that included -- this is an example. obviously not limited to areas of unemployment, on house and homeless individuals, people lacking economic mobility, justice involved and lgbt. just couple of examples to help people think. for balancing to help balance the budget, the structural deficit that we noted, we look to departments to help provide us with ideas and proposals about reducing general fund support. one thing, the deficit projections are just for the general fund which is $5.5 billion half of the city's $11 billion budget. this is 2% of general fund support growing to 4% in the second year of the budget. we do ask the department share with us what this service or operational impacts would be to

taking no target proposals. we ask the cost magnitude around labor negotiations. the department provide proposal of an additional 1% to 2% reduction last year it was 2.5 to 5% total. if terms of fte staffing we asked to change to existing fte first. we're in mid-march. we'll unpublishing the five-year plan. comptroller will be offering the 5-month report. labor agreements must be submitted to the board on may 15th. since june 1st falls on a

saturday, we're planning to submit the budget to the board on friday may 31st. your hard work is really kicking into high gear in the month of june and july by which we must pass the budget. that's it for budget instructions. i'm happy to answer any questions or move on to state and federal updates. >> chair fewer: colleagues any questions? let's move on to state and federal. >> these are just couple of high-level slides to talk about the state and federal budget time line and to highlight funding areas that impact the city most from the choices that are leaders and state federal government make. the governor submitted his proposed budget and my next slide will walk you through the highlights you see there. that is an opening proposal that gets debated amongst the senate and budget committees. they hold budget hearings in february through april.

the governor puts out the may revise on may 15th. then through and june, the senate and the assembly pass revised budget and the governor signs on a time line to the mayor on july 31st for their fiscal year beginning on july 1st. the january governor proposed budget put out by governor newsom was $144 billion general fund budget. the two key themes that we noted in reviewing that proposal is that similar to governor brown, there's a focus on paying down debt and maintaining state reserves. additionally there are many proposals for mostly onetime investments and one-time sources in the following areas. should the budget remain in similar shape that it did in january, would be cost relief to

san francisco through the ihssf programming. we're anticipating 10 to $18 million. it is a component of. it will be a reduction but definitely not bringing down that large cost as it's currently drafted. there's also changes to entitlement programs and med cal coverage in the governor's proposed budget. of course large funding for one had-time funding for housing and homelessness including focus on shelters, navigation centres and housing. thank you >> supervisor safai: supervisor

mandelman has a question. >> supervisor mandelman: just slow it down little bit for me if you could. projected increase in ihss cost without the assistance are what? >> around $50 million this year growing to 60 to 100 by the firth year. >> supervisor mandelman: release that's proposed would take that down by -- >> by $10 million. >> supervisor mandelman: there will be 40? >> yes. we'll get the exact numbers. that's the order of magnitude. it is helpful. i'm grateful that governor has made that a priority given the major cost shift to the city. it's not nearly the full impact that we're anticipating. >> supervisor safai: supervisor ronen. >> supervisor ronen: following that line of questioning, is there any additional efforts that are ongoing now to increase the amount? >> the mayor has made ihss one

of the priorities. it is one city's top legislative priorities. for the organization of counties across the state, it is one of their top priorities. i don't know the status of current issues after the governor budget. it's an important issue. >> supervisor ronen: what's the best way to get additional investigation abou-- informatio? >> i can check in with our state and federal liaison and the mayor's office to get the best information for you. when we come back in april with the march update which we do, we'll be outlined and it has more refined numbers.

>> supervisor ronen: i'm stating the obvious, given the tsunami we were talking about and san francisco is not alone. it's more extreme here, but this is a statewide phenomenon. this does seem like something we shouldn't be sitting idle on and we should be pushing for greater release. you like to be part of that however we can and stay up to date ton that. also, the changes to entitlement expansion of med cal. >> it's about number of people eligible for med cal.

