2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998
Gavin Newsom
Mayor
Susan Mizner
Director
Jul Lynn Parsons
F. Ross Woodall
Co-Chairs
Raphaella Bennin
Benito Casados
Harriet Chiu Chan
Joseph Fong
Elizabeth Grigsby
Tatiana Kostanian
Sarah Estes Merrell
Denise Senhaux
Vincent Webster
Mayor’s Disability Council
Minutes
21 November 2008
1 ROLL CALL
Mayor’s Disability Council Members Present: Ralphaella Bennin, Benito Casados, Harriet Chiu Chan, Joseph Fong, Tatiana Kostanian, Sarah Estes Merrell, Denise Senhaux, Vincent Webster and F. Ross Woodall.
Excused Absence: Elizabeth Grigsby and Jul Lynn Parsons
Mayor’s Office on Disability: Susan Mizner, Director; Joanna Fraguli, Deputy Director for Programmatic Access; Ken Stein, Program Administrator; and Howard O. Wong, Council Clerk.
F. Ross Woodall, Co-Chair, called the meeting to order at 1:05 p.m.
2 APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
The Council approved the agenda of the November 21, 2008 MDC Meeting.
3 APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
The Council approved the Minutes from the October 17th Meeting.
4 PUBLIC COMMENT
Bob Planthold announced that the California Office of Traffic is organizing a proposed summit on pedestrian safety next year in early April. He expressed his concerns about the State budget cuts including the decreased funding for In-Home Supportive Services.
Richard Rotham expressed his concerns about the crackdown on the fraudulent use of disability placards saying, “I don’t want it to become a witch hunt targeting people with non-visible disabilities.”
Walter Paulson encouraged the community to get involved with Special Olympics.
David Nuestro, Program Director for Social Vocational Services, was seeking the Council’s assistance for volunteer and employment opportunities for his clients with disabilities.
William Farrell argued for tougher punishment for violent crimes against people with disabilities.
5 REPORT FROM THE CHAIR
Co-Chair Woodall introduced new MDC member Vincent Webster. Mr. Webster said that he is a native San Franciscan who has been working with the disability community for over 12 years mostly in the area of transportation including Paratransit.
Co-Chair Woodall reported that the next regularly scheduled MDC Meeting will be in January 2009. In lieu of the December Meeting, there will be a Holiday Gathering instead.
Co-Chair Woodall reported that he has been working with the MTA (Municipal Transportation Agency) in their training for drivers and operators on how to assist people with disabilities, particularly as regards service to persons with sight impairment and mental illness.
Co-Chair Woodall noted that his Co-Chair, Jul Lynn Parsons, is absent today due to her illness, saying that she continues to make progress, and that we all wish her a speedy recovery.
6 REPORT FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE MAYOR’S OFFICE ON DISABILITY
Ms. Mizner reported on the following:
* Ken Stein will be leaving MOD to work for the Department of Aging and Adult Services. She said that it is a huge loss because he provided support and technical assistance to other City Departments on ADA compliance in addition to working as a liaison with other disability community agencies and taking complaints at MOD. [Note: Ken Stein has since decided to decline the DAAS position and stay at MOD.]
* Legislation – The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act has been passed by Congress. This act requires most group health plans to provide the same amount of coverage for mental health disabilities as it does for physical disabilities.
* Governor’s Proposed State Budget Cuts – There are major cuts affecting the disability community, including decreased funding for SSI Grants; rolling back wages for IHSS workers; and reducing health benefits, including eliminating several Medi-Cal benefits. Ms. Mizner urged the community to contact their representatives and the Governor’s Office to voice their concerns.
* City Budget Cuts – The local government has a $6.2 billion budget, with only $1.2 of that discretionary. The City is facing a budget deficit of several hundred million dollars. Because the Departments that do not have “set asides” mandated for them are most effected, the Department of Public Health and the Department of Human Services face significant cuts. MOD’s budget is made up of a capital budget (construction for the transition plan) and operating budget (for salaries, supplies, rent, etc.). The office is looking at reducing the capital budget for the ADA plan for facilities. It will not be eliminating it, but stretching it over a longer period of time. MOD currently has no plans to reduce the budget for curb ramps and sidewalks. The operating budget is very small, and with Jose Caedo’s (recently retired from MOD) position eliminated, there is a 12.5% savings. MOD will continue to look at creative options to assist with reducing the deficit.
