Transcripts For SFGTV Transportation Authority Full Board 121316 20161228

Good morning, everyone. This is the tuesday, december, 13, 2016 meeting of the San Francisco county Transportation Authority. My name is eric mar im the acting chair of the Transportation Authority. Our clerk is mr. Steve stamos, could you please do the roll call . Item one, avalos . Here. Present. Breed. Present. Campos. Present. Cohen npresent. Ferrill, absent. Kim . Absent. Mar . Present. Peskin . Present. Tang absent. Commissioner yee. Present. We have quorum. Item two, chair report, as our director will be recounting the accomplishments of the year and we will hold our chair elections in a moment, i am going to make my remarks extremely brief. With the adoption of plan bay area preferred scenario by the mtc and abag we are well posed to advocate for the priority projects in the bridge toll talks, which commence this week at the mtc. That is the met political Transportation Commission. Thank you, so much, commissioner david campos for representing us in those discussions tomorrow and we look forward to see the culmination through 2017, 18, when the voters will have the opportunity to approve much needed funds for transportation, i am hopeful that our local communities will also come together next year to develop a companion local transportation funding measure that can integrate closely with the regional measure in 2018. To fund our local contributions to Bart Caltrain and high speed rail, as well as to fund critical local investments in infrastructure repair and main nens, and safety, and paving and transit and neighborhood, Traffic Management city wide. Before we turn these efforts over to the 2017, Transportation Authority board, however, we have one more piece of business to finish in the 2016 term. Thank you colleagues for being so flexible in scheduling our special meeting on january fifth to consider environmental and planning approvals for the geary corridor. Bus Rapid Transit project. This prop k, signature project has been ten years in the making. And it has been coordinated with the van ness project which has just gone into construction, i am really glad that these milestones to be over seen by this Transportation Authority body, which has reviewed and supported this comprehensive out reach and Technical Work on both projects as envisioned in our county wide, Transportation Plan, van ness and geary brt will fill the major gaps in our citys Regional Transit network, both projects upgrade, several miles of vision zero high injury networks, and are anticipated to leverage the significant, state and federal funds, in closing i would like to thank each of the commissioners for your camaraderie, leadership and collaboration on this body during 2016. And indeed over the past 8 years. It has been a pleasure serving with all of you. On the three committees especially our plans and programs committee, the finance committee and our Vision Zero Committee as well as in our capacity as a Treasure Island, mobility, Management Agency or tima, together we all planned funded and delivered critical transportation improvements in every neighborhood and across the region, my thanks, also go out to our hard working Citizens Advisory Committee or cac, led by the chair chris, and for reviewing every item that comes before us, and for providing us and our staff with valuable input and ideas. And of course, i would like to thank the amazing staff for the Transportation Authority im sure that we will all Work Together and cross paths again as i return to civilian life working alongside all of you to improve equitable access and Sustainable Transportation options for all. Thanks again for all of you, and with that icon include my acting chair remarks. Mr. Stamos call the next item. Public comment on item two . Mr. War field. Thank you, im the executive director of the Library Users speaking individually, although the Library Users all over the city use all of the public transit. The wonderfulness of the van ness and geary gus bus Rapid Transit has been mentioned by the acting director. And i wanted to make a few comments on those. I first got seriously interested in what mta was doing when it turned out that their socalled, 7th and 8th street, safety project was intending to bypass the library, the theater and the Asian Art Museum stops. But in doing further research on that, it seemed to me that the mta was particularly lacking in hard evidence in their studies of what kinds of accidents and Safety Record they had on the existing routes. And most particularly with regard to what the potential problems would be from having people walk extra distances and cross extra streets to deal with reduced bus stops and reroutings as well as the question of converting curb bus stops to island stops. And i think that is something that i am not familiar with this on these two projects but i imagine that if the research was as poor and as limited as it was in the one that i looked at, it wasnt good at all. And im very concerned in general with curb bus stops changing into island bus stops. And with the removal of bus stops which really hurts people who with mobility problems. I hope also that vision zero latests report showing no improvement makes an impression on you. Thanks. Thank you mr. War field. Is there any other Public Comment . If anybody that would like to speak could just come forward. Hello, commissioners i sent you a letter late yesterday, and i have copied to distribute in case you havent seen it. Im not really prepared to talk but have to add to mr. War fields comments that both van ness brt and geary brt really need a lot more attention. Removal of bus stops has not improved my ability to get around. Going ahead and going this on faith, which is what these projects really have been based on and not the study is a great disservice to the city. And since geary has not ad vansz r vanced to delay the approval on the ier and to have them wait on that and give the public more time to read that report. 