{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 1, "text": "COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES\nMEETING MINUTES OF\nWednesday, October 12, 2016 6:30 p.m.\nItem 2-B, December 14, 2016 CDI Meeting\n1.\nROLL CALL\nElizabeth Kenny: I would like to take roll call for our meeting of the Commission on Disability\nIssues for Wednesday, October 12th, 2016.\nKerry Parker: Welcome. Please respond. Chair Kenny?\nElizabeth Kenny: Present.\nKerry Parker: Vice Chair Brillinger?\nArnold Brillinger: Here.\nKerry Parker: Commissioner Aghapekian?\nAnto Aghapekian: Here.\nKerry Parker: Commissioner Deutsch?\nSusan T. Deutsch: Here.\nKerry Parker: Commissioner Franco?\nLa Donna Franco: Here.\nKerry Parker: Commissioner Hall?\nLisa Hall: Here.\nKerry Parker: Commissioner Lewis?\nTony Lewis: Here.\nKerry Parker: Commissioner Linton? And Commissioner Tsztoo? We have seven present, and we\nhave a quorum.\n1-A\nWelcome New Commissioner: Lisa Hall\nElizabeth Kenny: First I'd like to start off by welcoming our new Commissioner, Lisa Hall.\nWelcome to the Commission on Disability Issues. She was chosen, the Mayor had some very good\ncandidates to choose from, and Lisa was very impressive. I'm glad that you're joining us. If you\nwant to say a few words about yourself, that would be great.\nPage 1", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 2, "text": "Lisa Hall: Thank you. I just want to say I'm happy to be here. I had a long successful career until\n2012, when I finally became disabled after a few years of a bad accident. And my whole life\nchanged. And it was very much of an eye opener to see the obstacles that people with disabilities,\nand seniors face. So, I wanted to see if I can help to do some good. I'm happy to be here.\nElizabeth Kenny: Okay, thank you. Welcome. So next, did you want to talk about the new format\nfor the minutes?\nKerry Parker: Sure, but let's do any agenda changes.\nElizabeth Kenny: Oh yes, sorry. I would like to make a motion that we change the agenda SO that\nItem 5B, review of Commission business, is moved up to just after oral communication, non-agenda\nitems.\nKerry Parker: Right after.\nElizabeth Kenny: Oh, sorry. Yes. Right after 4A.\nKerry Parker: Made a motion?\nElizabeth Kenny: Yes, I have. Does anyone second that motion?\nS?: Second it.\nElizabeth Kenny: All in favor?\n(All): Aye.\nElizabeth Kenny: Any opposed? Great, thank you.\n(AGENDA ITEMS BELOW ARE IN ORDER AS DISCUSSED, BUT NUMBERED AS ON AGENDA)\n2.\nMINUTES\nElizabeth Kenny: So now we move on to the minutes and Kerry is going to tell us a little bit about\nthe new format.\nKerry Parker: I said I would mention this. So if you noticed when I posted the agenda, the minutes\nwere done very differently than they have in the past. In the past, the minutes have been physically\nnotes that I have written after a meeting, and put it together in the way that I saw how the meeting\nwent, right? I paraphrased, I abbreviated a bit. But I tried to get the general flavor of the meeting in\nthe minutes. This took a lot of time. And in order to reduce that time, we found an online service\nthat can copy these minutes verbatim. So while it is a bit uncomfortable to see every cough and\nlaugh, I mean I took a bunch of things out like that from the verbatim minutes, however it's all\nthere. So it's not wrong, it's just it's now every single thing we say. So unless there any major\nobjections to this new format, I think we're going to proceed with this. It saves administrative time\non this Commission, which helps us have more time for more things in depth. So, that's my update.\nPage | 2", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 3, "text": "Elizabeth Kenny: Great. If anyone has any has any objections, I think now would be the time to\nraise them. Commissioner Brillinger?\nArnold Brillinger: Mine is not an objection, I thought that it was a very good idea to do this. And\nlast night, I turned on the tape of it, the audio, and followed it, and it pretty much goes word for\nword, except I didn't know that Kerry, you had done a little bit of editing, and took out some of the\ncoughs and things like that, or when sometimes people backtrack. So I think it's very good, and it's a\nvery good record of our meetings.\nKerry Parker: That's excellent, it definitely makes it easier for me. And I mean they did add\nchuckles, and the Chair, when I first showed her this, says, \"Okay, I said, Alright,' too many times.\"\nSo you're allowed to say, \"Hey, could you omit half of the, \"umms,\" that are typed in there?\" I don't\nthink they actually include too many \"umms\" but I'm happy to strip those out because I don't think\nthat they're pertinent to the conversation, and they're easy for me to pull. So, there is that. Tony?\nTony Lewis: Yes, I was just wondering. You don't find this to be equally as cumbersome? Because\nbasically you're having to sit through this twice, aren't you?\nKerry Parker: No, because I don't type it at all. So, basically..\nTony Lewis: What I mean by that is that you have to go through You have to read or go through\nthis to be aware of those things, the chuckles, the umms, the alrights.\nKerry Parker: Yes, that's a good point. I scan it, and I'm going to rely on you all to help me\nadditionally scan it. If I can see things evidently, I mean like right away, I'm going to pull them, and\nthat can be done by a search in software, right? I say, \"Okay, pull all the alrights,\" and I'll see if they\nmake any sense in that sentence. If I can pull them, I will, if I can't, I won't. Because I don't want to\nlose any of the content, either. So, that's the only worry there. But I think with the format, it reads\nokay and it is exactly what we said.\nElizabeth Kenny: And it's a time saver?\nKerry Parker: Yes, absolutely.\nElizabeth Kenny: Next I'd like to move on to Item 2B, approval of the minutes from our June 8th\n2016 meeting.\nS?: I so move.\nElizabeth Kenny: Second? All in favor of approval of the minutes as is?\nS?: Aye.\nElizabeth Kenny: Great, that carried unanimously.\n3.\nORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT)\nPage | 3", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 4, "text": "Elizabeth Kenny: So, now is the time for oral communications, non-agenda items, do we have any\npublic comments?\nKerry Parker: We do but it's for item 5A.\nElizabeth Kenny: Okay, thank you.\n4.\nNEW BUSINESS\n4-A\nRecognize Girls Inc. Julie Vu (Commissioner Franco)\nElizabeth Kenny: The Commission would like to thank and recognize Julie Vu for some amazing\nvolunteer work she did for the Commission, and I'm going to let Commissioner Franco speak with\nthat, because Commissioner Franco worked with Miss Vu.