wheelchair users so they are not permitted on sidewalks. instead, electrical cables should run overhead at least ten feet above sidewalk. these updates to the shared spaces program will help to ensure safety and accessibility for everyone, so that we can all enjoy these public spaces. more information is available at sf.govt/shared spaces. >> 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 to be. and all these are dictated through prowag and hopefully explain why we have to carefully think where we have blue zones 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. throughout the 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 pathways from the lower great highway to the upper great highway at judah and at taraval. 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 >> 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 these be placed in areas where people in wheelchairs have to go, i think that is absolutely excellent and i hope you look into that.

outside nighttime, i was wondering if it would be some kind of key system maybe that you could get a key or some sort of lock-box or keypad or something for people that would need to use them outside, because i think the potential is probably 110 percent that these would be vandalized, so i can tell that you are taking that problem very seriously, but perhaps there is some way you could make it possible for wheelchair users to access the charging station where it wouldn't be available to anybody else. so, i think that's the extents of my comments.

thank you very much for your excellent presentation. i was very impressed. >> great. thanks patricia. i want to say again, this is a very fantastic presentation, a lot of work went into it and i can envision a app with the locations of all the charging stations that will be put in san francisco, and also i just have one question. i'm curious, did anyone research-you were talking about that grant about funding for an accommodation that went above and beyond the ada. did anyone look into how much that grant would award by any chance? >> hello, this is taylor speaking. i'm sorry, i do not have that number for you, but i could reach out to nicole with that number and

have her share that later is that is acceptable? >> yeah, just curious because that is great thing. glad you found that. and when you were talking about the libraries, because i think that is a good place to put them also, it seemed like all a sudden the funding sources were a problem again. were you envisioning when it would be put in a library that the grant would no longer be a viable option or no? because-- >> taylor speaker again. for that particular grant, it was for transportation projects, so that's-it would be limited to the mta in that case, but more research could still be done. not sure if other grants exist that could be aplickable to the

library. >> one more question, about the transportation hubs, we have heard about them also, bullet but it seemed they either were very far and few-few and far between, and was there discussion on there will be more of them to be built in the coming future, or--? do you know? >> i believe so we spoke with the two mta teams we mentioned, and they mentioned they are currently working to expand to the southeastern part of the city i believe. so that is currently underway, but i agree, there are not as many locations available currently as we would like, which is kind of one the drawbacks to the option. >> okay. alright. again, thanks to all you so much. this is great. and now i want to move on to mod staff.

>> okay. so, this is nicole speaking. i will talk to the council first and then turn around and talk to all the fellows. so, for the council, you will be receiving the presentation and you received you will be receiving a rort report to go along with this. i inencourage you to think how you want to move forward and recommendations you like to pursue. i encourage you to talk about that as a debrief to the presentation because a council have some power here to help move some things along, because unfortunately to my great sadness, the fellows are done with their project, and so now it is on mod and on you to help us move things along and then, if i can just-i just want to say,

i had the privilege of supervising these four fantastic people for 10 weeks and i want to say first of all, i can't see you, but it is hurkue ion what you were able to get done in a 10 week period for 4 hours per week and know you worked more then 4 hours per week on this. i just are want to acknowledge that. you really above and beyond what was expected as part of the fellow ship project and i want to say, what you have done is just tremendous and it is work we are going to carry forward and it is also just a very personal pleasure to work with such smart people and patricia is correct, the city is very lucky to have you should you continue to pursue city action.

thank you. it has been a great pleasure and i hope you learned a lot. and, accessibility in san francisco is better for what you've done, so thank you very much. >> great. probably going to koy destroy this in the process of trying to reach it. just echo a lot of what you already heard from us. i think it would just be a source of great pride if san francisco, which is as you pointed out much much bigger city then all the others to take this on, and i think the work that you have done really will make it much easier for that to happen, and i have a feeling you have probably

inspired a lot of people throughout the city to think of this as a real feasible effort, so it is exciting to think that at a time when people are ringing their hands about the budget and everybody is feeling like we are lucky to hold on to whatever we got, we can still move forward and find ways to make really good things happen and do it in a way that is a joint effort between the community and the city. thanks. >> okay. thanks very much. thanks again guys. good luck to you as you move forward. alright. so, with that being said we

are moving on to our next agenda item number 8 which is turning the mic to debbie kaplan from the mayor's office on disability with any correspondence. >> yes indeed. we have had correspondence. with previous months there has been a continued correspondence around support for proposal for city wide no red turn-no right turn on red policy with one e-mail. that has continued. and then, there was one letter that was sent by howard shabner, a

