Time for the inbound seven bus at 3 30 a. M. , takes 40 minutes to get to beale. The 942 bus, 40 minutes later. Those are peak travel commute times. Those minutes are real and they are in the sf mta 30day rapid schedule available online. More to that point of the 20 minutes being saved to the average commuter. That bus arrived in 30 minutes for those buses. I dont think you are going to take 30 off of that travel time. Eric mar mentioned that if this project gets implemented that the buses will be running every 4 minutes. They are already running every 4 minutes, during peak commute times. Public speaker chairman peskin, members of the commission, my name is steve from the downtown area. I have dedicated myself to be the executive director cofounder of the Senior Center in japantown. For all seniors and definitely in terms of the advocacy of the japanese American Community. This is a Historical Perspective to the geary corridor. I need to tell you that whole area that that geary corridor when we were first introduced to us was called the geary expressway. How we have defined the approach for the Richmond District could quickly go for the Richmond District to down, they didnt mention to you that you pass the African American community and the fillmore and the community. You will go under the tunnel and eliminating the process of the African American and japanese American Community. This is the same japanese American Community that were put in concentration camps without any due process, a total destruction, removal of our community. After 42, when the war was over, no apology, nothing to say im sorry we made a mistake. The japanese returned to rebuild their community, at that time, Justin Herman decides to go through Eminent Domain to proceed with the total destruction of the japanese american and African American community. This on laguna street is another example of the disrespect and outrageous nature of treating japantown. I appreciate the resolution that commissioner breed, i appreciate commissioner farrell, supervisor mar, in terms of your support for the japanese American Community and to make laguna street stop a 38r as well as a 38 regular. Thank you. Thank you. If you would just wait one second. Let me call more speaker cards. calling names public speaker good afternoon. I have been a Senior Advocate for 5 years. I just want to comment on your support for the possible recommendations to include the laguna stop in the r route. First of all i had sent you by email a statistical information about zip codes 9411, 9415 in the laguna geary area. It will show you it is the second highest population of people 60 and over. As you may know, here in San Francisco, 25 of our population are seniors ages 60 and over. And i know many of you here are very supportive of senior issues and you have always been doing a lot of policy direction in that way. The other point i want to make is that particular stop at laguna and geary is a gateway to japantown. Japantown as you know has had its struggles. One of the issues we always promote is Economic Development and tourism. Will that stop is the very stop for people that want to visit japantown. Our town is one of the three remaining towns in the united states. The other one being in los angeles. Please maintain that stop at laguna. Thank you. Public speaker my name is paul epstein. I served on two Advisory Committees in building Major Products for the city. Dale drive and the freeway. Im very familiar with the project. This is a new association with the people with the agency and some of them were quite young when they joined it. First, i want to make a formal complaint that half the board is not here. And the board is going to be voting on this issue and they are not listening to the Public Comments. I think that is to say discourteous and perhaps even illegal. As to the reason we are here, the brt, lets keep in mind its now labeled a hybrid system. It is a hybrid system. A lot of the things that have happened in developing have been very good, in fact, a par, which i have been a member of that board for many years, when brt first came along said there are a lot of things that we can do. Lets try that before we rebuild the whole geary boulevard. Most of those things have been accomplished. Thats why the buses are running faster. You have clipper card, you have a low entry buses. You have people coming in at all doors. The question is, is there any time savings. I think thats been fudged and there is any. I think the buses will be locked into center lane configuration and they will be stuck behind each other. The buses will move at the slowest buses rate. I think there should be no vote today. I think you should thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Actually im going to read a couple more names. calling names public speaker go i live on laguna on west Park Apartments which is big and very nice low income senior complex. I take that bus everyday, sometimes 48 times a day. It is my bus. I really depend on it. But im here and im speaking on behalf of thousands, not only of seniors, but of workers, people who come to japantown, people who come to the chinese consulate. I will be very brief just to mention quickly there are two misconceptions that nobody talks about at that site. My stop is a maximum load point which means, by the time the bus gets there, its already full and they dont even stop for us. So that means its impossible to count the ridership. We dont have a low ridership, we have a high ridership, but a lot are giving up because of that. The second point is that i want to assure the people who live beyond us either way that no time is lost stopping at laguna because of the very long traffic light thats there. We are ten lanes, geary is ten lanes at that point and the traffic light is very long. The bus drivers almost every single one gets caught at that light and they use the time productively loading people. So no time loss. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Public speaker my name is glen irving. I wondering why the supervisors arent here also and whether you maybe able to vote. Back in 2012, if you read the documents to the eir, all of these baseline travel times are from 2012. At the end of 2015, i asked how come they are not going back and looking at all the improvements that were done with the multidoors and the off board payment system. All the things when you brt novels from all the other transit agencies say contribute a lot to bus travel times. Its being ignored by this current sf mta band of people who want to keep the money flowing, keep their consulting jobs of their friends and they jump back and forth from these private firms. If you look at the numbers and the times have gotten much better and this is all based on the 2012 story telling that nobody wants to talk about anymore because its going to ruin their chances for funding. In fact my gut is we are looking at this and tell you, you know what, this travel time has improved. This saving of 20 minutes route trip, its not true. If you look at that. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Public speaker good afternoon. My name is larry costelo. The president of the Park Association. The jordan park is a neighborhood on the north side of geary from parker to palm. I would like to read my statement and submit it for the record. Commissioners, the Jordan Park Improvement Association oppose this brt project as proposed the hybrid alternative. This is an expensive project that offers little in terms of transit benefits. We believe it will disrupt the community particularly west of masonic avenue. Specifically we recommend the following. One. For the section of geary west of masonic avenue there needs to be greater input from the neighborhood and groups. They have not been invited to participate in the planning process, for example, the jordan Park Association or they have not been listened to, for example the Planning Association for the richmond. We were never invited to a cac meeting and we were not kept informed of the process. We are a Neighborhood Group right along geary. For this to be an inclusive process, they need to participate and be heard. No. 2. Postpone further action on geary and elect the supervisors to take office. In particular, sandra feuer needs to include her input on this project in her district. Delaying this would allow for a view from a key player. This is a special courtesy that supervisors should extend to one another. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Public speaker good afternoon, commissioners, my name is paul warmer. I happen to be chair of the japantown land use committee. I have a couple of comments related to that. First i want to complement ms. Chang and her staff in working with us to talk about the concerns we had about what was going on in the japantown corridor and working constructively with us. Very good outreach and the outreach came because we did ask for it and they were extremely responsive and i think they deserve kudos for that. I dont know if you know how many people wearing these laguna r stickers got up and left the room after the supervisors whose districts this runs through said we are going to keep it as an r. That was a great relief to a lot of people and i certainly hope you pass that through. Finally i would say the japantown Community Maybe unique, but in all the meetings we have participated in japantowns regular scheduled meeting open to the public, we did not have people opposed to the project. We want more of the rapid stop, not less of it, thank you. Thank you, next speaker, please. Public speaker good afternoon, authority members, im a senior and i live in the Outer Richmond near 28 and geary. So i think im one of the people you are trying to help and make service better. I think the hybrid plan is a square plan, local plans are being rude. Its a deficit. It ignores the likelihood of riders crossing the street for safety. The reduced travel and elimination of bunching analysis ignores the time required for handicapped and child strollers. I take the bus and it takes more time for someone in a wheelchair to be seated safely. The last second additions of the reduced Service Shows that lack of Public Outreach especially in the Outer Richmond. The Citizens Advisory Committee last night made a last minute to restore a stop and other reservations because the public doesnt like the service being reduced. The 28 near my home is being moved and up the hill. But when im old and its up a steep hill. I think something needs to be done. I requested the decision be delayed until the new board is in panel. Final consistent with finessing the voters to include this in the agenda. Alternatives to produce most of the time without reducing local and expressed service. Thank you. calling names thank you. Good afternoon. Im peter straus on behalf of the San Francisco transit riders. I have somewhat of a mixed message for you today. To certify the geary brt eir today. Its essential that eir be approved to continue with transit improvements which has already been on hold. However, we could not support the designation as a hybrid as the local hybrid alternative. We urge you to approve sections 14 of your clause but delete sections 5 and 6. The geary corridor includes a bus Rapid Transit and we should improve our recommended alternative. If we could not afford the subway at this time. We must develop a brt for a subway on the surface. Thats what high quality brt is supposed to be. The staff recommendation does not provide this vision. You heard about the reluctance of giving the true Rapid Service in favor of the design. We do not believe it is necessary and we have discussed with staff, other transportation professionals and other designs which does not result in significant parking removals but does allow a center lane brt project while still retaining a true service. We would like for this to be further developed. Again, we urge the eir be certified today that is essential but to modify the staff recommendations be pursued before an lp is designated and ei s is returned to you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Public speaker hello, my name is matt climb an. In support of the riders. We support this project. We ask you to pass the eir today. This is one of the busiest bus lines in the nation. This is affecting 50,000 folks a day. Its going to affect a lot of people despite what you see in this room. Folks want this project. Folks ride this bus and with their families are right now and they are not here who want this vote passed. We can do better. Alternative 3 is the one we would like you to support. It will not have the issues in the middle park when the hybrid has with the buses being slowed down allowing us to have the full Rapid Service throughout the entire line. This project build on the city we have the success and the mission with the upcoming improvements. Thats essential for the subway. We ask you to support it. Pass the eir today with choosing alternative three as our preferred alternative. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Public speaker thank you, im asking you to delay todays vote given as others have said. The tying of the release of the final eir. Give us very little time to review it. I will be very surprised if there was anyone here other than you that is actually reviewed this important detail. Secondly, i have not received a black line version of the report so i dont know what the changes were between the draft. Thats fairly common in my business. I have over 45 years in the marine transportation business. Given the capital cost of this project Going Forward, it behoves you to delay the vote because if a vote is taken today, i can assure you there will be lawsuits brought that will embarrass the city and all of you. For much of the time today, many of the people that are here and counted as listening to this have been absent that will come up in discovery. And the fact that as a resident of richmond, i did not receive any of these reports in my mailbox and lastly, for someone who actually rides the muni pretty much everyday, it has gotten better, much much better and since i have 28 seconds, thank you. And so it is getting better. The incremental approaches work. I dont think taking the vote today is going to be beneficial to the city or to any of you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Before the next speaker. Brian hags man, gordon shafrssky, mary livea calling names public speaker good afternoon, commissioners, a Community Organizer with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. With over 2,000 members we promote the Bicycle Coalition for transportation. Its a transit friendly project and would make San Francisco a bike friendly city as well. San francisco continues to grow and a demand for Reliable Transportation has followed. The city is now focused on redesigning the streets so folks can walk and bike for transportation safely. The geary brt plan will not only improve service and cut down on travel time, but allow people to safely board the buses and walk along the corridor. In addition, the plan will provide access to people on bikes. Reconfiguring this would enhance this area. We urge you to approve the brt environmental report and take the steps towards improving the commute for many people taking this bus line. Thank you. Public speaker im a resident of seniors on laguna, and i would like to ask you to keep the 38r. Make it an amendment whatever you have to do. I enjoy riding it and i would like to praise the buses you have. The clean air in the buses. I have allergies and asthma. Also its very easy to step on the bus. I had a new knee put in a year ago and i didnt like the buses where you had to go up and down. Please, if you can get more of them, do. Thank you. Public speaker. Good afternoon, commissioners, my name is brian hoffman. Im with walk San Francisco. On behalf of walk San Francisco members, im here to encourage you to approve the eir for the local alternative and to approve the project. As you know geary boulevard is one of the highest injury corridors that account for over 70 of crashes. In fact we know that people walking on geary are eight times more likely to get hit by a car than on other city streets. The project and hybrid alternative will improve areas such as bulb outs and pedestrian count signals and new pedestrian crossings to name just a few. Further studies show that total traffic injuries and death tend to decline for all street users for public transit. By improving the transit, the brt project will not only benefit transit riders but for people walking along the corridor. San francisco needs the safety improvements that will come with this project and we could not wait any longer. Despite the citys many efforts with the reduction in the serious and fatal traffic collisions since the city adopted vision zero in 2014. Projects like the geary brt designed for safer streets for people to help us turn the tide and reach our vision zero goals. Please approve this as soon as possible. Thank you. Thank you, next speaker, please. Public speaker good afternoon, my name is vitali troiani. I worked for public works. My staff restored the cable car lines down the Market Street and did the embarcadero parkway. I am not a novice to transportation park ways. I would like to thank the staff for extending the section west of 27th avenue, for restoring the bus stop on collins street and for allowing me to work on some of the design staff or future changes to the project to improve traffic. But i will tell you that west of stanion street there is no reason for this project to exist. If in the past i have come to you to say i will give you a project to save you 9 minutes by eliminating half of the bus stops and geary is eight times as dangerous as cabrillo street i would have been laughed out of the room. Take a financial person to take a look at the cost of the project west of stanion street and see if this project is worth doing. Thank you for your service to the city. Mr. Taber, before you come up. calling names public speaker im a member of the Advisory Council and an Advisory Council in geary area. This current project is not the ultimate solution for Rapid Transit on geary. I think most people acknowledge that. Supervisor farrell indicated that ultimately a rail project is going to be needed particularly for that part of the line that is east. Because you cant do a brt in that area. I objected to the draft eir in that it did not take into account the impact of this project on the mtas 20year capital plan. Legally they are required to take into account the Impact Capital plans. The geary rail project is in the 20year capital plan. And the impact on that plan is rather dramatic. If we were to implement a rail project similar to the muni metro style project which was previously recommended in the 1980s, i would require you replace a brt line at a cost of several hundred million dollars. The city in the process of doing a Rapid Transit plan. We should wait until that comes out. Put the richmond piece on hold and do an analyses of the brt and how it would affect the rail plan. This is the only sensible way to do it and come to a solution we are not going to regret. Good afternoon. Mary eliza here. Im going to speak about the elephant that is not in the room yet. Many its been alluded to a couple of times and something we are all concerned about. Im going to speak about power and money because i think thats what we are dealing with up here. The public has entrusted you with both. Will you live up to the expectations by respecting their right to a fair and n honest debate. How are you going to approve their wishes. Remember we have a homeless problem. How is digging another hole in the street solving the homeless problem. Funding city college, how does this help with that . Did you know there is a 360 million hole to fill is not a top priority with San Francisco. We are looking at the possible loss of healthcare, cuts in Social Security and Education Funding and any member of legal disputes that could result from taking a stand at the sanctuary city. Before taking on more debt to dig more holes in the ground, please respect the voters and get them 30 days to review and comment on these proposals. And give yourselves sufficient time to study these options. We thought you have read these documents. Take the time you need to study them before you approve them blindly. Now is the time to prove to voters that they chose wisely when they chose you to represent their interest. Do not let them down. Public speaker thank you, my name is william shepherd. Im a muni rider and im really impressed with improvements in the last years particularly on the geary line. Its vastly improved. A big concern i have is that, to say by putting this section of geary from to 27. Maybe you will save a couple of minutes, but i doubt its going to be more than that. The other comment is pushing through eir Public Comment period on a hotly contested important issue during the yearend holidays i think is bad government fundamentally and its wrong for you not to extend that period. This others dont do it because they have a responsibility to the public. I think you should do the same. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. calling names public speaker hello, i just turned 60. Im joining senior hood. Im from lodi california. We have lights for more than 60 years. Buses can control lights now. We can save time that way. We can also delegate that truckloading zones can only work at certain hours of the day for traffic flow. Thats not done. We have little traffic enforcement. Things could be tinkered with. They have worked so well for many years. Why would you want to change them. Have a long term strategy. Take that tunnel board machine going through fisher mans wharf. If you get one good look at it, i think its more respect because you dont have traffic on top. You have traffic underneath and on top. It speeds up the whole process. There are so many aspects of tinkering. They are not mentioned ride sharing. Is there management of those . National i bike ride as well. I think geary is too important of a street to have a dedicated bike lane there. I would like to see it maybe a street over and maybe some access. To take out parking is a mistake. We just got out of the recession. Its too early. Moneys will come. People will support that. You can use the same amount of time by tinkering. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Public speaker hello, my name is anna sylvester, a member of the interface council. I would like to talk to you about 38r and 38 lines that no one has talked about specifically yet about the triangle near Cathedral Hill from the universal society. Saint marks and saint marys cathedral. Not only are these three places of worship, they are architecture gems, Community Centers and tourist designations. You can understand probably how hard its been on us pedestrians and bus riders in the geary corridor in the construction of a new hospital. With the other inter faith council, we ask the community to discuss our concerns with the planners. She set up a meeting with colin and staff to address our concerns. We met october 20th. And im happy to say the staff was very responsive and listened to us. We were very happy that no. 1, 38 in bound stop at geary and gough will be relocated to saint marys cathedral. This location makes its easier for the congregation to come to services. No. 38 the stop remains across from saint marys cathedral at gough and geary. The outbound stop will be relocated to van ness and franklin. This is walking it all the way down to geary and causing it to get to outbound 38 r, we appreciate all of we of your work. We support this action today. Thank you. Thank you. Public speaker i live at laguna and ellis street. I want to thank the supervisors and collins at cac team, a tremendous job of keeping the 38 r stop at laguna. Its keeping rapid in the Rapid Transit system and i thank you very much for that. However, to continue the good work, i am a proponent of addressing the overflow problem that we are between two maximum load points and i call it maximum stuff in fact to get to laguna. So continue to work on the maximum stuffing factor on stops even rapid stops. They have buses that arrive with a full load and its very discouraging to have the door slammed when you get on. The other item to continue the good work is the mention of those double parked trucks that the traffic pattern and flow is really horrendous when that happens. Those are two things that you have to continue. This system is really working and i like it. Im a biker too. I bike. I dont right. I would rather bike. But the hills are so tough. I had a knee replaced. I have to put my bike on the rack once in a while. Its a great system. Its been around. Its 105 years old. 1905 they started. Its been around for a century and im happy that you took the advice to study the traffic engineers and london breed when she was in Elementary School in the in the 90s. Im very happy that you saw the light. Thank you again. Make it rapid, do it quick because time is of the essence. Thank you. Next speaker, please. calling names public speaker good evening, im a 48year resident of the mission district. Im mad as hell. 15 years ago, different people probably, but this Transportation Authority tried to cram this brt idea down our throats. At that time at least they would listen to us. The citizens rose up and we finally defeated it. Nothing has changed. The Richmond District citizens do not want brt. Period. So why dont you save us anymore aggravation, a waste of time and resources and i disagree with the people say about lets delay this vote. Lets have the vote right now and lets vote it down, the whole thing. If we had taken all the time and resources that were wasted up to this time on this project and the 300 million plus that its going to cost and put it forward to an underground system when i ran against jake gold rick years ago and i was laughed at. It is the only way to go. We must stop this nonsense and get some common sense in this issue. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Public speaker hello, im diane winkle, im sorry to see the full board is not here. I wasnt born on mars. I was born in San Francisco and im proud of it. Ihop you consider these other options. I have been a very active person in my community. It was talked about the elderly, we are saving face for the russian church, but have you considered all the rest. We have washington high school, are we forgetting our youth . Do you think they want to stand in the middle of geary boulevard. Do we need more cars . We have roosevelt junior high, we have other churches, we have saint monicas, lutheran, it just keeps going on. You have other things to consider. The man representing the bus situation, he said speed of buses. I still drive and that is not to be seen. I dont want to get stuck behind a bus in traffic. We need to move people safely. I was around when they put bart on mission and look what it did there. It destroyed big stores and little stores. That is going to be repeated. We need the people there and to save our youth. Thank you. I hope you would consider this wisely. Thank you for your testimony. Next speaker, please. Public speaker good afternoon, commission, my name is kevin stall, a member of the brt Citizens Advisory Committee. Last night when Public Comment was given for the changes to the brt line especially for keeping the rapid