the idea of going to the state and requesting additional authorities to regulate. >> there are some aspects of t.n.c.s that can be addressed at the local level already. most directly, the curb management. >> it points out how important that is. do i have questions? >> great. thank you for this report. i was reading through it and trying to get to the bottom and looking for recommendations. sort of like he put out all this interesting information and here we are, policymakers, looking at what we should do. there is no section on policy recommendations in the port -- in the report but i wanted to hear your thoughts. i also heard you say you'll be doing t.n.c.s and transit ridership as the next study. but we have to imagine a 50% increase is affecting our

service transit vehicles in a negative way and they wonder if you can folk -- comment on a pulmonary way on the impacts on transit of t.n.c.s. >> sure. thank you for those questions. with regards to recommendations, we were very intentional about not putting them in this report. we wanted this to be, again, grounded in facts, objective, and neutral. and what we hope is that policy makers can take what we have put out there and use it to develop reactions. with support from staff, of course. but we see that as a next step. with regards to the effects of t.n.c.s on transit, again, we have forthcoming work on this subject. there has been a growing body of literature that shows that t.n.c.s tend to take people off

of transit. and this report shows that they had to add to congestion to the extent that buses and trains, particularly those operating on the street, are subject to congestion. it affects them as well. >> i know you said this wasn't about recommendations at this point, but i was wondering if the t.a. was reexploring or talking about the issue of congestion pricing. i know it is a study goshen area we looked at before before we had the traffic and congestion issues we had today given the limitations of the state level and what we can do. it is something that we could do is not something that is being contemplated are considered particularly when you talk about district three, which is downtown. it had a huge rise in congestion >> yes. our board has directed us to look at congestion pricing and we are working on developing a scope for that project now.

>> so what is the timeline on something like that? >> i am not prepared to say. >> ok. [laughter] >> thank you. >> any more questions or comments before i go to public comment? >> one more thing if no one else wants to speak, other cities have looked at a fee on the transportation network companies , but mostly my understanding is that it is compensate for a bit of the loss in transit revenues as opposed to a congestion management approach on the t.n.c.s. given the recent bill that was passed this year that will authorize a t.n.c. fee in san francisco with vote approval. is there something you would be looking into general pricing? which you look at a congestion based t.n.c. fee to address these congestion impact issues? >> with regards to that, i believe that all options are currently on the table. [laughter]

>> thank you, very much. we appreciate the presentation and the work and now we will go to public comments. >> two minutes, please. >> thank you. i did want to -- this is a very welcome reports. it is reflecting things that many of us taxi drivers have been saying for years. and we kinda felt like like we were voices in the wilderness because every time the t.n.c.s would go to the cpuc or go off to sacramento, they would be touting their credentials and people were accepting this at face value. now we have not just this report , with several others that put the lie to that. it is welcome in that sense. it does note that other key

questions including transit ridership and safety are not covered and i wanted to talk specifically to the question of safety because it just happens that in the last week or two there was an article in forbes, which is, you know, basically business publication, the headline which is uber and lift may increase road deaths study. claims, in the study has not yet been published, but the preliminary information about an academic study, you know, comes to the conclusion that there have been more fatalities on the roadways owing to write share companies. which may be a result simply of increased traffic. but other hypotheses such as, again, anecdotally, what we see every day on the streets. the driving habits of t.n.c.s

drivers may very well be a contributing cause. so when you are looking at these issues, it is not just congestion. it is safety and other issues. certainly the city must have the power to deal with this and deal with their own city streets. thank you. >> thank you. good reminder how important it is to have the data. >> hello. i'm with the south of market community action network. we are happy this report is out because it confirms everybody -- something everybody already knew and where we as an organization had been saying since buber was dumped on our streets and that is that t.n.c.s dramatically increase congestion in san francisco. especially in the south of market and especially in district six. further, the report shows that t.n.c.s greatly increase the total number of vehicle miles travelled which is another significant indicator of automobile usage.

this is all hugely significant for a number of reasons. traffic and congestion have tremendous negative impacts. the increase in cars directly increases global warming as does the increase in v.m.t. and idling that occurs. aside from the obvious and immediate environmental impacts, the huge increase in congestion due to t.n.c.s as lasting negative impacts on the physical and mental health of residents, workers and community members, including families and children. it is completely unacceptable that streets are clogged with these ridesharing companies that exacerbate the neighbourhood his existing pedestrian safety issues and this is an issue that is really about community health and healthy communities. about children, families, seniors and people with disabilities and some of our city his most vulnerable's residence. this study must be a wake-up call to the city.

