15th. >> dr. brinkman present. borden present. eaken present. heinicke present. hsu present. torres present. director rubke will not be at today's meeting. item 3, please be advised that the ringing of electronic dev e devices are prohibited. anybody who is responsible for one going off may be asked to leave the room. item 4, approval of the minutes. >> any public comment on the minutes? no, seeing none, public comment closed. motion to approve? all in favor aye. any opposed? hearing none, minutes are aprv proved -- approved. >> item 6, introduction of new

or unfinished business by board members. >> chair brinkman: right into the election of officers. nomination for chair. >> i would like to nominate malcolm heinicke. any other nominations? hearing none, we'll go to public comment on the nomination of malcolm heinicke as chair. any public comment? seeing none, public item is closed. all in favor? congratulations! i'll just say, malcolm, i know you're going to be a fantastic chair. i'm sure you all realize malcolm is the longest serving director

on this board. so he has fantastic experience and has been such an asset. i'm pleased to say the meeting is yours, chair heinicke. >> vice chair heinicke: thank you very much. i will say a few things throughout the meeting. some will focus on not so positive things that need to be addressed, but let me start with the one positive thing. the service of cheryl brinkman. the only good news to come out of you stepping down, i'll still get to work with you, because you remain a chair. the amount of effort and energy and passion this woman has put into her term as chair has been remarkable. as your colleague, i'm very grateful. >> thank you very much. >> vice chair heinicke: i will entertain nominations for vice

chair. >> i would like to nominate director borden. i'll call for public comment on the nomination of director borden for the position of vice chair. seeing none, public comment. okay. >> hi, my name is melody and i hope you can do a good job and bless you. >> well said. any other public comment? seeing none, all those in favor of director borden for vice chair? confirming it was unanimous. we will move on. congratulations, vice chair borden. anything you would like to say. >> i want to thank my colleagues for giving me the opportunity to be vice chair of the board. i look forward to working with you all in -- we have a big agenda. a lot of things to do as many know.

there are a lot of challenges that we need to face with the agency that are great challenges to have in terms of great ridership and people wanting to use our system. and demanding we do a better job, we have to and we will. i look forward to working with you. i want to also congratulate director brinkman for having been a great steward of this board. i want to thank you for your leadership. >> thank you, vice chair borden. >> back to the introduction of new or unfinished business. board members, any new or unfinished business? >> i have a couple of things. first i want to make sure we adjourn in honor of raymond joseph patrick murphy who passed away on january 3rd. he was a self-made san franciscan. he was an irish builder here in

san francisco and will be missed by many. i want to make sure we recognize him. >> without objection, that will be done. thank you very much. >> the other item -- i look forward to hearing about the chariot, the opportunity to be able to hire those drivers into our force. i look forward to seeing a report at some point of how that outreach is going and what is a direct match of the existing drivers in terms of licenses and what it might take to get the other drivers and how fast we can make that happen in the h.r. process. >> they're already familiar with the red lane, as i like to say. [laughter] director brinkman? >> just a quick shoutout to the staff and the volunteers from organizations that went out to the opening day of the valencia street protected bike lanes in front of the schools, the pilot project got on the ground so quickly. it was working out really well.

i volunteered with the bike coalition on the very first day that the lanes were open and the students were back and it seemed to be going well. the staff and the parents were so happy to see our pcos out there, school crossing guards and volunteers out there remi reminding cyclists to take carry. mr. maguire, i want to complement you on the work your staff did. the accelerated timeline on that project meant a lot of long hours from the staff who worked on that. they were working nights and weekends. they were happy to see it, the cyclists and the parents so happy to see it. i want to acknowledge i recognize how long and hard they had to work. all the new protected bike lanes are great. i was out riding them in the rain, thank you so much. >> any new or unfinished business. >> director torres: i want to

revisit or have staff communicate with me regarding the reasons that this station was put at randall street and glen park when there seems to be substantial opposition. >> can you designate someone to take that up. if it is not taken up to your satisfaction or the board needs a briefing, please request that. this is an ongoing issue of concern for this board. >> thank you very much. >> mr. chairman, you do have a member of the public who wishes to address items on this topic that don't relate to the election of chair or vice chair >> please call that member. good afternoon, mr. toronto, welcome back. >> it's been a while. i had to get a little sleep to

