you heard about earlier, and a coordination role in the agency for the california high-beat real program approach to san francisco and the san francisco peninsula. other projects that will be supported and overseen as part of the year's work are of course central subway and transbay coming in there are a number of smaller projects. there will be engineering support for our own planning efforts. balboa park station. prop k projects and studies, as well as bike studies. the planning section has a full plate with two brt efforst ots e

the way. the 19th avenue transit corridor and as the study, which you heard about earlier. about the move of metro line to the west side of the street. parking regulations steady. participation in better market street. in as well as a number of other initiatives, including the new role as treasure island mobility management agency, and a coordination role as the lead partner in the transportation amendment partnership project. we are also very involved in the long-range transportation -- san francisco transportation alal plan. and several other efforts in the

county, including oakdale caltran ridership in mobility solution study. of course, a significant amount of involvement from representatives of the stable community strategy and update of the station planned. the technology services section deals with the modeling needs of the agency, but also provides the services bureau for other agencies and private sector users to support a number of major initiatives. it also deals with land use growth allocation model, which is a fairly unique tool in san francisco linking travel demand forecasting and land use, and deals with the i.t. development and support of office,

including the web site, which is becoming a major tool for interaction with prop k grantees. the finance administration section deals with budget development, accounting, contract procurement and the needs of the agency, and this year all of the capital financing. you heard earlier about the cp program. we're looking at the issues of long-term debt to support the capital program, and that will keep cynthia quite busy as well. that is a very brief bird's-eye view of the activities that are involved in this year's budget. i would be happy to answer any questions. this is an information item this time. >>commissioner chiu: this is the prof and sa preliminary look ate

budget, but when you anticipate to come back before us? >> hopefully next month. i also wanted to take a minute to point out to your question on the cost of the line of credit and so on. that is actually included in the budget discussion. 2.5 million now. we're hoping to reduce that radically with the new line of credit. probably to half. close to that anyway. commissioner wiener: any additional questions or comments? we will open it up to public comments. seeing none, public comment is closed. no action is needed. item 11. >> internal accounting report an investor report for the six months ended december 31, 2011. >> cynthia fond. -- fong. this is here for you to read at

your leisure. i am more than happy to answer any of your questions due to the sake of time. commissioner wiener: any questions or comments? public comment? public comment is closed. we will move on to item 11, introduction of new items. any introductions? any public comment on this item? public comment is closed. item 13. >> public comment. commissioner wiener: in the general public comment? we are returned. -- are ajourned.

>> when stephen de staebler died, he was working on one of the biggest shows of his career, matter and spirit. it is a retrospective look at the many faces and faces of the life of an innovative artist from the california clay

movement. stephen de staebler's developed in an area dominated by abstract expression. even his peers saw his form. >> he was able to find a middle ground in which he balanced the ideas of human figuration and representation with abstraction and found it even more meaningful to negotiate that duality. >> another challenge was to create art from a meeting that was typically viewed as kraft material. his transforming moment was an accident in the studio. an oversized vertical sculpture began to collapse under its own weight and spread onto the floor. he sought a new tradition before him, landscape sculpture. >> you feel this extended human

form underneath the surface of the earth struggling to emerge. eventually, it does. it articulates his idea that the earth is like flesh, and the archaeology and geology in the earth are like the bones, the structure of the earth. this tied in with his idea of mother earth, with the sense that we are all tied to nature and the earth. >> a half dozen bay area museums and private collectors loan the massive sculptures to the museum for its matter and spirit retrospective. but the most unusual contributions came from stephen himself. a wall of autobiographical masks and hence from the early decades of his private study. >> he had one of the most beautiful studios i have ever been in. when you walk in, your first impression is of these monumental figures that you see in the exhibition, but if you went into the back corner of his

studio, there was a series of shells with these diminutive figures. he told me, these are the heart of my studio. these little, and held intimate study is that he referred to as his sketchbook. a painter might make drawings. stephen de staebler made miniature sculptures. >> during the 1970's, he was inspired by the monuments of egypt. he assembled a large rocks of clay into figures that resembled the ancient kings and queens. he credited a weathered appearance by rubbing glazes' into the clay while still wet. the misfires from his killed were brought in his backyard in his berkeley home. he called it his boneyard. in the last year of his life, he dug up the artifacts from his own history, and the bones were rearranged, in the were slimmer figures with wings. >> even if you knew nothing

about his life or career, you sensed there was an artist dealing with this fundamental issue of life and death, the cake, netting back together, and you feel there is an attempt to deal with mortality and immortality. there is a seeking of spiritual meaning in an existential stage. >> during his 50-year career, stephen de staebler worked to form and out of the clay of the ground and give it a breath of life. matter and spirit gathers the many expressions of his meditations. and gives the viewer and insight into the artist's life. learn more about the retrospective on line at