17 days during the Holiday Season not sufficient. Van ness tree cutting will begin tomorrow, and the trees will come down and the lanes will be shut off. And disables and elderly will be inconvenienced to say the least. Year i urge you to look at the effect of these projects which individually may sound great, but arent terrific. They are really injury yus to us and beyond. I guess i will stop there. But i think you need a better way to evaluate these projects before they go into ground breaking. Thank you. Thank you. Any other speakers please come forward, we are going to close Public Comment. My make is robert and i am a director of san franciscans for sensible transit and we have written you a letter about the need to extend the period of time during which the review is made of the final eir on geary. My letter focus on you need to read more than 1,000 pages of the final eir to demonstrate that you have made an individual judgment. And are not acting based upon what you have simply been told by the Transportation Authority. Executives and planners. And frankly nobody is going to believe that you are going to interrupt your holiday to read the 1,000 pages of the final ier. Instead the voters in the richmond will see that even though they voted 80 percent in favor of the two leading candidates that had doubts about the recommended hybrid alternative, you agreed to hurry up this hearing at january 5th. Furer is going to be sworn in five days later but will be excluded from questioning a recommendation which she agreed with. The Transportation Agency lack of process to challenge ideas of planners and consultants. You should be aware of that. Executives have their plates full, and they cant inquire fully. Our group did and we found serious flaws you should hear about those during that 60 day period. I suggest that mr mrmr. Cordob a and i have the lecturm during that time, for the only fair way to proceed and the assurance that you can give that you have had an opportunity to individual judgment and we ask fon additional 60 days from the date of the publication, on december 9th. Thank you. Thank you. Is there any other Public Comment . Hi, my name is glen urban and i am a Small Business owner on geary boulevard, and i question to why there is a rush to have a meeting on january 5th regarding the eir, when the eis is still be reviewed by the fta and why the rush for certatiificate identification. Thank you. If you like to speak, please come line up. And we are going to close after this speaker. Good morning, everybody my name is david and i am a resident of the Outer Richmond district and i have two thoughts to offer you today. First of all we had a very large building project downtown that everybody thought the Due Diligence was done, and it has had the people taken a little bit of extra time, we might not be in the predicament that we are with the building leaning and the city in all kinds of additional trouble. I kind of feel the same way with the geary brt transit project, that its like my grandfathers old suit that needs to be updated. The concept of grandpas suit was great five years ago, but the lapels need a little bit of adjusting and the last time that grandpa wore it out he got the feedback from the people in the neighborhood that the pants didnt really fit. Well, now he is at the taylor again and ready to recraft the product a little bit and now the people are telling the tailor to rush the project. I think that if we take the time and study it closure and tune it up, then we can do the justice at that ten years that the project has been on the drawing board and get a useable product for the neighborhood and at the same time, avoid pitfalls where four or five years down the road, we are coming back and not saying good things about this project and having to dig in and spend more money and spend more tax for energy and resources, thank you. Thank you, mr. Hertz. , any other Public Comment . My name is cory and i am a Small Business owner at the shell gas station at the corner of cook, and i think that the board of supervisors should come out and take a look at geary boulevard, west, and see the fact that traffic flows freely, except for maybe an hour, in bound and an hour outbound. The buses speed up and down that corridor, all day, every day, west and spending money, on a bus Rapid Transit is a waist of tax payer money and that is the fact, thank you. Thank you, i see no other Public Comment, Public Comment is closed. I will just respond by saying that the Significant Community out reach done and Many Community meetings with many of you in the audience as well a lot of the staff work to produce the final eir i think has been years in the make and there has been endless delays as well. And there is no rush going on, but this is an important process that we are moving forward, thank you for the Public Comment. Mr. Stamos call the next item. 3, the executive Directors Office this is an information item. And we have tang, the executive director. My report is on your desk and i will begin by reporting at the federal level that the president elect has announced chow has his intended nominee for secretary of transportation, as you may know, chow served as as the secretary under the president , george hw bush, and labor secretary under george w bush, and so she has the experience running federal agencies, certainly, that experience will be serve her well. We are also mindful of some of her track record in adjudicating some of those responsibilities so we will stay ever vigilant on her proposals and leadership with respect to transportation. We are encouraged that she and the president elect have indicated an interest in promoting Infrastructure Spending and investment and they acknowledge the difficulty of finding additional funding detailed the potential tax breaks and the other types of public, private partnership and private investment as one potential way to finance, the infrastructure and as we know, that is not a substitute for funding and so the details at this point, remain scant and we will stay, of course, on top of this through the coming year as the trags takes shape, and i will note that the Senate Majority leader has expressed skepticism, particularly as one of the 100 day initiatives and it sounds like he also, remains very interested in hearing what the administration is proposing as far as