>> he is fair, open-minded, appropriately humorous and compassionate as he is firm. he encourages conversation and finds common ground. his attention to the topic at hand is obvious as he's quick to assess the situation. thank you for your consideration. >> thank you, any other members of the public wish to comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. there is one of the things that i really wanted to get on the record in morning. that is a problem that has been vexing the residents of district 11 for some time. you and i discussed it, it's not directly, but indirectly related to the entertainment commission. actually two issues. one is we have a significantly high rate of empty store fronts and vacancies. i know you know that.

we've worked with commissioner blighman, talked about getting investment from folks that are in entertainment, restaurant, other industries. really like to see a focus on trying to promote more of that attention away from just the downtown core into some more of the outside neighborhoods. i know you talked about helping to create the program that encouraged liquor licenses that were below market design for economically challenged neighborhoods, so that's great. that's one. you don't have to respond to that. you can if you want to. but the second one is, the real vexing issue with the illegal gambling, after hour entertainment locations. we are going to be drafting legislation that is going to talk about enforcement and holding property owners responsible that these illegal -- when i'm saying entertainment venues, are

happening in. i would like to hear you talk about those. and i know supervisor stefani would like to make a comment or ask a question. i know the inspectors have the ability to go to entertainment facility, but you also should have interest in or concern about illegal entertainment venues and how we can begin to control those. >> right, all extremely valid points and put very accurately. illegal night life is a problem on many levels. it's not just the impact on the community that can be massive, noise levels and the people pouring out at 4, 5 in the morning, but it has adverse impact on our lawful operators who are paying permits and paying attataxes. so it's unfair business practice. that is illegal. and it's something that i will

advocate the commission, that the commission needs to take a stronger role in, but it will be collaborative. i think police need the abc involved, will need the city attorney involved. and i think the commissioner would be -- commission would be a great funnel point to navigate this in a coordinated effort. i think that your concept of going after property owners is spot on. these are consistent. these are lengthy processes. so the police have gone in the past, displaced these operations, for them to quickly reform and start back up. >> supervisor safai: just for the record. we're talking about venues that use front businesses, day operations, it could be a janitorial service company, a massage place, clothes store,

but around 1:00, 2:00 in the morning, they turn into places for gambling, prostitution and drugs. it's not everywhere in san francisco, but it is pervasive in our part of town. in the last year, we shut down five of these. but they bounce around and look for empty store fronts and wanting landlords. thank you for that. supervisor stech stefani? >> supervisor stefani: i think this is a great appointment. i have not had the chance to call on you, but i know if i have to, you will be there for me. when i was an aide to peer for four years, to supervisor farrell for five years, you were there every single time i called, whether it was noise ordinance violation, liquor license issue, but i knew every time i reached out to you, you would be there, follow through and do so in a measured way and i'm happy to support you today.

i thank you for always being there for the time i was an aide for nine years. it's true to your character, you show up, you do your job, do it well, and knowing we can always call on you is a big deal and happy to support you today. >> i take your praise to heart, thank you very much. >> supervisor yee: sounds like a great candidate for this. >> thank you, supervisor. >> supervisor yee: just talk a little bit more -- because your role is going to be a bit different in the commission versus your day job, so if you're on this commission, what would you like to actually accomplish, where would you like to drive our entertainment community? >> i think there is a couple of big topics. think one of the ones that is interesting for the city is the 4:00 a.m.

i'm confident it will pass. there is a transition period and i believe it would take effect in 2021. again i'd like to advocate that the commission take a big role in that process. and i think there is going to have to be -- it's kind of how i view cannabis. if it's coming, the best thing we can do is prepare. something i would like to see, like we did cannabis, was we started very early with a team of stakeholders, public, private, and community, strategygizing on how we saw this playing out. that's something i would like to start pursuing at the commission, saying, hey, we should model what they did, because it was highly successful, tremendous dialogue came out of it. and then secondly, very briefly, i concur completely with the chair. the illegal activity is problematic on so many levels.

i think it's something we need to get involved with. we can look at close across the bay at the ghost ship event. that was devastated and affected so many lives. we don't want that happening here. that's on a bigger scale, but we've certainly had those type of events. >> supervisor yee: thank you. >> supervisor safai: great. entertain a motion? thank you. somebody make a motion? >> yes, i'd like to make a motion approving the mayor's appointment of lieutenant dave falzon to the entertainment commission, striking the rejecting language and moving this to the full board with positive recommendations. >> supervisor safai: can we do that without objections? so moved. please call item number 3.

