POTRERO BOOSTERS ~ GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING ~ August 31, 2010 AUDREY COLE, PRESIDENT ~ MEETING MINUTES

by David Glober, Recording Secretary, with help from Dick Millet, VP

Announcements: POTRERO HILL FESTIVAL SAT OCT 16 D10 SUPERVISOR CANDIDATES FORUM UCSF SEP 22 GENENTECH HALL LOVING CUP, OWENS St., MISSION BAY: FROZEN YOGURT, SMOOTHIES POTRERO HONEY NOW SOLD AT M&M MARKET 23rd & De Haro Main Topic of the Evening: CONGESTION PRICING

* Meeting opened at 7:12 pm with Introductions * Introduced. Liz of "LOVING CUP" a eating place for yogurt smoothies located in Mission Bay, 1700 Owens near 16th Sts, next to Starbucks. ph: 553-8090 9:00am--6:00pm Mon-Fri, closed weekends, parking on 16th Street. LIZ provided the eats for Aug 31 meeting. POLICE REPORT, Lt. Louis Espinda. We are having a rash of "auto burglaries", so have set up beat car tests, officers on foot and bicycle patrols. Worst time: 6:00pm- midnight. ANNOUNCEMENTS: * POTRERO HILL FESTIVAL to benefit the NABE, on Sat October 16th on 20th St. & the NABE * DISTRICT 10 CANDIDATE FORUM at Genentech Hall UCSF, Mission Bay 6:00-8:00pm Sept 22nd. Weds. * Potrero Hill Honey sold at M&M Market on De Haro.

SPEAKER: CONGESTION PRICING (PLANNING)

Elizabeth M. Bent, Regional Transportation Planner SPEAKER: Growth / Gridlock. If we continue in a BAU (business as usual) fashion 40,000 new peak-period vehicle trips greater downtown by 2030. Longer, more severe rush hour, 30% increase in delays by 2030. Want to get to robust solutions, managing demand as well as being efficient with investments and with projects that will raise money and not rely on MUNI or General Fund. How manage this growth (if not by Congestion Pricing)? Add traffic lanes? Which would remove parking or narrow sidewalks, which are near and dear to peoples hearts, but what else to do. We dont have room suggestions? COMMUNITY MEMBER: Get MUNI running more often than every 35-40 minutes, such as the #10 Townsend at night, which as come to replace the #19 for late commuting. If buses are running every 10-15 minutes, theres going to be a lot more riding. SPEAKER: But several neighborhoods have frequent trips and still have congestion, and bus bunching. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Core issue is available transportation thats available; congestion is not identical issue. SPEAKER: Agree, there is a structural issue with quality of service, though for what its worth some service is being added back, and yes these are two different issues. We dont have a lot of lanes that are dedicated to transit; we have mixed-use lanes; we need to manage this better; including on the T line. Transit Sustainability Program is being evaluated now, regional study, to try to make transit more efficient in terms of administrative issues that affect transit, a few months in, look for results next year. What we can look at is the quality of the run vs. the frequency of the run.

