>> thank you for being here. >> announcement of prohibition of cellular devices during the meeting. the use of sound producing

electronic devices are prohibited. any person responsible for the ring or use of a cell phone, pager, or similar electronic device may be removed from the meeting. except on vibrate, they do cause microphone interference. -- when set on a vibrant, they do cause microphone into france, so please turn them off. chairperson nolan: approval of the minutes. >> item 5, communications. we have none at this time. item six -- chairperson nolan: under new and unfinished business -- director brinkman: this past week, i spent time with director dunhaley and others, and also

kelly, getting a thorough overview of s 78. i spent time with the staff. it was so enlightening to get the overview of the day-to-day operations. i want to thank everyone for the time they spent with me, for the knowledge i have gained as a result. it will help me perform as a better director. thank you very much. i wanted to let our director no that it was very enlightening. i will know what is going on. thank you. chairperson nolan: things were going up there and doing that. -- thanks for going out there and doing that. director henike: director

brinkman and i got to walk through the areca curve and the castro curve, touring the control center. i will let her speak on her own behalf, but the experience was quiet in lightning. it was clear these three folks understood what was going on down there, and had ideas for the future. of particular interest to be what comments about how will upgrades might improve speed, or unable higher speeds in the twin peaks tunnel. as director bridges was saying, this is one of those opportunities where we got to see things up front that helped both of us understand the issues of concern to us better i just want to say thank you to those three for staying up late and posting us on -- hosting us on

that tour. director brinkman: it is interesting. a writer of the public transportation system, or as a car driver, we see street cars, the operators, and do not realize that is simply the tip of the iceberg of what keeps this transportation system running. to see the people working down there in the tunnel while there are no trains running through, and know they have three or four hours to do track maintenance and repair -- that are doing that all the time. we have the day shift, the swing shift, the night shift. those men and women are working while we are tucked home in bed. i would just echo that thanks. it was invaluable. one other thing. i had an e-mail from someone about 14 mission, running on south venice street. -- van ess street. the buses are no stopping on few

blocks from on mission street. he was thrilled at how much faster the ride was with fewer stops, and possibly less congestion. it sounds like the stops are clearly located. people know where to go to find that bus. they know it is not going to be on mission during the repaving project. it sounds like that is going well. he wanted to know if we could cut some of the stops when it was back to mission. i do not know. chairperson nolan: i want to thank colleagues for attending the town hall meeting we had on sunday on the budget, including director oka it was an enlightened session. there are four more coming up shortly. mr. reiskin did a fine job of walking us through it. it was more of a discussion and a formal setting.

there was an opportunity for give and take, which i think was very helpful. executive director reiskin: good afternoon, members of the staff and public. happy again to start out today, as we do the first reading of the month, with recognition of staff, which i think we need to be doing more of at the mta. we have three different divisions, groups of folks we are granted derecognizing. first, from the safety training, security, and enforcement division, i am going to ask lance greenfield to come up. he was hired at -- as a pco in 1987. he has worked all over the city. he once was the record-setter, in 1991, writing 500 citations in a single day. i am not sure how that would

even be possible. these are good people enforcing the regulations that the board of directors puts on the books. if you comply with the parking regulations, he is never going to write you a ticket. but he always was diligent, and has been diligent if signs were incorrect or markings were not correct to make sure they got corrected so nobody would be incorrectly cited. just as important, he is known for an excellent work ethic and a good attitude. based on all of that, he was promoted to supervisor 12 years ago, and selected, because of his leadership, for some of the more difficult assignments, because of his knowledge and expertise. he was one of the key folks who has done something on the sf park pay-by-phone project.

for all the expertise and experience he has built over the years, he is someone the department has looked to when it comes to innovative parking management. we are honoring him for all of that. also, because of his quarter- century with the department, he is retiring soon. he will certainly be missed by the men and women of the mta, if not by the 500 people who were cited by him. i want to thank him for his service. i invite our commander, our director of safety. >> i am really pleased to be here. lance is somebody i have looked to a great deal, when we have moved toward innovative things. he is a mentor. he really puts himself out there with the folks who work

with him. i cannot tell you how much i am going to miss his knowledge, and just how he is as a man. thank you for your many years of service. [applause] >> good afternoon, chairman nolan, directors, mr. reiskin. i want to present a certificate to you for your 25 years of great surface. he will be retired in 12 days and will be answering early- morning e-mails from his wife with the honey-do. [laughter] [applause] >> just a few words to the