>> motion approving, rejecting the nomination of amanda eaken to the municipal transportation agency board of directors for term ending march 1, 2019. >> supervisor safai: please come forward, address the committee. >> good morning. my name is amanda eaken, i'm mayor breed's nominee to the municipal transportation agency board of directors. it is an honor to speak with each of you this morning. i want to thank you each of you for the work you and your staff do every day to ensure that our city thrives. i have a deep appreciation for all the challenges you face on a daily basis and salute your commitment to public service. in my remarks, i hope to accomplish three objectives. introduce myself and it will you about my background. share why i'm interesting on sharing on the sfmta board and

offer thoughts on the challenges facing the agency. i have lived in san francisco for nearly two decades. i currently reside in the north pan handle neighborhood with husband and two children. i'm employed with the natural resource of defense council, a national not-for-profit organization where i have worked ten years. prior to working there, i worked with the affordable housing project. in my current position, i am part of the healthy people and thriving communities team whose goal is to create healthy, just and sustainable communities. my commitment to this vision is part of what i would hope to bring to sfmta board. i'd be honored to serve on the board for several reasons. i'm deeply committed to the transit first and vision zero goals. i've been a transit rider all my

life. i believe our streets should be safe, inviting to all and there is no level of fatalities that is acceptable as people simply try to make their way around the city. we must end traffic fatalities and do it before 2024. i also believe we're in a time of transition when it comes to transportation, when it considers all the private sector investments. i believe we have to manage this transition wisely to harness the best innovations available, but guard against the worst outcomes. all across america, cities are struggling and i believe san francisco can lead on this. one the fundamental reasons i'm drawn to transportation is how transportation intersects with social justice. in my view, a truly excellent system can be a great equalizer,

elevating those with few means. or as we've seen commonly across the u.s., it can become a two-tiered system, for those who can or cannot afford to own a private vehicle. san francisco has been a beacon for equality, justice. i would like to see a process embodying these values. looking ahead, i wants to highlight just a few key issues i work with. one, the demands on the sfmta to deliver a high-quality transit service will only grow as more and more people move to the bay area and as the agency strives to meet the goals of 80% of sustainable trips by 2030. i believe the agency must operate on a model of continuous improvement.

i believe it's incumbent upon the agency to thoughtfully examine what has gone well and what we could be doing better and strive always to improve. second, public outreach and engagement continue to be vitally important areas, not only to ensure inclusion of key stakeholders, but product delivery. as anyone has been to sfmta board meetings, individuals feel their input is devalued and priorities ignored. we need to do a better job, making sure people are not taken by surprise. foonly i want to -- finally i want to speak to the relationship between the sfmta board and board of supervisors. as supervisors, you understand transportation in the context of broader issues, such as education, employment and housing. i feel that information exchange between the board of supervisors and the sfmta board is not only

appropriate but necessary for a city that has a dynamic as complex as san francisco. should i be fortunate enough to receive your support, i would make it a priority to meet regularly with your offices, hear your concerns and ensure that a dialogue exists. i want to close by thanking each of you for your attention and commitment to excellent transportation in san francisco. i look forward to answering any questions you may have. thank you. >> supervisor safai: i think we're going to go straight to public comment on this. i'll save my comments. i just want to see how many people are here to comment. ok. please proceed. >> good morning. my name is brian, i am the executive director of the

bicycle coalition. on behalf of 10,000 members, i voice strong support for mayor breed's nomination of amanda eaken to the sfmta board. i do not have to tell the committee the sfmta has work to do. it struggles to remain relevant to the communities it serves. for the coalition and the member, it means delivering bicycle safety improvements with speed, helping to meet the vision zero goals. meanwhile, there are tens of thousands of vehicles and emerging mobility technology, from autonomous vehicles and scooters, present san franciscans with new way to get around and transportation planners with new challenges. the nature of transportation in san francisco is shifting rapidly. russell franklin, 56, was hit and killed while biking at the

intersection of howard and van ness. last night, a 65-year-old man, yet to be identified was killed trying to cross the street. sfmta faces many challenges ahead if it is to stop the bloodshed on our streets and ensure that all san franciscans have access to transportation. as a public school parent who bikes regularly with her children, amanda knows firsthand the urgent need for street safety improvements. as a nationally recognized expert on transportation policy, amanda is better qualified than anyone i know to help the city navigate these challenges. mayor breed is to be commended -- [bell ringing] >> supervisor safai: thank you, next speaker. >> i'm here to speak briefly.