the high level that i know that would expand med cal funding for middle class and individuals regardless of immigration status, which is something that san francisco always stood behind with healthy san francisco. i think -- we can dive more deeply into it and working with their fewer to figure out where you like us to dive deeper for you. i'm happy to follow up and we can come back with the department dive little deeper into some of these areas. >> supervisor ronen: i would love that it dive deeper. i love to understand that. finally, i guess really all three of these issues that increase funding, do we have a

projection or idea impact to san francisco and how much revenue we can expect to the receive? >> i'll tell you what the high-level announcement was in january. they will have greater detail and specificity. the proposed budget is $750 million statewide. $500 million for production and $250 million for planning and technical assistance in short-term grants to local governments in order to spur housing production. we're watching closely to see how develop in greater specificity to know what san francisco maybe eligible for. in terms of homelessness, they created incentives to regional collaboration and performance outcomes for homelessness by

designated $300 million for onetime funding statewide regional plans. additional $200 million will go to jurisdictions that meet their shelter bed and supportive housing goals. more details to come out what will the goals be. we can provide updates to all yu all. saturday night live great, than- >> supervisor ronen: great, thank you. >> chair fewer: supervisor mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: just on the med cal piece, i don't know if this is what is included in the governor proposal. it would create a waiver to help pay used med cal dollars to pay for assisted living for folks.

that quite significant in term being able to care for theme their homes and have a place for people coming out of drug treatment for example, place for them to go. that could be a pretty significant thing for us, i think. >> supervisor safai: thank you. >> as for the federal budget, i would say that my take away was from the federal budget is volatility and uncertainty. as we experienced with most recent federal shutdown, it really sets up uncertainty for key programs. i wanted to highlight for you the major funding areas the city stephesteph -- received from the federal government. should another shutdown occur, would impact city revenue or entitlements that are distributed directly to residents. that is one biggest functions that the federal government supports in san francisco.

fiscal year runs october 1 through september 30th. they passed about a dozen appropriation bills funding various departments. those bills should not pass, that is where we come into shutdown components that we experienced this past winter. federal sourcers for the city, we receive about $1.3 billion in the city's budget related from federal sources that includes entitlement programs as well as medicaid, s.n.a.p., food stamp program and foster care services.

funding to the city includes grants that we received from the federal government. we received significant funding through transportation grants as well as housing grants, hud homeless grants. we received $40 million through the department of homelessness and supportive housing. also, not necessarily in the budgets itself but supporting san francisco residents that comes through the federal government to support individuals in their section 8 housing. i'll be happy to answer any questions. you know that was high-level. if you like anything else, i'm happy to hear them now or talk to you offline. ly pas -- pass for the discussif

the six-month report. >> twice a year, we'll bring to you quarterly report known as the circumstance 6 month reporth report. these reports look at the year that we're in today. the report we put out four week ago reduces our overall forecast deficit by just under $80 million. if we're looking at the two budget years, we mentioned deficit forecasted about $270 million. this will bring it down just under 200. most of the improvement is from property transfer tax. if we look at the receipts we

have in the first halfth year, they are strong enough to increase our year end projections that we've taken that into account. that's about $100 million worth. in addition department of public health is seeing med cal reimbursement rates are higher than they had anticipated. as you know we have the city's target for economic stabilization reserv reserves if the general fund revenue. the budget stabilization reserve, when the combined two reserves exceeded 10% of general fund revenue, our code prescribes the next bucket that we fill with that. which we are approaching. it's a budget stabilization,

one-time reserves. i'll get into supplemental preparation this a moment. if you look at the right most column, this is the change, the 6-month report represents over prior projection. the prior projection being what was contained in the 5-year financial plan that was issued in january. we came up with the projections in november. there was a bit of a lag. the most recent news is really all in real property transfer tax, better by little other $100 million. that's what we've seen year to date. it's very volatile. anywhere between $12 million to $57 million. they are just extremely volatile month to month. we do see growth in the first

seven months of the year. that's really six months report in revenue. the growth in sales tax is just the delay the state department of tax administration implemented new software that didn't do allocation. we got allocation in the current year that was due last year. that's little bit of sales tax growth. if you look at the second column from the right, the variance from the budget, this includes improvement that we took into account when we were preparing our 5-year forecast in november. the piece of information that you have at that point if time is where you ended the prior year. any news to the good or bad that you learned of at the end of the prior year becomes base building.

