body,date,page,text,path
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2018-09-12,1,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday September 12, 2018 6:30 p.m.
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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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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