on behalf of the neighbor and represented employee who works for sfmta, during this time of transition, i'm including the economy, which makes hiring difficult and we have substantial management turnover, it's created difficulties that are unappreciated for these represented employees. particularly those in enforcement division. i'm hopeful you'll be mindful of these. thank you. >> supervisor safai: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning, board of supervisors. my name is charles. i'm the president of the north pan handle association. i'm here in support of amanda eaken, the merely appointment for the sfmta board of directors. earlier this year, the association committed a vision zero subcommittee. the committee was to identify

streets that are high injury corridors and to assist and to make sure -- we can approach it with safety. when we invited the public to join this committee, amanda was actually the one and only member of the public to join the committee. and which we appreciated because in the short amount of time that we have this committee, we have pushed forward measures from the planning -- from the mta to do daylighting on one of the high-injury corridors in a short amount of time. and amanda also assisted in the creation of a future proposal to assist, identify and do a study on high-injury corridor in the neighborhood. the pan handle association is asking for the board of

directors to approve the mayoral appointment, amanda eaken. we believe her judgment, independent thinking and approach in assessing the situation, or assessing an issue or proposal, is very key. and also her ability to obtain diverse feedback from individuals, especially for the city that has diverse opinions. thank you so much. >> supervisor safai: thank you, next speaker. >> hi, good morning. i'm a delivery leader to delivery associate. i work with amanda as team member on the philanthropy climate challenge. amanda's knowledge, expertise and leadership has been instrumental to the success of the project. her passion for issues related to transportation is not only evident in her professional achievements, but also in her daily life as an avid bicyclist

and a regular muni rider. in the time that i have known amanda, she has not only been a reliable and understanding peer, but also an inspiring mentor. as a san francisco resident, i'm excite thad amanda will be serving on the board to help the city move forward with the transit goal. >> supervisor safai: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning. my name is toya. i have been amanda eaken's colleague for seven years at the natural resources defense council, where she has been an advocate. over the course of her tenure, amanda has grown to be quite the power house. in her role in transportation and climate, she is integral to enforcing our climate emissions. her commitment to communities that she serves and her dedication to moving cities forward as it pertains to

transportation-related pollution that plagues all of us. i have been witness tenacious advocate. amanda is an amazing colleague to work with, but also a staunch supporter and friend. she is thoughtful, inclusive of others and she's the person in the room, when she talks, you lean closer to hear what she's saying. when you work in an environmental organization, especially nonprofit, over the past few years, you begin to feel protective of everything you worked so hard to build. i recall how she was excited about being selected to this board and humbled by the opportunity of the nomination from mayor breed. her excitement was so infectious, i wanted it for her and all of us, because i knew she was the best person for this appointment. amanda embodies the ideas we all

hold dear. she'll be a huge asset to the sfmta board and the city of san francisco and i support her nomination. thank you. >> supervisor safai: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning and thanks for the opportunity to give public comment. i'm here in support of amanda eaken's nomination and applaud mayor breed for selecting such an intelligent, professional and driven woman and fellow colleague. i've worked with amanda in my capacity at the natural resources defense council, i was the director of latino outreach and working with diverse communities. in that capacity, i looked at her personal commitment to being fully inclusive and dedicated not just the series, but truly meeting people where they are, learning more about their situations and continuing

conversation in a way that yielded the best results. i believe she will bring that type of deep learning commitment and professionalism to this role. as a san franciscan who has lived here over 20 years now, and who has two children, who rely on muni and the safety and the dependability, i could think of no other person who i would trust more with making sure that our services are functioning the way that they should and justly and equally for all san franciscans. thank you for the opportunity. >> supervisor safai: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning, my name is christopher roach, i'm a private citizen, architect. principal of small firm in the mission district of san francisco. as the owner of a small business, i know all too well how many of my colleagues and coworkers live outside the city