Funding Sources. In the meantime, at the stalevee remain encouraged that the new senate bills, won in the assembly and the senate side is the number of the bill is number one, by the chair phrafraiser a bell, and these two bells were introduced already. And as you will recall from last month, my report the governor and the legislature failed to pass a transportation state funding bill. And in the 2016 session. But we do already see the introduction of these two bills in the early part of the 2017 session. And so, they are about a 6 billion dollar, level of investment and they are very similar, as in addition to the additional 700 million dollar, one time Funding Source from repaid truck wait fee loans, and so we are hopeful, that this time, that we will find a path forward, and for infrastructure and there is a fiscal cliff at the state level where the previous funding programs have reached their end and in fact we delivered one of the Major Projects funded by the state program. And so that whole program is at the end, and the state of california, really needs to come together to figure out how we are going to maintain our existing system as well as repair and enhance the over all transportation system. Currently, the Funding Sources in both proposals on the state and senate side, include, revenue frz the gas tax, and the diesel fuel, and taxes and the higher vehicle, registration fees and opening up some of the unallocated tap and trade funds. So please stay tuned, we also are tracking some legislation where there is a potential constitutional amendment being proposed to allow the jurisdictions to approve the sale taxes with a lower, voter flesh hold at 55 percent, this is not a new initiative and it comes up every so often and so we will see if that actually moves ahead as well. So we will track both of those while also, of course, working as the chair mentioned our own potential local, path forward with new revenues at the local level and the regional level. That recently approved, the dedication transportation taxes merced, santa cruz. And i think that there is monterrey, thank you, and congratulations to those counties and we will be hosting this conference in San Francisco francisco. Eligible, street repair, and Pedestrian Safety and transit rely ability and transit improvements and we are reaching out through the offices and we welcome your thoughts and ideas as well as we are happy to follow up on any out reach to get the word out about the january 17th, deadline for this funding opportunity. And we will present recommendations to the board for approval in march. Turning to Pedestrian Safety, and vision zero, i just wanted to congratulate fmta to complete the two year effort to use the sales tax and funds to install, the quick and effective improvements along the corridor throughout the city. These were identified through the walk First Investment strategy and multi agency, and programs that was identified two years ago. And using performance based and data driven analysis to prioritize Infrastructure Investments and other Counter Measures to improve safety. The Vision Zero Task force as a reminder will be meeting at this chamber on thursday, december 15th in just a couple of days at 2 p. M. From 2 00 to 3 30, and the topics that we will be presented include the two year, Action Strategy up date for 2017 and 18. And as well as an up date on the 57, vision zero projects that we are tracking together with the various agencies sfmta and public works and others, as well as the status up date on the ch geary brt. Org for details. And in terms of management and administration issues, we would just want to mention that our request for proposals for general Engineering Consultant services was well received. We held a preproposal conference on november 9th and we had 94 attendty and by the end of the deadline, we received, 43 responses and the statements of qualifications and this will allow us to turn to a broader bench of expertise as we do our work and advise the board on a range of technical issues from engineering to project delivery, so the evaluation panel, of course is comprised of our staff, and the sfmta staff as well and we will bring in an award recommendation to the finance committee in january, so in closing, please let me say thank you and warm holiday greetings to all of the commissioners and your staff. Thank you for all of your work in 2016. It was a banner year, i am going to save the list of accomplishments for the next item. But i really want to appreciate on behalf of all of our staff, your guidance and leadership and support as we continue to work hard for the city and improving our transportation system. Thank you very much, and with that i am happy to answer any questions. Thank you. I see no questions lets open it up for Public Comment. Anyone from the public that would like to speak . I want to point out to you that the schedule that was set for the geary eir said that the federal eis had to be finished before the eir could be considered. Now what we see is that still remains open. You, as the commissioners, really need to inquire what is it about the federal problem that slows us down . We have had the er held up, the eir held up, because of the eis. And unless you inquire about that, you wont know. And if you are simply going to have a meeting on january 5th, and you wont know then, you will not have been able to prove your independent judgment. And independent judgment is critical in this, it is a requirement of sequa, it is not something that we invented that letter that i sent to every member, sets out what the standard is, it is easy to dismiss if you want and say that this has gone on for a long time, but that is not enough, there are flaws to this, which you ought to inquire about, and that is why i made the offer i did. To have a conversation right here about it. I think that you should be concerned about that. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker . If people could come line up to the right of the podium, that would really help. Mr. Warfield. Thank you mr. Chair. Im peter warfield, the executive director of the Library Users association. First of all thank you for commenting about the Public Comment mentioning significant public out reach and no rush to judgment as it were. My experience of the mta is public out reach in general, has been that it has been a business mr. Warfield, we are the San Francisco county, not the mta here. But you can still comment on that. Sure, i am referring to the report of the executive director. So, the Pedestrian Safety was mentioned and vision zero was mentioned. And at one of the Citizens Advisory Committee meetings it turned out that one of the members had a recent report from vision zero which i have yet to see. In which he said basically it was failing. That there was no reduction in pedestrian injuries year over year for the most recent, i believe, the most recent report. And that to some degree does not surprise me, now, i certainly think that if you are talking about vision zero lets get to the specific and see about them and hear about them. With respect to the Pedestrian Safety, once again, the funding of projects that convert, curb side bus zones, bus loading, bus stops to islands is to my mind just a shocking dof safety, as is removing stops and requiring a lot of extra walking. The socalled, 7th and 8th street, safety project, for example, didnt do any study of the additional streets being crossed by folks going from the dropped stops to the replacement stops. And my calculation was based on their own loading figures, 400 plus thousand extra crossings per year no calculation about the safety. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker . Diana scott, just to add a detail about vision zero, which a friend conveyed in a letter that i think that you have received, according to sfgov. Org score cards, traffic fatalities, the recent city statistics indicate a record 38 traffic fatalities for the fiscal year, ending in 2016, compared to 28 in 2015, and 34 in 2014. So, the question really still has to be asked, whether this program and everything it entails, all of the construction, is reducing injuries by reducing vehicles flow speeds, does that make people really want to drive faster . You know . When you are in a slow line of cars and you got to make that next light . Is it reasonable, dont we need to increase speed of many flows to achieve the goals that this county and city are trying to achieve, and prevent avoidable deaths, thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Im wondering if staff want to respond to any of the Public Comment before we move to the next item . Through the chair, yes, thank you. Chair mar, regarding the splitting of the federal document with the state document for the geary environmental review. There is something that we intended to bring Forward Together and planning to do so, preparing a joint document, throughout the summer, we had a bit of a conflicting direction from the partners suggesting that we up date the document in one way. And to up date to respond to Public Comments, as you know, there are three areas in which the project was modified in order to respond to Public Comment that we heard during the draft. This was related to vision zero and safety improvements, related to keeping the webster bridge up and one other area and it is escaping me, however, these three changes to the project, which respond to Community Requests and input, caused some additional need for documentation and review by the federal agency. They also would like a little bit more time and discussion with the shipo state, historic pre preservation, and they dont expect any issues and we have already, discussed some of those analysis areas. So as a matter of practicality, they felt like there was no reason why this board should not go ahead and take our local action as has always been the case, previously, and then the federal government could take its action and they have no objection and they have indicated as much to ourselves and sfmta and our attorneys have reviewed this process that allows this board to take that local action as has been done in the past before the feds take their approval action, and in doing so, the idea is that we are ready at the local level and it is really just been for administrative reasons that we have been continuing to be delayed and wait again, to meet the federal partners, wishes in terms of how we document the content, nothing in the content is going to change between the two documents, and we feel like this board is very well qualified and ready to take the local action. So, thank you. So, i see no comments from commissioners, so lets end the Public Comment. Or we already did, and colleagues, if you have no objections i would like to move item 13 out of order, to consider right now, which is the special recognition of the Outgoing Commissioners. Lets me call back up the executive director. Thank you, chair mar and this is adjust a quick item and it is quite hard for us. Sxh i just wanted to take this opportunity and particular to thank our commissioners campos, avalos and mar who will be retiring for the service and the leadership to this body, starting with campos, you served as chair of the authority for two terms in 2010, and 2011. You were our plans and programs chair, you served and led us on the metropolitan Transportation Commission and our regional body and you also served at the gold engate, on behalf of San Francisco and these and many, many areas in your regular duties as a supervisor you have been a leader on transportation for San Francisco, and during your tenure, we amoved the van ness, brt project, similar to the stage that we are out for geary and you see the fruits of that labor, happening outside, on van ness, avenue and we signed and we received our full Funding Grant agreement for central subway during your tenure, and you were able to over see so many of these local and regional projects and city wide projects in those two years and including the planned areas and sustain able strategies at the region and each of these efforts involved a complex set of transportation policy, but also, Affordable Housing and sustainability, and equitable policies as well and you were a fierce leader in the region for each of these areas and we are grateful to you for that. And during this time, in