christopher, i am a cabdriver of 21 years experience, i have my medallion. i decided spontaneously to mention something in advance of what i am prepared it say. i am classical composer and i am writing on a trial. i spent a lot of time reading about the natural law and theory. and my appeal is not to let this run according to details. and theorys and nuances, i ask you to let the proceeding go according to the way that the average person understands what is right. i have the taxi paragraph in front of me from proposition a. it states: to transfer the power and duties from the taxi commission to the mta.

that's the powers and duties. the duty of the taxi commission was to oversee the proposition a. the same authority over the railway. well, they don't lease out buses. they don't have fleets of medallion buses they are leasing out. we have an asymmetrical situation because they can attempt to dominate us through details of law. they are creating an industry, if this was done with buses, you would have buses down your throat. and you would have a different picture of how things are -- of what is reasonable. now when these facts were put to mayor gavin newsom and supervisor peskin, as whether proposition k was to be

observed. they state and i quote, we are not support of the effort to merge taxi commission unless beyond proposition k. you are looking way beyond the authority that was imagined by the legislators or written into those three simple lines of text. parts of which are being flagrantly ignored. i have the duty to supervise proposition k. instead the entire waiting list of those people in good faith is ignored if the present application of 150-200 medallions is granted. lastly i would like to point out this is not a free sort of situation. this is unlike anything that any city in america is doing. san francisco mta is trying to go into the taxi business.

that is not happening elsewhere. they are exceeding their mandate. thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> good evening, i am a taxi driver, and i have been robbed many times and a gun at my head. and i come to the city and thank you for letting me talk. which is i also help the senior and i work night time and i help the drunk guys. i take them home. and the senior number one i take care of them. and i wonder who deserves to have a medallion and who is supposed to have a medallion. i know you are fair about everything. and you look at the guard number 1 for any issue. the guard and many -- gun and

your judgment. thank you. >> good afternoon, i am bill, i have been driving a taxicab for 22 years, i have been on the waiting list for 17 years. now the commission is trying to take my right to a medallion away from me. which i call blatant racism. because i believe most people in the taxi industry are immigrants. and they don't care about immigrants. they only care about themselves. it seems to me this city is becoming more and more republican everyday. and these people are taking advantage of that. anyway. the bottom line is they used to

think of a privilege to drive a cab in san francisco. it changed my opinion about people. 95% of the people are good but that 5% is bad. i have been held up with guns and robbed. and no one ever did anything about it. i had to deal with it myself. that's the bottom line. we work for the city but we don't work for the city, we are self-employed. muni drivers don't get the harassment like we get. as far as us being the same as anyone else. we would have to be employees of the city. but they don't want that.

they want us to be independent so they can control us. i make now $100 less than i used to make 20 years ago. because of the situation going on with the mta. and also nobody is investigating all the taxi industries in the city. now the mta is in the leasing business. they want to lease 150 to 200 taxi medallions to the taxi companies. they have made a deal where they lease the medallions, they do not lease them to me. i have been waiting 17 years for a medallion. and they are completely bypassing me and completely doing away with the list. and i am very, very upset about

this. this is my future. that's why i drove a cab for so long. i am a dedicated cabdriver. i do all the things that are right. i do all the things i am supposed to do. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. could i ask you to let sfgtv that the inroom closed captioning is not showing up. thank you. >> good evening, board members. i am peter whit. cabdriver 24 years in san francisco, native san francisco. i grew up here. went to school down the street. what going on here is atrocious to put it mildly. it's -- it's unacceptable. it should be anyway if you are americans. the mta and taxis are in natural and direct conflict with each

other. both target low -- localal and visitor markets. but better taxi service to the mta is only one thing. more cabs. mta is not about mandated dispatch standards which they are supposed to follow and keep track of. it's not about taxi flow or efficiency or taxi. mta is not about retaining quality drivers. it's not about ridership satisfaction. it's not about less congestion. and why should they be? you can't make the bucks in the short run by increasing service. only by increasing the number of taxis. just like taxi companies, i might add. as for the methods of tracking and monitoring the dispatch

required. no records are current or consistent, thus unusable. starting back from 1999. when the taxi commission started running the taxi business. that's a long time for no monitoring. no tracking. no care. mta's panic attack is monetarily and politically motivated. simple as that. manipulating and hearsay anecdote and using skewed data without a p & c study or hearing that should be conducted. and without a controller's report and without a study. it's a manifest injustice. i will repeat that, it's a manifest injustice. plain and simple. a check and balance system does not exist in the mta. there is no alternative but you.

