test test test

>> thank you. good afternoon ever wn and welcome to the mayor's disability council meeting. today is december 15, 2023. this is a in-person and virtual hybrid meeting. this meeting is broadcast to the public on sf.govtv. it is open captioned and sign language interpreted. if you need any other accommodations, or if you have any difficulty attending this meeting, please contact us at mod@sfgov.org.

or call, 415-554-6789. the mayor's disability council holds ten public meetings yearly, and they are generally on the third friday of each month. for information about past or upcoming meetings, please visit the mod website at www.sfgov.org/mod. our next regular meeting will be friday january 19. i have 2023, no it will be 2024! got to get used to that. it will also be a hybrid meeting and broadcast on sfgovtv. we thank you for joining us and we are glad you are here.

our clerk today is john costy and he will be perform this function with the use of asl interpretation. clerk, will you please conduct the roll call? [unable to hear the clerk] >> present. >> here. >> present.

>> okay. >> [indiscernible] >> alright. thank you. and now, we are asking john-ask the clerk to please read the agenda for approval. >> [microphone not on. unable to hear the clerk]

>> item 8 is correspondence. and then item number 9, again is general public comment. item number 10 is information item. council member comments and announcements and item 12, action item [indiscernible] >> okay. council members, do i have a motion to approve the agenda? is that a motion alex? is it seconded? okay. thank you. we will now move forward now that the agenda has been

approved-moved and second. thank you so much and we are now going to move on to our general comments and i will send it back to our clerk. yes. let's have a vote for approving the agenda. avenue everyone in favor, aye. and all opposed? perfect. thank you, cochair madrid. now moving on, clerk could you please run the general comments, please? >> [microphone not on. unable to hear the clerk]

>> testing. >> wow. >> we will start again. so, at this time, it is general public comment. at this time, members of the public may address the council on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the council, which are not on today's meeting agenda. each member of the public may address the council for up to three minutes, unless the cochair determines in interest of time, comments may be limited to shorter time when there are large number of

public comments wanting to be made. with respect to today's item specific discussion, your opportunity to address the council will be afforded at the conclusion of each discussion item before council discussion begins. a reminder that the brown act forbids the council from taking action or discussing any items not appearing on the posted agenda, including those items raised at public comment. if you would like to receive a response from the council, please provide your contact information by e-mail message to mdc@sfgov.org with the subject in the subject putting the title, mdc comment reply

request, or you may call us at 415-554-6789. if you join the webinar using your tablet or smart phone, webex app, click on the three horizontal dots icon in the upper corner and then click on, raise hand. we will recognize you when it is your turn. you may also use the q & a feature in webex webinar to make a comment. it is located on the top part of the video after touching the screen. if you are using a desk top or laptop computer, the raise hand and qa icons are located at the bottom of your video screen. if you join by phone, press

star 3 to indicate you like to make a comment. we will prompt you when it is your turn. >> thank you to our clerk. do we have anyone starting with in-person public comments and do we have anyone in-person today who would like to make a comment? >> chair, before we proceed, i just want to ask,--when john is speaking please put the on john not the interpreters. thank you.

>> so, again, i'm asking if we have any in-person public comment today, because we'll start there? it looks like we have several public comment in the room today. would you please step up to the podium and give your name. >> yes, my name is tina martin a member of transit justice. >> one second we got to start your time. the clerk will let you know when to proceed. >> okay. >> thank you for your patience. >> thank you. i know later you are going to be discussing jfk boulevard, but i want to bring up the question of the elvairtd at 5th and market that hasn't worked years and years. i want to address this.

i know it isn't on the agenda. i can send you an e-mail afterwards, by [indiscernible] did send out a letter and copied you, so i hope you did get this and i don't know what the procedure is for putting it on the agenda, but i wish you could so we can make more public comment and have you answer, which you can't do when it isn't on the agenda. that is basically what i want to say. this is a problem for everybody. of course people with disabilities it was brought to our attention by someone who lives in the tenderloin and we had two actions this past year on it, rise up for elevators and holiday applausea plaza is a place mayor breed wants to get people to come back to. they are having a winter wonder land now and it is plus to get the working elevator. it is very bad symbol and used by people in elevators, people in walkers who have trouble going the distance to 4th street.

i tried it with a friend of mine on a walker, it is really hard and could be used for parents with strollers, people with luggage. [indiscernible] if they have to lug their luggage up lots of escalators and people in wheelchairs can't use the escalator so i hope you put this on the agenda. thank you. later on i like to address the question of jfk boulevard and ada compliant buses. thank you. >> thank you for your comment. >> hello. my name is ruthy wise a, jr. in high school and i'm working

with mod as a part of my surfbs program and one thing i will be doing in collaboration with the council and addressing or helping organize action items and getting to know the council members specifically to help assist them with their needs and interests and ideas pertaining to action items and anything else. that's all. >> thank you for your comment. and welcome. is there anyone else in-person for public comment? okay. >> [indiscernible] >> hello. >> good afternoon. my name is paul [indiscernible] >> paul, could you speak into

the mic, please? very sorry. >> sure. sure. maybe i'll hold it. thank you very much. good afternoon again. my name is paul bendicts and just visiting here today to get a sense of the committee and what the experience is like of being here, but i did on the way encounter interesting obstuicals and just wanted to somehow put into the public record. one involves going across un

plaza, the skate boarders all most killed me and in my electric wheelchair i could have all most killed them. there is no signs. there are no signs. it is very hard to get a clear sense of what the accessible route is from the bart station to this particular location. and then once i got to city hall, i got up to the front door, found the wheelchair lift was out of service. fallowed the sign to mcallister street where all doors were locked. went back to the front door, found out once again i should have gone to the other side where no one knew why the existing wheelchair door openers were not working, so here i am. good to be here. thanks a lot. bye bye. >> thank you for your comment,

paul. >> this is nicole speaking and thank you everyone as we navigate the microphones. unless we can get them working our captioner and those online are unable to hear our comments, so thank you for your patience. >> thank you nicole. we want to now turn to-- >> hang on. is there anyone else in the room that would like to make general public comment? >> [indiscernible] >> sure. sure. >> i forgot to acknowledge helen did respond to our complaints and concerns and so i just wanted to acknowledge that. that is in relation to both the elevator non functioning for several years and to our concern about the ada compliant shuttle buses on jfk.

thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. okay, let's move online. john, go ahead. >> good afternoon. my name is richard, and i would like the council to agendize two items. one is, what is qualified disability in reference to calling in now that the mayor and the board of supervisors saying you can only call in if you have a disability. but what is a disability? who sets the standard? is it the clerk for each

committee or is there going to be a uniform standard? do people have to let the whole world know that they have a disability? you know, this was done haphazardly and i think you should have a meeting maybe asking supervisor peskin and mayor's office to come by and explain what a disability is or maybe ask the staff to ask what is a disability. i don't know if i qualify or not and how do i find out? the other thing is the blue zone. mta has taken away blue zones and not replacing them in a timely manner. they took one away and i had to tell mta they took away the blue zones. one hand didn't know the other hand and it was right across the street on van ness and

mcallister near city hall. now they are moving it a block away which is very inconvenient. i think mta is disrespectful to the disability community. maybe you can have your staff figure out and have somebody come here and have a comprehensive plan about blue zones and not taking them away without having a replacement at the same meeting. i just think this is very disrespectful and i think this council needs to be more aggressive. it is just being harder to be senior and disability and dealing with the city government and it should be your job to help make it easier for us to deal with city government. thank you very much for listening to me.

>> thank you for your comments. is there anyone else on webex? >> yes. hello. >> yes. >> this is william railing, speaking for accessible san francisco, which is a unincorporated non profet association and i have observed-there is a constant process of planning for future meetings and so i just thought i'd put in a word in favor of one of the items that is often considered, and that is the city's accessible business entrance program. i don't think there has been a recent update on that and it would be a good one to hear. this is really a wonderful program. totally apart from the federal ada. the california building code

has had accessibility requirements for over 4 years now, long before the ada. however, building code requirements only kick in when there's a construction project that requires a building permit. normally. now, local jurisdictions are allowed to create amendments to the building code as long as those amendments are stricter then the regular state-wide building code, and san francisco did something remarkable. it actually created a program in which it decided to make the building code more productive of accessibility then the regular building code that applies everywhere in the state and what the program does is create an affirmative requirement for businesses unless excused for some reason to make at least their front

entry accessible. a lot of businesses that you see still have a step after all these years, claim they have not done construction which require them to upgrade that and sometimes that is true, sometimes that is not true, but this is a great program and creating that requirement and there has been a lot of implementation activity and there is a lot of pressure to on the city and county to slow-walk the program. give extremely broad exceptions, but in favor of hearing more about this program, it is run by the department of building inspection, and you don't hear too often from dbi and dbi is just very important player in the creation and maintenance of

accessibility in san francisco, so just a reminder of that and it is possible there is a item and i missed it, so i apologize if that's true, but i do hope that some time in the near future you might get a update from the dbi staff on that program. thank you very much. >> hello, can you hear me? >> yes, there is one more public comment. we need to pause. for the interpreter. >> okay. >> go ahead caller. thank you.