or even in the city, rely on a robust mobility system to be able to live and work. as architects that work on affordable housing, i also understand how our clients, the residents of these buildings that we design rely also on a robust, resilient, and equitable mobility system to survive, to get to work, to find essential services and nurture their families. i've known amanda for many years and have admired her as both a person and as a professional. i'm here today to strongly endorse her appointment to this board. amanda is generous, fair, inclusive, and driven by a deep commitment to making our city strong, resilient, and equitable places for all people. her work as the director of transportation and climate has prepared her well for this

position. as you've heard, she knows -- shows how she can listen to diverse viewpoints, create compromise that work for all people and she is a planner that will embrace the important work of the sfmta, make a contribution in the names of all of the citizens of san francisco, both current and future. so, thank you. and i strongly support this appointment. >> supervisor safai: thank you, next speaker. good morning, everyone. i'm a student at stanford university. over the past few months, i've had the pleasure of working under amanda eaken. throughout this time, we've been working on the american city's climate challenge, where we're helping cities across the country on building efficiency and transportation. throughout my time here, i've

been -- expertise, on all things transportation. from mobility hubs to charging to transforming transit and making it a better experience for commuters. i've also been in awe of her consistent dedication to her work and all the hard work she puts in every single day to make transformative solutions a reality. as a resident of san francisco, i'm excited to see her vision translate out into the city. please stand by.

>> maybe it's a couple of percentage points improvement in that area. i think we're in an era where public transportation is facing a lot of competition from other modes of travel, and public

transportation needs do a much -- to do a much better job competing. it's up to the agency to analyze why do people feel safe and what have the analysis been in other cities to improve safety and where have we seen a marked increase in the safety comparison. >> supervisor yee: follow up on that question? >> supervisor safai: go ahead. >> supervisor yee: thank you. i think by pointing out that maybe we need to find out why people feel or have the feeling of being unsafe may imply that it could be safe, but it's really not safe. what i've seen it there's been

examples of good reasons why people shouldn't do -- wouldn't be safe because they've been attacked, been robbed, whatever, so can you -- i'd like to hear more about how you would try to address that. >> so to the station -- i think it was a 59 or so percent in the stations and 60 percent on the bus, so the station concerns is one area where we could address, populate issues of design, lighting. i think lighting is probably a big factor there. there's something also to be said about the locations of stations, whether those are near natural centers of activity or they're in more remote, desolate locations, so that's the station piece. in terms of the actual experience riding on the bus, i think that has to do quite a bit with the driver and the

driver sort of training. through some recent conversations, it's come to me that in a sense, the driver needs almost a sort of facilitation skills. that's the driver's atmosphere, is the bus, and the driver has to manage a lot of dynamics on the bus. i'm not familiar with what trainings the drivers currently go through, but with my conversations with the transit director of the sfmta, that's one of the driver's roles is creating a safe atmosphere on the bus itself. >> supervisor yee: supervisor stefani, are you done? let me ask a question, real general question, what you see as one of the biggest problems with the sfmta and why would that be and what would you do about it. >> i think one of the major,

major challenges we're facing right now is simply delivering a high quality service to the residents of san francisco. so we have all sort the of metr metrics in the strategic plan, but the one thing that stands out to me is performance, 57%. that's worse than a failing grade, if i can go back to grade school for a minute. the goal there i think is an 85% perthe city charter. there's a goal by fy 19 to bump that up 25 percentage points up to an 85% rating. so brass tacks, making buses run on time, giving people that confidence that they can rely on the bus as a way to get around. so one of the things i would do then is look at the data, look at the analytics. what are the causes of buses not showing up on time? is it car -- is it t.n.c.'s

parking in the bus lanes? is it a lack of trained driver's? is it a lack of trained buses? analyze what are those interventions and then design strategic interventions to address each one of those challenges, and i think we need to make a meaningful improvement in this in the next two years. >> supervisor yee: and then, as you know, san francisco is a vision zero city, and i'd like to hear some of your views around how we can actually strengthen our positions, especially for seniors and for bicyclists. >> yeah. so as i understand, we have been making progress on vision zero over the last several years. the numbers are going down, down, down. this year, i think we're actually on track to exceed last year's numbers, which is

