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Gavin Newson
Mayor
Susan Mizner
Director
Jack Fagan
Co-Chair
Jul Lynn Parsons
Co-Chair
Norma Block
Ed Evans
Eugene T. Flannery
Elizabeth Grigsby
Tatiana Kostanian
Robert Neil
Ruth Nunez
Richard Ow
Denise Senhaux
Mayor's Disability Council
Minutes
21 May 2004
1 ROLL CALL
Mayor's Disability Council Members Present: Norma Block, Ed Evans, Jack Fagen, Elizabeth Grigsby, Michael Kwok, Jul Lynn Parsons, Tatiana Kostanian, Robert Neil, Ruth Nunez, Richard Ow and Denise Senhaux (via Bridge Line).
Excused Absent: Eugene T. Flannery
Mayor's Office on Disability: Susan Mizner, Director; Ken Stein, Program Administrator; and Howard O. Wong, Council Clerk.
Jul Lynn Parsons, Co-Chair, called the meeting to order at 1:02 p.m.
2 APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
The Council approved the agenda of the May 21, 2004 MDC Meeting.
3 APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
The Council approved the minutes from the meeting of April 16, 2004.
4 PUBLIC COMMENT
* Mrs. Olsen asked the council members for assistance in locating wheelchair accessible housing for her family which includes her husband (a veteran), who uses a wheelchair, and their five children.
Richard Ow suggested Mrs. Olsen to go to the Mayor's Office in Room 200 at City Hall for resources on veteran affairs and the Veterans Office located at the Veteran's War Memorial Building located at 401 Van Ness Avenue for additional assistance.
* Rauch Graffis spoke about two items. The first item was her efforts to get City Hall to buy electric scooters for people with limited mobility. Her second item was her concern that the Taxicab Commission is merging with the Metropolitan Transit Authority, so there will be no more televised Commission hearings. She stated that two-thirds of people with disabilities use taxicabs and many watch these hearings. Therefore, she asked the council members and the public to write letters to the Mayor regarding this matter.
Ed Evans responded to Ms. Graffis's need for electric scooter. He cited the lack of funding due to City's budget cuts and liability issues. However, City Hall does provide free manual wheelchairs for visits to City Hall.
Susan Mizner added that the Mayor's Office on Disability has received this formal request and her staff have been following up on this and will provide an update in the near future.
* Peggy Liao, In-Home Support Services Public Authority, announced there will be a workshop to follow-up on the Laguna Honda Settlement. It will take place on Wednesday, May 26, 2004 from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the San Francisco Main Library (100 Larkin Street) in the Latino Hispanic Community Room. For more information, call Ms. Liao at (415) 243-4477, Ext. 307.
* Jeanne Lynch, a member of the Muni Accessibility Advisory Committee (MAAC), spoke about her recent foot injury on Muni. She stated that the driver did not pull up to the curb or lower the steps for her to get on the bus. Ms. Lynch felt there are drivers who are rude, insensitive and negligent giving the good drivers a bad name. She expressed the need for the community to speak up as well.
* Michael Leo, Program Officer from the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) provided an introduction to DCYF. Their work is done through contracted agencies and non-profit organizations. They serve all children, including those with special needs. The department works closely with agencies like Jewish Vocational Services, the Marriott Foundation, the Hearing Society for the Bay Area, etc., to assist them in meeting the needs of children with disabilities. In addition, they have set aside $300,000.00 in their budget for after school programs, health and education programs and recreation programs to make them accessible to children with special needs. For more information about the department, their website is www.dycf.org.
5 REPORT FROM THE CO-CHAIRS
Jack Fagan reported that he participated in a rally, with many other people with disabilities, in Sacramento at the state capital to protest cuts in funding for disability services, including In-Home Support Services. It was well attended. The largest contingent came from San Francisco with a total of nine full buses organized by the Independent Living Resource Center. Mr. Fagan also provided an update and follow-up on the March's MDC meeting regarding Autism & Asperger's Syndrome and a related conference on Autism co-sponsored by the Mayor's Office on Disability. Both events went well and received positive feedback.
Jul Lynn Parsons reported on the need to write to legislators about how the proposed State cuts would affect the disability community locally.
6 REPORT FROM THE DIRECTOR
Ms. Mizner reported that the Supreme Court decision in Tennessee vs. Lane was a victory for the disability community. It involved a man who had to crawl up the steps to the courthouse in order to make his court hearing, and sued Tennessee. The State responded that they couldn't be sued under the ADA. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 in favor of the plaintiff.
Ms. Mizner also reported on how the City's budget deficit affects the funding of MOD. There have been major cuts in the Capital Fund, which funds the ADA Transition Plan and Self-Evaluation. However, the Mayor's Budget Office has found some additional funding for Transition Plan work through federal dollars. MOD's operating budget will remain the same. Lastly, the contract with DCARA for deaf and hard of hearing services is going well.