>> okay. thank you. i'll try to speak more slowly. good afternoon commissioners. my name is alyssa chung. i live in ocean view merced heights and [indiscernible] called omi. i live on the saint charles avenue bike path, which is a main thoroughfair between omi and daly city bart and several important businesses south of brotherhood way. sfmta considers saint charles avenue part of the bike network. so, i'm calling on behalf of we are omi. we are a community group that advocate for neighborhood improvement and resilience and calling about a issue i have been trying to fix for a year and have tried with both dpw and sfmta and my supervisor office to address, but have gotten no where. i'm trying to add a curb-cut to a pedestrian walkway that

serves the elderly, young families, cyclists and pedestrians and we have the largest population of young children in the district. it is major senior center just a few blocks away and believe the last [indiscernible] constitutes a ada violation. just a reference, this pedestrian walkway is a ramp that connects the north side and south side of saint charles avenue, crosses brotherhood way. on the south side there is a curb cut [indiscernible] folks on wheelchairs, people with strollers who struggle to get on. they have to go up the neighbor driveway and often blocked by cars. as i mentioned, i tried contacting dpw and they referred me to sfmta who referred me back to dpw, and my

supervisor's office, supervisor safai has been given the same run around by both agencies, and i believe they are trying to elvaet it to the mayor's office of disability. i just wanted to inform you about this issue. i feel frustrated because i see people struggling with this daily and i also think it really disadvantages folks who have disability issues or accessibility issues in my neighborhood and my neighbors are complaining so would love to hear what i can do to move this forward and really appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you so much for your comment. one moment. >> i believe that is our last public commenter. there is nicole, director of mayor office of disability. i want to highlight two things we were not able to highlight in the introduction today. one is, thank you so much for

participating and if you are watching on sfgovtv and would like to call in and make a comment, it is helpful to the tv broadcast if you can turn your tv down, that helps with feedback in terms of being able to hear everyone in the best way. the other piece i wanted to add is, if you would like a response to any public comment today formally from the council, or from mayor's office on disability, you can e-mail the council at mdc@sfgov.org, or e-mail mod@sfgov.org or call us if you don't have access to the internet at 415-554-6789. that is all. >> thank you director bohn.

okay. we are going to move on. next we have the cochair report, which will be given by me sherry albers. the co chair report for this month. the mdc did not meet in november, because the events associated with it apec conference, so since the october mdc meeting, the housing committee of the mdc has met twice, and they are focusing on the issue of the elevator maintenance and outages. in our february 16 public meeting, mdc public meeting, we will be addressing this topic,

so stay tuned for that. in response to our presentation from san francisco human resources in our october mdc meeting, the employment committee will be meeting with hr coming the first of the year and we will be discussing concerns with disability data collection, the self-identification question near as well as reasonable accommodation program. in october, cochair albers attended the cultivating justice in the parks event with the partnership for the presidio activators and that

was celebrating two years of work and testing accessibility for instillations at the presidio tunnel top park. it was really an awesome event. on november 8, cochair albers and member sassouni and actually director bohn, if there is other members, let me know, but chime in, but, we attended the grand reopening of the talking book and braille center at the san francisco main public library, which was a grand event and everybody should go and check out the new space. it is absolutely fantastic. in november also cochair albers participated in a psa, public

service announcement video, which is yet to be released, but it is demonstrating the legal and illegal-shouldn't say that, legal and illegal scooter and bike riding protocol on streets and sidewalks, so that's a very hot topic and hopefully it will send a message and help people understand how to do-ride scooters and bikes safely without pedestrians and people with disabilities and wheelchair users getting hurt. so, with that, i conclude my cochair report for the month of december. thank you. and now, i am like to turn our attention to the report from the mayor's office on disability to director nicole

bohn. >> thank you cochair albers. thank you to the-sorry, my back is to everyone, but thank you so much for your engagement over the last several months. i'm always very pleased when we have members of the council out and about in these very important activities, so thank you. my report today is going to be the full report will be posted at on the mdc website and on the mod home page at sf.gov/mod, and sf.gov/mdc. what i'm going to do is briefly go over a few things i like to highlight that is happening with local, state and federal

legislation and i talk about just a few things for the council to consider for upcoming hearings. several of what i'm about to talk about have already been mentioned by public commenters, so thank you so much for emphasizing these things. the first one i want to talk about is the file number 231020 that amended the rules of order limiting remote public comment. as the public commenter mentioned, this is a change. i mentioned this last time in october and all boards and commissions have been encouraged to provide remote public comment in the case of a reasonable modification, or accommodation request if a person with disability only. the mayor's disability council, because it is a passive meeting

body and the mod staff plan to continue the support, hybrid participation and public comment for person's with disabilities, and the mayor disability council and mod staff also do reserve the right to limit the remote participation of anyone who may not be engaging in a appropriately civically minded discourse, but i really do encourage the council to continue to monitor this or call for a update about this item at a future public meeting. and then the second item that i like to speak about is file number 231005, which is that reference to the amendments to disability access improvements or better known as the accessible business entrance program. there is currently legislation sponsored by supervisor mandelman that has extended deadlines and there is also

some other items in consideration related to this program that would significantly either seem like compliance or change the nature of the program and so, mod is connected several-to the supervisor office including several of you on the mdc. the access appeals commission and members of the community alliance of disability advocates, and the council is encouraged to engage with this item. there are a couple others i'll move forward now to some federal legislation. the state legislation is remains the same around autonomous vehicles and transportation network company progress. you can refer to that in depth and again if you would like a separate copy of the report it will be online, but we can

provide that to you as well. federally though, i would like to emphasize that there is currently a request for comment on--it is a long title, but it is agency information collection activities submission to the office of management and budget for review and approval, comment request on the american community survey. this is better known as-this is the data that the federal government uses to-that impact the census counting and individuals and organizations are encouraged to comment. the deadline is approaching. it is tuesday the 19th. this notice changes how disability status information is collected, via the american community survey, and as i mentioned, this is a tool that

is in play by the u.s. census and many disability rights organizations, including, but not limited to, the american association of people with disabilities are concerned the proposed changes will produce a under-count in people with disabilities, which also impact federal funding to state programs and so, on my report, there is reference the hyper-link to that if you like more information, please do contact us at 415-554-6789 and we'll be happy to get back with you as soon as we can. a couple other announcements i wanted to make. we did spend as m orks d a significant amount of time in the last several months supporting disability access, [indiscernible] related to the

asian pacific economic conference or apec which was in san francisco at several weeks ago. mod has so far provided feedback to department of emergency management of what went well and lessens learned regarding disability access impact during apec and heard from the disability community during the activation, however if you have additional feedback we are still collecting that in areas for improvement, so please do contact us. weologist participated in a public meeting with human rights commission since the last time this committee has-the council has been meeting and so, one of the recommendations is to consider a joint council and commission meeting between human rights commission and the mayor's

disability council. the two councils have a lot in common, so just want to encourage that again. the remainder of my report are suggestions for other items that you can consider follow-up. i will let the council refer to those. i did add one more, which is around the ramped taxi program update. sfmta last several months received grant funding to improve the city's ramp taxi program, including but not limited to significantly increases the fleet of wheelchair accessible paths to residents, visitors and as a supplement to the paratransit program and so the council is encouraged to request a update on this or other details related to the taxi program that i believe the council and the public may want to be involved in, so that is another item for consideration for you.

i will end my report with just repeat, if you have questions or would like to engage with any matter on this report, please do contact us at mod@sfgov.org, or via phone at 415-554-6789. with that, i'll turn it back to you cochair albers. >> fantastic. thank you for that report. okay. we are now going to move on to the update on the jfk promenade accessibility commitment, and this will be presented by lucas tobin from the san francisco recreation and parks department. hello lucas. >> hi, sherry and high council

members. and mod members. thanks for inviting me today to give this update. appreciate the opportunity. i'm going to start the slide show. it looks like that is working. so, i am lucas tobin, ada coordinator for rec and park for access and my contact information is on the slides and i'll share it again later. this is--there is a slightly more updated version of the

slide so i'll share that with mod to share with the council that has a-the next slide would be the link to the updated reports. the quarterly and annual reports on jfk shared with the board of supervisors so you all have access to that link and see when those reports are posted. i do think that they were shared recently, those updated reports. so, there are a lot of topics to cover, and so i'm going to jump right in and start covering them. i wish i could say everything is finished and we are done with all the commitments, but unfortunately as everybody knows, the city moves slowly sometimes and there are a lot of moving parts with most of these commitments, so i won't be able to say that. but, the first topic we will cover is accessible parking.

these-this first slide is really a review, because these items have been completed. there are 20 new blue zone spaces in the new accessible parking lots behind the band shell in the music concourse, as i'm sure everybody know, and 8 new blue zone spaces added on martin luther king drive and nancy pelosi near the music concourse and also near the tennis center. those are all new blue zone spaces. there is also a shuttle stop in the new parking lot. this is a photo of the new accessible parking lot that is 20 spaces that is behind the band shell. we are hearing that it is full

sometimes, so we are getting feedback that it is great to have it, but that sometimes it is full, so it's a great resource, but of course it is not-doesn't solve all the problems. it is not enough. this next slide is a picture from our website. it is a map showing where all the blue zone spaces are in the eastern end of the park, and it's of course kind of small to be able to see, but it shows that--this is actually i realized when we got the image from the website, it is not showing the new spaces behind the band shell, the 20 new spaces in the parking lot unfortunately so i'll have to make sure that gets updated, but, if you were able to see this image also shows the number of spaces in each location, and the greatest

number of spaces is actually in the garage and music concourse. there are 32 spaces in the garage. which brings us to the garage updates. this is a picture, slide number 8 is a picture in the music concourse garage showing some of the blue zone spaces. there are actually 33, but i think we discovered that one really wasn't compliant, so that's why we are saying there are 32. so, as everyone probably knows, the garage is going to be transferred to the city, and once it is transferred we'll be able to implement flexible pricing. we'll be able to increase the time limit for dropping people off or picking people up.

right now it is 15 minutes, but we'll be able to increase that to 30 minutes, which has been requested. we'll also be able to provide additional subsidized parking for discover and go and museum for all past users, and install better way finding signage. but, the transfer was due to be completed by the beginning of 2024, and that was what was in the most recent update to the board of supervisors, but when i did some research to get prepared for this meeting, i found out they are not exactly sure when the transfer will take place.