\nLa Donna Franco: Thank you. It's my great honor to recognize Julie Vu from Girls Inc, who\nvolunteered her time to work on our resource guide. It was a daunting task, and quite time\nconsuming. So on behalf of the Commission, I'd like to thank you for your time, energy, and effort\nthat you put into the resource guide. While it's not yet complete by us, you have given us a great\njumpstart into completing the resource guide, and getting that up to the website and to the public,\nand making it more available and accessible to the public. So, I'd like to thank you for that. It was a\nlot of piece-by-piece work, editing, cold calling, calling numbers and updating a lot of things. So it's\njust a wonderful start that you've given us for it, so thank you. And I'd also like to thank former\nChair Audrey Lord-Hausman, for putting us in contact with Girls Inc as well. So, thank you.\nElizabeth Kenny: Thank you, and we have a certificate for you, Julie, if you'd like to come up.\n(A certificate of appreciation was awarded to Julie Vu.)\n5-B\nReview Commission Business: 6 meetings per year (Chair Kenny)\nElizabeth Kenny: Now we're going to jump ahead to 5B, review of Commission business. I wanted\nto talk a little about the fact that we have six meetings per year, and our last meeting was in June,\nit's been a little while since we've had a meeting. And that's because City Hall is dark in August,\nwe'll not be having meetings in August. What we are doing to have that sixth meeting is to have the\nretreat in January. We looked at possibly doing it in August, but our new members would come on\nthat September-October time, it made more sense to keep the retreat in January, and have that\nextended break. But because there are only six meetings throughout the year, I just want to say how\nimportant it is for everybody to attend those meetings, and that there are lots of opportunities to get\ninvolved beyond the meetings. But the meetings are our one time that we come together as a group,\nit is very important to attend the meetings.\n4-B\nDiscuss Summer Events & Future Events (Events Subcommittee)\nElizabeth Kenny: Next, we can go back to Item 4B, discuss the summer events and future events.\nWe had the Events Subcommittee got us a table at the Art and Wine Fair, and I'd like to hear back\nfrom them, and what their future thoughts are too. Who would like to report?\nPage | 4", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 5, "text": "Arnold Brillinger: Since no one is jumping in, I'll go in. For the most part, we found that that was\na positive experience for the CDI. We thought that we contacted people, we were able to educate\nthem on various things. We had way more than we needed for handouts, and that was a real plus.\nThank you to the various people who went and got them. Also, we did have some comments about,\nthat it would probably be better, because this one was from until 4:00, that we go until 6:00.\nBecause a lot of people, it was cooler later in the evening, and they showed up later in the evening.\nJust a lot more people there. Also, we were kind of on the side where more people kept in the\nmiddle, going up and down the center, so, maybe if we can get something out in the middle, and\nthat would be helpful. But otherwise, it was a very good experience for the CDI to do.\nArnold Brillinger: Thank you also for the people who came out and were part of it, to help man the\ntable. Also, Tony will probably talk about some of the other volunteers from other groups that came\nout there too. I also would like to talk about the fact that I had gone First I had gone to the City\nManager's office to find out, because we said, \"Let's see if we can get more blue curb parking close\nto the event.\" And it turned out that the Mayor, or the City Manager never did talk to me, but\nhanded it down and down and down, and the person who is in charge of that in Public Works did\ncall me and said, \"What do you want?\" And I said, \"Well, if we could get a number of parking\nspaces in city-owned parking.\" And she said, \"Well, we have that garage that's just down the street\nhere, and we have recently outfitted it with different lights. We can put green lights for open spaces,\nand red lights for spaces that are used, and then we can put blue ones for the blue parking spaces.\"\nArnold Brillinger: So, I went both days Saturday and Sunday, and I went into the garage, and I\nwas a bit disappointed. Because I was told that we would have up to eight different spaces, and\nwhen I went in there, I saw the same three on the bottom floor, and I didn't see anymore. And I\nlooked around, and when I asked Kerry about it, she said, \"Well, let me have. \"It was Lisa, right?\nKerry Parker: Liz Acord.\nArnold Brillinger: I'm sorry, Liz Acord. And she called me back and she said, \"Well, you know, we\nthink that it went out and that it was a success, because you had asked for eight more spaces,\" which\nI did, hoping that we'd get at least five more. She says, \"Well, we had 10 spaces, but we had them\nup on the next floor up, where there's no incline, so that the handicapped people wouldn't have to\nwalk up or down the hill.\" And I had not gone up there, so I was very happy to hear about that. And\nshe said that the public and the people who are running it, because they did have an extra person in\nthere, to explain to people how it works, that everyone thought it was a good idea to have those\nextra handicapped spaces there. So that was a very positive thing, and I ask that for other events that\nwe have here on Park Street, that we just go ahead and ask for extra spaces, and it's not that hard to\ndo, I guess they can do it from the control desk, and which ones turn blue and which ones not. So, it\nwas a pretty good experience.\nAnto Aghapekian: I have a question. In that building, the parking building, the spaces that they\nallocated, did they have enough space for people to get in and out if they have a wheelchair, or if\nthey have a walker?\nArnold Brillinger: Well, I'm thinking that they had to probably make those in between red spaces.\nAnto Aghapekian: I see.\nPage | 5", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 6, "text": "Arnold Brillinger: Now I've actually gone into the building since then, and I took the elevator all\nthe way to the top, and I rode all the way around and around and around down to the bottom. And I\nfound that next to the elevator on every floor, there is a blue space. There is already one, I mean, all\nthe time. So it's not only the three that I found on the bottom floor, but all the other floors, two,\nthree, four, five, and I think six, all have one also. So if we had 10 in addition to those, that's quite a\nfew spaces in there.