cases we have had good success in the number of bidders as we did the packaging as we did today. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> okay. and now we have dennis, who is giving the quarterly project labor agreement update. >> thank you, good morning, directorers, i am here to report on the third quarter are of the pla report from july first to september 30th. and we are going to go through the update for operation and labor and the trade packages that are upcoming and the progress for the students and veterans and adults and the aprin tanses that we have seen. >> on the administration component, we did have all reading august 28th with the trades. and it was very successful, and it was very full meeting, where i went through the construction progress, and upcoming trade packages and presented so they knew what was coming out on the streets soon and they talked about each of their updates and

a lot of the discussion on the veterans which i will get to shortly. >> under labor, we had no work stoppages and that has not affected the work progress as well and all scale labor has been met. and there was an incident and i would say, an unsanctioned event that happened, pretty much a month ago, and with some members and part of the iron workers union that were outside of our party and they had nothing to do with the, and it was the iron worker union itself and they took it upon themselves but to show the unity to the pla we actually had the president of the iron worker's local, out there at 3:00 in the morning insuring that it was not affected by any of these members that were not, and we are dealing with an unsanked event and so it actually through the event today the solidary to the project. and also, and it has been reported through the steve rules reports the last quarter

we had two and the one lost time was that he referred to as a broken wrist. >> and so, our upcoming trade package and it will be present to the trades and also as a heads up to the board themselves we have over the fourth quarter here there are 12 package and one of them coming today and we have six for november that are slated as of web corp schedule just this past friday and the november one that totals about all of the packages total 130 million. and the december trade packages that are five of them and we anticipate, them coming in and this is approximately around 34 million and there is going to be some active board agendas here in the near future and the same with the first quarter of 2015 and we have another. and large group, january has five trade packages and only 6 million and so the smaller ones and february, it has nine trade packages at this point, coming,

and totaling 90 million and in march has two trade packages of 25 million and so there is more of a heads up and it will be a busy five to six months and giving out mat jorty and there is still more after that, but, i just want to give you a heads up to that. >> and wrap up, since the summer internship program ended on this quarter, very successful and i think that we had a great, and showed the kids a lot of good experience, and it was a very successful with the ten interns that we had on the project. and property agrees to meet with the veterans there is and the project team has been working with the city bill, and united contractors,? trying to place the veterans and there has been a fair amount of successes recently, and there has been effort to try to stream line the process. and hiring process, and the screening process to get as many veterans so there has been a lot of work on that, and i think that one of the biggest scream lining is going to the basis itself as to get to the veterans to come back and try

to get them what is available to them. >> and regarding adults, the operating engineers and it was actually cat lityl and they refer to the apprentice program is active now and they have been placing them on the project, and to meet the needs and the carpenters and peter, and reported that he has been, and they have had a very successful program and the 2000 candidates applied in the last few years, and that they are starting to work with the veterans and so there is some cross connection going with the carpenters and the plumbers presented that and he is placing the apprentices and they have a robust application process, and they have had 40 recently graduate from the program and then, have been hired right away. and then, city build was a part of our meeting as well.

and they are going to continue the assistance and continue the laborers and of course, mike with the building and the construction and trade council is continuing with the program over at john oconnol and the journey men and the program, and there are the percentage numbers for the non-labor and operators, all of the other trades have been clicking very well, and they are almost to 21 percent and so they are meeting the needs and exceeding on that. and our regional apprentice trends have continued as reported before san francisco in the lead with the 33 percent. and my last two slides, labor,

and programs are continued to have the laborers, and now with their program and hopefully they will be able to bring the numbers up as other trades, you know, the other projects and bus ramp really start and bring up those laborer's numbers and our operators numbers for apprentices has been very good, for the last year, and so that trend continues. so, with that, are there any questions? >> director harper? >> well, most of the questions is as it is a comment and we have got about 20 trade packages in the next few months, and i am really ignorant about what my discretion is, when i look at these things, i mean that i have had some legal practice and public contracting but not much. i know that there are some places where the legal requirements to add here to what is happen and then mr. are

places where discretion exists i presume and why is it in front of us at all. and i need some education. and if i am going to really do some sort of public job, and say, here is a series of contractors. and now, here is the one that we are recommending and here is the one that was cheaper but we think that they are not conforming and that is happening today on this one that we have got. i don't know what my job is, supposed to be in over seing this. i think, okay, well, there is this factor, but do i have any discretion to say, or did you have any discretion, when we see the report coming in like that, and it says, here, or, discrepancies and it would be good for me to at least see here is one in which we exercise the discretion. and then i could look at it and say, here is one, where no, we really got for discretion and this was just outside of the bounds of the... and of the rfb