we've talked little bit about voter approved spending requirements. we're just displaying here the effective revenue growth on those different spending requirements. at the department level, the 6-h report, surplus is $36 million. it's almost entirely occurring

at the department of public health and it is almost occurring entirely due to the med cal rates that i mentioned. other small amounts. really that's the biggest change that we see half way through the year. in terms of supplemental appropriations the board approved the budget and the budget is changed through the supplemental appropriations. there's has been no ordinances that have been approved. we do anticipate shortly the mayor's office will be introducing a supplemental to reappropriate existing funding for overtime in the fire and sheriff's department emergency management. it's not a cost increase. it's just moving funding that's

available that's been appropriated into overtime. that will be before you soon. this committee has also approved supplemental to provide short-term loans to federal workers that are affected shutdown. that will be available should be there another shutdown. as ms. kirkpatrick mentioneds, eraf supplemental i was approved after the issuance of this report. some of the things that we have our eye on that would change these projections going forward. the city has not yet issued a audited financial statement for fiscal year 17-18. we're trying to bring that to a close this month to the extent that our auditors require us to

restate anything this can change our numbers. we'll reflect that in the next report to you. i mentioned some of the revenue changes that the department of public health will be keeping our eye eye on that as well. lastly, the city received a number of payments from pg&e. some of them were general fund tax payments. they also pay property and bids business tax to the city as well as remittance for clean power. we're currently assuming that those payments will be possibly delayed but not materially affected if the current fiscal

we'll be coming to you shortly updates. the five-year financial plan will be updated this month in another week or so, i think it will be issued. comptroller's audited financial statement for th the city is the cafr what we call it. i'm happy to answer any questions. >> president yee: on page 26, just back up little bit, these projections, for instance the business taxes, does this include any of the last year's

ballot initiatives? >> no. those are special purpose taxes. when they are received they will be deposited into a special revenue fund. what we're showing you is existing general fund revenue. >> president yee: okay, that's good to know. >> chair fewer: supervisor mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: can you talk about the projected shortfall in mental health revenue d.p.h.? i have a guess. >> you might be better informed on it than i am. it's sort of multiyear trend that we've been experiencing. we're seeing six-month report, we tend to have a shortfall in the medi-cal program. overall, because other rates made up for that.

>> supervisor mandelman: given the board's priorities around mental health and substance abuse, that will be an interesting thing to drill down on. i'm wondering if it is that we're providing mental healthcare that we cannot bill for and we're not doing in the appropriate way. people are stuck in mental health beds for too long. we can't bill. we are providing the healthcare. i don't think we're underproviding healthcare. we become unable to bill medi-cal for those services we're providing. we don't have the ability oprovide them in the appropriate setting. >> we can bring that back for your next hearing on that topic. >> chair fewer: thank you very much. any other questions or comments? seeing none, let's open it up to the public. any members of the public that like to comment on items 1, 2 or 4? seeing none, public comment is closed. what i would like to do is to

make a motion to file item number 4 and continue items 1 and 2. president yee. >> president yee: i want to talk about it, i got reminded during this presentation in regards to overtime. when we talk about the public safety piece, this is not an overtime there. has the police, fire department and the sheriff. i would like to have a report on that. >> chair fewer: , okay we can request that. any other comments? seeing none i like to make a motion to continue items 1 and 2 and file item 4, may i have a second please? seconded. we can take that without objection. thank you very much. any other items before us today? >> there are no other items. >> chair fewer: we are adjourned. thank you.

>> it's great to see everyone kind of get together and prove, that you know, building our culture is something that can be reckoned with. >> i am desi, chair of economic development for soma filipinos. so that -- [ inaudible ] know that soma filipino exists, and it's also our economic platform, so we can start to

build filipino businesses so we can start to build the cultural district. >> i studied the bok chase choy her achbl heritage, and i discovered this awesome bok choy. working at i-market is amazing. you've got all these amazing people coming out here to share one culture. >> when i heard that there was a market with, like, a lot of filipino food, it was like oh, wow, that's the closest thing i've got to home, so, like, i'm going to try everything. >> fried rice, and wings, and