regarding the text sharing economy, t.n.c.s and the need for aggressive regulation. the unregulated nature of t.n.c.s in san francisco has led to an unprecedented level of congestion with the south of market shouldering a disproportionate burden of this reality. in addition to the fact that an entire taxi industry has been decimated by companies such as uber. that city and sfmta must address these out-of-control t.n.c.s. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> thank you. the report that the c.t.a. did has led to a ballot measure that peskin is putting together for the tax congestion tax on uber and lift. it will raise $30 million a year projected but based on 70 million rise. is 40 cents a ride.

can be passed on to the passengers. and spokespeople are very happy with that solution. but i don't think it goes to address the root problems that t.n.c.s are causing. the traffic congestion. this will not get better. pollution, unfair business practices, rampant insurance fraud, a.d.a. violations, deterioration of all workers' income. you look at the business model that cooper has, they are using venture capital to create a monopoly to destroy legitimate competitors. i applaud taxi companies for having filed an antitrust lawsuit a couple of years ago against uber technologies. and interestingly, three days ago, a writer, -- a writer says the inside story of how uber got into business with the saudi arabian government, saudi arabia royal family now owns ten% of uber. the same people who murdered a journalist, apparently.

there are bright spots that have been shown elsewhere. he has worked well over the years with the taxi industry. we are challenging on you to be the best and the brightest and find a way to get half of these uber his off the street. there will be so much less traffic to get places faster. at the same time, you will be able to help people. you need to keep the taxi industry healthy and cut back on the insurance logic -- fraud. there is rampant insurance fraud i have run out of time. thank you. >> thank you. do i have any more public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. thank you, again. is very valuable information and we look forward to the next report. thank you. >> thank you.

welcome. >> good afternoon. although i think we are approaching good evening. i will keep my remarks very short. i am the acting director of transit. with me i have janet, our v.p. program manager and monique, who is our director -- deputy of capital finance. they have been tremendous partners with the agent we are bringing to you today. i will start with the bad news first. the bad news is that this is old and they're getting old.

as they get older, they are becoming increasingly hard to maintain. harder to get parts. we are having to do reverse engineering because we don't even have a parts pipeline. and as you know, a major breakdown in the subway can create a bad day for an entire system of customers. the silver lining, the good news is that the program has delivered on all of our expectations and promises. it is a reliable vehicle.

it has the advanced customer information systems that we have an innate high transit using city. and that was not by accident. that was through the leadership and a really strong procurement process. so what we have before you today is an information item to let you know that although there is a lot of things that have to happen between now and then, it is our recommendation that we look to expedite the replacement of the fleet. so that we are on track and exceeding our timeline for the first 68 vehicles, which are

expansion vehicles. they are desperately needed for our crowding and for our customers. and we are now looking for opportunities to bring the replacement portion of the contract quicker and also to shortage in its overall timeline that will reduce the amount of time we spend with a mixed fleet , which in and of itself, is a complication in terms of maintenance and it will really expedite getting an excellent service product to our customers i know you guys have had the presentation, i think i covered a lot of the highlights. this is the current timeline. as you can see, we are talking about the hundred 51 replacement of the current. at a stretch over a an extremely long. for financial reasons when we bought these, we did not have enough money to buy it in a

short duration. so that got stretched out. but there are a lot of trade-offs with that. and most immediately, not having the new vehicle sooner. the vehicles themselves, we are getting tremendous amount of positive feedback from our customers. they are more spacious and more energy efficient and quieter. they have advanced accessibility features. we are getting some negative feedback related to the interior design on the seating. the great news -- >> i'm not alone. >> you are not alone. the great news is 151 as an opportunity for us to internalize and respond to the feedback. so that is part of this process. is in addition to some smaller mechanical fixes that we need to make based on how the vehicles are performing and some of the feedback we are getting from

mechanics, we are also looking at this seating issue is one of the primary things that we want to address. our main ask today is to build on the momentum that we have. to take advantage of what is already an institutional knowledge, both on our side and on siemens, which could be lost by an extending gap in the procurement and in the process. i think that the document that we shared with you kind of documents some of the financial positives as well as the negatives. some of the costs are associated with the financing of purchasing the vehicle sooner. but there is a lot of financial benefits that we anticipate, including not having to pour a lot of money. we will have to pour some money,

because we still need them, but not having to pour a lot of money into expensive capital campaigns, as well as just the fact that the new vehicles, because they had a lot of input from maintenance staff in their design, they are easier to maintain. easier to do preventative maintenance. more efficient for staff resources. so our two key benefits are we are not spending money to maintain old equipment and we are getting benefits to customers sooner. >> yes. >> two things. first of all i think it would not be fair to her on her last day here to not point out that one of the reasons that finance costs for this will be so low is because she has done such a good job maintaining our credit rating and that sort of thing. is a finance cost but it could be worse if we were in different streets. this is a great presentation. i'm supportive of what you are doing.

