come up with data on the economic impacts and other information as we move forward with the strongest policies. >> and i would appreciate that and thank you. for that, and we, i think as part of when the puc opens phase two, everything that has, and everything that we consider has to be part that have record. and so a party has to introduce that into our record. and it would be great to get that information give that information to me, but unless it is part of our record, the judge and the commissioners can't base their decision on that. >> we will make sure that is part of the record. >> i appreciate you can here and listening to the communities in san francisco. >> >> i appreciate the approach to

all of this, but one thing that i am nervous about is the self-regulations of the people reporting and i know that there are other examples of other industry where they might do someself reporting, but i also know that often times, the responsible organization, or agency that is collecting the data may do audits on, you know, spot audits to be sure that we are getting the correct information, is there any plans for the puc to actually do the audits on these tncs. >> we are going to be doing audit and will do investigation and we will do audits and as part of our decision, the tncs have to comply with all of our requests for information and the audits that we conduct, but i agree that if we don't do the

audits, it becomes a completely self-regulated industry and so we do have to do the audits to insure that the rules are put into place are being followed. >> thank you. >> thank you so much for being here. and let me just say that first of all that we have about 40 cards but i wanted to first ask if chris dolan who is the attorney for the lou family could come up and speak first and then i will be asking janice who is a leader in the disabled community to also come up but mr. chair could we open the public comment at this point and i am going to be letting these two speakers come up and there is also steven from the sffederal credit union as well. we are going to be asking people through the chair to limit their comments to one minute, per person. and i am sorry that we have to do that because we have a number of other items on the ago agenda.

>> so is there dolan here? >> right. >> and again, condolences to the lou family. >> thank you for holding this hearing and on behalf of the lou family i have been asked to come here and say please keep our streets safe, this child died unnecessarily because of the use of an application in the provision of uber services and uber, is denying all responsible to this family for what happened. these services show empty vehicles, that is what they sell, this man was on the service, he was an empty vehicle, he was providing goods and services for uber and they are turning its back on this family, and now i have heard that this is the new industry. and this is not a new industry, transportation and people have been around for a long time, it is changed from horse and buggy to now, stage coach to now these tncs there is nothing new about the need for safety.

and these companies are shifting the responsibility for the harms that they cause and the costs of their operations on to the tax payers. because the lou family does not have insurance, so who do you think is paying for their healthcare? >> us. not uber, us. this is a very real risk to this city in picking up these expenses. >> so mr., dolan please elaborate on the economic impacts on the city. >> well, given the fact that uber has read the puc's rulings in the transportation services they say that a vehicle that is logged on, they will not cover, unless they are going to pick up a fare or carrying a fare, so the city, will pick up the injuries to those people if they don't have insurance, no workers compensation, if a driver gets hurt one of the drivers who was unknowingly participating in this scheme, gets hurt, the city will pick up that person's wage loss

potentially under the ga. and it may pick up their medical expenses and it is other vehicles that are hit that don't have the appropriate insurance, and the city will be picking up their tab as well. so this is what is happening is these businesses are shifting the cost of safety that the taxi industry builds into its pricing mechanism that the taxi and limo commission takes into account and why these companies are being so successful is it is pushing off the cost of safety, maintenance and driver training and the injuries that is causes on the community and these taxi drivers and yes, i see them too and so no love loss there. but these taxi drivers are not going to be able to compete and what is going to happen is that we are going to destabilize the transportation industry, if the taxi cabs are driven out of business and then these folks get to surge the price and which means that it is raining and we are going to double our price and it is new year's and we are going to triple our

price and then the people are not going to be able to afford the transportation and it is this body's responsibility to do that. i disagree, and like to answer supervisor campos's question about predecember on, good questions, folks, you are not preempted, the rule making is not closed section two has not happened and they have not made the rules on the issues. i was researching the case law, which states that you have the authority to tax. for revenue purposes only. so you can tax the hell out of them if you want to pay what you are having to pick up to pay for. [ applause ] >> additionally, as a lawyer i would challenge preemption. because they said that it is a floor not a sealing.

