Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20171120

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come to the podium. >> tom gilberti. seems like the 30 second warning bell is not working. parking space, inspirational offices. remember the grade schoolteacher, remember a high school teacher, the inspirational ones. what are, what were, what are their values to a people? muni, 700,000-plus rides perday, 24-hour cycle, a highly efficient except for the wheelchair elevator, vanness is a disaster. the elevator, kricivic center, powell, disaster, let's hope they can work, but for the most part, pollution reducing, climate control, great organization. then tell me why we can't have teachers living at 1 oak? why we can't have police officers living at 1 oak? the sheriff's in this room living at 1 oak? the grade schoolteachers affecting our children, high school teachers affecting our children, weaving our society. we take it for granted, and we're losing it. reality of the real estate industry doesn't have to be defined by the financiers of the real estate industry who put their money in politicians pockets. mayor lee's got a million plus. a healthy community should be always our goal. 1 oaks, vanness, civic center, 12 lines of muni transit. anywhere in the city, we need to see reality and work with it. thank you. >> thank you for your comments. madam president. >> are there any other members of the public who'd like to provide public comment at this time? seeing none, public comment is now closed. supervisor peskin? >>supervisor peskin: thank you, madam president. this has been a really weird, unfortunate bunch of days in san francisco, whether it's the racial intolerance that we're seeing in and around the cannabis issue, but i rise to speak to the issue in and around the comfort woman issue. when i ran for office the first time in 2000. >> sir, if you want to speak to that particular issue, we're going to have to -- >>supervisor peskin: i'm speaking under item 41, not under item 14. i'm actually speaking under item 41, which is my roll call. >> oh, but i think since the item is on the agenda, and correct me if i am wrong, we just have to reverse the vote and -- >>supervisor peskin: madam president, i need not speak specifically to item 14. i can speak about item 41 in general. >> okay. >>supervisor peskin: and i can speak about it thusly, which is at a moment in time where there are women who are coming out in droves about roy moore, who's running for senate in alabama, when there are women coming out, talking about harvey weinstein, this is actually a moment where i can standup as a supervisor who never ran for congress, doesn't do geopolitics and say, hello, everybody, there were war crimes that we can actually reckon with, and i know yawn givner givner's -- yawn givner's getting a little uncomfortable because i'm confusing it with item 14. i just have to standup and say, in san francisco, where so many japanese were interned pursuant to order 9066, i cannot associate myself with the comments of individuals who do not want to recognize war crimes and crimes against humanity and crimes against women and that's exactly what happened, and i just wanted to say it for the record. it's not why i ran for the board of supervisors, but i thought somebody needed to say it. >> thank you, supervisor peskin. madam clerk please read the items to adoption without rerchs to committee. >> clerk: items 43 through 49 are being considered for adoption without reference to committee. these items can be considered by a single roll call vote, otherwise severed and considered separatelily. >> supervisor fewer. >> sorry. i'd like to sever item number 49, please. >> before we move forward, i'd like to entertain a motion to excuse supervisor farrell, moved by supervisor ronen, seconded by supervisor tang. can we take that without objection? without objection, supervisor farrell is excused, and on the items 44 through 49 through adoption without reference to committee, madam clerk, please call the roll. >> clerk: [ roll call. ] >> clerk: there are nine ayes. >> there are nine ayes, the item passes unanimously. please read the next item. supervisor fewer. >> thank you very much. as a member of the reentry council, i am happy to have brought this resolution forward on their behalf in the council, chaired by the mayor's office, public defender's office, chief of the probation officer, district attorney's office and the sheriff's office voted unanimously to support this resolution. currently only a handful of reentry serves are provided in san francisco for private for profit companies, but i strongly believe as i'm sure all of you do that as a city and county, we want to minimize reentry services provided by for profit private companies. this resolution urges city departments to prioritize nonprofit organizations where the city does contract out -- does contract out reentry services, and i hope i have your support today. there are currently two private companies funded by the city and county of san francisco, and that's lca, leader in community alternatives, and that's funded through the sheriff's department, and america works that's funded through oed and adult protection, and i think you should know the reentry council has representatives from the sheriff's department and also protection department but from department of health youth and their