, but they do not have the decency to address the cultural or archaeological factors over which they simply override. in fact, if you go to the university of berkeley, uc berkeley, there are over 10,000 remains, and we have this in the

year 2011. so all these things, you know, improvements that we call, should be holistic. we should have some compassion. all these things that we build, they will collapse. but if we, in our arrogance, do not do what is right and there are federal laws that the native american graves and protection act, which the gentlemen it has not read, nor have you so-called representatives, but i am just pointing this out to you because again and again and again in this city and county of san francisco, in our arrogance, we fail to first respect the first people. and secondly, to give them the new honor.

thank you very much. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. any other public comment? see none, public comment is closed. some house-7 col. very good. so moved. next item. >> item 11, approved alternative 2b as the preferred alternative for the yerba buena i land grants approved the project. supervisor mirkarimi: public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. safehouse-cent call. >> item 12, ever the 2011 san francisco congestion management program. this is an action item. supervisor mirkarimi: discussion? public comment? public comment is closed. same house-7 col. >> item 13, introduction of new items, information item. supervisor mirkarimi: introduction of new items. public comment? public comment is closed.

next item. >> item 14, public comment. supervisor mirkarimi: public comment on public comment. ca none, public comment is [closedislaughs] only the bench is laughing. the redundancy speaks for itself. all right, public comment is closed. next item -- >> mr. chair, if i may, i do not know this is the right time or place to do this, but i wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your service as chair of the transportation of authority, and i appreciate the work that you and your staff have done. i see that there have been many accomplishments. i want to wish you the best in your future endeavors and look forward to continuing to work with you. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: very sweet of you, and thank you. wearing two hats, multiple hats for step, i certainly want to recognize that added

responsibility for staff and interns and everybody else for help manage the duties and responsibilities of the transportation authority, while we recognize the ta staff. and my own staff have had to manage and cope with those responsibilities. thank you to all, your staff, for helping you all where that extra hat, too. so thank you, supervisor campos. i believe we are done. >> item 15. supervisor mirkarimi: excellent. fantastic holiday, new year, and this meeting is adjourned.

because we have a great waste water system here in san francisco, we do about 80 million gallons of waste water here in san francisco, which means we basically fill up 120 olympic sized swimming pools each and every day here in the city. we protect public health and safety and environment because we are discharging into the bay and into the ocean.

this is essentially the first treatment here at our waste water treatment facility. what we do is slow down the water so that things either settle to the bottom or float to the top. you see we have a nice selection of things floating around there, things from bubble gum wrappers, toilet paper, whatever you dump down the toilet, whatever gets into our storm drains, that's what gets into our waste water treatment and we have to clean. >> see these chains here, this keeps scum from building up. >> on this end in the liquid end basically we're just trying to produce a good water product that doesn't negatively impact the receiving water so that we have recreation and no bad impact on fish and aquatic life. solids is what's happening.

. >> by sludge, what exactly do you mean? is that the actual technical term? . >> it's a technical term and it's used in a lot of different ways, but this is organic sewage sludge. basically what it is is, oh, maybe things that come out of your garbage disposal, things that are fecal in nature. it's sludge left in the water after the primary treatment, then we blend those two over and send them over to digestion. this building is built to replace tanks here that were so odoriferous they would curl your hair. we built this as an interim process. >> is there a coagulant introduced somewhere in the middle of this?

. >> this coagulant brings solids together and lets the water run through. that gives us more time in the digestion process, more time to reduce the amount of solids. these are the biggest ones in the world, like we always like to do in san francisco. they are 4 meter, there's none like it in the world. >> really? wow. >> three meters, usually. we got the biggest, if not the best. so here we are. look at that baby hum. river of sludge. >> one of the things is we use bacteria that's common in our own guts to create this reduction. it's like an extra digestion. one of the things we have to do to facilitate that is heat that sludge up and keep it at the temperature our body likes, 98.6 degrees. >> so what we have here is the heat exchanger for digester no.

6. these clog up with debris and we're coming in to -- next wet weather season so we always come through here, clean them out, make sure that we get maximum heat exchange during the colder wet weather. sludge season. >> rubber glove. >> right here. >> rubber glove, excellent. all right, guys. >> thank you. >> good luck. >> this is the full on hazmat. . >> residual liquid. we're taking it time to let it drain. we don't want to get sludge on it necessarily. take your time. stand on the side of it. . >> should we let it release for a while? .

>> let it release. >> is that the technical term? . >> this is the most important bolt on the whole thing. this is the locking bolt. it locks this thing right in place. so now. >> take your hammer and what we want to do, we get rag build up right in here. the hot water recirculates right in here, the sludge recirculates in here. the sludge sometimes has rags in it. all we want to do is go around the clean the rags. let me show you how. take the slide hammer, go all the way through the back, go around. >> got you. >> during the real rainy season, how does that change the way dealing with this job? is it a lot more stuff in there? . >> what we do, charles, we do

this quarterly. every four months we go around and clean all the heat exchangers so we don't have a large build up. . >> go around? . >> yeah. (sound of hammering). >> what i'm trying to do, charles, is always pull it out on the low stroke. >> right. so you are not, like, flying out. now talk about clean up. . >> then where does this stuff

get deposited? . >> we're going to dump it in a debris box and it will go back to the plant. >> if you think back, the romans came up with a system of plumbing that allowed us it use water to transport waste away from the hub of civilization, which enabled cities to grow. . >> you have a large bowl, a drive motor and another motor with a planetary gearbox with differential pressure inside there. the large mass up there spinning separating the solids from the liquid. we have to prevent about once a month, we go in there grease those, change the oil, check the vibration levels. the operators can tell just by the hum of that machine that

it's a harmonic noise emitted that it's out of balance and the machine needs to be cleaned. it will start vibrating and we have vibration analysis machines that will come over here and check the levels. so it's kind of an on-going thing that you have to stay on top of on a daily basis. >> handled properly, you take organic residuals, as we call them, that are leftovers of our society and turn them back into some energy. and we have another ability to take that sludge and get a nutrient value for crops there. we actually are running a kind of composting energy recovery system. >> well, this is a dirty job. we try to do it safely and we try to do it without imposing too much on the public. people want to flush their toilets and have things