pages
22 rows where "date" is on date 2016-12-14 sorted by date
This data as json, CSV (advanced)
Link | body | date ▼ | page | text | path |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,1 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 1 | COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ISSUES MEETING MINUTES OF Wednesday, December 14, 2016 6:30 p.m. 1. ROLL CALL Elizabeth Kenny: Call to order, the meeting of this Commission on Disability Issues for December 14th, 2016. Kerry Parker: Roll call. Chair Kenny? Elizabeth Kenny: Here. Kerry Parker: Vice-Chair Brillinger? Arnold Brillinger: Here. Kerry Parker: Commissioner Aghapekian? Commissioner Deutsch? Susan Deutsch: Here. Kerry Parker: Commissioner Franco? Commissioner Hall? Lisa Hall: Here. Kerry Parker: Commissioner Lewis? Commissioner Linton? Jennifer Linton: Here. Kerry Parker: And Commissioner Tsztoo? Michaela Tsztoo: Here. Kerry Parker: We have six present. We have a quorum. 2. MINUTES Elizabeth Kenny: So the first item on our agenda is approval of the minutes from October 12th, 2016 meeting. Did anyone have any corrections they wanted to make? I looked through it and, again, I'm happy with the service. I think we should keep using it. Kerry Parker: Excellent. Public Works is very happy to hear that. Elizabeth Kenny: Alright, so can we vote to approve the minutes from October 12th, 2016? Arnold Brillinger: I so move. Susan Deutsch: I second. Elizabeth Kenny: Alright. All in favor? | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,2 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 2 | All: Aye. Elizabeth Kenny: All opposed? Great. Six to zero. Now we have oral communication on non-agenda items for public comment. 3. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT) Kerry Parker: We don't have any speaker slips for this. Oh, and I would like everyone to know there are speaker slips if you want to speak on any of these items. So we can move on to new business. 4. NEW BUSINESS Elizabeth Kenny: First up, we're going to have Captain Sharon Oliver discuss the Alameda Fire Department's Disaster Response Planning. Welcome. Thank you for coming. Sharon Oliver: My name's Captain Sharon Oliver. I'm with the Alameda Fire Department here in town. I have been with the city for 22-plus years. I am currently assigned as the city's Disaster Preparedness Coordinator and Emergency Manager for the city. So what that means is I do planning for the city. I coordinate the planning; I train city staff; I manage the Community Emergency Response Team training, and the broader group that volunteers with us. I work with partner agencies such as yourselves, and I do a lot of sundry things throughout our department that pop up; I seem to get whatever rolls downhill. Sharon Oliver: We're going to talk about preparation planning and resiliency. What we look at in the city as a whole community resiliency. I put up a definition of what resilience means because it actually kind of embodies what we're trying to do here. So I'll just read it aloud. "Resiliency is a noun, the power or ability to return to original form position, etcetera, after being bent, compressed, or stretched. Elasticity, the ability to recover readily from adversity, or the like. And buoyancy." Sharon Oliver: That's the point when we look at being prepared for disaster or anything that comes our way, is that's something unusual, it's not part of our daily activities but we are able to spring back up. The city wants to be able to spring back up. We want to just stand right back up and get back to our normal business operation as soon as we can. That means you c… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,3 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 3 | place. When we look at planning, we look at a few things. We look at our plan in the city which helps us operate in a disaster, gives us guidance or what we're going to do and how we going to handle a disaster. We also look for continuity of operation within the city. That's making sure all our staff comes back to work and we're able to continue to conduct business as a city. Then we looked at shelter planning for disasters, and this is really a key component. As you probably know, there's a lot of laws and rules around functional needs individuals and it's really important. Sharon Oliver: We have learned throughout the United States that we need to be inclusive. That means everybody, no matter what language you speak, what color you are, what kind of need do you have, we need to provide for that. That and our pets, so we also include our pets, it's like our whole community. When we look at shelter planning, the functional needs community is a diverse group all in itself, because you can't say functional needs as you know and one size will fit all. It does not. First of all, we hope that we don't even have to move you from your home, but if we do, we have to have a place where your needs are met. Access for wheelchairs, cots that you can sleep on, we just talked about braille as I was walking in so that we can sign properly SO that you can get in and get out without heartaches. That's part of our planning processes as well. Sharon Oliver: And then once we get these plans in place, and I mentioned sheltering because sheltering is a big deal for us. We have old infrastructure and old buildings, they're not all entirely accessible. We work towards accessibility, we have policies in place for accessibility, but older buildings don't always come up to code because they haven't need re-building or remodeling yet. If you do a remodel, you have to bring things up to code. If you build a new building, you have to build to code, but we're an