families, the police department, department of child support services, department of public health, department of homelessness and support of housing, human services agency, juvenile protection, offices of economic and workforce development, the san francisco police department and other public officials include representatives from the california department of corrections and rehabilitation parole operations division and u.s. probation office, and they all voted unanimously on this resolution. i hope i have your support today. >> thank you, and supervisor fewer, can you specifically talk a little bit more about the -- the funded organizations and specifically maybe what they do, and what is the challenge with the competitive process and why are for-profit agencies able to obtain these contracts over nonprofits? >>supervisor fewer: so the -- many of the ones that are operating in san francisco and also throughout the state of california are state contracts, so we have no control over them. today, we heard some representatives from geo, and geois the geo group, which is a private prison business, and actually it's the second largest most profitable prison business in the united states, but they extent also internationally. we feel personally that it is at odds with what we are trying to accomplish with reentry services, which is that we hope people don't do -- do reenter into civilian life and not reenter the prison system. in order for geo group to be profitable, they need to have a steady stream of prisoners, therefore, we feel it's in opposition. this resolution just urges the city and county of san francisco to actually prioritize nonprofit organizations for reentry services. >>president breed: but more specifically, does the city -- does the city contract that currently exists for the purposes of reentry, do we contract with any for profit agencies at this time? >>supervisor fewer: yes we do. >>president breed: that do not include state funding, and specifically, i think that's what i'm trying to understand. what do they do? >>supervisor fewer: sure. so we fund leaders in community alternatives, and that is funded through the sheriff's department, and then we fund america works, and that is funded through oed and adult probation, and sheriff's department and adult probation also voted in support of this resolution. >>president breed: is there a reason why these programs receive funding over some of the others that might have competed for the same opportunities? >>supervisor fewer: you know, i can't answer that question. i believe there are people in the audience -- karen shane from adult probation that could answer that question for you. >>president breed: thank you. >>supervisor fewer: thank you, chair. >> i'm karen shane from san francisco adult probation, the reentry council. one of the things that the reentry council did determine that they want to do is take a good look at what the reentry services are, make sure we have the best reentry services, have an evaluative services going forward, so it's a lot bigger issue that we originally thought, but it's on the agenda for the reentry council. as to your question, president breed, sometimes there are not nonprofits that are able to do the contracting. for example, lca provides electronic monitoring through the sheriff's department. i don't know this, but i don't -- i don't believe that anyone had applied to do that through the -- that was a nonprofit, and so that's one of the reasons why we tried to make this resolution a resolution rather than a requirement, that you know, if that -- and that certainly if there -- if someone is going to make an argument that their services were stronger, better, less, you know, whatever, that would certainly have an impact on the provision of services. the idea of this is mostly -- it's really to place san francisco on the side of really working for reentry. >> on behalf of supervisor's yee and kim, for the late miss janet hee. on behalf of supervisor peskin for the late mr. nathan roth, mr. gino perrini, and on behalf of supervisor fewer and yee on behalf of the late dr. roland yo, on behalf of the entire board of supervisors at the suggestion of supervisor fewer, peskin, kim, and yee, for the late mr. herbert patrick lee. >>president breed: colleagues, this brings us to the end of our agenda. madam clerk, is there any further business before us today. >> clerk: that concludes our business for today. >>president breed: we are adjourned, >> hello, san francisco and welcome to another episode of public works tv. i'm a publroject manager here public works, here on public works tv, but first let's take a look at what's been happening in the last week. we poured concrete at fire department 16. i wanted to hit the streets of chinatown talking to people about keeping the streets clean. see our website for more details. happy world plumbing day? did you know that many people in today's world still live without working plumbing in their home? we're dedicating this episode to world toilet day, that day we recognize every year on november 19th to focus on proper sanitation and the access of clean and safe toilets for everyone. originally established by the world health organization in 2001, the day has grown to be recognized by the international community. in 2013, the united nations passed a resolution recognizing the national toilet day as an international day. we