body,date,page,text,path
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-01-24,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
January 24, 2005
Present: Berger, Bunker, Chair Cooney, Fort, Gwynne, Longley-Cook, McCoy, McGaughey,
Absent/Excused: Chadow, McCoy
Guests: Anne Steiner
1.
MINUTES: The minutes of December 6, 2004 where approved with the following
corrections: 1) Oral Communications, Item #3 - change ""Commissioner Ed Cooney stated
that AC transit buses are not able to align with the bus stop location due to the existing
metered parking space."" to ""Commissioner Ed Cooney stated that AC transit buses are not
able to align with the bus stop location on Santa Clara Avenue fronting City Hall due to the
existing metered parking space."" and 2) Oral Communications, Item #5 - change
""Commissioner Steffens stated that a chair should be provided in the City Clerk's Office
front counter area for refuge if needed."" to ""Commissioner Elaine McCoy stated that a chair
should be provided in the City Clerk's Office front counter area for refuge if needed.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. February agenda item - Commissioner Charles Bunker will inform the Commission on the
status of the Disaster Plan.
2. February agenda item - Commissioner Gina McGaughey would like a status on the Webster
Street Renaissance project. It was requested that temporary sidewalk relocations and barrier
locations during construction take into consideration the visually impaired. Secretary to
follow up.
3. Commissioner Angela Steffens asked if the City has a policy on sidewalk solicitation policy
as in one instance it resulted in accessibility problem.
4. A motion carried that Old Business, Item #1, Election of Vice-Chair be taken out of order.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Election of Vice-Chair: Commissioner James Gwynne was elected Vice-Chair.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2005-01-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-01-24,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
January 24, 2005
Minutes
Page 2 of 2
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Audible Signal Grant:
The secretary informed the Commission that the Public Works Department is applying for a
grant application for audible traffic signal equipment and requested the Commissions'
backing. A letter supporting the grant application was approved. Commissioner Gina
McGaughey expressed her concern that push buttons be located at the curb crosswalk, not
distant from the crossing, so as not to impede the visually impaired or wheelchair/walker
users. Guest Anne Steiner suggested that the grant application make reference to inter-model
transportation. Should the City obtain the grant, the Commission would like to review any
proposed locations and design.
2. Committee Bylaw Change:
A motion failed to change the current bylaw term limits for the Chair and Vice-Chair from
""one (1) year term or until successors are appointed"" to ""two (2) consecutive one (1) year
terms. It was mentioned that officers are elected, not appointed as stated in the bylaws.
Secretary will follow up.
3.
Policy Research, Writing and Implementation:
A motion carried to establish a sub-committee to address policy. Sub-committee members
are Commissioners Ed Cooney, Charles Bunker, James Gwynne, Steve Fort, and Gina
McGaughey. The Commission approved a letter from Chair Ed Cooney to Mayor Johnson
on the City's ability to procure accessibility assistance to disabled citizens attending City
meetings and hearings (i.e. Braille, speech/hearing impaired interpreters). Secretary
informed the Commission that the Public Works staff is meeting with other City staff to
establish a plan and would welcome any information from the Commissioners (i.e. Braille
transcriber, interpreter contacts).
OLD BUSINESS:
2. Alameda Journal Calendar:
Secretary informed the Commissioners that agenda's are provided to the Alameda Journal.
A
Commissioner stated that the City's CATV channel has Room 360 listed for meetings and
should be changed to Room 391. Secretary will follow up.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2005-01-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-01-24,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
January 24, 2005
Minutes
Page 3 of 3
3. Oak Street City Hall Entrance: Secretary informed the Committee that the kick plate door
openers at the Oak Street Alameda City Hall door are functioning. A Commissioner stated
that the toe kick plate only operates if pressed at a certain location. Secretary will follow up.
4. City Hall Bus Stop: Secretary informed the Commission that Public Works is continuing to
resolve the accessibility to the bus stop in front of City Hall (blockage by a metered parking
space). A Commissioner stated that the existing bench location might also hinder
accessibility.
5. Breakers at Bayport 64-unit development Secretary will provide status on the Breakers
at Bayport 64-unit development. Secretary has not seen any plans. Will report at February
meeting.
6. Lower Washington Park Parking Accessible Parking Stall: Secretary informed the
Commission that the addition of a disabled parking stall at lower Washington Park adjacent
to the dog park will need to go before the Transportation Technical Team (TTT), possible on
February agenda. Commissioner James Gwynne stated that the existing two disabled spaces
need to be restriped to conform to the latest ADA standards. Secretary is aware.
7. City Clerk's Office Reception Area Seating: The secretary investigated Commissioner
Stephen's observation of the need for a chair in the reception area of the City Clerk's office.
Due to space limitation in the reception area, at the secretary's request, the Public Works
Maintenance staff fabricated a sign ""seating available upon request"" which will be displayed
at the front counter. The Commission found this to be an acceptable solution and suggested
that similar signs be placed in other departments where permanent guest seating cannot be
provided.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:20p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, February 28th in Room
391, City Hall.
Sincerely,
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
By:
Ed Sommerauer
Associate Civil Engineer
ES:lc
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-02-28,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
February 28, 2005
Present: Berger, Bunker, Chadow, Chair Cooney, Fort, Gwynne, Longley-Cook, McGaughey,
Absent/Excused: McCoy, Steffens
Guests: Anne Steiner
1. MINUTES: The minutes of January 24, 2004 where approved with the following
corrections: 1) Attendance - change Commissioner McCoy from present to absent, add
Commissioner Steffens as present, and 2) Oral Communications, Item #1 - change
""Commissioner Charles Bunker will inform the Commission on the status of the Disaster
Plan"" to ""
Disaster Registry.""
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Commissioner Toby Berger shared an article that appeared in the Oakland Tribune that Mark
Breimhorst had been named the executive director of the World Institute on Disability
(WID). WID is an Oakland based nonprofit research and public policy center promoting the
civil rights and full societal inclusion of people with disabilities. She suggested the
commission might want to have Mr. Breimhorst make a presentation.
2. Commissioner Toby Berger informed the commission on the proposed school parcel tax per
an article in the Alameda Journal. Currently there is a senior citizen exclusion on the
existing parcel tax and would like that there be an exclusion for disabled persons.
3.
Commissioner Jody Moore informed the commission that the month of February is Autism
Awareness Month and that next year the commission or City could recognize this with some
kind of activity. Commissioner Toby Berger stated that the commission promotes the month
of October as Disability Awareness Month and that this year 's activities could include
autism.
4. Commissioner Gina McGaughey will provide the commission with written copies of
Disability Rights Advocates open door pamphlet.
5. Secretary received a note from Mayor Beverly Johnson requesting that a commissioner
volunteer to serve on the Alameda County Commission on Aging. Commissioner Adrienne
Longley-Cook volunteered.
6. Secretary informed the commission that there will be a groundbreaking ceremony for the
New Library and that two temporary disabled parking spaces will be provided.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2005-02-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-02-28,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 28,
2005 Minutes
Page 2 of 2
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Bus Shelter (Buena Vista Avenue fronting Marina Cove):
Chair Ed Cooney and secretary Ed Sommerauer briefed the commission on the new bus
shelter at Buena Vista Avenue in front of the Marina Cove development (between Paru
Street and Ohlone Street). The location was acceptable.
2. Disaster Registry Program:
Commissioner Charles Bunker briefed the new members about the disaster registry program.
Currently there are 16 disabled citizens registered in the program. Additional participants
will be sought through advertising (i.e. Meals on Wheels, AP&T Flash newsletter, etc.).
3. Webster Street Renaissance Construction Status:
Commissioners Gina McGaughey and Charles Bunker briefed the commission on their
meeting with the City construction inspector and contractor in maintaining sidewalk
accessibility for the visually impaired and wheelchair/walker users along Webster Street and
the side streets during construction of the Webster Street Renaissance project.
Commissioner Alysa Chadow stated that a guide dog is trained to walk perpendicular across
the street and that any sidewalk detouring which is parallel to and within the street pavement
area creates confusion to the dog. Guest Anne Steiner informed the commission that the
City of Berkeley has guidelines for pedestrian detouring. Secretary informed the
commission that pedestrian accessibility is required at all times during construction and it is
the contractors' responsibility to maintain access to the approval of the City. Secretary will
contact Berkeley.
4. Solicitation Policy:
In response to Commissioner Angela Steffens' question at the January meeting ""Does the
City have a solicitation policy on distribution of flyers within public sidewalk areas"", the
secretary informed the commission that City's Municipal Code Sections 6-2-2 and 6-2-3
prohibits distribution of handbills and advertising material unless the recipient is asked and
willing to accept the handbill.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Policy research, writing and implementation:
3.
Chair Ed Cooney briefed the commission on the sub-committee's progress in developing
policy consideration for procedures and resources on providing alternate auxiliary aids for
the visually impaired and/or hearing impaired. The commission viewed limiting aids to the",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2005-02-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-02-28,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 28,
2005 Minutes
Page 3 of 3
visually impaired and/or hearing impaired as to narrow and that the language should be
broadened to cover all areas of disability. A motion carried to disband the sub-committee
and create a new sub-committee consisting of commissioners Toby Berger, Adrienne
Longley-Cook, Gina McGauhey and Alysa Chadow. Secretary asked the commissioners if
they could assist in updating the City's contact resource list. Commissioner Gina McGauhey
volunteered.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:20 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, March 28th in Room
391, City Hall.
Sincerely,
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
By:
Ed Sommerauer
Associate Civil Engineer
ES:lc
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-03-28,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
March 28, 2005
Present: Berger, Chadow, Chair Cooney, Fort, Gwynne, Longley-Cook, McGaughey,
Absent/Excused: McCoy, Steffens, Bunker
Guests: Michele Bevel
1.
MINUTES: The minutes of February 28, 2005 where approved.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. The Secretary listed the locations for the pedestrian lighting grants. They are; Park Street
at
Webb Avenue, Park Street at Central Avenue; Park Street at Santa Clara Avenue, Park Street
at mid-block between Santa Clara Avenue and Central Avenue, Park Street at San Antonio
Avenue, Webster Street at Taylor Avenue, Buena Vista Avenue at Chestnut Street, Otis
Drive at Sandcreek Way, Pacific Avenue at 4th Street and Fernside Boulevard at San Jose
Avenue.
2. Members expressed concerns about the following items; signs in the City Hall elevator
should also be in Braille, the handicap door post to City Hall at Oak Street is not functioning
properly, the sign to Alameda on the Ron Cowen Parkway is missing and should be reset
where it can't be damaged.
3. There was general consensus that commission members should be given identification
badges.
4. Commissioner Chadow reported that Adobe Illustrator could produce plans with raised lines.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Chairman Edwin Cooney presented a letter he received from the Interim City Manager
responding to his concerns about providing Braille and interpreter assistance at City
meetings.
2. Commissioner Longley-Cook presented a list of real time captioning service providers and
onsite interpreting service providers that are used by the City of San Francisco.
3. Commissioner Longley-Cook presented a letter from Pedestrian Friendly Alameda
expressing concern about the proposed State Senate Bill, No. 810.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2005-03-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-03-28,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
March 28, 2005
Minutes
Page 2 of 2
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Bridgeside Shopping Center:
The Secretary described the planned development for the Bridgeside Shopping Center.
2. Southshore Shopping Center;
The secretary described the status of the construction of the shopping center and plans for
future development.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Policy research, writing and implementation:
3.
Commissioner Toby Berger presented to the commission the sub-committee's proposed
recommendations for ADA policies for providing effective communications and reasonable
accommodations for persons with disabilities. The commission will consider adoption of the
recommendations at the next scheduled meeting.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:20 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, April 25th in Room
391, City Hall.
Sincerely,
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
By:
Robert Claire
Associate Civil Engineer
RC:lc
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-04-25,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
April 25, 2005
Present: Berger, Bunker, Chadow, Chair Cooney, Fort, Vice-Chair Gwynne, Longley-Cook,
McGaughey, Steffens,
Absent/Excused: McCoy, Moore
Guests: Jackie Krause (Mastick Senior Center Senior Services Manager), Barbara Hawkins
(Supervising Civil Engineer, Public Works Department), Anne Steiner
MINUTES: The minutes of March 28, 2005 where approved.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Commissioner Adrienne Langley-Cook informed the commission that Crosstown
Coffee House would have an art, crafts and flower sale to benefit the Community
Center on April 30th
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Paratransit:
Ms. Jackie Krause, Senior Services Manager Mastick Senior Center, discussed the proposed
Measure B Paratransit funding application program for fiscal year 2005/2006 to the
commission. Hi-lights of the program will include subsidized taxi services for ADA
registered applicants who do not always have effective access to East Bay Paratransit
Services at certain times of the day or from certain out of reach locations when East Bay
Paratransit is not available. The City will also offer taxi service for those needing immediate
transportation services to medical appointments during the 21-day certification period.
Jackie distributed an Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority (ACTIA)
""Accessible Transit Services in Alameda County' booklet to the commissioners. She also
distributed Paratransit applications and that assistance in completing the applications is
available at Mastic Senior Center. In a call to questions regarding improvements to the
program, Commissioner Gina McGaughey stated that route scheduling could be better
coordinated between multiple pickups. Jackie suggested that she could arrange for a
representative from Paratransit to meet with the commission, but that any meeting would
have to be during the day, not evening. Vice-Chair James Gwynne informed the commission
that there will be a mobility exposition November 18-20 in Santa Clara and asked Jackie if
arrangements could be made for a Paratransit service to the expedition. Jackie stated that
that is a possibility but would need to know the time and number of people planning to
attend.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2005-04-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-04-25,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 25, 2005
Minutes
Page 2 of 2
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Transportation Master Plan Policies:
Ms. Barbara Hawkins, Supervising Civil Engineer, Public Works Department, discussed the
Transportation Master Plan Policies document with the commission as they relate to the
disabled community. The commission moved approval of the document with the following
modifications: a):
2. Policy research, writing and implementation:
Chair Ed Cooney recommended that the sub-committee's proposed recommendations for
ADA policies for providing effective communications and reasonable accommodations for
persons with disabilities be adopted. The commission moved adoption of the
recommendations with minor modifications. a) Change I.b. ""
vision, mobility and
language impairments"" to "" vision, mobility, language and cognitive impairments."" b)
Change II. a. "" language and mobility impairments.' To
mobility, language and
cognitive impairments."" c) Change Procedures, 1st sentence "" this communications and
access policy.' to "" this Communications and Access Policy (CAP)"" and d) Procedures, c.,
change "" w/c accessibility ""to ""wheelchair accessibility
""
2. Bus Shelters:
Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook informed the commissioners that she and the
secretary had inspected the recently installed bus shelters and compiled a list of shelters that
needed the benches slightly relocated to the right or left to better facilitate wheelchair users.
The list was provided to Public Works.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS: None
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. The City's CATV channel scrolling has the wrong meeting time listed for the commission.
Secretary to follow up.
2. Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook informed the commission on upcoming Alameda
Collaborative events: a) Alameda Walk in conjunction with Recreation and Parks Dept and
Pedestrian Friendly Alameda on May 7th and b) Festival of Families at South Shore Center
May 7th
3. Commissioner Charles Bunker stated that ACI's trash receptacle is blocking the handicap",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2005-04-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-04-25,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 25, 2005
Minutes
Page 3 of 3
ramp at McKay Avenue and Central Avenue. Secretary to follow up.
4. Commissioner Alysa Chadow informed the commission that Adobe Illustrator software has
the capability for Braille conversion for embossing printers.
5.
Commissioner Toby Burger informed the commission that the Alameda Journal is not listing
the commission meeting dates in the calendar. Secretary to follow up.
6. Chair Edwin Cooney stated that U.S. mailboxes are being removed throughout the City
making it difficult for the disabled and would like to agendize for discussion at the May
commissioner's meeting.
7. The commission would like that meeting agendas and minutes be provided in Braille.
Secretary to follow up.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:40 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, May 23rd in Room
391, City Hall.
Sincerely,
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
By:
Ed Sommerauer
Associate Civil Engineer
ES:lc
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-05-23,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
May 23, 2005
Present: Berger, Bunker, Chadow, Chair Cooney, Fort, Vice-Chair Gwynne, Longley-Cook,
McGaughey, Moore, Steffens
Absent/Excused: None
Guests: Greg Stoia, City Senior Construction Inspector
Mary Louis Lambert
MINUTES: The minutes of April 28, 2005 where approved.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS: None
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Event Parking:
Commissioner Toby Berger informed the commission that the East Bay Regional Park
District would again provide additional disabled parking spaces for the summer concert
events scheduled for the 2nd Friday of June, July and August. Secretary to provide revised
table sign.
2. Curbside Mailbox Reductions:
Chair Ed Cooney concerned about the reduction in street mailbox locations contacted the
Postal Agency (748-4156). They informed him that if contacted they will provide the
location of the nearest box. They also informed him that a person could make arrangements
with the postal delivery person to have the mail picked up. A commissioner suggested that
Braille be provided in the inside of the door flap as to pick-up times, etc.
3. Pedestrian Access During Construction Projects:
Commissioners and Greg Stoia, City's Senior Construction Inspector, discussed pedestrian
access during the Webster Street project. Though contractor assistance is available to
provide assistance to the public during working hours, it is sometimes difficult during non-
working hours for the visually impaired to ascertain the location of bus stops or street
crossings. The committee made some suggestions and discussed forming a subcommittee to
make additional recommendations on current and future projects.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2005-05-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-05-23,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
May 23, 2005
Minutes
Page 2 of 2
4. Bylaws - Absences:
Discussion on number of absences allowed per the commission bylaws was tabled.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS:
1. The Secretary informed the Commissioners that Commissioner Elaine McCoy had resigned.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Commissioners Toby Berger and Alysa Chadow shared information on audible signal
products through their discussions with Mr. Ed Campbell, an audible signal supplier.
Secretary informed the commission that Mr. Campbell has provided audible signal products
to the City in the past via bidding process, the most recent being the audible signal upgrades
at the intersection of Park Street at Santa Clara Avenue and Park Street at Otis Drive.
2. Commissioner Jody Moore would like that the local newspaper(s) publish an article on
disability awareness. Commissioner Toby Berger stated that this could coincide with
Disability Awareness Month, which is held annually in October, and that it be placed on the
September agenda for further discussion.
3. Guest Ms. Mary Louis Lambert informed the commission that there is a video relay system
that works that interfaces with the internet to provide video sign language translation for the
hearing impaired, similar to TTY's which is a phone line based interface. The video relay
system requires a 256MB uplink that is available only with the ""business' level cable service.
The ""business level service is available by AP&T for an additional $10/month above the
Basic package. A commissioner suggested if AP&T could provide a medical discount.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2005-05-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-05-23,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
May 23, 2005
Minutes
Page 3 of 3
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:40 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, June 27th in Room
391, City Hall.
Sincerely,
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
By:
Ed Sommerauer
Associate Civil Engineer
ES:lc
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-08-22,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
August 22, 2005
Present: Berger, Bunker, Chadow, Chair Cooney, Fort, Vice-Chair Gwynne, Longley-Cook, Moore,
Absent/Excused: McGaughey, Seffens
Guests: Audrey Lard-Hausman
MINUTES: The minutes of May 23, 2005 where approved.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS:
None
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Pedestrian Access During Construction Projects:
Commissioner Toby Berger commented on the draft standards for pedestrian access during
construction projects and suggested several changes. These changes included stipulating that surfacing
be non-slippery when wet. The Commission agreed to present comments on the draft standards to the
secretary to incorporate into the final version. The secretary will check with other Cities about their
notification procedures.
2. Alameda Theater:
The acting secretary presented the proposed access plans for the renovated theater. There was
unanimous consent that the renovations are not adequate for a wide range of disabilities. The acting
secretary proposed that the Architect for the theater renovation attend the next meeting to discuss
accessibility issues.
3. Handicap Parking Spaces for Park Street Farmers Market:
The acting secretary stated that vehicles with handicap placard or plates can park at any metered
space. Temporary signs designating handicap spaces are available for events, such as the Farmer's
Market. Secretary to follow up. Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook stated that the current
Farmer's Market is not accessible friendly.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2005-08-22.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-08-22,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
August 22, 2005 Minutes
Page 2
4. Disability Awareness Month:
The acting secretary read the proposed proclamation to be read by Mayor Beverly Johnson at a City
Council meeting next month. A commissioner suggested that a press release be issued about the Alameda
Hospital Health Fair scheduled for October 15th
OLD BUSINESS:
5. Abilities EXPO:
Vice-Chair James Gwynne updated the Commission on the upcoming abilities EXPO on November
18th in Santa Clara. The Chair informed the vice-chair that there needed to be a clarification as to who
would get transportation to and from the EXPO. The Mastick Senior Center was prepared to provide
transportation only for members of the commission. Any misunderstanding or miscommunications
should be clarified as soon as possible.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS: None
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Guest Audrey Lard-Hausman said the members of the Police Academy ticket illegally parked vehicles
in spaces designated for handicap parking as well as vehicles parked on sidewalks. They will respond
to calls.
2. Commissioner Jody Moore volunteered to prepare handout information on disability issues for
children.
3. A commissioner suggested an award for construction projects that provide good accessibility.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, September 26th in Room 391,
City Hall.
Sincerely,
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
Robert Claire
Associate Civil Engineer
RC:lc
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-12-12,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
December 12, 2005
Present: Berger, Bunker, Chadow, Chair Cooney, Fort, Vice-Chair Gwynne, Longley-Cook,
Lord-Hausman, Moore, McGaughey,
Absent/Excused: Steffens
Guests: Firena Paulina
MINUTES: The minutes of August 22, 2005 where approved.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Free Shoppers Shuttle for Seniors:
Secretary distributed leaflet on ""free shoppers shuttle for seniors' schedule and pick up
locations. Commission questioned why limited to 75 years or older and to include service
animals.
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Election of Chair and Vice-Chair: (Chair Cooney)
Commission moved election of 2006 officers to the January 2006 meeting to conform the
bylaws.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Alameda Theater:
Commission reviewed City's/architects October 24, 2005 response to the Commission's
questions and made the following additional recommendations: 1) conduct additional
research into descriptive video applications by contacting Eric Lane at 1-800-443-0728,2) is
stadium seating still allowed under ADA guidelines and/or is there new ADA policy.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2005-12-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-12-12,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
August 22, 2005
Minutes
Page 2
2. Pedestrian Access During Construction Projects:
Commission moved their recommended ""standards for pedestrian access during construction
projects' with a minor correction. Secretary will forward to City Engineer.
3. Bylaw modifications:
The commission made the following draft modifications to the bylaws: 1) Article III.C.c.
change ""Failure to attend 75% of the meetings held during any 12-month period, whether
excused or not excused."" to ""Three unexcused absences within a calendar year will require a
reminder that one subsequent missed meeting could result in a dismissal from the
Commission."" b) Relabel 'a' to 'C'; ""b"" to 'a'; and 'C' to ""b'. 2) Article IV, C change ""The
Chair and Vice-Chair shall be elected by the Commission from its membership at the first
meeting of each year when the Commission is fully constituted."" To ""The Chair and Vice-
Chair shall be elected by the Commission from its membership at the December meeting of
each year. Term of office shall start in January."" and 3) Article V., A, change ""The
Commission shall meet at least once per year as necessary, on the fourth Monday of January,
at 7:30 p.m."" to ""The Commission shall meet at least once per year as necessary, on the
fourth Monday of the month at 7:30 p.m.""
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS:
Secretary informed the Commissioners that the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Webster Street is
being redesigned to eliminate the traffic island.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Commission Toby Berger informed the commission on Abilities Expo.
2. Commissioners would like a tour of the old Alameda Theater.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2005-12-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2005-12-12,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
August 22, 2005
Minutes
Page 3
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, January 23rd , 2006 in
Room 360, City Hall.
Sincerely,
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
Ed Somemrauer
Associate Civil Engineer
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-01-23,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
January 23, 2006
Present: Chair Cooney, Fort, Longley-Cook, Lord-Hausman, Moore, McGaughey
Absent/Excused: Berger, Bunker, Vice-Chair Gwynne, Steffens
Guests: Sean Lynch (APD)
MINUTES: The minutes of December 12, 2005 where approved with the following
correction: Change Oral Communications Item No. 1 ""Commission questioned why limited
to 75 years or older and to include service animals."" to ""Commissioner questioned
""
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS: none
NEW BUSINESS:
Election of Chair and Vice-Chair: (Chair Cooney)
Commission elected Ed Cooney - Chair and Jody Moore - Vice-Chair as 2006 officers.
Ayes 5, Nays 0.
OLD BUSINESS:
Status of Accommodation Recommendations and Accessibility during Construction
Guidelines and Policy Document:
Secretary informed commission that Public Works is reviewing the construction form. Chair
Cooney will assist staff in providing costs of various Braille transcription/sign language
interpreters.
Bvlaws Modification:
Commission reviewed and verified proposed changes to the bylaws. Needs City Council
approval. Secretary to follow up.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-01-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-01-23,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
January 23,
2006 Minutes
Page 2 of3
3. APD Volunteer Program:
Commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman and Officer Sean Lynch informed the commissioners
of the Alameda Police Department's volunteer program that allows participants to issue
parking citations to vehicles illegally parked in disabled parking spaces. Volunteers must be
graduates of the City's 10-week police academy program. The participants are also
compiling an inventory of locations of disabled parking spaces and any maintenance
requirements throughout the City.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS: none
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook updated the commission informational flyer and
requested staff to final changes.
2. Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook attended the January 18 Alameda Youth
Collaborative meeting and informed the commission on the Alameda Safe School
Environmental Team (ASSET) program whereby adults assist at-risk students.
3. A youth film festival will be held on February 25, 2006 at the Bay Theatre, Alameda Pointe.
4. Chair Ed Cooney reported that the audible signal at Park Street and Santa Clara Avenue
intersection is not loud enough.
5. Commissioner Gina McGaughey informed the commissioners that she will be resigning from
the commission.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-01-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-01-23,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
January 23,
2006 Minutes
Page 3 of3
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, February 27, 2006 in
Room 360, City Hall.
Sincerely,
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
Ed Somemrauer
Associate Civil Engineer
ES:lc
G:\pubworks\LT\MCD Disability Committee/2006\123min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-01-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-02-27,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
February 27, 2006
Present: Chair Cooney, Berger, Bunker, Fort, Longley-Cook, Lord-Hausman, Moore
Absent/Excused: Vice-Chair Gwynne, Steffens
Guests: Barry Bergman (Alameda Public Works), Susan Decker (Alameda Transit Advocates)
Rob Bonta (Social Services Human Relations Board), Alex Plumb (Bike Alameda)
MINUTES: The minutes of December 12, 2005 where approved with the following
correction: Change Old Business Item No. 1 by capitalizing Commission and change Oral
Communications Item No. 3 ""A youth film festival will be held on February 25, 2006 at the
Bay
Theatre, Alameda Pointe.' to ""A youth film festival will be held on February 25, 2006
at the Auctions by the Bay, Bay Theatre, Alameda Point.""
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS: none
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Alameda Transit Advocates:
Ms. Susan Decker, a member of Alameda Transit Advocates (ATA), stated that the aims
of ATA were convenient, reliable Public Transportation. Other aims are to get more bus
shelters and more red curbs at bus stops. The ATA has quarterly meetings, the next one
being next month. She handed out flyers describing their next meeting.
2. Potential Project Locations for Pedestrian Plan:
Barry Bergman, Program Specialist, Described the pedestrian plan that is just getting started
and solicited input from the Commission on problem intersections. The Commission
identified the following intersections; 1- - Atlantic and Webster, 2- Central and Webster, 3-
Taylor and Webster, 4- Lincoln and Park St., 5- Otis and Park St., 6- Central and Chestnut,
7- Central and Page, 8- Broadway and Blanding, 9- Island Drive at the Safeway exit, 10-
McCartney and Ironwood, 11 - Webster and Buena Vista, 12- Atlantic between Webster and
Constitution, 13- - Pacific and Constitution, 14 8th and Lincoln, 15- Constitution and Marina
Village Parkway.
3. Social Services Human Relations Board:
Rob Bonta, President of the Social Services Human Relations Board, described the purpose
of the Board. The Board communicates to the Council, public needs and interacts with
public programs. They work with Alameda Hospital, Recreation and Parks, police and the
Mastick",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-02-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-02-27,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 27,
2006 Minutes
Page 2 of2
Senior Center. He presented the results of a recent survey about percentages of families that
have members with disabilities and people that have stress anxieties and suffer depression.
OLD BUSINESS:
Status of Accommodation Recommendations:
Chair Cooney will present report on providing costs of various Braille
transcription/sign language interpreters at the next Commission meeting.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS: none
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman read a courtesy notice that can be placed on cars that
park on the sidewalks.
2. Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook reported on the Alameda Point Collaborative
meeting and their plans for a bicycle repair program.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, March 27, 2006 in
Room 360, City Hall.
Sincerely,
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
Robert Claire
Associate Civil Engineer
RC:lc
G:\pubworks\LT\MCD Disability Committee/2006/227min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-02-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-04-24,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
April 24, 2006
Present: Chair Cooney, Berger, Bunker, Fort, Longley-Cook, Lord-Hausman, Vice Chair Moore
Absent/Excused: Gwynne, Steffens
Guests: Ed Sommerauer (Alameda Public Works), Paullina Kirola
MINUTES: The minutes of February 27, 2006 were approved.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS: None
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Paratransit Advisory Meeting:
Chair Cooney reported on the April 24th meeting of the Paratransit Advisory Planning
Committee (PAPCo) held in Hayward. PAPCo was agreeable to use grant monies for signal
countdowns and sidewalk accessibility but were less favorable to using paratransit monies
for audible crossings since it was considered a secondary issue. However, ACTEA was
more agreeable for using grant monies for audibles.
2. Paratrasit Annual Program:
Ed Sommerauer, Associate Civil Engineer, presented to the Commission on Disability Issues
a proposed modification to the City of Alameda Paratransit Program. The City is proposing
a taxi scrip program to augment the existing program. There will be approximately $60,000
per year for this program. The Commission agreed to support a program that would
maximize the mobility of persons with disabilities.
The Commission also agreed that the program should consider the following:
-The program should serve seniors and persons with disabilities
-People over the age of 70 and disabled persons that qualify for East Bay Paratransit
Service would also qualify for the taxi scrip program.
-There should be no restrictions on the types of trips.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-04-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-04-24,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 24, 2006
Minutes
Page 2 of 3
- There should no restrictions on the number of trips.
-
The rider should pay on a 1:4 ratio (25%) of the fare, similar to the BART program.
- The current MRTIP program that provides trips to passengers free of charge should
continue unchanged.
A motion to have Chairman Cooney write a letter describing the Commission's
recommendations was proposed by Charles Bunker and second by Adrienne Longly-Cook
The motion passed unanimously.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Status of Accommodation Recommendations:
Chair Cooney will present report on providing costs of various Braille transcriptions/sign
language interpreters at the next Commission meeting.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Ed Sommerauer discussed accessibility to the newly opened Ortez Restaurant on Webster
Street. The main entrance to the restaurant is from the parking lot off Pacific Street.
Currently there is a decal on the door opening onto Webster Street directing people to the
accessible entrance of the parking lot. The Commission recommended a sign, not a decal,
would be used to direct disabled people to the main entrance.
2. Ed Sommerauer handed out a flyer describing the theater project. The Commission's
contributions to the project were acknowledged in the flyer
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Chairman Ed Cooney received a phone call from a woman who requested that the curb in
front of her residence be painted blue. The item will be placed on the agenda for the next
meeting.
2. Commissioner Jody Moore volunteered to man a booth at the Festival of Families on May
13.
3. Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook said construction during the renovation of the
Towne Center has created accessibility problems.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-04-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-04-24,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 24, 2006
Minutes
Page 3 of 3
4. Commissioner Toby Berger mentioned that the first Concert at the Cove for this year would
be held on June 9. The commission will have a booth. Additional concerts will be in July
and August.
5. Commissioner Charles Bunker mentioned that the Pier 29 Restaurant would relocate to the
former Wale's Tail Restaurant located on Bellina Boulevard.
6.
Commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman reminded the Commission that Meet Your Public
Officials event will occur on April 28th between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:40 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, May 22, 2006 in
Room 360, City Hall.
Sincerely,
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
Robert Claire
Associate Civil Engineer
RC:lc
G:\pubworks\LT\MCD Disability Committee/2006/424min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-04-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-06-26,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
June 26, 2006
Present: Berger, Bunker, Chair Cooney, Fort, Longley-Cook, Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Moore
Absent/Excused: Gwynne, Steffens
Guests: Peggy Hakanson, Paulina Kirola, and Elvira Brochier
MINUTES: The minutes of April 24, 2006 where approved with the following corrections: a) New
Business, Item No. 2, change title from ""Paratrasit
"" to ""Paratransit
""
and
1st
sentence of last
paragraph
and second ""to"" "" and seconded
"";b) Staff Communications, Item No. 1, change
""
Ortez
""to"" Otaez c) Staff Communications, Item No. 5, change ""
former Wale's Tail
Bellina Boulevard"" to ""
former Whale's Tail
Ballena Boulevard.""
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Axis Dance Company, an Oakland based dance company composed of disabled and non-
disabled dancers has been promoting dance and disability awareness and would like to
perform for the City during Disability Awareness Month in October. Vice-Chair Jodie
Moore and Commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman will report back at the Commission's July
meeting with further information.
2. Resources for Community Development will be having a grand opening of the Breakers at
Bayport Development located at 459 Neptune Garden on Thursday, June 29 from 4:00-6:00
p.m.
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Parking:
Guest Ms. Elvira Brochier requested that a blue disabled parking space be provided on
Melrose Avenue in front of her Garden Isle residence as she is disabled and has difficulty
finding a vacant nearby parking space on the street. She informed the commission that she
has a garage accessible from Mangrove Avenue which is occupied by her other vehicle and
that she rotates the vehicles in order not to wear down the car batteries. She also stated that
while there is guest parking within the private development there are no spaces allocated for
the disabled. Chair Ed Cooney informed her that the commission does not have the authority
to establish policy and can only make recommendations. The commission provided the",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-06-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-06-26,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
June 26,2006
Minutes
Page 2 of 3
following suggestions: 1) That she write a letter to the Homeowner's Association requesting
that a guest parking space(s) be converted to a handicap parking space(s) and that she may
want to get the backing of other homeowners who may also have disabled parking space
problems and 2) that she contact Friends of Alameda who could possibly assist her in
rotating her vehicles. The commission also informed her that blue zones are not created for
personal parking spaces but can be used by any person displaying a disabled parking placard
or disabled license plate.
OLD BUSINESS
1. Status of Accommodation Recommendations:
Upon discussion on the status of the commission's ""Recommendations for ADA Policies'
with the Secretary, the commission moved that Public Works staff make a presentation at the
commission's July 24 meeting as the commission would like to forward it's recommendation
to the City Council in September.
2. Paratransit Annual Program:
Chair Cooney updated the commission on the Alameda County Paratransit Advisory &
Planning Committee (PAPCO) meeting he attended along with City staff. The proposed
fiscal year paratransit plan, which included funding for audible traffic signal upgrades along
transit routes, was approved by PAPCO Senior Center.
3.
Atlantic Avenue/Webster Street Intersection Improvements:
The commission reviewed the plans for the proposed intersection modifications at Atlantic
Avenue and Webster Street which includes removal of the existing traffic right turn islands
near the college, a curb bulb-out on Webster Street adjacent to the senior housing complex,
cross-walks having texture treatment as an aid to the visually impaired, audible signals,
increased ped-signal walk time for pedestrian intersection crossing, and removal of the
existing free right turn from southbound Webster Street onto west bound Ralph Appezzato
Memorial Parkway adjacent to the college. Commissioner's Ed Cooney and Steve Fort
requested that the drawing exhibit be enhanced with texture treatment so that they could
have a better understanding of the proposed improvements. Secretary will provide enhanced
plan at the July commissioner's meeting.
4. Bayport Park:
The commission reviewed the proposed Bayport Park improvements and by motion
approved that the Chair write a letter to the Acting Director of the Recreation & Parks
Department. The commission's recommendations are: a) walkways and a hardscape area be
provided at the baseball fields within the vicinity of the infield fence area as the current
proposal indicates only lawn between the parking lot sidewalk and the field, 2) walkway and
hardscape areas should also be provided for the soccer field at various locations, and 3) some
of the playground equipment components should be usable by the disabled.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS: None",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-06-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-06-26,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
June 26, 2006
Minutes
Page 3 of 3
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook reported that she attended the Alameda Point
Collaborative meeting and that 1) the 10th year anniversary of the collaborative will be
held on November 21st and suggested that the commission might want to provide an item
for the proposed time capsule and 2) the teen program provided the following website
sfbaycareerrmap.org to ""explore your interests, discover your career direction'.
2. Commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman stated that she would attend the Transportation
Commission meeting this Thursday regarding the Towne Centre renovation project. The
commission was in agreement that accessibility during the renovations could be
improved.
3 Commissioner's Toby Berger and Adrienne Longley-Cook staffed the commission booth
at the Crab Cove summer concert program and provided information to several
passerby's. The next concert is scheduled for July 14, 2006.
4. Vice-Chair Jody Moore provided an informational source on heavy metal toxicity.
5. Chair Ed Cooney would like to discuss availability to staff reports at the next meeting.
Secretary informed the commission that City Council and Planning Board meeting staff
reports are available to the public at the City Clerk's office.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, July 24th, 2006 in
Room 360, City Hall.
Sincerely,
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
Ed Sommerauer
Associate Civil Engineer
ES:lc
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-07-24,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
July 24, 2006
Present: Berger, Bunker, Chair Cooney, Fort, Longley-Cook, Lord-Hausman, Kirola, Vice-Chair
Moore (left at 8:15)
Absent/Excused: Crone, Steffens
Guests: None
MINUTES: The minutes of April 24, 2006 were approved with the following corrections: a) ""were
approved"" not ""where approved"" in Minutes section.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS: None
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Disability Awareness Month Activities.
The commissioners discussed the proposed performance of Axis Dance Company, which is directed
by Molly McFarlane, an Alameda resident. The group will be doing performances in San Francisco
and Oakland, and has asked for a $500 stipend from those cities, but are willing to work with
Alameda on an alternative amount. Concerns about the performance include the weather in October,
what day to have it, ground surface for the dancers if out-of-doors, size of performance area
(preferably 30 feet by 20 feet, but 20 feet by 20 feet would be OK), source of funding for stipend and
other expenses, conflicting events such as Yom Kippur (October 1st), theme, banner proclaiming
""Disability Awareness Month"", if there should be speakers such as the Mayor as well, microphone
and loudspeaker needs, Commissioner and Vice Chairman Moore and Commissioner Lord-Hausman
will speak with Ms. McFarlane, the School District, Parks and Recreation, and Debbie Opperud,
Special Olympics Coach, and will have a full proposal for decision making at the August meeting. In
the interim, comments among commissioners will be circulated through Chair Cooney. Chair
Cooney will speak with Ed Sommerauer to ensure that the proclamation by Council is requested in a
timely manner.
2. Availability of Staff Reports
Staff presented recommendations: Policy changes are the only comments that go directly to Council.
Environmental document comments go to the Planning Department, to be taken under advisement
for their staff comments to Council. Improvement plan comments go to Public Works Department,
to be taken under advisement for their staff comments to Council. The Commission would like to be
on the leading edge of the planning process, not the tail end. As examples, Chair Cooney mentioned
the Washington Dog Park, Webster Street Improvements, and the Theater. There was some question
as",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-07-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-07-24,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 24, 2006
Minutes
Page 2 of 3
to how to present the improvement projects in a way that is accessible to all members, especially
those who cannot see the plan sets. Wooden models are highly appreciated. Sandpaper cutouts on
paperboard are useful for simple drawings.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Accessibility Policy:
Staff presented certain changes recommended to make the policy more specific. The changes
were met with approval. Staff will make the changes, write up a staff report to accompany it,
and then submit it to Council for their approval. Staff was directed to come up with a budget
to implement the policy, and a source of funding. For example, there should be more
extensive signage of what is available, such as assistive listening devices, in meeting halls.
There should be a standardized statement on all agendas as to what is available at meetings
and in advance of meetings. The agendas and announcements should be available in a variety
of forms - not everyone has access to the city website, or can read the newspaper. There
should be people with disabilities serving on other commissions. The Commissioners
discussed the need to have an ADA expert in each department. Staff informed the
Commission of the intent by Risk Management to hire an accessibility issues staff person,
and the Commissioners expressed interest in being involved in the hiring process, budget,
and accountability related to this new position. The Chair requested that staff provide a copy
of the ADA and Title 24 in Braille, tape, or screen-readable format for himself, and Braille
or tape format for Commissioner Fort.
2. Bayport Park:
There is some concern that there may not be enough accessible toilets for women and
children at Bayport Park. Staff will double check and report back.
3. Events Calendar:
The next concert in Crab Cove is August 11th Commissioners Longley-Cook and Berger
will again attend and offer information, including a flyer from the Transportation and Land
Use Coalition entitled ""Alameda for Seniors and Persons with Disabilities"" They will look
into obtaining large print and Braille copies as well.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS: None
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Commissioner Langly-Cook attended the Transportation Commission meeting June 29th ,
and, regarding the Towne Centre renovation project. She was pleased to see the
accessibility improvements. Commissioner Lord-Hausman will attend next month, when
South Shore will again be discussed.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-07-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-07-24,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 24, 2006
Minutes
Page 3 of 3
2.
The July 20th edition of the Alameda Sun, mentioned Commissioner Langly-Cook in the
article ""Where the Sidewalk Ends""
3. Commissioner Cooney stated that a policy on construction was passed last March and
sent out to contractors, to the best of his knowledge. He would like staff to double check
this.
4. The Miracle League Baseball group is partnering with Alameda Rotary. The local
representative is Roberta Rockwell. This involves a modified, rubberized field that is
accessible to players with disabilities. They have 300 eligible kids. Catellus has offered
some land, and the Giants and A's are interested in participating. The construction date
is planned for the Spring of 2008. The Commission would like a representative to speak
at their next meeting. Commissioner Lord-Hausman will follow up, and request that Ms.
Rockwell be allowed to speak as the first item of business.
5. Commissioner Steffans has not attended the last few meetings. Chair Cooney will ask
for her resignation.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:35 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, August 28, 2006 in
Room 360, City Hall.
Sincerely,
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
Laurie Kozisek
Associate Civil Engineer
LK:lc
G:\pubworks\LT\MCD Disability Committee/2006\724min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-07-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-09-25,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
September 25, 2006
Present: Berger, Bunker, Longley-Cook, Chair Cooney, Fort, and Lord-Hausman
Absent/Excused: Vice-Chair Moore, Kirola
Guests: Lucy Gigli, Joan Steber (Bike Alameda)
MINUTES: The minutes of August 28, 2006 were approved as submitted.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS: none
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Bike Alameda.
Guest Ms. Gigli and Steber informed the commission on Bike Alameda's campaign for an
alternative Estuary crossing, as the existing tube is not bike or pedestrian user friendly. Bike
Alameda is hopeful that a water shuttle/taxi between Alameda Landing and Jack London
Square will be implemented and is seeking support from the commission and other interest
groups. Though the commission did not disagree on the concept they did have some
reservations. In general once disembarking from the water shuttle there are no other transit
or disability accessible facilities on either end for the disabled. Chair Ed Cooney's opinion
was that the shuttle was not relevant to the disabled. Commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman
was concern about accessibility on the shuttle and once one disembarks where does one go.
Commissioner Charles Bunker stated that access from the dock at Jack London Village is
very steep. Commissioner Toby Berger thought the shuttle is a great idea but how does a
disabled person get to the shuttle. Commissioner Steve Fort thought it was important that
the commission provide input now. Commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman withdrew her
motion to support Bike Alameda's endeavor, as she was not sure that that was within the
commission's roles and responsibility.
2. Ninth Street Remodeling Project
Commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman informed the commission on her attending the
historical advisory meeting regarding remodeling of an existing 3-unit building on Ninth
Street. Though she did not represent the commission she had spoken with the owner on
making the building more ADA accessible. The owner was very open and appreciated her
suggestions.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-09-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-09-25,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
September 25,2006
2006 Minutes
Page 2 of 3
3. Press Release
Chair Ed Cooney and commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman will met and discuss items for a
press release on October Disability Awareness month. October is also white cane and
disability employment awareness month. A Disability Awareness Month proclamation will
be presented by the City Council at the council meeting of October 3rd
4. Alameda Hospital Health Fair: (Lord-Hausman)
Commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman informed the commission about the October 21st,
2006 Alameda Hospital Annual Community Health Fair. The event will be held from 9:00
a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the hospital. Commissioner's Adrienne Longley-Cook and Audrey will
contact the director of relations for a Commission table at the event.
5. Assembly Bill 1234 Ethics Training: (Secretary)
The secretary informed the commission on the City's mandatory ethics training requirements
for all elected and appointed officials. Deadline for completing the training and taking the
exam is January 1, 2007. The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) is providing
training on December 11th from 10 a.m. to noon. Secretary informed the commissioners that
Public Works will provide assistance to attend the ABAG training if commission members
can not do the training and testing on their own. Chair Ed Cooney, commissioners Charles
Bunker and Toby Berger stated that they would like to attend.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Status of Accommodation Recommendations:
The secretary reviewed the public works proposed changes to the Commission's
""Recommendations for ADA Policies'. Commissioner Toby Berger was not satisfied with
the proposed changes and will discuss further at the October meeting.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS: None
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook informed the commission about the upcoming
November 15th Alameda Youth Collaborative meeting. A time capsule commemorating
the 10th year of the collaborative will be buried and the Collaborative is requesting items
for inclusion into the time capsule. Commissioner suggested roster and a photo.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-09-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-09-25,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
September 25,2006
2006 Minutes
Page 2 of 3
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:35 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, October 23, 2006 in
Room 360, City Hall.
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
Ed Sommerauer
Associate Civil Engineer
ES:lc
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-10-23,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
October 23, 2006
PRESENT: Berger, Bunker, Longley-Cook, Chair Cooney, Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Moore
ABSENT/EXCUSED: Fort, Kirola
GUESTS: Stefany Pittman, City Manager Debra Kurita
City Manager Debra Kurita introduced herself to the Commission, gave a background of her career
and education, and thanked the Commissioners for volunteering their time. Chair Ed Cooney and
the Commissioners then expressed their concerns, especially the lack of pedestrian access along the
existing Oak Street sidewalk at the proposed parking garage site. The Commissioners suggested
making Oak Street a one-way street or removal of parking on the west side temporarily in order to
accommodate pedestrians adjacent to the construction site. The Secretary informed the Commission
that traffic implications to the neighboring streets and turning restrictions onto Central Avenue and
Santa Clara Avenue from Oak Street would need to be assessed. The Secretary informed the
Commission that the City has hired a new Assistant Risk Manager, Lucretia Akil, who will also be
the City's ADA coordinator and that their concerns should be presented to her.
MINUTES: The minutes of September 25, 2006 were approved with the following corrections: 1)
New Business Item #3, Press Release - change ""met"" to ""meet"", and 2) New Business, Item #4,
Alameda Hospital Health Fair, change ""Commissioner's Adrienne Longley-Cook and Audrey Lord-
Hausman
will contact to ""Commissioner's Adrienne Longley-Cook and Toby Berger will staff
the table at the event"".
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS: None
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Internet Service Rates and Speed.
Tabled because interested Alameda resident Ms. Marylouise Lambert was not in attendance
at the meeting.
2. Audible Traffic Signals
Tabled because interested Alameda resident Ms. Marylouise Lambert was not in attendance
at the meeting.
3. In-pavement Lights at Various Crosswalk Locations
The proposed secretary discussed the in-pavement crosswalk light construction plans with",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-10-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-10-23,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 23,2006
2006 Minutes
Page 2
Commission. The proposed locations are: a) Park Street at Pacific Avenue, b) Park Street at
Webb Avenue/Times Way, c) Park Street mid-street crosswalk between Santa Clara Avenue
and Central, and d) Webster Street at Taylor Avenue. Commissioner Adrienne Longley-
Cook asked why the locations selected for the inpavement lights were only along Park Street
and Webster Street. In particular she questioned why locations at Shore Line Drive and
Willow Street were not selected. The Secretary informed the Commission that the project is
grant funded and that these locations cannot be changed. The Secretary will forward
suggested location to staff for future consideration. Commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman
stated that the community needs to be better informed on the intent and purpose of the
lighted crosswalks, that they should not be treated like a crosswalk at a traffic signal. A
suggestion was made that AP&T CATV Channel 31 be used as an outreach and training aid.
Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook stated that some of the lights at the Eighth
Street/Portola Street lighted crosswalk are not working. The Secretary will inform
Maintenance staff.
4. Pedestrian Access during Construction of Parking Garage:
See minutes under Guest above for comments of pedestrian access. Commissioner
Adrienne Longley-Cook stated that pedestrians, including a large number of high school
students, are walking in the middle of Oak Street and not using the open west side sidewalk.
Motion carried to recommend that temporary access be provided for safe access on the east
side of Oak Street.
OLD BUSINESS:
5. Cineplex Theater:
The Secretary reviewed the Cineplex building plans with the Commission. Most of the
eleven suggestions by the Commission's October 24, 2005 have been included in the design.
Commissioner Charles Bunker was still concerned that disabled seating locations were too
close to the screen. The Secretary informed Mr. Bunker that these locations are the standard
locations for a stadium seating style Cineplex. Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook
stated that there was an insufficient number of assisted living devices provided for each
auditorium. The Secretary will contact the architect to discuss how the numbers of assisted
living devices was determined. The Secretary assumes that they conform to ADA standards.
6. Alameda Hospital Health Fair:
Commission will have a table at the fair.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-10-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-10-23,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 23,2006
2006 Minutes
Page 3
7. Alameda Youth Collaborative:
Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook informed the Commission about the Collaborative
questionnaire informational slip which will be included in the Collaborative 10th year time
capsule. The Commission moved that the following information will be provided in the time
capsule: 1) Name - Commission on Disability Issues; 2) Size - The number will be based on
the 1996 census report, 10,000 disabled and 2006 census report, 12,500; 3) Benefits -
informing various City and Civic groups on the needs of the disabled community. Making
groups and agencies aware of accessibility needs to all public events; and 4) include photos
of the City Hall parking lot ramp and the Park Street/Santa Clara Avenue intersection
countdown pedestrian signal.
8. Press Release:
Chair Ed Cooney reviewed the October Disability Awareness month press release.
Commission approved without corrections.
9. Assembly Bill 1234-Ethics - Training: (Secretary)
The Commission moved for a special meeting on November 13th at 7:30 p.m. to take the
ethics training and exam. Secretary to reserve City Hall Room 360.
10. Status of Accommodation Recommendations:
Tabled. Policy recommendations to be part of Assistant Risk Manager/ADA coordinator's
transition plan.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS: None
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Vice-Chair Jody Moore would like to have the Albany School District Superintendent
address the Commission at a future meeting on the districts blue ribbon Commission on
Autism.
2. Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook informed the Commission that the Santa Clara
Convention Center will be hosting its annual Disability Exposition on November 3-5th
3. Commission Audrey Lord-Hausman stated that she will be attending a luncheon given by the
International Council of Shopping Centers that will include a guest speaker on ""Changes in
ADA'.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-10-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-10-23,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 23,2006
2006 Minutes
Page 4
4. Commissioner Charles Bunker informed the Commission; a) that the shrubs that where
protruding into the pedestrian/bike path along Constitution Way have been trimmed, and b)
the Red Cross will be meeting this Tuesday on the Disaster Registry program.
5.
Commissioner Toby Berger informed the Commission that Disability Sports USA has
opened a baseball field, which was made possible through many contributions. The
information will be forwarded to Ms. Roberta Rockwell via Audrey Lord-Hausman.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, November 27th, 2006
in Room 360, City Hall. A special meeting for ethics training will be held on November 13th, , room
to be determined.
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
Ed Sommerauer
Associate Civil Engineer
ES:lc
G:\pubworks\LT\MCD Disability Committee/2006\1023min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-10-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-12-11,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
December 11, 2006
PRESENT:
Berger, Bunker, Longley-Cook, Chair Cooney, Fort, Hakanson, Lord-Hausman,
Kirola, and Vice-Chair Moore
ABSENT/EXCUSED:
GUESTS: Marie Asejo and Alain Lacambra
MINUTES: The minutes of October 23, 2006 were approved with the following corrections: 1)
under guest change their concerns 'to ' their concerns and frustrations
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS:
The secretary informed the Commission that Assistant Risk Manager Ms. Lucretia Akil will
be taking over as Commission Secretary as of March 2007 and will also be the City's ADA
coordinator. Commissioner Toby Berger recommended that the suggested Commission
ADA policy recommendations and the ""pedestrian access during construction' criteria be
tabled until Lucretia takes over.
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Election of Chair and Vice-Chair
The Commissioners elected Audrey Lord-Hausman for Chair and re-elected Jody Moore for
Vice-Chair for 2007. Chair Ed Cooney thanked the commission for their contributions
throughout the year and providing him with assistance and backing during his term as Chair.
OLD BUSINESS:
2. Cineplex Theater:
The Secretary informed the Commission of the architect's response to the following
suggestions raised by the Commission: a) The number of assisted listening devices for each
theater was based on ADA and Title 24 requirements. Commissioner Toby Berger was still
concerned and would like to know if the audible system allows for increasing the number of
devices should their be a demand in the future. Secretary to follow up, b) A fold down
changing table has been provided in the men's restroom, c) Towel dispensers will have built",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-12-11.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-12-11,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
December
11,2006
2006 Minutes
Page 2 of 3
in trash receptacles, d) Hooks have been installed in all stalls. Commissioner Toby Berger
recommended that the hooks be close to the water closet in the stalls, e) Other than the
disabled stall, no additional grab bars will be installed in the other men's stalls. Placement
of grab bars in the other stalls would require that these stalls be made totally ADA
accessible.
Chair Ed Cooney reported on his meeting with City staff and the parking garage contractor
regarding pedestrian access along the Oak Street construction site. The Commission is
aware that there is no pedestrian access along the east side of Oak Street. The contractor has
relocated the construction fence closer to the curb and provided a coned refuge area along
the side of the construction fence, should pedestrians disregard the 'sidewalk closed' signs.
3. Alameda Hospital Health Fair:
Commissioner Toby Berger informed the Commission that she and Commissioner Adrienne
Longley-Cook had a table and represented the Commission at the health fair. Numerous
people asked questions. She recommended that the Commission continue to participate in
the annual fair.
4. Alameda Youth Collaborative:
Commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman informed the Commission that Commissioner
Adrienne Longley-Cook provided the information to the Alameda Youth Collaborative for
the 10th year time capsule.
5. Disaster Registry Program:
Commissioner Charles Bunker informed the Commission that the disaster registry
application has been revised to make it easier to fill out. There are currently twenty-five
applications on record.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS: none
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Commissioner Charles Bunker stated that the sidewalk has been uplifted at the Ballena
Boulevard Bridge. Secretary will follow up.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-12-11.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2006-12-11,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
December
11,2006
2006 Minutes
Page 3 of 3
2. Commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman informed the Commission that; a) there is an ADA
Best
Practices
Tool
Kit
for
State
and
Local
Governments
at
www.usdoj.gov/ada/pcatoolkit/abouttoolkit.htm, and b) Disability Rights Advocates has
filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Transportation. The lawsuit seeks to fix
access barriers along pedestrian rights-of-way, including sidewalks, crosswalks, pathways,
and Park and Ride facilities under the control of Caltrans.
3. Commissioner Jody Moore informed the Commission a green light was given for the
Alameda Landing development and that the Miracle League field is closer to becoming a
reality.
4. Chair Ed Cooney informed the Commissioners that they are invited to the City's
Development Services groundbreaking ceremonies for the Habitat for Humanity eight
residential homes site at 626 Buena Vista Avenue on Tuesday, December 12.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, January 29th, 2007 in
Room 360, City Hall.
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
Ed Sommerauer
Associate Civil Engineer
ES:lc
G:\pubworks\LT\MCD Disability Committee/2006\1211min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2006-12-11.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-01-29,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
January 29, 2007
PRESENT: Berger, Bunker, Longley-Cook, Cooney, Chair Lord-Hausman, and Vice-Chair
Moore
ABSENT/EXCUSED: Fort, Hakanson, Kirola
GUESTS: Lucretia Akil, Assistant Risk Manager
MINUTES: The minutes of December 11, 2006 were approved with the following corrections: 1)
per Commissioner Charles Bunker change the October 23, 2006 minutes under guest from '
their
,
c
concerns
to
their concerns and frustrations on their recommendations
and 2) Old
Business, Item #5 change
'
application has been
'to'
application will be
and ""The City
Attorney's office has revised the application wording'
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS: none
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Grand Marina Master Plan:
The secretary informed the Commission of the proposed 40-unit residential development at
the north end of Grand Street. Commissioner Toby Berger stated that some of the dwellings
will be available for various lower income levels and suggested that the Commission meet
with the architects during the design to make accessibility recommends. Secretary will
notify staff planner regarding Toby's suggestion.
2. Commissioner Duties:
Commissioner Ed Cooney suggested that the Commission take the initiative to track City
projects so that the Commission can make suggestions during the initial phases of projects
rather than in the latter stages. Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman informed the Commission of
the focus of various City commissions, boards and committees. The Secretary, Assistant
Risk Manager and Audrey will meet to determine which commission, boards and committees
meeting agendas would best benefit the Disability Commission.
3. Staff Transition: The secretary informed the Commission that Lucretia Akil, Assistant
Risk Manager, will be taking over the duties of secretary from the Public Works Department
starting in March, 2007.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-01-29.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-01-29,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
January 29, 2007
Minutes
Page 2 of 2
OLD BUSINESS: none
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS: none
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook stated that the Alameda Youth Collaborative will
hold a ""2007 Season for Nonviolence Speech Contest' for middle and high school students
on January 17-19 and a Citywide speech contest on March 17. The ""Season for
Nonviolence' is held annually every January 30-April 4, honoring the work of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.
2. Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman would like to have the two vacant seats on the Commission
filled. Secretary will inform the City Clerk.
3. Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman recommended that the City's website on the Disability
Commission include links to other disability references and information or dissemination
web sites. The web site wheelchairtrails.net has a listing of trails that are accessible to
wheelchair users.
4. Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman passed out a pamphlet entitled 'East Bay Innovations', that
listed resources providing services to people with disabilities in Alameda County. It was
suggested that a representative from East Bay Innovations attend the March Commission
meeting to discuss the program.
5. Commissioner Ed Cooney informed the Commission that the City is looking for a volunteer
to serve on the PAPCO committee. For more information contact Barry Bergman of the
Public Works Department at 749-5916.
6. Members were asked to bring to the next meeting a list of websites organizations to be
considered for inclusion.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, February 26th, 2007 in
Room 360, City Hall.
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
Ed Sommerauer
Associate Civil Engineer
ES:lc
G:\pubworks\LTMCD Disability Committee/2007\129min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-01-29.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-02-26,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
February 26, 2007
PRESENT: Berger, Bunker, Longley-Cook, Cooney, Fort, Hakanson, Chair Lord-Hausman, and
Kirola
ABSENT/EXCUSED: Vice-Chair Moore
GUESTS: Tom Heinz (Eastbay Innovations), Cathy Nielson (SSHRB), Robbie Kritz
MINUTES: The minutes of January 29, 2007 were approved as submitted.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS:
NEW BUSINESS:
1. City Needs Assessment:
Social Services Human Relations Board member Ms. Cathy Nielsen distributed copies and
provided a brief overview of the City's 2005-2006 Needs Assessment. The Needs
Assessment evaluated the social service and human relations needs and resources of
Alamedans. The study was comprised of two parts; a survey of Alameda households and a
series of focus groups. Of the 531 residents who completed the survey slightly more than
28% said they or someone in their family has a disability. In response to a question by
Commissioner Ed Cooney, Ms. Nielson informed the Commission that the SSHRB would be
increasing their outreach methods (i.e. Alameda Collaborative). Commissioner Toby Berger
inquired about the results of prior assessments to which Ms. Nielson replied that the
Alameda Food Bank and Alameda Collaborative are two examples of what was achieved
from the prior assessment.
2. East Bay Innovations:
Mr. Tom Heinz, Executive Director, East Bay Innovations (EBI), informed the Commission
EBI is a private non-profit organization which offers a variety of services to help persons
with disabilities live and work independently. The services provided are: 1) supported
living services, 2) independent living services and 3) supported employment. For additional
information East Bay Innovations can be reached at (510) 618-1580 or
www.eastbayInnovations.com",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-02-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-02-26,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 26, 2007
Minutes
Page 2 of 3
OLD BUSINESS:
3)
Commissioner Duties: (Chair Lord-Hausman)
The discussion about the Commissioner's roles in taking responsibility to inform the
Commission of other City Boards and Committees agendas as they relate to ADA was
tabled.
4)
PAPCO:
Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman informed the Commission that the City is still seeking
a
volunteer to serve on the PAPCO Commission. To qualify, volunteers must be eligible for
paratransit.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS: none
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Commissioner Charles Bunker informed the Commission that he needs a ride to the
meetings.
2. Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman stated that the City Clerk thus far has not received any
applications for candidacy to fill the two vacant seats on the Commission.
3. Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman informed the Commission that the City Council approved the
solicitation of bids for Audible Traffic Signal at Various Locations and asked that an item be
placed on the March Commission agenda for information purposes.
4.
Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook informed the Commission that this year's Crab Cove
summer concerts would be held on June 8th, July 13th and August 10th",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-02-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-02-26,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 26, 2007
Minutes
Page 3 of 3
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, March 26th, 2007 in
Room 360, City Hall.
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
Ed Sommerauer
Associate Civil Engineer
ES:lc
G:\pubworks\LTMMD Disability Committee/2007/226min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-02-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-03-26,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
March 26, 2007
PRESENT: Longley-Cook, Cooney, Hakanson, Chair Lord-Hausman, and Kirola
ABSENT/EXCUSED: Berger, Bunker, Fort, Vice-Chair Moore
GUESTS: Mary Louise Lambert, Barry Bergman (Alameda Public Works)
MINUTES: The minutes of February 26, 2007 were approved as submitted.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS:
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Audible Traffic Signal Project:
Chair Lord-Hausman read a letter from Trung Nguyan Assistant Engineer, Alameda Public
Works requesting a training session for the new Countdown Pedestrian Head and Audible
Pedestrian Signals at 25 intersections. Chair Lord-Hausman then read her response
supporting the instructional training and agreeing to agendize a regular meeting of the
Commission to include the training. The proposed new signals will not include tactile plates
because of funding constraints. Commissioner Cooney suggested that Linda Myers would be
a good source for information regarding tactile signals. Mary Louise Lambert was requested
to send a letter to the Commission suggesting intersections that would be candidates for
tactile signals.
2. Paratransit Program Annual Submittal:
Mr. Barry Bergman gave an overview of last year's paratransit funding from measure B and
discussed ideas for expanding the program. The existing program includes purchasing of
East Bay Paratransit coupons, providing taxi trips for riders to return home from medical
facilities, providing service to areas not served by East Bay Paratransit, offering group trips
through the Mastick Senior Center, and providing transit scholarships for the poor. The
expanded program would include opening up the taxi program to all seniors age 75 and
older, and those 70 and up without a driver's license. Mr. Bergman then requested any
suggestions for new program ideas and for providing additional outreach. The Commission
suggested the following: College of Alameda, the Commission's booth at the Concerts at the
Cove, Alameda Hospital Health Fare, Regional Center, Special Olympics, East Bay
Innovations, City web site, World Institute on Disability (WID) and AP&T. Chair Lord-
Hausman requested that any additional suggestions be sent to her.
OLD BUSINESS:",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-03-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-03-26,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
March 26, 2007
Minutes
Page 2 of 3
3. Commissioner Duties: (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman requested volunteers to monitor other City Boards and Committees.
Commissioner Longly-Cook volunteered to monitor the Transportation Commission and
Chair Lord-Hausman volunteered to monitor the Planning Board. Commissioner Cooney
will review the Agenda of the City Council meetings to see if there are any issues that would
interest the Commission.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS:
4. Acting Secretary showed a model of the intersection of Webster Street and Atlantic Avenue.
The Commission requested additional information about the planned changes to the
intersection. Commissioner Cooney requested that similar models be made of other
intersections.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Commissioner Longley-Cook informed the Commission of the Arthritis Expo at the Hyatt
Regency in Burlingame on September 15 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
2. Commissioner Cooney suggested that planning begin for the Disability Awareness Month
in October.
3. Mary Louise Lambert suggested that special Religious Education (SPRED) be contacted for
possible new Commissioners.
4. Chair Lord-Hausman informed the Commission that the League of Woman Voters would be
holding its Meet Your Public Officials event on April 26 and all Commissioners should be
receiving invitations.
5. Chair Lord -Hausman suggested that Mike Corbett from Harsh Management be invited to
the April meeting to discuss the improvements to the Towne Centre. Commissioner Cooney
would like to review the model of the Centre.
6. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the Market Place parking lot on Buena Vista Avenue has 26
spaces, none of which are marked for the disabled. Parking near the Alameda Marina
appears to have insufficient disabled parking spaces. The new parking spaces at Alameda
High, Walnut Street entrance, are poorly marked.
7. Chair Lord-Hausman presented information about the standard Taxi that can accommodate
wheelchairs and scooters.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-03-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-03-26,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
March 26, 2007
Minutes
Page 3 of 3
8. Chair Lord-Hausman suggested that there should be Disability Friendly Business Awards.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:10 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, April 23, 2007 in
Room 360 at City Hall.
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
Robert Claire
Associate Civil Engineer
RC:lc
G:\pubworks\LTMCD Disability Committee/2007/326min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-03-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-04-23,1,"OF
City of Alameda
California
$
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
April 23, 2007
PRESENT: Berger, Bunker, Fort, Vice-Chair Moore, Longley-Cook, Cooney, Chair Lord-
Hausman, and Kirola
ABSENT/EXCUSED: Hakanson
GUESTS: Lucretia Akil (Assistant Risk Manager)
MINUTES: The minutes of March 26, 2007 were approved as submitted.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS:
1. The agenda and minutes of the Social Service Human Relations Board were read by the
secretary.
NEW BUSINESS:
1.
Draft Transportation Element for General Plan Amendment California Environmental
Quality Act Review:
The draft Transportation Element (TE) was distributed to the Commissioners. The
transportation element consists of the following five items: 1) draft Multimodal Circulation
Plan goals and policies, 2) draft Pedestrian Plan policies, 3) draft policies regarding the
review of environmental impact reports (EIRs), 4) draft Street Functional Classification
System, and 5) draft TSM/TDM policies. Commissioner Ed Cooney informed the
Commission that he had attended past meetings and reviewed the draft and hadn't found
anything that would be of interest to the commission or anything against the element.
However, each commissioner should review and provide any comments at the May meeting.
A copy should be made available in audio format.
2. Concerts at the Cove:
Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook informed the Commission about the East Bay
Regional Park Crown Beach Concerts summer schedule to be held June 8, July 13, and
August 10. As in previous years, the Commission will staff the event and have a table
for disability awareness. Commissioners Moore and Longley - Cook will attend the June
8th concert. Commissioner Longley-Cook will also attend the two other concerts.
Commissioners should contact Adrienne Longley-Cook or Toby Berger if they plan to
assist.
'ublic Works Department
950 West Mall Square, Room 110
Alameda, California 94501-7575
510.749.5840
Fax 510.749.5867
TDD 510.522.7538
Printed on Recycled Paper",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-04-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-04-23,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 23, 2007
Minutes
Page 2 of 3
3. Disability Awareness Month Planning:
A subcommittee was formed with Vice-Chair Jody Moore as chair to discuss planning
options for the October ""Disability Awareness Month' activities. She will provide an
update at the May meeting regarding the field of dreams baseball field at Alameda
Point.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Bus Shelters: (Commissioner Longley-Cook)
Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook informed the Commission on the April 3, 2007
City Council item ""Proposed Bus Shelter Design Standard for All Future Installations in
the City of Alameda'. The secretary distributed copies of the staff report to the
Commissioners. Commissioner Ed Cooney requested that the report also be provided
in audio and e-mail. Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook will attend the April 25
Transportation Commission meeting and report back to the Commission at the May
meeting. The Commission requested that they be notified of any future bus shelter
installations so that they can provide assistance in placement.
2. PAPCO:
Staff is still soliciting for a PAPCO volunteer. Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman informed the
Commission that she will contact staff regarding the status of the vacancy on the PAPCO
Commission. PAPCO's meeting location has changed from Hayward to Oakland.
3. Audible Traffic Signal Locations:
The secretary and Commissioner Ed Cooney informed the Commission on their site
visit to the northeast corner of Webster Street and Buena Vista Avenue. It was
observed that the current configuration of the intersection and the traffic island would
render the existing 45-degree crosswalk unsafe to the visually impaired if signals were
upgraded with audibles. A Commissioner stated that the intersection of Ironwood and
Island Drive is very difficult to cross, as it does not have a traffic signal.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-04-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-04-23,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 23, 2007
Minutes
Page 3 of 3
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Ms. Lucretia Akil, Risk Manager, distributed invitations and informed the Commission that a
breakfast buffet will be held in recognition of the City's volunteers. The buffet will be held
on Thursday, May 31st, 8:30am, at the Grand Pavilion, 300 Island Drive. RSVP to Lucretia
by May 10th
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Commissioner Ed Cooney informed the Commission that he will be resigning from the
commission when his term expires in June.
2. Some of the Commissioners' terms will expire in June. Re-appointments will be necessary.
Secretary to update Commission at the May Commission meeting.
3. Commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman informed the commission that an Oakland Tribune
March 27, 2007 article rated the City of Berkeley as the most accessible city for disabled and
Chicago was the runner-up. She also stated the City of Berkeley will soon have a new center
for the disabled: The Ed Roberts Campus, a one-stop-shop for disability services.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:10 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, May 21, 2007 in Room
360 at City Hall.
Matthew T. Naclerio
Public Works Director
I Eam
Ed Sommerauer
Associate Civil Engineer
ES:lc
Disability Committee/2007/423min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-04-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-05-21,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
May 21, 2007
TIME: The meeting convened at 7:37 P.M.
PRESENT: Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Berger, Fort, Hakanson and Kirola
ABSENT/EXCUSED: Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Cooney, Longley-Cook and Bunker
MINUTES: The minutes of April 21, 2007 were approved with the following correction:
Commissioner Berger will be attending the June Concert instead of Commissioner Longley-Cook
who will be out of town.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS:
None.
NEW BUSINESS:
1. ADA/Commission on Disability Internet Link: (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil)
Chair Lord-Hausman and Secretary Akil distributed sample handouts of other public agencies
websites with accessibility links. The Board was requested to review the handouts and provide
comments and/or suggestions on what they would like to include on the current Commission
City web-page. Commission Berger suggested that some of the information be available in
printed formats with copies located at various organizations within the City such as the library
or Mastick Senior Center. She also indicated that a resource guide of all key services and
organizations be made available as well. Chair Lord-Hausman indicated that she would talk to
Melissa Jones (SSHRB Board Secretary) in the Development Services Department concerning
the type of booklet they disseminate to the public. Commissioner Fort also suggested that
copies be available in an audio format. The Board agreed to continue the item to the next
meeting.
2. Changing the Start Time of Board Meetings: (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil)
Board Secretary Akil distributed handouts of the Commission's Bylaws and reviewed Section V.
""Meetings, which specifies the required meeting schedule and time. Secretary Akil also
acknowledged that the current start time of 7:30 PM requires that some of the members leave
before the meeting is over due to personal time constraints. Secretary Akil suggested the
meeting be moved to an earlier start time of 6:30 PM. Chair Lord-Hausman informed the Board
that this issue has come up in the past and agreed to bring the matter back to the Board for
consideration due to the lateness of the meeting and transportation or schedule constraints when
the meeting is adjourned at a later hour. Commissioner Berger stated that Commissioner
Bunker could not attend meetings before 7:30 PM due his attendant's availability to assist him",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-05-21.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-05-21,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
May 21, 2007
Minutes
Page 2 of 4
(Commissioner Bunker was absent). Commissioner Hakanson stated that she preferred the
meetings start earlier and that 6:30 P.M. works for her. Commissioner Berger stated that a start
time of 6:30 P.M. is acceptable, but not any earlier. Commissioner Fort and Kirola and Chair
Lord-Hausman indicated that their schedule is flexible. Board Secretary Akil indicated that she
would contact Vice-Chair Moore and Commissioner Bunker for their preference. (Board
Secretary Akil contacted Vice-Chair Moore regarding the proposed time change via telephone
on June 7, 2007 who confirmed that she fully supports starting the meeting earlier and the
proposed 6:30 P.M. start time works for her). The Board agreed to continue the item to the
next meeting.
3.
Brown Act Training: (Secretary Akil):
Board Secretary Akil requested that the Commission was due for a formal Brown Act Training,
following the appointments of the new members in June. Commissioner Kirola expressed some
concern as to the restrictions of communication that would be placed upon the Commissioners
from the training. Secretary Akil responded that the purpose of the training was not to
eliminate communication between the Commissioners or any other personal matter, but rather is
a necessary training that all City of Alameda Committees and Commissions must undergo to
ensure compliance with the Brown Act. The Commissioners agreed and set July 23, 2007 as the
training date, which will be conducted by the City Attorney.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Commissioner Duties: (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman informed the Commissioners that Secretary Akil is in the midst of updating
the City's ADA Transition Plan in her role as ADA Coordinator. Secretary Akil stated that the
Commission would see a draft copy of the updated Plan prior to Council approval. The Item will
be continued on the agenda for future discussion.
2. Crab Cove Concerts (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman reiterated the need for staffing and participation from the Commissioners
for the various weekend concerts. The Board confirmed that there would be representation from
the Commission for all of the weekend concert events.
3. Disability Awareness Month (Vice Chair Moore)
In Vice-Chair Moore's absence, it was recommended that the item be continued to the June
18, 2007 meeting. It was requested that Vice-Chair Moore provide the Board with an update
on the tree planting options and contact with Roberta Rockwell of the Miracle League
Baseball.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-05-21.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-05-21,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
May 21, 2007
Minutes
Page 3 of 4
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Secretary Akil reiterated the date and time of the Volunteer Appreciation breakfast buffet,
which is being sponsored by the City Council. The buffet will be held on Thursday, May
31st, 8:30 A.M. at the Grand Pavilion, 300 Island Drive.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Chair Lord-Hausman reviewed Commissioner Longley-Cook's comments on the
Transportation Element. The comments addressed the bus stop locations, ADA accessibility
issues, and curb site access plans. It was also noted that the driveway with the chain across it
at Lum Elementary School is not wheel chair accessible. These comments will be forwarded
to Public Works Department staff responsible for addressing these concerns.
2. Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged that since the Planning Board meeting is the same night
as the Commission on Disability Issues meeting, she would follow up with Planning
department staff for meeting minutes and Commission input.
3. The Board inquired as to whether or not a budget exists for minor expenditures for Board
activities. Secretary Akil stated that she would check to determine if there exists a budget
and get back to the Board at a later date.
4. The Board has selected to recognize former Chair Ed Cooney for his many years of service as
Chairman. Secretary Akil will obtain a copy of a Mayoral Proclamation in order to draft one
in recognition of former Chair Cooney. The Board agreed to present the proclamation to Mr.
Cooney at the July 23, 2007 meeting.
5. Chair Lord-Hausman requested that the next Board meeting take place on the third Monday
of June, instead of the fourth Monday, as she will be out of town. The Board agreed to
change the next meeting date to June 18, 2007. Board Secretary Akil will contact Vice Chair
Moore and Commissioners Bunker and Longley-Cook to inform them of the new meeting
date.
6. PAPCO:
Staff is still soliciting for a PAPCO volunteer. Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman informed the
Commission that former Chair Ed Cooney is not interested in being a representative on the
PAPCO Commission. She will check with Barry Bergman of the Public Works Department
to determine if they have selected a person.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-05-21.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-05-21,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
May 21, 2007
Minutes
Page 4 of 4
7. Commissioner Fort stated that someone tripped and fell at the pedestrian walkway sign at
Willow and Santa Clara Streets. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that there are two in-pavement
paddles but the intersection is wide. It was suggested that the paddles be a few inches from
the line versus right on the line. Chair Lord-Hausman indicated that she would send an email
to PW staff informing them of this recommendation.
8. Guest speaker, Ms. Robbie Krietz, Alameda, asked if the Commission participates in the
Mayor's 4th of July Parade or on special Olympic events. Chair Lord-Hausman replied that
the Board volunteers on four Crab Cove events but suggested that Ms. Krietz please keep the
Board informed of any possible future events.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, June 18, 2007 in Room
360 at City Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucadia Abil
Lucrétia Akil
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-05-21.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-06-18,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
June 18, 2007
TIME
The meeting convened at 7:37 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Berger, Fort, Hakanson and Kirola
ABSENT
Vice-Chair Moore and Commissioner Longley-Cook
MINUTES
The minutes of May 21, 2007 were approved with the following correction: Under Oral
Communications, Commissioner Berger stated that the Board volunteers at three Crab Cove Concert
events and one Alameda Hospital event.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There was no written communication.
NEW BUSINESS
1.
New Commissioner Appointments: (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil)
Chair Lord-Hausman confirmed that the Mayor will make recommendations for nominations to
the various Boards and Commissions at the June 19, 2007 City Council meeting and the official
swearing in will take place at the July 3, 2007 meeting. Board members were encouraged to
attend the July 3rd meeting for swearing in. Commissioner Fort inquired if the nominee has to
be present to be sworn in. Secretary Akil responded that the nominee does not have to be
present at the Council meeting, but must be sworn in officially by the City Clerk in order to be
recognized as an official Board member.
2.
Pedestrian Master Plan: (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she is on the Task Force Committee to create and develop a
Master Pedestrian Plan in Alameda, which would be comparable to the City's current Bicycle
Master Plan. She distributed a survey which is also on the City's website. She encouraged the
Board to complete the survey and inform as many members of the public to provide input as
well, as the project is in the beginning stages and more public input is needed. Completed
surveys are due by July 13, 2007 to the Public Works Department.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-06-18.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-06-18,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
June 18,2007
Minutes
Page 2 of 5
OLD BUSINESS
1.
ADA/Commission on Disability Internet Link (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil)
Secretary Akil distributed more information on disability resource links for possible inclusion
into the update of the Commission's current City webpage. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that
once fully updated, the Commission's webpage will provide a definition, purpose and additional
links to various organizations and programs in the City and surrounding areas. The Chair
requested that the Board review the latest disability resource link handout and provide any
comments on what other information can be added to the existing webpage. The Chair and
Board Secretary will meet with the Interim Information Technology Director to get the update
started.
2. Changing the Start Time of Board Meetings (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil)
The Board has recommended approving changing the start time of the monthly meetings from
7:30 P.M. to 6:30 P.M. beginning July 23, 2007. Secretary Akil will contact the newly appointed
Board members to confirm the new start time. Commissioner Bunker contacted Board Secretary
Akil of his resignation from the Commission, effective June 1, 2007 and therefore would not be
affected by the time change of the meetings.
3. Brown Act Training (Secretary Akil)
The Board has confirmed the date of the Brown Act training, which will be on July 23, 2007 to
be conducted by the City Attorney.
4.
Central Ave Construction Concern (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the Public Works Department resolved the first portion of the
construction activity concern by directing the contractor to move the construction fence as far
back (i.e. towards the building) as possible to allow maximum access for pedestrian safety and
to resolve the ramp structure to prevent tripping. Completion of the sidewalk safety concern
will be resolved after the contractor obtains the necessary permits for the installation of a sewer
lateral and new gas, water and fire services to the building.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-06-18.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-06-18,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
June 18,2007
Minutes
Page 3 of 5
5.
Draft Transportation Element for General Plan Amendment California Environmental
Quality Act Review (Secretary Akil/Chair Lord-Hausman)
Secretary Akil distributed the June 19, 2007 City Council staff report, in which the
recommendation seeks the Board's comments and input on the Draft Transportation Element for
General Plan Amendment CEQA review. The latest updates to the draft plan focuses primarily
on policy and procedure for future implementation. The Board was requested to provide all
comments on the plan by the next meeting date which is July 23, 2007.
6. Crab Cove Concerts (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Commissioner Berger confirmed that she and Commissioner Longley-Cook would staff the July
13, 2007 weekend concert event. Commissioner Hakanson agreed to staff the August 10, 2007
event.
7.
Disability Awareness Month (Vice Chair Moore)
In Vice-Chair Moore's absence, it was recommended that the item be continued to the July 23,
2007 meeting. It was requested that Vice-Chair Moore provide the Board with an update on the
tree planting options and contact with Roberta Rockwell of the Miracle League Baseball.
8.
Commissioner Duties (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman stated she is now on the distribution list to receive the monthly Planning
Board minutes. There is no news on the Transportation Commission and the new
Commissioner appointment dates for the next two Council meetings will be June 19 and July 3,
2007.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
1. Commission Budget
The Board inquired as to whether or not a budget exists for minor expenditures for Board
activities. Secretary Akil stated that she would check to determine if there exists a budget and
get back to the Board at a later date.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-06-18.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-06-18,4,"they have identified a possible representative to participate on the PAPCO Commission. She
will follow up to confirm that has been done.
4.
Commissioner Absences:
Commissioner Berger reiterated the need for consistent attendance and Chair Lord-Hausman
reminded that the Commissioners need to call the Board Secretary for non-attendance. Chair
Lord-Hausman stated she would contact those Commissioners who have not abided by these
policies.
5.
Construction Safety Complaints:
Commissioner Berger suggested that we need to educate the public on who to call for possible
construction complaints. Chair Lord-Hausman responded that Pedestrian Friendly Alameda
has such a list on its website regarding who to call for these types of complaints and suggested
that the list also be included on the Commissioner's webpage.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-06-18.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-06-18,5,"Commission on Disability Issues
June 18,2007
Minutes
Page 5 of 5
6. AC Transit Access Issues:
Commissioner Hakanson stated that the curb sites in Alameda are not working out for AC
Transit bus ramps for wheel chair access. Chair Lord-Hausman responded that she will invite
Susan Decker, Alameda Transit Advocates and Elsa Ortiz, AC Transit Board of Supervisors to
the August 27, 2007 Board meeting to discuss these issues. The Chair indicated that Ms. Decker
has worked with the City and AC Transit on bus stops towards increasing red zones for better
access.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:20 P.M. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, July 23, 2007, 6:30
P.M. in Room 360 at City Hall.
Sucsda Akil
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-06-18.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-07-23,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
July 23, 2007
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:50 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Moore and Commissioners Berger, Fort,
Hakanson, Kirola, Robinson and Kreitz.
ABSENT
None.
MINUTES
The minutes of the June 18, 2007 meeting were approved with the following correction:
Commissioner Kirola stated that the word Board should be changed to Commission throughout the
minutes.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There was no written communication.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Introduction of New Commission Members (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman introduced and welcomed new Commissioner's John Robinson and
Roberta Kreitz.
2.
Revision of Rehabilitation Program Guidelines to Include Accessibility Modifications
Grants for Homeowners and Renters (staff):
Miriam Delagrange, Development Manager from the Development Services Department, gave a
presentation regarding a change in the existing accessibility modification program. The City's
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) would provide all funding and the tenant would
have to meet the income guidelines. The total program budget is for $50,000 (see Attachment A
for key points of program).
Commissioner Hakanson asked if staff is working with Access California? Miriam responded
no, but took the information down.
Commissioner Berger asked if Gallagher and Lindsey were included in this program? Miriam
responded that Gallagher and Lindsey is not involved, as their preference is to develop their own
programs.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-07-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-07-23,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 23, 2007
Minutes
Page 2 of 6
Commissioner Berger asked if funding was available to restore units back to pre-modification
standards? Miriam responded that no funding is available for that type of work.
Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that if pre-modification funding were available, it would be
more of an incentive for property owners to participate in the program.
Commissioner Hakanson also suggested that the Rent Review Advisory Board be consulted in
this pilot program.
Vice-Chair Moore asked what is the incentive of the overall program? Miriam responded that it
is free to the homeowner and the rent is low.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked how is this information being communicated to landlords? Miriam
indicated that a press release is in the works, which will be forwarded to local landlords. Vice-
Chair Moore also suggested including the Regional Communication Center.
Commissioner Kreitz suggested forwarding this information to the Board of Realtors.
Vice-Chair Moore asked how many have signed on to the program? Miriam responded only one,
as it just started. Commissioner Hakanson asked if there is a designated list of contractors to
perform the accessibility modifications? Miriam responded, yes.
Miriam concluded the presentation and thanked the Commissioners for their input.
3. Blanding Avenue Accessibility Items (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman expressed access concern on Blanding Street, specifically between
Blanding and Park Street, along the south side, as there is no sidewalk for pedestrian access and
cars are parked along that path. Chair Lord-Hausman has passed this information to the ADA
Coordinator (Secretary Akil) to address within the update of the ADA Transition Plan.
Commissioner Berger asked if there was a penalty that could be imposed on the cars parking
along the pedestrian path? Chair Lord-Hausman responded that the APD violation is $15 to $20.
Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that APD should be notified about the illegal parking. Chair
Lord-Hausman agreed with the suggestion.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-07-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-07-23,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 23, 2007
Minutes
Page 3 of 6
OLD BUSINESS
1. Discuss Final Changes Regarding the Start Time of Board Meetings (Chair Lord-
Hausman/Secretary Akil):
Secretary Akil distributed the amended version of the Commission's By-laws to reflect the new
meeting start time of 6:30P.M. It was also mentioned that the meeting ending time was changed
to 8:30 P.M. as the meetings are to last no longer than two hours unless an extension was
motioned and voted on by the Commissioners. The Commission accepted these changes.
2.
Commission on Disability Internet Link (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil):
Chair Lord-Hausman and Secretary Akil informed the Commission that they had a met with
Leon King, Interim IT Director, regarding the addition of an accessibility link onto the City's
website. Mr. King presented an outline of what an accessibility website would include and
provided an estimate of a minimum cost of $3,000 to get the site up and running. Chair Lord-
Hausman suggested that some of the design work for the website could be completed by outside
help at a less expensive rate, in lieu of the City contracted consultant. Mr. King agreed that was
a viable option, especially since the Commission does not have a budget with the City. Chair
Lord-Hausman inquired if the website could be maintained by staff in order to decrease
maintenance cost, to which Mr. King replied it can be managed in-house. Chair Lord-Hausman
and Secretary Akil agreed to follow up with Mr. King after reviewing what alternatives could be
achieved in order to reduce cost and would schedule a follow up meeting. Commissioner
Hakanson provided the Chair with other possible links. Vice-Chair Moore responded that the
accessibility link is extremely important and needs to happen. Chair Lord-Hausman agreed and
requested that each Commissioner provide their top three choices for inclusion onto the
accessibility link, for consideration.
3. Transportation Element for General Plan Amendment California Environmental Quality
Act Review (staff):
There were no additional comments received from the Commission concerning the draft
Transportation Element. Commissioner Longley-Cook's comments were previously forwarded
to PW staff by Chair Lord-Hausman.
4. Disability Awareness Month (Vice Chair Moore):
Vice-Chair Moore stated that the Commission will have to seek City Council approval in order
to designate a location for the tree planting. Chair Lord-Hausman suggested that this issue be
G:\LucretialCommDisability\Minutes\2007AMinutes_072307.0",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-07-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-07-23,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 23, 2007
Minutes
Page 4 of 6
addressed through the Public Works Department (PW) and directed Vice-Chair Moore to contact
Ed Sommerauer in PW. Commissioner Berger stated that up to three trees can be purchased for
$10 from the Arbor Group. Commissioner Berger also asked if anyone had contacted the
Miracle Baseball League in order to possibly plant a tree? Chair Lord-Hausman responded that
she would follow up with Roberta Rockwell from the League.
5. PAPCO (Chair Lord-Hausman):
This item is continued to the August meeting. Previously, Chair Lord-Hausman stated that
Barry Bergman of the Public Works Department confirmed that they have identified a possible
representative to participate on the PAPCO Commission. She will follow up to confirm that has
been done.
6.
Commissioner Duties (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman encouraged the Commission to look out for other Board packets regarding
information on disability issues as it affects the community.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
1. Commission Budget
At the May meeting, the Commission inquired as to whether or not a budget exists for minor
expenditures for activities. Secretary Akil contacted Ed Sommerauer, former Secretary,
regarding past budget practices and Juelle Ann Boyer, Chief Finance Officer, to determine what,
if any, budgets exist for other Boards and Commissions. Mr. Sommerauer indicated that there
has never been a budget set aside for the Commission on Disability Issues and Ms. Boyer
indicated that none of the City's Volunteer Boards or Commissions are funded, unless
specifically earmarked by the Department that oversees it. Commissioner Kreitz asked ifit would
be appropriate for the Board to seek grants. Chair Lord-Hausman responded that it may pose a
conflict and Secretary Akil stated that the Commission would be responsible for accounting for
those funds, not the City of Alameda or its staff.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. San Francisco Mayor's Superfest:
Commissioner Hakanson distributed information regarding the SF Mayor's Superfest. Chair
Lord-Hausman requested information continue to be shared with the Commission of this
upcoming event.
G:\LucretialCommDisability\Minutes/2007\Minutes_072307.d",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-07-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-07-23,5,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 23, 2007
Minutes
Page 5 of 6
2. Lower Washington Park:
Commissioner Longley-Cook distributed information regarding accessibility issues concerning
Washington Park. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she will invite Dale Lillard, Recreation and
Park Director, to the September meeting.
3. Gallagher and Lindsey:
Commissioner Berger shared information from Gallagher and Lindsey regarding free home
repairs for senior and physically disadvantaged people in Alameda.
4. City Sponsored Events:
Vice-Chair Moore suggested that more attention should be given to families with individuals
who have special needs or accessibility concerns during City sponsored events, such as Crab
Cove Concerts. Greater visibility should also be made throughout the City to encourage families
with disabled children to be included in these events. Chair Lord-Hausman responded that it will
be up to the Commission to bring the awareness to the various groups and organizations.
5. Local Accessibility Issues:
Santa Clara/Oak Street Barricades
Chair Lord-Hausman discussed the Santa Clara and Oak Street barricades that were adjusted to
address any visually impaired or wheelchair bound individuals.
Farmers Market (Webster Street)
The Chair acknowledged that the Webster Street Business Association (WABA) was responsive
to her request to designate temporary parking spaces for disabled individuals for all future
Farmer's Market events on the West end of town.
6. Future Agenda Items:
The Commission agreed to agendize the following items for future discussion:
-
Brown Act Training - August
-
Lower Washington Park Accessibility Issues (invite Dale Lillard, Director) -
September
-
AC Transit Access Issues (invite Susan Decker, Alameda Transit Advocates and Elsa
Ortiz, AC Transit Board of Directors) - October
G:\LucretialCommDisability\Minutes/2007\Minutes_072307.0",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-07-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-07-23,6,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 23, 2007
Minutes
Page 6 of 6
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 8:27P.M. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, August 27, 2007, 6:30
P.M. in Room 360 at City Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Quantia
Lucretia A. Akil
Commission Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-07-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-07-23,7,"Attachment A
CDI July 23, 2007 Minutes
Key Points of Accessibility Modification Program
WHAT IS THE ALAMEDA ACCESSIBILITY MODIFICATION PROGRAM?
The City of Alameda Development Services Department (DSD) assists eligible persons
with disabilities in making modifications to their residence, allowing the individual to
attain greater mobility and remain safely in their home. Alameda Accessibility
Modification Program (AAMP) focuses on the person's most immediate needs as they
relate to improving safety and accessibility.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
To be eligible for AAMP assistance, the following conditions must be met:
The applicant is an Alameda resident.
The applicant's annual household income must not exceed 80% of the median
income for the Oakland Area, as established by the U.S. Dept of Housing and Urban
Development.
The property to be modified is the applicant's primary residence.
A physician or health care provider verifies the applicant's physical disabilities.
If rental property, the applicant's landlord must provide written agreement
allowing the modifications.
Funding is for one-time use only and may be used primarily for renovations that
make the inside of the rental property more accessible to the renter.
Occupants are allowed a maximum of $5,000 for repairs and modifications. Any
additional funds required may be provided by a low-interest secured loan tailored to the
individual project.
WHAT MODIFICATIONS ARE ALLOWED?
Examples of housing modifications allowed by AAMP include:
Installation of bathroom grab-bars, roll-in showers or raised toilet fixtures
Construction of wheelchair ramps
Widening doorways
Walkway construction
Hearing Assistance devices for doorbells, telephone ringers or smoke detectors
(strobe indicators)
HOW AAMP WORKS
AAMP applicants apply directly to DSD. Staff review applications for program
eligibility and certify that the applicant's household income meets program guidelines.
The applicant's physician or other social service professional must submit a Third-Party
Verification form certifying a medical need exists before work may start. However, the
specific nature or severity of the individual's disability is not to be revealed.
Page 1 of 2
G:\LucretialCommDisability\Minutes/2007\Minutes_072307_Attch A.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-07-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-07-23,8,"PROGRAM PROVIDES:
Construction management and inspections
Preparation of detailed work specifications
Housing and building codes compliance
Cost estimating & competitive bid procurement processes
Management of job contracts and contractors
OTHER INFORMATION
The Contractor selected by the Grantee must complete the Contractor Terms &
Conditions and be a cost-reasonable bidder. The Contractor's work must be guaranteed
for one year from the date of approved completion. Contact DSD staff at 749-5814 for
information or an application.
Page 2 of 2
G:\Lucretia\CommDisability\Minutes\2007\Minutes_072307_Attch A.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-07-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-08-27,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
August 27, 2007
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:40 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Moore and Commissioners Berger, Fort, Kirola,
and Longley-Cook.
ABSENT
Commissioners Hakanson, Robinson and Kreitz.
MINUTES
The minutes of the July 23, 2007 meeting were approved with the following corrections all noted by
Commissioner Longley-Cook:
Roll Call:
Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that she was present at the July 23, 2007 meeting.
Minutes:
Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that she made the correction to the June 18, 2007 meeting
minutes regarding the SSHRB and not Commissioner Kirola.
Old Business, Item 2:
In the first sentence the word ""met"" should be replaced with the word ""meeting;"" and
Staff Communications:
The word ""Board"" should be replaced with the word ""Commission.""
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
Lower Washington Park:
1. Chair Lord-Hausman discussed the response she received from Dale Lillard, AR&PD Director,
regarding Lower Washington Park accessibility issues raised by Commissioner Longley-Cook.
Mr. Lillard indicated that the trail in Lower Washington Park ends at the City property line. The
area in question belongs to the East Bay Regional Park District. Chair Lord-Hausman indicated
that she would contact the East Bay Regional Park Supervisor, Anne Rockwell, for possible
repairs.
2. Commissioner Longley-Cook also expressed concern over trying to find disabled parking as well
as going to visit booths for a disabled person who is not in a motorized wheelchair, during the
July 4th celebration at Rittler Park. Chair Lord-Hausman reviewed Mr. Lillard's written
comments to this concern. He indicated that AR&PD have been experimenting with a number of
different configurations and layouts for the Fun Faire at Rittler Park. During the internal",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-08-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-08-27,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
August 27, 2007
Minutes
Page 2 of 5
evaluation meeting following this year's event, it was determined that both the ticket selling and
food booth locations need to be together. They have always provided disabled parking but will
make more of an effort to designate the location through the use of directional signs in the
future.
Carnegie Building:
Chair Lord-Hausman discussed a request from the City's Building Official, Greg McFann, regarding
efforts to reopen the Carnegie. Mr. McFann indicated that the City is currently working with a
consultant to develop a plan to reopen the Carnegie and would like to come before the Commission
to receive comments on the proposal. Chair Lord-Hausman will contact Mr. McFann for scheduling
a discussion before the Commission.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Brown Act Training (Assistant City Attorney):
Assistant City Attorney Byron Toma conducted a Brown Act Training with the Commissioners.
The three main points of the Training discussed the following key points:
People's business must be conducted in public.
People have a right to participate in their government.
In order to participate, people must receive adequate
Commissioner Kirola requested clarification regarding discussion of agenda items with the
""
majority of members at the same time and place.. during non-meeting
hours.
Assistant Attorney Toma responded that any time a majority of the members are gathered
together at any place, (in this case the majority would be five since there are currently nine
Commissioners) they are prohibited from discussing any action which may be taken by the
collective Commission at a future meeting which may influence the outcome of a decision,
including discussing the item in advance of an open meeting and public discussion.
Assistant Attorney Toma also emphasized that any ceremonial events that the Commission
sponsors, such as the future scheduled tree planting ceremony, must also be agendized since it is
an event being sponsored by the Commission and a majority of the members will be in
attendance.
OLD BUSINESS
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/(2007\Minutes_082707.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-08-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-08-27,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
August 27, 2007
Minutes
Page 3 of 5
1. Disability Awareness Month (Vice Chair Moore):
Vice-Chair Moore stated that John McDonald, AR&PD, has confirmed that the Commission
may designate one of the redwood trees already planted at Lincoln Park as part of the tree
planting ceremony for Disability Awareness Month, as well as place a placard at the bottom of
the tree. Mr. McDonald also confirmed that the Commission has the permission do this on a
yearly basis.
Chair Lord-Hausman requested that Vice-Chair Moore receive written confirmation concerning
the placard, S the City just passed a new ordinance banning decals and placards on public
property. The Chair then suggested that the Commission pick a date for the actual ceremony.
Commissioner Kirola proposed to kick-off the month of October, beginning with the ceremony.
Vice-Chair Moore proposed Saturday, October 6, 2007.
Commissioner Berger expressed concern over City staffing time for a weekend event.
Vice-Chair Moore responded that she would follow up with Mr. McDonald regarding City
staffing.
The Commission agreed to have the ceremony on Saturday, October 6, 2007.
Chair Lord-Hausman confirmed that she would check with the Mayor's calendar so that the
event may be timed when she is present. The Chair also encouraged the Commissioners to
inform and invite people to the ceremony.
Commissioner Berger stated that in the past, the Council has pushed the date back of the
proclamation for City Council meetings and is concerned that it will happen this year.
Secretary Akil confirmed that the Council meets the first and third Tuesday of every month and
this item should be agendized for the first meeting of the month, which will be October 2, 2007.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she would work on not allowing any delays regarding the
proclamation.
2. Commission on Disability Internet Link (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she met with a website designer who understands the City's
limited budget on getting an accessibility link up and running within the City's website. The
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2007\Minutes_082707.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-08-27.pdf
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August 27, 2007
Minutes
Page 4 of 5
Chair will provide the website designer with an outline of the proposed site and he in return, has
agreed to provide estimates based on the outline he receives.
Commissioner Kirola stated her top three accessible links would include parks,, schools and
housing and that the list of designated sites be located to the left side of the page.
Commissioner Berger stated the need to educate others to emphasize what accessibility
resources are available.
Commissioner Longley-Cook suggested adding a wheelchair rider's guide, which will provide
links to wheelchair accessible places.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked Commissioner Berger to review AR&PD Summer Activity Guide
and the Adult School Guide which might offer some information on what accessibility resources
are currently available in the City.
3. Commissioner Duties (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman encouraged the members to be mindful of their ongoing duties and
responsibilities to increase disability awareness through the City.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Secretary Akil acknowledged that Ed Sommerauer would be the Interim Secretary during her
maternity leave.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Crab Cove Concerts:
Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that she and Commissioner Hakanson received many
inquiries regarding the Commission at the last Crab Cove event.
2. Arthritis Expo:
Commissioner Longley-Cook shared a flyer regarding the upcoming Arthritis Expo on
September 15, 2007 in the City of Burlingame at the Hyatt Regency near SFO.
3. Alameda Hospital Health Fair:
Commissioner Berger stated the Alameda Hospital Health Fair is scheduled to occur in October.
Chair Lord-Hausman will contact the hospital for the specific date and request that the CDI be
given a table on the inside during the event. This item will be placed on the September 24, 2007
CDI meeting agenda for continued discussion.
4. October CDI Meeting:
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2007\Minutes_082707.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-08-27.pdf
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August 27, 2007
Minutes
Page 5 of 5
Chair Lord-Hausman requested that the October 22, 2007 CDI meeting date be changed to
October 15, 2007 as she will be out of town. The Commission agreed to the date change and
requested that a notice of the meeting date change be included in the September 24 mailing
packet.
5. Farmers Market (Webster Street):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the Public Works Department would designate handicap
parking on Taylor Street next to Farmers Market, since Webster Street has heavier traffic flow.
6. Blanding Avenue Accessibility Issues:
Commissioner Berger questioned if any action had been taken on the pedestrian access issues
along Blanding Avenue. Chair Lord-Hausman stated the issue has been referred to the ADA
Secretary to be addressed through the on-going ADA Transition Plan update.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 8:40 P.M. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, September 24, 2007,
6:30 P.M. in Room 360 at City Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia A. Akil
Commission Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2007\Minutes_082707.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-08-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-09-24,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
September 24, 2007
TIME
The meeting was convened at 6:30 p.m.
PRESENT Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Moore and Commissioners Berger, Fort, Kirola,
Longley-Cook, Hakanson, Robinson and Kreitz.
ABSENT
None
MINUTES
The minutes of the August 27, 2007, meeting were approved with the following correction: New
Business, Item #1, Brown Act Training, 3rd bullet- change ""In order to participate, people must
receive adequate' to ""In order to participate, people must receive adequate notice'.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
A local citizen sent a letter to the Commission in appreciation for the temporary disabled parking
spaces provided at the Thursday afternoon farmer's market. They requested that temporary disabled
parking spaces be provided at other events, as well. Commissioners requested that the October
agenda include discussion and action on the provision of temporary disabled parking spaces at all
community events.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Paratransit Program:
Transportation Coordinator Barry Bergman provided an overview of the City's expanded
paratransit program, a taxi service that supplements East Bay Paratransit's ADA-mandated
service. Brochures were distributed to the Commissioners. Additional brochures were requested
for distribution by the Commission at upcoming events and facilities. Since all trips are
provided by taxi, trips may be scheduled the same day as they will be taken.
Commissioners stated that East Bay Paratransit, not to be confused with the City's program,
needs to improve their dispatching as on numerous occasions a trip to Oakland from Alameda
involves first picking up passengers in Hayward. Barry informed the Commission that,
depending upon the type of vehicle dispatched and the passengers' disabilities, or non-disability,
up to four persons can share a ride to the same destination as one fare if they start from the same
pick-up location. For additional information contact Barry Bergman at 510-749-5916 or the
City's website at alamedaparatransit.com. Informational brochures about the program can be
obtained from Mastick Senior Center, 510-747-7506.
2. AC Transit Access Issues:
AC Transit Board member Elsa Ortiz informed the Commission on its services for the disabled
community. The AC Transit Board meets the second Tuesday of the month in the afternoon. In",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-09-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-09-24,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
September 24, 2007
Minutes
Page 2 of 3
addition to the board there are four committees, one of which is an accessory advisory
committee. Ms. Ortiz also meets quarterly with Alameda City Mayor Johnson and
Councilmember Matarrese.
AC Transit participates in the County paratransit program. Reduced fares are provided for
seniors, persons with disabilities and Medicare cardholders. Free flashcard kits are available
alerting the driver prior to boarding as follow: a ""lift' card if a lift is needed, a ""kneeler' card to
reduce step height or a ""wait' card if additional time is required to be seated. Bus identification
kits in Braille or large print identify the bus line to be taken to the driver are available for
persons who have difficulty communicating
Ms. Ortiz informed the Commission that the new buses being constructed will be more
accessible for the disabled community. The Commissioners voiced their concerns particularly;
a) insufficient isle widths for persons with walkers; b) insufficient air circulation; c) newsstand
racks and recycling bins blocking access; d) reserved senior seats at floor level (not one step up);
and, e) designated senior seats also for use by pregnant women.
The Commission and Ms. Ortiz shared information on other AC Transit services and
recommendations for future site improvements. Translink, a real-time computerized schedule,
between AC Transit and Bart, is currently not available in Alameda. The Commission informed
Ms. Ortiz that bus platforms (e.g. Webster Street) should be wider where steps are located
directly across from the platform as a wheelchair or walker user could accidentally go off the
edge. Any concerns should be directed to Ms. Mallory Nestor-Brush, AC Transit Accessible
Service Manager, at AC Transit's hotline number (510) 891-7213 after 9am.
3. October Commission Meeting:
The Commission moved to change October's meeting from the 22nd to the 15th
OLD BUSINESS
1. Disability Awareness Month (Vice Chair Moore):
Vice-Chair Jody Moore updated the Commission on her coordination with the Recreation and
Parks Department for a tree and plaque dedication ceremony October 6, 2007, at Lincoln Park to
commemorate October as Disability Awareness Month. Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman urged
Commissioners to attend the October 2, 2007, City Council meeting to receive the October
Disability Awareness Month Proclamation.
2. Commission on Disability Internet Link (Chair ord-Hausman/Secretary Akil):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the web designers are still working on the site and will get back
to her.
3. Commissioner Duties (Chair Lord-Hausman):
G:\pubworks\LTMMDDD Disability Committee/2007/924min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-09-24.pdf
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September 24, 2007
Minutes
Page 3 of 3
Chair Lord-Hausman encouraged the members to be attentive to the meeting agendas of other
Boards and Commissions that may be of interest to the Commission.
4. Alameda Hospital Health Fair:
The Alameda Hospital Health Fair will be held on October 20'2007, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 pm.
The Commission will have a table at the event.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Transportation Coordinator Barry Bergman and the secretary updated the Commission on the
recently installed audible/countdown traffic signals. Of the twenty-three intersection locations
where signals have been modified to include audible and pedestrian time countdowns, six locations
have had the audible portion deactivated due to adjacent neighborhood noise concerns. City staff is
investigating the installation of push button activators at these locations to reduce the frequency of
operation. Staff requested that the Commission agendize a future meeting for discussion on
additional audible/countdown locations and priority.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Chair Lord-Hausman informed the Commission that: a) Mastick Senior Center will be having a
carfit training presentation by the American Society on Aging on October 24, 2007, from 10:00 a.m.
to 2:00 p.m.; and, b) a planning staff person has been contacted to make a presentation at the
November Commission meeting on the Alameda Landing development.
2. The bus stop at Eighth Street and Central Avenue adjacent to Washington Park is not
accessible. The Secretary will forward the Commissions concern. Commissioner Fort would like to
know what bus line(s) stops at that location.
3.
The Alameda Special Olympics will have a fundraiser in October.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 8:20p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, October 15, 2007, 6:30
p.m. in Room 360 at City Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Ed Sommerauer,
Interim Commission Secretary
G:\pubworks\LTMCD Disability Committee/2007/924min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-09-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-10-15,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
October 15,2007
TIME
The meeting was convened at 6:58 p.m.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman and Commissioners Berger, Fort, Longley-
Cook, and Kreitz.
EXCUSED
Commissioner Kirola
ABSENT
Commissioners Robinson, Hakanson, and Vice Chair Moore.
MINUTES
The minutes of the September 24, 2007, meeting were approved as submitted.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS- None
NEW BUSINESS
1. Carnegie Building:
Mr. Greg McFann, City's Building Official, Ms. Rosemary Muller and Mr. Larry Dreifuss of
Muller and Caulfield Associates, architectural consultants, informed the Commissioners on the
proposed uses of the Carnegie Building and challenges that the historic building presents for
meeting ADA requirements. The current proposed uses being considered are a one-stop City
Permit Center with art displays or a historic museum. ADA accessibility to the various building
levels will be by a new building addition located at the northwest corner of the building and will
include an elevator, stairwells, and restrooms. The restrooms currently are proposed in the
basement level of the building. Exterior access to the new addition will be from Oak Street via a
landscaped, concrete-terrazzo walkway. The Commission made the following suggestions: 1)
add a bench(s) along the walkway for rest stops; 2) provide grab bars, coat hooks and shelf in the
non-ADA restroom stalls; 3) provide fold-up changing tables in both the mens and women's
restrooms; 4) provide a small children toilet; and 5) if the restrooms are to be located at different
floor levels, the men's facility should be at the basement level and the woman's at the main floor
level for safety concerns. The Commission will be kept informed by Mr. McFann and the
architects on the project. A presentation is scheduled to be made to the City Council on
November 20, 2007.
2. November and December Commission Meetings:
The November Commission meeting will be held on November 26th and will include the election
of the 2008 officers (Chair and Vice-Chair). There will be no December meeting. January's
meeting date will be determined at the November meeting is tentatively scheduled for January
14th or January 28th",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-10-15.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-10-15,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 15, 2007
Minutes
Page 2 of 3
3. Alameda Landing Development:
Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman informed the Commissioners that Mr. Andrew Thomas, Planning
Services Manager, will discuss the proposed Alameda Landing development at the November 26
Commission meeting. Audrey distributed a newspaper article to the Commissioners outlining
some issues.
4. Temporary Disabled Parking at Community Events:
Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman informed the Commissioners that she will discuss with Mr. Obaid
Khan, Public Works Supervising Civil Engineer, the need to have temporary disabled parking
spaces at community events and how to establish a procedure. Commissioner Toby Berger
would like to know the ratio of disabled parking spaces to standard parking spaces in parking
lots. Secretary to follow up.
OLD BUSINESS
1.
Commission on Disability Internet Link (CDI) :
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the web designers are still working on the CDI site and will get
back to her.
2. Alameda Hospital Health Fair:
The Alameda Hospital Health Fair will be held on October 20, 2007 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 pm.
The Commission will have a table at the event. Commissioners Roberta Kreitz and Adrienne
Longley-Cook will staff the fair.
3. Bus Stop Accessibility at Eighth Street and Central Avenue:
The Secretary informed the Commission that accessibility at bus stop locations is being
evaluated as part of the ADA transition plan. Chair Lord-Hausman will contact AC Transit and
inform them of the grass strip between the sidewalk and curb.
4. East Bay Regional Park Crown Beach Path:
Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman reported that she spoke with Ms. Anne Rockwell of the Regional
Park District regarding the gap that exists in the existing path behind Washington Park. The
Regional Park's path and the City's Recreation & Park Department path do not meet. Ms.
Rockwell will get back to Audrey.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS -None
G:\pubworks\LTMCD Disability Committee/2007\1015min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-10-15.pdf
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October 15,2007
Minutes
Page 3 of 3
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Commissioner Roberta Kreitz informed the Commissioners that the Special Olympics is looking
for dignitaries for their January festivity. She will provide more details at the next meeting.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 8:30p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, November 26, 2007,
6:30 p.m. in Room 360 at City Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Ed Sommerauer,
Interim Commission Secretary
Disability Committee/2007/1015min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-10-15.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-11-26,1,"OF
City of Alameda
California
$
UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
RATER
MEETING MINUTES OF
November 26, 2007
TIME
The meeting was convened at 6:40 p.m.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Berger, Longley-
Cook, Fort, Hakanson, Kirola, Kreitz, and Robinson
EXCUSED
ABSENT
none
GUESTS
Andrew Thomas (Planning Services Manager), Aidan Barry (Catellus), Steve Buster
(Catellus), and Kory Johnson (Catellus)
MINUTES
The minutes of the October 15, 2007 meeting were approved as submitted with the following
correction: New Business, Item #2, change 2nd sentence to ""January's meeting date will be
determined at the November meeting and is tentatively scheduled for January 14th or January 28th.""
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS- None
NEW BUSINESS
1. Alameda Landing Development:
Mr. Andrew Thomas, City's Planning Services Manager, Aidan Barry, Steve Buster and Cory
Johnson of Catellus, provided an overview of the Alameda Landing project. They will meet with
the Commission at a future date, possibly February, to discuss the residential phase of the
development.
2. Election of Officers:
Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman and Vice-Chair Jody Moore were re-elected as officers for 2008.
Nays - 0.
OLD BUSINESS
1. Commission on Disability Internet Link (CDI):
Chair Lord-Hausman informed the Commission that the web designer's offices were flooded and
therefore have been temporarily delayed on developing the CDI website.
Public Works Department
950 West Mall Square, Room 110
Alameda, California 94501-7575
510.749.5840
Fax 510.749.5867
TDD 510.522.7538
Printed on Recycled Paper",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-11-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2007-11-26,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
November 26,2007
Minutes
Page 2 of 3
2. Alameda Hospital Health Fair:
Commissioners Roberta Kreitz and Adrienne Longley-Cook informed the Commission that there
were a lot of citizen inquiries at their table at the Alameda Hospital Health Fair. The
Commission agreed to start planning in July for next year's Fair and for October's Disability
Awareness Month activities. At the suggestion of Vice-Chair Jody Moore the Commission will
compile a yearly event calendar.
3. Bus Stop Accessibility at Eighth Street and Central Avenue:
Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman informed the Commission that the Public Works Department is
investigating this bus stop including the one across the street.
4. East Bay Regional Park Crown Beach Path:
Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman reported that she spoke with Ms. Anne Rockwell of the Regional
Park District regarding the gap that exists in the existing path behind Washington Park. The
District has been in contact with the City's Recreation & Park Department on the matter and
Audrey is waiting for a response from Ms. Rockwell.
5. Temporary Disabled Parking at Community Events (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman reported that she obtained a blank event permit application form
from the permits office and will discuss with Mr. Obaid Khan, City's Public Works Supervising
Civil Engineer, on his return, a means to providing temporary disabled parking at community
events.
6. December/January Commission Meeting Dates:
The Commission moved that there would not be a December meeting and that the January
meeting will be held on the 28th.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS- -None
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1.
Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook informed the Commission that the bus stop at the
northwest corner on Broadway at Tilden Way is not accessible.
2.
Commissioner Roberta Kreitz offered to create an annual events calendar and asked
Commission members to send her any appropriate event names and dates.
3. Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman informed the Commission that Towne Centre may be developing
a parking garage and that she, not representing the Commission, but as a Pedestrian Friendly
Alameda representative, will be discussing pedestrian circulation and parking throughout the
G:\pubworks\LTMCD Disability Committee/2007/1126min.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-11-26.pdf
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November 26,2007
Minutes
Page 3 of 3
Centre. She also reported that the City has increased fines for illegal parking in disabled
parking spaces to $275. Audrey distributed a 1/2 page notice that United Cerebral Palsy has
released a State of Disability in America report, an evaluation of the disability experience in
America. The 65-page document is available on the web at www.ucp.org/uploads/Stateof
Disability.pdf.
4.
Commissioner Toby Berger stated that the City Hall doors are hard to open.
5. Commissioner Robbie Kreitz announced that the date of the Special Olympics Bowling
Tournament is January 26, 2008. Chair Lord-Hausman stated she would attend.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, January 28, 2008, 6:30
p.m. in Room 360 at City Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Ed someresanes
Ed Sommerauer, by dA
Interim Commission Secretary
G:\LucretialCommDisability\Minutes(2007\Minutes_112607.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2007-11-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-01-28,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
January 28, 2008
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:40 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Berger, Kirola, Kreitz and Longley-Cook.
ABSENT
Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Hakanson, Robinson and Fort.
MINUTES
The November 2007 minutes were approved as presented.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There was no written communication.
NEW BUSINESS
1. CDI Meeting Dates (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she would not be able to attend the February 25, 2008 meeting
and polled the Commissioners for their availability for February 26, 2008, to which those
Commissioners present agreed to the date change, if necessary. The Chair indicated that she
would check with Vice-Chair Moore to confirm her availability to chair the February 25 meeting
in the event that the meeting date does not change.
The Commission also agreed to move the May 26, 2008 meeting to May 27, 2008 in observance
of the Memorial Day Holiday. Secretary Akil stated that she would provide the Commission
with a 2008 meeting schedule.
2. 2007 CDI Accomplishments (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman distributed a draft list of accomplishments by the Commission for the 2007
calendar meeting year. The Commission asked that the list be revised to include any
accomplishments from the 2006 meeting year and requested that the final list of
accomplishments be distributed to Council under cover memo.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-01-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-01-28,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
January 28, 2008
Minutes
Page 2 of 4
3. Atlantic Avenue/Webster/Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway Street Intersection
Improvements (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman met with Ed Sommerauer and Virendra Patel of the Public Works
Department regarding an update on the Atlantic/Webster/Appezzato Street Intersection
Improvement project. The bids are in for re-design of the Intersection. The specifics of the
design include audibles and countdown signals, and the crosswalks will be basic stripped. The
Chair may invite Ed Sommerauer to return to the Commission once bids come in.
OLD BUSINESS
1. Temporary Disabled Parking at Community Events (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman met with Obaid Khan, Supervising Civil Engineer in the Public Works
Department regarding accessibility parking at City-wide events. Mr. Khan indicated that he
would review adding a line-item in applications that addresses ""disabled parking/access"" during
big City events. He prepared a list of possible events, which Chair Lord-Hausman read to the
Commission. Commissioner Kreitz asked about accessibility concerns regarding Thompson
Field. Secretary Akil indicated the field is owned and managed by the Alameda Unified School
District (AUSD) and any accessibility concerns should be directed to AUSD under individual
concerns. The Chair stated she would contact AUSD for possible attendance at a future
Commission meeting. Secretary Akil reminded the Commission that the City does not have any
say with accessibility issues concerning AUSD or any other agency, jurisdiction or along private
property and these concerns should be addressed on an individual basis directly with the
respective agency or property owner.
2. Alameda Landing Development (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman suggested inviting Andrew Thomas, Planning Manager in the Planning and
Building Department to another meeting. The Chair stated that she would check Mr. Thomas'
availability for either February 25 or 26 and get back to the Commission once the date is
confirmed.
3.
Commission on Disability Internet Link (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she would follow up with the web-designer regarding the draft
that has already been submitted and will update the Commission with more information at a later
time.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Secretary Akil informed the Commission that the first draft of the ADA Transition Plan is complete
and currently under review by the Public Works Department. The final draft will be presented to the
Commission for review and approval within the next two months.
G:\Lucretia\CommDisability\Minutes\2008\Minutes_Jan 28 2008.00",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-01-28.pdf
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January 28, 2008
Minutes
Page 3 of 4
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Yearly Events Calendar:
Commissioner Kreitz requested the specific summer concert dates for inclusion in the calendar.
The dates will be the second Friday of June, July and August 2008. The Chair suggested that
Commissioner Kreitz check the Park and Recreation website for additional information.
Commissioner Kreitz suggested including the Art and Wine Festival on the calendar for
Commission attendance, which was agreed by everyone present. Commissioner Longley-Cook
stated that space would have to be donated. Commissioner Kreitz will contact the owners of
Tucker's Ice Cream for donating space for the Commission during this event.
2. Commissioner Kreitz voiced concern about accessibility issues along Harbor Bay. Secretary Akil
stated that it is private property and suggested that contact be made directly with Harbor Bay
property owners or homeowners association. Commissioner Berger also stated it is private
property and that the issue should be directed to the main home owners association that over sees
the entire Harbor Bay.
3. Commissioner Berger asked if the City Council receives a copy of the Commission minutes to
which Secretary Akil responded that the Council does not; however, they can receive
correspondence from the Commission under cover memo at any time.
4. Chair Lord-Hausman attended the Special Bowling Olympics and presented awards.
5. Lower Washington Park:
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the asphalt path between Crown Memorial Beach and
Washington Park would be completed by March 15th. The Chair met with Anne Rockwell,
EBRPD and the Park and Recreation Department to resolve this issue.
6. Bus Stops at Tilden Way & Eighth & Central
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she spoke to Barry Bergman, Transportation Specialist in the
Public Works Department who indicated that they are in the middle of the CIP process and are
working on this accessibility issue.
7. Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that the green bars at the bus stops along Webster and Santa
Clara had been removed due to bus drivers running into them and questioned if this is in conflict
to the grant funding that was awarded to the City for the Webster Streetscape Project? Chair
Lord-Hausman stated that she would visit the site and get back to the Commission.
8. Chair Lord-Hausman stated the City has requested bids for ADA accessible ramps for 27 curb
cuts at Alameda Point, specifically around the housing areas.
G:\LucretialCommDisability\Minutes\2008\Minutes_Jan 28",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-01-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-01-28,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
January 28, 2008
Minutes
Page 4 of 4
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:10 P.M. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, February 25, 2008, at
6:00 P.M. in Room 360 at City Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia A. Akil
Commission Secretary
G:\LucretialCommDisability\Minutes\2008\Minutes_Jan 2",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-01-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-02-25,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
February 25, 2008
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:05 P.M.
PRESENT
Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Berger, Kirola, Longley-Cook, Robinson and
Fort.
ABSENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Hakanson and Kreitz.
MINUTES
The January 28, 2008 minutes were approved as presented.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There was no written communication.
NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business.
OLD BUSINESS
1.
Alameda Landing (Andrew Thomas, Planning & Bldg. Dept.):
This item will be scheduled for a future meeting.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
There was no staff communication.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1.
Commissioner Berger stated that the AR&PD Spring 2008 Guide dedicates an entire page for
information regarding paratransit/disability issues within the City of Alameda. Commissioner
Berger suggested the Commission prepare a draft letter thanking Dale Lillard, AR&PD Director,
for the excellent article that highlights accessibility resources in the City.
2. Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that she and Chair Lord-Hausman attended the Alameda
Collaborative for Children, Youth & Families monthly February meeting. A presentation was
made by Children Now, an organization that focuses on children's issues including health and",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-02-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-02-25,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 25, 2008
Minutes
Page 2 of 2
dental care, among others. They discussed the large need state-wide of providing dental care for
pre-school children, for example. The website is www.childrennow.org and Commissioner
Longley-Cook stated that she will bring the report to the next meeting.
Commissioner Berger requested that the Commission send a letter to Alameda County Dental
Association for local and state support. Secretary Akil stated they could draft a letter for Council
consideration to send the letter to the County or, as individuals, send a letter in support of
children dental care issues.
3. Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that a PTA Council representative indicated she wanted to
attend the Commission meeting to discuss wording for a proposed education parcel tax. The
suggested wording was to look at providing an exemption for seniors and the disabled.
4. Commissioner Fort inquired about audible pedestrian signals at Lincoln and Willow. Secretary
Akil responded that intersection may have four-way stop signs.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 6:45 P.M. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, March 24, 2008, at
6:30 P.M. in Room 360 at City Hall.
Aucudia Abil
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia A. Akil
Commission Secretary
G:\LucretialCommDisability\Minutes\2008\Minutes_Feb 2008.00",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-02-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-03-24,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
March 24, 2008
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:40 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Berger, Longley-Cook, and Fort.
ABSENT
Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Kirola, Robinson and Kreitz.
MINUTES
The February 25, 2008 minutes were approved with the following corrections: under Oral
Communications, item number two, Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that she attended and
represented the Commission at the Alameda Collaborative for Children, Youth and Families monthly
meeting; and under item number four, there was one grammatical correction.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There was no written communication.
NEW BUSINESS
1. 2008/09 Paratransit Service (Gail Payne, Public Works):
Gail Payne, Transportation Coordinator, presented information regarding the annual program
review of the City's Paratransit service. Jackie Krause, Mastick Sr. Center Manager, is working
with PW during this review period. Ms. Payne reviewed the services offered, objectives,
consumer satisfaction survey results, needs identification, planning, marketing and overall
funding processes.
Commissioner Berger asked if there were costs associated with medical return trips, to which
Ms. Payne responded, there is no additional cost.
Commissioner Longley-Cook asked if the taxi service is available to individuals younger than 50
years of age, to which Ms. Payne responded no, as they had just reduced the age limit from 75 to
50 years of age in an effort to increase ridership.
Commissioner Berger asked why out of 100 registrants, only 32 responded to the survey, to
which Ms. Payne replied that these responses are not significantly statistical results and they are
looking at other ways to increase responses with the forthcoming Consumer Survey.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-03-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-03-24,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
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Page 2 of 5
Chair Lord-Hausman asked how are the surveys being conducted, to which Ms. Payne replied
that (paper) copies are being mailed to homes.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked if taxi company training included sensitivity to the disabled, to which
Ms. Payne responded yes, but it takes time based on cultural and generation issues.
Commissioner Fort asked if there had been any feedback from people with disabilities with guide
dogs, to which Ms. Payne responded it was not a question included in the previous survey, but
will be added within the forthcoming one.
Commissioner Berger asked how many vehicles are there in the program, are the cabs big enough
for motorized scooters and are there any additional charges for these type of items? Ms. Payne
replied that there are approximately six accessible vans and that there is an extra $20.00 charge
for wheelchairs, however the City subsidizes that amount.
Chair Lord-Hausman requested an update in the fall regarding the outcome of the next survey
and number of reported changes.
Ms. Payne thanked the Commission for their input.
2. Presentation Regarding New Accessible For-Sale Unit at Buena Vista Commons
(Dan Lachman, Executive Director, Alameda Development Corporation):
Mr. Dan Lachman discussed the current progress of the new affordable/accessible unit
development. Mr. Lachman stated that the project is under construction and will be finished this
summer. It is a joint venture with Habitat for Humanity East Bay and applicant selection will be
conducted based on a lottery format and all individuals must qualify within the stated mandated
income guidelines.
Commissioner Berger asked if any of the family members must be disabled, to which Mr.
Lachman responded no, but one of the units is ADA accessible. There will be a separate lottery
for that unit and the selected applicant will be required to provide proof of disability.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked if the downstairs bathroom was accessible, to which Mr. Lachman
responded yes, both the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms are equally accessible.
Mr. Lachman requested that the Commission provide suggestions regarding community outreach
and increased awareness of the project.
Chair Lord-Hausman suggested that they check with the Mastick Senior Center, Cardinal Point,
Ministerial Association, publicity journals, fliers and posting of various ads.
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Commissioner Berger suggested they advertise with the AUSD, College of Alameda, Red Cross,
any fraternal organizations, the Food Bank, City channels 15 and 31, PSBA, WABA and
Farmers' Market.
Commissioner Berger asked if City residency is a requirement, to which Mr. Lachman responded
that preference is given to applicants who live or work in the City of Alameda.
Commissioner Berger asked if there are any future housing projects, to which Mr. Lachman
replied it depends on availability of funding and location, as both HUD and the CIC have heavily
subsidized the current project.
Mr. Lachman thanked the Commission for its input.
OLD BUSINESS
1. 2007 CDI Accomplishments (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she continues to update the draft list of accomplishments for
future consideration by the Commission.
2. Path Between Crown & Washington Parks (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated the work is not yet complete per Dale Lillard, AR&PD Director, as
they are waiting for the weather to improve. Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that she
observed. That work had not yet begun.
3.
Disability Parking at City Events (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that during key events, Public Works would provide accessible
space and signs and that number will depend upon the event, as each requirement will be
tailored for the event. There are approximately 15 major City events.
4.
Commission Recruitment (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman announced that Commissioner Margaret Hakanson has resigned from the
Commission as of February 2008.
Commissioner Berger asked if there was a leave of absence in the by-laws, to which Secretary
Akil replied she would check and get back to the Commission.
G:\LucretialCommDisability\Minutes)2008\Minutes_Mar 24 2008.do",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-03-24.pdf
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Page 4 of 5
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
1. Secretary Akil reminded the Commissioners that the draft ADA Transition Plan would be
presented to the Commission at the April 28, 2008 meeting, which would include discussion
of
the Commission's 2006 ADA recommendations. A printed version of the draft Plan would be
available for review in several City offices prior to the meeting date. More information will be
mailed to the Commission several weeks prior to the April meeting date.
2. Secretary Akil distributed a draft version of the letter prepared by Commissioner Berger, which
addresses State Budget cuts to local agencies that provide preventive healthcare services
currently offered by the County. Chair Lord-Hausman suggested that the letter be addressed to
the Social Services Human Relations Board (SSHRB) as it is currently reviewing health care
services in the City of Alameda.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Eric Pung and a group of students from San Francisco State University stated they wanted to
shoot a film at Alameda Point about a disabled student. They were notified by Mike Hampen,
PM Realty (representing on behalf of the City), that they would be required to take out a permit
for such a project, which would cost around $1,000.00. Mr. Pung stated that this is not a
professional project, they are a crew between 15 to 20 people and there is no profit involved.
They wanted to know if the CDI could offer any input on how they might proceed in light of the
permit costs and other license agreement fees that would be imposed if filmed at Alameda Point.
Secretary Akil stated that Mr. Hampen's notification was proper, as all requests for use of City
property or facilities at Alameda Point must be conducted by an agreement. Chair Lord-
Hausman suggested they contact Sue Russell with DSD as she is the City staff person in charge
of the Film Commission. The USS Hornet is also an option for the student-group.
2. Commissioner Berger stated that she would like Public Works to require more accessible parking
on Central Avenue between Oak and Walnut Streets for people attending performances at
Kaufman Auditorium. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the Alameda Civic light Opera (ACLO)
should write a letter to Public Works and the City Council for this request.
3. Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that the accessible button on the doors at City Hall at the
Oak Street entrance is not working. Secretary Akil responded that she would inform the
Maintenance Division of the Public Works Department of this issue.
4. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that there will be an update on the progress of a potential
accessibility web-page to the City's website on the next CDI agenda.
G:\LucretialCommDisability\Minutes(2008\Minutes_Mar 24 2008.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-03-24.pdf
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5. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the League of Women Voters is sponsoring a ""Meet Your Public
Officials"" event on April 24, 2008, 5:30 to 7:30 P.M. at the Harbor Bay Community Center.
Commission members will receive complimentary tickets in the mail.
6. Chair Lord-Hausman read information from Virendra Patel, Engineer in the Public Works
Department, regarding an email from a visually impaired citizen regarding audible signals. The
Chair indicated that she would request some feedback from PW regarding the citizens concerns.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:15P.M. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, April 28, 2008, at 6:30
P.M. in Room 360 at City Hall.
Lucidia Respectfully skil
submitted.
Lúcretia A. Akil
Commission Secretary
G:\LucretialCommDisability\Minutes\2008\Minutes_Mar 24",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-03-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-04-28,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
April 28, 2008
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:32 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Berger, Longley-Cook, Fort, Kirola, Robinson
and Kreitz.
ABSENT
Vice-Chair Moore
MINUTES
The March 24, 2008 minutes were approved with the following correction: under Old Business,
item number two, the last two sentences were deleted, as that was not reflected in the discussions.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There was no written communication.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Draft Pedestrian Plan (Gail Payne, PW):
Gail Payne, Transportation Coordinator, gave a presentation on the Draft Pedestrian Plan, which
included the executive summary, vision goals and policies, outreach, existing conditions and
implementation.
Commissioner Berger asked if the number of residents with disabled license plate placards were
included in the update, to which Ms. Payne replied they were not, however, they will get that
information from DMV. Chair Lord-Hausman suggested checking with the Census Bureau.
Commissioner Berger asked what the multi-modal plan includes, to which Ms. Payne responded
it includes all different types of transit operations.
Commissioner Kirola asked if the timing at pedestrian signals could be adjusted to extend
walking times within the crosswalks, to which Ms. Payne replied yes, and signal timing issues
are addressed under the Implementation Section.
Commissioner Berger suggested looking at more recent data under Bus Stop Boards, as the
current data is two years old, to which Ms. Payne agreed to do.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-04-28.pdf
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April 28, 2008
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Page 2 of 4
Chair Lord-Hausman asked if the updated information would be implemented over years, to
which Ms. Payne responded yes, as the Plan would not be updated again for another five to ten
years. Chair Lord-Hausman requested that PW provide another update to the Commission in the
fall.
Commissioner Kirola asked if funding would come from tax and grants, to which Ms. Payne
responded that all monies are strictly from transportation funding and not being drawn from the
General Fund of the City.
Commissioner Berger asked that the material for the walkway improvements not be slippery, to
which Ms. Payne replied that process will be addressed within the Public Walkway Project and
Pedestrian Guidelines.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked if the proposed improvements along Shoreline Drive be addressed
sooner than later, to which Ms. Payne replied that Shoreline Drive is not identified as high
priority due to lack of funding, however, it is considered an important improvement as part of
the overall Plan update.
Ms. Payne thanked the Commission for their input.
2. Estuary Crossing Feasibility Study Update (Gail Payne, PW):
Gail Payne, Transportation Coordinator handed out information regarding the feasibility study
currently underway. The City has selected a consultant to assist in that effort. There is a public
meeting scheduled for May 17, 2008 and anticipated it will be completed in the fall.
Commissioner Berger stated that if Oakland is only contributing $10,000 to the study, is the City
(Oakland) committed to the project, to which Ms. Payne replied yes. Oakland has the study
ranked as a high priority project in its redevelopment and Bicycle Master Plans. The City has a
good relationship with Oakland and, in terms of the estuary study, it is more of Alameda's issue
as the City (Alameda) is the lead agency.
OLD BUSINESS
1. 2007 CDI Accomplishments (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman distributed the updated list of CDI accomplishments from 2006-2007
and suggested that the Commission review it and provide any further comments to her. The
2008 accomplishments continue to be worked on.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-04-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-04-28,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 28, 2008
Minutes
Page 3 of 4
2. Path Between Crown & Washington Parks (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated the accessibility improvements along the pathway are done and
look nice.
3. Disability Parking at City Events (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that, as part of the agreement with the City, the Earth Day event
would include accessible temporary parking.
4. Commission Recruitment (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated she had not received any new applications from prospective
applicants and encouraged everyone to spread the word about open vacancies on the
Commission.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
1. Secretary Akil stated the presentation of the draft ADA Transition Plan would be presented to
the Commission at the May 27, 2008 meeting and would also be noticed as a community-wide
meeting. A printed version of the draft Plan would be available for review in several City
offices prior to the meeting date. More information will be mailed to the Commission in
advance as well. Secretary Akil explained that the delay of the presentation to the CDI was due
to internal approval and presentation to affected City departments.
2. Secretary Akil provided information from Barry Bergman, PW Transportation Coordinator,
requesting that a representative from the CDI join the Bike Plan Task Force as they begin to
update the Plan.
Commissioner Longley-Cook asked about the frequency of the meetings, to which Chair Lord-
Hausman responded that it is similar to the Pedestrian Plan Task Force, which does not meet on
a weekly basis, only as needed.
Commissioner Kreitz agreed to join the Task Force as the CDI representative, to which Secretary
Akil indicated that she would inform Mr. Bergman.
ORAL OMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Cathy Nielsen, SSHRB member, stated she had received the letter that the CDI had sent to the
Social Services Human Relations Board (SSHRB) regarding County medical funding for low-
income/disabled individuals and wanted to discuss those items.
Chair Lord-Hausman responded that she was not aware if the letter was distributed to all of the
SSHRB members and requested that she return to a future meeting to discuss that issue, to which
Ms. Nielsen agreed.
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2008\Minutes_Apr 28 2008.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-04-28.pdf
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2. Buena Vista Commons:
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that one of the low-income homes would be accessible for a disabled
household.
3. Chair Lord-Hausman read and distributed a news article on the California Chamber of
Commerce regarding the Chamber's urging its members to join its Advancing Disability Access
Coalition in support of statewide efforts to achieve better compliance with disability access laws.
4.
Commissioner Berger stated that there is no buzzer located at the back of the Alameda Free
Library building under the outside handicap placard for assistance. Also, there needs to be
another changing table installed in one of the library restrooms to allow more space for the
disabled.
Secretary Akil stated she would send an email to Jane Chisaki regarding these two issues and
get back to the Commission with the findings.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:15 P.M. The next scheduled meeting is Tuesday, May 27, 2008, at 6:30
P.M. in Room 360 at City Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia A. Akil
Commission Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2008\Minutes_Apr 28 8 2008.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-04-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-05-27,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
May 27, 2008
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:40 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Longley-Cook, Fort, Kirola, Kreitz, Berger
and Robinson.
ABSENT
Vice-Chair Moore
MINUTES
The April 28, 2008 minutes were approved with the following correction: under Oral
Communications/Nor Agenda Items, item number four was edited to indicate that the non-working
disabled handicap button is located outside and that additional changing tables should be installed in
more than one of the library bathrooms to allow more space for the disabled.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There was no written communication.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Draft ADA Transition Plan Update (Lucretia Akil, ADA Coordinator; Jim Fruit, Project
Manager, Sally Swanson Architects):
Lucretia Akil, ADA Coordinator/Board Secretary provided the introduction and overview of the
City's draft ADA Transition Plan Update. Darrell Handy, Risk Manager, also participated in the
presentation, informing the Commission of the goal and purpose of the community meeting,
which was to address the access and facility improvements within the content of the plan and
that specific questions or concerns regarding disability issues may be addressed and responded
to separate form the meeting. Jim Fruit, Project Manager, Sally Swanson Architects (SSA),
concluded the presentation of the Transition Plan with detailed review of the technical data
contained in the facilities and public intersections reports of the Plan, as well as Federal and
State laws of Title II ADA compliance with public agencies.
Secretary Akil informed the Commission that following tonight's community meeting and
receiving specific input from the Commission, the Transition Plan Update would be taken to the
City Council for final adoption based on recommendation from the Commission on Disability
Issues.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-05-27.pdf
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Page 2 of 6
Commissioner Berger asked what defines an individual with a qualified disability, to which Mr.
Fruit replied that any person who has a physical or apparent disability would be considered to
have a qualified disability.
Commissioner Berger asked if the same consulting firm (SSA) could be used for future updates
to the Transition Plan to which Mr. Handy responded that the computer software that SSA offers
would enable the City to update the Transition Plan on an annual basis via the ADA Coordinator
(Lucretia Akil). The ADA Coordinator will attend the yearly Capital Improvement Program
(CIP) kick-off meeting to ensure that ADA updates are included within future CIP projects.
Commissioner Berger asked about the sampling and new projects identified within the
Transition Plan to which Secretary Akil responded that the City's Public Works Department staff
are the managers of the CIP program and that she would ensure that those items identified be
included with the annual CIP updated project lists.
Commissioner Longley-Cook asked if Tinker Avenue extension is part of the Transition Plan
update to which Mr. Handy responded that Tinker is part of the future Planning of Alameda
Point and is not included in the Plan update.
Commissioner Berger raised the inoperability of the Main Library disabled handicap button at
the rear of the building to which Secretary Akil replied that particular item will be addressed
directly with the Library Director and all other ADA accessible items identified in the Transition
Plan have been repaired in the Main Library.
Commissioner Berger asked how are all accessibility issues handled such as ramps that may not
work for everyone, to which Mr. Fruit replied that architectural accessibility is modeled on
individuals who have moderate strength and are mobile. Architectural features do address
certain linear feet issues; however, it becomes a personal choice of the individual in terms of
traveling certain paths or distances across things such as ramps. Most of the population is
covered through these architectural features based on the ADA.
Mr. Handy responded that many ramps are less taxing and more up to code than past years, but it
does not always affect the length of the ramp and that is where personal choice would occur on
whether or not one is willing to travel the distance of the ramp.
Commissioner Berger stated that hidden disabilities need to be addressed such as arthritis, to
which Mr. Fruit responded that comes with aging. Commissioner Berger responded that perhaps
more signage would be helpful to which Mr. Fruit replied that he could offer the ADA
Coordinator information on ""way-finding"" to assist those with hidden disabilities.
 G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes(2008\Minutes_May 27 2008.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-05-27.pdf
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Chair Lord-Hausman asked if there is one individual in the Public Works Department for the
ADA Coordinator to work with to which Secretary Akil replied yes, Laurie Kozisek, Associate
Civil Engineer who works directly with the Capital Improvement Project program in the City.
Commissioner Berger stated that since there is great detail in the Plan, what is the method of
selecting a project, to which Mr. Fruit replied that the data consists of specific detail of each
facility, so any decision to select a project would be based on the information and level of
priority identified in the Transition Plan.
Commissioner Berger asked if any furnishings are included within the facilities reports of the
Transition Plan update to which Mr. Fruit replied that only if the furnishing is fixed within the
structure. Only then is the item addressed within each report of the Transition Plan. If the item
is loose or not affixed to the facility, then there is no reasonable accommodation that needs to be
addressed under any disability issue as the item can be moved from one place to another.
Commissioner Kirola thanked City staff and the consultant for all the work that went into the
project recognizing that it was a difficult task. The finished project is much appreciated.
Chair Lord-Hausman confirmed that the Public Works Department also participated in the
Transition Plan update.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked what type of Federal and grant funding would the City be able to
draw upon in order to fund the various ADA improvements to which Mr. Fruit replied that it
would probably consist of road and gas tax, which is apportioned by population. Those funds
must be used for specific earmarks such as street surfacing, curb ramp improvements,
intersection, etc. as they are obligated by the State. Other possible funding could be
redevelopment funding, which could include street, electrical and sidewalk improvements.
Commissioner Robinson asked about receiving fees from developers to which Mr. Fruit replied
that if an agency chooses to tax a developer, it becomes difficult and the City may not attract
developers to work on projects within the City, or the costs could actually be offset onto the City
under construction costs.
Mr. Handy stated that the ADA Transition Plan projects are integrated within the CIP program.
ADA projects will get done as other projects are completed within the City's CIP program, such
as sidewalk and street repairs, which must be ADA compliant with any improvements.
Everything that is built and designed will be ADA compliant as the City's overall commitment
to the Transition Plan is a priority for the City Council. As the ADA Coordinator, Ms. Akil will
ensure that this happens as often as the CIP program is updated.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the ADA Transition Plan is a good living document and that any
hidden disability resulting from aging will evolve with the Plan and be addressed over years.
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Commissioner Berger sated that she is very impressed with the Plan.
There were no other comments received from the public or commission.
Chair Lord-Hausman motioned to recommend that the Commission forward the draft ADA
Transition Plan Update to the City Council for final adoption. The motion was seconded by
Commissioner Longley-Cook and passed with the following vote: Ayes - 6; Nay - 0; Abstain -
0.
Secretary Akil, Mr. Handy and Mr. Fruit thanked the Commission for their input and
recommendation.
OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business for discussion.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Commission on Disability Internet Link (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil):
Secretary Akil provided updated information to the Commission regarding the addition of an
accessibility link onto the City's website. The City is in the process of putting out an RFQ to re-
vamp the current website and that process will not be finalized before fall. With costs escalating and
the current budget problems facing the City, these factors will delay the start-up of this project along
with the delay in overhauling the entire website. Secretary Akil stated that following the adoption of
the City's budget, this item will be re-agendized for future discussion.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Chair Lord-Hausman confirmed that the 2008 dates for the summer Concert at the Cove events
are June 13, July 11 and August 8. Commissioner Longley-Cook will represent the Commission
on June 13 and Commissioner Berger, August 8. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she would
confirm who would be in attendance for the July 11 event.
2.
Commissioner Kreitz provided information regarding the Bike Plan Task Force committee. The
committee has not yet formally met as the first meeting had to be rescheduled, but she will keep
the Commission updated as they meet.
3. Commissioner Berger requested that the members of the CDI be given another tour of the
Alameda Theatre now that it is open to the public. Secretary Akil stated that she would check
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with the former Project Manager to determine if the request can be accommodated.
4. Commissioner Berger asked that Vice-Chair Jodi Moore's absence from the Commission be
addressed at a future meeting. Chair Lord-Hausman responded that Jodi has had some personal
challenges, however, she will contact her to discuss going forward with the Commission.
5. Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that the Peanut Butter and Jam Festival and Alameda
Hospital Health Fair's are approaching and wanted to confirm the Commission's participation.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she will contact the hospital regarding the date and follow up
with Commissioner Kreitz regarding her progress on the Master Calendar of events for the
Commission.
Commissioner Kirola suggested the CDI's participation in the Art and Wine Fair on Park Street
to which Chair Lord-Hausman responded that the Commission should agree to participate in
events with the most chance of exposure. The Chair will contact Jackie Krause, Manager of the
Mastick Senior Center regarding a possibility of co-partnering with the CDI for community
events.
6. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the disabled spot on Everett and Park Street has been painted.
7. Chair Lord-Hausman read an article from the National Federation of the Blind concerning the
consequence of operating the energy-saving hybrid and electric cars that are so quiet, pedestrians
often cannot hear their approach. The Federation is proposing legislation.
8. Chair Lord-Hausman requested that the parking/re-stripping along Central Avenue in front of the
AUSD office and high school be agendized for future discussion since up to three disabled
parking spaces are gone due to the elimination of diagonal parking to parallel parking.
9. Commissioner Berger stated that she had not received a response from the Alameda Civic
Lighthouse Opera (ACLO) regarding the removal of disabled parking.
10. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she received an invitation for the Commission to participate on
the Alameda County Developmental Disability Council. The Chair acknowledged that this is
positive recognition for the Commission to be on their distribution list.
11. Commissioner Berger stated that she would like for the Commission to invite a representative
from the College of Alameda to discuss parking for students with disabilities.
ADJOURNMENT",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-05-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-05-27,6,"Commission on Disability Issues
May 27, 2008
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Page 6 of 6
The meeting adjourned at 8:20 P.M. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, June 23, 2008, at 6:30
P.M. in Room 360 at City Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia A. Akil
Commission Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-05-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-06-23,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
June 23, 2008
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:40 p.m.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Longley-Cook, Fort, Kirola
and Kreitz.
ABSENT
Commissioners Berger and Robinson
MINUTES
The May 27, 2008 minutes were approved with the following corrections: under New Business, Item
Number 1: changed question regarding Tinker Avenue from Commissioner Kirola to Commissioner
Longley-Cook; and Changed ""Motion Seconded"" from Commissioner Kirola to Commissioner
Longley-Cook.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There was no written communication.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Alameda Landing Development (Andrew Thomas, Planning Dept.):
Andrew Thomas, Planning Manager, provided updated information on the Alameda Landing
Project and addressed items concerning disability issues as they relate to the Project's
development. The Project is approved; however, it is being developed on a phased planning
design so input can be received for each design review portion of the project.
Commissioner Kreitz asked if there would be connectors at Alameda Point to which Mr. Thomas
replied yes, and that there would be no more sound walls similar to the Bayport Housing Project.
Tinker Avenue will connect and extend from College of Alameda to Webster Street, as will
Fifth Street.
Commissioner Kreitz asked if there would be transportation to which Mr. Thomas responded
there would be a water shuttle transporting people from Alameda Landing to Broadway in
Oakland.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked if there will be single-level homes and transportation designs for
accessibility issues such as wheel walks and would these items be included in the retail portion
of the project? Mr. Thomas responded that he is aware that the design of open space and retail
will be fully accessible for the disabled and that the housing portion is not being worked on at",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-06-23.pdf
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this point of the project. There are more concerns being expressed by elderly for single-level,
smaller homes. Mr. Thomas encouraged the Commission to make recommendations to the
Council regarding these housing issues.
Vice-Chair Moore asked what is the percentage of housing for the low-income to which Mr.
Thomas responded 25%. Vice-Chair Moore stated low-income housing should include families
with disabilities.
Mr. Thomas stated that the Commission on Disability Issues should be added to the distribution
list for all things concerning Catellus and Alameda Landing. Secretary Akil stated that Chair
Lord-Hausman's name should be added to that list.
Mr. Thomas thanked the Commission for their input and indicated he would return with future
updates.
OLD BUSINESS
1. Alameda Point Curb Cut Project (Terri Wright, Development Services Dept.):
Terri Wright, Development Services Dept., gave a presentation on the AP Curb Cut Project's
goals, overview, limitations, summary and all ADA ramps and reasonable accommodations in
connection with the project.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked clarification regarding the Alameda Pont Collaborative (APC). Ms.
Wright stated that APC was formed based on the McKinney Act, which recognizes that surplus
military housing be designated for the homeless.
Commissioner Kirola asked about the location of the Food Bank to which Ms. Wright stated that
the main sight is located on Webster and Constitution Streets, and the site at AP is their
warehouse, although they do distribute food from there.
Vice-Chair Moore stated that this project shows value to the community and lets people living at
Alameda Point know that there is a commitment by the City to improve living conditions until
the property is fully developed. Ms. Wright responded that this project is about service to the
people.
Commissioner Kirola asked if bus service is available for school children since approximately
half of the 200 individuals at AP are children, to which Ms. Wright replied that there is a 63 Bus
Line that travels through AP and most of the children located there attend Ruby Bridges
Elementary School which is within walking distance.
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Ms. Wright thanked the Commission for their questions and input and indicated that she will
return to provide an update for Phase II of the project.
2.
Concerts at the Cove (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Dates for the remaining concerts were confirmed by Commissioner Longley-Cook who
indicated she would attend on June 13; Chair Lord-Hausman will attend on July 11; and
Commissioners Berger and Kreitz who will attend on August 8.
Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that one individual from a nursing home came to the table
during the June 13 concert. There were a couple of individuals who stopped by requesting
information regarding the Regional Center. Vice-Chair Moore responded that she would get
more information to hand out about the Regional Center.
3.
CDI Attendance (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman emphasized the importance of attendance requirements of the
Commissioners and reminded everyone to call Secretary Akil if unable to attend.
