[roll call] >> you have a quorum. please be devised that the use of telephones, pagers, or similar sound-producing devices are verboten in this meeting.

approval of the minutes of the january 17, 2012 regular meeting. the motion is adopted. any comments? all those in favor? item five, communications. there will be no closed session today. introduction of new or unfinished business by board members. >> when are we scheduled for another safety update? do we have one coming soon? can we get that on the calendar to get an update on what as a going on? >> i don't know the answer to that, i have a brief highlight to give you. but we will come back at some point soon, i think there is an

outcome from the pedestrian safety task force. within a month or so, it might be a good time to report out front. >> item 7, the safety directors report. >> the afternoon acting chair person, as members of the public and staff. we are happy to be starting out as we always do the first meeting of the month with employees special recognition awards. this time we are going to start out with the transit division, recognizing some folks that participated in an event that you will no doubt heard about or impacted by, really acted

heroically. back on january 18 about 6:00 a.m., the gentleman from out of town to a couple of unfortunate wrong turns and found themselves heading into the portal. made it very far down the tunnel, about halfway to the station if you can imagine, the police are continuing their investigation of what he was up to and what will be his fate. he got far enough down the portal that he crossed over the main line so it shut down service in the entire subway system. fortunately, for us, we had one of the inspectors there at that time, known as tj. i can start asking folks to make

their way to the microphone so they can be recognized. he reacted quickly, called the control center to get all of the system's got, recognizing the hazard and quite likely prevented what could have been a much more significant and catastrophic incident that could have not only damaged the system, but impacted people's lives. his quick thinking started the ball rolling and in 15 minutes, mike and his team formed an emergency response units and were on the scene to address the problem. they needed to put lrv into use to help move the vehicles, had a determined pulling in all the way out of the tunnel would take

too much time. they were basically able to move it into a pocket in the tunnel and got service restored within 2.5 hours of the incident. if you can appreciate the magnitude of the work they had to do, the damage that was done by this gentleman to get service back in that kind of environment is phenomenal. i want to a knowledge the work of the crew here. we also have robert alonzo, manuel enriques, [reading names] i think we should all give them a big hand. [applause] >> mr. haley.

>> words would not do justice, both to this incident and to the daily occurrences. this is tyrone julian, the inspector that acted quickly and decisively. he prevented a varery serious situation, his actions allow us to freeze the railroad at a time that trains were within 30 seconds of where this criminal drove his car down through this. tj, this is john randy katenich, who will speak for the group. their extraordinary creativity in solving all kinds of situations you would not want to get into a storytelling contest

with any of these guys. they have toppers. randy, who will be giving the acknowledgments for the group, the last time i saw him was last thursday afternoon somewhere in the tunnel between church and castro where he was swinawing to get some wire down. randy? >> i don't do the, um, that is for sure. with training and knowledge, i have learned a lot over the years. we have learned from each other, and thank you for acknowledging us, i really appreciate it. >> you have to speak longer. [laughter] >> i would like to say something to the board here.

i could not be mo hope of you as well. >> on behalf of the board of directors, the entire agency, and every citizen of this city, we appreciate the fast response and the hard work. you deserve a round of applause and your supervisors speak so highly of you. [applause] >> thank you. next is from our capital programs division. i will ask them to step up. he is an assistant engineer who has been working with the capital position since 2006. he is currently serving as the resident engineer. the r.e. is the man or woman on

the agency's behalf managing the construction, making sure that community issues, traffic issues, and back issues are being addressed. i know that from my time at dpw, being an r.e. in the public right-of-way can be extremely challenging. he and his operations folks tried to keep their buses going through. he was pivotal in coordinating with transit operations on this project and a number of others, including the overhead retrofit project. on the cable car project, he completed production of the safety certification documents which is not sexy stuff, but it is important and essential for us to turn our systems and back into revenue services.

for that work and for the general enthusiasm and attitude, we're happy to a knowledge him from the construction division. >> good afternoon, members of the board. once again, i am pleased to introduce another one of our young engineers. he has only been with us about five years now, but during this relatively short time, he has demonstrated his capabilities and his attitude. not only has he acted as a resident engineer on many of the important projects, he is one of the guys that coordinates the construction work to make sure that the operations are not affected and things go smoothly. throughout all of this effort, he has shown commitment to the agency.

>> to the border of directors, and my fellow colleagues, as a native of san francisco, it makes me proud the represent the city. i will continue to work diligently for this organization and our community. i would like to thank my wife and family for their constant love and support. of like to express appreciation for the continual encouragement of the staff to resolve daily issues. in particular, i would like to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to my colleagues. it enables us to produce a successful construction projects. >> on behalf of the board of directors and the entire agency, we appreciate your work very

much. [applause] >> in terms of employee recognition, i would like ask martha to come up to the podium. i learned a few things about martha, she has been with the agency since 1978. she doesn't look old enough to be here. she started as a very young parking control officer. she started way back and worked her way up to be the director of enforcement. she took over the residential parking permit office in 1994, and then the 1999 management of

the school crossing guard program. she has increased the number of crossing guard positions to 150. she is providing twice yearly safety trading as well as -- training as well as increasing visibility and safety. it is sometimes a very difficult job, one that is important for our children to get to school safely. the other thing i learned about martha is that she recently announced plans to retire after 34 years. there will be some big shoes to fill. in the evening that i am leaving the office, it seems that she is in there at her desk, working away. we will certainly miss her when she chooses to actually retire. we are happy to be a knowledge in her for her grade service

today. does mr. yee want to say a few words? >> good afternoon . movements like this are always vigorously. her colleagues from the program, we are very pleased to be recognizing her for a long career and her years of service, but i think we are all very sad that we will be losing the close association we have had for the last 30 years or so. it is a tough job, and i have been to a lot of community meetings. people have varying opinions, but the crossing guards are universally loved. a lot of it has to do with the attitude that the crossing guards take with them to the field.

it has a lot to do with martha's inspiration and leadership. we want to thank her and recognize her for that. she and i actually went to high school together. she was two years ahead of me, so life isn't fair. she gets to retire before i do. >> would you like to say a few words? >> i would like to thank everyone for taking the time out of their schedule to recognize me for my service to the city. it has been a pleasure and honor to work for the city. every job i have done for the city, i have done that with integrity and i am proud represent the city and county of san francisco. it is a fitting into my career because parking and traffic have come together and i see that we are really providing a service

to the citizens of san francisco. my parents lived in san francisco for 40 years prior to my coming into the world. i feel that it is my,. i am very thankful to have worked with such a wonderful group of people, not just in my crossing guard program, but throughout my career. as a senior parking control officer, i worked with jerry. i will miss everyone, i might come back as a hearing officer. thank you. >> on behalf of the agency, thank you for your service. we were lucky to have you for so long and good luck in your retirement. [applause]

>> the times that we have worked together in enforcement, it was a real pleasure working with you. she was very diligent, cared about her work, and she cared about the people that worked for her. she is one of those people that even though you go different directions, you run into each other and you have to say hi. it was an absolute pleasure working with y[applause] >> moving along, just a number of relatively small updates. director lee asked about pedestrian safety and we will come back with a full report. we activated a new traffic signal at sunset which previously had