robert gow morning and welcome to the san francisco transportation authority meeting for today, tuesday, september 25. our clerk is mr. alberto quintanilla. mr. quintanilla, please call the roll. [roll call] >> clerk: we have quorum. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, mr. quintanilla. i will go to the chair's report.

colleagues, yesterday we kicked off transit week in the city with a few bumps in the road, so to speak. i actually think it's a really good thing to have public officials see firsthand how public infrastructure is or is not working in our districts and to hear from transit riders directly about what their experiences are like, problems and all, and it helps us improve and appreciation this extensive system that keeps the city running for hundreds of thousands of people every day, so i want to thank my colleagues who joined the rally here at city hall yesterday to talk about investment in improving our extensive system, especially or l.r.v.s -- our l.r.v.s, who don't seem to be running on time, and regional ferries and b.a.r.t., and of course my personal favorite, cable cars, that visitors from

all over the world come and enjoy. we know with equitiable and affordable and reliable public transportation, we will have a world class center, which is why it's so important that we continue to robustly invest in our system and its growth. recognizing that last year, mayor lee and i convened the 50 person task force 2045 that was charged with identifying transportation needs and solution to ensure that the next generation of transit and street improvements are there and are funded. it wasn't just the mayor's -- it wasn't the mayor's task force or the board's, it was the cities, and the input came in over half a year with neighborhood leaders, businesses big and small and transportation advocates. as you've heard before, the task force identified $22 billion in infrastructure and transit need over the next 27 years, which is a daunting amount that will require federal, state, and of course

local investment to defray. i'm proud to say that -- [inaudible] >> supervisor peskin: -- to affirm san francisco's ability to levee a pertrip tax on t.n.c. trips, and i want to acknowledge that bill had the support of the t.n.c. industry in the form of uber and lyft, as well. i thank all of them for their support, and now, we have to take the next step, which is to craft a tax to put before the voters in november of 2019, and i look forward to doing that with all of you. it's important to stress that while we have been looking at ways to generate sustainable funding streams, pursuing a

t.n.c. tax does not mean we will continue to push on congestion pricing as a way to denentivize private driving. i look forward to collaborating you with as we put this ordinance before the voters next fall. if passed, this will combine with other needed measures, such as transportation taxes, and our own transportation bond that the voters generously approved in the amount of .5 billion. as we all heard when governor brown and mayor breed hosted

the global climate summit earlier this month, we have an urgent need to boost our investment in green transportation and infratruck is it your. transportation makes up 40% of greenhouse gas emissions in california alone, and while we can't do it alone, we need to do our past, and that includes sb 1, which means defeating proposition 6, the repeal of sb 1. we see $60 million a year in formula funding from the gas tax to increase transit service and pave our streets as well as $550 million in competitive funding that can be used to expand muni, b.a.r.t. and caltrain, as well as ferries. so i want to thank you for unanimously voting to oppose proposition 6, and i urge our community and neighborhood groups and leaders to learn about this. let's save or transit infrastructure funding this

november and kill proposition 6. that concludes the chair's report, and next item, please, mr. quintanilla. >> clerk: public comment. >> supervisor peskin: i'm sorry? >> clerk: public comment. >> supervisor peskin: is there any public comment on the chair's report? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> clerk: item three, executive director's report. this is information item. >> supervisor peskin: hold on, tilly. we'll turn your microphone on. >> yes. good morning. thank you, chair peskin and supervisors. i want to reiterate our remark to see assembly member ting and governor brown for signing 184, and thank you president peskin for forging this developmental policy around t.n.c.'s. on the federal level, i'll update you on a few things. the federal fuel efficiency standards that california was able to forge under the obama administration is under challenge by the e.p.a. under

this administration. they've reversed course, announcing their plan to freeze fuel efficiency targets for 2020 for six years and to end california's ability to set our own standards, so this is a terrible development, and governor brown has vowed, along with 13 other states, to fight this development and to seek and to sustain our california waiver on this issue. so we'll continue to stay abreast of this and help support that effort. the state's mandate does not take place until later this year, so we have some time to work on this together with other states. on a more positive news in development, we do have some clean air vehicle decal developments. there's been a successful program with the clean air vehicles. some of these have really begun to increase the congestion in the carpool lanes themselves. there's been a balancing act at the state level to try to

