blindly supporting the navigation center that the may mayor announced without fully undering what -- understanding what it means to the neighborhood, a navigation center this large. you did no favors when you bypassed the normal permitting process for navigation centers. if this community falls back to where it was 20 years ago, it's going to be your political legacy, so i want you to frankly do the job of protecting the neighborhood, and take note of how many people are here. they had to wait 2.5 hours to speak. we waited through a lot of other proceedings. half the people had to leave because they couldn't wait that long, to take that into consideration when you weigh the quality of life of homeless people versus the quality of life of people who are here, who are willing to give up this time. thank you. [applause] >> hello, supervisors.

i live a block away from the homeless center that you're proposing. i am vehemently opposed to this navigation center. this would be the largest center with the longest lease in a neighborhood with thousands of residents. there was not the -- this was not the intent of the navigation centers that i learned about. they were supposed to be small and focused. if anything, the center should go through additional scrutiny based on these factors alone. i ask that you use this time to try to find a more appropriate place for the center. thank you. [applause] >> clerk: before the next speaker begins his comment, just for the members in the public gallery, we have a board rule that you are not to make any noises of support or against. if you're in support, you can use your supportive hands like that. board rules prohibit any audible sounds of any kind. next speaker, please.

>> can i put this over to the -- >> clerk: no, if you just place the document underneath it, it should -- sfgtv. >> i live 300 feet away apparently from where the construction will happen. i wasn't notified about that, either, but in researching it, i see it's been going on since january 15, when the legislation was passed. i see supervisor ronen passed off on bypassing the 30-day rule, and land use and transportation committee, it passed with a recommendation. i will commend that supervisor haney in that committee did ask for an amendment that other locations would be considered in exchange for him supporting the navigation center in south

beach, and i think that's kind of lost on people today, but that is something that went in. however, it's a little bit like bringing a spoon to a knife fight, i guess. i printed out this map. it's a -- it's from the chronicle, and the red shows the locations that were considered but not implemented. they're flashing red and blue here. it's not working exactly right, but i gave everybody a copy. but the thing to me that struck out is there's eight cited on market or -- sites on market or north of market that were never implemented, but there are eight sites on market that are implemented and now closed. i think if we're going to share the homeless situation in san francisco, i think the other supervisors should step up and

well come one into arth-- welcn their district, as well. i've moved to another neighborhood -- i don't know. maybe it's me, they're following me. short of that, i'll just have to get miss jones involved and let her know that everything's coming into our neighborhood. we'll see what happens. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. >> my name is robert rossi, native san franciscan, and fifth generation district six. i want to let you know that i stand with my neighbors in opposition to the navigation center, but please keep in mind, i consider myself and my neighbors humanitarians. so we are clearly behind the city's effort in helping the homeless, but at the same time, district six already has two shelters that we've supported, and now it's time i think that the other ten districts, you know, share in the responsibility of solving this

problem. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. >> good afternoon, president yee, board of supervisors, jennifer ingarcia, uf -- jennifer garcia, local 5648. i'd like to thank you for urging walgreens to consider negotiating with 5648. walgreens received over $350 million last year from the trump tax break, and they are asking for take aways from the workers. this is at a time where data shows the total cost of living in san francisco is over 62% higher than anywhere else and -- than u.s. average, and rent rates are the highest in the country. our members, walgreens workers, have been coming to work every day for years, sometimes decades, devoting their lives to every patient and customer

that walks through the doors. workers coming to work every day is what has made walgreens a success. workers bring value to this company. workers are the face of this company. workers are your neighbors and your friends, workers are the parents of your children's classmates at school. it's not okay to take trump's tax break and turn your back on workers, not in san francisco. ufcw local 648 thanks you for this resolution urging wall greens to reach a fair and equitiable contract for their workers. thank you. >> president yee: thank you. next. >> tom gilberti. within two weeks, all these people from district six have

appeared here. the statement is that the protocol is very wrong. let the conversation begin. and streamlining -- stream lined contracting for homeless services and siteings for homeless shelters, that was item 24 today, is this going to be what we come up with every time our stream lined process goes into a neighborhood? again, let the conversation begin. last week, we have a close -- let's see if we can get this. last week, i brought this in, the new yorker, about lobbying. it was a good story. i brought it in four years ago. the date of this issue was september 1, 2014.