7 BLIND LOW VISION PRIORITIES PROJECT: RESULTS OF FIRST COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY OF ACCESS TO CITY SERVICES – PRESENTATION BY ANITA AARON, LIGHTHOUSE FOR THE BLIND & VISUALLY IMPAIRED AND SUSAN MIZNER, MAYOR’S OFFICE ON DISABILITY.
Ms. Mizner reported the goals for this project: 1) to assess the priority government services for this community, 2) to learn the preferred means of providing access to government services and 3) to assess the City’s general compliance with ADA requirements.
The Project employed literature searches, leadership polls, formal surveys, and focus groups in order to create the Report. Major findings included: 1) access to public transportation and public pathways are of greatest importance to the blind and low-vision community, 2) a majority of the people surveyed did not fully understand their rights under the ADA.
Ms. Aaron reported that most people preferred to receive City information by phone with a live person; audio announcements were preferred for emergency evacuation from public buildings; most preferred audio description at public art sites; and most were unaware that one can ask for alternative formats, and were unaware of the City’s Grievance Procedure.
Regarding Muni (Municipal Transit Authority / MTA), Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS) were appreciated and utilized; “talking” buses are useful; there is a need to improve customer service as regards priority seating; pass-ups; sensitivity training; and to increase audible information at transit stops. The recommendations included increasing training for community and City staff; emphasizing information access by phone and audio technologies; and increasing enforcement of current law and policies for MTA (for public transportation) and the Department of Public Works (public pathways). They noted that implementation would include training for City staff, revising the City’s approach to evacuation maps, providing information on art and revisiting the City’s policy on “talking signs”.
7A BLIND & LOW VISION PRIORITIES PROJECT: MUNICIPAL TRANSPORTATION AGENCY’S (MTA) RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PUBLIC TRANSIT – PRESENTATION BY DEBRA JOHNSON, SF MTA CHIEF OF STAFF.
Ms. Johnson said that MTA’s objectives include addressing the specific recommendations from BLVPP; ensuring ADA compliance; and fostering a positive relationship with the senior and disability community. She said that MTA would be providing additional training on customer services; creating operator bulletins; developing digital voice announcement systems and installing a “push-to-talk” feature at all transit shelters for announcing arrival information. Ms. Johnson said their efforts will include providing system maps with tactile features in all Muni Metro stations and enhancing 311 reporting to receive feedback on ADA-related services.
Ms. Johnson noted that the agency has utilized members of the disability community including Co-Chair Woodall as expert trainers in their training of new and current operators. She also spoke about their accountability to monitor and provide oversight including the “Mystery Customers” program, to have individuals utilize the systems and provide feedback on how the operators are complying with ADA procedures and other regulations. The objective is for operators to be sensitive to the needs of all customers requiring assistance, and to foster a collaborative relationship.
Ms. Johnson concluded that MTA is committed to working with the disability community on improving customer service, developing enhanced partnerships, and continuing to improve access and safety throughout the City.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Mike Cole, who works for Talking Signs, spoke about how having the talking signs receiver around his neck has been helpful to him because it allows him to travel independently in his daily routines.
Beth Berenson, LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, commented that the bus drivers calling out the names of each stop has improved, but urged the community to call 311 to continue to provide feedback on the progress.
Bill Crandall of Smith Kettlewell, which developed and markets Talking Signs, expressed his concern that the survey’s demographics and respondents were not younger and more “tech savvy” as opposed to persons who would be more inclined to use infrared signage with a receiver instead of a cell phone/pager.
Linda Myers, who has been a consultant for Talking Signs, recommended more receivers training for talking signs as well as increasing their availability. Also, she would like to see talking signs in more locations.
Josh Miele of Smith Kettlewell, said that as a researcher and consumer, infrared signage is the solution to provide access and would like to increase the public awareness on this technology.
Jim Marston said many seniors lose their vision later in life. They may find modern technology, difficult to use, including infrared signage. He said that “we need to have more access to signs.”
Bill Gary of Talking Signs said that talking signs are the most effective and cost efficient to providing access.
