i have to keep my car in very good condition. the only lawsuit, you lose 10 million or 20 million. they're laughing, they had to raise -- they lost another. [unintelligible] all these folks are coming. that is the truth. also, this is a good city. i think we can do better. the fares are pretty low already. in hong kong, you have to go far. you have to pay more money. every block a stop in san francisco. you're on the schedule that you are combining some of the muni stops, that is very good, too. thank you.

>> our last speaker. >> good afternoon. >> good afternoon, chairman and directors. there is a staff proposal out there. maybe it has not gone out to yet. the main feature is that it would entail the leasing overtime of one-third of the taxi fleet, over 500 medallions to cab companies rather than issue to the drivers as his been the practice for over 30 years. in 2010, you approved the sale of taxing medallions and i have some profound problems with that program and that policy. nonetheless, one that was put forward, it was sold in large part as a means of freeing up medallions for drivers. this current proposal is irreconcilable with the policy behind the italian sales --

medallions sales. it will vastly reduce drivers' chances of getting a medallion. the only thing they have in common is revenue for your agency, the mta. also, i have to say that leasing medallions to certain favored companies is going to have some grave consequences. when you're getting rental income from the operation of medallions, you will be partnering with these companies, these chosen companies. you'll be giving them an economic advantage over the others and how does that square with your role as an impartial regulator? can you avoid the perception and the reality of favoritism? will these companies be treated differently from -- for regulatory and participatory issues? what about liability issues? it is a huge can of worms. unless it is a very light meeting on the 15th, give us a

time certain for these tax issues so that drivers can attend and also give us separate agenda items so all these things are not lumped together. >> after i assured you we would be here on may 15, for this item, it is possible it will not be until the first meeting in june. whenever it is, we will make sure to do outreach to all the stakeholders. our intent is to try to keep the agenda as clear as possible of non-taxi items so we can focus on the many and challenging tax the issues we will be facing. i apologize for that misstatement. president nolan: i would support if we can do it -- at a certain time. people will not have to sit around for too long. the idea of breaking up some of the items in particular, this

might be helpful. go ahead. i would like to state this basically to you. as well as the rest of the commission. do not use the taxi business to solve your problems. it cannot solve them. your problem limp -- your problem basically remains with wages and pensions of two-thirds of your employees that are taking your budget into the sky. secondly, if you look at the overall changes that have taken place in the taxi business sense gavin newsom, and peskin got into a feud and put the mta in

charge of the taxi business, the rules are changing so fast, most drivers do not know what is going on. you have ataxia by azeri group that does not pay any attention to any thing because they have no power whatsoever. you make rules sitting back here in the back office that no one sees. you have got to stop that. if you look at the increases and i have looked at piles of them, the phase in the taxi business, we have fees that have grown up 800% since to have taken over. we see fees now that we never saw before. that just popped up out of nowhere. the actual cost to a driver and keep this in mind is running his cab as a business, it is a small business? i hear rumors that you want to give medallions to taxi companies?

keep in mind [unintelligible] because of the corruption in the taxi business when medallions were controlled by firms and not drivers. thank you for your time. president nolan: anyone else care to address the board backs seeing none -- care to address the board? >> maybe we could give him a response in terms of what this is. >> i made a note and would be glad to report back to the board. president nolan: next item. >> the consent calendar. are -- mr. grimes has requeste

d10.3 -- requested 10.3 be severed. >> second. president nolan: a motion and second. all in favor? all opposed? 10.3. who is going to speak to this? >> that afternoon. -- good afternoon. i know it is getting to that time of the day. i will be quick. i am the program manager at [unintelligible] in san francisco. we serve many of the disadvantaged communities as well as -- within the southeast sector of the city. we performed many outreach efforts and programs to engage

in our community that we serve. we are looking to engage our community to ride bicycles or taking many of the pathways that connect our city. i encourage you not only to accept this act but to reach out and work with cbo's to perform and plan outreach efforts and conduct educational programs for the entire city. these programs connect our city. thank you. president nolan: is there a motion on 7.3? >> yes. president nolan: any further discussion? all in favor? next item. >> moving to close session. president nolan: is there a second? second? any further discussion?

clerk: closed session. the board of directors voted unanimously. the board also discuss litigation and labor negotiations but took no action.

>> good morning. we are here to celebrate the reagan really we are here because of the timing. tomorrow is the anniversary of the san francisco earthquake. it was the earthquake that made us look for other sources of water that were reliable and robust for the entire area. it was the earthquake and the pressure after that that said you need to upgrade to make sure we will continue to get water for two and a half million people the has led us to this program. there are a few projects left, but we are in the middle of the really large regional projects.