it is being--apparently there is a group of about 30 people who are meeting every other month to work on this, half of whom are attorneys and apparently it is incredibly compicatesed and unprecedented for the city to take over the operation of a property from a non profit that has been running that property. it is not as straight forward as it sounds like it might be, and so they compare it to a rocket launch where it is taking all this preparation work and all this-the papers have been filed and everything, all these things have to happen. once it is all put together it comes before the board as supervisors as one package and to be approved all at once, so once it is all ready to go, it should go fast, but they are just not sure exactly when that's going to be able to happen. so, that's the update on that, but of course once the city is

in control of the garage, we are able to provide much better access to the parking spaces that are there , that are available and many sit empty. a good amount of the time. the next area to talk about updates is with the shuttle. again, i wish i could say everything is complete with the shuttle, but we do have a new transportation demand manager. his position was filled by emily stefuke who is working in our planning department and she is focused on the shuttle and other transportation issues, including transportation having to do with events. many of which as know, take place in golden gate park. it is great to have emily

on-board. this slide is really just a review. slide number 12. since march 2022, the shuttle has been in service 7 days a week. we expand the shuttle hours if there are special events happening and also sometimes modify the route to either avoid the shuttle getting stuck in the event, or provide better access to the events. the shuttle is accessible with a lift and there are three shuttles running on the weekends and holidays, with a 15 minute wait and two shuttles running monday-friday with a 20 minute wait. and this slide number 13 is a couple of pictures of somebody using a power wheelchair and

boarding the shuttle in front of mclaren lodge. this next slide, number 14 is this is also something that has been in place a while now. but the shuttle does appear if you are looking for directions of how to get to locations in golden gate park. for example, if you are trying to get from castro and 18th street to the japanese tea garden, the shuttle is going to--and you are saying you are taking public transportation, the shuttle will show up and tell you which stop--where to get on the shuttle and where to get off to connect with the bus. and that's on google maps and transit app so this picture is showing a route that might come

up if you are trying to do that. ongoing shuttle improvements, we did fairly recently put new temporary signs at the shuttle stops. they have a improved map and also qr code and qr code is more easily accessible height for people to access that, so they can go directly to the information on the website for the shuttle. we have gotten the shuttle provider to purchase one low floor vehicle that should be in use by late 2024. we can start testing that out as part of the route. driver training is a really important area. the drivers do receive training from the shuttle operator, but

we are working to make sure that they are getting more appropriate training, training that is closer to what sf paratransit drivers get. we have run into some issues where shuttle drivers have not let somebody on because they thought they are not able to secure their chairs, so we are really want to make sure that the drivers are well trained and able to tie down all types of chairs and do it efficiently so that it is not causing a frustrating situation for everyone, or people are denied service, because we did hear about a couple people who were not given a ride on the shuttle. that's something that is really important issue we are looking into and making sure the drivers get better training. real time arrivals is all most

there. it's available on the transit app. the equipment is on the shuttles. ipads they use to track the shuttles and give the information to the different places where it needs to go to provide the real-time arrival information, so when everything is working right, it is working on the transit app now, but apparently there are glitchs with that and before it can go on google, they have to make sure it is really up to the standards for google, so it is not quite there yet, but that's coming hopefully soon. and what is connected with that i learned recently is that in order to have the on-board text and audio information about the stops, the real-time arrival information has to be working, because those-when you are on

the bus and you see or hear the stops announced, that's because the buses are getting that-the gps information, however that works. working properly. we are not quite there yet with the on-board information, but maps have been installed on the shuttles, so the updated map is on the shuttles and the drivers are trained to announce the stops. and then as far as the upgraded shuttle stops where we actually have insure all the landing pads are accessible, we'll have permanent benches and permanent signage that each of the shuttle stops still have to be assessed to determine exactly what needs to be done to each of them to make sure they are compliant, and then the

benches, once that is done and the benches can be installed and we are looking into the best type of signage that provides information that is a good accessible--and make sure that the signs provide the information in accessible format s as well. this next slide, 16 is just a reminder. it has the sf paratransit logo on the slide, and just reminder that marked paratransit vehicles are always allowed to drive on closed roads, including golden gate park, so if somebody is taking paratransit and they want to go to the conserve torry of flowers the paratransit vehicle can drive on jfk just like the shuttle does and paratransit are aware of this , but there

are people still not aware of that so want to make sure the information is out there. the next section is information and wayfinding. how do people get information about getting to destinations in the park before they go and also how they get around once they are in the park. so, misleading signs, or signs that were no longer relevant have been removed from jfk. and then where there are new projects, signage has been added. wayfinding signage has been added, like the accessible parking lot. there are signs that direct you to the lot if you are driving in and then also to

destinations in that area, when you get out of your vehicle. the stow lake perimeter pathway work just completed includes signage, and the japanese tea garden, they have funding to do some pathway improvements and accessible pathway improvements in the tea garden and part of that work is going to be wayfinding signage. of course in the tea garden it is really important to them that they provide signage that fits with the feeling of the tea garden so it has to be a balance of making sure it is compliant, accessible signage, but also it is in the theme of the tea garden or the look of the tea garden. we completed project with a team of san francisco fellows

last spring. that was a collaborative project with mod. the project focused on wayfinding in golden gate park. that project, the group created a map that shows where the most accessible routes are to get to different destination in the park from different site arrival points or between different points, and it also talked about-made recommendations for signage, wayfinding signage in the park and other things like location for benches or locations possibly for wheelchair charging stations. so, there were a lot that came from that report and we are-the report should be published in hopefully the beginning of 2024

for everybody to take a look at. and then, i'm going to take on a intern from usf this coming spring who will hopefully be continuing some of that work and still be collaborating with mod on continuing that project. we are hoping that-our goal is to create an accessibility map for golden gate park that could actually inform future maps for other parks as well, but similar to the accessibility map that central park has in new york. the work of the fellows team and intern that we get in the spring will inform some of that mapping that will happen, but it involves assessing the whole

park for accessibility, providing information for the whole park and creating the map. we actually met with the people who created the map in central park, but we haven't identified funding for that yet to actually do that work, but hopefully the work of the fellows team and intern will make that easier once we are ready to do that project and once that project is done, we'll be able to deliver on the commitment of providing the map in large print and braille and tactile formats and work with the lighthouse once we are ready. that is something i'm super excited about. providing something similar to the golden gate national recreation area has for their properties. on this image on slide 19 is a picture of the sf fellows team

learning how to use smart levels and assessing the cross slope of one of the paths on the south side of john f kennedy, working with john from mayor's office on disability who trained them how to use the smart levels. this next image on slide 20 is taken from the map that the sf fellows created, and it's of the music concourse area and the consever torry of flow rs and you can see mclaren lodge, so it isn't the whole area they covered, but shows most of the area. it is small and hard to see, but there is a link to the actual map on the website and this map was made in google maps, so it means it is interactive. it means that you can put the

map on your phone and then when you are there in the park be able to see where you are on the map and use the-find these pathways. but on this image, there are yellow lines that show the pathways that they identified as the most usable pathways to get between destination in the park. what you can do if you interact with the map oen the website is click on individual segments and see where that segment is, the two points that it will take you between, and it also has the location of public transportation, the shuttle stops and other things like restrooms and parking are also on the map. you can click on the different items and--we are planning to once the report is out for the project and once we really

check the map and make sure it is accurate, we are planning to publish this on the website and give people a chance to start trying it out and see how it works. hopefully that will be early 2024 that we can do that. this next image is just an example of what would happen if you clicked on the segment that in this segment is between the fulton bus, how you would get off at 8th and fulton and then go to the entrance of the music concourse and what path you should take if you are going to do that. the next image is showing the section of the map that covers the conserbtory of flowers and which shuttle stop you get off. the best part about this

project is we were able to do some virtual tours with members of the disability community. they were virtual and in person, so we did hybrid stores so there were several peoples who came in person and road the shuttle with us and toured and looked at the locations and other people joined virtually and the feedback was really great. the feedback how well it worked, which we were not sure how well it was going to work and then also, the information we got from the community members about the signage and the pathways themselves and benches and all those kinds of things were really really helpful and actually council member madrid joined us for at least one of those virtually, and provided some great input. that was really the best part

about this project, because that is a great model, great example for future engagement with the disability community in projects that we are working on. this slide, slide 23 is just a reminder that the recreation and parks website is wcag2.0 compliant and that rec and park is also working to comply with the city's digital accessibility standards where we installed montsito which is software that goes along with the website to insure accessibility and training happened for staff who maintain the website. so, just reminder that the

site--because that was one of the questions that has come up is is our site compliant. this next slide, number 24 is also information we shared before, about that when we provide map s and other wayfinding information on our website we are also providing text directions to make sure that people can access the information. if they are not able to see or read the maps so this is example from the website sharing which roads are closed and how you can still get to the park using a car. and slide 25 is just a little bit more easy to read. it is a little bigger image of some of the text directions that are on the website. and then this slide is number