particular, the equity agenda, it came to the floor, through the discussion of the free, muni for youth, program which you championed and you were able to secure, the regional funding from the mtc in order to compliment our local, funding at the mta and you can see those benefits being utilized by about 50,000 or more youth, and even more seniors and disabled throughout the city. And you always encouraged us and in fact, demanded that we do thorough out reach, public engagement, and to all members of the community, and the cultural competent way. And multi lingual access and strong out reach, on the ground out reach, to communities. And you insured that we had strong oversight throughout our operations. And in terms of our own actions and agencies as well as those that we were funding, you insisted on the highest levels of integrity and transparency and accountability and so thank you very much for all of that leadership and locally in your district, we can already see the benefits of your leadership as well. And we have got the folsom and barlet, and mission, and san jose, and the offramp has been dieted for example, alamena and certainly, shared accomplishments across the districts but through your leadership and all of these traffic have been calmed and they have been made more news, and walking and transit and the emphasis on home zones and school zones and the list does go on. So for all of those accomplishments and contributions we thank you. We thank you very much. And wish you the best. Commissioner avalos you served this body in multiple ways. And you served as chair, and of course that stands out for me as that was the leadership year for and you are cheering the organization and the Decision Making through that process, and im very grateful for your confidence and your willingness to support and the body and this agency, and helping us to maintain the stability to be effective through that period. And it is a pleasure and an honor and i will be grateful for that. And you have over seen the culmination of the county wide, transportation, called the San Francisco Transportation Plan which was adopted at the end of that year, and at the end of 2013, in particular, you pushed us to do an Equity Analysis, and Equity Analysis that was deeper and more thorough than we had done in the past and this allowed us to examine the performance from all angles from the lens and making sure that the communities were not being impacted disproportionately, and benefiting in proportion to the noncommunities of concern. And that led, of course, to a few findings, we found that Traffic Safety and Pedestrian Safety had an income disparity, and we found that neighborhood planning and project pipelines were or had a disparity across the city and that we did not have very even planning studies and project pipelines and which, then led to the ration of the neighborhood, transportation improvement program, a popular project and a program that all of the supervisors here are able to then, provide their input in to prioritizing planning and studies as well as capitol projects in their districts. To make sure that we are getting some dedicated focused attention to every neighborhood across the city. We thank you for your work on equity, which also then will turn into the mta, and muni and the analysis, and as well as policies that are adopted at sfmta. You served as well at the air district and through the ftca funding and we were able to coordinate with you there, and you were a leader on bicycling and bike sharing. And so, that was back when we were not sure how we are going to expand bike share in the city and the region and you asked us to do a fundamental Foundation Alan sis there and now we do have the bike share throughout the region. You led on infrastructure, improvements and regional coordination at balboa, park, and the bart station which is an area of deep need, but we also saw some pretty major progress, and we saw the west side opening and we saw m east side access and the improvements and you got your, real time muni which you were absolutely, you know, not going to give up until you saw the real time muni, information and signage on those lines, and ocean avenue is getting better, gene va street scraping is hospitaling and Affordable Housing is going to go in in the upper yard, and so here you have the development and you have a comprehensive set of strategies and a community Advisory Committee that you appointed through the board of supervisors to over see this balboa, park station area. But it was not just the park, throughout the district eleven, and we saw the improvement on mission and gene va and the triangle. And we are continuing to work on. And finally, thank you for your leadership on these policy initiatives such as transportation and demand management and these are things that the people dont necessarily it is not a retail topic, but it really is the intersection of transportation and land use policy, and it is a way for us to manage our growth and to grow responsibly in a smart way thank you to you and your colleagues on the Land Use Committee for reviewing that progress. I hope that i have not missed anything, but thank you so much chair avalos. And chair mar. This now, allows me to finish strong with your thanks to you and your appreciation for your leadership. You have served as our chair of finance, and three years 11, 12, 16, as well as plans and programs for two years, you have seen every aspect of our operation, you have worked with all of our staff and we love working with all three of you and your staff. You have given us the time and your energy and your guidance and wisdom when it came to things like building city wide and regional coalition, around smart transportation, whatever the issue was, it could have been bike share and brt, where you and commissioner avalos were willing to take the time to go down and study other countries and how they did it in other communities, you have been tireless advocate, working the coalition across the nation on vision zero, and taking the best practice from here to the other places and bringing that back to this body as well. And you are able to advance our goals at the region through