4. Commission Disability Internet Link (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil):
Secretary Akil stated there were no new updates to the disability internet link since the last
meeting. Commissioners Kreitz and Moore suggested some additional website possibilities and
options once the City's redesigned website up and running.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Secretary Akil provided information regarding Commissioner Berger's request to address the
inoperable gate button in the back of the Main Library and the limited amount of disabled bathroom
stalls that include diaper-changing tables. Secretary Akil stated that she and Chair Lord-Hausman
spoke to Jane Chisaki, Library Director, who indicated that the button at the back of the building is
only operable during business hours and that she would have a sign posted next to that button with
that information. Ms. Chisaki also agreed to look into purchasing disabled symbols or signs to place
on the door of each of the disabled stalls to remind individuals that these bathrooms are priority for
those with accessibility needs. These signs will be placed on the front of the bathroom stalls as
funding becomes available within the Library budget.
Commissioner Longley-Cook described additional access issues once being buzzed in at the back
door to the outside patio area and still requiring to be let into the actual library as well as space
issues. Chair Lord-Hausman stated the library had to work with the space they have.
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ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Commissioner Kreitz distributed the draft Commission on Disability Issues Calendar covering
June 2008 - May 2009. Changes and recommendations were made for calendar editing. She
will send a revised draft to Chair Lord-Hausman for review.
As part of that discussion, the Commission agreed to combine the November and December
meetings to December 8, 2008.
2. Chair Lord-Hausman informed the Commission that she spoke with Jackie Krause, Senior
Services Manager at Mastick Senior Center, regarding possible joint efforts at various City-wide
events. Ms. Krause indicated that they do not have sufficient staff available, however, they will
distribute information provided to them about the Commission at events they participate in.
3.
Commissioner Longley-Cook distributed a flyer about an event sponsored by The Arthritis
Foundation, Bone and Joint Expo, which is Saturday, October 18, 2008, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
at the Concord Hilton Hotel.
4. Vice-Chair Moore stated that she is willing to organize another tree planting event as part of
Disability Awareness Month, October 2008 that the Commission supports. Vice-Chair Moore
also indicated that she would like to acknowledge April as National Autism Awareness month.
5.
Chair Lord-Hausman informed the Commission that the removal of parking spaces along Central
Avenue in front of Alameda High School was due to the redesign of the street. Following the
removal of the parallel parking along Central Avenue, AUSD reverted these spaces back to the
original disabled parking spaces at the Oak Street parking lot. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that
Public Works would discuss better signage with AUSD regarding these changes.
6. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the Federal Government is coming out with new ADA
legislation and suggested Secretary Akil check with Jim Fruit, Project Manager from Sally
Swanson Architects who assisted the City in its ADA Transition Update, regarding any
information on how it may affect the City.
7. Commissioner Kreitz stated the Bike Plan Task Force Committee had a meeting but she was
unable to attend.
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ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, July 28, 2008, at 6:30
p.m. in Room 360 at City Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Aucusia Akil
Lucfetia A. Akil
Commission Secretary
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-07-28,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
July 28, 2008
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:43 p.m.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Berger, Fort, Longley-Cook, Kirola and
Robinson.
ABSENT
Vice-Chair Moore and Commissioner Kreitz.
MINUTES
The June 23, 2008 minutes were approved as presented.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There was no written communication.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Mastick Senior Center (Jackie Krause, Senior Services Manager.):
Jackie Krause gave a presentation regarding ADA improvements, including funding for power
doors to the Mastick Senior Center. Ms. Krause also provided copies of Mastick's Newsletter
and Mastick Senior Center Code of Conduct information. Programs are open to everyone age 50
and older, including computer, fitness classes and dancing. A large component of their effort
involves fundraising, which contributes approximately $70,000 towards Mastick's annual budget
that is conducted by volunteers. Mastick is also the hub for the paratransit program, including
the distribution of tickets.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked what percentage of fundraising is part of their overall budget to
which Ms. Krause replied five to ten percent.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked what type of resources and information are available for individuals
with disabilities to which Ms. Krause replied that there is a part-time Resource Specialist who
provides resources, but does not get involved with case management type of services.
Commissioner Berger asked what the emergency 211-hotline is and is Mastick connected to
which Ms. Krause replied that it is the Alameda County Resource hotline and Mastick will call
that number if needed.
Commissioner Berger asked if the 211-hotline covers all counties or just local to which Ms.
Krause replied that she is not sure if it does but they are working towards that goal.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-07-28.pdf
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Chair Lord-Hausman asked if there is a web page to which Ms. Krause replied yes, although it is
linked to the Alameda Recreation and Park Department. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she
would like the CDI to have a link to Mastick, to which Ms. Krause replied that is perfectly fine
and if the CDI provided information to Mastick, they would distribute it on behalf of the
Commission.
Commissioner Kirola asked if paratransit tickets can be purchased at Mastick to which Ms.
Krause replied yes, every Tuesday through Thursday, between 9:00 A.M. - 12:00 Noon.
Commissioner Berger asked if there was a chance that a Mac computer could be purchased for
the Senior Center's computer classes to which Ms. Krause responded not any time soon as most
are PC's.
Ms. Krause thanked the Commission for their time and questions.
2. Emergency Disaster Plan (Rick Zombeck, Disaster Preparedness Officer/AFD):
In Rick Zombeck's absence, Sharon Oliver, Captain, Alameda Fire Department (AFD), gave a
presentation on the City's Disaster Preparedness Plan. Captain Oliver also works with the
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Executive Team on City-wide issues. The
City's basic Emergency Plan establishes emergency and directions in the event of a disaster and
operational area which is Alameda County. AFD is the first responder to a disaster or
emergency situation in the City and then it expands to the County and upward to the State and
Federal Governments. Captain Oliver concluded the presentation with an overview of the City's
emergency plan.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked if additional copies are available to which Captain Oliver replied
that a copy is available at the Main Library and a future copy will be made available online
within the City's website.
Commissioner Berger asked if all the radios are based on the National Incident Management
System (NIMS) to which Captain Oliver replied that NIMS was enacted after September 11,
2001 by the Federal Government to ensure that all agencies are on the same frequency. The City
of Alameda measures up to NIMS as required by Federal standards. Both APD and AFD can
communicate through the use of NIMS.
Commissioner Longley-Cook asked is there a coordination of the statewide channels to which
Captain Oliver replied that there are some although radio communications is challenging.
Commissioner Johnson asked if cell phones are reliable to which Captain Oliver replied that cell
phones are used during the highest priority in a disaster and that the radio system should also
work well in Alameda.
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Commissioner Berger asked where does the local Disaster Registry fit within the Disaster Plan,
to which Captain Oliver responded that due to budget constraints, it is not up to date but the
registry is managed through the CERT Program. Currently there are not enough personnel to
invest into managing the program.
Commissioner Berger asked if the registry is in nursing homes to which Captain Oliver
responded that the Disaster Registry is meant for someone who lives alone and is independent;
however, they will be checked on following a disaster.
Commissioner Berger asked how does an individual update their registry form to which Captain
Oliver responded by a written request to the Alameda Fire Department.
Commissioner Fort asked how do you know if you are registered to which Captain Oliver
responded that the individuals would have added themselves to the register.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that when the CDI web page is up and running, they would like to
add a link with AFD regarding the disaster registry program.
Commissioner Kirola asked is there a description of the CERT Program to which Captain Oliver
responded that one can check the City's website and navigate for information about the program.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the CDI would like to partner with AFD regarding the registry
program to which Captain Oliver replied that is fine.
Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that some people do not register in the program because of
fear of personal information being exposed. Captain Oliver replied that she has heard of these
types of fears; however, all volunteers are subject to a background check before they have access
to the list and they would meet with the individuals one on one.
Commissioner Robinson asked if APD or AFD manages the program to which Captain Oliver
stated that Fire manages the program and that she will ensure that information is consistent with
what is on the background check form.
Commissioner Berger asked if the registry list is being checked on a regular basis to which
Captain Oliver replied that it stays with AFD.
Captain Oliver thanked the Commission for their questions and input with respect to the City's
Disaster Preparedness Plan and registry program.
OLD BUSINESS
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1. Bike Plan Task Force Committee (Commissioner Kreitz):
No report.
2.
Central Avenue/AUSD Handicap/Accessibility Parking (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that Obaid Khan, Supervising Civil Engineer in the Public Works
Department, spoke with AUSD who controls the disabled parking spots along Central Avenue
in front of the school district building, and the District has agreed to improve the signage to
direct people to the Oak Street entrance for disabled parking.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Secretary Akil informed the Commission that the ADA Transition Plan Update was presented and
approved unanimously by the City Council at the July 15, 2008 meeting. Secretary Akil stated that
the CDI had previously reviewed the document and recommended that it be presented to the Council
for adoption. Secretary Akil thanked the Commission for their valuable input and support during the
project.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Commissioner Longley-Cook asked for an update on the latest proposed Federal ADA changes
to which Secretary Akil responded that the document was released for a 60-day public comment
period in early July and that it could be months before the final changes become effective. The
changes will mainly affect courtrooms, large theatre settings and parks and playgrounds within
public agencies.
2. Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that the crosswalk in-pavement lights are working well.
3. Transportation Commission Meeting: Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she attended the meeting
to hear the PW Transportation Study, which indicated the City would seek additional grant
money towards future improvements.
4. Commissioner Berger stated that she would like to revisit the start time of the CDI meetings for
the next agenda.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, August 25, 2008, at
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6:30 p.m. in Room 360 at City Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia A. Akil
Commission Secretary
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-08-25,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
August 25, 2008
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:38 p.m.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Berger, Longley-Cook, Kirola, Kreitz and
Krongold.
ABSENT
Vice-Chair Moore and Commissioners Robinson and Fort.
MINUTES
The July 28, 2008 minutes were approved with corrections to Agenda item number two under New
Business.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
Secretary Akil distributed information regarding a memo from the Mayor concerning the September
17, 2008 kick-off meeting at the O'Club for Community Action for a Sustainable Alameda, which
will address climate protection.
NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business.
OLD BUSINESS
1. Bike Plan Task Force Committee (Commissioner Kreitz):
Commissioner Kreitz stated that there has been no meeting due to scheduling conflicts.
2.
Alameda Buena Vista Commons and Opening (Commissioner Longley-Cook)
Commissioner Longley-Cook attended the grand opening event and reported that the units
turned out nice. There are solar panels on the roofs and PG& E offers rebates to families who
use alternative energy.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked Commissioner Longley-Cool if she viewed the accessible units to
which she replied yes, although the stairs were not as wide but the other rooms were very
accessible. Chair Lord-Hausman asked if the upstairs bathroom was accessible to which
Commissioner Longley-Cook replied that it is not. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she would
follow up with staff regarding this issue.
Chair Lord-Hausman reiterated that any new construction activity in the City should include
input from the CDI.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-08-25.pdf
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Commissioner Krongold stated that she would be willing to coordinate a presentation by
Universal Design Associates to assist the CDI in its review of accessibility items under new
construction activity. Chair Lord-Hausman agreed and asked that Commissioner Krongold
facilitate that presentation.
Commissioner Berger indicated that she knows Dan Lachtman, ADC Executive Director and
will call him regarding the upstairs bathroom not being accessible. Commissioner Berger also
suggested that Center for Independent Living (CIL) be on the checklist for future building
construction activity within the City.
Chair Lord-Hausman suggested that the CDI write a letter to the City Council to address these
issues and thanked Commissioner Longley-Cook for attending the grand opening.
3. Commission Disability Internet Webpage (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she and Secretary Akil met with the City's IT Manager
regarding the webpage. The page will happen, although it will be basic to start.
Commissioner Krongold asked how much it cost to which Secretary Akil responded up to
$3,000. Commissioner Krongold offered her services to assist in the design and
implementation of the page to which Secretary Akil responded that in order for the page to be
connected to the City's website, it must be done through the City's current web provider.
Further, the ADA Plan Update and information is an official document of the City and must
located within the City's website.
Commissioner Kreitz asked why couldn't the Commission apply grants on behalf of the City to
which Secretary Akil responded that the Commission is not a non-profit with 501(k) status and
would not be permitted on that basis.
4. Discussion Regarding the Start Time of Board Meetings (Commissioner Berger):
Commissioner Kreitz stated that she commutes from Dublin and it is difficult for her to get to
the meeting with a start time of 6:30 p.m.
Commissioner Berger stated that her commute does not allow her enough time to get to the
meeting on time and requested that the meeting be pushed back 30 minutes.
Commissioner Longley Cook stated she likes the earlier start time, thereby ending the meeting
earlier in the evening rather than leaving later at night.
Commissioner Krongold stated that she likes the earlier start time.
Commissioner Kirola stated she likes the earlier start time.
Secretary Akil stated that the reason the meeting was changed to an earlier start time was to
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August 25, 2008
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accommodate individuals who used public transportation, including Paratranist, as well as an
effort to promote greater public participation by engaging the community and bringing greater
visibility and awareness of issues regarding disabled services and resources within the City.
The 6:30 p.m. start time also secures sufficient staff coverage for the duration of the meetings.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she liked the earlier start but also recognizes the importance of
having all of the Commissioners present for the start of the meeting. The Chair asked for an
informal vote to change the meeting time to 7:00 p.m. to which there were five yes; zero no's;
and one abstention. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she would confirm with the
Commissioners not present, as to whether or not they want to the change the start time from
6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Secretary Akil stated that should the Commission decide to change the start time, the CDI
Bylaws would have to be amended and adopted by a majority (2/3) vote during the September
22, 2008 meeting.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
There was no staff communications.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Commissioner Longley-Cook asked what was the status of the Commission Calendar to which
Commissioner Kreitz responded that it was not here and not completed. Chair Lord-Hausman
stated that she made changes and asked that the updated version be distributed at the September
22 meeting.
Commissioner Krongold stated that she would provide information about other events over the
next six months that may be of interest to the Commission, which could be added to the
calendar.
2.
Commissioner Longley-Cook requested that the proclamation for Disability Awareness Month
be agendized for the first City Council meeting in October and emphasized the importance of
sticking with that date, since last year's proclamation was pushed to the end of October.
Commissioner Kreitz asked what is the status of the tree planting during Disability Awareness
Month to which Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she would call Vice-Chair Moore for a status
on her progress.
3. Commissioner Berger stated that she and Commissioner Kreitz attended the Crab Cove event in
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August and no one showed up and suggested that the Commission should redirect its energy into
other events, such as job fairs. This issue should be revised in Spring 2009 before commitments
are made for CDI representation. Chair Lord-Hausman responded that the other Crab Cove
dates were successful with good turn out and response to the CDI table.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the CDI can discuss other choices, however the focus should
remain on City events such as Earth Day, Park Street Festival, as an example.
Secretary Akil stated that since the adoption of the ADA Transition Plan update, there has been
an increase in visiting the current webpage for reference. Once the ADA/CDI webpage is up
and running, there will be more exposure for the CDI.
4. Chair Lord-Hausman distributed copies of highlights of the Federal Disability Programs
provided by the GAO office. It provides information on how coordination could facilitate better
data collection to assess the status of people with disabilities.
Commissioner Berger asked that with the national elections coming up, what could the CDI do
to ensure total accessibility for those with disabilities, to which Chair Lord-Hausman responded
that she could check with Mastick Senior Center. Commissioner Kreitz suggessted to check
with the Registrar of Voters.
Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that because this is an important election year, there would
be a more active response by people, in general.
5. Chair Lord-Hausman read a travel article which advised that when individuals with disabilities
reserve hotel rooms, they should use the word ""blocked,"" instead of ""guarantee"" as often times
rooms for the disabled are not honored when requested.
6.
Chair Lord-Hausman distributed copies of the local Disaster Registry form to approximately 12
individuals that she knows, who have all submitted their completed forms to the Fire Department
without hesitation.
Commissioner Krongold confirmed that the CERT program manages the Disaster Registry.
Commissioner Berger suggested distributing the form to people who receive Meals on Wheels.
ADJOURNMENT
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The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, September 22, 2008 at
6:30 p.m. in Room 360 at City Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia A. Akil
Commission Secretary
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-09-22,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
September 22, 2008
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:37 p.m.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Berger, Longley-Cook
Kirola, Fort, Krietz and Krongold.
ABSENT
Commissioner Robinson
MINUTES
The August 22, 2008 minutes were approved with corrections to Agenda items one, two and three
under Oral Communications/Non Agenda Items.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There was no written communication.
NEW BUSINESS
Vice-Chair Moore requested that Agenda item number two under Old Business, be moved to the
front of the agenda because she was not able to stay for the entire meeting to which the Commission
agreed.
OLD BUSINESS
2. Disability Awareness Month (Chair Lord-Hausman and Vice-Chair Moore):
Vice-Chair Moore stated that she spoke with John McDonald, Park and Recreation Department,
who said that there would be no tree planting until November, because the grounds at the parks
are not in good condition for tree planting. Vice-Chair Moore asked if the CDI would like to
move forward with the event in November to which the Commission agreed. Vice-Chair
Moore agreed to write the speech for the event and to coordinate with Mr. McDonald for a
November 8 date.
Commissioner Berger stated that trees can be purchased for $10 from the Arbor Group to which
Chair-Lord Hausman replied that the purchase of a tree is not the issue, but rather the timing in
which the trees can be planted at any of the parks, due to the condition of the soil.
Chair Lord-Hausman requested that the CDI select a date so that it can be announced during the
proclamation presentation at the October 7 City Council meeting. The CDI agreed to Saturday,
November 8, 2008 as the tree planting date. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she will not be
able to attend the City Council meeting and requested that someone from the CDI attend in her
absence. Vice-Chair Moore and Commissioner Krietz agreed to attend the October 7 City
Council meeting and announce the November 8 tree planting date.
Secretary Akil also confirmed that last year's proclamation for Disability Awareness month was",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-09-22.pdf
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September 22, 2008
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Page 2 of 5
not pushed back by the City, as indicated by the Commission from the August 25, 2008
meeting. Chair Lord-Hausman indicated that it was previous years where this occurred.
Secretary Akil stated that she would make sure that the October 7 date for the proclamation
presentation does not change.
The meeting resumed back to the original order of business on the Agenda.
NEW BUSINESS
1. CDI Meeting Room Change (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman discussed a letter that she sent to Secretary Akil and Teresa Highsmith,
City Attorney, regarding the chairs in City Hall Conference Room 360, of not being adequately
accessible for persons with certain disabilities and for some with physical limitations. Chair
Lord-Hausman referenced the notes on the agenda for ""accessible seating for persons with
disabilities (including those using wheelchairs) is available."" Based on inventory and
availability, Conference Room 391 is the only room with adjustable chairs and arm rests. Room
391 is located behind Council Chambers and the Planning and Building Department meets in
Council Chambers the same Monday evening that the Commission meets. Chair Lord-Hausman
believes that if the Commission changes its meeting location, it could be a distraction when
exiting from Council Chambers during the Planning Board meeting.
Commissioner Krongold asked if the Main Library Family Literacy Room is available with
adjustable chairs, to which Secretary Akil stated that she checked with the Director and only the
standard chairs, similar to Room 360, are available in all of the library conference rooms.
Commissioner Longley-Cook asked if we could borrow the chairs to which Secretary Akil
responded that specific instruction was given that the adjustable chairs are not to be moved back
and forth from Room 391.
Commissioners Kirola and Krietz agreed that the meeting should be in a room that is
comfortable for those Commissioners who may have physical difficulties getting in and out of
non-adjustable chairs.
Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that visitors would be confused about going into and behind
Council Chambers when coming to a CDI meeting.
Commissioner Krietz suggested that the CDI hold the October 27 meeting in Room 391 to
determine if it will work out for the Commissioners to which Chair Lord-Hausman agreed.
Secretary Akil stated that she would check Room 391 availability and forward that information
to the Commission in the October package.
2. Community Outreach Proposal (Commissioner Krongold):
Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes\2008\Minutes_Sep 22 2008.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-09-22.pdf
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September 22, 2008
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Page 3 of 5
Commissioner Krongold discussed possible partnerships for an outreach event to community
members with special needs, in connection with the CERT Disaster Registry. Commissioner
Krongold distributed and discussed the draft proposal, which includes a kick-off meeting, list of
potential and definite partners, potential underwriting/sponsorship, community resources and
date and location. Commissioner Krongold asked if the Commission felt this is something that
they could do and requested further input.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated she liked the idea and this would be a broad-based effort.
Commissioner Krietz suggested adding the Alameda Adult School program to the list of
potential partners. Chair Lord-Hausman also agreed to the definite partners on the draft proposal
and stated that there are tremendous resources available, including the Special Olympics and
Miracle Baseball League.
Commissioner Krietz stated that the City of Dublin has done a safety fair and the CDI could
customize its outreach event similar to Dublin's.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked, in principle, if the CDI would like to explore this more with
Commissioner Krongold as the lead to which the Commission agreed. Chair Lord-Hausman
stated that Disaster Registry staff participation is positive.
Commissioner Krietz stated that she thinks this is a great idea and volunteered to assist
Commissioner Krongold.
Commissioner Berger stated it is the kind of exposure that the CDI has needed since it started.
Commissioner Krongold agreed to come back with more information and details at the October
meeting.
Commissioner Berger stated that the CDI should partner with the Hospital for next year's fair as
a good start to which Chair Lord-Hausman responded that it will not work because they do not
have room, but it is something that the work group could begin to plan and work on.
Commissioner Krongold stated that she will contact Jackie Krause regarding using the Mastick
Senior Center as a possible event location.
OLD BUSINESS
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2008\Minutes_Sep 222008.do0",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-09-22.pdf
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September 22, 2008
Minutes
Page 4 of 5
1.
Discussion and Vote to Consider Changing Meeting Start Time (Chair Lord-Hausman
/ Secretary Akil):
Chair Lord-Hausman asked by a vote of hands who is willing to amend the bylaws by changing
the official meeting start time from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., to which all of the Commissioners
agreed. Chair Lord-Hausman moved to change the start time to 7:00 p.m. beginning October
27, 2008; the motion was seconded by Commissioner Krongold and passed unanimously by
those present.
2.
Bike Plan Task Force Committee (Commissioner Krietz):
Commissioner Krietz stated that there has been no meeting scheduled.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
1.
Secretary Akil confirmed with Commissioner Berger that the CDI selected Saturday, November
8, 2008 as the tree planting date and that last year's presentation of the proclamation was not
pushed back as originally indicated by the Commission at the August 25 meeting.
2.
Secretary Akil stated that there would be a CDI webpage update during the October 27 meeting.
3.
Secretary Akil confirmed that she will mail an updated CDI Roster prior to the next meeting.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Commissioner Berger stated that she will try to contact Dan Lachtman regarding the upstair's
bathroom accessibility concerns of the Buena Vista Commons. Chair Lord-Hausman advised
that she spoke to someone involved with the project and reviewed the project's accessibility
amenities with the Commission.
2.
Commissioner Berger stated that she contacted the County Registrar regarding accessibility
issues for persons with disabilities and that she may be able to forward that information to the
Journal for inclusion in an article.
3.
Commissioner Berger stated that there is no place for a mini-bus to park at the Alameda Ferry on
Main Street and requested that space be designated for mini-bus parking to which Secretary Akil
stated that she will follow up with the Ferry Services Manager from the Public Works
Department and get back to the Commission.
4. Commissioner Longley-Cook reviewed information from East Bay Learning Disability
Association (East Bay LDA) regarding a free parent education workshop network at the Oakland
Main Library, scheduled for October 4, 2008, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
5. Commissioner Krietz distributed the draft CDI calendar for review and comment. An updated
calendar will be distributed at the October meeting.
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes(2008\Minutes_Sep 22 2008.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-09-22.pdf
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Commissioners Berger & Kreitz agreed to attend the October 18, 2008 Alameda Hospital Health
Fair with Commissioner Longley-Cook.
6. Commissioner Krongold stated that she contacted Mark Mendleson from Universal Design
Specialists, who agreed to attend a CDI meeting to discuss accessible design so that the CDI
could eventually create its own checklist. Chair Lord-Hausman confirmed that the December 8,
2008 meeting will work and that the agenda would be light to allow more time for the
presentation and question and answers.
7. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she followed up with staff regarding the upstair's bathroom
accessibility concerns with the Buena Vista Commons. The downstairs bathroom has a roll-in
shower and the upstairs bathroom has a raised toilet, grab bars in the shower and a hand-held
drop down seat. This was not ideal, but they did much more as a result of attending the CDI
meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, October 27, 2008 at
7:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia A. Akil
Commission Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2008\Minutes_Sep 222008.do0",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-09-22.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-10-27,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
October 27, 2008
TIME
The meeting convened at 7:05 P.M.
PRESENT
Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Berger, Longley-Cook, Kreitz and Krongold.
ABSENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Berger and Kirola.
MINUTES
The September 22, 2008 minutes were approved with corrections to agenda item one under New
Business; and agenda item six under Oral Communications/Non Agenda Items.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There was no written communication.
NEW BUSINESS
1. AB 1234 Mandatory Ethics Training (Secretary Akil):
Secretary Akil reviewed the material for the ethics training and proposed that the December 8
CDI meeting be dedicated to complete the renewal certification.
Commissioner Krongold stated that she completed her ethics training last year and is not
required to renew until 2009, to which Secretary Akil replied that she would confirm that
information with the City Clerk's Office.
The remaining Commissioners agreed to commit to completing the certification renewal process
during the December 8 meeting with no other business to address on the agenda.
OLD BUSINESS
1. Community Outreach Proposal (Commissioner Krongold):
Commissioners Krongold and Kreitz met to discuss strategies for the proposed outreach
effort. Both Commissioners made the following suggestions:
change the name to Disability Advocacy Fair;
include booths similar to any other fair;
schedule the event the same date as the Alameda Hospital Fair next year, during
the month of October 2009; and
utilize AC Transit or Paratranist to transport people to and from the fair.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-10-27.pdf
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Page 2 of 4
Commissioner Kreitz stated that by having the fair the same day as the hospital fair, it would
provide a wide array of booths for both disability and hospital issues.
Commissioners Krongold and Kreitz identified the proposed workgroup members, which
includes Commissioners Krongold and Kreitz, Jim Franz, American Red Cross; John
McChan, Head of Disaster Task Force; Jerry Juhala, Disaster Registry; Chuck Scanlon,
Volunteer for Police; Steve Wasson, Hospital Board; and Dale Lillard, Director, Alameda
Recreation and Park Department.
Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that all of the named individuals are already committed
to the Hospital Fair.
Vice-Chair Moore stated that people would not want to have to travel back and forth between
the two fairs and that the CDI should not attempt to incorporate the fair with the Alameda
Hospital Fair, or compete with it.
Commissioner Berger stated that it is not a good idea to piggyback onto the Alameda
Hospital Fair.
Commissioner Krongold stated that the first workgroup meeting is scheduled to meet on
December 1 and that an email was sent to Jane Chisaki to check availability for a meeting
room.
Commissioner Berger stated that the hospital fair attracts older age group individuals for
health fair services specific to those types of needs. The CDI is looking for participation
from the other end of the age group, including children, working parents and families with
special needs. It may also not be a good idea to invite school districts to this type of fair.
Commissioner Kreitz responded that all services are included for the fair, including ARPD
and AFD Disaster Registry, just to name a few.
Vice-chair Moore stated the CDI should not serve the same people twice, which include
Alameda Hospital Fair participants. Vice-Chair Moore stated that the CDI needs to clarify
whom they are trying to attract and define the purpose of this event.
Commissioner Kreitz responded that the CDI fair would includes resources and services
within the City of Alameda.
Vice-chair Moore suggested that the Commissioners return to a future meeting with an
individual list of services of what the City provides and possible themes for a fair for the
Commission.
Commissioner Krongold replied that suggestion would be included in the first work group
discussion.
Board Secretary Akil reminded the Commissioners that its main purpose is to raise
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2008\Minutes_Oct 27 7 2008.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-10-27.pdf
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October 27, 2008
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Page 3 of 4
awareness concerning accessibility issues and that any fair or activities that the Commission
conducts, should focus on this aspect of the Commission's purpose and not overstep into
other areas where existing Boards and Committees are already in place for those areas of
concern.
Commissioner Berger responded that some resources are available outside of the City.
Commissioner Kreitz stated that the effort should start in Alameda and then build from there.
Vice-chair Moore asked where is the funding for this fair going to come from, to which
Commissioner Krongold replied corporate support and in-kind donations with the help of Jim
Franz from the American Red Cross.
Vice-chair Moore stated those are good ideas but the Commission should consider the fair on
a different day, perhaps in September and the focus should be on the younger, disabled
community.
Commissioner Krongold replied that will be part of the December 1 workgroup discussion.
Commissioner Kreitz asked if it was appropriate for the Commission to participate or be
connected with fundraising or marketing activities, to which Secretary Akil replied that as
volunteers to the City, the Commission could not participate or accept funds or donations.
Secretary Akil stated that she would confirm everything with the City Attorney, as the fair
comes together.
Commissioner Berger stated that if non-profits participate, costs will be low, to which
Secretary Akil stated that will also be discussed with the City Attorney at the appropriate
time.
Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that approximately five-years ago, the SSHRB brought
all of the agencies, boards and commissions together, including the CDI, in Alameda to
encourage working collaboratively on projects.
Commissioner Berger suggested that the CDI come back with a list of items for the fair
during the first meeting in January 2009.
2.
Disability Awareness Month (Chair Lord-Hausman and Vice-Chair Moore):
Vice-chair Moore stated that the Disability Awareness Month proclamation was well
received at the October 7 City Council meeting. Vice-chair Moore also confirmed the tree
planting location scheduled for November 8, which will be at the Fernside entrance to
Lincoln Park.
3.
Commission Disability Internet Webpage (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil):
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2008\Minutes_Oct 27 2008.d0c",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-10-27.pdf
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Secretary Akil stated that she and Chair Lord-Hausman were finalizing the webpage and
would be meeting with the Information Technology Manager and the City's consultant
regarding the drafts in the month of November.
4.
Bike Plan Task Force Committee (Commissioner Kreitz):
Commissioner Kreitz stated that no committee meetings have been scheduled, nor has
anyone contacted her regarding the task force. Commissioner Kreitz requested that this item
be removed from future agenda's until she is able to provide information to the CDI.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Secretary Akil stated that Commissioner John Robinson informed her of his resignation due to
relocation to another city.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Commissioner Krongold requested that her email be corrected, to which Secretary Akil stated
that would be done and that an updated roster would be mailed to everyone prior to the next
Commission meeting.
2. Commissioner Longley-Cook attended the Sun-Cal Presentation and reported the following
information from that presentation: in terms of housing, the ground floor apartments should be
similar to the bungalows at Alameda Point; the developer should use tactile pavement to prevent
slippage; pathway surfaces should be one that can easily be handled by walkers, wheelchairs,
canes, and that benches should also be set along the paths; the picnic tables in the parks should
have a section cut out so each table can accommodate a wheelchair; transit should be accessible;
Sun Cal indicated that there should also be eco-paths SO that people who live at Alameda Point
can ride the shuttle or bus for free; and that 25% of the affordable housing units constructed will
also include some accessible units.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, December 8, 2008 at
7:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia A. Akil
Commission Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2008\Minutes_Oct 27 2008.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-10-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2008-12-08,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
December 8, 2008
TIME
The meeting convened at 7:05 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Berger, Longley-Cook,
Kirola, Fort and Kreitz.
ABSENT
Commissioner Krongold.
MINUTES
The October 27, 2008 minutes were approved with corrections to Agenda Item Two under Oral
Communications/Non-Agenda Items.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There was no written communication.
NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business.
OLD BUSINESS
1. AB 1234 Mandatory Ethics Training (Secretary Akil):
Secretary Akil distributed information and testing material for the AB 1234 ethics training. The
Commission completed the training and testing. Secretary Akil will submit all of the tests to the
Institute of Local Government for certificates of completion.
2. Commission Disability Internet Webpage (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil):
Chair Lord-Hausman informed the Commission that she and Secretary Akil met with the City's
Information Technology Manager and consultant regarding the draft webpage and provided all
of the draft material. Secretary Akil stated that the City's website consultant will prepare the
final drafts and costs to the City for consideration. Funding will be an issue in the coming
months due to the downturn in the economy, so there may be some delay with jumpstarting the
webpage.
Commissioner Berger suggested that the Commission consider a name change in the future to
the Commission on Disability Access.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
There was no staff communication.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-12-08.pdf
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Page 2 of 2
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Commissioner Berger stated that she contacted both local newspapers to inform them of the
revised meeting start time of the CDI to 7:00 P.M.
2. Chair Lord-Hausman commended Vice-Chair Moore for the tree-planting event and
acknowledged that multiple Council Members and newspapers showed up to share in the event.
3. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that with assistance of Pedestrian Alameda, they successfully had
sidewalks installed at Alameda Towne Centre from Walgreen's to Office Max.
4. Chair Lord-Hausman reminded the Commission that a notice would be included in the next
packet regarding the election of officers, which is required for the annual meeting. Secretary
Akil will send a nomination ballot to each Commissioner, which should be completed prior to
the meeting and handed to her for a tally of the vote during that meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, January 26, 2009 at
7:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia A. Akil
Commission Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2008\Minutes_Dec 8 2008.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2008-12-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-01-26,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
January 26, 2009
TIME
The meeting convened at 7:05 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Berger, Longley-Cook,
Kirola, Fort, Kreitz and Krongold.
ABSENT
None.
MINUTES
The December 8, 2008 minutes were approved as presented.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
1. Secretary Akil distributed a ""Pamphlet for Intellectual and Development Disabilities"" to the
Commission.
2. Secretary Akil distributed the draft 2009 CDI meeting calendar, to which the Commission
agreed to combine the November and December meetings, to be held on December 7, 2009.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Election of Chair and Vice-Chair (Secretary Akil):
Secretary Akil received the completed the confidential nomination forms from the
Commissioners regarding the election of Chair and Vice-Chair. The Commission voted to re-
elect Audrey Lord-Hausman as Chair, and Jody Moore as Vice-Chair.
OLD BUSINESS
1. Community Outreach / Fair (Commissioners Krongold/Kreitz):
Secretary Akil distributed and read notes from the December 8, 2008 meeting regarding
discussion of the Community Outreach Fair.
Commissioner Krongold distributed and reviewed an outline of the proposed resources fair,
which has been renamed to ""Special Needs - Special Services."" Commissioner Krongold
emphasized that the event will not conflict with the Alameda Hospital Fair in the fall.
Commissioner Berger suggested looking at other non-profits that provide free resources as well.
Commissioner Berger also suggested removing the word ""free"" under Purpose on the outline of
the event.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-01-26.pdf
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Page 2 of 3
Commissioner Fort stated that ""free"" can be misinterpreted.
Vice-Chair Moore asked that if each organization offers free services, why not list them to which
Commissioner Berger responded that not all of them provide free services, but instead work on a
sliding scale.
Commissioner Kreitz stated the next work group meeting is February 9 at which time the group
will brain storm the matter further.
Vice-Chair Moore suggested removing the use of the word ""free"" on the outline under Purpose.
Vice-Chair Moore stated that the Commission should consider Starbucks for donations as they
do a lot locally for the community.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that John McCahan from the Fair Steering Committee said that
possibly food could be donated and there are other service organizations in Alameda that do in-
kind monetary donations.
Vice-Chair Moore agreed to remove the CDI out of the Sponsorship portion of the outline and to
allow the American Red Cross to accept all in-kind monetary contributions.
Chair Lord-Hausman suggested removing the word ""monetary"" from the outline under
Sponsorship
Commissioner Berger stated that the Social Services Human Relations Board (SSHRB) held the
same kind of fair and someone should get a list of all of the participants from that fair.
Commissioner Berger also suggested including the SSHRB in this event.
Chair Lord-Hausman responded that the Development Services Department (DSD) recently
hired a person to staff the SSHRB and Youth Collaborative and that she will talk with that
individual about this issue.
Commissioner Krongold stated that the Hospital is interested and she plans to meet with Jackie
Krause, Services Manager of the Mastick Senior Center to receive their input.
2. Commission Disability Internet Webpage (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil):
Secretary Akil met with the City's Information Technology Manager and consultant regarding
the draft webpage and has received the consultant's proposed draft and other information for the
proposed webpage. Secretary Akil will forward that information to Chair Lord-Hausman to
review for consideration.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/(2009\Minutes_Jan 26 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-01-26.pdf
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In response to Commissioner Berger's question regarding accessibility for mini-bus parking at the
Ferry Terminal, Secretary Akil stated that the Ferry Services Manager from Public Works confirmed
that there are plans being included for mini-bus parking at the Alameda Ferry on Main Street.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
There were no oral communications.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:58 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, February 23, 2009 at
7:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia A. Akil
Commission Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes\2009\Minutes_Jan 26 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-01-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-02-23,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
February 23, 2009
TIME
The meeting convened at 7:12 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Berger, Longley-Cook, Kirola, and Krongold.
ABSENT
Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Fort and Kreitz
MINUTES
The January 26, 2009 minutes were approved with corrections to agenda item one under Old
Business.
Chair Lord-Hausman introduced Darrell Handy, Risk Management for the City of Alameda who
attended on behalf of Board Secretary Akil.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There were no written communications.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Presentation by Design Community & Environment Consulting (Leslie Wilson,
Consultant):
Discussion of accessibility issues regarding transportation in Alameda.
Leslie Wilson, Planner with Design Community & Environment (DCE) a Berkeley-based
consulting firm, gave a presentation regarding a Community Based Transportation Plan (CBTP)
for the City of Alameda. The plan is a grass roots effort to use community input to identify
transportation problems, identify solutions, and collect information that can be put into a plan.
The firm has also spent time with senior citizens, low-income groups and youth groups for input.
Ms. Wilson requested that the Commissioners complete a survey regarding the proposed plan.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked how the program began to which Ms. Wilson responded that the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) funded Community Based Transportation
Plans for several cities in the Bay Area. DCE completed a CBTP for Oakland, Berkeley and
Rosemont and now Alameda. DCE is working with various transportation agencies as well as
conducting most of the outreach and compiling data for inclusion into the plan. This effort will
ensure more funding to prioritize problems and get solutions. Ms. Wilson said that if you live on
the main Island, it would be nice to know places where you live, places that you go, places that
you or somebody that has disabilities would have issues getting to, and she will complete the
map.
Ms. Wilson provided a map of the City and asked Commissioners to identify problems regarding",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-02-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-02-23,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
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Page 2 of 5
problem areas and accessibility issues for individuals with disabilities.
Chair Lord-Hausman clarified that it is anything that would get in the way of accessibility to
which Ms. Wilson responded sidewalks, access to a bus, a shelter at a bus stop and streets that
are poorly lit or dark.
Chair Lord-Hausman responded anything that would get in the way of accessibility at any level
to which Ms. Wilson replied yes and the survey includes discussion of general transportation,
destinations, as well as rating experience on AC Transit, the ferry, BART, Paratransit, sidewalks
and bicycle routes.
Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that there is no access to 9th Street from Portola which dead-
ends. To which Ms. Wilson stated that when completing the survey, the more precise that you
can be in talking about the intersections or the bus routes that you have a problem with, the more
helpful it would for the plan.
The Commission identified several problem areas, including Webster, entrance to the Tube,
College of Alameda, Ralph Appezzato Parkway, Central, traveling East on Clement along the
lane that comes right through the railroad tracks at Clement and Park. The Commission also
pointed out that the railroad tracks make walking and bicycling difficult, and there are many
unused railroad tracks in Alameda.
Ms. Wilson requested that the Commission discuss AC Transit Services for people with
disabilities, including getting on and off buses.
The Commission pointed out that you have to climb up very high steps to get onto a bus and if
you are a senior or have any type of disability that is very difficult to do. There are individuals
who believe that bus drivers do not want to stop and deal with a person in a wheelchair and just
drive by. Buses have a very narrow isle and they barely can hold able people, so if you are semi-
disabled, it can be troubling. The Commission indicated it is important for people to understand
that there are invisible disabilities and that bus drivers need better training, including sensitivity
training for those individuals. There also needs to be adequate bus shelters, with seats easy to
manage, spaces for wheelchairs and even a GPS so they can they can track how far away a bus
will be and announce every approaching street, which can be helpful. Also, streets need to be
well-lit around residential neighborhoods.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she would like to see the Lincoln and Park Street intersection
redesigned at some point, because there are a lot of people that turn left there and it is a wide
intersection. An elderly or disabled person walks more slowly and people that turn left there are
so busy trying to make their left turn that they are not paying attention to pedestrians in the
crosswalk. That area is getting busier because of the library, lots of retail, service shops as well
as increased traffic coming into the City off the Fruitvale and Park Street Bridges.
Darrell Handy, City of Alameda Risk Manager, stated that he was previously Risk Manager for
AC Transit. One of the reasons why drivers are reluctant to stop for wheelchairs is that their
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2009\Minutes_Final_Feb 23 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-02-23.pdf
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bosses and the time schedules never allow them enough time, and they get disciplined if they are
late. The system is such that by doing what is right and what they would like to do conflicts for
fear that they may lose their job. AC Transit is very strict about keeping the timetables.
Commissioner Longley-Cook discussed the frequency of buses at Alameda Point to which Chair
Lord-Hausman stated that there is a lot of low income housing there and only one bus. This is
difficult on the weekend and that has been identified as a major problem for the disabled
veterans and low-income families. There is also going to be a lot more housing soon, and one
bus route is inadequate.
Commissioner Longley-Cook pointed out that there are drainage and water flow problems near
the tube and the Mariner Square Athletic Club.
Ms. Wilson asked the Commission to identify, as a resident or as a person speaking on behalf of
people with disabilities, what would be three major priorities of improvement, or problems or
areas that need work.
The Commission identified AC Transit sensitivity training, changes to AC Transit including the
distance between bus stops; intersection design and pedestrian safety issues.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked Ms. Wilson if she is aware that the City has a Youth Advisory
Commission to which Ms. Wilson responded, yes and confirmed that DCE met with them a
couple of weeks ago. They completed a plan with the Transportation Commission, which
highlighted congestion in High School.
Ms. Wilson thanked the Commission for their input and stated they are hoping to complete the
plan by late spring.
Chair Lord-Hausman thanked Ms. Wilson on behalf of the Commission.
OLD BUSINESS
1.
Special Need-Special Services Resource Fair (Commissioners Krongold/Kreitz):
Discuss Special Need-Special Services Resource Fair.
Commissioner Krongold gave an update on the work group meeting and provided specific
highlights from that meeting, including the date planned for October 24 at the Officer's Club,
confirmed partnerships with Mastick Senior Center, Alameda Hospital, CERT, and American
Red Cross. The majority of the work group meeting was spent brainstorming a list of service
organizations for profit providers that could be donors or sponsors for the event. Commissioner
Krongold stated she created an Excel spreadsheet that was emailed to everybody in the work
group and would provide copies to the Commission for next month's meeting.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that a Resource Fair Overview has been sent to Board Secretary
Lucretia Akil for review by City staff and we are waiting for approval.
uucretia)CommDisability\Minutes(2009\Minutes_Final_Feb 23 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-02-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-02-23,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 23,
2009 Minutes
Page 4 of 5
Chair Lord-Hausman commended Commissioner Krongold for all of the work that she has done
on the Resource Fair, adding that it is moving ahead really well. The main challenge is the
location, as there has to be a balance between space, central location and accessibility. There is
no other central location that has the kind of accessibility and space that the O'Club offers. The
Commission will have to do a really good job of publicity.
Commissioner Berger asked about a school location to which Commissioner Krongold replied
parking would be an issue on a Saturday.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated there would be additional issues, including janitorial service, and
whether or not AUSD would be willing to donate that. The Special Olympics uses the Alameda
High School gym a lot, although Encinal High School has more parking, which can be discussed
at a later date. The O'Club also has tables and chairs.
Commissioner Krongold stated that Ms. Cheryl Fenner Brown, who teaches at Serendipity Yoga,
is trained to work with people with disabilities and will offer a chair yoga class at the Fair, which
will take place in a separate space from the tables due to the layout of the O' Club.
Chair Lord-Hausman said that everyone is invited to attend the March 9th group to which
Commissioner Krongold confirmed that it will be in the library at 6:30 P.M., in Room A, the
Community Room right near the Café.
2. Commission Disability Internet Webpage (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil):
Update regarding the addition of an accessibility page onto the City's website.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she received the Internet webpage sample based on the
meeting with the City's IT staff and consultant and it looked pretty good. There has been no
recent follow up but the project is moving along.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
There was no staff communications.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1.
Commissioner Longley-Cook attended the Transportation Commission meeting and stated
that there is going to be a discussion regarding the 51-bus route. No other action was taken.
2.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated the City has just finalized the Bicycle Plan Task Force, which
Commissioner Kreitz has been a member. During that time, there were no scheduled
meetings, until the two meetings scheduled in March that will include working on the Bicycle
Master Plan. Commissioner Kreitz has also tendered her resignation due to heavy schedule
with work and a number of different things going on for her. She will no longer be on that
task force. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she does not know how strongly the Commission
feels that there should be someone on the task force and asked if anyone would like to be? If
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes(2009\Minutes_Final_Fel 23 2009.do",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-02-23.pdf
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February 23,
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there is not a representative, the Commission will continue to get notifications from them and
should something be of interest, someone from the CDI can go attend or communicate in
writing.
Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that they do report to the Transportation Commission as
part of their meeting with the Bike Task Force.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that everyone should be aware of people with disabilities on
bicycles.
3.
Chair Lord-Hausman received notice that the Miracle League is having a walk-run fundraiser
on Saturday March 21st called ""St. Paddy's Day Dash."" It is a three-mile fun run-walk along
the Alameda Beach and all proceeds go to the Alameda Miracle League. It starts at 9:00
A.M and they may like to have volunteers. The web site is Alamedadmiracle.org
4.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she had discussed the Resource Fair with an able-bodied
individual walker in her 70s, who indicated that she would like a psychologist to be included
in the fair resources, where an individual can talk to that person about how to talk to
someone with a disability in a sensitive manner. Commissioner Krongold responded that it
sounds like sensitivity training to which Chair Lord-Hausman stated that we would definitely
look for an appropriate person.
Chair Lord-Hausman also stated that she informed a few individuals that there are some
openings on the Commission as there is a need for more people. Some people might shy
away because they may not have a disability or feel right about serving on the CDI, which is
not the case. Individuals with sensitivity or openness are the type of people the CDI is
looking for. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the name of the Commission might be off-
putting and suggested a name change to ""Commission on Disability Access."" Although, the
City may not be responsive to the name change and suggested discussion on this item for
another meeting date.
5.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that there is a wonderful article in the NY Times on Universal
Design that specifically discusses changing the word disability to difference.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, March 23, 2009 at
7:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia A. Akil, Commission Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes\2009\Minutes_Final_Feb 2",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-02-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-03-23,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
March 23, 2009
TIME
The meeting convened at 7:03 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Fort, Longley-Cook, Kirola, Kreitz and
Krongold.
ABSENT
Vice-Chair Moore and Commissioner Berger
MINUTES
The February 23, 2009 minutes were approved with corrections.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There were no written communications.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Statement of Economic Interests, Form 700 (Board Secretary):
Secretary Akil distributed the annual Statement of Economic Interest forms, covering the period
for January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008, for the Commissioner's to complete and sign.
2. Presentation on Annual Paratransit Program Application for 2009/2010 (Public Works):
Gail Payne, Transportation Coordinator for the Public Works Department discussed the renewal
and application process for the 2009/2010 fiscal year. The program is funded through the
Transportation Sales Tax and there is one mandatory line-item designated for Paratransit. The
presentation topics included the service description, objectives, customer satisfaction survey
results, needs identification, planning process, marketing and funding overview.
Secretary Akil asked how many agencies responded to the bid to provide Paratransit services to
which Ms. Payne responded two, Welcome Transportation and Friendly.
Commissioner Krongold asked if Welcome Transportation's vehicle fleet is as large as Friendly
to which Ms. Payne stated that they (Welcome Transp.) has a fleet of vehicles.
Commissioner Krongold asked if the budget for marketing is $19,000 every year as stated in the
staff report, to which Ms. Payne responded that budget is not for marketing, but is designated for
customer service, outreach and Mastick Senior Center staffing.
With no further questions, Chair Lord-Hausman thanked Ms. Payne for the presentation.
Ms. Payne also acknowledged that Chair Lord-Hausman has agreed to be the PAPCO's City of
Alameda representative.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-03-23.pdf
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OLD BUSINESS
1.
Special Needs-Special Services Resource Fair (Commissioners Krongold/Kreitz):
Secretary Akil informed the Commission that they could do fundraising for the fair if the City
Manager's office was in agreement with that effort and provided that there is sufficient staffing
from the finance department to support the activity. Secretary Akil also reminded the
Commission that they are an advisory body to Council and tasked with making
recommendations regarding disability issues to Council. The Commission should discuss
whether or not to go ahead with a fair and then vote on whether to convey that intent to Council
as they (Council) should be made aware of what the Commission wants to do. This
communication could happen through an off-agenda report or presentation during a City
Council meeting.
Commissioner Kreitz suggested that the CDI forward an off-agenda memo to Council
informing them of the proposed fair.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she would support a short presentation to Council for the sake
of publicity and the value of visibility. Chair Lord-Hausman suggested that an off-agenda be
sent first and then in August the CDI should request the item be placed on the Council agenda
for a September meeting date.
Commissioner Kirola asked if the City would take any portion of the money raised by the CDI
to which Secretary Akil responded that she did not know if that would happen.
Commissioner Longley-Cook stated that the Special Needs Fair should focus on services in
Alameda to which Commissioner Kreitz stated that they started with local resources and it
morphed with other agencies.
Commissioner Kreitz stated that people within the City use these other outside agencies.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that there are not enough agencies in Alameda to meet the needs of
the disabled community so we have to draw from the County.
Commissioner Krongold stated the work group brainstormed the list and requested that the CDI
provide any additional agencies or groups to which they did. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that
the list is good and the CDI should proceed with the recommended additions to the list.
Commissioner Krongold stated the work group would draft a registration form and cover letter
for the next CDI meeting for review and discussion.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked if the CDI could use the City emblem for various correspondence
for the fair to which Secretary Akil responded that she would check with the City Attorney's
office. Chair Lord-Hausman also requested that the registration forms be mailed to City Hall to
which Secretary Akil agreed, but that all contact information should identify a CDI name and
telephone number for all questions. Secretary Akil agreed to forward all registration forms
back to the CDI member in charge of the fair.
ucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2009\Minutes_Mar 23 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-03-23.pdf
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Page 3 of 3
2.
Commission Disability Internet Webpage (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil):
This item is on hold due to on-going funding and budgeting issues.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
There was no staff communications.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1.
Commissioner Krongold stated that there will be a March 28th event at College of Alameda
for student's transitioning from K-12 to Community college. There are a number of agencies
involved addressing both social and transitional issues. There will be a variety of sessions
from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. and the cost is $5.00. Chair Lord-Hausman provided the
specific time of the event and registration which is from 9:30 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.
2.
Commissioner Kreitz acknowledged that this is her last meeting and thanked the Commission
for their time and will be available to help on the fair to which Chair Lord-Hausman thanked
her for her involvement and time.
3.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that a press release went out by the City Clerk's office
announcing openings on the CDI. Commissioner Krongold provided Chair Lord-Hausman
with two prospective names to contact for possible interest in the Commission.
4.
Chair Lord-Hausman confirmed that she has agreed to represent the City of Alameda on both
PAPCO and ACTIA which meets the fourth Monday in the afternoon.
5.
Chair Lord-Hausman provided information on accessible traveling from a magazine based out
of San Francisco. The link is www.emerginghorizons.com.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:17 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 7:00
p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
cretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2009\Minutes_Mar 23 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-03-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-04-27,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
April 27, 2009
TIME
The meeting convened at 7:01 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Berger, Fort, Longley-
Cook and Krongold.
ABSENT
Commissioner Kirola
MINUTES
The March 23, 2009 minutes were approved with corrections.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There were no written communications.
NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business.
OLD BUSINESS
1.
Special Needs-Special Services Resource Fair (Commissioner Krongold):
Secretary Akil informed the CDI that an off-agenda memo was sent to the City Council
regarding the Special Needs-Special Services Resource Fair and a letter was sent to the Mayor
requesting a fee-waiver for use of the D'Club.
Commissioner Krongold asked what is the process for approval of the fee waiver to which
Secretary Akil stated the Mayor will respond to the request via letter and suggested that Chair
Lord-Hausman follow up with the Mayor's Secretary.
Commissioner Krongold distributed the draft registration form and letter which will be mailed
to the list of participants proposed by the CDI. The CDI made some minor changes to the draft
documents. Secretary Akil agreed to place the City Seal on the letter and provide copying and
distribution services for the CDI. The actual mailing will be done by the CDI and workgroup.
Commissioner Berger discussed some accessibility and shuttle concerns regarding the O'Club
site at Alameda Point. She stated that all shuttle services should be available at both the east
and west end, and near a bus stop. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the shuttle stops should
include Harbor Bay, Towne Centre, Mastick and either Independence Plaza or Mariner Square
for the west end stop. Chair Lord-Hausman requested that Commissioner Krongold check with",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-04-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-04-27,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 27, 2009
Minutes
Page 2 of 2
Jackie Krause, Mastick Senior Center, regarding suggested shuttle locations.
Commissioner Krongold stated that the next workgroup meeting is May 11 and requested that
the notice of the Fair be placed on the City's webpage under ""Upcoming Events.""
2.
Commission Disability Internet Webpage (Chair Lord-Hausman/Secretary Akil):
This item is on hold due to on-going funding and budgeting issues.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
There was no staff communications.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1.
Commissioner Berger informed the CDI that her term is expiring on June 30th and that she
will not renew. She suggested that the CDI could go back to meeting at 6:30 P.M. and that
the CDI should also consider a name change to Commission on Accessibility Issues.
Commissioner Krongold responded that the word disability should stay in the name.
Secretary Akil stated that the Bylaws reference the word disability throughout that document
which would require review if the Commission name was changed.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she met an able-bodied individual who was not comfortable
with the word disability because she was not disabled and the term makes her think that she
would not be qualified to apply for the Commission. Chair Lord-Hausman requested that this
item be placed on the next agenda for discussion.
2.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she did not attend the PAPCO meeting.
3.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked if the CDI should invite Art Kurrasch, Chair of the Housing
Commission to a CDI meeting to discuss ways the CDI and Housing Commission could work
together, to which the CDI agreed. Chair Lord-Hausman will follow up with Mr. Kurrasch.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:17 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, July 27, 2009 at 7:00
p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes(2009\Minutes_April 27 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-04-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-06-29,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
June 29, 2009
TIME
The meeting convened at 7:07 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Berger, Fort, and
Krongold.
ABSENT
Commissioners Longley-Cook and Kirola.
MINUTES
The April 27, 2009 minutes were approved with no changes.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There were no written communications.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Potential Additions to the City of Alameda Paratransit Program (Public Works):
Discuss available resources for the City's Paratransit Program.
Barry Bergman, PW Transportation Coordinator, discussed available funding allocations to
various programs. There are substantial funds available due to lack of use of the City's taxi
program.
Vice-Chair Moore asked if people are familiar with the program to which Mr. Bergman replied
that marketing has been done along with assistance from Jackie Krause, Mastick Senior Center.
There has also been significant outreach effort.
Mr. Bergman asked the CDI about expanding the shuttle linking it to key destinations in order to
secure more riders. Chair Lord-Hausman asked if Measure B funds are used for the Paratranist
Program to which Mr. Bergman confirmed that Measure B funds are housed in Public Works but
managed by Jackie Krause, Mastick Senior Center Supervisor. Ms. Krause has previously
inquired about how to utilize unspent funds to be able to get individuals from one place to
another. Chair Lord-Hausman confirmed that Agenda Item Number Three is the same
discussion as Agenda Item Number One and suggested combining both items into the current
discussion. Chair Lord-Hausman further suggested contacting Debbie Operud/AUSD, Special
Olympics, Louise Nakada at Alameda Hospital, Pat Bilks at Children's Hospital, and the
Learning Center as possible contacts for the Paratransit Program.
Mr. Bergman stated that Independence Plaza is an option.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-06-29.pdf
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Page 2 of 5
Commissioner Berger mentioned that there are board and care facilities for small families who
would be very interested in taking residents on outings to which Mr. Bergman asked do the
residents require an individual to assist? Commissioner Berger responded that it is on a case-by-
case basis.
Commissioner Berger commented that churches also have senior groups that meet once a week
to which Mr. Bergman acknowledged that he and Jackie Krause have discussed that in the past.
Commissioner Berger recommended taking a look at adult day-care.
Vice-Chair Moore stated that it sounds like the program is limited to creative options to which
Mr. Bergman responded that it is not limited.
Vice-Chair Moore stated that more shuttle options should be expanded to areas outside of
Alameda.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that Roberta Blackwell with Miracle Leagues Baseball league has
a
need for transportation to other Miracle League fields in the area.
Vice-Chair Moore stated that access for transportation for families with disabilities is limited by
their ability to drive to which Mr. Bergman asked is there an organized group for families with
disabilities? Vice-Chair Moore responded there is a name and phone number of one group
which she will forward.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked what is the time limit to use these funds to which Mr. Bergman
responded by September 2009.
Chair Lord-Hausman suggested expanding locations within the City of Alameda.
Vice-Chair Moore suggested contracting Bananas which supports families with children with
disabilities and would be an excellent organization that would benefit from shuttle services.
Commissioner Berger suggested checking Alameda phonebook white pages.
Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged that the CDI fair could benefit to which Commissioner
Krongold responded that Jackie Krause has already taken care of the shuttle.
Commissioner Krongold asked if an ID would be required to use the shuttle to which Mr.
Bergman responded yes they are working on that.
Bergman asked what times during the day should be used to which Commissioner Krongold
responded and suggested night hours. Chair Lord-Hausman suggested weekend hours would be
good and midday during the week. Vice-Chair Moore stated that she would assist in this effort.
:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2009\Minutes_June 29 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-06-29.pdf
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Chair Lord-Hausman requested that Mr. Bergman come back in October once the plan is done.
2. CDI Name Change (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Discuss possible name changes.
Chair Lord-Hausman suggested possibly changing the name to Commission on Accessibility
Issues to generate more interest in joining the CDI.
Commissioner Berger thinks the new proposed name is a much better description of what the
CDI role is in terms of accessibility. It is broad enough to give you more freedom than restraints.
Vice-Chair Moore stated that we should use language that is positive and affirming of our
capabilities such as accessibility vs. disability (which is the same as affirming limitations.)
Commissioner Fort stated that the word disability does not describe what the CDI does vs.
accessibility, which would be the better choice.
Commissioner Krongold stated that disability is the word of choice that many organizations use.
The Mission Statement would have to be changed to which Secretary Akil said that is reflected
in the bylaws.
Vice-Chair Moore responded that this should be about using positive language to let people
know what they are about.
Commissioner Berger stated that the Mission Statement should address ""disability"" as
encompassing the normal changes that come with aging.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the name change would be more inclusive and eliminate any
connotations with limitations. Chair Lord-Hausman suggested keeping this on the agenda for
the next month.
3. Measure B Funds (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Discuss inquires from Mastick Senior Center regarding allocation of available funds.
Discussion for this item was combined with agenda item number one.
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2009\Minutes_June 29 2009.d0c",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-06-29.pdf
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OLD BUSINESS
1.
Special Need-Special Services Resource Fair (Commissioner Krongold):
Discuss Special Need-Special Services Resource Fair.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the letter and registration form would be mailed to
approximately 50 non-profit organizations. The CDI approved the letter and registration form
for distribution with changes. Secretary Akil will provide 50 copies of letters and registration
and City Attorney envelopes to assist the CDI in this effort.
Commissioner Krongold stated that Jackie Krause suggested not using Mastick as a shuttle
stop, but, instead use Grand Pavilion or Harbor Bay to which Chair Lord-Hausman suggested
using the car share lot on Harbor Bay just past the Grand Pavilion.
CDI suggested West Marine Parking Lot on the West end of town to which Chair Lord-
Hausman will contact WABA director to get contact person.
Commissioner Krongold distributed the draft Press Release that was approved by the CDI.
2.
CDI Meeting Start Time (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Discuss changing meeting start time.
The CDI voted unanimously to change the meeting start time back to 6:30 PM, effective July
27, 2009. Secretary Akil stated that she will include a report in next month's agenda meeting.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
There was no staff communications.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDAI ITEMS
1.
Commissioner Berger stated that Allisa Chadau with the Reform Movement, who is a former
CDI member and legally blind, came out with a Braille version of the Prayer Book. It is a 14
volume, 700-page book that included volunteer from Contra Costa Braille Transcribers.
Commissioner Berger acknowledged that she along with ten others took the lead to make this
happen by June 12 for the Temple that she belongs to.
2.
Chair Lord-Hausman requested that Disability Awareness Month be added to the next
agenda.
3.
Chair Lord-Hausman extended an invitation to the Chair of the Housing Commission to
attend the July 27 CDI meeting.
i:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes(2009\Minutes_June 29 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-06-29.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-06-29,5,"Commission on Disability Issues
June 29, 2009
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Page 5 of 5
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:58 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, July 27, 2009 at 6:30
p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2009\Minutes_June 29 2009.d0c",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-06-29.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-07-27,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
July 27, 2009
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:40 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Berger, Fort, Kirola and
Krongold.
ABSENT
Commissioner Longley-Cook.
MINUTES
The June 29, 2009 minutes were approved with changes.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There were no written communications.
NEW BUSINESS
1.
Chair of the Housing Commission (Art Kurrasch):
Mr. Kurrasch was not able to attend the meeting. Chair Lord-Hausman will contact him for
another meeting date.
OLD BUSINESS
1.
Special Needs-Special Services Resource Fair (Commissioner Krongold):
Discuss Special Need-Special Services Resource Fair.
Commissioner Krongold provided updates of confirmed registrations. Chair Lord-Hausman
and Commissioner Krongold confirmed the next workgroup meeting is scheduled for Saturday,
August 1 and they will continue to reach out to organizations to participate.
Commissioner Fort stated that the East Bay Center for the Blind is discussing the possibility
of participating.
Commissioner Krongold asked about reaching out to other organizations after the deadline
to which the CDI agreed. Commissioner Krongold discussed the shuttle service. Per Jackie
Krause, they are running four different stops, which will be ADA compliant. Jackie also
suggested adding two buses for the end of the day. Certified volunteers will be available at
either two or four of the locations to assist.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-07-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-07-27,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 27,2009
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Page 2 of 3
Commissioner Krongold discussed the Promotional Flyer which will be distributed at events,
organizations and through mailings. Chair Lord-Hausman and Jim Franz have already provided
comments.
Vice-Chair Moore suggested soliciting businesses to which Chair Lord-Hausman suggested
contacting Jim Franz. Vice-Chair Moore also offered to provide a face-painting booth.
Vice-Chair Moore suggested contacting Starbucks as they participate in a lot of community
events to which Commissioner Krongold responded that Committee members Jim and John are
working on this.
2.
CDI Meeting Start Time (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Secretary Akil acknowledged the report and bylaws and confirmed the official meeting start
time to 6:30 p.m.
3.
CDI Name Change (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Continue discussion regarding possible name changes.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the Commission is considering changing the name to
Commission on Accessibility Issues. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she attended ACTIA
meeting, as the PAPCO Representative, and the word mobility was repeatedly discussed
during the meeting.
Commissioner Krongold stated that mobility speaks to one group of people.
Commissioner Kirola stated that mobility removes the barriers, which is broad.
Vice-Chair Moore stated that the word only relates to transportation issues.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the word encourages people to get out, move around,
connecting health, disability, elderly and accessibility.
Commissioner Kirola agreed to change the name to Commission on Accessibility Issues.
Chair Lord-Hausman moved to postpone the vote to August in order to receive Commissioner
Longley-Cook's input.
Commissioner Krongold does not see the point in being a trend-setting City. People will not
understand what the CDI is all about. She respects the sensitivity to language but stated that
surrounding cities continue to use the word disability.
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes(2009\Minutes_July 27 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-07-27.pdf
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July y 27, 2009
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Page 3 of 3
Commissioner Fort stated that Commissioner Krongold does make a good point. Consistency
and uniformity with cities in the County of Alameda is important.
Vice-Chair Moore stated that she does not have a problem with either word as long as the
language connotes positive feelings.
Chair Lord-Hausman recommended that everyone think about it, research and agendize for
August.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
There were no staff communications.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1.
Vice-Chair Moore spoke to the Director at Bananas and MEC (who work with families with
disabilities) to get the name of the support group in our area. There is a big need for low-
income families with disabilities who need transportation outside of their immediate area.
Vice-Chair Moore will call back to follow up.
2.
Chair Lord-Hausman spoke about PAPCO meeting she attended. Topics of discussion included
elderly and the disabled inter-connecting in many ways, although the perception is that they are
two separate groups. Chair Lord-Hausman suggested that the Commission begin thinking about
elderly and disabled connections in Alameda. There was also discussion regarding crosswalk
sensors. The meetings are the fourth Monday of every month.
Vice-Chair Moore stated that we should find ways to bridge the gap between the elderly and the
disabled.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:01 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, August 24, 2009 at
6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes(2009\Minutes_July 27 2009.d0c",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-07-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-09-28,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
September 28, 2009
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:45 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Berger, Fort, Kirola, and Krongold.
ABSENT
Vice-Chair Moore.
MINUTES
The July 27, 2009 minutes were approved as submitted.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
Secretary Akil stated that Darrell Handy, Risk Manager, forwarded a thank you card of support
during his absence due to illness. Secretary Akil also acknowledged that Nielson Tam has submitted
an application to become a member of the CDI.
Chair Lord-Hausman read a thank you letter sent from former Commissioner, Ms. Toby Berger.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Alameda Hospital Health Fair (Commissioner Krongold):
The Alameda Hospital Health Fair will take place on October 17th at Alameda Hospital from
9:00 to 12:30 PM.
Commissioner Krongold spoke to Louise Nakada about the CDI having a booth and asked if any
member is available. Chair Lord-Hausman and Commissioner Krongold indicated their
availability and noted that this is an important resource to highlight the upcoming Resource Fair.
Commissioner Kirola indicated that she is available to attend the entire event and will cover the
table on behalf of the CDI.
Commissioner Krongold will also call Vice-Chair Moore to confirm her availability.
2. Disability Awareness Month Tree Planting (Vice-Chair Moore):
Chair Lord-Hausman spoke with Vice-Chair Moore who coordinated with John McDonald at
ARPD. Chair Lord-Hausman confirmed October 31st as the date for the tree planting at Lincoln
Park, 10:00 AM which will be in memory and honor of former Commissioner, Adrienne
Longley-Cook Chair Lord-Hausman will send out invites to the Mayor and City Council.
Proclamation - Disability Awareness Month",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-09-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-09-28,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
September 28, 2009
Minutes
Page 2 of 3
The CDI confirmed that it would use the previous proclamation for the October 6th City Council
Meeting. Chair Lord-Hausman confirmed that she would also mention the upcoming Special
Needs Fair scheduled for October 24th. Flyers will be left on the table outside of Council
chambers.
OLD BUSINESS
1.
Special Needs-Special Services Resource Fair (Commissioner Krongold):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the fair will be October 24, 2009 from 9:30 AM - 12:30
PM. Chair Lord-Hausman added the fair to the Alameda Magazine's website calendar.
Commissioner Krongold confirmed twenty-five organizations participating in the fair including
private groups who paid more. Several non-profits have requested fee waivers. Commissioner
Krongold confirmed that the total donations received to date is $1,055. Commissioner
Krongold will email the list of names of groups. Commissioner Krongold went over the
logistics and order of presentations for the fair.
Commissioner Fort asked about the various shuttle stops to which Commissioner Krongold
stated there will be four stops: Bay Farm Island, Alameda Towne Centre, West Marine and
O'Club. Commissioner Krongold will email shuttle route to Commissioner Fort.
Chair Lord-Hausman noted that the next Committee meeting is Tuesday, September 29th
Commissioner Krongold asked Commissioner Fort if he would like to chair the CDI table to
which Commissioner Fort indicated that he's committed to stay with the East Bay Center for
the Blind table. Commissioner Krongold said that she would contact Vice-Chair Moore as to
her availability to staff the CDI table.
2.
CDI Name Change (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman spoke to Vice-Chair Moore and both Vice-Chair Moore and Chair Lord-
Hausman are comfortable leaving the name as-is. Commissioner Fort and Kirola also indicated
that they are comfortable with leaving it the way it is given that other cities use the word
disability.
Commissioner Krongold researched other surrounding cities in which the majority of cities use
the word ""disability"" to describe their various boards and commissions.
Chair Lord-Hausman confirmed that the name of the Commission on Disability Issues will stay
the same.
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes(2009\Minutes_Sep 28 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-09-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-09-28,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
September 28, 2009
Minutes
Page 3 of 3
3.
Paratransit Advisory Planning Committee (PAPCO) Update (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman confirmed PAPCO has added the Special Needs-Special Services
Resource Fair to its calendar. Chair Lord-Hausman attended the September 21 PAPCO meeting.
PAPCO is funded by Measure B, and makes decisions and recommendations on approximately
$10 million dollars of funding per year. Chair Lord Hausman will meet with Public Works and
Jackie Krause on Alameda issues that she should be aware of in representing Alameda on this
Board.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
There were no staff communications.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1.
Ethel Warren, a resident of Alameda, who is interested in contributing to the Commission.
Email: ethelwarren@hotmail.com. CDI members gave individual overviews of their
experience with the Commission.
2.
Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged the death of Adrienne Longley-Cook and asked if the CDI
would be interested in making a donation to the Mastick Senior Center.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, October 26th at 6:30
P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2009\Minutes_Sep 28 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-09-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-10-26,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
October 26, 2009
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:35 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Fort, Kirola and Tam.
ABSENT
Vice-Chair Moore and Commissioner Krongold.
MINUTES
The September 28, 2009 minutes were approved as submitted.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
Chair Lord-Hausman read an email sent from Anne Steiner regarding individuals with disabilities
who are able to get full-service when pumping gas. Ms. Steins wants to know if there are any gas
stations in Alameda that do this? Chair Lord-Hausman suggested the CDI look into this by querying
or sending letters to various owners of gas stations.
Commissioner Tam suggested sending a letter to the President of Chevron.
Commissioner Kirola suggested visiting each gas station and asking what is the policy to assist the
disabled with a placard?
Chair Lord-Hausman agreed that a personal visit would be more expedient. Chair Lord-Hausman
will put together a list of all gas stations in Alameda to track and will look up vehicle code for CDI.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Leisure Club Presentation (Marcia Tsang, AR&PD):
Presentation regarding the Alameda Recreation and Park Department's Leisure Club.
Chair Lord-Hausman learned about this while working on the CDI Fair and invited Danielle
Grimm and Marcia Tsang from AR&PD to give more information.
Marcia provided a handout and described it as a social recreation program for developmentally
disabled adults. This meets twice a month and provides transportation and is free.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked about the age group and number of participants, to which Danielle
Grimm confirmed that they have 36 registered adults. Marcia confirmed that there is a wait-list
with up to 6 people on that list.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked about the staffing to which Ms. Grimm responded that it is all done",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-10-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-10-26,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 26, 2009
Minutes
Page 2 of 4
through AR&PD with three staff and volunteers throughout the year.
Commissioner Kirola asked if visitors were allowed to attend to which Marcia responded ""yes"".
Danielle Grimm distributed the Fall/Winter 2009 brochure.
Commissioner Kirola asked if they promote jobs for participants to which Marcia responded
they could apply for jobs through Park & Recreation to benefit the program and the
participants.
Commissioner Tam asked if one moves into Alameda how would they find out to which Marcia
replied it is listed in the AR&PD Activity Guide and they inform individuals if they call.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked if they had more funding and staffing could they open it up to more
people to which Marcia stated that they want to keep it intimate and not overwhelm the
participants.
Ms. Grimm added that they have only two hours filled with a lot of activity.
Chair Lord-Hausman requested copies of the upcoming Fundraiser Boutique on November 7th
to which Marcia responded affirmatively.
Commissioner Tam asked if there is any collaboration with the School District to which Marcia
responded affirmatively, especially with the adult school.
OLD BUSINESS
1.
Special Needs-Special Services Resource Fair (Commissioner Krongold):
Report out regarding the Special Needs-Special Services Resource Fair.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked that each member who attended to give their impressions. There
will also be a planning committee meeting to discuss the next Fair. There were 40 providers
and 80-100 attendees.
Commissioner Tam suggested surveying vendors.
Commissioner Fort stated that it was a good first effort; very accessible and a lot of room to
move around.
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes\2009\Minutes_Oct 26 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-10-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-10-26,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 26, 2009
Minutes
Page 3 of 4
2.
Disability Awareness Month Tree Planting (Vice-Chair Moore):
Update on tree planting and memorial for Adrienne Longley-Cook.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the tree planting is set for October 31, 2009 at 10:00 A.M. at
Lincoln Park. An invitation was sent to Commissioner Adrienne Longley-Cook's husband who
will attend. Vice-Chair Moore will give a speech.
3.
Alameda Hospital Fair (Commissioner Kirola):
Report out regarding the Alameda Hospital Health Fair.
Commissioner Kirola stated that everything went well and the interaction was great. She
received some comments from citizens regarding cracks in the sidewalks. Commissioner
Kirola invited her to attend the CDI meeting which she declined. There were lots of elderly
people interested in Alameda Municipal (AMP) rates. Social Services Human Relations Board
(SSHRB) list of resources drew a lot of interest.
Note: The disabled button on AFD (1300 Park Street) doesn't work. Secretary Akil will notify
AFD.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
1.
Secretary Akil confirmed that she will check if the Resource Directory can be placed onto the
City's website.
2. The next scheduled CDI meeting is Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 6:30 P.M. Secretary Akil
stated that she will call CDI members on November 28th to confirm the December 7th meeting.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the election of Chair and Vice-Chair would occur at the January
25, 2010. Secretary Akil stated that she would mail out a memo and election form with a request
that it be returned prior to the January meeting.
2. Chair Lord-Hausman attended the October 26th monthly Paratransit Advisory Planning
Committee (PAPCO) meeting and requested that this item be added on the agenda under Old
Business as a regular agenda item.
3. Chair Lord-Hausman discussed shuttle service for Alameda to assist elderly/disabled to and
from Medical appointments. There is a collaboration between cities in Alameda County
regarding service delivery with reduced funding, primarily for transportation.
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2009\Minutes_Oct 26 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-10-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2009-10-26,4,"6:30 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2009\Minutes_Oct 26 2009.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2009-10-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-01-25,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
January 25, 2010
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:37 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Moore, Commissioners Fort, Kirola, Krongold,
Tam and Warren.
ABSENT
None.
MINUTES
The October 26, 2009 minutes were approved with corrections.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
Secretary Akil distributed the 2010 CDI meeting calendar.
Chair Lord-Hausman read a card from former CDI Member Ms. Toby Berger, who expressed
appreciation for her time spent on the Commission. There was also a card received from Mariner
Square regarding former CDI Member Adrienne Longley-Cook, who passed away in 2009.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Election of Chair and Vice-Chair (Secretary Akil):
Chair Lord-Hausman made a motion to nominate Commissioner Krongold as Chair of the
Commission. The motion was seconded by Vice-Chair Moore, which carried a unanimous voice
vote - 6.
Vice-Chair Moore made a motion to nominate Commissioner Tam as Vice-Chair of the
Commission. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Warren, which carried a unanimous
voice vote - 6.
2. Fixed Route Shuttle Pilot Program (Barry Bergman, PW):
Update on changes to implementation of the fixed route shuttle.
Mr. Bergman was unable to attend the meeting due to illness. The item will be agendized for a
future meeting.
3. Alameda Multicultural Community Center (Zoe Holder, Excc. Director)",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-01-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-01-25,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
January 25,
2010 Minutes
Page 2 of 3
Presentation regarding a co-sponsorship in featuring film(s) on disabilities in April 2010.
Zoe Holder could not attend. Chair Lord-Hausman asked Commissioner Tam to provide
information regarding the Center and event in Ms. Holder's absence.
Member Tam stated that he is on the Board for the Alameda Multi-Cultural Center, which
celebrates different ethnic cultures in the City. The Center plans to show films related to
disabilities on April 16th.
Commissioner Krongold spoke about an international film festival, held annually in Berkeley, by
and for people with disabilities. Krongold requested a preview of films, previously shown at the
festival, with one of the festival's organizers. This pre-screening will be attended by Krongold,
Lord-Hausman, and Holder.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the CDI might be interested and could co-sponsor the event for
visibility, to which the Commission supports. Commissioner Krongold stated that the event is
free and open to the community.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that Ms. Holder would be able to attend the February 22 meeting
with more information.
Commissioner Tam stated that there could be an event at the library as well, to which the
Commission agreed. Vice-Chair Moore suggested that a film on autism be highlighted since
April is Autism Awareness Month.
OLD BUSINESS
1.
Special Needs-Special Services Resource Fair (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman read the recap of the event. There is approximately $184.00 remaining in
the account and could be used towards the purchase of a plaque in memory of former
Commissioner Longley-Cook, to which the Commission agreed.
Chair Lord-Hausman also read feedback received from the vendors who participated in the
Fair, which was overall good.
2.
ADA/CDI Website (Secretary Akil):
Secretary Akil informed the Commission that the City Attorney has authorized approval for
expenditure of an ADA/CDI website. The Commission agreed to use the previous model that it
prepared in order to get the website up and running. Secretary Akil will email latest draft web
page to Commissioner Krongold for review prior to adding the pate to the City's website.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes(2010\Minutes_Jan 25 2010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-01-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-01-25,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
January 25,
2010 Minutes
Page 3 of 3
There were no staff communications.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
1. Vice-Chair Moore stated that April is Autism month and requested that the CDI acknowledge
Autism during this month. Vice-Chair Moore suggested incorporating some films about Autism
into the April 16th meeting. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that Ms. Zoe Holder had suggested
doing a film on Autism. Vice-Chair Moore fully supports the effort and requested that the
subject of Autism be included in the discussions with Ms. Holder.
2. Commissioner Krongold suggested the CDI promote free yoga for people with disabilities
among other exercises during Disability Awareness Month, to which the Commission agreed.
Vice-Chair Moore stated she works at Harbor Bay Club and fully supports the suggestion.
3. Chair Lord-Hausman shared an article on former Commissioner Toby Berger regarding the
successful translation of the Jewish Prayer Bible in Braille.
4.
Commissioner Krongold stated that Saturday March 27, 2010 the College of Alameda is hosting
its Annual Transition Fair for students with developmental disabilities for children ages 4 - 22
for programs in Alameda County. The event will be from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
5.
PAPCO Update: Chair Lord-Hausman discussed the various types of high-priority County-wide
connectivity programs that could benefit the entire county, in light of budget cuts. There will
also be a focus on security and safety.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:37 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, February 22, 2010 at
6:30 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2010\Minutes_Jan 25 2010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-01-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-02-22,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
February 22, 2010
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:35 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Krongold, Commissioners Fort, Kirola, Lord-Hausman, Tam and Warren.
ABSENT
Vice-Chair Moore
MINUTES
The January 25, 2010 minutes were approved with changes.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
Chair Krongold stated that Jackie Krause will have two groups present to Mastick Senior Center,
including California Telephone Access and Steven Beard with Accessible Home Ownership, both
connections which she made at the Resource Fair.
Chair Krongold discussed the Annual Transition Program Fair for young adults transitioning from
school to college and requested the CDI's participation on March 27th. Chair Krongold will follow
up with Commissioners Moore and Warren.
NEW BUSINESS
1. CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold)
Chair Krongold requested that the Commissioners think about future goals and presentations to
the Commission and distributed a proposed draft list of 2010 CDI Goals.
Commissioner Tam discussed his concern about reaching out to ESL students and families to
which Commissioner Lord-Hausman suggested following up with SSHRB and Alameda Family
Literacy Program.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated the CDI should be cautious with the goals due to
everyone's time and availability of members.
Commissioner Warren liked the idea of an etiquette brochure and suggested reaching out to the
first lady of the state (Maria Shriver) given the family history of disability.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman would like to see more speakers.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-02-22.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-02-22,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 22,
2010 Minutes
Page 2 of 3
Commissioner Kirola stated change is difficult but you have to be persistent She will seek input
from her daughter for more perspective.
Chair Krongold requested CDI members follow up on chair suggestions and provide more
information for the next meeting.
OLD BUSINESS
1.
Alameda Multicultural Community Center (Zoe Holder, Exce. Director)
Ms. Zoe Holder distributed information on the Multicultural Center located at Longfellow
which has been around for ten years. Ms. Holder stated that she would like to co-sponsor films
on disability on April 16th and requested that the CDI co-sponsor a film. Chair Krongold and
Commissioner Lord-Hausman previously viewed several films with Ms. Holder. Commissioner
Lord-Hausman stated the challenge would be deciding on which films to show due to the
length, although it would be a great partnering opportunity to reach out to many in the disabled
community.
The CDI agreed to co-sponsor the April 16th film event with the Multicultural Center located in
the Longfellow multi-purpose Room, from 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM. The event will include films,
panel and a moderator. Chair Krongold booked a second event, to acknowledge Autism
Awareness Month, at the Main Library for April 24, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.
Commissioner Tam thanked those commissioners who went to Berkeley to view some of the
films.
Chair Krongold, Commissioner Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Tam and Ms. Holder agreed to
create a sub-committee to discuss the timelines for both events.
2.
ADA/CDI Website (Secretary Akil):
Secretary Akil confirmed that the City is redoing is website and that no new link would be
available before the next six months.
3. Paratransit Advisory Planning Committee (PAPCO) (Commissioner Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that AC Transit is cutting the 19 Bus and recommended that the
CDI review the fixed-route shuttles in the city to accommodate those with disabilities. Alameda
Transit Advocates and the person in charge of disabilities from AC Transit could speak to the
CDI on the issue.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes\2010\Minutes_Feb 22 2010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-02-22.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-02-22,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 22,
2010 Minutes
Page 3 of 3
Secretary Akil advised the CDI that the next meeting will include completion of the Annual
Conflict of Interest Form 700 and requested that all CDI members be present.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA ITEMS
There were no oral communications.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:59 PM. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, March 22, 2010 at 6:30
PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2010\Minutes_Feb 222010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-02-22.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-03-22,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
March 22, 2010
TIME
The meeting convened at 6:38 P.M.
PRESENT
Chair Krongold, Vice-Chair Tam, Commissioners Lord-Hausman, Fort, Kirola,
Moore and Warren.
ABSENT:
None.
MINUTES
The February 22, 2010 minutes were approved with corrections.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
1.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman introduced Mr. John Knox-White, former member of the
Transportation Commission, and requested that he provide an overview on changes to various
AC-Transit bus routes and the effects it will have on Alameda.
Mr. Knox-White stated that AC Transit is cutting its overall services by nine percent. The
biggest change for Alameda is Line 19, which runs down Buena Vista Avenue, is ending
because of low rider-ship and it is a quarter-mile from Line 51. AC Transit determined that most
people could walk the several blocks to the Line 51. AC Transit conducted an analysis, which
included feedback from the West End community, regarding compliance with Title VI involving
impacts to low-income communities. An additional change, Line 31 will now run to Alameda
Point instead of Line 63.
Commissioner Kirola asked if Line 63, which connects to the Fruitvale BART Station, would
end. Mr. Knox-White responded yes it would, however, Line 0 will run down Fruitvale to High
Street, but the schedule would be irregular.
Mr. Knox-White further stated that Line 51 will cut off at Rockridge which will allow buses to
run more frequently in Alameda. Line 51 would also travel to Fruitvale BART station.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that a member from PAPCO expressed concern over Line
19 being cancelled and Public Works Department is reviewing the new fixed shuttle route.
Chair Krongold asked when do all of these changes take affect to which Mr. Knox-White
responded next Sunday, March 28th
Mr. Knox-White stated that Line 50 would no longer go to the airport so the new Line 21 will
cut off at the shopping center on Bay Farm Island.
Commissioner Kirola asked if the Line O bus would stay the same to which Mr. Knox-White",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-03-22.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-03-22,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
March 22, 2010
Page 2 of 4
responded yes.
Commissioner Fort asked about the rationale for eliminating certain stops along Lines 50 and 21.
Mr. Knox-White responded no rationale was provided for why AC Transit is eliminating certain
stops.
Chair Krongold thanked Mr. Knox-White for attending the meeting and providing the
Commission with the latest information regarding AC Transit route changes.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Annual Statements of Economic Interest Form 700 (Secretary Akil)
Secretary Akil distributed the Annual Statement of Economic Interest Form 700, which was
completed by all of the Commissioner's present. Secretary Akil will forward the completed
forms to the City Clerk's Office.
4-B. ADA Transition Plan Update (Secretary Akil)
Secretary Akil gave a presentation on the July 2008 adopted ADA Transition Plan update
and provided information concerning on-going and upcoming ADA project-related work in
the City. Secretary Akil also confirmed that the budget for ADA improvements has been cut
heavily, in light of the downturn of the economy, however, Capital Improvement Projects
(CIP) are budgeted annually, but on a smaller scale.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman asked if the ADA button at the main Fire Station on Park
Street had been fixed, to which Secretary Akil responded she did not know, but assured the
Commission that she will follow up with AFD staff for affirmative correction.
Chair Krongold asked how projects are prioritized in both volumes of the ADA Update.
Secretary Akil responded that the consultant, Sally Swanson Architects, recommended a list
of projects based on highest priority. Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that Public Works
prioritizes projects, such as sidewalks, as high priority.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
Transition Information Faire - College of Alameda (Chair Krongold)
Chair Krongold stated that the Commission would participate in the College of Alameda's
Transition Information Faire. Commissioner Kirola will start the event at 9:30 A.M. Chair
Krongold will cover from 11:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. and Commissioner Warren will be there
from 1:00 - 3:00 P.M. The Chair distributed registration forms for the Faire.
5-B.
CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold)
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2010\Minutes_Mar 222010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-03-22.pdf
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March 22, 2010
Page 3 of 4
Chair Krongold asked if the CDI had any further input regarding this year's planning.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that she and Vice-Chair Tam will meet up with ESL
students and families to follow up with the Social Service Human Relations Board (SSHRB)
and Alameda Family Literacy as previously indicated.
Chair Krongold asked Commissioner Warren if she had any follow up information regarding
contacting the First Lady of the State, Maria Shriver. Commissioner Warren responded that
Ms. Shriver is the Chair Person of the ""We"" and is interested in working with those with
intellectual disabilities. The Commission would have to have an event, such as a celebration
of the 20-year anniversary of the ADA in order for Ms. Shriver to attend.
Commissioner Moore suggested that Comissioner Warren check with Safeway regarding
their disability event, which garnered the presence of Ms. Shriver. Commissioner Lord-
Hausman stated that Safeway has a foundation and suggested that Commissioner Warren
follow up with their foundation as well.
5-C.
Alameda Multicultural Community Center (Chair Krongold)
Chair Krongold stated that the Commission has two upcoming film events and a sub-
committee has been formed to assist in coordinating those events.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated she, Vice-Chair Tam and Ms. Holder met regarding the
films, press release and flier, which has already been sent out to the press and will be
distributed to all those listed on the Alameda Multicultural Center's distribution list. There
will be a panel discussion following the film; Commissioner Warren and Anne Steiner will
be on the panel. Chair Krongold will be the moderator of the panel. The event will be held
from 7:00 - 9:00 P.M. on Friday, April 16th with Q&A following the film.
Commissioner Moore stated the second film event is Saturday, April 24th and will show
a
film, ""Autism: The Musical. There will be a discussion panel following the movie. Both
the School District and Regional Center will participate and distribute fliers. Starbucks will
donate refreshments and Commissioner Moore stated that she is the moderator.
Commissioner Moore also distributed a draft color flier, which the Commission supports.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A.
Secretary Akil read correspondences from BART, regarding participation in transit decision-
making and Mastick Senior Center, regarding Paratransit services in the City.
7.
ANNOUCEMENTS
7-A. Commissioner Moore spoke about transitioning her son from public school to home-school
:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes\2010\Minutes_Mar 222010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-03-22.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-03-22,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
March 22, 2010
Page 4 of 4
due to his autism. He attended the Autism Treatment Center of America. She stated that she
will follow up with individual members of the Commission for input, ideas and suggestions,
to which the Commission was supportive.
7-B.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that she and Vice-Chair Tam attended a meeting of the
Youth Collaborative, which is submitting an application for the ""100 Best Communities of
the Nation."" Commissioner Lord-Hausman pointed out that between the CDI Fair, Film
Festivals among other various activities that the CDI has either sponsored or participated in
represents one aspect of why the Collaborative is doing the application. The website is
americaspromise.org
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, April 26, 2010
at 6:30 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes\2010\Minutes_Mar 222010.d0c",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-03-22.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-04-26,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
April 26, 2010
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:40 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Vice-Chair Tam, Commissioners Lord-Hausman, Fort and Moore.
Absent: Commissioners Kirola and Warren.
2.
MINUTES
The March 22, 2010 minutes were approved with corrections.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
3-A.
Kelly Harp, Community Resources for Independent Living announced that she is an
applicant for the CDI.
3-B.
Zoe Holder, of Alameda's Multicultural Center, announced that she is attending to
participate in the follow up discussions regarding the April film events.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Fall and Fire Prevention (Erin Christ, CERT Coordinator)
Erin Christ, AFD, spoke about a grant the Alameda Fire Department received to reduce 911
Injury calls by twenty-five percent through education and home safety protection. As part of
the grant program, Ms. Christ conducts presentations at both public and private home
settings. All homes inspected through the program have not been without a recommendation.
Chair Krongold asked if individuals with disabilities are included to which Ms. Christ
responded yes.
Chair Krongold asked how people are finding out about the programs, to which Ms. Christ
responded mainly through word of mouth.
Ms. Christ stated that following each home inspection, boy scouts go to the house to perform
the recommendations based on the home safety inspection.
Secretary Akil asked about funding to which Ms. Christ stated that funding is provided by
FEMA.
Commissioner Moore asked how the CDI could help get the word out to which Chair",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-04-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-04-26,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 26, 2010
Page 2 of 4
Krongold suggested that she and Commissioner Lord-Hausman meet with the local press to
discuss coverage options.
Commissioner Moore suggested passing information out at the booth during the Concert at
the Cove. Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated she is affiliated with various organizations in
the City and could help get the word out.
Chair Krongold suggested that the CDI partner with AFD to help publicize program to the
disabled community in Alameda.
Commissioner Tam stated there are approximately thirty seniors in his church, which he
could reach out to about the program; Ms. Christ encouraged Commissioner Tam to do this.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman asked when the new code about mandatory smoke detectors
came into effect, to which Ms. Christ stated that it only kicks in for new buildings or during
the sale of a house.
4-B.
City of Alameda -ADA/HUD Grievance Policy (Secretary Akil)
Secretary Akil reviewed the draft ADA/Section504 Grievance Policy and requested the
Commission provide input and approval in order to finalize for the City.
Chair Krongold requested the Commission be given more time to read the policy. Secretary
Akil agreed and requested that all comments be received no later than May 3rd as the City is
required to finalize and publish the policy.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
Alameda Multicultural Community Center (Chair Krongold)
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that although she was disappointed with the number of
people who attended the first screening, the event and subsequent discussion of the film was
substantial. It is a first step and generated positive feedback.
Commissioner Tam reiterated that it is a first step and a beginning toward creating more
disability awareness in the community.
Chair Krongold stated that on April 26 the film, ""Autism: the Musical"" was shown, which
Commissioner Moore put together, and requested discussion on how that event was received.
Commissioner Moore stated that she circulated fliers at multiple events which garnered
:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes\2010\Minutes_Apr 26 2010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-04-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-04-26,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 26, 2010
Page 3 of 4
approximately 40 people in attendance. There was good panel discussion following the film.
Everyone connected and was encouraged by the event. Commissioner Moore is working on
collaborating a monthly film day for children with disabilities or Autism with the Alameda
Multi-Cultural Center. Commissioner Moore is also working to create an Alameda Autism
network within the city.
Ms. Holder stated that while she was disappointed with the number of attendees, this is a
positive step and hopes to continue building on this with future events.
Commissioner Moore suggested a film festival next year.
5-B.
CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold)
Chair Krongold stated that she would like to move forward with planning an event to
celebrate the twenty-year anniversary of the ADA for the month of October, which is
Disability Awareness Month.
Commissioner Moore stated that she is not sure how many people would attend but supports
it.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman suggested expanding the October proclamation with a
presentation during the October City Council meeting. Chair Krongold suggested a Power
Point presentation to which Secretary Akil responded that would be fine as long as it does
not exceed the time allowed by the City Manager's Office.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman would like to invite the Chair of the Housing Commission to
give a presentation to the CDI during the May 24 meeting to which the Commission agreed.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she would contact the Chair of that Commission.
5-C.
Paratransit Advisory Planning Committee (PAPCO) (Commissioner Lord
Hausman)
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated they are still discussing the prioritization of funding for
Measure B Funds.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A.
Secretary Akil suggested the Commission have another Brown Act training in light of the
newer members to which the Commission was responsive.
7.
ANNOUCEMENTS
There were no announcements.
i:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes\2010\Minutes_Apr 2620",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-04-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-04-26,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 26,2010
Page 4 of 4
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, May 24, 2010
at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2010\Minutes_Apr 26 2010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-04-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-05-24,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
May 24, 2010
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:40 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Commissioners Fort, Moore and Warren.
Absent: Vice-Chair Tam, Commissioners Lord-Hausman and Kirola.
2.
MINUTES
The April 26, 2010 minutes were approved with no changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Chair Krongold requested that visitors introduce themselves.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Pedestrian Signals (Virendra Patel, Public Works)
Virendra Patel of the Public Works Department, discussed the installation of accessible
signals at the intersection of Island Drive and Robert Davey, Jr. regarding the proposed
count down signals and truncated dome. Mr. Patel is seeking CDI approval. The CDI
unanimously approved the project and thanked Mr. Patel for his time.
4-B.
Programs & Services for Students with Disabilities (Helene Maxwell, College of
Alameda, DSPS)
Chair Krongold introduced Ms. Maxwell whom she met at a College of Alameda (COA)
Advisory Meeting. The Chair requested that Ms. Maxwell speak to the CDI regarding
accessible programs and provide information regarding the overall program. Ms. Maxwell
stated that DSPS funding has been reduced 45% by the state. Community colleges were to
receive $130 million dollars in Federal stimulus funding and the state legislatures provided
only $45 million dollars. Ms. Maxwell described the various programs offered through the
college. Ms. Maxwell also pointed out that there are state mandated laws that the
Community Colleges are required to meet, but acknowledged that all states are experiencing
budget cuts.
Commissioner Warren asked what district Senator Steinberg represents to which Ms.
Maxwell responded Sacramento, although he is a key decision maker in funding.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-05-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-05-24,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
May 24,
2010
Page 2 of 3
Ms. Maxwell reviewed various actions that individuals and the CDI could pursue, including
contacting State and Federal representatives. Ms. Maxwell requested that the CDI
communicate with the new President of COA, upon Dr. George Herring's retirement. She
also requested that the CDI write a letter of support for an impending Department of
Rehabilitation grant.
Chair Krongold asked when the deadline is for the grant to which Ms. Maxwell responded
June 30.
Chair Krongold asked when the new president of COA would be appointed to which Ms.
Maxwell responded within two weeks.
Commissioner Moore stated that she will write a letter and follow up with an e-mail.
The CDI agreed to write a letter of support for the grant. Commissioner Moore suggested
utilizing students to support the program to which Ms. Maxwell agreed.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold)
Chair Krongold distributed and discussed the draft CDI Vision Planning which she and
Commissioner Lord-Hausman put together. The draft covered the partnership, celebration of
the 20-year anniversary of the ADA and a presentation to Council which will lead up to
Disability Awareness Month activities during the month of October.
Commissioner Moore stated that the goals are limited to accessibility and seniors vs.
younger individual and omits events that would support the entire community.
Commissioner Warren gave a presentation on another goal oriented event which includes art,
creating a movie and a reception. Commissioner Warren spoke with the Recreation and Park
Department regarding use of the O'Club and costs.
Chair Krongold suggested that the bulk of the June meeting should be to discuss CDI Vision
Planning and goals to which the Commission agreed.
5-B.
Paratransit Advisory Planning Committee (PAPCO) (Commissioner Lord-
Hausman)
Commissioner Lord-Hausman was not present.
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes(2010\Minutes_May 24 2010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-05-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-05-24,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
May 24,
2010
Page 3 of 3
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
There were no staff communications.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1.
Kelly Harp with Community Resources for Independent Living, distributed fliers
regarding two upcoming events regarding ADA Anniversary Festival.
2.
Secretary Akil stated she and Chair Krongold would be meeting regarding the
ADA/CDI website.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:52 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, June 28, 2010
at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2010\Minutes_May 24 2010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-05-24.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-06-28,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
June 28,2010
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:36 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Commissioners Fort, Harp, Lord-Hausman, Kirola, Moore and
Warren.
Absent: Vice-Chair Tam.
2.
MINUTES
The May 24, 2010 minutes were approved with changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
None.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Accessible Housing Development (Commissioner Lord-Hausman):
Commissioner Lord-Hausman discussed the issue of housing development in Alameda and
the lack of accessibility for those with disabilities and seniors. Commissioner Lord-Hausman
stated that she visited the new home developments at Warmington along the estuary, and
discovered that none of the homes were accessible and Commissioner Lord-Hausman would
like the CDI to respond to the lack of accessible single-level homes. Commissioner Lord-
Hausman went to the Planning Board as a citizen to discuss the oversight of accessible
homes. She is now proposing the CDI write a letter to the Council to develop a policy
regarding inclusion of the CDI and new development. Commissioner Harp stated that the
City of Fremont has developed an Accessible Universal Design Ordinance similar to what
Commissioner Lord-Hausman is suggesting.
Secretary Akil informed the CDI that any policy would have to be run by the City Attorney
for legal review and clarification on any existing policies. The CDI fully supported moving
the issue forward.
5.
OLD BUSINESS",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-06-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-06-28,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
June 28,
2010
Page 2 of 4
5-A. CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold):
Chair Krongold provided a recap of the plans and goals to date.
Commissioner Warren distributed a draft proposal regarding the film, possible art exhibit
and the cost analysis.
Chair Krongold asked Commissioner Warren if she felt optimistic about getting it done by
October to which Commissioner Warren replied yes.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman thinks it is an amazing idea and that we should use talent from
within Alameda. However, since this is an election year, this project should occur in the
spring time.
Commissioner Warren replied that perhaps the individual may benefit from name
recognition during this election year.
Commissioner Harp stated that she has concerns about the goal, raising awareness and using
a non-disabled person to be the lead role in a film about having a disability.
Commissioner Warren replied that it is goal-oriented, raises awareness of hidden disabilities
and it is a good idea to have someone who is not disabled, and could become a strong
advocate of disability issues.
Commissioner Kirola agreed that it does raise awareness of both hidden and apparent
physical disabilities.
Chair Krongold suggested that this is an excellent idea and supported holding the event in
the Spring.
Commissioner Moore suggested having it at the Rhythmix Cultural Center.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman discussed the event she had suggested regarding an accessible
design panel, with a variety of individuals, to be held on a Saturday during October,
Disability Awareness Month. Commissioner Lord-Hausman requested that the CDI make
recommendations regarding speakers during the August meeting. Commissioner Kirola
would like a talented and gifted individual who can speak to accessible designs.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman acknowledged that this panel could happen another time in
light of the election during November.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman also suggested the tree planting event to which Commissioner
cretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2010\Minutes_June 28 2010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-06-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-06-28,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
June 28,
2010
Page 3 of 4
Moore agreed to take the lead.
Chair Krongold discussed her event regarding accessible exercise during Disability
Awareness Month that includes an effort to get local businesses involved such as Rhythmix
Cultural Works. The event would include dance and exercise and it would be free to the
public
Commissioner Lord-Hausman asked if there is enough space for each exercise class to which
Chair Krongold replied that each class would happen at different times and different
locations during the month of October.
Commissioner Harp suggested checking with Alameda Recreation and Park Department, to
which Commissioner Lord-Hausman replied that the Alameda Recreation and Park
Department is actively involved in a number of activities and programs involving people
with special needs.
Chair Krongold advised the CDI of the September 7, 2010 Council presentation and read a
draft letter which will be submitted to various newspapers.
As part of the final discussion and recommendation for the Vision Planning effort, the CDI
agreed to have the tree planting on Saturday, October 16th, 2010, and accessible exercise
classes during Disability Awareness Month (including a Chair Dancing program on
Saturday, October 9, 2010 at the Main Library from 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.).
Chair Krongold suggested that Commissioner Warren form a work group for the film event
and plan that over the next 6-12 months.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman suggested having the accessible panel at a later date.
5-B. Paratransit Advisory Planning Committee (PAPCO) (Commissioner Lord-
Hausman):
Commissioner Lord-Hausman provided the CDI with the ACTIA website
www.actia2022.com. PAPCO and ACTIA are having their Seventh Annual Senior and
Disabled Mobility Workshop on Friday, July 30th, 2010 and provided the CDI with a flier for
more information.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A.
Secretary Akil informed the Commission that she and Chair Krongold had met to discuss
the ADA/CDI Webpage and would provide the CDI with updated information for the
July meeting.
6-B.
Secretary Akil discussed the ADA Complaint received against the Alameda Recreation and
ccretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2010\Minutes_June 28 2010.do",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-06-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-06-28,4,"Commissioner Moore announced that the Autism Second Sunday film event at the Multi-
cultural Center was successful.
7-C.
Commissioner Moore stated that she is looking for volunteers for her son's play-based
behavior training program and invited any input from the Commission or anyone with
suggestions.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, July 26, 2010
at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2010\Minutes_June 28 2010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-06-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-07-26,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
July 26, 2010
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:38 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Vice-Chair Tam, Commissioners Fort, Harp, Lord-Hausman, and
Kirola.
Absent: Commissioners Moore and Warren.
2.
MINUTES
The June 28, 2010 minutes were approved with no changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
None.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Alameda Multicultural Center (Ms. Zoe Holder)
Ms. Holder asked if the CDI would like to co-sponsor a film for Disability Awareness at
some point during the months of September to June 2011.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman asked if it would be at the Multi-Cultural Center, to which
Ms. Holder replied it would be at the Center, but in a smaller space than the previous film
co-sponsorship. Commissioner Lord-Hausman suggested holding the event in either January
or April 2011.
Commissioner Harp stated schools are observing ""Ed Roberts Day"" in January to which
Commissioner Lord-Hausman agreed that would be a good time.
Ms. Holder stated that film events will happen the second Saturday of the month; she also
suggested the film could be screened at the Main Library.
The CDI agreed to Saturday, January 24th, 2010. Chair Krongold will reserve a room in the
Main Library.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman inquired about the selection of films to which Ms. Holder
replied no selections have been made.
Commissioner Harp suggested including a short film about Ed Roberts.
Ms. Holder thanked the CDI for the support.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-07-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-07-26,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 26, 2010
Page 2 of 3
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold):
Chair Krongold confirmed that Commissioner Moore sent an e-mail confirming October
16th, 2010 as the tree planting event date.
As part of the Accessible Exercise program planned for October, Chair Krongold confirmed
October
9th from 10:00-12:00 PM for a video screening of chair dancing at the Main Library.
The whole purpose of the program is to have accessible exercise opportunities free to the
public. Chair Krongold will meet with Anna Marie from the Mariner Square Athletic Club
Chair Krongold will meet with Leslie McGraw at Harbor Bay Club next week; McGraw had
discussed the Club's interest in a long-term plan for accessible exercise as well. Chair
Krongold will talk with David Walsch at Bladium and will meet with Jackie Krause on
August 5th, 2010. An event at Mastick Center will be limited to persons 50 and older with
disabilities. Chair Krongold will have Amanda Sharpe, a yoga instructor, who is also
certified to teach those with autism. Several of the exercise classes require finding an
accessible location.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman suggested checking with Alameda Recreation & Parks
Department.
Chair Krongold has checked with West Coast Dance Studio and Helene Maxwell at College
of Alameda to get them involved. Chair Krongold will also contact Louise Nakada regarding
Tai Chi classes at Alameda Hospital.
Commissioner Harp suggested checking with Kaiser, to which Chair Krongold agreed that
they may be interested in underwriting the event.
Chair Krongold also asked if anyone was familiar with the Alameda Athletic Club;
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated they do not have the space.
Chain Krongold requested Commissioner Lord-Hausman check with Roberta Maxwell of the
Miracle League for their potential involvement with the program.
Chair Krongold wants to have a flier prepared for distribution at the September 7th. 2010
Council presentation.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman discussed the banner which Alameda Alliance for Health will
underwrite. Commissioner Lord-Hausman will meet with Alameda Alliance for Health
regarding the permit process.
5-B.
Paratransit Advisory Planning Committee (PAPCO) (Commissioner Lord-Hausman):
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes)2010\Minutes_July 26 2010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-07-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-07-26,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 26, 2010
Page 3 of 3
Commissioner Lord-Hausman will attend the day-long conference with Chair Krongold.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A.
Secretary Akil informed the CDI that in response to the recent article posted in various
papers about the Commission, she has received several phone calls on various ADA and
disability-related items.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman introduced Kathy Moehring and discussed the intersection of
Central and Webster. Ms. Mohering stated that this is where Highway 61 ends and Public
Works is working with CalTrans on this issue. Commissioner Lord-Hausman requested the
CDI write a letter of support.
7-B. Commissioner Lord-Hausman received information from former Commissioner Ms. Toby
Berger.
7-C. Commissioner Lord-Hausman read a ""thank you"" letter from Ann Steiner regarding ADA
attendant assistance at local gas stations and availability of accessible parking at the
Farmer's Market along Webster Street.
7-D.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that at the July 20th Council meeting, a complaint was
made by a citizen regarding the placement of a wheelchair in Council chambers.
7-E.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman provided Secretary Akil with an e-mail regarding a steep
slope on Alameda Avenue and Park Street along the redwood brick walkway. Commissioner
Lord-Hausman will notify Matt Naclerio, Public Works Director of the concern.
7-F. Commissioner Harp distributed fliers regarding ""Universal Design: Homes for All Ages.""
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:52 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, August 23,
2010 at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes\2010\Minutes_July 26 2010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-07-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-08-23,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
August 23, 2010
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:39 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Vice-Chair Tam, Commissioners Fort, Harp, Lord-Hausman,
Kirola, and Warren.
Absent: Commissioner Moore.
2.
MINUTES
The July 26, 2010 minutes were approved with no changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
None.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
None.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold):
Chair Krongold requested discussion of the following CDI events:
Tree Planting will take place on October 16th at 10:30AM at Lincoln Park at Fernside. Chair
Krongold requested clarification regarding the press release for which Commissioner Lord-
Hausman stated she will forward to Chair Krongold.
Banner - Commissioner Lord-Hausman
Alameda Alliance for Health is underwriting the cost of the banner and will hang for two
weeks at Oak & Central. The banner will read: ""Alameda Celebrates Disability Awareness
Month"" and will be double-sided. The CDI agreed to a white background with deep blue
lettering.
Accessible Exercise - Chair Krongold distributed the draft schedule for the exercise
programs for the month of October. Commissioner Lord-Hausman suggested adding
appropriate websites. CDI made various suggestions to the draft and distribution. Chair will
e-mail revised schedule for further input.
September 7th Council Presentation - Chair Krongold distributed the draft presentation for",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-08-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-08-23,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
August 23, 2010
Page 2 of 3
discussion.
Movie/Exhibit: ""Faces of Disabilities"" - Commissioner Warren discussed the exhibit and
film on disability. The exhibit would include art and sculpture done by those with
disabilities. The film will need chairpersons to head up certain parts (e.g. sponsor, research,
marketing, etc.) Commissioner Warren asked if any of the Commissioners would be
interested in the various parts of this effort. The event would be free and could occur October
2011. Regarding the film, Commissioner Warren indicated that she was looking for someone
to be in a wheelchair, with personality and an Alameda resident. Commissioner will initiate a
first kick-off meeting within the first two weeks of September.
5-B.
Paratransit Advisory Planning Committee (PAPCO) (Commissioner Lord-Hausman):
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that she and Chair Krongold went to the Mobility
Workshop and discussed the specifics of the event. One of the goals for the workshop was
how to get the public more involved within Alameda County.
5-C. ADA/CDI Website (Chair Krongold / Secretary Akil):
There were no updates.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A.
October 25th Brown Act Training
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Vice-Chair Tam pointed out that the CDI is not linked in the ""2009 Board and
Commissions"" book. Secretary Akil stated she would follow up with the City Clerk.
7-B.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman read a draft letter to Matt Naclerio regarding the intersection
of Webster Street and Central Avenue
Secretary Akil acknowledged that the Commission had met for two hours and a motion would have
to be made to continue. Vice-Chair Tam motioned to continue the meeting and was seconded by
Commissioner Warren; Ayes - 7; No - 0.
7-C.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated WABA invited the CDI to have a table on September
11-12 at the Webster Street Jam Festival. Several Commissioners volunteered their time.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman will send e-mail to firm up the time.
7-D.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman will attend the Public Works Transportation Review
Guidelines meeting.
7-E.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman distributed a pamphlet regarding the Pacific ADA Center
ucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2010\Minutes_Aug 23 2010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-08-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-08-23,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
August 23, 2010
Page 3 of 3
regarding access at temporary city-wide events.
7-F.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman proposed having various CDI members serve as liaisons to
monitor various City meeting, such as the City Council, Boards and other Commissions.
Commissioner Fort agreed to monitor the City Council meetings.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, September 27,
2010 at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2010\Minutes_Aug 23 2010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-08-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-09-27,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES OF
September 27, 2010
LOCATION:
City Hall, 2263 Santa Clara Avenue, Conference Room 360
Note: If you are not able to attend the meeting, please contact Lucretia Akil
at (510) 747-4762 and leave a message by the morning of the meeting date.
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:35 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Vice-Chair Tam, Commissioners Fort, Harp, Lord-Hausman,
Moore and Warren.
Absent: Commissioner Kirola.
2.
MINUTES
Approval of the August 23, 2010 Commission minutes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
3-A.
Susan Deutsch , Alameda resident and occupational therapist expressed her interest in
joining the CDI.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Community Development Update (Andrew Thomas, Planning Services Manager):
Andrew Thomas provided an overview of development planning and accessibility, including
adhering to rules, regulations, historic requirements and standards to address particular
communities and goals. Mr. Thomas addressed techniques and methods, including
community engagement to get things done. Specific aspects include retail, office and
community gathering buildings, and parking lots. The City meets all accessible guidelines
with respect to new development. Mr. Thomas acknowledged that residential development
and accessibility issues should be discussed more amongst the community and staff. Mr.
Thomas stated that there are two ways to approach this:
1) Comprehensive approach: develop city-wide ordinances, policies and rules that
stipulate a specific goal or objective, e.g. that the CDI may have a specific interest in.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-09-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-09-27,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
September 27, 2010
Page 2
2) Staff can work with the CDI to ensure timely inclusion in most development
projects which would address accessibility issues.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman expressed interest in leading the task on tracking future
planning items.
Commissioner Harp stated that the City of Fremont is currently looking at a Universal
Design ordinance that addresses multiple issues, including accessibility and aging.
Mr. Thomas agreed with the incremental approach by project development.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that the Grand Marina is expanding and asked who
should the CDI connect with, to which Mr. Thomas stated both staff and the Planning Board.
Commissioner Moore stated getting some of the antiquated buildings up to code is needed
within the city.
Mr. Thomas stated that with the limited staffing resources it will take a partnership to move
things forward.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold) (Banner)
Commissioner Lord-Hausman presented the banner and recommended the CDI send a letter
of thanks to Alameda Alliance for Health for underwriting the entire project.
Accessible Exercise: Chair Krongold distributed fliers regarding the exercise events
covering October.
School Board Meeting: Chair Krongold will be presenting the Powerpoint
presentation to the Board on Tuesday evening in Council Chambers at 6:30p.m.
Proclamation: Vice-Chair Tam will accept the proclamation at the Tuesday, October
5th City Council meeting.
Tree Planting: Commissioner Moore confirmed the event will occur Saturday,
October 16th at 10:30a.m. Location to be determined.
Movie Exhibit: Commissioner Warren stated the work group is small. The site at the
Main Library is the ideal place. One artist is confirmed to date. One short film is also
confirmed from a caretaker's point-of-view. Vice-Chair Tam asked what the timeline
is, to which Commissioner Warren responded October 2011. Commissioner Warren
also to review subcommittee topics.
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2010\Minutes_Sept 27",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-09-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-09-27,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
September 27, 2010
Page 3
5-B.
Paratransit Advisory Planning Committee (PAPCO) (Commissioner Lord-Hausman):
Commissioner Lord-Hausman did not attend the PAPCO meeting.
5-C.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort):
Commissioner Fort stated he monitored the September 7th City Council meeting and there
was nothing specific to the CDI.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A.
Secretary Akil advised the Commission that the December 6, 2010 meeting will include
the bi-annual Ethics Training required by AB1234. Secretary Akil stated all CDI
members should make every effort to attend.
6-B.
Secretary Akil acknowledged and thanked Susan Deutsch for attending the CDI and
further explained the application process to her for appointment.
6-C.
Secretary Akil stated that staff continues to work on the city's overall website and she is
still working towards developing an ADA/CDI webpage.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Chair Krongold asked who is available to attend the Alameda Hospital Fair to which
Commissioner Warren and Commissioner Lord-Hausman agreed to attend.
7-B. Commissioner Moore confirmed that she conducted an Autism Prevention Program at
Alameda Recreation & Parks Department which went very well. Secretary Akil stated that
Patrick Russi of ARPD expresses deep appreciation and sincere interest in continuing some
level of training with ARPD.
Chair Krongold asked how many attended to which Commissioner Moore stated
approximately 60 people.
7-C.
Commissioner Moore announced that every third Sunday at the Alameda Multi-Cultural
Commission Center is Autism Awareness Movie Day.
7-D. Commissioner Lord-Hausman acknowledged that Alameda was selected as one of the ""100
Best Communities for Youth."" This could be an opportunity for the CDI to make
connections and an opportunity to bring the community together.
7-E.
Chair Krongold stated that the College of Alameda received the $250,000 grant which the
Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes(2010\Minutes_Sept 27 2010.doc",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-09-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-09-27,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
September 27, 2010
Page 4
CDI wrote a letter of support.
7-F.
Vice-Chair Tam stated that he is impressed with how much the CDI is making a difference in
the community.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, October 25,
2010 at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
G:\Lucretia)CommDisability\Minutes/2010\Minutes_Sept 272010.d0c",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-09-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-10-25,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
October 25. 2010
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:35 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Vice-Chair Tam, Commissioners Harp, Lord-Hausman, and
Warren.
Absent: Commissioners Moore, Kirola and Fort.
2.
MINUTES
The September 27, 2010 minutes were approved with changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
None.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
2216 Lincoln Avenue Apartments (Darin Lounds, ED, Housing Consortium of the East
Bay):
Darin Lounds, Executive Director of the Housing Consortium of the East Bay (HCEB)
distributed materials and gave a presentation regarding Satellite Housing for affordable
rental housing for adults with developmental disabilities. In the last seven years, there has
been a concentration on housing people with special needs.
Commissioner Warren asked whether or not there must be a family member with a disability
to qualify for affordable housing, to which Mr. Lounds replied no. There is an effort to mix
low-income and housing for those with disabilities. HCEB is also acquiring homes for
homeless people with disabilities. These homes are foreclosed properties.
Commissioner Harp asked would there be support services for the mentally ill, to which Mr.
Lounds replied yes, there will be individual case workers as well as general support services
through housing management.
Mr. Lounds reviewed in detail completed and upcoming access into housing which
incorporates many universal design features.
Mr. Lounds stated the City's proposal would consist of 14 to 19 accessible units and low-
income at 30%. HCEB is housing first and are not required to have (supportive) services.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-10-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-10-25,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 25, 2010
Page 2 of 4
Commissioner Lord-Hausman asked about the expectations of the November 15th meeting, to
which Mr. Lounds stated there would be sketches and schematic plans, including parking
and landscape for the 2216 Lincoln Avenue project.
Chair Krongold asked where the police officers will park, to which Mr. Lounds stated they
have not discussed parking concerns with City staff.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman suggested that the CDI initiate a meeting in the future
between Alameda Police Department (APD) and HCEB, to which Mr. Lounds agreed. Mr.
Lounds stated that they will be sure APD knows who lives in each unit when responding.
Vice-Chair Tam asked if they have reached out to community churches, to which Mr.
Lounds replied that they have and also requested community meetings with the various
churches.
Commissioner Warren asked for a contact person for the Creative Growth, to which Mr.
Lounds provided.
Chair Krongold asked if they will build with the understanding that these individuals will
age in place to which Mr. Lounds responded yes.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold):
Disability Awareness Month
- Banner
- Tree Planting
- Accessible Exercise
- Work Group Activity/Film/Art Exhibit
- Robert Day - January 22nd
Disability Awareness (Banner / Accessible Exercise):
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that the banner looks great. Secretary Akil confirmed
the banner will be store in City Hall Attic in the City Attorney office section. Commissioner
Lord-Hausman will forward information to Chair Krongold for a ""thank you"" letter.
Chair Krongold stated that the accessible exercise has had good press and would like more
turn-out.
Chair would like to send ""thank you"" letters to all the participating athletic clubs. Secretary
Akil confirmed that the City seal could be included on the letter along with the City Hall
address.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-10-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-10-25,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 25, 2010
Page 3 of 4
Commissioner Lord-Hausman attended the Harbor Bay class and appreciated the one-on-one
attention from the instructor.
Commissioner Harp asked if the classes are being evaluated, to which Chair Krongold stated
they have not developed a survey, but thinks it is a good suggestion.
Tree Planting:
Vice-Chair Tam stated it was a nice event and Commissioner Moore did a wonderful job.
Work Group Activity:
Commissioner Warren stated that she has developed a new concept for a work group. She
and her daughter are continuing to work out the specifics. Commissioner Warren is reaching
out to Frank Betts, and discussed amenities with Chair Krongold. The event has been
scheduled for Thursday, October 6th, which does not conflict with any other events.
Commissioner Warren confirmed that she is financing the film and had planned on doing the
film prior to joining the CDI.
Chair Krongold stated that the film could be part of the event, but done on an independent
basis by Commissioner Warren and her daughter.
Chair Krongold offered to assist Commissioner Warren in the structure of a work group.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that with the 2011 October events, film/art exhibit,
Resource Fair and exercise program, CDI needs to be aware of the number of items being
planned.
January 22nd -- Ed Robert's Day Film Event:
Reserved at the Main Library in conjunction with the Multi-Cultural Center.
Resource Fair:
Chair Krongold will discuss in future meeting.
5-B.
Paratransit Advisory Planning Committee (PAPCO) (Commissioner Lord-Hausman):
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that the East Bay Paratransit fare will increase on
January 1st, 2011. City of Oakland launched a new free shuttle service to connect downtown
Oakland to the Jack London Square. Commissioner Lord-Hausman submitted her resignation
letter to the Mayor and Public Works as PAPCO representative. Commissioner Lord-",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-10-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-10-25,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 25, 2010
Page 4 of 4
Hausman stated it was a great year and Alameda needs a representative.
5-C.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort):
Commissioner Fort is absent. No report.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A.
Secretary Akil reminded the CDI of the December 6th AB 1234 Ethics Training. There
will be no meeting in December.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman provided the report on the Alameda Hospital Fair. The event
went well, and information was distributed. The great value of attending is not working with
other vendors.
Secretary Akil advised the Commission that they needed a motion to continue the meeting
past the two-hour time frame. Commissioner Warren motioned to continue the meeting;
Commissioner Lord-Hausman seconded the motion. Ayes:5; No: 0.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman distributed information regarding the AC Transit changes or
eliminations in bus routes.
7-B. Chair Krongold discussed the two articles included in the packet which included the
accessible parks.
7-C.
Chair Krongold wished Commissioner Lord-Hausman well in her recovery.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, December 6,
2010 at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-10-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-12-06,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
December 6, 2010
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:37 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Vice-Chair Tam, Commissioners Harp, Warren, Moore, Kirola
Fort, and Deutsch.
Absent: Commissioner Lord-Hausman.
2.
MINUTES
None.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
None.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
AB 1234 Mandatory Ethics Training (Secretary Akil):
Secretary Akil distributed information and testing material for the AB 1234 ethics training.
The Commission completed the training and testing. Secretary Akil will submit all of the
tests to the Institute of Local Government for certificates of completion.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold):
Ed Roberts Day event on January 22nd and co-sponsored with the Alameda Multi-
Cultural Community Center
Film Art Exhibit
Autism Film Festival - April 9th, 2011
Resource Fair
January 22nd Multi-Cultural Center:
Chair Krongold discussed celebrating Ed Roberts' Day on January 22nd, , 2011. Chair
Krongold secured a room and date in the Main Library. Commissioner Harp stated Ed
Roberts was the founder of the Center for Independent Living and fought for equal rights for
the disabled community.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-12-06.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-12-06,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
December 6, 2010
Page 2 of 3
Chair Krongold asked Vice-Chair Tam to confirm with AUSD if they had any activities
planned for the schools.
Film Event:
Commissioner Warren stated she may have found an actor from Burlingame and filmmaker
from Oakland who would be willing to participate in the film event. Commissioner Warner
stated that David Hall from the Alameda Library reserved Thursday, October 6, 2011, for the
film event and exhibit.
Commissioner Moore stated that the Autism Film Festival is April 9th at the Multi-cultural
Center at the Main Library. The selected films include the ""Horse Boy"" and ""Temple
Grandin.""
Resource Fair
Chair Krongold asked about having another Resource Fair during Disability Awareness
Month in October 2011, to which the Commission agreed. Commissioner Warren suggested
the gymnasium at the College of Alameda.
Secretary Akil suggested the CDI prepare a budget for discussion with the City.
5-B.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort):
Commissioner Fort reported that on the November 16th Council Meeting:
Susan Deutsch was appointed to the Commission on Disability Issues
Webster Street Vision
Three major intersections
- Atlantic/Central
- Constitution
- Buena Vista
Bike Path Plan
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A.
Secretary Akil distributed the 2011 CDI Meeting schedule and updated the CDI on the
City's new website.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Commissioner Warren requested Secretary Akil forward the ADA Hearing e-mail to the
CDI.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-12-06.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2010-12-06,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
December 6, 2010
Page 3 of 3
7-B.
Commissioner Moore discussed her situation involving her son not being given equal access
within AUSD.
Commissioner Harp provided Commissioner Moore with two agency names to assist her son.
Commissioner Moore requested the CDI to consider writing a letter to AUSD to address this
issue.
Vice-Chair Tam suggested expressing her concerns at any AUSD Board Meeting.
Commissioner Deutsch stated she works for Berkeley Unified School District, which created
a task force to increase accessibility and integration for special education children.
Commissioner Harp asked for clarification on what Commissioner Moore wanted the CDI to
do, to which Commissioner Moore stated a letter to the AUSD from the CDI.
Chair Krongold suggested having someone from AUSD attend a CDI meeting to foster a
relationship.
7-C. Chair Krongold read a letter from the College of Alameda regarding a request for the CDI to
write a letter of support to the Trustee Board regarding budget cuts to the DSPS.
7-D.
Commissioner Harp encouraged members to visit the Ed Roberts' Campus in Berkeley.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:23 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, January 24,
2011 at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Auculia Nailly
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2010-12-06.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-02-28,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
February 28, 2011
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:34 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Vice-Chair Tam, Commissioners Deutsch, Fort, Harp, Kirola,
Lord-Hausman, Moore and Warren.
Absent: None.
2.
MINUTES
2-A. Approved with corrections.
2-B. Approved with corrections.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
None.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Election of Chair and Vice-Chair (Secretary Akil):
Vote on election of officers.
Commissioner Moore made a motion to nominate Commissioner Krongold as Chair of the
Commission. The motion was seconded by Vice-chair Nielson, which carried a unanimous
voice vote - 9.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman made a motion to nominate Commissioner Harp as Vice-Chair
of the Commission. The motion was seconded by Vice-chair Nielson, which carried a
unanimous voice vote - 9.
4-B.
City of Alameda Paratransit Shuttle Service Modifications (Gail Payne, PW):
Discussion regarding changes to Paratransit Service.
Gail Payne stated that the Shuttle Service was introduced last year in April for individuals 62
years of age and older. Ridership has leveled off due to weather. A six-month review of the
service was conducted per Council's direction. Morning routes are preferred. The service
received high satisfaction marks.
Vice-chair Harp asked about the capacity of the bus to which Gail responded it's a small bus,
12-seats, and it does not run at capacity.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-02-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-02-28,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 28, 2011
Page 2 of 5
Chair Krongold asked about the age requirements at Mastick Senior Center being 50 years
old to which Gail replied she is working on the issue.
Commissioner Moore asked if you must be 55 and with a disability to which Gail responded
affirmatively.
Commissioner Warren asked if an escort is needed could one be provided to which Gail
replied affirmatively.
Commissioner Tam asked if you register once do you have to register each year to which
Gail replied ""No.""
Chair Krongold asked about advertising at a movie theater to which Gail replied they are
currently advertising at movie theaters.
Chair Krongold asked if the data is from the U.S. Census re: the disabled to which Gail
replied that the information presented from the American Community Survey is all that is
available.
4-C.
City of Alameda Paratransit Taxi Service Modifications (Gail Payne, PW):
Discussion regarding changes to Taxi Service.
Gail stated that there are currently two taxi services. There are no current restrictions on
travel so the modification requests limit on travel. There are major limits on the budget and
there is a greater demand on the budget. The major goal is to restrict the use to rides within
Alameda County. The savings would be approximately $5,000 a year.
Commissioner Fort asked if the 50% discount applied to persons with disabilities and 70
years or older to which Gail replied to everyone with or without a Driver's License and blind
or disabled is entitled to the 50% reduction.
Commissioner Tam asked if support is needed at the Council meeting to which Gail replied
that all support is welcome.
Commissioner Kirola asked if there are two Shuttle Services for everyone, to which Gail
affirmed.
Commissioner Kirola asked if someone moves how would they notify the Transportation
Company, to which Gail replied one would have to register the new information and she does
the quality control.
Commissioner Kirola asked the names of the two companies to which Gail stated: (1)
Welcome Transportation and (2) Veterans.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-02-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-02-28,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 28, 2011
Page 3 of 5
Vice Chair Harp asked if there could be Shuttle Service to connect BART to which Gail
replied the issue has been discussed and there is no indication that will occur, unless there is
additional funding.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold):
Continued discussion of future events.
Ed Roberts Event:
Chair Krongold stated that the January 22 event went well. Both Vice-Chair Harp
and Commissioner Lord-Hausman attended.
Banner:
Secretary Akil confirmed the banner dates for the 3rd and 4th week in September.
Film/Art Exhibit: October 6, 2010
Commissioner Warren provided an update on the event, including reaching out to
schools for the art exhibit. Chair Krongold asked Marcia Tsang about including
art work from the Leisure Club, which is comprised of disabled adults from
Alameda. Commissioner Deutsch asked if the art is limited to Alamedans,
to which Commissioner Warren replied it will be open to people with
disabilities. Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that it would be good
for the art exhibit to be represented by Alamedans.
CDI Resource Fair
Chair Krongold confirmed a work group has been formed to meet the
last Wednesdays of the month in the library.
April 9th Film Event:
Commissioner Moore discussed the upcoming films scheduled for
Autism Awareness month. She requested a Proclamation for April 5th
Secretary Akil will email a copy of last year's Disability Awareness
Month proclamation.
Tree Planting:
Commissioner Moore proposed October 15th for the next tree planting
to which the Commission agreed.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-02-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-02-28,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 28, 2011
Page 4 of 5
5-B.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort):
Report on issues of relevance from biweekly Council meeting.
No report.
Vice-chair Harp and Commissioner Lord-Hausman attended the January 18th Council
meeting in support of building the apartments at Lincoln Avenue.
5-C.
Curb Cut Improvements (Commissioner Lord-Hausman)
An update on improvements regarding Central and Webster; and Park Street near brick alley
shopping area was given.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated the Public Works plans are under review with Cal Trans
under Park Street/Alameda Ave., followed by bids and an award end of April/early Mary.
Regarding Central and Webster re-design (not curb cuts): Commissioner Lord-Hausman met
with WABA and will follow-up with Public Works.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A.
Secretary Akil informed the Commission that the City website had some minor glitches to
the CDI page but staff is working on correcting the problems.
6-B.
Secretary Akil stated she would follow up with the Alameda Fire Department Administration
Office regarding the inoperable accessible button for the front door at the Fire Station on
Park Street and Encinal Avenue.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Chair Krongold announced the upcoming Alameda County Transition Faire, Saturday, March
19th at 9:30 AM, and asked who is interested in participating? Commissioner Kirola,
Commissioner Lord-Hausman and Commissioner Tam may be able to attend.
7-B.
Commissioner Moore distributed a flier she picked up at the Ed Roberts Campus in Berkeley
regarding free phones for people with disabilities.
7-C. Commissioner Fort mentioned that BORP and the Lighthouse for the Blind, as well as a
number of organizations, have their offices at the Ed Roberts Campus.
7-D.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that all CDI Commissioners will receive an invitation
from the League of Women Voters for the April 4th ""Meet Your Public Officials."" She
encouraged all to attend at the Harbor Bay Community Center.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-02-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-02-28,5,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 28, 2011
Page 5 of 5
7-E.
A citizen called to request documents be available readily in large font.
7-F.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman requested that someone from AUSD, Special Education attend
a CDI meeting. Commissioner Tam suggested he will attempt to request Susan Mitchell meet
with the CDI in March or April.
7-G.
Commissioner Tam has a special board meeting on March 28th and will miss the March CDI
Meeting.
7-H. Vice-Chair Harp stated that the Center for Independent Living is having its Annual Board
Meeting on Thursday, March 24 at 3:30 PM at Hayward City Hall and it is open to the
public.
7-I.
Chair Krongold stated that the Alameda Hospital (Louise Nakada) will begin accessible yoga
classes. There will be four classes starting April 13th, 5-6 PM for 4 weeks at $5.00 per
session.
7-J.
Chair Krongold mentioned that the author of a book about her service dog event was held at
the Frank Bette Center.
7-K. Chair Krongold read a letter response from College of Alameda regarding the CDI letter of
support for funding for DSPS.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, March 28, 2011
at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Aurulta Asit
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-02-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-03-28,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
March 28, 2011
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:43 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Vice-Chair Harp, Commissioners Deutsch, Fort, Kirola, Lord-
Hausman and Warren.
Absent: Commissioners Moore and Tam.
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
The minutes were approved with corrections.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
None.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Annual Statements of Economic Interest Form 700 (Secretary Akil):
Secretary Akil distributed the Conflict of Interest forms and all CDI members completed the
forms.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold):
Continued discussion of future events.
Banner:
Chair Krongold confirmed that the banner dates are secured.
CDI Resource Fair
Chair Krongold confirmed first Work Group meeting was March 23rd with
Commissioner Deutsch and Warren in attendance as well as Anne Steiner, Susan
Mitchell, AUSD, and College of Alameda Representatives. Chair Krongold read
the minutes from the first work group meeting. The event will be held on a
Saturday (vrs. a weekday), between 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM. The Work Group
wishes to have the event at the gymnasium at College of Alameda. Next meeting
is April 27th at 6:30 PM. The CDI suggests having the fair the first weekend in
November since October is full. Secretary Akil stated she would meet with the
Acting City Attorney to discuss CDI budget. Chair Krongold will email work
group minutes to the CDI.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-03-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-03-28,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
March 28,2011
Page 2 of 3
Film/Art Exhibit: October 6, 2011
Commissioner Warren confirmed that there will be two films for the event. The
working title for the event is ""An Evening of Art"". Ann Steiner offered to include
one of her films for the event. Commissioner Warren will discuss whether or not
the art exhibit will be limited to Alamedans only.
April 5th City Council Meeting:
Chair Krongold stated that the Autism Awareness Month Proclamation is
finalized and that Jodi Moore would accept it on behalf of the CDI.
April 9th Film Event:
Chair Krongold stated that the film event will be at the library and is co-
sponsored with the Alameda Multi-Cultural Center. The films will be about
Autism and one of them ""Temple Grandson"" Chair Krongold will email flier to
the CDI.
5-B.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort):
Report on issues of relevance from biweekly Council meeting.
Commissioner Fort stated that Gail Payne's report re: Paratransit and Taxi Service was
approved at the March 15th City Council Meeting. All modifications including time and
shuttle changes were approved.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A.
Secretary Akil confirmed that a doorbell will be installed at the Alameda Fire Department's
main facility soon.
6-B.
Secretary Akil reviewed an email from a concerned citizen regarding sandwich board signs
on Webster Street, which is on the joint 3/28/11 Planning Board/Economic Development
Commission Meeting Agenda.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman suggested a letter be written to the Chair of the Planning
Board regarding the issue.
Secretary Akil will add Planning Board to the Agenda.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Chair Krongold stated that the College of Alameda Transition Faire happened two weeks
ago; Commissioner Kirola attended the fair and stated that people who lived outside of
Alameda requested information and resources.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-03-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-03-28,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
March 28, 2011
Page 3 of 3
Chair Krongold, who also attended the Faire, stated that she met Scott Means, a
representative from the Miracle League, and suggested that Roberta Rockwell present at a
CDI meeting.
7-B.
Chair Krongold attended the Mastick Senior Center Advisory Board meeting to deliver the
Commission's PowerPoint and the presentation was well received.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman suggested presenting to the Planning Board. Secretary Akil
will follow-up with staff regarding a CDI presentation.
7-C. Chair Krongold and Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that they met with the Mayor to
discuss the accomplishments and future plans for the Commission on Disability Issues.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, April 25, 2011
at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
a Abil
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-03-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-05-23,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
May 23, 2011
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:40 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Vice-Chair Harp, Commissioners Deutsch, Fort, Lord-Hausman,
Moore, Tam and Warren.
Absent: Commissioners Kirola and Nielsen.
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
The minutes were approved with no changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
None.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Alameda Unified School District (Susan Mitchell, Director of Special Education):
Susan Mitchell, director of special education, distributed information regarding AUSD
special education services and locations. Ms. Mitchell stated AUSD is working on updating
their information to get out to the public. There are various new programs and facilities,
including an autism-specific program for pre-school. All sites will have resource specialists
for each location. Ms. Mitchell discussed the various programs, specific to each grade level
and potential funding and possible reduction in services based on funding availability. AUSD
encourages parent-participation and community involvement.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman asked if the number of children in special education has
changed to which Ms. Mitchell responded it has not significantly changed; was 10% of the
student population and is now 9.9%.
Commissioner Warren asked if special needs include gifted children to which Ms. Mitchell
responded it is based on special education law and those children with special needs.
Commissioner Moore asked what the (CDI) Community could do to support the program to
which Ms. Mitchell responded support for a continuum of the various programs at each
school and English-speaking learners. Chair Krongold acknowledged that Ms. Mitchell is
also on the work group for the resource fair.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-05-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-05-23,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
May 23, 2011
Page 2 of 3
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A. CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold):
Continued discussion of future events.
Banner (Webster/Lincoln - September 13-20; Park/Lincoln - Sept. 20-27):
Keep on the Agenda.
Film/Art Exhibit (October 6, 2011):
Change name to an ""Evening of Art"". Commissioner Warren stated the projects
are coming together and the focus is on publicity, marketing and sponsors for
refreshments. The event will occur at the Main Library.
CDI Resource Fair (October 2011):
Chair Krongold read minutes from the Work Group meeting (which will be an
attachment to the original CDI agenda and minutes). Chair Krongold asked the
CDI to brainstorm on a name for the event and a resource guide.
Tree Planting (October 15, 2011):
Jodi will follow up with John McDonald, AR&PD to firm up the location.
5-B.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort):
Report on issues of relevance from biweekly Council meeting.
Nothing to report.
5-C.
Planning Board Meeting Report(Commissioner Lord-Hausman):
Report out from meeting.
Nothing to report.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A.
Secretary Akil discussed proposed structural changes to the City's Boards and Commissions.
The City Council has formed a sub-committee for further community engagement. The issue
will return to Council for further consideration following that process.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Chair Krongold, discussed the Accessible Yoga Classes at Alameda Hospital working with
Louise Nakada to make it a regular Wednesday class.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-05-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-05-23,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
May 23, 2011
Page 3 of : 3
7-B.
Chair Krongold discussed information regarding SuperFest: the International Disability Film
Fair to beheld between June 17 - 19 in Berkeley.
7-C.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman discussed the curb cut issue at Alameda Avenue. It is funded
by Cal-Trans and will begin in August.
7-D.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman discussed a Universal Design for Housing seminar at the Ed
Roberts Campus on June. 28th, It is sponsored by Alameda County Healthy Homes Project.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, June 27, 2011
at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Question Nat
Lucretra Akil
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-05-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-06-27,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
June 27,2011
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:36 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Vice-Chair Harp, Commissioners Deutsch, Fort, Kirola, Nielsen,
Tam and Warren.
Absent: Commissioners Lord-Hausman and Moore.
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
The minutes were approved with no changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
None.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Restructuring of the CDI (Chair Krongold):
Chair Krongold asked Secretary Akil to discuss the City's position of the restructuring effort
and draft memo. Secretary Akil stated that the memo was a good start and that the City
Council sub-committee was in the process of drafting a memo to engage further input from
the various Boards and Commissions regarding the restructuring process.
Commissioner Warren asked about reducing the number down to seven to which Secretary
Akil responded that the goal was to have the same number of volunteers on all City Boards
and Commission in an effort to streamline the meetings and number of participants.
Commissioner Fort stated having nine (9) members on the Board is more
representative of the various disabilities within the community.
Vice-chair Harp requested clarification of the bylaws concerning the number of volunteers
and whether or not the Commission could vote to meet without staff. Secretary Akil noted
that the bylaws requires that the Board Secretary attend all meetings and that the CDI should
be mindful of the engagement process underway by the City Council seeking input to the
proposed structural changes.
Chair Krongold requested holding the item over for a future date.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-06-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-06-27,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
June 27, 2011
Page 2 of 3
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold):
Continued discussion of future events.
Banner (Webster/Lincoln - September 13-20; Park/Lincoln - Sept. 20-27):
Nothing new.
An Evening of Art (October 6, 2011):
Commissioner Warren will meet with the AUSD School Director regarding
inclusion of school art. The sponsor letter is in the process of being finalized for
Commissioner Lord-Hausman to review. Chair Krongold suggested creating a
form regarding disclaimer and liability issues. Vice - Chair Harp suggested that
each participant provide a description and photo of their individual pictures.
Chair Krongold asked Secretary Akil if she had any suggestions to which she
responded the City could draft a Hold Harmless Waiver. Commissioner Warren
will work with Commissioner Tam regarding possible forms.
CDI Resource Fair (October 2011):
Chair Krongold confirmed the date of November 5th for the Fair at the College of
Alameda. Jackie Krause confirmed that Mastick could provide shuttle services, at
no additional costs. The CDI agreed to the shuttle services. Chair Krongold
requested input for a name for the Resource fair. All suggestions should be
emailed or by telephone. Chair Krongold also wants to get a ""save the date""
email to various participating vendors.
Tree Planting (October 15, 2011):
Nothing new to report.
5-B.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort):
Commissioner Fort discussed the IAFF Contract and its approval and closure of the Animal
Shelter. The Council agreed to consider allowing a non-profit to manage the Shelter until a
full transition could be done. There were no items that directly affected the Commission.
5-C.
Planning Board Meeting Report(Commissioner Lord-Hausman):
Nothing to report.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-06-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-06-27,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
June 27, 2011
Page 3 of 3
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A.
Secretary Akil stated she contacted Andrew Thomas Planning Services Manger regarding
CDI presentation during Planning Board meeting to which he agreed would be a good idea.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Chair Krongold announced information about the event which took place at Ed Roberts
Campus.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:46 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, July 25, 2011 at
6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Auculia Abil
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-06-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-07-25,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
July 25, 2011
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:47 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Vice-Chair Harp, Commissioners Fort, Lord-Hausman, Moore,
Nielsen, Tam and Warren.
Absent: Commissioners Kirola & Deutsch.
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
The minutes were approved with no changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
None.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
None.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
Restructuring of the CDI (Chair Krongold):
Secretary Akil provided status on Boards & Commissions restructuring.
Vice-Chair Harp distributed draft letter regarding restructuring effort.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman recommended Vice-Chair Harp and Chair Krongold combine
letters to go out. Agendize for August 22 meeting.
5-B.
CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold):
Banner (Webster/Lincoln - September 13-20; Park/Lincoln - Sept. 20-27):
No changes.
An Evening of Art (October 6, 2011):
Commissioner Warren provided information on AUSD Special Education
participation in the event and other information.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-07-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-07-25,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 25, 2011
Page 2 of 3
Chair Krongold suggested City staff be present for the entire event to which
Secretary Akil responded staff only needs to lock up the library.
CDI Resource Fair (October 2011):
Chair Krongold read the minutes and other correspondence (i.e. shuttle service
provided by Mastick and the pick-up points) from the work group and requested
feedback and input on several items concerning the Fair. The CDI discussed all
issues.
Tree Planting (October 15, 2011):
Commissioner Moore acknowledged this is the fifth year for the Tree Planting
Ceremony. Commissioner Moore requested to change the date to October 1, 2011
at 10:00 AM.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman suggested sending invitations of all events to the
City Council, AUSD, City Manager and Acting City Attorney.
Chair Krongold stated that a press release would also go out.
Commissioner Moore suggested calling radio stations to promote the events of
October.
5-C.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort):
Commissioner Fort stated there was a housing project along Blanding Avenue.
5-D.
Planning Board Meeting Report (Commissioner Lord-Hausman):
Nothing to report.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Nothing to report.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman was unable to attend the conference on Universal Design but
will attempt to retrieve the information.
7-B.
Chair Krongold distributed flyers regarding accessible Yoga Programs at Alameda Hospital.
7-C.
Chair Krongold noted the Piedmont Foundation could possibly fund accessible Yoga in
Alameda.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-07-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-07-25,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 25, 2011
Page 3 of 3
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, August 22,
2011 at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Tucudial Akil
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-07-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-09-26,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
September 26, 2011
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:34 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Vice-Chair Harp, Commissioners Deutsch, Kirola, Lord-Hausman,
Nielsen, Tam and Warren.
Absent: Commissioners Moore & Fort.
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
The minutes were approved with no changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
None.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Chair Krongold asked about meeting protocol.
Secretary Akil stated that she sent an email to the CDI regarding the miscommunication and
was not aware of any new business at the time.
Chair Krongold expressed concern over the cancellation.
Vice-Chair Harp asked for clarification regarding meeting protocol, to which Secretary Akil
stated that the meeting was timely noticed for cancellation and in accordance with the Brown
Act.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman clarified that the CDI could meet regarding new business as
well as on-going old business.
Vice Chair Harp asked if there was additional staff that could cover a CDI meeting in the
event the Secretary could not attend, to which Secretary Akil stated that her usual alternate
had resigned, however, there could be staff available either in the City Attorney's office or
staff would have to check other staff availability.
Commissioner Tam asked for clarification regarding new business and on-going business and
future structural changes to which Secretary Akil stated that those changes will come from
the Council and all Boards and Commissions will be engaged in that process.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-09-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-09-26,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
September 26, 2011
Page 2 of 4
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
Restructuring of the CDI (Chair Krongold)
Chair Krongold read a letter to the Council which included combined changes to her memo
and Vice-Chair Harp's letter. Chair Krongold passed the letter around for signatures by the
Commissioners
5-B.
CDI Vision Planning (Chair Krongold):
Banner (Webster/Lincoln - September 13-20; Park/Lincoln - Sept. 20-27):
Chair Krongold asked if the banner was hung at Park/Lincoln; Commissioner
Lord-Hausman stated she will coordinate with Building and Secretary Akil.
Comment [LK1]: Building?
Which department is this?
National Disability Awareness Month Proclamation (October 4, 2011 Council
Meeting)
Commissioner Lord-Hausman and Commissioner Warren will attend with Chair
Krongold to accept the Proclamation.
An Evening of Art (October 6, 2011):
Commissioner Warren - no new updates.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman asked if the information has been sent per the
previous minutes to which Chair Krongold stated she sent to everyone except the
School Board.
CDI Resource Fair (October 2011):
Chair Krongold stated that both AMP and Alameda Alliance for Health will
sponsor the event.
Chair Krongold checked with Commissioners for their availability and
participation at October and November CDI events. She stated there will be a free
shuttle schedule. Chair Krongold provided an overall update of the progress of
the A.C.C.E.S.S. Fair.
Chair Krongold asked about updating the press release on the City website to
include new sponsors, to which Secretary Akil stated she would check with the
City Manager's Office. There will be a CDI work group meeting on Wednesday,
Sept. 28.
Chair Krongold asked if the A.C.C.E.S.S. Fair presentations and shuttle schedule
could be added as pdf's to the CDI page to which Secretary Akil stated that she
would check upon receipt of the documents.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-09-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-09-26,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
September 26, 2011
Page 3 of 4
Chair Krongold asked who could attend Alameda Hospital Fair on October 22nd
to which three CDI members confirmed participation.
Tree Planting (October 15, 2011):
Secretary Akil provided an update for Commissioner Moore. John McDonald
(AR&PD) will plant the tree and tie a ribbon.
5-C.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort):
None.
5-D.
Planning Board Meeting Report (Commissioner Lord-Hausman):
None.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Secretary Akil read a letter of recognition from Congressman Pete Stark to the CDI regarding
National Disability Awareness Month.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A. Commissioner Lord-Hausman - September 29th at Otis Park - Community meeting on the
playground re-do.
7-B. Commissioner Lord-Hausman - Shinsei Gardens offered to set up a tour for the CDI to see
accessible structures and she is willing to coordinate that effort.
7-C. Commissioner Lord-Hausman will be meeting with the Planning Services Manager
regarding a Universal Design Ordinance.
7-D.
SSHRB - Commissioner Lord-Hausman reported that SSHRB will be putting together a
Needs Survey regarding accessibility issues.
7-E.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman - Curb cut along Park Street work should begin mid-October.
7-F.
Commissioner Tam informed the CDI that he was asked to be on an Advisory Committee put
together by the Chief of Police and advised the CDI to provide any input regarding issues of
accessibility.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-09-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2011-09-26,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
September 26, 2011
Page 4 of 4
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Nant
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2011-09-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-01-23,1,"UNAPPROVED
SPECIAL JOINT MEETING OF THE
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES AND PLANNING BOARD
MINUTES OF
January 23, 2012
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 8:15 P.M.
Present: Chair Krongold, Vice-Chair Harp, Commissioners Deutsch, Kirola, Lord-Hausman,
Tam, Warren and Fort.
Absent: Commissioner Moore.
2.
Presentation on Universal Design: Homes for All (Jessica Lehman, CRIL):
The CDI and Planning Board conducted a joint meeting regarding a Universal Design
Ordinance for Alameda. Jessica Lehman, Community Resources for Independent Living
(CRIL) made the presentation. The Planning Board chaired the meeting.
3.
MINUTES
3-A.
The minutes were approved with changes.
4.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
None.
5.
NEW BUSINESS
5-A.
City of Alameda Paratransit Shuttle Service Modifications (Gail Payne, PW):
Discussion regarding changes to Paratransit Service.
Gayle Payne corrected the title. See Item 5-A attachment.
Ms. Payne discussed the current proposed modification of the $2.50 increase to the current
Paratransit Taxi Service. The current FY is fine, but the increase will take effect FY 2012/13,
beginning July 1, 2012. Ms. Payne noted that the Park & Recreation Commission authorized
an increase of $3.00, as it is easier to manage.
Vice-Chair Harp asked if there is a current charge for the Paratransit to which Ms. Payne
confirmed there was.
Vice-Chair Harp moved for a vote to show support for the $3.00 charge for the Mr. Tip
program to be effective July 1, 2012, to which all of the CDI agreed.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-01-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-01-23,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
January 23, 2012
Page 2 of 3
5-B:
Election of Chair and Vice-Chair (Secretary Akil):
Vote on election of officers.
Chair Krongold made a motion to nominate Commissioner Lord-Hausman as Chair of the
Commission. The motion was seconded by Commission Tam, which carried a unanimous
voice vote - 8.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman made a motion to nominate Vice-Chair Harp as Vice-Chair of
the Commission. The motion was seconded by Chair Krongold, which carried a unanimous
voice vote - 8.
5-C.
