director reiskin, what you to do about this? director reiskin: very helpful comments from the board. what i think is great about this is that it is a grassroots effort. i saw the testimony, not only today, but much of the testimony from last week at the board committee meeting. as supervisor avalos referenced, a better and, more compelling group of speakers and then we see at any age. i give great credit, particularly to the youth that came out for this. this is a pro-muni initiative. this is not a group of folks in organizing against transit. these are people who want to ride muni and want to ride in a legal way to do important things in their lives like get to school and to extracurricular activities. i think that is great and fully consistent with our transit- first policy to. i think it is a great direction and it is great to hear the support to export this in more depth from the board. just a few points -- in my mind camara -- in my mind, the vast majority of the public testimony, discussion in the media, discussion of the

chariman nolan: director reiskin, the one to do a presentation? director reiskin: we do have a presentation for a baseline of understanding. we expect a lively round of public comment. i will say that i gave a brief update on this at the last meeting. at the board of supervisors committee on neighborhood services, and they held a hearing this last week and i believe they are voting today as a full board on the resolution. i want to give great credit to power in the community, working with supervisor campos for a good grass-roots effort behind this. there is a lot of public discussion to have. there are certainly some challenges to overcome. i think you'll see what some of those are. i think it is a good discussion to have. we are working closely with stakeholders' around the table to advance this discussion and co that today's discussion helps to further advance it. chariman nolan: good afternoon carried we have an excellent written report a. >> good afternoon. i want to give you a presentation on this effort. you cannot make the decision without

good afternoon to the executive director, director reiskin. we are in the middle of our board of supervisors meetings. i know that at least two of my colleagues will try to speak out and speak to you as well. let me say that the board of supervisors just passed a resolution that i introduced calling up on the various agencies to collaborate to make free muni for u.k. reality in san francisco. [applause] i especially want to thank the young people who are the ones that brought this issue to our attention. quite frankly, they have given all of us a lesson in civic engagement. it is truly something to behold when you see the level of involvement that we have around this issue. for those of us who are looking to the future, it makes you feel very proud and pleased that the city is going to be in very good hands when these young people get older. chariman nolan: i need to ask you a question so you can continue. you know how things work here. would you like to add anything else? [laughter] supervisor campos: let me make a couple of points here. firs

director reiskin: i do not know if your list meant to ex glued exploring a low-income option -- chairman nolan: i did mean to say that. director reiskin:

director reiskin: i had a number of questions. i think the pla framework for this kind of project is a great one. i know from having worked on one previously backed it takes a lot of work to get one to the point where you have. i want to commend you and the folks you have been working with to get this in place. i have to admit, i did not read the entire pla, but i did read the staff report. i do have a few questions. the first has to do with apprenticeships, which is one of the main features address. i am wondering -- are there specific provisions, requirements that would be part of this pla that would serve hard targets and targets beyond whatever requirements already exist? and how would those be measured if they are there? >> the pla does not set hard targets for participation. it is more of a policy of measures to encourage participation, but it does not have a hard target. >> may be to director reiskin: -- director reiskin: maybe during some of the public, it, that is something that folks can address. i know building the pipe

of the board that we got a chance to meet with to have conversations with, particularly director reiskin, who blocked out 30 minutes to meet with us. but ultimately took about 60 minutes to actually hear from the concerns that we have. a couple of things that i have concerns about in terms of the report rid in terms of setting the context, an important point is not a reference is the flashing of yellow school bus service that is being done by the school district. clearly, that is not policy being directed by the mta, but it is an important and textual notes that the board should be considering with this particular matter. ultimately, it is going to force more and more young people to rely on muni to get to and from school as well as other places. the mta board has taken action previously, recognizing the immense need. when you created the mx express, because of the overcrowding on that bus. there is one last thing i would like to say. in our conversation with director reiskin, he indicated that the board has not indicated a broad support for this policy. we think it is important for the