former member of the mdc. actually two letters on two different subjects from howard. the first one is about the coit tower elevator being broken and this was also sent to people at park and rec and mod and the mdc. the elevator at coit tower has been broken intermittently in recent years and now closed indefinitely. rpd engaged elevator experts to come up with a perm independent solution. in the early 2000's richard scaphand i was involved in the pioneer park project which included creating a accessible path of travel from the parking lot to the entrance to

coit tower, making the belvedere accessible, installing accessible restroom and installing a removal platform at the observation deck floor to make it flush with the elevator floor. we recommended installing video cameras outside around the top that would feed mainters monitors on the ground floor so the view from the top would be available to all. apparently this was never done. i requested this be done. video technology has improved tremendously since the early 2000's and the cost has gone down, so it would appear that this would be feasible and not costly. it is understanding a 1930's elevator, even though retrofited might have problems. please provide as much detail as you can about progress towards a

permanent solution and keep me updated. so it had council will probably want to discuss this at the debrief meeting. and then, a second letter from howard shabner also addressed to a variety of people at recreation and park, mod. about the kezar pavilion renovation and addition. i read the recent chronicle article about the kezar pavilion project. it seems much needed and a excellent opportunity to serve several important functions and needs. i have several questions. please describe the disability

access aspect of the project. for example, elevators, ramps, electric door openers, spectator seating. will there be redundancy in elevators? which city departments and which individuals in those departments will be reviewing the plans specifications for disability access? will the historic nature of the building and the need to preserve certain elements result ichb in a lower level of disability access then new construction? if so in what ways? there is currently a parking lot near or next to kezar pavilion. i read some or all of those parking spaces are rented to neighborhood residents. if that's true, will it continue? how many parking spaces will there be in the new project, and how

many of those will be regular blue zones and van accessible blue zones? will parking be free? will parking hours be limited? will the project result in net increase or decrease in off-street parking adjacent to or near the project? the city is building around 150 much needed units of affordable housing on stanyan, near kezar pavilion, however the project will include zero parking spaces making a already congested neighborhood even more congested. the decision not to include parking in the project also means that people who rely on cars, including many people with mobility disabilities and seniors will be effectively shut out of living

there. the project planners knew this, but decided to proceed anyway. attached is a memo describing why many people with mobility disabilities rely heavily on automobiles. many of the circumstances described in the memo also apply to seniors. will there be a presentation about the project at the mayor disability council? please include me in any mailing lists about the kezar pavilion project. sincerely, howard shabner. at mod we have been aware of responses that have already been received from recreation and parks and we'll forward that to council. and that is all for correspondence. >> thank you debbie.

okay. we now have our last chance opportunity for general public comments. is there anybody in the room that has one? any? okay. and anyone on our webinar would like to make a general public comment? okay. are you there caller? >> yes, starting my timer now. thank you. as people know, there were a myriad of accessibility issues in trying to make a comment at the meeting today. it would seem no one on the staff has been checking the question and answer portion and there was a period of all most 40 minutes where no one was checking the chat when i was asking for

technical assistance. i ended up making [indiscernible] of the accessibility issues on this call. uploading to you tube and e-mailing to staff in order to notify people that i could not access public comment. that is pretty great. that is not good. i recommend staff next time check the chat in the q & a every 5 minutes. provide a e-mail for contact if someone isn't able to access the public comment system. also, put on mute members of the public who post in the chat i want to make a public comment, instead of not responding to them passing over them and going to the next item. i would be surprised if the system requires the hand raise icon to unmute attendees. i don'ts think that is a requirement. i understand some are technical limitations due to changing

webex instead of using zoom, and disheartening and troubling to see that especially when public comment is greatly hendered by the fact the meetings are not advertised and displayed widely to our community. comments one or two people from the public using a comment for the entire duration of the meetings which only happens every couple months if not canceled. these are useful meetings with lots of useful information and should extend to the public. there should be fliers and outreach and much more efforts put towards letting the public know the meetings exist and more effort put towards making sure we are include said in the government that supposedly represents us. i also just want to comment on the charging station thing one other small point. while i do appreciate the library are common hubs of people, they already have wall outlets that provide power and for myself personally i

carry a wheelchair charging with me so i can charge at the library as i do frequently. what i cannot access is power, a wall outlet anywhere else in the city. [indiscernible] are the most useless places to put a charger. putting them at the bart station, putting them at major locations and intersections near disability services like hsa is i think a no-brainer. so, i want to thank the people who gave the presentation and you can follow me on you tube at@disability activism [indiscernible] if dwrou like to reach me as well. thank you. >> thank you for your comment. is there anyone else on webinar? >> do we is have anymore comments from the public online? this is the clerk.

