not, you know, most americans and most people in the area are not familiar with this history. even people in the disability community are not familiar with it. and the reason we're focusing on it is -- well, there's two main reasons. one, it has a direct link to the americans with disabilities act because this 504, section 504 that they did succeed in getting the government to sign into law is the basis of much of the americans with disabilities act. it's at the core of the americans with disacts act. so, we wouldn't have the a-d-a in the way that we have it today. the other thing that's amazing about it is that it's a bay area phenomena. it really shows how the bay area was active and the unique features about the bay area and the bay area history. there were 11, i think 10 or 11 federal buildings that were either occupied or people protested in front of them across the country. everywhere else, they were starved out. new york, washington, whatever, the police came in or the

people in the community refused to help them. in the bay area, what was amazing is you had this coalition of community groups, of politicians, of people that really cared about disability rights. or if they didn't care, they learned to care. and this was partly because of activism of the disability rights, the organizers at the protest. they had sewn seed all over the community and the bay area. so, you had this amazing phenomena where you'd have like the black panthers, ~ safeway, mcdonald's, glide memorial church. all these amazing bay area institutions contributing to the protest in some way, bringing in, in the case of the black panthers, they brought in hot food. they brought in -- politicians had showers brought in. so, it was possible for it to happen because the local political people really cared and really started to get it about disability.

and because the disability activists themselves were incredibly articulate about what they wanted, what their goals were, what needed to happen, and how people could help. so, it's this wonderful moment in history with a wonderful model of how this can happen. and, so, we're highlighting it. one of our goals, the most important one is to highlight some of the stories that people don't know about the protest, how active people of color were in the protest. that's been kind of left out of some of the conversations, how organized and exciting some of the conversations were in this room. and we're working with students and faculty at san francisco state. this is how we kind of save a little money or, you know, work with the resources we have. we're working with journalism students and faculty and history students and faculty. they're doing oral histories. they're going out into the community and talking to people that have never been talked to

before about their experiences of this protest. we're getting incredible stories. it's just going to be absolutely amazing. and then we're also working with students from design and industry at san francisco state. they're designing prototypes for the exhibit stations and what they will look like and the fonts. we're building in multiple funds of access from the beginning. it's not just oh, we have to make this accessible to blind people after it's over. it's more, what does it mean to construct an exhibit so that you understand it, multiple groups of people are going to come in and access the exhibit in multiple ways. so, it's a really exciting and very kind of collaborative exercise. we would like from the mayor's commission -- i come asking about three things and from the

community in general, too. the first one is for you to help spread the word about the project to all sectors of the community. we're looking for people that might have contacts, people that worked in the federal building. if you know he anyone that was involved in the protest or might have stuff related to the protest, ~ spread the word to all of those people and let them know we're looking for information and we're still looking for some people to interview and there's a few people that we still haven't been able to find. and unfortunately, many are passing away, too. so, that's one thing. we want you to help us publicize it. two, we'd like to have the exhibit somewhere -- there is a traveling portion of the exhibit. we'd like to have the exhibit somewhere in downtown san francisco, maybe perhaps in city hall somewhere to celebrate san francisco's legacy or, you know, to get that kind of rolling so that

there's conversations with the community that will have programming and things like that. but we want -- we're looking for a space to do that. and then third, we don't have a number you can text for money or anything, but we do have -- we do have financial needs also. so, if anybody knows anyone who has recently won a lot owe ticket and you're looking to know what to do with the winnings, more seriously, if you have any kind of partnerships, groups that you've worked with in the city, either individual, possible donors that are more culturally inclined that want to support something that really celebrates san francisco and a really unique feature san francisco at that, or if you have any corporate contacts, things like that, that would be really helpful to us. we now have enough to do the exhibit at a minimum -- you know, it will be a good exhibit no matter what, but every amount of money we get now will make it really that much more

dynamic, that much more accessible, and that much more really interactive and really put a mark on the world about this issue and disability rights and exciting technology and kind of bringing together all the forces that make san francisco so unique and so interesting. so, we're really, really excited. if anybody wants to get involved volunteering or anything, talk to me. i brought some literature. carla asked me if it was in an accessible format and i immediately said no. unfortunately i didn't have access to the braille printer this morning when i was collecting all the stuff. the one accessibility feature in it is kind of funny, is that there is a -- it's stapled on the left side on -- or the right side on some of them so that if you're left-handed it's easier to open. that's what my student intern said when he photocopied it backwards. [laughter]

>> [speaker not understood]. we do have lots of information. all of this information is actually online. the e-mail or the web address is www whatever,.,., whatever, longmore institute. so, that's l-o-n-g-m-o-r-e institute,.sf, sfu,.edu. i have cards and come see me and i'll spell it better. or maybe it can reflect somewhere on the record. that's all i have to say formally. i'm really excited and i look forward to whatever kind of partnerships we can find in this. and i'm open to any questions or comments and things like that. >> thank you for your presentation. i have councilmember roland wong.

