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tv   [untitled]    July 21, 2012 10:30pm-11:00pm PDT

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some companies are getting away with it. and also, you do not have a meeting august 7. why not in august, your next meeting, invite them to do a presentation. ask them to explain what is going on. what they are doing. in the meantime, your attorneys, and we are helping to pay for, taxi drivers and others, they should work to find out if it is legal what they are doing. drivers and companies have different standards that they have to uphold. there was the document that you were should of all of these rules and regulations. they do not. what happened to capitalism? what happened to the technology that was quashed by some of the members of the board. we will not go into it, but some of you know it is true. you know it is true. and the permits, they were
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supposed to be 60 to 70 hours per week, said they were out there when they were really needed. up to 90 hours per week? you are hurting the drivers that are barely making a living during a slow shift. you have to know how it works. this is an abuse. in closing, there are a town hall meetings that are scheduled, and we do not know about the topics. you go to the website, and there is nothing topic about it. i ask you to help get the information out there. chair nolan: thank you. next speaker. secretary boomer: [reading names] >> i have been driving almost 20 years. i am on the waiting list, and i have had an expectation of getting a medallion for a number of years now, and it does not seem to be moving in that direction, or i am not really
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sure what is happening with it, so i wanted to come in and kind of and for you to honor the people on the list, like myself. most cabdrivers' do not have insurance. i have medical insurance. i pay $854 per month with my medical insurance with a $2,900 deductible, which means, as you know, i have to pay the first $2,900, and then i have to pay overtime, and the medallion money has helped matters a lot, so i just wanted to come in and implore you to honor the people on the list. there are people who have bought medallion on the waiting list, and i do feel that i should be able to get one as well after driving 20 years and not doing things that i could have done with the expectation that i was getting a medallion, thank you for your time.
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chair nolan: thank you. next speaker, please. secretary boomer: [reading names] >> i am a taxi cab driver in san framy impression is that this bd is not taking care of the taxicab business. when i started, the only thing we worry about is corruption, and now it is out of control. it really is out of control. there are over 1000 limousines or towncar is on the street. they have no insurance. they have no license. you can buy a towncar and go around and pick people up. the police do nothing about it, and we have a token force the people who supposedly do something about it, but they do not.
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it is a minimum fine, so it is part of the cost of doing business to those people. it needs to be addressed drastically. i believe the taxicab industry in this city will surely go out of business, and you have no idea how important the taxicab industry is. it is very integral to the city. it is keeping people moving and keeping tourists happy. we do an incredible amount of work that you do not know about. you drive a taxi, so what? it is a very important decision, driving a taxi. it anyway, to close, i would like to say that you have to seriously take a look at the taxicab industry, especially you in particular, and make sure that things are not under handed. ubercab is out of control.
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they have to do something about it, because we will all be out of work. let alone the people and pay $250,000 for a medallion. secretary boomer: [reading names] >> good afternoon, commissioners. god bless you. god bless the city and county of san francisco, and god bless america. today, i come to talk to you about the 89 laguna honda bus which is no longer in existence. the laguna honda boss used to run from forest hills to laguna honda. it would carry friends and family members to see the
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disabled and the sheraton, and people up there needed. we need the 89 laguna honda, not only for visitors to come to see the patient but to also come up that steep hill and go out into the community. laguna honda, if you do not know, is located in the southwest corner of san francisco. the weather is cold, wet, and windy. it is a scientific fact that people knew have visitors to come see them and friends, their health improves, and how do i know this? i am a living testimony.
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3.5 years i have lived in lebanon on the hospital and rehabilitation center. it made my life, made my day, when friends and family members would come visit me. so in parting, board members, commissioners, i asked you to restore the 89 bus to laguna honda. it is a matter of life and death. chair nolan: thank you. next. secretary boomer: mary mcguire and others. >> there are some about cat lovers need to die and crazy aunts need to die.
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i guess i am kind of old. i cannot figure out. it is not like a dog buns or anything. i do not even know where these advertisements, from. they are really offensive. so i alerted the spca and animal control and other rescue groups, so i assume you're going to be hearing from them, and i think you should take as advertisements down quickly. a kick, uber. i am sure -- ok, uber. this was on television, and he said his goal was to bring his white glove operation to the masses. everyone's private driver. they want to move into tokyo, paris, singapore.
