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SFMTA Taxi ServicesTaxi Advisory Council 2nd Floor Atrium Conference Room One South Van Ness Avenue PRESENT: Tara Housman, Richard Hybels, Timothy Lapp, Tone Lee, John Han, Dan Hinds, David Khan, Barry Korengold, John Lazar, Carl Macmurdo, William Mounsey, Athan Rebelos, Chris Sweis, Ruach Graffis ABSENT: None STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: Christiane Hayashi Taxi Services 1. Call to order: Chris Sweis called the meeting to order at 1:02 p.m. 2. Roll Call – The Roll Call showed a quorum was present. 3. Announcement of prohibition of sound producing devices during the meeting. 4. Approval of Minutes: January 30, 2012 Mr. Khan wanted to rephrase item 6 to say whether the backseat terminals can be turned off or no or have the sound regulated. Public Comment Ms. Villafuerte started public comment Mr. Sweis reminded Ms. Villafuerte this is time for public comment on the minutes for the last meeting not general public comment. Public Comment Closed Dan Hinds motioned to approve minute. Mr. Khan seconded. Minutes are approved. 5. Public Comment No public Comment 6. Report of the Council Liaison (Discussion only) a. Staff Update- Chris Hayashi updated b. Regulatory Reform Update c. Taxi Medallion Sales Pilot Program Update Mr. Harris updated Mr. Lazar was asking if there is a list of purchasers and sellers anywhere. Mr. Harris said he is working on putting that up on the web soon. Ms. Graffis asked what the update was on the charges for the letter of intents and the companies that had been cited. Mr. Harris said Mr. Richholt is working on that. Public Comment Mr. Gruberg said that there are two town hall meeting scheduled for tomorrow. He said that these meetings are being driven by MTA budgetary process. Mr. Rathbone said he has a question on the single operator permits. He said he would like an update on that. Mr. Newshum said he grateful to all of those using their personal time to work on the council. He said he thinks the SFMTA should not be the beneficiary and should not look to the taxi industry as a place to get money to balance its budget or the city’s budget. He said the credit card charge should be eliminated. Mr. Cessana said he was looking at the statistics from Mr. Han. He asked if they have seriously looked at the statistics of the present medallion system. He said the reason why the sales of medallions began was to eliminate older drivers that were unable to work full time. He said that right now MTA is only granted 20-25 medallions a year. He said at this rate Mr. Han will get a medallion in 20-25 years. He said that the list needs to be scrutinized. REGULAR CALENDAR 7. Discussion and recommendation for the medallion pilot program continue. [discussion and possible action ] Mr. Sweis read the overview Alternative Proposals summary for the financial aspect of proposals. The council reviewed and discussed the financial proposals. Mr. Sweis clarified to the council that he would present the vote results to the Board along with a report. Ms. Graffis argued the point that she does not want the MTA to have any financial gain from the sale of medallions. Mr. Sweis said that the suggestions will be presented to the board. He said that is what they are just suggestions. Mr. Lazar said that the financial money going into the MTA should be spent on Taxi Services. He said they should vote on having their own division. Mr. Sweis said they had voted on that before but today it’s not on the agenda. He said he doesn’t want to get into specific just as general items. He said there will not be changes made on the current suggestions they have on paper. Mr. Korengold said he doesn’t know whey they can’t make changes on the suggested proposals. Mr. Sweis reminded again that they are following rules. He said these proposals were submitted and changes should have been made prior to today. The council debated on the proposals and why or why not they support the financial proposals. Mr. Korengold wanted to motion on taxi services having their own division. Mr. Sweis said they already discussed that topic at a prior meeting. Public Comment Mr. Arian said not to under estimate the drivers. He said that the MTA has to accommodate them. He said that the council should not under estimate their power. Mr. Gruberg said that this is an issue that the entire industry should be unanimously on one side. He said all the money made by the MTA should be going back to the industry. He said if you support any portion that the MTA can take any money from their pockets you are sending them a message that the industry is ok with them taking money from