\nAnto Aghapekian: And then is there any possibility of having regular parking spaces on the street,\nadjacent to parks where the fair is? And some of those parking spaces to be temporarily designated\nas blue parking spaces?\nArnold Brillinger: Well, originally, I was just asking for anywhere that the city owned property,\nthat they could designate certain ones. But then this one is only a block away from the Park Street,\nbecause it's on Oak Street, and I think that we can also ask for that in other years, something toward\nthe other end of the event, also.\nKerry Parker: As I understand it, there was a liability issue with temporary spaces and making\nthem ramp accessible, let's say. And the garage already was a public garage, that's why it happened\nthe way it did. I think asking for additional spaces could work, but this is how Public Works\nresponded, making sure these were accessible.\nElizabeth Kenny: I also like having it in the garage for other events, because people need to know\nthis is happening and they might not have just gone into the garage last time, but they might have a\nfriend who went in during the fair and can tell them, \"Hey, you can park in here during the fair.\nThere's additional disabled parking spots.\" So having that, it would be great to get additional spots\ncloser, but also having that one spot that we can kind of build up a reputation of, \"This is where you\ncan go,\" I think is going to be helpful.\nArnold Brillinger: Okay.\nTony Lewis: I wanted to comment about the fair also. I thought it was very successful, and I would\nlike to certainly commend Commissioner Franco, because she was the one who transported lots of\nthe material that we had, and the table. And I would strongly urge that we have a little bit more\nsupport from other commissioners, and I understand it was during a time, this was summer time and\npeople were on vacation, and they have other things to do. But it was a heck of a lot of fun, and it's\na\ngood way to meet people that you haven't seen for a while, that's one thing. And also, I really do\nthink that it's good publicity for the Commission, and it's just not promoting the dire parts of\ndisability, it's also part where you're at a fair, you're at an event, and I think it's important for us to\nbe at something like that. So the more people that we can get to support would be good. Especially\nfor people who drive, and supporting transporting stuff would certainly be helpful if we could do\nthat.\nTony Lewis: We partnered with the Alameda Community Chorus, who's also under Park and Rec,\nand they had a table too, so we shared space with them. And I think that's a good idea for us to do\nthat in the future, because I think it draws more people, because they're curious about the Chorus, or\nif we did it with Girls Inc, or some other group that's under Park and Rec, or connected in some\nway, that's a good idea. It was also good for us to really see that there's other groups here in\nAlameda, disability groups, the Pacific Islander group, who's having their event at the elementary\nPage | 6", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 7, "text": "school, I think, later this month, that's going to be happening. And that's something I certainly didn't\nknow about, and it's good for us to know about that.\nTony Lewis: And there was also another group assisting people with hearing impairments. And so\nit's a good way to partner with them, and maybe that would be another thing for us to do. I also\nwould like us to think about, and for other Commissioners, if you know of any events that are\nhappening around town previously, and I don't know if this is still going to happen or not, but when\nAlameda Hospital had the health fair in October, that possibly could be a good event for us to be a\npart of when they were doing the screenings, flu shots and all that, and they would have different\ntables around the room at Alameda Hospital, if they're still doing something like that. Something at\nMastick, they're doing something like that. If there's, for instance, this month is Disabled Awareness\nMonth, if there's an event connected to that, that's something we certainly should be a part of. This\nupcoming week, as I sent an email to Kerry, this is White Cane Day coming up, which is\nsignificant, because the White Cane came about because of veterans returning from World War II.\nAnd so in 2012, I believe it was, all states and most cities declare proclamations for White Cane\nDay, just recognizing what a symbol that is and how it's really given freedom to people who weren't\nfree before to be able to travel independently, and that came, result of the Veterans Administration.\nTony Lewis: And those are the things that we should be at the forefront of. And I just want to\ncommend Arnold again, for his hard work. Arnold has been certainly steadfast, as you heard, with\nthe parking. And again, with all the work that La Donna's done with it. And again, if we do have\nanother event, I would just strong encourage people to come out, because it's really good to hear\npeople's stories when they come out, and what's really resonating with people. There's a lot of\npeople here who are caregivers, who are a little bit lost and struggling, and trying to figure out the\ndifferent services that they can give to the people that they're assisting. Or people who are elderly,\nand who are becoming disabled and trying to figure out that path too, and what life's going to be\nlike for them as disabled people. So it's a good service for us to offer, and it was good. So hopefully,\nmore of you will come out and be a part of it. And just want to thank those who did come out,\nAbraham and Beth, of course, and Kerry who visited the table. She wasn't on the clock, but she\ncame out and visited with us too. And just anyone else who I might have missed. But it certainly\nwas a good couple of days.\nLa Donna Franco: I also just want to briefly say thank you. It was a great, wonderful couple of\ndays. And I don't want to repeat everything that Arnold and Tony just mentioned, but I think it's a\nreally great start, it has great potential. We're looking forward to being a part of any future events\ncoming up or things like that together.\nArnold Brillinger: I'd like to kind of finish this off by saying that we should probably have a booth\nat the spring thing, down on Mother's Day.\nKerry Parker: Spring Festival.