>> okay, great. thank you. turning back to you cochair albers. >> thank you, and that closes the comment section and we are moving on now to if any council members have any final comments or announcements. alex. denise. [laughter] anybody out there? i do not have it any either, so at this moment, i am looking- >> i have a comment. >> yes, so sorry. go ahead. >> it is alright. i would like to talk about the quick-build program of sfmta,en in front of city college and i'm speaking as a disabled person quhoo

needs to go places in a private car and speaking to members of the council and also speaking as a retired esl teacher on the esl faculty at city college, and this is a question of ableism versus disability and equity. the plan is to take out all the parking from ocean along [indiscernible] all the way up to judson and then you turn right on judson and quite a distance there is the bike lane and there is no parking. all the parking is being taken away from city college. city college faculty and administration, very upset about this. city college lost a lot, a huge amount of enrollment as a result of

covid and now sfmta is going to decimate whatever is left of our enrollment because there will be like 50 percent less parking. when i was there they had [indiscernible] there are blue zones around cloud circle and in the parking lot, but often when i would get there, i had a placard, i couldn't find a place to park in a blue zone. this is going to be so difficult for people with disabilities who will not be able to find a place to park. it is going to be so difficult for people like my students who are lower income. they work full time jobs, they have families, they have to get to

the campus and get to the classes on-time. they dont have time to ride the bus, they don't have time to or inclination to ride a bike from daly city or areas around city college, so i am asking the mayor's disability council to discuss this and perhaps comment on this to sfmta. the board of directors is going to make their final decision on may 7 and i really believe strongly that this is one location in the city where a double bike lane in front of our most hallowed institutions in san francisco is teetering on the edge of loss

of more students because they won't be able to find a place to park. i think this is a very very crucial decision for city college and for the disabled people who go to city college and for working people and immigrants like my students who work full time jobs, drag themselves to class. learning english so they can become citizens and they can be productive members of our society. so please, please members of the council and the public, we need to let sfmta know that this is not a good plan for people, lower income people in the city. thank you.

>> this is nicole speaking, thanks for that patricia. it is completely appropriate and welcome to discuss this can counsel and then consider appearing in front of the mta board as a member of the mayor's desability council like you are to present this same opinion in that forum and we can talk about other ways to address it as well. thank you for that. >> thank you. cochair madrid. >> yeah, i just want to make a comment. i think--i just are want to ask the staff if any new update update--council members the mayor's office?

>> members of the public who submitted applications to the mayor's office and others who indicated interest and we are waiting to hear from the mayor's office. >> thank you. that's it. >> okay. well, it is 4:26. to i have a motion to adjourn? >> second. >> okay. with that, i'm in favor and thank you all for coming today and have a wonderful weekend. [gavel] [meeting adjourned]

please stand by for the san

francisco rules committee meeting of april 22, 2024. >> the meeting will come to order. this is the april 22, 2024 rules committee meeting. i'm supervisor ronan joined by supervisor shamann walton and supervisor ahsha safai, a committee member. our clerk is victor young and like to thank sfgovtv for broadcasting the meeting. mr. clerk do you have announcements? >> public comment will be taken on each item. when your item comes up and public comment is called, please line up to speak on your right. you may submit public comment in writing in the following ways, e-mail victor.young@sfgov.org. if you submit via e-mail it will be forwarded to the sfr visor kbz inincluding in the file.

you can send written comments by u.s. mail to city hall 1 dr. carlton b goodlett place room 244 san francisco california 94102. please make sure to silence cell phones and electronic devices. the documents should be submitted to the clerk. items acted upon today are expected to appear on the board supervisor agenda april 30, 2024 unless stated. i like to differ to our interpreter roburto to make the announcements in spanish if possible. >> please come on up. >> good morning.

[providing instructions in spanish] >> mr. clerk, can you please call items number 1? >> yes, item 1 is rez wlugz urging department of homelessinize and supportive housing to prioritize families with children to receive shelter or hotel vouchers the same day they arrive at an access point to develop comprehensive plans

that focus on children and families to prevent children living on the streets and develop a multilingual access public dashboard where families can monitor the waitlist and the process of moving families into permanent housing. >> thank you. i like to turn it over to the sponsor, supervisor safai. >> thank you chair ronan. appreciate you making the time to schedule this today and thank you supervisor walton and ronan for cosponsoring this really really important hearing. we have been working over the last two months diligently to listen, learn and move in the right direction to address issues families are having accessing adequate shelter and particularly families with children. i'm sure like-i'm sure that like myself, many are away of the