them. He said they should put out a message loud and clear that the council is opposed to any money being taken from their pockets. Ms. Villafuerte said that there seems to be on going debate on whether they are ready to present these proposals to the board. Mr. Grachim said he is happy to hear opposition to giving MTA any money. He still feels that they will not continue sales if they don’t have incentives to sell. He said he hopes more drivers would understand what is going on. Mr. Cessana said that the truth is MTA would of never taken over the taxi industry if it didn’t see it as their golden goose. He said they need to let the MTA know if they don’t fund enforcement of illegal cabs there will be repercussions. Mr. (inaudible )said that item 3.2 should be lowered to 0% if possible. He said there is too much liability for the buyers of the new medallions. Public Comment Closed The council voted on 1.2 No more outright medallion sales by SFMTA Ayes: Tara Housman, Richard Hybels, John Han, David Khan, Barry Korengold, William Mounsey, Ruach Graffis Nays: Timothy Lapp, Tone Lee, Dan Hinds, John Lazar, Carl Macmurdo, Athan Rebelos, Chris Sweis, 7 in Favor 7 opposed. Failed The council voted on 3.2 Reduction of SFMTA re-sale transaction fee to 5% Ayes: Tara Housman, Richard Hybels, Timothy Lapp, Tone Lee, John Han, Dan Hinds, David Khan, Barry Korengold, John Lazar, Carl Macmurdo, William Mounsey, Athan Rebelos, Chris Sweis, Ruach Graffis Nays: Ruach Graffis 13 in Favor 1 opposed Passed The council voted on 6.4 Transfer fee distribution should be changed to 10% for MTA and 10% for Driver Fund. Ayes: Tara Housman, Timothy Lapp, Tone Lee, John Han, David Khan, Barry Korengold, William Mounsey, Chris Sweis, Nays: Ruach Graffis, Dan Hinds, Richard Hybels, John Lazar, Carl Macmurdo, Athan Rebelos 8 in Favor 6 opposed Passed The council voted on 6.5 All revenues generated from the taxicab industry should be re-invested in the taxicab industry. Passed Unanimously The council voted on 7.2 Driver fund to be created to help with medallion purchases and subsequent healthcare for drivers. Failed Unanimously The council voted on 8.1 Medallion prices should remain regulated at 250k with adjustments for inflation. Ayes: Tara Housman, Richard Hybels, Tone Lee, John Han, Dan Hinds, David Khan, Barry Korengold, John Lazar, Carl Macmurdo, William Mounsey, Nays: Ruach Graffis, Timothy Lapp, Athan Rebelos, Chris Sweis 10 in Favor 4 opposed Passed The council voted on 8.6 SFMTA should not have a financial interest in medallion sales. Ayes: Tara Housman, Richard Hybels, Tone Lee, John Han, David Khan, Barry Korengold, John Lazar, William Mounsey, Ruach Graffis Nays: Dan Hinds, Timothy Lapp, Carl Macmurdo, Athan Rebelos, Chris Sweis, 9 in Favor 5 opposed Passed The council voted on 9.2 Permit holders pay into the driver’s fund based on the type of medallion they possess. Ayes: Ruach Graffis, John Han, Tara Housman, David Khan, Barry Korengold, Nays: Richard Hybels, Timothy Lapp, Tone Lee, Dan Hinds, John Lazar, Carl Macmurdo, William Mounsey, Athan Rebelos, Chris Sweis, 5 in Favor 9 opposed Failed The council took a 5 minute break Mr. Sweis read the overview Alternative Proposals summary for the retirement aspect of proposals. The council discussed the alternative proposals. They also reviewed the wording. Ms. Graffis said that she wanted her proposal request on paper. She said she would like to see retirement for all as an option to vote on. She said this is not being voted on and she said she would like to see it corrected. Mr. Sweis said he doesn’t want to start making exceptions. He said he asked all the people who presented a proposal whether there needed to be anything added or anything edited. He said that was the point to make those changes. The Council reviewed the retirement proposals. Public Comment Mr. Gruberg said that the rational for the medallion sales is to eliminate unsafe drivers. He said if you give everyone the right to sell that’s not going to work. Mr. Rathbone said he wanted to comment on 4.1. He said that allows a medallion holder to lock up an opportunity to sell. He said he would like to see 4.1 adopted or something similar. Mr. Cessana said he wanted to remind them that the MTA was going to close up sales as of last year. He said that he received a phone call after that date asking if he wanted to sell his medallion. He said obviously they are still selling medallions. Mr. Kim said it’s in the taxi cab industry interest and the city’s industry to allow qualified drivers to buy a medallion. Giving Pre-K medallions opportunities to sell is a good way to transfer these medallions into working