supervisor avalos: good morning. welcome to the city operations and neighborhood services committee. joined to my left by a supervisor elsbernd and to my right by supervisor mar. madam clerk, do we have any announcements? >> all persons attending this meeting are requested to turn off all cell phones and pagers. if you wish to submit copies of materials to members of the committee, please submit an extra copy for the file. if you wish to submit a speaker card, please put it in the container by the rail in front of you to your left. items recommended out of committee today will be considered by the full board tuesday of next week, march 22, unless another date is indicated. supervisor avalos: very good.

thank you. please call item 1. >> item 1, resolution authorizing the department of aging and adult services to accept and expend a grant in the amount of $143,128 from the centers for medicare and medicaid services and the administration on aging, past through the california department on aging, to assist in expanding medicare beneficiary enrollment and out rejectees aimed at preventing disease and promoting health -- enrollment and outreach activities. >> good morning. i worked as a program analyst with the department of aging and adult services. as was just indicated, we are here to request your approval so that we may accept and expend this grant for the medicare

patient providers act. this funding will allow us to continue the work we have been doing for this last year. i should point out that this last year's grant that came through the california department of aging actually was very successful in meeting its benchmarks. the purpose of this funding is to actually do active asserted out reach into the communities -- underserved communities, communities that would benefit from the low-income subsidies and medicare savings plan funding that is available to help offset some of the high costs of health care. so there is a plan by two of our service providers. one is community service sponsors, aging and disability resource center. they will be continuing the work that they have done, doing a

sort of our region to the community, especially limited english-speaking community, communities of color, low-income communities, as will the health insurance advocacy project. they will also continue to do a lot of the publicity through the media and so forth, that we can get the word out to those folks that do qualify for this program. that is our goal here, to try to get your support so that we can, in fact, expend this fund. this is an 18-month grant, so it will run until june 30, 2012. we do have a specific work plan that we have already set up and added to the state. so if there are any questions.

supervisor avalos: just one for me. the program has already begun, so we will be accepting an expanding retroactively -- and expending retroactively. >> yes. supervisor avalos: any member of the public with a comet who would like to come forward? and we will close public comment. motion to move forward with recommendations. we will take it without objection. madam clerk, please call item two. >> item two, hearing to discuss the safety regulations regarding the use of segways in golden gate park. supervisor avalos: thank you. this is an item sponsored by supervisor mar. supervisor mar: thank you.

we have a number of stakeholders from the public here today. i'm also pleased to introduce sncc from the recreation and parks department to talk about the vendor currently providing segway tors -- tours in the park, but also the process gone through to prove they use in the park. also, my limiting of the discussion here today is that we are talking about golden gate park only, not any other areas of the city, but also, we are trying to focus on the safety of the technology. i did go on a great tool -- tour by the vendor, i have ridden the segways, and i did see some of the routes that were used last year. also, i think this is an important issue that impacts the

park. also, i know the recreation and parks apartment is a little bit understaffed right now with one of the main staffers out on leave right now. said he might not have all the answers to the questions that we have today, but thank you for being here. >> thank you, supervisor, for holding this hearing today. we are excited about the opportunity to discuss safety regulations. there has been a lot of conversation and newspaper articles about this. we are very excited about offering segways in the park. to back up a little bit, in 2008, the department began a yearlong trial program where we first offered segway tors -- chores -- tours in the park.

we have literally hundreds of people participate over one year, and the program had a perfect safety record. there were no incidents or collisions. also, the department received zero complaints about the pilot program, which i think is something we are very proud of and is not always the case, as we implement new programs that we receive such a little negative feedback from the general public. it is approximately 9 miles in length, and it took people to a lot of the areas of the park that people do not necessarily always go to, which i think, for us, is one of the exciting elements. it offers people, especially people of limited mobility who might not have the ability to go and do a nine-mile walk in the park -- it offers them the ability to go and see what is really the crown jewel of our

public park system in san francisco. with a year of operating data to evaluate the safety, house if this operation is, and its impact on the part, the recreation and park commission last year approved a contract with the san francisco electric tour company to begin offering these guided tours on a more permanent basis. we're working with community stakeholders, including some of those the supervisor mentioned just a few moments ago. we amended the route to eliminate some of the more sensitive areas, so the route originally took people up to the top of strawberry hill. we eliminated strawberry hill. working with the golden gate park preservation alliance and friends of the music concourse, we revised the route so that it no longer went through the lower

