2. approval of minutes of the december 11, 2012 meeting - >> good morning everyone and welcome to the tuesday january 29, 2013, meeting of the san francisco county competition authority. i would like to thank jennifer

lowe, jesse larson. the clerk is erica cheng. this call the roll. >> (roll call) we have quorum. >> thank you very much and we want to welcome our newly elected supervisors who by virtue of their election are now members of the san francisco county consultation authority commissioners london bree and norman yee. i look forward to working with you. please call item 2.

>> this is an action item. >> before we act on this item i would like to open any public comment, any member of the public who would like to speak on item two come forward. seeing none public comment is closed. madam clerk if you can do a roll call. >> (roll call) the item passes.

>> chairman: i'm wondering is legally a member of the commission is allowed to abstain; i assume there is no problem with that. proceed. >> the item passes. >> thank you very much. if you can please call item number 3. chair's report. >> chair: welcome to the new calendar year i have brief remarks given that it's only been a month since we had our meeting and we just started this legislative session. as noted earlier we have two newly elected members of the commission. again welcome commissioners london breed and norman yee to the first meeting.

with the presidential election behind us it is fair to see that we will see more of a focus on transportation. i think it is also fair to say that there continues to be perhaps little appetite for tackling some of the core issues in terms of the insolvency of the federal highway trust fund and transportation funding nationally and of course that impact what happens at the local level. we certainly will continue to be diligent in watching what happens in washington dc. i know that a number of us this morning had a reception with leader pelosi who has been very helpful in the past and securing funding for transportation here in the city and county of san francisco. i also want to talk about the

trend happening locally in terms of revenue measures such as the sales tax and vehicle registration fee that are administered by the authority. one of the things that is important as we move forward is to always look for the most cost-effective ways of doing the work. one of the things that i hope you continue to do is to focus on enhancing coordination among the various city agencies. we saw with a number of projects that were discussed at the authority that while there is communication between these agencies better communication is needed. and one of the things that i hope happens- especially with the major projects - that we continue to focus on how the county transportation authority interacts with the mta and other agencies involved in various projects that we are funding. i know that in the state of the city address, mayor lee

indicated that public transportation % specifically the mta is going to be a top priority for him. i know he is putting together a working group that is going to be looking at those issues and i hope that at that work continues the county transportation authority is an important part of that discussion. the reality is that we as an agency fund many of the projects that make public transit work in the city and county of san francisco. we have to have a seat at the table. we look forward to working with mayor lee in that endeavor. the last thing that i want to say on a more personal note, this will be my last meeting as chair of this county transportation authority. i want to thank my colleagues % some of them are not here because they were termed out, forgive me the vote of confidence in selecting me as chair.

has been an honor serving in this capacity. one of the things that happened in playing this role is a reaffirmation of what an excellent staff we have here as an agency. it's been a pleasure to work with the senior staff, the staff; even though he is technically not here -- he has moved on -- i do want to acknowledge again jose luis moskovitz [sounds like] and what he has contributed to the agency and his influence and impact can still be felt. it has been an honor for me to play this role. and the thing about these roles i do believe that all of us here in this room have something to add; it is important that other people have the opportunity to play this role. i want to thank my colleagues in the staff, especially my

own staff who has been staffing me on these issues of particular sheila jone hagan [sounds like] advising the public transportation issues for quite some time. it's been an honor and i look forward to working with all of you in a different capacity. with that i will open it up to any public comment on this item. >> my name is francisco dacosta. the last time when the elections took place i was in favor of you, the chair, and i was not in favor of whoever became your vice chair. during the term but you were the chair, one singular

achievement of yours was fighting for the youth. and -- the benefits that the youth are going to receive for this 18 month period. i thought that was one singular achievement, watching you at only here in the board of supervisors but during and before the metropolitan transportation agency, mta. san francisco is a world-class city. and when you visit any world-class city, one of the things that you are impressed with is transportation. as you supervisors, as i often say,

you are here to represent. and when the tourists come and visit our city, many of them and many visit me - we are lacking a strategy, short-term and long-term to improve our transportation system. we can pat ourselves and say we did this and that, when we experience gridlock, buses not on time, we have to work together to fix that. thank you very much. >> any member of the public would like to speak? seeing none, public comment is closed. the one thing that i would add, something that i am proud of and i hope that we can continue to do as an agency, focus on how the projects that we are funding are impacting each individual district

so we have a better understanding of what is happening on the ground. and that we ensure that the priorities that you as supervisors have and the communities that you represent, of those priorities are reflected in the positions made here. i want to thank staff are working closely to make sure that happens; the goal is to have an equitable distribution of resources in terms of the manage that we manage. we have tried to do that and i look forward to continuing in that effort. madam clerk, if you could please call item 4. >> executive directors report. information item. >> i will turn it over to our interim executive director.>> this will be short. because under item 10 on the agenda, will present the end report to you. i do want to thank chair campos, and the vice chair,

it has been a pleasure to working with all of you in carrying out the authorities business this past year. >> we will open it up to public comment, any member who would like to speak on this item come forward. public comment close. unless there is an objection i will ask the clerk to call out of order item 11. >> recognize the outstanding service of jose luis moscovich, executive director for the authority from 2001-2012. >> i want to thank mr. moscovich and ask him to come forward. his mother is here. let's give him and his mother a big round of applause. (applause)

