2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998
Willie L. Brown, Jr.
Mayor
Susan Mizner
Acting Director
Ed Evans
Chair
Vincent Behan
Norma Block
Jack Fagan
Eugene T. Flannery
Elizabeth Grigsby
Michael Kwok
August Longo
Ruth Nunez
Jul Lynn Parsons
Denise Senhaux
Mayor's Disability Council
Minutes
19 September 2003
1 ROLL CALL
Mayor's Disability Council Members Present: Vincent Behan, Norma Block, Ed Evans,
Jack Fagan, Eugene T. Flannery, Elizabeth Grigsby, Michael Kwok, Ruth Nunez, Jul Lynn Parsons, Denise Senhaux.
Excused Absent: August Longo
Mayor's Office on Disability: Susan Mizner, Acting Director; Richard Skaff, Deputy Director; Ken Stein, Program Administrator and Josie J. Lee, Council Clerk.
Chair, Ed Evans called the meeting to order at 1:07 p.m.
2 APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
The Council approved the agenda for the September 19, 2003 Mayor's Disability Council (MDC).
3 APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
The Council approved the minutes from the MDC meeting of July 18, 2003.
4 PUBLIC COMMENT
* A citizen via bridge line expressed his concern that Supervisor Matt Gonzales and Supervisor Bevan Dufty ignored the State Law and safety hazards of people with disabilities by asking the Department of Parking and Traffic to forego ticketingmotorcycles that park on the city's sidewalks. If a motorcycle leaks transmission or brake fluid on the sidewalk and if somebody falls, the City would be partially liable for that accident. Interested citizens can call the Supervisor's office to let them know that it is unsafe and hazardous.
* Camila Field read the declaration of policy on Proposition S, local legislation passed in San Francisco last November 2002 on the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency crackdown on local medical cannabis clubs. Since November 2002, several individuals in the community, including Ms. Field have been meeting to examine implementation proposals on the possibility of establishing a program whereby the City would grow medical cannabis and distribute it to patients attempting to exercise their rights under Proposition 215, California's compassionate Use Act of 1996. The public is invited to participate and add input at the next meeting on Thursday, September 25, 2003 in the John Taylor Conference Room located in City Hall, beginning at 10:30 A.M.
5 REPORT FROM THE CHAIR
Ed Evans expressed his concerns about motorcycle parking on sidewalks. He stated that safe and accessible parking spaces need to be created for motorcycles, but on the street, not on the sidewalk. He encourages anyone who comes across motorcycles parked on sidewalks to voice their concern to the Mayor's Office on Disability, phone: 554-6789.
The City Planning Department is in the process of implementing a multiple housing development unit. Adequate parking facilities need to be constructed with the housing units to prevent parking on sidewalks. Please contact Lydia Chan, ADA Coordinator at the City Planning Department, phone: 558-6417 to encourage adequate parking facilities.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Rue Graffis, a cab driver who lives in the Mission district, owned and operated nine motorcycles in her lifetime said that there is no motorcycle parking available in her neighborhood. Some people who prefer to drive motorcycles rather than drive a car cannot find parking for their motorcycle for blocks. She feels there should be motorcycle parking available on every block in the city and that public transit should be more efficient to eliminate the need to drive one's car.
Ed Evans requested that the new MDC members introduce themselves:
* Jack Fagan introduced himself as the Associate Acting Director at the ARC San Francisco. The ARC provides advocacy, support and training services to adults with developmental disabilities. He is also involved with the Asperger's Syndrome and autism community, as part of a group called Ascend.
* Eugene T. Flannery welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Mayor's Disability Council. He is the ADA Compliance Coordinator at the Mayor's Office of Community Development, which funds many organizations in the community through community development block grants. He also has extensive experience working in the field of substance abuse, mental health and related issues.
* Ruth Nunez is honored to be on the Mayor's Disability Council and is looking forward to doing the good work for the council. She is a Coordinator with Larkin Youth Shelter.
* Jul Lynn Parsons is delighted to work with everyone on the council. As a person with hearing impairment, she is involved in the programmatic access issues of communication and inclusion within the community. She welcomes all comments and feedback.
6 REPORT FROM THE ACTING DIRECTOR
Susan Mizner reported the following highlights of MOD's recent work:
* MOD has finalized two Requests for Proposals (RFP), and is now in the process of negotiating the contracts for these services.
* One RFP, for the deaf and hard of hearing consultant, was awarded to the Deaf Counseling, Advocacy and Referral Agency (DCARA). DCARA will provide twenty-five trainings over the course of eighteen months with the first training provided to the Mayor's Disability Council. Todd Higgins, an employee of DCARA will work one day a week at MOD as a local community resource.
