companies. do you see anything in the proposal is there with or without my amendments that would undermine that effort or do you see any aspect of his proposal that would further that effort for is that a separate thing? >> that is a separate issue that should be addressed. >> if i may continue, the director mentioned one detail oriented or one specific detail which is important. that is the idea that with these medallions been financed there will be removed or requirement to more chefs and my understanding is that sort of shifted that way would have

interpreted the effect of getting the least more to the full-service cab companies to 10 to operate on the gate and gas method. >> that will impact the method and the role. anyone taking alone -- a loan, you see that shift in that direction. it is up to the ihndividual operator. >> that has been a gold mine is to oversee that shift and i wanted to confirm -- you did not see anything that would undermine that. >> i do not think there is anything that would undermine it or prevent it. >> thank you. if all that were accepted, would

there be anything to preclude us from looking at the list -- i heard people talk about that number they have. can you speak to that? >> i should have mentioned that when i opened my remarks. it is a big issue. by a less comprehensive approach unresolved and i heard from different people that that level of certainty -- and uncertainty is not desirable. what this does is in talks about how the current medallions that are in circulation basically could be re-circulated. what it does not speak to and what we're are planning to bring forward once we have the necessity is what to do with any medallions issued or ones that

were revoked or come back to the agency outside of whatever medallion transfer process we may choose to adopt. if you adopt what i have proposed or what i have proposed or amended, it leaves the question open and i concur with some of the speakers that -- we do not want to continue to leave that question open so that is something that would be opened otherwise until we come back and assess the discussion but something we could discuss your -- center in terms of providing a certainty. the next person on the list will get medallions in a different way. that was a long way of saying no by approving something today with regard to the current medallions does not preclude making that kind of determination, providing that certainty later. it would limit if you do not

subsequently change this, the existing medallions in circulation would be under this regime there are other medallions, revocations or new medallions the board could make a future decision on. i would concur with some strong sentiment i have heard from others that we should provide that certainty to the people on the list. >> i would support that sooner rather than later. if we can. with all due deliberations and also the driver's fund. is time we come up with something helpful to the drivers. i think that is something i would like to see in the near future. >> anybody else? >> when is the time line that we would be able to take up the waiting list issue?

how long do we have? >> i was -- [unintelligible] >> we areñifá looking at januar. i was suggesting and i heard from the chairman we do not need to wait for that point to have that discussion and for the board to establish policy that would free that certainty sooner. it is somewhat at the board pose a pleasure to bring it back any time after this meeting for discussion. >>ñi hopefully and others woulde involved in helping. anything else, members of the board? let's hear from the members of

the public. >> we have 19 speakers who submitted cards. >> your timing question was pertinent. this legislation is being considered before and i wrote this before the report. i feel it is not fair that you are not going to be able to absorb the report before you vote on this legislation and it is not fair to the taxi advisory council that this was sandwiched in as part of this legislation and that this was related to this legislation rather than

being considered on its own. your considering this before the best practices study which i am paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for him the same with my fellow cabdrivers. this is insulting andq drivers on the waiting list. they have invested their lives and livelihoods. the resignation letter words it far better than i would. it presents a tax on the industry.

it ignores the driver's fund and makes too many concessions. please continue this item of legislation to the call of the chair and let it die a deserved death in the dark. >> i am -- was a member of the advisory council until this latest [inaudible] < for the next 34 years of proe was written, way your turn and you will receive a medallion. if all of you are not aware, a one word to change will and hopes and dreams of those who waited because they were

advised it should not buy a medallion if you were less than trafford spotswood. there are poised to rip that promise away for our people who follow the rules and waited. this aspect is unspeakable cruelty and explicitly affect immigrants and members of minority groups. these drivers and not even middle class and your about to snuff off their dream about getting it one step up for a cab driver. you are elite members of society. it is unseemly in the city to crush the less fortunate. vote no and go back to the drawing board. thank you. [applause] >> our next three years.

