Transcripts For SFGTV MTA Board Of Directors 20240712

It is slow today. No problem. Operator this question is now in question and answer mode. To alert the speaker, you have a question, press zero. Each question will be heard in the way it was received. This is Public Comment for minutes on june 30th. So if you wish to address the board on the minutes, dial 10 now. There are no callers. Chair Public Comment is closed. Motion to approve. Chair is there a second . Second. Chair secretary boomer, can you please call the role. role call . Five communications, madam chair. Item 13 regarding the caltrian sales tax has been removed at the request of staff and proposing amendments to the board of directors and we will schedule a special meeting for members of the public to hear our item and for us to act. If you wish to address the directors today on this topic, you can do so under general Public Comment on items not on the agenda. Again, so the caltrain sales tax measure will not be heard at the end of the agenda but will be heard in a special meeting which we will announce shortly, so thank you. The other communications, i have to do my per funk tor functory. All members and staff are attending Via Teleconference ensuring the safety of the board of directors, smfa staff and members of the public. You just might want to send the thoughts a little earlier. We also continue the public to write the board at mta board of sfmta. Com or call us at 415 6464470 in advance and that would be prior to noon on the day of our hearing. While this Technology Allows us to hold meetings Via Teleconference, it may not be as seamless as we would like it to be. There may be gaps and silence and the technology between speakers. Know we are doing our very best and that we ask for your patience and understanding. If you lose the phone connecti connection, well paus pause unt is reestablished. I want to thank everybody. This is far different than when we are on site at city hall. So thank you everyone to make sure that we can hear the public and hear each other. So with that, ill turn it over to the commission secretary. Thank you, madam chair. This meeting is televised by sfgtv and for those watching the livestream, via sfgtv, please be aware there may be a time lag between the actual meeting and what members are saying on sfgtv. If you are watching and you wish to comment on an item, please call the item that is listed on the agenda when the item is called. And the phone number to use is 888 8086929 didnt th 888 808s 9961164. Again, you can find these numbers on the agenda. Please make sure you are in a quiet location, that you turn off any tvs or radios and in youre livestreaming via sfg tv, please mute the sound and this will reduce any reverbations so the board can hear you. At the appropriate time, the chair will ask for phone lines to be opened. If you want to comment, you will be prompted to press 10 and this will add you to the speaker line. Auto prompt will say callers are entering the question and answer time, but this is the Public Comment period. Youll be queued up in the order in which you pressed 10 and an automated voice will tell you when it is your turn to speak. When your microphone has been unmuted, youll hear us ask you to state your name and to make your comment. I will start your twominute time clock when you begin talking and let you know when there are 30 seconds remaining and when your time is up, the chair will say thank you, next caller please. At that point, the moderator will put the speaker back on mute. I will repeat these instructions for how to make Public Comment. Im aware that some members may join the meeting after this announcement has been made. And item of, introduction of new or Unfinished Business. Directors, are there any new or Unfinished Business items you would like to address today . Seeing none, well move on to item 7. Item 7, directors report. Im the director of transportation is today well recover are brief legislative update and talking about our Revenue Streams and finally, the cycling progress. By vision zero, theres a significant update an on fatalis of our roadways. On june 17th, a motor cyclist was killed. A pedestrian, this is a wellmanaged activity and a lot of fun but this year had turned into a bit of a side show and was attracting cyclists and skateboarders who were basically trying to get instagram fame through reckless activity. Our team responded to sfpd and the San Francisco Fire Departments ambulance crew to make quick changes used pavement markets along deloris street to curtail that behaviour. We know our bestskilled skateboarders are able to go over those, but those were no the skateboarders who were not creating a safety problem there through a reckless disregard through the safety of bystanders. And were also very quickly moving forward on a variety of quickfilled programs, including the Mission Geneva safety project that is starting to wrap up and this includes variety of safety zones, new living zones, transit and park and meter changes. Quickfill project has gotten underway, bike facility on the Waterfront South of the Ferry Building. And were also Getting Started on a twoway protected facility on the third street bridge over mission creek, closing a really key gap in the bay trail and the new twoway protected facility that has been built in mission bay on terry francois. Were starting Community Engagement work in august for quickfill completion for the fulsome protective bikeway between second and fifth and a variety of improvement in the bayview coming out of the Bayview Community transportation point. Were allowing safety enhancements to be legalized, particularly mated seen automatd enforcement and were work on how the state sets speed limits on not setting speed limits at what the 15th percentile least prudent driver thinks is their right to drive and were trying to coordinate with a variety of other state and local agencies in order to get that legislation passed. And, of course, at the federal level, theres been a lot of action. We are in receipt of our first care funds which had gotten us through the last quarter and preparing to receive the second funds which is how the agency will survive in the Second Quarter and working with our delegation to find a path to get additional federal authorization through the senate on the invest pact passed by congress is certainly helpful and includes the vision zero policies p and a. As you know, we have a major startup of the rail system scheduled currently on august 22nd and a variety of improvements to the bus system that is happening then. We are also gearing up to start collecting transit fares and weve gun enforcing parking meters and that means all Customer Service functions need to be fully engaged and weve been busy, not only getting the regular Service Center up to speed, but opening a variety of satellites in locations scattered around the city to help our customers. Weve been moving all of our services online, including allowing, for example, new lifeline eligibility testing to be done online. We are shifting our emphasis as an agency a little bit away from making our customers do a lot of work in order to approve eligibility, shifting that a little bit towards making it easy for customers to get the products they need and trusting them and allowing them to verify later either through audit or through followup. And that means lifeline passes Available Online and muni mobile and for more information go to sfmta. Com lifeline and were busy gearing up for citation processinprocessing, as well asg protest letters. And finally, were collaborating with mtc with the clipperstart program and expands our life line plan access from simply discount on fast passes to allow lowincome people in San Francisco to get a 50 discount off a single ride ticket, via their clipper card and finally, we made substantial progress in the last week in collaboration with the San Francisco Fire Department to get their approval of the fall street bike lane in order to help offload the very crowded, very successful path along the panhandle. Thank you. Great, thank you so much director tumlin and we have a few director questions and well start with director brinkman. Hi, everyone, good to see you. Im pleased to hear were looking into automated Speed Enforcement which we have been for quite awhile. Do you feel, i dont know, the and tight oappetite or receptios Speed Enforcement has changed when theres not congestion slowing down and the desire to remove any kind of racial component to speeding tickets and to that kind of activity . So i believe now is a very good time to be pursuing automated enforcement at the state level, particularly for Racial Equity reasons. Eliminating traffic stops eliminates the possibility of biased in who gets the citation and who doesnt, as well as how the situation escalates based on race. And we, of course, need to be careful if we do automated Speed Enforcement where the academies are placed so were treating people equal. There are plenty of reasons why we need actual humans managing our traffic rules and using appropriate judgment but we want to eliminate biased in those judgments and one way of doing that is easy when it comes to speed. The said, the state legislature is busy dealing with immediate directly covidrelated issues and so, when they reconvene after their summer recess, i believe it would be a particularly good time to remind the state legislature of just how important state regulation is and why it matters in an era of increasingly erratic behaviour as a result of covidrelated stress, as well as an area in which were treating racial biased very seriously in our street space. Thank you, director brinkman, anything additional . No. That is all. Well move on to director hemminger. I wonder if today you could give us a brief update on estimated completion today. I think last month used to be one of our estimated completion dates. And so i assume we havent met that and i would appreciate it in the future some kind of briefing on settlement discussions to the extent any are occurring and if that has to be in closed session, i hope we could arrange that, but for today, could you just give us the top line numbers on where we stand . Yes, let me turn that over to tom mcguire and he can give you up to the minute update. Up to the minute update, thank you. Thank you for the question. This is tom mcguire and the key facts right now are that we have a substantial completion date in december of 2020 and our expected Revenue Service date, were currently saying it will be before the end of calendar year 2021 and then, to as for your question of settlement negotiations, we dont want to talk too much of the commercial terms here, but we would i think we could agendaize a closed session in the future. Were working more productive than we have before with the considecontractor and city attoy just to get to the bottom of all of the things related to the settlement. , potential settlement. So that means discussion settlements are underway. So we have engaged so nca and the City Attorney have engaged a team that is focusing strictly on settlement discussions and has been talking wit contractor and that team is separate from the project Management Team that has the job at 96 complete and charging towards the finish line. And so, i guess thats one way of saying yes, theres a structure process in place were talking about all the remaining commercial and liability issues. Well, i wont press any further today, but i would appreciate a closed session on it in the future. Wonderful. Any other questions, director hemminger . No, madam chair. Chair great, dr. Eakin. Thank you, madam chair. I thinthis is heartbreaking o hear. And im just wondering if you could can sort of the recent events into a little bit of context. I think that theres a period of time when in the maybe the earlier shelterinplace where we experienced a reduction in injuries in fatalities compared to the same time the previous year. Overall, fatalities for this year, how are we comparing with last year and is some of that erratic behaviour, driving behaviour you spoke about, is that putting us into a more dangerous situation than we were last year or overall with driving still down, our streets still safer . Im wondering if you can help us understand what youre seeing. So today, july 21st, weve had a total there was an uptake and i can their rise that is with the other social behaviour weve seen, which, think, again, i would their rise i theorize to e shelterinplace affecting so many people in San Francisco. We need to be paying attention and finding ways to return to civility and to care for each other. Chair director e absolutery logistical questions . If members of the public watching today or interested in these issues, if theyre just issued in just tracking where we are with vision zero in a given year, just understanding the numbers, do you know where they gwould go to find those numbers . Tom, do you know the actual revision . We have our annual recording that is done and i im not sure theres a link to live data. Tom, youre muted. Do we have that kind of data we would be able to share and do we know i mean a big city like new york with all of the people they have, its pretty shocking that they could go so long. Do you surmise why the conditions are there date than here . Is it because of speed that people can go faster on our streets would you surmise . I cant tell you why. We do know the factors that contribute to the likelihoo likf a crash and if there is a crash, whether thats a fatality. The most important factor in whether a crash will be a fatality is absolutely speed. And so, this is one of the areas where there is where we have intention with our objective of the Emergency Service providers. Where from an overall Traffic Management and Traffic Safety perspective, we want to reduce speeds closer to the design tolerance of the human body, which is 15 Miles Per Hour. And so, our body design tolerance perfectly manages the average sprinting speed. Our bodies are designed to withstand a trip and fall while standing. At speeds greater than 15, the force varies time the square of their velocity. The square velocity part of the equation that dictates crash severity and at 15, i might get a bruise and at 40, im going to be dead. Chair thank you for that. With that, i will release res directors have additional questions, i will move on. This is discussed by director tumlin. And moderator, if you could open the phone lines and members of the public who are listening on the at t call line, please dial 10. We are opening the phone lines and we have six callers. If we could take the first caller, please. Member of the public, if you could please give us your name, we will start your two mensae ms when you begin talking. Moderator, if you could unmute the first caller. First caller, please give us your name and well start your time. Speaker thank you, kindly. This is john misosky, automated Speed Enforcement is important and i hope we can push it through to reduce biased and make it safer. One note, accucensus has brought cameras to that country and hundreds of thousands of drivers that are illegally texting have been captured on camera and cited. Given the epidemic of distracted driving in california, i would be interested in bringing in cameras that can capture texting in smart algorithms. I appreciate the directors words about wishio vision zero. We desperately need a link for cyclists between the hate and the inner sunset, not least to give cyclists access to the Medical Center way which is a beautiful route through forest knolls. That link doesnt exist right now and we need it badly. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Speaker, if you could give us your name and we will start your two minutes when you begin talking. Speaker yes, Steven Miller and i just wanted to call in and say im all for automated enforcement in general. And something as we were talking about vision zero that i was concerned about is i was biking along john deer drive yesterday exi didnt realize this, but its posted as a 40mileanhour zone and this is where somebody crossing street was hit and killed last year and i definitely encourage you guys to work with the state to lower that speed limit because thats very dangerous. Also, in regards to san bruno, we need more Parking Enforcement because something that makes it so dangerous is double parking and cars are driving on the wrong side of the road to get around it and it makes it very unpredictable for people crossing the street and get off at bus stops. Thank you. Next speaker. Speaker i appreciate you making lifeline a program that doesnt require patrons to have to appear in person and that really, really is a long overdue update and this should be part of a larger conversation. To be able to take off board, being able to interact with various services and people can do it in the community they live. The tack car system allows for remote renewal of the fair card and the Regional Transportation Authority of chicago is mailing me a new reduced fare card due to covid19. And that is the agency that owns the legendary and historic chicagol. Its important that we help to get people signed up for this program as a safe registered means of managing narrative thes and saving money. So bring i bringing in a progras not enough. We must encourage people to use it, thank you. Thank you, next speaker, please. Next speaker, if you could give us your name or Start Talking and we will start your time. Speaker thank you very much. Like many other callers, i am very happy to hear that the sfta board is looking into automated Speed Enforcement and one thing i wanted to comment on is that it does seem there is a bit of a double standard when it comes to the speed of the division projects zero happen. When you had a couple of skaters die, there was an instantaneous push to put up these bumps in the road that could cause it could cause the when the streets are wet and that was done overnight with very little cost to problem comment but when pees opedestrians or cyclists ae killed by motor vehicles, theres a very lengthy process to engage in traffic or removal of parking to allow for a safer bike lane and whatnot. I just want to ensure that the sfta board, that we recognise for the most part road skateboarders are not really the primary source of fatalities in San Francisco, that vehicles are and moving 30 second. Speaker that e wer we are cognizant of pedestrians and other Vulnerable People on the row. Thank you. Next speaker, please. If you would give us your name, well start your time. Go ahead. Speaker i called because i have for years now have been appalled at the way fasttracks erroneous billing and penalty system works or doesnt work, in my case. And you know, i dont know if any of you are aware, but a toll that is a 5 or 6 charge can receive a penalty of 25 and then monthly, the penalty doubles. This is an absolute travesty and i cant imagine how it can possibly even be legal to charge someone a 25 penalty on a 5 toll. The other thing is that the billing is wrong. They remove money cynthia, sorry, ive paused your time but be aware the mt board of directors and mta is not involved with fasttrack and toll. Speaker i was told it actually is. Do you know who is, just as a reference . Mtc, the metropolitan transportation commission. Speaker well, thank you for that information. I appreciate it. No problem. Speaker sorry to bother you. Have a good day. Speaker you, too. Next, speaker, please. Speaker im robin and i live in district 8 and im calling to comment on the treatment at deloris street. Im sad to hear about the result of the skateboard hill bombings and impressed at the Rapid Response here. Its unfortunate we havent seen a similar Rapid Response after many other vision zero deaths which have been caused by drivers and one is Devlin Oconnor who was killed at the end of may and the segment of street where he was killed still resembles a highway cutting through our city. Back to the presiden bumps on ds street, they created a new street anyone not traveling by car or on giant tires and anyone on foot, on a bike, on a motor cycle, scooter, wheelchair, those little bumps are slippery, especially on foggy, summer days like today and too close to navigate and truly, it will only be a matter of time before the whole separate group of people is put at risk in that spot due to slipping and falling off of micromobility vehicles on these bumps which is the mta has installed. While i hope we find a solution which addresses the skateboarding issues and dangers associated, i think we should find one which doesnt put a new and large group of people at risk. A second comment, so a previous caller was noted high speed limits in the southeast part of San Francisco 30 seconds. Speaker i wanted to say my bike commute takes me on bay shore boulevard which is the main one in that corner of the city, which is the neighborhood that had too many vision zero fatalities. The speed limit is 35 Miles Per Hour and that is far too fast for a bike route and i encourage you all to consider infrastructure and legislation to lower the speed limit on bay shore boulevard. Thank you. beeper . Next speakerrer, please. Speaker yes, i want to say, im surprised there werent more fatalities or injuries by pedestrians and bicyclists, considers as a cab driver, you see so much jwalking and running of stop signs at fast speeds. As a cab driver, you see so ma a lot of car drivers drive dangerously, but the thing is, too many risks are being taken and sanfrancisco streets are not made, unlike some suburban towns and cities, are not made for the bicyclists and pedestrians to take those types of risks and i just want to say that it could be worse. And the last thing about the central subway. So it will be another year before theyre finished with this project and so its at least two years passed when they were supposed to accept Revenue Service. I want to be observant and say that these projects where they even have less traffic they could finish vangage avenue will take another two years. So why is the sfmta taking so long when other projects along the 101 freeway, they get done immediately . Like the alamani boulevard, that got done quickly. They can do this quickly and why cant the sfmta finish their projects on time . Thank you for your time. Thank you, next speaker, please. Speaker can you hear me . Yes, we can, mr. Filpel. Speaker im sorry i missed part of the introduction and the directors report. I did hear director tumlin restoring additional Transit Service on or about august 22nd. And im very interested in that and i assume well hear more about that the later agenda item and im concerned in part about what service is proposed to be reserved and you may hear more on that topic from me in the future. In general terms, i want to be very clear, i think the agency is not doing sufficient or, frankly, any real outreach to the public about the choices that are being made around Transit Service and Transit Service restoration. I think there are a variety of things that could be done now including ways to take feedback, hold webinars or online town hall. Im aware the director has done several and is doing another session this week with the impact of the budget and this could be done along with other online telephone mail, email, a variety of ways for the public. 