* The other RFP was awarded to Magar and Milstein to provide Fair Housing Amendments Act Training to the staff of all city-funded housing providers.
* Richard Skaff provided all day training on "Public Rights-of-Way" that was well attended by San Francisco staff and municipal employees from other counties.
* Logan Hopper completed an Employment Self Evaluation for the City, which can be obtained via email or viewed hard copy from the Mayor's Office on Disability.
* Ken Stein participated in the Self Help for the Hard of Hearing (SHHH) Ceremony which gave scholarships to a number of students at City College of San Francisco. He also represented MOD at the "Where There's A Will, There's A Way" conference.
* MOD was honored by two international visits during the month of August. One visit was from a blind disabled activist and his wife from China and another visit came from twenty people with severe disabilities living in Osaka Japan.
* Jose Caedo continues to provide referrals and technical assistance to the public, handling about 75 calls a month.
* Josie J. Lee, office administrator, was thanked for her hard work and dedication to
the office. Ms. Mizner explained that Ms. Lee never takes a sick day nor a vacation and
as an example of dedication to the office, she postponed a family trip so that she could
staff the MDC meeting on her birthday.
7 COMMITTEE REPORTS
REPORT FROM THE PROGRAMMATIC ACCESS COMMITTEE
Harry Mar, Chair of the Programmatic Access Committee Meeting reported that the Programmatic Access Committee met on Friday, September 5, 2003. The meeting focused on two aspects of the ongoing project for the inclusion of businesses owned by persons with disabilities in the City's Bid Preference programs.
First, the PAC reviewed and updated the past work on Chapter 12 D of the City's Affirmative Action Measure for equal access to City contracts. Next, the committee is accumulating a list of disabled-owned businesses that would be eligible for City contracts.
REPORT FROM THE PHYSICAL ACCESS COMMITTEE
Ed Evans, Chair of the Physical Access Committee said he is concerned about the lack of Physical Access Committee Meetings. Richard Skaff, Deputy Director said that due to the current workload and the lack of staff support, he cannot staff a meeting at this time.
8 DISABILITY SERVICE AWARD - PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION TO CAROL RAGLE
Chair, Ed Evans presented a disability service award to Carol Ragle, who has contributed many hours of volunteer work to MOD. Ed Evans encourages involvement and activism from others in the community.
9 UPDATE ON THE PORT OF SAN FRANCISCO'S SELF-EVALUATION AND TRANSITION PLAN.
Presentation by John Paul Scott, ADA Coordinator, Port of San Francisco.
* John Paul Scott presented an update on the Port of San Francisco:
o The Port has seven and one half miles of property along the waterfront and provides a broad range of recreational outdoor activities.
o Many of the Port's programs and activities were located in non-accessible spaces.
o The Port is an ADA Title II entity and is required to do a self-evaluation plan to provide program access and to remove architectural barriers.
o The Port is also required to do a Transition Plan to review physical access of its facilities.
o Currently the Access Board is reviewing ADA Accessibility Guidelines and the State is working on Building Code modifications.
o The Port will review and critique the work that has been done to date and look at current priorities to provide continuing education programs on the best practices and universal design in construction for accessibility.
o The Port plans to involve people who are interested in the Port's activities, including individuals with disabilities and organizations that represent people with disabilities to reassess the self-evaluation.
* Bonnie Milstein, a lawyer for Magar and Milstein who has been hired to act as a facilitator to provide a peer review of the process in the Port's transition plan development, presented the following:
o The Committee that will be involved in creating the Port's new Title II plan will include a group of people across the full range of disabilities (including people with mobility impairments, members of the deaf and hard of hearing community, members of the blind and visually impaired community, people with cognitive impairments and learning disabilities, people with illnesses that create disabilities such as HIV and representatives, etc) as well as people from the Port staff, along with tenants of the Port.
o Input on physical barriers are welcome.
o The Committee will attend a full day workshop and a tour of the Port led by John Paul Scott who will also go over the requirements of the ADA and review the Port's programs and schedule of priorities.
o A final plan will be presented to the San Francisco Port Commission by March 2004
o Commissioners Michela Alioto-Pier and Sue Bierman have been invited to serve as Port Commission liaisons to the PAC.
o Representatives from the Mayor's Disability Council are also invited to participate in the planning process with the Port.
o Bonnie Milstein can be reached at 415. 693-0752 or email: [email protected]
o John Paul Scott can be reached at 415. 274-0571 or email: [email protected]
* Ed Evans expressed his concern about access for persons with environmental illness or chemical sensitivity issues. He encourages the use of natural cleaning products that do not endanger people's health and safety. He also encouraged the use of more Talking Signs along the Port.
