As a supervisor, that will happen later. I am here in my capacity as chair of the littleknown Funding Agency called the San Francisco county transportation authority. Momentarily to be joined by our executive director, tilly chang, for the purpose of saying what is rarely said to the public, which are words of sincere and profound thanks to our outgoing director, address given, and to acknowledge and celebrate and ruskin, and the fact that i have been a constant pain in his but. [laughter] so lets be real. This is the toughest job in San Francisco government, maybe the second toughest job is the one that Jeff Kaczynski has running the department of homelessness, but eds is the toughest and i just want to say, i have known him, and all three of his positions, going back to my first tour of duty when he came and made 311 work, which has been a pain in your butts, but has been good for the people of the city and county of San Francisco. I knew him in his incarnation as the head of public works, or back in those days, we called it the department of public works where he also excelled. Since 2011, i have mostly been delighted to work with him as he has stewarded the sfmta. This last sunday, ed came to what will clearly be his largest going away party, against his will, where he was joined by some 500 seniors in chinatown. I was deeply touched by that. They wanted to acknowledge what ed and the sfmta and the staff had done for lowincome communities and for lowincome seniors, in particular, and i wanted to acknowledge his calm and humble lead by example nature that i think has been a model for many of the Department Heads who are here this afternoon. He is consistently demonstrating a sense of duty to build and operate a Transportation System that is safe, sustainable, and most importantly, equitable, and the and i entered those words on sunday. A few highlights, i think we all know them. Service levels have increased. I can give you the numbers, but im not gavin newsom, so i will not delve down into those details. An incredible commitment to vision zero, Guiding Principles for emerging Mobility Technology , which i sincerely appreciate. I was honored to give you the tools to do that and i think this agency, under eds stewardship has done it well. And the passage of a half billion Dollar General Obligation Bond that we are still spending today. I apologize for being a pain in your bat, ed, and most importantly, while he is still under your employee, i ask you, commissioners, to command him at 2 30 p. M. , this is unexpected, to come downstairs two floors to the San Francisco board of supervisors with the entire where the entire board of supervisors would like to acknowledge you. That is not within my purview as the author of proposition a, but it is within your purview for a few more hours. So if you would command your executive director to come downstairs at 2 30 p. M. , the board of supervisors would be honored and delighted. Ed reiskin, thank you for your service to the city and county and the people of San Francisco. [applause] and miss boomer, as they say in a court of law, if i may approach on behalf of the county transportation authority, we would like to grant ed this. [applause] director, if you could just stay there, i think we are going to have a few more things for you. [laughter] if you will indulge me for a few minutes, i will just give some more context. I wanted to let the supervisor speaking deference to his meeting at 2 00 p. M. , but as many of you know, for the past 12 years, and has demonstrated unwavering to mode devotion to the city and county of San Francisco. First as the director of 311, and then as the director of public works, prior to joining the m. T. A. In 2011. His calm and humble leadership by example has really been a model for our agency and really exemplifies what it means to be a Public Servant. He has consistently demonstrated a keen sense of personal duty to build and operate a Transportation System that is safe, sustainable, and perhaps above all, equitable to all san franciscans. He has had many notable achievements in his tenure and i want to talk quite a bit about that and i want to thank supervisor peskin for already acknowledging some of those, including the increased Service Levels by more than 10 , the fact that now we have free munimobile for 115,000 lowincome youth, seniors, and people with disability, and until recently, we had one of the oldest transit fleets in the United States, and today, hours is one of the newest and the greenest fleet. I know supervisor peskin in the mayor recently introduced legislation to make all of our transportation greener, but we carry 26 of all of our daily trips in San Francisco, and we generate less than 1 of the citys transportation sector greenhouse gases, which is really quite significant. [applause] munimobiles Rapid Networks made transit a priority on our streets, and as a result, ridership is continue to grow on rapid routes and we are bucking national trends. Despite what people think, our numbers are pretty solid and strong in the city in terms of our transit ridership. Out transit effectiveness project, now known as munimobile forward, was the First Comprehensive review of munimobile service in a generation, and today, we are making transportation safer and more reliable. The city has met and exceeded their goals of 50 trips of all sustainable modes and that is very much due to the leadership of ed, many of you have seen on his bicycle are taking the munimobile bus. In 2014, San Francisco adopted vision zero and while we still have a long way to go, and have even more bad news at this meeting, we have done a lot of work to make a dramatic reduction in traffic fatalities on our street, and we know we have a long way to go, but ed has been a leader in this regard