rosie calderon, [speaker not understood]. jimmy dean. violet vazquez. >> i see reverend brown here. >> he's not here? jessica layman. >> good afternoon, ms. layman. one second. thank you for having us here today, chairman nolan, director reiskin, directors of the board. it's good to be here to address you. for starters i want to appreciate the amendment -- it looks like director brinkman just stepped out. but the amendment about including 18 year olds now so that young adults have access to job. we really support that. of course i also want to urge you to go ahead and pass free muni for low and moderate income seniors and people with disabilities now and not wait until january. we have several reasons for that. first, we've seen the success of free muni for youth. it didn't cost as much as anticipated. we've seen how many families benefit from it and, so, we want to get that started now

for seniors and people with disabilities. as far as waiting to assess the financial situation, we don't need to wait to know that seniors and people with disabilities are already struggling to pay bills and people -- the board chair was reading on post cards story after story, i'm giving up trips to the doctor, trip to the grocery store, going to community events, i'm not seeing friends because people can't afford it. and we're further isolating people with seepiers and disabilities in their homes. we don't want to weight another 8, 9 months before people can get out and be forward of their community. we also don't think it makes sense to tie it to the november ballot. it's supported by several supervisors on our board. it's needed now. so, please go ahead and do that. lastly, i want to express support for senior disability action for vision zero and to ask you to really work oncoming up with a plan to make sure we can achieve more fed safety in our city. thank you very much. >> thank you.

next speaker, please. >> rosie [speaker not understood]. [speaker not understood]. jimmy dean. violet vazquez. jane martin. darnell boyd. >> any of those folks here? >> is ms. [speaker not understood] here? alejandra mendez? no? jimmy dean? violet vazquez? jane martin? carolyn, could you just check and see who is outside the room? darnell boyd. anna lee padilla. okay, they're not outside. they may be downstairs, mr.

chairman. so, it might take a moment for them to get upstairs. michael barrett. is michael barrett in the room? karen fish kin? page yuan sing? herbert wiener? mr. chairman, if we could just wait for a moment, they may be downstairs and needing to come up. we do have someone. >> good afternoon. >> her name is [speaker not understood]. [speaking through interpreter]

good afternoon, my name is page [speaker not understood]. access to transportation services is a vital role for seniors who depend on muni for mobility in the community. for many seniors the cost of transpourization is something we struggle with because most of us rely on a fixed ssi income.

the cost of muni went from $10 to $23 this year. $23 is not a lot to many people, but on fixed income every cent counts.

the city is getting increasingly unaffordable for low-income residents. a couple would take turns using a pass to run errands and going to doctor visits. if we can help alleviate burdens seniors and those with disabilities face we can really help improve the quality of life. we urge you to [speaker not understood] today so they can remain active and mobile in our city. thank you. (applause) >> next speaker, please. >> mr. chair, we do have some members of the public whose names i called earlier so i'm going to go back and reread some of them. rosie balderon, is she here? >> not here yet. [inaudible]. >> and alejandra? yes. >> jimmy dean? okay. violet vazquez? [inaudible]. >> okay, jane martin? darnell boyd? anna lee padilla. jeron brown.

>> good afternoon, ms. [speaker not understood]. good afternoon. it's good to be here with all of you. i just wanted to say that we really hope that you can amend the budget today to include the 18 year olds in the free muni for youth program. we know that's been the intent or the desire of the agency for a long time since the beginning of the program. and from those of us in the coalition, we really wanted to reiterate that we've done whatever we could on the community side to make this a successful program. in our limited budget, limited resource, limited time, we went out to sign up thousands of youth. we met with the mta to implement the program. we encouraged the school district to do its part. and we're continuing to work with the staff at the mta around future funding proposals for the fall. so, we really were quite concerned to see that 18 year olds were not included in the budget that is before you today except for the provisional inclusion. and we would love it see you amend it today and we hope that that can happen to include to