Sunshine Ordinance Review (Secretary Akil):
The CDI reviewed the Sunshine Ordinance and completed the mandatory Declaration
signing.
6.
OLD BUSINESS
6-A.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort):
Report on issues of relevance from biweekly Council meeting.
None.
6-B.
Planning Board Meeting Report (Commissioner Lord-Hausman):
Report on issues of relevance from biweekly Planning Board meeting. None
7.
STAFF OMMUNICATIONS
Secretary Akil announced the new City Attorney, Janet Kern. Also that the City was not
selected for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Site.
8.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
8-A.
Chair Krongold received an application for the Alameda County Transition Fair for persons
with disabilities on March 10, 2012, 9:00 to 12:00 noon. She requested that the CDI can set
up a booth to which Vice-Chair Harp indicated that she may be able to attend.
Commissioner Tam also volunteered. Commissioner Lord-Hausman also indicated may be
able to attend.
8-B.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman noted that the Public Works Department is working on a
curb-cut on Park Street.
8-C. Chair Krongold updated the Resources Guide and will give to Secretary Akil to upload.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman requested that it be made more easily available/visible on
the website.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-01-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-01-23,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
January 23, 2012
Page 3 of 3
Commissioner Lord-Hausman recognized Chair Krongold for all of her hard work
chairing the CDI over the past year.
9.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-01-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-02-27,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
February 27, 2012
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:36 P.M.
Present: Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Krongold, Tam, Warren and Fort.
Absent: Vice-Chair Harp Commissioners Deutsch, Kirola and Moore.
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
The minutes were approved with no changes.
3.
ORALCOMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Guest JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko, Alameda resident, conveyed that she was injured within
several months of moving into the City and decided to visit the CDI meeting.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Goals and Objectives 2012 (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman requested input from the CDI regarding future direction for the
coming year, with respect to CDI services the disabled community for input to the City
Council.
Commissioner Warren would like to see more collaboration among the Commissoner's
for planned events.
Commissioner Krongold would like to collaborate with Mastick Senior Center as well as
the Fire Department funding for the low-income / senior involvements for residential
housing program.
Commissioner Fort would like some of the movies at Alameda Theatre be captioned for
the deaf and video description for the blind.
Chair Lord-Hausman indicated that there was a local theatre that runs movies specifically
for Autistic children where adjustments had to be made which falls into what
Commissioner Fort suggests regarding exploration with the Alameda Theatre.
Commissioner Fort replied that it would have to be compatible with others in the theatre.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-02-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-02-27,2,"Commissioner Krongld asked if there is a separate soundtrack provided by the theatre or
is it a non-profit, to which Commissioner Fort replied that most are not accessible except
for visual displays.
Secretary Akil suggested checking what the ADA requirements would be for a private
entity.
Commissioner Tam stated that the Jack Kapon housing to be constructed along Lincoln
should include education to the community, including sensitivity training for APD for
those who are cognitively challenged.
Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged the suggestions by the CDI are good and
recommended following through on a Universal Design Ordinance and monthly
Disability Recognition Month.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
Universal Design Ordinance (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged the joint meeting between the Planning Board and
CDI. and distributed copies of the presentation by Jessica Lehman. Chair Lord-Hausman
stated that Planning Manager Andrew Thomas recommended the CDI put forth the first
draft of a Universal Design Ordnance, although it may not be address for up to one year.
Chair Lord-Hausman requested a work group to begin the draft.
Commissioner Krongold suggested working with the Mastick Senior Center to which
Chair Lord-Hausman agreed that it would be good idea to partner with them.
5-B.
Restructuring Boards and Commissions (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Secretary Akil stated that there are no changes but there is a questionnaire circulating by
the City Manager regarding all Boards and Commissions.
5-C.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort):
Commissioner Fort stated that the February 7th meeting included discussion with
restructuring Boards and Commissions but there are no changes.
5-D.
Planning Board Meeting Report (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that there has been nothing pertinent to the CDI but she will
keep the CDI informed should something come up.
5-E.
Alameda County Transition Information Faire (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman distributed the registration form for the Alameda County Transition
Information Faire, to which Vice-Chair Harp will participate and Commissioner Warren
and Chair Lord-Hausman will try to attend.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-02-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-02-27,3,"6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Secretary Akil stated that the Resource Director is completely accessible via the City
website and the February 27th CDI meeting is posted on the Events Calendar page.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A. Commissioner Tam stated that the AUSD Board had an evaluation of Special Education
regarding consolidation of services and other options, to which some recommendations
will be considered for approval.
7-B.
Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged Commissioner Krongold for her hard work on the
Resource Fair and her contribution to the CDI over the past two years.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:36 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-02-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-03-26,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
March 26, 2012
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:35 P.M.
Present: Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Harp, Commissioners Kirola, Krongold,
Moore, Warren and Fort.
Absent: Commissioners Tam and Deutsch.
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
The minutes were approved with changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Mathew Fitzgerald, resident of Alameda, read an article about proposed budget cuts,
presented by Governor Brown.
Chair Lord-Hausman thanked Mr. Fitzgerald for reading information on Alameda County
Budget cuts and expressed her sympathy regarding the loss of his job.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Annual Statements of Economic Interest Form 700 (Secretary Akil)
4-B.
Proclamation Regarding April's National Austim Awareness Month (Commissioner
Moore)
Commissioner Moore acknowledged that she will accept the Proclamation on behalf of
the CDI at the April 17 City Council meeting.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
Universal Design Ordinance (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman read an email from Andrew Thomas, where he stated that the
immediate objective should be to introduce a new Program Objective to read: ""Within 18
months of the Housing Element, the Planning Board & City Council should consider and
adopt a Universal Design Ordinance for new residential developments of five or more
units."" In the meantime, the CDI could research and begin drafting the ordinance copy
and present to the Planning Board for consideration. May 14th Planning Board will
review the Draft Housing Element and discussion regarding the Universal Design
Ordinance. Vice-Chair Harp suggested looking at other cities' ordinances.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-03-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-03-26,2,"Chair Lord-Hausman said that the Planning Board's current agenda shows that the
Housing Element Hearing will be held at its May 14 meeting. Vice Chair Harp will
attend that meeting for CDI.
Commissioner Krongold stated the Mastick Advisory Board meets the third Wednesday
of the month if someone wanted to speak about the Universal Design Ordinance, to
which Chair Lord-Hausman stated she would follow-up with Jackie Krause.
5-B. Goals and Objectives 2012 (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman asked Commissioner Krongold to take the lead on attending the
Mastick Advisory meetings, to which Commissioner Krongold confirmed she would do
after April and will also pursue discussions with the Fire Department about the Fall
Prevention Program to include those with disabilities.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she would make an inquiry of Alameda Theatre re
accessible audio and video and the possibility for special movies for those with
disabilities.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she would contact Debbie Potter, Property Manager and
Alameda Police Department Chief regarding sensitivity training on the Jack Kapon
housing.
Chair Lord-Hausman requested that Commissioner Warren research Disability Monthly
recognition. Secretary Akil stated that some information could be added to the CDI web-
page.
5-C.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort):
Commissioner Fort stated that there was nothing to report out relevant to the CDI.
5-D.
Planning Board Meeting Report (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that there was nothing to report out relevant to the CDI.
5-E.
Alameda County Transition Information Faire ( Vice Chair Harp):
The Vice Chair stated that the event was well attended and people appreciated the CDI
participation and the Resource Guide page was distributed.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
None.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
League of Women Voters is hosting the ""Meet Your Public Officials"" on May 3rd, 5:30 -
7:30 PM. Commissioners will be receiving an invitation.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-03-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-03-26,3,"7-B. Commissioner Krongold put together a presentation about accessible exercise for the
support group she facilitates and mentioned the wide-range of accessible exercise and
sports availability in San Jose.
7-C
Commissioner Harp advised that Disability Capital Action Day is on May 30.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:37 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-03-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-04-23,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
April 23, 2012
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:37 P.M.
Present: Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Harp, Commissioners Deutsch, Kirola, Tam,
and Warren.
Absent: Commissioners Krongold, Moore, Fort
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
The minutes were approved with changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Universal Design - Housing Element (Andrew Thomas, Planning Services Manager)
Andrew Thomas stated that the Planning Department is working on updating the Housing
Element including zoning requirements, housing development, and construction by
making sure land is available for such construction. With respect to Universal Design
(UD), Mr. Thomas stated the UD is not included in the first phase of the update the
Housing Element. These changes would modify the current Municipal Code.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked about the timeline to which Mr. Thomas replied that the
initial draft will go to Council in late June.
Mr. Thomas stated that having a Universal Design ordinance is not State mandated to be
adapted by 2014. There are no obligations for inclusion of this language in the update of
the Housing Element. Mr. Thomas encouraged the CDI to begin working on proposed
language and to collaborate with the PB.
Commissioner Tam thanked Mr. Thomas for his presentation and inclusion of the CDI in
the process.
4-B.
CDI Restructuring - (Alex Nguyen, Deputy City Manger)
Deputy City Manager, Alex Nguyen, discussed re-structuring the various Boards and
Commissions. There are questions about the CDI doing actual Commission work; and
suggested consideration of having 4-designated seats of the CDI on Planning Board, Park
& Recreation, Transportation, and SSHRB, which would be phased in.
1",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-04-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-04-23,2,"Commissioner Kirola spoke about her personal experiences and the fact that the CDI has
a significant role in the community.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the CDI has provided feedback to Public Works,
developers regarding some infrastructure improvements, as well as the Development
Department. As a collective voice, the CDI has a stronger voice.
Vice-Chair Harp stated the CDI has interacted with other departments and Boards on
various issues.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that clarification should be made regarding the duties of the
CDI.
Commissioner Tam stated that the CDI represents many levels of disability. The CDI
tries to remedy problems before they become an issue. The CDI is the voice of the
""silent"" issues.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated the CDI and Secretary Akil provides a link to the
community.
Mr. Nguyen stated that the Council will require an Annual Action Plan starting 2013.
Vice Chair Harp stated the CDI has had an Action Plan over the years.
Commissioner Tam stated that there is a perception that the CDI is an activity-based
commission.
Secretary Akil stated that there would always be an Accessibility website link.
Commissioner Warren asked about the possibility of having both seats on other city
commissions and a smaller Commission to which Mr. Nguyen stated it is not out of the
realm of possibility but would have to be further evaluated.
Secretary Akil stated the CDI under a dual option would have to be careful about not over
stepping its role and following the Bylaws set forth by the City.
4-C.
Report Out - Wilma Chan's State Budget Meeting - (Vice Chair Harp)
Vice-Chair Harp stated it was organized by Wilma Chan and it was a well attended event.
There are many threatened State cuts under the proposed budget that would affect the
disability and care services arenas.
2",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-04-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-04-23,3,"5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
Goals and Objectives 2012 (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman made a Universal Design presentation to the Mastick Senior
Center Board to encourage collaboration between the two. A Mastick member
volunteered to be the liaison and work with CDI, reporting back to Mastick's
Board.
Chair Lord-Hausman will contact Alameda Theatre regarding audio hearing.
Jack Kapon / Housing Development Project: Chair Lord-Hausman contacted
Debbie Potter regarding being a catalyst with APD for sensitivity training
regarding incidents with persons with disabilities.
Monthly Recognition: Commissioner Warren has done some research and will
provide more info.
Chair Lord-Hausman also stated that the monthly recognition events could be
posted to the City website
Universal Design - The Work Group: Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-chair Harp,
Commissioner Deustche volunteered.
5-B.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort):
None.
5-C.
Planning Board Meeting Report (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the Housing Element meeting will be May 29th and both
she and Vice-Chair Harp will attend.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
None.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Park Street/Alameda Avenue ADA compliance curb cuts have been completed after three
years of advocacy by the CDI.
7-B. Meet your Public Officials sponsored by League of Women Voters - May 3rd at the Elks
Lodge and no fee is charged to CDI members.
3",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-04-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-04-23,4,"8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
4",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-04-23.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-06-25,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
June 25, 2012
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:34 P.M.
Present: Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Harp, Commissioner Fort, Tam, and Deutsch.
Absent: Commissioners Krongold, Moore, and Kirola
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
The minutes were approved with changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
3-A.
Guests : Steven Baird, Matthew Fitzgerald, and Ruthann Crawford
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Alameda Fire Department Safety Assessments and Minor Accessibility Modifications
(Ruthann Crawford, HUD funding)
Ruthann Crawford stated that Chief D'Orazi is providing HUD funding for the Alameda
Safety & Accessibility Program. A.S.A.P provides installation of ramps, doorways,
countertops, etc. for people with special needs at no cost to the citizen. All citizens of
Alameda are able to participate if they earn moderate income. Most elderly and disabled
qualify for this program.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked about the success rate of the program to which Crawford
replied they are trying to create outreach programs to gain better recognition. Crawford
had already contacted former A.S.A.P participants and seniors in Alameda. She had also
posted information on the City's website and she wants to next meet with Alameda Sun.
Chair Lord-Hausman added that Alameda Municipal Power and Alameda Food Bank
may be able to write about A.S.A.P. to which Commissioner Tam commented Meals on
Wheels and local churches (i.e. Buena Vista Church) can be good resources as well.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that Mastick Senior Center and Alameda Multicultural
Center (Zoe Holder) would be good places to outreach to.
Crawford wants to target the lower income population because those with higher income
may already have all these installations in their homes.
1",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-06-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-06-25,2,"Chair-Lord Hausman thanked Ruthann Crawford for her presentation and inclusion of the
CDI in the process.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
Goals and Objectives 2012 (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman presented a draft mission statement written by Commissioner
Deutsch regarding respecting people with disabilities in the community.
Vice-Chair Harp added an ending sentence to the draft mission statement.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated she sent CDI member feedback drafts on potential
reorganization to the Assistant City Manager but has not heard back.
5-B.
Universal Design Work Group Update (Chair Lord-Hausman):
Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Harp, and Commissioner Deutsch are working to
develop ordinance language and gathering information from other cities regarding
universal design.
Commissioner Deutsch created a Universal Design Wish List including jobs such as: side
and front entrances to homes should have slopes instead of steps, homes should have an
accessible door bell to children and people in wheelchairs, accessible light switches,
varied countertop heights, wider doorways and hallways for wheelchair accessibility,
lever door handles, adjustable showers/cabinets/drawers/etc
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that it is important to make projects accessible to everyone;
those with physical limitations and those without.
Vice-Chair Harp stated that the Planning Board meeting discussed Housing Element
approved universal design language through 2014 with State laws and funding. However,
Zoning Ordinance changes are needed. Andrew Thomas fully supports this. The next
Planning Board meeting will be Wed, July 17th
Commissioner Tam added San Jose State has an Occupational Therapy Department that
may have an area on universal design which may be beneficial.
Commissioner Deutsch stated there are O.T. programs everywhere. The closest one is in
Oakland, Samuel Merritt University.
5-C.
City Council Meetings Report (Commissioner Fort):
Commissioner Fort reported nothing from the City Council meeting but there was a loud
buzz on the recorder which made it difficult to listen to. Lori Amaya was asked to take
care of the buzzing issue.
2",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-06-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-06-25,3,"5-D
Planning Board Meeting Report (Chair Lord-Hausman)
See Vice Chair Harp's report under 5-B
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
None.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
There were no announcements from the commission, but Chair Lord-Hausman asked if
there was anything that the audience would like to add. Matthew Fitzgerald read his letter
(forwarded to Lucretia)
7-B
Chair Lord-Hausman then mentioned the transportation commission meetings were being
held on Wednesday nights regarding pedestrian and bicycle crosswalk, lights, and lane
projects.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:35 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
3",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-06-25.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-08-28,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 6:30 p.m.
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:40 P.M.
Present: Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Harp, Commissioners Fort, Kirola, Warren,
and Deutsch.
Absent: Commissioner Tam
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
The minutes were approved with changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
John Knox-White/Planning Board acknowledged Chair Lord-Hausman's attendance at
the August 27, 2012 Planning Board Meeting regarding the design construction at 1600
Park Street Development. He noted that her recommendations were accepted by the
Planning Board.
JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko (guest), Alameda resident, noted that delivery trucks have parked
in disabled parking spaces and wondered if others had that experience? Chair Lord-
Hausman indicated, "" Yes, she had, at Bridgeside "" and that the CDI would follow up.
Ann Steiner (guest) requested inviting the APD Chief to a Commission Meeting.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
CDI Restructuring (Alex Nguyen, Deputy City Manager)
Chair Lord-Hausman introduced the Deputy City Manager Nguyen regarding
restructuring. Deputy City Manager Nguyen stated that due to staff resources it is
recommended to hold four (4) formal meetings a year. The Commission can hold work
sessions where no formal votes can be taken.
Deputy City Manager agreed with nine (9) members
Commissioner Kirola asked for clarification regarding the difference between the formal
meetings versus the working sessions, and Vice-Chair Harp asked if the working sessions
would conform to the Brown Act, to which the Deputy City Manager stated he would
clarify in writing what the working session rules are.
1",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-08-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-08-28,2,"Ann Steiner asked if the work sessions would be staffed to which the Deputy City
Manager stated no staffing would be present, but notes would be available.
Chair Lord-Hausman suggested a ""January-April-July-October"" schedule as a
framework. Secretary Akil stated she will hold the fourth Mondays for both the formal
meetings and work sessions.
Ann Steiner stated she is extremely alarmed at the last CDI Meeting Minutes and staff's
perception of the CDI overall and reducing the monthly meetings. Chair Lord-Hausman
expressed her appreciation and acknowledged that it will be different but that as Chair,
she has the ability to call a fifth meeting.
Vice-Chair Harp stated she would prefer six (6) to four (4) meetings
Commissioner Warren appreciates the four (4) meetings and the ability to have work
sessions.
Secretary Akil discussed the elimination of the Assistant Risk Manager position, her
promotion to Risk Manager and the very limited resources.
Commissioner Fort expressed his appreciation for allowing the members to remain at
nine (9) to which Secretary Akil stated Deputy City Manager Nguyen made that possible.
4-B.
Park Street Benches (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman stated she received a call from an elderly lady that there are no
benches or rest spots along Park Street. Deputy City Manager Nguyen and Chair Lord-
Hausman discussed. She has also reached out to the Park Street Business Association.
Deputy City Manager stated he and Secretary Akil also walked up and down Park Street
and the project will be led by the CDI. Deputy City Manager also recommends the CDI
reach out to other businesses for buy-in.
Chair Lord-Hausman will think of some next steps, forming a sub-committee and
reaching out to other businesses.
JoanAnn suggested an ""adopt a bench"" for fundraising type of program.
Ann Steiner stated she had park benches donated in memory of someone as a method of
raising money.
Deputy City Manager suggested focusing on getting the first few done on Park Street
ASAP and then focus on fundraising later.
2",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-08-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-08-28,3,"5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
Goals and Objectives 2012 (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Universal Design Ordinance.
5-B.
Universal Design Work Group Update (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that things are going well.
Vice-Chair Harp stated that on July 3 and 17th the City Council discussed and passed the
Housing Element with the suggested Universal Design language. The work group
continues to meet regarding other cities' ordinances and proposed language
JoanAnn asked where would the language apply to which the Chair and Vice-Chair
responded primarily housing.
Deputy City Manager Nguyen stated that the City is being sued by the East Bay Regional
Park District and it could severely slow the project but it should not affect the CDI work.
5-C. Disability Awareness Month (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Banner Dates:
Chair Lord-Hausman stated the banner hanging dates are reserved:
September 11-25- Webster Street
October 2-16 Central/Oak Streets
October 16-23 Park/Webb Streets
Guest Editorial in ""The Sun"": Chair/Vice-Chair will write this together. Deputy City
Manager suggested making the Park Street benches a theme with Disability Awareness
Month.
Proclamation: Secretary Akil to follow up.
5-D. City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort)
Commissioner Fort stated nothing to report other than Vice-Chair Harp's report out on
the Housing Element.
5-E.
Planning Board Meeting Report (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman spoke at the August 27, 2012 Planning Board Meeting regarding
the Lincoln / Park Street Development. She pointed out the need for a safe redesign of the
Park and Lincoln Street intersection in anticipation of increased pedestrian activity. She
also requested sidewalk benches be installed in front of the new development.
3",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-08-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-08-28,4,"6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Secretary Akil announced that Public Works would like to use the CDI as a public
meeting for potential installation of pedestrian accessible audio sounds at nine (9)
intersections.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Next meeting: October 29, 2012, followed by December 3, 2012 (1st Monday).
7-B. Chair Lord-Hausman: Universal Design Committee - October 2, 2012 6:30 p.m.
Secretary to find available public meeting room.
7-C.
Commissioner Fort: Bus Stops: Cars parking too close- Chair Lord-Hausman will follow
up with Chief Noonan.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:23 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
4",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-08-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-12-03,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Monday, December 3, 2012 6:30 p.m.
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:39 P.M.
Present: Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Harp, Commissioners Fort, Kirola, Warren,
and Deutsch.
Absent: Commissioner Tam
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
The minutes were approved with changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
3-A.
Carol Gottstein (guest) stated that the Shoreline/Westline Bikeway was approved by the
Transportation Commission and only one line about disability access. Should not be
allowed to proceed without CDI input or consideration of the disabled. Asked that the
CDI take this into consideration.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that she communicated their concerns with Public Works and
Bike Alameda. The CDI will follow-up.
3-B.
JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko (guest) stated she went to one of the meetings and made
comments and they were not listening to her concerns or taking her seriously.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Alameda Community Assessment Survey Presentation (Cyndy Wasko, Social Services
Human Relations Board)
Ms. Wasko provided a copy of the community needs Assessment Summary of Results
and reviewed it with the Commission. Based on the survey, the need for services for
persons with disabilities rated in the top three concerns.
4-B.
AB 1234 Mandatory Ethics Training (Secretary Akil):
Secretary Akil distributed the information which the CDI completed.
1",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-12-03.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-12-03,2,"4-C.
CDI Attendance / 2013 Meeting Schedule (Secretary Akil)
Secretary Akil and Chair Lord-Hausman stressed the importance of attendance.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
Goals and Objectives 2012 (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Think about individual CDI involvement and vision for 2013.
5-B. Universal Design Work Group Update (Vice Chair Harp)
Stated that the next work group meeting is Jan. 14, 2013 at 6:30 pm
5-C.
Park Street Bench Project (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the City and PSBA are all supportive of the benches
project, which will roll out in 2013.
5-D. City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort)
No report out
5-E.
Planning Board Meeting Report (Chair Lord-Hausman)
No report out
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS (Secretary Akil)
Secretary Akil thanked the CDI for their support over the past year.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that Alameda Recreation and Park Department has given Ala
Costa space for their program.
7-B. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that Jackie Krause requested that Chair Lord-Hausman
review appropriate language for the Leisure Club's Rules & Regulations.
7-C.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that a local autism community group is working with
Alameda theatre to bring in special sensory films for people with autism. They've
requested support from the CDI and the effort is moving forward.
2",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-12-03.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2012-12-03,3,"7-D.
Chair Lord-Hausman and Commissioner Fort attended a disaster preparedness meeting at
Mastick, in concert with the County. One goal of the program is to help create a way to
identify people with a disability who might need help in the event of a disaster.
7-E.
Chair Lord-Hausman thanked the CDI for their hard work this year, and the list-serve has
been effective in getting visitors to the CDI.
8.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
3",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2012-12-03.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2013-01-28,1,"UNAPPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Monday, January 28, 2013 6:30 p.m.
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:40 P.M.
Present: Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Harp, Commissioners Fort, Kirola, Warren,
Deutsch, and Tam
Absent: none
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
The minutes were approved with three changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Gail Payne of Public Works acknowledged that the Transportation Commission approved
the audible accessible pedestrian signals.
Chair Lord-Hausman introduced Bonnie Leber who will be liaison to the CDI for the
Mastick Senior Center Board.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Election of Officers (Secretary Akil)
Vote on election of officers.
Commissioner Deutsch made a motion to nominate Chair Lord-Hausman as Chair of the
Commission. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Warren, which carried a
unanimous voice vote - 7.
Vice-Chair Harp made a motion to nominate Commissioner Deutsch as Vice-Chair of the
Commission. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Warren, which carried
a
unanimous voice vote - 7.
4-B.
Paratransit Modifications (Gail Payne, Public Works)
Gail Payne from Public Works gave a presentation on the Paratransit Program. She
reviewed the six recommendations set forth, and further recommended that the program
stay intact.
Vice-Chair Harp acknowledged that the report was well prepared and there seems to be
an increase in ridership. It is an excellent idea to open the ridership up to all users.
1",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2013-01-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2013-01-28,2,"Commissioner Warren asked about the marketing/outreach for the service to which Gail
stated they have been working with the AP Collaborative as well as contacts through
various non-profits.
Commissioner Warren asked about the height of benches at the transit stops to which
Gail stated they will do an average (of height regarding disabled patron) when installing
benches. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that average height is 17 inches. Another concern is
whether the bench has arms.
The Commission approved the recommendations presented by the Public Works staff
report, which carried a unanimous voice vote - 7.
4-C. Shoreline / Westline Drive Bikeway Project Redesign (Gail Payne, Public Works)
Gail Payne from the Public Works department gave a presentation regarding the specifics
of the proposed Shoreline/Westline Drive Bikeway Project.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked if the cycle track is on the beach path and if parking would be
further down that track to which Gail stated parking would be on the left side of the travel
path.
Chair Lord-Hausman expressed safety concerns for peds/disabled when not only crossing
the street lanes but also having to be aware of two-way bicycle traffic and asked if the
bicyclists will be aware of peds crossing the track.
Commissioner Warren asked where would parking be available for the North side of
Shoreline/Westline to which Gail stated parking would be available anywhere on the
street.
Commissioner Warren asked if lighting would be added along the crossing to which Gail
stated colored pavement would be used for night-time crossing.
Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged that the public will have to be educated on the re-
design of the entire Shoreline/Westline proposed changes.
Commissioner Tam stated that there will definitely need to be re-education but it is a
comprehensive plan.
Commissioner Deutsch asked if there would be additional stop signs to which Gail
responded there would be none.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
Goals and Objectives 2012 (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman stated she would like the CDI to think about goals for 2013. Chair
Lord-Hausman also reviewed the 2012 goals and objectives accomplished.
2",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2013-01-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2013-01-28,3,"Chair Lord-Hausman asked Commissioner Tam to work with Alameda Police
Department regarding sensitivity training for the Capon Housing Project to which he
agreed.
The Chair stated the Universal Design Ordinance is moving forward along with Park
Street Bench Project and working with Mastick Senior Center.
Vice-Chair Harp stated there has been an increased interest in the CDI.
5-B. Universal Design Work Group Update (Vice Chair Harp)
Vice-Chair Harp stated the work group met on January 14th and will have the final draft
available in February.
5-C.
Park Street Bench Project (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman stated the project is moving along slowly. Chair Lord-Hausman
will check with Public Works Director, Matt Naclerio on the progress. Chair Lord-
Hausman asked Commissioner Warren to be the liaison with Public Works on the project.
5-D.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort)
Commissioner Fort stated that there is nothing to report.
5-E.
Planning Board Meeting Report (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman stated there is a lot of development going on including Alameda
Landing Boat Works. The development of the Universal Design Ordinance is paramount
to the timing of their development projects.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS (Secretary Akil)
Secretary Akil requested that the CDI decide the meeting schedule for 2013. The CDI
agreed that the next meeting will be Monday, April 22, 2013 and will decide on future
meetings at that time.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Commissioner Deutsch stated that the Market Place on Park Street installed automatic
doors.
7-B. Chair Lord-Hausman stated there will be community meetings and there is an online
survey regarding the Alameda Belt Line open space project.
7-C. Chair Lord-Hausman stated she and Commissioner Fort have attended the Risk Based
Pilot Project held at Mastick in order to develop a Pilot Project Program to reach the
vulnerable population in Alameda in the event of a disaster.
3",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2013-01-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2013-01-28,4,"Commissioner Warren asked when the meetings are scheduled to which the Chair stated
they meet during the week in the mornings.
Commissioner Fort stated there is a lot of effort to making people more aware.
8.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary
4",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2013-01-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2013-04-22,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Monday, April 22, 2013 6:30 p.m.
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:35 P.M.
Present: Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Harp, Commissioners Fort, Kirola, Deutsch,
Tam, Fruge, and Franco
Absent: Commissioner Warren
Chair Lord-Hausman welcomed the new Commissioners and allowed each member to
introduce themselves.
2.
MINUTES
No changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
3-A.
Angie Watson-Najgem / Echo Housing provided information to the CDI regarding the
role of Echo Housing and rights to affordable housing for those with disabilities and
rights for those who need accessibility upgrades within their homes.
3-B.
Bonnie Liebert - Mastick Senior Center Liaison
3-C.
Stephen Beard - Chair of Oakland CDI
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Donata Nielsen gave a presentation on a new program focused on home-bound, disabled,
and elderly within the County regarding disaster preparedness. They are working with the
City of Alameda Fire Department on the pilot program, within a work group, including
Chair-Lord Hausman and Commissioner Ford. Ms. Nielson provided a handout overview
of the pilot project.
Commissioner Tam asked if there would be training done in other languages to which
Ms. Nielsen stated that there will be included eventually such as Chinese and Spanish.
Commissioner Fruge asked if there will be captioned DVD for the deaf to which Ms.
Nielsen confirmed they would be captioned in multiple languages.
Mr. Beard asked would this program apply to all City departments to which Ms. Nielsen",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2013-04-22.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2013-04-22,2,"stated no, it is just a narrow pilot project.
Chair-Lord Hausman thanked Ms. Nielsen for the presentation and providing
information.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
Goals and Objectives 2012 (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman distributed a list of 2012 accomplishments.
5-B.
Universal Design Work Group Update (Vice Chair Harp)
Commissioner Harp discussed the Draft Universal Design Ordinance.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated she intended to seek approval of the CDI and will then
forward to City Planner, Andrew Thomas, for consideration by the Planning Board.
The Commissioners and Stephen Beard acknowledged the hard work and commitment of
the CDI.
Ayes - 8
No - 0
Abstain - 0
5-C.
Park Street Bench Project (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the benches have arrived and will soon be installed along
Park Street. This will create a more friendly environment along Park Street.
5-D.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort)
Commissioner Fort had no report.
5-E.
Planning Board Meeting Report (Chair Lord-Hausman)
Chair Lord-Hausman discussed the progress of Alameda Landing where the site will be
for the new Target and Safeway, Chair-Lord Hausman will work with City Planner,
Andrew Thomas, as part of on-going engagement of the project.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS (Secretary Akil)
6-A.
Commissioner Tam acknowledged that the new sound system, assistive listening device,
in Council Chambers works great!",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2013-04-22.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2013-04-22,3,"7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A. Commissioner Harp announced a new Zumba Class flyer for Senior Centers and adults of
all ages.
7-B. Commissioner Franco stated that she would be happy to take any information to the
WABA as part of the CDI. Chair Lord-Hausman requested that the accessible parking
signs be put back out at the Farmers' Market.
7-C. Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged the April 25, 5:30 - 7:30 Meet Your Public Officials
at the Elks Club sponsored by the Alameda League of Women Voters.
7-D. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the Autism Awareness Month event on April 21 went
very well. CDI co-sponsored with the Alameda Multi-Cultural Center and the Alameda
Autism Network and past Commissioner Jody Moore.
7-E.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the Recreation and Park Department is providing space
for a temporary Ala Costa Center.
7-F.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked for input on new focus and projects for the balance of the
year, such as issues, concerns, infrastructure - any items where the CDI can lends its
voice.
8.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 7:57 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Tucidial Nail
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2013-04-22.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2013-07-22,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Monday, July 22, 2013 6:30 p.m.
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:32 p.m.
Present: Chair Lord-Hausman, Commissioners Fort, Franco, Fruge, Harp, Tam, Warren, and
Wilkinson
Absent: Vice-chair Deutsche
Chair Lord-Hausman presented former Commissioner Kirola with a certificate of
appreciation. Commissioner Kirola expressed appreciation to the Commission.
Chair Lord-Hausman introduced new Commissioner Wilkinson, who shared her background
with the Commission
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
Approved with changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
3-A.
Bonnie Leber, Mastick Senior Center liaison, distributed information regarding the Annual
Open House and Resources Fair scheduled for Sunday, September 15, 2013, 1:00 p.m. - 4:00
p.m. The Commission is offered to have a table at the event. Chair Lord-Hausman asked
who would be willing to staff the table, to which, Commissioners Franco and Tam confirmed
their availability.
3-B.
Commissioner Fruge inquired about adding sign language to Channel 15 and the local
newspapers to which Secretary Akil responded that she will check with the City Clerk.
3-C.
Commissioner Fruge inquired about installation of equipment for deaf in the event of a fire.
Chair Lord-Hausman confirmed that there is a program through Alameda Fire Department
and she will email Commissioner Fruge the contact information. Commissioner Tam stated
he spoke with the Fire Chief who confirmed the grant funds are running low. There has been
progress made, but these type of issues take time to resolve.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Chair Lord-Hausman discussed her meeting with Public Works regarding the redesign of
Webster Street intersection to ensure accessibility and pedestrian friendly (push button)
signals.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2013-07-22.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2013-07-22,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 22, 2013
Page 2
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged that the September Mastick Senior Center event and the
October Alameda Hospital Community Fair are outreach programs which the Commission
will participate in.
Chair Lord-Hausman and Commissioner Fort participated in the Alameda County Pilot
Volunteer Training Program.
5-B.
Secretary Akil distributed the proposed schedule for Alameda Municipal Codes amendments
and read an appreciation and thanks letter from Andrew Thomas, City Planner, regarding the
CDI's work on the draft Universal Design Ordinance.
Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged Commissioner Harp, Vice-Chair Deutsche and
community member Stephen Beard, for their hard work on drafting the Universal Design
Ordinance.
Chair Lord-Hausman requested that Commissioner Harp email the latest version of the
Universal Design Ordinance to the Commission.
5-C.
Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged Public Works and Assistant City Manager, Alex Nguyen
for their hard work, regarding the four new benches installed along Park Street. The City
hopes to install more as funding becomes available. Commissioner Tam stated Mayor
Gilmore acknowledged the benches at one of her community meetings.
5-D.
None.
5-E.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated she has attended and spoken at the Planning Board regarding
Alameda Point and Alameda Landing, where Target is being proposed. Chair Lord-Hausman
is hoping that accessible issues and designs are addressed. Commissioner Tam
acknowledged that he attended a meeting regarding Alameda Landing and stated that staffis
aware of ADA requirements and will adhere to those requirements.
Chair Lord-Hausman encouraged the Commission to acknowledge their presence as CDI
members at various meetings in support of change and input.
Commissioner Tam stated he will mention the support at both the Kiwanis Club and Rotary
regarding design and access.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2013-07-22.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2013-07-22,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 22, 2013
Page 2
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A.
Secretary Akil welcomed new Commissioner Wendy Wilkinson.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A
Commissioner Tam stated that within AUSD there is an increase in the ESL student
population. They are trying to outreach to those families. Commissioner Tam welcomes any
input from the Commission. Commissioner Franco suggested PTA input via parents.
7-B.
Commissioner Harp attended the July 13, 2013 Jean Sweeney Open Space walkthrough.
There is a Facebook - """"ean Sweeney"" and they are looking for Community Volunteers.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that there is a Planning Committee working on the project, per
Amy Wooldridge, Alameda Recreation and Park Department Director. Chair Lord-Hausman
will invite Amy to the October Commission meeting.
7-C.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that Jackie Krause requested that the Commission make a
presentation on what the Commission is working on or has completed at a Mastick Board
Meeting. Chair Lord-Hausman will work with Bonnie Leber to schedule.
7-D.
Chair Lord-Hausman suggested that the Commission recommend to City Council to send a
letter of support to ratify a United Nations Treaty defending the rights of people with
disabilities and to encourage other nations to match the standards set by the United States.
Commissioner Warren stated she will work with Chair Lord-Hausman on the letter.
Commissioner Franco will research the treaty and email the link to the Commission. The
Commission supports the recommendation.
8.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 7:41 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lucretia Akil,
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2013-07-22.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2013-10-28,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Monday, October 28, 2013 6:30 p.m.
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:37 p.m.
Present: Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice Chair Deutsche, Commissioners Fort (6:45 p.m.),
Fruge, Harp, Tam, Warren, and Wilkinson.
Absent: Commissioner Franco
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
Approved with one change to 7-B.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-B.
Andrew Thomas provided an update on the status of the Universal Design Ordinance. He
hopes to go before the Planning Board with the final ordinance in January for public
hearings. Mr. Thomas confirmed that Board Secretary Akil will be kept current. Mr.
Thomas also acknowledged that the Planning Board will also consider a Reasonable
Accommodation Ordinance in the near future.
Commissioner Harp asked if the two ordinances would be combined, to which Mr. Thomas
responded they will be two separate ordinances presented together.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-B. Eric Fonstein, CDD Manager, provided a presentation on the conveyance, planning
entitlement process, developer design and approvals schedule and information on the 2015-
16 construction schedule for Alameda Point.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
3-A.
Carol Gottstein stated that she asked one year ago for the City Manager's Office to dedicate a
third disabled parking space for the City Hall Parking Lot.
4.
NEW BUSINESS Cont.
4-A.
Amy Wooldridge discussed the conceptual plan for the Alameda Jean Sweeney Open Space
Park plan for the City. Ms. Wooldridge acknowledged that the CDI is just to see the",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2013-10-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2013-10-28,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 28, 2013
Page 2
conceptual plan and an online survey will be available on October 29, 2013. The plan has to
be presented to multiple Boards and Commissions before final presentation to City Council.
The project is unfunded and will be developed in phases.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked if the playgrounds could be accessible for disabled children to
which Ms. Wooldridge responded this design is more natural and an accessible playground
could be applied for a different park.
Chair Lord-Hausman confirmed that there would be benches which will be accessible, to
which Ms. Wooldridge conformed that will happen during the later phases.
The Commission acknowledged the draft plan looks good.
Bill Delaney, Chair, of Recreation and Park Commission stated that great sensitivity will be
given to the trees and plants so that the natural uses will remain in place.
Commissioner Tam complimented Ms. Wooldridge for her efforts.
Board Secretary Akil to email Ms. Wooldridge all CDI members email addresses in order to
receive updates regarding Sweeney Park.
Chair Lord-Hausman suggested that there be some buildings similar to the Ellington on
Broadway in Oakland with respect to the housing configuration. The Ellington is completely
accessible and well designed.
5.
OLD BUSINESS Cont.
5-A.
Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged the banners and the Council presented the Disability
Awareness Month Proclamation at the October 1, 2013 City Council meeting.
5-C. Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged that Mastick Senior Center had its Open House
Resource Fair which had representation from the CDI.
Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged that the benches installed along Park Street have been
well received with the exception of the one near a bar which will have to be removed and/or
relocated.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated there is a sandwich board sign ordinance in place to ensure
accessibility along the path of sidewalk travel.
5-D. Commissioner Fort stated he listened to the Mayor's Proclamation for Disability Awareness",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2013-10-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2013-10-28,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 28, 2013
Page 2
month.
5-E.
Chair Lord-Hausman acknowledged that the Planning Board has many items on the
agenda regularly including Alameda Point and multiple ordinances.
There will also be a redesign of the intersection of Park Street and Lincoln Avenue as part
of the new development of Walgreens.
Commissioner Tam stated he sits on the Governance Committee that includes business
owners and invited the Commission to speak on any accessibility concerns. Chair Lord-
Hausman requested Commissioner Wilkinson check with the Commission in Oakland to
see what interface they have with business districts.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Commissioner Fruge thanked Chair Lord-Hausman for the contact from the Fire
Department regarding accessibility items.
7-B.
Commissioner Tam stated that Interim Chief of Police will send staff to talk with the CDI
once the Capon Development project is complete.
7-C.
Commissioner Warren stated the walkway access along Marina Village has doubled.
8.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 8:03 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
XAbil
Lucretia Akil,
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2013-10-28.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2014-01-27,1,"APPROVED
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Monday, January 27, 2014 6:30 p.m.
1.
ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:29 p.m.
Present: Chair Lord-Hausman, Vice-Chair Deutsch, Commissioners Fort, Franco, Fruge,
Harp, Tam, and Wilkinson
Absent: Commissioner Warren
2.
MINUTES
2-A.
Approval of Minutes for the October 28, 2013 meeting.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
3-A. Bonnie Leber stated that her developmentally disabled daughter has been experiencing issues
with transportation services provided by the Regional Center of the East Bay. Ms. Leber
contacted the Regional Center and requested a copy of the contract with MV Transportation
with Regional Center and has had no response from the Regional Center or the transportation
company and requested if the CDI could assist. The CDI recommended contacting local and
county appointed officials for assistance, as well as DREDF. The Chair of the Oakland
Mayor's Commission on Persons with Disabilities, Stephen Beard, suggested contacting
Sandi Soliday, Coordinator of the County's Developmental Disabilities Council.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-B.
Mr. Thomas discussed the Reasonable Accommodation Ordinance regarding existing
housing, whereby anyone with a disability needing to make changes to their home could seek
a variance in order to make modifications to accommodate their disability. This proposal
could allow the Planning Director to sign off on such items without a full hearing before the
Planning Board, as would normally be required for a variance from building codes, so it
would make the process of providing home modifications less onerous for seniors and
persons with disabilities.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked if this would apply to aging in place residents, to which Mr.
Thomas confirmed it does apply.
Vice-Chair Deutsch asked if it applied to inside and outside, to which Mr. Thomas said it
applies to the exterior.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2014-01-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2014-01-27,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
January 27, 2014
Page 2
Commissioner Harp expressed concern about the wording in a section of the draft ordinance
that seemed to require an applicant to supply personal medical information, to which Mr.
Thomas confirmed that the City does not need medical information and will modify the
language so it asks for details on the manner in which the accommodation would support an
Activity of Daily Living or functional need.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-B.
Chair Lord-Hausman asked for an update regarding the Universal Design Ordinance. Mr.
Thomas stated he's hoping to have it in front of the Planning Board in the Spring.
4.
NEW BUSINESS (Cont.)
4-A.
Commissioner Tam nominated Commissioner Harp for Chair. Vice-Chair Deutsch seconded
the nomination, which carried a unanimous vote - 7.
Chair Lord-Hausman nominated Commissioner Wilkinson for Vice-Chair. Commissioner
Fort seconded the nomination, which carried a unanimous vote - 7.
4-C.
Ms. Payne presented the update and recommended changes to the Paratransit Program.
Ms. Payne stated that it would be beneficial to increase ridership for both the shuttle and
taxi programs so as to reduce the cost per rider or trip.
Commissioner Harp asked if Mastick does any travel training to which Ms. Payne
responded that there is a volunteer at Mastick who does informal training and there was a
previous training done at Mastick. Commissioner Harp noted that some of the other
cities in the county (e.g., Fremont) use funds to provide travel training for their programs,
and also suggested following up with Anthem Blue Shield and Alameda Alliance, based
on additions to the Medicare/Medicaid ridership reimbursement component that will be
included in the Coordinated Care Initiative later this year. Chair Lord-Hausman noted
that Alameda Alliance has been a co-sponsor for some of our outreach activities in the
past.
5.
OLD BUSINESS (Cont.)
5-A.
Chair Lord-Hausman recommends the new Chair, and Vice-Chair review these objectives
and that all Commissioners prepare to discuss our annual goals at the next meeting.
5-C.
Commissioner Fort had no report.
5-D. Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the Reasonable Accommodation Ordinance will be
presented at the February 10, 2014 Planning Board Meeting.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2014-01-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2014-01-27,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
January 27, 2014
Page 3
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Secretary Akil distributed the email list and requested that the CDI sign off on their Form
700's.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7-A.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the City Hall parking lot has increased its number of
disabled parking spaces by 1.
7-B.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated she had received a letter from a resident indicating Café Jolie
is encroaching onto the City sidewalk, to which Secretary Akil stated Code Enforcement
has been notified and it will address the issue.
7-C.
Chair Lord-Hausman stated that the Jack Capon housing development has been
completed and will request a walk-through for interested CDI members.
7-D. Commissioner Harp stated that the AT Network web training on Section 504
accommodations for students is February 6, 2014 and distributed a flier.
7-E.
Commissioner Harp discussed some education training for disabled through the CDSS.
7-F.
Secretary Akil requested the remaining meeting dates, to which the Commission agreed
to meet next on March 24 or April 28th.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:46 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lucretia Akil,
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2014-01-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-07-27,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Monday, July 27, 2015 6:30 p.m.
1. ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:35 p.m.
Present: Chair Harp, Vice-Chair Kenny, Commissioners Wilkinson, Deutsche, Franco, Fort
Lord-Hausman and Warren.
Absent: None
2.
MINUTES
The April 27, 2015 minutes were approved with no changes.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
3-A.
Jackie Johnson-Daly, representative of Ala Costa Center, which serves youth with developmental
disabilities, acknowledged the opening of the local Ala Costa Center in Alameda and is partnering
with Alameda Recreation and Park Department (ARPD) and would like to continue to collaborate
with the City.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
CDI Organization (Amy Wooldridge, Interim Assistant City Manager)
Board Secretary Akil stated that the purpose of the topic will be to seek input from the Commission
and that the goal was to have a productive discussion on how best to move forward with the CDI,
which would be led by Amy Wooldridge, Interim Assistant City Manager.
Ms. Wooldridge stated that the initial discussion started with a brainstorm meeting with staff in
June about the reorganization efforts and role of the CDI. This process was started with a desire for
the City to better serve the CDI and address issues raised by Commissioners, such as whether to
add aging.
Ms. Wooldridge addressed several items including:
Number of members: Possibility to reduce the Commission from nine to seven
members. Given that it is the largest member City Commission, she asked for feedback
on why Commissioners feel it should remain with nine members.
Number of meetings: The Commission currently meets quarterly and Ms. Wooldridge
asked for feedback on whether to increase that to every other month. The
Commissioners all agreed that they preferred bi-monthly or monthly.
Workgroups: Ms. Wooldridge recognized that CDI has been holding informal work
group meetings. She clarified that a work group meeting only needs to be formally
noticed if there is a quorum or more of Commissioners present. She also offered the
idea to address the issue of a diversity of perspectives on the Commission by having
ambassadors who are not formally appointed but participate in work groups.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-07-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-07-27,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 27, 2015
Page 2
Joint Meetings: Ms. Wooldridge discussed that given the mission of the CDI, it would
be beneficial for the Commission to continue to collaborate with other Commissions
and Boards. This could be as joint meetings and/or assigning a Commissioner to
various other Commissions, such as Recreation and Parks, Planning, Social Service
Human Relations Board, and Transportation Commission.
Inclusion of aging: Commission Lord-Hausman recently met with Interim City
Manager Liz Warmerdam to discuss the idea of including aging as part of the mission
of the CDI. Ms. Wooldridge discussed this with the Commission and whether it was
an appropriate fit.
Ms. Wooldridge clarified that changes such as the number of Commissioners or change in mission
to include aging would require approval of the City Council.
Ms. Wooldridge also stated that Board Secretary Lucretia Akil will no longer staff the CDI and the
City Manager's Office is finalizing a new staff liaison for the CDI and will have that person in place
before the next CDI regular meeting.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that the aging population is a general approach similar to those
with disabilities, but not specific to just disabilities.
Chair Harp stated it is important to build and maintain relationships with other boards and
commissioners. Commissioner Lord-Hausman emphasized the value of joint relationships with
other boards and commissioners, which is important to the CDI.
Amy Wooldridge asked about meeting frequency, to which Vice-Chair Kenny believes the CDI
would like to every other month.
Commissioner Warren stated that when she started, the CDI met monthly and it is too long of a
stretch in between meeting quarterly. Chair Harp stated meeting more frequently helps with getting
the minutes more often to keep up with the work of the CDI. Commissioner Franco says that it is a
benefit to the public to meet at least every other month, as well. Commissioner Fort also agreed
with meeting every other month, which is difficult to stay active and involved when meeting
quarterly. Vice-Chair Kenny discussed a retreat to go over the Brown Act and the role of the CDI.
Ms. Wooldridge stated that she would develop a new board member orientation packet for the CDI,
which she currently uses for both the Golf and Park and Recreation Commissions.
Ms. Wooldridge asked for input regarding the number of Commissioners quorum from nine to
seven, noting that it would then be more similar in size to other boards and commissions.
Commissioner Wilkinson stated that there are a lot of disabilities in the community which is why
the CDI should remain at nine. Commissioner Warren stated that the current number at nine
represents a better spectrum of the community.
Ms. Wooldridge asked how they would allocate seats to get their desired range of representation
and how the Commission would communicate that to the Mayor and City Council for appointments.
Chair Harp stated that prior Chairs/Vice-Chairs of the CDI were allowed to make recommendations
to the Mayor, over two different mayoral terms. Ms. Wooldridge stated that with each Mayor, the
process may change as the Mayor has prerogative on how their appointments are made. Vice Chair
Kenny suggested that the CDI be allowed to have a one-year trial with nine members. Ms.
Wooldridge responded that she will discuss with the Mayor.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-07-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-07-27,3,"Kenny liked the idea of having ambassadors and there should be workgroup meetings every other
off month when the CDI is not conducting its regular bi-monthly meeting.
Ms. Wooldridge acknowledged that there is a general consensus to have joint meetings on a variety
of projects throughout the City. Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated the CDI has addressed and
participated in a number of Public Works projects dealing with infrastructure issues. Chair Harp
stated both the police and fire department staff have given presentations on safety, hidden
disabilities and emergency preparedness.
Ms. Wooldridge discussed the aging population and wanted to know how the Commission felt
about inclusion of that segment of the community within the current CDI mission. Commissioner
Lord-Hausman stated she met with City Manager Warmerdam on this issue. Aging is what happens
and if there is an opportunity to provide accessibility and address aging issues within the CDI it
would be appropriate. Commissioner Wilkinson stated that the CDI could partner with the aging
community and inform them of resources available to them and being part of the CDI could enrich
their life and make them more comfortable.
Tony Lewis, Alameda resident, recommended braille signage on the bathrooms and classrooms at
Mastick Senior Center, to which Jackie Krause thanked him for his recommendation.
Amy stated that all of the changes do not have to happen all at once. Jackie Krause asked if any of
the CDI Commissioners believe if adding the aging aspect to their role, would take away from their
primary role of disability and accessibly issues facing the community, to which all agreed there
would be no issues.
Doug Biggs with Alameda Point Collaborative and Chair of the Social Services Human Relations
Board (SSHRB), discussed its role with the aging population and the Needs Assessment Survey,
which is conducted on an annual basis by SSHRB. Mr. Biggs also emphasized the nuances between
diversity and inclusion and that if the CDI attempted to have individuals with specific disabilities
appointed to the Commission, it could isolate the individual and take away from the broader work
of the Commission which is to represent all of the general community disability and accessibility
issues. He offered to share a recent article that discusses this issue.
Ms. Wooldridge asked when the CDI would like to start meeting every other month, to which the
CDI agreed to start October 26th. Ms. Wooldridge also requested that Doug Biggs provide the
article regarding the diversity role which he mentioned in his comments and assured that CDI that
she will report back to the Mayor with all input received from tonight's meeting.
Carol Gottstein stated that during the previous discussions of restructuring the CDI, cost was a
factor back then. Regarding Doug Biggs' comments about isolating members based on appointing
individuals with certain disabilities, there should be representation from members with knowledge
of the various disabilities.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-07-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-07-27,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 27, 2015
Page 4
Commissioner Fort stated that having various disabilities represented should not focus on one
individual crisis, but rather a larger perspective on the various disabilities.
Ms. Wooldridge asked the CDI how to make that diversity of members a reality, to which Chair
Harp stated that the application for the CDI should be revisited to include that specific information
of experience. Chair Harp stated that the CDI could help create more visibility with a better website
and more information to the community.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
None.
6.
COMMISSIONER TASK FORCE REPORTS
6-A.
City Council Meeting Report (Commissioner Fort):
Commissioner Fort stated that last Tuesday's City Council meeting had to do with emergency
operations and the ability to evacuate. There was also an issue regarding landlord ability to impose
rent increases. Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that the City Council approved the Del Monte
project and there will be accessible housing included within that project.
6-B.
Planning Board Meeting Report (Chair Lord-Hausman):
There was no report given.
7.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
7-A.
Secretary Akil acknowledged that she will be no longer staffing the CDI and expressed her
appreciation of having worked with the Commissioners over the years and wished them well.
8.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
8-A.
Chair Kenny requested a special meeting in September, to which Secretary Akil recommended a
workgroup meeting. The Commission agreed to meet on August 24th.
8-B.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that there are dedicated parking spots for the Farmers' Market
and she is working with staff and the vendors to obtain four more accessible parking spaces. Liz
Accord, PW Dept., stated there will be one additional spot on Webster Street.
8-C.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman stated that there should be a policy regarding accessible parking for
disabled individuals, to which Ms. Acord stated that there will be information presented at the
October 26th CDI meeting
8-D.
The Commissioners thanked Secretary Akil for her work as Board Secretary and expressed their
appreciation to her for staffing the Commission over the years.
8-E.
Secretary Akil called for a moment of silence in memory of Commissioner Niel Tam.
9.
ADJOURNMENT",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-07-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-07-27,5,"Commission on Disability Issues
July 27, 2015
Page 5
The meeting adjourned at 8:12 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lucretia Akil
Board Secretary",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-07-27.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-10-26,1,"Commission on Disability Issues
December 9, 2015
Item 2-A
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Monday, October 26, 2015 6:30 p.m.
1. ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:36 p.m.
Present: Acting Chair Kenny; Commissioners Wilkinson, Deutsch, Franco,
Lord-Hausman, Harp, Brillinger, Lewis
Absent: Commissioner Warren
NOTE: DISCUSSION BELOW WAS ORDERED DIFFERENTLY THAN AGENDIZED DUE TO
SCHEDULING NEEDS OF SPEAKER ANDREW THOMAS, CITY PLANNER
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Presentation and Recommendation on Proposed City of Alameda Universal Design Ordinance
(Andrew Thomas, City Planner)
Mr. Thomas presents handout, gives background. Released proposed ordinance language to Social
Service Human Relations Board (SSHRB) and Commission on Disability Issues (CDI) last month.
Proposed ordinance lays out requirements on all new major projects in Alameda. Concept is
Universal Design Unit is one that could be adapted to accommodate persons with disabilities.
Bedroom, Kitchen, Living Area, Bathroom on first floor, has elements that accommodate range of
physical disabilities.
Percentage of new units that this would apply to is under discussion. What does the building code
require now? Chapter 11-A of Uniform Building Code should be referenced, which is well known
by City inspectors and planners. City adopts building code changes every year, and any changes
to that chapter at the state level would be adopted each year.
Add these items to conditions of approval. Then it is on City to make sure building code is adhered
to, rather than adopting new language that is only specific to Alameda.
Percentage: 15% seems too low - what is the right number? What do we tie the percentage to? We
want to write something that is easily adaptable. Keep it simple. Unit should be accessible to enter,
4 primary living spaces without stairs. Stairs could in unit, but the primary living spaces are
accessible.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-10-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-10-26,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 26, 2015
Page 2
Building code already establishes these standards. Division 4 of Chapter 11-A. Wide enough for
accessibility, wall will be reinforced for grab bars, although grab bars will not be present;
modifiable sink, modifiable faucets.
No final decision tonight. Would like to have input from Commission. Good news is that Planning
Board is asking the same questions as CDI, and would like to work with CDI to make
recommendations to Council.
Commissioner Kenny thanks Mr. Thomas for working on this, and think so much about these
issues.
Mr. Thomas addresses percentage question. Are there specific items that are necessary, items that
should be applied to all units. Perhaps the blocking/reinforcement in the wall, not sure what the
items should be
Everything goes to the planning board, but they' re not checking to see if there is reinforcements in
the wall, but list of other things. But if there were some sort of rule, like that they had a ""25% of
all units"", it should easy to see that 25% of the units presented to Board are accessible or adaptable.
Marked with a U, for instance. Should be a quick look, identifiable to the design requirements.
Create a checklist for the plan checkers. Should heavily refer to Chapter 11-A
Question: Commissioner Lewis - clarification on statement - this wasn't permanent? Could be
made to disabled unit?
It's permanent, but it doesn't have all of elements necessarily present, but adaptable for disabled
unit without difficult alterations to unit.
Who's going to know down the road that it is adaptable? Post first owner?
Clarification - Universal Design Unit, not disabled unit. First owner may not know, but if someone
would like to adapt the unit, the infrastructure will already be present. No stairs, wider accessible
routes, etc.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman would like more messaging around such units. That the units exist
in a development. Electrical, grab bars - sales office would know which ones are adaptable.
Mr. Thomas explains ""Mandatory to Offer"" means developer hasn't built the units yet, presents the
models, what happens regularly is that units are customized for original owner and may not include
Universal Design elements. Second buyer should be able to make the changes
Schedule a workgroup? Mr. Thomas leaves for Planning Board Meeting.
(Quick break for Announcements before proceeding with agenda)
Acting Chair Kenny welcomes new Commissioners Arnold Brillinger and Anthony Lewis.
Commissioner Brillinger introduces himself first, then Commissioner Lewis.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-10-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-10-26,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 26, 2015
Page 3
Introduces Kerry Parker from the Public Works Department, new City Staff Liaison for the Commission
on Disability Issues.
2.
MINUTES
The July 27, 2015 minutes were approved with minor edits mentioned by Commissioners Lord-
Hausman and Deutsch.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
3-A.
Member of the public JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko comments regarding becoming disabled in Alameda.
Bicycle Path on Shoreline: after project, there are four disabled spots off of Shoreline Drive, just
north of the street. Did not want to have to cross the street. Even the bowling alley has 4 disabled
parking spots up front.
Member the public Carol Gottstein brought this issue up last year with Alameda Transportation
Commission. Comments on City's traffic-calming projects: Shore Line Drive, Clement and Central
Avenue. Concerns about enough and convenient parking for disabled people.
Acting Chair Kenny proposes Subcommittee to focus on support issues and street projects. Acting
Chair Kenny volunteers to head this up.
3-B.
Member of the public Carol Gottstein discusses trash services for those with disabilities. Alameda
County Industries (ACI) has not emptied trash at her house consistently for ten months. City Staff
Parker says she will take this specific issue up with ACI.
3-C.
JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko comments on the lack of resources for those with brain injuries, especially
for those who are not senior citizens.
Commissioner Harp advises about Senior Center Without Walls, national program based in
Berkeley, CA. that could be a resource.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A
(Discussed above.)
4-B.
Nomination and vote on Commission Chair, Vice-Chair
Chair Kenny proposes to postpone vote until 2016, since we do not have a full commission. All in
favor. Motion carries.
4-C.
Discussion on wording on Niel Tam's plaque, and bench dedication
""Dedicated In Memory of Nielson Tam.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-10-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-10-26,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 26, 2015
Page 4
Advocate and friend to people with disabilities.
- Commission on Disability Issues""
Discussion on language, bench location. Existing versus benches still needing to be placed.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
None.
7.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
7-A.
It was confirmed that this Commission will still have 9 seats, and there are currently 7 seated
Commissioners and with two pending recommendations from the Mayor that will be voted for
approval by the entire Council on Nov. 3rd.
7-B.
Commissioners Lord-Hausman and Harp are still seated Commissioners until replaced by
Council-voted appointments.
7-C.
The City Manager's offices would like the Commission to know the plug-in for the City's
website ADA improvements is currently being tested by the city's web developer for integration
into the city website. If all goes smoothly, it should go live by the end of October.
7-D.
It was confirmed that this Commission will meet every other month. This will work out to be the
even months in the year. February, April, June, August, October, December. Our next meeting
will be in December.
7-E.
Meeting in Conference Room 360 has posed some challenges regarding accessibility
City proposes to move meeting to Council Chambers
more accessible room
more comfortable chairs
microphones
meeting can be televised or otherwise recorded
one large presentation screen, small screens will be right in front of each
Commissioner
listening devices
Council Chambers schedule:
2nd Wednesdays - best option - Dec 9
Set Special Meeting, vote on this option
If so approved by the Commission, cancel regularly scheduled December
22 meeting.
City Staff Parker will set a special meeting for the proposed date in December, and the
Commissioners can vote then to confirm the new meeting time. This also gives the
option of choosing another date at that time.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-10-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-10-26,5,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 26, 2015
Page 5
7-F.
Future Agenda Items
Universal Design Ordinance, part 2
Parker has been told listening devices in Council Chambers are less than ideal for the
hearing impaired, and a member of the public, Susan Jeffries, will discuss them at the
Commission's next meeting (in Dec)
ARPD Accessibility Report
Chair/Vice Chair vote - move to next year when full commission is seated
Commissioner Lewis would like announcements in Word format instead of Adobe Acrobat pdf
format. City Staff Parker says she will accommodate this.
8.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
8-A.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman says there is a combination of agencies creating a visual message
to portray inclusive community: ""Everyone Belongs Here"". Goal is to have all businesses,
agencies, entities, can post posters in windows and in community locations. They are working on
visual display and logo.
8-B.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman mentions that Nielsen Tam's son Austin was a very big part of
""Making the Invisible, Visible"". They had an impressive and touching event last Saturday.
Discussed how those with autism do not feel safe. Discussed that event addressed this issue,
raised money, want to create foundation.
8-C.
Commissioner Kenny would like everyone to know that Commissioner Lord-Hausman was
recognized as Service Volunteer of the Year - nominated by 3 different people - for over 10
years of service.
8-D.
Commissioner Kenny stated the wish to have the Commission conduct a retreat to discuss the
business of being a Commissioner in January. Please look at available weekends.
8-E.
Commissioner Harp mentioned that Housing Development Program Manager is conducting
survey. Feels CDI would want to know and participate in this survey. Commissioner Harp will
forward to City Staff Parker.
8-F.
Commissioner Lord-Hausman would like to loop back to the Universal Design Ordinance, and
would like to discuss further. Commission discusses setting up another workgroup. Discusses
details of ordinance that should be addressed, types of buildings, developing a recommendation
for Mr. Thomas. Raising percentage of units per development. Referring to the building code
Chapter 11-A does seem to be ideal.
8-G.
Commissioner Kenny received the Proclamation that October is the Disability Awareness Month
8-H.
Member of the public JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko asks if any of these documents from this meeting
are available. City Staff Parker says she will attempt make any documents available to those who
request them.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-10-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-10-26,6,"Commission on Disability Issues
October 26, 2015
Page 6
9.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kerry Parker
City Staff Liaison
Commission on Disability Issues",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-10-26.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-12-09,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 6:30 p.m.
1. ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m.
Present: Acting Chair Kenny; Commissioners Aghapekian, Deutsch, Lewis, Franco, Linton,
Brillinger, Wilkinson
Absent: Commissioner Warren
Agenda change - Andrew Thomas will not be here tonight, so we will be not discussing Universal Design
Ordinance.
Introductions of new Commissioners Linton and Aghapekian.
2.
MINUTES
The October 26, 2015 minutes were approved with a minor edit mentioned by Commissioner
Brillinger. Acting Chair Kenny moved, Commissioner Lewis seconded. All approved. 8-0
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
3-A.
Member of the public Audrey Lord-Hausman says Public Works Department should receive
recognition for new pedestrian traffic signal timing on Park Street, which is safer for pedestrians
by allowing more time for walking across the street.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Recommend City Council Approval of the Central Avenue Concept Including Safety and Other
Street Improvements (Gail Payne, Transportation Coordinator)
Payne: City was fortunate to receive competitive grant for project. Hired consultants for project.
(Presentation on project was included with packet. Please refer to included presentation.)
12 schools total in project area, ~5000 students, trying to get them walking and biking to school.
Currently has 4 motor vehicle lanes, best practice bikeways says 2 motor vehicle lanes, City
recommends 3 motor vehicle lanes.
Most of Alameda is 25 mph, most are going above the speed limit. Project reached out to many
stakeholders on project, 3 different workshops, with over 200 attending one or more workshops.
Will be going to City Council for approval early 2016. Asking CDI to recommend concept tonight.
(Presentation)",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-12-09.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-12-09,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
December 9, 2015
Page 2
Questions: Acting Chair Kenny asks about accessible parking, wonders where the bike lane will
exist? Payne: In front of the Encinal High, there will be a sidewalk area so everyone can use it.
Commissioner Lewis thanks Payne for sending him exhibits in Word docs. Will these be audible
signals? Payne says yes, and Vibro-tactile. Payne says they keep chirping down because of the
residential area. Best practices changes over time, and standards change - is there an intersection
that works best to model from? Lewis says intersection of Park and Santa Clara works best, better
than cuckoo/chirp. Details about sidewalk widening are discussed. No mention of bus service
being improved in the area. Payne says City is working to improve bus lines in Alameda with AC
Transit. Hiring consultants to work on citywide transit plan, to improve public transit. Just starting
study. Confirms that bicyclists should follow rules of the road as motor vehicles.
Commissioner Aghapekian asks about the different schemes offered - why are they different?
Payne explains the different parts of the project, and how different applications are needed in
different locations. Will person in wheelchair be able to move along project area from beginning
to end? Payne says yes, it will be a separate pathway in a continuous path.
Commissioner Lewis asks about 6th and Central (St Barnabas) asks about crossing. Payne responds
yes, that is a intersection of concern. Now, it has a marked crosswalk, with 4 motor vehicle lanes
to cross. City wants to change this to crossing 2 motor vehicle lanes, and have a pedestrian refuge
island in the middle.
Public comment: Carol Gottstein - has been to the Transportation Committee meetings about this.
Takes exception with the project in general. No project outreach to groups that are disabled peoples'
advocates.
Public comment: JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko - Bicycles on Shoreline can use both bikeway and path.
Before project happens, she would like laws made beforehand, and community educated
beforehand. Should be on ballot. Individuals matter more than bicyclists. This project has not
reached out enough to disabled community.
Acting Chair Kenny moves to recommend Central Ave Complete Streets Project to City Council.
Wilkinson seconds.
All Commissioners in favor. 8-0 Audio recording cuts out here.
4-B.
Presentation and Recommendation on Listening Devices for City Hall's Council Chambers (Susan
Jeffries, Hearing Loss Association of America)
Susan Jefferies opens discussion, discusses resources for hearing disabled. She reports she enjoys
the responsiveness of the City Clerk to the issues at hand, thinks that the technology available in
Council Chambers is sufficient. There should be a sign stating that listening devices are available
for the public.
Susan brings other experts, Derek and Peter to discuss other possibilities - recommends more
headsets be available. Offers the idea of public counters around the City to have Counter Loops,
where communication is assisted right at the public counter for the hearing disabled.
4-C.
Vote on New Commission Meeting Dates and Location (Acting Chairperson Kenny)",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-12-09.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-12-09,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
December 9, 2015
Page 3
As discussed previously, City Staff Parker lists new meeting dates for Commission, given the
formula of every other (even) month on second Wednesdays, in Council Chambers. Total of 6
meetings per year. For 2016 that will be, February 10, April 13, June 8, August 10, October 12,
and December 14.
Acting Chair Kenny moved to approve.
Commissioner Brillinger seconded.
All Commissioners in favor. 8-0
4-D.
Discussion and Vote on CDI Retreat (Acting Chairperson Kenny)
Discussed dates in January for Commissioners to discuss Brown Act and Sunshine Ordinance, vote
on Chair/Vice-Chair, and make assignments for local boards and commissions.
Commission decided to meet at Mastick Senior Center on January 9, 2016, from 10:00 a.m. until
2:00 p.m. Details forthcoming.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A.
Discussion and Recommendation on Proposed City of Alameda Universal Design Ordinance
(Andrew Thomas, City Planner)
(CANCELED ITEM - will be moved to future meeting.)
7.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
7-A.
City Staff Parker thanked Commissioners for input on City Website Accessibility adjustments
made recently. City will still be making improvements in the future, so feedback is welcome any
time.
8.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Discussion on tonight's vote regarding the Central Avenue Complete Streets Project was re-opened,
and the Commissioners and the public speakers discussed about how the process of the vote could
have been better handled.
The public speakers felt as though the Commission dismissed their comments, and did not feel like
their concerns were addressed appropriately. Some Commissioners spoke about their discomfort of
not deliberating again after the public comment was offered after the project presentation, and
Acting Chair Kenny apologized and said she would make sure such discussion happens after public
comment in the future. There was no re-vote.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-12-09.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2015-12-09,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
December 9, 2015
Page 4
9.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:08 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kerry Parker
City Staff Liaison
Commission on Disability Issues",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2015-12-09.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-02-10,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 10, 2016 6:30 p.m.
1. ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:32 p.m.
Present: Chair Kenny, Vice-Chair Brillinger, Commissioners Aghapekian, Wilkinson, Deutsch,
Linton, Lewis
Absent: Commissioner Franco
(Commissioner Ethel Warren resigned on January 28th, 2016)
We have a quorum.
2.
MINUTES
The minutes for the special meeting on December 9, 2015, and the light minutes from the January
9, 2016 retreat were approved unanimously with a minor edit suggested by Arnold Brillinger, who
asked that the Board and Commission assignments that resulted from the January retreat be added
to the minutes. Staff Parker said she would add them to February's meeting minutes:
Board and Commission
Assignments
Commission on Disability Issues,
2016
Board or Commission
Commissioner Assigned
Scheduled meetings
Planning Board
Anto Aghapekian
2nd and 4th Mondays
Rec and Parks Commission
Susan Deutsch
2nd Thursdays
Rent Review Advisory
Committee
Beth Kenny
1st Mondays
Social Service Human Relations
Board
La Donna Franco
4th Thursdays
Transportation Commission
Tony Lewis and Arnold Brillinger
4th Wednesdays
AUSD Board of Education
Beth Kenny
2nd and 4th Tuesdays
Housing Authority Board of
Commissioners
Jenny Linton
3rd Wednesdays
Wendy Wilkinson and Anto
Mastick Center Advisory Board
Aghapekian
3rd Wednesdays
La Donna Franco and Susan
2nd Wednesdays, every
Library Board
Deutsch
other month
1st and 3rd Tuesdays,
City Council
(need to fill this role)
plus special meetings",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-02-10.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-02-10,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 10, 2016
Page 2
Chair Kenny moved to approve minutes.
Commissioner Lewis seconded.
All Commissioners in favor. 7-0
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
3-A
Member of the public Carol Gottstein asked that the members of the public who were present at
the January 9th Retreat (Carol Gottstein and Audrey Lord-Hausman) be added to the minutes. Staff
Parker said she would add those names to the minutes.
3-B.
Member of the public Anne Steiner expressed concerns regarding the Central Avenue Complete
Streets Project, and gave input as a disabled driver. Said that the Shoreline Bikeway Project was a
problem. Urged that a disabled driver be appointed to Commission.
Commissioner Aghapekian asked Ms. Steiner to be specific about her problems with the Shoreline
Bikeway project. Steiner reports that lanes and parking spaces have been narrowed. Scary to get
out of car. Disabled spaces are not on beach side, and crossing the street is problematic. If these
same things are applied to Central Avenue project, this is a problem.
Commissioner Lewis discussed presentation made by Gail Payne on Central Avenue Project. Asked
Ms. Steiner to apply to Commission to fill vacancy on the Commission.
Chair Kenny mentioned that she discussed the South Shore Bikeway parking issue with the project
manager, Gail Payne, and that these issues Ms. Steiner is concerned about are set to be addressed
by a committee soon.
Commissioner Deutsch mentioned that the Commission has looked into the Farmers Market
parking issues before. The Farmers Market staff should be providing disabled parking. Intermittent
disabled parking issues - some managers reserve spots, some do not - at Farmers Market.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Recommend Approval of the Paratransit Program Plan (Rochelle Wheeler, Transportation
Planner)
4A Paratransit Program
Exhibit 1 - Paratransit Program PowerPoint
(Presentation of above documents by Ms. Wheeler follows)
Chair Kenny asks for clarification on scholarship program. Ms. Wheeler explains that there are not
a lot of applicants for the program.
Vice-Chair Brillinger asks about Paratransit Tickets. Wheeler: Revenue neutral - sold by Mastick.
Brillinger would like to know more about shuttle program, and discuss frequency of shuttle service
question. He explains how he is an active user of program. Discusses route details and ideas for",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-02-10.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-02-10,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 10, 2016
Page 3
efficiency and usefulness. Suggests event placement of shuttle - Fourth of July Parade, Art and
Wine Faire, etc. Perhaps discuss more that the shuttle is a free service.
Commissioner Deutsch asked if the shuttle service goes to the Farmers Market, and shuttle-user
Vice-Chair Brillinger confirms, yes, on Tuesdays.
Commissioner Lewis wonders if we should get the word out better about the shuttle service. Would
like to see ridership go up. Discusses route stops.
Mastick Senior Center Manager Jackie Krause adds information regarding these stops. Discusses
shuttle break downs, and how notification of riders of a breakdown issue is difficult. Ms. Wheeler
offers ideas as to how to standardize notification. Driver calls dispatch number on shuttle sign.
Commissioner Lewis wonders if the shuttle service schedule could be added to the NextBus AC
Transit app. Ms. Wheeler thinks this is a good suggestion.
Commission Aghapekian says that he hears all good things about the shuttle, but would like to see
the shuttle in service more days of the week. Ms. Wheeler says she will look into that given the
budget allowed. Discusses cab service available for urgent needs.
Commissioner Lewis talks about how street events disrupt bus service, and wonders if shuttle
service could put into service during those times. Ms. Wheeler discusses the vehicle the City owns
could be used for these instances. Commissioner Lewis talks about the connection to the ferry
service. Ms. Krause says that this has been logistically difficult, but has discussed a bridge to AC
Transit from the Main Street Ferry Terminal to Webster Street.
Ms. Krause talks about the advertising that does happen for the shuttle service, but agrees they
could do more. Most people don't care about the shuttle schedule until they need it, feels that most
efforts to advertise are ignored. 2010/2011 Mr. Tip and Premium Taxi was widely used. Free
service. Tickets were stashed with no date stamps, like gold. Then they started charging for the
service, and date-stamping the tickets, which caused a drop in ridership. Talks about shifting
demographics in shuttle use.
Chair Kenny asks if increased Mastick population on shuttle days? Ms Krause believes Mastick
popularity is more programmatic-based In fact parking is an issue at the Senior Center, and she
wishes more people would use the shuttle.
Chair Kenny opens up to public comment.
Member of the public Carol Gottstein mentions that the lettering colors on shuttle itself is difficult
to read. Black letters would be better. Says street banners are rather useless as advertising if most
disabled people look down on the ground to navigate path. Used Mr. Tip program when it was
free. Thinks that the tickets should not be date stamped because then the money is lost after that
date.
Commissioner asks if the tickets rollover to following year. Ms. Krause says no, they definitely
time out. Ms. Wheeler is hoping it can become more electronic, instead of paper tickets.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-02-10.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-02-10,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 10, 2016
Page 4
Chair Kenny wonders about a regional transit Clipper Card type application, and Ms. Wheeler
agrees this would be convenient.
Chair Kenny opens for deliberation.
Commissioner Lewis wonders what exactly the commission is being asked to approve. Ms.
Wheeler says the approval is broad, approve the $532,000 budget, higher level issues of the
program has not been questioned, but have staff make program improvements when implementing
it. Commissioner Lewis asks if there is a deficit, or if all money is used. Ms. Wheeler says the
program used to be half this size, and it was difficult to accommodate the program. Now there is
more money, but every cent can be used on the program and gives the City more choices regarding
implementation.
Commissioner Kenny moved to approve.
Commissioner Aghapekian seconded.
All Commissioners in favor. 7-0
4-B.
Review and Ratify Commission Bylaws (Kerry Parker, City Staff Liaison)
CDI Bylaws - under review
Staff Parker has corrected typographical errors in document. One comment that Commissioners
had issue with during retreat is highlighted purposefully, as some Commissioners feel the sentence
should be removed.
Chair Kenny asks if this is standard bylaw language. Ms. Parker says yes, it's fairly standard.
Understands that with recent changes to Sunshine Ordinance there were questions the highlighted
statement undermines the authority of the Commission by including the statement. If Commission
would like to omit, revise, or redefine the statement, it can, but it would have to be approved by
City Council.
Chair Kenny says that in conversations and at retreat she worried other boards could lessen the
authority of the Commission on Disability Issues (CDI). She believes that thought may have been
wrong. Can only change the Purpose in the Bylaws with approval of City Council.
Commissioner Deutsch thinks changing it would be more work than it's worth. That
the
Commission does have authority without changing anything. Commissioner Linton thinks it should
stay as it is, no changes. General agreement. Vice-chair Brillinger asks if he can still make typo
adjustments. Gives an example, talks about page numbering.
Chair Kenny invites public comment:
Carol Gottstein reminds Commission that they had in the past written a letter against a decision that
City Council had made, and was correct to do SO. Commissioner Deutsch responded she feels that
Commission can still do this without the bylaws being changed.
Commissioner Kenny moved to ratify, with suggested edits.
Commissioner Aghapekian seconded.
All Commissioners in favor. 7-0",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-02-10.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-02-10,5,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 10, 2016
Page 5
4-C.
Recognition of Flight, LLC for Commission on Disability Issues Logo (Chair Kenny)
Designers of CDI logo did the work with professionalism and thoughtfulness, 3 different logo
designs, offered description of logo parts and visual meaning, and gave Commission recognition
by offering their services. Chair Kenny offers certificate of appreciation.
Representatives of Flight, Sam Kraesig and Michelle Farrell, accept certificate, thank Commission
for opportunity.
Vice-Chair Brillinger asks for write up of meaning of logo. Chair Kenny will send the presentation
out to the new Commissioners.
4-D.
Discuss Future Goals and Projects of CDI (Chair Kenny)
Chair Kenny leads discussion, and talks about the example of the Recreation and Parks Department
(ARPD) revealing that there was Accessibility Report developed for all ARPD facilities, and that
it has not been fully explored or accessibility changes implemented. This is a perfect goal for the
Commission. Could create a small workgroup to discuss priorities for the Accessibility Report.
Chair Kenny mentions that Vice-Chair Brillinger's suggestions regarding the shuttle presence at
events and the parade is another good example.
Commissioner Wilkinson mentions that accessible playgrounds are planned for small parks. More
that could be done for parking and accessibility at parks.
Chair Kenny says that the presentation from the Transportation Planner tonight was good, and Vice-
Chair Brillinger and Commissioner Lewis are slated to pay attention to the Transportation
Commission. Chair Kenny says that Commission could put together a taskforce for this.
Disability Employment Awareness Month in October - Commission has normally put up a street
banner, and there was a Proclamation from the Mayor. Perhaps there could be a job fair, a brown
bag lunch meeting, something more?
Commissioner Deutsch said she was part of developing a resource fair several years ago, and hardly
anyone showed up. So sometimes this sort of thing is a lot of work without much result.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A.
(None, due to allowable time left in meeting, and announcements from Commissioner still
needed.)",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-02-10.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-02-10,6,"Commission on Disability Issues
February 10, 2016
Page 6
8.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
(From earlier in the meeting) There was an article in the Alameda Sun about the dedication of the
bench for Nielson Tam, and a lot of people were there, Councilmembers Ezzy-Ashcraft and
Daysog, former Commissioner Audrey Lord-Hausman made a presentation, and many others. It
was a lovely dedication.
Chair Kenny contacted the Rent Review Advisory Committee, where she will attend the meeting
next week. She was not able to attend the School Board meeting, but will be at the next meeting.
Anyone on the Commission who would like a letter of introduction their associated board and
commission, she would be happy to provide one.
Commissioner Aghapekian is very interested in attending the Planning Board, and he would like to
avoid the complaints that the Shore Line Drive project and the Central Avenue Complete Streets
projects have garnered from a couple of people.
Commissioner Deutsch will be setting up some meetings with the Library Board, interested in
accessibility issues.
Commissioner Linton said she would be attending the Housing Authority Board meeting at the
Point next week.
Vice Chair Brillinger did go to the Transportation Commission meeting, two topics, the Paratransit
Program (like tonight's presentation), and the Cross Alameda Trail. Regarding the latter, he
discusses the ""gap"" on Atlantic between Webster and Constitution.
9.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:38 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kerry Parker
City Staff Liaison
Commission on Disability Issues",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-02-10.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-04-13,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, April 13, 2016 6:30 p.m.
Item 2-A
1. ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 6:36 p.m.
Present: Chair Kenny, Vice-Chair Brillinger, Commissioners Aghapekian, Franco, Deutsch,
Linton, Lewis, Tsztoo
Absent: Commissioner Wilkinson
We have a quorum.
2.
MINUTES
The minutes for the February 10, 2016 meeting of the Commission on Disability Issues was
approved with minor edits.
Chair Kenny moved to approve minutes.
Commissioner Lewis seconded.
All Commissioners in favor. 8-0
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
3-A
Newly appointed Commissioner Michaela Tsztoo was introduced. She will be finishing Ethel
Warren's term which ends June of 2017.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A.
Study Session to: 1) Consider Draft Citywide Universal Design Ordinance Requirements and
Standards, and 2) Review Progress on Universal Design Requirements and Standards for Site A at
Alameda Point (Andrew Thomas, Assistant Community Development Director)
Mr. Thomas gives background on Universal Design Ordinance (UDO) development that has been
going on since 2012. Discusses the interest and intent of the Planning Board and staff to make sure
an ordinance is implemented that works. Says that projects that have been coming before the
Planning Board have UDO elements implemented already. Brings up Site A at Alameda Point and
its 800 living units. There are people in the room that can discuss what they have implemented.
Site A has already been designed and approved. This ordinance will not affect Site A's 800 units.
They can
The state of CA has a model ordinance that we could follow. We edit and modify it to make it work
for Alameda's needs. Not a lot of cities in California have adopted UDO. We don't have a lot of
models to follow with this implementation. Brings up TriPointe development at Alameda Landing
(townhomes, generally), and Lennar at Marina Shores on Buena Vista.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-04-13.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-04-13,2,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 13, 2016
Page 2
Discusses UDO options at point of purchase. Universal design options are included as varying
building finishes are offered. Customize unit. If Alameda passes a UDO ordinance, accessible
improvements will be a required menu item as a custom finish.
A few cities have adopted this. Staff's research says only a few UDO units are being built to these
specifications. Staff is proposing that in these larger developments there is a desire to have a
percentage of units that have accessible options already built in.
Chair Kenny asks about the 10% percentage. Site A has 10% that have UDO attributes.
Access to the front door, access through the unit,
Discusses multifamily development versus townhomes or single family projects. Every unit in a
multifamily complex that has several levels will have an elevator. That raises the accessibility to
entering those units to 100%.
Townhomes are more difficult. Mentions 2100 Clement development. Second and third floors
would have stairs. Garage is on first floor.
Chair Kenny believes things are missing from the proposal - doesn't see where there are any
universal requirements of all units in a base model - like accessibility to the units at Marina Shores.
Every unit has a stair or two at the entrance. She has received several different reports from staff
but doesn't feel as though the CDI's comments have been included. Mr. Thomas asks for specific
items. Chair Kenny says every single unit should have reinforcement in the walls of bathrooms for
grab bars. Would like to see a higher percentage of units that these requirements would be applied
to.
Mr. Thomas would like a list from the CDI that lists the elements that must be included for all units.
Reinforced backing in walls, stairway widths, and other things. Commissioner Kenny says this will
be submitted to him.
Commissioner Lewis asks about elements taking the affordability into account, like changing stairs
into a ramp. Asks about accessibility in the public right-of-way. Mr. Thomas says this is something
he wants to include in the ordinance. Affordability is the critical issue here. Developers will pass
on cost to buyer with such a requirement. Need to create a balance. Adaptability may be what the
ordinance strives for, creating an affordable way to adapt or modify a unit to be accessible.
Elevators are hugely expensive.
Commissioner Deutsch wonders why the stairs need to be included at all. Mr. Thomas discusses
design requirements, historic modification requirements, and clean water requirements. Drainage
issues. Water has to be treated onsite via bioswales, meaning it processes through designed
landscaping, so draining water goes through the topography of the site for the first filtering of the
water. Elevations become important in this design. Commissioner Deutsch says that even a person
with a child's stroller would appreciate a ramp at the entrance to a unit. Mr. Thomas agrees, thinks
more can benefit from this.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-04-13.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-04-13,3,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 13, 2016
Page 3
Vice-Chair Brillinger says from the report that only one of the units will have these elements. Why
only one of the models? Why not 100? Of the units will have the wall backing, and the other
attributes? Mr. Thomas says they were taking the language from the state model ordinance.
Commissioner Aghapekian understands that writing this ordinance and all that it needs won't be
easy, that model is not built out, but that a brochure of extra attributes are given. It implicates
exclusivity, prejudice, that the elements would be ""extra"", and that is not a good way to approach
this. Commissioner Lewis says that a brochure may not even be helpful to someone is blind and
in a wheelchair. Would like to take Commissioner Aghapekian's comments seriously.
Mr. Thomas says he is going to be taking this to the Planning Board, and thinks that these comments
are part of the process. The next step could be to have a joint hearing on the Ordinance. It may
have compromised elements, but can be the most agreeable outcome.
Chair Kenny introduces the idea of a cooperative workgroup with Planning Board members for the
development of this ordinance. Mr. Thomas thinks that's a great idea. He also mentions that the
Development community will probably have input on this.
Chair Kenny wonders if there will be any reports of sales of such units. Mr. Thomas says that there
is such a unit at Alameda Landing. He says he asked about the unit, and that the sellers report that
the buyers like it, that they would rather not have stairs.
Commissioner Aghapekian said that he's noticed most of the discussion is about transportation, not
about those with disabilities. Mr. Thomas agrees that these discussions would work better with an
ordinance to guide his staff.
Vice chair Brillinger mentions the discussion of ""clear access"" which means a lot to him being in
a steel-framed wheelchair. He discusses the design of doorframes and door requirements, and how
a steel wheelchair needs certain requirements for accessibility. Has typographical edits to offer
staff.
Commissioner Tsztoo says that she doesn't see anything proposed for people who are hearing
impaired. Intercoms with doorbells so opening the door is not required. And electronic fixtures
would lend more accessibility.
Commissioner Lewis asked about transit issues he has been hearing about recently, namely AC
Transit routes being improved. Mr. Thomas says yes, says that Alameda received more money with
the passage of Measure BB, and mentions the old line 19 being added back into operation, that was
to go directly to Fruitvale BART from the Northern Waterfront District of Alameda. Discusses
transit passes being included with a developers' offer of a housing unit.
Commissioner Kenny opens the discussion up to public comment. Member of the public Audrey
Lord-Hausman commends the Commission and the Planning Board for the efforts toward this
ordinance and Mr. Thomas for the presentation. Agrees that there should be a menu of items
offered for every unit, and said that when she went to Marina Shores to look at units and asked for
Universal Design options, and the gentleman there did not really know what she was talking about.
She looked at Alameda Landing's TriPointe unit, Unit 5, said it was very nice but it had a bathtub.
She asked if it could instead have a shower if she were to buy it, and they said no, the City's
permitting methods wouldn't allow it. She said that did not make sense. The developers need to",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-04-13.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-04-13,4,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 13, 2016
Page 4
understand that Alameda is serious about this, and that we want a good plan. A combined meeting
between the CDI and the Planning Board would be great, and keep up the good work.
Vice Chair Brillinger says that these universal design elements only improve the value of the unit,
not the opposite. Chair Kenny asks Mr. Thomas asks about the planning procedure, and about the
City's permitting process keeping a shower from being installed. Mr. Thomas says this is not the
issue. The market is hot, and developers are selling units without making changes.
4-B.
Introduction of Aaron B. Zisser, Vice Chair of City of Oakland's Mayor's Commission on Persons
with Disabilities (Vice Chair Brillinger)
Mr. Zisser thanks Vice-Chair Brillinger for inviting him. Said he went as the second agenda item
on purpose to be able report back to his Commission on our meeting methods. He said that was a
great presentation about the Universal Design Ordinance. Appreciates the process that Alameda is
pursuing. The fact that city staff proposed a joint hearing seems amazing, and that he is looking
forward to reporting back on this. Would love to show this to the City of Oakland.
Mr. Zisser invites everyone to contact him to collaborate on shared issues. Says his commission is
a brand new group of people, who wishes to become a systems-oriented group, focus more on
mental health disability issues as well as physical. People with many different perspectives on the
commission. Introducing a new committee structure. Brought in a facilitator to help define thse
committees to align with Mayor's goals. Came up with guiding principles for commission.
Discussed projects of Oakland's commission. Discussed regional and state concerns.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
(None)
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
(None due to time needed for boards and commissions, and staff needs to speak into the mic! 0
8.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
8-A
Commissioner Reports on Assigned Boards and Commissions (All)
Commissioner Aghapekian visited the Planning Board, met with Gail Payne, walked Central
Avenue to scout out the proposed Central Avenue project. Has some observations. Deliberated on
complaint regarding no accessible parking at Shore Line Drive. What was most concerning is that
the Central Avenue project had no discussion paper about accessibility, and he wanted to have more
attention paid to this issue in the project so attention could be drawn to it, and discussed.
Chair Kenny visited Rent Review Advisory Board, new ordinance is effective March 31, 2016,
there will be community workshops held for tenants and landlords. Chair Kenny will be attending.
Chair Kenny stated that City Council had a Proclamation that Autism Awareness Month is in April,
would like the Commission to be aware. Also, Council will be discussion the Recreation and Parks
Department regarding accessibility in parks and recreation centers.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-04-13.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-04-13,5,"Commission on Disability Issues
April 13, 2016
Page 5
Commissioner Deutsch was ready to attend the Rec and Parks Board Meeting, but they canceled it.
Commissioner Lewis attended the Transportation Commission Meeting, there is a new bus line
#19. He would like to be part of the community discussion of the transit issues, and wondered if
the City would consider a route along Encinal Avenue and High Street, and to the Ferry Terminal.
BART wanted to have a bond approved, which was discussed.
Commissioner Brillinger went to the Transportation Commission meeting. There was another
meeting today, between Mayor Spencer and AC Transit. Transit is at capacity with the ferries.
People are being left at the ferry terminals. WETA is considering putting older boats back in the
schedule to alleviate.
Chair Kenny gave Commissioner Aghapekian the advice to use CDI Staff Kerry Parker for
introductions to project owners in city departments. Ms. Parker said she would be happy to
Work group formed during discussion:
Events Workgroup:
Commissioners Franco, Brillinger, Lewis
This group will meet to discuss attendance and/or participation of the CDI at events, and how to
plan and organize this attendance. This group can report back at our next meeting.
Vice Chair Brillinger has been looking at other similar commissions and their activities for ideas
of effectiveness, and suggests a scholarship from the CDI offered to high school seniors. Suggests
recognizing local employers who hire those with disabilities. Suggests subcommittee for
Accessible Transportation, Parking, and Pedestrian Safety Committee. If problems are noticed in
Alameda, then report it to the Subcommittee.
Staff Parker says the City is fully engaged with SeeClickFix to report issues that you see around
the City. And for correspondence for the commission, use the email address,
disabilitycomm@alamedaca.gov.
9.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:46 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kerry Parker
City Staff Liaison
Commission on Disability Issues",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-04-13.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 6:30 p.m.
Item 2-B, October 12, 2016 CDI Meeting
1.
ROLL CALL
Beth Kenny: I would like to call the Commission on Disability Issues meeting for June 8th, 2016
to order.
Kerry Parker: Roll call, Chair Kenny?
Beth Kenny: Present.
Kerry Parker: Vice Chair Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: Present.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Aghapekian?
Anto Aghapekian: Present.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: Present.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Franco?
La Donna Franco: Present.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Lewis? Commissioner Linton? Commissioner Tsztoo?
Michaela Tsztoo: Here.
Kerry Parker: We have a quorum.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. I wanted to let everybody know that Commissioner Wilkinson has
resigned from the Commission. She has started working again, and didn't feel she had the time to do
both. So we are in the process of looking for another commissioner.
Kerry Parker: That's right. The City Clerk is aware and is putting out the application on the
website, so that it's available. It's also clickable on our webpage, on the city website. So if you
wanted to direct your friends, people you think that would be qualified to be a commissioner to the
CDI website that would help. It says right on there on the form, there's a link.
08/17/16
Page 1 of 19",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-06-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,2,"2.
MINUTES
Kerry Parker: Before we look into approval of the minutes for last meeting of April 13th, I just
want to say a quick note about edits to the minutes. If it's a spelling change, why don't you tell me
later, well just tell me offline, and I will change it. But to keep the meeting as short as we can, or as
concise
as we can, let's see if we can If it's substantive change where you say, ""You said I was
here and I wasn't here."" Then that's something we should add to the meeting. So, go ahead.
Beth Kenny: Does anyone have any content changes to the minutes from our last meeting? Then I
move we approve the minutes from Wednesday, April 13th, 2016.
Susan Deutsch: I second.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. All in favor?
S?: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Anyone opposed? It passes unanimously.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Beth Kenny: So our next item is oral communications, non-agenda. Do we have any speakers?
Kerry Parker: We do not.
Beth Kenny: Tonight, we have a few items on the agenda, but we would like to try and keep this
meeting as short as possible. We want to give everything the proper amount of attention, but we
really want to try and really focus in on what's being presented and to use our time wisely, and
succinctly.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
Beth Kenny: So given that introduction, let's start with new business. And I'd like to welcome Gail
Payne up to discuss the expanding transportation options, transit and the TDM plan.
Gail Payne: Good evening, commissioners, I'm Gail Payne, the city's Transportation Coordinator.
And I thought it was funny that you just talked about being succinct, because I was fretting about
the number of slides that I have, and not wanting to take too much of your time. So I will do the
best I can not to belabor all my points. And I'm here to discuss a new planning effort that we're
undergoing at the city, it's a city-wide Transit and Transportation Demand Management Plan. And
we're just starting out this effort, it's expected to take 18 months. So I'll talk about the background
of this effort and the purpose of it. And since we're just beginning, we're beginning with existing
transportation conditions, so I'll be going over those with you and asking for your input, what more
you'd like to see, or less. And then also, we're looking at the preliminary draft goals and objectives
of this planning effort, and we'd love to get your input on what we have so far on that front.
08/17/16
Page 2 of 19",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-06-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,3,"Gail Payne: So as for the background and purpose, what we're really seeing here in the City of
Alameda is increased congestion, because of the regional economic boom. And so we really want to
sustain our high quality of life here in Alameda, given that the region is just growing like crazy. And
so that's why City Council directed staff to look into updating our transit plan, our city-wide transit
plan, and also our Transportation Demand Management Plan. And keep in mind, we are not the
primary transit operators in town, and so what we can do mostly as a city, is coordinate with the
transit operators as much as possible. And also, we own the public right of way, so how can we
make transit most efficient? And that's what the bulk of the work is going to be on that plan.
Gail Payne: The second plan, I was told it sounds like a disease, TDM plan. And so what we're
trying to do here is provide options, provide strategies that are alternatives to driving alone, to make
it more attractive to not drive alone and to do things like take the bus, and to bike, to car share, to
ride share, to walk. And so that's what the TDM plan is going to be looking at. TDM measures, they
are required for new developments. So we're trying to figure out ways that all Alamedans can take
advantage of these transportation alternatives in town.
Gail Payne: Project background, we're at the very beginning of the 18-month phase. So this is the
first time I've come to you all, and we're going to all the other boards that are relevant, and the City
Council and Transportation Commission, we've already had a community workshop on the existing
conditions. I'll come back when we're looking at actual draft ideas and strategies, and that will be in
the fall. And then we'll come back again when we actually have a draft plan for you. And we
currently have a web survey that's online, and so just that's a heads up if you haven't already
received a link for it, feel free to fill it out or let me know if you're interested, I could send you a
little blurb about it, and you could feel free to distribute it onto other people, as well.
Gail Payne: So, onto existing transportation conditions. Before that though, if you want to ask
questions feel free to. I'm going to try to tailor to Commission on Disability Issues and I don't mind
if you have questions as I go, or if you want to take your questions at the end, that's fine, too. So,
local trends here in Alameda, we had a little bit of a different story compared to other parts of the
region back in the late 1990s because the naval base closed. So we actually had a downturn in the
economy while there was the dot-com boom. And now we're seeing this big upswing in the
economy, and we've had record Bay Area congestion. So, we're really seeing the effects of that, at
the moment. So, I'm going to talk to these existing conditions about six different key concepts. I'm
going to go one through six. The first being congestion is increasing throughout the Bay Area.
We've seen the highest amount of delay caused by congestion ever since, surpassed since 2006
levels, delay is up 40% since 2010. And we, our island crossings are congestion, we have limited
crossings, this is a classic choke point type of situation. We have five ways on and off the island,
plus, we do have two ferry terminals. And so there's limited ways of getting on and off the island,
and they can only fit so many cars going on and off the island at any given time.
Gail Payne: The key concept number two is housing and jobs are growing throughout the region,
and regional job growth has increased 17% since 1990, and there's been an uptick in the number of
housing units permitted. And what's interesting, is that there are more multi-family units being
permitted now than single family units. So, the Bay Area is becoming more densely populated, it
used to be the family dream was the single family units homes, and now people are much more
wanting to downsize and live in condos and apartments. And so we're definitely seeing an uptick of
those types of dwelling units being built. For Alameda specifically, people say, ""Well, the
congestion is happening because there's an increase in housing units and population."" Whereas
08/17/16
Page 3 of 19",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-06-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,4,"that's not really true. Because of the base closing, we've actually been very stable with population,
and we're had a slight increase in housing units recently, but actually, it was a downturn after the
base closure. And we've actually had a significant number of jobs increase in the past decade.
Gail Payne: And when you compare it to other East Bay communities, we're on the low side when
permitting housing units, and we're on the medium size when we look at density. And the reason
why we really care about density is that if you're trying to get a really robust bus system, say in
town, it actually runs better if you have more people around a bus station, because you can get more
people on the bus within that quarter mile radius of what people really want to walk. And so we're a
medium sized density community, and so we can probably support a medium sized bus system,
which is really what we have, we're actually quite fortunate with what we have. The regional
agencies, they have policies out there that say where they want to focus their development in the
region, and these are called priority development areas. And we have two of these areas in the City
of Alameda, one is the Northern waterfront area, which is along Clement Avenue by the Estuary,
and the other area is Alameda Landing and Alameda Point in West Alameda. And that's indeed
where the development is occurring, and expected to occur over the next 10 years. So, we're
expected to have an increase of over 2,000 housing units and over, or almost 8,000 more jobs here
in Alameda.
Gail Payne: Most of the jobs will be going to Alameda Point, and the job growth is actually much
higher at 30% than the Bay Area, over the next 10 years it's expected at only 11%. So, the third key
concept out of the six is regional commute patterns are changing. We're having fewer auto
commuters, and more people are commuting by transit in the region. And one of the factors is that
millennials, folks who are younger, tend to be less apt to own cars, less apt to even get a driver's
license. Young people, there's one study that said that 22% of young people never even plan on
getting their driver's license. So this was, when I was a teenager, unheard of, we all got our driver's
licenses the day after we turned, what was it? 16. So it's really different, it's a different generation.
And we're seeing that they are expecting better bus systems, they are taking Ubers, and Lyfts, and
doing bicycling, walking more so than any generation.
Gail Payne: In Alameda, as I said, our population hasn't really grown that much, our housing units
really haven't grown that much, but we are having the people who are here who have moved here
are more apt to commute off island, 5,000 more off island commuters since 2005, there's a 20%
increase. So that's one reason why we're seeing congestion. Also, there's more people, more
commuters from Alameda going to San Francisco. In 2005, there were less than 5,000, now there's
more than 7,000 going to San Francisco to work. And they're more apt to be working in San Mateo
County, and Santa Clara County. So those are harder, more difficult commutes more people are
taking from Alameda. And most people The two top destinations for where people work is
Oakland, 8,000 people, and then 7,000 people going to San Francisco. The majority of people who
work in Oakland drive alone, they get there by driving alone. The majority of people who work in
San Francisco, they are less apt to drive alone, and only one out of five people commute to San
Francisco by driving alone.
Gail Payne: The fourth key concept out of the six, Alameda is a multimodal city. We actually
outperform a lot of cities in the Bay Area, and around the country, when it comes to being
multimodal. And we even outperform the Bay Area. And Berkeley and Oakland do actually much
better than we do, especially with transit and bicycling for Berkeley. Some of the factors,
opportunities, is that we have great geography, weather, we're flat, we have strong policies in place,
08/17/16
Page 4 of 19",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-06-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,5,"we're working hard to improve our bus system, walking and bicycling. Some of the challenges are
that we still have gaps, especially in the bicycling system. We're trying to adapt to new technologies
and it's changing daily, it's evolving, so that's hard to figure out.
Gail Payne: More people in Alameda are using alternatives to driving than they ever did before.
More people are taking the bus, more people are bicycling and walking, and more people are
telecommuting from home. So, people are definitely open, more Alamedans are open to commuting
in these different ways. Within Alameda, most homes and jobs are located close to a bus stop,
there's a 37% increase in bicycle commuting over the past four years. And what's really difficult
within Alameda is if you need to get around at about 8:00 AM, before or after, we really have a lot
of students here, we have about 1,500 more students than we did a decade ago. And not only that,
we have fewer neighborhood schools, we have more magnet schools than we've ever had, more
charter schools. And these schools have a city wide enrollment. The neighborhood schools tend to
have that catchment area around the neighborhood, around the school. Whereas the magnet schools,
charter schools, they get students from all over the city, SO they're more apt to be driven to the
school. They even get students from other jurisdictions as well, and more apt too, than local
schools. So if you're trying to get around a town around 8:00 AM, you'll notice a difference, it's
tough.
Gail Payne: Bicycle facilities, we are going to be updating the bike plan soon. We're going to be
constructing the Cross Alameda trail next year. And we are currently looking at the potential to have
bike share here, like you probably see in other jurisdictions like San Francisco, East Bay is getting it
later this year, I think. For transit ridership, most commuters take AC Transit. My favorite is the AC
Transit Transbay, they are the work horses of it all, and they don't get enough attention. And the
people also take BART, and they also take Ferry. So we're very fortunate we have close access to
ferries, BART, and the buses. It's unusual for such a small jurisdiction to have all those options.
Granted, we don't have BART nearby, or right in town yet, we have, I think, within about a mile or
so radius maybe, I think it's five BART stations. We have two ferry terminals, and shuttle systems,
we also have some tech shuttles coming in now, like Google and Facebook. And we're expanding,
we recently had improvements to Line 51 A, we're going to be restoring Line 19, along the Northern
Waterfront, Buena Vista Avenue. And we're hoping to get a new ferry terminal in Alameda Point, in
the Seaplane Lagoon area coming 2019-2020.
Gail Payne: AC Transit ridership is on the rise, especially Transbay buses. We had an increase in
ridership of 27% since 2010. A lot of that has to do with the BART strikes that happened in 2013.
And this next slide shows that BART ridership from Alameda is down. Because after the BART
strikes, these commuters discovered the Transbay buses, they discovered the ferries. And ferry
ridership is also up, and unfortunately for BART, Alamedans are less apt to take BART, although
BART is packed so I don't think they're really missing us. For Paratransit, we are fortunate to have
East Bay Paratransit, which is funded by BART and AC Transit, they really carry the bulk of
Paratransit riders. They carry 13,000 annually, riders from home base from Alameda. And we also
have an Alameda Paratransit shuttle. And we have, because of Measure BB that recently got passed,
we're planning on increasing the frequency to run every 30 minutes, and hopeful to Fruitvale BART.
Gail Payne: Like I said, ferry ridership has been increasing from the two ferry terminals. And the
last of key points, of the key concept is these transportation demand-management strategies
improve transportation options, and I had mentioned them before but the idea here is we're trying to
make the transportation system more efficient. There's limited space, so let's try to get as many
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,6,"people fit in the street as possible, to get where they need to go. So I had mentioned carpooling and
car-sharing, there's bike sharing. And we're trying to make TDM work for all residents and
employees. Right now, it's only required in the three key development areas. And so we're working
on making that work as a consolidated group and so that they can form a single non-profit entity
that would implement the TDM strategies for those new developments.
Gail Payne: Best practices and new technologies, and then I'll get to the goals and objectives. For
best practices, you've probably seen Webster Street, the bus queue-jump lane that's there, that
somewhat has been extended recently by the tubes, that's a great example of a best practice, because
when it's all congested, you see the buses flying by. And I was, just once, I must admit, stuck in my
car towards the tube in the morning, and I actually felt myself getting mad at all the buses going by
so quickly, which is I was ashamed that that was my reaction, but it really does work. And so,
that's something in this plan we're really going to be looking at is other ways of having those
dedicated bus lanes, where the bus riders aren't getting penalized with all this congestion coming
up.
Gail Payne: Parking management, how can we price parking so that there's always one or two
spaces available per block? You don't have to circle the block, and you don't have people there who
shouldn't be parked there who could be parked at the off-street parking spaces. And SO there's ways
of doing a better job of strategizing about parking that we could perfect a little bit. On demand car-
sharing and ride-sharing, that's where you get the Uber and Lyft. And when it comes to Commission
on Disability Issues, what we're really struggling with as a city is how do we These are private
sector companies, and it's a little bit like the Wild West, they're not quite regulated yet as much as it
probably will be. So how is it evolving? Where is it going? And how does a city form relationships
with them contractually, if we do ever? I know some jurisdictions are doing that, and do we want
to? And does that provide accessible ways for people to get around? So that's what we're grappling
with when it comes to these entities.
Gail Payne: Other new technologies, you have these driverless vehicles that, from a disabilities
perspective, could really increase freedom for people who are blind, or people who have physical
impairments and can't drive. And so that can really open some great doors. It is coming, we think,
and how does that change our streets? Because this one image is showing how they can be bunched
up when parked, so maybe we won't need as much parking. Maybe we won't have so many parking
issues. They also won't, if they're programmed, they won't take up as much space on the road, so
maybe we don't need as many wide lanes, and maybe there won't be as much congestion.
Gail Payne: So, the very last part of this presentation is on the preliminary goals and objectives that
we have. And so we have just two goals, one pertains to improving transportation on the island
crossings, and the other goal is improving transportation within Alameda. So it's about the island
crossings as one goal, and the second goal being within Alameda. And the objectives really are the
same for each goal, they just repeat. And I can just summarize real quickly, it's really a lot of
verbiage, but is that the transit goals or objectives for both goals have to do with improving transit
frequency, reliability, access, awareness of the transit and ensuring that we have positive
partnerships with the providers. And for these transportation options, is we're looking at providing
programs and strategies to reduce drive alone trips and integrating land use changes with
transportation improvements, prioritizing these transportation alternatives, and again, increasing
awareness of them.
08/17/16
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,7,"Gail Payne: Now we did also add some goals that didn't get into this version, but there was a
request to add not a goal, but a safety objective, so we added that. We also added an objective
pertaining to new technologies, and another one that pertains to equity. And I'll just read you the
latest version that we have on the new equity goal that's not in your packet, but it's in for the
Planning Board packet and the City Council, because I really like how it's shaping up, and it
pertains to you all. ""Ensure transportation improvements are applied equitably for all users,
including senior, low income and minority populations, and are compliant with ADA requirements.
Gail Payne: And with that, I think I really would love to hear your comments on the discussion
topics. Are there areas where we need to investigate further, pertaining to existing conditions? Did
we miss some topics? What do you think about the goals and objectives? And are there other areas
that we should be covering? Thank you for your time.
Beth Kenny: Thank you very much.
Gail Payne: I hope I wasn't too long.
Beth Kenny: You did a great job. I have a couple of questions. First, I'm wondering, are there plans
to create another island crossing? And if so, have we thought about making it specific for public
transportation options, and bike and pedestrian options? And because of the amount of development
going on, are we getting money from the developers to build this type of infrastructure that we're
going to need?
Gail Payne: So for the first question about the additional island crossing, we don't expect to have
more capacity in terms of another island crossing, like another bridge or tunnel. And the main
reason is that Oakland just doesn't want it, they're just not interested in having it touch down on
their property, and that's where it would have to be. And so we really have to work within the
constraints that we have. And we did study a bike pedestrian bridge over in the West End, and we
found out that it was really infeasible, because of the Coast Guard Island, and that the need for the
boats to get in and out 24/7 because they're for emergency purposes. And so the bridge would have
to be so incredibly high, and not be a draw bridge, that bicyclists and pedestrians just wouldn't use
it. And so we're not expecting another crossing on this. However, BART is looking at a second tube,
a Transbay tube going between the East Bay and San Francisco. And if they do that, they possibly
could add a station, either in Alameda or in the Estuary, or closer to Alameda than what we have
now. That potentially, the one idea is if it were in the Estuary, then that would be a way for
bicyclists and pedestrians to go under, either use the BART station or get to Oakland 24/7 or I don't
know, 24/7 but
Gail Payne: So, there are ideas out there, another idea is that at some point, we're going to have to
improve the tubes, because they won't last forever. And so, when it needs to be upgraded, that it
would be a complete street type of tube, whereas maybe it would have a dedicated bus lane, maybe
it would have a real bike path, and a real way for pedestrians to go on it and through it. So, those are
some long, long-term solutions, yet there's nothing in the short-term idea out there. For the second
question about developer money, SO yes they are required, developers are required to both
contribute to when they're developing their units to also pay for the streets adjacent to them and
anything related to their development. We call it a nexus, there has to be a nexus about it, so as to a
legal way for us to require them to pay, because we can't just say, ""Oh, well we want you to pay for
some other. Everything because we don't have any money.""
08/17/16
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,8,"Gail Payne: So we do always, for example, Alameda Landing with Target, they paid to have
Mitchell and that whole upgraded Fifth Street, and all that area, and including the bike lanes and
bus stops, and all that. And also that Alameda Landing is required to pay on an ongoing basis, these
TDM plan monies that they're required to implement, they're required to implement, for example, a
shuttle bus that goes between Alameda Landing, Target Area and downtown Oakland on every
weekday. So they have all these different requirements they're supposed to meet, and yes.
Beth Kenny: Thank you.
La Donna Franco: I'm actually wondering, with the increase and currently problematic issue of
handicap parking, what are some of the ways are you looking at supporting existing parking issues
for handicap parking? Increasing that, what are the plans for that, and what are some plans for
increasing safer crosswalks, and lighted crosswalks?
Gail Payne: Increase the lighted crosswalks, okay. Yes, we can look at those. So for the lighted
crosswalks, the ones that are seen as best practices, there's one that's on Otis at Mound that's this
strobe light. Okay, so that's the kind that we would in the future add.
La Donna Franco: Could you speak to more specifically about the areas and plans for that.
Gail Payne: So for both these, we right now are just beginning this planning effort, so right now
I'm coming to you on existing transportation conditions. And next time I come to you, we'll be
looking at trying to get input on the draft strategies. So this is good now for me, because now I will
know to have it, to talk more in depth with you for next time. Yet we're not at that stage at this
point, yes.
Beth Kenny: And is AC Transit going to be going out to the current ferry?
Gail Payne: So AC Transit, the question is this the AC Transit going to go out to the ferry? So they
currently operate at the ferry terminal at Harbor Bay, Line 21. And what we're working with them is
to try to get money from the regional bodies, to get bus access to the Main Street ferry terminal. So
we're in negotiations, trying to make that happen. Yes, yes. So we'll see, we're just trying to find
money, because we know that's a very high complaint we have, is lack of bus access out to that
ferry terminal, yes.
Beth Kenny: Yes. And I like some of the things that you were thinking about in the reports, about
discounted rates for people who take AC Transit to the ferry building.
Gail Payne: Actually, that's true, and that's a good reminder. And right now, if you take the bus to
the Harbor Bay ferry terminal, it's free and then when you go home on the bus, it's free. The bus
ride is free and a lot of people don't realize that, is that that's the system that the ferry operators and
the bus operators has already worked out. So it already operates like a shuttle, and yes.
Beth Kenny: Great, thank you.
08/17/16
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,9,"Susan Deutsch: I was just wondering if there's enough ridership on that Harbor Bay ferry to
increase the number of ferries. It seems like really limited ferry service over there. So, you do have
to drive through Harbor Bay, and through Alameda if you want to get a ferry, or you just have to
drive to get to your destination, because ferry service is being limited.
Gail Payne: I know that the ferry operators are looking at wanting to increase the ferry services at
both Harbor Bay and Main Street. The issues that we're having are accessing the ferries, especially
we just had a big City Council meeting last night on that topic for Harbor Bay, and that it's really
impacting the adjacent neighborhood, neighbors living right next to the Harbor Bay ferry terminal,
that people are parking in front of their homes. So we have some of the issues to work out with that.
Fortunately Harbor Bay, it's really easy to walk around Harbor Bay, crime rate's low, it's easy to
bike, there's a great San Francisco bike trail right there. And they do have the Harbor Bay, the Line
21 that goes there. So, slowly, we're trying to work out the kinks, and make it a We're trying not to
do it slowly, but we're working out the kinks and trying to make it better work for everybody.
Anto Aghapekian: And I have, I don't know if it's a question. What I find missing in here is what
the expectations are for people who are going to be 60, 70, 80 years old, how many of these people
we expect to have in Alameda, and how are we going to help them move around? I don't see
anything in this or that, and I'd like to see something.
Gail Payne: Okay.
Anto Aghapekian: And there is a very small comment about the ADA, which seems to be
consistent with every other presentation that I have gone to, and I'd like that to be more visible, to
be part of every report that we put out. And the more information we have specially, because from
what I have gathered, we're going to have more retired people on this island, and they're going to
need probably more better transit, more personalized public transit and parking spaces. Those are
the items that I'd like to see in the report, projections in five years, 10 years, 20 years from now.
Thank you.
Gail Payne: Okay, thank you.
Beth Kenny: Do any of the other commissioners have questions at this time? Great, do we have
any public comment on this? Well, thank you very much, Gail.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
Beth Kenny: I'm going to start out by doing a summary of the current Universal Design Ordinance
discussion. Kerry and I thought that this would be good to do, because not everybody is familiar
with Universal Design, it is an issue that the Commission has been working on for quite some time,
and we're hopeful that it will be going in front of City Council in the fall. So, if you were able to
read the document that I sent out about it Yes, and if you don't, Kerry has copies. Universal
Design is a concept that can be applied to many different things. We are looking at it in the housing
context. And so, the basic idea of Universal Design is that things should be made in a way that they
are accessible to the most number of people; people who are disabled, people who aren't disabled,
people who are old, and people who are young, short and tall.
08/17/16
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,10,"Beth Kenny: And it's to be done in a way that using design to do things in an intelligent way that
takes into consideration the wide range of humans. So, why we need this in Alameda, is we have,
Alameda, along with pretty much every place in this country, has a shortage of accessible housing
stock. And we have a growing senior population, and many disabled people are living much longer.
So we have a growing disabled population. So in order for people to be able to stay in the
community, or age in place, somebody who buys a universally designed place can stay in their
house and not have to face moving out as they become older because it's inaccessible to them. So
this all started because of a joint meeting between the Planning Board and the Commission on
Disability Issues. And I'm going to ask Susan to talk a little bit about that, because she was one of
the participants in that.
Susan Deutsch: It was just such a long time ago, [chuckle] I don't remember that much about it.
But I do remember going to the City Council meeting, talking about Universal Design, and feeling
that we did have support. And I felt that they were very supportive of what we wanted. Really, all I
remember about the meeting because it was four years ago.
Beth Kenny: Yes, it was indeed over four years ago. But since after that meeting, Commissioner
Deutsch, former Commissioner Lord-Hausman, and former Commissioner Harp got together and
drafted a sample Universal Design Ordinance. And that was submitted about four years ago, and
we've now come to the point where the Planning Department, they have a draft that they expect to
get to us in the next week, or so, and the schedule of events is that we will meet, we have a work
group from CDI that is working on this, and the Planning Board Work Group will meet together to
go over the draft, and make any changes that we think are necessary, possibly have one more
meeting. And then in September, we'd like to hold a joint meeting between the Planning Board and
the Commission on Disability to vote on the Universal Design Ordinance. This September meeting
works for us because in August, we are scheduled to have an August meeting, but the City of
Alameda goes dark in the month of August, there are no City Council meetings. And so we've been
asked to reschedule our August meeting, which having this joint meeting in September with the
Planning Board, I think is a good way to reschedule that meeting.
Beth Kenny: So let me throw some statistics out at you guys for the need for accessible units.
Research shows that over the span of a typical housing unit that 25% to 60% of those units will
house a disabled person. Additionally, 53% to 91% will have a disabled visitor over the course of a
unit's lifetime. Those numbers do not include people with temporary disabilities from surgery, or
broken legs, and it does not include people who might have mobility impairments, but not
necessarily identified as disabled, which is a common phenomenon in the senior population.
Beth Kenny: So it is expected that population of Alameda will grow 8.8%, according to the
Alameda Housing Element Background Report. In addition to a growing senior population, people
with disabilities are now living longer, and aging in larger numbers than previous experience,
resulting in overlapping categories. In 2002, it was estimated that 52% of Americans with
disabilities were 65 plus. It's gone up significantly since 2002. Apparently, only 10% of multifamily
buildings of four units or more need to be designed excessively, and those are the type of units that
we normally think of as ADA units, where they have the grab bars installed, they have the clearings.
Beth Kenny: So there's a difference between an ADA unit and a universally designed unit. The
universally designed unit would have the accessible pathways, accessible entrance that an ADA unit
would have, but you don't necessarily need to have the grab bars up if the person doesn't need them
08/17/16
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,11,"at the time. What we want is to make sure that the walls are reinforced to be able to put the grab
bars in without having to rip out the wall, and we want to be able to make sure that the electrical
outlets are at an accessible level. But it doesn't mean that you can't have outlets along the baseboard
also. Things like having accessible counters can be easily achieved by putting in a breadboard, it
doesn't mean that the whole counter has to be at the level of somebody. That would work for
somebody in a wheelchair, it means that there has to be some amount of counter that that can be, but
also there can be a standard or a higher level cabinet, depending on your preference.
Beth Kenny: There have been some Universal Design ordinances, one of the things that's had a
little bit more movement is the visitability movement, which happened in the '80s. And there are
quite a few areas that have visitability statutes including Austin, Texas, Chicago, Lafayette,
Colorado, Georgia, Texas and Kansas. So they all have a variety of whether it's a mandatory
program, or a voluntary program, or parts, or a combination of where some things are mandatory,
and some things are voluntary. And they've learned through visitability that they said to-date that
30,000 visitability homes have been built with mandatory programs, versus less than 1,300
visitability homes have been built with voluntary programs. So we want to be sure that I would
recommend we make sure we get the important parts voluntary, and not mandatory to offer. I mean
mandatory to have, and not mandatory to offer.
Beth Kenny: How it has worked out with where we're at in the negotiations, it seems like there's
going to be a few different parts of the ordinance. One part would be something that applies to
100% of new residential units. So, that would be any new residential units would have to have these
accessibility features. I know one that we've talked about with Andrew quite a bit is reinforcement
in the walls or be able to install grab bars in the bathroom and along the hallways. Some other ones
that we've talked about as a group is at least one zero-step entrance on an accessible route leading
from the driveway, or public sidewalk into the unit. That one, I'll just read the list.
Beth Kenny: Another one is all interior doors providing at least 31 and three quarter inches, or 81
centimeters of unobstructed passage space. So, basically, that you can get through the door. At least
one bathroom on an accessible route on the primary floor. The idea is to have living space on the
primary floor, and if you're going to be able to live on the primary floor, you're going to need a
bathroom. Reinforcements for the railings and grab bars, kitchen facilities on an accessible route on
the primary floor. And in there I did leave out that the kitchen facilities themselves would have to be
accessible. So, that would include leaving space for a wheelchair to be able to maneuver, and turn in
the kitchen. That would include having a cabinet or a counter that you could use, whether it be a
breadboard or not, at the height of a wheelchair. And I think there was one other element.
Susan Deutsch: Sink?
Beth Kenny: Yes. The sink that you can
Susan Deutsch: Well, there's the faucet issue, but also if the sink is too high
Beth Kenny: Yes, okay.
Susan Deutsch: And there's also the faucet, maybe levers. One lever.
08/17/16
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,12,"Beth Kenny: Yes. So, yes, putting in accessible fixtures. And I think yes, it was something about
clearing out under the sink so that you could get to the sink. Number seven is one that I put in
because every time we've talked about this with the mayor, she's thought that this was necessary,
and I think it's a good idea, to have laundry hook ups on an accessible route on the primary floor.
Because if you're going to live on that one floor, you're going to need to do your laundry. So, we
don't need the actual laundry machines themselves, but the hook ups to be able to install laundry.
Installation of receptacle outlets, lighting controls, environmental controls at specific heights,
conducive for those with disabilities. And I don't know the full spectrum of what that would be, but
I would love to hear more if anybody has ideas on what environmental controls and lighting
controls would be important.
Beth Kenny: And then finally, if there is an interior stairway, it must be wide enough to
accommodate future installation of a chairlift, and include an outlet at the top or bottom of the
stairway. And this would only pertain to a home that had interior stairway. So, those are some of the
things that we've been considering asking for to be applied 100% for every new housing unit built
that would be under the Universal Design Ordinance. There is another layer to this ordinance where
there's a certain percentage of units that would have to meet all the universally designed ordinance
elements.
Beth Kenny: And for multi-unit dwellings, and single family homes, what we've been hearing from
the Planning Department, they're looking at about 20% of those new units with five plus units. And
then, 10% were town homes, because they said that town homes, space wise, are going to be very
difficult. So, some of the questions that we had thought about around here is, they're asking for, first
of all, to start with five plus units. I think the federal regulations start with four plus units, so I think
I'd like to see it down to four. Any development with four plus units, rather than five plus units.
And I think that the 20% is very low, because we do have such a shortage of stock. And as Andrew
said himself, that the units that they've already built have not had any trouble selling, and they're not
selling to people who necessarily have a mobility concern, they're selling to people who like not
having stairs.
Beth Kenny: So, I think 30-35% would be much more in line with what I would like to see. And
then, I would also like to see in that, that percentage is applied to town homes, and that town homes
aren't given a specific carve-out. And I admit I don't know about building, and maybe it's
unrealistic, but I feel like, A, the city is saying. I don't know, the town homes, it's not the way
that
the city wants to be developing the city anyways, because they're just not very appealing way to
develop, and I don't know why we should carve out a special exception for them, because I really
do believe that the elements of the Universal Design can be met in a very small square footage, just
designed thoughtfully. So, those are the things that I was hoping for, and to kind of give you a little
bit of background.
Beth Kenny: The other things I wanted to talk about is that we're going to have to do some
educating the public around Universal Design, and I already started talking to people when I'm in
the line at the Warriors game, or here, just because people don't know what Universal Design is, and
I've seen a lot of people fear that we're going to change their houses into an ADA unit and I think
we really need to help people understand what Universal Design is.
Kerry Parker: So, kind of the beauty of the agenda building for this meeting is that it kind of
forced the work group to create the more concise document that you see, it's three pages, and kind
08/17/16
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,13,"of abbreviates what all the Commission would really like to see Universal Design Ordinance. And
we were able to submit this to Andrew Thomas last week when we were building this agenda. So
they have it right, Planning Department has this document. And as they develop the draft that they
want to give you in about a week for you to consider for the work group, they are incorporating
suggestions into that document, so that when a subcommittee between the Planning Board and the
Commission on Disability Issues meets, you guys will probably have some good ordinance
language to work with, the draft language will be more developed than the last time you saw it.
Kerry Parker: And the other thing to note is that they are scheduling the subcommittee meetings
for early July, for the first one right one. That'll be a subcommittee between the Planning Board and
CDI regarding this, there will probably be a notice. Anyway, just so you know that this is now in
a
lot more development than it was at only our last meeting, because this has now been submitted to
the Planning Board.
Anto Aghapekian: And now one of the things I find, myself, I forget to even talk with you about, is
facilities for, or accommodations for people who are hearing or visual impaired. And I think they
can be achieved very economically, they're not very expensive. It's just said it has to be thought out
and installed, taken care of.
Beth Kenny: Yes. Again, I said, I don't know much about building and what sort of accessibility
devices that are out there, but I was wondering if lighting control and environmental controls,
maybe I was thinking that that might be what we were talking about in that. I was trying to
capture that by saying. But I don't know what is out there and what is important, so certainly if you
have experience with something that you know is important, or you have seen somebody else find
important, please, please, please let us know as soon as possible, because we want to capture as
much in this as possible.
Susan Deutsch: I do think there are environmental roles, and I think right now, they're probably
changing, the technology is getting more high tech, but there are ways that people can control, they
can wirelessly turn the heat on, lights, having touch pads. My guess is that And also voice, talking
to something. I know Google is coming out with something. I haven't really looked into what,
Google home thing, but when I get But there are a lot of environmental control
Beth Kenny: Yes. So the idea is to have those things there available or even just to be able to easily
add them without having to rewire the house or take on a major project, because modifications to a
house because of a disability is not something you can write off on your taxes, the average home
modification is extremely expensive, and if you don't do it, you're also putting the caregivers at risk.
And we're paying a huge amount to keep people in nursing homes who could live in their home if it
was accessible.
Anto Aghapekian: My last comment is the model, we talked about the model. And more than
anything, I think that an accessible model, a real actual life-sized model is much more important
than a regular model, because the people that need an accessible model, they need to walk in there,
or they need to wheel themselves in there to experience the space, and to find out where the
doorbells are, to find out how the smoke detector works, for them to experience the spaces. And
that's not going to happen with a virtual reality thing that people are visualizing. So a real model, I
think, is a must for this universal.
08/17/16
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,14,"Beth Kenny: Yes. And so, what Anto's speaking about is an issue that I forgot to put on this
document, and that is that CDI would definitely like to see a model home available that is designed
universal, so that when you're looking at the model homes, you can go in and experience it. What
has been proposed is a brochure to a virtual reality experience of the home. But certainly if there's
going to be model homes available, we feel that they should have a universal designed home as one
of the model homes.
Susan Deutsch: I don't think we can expect somebody to visualize it without actually feeling their
wheelchair going through a doorway through.
Beth Kenny: Yes, Arnold?
Arnold Brillinger: Yes. Beth, I've been in a wheelchair for four years, but I've only found out about
Universal Design being on the Commission here. And so I have done a lot of research, and I have
gone into some of the new housing developments. I went into Marina Shores, and I went up and
down the streets and I started crying because each of them had a block of concrete at the front door
that kept me from going inside. So, not even thinking do I want to buy one, but if my friends buy
one, I can't go to visit them. If they want me to come over and see their new big screen TV, and
watch the game, they're going to have to rip the TV of the wall and haul it out to the garage, because
that's the only place that I can get into with my wheel chair.
Arnold Brillinger: So when we talk about visitability, we need to have it 100% on all of the things
that are built in Alameda. We love the homes that we have now, but with stairs of eight to 18, there's
no way I'm going to get into one of those things. We don't need to keep on building homes on slabs
with a barricade in front of the front door. At Marina Shores they say, ""Everything is included."" I
went over there and checked it out. Now I could get up into the office, when I asked for, ""Well, can
I go and check out some of the models, because I want to see if I can turn around in a bathroom, or
in the kitchen?"" I couldn't even get in. They didn't have a one that was accessible to a person with a
wheelchair.
Arnold Brillinger: And I asked them for some information, they have a real nice, slick brochure
about their houses. And I said, ""What about the UDO items?"" Well, they gave me six sheets of kind
of a boring. You know, it's not a pamphlet or anything, it's just six sheets of paper with some X
marks in front of things that they would put in if you wanted it. No pictures, no nothing. And I
thought, ""Well, this is not going to sell a lot of UDO homes. This is going to just
""Everybody likes
what they can see. So I didn't see anything. And I realize that Marina Shores was planned and built
a couple of years ago and stuff. But I went out to Alameda Point, and I've got to go again, because I
wasn't sure that I was at the right area for finding the models, but there again, there's a lot of houses
with They don't necessarily have the step right in front of the threshold, but they've got it about
two feet out. There's the step. So you're not even going to let me get to the door to ring the doorbell.
It just doesn't make sense, and Alameda needs to make sure that 100% of the Well, first of
all,
there are only so many places to build homes in Alameda, and most of it is a flat area out there, and
at the Point and so forth.
Arnold Brillinger: We need to make sure that all of those are built with Universal Design things
included. We need to make sure, first of all, that they are all accessible through the front door, that
it's wide enough so that people can drive in. It's not only for people in wheel chairs, it's also for
mothers and their baby strollers, baby buggies and all that kind of thing. It's for people who are
08/17/16
Page 14 of 19",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-06-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,15,"starting to feel a little wobbly when they walk. There are so many different reasons for having these
things. I mean, I've asked to be in on these kinds of things, because I will surely push for getting
more and more. Now when we talk about 20% or 25% or 30%, my question is on some of these
things, should we just follow the pack, or should we make Alameda stand out? And one day people
will look and they'll say, ""Look at Alameda, they've got this really great UDO."" And, ""Let's even
surpass them, or get up to them.'
Arnold Brillinger: No reason for us to follow the pack, we don't have that many places. It's not like
we're in the Midwest where we just keep on spreading out over farmland or something. We only
have so many places, we need to say, ""Hey, we know that you want to build housing, but if you're
going to do it in Alameda, you're going to have to do it in this way.""
Beth Kenny: Thank you, Arnold. I really appreciate what you had to say. Do any of the other
commissioners what to speak?
Anto Aghapekian: I really liked the last part that you said, Arnold. Because I've seen some samples
of what other cities are doing and what we should do, and I think that Alameda can do better than
what other people are doing, or other counties and cities are doing. So I really appreciate what you
just said.
Arnold Brillinger: We need to be leaders, people ought to say, ""Oh, there's a group there that could
stick to their guns, and look what they've got. They've got a city where they've got a lot of units now
that have visitability. They've got a lot of units that are adaptable for whatever kind of people live in
those homes."" Because if you buy yourself a place out there at Marina Shores for what, $1.2
million, right? And it's not a real big footprint, but I'm sure they're real nice houses, but I'd like to
get inside and see what they look like, and how innovative they are, but I can't get in there.
Beth Kenny: Thank you, well said. Do we have any comment on this item?
Audrey Lord-Hausman: Hi, my name is Audrey Lord-Hausman, past commissioner of this
esteemed Commission. And the UDO has been top of my list for, let's see, since 2012. And I think
this is a great information sheet, and a lot of interesting items in here. I think through all of this
since 2012, the Commission has educated the community on a number of levels, I will say that.
I
know more people talk about it now, and there's more interest out there from the general public, but
how do we reach them to get them sitting here, getting them to come to the planning meeting, the
Planning Board, whatever gatherings in order to speak to this. And I also think people still don't
understand it exactly, in terms of it's not just persons with disabilities, it's the aging process, and
issues that happen to all ages throughout our lives that are unexpected and change our lives
dramatically.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: And I think in the design area, that adaptability is key in the discussion,
because people will say, ""Well, not everybody has a disability, so why do we have to put all of that
stuff in there to start?"" Well, you don't have to do everything, but it has to be built with adaptability
in mind. And so I think that's something that I would encourage the Commission as you're
continuing the conversation, don't let some roadblocks come up from developers about, ""Well, we
can't do this, we can't do that."" ""Well, wait a minute, why can't you built something with an
adaptable design that a young healthy family can move in, and then either something happens or
they want to move a parent, or a grandparent in, or they sell it, and I want to move in, and I need to
08/17/16
Page 15 of 19",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-06-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,16,"adapt it to meet my needs?"" So that is something that I think would be worth including in the
conversation.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: But yes, I commend you to keep the battle going, I hate to say battle, but
it's time that this city stand up, become a leader, I absolutely agree, I would love to see Alameda
held up as an example of a city who said, ""You know, we're taking this seriously, and we are an
aging population here, and we want to keep people here."" And if we don't take that seriously, the
city, the City Council, Planning Board, everybody doesn't stand up and say, ""This is important, and
we want to make it special, and we want to make sure that our people can stay here"", then that's to
everybody's credit. So I would keep working hard, and keep pursuing this. And I think that we can
get people to support this as it comes together, and then for the final kind of overview with the
Planning Board. Thank you.
Beth Kenny: Thank you very much, Audrey. Alright, unless anyone else has anything to state on
that item I'd like to move onto staff communications.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Kerry Parker: Okay. So to say it again, we're going to cancel the August meeting in order to make
room for this meeting in September. Because right now we have six meetings a year, plus the
retreats. And we used to have just four meetings a year, even though sometimes those would be
cancelled. So, trying to be frugal with how we use our meetings. So, we imagine that the joint
meeting between the Planning Board and the CDI to be on September 26th, we'd normally schedule
the Planning Board meeting. And that the Planning Board will probably sit up here, and the
Commission on Disability Issues would sit out here. And that we would do a presentation of a final
draft of the Universal Design Ordinance, that's our hope. And that there would be a vote up here, a
vote over here. And that after that moment, it could go to Council. So, that's how we're kind of
imagining, just so you are all aware.
Beth Kenny: And I just want to point out, before that meeting, the work groups will have met with
a draft of the ordinance.
Kerry Parker: Yes. It will developed before that time, and you will probably be aware, either from
emails from me, or an email from the group that would be publicly out there, that I guess the results
of the subcommittee. You're going to be seeing that ordinance as it is being developed. So there's
that. That was one item that I had, the other item that I had was an email that I sent to you regarding
Form 700, and the Sunshine Ordinance Declaration. I brought extra copies tonight, so please, if you
haven't submitted it to the City Clerk's office, come by, grab another form, and you can fill it out
and hand it back to me, or you can mail it tomorrow, or whatever you'd like to do. But I tried to
make it a little more convenient by bringing it in today. And the sooner we can get those back, the
better.
Kerry Parker: And then Oh, the luncheon that I forwarded to you, that I received from Jim Franz
regarding the City of Alameda's Social Service Human Relations Board having a luncheon on June
22nd at the Alameda Free Library. I sent you an email about it, if you want more information, go
ahead and email me or call me in Public Works and I can get you more information. They do
request RSVP, but it's not required
08/17/16
Page 16 of 19",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-06-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,17,"Beth Kenny: Great. Thank you, Kerry.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Beth Kenny: Now we move on to announcements. I know that the event work group has been
meeting, and I believe you have..
La Donna Franco: Well, [chuckle] Okay, so the work group consist of myself and Arnold, and
Tony with us. And so we have been planning to be present for the next Park Street Festival. And the
vision is to, for example, be more visible as a Commission, and to offer information to the public,
such as video information, and be more visible on an ongoing basis through events like this, and
also developing partnerships with other Commission boards. And we're in the planning process of
that, and we've each agreed to have Fulfill some roles, and so, we should have some more
information shortly, and it would be wonderful From UDO, and a short brochure or kind of
a
pamphlet offering that.
Beth Kenny: Yes, that would definitely be a great way to get some information out there about
what Universal Design is, and what the city is considering. I really like that idea, and I would be
willing to come and work at that at any point.
La Donna Franco: You want to add anything, Arnold?
Arnold Brillinger: I just wanted to add, I've been to places like ADA Pacific. First, I contacted
them and had them mail me some things, some information on what they do and so forth. Then I
went in there one day when I And I just kind of raided their publications closet. I got some stuff
on the service animals, I got some stuff on other items, I even got some pens. I gave them all to
Kerry. I got like 80 of those pens, they're advertisement for ADA Pacific, but they're still things that
we can hand out, and probably, maybe we'll even get something that has CDI on it, and the phone
number for Kerry's office, and the web pages and all that kind of stuff. And I think that this would
be a great time for us to hand out and they sent me some electronic files on visitability. Well, they've
got two pages and four pages, and I thought we'll get a two pager, put it on both sides of one piece
of paper, have big stacks of these available on the table. And people can read them on the way
home, or take them home and read them there. And we need to be able to get out those things that
we are interested in, or that concern us. We ought to get them out so that everyone knows. And
somewhere I saw. Was it in your thing here, Beth? About writing letters to the editor?
Beth Kenny: Yes.
Arnold Brillinger: Right? Well, I started a letter a couple of weeks ago after I went out to the
housing. And starting writing, and it turned into not really a letter, it turned into more like a novel.
So I've got to cut it down. But it is a way for people to get that information.
Beth Kenny: Great, thank you. And I really appreciate it. I know this group has been working hard,
because I've been in on your emails. So thank you for all of the work that you guys are doing. And
please let the group know anytime that we can help you out, I know you'll probably need people to
help staff the table in July.
08/17/16
Page 17 of 19",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-06-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,18,"La Donna Franco: So, yes. Thank you for bringing that up. We'll be looking at considering some
rotations for the day, for the two day event. So we haven't finalized anything, we know that we will
need some help with that, to rotate, or volunteers.
Arnold Brillinger: And we're hoping to spread it among maybe the planning, or the Transportation
Commission, or to Mastick, anybody that wants to make themselves known in the community also.
Beth Kenny: Do you have the dates of that event in July?
La Donna Franco: So, let's see, July 30th and 31st on Park Street.
Arnold Brillinger: When is the Neptune thing? Is that coming up in June?
Kerry Parker: 18th and 19th of June. So, yes, Father's Day weekend.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes. So maybe we need to kind of do a preliminary, and then see what kind of
problems we come up with
La Donna Franco: A dry run?
Kerry Parker: It's worth calling them and finding out what a booth might cost.
Arnold Brillinger: Because that's WABA, right?
Kerry Parker: Yes.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes, okay.
Kerry Parker: Actually sorry, no, it's the Chamber of Commerce.
Arnold Brillinger: Oh, okay.
Beth Kenny: Alright.
Kerry Parker: And we kind of talked about those sorts of logistics. But yes, we've been talking
about it a little bit, but I have some thoughts on it, and so does Beth.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay.
Beth Kenny: Does anyone else have any announcements?
Susan Deutsch: I just want to let everyone know, I went to a library board meeting. I was just
impressed with what they offer for people with print disabilities, people with literacy challenges.
They have a lot of screen readers, they have a lot of groups for children. They're not planning any
big changes in the future, but they sent me an email inviting me to the meeting, to get to know me.
And they just shared a lot, the technology that they have and the programs that they have for
literacy and discipline. I've been also invited to the park rec, but it was on the same night as the
library, so I couldn't go to that one. And then they have another meeting tomorrow, which is going
08/17/16
Page 18 of 19",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-06-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-06-08,19,"to be difficult to have two meetings in a row, but if anybody wants to go to that meeting, park and
rec tomorrow night.
Beth Kenny: I think I can take that.
Susan Deutsch: I will come too.
Beth Kenny: Okay.
La Donna Franco: When is the next library board meeting?
Susan Deutsch: I don't know.
La Donna Franco: Do you think I can find it online?
Susan Deutsch: I just connected with them and I will let you know when I get something.
Beth Kenny: Alright, so are there any other announcements? Well, then I think we're ready to
adjourn. And I want to say that this was a very good meeting, thank you, everybody.
La Donna Franco: Thank you.
Kerry Parker: Concise! Good work!
Beth Kenny: Thank you.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:08 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kerry Parker
City Staff Liaison
Commission on Disability Issues
08/17/16
Page 19 of 19",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-06-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, October 12, 2016 6:30 p.m.
Item 2-B, December 14, 2016 CDI Meeting
1.
ROLL CALL
Elizabeth Kenny: I would like to take roll call for our meeting of the Commission on Disability
Issues for Wednesday, October 12th, 2016.
Kerry Parker: Welcome. Please respond. Chair Kenny?
Elizabeth Kenny: Present.
Kerry Parker: Vice Chair Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Aghapekian?
Anto Aghapekian: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Deutsch?
Susan T. Deutsch: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Franco?
La Donna Franco: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Hall?
Lisa Hall: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Lewis?
Tony Lewis: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Linton? And Commissioner Tsztoo? We have seven present, and we
have a quorum.
1-A
Welcome New Commissioner: Lisa Hall
Elizabeth Kenny: First I'd like to start off by welcoming our new Commissioner, Lisa Hall.
Welcome to the Commission on Disability Issues. She was chosen, the Mayor had some very good
candidates to choose from, and Lisa was very impressive. I'm glad that you're joining us. If you
want to say a few words about yourself, that would be great.
Page 1",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,2,"Lisa Hall: Thank you. I just want to say I'm happy to be here. I had a long successful career until
2012, when I finally became disabled after a few years of a bad accident. And my whole life
changed. And it was very much of an eye opener to see the obstacles that people with disabilities,
and seniors face. So, I wanted to see if I can help to do some good. I'm happy to be here.
Elizabeth Kenny: Okay, thank you. Welcome. So next, did you want to talk about the new format
for the minutes?
Kerry Parker: Sure, but let's do any agenda changes.
Elizabeth Kenny: Oh yes, sorry. I would like to make a motion that we change the agenda SO that
Item 5B, review of Commission business, is moved up to just after oral communication, non-agenda
items.
Kerry Parker: Right after.
Elizabeth Kenny: Oh, sorry. Yes. Right after 4A.
Kerry Parker: Made a motion?
Elizabeth Kenny: Yes, I have. Does anyone second that motion?
S?: Second it.
Elizabeth Kenny: All in favor?
(All): Aye.
Elizabeth Kenny: Any opposed? Great, thank you.
(AGENDA ITEMS BELOW ARE IN ORDER AS DISCUSSED, BUT NUMBERED AS ON AGENDA)
2.
MINUTES
Elizabeth Kenny: So now we move on to the minutes and Kerry is going to tell us a little bit about
the new format.
Kerry Parker: I said I would mention this. So if you noticed when I posted the agenda, the minutes
were done very differently than they have in the past. In the past, the minutes have been physically
notes that I have written after a meeting, and put it together in the way that I saw how the meeting
went, right? I paraphrased, I abbreviated a bit. But I tried to get the general flavor of the meeting in
the minutes. This took a lot of time. And in order to reduce that time, we found an online service
that can copy these minutes verbatim. So while it is a bit uncomfortable to see every cough and
laugh, I mean I took a bunch of things out like that from the verbatim minutes, however it's all
there. So it's not wrong, it's just it's now every single thing we say. So unless there any major
objections to this new format, I think we're going to proceed with this. It saves administrative time
on this Commission, which helps us have more time for more things in depth. So, that's my update.
Page | 2",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,3,"Elizabeth Kenny: Great. If anyone has any has any objections, I think now would be the time to
raise them. Commissioner Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: Mine is not an objection, I thought that it was a very good idea to do this. And
last night, I turned on the tape of it, the audio, and followed it, and it pretty much goes word for
word, except I didn't know that Kerry, you had done a little bit of editing, and took out some of the
coughs and things like that, or when sometimes people backtrack. So I think it's very good, and it's a
very good record of our meetings.
Kerry Parker: That's excellent, it definitely makes it easier for me. And I mean they did add
chuckles, and the Chair, when I first showed her this, says, ""Okay, I said, Alright,' too many times.""
So you're allowed to say, ""Hey, could you omit half of the, ""umms,"" that are typed in there?"" I don't
think they actually include too many ""umms"" but I'm happy to strip those out because I don't think
that they're pertinent to the conversation, and they're easy for me to pull. So, there is that. Tony?
Tony Lewis: Yes, I was just wondering. You don't find this to be equally as cumbersome? Because
basically you're having to sit through this twice, aren't you?
Kerry Parker: No, because I don't type it at all. So, basically..
Tony Lewis: What I mean by that is that you have to go through You have to read or go through
this to be aware of those things, the chuckles, the umms, the alrights.
Kerry Parker: Yes, that's a good point. I scan it, and I'm going to rely on you all to help me
additionally scan it. If I can see things evidently, I mean like right away, I'm going to pull them, and
that can be done by a search in software, right? I say, ""Okay, pull all the alrights,"" and I'll see if they
make any sense in that sentence. If I can pull them, I will, if I can't, I won't. Because I don't want to
lose any of the content, either. So, that's the only worry there. But I think with the format, it reads
okay and it is exactly what we said.
Elizabeth Kenny: And it's a time saver?
Kerry Parker: Yes, absolutely.
Elizabeth Kenny: Next I'd like to move on to Item 2B, approval of the minutes from our June 8th
2016 meeting.
S?: I so move.
Elizabeth Kenny: Second? All in favor of approval of the minutes as is?
S?: Aye.
Elizabeth Kenny: Great, that carried unanimously.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Page | 3",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,4,"Elizabeth Kenny: So, now is the time for oral communications, non-agenda items, do we have any
public comments?
Kerry Parker: We do but it's for item 5A.
Elizabeth Kenny: Okay, thank you.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A
Recognize Girls Inc. Julie Vu (Commissioner Franco)
Elizabeth Kenny: The Commission would like to thank and recognize Julie Vu for some amazing
volunteer work she did for the Commission, and I'm going to let Commissioner Franco speak with
that, because Commissioner Franco worked with Miss Vu.
La Donna Franco: Thank you. It's my great honor to recognize Julie Vu from Girls Inc, who
volunteered her time to work on our resource guide. It was a daunting task, and quite time
consuming. So on behalf of the Commission, I'd like to thank you for your time, energy, and effort
that you put into the resource guide. While it's not yet complete by us, you have given us a great
jumpstart into completing the resource guide, and getting that up to the website and to the public,
and making it more available and accessible to the public. So, I'd like to thank you for that. It was a
lot of piece-by-piece work, editing, cold calling, calling numbers and updating a lot of things. So it's
just a wonderful start that you've given us for it, so thank you. And I'd also like to thank former
Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman, for putting us in contact with Girls Inc as well. So, thank you.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, and we have a certificate for you, Julie, if you'd like to come up.
(A certificate of appreciation was awarded to Julie Vu.)
5-B
Review Commission Business: 6 meetings per year (Chair Kenny)
Elizabeth Kenny: Now we're going to jump ahead to 5B, review of Commission business. I wanted
to talk a little about the fact that we have six meetings per year, and our last meeting was in June,
it's been a little while since we've had a meeting. And that's because City Hall is dark in August,
we'll not be having meetings in August. What we are doing to have that sixth meeting is to have the
retreat in January. We looked at possibly doing it in August, but our new members would come on
that September-October time, it made more sense to keep the retreat in January, and have that
extended break. But because there are only six meetings throughout the year, I just want to say how
important it is for everybody to attend those meetings, and that there are lots of opportunities to get
involved beyond the meetings. But the meetings are our one time that we come together as a group,
it is very important to attend the meetings.
4-B
Discuss Summer Events & Future Events (Events Subcommittee)
Elizabeth Kenny: Next, we can go back to Item 4B, discuss the summer events and future events.
We had the Events Subcommittee got us a table at the Art and Wine Fair, and I'd like to hear back
from them, and what their future thoughts are too. Who would like to report?
Page | 4",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,5,"Arnold Brillinger: Since no one is jumping in, I'll go in. For the most part, we found that that was
a positive experience for the CDI. We thought that we contacted people, we were able to educate
them on various things. We had way more than we needed for handouts, and that was a real plus.
Thank you to the various people who went and got them. Also, we did have some comments about,
that it would probably be better, because this one was from until 4:00, that we go until 6:00.
Because a lot of people, it was cooler later in the evening, and they showed up later in the evening.
Just a lot more people there. Also, we were kind of on the side where more people kept in the
middle, going up and down the center, so, maybe if we can get something out in the middle, and
that would be helpful. But otherwise, it was a very good experience for the CDI to do.
Arnold Brillinger: Thank you also for the people who came out and were part of it, to help man the
table. Also, Tony will probably talk about some of the other volunteers from other groups that came
out there too. I also would like to talk about the fact that I had gone First I had gone to the City
Manager's office to find out, because we said, ""Let's see if we can get more blue curb parking close
to the event."" And it turned out that the Mayor, or the City Manager never did talk to me, but
handed it down and down and down, and the person who is in charge of that in Public Works did
call me and said, ""What do you want?"" And I said, ""Well, if we could get a number of parking
spaces in city-owned parking."" And she said, ""Well, we have that garage that's just down the street
here, and we have recently outfitted it with different lights. We can put green lights for open spaces,
and red lights for spaces that are used, and then we can put blue ones for the blue parking spaces.""
Arnold Brillinger: So, I went both days Saturday and Sunday, and I went into the garage, and I
was a bit disappointed. Because I was told that we would have up to eight different spaces, and
when I went in there, I saw the same three on the bottom floor, and I didn't see anymore. And I
looked around, and when I asked Kerry about it, she said, ""Well, let me have. ""It was Lisa, right?
Kerry Parker: Liz Acord.
Arnold Brillinger: I'm sorry, Liz Acord. And she called me back and she said, ""Well, you know, we
think that it went out and that it was a success, because you had asked for eight more spaces,"" which
I did, hoping that we'd get at least five more. She says, ""Well, we had 10 spaces, but we had them
up on the next floor up, where there's no incline, so that the handicapped people wouldn't have to
walk up or down the hill."" And I had not gone up there, so I was very happy to hear about that. And
she said that the public and the people who are running it, because they did have an extra person in
there, to explain to people how it works, that everyone thought it was a good idea to have those
extra handicapped spaces there. So that was a very positive thing, and I ask that for other events that
we have here on Park Street, that we just go ahead and ask for extra spaces, and it's not that hard to
do, I guess they can do it from the control desk, and which ones turn blue and which ones not. So, it
was a pretty good experience.
