This is the archival website for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). It is not kept up to date. Please visit the SFMTA website for current information. Taxi Advisory Council > Aug. 18, 2010, minutes |
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SFMTA Taxi Services Taxi Advisory Council MINUTES City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
1. Call to order Council Liaison Christiane Hayashi called the meeting to order at 2:01 pm 2. Roll Call PRESENT: T. Ajaegbu; J. Bolig; J. Gillespie; L. Graham; J. Han; D. Hinds; D. Khan; B. Korengold; J. Lazar; C. Macmurdo; W. Minikel; W. Mounsey; D. Nazarov; A. Rebelos; C. Sweis 3. Announcement of prohibition of sound producing devices during the meeting. C. Hayashi made the announcement. 4. Welcome and introductions: a. Nathanial P. Ford, Sr., Executive Director/CEO b. Jerry Lee, Vice-Chairman , SFMTA Board of Directors c. Taxi Advisory Council Members 5. Report of the Council Liaison [Discussion only] a. Taxi Medallion Sales Pilot Program Update · Presentation given by Christiane Hayashi b. Report on Regulatory Reform Project · Presentation given by Christiane Hayashi c. Presentation by City Attorney’s Office regarding the application of open meeting laws · Presentation given by Mariam Morley, Deputy City Attorney; an online training regarding the public meeting laws can be found on the City Attorney’s website: http://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=566 6. Public Comment · D. Korkos: Welcomed the TAC. · H. Kim: Congratulated the TAC. · S. Stapp, President/CEO of SFFCU: Looking forward to TAC results. Offers any assistance they can provide. · T. Housman: Requests to see more notice of TAC and Town Hall meetings at SFO and at companies. Shouldn’t have to have a computer to know about meetings. · C. Rathbone, Luxor Cab: Gave TAC a history of Luxor Cab company. · M. Gruberg, Green Cab: Asked how the Driver Fund is being used and asked TAC to form a committee of drivers to discuss this issue. Also discussed medallion lease fees collected by SFMTA for medallions of deceased medallion holders – urged TAC to consider putting that money into the Driver’s Fund. · E. Healy: Had concerns about Driver’s Fund and how it would be used-thought it had been designated for use on behalf of non-medallion holding drivers. · E. Hattan: Congratulated TAC. Commented on the medallion hearing that was conducted on August 13, 2010, hostility of hearing officers in general and putting too much evidentiary value on paper waybills. · R. Altheimer: Hopes that the TAC conducts good business and creates high quality results, that people listen to each other. Would like to see more education of taxi drivers to have a higher quality public transportation system. C. Hayashi closed public comment.
REGULAR CALENDAR 7. Adoption of Rules of Order and Meeting Schedule a. C. Hayashi presented the Draft Rules of Order. b. Council Members discuss the Rules of Order. Public Comment: · D. Korkos, Medallion Holders’ Assoc. commented that it is better to vote for a single Chair, not go by rotation. · H. Kim feels strongly that having only one Chair would be more effective. · T. Lee supports having only one chair. · T. Houseman expressed that all council members are qualified to be Chair and to not be afraid. · C. Rathbone supports having only one Chair and feels all are qualified. Would like to have the role of the Chair defined, such as who sets agenda for meetings. · M. Gruberg agrees with T. Houseman. Supports the idea of rotating Chair because there are diverse interests on the Council. · B. Toronto supports changing music when changing Chairs; supports having a rotating Chair and to not make this a personal vote. · E. Healy asked A. Rebelos whether he supported rotating Chair; · C Hayashi clarified that during public comment the public is not entitled to poll individual TAC members · E. Healy expressed that the TAC members who want one Chair are all owners of companies or stockholders and the others are not. · R. Altheimer expressed he wouldn’t want to be Chair as it will be a lot of work. Feels rotating Chair would be highly ineffective. · M. Spain