18 year olds in the free muni for youth program going forward. thank you so much for all your help. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> darnell boyd. anna lee padilla and jaron brown. michael barrett. and karen fish kin. >> good afternoon, mr. boyd. good afternoon. my name is darnell boyd and i'm here to talk about the 18 year olds. as i said before, a lot of 18 year olds, their birthday, they're born early january through june. during those months they're still in high school and a lot of them going through hard times. we come here to ask you to do free muni for youth, and for youth, support free muni for youth, for seniors and people with disabilities. thank you. >> thank you. >> anna lee padilla. >> good afternoon. [speaking through interpreter]

good afternoon, my name is anna lee padilla. i'm a member of power. we're here again, even though we shouldn't have to be here again. we've done everything possible to organize our communities, our youth, mothers and children. we've worked hard to raise funds, collect signatures. we've gone to the mta and we

know that there's been a big donation made for this campaign and we're asking that it include 18 year olds. there is nothing that we haven't done toward this campaign and we're asking for you to institutionalize this program and complete your promises of support.

we -- i ride the muni every day and i see how the 18 year olds are still being ticketed. and we also want to say that we support muni -- free munis for seniors and people with disabilities. we hope that you'll make a good decision, the right decision today because we need it. thank you.

>> thank you. thank you all very much. okay. is anybody else in this group speaking? hi, i'm jared for power and i know you've heard a lot from us. again, we were shocked that we had to come back to do this. i just want to quickly run through the numbers. as you know, the cost that was from the staff report of the mta, the free muni for youth from 5 to 17-year-olds was $2.7 million a year. he received 3.$4 million a year from google. the total additional cost that was estimated if we included 18 year olds was 3.6 million. so, we're talking about a cost to the mta of $200,000. that's pennies for the mta and it's fundamentally an error and it would be wrong. and we know there is this group of high school students that we are intended to be part of free muni for youth. you expressed unanimous support for it. we were shocked the staff tie this had to the november

ballot. it would be an error. we're so grateful for this board and for your progressive thinking and we hope that you will act today in response to correct this issue. we also support what's been said about initiating a pilot program for seniors and people on disabilities and we look forward to also since this is no longer part of the program, institutioning fare policy program [speaker not understood]. we hope you heard this today. >> thank you. i see we're joined by supervisor eric mar. would you care to address the board this afternoon? good afternoon, supervisor. >> thank you, chair nolan, board members, and mr. reiskin. i want to thank the community memorandum gers for speaking out ~ members speaking out expanding the [speaker not understood].

seniors and people with disabilities face incredible, incredibly uncertain future given the displacement crisis going on right now. they are about 140,000 seniors in san francisco and as baby boomers like some of you will become seniors very soon, it's going to be increasing -- doubling within a short, like 8-year period from 2004 a we go towards 2020 and 2030. 27% of seniors now live in poverty and struggle with isolation and many other issues as well. people with disabilities face similar issues. 31% of the seniors, many of our surveys and san francisco department of aging adult service studies, say that 31% of the seniors live alone. they face substandard housing and they need support. the city's improved revenues, in speaking with mr. reiskin, and board members, i think is important that it's tied with a

tech boom and the he under armour economic improvement. it's also leading to many people facing a very challenging and uncertain future. that's why i think it's imperative to use some of the revenues to help the most vulnerable among us. i'm supportive of free muni for youth expanding to 18 year olds and institutionalizing as the power repses just talked about. but i also support many of the senior and disabled organizations calling for an expansion to include low-income seniors. so, free muni for youth, but also for low-income seniors as well. and i'm proud to stand with senior and disability action and other organizations here, chinese community development center, ccdc and cta and many others that are here along with the youth commission empower and others. please support social justice and stand up for transit equity. thank you. >> thank you, supervisor mar. we are also joined by supervisor campos. supervisor campos?

