2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998
Mayor’s
Disability Council
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DRAFT
Minutes
Mayor’s
Disability Council
Friday,
20 August 1999
City
Hall, Room 400
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Willie
L. Brown, Jr.
Mayor
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MEMBERS PRESENT:
Grace Regan (Chair), Sergio
Alunan, Vincent Behan, Edward Evans, Viola Jackson, Michael Kwok, August Longo,
Susan Mizner, Damien Pickering
STAFF:
Walter Park, Director, Mayor’s
Office on Disability
Richard Skaff, Deputy Director,
Mayor’s Office on Disability
Jose Caedo, Client Assistance,
Mayor’s Office on Disability
Kofo Domingo, Special Assistant
to the Director, Administrative Services
The meeting was called to
order by the Chair, Grace Regan, at 1:10 p.m.
The agenda was approved
after a change in the order of business was proposed. The minutes of April,
May, June, and July, 1999, were approved. Damien Pickering abstained stating
that he had not been provided copies of these documents in alternative format.
Ms. Regan announced that
Mayor Brown appointed Walter Park as the Director of the Mayor’s Office on Disability,
who is also Council Secretary, as well as the San Francisco ADA Coordinator.
His telephone number is 554-6789. She congratulated Walter Park and thanked
him for being on the MDC.
Walter Park thanked Ms.
Regan and said that he invited people to throw tomatoes `into the well,’ that
it was now his job to receive these. The MDC congratulated Walter Park on the
appointment.
Ms. Regan stated that the
meeting that day would focus on transportation issues, with General Manager
Michael Burns of Muni making a presentation on behalf of that agency.
STAFF REPORTS:
Walter Park announced that
he, Richard Skaff, and Jose Caedo were now staff of the Mayor’s Office on Disability,
which meant that the Office is 50% staffed. The office is currently located
at 30 Van Ness, and will hopefully move into 401 Van Ness, Room 300, by October
1.
Richard Skaff presented
a Complaint Summary Report, which did not include those compiled by Jose. He
said that the notes indicated when and what the nature of the complaints were,
with the complainants’ names deleted. He observed that there was cooperation
from the other Departments, with a revised grievance procedure in place, which
may be revised once more after the MDC had reviewed it.
Walter Park said that he
would like to have a standing item on reports regarding the Self-Evaluation/
Transition plans, and staff had begun meeting with the consultants every two
weeks.
Mr. Logan Hopper, Self-evaluation
and Transition Plan consultant, reported that his team had been working since
the last time he made a presentation before the MDC. His firm’s part of the
work is the physical description and evaluation of facilities that need improvement
to provide access. Surveys are now being undertaken toward this work, and it
was noted that there were several different surveys done in the past. He stated
that the most important issue to consider by the MDC is the priorities in the
work, since there may be issues that need to be prioritized over others, and
the community must be able to indicate what these were.
Richard Skaff reported that
regarding the City Hall information kiosk, he had been in touch with Dr. Greg
Vanderheiden of the Trace Research Center, who is involved in the specification
of the accessibility features of the kiosk. It is expected that this the kiosk
may be installed some time in September.
Mr. Skaff added that Treasurer
Susan Leal and her staff contacted him and assured that they were working on
the accessibility for the blind and visually impaired on the City Hall Automated
Teller Machine.
Vince Behan inquired about
the requests he had made to have notices of the MDC meetings published in the
San Francisco Independent. Jose Caedo said that he had made contact with the
California Newspaper Service Bureau regarding this, and would have it published
for the next meeting.
PUBLIC COMMENT ON ITEMS
NOT ON TODAY’S AGENDA:
Wayne Sherman, said that
in 1993 Assembly Bill 59 was passed, which provided for a fine levied against
those who illegally parked in spaces designated for persons with disabilities.
The Bill also provided that $50 from each parking ticket would be set aside
for use in altering existing public facilities to make them accessible. In 1997,
the Department of Parking and Traffic estimated that the amount collected from
this law would amount to $500,000. He added that the City and County of San
Francisco had done nothing to enact said legislation locally, and asked the
MDC to help in this regard.
Ms. Susan Ferrerya, said
that she was the newly designated Disability Access Coordinator with the Department
of Public Works, and would be assuming the role of ADA Coordinator as well.