ed reiskin admitted that we needed to fine-tune the services. ed is not very well versed with the transportation system, but he is a quick learner. he has done good things with dpw, 311. in the given circumstances, we need to support him, but i'm going back to the proposition that our hands are tied. people come here, a kind of a presentation, you folks can do nothing with the mta. >supervisor avalos: thank you. any other member of the public that would like to comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. supervisor chu? supervisor chu: thank you, everyone for patients. i want to thank the mta for your commitment. it is tough with any issue with the mta, considering our influence over the organization. however, i think these conversations are fruitful to help us better understand how to convey information to our constituents and convey information to the mta as well. i want to say thank you to the mta for a couple of things that did work. in terms of the nx service, we have heard nothing but positive things. they are able to get

i think the bond oversight committee -- director reiskin and i have had good conversations about the bond oversight committee. then, the rating agency presentation. these will be huge. pretty much they do not know us. we are a new entity. a lot of time will be spent honing down on key script messages for the credit agencies so they understand who we are, what we do, what benefits we have, the strength of our entities, and that will lead to discussions on creating these presentations. we have to go aboard supervisors and the controller's office also for the steps. we've had significant discussions. they are aware of financing plans, and we are working with them on each step of this project. with that, i am here as members of the financing team to answer any questions you may have. director nolan: thank you. i have a couple of quick questions. next is the recreation and park commission. i assume they do not have plenty of things to say that affect the bears directly, so it is not the whole thing. >> that is correct. they will be authorizing issued debt on the three we oversee for them.

and ed reiskin brought up a good point. the area is changing. it is growing. we have to grow with it. we need to accommodate. we need to get ready. you have proven that with your resolution, and it is in the right direction. i want to thank supervisor farrell for pointing out to the grand jury that they missed the report that zynga was moving into the area and also that salesforce was moving into the area. closer to the subway. i guess twitter is kind of far. we need to grow. we need to accommodate that because the area is growing, and this is good. i think a lot of people have done their homework. thank you very much. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> good afternoon. i want to comment on grand jury finding 26. no one likes to transfer, but the jury correctly noted that direct service to a number of stops along embarcadero, a few stops on the main line will have to transfer to the end in order to get to it. that includes getting to zynga because it is not on the line. this would be seen as a noticeable loss of service, and to all those peop

i envision they will want to speak to both director reiskin and some of you individually to get the sense of the strength of the leadership, the strength of the board, the policy direction. they will be looking at our revenue sources, operating performance and fund balance history. the ability to maintain a balanced budget, and some of the regional economy and demographics of san francisco. we had some very good messages in some of these bullet points. some of them are not as strong, so we have to put together a picture of the mta that is balanced and will convince the credit ratings agency that we are actually a good rating, so will be focusing a lot on the management. charter authority is very strong on diversity of revenue. what will not be as strong is our financial picture and fund balance history and all the paper about deficits and raising fares, but i think we have done a pretty good job of establishing things like the automatic indexing policy, the reserve policy, which will go a long way to offsetting some of the concerns they might have. here is an idea of some of the recent tr

expected to do is to offer at least some -- we're not taking any action, but a direction for director reiskin to go for it -- to go.

i believe yesterday there was a letter submitted by n reiskin supporting the contents of the document. it further enhances the chances of the project getting an expedited review by the ta and further support. a schedule right now for the public draft eir/eis to be circulated in mid-october. we're looking forward to hear public comment at that point. we are preparing in coordination with the mta, materials, for the moment in the report is released, to get comments, and of course, we fully expect to be able to address those in the comment period. we will make a more formal presentation of the findings to the public draft to the authority board and committees during the public circulation period. the other important thing, we met with caltrans. we got the ok on the feasibility on the brt project on van ness. that clears the way of sorting through the final design exception with them. as you recall, van ness avenue is a state group. that is another major milestone. unfortunately, i had to miss that. some great ideas coming out of the netherlands. some good news on -- boulevard. that is al