bowles of the music concourse, and we also worked with the company to develop safe operating procedures, building on a year of knowledge of how this operates within the park. just a little bit about the company. they are the largest segway tour company in san francisco. they have offered tours since 2004 in some of our busiest neighborhoods -- fisherman's wharf, of north beach, and all along the northern waterfront. they have had over 65,000 people take their tours, and in all that time, there have been no collisions between segway users and collisions. -- users and pedestrians. in general, while they are a new

form of transportation and as such have drawn some scrutiny, the studies we have seen are showing that segways themselves are rather say forms of transportation. a u.s. traffic study found that among motorized and non- motorized transportation devices they use both roads and trails, they have the second shortest braking distance, the best sight lines, and the best response time to user input, making them among the most maneuverable of devices that use our roads and trails. a 2005 study found that segways present the same level of risk to other path users as joggers or children playing. notably, the segways are designed so that the tire pressure is very low, so they can actually run over a person's toes without injuring that

person, further reducing the risk of injury to pedestrians for other park users -- or other park users. in working with the concessionaire to develop the proposal, we identified a number of safe operating procedures that we are acquiring the concessionaire to employ. all riders must wear helmets and reflective vests. they're equipped with radios so that the guide can communicate instructions. rather than a certain weight and age is being committed, all eyes are trained in cpr and first aid. all riders are instructed on the etiquette of writing the segway theriding -- riding the segway in city parks.

the -- namely, that this is not a race. they will slow down when approaching park users, and everyone has the right of way over segway users, so when a guided segway tour group, the practice we have implemented this that the group will come to a stop, let the pedestrian path, and then, they will continue on with the tour. in addition, before any of the groups embarked on their tour of the park, all riders must undergo at approximately 45- minute training session. they are instructed on the basics of operating the transportation device. they learn how to perform emergency stops. they are required to navigate a

slalom of cones, to learn and demonstrate their ability to navigate in tight corner in situations, and again, they are informed to cede the right of way to all pedestrians -- supervisor mar: i recall how difficult that was during the 35 to 40-minute tour, so again, the training is still about 35 to 40 minutes? >> it is exactly that. 45 minutes or so, i believe. i think that the training is actually a little more difficult than what you encounter in the real world. trains are set very close together, and riders are expected to demonstrate a level of comfort navigating this. once in the park, the obstacles are not quite so closely place together, so it is a little bit easier to maneuver. supervisor mar: what would happen if someone kept crashing into the cones and could not get through the basic training?

>> anyone that does not demonstrate a certain ability with the device is given a full refund and not allowed to go on the tour. anyone who just after the training session decides this is not for them, they are given a full refund and allowed not to go. we think again, those are two important stopgaps to ensure that the people operating the segways are comfortable and familiar with the device. know that we are focusing today mainly on this -- the safety elements or safety procedures, but i did want to discuss briefly the route that the tour takes. it starts behind the music concourse. it goes along music concourse

drive, and up through a pathway through rhododendron delaware -- rhododendron dell and over towards a conservator of flowers before going over to take a quick peek at the john mclaren large -- large -- lodge and doubling back towards the tennis complex and going back towards stow lake. originally, we have proposed strawberry hill in the map, and that is proposed here, but as i said, we have eliminated strawberry hill after concerns from the community. once people get to stow lake, they start working their way back east. again, safety during the tour. all tours are led by highly

trained staff. the tour guide goes first. participants are not allowed to pass the tour guide. the tour guide sets a modest pace for movement, and also ensures that any time the group approach is an obstacle, that the group comes to a complete stop. if it is a person or pedestrian or bicyclist, let that person has. if it is a crosswalk or stop sign, that they come to a complete stop before moving on. again, anyone who begins the tour but becomes uncomfortable is allowed to stop, and support staff will come and pick up the person and pick up the segway before it continues. any person who demonstrates unsafe behavior during the tour is required to stop, and they are picked up by supports the theory that could be if someone is intentionally displaying

reckless behavior, racing, not following directions, or if someone just after tour has begun, if there level of comfort with their device and their mastery of the machine is not sufficient enough to continue with tour, staff would stop that person from continuing on. there is a lot of talk about the device and how safe or not say if it may be. the average speed is approximately 4 miles an hour. the machines can go up to 12.5 miles an hour, but i would say, similar to a car that has a top speed, they do not often operate at that top speed. much more often, they are going at a leisurely pace. the guide is describing what has happened in the park, and it is more to see the park rather than speed through it. supervisor mar: i know what happens when you go