an mta bus tire popped narrowly missing a pedestrian. the 400 pound tire was flung on to the sidewalk. the driver says an overheated bearing caused a wheel to come off this, is the second run away wheel this year on an mta bus, another came off in the bronx. >> and still to come, military families have mixed feelings. what they're hoping to hear from president obama when he reveals his plan to pull out u.s. troops from afghanistan. >> and a huge premium to see the shuttle launch. one hint, they're going for more than the typical $20. >> a cooling trend continues and i'll have a look at the accu-weather forecast coming up. vvllllllllllgtgtgtgtgtgtgtgti >>> just 30 minutes from now president obama will layout his plan for the beginning of the end of the war in afghanistan. >> the white house has not confirmed skekt figures but he's expected to announce the withdrawal of 33,000 troopses by the end of 2012. >> tonight president obama will announce the beginning of the end of the war in afghanistan. a war costing the united states heavily. >>

we have an mta rep to talk to you about the mitigation measures to deal with this impact. before we get to that,e, wantd to cover the streetscape improvements. what this line a shelling, the blue box is the cathedral hill campus. the green is the tenderloin neighborhood and the lower pork corridor. that -- the lower polk corridor. during the draft review, we heard many comments that we needed to take a closer look at the tenderloin and transportation impact the cathedral hill campus may have it in that neighborhood. i wanted to let you know we are doing that as part of the review and you will see

we have an mta rep to talk to you about the mitigation measures to deal with this impact. before we get to that,e, wantd to cover the streetscape improvements. what this line a shelling, the blue box is the cathedral hill campus. the green is the tenderloin neighborhood and the lower pork corridor. that -- the lower polk corridor. during the draft review, we heard many comments that we needed to take a closer look at the tenderloin and transportation impact the cathedral hill campus may have it in that neighborhood. i wanted to let you know we are doing that as part of the review and you will see what we do know today, the proposed project is going to add traffic to the tenderloin neighborhood and we are asking to have $11 million worth of improvements in this area. one of these improvements includes the conversion from one way to two way and that is shown in black dished lines. that came out of the study and that project is undergoing environmental review and will include various among other things along the polk corridor and tender loin area and things in the green box.

that is a performance audit for an empty day -- for an mta. it was agreed we would look at the varying divisions on a rolling basis. our next division will be the safety, training, security, and enforcement division. the piece we will specifically look at this year is the enforcement division, simply because the safety training portion and security are undergoing federal and state audits currently. therefore, in the enforcement area, they are handling parking enforcement, transit compliance, a video surveillance, and other items under their jurisdiction. in addition, we will do other work at mta with regards to some of their other operations, such as the garages, which are ongoing compliance audits in our work plan. we will look at burying trash collection points with in the city. -- at varying cash collection points in the city. we looked at this last year due to a management letter issued by our city auditor's for our report. that is in response to that particular management letter. we, in conjunction with treasury, did a risk assessment of

whatever they want do with it pretty much they have you like, you know, a worm on a hook. >> reporter: an mta spokesman says the new work rules are not a witch hunt to get rid every drivers but are designed to speed up the disciplinary process for drivers not up to standards. drivers are unhappy about the new part time operators to be hired for extra runs like special events like ballgames. that will take away overtime pay drivers used to get. muni says the changes will save $38 million over the next three years. their union had agreed to the changes but unhappy drivers wouldn't go along. they are now hinting at job actions like work slowdowns or sick calls. >> our union is really out for us, but sometimes it doesn't really seem like they are. >> reporter: so under the old and the new contracts, strikes are not allowed. so the city attorney told me tonight that if there are any types of work interruptions, ken, he will take legal action. >> the city is laying down the law, take it or leave it. >>> a fight landed a teenager in handcuffs in oakland. neighbors called police saying boys were runn

an option. we ate knowledge there is more evaluation that can and should be done. we are excited about the investment the mta is making with prop k money in the automatic counters. as you ride your bike around the city, you may pass over these centers. that will help us make an even stronger case for the efficacy and benefit of these programs. finally, i want to speak to one of the projects here that i do not think has been brought to your attention in this presentation, which is the home's own project in natoma. this is an exciting idea where we reshape the environment to discourage people to drive through at speed, rather, to slow down. you can bring your car through a home zone, but you have to move as if you were a pedestrian. this is a good project ever want to applaud the mta for bringing. it will make for much nicer neighborhoods. commissioner campos: thank you very much. is there any member of the public that would like to comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues, we have an item before us. i do think it is important for us to get the information that commissioner wiene