promote clean vehicles but also maintain the speed and efficiency of the carpool lanes. the legislation has extended that program, but soon, it will end -- end because of the congestion in the lanes. starting january 2019, the state will stop issuing vehicles except for low-income residents. low-income residents will be able to maintain certain decals for used clean air vehicles just to try and balance out this policy. so this is a developing issue for us as we continue to study the potential for carpool lanes here in san francisco and balance that against our climate goals. assembly member chiu, we want to thank him for shepherding ab 2065. that's our managed tolling lanes bill, to utilize the

v.t.a. authority, in addition to the authority we already have access to under the bay area toll agency and that's m.t.c. we are still of course evaluating managed lanes. i appreciate that several members of the board will be coming to los angeles to study their system. we look forward to reporting back after our october 12 visit to los angeles together with several members of san mateo's transportation authority board and congestion management agency. regional measure 3, as chair mentioned, is the bridge toll increase that was adopted or approved earlier this -- last year, excuse me, and there will be a public hearing on the toll increase -- and they will be bringing a final toll schedule for adoption in december. we will keep the folks abreast of the dates of that, and when the funds are available. we do hope to seek those for projects like the downtown rail

extension, the mission bay ferry landing and many other projects that are important to san francisco. b.a.r.t. cars, muni l.r.v. cars, for example. and regarding the -- on the local level, the global climate action summit was a terrific success. want to congratulate governor brown and mayor breed for their successful event. we were also pleased to offer a fun clean transportation scavenger hunt. this featured public transit, walking and biking options here in san francisco for the conference attendees and local participants. we want to really thank our sponsors and local business partners who offered prizes to all those who participated.

just wanted to be mentioning that we will be hosting two public workshops in september. later this week, september 27 and september 31 at the ship shape community center, and we'll have staff as well as workshops and are also happy to do meeting with other community groups who can't make that event. another meeting will happen, as well, of this body acting as the treasure island mobility management committee in october, on the 4 at 10:30 a.m. in room 1063, and that's where we'll have a hearing on the proposed mobility plan and toll schedule. a second mobility meeting is happening in district ten mobility study and that is following up on some community led workshops for how we can improve access to the southeast sector. on september 29, we're hosting an interactive community event to gather feedback on what came out of that workshop.

we invite folks to come and learn more on our website, sfcta.org/designlabs. our long range planning program is also kicking off. we wanted to give an update that the transit and freeway master planning to address the climate and congestion, this is moving and on its way through our funding process. we'll be bringing some prop k requests to you all to support these efforts next month, and we're excited to see the state is also investing with us as well as the region in these important efforts. this will culminate in the update of our county wide transportation plan, which will coordinate with bay area 2050. i also just wanted to thank various organizations for inviting me to speak last week.

i was fortunate to travel to madrid, copenhagen, and i emphasized very much our transit first policy that continues to be our northstar and guide or investment and policy work, particularly around t.d.m. and pricing -- excuse me, demand management and pricing, and also bringing new mobility how we're bringing regulatory but transit based efforts to our work. we have updated the may decide streetsf relaunch is here. we -- the mystreetsf relaunch is here. we've been able to update that with more features. happy to introduce eric reeves who can play a short video and

say a few words. [video playing] >> i'm eric reeves, the project manager for mystreetsf.

we hope that the new and improved mystreetsf will be a more useful tool for board members and the public to learn about how funds ad centered by the transportation authority are used to help improve transportation in san francisco. i'm happy to make myself available to you and your staff to further demonstrate the functionality of the website. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. eric. >> great. speaking of projects that we've funded and supported here at the t.a., the geary corridor buzz rapid project has proceeded and is underway, including the bus only lanes, the painted and pedestrian safety treatments and parking and load changes, so we'll keep you up to date on that, and construction does proceed on the second part of the phase

from stan i donnion to 34th. thank you so much, chair. >> supervisor peskin: is there any public comment on the executive director's report? seeing none, public comment is closed. [ gavel ]. >> supervisor peskin: mr. quintanilla, could you please call the consent agenda. >> clerk: items 4 through seven refers to a consent agenda. staff is not planning to present on any of these items but they may be pulled and considered separately. >> supervisor peskin: is there any public comment on item number four, approval of the minutes from september 11? seeing none, public comment is closed. [ gavel ]. >> supervisor peskin: and on the consent agenda, a roll call, please.

>> clerk: motion? >> supervisor peskin: oh, that's right. we do motions here. motion by supervisor ronen, seconded -- by commissioner ronen, seconded by commissioner brown. and on that motion, a roll call, please. >> clerk: on the consent agenda -- [roll call] >> clerk: we have final approval. >> supervisor peskin: okay. all of those items are finally approved. congratulations, mrs. geege. that was monument tall. call the next item. >> clerk: recognition to michael painter for the presidio park design. this is an action item. >> supervisor peskin: commissioner stefani?