stop at laguna, a lot of us were in moved. There were lots of us that were approving the project and keeping it a one stop only, but as members of the Advisory Committee were representing the community and hearing the needs of the residents who will be affected by this project. So many people were advocating to have the laguna stop as a rapid stop because it will affect the people in this corridor which is of course one of the most senior areas in the city, and we heard your voices, we avoided to make sure we amended the project. We thank you for your testimony because we hear you all the time. Many i have only been on this community for a year and there were talks about wanting to keep the bridge and makes it to keep the sidewalks along the way. We hear the people talking about it and as a Community Member we heard the voices and we believe that we need to represent the people that we speak for. So im very glad that this project will go forward as amended. I want to thank you all for your time. Thank you for your service. After mr. calling names public speaker good evening, supervisors. My name is shapda. Unlike supervisor peskin, attorney, wall rick, this will this will not come out of your time, but im not an attorney nor did i go to law school. [ laughter ] anyway, for some of the seniors, the readers, please give us more time. Second very important for physicians, they become the one rule, do no harm. In that regard, dont do open heart surgery unless it becomes absolutely necessary. Especially a time for san franciscans which is a very reasonable plan which i dont think has been seriously looked at. The reason i say it needs to be investigated. 300 million the hybrid plan compared to the sensible plan of 15 million, thats a huge sum of change. If you consider that the Center Running lanes is 1. 7 miles of a 6. 5mile system. Thats only 26 . But you can believe that 1. 7 miles is going to take up 70 of the cost. Now, if you are im sure you are very concerned about financing. This is an important aspect that hasnt been discussed too much. 1. 7 miles of 6. 5 miles is going to take uppermost of the money. With a sensible transit plan, it will greatly reduce it. Next, i worked on the campaign and she was concerned about the merchants. Please be fair with the transit plan. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Public speaker my name is nad in may. I live 2 blocks from geary and i get extra credit because my mother took the bus down to the emporium the day i was born. Where do we go . Do we step out on traffic . I saw on Mission Street, the transit issue is kind of a mess. I would hope you would take into consideration the postponement for a month. With much respect, i would ask you to wait until the new Council Member is here and especially with Donald Trumps threats. Please postpone this. Thank you. Let me call two more of my remaining speaker cards. If there are any other members wishing to speak, please lineup to my left, your right. The floor is yours. Public speaker im with the transit riders as well. I support the brt so geary becomes a more attractive proposition. Please approve the final eir as soon as possible. The city has waited too long and would appreciate this service sooner. I live on the south side of Mission Street and i love the red carpet treatment we receive, the buses and the estimated travel times and putting in the red lanes, i find Mission Street less hectic and more pleasant and send more time and money at the local businesses. I feel the pain of these Small Businesses in these Business District projects. I dont think it would take very much. Let them know that it will improve this. Public speaker we are the Democratic Club in the district reaching thousands are workers. Our club has been involved in the planning with the geary brt for the last decade and we support the design in front of you today. I urge you to approve this final environmental document. Residents and more of san franciscans have taken the brunt and this is in conflict with each other. The traffic delays and transit continues to get worse and worse. We no longer can improve this system on geary. I urge to you move forward. Thank you for your time. Public speaker my name is miller. I take the 38 everyday and also a Richmond District resident and i lead a Community Group which holds Community Meetings. If you would just pull that microphone down. Perfect. Thats so much better. I also go to the geary Community Group and we talk about many transportation issues but we focus on geary. I want to let you know a little bit about the Community Input that i have heard being a member of the cac. This includes the cac meetings as the project planner incorporates the plans. I participated with the Transit Riders Union in embarcadero and geary talking to riders. I also have attended various Community Meetings and talk to my neighbors and i can tell you there is Strong Community support for this. A petition that our group has circulated that has 532 signatures. You can see that in your in boxes right now. In addition i want to say that i believe this board of supervisors is making the best decision for this and has seen the project managers have important feedback. We need to get this project off the ground. Its been ten years. 10 years. Public speaker i did fill out a speaker card. You did and i called your name a while ago. Thank you. I believe i support many of the speakers. Im in favor delaying the vote and let the new supervisors weigh in on this matter on this eir. Also this eir is miss identified because they have not weighed in on it. And also the vmp estimates given as the two brothers mention are based on 2010 to 2012 data. This doesnt take into account there are 45,000 ride sharing cars are on the streets and many other aspects that havent been taken into account in the last 56 years that have gone on in transportation in the city. Other speakers are that we move that. This is sensible. If it works, fine, if it doesnt work, look into other ways of dealing with the traffic to even doubt that bart will. But you guys can always think that maybe bart would happen. With the increased traffic times that have happened over the last few years increasing the number of buses, i think its the way to go. Also, as the lady mentioned, if you put a transit bus stops in the middle of the streets, if something horrid happens as has happened in chinatown, where are those people going to go as they are waiting for the bus. Thank you for your time. Public speaker im a member of the transit riders and i would like to see this project happen. This deserves Something Better than what we have now. It deserves Something Better than slight improvements of what we have now. I dont have much else to say that hasnt already been said. I dont ride the buses very much because i have to stand and its jerky and sometimes its a long wait. I think we deserve better