20 seconds. Speaker its not clear who or is the main point of contact and i think the agency needs to do a much better job about reaching Public Engagement in this difficult time, particularly as it relates to Transit Service and Transit Service restoration. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Speaker hi. Im mary ann and im a resident in the tenderloin and i moved there in january of this year after several years living in, i guess, south beach. And i guess im wondering why there are no slow streets in my neighborhood. Like, i bike and walk around. I have a doing and as you may or may not know, many of the streets on the sidewalks are not longer accessible by foot or, like, if they are, maybe not that safe or savory. It just feels like a punitive measures aimed at my homeless neighbors and everyone else in the neighborhood is suffering. I would encourage you to rethink the lack of slow streets in my neighborhood and also think about, like, who is the most vulnerable in our city and why theyre not getting the same or even remotely adequate services as other areas of the city. Thank you, next speaker, please. Speaker hi, im jay dean. Im a resident of the Richmond District and im also on the Safety Advisory Committee for the Richmond District and i applaud director tumlin for calling out an opportunity to explore and implement speeding enforcement in San Francisco and i think it would be great tor San Francisco to get were in the states 85th percentile for structure and measuring speed. I want to call out that i feel like sf police are unable to really focus on citations and meet the need to prevent accidents and pedestrian traffic injuries. And if you look at the sf government scorecard on sfgov website, youll see this an, but sfpd is issuing far fewer traffic citations every year and has gone down precipitiously and i wanted to call out the score card for Traffic Safety which has not been updated in six months. Although, the sfpd has been updated and available in pdf, but the score card is stopping in december of last year. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Madam chair, we believe the next speaker will be the next speak and well keep you posted. Next speaker, go ahead. Speaker hello, my name is kim and i live in district 6 and i know there have been negotiations for several months slowing our streets down and i noticed how fast and quickly you were able to report today on all of the other projects and yet, again, we are ignored. Are we going to be one of the ones behind secret doors . We want to know what will happen on our streets, too. Our project has been in the works for months and its a small project exit seems like theres no excuse for it to not be done. And also, bus line 27, why has that not reopened . That is one of the main lines in our community. That is such an impact on all of us on a disabled level and all levels and we would like to know what the consideration of that line will be. And therefore, we would like updates on those bus lines that really run the distance for getting us to our hospital and to our services. And so we hope to hear these kind of things in the future. Thank you. Im kim with district 6 and we do not wish to be ignored. Thank you for hearing me. Thank you so much for calling. Secretary boomer, are there any additional callers . Speaker im Katherine Wolf and im with the tenderloin peoples congress, as well as the soma neighborhood Resident Council and i live in soma, but i also do community outreach, Community Organizing in the tenderloin. I walk throughout these two areas and it distresses me very much because it is difficult for me being a senior and being disabled to be forced to walk in a lane of traffic when the sidewalk is not available for me to walk on safely. So i have to physically walk out into the lane of traffic and its very unsafe. And i would like to know why we dont have any slow streets in the tl. Its very important for not only seniors and being disable, but also for kids and families. Because the sidewalks are not wide enough all the time for us to be able to go back and forth. Also, too, its important that the 27 bus line and the 31 bus line needs to be restored and it needs to be there for people to access because youve got the tenderloin and theres a lot of lowincome people, seniors, disabled and these are lifelines for us. Why do we have to walk so far or just stay home because were unable to walk that far . This is not ok for the tenderloin to be ignored. It has been ignored for far too long, so please. Thank you. Moderator, are there any additional speakers . Looks like there might be. Yes, madam chair. Next speaker, please. Speaker hi. Im patrick trauber and i live in district 2 in San Francisco and im calling about the lack of slow streets and specifically in district 2 and russian hill. For the last four months, weve been walking and running, pushing strollers in the street with car traffic because theres not enough room on the traffic to socially distance. With the recent announcements, i notice there are still no slow streets in the neighborhood. The nearest one is a mile and a half away from our house and so i requested some data on the slowStreets Program and i found that over 150 requests have been made over the last two months of the program to add a slow street in our district. But we still dont have a slow street and i would urge the board didnt the emergenc and te russian hill as soon as possible. Thank you. Thank you. Secretary boomer, are there additional public speakers. Yes, madam chair. Next speaker, please. Just for the public, please know that slow Streets Program will be discussed as item 12 on the agenda. Next speaker, please. Next speaker, if you could give us your name. This is just a reminder to everyone, this is comments on the directors report, so the items director tumlin covered earlier. Thank you, madam chair. Next speaker, go ahead. Speaker this is David Elliot Lewis with a member of the tenderloin congress, longtime tenderloin resident who has been impacted by the changes including the loss of two critical bus lines that connect the tenderloin to other neighborhoods, the 21 line and 27 line. I know theres a plan in august to restore a n of lines, but the 31 and 27 are not included. Its a hardship for our neighborhood. please stand by . We will hear from him in august. As the july 9th c. A. C. Meeting the council made various recommendations. The board has been provided with a copy of those recommendations and they are posted online. The first motion has to do with the jchurch and the crucial lines and recommends that there be bus shuttle substitutes of the jay church until rail service returns and expedite its planned project to lengthen the street. The next motion expresses support for the planned rail Service Restoration with a caveat that the agency provide a detailed plan to ensure proper social distancing and cleaning on subways and trains. The last motion is an endorsement of the plan to realign the subway line to encourage greater efficiency and minimize time on the subway. If passenger must wait for more than 10 minutes for scheduled transfer, the l, k and j line should enter the tunnel and before the embarcadero station. Madam chair, those are the three recommendations from the citizens advisory council. Thank you for sharing those. We congratulate neil ballard. I will open up to Public Comment on the c. A. C. Report. I have no specific comment on the recommendations but i wanted to thank you immensely for this new practice either having the c. A. C. Or reading out the recommendation that includes the written transmittal. Wonderful great thing. I can take minor league creditor this improvement in this crazy world. That was the only speaker on the line. Well wait and see if our moderator is checking to see there are zero people on line now for Public Comment on the c. A. C. Next item, number nine. This is Public Comment. This is opportunity for the member of the public who wish to address the board on a matter within the jurisdiction of the sfmta board of directors and not on todays agenda. This is an opportunity to comment now. For members of the public who wish to address the board, if you are on the at t call line, please call 10 now. If you watching via sf tv, the phone number 1 888 8086929. There are four speakers. First speaker we will start your time of two minutes when you begin talking. Few things i wanted to talk about for general Public Comment number one is the cleaning of the buses. I sent you guys email late today before the meeting with some photo that is took on board. Its really disturbing. Ive been wiping down the seat and handrails to see how much dust and grind on there. I get were spraying disinfectant in the air. Also in terms of less shelter and transit platform maintenan maintenance, there was already before covid. Clear channel, they do bad maintenance. They dont clean their shelters enough. Theres always broken glass. The route stickers will be missing from the bus shelters. We need more accountability from them. Finally, im in full support for the caltrain of the original version. Thank you. Next speaker please. Im extremely concerned about another Micromobility Company named revel. I was reading about the death of a cvs reporter involved in a scooter accident while riding on the second seat of scooter. Before we allow any operators and i expect sfmta evaluating with goals in mind. I hope any new company allowed to operate here will go through rigorous safety for allowing two people very vehicle at a time. Thank you. Next speaker please. Good afternoon. Im richard rothman. I think youre going in the right direction. Theres always room for improvement. The last couple of meetings, i watched the meetings and was looking at the budget and that theres no outside person like the board of supervisors. I dont think the board spends enough time getting in the grass and the details of the budget. So maybe be good to have an outside like harvey rose, look at the budget and see what if there could be savings in the budget. I look at what is all the communication stat. Why theres so many people there . Why vision zero is great, what are those people do there except write reports. Every time i ask them their favourite answer is no. Another thing i like to outside consultant to look at, why do it take ten years to fix the traffic signal at 43rd and fulton. Somebody died before i moved back in the neighborhood in 2010. I hope you take those suggestions. Appreciate the good work youre doing. Thank you mr. Rothman. Next speaker please. This is patrick carroll. Im with the Community Association and with the homeowners association. Im not representing those associations. Im here speaking in my own right against the removal of the 35 and the 52. I see that you have restored some buses but 37 was one of them and the 48. There are no buses that serve the heights. Its a very hilly area, very steep. I think we need a bus. At least one of them. I know that ive been taking a uber a lot more with my groceries. My automobile use has increased and i dont drive. I hope you consider restoring the 55 an 35 and the 52. Thank you. Next speaker please. Good afternoon board of directors. I wanted to draw your attention to give us your name sir. Sorry. [indiscernible]. I want to draw your attention to something where city councilmember introduced an ordinance to remove traffic enforcement. In San Francisco were half way towards what mr. Robinson wants to do. I know its not a power you have, i urge you to support moving the enforcement of all traffic violations both parking violations and moving violations out of the hands of the San Francisco Police Department and into the hands of the m. T. A. Its clear how reducing the interaction, reducing traffic stops and you said we need human enforcement. That enforcement does not need guns. That human enforcement should serve the goals of safe streets and transit. Not the goals of the police. Those are things that will be accomplishment moving m. T. A. Out. Thank you for the consideration. Next speaker please. Im herbert. I have some concerns. Will there be a return to the m. T. A. Service route at the end of the pandemic . I want to see all the lines fully restored. This is one of my major concerns. Also, will you need have top priority. This is a transit for the city. More people take bus service and ride bikes. Also, were talking about an audit. I proposed there be an independent audit by district schools from stanford, goldengate university, San Francisco state, u. S. F. Or university of california. It will be for free and it can be a student project. It will be independent and no cost to the agency. Also i should note that decades ago we had much Better Service with muni. It was more comprehensive and covered most of the city. The point was to make it work. Thats when its paid for. Were seeing less service, less resources for muni. Its worse than ever before. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker please. My name is catherine wolf. I have concern about the safety of getting on and off a bus at many bus stops. If you go and look at the curb, you look at the sidewalk, you look at the street thats within the bus zone, there are cracks. There are big pieces cut out like the curb where there are big potholes in the bus zone. I want to know why somebody check the safety of the bus zone. Some of these have been there for over 20 years. Theres still nothing being done. Its really important that you Pay Attention because its very unsafe. Sometimes when the drivers pull the bus up, they dont pull it up to the curb. They will stop in the bus lane and two feet away from the curb. When you get out, there are lot of times theres a pothole. If its raining its even worse you cannot see. Here weve got disabled, we got children, we got families. We got people with babies at the store. Please look into the safety of these bus zones on the sidewalk the curb and the bus lane and fix them. It is very important. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker please. Are there additional speakers . Hi, one person suggested that its on the sfgov tv for the benefit people calling in if you can have a sign that says this is how you call in. The call number is said quickly and impossible to respond to for Public Comment. My real comments are one that the program is wonderful. We need more of it. The ones that we do have need to be sort of reinforced. For instance, i live near pair poser street and drivers ignore it completely. One of the busiest intersections off the highway, its like it gets completely ignored. People dont know what it is. Connecticut street is another large intersection. Theres no sign or barricade at all. It would be nice if they were really bolstered and completely deterred. Other than those who need to be on that block. Also, just asking for the embarcadero. We really should have the embarcadero as being a mirror of the great highway and having the eastern lanes at minimum if not the all the embarcadero at least during the pandemic, closed to cars. So we could have that as a linear park for people to walk, travel, bike, scooter, whatever safely and get more out of that area. Were starved for green space from this side of town. We need more of that. Lastly, if we could please prevent, do all we can. Thank you very much. Next speaker please. This is David Elliott lewis again on a different topic. The issue of the car which was created to address the massive cutbacks. It doesnt reach lot of low income people in need. Two requirements, either disability over 65. Im not disabled. Im not 65. Im close but im not 65 yet. I dont qualify. Theres many working class poor people in my neighborhood who cannot use the essential clip cart. They dont identify as disable. They havent reached 65 cutoff. This attempt to create some kind of correction to the massive cutbacks, doesnt actually help lot of people in need because of those requirements. Finally, the Massive Service cutbacks of 80 of the line has actually made me something we cannot count on anymore. We cannot when we plan our day, its hard to think of muni reliable method of transportation. Even if one of the bus lines thats remaining could work, i stop even thinking about muni as accessible because the lines dont run as often and they are crowded and theres so few of them running. You talk about revenue, director tumlin talked about revenue shortfall, everything you need to increase revenue is not there. Make the service useful by restoring most of the lines. For the tenderline, its 27 to 31 which hurts lot of poor low class people. Thank you for your consideration. I hope youll make recommendations on these issues. Next speaker please. Good afternoon chair and fellow directors. Im calling for several things. I would like to endorse mary maguire email. I dont know if shes on the line to speak about it. I should suspend the driving requirement while this pandemic is going on and shelterinplace and lot of places are closed. I appreciate it that you have it on your agenda for the next meeting. I will ask every meeting that you need to have a sign to block telling people that so and so street is closed through traffic. When you made the turn and theres a car behind you, you cannot just back up. Its a problem. You need to put these signs. M. T. A. Has bent over backwards for the cab drivers and taxi industry. So thank you. I want to ask you put up signs for the Cab Companies saying that masks are required to enter the cab and to be worn while in the cab. The problem is were getting passengers who are either not fully putting on the mask properly or actually removing it in the cab or not getting in the cab without the masks. I have been hesitant to kick them out. I have to speak loudly for them and tell them that my life is just as important as yours. There is a shower curtain barrier we have between the passenger compartment and the driver compartment. I feel safer having the passenger wear a mask. Next speaker please. We have one more person on the line. Anyone else wishes to address the board on matters not on the agenda, please call the phone line that is listed on the agenda and the access code and dial 10. Go ahead, maam. My name is mary mcguire. Ive been San Francisco taxi driver since 1979. I hope you have time to read my email which addresses the subject of the covid19 emergency policy and modifications. Recent studies by your agency they determined that the majority of the group is over 65. The high risk population. Weve been advised by the governor of california and the mayor of San Francisco to limit our contact with the general public. At the same time, stated by your agency to work in a high risk environment with very close proximity to the general public. We should not have to risk our lives to make that possible. On behalf of myself and my fellow people i ask that you direct staff to legislate an emergency modification that will suspend this driving requirement for the calendar year 2020 or until the safe vaccine or affordable covid19 treatment is available. This is not our fault. We love the streets of San Francisco. We love cab driving and the tours and the people that live here. We do all want to be out there working again. I want to. We want the world to be like it was before. Its not. Its still not safe. Thank you so much. I hope to see you in room 400 some time in the future. Thank you. Next speaker please. I believe we have a few more speakers. This is under general Public Comment. This is general Public Comment for matters not on the agenda. Speaker, if you can start again and give us your name. I am ms. Kelly, i volunteer with the coalition on homelessness. I want to speak about an equity issue. I understand that theres no vehicle dwelling during covid. Thats an official m. T. A. Policy. Ticketing the homes on wheels for violating street cleaning restrictions is definitely happening as verified by the folks who live in their homes. Their only homes which are their vehicle. These tickets will accumulate, add up and eventually have to be paid. Covid already has as many challenges. I ask that sfmta make an exception for owners of homes on wheels and not ticket them for street cleaning violations during covid. Also, myself and other members of the coalition on homelessness would love to meet with director tumlin regarding this issue and poverty tows. Its a subject that was directed to mr. Tumlin and the m. T. A. Board members in a letter dated june 19, 2020. That director tumlin answered on july 2nd. Thank you for your work. Thank you. Next speaker please. Hello. I sent you an email last night about 7 39 p. M. I dont know if you got it. Basically im asking to above a bond measure to save caltrain. This is not the time for brinkmanship. Theres been some great journalism in the San Francisco chronicle about the caltrain. I hope that this board will understand the need for the caltrain. I personally the week that the pandemic exploded i was going to fly down, take the ferry, then transfer to a muni metro and transfer to a caltrain back to a bart San Francisco international airport. I want you to please save caltrain. I want to lend my voice. Im asking that you save caltrain. Thank you. Next speaker please. Anyone else who wish to address the board on matters not on the agenda, please dial 10. Are there any remaining there are no remaining callers under general Public Comment. We will close Public Comment and move on to our next item. Thank you. The next item is the consent calendar. I will read the consent calendar item. If anyone wishes to address any matter that is on the consent calendar after i read it, the chair will open for Public Comment. The phone number to use is 888 8086929. [please stand by]. This is a request approval of the workers competence Investigative Services with the past investigations to provide comprehensive Workers Compensation for an amount not to exceed 3,750,000 in the term of five years with options to extend the contract and 10. 