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Mayor’s
Disability Council
|
|
Minutes
of the Mayor’s Disability Council meeting
Friday,
December 17, 1999
|
Willie
L. Brown, Jr.
Mayor
Frank
Marone
Chair
Walter
Park
Council
Secretary
|
MAYOR’S DISABILITY COUNCIL
MEMBERS PRESENT: Sergio Alunan, Vincent Behan, Claudia Center (by phone), Viola
Jackson, Michael Kwok, Frank Marone, Damien Pickering, Grayce Regan, Edward
Evans.
Absent: August Longo
STAFF: Walter Park, Director, Mayor’s Office on Disability, Richard Skaff, Deputy
Director, Susan Mizner, Assistant Director, Carolyn snipes, Office Manager.
Frank Marone, Co-chair, called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. The agenda
was read, and approved as amended. The minutes were approved as written.
COMMENTS FROM THE CHAIR:
Dr. Marone gave a brief
report on the work of the MDC during the past year. He reviewed the MDC’s participation
on the ADA Self-evaluation and Transition plans, in the development and creation
of the Mayor’s office on disability, and in the creation of maximum accessibility
in several developments and capital projects, such as the Treasure Island project.
He also noted the MDC’s participation in the development of an accessible Automated
Teller Machine now installed in city Hall, and he acknowledged Treasurer Leal’s
lead part in this. He also acknowledged the authorship of the Talking
Sign resolution by Damien
Pickering. Dr. Marone also noted the creation of an Executive committee of the
MDC, and mentioned the various presentations by agencies, and disability related
organizations, as well as the public comments and useful discussion of disability
issues. He thanked everyone for their participation and assistance on the issues
that the MDC worked on.
Dr. Marone thanked Mayor
Willie Brown and other government officials for their support of the MDC and
the creation of the Mayor’s Office on disability. He invited members of the
public to continue to come and speak before the MDC, and to bring issues and
solutions to the MDC’s attention. He concluded that in 1999, the MDC made a
significant impact on the lives of persons with disabilities and created a greater
understanding on how to make life more livable and satisfying for all San Francisco
residents.
REPORT FROM STAFF:
Director Park reported that
the Self-Self-evaluation and Transition plans remained a central activity of
the Mayor’s Office on disability( MOD). It will be discussed during every MDC
meeting in the year 2000. He added that since the passage of Proposition G,
he proposed that both the MDC and MOD staff have a presentation from staff or
the City Attorney’s office on the additional requirements under said proposition.
These included requirements for open meetings, and open documents. The City
Attorney’s office has indicated that it may take up to six months to establish
these procedures, given the amount of information to organize.
PUBLIC COMMENT ON ITEMS
NOT ON AGENDA:
Ms. Karen Young-Simmons
reported her difficulties with paratransit, in which her Thanksgiving Day was
entirely upended because of miscommunications with the broker and the drivers.
Mr. Zane Blaney, Chief Executive
Officer of the San Francisco community Television corporation, spoke to encourage
people with disabilities to become involved with public access television. All
citizens and organizations in San Francisco may use public access television
to produce television programming, etc.. they are in the process of upgrading
their facilities, and doing training and outreach programs. Interested parties
may contact Mr. Blaney at (415) 575-4943.
PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATE
OF APPPRECIATION TO STEVEN D. NELSON:
Dr. Marone stated that Mr.
Steven D. Nelson, former Director, Department of Administrative Services, could
not be present to accept the certificate. At the request of the Chair, Director
Park suggested that the item be postponed until the holidays, and should Mr.
Nelson still be unavailable, the certificate be mailed to him instead.
ADOPTION of MDC MISSION
STATEMENT:
A draft of the MDC Mission
statement was distributed and read aloud. The only modification was from Ms.
Center who said that in item 3, she would probably say, "To document progress
made on commitments made on accessibility and non-discrimination."
Mr. Kwok asked whether the mission statement would be set in stone after its
adoption, or could be reviewed. Director Park said that the document could be
reviewed at any time, although there was no requirement that it be reviewed
for any period, once adopted. It was moved and seconded that the document be
adopted, with the addition suggested by Ms. Center. All MDC members present
adopted the motion.