the article -- i don't think i mentioned the date. friends of israel, by connie bruck. it was an excellent, excellent read. we've been talking about global climate change, and we're talking about making a world war ii effort. world war ii effort is the jeremiah bryant built all around this bay. when you see all the red and white lights belching an invisible poison, now we come to the trump's -- how do we get rid of this poison? what is the cost of high speed rail? against the governor, i would say double down. show that we can do this, a high speed rail with a loop to

tracy lot would be fine. >> president yee: thank you for your comment. any other public comments? seeing none, public comment is now closed. madam clerk, let's come back to our closed session later in the agenda. >> clerk: okay. >> president yee: so for now, please call, without -- without committee reference calendar items 35 through 39, out of order. >> clerk: items 35 through 39 were introduced for adoption without reference to committee today. a unanimous vote is required for resolutions on first reading. alternatively, any supervisor may require a resolution on first reading to go to committee. >> president yee: okay. would any of my colleagues like to sever any items? supervisor stefani? >> supervisor stefani: i'd like to sever item 39, please. >> president yee: okay. supervisor mar?

>> supervisor mar: item 35. >> president yee: okay. so let's look at 36, 37, and 38. colleagues -- do we need roll call or -- >> clerk: roll call, mr. president. >> president yee: okay. roll call, please. >> clerk: on items 36, 37, and 38 -- [roll call] >> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. okay. so items 36, 37, 38, the

resolutions are adopted unanimously. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, let's take -- call item number 35. >> clerk: item 35 is a resolution to support a permanent memorial in san francisco for the victims and survivors of the irish famine, also known as the great hunger. >> president yee: okay. supervisor mar? >> supervisor mar: thank you, president yee. i just wanted to make some remarks about this item. this past weekend, many of us celebrated st. patrick's day and the essential contributions of the irish american community that has made to our city and in particular to my district, where irish culture and traditions have rooted and fluorished to the benefits of us all. i think it's important that we recognize and memorialize the impacts of the irish that came to america in the 20th century.

in the span of a decade, the population of ireland declined by 50%. it's repeatable, as food insecurity impacts billions in the world and millions in the united states. this honors that legacy by expressing support for a permanent memorial here in san francisco for the victims of the famine, and my office worked closely with members of the neighborhood in drafting it. i'd like to thank my colleagues, and i'd just especially like to thank the entire irish famine memorial community, several of whom came to speak today, afor their leadership in their communities, in our city, and on this memorial. thank you. >> president yee: supervisor safai?

>> supervisor safai: thank you. just briefly, i'd like to thank supervisor mar for bringing this important resolution forward and absolutely support this recognition of the irish famine memorial. being a native of boston, massachusetts, and a large irish community there, this is something that iss engrained i the minds of those that understand the irish history. as supervisor mar said, there was plenty of food at the table, and it was a strategic and horrible way to starve food, and it's such a horrible thing to contemplate as part of the history of the irish people in this city. i just want to thank the members of the community for bringing this forward, and thank you, supervisor mar for your leadership on this issue. >> president yee: supervisor haney. >> supervisor haney: yes. i also want to thank supervisor mar for bringing this forward

and to the members of the irish community here, i think the last couple weeks were another reminder for us of how important the irish and irish american community is to our city, and i think it's very fitting to have this memorial and as a way to remember and to have -- educate people in our city and to talk about the history of ireland, of the irish americans, of irish san franciscans, so i'm very supportive of this and in working with the community and the city to make sure that we get this done and move forward. >> president yee: okay. thank you. colleagues, can we take this item, same house, same call? without objection, this resolution is adopted unanimously. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, please call item number 39. >> clerk: item 39 is a resolution to urge the state to increase funding to the

