>> welcome to the mayor's disability council monthly meeting. i am hopefully happy to virtually see all of you who are in attendance. now we will -- i'm sorry, i'm helen pelzman, i'm the cochair of the m.d.c. please call the roll.

>> good morning everyone, i'm deputy director of mayor's disability council and serving as clerk today. i will conduct roll call. [roll call] >> clerk: that is the roll call.

>> co-chair pelzman: we move on to the approval of the agenda. i so move that the agenda be approved. >> clerk: we usually read it also. >> co-chair pelzman: i will move down then. >> clerk: usually it's the clerk that reads the agenda. >> co-chair pelzman: that's what i thought. >> clerk: okay great. we're on the same page. after approval of the agenda, there will be public comment for items that are interest to the

public that within the subject matter of jurisdiction of the council that are not on this meeting agenda. with respect to agenda items, there will be an opportunity to address the council then each time is reached during the meeting. each member of the public may address the council for up to three minutes. the brown act prevents the council from taking action or discussing any items not appearing on the posted agenda including those items raised in public comment. after the general public comment, there will be a co-chair report. after that item, there will be a reading of correspondence. please note the agenda is diverging from the ordinary order of items that is often

followed by m.d.c. meeting in order to accommodate schedules. correspondence will be read after the co-chair report and after that, the next item is supervisor connie chan representing district 1 and her staff will speak with the council about golden gate park's sustainable travel study andest to golden gate park for people with disabilities. the next item after that will be san francisco covid vaccine program, the presenter will be

deborah borne a physician who is the deputy at covid command center for prevention health policy and vulnerable population and people experiencing homelessness with the san francisco department of public health. after each of those agenda items, public comment will be welcome. then there will be a 15 minute break. after that when the council reconvenes, there will be a report from the mayor's disability council. after that, there will be another session of general public comment for comments that are not related to items that are on the agenda. after that, there will be any

councilmember comment and announcements and then the meeting will adjourn. >> co-chair pelzman: thank you, debbie. this is helen pelzman, co-chair. i want to take a moment to make our participants aware of the fact that we are using a different format today, which is a webex webinar. did i get that right or zoom webinar? i also want to acknowledge that we are doing this in response to a comment from the public who encouraged us to use this different format because it was a much better format for the

disable community. thank you for that. i wanted to make a comment regarding respectful behavior during an m.d.c. meeting. the m.d.c. is committed to conducting meetings where all participants show mutual respect and courtesy while maintaining discourse and deliberation in a civil and respectful and equitable manner. the m.d.c. members will treat each other and staff and all members of the public with courtesy and respect. public comments will be acknowledged and taken seriously. thank you for indulging me in that. we will now proceed. to the co-chair report. alex, do you have anything to

report? >> co-chair locust: not at this time. >> clerk: excuse me, helen, i believe it's the public comment session at this time. >> co-chair pelzman: okay. any public comment? >> we have two people want -- with their hands raised. >> co-chair pelzman: please go ahead. >> deborah, do you want to put up the timer? >> clerk: i will do that. >> our first public comment --

[indiscernible]. >> hello, can you hear me? >> yes. >> thank you very much. i'm calling behalf of a small group, accessible san francisco. i would like to comment on something that's not on today's agenda but has been discussed in the past. that is the shared spaces program with dining on the sidewalk, dining in the wooden parks and in the street and other such arrangements in order to assist restaurants recovering from covid. on november 20th, there was an excellent presentation to the mayor's disability council by staff and very helpful discussion on the shared spaces

program. several people had expressed concern for the future if the city should propose to make these arrangements permanent. i wanted to bring up the fact that just this week, legislation has now been proposed to make them permanent. the name of the program will change from shared places to something called places for people. if anyone is interested on the board of supervisors website, the file number is 210284. co-chair pelzman and director bohn, very clear in the desire that staff come back to the mayor's disability council in the future when there will be a proposal to make them permanent. i hope that will now happen.