believe in basic human rights, and in this episode we want to show you a model that is being emulated around the country, our san francisco public works program, so let's take a look. >> there's nowhere to go in the city. there's not like -- like i said, public rest rooms, there's no porta potties, there's no boards or bushes. >> in 2015, we started to provide a place for people to take care of their bathroom needs and lessen the impact on public works to cleanup streets and parks. this gives a place for people to get rid of their used needles, and pet owners to dispose of their pet waste. we decided to start here with the first three, and today we operate 17 locations in eight neighborhoods. what's special about this program? respect, having a trained monitor to ensure the toilet safe space is clean and inviting. >> my name is willie hammond. i'm a monitor here. [ inaudible ] we released february 21st, 2017 after serving a life sentence. it was my first job on being released. i have to say after serving so much time in prison, i was afraid not having the ability to get a job, and for me it was the opportunity to serve the community. i believe we change lives with smiles. all these people out here from the richest to the poorest, they enjoy having a clean rest room. when you can restore the ability for people to live with dignity and to maintain their integrity, that's the greatest gift that you could ever get. >> a pit stop is being used once every two minutes in san francisco. we've seen an average of 8,700 needles be disposed of in 20,000 flushes each year, allowing our staff to focus on other demands and create a safe working environment. >> my name is guillermo canes, and i'm a supervisor two with public works. one of the things we're dealing with is urine in the city streets and throughout the city. it's a difficult job and you have to be prepared mentally every day to just prepare for this. >> we already have a challenge of 15, 20 people at then campment, and then we have to -- at the encampment. it's unfortunate when we get there, it makes it more challenging to see these people going through what they're going through, and then to see them living in these conditions. >> because of the pit stop, now these encampments are no longer unsanitary for these people to be in, and we're offering them a clean and safe sewer usage, and everybody is benefiting it because it's eliminating having all of this on the streets. >> the pit stops offer have improved the quality of life in surrounding neighborhoods by keeping them clean and providing safe and inviting rest rooms for everyone to use. >> [ inaudible ] -- going on today here at the united nations plaza. we're a very business eye narcot busy market. it's an extremely busy farmer's market, and there's not generally a place for people to use the rest room out here. with the pit stop program, people would setup camps in the bathroom, we wouldn't be able to open the doors. we did a couple of times find some knives, we found a gun in there once. it made us very nervous because once that door is closed, it made us very nervous what was going on inside, so people who wanted to use the bathrooms would see that activity and feel very nervous about going inside, so we put some monitors to ensure that -- when we found out that the city was going to put in some monitors to monitor the bathrooms, we were overjoyed. it's really cleaner over here and customers and developedors say it's safer to go to the bathroom, and it's easier to go to the bathroom, and they're happy that the city has paid attention after ten years of feeling like we're a little bit on our own. >> we've already seen other cities follow our model. >> in san francisco we're hoping to expand to other areas -- [ inaudible ] >> i hope you enjoyed this episode of public works tv. subscribe to our channel and stay up to date with weekly episodes and follow us on twitter, instagram and facebook. i'm jonathan jenner, and this is public works episode, and here's a sneak peek of what's coming up next. >> i'm guillermo perez. i keep sf clean. i am public works. >> >> clerk: good morning and welcome to the san francisco county transportation authority meeting for today, november 14th. our clerk is still mr. steve stamos. could you please call the roll. >> clerk: commissioner breed? commissioner cohen? present. commissioner farrell? commissioner fewer? fewer absent. commissioner kim? kim absent. commissioner peskin. >> chairman peskin: present. >> clerk: commissioner ronen. >> supervisor ronen: present. >> clerk: commissioner tang? >> vice chairman tang: present. >> clerk: commissioner fewer? we have quorum. >> chairman peskin: thank you, mr. clerk. now we will hear from our citizens advisory committee. mr. larson. >> good morning chair peskin, vis chair tang and members of the transportation authority. -- vice chair tang and members of the transportation authority. i will be presenting the cac report today. beginning with item eight, the cac recommends approval for the allocation of prop k fundses as presented. there was particular support expressed for the valencia street bikeway impolicemen taths plan request -- implementation plan. the bike lanes were last striped in 1999 and valencia street has become a major bike commuter route in the city. at the same time, development along this corridor has resulted in many more conflicts and hazards