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Mayor’s Disability Council
Minutes of the regular Mayor’s Disability Council meeting held on Friday, March 19 at Rm. 400, San Francisco City Hall	Willie L. Brown, Jr. Mayor

Members present: Sergio Alunan, Vincent Behan, Edward Evans, August Longo, Viola Jackson, Damien Pickering, Frank Marone, Susan Mizner, Walter Park (Chairman), Grace Regan (Co-chairman)

Excused absent: Michael Kwok

STAFF:

Steve Nelson, Director, Department of Administrative Services
Richard Skaff, Disability Access Coordinator
Jose Caedo, Deputy Citywide Disability Coordinator
Kofo Domingo, Special Assistant, Administrative Services

The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. by Chairman Walter Park. Chairman Parks pointed out that the broadcasts of the MDC meetings were now accessible with open captioning. He thanked Channel 54 for their help in making this possible. The agenda for the meeting was approved as amended. The minutes of the February 19, 1999, Mayor’s Disability Council meeting were approved.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:

Bob Planthold said that the Mayor’s Disability Council (MDC) should be more aggressive and wide ranging in its analyses in helping the City to respond to the disability constituency. He gave his personal experiences with commissioners on the Planning commission, and issues regarding access.

Chairman Park acknowledged the importance of the issue of housing and land use for the disabled, and recognized that a committee on these issues should be formed. He added that the MDC was beginning to dialogue with the various city agencies on access issues.

Richard Skaff stated that the Arts commission had recently responded to the needs of the visually impaired community by creating a committee to study how their needs could be met. He added that he was now personally involved in reviewing both physical and programmatic access issues relative to public art projects.

Council Member Damien Pickering informed the council that the Arts Commission had requested input from the Rose Resnick Lighthouse as part of their process. He took the opportunity to thanked the City, and Eric Denniken of BAM magazine for providing audio recordings of the various artists’ biographies in the Bammie Hall of Fame, located on the sidewalk fronting the Bill Graham civic Auditorium. These recordings were now available for the Blind and Visually impaired consumers at the San Francisco Public Library, or the Rose Resnick Lighthouse.

Leroy Mar, chairman of the Disability Advocates for Minority Organizations, informed the council that his organization deals with issues concerning ethnic minorities with or without disabilities. He spoke on his experience and knowledge of disabled minority members and employment. He also gave examples of under-representation from minorities in education or special education, and urged MDC to outreach to the Mission and Bay View Hunters Point neighborhoods.

Claudia Center, of the Employment Law Center which tries to enforcement the employment rights of persons with mental disabilities, agreed with Mr. Mar and left some materials regarding the subject.

Chairman Park reminded everyone that there were positions open on the MDC for representatives from the deaf and mental health communities.

Gregory Clark informed the council that in the Upper Noe Park area of San Francisco, MUNI had accessible ramps to access the J church line, but that the Upper Noe Park and its restrooms were inaccessible to people with disabilities. He inquired about the best way to go about making this park accessible.

Richard Skaff suggested that Mr. Clark participate in regular Mayor’s neighborhood or community meetings, or contact Joel Robinson, General Manager of the Recreation and Parks Department directly.

Bruce Allison, representing SEIU asked if there was any way to speed up the forming of more access ramps, instead of bicycle lanes in the city. Richard Skaff asked that he call (415) 558-4524 to launch a formal complaint.

REPORT FROM THE CHAIR:

Chairman Park asked for an update on the formation of the Mayor’s Office on Disability.

Steve Nelson, Director of the Department of Administrative Services, informed the council that the job descriptions for the positions within that office have been finalized. The descriptions will now be forwarded to the Department of Human Resources for approval. A relatively short recruitment period is anticipated. In order to fill the Director’s position, resume screening will be performed, and the Council will be able to review the resumes and make a recommendation on the Director. The council’s choice will then be forwarded to the Mayor for approval. He added that they expect to hire a director around mid-April, and the director will help hire the staff in the office. The two exceptions to that will be Richard Skaff, if he joins the new office, and Jose Caedo, who already works in the program.

On the issue of financial resources, Director Nelson had been authorized to make the necessary expenditures to put the office in place. He hoped to present a clearer picture of what will be required for the office to the council first week in May, and submittal to the Board of Supervisors by June. Funds allocated to the Mayor’s Office on Disability would be allowed to move around to particular projects at the discretion of the office, and any unused funds could be allocated to various facility improvement projects afterwards. These funds could be used to address programmatic problems and could be used for hiring consultants to work on program issues. The budget amount is currently being studied by the Budget office, results are expected mid-May.