>> it is time to start our official press conference. this involves city officials and it is about the city's commitment to grain transportation. without further ado, i want to introduce the honorable mayor ed lee of san francisco. [applause] >> thank you, everybody, for being here this morning. it is a joy for me to be here with you today at yellow cab to celebrate an accomplishment that i think the city will be proud of. i have been this city administrator for quite a number of years. i really enjoyed hearing the goals that then mayor gavin

newsom had announced in so many areas. i have been very excited. in fact, when gavin was mayor, and these were the things that i really enjoyed inheriting from you. it was what warren hellman always said. even when you are doing the hardest thing possible, you have to have fun. i think it is fun when you can accomplish environmental goals for the city. there are so many generations ahead of us that we know will enjoy this. they will enjoy that cleaner air that we have promised generations to come. we are not going to be the same as many other industrialized cities, creating emission levels to the point that people get sick. we have the promise that with the strong environmental goals that we set out, that we can have fun accomplishing them. just a minute ago, i had a

chance to tell gavin, thank you for showing such great leadership. we celebrated gay marriage. i can personally thank him for that wonderful leadership that led to an historic decision by the ninth circuit yesterday. we go back to 2008, where mayor gavin newsom had led the effort with the board of supervisors to establish a difficult goal of reducing gas emissions, carbon emissions from our taxis, in 2008. at the time, the ordinance was crafted with support from the board. they set out a per vehicle reduction of about 20% of the missions. everybody said at that time, that is a strong goal, but it

might not be attainable. there are two numbers that we want to announce today. not only have we met that goal with the cooperation of so many parties that we are here to celebrate with, but we have exceeded that 20% goal. we now have a 49% per vehicle reduction. with an increase in taxicabs. [applause] that is what makes this fun. you set a goal that people say you cannot do. there were a lot of goals that people said could not be done. now, with the cooperation of taxicab companies, the taxicab commission, sfmta, with the grants that had been derived through the leadership of our department of environment, working with our bay area

quality care management district, the county transportation authority, we found that magic that we often wish we would have. that has resulted in a complete taxi fleet that is 92% alternative fuel. and that while they have grown. this is not a reduction in the fleet. i think they have actually doubled the number of taxis, but 92% of them are running on alternative fuel. that means a tremendous reduction in our carbon emissions. that 49% that has been reached per vehicle essentially translates into 35,000 metric tons annually of emissions that are no longer limited by our taxi fleet. it is equivalent to taking out

690 cars on an annual basis. while we accomplish those very nice numbers, there is an economic reality to this. they reduce our cost by $11 million annually. they have this alternative fuel vehicles. they save an inordinate amount of money. even the bricks that have to replace. when they are going of these hills, all the time, on a crown victoria, you are replacing those breaks every one or two months because of its use. with the alternative vehicle, it is about eight months. they are sitting in that respect. it is smarter, accomplishing more than a set out to do, because of the vision we had and

the collaboration that has gone on, finding incentives that our community have combined to work in collaboration not only with companies but to also credit the drivers. it had been so many years that this ordinance was passed to change the culture. now that partnership is deep, economic, and also, will lead to a generation that will appreciate what we have done. wonderful things to accomplish. i want to bank paul gillespie and what he and mayor newsom did to set this vision out for us with our board of supervisors.

we can be proud that not only did we come below those emissions, we exceeded it while the taxi fleet increased. this is what makes it fun to be mayor. once in awhile, we can have fun where we really accomplish stop where we get to the economy, all those things that we want to do. it is about collaboration. it is the right incentive. it is not government telling the taxi fleet but they have to do. it is inviting them in to give us their ideas and then incentivizing that road to success. that is what i want to celebrate today. thank you for coming in and sharing that celebration. [applause] thank you, mayor lee. this next guest is someone i

have interviewed many times on the subject when he was mayor of san francisco. he is very passionate about it. today might be another accomplishment that he may be loud report to being at. please welcome lieutenant governor gavin newsom. >> thank you. [applause] nice to be back. wonderful to see you all. thank you, mayor lee, for your stewardship of this program. president chuiu, everyone here gathered for this milestone. i had the unenviable task of going back to read some of the cliffs that were said to me after we made this announcement, and it was remarkable the condemnation we received. i am glad i never read any of that. maybe i would have been dissuaded. now we have 92% of taxicabs alternative fuel, leading the

nation, proven what can be done. there is an old adage. once a mind is stretched, it never goes back to its original form. you have to show people evidence, show people it is possible. you appreciate it more when you are no longer mayor, i appreciate -- i assure you. the distinction between states as laboratories for democracies, as well as cities for laboratories of innovation. trying to get them out in a small way and then scaling across different municipalities. that is the goal here. this is a win-win for everybody. the cab drivers themselves are beneficiaries of lower gas costs, cab companies are the beneficiaries of lower maintenance, and the citizens are the beneficiaries of dramatic reductions in recent -- greenhouse gas emissions.

