since then, in collaboration with the counties and mtc -- it has been an extraordinary collaboration to put this mou together. dpx makes clear transbay is the terminus of high-speed rail. i just want to acknowledge staff and my former aide, now with the mayor's office, who put in an enormous amount of work working with mtc and others to get this done. i hope the committee will support it. commissioner avalos: thank you, commissioner wiener. if there are no other comments, we can go on to public comments. >> i would like to advise this committee that the taxpayer plays an important role in the deliberations of high-speed rail.

some of you are novices because you did not participate in how things happened at the transbay. how many people were impacted? the long delays as to the number of platforms we would have to accommodate the high-speed rail. we have the democrats, who when they were in power, abused their power. now we have the republicans who are checkmating us just for the sake of it. then we have some politicians who just want to go, you know, listen to the political machine here in san francisco.

now we, the constituents, want to know that if we have this high speed rail from san francisco to san jose, what trains will they be? and the idea that if you have the audacity to say some regional people met and they're determined to have it, who gives them that authority? this type of pompous diatribe does not sit well with the constituents of san francisco. we have seen this through legislation and people going to the ethics commission because people are trying to hoodwink the spirit we are in favor of the high speed rail, but we are also in favor of complete transparency and accountability, which is lacking so far. again, our democrats, senator dianne feinstein, nancy pelosi

collette us down. now they are trying to come back on track. -- let us down. and they may, but again, the taxpayer pays for these projects. so far, the transbay, we do not see things happening the way we want to see that happening. we are not getting transparency and full accountability with the high-speed rail. you can call clinton. he will have a good discussion with the committee. he is one of those astute independent san franciscans who knows the law and speaks the truth. stop the hoodwinking. we have had a sufficient amount of it. commissioner avalos: any other members of the public and want to comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues, this is an action item.

commissioner kim: motion to forward with recommendations. commissioner avalos: we can take that without objection. next item please. >> prop aa strategic plan development update. this is an information item. >> last month, we briefed this committee on the proposed approach and schedule for development for the prop aa strategic plan. this is an update on the plan highlighting the policies and preliminary draft prioritization criteria. the authority board approved the expenditure plan, established three categories, street repair and destruction, pedestrian safety and transportation reliability. every gun in principles like insuring distribution of projects, accountability and transparency, emphasizing

complete streets, limiting prop aa funds to the design and insuring timely product delivery by prioritizing the funds to projects in the initiative within 12 months of allocation. all of these categories and guiding principles are included in attachment one, which begins on page 74 of this agenda package. a couple of points on the schedule. this shows the most optimistic timeline for development of the strategic plan as we move forward. we plan on bringing the draft policies and poor relations to the cac in may, and then back to this committee as an action item in june for draft approval. the draft strategic plan policy can be found on page 77 of the package, attachment three. this is meant to provide guidance on managing the prop aa program to private sponsors

and building up the project principles and then drawing heavily from the prop k policies. there are some differences. prop aa has an emphasis on high impact projects. we're also taking into consideration the size of the revenue from prop aa to prop k, and number of programmatic categories. we broke them down into five categories. those are shown on the screen. within the attachment 3, we have italicized some of the policies that are new or significantly different than those included in the prop k strategic plan, such as an emphasis on timeliness of funds, emphasis on shorter projects with immediate tangible benefits, and continuing with an emphasis on time release funds. if program brothers are not allocated, we may reprogram more immediately to other projects to

get projects going and making sure we are continually using prop k funds for immediate projects. the prop aa expenditure plan requires the strategic plan to include the five-year partition plan and project for the three programmatic categories. the draft strategic plan prioritization criteria are found on page 83 of your package, attachment for, and consists of three sections. higher level screening area, general prioritization, and the program and the categories. each 5-ypp will focus on near- term products to be focusing on readiness, compatibility with land uses, and the product funding plan. it will also include a prayer position mechanism to rein in profits from its category. these mechanisms will determine what types of products are given the highest party for funding in the first five years of prop aa.

criteria resembles prop k to a degree, but there are several differences, such as the prop aa 5-ypp will be stand alone. that said, and the prop aa the ignition criteria is similar and that brought responses and the public will have a clear understanding of our products are part cars for funding within each category, for running the five-year programs or projects, including scope, schedule, and funding. second, it will provide a pipeline of grant ready products that can be advanced as soon as funding is available, including prop aa and other fund leveraged by prop aa. we released a call for projects several weeks ago on march 30. those responses are due to the authority april 30. this will help with the development of the strategic plan and will have a particular focus on identifying products

can be funded with in the first five years of prop aa. we will issue the second call for projects for fiscal year 12, 13 in june 2012. those applications will be due in august. this will serve as an additional opportunity for project sponsors to submit projects for consideration for fiscal year 12, 13, and future year allocations. we anticipate the first allocation to occur in fall 2012, and to submit approximately $26 million to program over this first five- year period. as for the draft of policies amortization criteria, we continue to take input from the public. as well as you off from the overall strategic plan. welcome the opportunity to meet with your offices on this topic. commissioner avalos: thank you. who is responding to the call of the project?

