there are other needs of the system, some of our facilities, some of the kind of support systems thatave, and will continue to have a become log -- >> supervisor wiener: but in terms of the actual transit assets, how many years would it take for muni to have enough vehicles in good enough shape with enough operators to actually have the system be as reliable as we expect it to be? that's not going to happen because, in one year -- and i want to complement you for increasing that number. but it's not like we're going to get there with this one year -- >> right. so this is not a one year program. this is our five year cip, and we believe we'll need to continue to invest in this level for different asset classes, rails, versus overhead wires and signal switches. how long will it take, some have greater deferred needs than others. >> supervisor wiener: mta has informed me is -- >> the vehicle maintenance is significant. >> supervisor wiener: of the vehicles we have, that's not including the fact that we need more light rail vehicles, of the vehicles we have $420 million in deferred mainte

the transit system, the alameda county system and they said emphatically we believe it's an insult to use the switchbacks other than for emergencies and break downs. >> got it. in each of the jurisdictions none of them use switchbacks for traffic smoothing. >> correct. except the one in san jose santa clara who got one of our ex-operation managers, a mr. burns. >> got it. all right. thank you very much. >> thanks jack. we have another jack, jack toumy and another grand jury member and summarizing the findings. he will go over our recommendations and again with the responses of the sfmta and the mayor. since the mayor's responses were identical to muni they will be discussed simultaneously. jack. >> hello there. f1, switchbacks violate the spirit of the city charter. the muni said that customers are concerned with on time performance and liability. switchbacks contract to these goals. we. >> >> answer that this response does not really address the findings. the finding was about the spirit of the city charter. page three of the report lists the six goals for muni in proposition e from

boston built the first modern sewer system in the united states. ours was completed between 1877 and 1884. with this wonderful new sewer system, we were taking our filth and moving it out to the ocean. of course, all of this was untreated. in the 1960s, we were still pumping all of our sewage out to moon island, untreated. we would get swimmers here, never knowing, in the middle of summer, why you would have a cold. well, we were swimming in diluted sewage. melosi: the major way to deal with pollution, at least until early into the 20th century, was through the process of dilution. the assumption was that the capacity of rivers and streams, and even the seas, allowed for certain levels of pollution that eventually would purify themself. as we get later into the 20th century, it becomes clear that the volumes of waste made dilution unworkable as a single solution. and so treatment became the ways in which we deal with pollution. narrator: to protect public health, starting in the 1950s and '60s, there was a push to put in wastewater treatment plants

logo "the people's system". it seems if you're going to be the people's system you need to live up to this on lofty label. my fellow jurors that worked on the report will focus on the findings. the first findings find that the switchbacks violate the san francisco charter and guarantees safe and reliable transit service to riders. i won't ask to you raise your hands but just thinking how many of you have taken muni in the last week, or ride muni regularly. if you have and if you do you're probably still subject to switchbacks and understand how deeply the experience can under mine your trust in the system. our fellow juror who was planning present today had to leave due to another appointment, and so i'm going to read her report because i think it's important if you're not a muni rider to understand the whole switch back and what the experience is, so she has had since april -- since actually muni has said they have discontinued or cut back on switchbacks she has been subject to three of them even though she's no

the u.s. electoral system i'm joined by in week shapiro in richmond he is a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the cultural institute and in philadelphia we crossed and in he is a writer and blogger for counter approach all right gentlemen cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want ok when i'd like to go to you first in philadelphia how would you describe the selection here and how is it different from the election of two thousand and eight because we had citizens united in between time and i think you know where i'm going well in two thousand and eight there was a lot of optimism after the eight years of bush there was a lot of hope specially among american so-called progressives that change was coming and it hasn't really hasn't at all actually so this time is more measure their enthusiasm for obama and i'm surprised as anything is the same at all and this is certainly not an endorsement of romney because what we've seen is a continuum of american policy especially american foreign policy so from bush to obama to whoever comes next whether romney or obama in th