7 REPORT FROM THE PROGRAMMATIC ACCESS COMMITTEE CHAIR
Ms. Parsons reported that approximately 700-800 surveys of Business Owners with Disabilities have been sent out by the Mayor's Office on Disability. They received a handful in return and are expecting more to come in next month. The committee continues to work on the City's website accessibility. Their next PAC meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 4, 2004 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Rose Resnick Lighthouse for the Blind.
8 ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN THE CITY'S TEN YEAR PLAN TO END HOMELESSNESS.
Guest Speaker Angela Alioto, Chair, Ten Year Planning Task Force. Additional speakers from City and community agencies, including the Department of Human Services, the Homeless Advocacy Project and Shelter Providers.
* Cindy Ward, Homeless Family Program Manager, spoke on accessibility and reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities in the family shelters. The shelters that serve families range from 1 day to 6 months stay. All of the facilities are accessible to clients who use wheelchairs. There is TTY capacity and those who don't have TTYs, are currently in the process of getting one. Staff assists in reading materials to clients who may have visual impairments. Families are prioritized for shelter placement and medical hotel rooms for mental or medical issues.
* Laura Gerard, Adult Shelter Manager, spoke about shelters for single adults. The majority of these shelters are accessible to clients with wheelchairs. The communication access is similar to the family shelters. In addition, staff can contact the civil rights office for sign language interpretation. Also, all shelters provide Notice of Client's Rights to Reasonable Accommodation forms and the Reasonable Accommodation Request form to anyone who needs it. There is a policy in the shelters to provide clients with disabilities access to single or lower bunk beds. All shelters can accommodate visiting nurses and health aides on site.
* Angela Alioto spoke on the City's ten-year plan to end homelessness. The task force consists of 33 members from a diverse community, including doctors and lawyers throughout the city and county of San Francisco. Their main goal is to "end" and not "manage" chronic homelessness. There are approximately 8,000 to 15,000 homeless people, however, the plan is to concentrate on approximately the 3,000 chronic homeless people. Studies indicate these 10% used 62% of the resources that are available to homeless people. The task force believes if one focuses on those 3,000 people, it will affect the entire 15,000. This will take prevention and intervention. Therefore, the task force is having a public hearing to encourage ideas and recommendations from the community. The hearing will be next week for two days - Wednesday, May 26th and Thursday, May 27th from 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the Board of Supervisor's Chamber (Room 250) at City Hall. After the hearings, the task force will compile the information and present it in final form by June 25th. Ms. Alioto realizes there is a high percentage of people with disabilities who are homeless, and will be addressing this in the plan.
* Allison Lum, Coalition on Homelessness, stated that there is a lack of reasonable accommodation and programmatic access. She has seen that some shelters don't have the reasonable accommodation forms available to their clients and clients with disabilities are repeatedly placed on top bunks. Ms. Lum felt there is a need to do more outreach to the homeless for their input in the "ten year plan."
* Angelique Gonzales, Coalition on Homelessness, spoke about a need for a change in the shelter system because she felt that it should be accessible to everyone. She spoke about one of her clients, a senior citizen, who was using one of the shelters. His mobility is limited and he was assigned to a top bunk. He asked for a reasonable accommodation form to fill out and was told by staff it does not exist. While coming down from the top bunk, he fell which resulted in a sprained wrist.
* Jackie Jenks, Executive Director, Central City Hospitality House, provided a summary of the services the House provides, including shelter programs, Tenderloin Self-Help Center, drop-in support services, mental health services, employment services, etc. Ms. Jenks reported that Hospitality House is the smallest shelter, which allows for a low staff-to-resident ratio and is less intimidating than larger shelters. Their clientele consists of numerous people with mental health issues coming off the streets. The house does extensive outreach. However, they face many challenges. The house is not wheelchair accessible. It is in an old building and they are on a 5-year lease. Ms. Jenks said that receiving funding for the elevator is difficult because funders will not pay for something that is not owned by the requestor.
Another challenge the house faces is the availability of beds because of their small size. Ms. Jenks knows that when a lower bunk is unavailable, a mat is provided for a client to sleep on the floor until a lower bunk bed becomes available. Currently, the system required bed placements to be done off-site at a resource center. Ms. Jenks feels this can be problematic because many times, the resource center does not make appropriate placements to lower bunks.
* Patricia Harrison, Site Manager for Community Services, Episcopal Sanctuary, stated that the shelter does not have the authorization to assign beds. She reiterated that placement is done off-site at a resource center. Therefore, the Sanctuary does not have control over bed assignments. However, she stated that their shelter program works very well and that 521 people have been placed in permanent housing. In addition, there is an after-care program that monitors clients' progress after they been placed permanently in homes.
