component is it sounds as though the recommendations are conditioned upon high-speed rail. now if you look at the politics of high-speed rail, that may never happen. so condition being this project on agreements with high-speed rail is, at best, a fantasy. this project should be done now. now. let me tell you, while we're sitting here, we've been sitting here for almost an hour listening to this presentation. we just increased the cost of the downtown extension by $17,500. and that's based upon the m.t.c. projections, that the cost of this project, which is in the

ballparked at $4 billion, increases $200 million every year. [bell ringing] every year! so anybody here who is interested in the fiscal aspect ofs of this project, should urge that it be done soon rather than later. and certainly not conditioned on an indefinite possibility of high-speed rail. this is a downtown extension for caltrain. [bell ringing] that's what it's about. and we should get on with it. thank you. >> chair peskin: next speaker. >> hello again, supervisors, my name is roland from san jose. i really like what's on the table right now. and i'd like to touch on the point of national significance. if you really want a project that's going to get national and international attention, don't

just leave it to the downtown extension, include the transbay tunnel to start with. then if you go further and extend it all the way down to gilroy and now you're going across the bay, you look at the project with the magnitude of the channel tunnel railing, which is the link between london and the channel tunnel. it's really the scope that you want to be looking at. and then the way that you deliver it, the way that was delivered, was actually a concession. and, you know, it was a private sector funding. they came up with $3 billion to start with. and then you bring in assets. so transbay determines a liability, not an asset, that you bring to the conversation. and they operate all of that. the idea is that the actual infrastructure itself is profitable. but these people don't operate trains. that operation is to franchise it. you can have a caltrain franchise, a high-speed rail franchise. remember one thing, what's very

important, if you include the transbay corridor, you likely have a bart franchise, but not running bart technology, just running standard technology. wrapping up here, one thing i'd like to see, as part of the conversation is the peer review that was presented to the tgpa board in may. it has some important points, eliminating the reliance on consultants, which is what the government is trying to address with the high-speed rail. and most importantly very early hiring it a chief engineer, who is familiar with none -- how you can get something that size. [bell ringing] downtown without blowing it up. thank you. >> chair peskin: thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is jerry coughlin with the bay area transportation work group. and i think i would like to start by saying i agree with

most of the previous speakers. i'm not saying it was wrong to stop and look at this. that's okay. and it's also okay to see if it -- particularly talk about getting it into a broader realm then it was. now by taking this on, you are looking like you're going to be the leaders. i mean, that's -- there's 11 of you. and none of you have executive office, but that's the way it's being presented. i don't think that's going to happen, partly because this is much bigger than the city and county of san francisco. always has been. and one of the speakers talked about connectivity. connectivity to bart, connectivity to caltrain, connectivity to 40 bus lines in the east bay. connectivity to five muni lines. these are not just putting it downtown, it's much bigger than that. so in these leaderships, somebody already said that, it really needs some kind of political push. there's been a lot of us here

who have been pushing this -- i hate to tell you how long since i've been pushing this idea, a long time. peskin will remember -- norm rolf died in 2005 and dreamed of this back in 1973. so this is nothing new. i hate the idea of reconstituting. i think patrick made a very good point. [bell ringing] the idea of reconstituting what's there is okay. but you got to make sure you don't slow the project down in the process. thank you. >> chair peskin: thank you. seeing no other members of the public, we'll close public comment. [gavel] i think there is a misunderstanding that needs to be corrected, relative to delays and funding. so why don't i turn that over to our executive director, who may bring folks up from the expert panel. ms. chang. >> thank you so much, chair. thanks again to our panel. please do elaborate on what i have heard from you today and respect to some of the questions

that were raised, i heard a question and a concern about delay and does this two-year work plan represent even more work on top of existing work and will represent a delay. in fact, i believe it's the panel's believe that the two-year work program is an ox-oriented work program, that has to be undertaken for efficiency and effectiveness in project development, regardless of who undertakes the work. this is a road map to getting the project reinstated and to reenergize it and take the decisions in a very strategic way as you have laid out. i believe it's actually to the contrary of delaying, it's actually to expedite project development. i'll light you guys perhaps elaborate on that. to mr. coughlin's point that he just made about localizing versus regionalizing. i heard a strong recommendation to regionalize this project and to strengthen its regional participation and to really focus on funding and project definition decisions that could lead up to a procurement decision, that means a contracting decision to