as soon as possible, i think the next meeting of the mayor's disability council is probably the key opportunity before it's too late because i think the legislation will move very quickly and the accessibility standards that will be in the legislation is really important and really key. there are a lot of misunderstanding about what accessibility standards actually apply. i realize it's been in your purview to decide whether to request for something to be agendize. i think it's been what five or six months since our last presentation. i think given the importance of this legislation and we're talking about it essentially, 2000 public accommodations that are currently complying to varying degrees with

accessibility. we want to do this right. i hope you will consider taking up this suggestion. thank you. >> co-chair pelzman: thank you. >> we have another person who wants to make public comment. vickie has been unmuted. >> okay. can you hear me? >> yes. >> okay. i realized this relates to a later item on the agenda. i really quickly would like to express urgent strong opposition to the closure of j.f.k. drive. it is required if people with disabilities ever want to visit either of the museums, the --teagarden or other facilitiesn

the park in that area, it's really important that we keep j.f.k. drive between eighth avenue and transfer drive open so people with disability can have access. shutting that down is going to be a huge hardship to the community. i have a lot more to say about that. i can say it later or i can say it now. as someone who used -- i lived in san francisco 43 years. i had cerebral palsy all my life, i hop on 5 and go to the park and get off on the eighth avenue stop and walk to all those locations and all the museums. i can't do that now.

i can no longer ride muni independently now because i fall when the car moves. i can't get up from my seat independently. now i have to be driven in. if j.f.k. drive is closed, it's going to be unbearable hardship and particularly for people who need assistance once they are dropped off or who actually are the drivers. if they park, they can't park nearby if they have a mobility impairment. this is usually short sighted. the community needs to mobilize as with one body behind it. it's going to affect not only all disabled people in san francisco but disabled people all over the bay area and traffic patterns all over the bay area. it's an urgent item.

thanks. that's all i have to say. >> co-chair pelzman: thank you vickie for that. you'll have another chance to address your concerns following up later. >> those were the two people indicating they want to make public comment. >> co-chair pelzman: thank you. now we're going on to co-chair report. again, alex, you had nothing to report. is that correct? >> co-chair locust: not at this time. >> co-chair pelzman: i like to mention couple of things. first of all, we want to welcome supervisor chan for coming to present to us today and discuss

topics of interest and we're very excited to have her join us. as it relates to the shared spaces concerns, there was a webinar or i think it was a townhall that occurred this past wednesday which attempted to answer some questions. i would encourage anybody interested in observing it to hopefully we've got it on our website or we will provide information on how you can access it. it was a city-sponsored townhall on shared spaces. that was hosted about the mayor's disability council. i want to give a heads up to those of you about our upcoming public meating in april. which will be addressing the

assessments that is looking at doing an analysis on accessible housing within the city. the first time this has been done biannual effort. it was initiated out out of board of supervisors, hopeful it will will provide solid data a had what is needed to accommodate housing for the community in san francisco. with -- >> clerk: just point of clarification regarding the shared spaces announcement, it was a community engagement meeting with members of the disability community including some of the m.d.c. members and

m.d.c. helped organize it at the request of the shared spaces staff. it was not a townhall and there are notes that were taken that can be shared with those who would like to see them. there was not a recording of the meeting. >> co-chair pelzman: thank you for clarifying, debbie. does anybody else have anything else? >> i will talk more about it in my report. i do anticipate there will be more opportunities for engagement. we were contacted very short notice. otherwise we would have put it out to public distribution. there wasn't time for that given the speed at which the legislation was introduced.

however, to the earlier public commenters comments, i do encourage the council to consider the shared spaces for the april meeting. >> co-chair pelzman: thank you, nicole. we're aware of that. i had discussed with debbie an effort to try to reach out to the community regarding what the schedule of legislative events will be occurring as it relates to the passage of the consideration of passage of the legislation. we're hoping we might have some version of a calendar so that members of the interested community be aware when those opportunities will be available for them to make a contribution or statement.

moving right along. we are at information item regarding correspondence. do we have any correspondence? >> i defer to deborah to answer that question. >> clerk: i apologize, i'm having a brief problem with the display of my computer. i apologize. >> what would you like me to pull up? >> clerk: the letters that m.d.c. received. >> one moment.