>> this brainstorming where you may put the exhibit, the main library may be a possibility. either wherever -- you can talk about service there. >> that's a great idea. yeah, thank you. >> i can't think of any others, but i'm sure there's many places you can set up your exhibit. >> absolutely. and we will have one at san francisco state, of course, too, but we'd like to have something downtown because san francisco state is way on the edge. >> right. >> that's a good ways, too. >> okay. >> councilmember derek zarda. >> thank you so much for coming here today. i'm a huge fan of the longmore institute, ever since attending its inauguration. and i was just curious, for those in the community who maybe have some ideas around some cultural projects to further promote, you know, the disability culture, possibly

starting up their own little group and trying to seek partnership with your organization, is that something you would be open to? >> yeah, sure, i'm always open to everything and would love to talk to people about their ideas. the one, the one thing that's just to know at the moment we're two staff people. so, we're trying our best to do what we can and it's great. and i love ideas. i love talking to people. and, you know, if we find a really good synergy, let's go for it, yeah. i can't promise to everybody everything, but i am open and excited about whatever we can do together. that would be great. you know, that's one of the wonderful things about being in san francisco and having groups. but yeah, definitely talk to me, see me, come by. we left one other thing off to say about the institute. we have a beautiful library that started with paul longmore's books, you know, we inherited a lot of his stuff when he passed away and started

with his amazing disability book collection. and i added a lot of mine. the assistant director emilie betiks added some of her. then people started hearing about us having this library. so, they're donating it. so, we have some amazing collections of stuff there. unfortunately, we don't have the ability to check it out yet because we can't come to your house and do what the library might do to get it -- come to the institute and sit down and consult the books there. that's wonderful. but yes, new york city thank you, -- derek? yes, thank you. >> thank you. >> any other councilmember comments, questions? ~ i just wanted to say that i'm embarrassed because i didn't know that the cradle of the disability activist movement was san francisco. so, i found that --

>> isn't that the coolest thing ever? >> like many other things, the environmental movement and so many other things. but -- so, that's exciting and i want to thank you for bringing that piece of history back to our attention and doing this exhibit. >> yeah he, well, thank you. and, yeah, if anybody has any ideas ~ or anything or know people, like i said, that's great. yeah, and spread the word because that's really going to make it a difference. one other thing i'll say to get it on your calendar, you can go to the independent center for independent living here in san francisco on july 26th, 2014, but save july 26th, 2015 to come to the opening of our exhibit. we'll have a big gala opening at the ed roberts campus. but we'll spread word around big time before then, so. >> carla? >> through the chair, carla johnson. thank you so much for coming

today to tell us about the work that you're doing and also about this very special project with the 504. many of the councilmembers may remember ken stein, our long-time staff person at the mayor's office on disability and he was one of the people that was there in 1977 and was also one of those really important vocal advocates in the community who has shared his story in the film that you can see by just googling 504, history of 504, i think is what the name is. >> the film is called the power of 504. >> right. >> right. >> i really enjoyed watching that fitv. ~ film. >> yes, and other films we found combing the archives, we have an amazing film that came from the glbt archives. there's footage in there, the disability rights people that were active in it, haven't seen -- so, there's a lot of

different stuff we're uncovering and the power of 504 film is great because it gives the complete overview of the project. and, so, this is our starting point and [speaker not understood], he's one of our advisors. we're working closely with him. >> and speaking of the anniversary of the a-d-a, our office for years actually organized the anniversary celebration here at city hall and our deputy director joanna fraguli is one of the wonderful ones, too. i remember seeing paul at our last one and it was just such a, you know, a precious moment to have been able to hear paul speak. so -- >> yes, it was on youtube. it's beautiful. >> it really is. it's another thing i encourage people, you know, to search and to listen to. so, we're delighted that you're carrying on the legacy out at san francisco state. it's a hotbed of activism out there and we're just happy to have you as a partner. >> thank you, thank you.