construct the project. it's not to say that we're getting the full funding grant agreement in two years. that would be a miracle, that would be amazing. let's try to get that level of funding definition and funding strength to the project within the next two years. it's only going to come from advancing project decisions around development, phasing together with the operators and stakeholders. that's what i heard. >> chair peskin: geoff. >> chair peskin and madam director, i think you're right. what our objective is to accelerate this project and break it from some of the tasks that we feel are holding itself back. so our hope is -- our objective here is to see caltrain service into the transit center as early as possible. so i think when you see the final report, you'll see multiple things targeted toward achieving that goal. and i'm sure there are other members of the panel who would speak to this. >> chair peskin: john. >> thank you, chair.

geoff's right. the idea is this up-front time is -- can and should be used very fruitfully with some of the technical work that needs to be done. the alternative, and i've personally had the opportunity, -- and prior to that at the federal level, to see projects nationwide. and if you don't get your act together up front, if this -- if the work that we describe is not done, the context is this project will is going to be looked at against other projects around the country, especially for federal funding. and it's not going to compete well. the reality is you have to do this work. you can do sequentially, you can front-load it and what we're actually suggesting is the front-load as much as possible. >> chair peskin: ignacios no, -- anything you want to add? mr. john fisher? >> thank you, mr. chairman. first, i'd like to clarify for

the speaker who asked what procurement means. procurement means the contrast -- starting a process for contracting for the beginning of construction. so when we talk about procurement, start of procurement in 2021, in fact, summer of 2021, carrying to the plan, what we mean is a process that is actually comparable to the schedule that is currently published for the project. , that schedule called for a start of activities in 2018, leading up to advertising for award of construction in 2021 and beginning of construction in 2022. so the plan that we worked was effectively to deliver that similar schedule, as was already on the table. >> chair peskin: thank you, sir. mr. fisher, anything you want to add? and then let's wrap this up. >> just final comment on the speaker who mentioned waiting for california high-speed rail.

i think to the contrary there, i think part of the early activities are to sit with the operators and get a sense of the capacity they need to bring services as soon as possible. and that is likely caltrain first. so i think it's more trying to address the reality of where that project timeline is. but also where there are potential funding contributions will be. and that's critical activity that needs to happen, as we move forward in the program. >> chair peskin: thank you, sir. and i would finally like to acknowledge our former executive director of this body, mr. jose, who was also one of the expert panelists and with that, we will see you all on july 23rd. thank you for your work. mr. clerk, could you please read the next item. >> clerk: item 12. >> given the late hour and the

pending timma meeting, i would like to continue this item. are there any members of the public who want to speak to item number 12 in seeing none, public comment is closed. is there a motion to continue to the next meeting, made by every single commissioner here. we'll give it to commissioner safe, seconded by commissioner fewer and take that without objection. is there any introduction of new items? seeing none, is there any general public comment? >> chair peskin, members, alita dupree for the record. with general public comment, i enjoyed my meeting with you last time. so i thought i'd come back. i'm looking for a lot ir feel that -- i feel that this agency can do more. as i think about new ideas of navigating this challenging

landscape in san francisco, and i see things in other cities that are helpful. i'd like to have here in san francisco. first, i speak in the importance and i feel the need to a veteran's medical transportation network, a system that will help veterans to get to and from their medical appointments. and some say why veterans? well, with the recent enactment of the mission act and more places where veterans can go for medical care, and the challenging landscape of hills in san francisco, which can have many impediments of reaching public transportation, the fact that there are about 4 million veterans that are receiving service-disabled compensation. i want to see this city become a place that will be welcoming to

veterans, especially those with disabilities. we are very fortunate that any veteran with a service disability rating of greater than 50% is able to get a reduced fare clipper card. but we can do more. and i do use some shared mobility devices today on my way in, probably will use some later. so they are helpful to me. we just need more of them, because they help to add to the quality of life here. please remember those of us who served. and who are disabled especially in memory of those who have fallen. thank you. >> thank you. any other members with general public comment? >> yes, very briefly. i would like to do supervisor peskin -- the last tjpa cost review committee, which essentially exposes a potential clawback from the administration in washington.