>> supervisor stefani: thank you. colleagues. but you is a recognition of michael painter for his outstanding contributions to the presidio park design. he passed away on june 29 after a long life and distinguished career in architecture. michael had his own firm, michael painter and associates since 1969, later renamed m.p.a. design in 1984 and in the course of his career completed over 850 projects, winning over 60 awards. he was a distinguished alumnus of the college of environmental design at u.c. berkeley and fellow of the american society of landscape architects. he is credited on multiple awards for his work. michael is survived by sue, his wife, his son, josh, daughter melissa, son-in-law, assandro,

and grandson alessandro. his contribution will be remembered for decades. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, commissioner stefani. is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. tilly, through the chair, is there something that you wanted to say? >> thank you. just wanted to say the work that michael has contributed is tremendous, turning doyle drive into a park was his vision. he was fortunately able to celebrate with us when we open it had in 2015. i was pleased to attend his memorial service with the former executive director last month, and we will be bringing the certificate to his family. we spoke with sue painter who really wanted to extend her appreciation to this body. couldn't be here today, but we will be bringing that shortly.

>> supervisor peskin: thank you, madam executive director. is there a motion to approve item 8? made by commissioner ronen, seconded by commissioner brown. colleagues, can we take that same house, same call? it is finally approved on first appearance. next item, please. >> clerk: item nine, major capital project update, better market street. this is an information item. >> supervisor peskin: okay. and who do we have presenting this? >> good morning, chair peskin and commissioners. i am christine olea. as a condition of our obad funding, which you approved in 2017, we are requested to come back and give quarterly updates for the project. i have a powerpoint, please.

as you know better market street is a joint effort. san francisco public works is the lead agency, but we are working closely with four other agencies and city departments including the sfmta, the planning department, the transportation authority and san francisco public utilities commission. better market street runs from along market street from stewart all the way to octavia, which is about 2.2 miles in total. the project goals are to reduce traffic collisions, provide a dedicated bicycle lane. as you know none exist east of 8th street, improving transit operations in the passenger experience and then finally refreshing the landscaping and urban design of the corridor. we have a project structure

that involves several different levels, starting with a technical advisory committee, which meets monthly. there's a policy steering committee, as well, and a director's meeting. the director's -- the five directors from city departments and from the transportation authority meet every other month to discuss the project and to make sure that it's staying on schedule and within our budget. our community working group meets every other month, as well. we've held four rounds of community involvement or public outreach. the latest round was held in march of 2018, so just about six months ago. our environmental review is currently at 65%. you'll -- the next slide has the schedule, but we'll be coming out with our public draft environmental impact report before the end of this year. our design for the full corridor is at about 15% right now, and we're working closely with the transportation authority and the m.t.a. to

identify additional funding for the project. so our key milestones, as i mentioned, our public draft e.i.r. will be coming out in december. we expect final certification to be in summer 2019. we're also getting federal environmental clearance as well, and we expect that to happen along the same schedule. our directors have asked us to break the project into segments in order to advance construction of phase one. phase one is between 6th and 8th streets, and again, our directors have asked us to look into possibly extending that to 5th street in order to maximum the benefits and improvements of our first phase. here's a cross section of the proposed corridor starting at the center lane. we have two transit only lanes, actually muni only lanes,

12 feet wide each, and then two outside labnes which are for transit and local deliveries. then, we go on the right side, there's a passenger or bus boarding island for buses that are in the curb lane -- improve capacity, relieve crowding, increase reliablity, along f line. it would allow those trains

that are traveling along embarcadero and market street to loop around and service market street again and back up to the embarcadero. it also allows trains running from castro to turnaround and head back to castro if there's a need for that. this is the cost estimate that was provided in the obad grant application, which is based on our 10% design. the overall cost estimate is 604 million, however, that number includes 100 million in the bottom left for m.t.a.'s transaction power substations, which is actually separate work outside of the project. so usually, when we talk about the project, we talk about 504 million in project costs, which does include a significant amount of state of good repair work, which would happen with or without the better market street project. and that state of good repair work is primarily listed on that left side stack, replacing

the traffic signals which are old and reaching the end of their useful life, replacing the track in the center lane, replacing the o.c.s., the overhead contact system, including the wires, the poles, the underground, as well, the traction power. so all of that is part of the better market street contract. we'll see quite a large investment, 500 million in from structure. -- infrastuckture. better market street started because market streed needt neo be repaved, and that allows us to make all the infrastructure improvements all along the corridor.