three different cliefz sliders. i haven't tried the adobe yet, but just smelling it yet brings back home and a ton of memories. >> the binca is made out of different ingredients, including cheese. but here, we put a twist on it. why not have nutella, rocky road, we have blue berry. we're not just limiting it to just the classic with salted egg and cheese. >> we try to cook food that you don't normally find from filipino food vendors, like the

lichon, for example. it's something that it took years to come up with, to perfect, to get the skin just right, the flavor, and it's one of our most popular dishes, and people love it. this, it's kind of me trying to chase a dream that i had for a long time. when i got tired of the corporate world, i decided that i wanted to give it a try and see if people would actually like our food. i think it's a wonderful opportunity for the filipino culture to shine. everybody keeps saying filipino food is the next big thing. i think it's already big, and to have all of us here together, it's just -- it just blows my mind sometimes that there's so many of us bringing -- bringing filipino food to the city finally. >> i'm alex, the owner of the

lumpia company. the food that i create is basically the filipino-american experience. i wasn't a chef to start with, but i literally love lumpia, but my food is my favorite foods i like to eat, put into my favorite filipino foods, put together. it's not based off of recipes i learned from my mom. maybe i learned the rolling technique from my mom, but the different things that i put in are just the different things that i like, and i like to think that i have good taste. well, the very first lumpia that i came out with that really build the lumpia -- it wasn't the poerk and shrimp shanghai, but my favorite thing after partying is that bakon

cheese burger lumpia. there was a time in our generation where we didn't have our own place, our own feed to eat. before, i used to promote filipino gatherings to share the love. now, i'm taking the most exciting filipino appetizer and sharing it with other filipinos. >> it can happen in the san francisco mint, it can happen in a park, it can happen in a street park, it can happen in a tech campus. it's basically where we bring the hardware, the culture, the operating system. >> so right now, i'm eating

something that brings me back to every filipino party from my childhood. it's really cool to be part of the community and reconnect with the neighborhood. >> one of our largest challenges in creating this cultural district when we compare ourselves to chinatown, japantown or little saigon, there's little communities there that act as place makers. when you enter into little philippines, you're like where are the businesses, and that's one of the challenges we're trying to solve.

>> undercover love wouldn't be possible without the help of the mayor and all of our community partnerships out there. it costs approximately $60,000 for every event. undiscovered is a great tool for the cultural district to bring awareness by bringing the best parts of our culture which is food, music, the arts and being ativism all under one roof, and by seeing it all in this way, what it allows san

franciscans to see is the dynamics of the filipino-american culture. i think in san francisco, we've kind of lost track of one of our values that makes san francisco unique with just empathy, love, of being acceptable of different people, the out liers, the crazy ones. we've become so focused onic maing money that we forgot about those that make our city and community unique. when people come to discover, i want them to rediscover the magic of what diversity and empathy can create. when you're positive and committed to using that energy,

>> thank you all very much for coming out on this rainy san francisco day to help us celebrate a landmark project for the people of this city. my name's ed reiskin. i'm the transportation director here in san francisco, and really glad to be able to be here today to celebrate long-planned improvements for one of the most important corrid corridor in our city. it was more than 30 years ago that some folks were looking at our city and thinking about the future of it and back then identified the geary corridor as one of the most important corridors for transit in our city looking forward into the future, and they were right, because fast forward 30 years later, the geary corridor is one of the highest if not the highest bus ridership transit corridor in the western united states. it's -- you have -- it's pretty

impressive. it's alone -- if the geary transit were its own transit, it would be among the largest transit systems in the bay area, so the folks back then had it right when they recognized the importance of the geary transit system to san francisco. so fast forward to today. we at the sfmta have been maded improvements over the years within the constraints of the street as it is to try to add more service, to try to improve the service. but the project that we're breaking ground on today really takes that a quantum step forward in terms of not just making improvements to muni but also upgrading the infrastructure, modernizing the infrastructure and making the street safer, which is really pulling together a number of different city priorities and bundling them into one project here that we're breaking ground on today. that kind of project, hitting