She added that the Department handled over one third of all capital improvements
in the city, as well as responsibility for all the public sidewalks. Ms. Ferrerya
said that she would be working closely with the Mayor’s Office to answer, coordinate,
and resolve all complaints in the aforesaid areas. She would be happy to work
with the MDC on specific issues, and spoke of a new program called the flashlight
tours whereby citizens could view projects which have been completed and how
the Department worked on projects. She invited the public to observe a curb
ramp construction demonstration on September 8, and gave the contact numbers
(415) 554-7475, and TTY 554-6900. Her contact information was (415) 557-4685,
and said that she was in the process of acquiring a TTY machine, so that in
the interim, people should contact her via the TTY at the Director’s office.
Complaints regarding sidewalks, curb ramps, or public facilities would be coordinated
between the Mayor’s Office on Disability and her office. Richard Skaff’s TTY
number is 558-4088.
Mr. Leroy Moore, of Disability
Advocates of Minority Organizations spoke on transportation for disabled persons,
and the need for awareness on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,
and asked the MDC to take an active role in the need for special education,
particularly for the youth.
Mr. Al Rose congratulated
Walter Park on his appointment, and said that he was glad that someone from
San Francisco and not from out of state was chosen. He noted that the Mayor
had budgeted $1.3 million for the new office, and that the In-Home Support Services
Workers now received a $3 per hour raise, and finally demanded more than two
minutes for public comments for persons with speech impediments such as himself.
Mr. Rob Roth, Executive
Director of Deaf Counselling and Referral Agency ( DCARA), said that he hoped
that in the future, TTY numbers would be included on the MDC agenda/ notice,
and made suggestions on how to make these and the meeting room TV open captioning
more user friendly for deaf and hard-of-hearing persons.
Ms. Peggy Coster congratulated
Walter Park on his appointment, and thanked the Mayor on the increase of the
wages for the In-Home Support Services Workers to $9.00. She briefly described
how some disabled persons paid people to work as their attendants, and how this
was financially difficult for the disabled individuals. Walter Park asked if
she knew how many disabled persons were in this type of situation, with unsubsidized
home care workers.
REPORT FROM TRANSPORTATION
SUBCOMMITTEE:
Mr. Sergio Alunan, chairman
of the committee, presented a report on MUNI and accessible transportation.
He said that the members of this committee were: Mr. Ed Evans, Mr. Bob Planthold,
Ms. Karen Young-Simmons, Mr. MIchael Kwok, and Ms. Jewel McGinnis. He said that
the purpose of the committee was to advise the Mayor regarding the needs and
views of the disabled community regarding accessible transportation as well
as promoting and helping monitor and promote and help monitor fixed route and
paratransit services. He gave examples of how important accessible transportation
was for disabled persons. Mr. Alunan recounted the evolution of accessible fixed
route and paratransit services in MUNI through the years, citing the expansion
of said services in both areas. He also gave a brief history of the Muni Access
Advisory Committee ( MAAC), and the Paratransit Coordinating Council ( PCC),
and how these organizations interacted with MUNI on accessible transportation.
He said that all new bus purchases will be accessible, so that full accessibility
will be achieved by year 2000.
Mr. August Longo noted for
the record that no notices of the MDC Transportation committee had been sent
out, and added that these meetings should be noticed, for the record.
PRESENTATION BY MR. MICHAEL
BURNS, MUNI GENERAL MANAGER:
Mr. Michael Burns, the newly
appointed MUNI General Manager said that he would personally support and expand
the progress that MUNI has made to improve service for the elderly and disabled.
One of his cornerstone principles in management was customer service. He said
that his first four months in MUNI had been fast paced, learning the City, problems,
and situations regarding the Department. There was a re-organization of staff,
which was now complete. Eight direct reports have been created, two of which
pertain to the community. The first was the position of a training and safety
officer, and that paratransit services will reside in the area of one of the
Deputy General Managers, Ms. Nancy Whelan. Ms. Annette Williams will continue
in her management of these services. MUNI will continue to foster and maintain
a strong relationship with consumer advocacy groups to provide input and guidance
on MUNI related issues. He said that one of his former successes in dealing
with advocacy groups was to establish formal relationships, and he proposed
that staff set up a Memorandum of Understanding between the MAAC and PCC. This
would delineate responsibilities and expectations from both parties and have
a strategic document that would guide both organizations toward working together,
advancing community issues, and improving service.