26, is showing contact information if people have-on the website if people have questions about how to access different areas of the park, or if peoplep p to request accommodations. the first e-mail address is my e-mail address for accessibility related questions or accommodation requests and my phone number and then we have the rpd info e-mail address, which is our main website, i mean e-mail address for the public to interact with rec and park and then also through 311. >> sorry to interrupt. would you mind reading your e-mail and telephone number? >> absolutely. thanks for the reminder nicole. the e-mail address is

rpdaccess@sfgov.org and this is my direct phone number, 415-831-6834 and then the general e-mail address is rpdinfo@sfgov.org. this has been a fun thing i did not expect is i'm also become a tour guide, because i get phone calls and e-mails from people coming to visit and have a disability and visiting from out of town and or having a wedding in the family and need to get to this location for the celebration, how do i get there, so that's actually kind of fun. and i'll try to speed it up a little bit. like i said, a lot of things to cover. this is the next section is about outreach and input from the deaf and disability

communities and just listing some of the outreach we do and communication. we have quarterly meetings with mod as quarterly updates, but i would say i probably call and bother debbie and nicole all most every week. we also provide updates like this to the mdc as requested. most of the current and upcoming golden gate projects are informed by feedback from the disability and senior communities and feedback sometimes means complaints, but sometimes that is how we find out about projects that need to happen. and we do ongoing outreach to the disability and deaf communities about programs and events and things like that and just quickly announce that we are right now doing

registration for camp mather, which includes inclusion week, which is the end of july. we encourage people to come up for inclusion week, but you have to register this month to be able to be part of the lottery for that. then also we participate age disability friendly sf working group specifically on open spaces and also anti-ableism and we collaborate, ongoing collaboration with several cities and other agencies that serve people with disabilities, including bay area outreach and recreation program who we collaborate with for disability sports including our adaptive bike program, so next section is just about the adaptive bike program. slide 30 has a picture of a group of people ready to go on a ride and different types of

adaptive bikes. another rider riding in the music concourse on a hand cycle. and the program-our goal with the program is to make it become a really san francisco based program, and have the bikes here in san francisco so we are not paying to bring them back and forth but running the program ourselves and the next step of the program is getting storage for the bikes. the next area is event access. i continue to insure that we have access plans for recreation and parks events as well as outside providers outside organizer events, so rec and park events like the tree lighting or halloween event on jfk, i insure we have good access plan for those events and i also consult alongside our permits and

partnership divisions for other organizers like blue gras and elder mother exhibit up now on jfk, world cup soccer viewing events and slide 3 is 35 is example of interactive map used alongside text direction for accessibility. this was from the tree lighting event that happened just last week. and more images from the tree lighting event. mats to provide access to the ramp for the stage for the tree lighting event and accessible temporary drop-off zone. this next slide, 37 is a image, the hardly strictly blue grass accessibility map. they still have work to do, it is very complicated event requiring a lot of accessibility, but things are getting better with that event through the work we are doing

with them. this next slide, 38 is from the elder mother exhibit and their accessibility plan. and we are still finishing our-we had a intern who completed phase 2 of the event accessibility project and how to host an accessible events which provides resources and also once the permit division approves the check list will provide a check list to insure event organizers know what it is that they have to do. they have access to the resources and also be much more clear on what they have to do in order to make sure their events are accessible. also, wanted to announce we have a--hired our disability access coordinator which is another of our commitments. it is john [indiscernible] unfortunately for mod he is now

working with us, but great help to rec and park for architectural access, so the two of us who were focused on disability access at rec and park now are john who focuses on physical access and myself, focusing on programmatic access. slide 43 is picture showing the two of us. and quickly just focusing a little on barrier removal projects happening enthe park. the ramp for the botanical garden bookstore is due to be installed in next spring in march or april and that slide just had a picture of the book store. this slide has a picture of the new perimeter work that was done around stow lake, making sure that that pathway, the perimeter pathway is accessible. that work has been completed

and it is open, very nice. then like i mentioned before, japanese tea garden has funding to create more accessible pathway and wayfinding signage and new mapping for the tea garden. curb ramps and cross walks, there are 10 curb ramps and 3 cross walks that are due to be either created or improved along jfk and surrounding area and the work is supposed to be starting in the beginning of 2024 on those cross walks and curb ramps. this slide is a image of some of the curb ramps and cross walks showing the location of some of them. i realize it is mostly showing closer to around 10th avenue, but not the whole area and it

is very small and hard to see anyway, but it shows that they have all been designed and the work is due to get started. consurvatory of flowers, looking at the feasibility of providing a drop off at the bottom of west and this shows consurvatory west and jfk. that allows people to drop people off or pick up at the accessible pathway that leads to the entrance of consurvatory of flowers. pedestrian safety, the final part. sorry this is taking so long. so, we are still studying the

best options to insure pedestrian safety on the jfk promenade. the instillations that have been on the promenade have helped calm the cyclists who and scooter riders who tend to go pretty fast. we noticed a calming effect of the instillations and doing some research we found there is actually been four reported collisions. this is--could be under-reporting, but on all the car free roads, so not just jfk, there are only four collisions and only one of those is between a bike and a pedestrian. the other ones have been either between a vehicle and pedestrian or two bikes and so, of course this could be under-reported but that is comparison to 41 collisions reported during the same period, july 2021 to march

2023, and 41 that occurred on roads that do allow vehicles. slide 56 is a picture of the doggy diner heads installed on jfk as a instillation that we have seen to be calming some of the fast moving cyclist and scooter riders. that's my presentation. sorry it was took so long. my information is on the slide and i'll share the most recent version of the slide that has the link to the updated reports. >> thank you lucas and really, i am welcoming all of the work that you are doing and dont apologize for all of that.

we want to move to public comment to make sure we hear them before nothing else. clerk, we want to-do we have to have the instructions for public comments read? >> yes, please. >> clerk, could you please read the instructions? >> if i can ask the control room please adjust the camera on me, john costa. have a close up of me, john costa, not the interpreter at the podium. there we go. general public comments. at this time members of the public are willing to approach the council for comments to the recent presentation. members will have up to public

will have up to 3 minutes, unless the council decides because of time constraints that they have to limit the time allowed for members. for those joining through a webinar using their tablet or smart phone or using the webex app, notice the three dots where you can find the feature to click the raised hand, or you can make comments using the q & a feature. and if you are using your laptop, or home computer, then you notice that the option for raise hand or q & a are at the top of the screen. up to the upper left hand side.

on the laptop or home computer, the option actually is at the bottom. so, if you are joining by phone, then please mark star 3 and we will prompt you when it is your turn for comments. we may proceed with council members. >> this is nicole speaking on behalf of the clerk. we will begin with anyone in the room who wishes to make public comment. you may approach the podium at this time, and then the clerk will give you your signal to begin. is there anyone in the room? one moment. okay, go ahead. >> thank you again. my name is tina martin with transit justice part of senior

disability action. i want to thank lucas tobin for his presentation. you answered a lot of my questions and i wonder if maybe you could speak to one of our meetings at one of our meetings of transit justice. i took notes in the old fashion way with a pen. there are a couple things about the shuttle buses i want to be sure about. you mention a low floor vehicle coming late 2024. do you mean only one or a fleet of these low floor vehicles is one question i have? because i know some people told me that one problem they is the shuttle buses don't have a way of pushing up when they are seated, they can't get a way to push up and that could be very difficult for people who are old or people with disabilities. that's one thing that we are concerned about with the shuttle buses being ada

compliant. and then, i have a star by, on-board--yes, i think i might have met emily. i didn't catch your last name, the person hired, because i was taking a shuttle bus with a friend and she was making a comment that there was no signage. there was no way people knew where to get off and where they were going to be next, so now i think that very same day she came on and was measuring something to have such signage and i think that the presenter mentioned that they did now have a map on the bus so people know where they are going and they also have trained the drivers to announce the stops. that's good. that's a plus in changing. i have a couple other things too, but it is hard to find them. benches, you refer to benches a couple times, and i do know a lot of the benches in golden

gate park don't meet the needs of people with disabilities; so i hope those are being replaced. i don't know the status of that if you mentioned it, i didn't catch it. again, i think those are the main things we have been concerned about. people having seats on the shuttle buses that they can actually-they have something to push off on. that is my time up. i hope to be in touch. >> thank you for your comment. >> is there anyone else in the room that would like to make public comment at this time? thank you. we are going to check for anyone online one more time. and we are getting notification there are no hands raised, so

that closes public comment on this item. >> director bohn, i have a question. this is cochair albers. does lucas have a chance to respond to mrs. martin's comments? >> typically during public comment we don't do public response for public comment, but i do invite lucas-i'm sure lucas will connect and lucas, maybe when you talk [indiscernible] you can provide your contact information one more time. >> thank you for the clarification. >> sure. >> my direct e-mail is lucas.tobin@sfgov.org and my phone number is 415-831-6834 >> okay, thank you. alright. moving quickly to council members for comments.

anyone have any comments? i'll start with alex, cochair alex madrid. >> thank you. lucas, we have some questions for you. very informative presentation today. there are a few key things that spark my interest. one is that, you mention about someone who denied access

or--i'm curious on what is your procedure on--just curious on what happened in the couple incidents. >> one incident somebodys was haight and stanyan street and tried to board the shuttle with a power wheelchair and the shuttle driver thought she wouldn't be aible to secure the chair because it has wider tubes, and what we think is that she didn't look closely enough to at the chair and see if it had tie-downs, places to

attach the tie-downs, and so what we are doing to address that is just make sure the drivers have better training and really know how to look for-because there shouldn't be-as long as the chair can meet the weight requirements it shouldn't be denied access unless it has been modified in some way. the operator said makes it so you can't tie it down, but really that shouldn't happen. there should be places to anchor the tie-down so that is what we think probably happened. what woo are doing is helping make sure they ramp up their training and we are participating more. emily will participate more in the training. >> do we know what happened to the--did we give them accommodations or anything like

that? >> i worked--sorry to interrupt. >> i am curious, did we pull the driver aside and retrain the driver? >> so, we still need to actually make sure that the driver is trained on all different type of chairs and make sure she knows how to tie them down. that particular driver, but all the drivers too, and make sure-apparently she called the supervisor and the supervisor backed her up and said, no you don't have to take that type of chair, which doesn't make sense to us. so, we still need to make sure that she's really knows how to do different all different types of chairs, so they are going to-usually the provider does training when they on-board somebody new and do it once a year and we want to make sure they do that more often

and emily will participate in the training. >> okay. the second question you mentioned about the blue zone parking for wheelchairs. is it true that most of those accessible parking spots is--i forgot what section of the park. i am just curious, do we have anything--are we only targeted on "the busy" section of it park? >> really great question. we have been focusing way more on the eastern section of the park because that's where the museums are and consurvatory