your leadership on abag, the association of governments and including through the planned bay area process. And for two Sustainable Community and strategies and earning really the multi modal mar in so many ways, through your very visibility and enthusiastic advocacy, and encouragement of the systems and programs, and in the district, you were able to move forward our first neighborhood transportation improvement project, the bike lanes and repaving project and we are working on 8th and 20, 15th and the 23rd, with the intersection of fulton and making it safer, we have had the unacceptable crash tlz and you have been a vocal advocate, and serving on our mission zero committee, we have seen you push forward for the solution and improvements on anza, balboa, clement and park, and senior zones, and a whole bunch of initiatives including all of really all of your free muni for youth, and equity proposals that insure that our whole Community Benefits from the transportation policies and investments thank you for your leadership on van ness and geary all the way through the end. We are really, it is an honor and a privilege to serve you all three and wish you the best in your future work. Thank you. We have a few special posters to appreciate your service and i think that eric young can bring that forward to you, and we will get a foe at the at the end of the meeting. Very good. Thank you. Colleagues, if oh, so we will take the photo after the meeting. Okay. So colleagues, if there are no comments, let me grab the framed poster. They are beautiful, thank you. Lets open it up for Public Comment. Is there anyone from the public that would like to speak . Is there anyone that would like to speak . If anyone that would like to speak, please come line up behind the podium, and we are going to close the Public Comment in a moment. Okay. Diana scott again and i just want to read a couple of paragraphs from a letter that chang has for each of the supervisors which is a printout of what i sent yesterday. Please note that while there is the board of supervisors land use and transportation committee, in San Francisco, that meets on issues like the ones that i address here, there is no urban environmental in the air Quality Committee to assess the impact on city residents, especially children, seniors, and those with disabilities. Or compromised res tory systems like myself. Of construction destruction, projects like the three that i mentioned in this letter. Which have to do. So maam we are on item 13. And the content is recognizing the outgoing, commissioners. Okay. All right, well then i will see this and i will hope that future meetings of commissioners will recognize the items that i have addressed in the letter that i hope you will each get a copy of thank you. Thank you, is there anyone else that would like to speak . Then Public Comment is closed. Thank you so much miss chang. Colleagues, lets move to item four. The process colleagues is we will open for nominations i believe they needed if to be seconded and then we will have comment and then call for a vote. And is that right . That is and we will take the Public Comment before the vote is that right . That is correct. Okay. So colleagues, its open for nominations. Director avalos followed by campos. Thank you. Colleagues im rising to nominate commissioner peskin for the chair for this next month. But i also think that he would make a great chair next year when there is a revote. But we are not determining that today. Supervisor commissioner peskin has along experience here at city hall. He was of course, the board president for a number of years, i think that it was like four years, between, 2005, and 2008. And as the board president , he was a very fair, and very collaborative and around the transportation, commissioner peskin lives in the district that is very transit rich. And i really believe based on his work as board president in the past, that he will have a real strong focus throughout the city, no the just his own district and he will be able to understand the huge needs that we have in under served neighborhoods that require a greater investment of transportation and infrastructure. And so im really pleased to be able to support his nomination. Or to nominate him. Aaron peskin also has had a huge role in providing good, strong, fiscal oversight over the Transportation Authority in the past. As plans and programs chair. And he was able to put in place project financing, and plans and actually enabled a lot of projects afterward to be able to be completed on time and on budget. Which is a significant thing that i think is set a real strong trend for the Transportation Authority since that time. That was about ten years ago. So i really feel that he has got a lot of the qualities that will be great to lead us through the next phase of our work on the Transportation Authority. And we also are looking at probably not seeing the kind of resources we have had over the past several years with our economy booming the way that it is, and so having the strong fiscal oversight will be really important. And so based on his experience and based on his real effort to be fair and collaborative, i am really pleased to nominate mr. Peskin for the chair. Thank you, commissioner avalos. Thank you. I second the nomination and i think that for all of the reasons that commissioner avalos noted. I still think its not clear what the landscape is going to look like at the National Level and therefore, the regional and local level. Because of the Incoming Trump administration and so i think that commissioner peskins knowledge and not only of San Francisco but also other regional players is important and you know, on a lighter note i think that those of us who are vertically challenged like myself, should get representation at the top. And i think that its only fair that we balance this scott weiner chair with peskin. So for those reasons, i will be proud to support commissioner peskin. Commissioner farrell . Great. Any other nominations . Then oh, commissioner peskin . So i want to thank commissioner avalos and commissioner campos for that nomination and second and if the commissioner will have me, i would