scathing reports and experiences we heard from unhoused families seeking refuge in our city. i have been horrified by these experiences of these families here today and many others not able to come forward publicly that reported to me and my staff and we spent time listening and going on visiting and hearing first hand not just in official government settings but community, churches and different places hearing from people about the experience they are having with our city. a city with tremendous resources. this isn't just a lack of transparency, inadequate response and information they encounter, but serious lang ishing conditions of the shelter when it is made to them and many times threats thrown their way if they speak up or speak out. the limited time expired food they are offered at times, the lack of

compassionate response in their situation when they report medical conditions or the streess so overwhelming that some ended up in the hospital and i think one of the days we had a meeting, one of the individuals had to go to the hospital and the teen age daughter had no where to go. we have babies that have not been able to access child care, making it difficult for their parents to navigate the bureaucracy that they have to go through. traveling all over the city to get answers from different partners. when children are enrolled in school from these families they are often falling asleep in class because they are not getting access to the appropriate rest and food they need at very critical developmental stages in their life. i walked away--tremendously shocked at these circumstances as i said in the city as resourceful as we are,

to be thinking about small children with their families in these conditions, it really is unconsinable and breaks my heart. many are immigrant families, newcomers to our city and from my personal experience not born in the country and fled violence, had family members that were killed, many of these families are leaving trauma to only come here in our city and experience more trauma. there is another thing we want to hear more about and that's the actual number of families that are on the wait list. the number keeps moving. it is around 400, but we are not sure if that is the right number. we like to see how the wait list is managed, how they are processed and we don't have clarity how a family moves through the system with any

demonstrable success, so we like to know what the metric are and how the outcomes are being measured. i'm hoping we can get clarity from departments that are going to present today and we'll listen learn and improve the ist ism to insure that families are provided what they need to exit the homelessness system. i like to know the network and city is building to support in order to insure that the safetynet for unhoused families with children do not fall into chronic homelessness and suffer long-term harm we know are likely consequences of chronic homelessness and for children reported being tired, falling asleep in class, not getting the appropriate food they need, all this is really really important to address and understand how we are going to improve on. we are entering a difficult budget year.

we all know that. we know this is a difficult difficult time, but we need much more reliable data so we can come up with better solutions. we have the resources. we have the resources in our city, we just don't have the coordination and the leadership on this issue. we need to understand that how we are going to better address this first hand. and we need real solutions, not band aids. we need a system that works to get families the wrap around services in a coordinated way so they can get through the system successfully and not held back and further traumatized by it. we have two main departments here today colleagues that are going to present. first we have office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs and department of homeless supportive housing, with the department of human service agency on call if we need them.

i believe that hsa director of disaster preparedness, doris baron is on standby. why don't we do the firs presentation now? i like to call up director revas and if we can take questions after each department that is better flow rather then have them both present. i will it over. the floor is yours. qulou have about 10 minutes and i know you will present data for us today and then we'll ask you questions directly and then go to the next department and then open up for public comment. >> thank you. good morning supervisor walton, safai and chair ronan. >> would you mind pulling the microphone towards yourself. >> pleasure to be with all you this morning. my name is jorge rivas.

i am joined by my colleagues rich whipal and richard who lead and work on the newcomer ish aoos in the office. we'll be available for questions at the end. thank you again for having us and giving opportunity to share backgrounds on trends, data and supporting the wave of newcomers. the office of civic engagement immigrant affairicize a policy compliance direct service grant making department and all our work focus on foster inclusive and welcoming city for all particularly immigrants. next slide. just again, the quick reminder, we do this work in various-air yeahs which i wonets go into detail but civic engagement, community safety through ambassador program. provide grants to community organizations and service providers and lead the city language access work and provide immigrant services.

next slide. next two slides are help paint a picture what we know and don't know about what is happening in san francisco with newcomer community. today is primarily focused on access to family housing and oceia was invited to share immigrant families are experiencing. we also know that immigrant families are a growing user and looking into enter the housing system in addition teert resources. the slides provide color what is happening in san francisco but by no means provides a complete picture of what is happening. as we recognize there are gaps in the data collection. let me start with trends in our recent migration patterns to help ground in a conversation mpt we have seen the reports and news about the national surge in migration that is

happening at the border, the buses sent to cities and are grower negative their ative. we know we have-title 42, the lifting of public health emergency for covid and processes contributed to the surge. there have been a growing diversity in the countries of origin, due to conflict, poverty and economic crisis. this means there is more diversity in the cultural language needs meaning that receiving cities and governments may be prepared with adequate resources. we know this in the recent migration wave, increase number of migrants arriving don't have a support network or system that previous waves might have had. this means, it can lead to more families experiencing homelessness and the need for navigation and services upon arrival. as they have difficulty navigating our