california violence intervention and prevention program from 9 million annually to 39 million. >> president yee: supervisor stefani? >> supervisor stefani: thank you, president yee. i just want to quickly acknowledge all the moms demand action that came to sacramento yesterday from all over the state. there are hundreds to advocate for more funding. i want to thank my cosponsors on this, supervisors mar and walton. it's just basically advocating for more money to study gun violence prevention and gun prevention. as the resolution states, the proposed budget right now says $9 million. we want it up to $39 million to -- to basically equal what new york and massachusetts do, so california's done so much with gun violence prevention, and i think adding more money to study it in this way is a good step in the right direction, so i hope to have your support. >> president yee: thank you. colleagues, can we take this

item same house, same call? without objection, this resolution is adopted unanimously. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, let's go back to item 34, which is scheduled, pursuant to motion m-19-032, approval on february 12, 2019, and continued from february 26, 2013. >> clerk: item 34 is a closed session today, march 19, 2019, for the purpose of conferring with or receiving advice from the city attorney regarding existing litigation in which the city is a defendant and appellee pertaining to the american beverage association, california retailers association and the california state outdoor advertising association versus the city. the public comment required on whether or not to go into closed session was satisfied multiple times on february 12, 2019 and again on february 26, 2019.

>> president yee: okay, colleagues, public comment has already been taken on item 34 through general public comment, so we will now convene in closed session. members of the public, we ask that you exit the chamber, and the sheriffs to lock the doors behind them. we will reopen the chamber once we finish our closed session, [gavel]. >> president yee: we are now back in open session. may i have a motion that the board finds it is in the best interest of the public that the board elect not to disclose its

closed session deliberations? >> supervisor peskin: so moved. >> president yee: so moved by supervisor peskin, seconded by supervisor safai. we will not disclose our closed session deliberations. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, please read the inmemoryams. [agenda item read]. >> president yee: so colleagues, that brings us to the end of our agenda.

madam clerk, is there any further business before us today? >> clerk: clerk ththat conclu business before us today. >> president yee: okay. we are adjourned.

- working for the city and county of san francisco will immerse you in a vibrant and dynamic city that's on the forefront of economic growth, the arts, and social change. our city has always been on the edge of progress and innovation. after all, we're at the meeting of land and sea. - our city is famous for its iconic scenery, historic designs, and world-class style. it's the birthplace of blue jeans, and where "the rock" holds court over the largest natural harbor on the west coast. - our 28,000 city and county employees play an important role in making san francisco what it is today. - we provide residents and visitors with a wide array of services, such as improving city streets and parks, keeping communities safe, and driving buses and cable cars.

- our employees enjoy competitive salaries, as well as generous benefits programs. but most importantly, working for the city and county of san francisco gives employees an opportunity to contribute their ideas, energy, and commitment to shape the city's future. - thank you for considering a career with the city and county of san francisco.

i'm nicole and lindsey, i like the fresh air. when we sign up, it's always so gratifying. we want to be here. so i'm very excite ied to be here today. >> your volunteerism is appreciated most definitely. >> last year we were able to do 6,000 hours volunteering. without that we can't survive.

volunteering is really important because we can't do this. it's important to understand and a concept of learning how to take care of this park. we have almost a 160 acres in the district 10 area. >> it's fun to come out here. >> we have a park. it's better to take some of the stuff off the fences so people can look at the park. >> the street, every time, our friends. >> i think everybody should give back. we are very fortunate. we are successful with the company and it's time to give back. it's a great place for us. the weather is

nice. no rain. beautiful san francisco. >> it's a great way to be able to have fun and give back and walk away with a great feeling. for more opportunities we have volunteering every single day of the week. get in touch with the parks and recreation center so come