10 BUDGET PRESENTATION - CITY PROCESS AND DISABILITY ISSUES. Presentation by Ara Minasian, Administrative Services.
Mr. Minasian provided an overview of the Budget for both the City and for the Mayor's Office on Disability. He outlined the impact of the City's budget shortfall this year on MOD, reviewed the details of MOD's specific budget line items for the year, and then provided an overview of the City's Budget process. '03-'04 Budget Shortfall
This year the City had more than a $400 million shortfall in its budget. The City addressed this deficit in a number of ways: a) having employees return a significant portion of their salary and fringe benefits package, b) developing fee increases on MUNI and throughout other city services, and lastly, c) reducing some services and eliminating about 500 positions throughout the City.
In Administrative Services, 12 positions were deleted, one of which was in MOD. The Board of Supervisors restored the position, but did not restore funds with which to fill the position.
The biggest impact on MOD was in the capital budget. Previously, the capital budget was $25 million for general fund capital projects. This year, that was reduced to $13 million. Of that amount, $11.5 million was dedicated to the maintenance of existing facilities, including City Hall and recreation centers. This left only about $1.5 million for new capital projects. Of that amount, $400,000 was allocated to this year's budget for disability access, capital projects. That is about 10% of the money allocated to MOD in the previous year. But, it is a significant portion of what discretionary amounts were available.
Unfortunately, the bad news may not be over for the year. Given the poor economy and anticipated additional cuts from the State budget, the City may need to ask for some additional mid-year reductions.
Ed Evans asked if the reduction in money would put the city in jeopardy of not meeting accessibility requirements.
Mr. Minasian said that he was not the expert to respond, but understood that, should that level of funding continue, it would not be adequate to meet legal requirements, as he understood them.
Review of MOD's Budget
Mr. Minasian provided a sheet summarizing MOD's Budget (see attachment). The Budget is divided into two parts, an Operating Budget and a Capital Budget. Previously, the entire MOD budget came out of the Capital Budget. The total Operating Budget is $623,430, including salaries and fringe benefits, non-personal services (captioning fees are the bulk of this), materials and supplies, and services to other departments, including rent, accounting, etc.
The Capital Budget has $400,000 in new money, an additional $225,000 in money that went to DPW that is earmarked for disability access, and $2.7 million left over from last year's budget, for a total Capital Budget of $3,337,904.
This year, that money will be divided according to the general priority guidelines of the Transition Plan. The largest amount of money, almost $1.7 million, will go to the Department of Public Health for construction to make health clinics and other facilities more accessible. Most of that money will go through the Department of Public Works.
MOD will spend approximately $654,00 on contracts to provide training on programmatic, communication, and architectural access to City staff, and City contractors.
MOD is paying the Department of Public Works to hire a full-time crew whose job it is to construct curb ramps. The majority of this funding came out of last year's budget, but there remains close to $400,000 to pay for the rest of the crew this year.
The remaining money will go to pay for two staff positions that are not in the Operating Budget, other Transition Plan work that is needed, two in-house service contracts, and a Reasonable Accommodation Fund that assists non-profits contracting with the City in providing auxiliary aids and services, or other accessibility accommodations to their clients.
Overview of the City's Budget Process
Departments and Commissions have the initial responsibility to develop the budgets, based on the instructions that they receive from the Mayor's Budget Office. The Mayor's Office is responsible for proposing the budget to the Board of Supervisors, based on what the departments submit and the priorities that the Mayor establishes.
The Board of Supervisors can then amend the Mayor's budget, accept it, or amend parts of it. The Board has a Budget Analyst on contract. The Board may make broad priority shifts, or take detailed looks at specific line items.
For the Capital Budget, the Capital Improvements Advisory Committee is an advisory body, just like the MDC. It does not have final authority to do anything with the budget, but review and make recommendations to the Mayor.
In November, departments are already in the process of preparing their budgets. Departments that have commissions will have hearings on their budget into February. Generally, budgets must be submitted to the Mayor's Budget Office around March 1st. Then, the Mayor's Budget Office has to analyze and put all the pieces together and balance the budget based on revenue projections and other factors.
Usually, the Mayor submits the budget to the Board on June 1st. This past year, the Board requested an earlier date. Recently, the process has become more fluid and interactive between the Mayor, the Departments and the Board.
After the Board's Budget Committee finishes the budget, the full board considers it and adopts it by the end of July.