that many city policy goals, doesn't just happen. it takes a lot of work from a lot of leadership, a lot of our community partners. you'll hear some of them speaking today, but it also takes policy and political leadership, so i want to acknowledge the sfmta board of directors, our chair heinicke and director torres, art torres is here. it takes the board of supervisors who sit as the transportation authority board, and vallie brown is here, the supervisor from this district. it takes leadership from the top, and from the time she took office, three priorities of the mayor have been upgrading muni,

and making our streets safer. it wouldn't be the same without here, so please join me welcoming our mayor, mayor breed. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: hello, everyone. exciting day to be here. every time i come to the neighborhood, i think about my childhood, and i actually grew up right down the street. and we used to take certain routes when we were kids. we would hangout -- i mean, i went to rosa parks elementary school, but we would hangout and jump the fence and play on the playgrounds. then, we would walk across geary beforehand, and we would not necessarily walk across the lights. i think the video game frogger was probably designed because we would leapfrog through the streets which were definitely not safe as kids, and that's why this project is so important.

we would head over to japantown and hangout at japantown bowl. and back then, things were a lot different. we had fun as kids, but we got into trouble probably some here and there by crossing the streets where we shouldn't have, and we really want to focus on trying to make san francisco a better, more safe place, and make our public transportation system a lot more reliable than it had been in the past. i think about, you know, just what we've been able to accomplish in this community. you know, a lot of great improvements in our public transportation system. in fact, when i served on the board of supervisors, because there was a geary limited, which is now the geary rapid. i didn't understand why the fulton and the 510 and all these buses that came between the west side and the east side

transportation, why we weren't thinking more about our transportation systems and thinking more about the 510-r. thank you to the sfmta because it's been a great addition to our public transportation system. but i also think about the past. if we had built all of our transportation systems underground, it would be even a more amazing system with not only better transportation but safer transportation. this project today as we break ground on what i think is going to make such a significant impact on this community but also folks who live in the west side of the city, people who rely on the 38 geary, whether it's the rapid or the regular 38 geary, to get to school, to get to work, to shop, and to do the kinds of things that so many people want to do on our public transportation system. providing the geary b.r.t. i

think is going to change how people are getting around, making it a lot more efficient and making our public transportation system much more reliable than it had been in the past, and that's what this project is about. it's also about safety and improving access to our public transportation system for people who are seniors and those with disabilities. i know that this community wanted to save the laguna street stop because we have a lot of seniors who use that stop, and going up and down the hills are not necessarily an easy thing as you get older, and we were able to do that because of this community. we also know the laguna street -- the webster street bridge is something that was important to this community and particularly to the rosa parks elementary community. so we've been able to do things

and making sure your voices were heard as we move forward public transportation here in san francisco for all residents. so i'm excited to be here today because this is a long time coming. yes, when we did the central subway, and we visited the -- there was this big machine called big bertha, and we got a chance during that ground breaking to write, you know, messages on big bertha, the -- what do you call it, the thing -- tunnel what? the tunnel boring machine, the thing that's driving the hole underneath the ground, and i wrote on big bertha, see you on geary boulevard. well, my dream project is to go underground on geary boulevard, but the money is not necessarily this to do that. but we're doing the next best thing. we're providing bus rapid transit service on geary boulevard with the goal of

improving public transportation on one of the busiest corridors of our city. it's going to make an impact, and i'm excited because it's going to be a challenge. congestion is a problem in san francisco. people are frustrated. there's a lot of construction that's happening. and what i want people to know is i gueet that we have challenges, and we're going to be doing some short and long-term fixes to address those challenges. but just imagine before any of us was born, some of our leaders made a decision to go underground then and were inconvenienced at that time how we would be dealing with a better transportation system now. we have to make some tough decisions to improve transportation for future generations. that's what this is about, improving our system for the future so that the future generation of san franciscans are not pointing the finger at

us and blaming us for not doing the right thing and making our system better for all of us. i also want to take this opportunity to talk just a little bit about safety and safety on our streets because we know, sadly, more recently, there have been a number of fatalities that have happened because of collisions. and part of what we need to do, yes, is improve our public transportation system, but more importantly, improve our infrastructure so that people are safe on our streets. and also one of the things that i am pushing for is making sure that our police department, they're issuing more citations for those drivers who are basically creating a bit of a nuisance on our streets, the people who are driving too fast, and that is just really a problem. so i know none of us want to get a ticket, so i want you all