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the accused one agency of price fixing, and now they are offering fares lower than taxicabs in d.c. they have grown 16 times larger in one year in existence, and they have just received millions in venture capital. so first of all, where is director hayashi? where is the integrated dispatch she promised? we have to compete with them. and what are you guys doing? by doing nothing, you are putting us out of business. i have a medallion. this is my job. i am newly fearful i am not going to be in business by the end of the year, so do what you can. secretary boomer: [reading names]
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and then barry, last speaker. >> the first thing, credit card fees, which were supposed to come down on july 4 or july 5 from 5% to 3.5%, drivers of major companies i am spoken to it tell me they are still paying 5%. this is outrageous. these companies have to lower the rate and have to refund the money that was i'm awfully collected from those drivers asap, and i would ask you to get on that. new york city recently last week passed a new set of rules. no charges to drivers at all. they have eliminated the 5% fee. this is the way this agency should have gone. it is the only way that makes sense. there was an article in today's paper about drivers and will not take credit cards. it will make this invisible or transparent.
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tempore taxicabs, decisions made in secret, to put our spares, certain companies. the rest of the industry was only informed after the fact. it was too late for them to do anything about it. a decision that has safety implications that i will not go into here. these things need to be discussed, and so do the hours for a single operator permits. it was 60 and then went up to 70, finally ending at 90. uber is a taxi in all but name. they are even trying to appropriate the name. they call themselves and on deserved service. you have to call for them on a cell phone. they charged meter rates. the meter is and the cloud, but they are changing the same rates as taxis, and now they are
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using taxis. there is. this agency>> next speaker. >> commissioners, good afternoon. my name is in meal, lawrence -- a meal lawrence, for the record. . -- emil lawrence. san francisco is going bankrupt when are you going to stop squeezing the taxi drivers got san francisco is going bankrupt with or the value. if you keep squeezing the tax -- taxi industry as if there is no tomorrow. i just paid $300 in fines. i just putting a back seat in 4
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$350. this find for so much that i had my drivers waiting at hospitals for up to three hours only to find out you richard them to end the mobile. that is today called -- you issued them to mv mobile. san francisco pay them millions of dollars to pick up the handicapped. what are we doing? picking up what is left over. every month, we have find coming in, 45 neuflize coming in. when it's all going to stop? your pensions are still going up by 7% a year. it is my suggestion also that he put together the taxi commission. you do not even use these committees for raising the
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medallion. every time i talk to someone on the commission they tell me you pay telephone -- you pay no attention to them. it is like a horse and pony show in a darkroom. and you think we are all deaf, dumb, and stupid. [bell] i thank you for your time. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> barry korengold, san francisco cab drivers association. i'm here to make a few statements. one is copper -- one is, i think a single operator permit is a good idea. it was supposed to be originally 60 hours a week and there -- the idea was that there would be one operator going out at the busy times to take care of the peak
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problem. then it went up to 70 hours, 90 hours, which cannot be a single operator. because only -- one operator can only drive seven days a week, 10 hours a day, and that would be 70 hours. this is up to 90. i'm hearing rumors that they want to move it up even more. i hope that is not true. there are people on the waiting list, like bryan rose ann, who just spoke. he was expected to get one a couple of years ago when all of this happened. offer letters have gone out for people who want to buy them who are way down the list. i hope you are giving a medallions to the people at the top who have earned them. they are not free. they have earned them. as far as the big companies threatening to go into the limo business, i think there should be a rule that you are either in the cab business or the limo business. the best calls are going to go
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to the limos. it is not true that they have no other way to make money. they have gas. they can make gas sales. they have credit card charges, advertising, money that they get. the yellow cab charges short shifts and then they rent the cat out again for a full 8 ft., which is frankly, you legal, but nobody said anything about it. -- for a full date street, which is frankly, illegal, but nobody said anything about it. if cabs cannot make money, they start driving dangerously. they are picked off. it becomes a public safety hazard. >> thank you. >> the last speaker. >> good afternoon. i just want to say
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[unintelligible] where you doing that? we do not have enough cabs in the city backed -- why are you doing that? we do not have enough cabs in the city? the other thing i have to say, the limo cabs are taking our spot for the parking in the taxi zones. we do not have any spot to park the taxis. please look at this, and do not give eight to the limo city -- get it to the limo city. >> mr. chairman, that was the last person.