and all the flowers and mclaren longe, the main attractions of the park are there, but we did look at the available blue zone parking in the western end of the park and there are some areas where we could use more blue zone parking there to make sure people can access some of those spots and there are some that were identified as maybe being easier to do then others, but that is some work that needs to be done. but you are right, it is-the main focus has been the eastern section of the park, that part of jfk and everything so far. >> thank you. the last question i have is, when it comes to events and accessibility. thank you for that and making sure that all events are

relatively accessible. do you have anyone that possibly can do a--when someone is having a event that is accessible, but it turns out it is not accessible and what's your protocol on that? just curious. >> another great question alex. so, i do that myself for some of the big events. i went to hardly strictly blue grass the first day this year. i go by some of the other

events and check them out and take pictures and take notes and you know, i sort of thought, is there some--at some point do we have something like the health inspector does and when they go and check out events, but do make sure that everybody is doing the right thing for compliance with that or some day be able to do that or debbie and i talked about should we have people, members of the disability community who helped us with that and help give feedback for events, but right now it is me and what we do is really try to positively and nicole and debbie both helped with this, where we meet with the event organizers and hopefully well before the event and really help them with that and most of them are open to doing things, but a lot of times they just dont know. they don't have the experience,

so that's part of why the tool kit, the accessibility tool kit is about providing resources for them, but then we also have the check list so they are really asserting that attesting that they understand what they're supposed to do and they are going to do it, so that we can follow up with them and tell them, if they don't do something-- >> yeah. --so that they could actually-- some kind of on the spot quick fix. something to think about. thank you for coming and i hope you come back. >> come pback any time you

invite me. >> thank you. >> thanks. >> thank you council members. >> thanks alex. orchid. >> yes, hi, this is orchid and i'll pause for the camera to focus on me. i'm over here in the council member chair waiving in the green sweater. still over here, waiting for the camera. thank you. okay. so, i just have a few questions. the first one being, regarding ev chargers. i know they are difficult to find, i know the garage has paid parking and there is ev chargers, but i wonder around golden gate park, are there ev chargers available for use and thinking about it in the middle of the city. i do drive around and i pass bringing my son to various programs and i go around that

area, so i typically take the long way around. it can be a challenge because it can be confusing when you are driving to find parking. often times you are trying to navigate getting around cyclists going high speeds and so my suggestion is that, on 25th the end of 25th there where cars are permitted to access that area, i think it will be a little bit of work and i think there has been a accident there in the past. getting across there is a point to think about. i think trying to drive slowly there and also having cyclists go slowly would be important. maybe even having a place to stop there for a moment. i'm thinking about golden gate park at the end near 25th. and then, a few more things. i have a few more things ypted i wanted to check in about.

regarding the event that golden gate park has, and wonder who is responsible for accommodations, specifically asl english interpreters. i think there is person to contact, but not sure if that is the right person. also, the shuttle bus--i think i waited for the shuttle bus before. it is very confusing. that system is not clear. it is not great and it is forced my husband and i to do quite a bit of walking around, which was pleasant. we saw interesting things i didn't notice before, however, getting to the place where we could actually access the shuttle bus is difficult, so i think that-thinking about what that feels like you know and how to get to certain places can be a tiring. i know i gave you a lot of information and asked a few questions, so ypt i want to

put those things out there. thank you. >> thank you orchid. >> are we good? okay. so, great questions. thanks orchid. your first question, that is a great point and i don't know if anybody is looking into ev chargers in the park or around the park, but i think it is a great idea and you see them in other parking lots. i xoe know they have in the presidio in the parking lots. i drive a ev for work so i'm looking for them sometimes too. i don't see why not that we couldn't have them. maybe in the accessible parking lot or in the garage once we take the garage over, things like that, so a great comment. your second about i think about the events and who do people contact about accommodations,

interpreters, if is a recreation and park events or one we are cosponsoring with parks alliance or something like that--if it is specifically rec and park event, it is me since i'm the ada coordinate for program access and my information should be on the event information. if you find an event where you dont see that information, let me know and i'll fix that. but, for other organized events, we let them know that they need to provide somebody for people to request accommodations and we help them with the resources and how to do that. we direct them to the mod website that has resources for sign language interpreters and real time captioning and those types of accommodations. and then, the third question--trying to remember what the third question was. >> it was about driving near

the end of where the bicyclest a the end of the park at 25th. >> i think you were alsoing talking about the shuttle and having difficulty- >> this is orchid again. just thinking about the area where people are coming, there is a stop and go section and the hard part is also rather cars are delayed because it is a unexpected stop. it is not a great location, so the issue is cars--it is a weak-runners and cyclists are not stopping in what should be a designated stop for them, so it causes confusion and then potential collisions. >> this is a place where cars are crossing the road at 25th avenue. i will take note of that, and talk to the manager of golden

gate park and see if we can look into that more and see if there is something that needs to be done to help make sure it is more clear that-to make sure it is safer there. maybe if you can share with me the information exactly where it is. send me an e-mail, that would be great. the event-was there something else or did i cover everything? the shuttle. yeah. the shuttle is good feedback. i didpant mention, but i had a group of sf state students doing photographs and text directions where the shuttle stops are and how to get to different destinations from the shuttle stops and that hasn't been published but hopefully the intern coming can publish that information. any feedback--what we are finding is, we want to get more of it disability and deaf communities out to use the shuttle and senior community

out to ride the shuttle and we definitely welcome feedback about how to make it better, but just getting the information out there in the first place is very important, so if you have feedback about how it is-the information is not clear or confusing like you are sharing, definitely you can send that to me and i'll make sure emily gets that information as well. >> okay. are you done orchid? >> yes. >> i'll turn it over to you cochair albers. >> thank you. i want to make sure denise on webex, do you have any comments? >> not at this time. thank you very much. my questions have all been addressed through the council. thank you sherry. >> i'm going to yield my time lucas. i will e-mail you but it does pertain to guide dogs with the shuttle and all that, but i

will send you an e-mail. and i'm going to ask now for members of the mod if you have any comments or questions for lucas. >> i will also be very brief. we need to get to our break. thank you again for being here. i just wanted to mention for folks that mod committed to helping with making sure we have appropriate training for shuttle drivers. i have been out there myself to demonstrate and help and mod will continue to be involved so please let us know whatever support you need so we make sure that training happens and thanks again for coming today. >> thank you and we'll definitely be reaching out.

>> excuse me. >> patricia. >> i have my hand up. >> hello patricia, welcome. i'm sorry i overlooked you. i didn't mean to. do you have a quick comment for lucas? this is patricia? >> yes, i do. thank you. i apologize, i wasn't able to sign in during his presentation. i was able to hear tina martin who is a friend and colleague of mine from city college. tina and i made a trip to golden gate park a while back, quite a while ago, just to check out the availability, accessibility of the new parking lot behind the band shell, and i wanted to make comments about that. my disability is lack of mobility, and to get down to

the band shell was a very very long hike. it was much too far for someone at my level of disability, so if there is some way to put in a ramp behind the band shell, so disabled people can get more easily down to the floor of the events area for the band shell, and also, tina mentioned the benches where you wait for the bus. i have to tell you that, the normal height of benches just do not work for a lot of disabled people who have mobility problems, because they are very weak. their legs are weak, their arms are weak, and someone like myself needs about 26, 27 inches with a seat that has arms. definitely if you want to make

the waiting area accessible for disabled people, you have to see that they could sit down and get up without having a lot of difficulty. i would like mr. tobin to perhaps address that with me at a later time after this meeting. so, i found that that parking lot was accessible only to the japanese tea garden. the band shell is too far. i could get to the museum because it is mainly just flat, but getting down to the band

shell was really very tiring and fatiguing and difficult. also, i was just wondering-i want to put this out there. a lot of people like myself don't feel safe on a shuttle, so i have never been on a shuttle, and i was wondering the light shows that you have during the winter, have you ever considered opening up jfk one-night so people who are disabled can see the light show in a private park where they feel safe? i think that would be a very generous and appropriate gift to the disabled community, so they would be able to see the light show, because i never have because i don't feel safe getting on the shuttle or

getting off the shuttle. those are my comments and thank you for listening. >> thank you patricia. we can provide you with lucas e-mail and phone number contact for further discussion. thank you. >> this is-- >> yes. >> this is nicole speaking. i would encourage the council to collect your recommendations and bring them forward to lucas in recreation and parks as follow up to this item. that's all. >> thank you director bohn. okay, lucas again, thank you so much for your very comprehensive report and we look forward to hearing from you again with another update. happy holidays to you. at this time, we are behind schedule, but i think some of

us may need a bio break, so it is 253. i am going to call a 5 minute break, so we can-yes, alex. 10? okay. we'll do a 10 minute break, so we will be back here at 404. 3 04 p.m. sorry about that. >> okay. go ahead cochair albers. i believe we are ready to begin. the captions are working. all microphones are on. >> thank you director bohn. welcome back everyone. moving along with our agenda. the next item is the update on

the accessibility of shared spaces. okay. this is going to be presented by gregory slocum from the department of public works and monica mun mitch from san francisco municipal transportation agency. thank you for coming today. we are looking forward to your presentation. >> i believe our presenter is virtual today. >> we are. hello. >> hello. this is monica, can you hear me okay? >> one second, we are just getting the visual in the room. hi, monica. and i believe that gregory might be there too, but you are behind our interpreter bubble gregory just so you know.