Anto Aghapekian: I have a question. In that building, the parking building, the spaces that they
allocated, did they have enough space for people to get in and out if they have a wheelchair, or if
they have a walker?
Arnold Brillinger: Well, I'm thinking that they had to probably make those in between red spaces.
Anto Aghapekian: I see.
Page | 5",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,6,"Arnold Brillinger: Now I've actually gone into the building since then, and I took the elevator all
the way to the top, and I rode all the way around and around and around down to the bottom. And I
found that next to the elevator on every floor, there is a blue space. There is already one, I mean, all
the time. So it's not only the three that I found on the bottom floor, but all the other floors, two,
three, four, five, and I think six, all have one also. So if we had 10 in addition to those, that's quite a
few spaces in there.
Anto Aghapekian: And then is there any possibility of having regular parking spaces on the street,
adjacent to parks where the fair is? And some of those parking spaces to be temporarily designated
as blue parking spaces?
Arnold Brillinger: Well, originally, I was just asking for anywhere that the city owned property,
that they could designate certain ones. But then this one is only a block away from the Park Street,
because it's on Oak Street, and I think that we can also ask for that in other years, something toward
the other end of the event, also.
Kerry Parker: As I understand it, there was a liability issue with temporary spaces and making
them ramp accessible, let's say. And the garage already was a public garage, that's why it happened
the way it did. I think asking for additional spaces could work, but this is how Public Works
responded, making sure these were accessible.
Elizabeth Kenny: I also like having it in the garage for other events, because people need to know
this is happening and they might not have just gone into the garage last time, but they might have a
friend who went in during the fair and can tell them, ""Hey, you can park in here during the fair.
There's additional disabled parking spots."" So having that, it would be great to get additional spots
closer, but also having that one spot that we can kind of build up a reputation of, ""This is where you
can go,"" I think is going to be helpful.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay.
Tony Lewis: I wanted to comment about the fair also. I thought it was very successful, and I would
like to certainly commend Commissioner Franco, because she was the one who transported lots of
the material that we had, and the table. And I would strongly urge that we have a little bit more
support from other commissioners, and I understand it was during a time, this was summer time and
people were on vacation, and they have other things to do. But it was a heck of a lot of fun, and it's
a
good way to meet people that you haven't seen for a while, that's one thing. And also, I really do
think that it's good publicity for the Commission, and it's just not promoting the dire parts of
disability, it's also part where you're at a fair, you're at an event, and I think it's important for us to
be at something like that. So the more people that we can get to support would be good. Especially
for people who drive, and supporting transporting stuff would certainly be helpful if we could do
that.
Tony Lewis: We partnered with the Alameda Community Chorus, who's also under Park and Rec,
and they had a table too, so we shared space with them. And I think that's a good idea for us to do
that in the future, because I think it draws more people, because they're curious about the Chorus, or
if we did it with Girls Inc, or some other group that's under Park and Rec, or connected in some
way, that's a good idea. It was also good for us to really see that there's other groups here in
Alameda, disability groups, the Pacific Islander group, who's having their event at the elementary
Page | 6",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,7,"school, I think, later this month, that's going to be happening. And that's something I certainly didn't
know about, and it's good for us to know about that.
Tony Lewis: And there was also another group assisting people with hearing impairments. And so
it's a good way to partner with them, and maybe that would be another thing for us to do. I also
would like us to think about, and for other Commissioners, if you know of any events that are
happening around town previously, and I don't know if this is still going to happen or not, but when
Alameda Hospital had the health fair in October, that possibly could be a good event for us to be a
part of when they were doing the screenings, flu shots and all that, and they would have different
tables around the room at Alameda Hospital, if they're still doing something like that. Something at
Mastick, they're doing something like that. If there's, for instance, this month is Disabled Awareness
Month, if there's an event connected to that, that's something we certainly should be a part of. This
upcoming week, as I sent an email to Kerry, this is White Cane Day coming up, which is
significant, because the White Cane came about because of veterans returning from World War II.
And so in 2012, I believe it was, all states and most cities declare proclamations for White Cane
Day, just recognizing what a symbol that is and how it's really given freedom to people who weren't
free before to be able to travel independently, and that came, result of the Veterans Administration.
Tony Lewis: And those are the things that we should be at the forefront of. And I just want to
commend Arnold again, for his hard work. Arnold has been certainly steadfast, as you heard, with
the parking. And again, with all the work that La Donna's done with it. And again, if we do have
another event, I would just strong encourage people to come out, because it's really good to hear
people's stories when they come out, and what's really resonating with people. There's a lot of
people here who are caregivers, who are a little bit lost and struggling, and trying to figure out the
different services that they can give to the people that they're assisting. Or people who are elderly,
and who are becoming disabled and trying to figure out that path too, and what life's going to be
like for them as disabled people. So it's a good service for us to offer, and it was good. So hopefully,
more of you will come out and be a part of it. And just want to thank those who did come out,
Abraham and Beth, of course, and Kerry who visited the table. She wasn't on the clock, but she
came out and visited with us too. And just anyone else who I might have missed. But it certainly
was a good couple of days.
La Donna Franco: I also just want to briefly say thank you. It was a great, wonderful couple of
days. And I don't want to repeat everything that Arnold and Tony just mentioned, but I think it's a
really great start, it has great potential. We're looking forward to being a part of any future events
coming up or things like that together.
Arnold Brillinger: I'd like to kind of finish this off by saying that we should probably have a booth
at the spring thing, down on Mother's Day.
Kerry Parker: Spring Festival.
Arnold Brillinger: Festival, okay, along with the Art and Wine. And also on Webster, when they do
their days about the amusement park, that we are a part of all three of those. And I encourage you to
be a part of it. And also, I think that it would be great if we could get And I know, I've said this
before, get this shuttle out there. Because most people in Alameda do not know that there is a free
shuttle, three days a week. They're talking about increasing the times that it runs and also where it
runs to, like the Fruitvale BART. But I haven't seen any of those things happening lately. So I know
Page 7",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,8,"that they're very busy with other things, too.
Kerry Parker: I strongly suggest the Events Committee coordinate with Rochelle Wheeler about
coordinating a shuttle, I think she discussed with me that if she had more lead time, she could figure
it out in the budget, and to reserve that shuttle. So it's something for the Events Committee to talk to
Rochelle about.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay. Because with the shuttle being there, it would bring it to mind and people
would say, ""Why is that bus in the middle of the street?"" Or whatever, and we could talk about,
""Hey, this is a service here in the City of Alameda, use it.""
Elizabeth Kenny: I just want to thank you all, I think that it was a great event, and that you guys
are really doing amazing work. There was so much information about different resources there. And
yes, the people I talked with, some just had no idea about basic resources that are available. So I
think this is very important, and Ilove your idea, Tony, to keep going, and going to these other
events. What I would like to propose is that we take a vote to authorize the Event Committee to sign
up for future events. You can ask us to volunteer with them, but if you hear events like the one at the
middle school, or if Mastick is having an event, that you guys should sign us up and we'll still help,
but I want you guys to have that autonomy. So that's what I propose, is that we give the Events
Committee the autonomy to sign us up for different events. Do I have a second?
Tony Lewis: Well, I would just like amend, just a little bit, because I really do want people from the
committee not to feel that it's just this committee that will initiate these things. I think that we all
hear about things, and are aware of different things are going on in the committee. And it doesn't
have to be just the committee of three, because we're all on this Disability Commission. And I just
really don't want it to turn into just three people. I'd like to see more people. Because I don't know
everything that's happening in the city, and La Donna and Arnold don't know. But as a Committee,
we really need to work together, and bring it up to the meetings, send out an email, whatever we can
to really get things going. And if we need to setup an ad hoc committee to support it, that's my
thought on it.
Elizabeth Kenny: So, are you suggesting I'm just trying to understand what you're suggesting,
that you don't want the Events Committee to be moving forward? Or you want Because we can't
Tony Lewis: Well, that's just my thought. I don't know, Arnold and La Donna may have a different
thought.
La Donna Franco: No, I think we're on the same page about that, thank you for mentioning that.
No, I would be more than happy to move forward. I think we spoke about adding possibly one more
person to an Events Committee. So, just in case of emergency, or other needs that we might have, a
person may be able to deliver materials and just be there as a fourth.
Tony Lewis: Because it's a lot of work.
Elizabeth Kenny: I think that's a great idea, yes.
La Donna Franco: And that part did become, physically, a bit of work.
Page | 8",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,9,"Elizabeth Kenny: Yes.
La Donna Franco: So I think more support would be helpful, moving forward.
Elizabeth Kenny: I think that's a great idea, because I do want to support you guys as much as
possible. So, is there anyone who would like to join the Events Committee who's not on it right
now? Or if nobody else does, I would definitely join. Commissioner Hall, would you like to join the
Events Committee?
Lisa Hall: I would love to, I love doing events and I'm still driving, so I think that would be a
wonderful way I could try to learn about how things work, and get involved.
Elizabeth Kenny: Great, thank you.
Tony Lewis: And we have the greatest meeting places, I have to tell you.
[laughter]
Arnold Brillinger: That's what I was going to say too, between the Blue Danube and the crepe
place
Tony Lewis: Oh, don't tell all of our secrets.
[laughter]
Tony Lewis: We are on TV after all.
Arnold Brillinger: No, we're not going to tell where we had the beers.
[laughter]
Arnold Brillinger: So, there's some good places.
S?: Thank you, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth Kenny: So given the intent that it will not just be the four of you attending these events,
and staffing, and doing all the work for these events, but that if you are able to sign us up for events
without having to come back to report it, just because timewise, especially now that we've had
almost a four-month break, it would have been impossible to get permission from the Commission
to do these things. So, I'd like to authorize you to do that. Again, with the intent that the rest of the
Commission will still be involved. But you, four, will be the primary. Do I have a second?
Arnold Brillinger: I second.
Elizabeth Kenny: All in favor?
All: Aye.
Page | 9",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,10,"Elizabeth Kenny: Any opposed? Great.
4-C Revisit Highlights of ADA Conference (Attendees)
Elizabeth Kenny: I think with that we can move on to Item 4C, which is, several of our
Commissioners attended an ADA Conference, and we wanted to hear your thoughts on the
conference, and any information you wanted to share about that experience. So I believe, Arnold,
La Donna, did you attend? And Tony, you also attended?
Arnold Brillinger: Tony was there.
Elizabeth Kenny: So, is there any pieces of information you'd like to share with the Commission
from that meeting?
Tony Lewis: Well, the one I was most interested in was the one, I think Kerry sent out a timely
email about service animals. And we went over the ideas proposed, was the whole idea about
service animals, when businesses could refuse a person, the rights of the individuals with service
animals, and just to find out what businesses actually had the right to, I was surprised to hear that
churches are one of the few that were exempt under the ADA, that they didn't necessarily have to
comply with that. So, that was interesting for me. And timely, speaking of the fair, I was with
another person who was blind at the event that we did in July, and she had a service animal and we
were taking Uber and we were refused by the Uber driver. And just to see how that whole process
played out with Uber, I won't go into the details about it, because there was a lot of stuff around it.
But just really going over, and I think it was helpful just being at the meeting to really get an
understanding about when situations like that do come up, when it is blatant discrimination, what
your rights are, and how you deal with the discrimination without it being a long drawn out process.
So, that was one of the things.
La Donna Franco: My thoughts about that workshop as well, that was a very poignant one for me
as well. And just noting the two questions, particularly for businesses to ask individuals with
disabilities about their service animal, ""Is this animal required because of a disability?"" And, ""What
work or task has this animal been trained to perform?"" Being the only two questions that they are
allowed to ask. And when it's presented, or asked out of the spirit of respect and civility, those are
relevant questions, I think, and should be applied. I think the difficulties come when there's the
confusion on what rights we do have, how much information is confidential. And a person's medical
condition is confidential, it is not informed with the knowledge, or a business does not need to
know that. So I think having these two questions on hand for businesses for individuals are very,
very important.
Arnold Brillinger: I would like to thank Kerry, because she's the one who figured out that the city
could send four people to this conference and pay for it. Because I was going to go by myself
Or
not by myself, but as a single person, to find out what was going on. But thank you, Kerry, for
doing that. And we need to remember that if there are things that come up, there is some money in
the budget for educational, right?
Kerry Parker: Right, education and conferences. Very specific and has something to do with the
Or r business license. And it is set aside for education, as I understand it. That is the interpretation
that
what the fund is used for right now. Conferences like that. I don't know that we would be able
Page 10",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,11,"to put people up in hotels or that sort of thing, but we can certainly get the fees to get the folks out.
And we should note this for next year. Or if you want to go next year, we can set that up early and
get everything ready to go. We did it kind of last minute this time, but it worked out just fine.
Anto Aghapekian: After two days of really good fun, waking up early in the morning and hopping
on the ferry boat, and going to a conference, that was fun. But more fun was all the resources that
were available during the two days, I was amazed how much knowledge was being distributed that
day, or during those two days. The one that struck me the most was when they spoke about the civil
rights, and how important it was that we do consider Title 13 to be not only an ordinance, but it is
part of our civil rights, it's part of our Constitution. And that struck me very, very strongly, and I'm
glad that it did, it was a wakeup call. But the rest was just a revision of the standards, architectural
codes, and the guidelines, it was just a revision, a refresher. But also it reminded me that there are
many confusing guidelines between Federal, the State and the local ordinances, each one has its
own definition, and its own guidelines. So, I would call it a moving target, you're guessing,
basically, which code to comply with. So it is difficult to navigate that.
Anto Aghapekian: But other than that, it was very educational, it was captivating, there were some
conferences that were happening at the same time and we jumped going back and forth between the
conferences, listening 10 minutes here to 10 minutes there, just to pick up as to what was going on.
It was fascinating, and I hope that they'll have it again, and I would love to go, and encourage the
other Commissioner also to go, it was very educational.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you very much.
La Donna Franco: Excuse me, Commissioner Kenny, if I can just add one more thing and maybe
propose something to the Commission. As far as the service animal workshop goes, there was so
much information, I was thinking and wanted to propose to the Commission if inviting a
representative from the ADA, Pacific ADA Center, to speak on service animals with a brief
presentation, and make that more accessible to Alameda businesses at large?
Elizabeth Kenny: I think that would be a great idea, and we can look into that. Currently our
December meeting agenda is pretty full, we're going to be discussing emergency preparedness. We
have several different presenters. So it would be great to set it up for the February meeting.
La Donna Franco: Thank you.
Tony Lewis: I just wanted to mention along with that emergency preparedness, and I don't know
who the person is that's speaking, but we did have a person from Sacramento who spoke on
emergency preparedness, and how many cities, counties have emergency preparedness plans that
include people with disabilities. And I'm not sure if that's
Kerry Parker: Tony, I wonder what they want to speak to us about. Public Works wishes to have
Sharon Oliver from the Fire Department, and she's our Disaster Preparedness Director, er, I can't
remember what her title is, but it's something like that, she wants to come and speak with the
Commission about that very thing. Sorry to interrupt you.
Tony Lewis: Okay. Yes, well I'm just saying that on a State level, this person was outlining what
was required in terms of emergency preparedness for people with disabilities. So I don't know if
Page 11",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,12,"that would be relevant or not, maybe she's going to be covering that and it wouldn't be necessary.
But that was also a person who was at one of the workshops, at our meeting.
Elizabeth Kenny: Great. I would love to see the State stuff, what is required.
Tony Lewis: Okay, I'll get you his information I stole off his card.
Elizabeth Kenny: So if that concludes the highlights of the ADA conference, I'd like to move on to
old business, and Item 5A, discuss Universal Design Ordinance update.
5-A
Discuss Universal Design Ordinance update (Chair Kenny)
Kerry Parker: Chair Kenny, I would like to say for the record that we have a new attachment that
has been since this agenda was posted, although it's now on the city website, if should you look at
the agenda for tonight, and it a 5A public comment, which is a letter from a developer regarding the
Universal Design Ordinance as it is written right now. Just want to add that.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you. I believe we also have public comment in person on this agenda
item. Okay, so to give you all an update, you received along with your agenda the current proposed
Alameda Universal Design Ordinance, and some accessibility charts that Commissioner Brillinger
found for us, which really helped me understanding the difference between Universal Design and
visitability. And that's important for our Universal Design Ordinance, because we are asking for
there to be visitability requirements within Universal Design Ordinance, and we're asking for those
to be a 100% across the board.
Elizabeth Kenny: So in this chart, the things in blue, the first three items, that is all that's required
to make the visitability standard. And the visitability movement came out of Atlanta, and it's the
idea that people should be able to visit their friends, they should be able to Even if they're
not
living in a house, they should at least be able to come over and visit with their friends. So that they
have no step entrance. The doorway is wide enough for them to get in, and there's an accessible
bathroom for them to go there. So that's the three requirements of visitability. Now if you continue
down, there was a part of Universal Design, but Universal Design encompasses all the other aspects
on the chart as well. So the other aspects, we have been asking that 30% of all new developments,
residential developments with five or more units meet the Universal Design requirements. The
Planning Department has suggested 20% and carving out a special exemption for townhouses,
because they are working on limited amount of floor space, but we are not in agreement on that
issue.
Elizabeth Kenny: I think that we would like to see that for all residential developments, and with
the idea that we've also asked for some sort of reporting mechanism in the ordinance, so that the
city can see whether this is something that we should be doing for all projects, all residential
projects, and not just new construction. But that is something that we want to have assessed and
look at down further down the road once we have the Universal Design Ordinance in place. The
Planning Board met on Monday night to look at the Universal Design Ordinance, and they also had
the letter that Kerry was speaking about from a developer who raises concerns about the ordinance
being overreaching, and going beyond what the State model has asked for. And that's nothing that
we weren't aware of, we knew that we wanted to ask for more than what the State minimum was.
Page 12",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,13,"Elizabeth Kenny: And so I know it's going to be reviewed by the City Attorney's Office, but I think
the next step to have happen is that there will be another draft. Andrew Thomas has said that we
should expect it in about two to three weeks, after he met with the Planning Board. And he's hoping
that we can have it approved by the Commission on Disability Issues, and in the Planning Board
before the end of the year, with the idea that first meeting of the new year, we'd get it before City
Council. I hope that that's the actual timeline, but I'm not 100% sure that we'll be able to meet that.
So I guess if anyone has any questions or comments. Did any other Commissioners have anything
they'd like to say at this point?
Susan T. Deutsch: Well, I mean I read this letter, and it seems like the objections of this I guess
it's a construction company, it's related to the cost of what we're proposing that it would cost too
much. But in this letter, they don't really specify what items we are requesting, cost. So I really feel
like we need more information. I mean he's just saying, ""We're overreaching. It's going to cost too
much."" And we kind of expected that response, but we really need to know, well what is it that's
costing too much? So that we can figure out what should we be demanding? What can we pull back
on? Or, should we push through what we want?
Elizabeth Kenny: I believe we have a public comment on this agenda item.
Kerry Parker: Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman would like to make a comment which she will do
from the seat across from me.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: Thank you. Having been a part of the work group for a number of years, I
do have a couple of comments. I agree with Commissioner Deutsch, who was also in the beginning.
We don't want to do just the basic requirements, if Alameda wants to lead and show the county what
can be done on behalf of persons who need Universal Design and accessibility and visibility, then
let's overreach, let's go beyond the basics. One of the things that I saw in here was It's on page
two, on the first paragraph, it says that, ""There is a requirement for California builders constructing
new for sale residential units to provide a check list of universal accessibility features to potential
buyers."" Well, I think we've discussed this before, I've been to two developments in Alameda, went
to the sales departments, they looked at me blankly, there was nothing there available to guide me
as to any accessibility features. So right there, I think that sort of tells me that there's a lot of
improvement that could be done by developers working together with the city. I think there was
last
Not last year, this year, this spring, a gentleman came and spoke to us from the Oakland
Disability Commission, Aaron Zisser?
Susan T. Deutsch: Yes.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: He was very, very knowledgeable, and it seems to me we're certainly
going to go back to the table. And I think I would recommend that maybe it would be of value to
invite him to counsel the Commission and the workgroup as to how to make this work as efficiently
as possible. But clearly there's more to do, and I agree with Susan, then if it is more costly, I'd like
to know what, I'd like a list, what is it? And if this ordinance ""conflicts with State law"" then I'd like
to know what that is and encourage the Commission to ask some pretty strong questions. Thank
you.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you.
Page | 13",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,14,"Anto Aghapekian: I was part of the working committee, working on the guidelines of the
Universal Design. And for me, this letter is a classic letter, it's a typical letter of a developer who is
pushing back. And developers in the construction trade in general, they've been doing nothing but
pushing back since 1973, this is nothing new. And they'll keep on pushing back until they do realize
that they themselves are in need of a wheelchair, or a cane, or something. What we're asking is the
result of many, many, many hours that people prior to my participation in that working committee
have put in many hours working, and analyzing and studying all the statistics, the numbers, the
need, and that's particularly for Alameda, it's not for the State of California. We, in Alameda, we
feel the need of more housing that is accessible for people that have difficulties being up one step.
Anto Aghapekian: What we're asking is nothing extraordinary, what we're asking is the facility for
people who visit friends, visit families, and be part of this city, be part of the family, instead of
being neglected, which they had been for a long, long time. So I agree, Beth, we need to study this.
And the letter, and I'm not surprised, an attorney has to study this, it's all legalese. And I'm in no
rush, I would like to see this done a soon as possible, but I will not accommodate some developers
schedule so that we pass this ordinance by January. I mean, why January? Why not February? Why
not March? Why not December? So, I'm not too keen on setting a date, a deadline to finish this off.
Arnold Brillinger: This letter itself talks a lot about apartment buildings. Apartment buildings don't
even have these problems, they are accessible just by the fact that they are apartments. And I do not
think that the person who wrote this letter really has that much knowledge of building expertise as
maybe the people in the Planning Board, or maybe Andrew. Even what we've learned from him tells
me here, this person is just kind of blowing smoke. And I don't think that we should feel that we
need to back down on anything, and maybe we even need to make some of the things stronger, and
we shall see.
Anto Aghapekian: And I would also like to add that during the meetings, it became very obvious
from the numbers that the city itself has prepared that there is a demand for housing that's
accessible. The demand is there, the numbers, the facts are not provided to us by the city. So if the
demand is there and people are looking for it, why not supply? And we're not begging.
Arnold Brillinger: Also, now Audrey mentioned that they kind of look like deer in the headlights
or something, right? When you asked him about what kinds of things are you offering. I also went
and they gave me a couple of sheets that looked like were run off on the old mimeograph machine.
Arnold Brillinger: Even if you give that out to people, they're not going to even look at it twice.
And it needs to be some kind of a nice fancy brochure, a slick brochure to hand out to people. But
as it is, when this person talks about the State, what they suggest, that's the bare minimum. Again,
we do not want to be the bare minimum. We are not Omaha, Nebraska, or something like that, they
can just keep on ploughing under the cornfields outside of the city limits and make them into
housing. When we build these houses out there on the Naval Air Station, after that where do you
have a space large enough to put up more than a couple of houses at one time? You don't have it.
And if Alameda doesn't have visitable or accessible housing, at least for some of their buildings,
which would be 100% of all the new ones, then you will just have a city that is basically
unvisitable, and have grandma come over and enjoy Christmas afternoon with them, if she's in a
wheelchair. There're so many different things. I know we don't have the time for it.
Elizabeth Kenny: We do have an additional public comment. Carol Gottstein?
Page 14",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,15,"Carol Gottstein: Hi, I'm Carol Gottstein The way I have to speak, avoid the feedback and still be
heard. I was asked by a member of the Planning Board to comment on the Universal Design
Ordinance. And unbeknownst to me, but fortunately last night at the Planning Board, an architect, a
man who designed Shinsei Gardens, his name is Eric Mikiten and he is in a wheelchair, and he is an
AIA architect. He will be designing the access to, I think it's called Building 8 out at the base. And
he came to speak on elements of Universal Design, and specifically compared the proposed draft
ordinance of Alameda to the existing ordinances of Fremont, Dublin, Hayward, Sacramento because
a lot of it's borrowed from pre-existing ordinances. There's some problems with our ordinance
irrespective of the letter that was submitted so it still needs some work.
Carol Gottstein: One thing I noticed, and that this architect also remarked on, is that the builder of
the residence has an obligation to offer and to offer to install Universal Design features, but the
buyer has to pay for them. So you could conceivably have people with the identical disability, but
one of them could afford the design features, and one of them couldn't. And that seems a little
lacking in the social justice department, to me. I don't know how to get around it, but it's actually
popped up in some of the other existing city Universal Design Ordinances that are already on the
books. In ours, it's Section 18.7 on page 506. The letter that we have received is from Tim Lewis
Communities, they're the developer that's building the Del Monte development. And I can
understand why that company would object, because they're trying to fit a certain number of units,
basically the maximum number, in an already confined space, they can't go outside the brick walls
of the Del Monte Cannery.
Carol Gottstein: So, if you require that entrances be wider and aisles be wider, they're going to
have to give up some of the units they've already planned to put in the same space. Anyway, if
you're thinking of having a speaker come, I would really encourage you to invite this Erick Mikiten,
who has an architecture firm in Berkeley, because he was great. Thanks.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you. In our Joint Subcommittee meetings, we did discuss Section 18.7
being problematic, and just unclear. So thank you, and I agree. Have any other comments on this
agenda item?
Susan T. Deutsch: Well, it's just, when we first started this committee, and working on Universal
Design, somebody else came and spoke to us. And it was somebody who Kelly knew, and she
presented the concept of Universal Design. And she also, pretty clear, that it doesn't cost more to
build homes or units with Universal Design. And I'd like to try to find her input. Because she was
giving examples of other cities that have done it. And they really had very good design ordinances.
I'd like to try to find out.
Elizabeth Kenny: Great, yes. We can definitely get in touch with former Commissioner Harp, find
who has contact information.
Susan T. Deutsch: Yes. And I might have the contact information, too.
Elizabeth Kenny: So I think that concludes old business. And we're going into staff
communications.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Page | 15",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,16,"Kerry Parker: As I have shared with you a couple of times regarding the minutes, that was
important to staff. For the next meeting, Gail Payne has asked to come back and speak about the
transportation item that she brought before you last June. She wants to come back and let everyone
know how the analysis has gone. And then, as I said earlier, the Public Works Director is asking to
bring an item to the CDI agenda, because the Emergency Operations Center that is being built in
mid-Island is really looking like a building now. And he's wanting Sharon Oliver to talk about
emergency preparedness as it relates to the disabled community in Alameda, and how to organize
that better than it is right now, to address the need. So that's kind of what staff is looking at. We
definitely have the December meeting stacked with those two large items. But yes, regarding
agendas for meetings, I'm still open to hearing ideas. Beth and I kind of discuss them before we set
them, but if you have any suggestions, email Beth and I for agenda items.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Kerry.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Elizabeth Kenny: I would like to let everybody know that this is National Disability Employment
Awareness Month, and the city will be doing a proclamation at the next City Council meeting,
which is next Tuesday night. I will be here to receive the proclamation, but all are welcome to
attend. And if you have a chance, you should really check out the National Disability Employment
Awareness Month website. They have some really great resources and information on there. I
believe Lisa Hall had an announcement.
Lisa Hall: Thank you. As Tony brought up, I picked up this There is a project seminar awareness
put on at Will C. Wood School. It's sponsored by the Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific-
Islander Disability Awareness Project. And it's on Saturday, October 22nd, from 10:00 to 2:00. And
making their logo, Making the Invisible Visible, Breaking the Stigma. So I was planning on going.
La Donna Franco: I will see you there as well, I plan on going.
Elizabeth Kenny: Great. And is there any other announcements that people would like to make?
Tony Lewis: Yes. I just want to just reiterate the additional proclamation about White Cane Day. I
know that we can't do it Well, my understanding is, we can't do it, but there is a standard
proclamation that does come out, and I think I forwarded it to you, Beth, the information about
White Cane Day. And the significance of that is it came out of the Veterans Administration, and
that's a major proclamation that came about in 1964 and its gained traction under the Obama
administration. And many cities have issued this proclamation. And I would certainly like to see it
become a standard in Alameda, that we have the proclamation declared, since it is something that
has been changed for blind specifically, and is a standard in most cities, in San Francisco, Berkeley,
Sacramento and other cities. The date is October 15th, and I'd like to see that become a regular
statement in Alameda. So, probably can't happen this year, but just something to keep in mind that
maybe we can send it out for everybody to see, maybe it's something that we'd like to make happen
next year.
Kerry Parker: And that's something we can definitely organize on the staff level. I was just given
a
calendar today of how far in advance I need to set an item on the council agenda, and that's about a
Page 16",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,17,"month and a half. So if we can get something organized next year, let's even say it's in August, and
you send me an email, we can get a proclamation drawn up. We can take the model that you have,
and we can make it into something that perhaps can get on the council agenda for next October
15th. I'm totally open to that. We just need to have a little bit more planning time.
Elizabeth Kenny: Great. Yes, I think it would be wonderful, I definitely think the city would be
open to having a proclamation for White Cane Day.
Kerry Parker: Yes.
Elizabeth Kenny: Great. So are there any other announcements?
Arnold Brillinger: I received an email the other day, I don't know if all of you did or not, about
BART is showing some of their new cars from the Fleet of the Future, and it is on the weekend of
the 15th and 16th, also on the 29th and 30th. The four different places here in the East Bay, one of
them is at the MacArthur Station on the 16th, from 11:00 to 4:00. And it's a good idea to go up there
and see what the new BART cars look like. They've got three doors. They would like to have input
from all kinds of people, as they already have, but as much feedback as possible is appreciated, and
especially from the disabled community. That would be great.
Elizabeth Kenny: Yes, I have heard some concerns from the disabled community regarding these,
so it would be nice to be able to check them out in person. Thank you.
Tony Lewis: Where is it going to be this weekend, Arnold?
Arnold Brillinger: This weekend, I think that on Saturday, it's at Pleasant Hill. On Sunday, it's at
the MacArthur Station. And then there's also one on the weekend of the 29th and 30th, there is one
in Dublin/Pleasanton area. In fact, how about if I just forward the email to all the Commissioners?
Alright?
Elizabeth Kenny: Alright.
Arnold Brillinger: And then if you see a date in there that you want to go and check them out, it's
really interesting to go out to see them.
Kerry Parker: You can forward it to me and I'd be happy to forward it to the listserv.
Arnold Brillinger: Oh, that's what I'll do. Kerry, I'll send it to you and then
Kerry Parker: Forward it on.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes.
Elizabeth Kenny: Great, thank you. Does anyone else have an announcement? Great. Then I think
we are ready to adjourn this meeting. Thank you all very much.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:12 p.m.
Page | 17",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-10-12,18,"Respectfully submitted,
Kerry Parker
City Staff Liaison
Commission on Disability Issues
Page | 18",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, December 14, 2016 6:30 p.m.
1. ROLL CALL
Elizabeth Kenny: Call to order, the meeting of this Commission on Disability Issues for December
14th, 2016.
Kerry Parker: Roll call. Chair Kenny?
Elizabeth Kenny: Here.
Kerry Parker: Vice-Chair Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Aghapekian? Commissioner Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Franco? Commissioner Hall?
Lisa Hall: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Lewis? Commissioner Linton?
Jennifer Linton: Here.
Kerry Parker: And Commissioner Tsztoo?
Michaela Tsztoo: Here.
Kerry Parker: We have six present. We have a quorum.
2. MINUTES
Elizabeth Kenny: So the first item on our agenda is approval of the minutes from October 12th, 2016
meeting. Did anyone have any corrections they wanted to make? I looked through it and, again, I'm
happy with the service. I think we should keep using it.
Kerry Parker: Excellent. Public Works is very happy to hear that.
Elizabeth Kenny: Alright, so can we vote to approve the minutes from October 12th, 2016?
Arnold Brillinger: I so move.
Susan Deutsch: I second.
Elizabeth Kenny: Alright. All in favor?",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,2,"All: Aye.
Elizabeth Kenny: All opposed? Great. Six to zero. Now we have oral communication on non-agenda
items for public comment.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Kerry Parker: We don't have any speaker slips for this. Oh, and I would like everyone to know there
are speaker slips if you want to speak on any of these items. So we can move on to new business.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
Elizabeth Kenny: First up, we're going to have Captain Sharon Oliver discuss the Alameda Fire
Department's Disaster Response Planning. Welcome. Thank you for coming.
Sharon Oliver: My name's Captain Sharon Oliver. I'm with the Alameda Fire Department here in
town. I have been with the city for 22-plus years. I am currently assigned as the city's Disaster
Preparedness Coordinator and Emergency Manager for the city. So what that means is I do planning
for the city. I coordinate the planning; I train city staff; I manage the Community Emergency Response
Team training, and the broader group that volunteers with us. I work with partner agencies such as
yourselves, and I do a lot of sundry things throughout our department that pop up; I seem to get
whatever rolls downhill.
Sharon Oliver: We're going to talk about preparation planning and resiliency. What we look at in the
city as a whole community resiliency. I put up a definition of what resilience means because it actually
kind of embodies what we're trying to do here. So I'll just read it aloud. ""Resiliency is a noun, the
power or ability to return to original form position, etcetera, after being bent, compressed, or
stretched. Elasticity, the ability to recover readily from adversity, or the like. And buoyancy.""
Sharon Oliver: That's the point when we look at being prepared for disaster or anything that comes
our way, is that's something unusual, it's not part of our daily activities but we are able to spring back
up. The city wants to be able to spring back up. We want to just stand right back up and get back to
our normal business operation as soon as we can. That means you can go shopping, and the streets
are drivable, and the water flows, and the toilets flush, and everything works. And Public Works
handles an awful lot of that. When we say a whole community, having a community that's resilient in
the whole community, it means each and every part of our city, not only our infrastructure but our
people., so everybody's able to get back to the business of living daily life. We do expect that some
buildings may be damaged, but we want to get people back into their homes. We want people to be
able to stay in town and be okay.
Sharon Oliver: So I'm just going to talk to you a little bit about our planning effort. This coming
year in 2017, we're going to be refreshing our Emergency Operation Plan and that's probably going
to take the better part of a year. The Emergency Operation Plan is what we work from. It's a document
that was adopted by the City Council, and when we go through our revision of this plan, there's a lot
to add. Laws have changed and things have changed. For example, we know we have the risk of
tsunami inundation now. It's not a very big risk but it's there, so we have to address risks that we've
identified.
Sharon Oliver: Over 2016, we put together a Hazard Mitigation Plan which is a required document,
and we just looked at all our hazards. We looked at our population, we looked at our infrastructure,
we looked at diversity, we've looked at many, many things. You might remember having a
presentation from Erin Smith from Public Works about that mitigation plan, and SO we have that in",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,3,"place. When we look at planning, we look at a few things. We look at our plan in the city which helps
us operate in a disaster, gives us guidance or what we're going to do and how we going to handle a
disaster. We also look for continuity of operation within the city. That's making sure all our staff
comes back to work and we're able to continue to conduct business as a city. Then we looked at shelter
planning for disasters, and this is really a key component. As you probably know, there's a lot of laws
and rules around functional needs individuals and it's really important.
Sharon Oliver: We have learned throughout the United States that we need to be inclusive. That
means everybody, no matter what language you speak, what color you are, what kind of need do you
have, we need to provide for that. That and our pets, so we also include our pets, it's like our whole
community. When we look at shelter planning, the functional needs community is a diverse group all
in itself, because you can't say functional needs as you know and one size will fit all. It does not. First
of all, we hope that we don't even have to move you from your home, but if we do, we have to have
a place where your needs are met. Access for wheelchairs, cots that you can sleep on, we just talked
about braille as I was walking in so that we can sign properly SO that you can get in and get out without
heartaches. That's part of our planning processes as well.
Sharon Oliver: And then once we get these plans in place, and I mentioned sheltering because
sheltering is a big deal for us. We have old infrastructure and old buildings, they're not all entirely
accessible. We work towards accessibility, we have policies in place for accessibility, but older
buildings don't always come up to code because they haven't need re-building or remodeling yet. If
you do a remodel, you have to bring things up to code. If you build a new building, you have to build
to code, but we're an old city. When we plan, we have to look at what are all our options for sheltering,
and what would we need to do even right there in the moment to bring something close enough so
that everybody could use the shelter.
Sharon Oliver: And then we work with the public to have the public prepared. We're a small city
staff in the big scheme of things. So for example we have 24 firefighters on duty each day, we have
78,000 residents. You can see the numbers outnumber us by a great deal, so training our citizens,
training you, the public, to have a preparedness plan so that you are as self-sufficient as possible helps
us all because there are people who will never plan and we're going to have to help them. So the more
people we have trained and have a plan, the better off we are.
Sharon Oliver: We also plan for pets. In this community there's probably a lot of service animals,
and they have a special place in sheltering and others. But it doesn't really matter, we love our pets,
regardless whether your pet is a service animal or not, that pet's important to us and we plan for that.
We affiliate volunteers, I mentioned before the Alameda CERT teams, Community Emergency
Response Teams, so we have close to 300 active members and they are engaged every day. We just
had a walking search for a child from one of the schools here. She turned up safe and sound, she had
gone to a friend's house but she wasn't in school. The police rallied our CERT teams and they did a
walking search for her. So, that group is very engaged and affiliated with us. Then we also want to
look at our business districts and encourage them to have continuity of operation plans. That means
that if they get knocked off out of their business, that they are able to re-bound and re-open. We know
if businesses don't have a continuity of operation plan, they often don't reopen, and that's a direct
impact on our citizens' ability to shop and do business.
Sharon Oliver: Okay, so, planning for the functional needs community. So we're encouraging all
citizens to prepare. Preparedness might look different to different people. In fact it does, there's really
no one size fits all regardless. Having a plan, having your community connected and networking,
having a system of welfare checks. I will tell you in the past, at least three times we attempted to
register folks who had some sort of special needs so we could, in a disaster, do welfare checks. What
we discovered and it may have changed, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, the functional need",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,4,"community wasn't interested in giving out information like that. It was a scary thought to give
information even to the city to do welfare checks because there was a trust issue, I believe. We never
conquered that hurdle.
Sharon Oliver: But it's very important to be able to network in a way that the community feels safe,
your community feels safe and there's somebody to check on folks that need to be checked on. Welfare
checks are important, having a plan for moving if you can't stay in your location, and that can mean
a lot of different things. That might actually require paired transit or some other vehicle that's
specialized and relocating. Having a plan to be able to stay in your home as best you can, having a
welfare check, having some supplies of food, water, medicine, anything you need to keep you going,
and then having a back-up plan where you might go if you cannot stay in your home.
Sharon Oliver: What can you guys do? Well, you can be partners with the city in our planning effort.
So you can attend trainings to learn personal preparedness, that would be great. You can make plans
ahead, whatever that looks like for you. You can assemble a kit that you have in your home or your
car. Water's super important. We can go a long time without food, but water's essential, SO having
some in your vehicle, at your home, whatever you can keep, even a little is better than none. And then
having your contact phone numbers at hand so that you can network. Networking, we encourage it in
the general community and this community in particular. We know that if you have a mobility issue,
you could get stuck in a room just because some books fell off the shelf. You're fine, you're not hurt,
but you can't get out of that room and if you don't have a phone or something, you could literally be
stuck in your own house for days and days. Some of these things, taking some preparedness efforts
to make sure you're safe, and then having a network that says, ""Hey, are you okay?"" Call each other
each day. Especially after a big event like an earthquake, then, it's simple to pick up books in a book
shelf. We can get people to do that. But to have you stuck in one room because a few books fell off
the shelf and jammed the door would be a horrible thing if nobody knew you were there.
Sharon Oliver: So when I talk about assisting with a planning effort, we are going to be developing
or refreshing our Emergency Operation Plan, and it would be great to have a task force for this
community to help us address some of our challenges, for example having older buildings. We
identify shelters that are already up to code, but we can't be 100% guaranteed that they withstand in
a large disaster, so we may have to look at others. We have some equipment we're going to need, and
some signage. We just identified needing something that can print braille signs. Somebody who could
actually tell us if they're printed properly, because most of us cannot read it. That partnership from
your group would be really amazing. We will ask you to participate and we hope that you do.
Sharon Oliver: Helping us identify who are needy citizens. If we can't actually keep a database,
which has proven to be challenging at least three times over the past, close to 20 years, we've tried
several times. We recently tried, just about three-and-a-half years ago, we tried again, and again it
didn't fly. Your suggestions on how we know who we need to check on in a disaster would be very
helpful. And then education and outreach into your community. We have a great resource in Eaton
Information and Referral Center, it's the 211 system. Are you familiar with 211? Yes? You've heard
of it? We have a person that's been hired there and they used to work for CARD which was
Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disasters, and they're no longer there. But this gentleman is
available to give presentations. They've done a lot of presentations for various functional needs group,
and they're phenomenal. Their motto is, ""Fear-free disaster planning.'
Sharon Oliver: It's just very creative, it's fun and they really make it nice. We would love to host a
gathering with that individual. And I already asked him before I came, I said I'm going to speak with
the commission and I hope that they'll set up a time to do that. It's kind of hard to read but all you
need to remember is www.ready.gov and that's a FEMA site, and it has information. Tonight I printed
a few copies, and we're going to upload this all for you, I was a little late in getting it and I apologize",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,5,"for that. I printed quite a nice handout from FEMA and it's particularly helpful for your community.
We can make more copies and get them from the website. This is specifically for the functional needs
community, it's a little bit of a list. It's got some other tips and the one thing that was really quite
interesting to me as I read through on the second page towards the bottom is the thing on managing
finances if you're getting social security checks or anything else to make it really easy SO that you
don't lose your income if we have a disaster and you can't get to the bank or do your regular banking.
It's got some really informative tips. It does mention a registry program that I mentioned that has not
taken flight in Alameda. But we're open. If you have ideas or suggestions, we're open.
Sharon Oliver: I think that what we're really encouraging though is your partnership in planning and
getting some training to the community that meets your needs. You're, of course, all welcome to come
to our CERT training regardless of whether you think that you're ready to go out in your
neighborhood. I think you would get a lot out of it. And we tailor it to anybody in the class. It's open
to everyone, so you're welcome to come to that. We have not set up our schedule for 2017 yet, but we
teach a 21-hour course four times during the year, so there's a lot of opportunity to take it. And it's
free, and we love free. And that's paid for through grant funding that we get regularly every year.
Elizabeth Kenny: Sharon, will you state again what CERT stands for?
Sharon Oliver: Community Emergency Response Team. That's a FEMA program, so it's nationwide.
You're welcome to come, and I would welcome you into the class. That's pretty much it for me. I'm
open for questions, comments, whatever you'd like.
Elizabeth Kenny: I'm going to start with the commission questions, and then we'll go to the public
questions. Thank you for being here tonight. I've seen the efforts before of trying to create the registry,
and we do have to come up with something different. Is there any centralized point, say, where people
with disabilities, if an emergency happens, could come and receive assistance? If I have medicine
that needs to be refrigerated and I've lost power, or something along those lines, where I could come
and get services from the city?
Sharon Oliver: We don't have an exact location cause sometimes depending on the incident, the
planned place winds up not working for us, and we'll have to move it. But usually with the
refrigeration issue, we try to get ice coming in as soon as possible SO that you can keep medicines
cool. If you have something that requires power, we do have some portable generators in the fire
department. And if you had to leave your home because we couldn't manage that, you would be a
high priority to move to another facility. We do have a robust amount of assisted living and care
facilities within Alameda and the Alameda Health Care System, which is Alameda Hospital and a
few others, they're in a whole network, and they have a very robust plan for taking in surge or having
to move people, not to the hospital, but to someplace where care can be provided. I believe a good
number of those locations have back-up generators, so refrigeration and power and things like that is
there.
Sharon Oliver: The biggest thing is letting us know that there's an issue, and that's why we tried to
do the registry so that we could have a way to check. In fact we were going to use our CERT volunteers
with background checks to partner with people who needed welfare checks. We thought that was a
good option, but it just didn't fly. But yes, it's definitely a high priority, anybody who has a need like
that.
Elizabeth Kenny: The other question I had was again medication focused. I understand that Alameda
has to be prepared to be cut off for a while because we're an island, and I get my medication from
Oakland. Are there programs in place where I would be able to get my medication in Alameda during
that time?",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,6,"Sharon Oliver: There's not an actual plan in place for that, not that there couldn't be. But we do
recommend that you keep a - I say this, and I understand because I've been in classes where I say it's
nice to have a little extra medication, and then people say, ""But my insurance won't do that. They
won't let me have an extra month."" But if you can swing it in some fashion, if it won't go bad, it's nice
to have the next month's supply and rotate it so that if something happens, you're not, ""I have to fill
it every week."" Unless you have to fill it every week, and that's just the way it is. But it's nice to have
extra on hand. And when we talk about preparedness, there's a lot of reasons why just to have extra
on hand makes sense day-to-day. It's very stormy, or you don't feel good and you don't make the trip.
There's other reasons to have some supplies on hand that's a little above and beyond just a few days
so that you can be resilient all the time, not just when we have a big disaster. That's what we
encourage.
Elizabeth Kenny: I have one more question. Is there going to be mental health services available?
Because, I imagine, people will be feeling strained during an emergency.
Sharon Oliver: Yes, there are. We use Eaton Information and Referral. And I will tell you the East
Bay has more services than any other county in the Bay Area. It's really fabulous. They're networked,
and they're there for us, and we're going to be working with them very closely. In fact, we will feed
them information, and they'll feed you information, and we'll go back and forth. We have a very strong
partnership. But I just want to back up to the medication thing. So when we're talking about planning,
if that's something important to your group, that's a place where we can plan. We can put agreements
in place with the local pharmacies to say, ""Hey, in a disaster, we would like you to service our
population. If we have some folks who are really critical, we're going to ask you to service them and
we're just going to get it done.""
Sharon Oliver: So when we talk about planning, the reason everybody has to contribute is because
I might not think of it in the way you think of it, and that's the importance of the partnership and the
team building to have a plan that works for our city that's not just a nice book on the shelf that gets
dusty, but actually has some meat on the bones that gets looked at every year and say, ""Is it still fresh?
Does it still work for us?"" Because when we wrote our plan literally, and I'm just going to stop there,
we have the word 'VCR' in the plan, nobody's using a VCR - Well, I shouldn't say no one, most people
are not using VCRs. [chuckle] Technology moves, this is a living document that needs to be looked
at and refreshed. So that's why I'm encouraging you to put together a task force that can work with
the city in understanding what needs to be in our plan, that actually has meat on the bones that we
can have agreements with our businesses over. So I just wanted to go back on that.
Elizabeth Kenny: Yes, I think that's a great idea about the task force or forming a work group
specifically for emergency preparedness and to work with the functional limitation planning.
Sharon Oliver: Absolutely.
Elizabeth Kenny: Any other Commissioners have any questions or comments?
Arnold Brillinger: I do. Captain?
Sharon Oliver: Yes.
Arnold Brillinger: I realize that you're talking about city preparedness
Sharon Oliver: I'm talking about the whole community.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,7,"Arnold Brillinger: It boils down to each individual making sure that they have it for their family or
for their neighbors or whatever. I was just going to ask the question, because they change this number
all the time. In Alameda, how long do you think that it could possibly be that a person could be
waiting to see first responders?
Sharon Oliver: We do a thing called 'triage' when we have a big disaster. Day to day when you call
911, they dispatch somebody right away. If every one of our units is out in Alameda, they send
somebody from Oakland or Piedmont or Berkeley. They just keep reaching out, and it takes more
time to drive, but they're dispatching somebody immediately from throughout Alameda County, and
beyond if they need to. In a regional disaster when every city around us is impacted as well, that's
when we run into trouble. So then we have to go to a situation where we're looking at the calls as they
come in, and we're having to sort of make a choice about what's the worst call and where can we go
next? It's sort of in the queue. So it could take a while, it really could! That's why we really encourage
citizens to have a plan on their own, have a network, be able to help one another so that our resources
can go to the most critical situations. The most critically injured, the fires.
Sharon Oliver: If you look at our city, some of our houses are built inches apart, so we don't want a
fire to burn all the way across town, so for us fire could be very, very important because it could burn
right across town, which would then take away from some of our abilities to get right to a medical
call. If we have a big regional disaster, it's going to be a big challenge for us, but if we plan
appropriately and we have our network set up, there's other avenues, there's other folks who could
help and get you to the hospital. Not to lie, it could really be a wait, and that's why we want to plan
ahead.
Arnold Brillinger: I was thinking in the regional disaster.
Sharon Oliver: That's the one that's going to hurt us, yes.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes, because there are certain people that are going to get the response right away,
but they usually tell you to have enough food and water for how many days, what's the minimum?
Sharon Oliver: We look at a minimum of three days, because we believe we can start getting food
and water into the city. We should be able to get some bottled water from our stores and things, and
water coming in within, we hope, 24 hours, but it takes a while. When everybody is asking, it's a lot.
It's not like it's not coming, but it doesn't come really quickly, and we are at the end of the line for the
water supply, so if the water breaks up stream, then it's going to not be here. They have a great plan,
but if they have a lot of breaks, it's going to just physically take some time to bridge those gaps. Water
is very, very important to store, and we will be looking at bringing water in just as quickly as we can,
and food.
Sharon Oliver: When we do that, we set up what are called commodity PODS', points of distribution,
and they're often a drive-thru so you come with your car, you tell how many people, they put flats of
water and ice in your vehicle and whatever food we have, and then you drive on. If you can't get
there, or if you can't get a friend or something, those are going to be the kind of things where you're
going to have to reach out as best we can, and that's part of the planning. That's why we tried to set
up the registry, how does somebody with a functional need say, ""No, I'm not just anybody, I'm really
in distress here, and please get to us."" That's one of the things we need to look at in our planning.
Susan Deutsch: I also have a question, because you talked about somebody getting stuck in a room,
where the buildings are very old, and I'm thinking what the plan would be for somebody in a
wheelchair who gets stuck in an apartment that might be on the second floor, and the elevator could
be out. In a small disaster, the fire department could probably come in and help that person out.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,8,"Sharon Oliver: Yes.
Susan Deutsch: In a big disaster the response could take a while. I worked in a school district that
had evacuation chairs on the walls of the school so that when there was a disaster, people who worked
in the school could actually get the students on to evacuation, take them down the stairs, because you
couldn't use the elevator. So just thinking along those lines, doing this CERT training, people in the
community, maybe they could learn how to assist people if they are in a wheelchair and that could be
of help.
Sharon Oliver: Yes. I would say that anybody can be trained, but some folks are heavy, and it takes
a certain skill to understand how to effectively move somebody without hurting them. And then some
people have issues that even takes more skill in moving them from wherever they are into one of
those chairs. But that's not a bad idea. In fact, I see those chairs showing up places all over. Evacuation
chairs hanging in a hallway, a few things like that. But moving people, I would say in our fire
department, the things that hurts people in our department the most, is moving people. Somebody's
fallen down in a precarious spot, and there's no room to lift properly. I wouldn't say that the average
person couldn't do it, but it takes several people. It does pay to have a little bit of training, or you can
actually hurt the person you're trying to rescue.
Susan Deutsch: And hurt yourself!
Sharon Oliver: And hurt yourself. So I would say we don't necessarily want you to leave your
residence, if you have what you need, food, water and somebody to pick your books up off the floor.
But honestly, you should have your bookcase secured to the wall so it doesn't tip. Those are some of
the things you can do ahead to make your environment safer. Then we hope you can stay there. It's
pretty disconcerting to leave your home, and shelters are not fun. They're important, we want them
for people, we don't want anyone on the street, but it's not fun to be in an auditorium with a whole
bunch of other people, sleeping on a cot. Our best case is to try and keep you in your home, if your
home is safe enough, and you have food and water and your medicine, then maybe you don't need to
leave. And you have blankets, so if it's chilly, your bundled. That, and you have somebody to check
on you regularly, and a battery-powered radio so you can get some information, then you're going to
be a lot more comfortable, I would guess. I know I would be in my home, even though my home
doesn't have power, I would be more comfortable there, you have all your equipment and stuff. That's
our goal, is to keep you in your familiar environment if we can, if it's safe.
Elizabeth Kenny: I think that's the commission's questions. We do have a question from the public.
Doyle Saylor?
Doyle Saylor: Hello. It's more of a comment about one thing I heard. I'm with Renewed Hope, and I
heard you talking about signage, and so first a comment about signage. Sometimes there's an illusion
that if you put some braille up on the wall, that it'll help people who are visually impaired, but how
is a visually impaired person going to find the braille? Braille often times is just what you hand out
to people for information, but in my old job, we talked a lot about this sort of thing too, and what we
looked at was smart tags.
Doyle Saylor: And these are just tags that you put around that carry information about the location,
and it's a rather big disability-related issue. It's been 10 years since I've looked at that very much, but
what I would say about that is, Smith's Kettlewell in the city, which is San Francisco, does research
on visually impaired issues, and they're leading experts in the world about signage for people with
disabilities. One of their professionals, Josh Mealy, could be asked to come over to the city and talk
to various city departments about signage for people with disabilities. I'm just putting out an idea for",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,9,"you guys to think about, that signage really is a big disability issue. It's relatively cheap to do, and it
could have a big impact on everybody's lives here. Thank you.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you very much. If you could just state your name into the mic when you
talk. Thank you.
JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko: Hi, my name is JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko, and I am a member of this
community of disability people, and you brought up an amazing point that I had not really processed
through. My disability is muscle spasms, and when I get really stressed, or the weather is cold, heat
and ice are paramount to my quality of life and it never occurred to me that if the energy went out,
where would I go? I would just panic at home. But going to the police department, fire department,
the hospital to have that bit of information. I've been plagued with this for 20 years and it's just really
vital to have that and so I appreciate that you provided that. And the other concern I have, when that
information came out about providing information, being a person with a disability and wanting to
have somebody know that I need help. Maybe some objectives on why are people afraid about
providing that information. People pay for services that seniors and people that live by themselves
that they pop a button and emergency, your calls are checked in.
JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko: There's creative energy and there's got to be a way to overcome that
obstacle, because yes, I was intimidated and even in my complex I've talked to you a few minutes
ago. Ilive at the Willows, 201 units. There was a point where the office asked us to submit information
about ""In the time of an emergency, provide us with what you needed."" And I didn't trust our
management, so I did not submit my information. And there were some valid issues about why I
didn't trust them, but as a society and a community, that bridge has to be made, because I need to
know where I go. At that time, my husband worked the graveyard shift, so I was home by myself at
night, he was sleeping, if anything ever happened during that time. There were a couple times when
I had to call the police and it was really scary, because I was like, ""Well, I can't get to the door because
I'm immobile and so how are we going to make this happen?'
JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko: And everybody has issues and there's got to be a way to invite people. It's
a small group and there's got to be a way to just bridge that gap. Somehow to do it through the
newspaper. Next Door is really good. Is that a bell telling me I'm done? Okay, but Next Door is really
helpful to communicate with my neighbors about challenges that come up. It's really important to
overcome that just because they say no, don't shut it down. Think outside of the box.
Sharon Oliver: So, we literally only had about four people register, and then a year or two passed,
then we went, ""Are they still out there?"" And then we couldn't reach them. Then it was like, ""Well,
then the list is old."" If we had hundreds of numbers, it would have been a different thing. We know
we have got to update this list but we couldn't even get a hold of the four.
JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko: I know, that's true.
Sharon Oliver: Yes, so we were like, ""This doesn't have enough buoyancy to move forward.""
JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko: Well, how about at the Senior Center? It just occurred to me, I'm dealing
with some issues that our community, and inside the condo perhaps could reach out to the Senior
Center and to get help. There was a point in our community in our society that the Gray Panthers
were alive and well. And it's like what happened to that community of people? Does everybody know
who the Gray Panthers were?
Beth Kenny: Are.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,10,"JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko: Are. I'm here. I'm in between places. So I'm not going to be a good
advocate. I was excited I got an email from Kerry reminding me about this tonight, that's why I'm
even here because I totally forgot about it. It's great to see everybody and it's really important because
there's a lot of people that don't feel that they're disabled and that they need the help because they're,
""I can do it. I'm strong enough. I can figure this out."" But when panic comes in, your brain just goes
to water. It just melts and you don't know that until it happens, and then you don't know what to do.
I've been there SO I understand that. I tried to anticipate but I never did ask a question further, ""Where
do I go?"" So, thank you.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you. Do we have any more comments or questions? Commissioner
Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: Yes, the Paratransit put together a booklet. Beth, if you could hold yours up. It
has in it all kinds of things that you need to compile, so that when the big thing happens, the big
disaster happens, you know first of all some of your information. You don't have to go hunting all
over the place for it. It shows you what you need to put together so that you've got some supplies for
yourself and maybe even that you would use this kind of a thing with your neighbors. I was
wondering, does the fire department or does Alameda have anything like this?
Sharon Oliver: There's a lot of people making lists, I brought some tips from FEMA. We have
another list that we hand out at fairs, it's a real short list. But I can tell you, one size does not fit all
with lists. You need water, you need food, and after that what else do you need to make your life
resilient? I'm a coffee drinker, I have a little extra coffee on hand, toilet paper's nice, and there are
some things like that. I don't know your living situation, so if you say one gallon of water per person
per day just for drinking, you might want another gallon for washing. If you have a family of five and
you start doing the math, that's a lot of water, but some water's better than no water. So it's like where
do you stand now? How does it work for you? What's your living situation? What else do you need?
Medications, refrigeration? If you really want to be a preparedness nut like some of our folks are,
they love it, maybe you can install or have on hand a generator if you have a need to keep a small
refrigerator going. It has a cost, but if it's that important to you and your well-being, maybe that's
something you save for or decide to do. There's a lot of ways to handle it.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you very much.
Sharon Oliver: You're welcome.
Elizabeth Kenny: Sorry. We have one more public comment. Can you say your name into the
microphone first? Thank you.
Austin Tam: My name is Austin Tam and I do lots of social justice work in Alameda especially when
it comes to disabilities and affordable housing. I came in late, but I was the one doing most of all
because I had a conversation with my friend Doyle this morning and I was just thinking about people
who are hearing impaired, especially in a disaster or something like that, right? For instance, when
you have to call somebody, is there a simple way for those who are hearing impaired?
Elizabeth Kenny: Yes I think I understand what you're saying, like the TTY programs, are those
going to be still available in an emergency?
Sharon Oliver: The phone lines could be down, so there are some challenges. Let's get a task force
together to talk about so many different issues. Signage, braille, how does somebody who can't see
get to the braille sign? It's a requirement for us to put braille signs next to bathrooms and things like
that, but if you can't even find the bathroom, then how can you read the braille signs? These are the",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,11,"things, like you said, you have to overcome. So getting input from the group and the diversity in your
group alone, not to mention the diversity all throughout Alameda. We speak 41 different languages
in Alameda, so there's a lot of diversity here to work with, and that's the point about pulling in the
community to say, what does it look like for Alameda? What does it look like for your group? What
kind of disabilities are we facing? How can we plan and prepare so that we are able to serve the
community and work together in answering some of your questions?
Sharon Oliver: We are a small city so we don't have enough staff to meet everyone's needs, it's
imperative to engage the community to help us come up with solutions and be part of the solution in
the planning effort and figuring out what will really work. And then once we make that plan, we have
to test it. We really need to set up a shelter and have you folks come and say, ""Well that was great,""
or ""That didn't work at all."" And then we'll go, ""Okay, we thought it was going to work and it didn't.""
So that's the circle and the way you have to go to make it work. I know you have more and a long
presentation coming, so if there's no more questions, I will let you get on with business.
Elizabeth Kenny: Yes, I would just like to make the motion that we create a work group that will be
part of the task force on functional limitations for emergency preparedness and I would like to
volunteer for that group.
Sharon Oliver: Yes, thank you. I volunteered the whole audience, I don't know if you noticed.
[laughter] You don't want the group to be too big, but you definitely want to have people on it who
are interested most importantly, and that understand the diverse group that we have.
Kerry Parker: And I hear you have fun meetings.
Sharon Oliver: We have fun meetings. I know it's Disaster, but we're a fun group. [laughter] It doesn't
have to be all doom and gloom to have a great plan. I encourage it. Will you work with Kerry to get
a group and once you feel you have a group ready to go, we'll plan a kick-off meeting in 2017?
Probably more like February than January.
Kerry Parker: We can make sure this gets out to the group if there's a task force that's building, we
can send it out to the listeners so that everybody knows.
Sharon Oliver: Yes if they want to be a part of it.
Sharon Oliver: How long can you keep water? I don't have the definitive answer, but if you talk to
East Bay MUD, they say they never wanted to stop moving. I keep water in a large 55 gallon drum
that I dump and refill every 6 months. And I keep some bleach on hand SO if I have to purify it further
and I have some little purifying straws. I have a variety of ways, but our water is awesome so I water
my plants and refill. I don't buy flats of water because of my ecological bent.
Sharon Oliver: You just want to rotate everything. You want to have it in your normal daily business
to rotate, so if you buy water. Whatever you do, use it. Eat it, drink it, rotate it, buy some new, put a
date on it because I can tell you, ""do this,"" and you think, ""I got it,"" and then you look and you go,
""Oh, 10 years has passed."" And I'm not even kidding, and there's cobwebs and it's horrible. We did it
in the police station. We had some bottled water and we went to look and they were all deformed and
weird, and it was in a cool dark place and it was deformed from age. You just have to put it in your
daily practice of checking. You put soup cans in, you eat it, you get some new, you rotate it or you
donate it to the food bank, and you rotate more in. You're making a paradigm shift in the way you
handle life.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you very much.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,12,"Sharon Oliver: Thank you for having me and starting the conversation. It's actually perfect timing.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
Elizabeth Kenny: So next up on the agenda is old business and we're going to have Gail Payne talk
to us about the citywide Transportation Demand Management Plan. Welcome, Gail.
Gail Payne: Good evening, Chair Kenny and Commissioners. My name is Gail Payne. I'm the city's
transportation coordinator and I'm here because the city is experiencing unprecedented congestion
because with the regional growth that's been going on. We have a great economy, and so we see this
is a real urgent need to resolve. And I thought this was really urgent, but then Sharon's presentation
on disasters makes me feel like, ""Oh, that's probably even more urgent,"" and makes me want to go
home and get my water situation organized a little better.
Gail Payne: I'll just go over the background of why we're doing this, existing conditions, and then
we can get into some draft strategies and projects that I'd like to show you for the first time. Last time
we were here, or I was here in earlier 2016 to go over the existing conditions. So, I'll just give you a
little reminder and some reminder ideas on it. And then, now, it's the draft strategies, and we're about
halfway through this 18-month process. We hired a consultant earlier this year and now they've come
up with some draft strategies and projects, and so we'd like to get your input on those today. And then
we'll come back in later about spring of next year to go over the draft plan with you. And then we're
hoping City Council will adopt it in summer of next year.
Gail Payne: So just stepping back, why are we doing this? Like I said, we're having unprecedented
growth. And I've been living in the Bay Area now for many years, we used to be at five million
people, now we're at seven million. We have a great economy and it's tough to get around. And this
photo here is of my stepmom, and the reason why I have it here is, is it's not only about the transit
operations or the infrastructure and how we can improve it as a city, but it's also changing our mindset
and our thinking, just like Sharon was saying is how we live our lives a little bit, and really looking
at trying to make the existing transportation system more efficient, and the least efficient way of
traveling is driving alone. And so, how can we provide better options for people to make it more
attractive to use these more efficient options like buses and ferries and walking and bicycling? And
so we're looking at all modes and we're looking at it from near term to the long term.
Gail Payne: We have two main goals, one is to reduce those least efficient ways of traveling, that's
driving alone. Especially we're having problems at the estuary crossings, getting on and off the island,
because we're a bedroom community so getting off the island in the morning, returning in the
afternoon, evening, and then also getting around Alameda as well. Objectives that are important to us
like equity and safety and greenhouse gas reductions, and we put together a draft project list which is
Exhibit 1 in your packet.
Gail Payne: So just real quick before we get into those draft strategies, some reminders about existing
conditions. This one chart shows that the Bay Area congestion is at all time high since 1998, and that
because of that, there's so much congestion people are actually getting out of their cars for their
commutes. And so this other chart shows reduction in auto commuters in the Bay Area. Another chart
here shows increasing transit use. Keep in mind that in the City of Alameda, we also are expected to
grow. We really actually are finally back to the population and housing units that we were after the
base closure. We're starting to have the growth. We have had a substantial growth in jobs, but a lot of
the congestion we're seeing is actually due to the regional issues and backing up because of the
freeways.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,13,"Gail Payne: And this chart shows that some of the low-hanging fruit is actually, a lot of drive alone
trips happen for commuters going to Oakland in the inner East Bay. And that's a pie chart showing
that 78% of people drive alone to work from Alameda to the inner East Bay. But then, the opposite is
true for San Francisco, 78% commute via transit to San Francisco. What's really working is transit to
San Francisco and how can we get more people taking transit to inner East Bay? The strategies when
we look at these geographic issues, we have four strategies here. How can we improve access to and
from Oakland? We see that as a low-hanging fruit because a lot of people are driving alone right now.
And how can we improve also access to and from San Francisco? And some people say, ""Why are
you even focusing on that? It's obviously working."" Well, people are actually attracted here because
of our proximity to San Francisco and it's causing the Transbay buses to be super packed, tight.
BART's hard to access. Super packed tight, crowded BART trains, and then ferries are hard to access
now. They sometimes have to turn away people, can't take everyone. So, we have to keep up with this
demand.
Gail Payne: And the third strategy is access within Alameda. Some people, they don't have cars, they
can't drive, and so how can we make that better for them? We hear a lot from youth and wanting it to
be better for youth as well. Fourth strategy is just really internal, how can we as staff do a better job
of managing and monitoring our efforts? First, I'll go over the four strategies real quick. This is the
one to and from Oakland that we see as a low-hanging fruit because so much of the trips are happening
are drive alone. And then second strategy, access to and from San Francisco. How can we keep up
with the demand? Multimodal access within Alameda is the third strategy. And the fourth one is
effectively managing and monitoring the transportation efforts.
Gail Payne: I just want to go over some of the in-progress projects and actions with you here. There's
a lot here, but some of the ones that I think you'd be more interested in, and then I'll go over some of
the near-term projects, mid-term and long-term, pick out a few. One of the ones that's happening in
March is Line 31 in the West End is going to be changed SO that it actually goes directly to Target.
Right now it doesn't quite get as close as it could, so they're rerouting that, so that'll be much better
for the West End and everyone can get to Target a little bit easier.
Gail Payne: The city based Paratransit program, because of measure BB, we have the ability for the
shuttle to run every 30 minutes. Right now, it only runs the one-hour loops, so that's in the works. We
also have the ability to hire a part-time Paratransit coordinator. She will be working at Mastick Senior
Center and her name is Victoria Williams. She is a retired staff person, Paratransit coordinator from
the City of Hayward. We're really fortunate that she accepted the position, and she's a real specialist
in Paratransit. When I come to you, I come to you every year on Paratransit so when we come in
February, hopefully that will work out and hopefully she can come and introduce herself to you.
Gail Payne: A couple other projects on December 18th, we're restoring Line 19 mainly along Buena
Vista Avenue. So that's exciting to get this restored bus line in town. And then out of the bike
pedestrian improvements, we have the construction of the Cross Alameda Trail in the West End along
Appezzato and in Jean Sweeney Open Space Park. And that's about two miles, so that'll be a
significant way that people can walk for recreation or commute by bike or whatever along that two-
mile stretch. This map is in your packet.
Gail Payne: Now I just want to go through real quick some near-term, mid-term and long-term
projects that may interest you. For AC Transit policy changes - right now, it costs money to transfer,
and so we've requested AC Transit to change that and to have free transfers like they used to. And
this is an equity issue and within Alameda, we do require transfers to get from one side of the island
to another. It indirectly, or it directly impacts people who have the worst transit, bus service, so it's a
little counter-intuitive why they would do that. That's what we're advocating there. Bus stop
improvements, why this is important is there aren't benches at all of our bus stops and there are",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,14,"sometimes places where we could put benches, so that's one thing we're looking at. Actually, an intern
is looking at that right now. Transportation awareness campaigns, what we've heard is, is a lot of
options, yet people just don't understand what's all out there. Just getting the word out better and in
various languages in different ways and getting the word out about how you could change your travel
patterns.
Gail Payne: There's this concept of vision zero and we plan on rolling that out and what that means
is, it's a way of thinking and prioritizing projects that it really focuses on safety. Looking at where
there's some severe injuries and fatal collisions is really looking at how we could improve that
intersection or that corridor so that those types of collisions don't happen anymore in our community.
We are lucky that we only have 25 miles per hour speed limit on most of our streets, and so we are a
community with fewer severe injuries and fatalities, yet we want to even reduce it to zero as this
policy states.
Gail Payne: And then for the mid-term projects. The ones that I thought would be most interesting
are these: one idea is this bus queue jump lanes, and that's from a complaint that the bus is so slow.
How can we get the bus to be faster than people driving alone? Just have it jump the queue in various
places when it can. We found a few places in town where it could do that. So focusing on making
buses faster. In general, we also heard that it would be great to have transit more frequent. That's true
for ferry service. That's true for Transbay buses, local buses, so that's a big push there.
Gail Payne: We also have heard a big interest in using our water more efficiently. The estuary, we're
an island right off Oakland, so how could we maybe have a water shuttle system, better use of that
with the new developments along northern waterfront? I also think it's interesting too is we have this
autonomous driverless vehicle policy and implementation and how we can work towards having those
driverless vehicles here in town, and what we need to do to change our infrastructure to make that
happen like traffic signals that communicate to the driverless vehicles. We really need to, as a
community, think ahead and when we upgrade our signals and signage, etcetera, so the driverless
vehicles can understand our streets easier.
Gail Payne: And people are saying, ""This could even happen, driverless vehicles could be out and
about within five years."" I think that sounds a little ambitious personally, but we need to really prepare
cause for a local jurisdiction, five years is like yesterday. [chuckle] That makes me really nervous,
and that's something that's definitely on our mind. But if you think about it in terms of disabilities,
that that is a real game changer. And so that could be a real exciting change once we gradually get to
that. It's just that, hopefully, it can all be done safely.
Gail Payne: And for the long-term projects, we realize this is very long-term thinking, yet BART is
looking at coming to Alameda, and it's part of this third larger, much larger third crossing project that
would go third crossing to San Francisco. It's part of a new route basically as another second Transbay
Tube that in case of a seismic event, as the Transbay Tube is over 40 years old, we have some type of
redundancy in the Transbay routes. That's just something that we're tracking and I was actually at a
meeting about it last night. It is something that takes some staff time even though it's not expected to
come, for say, 30 years or SO. But it is something we need to monitor as a community and what types
of impacts that could have on our community.
Gail Payne: And then the last one, is we heard a lot of the frustrations of using the tubes and the
congestion in the West End because on the East End we have several ways getting in and out, whereas
on the West End we just have the tubes. So when the tubes go down for whatever reason, collision or
what have you, it really does cause havoc and it's tough for bicycles, it's tough for people walking,
and how can we make that better? So that's something we really delving into. Again, if there's a
seismic event, we're very sensitive about that. We don't know if it would function after a major seismic",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,15,"event. And so do we look at replacing it before a seismic event, make it a stronger structure? That's
the idea here, is that tube's redesign and if we redesigned it, it would have a dedicated bus lane, we'd
consider that, a dedicated bike way, a dedicated walkway that's all best practices.
Gail Payne: Unfortunately, the bike pedestrian bridge, there are constraints because of the US Coast
Guard, they have requirements. They don't even want to see a drawbridge. And if it were by
drawbridge, it would cost about $1.5 million to operate, because it needs to be staffed. So that's a little
bit of cost prohibitive, in my eyes, being that here we have the tubes that might need to be redesigned
and replaced, because they're not seismically fit. So we just need to prioritize as a community, and
that's where we're at. I think that's it. We have discussions. What we're looking for is, what do you
think about the projects? I know I went over them real quick and not all of them. What do you think
about the projects? Are there other ones that you'd like to see? Are there some that you'd like us to
prioritize? That's what we'd love to hear from you tonight about. We'll be going to the City Council
to seek their comments as well on January 17th. Thank you.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you very much. I have a few questions or comments. Under the near-term
projects, one of them is transit signal priority and adaptive traffic sign control. Can you talk a little
bit about that? Is that adaptive signs or it just the traffic sign itself?
Gail Payne: It's just the traffic signal. What that is, is extending the green time for when a bus is
approaching an intersection, and say it's yellow, they can press a button and get to the intersection.
Or it's green, so it just allows them to reduce their delays a little bit and prioritize their operation. And
then the adaptive traffic signals do a better job of understanding real time dynamics of what's going
on in a street. I think we've all been frustrated waiting at an intersection and the traffic signal is not
picking up quickly enough that we're there and nobody else is there but we're still waiting. So there's
more efficient ways that we could use technology to make the whole system more efficient.
Elizabeth Kenny: Yes. That item above it, bus stop improvements. Is that something I've seen in San
Francisco where you can press a button and it'll tell you when the next bus is coming? I know we're
not working on operating on a San Francisco level, but something along those lines would be greatly
appreciated.
Gail Payne: Yes, and I know that AC Transit is doing a lot of work on trying to get their real time
mechanisms in place with the next bus so you can track the buses. I'd actually just discovered the
Next Bus app on my phone and I put it on my phone actually just yesterday. That really is the worst
part of a bus ride, is the wait. If you know when the bus is coming, then you don't have to run, you
don't have to wait as long, you can manage your life a little better. Yes, that's great to have.
Elizabeth Kenny: My other comment is that the Commission would definitely love to be a part of
any driverless vehicle policy. Like you said, it can be a game changer for the disabled community and
just so you know, there are some driverless cars. Uber is happening in San Francisco right now. They
started today.
Gail Payne: Oh, today. Okay.
Elizabeth Kenny: Yes.
Gail Payne: Wow.
Elizabeth Kenny: Yes. [chuckle] Also it's coming quicker than we realized.
Gail Payne: Yes.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,16,"Elizabeth Kenny: Alright. Do any other Commissioners have questions or comments?
Michaela Tsztoo: I do.
Elizabeth Kenny: Commissioner Tsztoo. Go ahead, Michaela.
Michaela Tsztoo: Okay, I'm totally blind, and I hate to compare, but I kind of have to. I notice when
I'm in San Francisco, their talking signal lights are much louder in the volume than ours in Alameda.
I don't know if it's because of budget cuts or money, but I can hear a lot better. Like when they say,
""Cross"", you know, ""Fourth street,"" and it's much louder and sounds easier to hear and understand,
whereas ours because of the traffic flow, I had to lean over to hear the button or push it again and
pound it because I'm so frustrated, because I'm trying to listen to see when it's safe for me to cross
with my guide dog or with my cane. And I kind of wish that Alameda can use San Francisco as an
example and use some of the things that they have. They're very technology savvy it seems like.
Gail Payne: What would be most helpful is if you could tell us the exact intersections where you're
having problems. It doesn't have to be now, but if you could give me that email or call me or
something, because our challenge as a community is we are such a heavy on residential units that
most intersections are near a resident. I haven't heard the complaint you've said before, but the more
frequent complaints we have is they're too loud, because the ambient noise, because it carries to the
adjacent homes, which is understandable. What we try to do is to have balance the needs of everyone.
What would be most helpful is to know the ones where you're having problems. We can do it on a
case-by case-basis and work with the adjacent community members.
Michaela Tsztoo: Robert Davey Jr. Drive, that one in Park Street. And there's probably a lot of other
ones, but I don't go out a lot across the different streets. I just notice by just hearing.
Gail Payne: Robert Davey Jr. Drive and what's the
Michaela Tsztoo: That's the Bay Farm Island.
Gail Payne: But what's the intersection?
Michaela Tsztoo: Island Drive.
Gail Payne: Okay.
Michaela Tsztoo: Or Packet Landing.
Gail Payne: So those two?
Michaela Tsztoo: Yes. There's probably other ones around the city, just because our city's so noisy,
there's trucks, there's cars, there's ambulances, and there's things that drown out sound of the talking
signal light.
Gail Payne: Although we shouldn't be noisier than San Francisco. [laughter] So that shouldn't be an
excuse.
Michaela Tsztoo: But I don't know, the volume under traffic signals all over are louder than ours. I
just notice that.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,17,"Gail Payne: Okay, that's great to know. Thank you.
Michaela Tsztoo: And all of you guys should put them in all over the city, not just some spots.
Gail Payne: Great. That's our plan. It's in our pedestrian plan.
Michaela Tsztoo: Because if I don't have assistance then I depend on that heavily.
Gail Payne: It's in our pedestrian plan just so you know, for all the signals to have accessible
pedestrian signals. It would be helpful to know where you're most needing them because what we
have trouble with sometimes is where to prioritize them with our limited time and money. We recently
put some in near bus stops. I don't know if you saw that. There's nine around, more than there used
to be, like Grand and Otis because it's next to a bus stop. I think Central and Oak has one now because
of that, near buses. So let us know what's not working and it's easier for us to prioritize.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you. I did have one other question. What is the plan for addressing the
development that's going to be going on out at the Point, and how that will impact the transit plan?
You've mentioned about the ferry terminals and stuff. I believe I heard something about the new
developments coming with transportation passes.
Gail Payne: The one that you're describing, Alameda Point. There's different developments, so each
new development that's been approved has transportation requirements. They are required to pay the
residents who move in an annual fee, that's a transportation mitigation fee and that pays for more
transportation services. Like they all will obtain these easy passes, these bus passes that allows them
to get on easily and use buses or transit. In Alameda Point it's actually not only buses, but ferries. So
everyone who moves in will automatically get them. It's free, so they might as well use it, gives them
incentive not to drive. That's just an example, but there's of requirements, transportation requirements
on these new developments. That's just one of them. And so we are working in collaboration with the
new developments to implement those requirements.
Elizabeth Kenny: Go ahead, Commissioner Brillinger.
Arnold Brillinger: You said there was a ferry transit consultant coming onboard?
Gail Payne: She's actually going to be a staff person, a part-time staff person. Yes, and she's a
specialist in Paratransit.
Arnold Brillinger: All right. And she's located at Mastick?
Gail Payne: She will be there, three days a week.
Arnold Brillinger: But she isn't yet?
Gail Payne: She'll start on January 17th.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, because there are a lot of things about our shuttle, not to get it mixed up
with East Bay Paratransit. But with our shuttle, that needs to be looked at and because it's got some
real possibilities, I think maybe sometimes it's not operating during the correct time of day. Sometimes
it's not going to the right places. I heard you say that you're going to increase the frequency, but if it's
still going to the same old places and not going to places like BART or the ferry, then we lose a lot of
things that are good reasons for it to be there because it spends a lot of its time zooming around with
just a couple of people on it. When they do the math, does it provide enough service for the demand?",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,18,"Where do we get our BB and measure B monies from?
Gail Payne: The Alameda County Transportation Commission.
Arnold Brillinger: Through those guys because I've been to some of their meetings and they say,
""Well, yes. Alameda's going to meet the quota,"" and all that kind of stuff. But we could really, if we
had it going at the right times, the right places, really make it efficient. I've been on some of the other
ones. I've been on the Emery Go-Round. I've been on the Lynx in St. Andrew. I've got a lot of time to
go and investigate all these things. Some of these give me some ideas of things that we can do here.
Gail Payne: Okay. So you've already given great ideas, which is why we actually switched our routes
because of your ideas. So once she gets on board, I think you two should discuss and she'll have more
time to really delve into it than here.
Arnold Brillinger: Sure.
Gail Payne: She'll be working three days a week there. Yes.
Elizabeth Kenny: Great. Thank you very much, Gail.
Gail Payne: Thank you.
Elizabeth Kenny: Great information to get. I don't believe we have any public comment. Oh, we do.
Alright, we do have one public comment. Doyle Saylor, please.
Doyle Saylor: Hi, I hope everybody can hear me. It's Doyle Saylor with Renewed Hope, which is a
non-profit organized around affordable housing. So three things. One is the Commissioner was
mentioning the audible signals. That's signage. Signage covers a lot of things and it can be a very
important issue in terms of accessibility for people with disabilities. Uber has been barred in some
cities because their robot cars go through red lights. But the big issue for people with disabilities is
Paratransit. You use Paratransit. It's very slow, it's unreliable. Many people are made to wait hours to
get their Paratransit. If the city is serious about doing multi-model transportation, it should really
address the poor quality of Paratransit which is what people with disabilities use. I just think the
Commissioner is really right to bring that up. There's a lot of work to be done with that, but this is the
place to advocate for it. Thank you.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you.
Arnold Brillinger: I have one more question.
Gail Payne: Sure, I could also respond to that comment in that we are looking at how to improve the
city's Paratransit program, which is also for seniors. It's not only Paratransit, but the monies we get
through Measured B & BB and one of these shifts is happening is this, the Uber or Lyft, and now they
have the car pool equivalent of the Uber and Lyfts. It's Lyft-line and Uber Pool. It does provide in the
future a potential opportunity for the city to expand its taxi program, and so it would allow for the
waits that are happening. Instead of the waits, it would just provide more on-demand services. That
does open up a little bit for us. We're not in a position though to use Uber or Lyft because they're so
much in flux and that we know it might happen in the future.
Gail Payne: But right now, that's one reason why you don't see it up here is that we're waiting for the
Alameda CTC to give us the green light to be able to use those services. But it would be a little bit
again of a game changer because it would make it, I think, easier for people to, instead of having to",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,19,"book a trip a day ahead of time, that they more easily would be able to call and get a ride in 10 minutes
or something. I think that's maybe where we're headed but we're just not there yet. One of the reasons
why we're not there yet is they're working on, especially Lyft, on how to have wheelchair accessible
vehicles and they do have some partnerships that they're experimenting with, yet it's not totally
resolved at this point. We're just waiting and listening and monitoring.
Doyle Saylor: I had a question about the AC Transit buses and their accessibility. I haven't gone out
on a bus in a long time, but I know in the past, a lot of people have complained that the AC Transit
buses that have the lifts on the buses break down and then the bus cannot take wheelchairs. So I'm
just wondering if that is still the case and is this something that we need to work with AC Transit on?
Gail Payne: I really don't know about that, but I have not heard that complaint a lot.
Doyle Saylor: Oh, okay.
Gail Payne: But that might not be because
Elizabeth Kenny: Okay. I'm sorry, can we just Let one person talk at a time and Ms. Payne has the
floor right now.
Gail Payne: Thank you. It might be because those complaints go directly to AC Transit, and so that's
why it's really great for me to come here, because then I can better understand from a community
member perspective. I can just ask them about the wheelchair lifts and complaints received and see
if we need to resolve something. I know they're actively working on purchasing some newer buses,
and so hopefully that will resolve as they do a better job of replacing their buses.
Arnold Brillinger: Could I talk about AC Transit for just a moment? I just recently, in the last four
to six months, started using AC Transit here from Alameda to the other side of Richmond to
downtown Fremont and all kinds of places. First of all, they have got ramps now that flap out, and
then you drive your wheelchair up. Second, I want to give kudos to AC Transit because of what I call
""AC Transit culture"". You could be in Oakland or somewhere around the street and there's people
yelling profanities and wanting to fight and all that kind of stuff. You get on the bus, it's a totally
different atmosphere. It's, ""Thank you, driver."" it's, ""You're welcome."" I've got a big wheelchair and
for a long time I didn't even go because I had some problems with it originally. But now the buses,
the drivers and everybody, they say, ""We hope to see you again."" What kind of thing is that? To say,
""Hey, come back again."" Part of it is that I'm a better driver now, but it's also the culture on the bus
that is better. Go ahead and use it again, is what I'm saying.
Gail Payne: That's good to hear. I just want to follow up on AC Transit, because I do feel like the
drivers are the unsung heroes of humanity. Bus drivers in general have got a tough job.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes. They do a very good job, and the atmosphere on there is very good, it makes
you want to come back and use it again.
Gail Payne: That's great.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you. We have one more public comment, Carol Gottstein.
Carol Gottstein: Hi. I just wanted to speak up after I heard this gentleman from Renewed Hope
talking about Paratransit. I stopped using Paratransit around 2006, because it was so bad. The waits
are hours long, you never get picked up from your doctor's appointment. If you have to go San
Francisco or Stanford, just forget it. To hear that it still sounds like it's about as bad as it was when I",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,20,"went back to driving my car, it means that this has been going on for 10 years. If our transportation
coordinators were spending half as much time as they are on bike lanes and streamlining those kinds
of modes of transportation to just getting Paratransit to working the way it supposed to work, that
would be great, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of outreach. Measure BB is my property taxes,
I
believe, I'm paying for this, it's not coming out of the sky. I would really like somebody to work on
the Paratransit better.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you.
Gail Payne: And just to respond to that, you're speaking of the East Bay Paratransit, so that's a
separate entity than the city, and that's why I'm not spending my time on it.
Beth Kenny: I'd like to thank you again, Gail, for another informative presentation and I think that
concludes our old business. Up next, we have Staff Communication.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Kerry Parker: So, yesterday I updated the website for the Commission on Disability Issues meeting
for 2017, given the formula that we have of on the even months, we meet on the second Wednesdays
at 6:30 PM, except August because Counsel Chambers is dark in August. So, the meetings for this
next year is slated for these dates: February 8th, April 12th, June 14th, October 11th and December
13th. I just posted all of those today. What is not yet scheduled is our extra meeting, our retreat, and
that's something that we're probably going to look at, at our next meeting, because we'll put it on the
agenda. It's not on the agenda for today, so we can't really make any decisions about it.
Kerry Parker: Also for that February meeting, we already have a couple of items on the agenda.
Gail mentioned one of them, the Paratransit program will be giving their annual update, and I expect
we'll meet the new staff person at that meeting, very exciting. At the February meeting, we're going
to vote for the Chair and the Vice Chair, because we do that annually. Be thinking about that. If the
incumbents want to go again, if there's anybody else who would like the role of assisting and running
the meetings and deciding on agendas, it's an interesting job to contemplate. Be thinking about that
for the February meeting. And then possibly for February, we might be talking about the universal
design ordinance. I don't know what the status of that is. I know the sub-committee has gone through
some various iterations of that, so that could very possibly be something we're discussing in February.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Elizabeth Kenny: Great. Thank you, Kerry. To follow up on the universal design ordinance, yes, we
are going to try and have a meeting in February. However, the timetable for this has changed quite
often, but at some point in the very near future, we will have a universal design ordinance that the
Community Development Department has asked if the Commission on Disability Issues would
recommend it. That will be coming up at one of our future meetings. If it's not at our February
meeting, we may have a joint meeting with the planning board where it would be the first item, and
where we could either recommend it or not recommend the universal design ordinance at that time.
So keep that in mind, and I'm very excited about how it's going. The other announcement, I think Lisa
Hall. Commissioner Hall?
Lisa Hall: On October 22nd, I had the pleasure of attending the Making of the Invisible Visible
Summit 2016, held at Will C. Wood School. This event was sponsored by the AANHP, the Asian-
American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Disability Awareness Project. The program started with
a
warm welcome from Reverend Michael Yoshii of the Buena Vista UMC Church, whose church also
have a disability ministry. It was very informative. A strong disability advocate also spoke, Mr. Austin",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,21,"Tam, on making the invisible visible. There was also a wonderful performance by the Dream
Achievers. They're a trio of autistic young adult performers who engaged the audience to sing and
dance. They were unbelievably wonderful.
Lisa Hall: The panel discussion and workshop groups were informative and touching. The multitude
of disabilities and challenges faced by many were vast, whether they were physical or mental. This
was a learning experience and brought awareness of all the different programs out there, and different
ideas that we all pool together. This was put together by a lot of hardworking group of volunteers,
and it was attended by approximately 80 to 100 people, and it was wonderful. I was very graciously
happy to be there and represent our city.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you Commissioner Hall. Are there other announcements that you would
like to make?
Arnold Brillinger: Someone, when I asked if CIL was putting an office over in Alameda, somebody
said yes. Could you tell us where?
Elizabeth Kenny: I welcome you to contact the Center For Independent Living to get more
information if you'd like. I believe they did come here about a year and a half ago and give us a brief
presentation, so they're familiar with the Commission on Disability Issues. The final announcement
that I have is for any Commissioners or members of the public who would like to join me on the task
force for emergency preparedness for people with functional limitations, please contact Kerry before
the end of the year.
Kerry Parker: That'd be great. If we could just get a list together. Go ahead and email me, if I sent
you an email about this meeting, it means you know how to contact me. Otherwise, it's fairly easy to
find me on the website, I also have my business card here.
Elizabeth Kenny: Great. Thank you.
Kerry Parker: You're welcome.
Elizabeth Kenny: No other announcements. I move that we adjourn for the night.
Lisa Hall: I second.
Arnold Brillinger: I'll say ""aye"", but I wanted to say, and this is like Michaela was talking, the way
that Gail and various city places will know that certain things are not functioning well. It is for us to
say, ""Okay. Here's a button over here that needs something louder"" or ""Here's a button that needs to
do this."" Or, ""There's no way in the world I'm going to get it sitting in my chair,"" and I found some
of those over in the new section over in the area of Target, and there's a possibility that I could sit
there for the rest of my life because the cars are going to keep on going; they've got a green light. My
point is until we tell someone, they're not going to get fixed. So I'm just saying, everyone, when you
notice something that doesn't work for you, just call, and if you don't know who to call, call Kerry.
She's got an idea of who can look at it.
Kerry Parker: I could reach them for you.
Arnold Brillinger: Me, I'm mobility impaired. There's a lot of things that don't work for me. For
persons that have problems hearing, they also need to speak up when they find that there's something
that needs to be fixed, or seeing or whatever the impairment is. So I just want everyone to speak up.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2016-12-14,22,"8.
ADJOURNMENT
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Brillinger. I'm going to again move for adjournment.
Lisa Hall: I second.
Elizabeth Kenny: All in favor.
All: Aye.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you for a great meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 8:17 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kerry Parker
City Staff Liaison
Commission on Disability Issues",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-02-08,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 8th, 2017 6:30 p.m.
1.
ROLL CALL
Chair Kenny: For Wednesday, February 8th, 2017. Let's start with roll call.
Kerry: Very good. Chair Kenny?
Chair Kenny: Present.
Kerry: Vice-chair Arnold Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: Here.
Kerry: Commissioner Aghapekian?
Commissioner Aghapekian: Here.
Kerry: Commissioner Deutsch?
Commissioner Deutsch: Here.
Kerry: Commissioner Franco? Commissioner Hall?
Commissioner Hall: Here.
Kerry: Commissioner Lewis?
Commissioner Lewis: Here.
Kerry: Commissioner Linton?
Commissioner Linton: Here.
Kerry: Commissioner Tsztoo? Alright. We have seven. We have a quorum.
2.
MINUTES
Chair Kenny: Great. Let's move on to our next agenda item. Approval of the draft CDI meeting
minutes from December 14th, 2016. Did anyone have any changes or corrections they would like
made?
Vice Chair Brillinger: I move that we accept them as presented.
Commissioner Hall: I second.
Chair Kenny: All in favor?
1",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-02-08,2,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 8th, 2017 6:30 p.m.
All: Aye.
Chair Kenny: Anyone opposed? Carries unanimously.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Chair Kenny: So, our third item is Oral Communications. Non-agenda items. Public comments, do
we have anyone who would like to speak on non-agenda items?
Kerry: We do not have any speaker slips for this item.
Chair Kenny: Then we'll move right in to new business. First off, we're going to have Nicole Blake
from the Social Service Human Relations Board, also called SSHRB. Nicole is the vice president of
SSHRB and she's here to talk to us about their 2017 Community Needs Survey.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A. Provide Comments on the Social Service Human Relations Board (SSHRB) Draft 2017
Community Needs Survey (Nicole Blake, Vice President SSHRB)
Nicole Blake: Thank you commissioners. Good evening. My name is Nicole Blake. Thank you for
this opportunity to present our draft 2017 Community Needs Survey. First, a little background on our
history. So SSHRB, the Social Service Human Relations Board was established in 1917 with our
original name as The City of Alameda Board of Social Services. And with that we were charged with
advising the city council on all matters pertaining to care and relief of the needy. Fast forward to
1977, SSHRB's name was then changed by way of the city charter to its current name and with it with
a mission to create an environment which encourages and brings about mutual understanding, respect
and goodwill among groups of people in the community.
Nicole Blake: And in order to further this mission, the charter set forth certain goals. One of which
is to assess and report to the city council the social service needs of the people and the methods of
meeting those needs. In order to achieve this goal, SSHRB created the assessment and awareness
group in order to evaluate the community's social service and human relations needs through surveys
and focus groups and to also build awareness of those needs among community stakeholders. We use
the survey which you have a draft of tonight in your packet as one of the tools to identify these needs.
SSHRB administers the survey roughly every five years and we use the information in order to help
us make funding recommendations for both city and federal grants that focus on public service. And
we also found that non-profits find the data collected helpful in writing their grant applications to
help Alamedans.
Nicole Blake: And so tonight's purpose, we're reaching out to you, since you are experts on disability
issues in hopes that you can review the draft survey and we can get some input from you on what you
think is working well, what needs to be improved, what gaps need to be filled. We realize that we
probably don't have enough time tonight to go question by question, but we can direct comments to
Jim Franz, that's on the next slide. And so we just want to make sure that the needs for people with
disabilities is properly represented and included within the survey. If you have any questions,
comments or suggestions, you can ask them here tonight, but you can also send them to Jim Franz.
He's the Community Development and Resiliency Coordinator.
Kerry: We got this in our packet.
2",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-02-08,3,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 8th, 2017 6:30 p.m.
Nicole Blake: Okay. So it's all great? Okay. And we also realize that we may not be able to include
every single question that you may want to include in the survey, but we are more than happy to
collaborate with the commission to maybe develop a more specific survey that meets your needs as
well. Any questions?
Chair Kenny: Thank you very much. I will say, the Commission has used your 2012 Community
Need Surveys in our work to get a universal design ordinance passed. So it's been very helpful to
have those figures available. And I do have some questions, or initial thoughts on the survey itself.
Nicole Blake: Sure.
Chair Kenny: One question I had is, in the first section you have no need, low need, moderate need,
and high need?
Nicole Blake: Right.
Chair Kenny: I'm wondering if you guys had considered putting in, ""I don't know"" cause for some
of these things, like I don't really know what the need is for youth services, not having a child of my
own.
Nicole Blake: Okay, yeah. Yeah, that's helpful.
Chair Kenny: And then, just a more general thing I'd like to see a little bit more fleshed out is mental
health care available in the city, and how many people are in need of that. If there's a need for a clinic
or drop-in emergency place, because it's been brought to our attention before by members of the
public that Alameda has a very high rate of 51-50s, or people detained for the purpose of being
evaluated for 51-50s. And I know that the police force goes through excellent training, and really
seems to be doing a good job of being able to flesh out when it's appropriate to 51-50 somebody. So,
I'm wondering if there's some sort of need that we could fill where it's between being 51-50'ed or if
there is some sort of mental health shelter or emergency contact that people could go through?
Nicole Blake: Okay.
Chair Kenny: And then I don't know how to include that in your survey, because it's been something
I've been hearing it from the public and I've been following it in the newspaper. If you look at the
police blogs, almost every day, there is at least one person from the city who is detained for psychiatric
purposes. And that's pretty high for a city our size.
Nicole Blake: Great.
Chair Kenny: Does anyone else have any questions?
Commissioner Deutsch: Well, I noticed healthcare is on your list, and I'm just wondering whether
there could be some additional questions, like you have housing, and then you have a lot of other
questions underneath housing but nothing healthcare specific. And I think healthcare in Alameda is
changing right now. Accessing the hospitals, the various insurances available or not - so it would be
nice to know what people think.
3",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-02-08,4,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 8th, 2017 6:30 p.m.
Nicole Blake: Okay, yeah. Great.
Chair Kenny: And Susan, your comment brought up another issue for me, in your survey, where you
talk about housing, one of the things you're ranking is housing for people with disabilities. I would
love to see it more fleshed out so that we can understand this better. One of the things we're working
on is a Universal Design Ordinance. And so I would love to get a little bit more information on how
many people have had a family member who lives with them, who has trouble getting upstairs. Or
have had to build a ramp into their house to accommodate a family member. So, yeah, again I don't
have the exact way of doing this, but I'd like to flesh out a little bit more about those needs around
universal design and visit ability. Does anyone else have anything they'd like to say? Alright, well,
thank you very much.
Nicole Blake: Thank you.
Chair Kenny: And we appreciate this and feel free to contact us. And we appreciate you bringing it
here.
Nicole Blake: Okay. Great. Thank you.
Chair Kenny: Next item, we have Gail Payne to present the Alameda Paratransit Program for the
fiscal year of 2017-2018. Welcome Gail.
4-B.
Approve City of Alameda Paratransit Program Plan for Fiscal Year 2017/2018 (Gail
Payne, Transportation Coordinator
Gail Payne: Good evening, honorable chair and commissioners. Again, I'm Gail Payne, the city's
transportation coordinator, and I'm here tonight to ask your approval for the City of Alameda
Paratransit Program for fiscal year 2017-2018. So the next fiscal year starts July 1st, and I also would
like to first introduce our new Paratransit coordinator, Victoria Williams. And I'd like her to come up
and say a few words about herself. She has a lot of passion about seniors, and individuals with
disabilities and providing services. So here she is.
Victoria Williams: Hi there. Thank you very much for having me. I love to be here already. I've spent
30 years working with people who are aging or who might have disabilities. 12 years in senior
transportation, 10 of those with the city of Hayward as a Paratransit coordinator. And then, 14 years
in affordable housing, and the balance in other social service programs that serve people who have
disabilities and people who are aging, which is all of us luckily. So I'm grateful to be here and I'm
really looking forward to working with this great program and making it even better. Thank you.
Gail Payne: Thank you Victoria. And Victoria already has gone above and beyond the call of duty at
least once since she's been here, what is it, three weeks? Four weeks? Fourth week, and so we feel
very fortunate. Just to step back, what is the city of Alameda Paratransit program? We are very
fortunate in Alameda County to have passed measures B and BB. They're the transportation sales tax,
and so that's where this money comes from. It comes directly to each local jurisdiction and we get to
choose how we want to use it according to the guidelines by the Alameda county transportation
commission. And they do require to apply every year. That application is due in March. So before the
application, we always go out to the community, so that's what I'm doing tonight is asking for your
approval on what I'm about to present. And so, I'm going to provide a service overview, talk a little
bit about the program changes, the budget that we're recommending, and tell you about our planning
process for this next fiscal year.
4",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-02-08,5,"members say, ""We don't want one-hour's frequency, we want more frequent service."" That was the
most common complaint we received. We have only so much money and so much time, so we decided
to increase the frequency to 30-minute frequencies. We have three different loops, Tuesday is the west
end loop, Wednesday is the east end loop and includes Bay Farm Island, and Thursday is the central
loop. And so instead of operating on one-hour loops, there will be frequency of every 30 minutes. We
think that that will be a much better service. It's open to the general public, it targets locations where
seniors and individuals with disabilities are more apt to go. And we are looking at rebranding it and
right now it's called the Alameda Paratransit Shuttle. And in our survey, the top name for rebranding
it is Alameda Loop, and it does makes sense because it does have these loops for each day.
Gail Payne: As for the taxi service, we have the Premium Taxi Program. Right now it's a 50%
reduction in taxi trips. We want to increase that to 70% because we have money in our budget to do
SO. Measure BB was just passed in 2014 so we have all these additional revenues, so why don't we
provide better service with additional subsidies? So that's what we are recommending. Increasing the
subsidy of taxi trips from 50% to 70%. So the voucher cost right now is $2.50 and consumers get $5
voucher back. What we're recommending is instead of providing $2.50, they would provide $3 and
get a $10 taxi voucher back. So they will have to be paying 50 cents more for that travel voucher but
instead of receiving a $5 voucher back, they'll receive $10 voucher. Most trips are at least $11 for a
taxi trip, so we think this will work well.
Gail Payne: For other program changes, we'll be considering a new program for the Volunteer Driver
5",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
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Program, our potential other program. We used to have Mobility Matters which is now defunct in
Alameda County. So we're looking at what we can do just for the city in terms of maybe it would be
a volunteer driver program, maybe it would be some other type of mobility management program. So
that's something Victoria is very excited about, analyzing and looking at other key stakeholders to
potentially partner with. Group trips, there's Mastick monthly trips, there's the leisure club, there's the
Annual Nursing Home Trip. We plan to increase the subsidy for the Annual Nursing Home picnic.
For the scholarship program, we'll continue the taxi subsidies and also the Alameda Point
Collaborative Discounted Bus Passes for those residents.
Gail Payne: We do have a significant reserve because of measure BB that was passed in 2014. So it's
challenging to spend it down because then all of a sudden, with these operations, you have to
discontinue it once the reserve is complete. We're recommending spending it down with capital
programs, such as improve shuttle stops, poll signs when we do the rebranding, that's necessary. We
are also looking at other potential infrastructures such as accessible pedestrian signals. You heard
Commissioner Tsztoo last time I was here talking about the importance of those. That's something we
could speed up the progress in installing that type of infrastructure with this money. With the
rebranding of the shuttle service, we are looking at a push on marketing and outreach to get the word
out about the rebranding of the shuttle service and the new frequency of every 30 minutes, and it's
open to the public. So that, we're also are recommending.
Gail Payne: We have a budget of revenues coming in is $672,000 and I recommend expenditures of
$608,000 with reserves of $64,000. Keep in mind that we are conservative when doing this budget
and so we do place contingencies in here, and yet, we still are showing reserves. For the outreach that
is going into this next fiscal year recommendation, we do a survey every winter that we just
completed, and we also reached out to the commissions like we're doing tonight. Tomorrow night,
will be recreation and park commission, and later this month, transportation commission and SSHRB.
And then the application is due next month.
Gail Payne: For survey results of the survey that we just completed this past winter, this is the first
time that we had a web survey component, so we had a lot more people reply, 115. We had many
more attracted non-users and one of the number one reasons they said they don't use the subsidized
taxi program and the shuttle is that they didn't know about it. 33% stated they didn't know about the
taxi program, and 27% stated they didn't know about the shuttle service. That's another reason why
we're excited to have Victoria here because she's really going to do a big push on reaching out to the
key stakeholders and the community members, and going directly to them, explaining the program
face-to-face. We'll have some marketing pieces, and orientations at Mastick Senior Center. We will
be doing quite a bit, thanks to Victoria.
Gail Payne: This year, at least we're planning on keeping with our current taxi provider, and not
going with Lyft and Uber. It still feels like it's quite in flux right now, what's happening with Lyft and
Uber, and the regulations and all that. So this year we're going to let Victoria have time to ease into
this position, and then re-evaluate using Lyft and Uber next year. For the survey, when we asked this
question about Lyft and Uber, the respondents did say that if they could get a cheaper ride by sharing
rides with Lyft Using Lyft and Uber, Uber Pool and Lyft Line, that 61% said that they would prefer
this option to just a regular standard taxi. I could see us going in that direction in the future, just not
this upcoming fiscal year.
Gail Payne: And this is the last slide, it shows Victoria Williams' contact information, and we are
here for questions and comments. Thank you for your time.
6",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
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Chair Kenny: Thank you, Gail. Does anyone have any questions they'd like to ask? Commissioner
Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: Yes. Now that means that you're going to have two vehicles?
Gail Payne: Yes.
Arnold Brillinger: Instead of one. One of the things that you should do because the second one isn't
painted up yet, to say ""shuttle"" or whatever it says now, is get a big circle or something that says 'free'.
Nobody knows that it's free. Also, now the Alameda Loop, that sounds pretty good, but we need to
make sure that it's clear. I would say paint the vehicle in some bright colors so that you can't just say,
""Oh, there's another vehicle going down the street,"" that something that says, ""Hey! Here I am and
it's Thursday. Jump out here and get on me."" Those are a couple of things. I was wondering, could we
back up a couple of slides in your presentation? Maybe right there. On the capital and outreach, now
there will only be money for that the first year, right? Because we'll be using a lot of the
Gail Payne: The reserves. Right.
Arnold Brillinger: The reserves. And.
Gail Payne: We still will have some money to do outreach.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, but not like this year?
Gail Payne: We're not expecting maybe it would be as big. We're expecting it to be bigger next fiscal
year than in other years, yes. We're thinking of doing a special push especially for the shuttle because
we're having a more frequent shuttle. We will be using a shuttle wrap, a bus wrap, and to make it
really bright and I wrote down ""free"" so that's something. We can do a better job of saying it's free.
Arnold Brillinger: Because right now it's free to everybody in town, children included. Well, 12 and
up maybe. Because you don't want the little critters [chuckle] going by themselves. But they could
go with their parents, or grandparents and stuff like that. So people need to know that most of the
time, that vehicle is making these loops empty. It's got two or three people in it. Once in a while it's
got a wheelchair, [chuckle] that's me. But There are couple of other wheelchairs too I've seen on
there. And the other thing is that it can only accommodate one wheelchair at a time. If there were two
people going from the nursing home, they'd have to go by themselves, with their families and stuff.
Gail Payne: Okay, thank you.
Commissioner Lewis: I had a couple of questions. The one concern that I have about the taxis are
that with Uber and Lyft, there's a shrinking pool of taxis that anyone can use. The wait period to get
a taxi sometimes can be a wait up to an hour sometimes to get a taxi. And I don't know who your new
provider is, is it not Welcome anymore?
Gail Payne: It is. They've changed their name to First American Transit.
Commissioner Lewis: Oh, First American now? Okay, but it's the same company more or less. Yeah,
and I think that's really the problem that a lot of people have is the wait period that you're having
because of Uber and Lyft, and I'm just kind of wondering why, why wait?
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Gail Payne: Are you having the problem with this program, with this service using premium or Mr.
Tip, the long wait?
Commissioner Lewis: I'm just saying, generally when you're using a taxi here in Alameda, because
we're not San Francisco where you have DeSoto and Luxor and all that. I mean we pretty much have
one company more or less here in Alameda, and I think that they're struggling. I don't want to put
words in their mouths, but just based on the service because of Uber and Lyft, because most people
are taking Uber and Lyft now as an alternative. I understand that Victoria's great, that we have Victoria
and she'll be point person in all that, but I kind of think that it's important for us to get going on it
because it's tough. If you're going to go grocery shopping and you're sitting and waiting an hour, you
got frozen stuff, could be a potential problem. I just don't know what they're saying. Did they give an
idea what the wait period is or what the number of drivers they have now? Or.
Gail Payne: Actually, we should not be having that type of wait and I have not been hearing that type
of problem in the survey. That didn't come out and so we can look at it in more depth. We can also
talk to Alameda CTC to see what the potential is on moving forward with Uber/Lyft this fiscal year.
So far none of the cities have done Uber/Lyft and so we wanted to not be the guinea pigs, the test run.
However, we can check in with them and see what they recommend since they're the funding agency.
Commissioner Lewis: Yeah. I think that would be a good thing. And also the other thing is I'm not
sure how - the voucher program still will be administered through Mastick?
Gail Payne: Yes.
Commissioner Lewis: I was just wondering how that gets translated to the public.
Gail Payne: When you say how it gets translated, you mean how the public learns about it?
Commissioner Lewis: Yeah, how they know that.
Gail Payne: Yeah, and that's something that we are going to do, like I said, a bigger push about that
in general than we have already. Mastick has orientations that they do when new members come on
board. There's also an orientation they do, I think its quarterly just on transportation and they talk
about transportation for all the new members as well and we have a bunch of print media and then
we also go face to face to the various groups and homes to talk about the program. And that's what
Donatella Zepplin, who retired, was doing and now Victoria's taking her place and there was a little
bit of a lag time between the two and so that effort will start up again.
Commissioner Lewis: Yeah, because I was just thinking mainly also just for people who aren't
seniors who don't necessarily have a reason to go Mastick, you know somebody who may have
epilepsy or something, maybe a younger person and all that. What other avenues that they would
know that might steer them in that? And to say I know you're not a senior but it's okay because
Gail Payne: Right, Okay. So we can talk more with Victoria about this. There are a number of non-
profit organizations, maybe that's one way. Like Center for Independent Living, they may have a
listserv for their Alameda consumers so we could do a better job of maybe partnering with Alameda
Meals on Wheels for example or other groups. And as Victoria gets her head into that she'll have 101
more ideas on that I'm sure.
Commissioner Lewis: Yeah. And the Mr. Tip program too, that's the, if I'm understanding it, that's
8",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
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the one for doctor's appointments, right?
Gail Payne: Yes, and for East Bay Paratransit members only.
Commissioner Lewis: Right. Do the hospitals know about that program or is that possible that for
somebody who may be going to Alameda hospital? Somebody shows up in a crisis situation and it
gets resolved and they have to go home, they say they don't have any money and they're referred to
the social worker, does the social worker have access to that?
Gail Payne: They do and there's also another program that's called the Hospital Discharge Program
that is administered directly by Alameda CTC, Alameda County Transportation Commission. So the
social workers do know that they can get a free ride home through that program, it's totally free, or
they could use this program.
Commissioner Lewis: And I have one more, I don't want to dominate this, but I just have one more
that I'm just getting to the shuttle. What's happened with the shuttle on occasion is that a driver may
not show up at a stop. It could be various reasons, maybe their replacement didn't come at lunch time
or whatever. Is there any way that the public can know that there may be a two hour wait or not two
hours, cause you are changing it to every 30 minutes. If there's going to be a delay, how would the
public know if there is some glitch in the system?
Gail Payne: Right, We've talked about working with text messages, now that many more people
nowadays have smartphones and use the texting feature, so that's something that we will continue to
think about, and other ways as well.
Commissioner Lewis: So, telling them to call Mastick probably wouldn't be a good idea to call, then
Gail Payne: They do know to call Mastick, SO that already happens, yet what I was understanding is
how we could do a better job of proactively, mentioning to riders that the shuttle is delayed, so that's
one way that we've thought about it is through texting, but they are always welcome call Mastick.
Commissioner Lewis: So the texting may happen this year?
Gail Payne: That is something that again Victoria will have to look at.
Commissioner Lewis: Okay.
Chair Kenny: I had a couple of questions. With the loop service, at one point, weren't you talking
about having it go to Fruitvale BART?
Gail Payne: We were.
Chair Kenny: And what happened with that?
Gail Payne: We looked at what the tradeoff would be, and the tradeoff would be that it could no
longer go to a nursing home on Westline Drive, and then it couldn't serve that whole side of town,
because it requires significant time to get over there. We felt like it would take up so much of the time
within the central part of Alameda, that we felt like it is better to stay on island, the tradeoff was just
too severe because that nursing home in particular is a frequent user of the shuttle and highly
dependent on it. We have really good AC Transit service, that feeder service to Oakland and the
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BART stations and so we talked about it even today is doing a better job of getting the word out about
those services. We just have a new AC Transit service line 19 along Buena Vista avenue, for example
that goes between Fruitvale BART, and Oakland Downtown BART and so basically we need to do a
better job getting the word out of how to get to Oakland and we're fortunate to have a lot of ways.
Chair Kenny: Okay. With the capital improvements, I believe we have a Commissioner who is not
here tonight, Commissioner Franco who has looked at different spots where she thought pedestrian
crossings might need a little bit more marking or where we've heard from the public. I would love it
if she could get in touch with you guys and mention those spots to you if she hasn't already.
Gail Payne: That would be helpful and what is her name again?
Chair Kenny: Commissioner La Donna Franco.
Gail Payne: Okay.
Chair Kenny: It's through the Alameda County Transportation Commission, but I never knew about
the wheelchair and scooter breakdown service, that's pretty amazing. I've had plenty of clients who
have had issues with their scooters and wheelchairs, so that's a completely free service?
Gail Payne: Yes.
Chair Kenny: Oh wow! That is wonderful.
Gail Payne: Yeah. And so is the hospital discharge service. They are both administered directly by
the Alameda County Transportation Commission.
Chair Kenny: Great. Commissioner Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: The wheelchair breakdown thing, is that for wheelchairs that are broken down at
your house?
Gail Payne: Anywhere, so if you are in an emergency situation.
Arnold Brillinger: Oh, I've called them, and it says, ""We'll get back to you next Monday.'
Gail Payne: Okay.
Arnold Brillinger: They're only open certain days, I mean certain hours per day.
Gail Payne: Oh. I thought it is for emergency. Let me look at.
Arnold Brillinger: I did too, but I called them just to find out and I got an answering machine, it says
we'll call you, leave a message, we'll call you tomorrow.
Gail Payne: Okay.
Arnold Brillinger: And to me, that didn't sound like anything I want or needed.
Gail Payne: Okay.
10",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
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Arnold Brillinger: That's why I thought, ""Well, maybe it's for people whose wheelchairs break at
home,"" they can call up and say, ""Hey, the wheel came off"", or something, but not for someone who
is sitting down here on Park Street and saying, ""Oh, my wheel fell off,"" or whatever the thing is. You
know, they're not going to get any help.
Gail Payne: Okay.
Chair Kenny: One other question that I had is, when you talk about the group trips, is it the social
club? Is it just for seniors, or are there other populations that are targeted in this?
Gail Payne: So there's a couple different programs. There's three total that this funding subsidizes.
There's the monthly Mastick trips, and those are mainly targeted for seniors. There's also the leisure
program, and so that's targeted for individuals with mental disabilities, and adults specifically. Then
the last one is the annual nursing home picnic.
Chair Kenny: Great, thank you. Does anyone else have any more questions? Commissioner Lewis.
Commissioner Lewis: Yeah. I just wanted to follow up. You were saying about the money available
for accessible signal lights. I think you and I have talked about this before, Gail. What's a little
complicated in Alameda, some streets are managed by the city, and some are managed by Caltrans,
how is that going to get resolved?
Gail Payne: We, as a city, have to take the initiative to provide the money to make it happen, and
then we work with Caltrans. It's a whole process where we seek encroachment requests, and then we
install, or they may come out and install with us. So it's definitely a little bit more cumbersome, yet
we don't avoid those locations. This past batch that just came in, for example, there have been nine
that were recently installed. The highest criterion was being near bus stops, so that's how we batched
them. Moving forward, we'll have to see what the highest priorities are. If you have some locations
where you'd like to have them installed, it would be interesting to know.
Commissioner Lewis: I called, I believe it was your replacement, regarding just getting some type
of notification across from that little intersection at Benton and Encinal, and a gentleman mentioned
that I needed to call Caltrans if anything was going to get resolved, because that is a Caltrans high-
way.
Gail Payne: Wait, so, are you talking about the signal at Sherman and Encinal? Because it's right
near.
Commissioner Lewis: It's not actually that one. I was talking about the one across from Jay's, because
there's the school
Gail Payne: Okay.
Commissioner Lewis: Right across the street. There's just a lot of foot traffic back and forth there.
And just to get a I can't remember what you call those lights
Gail Payne: Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacon.
Commissioner Lewis: Yeah, like the one at Peru and Encinal. He was saying that it didn't qualify.
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But I thought it was just a very heavy area, where there's a lot of foot traffic.
Gail Payne: We are installing those around town, and I could look to see if that's a priority location,
because we do install there even if it's Caltrans property. I'll have to look on the future plans for those
Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacons.
Commissioner Lewis: And is there a list of the ones that are going to be coming out, the accessible
signals?
Gail Payne: For the accessible signals, we do not currently have a list. However, it is being included
in this budget, as well as part of the capital improvement program for the next fiscal year. And so this
is a great time for you to let us know your priorities, and we will check with the pedestrian plan too,
to see what the priorities there are. There's a list of all the different intersections that need those
devices, and it's in the pedestrian plan.
Commissioner Lewis: Yeah. Cause there's a set of folks that are blind that live at Encinal and High
Street. And there's a light there, of course, but there's also a left-hand turn off of Encinal onto High
Street, which go in front of the pedestrian, which is a little daunting. And the one gentleman that Peter
mentioned that he's called several times about that, and just wanted to know if we can get that as a
priority. It seems a sensible one, to me.
Gail Payne: Okay. Great. If you think of any others, please let me know. I'm at your convenience.
Chair Kenny: Commissioner Hall.
Commissioner Hall: I would just like to say that the Commissioner makes a very good point, I think
any kind of marketing outreach we need to do should be humongous signs, neon signs saying, ""Free!
Free! Free!"" And the other thing, because it seems like, throughout the city, I haven't seen a lot of
brochures or even a flyer in the different areas. Yes, at Mastick Center but I'm wondering about other
places. Like you said for the disabled, and not just the seniors. Do you have flyers at the food bank?
Do you have flyers at the Alameda Family Center? Basic places where all ages of different people
are going to be, but especially so the disabled people see it too, not just the seniors. And to know it's
free, I think a lot of people, like you said, that in your survey they didn't even know it was free and
that it's out there.
Gail Payne: Yeah. And also just keep in mind we've been postponing outreach on the shuttle because
we've known for a little bit that we've wanted to change it to 30 minute frequency and we've wanted
to re-brand it, so we didn't want to do a big push until we get those things done and then do it. So
yeah. It all feels like it's finally coming together, thankfully, yet it's taken some time.
Chair Kenny: Can I just ask, does the Alameda Paratransit program have a listserv where they can
let the people who are already involved in the program know of changes?
Gail Payne: We don't really, but that's something we can look at. We do have a listserv of anyone
who has enrolled in the premium taxi program. But we could do a better job of compiling emails.
Yeah definitely.
Chair Kenny: Ah, Commissioner Aghapekian.
Commissioner Aghapekian: Thanks for your presentation, thank you.
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Gail Payne: Thank you.
Commissioner Aghapekian: I need just clarification. The Paratransit stops at bus stops, it's not door
to door?
Chair Kenny: Yes. The shuttle is a fixed route service. It's a loop. Fixed route with fixed bus stops
and they have their own bus stops and at times they do share a bus stop with AC transit at some
locations.
Commissioner Aghapekian: And I see in here in your presentation of the program, you have bus
benches? Planning to install bus benches?
Gail Payne: Yes.
Commissioner Aghapekian: I live very close to South Shore, I see a lot of people taking the shuttle
and/or the bus, and benches are perfect, a great idea. Highly, highly recommend because I see people,
elderly people, and people that have difficulties, either leaning or standing or sitting on the sidewalk.
They have no place to sit. And sometimes during the summer especially, never mind the winter time,
it gets very hot and the sun is very strong and they're sitting there, standing there for hours. Maybe
not hours but for a long stretch of time and if it's do-able I highly recommend that these benches have
some kind of sun protection, whether it is possible or not. I can feel their misery. And the other
clarification that I need is, it's every other day that the loop happen in specific areas, is that the
program?
Gail Payne: It will continue its current days of the week. The shuttle operates Tuesdays, Wednesdays
and Thursdays. And what it does is it operates at different parts of the town for each day. And so
Tuesdays is West End, Thursdays is East and Bay Farm and then the Central Island is Thursday.
Commissioner Aghapekian: So if a person needs a ride on a day off, is it possible for them to have
other means of transportation available to them?
Gail Payne: So that's where the taxi program comes in, the subsidized taxis and also we're looking
at this mobility management, considering a new program and looking at a potential volunteer driver
program. And so volunteer drivers can help individuals get from their door to the door of wherever
they're going, if it's a medical appointment or wherever they need to go.
Commissioner Aghapekian: Thank you.
Gail Payne: And a clarification on the benches. We're looking at benches not just for this shuttle yet
for all bus stops and this will help pay for that.
Chair Kenny: Commissioner Lewis.
Commissioner Lewis: This is something that I wouldn't know. Are the areas where the shuttle
stopped, is it marked along with the AC Transit sign?
Gail Payne: It is. It has a bus flag, a bus stop sign, similar look and feel to an AC Transit bus stop
sign except different color schemes.
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Commissioner Lewis: And will the - I'm assuming it will be the West End - will that be expanded to
the ferry?
Gail Payne: It will not be expanded to the ferry, however, I do have good news in that Line 31, AC
transit Line 31, is extending to the ferry in March.
Commissioner Lewis: Will it go actually to the ferry, though?
Gail Payne: Yes, it will have a layover at the Main Street Ferry Terminal. Yeah.
Chair Kenny: Well, Gail I would like to thank you for presenting this and all the effort that has gone
in, it's clear that it's been thoroughly thought through and a lot of work has been put into this. At this
time I would like to make a motion that we approve the application for Measure B and BB Paratransit
funding for the fiscal year '17-'18.
Commissioner Deutsch: I second.
Chair Kenny: All in favor?
All: Aye.
Chair Kenny: Any opposed? No. Great.
Gail Payne: Thank you. Thank you for your great comments I appreciate it.
Chair Kenny: Thank you. Now we go onto old business.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
Kerry: And this is really annual business. I'm going to take over from you, Chair Kenny.
Chair Kenny: Yep.
5-A. Election of new Commission Chair and Vice Chair (City Staff)
Kerry: So in the bylaws it says that we annually elect a new chair and new vice-chair. And basically
that being chair or vice-chair entails helping to set up the agenda and discussing things that you'd like
to see on the agenda. It's definitely more communication with your staff. And both the current chair
and vice-chair have let me know that while they'd be willing to do this again, they're also willing to
let someone else give it a go if they're really interested. I'd like to start by accepting nominations for
commission chair.
Commissioner Aghapekian: I nominate Beth.
Commissioner Lewis: Second.
Commissioner Deutsch: I second.
[laughter]
14",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-02-08,15,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 8th, 2017 6:30 p.m.
Kerry: Oh my goodness!
Commissioner Deutsch: And she's doing a great job.
Kerry: Okay so we have a nomination. Are there any others? Okay. So I'd like to For all those who
would like Beth to run another year as commission chair, how many ayes do I have?
All: Aye.
Kerry: Any opposed? Okay. Ayes have it. You get to keep your name tag.
[laughter]
Kerry: Okay. Very good. And for vice-chair, do we have any nominations for vice-chair?
Commissioner Lewis: Nominate Arnold.
Commissioner Deutsch: I second.
[chuckle]
Commissioner Lewis: I like staying consistent.
Kerry: Okay. All those in favor or Arnold Brillinger having another year as vice-chair?
All: Aye.
Kerry: Any opposed? Ayes have it. Vice-chair Brillinger, we have you for another year.
Arnold Brillinger: That's also a cost saving measure.
[laughter]
Kerry: That's right. The city thanks you. Okay, very good. That was nice and simple, thank you. I'm
excited about it: I'm excited to work with you another year, Beth; and excited to work with you another
year, Arnold.
5-B. Selection of a Retreat Date (City Staff)-
Kerry: I have then another item for old business but it's really just regular business. We have agreed
in our bylaws that we meet six times a year. As you know the selection of having it every even month
of the year, on the second Wednesday has been very convenient for us, except that in August this
room (Council Chambers) and it's technology and everything goes dark. We essentially don't support
big meetings in this room in August. So that means we move our August meeting to a retreat. Now
we had a retreat last year in January because we got it together to set a date I think in December.
Kerry: But now we are up against looking at when to schedule the retreat for this year. I have put
forward that March might be a good month. The retreat would be probably a morning, or a morning
to afternoon, over at Mastick Senior Center in a classroom. That's where we did it last time and it
worked nicely because we have all the conveniences there of a parking lot and restrooms and that sort
15",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-02-08,16,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 8th, 2017 6:30 p.m.
of thing. Jackie Krause of Mastick has let me know that the Saturdays in March would be just fine. I
have a very faint looking calendar on the screen that is hard to see, but the Saturdays that I'm
discussing are Saturday the 4th, Saturday the 11th, Saturday the 18th and Saturday the 25th.
Kerry: So I guess I'd like some discussion of what day you guys would like to choose for that retreat.
Chair Kenny: Why don't we start with if anybody has days that they cannot meet of the days that
Kerry put out.
Commissioner Deutsch: I cannot do the 25th.
Chair Kenny: Okay. Great. So if nobody else has any other days they can't do it. I would propose
the 4th or the 11th, because I would like to see us do it sooner, rather than later. But I'm, again, open
to the 18th as well. Last time we did it, I think we started at 10:00 and I think that time worked for
everybody, and so that we were able to get out by, I think, it was 1:00, so people could have the rest
of their Saturday. Does anyone have any preference between the dates?
Commissioner Lewis: 11th.
Commissioner Aghapekian: 11th.
Chair Kenny: All in favor of the 11th?
All: Aye.
Chair Kenny: Any opposed? Great.
Kerry: Great, March 11th at 10:00 AM. So then what will happen next is, I'll send you all an email
reminding you that we just chose March 11th, and then I'm going to want to post an agenda, because
we'll probably have more than a quorum at this meeting, so that means it has to be formally posted.
But that's fine. That's easy to do.
Chair Kenny: Yeah, and I did have some things that I wanted to put on the agenda. There are a couple
of items in our bylaws that I was wanting to propose we make adjustments to. So I can let you know
that information to put on the agenda. If anyone else has things that they think we need to talk about,
let Kerry know so she can put it on the agenda.
Kerry: I know one item was, perhaps discussing the task force that would get put together for Sharon
Oliver, Captain Sharon Oliver, of the Fire Department who presented to us in December. Maybe some
good brainstorming could happen, like we'd have a segment where you could brainstorm how to
create a database of folks who might need help in a disaster, that sort of thing just to recall back to
that discussion, as an item. Be thinking of a list and you can always contact your vice chair or your
chair. It doesn't matter, or contact me directly too.
Commissioner Lewis: I have a question, I just wanted to go back to Gail's discussion, maybe with
that conversation, do know the channel of PSAs (Public Service Announcements) related to the city?
Kerry: You're asking me, and I wish I knew. I am not an Alameda resident, so I don't know but I have
a feeling, yes, that we do.
16",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-02-08,17,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 8th, 2017 6:30 p.m.
Commissioner Lewis: I don't have cable, so I don't know.
Chair Kenny: Does anyone here have Channel 15, the local Alameda channel?
Kerry: There's usually city public slides that run on that. So, let's say there's an event coming up,
sometimes they'll show for an event. Let's say there's something about battery recycling. Sometimes
that'll slide up.
Commissioner Hall: I'm sorry, what was the question? About the channel?
Commissioner Lewis: If there's any PSAs related to Alameda. We were talking about how we get
the word out for these, and I'm fairly convinced that a lot of people don't really know or understand
Paratransit, for instance. And I just thought that, I don't know, we could use this. So it'd be nice to
have information on emergency preparedness, if you like information on shuttles, those kinds of
things. I just don't know if that's how, like I said, I don't have cable, so I don't know.
Chair Kenny: I can tell you in the time that I've been on the commission, we haven't utilized that,
but I think that it's an excellent point and we can definitely find out more information about what's
going on. Yeah, I understand what you're saying, especially with the conversation we had with Gail
because that is important that what is offered is somehow publicized.
Commissioner Lewis: Even in the Alameda Sun, how an ad could help education the public. That
would pertain to residents. Like a little picture of a shuttle going around town, like you were saying
in the branding, or whatever residents in Alameda are most paying attention to.
Kerry: Yeah, and they've left already, but I think that if you have a suggestion for that team to address
in their marketing push for the shuttle, go ahead and email me and I can forward it onto them. They
would love to hear that sort of idea.
Commissioner Lewis: Or just different things like we were saying like emergency preparedness. I
like that!
Commissioner Hall: Channel 15, I think, if I recall most the time it'll say like, ""The city is offline
now."" It'll just be at the same spiel. Sometime I have seen it there is like slides, and flashes of I don't
know and then you could be the very first to find out.
Commissioner Lewis: It should be like movie trailers.
Chair Kenny: We can put that on there. Right. I mean, why not?
Commissioner Lewis: Like movie trailers, before the movie comes on before the council meeting
or.
Chair Kenny: Yeah. Right. I think that's an excellent idea.
Arnold Brillinger: We could also do that kind of information at the theatre.
Commissioner Lewis: Yeah. Right, because the theatre does a lot of city programs. They do advertise
a lot of city stuff.
17",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-02-08,18,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 8th, 2017 6:30 p.m.
Chair Kenny: Yeah, we'd have to check with the theatre cause I'm sure that a lot of the stuff that
they're advertising, it's fee-based but the Alameda Theatre has been excellent, so it's definitely worth
investigating.
Commissioner Aghapekian: There is an organization in Oakland that represents the western part of
USA in issues with handicap people. And there is a lady over there who did a presentation when we
went to that seminar in the city, and I had seen her present in other conferences where she talked
about the civil rights that is law. I think it'd be beneficial for us if we can invite her to our retreat.
Maybe she can talk with us for one or two hours, and give us some information as to what the law is,
because the law is always changing, and if that is agreeable to everybody. And if she needs a fee, if
we need to pay her a fee for her coming. Do we have any funds for that?
Kerry: Yes. If you imagine that we have funds for education and conferences. So, that is what paid
for
your attendance at that I think it was the Pacific ADA Conference class last summer?
Commissioner Aghapekian: Right.
Kerry: So, I think that we could look into it. It'd be great since you remember her and like her that
maybe if you could look up the Pacific ADA Group and see if you could find her, that'd be great.
Commissioner Aghapekian: I can. I know where she is.
Kerry: Oh great.
Commissioner Aghapekian: Yeah, and I picked up the pamphlets for distribution for the fair. That's
easy, and if everybody is agreeable, I'll pursue it and let you know.
Chair Kenny: Yeah, I think that would be a great idea. The only thing I would say is I wouldn't want
to get it too long. Maybe an hour is a good amount of time because we do have commission stuff also
that we have to get done. But I think it's a great idea.
Commissioner Aghapekian: An hour for her presentation?
Chair Kenny: Yeah.
Commissioner Aghapekian: Not including our questions.
Chair Kenny: So, if we're done with the retreat, then we move on to the staff communications.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Kerry: Staff communications is really that now we're going to start building a retreat agenda and also
our April meeting agenda. I have a feeling that the April meeting agenda was something about the
Universal Design Ordinance. I do know that there are some updates with the ordinance. I can let Beth
talk about that in a second during your announcements. I just want you to be thinking about future
agendas.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Kerry: Also I received something in the mail. I often will receive things in the mail to announce to
18",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-02-08,19,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 8th, 2017 6:30 p.m.
you guys, and it will be too late, like I won't be able to announce it to you in time. So I'll either email
to you, but this one was something that was timely. This is from the Alameda County Developmental
Disabilities Planning and Advisory Council. They'd like to invite you to attend the Annual Transition
Information Fair for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. It's
Saturday, March 25th, from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM, at the College of Alameda, 555 Ralph Appezzato
Parkway here in Alameda. It's a collaborative event planned by members of the Alameda County
Transition team. The target audience for the transition fair is students, younger students, 14 to 22
years, with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, regional center staff and
school district staff. The Transition Fair includes a showcase of adult service providers and
educational workshops. This is a wonderful opportunity for families and students to explore the world
of adult services as they transition to life after high school.
Kerry: Let me know if you want more information about that. It sounds like it's coming up next
month, and not on the same Saturday as our retreat. They also checked in to make sure that they had
all of the right information for our commission, probably as a resource. That's all I've got.
Arnold Brillinger: Kerry, if you could just send that around to everyone.
Kerry: Absolutely.
Arnold Brillinger: I went to it last year.
Kerry: Oh, you did?
Arnold Brillinger: Because I had a friend who had a son, who is 17, and needed some special
attention. And what she did is, the several presentations that were going on. Two of them that she
needed were at the same time. So, she got me to go and get the information from the one. And then
they've got a bunch of tables set up with all kinds of little gadgets to give away and also information
and stuff.
Kerry: Well that sounds like a great resource then. Yes, I'd be happy to scan this and send this to all
of you.
Chair Kenny: Alright. So now we'll move on to announcements. And I have a couple that I just want
to start with. In regards to the Universal Design Ordinance, we had a slow down during the holidays.
And are now picking it back up again. This Monday the 13th, the latest draft of the Universal Design
Ordinance will be presented at the planning board meeting. And that will be open to public comment
at that time. And I suggest anyone who is interested, please come and please let us know what you
want to see, what you think is missing. Eventually, it will be presented to our commission, the
Universal Design Ordinance will be presented here. And I asked, they'll be looking for our approval
on the ordinance. So this will not be your only time to have questions on the ordinance. If you cannot
make it.
Chair Kenny: The other announcement I wanted to make is the League of Women Voters of Alameda
has invited each of us to an annual mixer and fundraiser that they hold called Meet Your Public
Officials. And we're public officials folks. [laughter] So it's Thursday, March 30th from 5:30-7:30
PM, at the community center on Harbor Bay Island. If you're interested please let them know. I believe
Commissioner Linton and I are already RSVP'd to go. Hope to see some of you there.
Kerry: And wear your name tags.
19",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-02-08,20,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 8th, 2017 6:30 p.m.
Chair Kenny: Yes. [laughter] Does anyone else have any other announcements they'd like to make?
Commissioner Lewis: I do, on just. We were invited to go to a church fair of some sort.
Kerry: Emmanuel.
Commissioner Lewis: Emmanuel. That's what it was. We'll be doing Emmanuel Church Fair. The
Park Street Fair - that comes up at the end of July, right?
Arnold Brillinger: But there are several other events.
Kerry: Right. There's a Spring Festival that's Mother's Day weekend, on Park Street. But also the Art
and Wine Fair that you're discussing Tony, in July. And there's one on Webster Street that I don't know
what the date of that It might be June.
Arnold Brillinger: It's around Father's Day.
Kerry: It's moved, yeah. So perhaps the Event Subcommittee needs to get together.
Chair Kenny: Yeah, and I think it would also be good for us to speak about this at our retreat. And
kind of get a little bit more input on what events we want to go to and how much people are able to
give to these events. Cause I don't want it falling all on the event committee.
Commissioner Lewis: Good idea.
Commissioner Hall: Mother's Day is coming up in May, and having the little table and some of the
information. Different people, like you said not every day we get invited to events. I think that was
wonderful, because that was the first time, last summer when I saw the table. And I was like, ""Oh my
God. Look. Finally. A table for the Commission on Disability Issues!""
Chair Kenny: Are there any other announcements? Alright then I am going move to adjourn the
meeting.
Commissioner Lewis: Second it.
Chair Kenny: Alright. Adjourned.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kerry Parker
City Staff Liaison
Commission on Disability Issues
20",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-02-08.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-03-11,1,"ITEM 2-A
The Chair's Notes
CDI Retreat March 11, 2017
At Mastick Senior Center 10am to 2pm
Present were Vice Chair Brillinger, Commissioner Linton, Commissioner Hall,
Commissioner Deutsch, Commissioner Aghapekian, Chair Kenny
Commissioner Tsztoo was present 10am till 12pm, and Commissioner Lewis
12pm to 2pm.
Also present was Joseph Paratansky a Human-Disability Rights Advocate.
The retreat started with each attendee stating one thing in the next year he/she is
excited for personally and with the CDI.
Next the Commissioners discussed possible changes and additions to bylaws. The
Commissioners decided not to change the bylaws to allow chair to sign petitions
that directly impact persons with disability. These items should be brought to CDI
meeting so entire Commission can weigh in. If time sensitive and important enough
a special meeting can be called.
The Commissioners did decide to give individual Commissioners the power to act as
a liaison between CDI and his/her assigned Board or Commission. Commissioners
should be bringing any and all pertinent received from the assigned Board or
Commission to the CDI meeting. Commissioner must not voice opinions on behalf of
the CDI unless specifically asked to by the CDI. Chair Kenny will draft the language
for the addition to the bylaws and CDI will vote at our April meeting.
The Commissioners then went quickly through any questions on the Brown Act and
Sunshine Ordinance. When discussing Parlimentary Procedure it was decided each
commissioner will be asked for comments/questions after presentations.
The commissioners broke into two groups to discuss the following:
What do you think is working well with the organization?
What would you like to see the organization do more of, do better or do
differently?
What do you think the organization should stop doing?
What are three things the organization should focus on over the next 12
months?
What is your vision for this organization over the next three years?
What would help you feel more engaged and useful as a board member?
What would help the board work even more effectively together
A lunch break was taken and after lunch the group came together and discussed
what came out in the small group discussions. The main themes of the discussion
were increasing visibility of CDI and creating more connections with the",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-03-11.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-03-11,2,"organizations in Alameda that serve persons with disabilities. Several
commissioners expressed a desire for the commission to meet more often.
Next up were the Commission Sub group Updates
UDO
Events
Disaster
Finally, we reviewed what actions needed to be taken and the goals going forward.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-03-11.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-04-12,1,"ITEM 2-B
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 6:30 p.m.
Beth Kenny: Welcome to the Commission on Disability Issues meeting for Wednesday, April 12,
2017. Let's start with roll call.
1. ROLL CALL
Kerry Parker: Chair Kenny?
Beth Kenny: Present.
Kerry Parker: Vice Chair Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Aghapekian? Commissioner Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Franco? Commissioner Hall?
Lisa Hall: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Lewis? Commissioner Linton?
Jenny Linton: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Tsztoo?
Michaela Tsztoo: Here.
Kerry Parker: We have one, two, three six. We have a quorum.
2. MINUTES
Beth Kenny: Wonderful. Agenda item number two, approval of the minutes from our February 8th,
2017 meeting. Does anyone have any changes they'd like to see made to the minutes from our
February meeting?
Arnold Brillinger: I would like to move to accept these minutes as they are.
Beth Kenny: Then I'll second that we approve it. All in favor?
All: Aye.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-04-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-04-12,2,"ITEM 2-B
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 6:30 p.m.
Beth Kenny: Great. The minutes have been approved. Just a side note on the minutes, we have been
having trouble hearing everybody in the minutes and as you know we are sending it to a company, so
if everybody can really make sure they try and speak into the microphone, that would be great.
Kerry Parker: Yes. Even a sign on this table over here it says, ""Speak directly into the mic."" And
we were charged extra money last time for the minutes to be transcribed for this, if we could just take
care to speak into the mic that would help. This one is super sensitive, yours are not.
3. ORAL COMMUNICATION
Beth Kenny: Oral communications, non-agenda items, public comment section. Do we have anyone?
No?
Kerry Parker: We do not have any speaker slips.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A
Presentation of Services Available at Center for Independent Living (CIL) in Alameda
(Stuart S. James, Executive Director, CIL)
Beth Kenny: Great. Moving on to new business. We have a presentation of services available at the
Center for Independent Living by Stuart James.
Beth Kenny: Welcome Stuart. Thank you for being here.
Stuart
James: I tend to wander. I think that I have kinetic energy.
[laughter]
Stuart James: Well first of all thank you for having me. I'm the Executive Director at the Center for
Independent Living that a lot of people know as the Center for Independent Living, Berkeley.
However. Can you hear me?
Beth Kenny: Yes.
Stuart James: We have just opened up a new office here in Alameda. It is our third office. We have
one in Oakland as well. The office here is pretty exciting. It's 6,900 square feet, it's on Mariner Square
Loop. You come to our assistive technology lab which has three separate parts to it. One part is for
people with vision impairments, so we will walk consumers through how to use accessibility features
that exist within phones and computers already. Applications and software we can add to the computer
to help read screen read. We also have other devices that will screen read if you don't want to hook
up to a computer or that will scan and read hard materials. And we show people how to use all of that
stuff.
Stuart James: The second part of it is we actually have a living room that is completely controlled
by an Amazon Echo. So you can turn the heat on, turn the heat down, unlock the doors, turn the lights
05/24/17
Page 2 of 29",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-04-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-04-12,3,"ITEM 2-B
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 6:30 p.m.
on, turn the lights off, and there's pretty much nothing you can't do without leaving the couch. You
can just sort of sit there and control the whole space, and we'll show you how to use all that and we
can actually go to your home and help you set it up. And then the third part is we have a whole bunch
of different mobility devices that we can show you. It's everything, from some power wheelchairs, to
power assist devices for manual wheelchairs, to sports wheelchairs to these kinds of things. For those
of you who are not familiar, the Independent Living Center, we're the first one in the country. We're
actually the first one in the world. There's now 400 centers around the country that are based on us,
but they're not affiliated with us directly. We're just sort of the premise for the ideology.
Stuart James: There're also several hundred more around the world and our office on any given
probably week or month have groups from other countries visiting us. In the world of independent
living we're kind of like Mecca. So we in fact just last week we had a group in from Thailand to come
and talk about what we do. I am very new to the disability space, other than having one, so I use a
wheelchair, but I spent 25 years working in sports and entertainment. So actually 10 years ago this
month I was in Shanghai producing a concert for the Rolling Stones.
Stuart James: So my life has changed a little. I ended up here because a variety of things. I have
osteogenesis imperfecta. My mom founded the OI foundation in the United States. She's one of the
founders and for 40 years Inever went to a meeting. It was a 40 year fight I had with my mom because
she used to say, ""You got to do something,"" and I'd say, ""Go away. Don't bother me."" I used to be an
NFL agent, and I used to send my NFL players to play golf tournaments for my mom's charity but I
would never tell them it had anything to do with me. They'd figure it out, but it was just a wall I put
up, and I didn't like to cross that wall. But that kind of changed when I was living in China and I
started a nonprofit there to help kids with physical disabilities. And through that process I ran into a
woman you may or may not have heard of before, her name is Judy Heumann. And Judy Heumann
is one of the founders of CIL along with Ed Roberts, and Judy's probably most famous for leading
the 504 protest in 1977 when we took over the federal building.
Stuart James: Up until a few months ago Judy was the head of human rights and disability for the
US State Department. She was an Obama appointee, and prior to that she was undersecretary of health
and human services for Clinton. She met me in Beijing. She said ""What do you plan to do when you
get back to the states?"" I said ""I'm going to go work for the PGL."" She said ""Would you consider
doing something else?"" I said ""Maybe,"" and I went to DC and I spent two days with her.
Stuart James: I tell you all of that because I had a very different idea about what needed to happen
in disability than the conversation that was taking place. She didn't necessarily think I was right, but
she said she hoped I was, and she wanted me to come try. For any independent living centers, our
federal funding requires us to provide four core services. Peer counseling, so it's people with
disabilities helping other people with disabilities on a one-on-one environment. In general you come
into our office, you set a goal for yourself, and we try to help encourage you and show you a way to
accomplish the goal. The second thing is we do advocacy so when it comes to public policy and those
types of things we get involved and participate in that process. The third is independent living skills.
We teach people with disabilities how to do certain things so they can live day-to-day like use an
ATM. And the fourth is transition. We help people get out of institutions, or diversion, we help them
not go into one to begin with. Actually that's the easier part. Transition out of institutions is really
hard particularly in the Bay Area because housing is so expensive, but if we can get them before they
05/24/17
Page 3 of 29",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-04-12.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-04-12,4,"ITEM 2-B
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, April 12, 2017 6:30 p.m.
end up in the institution that's a lot easier, and then that means providing support for the family
oftentimes.
Stuart James: Now within the context of all of those services, how we put that together is up to me.
How we premise what the agency represents and want to do is up to me and my staff. It's been one of
the problems with independent living centers because there are three in the immediate area. There's
one in Hayward, there's on in San Francisco, and us, and if you were to walk into any of the three you
would think you were in three completely separate organizations. Even though we provide the same
fundamental service, we don't have the same philosophical approach to those services, so they're very
different. I am on the progressive end. I'm an integrationist, and I think everything we do for disability
should be about how to integrate people with disabilities into broader society. And we are practicing
heavily a thing called reverse integration. Instead of trying to make an environment suitable for
someone with a disability, I'm creating an environment that's for disability and making it suitable for
people who don't have one.
Stuart James: One of the things we do is, I use my background in sports for this, and I brought the
Harlem Globetrotters in to play wheelchair basketball. On the slides you see now, Michaela, is a little
boy from Alameda Boys and Girls Club playing wheelchair basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters.
We had about 150 kids. This lesson is not only for the people who have disabilities, it's actually for
the broader community. I want them to have a positive conversation about disability, not a negative
one. And I want them to have a positive experience with disability, not a negative one. So we do
things that are fun. We don't think wheelchair basketball is really an adaptive sport, I think wheelchair
basketball is its own game, and you just play it and it's its own game, don't compare it. The kids had
a great time and they got a valuable lesson, and the gentleman who runs Alameda Boys and Girls
Club said that it was just a profound experience for most of the kids.
Stuart James: And that's Buckets Blakes, another Harlem Globetrotter. He's been to three of them.
We've done the one in Oakland, one in Berkeley, and one in Alameda, and SO he came again. He
actually was awful the first time he came, now he's very good. [laughter] That presented kind of a
problem. We used to be able to show off and now we can't. In fact one of the projects I'm hopefully
working on soon, this was so successful that some other people in the disability movement who have
been working on some issues in Cuba have asked me to try to arrange this to go to Cuba, and bring
the Harlem Globetrotters there to play wheelchair basketball. So it's kind of cool. Just another one,
again with Buckets and the girls. In this case, we had one or two kids with disabilities, not many of
them, again just to have a conversation with the broader community. This is another thing, we already,
before moving to Alameda, we already had a pretty good relationship with Alameda Unified School
District and the transition kids.
Stuart James: We have a program now that we don't do with Alameda, we do it with Oakland where
the transition kids come into our office twice a week, and one class they learned self-advocacy, so
they learn about what it means to advocate for the things they have a right to. That class culminates
by them going to Sacramento and talking to legislators about issues that were important to them. Then
the second part of it is self-determination, learning how to set goals, and achieve them. But we also
do, within the context of that group, we do a number of special events that are for other school districts
and Alameda Unified participates in those. This happened to be, I think, our Halloween party, and
that young man I believe as an Alameda High School transition student.
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Stuart James: We do this with the Alameda kids, the Oakland kids, Albany, Richmond I think has
come. We bring them all in. We had 150 kids at the party. We also did another event with them where
we
took them on a We have a very extensive Travel Training program to teach kids and adults how
to use public transportation, and we help map routes for them.
Stuart James: As part of that program, the same thing, we invited all these kids, and we did a
scavenger hunt around the Bay Area. We give them BART tickets, ferry tickets, bus tickets and they
get a map, and they have it in teams, and they got to go around and get stuff. It takes them all over
the Bay. It's a whole day event. Able-bodied kids or non-disabled kids participate in that. Everything
we do is about integration. Nothing we do is segregated. Part of it was we learned a very valuable
lesson from this - actually it was the Alameda kids that gave us that lesson. When we did this first
Halloween party, we had all these kids who thought, ""Wow, this is great!"" The teacher at Alameda
High School said, ""This is great, but we're not addressing one problem. And the problem was these
kids already do a good job at socializing amongst each other. What they want help with is socializing
with the other kids in school, trying to break through that barrier."" So we're starting to work on that.
We thought, ""Wow, that's probably a bigger problem. We got to figure out how to make that happen.""
And I think again, bringing those other kids into our world in a way that's cool is the solution, so
we're working on that.
Stuart James: We now also have a program that we do - it's primarily with vets, but it actually spans
across anyone with a spinal cord injury. This is also the reverse integration. We get them out playing
sports. This was a wheelchair tennis camp we did. We had Serena Williams as a guest, and we had
coaching from the Alameda Women's Tennis Team. Nothing makes vets happier than playing tennis
with college women. [chuckle] This young man here on the screen, Michaela, is a veteran playing
tennis with one of our players. And I happened to walk past at this moment and I said, ""How's it
going?"" and he said it was the greatest day of his life!
[laughter]
Stuart James: But actually there is a more serious purpose to this. It is to get them out. A lot of the
vets live on an island on the VA. They have a lot of support, but they don't get off of that island. And
there was one young man that participated in this particular event. He was fresh off his injury, broke
his back in Afghanistan and wasn't doing well getting back out into the world. He was in tremendous
shape. He was going to the VA every day and working out. But he just didn't want to go and do
anything, and his PT, his physical therapist made him come to this, and we couldn't get him to play. I
tried and tried and tried, but he just sat and played on his phone. Then the Academy of Arts Women's
Tennis Team girls, some of whom were in wheel chairs and some of whom were not, took his phone
and said he didn't come here for that, he came here to play tennis with them, and he did, and he ended
up leaving with them. [chuckle] because those were the girls that he didn't think would be interested
in him anymore, and once he realized, he got past that mental hurdle, that they didn't care, he was feel
better about himself. So a lot of the programming we do now is premised in that, is trying to get
people with disabilities to see themselves in a different way, and to raise the expectation they have
for them self in the world.
Stuart James: I think that one of the problems that I saw when I got to Berkley was that a lot of
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people with disability lacked ambition. And it was not because they. It was because just they had
just been beaten down by this conversation at Social Security was their future, and nobody offering
them a counter-argument, and nobody showing them examples of like, me, who's travelled all over
the world. I have a wife with no disability, I have a very good education, and I've made a lot of money.