feels some members are better than others and would like someone with experience to be Chair. C. Hayashi closed public comment. Council Members discuss the matter of a rotating chair. C. Hayashi asked who would not be interested in serving as Chair: W. Mounsey, J. Han and D. Nazarov. J. Han moves that the TAC elect four Chairs over two years, beginning with an election of a Chair to serve 6 months. The motion was seconded by W. Mounsey. J. Bolig and D. Hinds amend the motion to elect a Chair to serve for 6 months and a Vice Chair who would serve the following two months. The motion to amend failed for lack of a second. J. Han re-states his motion to elect a Chair and Vice Chair for the next six months. J. Bolig seconds the motion. D. Khan amends that the Council elects a Chair and Vice Chair for a term of three months. The motion to amend failed for lack of a second. On motion to vote for a Chair and Vice Chair for the next 6 months. Adopted: AYES: J. Bolig, J. Han, D. Hinds, J. Gillespie, J. Lazar, C. Macmurdo, W. Mounsey, D. Nazarov, C. Sweis, A. Rebelos NAYES: T. Ajaegbu; L. Graham; D. Khan; B. Korengold; W. Minikel C. Macmurdo clarifies that the Liaison’s duty to “prepare” the agenda only refers to publishing the agenda and not deciding what is on the agenda. Council members have a general discussion regarding the meeting days and times for future Council meetings. C. Sweis motions to hold the regular meeting time at 1 p.m. L. Graham seconds the motion. On motion to hold the regular TAC meeting time at 1 p.m. Adopted: AYES: T. Ajaegbu; J. Bolig; J. Gillespie; L. Graham; J. Han; D. Hinds; D. Khan; B. Korengold; J. Lazar; C. Macmurdo; W. Minikel; W. Mounsey; D. Nazarov; A. Rebelos; C. Sweis W. Minikel motions to have the regular meeting day on Mondays. J. Gillespie seconds the motion. On motion to hold regular TAC meeting days on Mondays. Adopted: AYES: T. Ajaegbu; J. Bolig; J. Gillespie; L. Graham; D. Hinds; D. Khan; B. Korengold; J. Lazar; C. Macmurdo; W. Minikel; D. Nazarov; C. Sweis NAYES: W. Mounsey; J. Han; A. Rebelos B. Korengold motions to delete final sentence of Article V. Section 3. C. Macmurdo seconds the motion. C. Hayashi clarifies motion would delete the last sentence of Article V. Section 3 which reads: “The Chair shall be the judge of the pertinence of such comments, and have the power to limit this privilege if in the Chair's opinion the comments are not pertinent to the question before the Council or the comments are merely reiterative of points made by previous speakers.” J. Han amends motion to delete only the phrase “or the comments are merely reiterative of points made by previous speakers.” The motion is seconded. On motion to amend the draft TAC Rules of Order Article V. Section 3, delete the phrase “…or the comments are merely reiterative of points made by previous speakers.” Adopted: AYES: T. Ajaegbu; J. Bolig; J. Gillespie; L. Graham; J. Han; D. Hinds; D. Khan; B. Korengold; J. Lazar; C. Macmurdo; W. Mounsey; D. Nazarov; NAYES: W. Minikel; A. Rebelos; C. Sweis W. Minikel motions to change Article VI, Section 2 (mis-numbered Section 3) to propose changes during one meeting and vote at the next meeting. The motion is seconded. On motion to amend the draft TAC Rules of Order Article VI, Section 2 to propose changes during one meeting and vote at the next meeting. Adopted: AYES: T. Ajaegbu; J. Bolig; J. Gillespie; L. Graham; J. Han; D. Hinds; D. Khan; B. Korengold; J. Lazar; C. Macmurdo; W. Minikel; W. Mounsey; D. Nazarov; C. Sweis NAYES: A. Rebelos W. Minikel requests to determine the frequency of TAC meetings. J. Bolig motions to meet every 2 weeks starting Aug. 30. Dan Hinds seconded the motion. On motion to hold regular TAC meetings every 2 weeks starting Aug. 30, 2010. Adopted: AYES: T. Ajaegbu; J. Bolig; J. Gillespie; L. Graham; J. Han; D. Hinds; D. Khan; B. Korengold; J. Lazar; C. Macmurdo; W. Minikel; W. Mounsey; D. Nazarov; A. Rebelos; C. Sweis Public Comment: · H. Kim and T. Houseman support all that has been done. · C. Rathbone wants clarification on when public can make comments when there is a series of votes. · M. Gruberg agrees. · B. Toronto wants to know if tapes will