private partners informed. it's one of the great challenges of hope s.f. our goal through the web site, hope-sf.org and through the fiscal presence of partners is to keep the communication level up. we realize there is no way to ever sort of be done with this process, and that's again part of our goal in coming here today is to try to surface these issues so that if people don't know about it or they are getting bad information, or if there are things people need us to work on, we can spot these issues and keep moving forward. i will stop there. i think you scr been asking questions along the way. obviously, if there are members of the public. just to say, we know the work ahead of us is big.

we are excited about where we're out, and we are hopeful the next year will yield quite a bit. chair maxwell: thank you. that was great. public comment on these issues. ok. this is just an informational hearing. there will be no action taken on these issues. >> supervisors, i really have enjoyed the out-reach going on with the potrero rebuild. i have been somewhat involved trying to make sure there is a true integration with the neighborhood. by the way, sometimes i get in trouble using that word "integration." i mean it in the right way. we have, i think, achieved quite a bit just this week.

the potrero merchant's association contracted with the giants to send 50 kids to ball games this summer, realizing there aren't that many things going on. those things happened because there is good communication and good education. so with that, i really am looking very much forward to rebuilding that whole community. the one thing supervisor maxwell knows, i have been mr. electricity and sewage and everything else. i think we can use powtrare owe -- potrero and sunnydale as examples on how to save millions of dollars. chair maxwell: that's why i was glad to see the p.u.c.'s involvement, and hopefully

involved in more than just the regular ways, but involved in bringing some new programs to that new community as well. >> we have been doing a fine job of educating the p.u.c. on what programs are available. some of it was straight out of a box. but we are making progress. i'm not slamming t chair maxwell: thank you, joe. that's what it takes, it takes a community. the streets are so often lined. the streets in those housing developments don't go anywhere, just around and around. with this new project we are aligning them, so tennessee will go all the way, and hobbs. and i think those are the things that go toward making a complete community and making people feel tied in. >> since you just raised some of the issues with regard to

potrero terrace, are they the oldest buildings? why weren't they kind of closer to the top in their rebuild? and also a little more about the dead end streets and how steep it is there. what you are going to do to make the residence feel more connected to the potrero hill community as well. max mack well, continuing those streets and bringing the grid. >> henry alvarez from the housing authority. the placement of what moved first, we attempted to move those that were most obsoles cresm nt. upon my arrival, i discovered that alice griffeth had a significant amount of challenges, so the mayor's office agreed to move it fompled it is likely from there one of the other properties on the west side or potrero will move next, although it does have some

challenges in terms of slopes, it has the most challenges in terms of obsolescence. when we lose a boiler at alice griffeth, it affects 60 residents. we have 60 residents that can't take a shower, can't get their kids off to school. so in that particular analysis, that's how we got to the scheme that bethesda today. in terms of the architectural design and street escape and linkages, i leave that up to experts who are more equipped to do that, because if doug wants to tackle the streetscape thing, we should do that, but basically, anything that keths to services is better than a cul du sac that doesn't give us eyes on the street. supervisor mar: just a little

bit of detail. >> maffers, my nime is -- >> supervisors, my name is margaret campbell. there are similar sites that deal with steep terrains. how we're dealing with this at hunters view is how we're dealing with this at potrero. to the extent possible we are creating a street grid that will feel more like a typical san francisco neighborhood. where we can't connect those streets because there are buildings on the site, we are creating pedestrian kecks, and where -- a lot of those pedestrian connections are already there, but they are a little more informal. we are formalizing them. we are making them safe. we have the lighting. and we will also be maintaining them. chair maxwell: and i think for those of us who -- i mean, san francisco is built on hills. we are used to that terrain.

i keep hearing it, but that should not be any -- i don't think that should be a deterrent to connecting streets. we managed to do it on lump barred and all the other streets. here it has been, no excuses, get it done. that's what architects and designing is about, finding out a way, planning how to do it. so we have been doing that. supervisor mar, do you have anymore questions? ok. questions, comments. public comment is closed. this is a hearing. madam clerk, why don't we continue this hearing to the call of the chair. madam clerk is there any further business before this committee? the clerk delon: there are into further items. chair maxwell: then this meeting is adjourned.

[at 2:45 the meeting was adjourned]supervisor mar: good ,

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