Was talking like god, youre why you let this happen, because i want my home. My car, its not my car, its my home. So i was i was decided to use drugs if i didnt get my car back, right, because thats all i have, right . So i would like i was decided but you know, i thank god you no listen to me, so i decided this person who listened to me allowed me to take my car back. So i own what can i say, iomy life to her. If it wasnt this, i would be on the streets, using drugs or stealing or whatever. Thank you. Chairman brinkman thank you very much mr. Hernandez. Next speaker, please. Michael ignant followed by jason zang. Hi. My name is michael, im from sources plow shares and outreach specialists, and i want to say there are over 1,200 People Living in their cars, their homes and their r. V. s in San Francisco, that being disabled, children, you know, adults with disabilities. All of these people are suffering, and what im asking for is that we pass a memorandum to allow all towed vehicles for people who are experiencing homelessness, and im also asking that we waive parking citations for people that are experiencing homelessness. I know im working with two veterans that are sleeping, one is in their r. V. And one is actually in a car right now and theyre actually worried about this right now, that they dont have any extra money to be able to with their citations, if they get a citation living in their car, so im here right now to be able to ask that we keep that in mind for them to be able to not create more of a burden than theyre already experiencing right now. Thank you. Chairman brinkman thank you. Next speaker, please. Jason zang, followed by kelley cutler. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is jason zang. Im associated with the coalition on homelessness. Im here on behalf of joe today, who wanted to be here for himself but couldnt, because his car got towed today due to street cleaning. In the past month and a half for joe, hes experiencing homelessness due to a home loss. This car is his last kind of defense before completely being on the streets. On top of that joe also suffers severe depression and other Mental Health problems, and he also has a physical condition, his foot that keeps his foot in a swollen state and can be quite painful. Walking is painful for him, and this morning when his car was towed, his hsshoes were still inside the car. Losing a car is a lot more than a place to sleep at night. His primary transportation to go to his appointments, his physical upkeep and Mental Health. Just the tow cost for joe right now is 542. 25. Which is a lot, even to working folks. He just wanted to share his story today and raise awareness because hes trying to get back on his feet. Hes trying to keep himself back on the street, but hes constantly being dragged back by regulations. Thank you. Chairman brinkman thank you. Mr. Zang. Next speaker, please. Kelley cutler, and then steven. Chairman brinkman and then melody after that. Right. Thank you. Hi. Im kelley cutler. I am a human rights organizer at the coalition fore homelessness. Been coming here fore years about this you believe. Sam took my introduction line about saying that were getting calls on a weekly, if not multiple times a week basis, and we dont really have any options for them. Its important to understand that when folks lose their vehicle, that that often times is the last thing thats keeping them from sleeping hard on the street. Our current shelter waist list has over 1100 people just on the single shelter wait list. The family is a different one. Its 111 days for a family to get into the shelter. So this is a housing crisis, so we need to keep this thing this mind. Oh, and once theyre on the streets, its against the law to sit or lie down. Something that was very disturbing to me was i had gone to a meeting regardi regarding encampments two weeks ago, and i was really surprised because im part of the working group that were having on oversize vehicles where we havent come up with the set things yet, but in this meeting, the city is really organizing and targeting people that are living in vehicles, so it wasnt just tha that encampments, they were talking a lot about oversize vehicles, which really surprised me in seeing how actively they are strategically targeting them when there are no alternatives. The Safe Parking Program is a great idea, and thats something weve been advocating for. I think we can push the Interfaith Council for a little bit more and others, and weve brokendown different models and things that have worked and things that havent worked as well because youve got to be smart about how you approach it and the strategy, but its something that is giving an alternative because right now wheth when theres no alternatives, its pushed around, and theyll be back here for another meeting and another one. Thanks. Chairman brinkman thank you, miss cutler. Next speaker. Herbert winer. Herbert winer. I notice in palo alto, there are cars that are parked. Certainly they dont pose a menace in palo alto, or elsewhere would have heard about it. And also, would you rather have them sleeping in their vehicles or sleeping on your doorstep. Thats the question. Theres also a double standard. You crack down on r. V. s, but you dont crack down on bicyclists riding on the sidewalk. Im wondering, theres one agency that should be here, and thats the department of homelessness. They should be involved in this. They should be testifying here. They should be examining the problem with you, you should not go it alone. This is a problem that affects many agencies, and i think it should be coordinated with the coalition on homelessness. I think this is a problem that involves more than mta because this is a one side solution to a problem that really affects the whole city. And we have to remember that many people who sleep in their vehicles are people who cant afford housing, and many of them are professors who teach at universities who cant find housing for them. I think this is a problem and the mta should not go it alone. Chairman brinkman thank you. Next speaker, please. Steven martin peak. Good afternoon. Steve