this to district 2 that's never going to build anything, grow anything. they have to keep it stable for themselves, so i think that's why you keep hearing, you know, the issues coming up that you're cutting other communities but you're afraid to talk about district 2, 3, 4 and 7. and you know, it's very noted. it's very noted and you know, of course district 1, it has the largest amount of tenants. but district 2 has homeowners tenants but they haven't really built a lot or developed a lot and you give them more in district 5 to dilute the rest of the japanese and black community and you're diluting the -- the transgender in district 6 but nothing for

two or three. so.... you know, people see -- they're seeing what's happening there. thank you. >> thank you for sharing your comments with the task force. can we get next speaker, please. [hard stop]

>> good morning, everyone. my name is jeffery tumlin, and i am the executive director of the sfmta, and welcome to the new van ness avenue. this has been a very long time in coming, but i am so proud of the results that all of my teams have produced. the new van ness avenue is a part of our efforts to reimagine san francisco streets, to rethink our streets to allow them to move more people as the city grows, and to prioritize the people with the fewest mobility choices, and that is what we're steadily delivering all over san francisco, so these projects include some obvious components like the bright red new transit only lanes that are built of

2 feet thick of red concrete that's red all the way through. it includes rebuilding everything of the overhead power structure, including 375 new trees and 4,000 drought resistant new shrubs, but the best part is the undergroundwork. we dug up and unsnarled 150 years' worth of crazy utilities, including 10,000 feet of communication fiber optics lines, 18,000 feet of sewer pipes, including 19 century brick sewers, 25,000 feet of water pipes, and 5,000 feet of ductwork to power our buses and power signals. rebuilding all of these utilities and strengthening

them for earthquake resistance means we will not have to do that again for another 150 years, and i am so glad for that part of the project. this project was the result of -- okay. we could not have done this without a very, very large team, so i'm going to go through and thank some of our partners, and i will miss some. so thankful for the transit commission, to the san francisco county transportation authority who is our funding and planning partner, to mayor london breed and the board of supervisors who have prioritized this project again and again for over a decade. to the planning department, who helped us reimagine the space, to public works department, the public utilities commission,

who helped us reimagine the under ground staff. to the arts commission, who helped us choose the art, to the city attorney's office, to the historic preservation commission, particularly here in the civic center area, to the mayor's office on housing development, but we also owe a very strong debt of gratitude to the folks who live and work along this corridor. digging up this entire street to replace 150 years of utilities resulted in some major disruption and impacts as a result of the construction, and i really want to extend my gratitude and sincere apologies to all of the business owners and residents along this

corridor. thank you for your patience. you put up with years of noisy and disruptive work at all hours of day and night. we have learned a lot of lessons from this project, and we are already applying this lesson to other projects, so i also want to thank, in addition to the residents and business owners for their patience, i also want to thank the people who worked on this project. i want to thank everybody for their work along with hundreds and hundreds of people, but particularly those people who have spent the last decade making this happen. from the san francisco

transportation authority, i want to thank tilly chang and bob masis, and then, i want to particularly want to thank walsh construction and all of their technical subcontractors for being out here delivering this work, including the ballet dance of rebuilding the mission and south van ness intersection. so thank you to all of those people for really making this happen. so it's very, very exciting to finally be here. this is a very big year for the sfmta. we completed the first phase of the geary rapid project earlier this year. we completed the first phase of rebuilding taraval and the el taraval this year, and indeed, we're going to open the central subway later this year, in the fall, and i'm so happy to be here, finally opening the van

ness area bus rapid transit. so without further adieu, may i introduce the mayor of san francisco, london breed. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: wow. what a big deal in san francisco today. thank you so much, jeff, and thank you -- let's give another round of applause to the great san francisco symphony for that beautiful rendition of "i left my heart in san francisco." yes, our hearts are in san francisco today, and today, because of that, we are rolling out the red carpet. no, this is not an april fool's joke, this is finally done, because it has been a long time coming. the people of san francisco, the voters of san francisco approved this back in 2003, and the work began to look at how

