art collection, visitsupervisor, everyone. this is the july 22, 2010 meeting of the government audit and oversight committee. are there any announcements? >> yes, please remember to turn off all cell phone to and pagers. items act and on today will be forwarded to the august 3 full board agenda. supervisor mar: we are waiting for supervisor alioto-pier or

someone from her office to lead the hearings on items 1, and connected to 2. let's move on to item 3. >> motion directing the budget and legislative analyst to audit the department of children, youth and their families. supervisor mar: supervisor chu? supervisor chu: supervisor alioto-pier will not be able to make it today, but there is someone from the office of the stability here who will be doing the presentations for items 1 and 2. item 3, legislative aide will be coming for that item. supervisor mar: why don't we delay item 3 and go through the top of the agenda. >> item 1.

hearing on the recently published 2009-2010 civil grand jury report entitled "americans with disabilities act: is san francisco in compliance?" item 2. resolution responding to the presiding judge of the superior court on the findings and recommendations contained in the 2009-2010 civil grand jury report entitled "americans with disabilities act: is san francisco in compliance?" supervisor chu: this is an item that was brought to us by supervisor alioto-pier. i know that you have also co- sponsored item 2. this is simply a hearing on the disability act. the mayor's office will be here to give us the findings and recommendations on that. >> i believe we have someone here from the mayor's office.

i would be happy to follow-up. >> thank you. i want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on behalf of the mayor of regarding the civil grand jury report. i want to thank everyone toward work on this report as well as the san francisco police department, city attorney's office, as well as others, for helping to track responses to this report and committing to insuring that the city addresses all of the needs of the disabled community. we have the most stringent standards for access review, construction, renovation. we are one of the nation's

leaders when it comes to accessibility signals. in our capital plan, we prioritized improvements to city facilities for disabled people. we also allocate money, city fund, and we also have state and federal dollars to comply with the americans with disabilities act transition plan. one thing the report alludes to is the level of funding dictate our progress. so depending on level of funding the city has every year, that will tell how quickly we can implement some of the recommendations, requirements of the ada. the mayor is committed to maintaining the public right of way. one thing, and dealing with complaints on the public right

of way -- given what we have on hand, that will dictate our compliance. again, the mayor is committed to doing all he can to make sure that we address all the complaints. the mayor's office also believes city departments are implementing training and are providing assistance to the civil community, but more can be done. we are cognizant of that. we are also working with different departments to update the program to train not only top managers, but others as well. i am happy to answer any questions. bob will turn it over to susan now. -- i will turn it over to susan now. >> thank you, supervisors.

mayor's office on disability. if you would like, i could walk through each of the findings and recommendations, our response on this ability. i want to start by thanking the civil grand jury. it is helpful to have them take a focused look on disability issues in the city. i feel like they did so with a very good faith effort. we are great -- are very grateful that the report was as thorough and gracious as it was. they had six findings, six recommendations. the first finding was a request from the city attorney's office to come up with an assessment, how in compliance the city was

with the americans with disabilities act. my understanding is because we are currently under litigation, that response will occur after the response has been made. the ada requires that we have a grievance procedure in place to address any potential this ability -- disability rights problems. we do have that grievance procedure. we did lose the dedicated position to take those complaints and work with department around the city. this of a grand jury's recommendation is to reinstate staff so there is greater support for that work half.

we always appreciate more staffing, but we recognize in these tough times, the choice needs to be made on where the city is putting its resources. currently we have in turn to a are being trained by some permanent staff. we believe we are responding to complaints adequately and efficiently. it does take time away from other activities, and perhaps what the civil grand jury has been most eager to see -- it takes away from the belt region in the community in terms of what we can do the educating folks, what is appropriate to bring as a grievance, what is not. the third finding was to look at

the other requirement under the ada that are not totatitle ii. because there are few options for people who experienced discrimination in the private sector with businesses, shops, private employers, private housing, a civil jury expressed a need to expand capacity to handle those grievances as well. while we would love to be helpful in that regard, that would be a significant increase in our offices responsibility and would require major increases in staff and. -- staffing. that was a recommendation we did not agree with, but we did point out there are three entities

within the city that help with these complaints. one is the department of building construction. the other is the police, mainly around service complaints. then the human rights commission is tasked with helping to settle civil rights violation of all kinds, including disability rights violations. supervisor mar: the board of supervisors is not required to respond to this funding and recommendation, is that correct? >> i apologize. i have been told that the board would be responding to all of them. supervisor chu: if i might, it looks like we are responsible for responding to item 1,

finding 4, 5, and 6, recommendations 4, 5, and 6. >> we have two ada transition planned. one is for the city 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