Ill continue to see you and support you on the issues that are important in the community. I thank you for the honor and privilege of having served these many years with ecs in the community. Thank you. Supervisor supervisor kim, if you want to do it outside or stand in front of them and they can shoot it from that angle . The tree thing is going on out side. Outside. Thank you. Supervisor thank you again for being here and congratulations on your retirement. Okay. Now with that id like to recognize supervisor ronen for our next commendation. Is your honoree able to get into the chamber . I believe theyre coming in now. Supervisor great. While we wait id like to take this opportunity to welcome and recognize former supervisor quinten cop and current commissioner for the current ethics commission. I want to make sure everyone has an opportunity to come in. Colleagues, today i have the incredible honor to recognize a legend. Everyone can applaud now. Surrounded by dozens of incredible journalists and Community Leaders that she has trained and inspired. San sandy kloss is one of our greatest journalists and mentors weve seen in San Francisco and thats not an exaggeration and a media was forced to close this year after 20 years of service. After graduate from uc berkeley, sandy began her career in hong kong as the china editor of the far Eastern Economic review in the mid 1960s and covered the vietnam war as a young journalist. Upon her return to the u. S. She founded the flatland Community Newspaper and founded in 1970 by her late husband a great china scholar to get accurate news. Pacific news service went on to pioneer youth journalism and commission the countrys first major multilingual polls and win an academy award. Under her leadership Pacific News Service has become one of the most diverse sources in journalism and became a hub for a diverse array of journalist endeavors. I love the quote from an oped i think yesterday in the San Francisco chronicle by Russel Morris whos journalism career began in juvenile hall. The writes it was a home for journalists who would never have been brought into any other media organization. You can talk about diverse news rooms all you want but i sat in on an editorial meeting with a man with a tattoo on his neck who spent 20 years in pelican bay prison, a pregnant teenager, a homeless heroin addict and her dog and a former black panther and nun. Sandy has lifted up and helped writers and journalists and videographies including my own chief of staff. In 1992, she founded a collaboration of writers and young people published by Pacific News Service and cofounded road dogs, writings by Homeless Youth in San Francisco and Silicon Valley debug written by those written in the shadow of Silicon Valley and launched ethnic news organizations working to enhance information and editorial change. That same year she started a weekly writing journal by in carcerated youth that continues sto today and launched new American Media advocating for over 3,000 ethnic media and news outlets nationwide. Sandy, your list of achievements is breathtaking and unbelievable. Im in awe of what you have created and so grateful to you for the amount of love and attention and mentorship youve given to a generation of young people. And youve really paved the way for a future of generations to come. Its such an honor for me to even be standing with you and recognizing your accomplishments today. Thank you so much. Well, thank you for that. Listening to that almost made me weep but certainly makes me understand why my hair went white some years back. Look, im surrounded by wonderful colleagues. I want to thank everyone for coming and i want to pay contribute to you and to San Francisco for just two minutes. San francisco has always been the heart of new American Media. San francisco is the birth place of the vision ethnic media created for Work Together and creating an ethnic media exchange. San francisco was the first city to invite ethnic media into city halls press room, the year 2000. San francisco was the first city that ethnic media convened to celebrate each others accomplishments, journalistically and attract advertisers and combat stereotypes of each others communities and break taboos including samesex couples in ethnic communities and stereotypes of each other that honestly for ethnic media to own was really one of the most inspiring days ive spent. Cleaning out our office i found a photograph of the day we brought desks to city hall in the year 2000 to set up Media Presence in this case for the World Journal for the first time. Not everyone was happy about it so we called up to mayor Browns Office and mayor brown came downstairs and declared it ethnic media day and that resolved the issue. So ethnic media today, i have a modest proposal for the board of supervisors. You dedicate one day, maybe november 28, as ethnic media day to recognize the extraordinary courage it takes when youre not always from the mainstream culture, you may not know the languages, you may not know the protocols and yet these media are who engage you with their audiences and who bring those diverse audiences together through their own collaboration. Were you to recognize ethnic media day, whatever day but maybe today, in moving forward this would be a great legacy and one of which i know we would all be very proud. I want to introduce two ethnic media colleagues. George chen from the inquirer and theyre going to share a few thoughts on why that would be important. I can tell them i was going to make the proposal but truly perhaps about the history of nan. If could keep it