taxi drivers. He said maybe if MTA is getting transfer fees there should not be any more fees for taxi drivers. Public Comment Closed The council voted on 1.3 Reduced driving requirement with contribution to driver’s fund for older or disabled permit holders. Ayes: John Han, Tara Housman, Barry Korengold, Chris Sweis, Nays: Richard Hybels, Timothy Lapp, Tone Lee, Dan Hinds, David Khan, John Lazar, Carl Macmurdo, William Mounsey, Athan Rebelos, Ruach Graffis 4 in Favor 10 opposed. Failed The council voted on 3.3 Waiver of driving requirement with commitment to sell within fixed time period. Ayes: Dan Hinds, Richard Hybels, Timothy Lapp, John Lazar, Carl Macmurdo, Nays: Tara Housman, Tone Lee, John Han, David Khan, Barry Korengold, William Mounsey, Athan Rebelos, Chris Sweis, Ruach Graffis 5 in Favor 9 opposed Passed The council voted on 3.4 One month window annually allowing permit holders to commit to selling so heirs could sell if permit holder dies prematurely. Ayes: John Han, Dan Hinds, Timothy Lapp, John Lazar, Tone Lee, Carl Macmurdo Nays: Tara Housman, Richard Hybels, David Khan, Barry Korengold, William Mounsey, Athan Rebelos, Chris Sweis, Ruach Graffis 6 in Favor 8 opposed Failed The council voted on 3.5 Allowing a limited number of K permitees to retain their permit without a driving requirement after a commitment to return permit to the city upon death. Ayes: Tara Housman, Richard Hybels, Barry Korengold, Carl Macmurdo, William Mounsey, Chris Sweis Nays: Timothy Lapp, Tone Lee, John Han, Dan Hinds, David Khan, John Lazar, Athan Rebelos, Ruach Graffis 6 in Favor 8 opposed Failed The council voted on 4.1 Ability for k and pre-k permit holders to purchase transfer rights by paying transfer frees in advance. Ayes: Dan Hinds, Timothy Lapp, John Lazar, Carl Macmurdo, Nays: Tara Housman, Richard Hybels, Tone Lee, John Han, David Khan, Barry Korengold, William Mounsey, Athan Rebelos, Chris Sweis, Ruach Graffis 4 in Favor 10 opposed Failed The council voted on 8.4 Medallion holders should be given the choice between selling their permit or relinquishing it for continuing income. Ayes: Ruach Graffis, John Han, Tara Housman, William Mounsey Nays: Richard Hybels, Timothy Lapp, Tone Lee, Dan Hinds, David Khan, Barry Korengold, John Lazar, Carl Macmurdo, Athan Rebelos, Chris Sweis, 4 in Favor 10 opposed Failed 8. Council Member request for information. (Discussion only) Mr. Han said he wanted an update on the single operating medallions. Mr. Khan asked if the limos are being enforced or the limos? He wanted to know who they enforcing. Public Comment None 9. Schedule upcoming calendar items (Discussion and Action) Mr. Sweis said discussion of the final presentation for the board Public Comment: Mr. Rathbone said he felt some closure after today meetings. He said he is a little concerned with the work revision or revisit these topics again. Mr. Sweis said they would be reviewing his presentation. He said they would discuss any minor amendments. Ms. Graham asked when and what will the next Town Hall meeting be. Mr. Cessana asked staff on any guild lines on how the medallions sales program will go forward. 10. General Discussion regarding Taxi Industry (Discussion only)
Mr. Korengold asked to put this item higher on the agenda.
Mr. Mounsey is asking what is going on about getting rid of these illegal limos. Mr. Hybels said there should be more posted on the website. He said there is no information regarding new medallion holders or disciplined medallion holders. Mr. Khan said there has to be better communication with officers and DPT. Ms. Graffis said that she needs an updated rate sheet. Mr. Han said he got an email from a para transit rider regarding a complaint about an illegal taxi cab. He said it turns out it was an illegal cab. He said he has been in contact with Eric regarding this incident. Mr. Macmurdo said that he would like to see some criminal prosecution to the illegal cab drivers. He asked Ms. Hayashi if this is something they are working on. Ms. Hayashi said there will be more enforcement because the motorcycle officers in the city in three districts will be helping enforce. Public Comment Mr. Kim said he wanted to reinforce what Mr. Hybels. He said he is getting a lot of drivers ask him why some cab drivers are getting medallions before others. He said he would like more transparency on how medallion are bought and sold so the question of corruption is not brought up. He said he knows this is not the case but he would like to see more transparency. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned by standing vote at 3:53.m. |
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