Meeting Information

· The California Memorial Project is in collaboration between Protection in Advocacy Incorporated, the California Network of Mental Health Clients, and People First to refurbish and memorialize the cemeteries at the state hospitals. Many people with disabilities died in state hospitals and the cemeteries they are buried in are unkept and don’t have any markers. This project is working to obtain funds for the refurbishing of the cemeteries and to document some of the life stories of people who lived in the state hospitals. For more information contact Laurie Shepherd at 1-800-776-5746.

· Ms. Patterson will be conducting a cross-disability peer counseling training at the Independent Living Resource Center. This training is a three-month course that is open to people with disabilities that want to help other people with disabilities. It will be on Fridays, starting February 22. 2002. People interested in participating should call Ms. Patterson before January 28, 2002, at 543-6222.

Co-chair Damian Pickering gave a brief report of the following upcoming events:

· The Rose Resnick Lighthouse for the Blind and Bank of America will host an accessible banking expo to highlight some new accessibility features that Bank of America will offer, including the launch of the their talking ATM system. This event will take place at the Rose Resnick Lighthouse for the Blind located at 214 Van Ness Avenue on January 17th from 11:30 am - 1:00 pm. People interested in attending should RSVP to Mr. Pickering at 431-1481 extension 250.

· The Rose Resnick Lighthouse has made available in alternative formats the Public Utilities Commission consumer guide that has a lot of good information about energy conservation and how to save money. People interested in receiving this document free of charge in any of the formats (Braille, large print, cassette or regular print) can call 431-1481 extension 288.

6 REPORT FROM THE DIRECTOR

Walter Park, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office on Disability (MOD) gave a report on the following:

· MOD staff worked on a "Hidden Disabilities Study and Forum" with the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families. They will start a new advisory council which will guide the project. The forum will conclude November 2002 with a summit with the Mayor to discuss the findings of the survey in regards to learning disabilities.

· The first accessible door telephone entry security system has now been installed at the Housing Authority. This door entry system gives verbal instructions, allowing a blind person to operate the door entry system. The Mayor will inaugurate this system in February 2002. Mr. Park commended Viking Electronics for being the industry leader in developing this new technology.

· Lowe’s Theaters has agreed to make the Metreon accessible to deaf and blind audiences by installing rear projection captioning and a descriptive narration system for presentation of movies.

· MOD is working with the Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT) on the new Light Guard systems, which are the flashing yellow lights at pedestrian crosswalk located mid-block in front of City Hall on Carlton B. Goodlett Place. DPT will include the Polara voice system in that crosswalk early in 2003.

· MOD is working with the Department of Elections on three areas - the accessibility of voting machines particularly for people who are blind in particular, the accessibility of polling places (currently approximately 53% of polling places are accessible), and training of poll workers to be able to work with people with disabilities who come to vote.

· The Pedestrian Safety Working Group has continued to meet and will meet two more times in January. MOD is working with this group in developing a bond that may include $32 million for curb ramps and accessible pedestrian traffic signal systems.

· MOD has continued to meet with the Department of Aging and Adult Services on their Living with Dignity Task Force.

· Work is continuing with the Department of Telecommunications and Information Services (DTIS) on accessible e-government, which includes websites and various telephone systems the public uses, and e-commerce systems that the City is beginning to install.

· Constituents raised the issue of visitability with regards to housing. MOD has been doing some research on this issue.

· The emergency evacuation chair policy and procurement work is continuing. A demonstration was given in a City Hall stairwell showing how the evacuation chair works.

· MOD had a meeting with the Wayfinding Foundation, which is a new foundation that will be distributing free "Talking Signs" receivers to blind persons.

· This month MOD worked with the CHAS Committee, which is the committee made up of representatives of the Mayor’s Office on Housing and non-profit housing development organizations that work on affordable housing issues. There have been discussions on making reasonable accommodation in housing for tenants.

· MOD did a three hour training and a follow-up related to technical services for the McKinney funded local board that handles shelter services.

· MOD is working with Department of Human Services on three main areas - the internal process of identifying clients with disabilities so they can be served properly without getting lost in the system, contract language for different types of contracts to be certain that the providers who receive City funds are providing accessibility to their clients with disabilities and training the training staff in DHS to work with other staff to expand their services to low-income people.

· MOD staff along with the Department of Parking and Traffic, Department of Public Works, the Police Department, and the Port have been working on an accessibility policy for special events to go to the Board of Supervisors in 2002.

· MOD performed approximately 23 plan reviews and site reviews in the month of December.

Mr. Park stated that many issues and projects are brought to the attention of the Mayor’s Office on Disability by the Council or from public testimony.

7 COMMITTEE REPORTS.

REPORT FROM THE EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE

No report.

REPORT FROM THE PHYSICAL ACCESS COMMITTEE

No report.

REPORT FROM THE PROGRAMMATIC ACCESS COMMITTEE

Harry Mar, Chair, gave a report on the activities of the Programmatic Access Committee:

· The Committee reviewed the information that was received from the Human Rights Commission regarding gaining bid preferences for business entities owned by persons with disabilities. As a result of this review, a survey needs to be completed of business entities in the local area. The intent of this survey would be to find out whether or not there is a need for a bid preference in City contracts for those businesses.

· Mr. Mar encouraged disabled-owned businesses that are interested in discussing a bid preference program with the City and County of San Francisco to contact him or Susan Mizner at the Mayor’s Office on Disability at 554-6789.

· The Committee will be working on creating a link from the Mayor’s Office on Disability website to websites that contain information regarding disaster preparedness for persons with disabilities.