we need to go back to the agreement -- the agreement signed in 2008. and transbay used to be a -- basically followed the same alignment as the old terminal. but they made two conditions. number one, the tracks had to be straight. they could not be curved. second, they had to have a minimum length of 1,312 feet. that's the amount in the agreement. now everybody, when they designed the station, know it's 1400 feet. and once you go back and revisit and ask your engineering staff to review the drawings, you're going to start seeing the issues with how you can possibly connect that to a new transbay tube. so i just thought that i'd put it out there. i want everybody to be aware of this. look at it carefully and this is why for the last couple of years i have recommended to absolutely

integrate the transbay with the d.t.x. and the pennsylvania and everything else. thank you very much. pes thank you, sir. seeing no other members of the public for general public comment, public comment is closed. and we are adjourned. [gavel]

>> roll call, commissioner --

[roll call taken] we have quorum. >> thank you, mr. clerk. please call the next item. >> item 2, chair report. information item. >> i just have one thing that i want to announce in my chair's report, that i'm very excited to share and some of you may have heard this, that the treasure island development authority and mercy housing assisted by our timma staff have won a $20 million grant from the state affordable housing and sustainable communities grant program. the strategic growth council awarded the full amount to fund construction on the island and

transportation improvements. it includes construction of a bicycle pedestrian path connection between the bay bridge east span, touchdown on yerba buena island and the ferry terminal, and electric busses to a.c. transit to operate the new east bay transit service. congratulations and thank you to the team who worked on this. and thank the staff for their work doing the first phase of outreach to businesses on the island, talking about the potential, or the needs of the businesses as well as some of the questions around a potential future toll. with that, i believe we are actually going to skip item number three. >> public comment for item 2. >> any public comment on this item? seeing none, next item. >> director's report,

information item. >> public comment on this item n seeing none, next item. >> item 4, approve the january 29, 2019, an action item. >> any comments on the minutes? seeing none -- let's open to public comment. public comment on the minutes? we have a motion and a second to approve the minutes of january 29, 2019. motion by commissioner peskin and second by commissioner walton. mr. clerk, call the roll, please. [roll call vote taken]

final approval. >> thank you. i think we are going to call items 5 and 6 together. >> approve the proposed fiscal year 2018-19 budget amendment. item 6, adopt proposed fiscal year 2019-20 annual work program, action items. >> miss cynthia fong, director of finance and administration. >> deputy director of finance administration. timma committee heard april 4th the suggested budget amendment proposal. we are shifting 1.3 million from 3.5 million budget to a new budget amount of 2.2 million to carry forward the work of the timma program. in relation to the proposed budget for fiscal year 19-20, proposing a budget of 2.7 million, which is approximately 500,000 increase, to continue the governance and administration, the program

delivery, toll service delivery and outreach and communication efforts on the timma program. with that, more than happy to answer any questions on the proposed budget for the fiscal year 19-20 and for the amended budget for 18-19 amended. >> move approval. >> we have a motion for approval. any public comment on this item? can we take items 5 and 6 without objection, same house, same call. all right. mr. clerk, please call the next item. >> item 7, 2019, timma outreach program, information item. >> i believe we are going to continue this item. without objection, any public comment on this item? all right. seeing none, next item. >> item 8, introduction of new items. information item.

>> any new items? seeing none, next item. >> item 9, public comment. >> any general public comment? seeing none, public comment is now closed. meeting is adjourned. i you

shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their shopping and dining within the 49 square miles of san francisco. by supporting local services within our neighborhoods, we help san francisco remain

unique, successful, and vibrant. so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> my name is ray behr. i am the owner of chief plus. it's a destination specialty foods store, and it's also a corner grocery store, as well. we call it cheese plus because there's a lot of additions in addition to cheese here. from fresh flowers, to wine, past a, chocolate, our dining area and espresso bar. you can have a casual meeting if you want to. it's a real community gathering place. what makes little polk unique, i think, first of all, it's a great pedestrian street. there's people out and about all day, meeting this neighbor and coming out and supporting the businesses. the businesses here are almost all exclusively independent owned small businesses.

it harkens back to supporting local. polk street doesn't look like anywhere u.s.a. it has its own businesses and personality. we have clothing stores to gallerys, to personal service stores, where you can get your hsus repaired, luggage repaired. there's a music studio across the street. it's raily a diverse and unique offering on this really great street. i think san franciscans should shop local as much as they can because they can discover things that they may not be familiar with. again, the marketplace is changing, and, you know, you look at a screen, and you click a mouse, and you order something, and it shows up, but to have a tangible experience, to be able to come in to taste things, to see things, to smell things, all those things, it's very important that you do so.