>> i am embarrassed and ashamed to be part of an industry that is a fractured and disorganized that it could stand by during the ongoing robbery and rape that is happening here. i am sorry, you have planted every bit of credibility and good will you have created during your last year here. the six of you in the middle, i feel sorry for you. i am sure you have been bullied and intimidated and -- pressured to go along with the plan that has been put in place here. it does not sound like it came from the director to me. i imagine when you went down the path of public service you never thought you would come to a point where you would have to

vote on the legitimacy of a rape of an industry like this. if you go along in the same vein, that is what we in the industry consider your doing. it is not legitimate or necessary. the need to stop it. you do not need to do this. one man has come up with a plan since he first came into this industry to take 100 million or however much you can get and i wonder what he tells his family at the dinner table at night. and he tells them about the pain and anguish he has brought to it -- so many of us or does he tell them this is his path to the mayorship? or to the white house or the governorship?

i am ashamed. i think there's a lot of shame that should be happening in this room. fá[applause] >> next figures. -- speakers. >> good afternoon. although i am not a taxi driver have written in many taxicabs in this great city. xdunder the pilot program we funded the majority of loans to taxi medallion purchasers and portrait closely with the industry and the mta to make this a successful pilot program. we want to first knowledge that these medallion owners and the opportunity we have had to understand their financial situation and work with them and becoming medallion owners. each of them -- each of the

goals of the program and objectives have been met and have been successful. we now enter into this long term program. we have advised the board to closely listened to the feedback that is being provided so that a permanent sales program can be put in place that meets the needs of the industry, the drivers, the mta, and the public that uses this valuable transportation system. we came prepared to this meeting to offer of some suggestions. they have been proposed in the amendments and we prefer those amendments as proposed. the other amendment that we would like you to consider is to look at a program to provide downpayment assistance to those that are purchasing medallions. having strong industry support and readily available market for purchasers will strengthen the loan underwriting process and we urge the board to carefully consider the amendments as proposed. thank you. >> next speaker, please.

>> i would like to commend the director for being opened to thd and i concur completely with those proposed changes. i think that the outrage has been simmered, that was caused by the initial proposal. the old saying if it ain't broken, don't fix it applies here with some minor tweaks. we strive=v quite hard to comep and put the pilot program that it was rolling really well. i do not think that we need to throw an impediment in front of it. there were so many thoughtful

considerations that were put into that pilot program and i think that you could find there will be a lot more harmony in this industry and a lot less and the team towards you -- enmity toward you. >>next speakers. fá>> here i am again. as far as i am concerned you do not know the industry. you have never spoken to me or the committee, you do not know nothing. also chris weiss was absent for the last six meetings. we are not the managers, where the drivers. we're the one that communicates with the people.

those people i have communicated with do not agree with your recommendations. you should revise this plan and you've got. this is supposed to be a liberal city and this is the most conservative plan. your like conservatives -- republicans view. çóas far as the waiting list goes, i have been on that waiting list for 17 years. i give up a lucrative position in the music business to drive a taxi because i liked it. and now,ñi you're screwing me again. i have already been screwed by these sales you have allowed. why take money off the taxi driver when you can take it off a lot of other people. i believe you are all racist and

you think all immigrants drive taxis of the cares about them? i believe that. you do not care about long-term drivers. you do not care about the people on the commission. you have never taken any advice from the commission. never. so what is the point of being there. it is a bad -- about time you listened to the real drivers. these people in this room come here of their own free will to tell you you did not give a damn. you don't know nothing about it. >> thank you.

>> i just want you to be aware of the dynamic of this. these amendments are designed to buy off the potential legal challenge from the cab companies that said they would challenge it if this was not done. rtheir concerns are being taking care of. our drivers are not. 250,000 or 300,000 makes it that much more difficult for a buyer -- for a cabdriver to buy. a 20% transfer fee is already out rages. raising it to 30% is off the map. you should be looking at ways to get it down, not keep it the same period the fact -- not keep

it the same. it is a mockery of a medallion program. the other point i want to raise -- and i want to be really, really clear on this -- that nobody has owned up that this makes a drastic change in the driver's fund. nobody has said this. it changes the driver fund constitution -- contribution from a transfer fee contribution of 5% to a retransfer fee contribution of 5%. that means the medallions that come back to the city by subject of surrender will not be subject to a transfer fee. you are putting the drivers fund into starvation mode for the next 20 or 30 years with this proposal. this was the one light that came out of the medallions sales program in my estimation,

something that could be done for drivers who will never have a medallion. now you are stripping it, tossing it into the trash can. [applause] >> [reading names] >> good afternoon, directors, again. thoughtful comment -- i like to thank you for the thoughtful amendment that malcolm heinicke made. it helps. i would like to urge every one of you to get funding to start enforcing the city regulations and to push the mta to get an attorney. i mean, you've got hundreds of them out there. to improve business for taxis. this is your aim -- this is your stated aim by the director.