an mta bus driving down the road in queens, new york. it loses a 400 pound tire. check it out.f. barely missing the white car parked. slammed into the building. fortunately the bus was empty and the sidewalk clear of people. >>> now to fenway park in boston. sop of the sixth. padres player hits a foul ball. check this out. fan makes the catch in his beer. i hope this thing goes on a loop. like any baseball fan, he doesn't let the beer go to waste. watch it. watch it. there it goes. in the beer cup. nice move. >>> so how dangerous are fireworks? the government wants to show you. >> five, four, three, two, one. >> and now watch the man getting blown up. if that doesn't put a damper on your summer fun, ouch. that will leave a mark. that is a snow that the government puts on each and every year. in case you don't know explosives are dangerous, ladies and gentlemen, now you know. owe, and kids, too. stop. let's jump to the big board. stop. u.s. markets closing in the red despite comments by fed chairman ben bernanke and a decision to leave interest rates unchanged and near zero. fel

you did not have the ability to take of the mta let alone the tax commission but they gave it to you anyway. we should call for an audit and a criminal investigation for the agenda of the mta and the office of the x-men, gavin -- office of the ex-mayor, gavin newsom. you can sit back there because you're proud of the problem. [applause] >> does anyone wish to address the board under public comment? cars could afternoon, director. -- >> good afternoon, director. >> the drivers had $5 million taken out. the credit card machine was to benefit a friend and insider of the mta to let him get the money. shame on them. the driver was forced to get a meter increase which was not given to them and they have been losing $7,000 a month. leave the job and resign. the people that support them, go out from here together with them. [applause] >> barry -- last speaker card. >> good afternoon. i think you guys made a big mistake tabling all the taxi items for today and trying been meager increase and service improvements, while you have refused to look at the improvements that would make all the caps available in the city under ic

you did not have the ability to take of the mta let alone the tax commission but they gave it to you anyway. we should call for an audit and a criminal investigation for the agenda of the mta and the office of the x-men, gavin -- office of the ex-mayor, gavin newsom. you can sit back there because you're proud of the problem. [applause] >> does anyone wish to address the board under public comment? cars could afternoon, director. -- >> good afternoon, director. >> the drivers had $5 million taken out. the credit card machine was to benefit a friend and insider of the mta to let him get the money. shame on them. the driver was forced to get a meter increase which was not given to

budget, pending continued information and actual receipts from the sales that the mta has been pursuing, which remains an issue that we're monitoring within the mta's budget. very high level and a quick summary. thank you for the attention. i am available to answer any questions you might have. supervisor chu: thank you. let's go to any comments the budget analyst may want to make. >> madam chair, members, i do not have any specific comments on the presentations that were made. however, if the chair wants, i can summarize the interim budget report that we prepared. would you like me to do that, madam chair? as you know, supervisors, the annual budget process for the city and county requires that the board of supervisors approved an interim appropriation ordinance and annual salary ordinance. that is for fiscal year 2011- 2012, on or before june 30, 2011. as the chair indicated, the purpose of these interim ordinances is to provide expenditure authorization for various departments during the time that the budget and finance committee is reviewing the mayor's recommended budget for 2011-2012. on page 7 of

mta is an example of one of those departments. about $3 billion of our $6.5 billion budget is in the general fund. $300 million deficit starts to sound a little bit bigger. even within that $3 billion of general fund, we have a lot of restrictions on what options are available to us. we are legally obligated to pay our pension and benefit costs. we have voter-approved requirements that under the charter require us to spend a certain amount of money on particular types of services, and all those various requirements eat away at our flexibility within that $3 billion, and at the end of the day, we only have about $1.2 billion or $1.3 billion roughly in the neighborhood that is truly flexible, discretionary general fund that we can use to balance the budget. our $300 million deficit, from that perspective, feels much more significant. it is about 1/4 of our flexible general fund, and that is the challenge that we have to deal with and the reason we are here tonight. as i said, within our general fund, the biggest departments that mak