or whatever, and was out there. >> i don't know, it is not and i don't know where one begins and the other leaves off. and exactly, how it is that a board here, is supposed to look at these things and say, okay, let's ask some questions, i don't know what the questions should be, i got a couple on the next one. but i, and we need, maybe a session and maybe i will get it myself and maybe some time to come down but i need the education, about how to look at these contracts and these bids when they come in, and decide for myself, what it is that i have some propriety in asking questions? and when, you know, i don't, and let's just and, let's just move on. and at this point, i feel like, you more of a rubber stamp than anything else because i don't

have that education. >> we are happy to set up with the counsel. >> okay >> one question is the laborer numbers have recently been low over all to date, are they hitting the goal? >> over all, at this point, they are about 13 percent, and so, they are trending a little low at this point, but, you know, in fact if you look at the chart and it shows that they have had good spikes for a while and then the trades in the field and have changed and now that we have the various packages coming out and it has been discussed and they are aware that they need to bring those programs for the laborers up. about 13 percent at this point. >> so we don't need to over shoot going forward to recover back to the goal. >> right. >> they have not made them available, but not not the

apprentice themselves. >> >> thank you, that concludes my report. >> thank you. >> and so could we call the next item, please? >> the next item is the citizen's advisory committee update. >> thank you. >> and i see that our vice chair, bruce aggott. thank you for being here. >> this report will focus on two items as a focus to the report at the last board meeting on september 11th. and the first item is regarding the formation of the special task district for the transbay, district, and it is

disappointing the developers, backed out of the tentative deal, discussed in early september. and however, we are pleased and we want to thank the board of supervisor and all involved for approving the resolution, for the formation of the special tax district up holding the cfd tax rates as outlined in the tcpd and it will be unfortunate and disappointing if the developers move forward with any lawsuits that will jeopardize the completing of the transbay, transit center, and the top park and the downtown extension and the improvements and on the second item, regarding the opportunity to revisit the uniform height and level boarding for cal train and high speed rail, i attended the cal train rail panel discussion, in mountain view on september 29th. >> and the panel members, were dave cal train, and ben from high speed rail and brian from

the tjpa project team, and thompson from the high speed rail group and jillian the director of the policy of the city and county of san francisco and this panel was moderated by dina, and when i attended that discussion, really reaffirmed that the issue must be and that issue must be studied closely, providing the funders of the high speed rail and mou and the opportunity to collaborate on upcoming decisions. we must maximize our operational flexibility and capacity, and passenger accessibility. and it is critical, that the appropriate agencies and funding partners, be informed

on the assumptions, alternatives, trade offs, and decision-making criteria to make the best decisions now. decisions to design and build in any up front constraints must be analyzed closely and approved at the highest levels and the key issue now is front and center is the question of uniform height and level boarding, which will drive the vehicle procurement decisions and these decisions will impact transportation, options, and our economy, for decades to come. and i am glad to see the discussion has proceeded to this point and that an update will be provided at today's board meeting and we look for toward to your questions, thoughts and suggestions, on a path forward. and thank you so much for this opportunity, to present, and our report and i will be happy to answer any of your questions. >> thank you. >> thank you so much for presenting it and also for your comments on the upcoming presentation, and i will also have the same questions, and any discussion or questions?

>> thank you, mr. vice chair, and thank you. >> and the next item. >> public comment, and you have camille lawrence. >> and so we are calling public comment and we do have one speaker card come up. and if anyone else would like to speak, just line up. >> your name was just called. >> ladies and gentlemen, of the audience, and commissioners, chair kim, and mr. harper, i am here today for the same reason that i was almost a month ago. going back to 2009, the sfmt, director as well as the mayor's

city and county of san francisco, started appointing cronies to the sfmta taxi commission or taxi services authority or agency. and they have been advising you on the taxing matters on this construction project. people with no capacity whatsoever, in the taxi business and the attorneys from the mayor attorney office payroll some of them are in and out of substance abuse tanks on a monthly basis and have been giving you advice on what to do with the taxi business in the city and county of san francisco and on a transbay, joint power authority and i am here to tell you that i have started an investigation with the civil service commission. and to how the sfmta hires for the taxi business, as well as their own personnel and i have asked for an investigation of the civil service hiring practices of san francisco and almost how every department in