>> chair peskin: good morning and welcome to the san francisco county transportation authority meeting for today, tuesday, march 19. our clerk is mr. alberta quintanilla. mr. quintanilla, could you please call the roll. [roll call] >> clerk: we have quorum. >> chair peskin: thank you, mr. quintanilla. colleagues, we will be joined a little late by commissioners. fewer and stefani. could we have a motion to excuse those two commissioners for the first part of the

meeting? made by commissioner mandelman, seconded by commissioner yee. and we will take that without objection. i also want to note that at 10:30, commissioner walton will have to leave. by that time, the other two commissioners will have arrived. mr. quintanilla, can you call the next item. [agenda item read]. >> chair peskin: commissioners, we've gotten off to a bad start of the year with eight fatalities of our street in 2019. this morning, i got terrible news that in district three, a crash happened between a vehicle and a bicycle. the individual's in stable condition, but it was just a really bad start for that

person and this commissioner this mornings. i want to share a few highlights from the vision zero meeting last week. the 2018 traffic fatality report showed 23 fatalities, of which 18 were lost on foot and bicycle. in 2018, pedestrians accounted for 53% of traffic fatalities, in which 52% were in communities of concern, and 73% were people age 50 or older. we heard from commissioner fewer about the loss of two pedestrians in her district, and we also heard from the police department will the shortage of officers and motorcycle units in the traffic division, a troubling trend of hit and runs which the p.d. is

actively investigating. colleagues, if there is one spot we can bolster the sfpd, it is in the motorcycle unit. it was good to see the fifth to sixth street protected lanes going in on howard last weekend as called for by commissioner haney, and sorry for the tragedy in your district. here, chair yee called for stock in how we implemented the coming two-year action strategy and what we can do in places where we are behind.

commissioner -- >> m.t.c., of course, is also under going a big planning process with plan bay area. they have been holding public meetings on the topic, including one tonight at the san bruno tanferan mall from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. that's the one that's closest to us. there are a few others in the area. for folks interested, please weigh in, and we will also be weighing in with them in the next few months. this will lead to the updated plan bay area and updated county wide plan, which is our san francisco blueprint for investment in the 25-year

period. 22 miles of express lane, basically, the portion of 101 from whiple avenue in redwood city to the airport. it would add a new carpool lane in each direction. if you are not a carpool, you would pay a fee to use that area. it would generate some much needed funding. the project costs over half a billion dollars, but it did receive some funding from our senate 1 gas tax, as well as 50 million in funding from employers in the provide --

private sector. the climate emergency directive, we were appreciative to see came out of the land use and transportation committee. we will be supporting s.f. environment and your offices to demonstrate what it is we're doing to plan for climate and resilience policy as well as supporting initiatives that would come out of that, whether it's investment in policy and the like, so we'll ensure that our long range transportation planning efforts are well planned to accomplish our climate goals. the vision zero committee, of course, chairman mentioned that, and we will be coordinating going forward in the next several meetings to really track the vision strategy, as well as chair yee mentioned, a last back to see how well we've been doing over the last few strategy updates.

the county wide plan and direct s.f. does have a streets program, and director reiskin have focused on making sure we achieve that. i think deliveries and goods movement is very much coming to the fore for all of us. on project delivery, you'll note that the better market street has released its draft environmental market report. we've been working in

conjunction to support s.f. planning. the better market street project will propose improvement from octavia to the embarcadero. it's a whole host of improvements for each and every mode, particularly making sure we have a dedicated cycling track, but address being all of the dated infrastructure. so we will be having an april 9, i think, board meeting-presentation from the board manager. i lock forward to having her here and briefing you all. we did have a happy moment for the ground breaking on the geary project. i want to thank commissioner yee and commissioner brown and thank all the departments for the ground breaking.

this will improve safety and reliability for those that ride the geary rapid. we're looking forward to the whole improvement coming together in the next couple of years. on march 13, we hosted 50 companies and agencies, our annual event to improve coordination and present opportunities for contracting, brought together firms with primes and contractors to learn about the upcoming projects. we continue to track our d.b.e. performance throughout the year, as well. thank you. >> chair peskin: thank you. is there anyone that would like to address the director's

report? are there any commissioner comments or questions? seeing none, comment is closed. mr. quintanilla, could you please read the next item. [agenda item read]. >> chair peskin: is there any public comment on item number four, the minutes of march 12, 2019. seeing none, public comment is closed. is there a motion to move the minutes? motion by commissioner brown, and a second. roll call, please. [roll call]