Linda Perrell, President of the SF Chapter of the California Council of the Blind, said that global positioning systems (GPS) will far outweigh talking signs in efficiency and effectiveness and offer a much more flexible solution. She noted that GPS doesn’t require any special installation by cities or facilities, and all it needs is development by the companies which create the online maps. She added that GPS is a far more flexible and open program than talking signs.
Paco Alfaro said that bus drivers are calling out the stops, but he has started to notice in the past couple of weeks, they have gone back to their old patterns of not calling out the stops. He stated that he is glad that there will be on-going training for all drivers on these issues.
Michael Kwok said that he is happy to hear that there will be on-going training on customer services for new operators as well as current operators.
8 SHAKE UP SAN FRANCISCO REPORT BACK – PRESENTATION BY JOANNA FRAGULI, MAYOR’S OFFICE ON DISABILITY.
Ms. Fraguli reported that MOD staff participated in a disaster shelter worker training by role playing as service workers as well as shelter residents on the day of the “Shake-Up SF Drill” with an emphasis on disability services issues. She said it was an educational and informative experience because she learned there was a lack of awareness regarding disability resources already in place by the City. MOD staff conducted a drill that involved texting the sign language interpreters and captioners to procure their services at shelter sites. She reported that both service providers responded immediately with their availability. Ms. Fraguli pointed out that there was a need for more practice of evacuation procedures using evacuation chairs for public buildings. Other participants in the city-wide drill included Paratransit which provides transportation to people at dialysis centers among others. In addition, schools were engaged in a “drop, cover and hold” drill with the students. Overall, Ms. Fraguli felt that although the day’s events were successful, they pointed to the need to have better collaboration among different disability organizations throughout the City.
9 REPORT FROM THE PHYSICAL ACCESS COMMITTEE (PAC)
Howard Chabner, Chair of the PAC, reported that the committee has been discussing the curb ramps and the ADA Transition Plan. It included a guest speaker, Ken Spielman, a Civil Engineer from Department of Public Works (DPW), who spoke about the costs and process of designing and installing curb ramps. Mr. Chabner shared what the committee learned, including that SF is beginning to get more aggressive with property owners regarding installing curb ramps where there is a sub-sidewalk basement. He found out that some curb ramps are constructed by DPW and private contractors on an as-needed basis. The committee was also shown a map of future curb ramps to be installed next year. The projected cost is $209 million in 2008 dollars over about 20 years to install new curb ramps. However, the number of curb ramps installed this year was less than planned due to a limitation in DPW manpower. MOD has recently funded a new Project Manager position to assist with the curb ramps. Some of the agenda items for upcoming meetings include looking at SF General Hospital; parks with clubhouses, public toilets and trails; accessible housing; and the Central Subway Project.
10 REPORT FROM THE DISABILITY DISASTER PREPAREDNESS COMMITTEE
Ms. Fraguli reported that the Committee will be taking a break in December 2008 and January 2009 to re-organize and re-evaluate their priorities including creating an e-mail group of various disability organizations and services.
11 PUBLIC COMMENT
Herb Levine, Independent Living Resource Center SF, expressed his concerns about the State Budget cuts, including the proposed decreased monthly payments of SSI. He urged the community to contact their representatives to educate them and voice their concerns.
Michael Kwok also shared his concerns about the State Budget cuts including decreased funding for services to people with disabilities in Chinatown.
Elizabeth Dawson spoke about the difficulty in getting a wheelchair-accessible taxi in the City.
12 CORRESPONDENCE
Council Clerk Wong reported that MDC received correspondence via e-mail from David P. Black regarding the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) changes on the 35 route.
13 COUNCIL MEMBERS COMMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Ken Stein, Program Administrator for MOD, expressed his gratitude in working at MOD, and with the MDC for the past 6 years. He said the leadership in the office is wonderful. Mr. Stein reassured the community that although he is moving out of the civil rights office of MOD, he will continue to work with the disability community to increase awareness of disability rights in the City, and will be continuing in his work to promote full inclusion for people with disabilities.
14 ADJOURNMENT
Co-Chair Woodall adjourned the meeting at 4:05.
Minutes – Mayor’s Disability Council – 11/21/08