tragic. the -- the one thing i will say about vision zero is that this is a problem that must be informed by data analysis, so we know we have mapped -- we're very, very clear where those high injury corridors are. i think you spoke about those earlier, the high injury network. we know which streets this is happening on. brian spoke about this earlier. we know the dangerous places, so i think we need to focus our resources on quickly and meaningfully addressing street improvements to tackle this problem. it's not a question of every single street in san francisco needs a retrofit. it is repeated as where the activity is, it is often where the roads are wider, where the vehicle speeds are faster, where people are simply trying to get across the street, and quite simply, in some cases, even as a person, you know, without -- without any

disabilities, even as an able-bodied person, it's challenging to across those streets. thinking then about people with different abilities, elderly, it becomes very intimidating to think about crossing those streets. so prioritizing the investments where we know those are happening. i do think this is a problem we can solve in a reasonably short amount. that's why it is at 2024, and it is just about focusing the resources in the right places. >> supervis >> supervisor yee: there was some issues in the news recently about the west portal tunnel, and then doing some work and one of the workers got killed. one of the workers got killed out there, and then, we found out that the company that

m.t.a. contracted with had a history of issues with safety. so what's your -- and i don't want to just, you know, pick on m.t.a. -- [inaudible] >> supervisor yee: -- this is really not a very good system of identifying and contracting companies that may have bad records. >> so it seems to me with this issue and with many other issues that the agency has

faced recently, such as the tunnel closure, such as the lack of available drivers to support the tunnel closure, there needs to be sort of an up and down assessment. and as we spoke about earlier this week, kind of a mapping. we call it -- we call it a delivery chain, where we examine all of the steps along the path from initiation to delivery of a project? and we need to sort of map out where we might go wrong on the path of that delivery chain and do a bit of a risk analysis of what we've not considered. it seems to me that if we had taken that kind of an approach to this challenge, we might have identified, we might have taken a look back and learned hmm, this contractor is a key i implementer, and that might have been a way to delete those issues so that we did not

proceed with this kind of contractor. >> supervisor yee: hopefully you'll look into this history with a little more detail because it's pretty serious to me that the only thing the city does is ask anybody that's bidding on a contract if they have any issues, and we don't check. so we don't even check, and what you're describing is we're assuming that they go through this, and we don't check the records. i think you need -- hopefully, as a commissioner, you will take this very seriously. we don't need another worker to die. >> yeah. yeah. it sounds like you identified a critical flaw in the system and part of what we need to focus are those systems and processes that underline the basics of what the sfmta does.

if we identify problems like that, then, it is a incumbent on the agency to fix them as quickly as possible. >> supervisor yee: thank you. >> thank you. >> supervisor safai: i honestly don't know where to begin. not with you. i think your credentials with stellar, but i think we have a fundamentally flawed system in san francisco. i think the citizens in san francisco bear the brunt of that flawed system. it's been flawed for a tremendous amount of time. i mean, just one simple measure of that, you stated on the record. 57% on-time performance. that, for what we believe, the city that knows how, the city that believes it's a world leader, that is -- that's beyond embarrassing. and then, when i -- problems are identified, there has been no -- i haven't seen any marked

difference, structural change. i think that in this city, i think we have attempted, and i think there's been some real thoughtful conversations about adjusting the structure within which we make policy in this city as it relates to transportation. but for some reason, that's not working. i think many people would say oh, when it comes to on time performance, they try to point fingers at the drivers, and then, they try to point fingers at organized labor, but later on our agenda, we have an agency that has the same workforce, organized labor, and i don't think there's anyone in this city or in the world, in fact, that would criticize our water department, our public utilities commission. in fact it's one of the world leaders and has many of the same makeup and factors.