is that you? >> yes, it is me. >> good afternoon. okay. so, okay. please go ahead. we are moving interpreter bubble so we can see your faces for the timebeing. please go ahead. >> good afternoon. again my name is monica mitch win i work at sfmta. i want it give a brief presentation and we provided a few slides that we'll go over. again, good afternoon. shared spaces, just a quick update where we are at and core priorities at this moment are that, the pandemic program of course ended in march of this year, and we are in the process

of transitioning into our new post-pandemic program, or not so new anymore. but, that means that everyone that had parklets or tables and chairs or roadway closures shared spaces ended in march and needed to reapply for this new program. they reapplied and there was hyundai grace period, so a period after march through the end of september folks had to submit applications, make adjustments needed to come into compliance, and we are past september, but basically that means right now we are in the-continue in the process of processing all of those applications for about 600 parklet applications, so the

program has shrunk a good amount what we saw saw two years ago, which make s sense. people are able to operate indoors, but basically, less then 600 parklet applications and trying to get everyone permitted, which means in compliance with valid permits. we issued about 30 to date and greg may have additional slides on that so i won't go over too many of the numbers. just wanted to highlight that means a lot of the parklets, the majority of the parklets you see out there are not necessarily in compliance. that means we are continuing to work with them to make the adjustments and get their permits. >> monica- >> monica. >> incustancy in parklets. reviewing site plans, getting

folks information they need, the support they need to modify- >> monica. >> monica. >> that is really in the weeds. i wanted to share the timeline of what we have done in 23 and headed in 24 and i'll pass over to greg for more specifics. >> my name-- >> i don't think they can hear. >> we are a division of public works. i got about 4 or 5 slides i'm going to share today. so, as monica said, we are still very busy working with our- >> hello, can you hear us? >> to get their structures legalized, which is to say, we are looking at plans, we are

reviewing everything. hold on one moment here. a little challenging sharing slides. >> control room, we do fot had have communication with the virtual participants. can you help us with that? >> one moment here. i'm trying to share these slides. >> monica and greg cannot hear us. >> i'm wondering if the moderator is able to open these if we submit in advance. >> can you hear us greg? i don't think you can. greg, can you hear us?

we have been trying to get your attention, can you hear us now? >> i can hear you now. >> great. sorry about that. so, thank you. are you not able to share your slides right now? >> that's correct. i'm happy to nariate the information on the slides. there is not anything on those slides that i certainly couldn't share with you verbally. >> how do you want to proceed council members? >> can i ask if monica has access to the slides? >> i do. i could see if i have--i can try to do the share screen. >> thank you. >> yeah, let me take a shot. >> in the mean time, control room, can you share the slides?

>> first time folks on the staff helping today, so i know you both, you are very good with the flow, so thank you so much. are we trying to get the slides, or what are we doing here? >> yeah. >> i don't know if they are able to do that. >> this is sherry-- >> do you see my screen with the presentation or no? >> no, we need the control room to bring you back on the-in the room, please. so we can check. now the camera is on--no.

not yet. is it okay--we have the slides. you posted them already online. have we posted them? >> [indiscernible] >> have we posted the slides online? >> they will be posted online. >> alright. i think- >> [indiscernible] >> i don't know if we are able to flip between the presenters and the laptop. i think the for the purposes of time and i apologize, i think for the purposes of time, gregory if you could slowly go

through the content verbally and then we'll have time for public comment and then if you could just entertain the council members questions if there is anything that would need clarification. is that alright? does that sound like a okay plan? >> that is fine with me. can you hear me? >> sorry about that council members and we'll make sure you have access to the slides and they will be posted online when we are back in the office as well for members of the public. okay, go ahead gregory. if the control room could please-thank you, bring us back to gregory and monica. go ahead. >> alright. good afternoon. so, monica referenced earlier, we have been transitioning from the pandemic program to the

legislative program and curious what the defining differences between those programs, we are requiring plans as a part of application for our legislative program and that's going to promote a lot of accessible design, because we are able to work with businesses to insure accessible entrance and seating in advance of approving that permit, whereas, during the pandemic with self-certification, we had a lot less oversight. during the pandemic there were 4 violations we tried to enforcement of. accessibility, path of travel, fire safety, sight lines, meaning visibility for vehicles when they are making turns that they are not obstructed and abandonment or blight.

so, my next slide depicts how we typically handle common violations in this program. the best way for anyone to report a violation is always going to be 311. this will make sure that the proper agencies receive a complaint. that we don't do redundant work as a city , and we are able to track the complaint as with well. it is also good for data collection presentation like this one. we issue a collection notice which abbreviated as cm and we identify issues on a site that should be addressed within 15 days. we'll work with the business. if it is day 16, or 17 they have a contractor scheduled to make a change. wouldn't arbitrarily issue them a penalty, but we also like to

give them a meaningful timeline as it relates to remediating a issue. we'll return in 15 days, if not sooner to confirm that the changes have been made, and if they are not made, the correction notice may escalate to notice of violation frequently abbreviated as nov and a notice of violation can also come with fines depending on what the nature of the offense is, and how easily it can be rectified. these can multiply from anywhere as $100 a day or up to $500. i would note that we typically proctor penalty situationally, so we'll approach each of these sites differently, and how we penalize a site may be based on our engagement with them and

their willingness to make changes that have been prescribed in a correction notice. so, it is not one size fits all necessarily, but this is the general scheme of escalation. i prepared another slide of what we prefer to as accessibility violations, and we reached out to the 311 team and we asked them to pull complaints in different categories that we thought would be of interest. this is another reason why it is good to submit complaints via 311, because we can use it for tracking purposes. so, from 2022 to 2023, we had 400 complaints of tables and chairs blocking sidewalks and we had additional 600 complaints of displayed merchandise blocking sidewalks.

we had a number of complaints that we refer to as ada compliance. these include lack of accessible seating in which we had 9. a blocked curb ramp of which we are 30. and 123 path of travel complaints and then 100 complaints of wires or cables or tripping hazards across the sidewalk. 49 complaints about structures that extend on to the sidewalk. so, this represents a year worth of complaints for each of the corresponding categories. we typically seek to have a inspector out within 2 to 3 days. sometimes if we have a photo or able to engage the business directly in we'll do that to address it in a more timely

fashion. typically for our engagement, we may do a warm letter, which is just informationalism business may be ignorant of a practice, may be unaware they are non compliant and we are reaching out and letting them know the best or proper way to do something. that may escalate to a correction notice or cn, which is a formal request to change something at the site, which may escalate to notice of violation, which is a more punitive follow up to that correction notice. ultimately, we can revoke permits. all these permits are revocable at behest of the director and in some situations we actually removed the structure, the city has and at which point we would bill a business for that removal. that is the conclusion of any remarks i had prepared. for a sense of scale, at the

height of the pandemic i think we had over 1500 participants in the program. we now have about approximately 600 applications for the legislative programs. it is little less then that and 30 approvals. what that means is we legalized about 5 percent of our applicants. we are continuing to work with them so we can increase the number of approved permits, but i share the figures as a representative of the scale of challenge that we are going to continue to work through. that is all i have for the moment. >> thank you. okay. go ahead to move to public comment. >> we'll move to public comment and clerk, would you please read the instructions?

>> [microphone not on] if you can focus the camera on the clerk. at this time, we are open for comments from the general public. if you would like to comment on items of interest related to this presentation, each member has the opportunity to approach the council and make comment. time limit of 3 minutes, unless the cochair decide-because of lack of time that allotment needs to be reduced. if you joined us via webinar or

tablet or smart phone, if you tap on in the corner of the three dots, you have the opportunity to "raise your hand" and we'll acknowledge you when it is your turn. you may also use in the webinar, you can use the qa function to make comments. if you are using a laptop, or desktop and you like to raise your hand as i mentioned you can use the qa function, located on it bottom of your screen. if you are using a smart phone, call into the system please use the star 3 function to be put into the queue and we will let you know when it is your turn

to make comments. >> one more addition, if you like response to your comment, please remember you can contact us at mod@sfgov.org, or mdc@sfgov.org or 415-554-6789. is there anyone in the room that would like to comment on this item today? seeing none, we are moving to online. >> hello. this is-- >> i believe we have one- >> one moment. hi, will, one moment. >> i believe we have one person

on the call who would like to comment. >> are you ready? john? >> yes. please go ahead, will. >> thank you. that would be me. william speaking for accessible san francisco, which is an unincorporated non profit association. thank you very much for the update. it is very useful and important to get this information. we definitely have seen improvements with outdoor dining structures in particular that were not accessible being removed or being improved, and it's helpful, but we still see many not accessible so it is helpful to understand that now only 600 have applied for

approval, and that of those, only 30 so far have been approved. so, we are following the process and i like to add two remarks. on the 311 interface, the-when i look at the categories when you try to make a complaint and they are not the best fit for just saying that this outdoor dining structure isn't accessible. it would be great if an additional category could be created that is right on point there. that's why most of the complaints you are getting are on 311 are things like blocking the sidewalk or-which are important, about those are clearly stated as options in

311 and simply complaining that a dining structure is not properly accessible itself isn't an option, so please consider adding that in the 311. lastly, the devil is in the details, right? as this process moves forward, our concern to see that the correct standards are actually applied. there is a legal duty here to comply with certain technical standards, and therefore, it is not okay for the city and county to give relief to those standards out of sympathy or desire to support the business. these are outdoor dining opportunities for the public and no member of the public should be excluded by allowing

inaccessible structures. >> thank you for your comments. >> the federal ada requirements, there are a full set of state law requirements regarding accessible structures and we certainly hope that those are all being consulted and applied properly in this process. >> thank you for your comments. >> thank you for your time and thank you for the comment. do we have next public comment at this time? >> i wanted you to know we were having difficulty with our timer function, so please be patient. i don't want our callers to feel like we are cutting them off. it is our timer function that we are having difficulty with.