emergency departments? how does that work? >> in terms of the types -- who is sponsoring the types of projects we expect to receive? >any public agency is eligible to serve as a project sponsored. just based on folks i have been talking to, i anticipate that we will receive applications from the traditional agencies we work with, but also other eligible public agencies such as city college and san francisco state. commissioner avalos: do we see a little bit of competition from within the departments themselves? >> noted in the call is that one of the things we will be looking at is how departments, if they have multiple applications, how departments or agencies internally prioritize their submission of projects. commissioner avalos: ok, so

there is, like, some air traffic controller helping on that process within the department? >> i do not know if i can answer about air traffic controllers, but the idea of competition is often we call for projects, and you guys get and we get the exact number of applications that meet the available funding. we will see first what is available probably more likely from the traditional sponsors, and if it suits the committee and the public and is not the spectrum of products we want to see, that is why we have called part ii. we have time a generate the types of projects and variety of projects that we want to fund. commissioner avalos: ok, thank you. let's open this up for public comment. >> i would like this committee to observe something. again and again when the

presentations are made, they are made by most people that do not live in san francisco. the other thing is we do not see a diversity. so i think it is time for us to use our universities and even our high school students as intern's to get them involved in this type of project. what i notice, especially in the last 15 years, is that there is a level of discussion which does not allow the constituents at ground zero to participate. i can give you a number and numerous projects where millions of dollars have been spent. the chair yourself will understand what i'm saying.

at one time, the deliberations, the balboa park but station was left out, and because you were part of some committee, you could intercede and agreed. what is happening here is again and again, we allowed entities that have people on their payroll to participate and submit their applications. we need to empower the citizens so that they can apply. it is very easy to say the public can apply. who in the public? what do they understand? where did they get the empirical data? who will explain to the land use for planning or give them access mta? who will give them access to other entities that can help in putting a plan so that they can

improve their lives, be it transportation, the it quality of life, the it access to affordable housing and so on and so forth. so, supervisors, as representatives, you have to think beyond the beyond. and i do not see that happening here. giving the san francisco county transportation authority to do as they want. you get some people coming here and giving the presentations, but they do not live in our city. they do not feel for our city. they cannot feel for our city of less they make an attempt -- unless they make an attempt to have meaningful out reach. -- outreach. i know the chair agrees with me, but we need to do something about it. commissioner avalos: thank you

very much. any other members of the public who would like to comment on this item? seeing none, will close public comment. anything else to add? ok, this is an information item, so we can go to our next item. >> item 8, update on the central subway project. this is an information item. >> good afternoon. in view of the time, i will make an attempt to be brief. i am project management oversight authority. for the benefit of those that may be watching at home and not too familiar with the project, the central subway is in the -- is the second phase of the third street library project, which will go all the way to chinatown.

much of last year, the board approved the budget of $1.578 billion. september 2011, the mta submitted its request for the full funding grant agreement, which is the major financial milestone for the project. thus far, the board has allocated $9 million. today, the expenditure totals 173. the full agreement is expected july 2012. there has been some discussion about what happens with the allocation, but in a way that signals fda's intent, they awarded $85 million to the

project in fiscal year 2011- 2012, and that is the fiscal year that ends in september. the phase in which the final design is complete, and it is happening concurrent with construction. the first two packages the tunnels and stations are complete, and the systems package will be complete in made next month. construction, as i mentioned, is under way. the first contract is complete, and the second contract in the area of union square -- i'm sure you noticed the activity there. it is 85% complete. the tunnels contract -- the total board machines have already been awarded -- ordered. that contract was awarded in june of last year for $13

million below the engineer's estimate. it is, of course, a major project, which consists of 1.5 miles of tunnel from under the freeway. it has three separate notices to proceed. the first one was for the african much of the tunnel boring machine, which they have already done. the second one was for the development of the tunnel boring machine launched its, which was actually given in march. the last one is for the actual driving of the tunnel, and that will be happening at the the agreement is received in july. the remaining contract is for remaining contracts. the union square station was actually advertised yesterday, so there are two construction

contract right now. yerba buena will follow in a month or so, and the systems will be the final one, third quarter of this year. commissioner avalos: so what we have seen so far -- i am most familiar with the union square, powell street station, and that is utilities? >> yes. the unions for a station on the streets, preparing for construction of the station there. real-estate acquisition that is on track. there are two sides being acquired. the building has been vacated. i do not know if you had a chance to go by there, but it was in order to protect the building. it was wrapped very nicely with some images of chinatown and also of what the station will be