the one question i have from a customer service standpoint is this. as i envision this, the idea of a mixed fleet, going forward meant a bigger fleet and meant that perhaps the use of three, perhaps even four car trains where we really need them. take for example, the klm rolling through castro, already full. and expanded shuttle service. my understanding is the goal is still to give as much life as we can out of the old lrp and have the biggest fleet possible. but it is just when a vehicle is -- there is a point where it is better to take a vehicle out of service because it is likely to hold up the entire tunnel and we are managing that. is that the correct analysis of this? >> if i could, what we are aiming to do is speed up the acceleration. or to accelerate the replacement

of the vehicles. not to -- we would still have, at the end of next year, before we will have 68 more vehicles than we had 20 years ago in service. we will be at that level until we potentially exercise the option. at the back end of this, for an additional 45 vehicles. what we change during the time is the mix of the different vehicles and we want to accelerate changing over from the vehicles. we will still have the 200 and something vehicles in service and we want to retire the old ones faster by replacing them. not just parking them, but by replacing them with new siemens cars. to the extent that we have vehicles that we can't make it perform reliably. they are because we need to make but the real purpose and what we are proposing is not just to put cars aside, it is to replace them with new vehicles spewing to the extent that we have a new vehicle and an old vehicle that

both work, will keep them both rolling and not just replace for the sake of replacing. >> correct. the 68 are all expansion. it is keeping everything we have in service and adding, which is a very significant increase in the fleet. >> that is the key point. thank you for clarifying that. >> go ahead. >> the seating -- >> there were so many complaints about the seating. >> that is just from malcolm. [laughter] >> he hasn't returned my calls. are you kidding me? >> we owe the board and we will be coming back to the board with a summary of what we are hearing some feedback, the process and some options to consider that we would be able to potentially pilot within the existing fleet and have resolved before we go into production.

>> that is what i have been hearing from people. [please stand b session. directors item 17, it would be appropriate for either a motion to disclose or not did i see close. >> motion to not disclose.

>> second. >> there's a motion and a second. all in favor? >> madam director, that concludes the business before the m.t.a. today. >> okay. meeting is adjourned. go vote.

>> when i open up the paper every day, i'm just amazed at how many different environmental issues keep popping up. when i think about what planet i want to leave for my children and other generations, i think about what kind of contribution i can make on a personal level to the environment. >> it was really easy to sign up for the program. i just went online to cleanpowersf.org, i signed up and then started getting pieces in the mail letting me know i was going switch over and poof it happened.

now when i want to pay my bill, i go to pg&e and i don't see any difference in paying now. if you're a family on the budget, if you sign up for the regular green program, it's not going to change your bill at all. you can sign up online or call. you'll have the peace of mind knowing you're doing your part in your household to help the environment. i

didn't o- >> sound familiar do you keep on getting up there's an easier way. >> of course there's easier way get rid of of mosquito they breed whatever this is water no water no mosquito mosquito feed on good blood the eggs hatch and stay near the waters san francisco to breathe and the adult underlying mosquito waits on the as many until it's sexuality hardens water pools in any areas and creates places you'll not normally think of budget and any container that holds water and hidden in bushes or else were dump the water and do it over

soil not into a drain the larva can continue growing in the pooled water is sewage disthe first of its kind the area if the sewage is two extreme have a licensed plumber assist water pools in rain gutters and snaking and cleaning out the water when keep the water from pooling and keep in mind that mosquito breed in other waters like catch balgsz and construction barriers interest crawl spaces with clmg is an issue you may have is week to cause the water to collect this is an sour of mosquito so for buildings just fix the clean air act drains and catch basins can be mosquito ground it will eliminate it as a possible location keep shrubbery and growths