system. another important note is that in the recent wave we see more families and miners traveling alone and particularly single mothers. lastly, related to the first point, the biden administration created programs to facilitate migration from particular countries experiencing hardship. wealth of qualitative data and stories about the influx of newcomers in the city from community partners primarily collected through monthly asylum seeker community response planning meetings which many staff attend on a regular basis. of the data affirms we are experiencing a steady stream of newcomer asylum seekers in particular. we have eare lied heavily on partners to support us with data. the unified school district shared monthly numbers of newcomer

students and homeless newcomer student the main data point for us all along. in addition, the data regarding the demand for legal service from legal service providers is something we'll share today as well. however, there is very limited quantitative data to support this trend due to city data collection processes. efforts to protect the migrant communities, many departments do not ask for documentation status when assessing services to be in line with our sanctuary city policy. more data collection for newcomers would greatly strengthen the case for more support and need. in this slide, it shows percent of new immigrant enrollment over the years. you will note that there have been some miner influxions over the last 10 years but steadily increase over the

last three. and in this school year alone, you will note we have the highest newcomer enrollment in the school year isn't over yet. next slide. this slide takes a deeper dive into the number of new school enrollment with comparison to those who are unhoused. the numbers- >> director, can you go back to the previous slide? >> i just want to stop you for a second. it says 3 percent of-is that the total- >> enrollment. >> entire-? >> entire. >> what is that number? 3 percent is what? >> i do not have that number. >> [indiscernible] >> it is 49.231 kids enrolled and the number is 1566.

>> thank you supervisor, yes. >> please proceed. >> thanks for the question. in this slide, it takes a deeper dive into the new school enrollment with comparison of the unhoused . these are numbers from the last 6 months. this compare the newcomer enrollees and those unhoused. we thank the partner frz the school district, but they expressed the data may be a bit incomplete as they self--reported. this next slide is a data that comes from partners at the san francisco immigrant leem defense collaborative. which provides legal representation and support to local immigrants and asylum seekers in need of immigration services. [indiscernible] response to the record number of unaccompanied miners, attained a wait list.

routine wait list are a hundred to 200 individuals. as of the late, we have seen a wait list go up to over 900 individuals. again, the school district and data do not paint the whole picture, but it does illustrate by both community and public institution there has been increase in newcomer families attempting to access city services. the next slide is to further ground our current state of the reminder. i'm going to share what asylum seeker may or may not have access to. have permission to stay thin u.s. while they fight their case and likely monitored to ice. do not have a right to the attorney or social security number and can apply for work permit for 6 months after filing for asylum. they are not eligible for most public benefit programs. they are eligible for medi-cal

and some city funded programs administered by hsa and other departments. asked about the departmental coordination and work. in the late 2022, committee established to plan for mass arrival. various departments, developed a plan in a case of arrival of a large number of immigrants. we were seeing many cities. this will only be activated in the case of emergency. role was to support with language service, create maintain newcomer response tool kits with resources available to immigrants and newcomers. hold meetings to align the work and support newcomers to collaborate and share resources with organizations on a

regular basis. asked by hsa to provide training for all housing access point staff and partners around sf immigrant rights, resources and cultural competency. developed a training and collaboration [indiscernible] at the school district. this will be delivered later this week. departmental coordination has shifted. we started to focus on understanding and planning for the steady stream of newcomers. as it compls to supporting newcomers we have worked in innovative ways and stretch resources. we convene community stakeholders on a monthly basis and thank supervisors, staff for attending and participating at those. we have also been working with legal service providers to expand work

opportunities for newcomers for example, we host a work authorization clinic later this summer. we also have a rfp out to insure we have legal support service and navigation support service to the future. the team has been working to explore alternative housing options for newcomers. one is hosted housing, working with groups such as interfaith movement to identify private residents willing to house newcomers and develop a platform where hosted families program can be developed in san francisco. another effort which is a bit premature to announce as we finalize details, but comfortable enough to sthair we have an agreement with usf, to utilize vacant dormitories over the summer to house newcomers. of course, as it pertains to language access and we have been and continue to partner with city departments to

provide ongoing language access technical assistance and supplement language access service where and when it is needed. the last two slides are resources for all in the room and those here at home and anybody who may know somebody seeking asylum or needs immigration support. i encourage to visit the support hub. if you or someone you know is seeking asylum please visit the website on the screen. and then, the response and referral tool kit. the isis meant for community based organizations city departments and other immigrant serving agencies to connect immigrants and asylum seekers. with that, i conclude my presentation. thank you supervisors. >> thank you director. really really appreciate the presentation. i have a couple questions for