Chairman Park commented on his frustrations with the Public Utilities Commission Sunol Water Temple project which the MDC had reviewed and given input. He informed the council that several council members visited the project and believed that the best way to provide access to a certain part of the facility was through the use of a switchback ramp, at the back of the building. Since then, no further meetings took place on this matter with PUC staff. Instead, he found out that the PUC staff went before the Public Utilities commission with an alternative proposal which was a mechanical lift. Chairman Parks considered this alternative to be inferior. He was concerned that if people came to the MDC for public input, there should be a process which was agreed upon, and completed before the Department would act, otherwise, there was no point in coming before the MDC time for input.

Richard Skaff suggested that the MDC develop a policy on how it should respond to issues involving Departments and suggested that a letter be written to the Public Utilities Commission to express the council’s concerns. Director Nelson thought that it would be appropriate for staff to draft such a letter to inquire as to the lack of follow up, and send it to the PUC.

Council Member Pickering asked Director Nelson on an update regarding the issue of accessibility of the Commission hearing rooms’ touch screens, and the work of the Department of Telecommunications and Information Services (DTIS).

Director Nelson responded that Jose Caedo, and Yomi Agunbiade, of the City Hall construction project, had preliminarily set a time to meet with Joe Taggard, of QuadMedia. Mr. Taggard had agreed to visit and inspect the touch screens, and study the possibility on how to make these units accessible to the visually impaired.

Chairman Parks informed the council hat the Mayor had agreed to an Accessible Telecommunications policy as part of the settlement of the ADA Task Force lawsuit against the City. This policy which was read out during the last MDC meeting was only a draft, and remains so, having been sent to the DTIS, which in turn forwarded the same to the City Attorney’s office where it is now being reviewed. He hoped that this document will be released soon in its final legal form.

Chairman Parks informed the board that he addressed the Living Wage Task Force at a recent meeting. He informed the Task Force that this was an important issue for disabled persons transitioning from SSDI to Work, and asked any interested individuals to sent in their contact information to Director Nelson’s office for copies of the Task Force’s agendas.

TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE, PARKING, AND CURB RAMPS:

Robert Greenspan, Department of Parking and Traffic, presented informed the council that his Department aggressively cites those who illegally park at the blue zones. Blue zones are enforceable provided that there is a posted international wheelchair symbol or sign posted on the pole, if the curb is simply painted blue, the Department cannot, by code cite vehicles. A $275 fine is levied against those who illegally park on said sites. . He concluded by saying that he was unaware of the reason why no blue zones exist in residential areas.

Chairman Parks stated his concerns on the importance of the Department of Parking & Traffic keeping an open communication with the Mayor’s Disability Council.

Council Member Vince Behan said that Board of Supervisors had a recent policy on parking at curb ramps, and inquired as to what measures were being undertaken to enforce this policy.

Mr. Greenspan responded that the Department does cite those vehicles illegally parked not only at blue zones, but at curb ramps and crosswalks as well.

Council Member Behan said that he sees these violations on a daily basis.

Mr. Greenspan agreed, and said it was unfortunate but the DPT officers cannot be at the location of all these violations at the same time. He agreed that the Department needs to work more on enforcement and he will bring this to the attention of his supervisor.

Chairman Park asked why there were no red painted curb ramps on Market Street.

Mr. Greenspan replied that the Arts commission does not want the granite curbs painted on Market Street.

Richard Skaff also added that the Planning commission decided against painting the curbs on Market Street since this is a designed street, and the Department of Parking and Traffic had agreed not to conflict with that decision.

Bob Planthold stated that he was part of a group of persons advocating for the employment of disabled persons, as provided under State law for the enforcement of parking and traffic issues relevant to access. This law had never been utilized and no disabled persons has been employed in said capacity throughout the marious Mayoral and Departmental administrations. Various reasons had been given, principally that of safety for the disabled traffic officers.

EMPLOYMENT ACCESSIBILITY:

Chairman Park informed the council that copies of the 1991 employment accessibility report was available at the meeting.