old city. When we plan, we have to look at what are all our options for sheltering… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,14 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 14 | sometimes places where we could put benches, so that's one thing we're looking at. Actually, an intern is looking at that right now. Transportation awareness campaigns, what we've heard is, is a lot of options, yet people just don't understand what's all out there. Just getting the word out better and in various languages in different ways and getting the word out about how you could change your travel patterns. Gail Payne: There's this concept of vision zero and we plan on rolling that out and what that means is, it's a way of thinking and prioritizing projects that it really focuses on safety. Looking at where there's some severe injuries and fatal collisions is really looking at how we could improve that intersection or that corridor so that those types of collisions don't happen anymore in our community. We are lucky that we only have 25 miles per hour speed limit on most of our streets, and so we are a community with fewer severe injuries and fatalities, yet we want to even reduce it to zero as this policy states. Gail Payne: And then for the mid-term projects. The ones that I thought would be most interesting are these: one idea is this bus queue jump lanes, and that's from a complaint that the bus is so slow. How can we get the bus to be faster than people driving alone? Just have it jump the queue in various places when it can. We found a few places in town where it could do that. So focusing on making buses faster. In general, we also heard that it would be great to have transit more frequent. That's true for ferry service. That's true for Transbay buses, local buses, so that's a big push there. Gail Payne: We also have heard a big interest in using our water more efficiently. The estuary, we're an island right off Oakland, so how could we maybe have a water shuttle system, better use of that with the new developments along northern waterfront? I also think it's interesting too is we have this autonomous driverless vehicle policy and implementation and how we can work towards having those driverless vehi… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,15 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 15 | event. And so do we look at replacing it before a seismic event, make it a stronger structure? That's the idea here, is that tube's redesign and if we redesigned it, it would have a dedicated bus lane, we'd consider that, a dedicated bike way, a dedicated walkway that's all best practices. Gail Payne: Unfortunately, the bike pedestrian bridge, there are constraints because of the US Coast Guard, they have requirements. They don't even want to see a drawbridge. And if it were by drawbridge, it would cost about $1.5 million to operate, because it needs to be staffed. So that's a little bit of cost prohibitive, in my eyes, being that here we have the tubes that might need to be redesigned and replaced, because they're not seismically fit. So we just need to prioritize as a community, and that's where we're at. I think that's it. We have discussions. What we're looking for is, what do you think about the projects? I know I went over them real quick and not all of them. What do you think about the projects? Are there other ones that you'd like to see? Are there some that you'd like us to prioritize? That's what we'd love to hear from you tonight about. We'll be going to the City Council to seek their comments as well on January 17th. Thank you. Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you very much. I have a few questions or comments. Under the near-term projects, one of them is transit signal priority and adaptive traffic sign control. Can you talk a little bit about that? Is that adaptive signs or it just the traffic sign itself? Gail Payne: It's just the traffic signal. What that is, is extending the green time for when a bus is approaching an intersection, and say it's yellow, they can press a button and get to the intersection. Or it's green, so it just allows them to reduce their delays a little bit and prioritize their operation. And then the adaptive traffic signals do a better job of understanding real time dynamics of what's going on in a street. I think we've all been frustrated waiting at an intersection and the traffic sig… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,16 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 16 | Elizabeth Kenny: Alright. Do any other Commissioners have questions or comments? Michaela Tsztoo: I do. Elizabeth Kenny: Commissioner Tsztoo. Go ahead, Michaela. Michaela Tsztoo: Okay, I'm totally blind, and I hate to compare, but I kind of have to. I notice when I'm in San Francisco, their talking signal lights are much louder in the volume than ours in Alameda. I don't know if it's because of budget cuts or money, but I can hear a lot better. Like when they say, "Cross", you know, "Fourth street," and it's much louder and sounds easier to hear and understand, whereas ours because of the traffic flow, I had to lean over to hear the button or push it again and pound it because I'm so frustrated, because I'm trying to listen to see when it's safe for me to cross with my guide dog or with my cane. And I kind of wish that Alameda can use San Francisco as an example and use some of the things that they have. They're very technology savvy it seems like. Gail Payne: What would be most helpful is if you could tell us the exact intersections where you're having problems. It doesn't have to be now, but if you could give me that email or call me or something, because