through the 19th century, the combined system was considered state-of-the-art throughout the world, and is still in use in many cities today. but cities constructed these systems before treatment was the standard. and even today's largest treatment plant doesn't have the capacity to treat the sudden volumes of water rushing through a combined system during rain. the plant is overloaded, and the excess rainwater, mixed with untreated raw sewage, is diverted straight into local waterways, creating a combined sewer overflow, or cso. there are over 700 communities in the united states with combined sewer systems. the other approach was to separate wastewater from stormwater, using two pipe networks. this separate system simply carries the stormwater away from the city. but even separate systems pollute the watershed. in developed areas, concrete and other impervious services prevent water from naturally soaking into the land. as the rainwater moves over the roads and concrete expanse, it captures trash and invisible chemicals, sending them straight to the nearest waterway -- untreated. when

a state governor so the two parties dominate the system and they walk together because they split the senate and the house pretty much down the middle and this is very convenient because they can blame the other for the mess that they have creatively they have joined the created so you know basically we have a system that is a movable and the disappointment comes every four years. people with this foss hope that things will change next time but nothing really changes ok you need to do that democrats or republicans crowd everybody out for historical reasons in part we have two parties but also the for the what's called the first past the post system that is the largest plurality or majority elects a particular congressman also the campaign finance regulations that there are limits that each individual can donate if you had billionaires that were to donate unlimited amounts of money with disclosures to third parties to independents rather than run themselves you know ross perot is not a very good politician but if he had donated money to some good politicians either a libertarian social

why didn't the system work? and, so, without going back to the q-matic thing, i would still like to think about -- because i feel like, you know, i've been to a lot of these meetings where a lot of the professionals have spoken in public comment about how they think everything is going great right now. i think that's fine. but i think one of the things about the professionals whether they're contractors or expediters who come in the department, they know in a way -- they know the department. they know the system. they even know the staff. so, for them, of course, they can kind of work the system for the lack of a better word. i'm worried about that homeowner who comes in -- maybe they come in with an architect or somebody they hire, a contractor, trying to pull permit. and they don't get -- they don't know who's who. they don't know, you know, who to ask for. and that's what i'm kind of concerned about. is there a way in which people can come in and not have to -- yeah, know somebody. and the other thing i actual

number seven and the improvements in the system and i will partially agree. i know they work hard at this. they want to do it -- like many of the other city departments is fiscally constrained in their budget and it's something we couldn't see on a day-to-day basis here in city hall and i witnessed here while on the board with budgets getting cut so i suggest that we agree partially there. finding number eight muni's advance control center lack operating personnel and can't communicate with muni drivers. simply agree. nine and muni has failed to publish rider surveys as recommended in the quality review and also agree with finding number ten. as far as the recommendations go. recommendation number one and eliminates switchbacks for equipment break down or accidents or unavoidable accidents. we have no jurisdiction over the mta, the board of supervisors recommendation two and learn from systems that don't resort as switchbacks for the solution. my understanding is that will be implemented in the future and the controller's office is engaged in a multi-year effo

these systems are seen by the controller as being similar to muni, and have higher reliability and passenger ratings than muni. if muni is going to strife for improvement and go for systems that do not justify a failed mentality. audit muni funds. the audit has control of the funds and working on tep. as the preferred avenue for service. the jury appreciates muni's response. next is train staff for controlled center. muni says staffing is under way for fiscal year 2013 to be completed by the end of the fiscal year and new communications expected in 2015. the jury expects muni's response and the final recommendation is monthly surveys. muni disagrees with the monthly part. they say that are conducting quarterly surveys and will conduct annual survey and perform on board passenger survey in early 2013. the results will be on the muni website. the jury agrees that quarterly surveys would be sufficient and applauds the commitment of muni. we urge miewn tow include questions about switch backs and other service disruptions to address whether muni is in chapt charter requirements with a reliable a

for the system. ugust and september, muni's ontime performance was approximately 58%, over 600 runs were missed in the second half of october, riders of course see this in a lesyb ibt numerical y every day when there are gaps in service, when people are forced to get off a vehicle because there is no replacement driver, or when people have to jam into a bus or accí7 light rail vehic. muni recently was approved for performance initiative. this funding is required to be increase ridership. there is no more effective way to achieve these goals than to have a system that's in good shape, that's reliable and on which people believe they can depend. this funding should be dedicated 100% to improving muni's deteriorating reliant bywpi'm maintaining and purchasing muni vehicles and improving muni's operation. the resolution before us today so provides. mta board of direction is considering a proposal to use a portion of this regional funding not for improving muni's reliability but rather to fund free muni p