we were going to reimagine what van ness boulevard would be in order to provide efficient transit and safety and all the things that we need. when i think back to the history of van ness boulevard and what it represented after the 1906 earthquake, when i used to walk up and down these streets and catch the 49 to the 47 to galileo high school, not too long ago, it was auto row. this city was built mostly to accommodate vehicles, and over the years, we've seen a significant shift, people using various modes of transportation. but also, because we are a city who pride ourselves on making sure we are good stewards of

the environment, we noticed something. 47% of greenhouse gas emissions happen in this city because of vehicles, and we need to make changes. we need to make our public transportation system more efficient. we need to make sure that we improve our infrastructure so that different modes of transportation be moved around san francisco in a safe and efficient manner and at the same time having positive effects on the environment. yes, this project took a very long time, starting when i was on the board of supervisors in 2016, but you know how that is. even scott wiener was on the board of supervisors. bureaucratic years take forever in this city, but guess what? i feel like we're opening it right on time after dealing

with two years of a global pandemic, so please forgive me if i don't recognize you anymore. as we begin to reemerge, i can't believe how strong and resilient this city is. we've endured so many challenges in our city's history, but when we're able to complete challenges like this, we celebrate, but we also understand the value of what this will mean for people to get around this city, for the commuters that come all over the bay area -- golden gate regional, and the folks who catch muni, and the kids who try to pretend to get to school on time at galileo -- this is going to be a meaningful change, reducing the travel time by 30%, making public

transportation more attract attract -- attractive to people. that's our goal in these various transportation projects, so as we reopen, we have to make sure we can get people around efficiently and safely, and i am so happy that this is finally getting done because now i can catch the 49 to the house of prime rib and get there in a timely manner. now we can make sure that we support all of these businesses. yes, the city came together and provided millions of dollars for grants for small businesses, but it clearly was not enough, and so now, the real work began -- begins. using this system, enjoying the

public art, commuting back and forth to wherever we need to go and supporting the businesses along van ness, but i want to say to the kids of galileo, don't get off before it's time because we don't want this transit system to be a way to let you do what you're not supposed to be doing. i want to thank the county transportation union, the people who live along this area, work along this area and have businesses along this area. we owe you a debt of gratitude for what you've endured during this time, and i think this is a shining example of san francisco and our resilience of what we've had to endure the last couple of years.

we are going to continue to host the cleanest and the greenest fleet and move san francisco in a direction where we meet our climate goals, and we make sure that we provide transportation that makes this the priority in san francisco, using public transportation as the priority in san francisco to get around because it is more efficient than any other mode. thank you all so much for being here. we appreciate everyone that's participated in this project. [applause] >> thank you, mayor london breed. fun fact: in 2001, i was quoted by san francisco columnist john king in a newspaper story in the chronicle talking about san francisco bus rapid transit, and the mayor, at the time, i don't know -- at the time, upon reading this article, tried to fire me over the radio. thank you, mayor breed, for your support strong of transit

in san francisco. meanwhile, the author of this recent legislation would have saved -- shaved significant time off of transit in a year. senator scott wiener. scott? >> i am so excited. as a 25-year muni rider, i've seen the good, the bad, occasionally the ugly. i love the subway, i love trains, but in my heart, i am a bus person. and buses, you know, get really neglected a lot of times. it's the large majority of transit here in san francisco, is buses. we need to find ways to make

buses faster, more efficient for people. they shouldn't have to live by a subway line to be able to use transit. they should be able to use transit everywhere, and buses are the way to do that, and rapid area transit is the way that we do that. this is just incredibly exciting. when you look at the future of san francisco, we need a lot more housing. we need to put a lot more housing here in san francisco so that people can be paired to live here. but we have to have more and more trouble transportation to support it because if it's just a bunch more cars, the geometry

doesn't work. we need to put it all together to make this the most amazing and sustainable city in the world. this has been a real team effort. when you look at the work that's being done here on van ness and other amazing transit projects in the city, i had the honor of chairing our county transportation authority, and we worked really hard with the mayor, with then-supervisor breed to move this forward, but we also worked at the state level, and i want to really thank and acknowledge our entire current and former state legislative delegation, our city attorney, david chiu, who we really miss in the legislature. let's hear it for mr. chiu. when he was on the board of supervisors, his district was right along van ness, and he helped guide this along, and