They needed to start seeing those things. That's sort of the root of what we do now.
Stuart James: As soon as I get enough money, and we're very close to having enough money, we're
about to do another really cool thing. We are about to partner with the Audi Racing School in Sonoma,
and take people with disabilities race car driving. If they have mobility issues, they are actually going
to get in the car and drive. Audi has agreed to put hand controls on all the cars. For those who are
vision impaired we're going to have a dual-seater where they can actually drive along with someone
helping them drive, so they can get the experience. Part of that idea maybe specific to Michaela is,
""Look, even if you are blind or vision impaired and can't see, it's a really good skill to know how to
turn the car off and on, or how to put it in gear or out of gear, or where the brake might be in case
you're in an emergency and you need to deal with it.' So we want to teach you those skills.
Stuart James: Okay. We've taken people out kayaking. This is part of our travel training program.
When we teach people about how to use public transportation, we usually create these expeditions,
and this happened to be one where we took them over to Sausalito. Everything's paid for, it's
completely free. We take them to lunch and we took them out kayaking. And a lot of these kids were
also from Alameda High School transition. Same group, but we also do it for older folks.
Stuart James: This young man There's a group pictured here, Michaela, of three folks, and they're
on a travel training mission, an expedition, and there's a young Hispanic man in the middle of the
picture in a wheelchair. This young man is kind of the premise of a program I'm trying to start, but
it's been a bit of a challenge but I'm not giving up on it. He was shot in Oakland. He was a victim of
gang violence. He wasn't in a gang. He happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He also
happens to be an illegal immigrant, so he's got a lot of other problems. And we found that this is a
substantial problem in Oakland. About 100 kids involved in shootings every year. That number's
going up, and 30% of those kids are ending up with physical disabilities. All of the socioeconomic
challenges they had before they got shot haven't gone away. But now they have a disability and they
don't really have a support system. So one of the things I'm trying to do with these folks is partner
them up with the vets, and let the vets do a mentoring program with them. The vets have been really,
really wanting to do it. Our challenge has been HIPAA rules and trying to find the kids. But it's a
work in progress.
Stuart James: Employment is probably my number one goal. I think employment is a big problem.
I was really surprised to find that some of the problems and the substantial problems were again, self-
imposed. There was a federal study that just completed last year and showed that only 28% of kids
with disabilities who actually graduate college, including Cal, are actually looking for a job when
they graduate. The others just don't think anyone's going to hire them. They never went to college
thinking they were going to get a job at the end. We had Kaiser Permanente last summer, offered us
32 paid internships specifically for kids with disabilities at Cal. Cal, which by the way, has 2000 kids
who identify as being disabled. We couldn't fill the intern positions. We couldn't get anybody to take
them. We ended up having to give gift cards to Starbucks to get someone to take this paid internship
at Kaiser. And they were good internships. They were serious, not low level. They were in accounting,
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in billing, these were good things. Couldn't get them.
Stuart James: I'll tell you a story of another one. I had a young man come to me in May. He just
graduated from Cal with a degree in History. He had spina bifida, so he's in a wheelchair. He came to
me with absolutely the most eloquent speech you have ever heard about why he can't get a job because
of his disability. It was incredible. Obama would have been impressed. I said, ""What did you study?""
He said, ""I studied History."" I said, ""I've got great news for you. I got a job."" He said, ""What's the
job?"" I said, ""San Francisco Unified just called me. They're 17 teachers short for next year. They want
to hire people with disabilities. You don't need to be credentialed, they'll pay to get your credentialed.
They'll hire you tomorrow. I can get you an interview right now."" He said, ""I don't want to be a
teacher."" I said, ""You studied History, what did you think you were going to do?"" He said, ""I want to
work in technology."" I said, ""You studied the wrong thing. You're not getting a job because you have
a disability, you're not getting a job because you're stupid."" In a nice sort of way.
Stuart James: But this is the conversation: these kids are not having the right conversation early on.
We want to start to get people, and this is sort of an ingrained problem with the disability community,
and the problem that I had before I got involved. The people who I find really succeed, who have
disabilities and have succeeded in life, do not come back and help the community. They're so busy
putting their disability on another side of the wall like I was, that they don't want to cross the wall
and touch it. It's a thing we got to change. So I'm trying to get people with disabilities who are very
successful to come back and help set the path.
Stuart James: We are hopefully, but it's not set in stone yet, we're having a conversation, a very
preliminary thing, with one of the tech companies, and for some reason it just completely left my
head. But they have a goal to hire 1,000 kids with autism in the next year or two. They tried this
already, and they didn't do so well with it because they were very good at teaching the coding
computer part. They were not so good at teaching some of the soft skills that those folks needed to
survive in the office space. But they're very passionate about doing it because the CEO has a son with
autism, and he's on the Asperger's spectrum, goes to Cal. The Worldwide CEO also has a kid with
autism. So they're very interested, and we're about to start working with them.
Stuart James: What I've done at CIL is, I started to create an employment program for people with
disabilities that's very specific. There's actually going to be two of them. We've just started with the
first one. We had one that was funded by DOR, and it was basically. DOR sent these people who
needed a job and we spent a week helping them write a resume, and learn how to job interview, and
nobody ever got a job. So I got rid of it. And I told you all we weren't going to do that anymore
because half the people coming through, the disability wasn't the problem they weren't getting the
job. They had some other issues. They hadn't been to work for 20 years. They weren't educated. They
couldn't read. They couldn't write. They were actually the reasons they weren't getting a job, nothing
to do with the disability.
Stuart James: There's lots of places you can go learn to write a resume. You don't need to come to
us for that. What we did is we said, ""Where can we really make a difference?"" So we've started with
these kids from college and we said, ""We've got to change the way they think about this."" We started
to teach them what I call the back door approach to employment. I think the problem for people with
disabilities, visual disabilities particularly, is HR. It's an HR person's job to qualify candidates before
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they put them through to whomever they're going to work for. There's no incentive for HR people to
take chances. My joke is that my wife was an HR executive. She married me, but she would never
hire me. [chuckle] Because there's no upside for her.
Stuart James: If it's a good experience, that's her job. If it's a bad experience, people are going to
say, ""Why did you put that person through?"" I have never not had a job. In my entire life I've never
not had a job and I've never had to write a resume because one job always led to my next job. Now I
have a very extensive network. If I quit this job I could be working tomorrow. So we teach kids to
start building their network, to start meeting the people that can hire them and start to build
relationships, so they don't need to worry about going through HR. We start to teach them how to
market themself, how to present themselves in a way that they're comfortable and to build an identity,
and how to have a conversation; how to use LinkedIn. Then, we've partnered with Facebook, Google,
Lyft, Pandora, and we take the kids in there. What I tell those tech companies is, ""I have no
expectation for you to hire anybody I bring in. I don't want that to be the premise of this."" That's why
they allow us to come in. I tell the kids, ""You're not going there to get a job. You're going there to
build your network. So I need you to start meeting the people you're going to meet, getting their
information, following up with them, telling them and reminding them that you're looking for a job,
and start to build your network.""
Stuart James: We've had a 75% success rate at getting people jobs that way. Not just any job. One
of them is producing weather for CBS TV, hadn't had a job in three years. One of them is actually
working for Google as an accountant. Another one is working for Accenture on the Google account.
One of them is the editor of a paper. They're all doing really great things. Once we got them to start
to think about themselves in a different way; like if you graduated from Cal, or even Cal State, East
Bay, you shouldn't be thinking about working at Walmart. You should've been going there thinking
about what you want to do in a big way. If you're going to fail at getting a job you might as well fail
spectacularly. Don't fail at the little things.
Stuart James: I'm hoping the next step of this is to apply this same premise to kids with cognitive
disabilities. It's to start doing community improvement projects with the Chambers of Commerce
with the kids from the transition programs so that they can get to know each other. They can get to
see those kids in an environment where they're capable. Where they are having a positive impact on
the space. That's my next step. The same sort of backdoor approach of getting those kids to meet
business people that will hire them directly, and stop worrying about the cold call. But that's a work
in progress. Even in Alameda unfortunately, we've had union problems. The unions won't let us do
the community service projects, so there's some challenges. But we're working on it. I never give up,
so I'll find a way. That's the employment issue.
Stuart James: This is my staff. That's my assistant. [chuckle] Independent living skills. We used to
do this one on one. We used to teach people whatever they want to do, how to manage your money,
how to cook an egg, how to do things like this. It was boring and we didn't have a very big.. We
didn't have a lot of consumers. We were losing money hand over fist doing it that way. So I decided
we were going to do it a different way, and we were going to do it in a way that really attracted the
community as a whole.
Stuart James: So if you don't know who that is that's Cal Peternell and he's the head chef at Chez
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Panisse. I called him up, and I said, ""Would you mind doing a cooking class for people with
disabilities?"" He said, ""No, when do you want me to come?"" I said, ""Great, we'll do it this week.' He
came and we let him promote his book. Michaela, I had one requirement. I asked him to do the
cooking class and have an assistant who is one of our consumers, a young lady who was blind. He
said, ""Yes no problem, would love to do it."" So he met with her before, and he got her acclimated
around the table and he started to show her what he was going to do. He had her chopping stuff for
him, and she did a great job. We had about 50 people. About 30 of them had disabilities and about 20
of them didn't. People loved it. They loved having a chance to meet with Cal. One of the cool things
is that the young lady who was his assistant, at the end she was very nervous and she said, ""You know,
I had such a great time. I wish I could go to visit the kitchen at Chez Panisse."" I said, ""You need to
ask him."" But she was afraid. I said, ""Come on, you got to ask him."" I got her a book and I said, ""Go
ask him to sign his cook book for you, and then ask him if you can visit the kitchen.""
Stuart James: So she did. He's a very tall man, he's got a very deep voice, and he's a little
intimidating. At first, he said, ""Well, let me tell you that in my kitchen, I have people of all abilities,
and that you are absolutely welcome to come visit my kitchen, but I have a rule. If you come to my
kitchen, you have to come and work. That's the rule."" She was flabbergasted, but he was serious. If
she'd come to the kitchen, he was going to put her to work. But again, she became afraid, and she
never took him up on the offer. So, we're starting to do that. I've now accumulated a list of some of
the top chefs in the Bay Area. They've all been very willing to come in and teach cooking to people
with disabilities. It's far more exciting than me doing it, right? And they're teaching them to eat
healthy. They're teaching them to eat affordably. They're teaching them to eat things that look elegant,
even though they're very simple to make. It makes everybody feel good, right? Our one challenge
with this, we did this at the Ed Roberts campus, and we should have set up a kitchen. We've been
hoping to find a better kitchen. So if anybody here knows a kitchen we can use, particularly a
commercial kitchen, I'm really game for advice.
Stuart James: This (picture) is, again, assistive technology. Michaela, we got a bunch of people
trying out different wheelchairs on the screen. Once we get ahold of a product, we invite people to
come in and try it. So this happened to be the Firefly. It's an assistive device that you attach to a
wheelchair and it turns into a bike. They came in, and we let everybody take it around and try it. One
of the programs, I don't know if anybody does this at Alameda. This is a Berkeley-only program, at
the moment, and we're trying to get in to Oakland, and I don't know if it exists at Alameda. I think it
does. This is a residential access program and it's paid for the City of Berkeley. This particular, last
20 years, it's been paid by CBDG monies. Community Development Block Grant. CDBG. But next
year, I think, Berkeley's going to fund it out of the city budget.
Stuart James: What it is, is low to moderate income folks, who need to have their house customized,
so they can get in and out. So they may have a child who just acquired a disability, or they may be a
senior, who has now acquired a disability. Or they may be a person with a disability whose mobility
has declined. Now they need help getting in and out of their home, whether it's a lift, or a ramp, or
whether we need to put grab bars in, near the toilets, or widen doors, the City of Berkeley pays for it.
And we do about 44 consumers a year in Berkeley, and we put in lifts, and ramps. And actually, the
state just gave us $50,000 to do it within our catchment area as an additional sum of money. We'll do
all sorts of stuff. We do accommodations for people with vision impairment. The old deputy at CIL
is blind, and he's now in his 70s, I believe. So we're going to go in and do some accommodations for
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him and help him get in and out of his house so he doesn't fall.
Stuart James: This is one of our great programs, because every consumer that comes in is a success
story. And I don't know if you guys know, are familiar with Easy Does It? It's a service provider. You
guys familiar with it? We just did a home, we put a lift in for a home of a woman that was not able to
get in and out of her house. Easy Does It had been going there to carry her out. And we now just put
her lift in, so she can get in and out on her own. And this is also part of diversion. This is actually
making it SO you don't have to go into an institution.
Beth Kenny: This is Judith Heumann. Part of my trying to bring in people who are very successful
in the disability community, the young lady to the right. So there's two people here, Michaela; one is
Judy Heumann, and the other is Haben Girma. I don't know if you know who Haben Girma is. Haben
Girma is the first deaf-blind graduate from Harvard Law. She is Fortune magazine's 30 Under 30. She
now lives here in the Bay Area. Particularly timely is that her mother is a refugee and came to America
on the refugee program with her and her brother, who's also deaf-blind. And she has spoken for
Obama. She's one of the most influential woman of Africa, awards from the British government, and
she's very heavily involved in CIL now. So she comes in and does speeches for us to kids, and I'm
actually trying to recruit her to our board. That's a work in progress.
Stuart James: So we bring them in, and we get them to start to inspire kids to think differently about
their futures. That's my travel training team in Napa goofing off. So there's a whole bunch of people
there, Michaela, in pink shirts that say: ""Beer Or Normal."" And they're not working very hard, and
they're probably drunk [laughter] But, anyway. And that's it. Thanks to Senator Loni Hancock, we
got Non-profit of the Year, last year, for our changes. We are very excited to be part of Alameda. And
I am always open to, and would very much like to hear from, the Commission at any time about things
that we need to be doing to help support the community. These are just things that we've acquired
through my two years here. But you guys know better than I do about what some of the challenges
are, particularly related to Alameda, and what role CIL can play in helping you address those things.
Stuart James: We are about to make a very big push to the business sector in Alameda thanks to the
Chamber of Commerce, who've been very supportive. Mayor Spencer has been very supportive since
I got here. So we are happy to have her on board. We will be having our opening ceremony on June
24th. We'll be partnering with BORP, the Bay Area Recreation Program, and as part of our opening
ceremony, we'll be doing a bike ride around Alameda. And we'll have all sorts of hand cycles, and
regular bikes, and anybody can come down. And there'll be some food, and all that kind of thing.
Stuart James: As I was speaking to Beth earlier, we're going to see if we can get a float in the parade,
which I need to talk to you about. [laughter] My staff's got all sorts of great ideas about a float that
they'd like to do for the parade. We were about to make a very big push in Alameda. We fundamentally
changed the way this CIL addresses the problem of disabilities. There's been challenges in Berkeley
of trying to do that. The Berkeley disability community's very entrenched in a 40-year-old
conversation that hasn't changed. It's no offense to the Berkeley community because that's our roots,
but Alameda is giving us an opportunity to paint a new picture, and to sort of push some of these
programs. One of the things we're really desperately trying to do, and we've not been very successful,
is having a better relationship with the College of Alameda. We've actually been trying to rent
facilities from them, and we can't get a call back. Yes, even from the number that says, ""If you want
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to rent the facility, please call,"" they never call back. So, if anybody can help us with that, we'd really
be keen. We need to rent gym space from them and some other things.
Stuart James: But again, you guys are the best folks to tell us what we need to do, and what some
of the challenges are. I know one of the things I'd like to get very involved in, and we would help pay
for it, is I understand that the city of Alameda's about to build a new park over by the Del Monte
factory. Right? They acquired some land there. Am I wrong about that?
Kerry Parker: We have the Jean Sweeney Park that's over near Del Monte that is being developed,
and the Estuary Park, as well. And then, there's supposed to be more parks out at the point.
Beth Kenny: Yes, out by the ferry. There's supposed to be some parks being built out by the ferry
building. And I know at one point, they were talking about doing an accessible baseball field, moving
towards making things much more accessible, SO.
Stuart James: We would love to see if we can help with that process. We would like to see some
more accessible things like wheelchair-friendly softball fields, of which we would be happy to go out
and help you raise money to make that happen. We can talk to the Giants and the A's for you. The
Giants just built a beautiful one in Sacramento, but they should be building one here. A lot of the stuff
that we run, the tennis programs, we do wheelchair lacrosse, we do the Harlem Globetrotters, we're
always having challenges finding facilities. We've been trying to rent the Alameda Point Gym, but
we haven't been very successful at it. In any of those types of things, we always could use the help.
We'd like to start doing those type events here. And as these new parks come to be, we'd like to have
a voice in talking about some of the things we'd like to see go into those facilities.
Beth Kenny: Great. Thank you very much. We're going to go around and have each of the
commissioners have a chance to ask any questions, or comments that they might have. I'll start with
Commissioner Brillinger.
Arnold Brillinger: My question was where in Marina Village is your new facility?
Stuart James: Where in Marina Village are we? So, we're right above the Webster Tunnel. Do you
know where Pasta Pelican is? If you go through the Webster Tunnel, you sort of loop around behind
Target.
Stuart James: You go over the top of the tunnel, we're in an office complex that's in there. If you're
coming from Oakland, the 31 bus stops right at our building. There are a number of shuttles. The
Target complex is going to start stopping at our complex for us. Actually, I'd love to see if we can get
the Alameda city shuttle to stop there. But I don't know how to do that yet.
Kerry Parker: We know something about it.
[laughter]
Arnold Brillinger: Yes, I was going to say, we here can probably help in some of these things, too. I
know that various people here have leads into Like the mayor, and so forth. And the mayor was
at
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the dedication of the Estuary Park. I went there that time and saw that they had some really great
plans for making it accessible, like you say. And she could, or even Kerry could, direct you toward
some people and get you in there. It sounds really great. I heard a couple of months ago that you were
planning on starting a facility over here and we're real happy that you're here.
Stuart James: Yes. I live in Alameda. My wife has no intention of leaving this island, ever. We've
been looking to buy a house, which is not a very good time at the moment, but my mandate from my
wife is that we don't leave the island, so that's the end of it. [chuckle] We love it here. I like the sense
of community and I think everything that CIL's doing now is premised in the sense of community,
the community has to participate with us. So I think we're going to be able to accomplish a lot here.
Beth Kenny: Commissioner Tsztoo.
Michaela Tsztoo: I've been here since I was born so I know all the different agencies because I had
to go through Independent Living skills, but I went through Well, now it's called the Hatlen Center
for the Blind, and it's located in San Pablo, and so it's kind of the same idea with this agency, but it's
more like they teach people who are blind, hearing impaired, who are in wheelchairs to live in an
apartment, and they teach you full life-long skills with mobility, cooking, and all that sort of stuff. So
I'm trying to figure out if your facility here, do we have to be affiliated with Department of
Rehabilitation, which knows about different agencies, or with some other agencies, government
agencies, in order to try out your program, because that's what I had to personally go through.
Stuart James: I didn't catch all that.
Michaela Tsztoo: Oh, well is your agency affiliated with the Department of Rehab?
[background conversation]
Stuart James: Actually, all you need to do, Michaela, is walk in the door.
Michaela Tsztoo: Really? So you guys aren't hooked up to any agency.
Stuart James: You just need to walk through the door and we will totally take care of you. Everything
we do at CIL is free. The assistive technology lab is open to the public, the travel training is open to
the public, basically anything you want, you just walk through the door.
Michaela Tsztoo: Now, what about cooking at my own house? Would you guys send someone out to
work with me if I ever wanted to have someone in my house teach me how to cook or use a convection
oven that's not blind-friendly? That's a good challenge because.
Stuart James: Just walk through the door.
Michaela Tsztoo: Well that's good to know because I almost thought I had to go back with
Department of Rehabilitation and work through their agency.
Stuart James: We do have certain programs that are That DOR needs to refer you, but they're really
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few. We do workshops and if that's the case, if you come through the door, the peer counselor will
tell you and then we'll help guide you to how to make that happen. But for the most part, I think
there's only like three programs where you have to get referred, and you wouldn't be eligible for any
of them. [chuckle] One, you have to be a vet. But almost all of our services, you just simply just walk
through the door.
Michaela Tsztoo: Oh, okay.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. Commissioner Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: Thank you very much for this presentation. I think it was really fantastic and I also
have an interest in accessible parks in Alameda, and I would like to help you try to get connected with
some people for that. I also would like to know, do you have to live in Alameda to access this CIL?
Stuart James: No.
Susan Deutsch: So people in Berkeley, let's say, who
Stuart James: No.
Susan Deutsch: Can come here if they.
Stuart James: Actually, although It's a strange rule that I haven't figured out yet. Although,
theoretically, our catchment area from our federal and state grants is Berkeley. It's actually all of
Northern Alameda County. So it's Berkeley, Albany, Oakland, East Oakland, and Alameda city.
Actually, you can come from anywhere in California and walk in the door and we serve you.
Susan Deutsch: Nice.
Stuart James: There are no boundaries, so we often have people from Palo Alto.
Susan Deutsch: Yes.
Stuart James: And we have a lot of people from San Francisco. We have a lot of people from
Richmond and El Cerrito. It doesn't matter. You can go as a California resident, you can go to any
CIL you want in the state. Just walk in.
Susan Deutsch: Thank you.
Stuart James: But we're the best one.
[laughter]
Beth Kenny: Commissioner Hall.
Lisa Hall: Thank you so much. I think your center is just unbelievably wonderful. I would love to
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see if I can help anyway on space like you're saying, there are so many big open spaces here that we
should be able to, like Alameda Point Collaborative or even my church, our parish hall is big. It's big
and we use it for many different events.
Stuart James: We would love help.
Lisa Hall: So I think that we could Helping you guys we could do what we can do about getting
some spaces because I think the wheelchair basketball is just - I don't know anybody that doesn't love
that. It is, it's just a blast and that's SO awesome. Hopefully we can help do that but thank you so much
for everything you've done, you're just amazing.
Stuart James: That would be great. The Alameda Boys and Girls Club by the way has been
wonderful. They are a wonderful partner, but there's restrictions on what we can do there. So we do
a lot with the vets. And we do a lot with people with spinal cord injuries. We are now going to be
hosting a regular tennis clinic. We'd love to do that in Alameda. We host a wheelchair lacrosse team
hence my sweatshirt that I'm wearing. And at the moment we do that at Treasure Island, but it's only,
because it's the only gym we can get. We'd rather be doing that here. I have 18 sports wheelchairs in
my office. So when we do these events, we have all the equipment, you only need to show up. We
have the sport chairs, we have the sticks, we have everything. We bring the coaches and we invite
able-bodied folks to everything we do. So even though lacrosse, we have a lot of able-bodied lacrosse
players that just come because they think it's fun. Then they all go out to a bar. [chuckle]
Beth Kenny: Commissioner Linton.
Jenny Linton: I just want to thank you for coming and talking about your program. We have
experience with the Center for Independent Living in Brooklyn, and you've given me an entirely new
perspective on what we might be able to find at the Center for Independent Living. So I have a few
questions. Do you have a calendar of events? So we can see what kind of things you're doing and
maybe come to some.
Stuart James: I didn't hear you.
Jenny Linton: Do you have a calendar?
Stuart James: Other events?
Jenny Linton: Yes.
Stuart James: Like for.
Jenny Linton: Some of the things, you just mentioned tons of things that are going on.
Stuart James: We've got a lot of ideas for events, it's just a matter of whether I can pull them off.
Jenny Linton: Okay. Perfect.
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Stuart James: I need to probably cover my bases. We've got a very good relationship with Berkley,
and with community members in Berkley. So we are working with Freight and Salvage hopefully to
maybe do an event there. We are working with the UC Theater. The UC Theater is a non-profit theater
much like the Freight and Salvage but bigger. And they have a theater education program which is
teaching low-income people the business of theater. So about engineering, lighting, accounting,
booking arts, promotion, marketing. We have been working with them to incorporate people with
disabilities. And we are looking to do one single event that will be our folks who they are training
will produce the event. And with some help from me. So that's something. One of the things we have
been really focused on and this might be something that commissioners should think about. I'm again
an integrationists. So one of the things you'll see in the disability community particularly in Berkley,
is them creating programs for people with disabilities. So they created a program called CTP which
is a great program. It's Computer Training for People with disabilities.
Stuart James: My thinking though is that there is a lot of those programs, one of the best ones is
actually here in Alameda called NPower and it's over at the college Alameda. It's free to anybody
wants to, if they're qualified, you have to be low-income I believe. And you're pretty much guaranteed
a job at the end. So for me I think, why should we have a separate program for people with disabilities,
why don't we just go to NPower and make sure they're accessible, and that they are accommodating.
And they've been very happy to work with us to make that happen. That's our approach. I would
rather not reinvent the wheel. I would rather go to some of these companies that have a really good
track record of success and say, ""How can we help you get people with disabilities involved?"" I do
want to point this out because there's something. I don't want to take up all your time. But, and I'm
happy to go public with this.
Stuart James: I was very upset recently, I had a conversation with a new Disabled Student Services
Director at the Cal University. And we have very different thinking about what needs to happen. And
one of her big ideas, they've cut a substantial portion of their programing for disabilities. They've cut
workability. They've just removed 20,000 plus pieces of video that were for education purposes
because they weren't all captioned. So people with hearing problems couldn't watch them. Instead of
fixing them, they took them all down. So there was no longer anything. Cal's got lots of problems.
But she had come to me with this new big idea. And her big idea was that she wanted to hire a person
who was a disability specialists in the career counseling office. And I said, ""Interesting."" What do
you anticipate that person to do?
Stuart James: And her thinking was that anybody who had a disability or identified as disabled at
Cal, when they're ready to go get a job would go see that person. And I said, ""That is the worst idea I
ever heard of."" I don't need help with my disability. I'm an expert at my disability. I don't need anybody
help me with that. If I'm an architect major, I need someone who knows all the people in architecture
to help me get a job. I don't need to go to the disability person. And if you want to have a disability
expert, it shouldn't be for the student, it should be for the other counselors, so that they can figure out
what accommodations a person might need in the workplace. That's the kind of thinking we're trying
to change. We're trying to say, ""Look let's not reinvent the wheel, I don't believe in segregation.
Segregation's not equal.'
Stuart James: We just had the exact same experience at Cal State, East Bay. We're hiring at the
moment and I sent my HR person to Cal State, East Bay for recruiting. So she went to the career
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center and said, ""Hey, I'm here to recruit people and preferably if they have a disability."" They said,
""Oh, if you want to hire someone with disability, you got to go to the disability student office."" ""Wait,
you're the career center, why are you sending me over there?"" We're trying to change that mentality.
It's the wrong mentality. That's something we're working on, that's part of our advocacy efforts. If you
have an idea for something you want us to do, I'm open to any event idea you have.
Jenny Linton: Okay.
Stuart James: Any of them. I mentioned answering Michaela's question about some of the programs
that we do require referral. We are required by law to have anybody with any disability pretty much
do anything, and that's a really big task. It's impossible, quite frankly. So a lot of people who have
really specific needs, our idea of help is we got to refer them to somebody who knows more than we
do. Right? One of the areas that is the most difficult and the most challenging is mental health because
they require long term support. And we have, for years, not done a good job in that place.
Stuart James: We had programs, we had a great program at Oakland to get people who were
homeless and mental health issues off the street. We had a really high success rate, we were serving
about 230 consumers a year, and paid for by the county of Alameda. The problem was, within three
months almost all of them were back on the street again. So it was just a vicious cycle. We do do a
program that is special for that group, also funded by the behavioral health services from Alameda
County, and we help people with severe mental illness who are doing well and who have stabilized
themselves and who are ready to try to go back to work. And we help them with their work incentive
benefits so they understand the process of how to get off services and what they can and cannot do
and the steps it takes. But that program is specific to that group, you have to be referred into us. But
we only have three of those types of programs.
Jenny Linton: I agree with you on the mental health services, that's very important.
Stuart James: There is no idea you could come up with that I wouldn't be interested in.
[laughter]
Jenny Linton: Okay. I think I have an idea on getting access to the college of Alameda. So I'll give
you a contact.
Stuart James: Yes, we would love that.
Jenny Linton: Okay.
Stuart James: It's right kind of across the street from us so we'd really like to have a better
relationship with them. But absolutely. I am a creative sort, so I think if it sounds cool let's do it.
[laughter]
Jenny Linton: Okay.
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Stuart James: Yes.
Beth Kenny: Thank you so much for coming and this has been a great presentation, and I do think
that there's a lot of opportunity for us to work together. As Commissioner Deutsch said, there's interest
by the Parks and Rec Department to make things more accessible, and so we can work there together.
There are many opportunities and I have to plug my own, which, one of the things that this
commission has been working on for many, many years is a Universal Design Ordinance. I'm not sure
if you're familiar with universal design. The idea that things should be designed to be accessible to
the most amount of people. So you have the backing put in the shower SO that if you need a grab bar,
it can be easily put in. You have the hallways be an acceptable width SO that wheelchairs can get in.
You have zero step entrance. As you know there's quite a bit of construction that's coming up on the
Point, so we're trying to get this ordinance passed soon, and I think it works well with your mission
as well. [chuckle] So, yes, I thank you for coming in and.
Stuart James: No worries, and I hope you all come for a visit. We're a little messy still, but come
anyway. Yes.
Beth Kenny: Great. Thank you very much.
Stuart James: Okay. Thank you.
[applause]
Beth Kenny: Thank you.
[Background conversation]
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A
Proposed Name Change
Beth Kenny: Now, we move on to old business, and the first items of old business are changes that
we had talked about making during the CDI retreat, and we'll vote on whether we want to accept these
changes or not at this time. So, the first one is the proposed name changes. There are three up there,
and I wrote a few pros and cons for each.
Beth Kenny: And if we do end up changing the name, we have to do it by ordinance. So, it would
have to go through the city council, which we can do, but that was not a factor that I knew about when
I was writing the pros and cons.
Beth Kenny: So, the first proposed name change is Commission on Disability. And the pros I have
is it's easy to change logo, etcetera, just remove 'issues', and we can sort of phase out, as new people
get their badges, have the issues removed. It's not too different from what we have, so we won't have
to change everything right away. The con is that it does require a change to the logo, but only a slight
one. And I know, Commissioner Brillinger, you were worried about being known as CDI, and I spoke
with Harry and we both thought that we could, even if we changed it to Commission on Disability,
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we could still be referred to as CDI. So, that's the first one.
Beth Kenny: The second one is City of Alameda Commission on Disability. Pros, it includes
'Alameda' and removes 'issues""'. Cons, it's a difficult logo change and it's a mouthful. And then, the
third one is Commission on Disability Issues, no change. So, we'll keep the 'issues', we'll still be CDI,
and we'll keep it the way it is. Does anyone have any comments they'd like to make about these before
we vote?
Lisa Hall: I have a question. On other commissions in the city, is their name with 'City of Alameda'?
Kerry Parker: That was my thought about it, that that becomes a default naming. I work for the City
of Alameda Public Works Department, but we're generally known as the 'Public Works Department'.
So, I think, you're right, Commissioner Hall, that you are the City of Alameda Commission on
Disability Issues right now.
Lisa Hall: So, I mean, on number one, then basically we would just be removing the 'issues', which
is a big part of the reason we're all kind of.
Beth Kenny: Talking about it in the first place, yes.
Lisa Hall: We don't care for the word 'issues'.
Beth Kenny: Yes. And, Kerry, do you have anything more you wanted to add about the process for
changing the name?
Kerry Parker: The city clerk let me know we had to change it by ordinance, that basically we would
be getting council to approve an ordinance so we would strike that word out of where it is read in the
municipal code, that basically declared this the Commission on Disability Issues. We would remove
that word. So basically we would be editing the municipal code to omit that word wherever it shows
up. That would require the writing of a staff report, the ordinance, and putting it in front of council as
a regular item. I don't think anybody would have major objections to it, but it does require a little bit
of work, and it might not happen right away.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. So, does anyone else have any comments they'd like to make?
Susan Deutsch: Can you review the discussion, why were we taking the word 'issues' out? I can't
remember right now what the discussion was about the word 'issues'.
Beth Kenny: Yes. So, this first came up in a meeting with the mayor, and she said, ""Why is it
Commission on Disability Issues?"" It's something that has kind of always bothered me. It makes it
sound like persons with disabilities have issues. I think that if we're the Commission on Disability, it
just seems a little less - I don't know - it seems a little bit more inclusive and less, making it about
""issues.""
[chuckle]
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Susan Deutsch: Alright. I just, I was having trouble recalling, I knew we discussed it but I couldn't
recall. Why? Yes.
Beth Kenny: So, should we take a vote? Do people feel ready or is there more conversation that
people would like to have?
Jenny Linton: I do have a question before we start.
Beth Kenny: Sure.
Jenny Linton: One and two are the same thing?
Beth Kenny: Yes.
Jenny Linton: Okay.
Beth Kenny: So, we're voting between, let's say we're voting between, one and three.
Jenny Linton: Yes, right.
Kerry Parker: We need a motion to vote.
Beth Kenny: Yes, so I move that we vote and you choose whether you want The Commission on
Disability or a Commission on Disability Issues. Change or no change. Why don't we just say that?
Susan Deutch: I second.
Beth Kenny: Great. [chuckle] Commissioner Brillinger, what is your vote? Number three. Alright,
Commissioner Tsztoo, number three is The Commission on Disability Issues, no change and number
one is removing the issues.
Michaela Tsztoo: I definitely want number one.
Beth Kenny: Okay.
Susan Deutsch: Number one.
Lisa Hall: Number one.
Jenny Linton: Number three.
Beth Kenny: And I am going to vote for number one.
Kerry Parker: Alright, that poll is four to two, as I see it, to change.
Beth Kenny: Alright. So we will begin the process of changing our name. Alright, thank you
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everybody. The next thing that we will talk about is
Lisa Hall: Can I just ask one quick question?
Beth Kenny: Sure.
Lisa Hall: Just to get why you guys wanted to keep issues. Wondered why not change for us?
Jenny Linton: Not to change it. I don't like change.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, my reason was I didn't see the reason, necessarily, for the change. There
are other commissions in the East Bay. Like in Oakland and Berkley, they are called the Mayor's
Commission On Disabled People. And so I saw the disabled visibility issues, kind of, took care of
that too. Not that we have issues, necessarily, but issues that deal with disabilities.
Jenny Linton: Happy to support the name change. I'm happy to support the name change.
Lisa Hall: There you go. Thank you, I just, I was curious, right? I knew you guys had reasons, I just,
why? Yes.
5-A
CDI Bylaws - Retreat Edit
Beth Kenny: The next item is the CDI bylaws. We talked about this at the retreat, of making it so
that the Commissioner Liaisons could go before the different groups that they're assigned to and
identify themselves as a member of The Commission on Disability Issues and let them know that they
will act as Liaison. Let me read it out loud for everybody. The proposed change. Actually, it's not a
change, it's an addition into our bylaws. Nothing is going to be removed. If we put this through it
would be an addition. ""Each commission member will be assigned to act as a liaison between CDI
and another Alameda Board or Commission. As liaison, commission members should identify
themselves as Liaison from this Commission. The liaison will act as point person between the
commission and his or her assigned commission board. In this role, the commission member will alert
CDI if there are any items that his or her assigned commission or board are or will be working on that
may effect persons with disabilities. The commission members should make his or her report during
Old Business portion of the commission meetings.""
Arnold Brillinger: I move to accept the addition to the bylaws
Beth Kenny: I'll second the move for a vote. All in favor of the addition to the bylaws?
Susan Deutsch: Aye
Beth Kenny: Aye.
Jenny Linton: Aye.
Lisa Hall: Aye.
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Arnold Brillinger: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Any opposed?
Michaela Tsztoo: I'm undecided on what I should do, but you guys can do whatever you want.
Beth Kenny: Oh, Commissioner Tsztoo, you're going to abstain from the vote?
Michaela Tsztoo: Am I allowed to or should I vote?
Beth Kenny: Yes, you're allowed to.
Michaela Tsztoo: Alright. (Abstain)
Beth Kenny: That will be added to our bylaws. And that just makes it so that were in compliance
with Brown Act when we go to our different commissioners, commissions and board representing the
Commissioner on Disability.
Lisa Hall: You have notes somewhere that who was doing, which liaison?
Beth Kenny: I didn't bring that with me.
Lisa Hall: I was trying to find my notes.
Kerry Parker: You know the minutes for the retreat, which were basically the Chair's notes, have
not yet been put together but we will have that for the June meeting.
Beth Kenny: We can do a quick go around of what commission or board you chose to represent us
in, so Commissioner Brillinger. (?) Commissioner Tsztoo, I think you had left by the time that we
were making decisions, so I don't know that you got assigned to one yet.
Michaela Tsztoo: I kind of wanted to do something else, but since my term is almost over, I haven 't
chosen anything.
Beth Kenny: Yes, okay. Commissioner Deutsch you were.
Susan Deutsch: I'm doing Park and Rec.
Beth Kenny: Okay.
Susan Deutsch: But, I wanted just, I mean want to to continue, but I just want to say that their
meetings always tend to be the day after we meet. So, it's been really hard for me to go to two meetings
in a week, so I'm actually hoping that maybe one of their meetings is on an off-month for us. I have
been in contact with them through email, but I haven't gone to any one of their.
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Beth Kenny: Are you on their listserv so that they send you out their agendas?
Susan Deutsch: Yes.
Beth Kenny: Great. And Commissioner Hall, do you remember which one.
Lisa Hall: I definitely do. The Alameda Housing Authority. I actually went to an event, it was put on
by the housing authority for faith leaders. It was put on by. Alameda Housing Authority invited faith
leaders of the city of Alameda, our pastor was away on spring break, and SO he asked me to attend
and I was happy to attend. It was informative and interesting and a lot of good feedback from the
community. Housing issues affects not just.. It's everyone. So, it's disabled people, it's seniors, it's
working class, so they also address the homeless issue in our city too. And Sweeney Park is going to
be right on the forefront because they are going to eventually have those people, Operation Dignity,
I believe it's called, will be helping those people to relocate. So, it's going to be interesting.
Beth Kenny: And Commissioner Linton?
Jenny Linton: I'm afraid I don't know. I think that it was the City Council.
Beth Kenny: I believe so too.
Jenny Linton: Yes, I think it's the City Council, and I have not contacted them yet. I did however
join the sub-committee on Events and I have some event reporting to do on that later.
Beth Kenny: Great, and you know, the City Council is - they meet more often than any others, so I
am available to help you with that. I believe I'm doing the Board of Education. Our next item is to
vote on participation for 2017 events. You want to take this over Vice Chair Brillinger?
5-A
Vote on Event Participation for 2017
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, we did have a meeting and we talked about various events, and because
Kerry was so Because she's so super, she gave us a worksheet or a list of different things and I'm
going to have Jenny go ahead and report on it.
Jenny Linton: Okay, we've talked about the events that we've posted up here. The Alameda Special
Education Family Support Group Resource Fair, we are assigned a table there, thank you Beth, on
May 6th for 10:00 to 2:00; I'd be happy to attend. Do we want a list of attendees for these events, at
least those that are coming up?
Beth Kenny: Yes. So, with that, I'd be happy to attend that with you and that you don't really need
too many people, the two of us could easily go for that.
Jenny Linton: Perfect. Okay, one event down. Event number two, Downtown Alameda Spring
Festival; we see these as a big events and Lisa has offered to lead the pack in this event on May 13th
and 14th. The next event, The Mastick Senior Center Resource Fair, I wrote Lisa, Arnold and Jenny?
Arnold is primary on the Mastick Event.
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Beth Kenny: The Mastick Event is generally pretty small and can be handled by one person.
Jenny Linton: Note that May 31st is a Wednesday. Our next event, the Neptune Jam on Webster
Street, another big event, this is Father's Day weekend and we didn't assign ourselves anyone for that
event yet. The Mayor's Fourth of July parade, Arnold took this one on. We have some great ideas
around getting a Paratransit shuttle into the parade.
Beth Kenny: When I was speaking with Stuart from the Independent Living Center, he was talking
about they want to do something for the Fourth of July parade, and it would be great if we could do
something in conjunction. He seemed open to the idea.
Jenny Linton: Special Olympics is also part of the parade every year.
Lisa Hall: Now that's always fun.
Jenny Linton: Downtown Alameda Art and Wine Fair, we don't have a primary lead on that for July
29th and 30th. The Emanuel Lutheran Church Fair both Arnold and Lisa were interested in leading
that.
Lisa Hall: Arnold's going to lead that.
Jenny Linton: For the commission, Lisa's going to lead it for the Food Bank. That's what we know
it to mean, okay.
Beth Kenny: So, are you guys suggesting that what we do all of these events? Is that Sorry, go
ahead.
Arnold Brillinger: I would like to say that we could divide these into small events and large events.
The small events, like you said, take one or two people because they're only for three or four hours at
a time and if we have the materials which Kerry has, I believe we can get a bag or a pouch or a box
of goodies to take along that are for those people. The ones that are the big events, the three of them
are the street fairs and the parade, we will need all of the commissioners to put in some time on that,
and we ask for everyone's help with that. So I would like to make a motion. Now also if there are
some events that you hear about that we should also be a part of and just send one or two people to it
and to have a table and give out information we can add those to the list. But I would like to make
a
motion that we, as a commission, decide to participate in these on a yearly basis and then - that's the
motion.
Beth Kenny: So are you saying that we decide to vote on it? I'm sorry, I just need a little clarification.
Are you suggesting that the vote that we would take would be for all the years or just for this year
and then whatever else comes out?
Arnold Brillinger: You see this, we're trying to get it so that we don't have to start again. Right? In
January with a new list. We can add some more things to it as we have people who are interested in
doing other resources and health fairs, whatever that we could put our information out.
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Beth Kenny: Yes.
Arnold Brillinger: I would suggest that or my motion says that we would adopt these events. In
another time we could have another motion to say, ""Hey we don't want to be part of such and such
event, but this one.' Then it's part of the minutes SO that everyone knows that these are the events that
they will see somebody from CDI or the Commission on Disability.
Kerry Parker: I just want to offer some advice as an event planner. Right now I'm getting ready to
participate in the Earth Day Festival on April 22, 10:00 to 3:00. I hope to see all of you there. But
part of event planning for us: I have a calendar of events that includes Coastal Cleanup Day and other
such environmental events. Every year we have to look at them again to see, okay they stay on our
calendar so I agree that maybe these should be adopted into the calendar, but you go over each of
them again like is this going to be a year that we do this? You figure out who is available, and do we
have enough money, and do we have everything we need for this event? So maybe that instead of
saying, ""Yes we're going to do this forever,"" that you adopt this as kind of a good framework for your
calendar and next year we update it again with the new dates and whatever is available for that year.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay then I make a motion, because no one seconded the other one anyway. So
that's good. I make a motion that we adopt this for this year and that these are the events. Also there
is, like Alameda Hospital will have a wellness fair or whatever they have, a health fair. I think that
we as a resource ought to be there also.
Beth Kenny: So let's start with the motion to accept these events for 2017 and keep them on the
schedule to be reviewed annually. Can we start with that one? Because I'll second that one.
Arnold Brillinger: A good idea.
Beth Kenny: All in favor?
All: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Anyone opposed? The ayes have it. The second thing you were saying about the
hospital and other resource fairs that come up. There are a lot of other resource fairs out there, there
are a lot of different places that we could be going. Not even just in the city, but countywide. I think
that that's something that we're looking towards the event committee to figure out where those things
might come and which we should be actively pursuing. But yes this is not a comprehensive list that
we can't add anything to. We can always add something. Is there anything else from the
Arnold Brillinger: Do we need to take a vote if we add a motion and a second?
Beth Kenny: A vote?
Arnold Brillinger: Did we vote like aye or nay?
Beth Kenny: For?
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Arnold Brillinger: For the motion of this being the calendar for this year?
Beth Kenny: Yes we did that vote. Yes. And then all of us said ""Aye"". So if the event committee has
nothing else they want to report on.
Lisa Hall: I just have one question, and maybe afterwards, but Kerry for submit application for the
spring festival, you'll let me know what we have to do? Okay, thank you.
Beth Kenny: And I want to thank the event committee for getting together and working on this. This
is going to be great, and it's not only a great way to get out and meet people in the community but
also, as we talked about in retreat, build relationships with other non-profits serving persons with
disabilities. So, good work you guys, thanks. Alright, so
Lisa Hall: And thank you Kerry for making this list us, it was just wonderful when we got there to
put it together.
Kerry Parker: As your Staff Liaison I am happy to put together lists like this and I'm happy to adjust
it. If we decide that As I was listening to the group and no one was really expressing interest, let's
say, in the Neptune Jam, it could be that that one is not one of the ones you visit every year.
[background conversation]
Kerry Parker: It's a big one. Let's pretend that, let's pretend that there's one big one that you choose
not to, just for argument's sake. So this can just be modified on the fly, but this can be the structure
of the year and we can reassess it every year.
Beth Kenny: Yes and I would encourage all the commissioners to get involved in these events. We
really need everybody to make it work. At something like the spring festival where it's eight hours,
two days. That's not something that four people can handle, but it's a great opportunity, and you have
a place to sit at a festival.
Lisa Hall: That's right.
Kerry Parker: Another thing to do might be to shorten the hours of the commission at any one of
these.
Arnold Brillinger: Right.
Kerry Parker: So if you say well we can be there but we'll be there between noon and 2:00. That is
within your rights too.
Beth Kenny: Yes and I would suggest, and maybe Arnold you would know this too, from last year
when we did the Art and Wine festival, it seemed like if we were going to cut hours, it would be better
to cut them in the morning than it seems like as the fair goes on at night it gets a lot more traffic going
on. So, just a suggestion.
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Susan Deutsch: I just want to let the commission know that I am not going to be available for the
Spring Festival because my son is graduating medical school so I'm going to be in Wisconsin that
weekend. Sorry. I've been looking forward to this.
S?: Congratulations.
Beth Kenny: Let's move on to staff communications
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Kerry Parker: I keep interjecting with my staff communications so I think you've heard a lot from
me tonight. The Public Works Department will assist this Commission in changing its name. As I say,
it might take a while because I'm dedicated to other things for the next couple of months, but as I
speak about it with my administrative staff, it's something that we could probably incorporate into
our workload. I just wanted you to know that about urgency, I wish for you to not have an urgent
feeling about it, but other than that, we can get it moving. I made the mention about Earth Day which
is lovely, but I think that for any event planning if you need my assistance in getting a contact or
something like that I'd be happy to get it for you. I am about to fill out applications for banners in the
month of October for the CDI banner. We have two weeks that are open to us. I've got the Commission
on those weeks, it's a week over on Webster and a week at Central and Oak. Park Street's totally taken
for all of October. So I just wanted to mention that. But usually, I'm going to give you a contact and
pass it off to you. So just be ready for that. I can make a quick list at times, but usually, I have to be
pulled in another direction for the other work that I do. I had another thing I wanted to mention and I
can't think of it. I'll forward it to the group when I remember what I was just about to say.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Beth Kenny: Thank you, Kerry. Now we move on to announcements. Does anyone have any
announcements they would like to make? Why don't you do that?
Jenny Linton: I'd just like to announce that April is Autism Awareness Month. That was mentioned
to the City Council earlier this month. It was a proclamation at the City Council earlier this month.
Thank You.
Beth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Linton.
Arnold Brillinger: I was just wondering on that should there be a suggestion or recommendation
from this commission to proclaim April as Autism Awareness Month?
Beth Kenny: There was a proclamation that the City Council did. We had a former commissioner
who accepted the proclamation on our behalf, Jody Moore. She has done a lot of work in the autistic
community. Is that what you were looking for?
Arnold Brillinger: No, I was looking for, should we next year make a recommendation? They're
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going to do it whether we do or not, I'm sure. But it just sounds like it would be better if it came from
us.
Beth Kenny: It does come from us.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay.
Beth Kenny: It does and Jody was interested in doing it, and so I made the decision to have her go
ahead and accept it on behalf, as a former commissioner of the Commission on Disability.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay. No problem.
Kerry Parker: That raises a great point. I do know that Tony was interested last year in having a
proclamation for White Cane Day.
Beth Kenny: Yes. White Cane Month which is also October.
Kerry Parker: Or month, which is also October, but we could include that in a proclamation
language. That gets in front of me every year, ""Is this what you want to say?"" And I looked at the
proclamation for Autism Awareness Month, as well. So if anyone wanted to take up the cause of If
there is any proclamations we would like in council, that's something that needs to be written,
scheduled, approved. Submit something to me, and I can look at what that schedule would look like.
They're not going to want a whole waterfall of proclamations, but if we spaced them out thoughtfully
we could certainly do that.
Beth Kenny: Yes, and also in October, we do have a proclamation that the city does annually for
Disability Employment Awareness Month which we can share the language with that with the
commission. Maybe we can send that out to everybody? Does anyone else have any announcements
they'd like to make?
Arnold Brillinger: Well, I'm not necessarily anyone else, but [chuckle] I just wanted to say, that I
think that Beth suggested to the Transportation group in Mastick, that I be on the committee that is
looking at the new contracts for the next four years for which provider to use. So, we've got our work
set out for us. We've got six different proposals from companies. I just want to say that Victoria
Williams who was here at our last meeting is working on the shuttle which is the Alameda Loop.
That's their new name that they've decided on. I've even got posters on the sides on my wheelchair
and stuff. ""Ride the Free Alameda Shuttle"" or ""Ride the Free Loop"" and things like that. People come
up and they say, ""What is that?' because they think I'm giving free rides on my wheelchair.
[chuckle]
Arnold Brillinger: I said, no. It's this bus that comes around here on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and
Thursdays, that no one really seems to see because it just blends in with everything else. At the last
meeting, we suggested that they do a like a bus wrap. Getting the word, ""free"" on it. Making it colorful
and so it stands out. Whatever. Myself, I've just taken it around a couple times. I went on the loop
that goes out to Alameda Landing and that area. The Westside, I believe. And like I reported to
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Victoria, ""We've got a lot of drive-bys."" And she said, ""Oh well. It doesn't stop at the places on the
schedule unless there's somebody waiting there."" I said, ""But no, I'm talking about we've got a lot of
places on the schedule that there is no sign. No one would stand there in a million years, knowing or
thinking that the bus is going to be there."" These are all things that they're going to be working on.
There's a lot of things that need to be done and I hope that if you are, or I know lot of you are at work
on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays but, if you have the chance to and you see the bus, go ahead
and get on it. I also asked, ""why can't we go ahead and put the shuttle in the parade?'
Arnold Brillinger: I was told, ""Well, there's not enough time."" I went in after our last meeting. I was
there in February. The Friday after that Wednesday. So, it mystified me it takes the city that long to
work. I'm realizing now that she meant that there's not enough time from when the new contract
starts, because the new contract starts the 3rd of July. The Monday of that week. And to get it wrapped
and all that kind of stuff. So, we'll probably see it in the next 4th of July parade. Not in this year. But
the following year. And we're inviting all of you to come and ride on it. I'm thinking that that would
be a good thing to have the Transportation Committee also to ride on it. Make a big deal of it.
Beth Kenny: Yes, I'm so happy that you are doing this because we've really been offered a seat at the
decision-making table as to where they going to contract the transportation through, and then also
Commissioner Lewis has been doing something similar but with the taxi services that they going to
contract with. To me it's wonderful. We're getting at the table where decisions are being made and
thank you for doing that.
Arnold Brillinger: Because, Beth, in response to that, Ikind of had the feeling that a lot of times, we
are given presentations, and we're just asked to rubber stamp them. Now, we're saying that, ""Hey
there are chances for people from this commission to be involved in those decisions before they get
rubber-stamped or stamped."" So, that's a good deal.
Beth Kenny: Yes. Thank you.
Lisa Hall: So, one quick question then. So that means we won't be able to have the shuttle for this
4th of July parade is basically what they've said?
Arnold Brillinger: Right. So if we're going to do a float or some other transportation.
Lisa Hall: So, we need to figure out something else. Some other transportation. A truck or something
else if we're going to do that.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes.
Beth Kenny: And that's where perhaps partnering with somebody like the Independent Living Center
could work well for us. If we couldn't, maybe get a trolley or something with them, that would be a
great way to get this done.
Susan Deutsch: I agree.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
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Beth Kenny: Are there any other announcements? Then I move that we adjourn.
Jenny Linton: Second.
Beth Kenny: I think everybody seconded that. [laughter] We're all in favor.
The meeting adjourned at 8:17 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kerry Parker
City Staff Liaison
Commission on Disability Issues
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Vice-Chair Arnold Brillinger: Hello and welcome to the June 14th meeting of this Commission for
Disability Issues. Kerry, could you please call roll?
1. ROLL CALL
Kerry Parker: I'd be happy to. Chair Kenny. Vice-Chair Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Aghapekian?
Anto Aghapekian: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Franco? Commissioner Hall?
Lisa Hall: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Lewis?
Tony Lewis: Here.
Kerry Parker: Commissioner Linton? And Commissioner Tsztoo? We have five, we have a quorum.
2. MINUTES
2-A
Approval of the Chair's Notes for the March 11, 2017 Retreat
Arnold Brillinger: Okay. So you received from Kerry the minutes. We have two sets of minutes to
review and to approve. First, we'll take the minutes from our March 11th. Those are the notes from
Beth on the meeting. Are there any corrections or additions? If not then I will entertain a motion.
Susan Deutsch: Second.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, I didn't make the motion, I said I would entertain a motion.
Susan Deutsch: Oh. I thought you said you were making one. Well, I make a motion that we approve
the minutes from our March 11th meeting.
Lisa Hall: And I'll second that.
Arnold Brillinger: All those in favor, say ""Aye"".
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All: Aye.
2-B
Approval of Minutes for the April 12, 2017 Meeting
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, then we have the minutes from the last meeting in April, are there any
additions or corrections?
Arnold Brillinger: Then I'll entertain a motion to approve.
Susan Deutsch: I make a motion to approve the minutes from April 12th meeting.
Arnold Brillinger: Well, do we have a second?
Tony Lewis: Second.
Arnold Brillinger: We have a motion and a second to approve the minutes. All those in favor?
All: Aye.
3. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
Arnold Brillinger: Any oral communications from the public? No speaker slips? Okay. Then we'll
continue.
4. NEW BUSINESS
4-A Discussion of Progress of the Universal Design Ordinance (UDO) Subcommittee
Arnold Brillinger: Under new business, we have the UDO, the Universal Design Ordinance, and
Audrey, and she's on this sub-committee from the CDI and the planning board, and we'll let her now
take over.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: Thank you. I think it would be appropriate to start with Susan, as the
current commissioner, since I'm no longer on the commission, but I am on the sub-committee, and to
start the discussion, and then I'll participate.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay.
Susan Deutsch: So the Commission on Disabilities started a committee I think in about 2012 to work
on universal design. And currently, we have a sub-committee that is made up of some of the
commissioners, Anto, me, Beth and Audrey (a former commissioner) are is still on that sub-
committee, and two planning board members, David Burton and Sandy Sullivan, along with Andrew
Thomas and Arnold. And we've all been meeting periodically to discuss Universal Design Ordinance.
Currently. We received a letter from the Builders Association which listed a variety of challenges.
And some of those challenges are the 100% visitability, which they say will add cost, particularly to
the town homes, in which the design is very narrow. And so it will raise the cost because it'll be hard
to get everything on the ground floor. The other challenge is the 30% new construction for universal
design. So these are some challenges that we can discuss and see what we want to negotiate about. I
think we have made a lot of progress on our sub-committee meetings and I think we do need to remain
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collaborative with them, so I think it would be good for us to talk about what we're willing to negotiate
about.
Susan Deutsch: In addition, Andrew Thomas wrote a letter back to the building commission
supporting our ordinance and I think that On the agenda, he really wrote a very nice letter in support
of what we would like. And he indicated that Alameda is a flat city, and so we can have flat entry
ways. That was something that the builders pushed back on us. But Andrew, I thought it was nice the
way he pushed back on them. Next steps, there is a planning board meeting on June 26th, a workshop.
And it's going to be a workshop on the Universal Design Ordinance on Monday, June 26th. Be great
if we all went to that. We can support our ordinance and then there is also going to be a planning
board meeting in July and we don't have a date on that, but since we don't have any other meetings
till October that would be a meeting that we all need to attend. And Kerry will let us know when that
meeting occurs.
Kerry Parker: July is a combined CDI and planning board meeting as we understand it now. Excuse
me.
We don't yet know when But that's the plan to have the combined discuss this.
Susan Deutsch: So Audrey, do you have anything to add to where we currently are?
Audrey Lord-Hausman: Yes, we are light years of where we've been, and I think that the
collaboration with the planning board and planning department has been terrific. One of the concerns
from the building industry associations was that some of these things that we have included in the
ordinance, they felt was going to add financial costs. We have requested an outline to give us an
example, ""What are some of those costs?"" Provided a number of $80,000 per house. Well, I want to
know and the sub-committee wants to know, how is that made up? What does that consist of? So far,
we have not received that. The other thing. And I'll read this to you because I think it says a lot about
the work we've done. ""If Alameda were to adopt the ordinance as drafted, it would be the most
stringent, mandatory universal design regulation in the state of California."" And those of us on the
sub-committee said ""Here, here."" The implication being that we were just being too difficult, too
stringent.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: So the costs are something that we're asking for, so we can get a sense of
it. Also the visitability - they didn't seem to feel that a 100% was realistic. And it is true at this time,
construction costs have skyrocketed, not only in the Bay Area but I think in many, many places. And
there are developments that have been put on hold in some places because the original budget that
was put together are now completely out of whack. The draft that was put together based on
discussions with all of us and with the sub-committee have really covered everything that we have
talked about. And I think the key thing is what do the builders really mean by costs, and to give us
some idea of what we're talking about. Some of the things are permanent, are included, and as you all
know, we have a list of things that can be asked for, and the buyer would pay for those. So I think
there's a good balance of requirements mandatory versus available if you would like them.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: Another aspect of this and also written into the draft was that being too
stringent would be a problem but as Andrew pointed out and we discussed the sub-committee there's
a waiver process and that there will be times that the builder can ask and come before the proper
organization here in the city, the planning board or the permit office and apply for a waiver and go
through that process. So it's not as if they're just being blocked and written that into it. That's where
we are at the moment. I know the sub-committee would like to hear from the CDI. Is there anything
in this that you're willing to negotiate? When the planning board gets together for this upcoming
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workshop, we don't know too much about the nature of it. But I agree with Susan we should be here,
as many of us as we can. How are we going to finally bless this and take it to the planning board for
it to be voted on? And then the goal by Andrew was hopefully to get it to city council in July. So now
is the time to think about this and what's in it. And how do you feel about some of these challenges
in terms of 100% visitability and certainly the rising costs that seems to be challenging everybody.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes.
JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko: Hi my name is JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko. I'm a citizen here in Alameda with
dual disabilities. I am new. - not new to the discussion but new to where the committee is with this.
What does 100% visitability mean?
Arnold Brillinger: Visitability is very important in universal design. First of all if you go to most of
the homes, the new homes that are built here you will find that right at the front door there's a barrier
about five inches tall. We can't figure out why it has to be five inches, why it can't be just an inch or
two inches. But a wheelchair cannot go through it. So the first step in visitability is no barrier. The
second item is you have to have a door that is wide enough to let someone come in. And it's not only
for people in wheelchairs it's also for when you buy that home that costs $1.5 million over here, the
first thing you're going to do is say I'm not moving all of my old appliances over there, I'm going to
go and buy some new ones.
Arnold Brillinger: So you go and order that giant refrigerator freezer with the fancy doors and the
slide out shelves and everything. They bring it over the next day and they can't get it in the door. So
there are a lot of reasons that we need wider doors. At least one wider door into the home and also
accessibility throughout the inside to get around. And the third thing is a bathroom that can be used
by a person in a wheelchair. To use it they have to be able to turn the wheelchair around in there and
be able to close the door so that everyone doesn't have to watch you do your business. And so that's
one of the things because too many places these days have these very small bathrooms in order to
save space. So that's what visitability is.
Arnold Brillinger: And also we've included some other things in ours that there's at least one room
where people can sit down. It could be a bedroom, it could be an office, it could be a whatever, so
that the people don't have to visit in the bathroom. And also, we added that 100% of the homes have
installed backings in the bathrooms and in the hallways for grab bars. And this is something that
doesn't cost any more because you can use scrap lumber. It's cut off from building's other parts and
put it at the right heights in the walls. And then when you need a grab bar connected just send someone
down to Home Depot or wherever the grab bars are that you want. You just take them and then mount
them right to the wall, you don't rip out the walls. So that's basically what the Visitability is.
Visitability is a word that has the first three items in it all over the United States. It's no barriers, a
wide entrance and also a bathroom that can be an accessible bathroom. Okay. Tony.
Tony Lewis: I had a question too. Does that also include the kitchen?
Arnold Brillinger: To be visitable? Well, if there is a kitchen on the first floor we need to have access
into the kitchen through the doorways.
Arnold Brillinger: Because we do have in the UDOs that you have to be able to get around on the
first floor at least. If there is no kitchen on the first floor then that wouldn't happen but So does that
answer your question?
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Tony Lewis: Yes. You just didn't mention kitchens.
Arnold Brillinger: Right. The problem is that these days, all the houses are three floors in the home
or that's if they're a single residence, single unattached residences. And then in the other homes for
example, if it's a lot of stacked housing. Look like apartments but they're condos and stuff like that,
those would of course have the kitchen and everything on the same floor. Those are the easiest ones
for them to provide visitability because it just automatically comes with the property. It has no barrier.
They just need to make sure that they've got a wide enough door and the bathroom is accessible to
someone in a wheelchair. Yes Audrey.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: Also in terms of visitability, let's say you're having something, a picnic,
a
barbecue in the backyard. We want an access whether it's a path alongside of the house that one can
use to get back there and participate in the festivities. And of course as Arnold said, then you want a
bathroom accessible for that person. But it's also setup and one of the goals of this is not only persons
with disabilities but also persons with mobility challenges as we age. There are a lot of things that are
very similar. And there's a very, very, strong, strong movement in Alameda to keep older people here
and to age in place. Housing is scarce for that and so one of the challenges that we found in the sub-
committee are town homes. Town homes are a very big deal in a town such as Alameda and we
appreciate that.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: However, we're challenged by coming up and thinking out of the box and
being creative. And if we are going to have a lot of town homes and we have some of the things that
Arnold talked about on the lower floor where you can have an older person or a person in a wheelchair
or walker come and you can gather and be downstairs and enjoy each other's company and still have
a town home, two or three stories high. But in terms of reinforcing ahead of time, you can reinforce
the walls where the stairs are or eventually maybe needing to put in a motorized chair to get somebody
up the stairs. So we're really trying to think out of the box and to understand that due to the landscape
of Alameda we do have some building challenges but, come on, let's think creatively how we can
meet these needs. And if that would mean that maybe there'd only be one car garage instead of a two
car garage so we could have these ground floor amenities then I would think that the commission
would look at that as one of the strong questions.
Susan Deutsch: I just want to also make a comment that the definition of visitability on this staff,
this draft of a hearing, joint meeting of the planning board and commission on disability issues is
slightly different than how you described it and I'll just say it establishes standards to ensure that
every new unit built in Alameda subject to this ordinance can be visited by a person with mobility
issues, requires that a visitor can get to and through the front door, access a room in which to visit
and a ground floor open space and use the bathroom with not having to negotiate stairs. The other
bedroom's bathrooms the kitchen and all other spaces within the home maybe on the upper levels
accessed by stairs. The definition of accessible entry provides flexibility to allow use of an alternate
entry on to the ground floor, so it could be a back door. If the design of a new home includes a primary
entry accessed by a raised front step or porch. So that's the definition that the city is currently using
and I believe that's what was discussed in sub-committee.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes. So basically, what I said and what you read are the same thing.
Susan Deutsch: Yes.
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Tony Lewis: A little different.
Arnold Brillinger: But they talked about accessibility. No barrier, wide enough to get in and also
bathroom and a room where you can visit.
Susan Deutsch: Yes.
Tony Lewis: I was wondering though, because it is a little different in how you described it, Arnold.
The way you've talked about alternative entrance ways as opposed to making the main entrance way
accessible. How do you feel about that?
Arnold Brillinger: Well, if there was a way to do that, we're finding that most houses don't have
access to a back door if they don't have a backyard. So there are the waivers in this that are built in if
some developer came in and said, ""We can't do it that way but we can do it this way."" There's always
a chance to negotiate the various ideas.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: Yes, I think there's a difference between visitability and the Universal
Design Ordinance which is different than visibility. That's the 30% that we're asking for.
Arnold Brillinger: And again, a 100% visitability, that's not someone necessary that lives there, it's
someone that comes to visit.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: Right.
Arnold Brillinger: And so what do they need? They need to be able to get in after you've served
them some iced tea or beer whatever it is, they need a place to use the bathroom and if they're going
to come over and visit they need to visit in somewhere without everyone sitting on the bath tub and
stuff.
Audrey Lord-Houseman: Yes.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: Do other people have thoughts about where your mission to move in terms
of challenges that we're experiencing right now?
Anto Aghapekian: I've said this before and I will repeat it. The resistance that we are getting is never
going to go away. It's been going on since day one, since the '70s. Most of these numbers $80,000,
all these push backs that they have, it's nothing new, they've been doing this all along. And so we
have to persist, we have to stand our ground and make our demands. I think that we're justified to
make those demands. That's my position. I would like to go to the June the 26th planning workshop.
What time is that?
Audrey Lord-Hausman: We don't know yet.
Anto Aghapekian: And I have a question that I've been thinking about. Most of the construction
that's going to happen in Alameda is going to be at Alameda Point. There are some constructions that
are going on right now, but they're mostly on a private transactions, developer buys the property from
a private entity and they go ahead and they build. But the majority of the construction that's happening
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is going to happen is at Alameda Point and Alameda Point is a public property. It's not a private
property. To my understanding, it belongs to the city. And if the city is the owner of this property,
don't we have the right to make a condition that whoever is developing these properties, they have to
comply with this ordinance that we're working on. And I think that they're going to buy these
properties I mean sweet deals are going to go on. They're very valuable properties but then I'm
certain that they're going to get a very good deal from the city to go ahead and develop these properties
and I don't think that the developers are going to be losing any money on it even if they do spend so
called $80,000 per unit. So I would like to also approach our demands from that side - that we are the
property owners and this is one of the condition of the sale.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: Well I think that when an ordinance is enacted, then that does become kind
of the rule of the land if you will and then within it, you have an avenue for waivers if necessary. So
then that is how all development will continue at that point. So that's why we feel part of this process.
We're anxious to get it established and established well so it'd be fair to everybody. Then that is the
process one would go through. So in effect, issues around that would have to come back to the
planning board on any development like it does now. So it would then be foundational.
Arnold Brillinger: I'd like to add that on Monday, planning board was discussing a large chunk of
property and the developers were saying, ""Well, if we're going to do this, we want to raise the amount
of
residences on there from 300... And now I'm going to have to make up these things because I
don't have the exact numbers, ""But we'd like to raise them from 350 up to about 450."" And so we've
got a lot of things to add to this. I was going to say, ""Audrey, they can come back for the waivers to
the planning board."" but also I think the way that it's written in here and the CDI so that it need to get
approval in both or at least input from both groups.
Susan Deutsch: It would be input from the CDI.
Arnold Brillinger: Right, it's input. But also I was going to say the planning board met on Monday.
I didn't go, but I watched it online and the thing that I was there going, ""Okay, when are you guys
going to talk about visitability or UDO or anything that we've been talking about?' And Sandy, she's
on the sub-committee. She brought up that thing. I started applauding. She said, ""What about
visitability in these units?"" and so forth. So we do have and I think that we will find that the planning
board will for the most part approve of this for the UDO and then we at the same meeting, we will
have a meeting of us, the CDI and we will also bring that up and approve it as a group and then after
that, that has sent off to the city council. Okay.
Susan Deutsch: So yes, it sounds like you are not willing to negotiate what we have proposed. You
want to stick with what we have proposed. Because that's what it sounds like. I just want to be clear.
Anto Aghapekian: I am. As Audrey said, there is a lot of blabber but the only thing that's standing
out is the $80,000, that the developers said.
Susan Deutsch: Yes.
Anto Aghapekian: [Recording was very choppy, this is a summation] And we would like to know
where this $80,000 - if it is $80,000 - or $40,000 or whatever thousand, I still say we are the property
owners, we own that property and we are going to sell it, or lease it (I don't know what kind of
agreement the superintendent has) to developers and as the property owner I will stand my ground
negotiating the use of our property.
October 11, 2017
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Arnold Brillinger: It is my impression that says probably a number that they just pulled out of the
air.
Susan Deutsch: Yes, we don't know.
Arnold Brillinger: They wanted to give us a little scare.
Susan Deutsch: Will they bring, are they going to have the opportunity to outline what that means,
$80,000?
Arnold Brillinger: Oh, they will be there.
Susan Deutsch: We've asked for it.
Arnold Brillinger: We've asked for it to be broken down. Because right now it's just a number that's
floating around there somewhere.
Susan Deutsch: I mean Sandy Sullivan specifically asked for the numbers.
Arnold Brillinger: She's sticking to her guns on that.
Susan Deutsch: And was the developer at this meeting?
Arnold Brillinger: No.
Susan Deutsch: No.
Susan Deutsch: And I think one thing that it's important to differentiate is that, some of the things in
the ordinance that we have included are mandatory. And again others are, can be available. And reality
there are some things I may want that someone else may not and so as a home buyer, if I know that
the walls are reinforced already. If I know there are certain things that are already there. And as a
home buyer I'm happy to go ahead and buy the grab bars and put them in. So it's not as if we're
demanding that all these amenities physically are there. But we want the foundation to be there.
Reinforced walls, wider doorways, those kinds of the things, accessible path. Tony, you mentioned
whether it's the front door or not that is accessible?
Tony Lewis: No that was, quoting her.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: If the configuration of the building is such that the front door can't quite
do it because of a step or grating, then we at least have a side entrance and door that can allow the
person to come into the house. So again, it's being creative and working collaboratively with the
developers and the architects and the designers to make this as accessible to everybody. I may want
to have my aging mother come and live with me and she can't climb three steps Or three stairs up.
So I want the bottom floor which may now be my office, my sewing room or craft room. And we
bring Mom in. There's a room there. We change it out, it's hers, the bathroom is accessible, the walls
are reinforced, the door knobs. All those things are already there and prepared for someone who's
aging in place. So, I think there's so many components of this that we need to be careful not to just
focus in on one thing either on the developer side or the buyer side and lose sight of the flexibility
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that we are trying to provide.
Arnold Brillinger: Plus, these houses are going to outlast us. So we're talking about building houses
for the future. For people right now and for people in a couple hundred years. And so if during that
time, chances are very good. Well, I would say 100% that each house will be visited at least once in
its lifetime by a person that needs that. Not necessarily that the people will, that are living in there.
But we know that they'll be visited by people who need that.
Susan Deutsch: And I just want to add in terms of universal design. That universal design is not just
for people with disabilities or people who have mobility challenges, the universal design, purpose of
it is for everyone. So, somebody that has a stroller, and can't get it up two flights of stairs to get to
their living space, would might also want a ground floor that's accessible for them and their children
so that they don't have to carry things up. So, I think we need to broaden how we're looking at
universal design, because the builders are saying in their letter, that a lot of people aren't going to
want to buy universally designed homes. But really people may want to buy universally designed
homes if they have young children. So I think that's something that we need to promote also, about
universal design. Just that, it's for everyone, and those homes will sell. People will want them.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes also, that should be a selling point.
Susan Deutsch: Yes.
Arnold Brillinger: To say, ""Hey, this home is ready. It doesn't necessarily have the accessibility in
the kitchen for the person in a wheelchair, but if someone were in a wheelchair, you could easily take
the cabinets out, below the granite countertops, so if they can fit underneath the sink and wash their
hands, and so that they can prepare stuff at the counters. So, if these things are stressed, when the
people buy them, I think it should be a selling point. For example, when I went to see these homes
over here, I wanted to know what kinds of things they had, as far as beauty of different things. They
said, ""Oh, well, we don't have any printed up right now. Wait, just a minute."" He went to the copier,
and he brought me a couple of sheets that were really kind of ugly. In our thing, we've also asked that
they print up a brochure. A nice, slick brochure that look super, advertising these things that are
available. They don't have to necessarily get them, but maybe they'd say, ""Oh, this right here isn't
going to cost that much more. I'd like to get these. Instead of getting doorknobs, I'd like to get the
levers. Instead of getting the outlets way down by the ground, we're going to put them at a certain
height, at least they've got to be up here. Or not way up towards the ceiling, but just so that they're
accessible."" Audrey, looks like you wanted to say something.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: No, I'm listening.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay. So, if in the universal design thing, we need to stress that this house is
ready for anyone to use it. Just like the backing in the walls. I mean, this is just an obvious way.
Everyone says, ""Oh, yes. It doesn't cost a dime more to put those, put the backing in the walls at the
right height when you're building the house. But later on if someone needs it and you rip out the walls
to put the backing in that's going to be a major thing. ""Oh, yes. It doesn't cost that much more, it only
costs a few dollars more to get the wider entrance."" But if you need the wider entrance later on down
the line, there is a whole lot of reconstruction that goes on. A lot of cost and a lot of waste. Because
when they rip out the old doorway and everything, it's going to the dumpster. That's not green. You
know? It's not good stewardship with what we've been entrusted with here, and I think that's also one
of the things. And we need to stress these things.
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Susan Deutsch: Does anybody else have any comments? About the Universal Design Ordinance?
Because we are going to have a meeting in July.
Tony Lewis: Are we voting tonight on accepting?
Arnold Brillinger: No, no.
Susan Deutsch: No. No, we just want everyone to give their input.
Arnold Brillinger: We're going to vote on it sometime in July.
Susan Deutsch: Oh, okay.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes. No, we're not going to vote on it. We were just bringing this up to discuss it,
to get everyone on board, see what it's all about. Lisa? Do you have any input on this?
Lisa Hall: I was just thinking that obviously, you guys worked very long and diligent on it, and
looking hopeful that it will come to a fruition. I agree with Anto on at not making concessions because
there's no reason - for the money for any of the reason. What you guys have put together so far is
awesome. Continue all the way through.
Arnold Brillinger: And like Susan said this started maybe in 2012 which I think only Audrey and
Susan were part of the CDI at the time, right? And it's gone up and down - the interest in it - and
I
think that it's at the point now where it needs to be done because those houses are going to be built or
proposed to be built out there at the point. If we let this go for another four or five years, we won't
need it. In five years or 10 whatever it is, it's going to be so built up we'll just say, ""Well we missed
the boat.'
JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko: Hi, it's JoanAnn again. I just am really eager to see this come to pass. In
the '70s, if you look on Bay Farm Island, there's a lot of houses that have the French doors that open
wide that are five and six feet wide. I don't understand how 36 or 24 inch doors even existed. A house
that has a huge door opening feels like it's more inviting and I would encourage you to get together
with some builders to pump up the reasons why it's a really good idea. The stroller is a really good
idea, to take it away from the fact that it's about disability because people just roll their eyes because
it's like, ""Who needs that? We're young, we're vital, it's not going to be a problem.""
JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko: But to make it just so it's really important that that be available, period.
And I like your idea about it. That this is the city's land and we have a right as owners to that to say
if you want to build here or these are the conditions. And just keep it at that. But having big doorways.
San Francisco had huge door, pocket doors. I've lived in lots of places and a lot of them had big doors
and it was just a matter of the style. So it's not like you're asking for something that's not available.
It's been a part of the trends at some point in the design process. So let's just introduce it back in. But
to have a couple of builders brainstorm on more reasons why because you really want to be able to
sell this. Those are good reasons but let's stack it full. Let's get it high SO they can really get them to
thinking that this is really important. Because if they're not going to have kids who needs a stroller,
right. I'm not disabled. Who needs a wide door? Well, who else is going to be there? My brother's a
builder so I'm actually going to brainstorm with him. I know Audrey and Kerry so I'll send you guys
the ideas that he comes up with. Because there's got to be more than that for the reason why you have
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those conditions. You want to be able to move in a house. You want it to feel open. You don't want it
to feel closed in. That's my ideas. Thank you.
Arnold Brillinger: And as Audrey mentioned before, the whole thing of aging in place. I've talked
to various people, I've got signs on my wheelchair ""Some day they'll have visitability"". And the three
things plus the backing in the doors and an access to other parts of the house and young people stop
me and say, ""What is that?"" And I explained it to them."" In just a couple of minutes. ""Oh you know I
never thought about that.' That's the problem with most of the people that are young people. They
don't think about that. I didn't think about this until I'm now in a wheelchair permanently but when I
first bought a place, I've had a townhouse with two floors, three steps up to the front porch and then
the stairway up. My sister said, ""Why did you buy this?"" said, ""Well, what do you mean?"" She says,
""Well, it's got a stairway.'
Arnold Brillinger: I said, ""Watch, I can do this."" And I ran up and down the stairs a couple of times.
Now I know why she said that. And also when you were talking stairways, you were talking about
the chair lifts and stuff like that. We also want them to make sure that there are outlets or access to
electricity which would be outlets too at the bottom and the top of the stairs and also in the middle.
That wouldn't be a bad thing. So that later on they could wire that in. But until that time, when you've
got the vacuum cleaner, where are you going to plug it in, in the kitchen? No, plug it in at the bottom
of the stairs, vacuum the stairs. So it doesn't have to be the mobility thing all the time. Okay. Any
other questions or comments? Well thank you very much and we will let you know when the meeting
is. It's very important that we all attend because we are going to have to approve the UDO ordinance
to be sent onto the city council and we needed everyone to know what it's all about and their input is.
Okay. Old business, that's comments by anybody right?
Susan Deutsch: [0:56:12] Yes.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay. Anyone have anything to report? Lisa?
Lisa Hall: Beth and I attended the Alameda Special Education Family Support Group Resource Fair
on Saturday, May 6th and we had a table there along with many other groups and it was very well
turned out. We spoke to other agencies including the Disability Rights of California group that was
very informative and reached out to all disability commissions. They will support you and help you
and so it was eye opening. They had different workshops and very much addressing all ages,
especially the mental health issue which was an on-going issue for all ages. And the state director of
special education, Christian Wright, showed a video of her daughter who was home schooled and in
a wheelchair and did not speak. And it was very enlightening because she said you don't know what
you don't know. As a parent, you do the best and eventually as their daughter started getting older,
they let the reins out a little bit even though they were so concerned about her going to a semi regular
school and integrating and yet she did wonderful and she blossomed and they themselves as parents
couldn't believe how far she had come. And the very small changes that the school had to make for
her, it was almost non-existent, because she just sort of fit right in there and eventually she lost the
wheelchair and it was just very awesome and inspiring. So good work being done out there and raising
awareness.
Arnold Brillinger: Susan.
Susan Deutsch: I don't have anything to report.
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Arnold Brillinger: Tony.
Tony Lewis: Yes. I think this was in partnership with Mastic and Victoria on the transportation issue
with the shuttle and the taxi programs. I thought it was very good that when I and Arnold got to sit
on different parts of that panel to observe the bids that came in for the taxi program. That's the MRTIP
[Medical Return Trip Improvement Program] and the voucher program for people with doctor's
appointments. It turns out that we only have one bid to review and that was our local person here in
town, what was Welcome Transportation, morphed into something else now. And I think the way we
left it was there were some changes that was wanted and to give it a try and it was a little surprising
that nobody else did put in an extra bid. I think that outside folks might have. So it looks like we're
going to go with Welcome Transportation as the vendor, with some changes in place.
Tony Lewis: And the approximate, I think they were $66,000 available and they were going to get
close to $50,000, just to kind of see how the program went. And it was really good to have a
conversation with the owner of Welcome, and outlining the concerns that public have raised about
their interactions and what they're doing to help make their relationship better with users here, and
especially people with disabilities. They're struggling because they have a lot of competition with
Lyft and Uber. And so it's harder for them, for any taxi programs now with the competition. But
they're putting things in place to really work towards catering to seniors and people with disabilities.
And still, a lot of people don't use those services, the ride share programs. Anyway we'll see how that
goes and there's a couple more meetings. Arnold will talk a little bit about that.
Arnold Brillinger: Anto.
Anto Aghapekian: I went to couple of the planning board meetings. And nothing that I can report
that is connected to what we're doing. Nothing was discussed as far as the code is concerned. And
there are a few things that I would like to do. One, I would like to invite a lady that is knowledgeable,
we talked about this about two, three months ago. That is very knowledgeable in civil rights, the act
that brought the ADA about. And I would like to have the commission invite her to talk to us for half
an hour or SO. I think that we can benefit from her knowledge quite a bit. I've heard her talk a couple
of times. And another thing that I would like to do is invite the city, Alameda city's ADA Coordinator.
According to the Justice Department, any city that has more than 50 city employees - they're supposed
to have a ADA Coordinator. My understanding is that there is a person in that position. I would like
to invite her, to come and spend 15 minutes, 20 minutes, tell us what she does. How we can work
with her. There are things that we can work with her, and get ourselves coordinated with the
coordinator. Those are the things I went through.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, thank you. I've got several things and one is I went to the Mastic Resource
Fair along with Beth. I was surprised how many different organizations were represented. And I think
that it is one of the major things around here, because they draw a lot of seniors, obviously with
Mastic. But this was from three to six, when Mastic is closed. So it wasn't just bringing the folks over
from the other room into there. I would suggest that when we have the different events that we go
ahead and keep on going to the disability What is that Lisa? The one you went to?
Lisa Hall: The resource fair that I went to?
Arnold Brillinger: Yes.
Lisa
Hall: For the families Special Education for the Families.
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Arnold Brillinger: Okay. And that we go to that one and we represented there because it's one thing,
a short while, and several people can handle it. And then also that we continued to do the Mastic
Resource Fair because it's only three hours long. And if nothing else, you will find out some
interesting stuff yourself as you go around and see what else is there. Also, this year we're going to
go to the Resource Fair with Emmanuel Lutheran on their 125th anniversary. So that's a onetime shot.
That's just several hours on that and then as far as using the shuttle. I've been harping on that for quite
a while, that we ought to use the shuttle. But that's not our baby, that's the Transportation
[Commission]'s baby. So we should probably just keep on doing as we did last year, go to the Art &
Wine festival, show a good representation, and do a good job with that one and let that be the thing.
Then if we want to go to other things on our own, that's fine and dandy. And now Tony reminded me
the thing with Mastic about the shuttle. We had, instead of just one company, we had six companies
that were interested in running this shuttle for Alameda. And so we went through all these different
proposals and looked at them, and we picked the top three and invited those people to come to the
meeting and present their proposal to us.
Arnold Brillinger: One of the companies, they sent people from their headquarters in Texas. MV is
nation wide. They sent theirs. There were also people from other companies that run shuttles and the
group did find one that they said, ""Okay, we'll go with this."" We we're supposed to have a marketing
meeting today. Again, I was all excited because I was going to have a lot of good things to tell you.
But I got a call yesterday that said, ""Something's not ready yet. We're not going to have it. We're going
to have it next month, sometime in July."" So I don't have any exciting things to tell you on that, other
then what you already know is that they're planning on running two vehicles each day every half hour
instead of every hour on their routes. So those are the things that I wanted to share.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay.
Kerry Parker: All right.
5. STAFF COMMUNIATIONS
Arnold Brillinger: Staff communications, Kerry.
Kerry Parker: Staff communications. Here I am. I know I've been in a different seat for the night,
and it was to help facilitate your discussion on the Universal Design Ordinance, so I thought it went
well. I think that we know that for future meetings. I have a couple of items, and many of them were
already mentioned. The Universal Design Ordinance: the Planning Board wants to have a workshop
at the June 26th meeting. I believe that's at 7:00 PM, but it might be at 6:30. I cannot remember when
they're meeting.
Arnold Brillinger: They meet at 7:00.
Kerry Parker: I think it's 7:00. Okay.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes.
Kerry Parker: 7:00 PM, I will send you all an invite to that. Also, it's a Sunshine Ordinance thing.
Basically I want you to know that it's happening. I will have their agenda forwarded to me and then I
will forward it on to and to the list serve or the CDI. And then, the special joint meeting that has been
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mentioned in July. We don't know when that will be. It will be on a Monday, that's for sure. And I
would imagine that they would open with the Universal Design Ordinance as the first agenda item.
So they will call roll for the planning board. They'll call roll for us, or I will call roll for you, or
someone will and then they will start. There will be a vote, and then they will probably adjourn that
special meeting. The CDI would leave at that point or you could sit in the audience, it wouldn't matter.
And then they will go on with their regular meeting because they will probably have other items. So
that will be it. That's basically how it goes at their board meetings.
Kerry Parker: So then in addition to that, in August you know that what would normally be a
regularly scheduled meeting, council chambers is dark in August, SO we will not have that meeting.
So our next regularly scheduled meeting is in October as has been mentioned earlier. Also in October,
Public Works intends to bring up the name change as a council meeting item so that the council can
approve your name change that you approved at your last meeting in April. So that should be lovely.
Also the acceptance for the proclamation for October is Disability Awareness Month, so that should
be I'm angling towards October 3rd - Tuesday, October 3rd - at that council meeting for those items,
and then we will have our regularly scheduled meeting on October 11th. Okay, so that's how that
looks - about eight days later. And then the third item that I had was the Art & Wine Fair, as Arnold
had mentioned. That's in the last weekend in July and I don't have a calendar in front of me,
unfortunately, but I believe that's 29th and 30th.
Lisa Hall: Yes, 29th and 30th. Yes.
Kerry Parker: And I've already spoken with the executive director of the Downtown Alameda
Business Association which is the Park Street, formerly known as Park Street Business Association.
And they have already discussed that they will set aside a table for us so that is already in the works.
It's not going to be in the same place as last time. They have a different set up this year because of
fire regulations.
Lisa Hall: Can I say something on that?
Kerry Parker: Yes.
Lisa Hall: Okay. So Arnold, Jen, Beth and I discuss the fair, and so the four of us have made a
commitment to be there, to do this. And what we want to look at is at noon to 6:00 for both days, and
we would have two shifts of three hours for each person. And between the four of us and then anybody
else that wants to also help that we can split it up.
Arnold Brillinger: Definitely we want others - the rest of the CDI to come.
Lisa Hall: Right.
Arnold Brillinger: And, also, to say that I'll be responsible for such and such a time on one or both
days.
Lisa Hall: We'll coordinate our times, but we've got the commitment there for sure.
Kerry Parker: Excellent. So I think that that is fine. And, as you know I also have a lot of materials
at my desk for you guys to hand out so we can coordinate that sometime beforehand. But that sounds
perfect.
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Tony Lewis: You know where the table might be?
Kerry Parker: I don't have any idea, actually. It's with a group of other - they're calling us a non-
profit tables - I don't know what that means. And I ask them if there was shade at those tables and
they weren't certain and I said, ""Well, I have umbrellas and umbrella stands if that's what it came to.'
11
Tony Lewis: I think the last fair was at the
Kerry Parker: We were in front of Subpar.
Tony Lewis: Yes, I mean, but the May fair, the recent one. There were no tables on the sidewalks
Kerry Parker: Exactly, so that's what I was trying to mention before that fire regulation has required
them to change the format of the fair so that essentially a fire truck can go down the middle of the
street if necessary for any emergency vehicles. So that that's what's at play right now. And so we will
just take whatever table it is that they advise we should have. I'm trying to, of course, lobby for a
lovely one under a tree or something like that. I've heard your suggestions for inviting the ADA
coordinator. I am going to see what I can do on that, one way or the other. Anto if you would like me
to invite someone to the October meeting, let's say, let's talk offline about who that is and making that
contact. And while I was sitting over here, I was also remembering that last year many of you went
to the Pacific ADA conference, which was a two day conference I believe, on a weekend maybe in
July. And we are not booked for that yet so far, and I have not heard anything about it. If anybody has
any information on that, go ahead and email me about it and we will set that up.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay.
Anto Aghapekian: [Unable to hear clearly.] Plus the contents of the lectures. Also, about what they're
doing, and what the resources are there. They're good. I thought they're very productive.
Kerry Parker: I heard a lot of positive feedback from you all about that last year so I think absolutely
we should send you again if you want to go. So that's purely elective but we do have some funds for
conference attendance.
Anto Aghapekian: Where is it?
Kerry Parker: It's in San Francisco, right?
Susan Deutsch: Yes, definitely.
Kerry Parker: Yes. Okay.
Tony Lewis: Kerry, one more thing to Remember, last year I had mentioned, in addition to the
Disability Month, the White Cane Day proclamation, starting out of Veterans Administration and
recognized in most cities. And I just wanted to be sure that we do that for the 15th of October.
Kerry Parker: 15th of October. You know what I keep imagining is that we could incorporate it into
the larger Disability Awareness Month proclamation.
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Tony Lewis: They're two separate things.
Kerry Parker: They are two separate things and Let me see what I can do. We mentioned that at
the last meeting.
Tony Lewis: I sent you a sample proclamation I think last year.
Kerry Parker: Yes. Let me see what I can do. Scheduling proclamations is something that I have to
do with city staff, and so, let me see what else is happening in October. We might be able to have a
proclamation of White Cane day, as well as October being Disability Awareness Month, and have
both happen on that same night, and perhaps you would accept that proclamation.
Tony Lewis: And what is it?
Kerry Parker: From the Mayor, that's what I would really like. You're a commissioner
Tony Lewis: No, I don't need to do that. But it's something that most cities do - they publish it in the
local paper or website, or whatever it is.
Kerry Parker: Well, and we could do one of those other things too, and perhaps we put it on the
website instead. Why don't you let me know what you'd really like to do? We can do that offline, and
make something happen because I think that's a great idea. October is the month for this commission,
as far as I see it. I think we've got some leeway there. Okay.
Arnold Brillinger: Thank you. I want to thank Kerry. She is so helpful to us, and I just want everyone
to know how much I appreciate you. And I think it's I see people shaking their heads, yes, in
agreement. I think it's probably unanimous.
Lisa Hall: I second that.
Tony Lewis: There you go.
[laughter]
6. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Arnold Brillinger: Thank you. Yes, because she does a lot for us. Okay, there's announcements.
Anyone have any announcements?
Lisa Hall: A reminder, the Center for Independent Living that is opening - well has opened - at
Mariner Square. They're going to have their open house I believe the
Arnold Brillinger: 24th?
Lisa Hall: 24th, 25th? I don't know the exact date, but that weekend, and I've had a few clients that
come to the Food Bank - a gentleman that was in a wheelchair that was just thrilled that when I told
him that they have a new location here in Alameda because he apparently has gone to Berkeley. So
he was quite happy about it. But, yes, just to let people know about the open house.
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Tony Lewis: You know where it is? Where the center is?
Lisa Hall: Yes, it's at Mariner Square Loop, and I had it written down somewhere. You know the
College of Alameda, the science building? It's right there on the loop, but I'm sorry I don't have the
suite number. I wrote it on my other thing that I gave the gentleman.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, Kerry is going to mail it or to distribute it to all of us. And Tony, it's quite
a walk from the street. There are three major buildings in that area and it goes right after it. It was
announced to us at the last meeting that they were going to be there. I said, ""Woah, I want to go and
check it out."" So I went and because I'm all over Alameda in my wheelchair.
Tony Lewis: Is that the one of the shuttle loop, Arnold?
Arnold Brillinger: Well, it isn't at the moment. It will be, but we're trying to figure out how to get it
close to the building. Like I said, it's quite a ways to walk.
Arnold Brillinger: Audrey, thank you very much for coming in. I know that Beth asked you to come
and help with the presentation for the UDOs. Thank you very much. We're always glad to see you,
and Okay, any other announcements? If not then we'll adjourn.
7. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:55 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Laurie Kozisek
City Staff Liaison
Commission on Disability Issues
October 11, 2017
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Tuesday, July 25, 2017 6:30 p.m.
1. ROLL CALL
This was not recorded on the video. Those present at the roll call at 6:32 p.m. were:
Chair Elizabeth (Beth) Kenny
Vice-Chair Arnold Brillinger
Anto Aghapekian
Tom Mills
Lisa Hall
Jenn Barrett
Susan Deutsch
Quorum established.
Additional commissioners arriving soon after roll call:
Tony Lewis (arrived 6:35 p.m.)
Jenny Linton (arrived 6:45 p.m.)
2. MINUTES
Elizabeth Kenny: Item number two; minutes?
Kerry Parker: There will be no approval of minutes tonight. The minutes from the June meeting
will be presented in October for approval. And the minutes from tonight's meeting will be submitted
in October for approval.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICAITONS
Elizabeth Kenny: Wonderful. Moving on, item three; Oral Communication/Non-Agenda Items. Do
we have any public comments tonight?
Kerry Parker: I have not received any speaker slips.
Elizabeth Kenny: Alright.
Elizabeth Kenny: There's no speaker slips out there.
Kerry Parker: Oh, oh no Would you like one?
Elizabeth Kenny: Okay, he is going to speak on video. Yes, I'm just making sure.
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Kerry Parker: So, for non-agenda.
Speaker 3: Will be on the end.
Elizabeth Kenny: Okay.
Kerry Parker: Okay.
4. NEW BUSINESS
Elizabeth Kenny: Alright. Let's move on to new business.
Kerry Parker: I don't think we have any new business for tonight.
5. OLD BUSINESS
CDI Universal Design Staff Report
Elizabeth Kenny: And old business. First, we have Andrew Thomas, from the city planners to talk
to us about the Universal Design Ordinance. Welcome Andrew.
Andrew Thomas: Good evening, Chair Barrett [sic], members of the commission. My name is
Andrew Thomas, I'm the Assistant Community Development Director for the City of Alameda. I am
very happy to be here tonight to present to you our final draft of the first ever City of Alameda
Universal Design Ordinance. This has been a long time coming. We made a promise to the Alameda
community, to the Alameda City Council, and to this commission. It was almost five years ago to
the date; July 2012, that we are going to create, as a community, a draft Universal Design Ordinance
for Alameda and we are going to get it to you, city council, for your consideration. Now, we were
sort of thinking within a year or SO.
Andrew Thomas: It's been five. And it would not even be here at all if it weren't for the efforts of
this commission and some of your former commissioners, Audrey Lord-Hausman, to just keep
pushing this issue. And then pushing it also not only with the community and with the staff but also
with your Planning Board. And the City of Alameda Planning Board really embraced this idea five
years ago, and was also pushing us and we have David Burton here from the Planning Board,
former chair of the Planning Board who's also been very instrumental in getting this draft to this
state. About three weeks ago, the Alameda Planning Board. Let me just back up for a minute. You
then set up a sub-committee for the new members here. Your board in about a year, or so ago,
identified a sub-committee to work with a sub-committee from the Planning Board to bring this
over the finish line, and that sub-committee did just that. And the Planning Board, the full Planning
Board, recommended this draft ordinance to the city council last month.
Andrew Thomas: This draft ordinance it is really the result of your work, your members, your
constituents. And the Planning Board is going to city council with a recommendation from the
Planning Board, and what I would like to get tonight from this board is your recommendation on
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this same ordinance. So that I can report to the city council that this ordinance is supported by the
City of Alameda Planning Board and the City of Alameda Commission on Disability Issues. If
things go well tonight I hope to have this on the agenda for September 20, I believe it's the second
meeting in September. I believe it's September 29th or 24th. We'll let you know, but it'll be the
second city council meeting in September. If we get there and things go well tonight, and we get
there on September, I'd hope that some of you might think about coming to that meeting and help
push this forward. This is an important ordinance and there's just a few things I'd like to highlight
about this ordinance. So that if people ask you about this ordinance, and there will be people who'll
start to ask as it tees up to council, it'll get more and more attention.
Andrew Thomas: It is a unique ordinance. It is unlike any ordinance that I know of that any other
city in California has adopted. It sets a very high standard. What I have been telling people, and
telling people in the business industry and elsewhere in California, because that worries people,
they are like, ""Oh my goodness, Alameda is setting a new standard."" Some people look at that as a
very positive thing. Other people in some industries will be like, ""Oh gosh, we don't want a new
standard that other cities will reflect."" And what I have said to people is, ""This is a very unique
ordinance and it's unique to Alameda, and Alameda is a unique place."" And it's not just all of you
and the kinds of people who live in Alameda, our physical geography makes a lot of the things in
this ordinance possible.
Andrew Thomas: City of Berkley couldn't adopt this ordinance, it's just too much topography. The
city of San Francisco couldn't adopt this ordinance. We have the benefit of having geography, a flat
island with not a lot of topography that makes a lot of this possible, allows us here in Alameda to set
a high standard. It does set a high standard, and that makes some people nervous and the way I
describe it is Since 2012 your Planning Board, and this commission, and this community, has
demanded that with every single project we discuss, negotiate, twist arms to try to get Universal
Design into every project. And thanks to your Planning Commission you have. Each project's a little
different, each negotiation goes a little bit differently, but the Planning Board here in Alameda has
negotiated Universal Design elements into every single housing project that's been approved since
July of 2012.
Andrew Thomas: What this ordinance does, it sets a new standard. And those conversations have
always started at zero. The developer comes in, ""What are your requirements?"" And we give them
all the city requirements and then we say, ""Oh, and by the way."" This is me downstairs at the permit
center, ""Oh, by the way there's one more thing we need to tell you about, Universal Design."" And
they're like, ""Oh, where's the ordinance? What's the standards?"". ""Well, let's talk about that."" And
that's kind of how the conversation goes. City staff we push a certain amount of Universal Design
into the project through various negotiation tactics and arm wrestling and threats. And then they get
to the Planning Board and the Planning Board always makes it a little bit better. What we're doing
with this ordinance is we're saying we're setting. Rather than starting at zero on every
conversation, when you come in with a housing project in Alameda, we've set a standard, it's this
high. Now you know what our standard is. If you can meet that standard, if you look at our standard
and you say, ""You know what I can do that in my project."" That conversation's over, we're done! We
don't have to debate it, you as a developer you don't have to have the uncertainty of not knowing.
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Andrew Thomas: The problem with the current system, the developer, the people who are
investing in housing, and let's be honest, 90% of the housing built in California and in Alameda is
built by private sector investors, they need to know. They need to know what's the cost. It's these
last minute things, these things they don't know until the very, very end of the project that are the
most damaging. So what we're saying is here, we'll tell you right now what it is, on day one, it's up
here. But what we're also saying is we get it, each project's a little bit different. We get that this
might be a very high standard. And we're not saying we won't have the conversation, we will have
the conversation if you want to have a conversation with us and our Planning Commission you are
more than welcome to. But we're starting here, you tell us what you cannot do with your project,
and why you can't do it and let's have the Planning Board come up with some alternative ways to
make the project as good as it can be. So we're not saying that these conversations go away entirely,
but we're trying to set our new city standard. That's where the conversation starts.
Andrew Thomas: I think the other just thing that I'll point out about this, I'll let you ask any
questions that you have and I won't try to go through every piece of this ordinance. But I think this
ordinance does something that - I'll be honest with you - 20, 30 years of working and planning as
planners we just didn't talk about it. We talk about Universal Design, we talk about ADA, we talk
about access. This concept of visitability, your Commissioner Brillinger, really was the one who
started pushing this. This concept of it's not just about where people with mobility issues can live,
that's obviously an important issue. We as Alamedans we have friends with disability issues, they
should be at least visit us in our homes and that's just a very powerful concept. When I think about
what this ordinance does that's a concept that really comes out loud and clear in this ordinance and I
do think you're going to start seeing other cities looking at this ordinance.
Andrew Thomas: They may not adopt this ordinance exactly the way it is, but they're going to pick
a lot of the things that you all came up with and we've sort of crafted in this ordinance. And I think
it will influence not only the way we build buildings here in Alameda but ultimately I think this
ordinance is going to have an effect statewide, because what'll happen is other cities will start
looking at this ordinance, they'll pick up pieces of it, they'll adopt sections of it and it's really going
to move the ball forward here in California on this issue. With that I'm here to thank all of you, I'm
here to thank Audrey and David, and everyone else who has worked on this. And staff is very proud
and happy to be recommending it, not just to the Planning Commission and not just to this board
but also ultimately to the city council. I'm available to answer any questions.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you very much. Now we will go around and if you have any questions
about the Universal Design, it's your chance to ask them. And then we'll have public comment, and
then we'll go around once more and you can make any comments that you want and then we'll take
a vote. Let's start with you Commissioner Brillinger, Vice Chair Brillinger.
Arnold Brillinger: I'm not so sure that I have questions, but comments. I think that we need to
remember that this is a plus. This is a plus for Alameda. This is a plus for the home builders, and a
plus for the people who buy the homes. The builders need to make sure that their buyers understand
that they've got something special. It's not just like the houses in the next city, in the next county.
They have something special. They are accessible. They are visitable. And Andrew said something:
I've been championing this. I've done it in front of the city council. I've done it in front of the
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Planning Board. I've done it out on the streets of Alameda. I've got signs on the back of my
wheelchair and on the sides that talk about visitability. And I'm really glad to see that we are coming
to the point where we can bring it to the city council, and where they can say, ""Okay, you guys did a
good job, and we're ready to take it on.""
Elizabeth Kenny: Great. Thank you Commissioner Brillinger. Commissioner Lewis, do you have
any questions or comments?
Tony Lewis: No. I would just echo what Arnold had said. And also a long time for Alameda. I think
it's great that we're doing this. We have a large population that are getting older that will really
benefit from. I do hope that My gut feeling is that there's going to be a lot of developers that aren't
going to be very pleased because the cost and better I've not seen but I'm happy for the ones that
will adopt it, or are willing to go along with developing.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Lewis. Commissioner Deutsch, who was one of the
people working on this five years ago.
Susan Deutsch: Well, I don't have any questions. I just want to say that I'm very pleased that we're
at this point after five years working on this and I'm really looking forward to something positive
happening.
Elizabeth Kenny: Great. Thank you. Commissioner Barrett?
Jen Barrett: Hi, all. Thank you so much for that presentation. Just so you know my background, I
worked for two and a half years as an accessibility consultant in the New York City area, and
around the US. So I'm involved with a lot of the laws and enforcement, as well as for Universal
Design for a few clients. I just had one question in 18.4 b, Section 2. It's talking about the
requirements for the 30% of the new residential units, in developments of five or more. California
building code, correct me if I'm wrong, is 10% of multistory dwelling units are covered. So that's
what the state requires. The Fair Housing Act does not apply to this if it's a multistory dwelling unit.
My question is, for that section it's talking about accessible bathroom, accessible common use area,
accessible bedroom, kitchen, common area and laundry would have to be on an accessible route. So
that means that everything in that multistory unit would have to be on the first floor.
Andrew Thomas: Right.
Jen Barrett: Okay.
Andrew Thomas: For example, let's say a developer is building single-family homes, detached.
They can meet the 30% requirement with this by having all of the main features of the room of the
house on the ground floor. That doesn't mean they can't have bedrooms upstairs. They can have two,
three stories above, all accessed by stairs, but on that ground floor you have to have the kitchen,
living room, at least one bedroom, at least one accessible bathroom. Concept being, there's
somebody who has mobility issues. They can live their life on that one floor. Kids can run up and
down the stairs all day long. That was the idea.
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Jen Barrett: Great. Thanks.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Barrett. Commissioner Hall?
Lisa Hall: Thank you Andrew, once again, for all your hard work. I just really want to say thank
you to Susan, Andrew, and Audrey for their work the last five years that they've done. I know it's
been a lot of hard work on your part, and I'm so happy to see it coming to fruition.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you. Commissioner Mills?
Tom
Mills: Yes, how does this apply I own my own house. I'm eventually going to be disabled,
where I've already earthquake-proofed the basement, raised the house, but every time I've gone and
applied to do some work underneath there I was stopped by a city council member of long ago.
She's dead and gone. And I just wonder, if. I agree with 90% of what's in here. That's the only
question.
Andrew Thomas: Yes, these are a set of regulations for new housing developments. So if it does
not apply to existing home owners, who are coming in to remodel their kitchen or add a bedroom,
they're exempt. Accessory dwelling units, which are now heavily regulated by the state are exempt.
If you're just building a little cottage in your backyard. Although we think, actually the ones that
we've approved when you actually look at the little floor plan or cottage in the backyard of an
Alameda property it's actually very easy to make it accessible. But there's a number of things that
are changing. This certainly won't get in your way of being able to modify your basement, and for
different reasons with different ordinances, the Planning Board and the city council have recently
adjusted a number of city regulations to which had making it very difficult for Alameda residents to
convert basements to living space and things like that. So you should try again.
Tom Mills: The closeness of the houses, my neighbor's house is only 3 feet, 2 feet at the roof line.
And it's been empty since Kerr passed away, and they want put four units in. Now there's been
homeless people living in there. I'm like a cat on steroids all the time waiting for the place to go up
in flames. And nobody's watching. Are they going to do something there?
Andrew Thomas: You should give our building official Greg McFann a call, I can get you hooked
up, their code enforcement. I know of the property you're talking about. Laws in California make it
difficult. There's a process but the idea that the city can just go in there and clean things up and
everything has to go through the court system when you're dealing with a situation like this. It's a
very slow, very tedious, very time consuming process. If somebody in the family or somebody in
the ownership structure of the property doesn't take control and do it themselves, when the city has
to step in and try to do the things it's brutally difficult.
Tom Mills: I had an issue with the CDC had come in and did a soil sample in the back of their yard,
and it was not habitable for humans.
Andrew Thomas: I can get you hooked up with the right people who can answer your questions.
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Tom Mills: Yes, I'd appreciate that.
Andrew Thomas: Sure.
Tom Mills: I can't even go in my backyard.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Mills. Commissioner Aghapekian.
Anto Aghapekian: I've been a latecomer, us two. But I have watched and listened and I know that,
I get that, and I know all the orders and areas physicians. I'm very proud to say this. But I don't
think that the matter is exciting or urgent as much as important. It will be a tough fight for council.
Andrew Thomas: First of all, thank you. I wanted to say again, this would not have happened if it
weren't for members of this community, of this commission just taking this on. I guarantee you,
staff alone could not have done it. We wouldn't have done it. It was this partnership that worked so
well. And you're absolutely right. You watch sports, let's celebrate the little victory tonight, but the
big game is in September. And then I think we also all need to take the attitude. We worked really
hard. We have a good ordinance, it's ready to be adopted. Is it perfect? It may not be. We're going to
start using it and let me tell you I've been writing ordinances and implementing ordinances my
entire career. You can work and work and work and work to try to make it perfect.
Andrew Thomas: You'll find out in the first year what isn't working right and you know what, we
just have to have the mindset. We're going to discover those little problems, and then we're going to
fix them. Our second unit ordinance in Alameda, we've amended it 15 times. Needs change.
Priorities change. Our parking ordinance we amend that like every four years, it's okay. But until we
get this adopted, until we actually run it through, it's like a test drive on a car. We need to start using
it, then we'll know what's not quite right and we'll fix it. I just think the battle's not over, I agree
with you and we just have to take the attitude, this is just. It's a continuing process and we'll just
keep getting better and better at it, but thank you.
Elizabeth Kenny: I want to say a couple of questions for you.
Andrew Thomas: Yes.
Elizabeth Kenny: First I want to say I love this. It's amazing how all the ideas that we had have
been distilled into this. I have seen the different versions, and I'm really happy with this, and thank
you for everything, and thank you Audrey, and David, and Arnold, and Anto. Thank you all for this.
And Susan. Kelly Harp was a former commissioner, also worked on this too, and I want to put her
name out there. I do have a couple of questions.
Andrew Thomas: Yes.
Elizabeth Kenny: In 18.5 Section c, under the list of features that can be substituted in. Under the
number two, it says blocking with all the walls of the hallway. One thing that I really liked about
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this version is that I think that's covered under visitability because doesn't the visitability part of this
say 100% you put the blocking in the walls?
Andrew Thomas: It's in visitability what we're saying is blocking the walls in all bathrooms.
Elizabeth Kenny: Okay.
Andrew Thomas: And so that's one of the little distinctions, we're saying, ""Just bottom-line you
want to meet our standard, we definitely want blocking in all bathrooms.""
Elizabeth Kenny: Okay.
Andrew Thomas: But not necessarily hallways.
Elizabeth Kenny: The hallways, okay.
Andrew Thomas: You want to start trading something.
Elizabeth Kenny: Yes.
Andrew Thomas: Somebody says ""Oh, we can't do quite 30%, we can do 29%."" Alright. How
about you do blocking in all the walls, in the hallways, and the bathrooms and suddenly they go,
""Oh, well we can do that.""
Andrew Thomas: But that was this idea of putting this list in. It really came from your
commission. We're going to let people do waivers, let's give them a list of things that we would like
in return and that's a really a nice idea.
Elizabeth Kenny: And then in that same section, number 5, accessible shower stalls in all
bathrooms, I was just wondering if we could just say accessible shower stalls or tubs because
they're making accessible tubs these days.
Andrew Thomas: If you have support of everyone else it's certainly from staff, we see no problem
with that from staff's perspective.
Elizabeth Kenny: And yes, those were my two main questions. Thank you again. I am ecstatic
about this. So as many of you know my wife is about to give birth and I feel like two births are
coming this week.
Elizabeth Kenny: Yes. Commissioner Linton did you have any questions about this or should we
move on to public comment?
Jenny Linton: Oh, no.
Elizabeth Kenny: Okay. First public comment is David Burton.
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David Burton: Thank you. David Burton. I'm a member of the Planning Board and was a member
of the subcommittee that worked with the members here to help craft the ordinance. First wanted to
thank subcommittee members who were at the meetings that I was certainly at. Commissioner
Aghapekian, Commissioner Brillinger, Commissioner Deutsch, Commissioner Kenny. Thank you
very much for all the work you put in. Your input was instrumental in making this ordinance better
and better every time that we met. Special thanks to Audrey Lord-Hausman for her perseverance
over the years, and being on the commission, and then even off the commission helping to get this
put in place. Couldn't happen without her. I wanted to thank Andrew Thomas and the rest of the
staff for putting in the time to make this happen. And wanted to extend the thanks John Knox White
who's on the Planning Board with me, he wanted to be here tonight, he had a meeting in the city
that wouldn't let him be here, but he wanted to extend his thanks also for all the work that you guys
have done on this.
David Burton: You guys have taught me a lot, and I think you have taught the entire Planning
Board a lot. There's been a great good bit of education that has gone on and it's invaluable and so
thank you for doing that for us and for the community. I've been uncomfortable for a long time that
we've been doing this, the Planning Board, on a kind of negotiation project by project basis and so
just so happy to see us getting this put in place to set a very high standard, and to be able to have
that as a tool to use with the builders and developers that come into town to build new housing. It's
going to be an invaluable tool for us. It sets a very high standard, but it's a reasonable and flexible
ordinance, because as we talked a lot about in our subcommittee meetings there's a ton of things
that impact. Sites these days when people are doing multi-family housing. So I think we've built in
good flexibility but we'll hold folks to a really high standard and we'll get some good results. So,
congratulations to all of you. Congratulations to Audrey. Congratulations to staff. Super excited to
see this going forward, and thank you for all that you do.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you. Next public comment is Audrey Lord-Hausman.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: Good evening, Chair Kenny and commissioners. I'm thrilled to be here.
I
couldn't be happier. I know the journey isn't quite over yet but there's been a lot of thoughtful,
thoughtful work that has been put into this, and you all have continued this journey. And I thank you
for acknowledging Kelly Harp in addition to Susan in the beginning in my living room and around
the dining room table, and certainly the subcommittee as we all came together with the Planning
Board. But it's been an extraordinary example of passion and collaboration with the Planning
Department and with the Planning Board. When first brought it to Andrew's attention, I think it was
a one-beat, two-beat. He wasn't quite sure what we were talking about. But over time, he just
jumped right into it with us. And Andrew, I can't thank you enough. I nagged him constantly. You
all should take a great deal of pride in this. Be there in September, have people there to speak to it.
But when the final vote is in, and I'm going to assume it's unanimous, we can all take a great deal of
pride in the fact that Alameda is a standard bearer on behalf of so many people. Thank you very
much.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Audrey. Now we're going to go around. If anyone has any questions
or comments on public comment. Commissioner Linton? Commissioner Brillinger? Commissioner
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Lewis? Deutsch? Hall? Commissioner Mills? Aghapekian?
Anto Aghapekian: I forgot to thank [did not record].
Elizabeth Kenny: And I would like to reiterate what Commissioner Aghapekian said, the Planning
Board has been really wonderful during this process, and I have learned a tremendous amount from
you, David. I have the passion but not the knowledge. And it's been a pleasure to work with you.
And I appreciate that at the Planning Board you have been implementing some of this stuff without
the ordinance. That's been really wonderful. But I also would like to have the ordinance in place.
So, with that said, I would like to offer a vote with the addition of the accessible shower stall and
tub on Section 5 of 18.5 waivers. Section C5 rather. I move that we vote to approve the ordinance
and resolve to What?
Jenn Barrett: Recommend.
Elizabeth Kenny: Recommend the council approve this ordinance, the Universal Design
Ordinance. Commissioner Lewis seconded. All in favor?
All: Aye.
Elizabeth Kenny: Any opposed? Any abstained? I think it's unanimous.
Elizabeth Kenny: And I made some cupcakes. We have some cupcakes and sparkling cider for
everybody after this.
6. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Elizabeth Kenny: But we still have to finish up this meeting. So, let's move on to item number 6,
Staff Communications.
Kerry Parker: Okay. Quickly, it sounded like a CDI's event planning for this weekend's
Downtown Alameda Art & Wine Faire happened right before this meeting. On Sunday, the CDI will
have a table located in front of Walgreens on the park street side. And there's a schedule of people to
perform outreach on that day. I think you guys have kind of discussed it amongst yourselves. The
more the merrier.
Audrey Lord-Hausman: It's Saturday?
Kerry Parker: It's this Saturday. What did I say?
Elizabeth Kenny: Saturday, not Sunday.
Kerry Parker: Yes, Saturday. If you've not yet spoken with the event committee about your
participation that day or if you're wondering about the details, please check in with Vice-Chair
Brillinger immediately after this meeting while you're having a cupcake. And then I have one more
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thing. Just about two years ago this month, I was asked to staff a commission on disability issues as
public works program specialist in charge of overseeing the trash recycling needs of the residents
and businesses of Alameda, I was admittedly not as technically skilled as I could be for this area. I
know a lot of details about the goings-on of your garbage company's operations, and can recite what
goes into the blue and green curbside carts, but I did not know much about accessibility or the needs
of the needs of the disabled community in Alameda.
Kerry Parker: However, I am good at pulling together an agenda and assisting in meeting
management, because I worked with the Alameda Public Works Department for 14 years, I do know
how to locate just the right person for whatever issue that might come up, including Andrew
Thomas, a city planner. I did commit to streamlining commission processes and to add some
formality to the commission by moving into this room.
Kerry Parker: We quickly established a rhythm of an increase in regular meetings in 2015. And
the fact this meeting is now televised to the residents of Alameda, it's now a meeting that is more
accessible to the public. I'm pretty sure you have sensed what I'm leading up to. This will be my
last meeting as your city staff liaison for this commission. I will miss working with you guys. I have
learned so much, and I've enjoyed working with you all for the past two years. And I'm celebrating
this Universal Design ordinance, like the rest of you.
Kerry Parker: And so I'm handing off this set of duties to another public works staffer, Laurie
Kozisek. Laurie will you please step up to the podium? I would like to read her bio to you, which I
think you will agree makes a clear argument of why this staffing shift is happening. Laurie Kozisek
is a licensed civil engineer and a certified access specialist, which is CASp for short. With a BS in
Civil Engineering and a Masters of Strategic Planning for Critical Infrastructures. She has been
working for the city of Alameda Public Works for the past 12 years, and has been a Bay Farm
resident for the past 10 years.
Kerry Parker: Her current work with the city includes managing the five million dollar Street
Repair Program and reviewing private development plans and permits. She has also been active in
emergency management planning, sea level rise planning, floodplain management, remodeling the
West End in Bay Farm libraries, dredging the South Shore lagoons, and renovating Woodstock
Park.
Kerry Parker: Before coming to work in Alameda, she lived and worked in Alaska, designing
airports, roads, cemeteries, and utilities. She served as a member of the Public Right of Way Access
Advisory Committee representing the Municipality of Anchorage. This was a nationwide committee
that worked for several years to develop ADA guidance for the public right of way. As part of that
effort, she co-edited ""Building a True Community"" 2001 and co-wrote ""Accessible Public Rights of
Way Planning and Design for Alterations"" in 2007.
Kerry Parker: She also served on several boards and commissions concerning transportation and
urban planning. In her spare time - Can you imagine she has spare time - Laurie is a phone
volunteer for Contra Costa Crisis Center and 211, a disaster response team captain for the American
Red Cross, and an usher for the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. She regularly assists
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her 94 year old father, who is legally blind and has mobility issues. She is a member of the Alameda
Dragonflyers dragon boat racing team and enjoys camping and hiking. Please join me in welcoming
Laurie Kozisek.
Kerry Parker: If you have any words to say, you can, but she will be beginning with you in
October at your October meeting.
Laurie Kozisek: I didn't really have anything prepared, but I did work briefly with this group about
10 years ago when Ed Sommerauer was doing it, and I was the alternative staff member when he
couldn't make it. And because of my background in working on ADA regulations, I'm really looking
forward to using my expertise to answer your questions and try and assist you wherever I can.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you very much, and welcome.
Arnold Brillinger: Welcome, Laurie.
Laurie Kozisek: Thank you.
Kerry Parker: Thank you, Laurie.
Laurie Kozisek: Thank you. Question?
Arnold Brillinger: I think that it needs to be said that without Kerry, we couldn't have gone on for
the last couple of years. Behind the scenes of just about everything that we've been putting on, and
she comes up with all the e-mails and the work, and so forth so thank you very much, Kerry. We
really appreciate it. In fact I can't even tell you how much I appreciate what you have done for us,
thank you.
Kerry Parker: Thank you.
Laurie Kozisek: Yes.
Laurie Kozisek: From what I've learned from Kerry so far, I have some very big shoes to fill, but
thank you.
Kerry Parker: I will give you my shoes. We'll figure it out. I'm going to be working behind the
scenes for the October meeting with Laurie, so I think you're going to send some of that stuff, but
thank you. It's been wonderful working with you. Even though I didn't get a chance much to work
with the two of you, but I'll still be there in public works, if anyone wants to call.
Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, I'll probably be calling for recycling tips.
Kerry Parker: Okay, good. Appropriate.
Elizabeth Kenny: So, does anyone have any announcements?
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8. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Laurie Kozisek
City Staff Liaison
Commission on Disability Issues
October 11, 2017
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LOCATION:
City Hall, 2263 Santa Clara Avenue, Third Floor, Council Chambers
Alameda, CA 94501
1. ROLL CALL
Beth Kenny: I would like to call to order the Commission on Disabilities meeting for Wednesday,
October 11th, 2017.
Laurie Kozisek: Chairman Beth Kenny?
Beth Kenny: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Vice-Chair Arnold Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: Here.
Laurie Kozisek: Commissioner Anto Aghapekian - he had an excused absence.
Laurie Kozisek: Commissioner Jenn Barrett?
Jenn Barrett: Present. [Commissioner Barrett expressed that she was ill and left at 6:50 PM.]
Laurie Kozisek: Commissioner Susan Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Commissioner Lisa Hall?
Lisa Hall: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Commissioner Tony Lewis? [Commissioner Lewis arrived at 6:45 PM, just after
roll call.]
Laurie Kozisek: Commissioner Jenny Linton?
Jenny Linton: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Commissioner Tom Mills? Okay, we have six, so we have a quorum.
2. MINUTES
2-A
Approval of Minutes for the June 14, 2017 meeting
Beth Kenny: Wonderful. Thanks for your patience tonight. So, agenda item two, the minutes, we
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have two sets of minutes to approve tonight. The first set is from our June 14th, 2017 meeting. Did
anyone have any changes or corrections they'd like to see made in those minutes? Unless there is
anyone who has anything, I move that we adopt the minutes as is from the meeting of June 14th,
2017. All in favor?
All: Aye.
Beth Kenny: All in favor? Any opposed? Passes six to zero.
2-B
Approval of Minutes for the July 25, 2017 meeting
Beth Kenny: And now to the meeting, our special meeting on July 25th, 2017, does anyone have
any changes they would like to see made to those minutes? I move that we adopt the minutes as
they are. All in favor?
All: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Wonderful, another six to zero adoption of minutes.
3. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Beth Kenny: We move onto item number three, oral communications non-agenda. Do we have any
public comments for non-agenda items tonight? Did we receive any speaker slip for the non-agenda
items?
Laurie Kozisek: I did not get any. [Addressing the audience:] Do either of you want to speak on
non-agenda?
Audience [off mike]: No
4. NEW BUSINESS
4-A
Presentation by the Pacific ADA Center [Jan Garrett, Program Manager
Beth Kenny: Then let's move on to new business. Tonight we have Jan Garrett, program manager
from the Pacific ADA Center here to tell us a little bit more about what the Pacific ADA Center
does and Very excited. Welcome, Jan.
Jan Garrett: Thank you all for inviting me, it's nice to be here. And on behalf of Erica Jones, our
Director, I just want to express my appreciation that so many of you came to our ADA conference
that we just had in late September. So we really appreciate the support from all of you, and we hope
that you learned a great deal, and also had a good time. And I wanted to explain a little bit more
about who we are for those who may not have been able to attend the conference, and for those who
may be watching this later or reading the minutes. So the Pacific ADA Center is one of ten ADA
centers across the country. And so we're regionally based. We are at the Pacific ADA Center in
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Region Nine, and we serve Arizona, California, Nevada, and Hawaii, and the Pacific Basin
territories of Guam, American Samoa, and the commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Jan Garrett: So we have a very large territory, even though we're only one of ten regions, and the
other ADA centers serve different regions; some of them are more rural and some of them have
more urban areas, but we sort of have a mix of urban and rural in our region. And the 800 number
that you can call to reach us, 1-880-949-4232, if you call that number anywhere in the United
States, you will get the center that serves you, from your area code that you're calling from. So it's
the same number nationwide that you can get the ADA Center. So that's helpful for people to know
that may be in other parts of the country, or may have friends or family in other parts of the country.
So what the ADA centers do, and what we do, is we provide technical assistance on our 800 hotline
from our region. And technical assistance can be mostly on the ADA, of course, but it can be on
other disabilities civil rights laws as well. So it might be on the Rehabilitation Act, it might be on
the Air Carriers Access Act, or Fair Housing Act. Even though, really primarily, what we try to help
people with is the ADA and that's what we're funded to do, we do answer questions about other laws
just because they end up being related, a lot of times, to the ADA, and people have questions about
those.
Jan Garrett: So we do end up answering those questions. People can also email us at Adatech,
that's A-D-A T-E-C-H at adapacific.org. Adatech@adapacific.org So they can email us, of course,
anytime. It doesn't have to be between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday, but we do
answer the phone during all those hours, including lunch time. People are often surprised when they
get someone on the phone and they say, ""Wow, every number I call, everywhere else, I get a
recording."" So I think people find it helpful to actually get a live person. But feel free to also email
us if you're not calling Monday through Friday, eight to five. And we can talk you through things,
we can talk with you about California law or Hawaii law or Nevada law, at least as it relates to
disability issues, as it relates to building code issues for accessibility, other things like that.
Jan Garrett: So that's the advantage of the ADA centers being regional is that we can, not only
know what the federal laws are, we can also know about state laws and about state building codes
and other things of that nature. So that's helpful to people. And we often talk through buildings with
architects or with the building code officials or with individuals with disabilities, so we talk about a
wide variety of issues. And I must say that probably our most popular issue, in many forms, is
service animals. So whether it be a service animal, an emotional support animal, other kinds of
animals, we get lots of calls about that, both from the business community and people with
disabilities, and from people in housing as well, from housing owners, as well as tenants and
residents. So lots of calls about that. But we certainly answer questions across the board about many
different things.
Jan Garrett: We also have lots of materials. We have a lot of materials that we send out
electronically these days, so we'll send them out by email or people can download them from our
website. They can also download them from the ADA National Network website, which is
Adata.org, which stands for ADA Technical Assistance, but it's Adata.org. And so there's lots and
lots of materials there, as well as our materials.
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Jan Garrett: And we are also in a leadership role, with regard to the ADA National Network, in
working on emergency preparedness issues, which I know is of interest to many of you. And so, we
have done a number of webinars, actually, since 2012. We have many webinars that are now
archived on the website. And we do one pretty much every month. Sometimes there are months that
we skip, but most of the time we're doing some sort of emergency preparedness and inclusion of
people with disabilities webinar. And we have people from FEMA on those webinars. We have
people from the International Code Council. We have people from other states describing what best
practices they've used in emergency preparedness, in a variety of ways, with regard to people with
disabilities and inclusion. So there are many, many different topics on those webinars that are
available, and they're free, and they're always on the second Thursday of the month at 11:30 AM,
Pacific Time.
Jan Garrett: So you're welcome to sign up. You do have to pre-register, but you don't have to pay
anything. You just have to put in your email, and then we'll send you an email confirming that
you've registered, and then you can sign in when the time comes because we send you a link. And
we use Blackboard Collaborate to do the webinars because we found that it's the most accessible
webinar system that's out there that we have found. So we do encourage you to listen to the
webinars. We also encourage you to go to our website under the emergency preparedness section,
and there are many materials there as well, that you might find useful, that you can download. And
if there's ever any technical assistance that we can give you about emergency preparedness, we're
also happy to do that. So that's And the other piece that we do a lot of is training, so we do it
through webinars but we also do in-person training. And we do our conference pretty much every
year. So that's something that we do for lots of different people, lots of different groups, that's
available. So before I move away, are there any questions that people may have about the ADA
Center, and what we do, and how we can help you?
Beth Kenny: I have some questions. So first, I want to know what the webinars Are they archived
so that we can go back and watch old ones?
Jan Garrett: They are, they're archived all the way back to the first ones from 2012.
Beth Kenny: And so you work with the state laws and the federal laws, which is amazing. Do you
work in conjunction with any of the state or federal organizations like the EEOC or Department of
Fair Employment and Housing?
Jan Garrett: Well, we definitely partner with them, and we partner with many of them to present at
our conferences, but also, the advantage of the ADA National Network across the country is that we
receive direct training from the EEOC, the Department of Justice, the Department of Transportation,
the Department of Education, so the Federal Agencies give us direct training. And so we often know
things a little bit early, and that's helpful for us in terms of giving technical assistance and training.
And we have direct contacts with those agencies. Now, we don't really give out direct contacts, but
it means that we can call them directly and get a specific opinion from them about a particularly
grey area that someone may have called us about. So we work directly with them. And we do have
some contacts at the state level as well, that we can call and get more of an opinion on difficult,
challenging questions.
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Beth Kenny: Wonderful. Do any other commissioners have questions? Or I Go ahead,
Commissioner Lewis.
Tony Lewis: Yes, I was wondering, have you done any training or work with the rideshares? You
mentioned about service animals. The rideshares, Uber or Lyft, in terms of taking service animals
or.
Have you got anything with that?
Jan Garrett: We have not actually worked with the rideshare companies. They have not asked us to
work with them.
Tony Lewis: I guess the bigger question is, has anybody reached out to you who've been
discriminated, with service animals?
Jan Garrett: Not to us specifically, no. And if they have, it was just for technical assistance for us
to tell them, ""Is this discrimination under the ADA or is it not?"" which we would have said, ""Yes, it
is, if they have turned you down because you have a guide dog or another service animal."" And
actually, there are specific policies, at least I'm aware of, with Uber that I have actually seen, that
they have a policy that says you must accept people with service animals, and you can be
disciplined or decommissioned, whatever they call it, as a driver if you do not accept people that
have service animals. So I specifically have seen that policy and know that it exists, and we can tell
people about that.
Tony Lewis: Yes, and I guess also, the thing with service animals is that there seems to be a lot of
confusion about therapy dog service animals, emotional support. Is there any training that you've
done with them? Have employers reached out to you about training regarding it? For them, what's
clear about that? The differences, and what constitutes what, and what is a legal certified service
animals, emotional support animal, or a therapy animal?
Jan Garrett: Well, sometimes employers have reached out to us. I will say that I think the concept
of service animals, and maybe even emotional support animals in the work place, is a relatively new
concept, even though service animals have been around for a while. I don't think they've been in the
work place all that much, although they are starting to be more so, except for of course people who
are blind who have brought their guide dogs, and I think that's been happening for quite some time.
But other service animals haven't really been that prevalent in the work place, and I do think that's
starting to change. But the people who call us more often about service animals are businesses,
restaurants, shops, other kinds of businesses that are wondering, do they have to allow these
animals? What questions can they ask?
Jan Garrett: All of those kinds of things. And then we have a lot of housing providers that call us
as well, because in housing, it's different. Housing needs to allow service animals and emotional
support animals. So the landlords and housing providers, and tenants as well, often have questions
about what kinds of animals can be allowed in housing. So that's mostly the people that call us
about service animals and emotional support animals.
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Beth Kenny: So are the businesses and organizations that you work with, are they self-selecting in
that they reach out to you? Or do you ever get have people who are referred. that might be
having problems understanding, whether it be the ADA or Unruh Act, can they be referred to you.
Jan Garrett: They can, and people call us all the time that are referred. But because we're a neutral
entity, and I do want to stress that. We don't do enforcement of any kind, and we don't take a side.
We just tell people what the law is. And we think it's important that we're neutral because we do
want everyone to call us, and we want people to know that if they call us, we're not going to call
Department of Justice, or we're not going to call Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to
tell on them or to turn them in, in some way. We're just going to give them information. And
sometimes an employee can call us and tell us, an employee with a disability, many things that are
happening and the difficulty they may be having with reasonable accommodation with their
employer, and 10 minutes later the employer calls, and it's clear that it's the employer of the
employee who had just called.
Jan Garrett: But because all of our calls are confidential, we don't tell either one of them that we
have talked to the other, and we give them both the same information. So that's one advantage of
having us is that we would give everybody the same information across the board. We don't take
sides, we don't enforce, and we don't reveal any calls or emails that we've had.
Beth Kenny: Well, thank you very much. Does anyone else have a question?
Tony Lewis: I have one more. So in a case, there was a gentlemen two weeks ago who mentioned
to me, he was in a wheelchair. At the post office, he has a PO Box that's out of his reach from his
wheelchair, and so what's customary was, he asked the person behind the window to get his mail
out of his PO Box, and she refused, because she said that it was illegal for her to touch someone's
mail. So he was upset, and the customers in line were upset, everybody was upset about it. What
you're saying is that you wouldn't call the post office and say, ""Hey you're out of compliance.' You
would just give him the information, the citation of the law, and say to him, ""This is what you can
tell the person.""
Jan Garrett: Well, we would give him the information, and if we know that someone can complain
to a specific person, if we know that there's a specific entity or person with whom they can file a
complaint, we will tell them how to do that. We will give them the website or the phone number, the
name of the entity or the person, and tell them that they can file a complaint. For example, US
Postal Service is under the Rehabilitation Act because it's federal government, and we would tell
people to complain to the Postmaster, because that's who they would have to work with in terms of
anything disability-related and mail. And that's our understanding. But we know who to complain to
a Department of Justice, we know the complaint process at EEOC, at lots of the state agencies, so
we would not only give them what the law is, but we would tell them how to complain, if that's
what they wish to do.
Beth Kenny: Does anyone else have any more questions? Well, thank you very much Jan, this was
very informative. I'm really looking forward to checking out the emergency preparedness stuff you
have, and I'd love to touch base with you at some point about it.
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Jan Garrett: That would be great. We would welcome that, and we hope that you'll find our
website useful, and that you'll call us with any questions or any materials that we can help you with.
Beth Kenny: Thank you very much.
Jan Garrett: Thank you.
[applause]
Jan Garrett: Thank you. Bye. Thank you.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A
Commission and Board Liaison Reports (All Commissioners)
Beth Kenny: Now we move on to old business. Item 5A is Commission and Board Liaison
Reports. So in this section, we need people to talk about if their sub-committees have met and what
has happened, or the board or commission that you're assigned to, if there's anything that
Commission on Disability should be aware of. So Commissioner Brillinger, Vice-Chair Brillinger,
would you like to go first?
Arnold Brillinger: Yes. I want to talk about the Transportation Commission. The important thing
that I want to make sure that you know is that the ICS, that's where AC Transit meets with officials
from Alameda and goes over the different routes and how things were working in Alameda, they've
got a meeting, I believe it's on the 18th at 10:00 AM in the morning, and it's in the room right next
to the conference room, right back there. They're going to be talking about having AC Transit
include the Main ferry terminal, the Main Street ferry terminal. They've got three different options.
It's online that you can check it out. If you want, you can send me an email, and I'll pass it over to
you of where it is. And to me, I'm always interested in transportation here in the city and the whole
East Bay, because that's the only way that I get around. I can't get into anybody else's car. I can't get
into a taxi. I have to use the buses and BART, and so forth. And also, I could get on the ferry. So I'm
always interested in how to make that easier. So I just wanted to bring that up to the Commission,
so that you would be aware of it.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. Is there anything else you would like to discuss? I think you did a street
fair?
Arnold Brillinger: Well, we did a street fair, and Jen and Lisa and Tony was there. Anto helped
with getting the stuff over to Park Street, and also taking it back. And so we did have a lot of
participation here from the Commission. One of the things was we were in front of the Walgreens,
right there on Park Street, and next to us were a couple of other booths, and they were all up on the
sidewalk, even though most of the people were down in the street. But they were up on the sidewalk
because across the street from us was where the big rides were, the things for kids to play on, the
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various things like a merry-go-round type things. And so they had us up on the curb. Then on the
corner where the cut-out is, where I would normally go down, that was blocked by a tent. They
were selling something over there.
Arnold Brillinger: And I complained. I complained to the police, I complained to the people that
put on the whole deal, and most of them were eager to just say, ""Well, someone had to okay it for
them to be blocking the sidewalk and there's nothing that we could do about it."" But I did file
complaints even with Laurie, because if someone was in the street and wanted to know about
something that we had on our table, and if I wanted to come around and see them and talk to them,
by the time I went down to Smashburger, they'd left.
Arnold Brillinger: They figured I'd deserted them. And so then I had to go around several times
that way, and that was a problem. And it's one of those things that only people with mobility issues
would have noticed that. I think that it probably needs someone to help them out in some of those
areas and say, ""No, here's a place where people can get on the sidewalk to the street. Let's not block
it."" But we did have quite a few people stop by, and we did have some times when the wind gust
came. Jenny bought a bunch of bottled water to put up on them, so we had some weights. And it
was a good event for us.
Beth Kenny: Wonderful, I'm glad to hear that. As far as the blocking of the curb cut, do you think
that it might be a good idea for us to follow up with a letter from the Commission to the people who
put on the fair, which I believe is the Park Street Business District, just reminding them that that is
not something that they should be doing?
Lisa Hall: Excuse me, but that should never happen again.
Beth Kenny: Yes. Do you think that something like that might be appropriate in this case? It can be
friendly, but ""Hey, this is a problem that needs to You can't do this.""
Arnold Brillinger: ""Bringing this to your attention.""
Beth Kenny: Yes.
Tony Lewis: I was wondering, it's even for strollers or crutches, or anybody who's navigating there.
Beth Kenny: Yes. Well, yes, and I definitely think that it might be nice to draft a letter, and then at
our next meeting, we can vote on whether we want to send this letter or not. Would you like to draft
it Arnold?
Arnold Brillinger: I will.
Beth Kenny: Okay. Thank you.
Susan Deutsch: I also volunteered and I was at the fair also. And I also think there was a problem
with the location, being right across from the rides. Because I think a lot of people with disabilities
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might not even want to walk that or, even in their wheelchairs, go to that section, because that
section was mostly kids and families. And it seemed like we were out of place in that location, that
we really should have been more central to the fair.
Tony Lewis: Trafficked area, yes.
Lisa Hall: We were in the last block.
Susan Deutsch: Yes, because a lot of people did not come by at least when I was there.
Tony Lewis: It was more of an accident if they did.
Susan Deutsch: Yes.
Beth Kenny: Yes, I think that we can definitely ask about that. I do want to point out, though, that
part of that is our fault because we did not get our application in until very late, and most of the
spots had already been assigned at that point.
Susan Deutsch: Oh, okay. I thought I heard that.
Beth Kenny: I apologize for that.
Susan Deutsch: I thought I heard that they were putting all the non-profits in one section.
Beth Kenny: They were supposed to at one point, and then that fell apart.
Susan Deutsch: Anyway, I think we should think about that for next year.
Lisa Hall: Definitely.
Susan Deutsch: I think there might have been people that would have stopped to get information,
but they were, ""I don't need to go to that section because that's where the rides are.""
Beth Kenny: That's a good point. Thank you. Commissioner Lewis, do you have anything to
report?
Tony Lewis: I don't.
Beth Kenny: And Commissioner Deutsch, did you have anything else you'd like to say?
Susan Deutsch: I'm on the Library Liaison, and I got an email just saying that the library is going
to be putting out these little libraries all over the park. Right now there are some in Alameda, like in
front of people's houses, there's a little booth, there's books. You can take a book, you can put a
book in to share. Well a lot of the parks now are going to have that, so that books will be more
accessible to people in the community, and there'll be these little booths. Take a book, book share,
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and put books in, and I think it's a nice, really good idea.
Beth Kenny: Oh yes, that sounds wonderful.
Susan Deutsch: Yes, it sounds really good in terms of literacy and leisure reading accessibility.
Beth Kenny: Yes. One thing I was wondering about with the library, when we had the excessive
heat, I know that San Francisco was saying, ""Oh we have cooling stations. You can go to our
libraries or you can go here."" I'm wondering if that's something we should explore with the library,
if they'll open to being a cooling station, because it's not going to get colder. We're going to have a
lot more hot days in the future. And some people with medical issues, they need some place to go
to. And there is air-conditioning in the libraries, correct?
Susan Deutsch: Yes, I believe it is there.
Beth Kenny: Yes. So it might just be a matter of them saying, ""Oh, we'll be fine with that.""
Susan Deutsch: Yes, it would be.
Beth Kenny: Because they're open anyways. Thank you Susan, Commissioner Deutsch?
Commissioner Linton?
Jenny Linton: I'm on the event committee and I also went to the street fair, and the thing I would
add, first of all, I saw everything that everyone else saw at the fair, and I would agree with the
assessment. Regarding Arnold's comment about accessibility, the event was actually in the middle
of the sidewalk, so it wasn't only just made inaccessible from the street, it blocked the whole
sidewalk.
Beth Kenny: That might be a good thing to include in the letter.
Arnold Brillinger: It blocked the whole side.
Beth Kenny: Yes, because I've seen that before and it's definitely problematic. So if you can
include that in the letter - that would be great.
Arnold Brillinger: Sure.
Beth Kenny: Commissioner Hall, did you have anything you'd like to talk about?
Lisa Hall: I do. I appreciated Jan speaking. I met her at my first Pacific ADA Center Update
Conference on September 21st and 22nd, along with Anto and Laurie, in San Francisco. I thought it
was a wonderful cornucopia of information. There were three different workshops at each session,
so you could attend six different sessions throughout both days. Different entities such as the US
Access Board, Disability Rights Education, and Defense Fund, Legal Aid at Work, were among
some of the presenters. Topics varied from employment cases under ADA, recent regulations and
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settlements, emergency preparedness, fair housing and accessibility, service animals, recreation and
medical equipment and facilities. ADA has been around, I don't know if she mentioned that, since
1991, and it's been instrumental in bringing rights and awareness to the disability community.
Lisa Hall: We are so fortunate to have the Pacific ADA Center right next door in Oakland. They're
there to answer questions, educate, and assist. We received a great emergency preparedness
resources of names, addresses, emails, etcetera, which was wonderful, and so many knowledgeable
presenters. It was almost mind-boggling.
Lisa Hall: I so enjoyed it. My brain was on overload after two days. But it was just a bundle of
information and really eye-opening. So feeling like you can see where their changes have been,
progress has been, and where we're going, and I feel we're very lucky again, like I said, to have
Pacific ADA Center right there. They were all just wonderful, and I look forward to going back next
year. Also, I do want to mention at the end of this month, there is the Asian group, Disability
Awareness Project Summit. Again, it's the second year. It's called ""Making the Invisible Visible"",
and it's going to be at Maya Lin School, and it's from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Saturday, October
28th, and they have workshops, information speakers.
Lisa Hall: And again, I attended it last year. It was wonderful. I cannot attend this one, but I would
definitely recommend you guys to come, to go and attend. Austin Tam, many of you know, is
chairing this event, and it's really a good, informative event, especially around our children with
many disabilities including the mental illness, so they address a lot.
Beth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Hall. I would like to report about the Universal Design
sub-committee. We are going to have our first reading of the Universal Design Ordinance at the
next city council meeting on October 17th. So that is next Tuesday. It's a pretty full agenda, so
fingers crossed that we aren't bumped. But it's very exciting. The process will go through the first
reading, and then there'll be a second reading, and then if everything goes well, it should be
adopted. And you are all probably sick of hearing about Universal Design. We've been working on
this all for so long, but I am very excited for this, and anyone who can come, should try and come to
that meeting. We have a couple other things that pertain to the CDI at that staff meeting that I think
Laurie is going to talk about, but I'm very excited about the first reading of the UDO. The other
thing I wanted to say is, Commissioner Lewis, I think you wanted to be part of the Emergency
Preparedness Sub-Committee, is that true? I couldn't remember who it was.
Tony Lewis: I don't remember that.
Beth Kenny: Okay.
Tony Lewis: I certainly would be open to it, for sure.
Beth Kenny: Because I would like to have the Emergency Preparedness Sub-Committee meet in
the next two weeks. There's so much going on that every time I see something new I'm like, ""We
have got to get that done, we have to get on top of that."" So, anyone who wants to be part of the
Emergency Preparedness Sub-Committee, please come talk to me afterwards and we'll figure out a
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date. Thank you. And so that concludes old business.
6. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A Upcoming at the October 17th City Council: UDO, Proclamations, name change
Beth Kenny: Staff communication.
Laurie Kozisek: I'm happy to announce that at the next community council meeting, we will have
the proclamation that will be for White Cane Day and Disability Awareness Month. They sort of
combined the thing into one proclamation. That'll be at the beginning of the meeting, hopefully. And
then, later, we'll have the first reading of the Universal Design Ordinance, and then the second
reading will be a month later, in which they'll actually vote on it and have a public hearing. And
then, way at the end of the meeting, is the change of the mission's title from ""Commission on
Disability Issues"" to ""Commission on Disability."" And hopefully they'll get to that too, but it was
one of the last items.
Beth Kenny: Thank you very much.
Tony Lewis: I had a question about the proclamation, Laurie. Are they going to be giving the
proclamation to someone to receive or are they just going to read the proclamation? I just want to
know how that one's going to work.
Laurie Kozisek: Normally, the way it works is, either one or a bunch of people come up, and the
mayor reads the proclamation and then hands it to a representative of the interested group. Like if
it's the Boys and Girls Club, or some members of the Commission, or you had a person who is an
activist in the Lion community, I believe, who's interested? Whoever will accept the proclamation
and get a photo op.
Beth Kenny: Yes.
Tony Lewis: Yes, there's going to be quite a few folks coming for the White Cane.
Laurie Kozisek: Okay, great. They can all stand up in front and everyone will clap, then somebody
will take the proclamation.
Tony Lewis: Oh, okay.
Laurie Kozisek: You want us to get it in Braille? I can do that.
Tony Lewis: You can put it into Braille?
Laurie Kozisek: Yes.
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Tony Lewis: Laurie is multi-talented, I want you to know. I did a dragon boat with her the other
week, which was pretty fun and amazing. No, I think we'll be fine, but you could if you I have a
Braille printer, so if you wanted to do that, I could print it for you.
Laurie Kozisek: Oh, could you print that on Braille?
Tony Lewis: What's that?
Laurie Kozisek: A lot faster than my slate and stylus.
Tony Lewis: Okay. Yes, if you wanted to do that, I could do it. If you could email it to me, I could
do it, give her a printout of it.
Laurie Kozisek: Okay, I'll do that.
Tony Lewis: Okay.
7. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Beth Kenny: Wonderful. So Section Seven, Announcements. I don't know if any of you have seen
it, but we got a new banner for Disability Awareness month and it's been hanging up, so thank you,
Laurie.
Laurie Kozisek: Actually, Kerry Parker did that because I was a little swamped. It's going to hang
over Park Street for a week, and then over Webster Street for a week.
Beth Kenny: Yes. And does anyone have any other announcements they'd like to make? Then I
move we adjourn the meeting.
Laurie Kozisek: Wait, wait. We need to ask if we have any speakers. Did either of you want to
speak?
Beth Kenny: Carol, are you speaking about the Pacific ADA?
Carol Gottstein: I didn't know if anybody else had heard of Christina Hansen? She was a 28-year-
old woman in a wheelchair, who just died in the Sonoma fire because she was in a wheelchair. CNN
reported on how she had called everyone she knew. She lived right next door to her father, and her
father was evidently the only one who tried to get her out, but he sustained third degree burns over
more than half his body, and right now he's in a medically induced coma. They couldn't even airlift
him to a burn center because the helicopters couldn't fly. So that, more than anything, underscores
the importance of emergency preparedness and knowing where all the disabled people are in the
community.
Carol Gottstein: I have one more thing, it's really completely separate. I didn't think of it until after
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the time to speak had passed, so I apologize. People who have low-income or are disabled are
eligible for what's called the VITA Program, which is Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. It's funded
by the federal government, and there are certain places around every area where people can go to
have their taxes prepared for free. But, of course, these places have to be physically accessible. And
most of them only operate during tax season. And if you get nailed by the franchise tax board or
somebody for a delinquent tax return, even though you can still file between April and October,
only problem is, there's no places open in the East Bay except one.
Carol Gottstein: I had to go there last year and I found that even though they had one of those blue
disabled signs out on the front of their building, it's all on the second floor and there's no elevator,
and the doorbell didn't work. So I filed a complaint against the Internal Revenue Service with the
Department of the Treasury, and they found in my favor. And after six months of going back and
forth and filing lots of paperwork, I got a list of things that the IRS has to do to correct this,
including move it off the second floor or put it in another building, because they actually did send a
site person out to explore the site and they discovered there's only stairway access and the doorbell
doesn't work, so if a disabled person who can't use the stairs does show up at the front door, they
can't even let the people on the second floor know that they're there. And there was no alternative.
Carol Gottstein: I mean I literally couldn't file my tax return without help and they were the only
place in the East Bay. I would have to go to San Francisco to find another place. So I'm happy to
share more about that if you ever want to hear about it in another meeting.
Beth Kenny: Thank you for doing that. That helps quite a few people, I'm sure.
Tony Lewis: Congratulations.
Beth Kenny: Also, if you're interested in being part of the Emergency Preparedness Sub-
Committee, you're more than welcome to join us.
Tony Lewis: I wanted to mention too, I believe that there is another VITA site, but they only do
operate during tax season.
Lisa Hall: I also want to just add that what you brought up is so, so sad and true. One of the
workshops was, that I did attend, was the emergency planning and preparedness for people with
disabilities and the cities they live in, and the gentleman told us some very sad stories about a
gentleman was taking a night class, on the third floor, and the whole high school had to be
evacuated, and the elevator didn't work. And they had to have all these firemen come, he was in a
wheelchair, and they had to have all these firemen come and help bring him down by the stairs, and
it took like an hour and a half. Thank God it wasn't a fire. But nonetheless, it was just one example
of how vulnerable people with disabilities are, especially in a situation like that. What you did is a
very good thing, to make the complaints, because this is what we have to do. We have to make
businesses, including our own IRS, aware of these things.
Susan Deutsch: Yes, I just want to say that, in terms of evacuation of people in wheelchairs
When I was working in Berkeley, any student that had a class on the second floor, or if there were
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any stairs that there had to be an evacuation chair, somewhere near that classroom, hanging on the
wall, and the teachers and instructional assistants and other people on that site had to be trained on
how to use that evacuation chair, how to get somebody down the stairs, and I think it's really
critical. And I know that when the person came to talk to us about that, about emergency
preparedness, that was not part of what she talked about, and I remember bringing that up to her that
there are these evacuation chairs that allow you to get somebody out of a building in an emergency.
But you all know.
8. ADJOURNMENT
Beth Kenny: Thank you very much. Unless there are any other announcements, I would like to
move that we adjourn tonight's meeting.
Lisa Hall: I second.
Beth Kenny: All right, all in favor?
All: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Thank you everybody.
The meeting adjourned at 7:26 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Laurie Kozisek
City Staff Liaison
Commission on Disability Issues
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LOCATION:
City Hall, 2263 Santa Clara Avenue, Third Floor, Council Chambers
Alameda, CA 94501
1.