POTRERO BOOSTERS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION MINUTES, GENERAL MEETING Tuesday, August 31, 2011 Page 2
COMMUNITY MEMBER: Youre transit authority, not MUNI, and youre here to hear from us yet youre taking 65% of the time. SPEAKER: Open to more ideas. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Better enforcement of intersections, could be put in place right now so transit can get through on time. Frequent to wait 40 minutes for a 15 minute ride and thats an hour for a 15 minute ride. Even during times when streets are empty of traffic. SPEAKER: Understand. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Good that consideration of multiple possible solutions. One approach may be free fares; time it takes for fares to be paid can be counterproductive and actually costly. SPEAKER: Not just congestion pricing; complements of more MUNI, more BART, etc. also considered. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Suggestions: (1) More motorcycle / scooter parking meters where cars are currently parked to increase space usage by 5 times; more usage means more revenues also. (2) Dedicated lanes for buses. (3) San Francisco is second densest city in country; have policies that reduce density; most congestion is from people outside City. SPEAKER: 70% is within city. (Disputes of that number.) COMMUNITY MEMBER: From London, congestion pricing is despised by does reduce congestion, pollution, etc. However they also have a much, much better transit system. SPEAKER: Next? COMMUNITY MEMBER: Why 18th if talking about congestion, where going to kill small business to an unbelievable level. Mothers and kids need cars, cant rely on MUNI. Why not start at 6th, or 9th. SPEAKER: Could start at 6th or 9th. One of the issues on boundaries is what happens to neighborhoods on edges of the zones. If it only affects most congested areas and people drive around the zones, result is unintended new congestion around the zones, traffic jams at the edges. Looked at other cities that implemented congestion pricing. Looked at other cities. London implemented bubbling out so that people on the edge could be considered a resident of the zone, i.e. bubbling out a residency zone. What is a neighborhood and what is the catenary of that neighborhood, so the neighborhood does remain whole. I hear you, it doesnt make sense that if you live at 19th you suddenly need to have this problem going one block. COMMUNITY MEMBER: If I live anywhere on the Hill, shouldnt be charged to drive in own neighborhood. Boosters define neighborhood as _______ / Townsend / Cesar Chavez / Bay. Only RH zones in Eastern Neighborhoods are here in this neighborhood. By using 18th Street, did you want to capture 18th and Mariposa off ramps? (SPEAKER: Yes.) Might be another way, will save for later. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Small businesses are also moving to South San Francisco and other places, not moving into the city as SPEAKER had indicated, maybe SPEAKER doesnt realize taxes and other pressures are pushing small businesses away. The max cap of $6 can go to $18 with multiple vehicles. SPEAKER: There will be fleet discounts. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Also consider Bayview, very dependent on good transportation access; with Lennar development, etc., how are you accommodating people there? SPEAKER: Might not be the same mix of lower income with the development coming in. Also a recent study is showing people traveling not north, but south, from Bayview. Only 3% of drivers are, are likely to be, low income; will be a qualifying low-income discount, and would get a max cap of $3. Bay Area travel survey conducted every four years, plus census data, feed the models. SPEAKER: SPEAKERs business cards will be available for contact with additional questions after meeting. Week day peak not 10-12 hours like London, NYC so wont need all-day flat fee. Completely barrier free, wont be new gantries. Considering linking to FasTrac accounts, and encouraging FasTrac signup. Can be pretty much like a red-light running camera, minimizing

POTRERO BOOSTERS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION MINUTES, GENERAL MEETING Tuesday, August 31, 2011 Page 3
impacts, not seeing extra infrastructure. Large ramp-up program encouraging people to participate in FasTrac, via mail, etc., and pointing out that FasTrac is interoperable with other California systems not just for use in San Francisco. Feedback in a previous outreach round: What peak routes to protect? Response, not so many; focus on people who face a burden; taxis and emergency vehicles will be free, taxis because extension of transit system and accommodate mobility challenged citizens/residents; carpools have a built-in discount, why give more discount; considering these input items, nothing finalized. Discounts are not additive; you get maximum discount you qualify for. Parents of school age children neighborhood school options will be available. Businesses daily habits part of program, explore ways to minimize costs overall, possible ways to review bills every day. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Why rebates to people coming in from outside. SPEAKER: Geographic equity. 62% of people from East Bay are on transit already. Quite a few people are coming in from parts of San Francisco; its not all bridge and tunnel (shows pie chart). Goal is to find solution that addresses local and regional travel as well as income equity as well as reinvesting funds to maximize public benefits of program. And thinking about how to target people who will keep driving up to the point that it costs more to drive than it costs to take MUNI. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Scooters and motorcycles take same amount of space; if dont account for that raises questions about credibility on everything saying. COMMUNITY MEMBER: If replace T line with the #15 would save $1M a year and increase ridership by 50%. Dogpatch resident who doesnt use T line any more, takes 45 minutes on T line, took only 15 minutes on #15. Typical answer is when Central Subway comes in, it will work; but for the next 10-15 years until then, put the #15 back. Also, so many businesses outside the city dont pay taxes to SF but have a different impact than local businesses. SPEAKER: Appreciate the insight about businesses outside city; havent analyzed that and could do so next round; we are at stop or continue point in analysis now. Funded by $1M Federal grant with $260K in partially matching regional funds. We do anticipate that the program could generate between $60-80M per year. How to invest in transportation improvement? Need to create essentially a lockbox so can see that benefits are reinvested. How to assure annual up-front investments in place in BRT, etc. before the program actually starts running. Real time information and way-finding (signage and information online). Minimizing people driving up to the edge and leaving their car is a public concern, but does not seem to be much excess capacity in the neighborhoods or in the zone; would invest in traffic calming at edges of the zones. People consistently ask for faster service, and if charge money, want a smoother ride resurface roads. Work with businesses so employees still have access to any trips they need to make, possibly encouraging flexible hours, onsite day care, etc. Regarding that this is adding one more fee on top of already existing fees, a lot of businesses mentioned already incorporating cost of doing business in overall costs, did ask for better or more loading zones, and have specific fee periods to allow for deliveries, peak business, etc. Anticipated 12% reduction in peak trips, not losing number of trips since it is a peak period program; people would drive another time of day, switch to another route, switch to transit, biking or walking. _________ reduced emissions anticipated. Some people oppose, other people say its good why havent implemented already, no one seems in between. Tour bus operators and delivery businesses may benefit; a lot of other businesses see rising costs and problems with employee and customer access. Have talked with small business merchant associations, Frank Vaccaro, small business associations. Other possible scenarios that might not be best-performance but could prove proof of concept such as evening-only after 6 pm to go outside the city; businesses like if has time limit and people would stay until after the fee was removed. Re geographic equity, what if just charged folks from the South Bay? No peak direction so this corridor would be both AM and PM. Studies indicating up to 20% improvement in transit times. Greenhouse gas emissions and collision reductions Scenario comparisons by numbers. Question being posed to community now is what to study most / next. Do need legislative authority to pursue congestion pricing at both state and local level, and some form of environmental clearance, will need a multi-functional agency which could be a new agency or joint powers depending on what legislature would decide. Direct to produce or contract to services. Still several years away from an implementation decision and several more years away from implementation itself. COMMUNITY MEMBER: If your projections are correct, 2030 SF will have less than 1 million people; thats too small for congestion pricing program; only 10,000 people coming in from Marin County? This is just to raise money.