mta is an example of one of those departments. aboutbi

supervisor avalos: what is the -- i do not know if it is an estimate, but the expectations of the mta of how many meters will be out at any given time? you have factor that into the cost of the program and what you can expect to get in terms of revenue in the change in law? >> what is so much better with these leaders is that you can tell easily when they are broken. the frequency is less and we are expected to see a much higher frequency. we actually have a pretty good track record of broken meters. several years ago there were a lot, but technology and the infrastructure has changed. 1.2% of broken meters is not a lot right now. in we do expect that to go down over time. supervisor avalos: the most common ways that one will break down? >> the most common is someone puts something in their that does not belong. paper or some other kinds of calling. the biggest issue is someone putting something into the slot. not allowing anyone else to put anything into that leader. supervisor avalos: the meters in the program, do they have other common things? i have had some difficulty at some of

i wonder if we could make an amendment that would require that the real-estate department and mta report back to us in three months about the specific plans for each of these locations and whether or not they can actually be given up or not occupied by the mta for these functions. can we make those amendments without objection? supervisor kim: given the last bit of discussion we have had around the apartment technology and asking them to come back to us with a plan of reducing their expenditures or raising revenue, one of the difficult parts is when they came back to us with a plan because we did not give them some guidelines or standards to meet. it was difficult to determine whether we should release the reserve funds. i would prefer setting some kind of standards in terms of what we expect. i really want to look at how -- if we are increasing as much space for the mta, actually setting some goals in terms of reducing some of the existing facilities, instead of just asking an open-ended question of looking at potentially letting go of sites -- i do not know if that is possible. supervi

i am pleased to announce, just moments ago, the mta board meeting made an award for the tunnel contract for the central subway. this is a $230 million contract. the low bid is a joint venture of an italian firm partnering with healy engineering. the bid was called hundred dollars under the estimate. we are looking forward to seeing that move forward. -- $1,200 under the estimate. i am looking forward to putting that in front of the board this coming month as the project begins to move forward into the construction phase. i wanted to also highlight, continued progress on the transportation plan and our team has been preparing for meetings with our advisory committee, other committees as well, preparing scenarios for the main themes. world class infrastructure, livable condition. better market street is also making strides. they have completed the existing conditions analysis with probably the most comprehensive examination ever of transit operations on market street. we had over 30 volunteers riding muni for a total of over 20 hours to try to document transportation issues on market and

it's feasible for cab companies and the mta, but for the customer is an oversupply of cabs when you don't need it. we're talking a majority of the time. [tone] [applause] [reading names] >> and the president of a cab company and of a taxi advisory council. let me voice my support for a meager increase. this will help our drivers. we are proud of the work our drivers to in the work they perform day in and day out. with no meter increase since 2003, the increase is necessary and warranted. we've taken several steps to help our drivers. we have invested millions in new, clean, energy-efficient vehicles and reduced the cost of fuel. that puts more drivers -- more money in drivers pockets. we've invested millions in computerized dispatch they give drivers and opportunity to keep tabs filled with passengers. we maintain a full-service unionized maintenance shop to assure drivers get the safest, efficient vehicles and clean cabs. the city's taxi system depends on companies like ours to invest in that infrastructure so that drivers can earn more money, yet sfmta has not given an increase. we've p

mta. we are choosing to benefit from this effort. for instance, even before we drafted the people plan and a bike plan, the sf park, an interesting program that helps is managing traffic. we also met with the transportation control system to look at the big picture at mta. the goal here is one of the things that i think is so important is we get to test and pilot programs that we do not often get the opportunity to do. by bringing the teams and looking at their plants, we are actually looking at elements of what they try to do without stepping on the toes of the process and testing that to see how viable they can be so that that is one of the benefits michael alluded to. supervisor campos: thank you. colleagues, i do not know if you have any of their questions. i want to thank you for the presentation. really well done. why don't we now open it up to public comment. if there is any member of the public that would like to speak, please come forward. we have a very full agenda, so we will live it public, to two minutes per speaker. please come on up. -- so we will limit public comment to two minutes per speaker. >> i wanted to thank the sp

