by for the san francisco mayor's disability council meeting of april 19, 2024.

>> i think we are okay. there we are.

thank you so much. good afternoon everyone. --hold on one second. sorry. good afternoon and welcome to the mayor's disability council meeting. today is friday april 19, 2024. today is a-this meeting is broadcast to the public. this is a in-person and hybrid meeting and broadcast to the public at sfgovtv. it is open captioned and asl interpreted. sign language interpreted. if you need any other accommodation, and have difficulty attending this meeting, please send an e-mail

to mod@sfgov.org. or call 415-554-6789. did i mention to say that my name is sherry albers you cochair for today's meeting? thank you. the mayor's disability council meeting council holds ten public meetings per year, and they are generally held on the third friday of the month. for information about past or upcoming meetings, please visit the mod website at www.sfgov.mod. our next regular meeting will be on friday, may 17, 2024 from 1 to 4 p.m. and it will also be a hybrid

meeting and it will also be broadcast on sfgovtv. okay. so, we thank you for joining us, and our clerk today is john costi, who will perform his function with the use of a asl interpreter. so, john, would you please-clerk, would you please conduct the roll call? >> [unable to hear speaker] testing. could we-okay, thank you. this is john costi, and the clerk for today 's meeting.

first we'll read off the roll call. alex madrid, here. sherry albers, present. denise senhaux, present. orched sassouni, here, present. patricia arack, present. >> thank you so much clerk, and could you please read the agenda for

today's meeting? >> so, today's agenda, number one is the welcome fallowed by the roll call. number two sp action item. number three, general public comments. number four, cochair report. number five, information item, cochair report as well from mayor's office on disability. item number six, discussion item. san francisco's curb management

strategy. number seven is feasibility discussion feasibility of wheelchair charging stations. number eight, deputy director's report. number nine, again, general public comment. number ten is information item. council member comments and announcements. and then number 11, again with cochair action item, adjournment. and i harnd the meeting back to you. >> thank you clerk. i just want to make one correction that i think it was number eight, was the correspondence. is that right, debbie? thank you. okay. with that being said, council members, do i have a motion to approve today's

agenda? and second? >> i second. >> thank you, denise. all in favor? >> aye. >> thank you. all opposed? thank you patricia. any abstentions? okay. we have a good agenda today. motion passed and we will begin today's meeting. okay. so, clerk, could you please read-let us know how to make general public comment, please? >> alright. this is john costi again. we are waiting for the camera to be focused on the clerk. 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 that in the interest of time, comments may be limited to a shorter time period when there are large number of the public making comments. with respect to today's items specific discussion items, your opportunity to address the council will be afforded at the conclusion of each discussion item before council discussion begins. reminder the brown act forbids the council from taking action or discussing any items notd appearing on

the posted agenda, including those items raised by the public comments. if you like a response from the council, please provide your contact information by e-mail message to, mdc@sfgov.org >> [indiscernible] i'm not seeing we are in practice session on my

end. >> [indiscernible] >> okay. >> [unable to hear speakers] >> again, so, send e-mail message to mdc@sfgov.org with subject line of mdc comment reply request or call 415-554-6789. if you are joining us using your tablet or smart phone, the webex app, click on the three horizontal dot icon and then click the action to rise your hand. we will recognize you when it is your turn to make a comment.

you may also use the q & a feature in webex webinars to make a comment. it is located in the top part of the video after touching the screen. if you are using a laptop or desktop, you can click on the raise your hand icon and q & a icons are located at the bottom of your video screen. if you are joining by phone, dial * 3 to indicate you like to make a comment. we will prompt you when it is your turn. so, at this time just to check with anybody joining us in person, if you like to make a comment you can come line up at the podium in the front or have comment cards located at the front of the room. debbie, have you received any

comment cards? >> [indiscernible] [unable to hear speaker because microphone isn't on] >> so, we'll start by checking with the audience present. is there anyone in the room who would like to make a public comment or filled out a comment card? seeing none, and is there anyone online who wishes to make a comment? alright. >> [indiscernible] >> i return the meeting to you

cochair albers. >> thank you very much. thank you clerk. okay. we will move on with our meeting now and the next item on the agenda is the cochair report, and which will be given by sherry albers, cochair. the report is very short this month. we just want to let you know that since the last meeting, the mdc members and the mod staff have been actively recruiting individuals to build up vacancies on the council, so we do encourage members of the public

to contact us if you are interested in joining the council, and if you are, please contact us the mod office and you can contact us at mdc@sfgov.org, or you can call 415-554-6789. we would love to have you. okay, and that does conclude our cochair report for this month. and i am now going to turn the mic over to nicole bohn, the director of the mayor office on disability and nicole is going to give her report. thank you, nicole.

>> good afternoon everyone. i'm nicole bohn, the director of the mayor office on disability. thank you for joining us this afternoon online and sfgovtv and here in the room. we are really glad you are here. i have just a few updates for april 2024 for the council and for the public. if you like to engage with anything that i talk about in this report today, please contact mod@sfgov.org or call 415-554-6789. we'll start with a few legislative updates, first the local ones. file 231005, which is the building code amendment for deadlines for disability access improvements for public

accommodation, supervisor mandelman known as the accessibility inference ordinance, the deadline for compliance with the program are extended to the end of the calendar year. the file has been duplicated and additional amendments intended to streamline compliance and or significantly change the program are also under consideration. i mentioned this last month but it is still happening, still going on. mod is in conversations with the supervisors office now and memberoffs the public wishing to be involved in this initiative are encouraged to contact mod or the supervisors office directly and again, i just wanted to remind you of the second legislative item pending, 230269 that honors judy human and plaza protest of 1977

and it directs public works to install a commemorative statute in honor and we encourage the council to monitor this so we know the instuilation happens and accessible to all during this very important commemoration. the next thing i will--by the way-a full version of the report is posted to the mod website as well, and so with that towards the end. this is just highlights. next thing i want to highlight are some news and announcements. so, first of all, a note for the council and for the public that the mod offices along with all city departments in the 1155 market building are anticipated to be moving locations next

month. plans are underway for temporary swing space for some of the mod staff at 1455 market building, and some of the mod operations are expected to be part-time remote part-time in person and part-time remote for 4 to 6 months while mod new space expected to be located in the 1455 market building is under construction, so wanted to alert you that public messaging for how mod will operate in this transitional time is in development and expected to be finalized and posted no later then may 1, so please continue to follow the mod distribution list and our website announcements for more information. reminder our website again is sf.gov/mod. as reminder if you are not signed up on the distribution list, you may

go to the website landing page, sf.gov/mod and scroll to the subcribe button at it bottom of the page or contact by phone or e-mail and asked to be added. also, mod continues to spend considerable amount of time on action items related to disability and aging affordable housing needs assessment i know the council has been monitoring. the council is encouraged to engage with the item, especially since we are entering the 2024 budget and supervisor add-back request season, so you'll want to be tracking and maybe follow up on what's happening there. we could use your advocacy and support in continued funding for the action items related to the initiative. and are then finally in terms

of announcements, there is reminder again the san francisco helths order requiringic masking in healthcare and other facilities is set to sunset the end of this month, april 30. mod heard from disability community team members in opposition to this sunsetting and also committed to working with the community, the department of public health and others on proactive accessibility measures outside the health order. had council is encouraged to monitor theiteal or call for a hearing and place on the agenda and learn about the proactive measures being explored here. and then, beyond these, i just wanted to highlight a couple others that you may want to continue to track that we are working on. i already spoken of accessible business entrance program. i want to continually encourage

this council to be monitoring san francisco communication access responses. you can also choose to think about dining reusable follow up. reminder too, the controller's office city funded or city owned single room occupancy or sro elevator assessment and any pending legislation, which is launched in september, evaluating the accessibility and usability of city owned or funded sro's is underway. the schedule got moved out so now we are not expecting the controller's report to be complete until june or july, but several supervisors, including preston and stefani, have called for hearings or considering legislation about sro elevators

and funding right now. the council may consider calling for a update on these items to align with the release of the controller's report or any actions being taken by those supervisors. and then last thing i'll let people know about for this month and again, you can access the full report at sf.gov/mod is around emergency management response. you also may want to call for a update on this. this past month we were actively involved in messaging about public right of way and encampments and had success there, but there is other items you might want to be updated on, including but not limited to, power outage response, care and shelter, hazard climate and resilience and extreme air quality. mod is involved in all these

efforts along with department of emergency management and others, and the council may consider learning a update on this collective response to these items and that concludes my highlights for today. >> thank you so much director bohn. okay, moving on. we are going to a discussion item. this is about san francisco's curb management strategy and it is going to be presented by forest barnes and erin mcauliff from the san francisco municipal transporation agency. so, with that i'll pass the mic.

