level. and different types of transactions. and different drivers benefitted in different ways depending on what the program was. >> for clarification, we read about san francisco credit union and $28 million on defaulted loans. are we talking about the $6.2 million to get a down poiment and able to secure a loan -- a down payment and secure a loan, correct? >> yes. it provided a down payment assistance. >> was that also afforded to the people who paid $125,000 for a medallion? >> an i believe it was open to everybody. and my numbers show -- let me see. i think with ehad 250 avail themselves of that program. >> superviser fewer: thank you very much. i think it's going to get more complicated, but go ahead.

>> good. we'll move on to the next slide. one i want to mention that m.t.a. is working for a number of years and as we know and the timeline showed and the p.u.c.'s operated in pedestrian and changed the for hire industry and changed the world and is a global market and phenomenon. and we have had ongoing regulatory review, reform, and streamlined the new driver onboarding and have gone through and looked at the requirements to match what we need today and not what we needed 10, 15, 20 years ago. and reduced and eliminated fees and taxi-related fees of

approximately $9.5 million. and that's been over the last three or four years. and we supported the ramp taxi program and t.n.c. rule making proceedings and committed about 36 sets of comments about the t.n.c. rule making. as part of thisover all effort to level the playing field, we engaged p.h. shawler to review the health of the taxi industry. the report was released in may of this year. we vetted the recommendations. they had three main recommendations. we vetted the recommendations with the taxi industry through taxi town hall, taxi tax force, through email and worked hard to gather extensive feedback.

not going to go deep into the recommendations because we are not moving forward all of them, but i will say that there was no clear support for their recommendation out of that report and we are not moving that recommendation forward. there was some support for right sizing the market, balancing the market and for the taxi program. we will get into a little bit more as i go through what the current recommendations are. but we did hear as part of that vetting process that there is strong feedback and support to open up the medallion market on who can buy and provide more direct support for the purchase holders and lower the medallion price. that as han asterisk because that requires the consent of the federal credit union. i just want to note that and note we hear a lot of comments on that so i want to ak nobling

it requires the consent of the credit union. >> why? >> the san francisco credit union is an approved lender, and in the approved lender agreement there is language about the price and m.t.a. not lowering the price below any price that they have outstanding loans for. so the focus of the medallion perform is to support the medallion holders. for the most part they have paid $250,000, some did pay $125 and still make the least amount of money. they have paid in the most and make the least. they are our biggest concern.

if you have a large loan, it is estimated you are bringing home $38,000 compared to $54 those for the postk or free medallion and/or if you are a driver with no loan. and to date we had 154 closures and there are 236 on a list to sell. there have been no medallion sales since april 2016. that is our context in which we are bringing the draft recommendations forward. so after looking at -- >> i am so sorry. on the estimated annual earnings, this is current to date? >> that is right. this is part of the pfm shaller report and they did a pro forma analysis and i am happy to get you the report so you can dig into the number, but this is

current from the report released may 1 of this year. >> does the report show an uncrease or drop in the wages? >> it didn't do a temporal anl us is. no anl us is -- that was not the analysis they did. >> if you were a postk, free medallion driver, for example, were you always making $54,000 or is that a drop in wages? >> again, we have many from the industry and will let you know from direct experience, but as the world has changed with uber and lyft and more competition in the market, i would say that they all report decreased

earnings. the first recommendation is part of an effort to reduce congestion at s.f.o. which is a major trip generator and bring more supply to the city. we are recommending on purchased medallions be allowed to pick up at s.f.o. that we see as covering multiple policy objectives. and currently the lot holds about 430 taxis and then there is more for curb space. we have situations where we have drivers waiting three, four hours for one trip. and it's not efficient to pull supply off the city streets and s.f.o. for years has been working to come up with some type of congestion management strategy. that's our first recommendation. the second is to open up the