so you are obviously very bright and accomplished. why do you want to be part of a system that is failing? do you believe you can make change there? because there's a lot of people that have come before this committee that have believed they can make change in this agency. do you believe you can make change? >> i do believe i can make change for a few reasons. once is i have the background as you referenced. i have a background in transportation, so i can hit the ground running and come up to speed quite quickly on the issues facing the agency. second, as i've referenced my personal and professional goals are just extremely well aligned of that mission with the sfmta that's to create the safe, sustainable and equitiable transportation system. and finally, i am a pragmatist, so i think that responsiveness

that supervisor yee spoke about, the responsiveness that supervisor stefani spoke about in terms of the last appointee is something we need to do a better job on. it's something that i would be honored -- it's something we spoke about yesterday. it's a challenge, and i'm eyes wide open, and i would like to take on that challenge. >> supervisor safai: let me ask you, do you believe the agency's managed well. >> we spoke about this yesterday. it's a large agency and a multifaceted agency. i view that as both a challenge and an opportunity. the fact that so many aspects of transportation are under one roof is unique in the country, and i think it ought to be the model to have transit have street design, have parking, have traffic, have taxis under one agency. that truly allows you to have that holistic and comprehensive view. i think government often falls

into the trap of silos and lack of communication across those different silos, and i think there are a couple of different examples arrest that siloization has challenged the agency, and that's some of those difficulties on systems and challenges in the agency. i think there's room for improvement. >> supervisor safai: so you think it's unique in the united states to have a structure setup. you've said that. do you think that system works well? do you think it's important to have so many disparate pieces under one roof? >> i think that provides an opportunity to be holistic and integrated in emergency room its of managing the system as a whole, in emergency room its of managing the transportation system as a whole. i do think that's the model. if you look at transport london, they have that same model, and it's allowed them to do so much because they have that model, but it's a holistic

transition, and we're not there yet. >> supervisor safai: supervisor yee referenced vision zero. vision zero is about safety and slowing things down. >> yes. >> supervisor safai: muni forward is about moving the buses as fast as possible through the city, and when these principles are implemented on the ground, things get lost. i told in our meeting, we had a major reform of a major intersection, one of the highest bus frequented bus stops, mission and generva. while i was sitting with supervisors, an elderly person was crossing the street and was

hit. i can tell you what i think about the system is if you want amou -- fundamentally flawed, we propose a policy, and we work with the planning commission, and there is a back and forth between those agencies. this policy for transportation is created in this universe, in this commission, in this department that is beyond clunky, that is gigantic. as you said, all these disparate pieces, and we have no say, we have no influence, we have no creative input in that policy. but yet, we are the ones that bear -- meaning us as elected officials bear that policy on a daily basis. that is a flawed system as a policy maker, as a planner, as a legislator.

that's what i'd like you to address. >> the relationship between the sfmta board and the board of supervisors -- >> supervisor safai: i'm glad you highlighted that. >> i'm so cognizant that you all hear from your constituents on a daily basis -- i don't have enough parking, i don't have enough -- whatever it is, and how is this communicated to the sfmta board, and how is the board responsive to you, and then, to your constituents. >> supervisor safai: i really want to highlight that for you because we've had other commissioners that we've reappointed say they were going to come to more community meetings, talk about being responsive, talk about being more active and involved, but they disappear. but i can see from your track record -- please don't take this as an attack personally. i'm not. i'm using it as an opportunity to layout a clear mandate because that is the mandate of this board.

i've spoken to all of my colleagues. i think we all share in that frustration universally. even when we have little issues that we try to put forward, they're even highlighted in advance. let me give you an example. you talked about the safety issue in the tunnel. they were shutting down the tunnel for a few months to do that construction and kind of bring it up and all of a sudden, i got 15 e-mails, one day. they had painted entire corners of entire blocks red and taken away parking over in the lakeview neighborhood in my district. no public outreach, no informing of the -- not even a flier, not even a contact, and i just -- i can't understand how that would even be possible in terms of a decision making, other than you have an agency that is not responsive or responsible to anyone or feels like it can do it with

impunity. because if the water department turns the water off, they're letting everyone know in advance that construction's happening on the street. th they have an army of people on the street, handing out fliers, contacting neighborhood associations. it is not happening in the sfmta. supervisor stefani, did you want to say something? >> supervisor stefani: yeah. i'd like to add that and second all of that. and you know, you said in your opening remarks that sometimes community input is devalued and ignored, and then we as elected officials bear the brunt of that. and then, if we push back on the m.t.a. in terms of asking for that community outreach or asking for that work to be done, we are then cast in a light that is not always true. and we ask that the sfmta work with us in terms of that community outreach and that community input because we -- like supervisor safai said, are the ones who hear from the