estimated any water to can be seen and eliminated birdbath and fountains and uncovered hot tubs mosquito breed but it is difficult to dump the water out of a hot top can't dump the water adding mosquito finish rids the source of mosquito there are also traditionally methods to protect you installing screens on windows and doors and using a mosquito net and politically aau planet take the time to do the things we've mentioned to eliminate standing water and make sure that mosquito are not a problem on your property remember no water no mosqui

adjourned. >> shop & dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their shop & dine in the 49 with within the 49 square miles of san francisco by supporting local services within the neighborhood we help san francisco remain unique successful and vibrant so where will you shop & dine in the 49 my name is jim woods i'm the founder of woods beer company and the proprietor of woods copy k open 2 henry adams what makes us unique is that we're reintegrated brooeg the beer and serving that cross the table people are sitting next to the xurpz drinking alongside we're having a lot of ingredient that get there's a lot to do the district of retail shop having

that really close connection with the consumer allows us to do exciting things we decided to come to treasure island because we saw it as an amazing opportunity can't be beat the views and real estate that great county starting to develop on treasure island like minded business owners with last week products and want to get on the ground floor a no-brainer for us when you you, you buying local goods made locally our supporting small business those are not created an, an sprinkle scale with all the machines and one person procreating them people are making them by hand as a result more interesting and can't get that of minor or anywhere else and san francisco a hot bed for local manufacturing in support that is what keeps your city vibrant we'll make a compelling place to live and visit i think that

local business is the lifeblood of san francisco and a vibrant community [♪] >> i just don't know that you can find a neighborhood in the city where you can hear music stands and take a ride on the low rider down the street. it is an experience that you can't have anywhere else in san francisco. [♪] [♪] >> district nine is a in the southeast portion of the city. we have four neighborhoods that

i represent. st. mary's park has a completely unique architecture. very distinct feel, and it is a very close to holly park which is another beautiful park in san francisco. the bernal heights district is unique in that we have the hell which has one of the best views in all of san francisco. there is a swinging hanging from a tree at the top. it is as if you are swinging over the entire city. there are two unique aspects. it is considered the fourth chinatown in san francisco. sixty% of the residents are of chinese ancestry. the second unique, and fun aspect about this area is it is the garden district. there is a lot of urban agriculture and it was where the city grew the majority of the flowers. not only for san francisco but for the region. and of course, it is the location in mclaren park which is the city's second biggest park after golden gate. many people don't know the neighborhood in the first place

if they haven't been there. we call it the best neighborhood nobody has ever heard our. every neighborhood in district nine has a very special aspect. where we are right now is the mission district. the mission district is a very special part of our city. you smell the tacos at the [speaking spanish] and they have the best latin pastries. they have these shortbread cookies with caramel in the middle. and then you walk further down and you have sunrise café. it is a place that you come for the incredible food, but also to learn about what is happening in the neighborhood and how you can help and support your community. >> twenty-fourth street is the birthplace of the movement. we have over 620 murals. it is the largest outdoor public gallery in the country and possibly the world. >> you can find so much political engagement park next

to so much incredible art. it's another reason why we think this is a cultural district that we must preserve. [♪] >> it was formed in 2014. we had been an organization that had been around for over 20 years. we worked a lot in the neighborhood around life issues. most recently, in 2012, there were issues around gentrification in the neighborhood. so the idea of forming the cultural district was to help preserve the history and the culture that is in this neighborhood for the future of families and generations. >> in the past decade, 8,000 latino residents in the mission district have been displaced from their community. we all know that the rising cost of living in san francisco has led to many people being displaced. lower and middle income all over the city. because it there is richness in

this neighborhood that i also mentioned the fact it is flat and so accessible by trip public transportation, has, has made it very popular. >> it's a struggle for us right now, you know, when you get a lot of development coming to an area, a lot of new people coming to the area with different sets of values and different culture. there is a lot of struggle between the existing community and the newness coming in. there are some things that we do to try to slow it down so it doesn't completely erase the communities. we try to have developments that is more in tune with the community and more equitable development in the area. >> you need to meet with and gain the support and find out the needs of the neighborhoods. the people on the businesses that came before you. you need to dialogue and show respect. and then figure out how to bring in the new, without displacing the old. [♪] >> i hope we can reset a lot of the mission that we have lost in

the last 20 years. so we will be bringing in a lot of folks into the neighborhoods pick when we do that, there is a demand or, you know, certain types of services that pertain more to the local community and working-class. >> back in the day, we looked at mission street, and now it does not look and feel anything like mission street. this is the last stand of the latino concentrated arts, culture and cuisine and people. we created a cultural district to do our best to conserve that feeling. that is what makes our city so cosmopolitan and diverse and makes us the envy of the world. we have these unique neighborhoods with so much cultural presence and learnings, that we want to preserve. [♪]