it is saddening we dont have Better Success sometimes in our daily activities. His commitment to inclusive Public Outreach and engagement now ensures that all san franciscans have the opportunity to have a project that impacts our communities, and we are only going to grow from that. The Guiding Principles for emerging mobility provide a framework which supervisor peskin just mentioned, to provide growing emerging technology and Transportation Options in San Francisco that support our city policies and our values. As was mentioned, we passed a 500 milliondollar bond measure to support transportation infrastructure, and today, sfmta holds the highest Credit Rating of any Transportation Agency in the United States because of this very stead and thoughtful leadership. Ed, you have done such a tremendous amount for this city in so many capacities. We want to thank you [applause] on behalf of the entire board and all of the riders and people of San Francisco for your steady leadership. You came in at a time where eric our agency was in a lot of turmoil. You help steady the ship, you got things going forward, and while we have a ways to go, you brought us milestones away from where we would have been, so i hope that you know that we would not be where we are today without your leadership. We have so much faith in you and to you have been to us, and we want to thank you for all your time, your dedication to the city, and we will miss you very dearly. [applause] with that, we are going to present to you with our wonderful cable car bell award. [laughter] [laughter] [indiscernible] [applause] [laughter] there are many more people who are here to honor you so i want to have sean from the mayor s office come up. Commissioners, ed, a lot of wonderful things have been said, but the first thing i like to say, i have been standing in the back and account number the last time publicly i saw supervisor peskin say such nice things about someone, and i heard him use the phrase im sorry. I have never heard that, but you got that. Even more evidence of how fantastic you have been for the city of San Francisco. Let me just share with everyone in the public, last tuesday, the mayor held a Department Head meeting. She is not here, not in the city today, but on her behalf, let me reiterate what she said to all the Department Heads with ed present. How appreciative she is for your tremendous work here at the m. T. A. , but as a supervisor peskin and as gwyneth have referred to, your work at 311, your work at the department of public works. You are truly the a pitch to me of a great Public Servants. The city of San Francisco is lucky to have benefited from your work and taken off and im taking off my chief of staff hat and putting on my sean hat. I hope to still see you on the underground as we ride the rails together, i did enjoy those mornings. Maybe not those afternoons when we were stuck there for a while, but ed, i look forward to seeing you and seeing where this career takes you. All the best and thank you. [applause] next we have marked from the Assembly Member takings office, representing our members of the state legislature. Thank you. This emily members and senator weiner wish they could be here. They sent me instead as a Senior District director. You know, theres really not much more i can add other than all three of our state legislators wanted to make sure we took the opportunity to do a joint resolution and thank you. Public service isnt easy. Managing a city agency with the budget that is the size of u. C. Berkeley, which has 30,000 employees and 1500 faculty and 45,000 students, you have to sort of take that in. That is a big job that you have had. And having to deal with, you know, angry writers who sometimes call you and complain about bus drivers who almost hit their kids, or ticket machines that dont work, and your wonderful staff, so we just want to thank you on behalf of the California State Assembly for managing the largest Transportation System this side of the mississippi and what an incredible job you have done. This is a joint resolution from the California State Legislature state legislature to thank you. [applause] were also joined by number of Department Heads and i will start with tillie chang from the transportation authority. Good afternoon. Ed, you are who i wanted to be when it came into this job. I wanted to be like add. I still want to be like ed. Thank you so much for your partnership for allowing me to apprentice and partner with you, to learn from you over the past eight years. We have teamed up on many things on behalf of the city and county of San Francisco, and i have been so proud to be your partner , to follow your footsteps, in your leadership on things like munimobile forward and vision zero, and a more sustainable and equitable city. You have contributed all of your knowledge from your other posts and brought them to bear on the sfmta. It is a unique agency in the nation in terms of our scope here at the sfmta, promoting San Franciscos policy vision of cities and innovative street designs, and policies and practices whether it is transit priority, or vision zero design, street design, or really advocating for a fair and equitable smart new mobility policy for the city in practice. Ed is a fierce advocate, as you all know for all transit in the region and beyond. He has been working regionally to advocate for funding and for all the core capacity needs of our region. He has been leading at the national level, on transit, and also as president of merritt to also as the president of nacto. There has been a following of your leadership and of the city s good work, and i feel like that impact with the vision zero work is exciting to see, and giving how pressing given how pressing that work is. You have helped these multiagency