10. ceremonial item in honor of derek zarda. >> that is you. will you join me at the podium? picture time. >> it was a little interesting to watch him read it and realizing as he was reading it. we have joined the council at the same time and he has literally taken so much charge and taken the initiative that was given to him and has absolutely excelled in his role here and i will definitely miss your presence, miss your leadership and i hope that over time the rest of us can take a little bit of

what we have learned with your short amount of time. was it a year? >> >> about a year. >> i will miss you as well as everyone else. the mayor's office on disability took a step further and i will now read the proclamation from the mayor's disability council. whereas derek zarda has served in the san francisco since 2013. he has been a tireless advocate for youth with disabilities and promoting disabilities sensitivity curriculum within the unified school district and he's helped san franciscans with disabilities and the mayor's council subcommittee and the council's resolution in 2013. he has

continued to the growth in development of council as a cochair since april 2014. the mayor's disability council would like to take this opportunity for thanking him for his exponential service to the city of san francisco. >> i'm very honored. thank you very much. all i can say is i'm just a country bump kin from kansas. i just want to say that it has been such an honor and such a privilege. one of my favorite things in life really is to see especially in the role of disability advocacy. i saw it at a very young age in high school when

there were no peers to go to talk about this in high school arrest no people to even just talk of what's going on whether it's discrimination directly or indirectly, things that weren't being discussed at all. since that young age, i saw the need in a no one steps up and i thought i have to step up myself and it was great to find the advocates and bringing them together and helping them understand their potential and i would not be here without all of the efforts without my mentors and those in san francisco taking me in as one of they are own and showing me what it means to be a disability advocate and very proud to work with all of you

as well as many members of the public. there are so many tireless advocates in the community and i realize it's up to us and the council and mod to try to match them in their needs and desires and passions. once again, i thank you very much for this and i wish you all the best of luck moving forward. not luck rgs , i know very well that this council and the mayor's office on disability will continue to do great work in this community. thanks again. [ applause ] >> the mayor's office on disability also has a very simple certificate of appreciation for you derek. we heard many fine good words accurately describing your contributions to the mayor's office off council and i

would like you to describe you as a calm mediator and infectious enthusiasm. our office is here to support the council in the work that you do and in many ways what you have done this last year is support our office and we have been enormously grateful for that support. i feel with you star, and you derek coming on board this last year, that it was a very positive change for the council in many ways and i very much enjoy how collegial your relationship is and how you all work together and i think it has a lot to do with the chemistry that the two of you have brought. thank you for your efforts and here is another certificate. in recognition of his outstanding services on behalf of persons with disabilities

in san francisco. >> wow. thank you very much. the fight never ends, but this is very flattering. i think at this time i'm at a loss for words. >> one final comment from the chair. cochair, zarda, it's been a pleasure working for you and -- [inaudible]. i think carla and i were talking this week about -- [inaudible] one of the best parts is can i just have a couple questions. [ laughter ] these are literally grilled

ever presenter in a good way. i think that is part of the vision and legacy that the council is supposed to have. so thank you for showing the way and also for your fellow colleagues and the members of the public who don't know derek is so committed to the disabilities council that he's actually leaving tonight. he wanted to make sure he would be here today before he goes to taiwan working with the disability movement there. lucky for them, great loss for us. >> thank you very much again. >> can councilmembers embarrass him now? >> yes. >> i was trying to think of a couple of adjectives that haven't been mentioned but the two that come to mind are leader and friend.

i appreciate during the leadership development conference that went through you really sat and listened to our own individual issues and concerns and figured out along with working with chip how we can grow and develop in our communities and reaching out to other city officials and department heads. and i want to thank you for the teamwork in seeing the value and strength in each of us and help develop that. i hope i can do you justice and you will definitely have to keep in touch but i thank you for being the incredible leader that you have been and please stay in touch. i congratulate you and i'm very excited about your journey going forward. >> it starts with small steps, small steps lead to big waves. never do you

have to tackle these big standings. small steps and that's where i started. thank you for bringing it up. i don't mind grilling people and i'm so appreciative at the time and that's a challenge but not one that over kwips your abilities. start small and work off within small goals and build yourself up. that is how you will get where you need to be. there is no need to try to save the next day, try to reach exact lau e what i have done. i'm just a humble person who has a couple questions. so, thank you. >> don't forget to e-mail us and let us know when you arrive. >> i think i already have a couple advocacy videos and they do

great works and it took some effort with their local networks to get some paving done. there is a park in taipei that has a water fall that is very beautiful that for a long time it was unaccessible. they worked out with other advocates to get that park paved from all the way to the water fall and have beautiful ramps to restrooms and a bridge, a ramp that goes all the way around so someone with a mobility device can go there with a loved one and share that moment of the water fall. so yes, i will get back in touch with you. >> i have a comment. derek,

it's really been a pleasure working with you as a councilmember of mdc and also even with the independent living resource center. i really admire you as such a young person that has so much talent. i really admire you and i'm going to really miss you. i'm hoping that you will keep in touch. you know taiwan is a very long ways but there is always e-mail and skype. >> i can't get away from skype. i thank you so much, roland, when i first started, when i first met you, i heard about your reputation and all the hard work that you have done. so, just right back at you. >> thank you. > thank you

very much. i appreciate it. >> now on to the next item on our agenda. we'll be moving the report from the disabilities disaster preparedness committee meeting to our january. >> [inaudible] >> not a problem. >> the disability disaster

preparedness committee meeting met on november 7, th, at the beginning of the month in room 421 of city hall and one of the most important items of the agenda was actually a demonstration of the video remote interpreting system offered through language lines solutions. it is a technology that allows an interpreter to become available simultaneously to interpret in realtime when there is a need to do so in an emergency. interpreters are located throughout the continental u.s. at all different time zones and they are able to connect via skype type of technology requiring a

broadband width so with you do have wifi or internet in the event of a disaster, you are able to essentially dial an interpreter through an ipad, iphone, or a simple desktop with a webcam and provide immediate access to emergency information such as evacuation routes, shelters and places to go for an emergency. parts of the communication and emergency management was also present at that meeting along with other individuals who are asl users. they were able to provide feedback on the quality of interpretation and to also explore avenues to integrate this newfound technology or this newly procured technology for the department

of emergency management until realtime interpreters an arrive in our shelters in an emergency situation. the committee also talked about creating a depose depository of list which you will hear more about in our next report. i just wanted to give a reminder to our viewers that the next disaster preparedness committee will be january 2, 2015, friday from 1:30 p.m.-430 :30 p.m. in city hall. we would invite members of the public to participate. we'll see you next year.

>> thank you for that and on a personal note i'm very pleased that you did a presentation on vri. that's such a cutting edge technology that is going to help provide much more increased accessibility. next item is public comment. do we have any public comments from the audience? how about on the bridge line in ? >> moving forward. information item. no. 13. correspondence. >> there is no correspondence. >> thank you. moving forward discussion item councilmember comments and announcements. item 14.

>> for once we have nothing to say. >> i would just like to go ahead and let everyone know about the current advocacy efforts being under taken by the advocates of the independent living resource center in san francisco. one particular is here in the audience, vona hensley is the sunshine advocate and independent living council program. if you would like to know more about i lrsc about the advocacy and model cars. please get in touch with her. >> to the chair, i hope you

can stay after the meeting to join us for some cake in honor of john paul scott and derek zarda. >> that put a smile on my face. item 15, adjourn. thank you for co