you. one is, can you talk more about the immigrant support hub? you mentioned it lightly. is it a point of contact? a place people new-comers and immigrant families can be referred to as they arrive in san francisco? can you give us more detail that? i understand the toolkit, i think that great you work in partnership with community based organizations, but like to hear more about the immigrant support hub. >> the immigrant support hub is a online-you find services available to newcomers. on line. >> on line? >> online. >> is there anything your department does in person with staff? do you go around to community based organizations and out in the community in the field? >> yes, so, through our community ambassador program we have presence in

many neighborhoods predominantly immigrant neighborhoods where the staff speak various languages and we often try to connect with merchants, residents, folks who may be looking for support services or other referrals. we also partner with different neighborhood organizations institutions to provide additional support or connection on a regular basis. in addition, we support with some grant resources, case management navigation but we do not have central office where newcomers can show up. >> it seems to be what you presented and the data is a important part of what you are doing, but it seems as though we have a growing crisis on our hands. one in which is not being fully engaged on that is fully met and we heard of the experiences first-hand from newcomer immigrant families on the streets. i referenced some that. there is a better way you can

do to coordinate with your department to get a better hold on the data itself? i understand and we heard what you presented that the school district, they have a de facto office newcomer families there, immigrant families that are dealing with this on the ground, but they seem to be one of the only main points. there is some cbo out there for sure that are doing great work, but this seems to be a main points. what are thing youz can do better to gather information or we could do better to gather information to get a better hold on the data? >> in response to that question, i i like to continue we honoring the sanctuary city policy so it is important to navigate how we collect data, especially if we will be asking or thinking of asking community partners or partners funded by the city to collect data on the

documented status of newcomers. i do think there might be other ways to work closely with community organizations that provide services directly to newcomers and maybe that is the goal and intention and can work with them to share their information with us. we have attempted and we have surveyed our partners to get a better sense what they notice on the e ground as well and we know that many of the new comer families may go through a process, have different needs. we know there is ways to get a sense what is happening without necessarily having families disclose their documented status. >> i'm glad you mentioned sanctuary city. now more then ever it shows why it is so important we are a sanctuary city and we able to reaffirm those principals and stands up and engage and be a place where people feel

safe as they are fleeing so many different tragedies around the world. i'll pause. i see supervisor walton. >> thank you chair ronan and supervisor safai. and they think -thank you for the presentation. just a few questions. you reference some of the federal government programs in one of the slides. does any translate to resources for localities for san francisco? >> the federal [indiscernible] released a few funding programs and i know i have raised those as topics to explore. to answer your question, yes, it has but we have not pursued any of those just yet. >> and then has there been further conversation, i know some, but do you know where we are in terms of exploring or securing maybe more shelter

services with the school district like they did at buena vista horace mann? >> i will let my my sister department respond to that. >> you want to do that now? >> after the presentation perhaps? >> and then do we know the capacity that usf is going to provide? >> we have various units up to 12 people over 8 weeks. and we are working to finalize details and hopefully secure for more. >> right now how are newcomers connected to services? >> right now newcomers get connected through various entry points. there is no one location, so if they are going to the school district and enroll the school district connects them to services. if they go to a shelter the case managersp connect to resources. it is through the network and

existence of the various entry points where newcomer may need support. >> typically they get connected if they are already a part of some program or service? >> ideally, yes. >> and then so there is no outreach or anything if they are not already connected? >> the outreach could happen through a network, yes, but there is no direct outreach happening i'm aware of to newcomer families by us or other city departments. >> thank you. >> supervisor ronan. >> thank you. thanks for the presentation. the interdepartmental meetings you have been asking in case of a emergency, what is defined as a emergency? you have not yet defined what is happening today more newcomers

enrolled in sfusd enrolled any time. 900 person waiting list for legal services. bigger then i think we have ever had in the past. you have not yet defined this realty as a emergency, is that right? >> the original definition for a emergency was a mass arrival. arrival at once. so like a bus or a plane with new immigrants like we saw in different cities. that was considered an event and emergency. the steady stream is not. >> the only time any emergency protocols is if there is a mass arrival, so if like a thousand people arrive separately every day, that's not a mass emergency, but if a bus load of people arrive or plane load of people arrive-that's odd and doesn't make sense. >> that was defined by some of

