without objection in >> public comment is now closed with that we will take the finding the motion to move forward the findings without objection without objection the findings passed unanimously and on the underlining item to recognize arrest bower day. without objection it's imperative. >> today's meeting in memory. behalf of supervisor. ( calling names) >> this bring as end. any

other business before us tonight >> that includes our business for today >> we are adjourn. thank you everyone. [end of session] 7:25 p.m. much. >> (clapping.) >> well good morning and thank

you all for being here i'm ed reiskin the director of transportation and can't tell you how existed and speak on behalf of everybody here to be at this milestone after many years somewhat our decades ever planning to break ground on a transformative project for one of the city's anyhow unique and special streets i - there is a way this works folks without whom we wouldn't be here i'll give an opportunity to speak and afterwards go out and literally 0 break ground i want to acknowledge folks not speaking i'm not sure they're here by representatives from nancy pelosi's office and

senator harris and there was a lot of work to be done at the freshen over the years and leader pelosi in particular was a huge comment thank her and stare half and at the state level hearing from the state a strong will be afforded when the item is reached in the meeting with the transportation and our legislatures want to acknowledge supervisor chiu and supervisor scott wiener and a lot of folks made that happen but really the lead for this project has came into from right here in san francisco and one of the hallmarks of our mayor has been to forge collaboration amongst city agencies within the government and with the community and because of complexity of that project there were probably a dozen city agencies and newcomers state

agency and the federal government as well as important stakeholders including some of the ones that occupy the building around where we're standing it took that kind of collaboration in other words, to get to this point i want to start off by introducing the mayor of san francisco mayor ed lee. >> (clapping.) >> thank you ed reiskin good morning, everybody. welcome to the groundbreaking of our van ness corridor bus rapid transit i want to say thank you to everyone on stage and offstage since 2003 with the prop k been working hard to get this project done well and right a lot of community groups thank you, again to the mta to the commissioners, staff, who

working hard to get a lot of views settled but our county transportation agencies and state and federal partners that are part of funding and vision zero of of this our regional mta as well because the state road we're still on a lot of people here talking today and i've been told in no uncertain terms to keep my remarks under two minutes i'll let them talk about all the benefits of bus rapid transit and all the advantages as a city what i'm also exciting to talk about is that we're going to have better lighting along this wonderful avenue closing in the very lengthy distance for people to cross better lighting, better walk

abilities more bounce on the street will be improvements i think that people living and walker users this corridor will have a great benefit but also existed to say as your formerly c p w infrastructure person in the city excited to see four more miles of water sewer piping underneath more miles of sewer and stormwater pipelines underneath they won't leak nor break they'll be new 2000 new feet of our auxiliary water system been also underneath this is try infrastructure and i think i'm making a point that is when we tear up the roads and side medium and do all the traffic relayed improvements we're now improving as a city

while we're there let's take care of what is underneath we never do the that in the past i've not seen an vastly improved and safer avenue an avenue that serves thousands of people better because of bus rapid transit but all the other smart things we're doing to include and work underneath while we have at the medium and sidewalks opened up that's real progress for a city like san francisco and, yes we'll take that as a thank you with that my two minutes are are up let's get the dirt digging and the project done thank you. >> (clapping.) >> thank you, mr. mayor that is from to have a mayor who was a public works go director not on exciting stop i like hearing the

mayor get exist bye about the sewers and other things and the benefits the lighting benefits and go, of course, the traffic and transit benefits a project of this scale was don't happen without the locate leadership we're pleased to be joined spy the president of the board of supervisors would grew up not far from the street a great leader and supporter of transit in district 5 and across the city please join me in welcoming president of the board of supervisors london breed. >> (clapping.) >> good morning, everybody. well, i've had the prestige of riding the 47 and 49 along the van ness beyond a reasonable doubt or corridors when i went to galileo high school although the next generation of young people wouldn't use the excuse

that muni was late when i did back then we are doing what we can to make sure their arriving on time 16 thousand people that use this line gets to work on time and school and get to their designations and that's what this project is about yes, we made mistakes long ago before any any of us were born when we didn't underground the traffic systems that is expensive along the central subway and the bus rapid transit is reliable it is not underground but a way to speed up up the line and based on the initiatives preliminary numbers that will change the travel time by over 32 percent that's big that is big when you rely on

muni to get you back and forth every single day to our example work and designation one of the most important projects in the city and i can't wait until that happens because it is going to make a huge difference address isly with improvements comes sacrifice so for the next 3 years we'll have sacrifice do send me e-mails complaining when it is done you'll thank us to create something great for the future thank you all so much. >> thank you supervisor president london breed. >> one of our main partners is

