adopt the free muni for low- income youth and a resolution that directs the staff to work for everyone, that you will celebrate. there is a great victory they have been part of coming year to these meetings after meetings. i for one think it is going to be a great step forward in san francisco. the case for -- the money has to come from somewhere. i will talk about free muni. it is not free. mr. rieskin has done a great job of looking for revenue if we were to provide free service for all young people. i believe these are realistic. i think -- they're not at the expense of other operating programs or other parts of the agency. i will support a motion. i am open to and i requested a resolution myself. an amendment that places this

board on record as supporting the overall goal as quickly as possible. finding those sources of revenue that are specifically for this service and not the expense of something else. we're moving to this as quickly as we can. my amendment would direct mr. rieskin to find resources available and come to us. there is wild assertions made about how awful this will be. we have heard from the critics who are concerned about what this might mean. that is why it is a pilot project. the money that has been identified, we do not have it yet. we ought to go with unity and work toward this goal. that is the end of the conversation we have and the motion i would make -- i am not making a recommend -- a motion

at this point. i will go on record as being in favor of [unintelligible] it is time for review of fare structure. this is not the only one that is inequitable. we do not have time in the current budget year but i hope over the next year, your staff could look at how we can address some of those inequities that are truly there. i -- to do want to any -- add anything else? >> thank you for that helpful and constructive speech. i want to echo something you said and i want to speak to supervisor campos and his staff and others to answer and others who have come together, particularly the student to of

come to see as. there is perception of a well- founded this building and city leaders do not pay attention to the city's youth the way they might in other cities where they have a stronger political voice and greater numbers. i as a parent of three young children feel that and definitely share that perception and frustrations sometimes. i still love the city, however. i want to say that you folks who have organized, thank you. as mr. reiskin just reported to us, under the staffer -- staff proposal, it is still a significant measure. half of the children ride the muni for free. that is a big deal. this is something that was not on the table while ago. this is something that sends a clear message to the children and parents of the city that there are organizations in the community that care and politicians to care and hopefully there will be more action here today that many cares about families.

i will say a simple thank you as a parent. on the issue that i raised last time which is we need to see the economic trade-offs. i want to thank you, director for the very informative and thoughtful piece that we have been given. and in light of those trade- offs and the fact that this is a pilot proposal, i am in favor today of the staff proposal providing these passes for the low-income youth. first and revisiting what we can do later because of the trade offs. not only the economic trade-offs but it is important that we take time to review the potential service trade offs that will be implicated year. and how we can better serve not only our working commuters but our school-age to compete -- commuters. i say all this and this thank you and this note of respect, signifying this is the beginning of the discussion and that is how i view it. i strongly suspect, i do not want to speak for him. one of the recent super kaiser campos is proposing free muni --

supervisor campos proposing free muni -- because of concern that if we limit the free muni to certain segments, we will create an administrative bureaucracy and from that, there will be a problem. the very people we're trying must to help for whatever reason, intimidation, fear of administrative red tape, delay, you name it. will not access the service we need. when this discussion started you and i talked about how this is important that it be a clipper based program because that will make it simpler. that will allow us to load it for a longer time. there are other things as we started this, we need to address. it is very appropriate we revisit the threshold. we have started from using the school lunch program threshold

as the proper threshold. we need to evaluate whether that is a proper threshold in a city as expensive as this one and whether we will be hitting and helping the committees and children that we want to help. i would start with that. let's revisit that. i would also say we need to do everything we can to learn from lessons or mistakes, i will call it lessons from the lifeline programs before. and we need to make this a supreme the easy to access program. the school to lunch program benefits from a fairmount of aes. i think we can learn from that. -- fair amount of ease. we can have dialogue to see what their thoughts are and also to dialogue with the schools. this to me would be most simply run as a school based program. we know where our children are during the days when there are supposed to be, we have information and we should work

with them to make sure we have a program that is easy to administer. once we have done that, i think we need to commit as the chairman has said to visiting this and revisiting this quickly. we not -- we need to know not at the end of two years, we need to know at the end of four or six months whether it is an -- whether it is possible to design the and administer this program. we need to know that. if it is not possible, we need to revisit free passes for all youth. in addition, we need to revisit what the impact -- budget impacts are. you did the best to look into your crystal ball but you cannot predict reliably but we need to know what the trade-offs are turning out to be. and also importantly what the service impacts of this are. and then i would be with you, chairman nolan that as time goes on in this pilot program, we need to revisit whether this

program is working, or whether, given administrative savings, given trade-offs and the overall policy benefit of having all of our children write for free if that is the way to go and if so, can we identify the resources. something you said -- this is a victory. this is a good day. if you support our children riding the muni and it may come out more measured than some of you want but this is the start of the discussion. i will say again as a parent and i am happy for what is going on here. commissioner ramos: so i do not think anybody has articulated more support for the concept of free muni for all youth than myself appear. i certainly voted for it previously. and was prepared to vote for it again today. had there been different circumstances.