>> growing up in san francisco has been way safer than growing up other places we we have that bubble, and it's still that bubble that it's okay to be whatever you want to. you can let your free flag fry he -- fly here. as an adult with autism, i'm here to challenge people's idea of what autism is. my journey is not everyone's journey because every autistic child is different, but there's hope. my background has heavy roots in the bay area. i was born in san diego and adopted out to san francisco

when i was about 17 years old. i bounced around a little bit here in high school, but i've always been here in the bay. we are an inclusive preschool, which means that we cater to emp. we don't turn anyone away. we take every child regardless of race, creed, religious or ability. the most common thing i hear in my adult life is oh, you don't seem like you have autism. you seem so normal. yeah. that's 26 years of really, really, really hard work and i think thises that i still do. i was one of the first open adoptions for an lgbt couple. they split up when i was about four. one of them is partnered, and one of them is not, and then my biological mother, who is also a lesbian. very queer family. growing up in the 90's with a

queer family was odd, i had the bubble to protect me, and here, i felt safe. i was bullied relatively infrequently. but i never really felt isolated or alone. i have known for virtually my entire life i was not suspended, but kindly asked to not ever bring it up again in first grade, my desire to have a sex change. the school that i went to really had no idea how to handle one. one of my parents is a little bit gender nonconforming, so they know what it's about, but my parents wanted my life to be safe. when i have all the neurological issues to manage, that was just one more to add to it. i was a weird kid. i had my core group of, like, very tight, like, three friends. when we look at autism, we characterize it by, like, lack

of eye contact, what i do now is when i'm looking away from the camera, it's for my own comfort. faces are confusing. it's a lack of mirror neurons in your brain working properly to allow you to experience empathy, to realize where somebody is coming from, or to realize that body language means that. at its core, autism is a social disorder, it's a neurological disorder that people are born with, and it's a big, big spectrum. it wasn't until i was a teenager that i heard autism in relation to myself, and i rejected it. i was very loud, i took up a lot of space, and it was because mostly taking up space let everybody else know where i existed in the world. i didn't like to talk to people really, and then, when i did, i overshared.

i was very difficult to be around. but the friends that i have are very close. i click with our atypical kiddos than other people do. in experience, i remember when i was five years old and not wanting people to touch me because it hurt. i remember throwing chairs because i could not regulate my own emotions, and it did not mean that i was a bad kid, it meant that i couldn't cope. i grew up in a family of behavioral psychologists, and i got development cal -- developmental psychology from all sides. i recognize that my experience is just a very small picture of that, and not everybody's in a position to have a family that's as supportive, but there's also a community that's incredible helpful and wonderful and open and there for you in your moments of need. it was like two or three years

of conversations before i was like you know what? i'm just going to do this, and i went out and got my prescription for hormones and started transitioning medically, even though i had already been living as a male. i have a two-year-old. the person who i'm now married to is my husband for about two years, and then started gaining weight and wasn't sure, so i we went and talked with the doctor at my clinic, and he said well, testosterone is basically birth control, so there's no way you can be pregnant. i found out i was pregnant at 6.5 months. my whole mission is to kind of normalize adults like me. i think i've finally found my calling in early intervention, which is here, kind of what we do. i think the access to irrelevant care for parents is intentionally

confusing. when i did the procespective search for autism for my own child, it was confusing. we have a place where children can be children, but it's very confusing. i always out myself as an adult with autism. i think it's helpful when you know where can your child go. how i'm choosing to help is to give children that would normally not be allowed to have children in the same respect, kids that have three times as much work to do as their peers or kids who do odd things, like, beach therapy. how do -- speech therapy. how do you explain that to the rest of their class? i want that to be a normal experience. i was working on a certificate and kind of getting think early childhood credits brefore i started working here, and we

did a section on transgender inclusion, inclusion, which is a big issue here in san francisco because we attract lots of queer families, and the teacher approached me and said i don't really feel comfortable or qualified to talk about this from, like, a cisgendered straight person's perspective, would you mind talking a little bit with your own experience, and i'm like absolutely. so i'm now one of the guest speakers in that particular class at city college. i love growing up here. i love what san francisco represents. the idea of leaving has never occurred to me. but it's a place that i need to fight for to bring it back to what it used to be, to allow all of those little kids that come from really unsafe environments to move somewhere safe. what i've done with my life is work to make all of those situations better, to bring a little bit of light to all those kind of issues that we're still having, hoping to expand into a little bit more of a