6 for facility rehabilitation for Pilot Program to electric to upgrade the infrastructure and install cityfurnished battery bus chargers at the woods busyard in the amount of 2,690,000 for a tem of 270 days. And item 10. 7, authorizes the director to execute modifications, number two, to 33 replacements of reconstruction project, phase two. Madam chair, that is your cop consent calendar. Any members of the public who wish to address the consent calendar. Moderator . So while the moderator is opening the phone line, again, if you wish to discuss any consent item, please dial 10. Noplease let us know what item u would like to withdraw from the consent calendar. Go ahead. If the person who wanted to speak still wants to speak, if you could dial 10 again and we will come back to you. So, madam chair, next speaker, please. Go ahead, speaker. Yes, im peter beldon and this is about number 10 religioe requested parking conditions. I support the changes in restrictions and i just want to note, however, for the future that 17th street is a critical bike corridor and were hopeful that sfmta will create a connected network and 17 will be a critical part of that and so in approving this change by the Police Department could create a red zone, it is imperative that this red zone and Police Vehicles that will be parked there not impede the construction and the correction of a connected and protected bike lane on 17th. Thank you. Thank you. Secretary, are there any additional callers on the consent calendar . The moderator is checking. And there is one line. There is one more. We will accommodate you since you said you had an issue with the general Public Comment. So you can go ahead. Speaker thank you much. Yeah. I dont want to give my name because of medical privacy, but im a senior and concerned with the covid and the problem i have is the parking tickets. And so, i got a parking ticket, couldnt go out to be doing it, but it seems like its unfair to say you can protest it for being a senior and not being able to move your car and follow the directions to be safe. And just be turned down without any reason. Thank you for giving me the chance to speak even though that i was late kind of. No problem, happy to accommodate you. Thank you. Moderator, any additional commenters on the consent calendar . We have two more speakers and someone can turn their sound on the tv down. indiscernible . We have one more speaker and you can start with your name. Mr. Ro moderator are there any other speakers . Madam chair, there are no other speakers for consent calendar items. With that, we can consider the consent calendar. There was a speaker on one of the items in support of the recommendation. Are there any questions or concerns from the directors about the consent calendar . If not, i will entertain a motion. Motion to approve. Second. Secretary boomer, can you please call the role. role call are. Madam chair, 40 in support and before we move on to the regular calendar, we need to take a brief pause according to our moderator. Ok, well take, say, a fiveminute recess. Hold on, just give me a moment. So well take a quick fiveminute break. Item 13 regarding the caltrain sals tax measure has been removed from the agenda and it will be scheduled for a special meeting after the board of supervisors has made a suggested revision so that will happen at the end of july. If members of the public wish to address the board on either item 11 or 12, please dial 888 8086929 and the code, access code is 9961164 and this information is on the agenda if i went too fast and also posted on the meeting web page for this meeting. Item 11, presentation and discussion regarding Transit Service and temporary emergency lane temporary transit lanes. Wonderful. Sean kenned kennedy will be presenting. Thank you, mr. Kennedy. Im going to review the august changes set to take place and go into effect august 22nd h the next steps in the transit emergency onlylanes project for the Service Delivery to look forward in the next year or two. Next slide, please. We didnt have the resources required to run all of our scheduled service and to keep both operators, as well as passengers safe, we knew we needed to reduce our service down to a core system and the system was really based on four metrics and how we reduced it. And first off, land use consideration, and so, wanted to make sure that we connected essential workers and essential trips to hospitals, as well as neighborhood commercial areas and we also, the second metric was connecting muniequity neighborhoods as well as muni transit lines, in general, making sure they were connected to thety at large. And third metric was a citywide coverage with the goal of getting ever resident in the city within a mile of Transit Service. We had good ridership data and we caught our 78 ride downs to 17, those 17 lines were serving 17 to 75 of the daily post covid pridership. We had extra buses and additional buses, sips resources were stabilized to put back into service and we really looked and utilized the feedback from the public and i want to hit on the fact that none of this was done in a vacuum. We get feedback from public constantly from a number of channels including 311, with the Supervisors Office and we have weekly meetings with a number of different neighborhood groups and other stakeholders throughout the city. And we had a pretty robust Feedback Network that was telling us where service was needed, give the fact that we still have constrained resources, of course. And so, youll notice here the yellow lines where we added additional new lines or new service. They are putting in a seven shuttle and the 30 stockton going to make sure thats chestnut and chinatown was better covered. But the Biggest Issue was overcrowding and remains overcrowding and thats for a number of reasons, but obviously, one of the biggest ones is social distancing and the fact that our bus now carries onethird of the capacity that it used to carry. And so, certain corridors where demanded remained high, san bruno through chinatown, demand is still high to this day and however much service we can put out there does not seem like its enough and so we really focused putting more service on those corridors to try to reduce that crowding and support that social distancing and several of the corridors like the san brunu core core ancorridor have more e past so trying to reduce the social distancing issues and focus our resources where needed. And next slide, please. And as you know, of course, anybody that has privilege right now or Transportation Options not riding transit and so we made a conscious effort to design our system, to serve the areas and the people with the greatest Transportation Needs and so, aside from maintaining safety from the operators, which is our overall number one goal, our second goal was to provide mobility to those people that didnt have choices and so, this map really shows how that service plays out or how that philosophy plays out on the street and the thick line, the line thickness there equates to how much frequency a corridor is receiving in Transit Service. And the kind of, i guess purple geographic regions or problems are communities of concern as defined by mtc and so, youll notice that a lot of our service and or core network is not only serving neighborhoods but connecting those neighborhoods to jobs and other landuse opportunities. And about 90 of our service right now is equity, media equity strategy lines and Services Related to delivery and equity service. Our next slide, please. So as we look forward to august, theres several additional changes that we are going to be making. Of course, we are going to be returning several routes to their full route, specifically the 44 shaughnessy and 54 falcon will be adding a couple of new full lines, including the 67 heights as well as 45 union and well be adding in the 3 37 corbit, as well, still serving the twin peaks area but will be becoming down on to market and continuing down from castro all the way to vanesse to make sure that upper market portion has a little bit more surface transit options. We are extending a few routes and one in particular to highlight is the 30 stockton and we will be extending the 30 to chrissy field and increasing the ability for people to access green space via transit and thats a super exciting project that were working closely with the presidio trust. And that is anticipated tthose g in frequency. Then the biggest thing, probably, is the last bullet there which is reducing rail service and theres two benefits here and one, obviously, is rail Service Coming back and just the Service Implications there. But the second is that weve been delivering rail service to date with our rubber tire fleet and so, we have been able to basically make all of the improvements you see on the upper portion of this table because now as we introduce the rail service, well be able to use those buses for other opportunities and other places to increase service. And so, thats pretty exciting and thats why weve been able to increase services in so many locations, is just the benefit were getting from reintroducing rail. Next slide, please. So speaking of the reintroduction of rail, i want to go over what that means. Because it is quite substantially different than when we left it pre covid and so the number one goal is improving the subway. We had so many lines coming into the subway and so many trains turning at embarcadaro that it backed trains up into the subway. You could have eight to 15minute wait between civic center and embarcadaro and there was often times threeto four minute waits coming into the subway. We knew we ed this to improve operations of how the subway itself worked and so were doing that through a couple of different bays. One, the l k. There will be one line between the zoo and balboa bark and if you want to go downtown or into the subway, you will transfer at west portal to make that move. And similarly, the j will turn back at Church Street and will not go into the tunnel either. And so, the j, the l and k are removed from the subway and at the same time, we are interlining or combining the m and the t and that will become one long line from sunnydale to balboa park, a twocar train operation and go through the subway. The n will stay the same and will continue to go from the beach to sixth and keen. And then, the one new service were going to be adding is this Shuttle Service in the subway to help with the capacity issues in the subway by removing some of the trains and so, this subway shuttle will run between embarcadaro and west portal, using what we put in at west portal. Right now, when august 22n august 22nd happens, this will be a twocar shuttle, but as soon as we can, well upgrade this to a threecar shuttle and it will operate at a sevenminute headway in the subway and really hoping to take up demand for all of the transfers happening at west portal and that church. And go to the next slide, please. This talks about how well use two cars for all of the trains that go in the subway with the asterisks being the shuttle, which, as i say, three cars as soon as possible. And the trains that will stay on the surface will be one car and the span that were envisioning that will be in place is 6 00 a. M. To 10 00 a. M. And really trying to match what barta is doing and what barta is trying to do with their service, as well. You go to the next slide, please. In the meantime, we are working on taking the west portal and the Church Street. Church street will be on the 25th, saturday, the 25th of july and so we have public hearings in the next several weeks for both projects and the public hearings will be going over where theyre putting accessible key stops to make sure that these locations are accessible for everyone making the transfer, as well as removing the sparking space pard the overall changing as that goes forward on august 22nd. Once that work is done and those projects are implemented, well be shifting staff time. The next round will be moving through the outreach and we hope to do those public hearings in the september, october timeline so that as soon as the paint shops are done painting the existing approved transit lanes, they can move on to the next batch that has gone through the public hearing and be ready to go right into that work. And then, after that, move over and work on lincoln way, as well as divisidaro. You notice theres another bucket in map, the dark grey, thick lines, are areas where we would like to pursue temporary transitonly lanes, but theyre in a further bucket, because they all have additional steps that need to happen before we can move into the active outreach and public hearing process on those corridors. If you could go to the next slide, please. And this table really identifies each one of those grey corridors and talks about where we are statuswise with those efforts. And youll notice, for example, one of the issues is on 19t 19th avenue for the 28t 28th line, the caltrans rightofway, working to get through the necessary approvals to move that project into the active outreach phase and additionally, a lot of the corridors and the kind of southeastern portion this city, we are working through with the supervisor and the supervisors, i should say districts to identify and kind of work on really good outreach techniques that could involve traditionally disenfranchised communities, especially during the period where people are harder to reach and making sure that were doing that in a thoughtfu thoughtful r before moving forward and were working with the supervisors and there are several corridors that are tied to other projects and other everyone efforts that weg in coordination with but do not want to separate the two efforts and we need to make sure that we blend both the final project on those corridors with what we want to do on the temporary transit lane process. And so, thats where were at in the three major buckets and a brief timeline and thats where i wanted to present today and i will take about questions and talk about concerns and issues. Thank you, mr. Kennedy. Thank youi see director hennigra question. In fact, i have two. This itoday. We could do a block of transitonly way and that might benefit the rail. Yeah, i would encourage that. Maybe you know the answer to this history question, has the city ever considered going through the relinquishment procedures with the state under which you can essentially except the road from the state. You accept the maintenance responsibility, but you also get some flexibility that you dont have now where we have to go through this mothermayi process with caltrans . Weve got major operational changes to a straight like vanesse without having to take on the maintenance burden but theres no question for any caltrans in the state and were not pursuing it right now. Were pursuing a faster court to get a transitonly on the ground on 19th avenue and also notable, caltrans by the end of next year will have likely gotten through paving almost every one of their streets and theyre on a good state of repair and it might be a timely time to ask that question. Yeah, i walk passed Park Presidio everyday and maybe now is the time to seize the day. Thank you. Are there questions for mr. Kennedy from other directors . Dr. Eakin. Thank you so much. Im curious tying this presentation back to director tumlins director report and i think i recall that while its not the primary reason to do it, that protected bike lanes have an ancillary benefit of making Pedestrian Safety improved on the streets and i think i recall seeing a study like that. Do we know because im seeing these in the commercial corridors, do we have any idea if these transitonly lanes also have a pedestriansafety benefit . I think i would imagine they would by sort of prioritizing transit vehicles and discounselindiscouraging traffe transit lanes. But i was wondering if you could share what you know about that. So the munifour program delivered 40 plus miles additional transit lanes over the last four years and looking at before and after analysis on all of the corridors, theres a distinct and definite Pedestrian Safety advantage to transitonly lane for a number of reasons, including the fact that youre shrinking the exposure to pedestrians crossing the street with in general. But, for instance, on mission street, pedestrian crashes went down, i believe, 60 after we put in the transit lanes. And so, we definitely see a direct correlation with transit lane implementation and Pedestrian Safety improvements. Great, fun thank you. The effect is similar to our road diet projects, where if you limit general purpose through automobile traffic to a single lane in each direction, the most prudent driver dictates maximum speed. And so that tends to bring everyones speeds down to a common band, which improves safety outcomes. It also makes it legal for us to lower the posted speed limit because it reduces the 85t 85th percentile. Wonderful. Additional questions to director eakin and if not, director brinkman. Director chair, before director brinkman makes a comment, if there are members of the public who wish to address the board on this matter, if they could join the queue on the at t call line at this point, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, chair. It sounds like theres so many reasons to just love and support these transit lanes as weve season and i know, mr. Kennedy, when we were able to paint the transit lanes red, the existing transit lanes that we used to have, that our compliance with car drivers went up once the lines were painted red and these, i know, wont be able to be painted red. Can you tell us what signage will be on the pavement and what we intend to do about getting that message out there now that weve gotten people used to red transit lanes and we need to tell them these are transit lanes as well. Although, near not red. Theyre not read. Good question. We definitely saw a marked increase in compliance once we went to the red lanes versus just the standard striping and at this point, we are just assuming or not assuming, we will be putting up signage that says transitonly lanes and then, on the ground before each block that say, you know, bus and taxi only and were also anticipating striping a solid white line to the left of the transit lane and that also kind of gives a visual queue that its not just, you know, a dash line that you can come in and out of, but a solid line. And we have been kicking around the idea of also doing just like on the bike network where you have the green boxes or at the beginning of the block that might denote a bikeonly lane and we are thinking about doing something similar where we do a red box that says, you know, supposed to demote or canote this block is for transit only but were still working on that specific marking. Were trying to understand an enforcement push when these lanes go in. Of course, as you can imagine, the resources are stretched pretty thin and so, we are working with them to get what we can out of it, but it remains to be seen how much well be able to do on that side of things. Good, thats helpful and thank you very much. Any additional questions . I do have one question, mr. Kennedy. In terms of the timeline for the further outlanes, what are the timelines for, like, the immediate, the kind of intermediate and then the future . Yeah, so, were hoping theres two different timelines and one is when we can get things through the outreach process, just the inform outreach and through the public hearing process, to get the specific treatment legislated and then, theres the implementation timeline which right now, you know, the shops availability is constrained because, as you know, were doing a bunch of things, not just transitwise, but pedestrian and bikewise, as well. And so, were really hoping that we can get that first round of projects that this board approved at the last meeting completed by midoctober, mid to late october with that second round. If you remember my map, the corridors that were orange, were hoping to have those legislated or at least approved for implementation in the hopefully all will be wrapped up by move and theyll be waiting to finish the first round and start on implementing those in the next round. And then, the last dark grey ones that are waiting for other projects or other issues, you know, im assuming that those will probably be, hopefully, in the new year, early on in the new year, but it goes to how long it takes to work through the caltrans process and how long some other projects takes before we can actually implement the transit lanes. But were going as quick as we can and trying to align both our timeline with the shops timeline to make sure theyre never waiting on us and kind of vice versa. And i would just say a lot of the grey areas, its where we have the high car traffic and capacity and fastest speeds and whatever we do to peed u speed e of those, as far as the outrings of the city where people have less access to transit. And whatever we can do to try to speed up some of those to be before next year, i think it would be optimal, but i understand the limitation to the science shop, so thank you for that reminder. Are there any additional director questions before i open it up to Public Comment. I do have one. Mr. Kennedy, i think at the last meeting, we did authorize the city project engineer to proceed with these trafficonly lanes and i think fairly broadly and i just want to make sure that we do not become a source of delay in and of itself, agendaizing some of the future approvals at the board because we want to encourage you to move quickly. Thank you for bringing that up and i just want to clarify, you did give the traffic engineer approval and we still needed to have a public hearing process and so thats when the city traffic engineer will make his final decision. So we do not need to agendaize these projects and come back for the temporary lanes, but we still go through a temporary public hearing process before we would implement anything. And thats for these temporary lanes. Of course, many of these lanes, you know, we might want to continue to pursue on a permanent basis. But if thats the case, we will definitely be coming back to this board with agendaized items for decisions. Great, thank you. Directors, any final thoughts before i open it up to Public Comment . Great, with that, Public Comment, secretary boomer, can you have the moderator open the line. Yes, madam chair, thank you. Operator you have six questions remaining. First speaker, please, give us your name and we will speaker i want you to revisit the ma sonic. There were complaints about residents at the last hearing, about whether ma sonic woul mase a temporary transit lane and im concerned about the left turn restrictions. You wont be allowing people to make left turns off the masonic to fallon oak and thats a major concern and i think its not appropriate to be prohibiting left turns at those intersections. And, also, during the commute hours, at fulton and at turk, those left turns are very important. I would appreciate it if you could review that again and if the record should have a concern about what is happening, take a look yourself and the problems that we create by putting left turn restrictions there or at least allow taxis to make the left turn, please. Its going to hurt service tremendously. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Operator you have four questions remaining. Go ahead, speaker, if you go give us your name and or Start Talking, well start your timer. Thank you. Speaker thank you. I was thrilled to see the transit lane being put in. My question is, why are they temporary . And if they take six to significaneightweeks to implemet really an emergency . What is temporary . And if theyre not going to be permanent, why are there public hearings for transit in a transitfirst city . And if they are, indeed, temporary why dont we consider making them permanent . It seems like the city desperately needs this and is there a way to get caltran a blanket approval because their mission is to get people moving in a more efficient manner and so, im just troubled by why things are taking so long for something that we need desperately. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Operator you have five questions remaining. Speaker, give us your name. Speaker this is branton park. Mr. Kennedy, can you explain why th it doesnt get anywhere close to vanesse and church and market and goes to cape and masonic. Prin indiscernible . I could see it going back down the hill and you have an l and a t, which i assume youre going to keep those buses above service until the end of december from what i have read and so, why does the 37 need to go off its route when you have allowed all of the other buses that are either are extending or putting back into service to do their route but the 37, again, gets reshifted or tries to get reshifted until people turn around and raise a sink an stiny enough. The bus goes to church and market and it stops for people who go to safeway and it stops at castro and 14th so people can go to the hospital at bayview. It stops at coal and parness so you can catch a six, seven or 43 and goes to eight masonic. 30 seconds. Speaker this is a disservice to us. Thank you. Thank you. Madam chair, before we go to the next speaker, people who are listening who do wish to address the board on this matter, if, for some reason, your line was dropped, please requeue by dialing 10 and then please check to make sure that the mute on your phone is not on. Next speaker, please, thank you, moderator. Operator you have four questions remaining. Speaker hello. Im Christopher Peterson and i am a big fan of transitonly lanes, but i hope that you think more broadly than simply transitonly lanes in terms of tactics to avoid delays for the lines. For example, adding no leftturn restrictions and modifying signal timing. Two examples on that, on ocean avenue, cars trying to make left turns are a major source of liability, for example by the whole Foods Grocery store, and i hope you consider those kinds of changes. Also, traffic signal timing issues, and it would be impacting the circle and, working out the timing to give more priority to various trains going through that intersection. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Operator you have five questions remaining. Speaker good afternoon, directors. This is cat carter, San Francisco transit riders and i want to second everything Chris Peterson just said. indiscernible . Thank you, next speaker, please. Operator you have three questions remaining. indiscernible . Sir, we cannot hear you. If you can start again, please. Speaker can you hear me now . Yes, thank you. indie indiscernible . Weve lost you. We do not hear you at this point. Point. So mr. Pod rater moderator, if n move to the next speaker. Operator you have two questions remaining. Speaker im herbert winer and i have some concerns about muni being restored a prepandemic service. I dont want to see any lines deleted. I want them restored and i want to have them strengthened. With respect to the transit, the lanes for the buses, now, this may be necessary during a pandemic, but were also contributing to Traffic Congestion and im wondering if Traffic Congestion also contributes to accidents where a pedestrian can sue . Those, i think, would be a valuable thing to see if the pedestrians were killed were killed with congested lanes, which cause driving on congested lanes. And i also feel like, basically, Transit Service should be given priority even over bicycles. This is a desperatelyneeded service at this time. Also, in light of future pandemics and in light of future disasters such as earthquakes, you should have a disaster plan for transit, which makes this readily available to transportation. 30 second. Speaker these are any only thoughts right now. Please keep the Service Route intact. After the pandemic. It should not be a means of reducing service. Services has been reduced over the last three decades. And its becoming worse and worse, thank you. Operator you have two questions remaining. Speaker i live in the tenderloin neighborhood and i just wanted to indiscernible . We cannot hear you. Speaker im john mccore mechanic and cormak. We have heag of the 27 and the 31 bus lines and how residents in the tenderloin depend on those two buses for a whole bunch of Different Reasons 1. indiscernible . Cutting the two bus lines is a huge detriment to peoples wellbeing and their able to access Healthy Foods from Major Grocery stores that are just outside of the neighborhood, as well as getting to hospitals. 27, ive heard, is the best line that brings people to the hospital to get their services that they need and the 31, as well. So please take that into account. Thank you. Operator you have one question remaining. Speaker this is Hayden Miller calling in. I think i had technical issues. I just wanted to voice my sole support for transitonly lanes. Like others have mentioned, i think they need to make these permanent, ultimately, and really work towards, you know, better, faster, more Efficient Networks and then, in terms of bringing back routes, i think its important for people to remember that, you know, its not possible to have the same service that weve had before and just remember that. So thank you, guys. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Operator you have zero questions remaining. Moderator, can you please close the lines for us. Madam chair, this is informationitem only. If youre rai ready, i can calle next item. If not, well move on, with no additional questions. Lets move on. Item 12, approve temporary traffic modifications including corridors and slow streets to create more space for socially distanced walking and biking during the covid19 pandemic. Madam chair, there are 17 such locations being proposed today and i will not read the entire list. Great. Shannon headache will be hake wg to us today. Im the Program Manager for the Trees Program and i just wanted to say theres a slight change in the presentation what. One corridor was removed from the list of corridors in phase 3 based on partner reviews and that affects the list and maps of corridors on slide ten. So staff is requesting that this item be removed from the list of slow streets being considered. Is that correct . Thats correct. Thank you. The program is an Emergency Response to the Public Health crisis that resulted in the shelterinplace order in midmarch. Prior to start of this program, narrow queues made social distancing quite difficult for bicyclists and pedestrians and on top of that muni service was reduced during the shelterinplace. When the program was announced, there was no plan for additional slow streets and based on Resident Feedback expect lengthening of the shelt shelten place, the program has grown significantly. Next slide, please. Three months ago today, actually, sfmta began implementing temporary slow streets to provide more space for social distancing during essential transportation trips and these slow streets were implemented with temporary barricades and signage as shown here, designated intersections, identifying the street as a shared space for vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. Whats important to note is that there is no change in local access for slow streets. Residents can continue to access their homes along these streets, park along these streets and no changes this deliveries, Emergency Services or onstreet parking and the vehicles still can use the roadway as they typically would. What the designation does is just discourage throughtraffic along these corridors. Next slide, please. So in the past three months, we have implemented 16 corridors, accounting for 33 lane miles of slow streets in the city and this map shows those phase one and phase two corridors that have already been implemented throughout the city. In fact, will be implementing the final corridor of phase two tomorrow and that will be on lum bard street. This is fmtas overall response toolkit and its has street closures that support essential services and social distancing. Just yesterday, we completed design of a temporary sidewalk project on jones street to bring more pedestrians to the tenderloin in the next several week. Next slide, please. So this is the nonlinear process of how a slow street becomes a slow street and it starts with a suggestion from really any source and immediately goes into a corridor screening that we do internally and this is where we try to identify issues that could prevent an issue with implementing a slow street. For example, muni routes, signalized intersections and commercial loading zones and those are some of the things were screening for because those would make implementing a slow street difficult in those circumstances. And following that review, we work with external partners outside of sfmta to identify conflicts with things that were not even aware of, things like upcoming construction or Emergency Response routes and following than, we get to implement the corridor and that is, actually, probably the hardest step as we barely struggled to source materials, keep them in stock and maintain the barricades once in the field. Finally, we evaluate how slow streets are working and ill talk about that more in the presentation. Next slide, please. As i mentioned these corridors presenting today, theyre very much crowd sourced. We havent had the robust Public Outreach process we wish we could have due to Public Health restrictions, but we have gotten quite a bit of input and received thousands of responses to our online survey, posted on our Program Website at sfmta. Com slowstreets and generally, weve gotten thousands for slow streets corridors, over 350 corridors were suggested by people in San Francisco in that survey. And as you can see in the lower right, feedback from the program has generally grown for supportive over time. In green, you see positive feedback and red, negative feedback and the darker red shows neutral feedback. As time has gone on, the feedback has grown more supportive, particularly with people who live along slow streets cor corridors. I want to point out that this sample of feedback is not. Represent of people in San Francisco overall. The map on the lower left shows contactorrer shading in the zip codes that weve heard a lot from and lighter shading in places that we havent heard a lot from. And so, while we have not been able to do the outreach that we wanted to do, we realize that we need to do a better job with equity in our program and with that, were beginning additional outreach to address community reach, including starting on focused outreach process, in potential slow streets corridors with mail notices so residences, attending Community Meetings and working with Community Groups. Next slide. Were here to propose a thirdround of slowstreet cores which would prevent temporary access restrictions with temporary materials and the actual implementation of the corridors would occur in the coming months as materials become available and slow streets would expire 120 days after the emergency order is lifted without other permanent action by the board. Next slide, please. So there are two main benefits to the slowStreets Program. The first is in Public Health where we are focusing on how the slowStreet Programs allows for social distancing which can reduce the spread of covid19 and encourages more active transportation throughout the city. And secondly, were also looking at slow streets as part of the overall transportation network, particularly as the capacity is reduced and rather than taking the corridorbycorridor approach that we began with at the begin, were looking at a comprehensive slow streets network. This shows the Biker Network now and the next slide, please, by adding in slow streets, you can see a Resilient Network to keep San Francisco moving during this very une uncertain time. We removed broderick based on the review with our our external partners and what were proposing today is a set of 14 corridors which includes a 21new lane miles of slow streets for your consideration. And next slide, please and so, we often say that we have been building the plane as were flying it and as we settle in place for longer shelterinplace, were working to do several things. The first is to do more ontheground outreach as public restrictions allow us to and we realize thats been a shortcoming of our program up to this point and we want to get out to the communities we have not heard from and we want to do more monitoring and evaluation of our program, which ill talk about on the next slide and we want to hear more from the communities that we have not heard from yet. There are identifying maintenance issues and this is more just an internal tracking tool that we use to monitor performance of slow streets and we can also use this to be able to remove slow streets when theyre not working for the community, like we did in the case of stockton street. And we also have a more formal evaluation process ongoing as were measuring phase two corridors with a variety of factors including the vehicle volumes, biking pedestrian volumes before the slowstreet implementation and after. And traffic diversion on to neighboring streets and we have a comprehensive surveying effort going on with some of our phase two streets including both a mailed survey to residents living along particular slow streets and a user survey thats accessible for people using a slowstreet corridor. One more slide, the next one. We will fill in gaps as more materials become available and work with communities to schedule implementation of phase three as those materials become available and throughout the fall, well complete evaluation of the phase two corridors as i mentioned earlier and well build out the network of phase three streets and develop additional slow streets for future consideration which wed be happy to report back to the board on and this concludes this presentation. I would like to invite lee hepner from supervisor peskins office to offer some comments. Can you hear me . Yes. Thank you, chair borden and Board Members for hearing this im today. I am here principally to address a memorandum that supervisor peskin submitted and must say that was an enlightening presentation and its great to sheet the slow streets model really evolve and develop and grow. Into something, you know, i think at the outset, i think all parties would admit that it kind of came out of nowhere and since has taken on a whole new life and gets at the core of what memorandum supervisor peskin submitted is all about and it was great to hear staff center the need for equity concerns and adding that to the slowstreets criteria, which is the chief amendment that or the chief amendment that supervisor peskin is suggesting to the program. And i think what were really talking about here is whereas, there have been difficulties to implement this on the eastern side of San Francisco in a manner that, you know, that has been implemented on the west side, we need to start thinking critically about what needs were serving on the west side of on the east side of San Francisco, pardon me. What were hearing from constituents, weve been engaged in outreach to dozens in our communities including families and children in the Upcoming School year and seniors who want this outdoor space but dont necessary feel like the sharedSpaces Program is for them and that they dont need to be participating in the Outdoor Dining and that they want, you know, dedicated outdoor space that they serves them. The fact of the matter is, an sfmta staff has been fort forthcoming, we wont have the miles and miles of street. Supervisor peskin has seen how amazing the implementations in our pocket of the city and we wont get that, but there is certainly still a need for even short blocks of street that can serve children at the School Year Starts and that can serve or School System and we can partner to expand use of outdoor space for children and families. To that end, we have made recommendations and it sounds like based on my conversations with sfmta staff, it is possible to reinstate lombard street and thats one we would like to encourage. Lombard street of course, was once on the prepared slowstreets list and after the debacle with the street of stockton street, it got pulled, but we think there is merit. It is adjacent to the Public Library and joe dimaggio playground and the blacktop there and numerous childcare facilities interested in that outdoor space and theres even a pingpong store that would like to program the outdoor space there and invite people to play table tennis in the public rights of way. There are Clear Community partners and thats what were striving to identify in the district. I think there was a caller who called in about a slow street near the vicinity of mariposa in the Mission District who i think said it pretty well, that without those Community Partnerships and that stewardship, cars will not obey the slow streets and will burn through to them and thats what we were seeing on stockton street and were searching for community parteers and i hope te board sees fit to add that to the list this afternoon. And then, lastly, as we evolve our thinking about what slow streets is and what shared spaces are and how to really, you know, advance what i think sfta is doing well, there seems to be, again, relative to the space, this is a bit of a freeforall and designed for residential neighborhoods and does not fit well with the commercial corridors and the shared space which is more about the specific cor corridors. How can we implement the slow streets on commercial streets like we saw on grant avenue which is a fantastic thing we were able to celebrate just this last weekend on grant. If you havent made it out to chinatown, every week from grant to california to clay, its just a wonderful stretch of street and how can we identify more opportunities, Community Partners and engage directly with potential stewards for slow streets in these more dense