they have to look at -- try to find at least three property owners in the immediate area to see if they can put on private property. and once that -- you know, [speaker not understood]. once that happens, then they could evaluate and determine where they would like to place it in the public right of way. >> okay, thank you. >> regarding the at&t boxes, you know, at the time that we environmentally cleared the project, i and i know president chiu's office was involved to -- we worked with dpw and with at&t to come up with sort of an understanding about the process for siting the boxes in terms of working with neighbors, trying -- attempting to find locations that were workable for the neighborhood and working with the planning department to make sure that we are taking into account the better streets plan. i was glad to hear from mr. barrett that mr. ram and mr.

[speaker not understood] were going to be meeting next week to discuss the process. and i just really, really want to encourage the department to keep the planning department close here to make sure that this process takes into account the better streets plan. >> i will definitely endeavor to do so. >> thank you. >> president chiu. >> i want to echo what chair wiener said. i have a lot of constiff went with questions around what the process was supposed to be. as somebody who didn't support the decision of the board to allow for the installations, we understood there was going to be a very clear process. i think at the moment we probably need a little bit more clarity and public education on what that process is supposed to be. so, i would certainly appreciate after the meeting that happens internally with city staff that you could reach out to supervisors and just let us know from the city standpoint how you're planning to deal with this so we can properly communicate that to our constituents as well. >> yes, sir. >> thanks.

>> [speaker not understood]. i'm here to answer any questions. >> thank you, mr. kwong. finally we're going hear from the mta regarding bus shelters, operator rest rooms and traffic control boxes. mr. [speaker not understood]. >> good afternoon, director, supervisors. my name is [speaker not understood], i'm the deputy director for planning for mta. i'm just going to open it by -- i'll let you have the floor. [laughter] >> very popular. >> i'm going to talk about how the agency has been working closely with the other departments with the better streets plan. as you know, when the better streets plan was a doddthv there were elements in there about how the sidewalks would be furnished, would be developed including furnishing, et cetera. we've been working quite closely with different departments. i can tell you that there's many projects we're working on that are taking be only the [speaker not understood] starting to implement them and include them. projects starting from the

church duboce project, the project now we're doing in south of market that we're designing right now. they're looking at not just sidewalk, but pedestrian safety element as well. so, we're kind of putting those in. we're specifically going to hear from some of our project managers who are working on the specific elements on the sidewalks from the shelters themselves to the operator rest rooms and trying to integrate those into the neighborhood and the limited sidewalk space that's available there. and then also from our traffic calming program, the latest updates on that and how we're trying to move forward. so, with that i'm going to ask the three project managers to come up and speak. >> before we get to the project managers, i just want to ask you about how mta approaches overall planning for its placement of items on sidewalks. and i think it's a broader mta policy issue. i don't want to pick on the project managers. they all do a very good job in terms of formulating and

managing at least functions and providing critical functions like traffic control devices and bus shelters. >> right. >> how does mta promote broad planning perspective, plan for this? and again, coming back to the bus shelters that are quite wide for a narrow sidewalk on a heavy pedestrian corridor where you have to walk single file behind it or you saw the photo of the traffic control box on a -- right at the corner with a right-turn lane so you have pedestrians completely blocked from the view of right-turning vehicles. how does the agency plan for this? >> first of all, we're getting better at t. it's an evolutionary process in learning the things it -- learning the different elements you just amexed how to put them on the street. one of the things we do with all the projects, we know we have very limited sidewalk space. in some neighborhoods it's critical and we try to

determine the best location for the devices. some of the devices by law have to be a certain size. we can't get them any smaller or thinner. [speaker not understood] the physical size of the shelters. on the traffic control boxes we're working with technology to get them smaller and smaller to get the new ones out therethv there are many example pxv of where we probably didn't put them in the best location. ~ examples [speaker not understood] the physical location, working with the neighborhood on where does this make the most sense. no one wants a traffic control box in their area that's going to impede pedestrian flow. but we're trying to figure out where is the best place from a safety perspective k1 from regulatory perspective where it needs to go. [speaker not understood]. on the shelters themselves they have a specific place they need to go [speaker not understood]. the far side or near side. where they're placed in terms of the sidewalk, again, it comes down tsome of the a-d-a

requirements that you can't make them too narrow, you can't make them too close. so, gail can go into that in more detail. on the rest rooms, that's the challenge. can we incorporate that into existing building footprints, what other footprints other available we can look at. we look at this from a holistic perspective. [speaker not understood]. zooming up the intersection saying which corner can we get it in there. >> with the bus shelters, there is an a-d-a minimum in terms of what the clearance is. >> exactly. >> about a minimum. and that minimum, if it's right at the minimum, it's basically single file walking or wheelchair. >> right. >> access. and there are the bus shelters, there are the more narrow bus shelters, but they don't accommodate the advertising. i know mta has requirement for advertising size. in other words, wider bus shelters. it seems to me that was an