be willing to accept that nomination. And look forward to working with you and hopefully to retaining that in the 2017 year if the new commission will see it fit. Thank you, commissioner peskin. I see no other nominees so i will close the opening of nominations, now, lets open up or are there any further nominations . Nominations nations are closed. And is there anyone from the public that would like to speak. And so now i call for a vote, on our one nominee commission peskin, roll call, mr. Stamos . On the motion of in favor of electing commission, peskin for chair for the remainder of the current term . Savolos. Aye. Breed. Aye. Campos. Aye. Cohen. Aye. Ferrill. Aye. Kim . Aye. Commissioner mar . Aye. Peskin . Aye. Commissioner yee . Aye. Motion passes. Thank you. And congratulations, new chair peskin, and i am going to hand the gavel over to him. Thank you colleagues, and just by way of a little bit of history, the Transportation Authority has really evolved from being a Funding Agency to an agency that really does Public Policy and oversight and i want to continue to build on that, i want to reflect on the boards that our executive director said, relative to our three Outgoing Commission members. You guys have put policies in place, particularly around transit equity and transit justice. And that i hope that we can continue to build on. What commissioner avalos said is just right, which is i have the pleasure of representing a corner of the city that is very rich in Transit Services and i think that our collective imperative is to make sure that we do that and bring that to under served areas of the city as well and that should be one of our primary focuses and the other thing that i want to say is that in a time of budgetary uncertainty, we do need to have robust conversations about what our priorities are. We have a number of remarkably challenging projects on the horizon, whether it is transbay, phase two, whether it is the various brt projects extensions of various subway routes. I think that we need to be fiscally prudent. And i hope that those of you who are here will see fit to retain me in the new year, and mr. Clerk, could you please read the next item. 5, approve the minutes of the november, 29, 2016 meeting this is an action item. Is there any Public Comment on the november 29th minutes . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. We have a different house. Mr. Clerk could you call the roll . Five, avalos. Aye. Breed. Aye. Campos. Absent. Cohen. Aye. Farrell. Aye. Kim. Aye. Mar. Aye. Peskin . Aye. Yee. Aye. Minutes are approved. Next item please . Item 6, approve the 2017 state and federal legislative program. This is an action item. Is there any Public Comment on this item . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Any comments from commissioners . Seeing none, could we take that the same house and the same call and the action is adopted. Next item threes . Item 7, increase the amount of professional Services Contract with par son brinckerhoff to 960,000, to not exceed, 1,210,000 for System Engineering services for the Treasure Island mobility management program. And authority the director to modify the contract Payment Terms and conditions, and this is an action item. Is there any Public Comment on item 7 . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. And same house same call. The action is approved. Next item, please . Item 8, reappoint chris waddling to the Citizens Advisory Committee. Is there any Public Comment . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Same house same call, we will reaappoint to the cac. Item nine, allocate 6,507,592 in prop k funds, with conditions, for five requests, subject to the attached fiscal year cash flow distribution schedules is there any Public Comment on this item . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. And we will allocate that 6 and a half million same house same call, item is adopted. Next item threes. Item ten. Adopt the proposed Agency Reorganization plans and job classifications this is action. Any comments from the circumstan commissioners on this item to expand our staff by 6 individuals . Seeing none, is there any Public Comment on this item . Seeing none we will adopt the proposed arguecy reorganization plan, the same house and the same call, and the item is adopted. And mr. Clerk, could you please call items 11 and 12 together. Public employee performance evaluation and approve the executive directors performance objectives for 2017. Amend the existing employment agreement and set annual compensation for the executive director for 2017 these are action. This can be a closed section, if you like to have a closed session. Commissioner yee . No, i just, you went by very rapidly, and efficiently and i appreciate that and i had a question, and on item number 8. And if i could. Okay, when we finish these items i will reskinn cind. The documents that are before us relative to our executive directors performance are quite clear. And would authorize an increase in executive directors compensation, for 2017, by 4 and a half percent, and commissioner farrell . It is actually my microphone is not working. Commissioner mar, i just wanted to say that on behalf of the Personnel Committee, commissioner cohen and tang and myself we had a great Personnel Committee meeting and i want to say that cythia is prepared to report out a little bit on the committees deliberation, but i think that chang was given the highest marks of exceptional and i think that it comes out of a committee that put in the time to think about her major goals and accomplishments and i wanted to congratulate and give her props for this amazing Transportation Authority. Commissioners, Deputy Director for finance and administration, the Personnel Committee met on november, 30, 2016, and what was determined is that they gave a ralting ever exceptionally good to the performance for the executive director, and it should be noted that the rating is between, exceptionally good and outstanding and in terms of the contract amendment, the committee would like to propose an extension of the contract for three years, to december, 31, 201 9, and the next proposal is a 4. 