commercial areas and we would love to see more of that. I think that if the criteria is flexible and allows for blocks to take openership in terms, it could and will encourage more active participation and that is what we want to see. In our memorandum included by a number of other requests that im sure will pick up with sfmta staff over the next coming weeks, i want to think janeie parse and shannon. With where committed to finding additional ways to make this work and with that, i will feed the conversation to the Board Members. Thank you all. Thank you, mr. Hepner for your time and thank you to supervisor peskin for his leadership on working with th sa staff. Before you go, i want to ask members the of the public if you want to address this, call 8888269 so that you are ready to dial 10 when the chair opens this topic up for general Public Comment. I think the livable streets director will handle that question. Sure. Maybe you can add additional details. Jso so the livable streets director and i want to say thank you for working closely with the slow streets for the last couple of months and we were happy to get the letter from the supervisor yesterday and i think many of the things that we can address in particular, lombard streets, which was just and because that was a part of the phase two approvals, we can actually implement that immediately and so were planning to implement the section of lombard street later this week and while we would love to have the boards support, we dont dont need it indiscernible . We need to figure out more ways to adjust the slowStreets Program to meet the needs of the east side neighborhoods. Any specific questions before we open it up to Public Comment. Miss hake, great presentation. Mr. Parks, i love your background, your children have been obvious busy during the stayathome time. Very talented. Really are. So, yes, i agree that even single block can really help, especially when it gives small children a place to play and a lot of parents really only use a single block of a slow street while the parents watch from a stationary park and im so glad we can implement lombard. Miss hake, when you said broderick taken out, i could hear the cries of sadness from my neighbors because thats my neighborhood corridor and people were looking fo forward as to wy to connect from golden gate along broderick to paige street to slow street. Two question, i have such great faith in the ability to staff to work through whatever the challenges are and so could we add broderick street back in, approve it today and not implement it until we have the challenges sorted out. . So that is based on feedback from a variety of different sources and it ends up that broderick is a frequent Emergency Response and based on conversations with the district supervisor, that we might be able to find a better corridor to replace broderick. Stay tuned. Ok. That is incredibly disappointing, but i do live on broderick and we have the fire trucks going along there a lot and i accept that as being a challenge. And so ill just say, if we can continue to work on something in that neighborhood and i will take the sadness from my neighbors and use it in my future work. So thank you. This is great, but again, Great Program and you both have done good work and every time i go to a slow street, it warms my heart to see so many families and children out there. Director eakin. Thank you. Just a couple points. One is, we heard supervisor peskins colleague ask for equity criteria to be added to the slow streets and i think were approving today sort of a list of streets and im not necessarily sure approving a list of guidelines of how streets should be considered Going Forward, but if it would be appropriate to amend our action today to add equity criteria, i would certainly support that. But maybe staff could speak to that for a minute. Yes. We have developed equity criteria as a part of the transportation Recovery Plan here as the sfmta and we have specific metrcs that were working on to not only develop but measure ourselves on and report back on in terms making sure that were using this program as a way to equitably distribute resources and the needs of the community in San Francisco. The equity of criteria are important to me and we want to make sure we dont apply this without be inclusive. One of the factors that has most guided our work in the covid period is listening to individual communities and allocating resources. So, for example, in bayview and hunters point, we have pushed the Community Hard on trying to develop slow streets proposals throughout that neighborhood and the feedback we hav feedback hao prioritize transit investment and that is the direction we have taken. Similarly, in many of the commercial districts and super blocks of particularly north beach but Fishermans Wharf in northeast, weve gotten strong feedback to prioritize shared spaces so commercial businesses could go into the street and that is the work we emphasized. We do not want to be in the position of being the smart people downtown who are imposed our ideas on neighborhoods. We want to be collaborating with communities in order to make sure they understand the whole array of tools that we have to their specific problems, but we want to be listening to communities about what their problems are and what their priorities are. That said, we also understand we need to invest more in engagement, in communities that dont have a tradition of a lot of engagement with government and, also, invest in communities that dont have a lot of tradition of engagement digitally. That means focusing Staff Resources to use more traditionally needs of Community Engagements such as going doortodoor or leaving fliers in markets and making sure that our materials are in the language that the local Community Speaks and similarly for our programs, weve been wanting to create some Grant Programs to reduce the bar that some communities face in terms of the investment that it takes to partner with the sfmta on these programs. So we take equity seriously but not in a onesizefitsall way and trying to look at this comprehensively. Ddirector tumlin, whats the best way to provide feedback . please stand by . Listening to Community Groups just over the past few weeks. Were also working with organizations to vet them before they get to this period. So talking to more Community Organizations, neighborhood representatives, in particularly underserved communities. Were working in the Ingleside Community in the bayview. Were trying to work with communities that already communities and organizations that are already present in communities. Okay. Direct director . Director heminger yes, a comment, too. Maybe i could start with the comment. I just want to compliment all of the mta staff folks on the line and all the way up to leadership that are working on this program. It may have come from nowhere, but its gone somewhere in a hurry. And what i like about it is how untraditional it is. And i guess to some extent i want to dissent a little bit from the handwringing that im hearing in this meeting about outreach. Because one of the things that a program like this can do is the program, the projects can be the outreach. [inaudible] you can pick up your sandbags and go home and try it somewhere else. I realize we cant go around town stealing the march on every Community Organization there is. But as we all know, it is so much easier to stop things in San Francisco than to get them done. And i think you found a scale of project where were going to do minimal damage if we try something out and it doesnt work. And we have been able in the alternative and thats what has proven to be the case weve been able to do so much good in so many places. And youve got your hands on maybe the most popular project weve got. And there are lots of other things that m. T. A. Does that are not popular. Many of them arent supposed to be popular, but this one happens to be. And its also engaging people at a scale where its really personal. And its about their kids and its about their neighborhood. And so i really, again, want to thank you for all the work youre doing and lets not let this project get turned into all the other red tape we have to go through day in and day out. The question i had was specific. And maybe its to you, jeff, because i believe you were recently at the Recreation Park Commission about Golden Gate Park and the plans there to sort of connect the j. F. K. Drive project with the great walkway out at the ocean. Can you give us a status report on that . Sure. So we went weve been effectively serving as consultants to the recreation and Parks Department to find a way of connecting the pan handle to the beach and eventually creating what would be effectively a pathway for people using all little wheeled devices from the Ferry Building to the zoo. So as many of you know, there has been a to extend j. F. K. From its current expanse. And weve frankly been concerned about that goal and because who the users of Golden Gate Park are and where theyre coming from. The west of j. F. K. Is a lot of institutions and picnic areas. And people who are comfortable on a bike and live nearby, can walk into the picnic fields with their baskets. If youre coming from more distant neighborhoods, it can be challenging to get on muni with the picnic basket and your kids and get all the way to Golden Gate Park. Were trying to maximize the accessibility of Golden Gate Park from people coming from all modes, that gets all of the commute traffic out of Golden Gate Park. [inaudible] moderator, can you great. Wonderful. So what we also want to be respectful for park users with disabilities. That is one of the other details were helping to work out with the recreation department. Finding ways to make it easier for people with a whole array of disabilities to comfortably and safely access all corners of the park. Were coming up with other modifications in both of the eastern part of the park and the western part of the park. And finally, we want to expand access to the park institution. The young museum and the academy are extraordinary institutions that are in the middle of Golden Gate Park. We want those institutions to thrive and we want them to accessible to the full array of san franciscans, regardless of how theyre getting to Golden Gate Park. We want to improve the accessibility of the park for people who need to drive by, for example, managing the parking. We want to improve access to people coming to the park via transit by noting that the stop at eighth avenue sir, im sorry to interrupt. We dont know if we have to reset the audio again. We need to check in with the producer because it may be that members who are listening online cannot hear this discussion. So if if dont make me repeat my passionate monologue. If the producer can let us know whether or not we need to pause the meeting right now . Okay. So the audio is fine. Well need to pause later for just before Public Comment. Director tumlin, pick up where you left off . We also want to celebrate the institution by making the park more accessible, via muni, which of course the improvements do. But to acknowledge that the eighth and fulton stop is a block from the institution and is a critical gateway to Golden Gate Park. Were wanting to partner with rec park to acknowledge that Golden Gate Park is a giant hole in the doughnut of all of the services, whether its scooters, bikeshare, we should be able to accommodate people who want in park in the western part of the park but Access Services or their job in the eastern part of the park. So by choosing overlooked middle and m. L. K. As a extension of j. F. K. , were able to achieve all those objectives. To create a path from one end of the park to the other, while minimizing the impact while kicking out commute traffic, improving safety for everyone and accessibility by every single mode of transportation, including those modes that people with disabilities are using. So were actually very happy with the partnership with rec park. And also how each agency is sort of helping the other understand the larger goals, you know, the larger goals of both agencies and ultimately the larger goals of the city. Director heminger so, jeff, the projects that you mentioned that make the connection between j. F. K. And the great highway, those have been approved by the rec and Park Commission . No, no, it needs to go to the rec Park Commission for approval, but we, you know, assuming the City Attorneys office doesnt say otherwise, we believe that we can get started on that through the emergency declaration, again to address the fact that the eastern part of j. F. K. Is so wildly successful that its actually getting crowded and it needs more space to spread out. And in addition, you know how much service weve had to cut on muni and for how long that will continue. Creating an opportunity for people to be able to get eastwest all the way across San Francisco safely using micro mobility is important for allowing essential workers to get to work. Director heminger and madame chair, if i could just conclude with a request to you, when we have real meetings again, sometime in 2137 [laughter] i think a joint meeting between our board and the rec and Park Commission would be a really valuable thing to do. The staffs are collaborating a lot. And i think in terms of someone who is very simpatico to our mission, that commission and our board, i think, could do some real damage together. Director eaken thats great. I will take that under advisement. Another commissioner makes a lot of sense for us to collaborate. Madame chair, weve gotten word that the meeting has been completely dropped from the public. And so we are going to have to take a short break while we reconnect. This is what happens when people hit mute all. How do you even hit mute all . I dont know but well take a all right, madame chair, we have been told that the issue has been resolved. Madame chair . Madame chair, the issue has been resolved. Director borden wonderful. Ill call the meeting back to order. Unless there are any additional comments, ill open actually before we go to Public Comment, i do just want to make sort of a lastditch request for, not just broderick street, but other streets that may come into conflict with Emergency Service vehicles. I have so much respect for the Fire Department and the station around the corner on grove street is fabulous, theyre wonderful. I have a relative in colorado who is a firefighter, so i really understand the challenges. But it does worry me. I know we worked so hard to keep a Good Relationship with the Fire Department and work through all the challenges. I just wonder with the amazing staff that we have, if this isnt just one more challenge we can work through. Because thinking of other parallel streets, baker doesnt make sense because its even more of a main street that broderick. It seems like project key corridor. Again, i do wonder if we can add it back on to the list with the understanding that it wont be implemented until challenges are overcome or maybe we shorten the stretch of it so were not interfering so much or giving the impression of interfering with the fire station there. I would like to hear from staff and maybe take that as a question above your ability to answer. Could you speak to the larger effort of establishing a stronger relationship with San Francisco Fire Department in order to help with their approval . I think when i do that, ill touch on a broader range of things than the sow streets. Weve been working on the slow streets project as youve been hearing today, focused on providing this great connectivity and recreational resource. The shared Spaces Program which is providing space for businesses and other commercial activities in the public rightofway and special emergency projects from the transitonly lanes to the bikeway to ways that we can knit together our transportation works. The Fire Department is a key stakeholder. Weve been involving them in the approach to working with them. You go back to two years ago when in our Capital Program we began to fund a senior level portion of the Fire Department to do infrastructure and Design Review so we have a single point of contact who gets to know the transportation issues be and the fire and response issues. During the covid period, the city had an Emergency Operations center. Within that, the incident commanders and the Fire Department staff were heavily involved in reviewing our designs. Its meant that a lot of eyes were looking at those things and i think weve been [inaudible] but definitely [inaudible] Fire Department work in a much faster pace and thats been a real challenge. There are been breakthroughs yesterday. Fell street is a good example. In discussing fell street, i know we want to go beyond our previous approach to simply getting projects approved, but partnering with the Fire Department, using their data, treating their success and response to emergencies. So its about staffing, its about data. But its also about making sure that we are lining up a queue of decisions at all times for the Fire Department to be able to staff and react to quickly. And as director mentioned, weve been bootstrapping up new programs left and right this spring and were just now getting control of the queue of slow streets and shared spaces and bike lanes. And temporary emergency transit lanes and getting those approved with the Fire Department. Definitely a work in progress. Definitely working smoothly and better than it was three months ago. Give the Fire Department a lot of credit for staffing it. While were on the topic, because im sure it will come up later. Can you also explain our efforts partnering with the Fire Department specifically in the tenderloin which is the neighborhood weve invested the most effort and had so far the least success in. Right. So in the tenderloin we know that simply trying to build out a slow street or shared space that might work in other parts of the city, its just not something the m. T. A. Is going to do by itself there. Were working with a lot of other city agencies. There is an areawide plan for the tenderloin that the healthy streets Operation Center is the lead of. We have a role in that. Our role is to make sure there is adequate space for people to walk safely around the neighborhood and be presented protected from traffic. We have interesting things a project we just got approved on jones street which will be implemented soon. Turk and levin worth. For all those projects, we nod the Fire Department to be able to respond to emergencies in every building in the tenderloin. The health risks. The acute needs of the population there mean that our work is really important, our work is really needed, but the Fire Departments response cannot be of compromised at all. Coming soon on turk and levinwood and then continuing to work with the Office Making sure those Emergency Responders arent compromised. Director borden great, thank you, mr. Maguire. I understand, i just felt it owed it to my neighborhood to give a little extra push. Im confident i dont like to secondguess staff. I know im not a traffic engineer, but it does make me think dropping broderick street, but Going Forward for the network of slow streets were looking for, what can we do im sure staff is working on it i was on page street at masonic and saw a fire truck come up masonic and turn on page. The way that the sawhorse had been placed, there was enough room for them to do that, but maybe the permanent or longterm version of the slow streets are going to involve pulling car parking back from the corners so the fire truck can make its turn. Thank you again. I love the work and the slow streets. Im sad for broderick and sad for my neighbors, but hopefully well get something that will help with the connections. Well move to Public Comment right now since we have people on the line waiting to give input. Moderator, if you could open the phone line. Members of the public, if you wish to address the board on this topic, as you heard me say many times, 88 8086929. The access code is 9961164. This is on the agenda and the board web page. The moderator will let us know when we have people on the line. You have 23 questions remaining. Okay. First caller. Hello, this is patrick carole again from the Community Association and the homeowners association, im here in my own right. I wanted to call to the boards attention duncan street. Duncan street was made a slow street in its entirety from Mission District all the way up to the boulevard. The board may not be aware that it is only one of three streets that connect the heights to the west. The others being diamond and duncan. And so i think that if one of the three connector streets is closed, it will put more traffic on the the other streets in Diamond Heights and create problems and hazards where none currently exist. The other thing i want to bring to your attention, is that the street is steep. This is not the part of the street that you want to teach your child to ride a bicycle or go for a sunday stroll. It just does not seem like its suitable. My request is that you remove duncan street to newburg. Its a small street that runs in a diagonal and connects it with castro. Also, i want to turn your attention to the fact that duncan street is stops and start. It doesnt run through 30 seconds. To noe and also, there is a break between noe and sanchez. So west of sanchez, its not really a suitable street for the slow Streets Program. Thank you. Next speaker, please. You have 26 questions remaining. Good afternoon, directors. My name is kristin. Im a Community Organizer at the San Francisco coalition. Im calling in today to support the proposed slow Street Program expansion that you have before you. Slow street has brought much needed street to those biking, walking. I actually heard from over 100 members in the past 20 hours alone how amazing the program is in the western portion of the city. I think we probably all saw how many people from all over San Francisco came together to this program is creating much needed space for our communities to come together. The program started on april 21st, weve seen 21 slow streets with similar covidrelated street closures and neighborhood and parks. Supervisors and neighbors across the city overwhelmingly support both streets and theyre asking for more, but there is one major problem. Our densest neighborhoods still do not have slow streets. The tenderloin and soma continue to be out of the picture. Were hearing from neighbors in every district as well as supervisors, officers, saying why there are not slow streets in soma and tenderloin. Its infuriating and unacceptable. Those in the center of the city of the densest neighborhoods are still not safe to go outside into the neighborhood. How would you feel, not able to leave your house for months on end . Youve heard from a number of folks that the sunset and the richmond and the program has been a major success. I look forward to the approval of slow streets and most importantly, a commitment to bring slow streets to the tenderloin and soma with urgency. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next speaker, please. You have 25 questions remaining. My name is mack. Im a resident of dog patch. I want to speak to the slow streets proposal, particularly minnesota. I do want to encourage sfmta to consider the mid block near 909 minnesota. The street slopes to a crest and traffic is already generally too fast. I recommend a barrier in the street there to encourage drivers to negotiate that crest with caution. Welcome to me would be switching items south of 19th to perpendicular to parallel parking. That would increase safety for all street users. Thank you very much. [please stand by] thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. You have 24 questions remaining. Speaker thank you. Im tyler and i live on the north end of the tenderloin. There a few areas next sneaker. Im calling as a resident who occasionally does drive and we dont drive much and we havent used a quarter tank of gas sinke march, but between most streets i dont mean to sound negative, but we have slow streets all around us and theyre hard to avoid. For instance, coming back from berkley on sal street, we turn left on pierce t appears pearce. indiscernible . Thank you, next speaker, please. Speaker im here today along our Community Partners at the Traffic Safety passports to express frustration at the lack of urgency in the tenderloin. We wrote a letter seeing we want to see others prioritize on the slow streets. The tenderloin facing many unique challenges that have been exacerbated by covid, like crowded sidewalks, and housed and unhoused respects in small living quarters. If you step foot in this neighborhood, you immediately see what im talking about and for four months for shelterinplace, this is the second highest of covid in our city and we have yet to see changes on jones. And the Fire Department conveniently approved that last night but only after months of delay and pressure from hundreds of community members. You said slow streets is not right for the tenderloin but residents are saying how theyre fearful of leaving their homes and unable to move freely and parents have broken down in tears because they work two jobs, live doubled up in a studio and cant take their kids into a park because its too crowded and small. Ive had to explain to a 5yearold niece why we cant go to Golden Gate Park to play. 30 seconds. Speaker saying this isnt the right tool for the tenderloin and we encourage you to find the right tool and give the tenderloin residents what they need, safe and open spaces to move freely, thank you. Operator you have 22 questions remaining. Speaker i will speak really fast because i have a lot to say. They obviously dont care if someone dies and how do ambulances get through . Many have muni lines and they also have routes from the hospital up there and when i am sitting when i sat in front of the tech club, i would see the ambulances and now its closed. But race down jones street and if theres a doubleparked car on jones street, and its not an extra lane for them, because its rightturn only lane and two lanes going south. The problem is, you need access to the south and thats a problem and the next list is 20th street and there are restaurants and other businesses that they need access to on 20th street and im glad you took broderick off and you need to have access to kaiser. Its not just about the Fire Department but the emergency room and having that as a street and baker is not an option. And then, mariposa. Its crazy that a portion of about four or five blocks, between texas and tahara. But the other parts, youre just inviting violation. Theres access to davies Medical Center. 30 second. Speaker youve closed down the castro area and youre closing that, too, and you have two closed streets in a row and thats a major problem, a major problem. And you need to have access to be able instead of going all the way down to church, which has the big hill and, also, mariposa, you have to go south and the problem is, you have to go through mariposa to go south. Thank you for your comments and next speaker, please. Operator you have 21 questions remaining. Speaker this is david pilpell. I was in the queue for the last item on the Transit Services and i did not get called on, so i would like to make my comments now on that item. Sure thing. Speaker ok, so i cant do much in two minutes on the Transit Services proposed to be restored in august. Satisfies isuffice it to say, im displeased with the package to develop them and you and anticipate i will find some way to appeal that action or seek, you know, other recourse. Im very displeased that staff has been unavailable and unwilling to unavailable and or unwilling to talk about that. I would invite a civic discussion with director tumlin or others in a way to avoid would be a protracted effort if i do find a way to appeal or find other recourse on that. With regard to ill just leave it at that for the moment. With regard to this item on slow streets, i was very interested in the comments in the colloquy with lee heffner from soup storr peskins office. 30 second. Speaker can you ask the staff to post that memo on the web page for this meet asking in the future, can you find some push for public core spons dense to get posted because the public cant see what you have access to in these discussions. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Operator you have 20 questions remaining. Speaker im an advocate of slow streets. We appreciate them adding the mariposa to complete the eastern end of the street. There are some issues with mariposa street. Its a partially finished implementation from phase two and its dangerous to pedestrians and bicycle riders because its missing some significant amount of signs at some major intersections like connecticut street, rhode island, et cetera. And it is a 40yearold freeway bipartisan and were trying t bypass and needs attention like a mix of residential and commercial streets in the district 3 and this is another one of those. And this stretch of maripos a very unique, a residential on the west and gives away to whole foods, condo projects and residences and the anchor brewery, brand new apartment buildings and jackson park and live oak schools and residential again and arkansas to mississippi and it needs a lot of signs and in our opinion, it also needs some signs that point to the drivers suggesting they use 17th street which is the major thoroughfare in this area. It was leg state legislated 17 o as the truck routes and we get a lot of trucks on mariposa finding their way from 101 to the interstate 280 and its only one of our slow streets. And then weve got the proposed street, which i think is a good idea and its unfortunate that we cant get over the caltrans bridge, east of pennsylvania for some reason, to tie it in, so that would tie it into minnesota street. Sir, you have two seconds left. Speaker im done. Our next public speaker, please. Operator you have 19 questions remaining. Speaker im with the tenderloin Traffic Safety. indiscernible . Thank you for implementing the changes on jones street. I think the changes on jones is overdue. What this process revealed, though, is what i want to talk about today. This was appointed last night, july 20th and four months since you ordered a shelter and before you are ordering a third round of slow street. indiscernible you need to rest on why, with a high concentration of seniors and children would not fit this criteria, your criteria and you need to commit to the substantial changes that need to take place to make the neighborhood safer. 20 second. Speaker the way the tenderloin is treated is not a reflection of the value people in San Francisco hold. Do whats right. Thank you. Thank you, next speaker, please. Operator you have 18 questions remaining. Speaker hi. Id love to echo director henningers comment. Thescomments. These are temporar. Do what works. There are neighborhoods that need extra help and, perhaps, you could have rec work with communitybased organizations and program these spaces. Theres a Group Offering the Safe Organization to areas and more likely they will take route on the community. Because, frankly, the eastern side of town doesnt have any idea what those streets can be. They can see what could be possible. I woulive seen every slow stred it is night and day, the east side of town versus the west. indiscernible . Speaker thank you. Operator you have 18 questions remaining. Speaker good afternoon. Im jodie mederis and im the executive director of walk San Francisco. Thank you for the opportunity. We need sfmta to access slow streets and thank you and your team for bringing this promising approach to San Francisco. I would ask that the city agencies find a way to Work Together so that neighborhoods like the tenderloin, who are asking no, theyre not asking, theyre begging for this program and theyre not left waiting and waiting for programs like slow streets for months while other neighborhoods are enjoying these safe street spaces which we are hearing over and over. Because you know what . Theres no time to waste in creating safe and healthy space for people to walk and bike and this is true throughout the pandemic. The tenderloin has been crying out for slow streets because traffic violence in that neighborhood is part a par of t. This must just be one of Many Solutions to prevent fatal traffic crash. Traffic is up and as director tumlin reported, fatalities are on the rise. Lets Work Together. Theres no time to waste and prioritize the tenderloin and other neighborhoods that do not have this program that we all desperately need. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Operator you have 17 questions remaining. Speaker hello. Im eric roselle and i live and work in the tenderloin and im glad to hear state is priority. However, i would like those words to be put into action, proving the creation of enhanced slow street, play street and shared spaces in the tenderloin. Our need is urgent as youve heard and as said by Many Community members and many of the residents here have been trapped in their homes due to the congested sidewalks and poor street conditions. The tenderloin neighborhoods even acknowledges the ongoing challenges due to Public Health and lack of social distancing and recreational space, particularly for families, seniors and people with disabilities. And knowing that, please do what you can to see that any proposals in the design process to implement safestreet changes in the tenderloin. It can save a life. Additionally, i want to point out that enhanced slow streets here would reduce samp samples r street the intender loi the a residential neighborhood rather than a thoroughfare. indiscernible . Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Operator you have 16 questions remaining. Speaker good afternoon. I live on clipper street and im calling to support the slow Streets Program. I walk my dog there and love seeing all the kids on bikes, joggers and people seeing safe space. This is essential that this is an equitable program and i urge you to bring slow streets to all neighborhoods, especially those that have waited too long like the tenderloin and soma, even when they require additional planning outreach and i ask you use this as a longterm solution for the following reasons. San francisco must further Prioritize Health and safety on our streets. Slow are streets provide safe to social distance and to walk safely without distracted drivers which has and always be needed. Slow streets are showing us the future. Now is the time to build a just, climatefriendly and resilient Transportation System in sanfrancisco. The slowstreet and Pedestrian Network is always needed. Thank you for your time. Thank you, next speaker, please. Operator you have 15 questions remaining. Speaker im hopefully a future slowstreet steward. Steward. Steward. I appreciate you allowing me to comment and thank you for everything youre doing during the pandemic. I know its a crazy time. As a parent of a 3yearold who just got her first bike, i want to protect the slowStreet Program. indiscernible . Operator you have 13 questions remaining. Speaker i represent the open space and most of Golden Gate Park is in district 1. While im coming around daytoday, i am concerned about the traffic thats going on fulton street and while mta just came up with a plan to daylight fulton street, so the pedestrians can see the cars coming, this does nothing to slow the traffic down on fulton street and i urg heard the direr earlier talking about the legislation. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Operator you have 12 questions remaining. Next speaker, please. Speaker good afternoon, board of directors. Speaker for months now, they are popping up all around town except in the northeast side. Nothing has been happening. I live in this neighborhood and i can see whats happening on my own streets and theres one block on golden gate. indiscernible . Next speaker, please. Operator you have ten questions remaining. Speaker i was born and raised in the tenderloin. The slow Street Initiative is important and critical, but i think the ter tenderloin not beg included, in my opinion is racist. indiscernible . Speaker where can the Young Children go out and play if their families dont have cars . indiscernible . Operator you have ten questions remaining. Dial 10 ifer you wish to address the board to join the queue now. Thank you, next speaker, please. Speaker im herbert winer and hav i have some concerns. I think this is important that the whole city have input on this and now, slow streets may be important for this pandemic, else for the virus that is here. However, after this pandemic, if slow streets are implemented, what about the potential problems of congestion because cars will be limited as to where they can drive and it will really create a traffic problem like youve never seen and now the problem that the mta board has is theyre biased against automobiles and yet, they are expected to address traffic as a whole. Now, we have to be fair to everybody. Now, i can understand the nature of slow streets, especially in the tenderloin and the need for automobiles. But one problem as far as the thoroughf arares, why not instal street bumps . That would be one solution. For petes sake, treat the problem as a whole and not have a benefit using certain groups for Bicycle Coalition and other people. Speaker ththis should be running from 24 to 25th and this forces traffic going west on to 23rd avenue between cabrero and fulton and this will result in a safety problem. Its a small block with a median strip in the middle and it cannot accommodate all of the heavy trafficked vehicles coming up and down, including emergency vehicles that go between 23r 23rd avenue and 45 log. 45th. Thank you so much. The motion would be to move the start to 25th avenue, go backwards to 22nd avenue where therethatcan accommodate even t 21st between fulton and cabrio. Thank you. Thank you. Operator you have eight questions remaining. Speaker im francis gorman. Im a resident of cal hollow and ive been a professional tour guide in San Francisco since 1998. Im with the committee on transportation and i would like to compliment the collaboration in trying to director testimontumlinmaking sure everyf transportation is considered in Golden Gate Park and for supporting the institutions in Golden Gate Park. I would like to encourage the idea of having the ssfmta rec and park board have a joint meeting. Last week, when we had the rec and park meeting, ive been trying to get clarification on transfers because when we bring our tour vehicles from the ocean and highway, we want to go to the approved parking behind the if theyre coming east on jfk, we need to make a righthand turn on transverse and a lefthand turn on mlk to continue. Ive been trying to get clarification on that very short stretch and ive been referred back to rec and park. 30 seconds. Speaker i would like to make sure that that area is safely considered, perhaps, having everyone get off their bicycles and theyre already coming down and safely get across t and i support slow strt and particularly in my neighborhood which is calhollow marina. Thank you for the joint efforts and particularly for mr. Tumlin. Thank you. Operator you have seven questions remaining. inaudible . Speaker im robin on div divisidero street. This street remains impassable for pedestrians who are following our citys Health Border for social distance. Its six feet wide in most places but impossible to maintain six feet distance from passersby. It needs a sidewalk but that was given away and is no longer there. Pai indiscernible . Next speaker, please. Operator you have five questions remaining. Speaker i live in the valley and i am in favor of the slowStreet Program in certain locations. For example, i live on the 400 block and this is a block that is not conducive to having a slow street put on it. And i understand that right now were seeing a slow street as being proposed on valencia all the way up to the boulevard. On this block, for example, it deadends on noey and one end i have duncan and noey and on the other end and duncan and sanchez and sanchez is already a slow street. And so if you make duncan a slow street, then i have to go two blocks i hav i have to driven two blocks of a slow street to get to a regular street and clearly, theres your doving babdodgersbaby strollers and its challenging. This is a very steep block and we have 90degree parks and just backing out of this of our Parking Spaces 30 spaces. Speaker on a regular day is challenging. Adding to that trying to navigate walkers, strollers and runners when its a slow street is asking for challenges and im worried there will be people that are getting hurt. So my recommendation won woulde keep doing the slow streets in shorter increments and dont make the 400 block of duncan street a slow street. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Operator you have five questions remaining. Speaker this is martin munoz. Im in support of slow streets so thank you for the rollout so far. I dont think it has gone far enough just yet. Im concerned that the last caller suggested that he would probably run over a cyclist or pedestrian if you dont acquiesce to his needs tor driving, i guess. Thats scarry. I want to speak directly about soma, though. You know, we have cities around the world that are examples of slow Streets Program could look like if its rolled out in neighborhoods like the tenderloin. For example, in barcelona, they have the super blocks program, which what it is, taking the whole city block and blocking them off from cars so they can only use neighborhood access like we have for slow streets and letting the surrounding thoroughfar es be the ingress and egress for throughtraffic. Barcelona is not known to be a city that goes up in flames all of the time and not an example of fire disasters. So when you look at the San Francisco Fire Department blocking the slow streets, one has to wonder, how did barcelona do it so well . One of the biggest embarrassments of the last three years in terms of mta was making stockton street years of being a respected street where pedestrians could enjoy it and 30 seconds fo. Speaker this needs to be made permanent, not just during the pandemic because these are changing taking way too long. Adding slow streets is a race and equity issue and environmental issue and should be treated like the Health Emergency like it is. And any more delay in the tenderloin is essentially racist. It needs to change now. Thank you. Thank you, next speaker, please pu. Operator you have four questions remaining. Speaker i wanted to commend the sfmta for the slow streets. It seems like a great initiative. It will bring a lot of joy to peoples lives and unfortunately, i wouldnt know anything about it. I live in the intende tenderloi. Even though there was originally a slow street plan on ellis, that mysteriously disappeared from the plan and so this slowness in the tenderloin is something problematic and especially inequitable. Given we have a disproportionate share of lowincome, seniors, children, all in tight quarters for the past four months. One of the neighborhoods with the least amount of public open space. I appreciate the challenges of implementing this program but there are other parts that have access indie indiscernible . Operator you have three questions remaining. Speaker i would like to commend the sfmta on the slowStreets Program. I think its great and particularly, i have frequently used the one on sanchez and if anything, thats to be extended even further and the slow street on 20th can be extended west, as well. I think that would be a great idea. I want to reiterate what everybody else said regarding the tenderloin, an equity standpoint in ten in terms of mg everyones lives better, its unfair they dont have slow streets. And people should take a step back and remember 30 of people in San Francisco dont even own a car and yet up until now, almost 100 of the streets where dedicated largely to cars and even now, 95 , so i think thats important perspective to keep in mind and just remember as we go forward, i think that this would be great to implement, especially after the pandemic and hopefully, make the city a better place to live in. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Operator you have two questions remaining. Speaker i live in clipper street. And i get t have to be careful i leave my house at the wonderful slow street area. Im calling to share my support for the slowStreet Program. I enjoy, likmostly, im excitede expansion in Golden Gate Park. Im a rollerskater and i appreciate using the park as much as i can and as far as i can and we should be able to use the park from every side of the city and i think everyone should have access to the park and i think its really important. I think that this program and other programs like it can be the outreach that they need and we want and having space for people to create their own programs is more important than creating programs for people. When i was listening earlier and i heard people say when we get attack to real meetings, this is a real meeting and that can still happen. Between park and rec, its all real and were all here right now and i would like to thank the board of directors. I just found out while i was listening to this that theres a part of duncan that is why would you want to ride your bike or rollerskate or teach your kid how to skateboard on that . That doesnt make any sense. The tenderloin, the main thing we need is public toilets and so, public toilets and then we can talk about the closed streets. Pai indiscernible . Next speaker, please. Speaker im a richland district resident and im actually on cabrero street right now and just yielded to a jogger and i just want to say that im a big fan of the slow street getting implemented so far throughout the city, especially jfk drive and lake street, paige street and the great highway. I think that these should be part of the landmarks in the city. Until that time, which i know would require a lot of planning, i want to just say i applaud the staff that have been doing their outreactheiroutreach and to supr fewer, who i hope will take ownership and take walks on the slow street. Earlier, the caller mentioned about the third street avenue slow street and the cabrero intersection being a problem. I was there ten seconds ago, i think it could be worked out. I am in a car and i dont think it will be a problem for our neighborhood if we just treat each other with civility and share the space. Thank you. Thank you, and was that our last speaker, moderator . Operator you have one question remaining. If anyone else wishes to address the board, dial 10 now. Next speaker. Operator you have three questions remaining. Next speaker, please. Speaker this is Hayden Miller and just wanted to voice my support. I live a few blocks away from lake street, soon to be cabrio and excited to be on the slow street and i look forward to more. Thank you so much and im looking forward to Golden Gate Park. So lets keep these streets going. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Operator you have two questions remaining. Speaker hi. Im asking you to remove duncan street from the safe street extension. It would be hazardous and the implementation would be impractical. It looks nice on the slow streets but on the ground it doesnt work and its dangerous. Duncan street is completely cut off and theres no way through for pedestrians. indiscernible . Operator you have one question remaining. Speaker i apol advis apoloe background noise but im picking my son up from school. Im on 20th street and i see people and their children walking back and forth in the little commercial district here. We heard from a lot of our residents and neighbors they wanted something in our neck of the woods and it seemed like a great idea. indiscernible . Speaker for my neighbors that have concerns, they go about their daytoday lives and safer if you wanted to do it by foot or by bicycle. So thank you for your consideration and we hope you pass this. Moderator, any additional questions or speakers . Operator you have zero questions remaining. So with that, we will close Public Comments and i know that some directors have questions. Director tumlin, maybe you could address this about the tenderloin. We would like more slow streets in the tenderloin neighborhood and can you talk about the limitations and the constraints given that its a much more dense area . That there are transit lines in the other sorts of considerations and maybe you could talk about those and work with the Fire Department, specifically around jones and other streets in that area. I would be happy to start and tom mcguire could add to this. The tenderloin has the greatest concentration of Vulnerable People in all of San Francisco and that covers all categories of vulnerability. Its also a neighborhood that historically has had threeway bound traffic through it and in this period of covid time, from mobility perspective in San Francisco, theres no need for routing freewaybound traffic through the tenderloin and for the entire tenderloin, south of ellis and east of hyde, streets where were currently running buses on, from a basic mobility functional perspective, theres no need for vehicular traffic. What there is a need for and its related to the fact that the tenderloin has the highest concentration of vulnerable populations in San Francisco, if therthere is a need for unimpedd emergency access and it has by far the highest call rate for the Fire Department and the building heights in the tenderloin all require the big fire trucks with the ladders and stabilizers in order to be able to operate in the tenderloin and its important that the fire trucks are not delayed, that they are not moving barriers out of the way. And so, for the issues strictly with the sfmta purview, there are no problems with the street closures of any kind in the tenderloin and we need to be respectful of the needs of our sister agencies. Particularly the San Francisco Fire Department and also the San Francisco Police Department which, of course, has a major Police Station in the tenderloin. We also have had some challenges in the covid period about decisionmaking. And so, up until recently, all of our streets projects that weve been doing are implemented under the Health Directive and therefore, we as sfmta dont get to do what we want. Our work needs to be approved through the channels that have been created under the emergency directive, which require a lot of input from a variety of departments, several of which have effective veto control over our work. And they also need to have a strong tie to positive Health Outcomes which include, also, Emergency Services. And so thats been part of our frustration in the ten tenderlo, that the simple techniques weve been able to deliver so quickly with some simple little barricades with sandbags in a neighborhood of low buildings. Therefore, not requiring the big fire trucks, low buildings, no overhead wires and no Traffic Signals and no commercial activity, those technics that we view ed this have been successful in places like the sunset dont work in the tenderloin and what were struggling with is to figure out what are the techniques that work and do we have the resources in order to procure those materials . So the tenderloin remains our highest priority. Its the place weve actually invested by far the most effort and were finally starting to see some results with jones street, turk and levinworth has not been mentioned, but it has been much slower because it has required collaboration with agencies that have a different mission than we do. And tom, perhaps, you could add more along with the recent success. One more thing, actually. In terms of i know we dont put on sunday streets, and i know weve sun sunday streets in the tenderloin. Were there any lessons from that to be applied to which streets we choose for this process . Yes, so another history with the tenderloin, of course, it requires a high level of management. Anything that we would do there needs to be carefully managed with Community Partners and so the small efforts we have done that have been successful have been in collaboration with Community Partners largely around accommodating through distribution, accommodatin and r communitybased partners have helped us. One thing we are trying to figure out doing resources for is doing more sunday streets like events, where we are managed play streets. The challenge there is getting through the Health Department restrictions against gatherings in this time. And so, for many of the ideas that weve tried to put forward, that conventional approach was denied to us. And so, again, were trying to make progress on figuring out what can we do to make it possible for children to be able to play safely in the street in the tenderloin but not actually have that be a public gathering that results in the kinds of activities that are not supposed to be happening during shelterinplace . I have one question about ha, because in my neighborhood last weekend, not this past weekend but last weekend, there was tents in the street and i thought it was a straight fare but istreet fare butit was a me. I dont understand how that stuff is allowed and then we cant figure out a way to slow streets which are legal, congregating of people. I dont know who approved that or how it happened. Thats not something that was sanctioned. The supervisors were there and others. So, again, i noticed it mostly because there were actually, like, tents, not expensive kind, but kind of the tents that you have at soccer fields kind of thing. But anyway, just kind of was trying to figure out how that happens and how we can figure out working with the city for recreation purposes, congregating opportunities. Because its not meant that necessarily there is playing all together. Its lots of people congregate to do whatever they do. So maybe thats something we can work through with the Health Department or whomever, because i see it all of the time and theyre in the public right away. And no one theres no it doesnt seem like a consistent policy. I feel for the people in the tenderloin, theyre so devastatedly impacted and there arent enough play spaces and they feel we cant justify not doing something sooner. Tom, what did i miss in my statement . That was pretty comprehensive, jeff. I think just making it clear to this board that are four specific street reductions of traffic or removal of traffic from the streets projects in the tenderloin and theres the project we already did to reduce the capacity of golden gate avenue and that was done early in the shelterinplace and theres the jones street decision which doubles the amount of walking space on jones street and now today, well be able to get out in the streets in the next week or so. And then the other two were working on are converting and expanding the pedestrian space on turke and a similar kind of expanded pedestrian road on levinwortt and were working those through with the Fire Department right now. The sum total of those four will actually be a pretty Robust Network on four of the streets among the most dangerous for people simply trying to walk around in the sense of their exposure to traffic and so we have a breakthrough on jones and were hoping to have this shortly on levinworth and turke so that very soon, well actually see a network of carfree streets in the tenderloin. Great, with that, ill turn it over to director eakin because i know she has questions. Im sure other people have other questions. I wanted to pick up on a couple of things we heard through Public Comment. The comment about embarcadaro was a great reminder we had a conversation a couple months ago. We heard there wasnt enough and ill just hear staff respond to the pretty provocative suggestion about taking half of the street and making it a slow are street and or give us a status update on the other embarcadaro project. So embarcadaro is like the tenderloin where the traffic volumes out there right now are very low. From an sfmta perspective, we would have no problem converting the northbound lane into a twolane. Its not in our jurisdiction and the court right now is in a far worse financial position than even we are at sfmta. Their tenants are struggling a lot and very stron and have stra their market is. And so, the stakeholders want to maintain full traffic capacity in order to attract cars to the various destinations on embarcadaro. So maintaining the capacity while creating a bikeway is a longterm objective bu, but thas a very expensive project and we have not found a solution that can do both. Director mcguire . No, sorry. Great. And then, ill also just join director brinkman in expressing my sadness that broderick is coming off the list today. That was one my family was excited about. Weve heard from Public Commenters on that, as well. And strongly recommend that we come quickly with a substitute to meet that corridor need that was identified. And on that note of the Larger Network on the connections, weve spoken a few meetings ago, i think, of the idea of a Larger Network and i think the presenters spoke about how were taking steps toward the complete network, but how there are some significant gaps remaining and so im thinking about the next step after this process. Are we looking to create a network and will you be bringing back a next phase so the board can fill in some of the gaps . We have no idea how long shelterinplace will last. Given the health data from this week, it appears that it will be lasting for quite some time. You heard that muni will be suffering for many months to come. We have lost about 30 of our Service Hours and twothirds of remaining service and a total loss of 10 to 80 of munis capacity and in precovid terms that is preventing 3,000 people from using muni everyday. We have to focus on shifting focused to the most we are 10 off as part of the overall Street Network and so in order tor San Francisco to continue on the economic recovery, we have no choice but to accept the geometric limits of driving and emphasize the most significant modes of transportation. So in addition to providing safe space for outdoor exercising, it is directly related to the covid emergency that we need to allow for people in San Francisco to feel safe walking by cane, using wheelchairs and scooters and skateboards in order to get around. And s so there is to reason we cannot have a phase five or six and would love to continue getting direction from this board as well as policymaybers and the publimaybemakers on pols on what that would look like. Just echoing the concerns about the vizidaro street and the constraints there and that is one corridor but i think we have examples of that. How do we have safe access to Grocery Stores and restaurants. Weve been encouraging merchants to take advantage to move tables or other services out parking lane so that the narrow sidewalk space can accommodate people walking. Weve also used the parking lane to accommodate some queuing and key destinations along divizadaro and will continue with the merchants to help manage that. Having a couple of spaces taken over doesnt help with access destination and i was wondering what more proactively looking at spaces where we should be looking at a solution that will meet the need more directly. Yeah, i can response to that briefly, if you like. We are actively looking at streets parallel to create that northsouth connectivity that the caller talked about. Were bringing you this because this is what we had ready to go at our deadline for this meeting. But this is were talking about doing this in phases but its a continuous process and whether its shared spaces or slow streets, we are always looking to expand this network everywhere weve got interest and support. So we will definitely be looking at that specific corridor in phase four. Thank you. And i swale tha will say i hd from merchants about the speed of the traffic because the sidewalks are narrow and theres a narrow street and people are trying to speed around the bus and so, i mean, i think we should, maybe, think about portions of that street are transitonly and, like, we have the transit lane and the slow streets lane. We could have slow streets shared spaces and i think, like supervisor pekkin mentioned, how to create slow slow shared spaces and other people saying lets think about the parklet things because lots of businesses would like parklets but the sharedSpaces Program kind of prohibits them, which doesnt make sense because from a safety and security standpoint of sitting on the street where theres traffic, you know, you want something sturdier than a railing on corridors where traffic moves pretty fast. Directors, any additional comments . Seeing none. I will undertake a motion that i note that the motion needs to strike broad i know this is painful for a couple of you. I will sadly make the motion to remove broader street from the list of slow streets and i do this because i know that staff has worked so hard on this and i appreciate everything that all of you are doing and im sure that well find a way forward with all of this. So i will make the motion to strike. Is there a second . I will second it, but can i ask a question. Is lombard in or out . Madam chair, lomb remark rdat on the list of slow streets to be approved today and i understand that implementation, it was previously approved and please correct me if im wrong, but the board could only act on items that were noticed in the agenda so that the public had noticed that the board was taking action if lomb remarard t noticed and it would be improper to act. Is it clear to supervisor peskins office that that is our reality or is he expecting something different. Supervisor peskins office is aware of the brown act, the Public Meeting law. And weve bee made it clear e lonbard is not part of this action, it was a part of the earlier phase and were moving forward immediately with elementing it, ideally within the week. Great. So youre saying you dont need another action . Correct. Ok. Well, thats a good answer. Great. And so we have a motion and second on removing broderick street from the list and a role call vote. role call . If i do not vote for this broderick doesnt get removed. Is that correct . Yes. Fascinating. Ok, well, maybe someone can set up a conversation with someone from the Fire Department. I will vote very reluctantly and i think this is a mistake. With a neutral like that, i should vote no but ill vote aye. And madam chair, the motion to remove broderick street has been approved. So then, i need a motion on all of the remaining items the item is amended. Motion to approve the item is amended. Role call vote. role call . Madam chair, the motion is approved. This does include the business before you. We will ajourn our meeting and we we will b will be havingl meeting. There will be no meeting on august 4th and thank you all for joining today. Adjourned. Clerk the Health Commission to orde. The Health Commission to order. Mark, will you take the roll . Clerk yes. [roll call] clerk all right. So weve got three commissioners who are not on, but weve got quorum. Okay. Well move onto approving the minutes from the july 7, 2020. Do we have any amendments and, if not, a motion to approve. Motion to approve. Second. Clerk all right. And, commissioners, before we vote, araceli, can we check for Public Comment . Operator we have no one on Public Comment at this time. Clerk okay. We will do a roll call. [roll call] clerk item 3 is the directors report. Dr. Colfax . Great. Dr. Colfax hello. Good afternoon, commissioners. Grant colfax, director of health. Good to see you. I start the directors report with some very sad news. A long time member of the Health Department, sandy martinez, di Maria Martinez died on sunday. She worked at the Health Department for 23 years. She focused on building many initiatives and key models for the homeless that not only became models for our care here in San Francisco but models that were scared up nationally. She was a key member of d. P. H. Leadership for many years and served many rolls. Department director of community programs, senior staff to the director of health, chief integrity officer, and the director of whole person care. She continually strived to the equality and racial lens. I worked with her early in my tenure at the department, and since i returned. She was a really unique person with her own sense of wonderful style, was inspiring to meet with and engage. Ill miss her terribly, as will the department. The next item is with regard to an update on covid19 and the pandemic. I will be giving a presentation on the data a little bit later in this meeting, but i do want to articulate that we are seeing a surge in infections, a significant surge that started approximately two weeks ago, and as a result, we have paused our reopening steps, and were taking the our reopening of businesses in San Francisco, and were doing the following as we speak. Were following the states requirements. As many of you know, the state has become more conservative in its reopening, has put a number of counties on its watch list. We were put on the watch list as of friday because of our cases and hospitalizations. We were pretty conservative compared to other counties on the watch list in terms of what we had reopened, so it did result in some changes. We closed indoor malls yesterday, as well as nonessential offices. Were also focusing on behavior changes and preventions is really key to this pandemic. Were not going to test our way out of this pandemic. We really need to focus not only on scaling up testing where possible for the people who need it most, but focusing on the prevention activities that we know work and help flatten the curve. Facial coverings, social distancing, adherence to social distancing, good hygiene, and avoiding social gatherings and staying at home whenever possible. We continue, as we did as we have from day one, focusing on equity and the most impacted communities in the city, and we will continue to focus on reaching out and working directly with take holders and leadership in the Latinx Community, and residents of the eastern and southeastern neighborhoods of the city where the greatest number of cases are now being diagnosed. This includes expanding prevention and testing access to these communities. Well also focus on testing. You can see in the presentation coming up, weve far exceeded our testing goals, and at the same time, demand for testing has now exceeded our capacity to meet it at the city and Health Department levels. We did issue a health order dr. Aragon is issuing a health order to ask private providers to also do their part at testing. This order will require providers to offer systematic and people in close contact diagnosed with covid19, to offer them a test in an expedited manner. So i will give more details on the covid19 pandemic during the presentation, but a little previous in the directors report. So i also just wanted to go through, at the end of your report here as an addendum, theres some budgetary news that i felt needed to be shared with the commission as quickly as possible. Youll recall that we presented our Budget Proposal to you recently. However, in terms of the budget outlook, one of the strategies in terms of meeting the citys overall budget goals has been to add the citys labor partners to defer upcoming base wage increases for city employees. Delays these increases would decrease the funding. And on july 13, the mayor instructed departments to provide additional directions for reducing the deficit. For the Health Department, these new targets are an additional 15. 