the community of transportation authority they lead the first phase the planning and get united states to e got us to a point they're a strong partner and we're pleased to be joined by now the chair of the transportation authority who during his first couple of terms in office sat at the transportation authority when the project was coming to light please help me welcome chair the ta commission supervisor peskin. >> (clapping.) >> thank you, ed and by way of the history didn't start during my first term in 2000 behind us this was the firebreak from the 1906 san francisco earthquake o

we're on time and on budget so

with little disruption there will be disruption we've been doing a lot of outreach with the community to best manage and might mitigate one of the unique aspects of this project as you heard most of us feel like van ness is a san francisco city street that is our street and while that themselves that way technically this is the state highway so the street didn't belong to us this street belongs to the state of california so we're very grateful to have as we do with the federal government a great partner in the state government maneuvered in the leadership of the district 4 director of caltrans who with his staff we work closely at the levels of detail to make sure that design will work for the state highway so i want to thank him and his

staff for the great work and please join me in welcoming for caltra caltrans. >> thank you, ed good morning mayor and supervisors and distinguished guests and agencies and staff and members of the public it is a pleasure to be here today to join all of you as we break ground for the first brt project in san francisco we've been wanting to reach this milling and reaching this point in the project is reflective of the tireless work for the federal and state and redeeming level those who had the vision for the project those who helped fund it can and the great staff of all agencies that naektd in through the maze of approval necessary for us to

reach this point as was stated earlier van ness project brt utilities the dedicated places separated from the paragraph on the u.s. 101 will be used by muni and golden gate transit route 101 and then van ness is a regional important route serving 45 thousand people driving on this road everyday and helps navigate those people from the peninsula to the south side and to the north and also obviously the main street in the city of san francisco lined with mixed use and other mixed use spaces that will enhance the traffic separation within the two mile corridor that will separate transit from auto and stations between traffic times reduces the delays and increase the

ridership and improve the safety and increase the transit reliability on behalf of caltrans we thank you for inviting us to be here to celebrate 24 event this project when completed will make van ness more important to these who will use it more efficient and sustainable transit system moving more people and helping to improve the quality of life of the residents for this great city i'd like to recognize and thank all the agencies staff that working hard on this project to deliver this and especially i'd like to thank my staff another caltrans can i see all caltrans people stand up please and be recognized. >> (clapping.) >> as ed said you'll all the agencies working hard to solve the problems and the issues that were raised to us and the

development of the project congratulations to the city and let this project get started thank you thank you so from federal so state to local that the partnership is expensive one throughout the many government agencies as mentioned but again really the led agency that gave birth to the project really got the process going back in the 2000 was the community transport authority they lead the initial planning and our as the chair said a funder of the this project we're pleased to be joined by the executive director of transportation authority tilly chang. >> (clapping.) >> good morning, everyone sew so much and ed and for all of you for being here on this happy day mayor ed lee, supervisors

and director brinkman and -- excuse-me. supervisor peskin thank you for mentioning the state and local partnership the whole vision we've had to transform this street that deserves a great transportation design here we are can you believe that congratulations to you this is a team in the region and the state and the federal government that will build the first full featured brt line in san francisco the van ness corridors improvement project is going to do nothing less than transform this corridor into a world-class complete street and a model nation wide and in the world and sets standards of fast reliable trait for muni our vision was codified by voters in 2003 when they approved the citywide rapid transit buses that turned into this as long as

and muni forward approved by 75 percent of voters thank you to the transportation bond and prop a and prop b and thank you for your support for great transit and transportation in the city local funds in fact, comprise a walk e whooping 52 percent 52 percent are we're so grateful for the federal transit administration for the $75 million for the caltrans providing active transportation and highway maintenance and operation fund but 52 percent local providers through the transportation measures as well as the puc are really the anchor the anchor for the project and the support and the trust they've pla they've placed i want to recognize the team the cac the

advisory committee that convenes 27 times to offer 6 years thank you so much i'll not name you but cross 4 district thank you. please give them a hand that work is led with the advisory committee and any group providing that important outreach and input into the project a including the business advisory committee all over the place thank you candice and your communication team for leading that vertebrae robust outreach we want to thank, of course, the board members of the agencies past generations to the point they guide the work as well our staff director reiskin thank you for your partnership and the puc and mohammed nuru and director kelly and john haley the city traffic engineer and others working with teams with the

staff on district 4 we had endless discussions many debates buses also including the collaboration go compromise in some cases it came down to interest is that; right? and speaking of the p.m. the project managers peter where are you. >> (clapping.) >> you're our hero. >> thank you for your leadership and ♪ phase and the prior phase working with bob and sherry and others michael and rachel you lead the project design and development for the past 10 years and the team that peter and others assembled you'll take us into the future thank you for your consideration and in and