>> clerk: sorry guys i apologize again. >> we received e-mails from members of the public. would you like them to be read? >> clerk: if they are short and they are lengthy, i'm going -- [indiscernible] there are many. looks like approximately 20 or so messages that have been sent. they are all about the issue that was raised by vickie during the earlier comment from the public about closure of j.f.k. drive.

they are similar in the point that's being made regarding objection to the closure of j.f.k. drive. i'm going to summarize because we don't have enough time to read them all. some of the letters that you received detail experiences that people have had, attempting under the current condition, to find parking and get to the museum or other nearby facilities. others have raised similar [indiscernible]-regarding the impact on people with disabilities to effectively deny access to some of the most

popular facilities located within the drive. others have talked about difficulty in finding shutter stops and have difficulty using mass transit similar to the difficulties that vickie described. some have said that they have no problem with the issue of making more public space available to people who want to enjoy the park. question whether it makes the most sense to close the park at that particular segment of j.f.k. drive and suggested that j.f.k. drive be closed in a

different part where they're not -- it is not affecting closure -- sorry it's not affecting parking near the museum and other places. others pointed out that parents with children with disabilities, they are also experiencing significant problems in making the park available and enjoying it as a family. that summarizes the major points that have been raised in the correspondence. >> co-chair pelzman: thank you, debbie. anybody else have anything they want to add regarding

correspondence? we're going to move along to our information item. which is incredibly timely given the topic we just addressed during the correspondence. it's regarding sustainable child study that's conducted. we're very honored to have san francisco supervisor connie chan here to present this important piece of research. welcome supervisor chan. [indiscernible] is anybody else presenting on this topic. should we move on to the second

information item? >> director bohn: one of the presenters for today aren't on yet. i resent the link to all four potential presenter today. if you would like as we're waiting, i'm happy to provide part of the director's report until supervisor chan is able to join us. >> co-chair pelzman: thank you for that, nicole. director bohn, excuse me. that would be a great way to use our time. if you're willing to do so, i would say let's go ahead. start with the director's report. >> director bohn: okay, no problem. the first thing that i wanted to

do today, i'm seeing that kelly is joining us. i will finish my first thought and we'll come back. i want to start by acknowledging that it has been a very difficult week. we know that 64% of our disability community are black and indigenous and people of color. especially our asian-american and asian pacific islander community is really struggling this week with violence and discrimination both locally and nationally. i wanted to acknowledge that this also impacts our community and there isn't easy way to talk about it. there are ways to get involved. will i include some of those resources in my director's report this week. i want to take a moment and pause and acknowledge that it has been a very difficult week for many of us and especially

our asian-americans pacific islanders community today. with that, we'll take a moment -- i'm seeing that kelly has joined us. we can begin our next agenda item and then we'll come back to the remainder of this report because we have time allocations that we need to also be respectful of the presenter today. >> co-chair pelzman: just for clarification, since it's not on my agenda, is kelly part of supervisor chan's staff? >> director bohn: that is correct. >> co-chair pelzman: welcome kelly. >> hi everyone. thank you so much for having our office. i'm terribly sorry that

supervisor chan isn't able to present. i am prepared to read her statement for her and answer any questions as best i can. thank you everyone for inviting supervisor chan and myself to speak to the mayor's disability council today. i'm here to discuss the stakeholder process timeline for the san francisco county transportation authority golden gate park sustainable travel study. this includes planning around the future of j.f.k. drive. i wanted to inform the council and anyone watching that supervisor chan has called for a hearing at the sf down transportation authority commission meeting on march 23rd at 10:00 a.m. to hear sfmta's plans for those who live, work, play and exercise and access essential services on the west side of san francisco as our economy reopens. i encourage people to call into

public comment and provide any feedback and concerns they have during this hearing. i'll be monitoring public comment to bring back to our office. >> co-chair pelzman: can you just slow down? >> sorry. i have a habit speaking quickly. before discussing the timeline that sfmta -- >> co-chair pelzman: please repeat the date and the kind of informational items that you just shared for the sake of the interpreter and our captioner and our audience so they know how to participate in the time line participating in comments. we want to make sure this is an important issue. we want to make sure they have the information correct. >> absolutely. thank you. the sf county transportation

authority commission meeting will take place next tuesday march 23rd at 10:00 a.m. sfmta will be presenting their plans on reopening the west side economy and the connectivity of the westside. we encourage people to call into public comment during tuesday's meeting to provide any feedback and concerns that they have around plans for j.f.k. or any other transit related activities especially on the west side of san francisco. before discussing the timeline that sfmta and rec park has provided, working group overseeing j.f.k. and golden gate park sustainable travel study, i want to fill in the council on supervisor chan's transportation priorities. her priorities are to increase

