and mta and the mayor's budget office to talk about that budget request that we've made and we are hoping that we'll be getting support for that. but i this i the take away really is that this city is really trying to coordinate and the city is trying to make smart decisions about how we spend our curb ramp money. that concludes my directors report. at this point i wanted to turn things over to mike alonzo because he has a brief report on some of the activities on disabilities.> hello. in january our office

received inquiries. additionally we received eight complaints for curb ramp request and 11 service request and one request for an accommodation. records have shown in the past that a decline in the number of contacts we received during the holiday season is pretty typical and we expect a significant increase within the next coming months. the manuality of our complaints was about non-compliant barricades, damaged curb ramps and damaged sidewalks. other complaints included power door maintenance here at city hall, service issues with sf mta and elevator maintenance at sro's. most were inquiries about people seeking information about affordable and

accessible housing and service for animal information and how to request for housing. many of those services and support for animal inquiries were from tennants currently facing eviction by private landlords. this is an issue we are continuing to see. in curb ramp related news we want the public to know that the department of public works has set aside a fund dedicated to the repair of the detectable warnings on curb ramps. these are known as yellow mats with truncated domes which last about 5 years. once they show signs of deterioration they can become a tripping hazard and therefore we have a curb

ramp that all it meets the is a replacement of those domes. we encourage the public to call 311 if they come across such conditions on a curb ramp so it maybe addressed. thank you. any questions? >> thank you, mr. alonzo. okay. is there any other comment on the directors report? okay. we'll move on to report on item no. 10. a report on the disability disaster preparedness committee. >> thank you, the disability disaster preparedness committee or ddpc met on friday january 3, 2014. there was a large turnout with representative from several city agencies, from community based organizations as well

as interested members of the general public. committee members spent time reviewing the ddpc accomplishment in 2013. they included participation in last may's golden guardian exercise in which people with disabilities actively participated with people seeking shelter after a disaster. participation in a civic center evacuation drill and a significant increase in attendance and participation at ddpc meetings. following that was a lengthy discussion of the ram ification of a federal court decision for a disaster plan for people with disabilities. the committee review the documented comment conveying a variety of topics including physical evaluation issues, shelter, culture, ada complaint and housing and

communicating and transportation issues. out of that discussion came a substantial list of goals for the committee in 2014, included but not limited to working in a shelter plan working with access and functional needs and reviewing and amending appendix e which is a statistics manual for people with disabilities and seniors in mass care shelters in a development of a solid transportation plan for people with disabilities during an evacuation from the city. our next meeting is to be held on friday, march 7, 2014, in city hall in room 421 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.. please join us as we continue to refine our goals and continue

working on disaster preparedness for san francisco disability community. thank you. >> any comment on that report? councilmembers? staff? >> then we'll move on to item no. 11. public comment. this is for items not on the agenda. i have julian parsons. >> hi, folks. so nice to see you today. the other side, you know i just want to meet you all not yet having the pleasure to work with you. i apologize for missing the first part of the agenda. it

was my attention to hear the first report. i apologize for that. i'm here now and once in a while i want to call to your attention and request that you pursue is the option of medical marijuana for cancer patients primarily. the option to choose which pain medication would be most beneficial to you or if you have exhausted all other options to try something new to carry on with your life. there are other options when you consider our perspective. why we have not worked in the past, i think there is room for movement of the future. for example in the state of washington where i live now having the availability of many options, eating options.

can binnide which do not have any thc component. there are option for people. there are options for people who want to experiment with this herb. their hands are tied because right now marijuana is classified as class 1. that was a different time. that was a different culture. i strongly urge you to do what you can. call your congress folks. tell them to support people having an option for medical. it could be just a brownie. they have got things like oil and processed into low heat that might save someone's life. this is really important. that's why i had to

come and tell you to consider our work. i wish you all very much in this new year and it's a great pleasure to see you again. >> thank you very much. this you for coming to visit. >> any other public comment? okay. item no. 12. correspondence. heather? >> the first piece of correspondence on director carla johnson mentioned earlier is related to correspondence that was sent from the san francisco para transit coordinating council about item of private transportation companies which do not provide wheelchair accessible vehicles therefore impacting the transportation options for wheelchair users. the second piece of correspondence was a notice of board of vacancy through