5, percent Salary Increase and, they would like to also to increase the severance period from six to nine months and they would like to rollover the term related to the Relocation Assistance allowance from rollover the remain 10,000 allowance that we are not using in the previous term, and lastly they would like to increase the professional development and allowance from 10,000 to 15,000 dollars. Colleagues any comments . Is there any Public Comment on item number 12 . Items eleven and 12. Items eleven and 12 . We dont need eleven, we are going to file, could we have a motion to file eleven, because we dont need a closed session. On colleagues could we take that without action and on item 12, thank you to your staff. And with that we have heard, item 13, why dont we have a motion to rescind on item eight, made by yee and seconded by mar, without objection. And mr. Eric cl, could you call item eight. Reappoint chris waddling to the Citizens Advisory Committee. I am story, i think that i have the wrong number. Colleagues, why dont we vote for item number eight, same house same call and, readopt the appointment of mr. Waddling and i assume that it is the 6. 5 item nine . Is there a motion to rescid made by yee and, seconded by mar without objection. Could you call, item nine. Allocate 6,507,592 in prop k funds, with conditions, for five requests, subject to the attached fiscal year cash flow distribution schedules. Commissioner yee sfl yeah, so i just have a question in regard to the replacement of the vehicles in light of our push for the vision zero. And these are large vehicles to me. So the question that i have is these vehicles would have adequate protections to make sure that they can see the pedestrians especially in front and they have what we call the cross over mirrors. And that helps with that a lot. And so the question is, whether or not these vehicles would have it because i think that its really important for us to push that. So thank you for the question and the suggestion, and i dont know the answer and we will find out and we will convey your, why dont we report back at vision zero, at the meeting on thursday. To that question. And we will convey that to the appropriate staff. I guess that the question then becomes if they dont have it, whether or not we could, condition. Yeah. I dont want to support the allocation. Why dont we bring this back to maybe, plans and programs with that language. I dont think that there will be a problem to continue or you could actually put the condition on todays action. But those are the options to bring it back to plans and programs . After consultation . Commissioner, what is your pleasure . I think that i would like to amend so that we put the condition in there. Okay. Great. So, so, as amended perhaps we could. More specifically, what does that condition look like subject to the confirmation that these vehicles will have those safety features, the pedestrian, cross over mirrors. Correct. Or other comparable, features. Okay. . Mendment made by supervisor yee as stated by executive director chang, is there a second for that amendment . Seconded by commissioner breed. Colleagues . On the amendment, can we take that same house same call . The amendment is adopted and on the item as amended, same house, same call. The item is approved as amended. Mr. Clerk woo you call item 14 . Introduction of new items. Commissioners . Is there any Public Comment on item 14 . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. And that is an information item only. Is can you read the next item. Tang. Thank you, chair peskin, i just wanted to thank the commission for your support on that personnel item and to behalf of our entire staff, thank you for your strong support and endorsement of our work. Thank you. Thank you. General Public Comment . Are there any members of the public who would like to make general Public Comment, thank you. Good morning. Andrew yip, last universe and population of this one time of inaudible force in circulation. One expects of the inaudible progress for trueself to improvement. inaudible kindness and justice. One inaudible everything above inaudible one mrashers of desty, and stability and the only way would be the coloration of the city meditation and out rage of mercy and the natural way inaudible thank you, are there any other members of the public . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Mr. Clerk, could you read the last item. Item is 16, adjournment. We are adjourned. We think over 50 thousand permanent residents in San Francisco eligible for citizenship by lack information and resources so really the project is not about citizenship but really academy our immigrant community. Making sure theyre a part of what we do in San Francisco the San Francisco pathway to Citizenship Initiative a unique part of just between the city and then our 5 local foundations and Community Safe organizations and it really is an effort to get as many of the legal permanent residents in the San Francisco since 2013 we started reaching the San Francisco bay area residents and 10 thousand people into through 22 working groups and actually completed 5 thousand applications for citizenship our cause the real low income to moderate income resident in San Francisco and the bayview sometimes the workshops are said attend by poem if san mateo and from sacking. We think over restraining order thousand legal permanent residents in San Francisco that are eligible for citizenship but totally lack information and they dont have trained professionals culturally appropriate with an audience youre working with one time of providing services with pro bono lawyers and trained professionals to find out whether your eligible the first station and go through a purview list of questions to see if they have met the 56 year residents arrangement or theyre a u. S. Citizenship they once they get through the screening they go to legal communication to see lawyers to check am i eligible to be a citizen we send them to station 3 thats when they sit down with experienced advertising to fill out the 4 hundred naturalization form and then to final review and at the end he helps them with the check out station and s