\nArnold Brillinger: Festival, okay, along with the Art and Wine. And also on Webster, when they do\ntheir days about the amusement park, that we are a part of all three of those. And I encourage you to\nbe a part of it. And also, I think that it would be great if we could get And I know, I've said this\nbefore, get this shuttle out there. Because most people in Alameda do not know that there is a free\nshuttle, three days a week. They're talking about increasing the times that it runs and also where it\nruns to, like the Fruitvale BART. But I haven't seen any of those things happening lately. So I know\nPage 7", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 8, "text": "that they're very busy with other things, too.\nKerry Parker: I strongly suggest the Events Committee coordinate with Rochelle Wheeler about\ncoordinating a shuttle, I think she discussed with me that if she had more lead time, she could figure\nit out in the budget, and to reserve that shuttle. So it's something for the Events Committee to talk to\nRochelle about.\nArnold Brillinger: Okay. Because with the shuttle being there, it would bring it to mind and people\nwould say, \"Why is that bus in the middle of the street?\" Or whatever, and we could talk about,\n\"Hey, this is a service here in the City of Alameda, use it.\"\nElizabeth Kenny: I just want to thank you all, I think that it was a great event, and that you guys\nare really doing amazing work. There was so much information about different resources there. And\nyes, the people I talked with, some just had no idea about basic resources that are available. So I\nthink this is very important, and Ilove your idea, Tony, to keep going, and going to these other\nevents. What I would like to propose is that we take a vote to authorize the Event Committee to sign\nup for future events. You can ask us to volunteer with them, but if you hear events like the one at the\nmiddle school, or if Mastick is having an event, that you guys should sign us up and we'll still help,\nbut I want you guys to have that autonomy. So that's what I propose, is that we give the Events\nCommittee the autonomy to sign us up for different events. Do I have a second?\nTony Lewis: Well, I would just like amend, just a little bit, because I really do want people from the\ncommittee not to feel that it's just this committee that will initiate these things. I think that we all\nhear about things, and are aware of different things are going on in the committee. And it doesn't\nhave to be just the committee of three, because we're all on this Disability Commission. And I just\nreally don't want it to turn into just three people. I'd like to see more people. Because I don't know\neverything that's happening in the city, and La Donna and Arnold don't know. But as a Committee,\nwe really need to work together, and bring it up to the meetings, send out an email, whatever we can\nto really get things going. And if we need to setup an ad hoc committee to support it, that's my\nthought on it.\nElizabeth Kenny: So, are you suggesting I'm just trying to understand what you're suggesting,\nthat you don't want the Events Committee to be moving forward? Or you want Because we can't\nTony Lewis: Well, that's just my thought. I don't know, Arnold and La Donna may have a different\nthought.\nLa Donna Franco: No, I think we're on the same page about that, thank you for mentioning that.\nNo, I would be more than happy to move forward. I think we spoke about adding possibly one more\nperson to an Events Committee. So, just in case of emergency, or other needs that we might have, a\nperson may be able to deliver materials and just be there as a fourth.\nTony Lewis: Because it's a lot of work.\nElizabeth Kenny: I think that's a great idea, yes.\nLa Donna Franco: And that part did become, physically, a bit of work.\nPage | 8", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 9, "text": "Elizabeth Kenny: Yes.\nLa Donna Franco: So I think more support would be helpful, moving forward.\nElizabeth Kenny: I think that's a great idea, because I do want to support you guys as much as\npossible. So, is there anyone who would like to join the Events Committee who's not on it right\nnow? Or if nobody else does, I would definitely join. Commissioner Hall, would you like to join the\nEvents Committee?\nLisa Hall: I would love to, I love doing events and I'm still driving, so I think that would be a\nwonderful way I could try to learn about how things work, and get involved.\nElizabeth Kenny: Great, thank you.\nTony Lewis: And we have the greatest meeting places, I have to tell you.\n[laughter]\nArnold Brillinger: That's what I was going to say too, between the Blue Danube and the crepe\nplace\nTony Lewis: Oh, don't tell all of our secrets.\n[laughter]\nTony Lewis: We are on TV after all.\nArnold Brillinger: No, we're not going to tell where we had the beers.\n[laughter]\nArnold Brillinger: So, there's some good places.\nS?: Thank you, Elizabeth.\nElizabeth Kenny: So given the intent that it will not just be the four of you attending these events,\nand staffing, and doing all the work for these events, but that if you are able to sign us up for events\nwithout having to come back to report it, just because timewise, especially now that we've had\nalmost a four-month break, it would have been impossible to get permission from the Commission\nto do these things. So, I'd like to authorize you to do that. Again, with the intent that the rest of the\nCommission will still be involved. But you, four, will be the primary. Do I have a second?\nArnold Brillinger: I second.\nElizabeth Kenny: All in favor?\nAll: Aye.\nPage | 9", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 10, "text": "Elizabeth Kenny: Any opposed? Great.\n4-C Revisit Highlights of ADA Conference (Attendees)\nElizabeth Kenny: I think with that we can move on to Item 4C, which is, several of our\nCommissioners attended an ADA Conference, and we wanted to hear your thoughts on the\nconference, and any information you wanted to share about that experience. So I believe, Arnold,\nLa Donna, did you attend? And Tony, you also attended?\nArnold Brillinger: Tony was there.\nElizabeth Kenny: So, is there any pieces of information you'd like to share with the Commission\nfrom that meeting?\nTony Lewis: Well, the one I was most interested in was the one, I think Kerry sent out a timely\nemail about service animals. And we went over the ideas proposed, was the whole idea about\nservice animals, when businesses could refuse a person, the rights of the individuals with service\nanimals, and just to find out what businesses actually had the right to, I was surprised to hear that\nchurches are one of the few that were exempt under the ADA, that they didn't necessarily have to\ncomply with that. So, that was interesting for me. And timely, speaking of the fair, I was with\nanother person who was blind at the event that we did in July, and she had a service animal and we\nwere taking Uber and we were refused by the Uber driver. And just to see how that whole process\nplayed out with Uber, I won't go into the details about it, because there was a lot of stuff around it.