2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 Gavin Newsom
Mayor
Susan Mizner
Director
Jack Fagan
Co-Chair
Norma Block
Ed Evans
Eugene T. Flannery
Elizabeth Grigsby
Tatiana Kostanian
Robert Neil
Ruth Nunez
Richard Ow
Jul Lynn Parsons
Denise Senhaux
Mayor's Disability Council
Minutes
16 April 2004
1 ROLL CALL
Mayor's Disability Council Members Present: Norma Block, Ed Evans, Jack Fagen, Eugene Flannery, Elizabeth Grigsby, Michael Kwok, Jul Lynn Parsons, Tatiana Kostanian, Robert Neil, Ruth Nunez, Richard Ow and Denise Senhaux (via Bridge Line).
Mayor's Office on Disability: Susan Mizner, Director; Ken Stein, Program Administrator; and Howard O. Wong, Council Clerk.
Jack Fagan, Co-Chair, called the meeting to order at 1:04 p.m.
2 APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
The Council approved the agenda of the April 16, 2004 MDC Meeting.
3 APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
The Council approved the minutes from the meeting of March 19, 2004.
4 PUBLIC COMMENT
* Jackee Bryson, expressed her frustrations in seeking accommodations from the Episcopal Sanctuary shelter. Initially, the shelter assigned her to a top bunk bed, but it was an unsatisfactory due to her arthritis. Ms. Bryson reported that she was given other alternatives, but all of the other beds were "outdated" and there seem to be a shortage of disabled/senior beds available.
It was noted that Ms. Bryson has filed a compliant with MOD, and that MOD has been working with the Department of Human Services on resolving this issue.
5 ELECTION OF COUNCIL CO-CHAIRS
Two council members, Jul Lynn Parsons and Robert Neil were nominated for the vacant co-chair position. A vote was taken and Jul Lynn Parson was elected. Ms. Parsons will be co-chairing the MDC with the current co-chair, Jack Fagan. She volunteered to step down from her position as Chair of the Programmatic Access Committee.
6 REPORT FROM THE CHAIR
Jack Fagan, Co-Chair, reported that he looks forward to co-chairing MDC Meetings with the new co-chair, Jul Lynn Parsons.
7 REPORT FROM THE DIRECTOR
Susan Mizner provided an update on traffic circles, an agenda item from a previous meeting. Following the outcome of an election of neighboring residents, the Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT) is going to be restoring all of those intersections to their original four stop signs state. DPT welcomes input from the public regarding future issues.
It was also reported that Ken Stein presented the Housing Impediments Report recently at the Housing Rights and Resources Training sponsored by the State Independent Living Council; and that he also represented the Mayor's Office on Disability at a recent Information and Resource Conference for families of children with disabilities.
Ms. Mizner reported that Richard Skaff, Deputy Director, MOD, is currently on leave. Therefore, no one is available to staff the Physical Access Committee at the present time. MOD will give an update at the next MDC Meeting.
Lastly, Ms. Mizner provided a summary of the results of the City of San Francisco's Self-Evaluation. The Self-Evaluation reviews all City and County programs in relation to their compliance with the programmatic and communication access requirements of the ADA. The self-evaluation included a two-stage process, of public hearings and an extensive survey of over 400 City and County programs.
Some of the major findings from the report were that less than 50% of program managers reported that they allow modifications of their program policies, practices and procedures, which is a fundamental ADA requirement. Almost half the programs reported that they have no means of communicating by phone with people who have hearing or speech difficulties; that is, they neither have a TTY or know how to access or use the California Relay Services. Only 21% of the respondents reported that they notify the public of their right to request modifications of policies, practices or procedures to accommodate a disability; only 35% notified the public of their right to request alternative formats and auxiliary aids and services. More than 50% of the respondents did not have an ADA Grievance Procedure. Only 19% of the programs that contract out their services train the contract monitors on how to recognize programmatic and communications access barriers.
The good news is that there was an 85% response rated to the survey. Also, San Francisco employees demonstrated a tremendous amount of readiness and interest in improving the situation, and in being trained on disability rights issues. The report recommends developing and distributing ADA rights notices, training and support of ADA Coordinators in all departments, with additional training targeted to all CCSF employees who have contact with the public; and that disability access criteria be included in the contracting and purchasing processes.
