office buildings, the other is the public right away. what they refer to is sidewalks and curb ramps. there is an enormous amount of work that is estimated to be done in this area. $500 million was, at what point one pointm, the amount that was cited. we have made quite a bit of progress and we have been able to count some of the progress that had not been counted before. that estimate is not entirely correct. it is much closer to $120 million, $150 billion for curb ramps, another $100 million for sidewalks. it is recommended we look at

stable funding for this work. we have tried to get on the money several times over the last 10 years and those efforts have not succeeded, so much of that money comes from the general fund, but not all. we have had federal projects including sidewalks, curb ramps, paving, when they get non-general dollars, include to curb ramps as well. the main response we have to this is we agree this is a priority for the city. we need a dedicated and stable funding stream. the 10-year capital plan has allocated, stable funding streams for this. there are some financial issue glitches but we have always prioritized this work second

only to safety in this city. the fifth recommendation was not something that we had to respond to. it was the department of public works. it was a response to barriers that arise in the public right of way, usually from construction or activities. i would like to refer to the department of public works on that. the sixth recommendation was to look at how the city's training of disability rights issues is done, especially with respect to the police department and municipal transportation agency. clearly, they deal with a broad swath of people. the disability community is understandably invested that they handle these issues well when they come up. we have done training for both the san francisco police

department and mta, and both departments have their own internal training programs which include disability rights issues. both departments are here to talk about that in detail, if you would like. the mayor's office on disability has conducted training for trainers and managers for every department in the city, with the exception of police and mta. those have been scheduled. me requested timeline should be met, in terms of the director and manager training, for those departments. i will be happy to answer any questions you have. supervisor chu: thank you. if i could perhaps go to finding 5 and have dpw come up for a response to that one.

>> good morning, supervisors. we also want to thank the civil grand jury for the fairness of the reports, dedication to improving access in the city. item 5 is related to enforcement, the entering of the incursion. it could be a barricade in the way of someone with a disability try to make a passage on the public right-of-way. recommendation was to more fully fund the city's enforcement team. we are in difficult times, as you know. but we will continue to do everything we can to innovate

funding sources. i think all of you are aware of the efforts taken to dedicate funding to sidewalk repair and improvement. i think it was a couple of weeks ago at the full board where we had a program to do rather progressive sidewalk inspection and repair programs, a systematic way to look at correcting defects that could be considered access issues. we just want to give our assurances, we will continue to work as hard and as quickly as we can given the budget constraints that we have to make our inspection more effective and cost-effective. supervisor chu: what is the current process under which

different individuals are experiencing problems with private contractors, even with public projects, with regard to access? how can people contact dpw? what is the process to resolve these issues? >> there are two avenues. you can get in touch with the mayor's office of disability. if you feel there is an access complaint, 311. they are good at capturing that data and getting it to the appropriate and see. if is a construction-related defect -- it is a construction- related defect, we will go out there and inspect, get the contractor to move their equipment. in the case of sidewalk defects, we inspect sidewalks which are typically the

responsibility of the home owner, and then we work with them to stress that they get these things fixed. there are also cases where the city is actually responsible for the repair, such as around tree basins and curbs. supervisor chu: thank you. i probably should have alled to see -- called to see if there are any officials who want to respond to the report. >> we are pleased that you will be considering the findings and recommendations of the americans with disabilities act report. thank you for your time and consideration. overall, the jury had six

responses and recommendations. it responded for the office of the mayor, the mayor office of disability, department of public works, mayor this ability council, and transportation agency. today, the government oversight audit committee is asked to ratify four, five, and six. i want to introduce the chair of the ada committee. >> good morning. thank you for taking the time to review the report. i am jim kiknidell. the purpose of the report was to review the compliance with the 1990 with disabilities act and to support the mayor's office in

disability and achieving that mandate within a reasonable time. title two requires the facilities, programs, activities, and services of the state and local government should be made accessible to persons with disabilities. this coming monday, by the way, is the anniversary of the passage of the act. in 2009, 2010, is of a grand jury initiated an investigation to determine what has been done to comply with the americans with disabilities act, and what, if anything, remains to complete compliance. in summary, the jury identified three areas where support is needed in order for full compliance to be achieved. the first was facilitate and expand the citizens of a grievance procedure. second, accelerate the completion of the transition plan. third, to develop and implement training program for city staff, especially for the