good afternoon, supervisor. >> good afternoon, mr. president, commissioners, mr. reiskin. thank you very much. i'll be very belief. i just want to echo the comments about supervisor mar and specifically ask for, one, that you amend the existing free muni for low-income and middle income program to include 18 year olds. the fact is there's no policy justification for keeping kids who happen to turn 18 when they're in high school from participating and benefiting from that program. second, with respect to the free muni for low-income and middle income youth program that it be codified as a permanent part of the fare policy. we recognize that there are questions about whether or not it might be feasible financially in the future to have this program. the reality is that that fare policy make it clear that you as the board, irrespective of who sits on those seats, has

the ultimate discretion to decide whether or not to include something apart of your budget. but i think that including it as part of the fare policy sends a very clear message to this community that has worked so hard to make this a -- not just a short-term, but actually a permanent part of the mta budget important. and the last thing is to talk about our seniors and to make sure that we expand the existing free muni for low-income and middle income youth program to include seniors. we have to under the context in which we are living in san francisco. we have a great deal of prosperity in san francisco, but san francisco also has the second highest inequality of any major city in the country right behind atlanta and our inequality is actually growing at a faster rate than it is in nagany other city. so, you do have a very wide gap between the haves and the have nots. ~ than in any other city

sable senior community is having a hard time living in san francisco. we have to make sure we help them. they have helped to build this city. they have dedicated their entire lives to their communities. it is i think only fair that at this point in their lives that we give them the opportunity to be able to actually get to and from within the city limits. i think it's only fair and i think that it reflects the values that we have. so, i hope and ask that you expand that program and that you try to implement it before january. thank you. >> thank you, supervisor. we also are joined by supervisor john avalos. right after this gentleman speaks, supervisor. good afternoon. i want to thank you for hearing us today. >> state your name for the record. michael barrett. i was up staged by a couple of our politicians so i was furious and i stepped right in. their names were not even mentioned and they stepped ahead of us.

they work for us, not because of us. what i'm calling about and i've been waiting four hours like everybody else, it's playing by the rules. i want to compliment your secretary trying to keep everybody in line, deborah bowman -- boomer, i believe. then i wanted to address the regular calendar concerning the fiscal budget, the annual budget. you put on this regular calendar. the one for 2014 to '15 shows a $19.4 million difference. i don't know. i've run many companies and i've never been allowed $20,000 discrepancy from year beginning to year-end. for 2015 to '16 let's make it a little more exciting.

you've allowed 96.1 million. now, you keep on changing money and budgets like, you know, it was a regular way of running a business. it isn't. i'd like to call your attention to that. and pay attention to what you forecast. thank you. >> supervisor avalos. good afternoon, supervisor. >> thank you, commissioners. i also want to thank the public for allowing me to enter into the middle of a public comment to talk about free muni for youth, free muni for seniors with disabilities, and to continue with sunday meters here in san francisco. san francisco, we talk about it being a transit first city. and we know that we often don't live up to it, whether it's public infrastructure or whether it's how we build in affordability for our riders of muni. we don't always live up to that experience.

we don't have a transit first budget. i do hear that there has been an amendment to the budget that would include increase of muni, free muni for youth up to age of 18. so, i want to appreciate commissioner brinkman had made that amendment. i want to thank you for that. i would like to say we could move forward with senior with disabilities as well as supervisor campos talked about. san francisco is a city that has the greatest disparities in wealth. we're seeing the greater and greater sigh of our working class and people who don't have a lot of income, and that's making it very difficult for people seniors and disability living in the city. [speaker not understood] really help with that process. i've been engaged with mta at my office and advocates for many months now to look at how we can build in equity into the

budget for muni, especially was we're looking at bringing in new money and decisions how we build out our transportation system in years to come. i want to think that we are committed to that whether we are [inaudible]. >> experiencing technical difficulties; please stand by >> they can actually stay all day, they can move, allow other cars to come in as well. and we've also seen free muni for youth has been a great success as well. we've actually created the next generation of transit riders. we've actually been able to enable a lot of working families to meet the difficulties of surviving in the city when it's becoming more and more expensive ~. and i thank you for moving the meter on that in recent years.