>> thank you so much. alright. so, hello all. my name is forest-- >> [indiscernible] >> hello all. my name is forest barnes a transportation planner in accessible service division at sfmta and i'm joined remotely by my colleague tracey who is transportation planner and the curb management division at the mta. i have two callers at accessible services available at the end to answer questions including erin and shawn. i want to let you know this is a little of a lengthy presentation, but we think it is important to give the

full context of blue zones in san francisco. yeah. so, i will be giving a quick overview during i turn it over to my colleague tracey. today we'll talk about the sfmta curb management. accessible parking in san francisco. how we site and design blue zones which is a term for accessible parking. we'll talk about the public right of way accessibility guidelines or prowag, and the design considerations that go into that. we'll talk how we notice and communicate blue zone withs to the public. how we track where blue zones are in the city and i have good news to share on that. look at the analysis where the blew wrr zones are. ment talk how the sfmta digital curb project will tie into that. there is a list of resources for the public and are then we'll take

discussion and questions at the end. now i'll turn it over to my colleague, tracey. >> hello. thank you forest. can you guys hear me? alright. thank you. so, as forest said, i am with the curb management group within the sfmta, and in 2018, we embarked on basically describing our approach to the curb with what we call a curb management strategy. it is one of the handful-first handful in the county of cities that have done this. i think toronto and are canada beat us and [indiscernible] second. and what it does, it is for transparency to explain our approach to the curb and it is also a way for us to sort of gather our thoughts

about the emerging ways people use the curb now that is different from the past. so, in order to align our approach to the curb with the values, like transit first and vision zero, we need to develop a strategy that prioritize access for people and transit, whether it curbside bus lane or bus zone. the strategy has recommendations for how to squeeze as much possible out of the limited and shrinking amount of curb we have. to be transparent about how we make the decisions that effect people's lives. the approach we had in the past to the curb was largely reactive and wasn't matching the way folks are using the curb now. the pandemic for instance, has increased demand for short-term loading needs all over san francisco,

and among other things. recently the state bill ab413 is also effecting many of our intersections so the curb inventory continues to s hp rink whault we have so we have to be organized and transparent how we approach allotting the curb to different needs. so, along with recommendations that were designed processed improvements and then how we want to use data, which we'll talk about later with the digital curb. next slide, please. so, what you are seeing here is a matrix that explains our approach in images, so it is neighborhood type across the top and then level in the hierarchy we would give it in that

neighborhood type, if that makes sense. so, those arrows at the very top represent transit, so that means that in every neighborhood type we prioritize transit and you can see there is neighborhood commercial, there is neighborhood, which is low density and so it varies depending on what the needs are in each given area. it is pretty straight forward, but again just in the-in a effort to be transparent about our approach. if you are a industrial area you may prioritize access for goods, which is that little truck. access for people is the little person standing next to the sign. bus stops or anything at the curb for transit. and so, the idea with this framework is to increase transit relability,

safety and the safety for vulnerable road user jz increase access everywhere we can in a way that makes sense for each neighborhood. next slide, please. some of the recommendations that were in the curb management strategy for increasing access and safety are, to prioritize access for more people, paratransit, passenger loading zones to move flag stops throughout the curb, which is already happening, the agency is undertaking that. flag stops are informal bus stops that you may have seen where parking is allowed right next to it and not particularly safe, so we are working on getting rid of those all over the city. also, to work with our enforcement to

enforce sidewalk parking at all times, rather then by complaint, which is how it used to be triggered. and then of course, to prioritize double parking. this is not always in our jurisdiction, but if somebody left the car and parked their car, then it is. and then lastly to proactively implement ab413, the state bill mentioned earlier, daylighting so all corners on the approach have 20feet of clearance for visibility for everybody. we are coming into contact with this in our work constantly and just getting ahead of it. it isn't until 2025 that it is enforceable, but we are already continuing to work on it and daylighting is also a priority for the sfmta regardless through vision zero and all our work.

next slide, please. so, along with the recommendations, some of the tools that we developed are what we use to increase access for safety. the framework as i mentioned to make sure that we are prioritizing what we want to prioritize in different settings and then better data, which is key for us to fill in gaps in the system. and it also will increase access and the use for the-ease for the user as they approach using our transportation system. the more we can find out exactly where everything is on the curb, we can also show that to people and use that information to access the curb

when they go to make a trip. so, at the bottom there is a link how to apply for blue zones and it goes through the color curb program, which is my next slide i believe. so, i also work in color curb with my colleagues and that means that-that is applications. the color code program is predominantly application based and that means somebody applies for a yellow zone or a white zone or a blue zone or a general loading zone, either they sent in a application, a paper one or more often do it online, and then we bring to public hearings monthly. the last friday every month. there is a live link on here too if you wanted to see when those are scheduled.

it is always the last friday of every month and open to the public and the agendas are driven by the requests. that is pretty much what we process, requests. there is a little other things, sometimes new construction or other things, but for the most part it is generated by requests, and anybody can apply as i said. part of our work is legislating posting and noticing and part of our work is also implementing and making sure they are working, so in that respect we'll put enforcement very closely to do our best to keep these zones clear so everybody has access that is requested a zone. next slide, please. so, in terms of how we work

with our partners with forest and the accessibility team, we work closely when it comes to citing on street blue zones or accessible passenger loading zones. we have been working with them to incorporate the new guidelines which we'll talk about later, and then when it comes to like [indiscernible] wide planning, which happens sometimes when there is a area we want to increase say, blue zones or accessible loading, then we work specifically with that team to make sure that what we are doing is meeting federal guidelines, which is--we do that in partnership. so, forest, i guess, back to you. >> thanks for that tracey. so, thanks for the overview of the curb

management strategy. now i'm going to go ahead and specifically talk about blue zones. so, what is accessible parking in the city? it is a blue zone that is striped on the curb. there is a signage indicating it is accessible parking space, and it follows specific legal accessibility rules. so, sfmta has been thinking about blue zones for quite some time and actually had a report in 2013 about a city-wide push to increase parking accessibility and some thingz we have done since-excuse me, the slides are on auto next so i'll keep jumping around. but, the residential parking permit

program for caregivers is something we have done and also worked with rec and park to expand their blue zones as well. we have blue zones in city owned lots and garages and i also just wanted to plug, parking is free for on-street spaces for blue zones, and additionally, in some places like the music concourse garage and golden gate park, it is free 15 minute loading for all and also free parking in the blue zones in the garage with disabled parking placards. blue zones are operational 24 hours 7 days a week and times limits don't apply to blue zones, accept for street sweeping and the 72 hour abandoned vehicle limit times. now that we talked what is a blue zone and i will jump in here about citing and designing blue zones and what some guidelines are there that we are

following. so, before the sfmta, other city agencies going back to the 90 and before we are the ones implementing blue zones including the sf police department. since then, the sfmta has taken that over and now we follow prowag which stands for the public right of way accessibility guideslines, which are federal rules from the federal access board that discuss a lot more then just blue zones, but it is specifically laid out there what the accessibility parameters are. so, we cite blue zonez two different ways, both as part of projects so corridor planning or quick-builds or just a larger streets project, we add them and also add them as requests, which the link is there if you

have specific places you want to request. some of the prowag guidelines including things like a blue zone has to have access to curb cut. no obstructions blocking the door on the side so a side deploying ramp van can unload. there needs to be signage it is accessible parking space and there are specific dimensions that a blue zone has be and all and cant just casually stripe the curb. mta considered curb space in the context of not just parking, but curb spaces, usage for paratransit loading, taxi loading, muni stops and van accessible spaces. i will go ahead and talk about considerations about designing

a blue zone. here there is a image of a side-loading ramp van, and generally side-loading vans typically unload on the passenger side. wheelchair users can access the front seat which is why we typically place blue zones on the passenger side of one-way streets. perpendicular spaces can share access isle if the vehicle can back into a space. typically, the ramp on one of a personally owned ramp van is 52 to 55 inches long and the middle 50 percent of the parking space has to be free of obstructions to allow the ramp to deploy. in some cases we might consider this a good spot for and you go out

and there is is a tree or planter that prevents somebody putting down a ramp, so that is not a site that we can add a blue zone. another consideration and here i have a image of a rear-loading van, ramp van, and another consideration is why-typically our ramp taxies are also rear loading in the city, as well as personally owned wheelchair accessible vans, so for most reloading vans, wheelchair user is not usually the driver. the van ramp is usually 4 to 5 feet long and this is partially why and i'll have a image describing this in a moment, generally we prefer to cite blue zones on the far side of the intersection so someone can use the curb-cut behind the vehicle

since it for rear loading vans. because of those, a lot of daylighting law doesn't conflict with blue zones are typically located. so, here is just an image that shows what i mean when i say far side of the intersection. if you are traveling to the right in this image, it would be the far side of the intersection where the x is located as opposed to the nearest side of the intersection, where is the daylighting law comes into effect. so, some other of our considerations are paratransit vans and their loading consideration. so, typically paratransit vans need 8 feet of width to deploy a ramp and unload passengers, and we have access to the paratransits pick up and drop off data and we use the data to

inform where we cite our accessible loading zones. so, on certain streets we can see that there's high concentration of pick up and drop offs when we redo the street for a project. that is where we really want to make sure there is room for the vehicle to pull over to the curb and a curb cut. here are more design considerations with prowag. prowag also says how many spaces we need to add and design of those spaces, and i want to say that it's alterations to the existing street and new developments trigger prowag so we update the curb as new projectss come along so these guidelines are going into effect later this year and we are not going to magically be able to redo every city at once over time as