very brief because we have a long meeting. It was a duel honoree if you can keep it very very brief. Thank you. Sure. On behalf of us, i would like to congratulate and extend my deep gratitude to the programs and campaigns working together since 1997. As one of the founding members of the California Media [indiscernible] our reporters have invaluable training under the Scholarship Program on immigration and award as been a prestigious honor. I always remember sandy asking us what do you think and what can we do and theres lots of important topics we face every day. Thank you. Im the u. S. Bureau chief of philippine inquirer and the resident. Id like to thank the board of supervisors for giving a well deserved honor to sandy kloss. She founded new American Media which is the first time a National Ethnic media collaborators were brought together to be a part of a Larger Community and to sandys tireless search for resources and wide networks. New American Media was able to provide unprecedented access for us, ethnic journalists to engage in fellowships and news makers and the access to opportunities will surely be missed. Thank you very much. Thank you and congratulations, again. Supervisor breed that concludes our 2 30 commendations. Congratulations to all the honorees. Its now 3 00 and well go to our two, 3 00 p. M. Special orders. Madame orders call items 25 through 28. The clerk items 25 through 28 comprise the public hearing of persons in the determination of exception from the quality act issued as a categorical exception from the Plan Department for the transportation agencies proposed hairball project and create a new bicycle lane including installation of a new high visibility of the crosswalk as well as the removal of ten Parking Spaces and two loading zones along westbound avenue. Item 26 is the motion to affirm the determination the intersection Improvement Project is further exempt from further Environmental Review and reverse the determination subsequent to the adoption of findings and the appropriation of findings. Supervisor we have before us the appeal of the exception from Environmental Review hairball Improvement Project in district 9 and 10. For this hearing well be consider the adequacy and the completement of the environmental row view and determination for the hairball Improvement Project. Without objection well proceed. Ten minutes for the appellate and ten minutes for each speaker en support and ten minutes for the adept and ten minutes for the sponsor or representative and ten minutes for speaker and opposition of the appeal and finally up to three minutes for rebuttal from the appellant. Is there objections to proceeding in this way . If not year opening the hearing and no introductory remarked from representatives of district 9 and 10 and supervisor roben sorry. I just wanted to acknowledge, colleagues, there was a request for me to recuse myself from this appeal on a purported personal interest in the hairball. I certainly have been public in noting my concern about certain conditions present at the hairball and i have committed to investing resources in finding ways to improve the safety and functionality of the hairball. That said i never previously commented on the issues before the board today. I can and will remain objective in hearing arguments and base my decision on what has been provide to each of us as members of the board and to the information provided and comments made at todays hearing so i will not be recusing myself in this decision. Supervisor thank you, supervisor ronen. Well ask for the appellant to come forward. Have you ten minutes for the presentation . Is the appellant not here or maybe in the overflow room . She submitted a letter that she would not be coming but based her argument on the written comment. So shes not going the presentation . Thats what was written in a letter distributed to us. Supervisor breed so anybody in support you have two minutes. If theres any members of the public here or in the overflow room in support of the appeal you have up to two minutes. Seeing none ill reopen Public Comment if someone comes in from the overflow room to speak when they do so. So we will at this time close Public Comment for support of the appeal. Now well hear a presentation from the Planning Department. Though you have ten minutes you dont have to use the entire ten minutes. Good afternoon, president breed and board. Im with the Planning Department. Joining me today are lisa gibson Environmental Review officer and a principle planner and were joined by sfmta staff including the project manager and others. On november 20 planning staff send a memorandum for the categorical exemption and the response was further supplemented on november 27. The appeal was filed by the appellant on october 19. She submitted an opening brief and rebuttal brief. The decision before the board is whether to uphold the departments decision to issue a categorical exemption and deny the appeal or return the project for additional Environmental Review. As described, the departments responses, the Department Found the project would not result in any significant impacts on the environment and is categorically exempt from review. To provide context the hairball refers to the area in San Francisco why cesar chavez street and bayshore boulevard and portrero avenue link to highway 101. It would include modification those existing rightofway between gerald ave between barnville ave and install high visibility walks and cre move ten Parking Spaces on westbound gerald ave and overall the project would not involve the construction of any permanent