· The Programmatic Access Committee meets the first Friday of each month at the Rose Resnick Lighthouse located at 214 Van Ness, 2^nd Floor conference room at 11:00 a.m.

8 BY-LAW AMENDMENT TO CREATE STAGGERED TERMS FOR COUNCIL MEMBERS PER THE CIVIL GRAND JURY RECOMMENDATIONS.

This item was deferred for lack of a quorum.

9 ACCESSIBLE ELECTION EQUIPMENT AND POLLING LOCATIONS.

Joe Taggert, Director of ES&S Systems, gave a brief overview of an accessible voting terminal:

· The voting terminal is lightweight and provides an audio ballot for people who are blind as well as the ability to function as a touch-screen for people who are not blind.

· This voting terminal is equipped with the Trace Research developed "E-Z Access" navigational keys. There is a large green diamond that allows a blind user to access the ballot and there are two arrows (up and down arrows) that are the navigation keys. Each device is also equipped with a phone jack for an individual headset to be plugged in to assure confidentiality.

· The average cost of an audio-voting terminal is $3,000.

· Mr. Taggert gave a demonstration of how the voting terminal works.

Tammy Haygood, Director of Elections, stated that in the last past two elections the `Eagle’ scanning machine that required paper ballots has been used. Ms. Haygood stated that there are issues in terms of implementing the new audio-voting machine that include the timeline and availability of funds to purchase them. The Department of Elections is committed to moving from the currently used technology to something that provides services to all communities, but does not feel that testing new equipment in the March 2002 election will be a good idea.

Ed Evans asked if the electronic voting system would be cheaper than the current voting system and how long would it take to implement an electronic system.

Ms. Haygood stated that electronic systems are cheaper because it cuts down on the printing costs of ballots. The printing costs of ballots can range from $200,000 - $300,000. Another cost that is incurred in every election is the logistics of moving ballots from one place to another. It should be noted that paper ballots will not be entirely eliminated because voters can still choose to vote by mail (absentee ballots).

Ms. Haygood stated that a subcommittee will be formed to discuss an implementation plan of the electronic voting systems by the November 2002 election.

Leroy Moore wanted to know if the touch- screen used for the voting machine only responds to skin touch.

Mr. Taggert stated that the machine responds to any type of touch whether it is skin or an implement such as a mouth stick.

Jessie Lorenz stated that as a member of the blind community she felt it would be empowering to be able to cast her vote without any assistance.

Mr. Marone wanted to know how the Department of Elections is dealing with physical accessibility at polling locations. Mr. Marone pointed out that he votes at a local school that is completely inaccessible.

Ms. Haygood stated that the Department of Elections has worked with the Mayor’s Office on Disability. A site review checklist for accessibility was developed by the Mayor’s Office on Disability and provided to the Department of Elections. Ms. Haygood said the department has been very active in trying to find accessible polling places.

Walter Park pointed out that there was no survey of accessible polling places until last year. Richard Skaff, Deputy Director of the Mayor’s Office on Disability, trained poll site inspectors so that they would be able to determine whether polling locations were physically accessible. Mr. Park hopes that this training can be done again for the March and November elections. Mr. Park supports having a committee that is chaired by Tammy Haygood and works with the Department of Elections but reports back to the Mayor’s Disability Council.

Ed Evans asked for information on being able to clarify voter identification electronically.

Ms. Haygood stated that at this time, electronic signatures of any kind have not been approved for voting systems, but voting systems are certified by the Secretary of State for use within the State.

10 RESOLUTION REGARDING EVACUATION CHARIR INSTALLATION IMPLEMENTATION.

To be discussed at a future meeting.

11 CORRESPONDENCE.

None.

12 PUBLIC COMMENT

None.

13 MEMBER REQUESTS FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS.

Frank Marone would like to re-start the Committee on Children and Youth with Disabilities. Damian Pickering stated that this topic can be discussed at a future Executive Committee meeting.

Leroy Moore would like to postpone the topic of after-school programs and sheltering of children with disabilities. Mr. Moore would like to discuss how the Mayor’s Disability Council can do more outreach to have more members of the public attend the monthly meetings.

Ed Evans stated that a future topic should be related to the quality of schools and accessibility to Head Start Programs.

14 COUNCILORS’ COMMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Frank Marone announced that Claudia Center, former Councilor of the Mayor’s Disability Council, argued a case at the United States Supreme Court regarding disability and employment. Mr. Marone commended Ms. Center for her work as an attorney and helping to make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities.

Ed Evans made the following announcements:

· The State of California has a program that will provide funding for people who have service animals each month. For additional information regarding this program contact Mr. Evans at 346-6469 or the Mayor’s Office on Disability at 554-6789.

· Each month many people attend a disability dinner. The next dinner will be on the second Saturday of January at Moon Star Restaurant at 6:00 p.m. For more information call 346-6469.

Leroy Moore made the following announcements:

· The Rules Committee passed a resolution from the Youth Commission to expand the police crisis training over the next few years to increase the number of police who will receive training on how to deal with people with mental illness. For more information contact Jennifer Friedenbach at 346-3740

· On January 10^th from 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. the Multicultural Community of the Crime Victims with Disabilities Initiative will meet in Sacramento. For more information contact John Simmons at (916) 651-8306.

· On Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday, January 21, Disability Advocates Minorities Organization (DAMO) will hold a press conference to kick off their "Breaking the Silence". For more information contact Mr. Moore at (510) 649-8438.

17 ADJOURNMENT.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:38 p.m.