the street is altered for various projects is when we implement these guidelines. and so, here is a link to the blue zone rules, but basically blue zones have to connect to pedestrian access routes specifically to accessible pedestrian access routes. the sidewalk has to be clear so ramps can deploy and we need to have signage with international symbol of accessibility. next is how many blue zones do we need? the city wide goal and the legal requirement is that 4 percent of all metered spaces be blue zones. currently according to analysis, a bit over 2 percent of spaces are blue zones so we are working as we redo streets to double that over time and later in the presentation when i talk about tracking blue zones and analysis we are

doing, we can see where those are needed to be added and then on the right there is a table describing how many spaces you need per each block perimeter, based on the number of parking spaces but it is always minimum, 4 percent. and we add these when there is a alteration from a streets project or through the blue zone request tracey had talked about. and now i want to talk about the policy for relocating blue zones if we have a project. like i said at the longstanding policy target to have blue zones at least 4 percent of metered spaces and if we have to move a blue zone, which i'll show images later and verbally drive why we have to move sometimes, we work to find a replacement site nearby, and that meets the minimum requirements under prowag. so, it can't always be put back in the same space. so, here i also have a picture

of an access ible passenger loading zone and want to be clear this is for new construction an alteration. here you have a street level loading zone, so that you can deploy either for rear loading or a side loading ramp van with a ramp up to the sidewalk level and we will be implementing these in place that there is new construction that triggers this requirement, and there is also certain cases where we might not have the sidewalk with to do this, but this is our new design for accessible passenger loading zones for new construction. i want to talk about how we notice and communicate blue zones and i'll turn it back over to tracey for the next slide. >> thank you forest.

so, per the city requirements, we are required to post localized notices, meaning a paper notice that says what the changes you are proposing in proximity to the actual change. they are posted at least 10 days before the hearing and on minimum of utility poles. i said say, if there are utility poles. sometimes we have to post on whatever is available, but two postings within a hundred feet of the change is our usual guideline, and they are also posted on the sfmta website. >> thank you tracey. so, now i'm going to talk more about the data side of things and how do we know where blue zones are? so, i'm very happy to announce,

we just got news today that our updated blue zone map of the city, we had done the mapping and finally got news it will be pushed out to the website with the updated list of blue zones that my colleague shawn went through the entire old map of blue zones and made sure is this blue zone still here, going through countless sign shop orders to update where are the new zones and also worked with the park and rec department to add those as well. so, i can talk about the project. this is shawn's project. we wanted to create the most accurate possible database of blue zones in the city. he updated the blue zone map and layers on the website. he performed analysis on the data to

understand where more blue zones are needed. and then our stretch goal is to understand how this will fit into the digital curb strategy which we'll talk about later, and the other goal is to make data more accessible and useful for customers so before you leave the house you can see where are the blue zones in a particular area. i'll talk later about the digital curb. here, i want to demonstrate some examples of reasons why we have to move blue zones sometimes. the first example shows a blue zone that had to be relocated because a bus stop moved far-side and as tracey said, prioritizing transit is our number one curb use insuring safe and useful transit stops. additionally, sometimes we have to move them for street safety projects like a protected bike lane or we have

to move them for new construction. as you can see with the sales force transit center. these are examples how today the new map shows where the blue zones got relocated from and not the old data so we are very happy we are able to push that out today. this also speaks to the relocation policy where we attempt to find the closest space we can to relocate a blue zone that meets all the prowag requirements i went over. and i'm going to quickly run through some maps. that's our blue zone analysis and i want to give a huge thank you and shout out to my colleague shawn goss who went through and did all of the mapping and can data analysis and i want to let you know these slides are going to be available later and so you can do a little more digging yourself. but here is is a updated map of blue zones in the city. so, we have nearly 800mta blue

zones, rec and park has just over 240 blue zones and the bullet point says published later this year. i can happily announce that is today, and so this map is available already. additionally, we did analysis on this and as you can see, or as the map demonstrates, the concentration of blue zones is mostly in the commercial districts because we cite them most there and that is where the metered parking is most and it is less common in residential only neighborhoods. blue zones are cited in front of trip generators. additionally, i have a map here of the park and rec and sfmta blue zone by neighborhood throughout the city. golden gate park, we worked a

lot in conjunction with park and rec and thank you to my colleague for working on that. tghout e city, you can see that not most neighborhoods in the city are not currentsly up to the 4 percent requirement, which is our goal right now. it is really golden gate park and lake shore are the [indiscernible] throughout the city we know we have work to do. we are working diligently with our curb management team and with our streets team as projects get redone. or streets get redone, i should say. here is just a quick view of blue zones within a 10th of a mile from healthcare facilities. there's nearly 13 percent of healthcare facilities in the city that don't have

a blue zone nearby, so that is a area we are prioritizing as well. and then we did the same analysis with various other cases and have special request to add one for parks which we can add later, but this is blue zones near libraries, blue zones near schools. again, the most common thing is that 50 percent of schools in the city don't have a blue zone near them, so that is something we are working on. but i do want to talk about our sfmta digital curb strategy and will pass it over to tracey, but this is something we are excited about and i think help our agency stay on track making sure we provide all the accessible parking and loading zones we need as a city and are that we can share this information

publicly. i'll pass it over to tracey. >> thanks forest. so, basically this is anything we can't measure we can't fix, right? that's the idea with this grant is that, we need to measure the curb. where is everything and the challenges that paint the case, and so we need data to be updated regularly as well and that is a big part of the digital curb strategy or digital curb project i should say. the main goals of the grant are to digitize the regulations city wide so we can know what every piece of curb, what the regulation is for that curb, and also to keep it up to date as i said. that is one of the biggest challenges and to use analytical tools and to turn it back out to the public so

everybody else can access the data, so it is for us to get clarity and then for the public to get clarity and have a easier time accessing everything they want to access and then that also helps with-in theory with some congestion so people are sort of directly being able to travel where they want to cleanly, instead of having to circle looking for things. and, so i'm not sure about the completion, but [indiscernible] they are working on it as we speak, but we are really looking forward to having a much clearer picture and as i said, keeping up to date part is i are think what will really certainly help us the curb management team as we move forward to really define all the curb

and turn it out so everybody can see what we see. that is all i have for that forest. >> that was helpful and i guess here is a image showing the digital curb of what it might look like, where it shows each block phase and what each section of the block phase curb is. loading, parking, residential parking, so forth and tracey i'll answer the while digital curb? you mostly answered, but to share information publicly. we want to have integrated with travel tools like trip planning tools. we want for technology and enable transportation services so for example, a taxi app might be able to route specifically to a accessible taxi drop-off.

there's efficient for staff and are data driven planning. improves safety and reliability. helps with economic vitality and viability sustainability and foundation for better curb management. what i want to add to these slides not listed here is that, we are working with public works as well to incorporate all the curb cuts into the city into the database so we have a up to date view where every curb cut is in the city and are i'm also going to be working with our colleagues in the streets division to-there is a new tool called, the curb data specification and we are looking to see how we might be able to digitally incorporate characteristics about the curb spaces themselves, so like not just as a blue zone, but a van accessible blue zone, or what is the slope of the curb right there. other characteristics and so, we would love your feedback on that as well of like, what pieces of data would

you like to see in the actual digital curb beyond just the locations of the zones, but the characteristics about the zones themselves. and not just blue zones, but all sorts of zones. and we are all most done. i just want to give a list of resources that we have and again, these will be clickable when the presentation is released. so, here is tools we use, which are the federal prowag rules, there is a understanding prowag guide put out. we also have sfmta reports on guidelines for accessible building blocks or bike facilities and getting to the curb, which talks about accessible and blue and loading zones. when there is a protected bike lane between the parking and the street. and then we also have our 2013

report that i mentioned. the accessible parking policy advisory committee recommendations report, which is a mouth full. we have the link to request a color curb. again, including blue zones. this map of blue zones, which again happy to report, we pushed it out today. it is updated so you can ignore the will be upilated later this year. now i can say, will be continuously updated and then the link to the color curb hearings, so you can see monthly what is on the agenda, what is being added and the links to access those hearings and meetings. i will turn it over to discussion and questions. so, some things we heard, i just want to give one take away that sfmta is coordinating among the division to insure blue zone minimums are met as

part of projects. we are working to unsilo our divisions and make sure all projects are coordinating with accessible services and we are also working with partners like the mayor office on disability and public works to impment all the new guidelines. we want to hear feedback how to communicate these changes to the public better. i know the updated map is a start and then how we can connect blue zone removals to replacement new blue zones and let folks know where dh relacement zone will be and any questions related to accessible curb usage that folks have. thank you. >> thank you. all of you for this very comprehensive report. this certainly has been an ongoing topic with the mayor's office,

so--we now need to take a moment and switch to-if there is any public comments. clerk, could you please give the-hf- >> we will start with public comment from the audience. anyone wishing to join us in person? please we also have a comment card. and you-come on over to the podium and begin and if you can hold so we can start the time meter. one moment.