dive being a little bit deeper into our funding plan, we have received funding already from the city's funding plan, octavia land sales and market octavia impact fees. we have other sources which have been programmed and we'll receive shortly. those include the transit center impact fees. we have received some of the prop a go bond, the general obligation bond, and we expect another 76 million to be added to the project after the next bond sale. as i mentioned earlier, this update is because of the obad funding, which the board approved in 2017. we have almost $16 million for design coming from obag with prop k match in the amount of 1.2 million. this does leave us a funding gap of about 479 million, but one of the things that we haven't done yet is allocated

the state of good repair funds. so in this next slide, this is where we talk about some of the other outside funding that we could still add to the project. we did apply for a build grant. that's federal funding -- in the amount of $15 million for phase one construction, however we're not very optimistic that we'll get the federal grants at this time. we are looking at f.t.a., federal transit authority -- federal transit authority funding for fixed guide way, possibly for core capacity, small starts or new starts. as i mentioned we're working closely with the f.t.a. and t.a. to help not just identify funds but to program them into the years that we need them. and then we'll be looking at other federal, state, local and regional funding sources, including regional measure three and additional possible funding from transit center. and i'll just -- i'll leave you with this slide of another perspective of how we envision

market street, but i'm also available to answer any questions that you have. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, ms. olia. are there any questions? commissioner kim? >> supervisor kim: thank you for the update on market street. i know over the years, i have asked about the better vision and purpose of market street, particularly given the immense cost of the improvement plan at 600 million. and i think i still -- you know, i want to ask the same question i've asked before which is really what is the purpose and vision and kind of why is this a critical need? we have so many different transportation desires, whether it's a second transbay to downtown extension, capital improvements to our bus system. i think i still continue to --

by the way. it's not that i don't like this project. i just really want to understand why this project is critical in relation to all of our other transportation priorities. >> i'm going to pull up a slide here. t -- here the department of public health helped us pull together. these are the collisions that have happened along market street in the last five years. when they did their study, it was 2005 to 2009, but the data hasn't changed much. this was market street from stewart on the right all the way -- i think it goes all the way to laguna. the red circles are the number of injuries along market street. the largest circle's at 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th, are anywhere from 14 to 30 collisions

happening in the area. and all of the yellow crosses are fatalities and severe injuries. so the largest x's at 6th and at 3rd represent four significant injuries or fatalities. i bring up the slide because market street is by far the corridor in the city with the most severe injuries and fatalities, primarily pedestrians that are getting hit. >> supervisor kim: and who are they getting hit by, given the limited number of vehicles on market street? >> so i think it's a combination of vehicles -- i don't have the data here with me, but it's vehicles, transit vehicles, delivery vehicles, as well. i think there may have been some bicycle involved collisions, as well. >> supervisor kim: where a cyclist killed a pedestrian? >> no. i think cyclists may have been

hit by cars or hit pedestrians. >> supervisor kim: i'm curious how many of these collisions include muni? >> i can get that for you. this is sort of the overview of all of the corridor and what's been happening over the past several years. >> supervisor kim: i only bring this up because i -- the ones that i remember in recent history involved a muni vehicle, and i think it really raises the question of the type of training that we're providing to our drivers, less than the engineering on the street. by the way, this is really helpful to see the data. i just want to understand why the injuries and fatalities are happening. i actually like that we've made it difficult for private vehicles to drive on market street, and that we route them off. actually, i don't think that market street is an appropriate street for private vehicles. it should be designated for muni and cyclists and

pedestrians. market street is a project that i've been getting briefed on since 2011, and it has not moved very far. i think i continue to still be a little confused about the purpose of this major project only given the $600 million price tag. i know i -- at the last meeting -- this was, i think a year, 1.5 years ago, a significant portion of it was related to -- i want to say the power station and embarcadero, and so i think it continues to be helpful for us to see the breakdown to how much of it is on the street and how much of it is infrastructure because i think that price tag always kind of creates that gasp, and so i think it's important to continue to update the board on how that cost breakdown goes. >> yes. i pulled up a slide again from the powerpoint presentation. so the work is in there.