our challenge as a community is we are such a heavy on residential units that most intersections are near a resident. I haven't heard the complaint you've said before, but the more frequent complaints we have is they're too loud, because the ambient noise, because it carries to the adjacent homes, which is understandable. What we try to do is to have balance the needs of everyone. What would be most helpful is to know the ones where you're having problems. We can do it on a case-by case-basis and work with the adjacent community members. Michaela Tsztoo: Robert Davey Jr. Drive, that one in Park Street. And there's probably a lot of other ones, but I don't go out a lot across the different streets. I just notice by just hearing. Gail Payne: Robert Davey Jr. Drive and what's the Michaela Tsztoo: That's the Bay Farm Island. Gail Payne: But what's the intersection… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,17 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 17 | Gail Payne: Okay, that's great to know. Thank you. Michaela Tsztoo: And all of you guys should put them in all over the city, not just some spots. Gail Payne: Great. That's our plan. It's in our pedestrian plan. Michaela Tsztoo: Because if I don't have assistance then I depend on that heavily. Gail Payne: It's in our pedestrian plan just so you know, for all the signals to have accessible pedestrian signals. It would be helpful to know where you're most needing them because what we have trouble with sometimes is where to prioritize them with our limited time and money. We recently put some in near bus stops. I don't know if you saw that. There's nine around, more than there used to be, like Grand and Otis because it's next to a bus stop. I think Central and Oak has one now because of that, near buses. So let us know what's not working and it's easier for us to prioritize. Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you. I did have one other question. What is the plan for addressing the development that's going to be going on out at the Point, and how that will impact the transit plan? You've mentioned about the ferry terminals and stuff. I believe I heard something about the new developments coming with transportation passes. Gail Payne: The one that you're describing, Alameda Point. There's different developments, so each new development that's been approved has transportation requirements. They are required to pay the residents who move in an annual fee, that's a transportation mitigation fee and that pays for more transportation services. Like they all will obtain these easy passes, these bus passes that allows them to get on easily and use buses or transit. In Alameda Point it's actually not only buses, but ferries. So everyone who moves in will automatically get them. It's free, so they might as well use it, gives them incentive not to drive. That's just an example, but there's of requirements, transportation requirements on these new developments. That's just one of them. And so we are working in collaboration with the new deve… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,18 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 18 | Where do we get our BB and measure B monies from? Gail Payne: The Alameda County Transportation Commission. Arnold Brillinger: Through those guys because I've been to some of their meetings and they say, "Well, yes. Alameda's going to meet the quota," and all that kind of stuff. But we could really, if we had it going at the right times, the right places, really make it efficient. I've been on some of the other ones. I've been on the Emery Go-Round. I've been on the Lynx in St. Andrew. I've got a lot of time to go and investigate all these things. Some of these give me some ideas of things that we can do here. Gail Payne: Okay. So you've already given great ideas, which is why we actually switched our routes because of your ideas. So once she gets on board, I think you two should discuss and she'll have more time to really delve into it than here. Arnold Brillinger: Sure. Gail Payne: She'll be working three days a week there. Yes. Elizabeth Kenny: Great. Thank you very much, Gail. Gail Payne: Thank you. Elizabeth Kenny: Great information to get. I don't believe we have any public comment. Oh, we do. Alright, we do have one public comment. Doyle Saylor, please. Doyle Saylor: Hi, I hope everybody can hear me. It's Doyle Saylor with Renewed Hope, which is a non-profit organized around affordable housing. So three things. One is the Commissioner was mentioning the audible signals. That's signage. Signage covers a lot of things and it can be a very important issue in terms of accessibility for people with disabilities. Uber has been barred in some cities because their robot cars go through red lights. But the big issue for people with disabilities is Paratransit. You use Paratransit. It's very slow, it's unreliable. Many people are made to wait hours to get their Paratransit. If the city is serious about doing multi-model transportation, it should really address the poor quality of Paratransit which is what people with disabilities use. I just think the Commissioner is really right to bring that up. There's a lot of w… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,19 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 19 | book a trip a day ahead of time, that they more easily would be able to call and get a ride in 10 minutes or something. I think that's maybe where we're headed but we're just not there yet. One of the reasons why we're not there yet is they're working on, especially Lyft, on how to have wheelchair accessible vehicles and they do have some partnerships that they're experimenting with, yet