i will start. first of all, this is for small businesses only? >> it's actually for all places with public accommodation. >> so that would include old theaters, or other places where the public is welcomed? >> yes. >> okay. and who -- now is it the business owner, or the property owner that is paying for these improvements? >> so the legislation specifically refers to "property owners." however as we all know, the relationship and the specification of duties and responsibilitis is between a property owner and a tenant a business tenant. so for example, even though we write that into the legislation, that it should be the property owner's responsibility; they can in their lease agreements decide privately through their own private contractual agreement with the tenant, that thof shared responsibility, or some sort of compensation for that. unfortunately we cannot control that aspect of it, but we at

least state in the legislation it should be on the property owners. >> thank you. and the appeal process so there will be people who will be exempt from the law for whatever reason? >> i wouldn't say that they are exempt right off the bat. it's just that you will have to fill out a compliance checklist first. that is the first step. so no matter what, everyone has to do that. and if you are able to satisfy all of the requirements, great, you know? because maybe you are a newer building. maybe you are a bigger building and you've just already met all of that. then we want to be just be able to say that you submitted the checklist and you should be done with the process. the others will need to continue down the line with other improvements. >> there are circumstances where putting in a ramp, or re-grading or something might be hard, given the compactness of the city, old, narrow streets, underground basements,

all sorts of things could get in the way of doing that. so my question was, so someone could possibly not have to comply with the law, if they follow the appeal process? >> right. so i guess the way to put is that the ada in at least a federal law language is that you should be able to achieve what is readily achievable; right? and so it doesn't mean that -- if it's going to put you out of business, or again, you can't physically install an elevator in your building is something that the ada understands and realizes that some things may not be feasible and we have the access appeals commission to be the body sort of one of the last stops where where they evaluate whether something is technical imfeasible and that they are trying to make an

effort? and maybe there is another way to achieve it? maybe it's not a ramp or something else. we know if you put a ramp outside of your door, you would be creating other issues for other people in the public right-of-way. so i think all of those things will be taken into consideration. it's not to say some people will not be complying. we certainly want everyone to offer the business aspects in some way. so for example, maybe you can -- maybe you don't install a ramp, but you could -- someone could call in and place an order and get it to them as part of your business model. because i believe that the law requires that at least you provide them the services, the same services as you would to someone else, to anyone else. >> okay. great. that answers my question. then finally anticipating this is going to pass the board of supervisors? >> i hope so. >> it's a substantial piece of legislation. and i was wondering what the calendar is for what you are looking for -- as you look forward, when do you see this enacted and the process

beginning? >> so this legislation is currently on a 30-day hold. so i anticipate because we have legislative recess as well, it won't be heard by a land use committee until the fall, probably september, if we're lucky. it will go through the board process for maybe about a month or so. so sometime in the fall, i think, it will be adopted by the board, and then once the mayor signs it, it will take effect 30 days after that. in the meantime we have a lot of outreach to do. >> thank you so much for answering all of my questions. i have harriet wong. >> hi. just one question. so does this apply to new leases? >> well, once this legislation takes effect it will apply to -- again, we write it in the way it's supposed to address the property owners. and so if you happen to be a business that just started a new lease when this legislation is in place, really first of all, the requirement falls on

the property owner. now again it's between the property owner and the new business as to who is going to be delineating the responsibilities or responsible for what? so depending on the circumstance, it just kind of depends. >> any other council member considers? >> i guess i'm thinking -- . >> oh, sorry, harriet. >> like if the coffee shop has been there ten years and all of a sudden, the property owner is responsible for helping with these changes, like all of a sudden. so the property owner themselves might be seniors already, you know what i am saying? so i'm just wondering if it applied to us in leases? >> it's going to be applying to everyone and the reason is also because the ada, under that, both the business, and the property owner, can be liable if an issue arises. and so i know this may be viewed as a burden to some.