Regarding fleet accessibility,
procurements were already under contract and in process, with the purchase of
250 trolley coaches fully ADA compliant, and 243 Diesel coaches, expected to
be in revenue service by February 2001. By that time, all MUNI lines will be
100% ADA accessible, with interior signage to display the stops, with automated
stop enunciator, based on a GPS system. Both of these procurements will have
improvements for passenger safety such as wider aisles, improved stanchions,
and improved windscreens.
Regarding calling out stops
by MUNI operators, he said that MUNI was clearly not where is should be in this,
and it was working with MAAC on the improvement of the situation, including
initiating a dialogue with the union for adherence to the regulations and the
law. Operator bulletins, and a memo written by Director Burns to each employee
expressing the need to call out stops have been issued. These were issued to
help the customer know where they were on a given line, and he cited his personal
experience in not knowing where he was when he first arrived in the City. MUNI
Central control had issued global announcements to all operators regarding calling
out stops, and instituted a manager’s ride check program where they would ride
vehicles and fill out forms to check for calling out stops, among other items.
Recently, MUNI has started meetings with the Union, and received expressions
of cooperation regarding this, and other issues. MUNI has stepped up the disciplinary
process regarding this issue, which has shown some positive initial results.
He believed that improvements could still be achieved in this area, however,
and while it was difficult to imagine an employee of 15 or 20 years being discharged
for failure to call out stops, this might be the way matters were headed, if
things did not improve.
Any ADA complaint is considered
a major complaint, with the first time requiring a warning to the operator,
with subsequent complaints necessitating other disciplinary action prior to
dismissal. The hearing process required the complainant to testify, which may
be difficult. Monitors may be used to testify on these issues, regarding particular
operators’ behavior. The complaints and hearing process was part of the MOU
with the Union, and the MOU was up for re-negotiation.
Regarding the Breda cars
making multiple stops at stations, this was unfortunately a matter of the design
of the ATCS signal system, and MUNI was working with the vendor to find a solution
to this problem. While it was not expected to find a solution to the problem
within the next couple of months, in the interim, a training bulletin was issued
to the operators to advise passengers to wait and hold on until the train came
to a full stop and the doors opened. Regarding paratransit, the function of
eligibility and denials, including appeals was performed by a broker, and audited
by MUNI. Discussions had been started with the Department and thought it was
important to engage the services of an entity independent of MUNI and have this
perform the auditing function as well, on the denials and appeals processes.
This would be discussed at future consumer advisory meetings, and he hoped that
it would be implemented shortly.
Regarding the Paratransit
contract, he gave an overview of the process to date.
Mr. Damien Pickering thanked
Mr. Burns for his presentation. Mr. Pickering suggested that a recommendation
be issued to the Paratransit Broker that until such time that all MUNI lines
were compliant with the ADA, and that all stops were being called out, blind
and visually impaired persons should be given presumptive eligibility for paratransit.
Mr. Burns said that he would take this under consideration.
Mr. Vince Behan inquired
as to the target date for full accessibility for MUNI. Director Burns said that
this was December, 2001.
Mr. Ed Evans said that most
of the problems were related to communications, and noted that the persons on
the main information number were unfamiliar with disability issues. He suggested
a direct line for disability information. He also asked if there was any progress
in getting MAAC agendas, and minutes on-line, and re-writing the training manual
for staff regarding training for disability issues. Director Burns said that
these were excellent ideas, and he would get back to Mr. Evans with responses.
MUNI is working on getting the MAAC information on-line, and the MUNI rule books
were currently being rewritten, and this process will include input from MAAC
and the PCC.
Chair Regan asked if paratransit
would still continue despite the absence of a decision by the Public Transportation
Commission on the contract. Mr. Burns said that paratransit services would continue.
Mr. Michael Kwok commented
on the delay in the decision on the paratransit contract. He said that this
delay was a matter of concern for the over 8,000 consumers, as well as to the
company which may need to secure new office space, or the current broker staff
who would be insecure about their jobs. Director Burns again reassured everyone
that paratransit services would continue, and that in the event that there was
a change in the broker, sufficient time would be given to allow a smooth transition,
with no compromise on the service.
Ms. Susan Mizner asked if
the purchase of the new vehicles would be phased in, and asked for the timeline.
Director Burns said that in the next six months, there would be 45 new vehicles,
and beginning mid-year in 2000, the new buses would arrive in a steady rate
through the end of 2001. Ms. Mizner invited Director Burns back to the MDC meeting
in in six months. Mr. Burns agreed to return in February.