you want more taxis. you want more public transportation. you've got $20 million from us. under this proposal, you will get another $30 million. put some of it into enforcement. tomorrow if not today. you willfá make a happier publi, and you will make a happier taxi industry. thank you. director nolan: next speaker please. >> good afternoon. i have been a luxury driver since 1979. i have had mine medallions since 1996. -- i have had my medallion since 1996. there was a lot of time and effort that went into this, and we agreed to what some would say a rather users speak -- user is

-- usurous fee. we agreed to it because it seemed like the city needed the money, and we needed the program for an exit strategy. our a cardsñi are up to $82 a year. they were $18 and i started. but the city needs the money. it seems reasonable. we are willing to pay. we are willing to pay the 15%. xdnow, you want another $50,000 out of my pocket when it comes time to sell my medallion. at the same time, you want to eliminate other drivers who have been in the industry for 20

years or more. the original idea was 1 for 1 -- the city would sell one and offer one to the waiting list. it seemed reasonable. the city needed the money. the city received the money. now, $50,000 more and the elimination of the waiting list -- at what point do we get a break? you have really got to think about this. this is serious business. we are not talking about a couple of people. we are talking about thousands in thisñi industry. i would like to say that you owe it to us. director nolan: next speaker please. >> one correction to the commissioner here -- in your first report their, you talked about the driving requirements

being established around 2005 -- in your first report there. the full time driver requirement was established in 1978 by proposition k, and it was the idea of that proposition that only full time drivers would hold the medallion, and they would be obtained at low cost, and that driver would be the guy operating the vehicle. he would have a direct interest in the vehicle, have control of that vehicle. i am a really big fan of proposition k. some years ago, i interviewed the author of the proposition, and one of the things i asked was, "are you satisfied with the way the proposition has turned out?" hew3 said, "absolutely not. the city has done an extremely

poor job of implementing it." one of the things was they were issuing medallions to people who were not taxi drivers. this has improved. it has gotten better. the other thing i want to clarify is when you pass this, the list is dead. it is dead. maybe you can do something in the future later -- you can do anything you want in the future later, but at this point, if you pass this, the list is dead. nobody on that list will get a medallion. so far, i have seen every speaker that has come up here has told you not to pass this. maybe you will get a cup -- a couple of company owners saying they like this. and for the commissioner to say that this is not political, that this is just his best judgment -- i do not buy it. there is nothing more political

than who gets the money. director nolan: next speaker please. >> good afternoon again. i am urging you to pass this item. allow me first to congratulate you and your staff and director hiyashi on the spectacularly successful pilot program. on the overhead are pictures of a new york city taxi medallion and a set of san francisco taxi medallions. new york manages its medallions as a brand. the tlc hired a marketing firm to create this new design for their medallion. they are extremely careful in everything they do regarding that very valuable brand. in fact, a taxi medallion is one of the most sought after assets in new york city. it has a high value and

increases in value over time. san francisco's medallions represent the brand as well. it is very much in the interests of the people of san francisco that the sfmta manage it carefully. however, its value is somewhat uncertain at the moment. i urge you to date not to devalue your brand -- i urge you today. it is in the interests of the people of san francisco that the value of this brand go always up and never down. please pass this item today. i believe that in doing so, you will ensure that there continues to be a robust interest in this spectacularly valuable asset. thank you. director nolan: we are going to

take just a brief break. ok? >> good afternoon. the purpose of a pilot program is to see if an experimental idea will work. i think the medallion sales pilot worked very well. the obvious thing to do is to stay the course. i do not think that the legislation in front of you really did that, but with the amendments director heinickefá s put in, it gets more to that realm. i still think that the 20% resale is out of line. in new york city, it is 5%. people purchasing these are still under a heavy burden, and i hope that will get reduced further. to me, using the drivers fund for down payment assistance would be a good idea. the ideal performance standard for companies is very critical. what is happening now is the companies thatjf cut corners can

offer way more money to medallion holders to all line with their companies -- a ligj -- align with their companies. i hope you will move on that soon. the medallion waiting list is a monster. i have a tremendous amount of and the nearest the top and zero for the people nearest the bottom. people are in limbo all their lives wondering where their name is going to come up. i know you are having this legislation, changing "shall" to "may." i think you should make a verbal commitment today that you will give some and come back and say how many. the guillotine was invented --