go ahead. >> hi. locus tobin, san francisco rec and park and i'm notice you said in the presentation the parking for the blue zones in the music concourse garage is free and unless something changed recently that i wasn't aware of, that is not true. everybody pays the same rate to park in the music concourse garage and then also i noticed on the map it does not seem to be showing the blue zone spaces in golden gate park on your map on the presentation and also when i looked on my phone, so not sure if that just hasn't been updated. >> any other people in the audience that would like to comment at the moment? debbie, do you note anyone with

their needing to make a comment online? >> there are three hands raised . >> okay. so, if you can hold one moment so i can set the timer. >> could you please announce-- >> hi. this is will, speaking for accessible san francisco and unincorporated not proft association. there is so much to praise in the presentation i hardly know where to start. it may have been long as we were warned, i can honesty say i don't think there was fluff. this is all important concepts and very much appreciated. i like to single out the creation of the blue zone map.

that is something that has the potential to be a true game-changer for people in the city, and i like to suggest that the mayor's office of disability might consider putting out a public service announcement similar to-i love the one that was done for the outdoor dining and i would love to see alex and company do another one to put out the word and really help publicize the existence of this map. i do have a concern about prowag. prowag are the public right of way guidelines that in the process of being promaligated by the federal government and i think it is important to remind that, until doj comes out with regulations implementing prowag, they are not actually legally-they are not legally binding and also do not

provide a safe harbor for the city, and in the absence of prowag being actual law, several courts have held jurisdictions still must comply with some other standard, not prowag, and typically for example in the corolla decision which involved the city, the 9th circuit found the 2010 ada standards are the binding standards that should be applied. i have noticed quite a few additional accessible loading zones being added, and that's appreciated, and i'm glad you are incorporating the curb ramp program into the project handed by public works. the curb ramp program has really progressed tremendously and when i travel around the state, it is striking how much further san francisco

at this point is further along in the program of making every single intersection in the city accessible. that said, i want to raise a concern i hope can be addressed. valet parkic -parking is a area where there is massive discrimination that goes on in the city. virtually any place can get a valet parking permit and all most none provide accessible features in the loading zone and i am hoping perhaps anyone from staff can comment and there might be a plan to try to-- >> okay, thank you very much. now i like to ask for the next person in line, if you are ready to make a comment? please let's go ahead and continue with the next person.

>> before we do that,- >> yes? next caller. >> hello? >> yes, go ahead. >> can you hear me? my name is richard rothman and first i have to agree with lucas. parking garages, you have to pay. i talked to the parking control officer supervisor and he said, if there is a gate in the garage that you have to pay and i center have to pay at all city garages, so i don't know where they are getting their information. two is, i started this conversation because the street division engineering

removed the blue zone on van ness and mcallister a couple years ago and it still hasn't been replaced up the street. why is the m ta street division engineering removing blue zones without replacing them? i read the staff report and the staff who wrote it should find another job. i think it should be all color replacing blue zones need to go to the color code committee. i do my volunteer work on [indiscernible] they moved the blue zone to put a yellow zone and they did it at the same time. there should be a city policy not moving the blue zones until a new one is in place and the new blue zone on mcallister and franklin where

it is supposed to go is still not put in place, and also the street division moved blue zones at a farmer market near the library there, and didn't replace it, and they had to wait for the color code team to put them in. i don'ts know if they are all put in, i dont go near that area but this is really unacceptable. i read through the handout before the meeting. one of the commissioners sent it to me and it is about only 2 percent. this should be right away making all blue zones-make it up to 4 percent. sometimes it is hard to find blue zones, so i think this should be top priority and not wait for people to apply. they should just go around the city and one street chestnut street needs more

blue zones. there is one or two on the side streets but no blue zones on chestnut from fillmore going west to the presidio there. that is one area where they could put in blue zones there. you know, the street division and mta, they all need to work together. nobody knows what the left hand and right hand is doing, so thank you the mayor disability council for having this hearing and i hope you'll follow up with and make sure the street division knows the color code team knows when blue zones are going to be replaced. >> thank you for your comment. >> [indiscernible] thank you for this hearing today. i appreciate it. >> i think we have at least one more hand raised and then if we need, we can read the directions one more

time. let's go to the next caller, please. >> go ahead caller. >> caller, please go ahead. you still there? >> hello, can you hear me? >> yes. please go ahead. >> hello. >> please go ahead. >> yes, please go ahead caller. >> i can hear you. >> hi, my name is john. i work for the recreation and parks department. i just have a comment and a question actually. first, i want to say thank you to tracey and forest for the presentation. very informative. so, this kind of a comment, rec and park properties that typically have roads or only three of them,b golden gate park, lincoln park and mclaren and i would like to encouraging to

know that we are-you mentioned that to not be siloed and this is a great. i do want to follow up with you all in the future about harmonizeing the blue zones within rpd properties, and working out something to get everything in one place. thus, the comment. the question is, again, rec and park properties are a hybrid. we look at regulations, there is like a-there is facility, which is kind of like off-street parking within a facility, or you have on-street. on-street parking is generally not within a facility, but where we are going with this is thinking roads are in fact parking on roads are on street, so that said, i know you said there are notification requirements and my question is, are those through

mta only, or are blue zones-do they need to be installed by ordinance or resolution? so, i guess my question is, do they need to be- is there a ordinance or resolution that needs to be passed in order to put in these blue zones, or is it more administrative in nature through mta? that's all. >> thank you for your comments. >> i think this concludes public comment at this time. i think we can proceed to council questions next. thank you. nope. hang on one sec. >> thank you so much. members of the council, any

comments? >> i can't hear the speaker. >> hold on patricia. we have-patricia you are on. let's go ahead with your comments. >> she is saying she can't hear, so we need to check and make sure her access is okay on the webex. >> okay. shall we go ahead with cochair madrid? >> the audio is on. could you please check the audio? >> for patricia, please. please hold. we are checking. >> testing. can you hear me patricia? >> yes, i can hear you now.

>> perfect. you may go ahead with your comment. okay. alright. >> [indiscernible] >> council member comments and we'll start with cochair madrid. >> thank you. i have a lot of questions. one is that, can you clarify public comment mentioned about parking free for the parking lot at golden gate and street parking, does the blue

zone--with the timing limited. >> have i got correctly--so apology to lucas and his team. go off his words you have to pay in the garage there, but the california law for on-street parking is that that should be free for on-street blue zones and that the time limit shouldn't apply. >> it should? >> there is a few time limits that do apply which is street sweeping and 72 hour abandoned vehicle. >> go back to the parking area. a blue zone in golden gate park

and any parking places in the city that has blue zone accessible parking, you do pay or not? >> if it is on-street-- >> on parking lots? >> i believe-hf- >> in the parks garages. >> the off street parking some you have to pay and onstreet are always free. >> so,-- they need to pay?

>> i'm not sure specifically about-- >> i'm talking about the parking places in mission parking-city parking in mission and 4th street. >> yes , so if it is in a garage- >> in a garage: >> then you may have to pay depending on the garage. if it is on-street, then california laws says it is free. >> do they have a-- >> the garage should be a sign you have to pay or not pay. >> it is discounted for people with disability or no? >> that's a good question i do not have the answer to. if any of my colleagues online have the answer to that. otherwise, we can get you a response to

that. >> okay. >> the question was about signage within garages? >> no, the question was, does the parking blue zone in the parking garages have signage that they need to pay and do they have discounted pay? >> i have to get back to you on what the parking-on what the requirements are inside the garage. i'm not hundred percent sure on that. >> okay. thank you. the next question i have and this is is the last i have. when you guys-- when the blue

zone has to move or replace, what is the time limit on that, and do they have a signage saying that this particular blue zone is moving or moved to x location and follow-up on that, when you guys do some analysis where everything is, did you guys do a on-site visit, or is it just--is it up to date? >> let me note your question.

one sec. the question was, do we post when a blue zone is getting moved and then do we post the replacement? >> and timeline? >> as tracey said, it would also depend on the particular avenue that is replaced through so the color curb program or is it through for example, a muni bus stop needs to be moved there? in any case, that should be posted at least 10 days before and tracey or erin correct me if i'm wrong. that is something we identified that we are working to improve upon is to connect the removed blue zone to a new site. we heard that feedback pretty loud and clear, so we are working on a internal way to insure that the replacement is also made known.

and then as far as visits, it depends on the context, like for the -for some cases if we look for a replacement blue zone, we can sort of already tell through street view what's going to work and what's not if it is like we can see that there's a tree where we might want to place one, or there's-- >>--how do you guys know exactly how many blue zones is available when you guys-- >> actually shawn, if you are on the line, if you want to take 20, 30 seconds to answer your process

of how we reconcile the sign shop data with the on-street data. >> we just lost sound. >> is shawn on the line? >> we lost the audio again. >> they can't hear. they are muted and cannot hear the room, john. try again. can you hear us now? >> yes. >> shawn, is shawn on the line today? >> i can hear you. >> great. we are checking to see if mta colleague shawn is on the line right now. no? >> okay. p i can go ahead and explain what-- >> he is a guest. >> it is because he's a guest. >> hang on one second, we have to-sorry, thanks for your patience

everyone. >> thank you for taking my many questions. >> of course. >> shawn? >> yes, hello, can you hear me? >> yes. >> go ahead. we are okay, john. >> you want me to repeat myself? my question, shawn? >> the question was, how were the blue zones on the map verified? >> no. how do you know how many blue zones identified? did you go on-site, or--as you know, the google map or whatever map you guys are using might be updated. >> yes .