with transportation network company or tnc and food delivery drivers making quick stops and double parking in the bike lanes. the item did pass. turning to item ten, the presentation on the 2017 facility's framework. a question was raised if any of the older facilities to be altered or replaced had any historic cig any chance. they don't -- significance. it was also noted the facilities owned by the city and county seemed to kon trait on the eastern side of the city -- concentrate on the eastern side of the city. and whether it would hinder growth and development in the future of transportation networks locally. we also heard presentations about the core capacity transit study and compliment sector action strategy. discussion concerned whether the impact of carbon admissions from tnc's and the single rides they provide could be factored in. that was interest in resiliency efforts in networks affected by sea level rise climate change and calling the effect of super storm sandy on the new york subway. citizens advisory committee members would like representatives from uber, lift to share what guidelines are offered to drivers about where to pull over and stop. instances where tnc double park when a curb side location or driveway is nearby, creating real traffic risks. that concludes my report. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you, mr. larson. are there any questions for mr. larson? seeing none, is there any public comment on this comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. mr. clerk, next item please. >> clerk: item three, chair's report. >> chairman peskin: thank you colleagues. in late october, i had the pleasure of well coming the self -- welcoming the self help coalition for the focus on the future conference. they have approved measures to fund transportation improvements. the theme was the power of partnerships, a fitting message given that it takes contributions from all levels of government to plan, funld and deliver -- fund and deliver transportation infrastructure. since the mid-1980s, california has been proving itself a leader in self help. revenue sources make up 75% of transportation revenues in the bay area. at a time when the federal tax bill contemplates removing funding for commuter benefits, rolling back incentives for alternative fuels and cutting funds for affordable housing, we must continue to be a leader in self help here in san fran and the bay area. this means putting, preserving and protecting sb-one funds by putting them to work. in fan francisco we -- san francisco we will get congestion relief. was must stand up to those calling for repeal of the funding package, a mix of reasonable and overdue gas and diesel thankses and veeblg -- reek -- taxes and vehicle ridge station fees. in -- registration fees. we will total and in turn their counties would act to place the measures on the june 2018 ballots. it will help tackle traffic congestion and traffic expansion symptoms of our growth. at the local level, we continue to work on a potential 2018 revenue measure through the transportation task force to boost transportation funding plans and provide local regional funds. as part of this work, i have asked our staff to initiate a public opinion survey to inform the transportation task force deliberations and recommendations later this year. as part of this effort, we are engaging our independent oversight consultant to look at the transportation authority's project and payment systems, all of which recently received a clean audit, but as with everything, can benefit from occasional review and fine-tuning. finally, i will close by noting our debt program is active again with our bond, which i signed 22 signatures on a whole bunch of papers to start the funds flowing just in time for the arrival of the new lrv's this friday. i will be away due to travel, but wanted to congratulate them on this milestone and thank the team for the successful financing to support delivery of these vehicles. with that i conclude my report and wish all of you and our staff a very happy thanksgiving next week. is there any public comment on the chair's report? seeing none, public comment is closed. next item, please. >> clerk: item four, executive director's report. this is an information item. >> vice chairman tang: thank you. just wanted to echo the chair's comments about the federal bill and the importance really of all of our local efforts from protecting sb-one to keeping our focus on 2018. regarding the statewide picture, caltrans is releasing and inviting public input on the final bicycle plan for 2020. this is something that they have been working on for -- actually a bicycle and pedestrian plan. the goal the to double walking and triple biscycling trips by 2020 and they are ready to skusz their -- discuss their findings. and the closest one is west oakland youth center in oakland. it will be happening tomorrow 5:00-8:00 p.m. in addition, at the state wide level, earlier -- actually in late october, director peskin and provided joint comments to the california dmv on their proposed drivers testing. we earlier commented in april and pleased many of our comments were incorporated. we further stressed the need for the importance of training for operators near pedestrian and cyclists reporting all collisions and disengagements. and ensuring two-way communication between remote operators and local law