the collaboratives we had with different local jurisdictions and locally the different departments engage [indiscernible] trigger a no notice shelter program in response to the emergency. >> so, sorry, no notice shelter program. let's say you did declare a emergency, what happens that is not happening now? >> okay, so currentsly the departments engaged are dem, hsa, us, dph and mohcd and the idea, if there is a emergency we stand up an emergency shelter, a emergency center where the bus immigrants will be taken to and they will be housed temporarily and assigned to a case manager. whether the case manager is with community and partnership with the city to help be connected to the

resources they need and potentially to their final destination of san francisco if not their final destination. >> so it would be all most the creation creationf the hub that only exists online? >> i would not use the word hub because we use it as list of various resource s from legal to--it isn't just about the case management they may need to access public benefits, and i think the other idea that this is more a emergency as opposed to online on your own, and i also add to the-paint the color is that, reception center welcome center different things for different people and also looks very different in different jurisdictions. we see where it is temporary stand up temporary folks can welcomed and connected to resources and move on.

another is lot more long-term. >> i guess this will just then be a comment and i'm looking forward hearing from hsh, but i would suggest that there is a emergency happening right now and i think we will hear- [applause] we are going to hear from many people what we have heard in our office, which there are children sleeping oen the streets of san francisco every night and if that's not a emergency, i don't know what is. every moment there are more and more children and families sleeping on the streets, so i guess we are wondering what is the city going to do? what is oceia doing to ring the alarm and have the urge ens a in the richest city and richest county in the world there are children sleeping on the streets? it isn't efficient to me to

hear sfusd is the only entity in the city that has a way of recognizing [applause] -i forget i'm the chair of the committee. if you could use-instead of clapping we is a rule in the board chamber that you can use your-we call spirit fingers. [laughter] if you are in agreement with something, but we are not allowed to clap. if you could do us that favor, we appreciate it. [speaking spanish]

so, everything we are getting is half information. we are hearing anecdotally hundreds of people are coming into the bay area every day. we are hearing anecdotally from the one you know, one family shelter that they are turning away people every single night. we are hearing from outreach workers they find people-children sleeping on the streets every day. we hear from sfusd they are overwhelmed by the need of newcomer students and the only thing we heard so far from oceia is you are doing the same services which are excellent and wonderful, but that there is nothing additional that is coming online given this realty. we are hearing from hsh the only thing so far we have been promised is 35 hotel vouchers for two weeks.

we know hopefully there is more coming but i guess the reason for the hearing and quhie i cosponsored it, we are not doing enough as a city and there isn't enough urgency on the part of the department responsible for newcomers to meet the needs of newcomers. >> before you answer that director, i want to add to what she is saying. do you feel you are getting the support that you need? because i know we engaged with your office but i think this comes down to the mayor. where is the mayor in the city and county of san francisco? where is the support for your services and your department? you are out there engaging with usf to try to get dorm rooms, we have a department that will speak after you that is responsible for coordination. we have the person on standby chair ronan, i think we should call them up. i wanted to get to that. the director of disaster

preparedness because we have a crisisen our hand. who is responsible for declaring emergency? can you make that call? now, no, you can't. who is responsible for declaring a emergency? >> the department responsible is department of emergency management. according to protocols they were identified as lead department to make the determination and that triggers the resources that i mentioned. i think our office with the resources we do have again, i am trying to work on establishing workforce clinic to get folks with two work permits and also trying to have additional legal service support services with the limited resources we have. we have been talking and exploring hosted housing and housing with usf and trying to address what we can. >> are you requesting new

resources for these services? >> i think there is always a need for new resources. what we hear from community and through our monthly planning meetings is there is a growing need and what we can do is expand and grow those-contribute to the support provided through our current systems, but we just don't have the adequate resources we need. >> because during immigrant family day, the group that with met my office said they are requesting 6 new attorneys to meet the 900 person wait list. are you advocating for those funds to be able to do that? >> i think there is a additional resources needed to support our legal support services, yes. >> thank you. >> i just have-just add to a couple questions. we underscored who has the ability to

declare a emergency. is that doris baron, the person from hsa or from dem? >> hsa is the lead organization helping us stand the resources needed, but dem is the department that makes the declaration of a emergency. >> got it. so that is clear. and then, just to add on the physical hub, what are the barriers to have a physical hub? online is not accessible for the families. >> if we explore reception center welcome center i think we have to agree what that looks like and the services we want to provide on site means and once we do that it is identifying whether we want to have an existing center to play the role or identify a new ones and that would require everything from case managers to shelter to a space that