looking like. mta has been pursuing eminent domain in parallel in case the negotiations do not happen. if they cannot be concluded in time, then they will proceed with eminent domain in order to avoid impacting the schedule of the project. there's also 3 easements. and g-8 received possession in july of last year. here, you have the schedule milestones. i will not bore you going through every single one of them, but the most significant coming up is the full funding grant agreement expected in july. as i mentioned earlier, december 2018 is the revenue service. commissioner avalos: do we anticipate any controversy in

pursuing the full funding bread? >> no, basically, the mta wants to -- once they receive the application, they have been answering questions. the mta has been responding, and everything seems to indicate that it is on track. here, you have the full funding. this is something you have seen before. as far as some funding actions, there was some uncertainty, but that has passed because the state bonds were issued last week. so that uncertainty is going this time. also, the staff is working at the regional state level to make sure that the future funding becomes available, that the bonding happens on time. also, in preparation for a

contingencies, the staff is also working with mtc and other funding partners to talk about help bridge funding is needed because some other funding is delayed. so these plans are being developed to make sure that the project gets billed according to schedule. >> so state bonds are expected in april, that is the slump? >> it was expected in april, but that should have happened last week. so that concludes my presentation. the program manager from mta is also here. i'm happy to answer any questions. commissioner avalos: any comments or questions? ok, thank you for your presentation. we can go on to public comment.

>> i have known mr. ruiz for a long time. i got to know them better when he was involved with third street light rail. as you know, mr. chair, this pertains to your district since you have very little representation in the district. the third street light rail phase one begins at fourth and king and ends in the middle of nova and visitation valley. for those listening at home, over $700 million was spent on that project, and 80% of the businesses were impacted, and a lot of businesses just went away because they could not

afford to stay in business. historically speaking, when a similar project was done on market street, all the businesses were compensated. i believe by the department of transportation. now, on this phase two, because a lot of this is tunneling under brown, the businesses above, especially union street and all, would not be impacted -- because a lot of this is tunneling under ground. but things are put in a place to create safe passages above ground. now, i'm talking on behalf of three or four focus groups that we meet to discuss such issues. we need to get a better understanding of how certain

segments of the population will be catered to. as i have been stating here and in today's public comments, i stated once or twice we have, if you look at our demographic, an increase in the percentage of our seniors. >> we lost quorum. >> so what happens? commissioner avalos: we can stop your public comment, or we can continue? >> no, i think i said sufficient. commissioner avalos: you are back. wonderful. we have a quorum again. thank you for your comments, mr. da costa.

any other member of the public who like to comment, please come forward. seeing none, no -- we will close public comment. this is an informational item, so we can go on to our next item. >> item 9, introduction of new items. this is an information item. commissioner avalos: colleagues, and the introduction of new items? seeing none, okay, public comment? public comment is closed. next item. >> item 10, public comment. commissioner avalos: seeing no member of the public come forward for public comment, will close public comment. >> item 11, adjournment. commissioner avalos: we are adjourned. thank you.

>> hello. welcome to "culturewire." we are here today with bay area artist jody chanel, and we are here to see the plaza where your piece has just been installed. >> i have been doing large-scale paintings in the galleries and museums, and the idea that in the future, i could do something that would hang out a little bit longer than the duration of the installation the kind of appeal to me. i quickly found out about the san francisco arts commission school and realized there was a pre-qualified school you had to apply to, so i applied to the. >> how long did it take you to develop this work for the plaza? >> this was a fast track project.

design development was about a month. >> let's look at the beautiful mural. i have never seen a mural created on asphalt. >> the heat of the asphalt, a new layer of asphalt. then, these wire rope templates that were fabricated for the line work get laid down and literally stamped into the asphalt, and then everything was hand-painted. >> maybe you could talk about some of the symbolism, maybe starting in the middle and working out. >> [inaudible] the flower of industry. >> it is like a compass. there's an arrow pointing north. >> within the great bear consolation, there are two pointed stars here. they typically lead one to the

northstar, otherwise known as polaris. so i thought it has a layer of theme. >> let's talk about some of the other elements in the peace. we are walking along, and there is a weather vane. there's a sweet little bird hanging on the side. what kind of bird is that? >> [inaudible] the smallest of the gulf species, and it lives around the bay area. >> you want to talk about the types of flour patterns that you send? >> [inaudible] around 1926 or so by the dahlia society. >> what is this bird here? >> that is the california quail. >> coming up here, we had a little blustery theme. what is this area here