i want to thank you for letting us come up here and support joel ramos. i am a member of the san francisco transit riders union, which is a new organization, and the reason i am excited about the organization, which joel is also a member of, is it tries to put together a group of citizens to help get over the problems we have. we are passionate about public transit and very interested in transit first, but we recognize there are issues in our transit system. i want to talk about two things today. we have only had one meeting so far, and i think we were both nominated at the same time, but he is extremely knowledgeable about transit issues, and i think that's he will bring the wealth of knowledge he has to the mta as well. second, i do not have a car. i do have two children. my youngest learned to read going out to the school and back. i really appreciate the idea that you actually can be a family in san francisco and ride public transit. it does take a little extra push, and, yes, it is getting very expensive for families, so i appreciate the idea that pub

with that in mind, we are pleased to support joel ramos and his candidacy for the mta commission. mta is the agency most responsible, among many, for the safety and walk ability of our streets. there has been a tremendous amount of attention to pedestrian safety and, i think, supervisor kim among others who paid a lot of attention to this recently, and the appointment of joel ramos to this board could be a step forward in making the real change we need, translating the synergy into real change for our streets. we feel confident that joel ramos will speak up for sustainable streets, and we also know he will speak up for underserved communities to face a disproportionate risk of being hit by cars on our streets while walking and who depend most on transportation and on walking, so we urge you to make joel ramos the newest member of mta's commission. thank you. >> madam chair, fellow supervisors, i am with the san francisco transit riders union. rather than reiterate what has already been said, i want to just hit on one point in particular, and that is the importance of having someon

. >> in 39 is on motion confirming the appointment of joel ramos. supervisor chiu: supervisor wiener. supervisor weiner: i am speaking in favor of the nomination. i want to commend mayor lee for making this nomination to the mta board. in g-8 make such a difference to the lives of citizens to take muni, and mr. ramosmr. ramos hal the experience to run the transportation agency, and he knows of people rely on these systems. being able to think outside the box and how we solve these problems, the transportation problems that we face in san francisco. i enthusiastically support him. supervisor kim: i want to concur with supervisor weiner. he is one of the strongest applicants i have seen for any nomination that we have brought forward as a commissioner on this board. with transit, he is very great and i know he will be a tremendous advocate for the city and the transit riders. it is great to have a director -- that is not on a vehicle, that uses this to see his friends and go so impressed by his work and his experience in advocacy, and his knowledge. i

. >> in 39 is on motion confirming the appointment of joel ramos. supervisor chiu: supervisor wiener. supervisor weiner: i am speaking in favor of the nomination. i want to commend mayor lee for making this nomination to the mta board. in g-8 make such a difference to the lives of citizens to take muni, and mr. ramosmr. ramos hal the experience to run the transportation agency, and he knows of people rely on these systems. being able to think outside the box and

similar to joel ramos, who we just heard from, and i'm so glad you guys are recommending, my focus has been of the latino community, on youth, on seniors. basically, on community that have not been represented throughout urban planning. development issues. i cut my teeth on helping develop the eastern neighborhood plan. i spent 10 years on it. got my first gray hair is while doing it. had four kids. so i feel like using my role is preparing and organizing people to take part in these opportunities. but i feel it is my turn, and i feel that i owe that to my city and to the people, the thousands of people that participated in developing the eastern neighborhoods plan. specifically to the constituents i work with in the mission district. we spent thousands of hours, many, many nights, you know, breaking down of urban planning. what is an urban planning? when you talk to the professionals, they say every day people cannot understand these concepts, but we live these concepts every day. we just need to put it in popular terms. i feel i bring that perspective and experience of breaking down