however, this is something that is required. it is something that all businesses should be doing. everyone should make their public places of accommodation available to everyone. and so we're -- as part of our outreach efforts we're going to have to do a lot of work in terms of letting people know about financing programs, loan programs. you know, maybe there are ways -- again, it's not design designed to put someone out of business. so can you develop a plan and say well i'm going to set aside this amount of money and achieve it in x amount of years. we need people to realize what the laws are and actually do the work. >> okay, i don't see any other council member requests. so i will move on to staff. >> thank you, co-chair supanich. i want to commend supervisor tang for her efforts in this area. i know you have been working on this task many years, going back to the days you were an

aide to supervisor carmen chiu and you have worked this from many different angles. in getting the information out to the small businesses so they would have a better understanding not only of their ob[tkpwha-eugs/]s, obligations, but the resources and tax deductions that you referred to. i have always appreciated when you framed the conversation, that you frame it in the con texas of -- context of making the businesses accessible to the entire community. i really think this is a more holistic approach to solving this issue. and i also think that you deserve a lot of credit for the group that you brought together to collaborate about the development of this legislation. because there was broad representation from small business, from big business, from the access appeals commission, from city

departments. and it was especially impressive to see how the different city departments came together here. because it is one of those areas that we have seen in the past hasn't worked as smoothly as we would like to. and so putting together the new disability unit at the department of building inspection, i think really brings the tools that are needed to help solve the problems looking at it from all of the different angles. so i look forward to your hearings at the land use commission, and i encourage all of our council members to come to the hearings. because we really want to support you in this effort. because we appreciate how you have supported us in trying to make san francisco more accessible. thank you. >> thank you very much. and i also wanted to acknowledge my staff deanna who helped to work with me on this legislation as well. >> any other staff questions or comments? okay we'll move on to public comment on this item. >> thank you.

>> my name is walter park, a member of the access appeals commission, immediate past president. i want to thank supervisor tang and her staff for being to diligent about this. it's not just something that can be solved in principle. we're all in favor of disability access. you won't find an elected official who says no to that, but making it work is very, very difficult. we do have at least three to four departments that have to work together on this. and getting them to come together is not as easy as you might think. and the community has very strong interests in this. unfortunately, i mean- i live right in the middle of san francisco. i probably do most of my shopping at the small neighborhood places rather than trader joes or target when i can. my neighborhood is 75-100

beyond years old and has tiny doorways and many beyond years old and has tiny cases narrow sidewalks. many people would like the law to be extremely simple, but when it's simple it's not necessarily fair. because every time you add a sentence saying here is a group not served well and let's add another sentence so it works for them, too. then you end up with a 20-page law and that is what we need. in the end you have to look at individual cases and that has been the job of access appeals commission for 30 years. is so say that you have an unreasonable hardship and building an 8' ramp at the bank of america in powell no problem; runing a barbershop on

haight street is different and looking at these hardships where you are actually weighing resources versus what is to be gained is very important. so i think this law really looks at all of those things. this is a problem that needs to be solved around the country. neighborhood-commercial spaces are the best spaces and we need to make them work and the oldest spaces in some cases. these are old, traditional buildings. we're not going to be tearing out columns to make it work, but no doubt get a lot of improvement in accessibility. which mean two things. one is to get people with disabilitis into the shops and let people use them or theaters or whatever they may be. every public accommodation. and the other is then therefore, because they are satisfied they are not frustrated to reduce the lawsuits. that is a part of this. for me it's not the main thing

either, but it's a part of it. i thank you once again. >> thank you. any further public comment? i want to thank supervisor tang for coming again and presenting. thank you so much. next item on the agenda is 25 years, the americans with disabilities act, an overview presented by a member of the mayor's office on disability. i'm not sure who that is. it's joanna fraguli presenting, great. >> thank you. [ inaudible ]

>> i think we're having some mic problems -- do we? okay, now here we are. so i am joanna fraguli with the mayor's office on disability and this is a 2-part presentation for you. i will be presenting with donna adkins, your ever so helpful council clerk. and since -- no pun intended here we'll provide you with the historical perspective of the ada. many of you are already familiar with section 504 of the rehabilitation act and it's close ties to the san francisco area, civic center area. section 504 of the rehabilitation act is the first-ever legislation that demanded that the fact that any

program or facility that received federal funds was prohibited from discriminating against people with disabilities. it was essentially the first legislation that acknowledged people with disabilities as a protected class. with access rights and civil rights. however, when section 504 of the rehabilitation act was first passed in '74, it lacked the implementation regulations that would actually make it into an enforceable law. and when jimmy carter first became president advocates from across the country demanded that those regulations were going to be passed and enacted, so that's civil rights law could actually become the law of the land. unfortunately, three years