it's 100 million. >> supervisor kim: thank you for bringing that slide back up. >> the state of good repair work is in that stack. it also includes the f-line loop. in future updates, i'll definitely provide clear breakdowns of the state of good repair versus the project itself. state of good repair would have to happen with or without the project, so unfortunately, when we've shown these price tags, it's included all of the infrastructure improvements, and there is work that is separate, unrelated to the project. it'll be built -- take advantage of the construction contract to build the improvements. >> supervisor kim: is it important for all of this work to happen in the combined package? for example, i think the totescaping and paving --

streetscaping and paving is critical. >> we're actually thinking of breaking it up to segments geographically, but doing all of the work at the same time. we need to do the underground work before we do the pavement renovation, so we'll do the sewer, water, utility relocation. then we'll pave, and at the same time we'll replace the brick sidewalks, installing new pa pavers and the landscaping. >> supervisor kim: and what is the expected timeline for that? >> for completion or actual construction? jap jane for phase one. >> we anticipate it'll take two years for full construction of all of the improvements between 6th and 8th, and we are evaluating what adding another block would do to the timeline. we're also looking at what

construction strategies we can implement to help bring that timeline down and try to tighten it up, minimizing impacts to the businesses along the midmarket area. >> supervisor kim: and when you say it's a two-year timeline, what is the desired start date? >> we anticipate starting in july of 2020. that means we'd have to advertise the contract at the end of 2019, early 2020, but you may see construction starting in, you know, late spring, early summer of 2020. >> supervisor kim: and phase one is estimated to cost 79 million. >> yes. >> supervisor kim: currently, there's a $5 million funding gap. and what sources of revenue are we looking at to close this gap? >> so we're looking at the possibility of using additional

m.t.a. funding or general obligation bond. we're looking at other measures, you know, possibly regional measure three, once that clears up. we applied for the build grant, which would be great, but like i said, we're not really optimistic that that will come into the city. i mentioned the state of good repair funds from the federal transit authority. we're hoping that that will lineup with our phase one construction, and that would pretty much fill the gap for some of the state of good repair work. >> supervisor kim: and i know that this was a cause for concern in 2017, but have we seen federal transit dollars not come to california or to the bay area since that time? >> jeff's going to take that one. >> supervisor kim: sure. jump in, please. >> there's a difference between the discretionary versus the biformula work funds.

they do receive some biformula for the bogc. we haven't seen f.t.a. disburse a lot of that not just nationwide, so that would be the small starts, new start funding money that we were fortunate to get for vanness. we definitely want to continue to seek that for this project, better market street, and geary. >> supervisor kim: so the trump administration hasn't moved on the infrastructure commitments that he campaigned on. it's not just a regional bias. >> nationally, it's a slow disbursement from what congress appropriated. >> supervisor kim: we'll have to look at other state funds to secure project construction, and so do we -- this is not just on sfcta, but i guess on all of our transit agency, kind of what is our contingency

plan. >> we really hope not to have to do that. it would be a crisis for california for cities up and down the state. right now it's about 50 million chair mentioned during his remarks, so the back plan would have to be debated locally. perhaps we could be talking about other revenue measures, even at the regional level, again, not just here in san francisco but with others in the bay area. >> supervisor kim: have we programmed most of the gas tax money? >> oh, absolutely, yeah, both agencies have, and other transit agencies. >> supervisor kim: okay. thank you so much. this is always really helpful, and i do really appreciate that we get these updated. thank you. >> you're welcome. >> supervisor peskin: are there any other questions or comments from commissioners? seeing none, is there any public comment on this item?

seeing none, public comment is closed, and we look forward to your next update. is there any introduction of new items? is there any general public comment, mr. lebrun? >> good morning, chair peskin, supervisors. first of all, congratulations, a big thank you for your unanimous approval of the pennsylvania avenue extension, or p.a.x. the reason i'm addressing you today is that i do believe that you're aware of this pendi pending .5 billion trade on second street. the reason i'm addressing you today is i want to bring your attention to the additional impact of this crater on the existing capacity of the train box itself.

specifically we're going to lose half of the storage capacity because of the way that we are approaching the train box. so i want to thank you for including my letters in the final version of the packet, and in particular, i'd like to turn your attention to page 17 of the packet, which highlights the potential condemnation of $2 billion of san francisco prime real estate between main street and embarcadero. so in closing, i'd like to make two recommendations. first of all, is that you accelerate the hiring of the person building -- the engineer. it's really critical as we move forward on these projects. and second, that you consider issuing an r.f.p. for the approach to the terminal from the east bay. specifically starting at the

seawall and heading towards the terminal. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, mr. lebrun. is there any additional public comment? mr. strauss? seeing no additional public comment, public comment is closed, and the t.a. is adjourned.

>> clerk: this is the committee meeting. item number 1 is called to order [roll call] >> president tsen: >> president tsen: ok. good morning, everyone. i would like to give a shout out to our president and to fellow commissioners. always nice to see you here