enforcement. and data collection of on board units before, during and after a crash is very critical as well. turning to another state program that we implement locally. we are continuing to refine the program. i want to thank chair peskin, vice chair tang and commissioner sheehy for fine tuning and shaping the recommendations. we hope to bring that forward on december 5th and the hearing on school transportation including the potential for yellow school buses has been rescheduled to a future date. i think we had previously scheduled it for late november, but we will probably move that to earlier in the new year. regarding vision zero, just wanted to thank all the departments mta and our staff, the whole task force on their workshop november 9th. they held a vision zero bold ideas workshop to really take a longer term view looking out beyond the traditional two-year cycle to reach our goal in 2024. they expressed an interest in deepening community engagement around all aspects of vision zero. some included taking another look at road pricing, major street redesign and bold ideas there. high visibility community engagement and curb management. those are the four ideas that emerged from their bold ideas workshop. next steps includes the staff will share the information on the workshop with community folks and also highlighted on the website and bring it back hopefully to the vision zero committee as well. turning to the local level, the canopies for the bart stations are -- have begun construction here in san francisco. palace street station construction has begun. they will also be starting on the civic center station at 7 and market street soon as well. these are the canopies that will shelter the escalators from the weather as well as other trash and things that gather at the escalators hindering their operation. they also have included in the project a digital display of the train arrival times, new security grills and new l.e.d. lighting as well as cameras. the $230 million project is funded by bart as well as matching funds from the state, prop 1-b and prop 1-a. our funds are also being put to work to improve elevators around town. we are happy to report work is nearing completion on the platform. the elevator safety and reliability upgrades project will provide upgrades to improve the safety and reliability of 12 elevators. work will begin on the church street station soon and mta has planned for the work to stake place in staggered ways to ensure accessibility for those who need these at each station. chair mentioned on friday we will be seeing the new lrv's rolling out. this was the larging single allocation of the prop k program the board took action on last year. i want to thank you all again for that. we are providing $131 million towards this program. the $934 million program which will expand by 24 lrv's and replace 151 of the brayda lrv's. we look forward to a second street opening. we whether report more on that next month and finally wanted to mention the van ness project is hitting a milestone by shifting the traffic to the center of the roadway allowing work to begin on the sides. but the traffic shifts are necessary to accommodate two utility work zones to replace major utilities including water, sewage and emergency. the mta is monitoring traffic in construction conditions along van ness avenue and is scheduled to provide a briefing at our december 5th meeting. with that, i'm happy to take any questions. >> chairman peskin: are there any questions for ms. chang? any public comment? seeing no public comment, public comment is closed. next item please. >> clerk: items five through seven comprise the consent agenda. aye semisix was a-- item six is for final approval. >> chairman peskin: is there a motion to move the consent agenda? made by commissioner sheehy. is there a second? seconded by commissioner kim. on that a roll call vote. public comment has already happened right? >> clerk: on items five and seven? >> chairman peskin: is there any public comment on the consent agenda? seeing none, public comment is closed. roll call vote please. >> clerk: on the consent, commissioner cohen? aye. commissioner farrell? absent. commissioner fewer? fewer aye. commissioner kim? kim aye. commissioner peskin. >> chairman peskin: aye. >> clerk: commissioner ronen? aye. sphere sheehy? aye. tang aye. commissioner yee? yee, aye. the consent agenda is approved. item eight, allocate $2,941,939 in sales tax fundses by request with conditions. >> good morning commissioners. i'm departmenty director. we have four requests and one request from the department of public works to present to you today. the first request is to upgrade the fire alarm systems at five of the muni facilities shown on the screen. the construction phase will be done by spring of 2019. next request is for the district eight neighborhood transportation improvement program planning project for the valencia street bikeway limb menation plan -- imme menation plan. this ---i implementation plan. there are a host of recommendations that will be explored including but not limited to protected bike lanes and parking and loading changes and potential enforcement needs. the work will kick off around the new year and will be completed in fall of 2018. one thing i will add is that since this is a ntip planning project, a final report will be presented to the board prior to adoption of the