ROLL CALL
Beth Kenny: Alright, I'd like to call to order the Commission on Disability meeting for December
13, 2017. We're starting a little bit late tonight, at about approximately 6:45 [due to recording
difficulties].
Laurie Kozisek: Okay. I'll do the roll call. Beth Kenny.
Beth Kenny: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Anto Aghapekian.
Anto Aghapekian: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Lisa Hall.
Lisa Hall: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Jenny Linton.
Jenny Linton: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Jenn Barrett.
Jenn Barrett: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Arnold Brillinger.
Arnold Brillinger: Ho ho ho.
[laughter]
Laurie Kozisek: Present. Okay. Tom Mills, is not here. Tony Lewis, not here. And Susan Deutsch
said that she was sick and could not make it.
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Page 1 of 10",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-12-13.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-12-13,2,"2.
MINUTES
2-A Approval of Minutes for the October 11, 2017 Meeting
Beth Kenny: Thank you. Agenda item number two. The minutes, does anybody have any changes
they would like to make from the minutes from our October 11th, 2017, meeting?
Arnold Brillinger: I make a motion that we accept the minutes.
Beth Kenny: I'll second that motion. All in favor?
Arnold Brillinger: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Any opposed? Minutes approved.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGANDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Beth Kenny: Do we have any non-agenda public comment? Any speaker slips?
Laurie Kozisek: No.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A Retreat Planning
Beth Kenny: Okay. New business, first thing is we need to select a date for the retreat. Jenn, you
haven't experienced this before. Because the City is dark in August, we don't get to meet then, so we
make up that meeting in the winter time having a retreat where we just talk about goals for the
commission and go over some sunshine ordinance and Brown Acts, stuff like that. It takes place on
a Saturday at Mastick. Laurie has spoken to Jackie Krause from Mastick, and she said she could do
a Saturday in February, but that January is a bad month for them. Does anyone have a Saturday in
February they need to rule out?
Laurie Kozisek: Madam Chairman, may I also mention that you have a meeting, a regular meeting
in February on the 14th.
Beth Kenny: Okay.
Arnold Brillinger: Is it possible to do it in March?
Beth Kenny: I don't believe that we checked with Jackie about that. I imagine that it would be, I
think that my thought was that we try and plan for the year. And so it might be good to have it
before our first meeting of the year.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay. Makes sense.
Beth Kenny: Could we do the first Saturday in February?
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-12-13,3,"Arnold Brillinger: What day is that?
Jenny Linton: February 3.
Laurie Kozisek: Last year it was in March.
Beth Kenny: Okay.
Laurie Kozisek: The retreat was in March 11th, of last year.
Beth Kenny: Alright, so what Is it the second?
Anto Aghapekian: The third.
Beth Kenny: I'm going to suggest February 3rd. Does anyone have any objections to that? Alright,
all in favor?
Arnold Brillinger: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Great. The retreat will be February 3rd. I expect it'll start around 10:00, end by around
1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon. The other thing about the retreat that I wanted to let people know is
that I will be sending out, with the agenda for the retreat, some questions that I want you guys to
think about and come prepared to talk about at the retreat. Basically, for those of you who were
there last year, the ones that I put up on the board to spark conversation about the commission
goals.
4-B Commission involvement in requests for exemptions to the Universal Design Ordinance
Beth Kenny: Let's move on to item 4B. I don't know if everyone here is aware, but the Universal
Design Ordinance passed City Council and is now in effect as a law in ordinance in the City of
Alameda.
Arnold Brillinger: Is it that it starts in January or it's in effect right now?
Beth Kenny: It's in effect right now. Next Tuesday night the Encinal terminals will be presenting
their development to City Council, and they've reached out to make sure it will be in line with the
Universal Design Ordinance. They're aware it's the first big development to be under the Universal
Design Ordinance. Part of the Universal Design Ordinance is that there is a waiver people can
submit, and they can apply for this waiver at the design review process, which goes before the
Planning Board. However, we've asked that the Planning Board let us know when anybody asks for
a waiver of Universal Design elements. And the waivers can be something where it's financially
impossible, or the physical location doesn't make it feasible. We've asked to be notified when those
waiver requests come in. What we'd like to do tonight is to have three people authorized to speak on
behalf of the Commission at these Planning Board meetings when these exemptions, waiver
requests come up.
Arnold Brillinger: And we would know ahead of time that it's going to happen.
12/12/17
Page 3 of 10",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-12-13.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-12-13,4,"requests regarding Universal Design. Do I have a second?
Arnold Brillinger: Second.
Beth Kenny: All in favor?
All: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Any opposed? Alright, carries unanimously. That was a mouthful.
12/12/17
Page 4 of 10",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-12-13.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-12-13,5,"5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A. Commission and Board Liaison Reports
Beth Kenny: Now we move on to old business. Section 5-A: Commission and Board Liaison
Reports. I would like to start this off with Vice Chair Brillinger. I was fortunate enough to attend a
thing in which I got to see his board liaison work.
Arnold Brillinger: Well, okay. I've been to a number of meetings that deal with transportation in
Alameda. And the first one that I went to was right after our last meeting. It was the ILC [City of
Alameda and AC Transit Interagency Liaison Committee], and the highlights I'd like to tell you
about that. It was on the 16th of October at 10:00 in the morning. It was in this room right next to us
here. The ILC is basically people from AC Transit, some of the people from the board of directors,
and also several people from Alameda; the mayor, the vice mayor, whoever, councilmen. They
meet, and they talk about the different transportation, things that happen in Alameda. One of the
things that they do have, and I've been to these meetings before, but I never really looked at some of
these handouts that they have. And just like for the 51A, for the bus line, they've got all kinds of
ridership and customer trends on what's happening. They have lists of our charts that talk about
conduct and courtesy of the drivers, the amount of complaints they get on pass-ups, or hazardous
driving, or routes and schedule problems, or no shows, or lates, or if there are problems at the bus
stop. Maybe there's a lot of garbage or something like that at the bus stop. Those are all things that
they keep track of, and for each individual bus route. Not just the 51A, but the 21 and the 20 and the
96. Boy sounds like I know them all.
Arnold Brillinger: That was interesting. And of course it's not like they've got 86 complaints about
signage. They've only got one or two complaints on this item or that. But still, it's interesting and
then you can compare them month to month or actually quarter to quarter, because they meet four
times a year. Now one of the things that I knew they were going to discuss was service to the Main
Street Ferry Terminal. And they had three different options that they were interested in, and it turns
out that none of them are going to be considered right now. AC Transit can't make it. They want it to
pay for itself, but there are a lot of problems down there with the parking. I've seen it myself along
Main Street, it's quite horrendous what people have to do. We need to get them interested in taking
the bus, but there is no bus going there. That is a problem. And then the line 21, which goes out to
the Harbor Bay area, there have been some problems with that because parents need to drop off
their kids and then run over there to hop onto the ferry, but then there's no parking for their cars.
Arnold Brillinger: And if they take the bus it just adds on time between get the kids in the school
and this kind of stuff but, they're working on it, and they're trying to make sure that the buses get
there in time so people can get onto the ferry. And they asked, ""Well can we just say ""We're right
around the corner of the ferry.""? They say, ""Well that really doesn't work for us because we are on
time, the ferry is on time, they need to keep their schedules."" Those are some things that they
discussed, but they're going to try and work them out because we need to have a lot of people taking
the buses to the ferry. And the fourth thing that they discussed was a Trans-Bay Terminal. That's a
whole project that AC Transit has on getting the commuters to San Francisco. It's really interesting.
They're going to buy some double-decker buses to get people to San Francisco, but they're not
going to use them in Alameda.
12/12/17
Page 5 of 10",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-12-13.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-12-13,6,"Arnold Brillinger: They're going to buy 12 to 15 buses to begin with, and use them on the routes
where they really have so many people wanting to get into San Francisco, mostly in Emeryville and
Berkeley. Those were the things that were discussed there. The Salesforce Tower, you see that now
sticking up, and that's the center of the Trans-Bay, the whole terminal thing. Where the Muni will
match in with AC Transit and Contra Costa, their commuters and all kinds of things and trains, and
who knows what. It's going to be really a fantastic thing when they get it all together. Because it's
going to be the tallest building in San Francisco for a while and the second tallest building in the
state. That's pretty much it for the ILC meeting.
Arnold Brillinger: And then the Transportation Commission had a meeting on the 15th of
November at 7:00 PM and they approved the AC Transit's Trans-Bay Tomorrow proposal because
they got the presentation too. Except, it didn't want to reduce some of the OX frequency, and that's
what AC transit was saying, ""Let's do it this way."" And the Transportation Commission said, ""Ah,
that's the part we don't want to happen."" And then, there was a status report on a plan for access to
the Harbor Bay Ferry terminal. That again is, ""Do we charge for parking? Do we do this? Can we
get the buses to be there on time?"", and so forth. They had some discussion on that.
Arnold Brillinger: And then, the last thing, and this was really exciting to me, I heard a suggestion,
and this was during the public comments. And the person who gave the presentation was suggesting
that Alameda and, well in the East Bay, that they have a tramway, gondolas, big ones, going from
the west end, somewhere there, across the water and I would have thought connect with Jack
London Square or Jack London area. No, they said, ""Let's go to the West Oakland terminal, the
BART terminal,"" which would make a lot of sense.
Arnold Brillinger: Like I said, that was just a suggestion. They didn't discuss that, but I thought,
""Whoa, this sounds really neat. And at least somebody is thinking about trying to work it out, the
transportation issues here.""
Arnold Brillinger: There is one more thing that I need to talk about, and that's that right after
Halloween the Alameda Shuttle started going around. Have you seen it yet? I'm sorry. Excuse me.
But, the Alameda Shuttle, they've got two buses, they're brand new buses. And like the old bus, you
just kind of look at it and say, ""I wonder what that is."" This one says, ""Alameda Loop Shuttle, free
for all."" I was on that committee to get the bus wrap and stuff like that, and I really pushed for that
""free for all"", and it says that on either side, also in the back and in the front, because we want to get
as many people on this. It's going to be making the round. People ought to get on it, save some of
their gas and emissions. And it works on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and it used to take an
hour. Well, it still takes an hour to take the whole trip around. But now, with two buses, every half
hour, a bus is going by the different places. It makes it easier and you don't have to wait so long.
Arnold Brillinger: The Tuesday loop goes the central part of Alameda, the library, the cinema, the
Kaiser Permanente, those things right here in the center, and also Mastick, and goes out to Alameda
Landing, around Target, those stores out there. Also, that's where the Center for Independent Living,
CIL, is out there too. Their office is not really that close to the street, but there is a place to get off
and get on there.
Speaker 1: They're in the loop now?
12/12/17
Page 6 of 10",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-12-13.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-12-13,7,"Arnold Brillinger: They're in the loop, yes. And Wednesdays is when it goes down to the east end
out to Harbor Bay Isle, and it goes through some of the housing, the HOAs and stuff like that, to
pick up people. And again, comes through the same part in the middle of town to run them through
and also South Shore Center. And then, on Thursdays, it's a central loop, it goes through the middle
again, and Mastick and South Shore, but also goes out this way to Brookside, which is where Nob
Hill is, and also the Park Street Landing, which is where the Dollar store is, or the Dollar Tree is.
Arnold Brillinger: It's worthwhile to get on and to go and I suggest I've even been going around
to nursing homes and saying, ""Hey, you see this bus that's coming around? Take your loved one,""
and I'm telling this to responsible people, ""Take your loved ones just on a ride for an hour. They will
see something different than the four walls of their nursing home. Or take them out, go to South
Shore and push them around for a while. Go through the grocery store and stuff. Just make their
lives a little bit more interesting."" And the neat thing about this is that it has lifts for wheelchairs
and even in my wheelchair, I can be in the back of it and I could do a 360. There is some room back
there. But they also have bike racks in the front of it. I made up a sign that says, ""Take your bike for
a ride."" And then when you get to a certain place, you can take it off, ride around for a while. When
you come back, there's another shuttle.
Beth Kenny: Thank you very much for all your hard work, Vice-Chair Brillinger. You're really
doing a lot in the transportation department so thank you.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes. Also, I wanted to say that I do travel around to other disability
commissions and councils. And I have reported to the Oakland one and also the San Francisco one
that the City Council passed the Universal Design Ordinance. I've had some people say, ""Oh, can
we get copies of it?"" I said, ""Sure. Here it is online. Download it."" Because we can't just sit on it.
We need to also blow our own horn, as it were, and say, ""Hey, look what we've got going in
Alameda. You guys get on the bandwagon."" Whatever. It's not just for Alameda. It's for the East
Bay, for the state, for the country. We just keep on going bigger and bigger.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. Does anyone else have anything they'd like to report from their
commission or board that they're a liaison for?
Anto Aghapekian: For the transportation. For the transportation, I see them. The shuttle buses. I
see them at Mastick's and they're mostly empty.
Arnold Brillinger: You're right.
Anto Aghapekian: I talked with the drivers and they say that people don't know about the program.
Arnold Brillinger: That's true.
Anto Aghapekian: If you have an opportunity to talk with the commissioners or the directors to
advertise in the paper, let people know and let people know the routes, which bus to take to go
where, to let people know and then they'd start using it because they're going around empty right
now.
Arnold Brillinger: They are. That's true. It went around empty before also, but nobody knew what
it was.
12/12/17
Page 7 of 10",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-12-13.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-12-13,8,"Anto Aghapekian: Right.
Arnold Brillinger: And I once went to one of the meetings and I say, ""This used to be Alameda's
best kept secret, the fact that it has a shuttle that's free for everyone and no one knows that it's
happening."" I've also told the person who deals with the different para-transit issues here in
Alameda. Her name is Victoria Williams and her office is at Mastick and I told her, ""One day I'm
just going to take a handful of schedules and sit outside wherever, either at the library or at South
Shore or whatever and say, 'Hey! Take a trip! Take a tour!"" Kind of like Gilligan's tour. They had a
three-hour tour. Well, this is just a one-hour tour. Take the tour and see where it goes on Tuesdays.
Arnold Brillinger: Then Wednesday take another tour. And I'm just going to have them and just sit
there and say, ""Hey, here comes a bus now. You want to go? Get on. It's free."" And they also have
things that we're going to put in the movie theater, like It won't be a video, necessarily, but it'll be
an advertising slide. Also, and just tell people about it. Just tell people about it. Thank you.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. If nobody has any other commission or board reports
Anto Aghapekian: I went to the Planning Board meeting, it was in September. And the main topic
that they discussed was auxiliary units on your property. There was a lot of participation and
opposition because the size of the addition they were talking about it, 1,000 square feet. And where
1,000 square feet is going to fit on the 100 lots that we have in Alameda is beyond me. But they're
talking about it, and no resolutions were made. And at present, I don't know where it stands. But
they were talking about it. We may get part of the zoning, to increase the number of available units,
mostly rented. But that's what their planning.
Beth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Aghapekian. Commissioner Hall?
Lisa Hall: Hi. Yeah. I'd just like to say a little word about reaching out to the community for the
Thanksgiving, Christ Church had its annual Thanksgiving dinner. And I'm very happy to see more
disabled people and wheelchairs accessible. That was one way of reaching out to the whole
community, but especially with our disabled people and our seniors. Also, Meals on Wheels served
over 150 delivered meals on Thanksgiving Day to all those people that were shut-in or disabled or
senior or whatever. It was with the meals there and the deliveries, they served almost 900 meals for
our little Alameda community. That was a good thing. Good day.
6. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Beth Kenny: Great, thank you. Alright, so I am going to move on to staff communications. Agenda
item number six.
Laurie Kozisek: Okay. I want to remind everyone that the next meeting will be February 3rd, the
retreat. If you have any dietary needs, let me know. Otherwise, you're probably going to get
something like Subway. And then February 14th is a regular meeting, and if you have suggestions
for agenda items, let me know or let Beth know. Just send it to me and I'll talk with Beth so that we
have agenda items. Or if you think of any speakers, let us know. That's all I have.
12/12/17
Page 8 of 10",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-12-13.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-12-13,9,"Beth Kenny: Thank you very much. I just wanted to add, one thing that I had talked about having
beyond the planning of our next year, is talking a little bit more about emergency preparedness. And
Commissioner Lewis and I have yet to meet, and it's my fault because I had to cancel. But I have
spoken with Captain Oliver and with Jackie Krause from Mastick. Captain Oliver, obviously, is
interested, but Jackie Krause would like to work with us along this issue, too, and has worked with,
when the City did other efforts, to create a way to know who are the people who are going to need a
little bit of extra help in the event of an emergency. I think that would be really great to be able to
work with Mastick and Jackie Krause.
Jenn Barrett: I went to the opening of the new fire station, and I saw you there. That was great.
And it's just so great to hear about how seriously they're taking the emergency preparedness, and so
I think it's a great time, now that they've just had that new ceremony with the new chief, to reach
out to them and work together. That's awesome.
Beth Kenny: Wonderful. And I'm glad you guys went to that.
Laurie Kozisek: I had one more item. As of January 1st, you will be the Commission on Disability.
[applause]
Laurie Kozisek: Just wanted to prepare you for that.
7. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Beth Kenny: Agenda item number seven. Does anyone have any announcements they'd like to
make?
Lisa Hall: More of a question. Going back to the calendar. Generally, we have six meetings a year.
Is that correct?
Beth Kenny: We're supposed to have six meetings a year.
Lisa Hall: But because August is closed, we have to put that meeting in some other month. The
usual months that we would have it is, am I right then? It's February, April, June, October,
December.
Beth Kenny: Yes
Lisa Hall: Okay. But then we always have to put a special meeting in for retreat because August is
closed.
Beth Kenny: That's correct. And I know that previously, I've inquired about us moving so that we
were on January, March, that schedule, but apparently there is a conflicts with another commission
that meets in this room at that time. Maybe that's something we can look a little bit more into too. If
we maybe did the third Wednesday instead of the second Wednesday. That's something we can look
into and definitely talk more about at the retreat. Alright any other announcements? Great than
I
would like to move that we adjourn tonight's meeting. Alright. All in favor?
12/12/17
Page 9 of 10",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-12-13.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2017-12-13,10,"All: Aye.
8. ADJOURNMENT
Beth Kenny: We're adjourned. Happy holidays everybody.
12/12/17
Page 10 of 10",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2017-12-13.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2018-02-14,1,"ITEM 2-A
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 14, 2018 6:30 p.m.
1. ROLL CALL
Beth Kenny: I'd like to call to order the meeting of the Commission on Disability for Wednesday,
February 14th, 2018. Can we start with roll call?
Beth Kenny: Present.
Jenny Linton: Present.
Jenn Barrett: Present.
Lisa Hall: Present.
Arnold Brillinger: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Anto Aghapekian Susan Deutch Tony Lewis - he has resigned Jennifer
Roloff We have a quorum.
[Note: Jennifer Roloff arrived at 6:40 PM.]
2. MINUTES
Beth Kenny: Great. So let's get to agenda item number two, approval of the minutes from the
December 13th, 2017 meeting. Does anyone have any changes they'd like to see to those minutes or
things that were transcribed incorrectly? Then I move that we accept the minutes as they are. Do
I
have a second?
Jenn Barrett: Second.
Beth Kenny: All in favor?
All: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Opposed? Thank you. Passed unanimously.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Beth Kenny: So item number three on the agenda is Oral Communications, non-agenda. Do we
have anybody who would like to make a public comment, any speakers tonight on non-agenda
items? Laurie? Okay.
02/14/18
Page 1 of 24",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2018-02-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2018-02-14,2,"ITEM 2-A
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 14, 2018 6:30 p.m.
4. NEW BUSINESS
4-A. Alameda Transportation program Plan for Seniors and People with Disabilities (City
Staff)
Beth Kenny: Then let's move on to 4A, we're excited for this. Alameda Transportation Program
Plan for Seniors and People with Disabilities. Welcome.
Victoria Williams: Thank you. Hi. Honorable Chair and commissioners, I'm Victoria Williams, I'm
the Paratransit Coordinator. My office is at Mastick Senior Center and thank you very much for
giving us your time tonight. I'm here to discuss the If I can read in the dark, ""The City of
Alameda's Transportation Program Plan for Seniors and People with Disabilities for the fiscal year
of 2018 and 2019."" And with Measure B and BB funding, the county wide sales tax that's set aside
for transportation, the city provides supplemental transportation services for Seniors and People
who have disabilities. It's beyond the mandated service of East Bay Paratransit. And our funder
Alameda County Transportation Commission, Alameda CTC, requires that all cities, all
jurisdictions review the plan, the Annual Program Plan. So we come here every year and we bring
our plans and we ask for your input and we ask for your buy-in and your support as we go forward
for funding. Our funding application is due at the end of March, so we come to four different
commissions and boards prior to that to get some of your opinions.
Victoria Williams: So thanks for letting us do that. Our agenda for this evening is a service
overview, recommended program, a budget, and a planning process overview. And our service
overview, you might see one of your commissioners there on the bottom, by our new shuttle there,
commissioner Brillinger. We have a great bunch of services. Every city gets to choose the services
that would meet the needs of their population since every Alameda County city is different. We
don't have the same needs as those living in Fremont might. So the items that we've chosen to fund
are the Alameda Loop Shuttle and you'll hear more about that, and the subsidized taxi services. We
have two services that are subsidized.
Victoria Williams: We've got scholarship programs, several kinds of group trips, capital
investments, customer service and outreach and then management of all that. In 2010, there was one
shuttle bus put on the road and it's been running well for all that time. However, in 2017, just the
end October 31st, we were able to replace that one vehicle with two brand new, as you can see
they're brand new, shiny. We were the first people in that vehicle. It's not a used car. And they're
beautiful, they're accessible, we've got wheelchair lift and Commissioner Brillinger can tell you that
in his wheelchair, he can do 360 degrees in the back of that vehicle. There's room for two
wheelchair users in there at a time, so it's a good sized bus, nice big windows and the front has bike
racks for two bicycles.
Victoria Williams: Adding a second shuttle to the road means that our headways are 30 minutes
each. So while the loop takes an hour, if you get on the bus and ride to your destination and come
back to where you started, that loop takes one hour, but there's another bus 30 minutes later. So that
makes it better for those who are doing their grocery shopping and want to get their frozen food
02/14/18
Page 2 of 24",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2018-02-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2018-02-14,3,"ITEM 2-A
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 14, 2018 6:30 p.m.
home before it melts. You might have other things to do in your day than just ride the bus. So it's
another good reason for that. But that's because of the wait time that we thought that would be
important. And there was a survey done. And the name that got the highest number of votes was
Alameda Loop Shuttle. So we've re-branded as the Alameda Loop Shuttle.
Victoria Williams: We've made it very visible. I don't know if you could miss it. It says free on
every side because we want that to be known, thanks Commissioner, and it's open to all. So while
our funding offers priorities for seniors and people who have disabilities, because an empty bus is
really not a good way to spend money, the funder has said, open it to everyone. When we get full,
then we'll have to have those who are not seniors or people who have disabilities find another way
to ride. But right now, we're not. So, it's open to all and it says that on, I think, on every side of the
bus. It says it on our schedules. Because we want everyone to know anyone can ride the bus. You
don't have to make a reservation. You just get on and ride.
Victoria Williams: This is a picture of the monthly shuttle boarding starting back when the shuttle
started in 2010. And we started with about 350 average boardings per month. And then service got
better, and then it got down, and now it's back up again. And as it's noted there in 2015, there was
an average of 424 boardings a month; 2016, 449 boardings a month; 2017, 451. And if I'm not
mistaken, January, there were 600 boardings. Yeah. So we're going in the right direction. It takes
more people to fill two buses.
Victoria Williams: So in the past, when we had one hour frequency, just one bus, our cost per trip
was $16 which is a really good cost. Now with two buses, we have more seats to fill, so the price is
higher. It's $27. That was in 2017. We're going to make that better in '18. And our funder's really
okay with this because they give us two years to get to where they'd like us to be. They would like
for our rides to cost $20 a ride or less. But they give us two years to meet that goal because it takes
a
while to ramp up business, in any kind of business. And with shuttles people have to see it coming
a lot of times before they really know they can trust it and they want to ride on it. So the funder's
fine with that. And we're working hard to try to improve the cost per ride and the ridership.
Victoria Williams: We also have a taxi service. This is the taxi service status. In the past, there was
a 50% discount to ride the taxis. Now it's increased to 70%. And to qualify to be a rider, you need to
live in Alameda, and be 70 or over, or be enrolled with East Bay Paratransit. So it doesn't require a
disability. And a lot of people use it to go for cataract surgery or to the airport, things like that where
they don't want to drive, those who still drive, who aren't allowed to drive maybe at that point. So a
person can buy a voucher that's worth $5 for $1.50. So it's a huge discount and you can go
anywhere in Alameda county. It is a regular taxi with a meter. We do have a couple of ramp taxis, so
those are accessible. The service is provided by a local Alameda taxi service, and he's very happy to
be providing service here.
Victoria Williams: You can see this from the blue line on the graph. The blue line is the premium
taxi program. Now that's the one that you can go anywhere in Alameda County for any purpose at
all. And in 2009, we had 68 trips per month was the average. And you can see, that's the blue line.
We've gone down a little and now we're headed steadily up. Our average trips per month are about
140. It was more than that in January, and I cannot remember the number, but it was more than that.
02/14/18
Page 3 of 24",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2018-02-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2018-02-14,4,"ITEM 2-A
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, February 14, 2018 6:30 p.m.
And then the red line is MR. TIP. That's a different taxi program, which stands for medical return
trip improvement program (MRTIP). And that's primarily for folks who use East Bay Paratransit,
and that is the qualifier for it - if you live in Alameda and you are enrolled with East Bay
Paratransit of any age. Because when you use East Bay Paratransit, it's a big service. You have to
reserve your ride, going to your doctor's appointment and your pick up afterwards, at least a day in
advance. Well, I've never been very accurate at guessing how long it's going to take my doctor to
see me because sometimes they send you to the lab or the pharmacy or somewhere else, x-ray, after
you've been there. You could miss your East Bay Paratransit ride.
Victoria Williams: And even if you don't, you can get on the bus and ride, because there are many
buses, you could ride through a couple of other towns before you get home. I heard a story just
today, of someone who went to Kaiser, in Oakland, and before she got home to Alameda, she went
to El Cerrito. And she was exhausted. Already she'd been through physical pain through her
appointment, and she said, ""I love this program. It is so helpful. It saved my life because, I don't
have to ride around. It's great when you feel well and you have plenty of time and you don't have to
go to the bathroom, you can be on the bus a long time,"" but that isn't always the case with our
riders. So you can see that with the red line we had some problems and now we're coming back up.
And that's primarily due to the local transportation provider again, now we have that local
transportation provider. So the MR TIP program (red line on graph) back in 2009 had an average of
100 boardings a month, went up to 136, came all the way down to six boardings a month in 2016
when there was a problem and now we're headed back up with 28 boardings a month and that was
last year. This year is going to be better. Yes?
Lisa Hall: What's MR TIP again?
Victoria Williams: MR TIP stands for Medical Return Trip Improvement Program (MRTIP). It was
started in Oakland and several cities got on the bandwagon and provided in. I believe we may be the
only city still doing it. Berkley may still do it but Oakland doesn't. I don't know why that is but it
works really well for those people who use it. You can see there are not a huge number of people
who use it but the same provider is doing both services so there's not a problem if they're not
driving one client, they're driving another.
Jennifer Roloff: So for both graphs, the red and the blue, it's the same provider?
Victoria Williams: That's right.
Jennifer Roloff: And did it start that way?
Victoria Williams: I don't know. There were two providers at one point and now we're down to the
one provider.
Jennifer Roloff: Because you had mentioned that there was provider issues, which was part of the
dip.
Victoria Williams: There was a provider issue and that was the problem and that's been resolved.
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Jennifer Roloff: Okay.
Arnold Brillinger: Now, I just want to say that this is a boon for those people that are in dialysis
because they can get there on Paratransit but they can't always tell when they're going to get back
and sometimes they're still in having the procedure done and Paratransit comes says, ""Oh, if you're
not out of here five minutes you stay here we'll come back later when we want to."" If they can get
the people at the dialysis place to give a call to the provider, say, ""Hey, we need someone here at
2:30 and it is a good thing."" We just need people to understand how it works.
Victoria Williams: That's right. Thank you.
Jennifer Roloff: And is that's way it's called ""return trip""?
Victoria Williams: Yes, because that's the only purpose of that trip. No other kinds of trips are
funded through this program. It's just to return home from a medical trip that you've gone to on
some other way, generally for East Bay Paratransit and that's why it was created because it can be
cumbersome. And Commissioner Brillinger is right, East Bay Paratransit they can only wait five
minutes for you. So if you underestimate or overestimate your pickup time, they'll give you a 30
minute window and they can come five minutes of that 30 minute window and if they don't see you
they have to roll because they've got other people to pick up. So if you've already been through an
exhausting treatment like dialysis that can be very frustrating.
Arnold Brillinger: So this is something that we need to spread around to let people know. If you're
working with another group and there are some dialysis patients there let them know. They need to
sign up with Victoria but once they do, it works pretty good is what I understand, especially with
our provider now.
Victoria Williams: Right. Any other questions at the moment? So, then we also offer some
scholarship programs. One scholarship program assists with the taxi vouchers and a family can
qualify for $50 of free taxi vouchers once a year if they're within the guidelines and it's a very
generous guidelines. And then we also have a new program that we started in March of 2017
working with AC transit, we offer bus passes, the easy passes for people who live at Alameda Point
Collaborative. So it's affordable housing there. And so people who are trying to stretch their dollars
as far as possible and we can help them get to where they need to go with this program.
Victoria Williams: And it started as you can see in March with 1500 riders a month, that's a good
place to start and we're up to over 4000 riders a month now. Now, those folks go anywhere they
want. It's the regular AC transit bus, so it's not a special bus, it's not a special program. The program
is the funding for them to travel but it's not noticed by anybody on the bus that they have free trips
or anything like that, so there's no stigma attached. You live here, you can qualify and it's being
really well received. People who weren't going out because it was so expensive can get out now.
Jennifer Roloff: Are we able to track ridership, with that Easy Pass?
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Victoria Williams: AC Transit does that for us. So yes, we do have that information and I didn't
bring it but we can get it to you.
Jennifer Roloff: Because you could get a pass and theoretically not use it, right?
Victoria Williams: Right.
Jennifer Roloff: So do you scan on now?
Victoria Williams: Right. And we're capped at 167 clients. That's how many we can afford to fund.
That's a good number of people being served. And you can see, if 167 people are using it 4,000
times a month, they're going places. So that's good for them.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay, so that number is how many rides? The number on the graph is how many
rides?
Victoria Williams: Boardings? How many boardings?
Jennifer Roloff: How many boardings?
Victoria Williams: Average boardings per month.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay. So that answered my question of how often it's being used, and that's within
167 passes. Are they all getting distributed, all 167?
Victoria Williams: Yes.
Jennifer Roloff: So we have a wait list?
Victoria Williams: I don't think so. I think that covered most of the people. We started with one,
with Alameda Point Collaborative and I think that was enough to cover the households in that
complex or in that area. But you'll hear more about that in just a minute.
Victoria Williams: So this is what we recommend for our program for 2018 and '19. We'd like to
continue marketing the rebranded and more frequent Alameda Loop Shuttle. And we'd like a
smartphone app for real-time shuttle location. We're really pretty accurate. It takes a little bit of
extra time to secure a wheelchair, and if there are two wheelchairs on there, that'll take a little bit
more time. But we're really within 10 minutes and we allow 10 minutes. It's not like the AC Transit
Bus that has to be there at exactly on the dot, because we allow for some of our riders who are
slower getting on and off than other riders.
Victoria Williams: So a smartphone app for those who use a smartphone, not all of our riders do,
but some would, would show those folks just where the shuttle is at this time. So we'd like to add
that. And with the taxi service, of course, we need to do more marketing and outreach. And then,
again, we'd like to have a smartphone app for the real-time of that taxi. So they're very accurate
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time-wise, but sometimes you really need to know if it's getting close to your doctor's appointment
and your heart starts pounding a little faster. It's nice to look down and say ""Oh, they're turning the
corner. Let me grab my purse and meet them up front."" So those are the kinds of things we'd like to
add.
Jenn Barrett: For the loop shuttle, is there a sign with the times on the street?
Victoria Williams: Thank you. It's in the process. Those signs are on order. And underneath those
signs, there will be timetables and a map that says, ""You are here."" so people could really use it. We
have the shuttle schedules that you've all got a copy of there. We have those distributed around
town, but we don't have them at the stops yet. So we think that'll really improve business.
Victoria Williams: Okay, next slide. So for the scholarship program, we'd like to continue doing
the taxi subsidies that we're doing now, the 70% discount. We'd like to continue with the Alameda
Point Collaborative bus passes and we'd actually like to expand that to have free bus passes for
other Alameda Housing Authority properties. It's working so well. It's such a great way to spend a
little bit of money to get so many people out on the road that we'd like to offer that to more people.
And we currently offer group trips. We'd like to continue doing those. Mastick Senior Center has
one senior trip a month. There's a great annual barbecue at the park where all the skilled nursing
facilities in town take their residents there. We help fund transportation for that. It's a wonderful
event. And we also have a leisure club, people with disabilities who are 18 or over, and they take
two trips a month. So we'd like those group trips to continue.
Victoria Williams: And then we have a capital improvement program. The Cross Alameda Trail
project has been under funded. We actually have funding that we need to spend. We can help our
riders by contributing to the Cross Alameda Trail project for a couple of ways. It would be adding
separating lanes, so a bike lane and a pedestrian lane would be separate. So those of us who are
riding bikes wouldn't be running into people who have a wheelchair or a walker. And those of us
using a walker wouldn't be frightened that a bike was coming up behind us and we couldn't hear it
in time to scoot over separate lanes. That section intersects with a couple of shuttle stops. And it
would also create a mid-block crossing between Independence Plaza, Affordable Senior Housing
and the drugstore Walgreens and Starbucks across Atlantic.
Victoria Williams: So people cross there all the time. We want to make it safer for them and they
are our clients. And so we think that would be a really helpful way to spend some money that needs
to be spent and to make it safer for those folks to come across to their drugstore and get their
Starbucks and not be in the mid-block because they just don't want to go to the ends where there are
crosswalks. We'd also like to add some benches at shuttle and bus stops. We do share some stops
with AC Transit at a couple of places, but we'd like to add benches. And we were hoping to add a
flashing beacon at Mastick Senior Center, but a study has been done since we created this report
here and we don't really qualify for that.
Victoria Williams: We do qualify for a paddle sign that can be put up there to slow traffic. So we'll
be getting that. But we were hoping for a flashing beacon. And then of course, we need to increase
the outreach and the marketing. We've got a website and we send out regular press releases. We do
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presentations. And if you know anyone else we can present to let us know. We're included in
orientations at Mastick Senior Center. We have advertisements and banners. We're in the process of
ordering a new across the street banner which will look much like our new signs there. The same
colors as the old sign. So most of the stops are the same as the old sign.
Victoria Williams: So we don't think people have really noticed. They don't jive yet. They're really
going to notice when these go up though. And we need shuttle schedules, we get those printed on a
regular basis to get them out so that people know when and where to catch the shuttles. Brochures
and mailings cost money and then we were going to offer some program incentives. And that brings
us to our budget for 2018-2019. Our funding is decided by a formula that Alameda CTC uses based
on the number of people that are aging or have disabilities in a community.
Victoria Williams: And it's all based on sales tax. So if the economy isn't good, this will change. If
it's great, this will change. So we're projected to receive $357,109 in Measure B & BB funds next
year. We already have a $700,000 balance. We anticipate East Bay Paratransit tickets, which we also
sell at Mastick Senior Center to bring in about $6,000 and the taxi vouchers I mentioned earlier to
bring in about $12,000. That would bring our total revenues to $1,075,109. The expenditures that
we project are management at $43,666. Customer service at $46,020, trip provision is estimated at
$295,423 and the capital improvements that I mentioned at $590,000. That would equal our total
expenditures at $975,109 and that would save $100,000 in reserves for times when that economy
does dip and we need more funding.
Arnold Brillinger: The East Bay Paratransit tickets, now do you sell them for East Bay Paratransit
or do they give you a block of tickets that you sell $6,000 worth and that is for this bucket of
money?
Victoria Williams: We sell them for them. So we don't make any money off of that. That money
comes in and goes out.
Arnold Brillinger: In and out. Somewhere there's an out of 6,000.
Jennifer Roloff: Same with the taxi vouchers?
Victoria Williams: No. The taxi vouchers are all ours. Is there more to add on the taxi voucher?
No. Those are our own, so everything that comes in through that taxi voucher program goes here.
Jennifer Roloff: But then we have to reimburse the taxi companies?
Victoria Williams: Oh yes. And that's included in trip provision.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay. And then where's the in for East Bay Paratransit there's an out, is that in trip
provision also?
Victoria Williams: Well, the revenue is coming in and the expenditure is going out so that would
probably go under trip provision also. Comes in and out.
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Jenn Barrett: And this is just for 2018?
Victoria Williams: Yes, '18-19.
Jenn Barrett: Okay. And you have $700,000 balance but you're only going to have $100,000
remaining afterwards? Does that mean we're going to have an issue with the next?
Victoria Williams: The Measure B & BB has been extended to 2045 I believe it is. So every year
there will be more Measure B & BB money coming in. So if our trip provision stayed the same at
295,000, well, there are other expenses too. But that should be enough to cover because we won't
have any of those signs or there are a lot of things we're doing this first year that we've rebranded.
Jenn Barrett: With the capital?
Victoria Williams: That we won't need to do again. So we think that should work out okay. Now
that's if everything gets approved by the funder. This is what we're asking for. We don't know that
they're going to say okay on everything. We're hoping so.
Lisa Hall: Taxi vouchers are for seniors and people with disabilities?
Victoria Williams: Yes.
Lisa Hall: But not to the general public?
Victoria Williams: Correct.
Lisa Hall: Like the free shuttle?
Victoria Williams: That's right.
Lisa Hall: Okay, but how do people know about taxi vouchers? Unless they're senior or disabled?
Is that the only, if they would know if they heard maybe from the senior center?
Victoria Williams: Primarily at the Senior Center. I had two people that came in yesterday. They
learned in their yoga class from someone else in the yoga class who had it. We've done several press
releases. We have a marketing committee. Commission Brillinger sits on our marketing committee
and one of the things on our agenda coming up is also to make a new brochure for the taxi program.
We have those new schedules that you have for the shuttle that have the map and everything, but we
don't have a real new, concise one. Our taxi company has also changed names, so we need
something that's updated. So we'll be in the process of that.
Lisa Hall: I think plenty of the seniors know, but, besides Arnold of course, I think the disability
community needs to know more, where many disabled people are on a fixed budget.
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Victoria Williams: Absolutely.
Lisa Hall: And it would be really helpful to know this.
Victoria Williams: Absolutely. And so we have connections with CIL [Center for Independent
Living], and we've talked to people there and several other organizations, that's not everybody, of
course. We do a survey and I'll mention that in a minute, we do an annual survey, but it goes out to
people who use East Bay Paratransit and live in Alameda, and it mentions these things in there too.
So we're hoping that that's another way. And quite a few of them have come back saying, ""I don't
know anything about it."" So that tells us we're not doing a good enough job. There's a paragraph at
the beginning saying if you need any information, call Victoria at this number about these
programs. And my phone number is on the bus and on the signs and everywhere you can think of.
That's the one at my desk.
Lisa Hall: And have they done plenty of brochures and information?
Victoria Williams: I walked into a large room full of people and left information at the Food Bank
just today. I'd sent over some brochures earlier, but it wasn't enough. But we're still trying to find
other places. And when we get this brochure, I get calls because my phone numbers on the shuttle
bus, and people will call and say, ""What is that that just went by?"" But I had a call from one doctor
in town and he identified himself and he said, ""I just saw a bus go by, tell me about that.' And then
I
thought as we're talking about the brochure for the taxi programs, every doctor's office in town
needs those taxi brochures because potentially lots of people will be going to their doctor on those.
And if they're going by East Bay, they can use the MR TIP program to come home. Doctor's offices
and churches, and there's so many places still, we just haven't had time to get to every place yet.
Gail Payne: I'm Gail Payne, Transportation Coordinator here, and I don't think Victoria's
adequately tooting her horn. Victoria, we are so lucky to have Victoria, she's been on staff part-time
for one year now. And one of the reasons why we're so lucky to have Victoria is she focuses only on
this program. That's what she spends her time on, is reaching out to the community on this program.
Before we didn't have that level of outreach and on page two of your staff report, it talks about the
enhanced outreach that we've done this year because of Victoria. She has presented at eight
transportation orientations to 69 community members, hung the banner, the cross street banner for
21 days.
Gail Payne: We've advertised in the Alameda Sun, Mastick Senior Center newsletter, and in the
recreation guides, issued five press releases, tabled at three events and presented at 14 locations. So
she really is doing a great job and she was saying how all these things she still needs to do because
she's a perfectionist and that's fine. But we are so lucky.
Victoria Williams: Thank you, thank you. It is a busy 18 hours a week, I will tell you that. Any
other questions about this? Did I get all the way through? I got all the way through that one.
Jennifer Roloff: Can you just go back and tell me a little bit more about the Cross Alameda Trail?
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Victoria Williams: I'm going to ask Gail to do that. She's much more knowledgeable about that.
Jennifer Roloff: I don't know anything about it. Is it part of the loop already? Is expansion of the
loop, I don't know.
Gail Payne: Okay. So the Cross Alameda Trail, is a trail that is proposed and it's a path.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay. I am familiar with that outside of this commission. How does that fit in with
this?
Gail Payne: Okay. So it's a path that will go from Alameda Point all the way to the Fruitvale
Miller-Sweeney Bridge and it'll be almost four miles long. And the part that this program is helping
to fund is the part from where Jean Sweeney, Cross Alameda Trail is already basically built, west to
Alameda Point Main Street. So that is an underfunded project. And the original part that was funded
was just a multi-use trail that would have been shared by people bicycling and walking. When we
did the outreach for that effort, people really said, ""Look, we don't want a multi-use trail. I'm blind,
I want to walk and I don't want to have bicycles near me, bicyclists say, ""I don't want to be near
pedestrians,"" that this is what we heard time and again.
Gail Payne: So we expanded that project and created not just a bike-way from the Jean Sweeney to
Alameda Point, a separate bike-way. We also created a path, well, a walkway as well as a jogging
path. So now that cost more money. So now it's underfunded. So that's why we really are looking at
other sources and this is a perfect source of money because people who are blind or disabled in
whatever way will benefit, and people who are moving slower, seniors will benefit from having a
separate path. This is a crown jewel project for Alameda that I don't think Alameda's ever had such
a great project come to us. I feel like it's worth it everyone to contribute a little bit. This is a small
thing that we can do for this project.
Jenn Barrett: Is this kind of like how we have on Shoreline Drive, where you've got the walking
and then the bike and then the cars?
Gail Payne: It's mainly a path that's in the dirt path.
Jenn Barrett: Okay, so it's not connected, it's not near the road?
Gail Payne: No, only for a very short time, right by where Starbucks is, because it's a constrained
right of way. But the majority of it, from Webster Street to Alameda Point, is in that dirt. It's just a
path. Three different paths, jogging path, a bike-way path, and a walkway path.
Beth Kenny: When you say ""dirt"", is it going to stay dirt, because it would mean, for accessibilities
reasons, we'd want a paved
Gail Payne: Right, I see what you're saying. I was not being clear. Right now, it's that dirt patch
that's on the other side of the College of Alameda, on Appezzato Parkway. And right now, it's just
nothing except dirt. So we will make it an asphalt walkway and an asphalt bike-way, and then a
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decomposed granite. Is that what it's called? DG. For the jogging trail. So, yes, absolutely, we'll
make it accessible. And that's part of what this will fund is accessible curb ramps and all that.
Beth Kenny: And one thing that we hear from the community quite often is about accessible
parking near things like this. So please keep that in mind as you're doing this trail.
Gail Payne: We will, definitely. Thank you.
Jennifer Roloff: And I'm sorry, one more question on that. So in this slide, The Recommended
Program, does this Cross Alameda Trail, the bus benches and the flashing sign, is that in the capital
portion of the budget that you showed us?
Gail Payne: That is the capital portion.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay, thank you. So if it's approved, then we go for it.
Gail Payne: Yes.
Arnold Brillinger: And I think also that when you say the ""dirt part,"" it used to be the railroad
right-of-way. It goes along there by Alameda College and then it continues on, and it goes through
the middle of a block. And I've seen them doing a lot of construction in there on the trail. So, when
she talks about the dirt path, that's what's left from the right-of-way and now it's being concreted,
blacktopped, whatever.
Victoria Williams: Thank you. Any other questions at this point?
Jennifer Roloff: The taxi vouchers. The city only has to or they're only paid for as they're bought
and used, right?
Victoria Williams: That's right.
Jennifer Roloff: So essentially, it's hard to budget for them because we don't know how many are.
Like I know my mother buys them, for example, but then she says she never uses them. So they sit
in a stack. So it's probably hard to manage the budget based on how that works.
Victoria Williams: I guess yes, I think it is. Having been here one year, I haven't seen how that
quite works out yet.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay. Because the shuttle is a fixed cost, right?
Gail Payne: No, it's true, we've always really been very conservative. And we've always
overestimated the budget, which is one of the reasons why we have reserves always, because we
haven't wanted at the end of this fiscal year, at each fiscal year to say, ""Sorry, we ran out of money.'
So we're always very conservative with that. And then we also have the vouchers expire after one
year. That's why we started doing that because we didn't want people all of a sudden to have years
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of stacks and then all of a sudden, use them for whatever reason, then we would run out. So we
needed to control the supply and demand.
Victoria Williams: And we do have limits on the number of vouchers a person can buy. So if it's
the MR TIP vouchers, a person can buy 10 per month and the other, the Premium Taxi program, a
person can buy 30 in a three-month period. So it's not endless, they can't buy hundreds of them and
save them for years, and they do expire in one year, each of them.
Victoria Williams: So here we are in the planning process. We did a survey in December and
January, I now have 110 in. They are not all logged yet. Oh, and that doesn't include the ones that
have come through electronically, those are the hard copies, and we come to four commissions. I
want to apologize because we sent this off before your name changed. So we see the Transportation
Commission, the Commission on Disability, the Recreation and Park Commission, and the Social
Service Human Relations Board. We take all of your input and put it into our plan, and then we take
it forward. Our program plan will be due the end of March. This is a picture of the cross street
banner, the old cross street banner that we've had out for several years. We have a new banner, we're
ready to order as soon as we figure out the weight of it. But we've got the design, we're ready to go,
and so we're very excited about that. You'll see it, it's really visible. I say that. I don't mean to sound
apologetic, but it's very visible. We want it to be seen. And now we're here at my contact
information.
Victoria Williams: Again, I'm Victoria Williams, Paratransit Coordinator. My telephone number is
510-747-7513 and my email address is vwilliams@alamedaca.gov. Any other questions or
comments, please?
Beth Kenny: Thank you very much. This is a wonderful presentation and I can't believe you even
caught that our name has changed, so good on you. We're trying parliamentary procedure in a
different way where we're each going to go around and ask, see if anyone has any question. So I'm
going to start with you, Vice Chair, Brillinger.
Arnold Brillinger: No, I don't have any questions.
Beth Kenny: Okay. Commissioner Roloff?
Jennifer Roloff: I've asked many questions, thank you.
Victoria Williams: Thank you.
Beth Kenny: Commissioner Barrett?
Jenn Barrett: Thank you so much for speaking. We really appreciate it. I don't have any further
questions.
Victoria Williams: Thank you.
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Beth Kenny: Commissioner Hall?
Lisa Hall: That you Victoria. Just a ballpark on the financial on the taxi, that it's very liberal as far
as the 70%. So people have to qualify by what kind of income on the taxi?
Victoria Williams: For the scholarship? Oh, there is no income qualification on the taxi program,
none at all.
Lisa Hall: There's none? All you have to be is senior or disabled?
Victoria Williams: For the MR TIP, you need to be enrolled with East Bay Paratransit and for the
Premium, you need to be an Alameda resident and 70 or older or enrolled with East Bay Paratransit.
We do have a question about income on our application, not everybody chooses to complete that
question and it doesn't matter. Income is not a criteria that we count.
Lisa Hall: Okay, so for the taxi then, so you have to be 70 or over, or enrolled in Paratransit. You
could be disabled and be under 70.
Victoria Williams: Right. As long as you're enrolled with East Bay. And we have those
applications and I help people with those too. And we're working on trying to get the recertifications
and certification appointments done in Alameda. So far it's in Oakland, but they do provide
transportation and I help people with that too if I can. Thank you.
Beth Kenny: Commissioner Linton.
Jenny Linton: I just want to thank you for coming in and presenting. I was here last year and it's
nice to see over the course of a year ridership increasing as well as the number of bus services per
day increasing. So, congratulations.
Victoria Williams: Thank you. It's been fun.
Beth Kenny: And thank you again. You're very right on Commissioner Linton. Transportation has
been so willing to work with this commission and it's been something that I've enjoyed my entire
four years on the commission and seeing you added to the team has really given it an extra boost.
Victoria Williams: Thank you.
Beth Kenny: So I want to thank you for all you're doing and I wanted to ask a little bit more about
MR TIP being connected to the East Bay Paratransit. Because when Vice Chair Brillinger was
talking about people going through dialysis, well, I went through dialysis myself, but I wasn't
hooked up with Paratransit when I went through. And so I would have definitely liked to take a taxi.
Victoria Williams: Certainly, certainly.
Beth Kenny: So I'm wondering, is there a way to broaden it beyond East Bay Paratransit? Could
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we connect it to like the Regional Transit Card?
Victoria Williams: I recently went to speak to the Managers at East Bay Paratransit and explained
to them the MR TIP program. They are a huge service. They cover the whole county and you've
probably heard some horror stories because they have lots of people to transport and huge service
areas. So we think that it would be a win-win-win situation, as do they, if they refer riders to us, if
people are scheduling their return ride and say, ""Well, I really don't know."" ""Well, do you live in
Alameda? Go do this."" So I took information and I'm working with someone who's the new
Recertification Manager or Certification Manager and we're hoping to get that news spread through
East Bay because we can meet those rides, and they can't always do it.
Victoria Williams: They do their best. I've used East Bay Paratransit a couple of times in my life
with broken bones and I couldn't drive and they do their best, but it's a big service. It's really hard to
keep accurate when you're that big. And so with our little service, we can be much more timely. So
your points are well taken. We'll look further. It's for Alameda residents, we go anywhere in the
county. So if someone had to go to Fremont for a special medical trip, we can bring them home.
Beth Kenny: Yeah, or people going to Oakland to receive treatment.
Victoria Williams: Right. We have a lot of that. We have a lot of Oakland riders, and we don't have
dialysis, I guess, on the island.
Lisa Hall: Or chemo.
Victoria Williams: Yes. That's right. And some people are going to Berkeley. That MR TIP
program is great because after those treatments, the wherewithal to ride, to watch someone else go
home, it's not as pleasant as it might be another time.
Beth Kenny: I would love to see MR TIP expanded because that seems invaluable, and echo the
comments that are reaching out to the disabled community, anyway that we can help, we want to.
Victoria Williams: Thank you.
Beth Kenny: And on the Cross Island Trail, again just if we can make sure it's accessible and that
people with disabilities can use it and get to it and all of that good stuff, it sounds like a very
exciting project.
Victoria Williams: Thank you. Thank you.
Lisa Hall: We just had a presentation in our church from the wonderful Mr. Kaufman with Meals
on Wheels. And Meals on Wheels is part of the program, and Friendly Visitors, go visit people that
are kind of home bound. But I think it's also good that they also know that, ""Hey, this is out there
for you. If you want to actually get up and possibly get up and get out and try to get out in the
world, there is this. ""
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Victoria Williams: I did two presentations for their volunteers. I've started a couple of Friendly
Visiting programs and been a Friendly Visitor myself in the past for many years. So I've spoken to
their last year's group. Last year I spoke twice to the volunteers and their office is right next door to
mine. So we have a really good policy. In fact a Friendly Visiting volunteer who thought the
program was so great has offered to distribute some schedules for me. So she's become a schedule
distributer too. So, you're right, that's a perfect match for us, thank you. And we need to work closer
with Meals on Wheels. They know about us too. We haven't talked to their volunteers in a group.
The director knows about us, but we haven't really talked to them as a group. So.
Lisa Hall: Because they're the ones out there with the eyes and
Victoria Williams: Exactly.
Lisa Hall: And they will see and know some people that maybe can use some help.
Victoria Williams: Thank you for that tip.
Jenny Linton: Other groups that reach the developmentally disabled community in the area are The
Regional Center of the East Bay, as well as Alameda Special Olympics.
Beth Kenny: Are you at Mastick Senior Center? Is that where your office is?
Victoria Williams: That's right. So, if we could have a hip hip hooray. What do we need? What do
we need? Something that recommends what we're going to do? Support, I don't know what we call
it. We've heard your support and we thank you very much.
Beth Kenny: So, at this time, we can do a few things. We can vote to endorse this plan. We can
vote to endorse it, asking them to take into consideration our comments, and that's what I would like
to move to do is, this is a very well thought out and thorough plan, and I really like seeing those
graphs going in the opposite direction because they weren't when I first started.
Victoria Williams: We're happy about that, too.
Beth Kenny: I move that we endorse the Transportation Plan presented to us tonight. And ask that
our comments be interpreted and included whenever possible.
Arnold Brillinger: Second.
Beth Kenny: Alright, all in favor.
All: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Any opposed? It's unanimous.
Victoria Williams: Thank you very much.
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Beth Kenny: Thank you.
Victoria Williams: Thank you all. And we'll be at Earth Day with the shuttle bus, so come see the
shuttle bus Earth Day. You can ride the lift.
Beth Kenny: Oh, that is one other thing that I did want to ask. I know Commissioner or Vice Chair
Brillinger in the past has wanted to get the shuttle into the 4th of July.
Victoria Williams: I've volunteered to work that this year and the boss said yes. So we will be in
that. Maybe you could join us.
Lisa Hall: We would love to join you. We would love to join forces with you guys.
Victoria Williams: That would be fabulous. We would like a full bus. We would like some people
in the bus. So I'm going to write that down, you'd like to join us. Thank you. That would be great.
We'll have a great time. Thank you very much.
Arnold Brillinger: Also, at least one of the street fairs they have the bus there so that people could
see it and give out information and I think there are various things that the Transportation
Commission can do, that we could probably help them if they need the help.
Victoria Williams: Thank you. Thanks a lot.
5. OLD BUSINESS
Beth Kenny: Now we move on to item five. Old Business. And I'm going to start with the meeting
date. We are going to go forward and look at changing those to the odd number of months at the
April meeting, if we can have that to vote on a couple of different options, that would be great. If
we can put that on the agenda for that meeting.
Item 5-A Commission and Board Liaison Reports
Item 5A is Commission and Board Liaison reports, which, at this point, we need to vote to give
each person the right to speak on behalf of the Commission at their assigned Board or Commission.
So I move that we empower individual commissioners to speak on behalf of the Commission at
their assigned Board or Commission liaison spot and they must report back anything to us during
Section 5A Old business at each regularly scheduled meeting.
Jennifer Roloff: I'll second that.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. That was a mouthful.
Beth Kenny: All in favor?
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All: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Any opposed?
Jenn Barrett: Sorry, will there be, in the notes maybe a written list of who's assigned to watch us,
so we know for reference?
Beth Kenny: Yeah, I can send that out tomorrow to everybody via email.
Jennifer Roloff: This is what we've put up at the retreat.
Beth Kenny: Yes.
Arnold Brillinger: Right.
Beth Kenny: We'll get that out to you guys and, there's probably nothing to report because we're
switching over. I'm going to move on to talking about our sub-committee and let you all know that
Tony Lewis has resigned. He said he's just over-committed at this point. He is going to be getting a
service dog, so that's another commitment. It's an exciting commitment but, he just felt like he
wasn't able to attend enough. He does want to still be part of things and volunteered to work any
fairs that we're doing and is interested in working on the sub-committee that is going to be looking
at businesses in Alameda to see how they can be more accessible. We'll miss Tony but, he'll still be
part of things, so we won't miss him that much.
Item 5-B Election of New Commission Chair and Vice Chair
Beth Kenny: Item 5B, Election of new commission Chair and Vice-Chair. If anybody would like to
be Chair or Vice-Chair, I'd ask that you speak up now. I would ask that if anyone has specifics they
nominate anyone. Commissioner or Vice-Chair Brillinger, you have been Vice-Chair, is it
something that you are interested in continuing to do?
Arnold Brillinger: Yes, I am at present. Is it like you can be a certain thing for two years or is there
some kind of a limit?
Beth Kenny: No, we do not have any limits in our by-laws as far as how long you can be Chair or
Vice-Chair. Personally I would like to see somebody else be interested in being Chair. I am willing
to do it, but I think it's good for everybody to kind of get the flavor, so I'll put that out there.
Jenn Barrett: I'm fairly new, but I would be interested in maybe a Vice-Chair if you end up
If
you want to be Chair or.
Beth Kenny: Great, yeah. I would like to nominate you as Vice-Chair then. Do I have a second?
Jenny Linton: Second.
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Beth Kenny: All in favor of Commissioner Barrett as Vice-Chair, say, ""Aye.""
All: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Any opposed? Welcome Vice-Chair Barrett. So, for now we just need a Chair.
Jennifer Roloff: Are you interested in continuing as Chair?
Beth Kenny: I'd be willing to consider, to continue. I want to put it out there that I would like other
people to think about it as well.
Lisa Hall: I'm sorry, Arnold do you not want to be Chair?
Arnold Brillinger: Yeah, I've thought of possibly doing that if Beth's were to say, ""Hey, the little
guy is giving us a lot of things to do."" But, it's not that I need to do that because I'm the Chair of the
SRAC committee for Paratransit. But, I'm still involved very much in Alameda as you heard with
the transportation things, even though I'm not on the commission. But I would consider if that's the
way that the group thinks.
Beth Kenny: So, at this point somebody should nominate. I don't know how else we would do this
other than nomination. I will nominate Commissioner Brillinger as Chair. Do I have a second?
Jennifer Roloff: Would you prefer to continue as Chair? And, Beth would you like to be Chair or.
If you're interested in stepping down.
Beth Kenny: I am fine continuing Yeah, I'm fine either way. I'm fine stepping aside and I'm fine
continuing. I would, if I do continue this year though, I would like it that next year somebody else
definitely become Chair. That's all I would say.
Lisa Hall: I'm sorry if I missed something because you're Vice-Chair but you're stepping down
from Vice-Chair, right? That's what you had said.
Jenn Barrett: Do you want to be Vice-Chair still?
Arnold Brillinger: Not necessarily. I welcome someone else wanting to go into that position.
Lisa Hall: You have some of these other positions
Arnold Brillinger: I've got other positions.
Beth Kenny: So like I said, I would be willing to stay on, but I would not be willing to be Chair
next year.
Jennifer Roloff: And just, and I'm very interested. I'm so new, but for next year I'd be very
interested in a position as well but for this year I'd stay out.
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Jenn Barrett: Is anyone else interested for.
Lisa Hall: [inaudible]
Jennifer Roloff: Right. And Arnold, I welcome you to be Chair, but if you have a lot going on and
feel like
Arnold Brillinger: It's fine with me.
Jenn Barrett: Would you be interested, Jenny?
Jenny Linton: No.
Beth Kenny: So, is there a nomination out there?
Lisa Hall: I nominate Beth stays for another year.
Arnold Brillinger: Second.
Laurie Kozisek: What about the nomination for Arnold?
Arnold Brillinger: There's no second, so it died.
Beth Kenny: All in favor?
All: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Anyone else? So, that awkward business is over.
Laurie Kozisek: That was a nomination, not an election.
Beth Kenny: Yeah. I'm sorry. We did vote Jenn into office. So we asked for a second and then we
all voted. We were voting for the person the second time, the nomination became a vote.
Jennifer Roloff: Are we legal on that? Do you want to double, do you want to present a slate and
vote on it just in case, so we're legal?
Beth Kenny: Sure. So, the slate before us is to have Vice-Chair as Commissioner Barrett and Chair
as Commissioner Kenny. All in favor?
All: Aye.
6.
STAFF COMMUICATIONS
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Beth Kenny: And now, for staff communications.
Laurie Kozisek: Thank you, Madam Chairman. Can you hear me?
Beth Kenny: Yes.
Laurie Kozisek: I can either talk or I can see you. I can't do both. I have two items, one is the email
blast that I sent out this time about the meeting, I don't know if you noticed but I put a bunch of
links in it, of alternate ways that you can see this particular event that we're having here, that you
can do it by video live or video on TV or video tape delayed or a verbatim transcript. And I got
feedback from one person who said, ""That's great because of my disability I'm too tired to come in
person but I would like to see what went on."" And so, I would like to continue to do this.
Laurie Kozisek: If anybody is out there, we'll put it on the website, and we'll try to do it in the next
email blast. If you're not on the email blast, give me a call at 510-747-7930, ask for Laurie and I
will put you on the email blast and then you'll be able to find out all the different ways that you can
get this in an alternate way. The other thing I have to say is, the Public Works has a request to put a
bond on the ballot coming up February 20th. And it's already in the agenda so you can go.
Laurie Kozisek: You know how to go to City Council website and look at the agenda, you can see
the whole program - it's already up there. We want to take out a bond so that we can do many
millions of dollars-worth of projects for our infrastructure, some of which are kind of crumbling and
need this extra help. That will include sidewalks, curb ramps, better streets, less flooding at
intersections, and very importantly more ADA improvements inside of city buildings. So just keep
an eye on that. The Public Works will be presenting it to the Council and if we get four out of five
votes from the Council then it will be put on the ballot and voted on by the members of the public.
So if you have any strong feelings about wanting better ADA compliance in the city buildings and
on the streets, talk to your council member or, however it is you want to voice your interest. Can't
really do it as an agenda item here because I forgot to put it on the agenda. But, take a look at the
presentation and then let your council member know.
Jenn Barrett: Would it go out on the November ballot if it passed the council?
Laurie Kozisek: Yes. And so you'll have more chance to discuss it then but first we have to get it
through the council members.
7. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Beth Kenny: Next we'll move on to announcements. Does anyone have any announcements they'd
like to make?
Jennifer Roloff: Can I ask just a question to Laurie?
Beth Kenny: Yes
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Jennifer Roloff: How many people are on the listserv on your email blasts?
Laurie Kozisek: It's not very many. Somewhere between 30 and 50 I haven't really counted, but it's
just anyone who has shown an interest in that. I send them the agendas but I also send them, like
if
there's a meeting about, say, some particular kind of disability, some sort of a presentation or
whatever, I'll send that out and I would love to have more people on that list. I try not to bother
them with too many emails but I might do two a month on topics of interest. So, maybe you can
spread it around and we'll have more people on the list.
Jennifer Roloff: And do you have the right kind of email software that supports hundreds, for
example, or are you just CC-ing?
Laurie Kozisek: I'm BCC-ing. And it's just going out with the City email, so I think that's a pretty
powerful email function. I've never had a bounce.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay. I know sometimes if it goes over a certain number it'll go to spam folders.
Laurie Kozisek: Yeah. I could break it up into two chunks.
Beth Kenny: And the people on the listserv also get everything that you send to us as a
commission, is that correct?
Laurie Kozisek: No the commissioners are all on the email blasts, BCC'd. Occasionally I will send
stuff to just you in which case you're in the ""To:"" because I figure you guys can email each other
but, when it's going out on the email blasts it's all BCC so you don't see everyone else's. Because I
don't want everyone to have your email addresses.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. Commissioner Brillinger, you had an announcement.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes. I went to the Commission on Disability in Berkeley, I think it was last
week, and they had a program, they had a professor from UC Berkeley. They've got special chairs
that are funded by philanthropists, and she's the Chair for the Disabilities, and she's from Japan. And
it was very interesting hearing her, and I was thinking maybe we could ask her to come and give a
presentation and also invite some other, like the Oakland group so she doesn't have to do it here for
six people and there for eight people and so forth. But it was very interesting because she talks
about that handicap is part of the diversity of human beings.
Arnold Brillinger: And it's not a special group, it's just like there's a whole lot of people that are
short, a lot of people that are tall but there's, most of people are medium-sized and so forth. And the
same kind of things happen with disabilities. And she's got some insights into what they're doing in
Japan for various things, and she said that the universal design, the word ""universal"" should not be
there because universal means everybody. And no matter how many you want to include there's still
some people that are on the fringes. They can't be helped by either visibility or special things. And
so she's got some insights and I'd like to hear her again and I thought maybe we could invite her.
Her name is Karen Nakamura.
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Beth Kenny: And do you have any contact information for her? You said she's part of the Berkeley
Commission?
Arnold Brillinger: No. She gave a presentation at the Berkeley Commission. That's where I heard
her. And also at the Berkeley Commission they had Eric, you remember Eric? Who came with us, to
the sub-committees. And then I went to the Transportation Commission last week and I don't have a
whole long list like I did last month, or last meeting. Because, mostly they had the same
presentation from Victoria after a whole lot of other discussion on things that I didn't understand,
that didn't really have to do with transportation. So their commission saw pretty much what we saw
today.
Beth Kenny: Great. Thank you, Arnold. I wanted to make an announcement. I don't know if any of
you have been following, there's so much going on right now but, what's been going on in Congress
with the ADA. Right now there is an attempt to undo parts of the ADA and make it so that the onus
is not on the business to become compliant, it's the disabled person will have to let them know they
intend to come to their business and give them sufficient time before any sort of claim can be filed
for them not being accessible, or in compliance with the ADA.
Beth Kenny: It would be a severe gutting of the ADA and I just want to keep it on everybody's
radar. I read an excellent piece in The Washington Post, written by Tammy Duckworth, who is a
disabled veteran congress person. I want to keep it on everybody's radar, and I think that it also
made me really glad that we are getting the sub-committee going to look at making the businesses
in Alameda more accessible and how we can go about that. That's my announcement. Anyone else
have anything to say?
Arnold Brillinger: Could you give us a little bit more information on what you just said about
businesses in Alameda?
Beth Kenny: Oh, I said that, after reading that article, what made me feel a little bit better was that
we had already been talking about the issue of focusing in on how to get the businesses of Alameda
to be more accessible. We were already thinking about that before reading this upsetting news.
Jenn Barrett: Yeah. And I'm definitely excited to start working with our sub-committee on that.
Jenny Linton: I have an announcement. Next month David and I will be going to a conference
sponsored by The Arc of California, called the Developmental Disabilities Public Policy
Conference, it's March 11th and 12th, Sunday and Monday. Followed on Tuesday morning by a
visit with our legislator, so we'll report back after next month. David's my son. It's in Sacramento.
Look forward to meeting our legislator.
Beth Kenny: Yes, I look forward to hearing about it.
Jenny Linton: Did we decide on whether we're going to even months or odd months for meetings?
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Beth Kenny: Laurie didn't have a chance between our retreat and today to work out that schedule,
so we're going to look at that at our April meeting.
8. ADJORNMENT
Beth Kenny: If there are no other announcements I'm going to move that we adjourn. Thank you
for a great evening. Happy Valentine's Day, everybody.
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MEETING MINUTES OF
Wednesday, April 11, 2018 6:30 p.m.
1.
ROLL CALL
Jenn Barrett, Acting Chair: Okay, I'd like to call this meeting to order. It's a little past 6:30 on
Wednesday, April 11th. Laurie, can you do roll call for us?
Jenn Barrett: Present.
Jenny Linton: Present.
Susan Deutch: Present.
Arnold Brillinger: Present.
Jennifer Roloff: Here.
Laurie Kozisek: Elizabeth Kenny, Lisa Hall and Anto Aghapekian are not present. Tony Lewis has
resigned. We have a quorum.
2. MINUTES
Jenn Barrett: Thank you. Moving on to item number two, minutes. Does anyone have any
comments from the meeting minutes from our last meeting which was on February 14th?
Laurie Kozisek: We have no minutes available at this time.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICAITONS/NON-AGEND (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Jen Barrett: Okay. Thank you. Moving on to oral communications, do we have any speaker slips?
Laurie Kozisek: No.
4.
NEW BUSINESS
4-A
Changing Commission meeting dates to second Wednesday of odd months, starting May or
July. New meeting months will be January, March, May, July, September, and November.
Jen Barrett: Okay. Item number four, new business. 4A is changing of the commission meeting
dates to the second Wednesday of odd months starting in May or July. New meeting months will be
January, March, May, July, September, and November.
Jennifer Roloff: Will this start next year?
Laurie Kozisek: It can start now.
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Jenn Barrett: Okay. So if we had one starting in May, that would be seven meetings this year. Do
we want to vote on it?
Jennifer Roloff: I would make a motion to have the meeting in May, unless you want to have
discussion before.
Jenn Barrett: I second that.
Laurie Kozisek: You should also include that you want the meetings to be in odd months.
Jennifer Roloff.: So I'll make a motion to change the odd months and start in May.
Jenn Barrett: Okay. Can I be the second for that? Okay. All in favor?
Jenn Barrett, Susan Deutch, Arnold Brillinger, Jennifer Roloff: Aye.
Jenn Barrett: No. At all?
Jenny Linton: Not in May.
Jenn Barrett: Okay.
Jenny Linton: Well we'll have an extra.
4-B
Presentation: Karen Nakamura, Chair of Haas Institute's Disability Studies Cluster, UC
Berkeley.
Jenn Barrett: Yes. So we'll move on to our next item, 4B, which is the presentation by Karen
Nakamura, Chair of Haas Institute's Disability Studies Cluster at UC Berkeley.
Karen Nakamura: Great. Thank you very much. Do you have your little screen working so you
don't have to hurt your necks?
[Pause for A/V to be corrected.]
Karen Nakamura: Thank you, Commissioners, and especially thank you, Commissioner
Brillinger, for inviting me to speak today. So I was just hired by UC Berkeley to head the
Disabilities Studies program. I was speaking to Commissioner Barrett earlier that I'd previously
been about 20 years in New Haven, Connecticut teaching at Yale. And I'm particularly pleased that
the proposed topic was to talk about intersectionality because I think it is increasingly an important
topic for anyone who's in the disability space to think about it. So I'm an anthropologist, and it's
natural for us to think about what diversity is. And increasingly, we've been thinking of disability as
a natural part of human diversity. Disability has always existed across time, disability exists across
cultures.
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Karen Nakamura: And so anthropology, as a discipline that studies diversity across time and
cultures is in a particularly good space to think about what it means especially in terms of all of its
different ramifications. Now, disability also has an expressive component. So it's also a new way of
thinking about human diversity. And one of the complexities of disability is that we are always
constantly being changed by emerging disabilities. So the disabilities that we thought about 30 or 40
years are still with us, but there are also new emerging disabilities and new ways of thinking about
disability that challenge and bring us to different places. And so the topic I want to talk about today
is intersectionality. Now, I am the Chair of the Disability Studies Cluster in the Haas Institute for a
fair and inclusive society which is a new institution that was created by UC Berkeley with generous
funding from the Haas Foundation to really think about what intersectionality is.
Karen Nakamura: Although I'm the Chair of the Disability Studies Cluster, there are other clusters
that are thinking about race, questions about gender, questions about sexuality, questions about
economic disparity, religion, socio-economic differences and so forth. And the goal of the Hass
Institute is to try to figure out how all of those work together to try to bring us to a place where our
society is more fair and inclusive. Now, the concept of intersectionality was brought forth by two
African-American study scholars, Kimberle Crenshaw and Patricia Collins. And it comes out of
many of the criticisms that especially black feminism and third world feminism had of second wave
feminism in the US, that they were feeling increasingly left out of the conversations and out of
some of both the political as well as the intellectual developments that were coming out of
feminism, and they wanted to emphasize that identities interact in complex ways.
Karen Nakamura: So if you look at that little chart that I have there, in many ways black women
found themselves at If we think back to the '60s and the '70s there are two major movements,
there's the feminist movement happening and the civil rights movement happening at the same time.
And in some ways the civil rights movement was supposed to be addressing the concerns of
African-American men and women, but it was really focusing on the men. And feminism was
supposed to be dealing with the questions that affect all women, but was really addressing the
questions that were being posed by white women. And so black women were put in this position of
feeling left out of both movements, and both movements saying ""Well, if you're a black woman.
the civil rights movement was saying ""Well, you know, women's issues should be handled by the
feminist movement"", and feminists were saying, ""Well, your questions about race, that it was really
a question of the civil rights movement,"" and so they were betwixt and between and really feeling
that actually the circumstances that affect people who are at the intersection of two categories are
often unique and addressed by neither of the individual ones by themselves.
Karen Nakamura: So that in a nutshell is intersectionality, but it proves to be much more complex
in practice. So we can think for example of the disability rights movement and how the disability
rights movement interacts, and so we can think, ""Well, the disability rights movement and its
interactions with, for example, gender."" So we have the disability rights movement on one hand
addressing the questions of disability, but really focusing in many ways on the needs of disabled
men and not in particular thinking about disabled women. While at the same time we have
feminism really not thinking about disability at all. And so again, people who are at the intersection
of those two find themselves, disabled women, find themselves left out of both movements. Now,
where intersectionality gets complex is that there are so many different categories that we can be
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intersectional within, there is gender, there's race, there's ethnicity, there's immigration status,
disability of course, religion, socio-economic status, geographic locations, I don't think I have
sexuality up there, occupation.
Karen Nakamura: And so all of these are interacting in extremely complex ways, so that someone
who might be, for example, might be a DACA status, also disabled, who's female but might identify
as gender queer, they're in a very particular location. And it becomes difficult when all of our
services, for example, at the university are compartmentalized. So we have the program for the
Dreamers, we have the program for the LGBTQI students, we have the program for the disabled
students. But each of those are only addressing one component and unable to grasp, or in many
ways pushing out to other things, to the other units. If you're coming to the disabled student and
you're having questions about also race, well, that should be handled by another unit, so they find
themselves getting passed amongst different departments. I think this is a common experience for
many people who find themselves in intersectional categories.
Karen Nakamura: So in some ways the problem of intersectionality can get boiled down to really
two types of questions. One is who are we imagining when we think of the problem of X? And
because we come up, we have a particular thought or imagination of who X is dealing with, our
solutions take a particular bent. So that sounds kind of on the ambiguous side, so let me be more
specific. So when we think of ""Well, what are the problems that disabled people have?"" Well, the
question then gets begged, ""Who do we think of when we think of who are disabled people?"" And
to a great extent when we think of disabled people, and in Google Image when we search famous
disabled, we get a particular array of faces, most of them are white, most of them are male. There
are a few who are not. Most of them have mobility disabilities, so physical-apparent disabilities, and
so, well that might an unfair one. So let's just do a Google Image search for disabled people, and
still that same array of faces. And I think to a large extent when the public thinks ""Well, who are
disabled people? Who are the disabled?"" and this becomes important when it comes to government
organizations such as your commission you think who are the disabled people that we should be
helping? Who are the disabled people who need access?
Karen Nakamura: You have a particular imagination about certain groups of people and in that
imagination other people fall out of those categories. Because we think of disabled people and in
many ways the first things that do come to mind focus around apparent disabilities for example
People with non-apparent Disabilities fall out of this imagination. This affects what our solutions
look like. So if we think about the signature legislation that's come out of the disability movement
over the past 40 years most of them have in their basic construction, a model of who the ideal
disabled person is. Who benefits the most from the ADA? Who benefits most from the
Rehabilitation Act? Who benefits most from how we construct social security?
Karen Nakamura: And in many ways the person who benefits the most is the one who
approximates the closest to the model. And part of this harkens back to the original roots of the
Rehabilitation Act which was a white middle class male soldier who unfortunately got injured in the
war, comes back, gets the GI bill, gets access to university, graduates and then cannot find a job.
And from the Rehab Act then to the ADA that's really the model of some white cis heterosexual
male who has a physical disability which doesn't affect his ability to be a white collar worker and so
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the bills are constructed, the laws are constructed in ways that enable that category of people to
work, but it leaves out a whole group of other forms of disabled people in their imaginations.
Karen Nakamura: And we can see this in all the ways that the ADA hasn't helped people. So if we
think about the ADA and I'm sure you're all familiar that in the 28 years since the ADA has passed,
employment rates for disabled people have not increased, in fact they've actually decreased. And so
what does that mean? What does it mean when our employment rates are decreasing? What does it
mean that the number of disabled people are also increasing? Why is there so much difficulty
accessing services? Why is our infrastructure breaking in particular ways? So these are deep
questions that we need to ask ourselves and at the same time we need to ask ourselves what are the
protections we're building and who are we imagining are the people who are worth protecting. So in
many ways the important question here is, who's getting left out? What questions are getting left out
when we have a particular imagination of who a disabled person is.
Karen Nakamura: So I'm going to have a couple of categories of people. One for example, is
when we think about disability we often don't think for example about diabetes as a disability. We
may if we think oh, yeah I'm sure, sure. But diabetes is a major cause of amputation and
amputations caused by diabetes disproportionally affect African Americans. And so in any
imagination of what disability policy is, we can't think of just people with amputations but we have
to think well, if diabetes is a health crisis that affect populations disproportionately, then really we
should start to think, well, if we have a disability policy we should start thinking about diabetes
which then leads into earlier concerns, well what are the pre-cursors to diabetes? It high cortisol
levels. What's causing high cortisol levels? Stress. What communities are encountering a lot stress?
Many of our racialized minority communities are engaged in that. Food supply; so in many ways
you can think is being in a food desert a disability issue? Yes, it's a disability issue because if you're
in a food desert that doesn't have access to fresh food and vegetables then it's going to lead to a
particular health conditions which then lead to disability.
Karen Nakamura: So you can see the expansion of what we might think about disability moving
into other areas. Okay, in a similar vein we might also think about asthma. Do we think about
asthma as a major disability issue? In some ways we do, in some ways we don't. But when we again
think about the disproportionate effect of asthma across various racialized populations, then of
course it becomes more apparent. Well, then what becomes the disability issue? Access to clean air,
access to exercise and so forth. Policies that affect equality all become disability issues too.
Karen Nakamura: Okay, so I've done food, air, next we move to water. Water is also an important
disability issue and we don't have to think beyond Flint, Michigan, right? Even in Alameda County,
we have disparate impacts. We have a disparate lead measurements between children in different
communities. So it's not only our water supply and which of the water mains aren't freed of lead
pipes, we also have paint concerns. Which children are living in buildings with leaded paint still
remaining? And so forth. So there's an environmental concern about the consumption of toxic
chemicals that might still be in our ground water system. This is a particular concern in Alameda
because of the remaining effects of the naval base and some of the chemicals that might have been
stored. Policing as a disability issue. Yeah, now I'm starting to sound like a broken record but again
policing has a disparate impact.
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Karen Nakamura: Now there are two effects of police violence that make it a disability issue. One
is the disparate impact of police violence on racialized communities, African American and
Hispanic, especially young men, and then the other is mental illness and Police violence. When you
look at those statistics you see the people who are getting injured and killed by police violence are
African American young men and young men with mental illness. And so we need to think about
that I think as a disability issue. And then one of my final slides is thinking about addiction. Part of
the complexity of the ADA when it was signed, Jesse Helms put in small addendum to the ADA that
created a whole group of people who are not considered disabled. Some of them sort of make sense.
Pyromaniacs, he didn't want as people with disabilities but he also included Alcoholism, he also
included trans sexuality and bisexuality. But these were all carved out as particular named
exceptions to the ADA.
Karen Nakamura: At this point at ADA plus 28, let us rethink why don't we consider, particularly
addiction, substance abuse, to be a disability and what would it mean for our disability policy, either
out in the City of Alameda, Alameda County, if we seriously thought that people who were addicted
were disabled, if they were our people, what is our responsibility as the disability community to
addicts? And how does that change what policy means, what access means and so forth. And my
final slide is the question, why don't we do all of this? And I think much of it is because of fear. We,
in the disability community, we have, and I'd identify myself as disabled, we have gotten to a place
where things are relatively stable, but at the same time I think all of us are also realizing that there is
a real risk of backslide. That regardless of what your disability is, things don't seem to be getting
better. They're stable, but falling behind. And I think there's a great amount of fear that if we include
the other categories that we'll continue to lose.
Karen Nakamura: And I think part of the reason why I joined Cal and part of the reason why I
joined the Haas Institute is because it was taking a brave next step, which is saying absolutely not.
The only way that all of our civil rights movements are going to succeed is if we say that the issues
that face African-Americans, that the issues that face the addict community, the issues that face
undocumented immigrants, the issues that face folks with mental illness, these are all in some ways
disability issues and disability issues are very much part of the same issues that they face. And that
they in their communities shouldn't say, ""Well, if you're an African-American person with a mental
illness, well why don't you just go over to the other organizations that just deal with mental illness?""
No, but we need to do a better job of both networking and accepting that we have a responsibility
for all of the other minoritized identities and think seriously about how we can incorporate them
when we rethink our policies. Thank you for your attention and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to
break for questions, but I'm open for questions now.
Jenn Barrett: Yes definitely, if anyone has any questions?
Jennifer Roloff: I have a question. Thank you for the presentation, that was very enlightening.
When you bring up some of the disability issues, you said diabetes can lead to amputations, and
asthma, air quality issues, does addiction lead to people with disabilities and does diabetes lead to
people with disabilities or are you looking at diabetes and addiction as disabled, you're disabled
with those anyway?
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Karen Nakamura: Yes. Thank you. That's an excellent question. I think that my answer would be
that they are only in our domain once they cross a particular line and we'll draw a line in the sand.
So, once it crosses the line in the sand of amputation then they're our people. I think when we think
about diabetes and the larger effects of diabetes even if you're pre-diabetic, the effects on your body
are already apparent. We don't do this on, with other disabilities saying ""Well oh you're just a little
bit blind so we won't count you until you can't see enough or we don't do it with deafness."" We don't
say, ""Well if you only have some hearing loss, you're not disabled until you get to a certain stage.' I
think in general in the disability community, we have tried to create a big tent, but the big tent has
particular patchy areas and some of the patchy areas we have to think, why are some of the areas
that we have patchy?
Karen Nakamura: Is it because in some ways we have either internalized ableism or is sometimes
our internalized racism or our fear that if we accept people who other people see as unworthy of the
disability status then we shouldn't include them? I think that's what drives sometimes our decisions
of when we consider something to be a disability or not.
Jenny Linton: I have a question. I've been a member of the National Association of the Dually
Diagnosed, which looks at the developmentally disabled community that also suffers from mental
illnesses. And one of the most striking things I learned in the most recent conference I went to was
that two of the new places, domiciles for this population are in the jail system, as well as
homelessness. What are we doing to combat this?
Karen Nakamura: Yes. That's a huge issue and in some ways it's bigger than the scope of a city.
It's a national issue. Right now, the three largest psychiatric institutions in the US, in terms of the
number of people who are housed in them, are the Chicago Jail System, New York Jail System, and
the LA County Jail System. And that is an astonishing figure. We all talk about de-
institutionalization. Well, it's really great, but in many ways we have re-institutionalized them in jail
systems. And the question with the homeless population is harder because often, the situation of the
homeless is so hard that folks who didn't have a mental illness before they became un-housed,
developed one because the circumstances are just so hard right now.
Karen Nakamura: But it's an incredibly difficult situation. And I think that's one of the biggest
challenges for the cities in the Bay area, is how we think about the homeless crisis. And then also,
what we think about how we can change the jailing system, how we can think about how to use the
5150 institutionalization, temporary institutionalization processes, hospitalization processes, and
whether or not there are ways that we can nudge policing policies to either be more
accommodating, to figure out better solutions, but, boy, it's an incredibly tough situation, and I feel
like it's not one that we talk much about.
Karen Nakamura: Early on in my career, I had wondered one thing which is one, you don't see a
lot of adults with Down syndrome, and when we do see a lot of adults with Down syndrome, they
all seem happy. And the kids generally seemed happy. In some regards, many people with Down
syndrome, adults and children are happy, but I once spent some time volunteering around Down
syndrome and there are a lot of unhappy Down syndrome children, who then become unhappy
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Down syndrome adults, but you don't see the unhappy Down syndrome adults. And what I came to
the realization with is that's because they become institutionalized. And so that is the situation that
faces many different communities, is that I know, within the psychiatric disability end, the sort of
management that one has to have of affect and so forth is incredibly draining. But one has to do it
because of continuous concern of institutionalization or other forms of violence against them. And
that in itself is the cause of more traumatization, so it is incredibly difficult. And that's where I think
the importance of different communities, who haven't allied in the past is really important, so
I
appreciate your question. Thank you.
Jennifer Roloff: My other question is, so right now there's petitions going around to get sort of a
revision of Prop 13 back on the ballot. And I remember coming from a family, personally, who, I
have a brother with disabilities after Prop 13 and then following Prop 9 in California, a lot of the
resources closed up for people with disabilities. So, I think they're trying to put something back. I
think it's its own measure, but you're probably familiar with it, I forget what the number is. It
amends Prop 13 to include commercial that was excluded from the whole property tax. And I'm
wondering does your organization get behind any political initiatives or do they do any lobbying?
Karen Nakamura: We don't do lobbying per se because we're part of the University of California.
That's not our goal, but we do produce white papers, and so we do have white papers that think
particularly about the housing crisis and what are the factors behind the housing crisis and behind
the de-funding of the state government. Many times, whether it's at the city, county, or state, or
Federal level we're finding that we just don't have the money to do things and, in many ways, that
was a deliberate strategy. If you can control the money supply, you can control what's possible. And
so, I think we need to rethink how we fund things. And certainly, reform of real estate taxes is really
critical, especially in the current environment that we're in. And so many things could be done if
Proposition 13 was even partially revoked. But there's so much fear around that. Everyone is afraid
that if we tinker with it, there will be devastating consequences, but it's hard to also remember that
if we don't do anything, we have devastating consequences. We already have devastating
consequences.
Jennifer Roloff: Does your organization have a website with a link that has a different white papers
that you produce?
Karen Nakamura: It does, yes.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay, great. And will you leave that with Laurie or this deck or whatever? Thank
you.
Karen Nakamura: Yes I will. Thank you very much.
Jenn Barrett: I also had a question. I really enjoyed your presentation, I thought it was very
interesting. Can you go over a little bit about what the Haas Institute does and then provide any
information on outreach for people who want to get involved in some of these issues?
Karen Nakamura: Yes. So we were funded as a distinct unit on campus that tries to think
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intersectionally across different issues and so we have seven different clusters, and I mentioned
them earlier on. And I am the Chair of the Disabilities Studies cluster, but our goal is as
Commissioner Roloff asked about, is to think through what policy could look like and to produce
analyses of the situation that we're in and different directions that we could head. And so, through
Laurie, I will send a link to our homepage and to the white papers that we've produced.
Jenn Barrett: Well thank you again so much for coming to speak. We really appreciate it.
Arnold Brillinger: Karen, I'd like to thank you personally for coming. I heard you at the Berkeley
Commission for Disability, and I said, ""This is somebody we need to bring in here and enlighten our
group and also because we broadcast this, and there are people at home that are hearing this and
because it's our way of spreading the word and thank you very much. I really appreciate it.'
4-C Overview of City of Alameda Service Request System: See Click fix (City Staff)
Jenn Barrett: Okay, we're going to move on to 4C, a presentation about SeeClickFix.
Laurie Kozisek: There are two online resources that I want to tell you about, that I want everybody
to know about. One of them is called SeeClickFix. You go to S-E-E-C-L-I-C-K-F-I-X.com This is
the page here, that you get when you do that. You click on ""I'm a Citizen"" or you click on 'Sign up""
over here and 'Sign up as a citizen', and then you put in your name, your display name, you might
want to just have your last initial, and your email address, which will not show up in SeeClickFix,
and your password, and where you either live or work, and it will assign you to the SeeClickFix for
Alameda. You put in the Alameda address and then let me show you what it looks like here.
Laurie Kozisek: Because I have a membership here as a citizen, and it looks like this. On the left
hand lower side there, there's a scroll of a ticker tape of issues that are coming in. And you'll see
that almost all of them are illegal dumping. That's the most popular one, we get hundreds of those.
The other ones we get that are really common is sidewalks. If you have any kind of a tripping
hazard or something that's not quite ADA Compliant, a curb ramp or sidewalk, that's in the public
right away, you can report that and we get a lot of reports for that.
Laurie Kozisek: And that's how we have the citizens as our eyes and ears to help us find the places
where we need to respond because part of the ADA is that, not only do you build it correctly, but
you must maintain it correctly, and we have to find out where it has deteriorated so that we can fix
it. If you're a citizen, you would come in here and you'd go, ""I want to report an issue.' You go here
to report an issue and open it all the way up here, and then, if you've got it on your phone, that's
why they call it SeeClickFix - you see it, you click a picture of it, and we fix it and we even know
where it is. Because theoretically, you click it and you upload it right there. Sometimes people will
click the picture and then they go upload it at their house and then it's got the wrong address. But
what you do is you type in the address. I'm going to put in the City Hall West address here.
Laurie Kozisek: Okay and it pops up with a map as soon as it realizes what I'm doing, and then I
go ""next"", and I put in my issue and this is the important thing I want to tell you about, is these
categories. I'm going to read them out in case people can't see them on their TV. The highlights. If
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you have anything to do with Alameda Municipal Power that is not like a downed power line, you
can put that down. AC Transit, paratransit, anything to do with Alameda Point, the animal shelter,
Boards and Commission information, bus shelters, cable TV, city council, city manager, or code
enforcement if you think there's something wrong with something someone is building.
Laurie Kozisek: If you want to get your curb painted blue for an accessible space, election
information, disaster preparedness, fire prevention, all kinds of graffiti, illegal dumping, lagoon
problems, library, parking enforcement. Then we get down to your pedestrian or bicycle issues and
a popular one is pothole repair, Public Works complements, recreation and park requests so if you
have a tripping hazard in the park you would put it there or trees getting in the way so you have
access issues. And then sidewalks is a very popular one if you have any sidewalk issues.
Laurie Kozisek: And if you have any problems with signs or street sweeping or a streetlight out. If
you have suggestions for traffic calming. Anyway, there's all kinds of things you can click on here.
So you'd click on one and then you'd put a little description on it and then you'd go to the bottom
here and click: Report your issue. I'm not going do that now. And then you would get an automatic
response saying: Yes we got your request and it's put into our queue. And then we have a program
called Lucity, that's just internal to us, that takes all of our requests and routes them to the correct
person who gets a notification saying: ""Here's something in our inbox you need to work on this"".
And then you have to assign it to somebody and follow it through and it keeps reminding you until
you get it done.
Laurie Kozisek: Great way to make the city more accessible is to let us know where there are
issues. I put in a SeeClickFix for the door here. We had not gotten a button on it, but I have
requested it. And just have at it, if you're not sure what to do, if you're not comfortable with this
computer interface, then what you do is you call up the public works main number 510-747-7900,
and ask to do it over the phone. We'll be happy to have someone upload it for you.
Laurie Kozisek: What I see when I sign up as an official is a whole ticker tape of things that are
going on, and what their status is, who they've been assigned to, what their number is. And then I
can look up the whole dialogue. Say, when somebody writes in and says, ""Every time I get out of
my car, I step into a big puddle."" Or, ""My wallet falls into the puddle, do something about it."" And
so I will send messages to, say the inspector, to go look at it and take some pictures, and they'll
upload some pictures, and we'll maybe talk with another engineer about what we can do about it.
And we'll come to a conclusion, we'll talk back and forth with the person who made the request by
email, and we'll try and get it resolved that way. So you can see a whole list of things going on for
each item. So I've got a different way of looking at it here. That's really all I have on SeeClickFix.
Do you have any questions?
Jenn Barrett: My sister and I use it, and we think it's really easy and accessible, so I think it's a
great program.
Laurie Kozisek: Good.
Jennifer Roloff: I have a question. For traffic issues around the school's pick up and drop off that
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seem to be causing repetitive problems, would that be logged here, and you would work with the
school district? Where's the intersection with schools and city?
Laurie Kozisek: We manage the Safe Route to Schools program, so you would talk to us. I believe
there is one there on schools. If you're not sure, just put in say, ""Traffic calming"" And that will go to
the same person, and they would try and get back with you about what the specific issue is, and
maybe go out and observe it, and see what kind of traffic difficulties there are, and what can be
done about it.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay. Thank you.
Arnold Brillinger: I'm just particularly interested in the part about calling it in, and having
someone else fill out the thing. And thank you very much for that. A lot of us can't make our phones
work in that way, where we can click, and take a picture of it right away, and stuff. And it doesn't
work when we've got one hand, or whatever.
Laurie Kozisek: Yes. So, we realize that many of the people that we talk to are not computer savvy.
They call up and they say, ""I've been in Alameda for 80 years."" And then, they proceed to tell us
what the problems are, and we try and find out where they are. And a photo helps, but you don't
have to do a photo. And if you do a photo, do a close up, and do one far away, because sometimes
we get pictures of a pothole, we don't know where it is. So it's nice to have the surrounding also.
But yes, we would like to be accessible as possible, so that we can help people who cannot interface
with us through a phone or through a computer. And I think, we even have a TTY, if you look it up.
Well, I don't think that's used much anymore. Did you have any further follow up?
4-D
Overview of ""211"" System Alameda County Social Service Referral Line (City Staff)
Jenn Barrett: Great. Thank you. We'll move on to item number 4D, overview of the 211 system.
Laurie Kozisek: Okay, the 211 system. It happens that I volunteer for the Walnut Creek, with the
Contra Costa County 211. And so I know about the 211 in general, but I thought I'd tell you about
the Alameda County 211. A 211 is a nationwide program for social service agency referrals. So just
about wherever you are, you can type in 211, like I did there, 211.org or you can dial 211. There are
some rural areas that don't have it, but they're trying to get 100% coverage. They're county based.
So there's a 211 for Alameda County, there's one for Contra Costa County, there's an aggregate one
that covers San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Solano, Marin and Sonoma County or Napa
County. It covers a larger area, but in general, they're county based. The people that serve for 211 in
Alameda County is Eden I&R, I&R standing for Information and Referral.
Laurie Kozisek: And so to get them, you either dial 211, or you use these backdoor numbers. The
reason they have these backdoor numbers is, let's say, you got a cousin in Virginia who's having a
substance abuse problem. You would put in their ZIP Code, get their backdoor number for their 211,
and you call them up and you say, ""What are the local resources available for my cousin?"" And
then, you'd be able to help somebody like that, remotely. So anyway, I'm going go to Eden I&R,
because that's ours. And there's a resource finder for health, housing and human services, and
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2018-04-11,12,"stay? Do you have a source of income?"" All these different things that you need to know, and then
guide you to people that can help you. So it's a wonderful resource, and I wish everyone knew about
it. Any questions?
Jenn Barrett: If you're calling on a cellphone that's in another area, but you're physically in the
area that you want assistance, it'll work?
Laurie Kozisek: Generally the cell tower you are closest to is where it will go. So, sometimes if
you're right on the border in the Oakland hills, you will end up in the wrong one. And in that case,
whoever you get to will say, I'll get a call from someone who lives in Brentwood but is working in
Oakland, and she calls on her lunch break and says, ""I need some services in Brentwood."" But she
gets to the 211 in Alameda County, so they switch her over to me in Contra Costa County and do
their live transfer, or you just give them the backdoor number.
Jenn Barrett: Great, thank you.
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OLD BUSINESS
5-A
Commission and Board Liaison Report (All Commissioners)
Jenn Barrett: Okay, we'll move on to our next item, number five, old business. 5A, Commission
and Board Liaison Reports. Does anyone have a report that they would like to state? Commissioner
Brillinger.
Arnold Brillinger: Thank you. A while back when we decided on going to different commissions
and councils, I chose transportation. And so I go to various, not just the transportation commission
here in Alameda, but I go to other places too, to find out what's happening in the area of
accessibility, and so forth. And so I went to the AC Transit accessibility committee meeting. And
there, I've got something that I thought, ""Oh, this ought to be broadcast around to various people.""
Now when I look here, you guys probably don't fit here, but the United Seniors of Oakland and
Alameda County is having their 27th annual convention on May 25th. And I'm sure that if you look
them up, you will find more information on how that works, and how to register for it. But in the
AAC meeting, that's the Accessibility for Alameda or AC Transit, they spend a lot of time talking
about RM3, and I'm thinking, ""Why don't I hear about these things except when I go to certain
meetings?""
Arnold Brillinger: And RM3 is the thing that's going to be on the ballot in June, and it's in the nine
Bay Area, or nine county, it's in the Bay Area, and it's about increasing the toll on the Bay Bridge,
and the other bridges. They plan to increase it a dollar in 2019, and another dollar three years later
in 2022, and another dollar in 2025, and this is on the seven different bridges connecting in the Bay
Area. Now it doesn't include the Golden Gate Bridge, because that's under a different ownership.
But I thought, ""This is something that we ought to all know about."" And also, I want to talk a little
bit about the SRAC. The SRAC is the Service Review Advisory Committee, and that's where I'm
the chair of that, that meets in Oakland, and it's about the paratransit of the Bay, East Bay
Paratransit. If you get problems, you could come to our meetings and let us know what they are.
But, we just approved the Measure B and BB paratransit plan, and funding application, and we also
approved the staff's recommendations on East Bay Paratransit on their current no-show cancellation
policies.
Arnold Brillinger: If you have six no-shows or late cancellations, if you have six of them, you're
possibly going to be suspended. But we decided that because it is fairly liberal in how we do this,
you're sent a letter after four times and they say, ""You've already missed four in this quarter."" And
when you get six, you get a letter that says you'll be suspended, but you can come in and plead your
case. And very few times do we really suspend anybody, but it makes them more aware of. ""Hey,
you've got quite a few."" And it disrupts the service. And, the next meeting is going to be May 2nd at
12:30 in the afternoon, at 1750 Broadway, that's the East Bay Paratransit building. And then, I also
wanted to talk about the Transportation Commission and the Planning Commission, and I saw Jen
there. She even went up and introduced herself as being kind of a watchdog, I think.
Arnold Brillinger: And, the Transportation Commission and Planning Board had an interesting
meeting. It took about two hours just for the joint one and then a lot of people left, and the Planning
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Board, they continued with their meeting. But I heard a couple of things that were kind of
interesting. And they showed some figures on the actual, and the projected growth of California in
the 20 years from 1990 to 2010, it grew from 29 million to 37.2 million, 28% growth.
Arnold Brillinger: In the next 30 years, from 2010 to 2040, they expect that it will grow from the
37.2 million to 46.6 million, which is a 25% growth. And of course Alameda is part of California,
and needs to plan correctly on how they're going to deal with this. Now, the Bay Area growth in the
20 years from 1990 to 2010, it grew from 6 million to 7.1 million. 18% growth. Now, they expect
that in the next 30 years, that it will grow from 7.1 million to 9.3 million, which is 30% growth.
And this is a higher percentage than California's growth rate. And the city of Alameda, in those 20
years, 1990 to 2010, it actually lost some of its population, about 3.5% but they expect to regain
that, so they've got to work on how to plan for this.
Arnold Brillinger: And, now I don't want to bore you with a bunch of figures, but a couple of
things that were brought out is that in the planning they can't say, ""Oh, we've already got way too
many cars trying to use the tube and the bridges, we don't want any more housing, we don't want
any more people here."" Traffic is not a way that you can decide on your building program. It has to
be safety and something else, but it has to be safety and it's not a matter of just saying, ""Oh, we've
got more cars than we want to deal with, or more people."" That's pretty much the end of my report
but I just wanted to say that. And then Jenn, you probably had a different take on the meeting?
Jenn Barrett: I thought it was really interesting. They talked about the requirements that the state
has on providing additional housing, so every plan - I'm not sure how long the plan is, but three year
plan, you have to increase. The state gives you mandate on how much housing that you have to
increase, so it's very interesting how that's state driven and then one of the public comments about
the transportation, they brought up the Alameda free shuttle, when they're talking about increases in
transportation and not single ridership of cars and stuff. It was nice to have someone who
represented the Alameda shuttle there.
Arnold Brillinger: I do have a couple more things. There's a inter agency liaison commission or
something like that, committee, and it met today. And what this is, is three people from AC transit
and three people from Alameda, and they're city council people, and those are board people from
AC Transit. And they get together quarterly, and they had their meeting today and at that time they
talked about the Transbay tomorrow. That's their whole thing on, using the brand new building that
they're building over there. And also they talked about the different bus lines here in Alameda, the
19, and the 96 especially up at Alameda Point, and they talked about the sink hole.
Arnold Brillinger: They said, ""Well something else, will happen again to clog up the works at the
tube and how are we going to deal with that? Let's use this."" And so the people, the transportation
person, they're all on this, and trying to put together plans for this. Now I don't know if any of you
use the ferry from Harbor Bay, they're trying to get people to ride the buses. I was on a bus that I
actually stopped there other day, I was coming from the airport going through Alameda and three
people got on, out of the whole ferry load of people. And they realized that that's a problem, that
people are not taking the bus, but they are really working on it, they've got supervisors there to
make sure that the buses get there on time and stay long enough to take people off and so forth.
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They're working on it, they're working on it and they need to let people know that they are working
on it and put it in the papers or get the word out, because there's just not enough parking down
there, for all the people that want to use the ferry.
Susan Deutch: I just wanted to comment on the Harbor Bay Ferry. I do take that ferry and I live
near that, and they took away street parking near the ferry and made it two hour parking, so there
are limited parking spots now for people that need to take the ferry. And some people really do need
to use their car to get to the ferry and when the parking lots filled up, they can't park in the street
and there's no place for them to park, but some people have to get their kids to school in the
morning and then get to the ferry on time and there's only three ferries. It's been an issue in Harbor
Bay and a lot of people are talking about it, especially on that Nextdoor app, where people talk
about issues. And they're trying to come up with some solutions to the parking problems so that
more people will use that Harbor Bay Ferry, it's limited.
Arnold Brillinger: Because the ridership has gone up.
Susan Deutch: Yes.
Arnold Brillinger: But they want to get more people on the bus, get there.
Susan Deutch: Yes, it's just some people can't take bus for reasons.
Arnold Brillinger: And they did talk about the fact that some people needed to drop their kids off
first and then make it over to somewhere else and it just doesn't work out.
Susan Deutch: Yes, and they took away the street parking there. And so it's become more difficult
to take that Ferry. A lot of people in Harbor Bay are actually driving all the way across Alameda to
get the other Ferry.
Jennifer Roloff: Where there's more parking?
Susan Deutch: Yes.
Jennifer Roloff: I have another comment. You made a point that at the joint commission meetings
they were saying, something like, ""We don't want to hear about over development that causes traffic
but is it a safety concern?"" And my daughter rides her bike down Central towards Encinal High
School; she's at the middle school there. And since she started last year, we started building up a list
of the accidents. And yesterday she got hit, and she got hit on her bike. Two girls, they were riding
next to each other and both got knocked over and it was an intersection outside of Paden School.
And I believe that is Highway 61, is at central as it goes towards the high school.
Arnold Brillinger: It's a state road. [Editor's comment: It's not.]
Jennifer Roloff: Yeah, I believe its state road and it brought me to think about what Karen
Nakamura had said, the intersections. So as a commission, luckily she doesn't have any disabilities
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but as I shared my story with our friends and you hear about ""This person became disabled from
this biking accident."" And I've been to City Council meetings for Bike Walk Alameda and other
biking organizations who come and talk about the pretty bad accidents that have happened with the
biking community. I know for liaisons, there is a health and safety issue around all the bikes and
traffic in Alameda.
Arnold Brillinger: I just now looked at my notes here. There was the public health and safety,
those are the only reasons for accommodating, for zoning the land differently.
Jennifer Roloff: Oh okay.
Arnold Brillinger: Because the state says, ""You can't use transportation issues as reason for
rezoning or blocking housing.""
Jenn Barrett: Does anyone else have any items they want to comment on for their board liaison?
Jenny Linton: Like Arnold I tend to go to meetings outside of Alameda as well. And we spent last
month a couple of days at the public policy conference in Sacramento. It was put on by the Arc of
California and United Cerebral Palsy. And they went through some of their priorities for 2018, a
very nice overview of the state of support for the developmentally disabled in California. They're
looking at things like a uniform holiday schedule. The state is trying to cut back on the daily
services and it's causing problems for families and individuals that want to live independently. And
there was a $25 million bridge funding proposed by Assembly Member Holden, that that they're
hoping to part of the budget as well.
Jenny Linton: Social groups were cancelled as a result of the recession or postponed. They've not
yet been restored. We're looking to restore some campaign outdoor opportunities for the
developmentally disabled population. And they put together an integrated living program. The
housing and community development agency, the state has closed their last developmental center,
the institutions, I think in 2006, and they're sitting on land across the state that they are hoping to
sell and put back into the general budget. And this agency is proposing that we take the money on
the sale of these lands and put it back into the budget to support the developmentally disabled, for
which it was built to begin with. Those were some interesting issues I've learned about in
Sacramento.
Jennifer Roloff: Just a quick question, that $25 million bridge, is that what you were talking about
that's going to be on the ballot for increasing the bridges? Is that the same?
Jenny Linton: No it's a bridge loan to get from one year to the next.
Jennifer Roloff: Oh, it was a loan. Sorry.
Jenny Linton: It's a bridge fund, bridge grant.
Jennifer Roloff: Oh got it.
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Susan Deutch: Trying to cover some of the services that aren't being funded by the previous year's
budget into this year's budget.
Jennifer Roloff.: Oh, okay. Thank you.
Jenn Barrett: Commissioner Deutch or Commissioner Roloff, do you have any liaison report?
Susan Deutch: I am a liaison to the Library and the Park Department but there hasn't been anything
on their agenda. Keep checking their agenda.
Jenn Barrett: Thank you.
Jennifer Roloff: And I will be attending Parks and Rec Commission tomorrow night.
Jenn Barrett: Great.
Jenny Linton: One more thing. At the City Council meeting last week we declared April, Autism
Awareness Month in the City of Alameda.
5-B
Subcommittees Report and Schedule
Jenn Barrett: Yeah, Jennifer and I and Beth were all there. Okay, we'll move on to subcommittees
report. Commissioner Brillinger, do you have anything for this?
Arnold Brillinger: I don't. I don't know that I'm on any subcommittees.
Jenn Barrett: Really? They were assigned during our retreat. We can look into that. Does anyone
else have a subcommittee?
Arnold Brillinger: I had a question. We do have a subcommittee. It's dealing with making sure that
different buildings in Alameda are ADA accessible, right? And is that dealing with businesses?
Jenn Barrett: Yes, so Anto and I are working on that and I actually maybe want to add to the next
agenda but I came up with 10 ways for businesses to improve accessibility and so the thought that
we had come up with was that if a business can show that they did something to help people with
disabilities enter their businesses or use their services that we would, provide them with a sign, and
this is just a draft that I've come up with so far but it says, ""Alameda supports people of all
abilities."" Businesses displaying this poster have completed steps to make their businesses more
accessible to all. We're still in a planning process of it and hopefully we can add it to the agenda,
and we can get comments for the next meeting, but that's what Anton and I are starting to work on.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, I was just going to say that San Francisco, their Disability Council had a
report from their small business part of the city government. And how they have put together and
they've got a deadline for places to become accessible, businesses. And I think that they also help
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them out if they need help, but I'd like to share some of that. Get some of that information for you
and for you to take a look at it.
Jenn Barrett: Great! Yeah, I think that for the purpose of this just right now is that we want to be
as encouraging as possible and it's very expensive for businesses. Although it is the law that you
readily achievable, make your businesses accessible, we want to be like a guiding force and work
with the business to help them and reward them for small changes that they made in the hopes that
they'll continue to make changes as financially, able to do so. That was our beginning thinking but
we're definitely, excited to hear comments from the rest of the commission.
Susan Deutch: We've done that in the past with some businesses and it works out pretty well. And
we didn't pressure.
Jenn Barrett: Okay, great! I'm glad to hear that you had success with that.
Susan Deutch: Like the Marketplace they were not accessible, but we worked with them.
5.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Jenn Barrett: That's awesome. Great. Okay, are there any other subcommittee reports? We'll move
on to staff communications. I think just that there's the position open.
Laurie Kozisek: There are two positions open to fill one existing and one potential vacancy for the
Commission on Disability.
6.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Jenn Barrett: Great, thank you, and we saw the email go out from you last week so that was great.
Thank you so much! Item seven announcements, does anyone have any announcements? Okay, I'd
like to adjourn this meeting at this time, do I have a second?
7.
ADJOURNMENT
Susan Deutch: Second.
Jenn Barrett: All in favor?
All: Aye.
Jenn Barrett: Okay, thank you so much everyone.
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2018-05-09,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MUTES OF
Wednesday May 9, 2018 6:30 p.m.
1.
ROLL CALL
Beth Kenny: I would like to call to order the meeting of the Commission on Disability for
Wednesday, May 9th, 2018. I'd like to start with roll call.
Laurie Kozisek: Beth Kenny?
Beth Kenny: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Anto Aghapekian?
Anto Aghapekian: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Lisa Hall?
Lisa Hall: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Jenn Barrett?
Jenn Barrett: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Susan Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Arnold Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: Here.
Laurie Kozisek: Jenny Linton? And Jennifer Rolloff. Did I call you? Susan Deutsch.
Susan Deutsch: Yes.
Laurie Kozisek: Okay.
2.
MINUTES
Beth Kenny: Thank you. Moving on to agenda item number two, the minutes. We have approval of
two minutes for this meeting. First, we'll start with the approval of the minutes for the February
14th, 2018 meeting. Does anyone have any corrections or questions about those minutes? I move
that we approve the minutes for the meeting of February 14th, 2018.
Arnold Brillinger: Second.
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Beth Kenny: All in favor?
All: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Approved unanimously. Minutes for the April 11th, 2018 meeting, does anyone have
any comments, questions, or changes they'd like to see on those minutes? I don't know if this is the
appropriate place to say this. I missed that meeting, but I just wanted to say I did watch it and I
thought it was an excellent meeting. And yes, guys, I'm sorry I missed it. I did have one question
that I don't know, again, if this is the right spot to address this, but in the SeeClickFix, during your
presentation, you said that you go in as a citizen, and I'm just wondering about that verbiage, if we
can say residents instead of citizen.
Laurie Kozisek: I think it's just listed as citizen, but there are two main ways to get in, either as a
citizen or as a staff member for the city. So I was just trying to show it from both points of view.
Beth Kenny: Okay. So there's nothing that somebody has to click saying, ""I am a citizen""?
Laurie Kozisek: No.
Beth Kenny: Okay.
Laurie Kozisek: You could be just somebody who happens to be coming through.
Beth Kenny: Okay. Great, thank you.
Laurie Kozisek: And so I might make comments about Oakland or something too. Who knows?
Beth Kenny: Great. Thank you.
Laurie Kozisek: For the record. Jennifer Rolloff is here too.
Beth Kenny: Welcome. I move that we approve the minutes for the April 11th, 2018 meeting. All in
favor?
All: Aye.
Beth Kenny: Any opposed?
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATION
[None]
4.
NEW BUSINESS
Beth Kenny: Now we'll move on to agenda item number three, oral communications, non agenda.
It does not look like we have any public comments tonight on non agenda items. So let's get right
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into it. Agenda Item Number Four, New Business, item 4A, Climate Change and Disability by Alex
Ghenis. Climate Policy Specialist with the World Institute On Disability. Welcome, Alex.
Alex Ghenis: Hi.
Beth Kenny: And Patrick.
Patrick Peligri-O'Day: Hi. Great pleasure to be here. My name is Patrick Peligri-O'Day. I am an
Americorps fellow placed with the city working in the Public Works Department on the
development of our climate action and adaptation plan. And I have been in touch with Alex for the
past few months. We've been talking about the possibility of taking considerations of the disability
community more seriously in this plan, because there's an important intersection between climate
adaptation, climate preparedness efforts, and the disability community and Alex has been a really
great resource. And so I'm very excited that he's here to talk to you all today and excited for his
presentation. And Alex is a climate policy specialist. Is that your title?
Alex Ghenis: Policy and research specialist.
Patrick Peligri-O'Day: Policy and research specialist at the World Institute on Disability. He does
a lot of really amazing work. He has worked mostly at the state level, I believe, with California
Departments of Public Health and California Offices of Environmental Services. So it's a big
pleasure to have him here in Alameda today talking to us. So without further ado, go ahead.
Alex Ghenis: Great, thank you.
Alex Ghenis: Hi everybody. So yes, my name is Alex Ghenis. I'm a policy and research specialist
with the World Institute on Disability. We're located in Berkeley. We are a non-profit that focuses on
a number of disability related issues such as employment, economic empowerment, healthcare, and
also have been working in the field of disaster readiness for over a decade. About four years ago, we
started an initiative to research and begin developing policies looking at the intersection of climate
change and disability. So how people with disabilities will be affected by climate change, and then
what we can do to safeguard people with disabilities' well being and as cities or other government
entities such as Alameda are planning for climate change in the future, to ensure that disability is
included in those plans.
Alex Ghenis: So I'm here to talk just about that general issue, what Alameda is looking at in the
future. We, as I mentioned just a minute ago, have done research, we've done presentations, we've
done direct work with other entities around disaster readiness especially, and we're very interested
in communicating and potentially partnering with Alameda to be a constructive partner in the
development of the city's climate resilience plan. I've got a presentation here to give a bit of an
overview. It's one that I've done before, but really tried to tweak it to meet the needs of Alameda and
what you will be doing going forward.
Alex Ghenis: So just a quick overview is the simple bullet points. Climate change is here and
progressing. I'm going to give a quick run down on climate change because I think it's important to
set the stage why we need to focus on adaptation and resilience, especially at the individual city
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levels. Cities can reduce greenhouse emissions but also need to get ready for what's on the way. And
that's actually very possible here at the city level. The need to focus on disability and then Patrick
has shared with me and we've talked a bit about Alameda's plans and needs going forward. Then
how we can integrate disability and then a little bit about the potential for a partnership between our
organization and your city.
Alex Ghenis: Really the TLDR [Too Long Didn't Read] of what is climate change is basically the
sun gives thermal radiation. There are different gases in the atmosphere, oxygen, nitrogen,
hydrogen, helium, don't hold any heat. They don't vibrate when the sun's rays hit them. The only
things that keeps us from being the temperature of space are greenhouse gases such as carbon
dioxide and those have gone up, CO2 has gone up about 46% since we started burning coal way
back in the 1880s, and that is starting to make things a lot warmer. As things get warmer, that
changes the way that the earth operates. It changes many, many aspects of the climate system.
Alex Ghenis: Beth and I were very briefly talking about the city's focus on disaster readiness, but
there really is a lot more than that. Alameda for example is very concerned about sea level rise,
especially over the long-term, being that most of the city is pretty close to sea level. And that will
affect nature ecosystems and humanity, and affect all of these in kind of intersecting and diverse
ways.
Alex Ghenis: Just a quick graph right here. The next slide is, you can see this is how carbon and in
solid form and in gases moves throughout the system. And we have started, I had another slide, and
I don't know why I forgot to put it in here, but it has circles around a good half dozen of these 20
different things that we've really started to throw out of whack. So burning fossil fuels, we're
starting to pull that coal gas the way that we've changed our farming. There are more forest fires
because things are getting hotter. And one of my main concerns is the fact that we've kickstarted a
system that is going to perpetuate itself, even if we go entirely renewable. And that's why it's so
important to adapt.
Alex Ghenis: Some of the impacts of climate change, I'm sure you all have seen these before, the
direct impacts being stronger, more frequent storms. What hit us last year in 2017, the winter of
2016-2017 was really unprecedented, especially in the way that those storms came down.
Expanding drought and forest fires. There's a lot of drought in the southwest right now. It's certainly
affecting California and the forest fires, I think, as we all know, were a big, big issue this past year,
and will continue to be going forward. And if there's forest fires in Napa, it doesn't necessarily
affect homes in Alameda, but it certainly affects people with asthma and particulate matter and
things like that will affect the population over here.
Alex Ghenis: Sea level rise and ocean acidification. As oceans get warmer, they expand and get
taller. And as our ice caps melt, all that ice floods into the ocean and the oceans get taller still. And
we're looking at a lot of that, potentially a whole lot, which is really important as I said to the city.
More intense heat waves, especially in urban areas. The Bay Area certainly deals with a lot of that.
And Alameda has certain parks and open spaces, but for the large part is an urban environment and
there will be very intense heat waves here. And then just general weather pattern changes, which
will affect us. We've built society around a certain weather pattern and it's going to change moving
forward. It will have indirect impacts on infrastructure, food insecurity, poor health and mortality. It
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will lead to a greater number of people with disabilities and exacerbate disabilities, which is
certainly something pertinent to this commission. There will be economic disruptions which I know
certainly, I think people with disabilities rely on the modern economy and social services a whole
lot more in some ways than able-bodied folks do. So certainly, if that goes haywire, that'll affect our
community.
Alex Ghenis: And then other issues, I'd say, widespread migration and displacement in climate
refugees here. But one of the things that Alameda's initial scoping shows is that, if certain parts of
the city in the very long-term, start to deal with sea level rising go under water, then the city might
have to plan a certain amount of managed retreat from certain parts of the island of Alameda. Really
quickly, we can't stop it. And I love Al Gore and 350.org, and the rest of that. But the reality is that
if you look at the left side of this slide, this was from actually the mid 2000s, one of the
International Panel on Climate Change graphs. And you can see where we've come from 1850 in
terms of average surface temperature. And depending on how much we omit moving forward, that
blue is the lowest optimistic scenario, which a lot of people are saying is pretty much not going to
happen, and things can go all the way up to the red. And if some of the nature's feedback loops go,
then it can go even more than that. Again, it's a very serious issue for us.
Alex Ghenis: It's important for us to adapt. And this actually I think is one of the most under
addressed issues, but something that really, really matters for society and saving lives and well
being. And I see it as two main steps, which is, number one, generate general resiliency in society in
general. This is economic resiliency. This is strong social systems. This is strong infrastructure. And
whether you're focusing on climate change or otherwise, this is really valuable. The Bay Area might
get hit by an earthquake. If we have more community and infrastructure resilience, in the face of
climate change, it's beneficial regardless. And then finally, situation focused planning, on the many
impacts of climate change. And I'll talk about the specific ones that Alameda is looking at in a
minute. And this all does take time, partnerships, very detailed planning and resources. And it's best
to start early and really invest with a strong forward looking plan. So adaptive climate justice.
People talk about climate justice, is that the basics are certain vulnerable communities will get hit
hardest by climate change.
Alex Ghenis: What we've found in our research, and in a lot of the literature and planning, is that
people with disabilities are just a word in a list of ""vulnerable communities"" as opposed to
recognizing kind of the intersectionality, the diversity of types of disabilities and the diversity of
needs. But certainly other communities are developing countries and the global south. Economically
disempowered individuals, which is a focus of the city's resilience planning. People of color and
religious and ethnic minorities that might be marginalized already. And then again, people with
disabilities. Adaptive climate justice says, first of all, this is something we all care about period is,
address the root causes of vulnerability and disproportionate kind of marginalization, and make sure
that that isn't there on the baseline. Provide the resources for people to have a healthy, sustainable
life. But then as we are preparing for climate change, recognize that certain communities will need
specialized, focused resources for the future. Provide those and continue to provide them into the
future, using what we call an equity framework.
Alex Ghenis: Don't just say, ""We're going to give out all the resources equally and everybody will
be happy.' Recognize that some people need more and then distribute them in an equitable way. So
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here's a question mark. What does climate change have to do with disability? You might start to get
a gist of it, but I'll give a quick run down. First of all, people with disabilities need support, and
these are different types of supports for health and independence. This can be medical support, such
as quality healthcare, medical equipment. I got this wheelchair on Friday. It's awesome. Different
supplies, medical supplies being shipped through the port of Oakland, perhaps which again, is at sea
level. Medication and a quality healthcare system. Life quality resources, such as personal care
attendants, or just community support. Accessible housing. Accessible and public and affordable
transportation that meets people's needs and personal situations. And then, jobs with the necessary
accommodations and the necessary civil rights protections, to keep people employed and
economically safe.
Alex Ghenis: It does provide funding and stability, or require funding and stability. So certainly
social services is something that is constantly in danger and needs our overall communal and
societal support. Community and family support is also something important there, and it takes time
and effort to develop. It's vulnerable. And I think this hits at all levels. We're seeing, oh gosh, I think
it was Louisiana or another state recently, where they are just kicking tens of thousands of people
off of Medicaid, and they're getting kicked out of long-term care facilities, and nobody knows
where they're going. It takes a lot of time and effort to build these things up, but they can be fragile.
On the flip side, even at the social network, I remember when I was in college, I lived in a co-op
with 56 other people, which was a fantastic community. And then I graduated and I moved into an
apartment with one roommate. And it was like, ""Okay, I have to rebuild my whole social network or
emotional and sometimes logistical well-being."" So it's something that we all need to focus on and
recognize as vulnerable.
Alex Ghenis: Something to be concerned about, climate change does lead to more disability. There
is a problem is that most climate change reports simply quantify disability into what they call,
""Disability Adjusted Life Years' which says, ""If you're 100% disabled and dead, and you're that way
for one year, then that's one disability adjusted life year. If we think that your disability is half of
death then, and you have that for one year because of some public health impact, then that's half a
disability adjusted life year.' We don't like this format obviously, because it does not recognize the
dynamism and the complex needs of people with disabilities, but it shows that to a certain extent,
climate change will have health impacts on people, and we need to move beyond that public health
measure to recognize that this is a social issue as well.
Alex Ghenis: Some of the issues are storm-related injuries that could happen here, things such as
malnutrition, the drought in California, if it raises food prices, if we start to see long-term droughts
and we have people with disabilities that are economically disadvantaged, then that might actually
affect their health. Invasive diseases, we haven't seen that so much here, but it certainly is a concern
potentially into the future. At the broader scale, climate-related conflict, more injuries, and then
things such as the exacerbation of disability through, say, more air pollution from forest fires
affecting people with asthma that can cause long-term lung damage. Next. So some of the major
impacts, if we look at the And actually, the framework that I like to use for disability, and I'm
going to take a quick step back here is And you mentioned you all talked about intersectionality,
right?
Alex Ghenis: Disability is diverse, complex, and intersectional. So is climate change. We, I think,
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need to take a look at The way to look at this is, look at types of disabilities, how that impacts, or
how that interacts with different effects of climate change. And it's difficult for us because it is so
complex to put that into policy and to put that into efforts to protect people's well being, that we
need to take a really dynamic look at it. But some of the simple ways to look at it, if you can
imagine major impacts on people with disabilities is during extreme weather events, which could
include storms and natural disasters. We might need to have concerns about the accessibility of
shelters and evacuation methods, warnings about incoming disaster events. Certainly, people in the
fires that were up in Napa who were deaf, didn't hear the sirens going down the street and people,
some people were able to escape, but only because they woke up from the smell of smoke. That we
need to have good outreach and communication during disasters. There are fragile support systems,
so that if something happens and people get scattered then individuals that need personal care
support will need to re-establish that.
Alex Ghenis: And that also something we should focus on providing potentially in disaster shelters
if need be during heat waves. I, with my spinal cord injury, can't sweat on very hot days. It's a very,
very frustrating part of my disability, and certainly people with other compromised health
conditions might be vulnerable to extreme heat. Also because of economic situations, might have
lower quality housing or reduced access to air conditioning or the ability to pay for that. When we're
talking about displacement and migration and potentially longer term efforts at shifting around the
population of Alameda within the city, we do need a focus on accessible transit, accessible housing,
and then also the ability to have portable personal care support and government and healthcare
benefits. Some of the economic effects is, as I mentioned briefly earlier, that people with disabilities
already deal with disproportion of poverty, already deal with higher levels of unemployment, things
along those lines, and if economies go haywire or just simply have some disruptions due to climate
change, then that will especially affect our community.
Alex Ghenis: So a quick example here is natural disasters, these are certainly things that we've
seen. And what we notice is that the main one that got people's attention was Hurricane Katrina and
the view of people who used wheelchairs stranded in the middle of streets in New Orleans. Those
are the bottom two images, the left side is Katrina, and then the right side is the middle of the Super
Dome. On the top left, we've got forest fires in California. We're unlikely to get direct fires here in
Alameda, but certainly smoke and some of the maybe even disruptions to power, if fires hit major
transmission lines could be a concern for our community. On the top right, the busting of Oroville
Dam, which caused 300,000 or 200,000 people to need to evacuate last 2017, January 2017. So
some of the issues that we care about, and certainly things that Alameda cares about in terms of
disaster readiness are communications for people with sensory disabilities, first of all, to make them
aware of what disaster response plans are and produce those in accessible formats, digital formats.
Alex Ghenis: Potentially print braille, potentially large print for people with cognitive or learning
disabilities, making sure that resources are available in very easy to understand manners and
resources, and a diverse range of media. Having appropriate announcements in shelters including
interpreters and if need be, closed captioners, things along those lines. Evacuations having
accessible buses and operational Paratransit during, before and after natural disasters for evacuation,
and also having coordinated evacuations of nursing homes or other areas that might have a higher
concentration of people with disabilities that would otherwise be potentially stranded. So for
shelters, which Alameda is looking at, and it's certainly something to look at in the future, shelters
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are fully accessible, physically accessible.
Alex Ghenis: And also when we've worked with the Red Cross before, and we ensure that when
their functional assessment service team members are looking at the layout of a disaster shelter to
ensure that if there is a designated accessible area, there should be one or at least there should be the
ability for people with disabilities to navigate everywhere. But the provision of accessible beds, the
provision of wide enough aisle ways, the provision of not only accessible restrooms but washing
areas, and then also the personal support and medical care needed both in the short-term and the
long-term. And if the proper care can't be provided in the long-term in a disaster shelter then having
a long-term plan to allow people to get to areas that can meet their needs. And finally recovery,
which is housing and employment, which I think is actually self-explanatory. As we're rebuilding
things, we always need to make sure that we rebuild them socially and physically accessibly.
Alex Ghenis: So something for Alameda to keep in mind just with any sort of long-term planning is
the integration here in California with Executive Order B-30-15. So I was just talking about the
needs of people with disabilities. This is actually a state statute that is very important for the city to
work with, especially in coordination with state agencies moving forward, looking at climate
resilience. So it was signed in 2015 by Governor Brown. It set a greenhouse gas reduction target of
40% below 1990 levels by 2030. But the parts that are really especially important to us are, it
mandated the updating of a full safeguarding California climate adaptation and resiliency plan every
three years. And it mentioned that the state's recurring five-year infrastructure plan will take current
and future climate change impacts into account in all infrastructure projects. And something that
we've worked with the California Department of Public Health on is this last sentence, as they're
producing their health equity language and efforts, ""Actions should protect the states' most
vulnerable populations.""
Alex Ghenis: And as I mentioned earlier, usually disability is a word in that list, Executive Order
B-30-15 doesn't say disability specifically. It also doesn't say specifically any other type of
""vulnerable populations,"" but it's something where we need to raise our hands if possible and really
advocate for the disability community to be included here at the state and here at the city level. So
Alameda's needs By the way, there's no good aerial pictures of Alameda on Google Image search.
Can I say, I had to take this from jewishalameda.com It's like, I'm Jewish, but there's gotta be more.
So there's Alameda, it's pretty, but it's flat, sea level, isolated in the potential situation of any sort of
natural disaster, separated simply by a short series of bridges from the mainland East Bay on either
side. This is something that I think people in the city are aware of, but it really does raise a certain
amount of vulnerabilities.
Alex Ghenis: So the things that Alameda cares about are: Stronger storms in extreme weather,
which is what I mentioned earlier about disaster readiness really building resilient infrastructure.
And something that I always advocate for is as And this is simple Americans with Disabilities Act
basics of, if something is getting remodeled or given some sort of resilience retrofit, make sure that
it is up to code and go beyond code, make sure that it's universally accessible. When going through
climate resilience, there is going to be updating retrofits, focus on anything from transportation to
building code to the size and height and strength of levees surrounding the city that wherever
possible and wherever disability is applicable, to make sure that those retrofits meet and go beyond
code.
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Alex Ghenis: And then also individual and community preparation. We were talking about bands
on porches for block parties and things like that. This is actually not related per se, but the fact that
during natural disasters and extreme weather, if people are isolated or the city doesn't have and
probably doesn't want to have, because of privacy invasion issues, a list of people with disabilities
to go after, that having community networks, communication, assistance, responsiveness, and really
kind of closeness, so that we don't abandon people in times of strife, is important. So in terms of
drought, water shortages, and crop stress, this is something that the entire East Bay is concerned
about. In California, we rely on the snowpack for our water, and that is turning more and more into
rain. And our reservoirs can't necessarily hold it in the way that it's going to be coming down.
Alex Ghenis: Alameda and the entire East Bay Municipal Utilities District are concerned about
water shortages. It's something that the city cares about, and it could potentially be a pricing and
access issue, especially during extreme times of drought, if some people can afford bottled water
and other people can't. Again, that economic issue of people with disabilities comes up. Community
food programs, in ensuring that people can afford food is also really important.
Alex Ghenis: So sea level rise, Alameda is focused on strengthening and raising levees and sea
walls around the island. This is something that encroachment of the ocean isn't really anticipated to
happen for another at least probably 20 years or so, but king tide flooding and the rest will be an
issue moving forward, especially if emissions go on kind of unabated. And then finally, housing and
buildings, either reinforcing them, kind of getting them up on stilts to deal with the really heavy
flooding issues or simply relocating communities and doing some managed movement and retreat.
And certain parts of the island will get hit more than others or are economically easier to say, this is
an area that we're going to deprioritize. So that's something for the commission and certainly long-
term city planning is aware of.
Alex Ghenis: So there are existing efforts that are very relevant to Alameda. There's the Adapting
to Rising Tides Bay Area consortium of different government agencies and non profits that has a
good focus on underrepresented and vulnerable populations. I've been a part of that, and they are
aware of the needs of people with disabilities, but they're looking at what's going to happen in the
bay as oceans rise over time. What parts are vulnerable and then how do we either build up natural
or artificial barriers to protect our communities from that. The city of Alameda is doing the climate
resilience plan. California Department of Public Health has an Office of Health Equity that is very
passionate about climate change in health equity and we've been one of their main partners in terms
of including disability into that discussion. And the California Office of Emergency Services also
has a Office of Access and Functional Needs. A gentleman, Vance Taylor, is the head of that, and
he's incredibly involved all across the state. And there are national partners as well that are really
passionate about that issue specifically, especially in the face of the unprecedented number of
natural disasters that happen across the US, in Puerto Rico, and other incorporated islands.
Alex Ghenis: So what to do in Alameda? I say that this cycle is research, analyze, educate, and
implement. So research first is understand, and this can be the commission. I also will say, the
World Institute on Disability would love to be a partner with the city in any of these efforts,
especially as we've already connected with organizations nationally and state wide and really want
to help the city implement these plans. So identify key stakeholders in terms of disability agencies,
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non profits, and leadership, whether that's Centers for Independent Living, whether that is state
agencies or sub offices within those state agencies. And then also climate related experts around
specific issues, whether it's resiliency, disaster response, or public health. And then, again, focusing
on kind of the subgroups that address the issues of people with disabilities in each of these climate
focuses, start to do outreach, understand and document the needs of people with disabilities within
Alameda. And then also understanding the broader subject of the needs of people with disabilities
and transposing it onto the city's current and upcoming situation.
Alex Ghenis: Collect informational resources. We have a good amount available, but we want to
make those available to the community as well. And then also be multifaceted and intersectional,
recognize that this is an incredibly complex issue and really needs to be addressed from levels of
multiple directions and build connections for future work. And something to be said about this is
people are becoming more and more aware of climate change, people are caring more about it. This
can be a stepping stone to bring together a lot of stakeholders raise the kind of specter of people
with disabilities in something that is this role that is noticeable. And that hopefully also will
permeate out into other areas of civil and human and disability rights.
Alex Ghenis: So we need to analyze the needs and policies of people in the city. So for primary and
secondary climate impacts, I know I've got limited time, so I'll just go through this a little bit
quicker. But around storms, sea level rise and displacement, housing and economic needs, and
multiple disability, focus on all of those. Start to work with experts on policy development, and then
implement those and incorporate them into the long-term planning of the city. Recognize that
certain stakeholders have different capacities, and some people are overwhelmed. I'm sure the
commission has dealt with a lot of non profits with very underpaid folks or volunteers that care a lot
about disability and are committing a lot of their time to it. When you recognize that people have
certain focuses, but they care about this, and they're passionate. It's the same reason that everybody
here is on the commission itself.
Alex Ghenis: And then finally, build a road map for the long-term. Actually, when I say build the
road map for the long-term, the city's climate resilience plan is looking out to 2100 and beyond. We
want to safeguard not just the next 20 years, but this is a long-term thing for the survival of the city
of Alameda. And it should be a long-term thing for the survival and really well being of the
disability community within the city. So for education, make sure that we do tailored information
and outreach, whether it's to climate experts to disability community, to more disability experts and
non profits, or just people with disabilities in the city at large. Incorporate people with disabilities.
I'm sure a lot of you know the phrase ""nothing about us without us,"" which is a huge disability
mantra, which is include the disability community in anything that has to address disability.
Alex Ghenis: Don't expect somebody that doesn't live firsthand experiences to provide ""expertise"",
and certainly the wisdom of the crowd can be fantastic. And then speak the language of each of the
different stakeholders and focus on solutions. I think we don't want to freak people out. We want to
keep a positive forward looking outlook, and we want to integrate this with really what is long-term
solution focused planning. Coordinate efforts with everybody involved and here we've got a little
image. If we're forming our city for climate resilience, we might as well make it accessible for
everybody. Recognize that who knows, the Bay Area might have a more stable climate than
Southern California running out of water. We might have more people with disabilities moving
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here, period. This is, it sounds cynical humor, but it's, I think a reality that we might be looking at in
the future. We want this to be a friendly, inclusive, fully accessible city here and into the future.
Alex Ghenis: And then also, that disability reforms are beneficial regardless. Climate change
provides a really strong point of advocacy for that. I think that the commission and hopefully us and
any allies can really articulate that. And also on the flip side, the very strong imagery of the
vulnerability and experience of people with disabilities during climate change provides a real
kickstart for the need for climate adaptation and resilience. So it's something for us to point out to
anybody that might be slower on implementing these plans, and then we want to connect and
coordinate, brainstorm policies, combined messages, and advocate with everybody that's involved.
Alex Ghenis: A really quick overview of us in our organization. The World Institute on Disability,
as I mentioned, we've been working on climate change for about four years, but we've been around
for over 35 years. We were co-founded by, some of you may know, Ed Roberts, Judy Heumann, and
a lot of the kind of original leaders of the disability rights movement. We're located at the Ed
Roberts Campus, on top of Ashby BART and partner with a whole consortium of other disability
agencies including the Center for Independent Living and Disability Rights Education and Defense
Fund and other partners over there. We have connections in Washington. We have connections in
Sacramento. We have connections internationally. And we really do work to learn and implement
the best kind of forward-looking policies for people with disabilities.
Alex Ghenis: We do direct consulting with government, non profits, and business communities, as
well as take grants in for research and policy development. And we have been working with the Red
Cross and other stakeholders for over 10 years on disaster readiness efforts specifically. I started
researching climate change and disability a little bit over four years ago, and it's amazing what
we've found and how much people care about this, and we really hope to get something going. I
will say, we've worked on statewide policy. We've worked on a lot of public education. We have a
lot very interested people. I'm excited about the potential to work with Alameda because this would
be our first opportunity to really get in the weeds of the city's climate resilience plan. And I view it
as an opportunity to have Alameda as building a framework, a replicable framework for the rest of
California, the Bay Area, the country, about how to address the needs of people with disabilities in
climate resilience. Because this hasn't happened yet. This focused project and effort hasn't happened
yet anywhere, and it needs to happen, and I would love to see Alameda be the first city to do it.
Alex Ghenis: So how can we make it happen? So Alameda is already a leader in its climate
resilience efforts. I was amazed to hear from Patrick about the work that the city is doing and really
looking forward to seeing it moving forward. We believe that we can assist the city in analyzing
inclusion opportunities in its resilience plans and policies and get into the weeds in that as
necessary. Connect to key stakeholders through our networks at various different levels and really
establish long-term connections there between the disability community, between the city, and
really try to make those sustainable moving forward. Having on the ground community research,
assembling and bringing forth, whether we do surveys, whether we do We've done a lot of focus
groups. We have areas for focus groups, and I'm sure that we can partner with the city to have
a
space to hold those focus groups, providing active input in city efforts. And then also in the long-
term, if the city chooses to, providing ongoing consultation and up-to-date information as it comes
about the regional, state, and national levels.
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Alex Ghenis: So next steps for us certainly is to see how interested everybody here is, continue
moving forward, seeing what the capacities of the commission and the rest of the city are, bringing
you all in, and hopefully at least providing a conversation and a set of resources for you, if you
choose to take this on whatever level you do. And then finally developing a plan, long-term plan for
action, some timeframes, and resource needs. And the last slide is simply to collaborate. We hope to
collaborate. So thank you. The next slide has my contact information if anybody wants to write it
down as well.
Beth Kenny: Thank you, Alex. That was very informative on topic presentation of what we're
dealing with here. I'm going to start with Commissioner Brillinger. We've been trying to find a new
way of going around and having everybody ask their questions, so go ahead Commissioner.
Arnold Brillinger: Thank you very much, Alex. And I've been to a couple of meetings here
because we do have people that are trying to figure out what we should do in this or this whole
thing of climate change and rising sea level. So we do have people especially interested. And so
there are people that are really working on this already. And we thank you very much for your input
because we need to have this kind of information for ourselves. And I just want to say those that are
interested in this, when you see meetings here in the city dealing with the climate control and the
rising sea level, that you go ahead and put in your information also. Thank you.
Beth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Brillinger. Commissioner Roloff?
Jennifer Roloff: Hi. Thank you so much. That was so informative. A couple of questions. One, is
Alameda your first target city? Is that because we're an island, and we're completely at sea level?
Are you doing this presentation with Oakland and other cities vulnerable? Or can you tell us a little
bit about that?
Alex Ghenis: Yes. Our initial outreach was looking at the cities that were involved in the
Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities initiative. And included in those are Berkeley,
Oakland, and San Francisco. Berkeley, the individual that was involved there, they were near the
end of developing their general resilience plans and said that they weren't available to help. We had
actually a very difficult time getting in touch with Oakland and San Francisco. And then How
in
the world did we meet? This was actually kind of a great chance meeting between Patrick and
myself. And then you mentioned how much that the city is doing, and it kind of just turned into a
conversation that turned into the potential for a partnership. So we have done outreach. I've found
that Patrick and the city in general have been much more responsive than everybody else, and I
really appreciate that.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay, great. The other question I had, have you worked with or met with any of
the folks from CASA? Are you familiar with CASA? Patrick, have you introduced Alex to any the
CASA folks? It's Community Action for a Sustainable Alameda. They've been around for a while,
but the past 12 months, they've had a big resurgence. They've had some great events. We have the
Executive Director of Sierra Club lives in Alameda, and he's always really participatory. So I think
that could be another partner in this.
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Alex Ghenis: Is there a question that you'd like me to respond to in there?
Jennifer Roloff: Yes. If you've been working with CASA so far and have shared the WID [World
Institute on Disability] with CASA?
Alex Ghenis: Oh, yes. So some background: CASA is instrumental in the development of the
climate plan update. We did have a climate plan in 2008, and this is an update to that, which CASA
pretty much requested. And they are a part of our green team, which is a group of city staff who are
advancing the climate plan project forward. And so they're at all of the tables and they are helping
plan a community outreach process for the climate plan right now. I haven't actually brought WID
and Alex's potential work up with them yet. So far that's just been a conversation internally, but I
think that they would be really supportive. They're planning at least 12 outreach events in between
now and September.
Jennifer Roloff: CASA is?
Alex Ghenis: CASA is, with the explicit goal of reaching people who might not come to our big
three community workshops. And so as they're looking to make the outreach process more inclusive
and accessible, I think there's a lot of opportunity to incorporate some of the ideas that Alex raised.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay, yes. And just a thought, maybe our commission could work with you and
have a liaison between you and CASA as well. I know we have liaisons to planning board. I think
this is probably really relevant as we look into Alameda's taking on a lot of new development lately,
and a lot of people are worried about the sea level rising and developing new communities that are
going to be vulnerable in 20 years, give or take. So I'm very interested in following up on this.
Thank you.
Alex Ghenis: Thank you.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. Commissioner Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: Thank you very much. I just have some comments. I heard you talk about that we
have to provide medical care or medical facilities. We need to have medication available. We may
need to have a medical personnel available, and I think it's important to note that right now,
Alameda Hospital has to have some upgrades done to earthquake proof it by 2020. And then by
2030, the hospital has to be totally earthquake proof, or it has to reach much higher standards. Right
now, the hospital is being run by Alameda County Health systems, and there's been recently
questions about whether they're going to be doing those upgrades that came up at a board meeting.
Susan Deutsch: And I think that a hospital is critical for any systems that we put in place, that
we're going to need healthcare providers, medication, you mentioned. So I think this is something
that's really important for our community to stand by the hospital and try and make sure that we still
have a hospital because we are an island, and we are vulnerable, and we have a vulnerable
population here. So I just want to bring that up as something to keep in mind that that's a big issue
that's going to be coming up, and it could affect any plans for a disaster or what comes up. Just
information.
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Alex Ghenis: Thank you. May I?
Beth Kenny: Yes.
Alex Ghenis: We're located in Berkeley. I live around the corner from Alta Bates in Berkeley.
They're going to shut it down by 2030 also. And then the only full UCare hospital, there's going to
be nothing between Richmond and Oakland. It's certainly something that the whole East Bay I think
is concerned about. When we're looking at this resilience in case of a disaster, people might not be
able to get to the hospital. I think having redundancy of medical care all around the island, or at
least emergency medical resources is going to be incredibly important as well.
Susan Deutsch: Yes.
Alex Ghenis: Yes. Thank you.
Beth Kenny: Commissioner Barrett.
Jenn Barrett: I just want to say thank you so much for your presentation. It was interesting. Your
first comment, what does disability and climate change have? How do they go together? And by the
end of it, it's how do they not go together? It's every single aspect. And then just a comment that
we've been lucky that diseases haven't hit California as much as other areas, but they are coming.
Lyme disease. KQED did a radio broadcast about Lyme disease just last week. And so something
that our community needs to learn about as the rest of the country has had to.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. Commissioner Hall.
Lisa Hall: Thank you so much, Alex and Patrick. A lot of great information. One point you brought
up, it's an ongoing struggle to get a list of people with disabilities in any city. And it's been an
ongoing challenge that we're trying to work through because we have to gain the trust of those
people to give us that information so we can help them. And I think another point you brought up,
we have the eroding shoreline of Alameda, and we are unique and different than other towns
because we are an island, and so we really have to concentrate on helping taking care of all of our
people here, especially disabled people, because we've talked about in a crisis, an earthquake, things
like that, there are so many things that are not accessible, and you made the statement that a deaf
person did die up in the fire because they didn't get out. They didn't get heard. All your work you're
doing is wonderful and we want to do what we can, too.
Lisa Hall: I think most of us all acknowledge there's huge problems with the global warming of our
world, and it's all connected. We're very connected. The housing and the food inequality, whatever
you want to call it, is all connected too. And the sad fact that when a person becomes disabled, their
whole life changes, but their whole economic standing, it shelves you right into poverty. It's more of
a challenge already. You've got enough challenges. So anything we can do to help and raise
awareness is awesome. So thank you so much for what you're doing.
Alex Ghenis: Thank you.
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Anto Aghapekian: Alex, Thanks for your presentation, that was very informative. And there is an
organization in Alameda called CERT, C-E-R-T [Community Emergency Response Team]. Have
you been in touch with them? Have you talked with them?
Alex Ghenis: Not directly with Alameda. I'll be open, is that Patrick and I have had conversations.
We're very much in touch with CERT and actually that whole organization in Berkeley, because
we're an active partner in Berkeley. We are moving forward, hopefully soon, on doing more
outreach in community engagement with Alameda, but we also want to get the buy in of as many
people as possible. But we have not yet with CERT. No.
Anto Aghapekian: Because to my understanding, what CERT has been doing is locating cultural
centers, be it a senior center, be it a church hall, as where in case of an emergency people with
accessibility issues would be gathered. And this going out for almost two, three years, and I haven't
participated. I've been in the periphery. But I was hoping that you would have some connection with
them, or they have some connection with you, to get information from people that have needs. I've
known where they are. And in case of an emergency, CERT can send people, and go and take them
to rescue them, and nothing has happened. You have no idea.
Alex Ghenis: So certainly, that would be one of the organizations that would be a part of our
outreach research on inclusion in policy and planning. We've worked with CERT before. One of our
staff members is CERT trained and has been an active member of that whole process. She
mentioned that in Berkeley, she went to the CERT training and raised her hand about, ""Wait, what
about disability?"" And there wasn't enough response. So, we recognize that, at least in Berkeley, and
we've heard stories from elsewhere, that inclusion of disability is an issue. Because this is
Community Emergency Response Training or Community Emergency Response Team. But that
would absolutely be on our list of outreach and communication.
Anto Aghapekian: Great. Thank you.
Alex Ghenis: Thank you.
Beth Kenny: Thank you again for your presentation. I felt similar to Vice Chair Barrett, ""What
does climate change have to do with disability?"", before coming across your stuff. And this
material, this presentation, was very illuminating. The only time I've actually come across it is this
commission worked on a Universal Design Ordinance for residential development here in the city,
and oftentimes one of the major pushbacks was, ""How can we make a zero step entrance when sea
levels are rising?"" So I can see a lot of areas where we can really help each other. Because now it
seems very obvious. At the time, I was like, felt like, ""Well, I have to advocate for disabled people
and I can't worry about the sea level rise. That's not what I'm doing."" But to bring it together is a
much better approach.
Anto Aghapekian: And I would like to work with you. And it seems like a lot of the Commission
has expressed the same. What Commissioner Roloff was suggesting, sometimes we do a
subcommittee for specific issues where we'll have three to four commissioners asked specifically
working on an issue, and that's how we did the Universal Design Ordinance. And I could see
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something like that really working in this situation, and I think that would be a good approach for us
going forward if that's something that you're interested in. I'm not 100% clear on how we buy in,
but I think from what I'm hearing from other commissioners and from my own sense is that we
would like to buy in. So how would that ideally look?
Alex Ghenis: Well, Patrick do you want to address that or should I?
Patrick Peligri-O'Day: You can go ahead.
Alex Ghenis: Obviously, part of this is going to be how much time we can devote, depending on
either grants that the city and ourselves could partner on to really make this a flagship, a replicable
partnership for the rest of the Bay, the rest of the California, the rest of the country, or simply
devoting a certain number of funds, which would be an equivalent number of hours from our
organization from the existing resilience planning. So I think that a subcommittee would be
fantastic. Also because I'm located in Berkeley, and if there are commissioners that are interested in
doing a lot more email communication, and telephone calls and other little things, so that I'm not
constantly bouncing back and forth and SO that everybody's time can be used a little bit better. And
it seems like you all are very well networked within the disability community and the city over here,
a subcommittee sounds fantastic.
Alex Ghenis: Again, we would have to identify how much time and energy, and what types of
resources we can provide. We really don't want to do this on our own. We want this to be a
partnership. We're not just going to sit and write a white paper on the side. Hopefully this can be a
really active involved thing, and there's certainly a lot of players. Patrick knows that there's a lot of
players already in the climate resilience planning development. So yes, I think a subcommittee, and
then figuring out what the options are for our involvement would be fantastic. Is that a good enough
answer?
Beth Kenny: I feel like it is. Does anyone else have questions about that response? And just so you
know, a subcommittee, it would be, like I said, about three or maybe four members of the
commission, and then they would also be reporting back to the commission as a whole because
we're all very well networked. When you were talking about aiding transportation, I thought, ""Oh
man. Commissioner Billinger will be all over that."" And when you talked about just the different
architectural stuff or making things accessible, I thought about Vice Chair Barrett and
Commissioner Aghapekian. And so I think that we can all still be part of it, but we'd have a
subcommittee that could be in touch over email, and certainly if there are meetings that need to be
attended, send a representative or send our thoughts. Is that what you also were thinking, Patrick?
Patrick Peligri-O'Day: Yes. I'm very excited to hear what you all are saying. So thoughts off the
top of my head. One, depending on the official path forward that this commission decides for itself,
my next step would be to elevate this up to my boss. The project manager for this project is the
Deputy Director of Public Works, Erin Smith, and she knows that I'm here and that we're having
this meeting today, and the Director of Public Works, Liam Garland, who is the official executive
sponsor for the project, from the city side. Funding is a question that would have to get worked out.