accommodates families to access to additional resources that we may not be able to have resources for now like legal services and so forth. >> okay, thank you. next we have- >> supervisor- >> sorry, didn't see you. >> thank you supervisor safai and chair ronan. i just want to piggy back and make a statement about supervisor ronan's statement around we are only catching this from school district data or self-identified data, and at the end of the day, it just makes no sense we are not proactively identifying and connecting families that need service jz housing because they if they are not showing up in the schools and not part of the system and network already, this is why we have children sleeping in our streets so we have to do much more then what is taking place now and if it is resource question you have to raise the issue. i know you have been asked to

provide cuts certain percent age, 10 percent and contingent 5 percent, is issue is a emergency and important and we need to know what resources help support us to combat what is happening now on our streets. >> thank you. before i move on, i just wanted to see is there anything else you can do to collect data better? is there anything we could provide support wise, because it is clear we are just getting piece meal information from different departments. there isn't a coordinated effort to target and measure this crisis. >> i will pass this over to deputy director who has a suggestion

for this. >> thank you. hello supervisors. i think we are having a different situation then other cities or other processes is more centralized or cities set up receiving strategies and shelters. that enable a one concentrated data set to refer and triage and support folks. here we have a very decentralized complicated system. today we are talking about families. we are not talking individual adults not coming to the school district or other places. we approached our community providers to see what we can do to have streamlined shared data sets. that is challenging because so many department grant so many things and different granting requirements. case managers ask for feedback and input but to be clear, does not hold the grants for most service. we are more technical service and subject matter-we do think there is more city to do to explore where and where we know are touch points

rather shelter systems or creative ways to ask folks about what they need, whether proxy questions asking about preferred language. we want to honor the sanctuary ordinance and understand the need. woo had a few conversations with hsh and keen to continue them and a important role for community providers to play how to centralize and share information. we have many so for the end user going door to door to different non profiticize a challenge and barrier and we want to share information across both city agencies that can and be doing better and community partners as well. >> on that point, do you all have a response to that? do you have a suggestion to that? what i hear is decentralized and left up wherever people end up, do you scr a counter proposal? is there a better way we could be doing this in san francisco? that is quhie can ask about a physical

hub and a lot are saying, what is it that needs to happen to declare this a emergency. what is the response to that? >> my response to this moment supervisor is i think we need to think about the existing network. i ideally i would recommend or think about the no wrong door approach, so thinking if somebody shows up to the school district, somebody shows up to a community center, there should be a way to get connected to resources opposed to a centralized location. i think there are benefits to both approaches. i think there is ways to do both, but i think it needs adequate level of support. >> we can come back to that. okay. any other questions colleagues? >> supervisor, i wonder-are you going to call the representative from dem? >> they are not dem.

i thought they were. they are hsa. >> there is no one from dem here? >> no, there is not. we will try to get someone here. >> okay. thank you. you want to call- >> yes, if emily cohen, deputy director can come. >> good morning chair, committee members. emily cohen, deputy director with homelessness and supportive housing and i first want to thank supervisor safai for calling this hearing. this topic is very near and dear to my heart and issue incredible we at the department of homelessness and supportive housing are incredible passionate about so happy to share the work we are doing and i also had the honor and privilege of meeting with many of the people in the room,

the advocates, the providers and many families directly and really appreciate their willingness to share their experience to elevate what is going on in their lives to help us make reforms. really appreciate that context. i have been asked to provide a lot of information about the homeless response system in general. not necessarily specific to newcomer families, but we can get into that as we go through the slides. as you can see from the family demographics, these are families enrolled in the homelessness response system looking over 4 and a half years of data. families experiencing homelessness tend to be black, heterosexual, female lead and the head of household tends to be between the age of 25 and 34

years old. you can see the age demographics breaking down on the slide. we definitely skew younger in this community. the primary--i brought data about income source and cost of living in san francisco and bay area, because family homelessness is largely an economic crisis. we don't see as many of the additional factors that we do in the adult side of homelessness for families. this is really a issue of poverty, and you'll see here that about 26 percent of people experiencing homelessness have earned income from employment. you see the other main source of income is cal works with a monthly allocation of $918 and about 70 percent of homeless families in san francisco have some sort of income with the average income being just over $1500.

>> quick question now prop f passed. this source of income will go away if a family member is suspected of having illness and doesants agree to testing? >> only the cap. you see that is just over 1 percent or sorry just over 0 percent of families experiencing homelessness on cap. prop f will have a relatively small impact on this community, since calworks which is outside the prop f legislation is the primary benefit. >> okay, thank you for verifying that. that is helpful. >> of course. so, i just talked about the average income of families who have income in the homeless response system, being about $1500 a month, and you will see here that in order to have 2-4 bedroom apartment in san francis