constituents, as we should. so we definitely want to be working with the sfmta board of directors and those that are in the sfmta to bring forth things like bike share because we value that, and we also care about that. so it creates this -- basically this conflict that is not necessary, and we want to work with the m.t.a. to provide those things of which we also value. so it is a problem, and i think it's definitely one we need to be working on. >> thank you for raising. can i comment on engagement for a minute? >> supervisor safai: yes, i'm sorry. go ahead. >> so there's been i think the way we've always done outreach and community management. we can all imagine, 6:00 or so, refreshments, posters. i think that reaches some people, but i think we need to be taking a hard look at

whether that's the way to do community engagement or whether we can use other personal strategies. the traffic circle at lyon and mcallister at my house, nobody outreached to me half a block from where i am. i don't like it. they've taken out the two stop signs. my two daughters are just starting to walk to school. i find that incredibly intimidating. i had no notification that that was going to be happening, so -- so just thinking about a person like myself, what modes of outreach would have found me? is it an e-mail or something that i could go to, how could we get creative in looking at the difficulty and different types of energy impacted in those different types of outreach, and then, the impact of that, different types of outreach strategies people feel heard and people feel like they

know what's going on. it seems like that community meeting, that traditional meeting is labor intensive and not a lot of people feel it's not effective. so maybe we just want to look at other strategies. >> supervisor safai: i just want to put a fine point on it because i think going back to a fundamentally flawed design, the p.u.c. has water paying customers, right? the -- the air has customers and clients and tenants, they have commissions, but their policy is crafted in partnership with this body, and this body is ultimately responsible and elected by the voters. i have 70-plus thousand bosses. those are my constituents. we all share the same number, 77,000. there is no one. when i appoint you or when we appoint you as a body, you're there for four years. unless you decide you want to

step down, you are responsible to -- at the will of the mayor, who appointed you, and then, this body. but after that, you're really not accountable to anybody. that agency is not accountable to anybody. what motivates all these city agencies to do that outreach is they are accountable. there is no accountability to sfmta and that is a fundamentally flawed system and problem in this city. and i just want to let you know, we are going to continue to work on that as this body, we are going to continue to push that, and we are going to bring back policies and we are going to bring back a conversation about changing that structure. i know supervisor yee put forth a ballot measure two years ago that would share in the responsibility this body and the mayor. that was defeated by the voters. i'm not interested in having the payment power of the commission. i'm interested in having the ability to set policy and work

with you in tandem and in partnership. that's what i think is a problem. so you've identified community outreach, you've highlighted working with the board. what are areas that you want to personally tackle as a commissioner? >> i want to restore the public faith in the public transportation system. i mean, fundamentally. >> supervisor safai: so on time performance. >> when this issue was raised -- get a lot of growns. yeah, everyone loves to hate me, and i think we need to give people reasons to have a sense of pride in their system. >> supervisor safai: you've traveled around the world. you've looked at a lot of other transportation systems. why is our system not working? >> well, one issue -- there are probably many, but i'll raise one issue that i learned about in the course of my briefings. the head of the transit -- because of this multisiloed organization, head of the transit division may have a need, know that there's a need for a certain number of bus drivers, but the folks training

the bus drivers are not part of the same division, so the h.r. training division is going to move at the pace that they think is appropriate, and they're going to move at a different pace. it's one of those delivery chain challenges that if we know about, we have to make that. >> supervisor safai: i appreciate you saying that. we talked about that the other day. that impacted the entire citywide slow down when the tunnel went under construction. that seems to be something that should have been easily identified and planned for advance. if people are late to work or late to school, that is -- that's a fundamentally flawed not working system. is that something as a

commissioner that you could take on as a challenge. >> i think it's the job of the commission to hold the agency accountable to its own goals. we've got a goal on paper that we're going to go from 57% on time to a goal of 85% on time in a period of two years. >> supervisor safai: how about the executive director of the agency or general manager has a contract right there, so contracted employee. so if we fired that person tomorrow, they would get a hefty payout. how about tieing something into their contract that says if you don't improve on time performance, you don't get any payout? we have the ability to ask you to leave in any given -- you know, within a reasonable amount of time. how about making that part of the contract? you will have authority to write that contract. 57% is abysmal. it's a failing grade. how about writing that into the contract? would you commit to that?