than that. Thank you. Thank you. Public speaker chair peskin and commissioners, my name is peter galota. I want to first acknowledge and thank commissioner mar for your leadership and advocacy for geary brt and commissioner breed and commissioner kim for serving on the committee. I think last nights cac meeting was a nice culmination to our work. We feel very strongly about supporting the eir as well as supporting the local alternative, the hybrid alternative. We also heard from the community and put forth a recommendation as you know to also support the geary rapid stop on laguna and having heard from the community representing the community that we acknowledge the seniors and those with disabilities for that stop. As a Community Member we are happy that we reached this moment and would like to thank staff who have been really patient with us. This process has been really engaging and really inclusive. Its one of the most well vetted projects in San Francisco having given the timeline that we had to get to this point and this currently seated board is best seated and best informed to make a decision today given your deep history with the project. I also just want to put, ask for your continued support for brt today around funding. I know there is a lot of issues around the budget. Im going to ask that we fully fund geary brt in the years to come and im really excited and hoping to take action today and get geary moving. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. If there are any other members of the public wishing to testify, please come up otherwise this is the last speaker. Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is chris parks. I urge you to reject the proposal today. I appreciate this project has been in the works for process for 810 years. And however, now is the most critical time. Staff just the released its hybrid proposal december 9th right before the holidays and the public has not been allowed sufficient time to respond to this 400 million project. If this project is for Public Comment, this is the most important critical time of that process. This critical time should not be rushed. We have learned a lot from this brt project was first conceived. We need to take advantage of what we have learned. The geary brt is under way, for the project, the seniors and disabled will now have to cross to board the bus. Staff suggested there will be a 30 improvement. At the brt meetings, Citizens Advisory Committee meetings, the sf mta reported that half of that important improvement had already been achieved today by eliminating stops and lefthand turns. We will probably lose that as soon as they permanently close down 2car lanes. This project is estimated to be exceed 300 million. The van ness brt was originally conceived at approximately 65 million but now it has a 300 million estimate and it has not even Broken Ground yet. We have many competing needs for our monies. I urge you to save on limited funds and please do not approve this project as approved. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. If there are any other members of the public who would like to testify after mr. Wheat myers. Otherwise hes the last speaker. Public speaker good afternoon. Im speaking on the transit authority. I dont agree with the brt. I dont think its clear why the limited segment is on brt and why its not extended to masonic. The argument, the problems with brt is that you sacrifice the local coverage. Right now we have a good system of rapid or limited buses together with locals. And you sacrifice the local coverage and with the brt are actually slowing down and adding a few extra stops. So you are also sacrificeing the rapid part. There is no explanation why a larger segment of proposal of brt if brt is so great why are you stopping masonic. I also wonder, i feel for the people, my heart goes out to the people that live between jordan and arguelo and 26 and 27 because there will be an increased horn honking on these two side lanes. We are going to have a little bit more noise going on there. I dont think the report deals with that audible change. Another problem i have is that our Transit System is not just a corridor. Its a network. We have flushed out the brt stops on van ness. I find that transferring from the line on geary, i live on geary, transferring, im seeing the back end of the buses moving away beyond them. Its not speeding up the time if im not on the bus. Many i just wanted to point out some of the problems with brt. Thank you, sir. Maam you have already testified. I cant allow you to testify again. Thats how it works. Are there any other members of the public who have not testified who have testified on this matter item no. 4 . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. And this matter is now in the hands of the commission. I would just like to offer a few words and observations first and foremost and i say with all sincerity. I want to thank everybody who has come to testify today, who has written letters, who has been involved over a short or very long period of time and the quality of your testimony this afternoon and evening is really i think quite remarkable. I realize that there are some process issues here relative to the fact that we are in a moment of transition not only locally but at the National Level as you heard in the last item and we have changing of the composition of this body and a change at the National Level as well. But what is before us today is whether or not we are going to adopt the eir. I just want to say without bias that i have not heard words or many words as to how the eir is defective. I just wanted to say that for the record. Relative to the transition, at a certain point, the merrygoround has to stop. All of the members of this board arguably minus your chair for the month have been involved with this for the last eight plus or minus years. I actually had a little piece of it 10 years ago, but this has gone on through numerous iterations of numerous compositions of this board. I wanted to say that for the record as well. I do not have any knowledge that nor have i seen public statements or private statements that a new change of this body would change the outcome of these proceedings, but i think there is one important thing that i want to underscore and was touched on actually by a number of speakers, particularly mr. Taber and this is not only a message to the public that has been involved in this project but members of the Transportation Authority commission and i say this at risk of the fact that you might not reelect me as your chair at the end of this month, but it really is about Funding Priorities. In the last item, item no. 3, we just made or be it an unsecured promise to potentially if need be come up with 50 million. In this case, we all know that phase one of this project to stanion street has funding, but phase two, in the more controversial