come here, because i went to the airport commission meeting this morning. i worked until 4 in the morning, i couldn't go home and get back here, but i got a little shut eye. i want to congratulate you on your chairmanship. i want to address what director borden mentioned about the jobs for muni drivers. how about offering them to cab drivers where you have our records and background checks? why is it only the chariot? and we work with a variety of different passengers. why can't you offer it to us, because a lot of us are going to lose our jobs at the end of the month if this plan goes into effect. if you want to understand why, we'll address it during public comment. it would be great if the chariot drivers, who are relatively new to the city, we got equal access to the muni jobs that are

vacant. >> thank you, mr. toronto, excellent idea. you're not the only one that hadet. thank you for sharing it. i don't think there is any other public comment on that issue. we will move onto the director report. >> thank you, i'll be presenting the first item of recognition from the podium. if i may suggest that the remaining reports can follow at the end of the agenda. >> absolutely, please. we had coordinated walkup music for you, but sfgovtv said we couldn't do that, so imagine cold play, playing as you walk down there. [laughter]. there you go. >> it is my pleasure to offer

special recognition to janice yuen. i'd ask janice to join me here. janice leads special events as part of the communications division. a keep member of the marketing team. she has been with the sfmta for 21 years and her work is key to programs that help motivate our employees and promote agency connection to our local communities. she's a linchpin to organizing events, such as the safe drivers award, where we celebrate drivers who have been driving safely 15 years or more, the heritage weekend, pride bell ringing. one thing you may not know, for the past ten years, janice has run the agency combined charities, heart of the city for stm, which encourages our staff to donate to the campaign every year. working with our director of

human resources dawn elson, who is your executive chair, janice organizes to take an approach to fundraising. this year, through the amazing efforts to mobilize so many people across the agency, our combined charities campaign met and exceeded our agency goal by 10%. the campaign raised $142,000. excuse me -- $156,000, even bigger, in pledges from sfmta staff across the agency, which is 15% increase over the 2017 campaign. a lot of the thanks goes to the coordinators and captains. it's janice that pulls it all together. i worked with janice for six years and she's a great contributor to the sfmta family. she's incredibly effective at

getting colleagues engaged and involved and helping make our agency an outstanding place to work. i'm very pleased. offer you, janice, this award. >> thank you. [applause] >> i will note, many of the team members. -- many of our team members are here to celebrate. >> if you are here to celebrate janice, please stand up. when they announced the goal, i have to say i was nervous. i would like to acknowledge the volunteers, the campaign capt n

captains who fund raised and the satellite offices. they brought their hearts, hands and minds to the project. they learned a lot. we learned a new data entry system for inputting pledges. we learned that learning curves are hard. we collaborated with other colleagues and learned that pork buns sell well. we also learned that our colleagues will buy hand crafted jewelry and pizza, but not necessarily simultaneously. and that friday afternoons are a great way to have popcorn and fun. we learned and affirmed that we as an agency can do amazing things when we work together. with a little faith and a lot of hard work, we were able to exceed our goal and help supports hundreds of nonprofit organizations for those in need. so it's been a blessing for me to serve alongside with all of captains and all of those who

pledged. with ethough that -- we know that people only give when asked. i'm thankful for those who said yes. with those of you in communications, will you please stand up and those associated with the project please stand up, because you did all this work, too. thank you. the update on vision zero i believe is next. >> yes, if tom maguire would like to provide the report on vision zero.

good afternoon. >> good afternoon, directors. a quick update and i'm going to cover ground that director brinkman already covered. this fall, this board and the mayor challenged us to get a number of high-profile bike lane protected projects out on the street. the last to get done was valencia, but it followed townsend street and howard street and we were pleased to cut the ribbon last week with supervisor kim on her last day in office. we were very excited to get the valencia street protected bike lane pilot in place before the first day of school at the friends school and we're happy to get the townsend street lane done before the holidays.