we started a previous map we had that was mostly up to date and we used our sign shop data at the sfmta that has a record of all the signage that has been installed, including the signs for accessible parking. we combine the two data baseds and verify them all using google street view. where the google street view was not up to date we noted as well as something that needed to be field verify, butt that was a very small portion. >>--on-site visits? >> not to verify the blue zones, no. >> i would suggest to do that, because it might change.

thank you. >> thank you. >> microphone, sorry, sherri, hang on. >> thank you. alex, thank you. are there any other council members with any questions? orched? >> i have questions; >> i think everyone has questions so patricia why don't you go next and then denise and then orcid. >> okay. i have four questions. the first one is related to richard rothman's comments about removal of blue zones, and i agree with him. i support also what alex was

saying. i think it would be a good idea, especially if a area like the library--he said mcallister, van ness and the library--blue zones were removed some time ago, but according to richard, they haven't been replaced. i think a better strategy would be to replace the blue zones where they are supposed to go, the new zones and then remove the old zones, and have signage in both places, so people who are disabled and rely on blue zones wont be left without a blue zone. so, i think that's really important. also, the 4 percent-whatever

those-i forget the acronym abbreviation for it, but the replacement of the blue zones guidelines or rules and regulations. i think san francisco has a lot of work to do to bring that up to 4 percent. so, that-the replacement i think we could have a better system so disabled people are not left in the lurch and they don't have any place to park. my second question, the map-thank you very much for providing that maps. i notice that lake shore plaza, which is on sloat, according to the map, all i saw was one blue zone and that's probably the one on the street. there is a blue zone on the street. so my question is, are you

including blue zones on the map that are on private property like the parking lot, or lake shore plaza, because there are at least probably more, there is at least 10 blue zones in the large parking lot, and it would be helpful for people who need to park at a blue zone, have that information in addition to what's on the street. if someone could address that is the blue zone really a-is a blue zone map reflect all the blue zones or just ones that are put in by sfmta? my third question, stop me if you want to answer the questions as we go along-- >> would you prefer that? >> it might be less confusing. >> okay.

i'll do that. to your first question about replacing first and deciding where the new ones is. there was cases in the civic center and i want to acknowledge that we did do that and that we are working internally diligently to update our process on communicating accessible service is working with the street division, transit division to insure that they check in about their projects with us first and we can make sure they meet the prowag standards and go above and beyond in places that we can. i do think that the connection to the replacement blue zone is a good suggestion, and we also do want to acknowledge that you're right. it will be a lot of work to bring the number of metered spaces up to 4 percent, but that is a priority for us to as new projects come along

to make sure we are constantly improving. to your second question about the sloat blue zones, yes that data set is specifically ones that are on city streets in the sfmta jurisdiction, and there was also the addition of the rpd-sorry, park and rec zones as well. we did not include those that are off-street or in garages and there's a different set of requirements and guidelines for blue zones in parking facilities and i think that is a good suggestion, but we are-the zones we have now are specifically about the ones that sfmta has and i think we would need a pretty intense think-through how we gather all the private blue zones in the city.

but, i noted your suggestion and we can consider that. >> okay. i got two questions. have the blue zones near the library of the civic center, have those actually been physically replaced as of today, or are they still in the pipeline? >> tracey, if you have the answer to that, that would be helpful. i don't have the answer off the top of my head but i will say they did go to hearing and have been approved, and that our sign shops are often you know, constantly having to go out and install the black-log of changes we made and so if they haven't been put in yet, they are legislated and as soon as the sign shop has the labor time to do it, they'll be installed, but-- >> i know that they are moving through, so it it goes to-because it is a metered block, it has to go through traffic engineering before it

goes to the shops, so i thinkthalities that's where they were stuck because there is only one person working on that right now because of staffing issues. the glacial pace. they are in the pipeline expected within a few weeks. >> within two weeks? >> sorry, a few weeks. >> few weeks? >> yeah. >> so, thank you for that response. i think it's clear that there needs to be some kind of change in the procedure, because especially if it is metered it has to go through so many different hearings and discussions. i also like to suggest that, since the maps do not reflect garages and private

property like supermarkets, parking lots, you could add a statement to that effect on the website that it does not-this map does not reflect private property blue zones in places like lake shore plaza. my third question was on daylighting. i support daylighting. i think it is needed, and i'm glad to see that we are going to have daylighting, but i know in my discussions with other residents, there is a great deal of anxiety about getting tickets because they inadvertently parked in a daylighting zone, and if the color code committee, are you planning to paint all

of these daylighting zones in red so people will know they are not supposed to park there, or are they supported to sort of just figure it out on their own? this is really a huge topic of concern for a lot of people. >> may i respond to that? >> yes, please. >> tickets will not be written until 2025. people are expected to only get warnings in 2024. the question of whether or not all of them will be painted is a really good one and up for discussion. there is a engineering in two weeks that is a topic of conversation. i think the worry is how we keep them all in good conditions and then it becomes--it is a question and don't think quite answered yet.

i with know we are leaning towards painting them all, but not sure where that is landing because it is thousands and thousands of intersections and that is a lot of paint and labor and you center to keep it up. but it does obviously make sense someone would benefit from that having a signal. it is a good question, but more of a city traffic engineer jurisdiction and as i said, we are awaiting their word on that. >> is it through the sfmta website, the engineering meeting? >> it is not a public meeting. i'm talking a internal meeting. >> oh. okay. alright. so, that's a huge problem. my last comment is, i live on the lower great highway and based on the map, there is only one blue zone on that entire two mile street.

if lucas tobin is still in the audience, this is-i have a question that he could probably answer. number one, the asphalt ramps that go from the lower great highway up to the upper great highway and are up to the path, walking and bike path, they are not ada compliant number one. at all. number two, there are no blue zones, accept for that one area. i will submit a request for more blue zones along the lower great highway, but every two blocks there are these non-compliant ada non-compliant ramps, which make it very difficult for disabled people to get up to the by-pass and to the highway on

the weekends. i'm just wondering if lucas tobin is there, if he could comment on the non-compliance of those ramps and the possibility of putting more blue zones on the lower great highway so disabled people have better access to that recreation area. lucas? >> lucas is coming to the microphone and i want to say for the other council members, we are running 20 to 25 minutes behind schedule, so if you have a brief comment lucas that is great and then think we should move to the other council questions and interpreter need a break, so just announcing all those things while i have the mic for a second. go for it, lucas. >> i'll make it quick. there are designated accessible

pas from the there also are blue zones in front of the restrooms or near the restrooms at those two locations. i think those were your questions. there might have been one other one. >> the map only shows one, so the map maybe needs to be updated. >> yeah, i believe both of those locations where the muni, the trains terminate and the restrooms are. there are designated pathways that go up to the upper great highway and blue zones at each of the locations. i could be wrong. i know for sure judah, because i have been there recently. >> okay. thank you for that.

perhaps we need in the center around pacheco pathway, perhaps we need another accessible pathway, because those are very far apart, those two. >> thank you patricia. thanks so much for your comments. and thank you lucas. okay. okay, denise. >> thank you. i will be brief because a lot of my council members and public comment portion addressed some of my concerns. so, i thank you for your presentation. it really educated me as far as processes and regulations on blue zones. i think you already heard everyone's concern about targeting that 4 percent. we need more blue zones, and we need better communication around when they are moved and replaced and i know that you guys are starting to work

on that. ypt to thank you for putting the database together. you mentioned earlier you are working with the mayor office on disability and just to state when you do any type of communication access to the public, you want to make sure any type of signage is accessible and you are targeting those organizations that serve the public, so a lot of people don't have access to cell phones or computers to know about these changes going on in blue zones. i think i covered that in under a minute. one more thing. i like you to come back and please give updates on moving this number up, and what you have done in the areas we recommended improvements. okay, i'm done. >> nice job. >> thank you. i tried. >> okay, orchid. >> hi, this is orchid. i'm a council member:council

member sassouni, and i will briefly say that my question for you is that i do have concerns. i live in district 9, and parking is always a issue. there is constant movement and i have several thoughts. the parklets that restaurants developed, some are quite small and some take up quite a bit of space and just wondering how that could be configured is there a issue there with space. the cars that require charging, the cars that which is quite a new bit of technology that was discussed yesterday, so i wonder how that will coordinate with your vision. another issue regards the blue zones. i notice that people who have placards are not always able to park there

because people that do not have placard park there and wonder how the city-i dont know if the zones are quite as pressure as we would like them to be. i think there are issues with traffic patterns and people coming in and are coming out, so people that are visiting the city versus people who live here. i think those considerations need to be made as far as useage of the streets when and whom is using them and then i believe that is all the points i had to make. >> okay. is there follow-up from forest . >> i'll be brief. on enforcement side we are working, my colleague matt west is working with our parking division to create a specific accessibility training for a parking control officer for things like, don't park your vehicle in the access

place or blue zone. it was a issue that came up recently. or sidewalk--accessible path of travel and in terms of enforcement, that is very important to us and we are working on it. i don't think there's been any specific outreach to our team about the ev charging vision, but we look forward to coordinating on that. and, in terms of parklets, there should be a guide already made by the city that i think tries to preserve specific spaces where the parklets won't be, but maybe erin you have a answer for the parklet guide. >> [indiscernible] just a moment. i have additional comment. so, the curbside points, i know we lost

about 13,000 free parking spaces, so that's been a challenge for the city to accommodate since those parklets have been installed. additionally, people who live in the city have been complaining that there has never been enough parking, and then they are ticketed when that happens. the price of a tickets are quite astronomical. also, bike rentals and instillation of locations for renting them have taken up so much space, which also uses a parking spot or two, so i ink the the city has moved forward with several ideas that looked very good but haven't thought through repercussions of them and that impacted this as well so i think that is also something worth considering. thank you very much. >> thank you, orchid, you need a follow-up?

