i am the coordinator for the transit center plan and the transit hour. from our environmental planning staff, i am joined by the transportation coordinator. the draft eir analyzes the draft transit center district plan which would change the zoning regulations and promote improvements to support the new transit center facility that is located at the site of the former transbay terminal. it also has an analysis which has proposed 1,070 foot office building which would be constructed on mason street between fremont and first street immediately to the north of the new center. before you are review and comments on the draft eir for this project which was published on september 28th. comments will continue until november 28th, 2011. yesterday, we held a hearing at the preservation commission where they prepared comments for the draft eir. this concluded that it would have the unavoidable environmental impacts. aesthetics, historic resources, transportation, noise and vibration, air quality and shadow. for the transit tower, the erir found unavoidable impacts

we have a transit system south of market that does not lend itself to east-west transit. when are we going to resolve folsom street? we need to be driving these connections, because if you are on a 10th street and you want to get to fourth street, it is a long haul and you have to figure out where the buses are going. if we do not solve the real transit situation south of market and just assume everyone will bicycle, you are being silly. what we really need to do, those transit maps that have the but of a line showing the density of the transit service, how many people and how waffen -- you need to have this rather than the -- you'll need to have that rather than the flat lines. this area deserves attention on both of these issues, and i am asking staff to do the stuff that is the hard stuff, not just a pretty stuffed. the soil condition, because we will have an earthquake and this will have a jelly-like consistency on the large marches, as well as really tackling the transit because we need it. thank you. >> good evening. my name is jamie route would occur. i just wanted

it looked at existing needs for pedestrian safety and transit operations. this new study is looking more at sort of future transportation improvements that could accompany new growth. the other study is the 19th avenue corridor study, which was requested by the board of supervisors and around the time that the parkmerced proposal came forward. that study looked at four different tiers of transportation and land use changes and how that might affect the transportation system. during that study, the community was interested in what he ended up calling tier 5 improvements, soared above and beyond what was being proposed in parkmerced and sf state. those improvements kind of overlap, and that is the idea. that is some people know this is the tier 5 study. then 19th avenue corridor study was unable to really analyze those tier 5 improvements, and this is what this next level of conversation is intended to be. really to look at some of these a larger improvement and how we might be about fund them. there's a strong emphasis on partners. we expect a partners with

placing jobs near transit is more determined is of transportation usage than putting housing near transit perry from the community's perspective, office buildings are last gentrified. the next principle is to support growth at an appropriate locations. san francisco is expected to increase its amount of technology jobs as companies move appeared to compete for urban-oriented workers. they want to be near the existing hubs. san francisco has high-paying jobs relative to education, with large will the pliers that benefit the whole economy. they want these inappropriate locations -- they want these in the appropriate locations. it will benefit all the spillovers. there is a lot of development potential for firms to grow and thrive. the next principle, support development of housing. supporting factors -- the bay area still needs a lot more housing to mitigate the supply and demand imbalance. many sites are too small or inappropriate for workplace development, and housing helps create a 24-hour neighborhood. it supports development for diversity of housing, especially below-market rate units.

i don't think that anybody could expect transit countries to preserve eighty percent or not transit of russians. as to european countries i think that the north stream pipeline is an objective reality which everybody has accepted everybody understands that opposing it is unnecessary and simply impossible here i was in key of just a couple of weeks ago the number one political news which is on everybody's mouth is certainly the rest of us i'm ashamed people in the streets say that's we've been thrown into jail ukraine is going to revise its guys agreement with russia as a guest from representative would you think about it we'll discuss agreement really be revised will trim in force until it official expires. i think we should separate these things as photo machine case it has nothing to do with ukraine's gas contracts with russia your country out of copper cave they believe these two things are insulates they consider them to be the least of one chain well that's what people in the streets say i believe but if we speak about our relations with enough to gossip raney the question has nev