martin. Itll pick you up. Good. Steve martin pinto. I represent 2200 2200 residents of east side neighborhood where illegal habitation of r. V. s has become a problem on judson and circular avenue. Since the arrival, weve seen an increase in Illegal Dumping of human waste and litter, we have seen an increase in crime and suspicious activity, and also drug use. We, the residents of sunnyside have the right to keep our streets clean and safe. Its become a health issue, and it threatens to become a health and environmental issue that threatens Public Health and the environment. We must remember that homeless individuals, although their situations are unfortunate, they do have a say in their situation, and they can make choices in how they want to live and how they want to live. We must remember that vehicle inhabitation is illegal, and we are a society of laws, and we must follow the law, even if it is unthinking for us because we are a Civilized Society, and a Civilized Society has laws to maintain the peace and security of all of its homes and businesses. We must enforce the laws, we have to decide as a city to decide to enforce these laws or not, and if we do not, we must be prepared for the consequences that will have a net negative effect on the residents of our city. Thank you. Chairman brinkman thank you, mr. Martinson. Melody, are you ready . I think youre the last Public Commenter one more after you go ahead. Thank you so much. Im so grateful for your time today. I want to tell you how grateful i am that the sfmta has not posted no parking over vehicle sign i cant imagine recentl signage recently, and im worried what will happen to more if more oversize vehicle signs are posted. Its impossible to tell you my story in two minutes of how and why i got here, but i can tell you what its like now. The public pressured and city mandated chronic displacement is nearly always carried out in a brutal devastating manner by what homeless experience as a small army of supposedly a team of various city officials, the dhsh, the dpw, the hot team and etcetera. And via chronic displacement, this perpetuates a man made personal disaster on the level of a flood or a fire or hurricane. This is like being displaced by a fire every few weeks, if not every few days. If the oversize vehicle restrictions are posted, the frequency at which im displaced will escalate. I would be very happy to answer any questions that you have and thank you so much for your time. Chairman brinkman thank you, melody. I think we have a few more public speakers. Yes. Emily cohen, followed by jennifer sergeants. Good afternoon, directors. My names emily cohen. Im the policy manager for the department of homelessness and effective housing. Thank you for holding this hearing today. I think this is an important subject we are all grappling with. Several months ago, several agencies formed a working group as andy alluded to earlier to discuss potential Pilot Programs or alternatives to the current situation. We know there are far too many People Living in their cars, on our streets, and we know that our homeless system are over burdened, and we do not have the capacity that we need to address the issue, so we are looking forward on developing something, and i look forward to coming back in a few months when we have some concrete propositions. We want to lead with social services, and we want to work with folks living in their vehicles and with social Service Providers to ensure that were able to get people connects to the resources and services needed to move them into housing and you know forward in their lives. So i appreciate you guys bringing up this issue and grappling with it, and i look forward to having the conversation and come forward with an announcement when we have more from our working group. Chairman brinkman thank y you. Next speaker, please. Jennifer sergeant. Hi. Im a Third Generation san franciscan, and i cant afford to live here anymore. I work in the city. I commute every day, 40 miles up to santa clara to San Francisco. I have to park in the bayview district. Its just kind of forgotten. Its district ten. Its the last district on the list, and they forget about it. A lot of oversize buildings are vehicles have been moved from other districts, and we call 311 and the police. We have a lot of r. V. s, cars, homeless people. Its not safe, its not hygienic. I have to give myself an extra ten minutes from where i park to where i work. There cou there were trying to figure out the best way to make it safe for us to go to work and for them to be helped. I think its a great idea to use the social services, give them a fee of 1 a week so they feel human again and not feel like theyre homeless and being spit on. Chairman brinkman thank you, miss sergeant. Is there anyone else . Yes. I see one more. Hi. My name is nick. Im just here to just follow up on what my colleagues from the coalition fore homelessness are saying. I guess that people walk to work, and the view from their home is important, however we definitely feel the livelihood of People Living in those vehicles is more important. We do have suggestions for what the mta can do. I understand youre not tasked with addressing social services and all that. Thats not what were asking. Were asking the oversize code, the 72hour code, even though people are not issued citations, they are harassed by the police. Even though we may not be seeing tickets, we know from what we hear that those laws are being enforced and they certainly are affecting People Living in their streets and in their cars. We think that the auto return contract needs to be reviewed. We also see that, again, like food stamps and things like that, not everyone is eligible for that. We issue a certificate of homelessness from our office that is used by providers throughout the city and county. That should be able to be used for auto for a reduction in fees. We would ask that there be a moratorium from fees or that they be forgiven or that theres something similar that project 20 developed for people to either do a payment plan, cause mr. Hernandez when we were working with him, it was 600 