the heart of this case is whether you can be a check and a balance system. which there is no one existing, nothing existing at this time. it's balance that is in the interest of the public. is this america? and i have one more question. are you americans? i question myself [bell] >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> sfgtv told me there is no closed captioning due to technical difficulties. but recapture the replays for friday and thereafter. >> thank you. >> good afternoon to the board and to the listeners. audience. my name is najra. i am on the list for 17 years. when i lost my job, applied for

medallion list. and now i hear that is going out. not for me but my other fellow taxi drivers. i will repeat again. this is an america. or are we living in the third world? what is happening? sfmta is dealing with the drivers. whereas the bus drivers are making 80,000. and what about the cabdriver that only takes 30,000? what is sfmta doing and about the medallions. and what organization do they look to sell and pay their employees. second highest paid job in the united states. why i am telling you this? because i drove with muni for 29 days. when you go there, the first

thing they tell you is that you are the second highest paid drivers. a high school graduate is making 80,000? a cabdriver will not make more than 30,000. what sfmta will do after selling these medallions to the companies? what rights companies have to buy these medallions and take away that list? which people are waiting 17 years for their pensions. for their futures. i will appeal to all of you. please look into the matter. don't push the poor cabdriver into the corner. in fact we have been pushed into the corner. who will will do that? this is america. why shouldn't we be heard? it's not been heard. we have made a lot of

(inaudible) nothing. who will learn? who will listen to us? of course your goes -- good selves. please listen to us. don't give these medallions to the companies. and another thing. the insurance, we are the highest insurance paying industry. why? i give you one example. in new york the insurance is 430. how come? here in san francisco there is one company. you cannot go to any other company. and we are paying 650. who is behind this making money? he had been brought into justice. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker please.

>> thank you, board member and thank you everybody. i want to ask you if we are american. we are not living in afghanistan. which i was born in afghanistan. if we are not going under karzi regulation. and i have picked up everyone including joe montana one time. who is doing the job? sfmta, trying it give themselves raise, their lowest pay is $45,000 a year. which was speaking in one meeting i was sitting there. that's what we are here for. we are here to take care of our kids beautiful. to live around the bay area.

and all over. i live closest, just about two doors away from the chief of police employee. and he saw me and said wow, you drive in san francisco. and if you need a ride, i give you half price. he started laughing. that's what we are, here to appeal. please listen to us. we drive so hard. make this city beautiful. let's be democratic and vote democrat and appeal this. thank you. $1900 is very little money. $4,750, how much is that? almost time-and-a-half more than that. and $700, 675 paying insurance. we have to go for insurance. please, we have to go for insurance. i be the whistle blower. i have so many receipts to give

to you. we have to go for that too. thank you everybody. >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. i hadn't planned on saying anything. i wrote this down real quick. i have been a cabdriver for 25 years in the city. a lifetime. i believe when they put you in prison, a lifetime starts at 25 years. every morning i wake up and i feel like i have been the victim of a terrible crime. i feel like my future has been stolen. and my family's future. cabdrivers families too. sfmta has not only taken from the poor and given to the rich, they have taken from the poor and in some cases the sick and given to the rich. i was hoping one day to get some new teeth. but that's probably looking

highly unlikely. we need help and we need it now. thank you. >> thank you, do you care to state your name? >> jerry (inaudible). >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> i am barry coin with the san francisco cabdriver's association. and i think that the mta board has shown that their priority is generating revenue for themselves instead of their top priority of conserving service or their concern for cabdrivers. for this reason i think we need to have some oversight here, a body to come to. if we feel we have been treated unjustly. they have gone into the -- virtually gone into the taxi business now by leasing medallions to companies.

and taking medallions that would go to cabdrivers that is have waited for years. for the past practice, that medallions go to working cabdrivers. people rightfully expect to get medallion on the list. and now the mta is taking the medallions and selling them and renting them. and competing with drivers that hold medallions. i believe that why they are not donating to drivers is so they have more money and access to city officials. we really need somewhere to go, board of appeals. if we don't have this, you know, it makes injustice worse. there is hardly any process in the mta decision. they have given us three days notice and vote on whatever they

propose. i think it's very important that we don't relinquish this appeal avenue. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. if you would like to use the other mic. >> hello, my name is rudy gravis, i drive a cab. i still drive a cab. i have been driving a cab since 1973. like a lot of people you have heard today i have had a gun put to my head. it happens to almost every cabdriver. but that's not why we are here. i mean that should get us some sympathy. it should get us some workplace

