body,date,page,text,path
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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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2018-05-09,30,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
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Wednesday May 9, 2018 6:30 p.m.
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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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities,2018-05-09,31,"COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
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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.
05/30/18
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LibraryBoard,2018-05-09,1,"CITY
OF
of
of
$
ORATEIO
MINUTES OF THE
ALAMEDA FREE LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2018
The regular meeting of the Alameda Free Library Board was called to order at 6:10 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Present:
Kathleen Kearney, President
Amber Bales, Board Member
Cynthia Silva, Vice President
Dorothy Wismar, Board Member
Absent:
Travis Wilson, Board Member
Staff:
Jane Chisaki, Library Director
Lori Amaya, Recording Secretary
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS, AGENDA (Public Comment)
None.
CONSENT CALENDAR
An asterisk indicates items so enacted or approved on the Consent Calendar
*A.
Report from the Library Director Highlighting Activities for the Months of March and April, 2018.
*B.
Draft Minutes of the Regular Library Board Meeting of March 14, 2018.
*C.
Library Services Report for the Months of February and March, 2018.
*D.
Financial Report Reflecting FY17/18 Expenditures by Fund for March and April, 2018.
*E.
Bills for Ratification for the Months of March and April, 2018.
Director Chisaki highlighted items from her letter to the Board. Plans for disaster planning were included
in the Board letter and Director Chisaki welcomed comments from the Board. Alameda Reads is doing
great work and invited the Board to stop by if they ever get a chance. Door count and circulation numbers
are slowly increasing, otherwise all other statistics are status quo. Library is looking to hire part-time
librarians because there is a need for weekend coverage at the branch libraries. The job posting will
remain open and applicants will be interviewed on an ongoing basis.",LibraryBoard/2018-05-09.pdf
LibraryBoard,2018-05-09,2,"Page 2 of 3
Minutes of the
Alameda Free Library Board
March 14, 2018 Meeting
Board Member Wismar requested a minor change to the Draft Minutes of the March 14, 2018 under
Library Board Communications. She would like the Minutes to reflect that the principal at Encinal High
School said he would welcome help.
Board Member Bales moved to accept the Consent Calendar. Vice President Silva seconded the motion,
which passed with a 4-0.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A.
None.
NEW BUSINESS
A.
Draft Library Policies for Review. (J. Chisaki)
a.
Service Animals
Director Chisaki explained that this is a new policy for the Library and asked the Board for any questions
or comments. Board Member Wismar moved to adopt the Service Animal Policy. Vice President Silva
seconded the motion, which passed with a 4-0 vote.
b.
Internet Use
Director Chisaki informed the Board this is an update to the 1998 policy.
i.
Public Access Internet Computer Rules
Director Chisaki explained that this goes along with the Internet Use policy and is the internal document
that directs staff how to administer the policy when patrons want to use the public computers. After
discussion, Director Chisaki asked the board for any questions or comments. Board Member Bales moved
to adopt the Internet Use Policy. Board Member Wismar seconded the motion, which passed with a 4-0
vote.
B.
Draft Emergency Plans. (J. Chisaki)
a.
Earthquake
b.
Power Outage
c.
Fire
d.
Employee Manual
Director Chisaki informed the board that she drafted all the emergency plans. Capt. Sharon Oliver and the
Interim City Manager Liz Warmerdam both feel the library is ahead of the other departments in regards to
Emergency Plans. Once adopted by the Board, The library will be the example for other city departments.",LibraryBoard/2018-05-09.pdf
LibraryBoard,2018-05-09,3,"Page 3 of 3
Minutes of the
Alameda Free Library Board
March 14, 2018 Meeting
C.
Friends of the Library. (J. Chisaki)
The Book Sale went well. Attendance was down and may be because of other events happening in the
area. Live @ the Library concert dates are listed in the Board letter. Friends are planning a volunteer
appreciation event in July. Board is welcome to attend.
D.
Patron Suggestions/Comments (Speak-Outs) and Library Director's Response
Director Chisaki shared the patron's complaint of the front porch being dirty. The response was that the
custodian now cleans on a weekly basis and power washes as needed.
A disabled patron complained of a van that is always parked in the handicapped space. The response was
that the owner of the van has a Disabled Person Parking placard and is allowed to park there if he chooses.
Anyone with a placard can park in any available space for any length of time.
LIBRARY BOARD COMMUNICATIONS
Vice President Silva shared that she worked at the Friends Book Sale and also attended the Friends Art
Docent program.
DIRECTOR'S COMMENTS
A new law in place mandating single-use restrooms be gender neutral. Multi-stall restrooms are exempt.
Branches will get new signs installed.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS, NON-AGENDA GENERAL
None.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 7:47 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jane Chisaki, Library Director and
Secretary to the Alameda Free Library Board",LibraryBoard/2018-05-09.pdf