be available. · E. Healy would like the public to be able to ask questions of the TAC members during public comment, there is no prohibition against asking questions of Council members in Article V, Section 3. · R. Altheimer would like to know if minutes will be made available to the public. · M. Spain proposed that meetings should be held weekly so the Council does not fall behind. C. Hayashi closed public comment. C.Hayashi stated that staff would incorporate the approved amendments into the draft TAC Rules of Order and would present them to the TAC at the next meeting. This will allow the public the opportunity to comment on the draft Rules before they are adopted. J. Han motions to meet once a week. J. Bolig seconds the motion. D. Hinds expressed concerns about the burden of weekly meetings on working members. B. Korengold does not support this but is willing to do so because there is a lot to discuss. C. Hayashi notes that there is not enough SFMTA staff time to support weekly meetings; the same momentum may be achieved through subcommittees, individual task assignments, and requests to continue this topic to another meeting. L. Graham requests to have some language on subcommittee and the number of people that can be on the committee; C. Hayashi will add the language. J. Han withdraws his motion. 8. Presentation and discussion a. Taxi Industry Credit Card Processing Options · Presented by C. Hayashi Public Comment: · C. Rathbone expressed concern regarding text messages and does not understand Item 4. He does not feel advertising revenue should be split 50-50 with driver, doesn’t understand justification for prohibiting color scheme from holding merchant account. · B. Toronto has concerns about having this equipment in taxicabs as it is a safety issue. · H. Kim clarified what was previously presented was advertising equipment and that the current equipment is different. · M. Gruberg is concerned that driver workplace protection should be addressed, including volume, repetitive messages. · T. Housman commented that the charges of the equipment should fall on the passenger. Feels this is serving other priorities. Asks for a “No Sale” option on the meter. · M. Soto of Veolia commented regarding Paratransit Card users and debit card transactions. · E. Healy commented on the revenue of the advertising and what it will be used for. Feels this is a bad precedent. · T. Lee does not support this item. · M. Spain is not concerned about having the equipment but expressed concern on Item 3 requiring medallion owner or color scheme to split revenue from a private transaction. · F. Spiegelman commented that without drivers there would not be any taxi business. · J. Murray reminds all that public comment is not a time for debate. C. Hayashi closed public comment. 9. Council Member requests for information [Discussion only] J. Bolig and D. Kahn want to know what information SFMTA is looking for in terms of a final report from the Council. C. Macmurdo wants staff to contact other cities that sell medallions to find out what the percentage of tax is when people resell medallions. A. Rebelos wants clarification on revenue calculations for Pilot Program. T. Ajaegbu would like to know how much cab drivers make per hour to use as a benchmark. B. Korengold responded that in the Town Hall meetings it was determined that the average that cab drivers make is about $120/per 10 hour shift, net. C. Hayashi commented that we will have better data about driver income electronic waybills and upcoming driver survey. 10. Schedule upcoming calendar items a. Structure of final report b. Credit card processing costs c. Adoption of Rules of Order d. Election of officers D. Hinds motions to accept the above calendar items. J. Gillespie seconds. On motion to accept new calendar items. Adopted: AYES: T. Ajaegbu; J. Bolig; J. Gillespie; L. Graham; J. Han; D. Hinds; D. Khan; B. Korengold; J. Lazar; C. Macmurdo; W. Minikel; W. Mounsey; D. Nazarov; A. Rebelos; C. Sweis 11. Adjornment The meeting was adjourned at 4:47 p.m. A tape of the meeting is on file in the SFMTA Taxi Services office. |
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