not what ne could do but as much as they can so far, but i believe that there is much that you can do. and these insurance gaps are not only effecting the people who are run over, by these cars, but the drivers themselves who are vulnerable, and they could lose everything if they hurt somebody and they get sued by somebody like me because uber will not stand behind them. lift will not stand behind them. >> thank you so much, mr. dolan is there anything else that you would like to add? >> i would like to say that because this is technology is in its infancy, they should not act as social infants that they have the responsibility with the 200 million dollars of backing to pay for the cost of their service so that there can be fair competition and that does not exist currently, in

the rules put forth by the puc, they are inadequate. and there is an insurance gap. people are suffering because of it. and these businesses are turning their backs on the citizens and what is going to happen is ultimately somebody is going to have to regulate them because the taxis are going to be gone and you are just going to have these unsafe vehicles out there and so you will be regulating a whole, new provider, not a new industry, in the same old way. and there is nothing new here. except who is making the profit. [ applause ] . >> thank you. >> thank you. >> so much. >> please. >> i have to wrap up quickly. >> i have written comments that i would to submit to the clerk and i have others available if they would like them as well. >> thank you so much. >> jonathan myan, is the next speaker.

>> i did ask if there are any reps from uber, if they would like to make a comment as well. >> and i have also called steven staff, and so to the right, mr. lions? >> thank you. >> i am going to start calling a few of the names too. tom deso, mark gruberg and rula brafis charles rat bone, ethan deble. os, ron, walter, and barry toronto and mr. lions, the microphone is on. >> okay, great, thank you. >> first of all, i want to say thank you to supervisor mar for calling this hearing. and i also wanted to thank supervisor campos for some very what i would see as very poinant questions and so i want to say that i am a proud

resident of district one in the richmond district and i became an uber user probably two years ago, for you know, no other reason than the fact that it is a multihour affair frequently to call a cab on the west side of san francisco. and so, but sense then, going back to some of the questions of lack of evidence, of discrimination, i am here to tell you that i am living proof that discrimination exists and you know, i want to tell you a quick story and i don't want to take all day and i know that there are a lot of folks here with their own stories but a couple of weeks ago i was on the way to a job interview and hail took ten minutes to show up and i got my text message to go down stairs and i was in there in 90 seconds. >> please continue. >> and about three or four minutes later i got a text message from uber saying, we are sorry, your driver had to

cancel your ride. there i was standing on the side of the road with my guide dog, knowing full well that the driver was probably within visual range of me, saw me with my service animal and opted not to take me. and so, i had no other choice now, knowing that i would be late to my interview, but to hail another uber. of course, low and behold, surge pricing has gone into effect and now the $12 ride was now going to cost me $24. this is all to add insult to injury this came a couple of months after another ride that i hailed, and the driver said to me, he got out and was all, super sweet to me and said, don't worry, i am in a good mood today and i am going to go ahead and take you even though i don't normally take dogs. i explained to him that he was my service animal and he explained to me that he didn't

care. and the whole ride he explained to me how he is normally a nice guy and he just took me because my dog looked nice not because he was a service animal. i complained to uber and uber explained to me that each of the drivers are individual contractors. and uber is not responsible for their ability or in ability to follow federal and state law. i am here to tell you that you know, i am pretty dialed in into the disability community and you know, i know for a fact that i am not the only person out here having these kinds of experiences let me be clear in closing that discrimination among these organizations exists. and people with disabilities, have fought too damn long and too damn hard to be discriminated against by public entities. people, african americans, long

ago, achieved the rights to eat at any dinner they wanted despite the fact that any business owners or the diner that did not want to serve the african americans and did not have that right despite the fact that there was a diner next door that would. every single business is responsible to serve every single resident and if these companies, if these companies and the puc, won't step up and do what they have to do, and then the disability community will fight this, and we have done it before and we have succeeded before and we will keep fighting. thank you. >> next speaker, and i have called a number of people already. but you know state your name and if everyone could try to stay within the one minute limit. >> good morning, steven with the san francisco federal credit union and also a resident here in san francisco we do primarily taxi medallion

loans and we meet with each holder and one of the first things that i want to say that they are small business owners and i have yet to meet one of them as a millionaire, but they are hard working individuals here in san francisco. performing a very vital service. one of the things that we would ask is that we exercise jurisdiction over ours here in san francisco, and the death of sophia lou was tragic and preventable and we have described this to the puc and the lack of insurance and action has not been taken. >> individuals are picking up our children in front of schools and an uninsured situation. and it is time that we make sure that we close that just this morning the mayor said he wants to make the most walkable city. if we have an unregulated car service we will not have a walkable city. so we would ask that the specifically that the city