so using our in-house resources in creative ways, to make reality on the streets. that will be a theme you'll continue to see in calendar year 2019 from our division. that project delivering engineering is probably the most ambitious part of your vision zero strategy. wanted to provide updates we have made many of the ambitious decisions that this board made in the fall of 2018, are already reality on the street, the first week of 2019. >> chair heinicke: thank you very much. >> moving on, i want to mention as i said, i'm acting for director riskin today who is at the annual board meeting in washington d.c. the director is participating in the annual meeting of the national city of transportation officials this week. and a meeting with legislative

staff from senator feinstein and house speaker nancy pelosi's offices. i'll continue on. i'm sad to report that last night, as some of you may be aware, last night at approximately 9:35 p.m., we had a very unfortunate incident occur in the subway at van ness station. san francisco police department is currently investigating the incident, but based on preliminary information it appears a woman entered the station, climbed over the railing at the mezzanine area above the trackway and fell onto the outbound track. there were no trains present at the time of the fall and all the trains were held outside the station afterwards. once the scene was actually secured, we had an sfmta employee enter the trackway and initiate emergency cpr until the

fire department was able to arrive and take over. train service was stopped from embarcadero to castro. we started owl service early and supplemented that with bus shuttles in order to keep passengers with the least amount of convenience possible. this is a situation that is still under police investigation. that will take some time. i want to thank those who were able to get on the scene quickly and start to, you know, address this very difficult situation, including the station agent, security personnel, the inspector, the control center staff and all those up into the night working to manage the situation. i want to move on to construction projects that are coming up. in anticipation of the opening of the chase center, the sfmta is about to construct a new

wider 320-foot long center platform along third street between south and 16th street. work has already been going on, on this project, but the next phase actually will be a more extensive and impactful construction effort. the next phase requires us to extend bus substitution starting on tuesday, january 22nd through the end of march. so during this period of time, the t third will not run and buses will substitute that service. we put out a plan that includes a tremendous amount of ambassador support and signage support to make sure our customers are aware and we're taking all the recommendations and less ande and and lessoned learned on the twin peak tunnel. we included the signs that hang

within the subway. communication has been ongoing with supervisors and community members about the project. construction will include quite a bit, it includes installing not only the constructing the platform and tracks, overhead contact system will be replaced. below-ground utility work is also part of the work, as well as the canopy and concrete. while the service resumes at the end of march, the mission bay platform will not reopen until april. in addition to the bay platform project, we have smaller projects going on, including the church street inbound elevator, which is about to undergo construction starting next monday. that elevator will be out of service for ten weeks while the work is done. wheelchair users will be directed to the elevators at

castro and van ness or f line streetcar service. this is one of the projects that is part of the muni elevator modernization safety project where we're replacing 11 older elevators. this is the second project to go. that entire body of work is anticipated to take about four years and it started last year. and then finally we have a couple of utility cabinet that are undergoing work. i mentioned this because it does require trenching around the church street market into both areas where we're installing underground electrical equipment that will help essentially reduce the power outages and shutdowns that occur for the j. church line. hopefully, this work will make

sure this is more reliable. and that concludes my report. >> chair heinicke: thank you. directors, any questions for director hsu before we go to public comment? seeing none, i have a few, if i may ask. on the van ness incident, thank you for the report and the speed of the report, getting it to us that quickly. two questions. i assume that we're going to do what we can to counsel the employees, particularly the station agent involved to make sure there is no lasting damage to that person and thank them for their quick service. i assume also we're going to look at the barrier and revisit whether the barrier needs to be change or what safety upgrades need to be made to the station? >> noted and we'll make sure that the counseling is on the list. that is under discussion as well as evaluation of the circumstances around the area. >> chair heinicke: then asking what is a very object obvious question, i'll asket, on the bus

substitution for the t-third line will that have affect on other bus service or the ability to put coaches out on the other lines? >> we're making every effort to ensure that is not -- that service remains at the level we expect it to for the rest of the city. i will note that 83 and e line service will be cancelled during this period so the operators can be used to support service to ensure it doesn't come from other areas of the city. >> chair heinicke: at the risk of stating the obvious, if there is affect on other bus lines, better to know sooner than later, better to be transparent and communicate it to the riders in advance so they can make plans accordingly. public comment on the director's report? >> the only person to turn in a speaker card, this is restricted to topics that were just