area of this project, in the Richmond District. Albeit i know that the last two supervisors representing that district have been enthusiastic supporters has been unfunded in large part. So i say to the eight colleagues gathered here in and the members of the public that Going Forward in the cal electrification and brt and subway extension that we really need to start having a very serious conversation about what our Funding Priorities are. It is very easy to adopt and certify an eir assuming its not defective but its much harder choosing between our projects and our transportation needs. That concludes my observations, and with that, commissioner yee . Supervisor norman yee thank you. First of all, i would also thank the public for coming out and not only today but for the process. Many of you have been involved with this for quite a while. And chair peskin, thank you for pointing out to clarify to everybody that we are voting on the eir, and not necessarily the item to fund this plan. Im not hearing anything where i would not approve the eir. However, there is a question i want some clarification. A number of the speakers talked about whats the realtime saved here in regards to the 20minute round trip versus the time that takes to get downtown and so forth currently, and it didnt seem like, i mean from just listening to the speakers, it seems like the 20 minutes was a little over stated. Mr. Dental post can we have your clarification on that. Its based ultimately on a lot of data inputs and so that modeling sound of 10 minutes travel time savings of a bus going from one end of the corridor to the other. So that would be maximum travel time savings that a rider might experience. If somebody is getting on the bus in the middle of the corridor and traveling to the other end, they would experience a portion of that benefit. The travel time benefit is modeled in future years. So the existing travel times of the buses are input into the model and validated based on the existing travel times of the buses as well as traffic counts and other data that goes into the model land use in its current scenario. We make sure the current model is reflecting the data on the ground, and then we also input into the model the future land use scenarios and other transportation and projects, ctmc which is one thing that somebody mentioned. We put all of those assumptions into our travel demand model and model the corridor to identify what the future travel time savings will be. So that 10 minutes, i think its important to note is relative to a modeled future of no built scenario. Its not that it would necessarily be exactly 10 minutes faster than the bus is today, but rather with the additional growth that we are expecting in San Francisco over the time that it will take to implement the project and the project will be in place we expect the travel times along the corridor without the project to increase to over an hour with the local bus and about 5 minutes with the 38r. That travel time saved is into the future travel time with the growth we expect in the corridor. So what you are basically saying is that your projections are based on the future for the fastest time for the system. Thats right. Thank you. Thank you, commissioner yee. Commissioner breed . I just want to thank the members of the public who came out to this meeting today. Thank you for your comments. One of the things that i wanted to especially comment on especially when i came onto the board of supervisors and what i thought i was going to do is make magic happen and i thought i was going to make sure that we got rid of the brt and we did everything underground. Wouldnt that be wonderful and amazing but wouldnt that be costly and how would we pay for it. That was really what the bigger issue was for me. I had to make a decision. No, i dont want to do brt. I want to go underground. When i went to the ceremony in chinatown for whatever the big bertha was, the big drilling, i wrote on there, see you on geary boulevard, see you on van ness boulevard. I was really hopeful. We made mistakes in the past before we were born to putting things in the ground and now its much more expensive and we are a growing city and we have a lot to do with our Public Transportation system. The point im making is its not what i want to do, but this particular brt strategy that we have here for geary boulevard and van ness is what i believe something that we can do, something we can accomplish and something we can afford to accomplish. So, i will be supporting this eir and i hope you will also support the amendments that we are proposing. I do know that with a report that is happening now looking the entire city and whats our going Transit System. And how we are going to move all of these people all over the place and finally, how are we going to pay for it . But at this time now is the time to move forward with this particular project. No more delays. Its been 10 years. Its time to go. Thank you. Thank you, commissioner breed, before i call on commissioner mar, and this is not an eir issue but a process issue that people have addressed that is there will be many many more votes that have just indicated on this project. The funding package is far from complete. So, the incoming supervisors if they differ from the existing supervisors are going to have plenty of opportunities to weigh in and express themselves on that side. I wanted to put that on the record. With that, commissioner mar. Supervisor eric mar chair peskin and i definitely want to be sensitive to that point that this is only one milestone that allows this to move forward. The existing board of supervisors and the new members including sandy feuer will have a significant say in especially how the stanion to 34th avenue is funded and built out. I wanted to say to the sf mta staff that are here, thank you, liz by son, santos, joanne. Thank you for the great work on this sensitivity to neighborhoods as well. I wanted to say when i visited East San Jose to fruit vale and international boulevard to oakland, the Small Businesses, mom and pop businesses by transit agencies were really critical while explaining the benefits of bus Rapid Transit. I want to say that the focus only on speed improvements is not the full picture. I think as colin dental post was mentioned its the increase in frequency of the brt vehicles in addition to the local vehicles that also saves riders time. The geary area from palm to 27th avenue is the center lane part that the significantly speed up travel from parts of central richmond all the way to the spine and core of the city. I think thats critical. Also in East San Jose along santa clara boulevard, the station is created with neighborhood artist, the safety of the creation of those stations i think is critical and again for brt systems whether its in bogota or other places around the world or cleveland for example, they really