protections. the big thing we had going for us in this industry was waiting for a medallion. to be a cabdriver. to get on the list and get a medallion. you have heard from two other people today who were on the taxi advisory committee. i was also on that. all of us resigned at the same time in protest to the way that the mta was behaving in regard to their own advisory committee. the day after our committee for the first time and the only time voted unanimously on one subject. and that subject was do not take money from the taxi industry. and give it to muni to pay for driver's benefits. of which we get none. the day after we had that

unanimous vote. the mta voted to take millions out of the cab business. and put it into the muni budget. we know that the muni is a big, black hole. and it's never going to get filled. but that money should not be coming out of an industry where the workers get none of the benefits that the muni drivers get. to pay for those benefits. the mta commission did a survey. they spent thousands of dollars for that survey to develop a plan for the taxi industry. and instead of this plan, before they even got the survey results, they came up with this idea to lease medallions to

(inaudible) companies. they do anything they want. and next week they decide they are going to do something different. you have heard people say and you certainly know, this is a governmental checks and balances. if you do not take this appeal, there be no appeal for drivers. [bell] no check or balance on their power. please. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> hi. we have been coming to these meetings, town hall meetings. we are losing money coming to

these meetings. i know that my face is new to you and i am lisa, i have been a taxi driver since 1996. i have been waiting for my medallion patiently serving the public in san francisco. the only people that should be getting the medallions are the drivers. that's my bottom line on everything. please honor these contracts that were made with the taxi drivers that have been out here. i know this is another issue regarding appeals. but the bottom line of the picture, we are the ones that are working and serving. we need the right to appeal things that are wrong. please be honorable members and do the honorable thing. by the cabdrivers. we are being robbed. we have been working and working and working. i am so over it. but the light has to be shed on

this type of corruption. on this type of disrespect for the little people. the workers that are holding this city town :-down and together. we work for a living. we don't shuffle paperwork, we hunt for the money. and it doesn't come easy. we are working at the third highest stressed job in the world. and we are getting so disrespected right now. please under your name goldstein, and mr. brian and mr. fung and hurtado and lazarus, don't let this occur on your shift. i am looking at you and watching you. and we are watching you. and when it's wrong it's wrong. you can shove it under the carpet for only so long. and when the truth comes out, it

will have your names on it. we are a small group but we do a lot of work and we deserve what we have been working for all of these years. we are getting older, we have nothing else to fall back o please honor this industry including myself. >> thank you, any other public comment? vice president fung do you hear to hear from mr. gruberg again. >> yes, i have questions for you if no other public comment. >> any other public comment? >> please come forward. >> hi, i am patricia lovelock, i am here for another item. but this taxi issues are familiar to me. for years i was a member of the coordinating council for the

paratransit executive committee. we work extremely closely with the taxi services. i met many drivers, and i was head of a committee to ramp taxi drivers. and we were extremely involved with the industry. i used to watch the taxi commission every week. i know a lot of these folks by tv. i have to say that i was always astounded how much the taxi drivers were by the agency and my idea was if there is a waiting list. and they get screwed and don't have worker's comp. and for the disabled society is this is an important issue. we need drivers that have

experience and want to be drivers. when you start getting people messing with their jobs so much. it has a lot to do with moral and ability to serve the community. and the disabled community, the paratransit program by far the taxi industry is what serves us. and we need those good, reliable drivers who stuck in there and are doing the rest forever -- rest for us. >> thank you. any other public comment? okay. then mr. gruberg. >> mr. gruberg, you in your brief brought forth i guess an sfmta action that was discussing the board of appeals and eliminated any jurisdiction there. what happened with that?

>> they made an recommendation to the board of supervisors to repeal section 1179 along with many other sections of the police code. that still are in existence and still in effect. that recommendation is currently waiting in a committee of the board of supervisors. but at that hearing where that was discussed, so many drivers got up and objected to the elimination of the board of appeals, appealing to this board. and the director of transportation committed to take the issue up again at the mta before any action before the board of supervisors.

and so far that hasn't happened. and there a recommendation to get rid of section 1179 that deals s with appeals of this board. and no recommendation to get rid of the section that allows someone that is denied a permit to bring an appeal. and to contend as has, and this is not the denial of a permit when people have waited for 17 years. and 200 permits are shoveled to cab companies. if the permits were needed, would otherwise go to drivers. this is the first time in 34 years that a single permit has been issued to anyone but the taxi driver. and it's completely contrary to the provisions of the transportation code for them to do that. it's outrageous. >>