later, nothing still had happened. and that of course is like everything else that has to do with disability rights, required action, and activism from disability rights community. so the american coalition of citizens with disabilities organized actions to organize actions to basically keep the regulations unchanged, and enforceable and signed the implementation regulations. around the country, many people with disabilities organized and the organization of people with disabilitis in the san francisco bay area was the largest. finally, in april of 1977, over 200 people with disabilities took -- and their supporters -- took over the offices of

the federal building here in the united nations plaza and occupied the building and disrupted business as usual for 26 days. it was the longest-every occupation of a federal building anywhere in american history. it was also a coalition building of community, black panthers, the women's rights movement and others were also part of that struggle. and it really said to the president that disability rights are really human rights. why are we talking about 1977, when the ada was passed in 1990? because you know, with disabled people, and with civil rights, nothing is ever enough ; right? so the 504 promulgated rights for civil right protections for federal

agencies, and recipients of federal funds. however what about the rest of the world? what about our small business and the community? this year we're celebrating 25 years of the ada, and the ada was in design from the very first moment in 1977. when the implementation regulations for 504 were first signed. starting in 1986, the national council on disability recommended the enactment of the americans with disabilities act, which was basically taking the regulations of 504 and applying them to a broader basis of american society. drafted the first version of the bill which was then introduced in the house, and the senate, in 1988. before then, senator tom harken founded his own campaign across the united states, organizing hearings for people with

disabilities, or by people with disabilities, talking about their stories and tales of discrem discrimination and exclusion and segregation similar to the civil rights tales of the 1960s. on monday, march 12th, 1990, disability rights activists descended on the u.s. capitol, demanding the passage of the americans with disabilities act, which would give equal rights to people with disabilities. the ada was passed by the senate, but it was stuck in the house. and it had some difficulty getting through, despite what we know as bipartisan support. therefore, a thousand protesters from 30 states came to protest and actually the rally and speeches, over 60 activists abandoned their wheelchair and mobility devices

and starting crawling the 83 stone steps up to the u.s. capitol building. this is also known as the "capitol crawl." you will see some amazing stories including children under the age of 10 with cerebral palsy, crawling, -- according them it took all day to get up the 83 steps. finally, imagine now the summer of 1990, 25 years ago, the movie "ghost" was the no. 1 box-office hit that summer. [laughter ] and in the lawn of the white house, there is over 3,000 people with disabilities, the largest ever congregation of people at the bill-signing and george bush said "we sign legislation that takes a sledge

hammer to another wall, one which for too many generations separated americans with disabilities from the freedoms they could only glimpse, but not grasp." and those words, the key words that actually bring to some of us still chills "let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down." and with those words, i will pass the mic over to donna, who will tell you a little bit about what this is really all about and what is the big deal that we celebrate? >> thank you, joanna. i feel badly because i can't see all of the council members, but roland, you can hear me; right? >> yes. >> on the 25th anniversary of the ada, it bears just repeating and reminding ourselves about what the

legislation is: what the definition is? and what protections it gives us? so just as a sort of little highlight i'm going to spend a little bit of time reminding all of us what the ada is. it's important to note as joanna mentioned the ada is a civil rights law, affording people with disabilities similar protections as the civil rights act did in 1964, which made it illegal to discriminate against people base on their race, national origin, sex and other characteristics. so who qualifies as a person with a disability? so three - prong definition. the primary definition is "a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities." what is interesting about that in state of california, the word "substantially" is not included. so in california, the definition would actually

be," a physical or mental impairment that limits one or more major life activities." the second prong of the definition is "someone who is perceived as having a disability or is associated with someone having a disability." so for example, someone who may have had cancer 15 years ago, i'm sorry- yes, someone who yes -- . thank you. someone who had a history of cancer a few years ago, but is currently in remission and not actively ill, would be someone who is being perceived as having a disability. and the third part of the prone is having a record of such an impairment. so what does the eaued ada cover? it's broken down into five titles. title 1 covers employment. the ada basically said that all public and private employers with 15 or more employees except in california where