connored house ink a private non-profit corporation on its non-board of directors. the third piece of correspondence a member from the public about their concern about family court. you'll i will distribute those packets. >> thank you. item no. 13. councilmember comments and announcements. do we have any? mr. zarda? >> thank you, cochair supanich. i just want to give a heads up about events coming up in march. march 29th, a saturday, the independent

living center in san francisco with the san francisco blind will host a regional power summit which will be an opportunity for community partners and members of the public to come together for a 1 day summit with other community members from the bay area to discuss issues that are important to the community for better fostering independence where we live, work, learn, shop and play. this is a great time for people interested in learning more about how to join the advocacy effort to attend. for those who want more information, you can go to the websites for ilrcsf. www.ilrcsf.org. on the website there will be an events calendar on the right side of

the main page and you can find more information on how to register there. i also want to call attention to a "state of the arts mobility demonstration" march 5th, at the independent living resource center in san francisco. whill type a is a next generation personal mobility device to expand the horizon for functionality and style for everyday use including the ability to maneuver bumps and sidewalk cracks with ease. for those interested in attending you can contact our office at 415-543-6222. that is wednesday march 5th, 11 a.m.

'11 a.m.-3:00 p.m.. that's all i have. that is a wednesday. >> are there any other councilmember announcements? then i have one. good news, we are going to start our weekend a little early, this meeting is adjourned. [ meeting is adjourned ] >> >> >> hello san francisco this is the places to be and this week is no xefk exception without further ado, here's not great weekly buzz. this monday february 17th take a

tour of the digital garage referring in union square the morale will grace the stairwell of the city club normally closed to the public it will be the first change to say the morale by digital garage river free of charge then on tuesday join the key club and attend their molls meeting bring chose or karaokes and join in the fun. and on sunday heads to the treasure island at treasure island this year the open market flee market from sdierpdz to bakers and more plus they'll have outside exhibited and the scarf did care hunts and get the fantastic verifies the san francisco. and that's the weekly weekly

buzz notify at at the sf.org and

[music] paratransit is specialized transportation for seniors and people with disabilities who are unable to use the muni system. in san francisco, we're proud that we've had a paratransit program since 1978 long before it was mandated by the americans with disabilities act in 1990. san francisco is a unique city and our paratransit program reflects this. we have a network of services, including sf access van service, paratransit taxi, including wheelchair accessible ramp taxi and group van which serves groups of individuals going to a single location like a senior center.

[music] >> i'm elsa scott and i'm a retired federal employee and i'm a native of san francisco. i use paratransit because, i've been using it for about six years because six years ago i had to start dialysis treatments at cpmc. so i'm very dependent on paratransit three times a week, coming and going.. my current driver is brian berquist.; he's just such a friendly, sort of a teddy bear kind of a guy. i don't know what it is about brian, but all of us old ladies want to feed brian. [music] >> hi, my name is fred lein.

i'm most proud of driving a ramp taxi since the beginning of the program in 1994. [music] >> fred, you are the absolute best! thank you fred for providing transportation for me and opening up my social life, and taking care of medical appointments, taking care of my mother [music] >> hi, my name is ann bailey and i've driven for luxor for almost five years now. i drove for desoto cab for 10 years prior to that. i drove in 1976 for the old, old yellow cab.

this is frances mecchi and i've been driving her for about 11 or 12 years to her alzheimer's day program, which we call the memory club. every day when we drive through the presidio she'll say, "oh goody, you're taking me through the enchanted forest." [music] >> my name amr a.mahmoud. i am like 49 years old. i have been driving cab more than 13 year in general. then i drove a ramp more than 3 years. this is my fourth now. i have been enjoying doing the job. i like every moment of it.

>> thank you amr. [music} >> hi, my name is peter and i'm a paratransit driver for medsam, and this is north and south of market where i pick up my group and drop them off at home. >> thank you , peter! [singing] you are my sunshine. very good driver. she says driver is very good. number 1. [music] larry mingo, mobility plus driver, san francisco paratransit. >> thank you, mingo. >> you're welcome.

