all of this will come in the way of the van ness corridor. this is a very, very heavy traveled corridor. we're not getting the empirical data. for the last five or six years, we have been discussing about this and that an whatever. we can discuss for 10 years. if you put a bunch of clowns, we can discuss it for 20 years. what is really going to come out of it is going to have a meaningful dialogue. some of us have seen it all of the world. and as to the speaker -- that's on new. i'm going to remind you. if you represent your districts, please do due diligence. thank you very much. commissioner campos: thank you. next speaker, please. my name is ben hoffman and i am a proud member of the san francisco transit riders association. the only twas i know of getting empirical evidence -- to ways i know of getting empirical evidence -- there are loads of examples of cities around the world that have robust brt. the other is to build the project. we have all the empirical evidence from other cities about a successful model to bring to san francisco, a

i am also a member of the van ness corridor association, and i support this plan. gnificant part of my life for almost a decade. r[o attendance at church, family and i had frequented many of the restaurants and small businesses that call this corridor home. over the years, we have built some life long relationships with some of those business owners and the employees of those establishments. to say the least, your decisions is important to me. one thing i want to highlight this evening is employment, the issue of the employment. as previously mentioned, i work sym in reentry, and employment is a big issue in regard to reentry. we have a saying that more in point opportunities equals safer communities. it is a public safety issue. cpmctpzkc is the second-largest employer with over 6200 employees. ofo the local economy and6=v health-care system is undeniable, not to mention those in employment opportunities that will be provided by a thriving van ness corridor. and lastly, on the issue of traffic, as someone who frequents this corridor, i have no concern about the tr

way san francisco and the van ness corridor can and should be.elieve our beautiful city is able and willing to do better. today, we have a business with a proven track record, standing ready to offer a viable solution to this unfortunate situation. here is a business, cpmc, wanting to do something that will be beautiful and helpful to this community. clearing the way for them to go forward to build a state of your hospital one not on the approve much-needed health care for poor also bolster our struggling economy by creating much-needed jobs. this would be a win for the van ness corridor, san francisco, and the citizens. on the other hand, blocking this project will set our neighborhood and city back for years to come. chair mar: thank you. >> good evening, supervisors. my name is joseph. i am a lifelong resident of the city, born and raised in the valley, and i want to address something that was brought up earlier. supervisor cohen said the only shining star would be the millions for affordable housing. i believe that viable hospitals are a shin

avenue project and approve the draft van ness ave report. commissioner campos: we want to thank the staff of the mta for working very hard on this item. is really great to see that. there is a resolution that has been reached on this issue. is a very important project. commissioner avalos? commissioner avalos: thank you. i want to thank those at plans and programs for their patience. between meetings, they were briefed, and we're moving this forward with greater community input. i want to thank the transportation authority for there work -- their work on the alternative for van ness was rapid transit. i think it is an elegant solution to what appears to be a corrupt -- conundrum. commissioner campos: thank you. i do think this shows the creativity we have in the city and county of san francisco, oftentimes being able to think outside the box of. we have a number of speaker cards. i will call them out. [reading names] and any other member of the public would like to speak on this item, please come forward. >> hello. my name is michelle brant'

to our neighborhood, which they already do when van ness is clogged.do not feel, at least, that there has been enough analysis done to figure out how to prevent a further traffic nightmare in our neighborhood. it is not good enough, the analysis, the way the analysis is, given that district 6 has the highest amount of pedestrian fatalities. thank you. chairperson mar: i forgot to mention earlier, we have about 50 more cards to go. az0á@if there are any more seni, children, and families, and people with disabilities, you can also come up, even if your name has not been called. >> i worked as a community organizer. as someone who is regularly knocking on doors and meeting folks, people upset privately owned sro's and others in the tenderloin, i have seen a lot of changes in the demographics. people may say:9-oa that the tenderloin, central city, south gentrification is possible. we have been seeing different communities moving into the edges of the tenderloin. students are organizing folks who can afford to live in the low-rent neighborhood. they could n

van ness and geary will become verye.ying to avoid traffic by writing muni, bart, and our bicycles. with great traffic, we can walk a block five times faster than any vehicle. living in the excelsior, it would take me and my family an hour or so to get to the cathedral hill, instead of 20 minutes. it will be very difficult for excelsior residents to travel many miles through crowded streets just to get to cathedral held. if cathedral hill hospital is built, it will increasebzmñÑ tr, pollution, and noise within the van ness and gearyxmy neighborhoods. i hope cpmc find these conflicts reasonable enough to focus their money eliminating medical services at other hospitals. chairperson mar: it is great to have balboa high school students with us. >> may i have the overhead? chairperson mar: the overhead, please. >> i am with san francisco tomorrow. a month to address transportation impacts as regards legal and professional liability, as you can seeÑax and i presented to you earlier. it is a need for cumulative impacts, by zero