initiatives, the Transportation Sustainability project, and a whole host of capital projects. Of course, central subway, Market Street, then nest, and all those good things and more to come. Thank you for your commitment to San Francisco and to our industry, and for your leadership. Although you have arguably the toughest job in the city, you have always stayed optimistic, and somehow made time in your busy schedule for people, whether it is the board, whether it is staff, whether it is partners like ourselves at the t. A. , it has been a real pleasure and we will miss working alongside you. Please dont go far. We look forward to your next move. Thank you. [applause] i will call supervisor sandra fewer. If i could ask everyone next to the doors to move to the other side of the room. Unfortunately if it is a higher unfortunately it is a fire hazard if you are blocking the exit door. Hello, commissioners. I wanted to extend my deepest appreciation for all that ed reiskin has contributed to the agency and the city. Ed has been a true and tireless Public Servant for the residents of San Francisco for the past 12 years. Many of us know him best through his role as director of transportation at sfmta, but ed has also served as the director of 311, and director of public works, agencies that are crucial to the backbone of San Francisco and the nuts and bolts of operations that literally keep San Francisco running. Directing an agency like the sfmta is nothing short of absolutely demanding. I have seen director ed reiskin lead with kindness, a steady hand, with a combination of heart and determination, in delivering transportation improvements for the city, and especially our most transit dependent and low income communities in the city. I appreciate that ed has always been wanting to listen, not just to my opinion as a supervisor, but to the joint Community Programs and latenight evening meetings with neighbors to have real, robust conversations about transportation policy and how decisions around transportation policy impacted everyday experience of my residence. Perhaps what i remember most about first meeting ed is that his suit was a little long for him. [laughter] and i looked at him from behind and i thought, this reminds me a little bit of mayor ed lee. I love the fact that you were so humble. I love the fact that you are so open and kind to people that you meet, even people who actually, in my district, gave you a very, very hard time, but always so gracious, always so kind, and always so patient. Steadfast, absolutely, and determined to always bridge friendships and bridge relationships. Ed, there is more to be said, but i know that you will join myself and my colleagues at 2 3y recognize your achievement and everything that you have done for the city and county of San Francisco. I personally wanted to say thank you for saving my district, but all of San Francisco, too. Thank you. [applause] i will call our chief administrator naomi kelly. Good afternoon, commissioners naomi kelly, city administrator. I have to say, i was then city purchaser when the city administrator, ed lee, and Ben Rosenfeld hired ed to be the 311 director. Im telling you, when he came in , he instantly, i realized, he was a great person, he became a mentor, he became a friend. A lot of the major decisions that i made while i was city purchaser and when i became the city administrator, ed was one of the very first phone kills phone calls i made. His wisdom, his guidance on how to manage at the 30,000foot level, had to dive into the weeds, how to manage our colleagues, how to manage boards , how to manage the workforce, you have been such a true friend and it has helped me as i became the city administrator. Thank you for that. It has also been great just to see how you have moved the traffic within San Francisco, especially during major events, the world series, just any other events, and there have been times are we have been on munimobile one, after the world series of 2012, and i thought it was one of the funniest moments. Harlan and i are getting on a train, to go back to the west side of town, and the train stopped. Everyone likely was at a platform, and everyone files out , and we stay on there, and we look to the back, and there is ed and his daughter. They are on the munimobile, waiting to see how long it takes to get this train back up and running. Of course, my husband turns around and says, ed, you should have your toolbelt on fixing this train. [laughter] but it is just a testament to always thinking how to make and improve the city, how to make it better, how can we better serve the residents and visitors and businesses of the city. Thank you for your time here and we will all be looking for you to still be active and part of San Francisco. Well be thinking about ways to pull you back in. Thank you. [applause] we have our director of recreation and park. Good afternoon, commissioners thank you for giving me a few minutes. Ed, you cannot last become the vocal park advocate you have always wanted to be. [laughter] i look forward to your emails and complaints. I too was around in 2007, working for mayor newsom when ed came on as 311 director, and immediately, like some new people have said, we all wanted to be like him. If you look at the ark of his career, just in San Francisco from 311, to public works, to m. T. A. , and then you go back a little bit and know that in d. C. He worked a criminal justice issues and was an adviser to the mayor, and in oakland, he was working for the city administrator, theres not a position in government that he cant play, and so it was m. T. A. s blessing that he took on this herculean responsibility you are a mensch. You are kind, thoughtful, and humble, but incredibly talented leader. We used to talk about little level five