>> i am finished with my comments. thank you so much. >> okay. thank you. this is sherry and i want to piggy back off what erin was just saying and, there is a lot of competition for curb space. the bike rentals, we heard a lot talk about that taking up the space, the parklets, and so, my question is, why-who decides the priority of the curbside space? and when you said forest i think you said something about, we have to figure out the need for new spaces, what goes into that decision and how do people go about requesting new blue zone spaces and is there a spot somewhere

on the website that people can go to to see what new spaces are in the works? like, being built next or whatever in process? >> i can answer some of those. in terms of requesting blue zones, yes, the link is in our presentation. there's-you can request not just blue zones but also passenger loading zones, et cetera, and additionally, what is in the works i know it will be posted the agenda of the color curb hearings and engineering hearings so you can see. in terms of just siteing and prioritizing space, we know blue zones are-have very particular design requirements, like having a curb cut near them, so that we work with

our bike share team to make sure that we where we site the bike stair stations hopefully is in a spot that could be used as a blue zone. so in particular like far side spaces with the curb ramp in the rear, so we are coordinating with other teams to insure that we insure that we can add spaces as we go along and i think tracey can jump in here and talk about the curb hierarchy and curb manageagement how we decide how different curb spaces are used. maybe briefly. >> i'll try to make it brief. i can understand how it is sort of inperceivable for everybody looking at this, but it is one of those many city organizations--city family members making decisions about the curb, so it is not just the sfmta but

shared spaces goes through review with planning and the sfmta and public works to site them. there is a maximum for the size of them, so it is either 2 parking spaces if meet metered or 40 feet unmeetled which fits two cars. there is a lot that goes into the decision from the curb from many corners of the city, but for our jurisdiction we apply the priorities in the curb management category [indiscernible] when we do corridor planning, but a lot of what is out there is historic and has been out there since the police put it there. when the police was doing color curb. so, not like it is all created right now had. >> yeah, tracey, i really

wasn't asking like a technical-i'm talking about from a humanitarian standpoint. blue zones is how people get in and out of a car when they have a disability, versus a business of a bike share, verses--that's really where i'm coming from or we are coming from. so, i just think more thought needs to be put into how a curb is coded. that's really the opponent i-opponent -point i wanted to make, but thank you so much. i want to move on the staff from the mod. >> this is nicole speaking, director of mod. i wanted to very quickly and gratefully say thank you. i know this item has been detailed and there have been many questions so thank you for hanging in there with

it. i want to encourage the council if you have additionals questions or specific suggestions that you like to follow-up to gather those and do that, because there could be a way that you can be helpful in helping everyone prioritize the strategy here with all the good discussion that has come out through public comment and through your questions, so thank you. and then, on behalf of mod, i just want to emphasize we really want to do as much as we can to help promote the map and any support that we can give towards that in terms of public messaging. let's communicate about that. i really-this is a very critical parking is a very critical issue to many with disabilities in the community. it is very apparent from the hearing today so wept to continue to

help you get the word out best most creative ways we can and help also encourage to keep the information updated and current, so we are here to support that and thank you very much. anything from you debbie? okay. one second, please. >> okay. am i getting picked up? so, the 4 percent goal, have you calculated how long it will take using the current priorities for putting in new blue spaces, which is either by request or in new development,

how long it would take if we just go with those to reach the 4 percent goal and if you haven't, i would recommend that you do. >> to my knowledge we have not calculated that number, but i do think looking at the total number we install in a year and total number we need enthe city, we can get that number to you pretty quickly. thank you. >> last thing i'll say, i do think it is great if we can also assist with getting some clarification around parking, especially parking payments city funded and city operated garage structures, if we can help to kind of advance and gather that information, i do think that would be helpful. okay, that's the last comment from staff. >> thank you so much for being here. >> thank you so much. >> thank you very much everybody. thank you.

i think we all need a break. what's the minimum break? how fast can we take a break and get back here? okay, we'll take a 15 minute break. it is 257, so help me with this. >> 315, please be back. >> 315. >> it gives extra 3 minutes. okay. [recess for 15 minutes]

>> the next presentation, this

is the presentation on the feasibility of wheelchair charging stations. okay. and this is going to be presented by our san francisco fellows, and they are kalana alkala, helen balawejder, sorry if i got your last wrong. taylor bauerle, and charmae wang. and again, they are from the san francisco fellows program. again, we are very much looking forward to your presentation today. >> the slides on the screen, please.

there we go. okay. go for it. >> thank you. good maying disability council. thank you for having us today and thank you to everyone joined today meeting in person or on line mpt our presentation will be on the freeze ability of implementing electric wheelchair charging stations. my name is charmae wang and my fellow group members who you will hear today are kalani alkala, helen balawejder and taylor bauerle. >> for some reason our slides are on a automatic advance. i don't know why that is happening, so if one of you can keep a eye on the slides that would be great. >> the san francisco fellowship

is a 12 month full time work experience. fellows are placed in several departments throughout the city and work on various programs. fwr for this we worked on a 10 week group project and worked on it four hours each week in collaboration with the mayor office on disability and other city departments. to the right you see a image of 29sf fellows of the 2023-24 cohort on the front steps outside city hall. for this project scope and objective, this was an feasibility research for implement aition of electric wheelchair charging station initiative. the key objectivef to propose recommendation concerning the feasibility of the implementation. market research on electric wheelchair charges devices, research and outreach with city and county case studies, community engagement and

feedback, focus groups with city departments and a memo outlining the feasibility. the purpose for today is to present our fiend shz and possible options for strategies the city could pursue to push this initiative forward. >> hello. i'm helen. i will be going over our background information that helped to frame this project. so, what is the problem? community members have submitted requests for the instillation of outdoor electric wheelchair charging stations throughout the city and county of san francisco and currently there are no electric wheelchair charging station publicly accessible. there are wheelchair charging stations installed in smaller city and counties across the united states which we'll talk about more later. why is this so important?

analectric wheelchair battery charge determine-most wheelchairs can travel 10 miles before the battery needs a charge. battery life can be unpredictable and the age of device, terrain and weather all have a impact the battery life. it is important to highlight san francisco demographics. 1 in 10 san franciscans report disability totaling 96 thousand residents and that total, 64 percent of people with disabilities identify as black and indijious and people of color. 1 in 4 people with disability live in poverty. i want to emphasize this is equity ableism ish aoo. the table to the right is graph from the 5 year estimates depicting how many san francisco residents report disability and what type of disability.

>> hello, this is taylor speaking. after conducting market research twee discovered the company mobility matters is the sole producer of the wheelchair charging stations. we had the pleasure meeting with founder and inventer of the devices darren who told more about the product. each purchase includes the following:13.5 by 11 by 5 inch weather proof box and key which alos allows to be installed indoor and outdoor. the gray box paragraphed on the right is about the size of a standard adult shoebosh and comes with a 24 volt 5 amp charger compatible with around 95 percent of electric mobility devices. for the remaining 5 percent, there is also a power strip inside that users can plug their own cord into. there is also a dual usb

charger encase wheelchair users need to charge their phone or electronic devices while waiting. all is a 10 by 15 inch metal identification sign seen above the gray box in the photograph. and mounting hardware. these devices can be either mounted on a wall or made mobile by leaving detached from the wall. all it requires is 110 volt power source and for context, your standard wall outlet has capacity up to 120 volts. all of what fss just mentioned is included for a grand total of $749 per charging stations and there are currently no shipping fees. we also conducted case study research on the following four cities to successfully implementing charging station programs for their communities.