buyer market that currently is in order to buy a medallion, you have to be a driver. there is currently a driving requirement for purchase medallion holders. you can only hold one medallion. we are recommending in order to remove any friction in that side of the market, to remove the restriction that you have to be a natural person to buy, to allow business entities to hold medallions and to allow in the recommendation at this point is up to 50 medallions to be held. that might change. we have heard feedback pro and con on that. to so the second recommendation. >> what is the driving requirement? >> it is 800 hours. >> for clarification, when you say open up the buyer market, you are going to open up more medallions. >> we are not talking about more medallions on the street, but talking about opening up who is eligible to purchase a

medallion. right now the eligibility requirements are very structured and narrow, although they have changed over the last few years. we have taken steps to open it up. we want to open it up even more. >> you are meaning that the medallions that are for sale, that if you are a current medallion holder and bought it for $250,000, that you are able now to sell it to a broader market. >> that is correct. >> but we are not producing more. >> it is not about producing more medallions or putting more on the street, correct. >> got it. and then i have one quick question is when you say only allow purchase medallions to pick up at s.f.o., we see a statistic that there are 1,458 medallions in service. but we see that by your numbers, it looks like 560 of them purchased it. so only 560 of them would be

able to do the airport pickup? >> that is right. we are working with s.f.o. to make sure we have the numbers right, and they're confident that that is plenty of supply for the number of trips in and out of s.f.o. if we need to vary that, we can, but we feel like that's the right starting point. and also, based on compliance with wheelchair pickups, we also will allow ramp taxis to pick up at s.f.o.. for one, so our wheelchair customers, tourists, travellers, get the same level of accessible services, and that's a benefit for our ramp taxis. but they have to meet their markers and their service for the prior month. that is the recommendation. >> an i thought i heard in a presentation that there are approximately 800,000 trips a month by t.n.c.s out to the

airport. >> the t.n.c. is like pac-man. there are multiple ground transportation providers at s.f.o. and t.n.c.s are -- >> superviser fewer: this is why i question it if we say we only would have the 560 doing out to s.f.o. and airport says that's adequate, but yet we have over 880,000 t.n.c.s from the airport and back, so do you see where i am getting? i don't get how we even calculate that. because it just seems like we're saying -- because we have no regulation over how many go out to the airport. so they have almost 880,000 trips out there. and we're saying it's okay that there's only 560 -- >> because right now --

>> because there aren't enough taxi -- i would love to go over that, and if you have any ideas that that is something the regulation of t.n.c.s is of vital importance, and a big concern to the taxi industry and we'll hear that loud and clear. in my position and my understanding, i know what the taxi industry would like would be some kind of limit on t.n.c. service out at the airport. that is not something that i have jurisdiction over. but in terms of -- >> and talked about allowing taxis to pick up from the curb and t.n.c.s being in a parking lot and people would have to walk to the parking lot with the luggage and everything to do the pickup. >>ened a that is happening. that is happening. s.f.o. has started that. >> okay. we will have time to comment. okay. please fill out a comment card and we can address that during a comment.

thank you very much. please continue. >> for us, even with that context if the taxis are sitting out there waiting for the few trips they get, it is not an efficient use of the resources we have. we're proposing to eliminate the 5% re-transfer fee. so when a medallion retransfers, there is a fee. we're proposing to reduce that, again eliminating friction. this might be the only one that has no controversy associated with it. i think most everyone can agree that is a good thing. we're also recommending to balance the fleet size and the trip volumes, and this is something that was noted in the report that only 17% of medallion holders earn a financially sustainable income, and they key that at $65,000. so part of our looking at that key finding and looking at the recommendation from the report would be to move this recommendation forward, a

nonrenewable of corporate and prek medallions. we have 260. and these have been in service since before 1978. and we feel that's the right thing to do. there is no driving requirement associated with those medallions, so it's been passive income. >> we have been renewing them? >> these medallions, yes. >> they get renewed annually? >> correct. >> so during this whole time when t.n.c.s are taking over, etc., we have been renewing these corporate medallions? and how much does it cost for renewal? >> a little over $1,000 right now. >> thank you. >> okay. next slide. we are also looking to expand the ramp taxi incentive program and have grand funds to do so. we have an existing wheelchair incentive program that drivers are paid $10 per trip for wheelchair pickups for