i took an expensive walk with the mta director tom nolan. >> people will be glad we did it. >> reporter: ridership will increase and he says it's worth the price tag. >> every project that came along people would say it's too much money. i imagine people were saying that about the golden gate bridge, bart, all of these things. i think we have to look beyond that. >> reporter: and take it one step at a time. $150,000. $150,000. $150,000. >> all right. >> reporter: i'll take a ride with you. when it's done, when it's expected, in 2018. >> you have given me a headache and a gnawing feeling in my gut. [ laughter ] >> at the same time. >> reporter: well, it's underground, maybe you won't feel so bad when you get up above ground and you're able to buy window-hanging ducks and other things like that in chinatown. >> worth the price of admissions. $150,000 a foot. all right, mike. thanks. have a nice walk home. [ laughter ] >> reporter: thank you. >>> one man is not going to let our state parks close at least not without a fight. don ford shows us how he is battling to keep them open one dollar

mta. the chamber of commerce amsterdam is known as an element of innovative approach to connectivity and mobility. he is strong and establishing unique partnership to create groundbreaking solutions. he started a task force formability management for employers and employees to reduce car trafficked by 10%. -- he started a task force for mobility management for employers and employees to reduce traffic by 10%. >> i will give you the perspective of the business community in amsterdam. athis is the region of amsterda. this is the inner city of amsterdam, and the rest of the city are the suburbs. the whole city, there are 2.2 million people, but the real city of amsterdam, there are less than 800,000, which i think is about the same as san francisco. i will also pass around a few sheets. the important thing is that amsterdam is one of the five major economic central's -- economic centers in europe, and we want to stay that way, and we are an attractive city for international business, like the american and asian companies that like to have business in amsterdam. it is a real nice place to stay. exper

supervisor mar: that is an important issue that i would have expected the mta staff to be able to respond to in much more specifics. because how terrible it would be for somebody of limited english- speaking ability to have to deal with that and not know where they are. i really commend supervisor cohen for bringing that up, at the hope that mta comes up with a much better response for that. >> ok, i hear you, and we will be back to you with a specific plan on that. the point i was trying to make was that, i think for the first time, we have got an infrastructure in place, and we have trained ourselves that part of any service management practice is the customer notification goes to the top of the list. not that we're perfect or not that there's not room for improvement. you are smiling, so you would agree that we're perfect? supervisor cohen: i am is smiling because i agree that you're not perfect and that there is room for improvement. [laughs] be my guest. you can continue. >> ok, are we ready to go back? supervisor cohen: we're ready to go back. >> all right, thank you. the next one i

reductions and a provision enabling local six or the mta to reopen for economic terms for fiscal year 2011-2012. on january 18 of this year, ibew local 6 requested an economic opener, and it began marketing in march. the representatives -- to to to agreement on april 29 on a number of issues, including restoration of a 3.75% to bargain and its members-based hourly unit of pay, changes in the language regarding the normal work schedule, which will save overtime costs by creating a work schedule, which eliminates premium paid for working saturdays and sundays, elimination of the sfmta performance and attendance incentives, and the reduction of five floating holidays to to floating holidays. this tentative agreement was ratified by local 6 membership on may 4. therefore, per the city charter, the ibew local 6, and sfmta agreement is being formally sunshine today. copies are available here today, and the tentative agreement is available for review all online at sfmta.com. if you have questions, i would be more than happy to address them. thank you very much. >> the next item i wanted to bring to your attention was a report regarding the m.t.a.'s over t

the vacancies we have, focusing on hiring and overtime an the training required to bring the operators, there's several classes right now, the mta board is starting to receive reports and the board of supervisors has asked us to go back on a regular basis and talk aboutover time. we are also working on unscheduled absences, for example when people are sick or out on leave that are unse scheduled. this requires changes to our policies, for example, in managing fmla or other kinds of absences. >> one thing i want to point out and i don't know if it's necessary for john to come up and echo on this, if he was planning on saying this, but if you remember last fall we implemented a very strict sick leave policy with the operators where if you were out sick, you had to bring in a doctor's verify cage, no matter how short the period you were out sick. we observed a switching from sick leave utilization to fmla which has much more lax controls and we're going to start looking at what we can do in terms of fmla but we saw a mydepration from sick leave usage to fmla and that's one thing we have to deal with going forward. >> did that perce