. >> item 15, for the transit center district plan and transit tower. public hearing on draft incremental impact report. written comments will be expected and the planning department's offices until the close of business on -- >> the end of the month. it was the 14th and then we have a thanksgiving day holiday. let me look at my calendar. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is sarah jones. i am with the planning division. i am the coordinator for the transit center plan and the transit hour. from our environmental planning staff, i am joined by the transportation coordinator. the draft eir analyzes the draft transit center district plan which would change the zoning regulations and promote improvements to support the new transit center facility that is located at the site of the former transbay terminal. it also has an analysis which has proposed 1,070 foot office building which would be constructed on mason street between fremont and first street immediately to the north of the new center. before you are review and comments on the draft eir for thi

all it does is add a transit- only lane. it does not restrict any current movements or add any additional movements except for an eastbound left turn onto northbound octavia, and we have the traffic count or that intersection during the peak hour. >> is there a process for monitoring that after? i realize we do not make these changes willy-nilly and reverse them, but i think we are hearing from some residents a different view on that. at this level, i trust the traffic engineers first, and it turns out the traffic engineers are wrong and neighbors are right, we have created a whole congestion pattern here. is that something we are able to review, or how does that work? >> as you know -- as you note in the resolution, we are committed to formally do a before and after evaluation, and we will be monitoring the progress and conditions of the street during the implementation right after. if we were wrong, i think we would be first to admit it. >> very good. >> does this in any way reduce the congestion around the area? are we de

running through transit countries the. billion dollars and has been hotly contested from the very beginning critics say it's not only super expensive but also politically motivated as the dependency on russian gas is. europeans feel the kremlin needs bountiful supplies as a strategic weapon. and thank you for coming to our program hello first of all let me congratulate you on a big event stream pipeline has finally been completed and officially launched. the leaders of russia and germany and the prime ministers of france and the netherlands have given the long ceremony does this mean and then to a period of hard work promotion and litigation for gas problem or does it mark the beginning of a new phase of struggles in this direction in. which of course this is a very significant event and an important landmark in gas problems operations in europe because today we have greatly improved the reliability of supplies of russian gas to european consumers. we now have a third gas transportation channel that will not only help us t

it's great for implementing transit first.e're very proud to be working with the mayor, board president, city administrator's office to make this happen. we will be working with all of the partners here, city car share as well as neighborhoods to evaluate this over the next six months and like the mayor, we're very optimistic that it will be successful. thank you all for the leadership and support. it's a great day for transit first. >> so it's my pleasure to introduce our next speaker, who after our then city administrator became our interim mayor. it fell upon her shoulders to actually figure out how to implement the details of this pilot program are interim city administrator amy brown. >> thank you, president chiu and mr. mayor. yes, i inherited a really great idea and had lots of help from our fleet director tom fang and deputy city administrator and working with the staff of the sfmta to implement it. very exciting day to see it come to fruition. one of the things that makes us so great to work for san francisco is we're

a lot of our transit extensions are in that category. this project would perform much better than that. to conclude, we have had a policy level debate started, as far as i remember, in 1993, at a meeting of the chinatown chamber of commerce when the eir of the embarcadero roadway was being debated, draft circulated, and there were issues about the chinatown community wanting the freeway rebuilt. there was a very serious discussion the city family had that started at that opportunity, and i was in attendance when the kernel of an idea of a subway was essentially born. the idea was to provide chinatown with a life blood of great access, but not necessarily car access. at the time, there were no details, but at that time, there was the concept that this was something the city should invest in. everything else, was -- everything else, was, like all of these projects, very complex. we have had the debate. we have been the environmental analysis, and we made the decisions with the full scrutiny of the public. it is way too late to open the dis

i don't think that anybody could expect transit countries to preserve an eighty percent monopoly on transit of russian gas to european countries i think that the north stream pipeline is an objective reality which everybody has accepted everybody understands that opposing it is unnecessary. and simply impossible. just a couple of weeks ago the number one political news which is on everybody's mouth there is certainly the rest of you. people in the streets. being thrown into jail to avoid this guy's agreement with russia as a guest room representative do you think about it we'll discuss agreement really be revised remain in force until it officially expires. i think we should separate these things as photo case it has nothing to do with ukraine's gas contracts with russia. believe these two things are insolent they consider them to be the links of one chain well that's what people in the streets say i believe but if we speak about our relations with enough to gossip craney the question has never been posed this way as for the guests agreements they are in force they were signed and the ukrai