The Mayor's Office on Disability is currently working on all of these major recommendations, and is looking forward to the Council's assistance in implementing the recommendations.
8 REPORT FROM THE COMMITTEE CHAIRS
REPORT FROM THE PROGRAMMATIC ACCESS COMMITTEE
Jul Lynn Parsons, Chair of the Programmatic Access Committee reported that the committee continues to work on incorporating businesses with disabilities under the umbrella of Section 12 D of the City's Administrative Code. In addition, Frank Markowitz, DPT, gave a presentation on the Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS) Pilot Project. For more information, contact Mr. Markowitz at (415) 252-4696.
Their next PAC meeting is scheduled for Friday, May 7, 2004 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Rose Resnick Lighthouse for the Blind.
REPORT FROM THE PHYSICAL ACCESS COMMITTEE
Ed Evans, Chair, reported that the committee has not been meeting due to staffing problems. However, he suggested that the Physical Access Committee which work with the Department of Building Inspection and Department of Public Works on physical access issues.
9 COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP AND ADVOCACY IN MEMBERSHIP (CLAIM):
Introduction to the program at the Independent Living Resource Center (ILRC).
Elissa Berrol, CLAIM's Program Manager, provided an introduction to their pilot program, and invited members of the community to sign on as either mentors or mentees. CLAIM is a 10-month leadership mentoring program for persons with disabilities. The goal is to build up the leadership and advocacy skills of persons with disabilities. There are four components to the program, which consists of mentoring, workshops, identifying issues in the community, and community networking. Ms. Berrol noted that Susan Mizner and Ken Stein of MOD had each provided trainings to the CLAIM program in the previous year.
Several members of the CLAIM program spoke about their experiences with the program. Patricia Webb, Emerging Leader, spoke about how the program has enhanced her skills and helped her to gain new skills in leadership and advocacy. Scott Clark, Mentor, spoke about how the program has helped him to stay focused and to share his abilities with others. Raymond Vega, Emerging Leader, a Latino in San Francisco, learned that there are a lot of people with disabilities in the Latino community. The CLAIM program has worked to target the bilingual community as well, but has run into funding constraints.
CLAIM is currently accepting applications for emerging leaders and mentors. Applications are due by June 8, 2004. For more information, please contact Elissa Berrol at (415) 543-6222 x128 or [email protected] (e-mail).
10 SAN FRANCISCO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS (DPW): Presentation by DPW
Staff on issues affecting disability access in the public rights-of-way.
Kevin Jensen, ADA Coordinator for DPW, provided an overview of what his department provides and what his job entails. Mr. Jensen works with other departments on matters including right-of-way, constructing curb ramps, and street resurfacing, as well as working with MOD to ensure that ADA compliance policies are implemented by DPW. His office handles ADA complaints, investigates them, and refers them to the appropriate personnel for investigation and follow-up, and provides additional assistance as needed. He welcomes input from the disability community. Mr. Jensen and his staff are currently working with Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT) and MUNI on sidewalk signage, to clarify pedestrian crosswalk issues. His office tracks and takes requests for accommodations, including curb ramp requests, which currently number aobut 450. As is the case with other departments, there are significant financial constraints on what they can accomplish.
This year his office will be updating the Curb Ramp Transition Plan. The first priority is to address those locations where citizens with disabilities have specifically requested and need curb ramps. He noted the ADA-mandated priorities of proximity to Title II entities, transportation, areas of employment, public accommodations and lastly other areas, residential areas, are the last priority under the ADA. He also noted that because San Francisco took the lead in installing curb ramps prior to the passage of the ADA, there are a lot of existing ramps that don't meet current standards. The total projected cost of the entire curb ramp project is $210 million dollars. The current annual funding for curb ramps this year is $2.5 million, about $2 million of which is from the Federal Highway Administration. He noted that locations where there are particular safety concerns are given a high priority.