final report. and that's the case for all the ntip projects. next request is for the wide bike program that sfmta will funds in the spring semester of this year. this funds two-week classes at various different middle and high schools and for the first time at a handful of elementary schools, teaching kids how to bike and how to bike safely. the program was funded in the fall semester by a state grant to the department of public health and the work will continue next year as well. but the program will be funded in the spring through prop k. next request is from the smfta to fund their portion of the bike to work day 2018. this is organized by the san francisco bicycle coalition. this funds work that is leading up to and on the day of for all of the festivities that go along with that day. and it has traditionally we have seen increased bike cycling before and after bike to work day. and the last request is from the department of public works. this is for the construction phase of the stand-alone curb ramp improvements either for improving ramps that are not currently at the ada guidelines or to construct ramps where ramps currently don't exist. and folks can request a curb ramp by conducting 311. the work will be done in the spring of 2019. this is an annual funding request that we see from sf public works. with that, i can answer any various questions. >> chairman peskin: thank you ms. la fort. commissioner ronen. >> supervisor ronen: no questions. i just wanted to thank commissioner sheehy for using his ntip funds. it is important. i don't think it is enough. the way mta envisioned this part of the mission, south van ness was to be the main corridor for cars. mission was going to be the main corridor with red carpet for public transit. and valencia was to be the main corridor for bikes. but because of the proliferation of uber and lift cars, and because of valencia's restaurant and bar culture, it has become one of the most dangerous places for bike riders in the city. i think we absolutely need protected bike lanes to make the vision that mta had about making this a true safe bike corridor real. but it is not going to happen fast enough for me, and i'm very, very worried about the safety of all bike riders in that corridor. i did send a letter last week to the ceo's of uber and lift saying that they are the only ones right now that have the ability to urgently fix the situation by geofencing and preventing their drivers from stopping on valencia street. it wouldn't interrupt their business. they could easily just have their drivers pick up and drop off on all the side streets that feed into valencia street. so, i think this is a simple ask. i'm going to be meeting with both companies going forward to put on more pressure. i wish as a local body that we had the ability to regulate these companies and force them to do what they should be doing to protect safety of pedestrians and bikers in san francisco. unfortunately, we still don't have that ability. so, they need to step up and do the right thing to protect the safety in this very, var dangerous -- very dangerous corridor. i'm supportive and looking forward to the results of this study. >> chairman peskin: commissioner cohen. >> supervisor cohen: thank you. good morning ladies and gentlemen. hi. i wanted just to share a little bit of an experience that i had with the mta earlier this year. we had a situation in district ten where mta removed parking spaces largely due to giving poor notice to the removal of these parking places -- parks spots. and several meetings with the residences as well as mta staf, they reversed -- staff, they reversed their decision to remove the bike lane which takes up parking places. i want to make sure that we have -- that we are cultivating new cyclists and that we are creating safe spaces for walkers. i have a large number of seniors in the directed and i want to also cultivate a new kind of working understanding and knowledge and image of what and who bikes in san francisco. bike education is absolutely critical to me and for my perspective, i think it helps inform the next generation and build a stronger connection. so, really, my question is, do you have a list of the schools that will be receiving the bike safety dollars? could you share that with us publicly? thank you. >> yes. the list of schools that are being considered or actually, they will receive the bicycle education in 2017-18. i'm not sure if that includes the spring semester or if it is the entire year. the high schools -- the materials are shown in your enclosure to the prop k item and related to the use bicycle safety education classes allocation request materials. the high schools are ida b. wells, washington and wallenberg. willie brown, c. carmichael, everett and marina and elementary schools are to be determined. >> supervisor cohen: i encourage you to do more work on the schools. i only heard the willie brown middle school. we have three high schools in the district. maybe you can reconsider. thank you. >> chairman peskin: commissioner fewer. >> supervisor fewer: thank you, chair. i wanted to say thanks for the attention to cornwall street which continues to be a dangerous intersection. this is probably in mta's wheel house, but that is an intersection i think on cornwall because there's an elementary school there it is difficult to cross and people don't understand how to drive