1 million for fiscal year 2021 and 62. 5 million for fiscal year 2122. Proposals for reductions are due on july 27, and the Health Department is continuing to work with the Mayors Office, controllers office, and other City Partners to meet this goal, as well as to meet our budget plan for covid19 and in response to Mental Health sf. So these will be included in the Mayors Office directive for the budget. So we will continue to inform on the status of these initiatives as soon as possible, and that concludes my directors report. And with regard to that last part, chief medical officer greg wagner is also available to answer questions. Thank you, commissioners. Okay. Commissioners, before we get to you, id like to go to Public Comment. I know we have callers, but i dont know if they want to offer Public Comment. Operator we do have publ listeners, but they dont have their hands raised for Public Comment. Okay. Commissioner chow . In terms of this 15 million and later, 62 million, will you need to [inaudible] i assume that youre going to submit those, and i guess our next meeting is Something Like august 4, so i just want to sort of figure out the timeline, which is certainly something thats [inaudible] yes, and thank you, commissioner, and i will have greg wagner, our c. F. O. , answer your question. I will say maybe ill speak for greg initially, that greg said to me, this is the most challenging budget situation hes seen ever, and greg has been with the department for a while, and the city for even longer, through some big challenges, but ill let him respond in detail to your question. Hi, commissioners. Greg wagner, chief financial officer. So thanks for the question, and yeah, grant got it right. Theres a lot of moving parts to this budget, and so were kind of looking at it as we go. Obviously, because of the timing of this one, were on a very short timeline to respond. And i think part of the context of this direction is theyre trying to close a large deficit, and its affecting department reductions but also tools that they use to close the biggest part of the deficit. Mr. Wagner . Greg . Greg . Greg . Im sorry. Im sorry to interrupt you. Theres feedback. Theres a weird sound. Im trying to cause we cant hear you. Araceli, is there something on the Public Comment line that the loop needs to change, because im concerned about feedback. Theres nothing theres nothing from this end that would be causing that. Do you have maybe an open mic that may not need to stay open, because i only have the bridge line open, and theres nothing feeding into it. Commissioners, could you raise your hand if youre having issues on your end. All right. So greg, can you hold for one second . Im going to just try to okay. Im going to try again, and im sorry, everybody, if we cant fix it, but go ahead, greg, if you can. Oh, now we cant hear you at all. Did you mute yourself, by any chance . Yes, i did. Okay. Is that better . Yes. Okay. I was going to attempt to call in via phone. So i was starting to say that, you know, i think part of the context here is that the Mayors Office, theres obviously a big budget deficit and a lot of moving parts, and each year, the Mayors Office addresses the deficit through a combination of the reduction targets it gives to departments and other solutions that are citywide in nature, and those may include things like changes to the Capital Expenditure budget, revenue initiatives, working with labor, and in this case, all of those pieces. And because of all of these moving parts and the fact that there has not been progress on working with labor on the issue of delaying increases in wages for city employees, i think theres still a commitment to working on that and other solutions, but what the Mayors Office needs is to have some options on the table so that they have choices available to them to make as they go to close the budget. So i think whats going to happen is because of the very short timeline, because dr. Colfax said, these targets will be due on monday, so theyre occurring in an even shorter turnaround than the last phase of the budget cycle. Well put together some highlevel options, and probably not at the level of detail that you all are used to seeing in your normal budget packets that we submit to you as part of our Commission Budget process. That will occur, as you said, dr. Chow, in between meetings of the commission. And then, well come back and report to you as soon as we can on what that looks like. And then, i would also anticipate that should the Mayors Office need to use that additional said of proposed reductions to balance, there would be a further period of refinement where we would have to determine at a more detailed level what those proposals would look like and what the impacts would be, and at that point, we would bring those to the commission at the level of detail that youre used to. So itll be, i think, an iterative process where we wont have time for our usual level of detail, but we wanted to make sure that youre aware that this is happening, that this activity is going to be occurring in between commission meetings, and then well bring to you as much detail as we can at the earliest time possible. I definitely appreciate the process that you have outlined, and, if necessary, there would be more detailed conversation, so thank you. Thank you. Commissioners, any other questions . Greg, i did have one question. In terms of this and next fiscal year, weve gotten dollar reductions. What does that number represent in terms of the departments budget . You know, i have not done the math, but off the top of my head, it is probably in the neighborhood of 10 , but we just got the dollar value and did not ask. Thank you, greg. Commissioners, other questions . So commissioners, would you like to move forward to the next item . Yes, general Public Comment. Actually, item 4 is the covid19 update, and its dr. Colfax again, and hell be joined by dr. Bennett after he presents. Dr. Colfax, please give me ten seconds to get your presentation up. Dr. Colfax thank you, commissioners. While mark is getting the presentation up, im going to give an over yall update in terms of what were seeing, and then dr. Bennett will present in terms of how were running [inaudible] your sound is going out, dr. Colfax. Your sound is maybe going in and out. Im not sure whats happening with you and greg on your end. Nothing has changed since i last spoke. Now its [inaudible] i cant hear you at all now. You know now, im speaking. Okay. It sounds clear, now. Right now. Is your door open, sir . No, sir. Well, i tried. Go ahead, and ill let you know if you go in and out, but right now, you sound clear. Okay. So i will go through with the covid19 update. Next slide, please. So as you can see, were now over 5,000 cases of covid19 in San Francisco diagnosed. Weve had a steady increase, and you can see the numbers here. Weve increased our time, from going to 3,000 to 4,000 and 4,000 to 5,000 quite quickly. Weve had a total of 15 deaths. Sad 50 deaths. Sad to see people dying, but its not what other jurisdictions are seeing. Next slide. This is with regards to testing and case demographics. Lots on this slide, but just to reiterate, weve done nearly 250,000 tests in San Francisco. Our overall Positivity Rate is 3 . The jagged line is the productivity rate, which varies, to some degree. The lighter gray bars are a little bit unstable because lab reports labs do not always report the immediately report their results to us, but you can see that overall, our Positivity Rate has remained unstable over a period of time, but 3 overall. So daytoday, its really important to look at the trend in this graph overtime. In terms of cases, race, ethnicity, continue to see the epidemic among the Latinx Community, representing nearly half of all cases, so very concerning there, and we are reinforcing our work in the Latinx Community and latinx neighborhoods, working with the Latino Task Force as well as other neighborhoods within the city to ensure that people are getting testing as soon as possible, particularly those that are symptomatic, that we are providing support services and contact tracing. Next slide. I think its important, given the pandemic and the situation that were here in locally, certainly during this in the surge, theres lots of concerns and lots of competing needs, and i will just say that our Testing Capacity is increased in terms of demand. I also think its important to look at how San Francisco is doing compared to other jurisdictions. Were working with similar limitations. You can see here in terms of our case rate, with the exception of seattle, our case rate is significantly lower than other urban jurisdictions. Our death rate is certainly significantly lower, and while our testing across d. P. H. And other city support systems is not able to fully keep up with demand as much as we would like right now, we are at a higher rate of testing per 1,000 than other jurisdictions. I would also say weve far exceeded our goal of 1800 tests a day in the city and are now doing over 3,000 tests a day across all our city systems. And in general, the city and the Health Department has sponsored has supported most of this testing. Over 60 of the tests in San Francisco are being done through d. P. H. And other citysupported systems. Next slide. So this slide is the slope of the epidemic, the curve, so to speak, based on hospitalization, and the commission will recall that we used hospitalizations because it is the most reliable indicator of where the disease how the disease is affecting residents in the city. But remember, because of the course of the disease, were two weeks behind in terms of the spread of the epidemic if we just look at hospitalizations because generally, the hospitalization rate is two weeks behind the spread of the virus overall because it takes a while for people to develop systems and then have to be hospitalized if theyre hospitalized for covid19. You can see going into late june, early july, we had really made dramatic accomplishments in not only flattening the curve, but some people said crushing the curve down to as few as 26 people in the hospital, and you can see that weve seen a rapid increase in our cases. The dark blue bars are people in the intensive care unit, and the bright blue bars are people in acute care, and i fully expect us to pass the acute surge that we saw in april, and we have no indication that this rate will decrease any time soon. You can see that curve going from early july to where we are now. Thats a pretty steep increase, and very serious in terms of our spread, what this is saying about the spread of covid19 in the city, which is why weve had to pause any reopening. Weve really brought a message to the people to shelter in place as much as possible and to do the prevention activities, including facial masking and social distancing, that this is no time to let our guard up. Next slide. So this is looking at our change this is one of our key indicators that, again, as you know, commissioners, you can follow on our website. Theyre updated on a regular basis. This is one of our key health indicators. The percent change in covid hospitalizations by week, and you can see, again, that we were doing quite well in terms of the disease, and so again sorry. Im having some trouble with my pings bars, so i cant see quite to the bottom of the slide. But any way, you can see there was an increase. It was either late june or early july. I cant see the bottom of the slide due to microsoft teams. The red trigger was a 20 increase, and we remain at high increase in our rate of hospitalization. This is our running average over time, and you can see right now were at 27. 6 , still very much in the red zone, and a dramatic shift of where we were in late juneearly july. Next slide. So weve also seen changes in in our sevenday running average of covid positive cases, and we are our goal was to be below 1. 8, and you can see here, were seeing a dramatic increase. Since june 14, weve had a very high rate of covid19 infections detected per 11,000. That increase has been sharp, and shows no sign of abating. Next slide. So in working with our colleagues at California State University berkeley, the team weve been working with since the beginning of the pandemic, this is their estimates of the reproductive number. A reproductive number is how quickly or slowly a pathogen runs through a community. A reproductive rate of one means that for every 100 people, more than 1 person infected. A reproductive rate less than 1 means that every 100 persons, less than one is infected. We did that as a city very effectively early on. You can see in april and into late may, early june, our reproductive number was low, and in some of these numbers, we got it to around. 8, and you can see it was consistent with covid19 cases and hospitalizations. We crossed 1 in the first week of june and are now at approximately 1. 32. The number 1. 32 that im demonstrated is represented by the solid blue line in this graph. The shadings around that solid blue line represent the statistical estimates of probability with regard to what the reproductive number actually is. Remember, these are models. We cant actually measure the reproductive rate directly, so this takes lots of data and lots of modelling to get this estimate, so the average probability most likely reproductive probabilities is 1. 32, but again, up to. 5 in either direction, as demonstrated by the shadings. So 1. 32 doesnt sound like much, but dramatic implications for our Health Care System and populations. If theres no change in the reproduction rate of the virus, our models indicate we would have a peak hospitalization rate of 990 in midoctober, with a total of 820 deaths added, which includes the 53 that have already been reported, and you can also see that there are plauzible scenarios where we get into peak hospitalizations of of over 3,000, and 1900 deaths in 2020. So very concerning data here. A surge of the level of what we saw in april. Next slide. But we can make a difference, and if we take if we are successful in reducing the reproductive number by 30 , we would have a dramatic reduction in both hospitalizations and deaths, as demonstrated on this slide. So really, the power is in our hands, and it is possible that we could see change and bend the curve again, but we would have to all do our part and support our communities especially vulnerable to the virus as well as the communities that need the information and support to take action to, again, flatten the curve. Next slide. So our Health Orders continue to be revised and issued consistent with the evidence and the situations that were seeing with regard to the data. You can see here we did allow a few things to reopen since early july, Outdoor Activities and boating. The data does show that Outdoor Activities are safer than indoor activities, but we paused on the original plan that we had for july 13 in reopening some key businesses. As i mentioned in my update, we were added to the state watch list as of friday, and this requires some additional shifts, and we will continue to follow and determine what next steps need to be taken, consistent with where the data are guiding our actions. Next slide. I do want to say in addition to, really, a lot of work thats being done at the Covid Command Center in terms of preparing for a greater surge in the increase of the number of hospitalizations, there is some hope on the horizon. Many of you are aware that a number of vaccines are being developed and tested. Im proud to say that the Health Department is currently scheduled to be one of the places where vaccine trials will be run, both at the Bridge Research at 25 vanness, under the direction of dr. Susan buckbinder, taking all the research thats been done with regard to hiv trials and applying those to covid19 trials. Zuckerberg San Francisco general is also anticipated to be another site. And i think just as we have worked with ensuring that prevention messages and support and care are provided to communities most vulnerable, to both the getting infected with the virus and poor outcomes to the virus, so we will be ensuring that we will be working with communities to ensure that they get the education, the support, and access to participating in these very important vaccine trials Going Forward, and happy to return to the commission with more details about this work in the near future. Thats my update, and i can take questions now, or we could turn it over to dr. Bennett, and she can give you an overview of the covid command. This is commissioner giradeau. I have a giraudo. A number of families that i have worked with have told me that their private schools have told them in communication this week that their schools would be opened. So at this point, schools need to remain closed, given that we are on the watch list, we did issue Health Guidelines for school to potentially reopen if and when the Health Officer makes the determination that it is potentially safer to reopen schools. At this time, schools cannot reopen, and there are ongoing conversations with the state about what may be plausible situations where that may happen. Thank you. That was the information i received, so thank you for clarifying. Thank you. Commissioner chow . Yes, thank you. In follow up, all that were talking about schools, what about colleges or universities . Not quite sure theyre coming under all of these edicts or are they under another type of rubrick . Yeah, theyre under another type of rubrick, but we can certainly get the information to you with regards to the dynamics of exempt education institutions. As you know, theres a number of institutions that are taking different approaches to this, but we will check in and ensure that we get that answer back to you. Thank you. Commissioner chung . Thank you, dr. Colfax, for the informative presentation. This is not a question, but more of a comment and thank you to all of the staff at d. P. H. Who are doing their best. Its unusual circumstances. With all the things that are happening this is my question like, of all the things that we are doing to support staff, that their Emotional Wellbeing get prioritized . Yes, thank you for that. I think dr. Bennett can talk a little bit about what that support is like at the covid command. Ill tell you, first of all, in terms of what youre doing in terms of expressing appreciation is great news. We are in our sixth month of this, so there is a lot of need for people to take breaks, to take care of themselves, and weve been focusing on that. This is a mayrathon, and you cant run a marathon without taking care of yourself. Weve been making sure they get the Employee Support if they need it in terms of Behavioral Health and those needs. I do appreciate it. The other component that i think is important to acknowledge is all the staff thats trying to get things together during this trying time. You heard about greg wagner and the budget challenges. And then, there are many people in Mental Health that are seeing unprecedented demands and needs. So while we focus our work around covid19, the rest of the work of the Department Needs to continue, and thats conducted under very challenging fiscal challenges as well as sort of delivery circumstances. And many of our Community Providers are in the same situation, so i appreciate it, and were doing everything we can to support employees as much as possible, even as we see the surge and focus on trying to do everything we can to support the community, but to support the community, we also need to support each other. So