we would like to direct traffic onto van ness.pervisor mar: is that wide enough for two lanes of traffic? >> that's an excellent observation that the right of way is just wide enough to eat at -- just wide enough to do that. we will be doing some improvements and reducing or eliminating some parking at the corner and installing able to ensure proper1u[ visibility of ladder -- of bicycles. there are some passenger drop- off various on van ness avenue, but i want to highlight the primary activity for passenger drop-off is located inside the parking crash itself, and that is designed to get cars off the street. there is a specific place for people to drop folks off and either go down into the underground garage or than exit the garage on the way to their next destination. you see the line between the office building in hospital. that is an underground pedestrian tunnel connecting the medical office building and hospital. the other final thing i want to highlight is the location of the muni bus stop. gcn]s38 stops but blocked and to

many of our beautiful government buildings use two line van ness.ard of supervisors has approved several projects which are improving the face of van ness neighborhood. for the past several months, they have been working with representatives from cpmc and supervisor farrell's office, including security and parking, not only to make life easier for the tenants but for the surrounding community as well. additionally, cpmc have shown us their improvement plans, including landscapes and hard skate. it will make improvements to what is otherwise worse. i am heretd] to voice support. we look forward to having the new hospital completed and ford cpmc -- for cpmc to be our new neighbor. chair mar: thank you. next speaker. >> thank you for allowing us to speak tonight. we appreciate your patience. we serve clients all rv's city, but our clients in the tenderloin are different, because when they wake up after getting their kids ready, they leave. they leave because they feel unsafe. they go to schools as far away as they can. kky home. they do not shop in t

fang have owned the building directly across van ness since 1997. it was formerly occupied by circuit city, and has been empty since that bankruptcy three years ago. many of the large storefronts have experienced the same fate. the streets are frequented by homeless drifters, and drug addicts, and graffiti appears nightly. it is difficult for large formula retail business to get a permit to operate in the city. environmental tape, historical building, and other committees take a minimum of a year to 18 months, not to mention hundreds of thousands of $1 must spend on lawyers, engineers, lobbyists. at least three large retailers consider leasing space, and eventually all dropped out because of time, effort, and unpredictable cost. for some strange reason, the city bent over backwards for the minority groups, mostly retired or unemployed, who had the time to mind -- to complain the loudest. the majority simply do not have time to show up and complain. this is what is happening with the cpmc. we have spoken about the difficulty of doing business in the

the van ness special use district itself requires it. as a ceqa matter, there is an added reason to include that information, that kind of analysis. instead, they did not do any of it. they sidestepped the issue and came up with a series of justification's for why they did not have to. none of which, i think, hold any water. supervisor mar: i would just like to follow up. you are suggesting that adequate analysis of the housing needs and impacts would have looked at socio-economic data on a project basis? not figures that are broader? could you go into that more? what would have been more adequate? >> what would have been adequate would have been something like the jobs housing nexus study that was done when san francisco enacted the jobs-housing linkage ordinance. the jobs-housing linkage ordinance does not cover hospitals. the way this was defined, which i have some questions about, it could be done for the medical office building, which might have been covered by that. what that does is it gets you into examining the nature of the wor

why would we allow 1227 at the confluence at van ness? where could you find a place that could cause more problems? and what about the subway. the long-term goal is the subway. they are going to put a somewhat across the subway route. president chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> michael, the women's league. i urge you to uphold this appeal. i have lived there for 40 years, and i worked at san francisco general for 15 years. san francisco general needs a full-sized st. luke's. san francisco is on diversion at least 25% of the time. when i worked there, it was more like 30%, 33%. san francisco is being rebuilt with only a handful of bends more than the current consensus, so this is not a plan for adequacy. this a new eir, even if it is in march, it will always be jammed if the number of inpatient beds are cut by two-thirds, because there is no where to put the emergency room patients upstairs to be able to clean out the emergency room, says san francisco general is going to be left high and dry. the community activists, they want 160 beds tr