new york, oregon, bellevue washington who we reference later in the presentation, and hat tie burg mississippi. san francisco has a population of 808 thousand people. from this list, the largest population is seen in bellevue washington which has the population of around 153 thousand people, so we would be one of the largest cities to saempt to implement this initiative in the country. >> hello, this is kalani speaking and we'll run through outreach community engagementf. our group discussed with multiple san francisco departments about the implementation of electric wheelchair charging stations. the department discussed are as follows, municipal transit agency, the port of san francisco, the public utility commission, the public library, the department of emergency management, the department of homelessness

and supportive housing, recreation and parks department, the department of public health, and finally the office of supervisor melgar district 7 and to the right is a image of the seal of the city and county of san francisco. >> this is helen speaking again. we also connected community outreach and engaged with the community alliance of disability advocates and others and in this meeting, we discussed the lived experiences and how the instillation of electric wheelchair charging stations would impact access in the city, and the discussion and feedback used to better inform our outreach with city agencies and also used to inform how we set up the questions in the community public survey. that community survey was open for around 4 and a half weeks and shared through the mayor office on disability community network and letters and are got a total of 82 responses and

45 respondents are electric when wheelchair users. survey respondents end icate desire to be implemented through the city. 59 percent of electric wheelchair users responded that the instillation of electric charging stations would significantly impact day to day life. 43 percent of electric wheelchair users responded very often about their wheelchair running out of battery while out and to also include those who responded that they worry often that totals to 73 percent worry on a daily basis about their charge. we also targeted questions in the survey asking respondents about whether they prefer indoor or out dar chargeic locations and survey

respondents indicated comparable levels for both. 67 percent of electric wheelchair users responded they are very likely to use indoor charging stations and 62 percent of electric wheelchair user responded very likely to use a outdoor wheelchair charging station. when asked about preferred locations, respondents as shown in the graph to the left, there is a preference for locations across the board, and on the graph it is organized by type of location and highest shown is bart stations. those key locations include along transportation corridors, bart station, bus stop, muni lightrail, outdoor public spaces so parks and squares, indoor public spaces so ferry

building, hp lobbies and centers that serve people with disabilities and the elderly and also recreation centers. i want to emphasize research and outreach is necessary with the community in future planning efforts. to summarize our suvar, the key take away, there is a similar level of interest for all proposed locations. there is support for initiative to be widespread throughout the city and a need for more community outreach to have better alignment on the key locations. >> this is charmae speaking. i will go over the key take away and findings after research with the community and talking with city departments. so, one of the first ones is we found a need for the appointment of a lead agency. the initiative span over multiple jurisdictions making ideal to

have a lead agency to resolve challenges regarding ownership over instillation and maintenance of the charging stations. in addition, there is a express desire for legislative action to be taken in support of the initiative as perasuing legislation action and support from the board of supervisor would give the project legitimacy and larger platform to learn about the initiative. there is funding gap for wheelchair charging stations. further research is required for additional options such as grants, internal budget and legislative funding. in addiction for the alignment between community and agency desires, in between outdoor versus indoor locations we found indoor locations are preferred better unlt to deter vandalism and higher potential for staff to help users charge and monitor the safety and vandalism of the charging

stations. outdoor locations, while requested are less feasible due to higher maintenance cost. the limited number of outdoor outlets available and the high possibility of vandalism. in terms of safety and vandalism, we definitely found safety while charging is is a key concern for members of the disability community as they are unable to move while they wait and charge. concerns with vandalism and tampering of electrical wiring bring concerns for fire safety, requiring additional follow-up with the fire department. >> hello, this is kalani again and i'll walk through our recommendations how to push the initiative further. so, the first recommendation we have is for individual agency implementation and we chose these specific agencies due to buy in from the meetings and conversation as well as the ability to align with community desires.

the individual agencies are as follows, the municipal transit agency, rec and park and san francisco public library. when pursuing a vijs agency plan, one agency would be responsible for pushing through the electric wheelchair charging station. the strength is the leadership allow for agency discussion and control of the project and faster implementation of wheelchair charging stations to serve community needs. the weaknesses with pursuing the plan is a [indiscernible] charging stations as well as individual agencies would have to plan and secure funding, provide maintenance and build capacity within their team to support this project. another option we propose is multi-agency implementation strategy and this would be multiple city departments collaborating together and the way we propose doing this is the first is emergency operation strategy and the second is through board

of supervisor leadership and we'll get into these later. the strength is it provides a city wide network of wheelchair charging stations that best serve the community needs. one lead agency would allow the over sale of the project with one funding and one maintenance plan. in terms of weaknesses, cross communication is a longer process and more bureaucratic burden. >> hello, this is taylor speaking again. so, the first individual agency we recommend to adopt the initiative is the san francisco municipal transit agency. the sfmta strong commitment to accessibility makes a qualified agency to host the initiative. they also have two teams, the taxi access mobility services and the active community team who are knowledgeable about the project. we have the pleasure meeting

with both teams who each recommended the possibility of using mobility hubs as a location for the charging stations. mobility hubs also referred to as transit hubs or transportation hubs are high traffic locations that offer a intersection of transportation options such as electric vehicle and bike share charging, access to bus and train stations and more. two specific locations recommended to us included the caltrain station in towns end and the balboa park bart station. further research is still requires on measures that could prevent vandalism at the locations. the hubs would also support the community desire for the stations to be along transportation corridors. as for funding, the money would most likely have to come from grants. we were able to locate a potential grant under federal transit administration that address enhanced

mobility of seniors and individuals with disabilities. the great thing about this grant is it covers project that go above and beyond the legal ada requirements such as this initiative. lastly, the mta has prior experience collaborating with other agencies giving valuable knowledge should this require further collaboration down the line. >> the second city department proposing as a individual agency is the san francisco recreation and parks department. installing wheelchair charging stations at different park locations will make amenities more accessible for san francisco residents and visitors. when meeting with representatives at the department, they suggested a wide variety of locations within golden gate park they suggested botanical garden, county fair building, [indiscernible] they suggested the gene friend

recreation center a site for adaptive sports within the city. sites within the recreation and parks department fulfill community need for both indoor as well as outdoor locations for charging stations enhancing individual recreational ability. when discussing with the san francisco rec and park department, they noted concerns with vandalism and these concerns can be resolved with supervised stations as well as generators. charging stations can be brought inside in night and in the public in the day. p vandalism concerns [indiscernible] however, one way to counteract this is through installing a charging station at the botanical gardens. this is a site outside within golden gate park. we met with the director of the grounds there and they are incredibly excited about the project.

also to the right we have a aerial image of golden gate park. >> this is taylor speaking. another individual agency we felt would be a strong lead for the initiative is the san francisco public library. for the first pilot program, we are recommending to start at the main branch of the library as it is a great location that offers wide community outreach, including members of the community experiencing houselessness. it has security measures, they are open 7 days a week during reasonable business hours, there is plenty entertainment for chargers and their company, and there is staff and in-house facility division who can potentially assist with maintenance of the devices. specific potential locations within the main library include the deaf services center, though one draw back to this spot, it is only open 5 days a week. the entrance on larkin street,

as well as various other locations on the upper level floors. further research is still needed to solidify fundsing for this option but should the pilot be successful, collaboration with the 27 other branch locations would be required to install chargers as each location has their own leadership and budgets to consider. and to the right is a image of the main library on larkin street. >> this is charmae speaking. we'll move to the first recommendation for multiagency implementation, which is through a emergency operation strategy. upon discussion with the ada coordinator of bellevue washington, we discovered they implemented 6 charging stations with their office for emergency management for disaster preparedness for wheelchair user. san francisco could pursue a similar strategy in which they work with the department of emergency

management as the lead agency who would be responsible for pursuing funding through emergency operation grants. for example, bellevue received $2500 from the urban area strategy initiative grant program funded by the department of home land security. some potential locations could be existing emergency shelters with staffed to prevent vandalism and back-up generators. other locations that could be beneficial during emergencies include, the main branch of the sf public library, the ferry building or pier 1 and zuckerberg san francisco general hospital. >> [indiscernible] city collaboration would be pursuing a multi-agency implementation through the board of supervisors. this could occur through--this could occur through a hearing which incentivize collaboration

between the government and the public leading to action within this initiative. aungzs for funding still need to be researched however include grants or discretionary funding in the general fund. ordinance or legislation insure longevity and structure to the initiative. we have a image of community members at a board of supervisor hearing. >> this is helen speaking again. i just want to conclude by giving our overarching recommendation for further research. additional locations could be possible as we found throughout our project, but research is necessary to better understand the feasibility and there is a need to continue outreach with city agencies, community based organizations such as non profits which we didn't have a chance to conduct outreach with. other cities and counties in the united states such as new york and

pittsburgh pennsylvania pursuing to get this initiative on the ground and other subject matter exert ps and there is additional planning phases needed to map out predicted maintenance needs and of course plan the funded strategy. >> finally want to give a special thank you to nicole bohn, for supporting throughout the project and thank you to the staff at mayor's office of disability. thank you guys so much. that concludes our presentation and we can move to comments and questions. >> alright. thank you so much. what a fantastic presentation. great job. okay, at this point we'll move to public comments. clerk, if you want to--go over

the instructions or we just move to comments >> we are going to start with anyone wishing to come up to the podium to make public comment. you can please move forward to the front of the room or put a comment on one of the comment cards that should be available at the front counter. is there anyone wishing to make a comment at the moment in the room? seeing none, okay, debbie. can i ask do you see any hands raised? >> there are no hands raised. >> none. so- >> i will double check. did we get the instructions for the raising hands?