it is clear now, however, that the funding mechanisms would lead to taking money out of maintenance and operations which none of us have been supportive of, not even in. it is convoluted, it is a tough process to follow when you have someone or folk saying the money is there and theoretically, it is there. but it is also money that is competitive for other resources that we need for other things that are going toward low-income communities, people with disabilities, and folks who have a hard time getting to transit. that is what the concept of life in funding is, it is for that explicitly. -- a lifeline funding is, it is for that exclusively. that is true, that funding would go to -- toward the low-income youth there. there is not enough money within the lifeline but to handle all

the needs we would need for even just the low income youth given the fact that we're not receiving funding from these other sources that we're hoping to get funding for with regard to the 108, the mission mobility and all these other programs. if the funding is not there for those programs that we have identified as a need for the lifeline project, we would need to look toward that portion of the $5 million we were talking about getting from ntc to help move that around, if i'm not mistaken, to pay for the free muni for all youth and the people who have means. it is this strange, we will not get the money from here but we will take it from here but the money from here we have to take it from here. what ends up coming short is the lifeline funding. in a strange way. it is unfortunate it has to work out that way but that is the way we are. i know people of low income and

of disability who have a hard time making it to the end of the month. it is not possible for me to put those folks a risk for the sake of doing free muni for all youth. i do agree with all the comments that were set here, chairman and director heinicke., we need to push toward finding that finding and identifying that funding and it can come from a place where it is not taking -- putting additional burdens on lifeline funding or taking away from the disabilities or access in that capacity. and all those needs have been that through the founder and the ntc funding that has been available. hopefully of we have got some sources for -- from private as well. a big reason why i voted the way i did this last time was because i was hoping, we were all hoping

that private sources and i do not think anyone has a few million dollars lying around to give to this program to help make it happen for free muni for all youth. all that being said, i want to go back to this idea of what staff is saying and understanding that we have a working relationship here that we need to respect and trust and move forward. staff has taken a hard line the whole time i have been appear -- up here for year. we're going to have a difficult conversation about the budget after this. a lot of you here are not here for the low-income pass but you're here for the budget, i am sure it. we're counting pennies and dollars is literally where we're at. if we're going to go for free muni for all youth, it will be imperative that we do find those sources of revenue in creative ways like i was talking about

with some of the organizers a year ago. i'm hoping we can still look towards those opportunities to find a free muni for all youth in the future. and go with what we have got right now. we're pretty comfortable, we have funding for given the wonderful work of supervisor campos in sounding -- signing the funding at ntc. i commend that and the support from power and the community organizations that are here making that happen. there is a few amendments i want to make sure to get included in the resolution we passed to address some of the things that we can talk about that more. i wanted to explain that. thank you for that time. commissioner bridges: i would like to commend the parents and students. i voted to support this initiative last time because growing up in san francisco, i understand that difficulty in

having funds to transport every day to school. also the plight of young families and families in general. i worry about the exodus of families out of san francisco, low-income and middle-income. of all economic backgrounds. after reviewing the budget and knowing where we are with our budget consequences, we know that we can now support free muni for half of the students in san francisco. that is the funds we have identified and are available. any budget you have to make hard decisions and make decisions on the funds that are available, not the funds you hope will become available. the decision we make is based on the funds we have but that does not preclude funds that may be available a year from now. what i would ask director reiskin to do is to work with the mayor's office and see if we

can identify private sources that will come through that we can advocate and we could offer a free muni for all youth. in two years maybe or maybe one year. i would love to do it before the next budget cycle. i think it is important that as a city, we can support families, not just low-income families but middle income families. san francisco is very expensive. it is not just low-income that are struggling especially with the downturn of the economy. the everything i would advocate is simplicity. the one thing that impacts low- income families is the bureaucracy of filling out paperwork to get into these programs. we need to offer support to these families so they can get the support they need to complete the paperwork to get to these programs. whether it is the school or mta, we need to provide support for them. my last point would be if we cannot do it with the schools, to make sure the mta can offer the service. i would hate to see low-income families not get the support

they need whether it is true clipper or whenever the process is. i think the pilot program should not be limited to just low- income that low to middle. once we do this within one year, come back to the board and say we have looked at additional funds. staff has identified something but not wait until the next budget cycle. i truly feel the city should muni should be free for all use. we should not wait two years to do it. commissioner lee: i think anything that i have to say, my colleagues have expressed really well. i want to congratulate the youth that are out there. your presentations have been awesome. you are so respectful and so passionate in what your saying. -- you are saying. you still have an advocate up here.