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>> i would be interested in a presentation on it over and these other types of companies. i do not know much about them, but we've heard a great deal about them today and we have certainly read some about them. at some point in the future, if we could hear that and how the impact us at all of that. the other thing mentioned here today, that instead of the 3.5% charged to the caps that they are still getting 5% in some places. can we take a look at that? because that was supposed to take place july 3rd or something like that. >> [unintelligible] >> ok, july 4th. >> and i want to clarify, i do not want to leave the public with the impression that when the laguna honda 89 was discontinued, but there is no
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way to get up the hill. there's still a way for people to get up that hill. >> public comment is over. thank you. >> moving on -- >> is there someone that can answer the gentleman's question offline? brecht's mr. haley will. >> them next item. >> the content calendar, these items are considered to be routine and will be acted upon by a single vote. mr. chairman, if you have a request for item 10.2e to be severed and considered separately, and no other request has been. >> is there a motion to approve?
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>> motion. greg second. >> all in favor? the ayes have it. >> 10.2e has to do with the nose toppings on monday through friday from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on battery st. between clay and bush. mr. toronto? >> you can come up. >> before idell into this, i would first like to say it would be great to -- before i died into this, i would like to say it would be great to hear a staff report first so that i know why this is occurring. >> ok, mr. ye, what is up with 10.2e? >> good afternoon.
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you may remember back in january director lee asked for a report from lots on all of the tolls zones in the city and which ones we feel are necessary. we took a pretty detailed evaluation and we came out with a report to you and identified a list of locations where we feel they may no longer be justified, either because of traffic conditions have changed or there is no apparent reason why the report in to begin with, including a transit on it. and you do not gain an extra lane and so forth. battery was one of the streets that we identified, especially in the afternoon peaks. we recommend that they be rescinded to restore the parking. but in the morning, we are recommending that it be -- it be maintained because a good amount of traffic goes by on the west side and they have over 80 buses
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and how are going through that corridor. the recommendation is only for the bnp. >> thank you. mr. toronto? >> thank you for allowing me to hear the staff report on this. the only thing is that it is a pretty drastic move. heavy commute hours, particularly and tell thursday's and drivers are using that as a main route to go to the bay bridge. nickie back them up further on battery st. by taking away the tollway elaine -- if you back them up further on battery st. by taking away the tollway lane, you are making it worse. it might be fair to reduce its closer to sacramento, but has
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there been an environmental determination as to this change? it will not have an effect on traffic? which is part of the environment, and on noise. this is frustrating. i'm recommending a hold on this and you can get an environmental report on this. it could impact traffic as well as to taxi service. with a short agenda today, where you only giving people two minutes during public comment? -- why are you only giving people two minutes during public comment?
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>> is there a motion to approve? >> mssion. >> second. >> all in favor? the ayes have it. >> moving on to the regular calendar. item 11, authorizing the director to execute a contract for replacement of surveillance vehicles in an amount not to exceed $5.9 million over a term of four years. >> good afternoon.
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i am requesting that a decision on his contract be placed on hold. [unintelligible] i feel that based on noncompliance of the technical specifics has been rejected. i have gone to great lengths to make sure that our product need all the specifications. however, i was ranked lower and i would like further explanation. also, i have submitted copies. thank you.
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>> thank you. >> first, we are excited to have this contract before you. the $6 million will give us an upgrade in equipment that is really needed. the state of the art and digital communications are advancing quickly. but we have on our vehicles is largely outdated. this will bring a great chunk of our fleet into much more modern equipment and that has been at it for safety, legal reasons, training reasons, -- benefit for safety, legal reasons, training reasons. with regard to the competitive process, i was made aware by mr. barwad of his concerns are the
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knost few months. each of his concerns is one that i investigated with staff. i responded in writing on at least two occasions. after meeting with him and some of his associates, i asked our staff to bring in someone outside of the process that was not part of it to do an independent revenue -- review based on the concerns to ensure the integrity of the process and the completeness of the process was confirmed. i believe that mr. barwad put forward a good proposal. we lay out the criteria and we award to the highest bidder, which is what we are recommending. >> is there a motion on an issue? >> motion to approve. >> is there a second? greg second. -- >> second.
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>> all in favor? so ordered. >> item 12 is whether to conduct a closed session. >> is there a motion? rex motion. >> second. >> all in favor? we will be in closed >> the board of directors discussed the caldwell case. the board took no action and bad to discuss real-estate negotiations and voted unanimously to authorize the payment of $60,900 to clifford wong. resulting from the condemnation of the property. 266 and 286 -- the board met
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with ed rieskin. there was no discussion of anticipated litigation. a motion to discuss or not disclose? seconded. meeting is adjourned. good work, everybody.