right then and there, and it went up 71 a day. We do hope that you listen to the testimony of People Living in their vehicles rather than you know, these sort of mundane concerns that other people have. I think these are effective. Thank you. Chairman brinkman thank you, nick. Do i have any other Public Comment on this item . If not, im going to call Public Comment closed. Mr. Thornily, do you want to come back up . I just want to thank everyone who came and speak. It touches us, and for the neighbors affected, we hear and understand your complaints. Mr. Thornily, this falls to one of the impossible tasks. We are not social services, we manage the curb space as you have pointed out. I think im assuming that what is going to be most helpful for you to hear from this board is our thoughts to continue to go forward on the wo working group and really to address the idea of do we want to use as you note, the most appropriate tools based on context and need, and will that include oversize vehicle restrictions . I think we have not allowed oversize vehicle restrictions to come to this board for a number of year due to the whackamole nature of services. Thank you, madam chair, and indeed, i beg your pardon for bringing you something that is so complicated and confused. As you indicated, it is a city problem. So yes, wanted to inform you, wanted to get your endorsement, such as it is for this working group. Also, we will continue to bring you proposals to manage the curb. Whether or not theyre the oversize vehicle restriction, its going to have an impact, and youve heard from folks testifying that a parking meter that one citation too many is too much. We pretty much cant win as staff when we bring you Parking Management proposals, not only folks living in vehicle, but you will hear and you have hear from everybody that its some sort of a hardship. And i think what speaking for myself and on behalf of the curb management part of the agency, we want to be bringing you proposals that have some focus. So for instance, in that oversized vehicle restriction, when we brought that forward, we came back to the board of supes, and the mta directors after six months of trying this at ocean beach and elsewhere, and heres what we saw. Unfortunatel it works fine to displace vehicles, and unfortunately, it displaces vehicles. Weve heard that los angeles has done something similar with a ban on r. V. s, and we would use this at school yard perimeters, residential streets with a limited on street parking, and streets that are prone to abandoned vehicles, and so we wouldnt just be saying wed like to bring this oversize vehicle restriction and use it in a far corner of the bayview on an industrial street. Rather, heres a school yard. You heard from supervisor tangs office say its been an issue requeand weve done it t. If staff felt it was appropriate and the board felt it was appropriate to entertain proposals and put an over size vehicle restriction around school yards. Weve heard complaints from neighbors about mclaren park being the set. We would use this tool in a very restrained way. That may be too much for you, and i appreciate that, but thats one of the things that the board might say yes, mr. Thornily, and sustainable streets, we will use this in a very limited sense where the context has some purpose. Chairman brinkman all right. Thank you, and i certainly did not mean to sound callous in my choice of language about the problem. Not at all brink bri. Chairman brinkman i do appreciate how we solve for one place and other people are affected. Director borden . Director borden would think i would imagine because what theyve described, does the program not apply to people that are already in the pipeline . A couple of months we approved for a reduction in fees for people to be able to pay that was for the parking tickets, but im just wanting to understand if that program is applicable. That gentleman is 600 behind in parking fees. Im just wondering if the new regulation we enacted would be able to be applied. Yes. At your january 6th meeting, you did approve changes to the Community Service program for unpaid citations. That makes it very accessible. I think its a very low requirement to get into that program if you have a backlog of citations. I was hoping wed have james for the reco ford here. He was living in his bus and got about 1600 in citations and had his vehicle towed. I was on the phone with miss lu friday, talking about mr. Hernandez blight of being towed out of the yellow zone a couple of days before, and i think in that instance he was not able to present evidence of low income qualification because he was not in the food stamp program, he was not on some of these other programs that are the proxies to substantiate low income. There may be a misunderstanding. Its certainly something to examine, and ill stay on that case to find out if there was a gap, if there is a misunderstanding because it is the intent of the agency to make those fees less ownerous and have access to those programs. Now if you get to the point where you have 1500 in citations and you are towed, it isnt enough to get you out of the 2 ow yard and you have those 1500 in citations. The next day, you could get towed again. Youre going to have to pay that down below the threshold. One of the things as we work with the department of homelessness and supportive housing, its obvious we need to connect with people sooner. The mta is not equipped to do this, approach every vehicle that may have someone living in it and say, do you have a back seat full of citations because youre really going to get hit hard. Were working with outreach folks to find folks sooner so they dont have this sword of damocles hanging over your head, because once you have this backlog, its very hard to get you out of jeopardy. I just wanted to i do think we can figure out a way to work with some of the social Service Agencies to identify. I know a lot of people who are homeless do not actually access services, which project homelessness does do. I do tend to favor some sort of amnesty program, because as the gentleman said, people have drug issues and othe