Sylvia Castellanos, of the Department of Human Resources’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office, appeared on behalf of Director Andrea Gourdine of the Department. Castellanos spoke generally on policies and procedures relative to the subject matter. She noted that all the Department announcements carried language addressing the fact that reasonable accommodations during the selection process, contact information was provided. Another program in the Department was the Rule 15 program for the exempt employment of individuals with severe disabilities. She asked the MDC’s assistance regarding this program, adding that the Department had a resource listing made available to Departments making placements, and hoped that with the help of MDC the list would be updated. By updating the list more outreached may be performed by the various Departments in their recruitment under the Rule 15 program.

Chairman Park said that he felt that the MDC role was for now information gathering, and made reference to the 1991 ADA implementation report. He pointed to the report’s recommendation to hire three staff persons to address the hiring and recruitment of people with disabilities, along with implementation and oversight on access in City programs, or services. He inquired about the hiring and recruitment done for people with disabilities.

Ms. Castellanos responded that there was no targeted recruitment from the disabled community, as with any other group. The Department of Human Resources is prohibited from conducting targeted recruitment. The only exception to the rule was when a department is considering placements under the Rule 15 Program, where it can specifically target the disabled community.

Chairman Park stated that the Rule 15 program was not one that he preferred, and inquired if this was limited to entry-level positions, and how many people were involved in the Rule 15 Program.

Ms. Castellanos agreed that at the present time the rule did only applied to entry-level positions. In regards to the staffing issue, the Department has her dealing with reasonable accommodation issues and devotes 90 to 95% of her time on these matters and the Rule 15 placements, in addition to other E.E.L. duties and responsibilities. Another staffperson devotes 50% of their time on this issue.

Chairman Park inquired that the 1991 report recommended the establishment of a reasonable accommodation fund, he asked if such a fund existed.

Ms. Castellanos responded that the reasonable accommodation fund does not exist. However, with the Department’s attention to the reasonable accommodation issues, and the monitoring or the requests that have been made, granted, or denied, what has been shown was that accommodations provided to-date have not involved unduly costly equipment or job/space modification, and these had been economically feasible. In terms of scheduling modification, work schedules, flex time, ergonomic equipment, there were similar findings.

Chairman Park said that there were three other areas mentioned under "Activities" in the report, one was hiring goals, which he did not know to be currently legal, the reasonable accommodation procedure, and the third was training. He thought that there was something that had been done with respect to training, and asked what this was.

Ms. Castellanos responded that in terms of the reasonable accommodation procedures, it had been done, and is very concrete, having been presented by the Mayor and the City Attorney’s office in August 1997. A copy of the booklet was presented to Park. In terms of training, this has been undertaken as well, with Department Heads, first-line managers already in receipt of the same. Training was now being conducted for rank and file employees regarding the reasonable accommodation procedures, and staff will be doing this on a regular basis.

Council Member Ed Evans inquired as to what part of the program addressed the needs of persons who, in the course of their employment developed a disability, or have a disability worsens during the employment.

Ms. Castellanos responded that in terms of the issue of employees becoming disabled due to age, accident, injury or other means, the procedures allow the Department concerned to exhaust all efforts within that Department to accommodate that employee, by all reasonable and effective means. If that is not successful, the procedures allow for that person to be referred to the Department of Human Resources where a Citywide search could be conducted for possibilities and options for that person based on what they can perform in terms of their medical limitations, qualifications, and availability.

Council Member Marone asked for clarification on whether it was up to the disabled person to request for reasonable accommodation, and if there was no requirement for the employer to ask for provision of reasonable accommodations.

Ms. Castellanos replied that under the ADA, it was generally accepted that it was the responsibility of the applicant to inform the department that they need accommodation. Departments who have regular contacts with their employees need to make known the availability of reasonable accommodations.

Leroy Mar commented that like the MDC members, he was interested in receiving some of the data and research on this issue, particularly if numbers could show categories by race.

Richard Roth, a City employee, and co-chair of Local 790’s People with Disability Caucus, informed the council that his organization had over 28,000 members. His organization has asked that this council inquire and help enforce three issues. These were: 1. Someone in authority to require all City Departments to comply with the ADA, this person should be part of the Mayor’s office. 2. The establishment of a reasonable accommodation fund in the Mayor’s office. 3. All Department personnel and employee relations professionals be trained on the ADA issues. He added that at the present time the city has no uniform approach to the ADA, nor does it have any individual responsibility to adhere to the ADA. The City generally ignores ADA employment rights for people with disabilities, and only by the enforcement of the issues listed could this change.