>> clerk: we have final approval. >> chair peskin: thank you, next item, please. >> clerk: item 11, item first approved at the vision zero committee meeting. vision zero legislative update, this is an action item. >> chair peskin: okay. this item was considered by the vision zero committee and recommended to the commission. is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. is there a motion to move this? made by commissioner brown, seconded by commissioner walton, and on that item, same house, same call, we have final approval. next item, please. >> clerk: item 12, progress report for the vanness avenue bus rapid transit item. >> chair peskin: mr. gabancho,

the floor is yours. 27% complete. >> good morning, chairman peskin, commissioners. i'm the project manager on the vanness improvement project. the core of the vanness improvement project is san francisco's first rapid transit project. the majority of the project work is utility work. we're currently in the process of replacing and overhauling domestic water lines and sewer lines that date back to the 18 -- late 1800's, as well as portions of the emergency firefighting high pressure water system that was installed shortly after the 1906 earthquake.

the goal is to minimize potential service outages, allow for growth along the corridor and improve the survivability of the infrastructure in case of a natural disaster such as an earthquake. we're making civic improvements from corridor line to corridor line, we're rebuilding the entire street. the vanness b.r.t. will serve as the center of the rap-- spi of the network. at the end of the project, we expect to realize a 32% improvement in travel time, improvement in reliability up to 50%. we expect to carry 35 more

passengers, all the while saving money in the improved routes along vanness avenue. for those authorize not entirely familiar with the concepts, the first is the transit only lanes. they'll be colored red to improve visibility and awareness and they have been legislated for use by muni, golden gate vehicles, and transit vehicles only. the traffic signals are being retimed to prioritize north-south traffic and being given traffic signal priority so that our buses can move fore smoothly up and down the transit lanes. in addition to that, we're implementing a number of

pedestrian improvements, including lighting and use -- and new striping -- crosswalk striping and pedestrians bulb out, which will contribute to meeting our vision zero goals. another significant change along vanness avenue is the removal -- the permanent removal of all left-turn lanes except at lombard and broadway. this change has been made to improve safety for people walking along the corridor, facilitate easing traffic

congestion. secondary poles to be installed in the civic center historic district has a modern pedestrian light and street lamp and has been designed to meet the department -- or the secretary of the interior's standards for federal landmark historic districts. the construction is now 28% complete: the updated percent calculation for project completion as of february 2019 is based on expenditures but excludes administrative items and items driven by unforeseen

site conditions. the current project schedule is shown on the darker lines. it actuals the actualized schedule. the lower line called the baseline schedule. the project is currently running 564 days behind schedule as of the february 2019 report. it assumes additional time -- this assumes additional time for the installation of road base that we have -- that we have discovered was in poor condition or missing, and has resequenced the existing overall condition. the utility phase is the longest phase of the project and so far as where we have encountered the most delays in unforeseen site conditions.

on this slide, we show vanness avenue with mission street on the far left and lombard on the far right. face 1-a which we are in the process of completing right -- phase 1-a, which we are in the process of completing right now is expected to wrap up in the next couple of months. physician b which was started in the summer 2018 is expected to wrap up this coming summer. phase c will be beginning in the summer of this year and finishing in the spring 2020, and phase 1-d is expected to start in the summer 2020. >> chair peskin: peter, can you help us out in phases 1 a through 1-d? are these different colors? different intersections?