paratransit wheelchair pickups and if they do two trips in outlying neighborhoods, they get a short pass at s.f.o. so that is existing. and this is the new program that is launched and does not require any legislative changes, so we have launched this. so that ramp taxi drivers or companies can get up to $600 per month subsidy for the purchase and ongoing operation of a wheelchair accessible vehicle. this is a very important program to us, and we really want to make sure we support this program. other areas that we're looking to improve are taxi stands, bus-only lane, taxi access to bus-only lanes, looking at left-hand return exemptions for taxis, and we're also exploring a marketing campaign. so our next steps -- and we have had -- >> one question. >> one quick question. i just want to say, thank you so

much for bringing all of this to us. and i know that you are not -- you are the bearer of complicated news and not necessarily -- this is not your policy. in the sfmta's efforts to support taxi operations, has it ever been suggested that the city purchase back the medallion and re-issue them for free? >> i just wants to -- do we do silent fingers and support. thanks. >> there would be a lot of support for that from the industry, but to put that in context is $161 million and that is not something we are

recommending. i think it's about a quarter of the annual transit budget. it would just be a huge financial hit. so that is not something we are recommending. we have certainly heard that. >> $161 million. >> correct. for the buyback. >> the cost to buy back all the medallions. excuse me. would be $161 million. >> correct. and that is just the straight up math calculation. and we're not talking about the loans and that is just doing the math. how many full price, how many half price were sold, and so that's just -- okay. you get that. >> thank you. that doesn't mean that to -- if we were to pay off the balances of the loan or anything like that. >> that is right. that is the full picture. that would be the full amount. >> an including buying back -- that is like the straight up and we sold x number at 125. we sold x number at 250.

>> got it. thank you. >> you're welcome. okay. so these are hard policy trade offs. again, as you can imagine, so this is a very challenging time. i don't need to say that, and we will hear more as we walk through and hear from the industry. and we try to balance the stakeholder engagement and very strong feelings on all sides of this. and there are no easy answers. >> definitely many, many layers. and colleagues, any questions? i would like to open it for public comment so people aren't waiting. >> did you have any other comments? >> no. i just wanted to say we're in the process of engaging the community, the industry, and we have done taxi town halls. we have heard it at taxi task force and will continue to take feedback buy email and we expect to be before the m.t.a. board late october, early november.

that is our timeline. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> as a fly wheel customer, i am looking toward to hearing public comment. >> so i am going to have commissioner pollock call the names for public comment. everybody has two minutes to speak. as she calls your name, please line up. thank you very much. >> thank you, everyone. i would just like to ask you to state your name at the podium, especially if i have mispronounced your name. i will call a number of names, and you can line up against the wall and begin. [calling of speaker names]

i was just going to call and few and move through the line. please begin. >> good afternoon, members. my name is charles rathbone. in over 40 years in the taxi business, i have worked as a driver. i have worked as a driver, as a small business owner, as a union organizer, and as a manager. i am also a prop k medallion holder. members, i have prepared a small graphic here that is rather primitive, i'm afraid. just showing the bottom half of that please. the whole thing? not showing the whole thing. i will just talk through it. the first recommendation changes the boundaries of our service area. most cabs will see our service area shrink with access to the busiest cab stands in our

service area -- i feel like i am in grand central station here. anyway, i believe that this one change would have an even more disruptive effect on our business than uber and lyft have had. the proposal also calls for revoking 200 medallions from people who obtained the permits lawfully and who have always operated in full compliance with the law. and at luxort prek medallion holders have not merely complied with the law, they have many times exceeded expectations. as just one example out of many, the prek managers and board members at luxor voluntarily initiated wheelchair accessible service in our city, even before there was an a.d.a., and despite it being an unprofitable line of business. member, i do not for a minute question the good intentions behind the proposals. there is an urgent need to