Dale Butler, Senior Field Representative of SEIU Local 790, among others, brought some documents for the MDC regarding employment rights under the ADA. Mr. Butler cited examples of cases that have occurred and the results from present city practices, where reasonable accommodations were not provided. He concluded by saying that the help of the MDC was needed, because they were dealing with managers who did not care about the ADA and their employees.

Pat Jackson, Field Representative for Local 790, agreed that the MDC needs to get involved to help the city provide reasonable accommodations to its employees. She also cited case examples and her frustrations with the present system.

Bill Bruckner, a former members of the Mayor’s Disability Council, informed the council that an employment and disability forum for City and County employees was conducted during his tenure on the MDC. He believes that the city might need to conduct another one to educate the necessary staff. He agreed that the city needs reasonable accommodation fund.

Chairman Park concluded by saying that unemployment in the disability community was not based on lack of ability but rather on the lack of accommodation, information, information in alternative format, lack of initiative in creating inclusion, information to individual employees on what is available, or even what jobs are available. He had two questions, the first was how do we bring disabled persons into employment, and second, how do we accommodate persons who develop disabilities while on the job to remain employed? He also noted that Sylvia Castellanos would be providing more detailed information to the MDC on the subject, and that the MDC was not to be involved in the particular cases mentioned by the speakers. He concluded saying that while the Department of Human Resources was one route to solving these issues, perhaps involving the Citywide ADA coordinator would be another route.

LONG TERM CARE SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT:

Council Member Vince Behan, chair of the Long Term Care subcommittee, reported that this committee had an organizational meeting the previous Friday. Some of the issues the committee plans on discussing include: Medicare/MediCal, durable medical equipment, and Laguna Honda. He asked Luis Calderon to update the committee on these matters.

Luis Calderon chairman of Consumers in Action for Personal Assistance, said that their group had brought up the problems concerning the rebuilding of the Laguna Honda Hospital (LHH) with the focus on the concerns of persons with disabilities relative to the project. This would include the quality of care for residents, which is restrictive at the present time. Apparently, the building of the new facility is with the intent to keep it filled, without allowing disabled persons to move out to community based care and settings. Most disabled persons prefer to live in their own communities, instead of residential facilities, and this must be discussed and solved. He suggested that the MDC adopt some principles or guidelines in this respect. Calderon added that Long Term Care Services must be as inclusive as possible to allow disabled persons to remain living in their own communities, and choose where their service is provided. Thirdly, relative to the rebuilding of the LHH, he believed that the project which calls for the inclusion of some 1200 skilled nursing beds, should also include at least 200 assisted or supportive housing beds for the patients. Currently, there is no plan to include these housing beds, and so he suggested that the MDC take some position on this matter.

Council Member Vince Behan asked the MDC to support the proposal to include the provision of the assistance/supportive housing beds in the LHH plans.

Grace Regan inquired if the taxpayer would save some money though the creation of more and less expensive assistive/ supportive housing beds.

Mr. Calderon responded that it would, and added that the Bond measure proposed the previous August called for $500 Millions to create units for some 1200 skilled nursing facility beds. That equated to approximately 362,000 per bed. He added that some assistive/supportive housing was being built in San Francisco that cost some $110,000 per bed.

Chairman Park observed that after a long period of time, it became clear that large low cost housing facilities were not working, therefore in San Francisco, the Housing Authority moved to create smaller, more human scale decentralized facilities. He then suggested a minor change in the resolution language. It was moved by Vince Behan and seconded by Damien Pickering that the resolution calling for the addition of some 200 assistive/supportive housing beds for the LHH project be adopted. The motion passed unanimously.

PARATRANSIT UPDATES:

Grace Regan called on Rosemary Dady, staff Attorney of the San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance Foundation, for an update on the Paratransit issues. Ms. Dady updated the council that negotiations with MUNI were not complete, but the parties had come into a number of areas of agreement. She feels that MUNI has put forward a good faith effort on resolving some of the issues, and work was needed to resolve some of the other outstanding ones. The area of agreement is on the issue of the application of the standard used for Paratransit eligibility. The objective was to broadening the standard for eligibility so as to include persons who have substantial difficulty in accessing the fixed route system, that they would be deterred from taking trips. Additionally, essential training of both Paratransit Broker staff and Appeals panel members will take place, and she cited some issues that makes it important for the staff to be properly trained.