>> when i look at an old neon sign that's working or not working, i feel the family business that was in there. >> since 2009, citywide, sf shines, has supported businesses and sites like the

ones that receive new neon signs. >> you know, sf shines is doing an amazing job to bring back the lighting and the neon glow of san francisco. >> sf shines is such an amazing program, and i can't think of another program in another city that gives matching gunned funds to store owners, mom and pop owners, and if they've got a neon sign, they've really got a great way to advertise their business. >> this is a continuation of the sf shines program. >> focusing other neon signs is relatively new to us. of the seven neon signs, we've invested about $145,000. >> a good quality sign costs more, but it lasts infinitily

longer. as opposed to lasting five years, a good neon sign will last 15 to 20 years. >> in san francisco, the majority of neon signs are for mom-and-pop businesses. in order to be able to restore these signs, i think it gives back to your community. >> part of the project has to do with prioritizing certain signs in the neighborhood based on their aesthetics, based on their current signs, and base on the history. in the time that we've been here, we've seen a number of signs restored just on eddy street. >> there are a number of signs in the tenderloin and many more that are waiting or wanting to be restored. i have worked with randall and al, and we've mapped out every single one of them and rated

them as to how much work they would need to get restored. that information is passed onto sf shines, and they are going to rank it. so if they have x budget for a year, they can say all right, we're going to pick these five, and they're putting together clusters, so they build on top of what's already there. >> a cluster of neon signs is sort of, i guess, like a cluster of grapes. when you see them on a corner or on a block, it lights up the neighborhood and creates an ambient glow. if you havy got two of three of them, you've created an atmosphere that's almost like a movie set. >> some of the hotel, we've already invested in to get those neon signs for people to enjoy at night include the elk hotel, jefferson hotel, the verona, not to mention some we've done in chinatown, as

well as the city's portal neighborhood. >> we got the fund to restore it. it took five months, and the biggest challenge was it was completely infested with pigeons. once we got it clean, it came out beautiful. >> neon signs are often equated with film noir, and the noir genre as seen through the hollywood lens basically depicted despair and concentration. >> you would go downtown and see the most recent humphrey bogart film filled with neon in the background. and you'd see that on market street, and as market street got seedier and seedier and fewer people continued to go down, that was what happened to all the neon strips of light.

>> the film nori might start with the light filled with neon signs, and end with a scene with a single neon sign blinking and missing a few letters. >> one of my favorite scenes, orson welles is chasing ririt rita hayworth with neon signs in the background. >> i think what the office of economic and workforce development is very excited with is that we'll be able to see more neon signs in a concentrated way lit up at night for visitors and most especially residents. the first coin laundry, the elm

hotel, the western hotel are ones that we want to focus on in the year ahead. >> neon signs are so iconic to certain neighborhoods like the hara, like the nightcap. we want to save as many historic and legacy neon signs in san francisco, and so do they. we bring the expertise, and they bring the means to actually get the job done. >> people in tenderloin get really excited as they see the signs relit. as you're driving through the tenderloin or the city, it pretty much tells you something exciting is happening here. >> knee an was created to make the night more friendly and advertise businesses. it's a great way of supporting and helping local businesses. >> there's so many ways to improve public safety. the standard way is having more eyes on the street, but there's other culturally significant ways to do that, and one those

ways is lighting up the streets. but what better way and special way to do that is by having old, historic neon signs lighting up our streets at night and casting away our shadows. >> when i see things coming back to life, it's like remembering how things were. it's remembering the hotel or the market that went to work seven days a week to raise their money or to provide a service, and it just -- it just -- it just

supporters of the eagle plaza. [cheers and applause] this morning, i was honored, my business partner, mike leon. on this historic day. i want to take the warmest welcome possible to the honorable mayor london breed, supervisor haney, supervisor mandelman. the greatest community, members of the leather and lgbt cultural district and the friends of eagle plaza.