economic decision by mta. i'm not criticizing the agency, which i as someone who believes in transit funding understand mta needs funding, but it does have rerepercussions in terms of some of these busy sidewalks that have very little pedestrian walk space because of the width. >> no, i hear your point. i think we're probably going to look at some of those spaces to see what could be done. i mean, there are definitely limitations. [speaker not understood] in terms of the facilities out there as well. so, this might be a good segue to ask gail to come and talk about the shelter program and hopefully give some more opportunities in the future to figure out which of those pinpoint exactly so we can maybe reassess or reevaluate. >> absolutely. [speaker not understood] has been very responsive in the situation. gail? >> gail stein from the [speaker

not understood]. it is an important amenity to our rider. lack of seating can be a barrier to taking transit. it places signs for the muni signs. push button information for people who can't see the sign. and of course lighting is a safety issue. we pursue new locations based on rider ship. also we have a project at church and duboce where the islands are slightly wider. we can put a shelter where we couldn't before. but the most important aspect for a new shelter location is customer request. and this is an aside. i'll get to dpw part. i actually only go forward with a fraction of the number of requests that i get because the sidewalks are narrow and they have street furniture. so, our main partner when we go forward with a new shelter and also with the replacement is dpw.

each location needs a permit. for the new shelters, [speaker not understood] is also required. notice is provided within 150 feet of the location. there's a hearing so that business owners and individuals can provide their input, both positive and negative. so, we do not put any shelter in the ground without a permit from dpw and dpw has been a great partner with us. the preferred siting for a shelter is near the front of the bus zone because there are some people who obviously cannot get to a bus very quickly. sometimes we have a different part of the bus zone. if there is a fire scape or a pole. our preferred siting is at the front. at 18th and castro for example there are locations where it is narrow. there is no denying there are places where it's narrow. where we get complaints, we do try to work with our contractor

to find a slightly better site if that's possible. for example, as you know, we were able to work with dfw to eliminate one of the 10 mount newsracks and to put the shelter there. so, sometimes we can, sometimes we can't. we are very sensitive to the fact that the sidewalks are narrow and where we can, we can. so, with that any questions. >> supervisor kim. >> thank you. you know, the bus shelter issues come up in our district for a different set of reasons. i think you remember two years ago we had worked on the turk and hyde removal. one issue clutter on fourth can be created on narrow streets based upon people trying to move through the sidewalks, but also the public safety issues. it's not just bus shelters. it isal everything on the street that kind of blocks sight, sight views to our police officers and residents, particularly in areas where we do have high levels of

low-level crime such as drug dealing. so, i know that continues to be an issue. and i would really, know, like to work with the mta and see what strategies we can implement particularly in the tenderloin neighborhood where i know we're getting lots of requests to remove bus shelters. we're getting another request again from one of our more active corners. ~ you know i wonder if we can be more creative about t. one, besides bus shelters, we understand because we have a lot of seniors and disabled residents as well. we want them to sit while they wait from the bus or have shelter from the rain. some folks have brought up questions about whether we can remove the wall behind the chairs so at least there is some sight views so police officers that are driving down the street, so people aren't hiding kind of behind the walls. one wally know is specifically for advertising. it would be i think really important to have a discussion about that aspect, too, the clutter.

>> yes. >> of street furniture. >> we are very happy to discuss that. one of the issues also that we have with shelters is we are very cognizant of title 6 requirements that in addition to having shelters in better off neighborhoods, you also have shelters in lower income communities. >> i get that. >> so, it's a very difficult situation. i know in your district there are a lot of senior center its. so, we do hear a lot, don't take my shelter, don't take my shelter out. >> um-hm, um-hm. >> great, thank you, ms. stein. next we have tess cavanagh. ms. cavanagh? sfgtv?