one second, we are checking one more time, please. no more hands raised at this time. this closes public comment. >> thank you. >> okay. at this time, we are moving to council member comments. anyone here, alex you have any comments? >> yes. can we-- >> control room, can you bring us back to monica and greg, please? there they are. >> thank you for your presentation greg and monica. i know that this is--1800

shared spaces and now there is 600 shared spaces. throughout san francisco. >> the council member is asking for conformation on what the change in the legislative program numbers are is the first question, please. >> and if you guys have difficulty understanding what i'm saying, please say something. >> no, i understand the question. so, we have about 600 applications, so that's 600 aspiring participants in the program. based on our experience, we believe that there will be some

attrition in that 600 applicants does not necessarily mean that we'll end up issuing 600 permits, because over time folks get fatigued. once we do plan review and avail them of changes they may need to make, they take a step back and they realize, oh wow, it isn't worth it for me to make these changes and i'll just remove it outf -right, so it is common folks begin the process and ultimately remove the structure. additionally, part of the review the m ta evaluates how many linear feet of parking spaces they are allowed to occupy and a lot of sites are reduced from 2 to 1 or they are unable to gain consent from adjacent neighbor for the legislative program, so maybe they had 1 and a half before, and now they have to reduce to

1. 600 applications, 31 approved now and i would see the approvals will continue to grow hopefully, but the overall number of applications will likely drop. >> i guess-- >> just to jump in quickly greg. obviously we still get some new applications for the most part with the numbers greg is referring to is all the pandemic folks that are transitioning over, but new businesses open up. they want new parklets and so those while not significant, over time can also-- >> thank you. thank you for that. a question on that piece is that, i understand through covid there was about 1800

shared spaces or roughly about 1800 or 1600 shared spaces, is that correct? in the operation, correct? >> yes, 1600 figure was during the pandemicism we had a lot of folks with temporary permits that are expired and not operating and our team is being very methodical. we have a number of sites we know operated during the pandemic and if they didn't apply for legislative permit we reached out to them and said hey, when you remove your junk and we wait and document and maintain a list of everyone that removed it, we main a list of folks who haven't removed it and they haven't applied and we follow up with them and let them know, if you don't apply

then you can get notice of violation, which can have a fine and other penalties you would seek to avoid. then we have folks who apply, but they don't follow up. the bear minimum as it relates to submitting an application, but maybe been non responsive or they haveen been diligent and follow up with them and remind them to complete the application. there are many different tiers of participants as it relates from transitioning to the pandemic to what the future of the program will constitute and we are always constantly trying to lend a hand with the people we can help and pull into approval and wag a finger at folks who have not demonstrated the activity we require from them to legalize the parklet. >> thank you for clarification and i think it would be good--whatever you guys are doing is good.

the last question i have is when it comes to complaints and violation. i understand there was a fine of hundred-depending on the violation and i know that you mentioned greg, that you guys do follow-up within 5 to 15 days. i just curious--you mentioned about--blocking the sidewalk

and accessibility. i'm curious on how do you separate those two? because those two can be the same as blocking accessibility and blocking the sidewalk. the second question is that, when you checking if the businesses change or--not agreeing with any legal action,

is there a warning? if you don't do this, you could be revoked? if you need me to repeat that, let me know. >> okay. i think i got it. for sidewalk obstructions, we'll go out and investigate. with some sidewalk obstructions it can be temporary, which is to say someone sends a picture and by the time we get there it is moved. it could have been a patron that pulled a chair out or employee that doesn't know where the merchandise display. we review a plan for merchandise display, but they

may unaware there is configuration so we typically reach out to them and remind them of the need to maintain a clear path of travel, to maintain adherence to previously approved set of plans, which we reviewed for accessibility prior. if you have approved plans, you stick to the plans, shouldn't be any issues. the fines and the penalties, those typically we-it is last resort. we already asked someone very nicely multiple times. we typically--before someone were to receive that type of penalty, we likely would have visited them in person, we would have sent them an e-mail and physically posted a warning at the site itself, so we would have gone to multiple e channels to rectify the issue. ultimately we can revoke the permit and remove the parklet. there are two instances in

which a fine would not be appropriate because it is a imminent life safety issue. we are just gegoing to pivot into probably removing the structure ourselves and forwarding a bill to the bureau of delinquent revenue pursuant to the business inability to remove it. we tell someone you got taget it out of here and if they don't do it themselves we will do it and bill them for it. again, these are like [indiscernible] not the first tool in the tool kit that we seek to use. we try to inform, educate first and foremost and the punitive measures are on the back end of like, we are not having a productive conversation with this participant. >> the next question i have-monica you can chime in if you need to.

are there any push-back from these 600 applicants or--refuse to comply? >> yes. i'm glad you asked. it is unfortunate that so much of our work. we very much have push-back and--[indiscernible] had a situation for a couple years even if it was temporary, it still sounds like there is ownership over the space, so when the is information about having to make changes that are costly, it often doesn't-it often is a challenging

conversation and there's push-back. maybe it is because they are costly. they invested thousands of dollars in the parklet already. the changes are additional. or maybe it is changing the footprint which means a smaller parklet or sidewalk table and chairs, which means fewer tables, less revenue generated. so, it is just a big transition period and trade-off, but that we really have to handle each one with a lot of communication and visits and work to get them to a place to hopefully stay in the program and continue to invest and they see it is something that is so viable for them. it may not be for everybody, but your question is-there is push-back and unfortunately the

citations and fines are last resort if they are not willing to make changes and they effectively don't have a permit to operate the space any longer and not in good faith toward permit issuance. those are people that were rolling out every month warnings, citations, if people are not wanting to make the changes but they need to. >> if i might clarify, monica, when you and greg are talking about push-back, i think what cochair madrid is referring to is around the specifically the accessibility piece, right sph >> yes. and--refuse to comply with the

city mandates. >> are you able to speak to specifics around no compliance with disability access laws? >> i apologize for jumping in and not setting that correctly. take it away. i see a lot less of that. >> i think that is a good point. i thank you for the information. greg, you can speak on that? >> this is greg with public works. yes, one of the big challenges is under the pandemic program,

we allowed accessible seating as a supplement on the sidewalks, soa structure in parking space did not necessarily have to have accessible seating if the business provided accessible seating on the sidewalk. for a business that created structures that did not include accessible seating as a result of this. when the program was legislated, one of the updates is the structures all needed to include accessible seat, so there are some businesses that were challenged by the notion they previously were able to provide and meet the requirement for accessibility was no longer admissible and i would say that the other common push-back we get is just it could be very challenging to produce accessible structures on very steep hills and so there are businesses that really really want a parklet and really really struggle with engineering one that meets

accessibility and seating requirements. >> thank you. >> thank you. thank you alex. thank you for those responses and we are going to move on-orchid do you have any comments? >> [indiscernible] [microphone not on] here we go. thank you to the control room. i'll keep it brief. i am in district 9. r and who ever is doing the clean up at mission street corridor at the 24 section has been working-sorry, rather been very challenging to get through on the sidewalk. there is a lot of vendors and it has been horrific, however

there is massive improvement and i am able to walk more safely and happy about that improvement and hope it continues to stay that way and thank you to whom ever has been involved with that, who ever is responsible for that. i understand small businesses want to thrive and the goal is to connect community in spaces like this, and from that perspective it is very important to allow those spaces to have vendors, however, i think there is a lack of foresight for use of the space goes and accessibility and i think that there could be training and perhaps some areas where we could accommodate those small businesses and allow for accessibility and parklets. i notice there are a few places that have parklets in a parking area and there has been

graffiti that and vandalism that happened and that is on the business owner often to clean up, and then i see there is also some other concerns there, so in brief, just wanted to make those comments. thank you. >> thank you orchid. is there any response? sorry. >> if we can go back to the speaker, please. >> hi. this is gregory with public works. i have been working with the street vending program. my team is also responsible for issuing permits and inspection team over at public works has been work in tandem with the police department on mission

street, so-then all hands on deck effort, so to speak. we continue to work with vendors and with enforcement to reduce congestion and path of travel there. new rules have been adopted that relate to the amount of space that vendors can occupy and we are in the process of administering how we are going to place those vendors pursuant to these rules, so i think that may lead to less vendors or less permitted vendors within a defined space, which hopefully will ease congestion and path of travel. it is a continuous and sustained effort to try to reduce congestion and maintain safety in that area. public works team will continue to work with community groups in the area and we are always receptive to any type of

education or training that may help promote accessibility so thank you. >> back to you, sherry. thank you so much. okay, i'm going to the webex now. denise or patricia. >> this is denise. i have no questions at this time. thank you, sherry. >> thank you. and patricia. >> neither do i. i don't have any question. thank you. >> this is sherry, and i just want to comment that it seems an incredible amount of vendors or establishments to go from 1500 pandemic to post-pandemic, 600 and that is a very daunting task to track down the 900 that did not apply.

to make sure that you know, that they are not still operating their parklets or shared space. i also find it amazing or whatever the word is, when it went from the regulations in place for accessibility during pandemic, and now it is a federal mandate, but is it that much of a difference in the compliance, because if they had just been in compliance during pandemic, how much of a difference is it going to the new program with the federal legislation? >> so on behalf of the speakers i think gregory or monica, if you could talk about the broad categories of compliance that we look at in the shared spaces

program. disablt access is one, but there are others. >> yeah. >> it might be helpful to clarify that. go ahead. >> sure. i'll jump in briefly to say that, fire access and footprint and visibility at intersections are some of the big categories. there is a host of things that maybe folks are not wanting to come into compliance with and continue with the program. emergency access, lights, you need a 3 foot gap in the middle if over 20 feet long, or 3 foot setback at the end of the parklet to have emergency access and clearance at the end of the parking stall, which means parking spaces or parklets that is a common one.

of course, i can elaborate on accessibility and [indiscernible] pre-pandemic. those are some of the main things. [indiscernible] emergency access. >> thank you monica. the end of that was specifically required for this during pandemic? >> some was and a lot, a lot changed or wasn't enforced at the time. >> okay. alright, i didn't realize it was that nuch a change where people are like, now freaking out like they never heard of it before. okay. thank you so much. that's-thank you very much for what you are doing, because that is a very important part of living, commuting and trying to do what we want to do in the city of san francisco. mod staff , do you have questions?