\nBut just really going over, and I think it was helpful just being at the meeting to really get an\nunderstanding about when situations like that do come up, when it is blatant discrimination, what\nyour rights are, and how you deal with the discrimination without it being a long drawn out process.\nSo, that was one of the things.\nLa Donna Franco: My thoughts about that workshop as well, that was a very poignant one for me\nas well. And just noting the two questions, particularly for businesses to ask individuals with\ndisabilities about their service animal, \"Is this animal required because of a disability?\" And, \"What\nwork or task has this animal been trained to perform?\" Being the only two questions that they are\nallowed to ask. And when it's presented, or asked out of the spirit of respect and civility, those are\nrelevant questions, I think, and should be applied. I think the difficulties come when there's the\nconfusion on what rights we do have, how much information is confidential. And a person's medical\ncondition is confidential, it is not informed with the knowledge, or a business does not need to\nknow that. So I think having these two questions on hand for businesses for individuals are very,\nvery important.\nArnold Brillinger: I would like to thank Kerry, because she's the one who figured out that the city\ncould send four people to this conference and pay for it. Because I was going to go by myself\nOr\nnot by myself, but as a single person, to find out what was going on. But thank you, Kerry, for\ndoing that. And we need to remember that if there are things that come up, there is some money in\nthe budget for educational, right?\nKerry Parker: Right, education and conferences. Very specific and has something to do with the\nOr r business license. And it is set aside for education, as I understand it. That is the interpretation\nthat\nwhat the fund is used for right now. Conferences like that. I don't know that we would be able\nPage 10", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 11, "text": "to put people up in hotels or that sort of thing, but we can certainly get the fees to get the folks out.\nAnd we should note this for next year. Or if you want to go next year, we can set that up early and\nget everything ready to go. We did it kind of last minute this time, but it worked out just fine.\nAnto Aghapekian: After two days of really good fun, waking up early in the morning and hopping\non the ferry boat, and going to a conference, that was fun. But more fun was all the resources that\nwere available during the two days, I was amazed how much knowledge was being distributed that\nday, or during those two days. The one that struck me the most was when they spoke about the civil\nrights, and how important it was that we do consider Title 13 to be not only an ordinance, but it is\npart of our civil rights, it's part of our Constitution. And that struck me very, very strongly, and I'm\nglad that it did, it was a wakeup call. But the rest was just a revision of the standards, architectural\ncodes, and the guidelines, it was just a revision, a refresher. But also it reminded me that there are\nmany confusing guidelines between Federal, the State and the local ordinances, each one has its\nown definition, and its own guidelines. So, I would call it a moving target, you're guessing,\nbasically, which code to comply with. So it is difficult to navigate that.\nAnto Aghapekian: But other than that, it was very educational, it was captivating, there were some\nconferences that were happening at the same time and we jumped going back and forth between the\nconferences, listening 10 minutes here to 10 minutes there, just to pick up as to what was going on.\nIt was fascinating, and I hope that they'll have it again, and I would love to go, and encourage the\nother Commissioner also to go, it was very educational.\nElizabeth Kenny: Thank you very much.\nLa Donna Franco: Excuse me, Commissioner Kenny, if I can just add one more thing and maybe\npropose something to the Commission. As far as the service animal workshop goes, there was so\nmuch information, I was thinking and wanted to propose to the Commission if inviting a\nrepresentative from the ADA, Pacific ADA Center, to speak on service animals with a brief\npresentation, and make that more accessible to Alameda businesses at large?\nElizabeth Kenny: I think that would be a great idea, and we can look into that. Currently our\nDecember meeting agenda is pretty full, we're going to be discussing emergency preparedness. We\nhave several different presenters. So it would be great to set it up for the February meeting.\nLa Donna Franco: Thank you.\nTony Lewis: I just wanted to mention along with that emergency preparedness, and I don't know\nwho the person is that's speaking, but we did have a person from Sacramento who spoke on\nemergency preparedness, and how many cities, counties have emergency preparedness plans that\ninclude people with disabilities. And I'm not sure if that's\nKerry Parker: Tony, I wonder what they want to speak to us about. Public Works wishes to have\nSharon Oliver from the Fire Department, and she's our Disaster Preparedness Director, er, I can't\nremember what her title is, but it's something like that, she wants to come and speak with the\nCommission about that very thing. Sorry to interrupt you.\nTony Lewis: Okay. Yes, well I'm just saying that on a State level, this person was outlining what\nwas required in terms of emergency preparedness for people with disabilities. So I don't know if\nPage 11", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 12, "text": "that would be relevant or not, maybe she's going to be covering that and it wouldn't be necessary.\nBut that was also a person who was at one of the workshops, at our meeting.\nElizabeth Kenny: Great. I would love to see the State stuff, what is required.\nTony Lewis: Okay, I'll get you his information I stole off his card.\nElizabeth Kenny: So if that concludes the highlights of the ADA conference, I'd like to move on to\nold business, and Item 5A, discuss Universal Design Ordinance update.\n5-A\nDiscuss Universal Design Ordinance update (Chair Kenny)\nKerry Parker: Chair Kenny, I would like to say for the record that we have a new attachment that\nhas been since this agenda was posted, although it's now on the city website, if should you look at\nthe agenda for tonight, and it a 5A public comment, which is a letter from a developer regarding the\nUniversal Design Ordinance as it is written right now. Just want to add that.