working with phil ting, the chair of the assembly budget committee, we've worked hard to get more funding in san francisco. we're getting more and more momentum to have the state be a better partner to counties and cities to make sure that we're adding more transit. so this is amazing. congratulations to everyone. we learned a lot from this project. it can -- it will not take this long in the future. we're working, as jeff mentioned, on legislation to dramatically streamline bus and rapid transportation. let's get more of it, let's get it done faster, and congratulations, everyone. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, senator wiener. one of the places that the bus will take you to is the san francisco opera, and so i am

very pleased to introduce elisa sunshine and andrew king from the san francisco opera. [applause]

[♪♪♪]

[applause] >> over 40% of california's greenhouse gas emissions come from the transport sector, and of that, the vast majority of personal driving. and in addition, here in

california, we're no longer demolishing low-income neighborhoods in order to widen highways, and yet, the state is growing. we are growing jobs, we're adding people. california is still a land of opportunity, and so i am utterly delighted to watch new leadership at the state department of transportation who's working to reimagine the state highway system in order to move more people rather than just moving more cars and to help the state achieve its greenhouse gas emissions goals. so i am very honored to introduce the california secretary of transportation. >> thanks for the set up, director tumlin, to have me come after that performance. how in the world do you top that? so when you schedule an event

on april 1, and and it has the history that this event has, immediately, the thought is, is this real? is it actually going to happen? everybody can see today what the fortitude of mayor breed, director tumlin, it is real, so kudos to everyone for making this happen. i'm the secretary for transportation for the state, here on behalf of governor newsom. he would have loved to be here because he loves

transportation, but he was busy this morning. we know what this is going to mean as far as reduction in travel time throughout downtown san francisco and the region, so efficiency is a big part of what we're going to gain from this. number two, the environmental benefits. environmental benefits are going to be huge. environment impact, nearly 50% of greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation. transportation is the largest, the biggest culprit of our environmental challenges in this state, and projects like this will improve that. it definitely will improve that. it will address it. and finally, thirdly,

equitable. we know how much senator wiener mentioned it before -- how much of a challenge it is to afford to live in this state, but we are coming up with solutions to make it less costly, more equitable for people to be able to move about is exactly the direction that we need to go. so kudos for people moving in the right direction but to actually be able to deliver this project today. i city -- see ray from caltrans team. our district director, thank you for your leadership.

city and county staff, mayor breed, congratulations on an amazing day like today. thank you again for having me here. thank you very much. [applause] >> completing a project of this magnitude also requires strong managerial support, so i am proud to introduce supervisor raphael mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: director tumlin, you actually got it done. congratulations. but you know what got it done?

the union workers who show that sustainable projects and union jobs go hand in hand. there were lessons to be learned, mistakes not to be repeated, but this project will make a difference in the lives of san francisco every day as transit riders whiz past cars stuck in traffic carrying students, construction workers, seniors, tourists, and anyone wise enough to choose transit first, this project will make a difference for our quality of

life. the transportation authority is proud to have helped lay the groundwork for this day by leading the planning and environmental review phases of the project as well as providing nearly $45 million to support every phase of the project from planning to construction. these funds were from the transportation authority's half cent sales tax, proposition k, which included $500 million for muni and other projects when it passed in 2003. as we look forward to another critical transportation funding source in november, i want to thank san francisco voters for their consistent support of transit first investments like this one. yeah, give it up for the voters. [applause] >> supervisor mandelman: in the case of the van ness improvement project, this investment paid off multifold. local city and sales tax leveraged $120 million in state and local funds to support this

project. so we want to thank our friends at the f.t.a.s and at caltrans for their partnership over the years of this project. finally, i do want to recognize our transit authority staff who are instrumental to the development phase of the project. tilly chang and our deputy director of planning, rachel hyatt, and our deputy for policy and programming, anna la forte, whose staff supported each phase of the project. and i want to thank michael short who was the manager of

the e.i.r. under rachel and flew in from north carolina to be here with us today. now that is love. i would be remiss if i did not acknowledge my colleagues on the transportation authority board who made it out here this morning, commissioner stefani, commissioner melgar, commissioner safai, and commissioner haney. so with that, congratulations, everyone. san francisco's coming back on transit. [applause] >> as we've already mentioned, this project took way too long, and it also required digging up the entire street curb to curb to unsnarl a mess of utilities completely down the street.