it's not totally resolved at this point. We're just waiting and listening and monitoring. Doyle Saylor: I had a question about the AC Transit buses and their accessibility. I haven't gone out on a bus in a long time, but I know in the past, a lot of people have complained that the AC Transit buses that have the lifts on the buses break down and then the bus cannot take wheelchairs. So I'm just wondering if that is still the case and is this something that we need to work with AC Transit on? Gail Payne: I really don't know about that, but I have not heard that complaint a lot. Doyle Saylor: Oh, okay. Gail Payne: But that might not be because Elizabeth Kenny: Okay. I'm sorry, can we just Let one person talk at a time and Ms. Payne has the floor right now. Gail Payne: Thank you. It might be because those complaints go directly to AC Transit, and so that's why it's really great for me to come here, because then I can better understand from a community member perspective. I can just ask them about the wheelchair lifts and complaints received and see if we need to resolve something. I know they're actively working on purchasing some newer buses, and so hopefully that will resolve as they do a better job of replacing their buses. Arnold Brillinger: Could I talk about AC Transit for just a moment? I just recently, in the last four to six months, started using AC Transit here from Alameda to the other side of Richmond to downtown Fremont and all kinds of places. First of all, they have got ramps now that flap out, and then you drive your wheelchair up. Second, I want to give kudos to AC Transit because of what I call "AC Transit culture".… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,20 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 20 | went back to driving my car, it means that this has been going on for 10 years. If our transportation coordinators were spending half as much time as they are on bike lanes and streamlining those kinds of modes of transportation to just getting Paratransit to working the way it supposed to work, that would be great, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of outreach. Measure BB is my property taxes, I believe, I'm paying for this, it's not coming out of the sky. I would really like somebody to work on the Paratransit better. Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you. Gail Payne: And just to respond to that, you're speaking of the East Bay Paratransit, so that's a separate entity than the city, and that's why I'm not spending my time on it. Beth Kenny: I'd like to thank you again, Gail, for another informative presentation and I think that concludes our old business. Up next, we have Staff Communication. 6. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS Kerry Parker: So, yesterday I updated the website for the Commission on Disability Issues meeting for 2017, given the formula that we have of on the even months, we meet on the second Wednesdays at 6:30 PM, except August because Counsel Chambers is dark in August. So, the meetings for this next year is slated for these dates: February 8th, April 12th, June 14th, October 11th and December 13th. I just posted all of those today. What is not yet scheduled is our extra meeting, our retreat, and that's something that we're probably going to look at, at our next meeting, because we'll put it on the agenda. It's not on the agenda for today, so we can't really make any decisions about it. Kerry Parker: Also for that February meeting, we already have a couple of items on the agenda. Gail mentioned one of them, the Paratransit program will be giving their annual update, and I expect we'll meet the new staff person at that meeting, very exciting. At the February meeting, we're going to vote for the Chair and the Vice Chair, because we do that annually. Be thinking about that. If the incumbents want to go again, if there… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,21 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 21 | Tam, on making the invisible visible. There was also a wonderful performance by the Dream Achievers. They're a trio of autistic young adult performers who engaged the audience to sing and dance. They were unbelievably wonderful. Lisa Hall: The panel discussion and workshop groups were informative and touching. The multitude of disabilities and challenges faced by many were vast, whether they were physical or mental. This was a learning experience and brought awareness of all the different programs out there, and different ideas that we all pool together. This was put together by a lot of hardworking group of volunteers, and it was attended by approximately 80 to 100 people, and it was wonderful. I was very graciously happy to be there and represent our city. Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you Commissioner Hall. Are there other announcements that you would like to make? Arnold Brillinger: Someone, when I asked if CIL was putting an office over in Alameda, somebody said yes. Could you tell us where? Elizabeth Kenny: I welcome you to contact the Center For Independent Living to get more information if you'd like. I believe they did come here about a year and a half ago and give us a brief presentation, so they're familiar with the Commission on Disability Issues. The final announcement that I have is for any Commissioners or members of the public who would like to join me on the task force for emergency preparedness for people with functional limitations, please contact Kerry before the end of the year. Kerry Parker: That'd be great. If we could just get a list together. Go ahead and email me, if I sent you an email about this meeting, it means you know how to contact me. Otherwise, it's fairly easy to find me on the website, I also have my business card here. Elizabeth Kenny: Great. Thank you. Kerry Parker: You're welcome. Elizabeth Kenny: No other announcements. I move that we adjourn for the night. Lisa Hall: I second. Arnold Brillinger: I'll say "aye", but I wanted to say, and this is like Michaela was talking, the way … | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,22 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 22 | 8. ADJOURNMENT Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you, Commissioner Brillinger. I'm going to again move for adjournment. Lisa Hall: I second. Elizabeth Kenny: All in favor. All: Aye. Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you for a great meeting. The meeting adjourned at 8:17 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kerry Parker City Staff Liaison Commission on Disability Issues | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,4 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 4 | community wasn't interested in giving out information like that. It was a scary thought to give information even to the city to do welfare checks because there was a trust issue, I believe. We never conquered that hurdle. Sharon Oliver: But it's very important to be able to network in a way that the community feels safe, your community feels safe and there's somebody to check on folks that need to be checked on. Welfare checks are important, having a plan for moving if you can't stay in your location, and that can mean a lot of different things. That might actually require paired transit or some other vehicle that's specialized and relocating. Having a plan to be able to stay in your home as best you can, having a welfare check, having some supplies of food, water, medicine, anything you need to keep you going, and then having a back-up plan where you might go if you cannot stay in your home. Sharon Oliver: What can you guys do? Well, you can be partners with the city in our planning effort. So you can attend trainings to learn personal preparedness, that would be great. You can make plans ahead, whatever that looks like for you. You can assemble a kit that you have in your home or your car. Water's super important. We can go a long time without food, but water's essential, SO having some in your vehicle, at your home, whatever you can keep, even a little is better than none. And then having your contact phone numbers at hand so that you can network. Networking, we encourage it in the general community and this community in particular. We know that if you have a mobility issue, you could get stuck in a room just because some books fell off the shelf. You're fine, you're not hurt, but you can't get out of that room and if you don't have a phone or something, you could literally be stuck in your own house for days and days. Some of these things, taking some preparedness efforts to make sure you're safe, and then having a network that says, "Hey, are you okay?" Call each other each day. Especially after a big event … | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,5 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 5 | for that. I printed quite a nice handout from FEMA and it's particularly helpful for your community. We can make more copies and get them from the website. This is specifically for the functional needs community, it's a little bit of a list. It's got some other tips and the one thing that was really quite interesting to me as I read through on the second page towards the bottom is the thing on managing finances if you're getting social security checks or anything else to make it really easy SO that you don't lose your income if we have a disaster and you can't get to the bank or do your regular banking. It's got some really informative tips. It does mention a registry program that I mentioned that has not taken flight in Alameda. But we're open. If you have ideas or suggestions, we're open. Sharon Oliver: I think that what we're really encouraging though is your partnership in planning and getting some training to the community that meets your needs. You're, of course, all welcome to come to our CERT training regardless of whether you think that you're ready to go out in your neighborhood. I think you would get a lot out of it. And we tailor it to anybody in the class. It's open to everyone, so you're welcome to come to that. We have not set up our schedule for 2017 yet, but we teach a 21-hour course four times during the year, so there's a lot of opportunity to take it. And it's free, and we love free. And that's paid for through grant funding that we get regularly every year. Elizabeth Kenny: Sharon, will you state again what CERT stands for? Sharon Oliver: Community Emergency Response Team. That's a FEMA program, so it's nationwide. You're welcome to come, and I would welcome you into the class. That's pretty much it for me. I'm open for questions, comments, whatever you'd like. Elizabeth Kenny: I'm going to start with the commission questions, and then we'll go to the public questions. Thank you for being here tonight. I've seen the efforts before of trying to create the registry, and we do have to come up wi… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,6 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 6 | Sharon Oliver: There's not an actual plan in place for that, not that there couldn't be. But we do recommend that you keep a - I say this, and I understand because I've been in classes where I say it's nice to have a little extra medication, and then people say, "But my insurance won't do that. They won't let me have an extra month." But if you can swing it in some fashion, if it