\nElizabeth Kenny: Thank you. I believe we also have public comment in person on this agenda\nitem. Okay, so to give you all an update, you received along with your agenda the current proposed\nAlameda Universal Design Ordinance, and some accessibility charts that Commissioner Brillinger\nfound for us, which really helped me understanding the difference between Universal Design and\nvisitability. And that's important for our Universal Design Ordinance, because we are asking for\nthere to be visitability requirements within Universal Design Ordinance, and we're asking for those\nto be a 100% across the board.\nElizabeth Kenny: So in this chart, the things in blue, the first three items, that is all that's required\nto make the visitability standard. And the visitability movement came out of Atlanta, and it's the\nidea that people should be able to visit their friends, they should be able to Even if they're\nnot\nliving in a house, they should at least be able to come over and visit with their friends. So that they\nhave no step entrance. The doorway is wide enough for them to get in, and there's an accessible\nbathroom for them to go there. So that's the three requirements of visitability. Now if you continue\ndown, there was a part of Universal Design, but Universal Design encompasses all the other aspects\non the chart as well. So the other aspects, we have been asking that 30% of all new developments,\nresidential developments with five or more units meet the Universal Design requirements. The\nPlanning Department has suggested 20% and carving out a special exemption for townhouses,\nbecause they are working on limited amount of floor space, but we are not in agreement on that\nissue.\nElizabeth Kenny: I think that we would like to see that for all residential developments, and with\nthe idea that we've also asked for some sort of reporting mechanism in the ordinance, so that the\ncity can see whether this is something that we should be doing for all projects, all residential\nprojects, and not just new construction. But that is something that we want to have assessed and\nlook at down further down the road once we have the Universal Design Ordinance in place. The\nPlanning Board met on Monday night to look at the Universal Design Ordinance, and they also had\nthe letter that Kerry was speaking about from a developer who raises concerns about the ordinance\nbeing overreaching, and going beyond what the State model has asked for. And that's nothing that\nwe weren't aware of, we knew that we wanted to ask for more than what the State minimum was.\nPage 12", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 13, "text": "Elizabeth Kenny: And so I know it's going to be reviewed by the City Attorney's Office, but I think\nthe next step to have happen is that there will be another draft. Andrew Thomas has said that we\nshould expect it in about two to three weeks, after he met with the Planning Board. And he's hoping\nthat we can have it approved by the Commission on Disability Issues, and in the Planning Board\nbefore the end of the year, with the idea that first meeting of the new year, we'd get it before City\nCouncil. I hope that that's the actual timeline, but I'm not 100% sure that we'll be able to meet that.\nSo I guess if anyone has any questions or comments. Did any other Commissioners have anything\nthey'd like to say at this point?\nSusan T. Deutsch: Well, I mean I read this letter, and it seems like the objections of this I guess\nit's a construction company, it's related to the cost of what we're proposing that it would cost too\nmuch. But in this letter, they don't really specify what items we are requesting, cost. So I really feel\nlike we need more information. I mean he's just saying, \"We're overreaching. It's going to cost too\nmuch.\" And we kind of expected that response, but we really need to know, well what is it that's\ncosting too much? So that we can figure out what should we be demanding? What can we pull back\non? Or, should we push through what we want?\nElizabeth Kenny: I believe we have a public comment on this agenda item.\nKerry Parker: Chair Audrey Lord-Hausman would like to make a comment which she will do\nfrom the seat across from me.\nAudrey Lord-Hausman: Thank you. Having been a part of the work group for a number of years, I\ndo have a couple of comments. I agree with Commissioner Deutsch, who was also in the beginning.\nWe don't want to do just the basic requirements, if Alameda wants to lead and show the county what\ncan be done on behalf of persons who need Universal Design and accessibility and visibility, then\nlet's overreach, let's go beyond the basics. One of the things that I saw in here was It's on page\ntwo, on the first paragraph, it says that, \"There is a requirement for California builders constructing\nnew for sale residential units to provide a check list of universal accessibility features to potential\nbuyers.\" Well, I think we've discussed this before, I've been to two developments in Alameda, went\nto the sales departments, they looked at me blankly, there was nothing there available to guide me\nas to any accessibility features. So right there, I think that sort of tells me that there's a lot of\nimprovement that could be done by developers working together with the city. I think there was\nlast\nNot last year, this year, this spring, a gentleman came and spoke to us from the Oakland\nDisability Commission, Aaron Zisser?\nSusan T. Deutsch: Yes.\nAudrey Lord-Hausman: He was very, very knowledgeable, and it seems to me we're certainly\ngoing to go back to the table. And I think I would recommend that maybe it would be of value to\ninvite him to counsel the Commission and the workgroup as to how to make this work as efficiently\nas possible. But clearly there's more to do, and I agree with Susan, then if it is more costly, I'd like\nto know what, I'd like a list, what is it? And if this ordinance \"conflicts with State law\" then I'd like\nto know what that is and encourage the Commission to ask some pretty strong questions. Thank\nyou.\nElizabeth Kenny: Thank you.