resource center, and this resource center would be more those new parents who have gotten that diagnosis, and we want to be this one centralized place that allows parents to breathe for a second. i would love to empower from the bottom up, from the kid level, and from the top down, from the teacher level. so many things that i would love to do that are all about changing people's minds about certain chunts, like the transgender community or the autistic community. i would like my daughter to know there's no wrong way to go through life. everybody experiences pain and grief and sadness, and that all of those things are temporary. >> i personally love the mega jobs. i think they're a lot of fun. i like being part of a build that is bigger than myself and outlast me and make a mark on a landscape or industry.

♪ we do a lot of the big sexy jobs, the stacked towers, transit center, a lot of the note worthy projects. i'm second generation construction. my dad was in it and for me it just felt right. i was about 16 when i first started drafting home plans for people and working my way through college. in college i became a project engineer on the job, replacing others who were there previously and took over for them. the transit center project is about a million square feet. the entire floor is for commuter buses to come in and drop off, there will be five and a half acre city park accessible to

everyone. it has an amputheater and water marsh that will filter it through to use it for landscaping. bay area council is big here in the area, and they have a gender equity group. i love going to the workshops. it's where i met jessica. >> we hit it off, we were both in the same field and the only two women in the same. >> through that friendship did we discover that our projects are interrelated. >> the projects provide the power from san jose to san francisco and end in the trans bay terminal where amanda was in charge of construction. >> without her project basically i have a fancy bus stop.

she has headed up the women's network and i do, too. we have exchanged a lot of ideas on how to get groups to work together. it's been a good partnership for us. >> women can play leadership role in this field. >> i tell him that the schedule is behind, his work is crappy. he starts dropping f-bombs and i say if you're going to talk to me like that, the meeting is over. so these are the challenges that we face over and over again. the reality, okay, but it is getting better i think. >> it has been great to bond with other women in the field. we lack diversity and so we have to support each other and change the culture a bit so more women see it as a great field that

they can succeed in. >> what drew me in, i could use more of my mind than my body to get the work done. >> it's important for women to network with each other, especially in construction. the percentage of women and men in construction is so different. it's hard to feel a part of something and you feel alone. >> it's fun to play a leadership role in an important project, this is important for the transportation of the entire peninsula. >> to have that person -- of women coming into construction, returning to construction from family leave and creating the network of women that can rely on each other. >> women are the main source of income in your household. show of hands. >> people are very charmed with the idea of the reverse role, that there's a dad at home instead of a mom.

you won't have gender equity in the office until it's at home. >> whatever you do, be the best you can be. don't say i can't do it, you can excel and do whatever you want. just put your mind into it. >> providing excellent customer service to each other so that we can succeed together. because we're a small division out here, and we're separated from the rest of the p.u.c., a lot of people wear a lot of different hats. everyone is really adept not just at their own job assigned to them, but really understanding how their job relates to the other functions, and then, how they can work together with other functions in the organization to solve those problems and meet our

core mission. >> we procure, track, and store materials and supplies for the project here. our real goal is to provide the best materials, services and supplies to the 250 people that work here at hetch hetchy, and turn, that supports everyone here in the city. i have a very small, but very efficient and effective team. we really focus hard on doing things right, and then focus on doing the right thing, that benefits everyone. >> the accounting team has several different functions. what happens is because we're so remote out here, we have small groups of people that have to do what the equivalent are of many people in the city. out here, our accounting team handles everything. they love it, they know it inside out, they cherish it, they do their best to make the system work at its most efficient. they work for ways to improve it all the time, and that's really an amazing thing.

this is really unique because it's everybody across the board. they're invested it, and they do their best for it. >> they're a pretty dynamic team, actually. the warehouse team guys, and the gals over in accounting work very well together. i'm typically in engineering, so i don't work with them all day on an every day basis. so when i do, they've included me in their team and treated me as part of the family. it's pretty amazing. >> this team really understanding the mission of the organization and our responsibilities to deliver water and power, and the team also understands that in order to do that, we have a commitment to each other, so we're all committed to the success of the organization, and that means providing excellent customer service to each other so that we can succeed