that number is only five employees must treat people with disabilities equally during all phases of the job process. that includes the application process, the interview process hiring, and other benefits or perks of employment. this gives people with disabilities an equal opportunity to apply for work and receive the same benefits from employees -- or from employment, as people without disabilities. title ii, which is what most of us are familiar with, covers state and local government. this applies to cities, counties, states, and any licensing bodis, including public transportation. all program and services under state and local governments must be accessible and usable by people with disabilities. and those entities also must provide reasonable modification effective communication, and architectural access. what that means is if you have a policy that prevents a person

with a disability from receiving the same services or benefits you have to modify those policies. it's called "a reasonable modification." effective communicate communication is something that we're providing today, a sign language interpreter, so people who are deaf or hard of hearing can access the meeting and architectural applies also to state and local governments. title iii covers what are called "public accommodations," but we all know them as private businesses. it includes things -- chip you mentioned earlier theaters, restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, believe was mentioned earlier. amusement parks, any place that the park is free to go. it also covers examine exams and courses related to certification. for example, if you are applying for a nursing license, and you had to go to the board, and take your test and get your license.

that is a place of public accommodation and you could ask for an accommodation in order to go through that process. finally, title iv and title v, which are titles that we don't talk a lot about, but title iv provides voice over replay services for people who are deaf or heard of hearing or those with speech impediments and some are now included in speech to speech service, video relay services or internet protocols. the federal commission on communication, the federal communications commission, the fcc is tasked with these regulations, in addition to requiring closed captioning on any video programming such as television, as we know it now. and finally title v are what

called "miscellaneous provisions." the administrative requirements under the ada. for example, it explains how you could possibly file a complaint. any fees or awards or damages that you might be able to get? those are included under title v. and so that is my very brief description of the five titles of the ada. >> thank you, donna and joanna. very informative. are there any questions from council members about this? seeing none, is there any comment from staff about this presentation? no? any public comment? very well. we'll move on to item no. 7. this is the reading of the mayor's proclamation of july as americans with disabilities act month.

from the counter city and county of san francisco whereas this month we celebrate the 25th anniversary of signing of the americans with disabilities act ada, this broad legislation advanced the civil and human rights of people with disabilities and established a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities and whereas, we honor the struggles and successes of san francisco bay area disability advocates, who laid the groundwork for what later became the ada through efforts to advance the independent living movement in berkeley, and with the 1977 occupation of the federal building in san francisco leading to implementation of section 504 of the rehabilitation act, and whereas while the ada has expanded opportunities for americans with disabilities, the full

promise of the ada will only be reached if we remain committed to continuing our efforts to fully implement the ada. and whereas our city celebrates and recognizes the progress that has been made by reaffirming ada principles of equality and inclusion, and we also pledge to recommit our efforts to reach full ada compliance by expanding access to housing, jobs education, transportation, and the services necessary to support independent living. now [thr-frbgs/] therefore, be it resolved, i edwin lee, mayor of the city and county of san francisco, do hereby proclaim july, 2015 as americans with disabilities act month in san francisco and it's framed. and next we'll have denise

co-chair senhaux read the proclamation from the mayor's office on disability. >> this proclamation is not framed, but beautifully done and expresses the same sentiments. >> this is from the council, excuse me. not the office on disability. >> thank you. the proclamation of the city and county of san francisco whereas the americans with disabilities act, ada, was passed on july 26, 1990, to ensure the civil rights of people with disabilities, and whereas, the ada was created to ensure the equal treatment of people with disabilities and to establish a well-defined and comprehensive mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities, and whereas, the ada has expanded opportunities for people with disabilities by

reducing barriers, and changing attitude and [wra*-rs/] or whereas the city and county of san francisco has made significant progress in furthering accessibility, and inclusion in all aspects of city life, including transportation, public accommodation, housing, voting employment, and recreation and whereas, the city and county of san francisco upholds the principles of equal opportunity and full participation of persons with disabilities, and whereas many organizations in the counter city and county of san francisco including the mayor's disability council, have worked with people with disabilities in the community to bring forth the promise of hope, and freedom, that is envisioned by the passing of the ada. and whereas, the mayor's disability council celebrates and recognizes the progress