board. i just want to thank all the pc o's i have worked with over the years, supervisors, and our staff, and everyone in the mta, which was previously sfpd. it has been an honor to serve the city and county of san francisco all these years. chairperson nolan: on behalf of the entire agency, thank you for your outstanding service. we wish you all the best in retirement. these meetings are open to the public. thank you. >> i am not sure attending the meetings is going to make the honey-do list. but being a parking control officer is a very difficult job. it is one that rarely, when you see one approaching, you are

happy to see them. when you yourself get caught ups, if you have not complied with a parking regulation and they are properly citing you, it is not something they look forward to, but it is an important part of how we manage transportation in the city. these are hard-working professionals, doing a very difficult job with very little thanks. i think lance is the epitome excellence for the parking control officers and their supervision. i want to commend them for the hard work they do, despite the lack of accolades they generally get. moving on, a good story, and one that many of you have heard, but we thought it bore repeated -- this is how muni can show love for san francisco. this is a valentine's day story that began on the morning of

february 14, where a woman who was a regular rider of the 45 realized she had lost her purse. she retraced her steps to a coffee shop, thinking that she had left her purse there. she did not find it there. she asked operator cedric macarthur, who was driving the subsequent bust, if he could help out. maybe i should ask cedric macarthur and james white to join me and come forward. like all other muni operators, these folks have a job to do. they have to maneuver these large vehicles through our hills and our crowded streets. the have to deal with fare transactions with passengers on the bus, bicycles, taxes, all the traffic, and they have to do it safely and meet a schedule.

cedric probably could have said, "i am sorry, ma'am. i have a job to do." but he did not do that. he got the woman's contact information. he contacted our control center and notified them of the situation. they then found out it was indeed on the first bus that she took that was operated by mr. white, james white. cedric and james made an arrangement whereby they would exchange the lost goods, and provided the customer with a time where she could retrieve them. really, on both of their parts, far above and beyond the call of duty to make one person -- what otherwise would have been a bad day turn into a good day. as a result, there was some very positive press coverage. but perhaps more importantly, the customer stopped at a flower stand and purchased red roses

for each operator. it was a small flecks. a quote from the customer in the chronicle read "times like this, i love san francisco." that is what we want people to think of after their experiences with muni. i want to think cedric and james for that. i congratulate you for serving the people in a way that many operators do every day. thank you. [applause] >> i also want to introduce -- i will turn this back over, but parents hall, the division chair at the presidio, and deborah frank is the superintendent. of promised with a photo to help in future elections, i would be on this side of terrance.

chairperson nolan: on behalf of all the people in the city, thank you for your help. this is a wonderful story. thank you for your hard work every single day and the extra grace to bring to it. gentlemen? mr. white, mr. macarthur? >> i am cedric macarthur. i would like to thank the board for recognizing our work, considering the fact we all do an honest job on a day-to-day basis. everyone appreciates standing before all of you today. it was a wonderful story, and it was unusual, but i have to thank my colleagues, my co-workers, and also james white. we share the same line. i believe the efforts and strength that we work together

honestly and nobly -- we can have success stories like this, which makes us feel more appreciated, to come in every day and do a job well done. i want to thank the superintendent, james frank, my wife, who fixes lunch and breakfast for me, to still have a good attitude and do a job well done. i think all of you and accept the honor with great appreciation. -- thank all of you except the owner with appreciation. >> james white. i've been here for about 22 years. i enjoy my job. i work with people. i started in the restaurant business, so you know i love working with people.

i am glad the lady got her purse back. i want to thank everybody. chairperson nolan: thank you so much, mr. white. appreciate with -- i appreciate it. executive director reiskin: while these individuals went above and beyond, we were fortunate it got picked up in the media so we knew about it. i do not think they were going to come forward and read about this. there are good things to make people's experience in san francisco better. i want to thank them for the leadership they are demonstrating and the example they are setting. finally, i want to ask ms. johnson to step forward with kitty wong, who is a personnel