discussed by acting director hsu. >> mr. winer, welcome back. >> the question of chariot, was that addressed by the board in this report? i came in late? >> chair heinicke: it was not. >> i simply wanted to compliment the board on the possibility that the chariot riders will be hired by mta. i think it's a good move. i hope they get the benefit. and i wish everyone well in this endeavor. >> chair heinicke: okay. even though you were off topic, since you complimented us, we'll allow it. [laughter]. anyone else on the director's report? okay. moving on to item number 8. >> citizens advisory council report. there is not a report today. moving onto item 9, opportunity for the members of the public to address the board, not on

today's agenda. >> how many cards do you have? >> 17. >> okay, two minutes for public comment. that two minutes is a maximum. it's not a requirement. with that said, please call the first few cards. >> i'm mark -- >> chair heinicke: welcome back. nice to see you. >> i'm a prop k medallion holder and full-time driver for 30 years. although i'm sympathetic to the hardships prop a medallion holders are going through and believe quicker access to the airport could possibly improve their income, the taxi industry cannot afford to pay for the

mistakes this agency has made with the medallion sales program. imposing restrictions on 60% of the taxi industry that already is in short supply will not s e safe -- save the industry nor pay off the loans you owe to the credit union. all medallions should be allowed to service the airport. a lot of people still prefer taxis instead of what we call scab cabs such as uber and lyft. instead of helping us to be more reliable and compete with 50,0050,000 roaming our streets, it will make it harder for the riding public to get a taxi and it will eliminate more customers. i urge all of you to reject his

proposals. [bell ringing] the only way to co-exist with the unfair competition we're faced with today, and make the taxi industry prosperous again is to achieve a level playing field in the transportation for higher market. from mayor newsom to mayor breed, no effort has been made in that direction. i think it's about time to stop ignoring the elephant in the room. thank you. >> chair heinicke: thank you. you are always articulate. may i just take a moment and say, how many of you are here in public comment to voice something similar to what mr. fonseca said? okay and how many are you aware of the memorandum that kate issued revising the proposals. so some, okay. you understand there has been a significant revision off of what this board adopted. i just wanted to make sure everyone is on the same page.

we'll continue with public comment. well, you're -- so... >> and the board can't discuss an item not on -- >> chair heinicke: i'm not allowed to go off agenda, but i wanted to make sure that this memo had been issued. we'll continue with the public comment. next speaker, please. >> thank you. speaking as a long time san francisco are the and muni rider, i wanted to share with you a perception i've developed over the years, that sfmta is not addressing the severe problems muni faces with anything close to the urgency that they demand.

muni shares the same fate that the taxi industry is currently confronting. one anecdote that i'll share with you, but it's one that i've experienced multiple times, today, coming here for this meeting, i waited more than 30 minutes to catch the k. when it finally came, it still got held up at multiple intersections, red lights at multiple intersections for trivial minor streets. when we get to where the k turns from ocean, the signals let the cars go through the intersection first. the k has to wait until after that. a violation of the most literal sense of the charter transit first mandate. that is one example of chronic ongoing problems that muni is facing. they've identified solutions to that, but they are not getting

implemented. why does it matter? [bell ringing] in san francisco and elsewhere, transit is losing ridership. the resources board is saying unless it's reduced, they have no hope of meeting greenhouse gas emission targets. i implore you in the coming year to swiftly and systemically address these chronic ongoing problems. >> chair heinicke: thank you very much. next speaker. welcome back. >> congratulations, sir. mr. heinicke. i'm here to address this whole question of the debt of all these new medallion holders. and we had a town hall meeting in this room about three or four weeks ago.

and a suggestion was made by me that possibly there could be a settlement. and the settlement would be that the mta would pay down the purchase of these medallions by $125,000. now that might sound like a lot of money, but if this lawsuit is successful, it's going to cost the mta approximately $160 million.