>> it you are joining by webinar, or using a smart phone, then you'll see the 3 dots listed that you can click on and see the raised han option and we note when it is your turn. there is also q & a feature located on the top left corner. you can click on the button there and for those that are using laptops, you notice there is also q & a option at the bottom portion of the screen. if you are calling by phone, please dial * 3 and it will show that you are ready to be called upon and you will be asked to go next when you are ready. have you seen any hands raised yet? >> we are trying to clarify. we are trying to clarify.

>> i think we are okay. >> okay. thank you so much >> i'm also double checking and see no one raising hands on webinar. >> we'll move to council members now and i'm going to-alex madrid, cochair, do you have any questions? >> yes, i do. thank you for your project. --i was wondering about--you mentioned

that-hf-attach it on the wall, or--did you guys--how much they will be doing it and possibly if the public is willing to put--if public

library says yes, we can have it, where it might be located? let me start with that question. >> okay, to clarify the questions about the maintenance and instillation fees of those charging stations, but also about where those locations would be in those specific locations? >> yes. and i just are want to clarify about possibly if--are they going to be responsible and how do you guys know if those power sources where the

location is? >> hello, this is taylor speaking. we don't know exactly where the outlets are located within the places we looked at, but all it needs is a wall outlet, so anywhere that has that available, it would be available to be plugged in and used for further use. specifically in the library though, we did walk around with the racial equity manager and she pointed out specific locations that have access to electricity, that they would be able to be installed on in the upper floors. the larkin street inance interest, i believe there was not a outlet but they were looking into hardwire something so it would be able to work, but so long as there is 110 volts of electricity it should be able to work just fine. >> i understand that.

-- i think it would be wise to put it up the wall and securing those devices . -- the second question is, you mentioned about possibly-hf -park and rec. i am curious on what's the

strategies on, again, going back to my question, location, location? is somebody going to watch that and how does people going to identify those locations that are going to be charging stations? >> this is nicole speaking. i will step in because i helped supervise on the fantastic project. that is one issue that-the purpose of this presentation was to present to you the council the various options and then think about how you want to proceed with these various options and i think that with the power sources and all that, they had really great discussions with city partners on how we could potentially make it

work, but those kind of details are really yet to be determined and we have to discuss it through a pilot, so we really don't-while we have information what could potentially be feasible and we do think there is a path forward, we don't have enough detail yet, that level of specificity and needs to be determined should we proceed with the pilot. >> thank you, nicole. going back to my question about park and rec, about possibly potential location, if you don't know the answer that is fine, but i think it would be good to know about location and --not going to be damaged or easy

access? do you have-hf- >> if i understand correctly, asking about specific locations within rec and park? >> if it is identified? >> the locations we identified to be potential and feasible to continue with that research going forward, i think the key one is the location of the botanical gardens in goldsen gate park. that location would be next to the bookstore, which is going to be going through renovation recently, and during the renovation process we spoke with the maintenance staff who was very excited about it the initiative and potential to incorporate this in the renovation and hopefully aiming to install the charging station

with outlet outdoors with space for the family and friends that may accompany the electric wheelchair user or mobility device user while they charge so having a designated area and that is a area within rec and park we are excited about. also, outside botanical gardens. kazar stadium. there is other specific locations, the aquatic center i believe. but, those spaces we didn't have the time of scope of the project to sus out the location where we install the charging location next to. the main one we flushed out more and a great location identified is bo tanical gardens. >> i want to clarify those,

because it-- attach on the wall, correct? >> so, the location of the botanical gardens would be supervisors by nearby attendants so people have the option if someone--this location is locks at night, so there is no-there is very limited chance for vandalism given it would be secured at night and watch while the charging station is accessible. >> thank you. my last question, follow up on that. i understand that attendants and helping people, but i think going forward i think it would be good to identify how can someone

independently access, especially at nighttime when people are out and about and on the weekend? out and about in golden gate park i need a quick charge, that place is closed, so what's the use that? --just a comment. thank you and good luck to you. >> thanks alex. >> interrupt just a second. excuse me. so, madam chair, there is one individual who's been waiting to make comment who is having technical

difficulties on webex. >> oh. >> they were not able to raise their hand, and since they have been waiting a while, i wonder if we could let them comment at this point. i think they are able to unmute and make comment. >> i think we can accommodate that. yes. >> person on webex. >> we are ready for you caller. >> hi. yes, can you hear me? >> yes. >> hello. >> yes. >> okay. thank you so much. i have been waiting all most a hour to leave a comment on the blue zone issue. could i please leave a comment on that? >> i'm sorry, what issue? >> on the blue zone issue. >> yes, go ahead. >> thank you. i'll start my timer now for

three minutes. i am disability [indiscernible] i have a you tube channel where i document accessibility challenges and government meetings such as this one. we need blue zone spaces desperately in the city, we have no where near enough. what little parking spaces we have are taken away, and occupied by people who are not disabled. it is all most weekly now i have to ask a non disabled person and by that i mean a person without a blue handicapped placard or blue handicapped license plate to leave a blue parking space because they are not disabled. i recorded a interaction of this kind which i will place on my you tube channel soon. there also are parking spaces being removed at crucial intersections like the 24th street bart and 16th

street bart in order to provide more police car parking. police cars can already park in red zones and pretty much anywhere they want because they are the police. right now the police cars are on the [indiscernible] blocking pedestrian traffic and by that i mean foot traffic wheelchairs. why are parking spaces being removed on the bart intersection for police vehicles and being removed for regular drivers and disabled drivers makes this solely for police cars and for white zones for lyft and taxies at the 16th street park there are now 4 taxi parks spots that are frequently not all used, and as far as i know, at the 16th street bart, there is not a single blue

parking spot. moreover, this is the first time i have learned that disabled people can even request a blue zone. that's never been advertised to the community and never discussed at the meetings since i have been coming. i would love the link e-mailed to me where i can request to the city that we have more blue zones because we desperately desperately need that. we have different access issues and i think it was helen who pointed out this is a human rights issue. this is not something that can be compromised. we have a choice, but to find these parking spaces where we can unload or medical aid. i am happy to help the city with documentation and information where blue zones are needed and work with anyone who is interested increasing that for us in our community.

thank you. let me know when i can leave a comment on the charging stations please. >> thank you for your comment. >> i think there was also a request to leave a comment on the wheelchair charging station issue. just now. by the same individual. >> okay. >> go ahead, please. go ahead, please. >> thank you. it is very challenging using this system, so i appreciate you helping me out to leave a public comment here. >> please go ahead. your time has begun. >> thank you. starting my timer. so, i appreciate the efforts being put towards wheelchair charging stations and the wheelchair user. this is something desperately needed for a long time in the city, but i want to say that, the thing needed the most

for disabled people is these charging stations where we have to get services to survive. the botanical gardens is wonderful, but that is a little incredible privilege that i maybe enjoy once or twice a year. as a disabled person, i spend most of my time going to agencies downtown to get my needs met. that includes the hsa office on 8th street, the [indiscernible] 7th street, civic center where the meeting is happening, over near civic center plaza and 9th and grove, and those areas or independent living resource center for disabled people. after we need charging stations the most because that is where disabled people are going all the time to survive to get their needs met. putting something at the park way across down no where near any

of those services you may as well put it at the beach. that is great and all, but a lot of disabled people don't have the privilege to spend the day in the park. that is [indiscernible] i don't get to enjoy but once or twice a year. i also want to say the chargers should be available at night time. i dont see why they wouldn't be available at night time and i would like to ask that more options are explored for that, because we want to live in the community day and night just like non disabled people. ypt i want to socialize and geto a music show and be able to charge my wheelchair. so, i understand this is a pilot program and early stage of it, but i encourage you all to please think about disabled people's freedom during all times of day and especially start thinking about disabled people in the

bottom instead of the richest most privileged disabled people at the top. thank you for your time. >> thank you for your comment. >> thanks so much. >> okay, i think we can resume council member questions. thank you. >> great. i will move down the table. denise, you have any comments? >> none at this time. >> thank you. orchid? >> thank you so much. i did that last time too. on webinar, patricia, do you have any comments? >> yes, i do. first, i like to say to the fellows, cohort, what a fabulous presentation. i was really impressed, and whatever agency you end up working for will be really lucky to have you on staff. it was really great. very detailed, very beautifully

put together. first, i like to say, the survey you put out, i never saw that. i would like to see you perhaps in the future if you have other surveys that you have a much longer response time. a week and a half really isn't going to cut it, because people are not going to find that survey in time, and i would snd out the notification multiple times, so perhaps you could keep that in mind next time. also, as far as the implementation, unfortunately i have to say in my experience, there are agencies in the city that do not put the needs of disabled people as high as some of the other populations in the city, so i think it would be a very good

idea that there be accountability and oversight by the board of supervisors with legislation. i think that was the last suggestion, the cross city implementation, so that there is a avenue where there will be some accountability in these wheelchair stations. also, what i really like is that these charging stations are only $749, that's amazing. that should make it easy to have a lot of them in various places if we can find the money. i think libraries are a excellent place. also i think the previous caller asking that