to slow down. people are walking, people are riding bikes. seniors are trying to make it across the street and may not make it across before the light changes. we have to do more as a city to protect residents, and that means making improvements to our infrastructure and holding people accountable who are out there, creating challenges on the road. not an easy thing to do, but a necessary thing to do as we improve our infrastructure. i know congestion is frustrating. i know that people want to get from point a to point b, but i ask you to be patient with us. i ask that you slow down, and i ask that you continue to support these projects that are going to make our city better, make our public transportation, and make our city safer in the long run. with that, i want to introduce someone who has had an important role in helping me who, when i was on the board of supervisors, we were able to secure funding for this project, as i said, we were

able to save the webster street bridge, and we were able to save the laguna street stop. and as someone who has played an important role in this community and all the challenges it's faced in the past and will continue to face in the future is your supervisor, vallie brown. [applause] >> supervisor brown: i just want to thank everyone for being here today. i also would like to thank the rosa park elementary school. mayor breed, you missed their performance, and that would have been your favorite part of this. that was an -- amazing. i usually don't quote famous figures, but i think mark twain has a good quote for this particular day. good things come to those who wait if you don't die in the meantime. and i think a lot of us have a

few gray hairs since prop k passed in 2003 for the b.r.t., the geary b.r.t., but here we are, and i'm really excited about this, and i'm really excited to look around the room and see so many people that were part of this process. and i know i've talked to a few of you, and you all remember the meetings that we would have year and year, and they were up in the cathedral, and i think someone reminded me, one meeting -- community meeting, someone stole the comment box. so -- yes, yes. so this has been a journey. but i'm very excited about this project. you know, the geary b.r.t. has 54,000 riders a day. so if we're able to save two minutes of every san francisco ride, that's 18,000 hours a

week. that is 75 days a year that we save san franciscans. that's pretty amazing. if -- this is something that mayor breed and i have dealt with for years, the safety of the geary boulevard through vanness through stannion, and i know she had talked about it, but there has been tragedies. people have been hit and killed there, and it's something that we've looked at, everybody has looked at it, how to make it safer. the geary boulevard has eight times as many collisions as anywhere else in the city, and that's disturbing when you think about that. so what is exciting about the geary b.r.t. is it actually will be working on pedestrians safety. and just adjacent here to japantown, it's going to be happening, and that's exciting, and so many of you in this room have been fighting for this for

years. and it also is going to bridge the community back together with japantown and the western addition that was separated by this huge busy freeway and redevelopment, and something that we're going to make good onto bring these communities closer together with this kind of pedestrian safety. so i wanted to thank everyone for coming, and i want to thank sfmta and all their great staff that has put up with all of us through these years. and i say let's get the -- let's get it started. and i think this is the ground breaking. i'm not really sure -- or we're planting something, not really sure. either way, thank you, everyone, and we'll see you

soon. [applause] >> good afternoon, everybody. i'm malcolm heinicke. i'm the chair of the sfmta board. it's very nice to be in this building not yelling at my daughter to dribble more with her left-hand. so thank you all for indulging. it's great to have a school like rosa parks named after our community's history. my fellow director on the board, art torres is here. you may remember him as a state senator, leader of the california democratic party. also went to church with rosa. he has wonderful stories of her. i think it's great that we have our own pioneer from the neighborhood here today as our mayor. mayor breed, it's really a privilege to call you our mayor. [applause] >> so in addition to being nice to the mayor, what qualifies me

to be the chair of the sfmta -- she didn't appoint me, but i really just respect her in her own right, of course, is that i ride the system every day. it is my primary form of transportation. i get to work, i get to the gym, i get to my children's events on muni. and i live in a part of town where i can ride the underground. i ride the metro every day. when it works, most of the time, i have a ten-minute commute free of obstruction, and i feel like a real san franciscan. i'm not polluting the air, i'm not congesting the streets, and i'm taking, quite frankly, is what is the most efficient route for me. i want that experience for all san franciscans, and here, on geary street, as the supervisor mentioned, we have 54,000 customers a day. 54,000 customers who don't have the free, unobstructed ride