attorney be asked if jurisdiction can be exercised by the council and by the mta, in this issue to as you saw the number of gaps, in hayashi's testimony. thank you. >> thank you. >> i called a number of names, if the people could line up on the right side of the room that will help. >> good morning, supervisors. >> thank you for this hearing. my name is tom desoand, i have been a driver since 75 and got my med dallon in 88 and here we are today. i think that the city should stop seeing us as a bunch of cabs driving around all over the city but as a transportation system to help relieve the traffic congestion and the public use us more if we could just be a little bit more efficient and get some rules like whatever muni and the cabs can do, left turn here and there that would help things and i think that the time has come that this would be a good opportunity to stop

all of this arguing and get to a compromise, we need this technology. and i think that all of these uber calls should be redirected to the cab industry. and so all of these calls that we are getting we need them, and the public needs them and instead of going to these black town cars, that are just polluting the city, my car runs on cng and all of the cabs have to be clean and burning vehicles and put all of the passengers that uber gets into these clean burning taxi that have been serving the city for as long as there have been tixy cabs. >> thank you. >> to the people lined up, i have called about eight names and going to continue calling from the list so that it is more of a first come first serve. amin, jim galestbi karl

macmurbo. william benou craig catra. >> and if i may, before we do that, supervisor i know that people feel very passionate about this issue, but, to keep the meeting flowing, i would ask you to refrain from clapping, you know, you can signal your approval so that we can hear as many people as possible, thank you. >> microphone. >> so it should be on now. >> yes, thank you, mark and speaking for united taxi cab workers and i can say that as a participant in the cpuc proceedings they were not fair

proceedings and these companies went into business complete lie against the law and the cerebral palsy who gave them their blessing after having started the proceedings and then in the document that initiated those proceedings they said, these proceedings are being called to determine how to regulate this industry. and not whether to regulate it, not whether they had the authority and jurisdiction to do so. but how to do it. and it went on from there, we never had a fair shot at this. and right now, they are saying, we will have more hearing, you know, maybe later this year, people are dying. our little girl died and people are being injured while they are fiddling, and their rules do not protect the public. and this is uncontionable. what can the city do? an auful lot. these are taxi cabs in every sense of the word they are taxi cabs and the cpuc does not have

the authority to override state law, which gives cities the exclusive authority over taxi cabs. >> have you that authority right now. >> thank you. >> next speaker? >> i think that we can. oh, it is working wonderful. >> hello, my name is ruba grafis and i have been cab driving for 40 years. i also teach the city mandated class for new cab drivers. this includes several hours of sensitivity training, for the people with disabilities. the puc spokesperson was a complete disappointment. she sounds like the famous court craze that argued that separate and equal were going to make good accommodations and adequate runs for blacks as well as whites.

we certainly know where that went. >> 1934, we got to the civil rights act that completely refuted that and it took us 26 years to add disabled people to that list, one would think that the puc, did not have to see what the harm was. all that they have to do is make their rules compliant with current federal law thank you. >> thank you so much. >> i am going to call a couple more names, cuterer harrison, robert fasana and richard hible., and tara houseman and bob plantle. >> and i am charles and on behave of the lexos cab company and neighborer to the services we have provided wheelchair for decades, we introduced taxi magic for 2008 and provided the first rides in that year, or two years before uber's first

ride. and we now, participate probably in flywheels and the network of 1400 cabs, and i would like to use the rest of my time to offer words of respect to the thousands of law abiding blue collar men and women of san francisco taxi industry, you the cab drivers have conducted yourselves honorable and withself respect during these difficult years when too many of our elected officials have had only words of praise or for the law breakers, uber lift and the rest have made fools of the people who follow the rules, and i urge you to restore the rule of law thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker. >> good morning, i'm revalos and i am a medallion holder and i purchase ited in october of 2013 andvy been a taxi driver for 28 years and i just would like to say if you can imagine that starbucks came to the city

and said, we are not going to tell you how many stores we have, we are not going to tell you how many employees we have or what kind of insurance we have for our employees and or tell you anything about our business, our coffee is popular and the customers like it and that should be good enough and if the customers don't like it, they can go on yelp and they will stop buying coffee from us, that would be absurd. and i also want to remind you that medallion holders are small business people and you are going to hear a lot of the beating of that you are threatening that small business people. and who are beholden to work for uber and lift inside car, and uber claims that they help the drivers get their own cars and use a subprime lender that is questionable at best. and we are not beholden as holders to cab companies, we are real business people, who purchased our medallions. >> thank you so much. >> could i ask if bob plantol