multimodal options. improving mobility on the westside especially between neighborhoods. with the richmond unique geography border by open space, we want to make sure we know that north-south connectivity is crucial. supervise chan constituent living in the far west corner of the district, especially our senior constituents have had a difficult time getting around even before the pandemic. we're asking to see concrete plans from sfmta to ensure it's safe and efficient to get from point a to point b. supervisor chan has asked sfmta to take a holistic look at all the projects moving forward between shared spaces, slow street, and suspended service. making sure that we're ensuring

as we reopen our economy, we're not creating congestion and dangerous streets. this so our neighbors can experience and navigate our streets in non-segmented way, project by project. it's important we look at all these factors together. i understand that not everyone can get around by bus, bike or foot. we need to be thinking about accessibility as a starting point and shared priority in how we approach transportation projects and certainly not an afterthought. we thanked former supervisor sandra lee fewer who recognize e directed the sfmta to create a working group including many stakeholders and planning the future of j.f.k. drive. working group had its first meeting in december 2020 to have stakeholders provide goals for the working group, the second meeting was for stakeholders to identify the needs of their

communities and constituencies in accessing j.f.k. and golden gate park. the third meeting was for it stakeholder group to review proposed framework proposed by sfmta to address the needs identified in the second meeting. working group called for a fourth meeting -- sorry, i think i skipped one. the third meeting was for a stakeholder group to review proposed frame work and sfmta to address the needs identified in the second meeting. working group called for a fourth and final meeting which we are working closely with sfmta to set the agenda for. the framework provided by sfmta and rec park, the timeline is that sfcta will finalize working group support. the commissioners will vote to adopt the report in april. that park will kick off the community engagement process.

which includes meeting, surveys and so on. feedback from these meetings may generate additional action in golden gate park including parking garage operations, way finding signage and a.d.u. parking. the final project description will be provided by rec park and once ceqa is finalized, it will be presented to the sfmta board of directors rec park commission and finally the board of supervisors. with that, i'm happy top take any questions that you might have. >> director bohn: can you clarify to folks what ceqa is? >> it's the california environmental quality act. if there is any road scape design within a project including golden gate park, it triggers ceqa. there's a checklist of items that need to be fulfilled before

a project can be approved and proceed with. >> co-chair pelzman: thank you for that clarification, kelly. this is co-chair pelzman. i'm going to donate my time to either my fellow councilmembers or the public. i know this is a very charged issue with a lot of engagement from the public. alex, do you have anything you like to say? >> co-chair locust: yes. thank you. my question to you regarding accessibility, you mentioned -- i want to know more about what

supervisor chan -- [indiscernible] how come it hasn't been addressed and it's becoming an issue and becoming a big issue for people with disabilities.

>> just to clarify, your question is about supervisor chan's priorities for accessibility and especially around golden gate park? low first step is supervisor chan has the hearing on tuesday, next tuesday at sf county transportation authority. to really dive in and see what sfmta's plans are to understand that they are taking a holistic look at shared spaces, golden

gate park to ensure they are aware of the challenges that the disability community faces as well as people wanting to use any of the areas for biking, walking, driving. that's kind of what we're hoping to get from that meeting. make sure that the department is aligned with us and our goals in making sure it's accessible. from there, working closely with the agencies to make sure that it can be implemented and for example, there's -- we're working closely with agencies to identify any funding that they

might have or need help identifying to make sure that projects that really improve accessibility are not falling by the wayside because of our budget cuts. >> co-chair locust: thank you. how come it's just starting to -- why it's taking so long? how come it hasn't been -- >> as i mentioned earlier, supervisor sandra lee fewer

created the working group. she focused on seniors in the disabled community and making plans for j.f.k. not every one is at the table in the working group. we have a lot of stakeholders who have their constituencies. supervisor chan took office in january and wanted to continue to work on what sandra lee fewer had. with that, she saw lot of issues potentially arising and wanted on to make sure agencies were aligned and understanding accessibility issues. that's why it seems a little late and last minute. we're working off what supervisor sandra lee fewer created which was to have a seat at the table for disability rights and accessibility and to then use that opportunity of the working group to inform our

future decisions. >> co-chair locust: thank you. >> co-chair pelzman: we're working with this new format. if you want to ask a question or make a comment, please raise your hand. thanks. >> hi, this is orchid. i'm a san francisco resident who goes to golden gate park a great deal. i'm concerned about the lack of parking. if we close j.f.k. drive and people are going to be routed to look for parking outside of golden gate park even more and as a person with a family, it's really challenging once you get

