2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998
Gavin Newsom
Mayor
Susan Mizner
Director
Ed Evans
Michael Kwok
Co-Chairs
Vincent Behan
Norma Block
Jack Fagan
Eugene T. Flannery
Elizabeth Grigsby
August Longo
Ruth Nunez
Jul Lynn Parsons
Denise Senhaux
Mayor's Disability Council
Draft Minutes
20 February 2004
1 ROLL CALL
Mayor's Disability Council Members Present: Norma Block, Ed Evans, Jack Fagan, Michael Kwok, Ruth Nunez and Jul Lynn Parsons.
Excused Absent: Vincent Behan, Eugene Flannery, Elizabeth Grigsby and Denise Senhaux
Absent: August Longo
Mayor's Office on Disability: Susan Mizner, Acting Director; Ken Stein, Program Administrator; and Howard O. Wong, Council Clerk.
Ed Evans, Chair, called the meeting to order at 1:13 p.m.
2 APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
The Council approved the agenda for the February 20, 2004 MDC Meeting.
3 APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
The minutes from the meeting of January 16, 2004 were approved.
4 PUBLIC COMMENT
* Jerry Grace, an Oakland resident, announced there will be a rally called "Capitol Action Day!" in Sacramento on Thursday, May 20, 2004. This rally will be speaking to the legislators regarding proposed IHSS cuts. If you have any questions and/or concerns about participating in the rally, please call 1-800-390-2699 or 1-800-900-0706 for TTY or their website at www.cfilc.org/media/capday.htm.
5 REPORT FROM THE CHAIR
Michael Kwok expressed his concerns regarding the impact of proposed State Budget cuts on people with disabilities.
Ed Evans reported that pedestrian safety is an important issue for people with disabilities. He has received numerous complaints about the conditions of the sidewalks and how it put people in jeopardy. In the future, he is hoping to work with the Programmatic Access Committee, Physical Access Committee, San Francisco Police Department and Department of Public Works to resolve these problems.
Lastly, Mr. Evans commended Mayor Newsom for standing up for civil rights, in the light of the City's issuing licenses for same-sex marriages. He stated that people with disabilities have been speaking out for civil rights for a long time and everyone deserves to be recognized as an equal part of society.
6 REPORT FROM THE ACTING DIRECTOR
Susan Mizner thanked Co-Chair Ed Evans on the last meeting of his term as Co-Chair, and applauded his energy and outspokenness as a Co-Chair and as a Council Member. She expressed her appreciation for Mr. Evans' continued willingness to serve on the Council and to chair the Physical Access Committee. Ms. Mizner also reported:
o the MOD has been working with the Department of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS) to help ensure that DAAS will be providing equitable services for people with disabilities who are younger than 60 years of age.
o the first draft of the Self Evaluation Summary has been completed, and that the office is currently seeking photographs of people with disabilities to include in the report. She encouraged anyone who is willing to be photographed to contact the office.
o the MOD architectural staff has reduced the backlog of construction plan reviews from an 8 month wait (in April of 2003) to less than six weeks now. She commended Jim Whipple and Richard Skaff for this improvement in service.
7 REPORT FROM THE COMMITTEE CHAIRS
REPORT FROM THE PROGRAMMATIC ACCESS COMMITTEE
Jul Lynn Parsons, Chair of the Programmatic Access Committee reported that the committee is continuing its work to amend Section 12 D of the City's Administrative Code, to include businesses owned by persons with disabilities in the City's Bid Preference program.
Ms. Parsons also reported that the Committee is working on accessible website design. They will be following that up on their next meeting scheduled for Friday, March 12th from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Rose Resnick Lighthouse for the Blind (214 Van Ness Avenue at Grove Street). The public is welcome to attend.
REPORT FROM THE PHYSICAL ACCESS COMMITTEE
Ed Evans, Chair, reported that the committee continues to work on traffic circles and traffic calming devices as well as sidewalk safety for people with disabilities. The next Physical Access Committee Meeting is scheduled for Friday, February 27, 2004 in Room 421 at City Hall, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. The public is encouraged to attend.
8 TRANSITION PLAN ISSUE - PRESENTATION BY AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTS CENTER REGARDING CENTER ACTIVITIES AND NEED FOR ELEVATOR UPGRADE.
London Breed, Director of The African American Arts Center, a City-owned building located at 762 Fulton Street, provided an overview of the Center's operations. It is a three-story facility with a large theater, gallery space, two dance studios and several multi-use rooms. The center receives approximately 250 visitors on a daily basis, which increases to 500-800 when there are performances. The visitors range in age from young children to senior citizens.
