2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998
Carol Patterson
Damian Pickering
Co-Chairs
Sergio Alunan
Jim Brune
Vincent Behan
Ed Evans
Michael Kwok
August Longo
Allison Lum
Frank Marone
Leroy Moore
Walter Park
Council Secretary
Mayor’s Disability Council
Minutes
15 March 2002
1:07 p.m.
1 ROLL CALL
Mayor’s Disability Council Members Present: Jim Brune, Ed Evans, Michael Kwok, Allison Lum, Frank Marone, Leroy Moore, Carol Patterson and Damian Pickering.
Excused Absent: Vincent Behan,
Absent: Sergio Alunan and August Longo.
Mayor’s Office on Disability: Walter Park, Director; Richard Skaff, Deputy Director; Susan Mizner, Assistant Director; and Jada Jackson, Assistant to the Director.
Co-Chair, Damian Pickering called the meeting to order.
2 APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA.
The agenda was approved with the following amendments:
Item #13 Councilor Elections and #14 Terms of Council Members were moved to after item #7 Report from the Committee Chairs.
3 APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES.
The minutes from the meeting of February 2002 were approved.
4 PUBLIC COMMENT.
· Ellen Lieber invited the disability community to attend two events:
"Access Day" on Saturday, April 20th at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, located at 100 34th Avenue from 10:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. The exhibition featured will be on "Dreaming with Open Eyes: Dada and Surrealist Art".
An independence forum and exhibition in Marin County on Thursday, April 17 from 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. The theme for this event is assistive technology and innovations.
· Jim Nakamura, President of the San Francisco Taxi Permit Holders and Drivers Commission discussed a dispute over the full-time driving requirement contained within Proposition K. The City is essentially saying that the full-time driving requirement of 156 shifts per year is not flexible.
Mr. Park stated that staff from the Mayor’s Office on Disability has met with the Executive Director and the City Attorney for the Taxi Commission to discuss the issues that Mr. Nakamura has stated.
· Jamel Burrell, resident and Building Monitor of 330 Clementina Towers pointed out some problem areas in the building that need to be resolved: security needed to address traffic, trespassing and loitering issues, intercoms are broken, garage gate malfunctions, the elevators are out of order or malfunctioning, and there is no management on site.
Richard Skaff pointed out that there is a process that has been developed between the Building Department, the Fire Department, Social Service Agencies, the State of California and Cal OSHA in dealing with elevators that are not working in both publicly funded and private housing.
· Meg Cooch discussed a campaign being started to bring attention to budget cuts related to home and community-based services. Planning for Elders in the Central City (PECC) and the Healthcare Action Team (HAT) have put together a list proposed budget cuts to programs that help people to stay in the community.
5 REPORT FROM THE CO-CHAIRS.
Co-chair Carol Patterson announced that she has been hired at Mental Health Consumer Concerns in Concord and is resigning from the Mayor’s Disability Council effective at the end of the meeting.
Damian Pickering stated that it was a pleasure and an honor working with Ms. Patterson.
6 REPORT FROM THE DIRECTOR
Walter Park, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office on Disability (MOD) gave a report on the following:
· The month of March is the beginning of budget season for City departments. MOD has put in a budget request for next year in the same amount that was received this year. It seems that the City budget will receive cuts in all kinds of areas that are important to people with disabilities. The Civil Service Commission has approved $700,000 in personal contracting authority to the Mayor’s Office on Disability. This is not for individual contracts but to allow MOD to contract for training and other activities.
· Richard Skaff, Deputy Director of Physical Accessibility of the Mayor’s Office on Disability performed a review of the San Francisco Housing Authority North Beach project. Approximately 35% of the new units will be either accessible or adaptable. Mr. Park stated that he is very pleased with the Housing Authority and their contractors, Bridge, and their architects for their work in making this project accessible.
· There was a grand opening of the first accessible door telephone entry system at 345 Arguello Boulevard. This door entry system gives verbal instructions, allowing a blind person to operate the door entry system. The Mayor presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Bill Heidemann, the Engineer that helped to develop this device.
· The Unified School District held a hearing on their transition plan. This was a meeting for public input not to present the plan. Input was given from staff of the Unified School District, parents, and others. A draft of this plan will be available at the end of the month, people interested can obtain copies from the school district.
· Susan Mizner, Assistant Director - Programmatic Accessibility of the Mayor’s Office on Disability attended a Taxi Commission meeting that discussed the question of disabilities and people with medallions. MOD is trying to integrate the appeals process into a Citywide ADA Grievance Procedure.
· In terms of general public services, MOD will be having an opening at the Metreon Theater in the near future. MOD has been working with Lowe’s Theaters who has installed the rear window system and a captioning system at the Metreon. These systems allow for a blind a person to listen to a narration of what is on the screen and allows for a deaf person to see the movie subtitled without the movie being open-captioned for everyone else in the theater.