won't go bad, it's nice to have the next month's supply and rotate it so that if something happens, you're not, "I have to fill it every week." Unless you have to fill it every week, and that's just the way it is. But it's nice to have extra on hand. And when we talk about preparedness, there's a lot of reasons why just to have extra on hand makes sense day-to-day. It's very stormy, or you don't feel good and you don't make the trip. There's other reasons to have some supplies on hand that's a little above and beyond just a few days so that you can be resilient all the time, not just when we have a big disaster. That's what we encourage. Elizabeth Kenny: I have one more question. Is there going to be mental health services available? Because, I imagine, people will be feeling strained during an emergency. Sharon Oliver: Yes, there are. We use Eaton Information and Referral. And I will tell you the East Bay has more services than any other county in the Bay Area. It's really fabulous. They're networked, and they're there for us, and we're going to be working with them very closely. In fact, we will feed them information, and they'll feed you information, and we'll go back and forth. We have a very strong partnership. But I just want to back up to the medication thing. So when we're talking about planning, if that's something important to your group, that's a place where we can plan. We can put agreements in place with the local pharmacies to say, "Hey, in a disaster, we would like you to service our population. If we have some folks who are really critical, we're going to ask you to service them and we're just going to get it done." Sharo… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,7 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 7 | Arnold Brillinger: It boils down to each individual making sure that they have it for their family or for their neighbors or whatever. I was just going to ask the question, because they change this number all the time. In Alameda, how long do you think that it could possibly be that a person could be waiting to see first responders? Sharon Oliver: We do a thing called 'triage' when we have a big disaster. Day to day when you call 911, they dispatch somebody right away. If every one of our units is out in Alameda, they send somebody from Oakland or Piedmont or Berkeley. They just keep reaching out, and it takes more time to drive, but they're dispatching somebody immediately from throughout Alameda County, and beyond if they need to. In a regional disaster when every city around us is impacted as well, that's when we run into trouble. So then we have to go to a situation where we're looking at the calls as they come in, and we're having to sort of make a choice about what's the worst call and where can we go next? It's sort of in the queue. So it could take a while, it really could! That's why we really encourage citizens to have a plan on their own, have a network, be able to help one another so that our resources can go to the most critical situations. The most critically injured, the fires. Sharon Oliver: If you look at our city, some of our houses are built inches apart, so we don't want a fire to burn all the way across town, so for us fire could be very, very important because it could burn right across town, which would then take away from some of our abilities to get right to a medical call. If we have a big regional disaster, it's going to be a big challenge for us, but if we plan appropriately and we have our network set up, there's other avenues, there's other folks who could help and get you to the hospital. Not to lie, it could really be a wait, and that's why we want to plan ahead. Arnold Brillinger: I was thinking in the regional disaster. Sharon Oliver: That's the one that's going to hurt us, yes. … | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,8 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 8 | Sharon Oliver: Yes. Susan Deutsch: In a big disaster the response could take a while. I worked in a school district that had evacuation chairs on the walls of the school so that when there was a disaster, people who worked in the school could actually get the students on to evacuation, take them down the stairs, because you couldn't use the elevator. So just thinking along those lines, doing this CERT training, people in the community, maybe they could learn how to assist people if they are in a wheelchair and that could be of help. Sharon Oliver: Yes. I would say that anybody can be trained, but some folks are heavy, and it takes a certain skill to understand how to effectively move somebody without hurting them. And then some people have issues that even takes more skill in moving them from wherever they are into one of those chairs. But that's not a bad idea. In fact, I see those chairs showing up places all over. Evacuation chairs hanging in a hallway, a few things like that. But moving people, I would say in our fire department, the things that hurts people in our department the most, is moving people. Somebody's fallen down in a precarious spot, and there's no room to lift properly. I wouldn't say that the average person couldn't do it, but it takes several people. It does pay to have a little bit of training, or you can actually hurt the person you're trying to rescue. Susan Deutsch: And hurt yourself! Sharon Oliver: And hurt yourself. So I would say we don't necessarily want you to leave your residence, if you have what you need, food, water and somebody to pick your books up off the floor. But honestly, you should have your bookcase secured to the wall so it doesn't tip. Those are some of the things you can do ahead to make your environment safer. Then we hope you can stay there. It's pretty disconcerting to leave your home, and shelters are not fun. They're important, we want them for people, we don't want anyone on the street, but it's not fun to be in an auditorium with a whole bunch of other people, … | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,9 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 9 | you guys to think about, that signage really is a big disability issue. It's relatively cheap to do, and it could have a big impact on everybody's lives here. Thank you. Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you very much. If you could just state your name into the mic when you talk. Thank you. JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko: Hi, my name is JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko, and I am a member of this community of disability people, and you brought up an amazing point that I had not really processed through. My disability is muscle spasms, and when I get really stressed, or the weather is cold, heat and ice are paramount to my quality of life and it never occurred to me that if the energy went out, where would I go? I would just panic at home. But going to the police department, fire department, the hospital to have that bit of information. I've been plagued with this for 20 years and it's just really vital to have that and so I appreciate that you provided that. And the other concern I have, when that information came out about providing information, being a person with a disability and wanting to have somebody know that I need help. Maybe some objectives on why are people afraid about providing that information. People pay for services that seniors and people that live by themselves that they pop a button and emergency, your calls are checked in. JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko: There's creative energy and there's got to be a way to overcome that obstacle, because yes, I was intimidated and even in my complex I've talked to you a few minutes ago. Ilive at the Willows, 201 units. There was a point where the office asked us to submit information about "In the time of an emergency, provide us with what you needed." And I didn't trust our management, so I did not submit my information. And there were some valid issues about why I didn't trust them, but as a society and a community, that bridge has to be made, because I need to know where I go. At that time, my husband worked the graveyard shift, so I was home by myself at night, he was sleeping, if anything ever h… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,10 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 10 | JoanAnn Radu-Sinaiko: Are. I'm here. I'm in between places. So I'm not going to be a good advocate. I was excited I got an email from Kerry reminding me about this tonight, that's why I'm even here because I totally forgot about it. It's great to see everybody and it's really important because there's a lot of people that don't feel that they're disabled and that they need the help because they're, "I can do it. I'm strong enough. I can figure this out." But when panic comes in, your brain just goes to water. It just melts and you don't know that until it happens, and then you don't know what to do. I've been there SO I understand that. I tried to anticipate but I never did ask a question further, "Where do I go?" So, thank you. Elizabeth Kenny: Thank you. Do we have any more comments or questions? Commissioner Brillinger? Arnold Brillinger: Yes, the Paratransit put together a booklet. Beth, if you could hold yours up. It has in it all kinds of things that you need to compile, so that when the big thing happens, the big disaster happens, you know first of all some of your information. You don't have to go hunting all over the place for it. It shows you what you need to put together so that you've got some supplies for yourself and maybe even that you would use this kind of a thing with your neighbors. I was wondering, does the fire department or does Alameda have anything like this? Sharon Oliver: There's a lot of people making lists, I brought some tips from FEMA. We have another list that we hand out at fairs, it's a real short list. But I can tell you, one size does not fit all with lists. You need water, you need food, and after that what else do you need to make your life resilient? I'm a coffee drinker, I have a little extra coffee on hand, toilet paper's nice, and there are some things like that. I don't know your living situation, so if you say one gallon of water per person per day just for drinking, you might want another gallon for washing. If you have a family of five and you start doing the math, tha… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,11 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 11 | things, like you said, you have to overcome. So getting input from the group and the diversity in your group alone, not to mention the diversity all throughout Alameda. We speak 41 different languages in Alameda, so there's a lot of diversity here to work with, and that's the point about pulling in the community to say, what does it look like for Alameda? What does it look like for your group? What kind of disabilities are we facing? How can we plan and prepare so that we are able to serve the community and work together in answering some of your questions? Sharon Oliver: We are a small city so we don't have enough staff to meet everyone's needs, it's imperative to engage the community to help us come up with solutions and be part of the solution in the planning effort and figuring out what will really work. And then once we make that plan, we have to test it. We really need to set