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City and County of San Francisco
 Municipal Transportation Agency
Citizens’ Advisory Council
Thursday, March 3, 2011, at 5:30 p.m.
1 South Van Ness Avenue, Room 3074
San Francisco, California
MINUTES
- Call to Order:
Chairman Murphy called the meeting to order at 5:33 p.m.
- Roll Call:
SFMTA CAC members present at Roll Call: Mary Burns, Joan Downey, Steve Ferrario, Katie Haverkamp, Daniel Murphy, Susan Vaughan, Dorris Vincent, Dan Weaver, and Jamison Wieser
SFMTA CAC members absent at Roll Call: Art Cimento and Greg Riessen
SFMTA CAC members absent: Griffith Humphrey and Janel Sterbentz
- Announcement of prohibition of sound producing devices during the meeting.
The CAC Secretary made the announcement.
Art Cimento arrived at 5:35 p.m.
Greg Riessen arrived at 5:37 p.m.
On motion to approve the minutes of February 3, 2011:
Ayes – Burns, Cimento, Downey, Ferrario, Haverkamp, Murphy, Riessen, Vaughan, Vincent, Weaver, and Wieser
Absent – Humphrey and Sterbentz
Public Comment:
None
- Report of the Chair (For discussion only):
None
Public comment:
None
Roland Wong stated he wanted to discuss low-floor vehicles that the SFMTA may be purchasing in the future. Mr. Wong, a wheelchair user, is concerned for his safety because of the difficulty of boarding and exiting Muni vehicles on street level boarding. He stated that there are only a few Muni lines that have low-floor boarding buses, such as the 71 Haight, the 37 Corbett and the 29 Sunset lines, but he will send a list of bus lines that have low-floor boarding to Council Member Susan Vaughan.
Council Member Dan Weaver asked Mr. Wong about the difficulty of boarding from the street level; it was his understanding that wheelchair passengers board from sidewalks. Mr. Wong stated that in many area that are residential and/or commercial, cars are sometimes parked at the bus zone and even though vehicles are kneeled down, there may be a grade on the street.
Council Member Jamison Wieser asked Mr. Wong if there were issues with boarding on the sidewalk versus the street. Mr. Wong stated negative.
Council Member Joan Downey stated that some neighborhoods do not have sidewalk stops.
Travis Freeman, SF State student, wanted to know if there are plans to reduce student pricing in the future. Chairman Murphy stated he does not know if there is anything in the immediate future and that fares would stay the same until the budget cycle ends in June 2012.
Council Member Jamison Wieser stated the Agency had given a discount to various schools and the money came out of student tuition, but it was done away with.
Chairman Murphy stated that years ago, outreach was made to schools, but students were already upset about tuition fees.
Simon Wong wanted to know if there will be any more Spare The Air days. Chairman Murphy informed Mr. Wong that the program is funded by the State through the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the MTC decides which days they would be.
Precious Dimalanta wanted to know if the SFMTA will be providing more handles to hold on to while on Muni vehicles because she feels it is a hazard because passengers do not have enough straps or handles to hold on to. Chairman Murphy stated that he doesn’t know of any plans to do that and there are pull-down handles and there may be a policy on the leather straps. Council Member Steve Ferrario stated that hybrid vehicles have straps and metal handles are on LRVs only.
- Presentation, discussion and possible action regarding the capital improvement plan. (Darton Ito, Manager, Capital Systems Planning)
Darton Ito discussed the Draft Capital Plan update handout that he distributed to the Council. Mr. Ito discussed the capital plan adopted in June 2008 and stated that staff is refining and re-establishing the process. He stated that staff needs to look at what has value to the Agency and that there are subsequent steps for capital planning. Mr. Ito stated that in addition to refining the process, there is a system used to prioritizing capital projects.
Mr. Ito discussed the details in the level of capital planning documents. He discussed the action strategy to address the Proposition A requirements for the SFMTA to find ways to reduce emissions from San Francisco. Mr. Ito stated that he attended a brown bag at SPUR on climate action strategies which will be submitted to the Board of Supervisors in April. Mr. Ito will be able to share the draft of the strategies in a week or two. He stated that priority development areas undergoing significant changes are in the Bayview and the Park Merced neighborhoods.
Mr. Ito discussed an overall view of where the Agency is at and discussed the next steps and future of the agency that was included in the Draft Capital Plan update.
Public Comment:
None
- Presentation, discussion and possible action regarding redesign of Masonic Avenue. (Javad Mirabdal, Sustainable Streets)
Javad Mirabdal was not available. Chairman Murphy would like to continue this item to the next meeting.
Public Comment:
Mark Caswell, Program Manager, Bicycle Coalition, stated he lives on Masonic Avenue and stated the Masonic Avenue project is a good project and he will be here at the next meeting to answer questions. Mr. Caswell stated that a survey conducted in the North Panhandle showed that 87% respondents preferred the boulevard options that were recommended by the SFMTA.
- Committee Member requests for information: (For discussion only)
- Dan Weaver would like to know which schools participate in a Muni fare program for students.
- Jamison Wieser would like to know what discount programs are in effect and their funding sources.
- Katie Haverkamp mentioned that seats on hybrid buses have designated blue seats for persons with disabilities. She would like to know if this designation will be on all vehicles.
- Dorris Vincent stated that handicap notices are either too high or too low depending on what type of vehicle she is riding on and wants to know if signs can be placed where all passengers can notice.
- Susan Vaughan would like to know how the Agency does outreach to merchants who may be interested in requesting bicycle racks for in front of their business.
- Schedule upcoming calendar items: (For discussion only)
Next regular meeting: Thursday, April 7, 2011, at 5:30 p.m.
1 South Van Ness Avenue, Conference Room 3074
ADJOURN: The meeting was adjourned at 8:17 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by:
Yvette Torres
SFMTA CAC - Secretary
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