i have been very pleased to have had the opportunity to work with him over the years over many years on transit justice, making sure that, particularly, low income communities, communities that need good transit but does not have access to it, gets that. happy to support him for that. i know it is slightly premature, but i also echo what supervisor cohen will say, having the second member of our party be a part of this conference. supervisor wiener has also worked hard here at the ta, and makes sense. commissioner farrell: any further nominations? with that, nominations are closed. we are going to take public comment. is there anyone from the public that would like to comment on this item?

>> i approve the nomination of the chair david campos. as some of you supervisors have alluded to, he has stepped forward to do the right thing for those segments of our population that need help, whether they are the physically challenged, or students. i do not approve your nomination for vice chair, but that is your prerogative. as somebody who has been following transportation issues

for a long time, i do not approve the nomination for vice chair. i do not know what basis it is. some flimsy reason that somebody has worked with somebody for a year. that is not how i would adjudicate such a serious position. as most of you know, you are on the board of supervisors, but here you are commissioners, so you are given added responsibility. we need the vice chair -- commissioner farrell: we will have public comment on the vice chair nominations after the chair. >> ok. i will stop talking about so and

so and move on to the chair. i have known david campos for a long time, have seen him in action. i can give you some examples. not too long ago, we had an area of san bruno ave that needed some fixing. the minute i brought it to his attention, we worked together to fix it. those are the types of actions that they're well to our chair. what i want to say is, let's not appoint people just because we feel they need to be appointed for reasons that are not practical. good leaders know the way and show the way. it so happens david campos belongs to my district, district 9.

i would advise him, as somebody that is older than he is, that he be fair to all san franciscans. commissioner farrell: are there any other members of the public and wish to comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. madam clerk, could we call for a vote? >> on electing commissioner david campos to the chair. [roll call] the item passes. commissioner campos: colleagues, thank you very much for the

nomination, election, and the kind words said today. i will not be later my remarks. i simply want to know i look forward to working with each and everyone of you to make sure, not only we move for the major projects this agency is overseeing, but that we also do our best to make this agency even more relevant to what is happening in our individual districts. one of the things i have asked and the executive director to do, going forward with these meetings, at every meeting, we get specific reports focusing on individual districts, with the transportation authority is doing in terms of work happening in these neighborhoods. it is important for us to recognize, at the end of the day, the major projects, as important as they are, it is the things happening on the ground but also make a big difference in the lives of people. that is one thing we will be

focusing on and working on. to the extent the brown act allows, i will be having individual meetings with members of this commission to make sure your priorities in your districts and neighborhoods are being taken care of. i look forward to those conversations. i also want to highlight that we need to continue to focus on the collaboration between the various city agencies that work on the area of transportation with the mta, certainly, but with regional bodies. with that, i will do my best to make sure i am a chair that represents each and everyone of you, and the interest of the entire city. thank you very much again for your support. i look forward to working with you. we now move to the nomination for vice chair. if we can have -- are there any nominations? commissioner cohen? commissioner cohen: thank you.

congratulations to you. i want to nominate commissioner scott wiener to vice chair of the transportation authority. commissioner campos: is there any other nomination? seeing none, nominations are closed. any comments, colleagues? commissioner kim. commissioner kim: i think it is important we have supervises that have made transit their priorities other legislative agenda. i know supervisor wiener has taken an incredible amount of time and commitment to these issues. it is also a representative of the mtc for the mayor. i think these leadership appointments are prepared for these two individuals and am excited to support both of you. commissioner campos: comments?

let's open this up to public comment. >> commissioners, let me allude a little bit to what i think a good care and by chair should stand for -- chair and the vice chair stooshould stand for. from time to time, i attend these meetings. from what i have seen over a long period of time from the vice chair, he may mean well by putting forward legislation, ever since the six -- in section, but he seems to target the most vulnerable. whether it is the homeless, the lgbt community, youth in the open space.

area. any human being can make a change. that is why i am speaking to this point. because of the dire economic situation that san francisco is in, even though we have 60 billionaires', we have a lot of poor people that take public transportation. this commission has to have a benchmark. and let it not be a cozy relationship where you come together to make policies or frame legislation. as the chair alluded to, he wants to make some practical changes, he wants to go to ground zero and see things, as he has done before.