this city can bypass the merit system and the civil service system to pick the political and crony appointees in the department with no background checks whatsoever, i am not here to discuss that, i am here today to tell you and give you seven to 8 copy ts of the letter that i submitted to the civil service commission on this fact and here, on that that i am glad to hear, that there are veteran programs here to promote this project and work within this project because in the nine years that i have been speaking for the taxi agencies, i have never heard them talk about the veterans once. and i am a united states naval veteran and we have the wife of the president of the united states coming to town to make sure that some of these guys are not homeless and some are them are well trained and some of them have problems, yes, but i am glad to see that you are putting some of them to work. i am happy with that. it is a big issue today.

and last but not least is this, i thank you for the letters that you have given me and the 8 years thatvy spoken before the sfmta and they have have not responded with one letter as if i don't exist on this earth. but i do. and so i am going to leave with you that and i am going to leave you with 7 copysies and ies they will go before the ethics commission and i thank you for this. >> and thank you, for your comments, and thank you also for your advocacy for the veterans here in the city and a very important issue. and is there any other public comment? >> seeing none, public comment is now closed. >> and can we please call on the first item on the regular calendar? >> item 8 requestcy presentation by the california high speed rail authority and the peninsula corridor joint

powers board on boarding height. >> good morning, directors. and thanks for the introduction. and i just want to lay where we are at this point, and the up front negotiations between the parties are now under way which is the good news. the current layout of the platforms are what we negotiated with high speed rail and cal train, and some four years ago. and it is not perfect, and it has two platforms for the tracks and the high speed rail with the high level boarding at 50 inches and two platforms for the cal train with a 24-inch and we have not built any of these platforms and we are not going to build anything until phase two when we actually know

what vehicles we are going to get. so just, to look at where things are, worldwide, high speed rail has throughout europe mandated a 30 inch platform height. and the vehicles are used and are not 30 inch height. and they are 50. and so you have put on a tgb, and you have to walk on the level and then drop the stairs to actually get where you want to go, and fine if you don't have the long legs. and on the other hand, the two differences from that, that is five... because they have to have the same platform height for the different countries they don't have ada. we do. and we need to do or abide by it and building a new facility. and japanese system of 40 or 50 years ago and it is designed the trains and the platforms to be identical and that is the 49 inch that they use. and the united states has one

example that they expressed on the east coast where they are using 48 inches and the rest of the world is doing it differently. now, i have yet to introduce the subject but we are talking about the benefits of boarding heights, and with the transbay. and just as you see, when you start off with the commuter rail in the morning, and there are the long distance rail, you need the trains of either end and you cross off from one end and the dead ahead. and 50 or 300 miles. and in storage for start up will be better if we can store the trains of different platforms, and they are all the same height and we can get more trains in here. remembering the initial system is looking at only two high speed trains per hour and so you don't need two platforms.

or tracks, and going up before, when they have got more passing tracks, cal train on the other hand is running a ride ridership and a lot of at least five trains that there are right now and you are forgetting downtown and we need a little bit more than two faces if we can come up with a way of operating it. and that is not going to be easy, but definitely, something that we need to look at it and we need the operational flexibility if a train breaks down and you want to be getting a ride on the different platform and you don't want to stop the whole system. >> one of the things that we negotiated recently because we are doing the computer simulation to see how many trains that you can get and out depending on the layout and we reduced, the times and the longer that you leave a train at a dead end station and the less trains that you can put in per hour and these numbers are now being agreed and they are,

reduction from what we are originally started of 40 minutes per cal train and they have moved, quite a long way. and reduction from the 60 minutes to 40 and again if the late means the train was coming in late they can turn it around to get back on schedule. and this just shows the layout of where we are and because of the moment we have got this arrangement, where cal train is on one side, cal train is dropped the possibility if a train breaks down of being able to break down because it is a single point of failure, just one crossing coming into it and hence the two ones that were added in. and which are not ideal, but they were in negotiated and agreed in the last... (inaudible) and they have crossings on the curves which are not the best of place to do it. so, we are continuing to negotiate, on all of our vehicle procurements and i have now lost track of the numbers of of meetings that we have been to and we had a good one

yesterday, and people are important, and i hope that you will or my goal is to reach that agreement on common level warning to meet, an ada and that means that the height and also the working vehicles because of the ada and you can't jump across a gap and you have the different width vehicles and you will hear the presentation shortly. this slide has been around since i joined, seven years ago and it shows, one of each train on the same platform. and that is still my hope. >> thank you. >> dr. reiskin has a question. >> just to, i think that you spoke clearly about the benefits of the common boarding platform, could you kind of looking at it in the opposite, if we don't achieve it, how do you see that impacting the operation of the transit center?