ensure a fair deal for the purchase medallion holders. but shifting on to others, the cost of sfmta's own previous mistakes is not an acceptable solution. so thank you. and good day. >> thank you. >> thank you. carl moran. m.t.a. put the city on the hook for tens of millions of dollars by violating the contract with the credit union. it tried to quash the lawsuit by the way of demure. and three weeks the ruling came out from the superior court, quote, the credit union sufficiently alleges breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. we see a lot of the, i think, lack of good faith in some of the proposals. some of them are good. i think the city will have to sell medallions and open up the market. and by the way, the people who

have prop k and prek are on the surrender for compensation and we are waiting to get out and get some money. many of us planned our entire retirement years on getting a certain amount of money. it's been cut by 80%, so the culprit is that uber and lyft are $45,000 alone in san francisco using the private cars like taxis, subsidized the massive venture capital subsidies and which is an antitrust violation and the cases are pending. it is not one driver versus others. it is a lot of divide and conquer strategy going on here. it is not in the packet, but was on the charts when we went to the town hall meetings. eliminate the driving requirement for purchase medallions. why not for the elderly and disabled people who have the other medallions? i just wore the intention to be a full-time driver and drive 35 years and the name came up and here is the yellow cabs bankruptcy and large part came

from this accident in 2003. and the medallion holder tried to meet that driving requirement krached into the a.t.m. -- crashed into an a.t.m. machine and hit some customers. so there's also else going to say, but losing it and i have 10 second left, so t to going to be able to. thank you for your consideration. >> thank you. >> and thank you for listening to us. i want to explain a very simple thing. what the m.t.a. did was a pyramid scheme. [please stand by]

#. >> regretfully, even that was maneuvered, so selling really hasn't worked. thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is john lozar. i'm third generation cab industry. my father started in -- luxor cab started in 1928. my father was driving a cab in 1946 and became president of luxor cab company. he purchased his medallions, one in 1960. in those days, you bought a house for $17,000. his sweat equity, driving a cab from 1946, raising two

children, native san franciscans, and luxor cab has been recognized as a legacy company and a historical company. we started the wheelchair program in 1889, before the m.t.a. or any regulator knew we had to do it. i was chair person for the paratransit coordinating council. our goal is to help people that can't get around san francisco through difficult time, and we continue to do that. and we've lost substantial amounts of income. these medallions that are regulated are saying they're free or given, is not true. when i met down with mayor lee in 2009, we had a sit down program to issue medallions to drivers. it took three years to put the first one out, and it was $250,000, so let's get the story straight, okay? that uber and lyft started in 2008, okay, so four years

before they put one cab out, what's that tell you? and these people that have post-k medallions -- i'm the president of the company, have worked their lives, sweat equity, working picking up people, daily, hard, every day, and now she wants to ban them from the airport? she wants to take their livelihood away? [inaudible] [applause] >> before we call the next speaker, i want to call a new more names, and you can just lineup. david smith, don velez,

roberto marquez. >> good afternoon. i have been driving a cab for 30 years. i do take a lot of pride in what i do for a living. it's safe to say you have an overdose of the problems we are faced with as an industry, and this taxi medallion reformed proposed by the m.t.a. will not solve it. revoking pre-k medallions, skraming against post-k medallioning -- discriminating against post-k medallions, is not the way to reform nor revive the industry. a lot of what's being presented here today was not even discussed at the taxi task force meetings. i urge the m.t.a. to review

those recommendations harder, and i remind the city and you as the supervisors, the board of supervisors, every city agency that the elephant in the room is the number of ubers and lyfts on our streets. we have been disappointed and frustrated with the city for not having the political will to challenge the p.u.c. and have uber and lyft regulated in a similar manner to taxis. they have technology should not exempt them from having to comply with the rules taking you from point a to point b for profit. it is a taxi service. the app technology does not change the level of that serve. leveling the field of play is a

must. you must do that for the taxi industry to survive, and you should buy back those medallions. [applause] >> my name is yetu. i'm a medallion, and i'm about to speak to our priority. the first -- right now, most of the medallion buyers are stuck with a loan. this loan, we cannot even sell the medallion, you can ask to payback. so this, we're asking to the city, we trying to sue the

city, class action city, and the city, they started asking for a couple questions, then, the drivers, most talk, is t-- [inaudible] >> in this case, the one right now, they come to the airport to give us our priority, which is we pay for the loan. the other people -- i'm sorry to pull them out in the airport, is not fair by pushing by sfmta. they don't have rules, they don't know what they doing. but to pushing those people out is not right, is not to -- demanding to holding even the buyer, but we are to earn the money to paying the bank. at least we asking to pass this -- the airport priority.