so if the vice chair has a change of heart and follows in the steps of the chair -- because i will be coming to meetings to point it out. when i say i will do something, i will do something. one of the reasons i come here is not to waste my time. is to see what you are saying, and then i can use it in my blog. the website helps to document -- it is a kind of empirical data. you are going to have your elections. it kind of sounds like you have made up your mind before you came here to make it smooth and easy. that may be so. you are a good human being, if you are a decent human being, give us good representation. thank you. commissioner campos: is there

anyone from the public that would like to comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues, is there any member of the commission that would like to add anything else? if i may, i simply want to echo the comments from commissioner kim. i think commissioner wiener has demonstrated, in his short tenure on the board, his commitment to public transportation. i think his leadership on that issue is one that has clearly been noticed, at a leadership that recognizes the importance of focusing on individual districts and looking at the whole city. i am very proud of the fact that he and i have a very good working relationship, and i think he will serve this agency and city well. i am very proud to support him. unless there are any other comments, madame clerk, please take a roll-call. >> on the motion to elect

commissioner wiener to vice chair. [roll call] the item passes. commissioner campos: congratulations. mr. vice chair, would you like to add any words? commisioner wiener: thank you for your confidence. i look forward to working with all of you. we have so many challenges in our transportation system, making sure we have adequate funding for muni, implementing the transit affected this project, that we are working with local communities on pedestrian safety improvements, safe routes to school, and other important projects that we take on, and we also have to keep on working regionally to make sure

high-speed rail to the transbay terminal it becomes a reality. i am very excited to take on this additional responsibility and i look forward to working together. thank you. commissioner campos: please, item six. >> item 6. allocate $14,869,901 in prop k funds, with conditions, to the san francisco municipal transportation agency for the central control and communications integrated systems replacement phase 1 project, subject to the attached fiscal year cash flow distribution schedule, and amend the guideways 5-year prioritization program. this is an action item. commissioner campos: this is an item that comes from the plans and programs committee. if i could not turn it over to the staff -- now turn it over to the staff. no presentation. before we take action on this, is there anyone from the public that would like to comment on this item? please come forward.

>> commissioners, this is $15 million that you are going to spend on a technology that is supposed to improve our light rail and other systems work. i was surprised, even though this was discussed at the plans and programs, nothing much was said. i suppose everything is in place and that san francisco, in the year 2012, and the mta, have a state-of-the-art communications -- that you are all looking forward to a broadband width that helps

facilitate and eliminate a lot of the accidents that have taken place in the past. you commissioners should know, part of the system has some sound communications. part of the system is still manually operated in the year 2012. the maintenance facility came on board some three years ago. if you commissioners know about it. three years later, this $15 million that was supposed to address the technology, to bring everything on power. i just want to wish mta -- because i know one thing that is good about the mta today is we have a good director in ed reiskin. i hope that he takes us to a

better place with this $15 million. thank you very much. commissioner campos: is there any other member of the public that would like to speak on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. madam clerk. roll-call. >> [roll call] the item passes. commissioner campos: thank you. unless there is an objection, i would like to call item eight, out of order. >> item 8. reprogram $4.846 million in 2010 congestion management agency block grant funds from the department of public works' second street streetscape project to the cesar chavez streetscape project, the second street sfgo signal upgrades project and the market/haight street transit and pedestrian

improvements project. this is an action item. commissioner campos: colleagues, this is an unusual item coming before the commission without having gone to committee. normally, i do not believe in making that practice, but as i understand it, we have a very short deadline that has to be taken into consideration. unless that deadline is met, there is a possibility of losing that funding. nevertheless, i do have comes -- some concerns. we are talking about an action that involve millions of dollars being taken. i know, at some point, we will hear from commissioner jane kim, because this is happening in her district. before we do that, i want to turn it over to mr. milosevic to briefly -- milosevic --

moscovich to briefly tell us by the item did not go through the committee process and what community involvement there has been around this item. >> thank you, commissioners. jose moscovich. in june 2010, the authority board approved the recommended programming of $4.8 million in federal surface transportation funds to the department of public works for the project on second street, which was under the second street streetscape project. this was included as part of the management agency block grant program, a new program created by mtc in the last year and half. the scope of the project involves improvements to second street from market all the way

to king street. this includes street resurfacing, bike lanes, traffic infrastructure improvements, trees, and pedestrian safety improvements that are very much being asked for, particularly between bryant street and king streets. i should clarify, the bike lane portion of the project was something that raised a level of community controversy. in fact, when the mta board approved the environmental report, this was the only project that was not approved by the board. we fully expected the project

was moving forward, but recently, we were approached by the department of public works with a piece of additional intermission, that due to community opposition, the project would not proceed in its current form. the glitch is these federal funds have a timely use requirement that needs to be met, or we may jeopardize the use of the funds in san francisco, essentially losing them. the bind we are in right now, the department of public works, in partnership with the mta, have come to us with suggestions for three projects for which this money could be reprogrammed. of course, when we are talking about reprogramming money to safeguard it, we are talking

about projects that are designed, environmentally cleared, and can absorb the money in some fashion. the project's proposed to receive the money include the cesar job as streetscape project. the second street sfgo signal project and the market/haight district improvement process. essentially, we have assurances from both the parliament that those departments can observe the money within the time like we have. the time lines are a bit extreme right now. the main report we have is that these federal funds need to be certified for obligation -- the technical term for the funds -- by caltrans. the deadline for having the fall design packet is february 1.