often they are delayed because of ridiculous traffic levels on van ness ave. not only that come up with the advent of brt, you will be revitalizing the corridor. if you walk up the corridor, it is lonely out there. it is pretty downtrodden. this really brings new hope and it will breathe new life on to the corridor. and you guys would also be reaffirming transit first, which is part of the city charter. to many times, we have been planning for the automobile, and not so much for transit. this would be a step in the right direction. and that's it. thank you. commissioner campos: thank you. commissioner wiener, do you have a question? commissioner wiener: no. commissioner campos: next speaker, please. my name is brad thomas. i want to applaud you guys on the high level of coordination. this is an excellent compromise and i think it represents the citizens of the city " well, particularly transit riders in general. one thing, there are currently 85,000, roughly 85,000 automobile trips per day on van ness ave. i think it is important to point out on the center lan

automobile trips per day on van ness ave. i think it is important to point out on the center lane brt that needs to be a separation between us and automobile, and actual -- an actual separation of some sort. these folks are not going to understand, then to wait finding. what i am recommending is that there be some sort of simple separation to really, truly separate the brt lanes. if those folks end up inside of those lanes, it's really goi ng to slow down those brt buses. thank you. commissioner campos: thank you. is there any other member of the public would like to speak on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioner wiener. commissioner wiener: thank you. in an enthusiastic supporter of this project. i really want to compliment staff for the really elegant solution. there is this a never ending debate. i think everyone probably agreed this defeats a lot of the purpose. i know there are operational concerns at the mta, and i know stop payment -- staff came up with a good solution. this projectthis project

i drive to work on van ness. a couple more. says why we determined it would be less than significant, it is anticipated they will have 23-26 emergency vehicle calls per day. of those, 22% are going to occur in the nighttime hours. between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. a substantial proportion of that is on the streets when there is virtually no traffic. the remaining portion -- 22%. 80% during the day spread out throughout the day. some portion of that is going to occur during the p.m. or a.m. hour when we have the most vehicles on the street but what i want to point out, the p.m. is the most congested time of the day. what our analysis found is that the intersection is that we have analyzed for this project, 85% in the near term and 73% in our kim and olivier operate at levels of service -- there is not gridlock. that is what the eir discloses. i wanted to throw that in there and say that only a small portion of this our code to recalls of less than tabanid day. that would require an ambulance to turn on the siren. the final point

we see significant and unavoidable impact at the intersection of van ness and market. the sheer magnitude of the hospital -- and will cover that in just a few minutes. said impact that the remaining 23 intersections are less than significant. that is not to say a facility of this size isn't going to bring a lot of vehicles, all of pedestrians, lot of trends are writers and general transportation activity to this region. absolutely will and in doing so, it will create some friction tween the district -- between the different modes. it will produce some1/ various intersections surrounding the project site. there is no doubt about that. it is just that the significant impact for the cathedral hill is that those two interceptions. s i just wanted to draw that distinction. -- be lying supervisor chiu: by travel valid -- i travel down van ness every day of the week and we have gridlock at rush hour. if i end up casting a votedcr this project, i want drivers and residents to be cursing me in five, 10, 20 years for gridlock at this site. when i first took a look at the final e

many of our beautiful government buildings line van ness. this board has approved several projects which are included -- improving van ness. we have been working with cpmc and representatives from supervisor farrell's office on issues like noise and parking to make life easier for our residents and tenants and for the surrounding neighborhood as well. cpmc has shown their landscape plans for improvement on the project. these improvements will make a difference into what is otherwise a blighted stretch of the van ness ave. i am here today to voice our support for the new cpmc medical center. we look forward to having the new hospital completed and for cpmc to be our neighbor. president chiu: next speaker. >> good evening, president chiu and members of the board, my name is -- and i live in the 4: district. i have come before you tonight on behalf of the constituents of your respective districts who urgently needed jobs. they have been waiting for you to do something about it. now is the time to act. let us rebuild today. please. approve the e

clearly, van ness and geary are two major thoroughfares with traffic issues.bridge by treasure island, a major traffic issues. the city has dealt with this and many occasions -- in the many occasions. what i'm trying to say is that while every project is evening -- has unique attributes, the city has been doing major projects for a long time and we have improved

this particular program was originally entertain to procure the vehicles for the van ness brt project. to to the timing, it may not work for that project, but two of the upcoming three procurements in the next three years will actually accommodate the van ness brt project. that is something we will losthe presenting its september, along with the fleet plan. we would bring a five-year ypp and men and plans for that simultaneously. lastly, as the cac report indicated, we have also added -- requiring a commitment from the hd vehicles in a state of repair including an mid life overhaul program to allow the hybrids to exceed our meet their useful life and guidance. >> how many miles is considered a life? >> i believe it is measured in years. i believe 14 years, at least. there might also be a mileage requirement, but maybe somebody can jump on that. commissioner cohen: i have a superficial question, but a question nonetheless about the potential new replacement. what color will it be? >> that: i will defer to mta staff on the details.k i would assume it would be in line with the current fl

clearly, van ness and geary are two major thoroughfares with traffic issues.bridge by treasure island, a major traffic issues. the city has dealt with this and many occasions -- in the many occasions. what i'm trying to say is that while every project is evening -- has unique attributes, the city has been doing major projects for a long time and we have improved projects this sizetuj tried and true methodologies, that is something we should know. the impression may have been given during this hearing÷÷d tt there was some sort of crazy renegade methodology. that has not been my understanding. i am looking forward to hearing more tomorrow. >> we will expand on that tomorrow.