structures and consists mostly of paint and installing softhit posts. No existing travel lanes would be removed as part of the project. The appellant contends the project does not fit the definition of the class 1 existing facilities categorical exemption. Its a mischaracterization under a class 1 exemption. Here it would result in minor restriping and changes to the existing street to serve various modes of travel and not remove a travel lane. The extent of the construction activities is minimal. Therefore the class 1 exemption was properly applied. The appellant said it includes revisions to the project analyzed under the San Francisco bike plan. Three bike plan projects are located within the vicinity but they were implemented in 2012 and 2013. The form the existing conditions and project vicinity and were considered in the exemption determination. The current proposal overlaps improvements made on bayshore boulevard in 2012 but its a new project not identified in the bike plan. The city addressed safety and improve accessibility for all modes of travel is the case here. The appellant also claims due to the large Traffic Volume with the loading zone removal, the project would have unusual circumstances precluding the use of exemption. The appellant is incorrect. Again, the project would not remove travel lanes and know no reduction of pathways would occur. It is not leading to an unusual circumstance. The appellant brought up parking and these are social issues while theyre concerning theyre not seeking appeal. Further the remove of two underutilized commercial loading zones would not be considered an unusual circumstance so a class 1 exemption was determined to be the properly level of review. Other issues have been addressed and our responses the appellant claims the current project compliend combine combined with the other project thus weve addressed the other concerns in our responses. For the reason stated in our appeal responses and statements made at the hearing. The determination complies with the requirements of class 1 categorical exemption is the appropriate Environmental Review determination. The appellant has not provided substantial evidence to refute the conclusion of the department. Therefore i urge you to uphold the departments exemption and deny the appeal. This concludes my presentation and planning and staff will welcome any questions you may have. Thank you. Supervisor breed seeing no names on the roster well have up to ten minutes for the mta to do a presentation about the project. If you would like. If not, thats no problem. We can do a short presentation. Im tallia lang the project manager at the sfmta. Just to give you a quick overview of the project this is the hairball area. Were working on different segments. Its being worked on by public works and the subject of the appeal is the portion of gerald avenue between barnville and bayshore and bayshore boulevard between gerald and marrin. This is the project area map. The purpose of the project is to propose changes to make gerald avenue and bayshore safer and easier to using and address issues including a heavy vehicular volume that conflicts with the large number of cyclists and theres a right move that creates conflicts with pedestrians crossing. One Pedestrian Fatality occurred in 2013. This is a picture of the area looking south of northbound boulevard and marin street and this looks towards barnville avenue. This is an existing site plan. North is to the right. This is a picture of what we are propose. Theres a new bike line on southbound gerald avenue adjacent to marking. The parking is removed for a knew protected bike line. Theres upgrades at barnville and gerald avenue and marin street. As planning mentions, no travel lanes are removed. The lane are narrowed on bayshore from 19 to 13 feet with no effect on vehicle traffic. This is the existing Cross Section of gerald. This is the proposed project including the curbside bike lane running northbound and adjacent to parking on southbound gerald and theres a sixfoot area this is the Cross Section and this is being implemented. Thank you. Supervisor breed thank you, and well hear from one of those who would like to speak in opposition. Are there any members of the public that want to speak in opposition. Seeing none the Public Comment is now closed. The appellant is not here and the hearing is now closed. Supervisors, anyone wants to make any comments or motions . Supervisor colin. The hairball sits between district 9 and 10 and the project is critical in helping us deliver the pedestrian and Bicycle Safety improvements thats part of the city and frankly its been badly needed. So because many paths intersect in this area this interchange is challenging to navigate and theres points of conflict between vehicles and pedestrians and bike bicyclists. The project is long overdue. We spent many evenings discussing the future of this particular hairball. Then when you throw in the bike line its part of a much larger strategy to connect residents from one side of the city to another and heavily traversed. It lends to the citys vision zero strategy and sits into a longterm vision we have that i have support to provide more Mobility Options for residents into the southeastern side of the city speaking on behalf of district 10 constituents. After the hearing and the presentation from the Planning Department today i believe the proposed project is consistent with the site exceptions and i have not received evidence or a valid opinion to refute the conclusions of Planning Department and id like to make a motion to uphold the determination a