And there might be different options, but it seems that this would work best if it's integrated into the
current plan as much as possible. So there's existing outreach that's planned. There are three
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community workshops. So if Wade wants to come and within the Commission want to provide
input on the content of those workshops and helping do the outreach for those workshops to ensure
that disability community is represented, that's one option.
Patrick Peligri-O'Day: Another option is actual development of strategies. Well, one, we're going
to look at what are the risks that we're facing, and there's a lot of insight that Alex has provided. I
also want to say that Laurie knows a ton, and I was just talking to her. I learned a lot about things
already. So getting that into the assessment of risks and getting that into the assessment of what
strategies is the city actually going to set out for itself, and put dollars toward implementing upon
the plan's completion. Those are all steps that currently exists in the process, that the Disability
Commission, along with Alex and WID, if it works out, could provide an answer. Does that makes
sense?
Beth Kenny: Yes, thank you very much. Commissioner Brillinger.
Arnold Brillinger: I was going to suggest that Patrick email Laurie whenever there are community
meetings on this subject. And that he sends her the information. She'll send it out to us, and we try
to get to as many as we can. And we won't, all seven of us, be at the same committee or same
meeting, but at least there will be several people to put in some input. And we've got to remember
that the whole idea of the disability needs to be included in the plan. We don't want to leave it out.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. I think that along with Laurie sending out the information to us, she can
also send it out to our listserv. We have community members who are part of our email listserv and
we like to send out announcements to them. So this would be something that we could definitely
send out that via listserv. At this point I am going to ask if anybody would be interested in being
part of this subcommittee.
Anto Aghapekian: Could you tell us what this subcommittee is going to do?
Beth Kenny: Sure, it sounds like things are still fluid at this point, and so I can't give you a hard
and fast of, this is exactly what it's going to do. But I think to start off with, people who would be
available to be a point of contact for these two gentlemen and then coordinate with the going to
these meetings. But also, when Patrick mentioned having a seat at the table where the policies and
things are really being decided, I think it would be great if we could do that. I also respect the fact
that we all have a lot going on. So I don't want to say we are 100% there. I would love to be there,
but I know that we have other things going on in our lives as well.
Jennifer Roloff: I'd be happy to be a point contact now if no one else is ready to commit, I can just
take that on for now and work with Patrick and keep in touch with Alex, and maybe start some
conversations with CASA and some of the other organizations in Alameda that are already
underway.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. Commissioner Roloff.
Alex Ghenis: Thank you.
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Beth Kenny: And I'd be happy to serve on the subcommittee with you. You can take the lead but I'll
be here for anything you need.
Lisa Hall: I would as well.
Anto Aghapekian: You can include me also.
Beth Kenny: That's our four members, we can't go past that or else we'll have a quorum. But like I
said, we'll all still be very much involved in The subcommittee will be giving
reports
of
any
activities that we have. Is it fair to say that it's a fluid situation and we're I think,
unless
there
any
other comments or actions to take on this item, I want to thank you guys so much. This was a great
presentation.
Alex Ghenis: Thank you so much for having us, and really looking forward to working with you.
Beth Kenny: Patrick, make sure that Jennifer can get your contact
Jennifer Roloff: Yes, and I can get that from Laurie too, right?
Beth Kenny: Yes.
Jennifer Roloff: I have Alex, but Patrick
Alex Ghenis: Also, WID.org/climate gives you our climate website that has more information.
Beth Kenny: Thank you.
Lisa Hall: Can I ask one more question? Just curious, since I'm having a daughter graduating. What
was your major in college and how did you steer towards this side of the ballgame?
Alex Ghenis: I did Geography with a focus on climate change in my undergrad, specifically
looking at melting methane hydrates, and runaway climate change, and how frightening that is. I
went to grad school to focus on energy storage, so batteries and what not, paired with renewable
energy. And as I was working on that, so much of it was, ""Wait, I charge my wheelchair at night,
and solar panels go during the day, and how reliant am I on a functioning system?"" And it was less.
And then I left that job and started this home project with WID because I found that working in the
renewable field was great, but working on this problem specifically was a much better use of my
time. Yes.
Lisa Hall: Excellent.
4-B
Outreach to Businesses and California's Certified Access Specialist program (CASp)
Beth Kenny: Well, thank you guys. I'm going to move us on to item four B, outreach to business
and California Certified Access Specialist program. I believe Vice Chair Barrett, this is yours?
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Jenn Barrett: Do you want me to go up there?
Beth Kenny: Thank you.
Jenn Barrett: Thank you. Alex and Patrick.
Jenn Barrett: One of the initiatives we were discussing at our group retreat was about increasing
businesses, helping them be more informed about disabilities and how they can make small changes
to their businesses to make it more accessible and welcoming to people of all different types of
disabilities. And so what I came up with and Anto, you've been helping me as well, is coming up
more of a reward system than a slap on the wrist kind of thing. And so the thought was, ""Okay, I'll
have maybe 10 ways that our businesses can do small things that make a big difference in how
people access the built environment."" Okay, yes. So these are the 10 ways that I came up with and
I'm looking for your suggestions.
Jenn Barrett: My previous work was more specialized in the built environment, but I know that
there's a lot of things that we can do, like training employees, which doesn't cost as much, raising
awareness, and yes I just wanted to know your thoughts. And we also talked about bringing it up at
a Chamber of Commerce. I actually was at the We Are Alameda at the Faction brewing event, and I
met someone from the Chamber of Commerce and she's like, ""Oh, this sounds really interesting.
And ""What can businesses do? And what's something that's not costly for businesses?"" And I was
like, ""Well, training your employees. It doesn't cost anything but their awareness of don't put a
flower pot on the ramp because people need to use the ramp."" And you'd be surprised that that
happens a lot. And so, yes, just excited to hear your thoughts on it.
Jenn Barrett: Okay. And these are a lot of things that I think if they're doing a remodel, they can
incorporate. Such as the first one, change out doorknobs, which is hard for twisting and small locks,
which need dexterity, changing those out for the lever handles and larger locks. If you're changing
the door, you might as well change the hardware to make it easier. Increasing the font size of menus
and signs. Adding handrails to stairs and ramps. Adding grab bars at toilets, replacing high
thresholds with a half inch maximum and a one to two bevel so that's easier for wheelchairs to get
over it. Replacing the center support tables, the ones with the column in the middle of the table,
with distributed support, so that you can easily roll under the table. Increase the width of aisles and
relocate product to reduce tripping hazards. Securing rugs and entry mats reduce tripping hazards,
again. And then, something to reduce background noise for those who are hearing impaired. My
dad, for instance, is hearing impaired, and sometimes he won't go to a restaurant, because it's so
loud that it's just very hard on him with the hearing aids.
Jenn Barrett: And then again, training employees on how to assist persons with disabilities. And as
I'm reading this list, again, it's not only people with disabilities, it's people with strollers or people
who just need an extra help. So that was my thought on those. But I know members of our
committee have different disabilities that they're aware of. And so, maybe there's another one that
would pertain to something that you guys are familiar with.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. This whole thing is amazing. Yes, I'm really excited. I'm wondering a
little bit about it. So, is the idea to maybe present it at the Chamber of Commerce and then actually
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go into businesses and talk with them about it? I know at one point we were talking about going
into businesses and saying, ""Hey, here are some easy ways that you can make it more accessible.""
So are we going to go for the business associations or the Chamber of Commerce as an entry point?
Or is that where we distribute the information? How are you thinking about that?
Jenn Barrett: I think that there's a lot of different ways that we can tackle it. But I think that since
Alameda's businesses seem to be very well networked through the Chamber of Commerce and other
groups on the island, I think that's a good place to start at least, and then spread out from there and
maybe go to businesses and speak to them specifically. But I know you had a few ideas on it.
Anto Aghapekian: I support it. And I have enough experience working with merchants in
situations as this. And the minute you start talking accessibility, the merchants usually put on a
defense. It's like suddenly this wall comes between you and them, because they don't want to deal
with the city, with the permit process, the fees. And sometimes they even end up opening up a
Pandora's box, you know, one thing leads to another, another, and this small doorknob ends up
being the whole door, the whole facade, the whole thing. And people don't want to get involved
with that. All they want to do is make a living, they're busy as it is.
Anto Aghapekian: So I think that especially, it's so much easier to be working with the Chamber of
Commerce and other organizations like the DABA [Downtown Alameda Business Associatin] is
one, and WABA [West Alameda Business Association] is another one, who do basically the ground
work gently, who let the merchants know that this is a voluntary program, it's my preferred
expression, it's a win-win situation, and let the legwork or the prep work be done by people that
they deal with day in and day out. And once one person is interested or a merchant is interested,
that's when something like this can easily be given to them. And if even need be, they need to talk
with somebody, they can do it through the City, or they can do it through the Commission, our
Commission. So that things are done not in an adversarial attitude, but done in a friendly manner, in
a helping manner. It's good for them to make their base accessible, and it's also good for people to
be able to use it. I have strong reservations about going as a commissioner, of me to go to a business
and recommend that they do a certain thing. I think that's going to backfire and the word is going to
spread very fast among the merchants, and we're not going to go any place with it. I think we should
do it through their own organization.
Jenn Barrett: I agree.
Jennifer Roloff: I have a question. I know that there's WABA and DABA, all these different
business associations, I believe they are the same as Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of
Commerce organization proper just happened to have that name first, like the other organizations
are the same. I know that they have a lot of mixers, do they actually have formal meetings too,
where they have agendas where we could come and present to them? Do we know?
Lisa Hall: Yes, they have both.
Jennifer Roloff: They do have both? Okay.
Lisa Hall: The mixers are good, but those are more of a kind of a mixer party kind of environment,
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but they do have general meetings where we could go and present it, and I think Anto has a really
good point in that we would want to present it as suggestions, and so it would not go on the
defensive, and then maybe happily, some of these merchants will go, ""We've done that and we've
done that."" Just start putting the word out there. Like you said, gently.
Beth Kenny: Yes.
Jennifer Roloff: I had one more thought maybe for Laurie also is I know from time to time, and I
don't know if we're under an umbrella right now, but the city has this facade improvement program
for the businesses where they say, if you improve your street facade, we'll match your funds up to
$5,000. And I wonder if we could work with the city to see if they would do some kind of match
your funds up to a certain amount, if they made upgrades to support the disabled community in
Alameda. Yes. So we could talk to whoever maybe is in charge of the facade program. We could
reach out to that person and get some guidance.
Beth Kenny: I think that's a great idea. I could think when I would. Sorry, go ahead,
Commissioner Brillinger.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes, I went to the disability council in San Francisco in March, and at that time
they had a presentation from their small business council or commission, whatever the group was,
and they are going to make sure that the businesses are accessible by a certain time, like in the
2020, and if they've got to get through permits by 2019 and stuff like that. And so I'm willing to
share that step with the group. It seems to me like this is very subtle compared to what they're doing
in San Francisco but there are places here in Alameda that I cannot get in because they've got the
one step up, right at the front door, and some of those are right here on Lincoln Avenue right next to
the Coin dealership, and that there is some over by the Alameda Museum on Alameda Avenue that
have the in accessible entries. There's no way I could go in there if I wanted to or not.
Arnold Brillinger: I'd say that's what I thought you were going to be dealing with, those kinds of
things. Because I could come up with a whole list there as I'm going down the street. I say, well,
there's something that I can't avail myself of, but I think we ought to also just take a look for
ourselves at some things that are like heavy duties, like San Francisco is doing with theirs, just to
see how they're doing it and so forth. And of course, they've got many more people and many more
dollars and all that kind of stuff to deal with, but it seems like if we go with DABA and whoever
else it is. What is Mark over there in. He's over in, his office is at South shore.
Beth Kenny: That's the Chamber of Commerce.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes. The Chamber of Commerce or Tony with WABA and stuff like that, and
we might find that some of them might say, ""Hey, we'd like to push this with our group."" Because
they are not, for the most part, they're not that big of a thing. And it adds a little bit of recognition.
Beth Kenny: Yes, when I looked at the stuff that you had put together, I saw it as a couple of
pronged approach as far as you would In my imaginings, it was, you would be invited in by these
businesses somehow, whether it be through via the Chamber of Commerce or the business
association, and then you could go over the list with them. And if they made some of the changes,
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they would get that nice poster that you made to hang in their window. And then to follow up with
that, you would give them the information about the California Certified Access Specialist Program,
because that would be another step beyond what we're talking about. That's how I imagined it. I
don't know if we're all talking about the same thing because it kind of sounds like we are, but I
really love Commissioner Roloff's idea of going with the facade grants that were done. Even if we
can get our own separate grants for this, that would be great. Or if they do another round of facade
grants, having some of it be towards making it more accessible so that people can get in the
doorway. I'm really excited about this project. Great work.
Jenn Barrett: Yes, definitely. I just want to stress, Arnold, We'll use this as a testing ground exactly
and see what businesses are able to provide for resources, and then in the hopes that they'l be able
to meet more of the code compliance and the needs. And so maybe we'll see how well this small
we'll call it a ""test"" goes, and maybe from there we can open it up to, ""Okay, you've done these
small things, but to really encourage and allow people to visit your store, you're going to have to do
the larger remodels of removing step and other barriers to entrance.""
Beth Kenny: Yes, and am I correct in thinking that the California Certified Access Specialist
program, they'll go through everything that you need to do regardless of cost and come up with
a
plan for you as to how you can meet that? I think I looked at one where they said, ""Put away a
certain percentage of your profits annually towards meeting these goals.'
Jenn Barrett: Laurie was actually going to talk about it.
Beth Kenny: Okay.
Jenn Barrett: Since she is CASp certified.
Laurie Kozisek: Thank you. I just recently got my CASp certification, and we have CASp people
on retainer with the building department to make sure that when something comes in for a building
permit, that it gets looked at by a CASp; Certified Accessibility Specialist. It's a voluntary program.
It's voluntary in that building owners can choose to do it. It's not free. But what this program
recommends is that you hire a CASp to come look at your building, and either you will get
something that says, ""You meet accessibility standards"" or you'll get something that says, ""It was
inspected.' Which is, it doesn't necessarily mean that it meets everything. But you'll also get a list of
readily achievable modifications and suggestions on a timeline on how to do it. And the advantage
of it is that if you get sued, your fines will be smaller and you'll have more time to make changes.
Laurie Kozisek: This is linked to the agenda that I sent you. But this shows that there are two
different kinds of laws covering this, one is CRASCA and one is non-CRASCA. But when a CASp
professional comes in and looks, they will either say that, ""It meets applicable standards."" or they' 'll
say, ""It was inspected."" They will put several things on the report, the description of the area, the
date, the statement of findings that meet or don't meet it, a list of readily achievable barrier
removals, corrective actions and a schedule for them. And then issue a certificate if they want one.
And so, this is a step up from what Commissioner Barrett is suggesting, because most of the things
suggested, were things like fixing the rug and door handles. You don't need a building permit to do
those.
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Laurie Kozisek: These are more like making the path of travel accessible and at that point, you'll
probably want to go and get a building permit to get those done. So, when you're getting a facade
done, and you're changing the doorway and the entrance, you're going to have to spend a certain
amount of your money making that accessible, and taking out that step. We might be able to push
facade improvements that are there more for accessibility than for giving it a different look.
Anyway, it's another pathway, and this one is one with more construction involved.
Beth Kenny: And just to clarify, the city has you and some other people who are Certified Access
Specialists, but you are not available to be hired by the merchants. You're there, if they get an area,
you reinspect it to make sure it's in compliance with?
Laurie Kozisek: There are two kinds of CASps. There's the one that work for the cities and
counties, who generally do permit review and inspection. And we have some CASps that work for
the building department as consultants, that do the review and inspection. I don't actively do that
much, but I do, do building plan reviews, mostly the exterior. And then the other kind of CASps, is
the one that is privately employed and just does this kind of thing for a living. And there are, I think,
about 700 of them in the state of California. This is just a California program. I don't know how
much it would cost to get inspection done but I can imagine it's not much, because it's just a very
short hour or two to take a look at it.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. Unless anybody else has any questions regarding this, I would like to
suggest that you guys continue to move forward and reach out to the Chamber of Commerce and
the business councils. I can try and send you a list of the ones that I know.
Jenn Barrett: That will be great. Yes.
Beth Kenny: Yes, and also, if I can start brainstorming on how we can get that grant tied into
accessibility improvement, for the businesses.
Anto Aghapekian: What grant, what grant?
Beth Kenny: It came up, we were talking about. The city has done facade grants. They match the
funds. So we're looking to see if there's some way we can have our own grant, or if we should have
been attached to the facade grants, in some way that we can get some matching funding for if
merchants are able to make these improvements. Oh, yes. I don't think that we need to vote on that.
You guys already have your own subcommittees. Do you need anything else from the Commission?
Jenn Barrett: No. Just any comments or other ideas. I think we had a great discussion on this, and
we're looking forward to going and talking to the Chamber of Commerce. If you do have any
adjustments or additional ideas for the list, I would really appreciate any comments on that. That
would be great.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A
Review of Liaison Assignments (All Commissioners)
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Beth Kenny: Great. Thank you. I will rack my brain but I think you guys did a great job. Let's
move on to agenda item five, Old Business. Review of liaison assignments. I'm just going to read
through our assignments and if we have any questions or comments, let's go over it now. So, I am
assigned to SSHRB [Social Service and Human Resource Board] and alternate for City Council.
I
have Vice Chair Barrett for the Planning, and alternate for Housing Authority. Also alternate for
Historic Advisory Board. And Commissioner Aghapekian, I have for Mastick and alternate for
Planning Board, and alternate for the Rec and Park Board, rather. And then Commissioner
Brillinger I have for Transportation, and you're also representing us with the AC Transit.
Beth Kenny: Commissioner Deutsch, you were not present so we assigned you things. Right now
we have you at Library and School Board. Do you have a preference as to which one? Do you want
both? I know you worked in the past with Library.
Susan Deutsch: I've met with the library. I thought I was going to do Parks and Rec.
Anto Aghapekian: That's what I remember. I remember you doing Parks and Rec.
Beth Kenny: You were, and then every year at the retreat, we opened it up, and I'm sorry, I didn't
think to save it for you. I am happy to switch off with you, if you want to do SSHRB instead of the
School Board?
Susan Deutsch: I can do the School Board.
Beth Kenny: Okay.
Jennifer Roloff: Or I can do School Board if you'd like to do Rec and Park. That's okay.
Susan Deutsch: Either one.
Jennifer Roloff: Yes, I have two kids in schools right now, so I wouldn't mind having a reason to
go, for sure.
Susan Deutsch: Alright.
Jennifer Roloff: I was just on our PTA's legislation and advocacy for the PTA, so I'm very familiar
with what's going on, and if you want to switch, that's fine.
Susan Deutsch: If that's what you're comfortable with that.
Jennifer Roloff: Yes. You prefer Rec and Park?
Susan Deutsch: Well, I'm just kinda interested in that area and I've been doing research. And
wanted to talk about it.
Jennifer Roloff: Is that okay?
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Beth Kenny: Yes, that's why we're talking about it right now.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay, then I'll switch to School Board.
Anto Aghapekian: And excuse me, and Susan here is going to be on the Rec and Park?
Beth Kenny: Yes. And then I have Commissioner Hall for the Housing Authority and the Historic
Advisory Board. And Commissioner Linton for City Council. And now Commissioner Roloff, you
will be doing the School Board.
Jennifer Roloff: Yes.
Beth Kenny: Are there any questions, concerns or comments about your assignments?
Jennifer Roloff: I just had one question. I did go to Parks and Rec last month. There is a meeting
tomorrow night. I'm not able to attend, but I thought Laurie, and I went and introduced myself and
I'm fine to do that on, I think we can all do that on any commission, but is there a way that you
could send out a note to these different councils or commissions, especially the ones that are in the
city and say, ""Here's our liaisons for the year?""
Beth Kenny: You know what? That's something that I might be able to do.
Jennifer Roloff: Oh, okay, okay.
Beth Kenny: As chair. Coming from me it might be more appropriate, and that's a good idea. So, I
will do that.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay. Just for the city of Alameda ones.
Beth Kenny: Yes. Definitely. I can definitely do that.
Jennifer Roloff: Thank you.
Beth Kenny: So, if there is, if we're all okay with this assignment, the assignments now, let's go
into our boarding assignment reports. We'll start with you, Commissioner Brillinger.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, well you guys are going to be very pleased for me to say that the
Transportation Commission has not had a meeting since last month. Because we just met a month
ago. So I don't have anything to report on that. I do have some other things to report later on. But
not regarding transportation.
Beth Kenny: Great, thank you. Commissioner Roloff, did you want to report anything on the Parks
and Rec, that you went to?
Jennifer Roloff: It was my first meeting, so I did a lot of listening. I think they're having a lot of
challenges on Parks and Rec right now with some of the commissioners and the relationships
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they're having with the commission. So I hope that all works itself out. I know there are a couple
spots open on the commission. If we know anyone who might be interested in actually being on that
commission, who has an interest in people with disability in Alameda too, I think we could do some
networking for that. But as far as the meeting I went to, they were doing some assignments on the
city property and the different city gyms and who was allowed to use them. They do annually, the
space is allocated, and if I had more time, I'd like to see some of the sports teams and groups that
represent and have children with disabilities, if they are getting fair play in there, but being SO new,
I just went and sit back and listened. Pay attention to them. And as I mentioned, there is a meeting
tomorrow night.
Beth Kenny: Great, thank you. Commissioner Deutsch, you mentioned that you had stuff
Susan Deutsch: Yes, I do. I went to Salinas, and there's an accessible playground there that was
built totally by community funds through fundraising. And it's called Tatum's Garden. It was started
by a family who had a daughter with Spina bifida, and her name was Tatum. And this playground
was amazing and I've taken a lot of photos and I've taken a few videos, and I was hoping at some
point, I don't know what meeting, I could make a PowerPoint and present this to our committee.
And I was also thinking of presenting it to Park and Rec. My last communication with them, they
were saying how all the playgrounds in Alameda all need to be redone, one at a time, so that's a
possibility. But I was also thinking that whole West End project, there's a lot of land out there. An
opportunity. I'd have to go out and look around. A friend of mine actually told me to look at a
specific spot. I have to check in with him again.
Beth Kenny: Is this Jean Sweeney Park you're talking about?
Susan Deutsch: No. He was just saying there's nothing there now and they're going to be putting in
housing. So but, I can't look that far ahead, but I would like to at least present. This playground was
accessible to kids in wheelchairs. There were swings for kids with other issues. There was stuff for
kids with autism. Just it was totally accessible. It was in Salinas, and so it was kind of a farm theme.
But it didn't have to be a farm theme, but it was. It made it kind of cute because the climbing wall
had fruits and vegetables to hold on to, so I thought that was cute. Hold on to the watermelon, put
your foot on the tomato.
Susan Deutsch: That kind of thing. They do have a lot more land out there, so that does make a
difference, but it's just it's something that ever since I've been on this commission, I've wanted to
see an accessible playground in Alameda, and I finally saw one that was really good.
Anto Aghapekian: I think that all of us would love to see it.
Beth Kenny: Yes. I think we can get you on the agenda for July, if you're able to present then.
Anto Aghapekian: Oh I'll be able to present in July, yes. Thank you.
Beth Kenny: Thank you. Vice Chair Barrett?
Jenn Barrett: So for the planning committee, I also have not been to one since our last meeting.
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However, I believe they're doing something on the seaplane new ferry terminal this Monday, so
hopefully I'll attend that. And then, I just want to make one comment about the event that We Are
Alameda at the Faction brewing, they had someone from Alameda Hospital who announced that we
just got, as of May 1st, Anthem Insurance in network there, which is huge, so I was excited to hear
that.
Beth Kenny: Commissioner Hall?
Lisa Hall: Ongoing issues with the housing authority. Unfortunately, no cause evictions are still
happening. And a senior disabled lady was in the family getting evicted, and the woman had a heart
attack and died. And you didn't really hear anything about that in the newspaper or anything else,
which is just a sad fact of what we're going through. Again, disabled and senior people are our most
vulnerable, and it's a crisis in our city. Many of the churches are trying to get together to set up a
warming center, which would help the homeless people at night, but also perhaps other people that
may end up needing it. It has a great model from the Midway Shelter, same people that run Midway
Shelter, and they have a warming center in San Leandro, and hopefully with a lot of support that
we've already got in Alameda, it looks like it's going to come together. Hopefully, we're going to
end up having a warming center for these people to go at nighttime. Hopefully that will happen.
Beth Kenny: Great, thank you. Commissioner Aghapekian?
Anto Aghapekian: And last thing is, it's been about half a year now, the Mastick Senior Center set
up a exercise courtyard, exercise equipment that anybody can use, and it's become very popular,
extremely popular, for who have issues moving their bodies. They do exercise, and it's a delight to
see. I help out with making the bocce ball court and the golf putting court accessible. They didn't
have any handrail over the curb. I worked with them on that and all credit should be given to the
Rec and Parks Administration. They're very conscientious assisting. And that's all I have to report. I
haven't been to the planning board meetings. I've been following them, but I haven't been
personally. The planning board, they start around 7:00, I think, and they keep going on and on and
on and on, and for topics that are absolutely of no interest to this commission. And so I try to follow
up on the minutes. And I have never been to a rec and park meeting. I know the guy there by the
name of Ron Limoges.
Jennifer Roloff: He might be the chair.
Anto Aghapekian: He's a friend of mine, we see each other very often and we do talk. But we're
friends, I haven't spoken with him about business, but if there is anything that I can do, let me know.
I'm more than happy, more than happy to help.
Jennifer Roloff: And also, as far as the city goes, Mastick rolls into Parks and Rec, so you can talk
to him directly about all of the Mastick stuff.
Anto Aghapekian: And I have a met Amy Wooldridge. She's the director. And I have a good
meeting. Anytime I can be of help. I'm dying to see that place.
Susan Deutsch: I brought my husband there after I saw it. I just had to visit the playground. He was
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amazed by it also. It's just that I had never seen a playground like that.
Anto Aghapekian: And just it occurred to me that one of the things we could do is maybe do the
same presentation adding more, and then get on the Rec and Parks agenda and show them what
could be done to make it accessible. That would be a big help.
Beth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Aghapekian. So I have not attended a SSHRB meeting.
What I do is I get their agendas and see if there's anything that I think is going to be of interest, and
then I'll just go to that part of the meeting in the video. It's pretty easy to get through it if you can
just go to the right agenda item that you want. But what I did see is Doug Biggs from the Alameda
Point Collaborative did an amazing presentation to SSHRB about the potential housing going in
down by Crab Cove for seniors and homeless people coming out of hospital. And I would really
love to see him give that presentation to us because I think this is something that we could. If we
can help in any way, I think this commission would probably be interested in that, especially given
our focus, our talking about focusing more on people with mental health disability. I think there's a
lot of overlap in who would be receiving some housing in this area.
Laurie Kozisek: I've left him a phone message asking him to contact us about that.
Beth Kenny: Great. So that's my report for SSHRB. A lot going on at council right now, and a lot
going on with the school board right now. I haven't actually watched the school board meetings, but
they're talking about consolidating the high schools, and I know there's a lot of issues around that,
and I would love to find out how it would affect students with disabilities. That's neither here nor
there at this point. I just wanted to put that out for you, Commissioner Roloff, for stepping in there.
Jennifer Roloff: Yes, thank you.
Beth Kenny: I'm sure you're aware of the possibility that Encinal High School might be closed.
Jennifer Roloff: Yes. And then it all turns into one. In fact, I think that Encinal PTA is having a
meeting on that tonight, and I'm here.
5-C
Presentation for April 2018 meeting (which arrived too late to post last month) Link to
further study: https://haasinstitute.berkeley.edu/search/node/disability
Beth Kenny: 5C is a link to the presentation that we had at the April 11th meeting. Thank you for
all who helped put that together because I was having a family emergency and there was some last
minute issues. So we didn't get that on the agenda, but we put it on here so that everybody can have
it on the agenda for this time. And now we'll go to agenda item six, staff communications.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Laurie Kozisek: Thank you, Madam Chairman. The only comments I have are that for the 4th of
July parade, we are going to have the Paratransit bus there, and I understand Arnold's going to be in
it, and anyone else who wants to be in there and practice their queen wave, you're welcome to
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contact me or Victoria. I think just contact me and I'll make sure that you get all the details so that
you can be on there. The other thing is, we did all this work to move the schedule to the odd months
of the year, not knowing that the Transportation Commission, which normally has their meeting on
the fourth Wednesday of the month, doesn't like to do that in November because it interferes with
Thanksgiving. So they moved it to the second Wednesday of the month, before we got it. And when
I pointed that out, they said, ""You're going to have to move yours."" So you need to think about
when you want to have it in November. And you can't act on it now because it's not an agenda item.
But take a look at your calendars and see if you want to have it on the first or third Wednesday of
the month for November, or just skip it, because we will have had enough meetings. So just keep
that in mind for. Do you want me to put it on agenda item for next month?
Beth Kenny: Yes. We can vote about that. Thank you very much.
Lisa Hall: I just want to say something as far as Paratransit, I forgot. I guess it was Victoria that
gave us the pink application for Paratransit and her business cards. So we had a whole pile that we
gave out on Tuesday at the food bank. And I only put one at a time because many of the people
come and just take one. But this made the people ask and it was wonderful. I said, ""It's open to
everyone that is a senior or disabled,"" and boom, it was like, ""Oh, my dad, or my mom, or me,"" and
it was like, ""There you go"". And I was like, ""This is Here you go."" So getting the word out again,
a little more for people, so it was good.
7.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Beth Kenny: Okay, that actually brings us to agenda item number seven, announcements.
Commissioner Brillinger.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay. Lisa, were those the schedules that you had?
Lisa Hall: No, they were the actual applications. We have the schedules too, but the actual pink
application that they have to fill out so they can get on the program.
Arnold Brillinger: Oh, okay.
Lisa Hall: And then her business card too, so if they had a question.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, because that's very important. We need to get as many people involved in
the taxi program.
Lisa Hall: Right.
Arnold Brillinger: And also the MRTIP.
Lisa Hall: Right. We have that on our bulletin at the church. We have them up there, free, free.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes, because they're very good services. I've had a couple of people that I know
that have used them just recently and they had nothing but good to say, compared to getting home
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on East Bay Transit. So that's good. And of course, the shuttle is open to everybody, including
Arthur, because he rode it.
Arnold Brillinger: And I just had a couple more things on announcements. The 4th of July parade,
that was part of what I was going to announce and let Laurie know, so that she can tell Victoria and
make sure that we're not, don't have way too many people and they're hanging out the windows
because the windows don't open.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay. And the other thing that I want to talk about a little bit was SRAC, that's
Service Review Advisory Committee for East Bay Paratransit, and at their last meeting, they had a
couple of presentations; one was a video done in-house, trying to let their staff know the ones that is
scheduled, know all the kinds of things that happen in the life of a driver. So they presented that.
And also they had new buses that they're going to be encouraging the providers to buy that have the
lift door in the middle of a bus right behind the front door. And those are very good because right
now they've got the lift doors in the back, and the only place for wheelchairs is right in the back,
and it is murderous on your hiney and your back and other parts of your body. So they're looking
into some of these new buses and they'll be better. And also at the meeting, it was presented that
their service is getting a bit better. They were having so many problems because they couldn't keep
drivers. The economy is too good. And so as soon as somebody had some experience, they'd go off
to AC Transit for twice the money.
Arnold Brillinger: But they've got better incentives now to keep drivers. And I also went to the
Momentum Expo at the Ed Roberts Campus, and they had a variety of speakers and presentations
there. And also the reason I was right here at, like it's 6:32, was because I went to the forum in
Berkeley, and it had our friend, Karen Nakamura and Silvia Yee, who is a lawyer in disability rights,
and they conducted this forum and it's very interesting. And again, it's just like with Alex, we need
to keep these things in mind, because we normally don't think of disability and this, or disability and
that. And I think Karen tried to show us that last month, how all those things intersect. So, that's
very much it.
Beth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Brillinger. Roloff, do you have any?
Jennifer Roloff: I was just going to say, I was looking it up on my phone, May 19th, the Alameda
Point Collaborative is having their annual Farm-To-Table Fundraiser. It's an amazing luncheon, and
all of the food is sourced from the farm where the residents of Alameda Point Collaborative live,
and they have a presentation from some of the folks from Alameda Point Collaborative and all the
funds go to their programs. It's not cheap, I think it's like $95 to attend. I don't know if anyone can
go and we have budget. You're on SSHRB, so if you want to go, I know you're so busy, but if we
could send someone and be reimbursed, I think I'm out of town, but I encourage you to go.
Susan Deutsch: What's the date again?
Jennifer Roloff: May 19th. It's an amazing fundraiser. The food is all locally sourced; I don't think
the protein is, but everything else is from their garden or from Alameda, and it really feels good to
be there. So spread the word. If you can make it, that would be great. I'm still trying, myself.
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Beth Kenny: Thank you. Commissioner Deutsch, do you have any announcements you'd like to
make?
Susan Deutsch: No.
Beth Kenny: Vice Chair Barrett?
Jenn Barrett: No.
Beth Kenny: Commissioner Hall? Commissioner Aghapekian? I have a few. First, I think it's also
on the 19th, a sub-section of the Alameda PTA for students with disabilities usually has a resource
fair, but this year instead, they've opted to have a picnic and they wanted to let you all know that
you're invited. I'll be sending out something via Laurie, but I wanted to keep that on your radar. And
all community members are invited. So if you're able to, please attend.
Beth Kenny: And then I wanted to mention quickly that there were two things sent out about a job
fair in San Francisco Public Library, and then also the Exploratorium is going to be hosting a job
fair for people with disabilities to get jobs in that, not only with the Exploratorium but with a few
other museums in San Francisco. So please, if you know anyone, send them out that information
that has been sent out to you. And if anyone needs that information, they can contact Laurie or
myself and we can resend that to you.
Beth Kenny: I attended the Marina Shores, they had an open house this past weekend, and that is
the development that's going to be going along the estuary over along Clement Street there. And it
was very interesting. It was on a barge, where they're going to have four of these barges to make
them like a community center where there will be makerspace and recreation. I got the card of a
woman who is going to be working on the recreation stuff because I wanted to talk further.
Commissioner Deutsch, I know you're connected with BORP [Bay Area Outreach and Recreation
Program]? I always get that name wrong.
Susan Deutsch: Well, I've contacted them many times, but we've never been able to get them here.
Beth Kenny: Yes. They're very into the idea of having accessible ways for people to get on the
water, which would be great if we can help connect those two organizations. I think those are my
announcements. Commissioner Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: Yes, I'm sorry. The leg of the microphone was covering up this one item I had
here, and that's our special events committee, the sub-committee, that was Lisa, Jenny, Tony, and
myself, I think that we ought to have a meeting and see if there are any special events that we want
to be a part of.
Lisa Hall: Well, the 4th of July picnic, I think that's our big hot topic coming up, right?
Arnold Brillinger: That's right.
Beth Kenny: I think it would be great for you guys to meet. And now that Commissioner Lewis is
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no longer with the commission, if anyone else is interested in joining that subcommittee, there is
space available for one more person. So I think that is all the announcements that I have. Anyone
else like to make an announcement? Otherwise, I'm going to move that we adjourn. All in favor?
Jennifer Roloff: I'll second that.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
Beth Kenny: Great. We're adjourned. Thanks for a great meeting, guys.
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1. ROLL CALL
Chair Beth Kenny: Laurie, would you start with roll call?
Laurie Kozisek: Thank you Madam Chairman. Beth Kenny?
Chair Beth Kenny: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Jenn Barrett?
Chair Beth Kenny: She's walking in.
Laurie Kozisek: Jenn Barrett. Okay. Hi. Jennifer Roloff?
Jennifer Rolloff: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Anto Aghapekian?
Anto Aghapekian: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Lisa Hall is not here. Susan Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Arnold Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: Here.
Laurie Kozisek: And Jenny Linton.
Jenny Linton: Here.
Laurie Kozisek: And our new person is not here yet.
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes, let's just read her name anyway.
Laurie Kozisek: Leslie Morrison.
Chair Beth Kenny: Thank you, Laurie.
Laurie Kozisek: We have a quorum.
2. MINUTES
Chair Beth Kenny: All right, let's move on to agenda item number two - approval of the minutes
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from our May 9th meetings. Does anyone have any changes or corrections they'd like to see in the
minutes from our May 9th meeting? I move that we accept the minutes as is.
Arnold Brillinger: Second.
Chair Beth Kenny: All in favor?
All: Aye.
Chair Beth Kenny: Any opposed?
3. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
Chair Beth Kenny: Let's move on to agenda item three, oral communication, non-agenda public
comment. Do we have any public comment for today on non-agenda items?
4. NEW BUSINESS
4-A Parking Strategy for Dockless Bikeshare
Chair Beth Kenny: Then we'll get right into new business. We have Rochelle Wheeler here to talk
to us about parking strategies for the Dockless Bike Share. Thank you Rochelle.
Rochelle Wheeler: Thank you Madam Chair, and thank you to all you commissioners for having
me here. I see some familiar faces and I'm excited to hear your input tonight on this bike parking
strategy for the Dockless Bike Share provider. I am Rochelle Wheeler, I work in the transportation
planning unit, and I'm a senior transportation coordinator for the City of Alameda. So you have a
staff report and a couple of attachments in your packet, and I'm just going to start off. I don't have a
PowerPoint, but I'm just going to walk through the staff report, but again, what we're looking for
tonight from the commissioners is input on this bike parking strategy that we have. So I'll start off
kind of high level. Dockless Bike Share, what is it? Probably you are all are familiar with what
it
is
now, but it is basically bikes that can be taken from point to point, picked up anywhere where
there's a bike, using an app, and then you can ride it to and leave it.
Rochelle Wheeler: You don't have to leave it at a dock, but you do have to leave it properly parked,
which means not in the sidewalk right of way. And there are parameters and instructions for how to
do that. So it's another mobility option for Alameda which we're always looking for new ways to get
people around, not in single occupant vehicles; through transit, paratransit. Gig was started recently,
point to point car share, biking, walking, all sorts of options, rolling, all of those things. Well, in last
October, well about a year ago actually, we were approached by Dockless Bike Share providers
which were starting to come into the US. And we saw this as a great new technology that was
available; new emerging technology, and so we started a six month pilot program with LimeBike. I
would assume you're all probably familiar with these Lime Bikes which have been in the City since
they launched in October of 2017.
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Rochelle Wheeler: And in six months, 50,000 trips were taken on the bikes. We have an average of
about 300 bikes in the City at any one time that are operable. What we did, we did this as a pilot,
and the reason we did that is we wanted to see how it worked in Alameda before we made it a
concrete ongoing program here. And so, at the end of six months, we took the time to evaluate the
program, we did that in a bunch of different ways. We talked to a lot of the stakeholders, both
internally within the City, all the different staff that are interacting or interfacing with the program,
public works, police, community development. We talked to stakeholders outside the City such as
the East Bay Park District, AC transit, others, and then we also did a community survey. Some of
you may have filled that out. We had 1500 responses within about 10 days, so a huge amount of
input on the program.
Rochelle Wheeler: And what we found overall was very, very high level of support for the
program. People generally thought it was a great program, definitely worth continuing; but
addressing two major issues. And the two major issues that were addressed, the top one was bike
parking. And 51% of respondents said that the top problem with the bikes, is the bikes being mis-
parked. The second top issue was helmet use, and particularly concerns around youth helmet usage.
So we heard those issues, we heard the support for the program and we brought all of that to the
City Council in May. And with the recommendation that we continue having a dock-less bike share
program in the City but making refinements to the program to address those top issues, and
definitely the bike parking issue. And we ask Council to approve going out with a request for
proposals to bring in a vendor who we would contract with for two years with the option to extend
for another two years. And so the Council approved that recommendation to release that RFP and to
move forward with having a dock-less bike share program after the pilot program.
Rochelle Wheeler: I'll back up for a minute. The council also did direct us to come to the
Commission on Disability, which is why I'm here tonight. And to bring the bike parking strategy,
which is one of the requirements of the contract that we'll have with the new provider, is having this
bike parking strategy. And so, the Council wanted us to get input from this commission. So we did
that RFP process in May and June, was our time frame for doing that. We received two proposals
from two different vendors. We did a very thorough evaluation of those proposals. We had a team
of, I think it was, about eight people reviewing those and scoring those proposals. And then we had
an even larger team who we did interviews with those two providers. And your Chair, Beth, was on
that interview panel. And through all of that evaluation process the top ranked provider was
LimeBike, or as they're called now Lime. They go by Lime because they also provide electric
scooters. So I think that's why they changed their name, I'm assuming, so they're called Lime now.
Rochelle Wheeler: This RFP, just to be clear, was only for bikes, not for scooters. This is not to
permit electric scooters and in fact we have a referral from our City Council to ban electric scooters
on City sidewalks and to kind of make sure that is into perpetuity. So that's something staff are
working on and will be bringing, I think, in November, back to the Council. So, right now the stage
that we're at, is that we are still evaluating, contracting with Lime and our acting City Manager has
to approve this and that has not been done yet, so I want to be clear, we have not contracted yet with
Lime, we are still in negotiations.
Rochelle Wheeler: But during that process of evaluating and making that final decision we wanted
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to get input from this committee and see if we can work towards an agreement on a contract with
Lime and then in the next couple of weeks we'll also be working with the City Manager to make
sure that she is comfortable with us moving forward with this. So, what you have in your packet, I
think it's the second exhibit, is LimeBike's parking strategy. And per the contract that we will have,
which we attached a draft of that or an agreement to our RFP, so it was very clear what our
requirements would be. We have a whole section on bike parking in that agreement, which was the
first exhibit. You don't have to open up the first one, but the second one is fine.
Rochelle Wheeler: So, two of those requirements for bike parking in that agreement, with
whichever provider we select, are to develop this bike parking strategy. And that strategy is
supposed to have two parts: Part A is about identifying. You can see Part A, identifying appropriate
parking locations. And then Part B, which I think is what we'll focus on tonight, although I'll go
through this whole thing, is on enforcement strategies. So this is what we're looking for input on
tonight from the commission.
Rochelle Wheeler: Before I go into what's in that strategy, I just want to say that, in addition to
what the provider, what Lime would be doing, we also as a city will be setting performance goals
and will be monitoring those goals and part of that will be about what percentage of bikes are
properly parked. Through payments that Lime would be making, we will be using an independent
contractor to do some verification of bicycles actually being parked correctly and the
responsiveness to the other contract requirements. That's something that came out of our evaluation
process, is wanting to have a better handle on the responsiveness to complaints, to mis-parked bikes
or to bikes that are broken and need repair or things like that. So we will be also monitoring that and
we will have in our agreement the option to impose penalties if performance measures are not met.
Rochelle Wheeler: So with that, I think I will go through the parking strategy unless there are any
just general questions on what I've described so far. Okay, great. So, like I said Part A is about
identifying appropriate bike parking locations and LimeBike has a method of doing that, looking at
where people are wanting to use them and they can see, because this is all app based, they can see
where people are wanting bikes and so that's where they tend to put the bikes. Through this process,
they would be working with us to also, maybe, designate areas where we don't want any bikes
parked.
Rochelle Wheeler: There are some, for example, some HOAs or the East Bay Regional Park
District may decide they don't want any bikes in the Crown Memorial Beach area or certain parts of
the Crown Memorial Beach area. So we can designate areas where no bikes would be parked as
well, as well as where bikes can be parked. And obviously, on the positive side, the places that they
tend to get located and the people want them are the ferry terminals. Those are the top, the Main
Street ferry terminal is the top pick up and drop off location for the LimeBikes, which we were
really happy to see in our evaluation because that means a lot of people are using that as a first and
last mile connection to the ferry terminal and to transit.
Rochelle Wheeler: So, I think the bulk of what we'll focus on tonight is probably the next section,
Part A, which is about enforcement strategies. The first one is geo-fencing and this is actually a
requirement for our agreement, that they use geo-fencing in their parking strategy. And so the idea
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behind this is that you can see on a map that would be on the app like you see in these visuals here,
these screenshots. There are areas that can be designated as no parking zones, and those would
show up as areas when you're picking up a bike, say, so that you can know when you drop off your
bike, ""Oh I can't park it on that one block"" or ""I can't park it in that commercial zone, so I'm going
to have to be thinking about where I park it before I get to my end destination."" There also can be
these pop-up messages which you see on the right which can say, ""Remember this is a no parking
zone as well.
Jenn Barrett, Vice Chair: Sorry, is there anything that physically prevents them from parking the
bike there? Like does it not lock back in or something?
Rochelle Wheeler: So we have Albert Lin here, who is the Operations Manager in our area for
Lime, and I think I know the answer but I'm going to let him describe that.
Albert Lin: Yes, sure. So currently right now we do not have any sort of physical thing that will
prevent them from locking it. That's something we're looking into certainly six months' time. But
we're also looking into alternative ways of, maybe, imposing fines, violations, etc.
Rochelle Wheeler: And that is something that I know that Lime is doing in other areas where they
really don't want these bikes. If you have people who are repeatedly mis-parking them, those can be
identified easily and you can start fining them when they're putting the bikes in the wrong place or
you can just delete their account and say, ""You're a bad player, so we're taking you out."" And we can
come back to all of these. I'll just give a big overview. And the second one that they propose is
gamification. So that is generally used for positive, to enforce positive behavior and create
incentives for good behavior. So when you do good things like park in the right place, you get little
badges or bonuses.
Rochelle Wheeler: I'm sure some of you have seen this in other social media apps. So that is
something that they have said they are working out and testing and rolling out and would be using.
The next thing is actual physical signage to encourage people to park in the right place. That can be
a decal in the proper parking areas on the sides of the sidewalk, generally in that landscaping strip
that's between the curb and the sidewalk.
Rochelle Wheeler: Also, some cities have tested out and we could work with Lime to paint boxes
and maybe have some sort of signage so that then you know that that's where the bikes would get
parked to be used and then at the end of your ride you would use those. And you would use these in
select locations where you have maybe a really congested area and people keep mis-parking the
bikes. We would not do this for every single location around the city. It's just a way to kind of create
some order where you're having a lot of problems. And this would probably be used in places like
Park or Webster street where we have a lot of congestion of uses and people and objects and
parking meters and a-frame signs and things like that.
Rochelle Wheeler: Then there's, obviously, education. So they have said that they provide
education at events and then they also can do that with in-app messaging also to remind people
about proper riding, using a helmet and also proper bike parking and what the acceptable places are
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per the City's direction on where to park. There's also, the next item is something called hub locks.
This kind of, I think gets to your question earlier. So do you want to explain the hub lock idea?
Albert Lin: So currently on our electric scooters, we can have the ability to lock them through an
app. And SO when I mentioned to you, ""Oh we don't have the current functionality,"" that's for our
pedal bikes only that don't have any sort of e-assist or any hardware or software that we can
communicate directly with. So that's essentially what this would be.
Jenn Barrett, Vice Chair: Okay.
Rochelle Wheeler: I didn't quite understand that explanation, but it's a little technical, but just to
also explain like that, in order to lock the bike, you have to open up the app again. That means that,
then there's I think an opportunity for you to get direct alerts or like, ""No, you are not in the right
place, definitely. Do not park your bike here.' Whereas right now with the bikes we have now, you
don't have that. You can just close the lock and walk away. You don't have to open your app again
and interact with it.
Rochelle Wheeler: And then the last thing is actually something that came up, which was a great
idea that came up through the interview process, which was being able to integrate with the City's
SeeClickFix system, which probably many of you guys know about, where when you see a
problem, a pothole, a car blocking the sidewalk, a tree limb that fell down, you can alert the City
through SeeClickFix. It's online, and so the option would be to integrate Lime Bikes, reporting
problems with Lime Bike with SeeClickFix so that through that system, you could report Lime
Bikes being a problem, and that is helpful for people who don't have the app on their phone already
for Lime Bike. You can do that if you're a Lime bike user, or even if you're not and you download
the app, but I think a lot more people are familiar with SeeClickFix. That's generally where we're
trying to funnel people's concerns and complaints, and then that could kind of automate that
process, this relieves, I think the staff burden of responding to complaints, and I think also is
probably ultimately easier for Lime as well.
Rochelle Wheeler: Those are the strategies that Lime has presented. They proposed in the proposal
to have a rate of 90%, at least at minimum, a target of 90% of bikes being parked correctly on
average. I think that would be per month, and these are the strategies they would use to get to that.
What we're looking for you guys, and I will also be giving input on this strategy, but we're looking
to the commission now to get any input on whether you think this is adequate, whether you have
other concerns, whether there's more we should be doing, or things we should be doing differently.
Chair Beth Kenny: Great, thank you very much. And as Rochelle stated, I was fortunate to be part
of the interview process, and it was apparent in that interview process that a ton of work had gone
on before we got to the interview process. So I want to thank you for all the stuff that you've been
doing to make this happen. We generally go around and ask questions, so I'm going to start with you
Commissioner Brillinger.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes. Has the City proposed any equivalents for disabled people?
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Albert Lin: It's a great question, unfortunately as of now, we do not.
Arnold Brillinger: I just want to tell the rest of the commission that cities like Oakland, Berkeley
and San Francisco, are looking into various vehicles, some of them being trikes. Or for people who
are disabled like below the waist, that they would be hand-powered bikes and stuff like that. Not to
start anything right here in Alameda, but I think that we'll be able to get some information as they
go through their selection process, and also have some good ideas on what to do here in Alameda
also.
Chair Beth Kenny: Commissioner Brillinger, in the interview process, I actually sat next to the
gentleman who does this sort of stuff for the City of Oakland, and he was telling me that the City of
Oakland has partnered with BORP [Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program], and that's how
they're starting to think about doing the accessible Bike-Share. I think that you're right on.
Anyways, I wanted to share that information with you.
Rochelle Wheeler: Also from the City's perspective, that's something that I think we would like to
see going forward too, and we will continue to work with Lime or whoever the provider is on that,
for Dockless Bike Share, on bringing that into the program, bringing accessible vehicles in. It
reminds me too of two things, one is that, this is a pretty rapidly evolving field and technology, and
so one of the things that we'll continue to do during this whole contract period is continue to
monitor what the direction is of this technology, what's new, what's coming in, what's feasible, and
then responding to that as we can. This would be a two-year contract, is what we've committed to
with the possibility of extending it for two more years. And so, that two years really is kind of a
window where we thought after two years, we might be in a very different place and we might want
to do another RFP, or change things up and have different requirements and that might be to have
accessible bikes.
Rochelle Wheeler: The other piece I just wanted to mention is that when we have done an RFP, and
we'll have an agreement. There is no direct cost to the City for dock-less bike share. The City is not
paying for this service. And in fact, LimeBike is paying the City some fees to help cover our
management of it and if we have to remove bikes, they would pay for us to do that. I'm open to your
other questions.
Arnold Brillinger: I think I'll pass it.
Chair Beth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Roloff.
Jennifer Rolloff: I had a question and I just lost my train of thought. So I'm going to pass, but
I
might jump back in.
Chair Beth Kenny: Sure. Vice Chair Barrett.
Jenn Barrett, Vice Chair: I'm really excited to hear about these potential strategies. I think that'll
help a lot in eliminating bike parking issues. I think the major issue is when it's parked in a sidewalk
and it's no longer accessible for people who are in wheelchairs or mobility issues or just a number
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of reasons. Have you considered at all putting language on the actual bike? So that when they're
riding, it's right there like, ""Do not block sidewalks"" or something.
Rochelle Wheeler: Yes, I think that we have talked about the best opportunity for that is generally
on the basket and that we could have something that is specific to Alameda because the bikes are
manufactured the same for all of their markets, but we could attach something to the basket, I
believe.
Jennifer Rolloff: Can I jump back in now? So with some of the apps that I have downloaded on my
phone, I can opt in or out of, I think they call it push notifications. And so you just get periodic
things, whether it's anecdotes, updates, so is there a way to almost mandate push notifications like
reminder, and everybody gets a reminder once a month, once a quarter, or various reminders for
certain weekends to not block or things like that? Do you do push notifications now?
Albert Lin: I don't think we do, but that seems like it's pretty simple to do with our engineering
team, especially we could tailor even for Alameda itself and maybe it's a big event coming up and
users that are opening up the app within a set area can get push notifications.
Jennifer Rolloff: Right. As they go to use it, it comes up.
Albert Lin: Yes.
Jennifer Rolloff: Yes. Or as they come up, they get that alert.
Albert Lin: Yes.
Chair Beth Kenny: And just to clarify, Commissioner Roloff, are you suggesting that that would
be directly about education around the bike parking that would be pushed regularly to people?
Jennifer Rolloff: Yes. Or I think I'm just sort of brainstorming out loud.
Albert Lin: So yes, I think it would be good for parking, but you could expand on that for
whatever. For the community.
Chair Beth Kenny: Commissioner Deutsch.
Susan Deutsch: Well, I really think you've done a really good job in exploring issues related to the
bike parking because I think in driving around Alameda, I have seen a lot of bikes parked in odd
places. So I think that all the suggestions have been great. I'd like to echo Arnold's idea of maybe
having some bikes that older people can ride, people who are not comfortable riding on a regular
bike, like a trike, or something that a disabled person could ride. That would be a great addition.
And I also I'm a little bit concerned about the helmet issue.
Susan Deutsch: I think there's potential for head injuries, especially the ways I see some teenagers
riding the bikes. So it would be great if we could come up with a strategy for the helmet issue. I
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don't know. I did hear something, which I didn't have time to look into, but I heard that there's
something like a collapsible helmet or some helmets that might work with not just Lime but all
these city bikes everywhere where nobody's wearing helmets.
Rochelle Wheeler: Yes. We agree definitely, especially for youth, because those under 18 are
required to wear a helmet.
Susan Deutsch: Yes.
Rochelle Wheeler: And so there are some strategies for that too that we've incorporated because
that was the second top issue. So Lime will be required to do helmet giveaways and to give out a
certain number per year. They're also setting up a program where you can actually get a helmet on
request, and they'll have different locations around the City where you could get those. They'll give
them away at free events. They will also be helping to fund some education to let people know
about, not just helmets, but safe riding.
Susan Deutsch: Yes.
Rochelle Wheeler: And then there can be education also through the app and through websites and
things like that. Yes.
Chair Beth Kenny: Commissioner Aghapekian.
Anto Aghapekian: Thanks for the presentation. The bike, it's a good program and I like it. I have a
couple of questions. One of the questions, after your test period, that lasted how long?
Rochelle Wheeler: So the pilot period was six months, however, we've extended it, so it's still
continuing until we get a new provider onboard, but the evaluation, the period that we evaluated
was six months.
Anto Aghapekian: And during that six months did you have any kind of conflicts between bikers
and pedestrians and people in wheelchairs?
Rochelle Wheeler: What we mostly heard about was bikes that were mis-parked. I don't think I
heard of any collisions where people were riding and hit somebody, that a bicyclist hit a pedestrian
or someone in a wheelchair. But it was more we got complaints about the bicycles blocking the
sidewalks or blocking the curb ramp. So, we definitely did get complaints about that.
Anto Aghapekian: And with the popularity of these bikes increasing, we'll have more bikers in
bike lanes and people use the bike lanes also in their wheelchairs. And I can see conflicts, I can see
accidents happening in the future with the increase of these bike users, and I don't know what the
answer is, but I'd like you to have that in the back of your mind. And my last question is, you said
that there is an organization that in case a tree falls down, they'll come and clear it up.
Rochelle Wheeler: That's the City that does that.
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Anto Aghapekian: That's the City?
Rochelle Wheeler: Yes, SeeClickFix is a way to get that request to the City or to give that
complaint to the City. I don't know if you want to bring that up, that's in the bottom of this strategy.
You can see it written out there. So you see it, you click like on the website. I think that's what the
click means. And then fix, is the City fixes it. So if you look that up online you can find the City's
website. Laurie might look it up for you right now, SO you can see what that looks like.
Anto Aghapekian: Well, the question I have is, a few weeks ago on a street, on a sidewalk where
it
meets the street, it was not for wheelchairs, but there was a lady stuck in her wheelchair and she
couldn't get back on the sidewalk, she couldn't get back on the street and we happened to be there.
We helped her out and we talked and she said, she's been sitting there for almost an hour, people
zipping by her. So do you think I have any chance of calling SeeClickFix and see if they can include
people in wheelchairs that are stuck? Maybe Arnold has had experiences like that yourself, where
stuck with your wheelchair because of the street, the sidewalk.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, okay, can you tell us again what the problem was?
Anto Aghapekian: Oh, the problem was a person, a lady in her wheelchair was stuck between the
sidewalk curb that slopes down to the street. It was not done properly, it was haphazard, no asphalt
and she was stuck there. She couldn't back out and she couldn't go forward and she was sitting there
and we happened to be there and we helped her out. And my question is, can we have an
organization like SeeClickFix in order to make the wheelchair people, excuse me, to assist people in
wheelchair that are stuck. And I was thinking that maybe with your experience in the wheelchair,
you may have had occasions where you're stuck.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, I think we're getting off the topic.
Chair Beth Kenny: Our staff person, Laurie, is actually the SeeClickFix administrator. So that's
something that maybe you guys can talk about together.
Laurie Kozisek: Yes, I'm not the administrator, I use it.
Chair Beth Kenny: Oh sorry.
Laurie Kozisek: But SeeClickFix is so that we can schedule to do the maintenance a few weeks
from now. If you have an immediate emergency, you call 911 if it's really bad, or you call Public
Works or you call the non-emergency police or Fire number and Fire does a lot of what they call lift
assist, where they come and they help somebody who's fallen down. So that would be the best
thing.
Anto Aghapekian: Okay.
Rochelle Wheeler: And just quickly on your second point about the increasing popularity, I think
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there are more people just generally biking around the City and generally as long as they're on the
street, in the bike lanes, and unless they're allowed to be on the sidewalk, I think that's a good thing
overall for the City. For the bike share program in this agreement, we have a maximum of 300 bikes
which is what we have now that will be allowed. So basically the number of bikes that you've been
seeing will continue to be the same unless the City authorizes them to increase that, because we
want to get a handle on this bike parking issue. And the helmet issue and once we feel like that is
going well then we can consider maybe increasing the number of bikes, but we first want to know
that we're getting good compliance with bike parking now.
Anto Aghapekian: Thank you.
Chair Beth Kenny: Thank you. Commissioner Linton.
Jenny Linton: Thank you for coming to present. It's very interesting, it's been very interesting to
watch all these bikes arrive in the City. I have a question about the ferry terminal, it's not quite
about the bike program, but you said that the top use is the ferry terminal, the last mile getting from
the City on other public transportation to the ferry. I'm concerned that if this is such a popular
solution, what do we do about those who can't use bikes, people with blindness or other physical
limitations? Is the City going to continue to look for solutions for that last mile for our whole
population? Or do you think that this might limit the interest in the need because the able population
has been served?
Rochelle Wheeler: I think we're always looking for transportation solutions to serve all the users to
get to these hubs or the terminals. We have a very robust paratransit program in the City that can
serve those populations as well, but it's interesting to think about that. And that's something we can
bring back, but I don't feel like having this in place is going to decrease our efforts to provide
mobility choices for all users. We always want to expand choices.
Jenny Linton: Good. And I have a question specifically about the about the LimeBike program.
You talked about signage and I was wondering, are we going to put signage on our public street? It's
almost a branding of a specific company in a public environment. We wouldn't allow a company
take over a public park.
Rochelle Wheeler: Yes, generally, I think what cities are doing is they're just kind of having some
sort of symbol with a bike and a P or something like that so that you know that that's a bike parking
area or it might say dockless bike share or something like that. So yes, I'm not sure we would allow
the Lime logo on the decals or the signs. Good point.
Jenny Linton: Thank you.
Chair Beth Kenny: Thank you. And I have a few questions for you guys. First, the 90% parking
success, people parking as a goal, I would like to see that higher especially over two-year period, if
you can step that up to a higher number as the contract goes on, that would be great. I would like to
see some sort of commitment to getting the hub lock because it's my understanding that the only
way that we can actually have people check in the app is to have the hub lock on the type of bikes
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that we're looking at when they park. That's the time to remind them, ""Park correctly."" And so in the
proposal, it talked about six months for electric bikes, but I don't think we're having electric bikes,
we're just having the pedal bikes. And so I'd like to see a commitment towards getting that, certainly
within the life of the contract.
Chair Beth Kenny: Another suggestion, gamification if you're going to do that, it would be great to
see some sort of like where you enable LimeBike riders to get points for re-parking somebody else
who might have misparked. And then I wanted to ask about how geo-fencing might work as far as,
would it be something where we could say, in an area where we know, like at the Waters Edge
Lodge, there's lots of people with mobility concerns. Could we block off that area from parking
your bike or would it have to be the whole block or how specific is it? I know it can't get between
the sidewalk and the grass area. And then would that be something where organizations that are
providing services to people with mobility concerns could come to the City and say, ""We want our
area fenced-off."" Or come to Lime and say, ""We want our area fenced off.""
Rochelle Wheeler: Why don't I answer the second part of the locations, but do you want to talk
about more of the technology and how specific you can get with that?
Albert Lin: Yes, so we currently in our kind of dashboard, if you will, where we can control,
visually see where everything is, where all bikes, everything are, as well as kind of establishing
those geo-fences. So we basically, once we get the GPS coordinates, we just enter those in and then
that will basically create however big of a parameter or however more specific, obviously, it can't be
just one address.
Chair Beth Kenny: Right.
Albert Lin: But yes, it's relatively easy.
Rochelle Wheeler: And then I think that the blocking off, if it's a public area, we would want that
to come through the City and we'd want to work with whoever it is. We don't want to see half the
City end up getting blocked off because one person is complaining for instance. But definitely the
situation you're describing could be a place where there's a heavy concentration of people coming
and going with mobility issues, or visual impairments that might be a good place to block off. And
so I think we would work with individuals. Then there's also private property, when they work
directly with Lime to say ""They're in our apartment complex, we don't want your bikes at all in
here"". And so Lime works with those people directly.
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes, I would want it to be a need-based thing. And how likely would it be for
us to be able to get the hub locks on the LimeBikes?
Albert Lin: That's a really good question. I think I'd have to talk to our product and engineering
teams to see how much they can expedite that process, as right now it's just the pedal bikes alone.
We'd have to outfit them with additional hardware, so that the biker could communicate with our
servers to kind of establish that hub lock. So I'd have to get their take on that.
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Rochelle Wheeler: I'd say that is a concern also that the staff has in accelerating that and having the
hub locks come sooner rather than later to our City because that does feel like a really strong way to
do the parking enforcement.
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes. And do you have any sense about how Lime go about increasing that 90%
goal?
Albert Lin: 90% goal of? Oh, of properly parking.
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes.
Albert Lin: I'd say, main things that come off the top my head is, number one, just the community
events that we're going to contribute to, and make a presence to be there and educate as many
people as possible. So that means holding as many as we can. And then also I'd say in addition to
education through those events, I'd say beefing up our staff to be more kind of just patrolling. We
already have a good feel of what are the kind of the problem areas where it's congested like Park
Street etcetera, so kind of making them incorporate it into their daily routine, and have them patrol
that on a daily basis.
Albert Lin: I mean as of now, two weeks ago, I established kind of a mid-shift patrol, that will go
throughout Alameda and Oakland since they're relatively close. And that's just patrolling the hot
spots and taking care of our customer service tickets or complaints that we get.
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes. I guess those are my recommendations for this. And thank you very much
for coming and all the work that you guys have put into this.
Rochelle Wheeler: Thank you. Thank you all. These are very, very helpful suggestions and input,
and we'll take this into consideration and really appreciate your time tonight.
4-B Accessible Playgrounds
Chair Beth Kenny: Now we'll move on to the next agenda item. We're going to have a presentation
by Commissioner Deutsch on accessible playgrounds.
Susan Deutsch: So my son and daughter-in-law live in Marina, which is a little north of Monterey,
near Salinas, and I took my grandson to the playground called Tatum's Garden in Salinas, and I was
just really impressed with this playground. And I decided to do this presentation. And it's an
accessible playground and it's an inclusive playground. So, I'll go into that.
Susan Deutsch: So what is an accessible playground? An accessible inclusive playground, things
that are available to typically developing children, children with neurological disabilities such as
autism, children who have intellectual disabilities, children who require wheelchairs or medical
equipment, children with physical disabilities, social and emotional disabilities, and also to be
available for families, siblings, grandparents, and other people in the community that might be also
going to the playground with children.
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Susan Deutsch: So the disabled population is 12% in our country, but if you start including people
who are involved with this group of people, like their parents, their siblings, their grandparents,
their friends, then one in three people are touched by a person who has a severe disability. And
disability challenges are affecting individuals and their families, spend a day at the park. So, if
you're a grandparent and you're in a walker, you might still want to go to the park with your
grandchild. So all these things have to be considered when you're looking at what is an accessible
playground.
Susan Deutsch: So an inclusive playground addresses the needs of all people, including those who
have autism, intellectual disabilities, hearing impairments, visual impairments, cerebral palsy,
physical disabilities, and any other impairment that somebody might have. It addresses the needs of
typical children and it accommodates everyone and provides challenges at all the children's
developmental level, so all children can be challenged to explore.
Susan Deutsch: The mission is that it's an important time. Childhood, it is an important time for
opportunities to interact socially and strengthen the imagination. An inclusive playground provides
inclusive play areas for all children, regardless of their ability. And unfortunately special needs
children are often excluded from activities when facilities are not capable of accommodating these
children. They're left out of play experiences that most children get exposed to. An inclusive
playground has play features for both abled as well as disabled kids, and that both typical children
and disabled children should be able to play together.
Susan Deutsch: So the background on Tatum's Garden, I'm not going to read all of this, because
you have the handout, but two parents of a child with spina bifida went to Idaho and found this
inclusive playground and saw their child start to play with her siblings. And they live in Salinas,
they came back to Salinas, and they got approval from the City Council to build this playground in
an abandoned parking lot. And they started raising money. Well, there was a non-profit agency in
Salinas that they used to do the fund raising. And they thought there were going to be so many
obstacles and this was going to take years, and they did it in a few months, they collected a million
dollars from people all over Monterey County, and it was kind of amazing. And there was an
incredible number of volunteers also that helped in the building process of this playground.
Susan Deutsch: The playground was built by a company called Leathers and Associates, and
they've designed many playgrounds all over the United States, and they specialize in inclusive,
accessible playgrounds. The playground cost $750,000. A lot of local artists donated their time.
You'll see, when I show the pictures of these murals that are in the playground. So it's a playground,
but it's very artistic and it's very interesting.
Susan Deutsch: So in terms of fund raising, when people donated money, there's an area in the
entry way that has bricks and you can get your name engraved on a brick for the money you
donated. There are sponsors that donated money that are on a list, and a lot of those are companies
all over Monterey County that donated significant amounts of money. And then parts of the
playground have these picket fences and people's names are on those picket fences, and all these
people have donated and their names are there, and some of them are families and some of them are
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individuals. But it was just a real community effort, and that also really struck me as something
really good that a community could come together and do something like this.
Susan Deutsch: And this is just an overview of it from up above, but it doesn't really show the
whole playground. It's actually a very large playground, and there's a whole grassy area off to the
side where kids can run around and kick a soccer ball. And there's an area with picnic benches and
So, there's a lot more there but it's just an overview. My husband got very excited, so I'm including
some of his videos.
[Video Voiceover] Robert Deutsch: This is Tatum Gardens in Salinas, California. This is the most
incredible playground for children of all ages, families, disabled, you name it. This is so unique, so
interesting. It's themed to be the farm and the land and gardening and fruits and vegetables and how
we eat, how food reaches our tables and all over there are themes, and all the spices and beans and
herbs.
Susan Deutsch: So you could see, it's a farm theme and you could also see in that video, there were
bricks, the bricks over there. Those have people's names on them, the donations that they made.
Susan Deutsch: Yes. So this is just showing the surface of this playground is a foam surface, if you
fall on it, you won't get hurt. My grandson has fallen many times and he's always surprised that he's
not crying. And also it's colored. So, I think that's a good thing too, that there's different colors in
different parts of the playground so that you could really see the contrast on how to get from place
to place.
Susan Deutsch: And this is showing the structures and there are ramps that go everywhere. So a
person in a wheelchair can get on to these wooden structures. There's tunnels that kids can crawl
through and this surface doesn't splinter and that's another good thing. So I'm not sure what it is,
maybe it's not real wood. But that's another good thing, about how they created it. And so, here's a
child in the wheelchair, using the ramp and that might be Tatum, I'm just not sure because that looks
like her mother following her.
Susan Deutsch: So you could see that kids in wheelchairs can really get around on this climbing
area. There's also an area where kids can just explore things cognitively and visually. So these are
gears that kids can just spin and watch these gears move. It's just one example of some of the things
they had, they had some other kinds of things that kids could explore cognitively and visually and
sensory-wise, and this is a pretty popular place for kids to go, especially the younger ones. And so,
here's another.
[Video Voiceover] Robert Deutsch: Strawberries. This area, lot of strawberries are grown. Some
little houses with themes, again mostly things from the land, little houses to go in, inside the houses,
interesting items. The sun, little wheels to spin.
Susan Deutsch: So there are a lot of little homes, little structures like that, that kids can go into and
I think that is really important for some kids with disability. Here's another one, it's a farm stand.
But there are kids that get over-stimulated at a playground. And actually, when I was there, I saw a
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girl who clearly had a disability who was just running all over the place. Her father was constantly
chasing her, she was clearly over-stimulated and I didn't want to interfere but it would have been
nice if he just brought her into one of these little structures so that she could just calm down and
relax, and then go out and play again.
Susan Deutsch: The other thing about these structures is that they encourage imaginative play,
which is great. You see a lot of kids in that farm stand pretending to sell fruits and vegetables, and
also it provides some shade, because it's a pretty sunny location, and they didn't put a lot of trees in.
They provided shade in other ways. And this is one of them, and there's many of these.
Susan Deutsch: There are also these little climbing structures that are very unique and artistic, little
climbing walls. There's many of them all over and this is a simple one that you just step on the
bottom. And this is a swing for a disabled child. That is pretty safe, and the child can be strapped in.
And then there's also regular swings right next to it.
Susan Deutsch: And this is a Braille panel, and on one side they have numbers in Braille, on the
other side is the Braille alphabet. And I didn't see any visually impaired kids by this, but I took a
picture because my grandson loves this. Everything is tactile and he traces the numbers and he
traces the letters with his fingers, because those are raised also. So in addition to the Braille, the
letters and numbers are raised. And here's another. This is another video.
Susan Deutsch: You could see the path, there's a path to help kids find their way around and see
some of the structures. And this is a swing.
Susan Deutsch: Oh. My husband doesn't know what it is, he's calling it a ""tadpole swing"", but it's a
swing that I saw some parents taking their disabled child and sitting with them on that swing. And
that was a really nice. It was just a really nice interaction to watch that. These see-saws are safe. So,
when I was growing up, if the top person got off the see-saw, you'd crash down. You don't on this.
And then, there's a music area on the next slide, which is really cool. More swings. You could see
this is a very large playground, this is really large.
Susan Deutsch: Yes, the parents have been very involved with their kids. That's a picture of that
structure from another angle. It was like a big house. And this is the tractor from the other side. You
were seeing that there was a slanted way to climb up. There's also a way for someone in a
wheelchair to get onto that tractor from a ramp. And then there's a little ladder there, so there's many
ways to get on to that tractor for any child. And here's just another mural that artists volunteer their
time and painted with help from people in the community.
Susan Deutsch: Other murals, mosaics, butterflies, caterpillars, kids. I thought this was interesting
because I'm an occupational therapist, I've worked in the schools. And this is like a conveyor belt
that you roll boxes down, but it's a real sensory experience and kids go on that and they feel all the
rollers on their back or on their stomach, and a lot of kids with disability need that sensory input.
And there were a variety of items in this playground that provided that. This is one of them and my
grandson didn't like it, but I think it's great. And then they have items that spin, which a lot of kids
need that kind of movement. And this is lettuce, it's like a head of lettuce, that's been cut open, and
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kids sit on it and spin. Behind it, there's another item that also spins, but this is one that you could
sit in and be safer.
Susan Deutsch: So, this playground is owned by the community. They clean it once a month,
they've been taken care of it. There are still donations coming in to help take care of it. When I was
there, I saw a group of developmentally disabled adults going in, and they were cleaning the
playground, which I thought, Wow, that's just a great opportunity for vocational training for some of
those adults.
Susan Deutsch: I felt like, when I was there, that people were valued, and people with disability
were valued. And you could just see it in the way that playground was built. And I'm just saying this
is a worthy goal, a community based effort to build an inclusive playground. This kind of play for
all kids, it's just a worthy goal to work towards, I just see it as maybe a long range plan. But I think
it provides for kids cognitive development, sensory development, physical development, and social
development.
Chair Beth Kenny: Great. Thank you, Commissioner Deutsch. Can we just go around?
Susan Deutsch: Yes, sure.
Chair Beth Kenny: And have comments.
Susan Deutsch: Yes, I didn't show everything in the playground because that just won't be possible.
Chair Beth Kenny: Seems like it's pretty huge.
Susan Deutsch: Yes, well, I mean, it's big enough, I mean it's small enough, that my two and a half
year old grandson gets all over there. But it is a good sized playground compared to some of the
ones that I've been to here.
Chair Beth Kenny: Commissioner Brillinger, yes.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes. It seems to me that Alameda has a park that was built to be inclusive of all
people. Maybe we could get a little bit of it at another time?
Chair Beth Kenny: I don't have an exhaustive report on that. I think that what you may be thinking
of is when we did the 25th anniversary of the ADA. We did our celebration in conjunction with the
Parks and Rec Department. And they opened up a playground at that point that was their most
inclusive. They are trying to include things with every new playground to make them more
accessible. But I think the one that you're thinking of is the 25th anniversary ADA celebration. And
so it had some of the elements in here.
Susan Deutsch: But there's no access for a child in a wheelchair to get on to a climbing structure in
that playground. But the surface of that playground allows kids with wheelchairs to roll around. So
it's not like bark or sand. It's a surface that allows a wheelchair to roll. But there's no accessible
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Arnold Brillinger: Because like Alameda is maritime. And the whole thing with ships and things
like that.
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes, and the Bay.
Susan Deutsch: Yes, could be. The way they did it, they actually worked together. They had a
whole committee working together. The community came up with this theme, and this committee.
So I think that's a good way to do it too.
Arnold Brillinger: Thank you. Thank you Susan.
Susan Deutsch: Thank you.
Chair Beth Kenny: Commissioner Rolloff.
Jennifer Rolloff: Thanks so much for sharing that, that's fantastic. I know, I believe you're the
liaison to Parks and Rec. Are you already in the work to present this to them? I think that would be
really worthwhile.
Susan Deutsch: Yes, well I wanted to present it here first, and get feedback. I was on kind of a time
crunch, and I didn't realize when I started that I had to get my PowerPoint to Laurie, like 10 days
before this, SO. But I might need to make some changes, but I do want to pursue this.
Jennifer Rolloff: Yes, I think there's so many ways to incorporate this into our community, whether
it's a dedicated park, or as we start replacing antiquated pieces of parks, they get replaced with some
of these. And I know Jean Sweeney Park has multiple phases of the park being rolled out, and not
all of them are in stone. And I know I've seen one that has some very creative areas that are not
jungle gyms typically, but they're not being built yet. This might be a time to see if any of this could
be incorporated. Because I think it's important, and the impact is so positive. So, thank you.
Susan Deutsch: Yes, I also thought that the West End might be a good place, because there's a lot
of land there, and they're going to be building there. So that might be another possibility where
there's a good chunk of land.
Jennifer Rolloff: Yes. What's it called on Alameda Point? The new one that just broke ground?
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Susan Deutsch: Yes.
Jennifer Rolloff: Do they have plans for their parks already? That might be another place for this
discussion as well.
Susan Deutsch: Yes. I know. Yes, thank you.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Thank you so much for the presentation. I think it's fantastic, and I
would love to see that kind of thing in Alameda. I really like the community ownership, because
they relied on the donations and help building it. I think that would be a real strength for our
community if we had that as well. I think people would really have some ownership. And yes, I
thought it was a really good presentation. I think it will go well with the Parks Department. So I'm
excited to see where it goes.
Susan Deutsch: I hope so.
Anto Aghapekian: Same with me. It's a very nice presentation. Thank you. And I like the item that
you have in there, the dollar sign, where it says that it costs $750,000. The Parks and Rec, they look
at numbers. And it's doable. And also, the emphasis that everybody uses it, not only for people. It's
for everybody.
Susan Deutsch: Yes.
Anto Aghapekian: That makes life so much easier. It's not very expensive. It can be done. Thank
you.
Susan Deutsch: Oh, well, it sounds expensive to me.
Jenny Linton: I want to thank you as well Susan. I would just reiterate what you both said about it
being a community park aspect. I think both looking for donations from community members and
the participation of the community is what drives an inclusive park. In 1990, we lived in Davis with
a
then four-year-old, and the community park was built. I think parents went and worked on it. It
had just been opened when we arrived. But David and I were there last weekend and we had to go
visit the community park, hadn't been there in 30 years, and there it was all rebuilt. But probably I
don't think I saw anything all that inclusive about it. Well, it was chaos.
Chair Beth Kenny: Thank you. This is I know something that you've been interested in for a while.
Susan Deutsch: Yes.
Chair Beth Kenny: So I'm glad that we're here talking about it, and this is great stuff. I echo what
everybody says about getting the community involvement. I think that's what can make this really
special. And I have a few ideas of places or organizations that might be interested. The Alameda
Special Education Parents Group is a great organization. And they have talked about wanting to
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work with us more, and I think this would be a great time to do that. The other thing is I got an
email from Amy Wooldridge, who is head of the Parks and Rec today, and she had been meeting
with the people of Kiwanis, and they are looking at starting a new branch that focuses more on
people with disabilities. And then wanting to see if somebody from the Commission wanted to be
part of that with them. So this might be a good opportunity.
Susan Deutsch: Oh, wow. Yes, great.
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes. So, yes I love that. And then I think I just misheard you, and maybe it's
because I'm going to so many playgrounds myself right now. Where you talked about the
playground and being inclusive. Did you say it was inclusive for the caregivers as well? Or like
accessible for caregivers as well?
Susan Deutsch: Yes.
Chair Beth Kenny: Because I find that is a problem I'm coming across in some of these
playgrounds.
Susan Deutsch: Yes, I mean not every aspect.
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes.
Susan Deutsch: I've been playing with my grandson, and he wants to play hide-and-seek with me,
right, so I'm trying to crawl into these little spaces. So, no, you can't do that. You definitely, as a
grandparent with a walker, or a wheelchair, or somebody with a disability could definitely go to a
playground like this with their kids.
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes. Wonderful. And then, the other thing, that specialized swing that you
showed us, is that a wheelchair swing?
Susan Deutsch: No. They didn't have a wheelchair swing, and that is something I think they should
have.
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes, I was at the Alameda Makers Fair this weekend, and there was a woman
there who was showing some adaptive sports equipment that she had been making. She works for
San Leandro, doing PE for them, and she had said that she really wanted to see a wheelchair swing
in Alameda. So, I would love to see that.
Susan Deutsch: Yes, I would, too. At one point, when I first started working in the Berkeley
Unified School District, there was one wheelchair swing for this one student, the parent fought for it
and got it, but then the playground was redone, the student wasn't there, there was no other student
in that school with a disability, with a disability that required a wheelchair, so it came down. But
that was It would be nice to have one with a wheelchair.
Chair Beth Kenny: And, my final question is how do you see the best way, going forward, towards
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making this happen with the commission? Should we get a sub-committee on this, or?
Susan Deutsch: It would be helpful to work with other people. If people are interested, it would be
great. But I do need to present to Parks and Rec. I do know that, and I guess I'll contact Amy
Wooldridge and the Kiwanis Club. But I was also thinking that in order to fundraise, you need a
nonprofit organization. I guess the Kiwanis is a nonprofit. And then I also thought of this, maybe
that Center for Independent Living, they might have an interest. So, just finding an organization, a
nonprofit organization to fundraise through would be great. But yes, working with other people is
always the better. I don't know how much time people have. I don't see it as something that it is
probably going to happen very quickly, so I don't want people to feel pressured. I think it's
something that's going to be a process.
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes. My sense is, if we form a sub-committee, that a lot of it could be done
over email. Would you say that's correct?
Susan Deutsch: Yes. If there are people that want to meet one-on-one, then we can set up those
meetings at some point, but the initial contacts would probably be email, unless somebody from the
Kiwanis wants to meet. And I don't know if the whole committee has to meet, unless that's what we
decide, depending on people's time. But if they do, it's great. The more people, the better.
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes. With the Kiwanis situation, they're actually looking for one person to be a
liaison. But in my sub-committee experience, I would say it's great to have a few people, because a
lot of these meetings come up at inconvenient times, so if you can have a few different people who
can go to them, it's better.
Susan Deutsch: Yes. And, I think, when we did Universal Design, it was better having a
committee. It clearly worked out better. And just to even get ideas off of each other, otherwise you
just feel like you're in this zone and you don't hear what other people are thinking and you can't get
other people's ideas. So, having other people is a good thing.
Chair Beth Kenny: So, I would like to propose that we form a sub-committee towards getting a
inclusive accessible park built here in Alameda, playground here in Alameda. Is anyone interested
in joining that? I am certainly interested. Maybe a little self-interested.
Anto Aghapekian: I am too.
Chair Beth Kenny: All right.
Chair Beth Kenny: So, for now, it'll be the three of us, and we can report back to the commission
on how things are going.
Susan Deutsch: Okay. And just, then, for your information, for everybody's information, there was
something that I meant to put on my presentation that I didn't. So if you Google ""Inclusive
playground design guide"", there's a whole guide about it. I can't even read the whole thing, I haven't
read it all yet. I've read parts of it. But it's a huge guide about how to build inclusive playgrounds,
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and, actually, Anto, you probably would understand some of the things that I don't understand. But
yes, the architectural parts of it.
Arnold Brillinger: Thank you. I want to say Susan, I think that you've got the support of the
Commission on going forward to this and making it come to fruition. I think everyone will be
behind you and to help in whatever the way they can. Thank you.
Susan Deutsch: Yes. And just one other thing is that my husband really would like a playground
like this in Alameda, and so at some point, he might jump in and help out because he has some
contacts, like on City Council if it gets to that.
Chair Beth Kenny: He's welcome to be part of our sub-committee or be an adviser to the sub-
committee.
Susan Deutsch: Yes, okay. I had to include his videos.
4-C Move November 2018 Meeting [Note: Also covered in Item 6
Chair Beth Kenny: So we'll move on to agenda item 4C. We need to move our November 2018
meeting. I'm still trying to figure out. There's another commission that had already rescheduled their
November meeting for the second Wednesday of that month before we had changed to odd months.
So, do you have some proposed dates?
Laurie Kozisek: Well, it's just that the Transportation Commission meets on the fourth Wednesday
of the month and they don't want to meet on Thanksgiving Eve. And so they've always traditionally
gone with the second Monday or Wednesday for November and they are not willing to change that.
So we could go with the first or third. I would recommend the first because the third is getting
pretty close to Thanksgiving also.
Chair Beth Kenny: And it's confirmed that on November 7th, there's nobody else in City Council
chambers.
Laurie Kozisek: Not that I know of at this point.
Chair Beth Kenny: Okay. So I would like to propose that we move it to November 7th which is
one week earlier. It's the first Wednesday of November.
Jennifer Rolloff: I'll second that.
Chair Beth Kenny: All in favor?
All: Aye.
Chair Beth Kenny: Any opposed?
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5. OLD BUSINESS
5-A. Commission and Board Liaison Reports
Chair Beth Kenny: Now, we'll go on to agenda item five, Commission and Board Liaison Reports.
Commissioner Billinger.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay. If you were at the parade, you probably saw the shuttle go by. You
probably saw me go by too because I made it all the way around. I would just want to say that we're
working on doing all kinds of things to get people to ride the shuttle. Again, just like using the bikes
is good for getting people out of single-person cars and the bus is also especially for older people
and for those that are disabled. Right now, it's open to anybody. We're even going to have a couple
of things like Gilligan's Island, there was a three-hour tour and turned into a long thing, right? Well,
I came up with the idea.
Arnold Brillinger: Let's have a free hour tour. Means that it's free. You don't have to pay anything
to go on it, but we're going to have Dennis from the Alameda Sun come on and we're really sorry
that we can't do this for as many people as we think that will be wanting to go on this to kind of
give a historical tour as we go past some of these things in Alameda. And as we know, it goes on
three different tours, three different routes, one on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, one on Thursday,
but we're going to also get some of the information and on 11 X 17 sheets, and have them laminated
so that people can as they're going by, say, ""Oh, look at there's where the peanut butter factory used
to be for Skippy's.'
Arnold Brillinger: Because it did start here in Alameda, and so forth. So those are just some of the
things that we're getting to get people interested and aware because we realize a lot of people are
working during the hours when it runs. But their older, their parents and their neighbors that are
older, they need to know about it. So we're trying to get the information out to the various groups.
So that's it for the shuttle. Now in Alameda, and we've had the presentation here from Victoria
Williams on the Paratransit Program, where people can buy vouchers.
Arnold Brillinger: They can have these tickets, they will bring them back from a doctor's
appointment or a hospital or wherever they had to go for $2.50. Wherever it is in the county, and
Alameda will pay the rest of it that way. And also, people of a certain age can get vouchers to ride
regular taxis at a very much discounted price, like they get a $5 voucher for $1.50. And it helps
them with making their budgeting work out. So, we do have those things. And I just wanted to say,
besides the fact that I do go to the Oakland Commission on Disability and also Berkeley and stuff
like that, they all seem to have representatives at the last meeting in Oakland where they talked
about several things, one of them being the whole thing of shared bicycles and also accessible
bicycles.
Arnold Brillinger: And also, how to work with Uber and Lyft in getting rides that were equipped
to handle wheelchairs. And there's an SB and I don't know the number of it, but just recently I heard
about it, where in the legislature in Sacramento, they're considering this where a certain amount of
each ride has to be specified to work or get some vehicles that can handle wheelchairs. So that's
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pretty important, and it might be something that we can get an overview for the next meeting and
maybe see if the City Council also wants to endorse it, as are city councils like in San Francisco and
Oakland are going to endorse, and in other places in California.
Arnold Brillinger: So, what I'll do is I'll send the information on what that bill is to Laurie and she
can send it out to everybody, so that if you're interested you can see how it's working. And also,
maybe then we can discuss endorsing it to our City Council to say, ""Yes, we want to sponsor this
also.""
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes, get that to Laurie and we can have it on the agenda for next time if we can
all review that and we will have a discussion about that. That would be great. I'd love to hear about
things that are coming down the pipeline.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes.
Chair Beth Kenny: Great. Commissioner Roloff?
Jennifer Rolloff: So, let's see for School Board. I didn't get a chance to attend the meeting where
they talked extensively about the merging of schools, but I will do some investigating on that. I
think that puts a lot of the population that we're advocating for at risk. A lot of these services are
going to fall through the cracks, so I'll follow up on that. But what I did want to talk about was,
there was a committee put together that did a needs assessment for mental and emotional wellness
needs. So Kirsten Zazo, do you know Kirsten? She's the Chief Student Support Officer in Alameda
[Unified School District], and she presented the needs to the Board. The purpose of the needs
assessment is to identify student behavioral needs, inventory existing school and community-based
services and identify gaps in services.
Jennifer Rolloff: The goal is to develop recommendations, create a more coordinated and
integrated behavioral health service system and make services more accessible to all students.
Which I felt was very thematic with what our board is doing, with what Commission is doing with
focusing on mental health needs. Essentially just to net out, she presented the findings but I think
one of the takeaways was per Sean McPhetridge [Superintendent at AUSD]. Unfortunately, there's
not a lot of money to address these. We can work on addressing the zero-cost solutions that they
had. So one of the thoughts I had was that Kirsten or a delegate could possibly come and present her
report to us. We could do a little Q&A and see how possibly us, on behalf of the City could make
recommendations for supplementing some of those gaps that don't have proper funding since it is
for Alameda residents as well. So if maybe we could get that on an agenda for a future date. I could
even contact Kirsten.
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes, if you could contact Kirsten and include Laurie and myself on the email,
that would be great. And so I would love to have her on the agenda to present that report.
Jennifer Rolloff: Okay. Okay, great. Thank you. That's all I have for today.
Chair Beth Kenny: Vice-Chair Barrett.
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Jenn Barrett, Vice Chair: Yes, I didn't have anything from the Planning Board for this particular
update. And then for the businesses, I got some contacts. Thank you, Beth, for providing that. I'm
going to get in touch and hopefully have it start rolling before our next meeting. And then one other
thing I wanted to bring up, when you were presenting, I was thinking about beach access. My aunt,
we were in Cape Cod, and she's in a wheelchair, and they had a beach buggy. Just there were two
that you could just take and you just transfer them onto this beach buggy that has these huge wheels
that can go on the sand. And it just was so awesome, and it allowed her to come out on the beach
with us. So I think that's something else we can talk to the Parks Department about maybe adding.
Susan Deutsch: Yes. And another, I have a relative who has a house in Martha's Vineyard and what
they have on their beaches is something built right over the sand that you can just push a wheel
chair on to get out to the beach.
Chair Beth Kenny: And we have heard from people wanting to be able to access things like the
Sand Castle Contest. So I like what you guys are thinking.
Chair Beth Kenny: Commissioner Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: The Parks Department cancelled their meeting, which I think was last week. Oh,
tomorrow? Yes, it's cancelled the meeting.
Chair Beth Kenny: Yes. Commissioner Aghapekian?
Anto Aghapekian: I have three items that I'd like to talk about. The first one is in our local
newspapers, they announced all the City meeting. There's the City meeting calendars, and all the
commissions are listed. Their schedule of the commission meetings are announced in the
newspaper, and it comes out weekly. And I'd like us to be on this schedule so that people know
when we meet and hopefully they're coming. That's one item. The other item is on Clement Avenue,
you probably have heard about.
Anto Aghapekian: They're calling it the Clement Avenue Corridor. It's about a mile and a half
street that's going to be converted into amenities and leisure, amenities and circulation area. The
City has about $5 million donation, not donation, but a grant from the federal government to work
on this project. And the lady who is responsible for this project from the City planning department
is Gayle Payne.
Anto Aghapekian: And so she is the contact person. And what happened during the Central Avenue
presentation with Gayle, it was after the fact. All we were told or this commission was informed
was, after the fact, this is what we're going to do. What I would like to see happen this time around
is before the planning department starts planning and hiring designers to do the design, I think that
we should get in touch with Gayle and I volunteer to do this. I will walk that one and a half mile to
Clement Avenue and highlight all the areas that are hazards for people in wheelchairs and highlight
it on a map and pass it on to her through this Commission, of course, so that they do include all the
things that are necessary to make that one and a half mile promenade to be accessible for a
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wheelchair. That's my second item.
Anto Aghapekian: The third that I have is, there was a forum composed by the League of Women
Voters here in Alameda, and during that forum, there were four or five people that talked, and,
Thomas, the City Planner, was also there. And they talked about the new housing state laws that I
was very curious about to find out what this new laws are. And it's not code. It does not impact
wheelchair. It's not code related. It's all number of housing. Each city is required, not requested. It's
required by law to provide. And cities have been bucking this for about two, three years, but the
state is making it very clear that if a city does not comply by providing a certain percentage of
housing, per income
Anto Aghapekian: All the details, then the state will stop all funding with that city, and that's
paralyzing. That's a very serious threat. And they can do it and cities cannot do anything about it.
So, cities have been approving housing projects on many fronts, as much as they can. Alameda is
one of them. And the thing that is ironic is, the developers have put in a lot of money, getting their
plans prepared and approved by the city, it takes sometimes years. And after they receive their
approval, their permits to go ahead with the construction, they find out that the banks are refusing to
give them the money, because they're creating low-cost housing or market value housing, and the
banks say, ""The numbers don't jive. There is no way your income is going to be able to pay your
loan, so we're not going to give you any money.' So, that's why some of the projects that have been
approved that we know of, that's been advertised, or spoken of, written about in the papers, one of
them being the brick building that used to be a factor - Del Monte.
Anto Aghapekian: I think the guy had his approval, his permit about two or three years ago and it's
still vacant. Nothing is going on and I saw a sign on it that says that it's ready for lease, but I don't
know what that means. So this is really not much to do with what we're all about and yet it has
impact as to availability of housing. The monies to build parks, the developers have promised to
create parks, but they cannot do it. It's all at a standstill. And I just wanted to share that with you.
Chair Beth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Aghapekian. Commissioner Linton?
Jenny Linton: I joined a group this year called Genesis. They are a group of community organizers
in Oakland over by the eastern edge of Lake Merritt. And this year they're focusing on Disability
Justice. They've created a Disability Justice League, in particular, focusing on exactly what the
anthropologists from the Haas Center of Disability Studies came and spoke to us about, which is
around the intersection of multiple disabilities, being a woman with disabilities, a minority with
disabilities. And along with their focus on disabilities, they're looking at housing and getting young
people out of jail, and these things are all related. Housing is an issue for those with disabilities.
Jenny Linton: Those without housing tend to find themselves in jail or in trouble earlier on and
could or could not be disabled as well. And so they're working to organize groups, people willing to
speak. We did a training this week at the Arc in San Leandro where we took a group of people from
the day program and got them. Actually, my son and I both went to two different sites. Gave them a
chance to talk about themselves and see who could develop the confidence to come speak to their
assembly about what they need in their population, and they're called genesisca.org, and their
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number is 510-882-3404 and they're meeting again on Tuesday night. And I just wanted to share
that. Thank you.
Chair Beth Kenny: Great. Thank you, Commissioner Linton. So I think I misspoke a little bit
about the Kiwanis Club. What it is, is they're starting a service club within the Kiwanis Club that is
they're interested in getting people with disabilities to come join Kiwanis. So I think we should be
in touch with them and reaching out. And I would love to be a part of that. It's called the Aktion
Club and I encourage anyone who's interested to please check it out.
Anto Aghapekian: I know the person.
Chair Beth Kenny: That sounds great. So on the housing stuff that you were discussing, last night
at City Council, they approved a master plan for the Marina Shores Project, which is, I believe, part
of the Clement Street Corridor that you're talking about and the project would include 760 new
residential developments. So by my math, that's over 220 universally designed units that should be
part of this project, and that's 760 visitable units that will be part of this project, so I was pretty
excited about that.
Chair Beth Kenny: But the other thing that came up at City Council last night was, they were
discussing the rent control ordinance or ballot measure, rather. The current ordinance is going on
the ballot, and I just wanted to let you all know, because what the ballot measure basically does is
put the current ordinance in the City Charter and by putting that ordinance in the City Charter, it
means that no changes can be made to that ordinance, without a public vote. So, if we decide, ""Oh,
we really want to push to protect disabled people from no cause evictions,"" or ask for extra
relocation costs for people who are disabled, or extra relocation time.
Chair Beth Kenny: That would require, if this ballot measure passes, it would require a citywide
vote. So it would have to go on the ballot. And honestly, for very small things, if they wanted to
even change punctuation, it's my understanding that it would then have to go on a City ballot. And it
made me think we should be thinking about what our disabled population faces in terms of rent,
issues in rent stability, and certainly relocation if they have to move. I think there are some good
issues we can be thinking and making some recommendations to the City Council regarding that.
And I'd like it to be on our radar, and perhaps we can get an agenda speaker at some point to talk
about that.
Chair Beth Kenny: The November ballot has a ballot measure that is asking about, ""Should we put
the current rent control ordinance into the City Charter?"" Well, I don't think that we can address
really, the ballot measure. I wanted to let you guys know what that is, but it also sparked in me that
we should just kind of proceed with, whether the ballot measure goes through or not, it might be
something we should be looking at, protecting the disabled population who are renters in Alameda.
And what sort of recommendations, if we need to make recommendations, what kind of
recommendations we can make. Those are my announcements, and I think we'll go on to staff
communication.
6. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
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More on 4C:
Laurie Kozisek: Thank you, Madam Chairman. I did a quick check on my phone while we were
talking and found out that City Council will be meeting on November 7th. I don't know why, but
they'll be meeting on a Wednesday that week. So, I would recommend that you do a vote saying you
would like to meet on November 21st, because there's nobody on the City calendar for November
21st.
Chair Beth Kenny: Is City Council meeting November sixth?
Laurie Kozisek: That's a Tuesday.
Chair Beth Kenny: Right.
Laurie Kozisek: I don't know, I didn't check that. I just noticed that they are meeting on a
Wednesday, for some reason.
Chair Beth Kenny: I was just thinking that on the 21st the 22nd is Thanksgiving.
Chair Beth Kenny: So, I don't really want to do the 21st. I can recommend, I would put out there
the 28th, if that's available?
Laurie Kozisek: That, I believe, is available.
Chair Beth Kenny: Okay, so that's the last Wednesday of November.
Laurie Kozisek: Which ironically is when the Transportation Commission will not be meeting, so
it will be available.
Chair Beth Kenny: So, I would recommend the 28th. Do I have a second?
Anto Aghapekian: Second.
Chair Beth Kenny: All in favor?
All: Aye.
Chair Beth Kenny: Any opposed? The 28th, it is.
Laurie Kozisek: I will double check that again.
6-A Façade Response
Laurie Kozisek: And then, my other item, somehow it didn't get on there. For the facade response,
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I sent an email asking about if facade moneys could be used to make entrances more accessible, and
they said, no. It's got to be used for making it look more beautiful. I'm sorry, but we might be able to
find some other grants, so that we could push for ADA grants to make entrances more accessible.
Chair Beth Kenny: Thank you, Laurie. I spoke with Linda Asberry, who is head of the West
Alameda Business Association, and she's actually on that Facade Grants Program. She's part of the
people who approve who gets the facade grants. So she might be a good person to just figure out
how they got the facade grants going in the first place, and instead of facade grants, we can have
accessibility grants.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Yes, that's a great idea.
Chair Beth Kenny: And she is also very interested in the program that you're putting together.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Great. Do you have our email?
Chair Beth Kenny: I do.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay, that'll be great.
Chair Beth Kenny: I'll shoot that over to you.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Thank you so much.
Chair Beth Kenny: Sure.
Laurie Kozisek: Okay, That's all I had.
7. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chair Beth Kenny: Thank you very much. If there are no other announcements
8. ADJOURNMENT
Chair Beth Kenny: I'd like to adjourn our meeting.
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NOTE: The first 30 minutes of video for this meeting were lost. This set of minutes has a summary
of actions for those missing minutes, then goes into a verbatim transcript after that.
SUMMARY OF ACTION
1. ROLL CALL
Meeting Started at 6:41 PM
Present: Chair Elizabeth Kenny, Vice Chair Jenn Barrett, Commissioners Jennifer Roloff,
Anto Aghapekian, Susan Deutsch, Lisa Hall and Arnold Brillinger. Quorum established.
Commissioner Leslie Morrison attempted to teleconference in, but was unable to do so.
2. MINUTES
The minutes for the July 11 meeting were corrected to reflect the correct last name of a
commissioner, and were accepted. Moved by Beth Kenny and seconded by Jennifer Roloff
and approved unanimously.
3. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
None
4. NEW BUSINESS
4-A Doug Biggs, Executive Director, Alameda Point Collaborative
Alameda Medical Respite and Wellness Center
This presentation was lost, but a similar presentation was given by Mr. Biggs to the Planning
Board on October 8, 2018. The video for this presentation can be found by going to
https://alameda.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx, and selecting 2018 and Planning Board in the
pull down menus. The introduction by staff starts at 1:10:00, and Doug Biggs starts to speak
at 1:18:10.
VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT
[The remaining video starts right after Doug Biggs finished his presentation. Chair Elizabeth Kenny
asked ""Where is it?""]
Doug Biggs: So this is McKay Avenue down here [points on screen]. And the entrance to Crab
Cove, the little parking lot here So it's right across the street. I will point out, McKay Avenue is
owned by the State of California. It's managed by the East Bay Regional Parks, it's a road that needs
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a lot of work. It will never meet the conditions required for the City to take over it, it's not built the
right way, but we think there's some work that could be done on improving the sidewalks, and
improving the paving. We also think and I've already had some initial discussions that it'll be a
fairly compelling project for the State in doing one bit of road that's going to support both an East
Bay Regional Parks site and a large medical program for the homeless and there's already some
interest from the State in supporting that. I'll also point out that, if you're familiar with the area,
that's where the market is and Neptune Cafe, there's a little square building behind a fence down
there, that's the pump station that serves both our site and Crab Cove. It doesn't serve any of the
residents down there but it serves those two facilities. We now own that pump station or we will
once the lease is signed, so we'll be responsible for that.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: What's a pump station?
Doug Biggs: It pumps the sewage up to the top just because there's that steep climb up there. And
staff has already told me that's where my office is going to be. [Laughter] But I don't know.
Commissioner Arnold Brillinger: Now, you were talking about Building 1, do you have any other
ideas on what the other buildings would be used for?
Doug Biggs: So building two, the twos, 2A, B, C and D, will be the buildings for our senior
housing and that will contain 90 units. Building one will be the health center and the medical respite
and the building twos will be senior housing. It'll have the individual units, it'll have a dining room.
Probably kitchen facility, recreation space. So you can see here we'll also add on a community
garden, a multipurpose terrace for people to have kind of an indoor/outdoor living area here.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Alright, Commissioner Roloff.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: First of all, thank you, and thanks for all you do on the Point. I
know it's so important to our community. I have a couple of tactical questions and then some bigger
picture questions. And I'm suffering from a cold, so forgive me. So with this program, what's the
definition of homelessness?
Doug Biggs: So the definition of homeless is a literal definition defined by HUD in that they are
literally homeless, and living in a place that's unfit for human habitation or in some type of
emergency or transitional shelter. So it's people living in their cars, under the freeways, in a tent
encampment or in an emergency shelter or transitional housing.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: Okay.
Doug Biggs: That's limiting to some extent. And that's also why we want to set up this Resource
Center as a very independent separate little space there because it doesn't include people who are
doubling up, which we see a lot of in Alameda; it doesn't include people who are living
in
somebody's garage. The HUD definition doesn't count those as homeless.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: Oh right, okay. And then, of all of the programs is the Resource
Center, the only one that has a walk-in option? So, the rest you're referred there?
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Doug Biggs: Yes. The test are all referred in, checked in, checked out.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: Okay. And then it sounds like you mentioned you don't really need
approval from the community, and I guess that means the City because it's all through state and
federal funding, but as far as the satellite medical and behavioral wellness clinic, you mentioned
that that's for City of Alameda residents.
Doug Biggs: The Resource Center is for City of Alameda residents.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: Oh, it is, okay, so will there be City funding or do you need
anything from the City?
Doug Biggs: The city has already allocated some funding for it $100,000 a year and that was
approved by the Council as part of their homeless policy report that they accepted about five or six
months ago. We're really going to be looking for private donations to operate that. The Realtors
Association is interested in setting up a fund, some of the corporations because they're having a
hard time keeping people housed, they're interested in donating to a fund for that. We want it to be
as few strings attached as possible if we were to take federal funding for the Resource Center then
we have to serve everybody. We don't really want to be in that position, we want to focus on
Alamedans. So we're going to be doing a lot of private fund raising for that.
Doug Biggs: I will also mention though that the areas where the City does have some authority over
this is, the land is currently zoned Administrative Professional, which allows all of the uses we're
proposing, but it has a G overlay which means a government overlay, because it's owned by the
government now. When that property is transferred to us then the City has to remove that G overlay,
that's going to be going before the Planning Board October 8th, and it'll be going to City Council
probably in one of their November meetings, we're not sure what yet. It's an administrative
procedure because they can't again, by right, deny us removal of the G overlay because we're not
the government. They just can't keep it on, but it will be one of the opportunities for anybody to
come out and speak in opposition of the project or in favor of the project, and that's fine. I think
people need their concerns need to be heard, and we need to know kind of what, how folks want a
program to run well. There will also be a design review process and again, as I said, we want to
bring some of the designs to you as well, the Planning Board will approve the designs, there will
always be, there could be an appeal applied for those in the City Council, could further review.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: Sure. Can you categorize the opponents of this project, generally
what their issues are with it?
Doug Biggs: So the primary opponents of the projects are from the two gated condominiums on
either side: Park Webster, in front of the project and Crown Harbor behind it. When the first federal
property was declared surplus, they led the effort to make sure it was It was originally, the city
was originally going to sell it to a developer, for market redevelopment. Crab Cove very clearly had
an interest in that piece of the property and they were able to mobilize the community to stop that
from happening and overturn it, and the property was eventually sold to the East Bay Regional
Parks. GSA should have done that to begin with. They didn't, they were kind of caught in doing that
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and the community prevailed. They have made the statement, and some of you may have seen
they've been out there gathering signatures on an open space measure, to have this declared open
space in the hope that it would also become parkland.
Doug Biggs: East Bay Regional Parks has been adamant that they do not want the space, it's not in
any of their master plans, it's not in any of their acquisition strategy, it just would not do anything to
complete that park. The City of Alameda has also been very clear. Both entities also had the
opportunity to apply for it the same time we did, and then they chose not to. There was one other
applicant, it was another nonprofit from Los Angeles that applied for it.
Doug Biggs: The level of concerns people have had are Some of the statements and if you check
out the website Friends of Crab Cove, it's pretty clear there, a sense that Crab Cove is used by a lot
of youth, and it is, and a lot of children, it is, we totally get that. There's a sense that those kids
shouldn't be exposed to homelessness. I think we've gotten past that in this community, but also
when you look at what the uses are, this is about as nonactive use as you can get. These are going to
be people who are interested in medical recovery, not in being out partying all the time. They're
going to be pretty fragile. So we think we put in an array of services that fit well with the
community.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: Okay, thank you, those are all my questions.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Roloff. Vice Chair Barrett?
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Thank you so much for coming to speak with us. I really enjoyed
learning more about the program, and I'm looking forward to seeing it come into fruition, and thank
you for asking such great questions. That was great. I don't have any, so thank you so much.
Doug Biggs: Thank you.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you. Commissioner Deutsch?
Commissioner Susan Deutsch: Thank you very much, this was very informative because I have
seen people outside of supermarkets asking me to sign petitions and I didn't know that much about
it, so I didn't sign. But those petitions are to get something on the ballot? And what if that passes?
Doug Biggs: Good question. So first off, they've missed the deadline for getting it on this
November's ballot. They missed that at least a month, maybe two months ago. And so the next
ballot it could get on, assuming there's no other election is called and I'm not even going to get
into that whole discussion now, but the next election, it could get on is two years from now. The
general election in 2020. Way prior to that, we will actually own the land. I'm anticipating that we'll
get a three-year lease but that'll automatically convert to a deed of trust which means we own the
land, once the G overlay is removed. So, I'm expecting that'll occur in December or JanuaryOn one
hand, it won't really matter if that gets changed to Open Space because it wouldn't take effect until
we sold the property or we stopped using the property, whenever it is that we stopped doing it. It
would just be like if somebody came in and changed the zoning for your house, as long as you're in
your house, as long as you own it, it doesn't matter, you're grandfathered in.
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Doug Biggs: And so we would be grandfathered in. If there was an attempt to deny the
grandfathering, then that's a legal term called a taking which is kind of like eminent domain, or even
harder where they would be forcefully taking property from us and would have to compensate us
for not only all of our expenses we've incurred but the cost of not having that service. When the
other piece of property was transferred, part of what the city was prepared to do was to put a
companion ordinance on the ballot, that would have set aside money from the general fund to pay
any legal costs, and that's probably what they would have to do in this case as well. I think doing
the signatures, in some ways, that's fine, it's okay, it's good. It allows them to present, ""These are
people that are concerned about it"", so that we do have to take notice. And I think for that in that
sense, it was effective. And I get it, that it's not the most popular thing people would want in their
neighborhood given a myriad of choices, but there aren't choices. But it's enough of a presence that
we have to acknowledge it and we have to and we want to work with them.
Commissioner Susan Deutsch: Thank you.
Commissioner Anto Aghapekian: And thanks for the presentation. And the same with me, I've
have seen them at shopping centers and stuff. And the question I have is, you say you have 73, 78
parking spaces?
Doug Biggs: Yes.
Commissioner Anto Aghapekian: Do you need them? Do you really have so many people?
Doug Biggs: No.
Commissioner Anto Aghapekian: So what's going to happen?
Doug Biggs: Very good question. We don't. Currently, I think there's 95 or 100 parking spaces out
there, and so we're taking out one row to put in the multipurpose area and a community garden. City
Code requires you to have a certain number of parking spaces. And so we've kept that in for now,
we don't think we'll need anywhere near that many. In the interim period we're definitely open to
allowing East Bay Regional Parks to use that. Like for example, when they have Concerts at the
Cove or a special event like that, we could see opening up our space to allow them to park there or
allow them to park their facilities vehicles there, then other people could park in the other space. So
we're talking to them about that. As soon as we mentioned they could borrow our space, their first
question was, ""Well can we have it?"" because they want more parking and we're definitely open to
having that discussion. We can't give away the land now because, one, we don't have it and two, we
just need to get further in the design phase, then we'll know exactly how many units we need and at
that point we're perfectly open to have them used for other purposes.
Commissioner Anto Aghapekian: And when you say community garden, would the neighbors be
able to use the garden?
Doug Biggs: We could certainly create that opportunity, if there was interest in it. We really see it
more as a therapeutic for folks to get out and be active but if there's interest in it.
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Commissioner Anto Aghapekian: And the Central Street skirts this area, doesn't it?
Doug Biggs: I'm sorry?
Commissioner Anto Aghapekian: Central Street, Central Avenue.
Doug Biggs: Central Street [Avenue] is up on this side, yes.
Commissioner Anto Aghapekian: So people that are going to come and visit you, some of them
would probably be in wheelchairs?
Doug Biggs: Well, people that we're going to serve are clients who will be in the senior housing or
medical respites, and we'll transport them there and back. In some cases, we may need to transport
them by ambulance, but we'll also have our own vans, so that we could transport people elsewhere.
Commissioner Anto Aghapekian: Okay.
Doug Biggs: Other visitors may come and they may be in wheelchairs. I know, I recognize that that
street needs some work and we're definitely going to work with East Bay Regional Parks on
addressing that to the extent that we can. I will, just for the night's history lesson, point out, all of
this property was started in 1942. It was built to train captains for the Liberty ships that were built
up in Richmond, they were churning out a Liberty ship a day and they needed pilots, they needed
captains. So they trained them here. There was a dock that went out in the water, they would
actually bring Liberty ships in there and train them on that. The apartments that are up on Central
Avenue are the old officers' housing for that whole development down there. Which I thought it was
pretty classic. We've actually located all of the original blueprints in the facility and we're keeping
them and we'll turn them over to East Bay Regional Parks.
Commissioner Anto Aghapekian: Last question I have is, do you have any ideas as to why they
missed the deadline to submit their petition?
Doug Biggs: I just don't think they had enough signatures.
Commissioner Anto Aghapekian: Thank you.
Commissioner Arnold Brillinger: Thanks, Commissioner Aghapekian. Commissioner Hall?
Commissioner Lisa Hall: Hi, Doug.
Doug Biggs: Hey.
Commissioner Lisa Hall: Doug, you're super star. I know Doug and
Doug Biggs: Write that on Facebook, because not everybody's calling me that right now.
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Commissioner Lisa Hall: He's done so much and as you know he's working with the Food Bank
and we have many of our clients that come to the food bank are homeless.
Doug Biggs: Yep.
Commissioner Lisa Hall: And just yesterday it really got me. I was going to the laundromat up off
Park Street and a lady came up to me and her gentleman friend came up to me and said, ""She would
like to talk to you."" And she was in a wheelchair and she's homeless, and she asked me, because she
saw my sign on my car and she asked me if I could help her in any way, like refer her. So that kind
of brought it home for me, because I do have the Food Bank and everything, and I was like, ""I know
there's 211"" but I was like Just as an FYI. What I did is I went home, I wrote pertinent numbers
and made it on a piece of paper and made copies to keep in my car for when I run into people or
anybody that asks, even at the Food Bank or whatever, because that really got to me, I felt very
helpless with this woman, and she was obviously in desperate need and she was a resident of
Alameda, she used to live on Lincoln Avenue. So it was very distressing. But also being disabled
and a senior, I understand that I could be one, a couple of months away from being homeless,
because as, in just the last two months, it's interesting you say Central Avenue Three families were
evicted out of 470 Central for no other reason other than money.
Commissioner Lisa Hall: And that's why we're trying to fight, the homeless epidemic is definitely
here in Alameda, and because it's everywhere and this is the problem we have. I understand, and I
can't say thank you so much for doing this because I know it's something we desperately need, just
like the warming center we hope we can also put together. Because if you are a senior or a disabled
person and you're on a fixed income, right off the bat, if you lose your place, you cannot qualify
pretty much for anything because the realtors and the apartment owners and everyone, they
basically want you to make at least two times your salary. And if you're on disability, you don't.
You're in a fix income. So you can't. There's not even anywhere you could actually go to say, unless
you happen to know somebody or something like that, you can't even apply to rent somewhere else
because you don't qualify. So this is another thing that's so needed for, especially with our disabled
and our seniors. Our seniors are struggling. I mean we see them every week coming to get food and
they're doing the tradeoff, ""I can't afford my pills this month or my housing"" or whatever. So keep
going dear, you do it.
Doug Biggs: Thank you.
Commissioner Lisa Hall: Thank you.
Doug Biggs: Thank you.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: My question was actually covered by Commissioner Roloff. I just have a
little bit of a finer point on it, is the definition of homeless. Because I often have clients who may
have several family members who they can couch surf with and they won't qualify under this. So
under the HUD definition of homeless. And even though they don't have a home.
Doug Biggs: Right.
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Chair Elizabeth Kenny: So the Resource Center is not going to be accepting federal funds. Is there
going to be any chance where we can expand that definition of homeless?
Doug Biggs: For the Resource Center absolutely. Being very clear that we're talking about people
who are at risk of becoming homeless because there's no reason to send somebody on to the streets
and then take them off. If you could divert them from that then, by God, let's try and divert them
from that.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: I think especially with the senior housing, I know of several seniors who
are in that situation right now where they're couch surfing, and I know we'll have enough
unfortunately seniors to fill up the senior housing who are homeless.
Doug Biggs: Yeah, perfect.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: By the HUD definition, but I would love to see that definition expanded.
Doug Biggs: Yes. Part of it, if I could say, the situation is changing almost daily now. We're at such
a hyper crisis, that what was true yesterday isn't true today, there's potentially a lot of funding
coming down the pike. The State is releasing three pots of money, they've already released it this
month. One pot focused on emergency shelters, the homeless emergency assistant project, another
project focused on longer term subsidies, there's two propositions on the ballot in November, they
could bring in additional significant funding for services. So if we have something in place, I think
we could take advantage of some of these fundings. Alameda is loosening up and has loosened up
the regulations around JADUs, Joint Accessory Dwelling Units. And Alameda's a great place for
these. You've got these seniors living in these huge Victorians that don't need all that space. Well, if
they could split off one piece of it to become a studio where they could live and somebody else can
occupy the rest of it. And there's funding coming down the pike for those kind of things. So if we're
creative, and if we're ready to start taking advantage some of these resources, we think we can have
an impact.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Great. And I would love to see the designs come before us. As you know
we worked on Universal Design Ordinance and when I was working on that with the folks here, one
of the organizations that I reached out to was Mercy Housing. So I'm glad to hear that you're
working with them because they've actually done a few buildings completely universally designed.
Doug Biggs: Yeah.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: And the other thing is, I don't know about the rest of the commission, but
from the comments, I'm assuming that we'd also be willing to help in any way as far as community
outreach, because I do think that there's a lot of misunderstanding out there. I don't know what that
would take but I would like to propose that I think you have a second for.
Commissioner Lisa Hall: I'll second that, definitely.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: And I think we should take a vote on that. If that's something you would
be interested in
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Commissioner Lisa Hall: Absolutely.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Okay.
Doug Biggs: And I think there are going to be a lot of community outreach opportunities. The most
important thing and I think I told this to SSHRB as well, but Alameda talks about this, everyone
belongs here. And so, reinforcing that message through this project I think is important. We're
hoping to have a community event, a community day at the site in November. We haven't fixed the
date yet, as soon we do I'll let you know. But having commission members there, and maybe
agreeing to kind of co-host it. Having you and SSHRB and some of the churches that have
expressed an interest, and being listed as co-host of the Community Outreach Day I think would be
wonderful.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Okay, great. Then I propose that we take a vote on this. All in favor?
All: Aye.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Any opposed? Alright.
Doug Biggs: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you very much. I really appreciate this, Doug. Thank you.
Doug Biggs: Alright, Thank you. Goodnight.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Goodnight.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
5-A
Commission and Board Liaison Reports (All Commissioners)
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: So I think that is the end of item 4A, and we move on to old business,
Agenda Item Five. And we need to go through our commission board and liaison reports.
Commissioner Brillinger?
Commissioner Arnold Brillinger: Okay. I've been going to various commissions around in the
East Bay. And Oakland, their commission is involved in a number of things: One is in dealing with
the aging and getting them involved in activities happening in the city. Whether it's by making sure
that they've got transportation or making sure that they have the options. Because you don't want to
just sit in your house and be there for the rest of your life. So they are also thinking about different
ways of involving people. Also they are discussing people using the placards for disabled, the blue
placards and abusing that privilege. And so, I'm just letting you know that that's one of the things
that they're discussing. And so I had one more thing I was going to say and I don't remember
exactly what it is, maybe it would come to me later.
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Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thanks, Commissioner Brillinger. Let me know if it comes back to you.
Commissioner Roloff?
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: I did talk to Kirsten Zazo who is the Chief Student Advocacy
Officer for the District. She's going to come, I think I might have cc'd you, Beth and Laurie, to the
meeting on the 28th. So she spent a lot of time, she got a steering committee together with a lot of
stakeholders in Alameda, and did a needs assessment for mental and emotional health needs for the
District. And she presented it to the District. And I might have mentioned this earlier and of course,
the District doesn't have funding, so they're trying to focus on the no-cost ways that they can help
with the findings that she had. But there are a lot of areas that do need funding, and they don't have
any staff grant writers, and they really need all kinds of social services folks, they need mental
health clinicians. So she's starting a roadshow. She was really glad that we had reached out and she's
going to incorporate us as part of her roadshow to see what we can do and how we can possibly
advocate. [ random BEEP] Oh, is my time up?
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: And how we can possibly advocate to the City or on behalf of our
commission on how we can help. So if it's okay with everyone or tell me the protocol. She was
going to send me the report ahead of the meeting, I thought I might have it today, so we can
distribute to everyone if we take the opportunity to read it before she comes so we can be more
interactive.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: So just for everybody's information, when somebody is going to present,
like Doug Biggs tonight, they have to submit their information like 10 days ahead of time, so that it
can be hyperlinked on the agenda. We can certainly send out that report earlier, but if anyone's
presenting and not just public comment, you will have their materials beforehand. So everybody
should be taking a look at that. And I think if it's the one that she presented at the school board, the
same report she presented at the school board. It's quite detailed. It might be good to have it more
than a week out.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: Well, I think there's the actual report that is probably a binder or
something I don't know. But then there's her PowerPoint that you might have seen at school board,
that's her presentation. So she said, you know, I thought I might have it already but she'd send me
both. So whatever we want to attach. The PowerPoint would probably be the procedural attachment.
If we wanted to have the report, so we could actually get a little deeper if we wanted to, we could
send that out earlier.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Great, I think that all sounds great, and I appreciate that you set that up
and looking forward to hearing more about it at our November meeting.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: I asked her also if she saw the correlation between high school
students and school students that ended up homeless in Alameda and she said, ""You know,
absolutely,"" so maybe that's an area we can focus on for projects like Doug's.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Yeah, and I am excited about Doug's project to have a mental health
service drop-in clinic on the island. Even if it's limited to housing, at this point, I believe it's the first
drop-in clinic that offers mental health services.
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Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: Right. And that actually might be a good link for the high school
too, to have that resource.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Yes. Vice Chair Barrett.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Yeah, so, a few exciting things I launched our ""10 ways to improve
accessibility at your business"". In August, I sent it to the head of the Chamber of Commerce. I'm
going to be speaking at their meeting in October. They had a meeting today, but I was like, ""Yeah,
that's not going to work."" So I printed out a flyer for everyone. If you want to just, if you know of
anyone who can take it, just trying to spread the word as much as possible. I also have some extras.
I don't know if we can hang them up in City Hall. And then please let me know if you have other
contacts with business organizations. Alameda Magazine, maybe they would put something in for
us or the newspaper?
Commissioner Lisa Hall: Alameda Sun perhaps. Yeah.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Perfect. I might get in touch with you on the content. And my sister said
that there's some kind of events newsletter that she thought might have been sent out by the City or
maybe the Park Street. So I'm trying to find the contact for that because there's a newsletter that
goes out pretty often to tell us what new businesses are in Alameda, and so that might be a good
thing to spread the word with as well. The Planning Board met yesterday and they were discussing
about the park that's going to take place on the waterfront opposite Jack London. So that was a very
interesting presentation. The video's up online if anyone is interested in that.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: And as we're talking about speakers I haven't asked her yet, but I have
a
contact with a woman who works for Adobe, and she does accessibility for web design or
computer-based. And I know a lot about buildings, but I know nothing about the web design, so I
thought maybe if you guys are interested, I can try reaching out to her to try to get her to speak at a
meeting in the future.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Yeah, I'm interested in that. I think there's so much that is happening with
technology that's really benefiting people with disabilities, and I rely heavily on my wife for
technology-related things, so, anything I can learn would be great.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Right. And it may be just helpful for people who watch our meetings,
who don't know that these services are built in to our new technologies.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: And also maybe we could have her come and speak with somebody from
the Alameda City College because they actually offer classes designed around people using the
accessible technology, and they have some good disability services there around that whole thing.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Yes, I'll look into that.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: There's also WABA and GABA, right?
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Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Right. Okay.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: And I think those are like peers to the Chamber of Commerce. If
I'm not mistaken.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: I think they're separate, but I'm not sure. I think I got you in touch with
WABA, I think that's what Linda is in.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. I never heard back from her.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: I'll shoot her another email. When I was talking to her about it in-person
she did express interest.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: I'm sure they have websites.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: And that's the West one, right?
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Yes.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: And GABA is the other one.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. Great.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: And I can get you contact if you can't find one.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Oh. That would be awesome.
Commissioner Arnold Brillinger: A DABA too.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: DABA?
Commissioner Arnold Brillinger: Downtown.
Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: Oh downtown. A lot of our acronyms. Yeah. Okay, great.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you. Commissioner Deutsch?
Commissioner Susan Deutsch: So I was in contact with Amy Wooldridge, and she let me know
that there is an accessible park playground being built at Littlejohn Park. And they have plans for it.
And also I'm supposed to present our mission sometime in the fall and I will contact her again, try
to present at the next meeting.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Great, thank you Commissioner Deutsch. Commissioner Aghapekian?
Commissioner Anto Aghapekian: I talked with Gail Payne, is the Transportation Department
project manager about the Clement Street Corridor. This is the project that's still on the drawing
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boards and it's primarily goes from Broadway to Grand Street along Clement Street, and they're
going to modernize it and make it accessible. I walked that distance to see and it needs a lot of work
to make it accessible. And I have a meeting set up with her next Tuesday and to go over the plans.
And she's also volunteering to come and do a presentation to us. I don't know when she'll be ready
for it, but she would like to do that. And that's where that is.
Commissioner Anto Aghapekian: The flyer that we talked about for the emergency workshop is
planned, and I talked with Mastick's director and she was very happy to help out. And the flyers are
being distributed at Mastick Center. And then the parks, I've been talking and there is a lot of
enthusiasm. I would like for us to push for making even the existing parks at least somewhat
accessible if they're not totally. At least something. And I got positive feedbacks but I will work
with Susan to help out as much as I can. Okay?
Commissioner Susan Deutsch: I think that is may be part of the plan that they're redoing the
playground. Already planned. She apologized for not having, presenting those plans to us, but she
said she presented it to others. The next time she'll let us know what's going on, and I'll keep in
touch.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Great. Yeah, and I think she also mentioned that the next park that they
were going to work on would be the Estuary Park. When I was talking to her, it's something we
were all included on. But that's the area of town that we're all talking about, it's Clement Street, it's
what they were talking about the Planning Board, it's the Marina project where they're going to be
having lots of universally designed units. So I think it would make great sense to have Gail Payne
come and talk to us about the transportation project on Clement Street.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Anybody who's tried to walk on Clement Street before, it's a big project,
because a lot of it doesn't even have sidewalks. If we can reach out to Gail, Laurie, that would be
great. Thank you, Commissioner Aghapekian. Commissioner Hall?
[Commissioner Lisa Hall and Chair Elizabeth Kenny briefly discussed the upcoming election.
]
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: As far as my reports on city council, well, they didn't meet in August, so
I'm a little light on reporting.
5-B
Climate Action Input Sessions
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: I'm going to move on to the climate action input sessions. Those are
coming up and I asked Laurie to attach it to our agenda just because I had sent it out to some
different groups that I know of and I encourage you all to do that. Send it out to Alameda Special
Education Parents Group, because there are needs out there that people have that we're just not
going to think of unless they're brought to our attention. And I think that as many people who can
have input especially people with disabilities is going to be important. And I encourage you all to
attend one of these sessions. I don't believe there's any difference between the three sessions, so I
don't think that you have to go to more than one if you're interested in going. Pick one. Alright, does
anyone else want to talk about item 5B, the climate action?
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Vice Chair Jenn Barrett: I'm hoping to go to the Monday session.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Great. I was hoping to go to one of them. Unfortunately, I have to leave
now, so I'm not going to be able to go to them but I have sent it out to a few different organizations
so hopefully, we'll get some good response.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: Yes, I'm going to try and go to Tuesday. And I think this is the best
place for education.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Great.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: And I think Anto, did you sign up for one too?
Commissioner Anto Aghapekian: I did. Yeah. I would attend the Monday one. September 26th.
Commissioner Lisa Hall: Well you're going to have a long day, aren't you? Because on Monday
and Tuesday we'll be at the disability convention.
Commissioner Anto Aghapekian: Oh, I'll be all night.
Commissioner Lisa Hall: So you have a day in the evening, there you go. But yeah, I did want to
bring that up. I am looking forward to Anto and I and one other perhaps Laurie?
Commissioner Susan Deutsch: I'm going.
Commissioner Lisa Hall: And Susan. We're all going to be attending that. So last year was so
wonderful. They did have a little session on technology. It was very informative about especially for
the blind and the deaf and even just speaking and it was pretty unreal. Yeah, great. It's a good
information.
6.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Alright. So then we can move on to staff communications unless someone
else has something. Alright, agenda item six.
Staff Support Laurie Kozisek: Okay, I, I just got this a little while ago, so I couldn't put on the
agenda but we may have it in the future. You said you wanted to reach out to Gail Payne, well she's
trying to reach out to us and everyone else about a transportation awareness campaign. So she's got
this action plan which is eight pages long on how she's going to reach out to the different groups.
She's going to be reaching out to commuters, drivers, students, parents, people walking, biking,
taking transit, employees, older people, people with disabilities, people buying cars, visitors, and
putting out different messages on how you can make your carbon footprint lower. And how much
cars cost, all these different things to try to get you out of your car, essentially. She's going to have
different monthly themes. So like August would be Back to School Safety month then September
would be World Car Free day. And then she's got different tactics. Did I send you a copy of this? I
think I did.
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MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday September 12, 2018 6:30 p.m.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: I believe so, yes.
Staff Support Laurie Kozisek: I could have it as an old business item on the agenda, attached the
agenda next month. Whether or not we actually have her come and speak, I can at least attach it and
then everybody can see it. Everyone here and everyone in the audience.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Sure. If Gail is okay with it, would you be able to send it out to us for the
listserv?
Staff Support Laurie Kozisek: Yes.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Okay. And it seemed like she was wanting a member of the commission
to join the campaign. Am I correct in that?
Staff Support Laurie Kozisek: Yes.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Okay. So why don't you, if you can send that out in the next week to the
Commission and listserv, if anybody is interested in joining in this campaign, I think it would be
great to have representation on it. Please get in contact with Laurie. I'm not sure how quickly it's all
developing. It sounds like if August and September are already planned, we should get on it.
Staff Support Laurie Kozisek: She's got a five-month next steps list here.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Yes, if you could send that out. And then anybody who is interested in
joining that campaign, should they contact you or contact Gail directly?
Staff Support Laurie Kozisek: Probably Gail.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Okay, all right, if you could contact Gail and maybe cc me, just so we
know who wants to be part of the campaign - that would be great.
Staff Support Laurie Kozisek: Okay. I don't think I have anything else.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Alright, so I should know this by now.
7.
ANOUNCEMENTS
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Any announcements? I think we kind of covered most of the
announcements in our commission and board liaison reports. But does anyone have any other
announcements they'd like to make?
[pause]
8.
ADJOURNMENT
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Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Alright, then I'm going to move for adjournment.
Commissioner Jennifer Roloff: I'll second that.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Great. Thanks for a great meeting, you guys.
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2018-11-28,1,"ITEM 2-A
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, November 28, 2018, 6:30 PM
1. ROLL CALL
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: The meeting, the Commission on Disability on Wednesday, November
28th, 2018. Laura, would you like to do the roll call?
Vice Chair and Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Present.
Anto Aghapekian: Present.
Leslie Morrison: Present.
Jennifer Roloff: Here.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Present via telephone.
Arnold Brillinger: Present.
Laurie Kozisek: Okay, not present is Lisa Hall and Susan Deutsch.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. We'd like to extend a warm welcome to our newest
commissioner. Leslie Morrison.
Leslie Morrison: Thank you.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: So glad you're here.
Leslie Morrison: I participated in the earlier meeting last time, online but I couldn't speak. I heard
everything that was going on, I watched what was happening.
Laurie Kozisek: Madam Chairman, we now have, Susan Deutsch has arrived and I also forgot to
mention that Jenny Linton is not here.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay.
2. MINUTES
2-A
Approval of Minutes for the September 12, 2018 meeting
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Alright, we're going to move on to item number two, minutes. Do we
have approval of the minutes from the meeting on September 12, 2018?
Anto Aghapekian: So moved.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay, do we have a second?
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Susan Deutsch: Second.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. Susan.
[Discussion of audio difficulties]
Jennifer Roloff: Before we vote on that, Leslie it does say that you attempted to teleconference in,
but you were unable to do SO.
Leslie Morrison: That's correct. And then I watched it live on the web.So I was present, I just
couldn't actively participate so I don't know how you want to record that.
Jennifer Roloff: Yeah. I don't know if we want to record that in the minutes as such.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay, so we have approval of the minutes by Anto and then the
second by Susan.
3. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGEND (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: And we'll move on to number three oral communications, any public
comment other than our speakers today? Okay.
4. NEW BUSINESS
4-A
Victoria Forrester, Director of special Education, AUSD
Mental and Emotional Wellness Needs Assessment
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: We're going to move on to new business number four A, we have
Victoria Forester Director of Special Education from the Alameda Unified School District who will
be speaking to us about mental and emotional wellness Needs Assessment.
Victoria Forester: Actually I am doing the strategic plan for special ed. And my colleague Jody
will be doing the needs assessment.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay sorry about that.
Victoria Forester: That's okay. Here it comes, that is the beginning and then I'll let you know when
My name is Victoria Forester, the Director of Special Education for Alameda Unified School
District. I began in this position at the beginning of last school year and prior to that was the
Director of Special Ed and Student Services in San Leandro Unified. But I've taught in this district
prior since I was 20 years old, for 22 years, and this is my 34th year in public education. I'm happy
to be here this evening and share really wonderful news with you around our special education
strategic plan. I'm assuming I have about 15 minutes, two hours. Just kidding.
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Victoria Forester: So prior to this position being open I was doing a favor for Kerstin Zazo who is
the Chief Student Support Officer and I was bringing, it was a kind of a consultant to work on the
strategic plan for Alameda Unified. And so I came and facilitated the plan and we began in February
of that year. And then the position was posted and I became director in July. So I've worked on this
plan for a little over a year. You can see that the stakeholders were varied in our plan, we had
parents, and community members, and Gen Ed teachers, and psychologists, support providers, and
special ed teachers, and certainly site administrators, and district administrators. You'll notice my
name isn't up there because I was the consultant that was facilitating the work.
Victoria Forester: The history of our work, often times school districts who are having difficulties
in some fiscal area will ask for FCMAT to come in. That's Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance
Team. Usually they study two departments within the district, the Business Department and the
Department of Special Education. And in Alameda's case it was the Department of Special
Education. So FCMAT comes in, and they study everything about special education from a deficit
model, they're looking at things that don't work. They're not going to comment on things that are
working well.
Victoria Forester: Many school districts who pay for FCMAT to come in, they take the report, they
report on it to the board, and they put it in a white binder on their shelf. And as an ex-school
principal, those are kind of our trophies, those white binders. And they never get read. Alameda
chose not to do that. And the board asked us to create a planning team and to address the issues
within the FCMAT report. And so this team was put together by Kerstin Zazo. And actually parents
and teachers and staff had to apply to be a part of this team. And we engaged in 10 sessions more
than 20 hours of work to create the strategic plan. And the School Board charged us with very
clearly that we needed to define a service delivery model for students with special needs that is
facilitated by high quality teachers, supported through active engagement in the least restrictive
learning environment and monitored by multiple measures of student achievement. And so board
said, put together a team and address this, this is your charge.
Victoria Forester: And so tonight, I am going to share with you some highlights from this special
education strategic plan. I am going to show you the actual plan, and then I will share with you
briefly the next steps in the work that we're engaging in this year. Special ed program beliefs. It
took at least four sessions, not complete sessions, but four times we kept coming back to our
program beliefs. And I won't read them to you. You can take a look at them. They're pretty strong
program beliefs, they talk quite heavily about integration, about equity for students with disabilities,
and about training, particularly of our staff and teachers and principals.
Victoria Forester: Our mission is an amazing mission and it begins with the mission of the Special
Education program and yet you could take that out, and you could say the mission of the Alameda
unified school district, because it's that chunky and that wonderful in partnership with families and
the community is to support, prepare and empower our diverse learners in a least restrictive most
inclusive environment that is safe, culturally responsive and academically rigorous, and that is
taught and supported by highly trained professionals so that each student can participate
meaningfully and excel as contributing members of our community. Again, that should be for every
student. And it certainly is in Alameda Unified, that's what we are working toward. So I'm not going
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Wednesday, November 28, 2018, 6:30 PM
to have you do small group work, we had five program priorities and our program priorities we call
chapters. And that sounds lengthy, but each chapter is one page long. The entire strategic plan is
nine pages. It isn't found in a white binder, it's actually written to be used. And so I'll share those
chapters with you, I'll show you the plan and then I will tell you the next steps.
Victoria Forester: Sorry, I need to go back one. The first program priority is looking at
intervention and identification. So we wrote goals and strategies around how do we intervene for all
students before they are assessed for special education services. And how do we properly identify
students who need extra help. So the first chapter is all about intervention and identification.
Victoria Forester: The second priority is actually defining our program, our service delivery
model. How are we going to serve the students all the way across the district, from age three all the
way to age 22. Because in Special Education, we serve preschoolers all the way up until the age of
22. Or a culminating event such as graduation from high school.
Victoria Forester: Program priority three is our systems of support, we have invested time, energy,
brain work and money into a multi tiered system of support, and within that system that
encompasses General Ed, kiddos as well as special education kids.
Victoria Forester: Leadership and communication is chapter four. How do we go about engaging
the community, engaging teachers, staff, parents and students into all of the work. And how do we
communicate this. So this is my fourth stop on a road show about the strategic plan, and we are
getting to anyone who will be willing to really engage in this work. I have met with parents, and
teachers, and principals, community members. Because my desire in this work, we talked in the
strategic plan about our destination for this work. Our destination post card. And mine is to be the
premiere district in special education in the next five years. Lofty goal, one I believe in, one I
believe we can do, and if we work through this three year plan, we will get there.
Victoria Forester: And the last thing is the most boring chapter for most people, but it is where my
job lies. And that is in monitoring and compliance. Of course special education has more rules and
regulation than any other part of education. Special education also is the most highly litigated legal
work in the nation. More so than litigation around homicide, and crime, and burglary. Litigation
around special education law. So I have become in the last five or six years in special ed, quite a
lawyer. I know a lot about the law and a lot about compliance and this is something we need to
grow in, in this district. That which gets monitored gets done.
Victoria Forester: So the strategic plan is actually a glossy beautiful nine-page document that will
go out to every family in the district, both in online, sent in an email and also in paper copy. Again,
it's supposed to be used. So it's the second attachment on your agenda. Oh, okay, yeah, that's it, isn't
it cute? So again, and if you'll just scroll a bit, you'll see the beginning that I have already talked
about, our strategic plan members, some actual pictures of people doing the work, and if you will
scroll down to the next page, here you'll see the first chapter, you'll see that every chapter has a
goal. Every goal has strategies and every strategy has action steps. The action steps are the
interesting part, right? That's the part where we have to do something to make the strategy and the
goal happen.
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Victoria Forester: And if you could stop it just right there, perfect. Systems of support, you'll see
that each page is a chapter as I explained. And each chapter has goals, then a strategy to support the
goal. Strategy number one in systems of support is to develop and implement effective procedures
and protocols with fidelity, right. And certainly as we go through this plan, you'll see that it is costly.
There are things that we need to do that cost money. And School districts always have a difficult
time with budget. Our school district in particular has approved this plan, the Board of Education
has, and adopted the fact that it's going to cost some money as we go through this process.
Victoria Forester: In the long run it will save the district money, because we are doing things right,
and that's the point of this. Past chapter five, you'll see at the end of the plan the next page is a
reference and literature page. Every reading that we did, every scholarly piece of work that we read
is listed right here. If you go on our planning team web page on the Alameda Unified School
District website you will see the work week, or month for month that we did. And you can look at
all of the data that was collected. It really is a very transparent process. And if you'll scroll down
one more, the glossary. I can speak in full paragraphs using acronyms. And no one understands
what we're talking about and I often hear from my son around the dinner table, ""Would you stop
talking Special Ed?"". Because we say the ELCA brought us the IEP, which kept this with FCMAT.
So the glossary is there for folks that don't speak that highly acronym language to figure out what
we're talking about.
Victoria Forester: The very last page is just a mailing sheet, if you fold the whole plan in half, you
can't see the last page because it's not on here, then you can put a mailing label and put it in the
mail, so it's a very usable plan. So what's next for our work this year is a three-session steering
committee. Again, we have put together a strong committee of stakeholders that includes parents, as
well as educational professionals. And we've actually asked a couple of high school students to be
a
part of our work as well. And our job, the steering committee's job, is to give my team the feedback
on where we're accomplishing things within the strategic plan, and where we need more work. We
will meet three times this year and three times next year. And in the third year, my goal is that we've
accomplished everything in the plan, or almost everything, and we have to go back and write a new
plan. That is the goal. It's a three year plan. Our steering committee will begin, gosh, week after
next, and we will have a meeting in February as well, and then another meeting in April. With that,
do you have questions about our strategic plan or anything about special education in the district
that I could answer?
Leslie Morrison: I have a couple of questions. You said it's a three year plan.
Victoria Forester: Yes.
Jennifer Roloff: So, is that school year? Should I wait?
Victoria Forester: Yes, except for I have a couple of questions.
[more audio difficulties with the teleconferencing]
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Leslie Morrison: Okay. So you said it is a three-year plan. Was that sort of a school year, and did it
start in the fall of '18? What's the time frame?
Victoria Forester: Great question. The plan was approved by the school board last spring. And so,
yes, the work started with the '18/'19 school year. And there are many of the strategies in the plan
that we've already tackled like we are working on it. That's going to be one of those things where
we say, ""We're getting there here.' But then there's a lot of things on the plan, many strategies that
we haven't even begun to tackle yet. And as I go around and talk with teachers, both general ed and
special ed teachers, they say, ""Well, there's a lot on here you haven't done. It's a three-year plan and
it really is about we. All of us doing this work.
Leslie Morrison: So within the three-year plan, do you have one year goals that you've set to
accomplish?
Victoria Forester: So that's part of the work that the steering committee is going to do. In the first
meeting, they are going to be using a template for the work to continue. They're going to see what
we're already tackling and getting close to really implementing, and then they're going to come up
with a second square of strategies that are most important to tackle next. And that's how we'll go
through it. There are some things that are more costly or that take longer to implement. And so
those will be in the third box as we go along.
Leslie Morrison: And you talked about fidelity. I am wondering about the fidelity of the strategic
plan to the findings in the FCMAT.
Victoria Forester: Yes. So the chapters really are the titles that the FCMAT report was broken into.
These are the areas that need improvement. And so we took the FCMAT report, and we turned that
into the chapters of the strategic plan. And before we did that, we actually took a look at As a
strategic planning team, we took a look at all of the data that we had. It was dead on. The other
important thing to know is that the state of California also has a strategic plan, the Department of
Education has a strategic plan for special education which they adopted in 1718. And if you look at
our plan, and you look at the States plan, we're addressing the same issues. These are issues across
the state, and they're issues across the nation. We're just deciding to really go hard and make a
difference for kids. Other question?
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Go ahead Commissioner Roloff.
Jennifer Roloff: So I have a couple of questions that are just sort of clarifications I am looking for,
and then maybe a bigger one at the end. FCMAT, is that a third-party private company that the
district pays for?
Victoria Forester: Yes. And many districts across California have used that process. And, again, we
just decided to, since we were getting the feedback instead of just setting it aside and saying, ""Well,
we're doing well enough,"" we said, ""We're going to do something about this.""
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Jennifer Roloff: Okay. And with FCMAT are there competitors? Can you pick different
organizations to use than FCMAT?
Victoria Forester: There are different FCMAT teams, and I'm not sure how Alameda went about
that choice because I wasn't an employee yet.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay, got it. Let's see. Oh, when you say that you're looking for Alameda to be the
premier destination, distinction for special ed, is that a real distinction? Is there an association
where we can receive awards, and accolades?
Victoria Forester: Well, certainly within the state of California there are some markers in which
you can say, ""Dang, we're doing really well."" But the way that the strategic plan kind of framed that
was we were studying best practice from three school districts in the state, and then three school
districts across the nation. We want to be written about and studied in that way. So one of the school
districts Was it back in Vermont? And I can't remember the name. We want to be that school
district? And that's kind of how we framed the destination postcard.
Jennifer Roloff: Got it. Is there any way to differentiate what districts are falling behind in
addressing the needs of special ed versus districts that are thriving? Is there a ranking or do you get
reviewed every so often?
Victoria Forester: Really good question. There's several different ways, but right now the state of
California has what's considered its dashboard for achievement. And that's a place where you can go
on the CDE website, look up ""Alameda unified,"" and you can find out all about our assessment
scores, our achievement. And within that there are scores for our special education students
achievement as well as discipline scores as well as broken down according to race, and ethnicity, or
disaggregated. I can tell you that currently Alameda Unified is very close to significant
disproportionality in the area of discipline for students with IEPs. Which means we have a lot of
students mostly in high school who are being suspended, who have IEPs.
Victoria Forester: You can go further down and look at that based on race, and ethnicity, and you'll
see more disproportionality. And we're not the only school district having those issues, but it's
something that this strategic plan is hitting head on. That's just one indication of where we are in
our special education in terms of doing well or not doing well. If you look at achievement scores on
standardized tests, you'll see that our students with disabilities are struggling compared to our
students in general education. We are not doing worse or better than most districts in California, but
that's not good enough.
Jennifer Roloff: And then Jody is presenting another piece.
Victoria Forester: Jody is going to be presenting on health and wellness, and a needs assessment.
And, yes, the two come together because if we just deal with special education by itself, we'll never
get anywhere. It needs to be integrated into every bit of work that we do. And so you'll start to see
that with Jody's presentation as well.
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Jennifer Roloff: Okay. So maybe I will save my question for after.
Victoria Forester: I'd be glad to come back.
Jennifer Roloff: Yeah. It will be for both. Okay. So I will wait on my final. Okay. Thank you.
Victoria Forester: You bet.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Does anyone else have any questions?
Anto Aghapekian: Did you say 36 years you've been in education?
Victoria Forester: Thirty four.
Anto Aghapekian: Thirty four. That's fantastic. Thank you.
Victoria Forester: Thank you.
Anto Aghapekian: And I have just clarification. Does the state or the federal government give you
any funds?
Victoria Forester: That is an excellent question and one that's killing me lately. Yes, we receive all
of our funding from both federal dollars as well as state dollars. I can tell you that both are abysmal.
The cost of Special Education is higher than the cost of educating a general ed student. Many of our
students are medically fragile. They may need extra support behaviorally, and all of that costs
money. Currently, the federal government is funding based on the 1970s way of figuring out how
much each school district receives for special education funding. Let me remind you it's 2018. So
we are poorly funded in this state from the federal government, and our state is not stepping up to
fund special education either. And I use the word abysmal. However, I also am in front of the State
legislature quite often saying ""Hey, we got to do better for our kids. We've got to do better for our
school districts.""
Anto Aghapekian: Okay. And the next question I have is, does the Alameda Unified have a person
or a department that looks after the site, the schools and the physical plans to see if the buildings
comply with ADA standards?
Victoria Forester: Yes. So we have a significant maintenance and operations department. And part
of their work is to make sure that our buildings are ADA registered. We cannot do any new building
with having that pass through ADA law. And our bathrooms need to be a certain size. We need to
have ramps getting up to schools. And I know in the last three years we've done a lot in Alameda
Unified to modernize our buildings with that, with students with disabilities and families with
disabilities in mind.
Anto Aghapekian: And the last question I have is, if a student enrolls no matter what age but they
have a special need that the district doesn't have, what do you do? What does the district do?
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Victoria Forester: Sure. The law says that we have to provide free and appropriate public
education for every student and we have a large variety and a spectrum of classes to meet kids
needs in Alameda Unified. But if we can't provide free and appropriate public education then we
look to other districts. I have partnered with our SELPA districts like Berkley or Albany or
Piedmont to see if there is placements, and then I've taken some students of theirs. And then there is
also non-public schools that if we can't provide FAPE, Free Appropriate Public Education, then we
reach out to a non-public school. Families do not pay for that. School district funds that.
Anto Aghapekian: Thank you.
Victoria Forester: You're very welcome.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Anyone else? Otherwise, I have a few questions Just one question.
Can you talk about maybe one or two tangible measures of success, whether it be improved test
scores, or graduation, or something that you're trying to achieve from this master plan?
Victoria Forester: Absolutely. There's a couple of things that pop into my mind. I would like to see
our general education teachers and, again, that is my background. I'm a credentialed general ed
teacher. I would like our gen ed teachers to have the knowledge and ability to teach any student that
is in their classrooms so that we can achieve more inclusion of our special needs students. That's
number one. Number two is I would like to see less qualification for an IEP or special education
because we're serving our general ed kids better. Every kid with an IEP starts as a child in general
education. And so those are two ways that I would like to see us achieve. And the second way, of
course, saves the district a lot of money. I am passionate about equity for our students, and believe
that our kids with IEPs, with special needs, really are a part of that equity piece. And they need to
be included, and have access to core curriculum. The more we do that the higher those test scores
will get.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: I was just wondering on the five levels of your strategic plan, where
does What level does a student get assessed for an IEP?
Victoria Forester: That would be in chapter one, in identification and intervention, right? How do
we identify kids who need special education services and we assess in all areas of suspected
disability to qualify a student. But before we ever do that, we engage with our kids in forms of
intervention. So, small group intervention, a child we think they may have a mathematics disability,
but before we qualify a student and put them through assessment, we put 'em in a small group, and
we really hammer them over the head with some math instruction, right? If that doesn't work we go
to tier three where we do more individualized service. And still if the student is presenting with a
learning disability in the area of say math, then we do the assessment.
Leslie Morrison: Yes. So the second measure that you had described, I wasn't quite tracking what
you said, can you explain that again? So one was about training teachers in gen ed to work with
a
broader range of students. And the second one had to do with qualifying for an IEP. Can you just
explain that one again?
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Victoria Forester: Right. So, if we do a better job of teaching all students then we will qualify less
students for IEPs. And so that qualification goal is not about not giving kids what they need, it's
about giving kids what they need at an earlier or lower level. I'm a firm believer in early
intervention. We have very strong preschool programs that give kids what they need from a very.
From three years old. The law says that we must find every child in our school district who may
have a disability. And so we begin working with kids as early as two and a half.