that i do, at least not now. mayor breed is exactly right. we could have made choices earlier, but going back in history doesn't help us. making the right choices now does help us. so with mayor breed's leadership and the leadership of my fellow directors, i'm proud to be delivering a product that as i've said many times before will be the above-ground subway for our residents. it will priev efficient service and hopefully, the folks who ride this will have the same feeling i have about my commute. this is the most efficient and attractive way to go. that's how we will reduce congestion, pollution, and accidents. now, this isn't just a transit efficiency project, this is a very significant and broad project that as director reiskin said will increase pedestrian safety, increate

cyclist access and of course make the overall system work much better. so i am very proud to be here as we move around some dirt in planters to signify the opening of this project which is really just going to be fantastic and serve these customers so well. and -- and one of the things i get to do here, i have the privilege of introducing director nuru to you all, this is a partnership. sfmta works not only with the mayor's office but with our partners in other departments, including the department of public works to bring all these projects together, and we're so grateful for that partnership over the years. and i will say personally, i've been doing this now for 12.5 years, i'm grateful for all the support you've shown us over the years. please, come celebrate with us. [applause] >> chair nuru: thank you, director heinicke, thank you,

mayor breed, thank you, director reiskin. i want to begin by just taking this opportunity to reiterate our commitment from san francisco public works to the city's vision zero goal of making the streets safer for all users, whether you're driving, you're biking, or you're in transit. every traffic fatality here in our city is heartbreaking. and when we lose someone, whether it's a neighbor or classmate or someone, these are situations that are frankly unacceptable and preventible. and so i'm excited about the improvements that are coming to geary boulevard. and as the population in our city continues to climb, our city is getting more congests and, we have to double down on our efforts to make our streets much safer and improve the

transportation infrastructure. one of the exciting parts for us is while we are improving the transportation infrastru infrastructure, we are going to be improving many of the sewer and water lines along geary, which will be ensuring the customers and businesses that you will continue to have quality utilities. the geary b.a.r.t. -- b.r.t. is making safer crossings, making greater visibility between traffic and pedestrians, and slowing the traffic down in our city, which is something our city really needs. we will also be repaving a significant part of geary so that people who drive will have a much smoother and safer experience while they're driving on geary -- on geary boulevard.

this project is a major undertaking, and we heard that many agencies are involved, but also, a huge partnership with the community, so -- that have been involved in bringing the project to fruition, and at this time, i would ask tilly chang from the transportation authority who's been a major partner to say a few words. [applause] >> thank you so much, mohamed, mayor breed, and honored guests. i'm so delighted to be here on behalf of the transportation authority to congratulation the sfmta and our partner agencies on this very happy day, and the entire community, really, for this collaborative effort. as mayor breed mentioned, this has been a long time coming, and recognizing that the plans began well over 30 years ago as well as the vision for this area. this muni vision was expressed

as early as the 2001 plan, carried forward in 2003, and then carried forward by voters in the prop k expenditure plan. because we all recognize to bring the community back together and heal the division that had been created through the earlier development of the division section, but also improve the ridability for the 50,000 riders who use this essential corridor every day. so i just wanted to recognize all the hard work on this project, from board members past and present, c.a.c. members past and present, and i see many of them here in the audience today. i'll just recognize a few, ben horn, richard hashimoto from japantown. i'm sorry if i missed a few

others. we welcome the community effort from the members, the merchants, the riders, and you're seeing the fruit of that collaboration in the designs that are kicking off today. of course, this is an essential transit safe reliability and travel time improvements, as supervisor brown mentioned in fantastic fashion with the 75 days a year of travel savings when you add it all up, but it's a significant safety project and a way to knit the community together. i just want to thank all the hard work that my team and many others across the city family have devoted in all the hours and the outreach and the funding phase, and working with groups like the japantown task force and fillmore communities and the merchants such as everyth f