we're all here today after a long road. great accomplishments. eagle plaza started as an idea. six years ago my business partner and i met, built and have a conversation about breaking ground for construct, where we floated idea of the construction of the plaza. between the san francisco eagle bar and the construction. a plaza unique to the world that will honor the leather and lgbt communities, serve as a focal part for them to have events. and now this idea is about to come true. it's fitting this was elected

for the first public plaza dedicated to the leather community. it's been the home for this community for decades. a special thanks to supervisor haney and mandelman for introducing and pushing forward the legislation to permit the construction of eagle plaza. [cheers and applause] without their efforts, eagle plaza would still remain as an idea. i would like to thank all of those who contributed financially to eagle plaza and to my eagle family for their support. and, of course, the most special thanks to mayor breed, who removed road blocks, constantly moved the project forward to where we're here today at the ground-breaking of eagle plaza. i would like you to extend the warmest welcome to our mayor,

london breed. [cheers and applause] >> >> mayor breed: thank you so much. i am so excited to be here today. we're going to have one of the most beautiful plazas in san francisco. i remember when it first became mayor and i knew that this idea had started over six years ago when state senator scott wiener was on the board of supervisors and i know a lot of the work he did helped to get us to this place. but i was really frustrated over the two years of bureaucracy. we already had the support. we already had the plan. and the city bureaucracy continued to delay this project. so two years delay was just really unacceptable. so when i first became mayor, i made this one of my first directives and we got the approvals done in three months.

so i'm really proud -- [applause] -- that we were able to work together to accomplish that goal. in addition to that, because this was such an amazing community-driven project, $200,000 from the community college grant was made possible to help fund this project. the work from build inc. and i want to thank lauren seguin for being here, as well as the folks from the park alliance and the friends of eagle plaza, you all came together to make this incredible project possible. and i also would like to say a special thank you to senator scott wiener who put $100,000 in the state budget so we can have the additional support that we need. but here's the good news. we know that there is still a $50,000 funding gap and so that we can focus on the work and not

on the resources needed to get the work done, i work with supervisor mandelman to come up with the $50,000 that we need to get this project done. [cheers and applause] >> mayor breed: so to the folks of the leather and the lgbt community and this cultural district that was made possible for the purposes of celebration coming together. and in the spirit of pride month here in san francisco that celebrates inclusiveness and love and all great things we are here in our great city, i would like to say congratulations and thank you all for your hard work. i know when this plaza is completed, it's going to be used by so many people, to hang out, drink coffee, read, and celebrate and all the great things we do that make san

francisco such a unique and special place for people to visit and live here. thank you, all, so much. [applause] >> now i'd like to present a very special award that the san francisco eagle bar to a very special person. this is called the leather feather. and it's given in recognition of someone who not only has supported the leather community in a special way, but performed extraordinary service in doing so. so for making eagle plaza a reality, eagle bar is honored to present the leather feather to the san francisco mayor london breed. >> mayor breed: thank you. >> thank you so much. >> mayor breed: thank you. [applause]

>> i want to have you guys now with bob, the chair of the leather and lgbt cultural district. [applause] >> i am proud to be here for this historic event and the leather district is delighted to have the eagle plaza in our district. and we look forward to its use as a gathering point in the district. i have the honor of introducing rafael mandelman, the district supervisor and native san franciscan. he supported the leather community even before he ran for supervisor and can be seen in local venues periodically. [laughter] now he's reaching out beyond his district's boundaries to take real action to help make spaces like the eagle plaza come into being. his actions to make spaces for

leather communities will keep this neighborhood's historic vibrant which will help perpetuate the city as a city for tolerance and acceptance. with that, i present to you rafael mandelman. [applause] >> supervisor mandelman: good morning, everybody. this is such a wonderful morning and as i look out at this crowd of gorgeous people who are doing amazing things in our city for so many causes and communities. i see race bannon. race always deserves a round of applause. [applause] san francisco is a city that does not forget its history. we build on our history. we celebrate our history and make new things happen next to old things and that is part of the magic of the city. and i'm so pleased that this plaza is -- as the mayor said, it took a little longer than would have been ideal, but it is