>> i want to say couple of words about jose luis. i do know of anyone realizes that jose luis moscovich a the authority and the city and county of san francisco for almost 20 years. he started with the rather interesting title of director of congestion management, not an easy task to deal with. and having been you cma, congestion management agency function of the authority he helped grow the agency to just over 30 positions today and created i think a culture that truly attracts and retains a high level a dedicated and professional individuals. i'm always amazed whenever i go to a meeting where you have authority staff

at the level of expertise and excellence that they demonstrate. the prior report, annual report presentation, ennumerates a number of accomplishments that we were able to attain under his watch. i want to name a couple in particular, doyle drive, presidio parkway, something that would not have happened were not for jose luis's dogged persistence and able to communicate what p3 is. because of his efforts it is a national model for how the public/private partnership can shift certain risks and responsibilities to the private sector and thereby enable

on-time and on budget delivery of major capital projects. because of jose luis's leadership that project has become a model for not only the rest of the state but for the entire country. i really believe that what we have seen in that project is a testament to jose luis's leadership and talent. the second project i want to mention is brt, and jose luis has over the years led the authority to embrace brt has a faster, or flexible, more cost effective way to bring rail quality service to different corridors of the city. i know the adoption of the brt strategy by the authority happened in 2003. i want to commend jose luis for

his leadership in bringing those projects, van brt and gary brt, to where they are taking into consideration the concerns and needs of the neighborhoods. as chair of the authority, i want to thank you for the services you have provided to the city and county of san francisco. before we make the official presentation and before we allow you to say a few words i want to open it up to my colleagues they would like to add anything. commissioner avalos. >> thank you chair campos. i'm going to be brief because you mentioned a lot of things i want to mention. thank you for your great service and dedication to the city and county of san francisco, and transportation. your mark is been made in the city.

i share the same sentiment about the staff, and the level of expertise in helping us make decisions and move forward on a number of key projects. i want to say thank you for your great service and wish you all the best. you have many years ahead of you to explore music, and your loved ones and i wish you all the best. >> colleagues, any other comments? one we now go to mr. moscovitch. >> good morning chairman and commissioners. i am honored to have been asked back. i am at the tail end of the flu, my voice is low. i appreciate your comments mr. chairman. i will give you a couple of observations. first of all the city and the challenges it brings is way too complex for a single person

to ever be able to make a mark. this is an excellent example where teamwork is needed; there has been amazing teamwork with my former staff, with the city departments, with our partners at the regional, state and federal levels all of whom have contributed tremendously. that may say about those relationships because it's very easy to turn everything into a soundbite. a relationship is something to work on. we are not all around here to love each other; we are here to love the city and accomplish something. sometimes there is strife involved in that, and out of the give-and-take comes the best outcome possible for the city. that is what has been the commitment for the past 20 years. i would not have been able to accomplish it without the one thing that i think is worth keeping out of this whole picture which is continuity. the continuity given to our work

by the support of his board and its predecessor boards all the way back to 1990. with all of the controversy d'jour and all the changes in policy that were appropriate to the culture of the moment, the policy of the moment, keeping in mind that no big agenda can be accomplished without continuity, without perseverance over a very long period of time. today and your agenda you have the annual report; i asked staff before he left the authority to take the time to put together a timeline for you which i think should be informative to the general public as well about what has happened over the last 20 years. it is amazing to see in each column how a seed planted in 1992, 1994, finally came to fruition this year or last year. it takes oftentimes a decade

or two to get a bit complicated project through the consensus process, through the environmental process and to the funding process. and the messes that i have for you is that it is worth it. what we're seeing today, central subway under construction, presidio parkway halfway built already, an amazing miracle, the transit terminal on the construction, that is a result of the effort of many people not just in this agency and boards before this one over the last two decades. it's really a tremendous i think, testimony to the continuity that i was referring to before. i move on now with a sense of satisfaction that those things have happened,

and a reminder to you that the agenda to make san francisco a better place as many projects. the continuity is going to be key to be able to achieve all of those, to get the region to pay attention to us, to get the state government to pay attention. thank you for your trust over the years; for your dedication to this very complex area that is not always very rewarding and for your support of me and the staff. i wish you the absolute very best for the years to come. >> thank you mr. moscovich and before we do a formal presentation i want to ask if there is a member of the public who like to speak.

seeing none public comment disclosed. we present to you this commendation in recognition of 12 years as executive director with a tenure marked by vision, and dedication to -- on this 29th day of january, in the year 2013. (applause) >> thank you very much.

>> chair campus: of course with commissioner wiener you get the tallest and shortest member. item 5. >> chair campos: it is now time to elect chair and vice chair of the transportation authority. i would like to begin by nominating my colleague, commissioner john