>> one more comment. >> the chair again, this is joanna fraguli. and i have a question for you. i know that the 504 is an important local legacy that we will never live down, right? i'm wondering if you are going to include in your exhibit other things that led to the a-d-a signing, like the capital parole. the capital parole is one of those forms of activism that gets such little play, and yet it was started with a previous director, executive director of the independent living center in berkeley. >> um-hm. >> so, i'm wondering if there are going to be tie-ins to the exhibit. >> yes, that's a good point. thank you for letting me clarify that. i don't want to make it seem like the bay area brought us

the a-d-a. obviously, yeah, there's other -- and that moment brought us to a-d-a. there's other moments of activism that came before and then after as well, such as the transit strikes, which it would be interesting for people to remember now with the bart stuff. but the capital crawl, we're going to have a panel -- we're kind of hashing out the stories now. but one of the panels will deal with the sort of activism and other things that led to 504 and that complemented 504. so, you know, we're not going to just let people walk away thinking, you know, that was it. but, yeah, thank you for letting me -- giving me the excuse to say that, yeah. >> and also, because i know when you and i spoke privately a few moments ago, we talked about the intersections of race and gender in the disability community. >> um-hm. >> it would be interesting when you're talking about the adapt

bus actions and contrast that with the montgomery in alabama bus boycott. >> yes. >> you know, you already spoke about the connection between the african-american community or people of color and disability and there is still a movement, from what i understand, in the disability community with people of color to kind of start bringing those voices into the movement. >> yes, and the movement has been very, very wide in terms of its public face and the way that it's been presented to the public, i would say. i think it's changing. it's starting to -- there is a lot more work to do and we really -- we're very, very mindful of that and we want to approach it that way. so, for sure, i'm not saying it's all fixed everywhere, but definitely that's a really key part of the story we want to tell. and if i could just relay one little thing. yesterday, one of the students

and a crew went out to interview dennis dillips from the -- he was one of the 504 demonstrators. he's one of the key people. people in the 504 demonstrations, they had jobs, you know, they divided up, somebody did the kitchen and somebody worked in first aid. some people planned entertainment and that kind of stuff. his role was to be the morale booster, and he was an african-american man and nobody has ever talked to him about his story. and yesterday they interviewed him and it was like this amazing moment. i wasn't there, but i got a little summary of it. and he was -- he was basically really, really excited and happy that this is finally happening. and there's been a deep wound in a sense of abandonment for a lot of people that were present in some of these moments and they haven't been listened to.

and we're reaching out and trying to tell the stories. we're going to maybe, you know, not tell every single one that needs to be told, but certainly we're opening the door to telling those. and we want to make those parallels and make those kind of connections because that's, you know, between race and disability and all the movements that -- and excitement that galvanized people in the bay area. it's amazing stuff. >> all right, i have one public comment card on this topic. meredith manning. hi, my name is meredith manning. i'm from the art san francisco, resource for people with disabilities and we wholeheartedly support this effort that cathy and her team is putting together. in fact, we've been supporting them through testimonials. there was a lot of people with

intellectual and developmental disabilities as uncomfortable as anyone else. in fact, one of our folks who was there the entire 25 days is being interviewed on monday by one of cathy's staff. and we're also going to be functioning as a beta test site for the exhibit to make sure that our folks are comfortable interacting with the exhibits. and providing sites, you know, both our sites with the arf san francisco and community partners. we are really excited to be part of this. what i thought -- i just wanted to mention to you folks, you're probably thinking way ahead about the a-d-a anniversary and highlighting section 504. but for our part at the arc and just supporting longmore institute, this is a real opportunity to think about celebrating it as a city ~. i mean, a 25-year anniversary doesn't come along every day, and particularly with the

intense involvement and the legacy involvement in section 504. i mean, this is historic. it just -- it's absolutely a one of a kind opportunity in many of our lifetimes. so, i just wanted to suggest that we start thinking about a discussion of some kind of city-wide initiative, city-wide activities about this. maybe we think about announcing it as a very special day. maybe it's a very special week. there's a lot to talk about. i think all ages would be interested in this, as cathy mentioned, a lot of us don't know about this. even people who are living here in spite of how high profile all the activities were. we were thinking that we can involve many other, you know, activists and artists in the community, access dance and bus buddies and the a-d-a and how it impacted people with aids and so on and have resource fairs. my main point is that i think

we can perhaps start thinking about this as a real opportunity to educate and inspire people and this doesn't happen too often. and maybe this puts all of your experience -- i already mentioned we were thinking about that. we'd love to sub poderth and have a seat at the table when you start planning because, you know, people with intellectual and disabilities are often kind of side lined, you know, from the discussion around a-d-a. longmore has been way out in front on inviting us to participate and just wanted to make the point that any discussions the city is having around that, we would wholeheartedly support. and whatever we can do to facilitate greater awareness at the city-public level, we would support that. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. hello, my name is bruce wolf. i was an old friend of paul longmore's and a student at san