Mr. Jensen also addressed questions raised by Council members regarding lack of access where there is temporary construction, sidewalk disrepair, Union square, food stand / merchandise blocking sidewalks,
Robert Beck, Deputy Director of Engineering, DPW, spoke about his responsibilities to help ensure that contracts and building projects are compliant with the ADA, as well as to help develop policy and legislation for the department. In addition to recent work on slip resistant sidewalk legislation recently passed by the Board of Supervisor, his office is also working on a variety of issues, including sub-sidewalk elevator covers, and enforcement of sandwich boards / A-Frame advertisements in front of businesses. He has also been working with the Department of Parking and Traffic on the size and location of traffic signal controllers. He is particularly interested in working collaboratively with DPT, DPW and City Planning to focus on streetscapes and the creation of better neighborhoods; as well as on plan designs for the City's vision for rights of way. Mr. Beck expressed his hope that with the new administration, there would be more opportunities to work collaboratively with DPT and other City planning offices on designing safer accessible rights-of-way for all pedestrians, including people with disabilities.
PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING DPW PRESENTATION
Gary Gregerson, spoke of the difficulty of seeing the traffic signals from the bus on the "island" in the middle of Market Street. He also expressed concern about dangers on the busy intersection of 11th and Mission Streets.
Chris Duderstadt, private citizen and the Alliance with Golden Gate Park, spoke about a construction project being done at Golden Gate Park. The company has provided alternative routing for pedestrians. Mr. Duderstadt was himself struck by a car because the alternative route makes it difficult for pedestrians and vehicles to see each other. The current pedestrian path of travel results in a 1.2-mile detour. It was noted that MOD has been following through on several complaints regarding pedestrian access at Golden Gate Park. Mr. Jensen noted that on Monday, April 19th, he and others would be doing a site visit to assess the situation.
11 CORRESPONDENCE
None
12 ITEMS NOT ON TODAY'S AGENDA, BUT WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE
MDC.
* Joseph Partansky, private citizen of Concord, spoke about two different bills being brought to the legislators for passing. The first one, SB 1760 authored by Senator Perata, which says that the State of California consents to be sued in state or federal court by any person seeking to enforce rights under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. (SB 1760 addresses the issue of State Sovereign Immunity for purposes of enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act). The second bill is SB 2594 authored by Tim Leslie, which would allow for a 65-day window for businesses to hire an ADA access specialist in aiding them to become compliant with the ADA. Lastly, he spoke about a case called "Creason vs. City of Concord."
* John Coulter, announced that there would be a People First of San Francisco meeting on Friday, April 23, 2004 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 1390 Market Street (Fox Plaza) in Suite 1018, 10th Floor. For more information, please call (510) 286-0439.
13 COUNCIL MEMBER REQUESTS FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS.
Ed Evans suggested the topic of cleanliness of the sidewalks due to lack of public restrooms. This causes an inconvenience for people in wheelchairs. He would like more police enforcement on this particular issue. Elizabeth Grisgby felt that the solution doesn't lie with the police, but with providing more safe and clean toilet facilities for the public. Also, Mr. Evans suggested inviting the police department to discuss issues relating to how bicycles and other non-mobility related vehicles on the sidewalk are hazardous to seniors and the disability community.
Ruth Nunez suggested homeless shelters and the disabled homeless community as possible future agenda items.
Tatiana Kostanian spoke about her interest in participating in the San Francisco Bay to Bay Breaker this year scheduled for Sunday, May 16, 2004. She was requesting help from the City offices and the public to assist her in organizing a team to represent the disability community. If interested, please call Ms. Kostanian at (415) 665-1178.
14 COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS.
Jack Fagan announced the Autism and Asperger's Syndrome Coalition for Networking and Development (AASCEND) is holding their annual conference on Saturday, April 24, 2004 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at The Arc of San Francisco located at 1500 Howard Street. For more information, one can e-mail them at [email protected] or call (415) 248-1670.
15 ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 3:50 p.m.
For additional information, please contact:
Mayor's Office on Disability
401 Van Ness, Room 300
San Francisco, CA 94102
415.554.6789 voice
415.554.6799 TTY
415.554.6159 fax
[email protected]
Minutes - Mayor's Disability Council - 04/16/04