>> so at the very top, we show phase 1-a, and that was different construction headings. we had eight blocks at the north end of the corridor, and eight blocks at the east end of the corridor. as the utility work finished in those zones, we expanded into phase 1-b, which was immediately south of the original two construction areas and began doing water and sewer work in those areas. as that phase completes its work, the work should be shifted over to the opposite side of the street. south of sutter street, it means we'll be moving from the west side of the street to the east, and on the far north of the corridor, we'll be moving from the east side of the street to the west, to do the same sort of sewer work we've been doing previously.

the -- these have numerous causes for delays. we had a very wet winter in the year, the winter of 2016 and 2017. we lost a lot of days this year due to rain, as well. we had a number of abandoned -- of unforeseen site conditions, such as abandoned utilities that were not shown on any of our drawings, as well as under ground structures, rocks, tree roots, that proved more difficult to move or work around than anticipated. we've been working to address those conditions with a contractor through advanced potholing, in other words digging where we might find trouble and the use of ground penetrating radar to dig down and state ahead of the construction. >> chair peskin: and you

indicated last meeting, you were going to try to makeup for lost time. has there been any progress in that direction? >> there has been some progress. the current delay of 1 -- 564 days is at or about where it was last time i was here. the reason we haven't shown more progress on that is we discovered -- let me see -- without getting too far into the weeds, when we began working on vanness avenue, we discovered it had a three-inch asphalt layers over a ten-inch concrete base. when we started to do the work there was no concrete.

>> chair peskin: so 3 inches of asphalt over dirt? >> no. what we discovered is there was 8 inches of asphalt over dirt. we discovered that when we do the work, we want to put in the concrete. short of having to add that work to our construction schedule, we would have shown a greater recovery of the schedule. >> chair peskin: so when we did our original potholing, how come we didn't realize we didn't hit concrete? >> when we did our original potholing, we did it in the parking lanes, and the parking lanes had concrete under them. as a matter of fact, it was fairly late in the process because a lot of the utility work went in the parking lanes,

as well. when we moved out of the parking lanes and started moving into the traffic lanes, we discovered there was no concrete. that was the situation. we've talked to caltrans about it, and they don't have the standard of having the concrete road base, so the city has been working on our own to try to move this forward and get a more permanent fix in. once we get the utility wrapped up, we'll be working on the median in the center of the street. that's what we call phase two, which we'll be getting into late next year -- no, late this year, excuse me. we'll be getting into late this year, in the winter of

2019-2020, and it's expected to take about a year. we as wrap up the new bus running ways and the new median on the street, we'll be running a lot of the new lines and finishing the pedestrian bulb outs or accessibility ramps along the corridor, and that will be the last work that we do before we go into revenue service. we're working to accelerate the work wherever possible. we are working with a contractor to go to six to seven days of strategic work so we can accelerate some of the work, for example, this additional road work that we didn't anticipate having to do, as well as bringing on additional crews to accelerate

targeted work and try to recover time on the project. to date, we've made out just shy of $72 million, to pay period of the current month, we've paid out $2.1 million. the current contract amount stand at $2,273,000. total project budget is $309.4 million. the contractor has filed certified claims against the project.

we're very close and anticipate having contract motion deniedsp those claims. we're working together to put together numbers on their claims. we've also established a dispute resolution board to facilitate negotiations in the event that there are future claims. >> chair peskin: and that is walsh? >> that's walsh. we've -- the sfmta is committed to helping businesses through the construction project. we have a vanness business advisory committee with businesses along the length of the corridor. we meet monthly with them so we can provide them information about ongoing construction activity and work with them to address the concerns of specific businesses. the project staff is working actively to address specific

needs such as construction site house keeping and custom signage. we're working with sfpd to provide additional controls along vanness avenue to try to discourage vandalism and graffiti as well as break-ins. we are working with the office of economic security and workforce development to help provide vanness with services and individual attention. the division is provide a reporting metric to share progress on these efforts. there are more than 250 businesses that -- operating along vanness avenue between lombard and mission street. when the sfmta hears about a business that is closed or needs support, when we hear about businesses close, we try to ascertain the reasons for the closing.

when we heard about a business that needs support, we put them in touch with the office of economic and workforce development. the businesses are invited to participate in a program to assist them. of the businesses that we found out that have been -- are having trouble and have participated in the program, only one of those has closed. there's four other businesses that has closed along the corridor since construction started. two of them, we're -- we know closed for reasons other than construction, and the other two, we are ascertaining what the situation was.