at one time we did have transit people who were involved, transit union members, and so on and so forth, but if you look good page 17 of this report that is given to you, you'll see the people from the various districts, and you'll see some people who have been representing the cac from whaleback -- from way back, 1997. we have a member who is representing the cac firm way back in 1997. you can go to the candidates and see if what you see before you is right. what i am saying is we need expertise, and we need fresh blood. and even on the political side, here we have term limits. so i can understand if somebody is there for five or six years, but from way back in 1997 to now, 14 years, that is shallow, that is drab. [bell rings] having said that, today you're going to hear from some new candidates, and i hope they have experience in it transit issues. because if they do not have other cac people with experience, then they're not able to participate in the deliberation, whether it is the subway, the central subway, or other millions of dollars that we discuss. i will be giving my comments

we think that brt is able to reduce transit times and increase the reliability. if you look on the chart on the top right, you can see existing conditions. that is the difference in travel time between automobiles and transit today. that is the far left. as it moves to the right, those are the different alternatives. the gaskets and narrowed by about 50%, as the transit is able to start closing that gap on automobiles because of these benefits, we predict an increase of 35% in transit ridership along the corridor. one of the key benefits by reducing the speed is we are able to run the same frequency of buses but at a lower cost, because buses can get to their end point in recirculate quicker. finally, through pedestrian that improvements such as countdown signals, we're able to improve pedestrian safety. and through the new sign age and a reduction in left turns, we also increase safety for automobile traffic in the corridor. how much did this cost? depending on the altar to the, it is between $90,000,000.100 $30 million. we have identified more than one ever mil

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our transit system is truly challenge. our bosses are late one out of four times. -- our buses are late one out of a quarter times. they're still not as clean and safe as we'd like. we can do better and investing in our muni system. we need more taxicabs on the streets. is difficult to obtain a cab. i support the concept of centralized taxi dispatch systems so you know who you can call to get a cab. i am a big believer in pedestrian bicycling as options to get around town. many cities in the world have far more people working or on bicycles into blocking or on bicycles. they are pleasant most of transit and are efficient. -- many cities in the world have far more people walking or on bicycles. they are pleasant and efficient forms of transportation. that will take cars off the road and make it easier for those who drive. if we want to create a world- class transportation system, we have to make a commitment to each of these modes of transit to allow us to move where we need to go. >> is it safe for pedestrians on the stree

this the beauty of our guests transit to europe we can remember the story with ukraine in general twothousand on a direct losses of this story was approximately three billion dollars only the direct loss of i but you were speaking about the reaction of europe we see this new policy of brussels brussels begin to speak about do so. and so on force on it was all i mean the origin of this policy was this story was ukraine in german sounds at night so there is a way and it's very difficult to calculate and this is another thing when you have to worry let's i think it's can speak of hope it is a win win situation because we do this by open system and so important you were speaking about the digital power gets applied to you really ask you this. isn't a crisis situation so far below is it's it's acting from a position of a weak a country do you think it might regret it in the end of zero zero actually that it saw this offer was a symbol of it was i saying that the situation in the economy will deliver which is very important and of i absolutely agree are that we see more weak political posit

to ride transit and the benefits of transit early in. i do that with my own to children. one of the problems i make to my little boy it every now and then is that he gets to go on a muni ride. when i make promises like that, he better keep them. i do not want to make a promise that i cannot keep. i have heard everything that you have said. it is an effective presentation. everyone on this or like to make this happen if we could. i do not think there's anybody who says, we do not want young people on the bus. or that this might cause other things we were not intended. people want to make this happen. the reality is that we have a financial impact here and a service impact here. i want to be honest just like i tried to be honest with my little boy. that brings me to the point of your effective lobbying. we sit here and hear from a lot of people. i cannot tell you how powerful you are by comparison. i would urge the young lady who came and told us how she wants to ride muni but her mother cannot afford it to go and lobby the other sources t

this shows the overall network that was identified by the transit affect minister of. in theory, in boss rapid transit projects would be the backbone of the bus system that overlays that rapid network. today, we will be talking about the brt project. right behind it are improvements to the geary corrido , mission corridor, and geneva corridor. the project itself is on van ness between mission and lombardy in. it would continue on to listen to city college and to route 47 which would continue past van ness and market to the train station. the key goals of the project are to improve travel time and improve the reliability of the service to improve pedestrian safety and integrate street improvements and provide a key north-south plank in the transportation system very we have been working with the transportation authority on the environmental review process, which they have been leading. at the completion of that process, mta will become the project lead to design, construct, and operate the project. the overall time line is shown on this slide. the third bullet is the po