the next system looks like its heading north. next good rain looks to be november 9th. 60s to near 70 on the temperatures. then afternoon sun, fog will be back, that inland fog, tulle fog which is thick thick thick but temperatures warming up. we set clocks back an hour sunday morning temperatures will be nice though the days are shorter. >> thank you. on to the coverage of sandy. new jersey's governor said the jersey shore he knew and loved may be a thing of the past. there is to much damage and rebuilding it back to the way it was may set it up for another disaster. many gas stations were forced to close. officials are running out of fuel to keep generators running. >>> this is new video out of new york city showing the thousands of people lined up to use buses. the line wraps around the new barkley center in brooklyn where tonight's scheduled opening basketball game was postponed because of sandy. the subway system that carries 5.2 million a day has only partly reopened but only north of 34th street because tunnels are still fl

transit ridership and the other transit system productivity. hey did, as most know, made explicit in the approval of this program, programs to provide fair relief to low income youth. >> supervisor wiener: i want to clarify one thing. in terms of the history at mtc. mtc rejected the specific lifeline funding for san francisco's free muni program back in the summer, correct? >> that's correct. >> supervisor wiener: and in terms of the tpi money, the free i think everyone agrees for that but i want to be very clear that mta is not required to use the money for that purpose. mta has the discretion in terms of whether to allocate all or portions of the money to free muni program, to maintenance, to new vehicles or other operational needs. >> yeah. that's absolutely correct. the wñ?ñ? mtc considered an earr proposal, late spring/early summer, to make funds available explicitly and only for youth fare program, both here and in san josÉ. that did not get the approval of the mtc. around that same time the mta board approved our two year budget for the m

then you take the system size in cec, california energy commission a.c. watts. that term is understood by the people in the industry. that means they use the c.e.c. ratings to determine the a.c. wattage. you get the per watt price. you divide this by this. you get the price per a.c. watt. you want to ask about permit fees as well. each city typically will charge fees. now those fees are coming down and we're working very hard to get them standardized and clear. there is some cost. sometimes the installers will pass that on to you. ask how they're dealing with it. you say, ok, what's my watt. let's see it was four d.c. but you'll have 18% less here, so that's the number you want, you divide this by that and you get that. so this would be 926 a watt. therefore, you can compare apples to apples. they have a standard calculator that they use on the web and they include that printout on your bid and they have to file that printout in your rebate application. so there is another possibility of lowering costs, the group buy. when i went, in i went in with a bunch of fri

in the downtown area of atlanta, the sewer system and the stormwater system are combined and there are overflows during storm events, and so the purpose of this system is to relieve that flow, take it into the tunnel, transport it to a brand-new treatment plant, clean up the chattahoochee river. narrator: instead of the combined sewage overflowing into the river, it will flow into this tunnel that acts as a storage tank. the water will then slowly empty into the new plant for treatment before it's released back into the river. man: the system in total is about 8 1/2 miles, 27 feet in diameter. most of the time it will be dry. the only time it will fill is when the sewer system is overwhelmed by the storm. it is a massive project. our budget was $210 million. we've worked about a million and a half man-hours. hunter: it is an incredible amount of work. our capital program right now is $3.9 billion. over a period of less than 10 years. franklin: so it's very expensive. the bottom line is, we, as atlantans, as georgians, don't have a choice to protect the river. we need to leave it better

the system must provide for checks and balances. i cannot go to superior court, a small taxi issue, and try to explain to the judge and revoke my a card and why did it happen, so you are the plane who are going to stop them from running a red light and speeding on the road, and just to let you know i have been watching them for three years and the words are empty words and i wish mr. wiener would be here and i do have a family and i do work, and i feel insulted by him what he said. i make an effort to come to speak to you. i hope you're going to keep hearing the taxi issues. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> next speaker please. >> brad newsom. a previous speaker said that he was passionate about providing taxicab service in san francisco. i am one of thousands of cab drivers who have been passionate about providing cab service to the people of san francisco in my case for 27 years. i was distressed after the last hearing that the city attorney's office was here, and we had a discussion about a note that had gone from the sf mta