up a shelter and have you folks come and say, "Well that was great," or "That didn't work at all." And then we'll go, "Okay, we thought it was going to work and it didn't." So that's the circle and the way you have to go to make it work. I know you have more and a long presentation coming, so if there's no more questions, I will let you get on with business. Elizabeth Kenny: Yes, I would just like to make the motion that we create a work group that will be part of the task force on functional limitations for emergency preparedness and I would like to volunteer for that group. Sharon Oliver: Yes, thank you. I volunteered the whole audience, I don't know if you noticed. [laughter] You don't want the group to be too big, but you definitely want to have people on it who are interested most importantly, and that understand the diverse group that we have. Kerry Parker: And I hear you have fun meetings. Sharon Oliver: We have fun meetings. I know it's Disaster, but we're a fun group. [laughter] It doesn't have to be all doom and gloom to have a great plan. I encourage it. Will you work with Kerry to get a group and once you feel you have a gr… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,12 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 12 | Sharon Oliver: Thank you for having me and starting the conversation. It's actually perfect timing. 5. OLD BUSINESS Elizabeth Kenny: So next up on the agenda is old business and we're going to have Gail Payne talk to us about the citywide Transportation Demand Management Plan. Welcome, Gail. Gail Payne: Good evening, Chair Kenny and Commissioners. My name is Gail Payne. I'm the city's transportation coordinator and I'm here because the city is experiencing unprecedented congestion because with the regional growth that's been going on. We have a great economy, and so we see this is a real urgent need to resolve. And I thought this was really urgent, but then Sharon's presentation on disasters makes me feel like, "Oh, that's probably even more urgent," and makes me want to go home and get my water situation organized a little better. Gail Payne: I'll just go over the background of why we're doing this, existing conditions, and then we can get into some draft strategies and projects that I'd like to show you for the first time. Last time we were here, or I was here in earlier 2016 to go over the existing conditions. So, I'll just give you a little reminder and some reminder ideas on it. And then, now, it's the draft strategies, and we're about halfway through this 18-month process. We hired a consultant earlier this year and now they've come up with some draft strategies and projects, and so we'd like to get your input on those today. And then we'll come back in later about spring of next year to go over the draft plan with you. And then we're hoping City Council will adopt it in summer of next year. Gail Payne: So just stepping back, why are we doing this? Like I said, we're having unprecedented growth. And I've been living in the Bay Area now for many years, we used to be at five million people, now we're at seven million. We have a great economy and it's tough to get around. And this photo here is of my stepmom, and the reason why I have it here is, is it's not only about the transit operations or the infrastruct… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf,13 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 13 | Gail Payne: And this chart shows that some of the low-hanging fruit is actually, a lot of drive alone trips happen for commuters going to Oakland in the inner East Bay. And that's a pie chart showing that 78% of people drive alone to work from Alameda to the inner East Bay. But then, the opposite is true for San Francisco, 78% commute via transit to San Francisco. What's really working is transit to San Francisco and how can we get more people taking transit to inner East Bay? The strategies when we look at these geographic issues, we have four strategies here. How can we improve access to and from Oakland? We see that as a low-hanging fruit because a lot of people are driving alone right now. And how can we improve also access to and from San Francisco? And some people say, "Why are you even focusing on that? It's obviously working." Well, people are actually attracted here because of our proximity to San Francisco and it's causing the Transbay buses to be super packed, tight. BART's hard to access. Super packed tight, crowded BART trains, and then ferries are hard to access now. They sometimes have to turn away people, can't take everyone. So, we have to keep up with this demand. Gail Payne: And the third strategy is access within Alameda. Some people, they don't have cars, they can't drive, and so how can we make that better for them? We hear a lot from youth and wanting it to be better for youth as well. Fourth strategy is just really internal, how can we as staff do a better job of managing and monitoring our efforts? First, I'll go over the four strategies real quick. This is the one to and from Oakland that we see as a low-hanging fruit because so much of the trips are happening are drive alone. And then second strategy, access to and from San Francisco. How can we keep up with the demand? Multimodal access within Alameda is the third strategy. And the fourth one is effectively managing and monitoring the transportation efforts. Gail Payne: I just want to go over some of the in-progress projects and action… | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |
Advanced export
JSON shape: default, array, newline-delimited, object
CREATE TABLE "pages" ( [body] TEXT, [date] TEXT, [page] INTEGER, [text] TEXT, [path] TEXT, PRIMARY KEY ([path], [page]) );