The public is always encouraged to get involved in the Budget process. The first thing to do is become informed. Information on the City's budget is available in a variety of places. Each department has their own channels of communication, including websites.
Most departments have public meetings. The Board of Supervisors is also a good resource for information about what is happening in departments. They also have websites and public hearings that are televised and taped. The Controller's Office maintains a variety of budget documents available on the web. Finally, the Mayor's Budget book is a good source of information about what is already being proposed in the Mayor's Budget.
Once the public is informed, one can give input directly through e-mail, meetings, letters, etc. One of the most visible ways to provide input is to attend and present testimony at the hearings that commissions and committees hold.
11 HOARDERS AND CLUTTERER'S CONFERENCE - OCTOBER 17, 2003
* Catina Chang announced that the Hoarders and Clutterer's Conference presented by The Mental Health Association of San Francisco will be held at the Women's Building, 3542-18th Street in San Francisco on Friday, October 17, 2003 from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm. There is a $35.00 general admission fee but no one will be turned away.
Dr. Randy Frost, Professor of Psychology at Smith College along with Bonnie Milstein and Frances Strassman will discuss compulsive hoarding and cluttering, defined as the acquisition and failure to discard a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value in the attempt to decrease stress or anxiety. For more information, call 415. 241-2926 phone or TTY: 415. 554-6799.
12 LEGION OF HONOR ACCESS ADVISOR'S OPEN HOUSE - OCTOBER 25, 2003, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Degas Exhibition and related activities including art making, art demonstrations, panel discussion on disability by Bay Area artists, and a movement workshop led by San Francisco ballet's great Evelyn Cisneros. Admission is free to the disability community with RSVP. Presentation by Charlie Dorris, Legion of Honor Access Advisory Committee Member.
* Charlie Dorris announced that seventy-three bronze sculptures, formerly from the Museum of Art in Sao Palo in Brazil by the French artist, Edgar Degas will be presented.
* Other presenters will include Patrick Connolly, Chair for the panel of Bay Area Artists with Disabilities; John Calacky, former Art Director of the Yuerba Buena Art Center; Katherine Sherwood, painter from the Berkeley faculty and Evelyn Cisneros, former ballerina from the San Francisco Ballet.
* Art making is included as well as drawings that will be brought to life through dance.
* Music and light refreshments are included.
* A sign language interpreter will be available.
* RSVP by October 20, 2003 for free admission.
* For more information, contact Tish Brown, Access Coordinator at the Museum at 415. 750-7645 or email address: [email protected]
13 Correspondence
No Correspondence.
14 PUBLIC COMMENT
* Cindy Hilke, Developmental Director with Independent Living Resource Center in San Francisco commented on the implementation of AB 1421, which mandates up to a six-month mental health commitment on the signature of police officer or family members alone and also raises budget concerns for the City and County of San Francisco. To receive more information, contact [email protected]
* Walter Park stated that the Tennessee versus Lane Case will be the next big disability rights case. It will eliminate the ability to receive compensatory damages in an access case. Send your inquiries to: Predeson, Attorney General, State Capital, Tennessee or to [email protected]
* Walter Park announced the tenth anniversary of Disability Rights Advocates where he is a board member. Disability Rights Advocates will be holding a fundraising dinner in October. Everyone is invited to attend.
15 COUNCIL MEMBER REQUESTS FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
* Eugene Flannery requested a presentation on "The Innovative Technique in the Criminal Justice System" given by the San Francisco Behavioral Health Court.
* Jack Fagan would like to invite members of the Autism Community who have autism or Asperger's syndrome to come and speak and raise awareness about what autism is and what people on the autism spectrum face each day.
* Norma Block suggested having an item on "Jail Psychiatric Services".
* Ruth Nunez suggested the topic of "Permanent, Transitional Housing" so that people who leave the shelters will have a place to stay.
* Ed Evans suggested the MDC work with the Mayor's Office on Disability and the Board of Supervisors to set up educational programs on health training, such as prevention of HIV among the young people to avoid becoming disabled.
* Ed Evans would like representatives from the following departments to return for review on their programs:
o Department of Public Works
o Department of Building Inspection
o San Francisco Fire Department
o Emergency Technical Services
o San Francisco Police Department
o Sheriff's Department
* Ed Evans requested that all suggestions be written and submitted to Susan Mizner.
16 COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
* Susan Mizner explained that this is the time when Council members may make announcements, or report on events and meetings that may be of interest to the disability community.
17 ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 3:45 p.m.
401 Van Ness, Room 300, San Francisco, CA 94102
415.554.6789
415.554.6159 fax
415.554.6799 TTY
[email protected]