in there, once you are there to try to find parking. if j.f.k. drive closes, we're taking away disabled parking. the ferris wheel is also there and we're having this business theme run there which is going to attract even more traffic, even more cars. i think we have to allow people to find parking and not expect everyone to use transit. there are a variety of needs that have to be considered. i know we don't want more cars driving, but at the same time, this is really important to consider. it concerns me that we're taking away parking including and especially the disabled parking spot. even if you come early in the morning, it can be really

challenging. i'm not assure -- sure how they will work this out. i'm concerned about getting enough public comment to really get this going. i think there are going to be a lot of fight from the community. >> co-chair pelzman: thank you for pointing that out. i should go into further detail about the make up of the j.f.k. working group. >> which i think will address lot of your concerns. the make-up of the working group includes the mayor's office on disability, senior disability action. we also have folks from the bicycle coalition walk sf. it's a very broad spectrum of folks who use the park.

whether they need to get there by bus, drive organize what not. the first couple of meetings were talking about setting all the issues that you just mentioned, parking, congestion, circling for parking. which creates a lot of danger in it park. we've been kind of bringing up to the agency all of these issues as stakeholders and reck park and sfmta providing short-term and long-term solutions that they working on or identified they can implement to avoid the congestion and searching for parking or lack of access to museums. some of the ideas that have been proposed include improving the shuttle, making the shuttles are

accessible. it also includes looking at potentially putting a.d.u. parking on fulton street. so people can access the museums and other entrances on fulton. lot of the issues that you brought up are being discuss the in the working group. the meeting for next tuesday is kind of includes things like j.f.k., shared spaces. then the public process for the j.f.k. working group after the fourth meeting, rec park will begin their public outreach process so we can bring all the solutions and issues that i just mentioned to more broad groups and provide public comment. i hope that answers your

question. >> one additional point pre covid, j.f.k. drive and golden gate park had an idea moving parking inward. there was a more safe and accessible bike lane. that seems to have changed again after years of planning. i'm feeling like that entire plan got derailed because there's another group that wants to make the closure permanent. i know it is really nice to have less cars in golden gate park. i certainly understand that. it is nice to walk in the open air but there are people who can't in other areas. just something to think about. thank you i look forward to checking that out. >> thank you, orchid.

>> co-chair pelzman: for some reason, my video is not working. are there any other councilmembers who would like to make a statement or would like to ask a question? seeing none, i think we can move on to opening this up to public comment. are there individuals waiting to make a statement or ask a question? >> if i may through the chair, i like to clarify one thing, please before we go to public comment. >> director bohn: kelly, thank you so much for representing

supervisor chan today. please extend our thanks to her for wanting to be here and really engage directly with the disability community. on behalf of the mayor's office on disability, and mayor's disability council, i want to say thank you. could you please send the detail about the tuesday meeting, one on the 23rd. any description that you have along with that to the general e-mail address. we can be sure goat the information out to all of the folks who are on our distribution and posted in all the appropriate places. to the degree that you have additional meetings, we'll include that as well. i wanted to say that.

i know you have a hard stop at 2:00. i want to make sure to grab that while you were still here. thank you very much. >> thank you, nicole. >> co-chair pelzman: thank you again kelly. just to reinforce what nicole mentioned, any information about scheduling and opportunities for public input i think would be very appreciated. i think we need to move on quickly so the public can get an opportunity to participate. >> we have three members of the public who want to make public comment. richard has been unmuted. >> hi. i'm one of the members of the

working group. i want to thank supervisor fewer for setting up this group. i was one of the members who asked for a fourth meeting because i wasn't happy with the way things were going. one thing we didn't discuss, it's really not in the push per, i think it should be should j.f.k. be closed all the time. it's not really this group's purview, but may be members of the disability community and other groups can bring this up. i'm also concerned about the concern sea of flowers and how members of the disability community and mobile impaired people can get there. the shuttle is not an answer because if i remember the shuttle didn't have wheelchair

access. what i looked into, it's not reliable. i live in the richmond district. i know they put all the a.d.u. parking on the east and south. they need to have more a.d.u. parking. i'm sure we'll have a report. there's a lot bigger issues. i hope everybody will get involved. people are very strongly advocate that j.f.k. be car free all the time. it's a big challenge. i want to encourage everyone. also the great highway, that's another big issue that this council should take a look at.