through it or they are very confused. i think there needs to be -- we have requested it already. it is very dangerous. we have a lot of walkers that walk across california and that traffic is very, very -- there's a lot of traffic. especially during the drop-off hours in the morning. i wanted to say thanks for these prop k improvements in my neighborhood. >> chairman peskin: thank you commissioner fewer. any other questions or comments from members? seeing none, we have a number of speaker cards on this item. i will call them. if you want to line up to your right, my left. robert, anna rossi, kyle. >> good morning. i'm a communitier organizer with the san francisco bicycle coalition. in 1994 we celebrated the approval of bike lanes on valencia. at the time this was a major win for the bicycling community in san francisco. lanes were striped in 1999 and the city has changed. but the lanes haven't kept up with the changing times. not only has population and density increased, the proliferation of u ber and lift it has caused an obstacle course. forcing people on bicycles to constantly merge into oncoming traffic is not only very dangerous, it has turned the bicycle route into a street that people try to avoid. protected bike lanes will provide safe passage and slow down vehicle traffic, making it safer for everyone who uses the treat. valencia's bike lanes are long overdue for improvements that change how everyone they're gait -- navigates this area. we want to thank supervisor sheehy for working on this and we look forward to working with his office and the mta on solutions that will address urgent safety concerns in the next year. i urge you to improve the funding to create the north bike route san francisco deserves. thank you for your time. >> chairman peskin: thank you. next speaker please. >> hi name is robert. i live in noe valley on 27th and church. i ride the valencia corridor almost every day. i have a car. i probably use it once every two weeks. i have lived there since 1993. i remember before there was no bike lane. the bike lane has been great for me and thank you supervisor ronen for your comments before. it has gotten severely dangerous in the past few years with uber and lift. especially at night. bikers are forced to swerve into oncoming traffic by cars that are double parked there. there was a comment i think saying we can't do anything because i guess the city doesn't have oversight for uber and lift. i think something needs to be done very quickly. i have a 22-year-old daughter who is also biking every day in the city and it is worrisome. thank you very much. >> chairman peskin: thank you. next speaker, please. and let me just call a few mr. speaker cards. matt, ivan. >> hello. i have been living in san francisco since 2004 and i have been driving my bike on valencia street since 2008. and since 2014, i own a small business on valencia and 25th and while i keep -- while i keep commuting by bicycle as well. i ride my bike daily as well off the people working on the business and many of our customers. we encourage them to commute by bike and avoid the lack of parking around the area. in the last two years, the commute has become more and more dangerous due to the bikes -- the bike lanes being constantly taken over by lift and uber surfaces, plus loading. i believe this change on improving the safety bike lanes on valencia street will raise the level of safety to cycle irss like me and -- cyclists and bring more business to the area. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i'm a resident, long same valencia, over 20 years. i remember what it was like before there was a bike lane and i have to say it is worse now from when before there was a bike lane at all. so, that kind of shows how bad it is and i'm going to reflect the comment made earlier. i hardly ever use it anymore. if i can avoid it, i will go side streets, all that. and the protected bike lane that was built south of cesar chavez has been great. all of a sudden it is working. so, i would definitely also encourage to get this project expedited as fast as possible. thank you for funding it. but keep funding it and pushing the uber lift situation as other people said is completely untenable. it is out of control. so, something needs to be done in whatever form. but i will also add my voice to say this is really urgent. i have seen people actually getting hit. i have seen so many near misses. i have been in near misses. it feels like a battlefield and that's not good for drivers either. they get scared. they come from out of town. like what's going on? we need to do something to make it work for everybody and there are solutions. like the protected bike lanes and other stuff. thank you very much. >> chairman peskin: thank you. next speaker please. >> hi. i live in bruno heights and i have been living and biking in san francisco for five years. i have been hit by cars twice. once in the bike lane and the driver just wanted to leave because he thought i wasn't hurt. we need to protect bike lanes and cyclists because even painting some lines on the street isn't going to help you when the drivers just knock you and they are like oh you didn't fall over, it is fine. we need to change this. >> chairman peskin: thank you. next speaker. >> good morning. i'm a resident on the mission. i commute regularly on valencia street. valencia street bike lane is unusable at