but little in the way of systemic cost controls. ure of nerve in the entire political establishment. every expert realizes that no matter what the system of health, you need to have some kind of board that decides what's covered and what's not. now, this has been demagogued as death panels. when it is really the only sensible way to make the system work. no one is saying that you can't get any medical procedure you want. merely that there are some that your insurance won't pay for. the other unusual aspect of health care, kenneth arrow points out, that buyers really don't have much knowledge or power. you can decide you don't want a new car. you can comparison shop for a new tv. but you can't really decide that you don't want a heart bypass. that's why costs have come down in optional areas like, lasik surgery, but not in ones where the consumer really can't walk away. a final thought. one can reason from first principles, and that's a good thing. but you must also reason from facts on the ground. and the facts are that all rich coun

all right so the the banking system inclusive of the shadow so-called shadow by. system that means that you've got financial fraud comprising not just ten or twenty percent of the overall g.d.p. but the shadow banking system that's fifty percent because that's the total g.d.p. of the world you have to include the sixty seven chilean so the total g.d.p. of the world is not sixty nine trillion or seventy challenge it's including the shadow banking system is on in forty chile and so fifty percent of that is financial fraud then of the remaining sixty nine trillion that is counted in the non shadow system fifty percent of that or more of it is fraud as well so you've got seventy five eighty percent of the global g.d.p. is controlled by shysters and charlatans and banking terrace in the city of london and wall street and around the world no wonder the economy is collapsing environments collapsing others war perpetually in some countries all over the world and austerity is causing massive suicide rate and financial hardship because eighty percent of the global g.d.p. is

the system shows it will not last but it will blast through and after the noon hour we will wait for that next system to come in and that's the next one and that one could stall out. high winds kick in and that's where we get the moderate to heavy and by this afternoon we will be on the backside of that and we will taper off to turn more showery. but morning rain gives way to a must triday. many areas north and east bay will be fine and friday we will have more rain on the week condition. pam? >>> new information about that tragic clothing factory fire in bangladesh. the 3 arrests and the three american names linked to the factory. >>> and about pork what was found that could make you sick. >> >-.y÷$@y+o3vhpe . >>> good morning, cloudy skies, but the main core of the system should be on your commute and that comes in, in a couple of hours and also the winds crank up. >>> new information in connection with that tragic fire in bangladesh. three managers were arrested on suspicion of trapping workers and insisting it was just a drill. the arrests come as they continue to demand justice f

that somehow the lack of reliability of the system of an agency that has anpvpx& $800 min budget restslely on the fact that it's going to make public transit more accessible to low income kids, it's simply not reflective of the reality that has been true of muni for the last few years. muni, to the extent that their issues about maintenance, the reason for that is not because of the funding of these types,%f programs. to the extent thatmine is failing or hasjpn,1 to address those issues, it is not because of somehowqpihb making public transportation more accessible to poor kids in this city. i think it's simply unfair to place that responsibility on that group. we all have ajr:ñ responsibilito make sure that we have a reliable system, and the working families and the poor families of this city are as interested in increasing the reliability as any. but to simply say that we have to choose one or the other, to me, is not accurate. it is not a choice that has to be made. it is not how san francisco should operate its public transit system. we can have an accessible system that is relia

disorder the psychology generated by the system completely disallow any type of balance to occur in a structural sense so sustainability and public health these issues are thrown out the window in this model not only because of the values you don't know and people's fear but because the very system itself keeps compounding the same old archaic values and fears over and over and over again and that is the central problem was i spoon does everything it can an educational sense why i make the films i do. in the media that i do to really try to drill this home and also the hope to inspire others out there to begin the same drive and i could actually talk about a larger project that the movement's working on if you'd like to hear about it let's get into that in one second i just wanted to say one word they have does seem like it's the fear that really drives us to not i guess these archaic institutions that you know keep us stifled the fear of control of our own lives i guess i mean when we really do have so much power peter but let's talk about the movement and you really advocate ac