rice kin also mentioned -- reiskin also mentioned psych sling joy. do we feel happy we arrived home in one piece or is it just fun and safe together? the figures show that the netherlands, cycling in the netherlands is the safest transport mode in europe. if you compare to it, for example, italy, which is very dangerous for cyclists. we do fairly well. the explanation is, to my opinion, in the fact that we call safety by numbers. the more you get, the safer it is. and i'll show you the next slide to prove that. this is the bike share in the u. where the netherlands is extreme left and the u.k. is extreme right. and third is italy, for example. denmark is second next to the netherlands. if you compare that with safety numbers, you see that in the netherlands, where we cycle a lot, not too many people on bikes got killed and it's just the other way around in it italy and the u.k. where people do not cycle but get killed if they cycle. and somebody can come up with the arguments that we have a lot of good bicycle infrastructure in the netherlands. that'

working relationship has become much more improved over the last couple years, and i know director reiskin has been involved with the mta and the regional transportation issues which we are heavily engaged with as well. i have for that criticism about the neighborhood plans not having it transportation component. that is true to a certain extent and it is true that transportation issues are citywide or regional issues. there are localized issues that we can deal with. many of the issues that we're most concerned about our citywide issues. i think -- what i think we need to do and you will see this in the transit center plans, that will -- we will be discussing in the coming weeks, there are serious issues we can deal with at the planning level and within that geography. i think we have a great working relationship with mta in the development of that plan. there are other issues that are beyond the jurisdiction or the geography of that area. it is important to recognize that they are scales of issues. >> sometimes we're looking at --[inaudible] and sometimes it is hard to see how it helps r

i will try not to duplicate what has already been presented by ed reiskin and his staff from the mta, but it is worth spending a couple of minutes reviewing some of the facts related to the project, and also to honor your comment, supervisor campos, about the fact that the grand jury reports focuses in its recommendations away from the central subway. there are some interesting policy issues and i think should not be lost. first of all, it should be crystal clear to anybody who would entertain at this very late stage in the development path of this project, which as you heard has already entered the construction phase, that if this project were to be canceled, for example, there would be no way to redirect the funds that are expected to come to this project that early. -- federally. the funding process is pretty complex. it does not start the year you get the funds, it starts a decade before that, at the earliest. it involves not just the federal government, but a series of prior decisions at the regional level, where the metropolitan transportation commission has what is currently re

reiskin, then director of dpw must have known, since they track of change orders.y have done next to nothing monitoring change orders. gao short order them to aggressively monitor change orders on this and all other capital improvement projects. if an independent audit reveals cost overruns from the central subway, the city family running city hall, including this subcommittee, will be remiss if it does not cancel this boondoggle immediately. before this project bankrupt's the general fund puts a discretionary budget. this committee should prohibit by ordinance use of certificates of participation on any central subway project cost overrun. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon. operating engineers local 3. i am in support of this project and, you know, the words of the mta definitely out ways the words of the civil grand jury -- definitely out way -- definitely outweigh the words of the civil grand jury appeared to pose on something of this magnitude would be an insult of the intelligent minds that put something like this togethe

expected to do is to offer at least some -- we're not taking any action, but a direction for director reiskin to go for it -- to go. director ramos: we have heard the call, not just from these wonderful folks, but from our board of supervisors, that we should pursue something. i would love to start to offer some direction, but i would like to hear from everyone before offering anything assertive. i want folks to recognize that this is a valued that means a lot for me. i grew up on the school buses before proposition chretien happened grid when that happened, they took away our buses and we all had to take public transit. i grew up on the boss, but it was affordable back then. it costed 50 cents for me to get on the bus at that time. now, it is no longer affordable for our young people. it is not their fault. it is not their parents' fault. it is our fault to have it get to the point where the folks like these, who are doing the right thing by taking transi pae people it is unaffordable. i look back at my parents' generation and my grandparents' generation and i wonder how they could have tole