could be the next speaker. >> and chair campos just alerted me that there is a lot more people, wanting to come into the room and, there is an overflow room in the north light court if the people want to view the proceedings of this committee hearing. >> i am bob planthold and i am going to reference the two letters from the council that i gave to the clerk and to you folks, what is being ignored in the comments from the cpc staff and hers even the questions for you folks rks and there is a major disability that shows cpuc is not responsive to the ada and the july 2013 letter to cpuc indicated, that to use these tnc services you need a smart phone. and i am sorry that is right away, duh. that is an economic disparity issue that is separate from what has been reported that they don't have to have wheelchair accessible avehicles, i am suggesting that you folks ought to not think about modifying, adopting and

working for the seattle model, instead your plausable basis to file a department of justice complaint against the cpuc for violating the ada, they talk about needing data and ignoring the smart phone itself is a data indication that not everybody can be served by tncs that their vehicles are not all, and that some of them are not equipped, and also an indication that they are neglect cpuc and don't talk about the companies, and go to the source of the lack of jurisdiction and the lack of enforcement, and the cpuc and that is the target. >> thank you. >> next speaker? >> they are waiting for more information and they are letting something run amuck and then they want information. and they should get the information first and also, briefly i would like to address the economic issue to the city, and you have the med dallons

and you are taking a percentage of and 85 from the cab and the business licenses that is going to be a loss to the city and this is also just a start of the so-called new apps and business, and you have the same situation, and we are paying factions and running amuck on you without paying taxes, and if it is not stopped here and it is going to continue going on. >> next speaker. >> my name is ron walter and i am a driver with the san francisco green cab. i would like to say that thank you for holding this hearing. and i would like to say that it has been a rough winter and it has been tough making money and tough on a lot of the cab companies and the green cab and trouble with insurance and recently a lot of companies have trouble with hiring. and if you take away one thing from this hearing, i would like this statement here.

that the new ride service that should be held to the same standards as traditional taxis and you have the authority to require business licenses or businesses that are here. and you require to the commercial business and the state requires proof of proper insurance. and just a few things. and all right, thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker. >> good morning to the supervisors, and thank you for holding this hearing. the neglected area that no one has talked about other than that wheelchairs, which i can explain to you, is the taxi industry carries hundreds of thousands of people every year under the paratransit program. which is a state subsidized program and a federal subsidized program. and which is the envy of every city in america.

we were the best. but you have to understand that the taxi industry subsidizes through its drivers and there itself, these services as well as the wheelchair services. and by subsidizing them, the way it works is this, you take some disabled people, and you take some people who are not disabled, the app industry... >> thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> i am going to call a few more names, amad albania, dan henos, cheryl, fabro or barbico. and douglas oconnor. hi, good morning. >> i am bary and an advocate for the taxi cab industry, i

want to tell you that the legacy of sophie is not going unnoticed in seattle they took so concerned about what happened to her, they immediately took action. what happened in this city? the mayor said in july 13th, and gave it a day for one of those ride services it is not ride share get that phrase out of your mind it is not ride share and i will explain why that is later, also their training and learning more about where the bathrooms are throughout the city than the hospital and police stations are and also the insurance gap issue and we should be concerned, i talk to a passenger you take one of these vehicles and good luck in collecting they use our city streets, they use our cab stands and it is stressful to have to go out there day in and day out, asking them why they are using our taxi stands that we pay for and that the public has provided it is really disheartening bring in the city attorney and the police to talk about their concerns too.

>> thank you. >> next speaker? >> microphone, please. >> my name is cheryl damico and pcc chair, i did get some of my sticking points to him, but as pointed out, the taxi drivers are mandated to take a two-hour sensitivity course on how to assist the disabled in the taxi schools for ramp taxi it is a four-hour class. uber is somebody who is elderly, or were to get there, they would have no idea how to accommodate this person. and it can be become dangerous.

besides which somebody indicated whereas the regulation? and where is the law? it is a federal law. and it is the americans with disabilities act and so, that, is claiming that there are transit that takes care of things, every public or private. >> thank you, ma'am. >> company, and he did this. >> thank you, very much. >> thank you. >> and so there is a soft ring that comes on, with about 15 seconds to go. and then, the larger ring alerts you that your time is up. sir, next speaker? >> yeah, thanks for holding the meeting what i am here just now to response of the puc lady in which she said that we have been waiting for 25 years to implement the regulation, and the speaker, and now she has the courage to stand here, and to say that we will look at