the robust design for the construction effort going forward for future generations to come >> thank you, tilly if we tried to acknowledge all the folks that put their blood, sweat, and tears we could be here all day truly so many people from the agencies that have worked hard to get us to where we are one that is worthy mentioning jose was someone i remember mohammed and i went up to sacramento he did a lot of work in his tenure and acknowledge him as well and lots of folks go no longer with the city or state of federal government had a hand in that within our agency not a part of the organization that was not part of this from the traffic

engineers to the finance folks communications assessable services, safety, of course, traffic folks an incredibly strong team effort working across the agencies water and sewer and puc the great planning and financial folks at the transportation authority, the arts commission not too many city agencies have not touched this project and ultimately with all that good work it came down to the sfmta disorderly conduct to put together this funding and approve the project after that the environmental document was finalized wouldn't have been possible without the without sfmta and i see a couple members

of the board (calling names) and currently now under the great leadership of the chair of the board of sfmta please join me in welcoming cheryl brinkman thank you, thank you i'm excited this project includes the benefits for all road users and practice the goals of sfmta transit we're helping not only muni but go not only golden gate riders as well as this project will improve both frequency and reliability for all the transit users for people walking we'll have safer and friendly streets to achieve a citywide vision zero goal at circulations improvements and smoother pavement there is a high need for this project not only the 16 thousand muni riders that

supervisor president london breed references but 8 house golden gate riders use that with 24 development coming online those riders will be joined with people on foot and on buses thank you all very much. >> (clapping.) >> thank you cheryl brinkman the shoves shovels are being sharpened but thank you to my partner in the streets of san francisco our public works director to say a few words they're the partner in delivering projects there are unique aspects of working with the public works support we're using a unique mechanism it is called the contract approach different than your typical lump sum low cost build public works

has had a lot of experience with this bringing to our support that experience for this long horizontal project as well as great design support and support in many ways please help me welcome the director of the department public works mohammed nuru. >> thank you. >> (clapping.) >> ed and thank you for your speakers as you can see are true testimony on everybody working together to make a project come through and in public works how rare do we get an opportunity to do a lot of things it in one project new sewer lines and water and bus platforms but also the beauty of project it's the landscaping the sidewalks and the adu the connections from the ramps all making one cool project so many people with the

design especially i want to thank caltrans it is their highway and all the agreements and new york city and the possible words we had to do yes louis was instrumental i remember one day at 4 o'clock in the morning we went to sacramento and fighting over just to make that project come through today is a reality we're already started the work i'm excited and happy that the project is moving forward it is going to make a huge difference and commissioner london breed made that clear it is a different time our city is growing we need accommodate the growth from public works i want to thank our engineering staff (calling names) they've been on the project making sure that everything is

happening because some of the work and from the landscape team (calling names) they have been part of landscape will be new trees and new plants night connection itself when you walk or ride you're bicycle so we appreciate all that and for the environmental compliance and everyone that worked hard to make that project it is a great example of rapid transit and it is first here in the bay area i'm excited about it, too so thank you very much and thank you, everyone. >> (clapping.) >> thanks mohammed when he was talking about agreements what comes with agreements lawyers a lot of legal work with the funding agreement and the permitting i want to announce the city attorney's office a

number of firms with the h ac b and others and, of course, our construction general contractor will be a public-private effort but kind of last but more for the voice for the community for all this great work and all the great work for all the levels of government this project is not for us but for the people we all serve the people that live and work on the corridor and travel two or more and the corridor those are the beneficiaries of this i mentioned because alcohol, tobacco & firearms scale and complexity we have two advisory committees and a business committee their guidance is important so ultimately it is they are serving we're pleased to have the chair of the citizens advisory committee here to join us please join me in welcoming

alex wilson km. >> thank you for the construction workers wouldn't have been possible without the group thank you for making this happen i'm a little bit surprised was under the impression 3 van ness was my road in any neighborhood and the voters have you approved this i see that as definitely all our roads when i moved to san francisco in 2009 traveling van ness was a part of route i radioed it and craved critical upgrades to van ness for the major corridors and because it is a part of my neighborhood i wanted more efficient buses and safer sidewalks august's a clear crosswalks and better traffic lanes so the traffic can move for efficiently we're all here

today throwing paper because we love and care about our city a city of doers we index what is broken and strive for improvements from tech and corporate to the nonprofit we're the epic center of solutions the van ness project is a small example what it means to be a san franciscan to fix and improve by a what is not working our neighborhood will serve as an example to other neighborhood and drivers and pedestrians and businesses and residents me all of us, will benefit from the van ness improvement project our road will be savor your buses will run more efficiently and our pedestrians will have beautiful sidewalks to stroll down as a neighbor i look forward to more trans investigating van ness i look forward to the journey thank you very