\nPage | 13", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 14, "text": "Anto Aghapekian: I was part of the working committee, working on the guidelines of the\nUniversal Design. And for me, this letter is a classic letter, it's a typical letter of a developer who is\npushing back. And developers in the construction trade in general, they've been doing nothing but\npushing back since 1973, this is nothing new. And they'll keep on pushing back until they do realize\nthat they themselves are in need of a wheelchair, or a cane, or something. What we're asking is the\nresult of many, many, many hours that people prior to my participation in that working committee\nhave put in many hours working, and analyzing and studying all the statistics, the numbers, the\nneed, and that's particularly for Alameda, it's not for the State of California. We, in Alameda, we\nfeel the need of more housing that is accessible for people that have difficulties being up one step.\nAnto Aghapekian: What we're asking is nothing extraordinary, what we're asking is the facility for\npeople who visit friends, visit families, and be part of this city, be part of the family, instead of\nbeing neglected, which they had been for a long, long time. So I agree, Beth, we need to study this.\nAnd the letter, and I'm not surprised, an attorney has to study this, it's all legalese. And I'm in no\nrush, I would like to see this done a soon as possible, but I will not accommodate some developers\nschedule so that we pass this ordinance by January. I mean, why January? Why not February? Why\nnot March? Why not December? So, I'm not too keen on setting a date, a deadline to finish this off.\nArnold Brillinger: This letter itself talks a lot about apartment buildings. Apartment buildings don't\neven have these problems, they are accessible just by the fact that they are apartments. And I do not\nthink that the person who wrote this letter really has that much knowledge of building expertise as\nmaybe the people in the Planning Board, or maybe Andrew. Even what we've learned from him tells\nme here, this person is just kind of blowing smoke. And I don't think that we should feel that we\nneed to back down on anything, and maybe we even need to make some of the things stronger, and\nwe shall see.\nAnto Aghapekian: And I would also like to add that during the meetings, it became very obvious\nfrom the numbers that the city itself has prepared that there is a demand for housing that's\naccessible. The demand is there, the numbers, the facts are not provided to us by the city. So if the\ndemand is there and people are looking for it, why not supply? And we're not begging.\nArnold Brillinger: Also, now Audrey mentioned that they kind of look like deer in the headlights\nor something, right? When you asked him about what kinds of things are you offering. I also went\nand they gave me a couple of sheets that looked like were run off on the old mimeograph machine.\nArnold Brillinger: Even if you give that out to people, they're not going to even look at it twice.\nAnd it needs to be some kind of a nice fancy brochure, a slick brochure to hand out to people. But\nas it is, when this person talks about the State, what they suggest, that's the bare minimum. Again,\nwe do not want to be the bare minimum. We are not Omaha, Nebraska, or something like that, they\ncan just keep on ploughing under the cornfields outside of the city limits and make them into\nhousing. When we build these houses out there on the Naval Air Station, after that where do you\nhave a space large enough to put up more than a couple of houses at one time? You don't have it.\nAnd if Alameda doesn't have visitable or accessible housing, at least for some of their buildings,\nwhich would be 100% of all the new ones, then you will just have a city that is basically\nunvisitable, and have grandma come over and enjoy Christmas afternoon with them, if she's in a\nwheelchair. There're so many different things. I know we don't have the time for it.\nElizabeth Kenny: We do have an additional public comment. Carol Gottstein?\nPage 14", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 15, "text": "Carol Gottstein: Hi, I'm Carol Gottstein The way I have to speak, avoid the feedback and still be\nheard. I was asked by a member of the Planning Board to comment on the Universal Design\nOrdinance. And unbeknownst to me, but fortunately last night at the Planning Board, an architect, a\nman who designed Shinsei Gardens, his name is Eric Mikiten and he is in a wheelchair, and he is an\nAIA architect. He will be designing the access to, I think it's called Building 8 out at the base. And\nhe came to speak on elements of Universal Design, and specifically compared the proposed draft\nordinance of Alameda to the existing ordinances of Fremont, Dublin, Hayward, Sacramento because\na lot of it's borrowed from pre-existing ordinances. There's some problems with our ordinance\nirrespective of the letter that was submitted so it still needs some work.\nCarol Gottstein: One thing I noticed, and that this architect also remarked on, is that the builder of\nthe residence has an obligation to offer and to offer to install Universal Design features, but the\nbuyer has to pay for them. So you could conceivably have people with the identical disability, but\none of them could afford the design features, and one of them couldn't. And that seems a little\nlacking in the social justice department, to me. I don't know how to get around it, but it's actually\npopped up in some of the other existing city Universal Design Ordinances that are already on the\nbooks. In ours, it's Section 18.7 on page 506. The letter that we have received is from Tim Lewis\nCommunities, they're the developer that's building the Del Monte development. And I can\nunderstand why that company would object, because they're trying to fit a certain number of units,\nbasically the maximum number, in an already confined space, they can't go outside the brick walls\nof the Del Monte Cannery.\nCarol Gottstein: So, if you require that entrances be wider and aisles be wider, they're going to\nhave to give up some of the units they've already planned to put in the same space. Anyway, if\nyou're thinking of having a speaker come, I would really encourage you to invite this Erick Mikiten,\nwho has an architecture firm in Berkeley, because he was great. Thanks.\nElizabeth Kenny: Thank you. In our Joint Subcommittee meetings, we did discuss Section 18.7\nbeing problematic, and just unclear. So thank you, and I agree. Have any other comments on this\nagenda item?\nSusan T. Deutsch: Well, it's just, when we first started this committee, and working on Universal\nDesign, somebody else came and spoke to us. And it was somebody who Kelly knew, and she\npresented the concept of Universal Design. And she also, pretty clear, that it doesn't cost more to\nbuild homes or units with Universal Design. And I'd like to try to find her input. Because she was\ngiving examples of other cities that have done it. And they really had very good design ordinances.\nI'd like to try to find out.