i will close by thanking the person that began this. paul gillespie was printable in all of this. this initiative really goes back to 1997, when then mayor willie brown called for a big summit. just behind city hall, around the taxicab issues. i was invited, was the only one naive to show up. anyone who showed up, willie brown would anoint, without asking interest. and today, i announce supervisor newsom is chair of the task force i have formed. it was a difficult day. paul and i were among the many never part of this. paul started talking about this

green thing. i immediately jumped up, enthusiastic about it. i was the one with the ev from saturn. i thought it was the best idea i had heard. we created a new commission out of that task force that eventually went into the mta, and now at risk and is responsible for it. paul was responsible for that. he advanced this initiative and codified his passion. we have been celebrating his tenacity, resolve, constancy, and faith in this project. paul, i want to thank you for your vision and not giving up on this. i know you have taken a lot of heat from your colleagues, others who were outraged.

i want to just say, hat's off to you and the elected family of san francisco. finally, to mayor lee. my department meetings were never found. i have to acknowledge that. i would never acknowledge that as mayor. ed reed was always the first one to come around. i do not know what it is about cars, but we were kindred spirits, reducing the size, increasing the efficiency. i am glad to hear that you have found this fund. thank you, mayor, for making me feel better about my role in this respect. [applause] >> our next guest has told everyone -- he still does not have a motor vehicle that he

owns. i think that is still true, right? president of the board of supervisors, david chiu. [applause] >> good morning. so pleased to be part of an amount that will make other cities truly green with envy. i still do not own a car, i have to admit. i did bar my girlfriend's car because i had some trouble finding a cab in my neighborhood to get down here. all that being said, there are so many folks we have to thank. mayor lee and his department heads who are here, the ta, but i want to thank the people in particular. first of all, someone who is not a bureaucrat or politician, but helped move forward a vision of the city, paul gillespie. we support you for your idea.

and mr. lieutenant governor, it is great to see you back here in san francisco. thank you for working with my board colleagues and planting a goal that none of us, frankly, thought would be achieved. and i want to thank all of you from the taxicab industry. what was accomplished from this ordinance should be the model of how we promote future for rums, when we talk about the taxi world here. we had a hearing at the border supervisors about future reforms. we know there are many things we need to fix in the taxicab world. i hope it is through a model of ideas from taxicab drivers, from the industry working with city officials, to make sure that we are leading the way when it comes to taxis. thank you so much for being here.

[applause] >> our next speaker is the person everyone has been referencing, a former taxi cab driver, also the president of the taxicab commission. mr. paul gillespie. [applause] >> thank you, everyone, for being here, alleging the second- best thing we have done as the taxi commission. the first thing that we -- the first best thing that we did was hiring naomi kelly. i am glad she has a new position in san francisco. if any of you are here because we -- you are upset about what we did and you want to bend, i suggest calling willie brown. he appointed me to the taxi commission. i also want to thank mayor newsom for the work that he did. if you want to thank someone for bringing someone like myself or

naomi, you will want to thank mayor brown on that, too. people that know me know that i could go on for hours about this. i could talk about the collaboration that happened between the taxicab companies, the city, manufacturers. this would not have happened without john james, who was the liaison between the manufacturers, taxi industry. there were plenty of others who also helped. i had real help from lots of people -- we would not be here without you former mayor newsom. your persistence and passion for this issue, i deeply feel that. there is not enough i could say about when you have done over the years.

i hope this is just the first of many events we will have talked about making our fleet cleaner. we are about a third of the way there. we have a first generation, and we hope there will be another generation coming through. we hope to soon have zero commission taxis. i will just say one interesting thing about the taxi cab drivers. when we were looking for sponsors, we went to the fuel supplier for the taxicab industry. he said, you want me to contribute to this event? you have twice the number of vehicles but half the fuel. i said, exactly, thank you. this is one of the great initiatives. it has not only cut greenhouse gas emissions in half in three years, but it has put thousands of dollars into the pockets of working class people who sometimes make a struggle --