i am therefore very pleased to introduce our final speaker, one of the -- one of our favorite business owners in the corridor, joseph betts, who is the owner and manager of the house of prime rib. mr. betts, please join us. [applause] >> thank you very much. i'd like to just is you, commissioners, for inviting me. you know, there's not much to say that's not already been said, however, i'd like to tell you my point of view. yes, it was difficult, but there are two people that i'd like to thank. katie mccarthy from the city. she informed me what was going on. we had a meeting before things started, and during construction, she always informed me when i called. the answer was right away, and this way, we could plan. we were not blindsided.

another one who i really appreciated to work with is david costello. he was the best. again, a lot of things have been said already that i don't want to repeat, but there's one thing i want to say, an old saying. you forget the price, but you don't forget the result, and the result is beautiful. when you look at van ness, the trees in the middle, the bright striping in the middle, it looks great what you have accomplished. thank you. [applause] >> so thank you all, and i also want to thank a few additional people for their strong support

throughout this project. city attorney david chiu, jose cisneros, treasurer, ralph remington from the arts commission, and our entire m.t.a. board, almost all of whom are here, manny yekutiel, fiona hinze, sharon lai, chair borden. thank you to all of you. now, who wants to cut a ribbon so that we can actually start service on this corridor and get on a bus and ride to galileo high school with us? one thing that i do want to

remind everyone if you are going to get on a bus, which is going to start running in about five minutes, please do wear your masks. we'll be going to galileo high school where there will be some additional activities. get on the bus. >> the hon. london breed: well, we've waited long enough. everybody join us. five, four, three, two, one. [cheers and applause] [♪♪♪]

>> van ness avenue runs from market street to bay street in san francisco. south vanness runs from south of market to cesar chavez street. originally residential after the 1906 earthquake it was used as a fire break. many car dealerships and businesses exist on vanness today with expansion of bus lanes. originally marlet street was named after james vanness, seventh mayor of san francisco from 1855 to 1856. vanness heavy are streets in santa cruz, los angeles and fresno in his honor. in 1915 streetcars started the opening of the expo. in 1950s it was removed and replaced by a tree-lined median.

it was part of the central freeway from bayshore to hayes valley. it is part of uses 101. it was damaged during the 1989 earthquake. in 1992 the elevator part of the roadway was removed. it was developed into a surface boulevard. today the vanness bus rapid transit project is to have designated bus lanes service from mission. it will display the history of the city. van ness avenue. valencia has been a constantly evolving roadway. the first bike lanes were striped in 1999, and today is the major north and south bike route from the mission neighborhood extending from market to mission street.

>> it is difficult to navigate lindsay on a daily basis, and more specifically, during the morning and evening commute hours. >> from 2012 to 2016, there were 260 collisions on valencia and 46 of those were between vehicles and bikes. the mayor shows great leadership and she knew of the long history of collisions and the real necessity for safety improvements on the streets, so she actually directed m.t.a. to put a pilot of protected bike lanes from market to 15th on valencia street within four months time. [♪♪♪] >> valencia is one of the most used north south bike routes in san francisco. it has over 2100 cyclists on an average weekday. we promote bicycles for everyday transportation of the coalition. valencia is our mission -- fits

our mission perfectly. our members fall 20 years ago to get the first bike lane stripes. whether you are going there for restaurants, nightlife, you know , people are commuting up and down every single day. >> i have been biking down the valencia street corridor for about a decade. during that time, i have seen the emergence of ridesharing companies. >> we have people on bikes, we have people on bike share, scooters, we have people delivering food and we have uber taking folks to concerts at night. one of the main goals of the project was to improve the overall safety of the corridor, will also looking for opportunities to upgrade the bikeway. >> the most common collision that happens on valencia is actually due to double parking in the bike lane, specifically during, which is where a driver opens the door unexpectedly.