analyst and a six year veteran with the agency. i had the opportunity to spend a good part of yesterday afternoon getting briefed on the personnel process and what it takes to do what in many workforces is a fairly simple task -- hire somebody. it turns out in the mta and city government, it is not that simple. between union rules, civil service rules, and our own rules, it is a very complex system. it was a window into the complexity for managing resources. the daunting challenge of managing a chart and the agency gives me an even greater importance to somebody behind the scenes working to make the process as smooth and equitable as possible. she supervises the division

services unit within our h.r. department, which handles referrals and processing, which are basic elements of the hiring process. she is an expert in many aspects of the very complicated and convoluted rules, such as premium pay and above the entrance requirements. she hopes the managers of the department figure out how to work through the process, and to do so properly. she singlehandedly has managed and processed huge volumes of special pay built into our labor agreements to make sure staff that properly paid for the work they have done, and the agreements bargained for. she has mentored and trained staff in some of these special pay processes, which has made the entire unit more efficient and effective. part of her job is figuring out how to make this work more efficiently and effectively,

which she has done. she has expertise in adjustments, management, requisitions, and all these things that are very complex things necessary to make the h.r. process work, to get people into their jobs and get them paid properly. she is known for providing excellent customer service to every manager in the agency needs to use a church services. everybody needs to hire and manage people. for all of that, we are pleased to acknowledge her great service today. >> good afternoon. it is a great honor to stand before you today, to be able to recognize ms. wong. the human resource process in the city can be daunting. you have to learn all the rules, procedures, and policies

associated with civil service practices, as well as the exempt practices we have. with all that being said, kitty wong has stepped up to the plate. we have had staffing shortages from our budget process a couple of years ago. but still had and shoulders above the crowd. she is able to provide stellar customer service to employees at the sfmta, as well as external customers seeking to become members of the sfmta > -- sfmta > -- sfmta. i have to say derek kim is absent, who oversees the union -- the unit, and is our deputy a jar -- deputy h.r. thank you for improving the

quality of life for the members of the transportation agency. [applause] chairperson nolan: on behalf of the agency, thank you for your entire work. i know you have a fan club with you today. >> i would like to think the board for the recognition. i want to think derek and also james, and thank them for their support and great leadership. i want to thank all the colleagues who were made to come and support me. this award actually should go to everybody in the operation. we all help each other. we work to complete what we have actually accomplished. thanks again. executive director reiskin: just a couple other quick things.

just some updates on work happening around town. jfk boulevard through golden gate cart -- golden gate park -- the separated by plane is under construction. we have just about completed the first phase, which is installing curb ramps and installing some catch basins. will be starting this week the second phase, which is doing the actual striping, which will take a little over a month to get done, working with rec and park, the museums, and the other impacted stakeholders. it is a great project which will soon make for a safer and smoother ride on your bike through golden gate park. that is great news. we have been making a number of

presentations, doing a lot of community work on this. we are honing in on a recommended design. it is a design that has parking impacts. we are looking at ways to mitigate those impacts. we are planning to go out this month to hold a community meeting to bring back the feedback we have gathered, and what the current thinking is -- also what we are thinking about for the 70 to 80 parking spaces that could be impacted by this proposal. the idea is to take feedback from community meetings in march, finalize the proposal for a public hearing this fall, and start construction next spring, which was the schedule in our original funding request. there has been some public discussion that we have delayed the whole process. we did delay doing a pilot, but the permanent project is on

track. it is only three blocks on both streets, but it is an important gap right now in the bicycle not work that puts people into some pretty heavy traffic. the separation will be a big step forward into making that critical east-west connection more complete. as most of us know, because we were woken early yesterday morning with a 4.0 earthquake that hit in the east bay, we see it as a good reminder to us to make sure the art emergency plans are current, and to undertake our operating protocol, which is to sweep the subway, to inspect the cable cars, to do a check of the stations, to make sure the system is safe before we resume operations. we did not have any damage.

i do not think there was any in san francisco. it was a good operation. we were undertaking that process for about 45 minutes to make sure the system was safe and secure before going back into full operation. i wanted to acknowledge we have had a lot of weekend work happening recently. we have been doing three different projects the past two weekends. the line at church and the bows -- dubose, continuing the streetscape upgrades. we have added in some switched replacements in the outer sunset. a lot of work happening. a lot of good repair needs being met. a little bit of disruption. but we have been able to manage both the noise and the traffic impact. we have had very little in the wake of complaints. wake of complaints. it is great to see this work