>> we have a powerpoint? yes. good afternoon, supervisors. chairman wiener, supervisor kim, supervisor chiu. my name is tess cavanagh, i'm project manager at sfmta for operator rest room project. all right. we have over 2000 transit operators who drive the buses in the city. 76 transit lines with 146 terminals. our bus drivers really require access to facilities as they're performing their duties as operators. right now we have 17 portables in 15 locations, 18 licenses with businesses providing access to rest rooms, 21 permanent operated rest rooms, 21 free rest rooms, and all access at mta facilities.

we currently have 32 gaps where operators have no access to rest rooms during their routes which we're trying to take care of as soon as possible. [speaker not understood] is down from 57 so we're, you know, fully improving the situation. the gaps, 17 have no facilities, 15 have -- are taken care of with 15 portables. right now it is a challenge moving forward how we fill these gaps as effectively as possible. this is a map view showing -- woops, sorry -- showing all the different various [speaker not understood] to the city. the ones that pertain here are the gaps. and the portables, those are the 32 sites that we need to address.

we currently have a project on the board to install six portables. let's see. they're located at third and fitzgerald, third and hudson, 25th and potrero, ortega and 48th. geary and 32nd and the intersection of bali and lincoln. august 6th of three do not impact sidewalks and i'll go through them now. i'm sorry, this is the image of the prefabricated unit we intend to install. it is the smallest size that we can make it and still be a-d-a accessible. this was designed by our dpw [speaker not understood]. >> what are the dimensions? >> what? >> what are the dimensions? >> we have two sizes. let's see. one that's standard size,

eight-foot by 11 feet. and the net elevation which is i believe about 7 by 13. >> and how tall? >> let's see. i'd say -- let me get the drawings. i would say between 8 to 10 feet tall. >> and the six -- you have six in process now that that's the first phase. >> that's correct. >> do you know what the total number is that mta will ultimately propose? >> we have currently six more stays. we have 40 that have been approved as part of the general referral that we intend to roll out. that will be the next two phases, phase ii and phase iii. >> so, 36 plus or 30 including the six? >> 30 plus 6, so 36 total. >> 36 total, thank you. >> our location criteria has

been -- basically we need to -- in order to be effective we need to be as close to the bus terminal as possible. 50 to 100 feet [speaker not understood]. bus drivers have 5 to 10 minutes during a break so we want to make it as convenient as possible. as far as following the dpw ordinance regarding serviceman dated facility guidelines, i.e., setbacks from pedestrian zone, six foot minimum clearance if we can get it. let's see. where we have located them on sidewalks we try to provide a build out and locate them close to utilities to minimize cost. like i said, we've gone to general plan referral. we're going through the mentoring process which

involves quite a bit of community outreach. we've gotten art commission approval, c-e-q-a review, [speaker not understood] and also dpw directors. >> now, mta also sometimes uses or works with local merchants. >> um-hm. >> and either for free or pays them to allow operators to use the rest room. >> that's correct. >> that's assuming those rest rooms are a-d-a accessible. >> correct. >> and, so, it seems -- 36 seems like a large number of -- rather large units. mta exhausted having merchants? we have a merchant in my district [speaker not understood]. he said i let them use my rest room.

>> that's our first preference, is to either have access to a free public rest room or to develop a license with a local business owner, assuming that that rest rooms are easily accessible and a-d-a compliant. that was our first choice. barring that, then we start to investigate the potential of installing portables -- i'm sorry, prefab. the 30 right now, the number is developed a few years ago, the list. so, we'll continue to kind of try and winnow it down if possible. depending on how bus lines are currently run when we get to that point. >> i would hope the mta would winnow it down. this is -- obviously no one begrudges, muni drivers need to use facilities. you're on a bus all day and have no access to a rest room.

but these are also large facilities that serve i believe only the bus operator. so, most of the data are items sitting there on the sidewalk and aren't usable by other people. so, i think that presents a challenge. president chiu? >> thank you. this is the first i learned about the operator rest rooms. how much is the mta spending on all of these rest rooms? do you know what the overall budget is for construction and [inaudible]? >> each prefab unit costs around $60,000. the unit installed is 150 to 170,000. >> is that per -- per unit? >> yes, per unit. >> 170, $230,000 per unit? >> 170 includes 60,000 for the unit. >> okay, $170,000 per unit? >> installed.

>> how much is a license that you worked out with small businesses for use? >> couple hundred dollar a month, so, 4 or $5,000 a year. >> 4 to $5,000 a year. so, in other words, $170,000 -- sorry, i'm trying to do quick math on this. this is' 3 to 4 years' worth of bathroom access. i have to ask an obvious question. it seems to me most of these bus routes would have a small business they're going by that would -- probably wouldn't mind 4 or $5,000 i revenue a year if we could pay them as opposed to building a structure. can you talk about the decision process by the sfmta to build four of these? >> we have a task force that is [speaker not understood] to review this, deal with this issue. we have real estate folks who

focus our time walking the pavement, meeting with business people to try to negotiate licenses. there are certain locations where there are no businesses around and certainly i have some examples in the current design like, say, 48th and/oring at the a. there's no local restaurant or business nearby that would be able to help our bus drivers. so, we need to install facilities. and it's in those instances where we go to the length to install an actual structure. >> okay. you know, i certainly like supervisor wiener don't begrudge situationses facing our supervisors. we need to ensure their needs are being met. again, it it strikes me as a lot of money and i wonder if there are other options we could pay for to deal with the situation. >> i think the other issue is when you look at these business licenses, a lot of businesses close early or close the hours