how people who can't walk or have mobility issues can enjoy the great highway. it needs to be divided one for bicyclist and one for cars. maybe that's something down the road you might want to have supervisor mar, rec and park and m.t.a. come to a meeting and talk about the great highway. that impacts our community too. thank you for having this hearing and thank you for supporting these important issues. >> next public commenter is vickie has been unmuted. >> i made comment earlier. i like to introduce bill who is

here with me. >> i'm a person who has a lifelong disability. i been a member of the fine arts museum in san francisco for more than 30 years. we've been addressing issues for many years. we really been shut out of the process. people with disabilities were only now being asked to be included in formulating what is the best plan for ensuring that golden gate park is useable and accessible to everyone. as someone who use to be a bicyclist, i understand the i perspective of bicyclist how they would love to have a park that is car free. as a person with a disability, i realized, wait a second, there's many of us for whom this is not an option. if you look at also the aging population in the richmond and sunset, many of folks there,

seniors are people who either have mobility disabilities currently. you're excluding also the residents to be able to access the park and museum and the other programs and events and features that are around eighth avenue. obviously, as a member of the access advisers, i'm appalled by what is happening, how that -- without any really consultation with the disability community have gone ahead and closed j.f.k. drive from eighth. it makes it really unworkable for people with disabilities. i don't need to reiterate all the reasons this won't work. [please stand by]

editorial the chronicle which almost sounded like a argument for closing the drive.

>> okay, next public commenter, howard, you've been unmuted. >> can you hear me now? >> yes. >> okay. let me start again. you know, let's get real. this is a give away of -- coalition. the elected officials are -- you know, as they have been for a long time, they are afraid of the bike coalition. i don't need to reiterate the dozens of comments not only that deputy director chaplain summarized earlier in this meeting, but back when i think it was november the mdc had a meeting around the same issue, and there were almost 100 or at least maybe 70 or 80 comments almost every single one of which was that if you closed jfk drive permanently it will really make

the park inaccessible, not only to disabled people but to many other people, people who live in the bay area, but not within san francisco. people who live in neighborhoods in san francisco but do not have transportation going to golden gate park, such as the bayview, for example, and you know, it's just -- it's just not right. and supervisor chan's -- that was just here, i know there is a lot of talk about process, working groups and all of that. it's interesting that they call this a study. it's not really a study. getting on to study, actually, the city cannot make the emergency closure of jfk drive permanent without doing an environmental impact report. the original bike plan was held

up in court for years because the city did not do an eir, and you cannot do an eir about closing jfk drive without studying traffic impacts in the surrounding area, including all the way down on fell street where i live several blocks east of the park. and you can't do a meaningful traffic study until after the pandemic emergency is over because current conditions are just not representative. now this talk about putting a few blue zones here and there, that's just tinkering at the edges. i think that phil ginsburg, the director of rec and park, had mentioned that it would be about 300 parking spaces lost if the entire jfk drive were closed to cars. so that's a lot. most spaces turn over several times a day, so you're talking about in a week thousands of people who would be able -- who would no longer be able to

access the park by car. one other quick thing, you know, even the terminology car-free jfk sort of implies that cars are bad. how about just calling it more restricted jfk or, you know, closed off jfk. there's other terminology. thank you. [ alarm ]. >> those were the people that indicated they wanted to make public comment. >> thank you, and thank you to all of our members of the public who contributed, and again, if kelly's still here, thank you, kelly. moving on, our next item is the san francisco covid vaccine program identifying and reducing

barriers to vaccinations. mod director horn will be presented, and i'm sure this is going to be a quite lively presentation with lots of -- so nicole, please proceed. >> actually, this item is for my colleague dr. debra bore in the department of public health. >> oh, i'm sorry. >> who i see is joined. may need a minute to go on screen. hi, there, doctor. >> and doctor, i apologize, i have dyslexia, and so your last names were a little close to one another. my apologies. >> i'm with you. >> thank you for understanding. and it's nice -- i get myself confused, debbie and i kept on getting mixed up with each other too, and that was no joke because we have the same name.