Leslie Morrison: So, you had also mentioned a couple of measures on the dashboard where
Alameda has opportunities for improvement. One is discipline and expulsion. Kids with disabilities
have a higher rate and
Victoria Forester: It's suspension. Not quite expulsion.
Leslie Morrison: So are some of those also measures that you're looking at, that you're looking to
improve?
Victoria Forester: Absolutely. We have a full integrated plan with the county of Alameda around
disproportionality particularly looking at the discipline of students with disabilities, and even one
layer deeper African-American students with disabilities. And so that plan with the county really
feathers into our strategic plan to improve across the board.
Leslie Morrison: And when you talked about lowering the number of kids on IEPs, where do 504
plans come in?
Victoria Forester: Section 504 is for general ed students with a handicapping condition. So as a
school principal, I once wrote a 504 plan for a kid that broke his right arm during testing time.
You'd have to bubble in, and he couldn't do that. So we wrote a short-term 504 plan for that. Many
kids have 504 plans for health issues, for ADHD oftentimes. And it still comes under the umbrella
of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It's not directly related to my department. Jody is in charge
of 504s but certainly, as I stand here and say every kid is a General Ed kid first, many kids with
504s eventually become kids with IEPs. But 504 plans are often seen as lesser than. That is just not
true. It's all under the same legislation. It's all under the same law. And so a powerful 504 is
powerful if you put it into place. And that goes to fidelity.
Leslie Morrison: It's certainly my experience that oftentimes kids start off with 504s and then
graduate to IEPs. So I was wondering if you have some targets around 504s like you do with IEPs.
Victoria Forester: Again, just giving kids what they need within the 504. From my own personal
experience, my son holds a Section 504 Plan. He has obsessive-compulsive disorder, super bright
kid. And he was fine through middle school and in high school, and I'm a 504 lady. I'd have to bring
the 504 plan pretty much to every one of his teachers, and really advocate for him because he wasn't
able to advocate for himself yet. And that is where we need to get better so that everyone
understands what kids need, and how to give kids what they need. And then he doesn't need to have
an IEP if his 504 plan is put into place. Does it help?
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Leslie Morrison: It does.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Great. Thank you so much.
Victoria Forester: Thank you all. I appreciate it.
Leslie Morrison: And I just have a question. Will we at some point have an opportunity to hear
how they're doing? In a year or two, will there be an opportunity to come back?
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: That would be great if you would be happy to come back.
Victoria Forrester: Yes.
4-B
Jodi McCarthy, Program manager, Student Support Services, AUSD
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: We really appreciate that. And you'll stick around in case we have
more questions. Alright. So Jodi McCarthy, thank you so much for joining us. She is the Program
Manager of the Student Support Services at Alameda Unified School District.
Jodi McCarthy: And I'm talking to you about the needs assessment that Alameda Unified
conducted last year. We took a real comprehensive look at the behavioral health needs of our
students, because we were seeing a lot more reports of students being 5150 for suicide ideation,
students needing more support with 504s around anxiety and depression, and eating disorders, and
some mental health, behavioral health things that were going on. So what the district did last year
was, took a really comprehensive look at all of the kids in our district from elementary school to
middle school up to high school. Oh, and I have it. I've got it. Hang on. Let me see if I can do this.
Okay, here we go. So, the purpose and the goal of the needs assessment was to really analyze what
we were doing well, and what we were missing. We took a look at it through a deficit model much
like Victoria was talking about. We wanted to see where the holes were, and how we can help kind
of support and fill those holes. And fill the needs that our kids need because all kids need to learn,
and they need to be able to thrive.
Jodi McCarthy: The needs assessment is 50 pages long, and I'm not going to do all 50 pages. It
contains all of this stuff. It has everything that we did. We did online surveys with all of the
students, we did online surveys with the staff, and online surveys with the parents. We did focus
groups with fifth graders at a few of the elementary schools. We did focus groups with a girl's group
and a boy's group at the two middle schools. We did four focus groups with students at Encinal and
Alameda High. We looked at African-American students, we looked at the high-achieving students,
students with a 4.2 or above. We looked at a girls group, and then a boys group. So we picked those
four different focus groups, and had about a dozen kids in each of the groups that we did at the
various schools. We did focus groups with parents through the after school program. We did the
most, I think, that we could do. We thought of everything. That we had partners with Girls Inc. Girls
Inc. came in and helped us run a bunch of the focus groups. So as many of our community members
that we could touch, we tried to get that information from them.
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Jodi McCarthy: And then additionally, we also took a data from the Healthy Kids, the California
Healthy Kids Survey, that's given to students at the end of school year. So, the report has all of these
different categories. There's an executive summary, and we looked at seven findings. We looked at
the tiers of support that we have at our schools, how we coordinate our practices, what the school's
responsibility is, the district capacity, cultural responsiveness of the district. We looked at our
school-based health center. There's a school-based health center at each high school site, one in
Alameda High, one in Encinal, and one that serves like ECLC and that community, and ASTI and
Island.
Jodi McCarthy: We had a couple of things that fell into another category, and you'll see what those
are. I'll tell you those in a minute. Then we looked at the next steps. We came up with a list. There
were 21 no-cost recommendations, things that we could implement right away that didn't have any
cost. It's in the full report. In the report there's also a budget that we would need in order to really
adequately address all of the things that we found. And then there's a list of references.
Jodi McCarthy: So what I'm going to do is give you just key findings of the seven different
categories that we looked at. And I'm just going to highlight a couple of them out of each category
because some of it is like school talk it, and it's not very exciting. So one of the things I think that is
important that was a key finding out of the three tiers of support, the tier one is all everybody. The
tier two system of support is groups of students, and the tier three support is individualized support.
Jodi McCarthy: So we looked at all of the tiers. We looked at what are we doing for everybody,
what are we doing for groups of kids, and what are we doing for individual kids. And what came
out of the findings of that section of it was that we need more help, we need more staff, more
specialized staff to deal with things that are going on with our kids' needs. There's a critical need to
increase partnerships with mental health providers in our community. And we need to integrate
them better. We need to be able to communicate with those different partners better. There was a
large group of parents that didn't agree about the consequences that were given to kids, whether it
be suspensions or referrals, that it wasn't fairly enforced across the school. So there was like an
equity piece that came out of that that we're looking at.
Jodi McCarthy: Parents, students and staff all believe that there's a lot of work that needs to be
done in fostering a sense of community and A sense of belonging-ness at all of our schools we're
working really hard on that, right now, through restorative practices and the last couple of bullet
points is that the students really reported a lot of problems dealing with stress and anxiety, feelings
of sadness and hopelessness and suicidal thoughts which we knew because there's been an increase
of risk assessments done with our kids from the counselors and the school psychologists.
Jodi McCarthy: Drug use, and abuse is also a big problem on our campuses not just our high
school campuses. Vaping is ridiculous right now. Key findings that came out of the coordinated
practices surveys were that the systems of behavioral health support vary site-by-site, a lot of that
has to do with funding and the populations of those groups. Some of our West End schools have a
higher Medi-Cal and free reduced lunch population, and there's a lot more services that you can
bring into schools like that, because some providers can only bill for Medi-Cal students. Some of
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2018-11-28,13,"teachers, like the teachers didn't really understand all of the different pressures that they were
dealing with and they needed to be more understood and have more compassion.
Jodi McCarthy: The curriculum needs to be more culturally responsive. And then another thing
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that we're working on with our human resource department is that because it was across the board,
the students, staff, and families, all of them felt that there was a need for a more diverse staff. So we
need to see more people that look like our students, teaching and in admin roles across our district.
Access to the school-based health center at our high school sites. This was fun to talk about with
our high school kids. The kids believe that the Health Center really is maximized. There's a lot of
services that the health center offers, and it ranges from mental health, behavioral health services,
from counseling, to condoms and birth control and reproductive health and physicals for sports as
well as like immunizations. The school-based health center offers a lot to our kids, and there's kind
of a stigma associated with using the school-based health center. It was one of the biggest barriers I
think that came, that the kids reported.
Jodi McCarthy: Some of the kids didn't want to be seen walking into the school-based health
center because ""Johnny is going there for you know what, because him and Debbie are going to go
under the So there's like this teasing and stigma, I guess, is the best word to describe it, around
using the Health Center because they're teenagers. The thing also that was reported by the kids was
those who were seeking counseling services. There's often a wait list for them to be seen by a
therapist and get some counseling around stress and anxiety and the things that they were dealing
with. The other category, things that we found, cellphone policies were inconsistent, and there's
issues on the elementary school playground, and food came up. Food options came up a lot,
especially with the high school kids. Over at Alameda High, there's access to Park Street, so there's
more things for them to eat because who wants to eat school food. But over at Encinal it's a bit of a
hike to actually get to something that they find more palatable. Some things that I pulled out of the
survey that I wanted to go over really quickly. There's a few items, bullying, drugs and alcohol, and
depression, and then there's a couple on the other slide.
Jodi McCarthy: The thing that we found was, Alameda High, and I don't know necessarily why,
but it has a higher percentage of students that are struggling with things, with bullying, with drugs
and alcohol. 86% of the students surveyed felt that a lot or some students were affected by drug or
alcohol use. 87%, feelings of depression, right? Versus Encinal where it was only 64%. The stress,
anxiety, and feeling worried, 92% of the students at Alameda High felt that kids were going through
a lot of anxiety, and a lot of stress. Which really speaks to me.
Jodi McCarthy: The threats or feeling unsafe at Alameda High, there was 37% of the students felt
that a lot or some of them were affected by feeling unsafe and at Encinal it was only 29%. But it's
really that 92% at Alameda High that's kind of got a whole lot of red flags ringing for me. Through
the California Healthy Kids survey, some of the biggest areas of concern that we looked at were
cigarette use and vaping devices. 5% of seventh graders were using cigarettes or vaping devices.
Seventh grade, like in middle school, so it's starting at middle school, and it just, is increasing up to
where it was at least half of the students at the continuation school, were vaping or smoking.
Chronic sadness and hopelessness was high across the grade levels.
Jodi McCarthy: It ranged from 21% to 35%, 14% of the ninth graders, and 21% of the students at
the continuation High School had seriously considered attempting suicide. That's seriously
considered, not just kind of thought about it but seriously considered it, to even attempting. Cyber
bullying was reported the highest in middle school at 12%, and 11th grade at 14%. And kids need to
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eat
their breakfast, whether or not they have You know, my kids have it, it's in there, that they
don't, kids need to eat their breakfast. We provide options for them at school, in the office, mostly,
there's a bowl of fresh fruit or in most school offices there's access to food, kids have the access to
food, they just need to eat it.
Jodi McCarthy: The online survey. Depression, feeling sad, teasing and problems at home were
the areas for all three groups, the students, the parents and the staff that really popped up when it
came to why kids were feeling stressed. There's underlying, there's already underlying mental health
issues with depression or sadness. There's teasing and there's problems at home. In the top five
relationship issues, staff reported that there's bullying and families reported that their kids are
feeling lonely or left out. The focus groups were so fun.
Jodi McCarthy: The biggest unmet needs that the kids told us about in these groups was there's a
lot of stress that they're dealing with, there's a lot of conflicts trying to balance everything. They've
got a full academic load at school plus they play sports plus they're in clubs and then there's their
social needs and playing Fortnite and all the other stuff that goes along with being a kid, it's really
hard for them to kind of find balance and they need strategies and they need skills. They reported a
lot of like, I need to learn how to manage it and I don't know how, and they need somebody to show
them how to do it.
Jodi McCarthy: And dealing with social situations with their friends. High school students
reported a huge problem with cannabis. They reported that vaping and marijuana was quite
common and not unheard of, and it's even bigger than the alcohol use in the school. Adderall is big
especially during finals. They reported a lot of depression, anxiety, and stress, too much homework,
struggling with their grades, and teachers not understanding really what's going on with them at
home. Pulling out the two different sub-groups the African-American and the high achieving
students, the African-American students reported stress balancing life with sports and grades and
homework and family life.
Jodi McCarthy: They really felt that their teachers and the adults on campus don't know what's
going on with them. There's not a lot of connection that they feel with the adults on campus. They
really said that they need more support and they felt like there wasn't a community and the teachers
didn't really care if they passed or failed. That they were just another body in a class. So we need to
do a better job at connecting with those students. And our high achieving students said that sleep
was a huge issue. Stress, depression, anxiety and again, the balancing of their lives, the balancing of
school and sports and the different clubs and stuff that they belong to. They really felt pressured to
develop relationships with adults on campus. They felt like, that was something that they really
needed to do. And parent pressure, they reported a lot of pressure and stress from their parents and
their expectations of them, and living up to those expectations.
Jodi McCarthy: That was a lot.So out of all of that we dug really deep to kind of get at the needs
of our students, we came up with the next steps. We have already formed a steering committee to
kind of help drive this work now that we have it. We have a committee. We met already, in
November, there's three other dates that we're going to meet through the school year to help gather
the work and drive it, developing a communication plan so that we can bring out our findings to the
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community, and kind of solicit help with it. Developing a financial sustainability plan, because
additional staff, it costs Money. Things that kind of fell into the no cost solutions were developing a
clear process and site expectations for the referrals and for crisis intervention, kind of revising our
roles and responsibilities on who we have providing mental health services, hopefully, freeing up
more of our experts, freeing up more of our school psychologists who aren't just doing assessments
for kids that are coming up for special education, like doing a better job with our tier one and our
tier two. So that is, you know where I'm going with that.
Jodi McCarthy: So utilizing them better and strengthening and building relationships with outside
partners which is really hard to do, it's really hard to do, especially in a community that doesn't have
a lot of Medi-Cal population. Stuff that we already have planned, we're presenting all of this at the
school sites, we're doing some community presentations, we have monthly meetings with Alameda
Family Services, and they're going through their own revamping and we've already presented to the
board and we're going to do more presentations on what we're doing in order to kind of move this
process along. That's it.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Great. Thank you so much, I'm sure we have some questions.
Jodi McCarthy: A million I'm sure. Yeah, it's a lot.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Commissioner Brillinger, do you have anything that you want to
Arnold Brillinger: I have. If you would have been working back in the '60s or in the '90s, with the
same kind of assessment to find out what these different feelings were, how do your findings differ
from somebody that would have been in the '60s, going to high school or in the 90s?
Jodi McCarthy: So I was going to high school in the 90s. Okay, early 90s, like '91, '92, but it was
still the 90s, and I have a 13 and a 15 year old son and I was a counselor in the high school, I was at
Alameda High, I was at Island high for a while. And the main difference I think for kids these days,
versus kids back in the '80s or the '90s, is their access to each other and their access to information.
And how fast this world moves.
Jodi McCarthy: You know what I mean? When Jewell came on to the scene - it's like an E-cig type
of thing. When the vaping came on to the scene, everybody knew about it, right away because it
was right there. If it was back in my day we would have to actually dial a phone to tell each other
about it and then listen to the modem as it kind of screeched along and maybe someone would get a
page. Their access, I think, their access, their access to information, their access to ways to use,
their access to peers, and the social pressures. I think that's the biggest difference between then and
now.
Arnold Brillinger: Alright. And I realize that the cyber bullying and so forth has a lot to do with it.
Jodi McCarthy: Some.
Arnold Brillinger: And we didn't have it way back then. We had to do it in your face.
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Jodi McCarthy: Right.
Arnold Brillinger: But I was thinking, a lot of these things but no one asked us back in the 60s. I
don't know, did they ask you in the 90s?
Jodi McCarthy: Ask me what?
Arnold Brillinger: About these different behaviors.
Jodi McCarthy: I don't recall ever getting asked about it. I don't know if I was ever asked about it
in high school, or if a report like this ever came out in the 90s. But then, I was a teenager and it was
all about me, so I don't know what, right? What was really going on. I don't know. I don't remember
participating in anything like the depth that we did with this survey last year.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes. I mean, I would like to commend you for doing this.
Jodi McCarthy: Thank you.
Arnold Brillinger: But I've, I was going to high school and middle school in the 60s. And a lot of
these things I thought, ""Hey, we had those things too"". We didn't have the cyber things of course,
but the whole thing about ""You don't understand me"". And so forth. And I bet everybody here
remembers that when they were growing up, no matter what, if they were 60s, it's good to get this
out in the open. And we need to have the cooperation of the parents and the staff, the teachers, the
administration, and all through the educational process. So I commend you for doing this. And I
also wanted to know. Well, obviously there are other school districts that are doing something like
this. How do your students seem to compare to them or is it pretty much the same way? As
percentages and stuff like that?
Jodi McCarthy: So when we were starting this process, we looked at New Haven Unified and we
looked at Berkeley Unified, they both did. We looked to them, because I don't want to reinvent the
wheel, you want to see what people have done and what worked and you want to use what they
used. And our needs assessment showed. Our needs assessment showed a higher increase in the
anxiety and the depression and the suicide ideation. I spoke to Karen, oh God Karen Orlashack. She
runs the Intensive Outpatient Program at Kaiser. I spoke to her at the beginning of the year about a
couple of our students, who were 5150'd and they go into either the partial hospitalization program
or they go into the Intensive Outpatient Program. And she asked me, she's like, ""What is going on in
Alameda?"" And I'm like, ""What are you talking about?"" She said, ""Well, anywhere from 30 to 50%
of the kids in the IOP or the PHP programs are from Alameda"". That's huge, because they serve
Berkley, Emeryville, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Hayward and Oakland. And for a program to have
30 to 50% of the participants in it from Alameda, is alarming.
Jodi McCarthy: So alarming that I met with Kaiser this morning to find out how we can partner
with them more. But of the comparable needs assessments that I've looked at, it's our depression,
our anxiety, our stress, and our suicide ideation, as is more. And our drug use is a little bit more
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because kids use that to cope with this, and it's just a snowball.
Arnold Brillinger: What kind of pressures would be different here in Alameda that's raising those
percentages?
Jodi McCarthy: In the shows, you find more of those pressures on the east end. It's the higher
socioeconomic, the higher demand on the kids, the higher stress that you're going to go to Harvard
or Yale or Stanford, and to do that, you need to play football, basketball, baseball, run track, do
cross-country, be in this club, be in that club, do your community service. So there's a lot of
pressure that's being put on our kids, especially at our higher-performing, higher-achieving students,
so much so that we have a homework committee at Alameda Unified looking at reducing homework
for our kids across the district, like limiting what AP classes you can take. Our kids are taking five
different advanced placement courses plus taking a course at the community college. The level of
stress that they're under is ridiculous.
Arnold Brillinger: Now Alameda High takes in all of the students from Harbor Bay Island?
Jodi McCarthy: Bay Farm, yes.
Arnold Brillinger: Oh, Bay Farm? Okay.
Jodi McCarthy: Union [Street]? Thank you. I should know. Yeah, that's the line.
Arnold Brillinger: Alright, thank you very much.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: God, I feel so grim.
Jodi McCarthy: Sorry, it's this heavy. I know, I'm sorry.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Commissioner Roloff?
Jennifer Roloff: Okay, so first of all, thank you both so much for coming. I'm the, what am I, the
liaison to the school board from our commission. And so as our commission decided at our retreat
last January, and I think we'll be having another retreat to decide on priorities we probably decided
to prioritize and focus on mental health needs, not that we're eliminating anything else, but to put a
focus on there. So in seeing what the school board was up to, this was the first report that I caught a
wind of and what struck me was that - and correct me where I'm wrong - but it's my understanding
that they said, ""Well we don't really have any money to focus on the things that would take money,
so let's focus on the things that we can do that are no cost."" And I think that's fantastic that we're
doing that. So as a commission, what we're chartered with is to try and make referrals to council
and encourage council.
Jennifer Roloff: And this is where I was saying earlier, talking to both of you, is there anything that
you think that we can do to advocate to the city for budget or resources to help where the school
district is saying no to you, or maybe you're already looking at other sources of funding? It's a lot, I
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know, and you don't have to answer it all now. You can get back to us too.
Jodi McCarthy: Anything you can do to advocate for services, I'm not going to say no to. And
that's kind of what we're doing now is we're presenting these needs. It's like, ""Hey community..
11
Because, we can't take care of our children by ourselves, you know what I mean? The school
district can't do it all. We need the community. We need the parents, we need the non-profits, we
need the village.
Victoria Forester: And right now what we're seeing is that when it comes to mental health needs,
the only game in town is special education. So in order to get help if we have mental health issues
which many of our students do, you have to get referred for an IEP, individualized education plan,
then the cost of special education skyrockets and it just becomes this wall. In other districts that
have lower socio-economics and higher Medi-Cal needs, you can harness that Medi-Cal dollar to
get everything that they need. Alameda's, it's trickier. It's trickier because we have less than 30% of
our students on Medi-Cal and in neighboring districts, folks in Oakland and Berkeley. San
Leandro's has 73% of their students qualify for Medi-Cal. Heck, I had all sorts of services in San.
Leandro.
Victoria Forester: It's extremely difficult. So any way that we can partner with community
organizations to bring mental health services or just some emotional work to our students, we're
bettering the situation. That's a great question. And we will. You will see both of us link arms with
anyone that wants to help us bring this work to our kids. What you saw tonight is incredibly
alarming. And again, 34 years in public education, I'm a little older than Jodi, those statistics that
are just about Alameda Unified are extremely alarming.
Jennifer Roloff: Right, okay. Just a thought, maybe we put that on our agenda for our upcoming
retreat. We'll have another one early in 2019 and see what we can come up with.
Jodi McCarthy: The city of Alameda also did a needs assessment last year, and one of their
findings was there was a need for mental health services. So it's not just a finding for the school
district, but I don't know, I think there's more awareness.
Jennifer Roloff: Find a way to bridge those two. Okay, thank you. I think that was my big broad
question. So I know that was a lot, I'll stop there. Thanks so much for coming in.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Commissioner Deutsch.
Susan Deutsch: Well thank you very much. These presentations were excellent. I worked in the
Berkeley Unified School District in Special Ed. In Berkeley, they have Berkeley Mental Health. We
referred so many students there, but are those just Medi-Cal students that get access? And how does
Berkeley Mental Health get their funding, because that's not county, that's city?
Jodi McCarthy: Right. And right now for our mental health work in special education, we have
partnered with the county most of all. We're also using East Bay Association for Children, EBAC,
for our mental health work. But any way you slice it, the billing is much more expensive for
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students who don't have Medi-Cal, right?
Jodi McCarthy: And so you'll see the long lines or the waitlists for our students, they're for
students who don't have Medi-Cal And what our findings showed in this needs assessment is that
our students without Medi-Cal are actually more stressed out, having more suicidal ideation. And so
we're chugging along, and again, over qualifying kids for special education services because it's the
only game in town, simply because we can't afford to afford not to.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Commissioner Morrison.
Leslie Morrison: Yeah, thank you so much for the presentation. And the statistics are really
alarming, and I don't know that there's an easy fix. One of the questions I had was really about the
availability of mental health services in the city, and I think you've already addressed that. I'm new
to the commission, so I'm not really certain about the history, but I think that there is a paucity of
mental health providers across the country, and particularly mental health providers for children.
And my experience is there aren't a lot of mental health providers in the city of Alameda. Or people
who are private pay. And so, I like you reaching out to Kaiser. I wonder about reaching out to some
of the other providers. I don't think it's an easy solution. And I'm just sort of parroting what you've
already said, but I think to put it all on the school district doesn't really seem fair, but it's a big
problem, I don't know where to start.
Jodi McCarthy: Well in the Kaiser and the health insurance it took me a year and a half to get the
right person, I guess, because they're a huge are organization, and I'm a little person, looking for
that right person at the right time to get in front of.
Leslie Morrison: But there aren't a lot of child psychiatrists in the country. There aren't a lot of
child therapists in the country. So it's not just an Alameda problem, it's kind of a national problem. I
also don't know that private providers are really wanting to volunteer to provide mental health
services. You talk about access point, certainly, special education is an access point, but you talk
about people getting 5150'd because that's the way they can get into the mental health service
community which, again, you don't want to be 5150-ing people to get them mental health services,
but sometimes that's the only point of access because the wait list for therapy sessions is
comparably six to eight weeks out anyway.
Victoria Forester: We have actually instructed parents on how to go about that situation for kids
that were in that desperate need. And I think that's among the hardest work I've ever done is to talk
to a mom about how to call the police, and what to say to get your kid into a hospital. You can't
unlearn that work. It's very, very difficult. And yet, sometimes that's what we have to do to get some
of the help for mental health, particularly behavioral issues particularly at home. I can't always
effect at home as educators during the day. So instructing parents on how to go about that is heart-
wrenching.
Leslie Morrison: The only other thought that I have is about developing a peer network in your
schools, and I don't know if that would be a low cost or a no cost option, but certainly at schools of
higher education that are really developing mental health services programs, they are really looking
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at sort of a peer-to-peer model.
Jodi McCarthy: We have that. The county runs a program called TUPE, Tobacco-Use Prevention
Education. They use a peer-to-peer model, so they do a lot of training of peers around tobacco and
vaping and stuff like that, to go out and do the work. They do that in the middle and high schools.
So we have our middle and high schools participating in that. And then also through the school-
based health centers, they have something called, YEAH, and I forget right now what that stands
for, but it's Youth Education something, but it's the students doing peer-to-peer connections within
the high schools. And what we presented, don't forget, it's a deficit model. We're doing a lot of
amazing, wonderful things, but we have huge needs.
Victoria Forester: Certainly, my experience is that a lot of kids are the identified patients. And so
there was a lot that you said about family pressures and stresses at home that the kids are bringing
to school. And again, that's sort of beyond the scope of what a school can look at, but I think that
that plays a part, it might be the one that's showing up, displaying the stress and they're coming to
the place where they do that, but it's a larger system that's playing it, it's what loops back to what
services were available.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Commissioner Anto.
Anto Aghapekian: I'm overwhelmed with all the information that you gave us tonight, and I'm
basically humbled. [inaudible].
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Yeah, I want to follow up on that as well. The work that you're doing
is definitely very difficult with all the things that are coming in different directions and stuff. So we
really thank you for the work that you do and for coming to present with us. It's really great. And
we have people who listen to this meeting as well. So, it's hopefully getting out to a broad base.
With so many issues that you've brought up, where do you start? I'm just listening all these things
and I'm like, ""Gosh, I wouldn't know where to start."" Do you start with the suicide prevention? Do
you start with the vaping? How do you tackle this?
Jodi McCarthy: It can be really overwhelming. It's a lot. And we're doing a lot as a district. Kirsten
Zazo and myself, she's the Chief of Student Support Services, we are on the board of Alameda
Family Services, to kind of strengthen that partnership, we're doing a lot of outreach and, ""Hey, we
need help"", type things. We're also doing a lot of things at the district. We're doing the multi-tier
systems of support, which is providing different supports, both academics, socio-emotional at all of
our school sites. Girls Inc is an amazing partner. They are putting groups, girls groups in every
single elementary school, trying to empower these young women in our political climate that we
have right now that is not. Anyway, so they're empowering girls, and teaching girls how to talk to
each other, and how to be friends and not be so catty, and just strengthening those skills at the
elementary level, so that when they get to the high school and middle school level, they'll have a
solid base.
Jodi McCarthy: It is doing things like bringing in restorative practices. There's about 10 of us or so
at the district office that are trained, trainers for restorative practices. So teaching We have this
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three-year rollout of bringing restorative practices into school to bring down So there's a lot of
awesome stuff that we're doing, and it's not like you can pick vaping.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay, does anyone have any other questions or comments?
Arnold Brillinger: I just wanted to thank you also, because I've spent a lot of time in elementary
education, and I've been on the south side of Chicago and East Oakland. These were all not public
schools though. Okay. And also in San Francisco. When they took their achievement tests and stuff
like that, the whole school was up in the top 90s, that kind of stuff. And so I've been a part of both
of those different groups, but was really surprised to see the stats that you brought up here.
Victoria Forester: Alright, we're glad to come back in and talk about progress.
S?: Thanks so much.
4-C
Retreat Scheduling for 2019 at Mastic Senior Center
Available dates are 1/12, 1/26, 2/9 and 2/16. No retreat in 2019 is also an option.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay, so we're going to move into item 4C, which is the retreat
scheduling. It's open to the public. You're welcome. So Laurie, were you going to provide the dates
or do you want me to? Sorry, I don't have them.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: So I believe the first thing we need to vote on is whether or not we
would like a retreat this year. Because of the way that we had had the schedule in the past, we
needed to make up a meeting because of how we had it every other month with the August, City not
having any meetings that month. So this year we can decide whether or not we want to have the
meeting, otherwise we have our six regular schedule meetings. I would like to propose that we do
have a retreat, an extended time that we all get to talk and plan for the year. So I think we should
propose a vote on whether or not you guys also agree with having a retreat for next year. Can I do
all in favor or.
Jennifer Roloff: So I'm just looking, January 9th is our next meeting. Are you saying we add an
extra date or maybe take January 9th and change that, use our retreat in lieu of a meeting, or add an
extra meeting?
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Laurie, do you know?
Laurie Kozisek: Madam Chair, I believe the reason that we started having the retreats was because
we only had five meetings per year and we needed a minimum of six, because we couldn't meet in
August because the Council chamber was dark. So we switched to odd months, so now we get our
six meetings in. So if you want to do the retreat, it's just because you want to do a retreat. It could
be an extra meeting, or you could choose to do the retreat, and then cancel one of the regular
meetings. It's up to you if you want to cancel the November one or something.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay, so maybe we vote on whether or not we would like a retreat.
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These are usually on a Saturday. I think it was maybe three hours, three or four hours last year.
Maybe we vote on whether we want to have a retreat, and then we can decide on whether or not we
would like to cancel our January meeting. That sound good? Okay. So everyone in favor of having a
retreat.
Arnold Brillinger: I move that we have a retreat next year.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Right. Do we have a second?
Jennifer Roloff: I second it.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. All in favor?
All except Leslie Morrison: Aye.
Leslie Morrison: I abstain, just because I've never been in the council, I don't really have an
opinion either way for the vote. I would abstain.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: No problem. Okay, anyone in favor of canceling the January 9th
meeting in order to have the retreat?
Jennifer Roloff: OK, I'll move, or re-schedule the January meeting into a retreat. So that it's a
retreat, okay. Is that weekend? Yeah, I would make that. Yeah, I move to do that.
Susan Deutsch: I second
Anto Aghapekian: I second [inaudible comments]
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: So we have a few options, sorry, for the retreat. It could be the 12th,
the 26th, or February 9th, or February 16th. So we can agree on a date, hopefully, that most people
are able to attend. We want to try to pick a date first.
All: [short discussion on dates]
Arnold Brillinger: Did we have someone second her motion?
Susan Deutsch: Yes, I did.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: This is for the cancellation of the Rescheduling, sorry. Thank you.
Rescheduling of the meeting from January which is the 9th to one of the retreat weeks. But we just
wanted to check and see if there was a weekend that worked with everyone. So if we want to have a
motion, if someone would like to do a motion to reschedule, and then
All: [More discussion of dates]
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Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: So I would like to do a motion to move the January 9th meeting to
February 9th, and it would be a retreat. And we would work out the timing, not sure what it will be,
but I think it was like 10:00 to 2:00 last year. So do we have a second?
Susan Deutch: I second.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. All in favor?
Arnold Brillinger: No, wait a minute. Let's have some discussion.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Go ahead.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes, I don't think that we necessarily need to get less meetings because this
group, when I look at the people here, there are a lot of things that can be discussed and voted on,
and worked on in six meetings plus a retreat, and I would just not like to shorten it down again. So
I'm saying we should still keep the January meeting and schedule a retreat somewhere.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. And we also, I believe, have some speakers for our January 9th
meeting. Correct, Laurie? So that's another thing that we want to take into consideration as well.
Anto Aghapekian: I move that we have the January meeting, and also in addition, we have the
retreat, so that we don't compromise the guests who will come on the 9th, and that's what I propose.
Jennifer Roloff: I'll second that. That's okay.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: We want to vote on that?
Leslie Morrison: So, technically, those are conflicting amendments; one is to reschedule the
January, 9th meeting. So I think you have to vote on whether you're going to reschedule the January
9th meeting, and if that motion doesn't pass, then you could have a second motion to have an
additional retreat meeting, but I don't know how you amend the first. I don't think it's a friendly
amendment. I think you have to vote down the motion on the first.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. So we'll vote.
Leslie Morrison: Yeah, take a vote on whether we're going to move the January meeting and
everyone who thinks that we should have an extra meeting would then vote no to rescheduling the
January meeting, and then we would have an additional I think that that would be the proper way
to do that.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. So we'll go back to the January 9th meeting, a motion to keep it
as it is and not reschedule it.
Leslie Morrison: The motion is to reschedule. So all those in favor of rescheduling the January 9th
meeting to a February retreat, that's the motion that's on. You could also withdraw that motion if the
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person, people who made it want to withdraw it given the comments. It could be withdrawn also. Or
we can vote on the motion, either way. Who made the motion? Do they want to withdraw it?
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Who made the motion, Laurie?
Laurie Kozisek: The motion was made by Jennifer, and then it was remade by Jenn, and was
seconded by Susan.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Do we want to withdraw that?
Jennifer Roloff: So we would like to withdraw the motion.
Susan Duetsch: Okay. Yes, we'll withdraw the motion.
Jennifer Roloff: Yes. So now you can have a new motion.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, I'll make the motion that we have our six scheduled meetings plus a
retreat, because the retreat is very important for us to get to know each other, and we need to build
relationships. That's what those two ladies said that they need to build relationships in Alameda
between parents, teachers and committee members. And so, okay, so that's my motion is that we
keep the six plus a retreat date.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. Do we have a second?
Anto Aghapekian: Second.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: All in favor?
All except Leslie Morrison: Aye.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Any opposed?
Leslie Morrison: And I again am going to abstain being a new member. But I'm happy to attend in
February.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. I believe we're done with item 4C. So we'll move on to Old
Business, Commission and Board Liaison Reports. Oh, go ahead, Laurie.
Laurie Kozisek: Could I get a clarification that Arnold made a motion that we keep the scheduled
meeting and add a retreat?
Arnold Brillinger: Correct.
Laurie Kozisek: I think you need to make another motion saying the retreat will be on such and
such day from 10:00 to 12:00 or 10:00 to 2:00.
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Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: 10:00 to 2:00. Okay. So I would like to make an additional motion
that we have the retreat on February 9th, from 10:00 to 2:00 PM. Can I have a Second?
Susan Deutsch: I second.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. All in favor?
All: Aye.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Any abstain or nay? No? Okay. Okay, I believe we're all set now.
5. OLD BUSINESS
5-A
Commission and Board Liaison Reports (All commissioners)
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Old Business Commission and Board Liaison Reports. Commissioner
Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: Yes, I've been going to various commissions on disability in Berkeley and also
in Oakland. The ones in Oakland seem to have lot of meat to them, because they're doing all kinds
of work. Not only worried about the paratransit in the East Bay, but they're also dealing with
different matters of transportation and how things are being constructed in Oakland. And I also went
to the different AC Transit meeting, and they're continuing on with the working on International
Boulevard to make it where the buses have their own lanes and things. So it's going to be interesting
to see that. Our transportation meeting here in Alameda is next week, so I'll tell us about it in
January. So those are my things.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Great, thank you. Commissioner Roloff?
Jennifer Roloff: The only thing I wanted to follow up on is And I think, I don't know
if
we
have
a
commission, but is it Jennifer, Jen and Anto, you were working on ADA for businesses, and we had
suggested that the Facade grant that the city matches be extended into businesses doing ADA, and
essentially, Laurie came back with a ""No"". And I'm wondering if there's a way we can push on that,
if we could talk to someone in the city offices as to why or.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: That would be great. Do we know who is in charge of issuing the
grant, or different grants for the city?
Jennifer Roloff: Like the Facade grant. Do you remember the Facade grant, and that you came
back and you said you checked into it and they said ""No""? And I'm thinking maybe we can push a
little bit.
Laurie Kozisek: I can't remember at the moment. I will get back to you on that. Who should I
report that to?
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Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: You can report it to me.And then I'll spread the word.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay, thank you. That's all I have for today.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Thank you so much. Commissioner Deutsch.
Susan Deutsch: So I went to the park and rec mission meeting, and I presented about inclusive
playgrounds. I thought they were very receptive. I heard that they liked my presentation, just from
somebody, randomly, who heard about it. So I think it really went well. They're, right now, in the
process of re-doing Littlejohn Park, and that park is going to have some inclusive aspects to it, but
it's not going to be totally inclusive; it's a small park. And I think they're going to be talking more as
they re-do other parks and build other parks. They're going to be talking more about how they can
make the playgrounds more inclusive from the conversations. So I could send out a copy of what
their plans are, for Littlejohn Park, but you really can't tell from the picture, really. But if everyone
wants that, I can send it to Laurie and she can send it out or however.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Great. Are their plans pretty solidified at this point?
Susan Deutsch: For Littlejohn, yeah, yeah, that's S solidified, so we can't make changes for that.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: So maybe future parks we can try to get in early.
Susan Duetsch: Yeah, they're really open to it for future
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Oh, that's awesome, great.
Anto Aghapekian: I was speaking with one of the commissioners about your presentations, and he
said that he was very impressed as well as the other members of the commission, and they learned a
lot from your presentation, not only they would invest, but they're going to use some of the items
with the presentation in their future plans.
Susan Deutsch: Thank you. I had that impression from them.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: So Commissioner Morrison, just so you're aware that each year during
our retreat, we have specific organizations or Commissions within the city that we all attend. And so
during our retreat, we'll re-categorize who would like to be a representative for our commission and
attend meetings or events, etcetera, so that the city knows that we're available as a resource and that
we're able to get information from them and provide information to them, so it works out well.
Leslie Morrison: Great. Looking forward to participating.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Great. Commissioner Anto.
Anto Aghapekian: I don't have much. The city was very quiet, I guess it was maybe because after
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the elections. But there is two items that the planning department is working on, and you've
probably heard them that's one on Central that a member of the planning department came and did a
presentation for us last year, and they have made some changes, some modifications to the original
plan. And then the other one is on Clement Street. The plans are pretty well-developed. And I would
like to, if the mission's agreeable, to invite one of the planning department officials to come and
make presentation to us and both develop next meeting or the week, whenever they can come.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. So, on my part, I went to a Chamber of Commerce meeting to
talk about the ADA Initiative that I've done, been working on for getting businesses to be doing
small steps to be more accessible under the ADA, and providing certificate, showing that they've
made progress. So I left a number of flyers there, and we have a commission email address so that
people can email and ask questions and send in photos of their before and after. And I also got in
contact with three city staff members that I met and have asked them to pass along our flyer and our
information as well. I'm still going to try to work on spreading the word a little bit more the best I
can, so any ideas on how to do that, the better. And then I believe the I'm sorry, I don't know the
exact name. They came to talk to us about the help for the elderly and some of the homeless.
They're going to be talking in front of the city council next meeting, I believe.
Laurie Kozisek: If you're speaking of the Alameda Collaborative, which is working on the McKay
Wellness Center, yes, they spoke here, and then they spoke at the planning board, and then I think
they're speaking at the council.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: And this is to remove the government name on the parcel right now.
Laurie Kozisek: Yes, it's to remove the government overlay, which is a required step before they
can sell the property. They already have it leased and they're already going ahead with their plans.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: If anyone's interested at the next council meeting. Does anyone have
any other items?
Arnold Brillinger: Jen, I had a question for your group. Are there certificates that you're handing
out already?
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: I have not handed one out yet, but I do have a copy of it. It'll
probably. It'll be half-sized, but it'll look like this.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, because there's I'm kind of slow going down Park Street, and so it gives
me time to read all of the notices in the different windows. And somebody had a thing up there, it
was a certificate that they were passed by a CASp person, but it didn't have any signatures. Because
I was wondering who did this, and I didn't know where they got the certificate from.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Laurie, I think you would be able to answer that question since you're
CASp certified.
Laurie Kozisek: I would.
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Arnold Brillinger: Now see, I'm going to have to go back and find out because I don't remember
where it was that I saw it.
Laurie Kozisek: Okay, do take a look at it again. There should be a number on it or something, so
that you can see who the issuing person was, and their CASp number.
Arnold Brillinger: I don't think it was signed, or that it had anything on there. Well, let me find
out. I'll give you a call and let you check it out. Because I thought it was kind of interesting because
I
thought, ""Oh, the group is working on this and here's somebody's order, or whatever. "" But I don't
think it looked like that.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Right. No, so that's something that you can pay for to have a certified
accessibility inspector come in and look into your facility. Separate, more intensive than this
program. This is more of a free encouragement. That's more of a compliance-based.
6. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. We'll move on to number six, staff communications.
Laurie Kozisek: Thank you, Madam Chairman. The only thing I have to present is that I got an
email today from someone who was ejected out of a restaurant because she had a service animal,
which rather surprised her. So you might want to consider looking into service animals and
educating people on what's a service animal as opposed to an emotional support animal or therapy
animal or whatever, and add that to your education of businesses.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Right. Yeah, that's a huge item. Thank you for bringing that up, and I
think that's something that we should definitely look into. You see it on the news a lot recently, and
it's definitely illegal to eject someone who has a service animal. So it's sad to hear that that's
happening in Alameda if that was the case.
7. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Item seven, any announcements? Commissioner Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: The other day I was going down Park Street again, and I heard someone yelling.
""Hey you, stop, stop,"" and I thought, ""Well, there's a lot of 'hey yours out here, so I don't I'm not
going to turn around."" And so then, ""You in a wheelchair, stop!"" So then I did a U and I looked, and
it was another lady in a power chair and she says, ""You're on that commission for the city."" I said,
""Well, yes."" And she says, ""Well I've got a problem."" And her problem was that her power chair had
stopped on her when she was at Mastick, and I don't know how she ever got home, but it turned out
that no one was really able to help her.
Arnold Brillinger: And there's nothing. The county used to have a service where if you had some
kind of a problem with your wheelchair, you could call them and see if you can get some help. Now
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I've had problems with mine, but I've luckily been able to get help and get back home because of
AC Transit or somebody else who really went out on a limb and took care of it for me. So what I
would like to do just in this announcement thing, could we put it on the next agenda? And it'd only
be like five minutes or something like that of trying to work up something in the county again and
Okay.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: So we actually do have it as part of our agenda. It reached Laurie as
well that people are having trouble getting home. So, perfect prelude into our next meeting. This is
a huge issue that was cancelled, this program that Arnold is speaking of where the fire department
will not come and pick you up and take you home. There's not a current system. And I think this is
something that we really need to look into and try to help address so that people are not stranded
when their wheelchair or other mobility device fails them when they're out on the streets.
Anto Aghapekian: Two or three meetings ago, we had a presentation about emergency help for
people, if somebody faints on the street, there is an emergency department in the city that goes and
picks you up. Wasn't there a lady that gave a representation like that to us, about three meetings ago,
two meetings ago?
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: I know we've spoken about a number of transportation items whether
it be the taxi or the Paratransit or the shuttle. When we're talking about the bikes, and maybe they
would prevent you from going down a curb ramp or something. So it's definitely come up, but I
don't think we've had a concrete solution. Because they could submit something to the city, but that
request is not something that's immediate. The see click fix is something that you guys work on
over a period of time. It's not like an emergency service. If anyone has any other comments on that.
Susan Deutsch: Well, we did have a presentation just about emergencies in general, like if there's
an earthquake or some kind of major emergency in the city, somebody presented that there's a plan
for that, but it didn't include somebody getting stuck with their wheelchair, just going out on
So
yeah, we have to
Anto Aghapekian: I brought that up, that issue. I did bring it up; what happens if a person in a
wheelchair is stuck because of the curb, the sidewalk or whatever, and they said that they did not
have any services for people who are in wheelchairs or they're handicapped. And I brought it up
especially because they were assisting other people, but for some reason, not people in wheelchairs.
That's why I brought it up.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: So maybe we can brainstorm and look into things between now and
our next meeting since it is going to be a topic. And maybe, since you're connected with the other
disability commissions, see if they have anything.
Arnold Brillinger: I was going to suggest that, let's say we can't do it this meeting because it's not
on the agenda, but for this group to say ""Yes, let's look into that,"" and get people from the other
groups to get together and approach the county and say, ""This is what we can do,"" or, ""how is this
funded,"" or find out all the things about it. So it sounds to me like the same lady probably called
you or whatever, and she's probably watching right now too, so.
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Wednesday, November 28, 2018, 6:30 PM
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: And then she's the one who reported it, but I'm sure that it happens to
people a lot more often than we know of. So I definitely want to take it seriously and look into it.
Jennifer Roloff: Do we know, so if you actually call the fire department, they would say, ""Sorry,
no""?
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: That's what an email correspondence that Laurie had said, yeah. It's
not part of their.
Arnold Brillinger: They may show up though. I've had occasion where I was dropped off, and
instead of turning right on the sidewalk, I went over on the grassy area, and it was right after a big
rain, and if I would have kept on going, I would have gotten back to the sidewalk, but stupid me, I
stopped for a moment, and then tried to get going again, and just dug a big old pit in the people's
lawn. And in that case, I did call the fire department, they sent out some burly guys and they alley-
ooped me back to the sidewalk. So, there are certain situations where they will, but in this one, I
don't remember, it was some kind of a mechanical problem, I think.
Laurie Kozisek: Madam Chairman, I believe in your case, Commissioner Arnold, it was a lift
assist. They were getting you back up on your feet, so to speak. And they do that a lot. They do it
every day with people. Whereas this person that contacted you and contacted us was in good health,
but had a chair that wouldn't move, and so she essentially needed another way to get home. And so
the staff got her out to the curb and got an Uber or something like that for her to get her home. So
the fire department wouldn't have been able to drive her home.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay. So, it's understanding the differences of what is under their role,
and then what is beyond their role that is the gap that we're missing. Does anyone have any further
comments or announcements?
Jennifer Roloff: I just wanted to remind everyone, or share that December 15th, between 10:00
AM and noon, and I believe it's rain or shine, is the dedication opening of Jean Sweeney Park. And
if we can go there, I think it's great. Amy will be there from Parks and Rec, and I think it's always
good we can have a presence. I plan to be there. 10:00 AM to noon, Jean Sweeney Park, on the
15th. And then, on a happy note, this Saturday, December 1st, from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM at Feel
Good Chiropractic on Central, Sensory Santa is taking appointments, and I think it's for children
with sensory issues. So, there's no spotlights, no crowds, no extra noise, one-on-one quiet
appointments, and I thought that was fantastic that our community was responding to needs of some
of the children. So, they're still taking appointments. If anyone watching is interested, or spread the
word.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: That's awesome.
8. ADJOURNMENT
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: Okay, I'd like to do a motion to adjourn this meeting. Do I have a
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second?
Arnold Brillinger: Second.
Acting Chair Jenn Barrett: All in favor?
All: Aye.
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2019-01-16,1,"ITEM 2-B
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 6:30 PM
1. ROLL CALL
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: A meeting of the Commission on Disability for January. It's January,
Wednesday, January 16th, 2019. Agenda item number one, roll call.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Present.
Lisa Hall: Present.
Susan Deutsch: Present.
Jenny Linton: Present.
Arnold Brillinger: Here.
Laurie Kozisek: Three others have called in that they couldn't make it because we made a change
to the date. So we have a quorum.
2.
MINUTES
2-A
None
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NO-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
None
4. NEW BUSINSS
4-A
Victoria Williams, Paratransit Coordinator, City of Alameda
City of Alameda Transportation Program Plan for Seniors and People with Disabilities
for FY 2019/2020
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Agenda item number two is the minutes and the December minutes are
not available yet so we have no minutes to approve. I'll move on to agenda Item number three, Oral
Communications/Non-agenda Public Comment. I don't believe we have anyone here for that. I'm
going to move along to item number four, New Business. 4A, we have Victoria Williams, the
Paratransit Coordinator for the City of Alameda here to speak to us tonight about the City of
Alameda Transportation Program Plan for Seniors and People with Disabilities for the fiscal year of
2019-2020.
Victoria Williams: Thank you very much.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you.
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Victoria Williams: Thank you for having me honorable chairperson and commission. We're happy
to have these paper pieces to look at tonight so that we can go through everything. So we're here
tonight to let you know what our plans are for next year and to get your support in that. Each city
and county is required to take their plan for the following year to commissions and boards to get
some support and to get the input of residents of the community. Well, our funding is Measure B
and BB which gives us a supplemental program to East Bay Paratransit, the Adults with Disabilities
Act mandated service. So each city gets to choose what programs work best for their city and we've
chosen some really good ones, they've been going for some time and we've got more than a lot of
cities. So I'd like to tell you a little bit about those. So our agenda is the service overview, then the
recommended program, budget and our planning process. So the service overview, like I said,
Alameda has a wide variety of transportation services for the residents of Alameda. We have the
free Alameda Loop Shuttle. It runs Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM. It's
open to the public.
Victoria Williams: There are two buses which are accessible and they have bike racks. We've got
two-subsidized taxi programs. One is MRTIP - that stands for Medical Return Trip Improvement
Program - to help people get home from their doctor's appointments in a smoother fashion. And the
other is a premium taxi program, and that's for any purpose whatsoever. We have scholarship
programs. One is a scholarship program that helps a resident who is low-income purchase taxi
vouchers. And the other one is we've been able to provide some free AC Transit bus passes for
people who live at Alameda Point Collaborative and in some of the Alameda Housing Authority
properties. That's going really well too. We've got group trips. Mastick Senior Center provides once
a month, a trip, a local trip, for people to go to. There's a Leisure Club which is a group of folks
who are over 18 and have special needs. So twice a month, they go on outings and we help fund
that. And once a year there's a nice, big picnic at Crown Bay. It's for those folks who live in skilled
nursing facilities and so we help pay for the transportation to get people out to have fun. We've got
capital investments.
Victoria Williams: We have some needs. Some of the bus stops are in not great shape and some of
the benches at bus stops need to be repaired or replaced. We share some bus stops through the
shuttle. With AC Transit, we share some of the same bus stops. So we'll be doing some
improvements to those bus stops. And there are a few ADA accommodations we want to make sure
are in place so we've got funding to use for that. Customer service and outreach, that would include
my talking to anybody who will listen and printing the schedules for the shuttles, and you have
those in front of you. And one of the newest things is that we're now at the movie theater. You'll see
the shuttle at the movie theater, you may recognize the voice. And let's see what else.
Victoria Williams: And just monitoring the service management then is monitoring the service and
keeping track of things. And responding to phone calls, and helping people enroll and selling the
vouchers, things like that. The next page is a little bit about the Alameda Loop Shuttle. In October,
you remember, you've heard me say this before. We changed from a one shuttle service that was
several years old to two brand new shuttle buses. Which, like I said, are accessible and have room
for two bikes on the front. So we changed that in October. And what used to be a one-hour loop, we
still have a one-hour loop, but now that we have two buses, they're a half an hour apart so you can
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go and get your business done and not have to wait a full hour for the bus to get back. There's
another bus coming in a half an hour, so that's working well. Also the shuttle was renamed through
a survey of residents and it previously was called the Alameda Paratransit Shuttle. And through a
voting process it's now the Alameda Loop Shuttle and it does go in a loop so that makes good sense.
Victoria Williams: The next page shows the shuttle status and you can see that the average
monthly shuttle boardings have increased from 449 in 2016 to 451 in 2017 up to 686 in 2018. Now,
we have two buses so we still need more than that. But Arnold was on the bus the other day when it
was full, 18 people, he called to tell me. So it's getting there. The cost per trip however, is more
expensive. It was $16 when we just had one bus and a $16 per trip average when we had one bus
and now it's $21. And the funder, Alameda County Transportation Commission, is the agency that
the money comes through. They have guidelines, it's called the Paratransit Program Implementation
Guidelines. They want us to be under $20 but they give us two full years, two full fiscal years to get
there. So we've made it through the first fiscal year, we still have another fiscal year and we're
already at $21 so we think it's going to be great.
Victoria Williams: The next page, this is the taxi service status and we are using a local Alameda
taxi provider that has a couple of accessible taxis in the fleet. We are also in the process, this is the
exciting news, we're in the process of negotiating for an emergency wheelchair breakdown service.
Alameda County Transportation Commission funded such a thing and they even controlled it,
managed it, ran the program for several years and they've stopped running it so there is nothing in
the whole county. Some cities have fire departments who can do that, ours can't. So we're
negotiating right now with the same transportation provider that we use with those accessible cabs
to be able to offer that. We don't have everything finalized, we're looking at a pilot project where we
start it small and become successful within bringing people home within Alameda and then
expanding it probably to the county like the other programs. The other two taxi programs serve
people who need to go to any kind of appointment throughout Alameda County.
Victoria Williams: And the second exciting thing, but it's not too close yet, we're exploring Uber
and Lyft-type shared services. Some of the larger cities in the county have started that already so
we're watching to see how it goes for the big cities before we try something like that. Let them work
out all the problems and then we'll tag on to that. But it's exciting. We've just done a survey and lots
of people have cell phones, not everybody does, but there are concierge services that are go-
betweens, GoGoGrandparent and Arrive are two that I recommend to people and so it's happening,
transportation is happening. You don't have to have a car anymore, that would be a great goal. We
don't have to have a car, we have all of these options.
Victoria Williams: Go to the next page about the taxi services. You can see that we've increased
those trips. In 2014, there were 48 premium taxi trips a month, that's an average. And now there are
174, so you can see that one's been well-received. The MRTIP program again, that's the trip to come
home from your medical appointment. And it's primarily put together for those folks who use East
Bay Paratransit to get to their appointment. East Bay Paratransit is a shared ride service that you
have to call a day in advance. Well, most of us don't really know exactly when our doctor's
appointments are going to be finished so it can cause some stress if your ride comes and you're not
out to meet it and the ride leaves without you. So this is a service where you call the taxi company
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Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 6:30 PM
after your appointment is finished and then they come pick you up. So it's improved from 27 rides
per month average to 34 rides. It's still not huge but it's moving in the right direction.
Victoria Williams: And then the scholarship programs. Again, we can help with assisting people to
buy the taxi vouchers. A family can receive $90 worth of free taxi vouchers. It's a matching program
so if someone can buy some, then we can match that SO they have their input as well. And then, as I
mentioned before, the free AC Transit bus passes, you can see that one's going up quite well too. It
started really well but it's still going well. So we're real happy with those programs and just to be
able to get people out of their houses is, it's a huge deal. So we'd like to recommend that the
Alameda Loop Shuttle continue doing what it's doing. We need to continue to market all the time
and let it be known that the service is more frequent than it was. We're investigating real-time
shuttle location technology so that will be a real help when we get to that point. But right now, we're
still doing the research on that.
Victoria Williams: My phone number's on the bus and on all the schedules and I don't get a huge
amount of calls, you would think I would, I don't. So most part, I think it's working pretty well for
people but I do hear from people saying, ""Where is the bus?"" And that happens, sometimes there's a
problem. It slows down, it happens but that will help people and it will help me see where the bus
is. So when I get the call from someone who can't access that, I can say, ""Well, it's just right over on
that corner, it'll be there soon."" And then the taxi services. Again, we want to continue marketing
and outreaching those and then we'll explore working with Uber and Lyft in some kind of a shared
service way. And the next page, we'd like to recommend that we continue the scholarship programs
as they are with more free bus passes. And we're working on, like I said, that emergency wheelchair
breakdown service which is new and exciting. Group trips, we'd like for those to continue as they
are now with the Mastick monthly trip, the Leisure Club trips and the Skilled Nursing Facility
picnic.
Victoria Williams: Next page shows you a picture of our new shuttle stop sign, you'll see some of
those posted around town. They're not all up yet but they are orange and blue like the bus and the
same color of the last sign. So they're pretty, they're out there. And there are schedules being posted
underneath them so people standing at that sign will actually know when the bus is expected. So
again, our capital program would be the bus stop improvements, the benches. Oh, I forgot to
mention the benches. We've ordered some benches and improving the shelters, replacing some of
the benches that are already currently in need of replacement. And then the outreach and marketing
will continue. We've got information on the website, we put out press releases and presentations,
and orientations. Every other month I do a Transportation 101 at Mastick Senior Center and we talk
about all the kinds of transportation options that are available to Alameda residents and it's a lot, it's
great. We will continue with, of course, we'll continue printing those shuttle schedules, and
brochures, and mailings and program incentives.
Victoria Williams: The next page shows our budget. And I need to note that on the Measure B
they give us a projection so we don't know exactly but your original packet had a lower number
than this. This is a more recent number, $385,144 is what's projected for us to work with next year.
We've already got a carry over of $227,128 and we expect to sell about $4000 worth of the East Bay
Paratransit tickets, and about $8000 worth of taxi vouchers which will bring us with to total
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COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 6:30 PM
revenues of $624,272 to work with. The expenditures, the management would be $66,439.
Customer service would be $38,000. Trip provision, $319,500. Capital improvements would be
$120,000. And those would total $543,939 leaving us reserves of $80,333. And none of this comes
from the general fund, it's all Measure B and Measure BB funding.
Victoria Williams: And the next page shows our planning process. We did a survey in December,
we're still analyzing that. We were really pleased that we got 178 responses and for the most part,
things are good. We have a few suggestions. Some of them are really good ones, some of them are
very creative and I wish we could do but we'll be analyzing those to see which ones are really
feasible. And then we'll be coming to the commission meetings, the Transportation Commission and
the Commission on Disabilities. Thank you. Rec and Park Commission, Human Services Social
Services, Human Relations Board. And then our program plan which is our grant application is due
earlier this year, it's due at the end of February rather than the end of March so we're working on
that now. And that is it. Do you have questions for us?
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you very much, I really appreciate all of your hard work. And
I
want to also mention that you forgot in your outreach to mention that you guys were in the Fourth
of July Parade this year.
Victoria Williams: Yes, we were. Thank you. You saw us? Boy. That's a longer parade than I
thought since we were walking and handing out things. It was fun, it was really fun. So thank you,
I'll have to remember and put that in the next one.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Yes, I enjoyed seeing you guys there. I do have a few questions that I just
wanted to ask about.
Victoria Williams: Sure.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: The emergency wheelchair breakdown service, can you tell me a little bit
more about that? We did have somebody inquiring about this service. What is that? I don't know
even, actually know what it entails. How do you get somebody who has a wheelchair that's broken
down to get it repaired? What does that involve?
Victoria Williams: Well, we would have to do some major marketing to let people know that we've
got this service available because the previous program had little stickers that people put on their
wheelchairs, so you had the phone number right there. And so let's say one of our riders goes to
Oakland to go to church and while they're there, their wheelchair, maybe it's a motorized chair,
doesn't work. They can't get home, it can't be pushed to the AC Transit. They can't get home.
Victoria Williams: So that would entail, our vision of this and we're still working with the funder
because they did it in the past. We're trying to get all of their information, how many rides, how
much did it cost. What words were used in your contract? We're hoping our taxi company, they
could call the taxi company and the taxi company which has accessible vehicles could come and
pick them up and then take them and their chair home. So it would be a simple, smooth thing if it
works as well as we hope it does.
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Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 6:30 PM
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: And then the taxi company is able to help the person with pushing them
in and out?
Victoria Williams: Right. That would be part of the contract that they would be able to do that and
it wouldn't be a cost to them, there wouldn't be any cost to the rider at all. We would pay for that.
Out of our funding because it's not their fault the chair broke.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you. I just was wondering a little bit more about that. Another
thing that I wanted to ask about: I had the opportunity to be part of the LimeBike interview process
and I got the opportunity to speak with somebody who works for the city of Oakland and they have
partnered with BORP, I believe, to try and start an accessible bike-share program over there for
people with disabilities.
Victoria Williams: Wow.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: I don't know if that would fall under your duties under Paratransit quite,
I'm not sure.
Victoria Williams: I'm not either.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: But I was just wanted to put that out there as a transit option to think
about.
Victoria Williams: Interesting. Thanks, that's interesting. I'll make a note of that.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Those were my questions. Again, I want to thank you for your hard work.
I'm going to pass it along to the other commissioners right now so I don't slow things down. Start
with Commissioner Brillinger.
Arnold Brillinger: I just want to say the MRTIP program - it's a very good program. What you do
is you take Paratransit to your doctor's appointment, then you can call them up and say, ""I'm here, I
need a ride at such and such a time, I'll be done."" And I've had several people comment on this and
I'm always trying to listen to what do we need to fix it or what do we need. And this person or these
people, actually but mostly one person gave me some insights and they've had three different
drivers taking them back home and they said, their personality and they were just delightful people,
so there wasn't any, grumpiness or something like that about it. So that was good to hear. And then
the vehicles, I've heard about three different vehicles that they used. Two of them are fairly decent,
one of them could use a little bit of maintenance, or care, or some kind of thing. They even told me,
they said, ""Don't bring this one up."" But I did anyway because we need to know that.
Arnold Brillinger: Because we want, and we need as many people as possible, to use this because
it is paid for whether the people use it or not. I mean, there's a certain minimum that the company
gets and we need to use it because it is such a convenience, the people going to their medical
appointments and getting back. I think they're supposed to call the day ahead of time, say, ""I'm
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going to need an appointment,"" or ""I'm going to need a taxi at between 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM."" Or
something like that. But then they could call that day and say, ""Oh, I'm getting out on time."" Or,
""I'm getting out a little bit later."" And the people have been very agreeable, the drivers and
everything with them. Also the office people, as far as I can tell, they've been very helpful.
Victoria Williams: Great, thank you. That's great to hear.
Arnold Brillinger: So I just wanted to say that. And we need more MRTIP riders and possibly, we
need to make this known in the nursing homes. And of course, we need them for people who are at
home getting back without having the extra long waits.
Victoria Williams: That's right, thank you. That's great ideas.
Arnold Brillinger: I don't have any personal times/experiences with them because I use AC Transit
and I'm not sure that my vehicle, that my chair will fit into them because there's like a mini-van-
type situation.
Victoria Williams: Thank you.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Brillinger. Commissioner Linton?
Jenny Linton: Thank you for your presentation. I'm very interested in the number of opportunities
you provide for people who need transportation.
Victoria Williams: Great, thank you.
Jenny Linton: I was going to ask about the wheelchair emergency service too. We're glad to hear
that that's going in place. I just have one question on the budget, and I should probably know this as
a voter, Measure B and BB, is that an ongoing funding or will that sunset at some point but come
back on?
Victoria Williams: They will and I can't remember the years. Do you remember the years they
sunset? I will be old when this is gone.
Jenny Linton: And dead? Yeah, okay.
Victoria Williams: I can't remember, I'm sorry.
Arnold Brillinger: In like 10 or 15 years, right?
Victoria Williams: More, I think, yeah.
Arnold Brillinger: At least.
Victoria Williams: I think we have at least 10 more years. And I just heard that some place and I
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even wrote it down but it didn't stay in my head. But we do have ongoing funding for some time
and I would hope BB is going to replace B when that sunsets. They're both in process now and one
will fall by the wayside and then the other one continues. And hopefully by then, we'll have
something else voted in so that we all have those opportunities when we need them.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Linton. Commissioner Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: Thank you, I just have a question about the taxi service. What's the radius? How
far can somebody use this taxi for a doctor's appointment?
Victoria Williams: Alameda County.
Susan Deutsch: I've gotten some information about using the bikes, adapted bikes, in the Bay Area
for people with disabilities.
Victoria Williams: Great.
Susan Deutsch: There was an article in the New York Times that I found and it turns out that some
cities around the country have been doing trials of this. And Oakland is going to be doing a trial. It's
not as simple as people think but they're trying to solve the problem of a person using a bike and
then they get to their destination, and they don't have their wheelchair.
Victoria Williams: Oh.
Susan Deutsch: So that's like one of the issues because there have been people with cerebral palsy
that can ride these bikes and they really like it, it's a leisure activity but it seems like they're
exploring this in Oakland. And I brought copies, in case people want copies of this. You could pass
it. It's just interesting and we should just be aware of it and see what happens with the trials.
Victoria Williams: Yes, absolutely. That's great. And I think that I would love to have a copy of
that if there's plenty? We do have meetings every couple of months of those of us working on
Paratransit projects. So they often keep us updated what's going on. If it comes through Paratransit,
then I will get to hear about it. If it comes a different direction, then probably Gail or Rochelle will
hear about it. Again, let the big city do it first and then we can follow along.
Susan Deutsch: Well, it's just interesting. You're reading it in the New York Times and Oakland
is
in the forefront.
Victoria Williams: Yes, that's a great.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Deutsch. Commissioner Hall?
Lisa Hall: Thank you, Victoria.
Victoria Williams: You're welcome.
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Lisa Hall: My question, and maybe I should know this too like you said, Jenny, is what about
animals?
Victoria Williams: Service animals are welcome.
Lisa Hall: On the Paratransit, and the Loop and the taxis?
Victoria Williams: That's correct.
Lisa Hall: You're going to look into, like you said, down the road, Uber or Lyft?
Victoria Williams: Right.
Lisa Hall: Because I just spoke with a lady today, she's blind, and she had the most awful situation.
She was not in a familiar place in the Bay Area and it was evening and her phone was about dying
and she had her dog, and three Ubers would not take her because she had the dog. And she was
literally in tears when the fourth guy that who they called, they had got somebody finally. And she
said, ""Please, I'm begging you."" And he took her. But it was like, WOW, I was very surprised. So I
was just like, I would hope that we do that.
Victoria Williams: We do.
Lisa Hall: Service animals are a must, right?
Victoria Williams: Absolutely, they are. And it is also possible to take your animal, if it's a caged
animal, to the vet, if it's not a service animal, if it's small enough to be caged.
Lisa Hall: Right.
Victoria Williams: But hopefully, as Uber and Lyft become more accessible, that should be a part
of the program. Part of the progress.
Lisa Hall: Because so many people use it.
Victoria Williams: Right.
Lisa Hall: Like you said. And there are a lot of people that can drive don't want to drive and they
are using more transportation. Which is good, we want it.
Victoria Williams: That's a good point, we'll have to watch for that because I hadn't thought of that
yet.
Lisa Hall: Yes. I hadn't either. Well, I was thinking, of course, that the Loop would, that you could
bring your service animals but I never thought about Uber or Lyft.
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Victoria Williams: Ahh, I hadn't either.
Victoria Williams: As we're investigating, that's a good thing to keep at the top of our minds.
Thank you.
Lisa Hall: And then the subsidized taxi service and the scholarship programs. If somebody is
interested, where would they just start? Call your number?
Victoria Williams: Yes. Or Mastick Senior Center, my office is there so they can call Mastick and
they'll find me or send them to my voicemail. And my phone numbers are on all of the schedules.
Lisa Hall: I know a lot more of the seniors know about our information, about things going on
because of Mastick and others and you reach out but there's a small disability group of younger
people and they don't know about a lot of the services. So that's why we're obviously, we're trying to
get the services, the word out. So that's good, I just want to make sure because somebody asked me
about the taxi service and I said, ""Yeah, I know we have it going, I'm just not sure about all the
parameters."" So thanks for all you're doing.
Victoria Williams: Oh, you're welcome.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Hall. Also I would like to suggest that you
have your friend reach out to the commission about what happened with Uber. We have reached out
to Uber in the past about a very similar issue so we could definitely do that, again. And they could
definitely use the reminder. So one thing that I wanted to ask about was have you guys considered
running one of the shuttle days be a weekend day?
Victoria Williams: We haven't at this point, there are some suggestions in the survey that they'd
like to have more days but it's funding. So we haven't explored that at the moment, but I know it is
something that would be great to do.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Yes, I hear a lot more people talking about the shuttle than I have
previously. I think there's a lot of confusion as to what it is. People think often, that it's the shuttle
that's been talked about by different business districts. But the other thing that I hear is like, ""Well,
why doesn't it run on the weekend?"" But I do appreciate all that you have done and you are doing,
it's a lot of work and I think you're doing a great job. So thank you.
Victoria Williams: Thank you, thank you. So shall we tell our funders that we have your support?
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Why don't we take a vote on it? I move that we vote to support the
Transportation Plan for the fiscal year, 2019-2020 for the City of Alameda Transportation Plan for
Seniors and People with Disabilities. Do I have a second on that motion? Commissioner Deutsch
seconded my motion. All in favor? Aye.
All: Aye.
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2019-01-16,11,"ITEM 2-B
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MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 6:30 PM
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Any opposed? Alright, I think it passes unanimously. Thank you.
Victoria Williams: Thank you very much.
4-B
Gail Payne, Senior Transportation Coordinator, City of Alameda
Transportation Awareness Campaign
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Now we will move on to item 4B. We have Gail Payne, the Senior
Transportation Coordinator for the City of Alameda, is going to present on the Transportation
Awareness Campaign.
Gail Payne: Thank you, Chair Kenny. Thank you, Commissioners. Good evening, I'm Gail Payne,
a Senior Transportation Coordinator for the City of Alameda. When we went out and did outreach
and went out to the community about the city-wide transportation plan, during that planning effort,
we heard a lot from community members about them not realizing all the transportation options that
are actually available and that that's one of the reasons why they're not taking advantage of all the
options that we have. And we are blessed with quite a few for the size town we have. We have two
ferry terminals which is really unusual for a size town that we are, AC Transit, we have our free
Alameda Loop Shuttle. So we have these great options yet, what we haven't done is so much of a
comprehensive effort of an awareness campaign of getting the word out. So with that in mind, it's
actually now a project in the city-wide Transportation Choices Plan, this Transportation Awareness
Campaign.
Gail Payne: So we just met with the advisory group for the first time, so we're trying to get
together a little action plan. And where we landed is just to really do a comprehensive, ongoing way
of getting news and information and materials out there as well as working with our partners and
community members and more of a grassroots effort. Doing a better job with social media and
working with our public information officer on getting the word out in these fun ways that are a
little bit different than we're used to. And so we focused on the Alameda Loop Shuttle because we
know that we want to get more riders there. We also want it to be a celebration. Happy International
Day of Persons with Disabilities, that was December 3rd. And so that's just one example.
Gail Payne: Really, we don't have a big budget, we don't have budget to hire big consultant firms
and giving their public relations spin on it. That's not what we can afford. And so we're really
looking to community members to help us, our partners, the school district, AC Transit, all working
together to come up with some ongoing materials that we can push out to inform Alamedans about
all the transportation options. And so I see it more as a grassroots effort. Anything that, any type of
group or way of reaching out to people, it would be really nice to hear from you about that. If you
think about it later, just feel free to let us know because it's helpful. Another part of this awareness
campaign is safety and bicycle safety education is not offered in schools, through schools, that is.
It's offered through the county-wide, Safe Routes to Schools program for some of our schools. So
the city wants to put together our own money and so most school kids in the city will have some
type of bicycle safety education by, we were thinking all, by the time they leave and graduate from
high school.
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MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 6:30 PM
Gail Payne: We want to also do a Line 19 pilot promotion, that's a fairly or new, restored line in
Alameda AC Transit line. Some people might not realize that that's been restored back in December
2016, along Buena Vista Avenue. So there's available seats there, it's not a full bus. So let's get the
word out. So we want to start small, start there with materials, and then build out of different
geographic areas as we get better at these materials. And we are going to have our second advisory
group meeting in February 7th so we're coming along and we're really open to how to do a better
job of getting the word out. So thank you.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Gail. Can we offer some feedback right now?
Gail Payne: Oh, yes. That would be perfect.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: I'm sure this has come up before, my wife is on Facebook and member of
Alameda Peeps. And they're constantly talking about transportation on there so it seems like a great
merger to - I think they have something called, ""Self-promotion Monday"" and where you can kind
of promote your own thing. If on Mondays, you guys put something like, ""Hey, the 19 goes to X, Y,
Z."" Or, you know?
Gail Payne: Yes, that's a great idea. Thank you.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Yes. I'm just going to open it up to any commissioners because this is
specific. Commissioner Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: Thank you, Gail. I also have a suggestion. A lot of people on the Nextdoor app are
talking about transportation all the time. And specifically, I've been hearing people talking about the
Harbor Bay ferry. There's a new, an extra ferry run now at 9 o'clock but people are still complaining
about the parking over there. So yeah, I don't know. I'm hoping that people start using that extra
ferry run because by then, the parking lot is filled up and there's no street parking anymore. But the
Nextdoor app is really good, people all over Alameda are commenting on it and I applaud the
bicycle safety because I see so many kids riding without helmets and, yeah. And I wish the
LimeBike would solve that problem too, yeah.
Gail Payne: I also forgot to mention, the schools, I focus on that because that's more of the effort.
However, there is a smaller component for adults and I'm really impressed with it. Victoria showed
me some of their flyers. And what they've done is they've focused on some of the barriers, like night
riding and how to lock a bike. And so they do a really great job of customizing the programs for
some of these obstacles that seem to happen for us when we bike.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you. Do any other commissioners have any suggestions they'd like
to make on this topic? Alright, well thank you, Gail. I think we're going to keep you up here though
because you're also our next agenda item.
Gail Payne: Yes.
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2019-01-16,13,"ITEM 2-B
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 6:30 PM
4-C
Gail Payne, Senior Transportation Coordinator, City of Alameda
Update on the Clement Avenue Project
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: For agenda item 4C, we have Gail Payne, Senior Transportation
Coordinator with the City of Alameda, is going to give an update on the Clement Avenue Project.
And I believe this came out of a suggestion from Commissioner Aghapekian who unfortunately is
not here tonight but he was wondering, he had made some comments about the lack of sidewalks
along Clement Avenue and the safety hazard that that presented. And so I believe that's part of why
we asked you to comment specifically about what's going on with Clement Avenue.
Gail Payne: Great. So Clement Avenue. The good news is we do have a funded project. We
received a competitive grant, federal funding, I guess that was back in maybe 2017. And we're just
now got the consultant hired to work on that and that is Clement Avenue between Grand and
Broadway. And what we're looking at, the main components of this project are indeed, making the
sidewalks accessible. There's some sidewalks, there's a couple of portions where they don't even
have some sidewalks along Clement Avenue. Clement Avenue is the Northern Waterfront, it's a
former industrial site, so it has that industrial feel. It really wasn't built as thoroughly to
accommodate people walking as other parts of our island. So we're going back and retrofitting and
doing a better job. There's other parts of the street where one sidewalk is only 18 inches and that's
actually by Walnut there. And then there's a lot of different spots where there's utility poles that are
in the way and so that's just the sidewalk part.
Gail Payne: And so how we're going to get around that is going to be tricky. And some ideas are
maybe to have the sidewalk go into the street because we can't move the utility poles and so some
parking loss could occur from that. And to widen the 18-inch sidewalk. It depends, it's a case-by-
case issue. There's also some issues with curb ramps and some slopes on the sidewalk. So it's going
to take some work. The other, the end-street part is we're trying to put a bike-way in and then take
out or mitigate the railroad tracks that are in the middle. Again, it's an old industrial street and SO we
don't want those railroad tracks to be a hazard. And right now, they've been paved over but they
come up and get slippery for people and so we need to figure that out. And so that's the main scope
of the project. We have a $5 million federal grant to figure it out and with our local money is
attached, it's about $6 million. So we are starting that effort, hope to have outreach in the spring and
summer with some decisions in the fall and construction could even happen in next year if all goes
smoothly. Federal funds do take a little bit more time so fingers crossed.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: I know that there's a big development project going on over there or
slated to go on.
Gail Payne: Yeah, so that is west of the study site, that's Del Monte. Is that what you're thinking of?
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: No, I thought like Marina Shores is going in right there.
Gail Payne: Oh, yes. Oh, that one. There's an Alameda Marina. We're going to be working with
them on what improvements that development will fund and what project development components
we will fund. So absolutely, we're working with them and they've consolidated some of their
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2019-01-16,14,"ITEM 2-B
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 6:30 PM
entrances and SO to reduce the impact on the street from that development so we're working closely
with them.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Great, do any commissioners have any questions that. About the Clement
Ave Project? When I brought up the Marina Shores Project, one thing that comes to mind is that
project is speaking about water taxis which I can imagine will somehow fall under transportation.
But there again, we want to keep an eye towards accessibility which I'm sure you guys, the
Transportation Department does an excellent job of doing SO.
Gail Payne: Absolutely.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you.
Gail Payne: Thank you.
5.
OLD BUSINESS
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Alright, I believe that wraps up our New Business. I'm going to move on
to item five, Old Business and then we're going to do our Commission and Board Liaison Reports.
I'm going to start with Commissioner Brillinger.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay, this is in line with Gail's report. Now, I haven't been to the Transportation
Commission meetings but I've watched some of them online and they have a real, full agenda for
next Wednesday here at 7 o'clock. And I would suggest that you take a look at it and see if there's
something in there that you're interested in talking about or to. They've got things on down on
Webster and Central. The whole thing about making sure that the kids get to school safely on their
bikes and stuff, they've got another section on various projects. Well, they've got so many different
projects, I'm surprised they could get it into their time. And I also wanted to mention about the ILC,
that's the group that meets quarterly between AC Transit and Alameda, and they've taken and
diverted some of the bus line 96 and shortened the 19, I think. Took out some of the route where it
went around.
Arnold Brillinger: Well anyway, they've took some from one and put it on the other and extended
it more so it's all pretty good. The 19 will take you into Oakland. Well, the 96 does too but not
downtown. Oh yes, it does. I just remembered. Okay, so either one of those. And I just want to say
that I'm into the BART Task Force and to the AAC which is the Alameda County Accessibility
Committee. And just kind of keeping up with them and seeing how things go. Thank you.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Great, thank you Commissioner Brillinger. Commissioner Linton?
Jenny Linton: I have been going to the Alameda County Commission on Developmental
Disabilities, I hope I used the right term for the group, second Wednesday of the month at 1000
Broadway. And they have been covering items like In-Home Supportive Services, that's a county
program, lot on transportation, changes in BART, changes in some of the bus routes. Housing,
housing for the developmentally disabled as well as emergency preparedness and registration if
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2019-01-16,15,"ITEM 2-B
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 6:30 PM
you'd like extra help during an emergency. I know we talked about that with the fire commission,
with the fire chief here a year ago or two years ago. And so anyway, I've been going to that on a
monthly basis.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Great, thank you, Commissioner Linton. Commissioner Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: Well, the Park Department, Parks and Rec, their last meeting, they were just
discussing the new developments of Alameda Marina, Marina Shores and the Encinal Terminals on
the West end and just discussions about the Park but it's not in-depth yet, it's still a ways away
before they really get into details SO.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Deutsch. Commissioner Hall?
Lisa Hall: Thank you. Our church has set up the Warming Center with the City of Alameda and
we've been dealing with the homeless but also a few people with disability concerns that have come
to the shelter. So that's getting good feedback there. I also wanted to bring up to everyone's attention
that this year, the Women's March is going to have a disability contingent and they will be leading
the Women's March, one of the groups. The disability contingent will be leading the Women's
March in Oakland this year. So anybody is welcome to join and strong support of the disability
community and there's a lot of different people from the Bay Area. So it's really been interesting.
I'm meeting different people and how they're helping our disabled in Berkeley and Oakland and in
different ways. So I'm kind of excited about the Women's March because it's going to put us right
out there that we are strong and we are enabled.
6. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Hall. Alright, at this point, I'm going to move
on to staff communications.
Laurie Kozisek: Thank you, Chair Kenny. I went to a Senior Services meeting which is held
quarterly at the Mastick Center and it is all different kinds of senior services representatives that
talk about the different programs that they have. And I picked up a few interesting tidbits I'll share
with you. Alameda Family Services provides case management for seniors two days a week at
Mastick Senior Center as part of its Senior Connection Program. There are about 10,000 seniors in
Alameda, 20% of them are on MediCal/Medicaid. ECHO Housing offers free tenant-landlord
counselling and mediation. Centro De Legal offers free legal help to people who are being evicted
in Alameda. There is a warming center at Christ Church at Santa Clara and Grand, thank you,
whenever the temperature drops below 40 degrees or there's over a 50% chance of rain. So that's
probably on tonight. All this week, okay. And there are some shared housing options developing.
Some for-profit groups and some non-profit groups are trying to find ways to get people to rent out
rooms that wouldn't otherwise want to rent out a room. We heard from one private group for-profit
group that was trying to get Alameda and Oakland teachers who can't afford rent paired up with
people who would like to rent a house or rent a room to a teacher. Right now, there is a 2 million
housing unit shortage in California, 2 million. There are 35 new jobs created per housing unit
created. I don't know where they're putting everyone. And should I continue to go to these meetings
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COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 6:30 PM
and report back to you or would one of you like to go to the meetings? There aren't any other
commissioner-type people there, it's mostly representatives from social service agencies. I'm just
offering. It was on January 8th and its once quarterly. Oh no, I didn't say when the next one is but
it'll be in three months and it's like around 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM in the morning.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: I would suggest that we put that on as an agenda item to vote on for the
retreat, we can talk about whether we want to do it. And vote on if we want to do it or not at the
retreat.
Laurie Kozisek: Yes, it is a lot of information. Let's see, the other thing I had was the Alameda
County Complete Count Committee is a committee that's trying to get a full census count in
Alameda County because for every person that we identify, we get several thousand dollars in
federal assistance. They had their first meeting on the 9th, I was not able to attend because I was on
something else but their next meeting is Wednesday, March 13th from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.
Location to be determined, I can find out where it is. They would like input on how to reach hard-
to-count people and included in that hard-to-count people is seniors, non-computer savvy seniors
especially because the first outreach is by computer, and people with disabilities. So if anyone is
interested in going to that meeting, I can send you the link and you can attend that. They're already
in contact with The CIL, The Center for Independent Living and with I can't remember the name
of it but it's the group that outreaches to homeless people. That's all I have.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: The Alameda Point Collaborative, is that who are there?
Laurie Kozisek: No, it's a different group, I think.
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Okay. Alright great. Thank you, Laurie.
Laurie Kozisek: You're welcome.
7. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Alright, item number seven, I think we covered. But in case anybody has
any additional announcements, we'll do announcements. Does anyone have any announcements
they'd like to make? Oh, we do have one. Hold on a second, folks.
Laurie Kozisek: Another thing I looked up, Measure BB is going to go until 2045.
8.
ADJOURNMENT
Chair Elizabeth Kenny: Alright, thank you for looking that up. Alright, then I am going to move
that we adjourn tonight's meeting of the Commission on Disability.
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2019-02-09,1,"ITEM 2-C
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES OF
Saturday, February 9, 2019
Location: Mastic Senior Center, 1155 Santa Clara Ave, Room D, Alameda, CA
Time: 10:15 AM - 2:01 PM
Commissioners Present: Chair Elizabeth Kenny, Vice Chair Jenn Barrett; Commissioners Anto
Aghapekian, Arnold Brillinger, Susan Deutsch, Lisa Hall, Jenny Linton, Leslie Morrison and
Jennifer Roloff.
Others Present: City Staff Jackie Krause and Laurie Kozisek. No members of the public attended.
1. INTRODUCTIONS AND COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
This was moved to later in the meeting, after item 2.D.
2. COMMISSION BUSINESS
2.A. and 2.B. Brown Act and Sunshine Ordinance
Commissioners addressed limitations regarding endorsements and support of ballot measures and
elections. The Commission may listen to a speaker and make a recommendation to City Council
regarding a subject, since the Commission was started as an advisory group for the Mayor, but
cannot urge the public to vote in one way or another. Commissioners may express political opinions
on their own, outside of the meeting, if they make it clear that they speak as individuals and not as
representatives of the Commission.
The Commission discussed ways that they can have more opportunities to advise the Council and
other boards and commissions. Each commissioner has been assigned one or more boards and
commissions to attend and in which to be a representative of the Disability Commission. Staff
member Kozisek will forward lists of upcoming issues. This will be a standing agenda item. One
initial approach may be to speak to the Planning Board quarterly.
2.C. Parliamentary Procedures
No discussion.
2.D. Bylaws
The Bylaws should be changed in all citations from ""Commission on Disability Issues"" to the newer
""Commission on Disability"". Section 2 mentions the wrong number of commissioners. The concept
of a pair of co-chairs, rather than one chair and one vice chair, was discussed, and what would
trigger ""incapacity"" and ""delegation"" of the chair to the vice chair. The general consensus was to
keep the chair and vice chair positions, so that the chair can be the official figurehead, but to
informally have the chair and vice chair share the chair's workload.
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2019-02-09,2,"ITEM 2-C
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES OF
Saturday, February 9, 2019
1. INTRODUCTIONS AND COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
The Commissioners introduced themselves and told why they were involved in disability issues.
There were no members of the public present.
2. COMMISSION BUSINESS (CONTINTUED)
2.E. Future Projects, Goals and Assignments
Commissioners reviewed the list of previous speakers and discussed their highest concerns,
including the 2020 Census outreach, voter access, the Commission website, homelessness, climate
change, and mental health services and support.
The Commission would like to hear from Alameda (County) Family Services - mental health
services - for schools, adults, and homeless populations.
The Commission was reminded that elections will be in the next meeting, that the current chair
would be stepping down, and what the duties of the new chair would be.
Subcommittees assignments were reviewed and updated.
2.F. Discussion Questions
The Commissioners stated that what works well is that they have great speakers, have many
different views, and reach out to the community.
The Commissioners would like to see more follow through, maybe focus speakers on one or two
priorities for the year, encourage the speakers to have action items in their presentations, create
subcommittees tasked to come up with action items or agendas, and participate in more outreach
events.
There was not complete consensus on where to focus for the next 12 months, but the most popular
were Census 2020, accessible housing, mental health, disable homeless services, emergency prep,
climate change, housing, disability rights, community engagement, visitability of housing, grants
for ADA upgrades (like façade grants and grab bar grants), more automatic doors, better policing of
disabled parking usage, and wheelchair breakdown services.
The Commission would like to see a webpage with local resources, a Facebook presence, if that
complies with the Brown Act, or contributions to the City website and Facebook page. The
Commission considered having monthly meetings, or having subcommittees meet on the alternate
months. They would like to know how many people are viewing their meeting videos.
Adjourned at 2:01 PM
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2019-03-13,1,"ITEM 3-A
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, March 13, 2019, 6:30 PM
1.
ROLL CALL
Jenn Barrett: I'd like to call to order the meeting tonight on the Commission on Disability. Today
is Wednesday, March 13th. We're starting a little bit late at 6:37 PM, just seeing if we could get in a
few other commissioners to come due to traffic. Would you like to start off with roll call?
Liz Acord: We have Chair Kenny absent. Vice Chair Barrett?
Jenn Barrett: Present.
Liz Acord: Commissioner Aghapekian?
Anto Aghapekian: Present.
Liz Acord: Commissioner Brillinger, absent. Commissioner Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: Present.
Liz Acord: Commissioner Hall is absent. Commissioner Linton is absent. Commissioner Roloff?
Jennifer Roloff: Present.
Liz Acord: Commissioner Morrison?
Leslie Morrison: Present.
Liz Acord: Five present.
2. MINUTES
2-A
Approve of Minutes for the November 28, 2018 Meeting
Jenn Barrett: Five makes quorum, so we're going to continue on. The second item on our agenda
is the minutes. Item 2A: Approval of minutes for the November 28, 2018 meeting. Would anyone
like to approve that?
Susan Deutsch: I move to approve.
Jenn Barrett: And a second?
Anto Aghapekian: I second it.
2-B
Approval of Minutes for the January 16, 2019 Meeting
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COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, March 13, 2019, 6:30 PM
Jenn Barrett: Item 2B is approval of the minutes from our January 16th meeting. Does anyone
wish to approve these?
Leslie Morrison: I move.
Jenn Barrett: And do we have a second?
Susan Deutsch: I second.
2-C Approval of Minutes for the February 9, 2019 Retreat
Jenn Barrett: Item 2C is approval of minutes of our retreat which was on February 9th. Does
anyone wish to approve this?
Leslie Morrison: I move.
Anto Aghapekian: Yes.
Jenn Barrett: And second?
Anto Aghapekian: I second.
Leslie Morrison: So do you have to then call for a vote on each of those? You've had a motion and
a second, but don't you have to then ask all in favor of approval?
Jenn Barrett: I guess SO. I'm not.
Liz Acord: Is that what you typically do?
Jenn Barrett: I can't remember.
Liz Acord: Let's go ahead and do that, we'll just repeat the motions. I have noted them. So we
forgot. I can note those for you, and then we'll do the call for all in favor.
Jenn Barrett: So, approval of the November 28th meeting minutes.
Leslie Morrison: And that was moved and seconded, so I think you just need to call for.
Jenn Barrett: Does everyone approve?
Leslie Morrison: All those in favor?
Jenn Barrett: Yes. All those in favor?
All: Aye.
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COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, March 13, 2019, 6:30 PM
Jenn Barrett: Any not in favor? I'm also aye. The item 2B: Approval of minutes from January 16th
meeting. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Approval of meetings from the February 9th
meeting. Approval of the meeting. All in favor?
All: Aye.
Jenn Barrett: Any opposed?
Susan Deutsch: I just wanted to say something about the minutes.
Jenn Barrett: Okay.
Susan Deutsch: Does have to put down word for word everything that's said?
Jenn Barrett: Yes. Our regular meetings, they are transcribed. I'm not sure if it's Laurie or someone
else who does the transcribing, but it's done from the video. And then from the minutes from the
retreat, it was a summary that she created.
Susan Deutsch: Is that what has to be done? Because it just seems like a lot of work and then now
with approving three different minutes because of how much time it takes to transcribe. Maybe we
need to ask Laurie if she can summarize, and that way we can get the minutes after each meeting,
instead of looking back to November. It just seems like a lot of work. I was looking at them and I
just don't think it has to be that detailed.
Jenn Barrett: I can ask Laurie about that.
Susan Deutsch: Yes. Or we could just ask her at the next meeting.
Jenn Barrett: Commissioner Brillinger, thank you for coming. We'll mark him as present. We just
went through the minutes, which were all approved.
Arnold Brillinger: I had a comment on that.
Jenn Barrett: Okay.
Arnold Brillinger: When I look at the November meeting minutes, there's a section in there where
we never okayed or approved the minutes for the previous meeting. It may be a technicality but
when we look at it, there was no vote taken.
Jennifer Roloff: For October? For the meeting?
Arnold Brillinger: Yes
Susan Deutsch: In the November meeting, we didn't approve the previous meeting.
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Arnold Brillinger: Right.
Jennifer Roloff: Good memory, I don't know.
Liz Acord: So, I think what I would propose at this point since we have approved the minutes for
November 28th, which I think is what we are discussing.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes.
Liz Acord: Commissioner Brillinger, if you would I will just take a request back to staff to have
them confirm at the next meeting that the minutes for that previous meeting, which I don't know the
date of but I will certainly look up, we can confirm that those were approved. Am I understanding
your question correctly?
Arnold Brillinger: Yes, but according to the written copy, they were not approved.
Liz Acord: Okay, we can look into that. I can look into that with Laurie.
Arnold Brillinger: Okay. I don't even know if it's a real big issue or not.
Jenn Barrett: No, we should definitely look into that.
3.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Jenn Barrett: I would like to move on to oral communication, non-agenda, public comment.
4. NEW BUSINESS
Liz Acord: We have no speakers.
Jenn Barrett: Thank you. New business, we do not have any new business.
5. OLD BUSINESS
5-A
Commission and Board Liaison Reports (All Commissioners)
Jenn Barrett: So we're going to move on to old business. 5A, Commission and Board Liaison
Reports, all commissioners. Commissioner Brillinger, would you like to start us off with any report
that you have?
Arnold Brillinger: Sure. I actually have reports from five different organizations. Just a moment,
please. My commission that I'm supposed to go to is the Transportation Commission. Since the
January meeting the Transportation Commission met twice, both on Wednesdays and their main
focus was on the intersection of Webster and Central. And so they had four different options of how
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to run it, how to make it work. So they had a hearing. The hearing was on where to place the bike
lanes and the parking lanes. And there seemed to be a difference of opinion depending on if you
were a business or if you were a biker, so that seems to be the crux of the matter. And the
commission did not select any of the choices, but they did say that they would study them further.
And also they adopted a recommendation to extend the protected two-way bike way from Patton
Street to McKay Avenue, and approved the city of Alameda Transportation Program Plan for
Seniors and People with Disabilities for Fiscal Year 2019 to 2020, and that's the same program that
we saw from Gail Payne.
Arnold Brillinger: And then they also had a meeting in February, when they endorsed the
Transportation Choices Plan and I thought, ""Well, Transportation Choices Plan. ""Basically that's
providing more transportation options for Alamedans with the goal of reducing drive alone trips at
the crossings and also throughout Alameda. And they also discussed the Otis Drive traffic calming
and safety improvement workshop and survey debriefing. And if you want to see more on those, if
they spark your interest, they're online. I should say that I did not go to these meetings, but I did
catch them online.
Jenn Barrett: Great. Thank you so much.
Arnold Brillinger: I also went to the Oakland Mayor's Commission on Persons with Disabilities
meeting. And Karen Nakamura - we all know her - she presented a program to us. She is on their
commission in Oakland and at the January meeting, she was elected the president or the chairman
of their commission. So, they've got a lot of things going on all the time. They had two meetings
since our one meeting. I'm just going to let you know what their presentations were. They had a
presentation on disabled parking spaces and abuse of disabled parking. They have a group in
Oakland that just goes around and checks on people's blue cards. And they find some that are made
up and they had some to show. Some of them looked really slick and looked professional, and some
really looked like homemade jobs. But those placards that you hang up.
Susan Deutsch: Interesting.
Arnold Brillinger: And then on their presentation in February, they had a paving update. And we
know that driving through Oakland, they've got a lot of potholes and they also realize that, too. And
then they had a Measure KK. And out of the money that came in from that, they were checking into
how much of it could be used for home modifications to enhance accessibility. And so maybe that's
something that we should look into. We don't have a Measure KK necessarily, which was a funding
measure, but maybe there are grants that we can find that will help out people who need some work
done on their homes to make it more accessible.
Arnold Brillinger: And then, another group that I didn't get to go (but I've been there before) is the
AC Transit Inter-Agency Liaison Committee, and it meets every couple of months. It's several
people from Alameda and several people from AC Transit from their board, and they get together
and they compare what's going and what's not going. From their meeting, I picked up that bus route
96 is eventually going to connect with the Seaplane Lagoon Ferry Terminal, the new one that's
being built out there.
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Jenn Barrett: That's great.
Arnold Brillinger: And to me that's very important because I can't get to the Main Street Ferry,
there's no way. And so I thought I would bring that up because that's important for people to know.
I've got a couple more items I wanted to talk about. I went to the AC Transit Accessibility
Committee meeting, that's where they deal with those problems that disabled people have taking the
bus. And most of the meeting was on the BRT, that's the Bus Rapid Transit, and basically that is on
International Boulevard and East 14th, as it goes into San Leandro. It starts down in Broadway in
Oakland, goes up to San Leandro BART station. And you've probably been on there once or twice,
and seeing where they're really ripping up the place, because they started back in 2017 to work on
this.
Arnold Brillinger: Well, they're hoping that by December of this year it will be ready. They've got
brand new buses and there will be bus only lanes on that stretch. They're trying to get it to really
work and to get people along East 14th and International Boulevard, trying to get them through
there quicker. And again for disabled people, if they're mobility disabled, it's going to be just like
when you go in on BART from the platform right into the bus, where it's going to be level and you
don't have to wait for a ramp or a lift or anything else. And Clipper Cards, there will be places to tap
your Clipper Card right on the platform, to get people into these vehicles really quickly and move
them on down. They figure that they will have them running every seven minutes in peak hours, so
that was interesting to me too. Those are my reports.
Jenn Barrett: Great. Thank you so much for sharing, we really appreciate it. Commissioner
Roloff?
Jennifer Roloff: No, I think I will save my updates. We'll have the same for the follow up
discussions from the retreat, we'll go around again?
Jenn Barrett: Yes.
Jennifer Roloff: So I'll pass for this portion.
Jenn Barrett: Okay. Commissioner Deutsch?
Susan Deutsch: Well, Little John Park has completed their new playground and there's going to be
a ribbon cutting on March 27th at 4 o'clock. And Amy Wooldridge contacted me and asked me to
speak, make a short speech. And she said that if we wanted to have a table there during that time,
we could have a table if we want to give out any information about our commission. Anyway, I just
want to say the playground, it's small, but it's really nice. The structure has the ability for a child
with a wheelchair to get on to the play structure and there are a lot of items for kids to play with that
don't involve climbing. They have musical items where you touch it and it plays music, and they
have different items that you can manipulate and turn and see things happen. And then they have a
lot of nice climbing structures and they have swings for somebody with a disability. It's not a
wheelchair swing, but it is a swing that if you need support it would provide support. Although I
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didn't see any straps on them to buckle in, so I need to ask Amy about that. But I could see that
there are holes in the swing for those straps to be attached.
Jenn Barrett: Oh, that's good.
Susan Deutsch: Maybe this is a work in progress. But anyway, it's a nice little inclusive
playground, not as big as the one in Salinas, but it's nice.
Jenn Barrett: That's great to hear. You said it was on March 22nd, do you know the time?
Susan Deutsch: Wednesday, March 27th. At 4 o'clock.
Jennifer Roloff: What are your thoughts on a table?
Susan Deutsch: Well, if it's easy and everything is available, then I don't have a problem setting up
a table there. But I think most of the people there might be people with kids, so I don't know that we
have information for that. I don't know what our brochures look like.
Jenn Barrett: Arnold, you've hosted at the tables in the past.
Arnold Brillinger: Yes.
Jenn Barrett: Is that correct? Have we had pamphlets to hand out to people?
Arnold Brillinger: We do have pamphlets. Laurie has them in her possession, in her office
somewhere. They're in a big milk crate and there's variety of things.
Susan Deutsch: Well, I can then check. Maybe I can find a time to go to Laurie's office and check,
and look and see.
Arnold Brillinger: I don't know that there's anything that is geared toward children necessarily.
Susan Deutsch: Yes. I don't remember that.
Jenn Barrett: But there might be people who are there, who would have interest in our
commission. And you never know, there might be people of different abilities, obviously, with the
children. So it might be something that they might want to look into too.
Susan Deutsch: I can set up a table.
Jenn Barrett: Does anyone else know off-hand that they might be available to help Susan?
Anto Aghapekian: I would be.
Jenn Barrett: Okay. Anto would Maybe we can get an email with you and Laurie and Anto to
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talk about maybe setting that up. I unfortunately have work, so I wouldn't be able to attend.
Jennifer Roloff: Yes. I was also thinking. Just since it's during business hours, if maybe Laurie
could help if the city has a resource and she has a table that the city uses, if she could get there at
3:30 PM and stay till 5:00 PM or something.
Liz Acord: I think Vice Chair's recommendation to connect everybody on email to Laurie to see
what she can provide. I'm not sure what her calendar looks like off the top of my head, but I think
it's a great question to ask and we'll provide support where we can.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay. Thank you.
Susan Deutsch: If there isn't a table, I definitely could just bring a folding table, a bridge table, to
put the pamphlets on.
Jenn Barrett: Okay, great. Thank you so much. Commissioner Morrison?
Leslie Morrison: Nothing to report.
Jenn Barrett: Okay. Commissioner Aghapekian?
Anto Aghapekian: I really don't have much to report except for the Mastick Senior Center. I
worked with the director over there in identifying hazardous conditions for people that are
wheelchair bound, and we did a lot of remedial work. And my hats off to the director and her staff
for following up and doing the work. And it's still a work in progress, but it's all in good direction.
I'm very impressed with the work they're doing. Other than that, I don't have anything else to report.
Jenn Barrett: Okay, great. Thank you. So I was in communication with Beth, had a great idea for
my building accessibility and businesses plan. I'm going to reach out to the West End Business
Association and then the Park Street Business Association and see if I can get on one of their
agendas to talk to them about my initiative or our initiative to increase the accessibility in our local
businesses. And then, Laurie had mentioned during our retreat, that there might be money available
in order to advertise for this. So, that's definitely something I'm excited to look into further with
Laurie. Unless anyone has anything else for Section 5A?
Jennifer Roloff: Jenn, just to follow-up. Remind me when we had asked if the grant match for
Facade could cover accessibility and Laurie came back and said, ""No,"" and I said, ""Can we push
that a little bit?"" And I think she was going to take that action item up.
Jenn Barrett: I did get a contact for that, so I will definitely. Thank you for the reminder. I'm going
to follow up with them as well.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay, because that was our item, not Laurie's.
Jenn Barrett: That would be awesome if we could get some grant money to further encourage
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people to do that upgrade.
Jennifer Roloff: Tell me how this works but if our commission is tasked with advising council, and
the answer that we got back was just a fairly easy, ""No, sorry, it doesn't apply,"" if we need go to
council. So maybe you start that way, and if not, we can go to Council and ask if the guidelines of
the grant could be extended. Or however policy would have us do it.
Jenn Barrett: That's a fantastic idea, yes.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay. Thanks.
Jenn Barrett: That's great. Thank you.
Jennifer Roloff: Let me know if I can do anything.
5-B
Follow up discussions from February 9, 2019 retreat (All Commissioners)
Jenn Barrett: Okay. Okay, we're going to move on to Item 5B: Follow up of discussions from our
February 9th retreat. I think with this, we'll go around the table or around the commission again, but
I think one of the things that I want to maybe focus on during our discussion is talk about priorities
for the year and how we can achieve our goals. Commissioner Brillinger, would you like to start
off?
Arnold Brillinger: I do have some ideas, but I don't know where this discussion is.
Jenn Barrett: Okay. So I'm just trying to summarize where we left off from our retreat, and I know
that some of the topics that we thought were very important for our commission to focus on this
year was the Census, making sure that people with disabilities are properly counted. Another one
was mental health, we had a talk with the school, some of the school leaders last year and we
wanted to make that maybe one of our priorities, is making sure that people with certain disabilities
within the school had the resources that they needed, and a broader aspect of mental health in our
city. And I think that housing and homelessness, if I remember correctly, was another topic that we
thought was extremely important to discuss. I think it's hard to come up with what is our main goal,
when all of these sound very important and large goals. And so I think that maybe our discussion
can be around how we're going to attack one or all, or I think we need to break it down into a few
achievable goals so that it's not too overwhelming. And we don't have to go in a circle, either.
Arnold Brillinger: I would like to have more programs, presentations to the commission on mental
health issues, because I found from that other on, that we really don't know as much as we could
know. I didn't say should know because I don't know where that is. But, I think that that would be a
good focus, that some of our presentations would deal with the mental health issues.
Jennifer Roloff: And I guess this is more of an education for me and possibly for the whole
commission, for children with mental health issues, we had the school district come in. And I guess
what I would love to be educated on is the schools have their own budgets and the state funding is
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generally responsible for that, and we know how strapped they are. But they shared with us how
limited they are and the extensive challenges they have and where the schools are maxed out with
dollars, where the city can or cannot kick in for that. And I don't know if that's like a city manager,
someone from city finance or. do you know?
Liz Acord: I don't know off the top of my head. We do have staff in Community Development that
work with our police department as part of homeless outreach, so I would imagine that would be a
good starting place. I can ask Laurie to follow up and provide some city points of contact for
continuing that discussion.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay, that would be great. Especially as far as the school district, I think, would
be good. Again, if we can advise the city, ""We need dollars for additional human resources,"" or
something like that, just how that happens. I know, for example, with Parks and Recs, there is
already an established relationship between the pools, right, with the city, it's a 50/50 or something
like that with the city pools? But for schools, I don't know where that is and how much they're
going to pay attention since the state district has its own resources. And that's something I could
probably talk to school board about as well, being the liaison.
Jenn Barrett: It'd be very interesting to hear.
Susan Deutsch: When the people from the school district came to talk to us, they were saying that
most of the mental health money is coming from the county. Because I had thought that the city of
Berkeley had their own mental health, because they have Berkeley Mental Health, and that's where
a lot of kids from the school district get counselors from Berkeley Mental Health, but the people
presenting said that was county money also. So at some point, maybe we can contact Alameda
County and see if we can get some funds that way. If they're giving funds to Berkeley, what funds
are we getting? Maybe we can try to find that out.
Jennifer Roloff: And I can take that on, being the school board liaison, if I can take that action
item. Okay, that's a good idea, and I could even call the Berkeley program, too.
Susan Deutsch: So I think this is bigger than just looking at the issue for schools, right? You're
going to take it to the school board, but following the same lines that you're exploring, what is the
availability of crisis services and not just for kids, but for adults, and what's the funding of those
services?
Jennifer Roloff: Yeah, I was just particularly focused on the kids issue, but of course it extends to
the whole population.
Susan Deutsch: Right.
Jennifer Roloff: So is there an action item we want to take? I think maybe some additional
resources that talk about mental health in general per Commissioner Brillinger. That's a good start
there.
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Jenn Barrett: Okay. And Commissioner Roloff, if you come across anyone through the school
board, in addition, who might be able to come talk to us.
Jennifer Roloff: Sure. Or maybe even through the Berkeley program.
Jenn Barrett: Or through the Berkeley program, right, because we know that they do have some
funding, right?
Jenn Barrett: I'll connect with Laurie on finding out who in the city can help us with that as well.
Leslie Morrison: So it sounds like one of our goals for this next year is to become better informed
about the funding of mental health services and the mental health needs of Alamedans so we can
identify gaps and opportunities. Is that what I'm hearing?
Susan Deutsch: Yeah, I think that sounds good. I mean we definitely need to know more before we
proceed.
Jenn Barrett: Right.
Leslie Morrison: Right.
Jennifer Roloff: Yes. That's a good summary.
Leslie Morrison: And I just, for political language, I think that it isn't just talking about people with
mental health issues, but really talking about in terms of disability, that it is a disability category.
And talking about people that have mental health disabilities makes it squarely fall within this
commission's priority. And I think it's important to label it as a disability. I think that mental health
community has not really always been embraced by the disability community, and I think it's
important to recognize that people with mental health disabilities fall within the disability
community and the jurisdiction of this commission.
Jenn Barrett: That's a great point, thank you. And I think the summary is great, so I appreciate that
as well. Does anyone have any comments on the census being one of our goals for the year, with the
2020 census coming up?
Leslie Morrison: I would just say that one of our priorities is to be sure that people with disabilities
are captured within the 2020 Census and ensuring that the Census is conducted in a way that is
accessible to people with disabilities.
Jenn Barrett: Right. And I know that there are meetings that are happening on this, I believe
they're happening during the day. And so I can follow up with Laurie, so that, Commissioners, if
you are available during the day, to make sure you're able to attend.
Leslie Morrison: It's something that I'm interested in, but it would depend upon when of course.
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Jenn Barrett: Time. Right, of course.
Anto Aghapekian: I would like to volunteer on that. During the days. I will attend the meetings.
Susan Deutsch: I could be available depending on what day the meetings are.
Leslie Morrison: Lots of interest.
Jenn Barrett: Great, that's awesome. Okay, so I will get back to Laurie on that, and if we have the
three of you, it can be kind of like a sub-committee. We don't have quorum, so you guys are able to
work on that together.
Leslie Morrison: And talking about priorities, I have what was captured in the meeting minutes
from February, and you are correct that one of the things that was discussed was homelessness and
I'm just wondering if people here, if the commission feels knowledgeable about this issue. I'm new
to the commission, so I don't really feel like I have a good handle on the implication of
homelessness on the community of people with disabilities and whether or not we want to do
something similar about spending the year becoming informed, or maybe folks are already informed
about that.
Jennifer Roloff: When we had our retreat for 2018, we thought that mental illness is absolutely a
disability and that's something we wanted to focus on, so I think it took a little while to get the
momentum going. I don't know, if there's a legal classification or whatnot, but with mental illness
being a disability, I think it definitely falls within our guidelines and no one has told us otherwise, to
date.
Leslie Morrison: But my question is about the homelessness, it's sort of as a separate topic.
Jennifer Roloff: Oh, I see. Right, right. Because not all homeless people necessarily have.
Leslie Morrison: Necessarily have mental disability, that's right.
Jennifer Roloff: Yes, that's a good point, that's tricky.
Leslie Morrison: So I don't know, are people here informed about the situation of homelessness in
Alameda and the challenges.
Arnold Brillinger: I don't think that we are. You get little snippets and pieces of the figures here for
Alameda, but I need to know or I think I need to know, how they come about with these. What do
they include as homeless in their stats. And I don't even know who is in charge of that in Alameda
or what group. So there's another area that we can focus in on getting some more programs for that.
Leslie Morrison: It does seem to dovetail. I think there's a fair amount of overlap, I suspect,
between people with mental health disabilities and homelessness although certainly it isn't mutually
always that case. But it could be a nice companion if the commission is focusing on mental health
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services to also have a tangent into what's the homelessness situation but look at it with a broader
lens than just mental health disabilities. Does that make sense?
Susan Deutsch: Yes, because there are people that lose their jobs and end up becoming homeless
for periods of time. They don't have mental illness but they just can't afford to pay their rent.
Leslie Morrison: And they may have another disability. This commission really is looking onto the
issue of homelessness, broadly, but how it impacts people with disabilities, I presume. So, right.
Liz Acord: So, I would just say I think this dovetails nicely into the question that we would want to
ask city staff working in the homelessness sector about the availability of funding potentially to
work with the school district. So, I would say let's wrap this into our request to Laurie to ask city
staff to provide some resources and help educate the committee or the commission rather on the
general state of homelessness in Alameda.
Jennifer Roloff: I think Doug Biggs, he came and spoke with us a little bit about Measure A, but he
was particularly addressing what they were working on there, he wasn't talking about the broader
spectrum and I think they were breaking ground on Jean Sweeney and there they had to displace a
homeless encampment and it sounded like, if I remember correctly, it was a consortium of the
police and of Doug Biggs and his organization, probably many other groups. So I don't know if it
falls on any one responsibility. And I thought, when I was reading up on Measure A and Measure B,
there was something that was posted along the lines of a new regulation that said if Crab Cove
became a homeless encampment of sorts, you can't kick them out or displace them unless they have
a place to go, and I don't think that was a city thing. I think that was obviously like county or state
or. I think ""Who makes these policies that affect our cities as well?"" So, I don't know if it's just our
city. If Laurie is the right resource or Doug, we could probably have Doug just come and re-visit the
program. I think he's part of HUD, right?
Jenn Barrett: I think it would be nice to hear from Doug or another city official who can provide
us even more background into the need of Measure A. I think that would be a great topic to cover.
Jennifer Roloff: Yeah, and by the time they come, the election might have already happened and
we're not supposed to be so political anyway when it gets close to election time but I think he's
funded by HUD, by the federal government, the Alameda Point Collaborative? When the military
moved out, we're required to put resource or the federal government gets some of that military land,
I think. So anyway, he could probably, definitely approach the city or we could start there.
Leslie Morrison: He may also know other people who could join him in a presentation. People
who are providing crisis services or something.
Jenn Barrett: I'd also be interested to hear from city staff or the people who are running the
warming shelter. I volunteered there once this year and it was a very good experience, so I'd love to
learn more about what the city is doing in regards to that.
Jennifer Roloff: Oh, right and I think Lisa belongs to that church.
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Jenn Barrett: Lisa volunteers. Yes. And maybe, she can speak to it as well.
Jennifer Roloff: So, if you're going to talk to Laurie, I'm happy to just do a reach out to Doug and
maybe say who would be the most appropriate speaker to speak on Alameda, specifically.
Jenn Barrett: That would be great.
Jennifer Roloff: Is that okay? I'll take that?
Jenn Barrett: Yeah. Because I feel like we have a broad understanding of the region and the needs
but it would be great to have something very specific to Alameda because I think that's missing.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay.
Leslie Morrison: The other topic that's described in the minutes from February is voting access,
voter access which was an issue that I had raised. But since really the big federal election is in
November 2020, it may be enough for us to just tackle these two issues this year and then I would
like for that to be something that the commission focuses on in time for the November 2020
election.
Jenn Barrett: I wonder how much we can learn from the Census in order to help that, because
there's some similarities between the Census and voting as we want to get as many people to
participate as possible.
Leslie Morrison: I suspect that the Census will be a while before the results of the Census become
public and may well be past the 2020 election.
Jenn Barrett: But at least we'll have maybe more of a strategy with these meetings of how to get
more people
Leslie Morrison: To vote.
Jenn Barrett: Right.
Leslie Morrison: Certainly. I have some experience around just ensuring that voting places are
accessible but also how to get out the word about vote-by-mail options. And I have a connection
with someone who does a lot of advocacy around voting issues for people with disabilities and I'd
be happy to have that person come and just talk generally about what's happening in that field. But
maybe that could be later in the year.
Jenn Barrett: Okay, that sounds great.
Leslie Morrison: It doesn't feel as urgent to me.
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Jenn Barrett: Right. I'm not sure if and how many speakers we have scheduled already, but
definitely put that on the list because I think that's going to be huge for 2020, I agree.
Arnold Brillinger: Because we could even have two presentations in the same day.
Jenn Barrett: Does anyone have any further comments about the retreat?
Jennifer Roloff: I reached out to Sarah Henry about social media and she sent me some guidelines
on what the social media policies were for the city, if we wanted to put out our own Facebook page
or whatever social media outlet we find. And I briefed through it and it sounds like something we
were all fairly briefed on it, no vulgarity and stuff like that, and then no political positions. But she
also said that she has a huge Facebook following for the city page and if we ever wanted to send out
announcements, notifications, that she would be happy to send out whatever we wanted on our
behalf.
Jenn Barrett: That's great.
Jennifer Roloff: So I thought that might be a good way to start it.
Jenn Barrett: Okay, great. It takes away from having to have someone monitor the page, which
could be potentially a lot of work.
Jennifer Roloff: Yes, so I think we would just have to figure out how we wanted to get her
information to send out and what information we did. And I don't know if our chair has allowed to
do that based on the minutes or how that works. Or we vote as a group at meetings, what we'd like
to publicize.
Liz Acord: So I think I can answer part of the question. Public Works staff does this - we as staff,
push out information to the public information officer about our various projects, activities, events,
and things. Once you decide and land on the appropriate mechanism to figure out what that
messaging would be, Laurie can handle that push out from the department level to the public
information officer.
Jennifer Roloff: Which is Sarah Henry, right?
Liz Acord: Which is Sarah, correct.
Leslie Morrison: So, what I would just suggest is as we address items that we consider whether or
not it would be something that should be pushed out, for example, the park at Little John, has that
been publicized as now being a park that is accessible to children with disabilities? It seems like
that ought to be something that we ought to be asking them to push out. If they're publicizing the
opening of that park.
Susan Deutsch: I think Amy Wooldridge has, but I don't know how much she has publicized it, but
there were plans that were sent out. Well, at least on the city website so people could look at it. And
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it's been a work in progress for about a year-and-a-half. I could ask her how the ribbon cutting
ceremony is being advertised.
Jennifer Roloff: Yes, I'm just looking at her post, the city of Alameda thread now. And I know I
saw it somewhere, I haven't seen it on hers. But if she hasn't yet, then we could send her a note
saying, ""Please publicize that someone from the Commission on Disability will be there and if
you'd like more information.""
Leslie Morrison: And that the play structure is accessible to children who use wheelchairs.
Jenn Barrett: Right. I think that's huge, is to not only announce that it's opening, but it's a new type
of park.
Leslie Morrison: Right.
Jennifer Roloff: Right. And she might incorporate that in the existing announcement that she's
going to put out. I think that would probably be the best.
Leslie Morrison: And I didn't mean to put you on the spot with that, but I think that as these items
come up for us to just think about is this something that could be pushed out through social media
with a disability focus? And I was using that as an example of something that they're probably
going to publicize so we should just be sure that they add our spin.
Susan Deutsch: Yes, I agree.
Jenn Barrett: Great. Okay, I'll make note of that to tell Laurie as well. Was there anything else that
people had?
Leslie Morrison: Well, just looking at the minutes, the other item that was captured in the minutes
in addition to the items we already talked about was climate change. And I don't know if that sounds
like that's something that this group has had a priority in previous years. It feels to me like
addressing mental health services, homelessness, and the Census is going to be plenty for this year,
but I just wanted to call people's attention to that was the other topic that was discussed in February.
Jenn Barrett: There have been meetings on climate change. I went to one, I think, last year in the
fall and definitely want to keep going to those as I hear about them. But I agree with you, I think
that it's a lot this year. So I think that if I hear of them, I'm definitely going to try to attend. Were
you in the sub-committee, Anto and Jennifer, maybe? Maybe it was just Beth and me and Anto. And
so we'll definitely make sure we attend the meetings just so we know what's going on if there are
more in the future. But thank you for bringing that up.
Arnold Brillinger: One of the things that we need to do is we need to get more of the community
engaged in what we're doing. I don't know how many people are watching us from home. How can
we find out? Is there a way to find out? And can we get them to put in some input into these
meetings to get their opinions heard too?
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Leslie Morrison: So I think this is a larger issue. I love where you're going with this, Arnold. I have
concerns about how accessible these meetings are, and I actually have questions about how
accessible for example, the social media posts are, particularly for people who have hearing
impairments or vision impairments who might use screen readers. And many websites are not
accessible to the technology that people with disabilities who have vision impairments and hearing
impairments use. So it's an excellent topic, and I think that that's the way we reach people. I don't
know how many of you have ever watched one of our meetings.
Leslie Morrison: I don't have a vision impairment or a hearing impairment, and it's a very difficult
way to engage. And so I think you can't dial in, we can't take public comment if someone isn't
sitting here in the room. And in this day and age, there are just so many other ways to engage people
with disabilities who might not be able to be physically present, so I think it's an excellent question.
I think it's cracking open a much larger issue that I've been wondering about myself. Sorry to put a
damper on that.
Jennifer Roloff: But I don't think we should stop the momentum that we do have.
Leslie Morrison: Absolutely.
Jennifer Roloff: Even though we're not capturing everybody. But, yeah, you bring up a good point.
Leslie Morrison: Well, and it is for this commission to raise it, because it really raises the issue of
how accessible all of the city meetings are and the technology that the city uses to engage people
with disabilities to participate.
Jenn Barrett: Right. And as you were talking, I was trying to flip through my notes, because I
know that we do have an email address for this commission that Laurie reviews and if more people
knew about that email address, I think that would be a huge help to get more voice, because even if
they weren't able to attend the meeting they could write us an email and we could bring it up on the
next agenda. So maybe we look into making sure that that email address is dispersed properly.
Sorry, I don't have it right at my fingertips.
Leslie Morrison: So I guess what I was thinking is that this is really another big project that the
commission could take on just in terms of how accessible both the commission is and general
information being pushed out from the city is to people with disabilities. It feels like it's that big of a
topic to me. The firm I used to work with redid its website to make it completely disability
compliant and there's quite a bit involved in doing that, and I'm fairly certain that the information on
Alameda's website probably doesn't meet those high level of standards. If we want to make it a
priority I think it's great, but it should be bigger than just, ""Is our commission accessible?"" It's
really, ""Is city council available? And can we have better technology so people can participate
remotely?"" And that isn't just about our commission, but it's about the technology that exists in this
building.
Anto Aghapekian: Every commission meetings are advertised in the newspaper, what date and
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times. If we could add our email address to that announcement that always comes out on to the local
newspapers, then that will be one way of people to send us whatever comments they have. Just
adding the email address to the announcement they have on a weekly basis, they announce it.
Leslie Morrison: I haven't looked, are the agendas for those meetings posted also? Is there a link to
the agendas for those meetings so people know what we're talking about? I haven't looked.
Jenn Barrett: There's agendas on the city website, but to your point, it can be sometimes difficult
to find.
Jennifer Roloff: And we should push that to Sarah too.
Jenn Barrett: Definitely.
Jennifer Roloff: Sarah Henry, I think. So people can just know how to contact us.
Jennifer Roloff: I know it's only one method.
Arnold Brillinger: Did they just recently revamp the city website?
Liz Acord: Yes, they did.
Jenn Barrett: Are they finished with the updates?
Liz Acord: Still working on the updates, but yes, you are correct. The city's entire website did
recently get a refresh.
Jenn Barrett: I do know someone with an accessibility background, but for a large software
company. I'm going to try to reach out to her and see if she would be interested in coming to talk to
us, because I talked to her once and I found it very interesting to hear accessibility from a whole
different perspective. So I'll reach out to her.
Leslie Morrison: I also have a contact of the web designer that redid the website for this firm that I
used to work for.
Jenn Barrett: Oh, great, okay.
Leslie Morrison: And at much higher, very high disability standards and really helped us work
through things that we didn't know that made our website unaccessible.
Jenn Barrett: And maybe if we could even schedule them for the same night, that would be great.
Okay.
Jennifer Roloff: I just got a new job at Salesforce, which it's very committed to non-profits and I'll
see if there's someone that I can do a reach out to, let you know if I get anything.
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Jenn Barrett: Okay. So I'm going to talk to Laurie about a potential meeting that we might be able
to have this discussion and I'll get back to you guys.
Arnold Brillinger: Because this whole idea of accessibility is a very large topic. It could be
accessibility to storefronts and things but it's also to programs and to the various activities that are
happening in Alameda. And so, we need to make sure that these services, the activities are all
accessible to people no matter who they are in Alameda.
Leslie Morrison: So, something as little as when you post a photograph, you should hover over the
photograph and it should pop up a description of what the photograph is of because people with
vision impairments can't see what that photograph is. So, it has to be built in, whenever you post a
photo or any sort of an image that there has to be a descriptor of what that is. PDFs are inaccessible,
footnotes are inaccessible.
Jennifer Roloff: Because they can't be read by the machine?
Leslie Morrison: The screen reader can't read them. Bullets are inaccessible.
Susan Deutsch: But PDFs can be read now.
Leslie Morrison: Not by all screen readers. And again, I'm not an expert in this area but it's the
kind of stuff that we went round and round about because we posted so much stuff in that way.
Susan Deutsch: I worked in the school district with kids with disabilities and I'm aware that there
are PDFs that can be read so that when a student gets something scanned to them, it can be read.
Leslie Morrison: On a screen reader?
Susan Deutsch: Well, it's an app that reads PDFs. Now, I don't know if that's a screen reader but
there are apps that will read the PDF.
Jennifer Roloff: In the last technology job that I just left, we sold software that could work with
unstructured data is what they call it, right, but you have to pay money for that. So the private
industries will have that, but yes, does the state? Does the city? Do all small, non-profits have that
technology? I think technology is getting more accessible so we'll probably get there but I see your
point right now that it doesn't exist, universally.
Leslie Morrison: Right.
Jenn Barrett: Great. Thank you for bringing up that topic. Okay, unless anyone has any other
issues or items we're going to move on to 5C. Mr. Brillinger?
Arnold Brillinger: I was just thinking we were talking about getting the word out. I think that there
are so many different things that we can let people know. For example, when it's the street fair out
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here on Park Boulevard, if we get certain amount of parking spaces in the parking garage to be for
disabled, more than they normally have, I think the word ought to be disseminated and put in there
also that the Disability Commission has suggested this or has made it happen or whatever it is,
because we need to let people know that there is a group that is working on these kinds of things.
And that's going to be the way that people are more aware of the fact that there are a number of
people that meet every couple of months that are talking about disabilities.
Jennifer Roloff: I think that's a good idea. It makes me even think like could we block off an extra
block of one of the streets just for disabled parking, so we add parking to the total picture and let
it
be for disabled parking.
Arnold Brillinger: Because we have done that in the city garage in past years, where we just asked
for some extra disabled spaces and they made sure that they were on flat ground, not on an angle
and so forth. There are all kinds of things to look at and I think that these things if they are
disseminated among the people, that it will help for us to be more widely known.
Jennifer Roloff: And we can keep pushing stuff to Sarah and I think if we get the traction then, we
could possibly spin off our own but we could start with really getting that information to her.
Jenn Barrett: That'd be great.
Arnold Brillinger: But even as Anto was saying in the newspaper, get these things out to them
also, into the Sun. Some people read that from cover to cover.
Jennifer Roloff: Who was it that got the announcement for our meeting, one of our meetings into
the Sun? Was it Laurie that did that? One of our commission meetings was put in.
Jenn Barrett: I'm guessing it was Laurie.
Jennifer Roloff: We can follow up with her. And then also, what government body of the city
handles the Park Street Fair or the Webster Street or all the fairs?
Arnold Brillinger: The business associations.
Liz Acord: Commissioner Brillinger is correct. The business associations or the business
improvement areas apply for a special event permit with the city to host those fairs and then various
city departments, if not all city departments, do support that effort. So police from traffic control,
public works from public right-of-way, community and economic development, etcetera do support
that effort.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay. So, Commissioner Barrett, are you liaison for the ABA and GABA and all
the business community.
Jenn Barrett: I don't believe we have one but since I'm going to be reaching out to them anyways.
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Jennifer Roloff: Maybe you could mention the parking piece?
Jenn Barrett: Yeah, definitely. So, just to make sure I'm clearly understanding, it's during these
fairs that we want to try to increase the accessible spaces.
Jennifer Roloff: For parking, yes.
Jenn Barrett: Great.
Anto Aghapekian: And I think the city should get involved with that. Parking on the streets, it's a
city issue, it's not the business. I think we should work with the city asking them to ask the
organizers or for the city to dedicate a certain street, a certain area for parking.
Jenn Barrett: Right, because they are city streets and the city owned garage and they decide. I'm
sure the city, maybe they work with the city to determine which streets are closed during the event.
Liz Acord: That is correct. When they submit their special event permit, they are proposing the
parameters of that event including what streets would be closed during what times. And so I think
that this could be sort of a dual effort between communication with the business associations and
then communication with your regular staff person for this commission who happens to sit in the
Public Works Department as keeper of the public right-of-way.
Arnold Brillinger: While we're throwing out different ideas, who is our planning liaison? Planning
board liaison? Anto?
Jenn Barrett: Yes, and myself.
Arnold Brillinger: And yourself. Do we know how many units have been built or are being built
with the universal design or since the Universal Design Ordinance?
Anto Aghapekian: No.
Jenn Barrett: We do not, but I do know that Laurie is helping conduct the reviews of these
buildings, so I'm sure I can get some information from her and if not, the planning department.
Arnold Brillinger: Because it would be great to go out and visit some of these places and see how
well they actually conform.
Jenn Barrett: And it would be a nice thing to share with the community on social media posts and
other things to say, ""Hey, did you know that we have this ordinance and this is what we've achieved
so far from that.'
Anto Aghapekian: And how the buyers of these units, how they're reacting to it.
Arnold Brillinger: Well we need to see all that, because that's part of what we had said. We said
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they need to have some glossy information, not just a thing that is half printed and that it needs to
be a selling point rather than, ""Oh, by the way. So that people want to buy them.
Susan Deutsch: I looked at the new housing element that was written, and it was nice to see that
they are including people with disabilities in the housing element now. And also, they specifically
included people with developmental disabilities. And so it's really nice that all the work we did is
now included in the housing element.
5-C Elections of New Commission Chair and Vice Chair (City Staff)
Jenn Barrett: Great. Okay, I'd like to move on to item 5C which is the election of new commission
chair and vice chair. I believe how this worked last year is that people either nominated themselves
or nominated a fellow commissioner. We can maybe have a little bit of discussion and then we can
vote on the item. I guess we can start with the commission chair. Does anyone have any
nominations for the commission chair?
Susan Deutsch: Does anybody want to be the commission chair?
Anto Aghapekian: I would like to nominate you [Jenn Barrett].
Jennifer Roloff: And I would love to second that nomination.
Jenn Barrett: Okay.
Liz Acord: So I believe now you can call for a vote, because you have a motion and a second.
Jenn Barrett: Okay.
Jennifer Roloff: Please.
Jenn Barrett: All in favor of Jennifer Barrett becoming the new commission chair, those in favor
say, ""Aye.""
All: Aye.
Jenn Barrett: Okay. So unanimous vote that I'm your new commission chair.
Jenn Barrett: Thank you. So now we'll move on to the vice chair. Would anyone like to nominate
themselves for vice chair?
Arnold Brillinger: I'll nominate myself.
Jenn Barrett: Okay. Arnold. And would anyone like to nominate someone else on the commission?
Anto Aghapekian: I would like to nominate Leslie.
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Jenn Barrett: I also wanted to nominate Leslie.
Leslie Morrison: Wow. What does the position of vice chair entail?
Jenn Barrett: So, sorry. I'm sorry we didn't go over this further. So the vice chair basically would
support the chair. If the chair is unable to attend a meeting, the vice chair steps in. If we get an email
about a concern, Laurie gets an email about a concern, for instance, we had the woman who was
stranded because her wheelchair didn't work anymore and so Laurie will reach out to the chair, but
then if she needs additional assistance with that, she'll reach out to the vice chair as well. So it's
basically just assisting with anything that the chair might need help with or that Laurie wants quick
attention to. Say, like when the Census meeting occurred, because she didn't have much time to talk
to Beth, she also included me in the email to see if either of us could attend.
Leslie Morrison: And it's a one year term?
Jenn Barrett: Yes. Both are one year terms.
Leslie Morrison: Okay, I'll throw my hat in.
Jenn Barrett: Okay. Are there any other nominations? Okay, so we will So just to be clear, if
there's no second of a nomination are they still valid?
Liz Acord: So I think what we would want to do is consider Commissioner Brillinger's self
nomination as a motion and then call for a second and then approval and then if that motion were to
fail, move on to the second motion.
Jenn Barrett: Okay, thank you.
Leslie Morrison: It just seems odd to me. That may be procedural, but you have two people who
have been nominated, SO..
Liz Acord: I apologize, I am trying to navigate this the best that I can. I think what the commission
could also do is make a separate and third motion if you will to say, ""I will nominate. "" For
example, you could say, ""I will nominate X and so move,"" and then you could call for a second on
that motion. Failing having any instructions provided to me in the 11th hour before this meeting,
that's what I would see happening.
Susan Deutsch: Can we make a motion to have some sort of a vote that's private?
Leslie Morrison: I don't think that this is a motion, this is a nomination. I think that we're
confusing the terms. So, you have vacant positions and you have people that are nominated and then
you call for a vote of the people that have been nominated. It's different than a motion.
Liz Acord: Okay.
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Leslie Morrison: So other boards I've sat on, you have several people who have been nominated.
Liz Acord: I apologize that I'm unfamiliar with the protocol at this point.
Leslie Morrison: It's alright. Think you have two nominations. You have Arnold and you have me.
And then I think you call for a vote, and you could do a written vote if you want, or since you have
two people who are running, we could also take an oral vote or a hand vote, if you want.
Jenn Barrett: Okay. Thank you for your help with that. I'm sorry, I'm not as familiar with these as I
should be. So I apologize for that. So we have two nominations. We have Commissioner Brillinger
and we have Commissioner Morrison. I think that the best way to do this is by a hand vote. So can
we have everyone who would like to vote for Commissioner Morrison to raise their hand please?
And all those in favor to vote for Commissioner Brillinger? Okay, so the vote is four to two for
Commissioner Morrison to become our new Vice Chair of the Commission.
5-D
Confirmation of New Subcommittee Assignments (All Commissioners)
Jenn Barrett: Okay. We're going to go on to item 5D, which is the confirmation of new sub-
committee assignments. I know that Beth was taking notes on this. I'm sorry, I'm just looking up on
my email that she sent me today. She said that our sub-committee assignments have relatively
stayed the same as last year. I don't have the list that she created, but it's something that we can just
add to the agenda for next time to make sure that everyone is clear on what sub-committee they
have been assigned to, and which board liaisons we would like them to report to.
Leslie Morrison: That would be great.
Jenn Barrett: Okay, great.
Leslie Morrison: We're at end of the meeting and I'm not clear on what I was assigned.
Jenn Barrett: Right, we were very rushed at the end, and so I want to make sure that that goes on
to our agenda for next time. The only item that she has in her notes is that Leslie was going to do
City Council.If Jenny no longer wishes to, otherwise Leslie was going to do SSHRB? Obviously,
Jenny is not present right now, but those were the only two sub-committee changes. Does anyone
have any comments or questions on their sub-committees, other than the fact that we're going to talk
about it next meeting? No? Okay.
6. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
Jenn Barrett: Staff communications?
Liz Acord: Just very briefly wanted to thank you all for bearing with the last minute staffing
change. Unfortunately, this afternoon, Laurie was no longer able to attend this evening. And so here
I am helping, or hindering, depending on how you look at it. So I appreciate your patience with that,
and Laurie will be back next time.
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Jennifer Roloff: Thank you.
Jenn Barrett: Thank you so much for filling in last minute. We really appreciate that.
7. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Jenn Barrett: Item 7 is announcements. Do we have any announcements?
Anto Aghapekian: I don't have an announcement, but I have an issue that came up in the
newspaper I got aware of, that I would like to bring to the commission's attention and discussion,
and see if there is anything that we can do about it. It was in last week's Alameda Sun. The Alameda
Unified School District, who has given the parents who have children with learning issues, and they
have arbitrarily, without consulting with the parents, they have moved them to another school,
another area. And the parents are extremely unhappy. I don't know if you want me to read this
article. You may have seen this article.
Jennifer Roloff: Yes.
Susan Deutsch: No, I haven't.
Anto Aghapekian: I think that the parents of these children are, literally, 24/7, 365 days and night,
are working with these kids. And I have a lot of respect to their knowledge and their experience.
And for the school district to just arbitrarily decide to move them around just by giving the parents
one week notice is kind of hard to accept. And I don't know what we can do. I don't know if we can
write a letter to the school district asking them to pay more attention to the parents and their
opinions. Something like this, to my experience, the school district should have organized a
workshop with the parents weeks, weeks, if not months, ahead of that to discuss how they're going
to handle this issue. I do know that the school district has problems with finances and they're trying
to deal with the best they can with how to stretch the dollars that they have, but to do it at the
expense of these children is not a good way to go. So my request is for this commission to let the
school know that we support these kids and their parents, and we would like the school district to
put the brakes on this program and listen to the parents and work with the parents a little closer, to
come up with a better solution than what they have.
Leslie Morrison: What's the date of that article?
Anto Aghapekian: This is last week, this is last Tuesday.
Leslie Morrison: It's a Tuesday, so that would have been the 7th?
Susan Deutsch: It's the Alameda Sun?
Anto Aghapekian: Yes.
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Jennifer Roloff: It's fairly recent, yes. I saw it on Facebook.
Leslie Morrison: March 5th.
Jenn Barrett: Do you have the title of the article?
Anto Aghapekian: Yes, it's called, ""The program moved, no warning to parents"". And a highlight
from one of the parents is, ""When our children are asked to move, it is often with almost no
recognition, as if our children are invisible."" There is one paragraph in here that touched me. It's
from one of the parents. And I don't know if I should read it, but I think that the school district
should pay more attention to what's going down with these kids and their parents.
Jennifer Roloff: I would be happy to do some follow-up on that as the liaison to school board.
I
could even go for public announcements and maybe just do an outreach to one of the school board
members, as an action item. I don't know if that's going to solve the problem or get exactly what
we
want to do, but I can start there.
Jenn Barrett: Great. Definitely.
Leslie Morrison: Can we write a letter?
Jenn Barrett: I'm going to check with Laurie on that.
Leslie Morrison: I'd be happy to draft the letter, and circulate it for the commission to take a look
at.
Jenn Barrett: Great.
Leslie Morrison: I certainly have a lot more questions about it, so I need to read the article and
understand what's exactly going on.
Susan Deutsch: And I have a lot of questions too.
Leslie Morrison: So, thank you. But I'd be happy to draft a letter.
Jenn Barrett: Great, that'll be great.
Leslie Morrison: And circulate it, once I learn more.
Jenn Barrett: Right. I'm frustrated that our meetings are SO far apart. By the time we come up and
discuss this, it's going to be two months later. So let me reach out to Laurie to see what else we can
do.
Leslie Morrison: So it sounds like what they did is they moved the designated special education
classroom that had been at Lincoln, and they moved it to Wood. That's just the first paragraph, what
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2019-03-13,27,"ITEM 3-A
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, March 13, 2019, 6:30 PM
I'm gathering, is that they moved the entire classroom of probably middle school kids in special
education. But transitions are really difficult. And they're difficult for anyone, especially for
children and children that have disabilities. It can be very difficult. As well as considering how to
ready the new community to receive a classroom now of special education students. And did the
teachers follow?
Jenn Barrett: And maybe there's a statement that we can bring to the school board.
Jennifer Roloff: And I think what we talked about earlier. Where we can interject, where the city
can play, will also be part of the greater conversation, not necessarily this issue.
Jenn Barrett: Right. And because you've been nominated by our commission to speak on behalf of
our commission at the school board, there might be an ability for us to write a statement and have
that said by you at one of their meetings.
Jennifer Roloff: Okay, if you circulate something.
Leslie Morrison: Yes.
Jennifer Roloff: I can send some feedback and maybe just say enough.
Jenn Barrett: I think it's something that we should also bring up with the City Council as well.
Jennifer Roloff: Yes.
Jenn Barrett: I think it's very important.
Leslie Morrison: This article describes the children as some of them are non-verbal, some of them,
it sounds like they have moderate to severe cognitive impairments. So significant sensory issues, all
of which, those kinds of transitions would be something you'd want to plan more carefully.
Jenn Barrett: What I'm wondering, are they getting special transportation now to this different
location?
Leslie Morrison: I suspect that their transportation followed, so they were transporting them to
Lincoln and now they're transporting them to Wood. But the transition itself is
Jenn Barrett: Is hard.
Leslie Morrison: Hard.
Jenn Barrett: Definitely. Okay, thank you so much for bringing that to our attention. Really
important. So I will also bring that up with Laurie and see that we can do something prior to our
next meeting, because our next meeting is so far away.
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2019-03-13,28,"ITEM 3-A
COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, March 13, 2019, 6:30 PM
Jennifer Roloff: Yeah, and then we'll follow up about a statement. Okay.
Leslie Morrison: I'll try to have a letter drafted by early next week.
Jenn Barrett: Okay. Great.
Arnold Brillinger: This reminds me that, as liaisons, when we're there at the meetings, we identify
ourselves. And let them know that we're coming. That we are on the Board, or on the commission,
and that the commission is interested in what's going on.
Jennifer Roloff: Right. We can declare that we're there on behalf of. Okay. Thank you.
8.
ADJOURNMENTS
Jenn Barrett: Does anyone else have any further announcements? Okay. Item 8, as adjournment.
Would anyone like to file a motion to adjourn?
Leslie Morrison: I move.
Jennifer Roloff: I second.
Liz Acord: Okay. So thank you all for attending the meeting tonight on the Commission on
Disability.
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2021-04-14,1,"Commission on Persons with Disabilities
April 14, 2021 Meeting Minutes
Roll Call: 6 Commissioners present
Vice Chair Linton, Commissioner Roloff, Commissioner Kenny, Commissioner Brillinger,
Commissioner Hall, Commissioner Mullins
Minutes from the December 16, 2020 Commission on Persons with Disabilities Meeting
Approved
Minutes from the February 10, 2021 Commission on Persons with Disabilities Meeting
Approved (Commissioner Brillinger abstained)
4A: Presentation from Crisis Support Services of Alameda County
Presentation by Narges Dillon, Executive Director, provided an overview of services and
she was available to answer questions, they are a contractor of Alameda County
Behavioral Health
Website: https://www.crisissupport.org/
Movement of peer support in crisis and suicide prevention - stayed true to community
based model - they have 150 volunteers to support callers, and they also have 50 staff,
so a hybrid model of community volunteers supported by staff
3 prongs
Crisis and text line
Clinical program
Community education
Resources:
24 hour crisis line: 800-309-2131 - local, national suicide prevention lifeline: 800-
273-8255 (TALK), they answer 40,000 calls per year
Crisis text line: Text HOME to 741-741, text SAFE to 20121
A lot of more intense calls come between 10pm and 3am
10% of callers are in crisis and suicidal, other callers are having a bad day,
argument, range of issues
They take calls from all ages, they have multiple languages available and access
to a translation line
COVID-19 support line at 510-420-3222 -- geared to people in a healthcare
setting
Follow-up support for people who are high risk or without access
Grief program
Clinical programs: 800-260-0094
Services are free or people pay what they can
Volunteer opportunities!
Different options depending on time of day, none are 24/7, if someone has a serious
crisis there is no option other than law enforcement in Alameda County at this time
Every call to law enforcement is reviewed by a clinical committee to ensure it was the
appropriate intervention
BK: Timing is interesting because most of Alameda's 5150s were not at night time in the
last few years. Can you provide suicide statistics and trends for Alameda? Suicide
statistics can be delayed by 2 years because of the nature they are produced. We see
on the crisis lines stress - and that is similar to the financial crisis, fear of job loss and",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2021-04-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2021-04-14,2,"loss of housing is top of mind. Economic crisis and suicide are correlated. COVID also
brings grief and is a 2nd major risk factor.
BK: Since April 2020 the number of ER visits for children that are mental health related
has skyrocketed. 1 in 3 people who get COVID have a mental health issue after. Have
you seen an increase in demand for clinical services? We have heard about how much
more very young hospitalizations there are. We see an increase in acuity -- calls are
higher risk because of these compounding factors.
BK: Can we access the free trainings? YES!
JL: Do you work with the east bay regional center - see a gap in services provided?
They cover their phone line after hours and meet regularly with the director of programs.
They might also be asked to contact client outreach.
JR: How often do you have to renew your contract, are your services at risk? Funding
comes from Prop 63 funding and is not at risk. There is no other provider in this space.
AM: Are you willing to share data and are there any restrictions? We would be interested
to see the trends. She will send a report with Alameda data. Do you track demographic
data? It is by disclosure so the data is spotty.
4B: Update on the Homelessness Strategic Plan
Presentation by Amanda Gehrke and Ana Bagtas
Prior to 2018 - programs to assist homeless were minimal
In 2018 the City Council adopted the 2018 homelessness strategic plan, SB 850 was
signed into law which provided HEAP funds to respond to these needs, and Ana Bagtas
came on board to manage services. At the end of 2018, there was a plan, a person to
manage the plan, and funding for the plan.
Over the last 3 years the City Council has continued to fund programs in addition to the
HEAP funds. Today there are 20 programs that provide services to prevent
homelessness and provide assistance to people who are homeless, including temporary
shelter, food assistance, emergency assistance, health and hygiene, outreach, case
management, and support groups.
Homeless hotline: 510-522-HOME (4663), Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, evenings and weekends
call 211
From 2017-2019 the number of people unsheltered in Alameda increased by 13% and
we believe COVID has increased this even more
Homelessness is a priority to the City Council
January - launched process to update the homelessness strategic plan
Hired Homebase consulting firm
Main focus of last few months has been on gap analysis and community engagement,
survey received more than 1000 responses.
Preliminary goals and strategies:
Mobilize the Citywide response to homelessness
Increase access to homeless emergency response services
Secure a housing future for all Alamedans
Next steps: input, data analysis, develop measurable goals and outcomes, draft strategic
plan
JR: How many homeless people are there in Alameda? 2 years ago this was 231 but
because of COVID there was not an updated count done. How much of your time is
focused on this program? 1 FTE, other staff provide support.",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2021-04-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2021-04-14,3,"started in Sweden
Deaths are preventable with changes to the system
Heart of Vision Zero is the need to reduce speed, some streets were designed to
encourage speeds faster than 25 mph
Safety is the highest priority in transportation efforts in Alameda
We need this because every year in Alameda 2 people die, 10 suffer severe injuries, and
221 have injuries
Younger and older people are overrepresented in severe and fatal crashes, as are
pedestrians and bicyclists
40% of severe crashes are in socially vulnerable areas while only 30% of roads are in a
socially vulnerable area
We also developed high injury corridor maps, including intersections -- 70% of injuries
happen here even though they cover 20% of streets
Top 2 most dangerous behaviors are failure to yield to pedestrian and unsafe speeds
Now developing a Vision Zero action plan for the next 5 years - actions to increase street
safety
July - releasing a draft plan and will come back to the Commission in August
Meantime - working to improve street safety
Have a Vision Zero implementation team, prioritize street safety improvements
Central Avenue is headed to the City Council after 8 years of work on April 20
Proposal for 4 roundabouts as part of this project",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2021-04-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2021-04-14,4,"Roundabouts can reduce vehicle conflicts and pedestrian conflicts by 78-82 percent
Made tactile maps in Braille and large fonts that are available at the Library and in some
community members homes
In 2021 we installed 29 new high visibility crosswalks, increases safety
We daylighted on high injury corridor areas, red paint to increase visibility
Completed Otis safety project, this was a major speeding corridor
Will have a new slow street on Alameda Point on Orion Street, requested by the
Alameda Point Collaborative
More information:
https://www.alamedaca.gov/VisionZero
VisionZero@alamedaca.gov
LH: Community member died at Otis and Westline, was hit by a bus, thank you for this
work
JL: Oldest son was hit in a crosswalk at Santa Clara and Willow, very interested in this.
There is a bucket of flags at Central and Caroline for people to make themselves more
visible. Want to have a more permanent and structural but will look into more solutions
like this in the meantime.
AM: Do we know yet if the recent changes have had an impact? Too soon to tell?
Shoreline did reduce speeds. Re: slow streets, there is still thru traffic, has this created
any problems? We are watching, have not heard of incidents yet, looking at traffic circles
at some of these locations. Will they last beyond the pandemic? A lot of locations are
proposed for bike boulevards in the long term. This work should come together.
AB: thankful for all three presentations, it has been more than a year since I have
been out on the streets, as a wheelchair rider I am considered a pedestrian. Sometimes
it is like taking your life in your own hands. I'm glad to see these things happening. I
have been hit many times and had many near misses.
BK: Can the tactile maps be at the crossings? Will look into that. Hate having to wait
when I am the only car there. Changes taking place -- don't know how to interact with
some new work, when there is a bike lane and car lane specifically, traffic trivia would be
fun to do. Question about roundabout at Sherman. Current suggestion has southern part
of Sherman as a cul-de-sac. There has been a great effort to make sure there is a vision
zero for everyone.
4D: Update from the City Attorney's Office Subcommittee
Commissioners Roloff, Morrison, and Mullins and I met with Elizabeth Mackenzie in the
City Attorney's Office, Assistant City Attorney.
Feedback from CAO:
Regarding the suggestions made during the meeting:
Commission receiving courtesy copies of public reports of settlements. We defer
to you, as the Commission's liaison on whether you'd like to pull such public
reports forward to the Commission. These reports are public records but
generally cursory.
Commissioner receiving a regular report on lawsuits involving disability issues
(ADA and otherwise). The CAO cannot take on this role, but I'm happy to advise
you if you choose to compile this information. Indeed doing so would set an
unwelcomed precedent of reporting to the many commissions that may have
interactions with lawsuits.
I have informed Yibin of the subcommittee's suggestion that the CAO consider
seeking input from commissions (including the Commission on Persons with",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2021-04-14.pdf
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2021-04-14,5,"Disabilities) in advising the City Council on addressing claims against the
City. Obviously we cannot disclose the content of our legal advice provided to
the Council, but he is aware of this suggestion.
COA providing courtesy disclosure to the Commission when the City makes a
disclosure to a reporter under the Public Records Act on a topic of significant
concern to the disability rights community. There are practical limitations that
preclude our office from being able to agree to this commitment. For instance,
we are not necessarily aware of when a PRA requester is a journalist. In
addition, a PRA requester may make a request for a voluminous number of
documents, and then use some of the information therein to produce a story that
may ultimately be of interest to the disability rights community. The CAO does
not have the staffing to re-review PRA productions to deduce whether
information in that production may be of interest to the Commission.
I understand and appreciate the Commission's desire to get as much advance
notice on City issues that relate to the Commission's work. I balance that
understanding with the CAO's need to maintain its attorney client relationship
with the City Council. I hope that our suggestion that the Commission direct its
focus toward working on Building Code enhancements with the Building Official
is something they'll consider.
I also wanted to clarify a couple of issues raised yesterday. First, commissions
that serve in a quasi-adjudicatory capacity are the commissions that are staffed
by the CAO. In other words, commissions that hold hearings on contested issues
and issue opinions (e.g. Personnel Board, OGC, Planning Board) are staffed by
the CAO. The Commission on Persons with Disabilities, like many of the other
City commissions, does not have a quasi-adjudicatory role which is why it isn't
staffed by the CAO. The ADA Coordinator is from Public Works, not the CAO.
BK: We asked to be informed when there is an issue with someone who has disabilities.
AM: Good discussion, part of the problem is that we don't know what we don't know
JR: Would like to receive a report before every meeting
AM: We would want to know if there is a claimed filed -- before there is a lawsuit
BK: The CAO and CC is reviewing things before they are released -- if they notice one
that involves people with disabilities, we would like that courtesy. City Clerk's office is
implementing a new software, we can pull a report and have that be attached to the
Agenda each meeting once the software is implemented.
Staff Communications
1. Talking with City Clerk, will have a training on Brown Act and Sunshine Act --
communications among commissioners should be set to me not to the full commission
2. Vaccine clinic at Mastick this Saturday will use the Moderna vaccine
3. COVID by the numbers, community has done a great job getting their vaccines
Announcements
BK: Autism Acceptance Month, City is recognizing
Adjournment",CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2021-04-14.pdf