focus on the dedicated lanes which i think is critical. I think some of the speakers that mentioned why dont we just get rid of the dedicated lanes, thats what makes a brt system a brt including the dedicated lanes into a station as well. I want to say from the cac and kevin and others mentioned that there are many others that are not here. Over 530 people that are largely transit riders that have strongly supported this and the petitions are in our email boxes and to say that mta commissioner brinkman spoke and ramos couldnt be here today but hes been promoting brt and not just in our city but regionally as well. Lastly, this is critical. The tenderloin will benefit greatly from other Improvement Centers amended and i think that colleagues as we cast this vote today, i hope we understand how significant and historic this is and there will be many more votes, but i think we are casting the vote today to make the geary line the busiest and most usable and the busiest line in chicago and the nation will make geary in our city much more reliable and faster. I strongly urge your support for the amended version and the locally preferred alternative as we will vote today. Thank you. Thank you, commissioner mar. We have now two amendments before us. The first made by commissioner breed relative to the much discussed laguna stop. And there was a second for that motion. Mr. Stams would you like to restate at an or ms. Breed would you like to restate that to make laguna stop a rapid stop. Yes. On that matter, do we have the same house . We do have the same house. There are ten of us here. We will take that amendment same house, same call. And then on the 2nd amendment made by supervisor mar and seconded relative to the colin i believe would you like to restate that mr. Stams, commissioner mar . Commissioner mar to restate the action. I know that we have this in front of us, but it was basically to maintain the local stop in colin and geary especially in response to seniors and others that urged to keeping that colin street local stop. Motion made and seconded, colleagues, can we take that without objection, same house, same call, that amendment is adopted. Commissioner mar has moved the item now as twice amended. Mr. Stams, if you could have a roll call on that vote, please. Clerk all right. On the amended item 4. Commissioner avalos. One second. Counsel is waving. Im sorry, commissioner mars motion, mr. Mar, if you would remotion to move item 4 for the certification and findings and adoption of the monitoring and mitigation and the selection of the hybrid alternative as locally preferred alternative and stated in the agenda item no. 4 as guys amended, if you would move that. Supervisor eric mar so moved. Seconded by commissioner breed. On that item, a roll call please. Clerk commissioner avalos, aye, commissioner breed, aye t commissioner campos, aye, commissioner cohen, aye, commissioner farrell, aye, commissioner kim, aye, commissioner mar, supervisor eric mar thank you, everyone, aye. Commissioner peskin, aye, commissioner tang, aye, commissioner yee, aye. The item is approved unanimously as amended. Mr. Clerk, could you please call the fifth and last item. Clerk introduction of new items. This is an information item. Colleagues, thank you all for coming. Colleagues, first of all i want to thank and i should have done this at the beginning of the meeting. Phil jackson and Jessie Larson for covering this on sf govtv. And i would like to acknowledge our Assembly Member, for keeping San Francisco streets safe relative to relegated transportation vehicles which now rate some 45,000 on our city streets. I would like to ask is that this board considerate our next meeting passing a resolution of support of Assembly Member tangs bill no. 87 which will require the california dmv to revoke the registration of vehicles operating in violation of the vehicle thomas Tester Program and i want to thank senator tang for that and hes regulating this here and now these dangerous self driving vehicles. Are there any other items for no. 5 . Is there any Public Comment on item no. 5 . Seeing none. Public comment is closed. Is there any general Public Comment items no. 6. Mr. Yip. The floor is yours. Public speaker thank you. The purpose for man being born is not just for sake of personal enjoyment. The prosperity of nation every man or woman would be responsible for the Better National management. The universe is one of two principals, one must spare with good manner, honesty and integrity for and also ability and holiness for practices. This is for the person. Actually which has Important Mission and duties for the common prosperity of the holy way to tragedy and downfall. The works of rescue would be firstly the rescue of human hearts. Worldly peace and prosperity. Thank you. Mr. Straus. General Public Comment. This is the last time this group is sitting together as a group and i just personally and on behalf of the transit riders and a lot of the people who i worked with over the years, i really wanted to thank in particular supervisors avalos, campos and mar for the pleasure of working with them, particularly on transportation measures. Its been rewarding. I have enjoyed it and i wish you well in future endeavors and hope this is not the end of our being able to work together. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Straus for those kind words. Ms. Cross. Public speaker i would like to ask the board at an appropriate time ask the metropolitan Transportation Commission for some regional data start trip and end trip in the bay area so that we can be up to date on what we need to input on our neighbors in the way of development for the whole region. The destination just in San Francisco. We may have some valuable input in San Francisco and we may get some ideas that will help us in making for safe and efficient travel routes and development when we pull our needs together in a larger framework and up to date, not just the past. Thank you, ms. Cross for your comment. Next speaker, please. If there are any other members of the preponderance for general Public Comment please lineup to my left or your right. Public speaker first of all. My name is jake. I want to thank the three members that are leaving this committee, day of camp os which i love your tie and eric mar and as well as john avalos. I wish i could have said earlier but i want to say it now is that no project is perfect. No project will ever meet the needs of every Single Person who takes a part of these projects. I hope we can do the best we can and keep reaching out to as many people we can to work out the kinks and make this all possible for future riders. I want to thank everyone for all of their hard work and great weekend. Thank you very much. Seeing no other members of the public for general Public Comment, the transportation
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