so i think -- do you need me to share my slides, nicole? >> thank you. you can easily share your slides. that would be the most helpful. >> okay. hold on. give me one second. i do apologize. this is not my skill set. i think i got it. one more moment. i hope everyone's having a good afternoon. can you see? there they are. >> yeah, we can see it. can you expand the -- perfect, great. that looks great. >> deborah, before you begin, if you -- interpreter views or anything, so let's just make sure folks that need that access that are on the call can see

okay. >> thanks for reminding us, nicole. and for those of you who have access to a larger screen, we are being -- we are on channel 26 on xfinity. >> thank you. i think we can begin, dr. bourne, go ahead. >> thanks, nicole, and if you guys can call me deborah, i would prefer that. i was a social worker before i was a doctor, and the hardest job i've ever had is being a mom, so maybe if we're going to be ranking it, i would much prefer that. i'm very excited to be here with all of you, and it's a privilege to be here to answer questions and have a conversation about what's happening with the vaccine and hear where you all would like some more

information. so right now my current role as i've been activated for a year at the covid command center, i oversee communications for the operations section, but my real job is health policy for people experiencing homelessness and vulnerable populations, and i still do work, clinical work. i'm an h.i.v. and addiction center. i'm actually in clinic right now but i closed the door, and i do street medicine, so i take care of our san francisco residents that live on the street three evenings a week. so what we're going to talk about today is the recap of the town hall that -- boeba had done on the 17th, and just some highlights that people had -- that we thought might be helpful. an overview about the vaccine, where we are, and this is all pretty brief, and then some answers on eligibility that we've been asked recently and some site and access questions,

and then we'll have time for questions and answers so this can be a real conversation that would matter to you, and you'll get -- hopefully we can answer your questions. so i'm going to not -- if i'm going too fast, let me know. i'm on screen share, so i have to close everything out, and i'm from the east coast. we talk very fast. so the mayor's office on disability partnered with the department of public health on wednesday in a town hall for people with disabilities and health conditions, and there was about 100 participants. i went myself. it was very good. if people want to hear that, they can get access on this channel, and the mayor's office on disability will compile and post some resources together and answers for some questions as well. just some high level overview, right now we do know that the vaccines are safe and effective. all three current approved vaccines which are pfizer,

moderna and johnson & johnson are highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death from covid-19. now as someone who is an advocate as well as a clinician, i usually don't use names of pharmaceutical companies if i can help it, but in this case it's really important that all of us know these names because we need to know what vaccine we got for future reference, and the johnson & johnson is different than the pfizer and moderna in terms of the number of shots that you'll be getting. the vaccines were tested in clinical trials involving tens of thousands of people to make sure they were safe and effective and they met standards for different ages, races and ethnicities. the coronavirus itself is an old -- i call it an og virus. it's a virus we've known about for a very long time. as an h.i.v. doctor, it took us years and years to understand that kind of virus, but we were actually doing research -- we,

scientists, doing research on this type of virus and looking at vaccines for years. it's related to the common cold, so sars, so it was not that hard for them in terms of trying to make this vaccine. over 70 million people have received at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine, and there's been no deaths attributed to any of the vaccines. and it's really important for people to understand that you cannot get covid from the vaccine. there's nothing live of the coronavirus in any of the vaccines. so for eligibility, which has been confusing for me, i can't imagine for everyone else, there have been some phases. most of us know of the phase 1a that was health care system and long-term care residents in skilled nursing facilities. the phase 1b was over 65 and certain sector populations, education and child care, emergency services, food and

agriculture. and again, it is the federal government and the state that dictates what are gonna be in the phases. and then the state made a new group. they didn't call it 1c, so if you're confused and you hear the word 1c, the cdc sometimes refers to it as 1c, but the state calls it march 15th. so it's individuals ages 16 to 64 years old who are deemed to be at high risk for morbidity and mortality from covid-19 as a direct result of one of the qualifies conditions that are listed here. there's health conditions, disabilities, experiencing homelessness or living in or working in high-risk congregate care facilities. i'm going to go into a little bit more detail about that right now so that we're all on the same page. for the health conditions, these are conditions that the c.d.c. has deemed to be high risk for very poor outcomes for covid-19