contact personnel at the police department and municipal transportation agency. there are many areas which further work needs to be done, nevertheless, much has been accomplished. the civil grand jury finds inappropriate to extend its compliments for the dedication, effort, the achievement of the personnel that the mayor's disability office and department of public works, as well as the city in general. their efforts have brought the city global recognition for leadership and achievement in disability for its residents and visitors. as you have already been informed, we have been asked to respond to findings and recommendations for, 5, and six. i was prepared to go over them, but since susan did such a good job already, i am happy to answer any questions that you may have. supervisor chu: thank you.

mr. chair, perhaps we could go to public comment? supervisor mar: is there anyone in the public that would like to speak? please come forward i will also call a couple of names. >> good morning. i really appreciate the time and attention that you are putting into this issue because it is important for myself and for the community. in my experience, i came here 14 years ago. we have been asking

transportation for some basic things. many times there is a problem, but they do not do anything. i am able to see a little bit better than before, but oftentimes, drivers are driving fast and it is hard to hear. oftentimes, they do not honk. i wanted to make a comment about this. i believe it was last tuesday. i was trying to go to the bathroom on 16th street to. somebody told me when my stuff was coming. they said it was the next one.

the person pulled me the bus number, and right away, i could hear the bus driver making the announcement. i know they have to do it, but in my opinion, i do not know who had to force them to do it. they have the equipment. they know they have to do it, but many of them are refusing, muni drivers. i have had been using a guide dog for 10 years. i had a bad accident eight years ago. i was attacked. i called the police and they came to my house. they said everything was done.

the dog is in the cattle, there is nothing you can do. i said no this is my guide dog. the police did not know what to do. i asked for a report but they did not want to do one. so i called the school, and they recommended that i call 911 and ask them to send the same officer to my house to make the report. i did that. he was upset -- i have other comments. supervisor mar: could you elaborate on your findings, recommendations to the civil grand jury report? >> you have an agreement.

in my opinion, one way or another, you have to force the police and drivers to do their job. that is what we are asking for. supervisor mar: thank you. i notice that members of the disability council are also in the audience. any more public comment? please come forward. >> name iselaine. thank you for listening. -- is elaine. basically the same thing that paco said, bus drivers are not stopping.

another thing is taxis. we go shopping in the city. they come and roll down the window, no dogs, and then they take off. one time we waited two hours to get home. taxis will drive by. we cannot be good enough to get the car number. that is a big problem for me and not calling the stops. i have not been shopping here for a long time because of that, the taxis. i think many to be educated, and paco did try to educate them. i do not know if it worked or not, but every driver that pulled up to us would not pick us up. supervisor mar: thank you so

much. next speaker. >> good morning. thank you for hearing this matter today as well as for the civil grand jury for their report, and the ongoing work of the mayor's office. the council felt, due to the circumstances for disabled people in the city of san francisco, we had a little bit different response than they do. predominantly, we agree with their findings and response to the items. the only thing that i would like to call your attention to would- be we agree with the grievance decision. it really needs to have some substance behind it. that is how disability rights are usually in adjudicated.

i have been very proud working on the council. there has been a lot of pro active effort for inclusion for people with disabilities. that is wonderful, but of course, in these economic times, certain cuts are made. we agree with the reinstatement of a full-time grievance staff addressing title ii issues. in regards to -- we have different perspective on title iii. you heard about the woman with the taxi. title ii and iii are interrelated. as much as the city could pursue that, it would be a wonderful effort, but we are also aware of funding efforts.