you have to look at the entire impact of the ridership. thank you for your presentations and for your courtesy. commissioner oka: thank you. i did not want to miss the opportunity to -- first, i think we have all heard a great grass-rotots presentation and -- [inaudible] from the entire movement to make muni free for all youth. this director has heard every

word you have said. i think one thing we have to be aware of, i asked our cfo to assure me that this program of low income does not just mean public schools low income. it must include all who are in school, who are public or private schools must be put in this program. otherwise, i would not support it. we have to be able to assure thtat our city remains friendly to our youth. our youth is the future of our

city, and we all know this. we know this, we hear this. there are places in the budget that we can cut money, cut -- we need to cut into the overtime. we need to work -- work orders need to be cat -- cut. sfpd is supposed to serve all the city. what is paying -- part of it, police department budget that [unintelligible] i will be working hard to make sure we reduce the work orders. i think if we reduce the work orders, lifeline to me is too

high as this. you have heard me from here from the beginning say that lifeline pass costs too much right now as it is. $30 a month is too much. i have been trying to get that reduced since i have become a member of this board. i will continue to do that. we have to find money. i have heard from last week since we last met. i have heard from many of my colleagues. many of my friends in the other areas, free muni, free for all youth will not work. we tried it many times and it does not work. i am one that says because it

did not work before does not mean that it will not worked. we have to find a way to do it. i will tell you this. you have got my word as well as all of our board that we will go on record as supporting free muni for all youth in the city and county of san francisco. we have to make that happen and we cannot wait two years. i totally agree with director bridges. we cannot afford to wait two years to make this happen. we have to make sure that this program is going to work. and the other thing that is important that i heard supervisor campos say, make it

easy, make it easy to access for all people. i do not like [unintelligible] either. if i do not like filling out forms, i know that particularly if you are not a native english speaker, it is hard. it is almost impossible. to fill out the forms -- is almost impossible to fill out the forms in a timely manner without assistance. i look at what's is it going to cost as administratively to do the paperwork -- what is it going to cost us administratively to do the paperwork? so that everyone who needs the program is getting it. i do not want extra paperwork to

be foldout. -- filled out. let's do it in the most paperless, everyone is going paperless. let's make this program paperless. the final thing i would say it is congratulations to all the youth in this city that impacted our decision today and in the future. believe me, we have heard you. thank you. vice president brinkman: thank you, chairman nolan. i will echo what my colleagues have said and i think it is important that we make this easily accessible, that we have the burden of paperwork as low as we possibly can so that we catch the students and families that we want to catch.

having said that, i think -- i will say i support the staff proposal for low-income free muni for use and i will make a motion to that. i want to again thank everyone involved because you taught us a lot of things we did not know. especially those of us on this board to do not have children in the san francisco school district system. i did not realize there was such a crunch on a lot of the families, so i appreciate you showing us that. i did not realize there's no money available for field trips for kids. i think director heinicke mention his kids or class gets one trip a day. i wonder if there was is that sit unused and kids would love to go on field trips we could work towards. someone in city hall brought that we do not have a good sense of where the kids are moving in the city. the gentleman brought up the fact that we do not have neighborhood schools any more so

kids are going all over the city. i do not think the school district or the city has an idea or plan or a map of what kids move where. there always will be children who are too young to travel on muni by themselves and their parents are going with them to school and on to work or their driving them because it is easier to do. i think it would be -- benefit the entire agency and the school district to do a study and figure out where the kids are going and maybe there are some synergies we can work out. thank you very much and you have -- you did teach us a lot. i wish that you will have that as well. i think moving toward free muni for low-income youth is a good idea. i will make a motion to support the staff recommendation. >> is there a second? the motion is seconded. before we do that, i would like

to propose an amendment that encapsulates the sense of the board about going forward and that is relative to free muni for all youth. this is the language i have proposed. where's the board of directors has been impressed by the compelling case for providing any services for free for low income youth, the board recognizes the merit pursuing the goals of being able to provide service free to all youth as a way of getting young people into the muni system and a step toward broadening the appeal of muni for all, creating a lifelong commitment to the transit first policy. therefore be it resolved that the sfmta board supports exploring new revenue options and supports broadening the base of those eligible for services and further that the board direct staff to pursue all possible revenue streams that do not negatively impact the overall service delivery system of sfmta and be a further resolve the staff is directed to

report back to the board on such prospects in a timely fashion with a clear intent of implementing the program for all youth. at any time should those revenues be found for that purpose and be of further resolved that the director of transportation begin the process of dealing with the larger issue of their equity drop the system and present a proposal for the board's consideration for the next budget or sooner if practical. is there a second? >> i will second. let's talk about that amendment and see if we have support. >> does that encapsulate the intent of the agency to move forward to direct staff? >> i am happy to support that amendment. i would note that i do not think we need to write this in. at least to me, one of the important things to consider is we are doing this as a service impact and your managemall leakn the financial implications which is great.

we need to have feedback from our transit professionals about the what -- about what the service impact is. >> as you mentioned, the income level we're aiming at and where we get there -- how we get there. >> to get back to that, i see as what we're doing under the proposal that has been moved and seconded is endorsing free muni for low income youth today. directing your staff to create an administrative proposal to implement that, hopefully hearing some of the direction we have given on that. as a third thing here, creating your men and that dictates what we will do in the future. >> -- your amendment and that dictates what we will do in the future. commissioner bridges: also identify that threshold for low income, that will be crucial. president nolan: i could put

that in there somehow. >> i think we have given the staff clear direction, it is there to look at that. >> if this passes and the whole thing passes, we can talk to mr. reiskin. such as the simplicity and outreac >>h. >> i think we have. you're a big task type of guy. >> anything else on the amendment i proposed? >> we will talk about the threshold. >> the idea if this passes, the overall direction is there and we will talk about individual