>> we kept all the passengers -- the passenger levels out, which is the white crib that we see, we double the amount of commercial curbs that you see out here. >> most people aren't actually perking on valencia, they just need to get dropped off or pick something up. >> half of the commercial loading zones are actually after 6:00 p.m., so could be used for five-minute loading later into the evening to provide more opportunities or passenger and commercial loading. >> the five minute loading zone may help in this situation, but they are not along the corridor where we need them to be. >> one of the most unique aspects of the valencia pilot is on the block between 14th street. >> we worked with a pretty big mix of people on valencia. >> on this lot, there are a few schools. all these different groups had concerns about the safety of students crossing the protected bikeway whether they are being dropped off or picked up in the morning or afternoon. to address those concerns, we

installed concrete loading islands with railings -- railings that channel -- channeled a designated crossing plane. >> we had a lot of conversations around how do you load and unload kids in the mornings and the afternoons? >> i do like the visibility of some of the design, the safety aspects of the boarding pilot for the school. >> we have painted continental crosswalks, as well as a yield piece which indicates a cyclist to give the right-of-way so they can cross the roadway. this is probably one of the most unique features. >> during the planning phase, the m.t.a. came out with three alternatives for the long term project. one is parking protected, which we see with the pilot, they also imagined a valencia street where we have two bike lanes next to one another against one side of the street. a two-way bikeway.

the third option is a center running two-way bikeway, c. would have the two bike lanes running down the center with protection on either side. >> earlier, there weren't any enter lane designs in san francisco, but i think it will be a great opportunity for san francisco to take the lead on that do so the innovative and different, something that doesn't exist already. >> with all three concepts for valencia's long-term improvement , there's a number of trade-offs ranging from parking, or what needs to be done at the intersection for signal infrastructure. when he think about extending this pilot or this still -- this design, there's a lot of different design challenges, as well as challenges when it comes to doing outreach and making sure that you are reaching out to everyone in the community. >> the pilot is great. it is a no-brainer. it is also a teaser for us. once a pilot ends, we have thrown back into the chaos of valencia street. >> what we're trying to do is incremental improvement along the corridor door. the pilot project is one of our

first major improvements. we will do an initial valuation in the spring just to get a glimpse of what is happening out here on the roadway, and to make any adjustments to the pilot as needed. this fall, we will do a more robust evaluation. by spring of 2020, we will have recommendations about long-term improvements. >> i appreciate the pilot and how quickly it went in and was built, especially with the community workshops associated with it, i really appreciated that opportunity to give input. >> we want to see valencia become a really welcoming and comfortable neighborhood street for everyone, all ages and abilities. there's a lot of benefits to protected bike lanes on valencia , it is not just for cyclists. we will see way more people biking, more people walking, we are just going to create a really friendly neighborhood street.

>> shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their business in the 49 square files of san francisco. we help san francisco remain unique, successful and right vi. so where will you shop and dine in the 49? >> i'm one of three owners here in san francisco and we provide mostly live music entertainment and we have food, the type of food that we have a mexican food and it's not a big menu, but we did it with love. like ribeye tacos and

quesadillas and fries. for latinos, it brings families together and if we can bring that family to your business, you're gold. tonight we have russelling for e community. >> we have a ten-person limb elimination match. we have a full-size ring with barside food and drink. we ended up getting wrestling here with puoillo del mar. we're hope og get families to join us. we've done a drag queen bingo and we're trying to be a diverse kind of club, trying different things. this is a great part of town and there's a bunch of shops, a

variety of stores and ethnic restaurants. there's a popular little shop that all of the kids like to hang out at. we have a great breakfast spot call brick fast at tiffanies. some of the older businesses are refurbished and newer businesses are coming in and it's exciting. >> we even have our own brewery for fdr, ferment, drink repeat. it's in the san francisco garden district and four beautiful murals. >> it's important to shop local because it's kind of like a circle of life, if you will. we hire local people. local people spend their money at our businesses and those local people will spend their money as well. i hope people shop locally.

[ ♪♪♪ ] >> good afternoon and welcome to the april 5, 2022 regular meeting of the san francisco board of supervisors. madame clerk, would you please call the roll. >> clerk: supervisor chan. present. haney present. supervisor mandelman. not present. supervisor mar. present. supervisor melgar.