The drivers finally get their chance to speak around 6:30 p.m. Each driver has just two minutes at the microphone to tell their story. One by one, they approach the podium.

“I hope you make the right decision by giving us back our money,” Sutter tells them. “That’s hard-earned family money.”

Harjeet Gargaria, another driver, says, “I don’t know if it’s because I look different — I look black, brown or whatever — but no one want to help us.”

Namdev Sharma is next. He wears a neatly pressed shirt tucked into a pair of slacks. It’s the outfit he always wears on City Hall days. His English isn’t perfect, and he has a few pages of handwritten notes. He carefully puts them on the lectern. But once he starts, he doesn’t even look at them.

“You must not forget us,” he says. “It is unfair. You must think. You must heed our voice. You putted us to a dying situation. You have power to create destiny of us.”

It’s estimated that it would take the city $160 million to buy back the medallions. New York City is already beginning a debt relief program for its drivers.

So, what could be done here in San Francisco?

First, there’s the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. The agency could potentially issue a bond to buy back the medallions. It has had the power to do so since voters approved Proposition A in 2007, but the SFMTA isn’t currently pursuing this route. If it did, it would need approval from the Board of Supervisors.

Another option is for the supervisors to fund a buyback program from the city budget.

Supervisor Dean Preston says something needs to be done.

“I think the city definitely owes a debt to the cab drivers who played by the rules for years, and then find themselves in financial dire straits through no fault of their own," Preston said.

Preston isn’t the first supervisor to speak up. For the last two years, Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer has argued that the whole medallion system is broken.

At a public meeting last June, Fewer said, “I personally don’t see any way out except to actually blow up the whole thing and redesign the whole thing over again."

She thinks San Francisco should come up with money to help the drivers out. “I just think the burden these people are living under is incredible,” she said.

Seven supervisors told KQED they support the city looking into debt relief. They include Preston, Fewer, Matt Haney, Aaron Peskin, Hillary Ronen, Catherine Stefani and Shamann Walton.

Supervisors Rafael Mandelman and Gordon Mar are undecided. Ahsha Safai and Norman Yee did not respond. Neither did Mayor London Breed.