leadership where it is not about you, it is about the team on the mission of the organization, and that has always been you. It is amazing, we are a close bunch of colleagues as Department Heads, and we do rely on each other. Government works because we can sell problems together. There is never a time when ed wont pick up the phone and help you work through a problem, or vice versa. His level of curiosity is not about government and a desire to make government work that is not limited to his own function. It was not just limited to m. T. A. I got to see him on the Capital Planning committee or back in the day, s. F. Stat. He is genuinely curious and caring about all functions of government. And so we have been on a journey together and our relationship will continue well beyond your last day here when you officially become a vocal park advocate, but it was important to me to say thank you, not just for being an incredibly carrying , thoughtful human being , but as a supervisor fewer noted, you are the only colleague that i have ever worked with in City Government to actually makes me look welldressed and tailored. [laughter] so im very grateful to you for all of that. Thank you, ed. [laughter]. [applause] now i have ever planning director, john ram. It is great to be here. Thank you for allowing us to recognize him. I thank you are probably thinking that this should just be over with. [laughter] i just want to reiterate something that phil said. We often but first, i will let you know, supervisor peskin s comment about who has the toughest job in City Government. We have that debate a lot. While i think of my job is being pretty high on that list, i think i have to concede that the m. T. A. Directors probably the toughest job that i am aware of in City Government. This has not been an easy hall. I will say, and just to pick up on something that phil just said , the thing that ive always appreciated about you is your perspective on the city as a whole. I remember the first Department Head meeting i went to with mayor newsom at the time, and he asked each of us to make a comment about our roles about who we were. And i had been here all of two weeks or something at the time. Eds comment was something that stuck with me. He was basically about his passion for his cities and his passion for doing this work. And to me, you have always been the definition of a Public Servant. I have appreciated that very much. When he think about your comments and questions at Capital Planning, or the directors working group, or other venues were all the directors are together, i think about your perspective on the city as a whole and what our role is and what we should be doing with our work. I want to thank you for that. For being a mentor for me in that respect, and for your generosity and your humility as we do our work. Thank you, and all the best. [applause] i know there are members of the executive team who wanted to speak. [laughter] thats right, sfmta executive team. Good afternoon, kate breen, director of government affairs. It sounds like in the next hour you will have more of this. On behalf of the sfmta executive team, and having known ed for, we figured, 20 years at this point, im here to express our gratitude and appreciation to ed for his leadership and support during the past eight years. What i am struck by with everybodys comments is this consistency of the qualities that im going to talk about. There is no wavering on the depth of these qualities and characteristics that ed has shared with us as our leader. As we consider the qualities that ed has demonstrated, it was easy to craft, very easy, and very quickly, a lengthy list that will fully qualify him for a coveted sfmta award, which you will be getting. You always wanted it, you know that. As our director, he has led with his values first, including mutual respect, a dedication to equity, sustainability, and fundamental ethics. With qualities that are more impactful in how they are modelled by the person, rather than expressed in words, it is thoughtful, fare, and kind. We know this. Eds intelligence is peerless, and combined with a remarkable photographic memory and penchant for every detail, we could always anticipate getting thoughtful questions on any topic. Working with him made us all better what we did every day. He leads by example, he writes a ride, he walks the talk. As a daily writer, he lives transit first combined with his other personal modes of transport, walking and biking. In doing so, he heads he is not only fits, were deeply familiar with the fabric of the city and the community that haines Haynes Family are probably part of. What do you not know about it . You may not know that during his time at the sfmta he has become a dog owner and lever but to our knowledge, he is not taken his dog and munimobile yet. Leading with common grace, not with bluster and drama, he has maintained an open door policy to all staff, all the time, and served as council with wisdom and patience. His accomplishments have been cited here, i wont repeat them, im sure they will be repeated again downstairs. They are many, and important for the city. On behalf of your executive team , thank you for being our leader for the past eight years, for being there to support doesnt allow us to do our best work, for making the hard decisions, even when they were politically treacherous, and for your dedication to the sfmta and the people of San Francisco. [applause] [laughter] ed, your senior staff has one final gift for you, which perhaps you saw was coming. This is the classic m. T. A. Going away gift, for those of you who dont know. [laughter] [applause] for all of the support youve given us at the m. T. A. , but also for everything you have done to build the complete streets movement around the country, your