now finally happening. i want to say just a few -- maybe a year ago, or a couple of years ago, we were worried about whether there even would be an eagle, right? more than a few years ago, but the community came together and city hall responded and now not only is the eagle still here, it's still a place to enjoy on sunday afternoons and all the time. and thank you so much, lex and mike, but now we have not only the eagle, but this amazing plaza coming here. so thank you, all, for coming out. thank you all for coming out. but have a very, very happy pride. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor mandelman. i now have the proud honor of introducing district 6

supervisor matt haney. i met matt when he reached out to the leather and lgbt district when running for office. he expressed support for our community then and is following through with his action. it's these spaces that form a community and those spaces for the leather and lgbtq communities are under constant threat in this neighborhood. matt haney is not only talking about preserving the culture here, he's sponsoring legislation to preserve the spaces that make soma a destination for people across the country and around the world. the fact that he is here today showing support for the eagle plaza is one sign of his commitment to the communities. with that, i present to you supervisor haney. >> supervisor haney: thank you, bob. well, i want to say this one more time. this is going to be the world's

first public plaza dedicated to the leather community. isn't that incredible? world first. and not only is it the world's first public plaza dedicated to the leather community, it is in the world's first cultural district dedicated to the lgbtq community. give it up for that as well. bob, tremendous leadership. i want to thank all of you who worked hard to make this happen. sf parks alliance, mayor breed, supervisor mandelman, senator wiener. this is an extraordinary effort that made this happen. far too often the things that make this city wonderful, the things that built this culture, created our identity, the institutions, the businesses, are the ones that are constantly under attack. and sadly that's been the case here in western soma as well for the leather community. and with what we're doing today, the city is finally saying, not

only are we going to preserve those institutions and that culture, we're going to celebrate it, have a permanent home for it in our city and we're going to do it in western soma. there is no west soma without the leather community. i'm excited about the future of this plaza for a number of reasons. also because we need more open space in this part of the city. soma and west soma has some of the least amount of open space, parks, places for people to relax, to bring their dogs, hang out. and i know this can be an extraordinary open space. i may not have been to many leather events, but i have been here for the beer bust a couple of weeks ago. and this is a community that knows how to come together to have a good time. i want to give a shoutout to a group of people. i want to shout out to the

construction workers behind us, who are actually going to build this thing. for all of their hard work, we're going to put on hard hats, but they do the work every day. thank you so much. t thank you all for being here. we'll champion the leather district, the eagle and the plaza. thank you, all, for being here. >> good morning, everyone. my name is victor, i'm the communications director for senator scott wiener. this is a project he has spent a lot of energy working with lex and mike for the last six years to make this happen. he was very proud to get in the budget $100,000 to help make this a reality. [applause] i want to thank mayor london breed as well for her continued support of the plaza, as well as

supervisor mandelman and haney. the leather community has always played an important role in the lgbtq community. at the height of the h.i.v. epidemic, the community stepped up to raise funds for h.i.v. care, research and care for the entire community and continues to do that to this day. this plaza will serve to commemorate that and to continue to allow that work to happen. i want to thank you all for being here today and all of you that helped make this happen today. thank you so much. [applause] i'd like to bring up lauren from build inc. >> thanks. i don't know where to start. i mean, so many aspects of this are important. people think of us as developers, but really we're urban place-makers and this

exemplifies the work that is important to us, every project we do. the neighborhood makes its place and has influence on what we can do there. so this is amazing. for my partners, on behalf of my partners, our whole build group, the team at the office, this is the work that is meaningful, rewarding and just makes it all worth while. so thanks to mayor breed, to supervisor mandelman, haney, lex and the whole community to help make this happen. it takes a village and this is our village. thank you. let's dig dirt and make it happen! [applause] we have shovels right here. let's go dig.

>> 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! turn that dirt! woo hoo! [applause] love that. that's a great shot. thank you.

>> all right. hello, sunny day. [cheers.] so, so excited to be here with each and every one of you. i am sorry for those we don't have chairs for. we didn't expect a big crowd, but when you talk about the city budget, i guess everyone shows up. i am so glad to see the residents here. thank you to everyone who joined us on the tours earlier of the unit. today we, of course, through the tours saw the challenging conditions that people are living right in this neighborhood, just a few miles from our thriving downtown, and yet a world apart. as someone who grew up in public housing, i have lived these conditions. i know these conditions. i don't expect everyone to understand the