of op ratetionthv. ~ operating. it narrows it down extensively. [speaker not understood]. >> again, i understand 4 to $5,000 to spend for a typical license. $170,000 seems to go a long way. it's hard to imagine the entire route, i'm looking at some of these addresses. i can think off the top of my head nearby, geary and second avenue, i think there are places that one could go, but anyways, i wanted to just ask the question. >> [speaker not understood]. >> so, in other words, the late night aspect of this? has there been a conversation about whether an operator, even if the business is not open, figuring out some way to give them access to a rest room? >> i did not have the conversation, but [speaker not understood].

there are definitely challenges with that's correct but we could explore that if you were really adamant about looking at that. operating is the biggest challenge for these. [speaker not understood]. >> okay. again, it strikes me as [speaker not understood] given the density of our city and how many bathrooms there are in the city. so, i would love to learn a little more about this. >> i'll walk you through the site. just briefly, [speaker not understood], where, you know, taking advantage of the traffic island. so, we're not -- sorry? >> [inaudible]. >> oh, okay.

[speaker not understood] and third, taking advantage of the traffic island so as not to impede on the sidewalk. hudson and third, we are [speaker not understood] in order to help soften the visual impact as well as provide clearing. 48th, similar, we're planning build outs. maintain clearance of the sidewalk. 25th and potrero, this is a tight location there, therefore we developed a narrower rest room in order to maintain clearance and still meet a-d-a requirements. geary boulevard, we're actually developing a [speaker not understood] use permit with the school district so we're not impeding on the sidewalk in any way.

we're actually on school district property. >> are there any bathrooms on the school district property? >> i'm sorry? >> are there any bathrooms on the school district properties -- >> we have looked into that. i believe not. again, due to the operating hours of the [speaker not understood] line, access to the school campus was not feasible. >> supervisor kim. >> is this presidio middle school or washington high school? >> this is washington high school. >> okay. so, isn't it also an issue to take up space on the school campus for this as well? i know washington is a humongous campus l and i imagine actually goes through at least two city blocks, i think, the campus ~. so, i imagine right on geary it's where the hill s. >> right. >> i'm just curious.

i know space is incredibly important. >> right. well, we are on the slope right adjacent to geary and we're taking up just enough space for the rest rooms. i'm not sure if the slope above that is that developable within the school district. so, i don't imagine that the [speaker not understood] has that great an impact. and they do get revenue from -- we will be paying a license fee for the lease of that property. no sidewalk impacted here. we're working with the presidio trust folks and will be providing additional screening. so that the trailer is less visible. ~ we do have phase ii and 3. again, once again, licenses and fee option are our priority and

we're looking at all the future gaps with that in mind. and that's it. thank you. any further questions? no? >> thank you very much. appreciate it. and then finally from mta benita [speaker not understood] to talk about boxes. after this we'll be going to public comment. so, if you have not submitted a card and would like to speak in public comment you can fill out a blue card in the front. mr. velasquez. >> [speaker not understood]. traffic several controllers that we have at each of the 1200 signalized intersections in the city. sorry, i have the plan. the controllers are basically the brains of each of the intersections. each of the traffic signal

heads and the pedestrian signal heads are wired directly down the pole under the sidewalk, under the street, and go back to the controllers. one controller per intersection. it is at this controller that the [speaker not understood] basically does the work that programs, diagnose problems of the controller. and you can see on the slide the size of the controller. there is also a schematic that shows what the inside looks like. we have a computer there. it's kind of dark, but on the bottom you'll see where the wires are coming out into the control room and back into the computer. there are a number of criteria that we have to follow when we install these controllers. you can see the bullets up on the screen. top three are basically shall, we shall maintain clearances for fire hydrants and others. we shall maintain traffic and pedestrian sidelines. we shall satisfy a-d-a requirements.

the ones on the bottom, the one on the bottom about direct line of sight, placement so that it's less prone to getting hit, those are more should. that's something that we should do, it's not a shall condition. but obviously we want to do all those at the same time as well. the technical placement criteria. other considerations, we can't be near driveways. can't be in driveways either. we try to avoid bus zones. we try to avoid entrances to businesses, doorways, hotels, apartment buildings. and we also try to avoid windows and frontages. and then of course we also try to consider how much volume of pedestrians are going on that particular sidewalk. and then each hotel is considered an sfm subject to dpw permitting conditions. so, what we've done in every location where we