leadership and really invigorating nacto, your influence is by far beyond the 49 square miles. Let this street sign be a small token of our appreciation for that, as well. [applause] now i will ask our police chief, bill scott, to join us, and followed by supervisor vallie brown. And if we can have people stand away from the doors, please. Thank you. Thank you for allowing me a few minutes to speak to the board and to ed reiskin. On behalf of the San Francisco police department, as you guys all know, we are vital partners in the movement of traffic and the Traffic Safety in the city with m. T. A. , and during my time here, i just want to thank you, add, for your approach to how you do what you do, always as very measured, very calm, but you always get the job done. I just want to thank you. On behalf of the men and women of the San Francisco police department, thank you for your service and dedication to the city and county, and for your friendship. Thank you. [applause] next we will have supervisor vallie brown. Well, add, im the cautionary tale, and it had nothing to do with not a protected bike lane, and it was actually my fault. I was trying to go fast to beat a light, and when i came after the intersection, i realized, this is a stupid thing to do, so i slammed on my brakes, and put my leg down, and my knee went a little, i tweaked it, im good, and absolutely good, i just have to be off of it for a couple of days, but i wanted to come. I know you will come to the board of supervisors today and we will talk about you, but he wanted to come up. , it is all good. [laughter] i wanted to come up here with the commissioners because i have worked with you for a long time. When you were the director of public works, and then m. T. A. I just heard chief scott say you were always calm, and you always wear, no matter who was yelling at you or rattling the chain. You came back and said, hey, lets try to make this work. For a city leader in a department, that is so important to us on the board of supervisors, or residents of this city. We want to see someone in that position that tries and works to make it work for the best outcome we can have for the residents of San Francisco. So wanted come up. And just thank you for all the years that you have been serving this city. Im not sure where you are going , i hope it is not too far, because this city really needs people like you and it needs people like you to keep us in a mode where we do the right thing thank you very much, ed, and i will see you downstairs. Thank you. [applause] now i will have director torres, the head of economic development. Commissioners, and to you, ed , on a personal note, it has been an amazing experience for me to be able to learn from you. Your sense of humility, the steady leadership that so many people have talked about, your willingness to be on the ground with people in the community, whether we talk about merchants or residents or visitors here in San Francisco, your steady hand in guidance to me, when i fed issues that i needed some help with, trying to delve into them. Establishing Racial Equity guidelines and goals, and extraordinary staff to come into the department to support those efforts, you really have been an inspiration to me as i have assumed this new leadership role , as well. All the work that you have done to partner with our office to increase workforce opportunities , for drivers to help meet the city need, and also a very Real Community need. So for people who could have been economic economically impacted he will now have a successful passage into steady city employment with all the benefits that it provides in your organization. It really is an honor to have spent ten years knowing you both as public works director, dealing with the most intricate of issues, and as director of munimobile. And really being out there with you in community, on the ground, and i will take all the lessons that you have given to me and put them to hard work in my future years. Thank you so much, ed. [applause] i believe we have all the members of the citys family who wanted to say a few words. Am i correct . With that, we open it up to Public Comment. Everyone has two minutes to embarrass him a little more. I dont have any speaker cards. This wasnt on the agenda so i dont have any speaker cards. Vice chair, directors, my name is rick and i am president of Market Street railway where the nonprofit preservation partner of sfmta. Our board chair really wanted to be here today but she is under the weather, so she has asked me to share her remarks, as well. Organization has been supporting munimobile for 40 years. Thats a lot of directors. When i first met ed reiskin eight years ago, the only thing he asked, the only thing we asked is that he be honest with us, tell us where he agreed, where he didnt, what might be possible, what wasnt. In other words, open communication and fair dealing. It sounds pretty basic, but it hasnt often been true in the past. With ed, it was. We accomplished a lot of positive things, but i will not enumerate now. We appreciate that. And though we focus on munimobiles cable cars and historic streetcars and buses in our organizations work, we are passionate about the success of sfmta as a whole. We have been transit first advocates for decades, and we know a lot about how sfmta works , and sometimes, why it doesnt work, as well as we would all like. That is why we would like to thank ed for his leadership in every area of sfmtas responsibilities. You, as a board, ive made an excellent choice and tom maguire as interim director. You face a daunting decision in finding a permanent director who can match up to the standards that ed reiskin has set for humble, it Passionate Service for collaboration, and for the love of his city and transportation networks. Thank