· The Mayor’s Office on Disability met with a delegation from Yugoslavia and will be meeting with the vice president of Mitsubishi, which manufacturers all of the Talking Signs in the United States.
· Administrative Services has recently licensed a company that is creating aerial photographs of the City at a very tight resolution from many different angles. The city facilities that are going to be described in the transition plan will be mapped on this system, allowing for a person to use a City terminal and get a picture of how a building will look. The Mayor’s Office on Disability is trying to integrate its database with the City database that is available for pictometry.
· There will be a training sponsored by the AIDS Legal Referral Panel that Susan Mizner is involved in as an instructor.
· Mr. Park presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Carol Patterson that was on behalf of Mayor Brown and the people of the City and County of San Francisco, for services as Co-chair of the Mayor’s Disability Council for her active leadership on the Council, for consistently representing the needs of people with mental health disabilities and all disabilities and assisting government ways to meet those needs.
Carol Patterson stated she felt honored to receive the certificate and thanked everyone.
7 COMMITTEE REPORTS.
REPORT FROM THE EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE
Walter Park gave a report on the activities of the Employment Committee:
· The last meeting reviewed the correctness of the medical questionnaire used for employment in City and County positions and Rule 115, which is the provision that allows people with disabilities to have entry level employment in San Francisco without taking the usual testing at the beginning but are confirmed at the end of their term.
REPORT FROM THE PHYSICAL ACCESS COMMITTEE
Ed Evans, Chair, gave a report on the activities of the Physical Access Committee:
· At the last meeting, discussions were with representatives from the Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT) regarding the poor phone system and poor response to disability access complaints with the department. An agreement was made that the phone system needs to be upgraded and that DPT will also be putting in a TTY system.
· The Physical Access Committee meets the third Wednesday, of each month at the War Memorial Building located at 401 Van Ness, 4th floor conference room at 3:30 p.m.
REPORT FROM THE PROGRAMMATIC ACCESS COMMITTEE
Susan Mizner, gave a report on the activities of the Programmatic Access Committee:
· At the last meeting the committee discussed a possible new artistic handrail for institutional settings, which hopefully can be brought before the Council once some architectural access issues can be overcome. The Committee is continuing to look at the bid preference program, which would give a small advantage to disability-owned businesses in the contracting process with the City as it does with minority-and women-owned businesses. Over 100 surveys were mailed out and there has been a 10% response, but not all of these businesses qualify under the criteria that was set up. Businesses that are owned by disabled people, who have an interest in bid preferences in City contracts should contact the Mayor’s Office on Disability at 554-6789.
· The Programmatic Access Committee meets the first Friday of each month at the Rose Resnick Lighthouse located at 214 Van Ness, 2nd floor conference room at 11:00 a.m.
8 REVIEW OF IN-HOME SUPPORT SERVICES (IHSS) IN HOMELESS SHELTERS.
Leroy Moore stated that the presentation from In-Home Support Services (IHSS) should open some discussion on how this system can be made easier for people with disabilities who are homeless to access these services in shelters.
Anthony Nicco, Program Manager at the Department of Human Services (DHS), gave an overview of efforts at providing IHSS in shelters:
· In the year 2000, there was a meeting with representatives from shelters (both single and family) to discuss IHSS and the possibility of adult day healthcare being a complimentary service to shelter residents. After this initial meeting, there were two shelter residents authorized for IHSS.
· On March 27, 2000, the California Department of Social Services issued emergency regulations that narrowed the definition of a domicile to exclude persons living in shelters. IHSS was still being provided to the original two shelter residents but the Department of Human Services wouldn’t authorize anyone else since these regulations specifically prohibited it.
· The Department of Human Services wrote a letter to the State opposing these regulations followed by the community also advocating to the state against these regulations. Protection and Advocacy was successful in obtaining a temporary restraining order against the emergency regulations.
· Months later, the California Department of Social Services sent a letter to counties informing them that they were not to implement the regulations which prohibited providing IHSS in shelter.
· A second outreach attempt was made with three major single adult shelters: South of Market, North of Market, and Episcopal Sanctuary. After several triage case conferences and meetings with Adult Day Health and staff from Discharge Planning - San Francisco General Hospital, IHSS started being provided to shelters. Since then, approximately 15 - 20 people have been provided IHSS in shelters.
Joan Boomer, Section Manager of Intake Services at In-Home Support Services (IHSS) discussed some of the problems shelter residents encounter:
· The eligibility requirement for IHSS in shelters is there needs to be a need for help with such things as bathing, dressing, or toileting.
· Shelter residents need to to meet basic financial eligibility requirements. If a person is on SSI, then they automatically meet this financial requirement. For residents not on SSI, IHSS uses the same eligibility determination that social security uses such as income, resources, and disability.