>> it will be less we will not be able to get the full number of trains, it will work in the interim, i think, and it is going to be very restrictive for the cal train and difficult. you know, there are things that need to be worked out or we should not be concentrating on the reasons why not. but obviously, that last picture that you see assumes that we have the same kind of operating system. and we don't even have that, yet. and we have restricted areas like an airport, for the high speed rail and free access to cal train. and on the proof of payment system and we are different. people who want high speed trains, have a different prescribed seat, now have you to do some policing for people who try to break the law.

it is constricting, if you are trying to get six trains a hour, which they will really like, not just five, it is impossible on two, and on one platform to do that, we have not done the analysis yet and, we are working towards it. and i think that we will have some more results, and they will actually, and are there any other questions? >> and the other presentations. >> i think that i have a question just to follow up, when you said that we could make it work, what does that mean? does it mean that we will have to kind of have movable stairs. we have not put in the stairs or escalators either. but the question about the share use of a platform, is someone has to negotiate the idea, that in fact, either we

have restricted boarding for cal train as well as high speed rail, so we are all using the same system, or in fact, high speed rail that slip on and we have a restricting weight, but on this platform, you are going down when you are told to. and it is not restricted to holding of a ticket to get on that platform. and it is going to be in the architectal plumbing and we have enough elevators or escalators to serve efrp, it is how that you get out in an emergency and that we have accepted the emergency exit and you will use the escalator as well. and so that is not the problem, the problem is just perception of how you get on and off of a train. >> and ada and so if the worse case scenario if we are not able to get compatible platform, what would we do for

ada cases? >> i think that we will get there, if we don't, we are really restricting how many trains who gets in, and that will still be negotiating because it is a blended system for the future. the real crunch is in 20 years time and there is also another restriction, which is not part of my job to sort out, but there are four tunnels to get in here, and we only have two tracks and we can deal with so many trains and you want four tracks when you get down to the bay shore and you can make them longer. but you can only get so many trains through, and the tunnels is another problem. and that is the biggest trains that don't fit through those. >> and so it is a a lot of negotiating that need to be done. >> thank you. >> and by the first presentation will be given by is it ben or is it dave, okay.

>> cal train is doing the first. good morning directors i am dave couch and i am the director for cal train and i am going to do a multipart presentation and this will go through what we have on the status for the over all program and also address the issues with the level of boarding, and by way of background, we have the existing system, that we have run that goes all the way roy into downtown san francisco and the rider ship numbers that are here, 60,000 plus is something that we have just ellipsed and the ridership just keeps growing and growing and growing, and i kind of look at it as a victim of our own success. and that is what this shows on the next chart. when you look at what the

growth has been since 2010, moving up it is phenomenal, the number of riders that we now have on board, on a daily basis. and so it is something that we extract as conditions continue to get more con jected on the streets that will continue to get more riders that we will want to make the runs on the commuter line. >> specifically if you look at what has happened and these numbers are from february of this year and one of the lower rider ship months and it shows the number of drains in both drains in both directions in excess of 100 percent and the ones around here are 98 and 99 percent by the point that i am standing here right now, i am sure that those are at 100 percent or mow. so we have out grown what we have for a system right now, specifically for the cal train moderization program there are three components the first is the early investment program and in the early investment

program, the fit project is our (inaudible) program and that is something that is the communication based overlay and it is positive train control system that is currently being implemented and it is designed, basically to prevent the train to train coalition and it was put in the legislatively in 2008 and so this is something that we are working on and that it will be company pleated in 2015. in the second part of the practice is the electrickfiation program and one is the electrickfiation and the second is the multiple units and i will go into both of those in details in a couple of minutes, and as a follow on to this comes the blended system that he was speaking to a few minutes ago, if you start to look at what the project description is, it is not the entire line from gill roy all the way into san francisco that will be electrified and it is the portion, basically from san