Chairman Park asked how the MDC could assist in the actual process.

Ms. Dady responded that MDC should continue to monitor the process till actually implemented of the issues by the Paratransit Broker’s office.

Chairman Park said that the MDC Transportation subcommittee had offered to mediate in this dispute and would continue to observe the process.

Charlie Sciammus, Paratransit Coordinator for MUNI, responded by saying that MUNI had addressed most of the issues described above. Additionally, MUNI has always been willing to provide a forum for discussion of any issues relative to its services, and from the inception of the Paratransit program, there had been an even broader forum in the Paratransit Coordinating Council. He also added that MUNI had no interest in denying ADA Paratransit service eligibility to individuals who do in fact demonstrate that they qualify for the same. MUNI’s principal interest was in compliance with the ADA and have been diligent in developing the ADA eligibility process, and had involved many consumer representatives. The consumer representatives used included the Paratransit Coordinating Council, as well as Regional guidance from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. He said that interpreters had been provided at the appeals hearing as well as the second level assessment process, and there had been expansion of accessibility to the program for those who use English as a second language. Several community resources have been identified and established to provide assistance in filling the ADA Paratransit application forms, assisting in Russian, Chinese, Spanish, and Tagalog. He added that MUNI was in now no way changing the standard for ADA Paratransit eligibility, and that it was clear under the ADA that for one to qualify for such services, that person must meet one or more of the qualifying criteria under the Federal guidelines. MUNI had made a commitment to expand the information and instruction material to ensure that in the broadest way possible, consumers would be made aware of the requirements and the determination for service eligibility.

Council Member Marone inquired if individual members of the Council could participate in the process, in areas such as the appeals panels.

Mr. Sciammus said that this would be welcome as long as the appellant consented, because this was a confidential hearing.

Council Member Marone asked if the MDC could perform outreach to include more members of the community in the process.

Mr. Sciammus believed it would be okay.

Co-chair Grace Regan asked if there had been an outside consulted contracted to provide input on what was needed in the Paratransit Broker contract to address these issues.

Mr. Sciammus informed the council that no consultant was hired for this purpose. He concluded that any input from this council on the Paratransit issues is truly welcomed.

Virginia Cerenio, President of Cerenio Management Group said that her company has had the Paratransit Broker contract for the last 8 years, and had helped MUNI come into compliance with the ADA. She added that all policy directives from MUNI to her office had been strictly followed. Any concerns received from the public by the Paratransit Coordinating Council and MUNI are forwarded to her company and followed per any directives as given to her office. She informed the council that there is a forum, and a open process for the development and implementation of these policies, and criticizing the Broker’s staff outside the process without coming to MUNI or the PCC was unfair, considering the amount of time and devotion that all the parties concerned had given to the program. She concluded that it was unfortunate that matters had to come to this point, and hoped to continue to work with MUNI, the PCC, and to make changes in the program for the benefit of the consumers.

Bruce Oka, Chairman of the Paratransit Coordinating Council said that the consumers and the Paratransit Broker had always wanted to have more than one lift-van provider in the program as a matter of choice for the rider. It was not for the lack of trying that this was the situation, but rather, the difficulty in finding a provider that would be able to perform the work and deliver the requirements of the job.

Co-chair Regan expressed concern on the subject. She noted that there were now 14,000 consumers in the program, while there were some 180,000 disabled persons living in San Francisco. She questioned if any outreach had been provided to the public to inform them of the existence of the program, or the Paratransit office.

William Lazar, President of Luxor Cab Company, and Nathan Dwiri, President and General Manager of Yellow Cab cooperative spoke in support of the Paratransit program. They added that the number of persons served by their companies have tripled, and it had grown to a point that they are unable to handle all the demands for service.

Council Member Frank Marone chairman of the Committee on Children and Committee on Resources, asked to defer the reports from these subcommittees until the April MDC meeting. He also gave his contact information, Telefax ( 415) 753-5695.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:

Joe Kaffa volunteered his services and offered to join the Mayor’s Disability Council.

Council Member Evans requested that along with the agenda/meeting notices, notices of the subcommittee meetings should be included, so that members of the public may participate.

Co-chair Grace Regan commended Paula Benton, the City Hall Coordinator for docent tours, for her work with training the volunteer docents. They are all working very hard to make the tours accessible both physically and programmatically, and have been supportive since the opening of the new City Hall. The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m. .

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