thank you. >> your next speaker. >> hello. my name is david smith. i am a medallion purchaser. i paid 250,000 for my medallion, and of course, we would appreciate that the m.t.a. or the city buy back our medallions, but they obviously don't want to buy them back, so we're in the unfortunate predicament where we have to support these reforms. my father is a prop k medallion holder, so it does affect me, too. it's not like i'm coming at it as clean, either. i do feel for the pre-k, as well, if somebody wants to pay me back, fine. but otherwise, i support these reforms. as far as s.f.o. meeting the demand, if the supply is ever low, there's an app that tells

you the numbers at s.f.o. you can create a lot, kind of cliek when demand is higher -- kind of like when the demand is higher and we can call more guys in. i do feel sorry for the older guys. i think there needs to be something where they can keep their s.f.o. privilege possibly, but the situation is too dire, and we can barely breathe, we're sinking, we're gasping for air. we can't afford to pay these loans anymore. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon members of the board. the taxi industry is very bad right now because the uber

situation and the lyft situation is the antitrust way to do business. if the m.t.a. and all the other businesses did the right thing at the right moment, if you know, we won't be here, selling the medallion as a pilot program is a failure. that's the reason why our money has to be returned, is because it's a failure. anybody know, we can't afford with the type of income we have right now . sfmta is doing the best for everybody to keep alive this industry. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. next speaker.

>> good afternoon. my name is ahmad. i purchased a medallion for 125,000. but if i want to sell it for 100,000, i can't. i have to go to the m.t.a. for the amount they want to and the percent they want to. that's kind of hard. the pick up in the airport, when they say 18,000 flights or something, 80% of the flights come to uber, so maybe, we get 20% of the flights. 560 cabs, they will cover the airport. thank you. [applause] >> hi. my name is roberto marquez, and i've been driving a taxi for 25 years, and i purchased a medallion for $250,000.

uber and lyft came over, took over the business, so we got no money to pay our loans. so we should -- the city should buy us out, and future leaders should have $500,000 for all the money that we lost. i have no money to pay my -- i purchased a home, and i have no money to pay my home. i drive for 10 hours, 12 hours, and i end up with $50 less money, so i don't know what to do. thank you. >> good afternoon. you know, the situation is going for a long time. it's not one day, the situation come to this point. so there is a three kind of categories who are sitting here.

number one is the genuine ones who are going through hardships, that's like me who pay $250,000, and then, there is the second category is who is benefiting and profiteering the most, cab companies. never mind what we make in a month, but we pay them every month a check. we pay all our expenses. the cab company make the most, and the second most is the prop k, and we are the ones who are the losers. thank you very much to the people who -- supervisors who brought the proposal to working at the airport. those who have been eating apple pie for years, and now, they do not want to pay their

own coffee and cake. [inaudible] >> and we have our families to support, and these peoples are becoming an obstacle in the middle of, that they are serving the city by this and by that. everybody knows how much the cab companies charge. like, if they charge me $500 a month, and they have 500 cabs, multiply by 500, how much they are making. now, that's not the only one. there is 24 cab companies, and each cab company does not meet the requirements needed. there is maybe only two cab companies, maybe yellow and white that are meeting the requirements of the sfmta. none of them meet the requirements. now, there is a taxi task

force. taxi task force, i am totally against. it is mostly privileged people representative of the cab companies, and those people who got some kind of privilege, they are sitting in the taxi task force. we do not need the taxi task force, what we need is the direct representative of the people who are of the taxi indust industry -- [inaudible] >> we are constantly paying to the federal credit union, and we are constantly paying to the cab companies. have anyone come forward from the cab companies and say that they have paid us.