about $2.5 million is being spent right now. the first person to speak about that is merely -- mayor lee. >> thank you to the commissioners who are here, the whole staff. you have done wonders. you are on schedule. i really look of these projects in quite a different way. i am really looking at what they accomplish. i am looking at job creation, and it is a wonderful understanding when you have 3 billion hours said have obtained so far for all the different crafts. this particular project i have been quite interested in, because it is one the shares

with san mateo county. is one they know is important. it is with six reservoirs' that we manage, and it increases with the improvements. it has been improved. the spillway allows for water runoff to come in and capture that as well, and it continues to reign in the cleanest water we have throughout the state. just talking about their systems, i was asking and exchanging information with there'irs. they seem to have similar challenges. they all point to an interesting situation, and it just read establishes my confirmation that it is so important that we keep

our water system in place, not only about preparing for the earthquake, and you know we can ensure the public if there is any major seismic event, and water service can be restored within 24 hours. that is important not just to san francisco residence. it is important to our neighbors. earthquake preparedness is one of the most important things i have been working on for a number your's -- a number of years in my previous capacity. we can ensure the public we are in a better position because of our water system and the investment we are making, not just in san francisco. the investments were done in partnership with all the other

counties common and not only have we manage it well. we have also used every opportunity to do local hiring along the way. local folks have had a good shot at these jobs. we shared this system with the rest of the counties and made sure the standards are continuing one of the most celebrated and innovative engineering feats in the history of our country, so i want to celebrate this milestone. there are three improvements that have converged to this point, and that is worth celebrating. it is worth reminding everybody,

when people continue to suggest perhaps it is time we take down head ceci -- to take down hetch hetchy, i believe they do not know what they are talking about. the first 35 miles is on hydroelectric power produced by our water system. thank you very much. >> as the mayor said, this is a partnership. people think of this as the san francisco water supply, but it is the regional water. we are in partnership with a lot of folks. with us today is the executive director of the conservation agencies, his vice share, who is also on the city council, and

with us is the president of the san mateo county board of supervisors and the long-term leader in the city. >> thank you. i really appreciate being here, and i want to say congratulations to the vice chair. i also served many moons ago, and at that time we wanted to work closely with san francisco, because this was a regional project, and everybody wanted to be sure this was done correctly and on budget, and we can rest assured that is the case. what is important -- they call me the queen of disaster, because after krajina -- katrina we started disaster preparedness, but most people think about an earthquake common and the concern is are we going to have the necessary water to take care of

individuals thomas -- individuals to? the answer is yes. i think we have to remember an emergency is not just an earthquake. an emergency could also be a drought, and we have increase the capacity, so that will bring us where we used to be, and that is where we need to be to make sure at the end of the day we are protected and have enough water to continue having the great quality of life throughout the region. i know the mayor mentioned jobs, and we feel the same way here. it is very important these projects have brought lots of jobs for workers throughout san francisco and san mateo county, so it has been a win-win situation for our county and the

rest of the regions, and i want to thank the mayor for the great partnership they provided, because what i have found, we have worked on many projects, and this is one of many that has created major improvements to our community. we met on the extension to the trans bay terminal. -- the san francisco transit a terminal. the mayor is aggressive in trying to meet the needs of development. we also recognize we are going to have to have capacity of water that is going to allow us to have extended developments in our community, and today is a historic day we are going to make that happen. you are standing here because you did touch the project, and i thank you for that.

congratulations. >> thank you, supervisor. our water system comes from hetch hetchy. we have been trying to make sure that each area is safe and reliable. we now have a new pipeline, and we have strengthened that connection over calaveras false -- fault. three and four is the next project to come up. we are building a new tunnel under the bay, and when you get to the crystal springs bypass tunnel, we are carrying all the water we needed directly for our customers, if we do not need it for our customers, we store it

in this lake, and we can store 22 billions of dollars -- 22 billions of gallons. we are working on crossing every one of those vaults, and we are in much better shape than we were five years ago. that is done with a lot of people involved. and we have our commission. we have a lot of our leadership here with us today. they have an -- dave is in charge of the people who work to keep this going. they are part of the whole project and part of making it happen. we are trying to make sure your water will have arrived at

major distribution points. we are very pleased to welcome you. if you want to talk about how you prepare your own home and to be able to get your own information so you are prepared for these kinds of things. >> good morning, everyone. it is a pleasure to be here. i was not planning on speaking, but i always love the opportunity puree good -- now i always love the opportunity. the earthquake showed their resolve to literally result from the ashes. we are all working on this together, and we do take the opportunity, particularly as we are about to celebrate what happened on april 18, to remind

everyone the importance of being a good member of the community, and you need to be prepared. there are wonderful websites. our department of emergency management has a web site. the fire department offers free and emergency response training, and our message is to educate and keep it on everyone's mind that our priorities should be prepared redness. personally, they are unpreparedness champions, and i thank you for that. it is a priority to be prepared, and the more prepared each of us are individually, the closer we can get to recovery that much sooner. it is infrastructure that is important, but we cannot forget we should be as prepared as possible for our families and work places to be able to be

participative, and we know we are grateful for the men and women who responded, and i am proud of the fire department, but our resources on a given day are adequate, but in the event of a large-scale disaster, we will need your help. the more we prepare, the better off we will be. but this was upgraded in 1896. new withstood the earthquake -- id withstood the earthquake without any damage. it is the prototype for the hoover dam, but we have had some concrete fall off. next thing we are going to do is go under it for a photo op, and we will invite you to walk under

it. this is the first and last time most of you will be able to come here. if you did not have a hard hat, most of you could not come here, and they are going to rebuild the roadway, and once that is there, and you will not be able to go on top of it. today is one of those days you can see what is going on. you will notice there is construction work still going on. that is part of the improvement program, and that is going to allow us to have a more robust way of bringing it up, and then it can go to a filtration glancplant nearby. if you would like to come with me, we can go over here.

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