i am now at sacramento and van ness. honestly, i have not seen an emergency vehicle transit van ness in the three and a half years i have been there. they used franklin as a north- south. i have worked in los angeles county and orange county and our traffic is not as bad as theirs. when my engineering team works 24 hours a day to keep a very outdated infrastructure at st. luke's st. luke' -- at st. luke's together, i cannot tell you what my team has gone through, both at st. luke's and california campuses. i encourage you, i implore you to reject the appeal, except the eir. if you choose not to do that, decide to keep the dialogue open and continue this for tubing weeks. >> my name is rick stevens, recently hired as the new chief administrative officer for st. luke's. one attraction was the rebuild of an aging building not seismically safe. being part of the construction team, i can tell you we are building a better st. luke's. it will aid in the healing process of patients and families. the new facility is being built t

it is different from the van ness corridor. they do not have the same alternatives as and dennis would for traffic going in and out. as well as the compact nature of the campus as compared to cathedral hill. specifically in regard to voting, it is marcus -- more constructed. it is smaller, so that would require much more refined. supervisor wiener: i asked not to pass judgment on whether st. luke's should be bigger smaller, but i see a lot of benefit to having a larger st. luke's, but as we analyze the adequacy it is important we make sure have -- we make sure we have all of that information. the medical care aspect of it is critical be cannot look at the traffic impact, you have to look at what the impacts would do if we shift that elsewhere. president chiu: supervisor cohen. supervisor cohen: planning, hello. thank you for your answers to many of the questions we have. a large part of the questions have been dealing with traffic and congestion and i do not understand how adding more cars decreases in traffic delays. you say t

clearly, van ness and geary are two major thoroughfares with traffic issues.ay bridge by treasure island, a major traffic issues. the city has dealt with this and many occasions -- in the many occasions. what i'm trying to say is that while every project is evening -- has unique attributes, the city has been doing major projects for a long time and we have improved projects this sizetuj tried and true methodologies, that is something we should know. the impression may have been given during this hearing÷÷d tt there was some sort of crazy renegade methodology. that has not been my understanding. i am looking forward to hearing more tomorrow. >> we will expand on that tomorrow. i want to touch on any cathedral killed and how they -- the cathedral hill and how they interact as far as construction. ithe final eir report is expectd to be published by the end of this calendar year. it is undergoing review and it is approximately 18 are some months behind the van nessztafñ. it is a depiction of the configuration of the locally preferred alternative. let me focus on

we are already on the way on van ness. market street is a far better candidate for that because there is not the need for private traffic on that street that there is on van ness. i think that is the view of this board. if you all want to leverage the agency and suggest pilots or test programs we can implement please call on us. >> i will echo that sentiment. i was on the cac before. i have seen theseworking, thoughtful people on this project. i definitely support a transit focused direction for this project. chairman nolan: plans develop. it is a lot of hard-anyone else? director ramos: thank you very much for this great work. it is so exciting. i spent more time than i should on market street. i am a chess player. wonderful people there. it is fantastic. if you hang out there for more than 20 minutes, you will notice there is no place to use the restroom. people in debt utilizing door ways. it is a big mess. it is an embarrassment, frankly. it is disappointing. on a positive note, i will help you will consider to capital

van ness is a different corridor, and we have two different types of propulsion with the buses. one is the sole hybrid in the future. 49 is an electrical vehicle. this would require two different sets of maintenance and challenges for procurement. there is a five-door motor coach in existence, but not a five- door elector coacric trolley con h in existence. there will be new vehicles scheduled. these vehicles the to be replaced, and that will add some of the branding and features that will distinguish the service. these vehicles are said to be replaced. we will leverage some of the funds as part of the project. >> one other thing that a think is important to keep in mind is, brt is not a rail system. it is a lain for expediting travel and congestion does not affect the buses. i think the other thing it does, which is really a fundamental benefits of having this kind of a system in the center is it allows for future changes in routings by the mta. 20 years from now the mobility needs for the population may be very different. the shape of the bus routes may be very different. we s