Mr. Alunan said that the
collective experience of the MDC, MAAC, and PCC members amounted to decades
of work in the area of accessible transportation, and offered assistance to
MUNI on these matters.
Mr. Rob Roth of DCARA noted
the automatic annunciators in the new coaches, and asked if there was a visual
way of announcing the stops. He also asked if there was a way to have one single
ticket to be used on BART and MUNI to help the disabled consumers. Director
Burns said that the new buses will have the interior signs that will display
the stop. Chair Regan asked if another vehicle could be brought to the Rose
Resnick Lighthouse for the Blind so that disabled consumers could also inspect
the new vehicle.
Ms. Jeanne Lynch of MAAC,
and a Senior Action Network member, welcomed Mr. Burns, and said that what was
foremost inn the consumers’ minds at present was whether there would be a fare
increase. Director Burns said that there had been no discussion on this at all.
Ms. Claudia Budreau of the
Golden Gate Regional Center expressed concerns about the accuracy of the automatic
annunciators, and cited her experiences. She said that her clients could get
lost because of this inaccuracy, and she was concerned about the process of
choosing the new paratransit broker, and the delay in the process was impacting
consumers. Director Burns said that the Automatic stop announcement system that
MUNI was acquiring was different from that used in the subways, and is based
on Global Positioning Systems technology. This was difficult to set up properly,
in a manual process, but said that it does work.
PRESENTATION BY MS. VIRGINIA
CERENIO, PARATRANSIT BROKER:
Ms. Virginia Cerenio, President
of Cerenio Management Group reported that since 1994, when the ADA re-certification
process first started, all policies developed in this regard were approved by
the Paratransit Coordinating Council and MUNI, which had participated both locally
and throughout the region in in forming and implementing the ADA eligibility
process. The PCC and MUNI had approved numerous drafts of the ADA application
forms and will soon be reviewing another draft of the form, probably in September.
MUNI and the PCC had approved all eligibility procedures, including contents
of the standard forms, and those forms and procedures used in the appeals process.
MUNI and PCC members had participated in mock appeals panels for training, and
are now revising the same to make the process more user friendly. MUNI policy
had determined any changes in the eligibility rates over the past five years.
Questions on that procedure should be directed to the Accessible Services manager.
CMG provided the Public Transportation Commission with a report on ADA denial
rates, at the latter’s request. this information was available from the Broker.
Over the last 12 months,
for new applications, 93% were approved, and 6.5% were denied. For re-certified
applicants, or those who were pre-ADA and were now being certified for ADA,
95.5% were approved. 4.5% were denied. For all applications, 94.5% were approved,
5.5% were denied. Regarding language assistance, CMG had a multi-lingual staff,
speaking Cantonese, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Pilipino, Vietnamese, and Japanese.
Application forms and other information were provided in alternative format,
as well as three non-English languages. ADA information and training is provided
to Senior Centrals under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commission on
the Aging. Similar training had been provided to many social work staff throughout
the city so that those with second language staff could assist their clients
with the application process. There are 13,327 consumers currently registered
in the program. Of those, 9900 are active. The taxi program has 13,000 persons
registered, of which 7,400 are active. For the ramped taxi program, over 1,000
are registered, with 791 active. For the lift-van program, there are 1500 registered,
with 692 active. For the group van program, there are 3,974 registered and active
riders. These numbers overlap due to the uniqueness of the San Francisco Paratransit
program, which has multi-modes of transportation for its Paratransit consumers.
PRESENTATION BY MARK SOTO,
FROM INTELLITRANS
Mark Sotto is the representative
for Intellitrans, the East Bay Paratransit Consortium, which is made up of AC
Transit and BART. He distributed some printed rider’s guides, and said that
these were also available in Alternative format ( Braille, Cassette tape). Service
to San Francisco from the East Bay is provided by their company. Traditional
one day in advance reservation, with point to point service without transfers
was what is currently provided. The combined service agreement area works is
that his company provides services within 3/4 mile of the Trans-Bay terminal,which
is an AC Transit/ BART trip. Beyond that area, if the trip is within 3/4 mile
of a BART station, it is a BART trip. If it goes beyond the 3/4 mile area from
the BART station, it becomes a MUNI-BART, AC Transit trip, with a cost sharing
agreement between the agencies.