\nElizabeth Kenny: Great, yes. We can definitely get in touch with former Commissioner Harp, find\nwho has contact information.\nSusan T. Deutsch: Yes. And I might have the contact information, too.\nElizabeth Kenny: So I think that concludes old business. And we're going into staff\ncommunications.\n6.\nSTAFF COMMUNICATIONS\nPage | 15", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 16, "text": "Kerry Parker: As I have shared with you a couple of times regarding the minutes, that was\nimportant to staff. For the next meeting, Gail Payne has asked to come back and speak about the\ntransportation item that she brought before you last June. She wants to come back and let everyone\nknow how the analysis has gone. And then, as I said earlier, the Public Works Director is asking to\nbring an item to the CDI agenda, because the Emergency Operations Center that is being built in\nmid-Island is really looking like a building now. And he's wanting Sharon Oliver to talk about\nemergency preparedness as it relates to the disabled community in Alameda, and how to organize\nthat better than it is right now, to address the need. So that's kind of what staff is looking at. We\ndefinitely have the December meeting stacked with those two large items. But yes, regarding\nagendas for meetings, I'm still open to hearing ideas. Beth and I kind of discuss them before we set\nthem, but if you have any suggestions, email Beth and I for agenda items.\nElizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Kerry.\n7.\nANNOUNCEMENTS\nElizabeth Kenny: I would like to let everybody know that this is National Disability Employment\nAwareness Month, and the city will be doing a proclamation at the next City Council meeting,\nwhich is next Tuesday night. I will be here to receive the proclamation, but all are welcome to\nattend. And if you have a chance, you should really check out the National Disability Employment\nAwareness Month website. They have some really great resources and information on there. I\nbelieve Lisa Hall had an announcement.\nLisa Hall: Thank you. As Tony brought up, I picked up this There is a project seminar awareness\nput on at Will C. Wood School. It's sponsored by the Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific-\nIslander Disability Awareness Project. And it's on Saturday, October 22nd, from 10:00 to 2:00. And\nmaking their logo, Making the Invisible Visible, Breaking the Stigma. So I was planning on going.\nLa Donna Franco: I will see you there as well, I plan on going.\nElizabeth Kenny: Great. And is there any other announcements that people would like to make?\nTony Lewis: Yes. I just want to just reiterate the additional proclamation about White Cane Day. I\nknow that we can't do it Well, my understanding is, we can't do it, but there is a standard\nproclamation that does come out, and I think I forwarded it to you, Beth, the information about\nWhite Cane Day. And the significance of that is it came out of the Veterans Administration, and\nthat's a major proclamation that came about in 1964 and its gained traction under the Obama\nadministration. And many cities have issued this proclamation. And I would certainly like to see it\nbecome a standard in Alameda, that we have the proclamation declared, since it is something that\nhas been changed for blind specifically, and is a standard in most cities, in San Francisco, Berkeley,\nSacramento and other cities. The date is October 15th, and I'd like to see that become a regular\nstatement in Alameda. So, probably can't happen this year, but just something to keep in mind that\nmaybe we can send it out for everybody to see, maybe it's something that we'd like to make happen\nnext year.\nKerry Parker: And that's something we can definitely organize on the staff level. I was just given\na\ncalendar today of how far in advance I need to set an item on the council agenda, and that's about a\nPage 16", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 17, "text": "month and a half. So if we can get something organized next year, let's even say it's in August, and\nyou send me an email, we can get a proclamation drawn up. We can take the model that you have,\nand we can make it into something that perhaps can get on the council agenda for next October\n15th. I'm totally open to that. We just need to have a little bit more planning time.\nElizabeth Kenny: Great. Yes, I think it would be wonderful, I definitely think the city would be\nopen to having a proclamation for White Cane Day.\nKerry Parker: Yes.\nElizabeth Kenny: Great. So are there any other announcements?\nArnold Brillinger: I received an email the other day, I don't know if all of you did or not, about\nBART is showing some of their new cars from the Fleet of the Future, and it is on the weekend of\nthe 15th and 16th, also on the 29th and 30th. The four different places here in the East Bay, one of\nthem is at the MacArthur Station on the 16th, from 11:00 to 4:00. And it's a good idea to go up there\nand see what the new BART cars look like. They've got three doors. They would like to have input\nfrom all kinds of people, as they already have, but as much feedback as possible is appreciated, and\nespecially from the disabled community. That would be great.\nElizabeth Kenny: Yes, I have heard some concerns from the disabled community regarding these,\nso it would be nice to be able to check them out in person. Thank you.\nTony Lewis: Where is it going to be this weekend, Arnold?\nArnold Brillinger: This weekend, I think that on Saturday, it's at Pleasant Hill. On Sunday, it's at\nthe MacArthur Station. And then there's also one on the weekend of the 29th and 30th, there is one\nin Dublin/Pleasanton area. In fact, how about if I just forward the email to all the Commissioners?\nAlright?\nElizabeth Kenny: Alright.\nArnold Brillinger: And then if you see a date in there that you want to go and check them out, it's\nreally interesting to go out to see them.\nKerry Parker: You can forward it to me and I'd be happy to forward it to the listserv.\nArnold Brillinger: Oh, that's what I'll do. Kerry, I'll send it to you and then\nKerry Parker: Forward it on.\nArnold Brillinger: Yes.\nElizabeth Kenny: Great, thank you. Does anyone else have an announcement? Great. Then I think\nwe are ready to adjourn this meeting. Thank you all very much.\n8.\nADJOURNMENT\nThe meeting adjourned at 8:12 p.m.\nPage | 17", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}
{"body": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities", "date": "2016-10-12", "page": 18, "text": "Respectfully submitted,\nKerry Parker\nCity Staff Liaison\nCommission on Disability Issues\nPage | 18", "path": "CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-10-12.pdf"}