* Andrea Salinas, Coalition on Homelessness, feels that there is a lack of quality services provided to people with disabilities. She expressed that some of the rules, policies and requirements of the shelter should be more flexible and should provide extra support for people with disabilities.
* Mary Kate Connor, Executive Director of Outreach Services, spoke about her concern that there doesn't appear to be any discussion of "resources". She said that supportive housing, while important, could not replace actual treatment for people with psychiatric disabilities. She stated that funding for psychiatric treatment has been repeatedly cut, and that this is a crucial component of any plan.
* Diana Valentine, Coalition of Homelessness, felt that there are three areas that need to be addressed regarding homelessness - individual access, continued under-funding and unwise structural decisions that prevent continued stability. Ms. Valentine provided examples of people who de-compensated due to cuts in services. She stressed the need for changes to be based on client's needs, client's input and staff observation.
PUBLIC COMMENTS REGARDING HOMELESSNESS PRESENTATION
* Andre Rucker expressed a number of concerns, including the fact that people with disabilities have difficulty getting to the shelter and back; disabled and seniors being "pushed out" of shelters due to Proposition N; and disagreement with Ms. Alioto's comment that homelessness can deteriorate one's brain after three months. He has been homeless more than three months and he personally resented the remark.
* Ronald Edwards, a 63 years old homeless individual, feels that he is not homeless because of substance abuse or a mental illness. He is homeless because he cannot afford the rent in San Francisco. Mr. Edwards also express his frustrations on being told to go from one shelter to the next and the staff's lack of awareness of the Reasonable Accommodation forms that are supposedly available in all shelters. He also stated that he injured his arm while trying to come down from a top bunk because there was no ladder.
* Jackee Bryson expressed her frustrations with the Episcopal Sanctuary. They continuously assigned her to a top bunk despite her foot condition. Staff had difficulty locating a Reasonable Accommodation form when she requested one. She is encouraging the council members to make a site visit to this facility.
9 GOLDEN GATE PARK CONCOURSE AUTHORITY - UPDATE ON CITIZEN'S ADVISORY COMMITTEE, CONSTRUCTION STATUS AND ACCESSIBILITY.
Presentation by Executive Director
The Executive Director, Mr. Ellzey, could not attend. Therefore, Douglas Nelson, one of the landscape architect for the Golden Gate Park Concourse provided an update on the construction status. Currently, his staff is focusing on four areas of Golden Gate Park: the De Young Museum, Underground Parking Garage, Concourse Bowl and the Academy of Sciences. There are about 34 acres that will be rebuilt to provide improvements for pedestrian's crosswalks, accessible pathways, new crosswalks with ladder stripping for proper curb ramps, etc. In addition, there will be new accessibility pathways to the two tunnels on the south side of the concourse, 137 new benches added, new path connections to JFK Drive and MLK Drive, and new accessible paths to museums.
Marilyn Duffey, transportation consultant to the Concourse Authority, spoke about the accessibility issues while the construction is taking place. The construction site is closed until the fall of 2005. Therefore, Ms. Duffey provided information on detour pathways. Her staff is also putting out all the necessary signs for accessibility. In addition, there is a free accessible visitor shuttle service operating on Saturday every fifteen minutes. The Citizen's Advisory Committee Meeting, opened to the public, will meet on Tuesday, May 25 at 5:30PM at the Hall of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. For information, call the hotline number at (415) 831-2728.
Ms. Mizner noted that she had spoken to Mr. Ellzey prior to the meeting. He would like to issue an invitation to the council members and the disability community for anyone who would like to serve on the Citizen's Advisory Committee to represent the disability community. For those who are interested, please contact Mike Ellzey (or Julia Kay) at (415)831-2704 or [email protected].
10 CORRESPONDENCE
None
11 ITEMS NOT ON TODAY'S AGENDA, BUT WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE MDC.
None
12 COUNCIL MEMBER REQUESTS FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS.
Mr. Evans requested the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) as a future agenda item to discuss pedestrian safety specifically to people with disabilities.
13 COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS.
Norma Block announced there is a Mental Health Fair on Monday, May 24, 2004 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Main Library located on 100 Larkin Street.
Ed Evans made three announcements:
1) The Port of San Francisco is looking for volunteers to attend and monitor the effectiveness of requests for assistive listening devices. For more information, contact Christine Seymour, Client Advocate for DCARA, at (408)260-1993 (voice) or (408)260-1871 (TTY) or [email protected].
2) The Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee will be meeting on Monday, May 24, 2004 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 408 at City Hall to discuss issues related to the disability community.
3) "Bridging the Gap" is a march across the Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday, June 19, 2004 to call attention to the healthcare crisis and affordable healthcare. The kick-off begins at 7:00 a.m. For more information, contact Naomi Griffin, Executive Director, World Institute on Disability (WID) at (510) 251-4361 (voice), [email protected].
14 ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 4:02 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 - 05/21/04