you, ed reiskin, the great Public Servant, a great san franciscan. [applause] walk San Francisco wants to share our heartfelt gratitude for ed reiskin for his incredible dedication to Public Service at the pedestrians. Ed, you are absolutely instrumental in getting the city to adopt vision zero in 2014, and youve always taken the goal of ending severe and fatal traffic crashes to heart. You have stood with us at deadly crash sites, any have stood up for the most vulnerable on our streets, and you have worked tirelessly to move our city closer to the pedestrian first city it can and should be. Thank you for walking the walk, truly, and all that you have done to create a safer and more Sustainable Transportation city here. We wish you the best. [applause] thank you. Im the executive director of the San Francisco bicycle coalition. On behalf of our over 10,000 members, i would like to recognize and thank director ed reiskin for your service to the city, and in particular, to your service for people who bike in the city. Much has been made about the difficulty of this role, and i know it has been my job to not make your job easier, but to make it more difficult at times, but i do want to say that i have always respected your commitments and never doubted your values in this role, and that while we sometimes have to push, i always knew that you would be a receptive listener, and i do appreciate that you have peddled the talk in a very fashionable, hi visibility, fluorescent green safety vest. One of my favorite biking accessories that i have seen out on the streets of San Francisco. Thank you for your service. I do think civilservice too often goes unrecognized, and directors, you will have a difficult job ahead of you in selecting a replacement. Thank you. [applause] if people want to address under this topic, if they could line up on this side of the room and we will take you one by one. I just want to say i am part of the ill like ed club. [laughter] [applause] whoever is next, please. Thank you so much. I am a taxidriver. I dont know what to say except that mr. Ed reiskin is a saint. I know i am also part of the club. I think i speak for the taxi drivers, most of us are refugees and immigrants. The people like me on the very bottom of the food chain, and all i can say is that ed reiskin was part of the dividing of making two categories of taxi drivers at the airport. Basically he wanted to make up pay for his mistakes of selling taxi medallions to immigrants and refugees like me for 250,000, and unfortunately, he would have to pay for it. And i think i am so happy you are here so i can tell you this to your face, you know, we learned very early in life not to pick up on the week people, and not to abuse the less fortunate, and unfortunately, i think that you have learned that i see people giving you a lot of gifts here, and i have a tshirt that says taxidriver lives matter. I would would like to give you this gift. Thank you so very much. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon. I feel i must speak. I am grateful, you know, i come to you as an ordinary, every day right or of munimobile. I have been fortunate to know edge. We have met up a couple of times at stations and had brief conversations. Im also grateful for his service as vice chair of the clipper executive board, which is a program i am very passionate about. And so as i close here, a few days ago i was in the van ness station. I came down the stairs and they ran into ed. We talked a bit. I went on my way, went downstairs, and waited for a train. I let a couple of those new cars go by, then i got on one, i wrote to the embarcadero. Everything ran well, just one after another those cars went to the station, and when i left embarcadero later, i walked up into the sun, i just said to myself, it doesnt get any better than this. Ed, that is how im going to remember you. Thank you. [applause] good afternoon, board. I came here to thank ed. I thought i was going to do it as part of his directors report , but im so glad youre making this big to do because it really is great. I want to thank him for his service and normally when we say that, we think it is people dodging bombs in iraq and afghanistan, but ed did more than that. I first met him and he was standing there in a meeting in the mission where people wanted more parking. He knew that was wrong. He kind of soft talk talked them and compromise them down to very little. I think they were going to get the parking lot they were going to get anyways. I think that was great. During the years of service here , leaning into transit first , never enough, but what could we say. We still have to keep the job, we have to keep munimobile moving. So thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thank you. Dont be at park advocate, be a transit advocate in your next life. [laughter] thank you. [applause]. Next speaker, please is there anybody else would like to speak if not, we will close out Public Comment and move on to the rest of our calendar. I will ask the directors, too, of course. Seeing no other official speakers, Public Comment is closed. Directors . Who would like to start . I will start. I never knew and until ed lee told me about you. And to have me serve on this board with you as a director and everything that ed said about you is absolutely true. Visavis the people that are here representing your agency and how they treat you, is indicative of who you are as a man and a human being, and clearly as the head of this agency, but you also bring a humility and a sense of humbleness that i rarely have seen in a director of such a large agency. When we sat down with almost the majority of the bargaining units last week to talk about and to receive their comments about what they would like to see in a new director, without