· Some shelter residents do not have immigration status, which would allow IHSS to be granted by state regulations.
· The level of care that some shelter residents need is more skilled than what In-Home Support Services can provide such as monitoring and maintaining IV drug or other treatment through IV.
· Often times some residents are afraid or reluctant to talk to representatives from IHSS because they are viewed as being "government officials."
Patricia Hudson, Shelter Support Services Manager discussed the following:
· Many shelter residents in need of IHSS are on the respite floor. In the past, these residents would stay 7-10 days, but now residents are staying 10 days up to 11 months due to more severe problems like mental and substance abuse issues.
· Approximately 25 to 30 participants at Next Door have incontinence problems but are resistant to visiting a doctor about it.
· There are at least 61 shelter participants who are on federal disability. Approximately 5% of participants at Next Door are dual or poly-diagnosed.
· It is a good idea for staff of In-Home Support Services to come into shelter facilities and talk to participants so that they can become familiar with and gain trust in In-Home Support Services.
· The staff of Next Door continues to work with participants up to six months after they leave the facility, without this many participants would be put at risk again.
Susan Mizner, Assistant Director of the Mayor’s Office on Disability discussed possible solutions and next steps:
· Create a new in-house training program for shelter staff on the In-Home Support Services program because they has been many turnovers and there has been a lot of changes in the Next Door system since the initial trainings were completed.
· To address the reluctance of residents to participate in this service, it was recommended that shelter staff could do the outreach to residents and have community organizations come discuss IHSS and how it can be useful both in the shelter and when they transition into stable housing.
· Encouraging shelter residents themselves to get involved in training to be IHSS providers. This would be convenient since the provider and the person needing assistance would be already living together and also would give the provider an opportunity to get back into the workforce a few hours a day or week.
Allison Lum wanted to know what happens if a shelter resident is not on SSI and their case may be pending and does not yet qualify for In-Home Support Services. Ms. Lum recommended that SSI advocacy would be beneficial to shelter residents.
Joan Boomer stated that a parallel eligibility determination can be done. For disabilities that can not be presumed there are nurses on staff that can evaluate a person’s condition and determine whether there is a high probability that there is a disability. If the nurse does make that determination, and the person is otherwise financial eligible then the person can be granted IHSS pending SSI eligibility determination. If a person’s disability is borderline or if it is not clear that their disability will last a year, then IHSS cannot be provided by state regulation.
Damian Pickering wanted to know how is the process of having shelter residents be on-call providers going to be implemented.
9 TRAINING REGARDING THE SUPREME COURT’S DECISION IN THE OLMSTEAD CASE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS BY BONNIE MILSTEIN, ESQ.
Training notes are separate.
10 CORRESPONDENCE.
None.
11 PUBLIC COMMENT.
Jesse Lorenz, staff of the Independent Living Resource Center (ILRC) announced that there are many opportunities for people to get involved in Olmstead advocacy by contacting ILRC at 543-6222. Ms. Lorenz also thanked Carol Patterson for her service as a council member to the disability community.
Roger Bazeley discussed the need for safe and uniform access to San Francisco community schools, auditoriums and other shared community areas, including accessible routed and passages to and school sites. He stated that the PTA and other parents and members of the disability community recognize a need for uniform modernization and upgrades to property such as curb cuts near school sites, ADA ramp installations, and ADA approved entrances and exits. Mr. Bazeley hopes that the Mayor’s Disability Council with other agencies will help to mitigate these needs for full accessibility.
12 MEMBER REQUESTS FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS.
Damian Pickering reminded Council members that future agenda items can be submitted at the MDC Executive Committee meeting, which meets the Tuesday following the Mayor’s Disability Council meeting at 2:30 p.m. in the Mayor’s Office on Disability located at 401 Van Ness, Room 300.
Leroy Moore would like to invite a counselor from a pilot program of the Crime Victims with Disabilities in Sacramento.
Ed Evans recommended a future agenda item is a discussion on general access issues at parades and fairs in San Francisco.
Jim Brune commended the hard work of Richard Skaff and Walter Park with their efforts in working with Lowe’s Theaters in getting more films captioned and having the rear window projectioning system installed at the Metreon Theater.
13 COUNCILOR ELECTIONS - NOMINATIONS FOR ELECTIONS WHICH WILL TAKE PLACE DURING APRIL’S COUNCIL MEETING.
Damian Pickering was nominated as Co-Chair to finish Carol Patterson’s term and Leroy Moore was nominated as new Co-Chair.
14 TERMS OF COUNCILOR MEMBERS - DRAWINGS FOR EACH LENGTH OF EACH COUNCIL MEMBER’S TERM.
17 ADJOURNMENT.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:05 p.m.