in other words, tomorrow. believe me, this is not the kind of the item that i enjoyed bringing to the board. this should have been an item that was caught many months ago and brought to them normal committee process so we are not putting you in a position to essentially take action on this under these circumstances. caltrans, however, needs to ensure funds are obligated by april 30. to get from april -- february 1 to april 30 is already a stretch. if the departments will have a chance to save the money, the need to make their sub metals tomorrow. understand there is justified concern by the board, by the commissioners representing the district in particular. my main concern, in addition to the process issue -- when you

realize this amount of money is reprogrammed, you are the policy body that decides where that money goes to. you should have choices, which you do not have today, but for the sake of saving the money, i will suggest the following. the money could be reprogrammed to the projects mentioned in the subnittal, presented by the two departments involved, and we need to have a discussion about how the second street project can be made ready, incorporating community concerns, and how we are going to make sure the funding for the project is found. some of the funds, about half of what we need to complete the second street project, could come from funds out of the cesar job as project, which would be a door but this federal money and freeing up an equivalent amount.

i would further suggest there is money that can be programmed to this project subject to discussion from this board by the new vehicle registration fee fund collected in san francisco since last april, which generates about $5 million a year. i repeat, this is not an ideal situation. my main concern right now is to have clarity, in terms of what the process needs to be, but also to save the funds being lost to san francisco. i know there are representatives from the sfmta and dpw. they can represent the concerns of the community. we are ready to answer any questions you have for us. commissioner campos: monday that was not clear was -- one thing that was not clear was by what date does this body to act to protect these funds? >> in theory, we should have

action today in order to allow the other departments to make a submittal tomorrow of design documents necessary for the obligation of funds. however, i am fairly certain the department can make a sunbelt contingent based on future board action that could take place at a future meeting. i also want to warn you, because this is federal money, the funds need to go into an amendment of the transportation improvement program at mtc. that amendment would be considered by the mtc at its committee level on february 8, and that the full commission on february 22. we can probably put the wheels in motion in terms of submittals pending a detailed review and action by the sport at a later date.

however, because of the mtc action on february 8, we consider a special meeting next tuesday, the seventh, to have action ready to report to the mtc. commissioner campos: it would be helpful to hear from the department of public works. is there ever presented a from the department of public works here? >> good morning, commissioners. i did not catch your question. commissioner campos: how is it that we got to this point that we are talking about the potential to lose millions of dollars and are asking for approval from this commission at the very last minute? i know that commissioner kim has specific questions >> of want to

echo the director's comments. this is not an item that we are happy to bring to the commission today. we spent six months tried to overcome an environmental her role on the project before we initiative conversations about design. there have been some issues with this project from the beginning, not just the community -- the lack of community support. while we are sad to see we will not be able to continue, at least the implementation of the project now, we want to let you know we have a plan to move forward in the planning process with the community, and hopefully, supervisor kim's office to initiate process to implement second street. we need to repave that street. that was the primary element of the project that brought together the bike component, the streets kit components.

it was on the table schedule. the mta and the dpw have both created a plan. the mta have prop k allocation requests that will be heard, i believe, at next month's cac to continue the bike planning. we are creating a plan to move second straight forward. commissioner campos: commissioner jim? commissioner kim: i did not catch your name. >> simone jacque. commissioner kim: i just want to say, i am extraordinarily upset about how this is coming to us. i have a number of questions. who owns the community of reach for the project? who owns that portion of this work? >> dpw and mta should be doing that together, in terms of the

bike components. to our knowledge, -- commissioner kim: why was the last meeting in 2009? why has there been a hold on two years on community outreach, and for this item to say there is community opposition, how do we know, if we have not had a meeting for two years? >> i cannot speak to the bike planning -- commissioner kim: when this comes to us today, why months ago, nobody said we need to read gauges the community in this process? we knew we had to meet the deadline on february 1. where did things fall apart? our office has never been informed we were about to lose $4.8 million for this project. had we have known, we would have held these committee meetings. second street is one of our top priorities in the district.