>> i would tell you one of the things we're committing in our organization, we are mapping those down to the level of the individual work plan and the individual performance plan so that you commit to own a specific goal, whatever that goal may be, and then, it is part of your evaluation, your performance evaluation every year how well you're actually meeting that goal that the organization sets. that doesn't sound like rocket science but you'd be surprised how many places have strategic plans with lofty goals, and nobody believes it's in their plan to hit that strategic goal. >> supervisor safai: i request tell you right now, our general manager from the p.u.c. is here, 57% of the citizens of the city got water, and the remainder didn't, i don't think he'd have a job the next day.

i'm sorry. i think it would be immediately -- that is outrageous, i'm sorry. that's one thing. just a basic -- you talked about it a little bit, the boarding area, the waiting stations, there's no uniformity at all. lighting, the signal, the -- i don't know what you call them, the things that let people know when they're arriving. >> on time arrival. >> supervisor safai: something's not working with that, but uniformity, rust having a clean, well-lit, well informed -- just having a clean, well-lit, well informed station, bus stop, how about that being a goal, citywide goal that people can feel proud -- 'cause that is something that's a visible improvement that you can see.

>> the other -- the only mitigating factor on the on time performance, the only way people can make that work for them is using the on time information. i just look at the transit arrival app and see when it's coming. so in some sense, that on time performance, hitting that schedule, may be less important than when the real-time arrival says it's going to come. is it going to come or does it suddenly shift by ten minutes or back by ten minutes, and then suddenly, you're rushing. but i believe to its credit, this was the first full-time arrival agency in its country, but it was back in 1999, we installed that technology and that needs updating. >> we have these cars that press a button, and you can actually see where the driver is and what street. how about an app like that? how about an app that shows you where the bus is? i'm not the person that's --

we're not going to solve this today. i'm just saying, that is a simple improvement that would let people -- oh, wow, so there's a whole bunch of red buses there. it's not coming in 22 minutes, oh, but now, it's open up. >> the transit app shows you that. the trouble is the real-time information on the bus themselves is not reliable, so it'll say there's no bus, and a bus will show up, like, a ghost bus we show them, or it says it's going to show up in 20 minutes and it shows up in two. we need to make sure if it says five minutes, it's actually going to show up in five minutes so people can plan around that. >> supervisor safai: supervisor yee. >> supervisor yee: so i guess you're feeling some of your frustrations. >> not just you, you and your colleagues, there's a whole lot of frustration.

>> supervisor yee: so i think chair safai said it correctly. don't take this personal. you just happen to be here. and i -- there's -- some of the questions i ask you i would like, in the future, maybe to have better answers, but i also feel like you -- the way you feel about things, the way you try to analyze things and look at mapping out stuff and finding out where the weak points are, i think those are assets that can be useful for the commission. if you can get the rest of the commissioners to actually think in those terms, so i'm ready to move you forward with a positive recommendation to the full board. >> supervisor safai: i'm just going to say one last thing. thank you, supervisor yee. i -- the reason i'm underscoring and putting a fine point on many of these issues is i hope we will continue to see you. i want to continue to work with

you, but in case we didn't, and you got tied up in the bureaucracy of the sfmta in doing your job as a commissioner, i wanted you to understand some of the things that are really, really important to this body. we've only touched on -- we could talk for the next couple hours about this, if not more, and i think it's really important. to me, i wanted to emphasize the structural problems that i think are wrong. and i told you yesterday, and say it again today, please make a short list of one or two things that you believe that you can tackle in your time as a commissioner. i think that will make it the most effective time for you going into a very challenging agency. supervisor stefani, did you want to add anything or did you just want to second the motion? okay. so we'll do a positive recommendation. good luck on your journey. hope you can accomplish some things, and we look forward to working with you [ gavel ]. >> thank you.

[applause] >> supervisor safai: please call the next item. >> clerk: mr. chair, would you like to call the next two items because there appear to be duplicate speakers for the -- >> supervisor safai: sure. >> clerk: item four is a motion approving and directing the mayor's reappointment of ike kwon to the public utilities commission for a term ending august 31, 2022, and a motion approving and directing the mayor's reappointment of anson moran to the public utilities commission for a term ending august 31, 2022. >> i want to thank my colleagues and supporters who are here. i also want to thank mayor london breed -- bless you --