[inaudible] >> supervisor fewer: thank you very much. >> if i could have you hold on for one second, i'm just going to call some more names so that they can begin to lineup. jim margoles, mark gruberg. saeed mohases. ali ahmad martisa. >> i purchased a medallion for $250,000. i never had the privilege to get for $125,000. public had no interest in taxi

service because of cheap cost of ride sharing. we cannot sustain ourselves in taxi business. taxi business dieing every day

consistently. [inaudible] >> -- and we are in deficit. how can we proceed to make medallion payments?

[inaudible]

>> supervisor fewer: thank you very much. [applause] >> hello. how are you. my name is ali. just i am the ramp driver for seven, eight years. i have purchased the medallion 125 -- 125,000. and if you look at -- to the -- my situation, i am the number one suffering. you heard the katz, what is she saying, suffering the ramp drivers. i'm picking up $7,000 for a year. i've been doing this seven years. very expensive. but i continue, i went to pick up the -- the disabled people,

and i do really good job, and i have some recommendation even to the m.t.a. office. if you look at my file, it's there. any way, my number is coming up. they send me the letter. last 25 medallions to get the free. i went there, they told me, you know, the law change. i am 30 years driver. i checking myself for the lifetime to get to this point. and they say no choice, okay, no anything, you have to buy. okay. they force me. you don't buy them, we get your medallion back. okay. i buy the medallion. okay. i spend the money. because i am driver very serious. they know that. i don't want to go against the m.t.a. i bring my average home.

you know how much i lose? almost $1,000 lose. for this six months this year, i write down every night what i make. almost i lose $7,000 for the first six month to the companies for the last year. i'm hard working. i lose $14,000, and one payment is $1,451. and remember, i supposed -- i drive 30 years, and i cannot handle this. i have already -- [inaudible] >> and i already have a house, this house is my proud, and i put the money down towards this 125,000. i not supposed to be doing this, because for this day, i'm 65, 66 years --

[inaudible] >> i'm exhausted, mentally, physically. the people who work like me. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. >> i've worked very hard. please. [inaudible] >> i cannot continue this. since 1974, i am driving. i cannot continue this. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. [applause] >> hello. thank you, everybody. my name is abe. i have a medallion for my son is me. we bought these medallion, 250,000 people. this time, we are losing the

money. we are asking the money from friends and family. we are unable to make the payments. so what are the m.t.a. giving the solutions? competition with the uber and the lyft and the taxi? two big difference, because they charge the $27 from the airport -- airport to city, we charge 45. how can people take the taxi? what are the m.t.a. make their job -- keep their job alive, but that's not any solution. but we only want -- if you stop the uber and the lyft. let only one option in my mind. let the uber and the lyft stopping to pick up the fare from the airport. they can draw, they can work from the city, but not the

airport. only that solution make the taxi industry ai have belive, , totally crash. i'm not against anybody, i'm not saying anything about anybody, but this time, there's no solution because competition is without fear. we're paying that $150 color scheme. why we paying that color scheme in what that mean is? that's an old lot. you have to change everything and give us money back. we not come back here to you so much. [applause] >> supervisor fewer: thank you very much. >> hi. this is jim margolis. and i want to speak on several issues. first, i'm a pre-k medallion holder. i started driving a taxi cab in 1973, and for old yellow cab.

and it went bankrupt, so the city was faced with -- well, we've got all these medallions. how come a bankruptcy court got this? well, luckily, i went in with a group and was not the only group that bid for this. it was originally awarded to a former board of supervisors person, harold dobbs, the city, it's a problem, we got it. we were awarded it. it wasn't something that we could have -- we could have put out our money, which we did, and not gotten it back. we were fortunate, and i've been fortunate to have a medallion. i'm not sure for legal reasons whether it's a legitimate distinction between the pre-k's and the most k's. somebody got their medallion in 1978, somebody like me got