i would request universal sidewalk and curved ramp accessibility. it is almost 20 years. we do not wish that funding to be taken from health and human services, public works. we do not want to prioritize physical disability over programmatic and access. finally, one of the most striking things i noticed from the council members was in regards to the training. there was a mention of online training. each person i spoke to a grade that need to -- there needs to be more interaction between people with the bill -- disability and people without this ability. that is an effective way to focus your attention on the

matter. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. next speaker. >> hello, supervisors. thank you for the opportunity to respond to the report from the seven grand jury. i am the other co-chair of the mayor's disability council. as ms. parsons outlined, we are in agreement with many of -- most facets that the grand jury reported on hand with recommendations. you also have the recommendation from the mayor's disability council as well in your packet. one thing that i wanted to highlight further was the matter

of training of the municipal transit association as well as for the police department, and other city employees, interacting with people with disabilities. as ms. parsons also alluded to, we were concerned about online training, that it was not enough to have a facts-based primer to give to the employee is on an ongoing basis. the context of the actual interaction with someone with disabilities seems to make more of a human factor out of this. we are talking about one out of five san franciscans who identified themselves as a person with this ability. it may be seen, like blindness

for myself, or they could be hidden disabilities. if they could see these people and in direct them, ask questions, make it a human issue, it would be better. for the last four years i have been working with the mta on training of new operators. it is amazing the routes that i go on with these drivers. they recognize me. they realize they need to put this into practice. i am not only trying to teach them but i am also a user of the services, a citizen in the county of san francisco. we applaud the grand jury for their work on this. the conclusions that they came

to in the report were good. waybill continue to speak about this. we definitely want to move forward in a very personal, human-based effort to educate these people on this 20-year- old-now a piece of legislation. it is definitely time to implement. supervisor mar: thank you. next speaker? >> good morning. i have lived my whole life in san francisco. i want to thank the civil grand jury for working on this item. all the work of the civil grand jury is worthy, although, in my opinion, the city does not

implement many of the recommendations. in regards to finding two, ada grievance procedures, my own story as a city employee is relevant. when i tried to go through the grievance procedure, in my opinion, the city retaliated against me by putting me on mandatory sicklied. i thought that was an interesting response. -- sick leave. also, i had requested numerous times that san francisco general be investigated for suspicious activities. in my opinion, for the record, the three supervisors still oppose any inquiry into san francisco general hospital, including the ada situation.

i felt i've applied to all lead to requests -- i replied to all the requests that were made at the time. i feel like he and i were shortchanged by somebody up the ladder. if you are applying for an ada process, how the city can put you on mandatory sick leave, to me, nobody was asking for sick leave. i was only inquiring what the a daada could do to help me with y back problems. i feel like the process was this used for whatever purposes the city needed. in my opinion, the ada is there to help people who really need

help. people like me are looking to them for guidance. it seems strange that instead of giving me guidance, they basically short circuit the system and, in my opinion, ending the system. ada compliance need to be seriously considered, especially at the board level. in my opinion, this committee is even weaker than the ethics commission. supervisor mar: thank you. is there anyone else that would like to speak? please come forward. >> hello. i am also a member of the mayor's disability council. i am in that category of having a hit in disability. i also want to start by thanking the civil grand jury and you all for giving this the attention that you are. we appreciate it. i wanted to reiterate something

that we mentioned, which is, if finances were not an issue, as the community would want every suggestion that the community suggested, but seeing the situation is not that, we want to make sure architectural access is not prioritized over other disability access needs. particularly, public health needs ,ihh, ihhs, making sure tt funding is not taken away from those critical categories. thank you. we appreciate it. supervisor mar: susan has another comment. >> thank you.

i did want to clarify, because it is not transparent to the public and perhaps not to you, that the employee process for ada issues as a separate process from the process of human resources. items covered at this done on men had the experience that he had. that is not the procedure that is of a grand jury refers to or what our office worked on. if you would allow me to summarize, the disability community is not a homogenous community. there are different interests, different needs, different priorities. so it is the unenviable job of decision makers, like ourselves, how we distribute the resources available. i believe that is the message we

have been trying to convey. the mayor's disability council had a robust conversation about this. every one of the recommendations would be wonderful to implement, but we are concerned, as a community, about the availability of resources continuing. the budget that you have passed looks like that will happen. the need for health services, human services, ihhs, independent living has always been a high priority and we want to protect those services and would not want them to be reduced at the expense of architectural access, which is expensive. supervisor mar: thank you. is there anyone else from the public that would lead to speak? seeing none, public comment is closed. supervisor chu, do you have