PRESENTATION BY ROSEMARY
DADY, SAN FRANCISCO NEIGHBORHOOD LEGAL ASSISTANCE FOUNDATION ( SNFLAF):
Rosemary Dady, Staff Attorney
at SNFLAF, gave an update of her agency’s work on Paratransit issues. These
were on some problems that their clients had raised regarding alleged failure
to be adequately assessed for services, alleged wrongful application denials
by the Paratransit Broker, and problems with the appeals process. She said that
nothing had changed for the better since she last spoke to the Council. She
gave a historical overview on the work her agency had done with MUNI over the
last several months, after threatening to sue MUNI.
Ms. Dady stated that while
MUNI had agreed to use a less strict standard in the eligibility process, there
were still problems in implementing this change, with people still complaining
that they were still being denied. She gave certain examples, and said that
there was still some communications access problems. She said that there was
a problem where persons who filled out the non-English language forms had to
answer in English, otherwise these would be rejected. She said that her agency
continued to find problems particularly in the Russian community where people
could not receive paratransit services because they did not speak English. She
said that this was unacceptable, and should be looked at as a possible Civil
right violation. She also cited the continued use of the stricter standard of
prevention from use of the fixed route system in the appeals process. She said
that MUNI had agreed to use the broader standard, but CMG continued to use the
stricter standard. She also said that applicants were still being discouraged
from going to court regarding the appeals, despite the ADA language providing
for this recourse.
Ms. Susan Mizner requested
Ms. Dady to provide a brief historical overview of her interaction with MUNI.
This was provided. Ms. Viola Jackson asked Ms. Dady if she was aware of the
situation pre-ADA. Ms. Dady said she was aware, and gave certain examples of
problems.
Mr. Vince Behan had a question
on peak periods and the ADA. Ms. Dady said that they received a copy of a letter
from the Federal Transportation Authority and gave a summary of the interpretation
on capacity constraints.
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON THE TRANSPORTATION
REPORTS:
Ms. Lorrie Houtis, a member
of the second paratransit contract review panel commented on the panels’ review
on the information, and added that she urged the Public Transportation commission
to accept the MUNI staff report. This comment was given over the telephone bridge.
Ms. Grace Regan explained that public comment could no longer be given at the
Public Transportation Commission, but at the Finance Committee of the Board
of supervisors, the Boared of Supervisors itself, and may also send letters.
Irman Brim, a PCC member
expressed her concerns as to the issues raised over the non-English speakers
and why anyone expected to fill up the forms in languages other than English.
Cheryl Damico, a PCC member, said that she had worked voluntarily on the appeals
panels and believed that the panelists were in good faith, and read out her
letter of support for CMG which was addressed to the Public Transportation Commission.
Candice Edder, a paratransit consumer from the East Bay, spoke of her negative
experiences with Intellitrans and added that she was arbitrarily removed from
the program by the company. Jenna, ( no surname given) commented on the problems
she had experienced in dealing with CMG staff, when applying for service for
her disabled clients and wanted to have these rectified. Peggy Coster suggested
posting information related to disability issues in the Paratransit vans. Bruce
Oka, PCC Chairman, said that all eligibility, appeals, and service policies
and procedures implemented by the Paratransit Broker were historically provided
by MUNI and approved by the PCC, and that the PCC was not about denying service
to qualified persons. He spoke on the appeals process and said that it was unfair
for the burden to be placed on CMG when it was only implementing policy guidelines
provided by MUNI and the PCC. Responding to Ms. Mizner, Mr. Oka said that the
appeals panels were using the reasonable person standard, and were not about
applying a stricter standard than was nescessary.
Dee Anne Hendrix, a PCC
member, said that CMG was the best paratransit Broker in the nine-county Bay
Area, from her experience, and San Francisco had the best service in the region,
from her experience. She added that serving on the appeals panels was a difficult
matter. When queried my Ms. Mizner on the standards of eligibility for paratransit,
she replied that you `know in your heart’ who meets eligibility standards.
Ms. Mizner said that while
the MDC was not the primary public input body for paratransit issues, it did
advise the Mayor, and suggested that the MDC Transportation Committee write
a letter with some recommendations on MUNI and paratransit. Another public comment
session may be needed after said letter was drafted. Mr. Sergio Alunan agreed
to do this.
Walter Park introduced Ben
Nagi, a disabled architectural student from Hungary, who was in San Francisco
to observe the Mayor’s Office on Disability and other accessibility institutions
in the Bay Area. On graduation, he may will become first architect in Hungary
with a severe disablity.
The meeting was adjourned
at 4:10 p.m..