their medallion in 1977. we had to drive. most of the people in yellow cab in the early days drove. they drove, and so this goes up to 2010, with uber and lyft on the scene, and even later, who would -- who would offer these -- these medallions for $250,000? the city. i'm not sure why people would buy them, but apparently, they did. why would the city offer them? they knew it was a loser. uber and lyft -- and then, when uber and lyft came on the scene and were driving in san francisco, what did the city do? did the city, you know, say, hey, we're going to regulate you, you flight cabs? no, they said no. they just sat on their hands, and the state came in and regulated, and the result is that the city, who's complaining now about we don't have the authority, and we

don't have -- they made the decision to let it slide, and this is the -- this is the -- this is what happened. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. next speaker, please. [applause] >> thank you. my name is mark gruberg. i am a taxi driver with green cab, a problem k medallion holder and a member of the board of the san francisco taxi alliance. everybody wants the purchases of medallions to see relief from the terrible burden of debt that they face, but what has been proposed is going to create more problems than it solves. restricting the airport to purchased medallions will shut out thousands of drivers. the competition in the city is already extremely fierce. it will be unbearable with hundreds of cabs forced to work only in the city. no one will want to drive any one of those cabs. drivers who have already been pushed to the brink by uber and lyft will drop out of the

industry. new drivers will be impossible to recruit because they, above all, depend on the airport for their livelihood. cab companies won't be able to lower gates because they are barely making it as it is. this is be ruinous for the drivers and companies they work for. the city created all of this, and the city needs to solve this. the way to do it is to buy back the purchased medallions. rid us of this cost and this curse. the numbers are large. kate tor mentioned $161 million, but this can be paid back over a number of years. pay it -- these loans are 15-year loans and longer. pay it back over 15 or 20 years, and it becomes a manageable expense. please do this.

we cannot bear this as it stands, and this proposal will not help. thank you. >> supervisor fewer: thank you very much. [applause] [please stand by]

... at least not my retirement, recommendation. the question of a little more sell that goes into a food, i pray it goes into my mouth. nobody is suffering more than the one who bought it for $250,000. all these drivers complaining. ask one person. is anybody driving -- [bell ringing] -- maybe one or two. most of them collect their fat checks and are hurting. please do something. [applause] >> hi, my name is renata and i'm

driving national cab 789. i started driving in 1993, a taxi. in 94, i found out about the medallion list and it was voted in 1978. the voters voted to allow the cabs drivers each to have one medallion. so i heard about this and i thought, ok, i want to the police department, i paid the $123 fee to put my name on the list. we received no benefits from any taxi company. the only benefit was to wait and get your medallion. the police department told me you will probably wait ten years. i filled out a pact of paperwork -- packet of paperwork and put my name on the list and waited 15 years to get the medallion. i received it in 09. i didn't get it for free. i put in my years, i didn't work for free. they're saying we're free

loaders, we're not. we put in our time and money to get our name and medallion. no benefits whatsoever from the taxi company. bus drivers get everything. every benefit you can imagine, but not the cabs. the cabs, what we waited for is the medallion. and now the city turns around and pulls a fast one and makes the next guys after me buy them. it's not to these drivers. now they want to cut us back. why? because they sold medallions to the poor drivers? these guys should have [bell

ringing] -- >> before the next speaker begins, i'd like to call just a few more names. >> my name is sai lee. >> mr. lee, could i have you wait one more moment. i'm going to call ten more names and then i'll have you begin. >> tim lapse. kennedy wui. this is your card mr. lee. i have you know. [calling of names] that is the conclusion of the cards we have on file. you may begin, mr. lee.

>> good afternoon. i've been driving for almost 50 years. i have a pre-k medallion. and i was wondering, all of a sudden they said they're going to take my medallion away. i've been working all this time and never retired. and i'm still working now. to my recollection, i gavemy permit beneficiary to my wife and child, who is also a cab driver. and i'm wondering, they're going to take it away, it's my livelihood, i'm still paying on my home and i'm just wondering what is going to happen. thank you. [applause] >> thank you for the opportunity. my name is tim lap. i've been in the industry for 35 years. at the time i staed