Ms. Breed stated that one of the major complaints from senior citizens and people with disabilities has to do with the old elevator. She spoke of numerous problems, which include constant breakdowns. People with disabilities, especially in wheelchairs, have a difficult time using the elevator because the elevator is not self-leveling, and poses both accessibility and safety concerns. Therefore, she is coming before the Council to seek financial assistance for an upgraded elevator to make it more ADA accessible.
Council members commended Ms. Breed on the services the Center provides to the community. Council Members made some suggestions regarding possible sources of additional funding for the elevator upgrade and to make the facility more accessible. It was also noted that the lack of accessibility may open the City and the Center to liability. The Council made no objection to allocating Transition Plan resources to upgrade the elevator at the Center.
9 STATE'S PROPOSED IN-HOUSE SUPPORT SERVICES (IHSS) BUDGET CUTS AND EFFECTS ON DISABILITY COMMUNITY. PRESENTATION BY JESSIE LORENZ, INDEPENDENT LIVING RESOURCE CENTER (ILRC).
Jessie Lorenz and her colleagues from ILRC presented a powerpoint presentation on the importance of the services provided by IHSS. Ms. Lorenz started out with an introduction to IHSS, noting that it is a program that provides personal assistants to assist people with disabilities with activities of daily living in their homes, providing an alternative institutionalization. To become eligible, one has to be on Medi-cal. The program is funded through the Federal, state and county governments.
The presenters noted that the Governor's proposed budget cuts would affect IHSS greatly. They would entail the elimination of essential supports and services for people with disabilities. The cuts would also eliminate the Consumer Advisory Council, eliminate IHSS workers' benefits; eliminate the IHSS Residual Program; and more. The presenters noted that the cuts would make AB 1642 null and void and noted that that the resultant lack of services would have a severely negative long-term impact on people's ability to find providers and would result in greatly increased health care costs and expensive hospitalizations.
For those who are interested in getting involved with this issue, please contact the Independent Living Resource Center at (415) 543-6222.
10 SAMPLE TRAINING FOR CITY STAFF ON DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING ISSUES. PRESENTATION BY DEAF COUNSELING AND REFERRAL AGENCY (DCARA).
Todd Higgins (MOD consultant on deaf and hard of hearing issues) and Christine Seymour, a Client Advocate for DCARA, presented a sample training on "How to Effectively Serve Deaf & Hard of Hearing Individuals." Mr. Higgins will be providing trainings to City departments on deaf accessibility issues as well as doing outreach to the deaf community about access to City Services. The training covered a wide range of topics including an overview of deaf and hard of hearing accessibility issues, statistics on the number of deaf and hard of hearing in the country, various etiologies of hearing loss, communications methods and strategies used to communicate with deaf and hard of hearing individuals, and other issues relating to deaf culture.
The primary objective of the training was to convey that deaf and hard of hearing people have a wide variety of communication needs.
Their second objective was to teach people how to serve deaf and hard of hearing people by incorporating a variety of communications strategies and options.
Mr. Higgins offered helpful suggestions for communicating with people who are deaf and hard of hearing. He also spoke about many misconceptions regarding this community.
Mr. Higgins and Ms. Seymour wanted to encourage members of the public and the Council to continue to make all departments of the City and County of San Francisco accessible, so that it can be a model for other cities in the country.
11 CORRESPONDENCE
None
12 ITEMS NOT ON TODAY'S AGENDA, BUT WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE MDC.
Bruce Allison, Coalition on the Homeless, said that some homeless shelters are not making accommodations to enable people with disabilities and seniors to use the bottom bunks of bunk beds. He pointed out that one would normally use a ladder for assistance to the top, but many of the shelters don't have ladders and are telling people to use chairs. For those who find it difficult to use the chair, people end up sleeping in the chair instead.
13 COUNCIL MEMBER REQUESTS FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS.
Jul Lyn Parsons spoke about a proposal to reduce captioning in television broadcasts. This causes great concern for her because freedom of information is one of the most important aspects in a democracy. She urges the public, community and fellow Council Members to work with her on maintaining captioning.
14 COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS.
Jack Fagan announced the next MDC Meeting's topic includes a paned discussion of Autism & Asperger's Syndrome.
Ed Evans encouraged the public to go register and vote on Tuesday, March 2nd because many of the ballot measures affects people with disabilities and seniors.
15 ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
Minutes - Mayor's Disability Council - 02/20/04