OTHER COUNCIL BUSINESS FOR
DISCUSSION/ ACTION:
By-Laws:
Copies of the MDC By-laws
were distributed to the members. Dr. Marone said that any comments, suggestions,
or proposed changes should be sent to the attention of the MDC executive committee
before the next regular meeting in January. The members of the executive committee
are Sergio Alunan, Vincent Behan, Grayce Regan, and Dr. Marone.
Committee Structure:
Director Park reported that in the two meetings of the executive committee since
the last month, a simplified committee structure was discussed. The Executive
Committee had decided upon three committees that would, for this year, anyway,
closely track the Self-Evaluation and Transition Plans work. The three committees
are: Employment, Programmatic Access and Physical Access. Every member of the
MDC would need to join at least one committee. Any interested member of the
public was also welcome to apply to join.
Ms. Mizner added that the
Executive Committee discussed that the emphasis and focus of the MDC during
the coming year would be to take public input required for the Self-evaluation
and Transition plans. It was hoped that MDC members would focus on gathering
this information to provide as wide an input as possible. The committees were
expected to have at least five members and meet at least every 60 days. MOD
would provide support for these committees, with Director Park, Richard Skaff,
and herself as staff to these committees.
Each council member commented
on the model. There was some concern that the model did not provide enough specificity,
and each committee should focus on one topic, such as housing or transportation.
The discussion then reviewed the ways in which each of these topics would be
dealt with within the committees.
Part of the work of the
MDC was to gather information and input from the public on the Self-evaluation
process. These forums would be the primary vehicle to find out what was working
and what was not. This would help develop solutions that would be proposed for
problem areas. Dr. Marone noted that it appeared that the plan tied in neatly
with the objectives contained in the MDC mission statement. Mr. Pickering proposed
the adoption of the committee model.
Director Park said that
he wished to see an indication as to which committees the various MDC members
wished to join. The Council agreed on the present structure, and volunteered
for the committees as follows:
1. Employment - Sergio Alunan,
and Claudia Center
2. Physical Access - Ed
Evans, Michael Kwok, Grayce Regan, and Vince Behan.
3. Programmatic Access -
Ed Evans, Damian Pickering, Viola Jackson, Claudia Center, and Karen Ann Simmons
(a member of the public).
An unidentified member of
the public commented that strong members of these committees should be encouraged
to join, since persons who do not speak or contribute
during meetings do not help
the work at all. She volunteered to join any of the committees.
PRESENTATION ON SELF-EVALUATION/
TRANSITION PLANS:
Director Park said that
the staff had been meeting with the consultants every two weeks, and making
presentations to the MDC monthly. The consultants have begun the actual surveys
of the San Francisco facilities. A large number of those had been looked at.
Logan Hopper and Associates was working on that side of the project. On the
program side, Margen and Associates were also addressing the project.
Mr. Peter Margen, of Margen
and Associates, reported on the activities of his firm, and of Hopper and Associates.
He said that the latter firm had concentrated to date on museums, parks, and
the Arts commission. Mr. Margen concentrated his discussion on the public participation
process in the whole self-evaluation program. He was thrilled as the consultant
working on programmatic issues, that there were now subcommittees with whom
he would interface during the work. The public participation process in the
ADA Self-evaluation and Transition plan process was built into the law. The
city is required to do this by law under section 35.105,of 35 CFR Department
of Justice regulations. He said that not only persons with disabilities could
be involved, but any interested person as well. He said that he and staff had
discussions on how to maximize public participation, and they came up with a
five-fold plan:
· First, the creation
of the Self-evaluation and Transition plan contact line, ( 415) 364-1848. This
is a 24-hour line that anyone can call to bring access issues to the attention
of the consultants.
· Second, five public
forums will be held, which the MDC and MOD will host. All the city programs,
activities, and services were broken down into the same five categories as used
in the Budget: Public Protection, Public Works and Transportation, Human Welfare,
Health, and Recreation.
· Third, a survey will
be available after the first of the year to gather consumer input about access
to City services.
· Fourth, the consultant,
MOD staff and MDC members will hold meetings in the neighborhoods to encourage
further input.
· Finally, the draft
Self-evaluation plan will be widely distributed, and the comments collected
and integrated into the document.
The first forum will be
held on:
January 28,
at 1 p.m.
Room 400,
City Hall
Public Transportation
and Public Works
The major areas to comment
on are the Airport, the Department of Building Inspection, MUNI, Paratransit,
911 Emergency communications, and Telecommunications.
The meeting was adjourned
at 3:00 p.m.