this moment due to the double-parked cars and it is lifts and ubers but it is not just them. it is delivery trucks, it is residents. there's no enforcement of parking on valencia street. often on my bike ride, i have to weave around six cars. what makes me nervous or passionate, there are so many parents using valencia. you see parents with one or two children on the back of their bikes and this is an accident waiting to happen. so, it is great that we are moving with the protected bike lanes. thank you supervisor sheehy for your leadership, the mta staff told me personally for years this was too difficult of a corridor to build protected bike lanes and that has quickly changed in the past couple of months. we appreciate that. but we need to do everything we can to keep cars out of the bike lanes and get them built as quickly as possible. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you. next speaker. >> i'm roger lake. i'm a 30-year commuter and i just want you to understand that we are the canaries in the coal miner era. if you don't put the barriers in, it won't make a difference. it is not just uber and lift. if you build a simple barrier, people figure it out. they go some place else. it is not product science. we need the barriers. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you, sir. next speaker, please. >> hello. i'm one of the organizers of the people protected bike lane and i want to thank jeff sheehy. i should tell you the people protected bike lane is we organize 50 or 60 people to stand on the line to protect the bike lane from traffic. people are motivated about that issue and valencia is one of the places we organize the most people. i want to focus on two items today. immediate pilot safety improvements and outdated curve management. in this funding allocation we called out immediate pilot improvements. i'm glad changes are happening but we can install immediate safety improvements today. the bike lane next to bike corrals, mid-block are protectable today. there's no reason a car needs to occupy that space or is legally allowed to. there's room for a two-foot buffer and white posts that we can install immediately. my wife bikes valencia every day from our house to her job teaching high school in the mission. i feel better with every inch of this bike lane that we protect. second issue is curb management. i live four blocks and bike, walk, shop and eat there constantly. i want to be clear this is not just a tnc issue. private cars, delivery trucks, taxis, they all occupy the bike lane. i want to partner with those marine chants -- merchants. we need to find a way that accommodates them. there should never be a reason for a car or delivery truck to have to cross through a bike lane to access a curb. pedestrianses do not wear armor. bicycles do not wear armor. we are pedestrians on wheels. cars need to be next to cars. thank you for listening today. >> chairman peskin: thank you. let me just call a few mr. speaker cards. paul valdez, chris, jeremy and kelsey roader. >> commissioners, i'm a 33-year commuter in san francisco. thank you for taking our testimony. i like to urge the passage of this item, item eight. bimding alarms -- building alarms and curb cuts are useful things. when we are teaching kids how to ride bikes it would be bondsful if as they move -- wonderful if they see people riding bicycles in a relack laxed manner. -- relaxed manner. you may have noticed as you ride down valencia street, that is quite exciting. valencia, the mission in general has many new cycliscyclists. a lot of young people like to move to the mission and like to learn to ride bikes. valencia is a dangerous place just like the street i live on, which is 17th street. i urge you to pass this funding and to move as expeditiously as possible. thank you. >> chairman peskin: thank you. >> hi there. i'm a 25-year resident of san francisco. i have lived on 19th street just off valencia for the last 21 years. before the bike lanes were there. i saw them go in. i have seen the neighborhood evolve and i still try to ride my bike, but it feels less safe. i can echo everything that everybody else said but i'm not sure in this works. if i held my leg up here and showed you the scars on my shin from when a car pulled over to pick up their furniture, stopped and i slammed into them and jammed by shin into my pedals. i bled a little. it hurt. we heard from someone else who has been hit twice today. that happens twa too often and someone is -- way too often and someone is going to get hurt. i love the idea of the immediate posts to block any bike corrals or parklets because waiting a year to find out yes we spent this money and indeed, valencia's bike lane needs to be improved, that's way too long. thanks. >> chairman peskin: thank you, sir. >> i'm a general manager of mission bicycle company. we are located on valencia street between 18th and 19th. as not only a cyclist, i ride valencia five days a week and it is a nightmare trying to get around cars parked in the bike lanes, vehicles pulling in and out. even walking has become an issue. as a business owner who caters to cyclists, i hear countless stories of near misses, close calls, severe accidents, everything, every single day and week. i'm in full support of doing something to make that a thing of the past. thank you. >> chairman peskin:

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