>> very briefly, i wanted to say a couple things. this is nicole speakingism . thank you gregory and monica. i want to highlight for the public that we work very hard and what i think very effective manual that really highlights all of the accessibility requirements and with some exceptions that greg has spoken to around grade and things. many many of the accessibility requirements are very easily achieved, so just want to emphasize that. then also say that, it might be a good time to look at again, it has been a while since mod has worked with the shared spaces folks, but really looking at how folks can report

an accessibility violation and make sure it is easy to do and understand it is possible. so, that's one of the commitments that you will have. [coughing] i encourage the council if there is anything in particular that you would like as a matter of follow-up to do that is follow-up request to this item. thank you very very much. >> thank you nicole. again, greg and monica, thank you so much for your presentation today. look forward hearing from you again. >> thanks for having us. have a lovely weekend. >> thank you. >> okay. moving right along. i would like to turn our attention to mod deputy director debbie kaplan for a report or information on any correspondence we received this

month or since our last mod meeting. mdc meeting. >> well, is my voice coming through? >> [indiscernible] >> okay, good. good afternoon council members. for correspondence, the sole issue that you have received correspondence about in the number of 50 plus messages is about a issue you have already taken action on and that is the

no turn on red policy that you have written a letter to the mta board in urging them to adopt, so this campaign is continuing and you have continued to receive correspondence about it that is all based on a template, all the e-mails are the same and urge you to support no turn on red. >> thank you. >> this is nicole. i also want to add that, the mayor's office on disability did receive the letter about holiday plaza and if it hasn't been distributed to you as

council members yet, it will be. it was just received this week, so please be expecting that formal correspondence as well. >> okay. thank you so much. okay. clerk, we are moving to our last opportunity for general comment. if you could please read the instructions one more time, please. >> could i please have the camera on me? great, thank you. now at this time, members of the public may address the council on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the council, which are not on

today's meeting agenda. each member of the public may address the council for up to three minutes unless the cochairs determine that in interest of time, comments may be limited to a shorter time when there are larger number of public comments. with respect to today's item specific discussion items, your opportunity to address the council will be afforded at the conclusion of each discussion item before each council discussion begins, which already occurred. if you like to respond-get a response from the committee, please contact us and provide your e-mail address to mdc@sfgov.org in the subject line say, request for response or you can call 415-544-6789 to

leave your comments. thank you. and we are ready and available for any general comments from the public. >> first start with anyone in the room desiring to make public comment. doesn't appear if there is anyone in the room. unless in my wheelchair i'm not seeing anyone. i don't see anyone. we don't have anyone who raised their hand remotely either, so i believe we can close public comment. >> thank you director bohn, and at this point, we are moving to our last agenda item before we adjourn, which is council member comments or announcements. alex. >> yes. thank you.

i want to say, thank you for everybody for sticking with us. i just want to say happy holidays, happy hanukkah--happy holidays to you and i just want to say, thank you for the staff and for the wonderful interpreters that is sticking with us. --thank you. >> thank you alex. orchid. sorry about that. thank you. denise. >> alex said it so eloquently.

happy holidays and thank everyone for their support and we look forward working with you and seeing you in 2024. [indiscernible] thank you council members, staff. bye bye. >> thank you, denise. patricia. >> no additional comments. >> thank you. this is cochair sherry, and i just want to say thank you for a great year on the council working with mod. it has been a pleasure working with the public. been a pleasure. looking forward to seeing you all next year and i wish you all happy holidays and a very peaceful new year. i think if there are no objections i am going to adjourn this meeting. thank you so much. >> thank you.

>> eting adjourned] >> shared spaces have transformed san francisco's streets and sidewalks. local business communities are more resilient and our neighborhood

centers are more vibrant and lively. fire blocks and parking lanes can be for seating and merchandising and other community activities. we're counting on operators of shared spaces to ensure their sites are safe and accessible for all. when pair mets, firefighters and other first responders arrive at a scene, they need clear visual access to see the building entrances, exits and storefront windows from the street. that means parklets should be transfer in the areas above inches above the sidewalk level. it's best if these areas are totally unobstructed by transparent materials may be okay. you can check with fire department staff to make sure your site meets visibility requirements. emergency response crews and their equipment need to be move easily between streets, sidewalks and buildings, especially when they are using medical gurneys, ladders and other fire fighting

tools. that means that parklet structures need a three foot wide emergency feet every 20 feet and 3 feet from marked parking spaces and emergency access gaps need to be open to the sky, without obstructions, like canopies, roofs, or cables and should always be clear of tables, chairs, planters and other furnishings. emergency responders need to use ladders to reach windows and roofs to buildings and the ladders need unobstructed overhead clearance and room to be placed at a 72-degree angle against the building. clearances needed around the ladders to move equipment and people safely up and down. so not all parklets can have roofs ask canopies depending on the width of the sidewalk in your area. please make sure that your electric cables are hung so they are out of the way and (indiscernible) to the structure, they can be pulled down by firefighters.

cable connections need to be powered from an outdoor reciprocal in the building facade because hard wire connections are much more difficult to disconnect quickly. these updates to the shared spaces program will ensure safety and accessibility for everyone, so we can all enjoy these public spaces. more information is available at sf dot gov slash shared spaces. >> roughly five years, i was working as a high school teacher, and i decided to take my students on a surfing field trip. the light bulb went off in my head, and i realized i could do much more for my students taking them surfing than i could as their classroom

teacher, and that is when the idea for the city surf project was born. >> working with kids in the ocean that aren't familiar with this space is really special because you're dealing with a lot of fear and apprehension but at the same time, a lot of excitement. >> when i first did it, i was, like, really scared, but then, i did it again, and i liked it. >> we'll get a group of kids who have just never been to the beach, are terrified of the idea, who don't like the beach. it's too cold out, and it's those kid that are impossible to get back out of the water at the end of the day.

>> over the last few years, i think we've had at least 40 of our students participate in the city surf project. >> surfing helped me with, like, how to swim. >> we've start off with about two to four sessions in the pool before actually going out and surfing. >> swimming at the pool just helps us with, like, being, like, comfortable in the water and being calm and not being all -- not being anxious. >> so when we started the city surf project, one of the things we did was to say hey, this is the way to earn your p.e. credits. just getting kids to go try it was one of our initial challenges for the first year or two. but now that we've been doing it three or four years, we have a group of kids that's consistent, and the word has spread, that it's super fun, that you learn about the ocean.

>> starting in the morning, you know, i get the vehicles ready, and then, i get all the gear together, and then, i drive and go get the kids, and we take them to a local beach. >> we usually go to linda mar, and then occasionally ocean beach. we once did a special trip. we were in capitola last year, and it was really fun. >> we get in a circle and group stretch, and we talk about specific safety for the day, and then, we go down to the water. >> once we go to the beach, i don't want to go home. i can't change my circumstances at home, but i can change the way i approach them. >> our program has definitely been a way for our students to find community and build friends. >> i don't really talk to friends, so i guess when i started doing city surf, i started to, like, get to know

people more than i did before, and people that i didn't think i'd like, like, ended up being my best friends. >> it's a group sport the way we do it, and with, like, close camaraderie, but everybody's doing it for themselves. >> it's great, surfing around, finding new people and making new friendships with people throughout surfing. >> it can be highly developmental for students to have this time where they can learn a lot about themselves while negotiating the waves. >> i feel significantly, like, calmer. it definitely helps if i'm, like, feeling really stressed or, like, feeling really anxious about surfing, and i go surfing, and then, i just feel, like, i'm going to be okay. >> it gives them resiliency skills and helps them build

self-confidence. and with that, they can use that in other parts of their lives. >> i went to bring my family to the beach and tell them what i did. >> i saw kids open up in the ocean, and i got to see them connect with other students, and i got to see them fail, you know, and get up and get back on the board and experience success, and really enjoy themselves and make a connection to nature at the same time. >> for some kids that are, like, resistant to, like, being in a mentorship program like this, it's they want to surf, and then later, they'll find out that they've, like, made this community connection. >> i think they provided level playing fields for kids to be themselves in an open environment. >> for kids to feel like i can go for it and take a chance that i might not have been

willing to do on my own is really special. >> we go on 150 surf outings a year. that's year-round programming. we've seen a tremendous amount of youth face their fears through surfing, and that has translated to growth in other facets of their lives. >> i just think the biggest thing is, like, that they feel like that they have something that is really cool, that they're engaged in, and that we, like, care about them and how they're doing, like, in general. >> what i like best is they really care about me, like, i'm not alone, and i have a group of people that i can go to, and, also, surfing is fun. >> we're creating surfers, and we're changing the face of surfing. >> the feeling is definitely akin to being on a roller coaster. it's definitely faster than i think you expect it to be, but

it's definitely fun. >> it leaves you feeling really, really positive about what that kid's going to go out and do. >> i think it's really magical almost. at least it was for me. >> it was really exciting when i caught my first wave. >> i felt like i was, like -- it was, like, magical, really. >> when they catch that first wave, and their first lights up, you know -- their face lights up, you know you have them hooked. >> i was on top of the world. it's amazing. i felt like i was on top of the world even though i was probably going two miles an hour. it was, like, the scariest thing i'd ever done, and i think it was when i got hooked on surfing after

>> to order. so, can we have a roll call, please? >> president paulson, here. rivera, here. ajami, here. maxwell, here. stacy, here. you have a quorum. >> i like to announce thament that the san francisco public utilities commission owns and steward of--descendants