POTRERO BOOSTERS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION MINUTES, GENERAL MEETING Tuesday, August 31, 2011 Page 4
SPEAKER: Many other ways to make much more money. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Youd have to show us these other ways to make more money. SPEAKER: Studies that include this will be launched next month. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Youre putting too much money into a single targeted study. You seem to be studying congestion pricing more than congestion management. Should also prioritize improving MUNI service. Every administration other than Willie Browns has cut MUNI service at every opportunity. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Agree with other community member that this is a pricing program more than a management program and therefore another attack on the middle class. And what about tourists. SPEAKER: Were talking with Visitors and Convention Bureau; Most visitor and traveler activity is not at peak. In next phase well try to address that further. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Clarify fees? SPEAKER: $1.50 going out; no annual fee. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Start with AM or PM. Dont give special consideration to hybrid vehicles. Seems that any traffic outside Bryant Street has nothing to do with congestion, its all about revenue, and the number of new units planned is only 2500-3500. Bay Bridge toll doesnt help infrastructure, goes to emergency services, paying for the bridge not paying for the city, some moneys should go to city / infrastructure. SPEAKER: Projections are based on data every two years with some lag time in data. But SF numbers dont change much projection to projection. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Emphasis really concerning on privatizing costs maintains a systemic divide and MUNI misses out again; until address MUNI the public good is not really being addressed in acceptable ways. All of us have experienced a lack of public transit services; until this is functional, privatizing costs is unconscionable. Hospitals, schools, public services are continually being eroded and diminished; this is not democracy. SPEAKER: Emphasis of our study is on whether congestion pricing works or not. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Better to abandon this, which is a social engineering experiment, and focus on infrastructure and jobs, so would vote against this program even being studied further (applause). COMMUNITY MEMBER: Use 18th Street and youll have continued vandalism of transponders. There is something elegant about focusing on parking pricing more than driving. Rome added 11 new transit lines before congestion pricing implemented, so people could be prepared well in advance of congestion pricing; this is a transit poor part of town; our request at last presentation was to bring some one with MTA, which havent done on this visit. Have to present to us, what kinds of additions in service are we talking about; specifically what kinds of improvements are we talking about. That was 18 months ago; this is a non-starter until improvements are planned and implemented by MTA. SPEAKER: I agree. SPEAKER: One of the things looking at specifically is the T line corridor. COMMUNITY MEMBER: Start with looking at your data on the #10 and the T line. Can walk to office downtown faster than can ride the T. And the middle class in this city is being feed to death. Further info / contact: sfmobility.com facebook.com/sfmobility mobility@sfcta.org 415.522.4819