we can do more. but if we're going to blow, you know, take away sunday meters, we'll be creating a hole in our budget that would really prevent us from living up to making muni affordable. whether it's for the age of 18 or senior citizens and people with disabilities. i ask that you continue sunday meters and advance the motion of affordability into the budget that would be for working class communities here in san francisco. i thank you for your time and i thank the public for interrupting their time. thank you. : >> thank you. next speaker. >> i'm going to go back to the speaker cards. karen fish kin. herbert wiener. win hu leong. liz keegan and sandra [speaker not understood]. also for people sitting in the north white court, i understand there are a large number who do not wish to speak. if there are members of the public who wish to speak who are currently sitting in the north white court, i'm going to ask you to come upstairs to

this room at this point in time. >> good afternoon, mr. wiener. herbert wiener. first of all, i'd like to advocate free bus fare for seniors and those that are disabled. they're expected to walk a quarter of a mile to the bus. that's the least we owe them. also people are in their golden years and they buy goods and services from our community and it's detrimental to the economy when they're denied access to public transportation. now, in the budget there should be a provision for the expanded increase and the total of buses and coaches. the size of the muni fleet should be increased and not remain the same. this is especially significant since the population of the city has grown. no more sunday motorist parking fees. [speaker not understood]. also, no increase in muni bus fare.

proposition aa says [speaker not understood] is contingent on improved performance, specifically the 85% reliability which muni falls short of. let's face it, google buses are more efficient than muni right now. there should be better accountability which should be built into the budget with provision for accurate accounting of statistical procedures. as the san francisco weekly art qu is noted, the books have been cooked for the central subway project. a similar project occurred with a falsification of muni performance times in recent years. so, there has to be accurate accountability. statistics can't be fudged any more. and in passing, i also want to note the person who pointed this out, la vonda at kin son, i don't want to see her hurt, penalized in any way or retaliated against. he's the loyal public servant and a brave one. thank you.

>> next speaker, please. >> karen fish kin. is ms. fish kin here? [inaudible]. >> all right. is win ho leong here? liz keegan? sandra monjay? aaron [speaker not understood]. >> good afternoon. [speaking through interpreter] my name is win ho leong. [speaker not understood].

we have over a thousand members who are mono lingual immigrant seniors. we have [speaker not understood] today to ask for support for free muni for seniors and people with disables.

for many low-income seniors, public transit is the only dependable means of transportation. whether it is going to doctor's appointment, buying groceries or going to community events, public transit affectses these important parts of our lives and with the increasing high cost of living in san francisco, it is pushing seniors who are already living in poverty to make extremely hard choitions. should i buy food for my family or spend money on bus fare? these are the types of decisions we are forced to make every single day because we cannot afford. we are in an affordability crisis right now. we're asking you today to make a decision that would greatly alleviate the financial struggles many of us are facing.

we have been actively organizing our community to fight for this program and we cannot wait for the decision to be made next january. we need the board of mta to prioritize their needs [speaker not understood] for seniors and people with disabilities. please do not let us go home disappointed again. thank you. >> thank you. (applause) >> next speaker, please. >> liz keegan. is ms. keegan here? again, if there are members of the public who wish to address the board who are sitting in the north light court, if you could please come upstairs so that we can get your testimony. ms. keegan. sandra munjay. not here? karen fish kin?

~ aaron dong, sharon song, mai fing dang. [speaker not understood]. >> good afternoon. good afternoon. good afternoon. my name is shirley sang and i'm the youth leader from the chinatown cdc. today i'm here to talk about the issue of pedestrian safety. over the past three months, 7 deaths have happened in san francisco due to collisions. i feel that we really need to do something to change this issue. we should work toward a solution to change street safety and we can change it by engineering like making refuge on longer streets and extending the countdown time. we can also add designated turn signal