francisco state in the late '90s, early 2000s. i want to thank catherine for keeping his name alive ~ and vibrant in all the work it's been doing. i support all the work that you're doing and what the arc had suggested. i think it would be great to have the board of supervisors pass a resolution brought forward by you folks to name a day or a week or however, just to celebrate paul's contributions. thank you. >> thank you. ♪ have a great a-d-a silver anniversary and i hope all your rainbow dreams do come true and i wish you all the magic this world has to give and i hope you last for days and years and even more and more

happy anniversary to anniversary a-d-a to you ♪ all i can say to a-d-a, 25 years, i've been here 25 years. so have san francisco housing development corporation. and, you know, i was sitting there and sometimes i hear the word disabled and disability and i start wondering, which one makes me feel bad? sometimes people who have disabilities, people think that we're disabled and it's amazing those two words in the world they mean different. someone can say because i have a disability, i am still someone, i can still do something. i know about this 504, when they took that over because we

learned that through [speaker not understood] s da, we used to have a banquet over at the hilton ~. i thought about my years i been work,. 1979, i started working at the [speaker not understood] ~ colony, arkansas for kid with disabilities. when you get your printout, you'll see a work history [speaker not understood] from '79-2006 at the san francisco jazz [speaker not understood] local 2 ballpark. i look at all those years, it's almost 30 years, will be 30 years in 2009. when i look at your work and when you cannot be respected in disability or been a disabled person and other in this world go, when they took over that building and when you mentioned glide, i have glide on me, i have black panthers on me. it makes me feel a sense that when

i find that glide church was once a publishing company, they printed a book called [speaker not understood] the land grab in the city. and, so, i know today i'm right where i need to be. i've always knew i'm a humanitarian. i was born in the month of may. and i know that our purpose in life is to up lift the human spirit and the human ability in this country. and today i'm going to walk away, and i want to thank sail here -- i mean pal. i never say ptsd ~. i always think [speaker not understood] was my only disability. i often know posttraumatic stress affects me a lot. today i'm going to learn today one of my disabilitied is posttraumatic stress and that i'm someone, and that i acknowledge it. i can help myself and others, but disability or disabled, sometimes i think -- i get it confused with mental health.

i think we should also have a mental health disability parade. just like san francisco, we have a lot of [speaker not understood]. we need to honor ourselves and come out and make it as great and wonderful as all the people who come to this city. thank you. >> all right. i'd like to thank catherine for coming out today and informing us. we're on the next agenda item. we're going back to agenda item number 5, which is general public comment. first card i have is jerry grace. thank you. [speaker not understood] don't know who i am, i am jerry grace

and i am here [speaker not understood] people first. why i'm up here, to let you know my friend sarah is the president from [speaker not understood] people first. she needed a lot more people come to the people first because the arc [speaker not understood] -- i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i have the wrong thing in my brain. i'm sorry. i have to say the [speaker not understood] 3:30 for one hour to 4 o'clock, really 4:30. we need to get more people to arc. now, the last thing i needed to say, on september 21st at the

state building -- and it is hard for me to say this word. at the state building we have something going on down there. i forgot what the name of it. the golden gate. somebody need to help me with this one. but i don't know where to point it out, but [speaker not understood] on september 30th, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the state building. and they call it the grc -- call it grc. they call it something with a different -- i can't think of the name of it. [speaker not understood] on my cell phone. 209-66 29.

again, 209-66 29. please call me. if you want to come, great. [speaker not understood] city hall and the civic center. [speaker not understood] the state building, please join us on september 21st. not 21st, 30th. september 30th on tuesday. thank you. bye. >> thank you. i now have louisa cisseros. hello. i have to really bring it down. hello, chair and councilmembers. my name is louisa [speaker not understood], i'm a district 6 commissioner. i sit on the house [speaker not understood] education committee. right here in front of me, i have a draft of a proposal that we have that we've made up in

our committee and it's to implement a disability awareness curriculum at the san francisco unified school district. so, we've noticed that there are a lot of young people in high school that do not understand other young people that do have disabilities and we thought about this and we even made some surveys to ask why they don't know about them, why don't they know how to address young people with disabilities. and it was amazing to know that a lot of them just don't know about it because they see this other class of, you know, totally separated in the high school and they don't know how to communicate with them, especially because they don't know how to address what a disability is, how should you act upon someone that you will consider different from you. and we thought it's best to, you know, implement a curriculum that will educate them and actually met with derek wednesday. and i got a lot of