>> hi, mingo. >> thank you, mingo. >> thank you, mingo. thank you. [music] >> thank you, larry mingo. >> hey larry mingo, you are awesome. thanks for a great, great job you do for us. appreciate it. >> thank you, mingo. [music] >> hello, my name is james fells i've been working with paratransit for 13 years now. i get a kick out of the job; i like helping people you know when they need help to go shopping or getting picked up at the medical building. i really like helping people and that's why i've been working so long. >> hi, my name is kalani. i'm a driver with mobility plus. i love my job! and i've been working, i've been a driver since may and i'm pretty satisfied with the company.

so, two thumbs up, hope you guys have a nice day. >> sandra johnson and i've been working for mobility plus for about 4 and a half years. i love it. this is my job and i love it. it's very rewarding for me. one of my proudest moments is one of my clients left his cane on the bus and i've been picking him up now for about three years so i know that that cane was important to him. and i had dropped him off and i noticed the cane later on that day so i kept it with me and when i went back down to la play, when i worked my way back down there on a break to give it to him, he kissed my hand, 'cuz he can't talk. so he grabbed my hand and he kissed my hand. it just made me know that that was an important thing for him. so that was my proudest moment. [music]

>> one couple who were riding with us, morning and afternoon, mr. and mrs. lee. mr. lee was the dialysis patient and he's probably in his 80's and every time we would drive up to buchanan street, the hospital, mr. lee would say, "good job, fine driver, number one driver" and he would go like this [thumbs up gesture]. and then as brian would be helping him off the van, mr. lee, i heard him so often say, "brian, if anybody gives you any trouble you send them to me and i'll take care of them." and here great big old brian would say, "henry, you're the first one i would try to get help from." and he says, "the second one is elsa." [laugh] so we knew that we were being relied on by brian. a few weeks back, mrs. lee called brian early in the morning to tell him not to bother picking them up because they were already at the hospital. mr. lee was ill and she had taken him to the er.

the next day or so, brian, on his lunchtime, found out that mr. lee had been admitted to the hospital and he went up to mr. lee's room and just stuck his head in just to say hello. and the minute mr. lee saw him he went [gesture thumb up in the air] like that. and mrs. lee said, "he's telling you again you're number one driver. so brian really appreciated that; he thought that was really sweet. but he could see mr. lee wasn't doing so well so he left really quickly. and unfortunately, mr. lee passed away that evening. that had a great impact on brian and me. it was very sad, but it was so touching that he had seen mr. lee and mr. lee had confirmed that brian was "number one driver." >> this is san francisco paratransit. it's not perfect; we have our

ups and downs: late trips, frustrated customers, stressed out drivers. but at our best, we get our riders where they need to go on time and with a smile. and when we pay attention real carefully and notice what's happening on the van, taxi, or at the senior center, we notice that our drivers make a difference in the rider's lives and the riders make a difference in the drivers lives. >> san francisco recreation and

parks department offers classes for the whole family. rec and parks has a class for everyone. discover what is available now and get ready to get out and play. henri matisse. frida kahlo. andy warhol. discover the next great artist. get out and play and get inspired with toddler classes. experience art where making a mess is part of the process. classes and the size the artistic process rather than the product. children have the freedom to explore materials at their own pace and in their own way. talks love art, especially when they died into the creative

process -- dive into the creative process. at the end of the classes, they have cleaned and washup. of.com great way to get out and play. for more information, visit sfrecpark.org. that out and play and get into the groove. rec and parks offers dance classes for seniors. first-time beginners or lifetime enthusiasts -- all are welcome. enjoy all types of music. latins also, country and western. it is a great way to exercise while having lots of fun.

seniors learn basic moves and practice a variety of routines. improve your posture, balance, and flexibility. it is easy. get up on your feet and step to the beat. senior dance class is from sf rec and park. a great way to get out and play. >> for more information, good e the wednesday, february 19, 2014, meeting of the san francisco board of appeals before we begin i need to ask the folks in the aisle to take a seat and