question, almost every one of them said, to have the same qualities as humans as ed. He made an impact not only on your own employees, on your bargaining unit leadership, but on so many of us, and on a personal note, i just want to thank you for being so kind to my son. You have been an excellent teacher and mentor for him, and he and i have always talked about how humble and how supportive you have been of his efforts in a very difficult position. I thank you for that as a father , and also as a director, and of course, i wish you all the best. Thank you. Christina . I just want to say thank you so much for all your service, but everyone has already said that. Particularly i wanted to say thank you for joining the Disability Community and just having such respect for that perspective in doing your job. Thank you, especially for that, but thank you for all the things that everyone else is talking about. Best of luck. Amanda . Do you want to Say Something . Ed, thank you so much. The city is a better place because of you. I am the rookie on the board, but i have known ed since the first day he took the job and that is because [indiscernible] ed was unfailingly constructive, he was engaging in those conversations. A lot of the conversations were only about [indiscernible] [indiscernible] [laughter] i always just personally thought ed was a little too gloomy. We thought we if he is leaving the m. T. A. , well find out if that gloominess is the job or it was just him. [laughter] best of luck. Any final comments before we close and move on to our next agenda item . I will just say that i echo everything that has been said, and i dont need to say it again , but i thank you have an invaluable perspective having had this position for so many years. Even though you are leaving, i hope you find a way to stay connected to the agency, and keep sharing the wisdom and knowledge accumulated over the years. We would be at a great loss if that wasnt the case. Thank you for your service. Would you like to say a few words . You dont have to, but if youd like to, i do want to offer you that opportunity. I guess i would first say that i believe that one of the responsibilities i have had in this role is to develop the agenda for the board meetings, and i dont recall seeing this item on the agenda. [laughter] and contemplating filing a centering ordinance staff report [laughter] and i will have lots of time to think about doing that. I may do that it has beyond amazing for an honor and a privilege to serve in this role for so many years. It is an amazing city that we live in, it is an amazing Transportation System that we have. It is an amazing region that the people of this city, whether the advocates, the civic leaders, the everyday people who dont come to city hall, they have such passion, and love, and commitment for this city, that it is inspiring. For all of the good things that people have said, they got done within the last eight years. Those got done primarily because of the staff of the sfmta and not just the people who are here now, but the people who have been here. It is an amazingly talented, dedicated, skilled, professional , passionate group of folks. Thousands of employees, you know , not every single one of them, but the great majority, really are what inspired me because they care about their work, they take pride in their work, whether they are cleaning the subway station floor, were driving a bus, fixing a bus, directing traffic, or working in the back office, a lot of Unsung Heroes and the agency. There are so many people who work so hard. They are why good things happen. That in the leadership of this board and your predecessors. There has been a lot of things that we have brought you that have not been politically popular, or easy for you to contemplate, but with your direction and leadership, a lot of good things have happened in San Francisco for transportation there are some things that havent happened well, as we would like, and i will talk about some of them when it gets to my report, which was properly put on the agenda. [laughter]. And is next. And is next. Ultimately, as the director of the agency, the things that have not gone wrong, those are on me, but all of the good things that have happened, that is the staff of this agency, that is your leadership, it is the support from other elected people who work in this building. I do want to acknowledge my executive team. I have an Outstanding Team that works very closely and well together. They have the hardest jobs. It is just my job to support them in doing their hard jobs. I want the other Department Heads, i think one of them said we do work closely together. And the other Transit Agency leaders in the regions. Theres a lot of different areas of collaboration that may not be apparent, but are really what make all of this work. I want to acknowledge her other employee, or our board secretary who has been my partner in this for my eight years here, i want to thank her for all of her efforts, our general counsel, and her staff are a big part of keeping us out of trouble. I also want to thank sophia, my assistant, for my time here. None of anything you heard would have happened if it werent for her. Shes the one who really has the hardest job. [applause] and then finally, my family, my kids, my wife, who has given me the support and the advice. My wifes from the city, show shes always making sure i dont do anything to west it up mess it up, and for allowing me the time and space to do this work. It is just such a great honor to be able to serve in this role. Im very confident in tom and whoever comes next that whoever it is, well just build upon what is working well, and we will fix those things that still need to be fixed, but theres a great combination here, there is a great staff, and we will still be riding the bus every day, i will still be on my bike are taking taxis, that is how i get around this city. I will continue to benefit from the good work that you all do. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] isnt that a violation against board policy for demonstration . We do that every time someone claps, pretty much. [laughter]. Moving on to the directors report. Okay. , back to the real work, and you made reference to this, madame chair, starting, unfortunately, with really devastating and sad news, which is that since the last m. T. A. Board meeting, we have had four traffic fatalities on the streets of San Francisco, four more people have lost their lives through the end of june, a total of 19 lives lost. Eleven of which were pedestrians just to walk through them, and you will see you might hear some themes here. June 23rd at 1 30 a. M. , a southbound vehicle travelling at a high rate of speed allegedly ran a red light at third and paul, striking another vehicle, which killed the driver and passenger of the other vehicle. The driver was 26 years old, and his passenger was 49 years old. We did send a Rapid Investigation Team out there. We did find some faded crosswalks, which sins have been repainted, but clearly spee was the issue here. On june 24th, the next day, 3 00 a. M. , a 56yearold man was killed at California Park california and Park Presidio when an eastbound driver, travelling at a high rate of speed ran a red light and struck his vehicle as he was going north on park and presidio. We also went out and repainted the lines, as well as the tow away zone, and we did put new fireside signal heads on california street. A few days later, june 27th at 2 00 a. M. , a 30yearold man was struck and killed while on foot at first and howard by vehicle making a left turn on read from howard to first. Howard is one way, so the left turns are permissible, or they were, because following our investigation, we instituted a no turn on red restriction for a westbound traffic on howard. So this is another four people who lost their lives unnecessarily and tragically. You can see that these are all very early morning, darkness, speed are a factor. That is the primary collision factor in the majority of severe and fatal collisions. Just a reminder that we need to keep focusing on getting authorization from speed enforcement. We need to continue the focus on the five on speed and our outreach efforts to get people to slow down as they make their way around the city. So then, just a quick construction, a couple of construction updates, one, with regard to the 16th street platform at the ucsf chase center, we are in the final stages of construction of the platform, and we will be doing our final closure in support of that work. Just to remind you, right now we have two different split platforms. This is crating a single platform to serve both inbound and outbound trains right in front of the new arena site. It will enable 42 car trains to load simultaneously at large events, so that we will be able to sufficiently move people out and connect them to the rest of the munimobile system as well as other regional connections connectors, and eventually the trains will go into the central subway. In order to complete the construction on the platforms, it will take testing, and we will do the final track concrete and paving work. We will have the best substitution on the tee third starting on july 27th. I believe that is a saturday, and it will last approximately ten days. So one workweek, and we will have the line of Services Suspended during this time to facilitate the work, and then we will have the platform open, and all the new infrastructure that was put in place up and ready and inservice at the beginning of august, well in advance of the First Chase Center event in september. The final stretch there, anyone who has been down third street on the tee recently, you will see it is just about done. The other big construction project is set to begin construction this summer. This is a project that weve talked about a lot here. You legislated it some point last year. As you know, were we are doing the construction in two segments were starting first on the west end which is out to the zoo. Overall, the construction will take about three years. The first segment will have about six months of best substitution, so bus shuttles will run for that outer part of the l to get folks into connect to the light rail. Because of construction is about to start, tomorrow night we are having a community meeting. We want to explain what the plans are for the two phases of construction, what we are thinking about for staging, and hear any concerns about loading, parking, noise, anything like that. We realize that not everybody has an opportunity to go. We are going to propose a couple of different ways that we can do this staging, so we really are seeking input from the public, but for those who cant go, we will have an online and text in survey that will be open, i guess it is open, open from july 12th until the 22nd so folks can go onto our website and submit their preferences and learn about the project and some of the preferences that way, if they like. And then just one other piece of the welcome news, is i think i mentioned this at the last meeting, but this past weekend, the Salesforce Transit Center resumes service at the bus plaza that means the five, five r. , the seven, in the 38 and the 38 rr back from the temporary terminal into the plaza. I know everyone has read it and has a chance to visit the reopening of this center, and particularly, the rooftop park. So next month, hopefully, this service will be up and the bus deck will resume for all the transbay buses, including
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