that includes cancer, active cancer, so being on chemoor radiation, chronic kidney disease, severe pulmonary disease, down syndrome, immune compromised from blood or bone marrow or solid organ transplants, and the city has put in other immune deficiencies, such as h.i.v., use of corticosteroids, which is prednisone, or other immune weakening medicines. pregnancy, sickle cell disease, heart conditions that are -- like heart failure, coronary disease or an enlarged heart, which is what cardio myopathy is. this doesn't include hypertension. obesity with a certain body mass index, and diabetes. now for disabilities, the definition defined by the state and how we're interpreting it is

it includes those who have developmental, medical, physical, sensory or behavioral health disabilities. and this includes severe mental illness or substance abuse disorder. the other group, as i mentioned, are people experiencing homelessness are those that live or work in a high-risk congregate care facility, like a correctional setting, a homeless shelter or a residential treatment program or a residential care facility. so the eligibility verification, we are working in san francisco to ensure that it is a reasonable and very easy process and not burdensome with documentation to verify anyone's eligibility for disability. so for vaccine sites that don't have access to patient records, no one should be requiring proof of a diagnosis or a disability.

we're asking everyone to rely on a self-form that is more feasible and much more equitable. so that means that it's up to the individual to state their disability and to sign, and it's not anyone's space to correct if that person is or isn't disabled. we are working with health care providers to vaccinate their own patients, which is always our first response and the best for the patient, and that they are making every reasonable attempt to verify and qualify conditions with the patient's record and to use their clinical judgment. so where can you get the vaccine? if you're eligible for a vaccine, the first place to go is your doctor's office. health care providers can contact you to schedule an appointment, and that's always -- vaccine is always based on supply. it's been the number one

limiting in san francisco. we are capable in san francisco to do over 10,000 vaccines a day. the issue has been we need to get vaccine. so besides your health care provider, the city and county of san francisco has made options for people to get the vaccine in ways that are convenient and safe for them. so -- oh, i was wrong, 17,000 vaccines per day. there you go. they've upped it. it's not 10,000, so i stand corrected. 17,000 vaccines per day. those are high-volume sites like mus conie center. there's community access sites that can either be in a clinic, like a health center. hubs and then mobile vaccine. there's also vaccine at pharmacies. now i actually do mobile medical care and have had the privilege to write and support the vaccine's mobile strategy, and i'll talk to you a little bit about that. a really important number for all of you to write down to get assistance with vaccines is our new vaccine call center.

that number is 628-652-2700. it's 628-652-2700. this is a call center that san francisco has created for people over the age of 65 and for those with disabilities who are unable to access the internet or need help with scheduling. you can also learn about vaccine options, receive assistance in booking an appointment to some locations. the call center is also the place to go that if your doctor's office cannot do mobile vaccine for home visits and you are homebound, doctors' offices in each medical group has mobile homebound vaccines. for example, san francisco health network that i work for, health at home is coordinating with all the patients in the safety net if they need homebound, meaning someone goes to their house and brings the vaccine to one person, to that

person. so use this number to call if you need help, and that's what we designed it for. if there's issues or concerns or questions for the call center, it would be great to let nicole or i know so that we can make sure that you're getting the help you need to get access to the vaccine. so transportation i know is an issue, and i'm not a transport expert, but the muni and para-transit are free to use for your appointment. on the muni people are asked if they can show their vaccine card or proof of an appointment. you can also show an email confirmation or a photo of your card. all of you are going to get cards that said that you're vaccinated after your first one. para-transit has [indiscernible] riders can make a call, make a trip reservation. tell the operator that you're getting to get the vaccine. the para-transit taxi riders

have $60 loaded on to their taxi debit card after they've made that call, and funds are valid up to six months after they are put on the debit card, and there is a number, 415-351-7000. there's also an essential trip card, an etc, subsidizes about two or three rounds of trips of taxis per month for older adults, people over the age of 65 and people with disabilities. and eligible participants for this etc pay 20% of the taxi fare for essential trips, and you can get in touch with that program through 311. so there's several numbers that i've given you. one is the call center. the other is 311 to get information for the etc, and the other is the para-transit. i want to talk a minute about mobile vaccines.

we always start vaccine strategy with aggressive outreach linkage and navigation. if you need help to support -- pardon me. clinic. if you need help and support for getting the vaccine, calling the call center will tell you if you're eligible for a home service, but we have been doing vaccines to homebound adults, as i said, to older adults facing barriers to access the vaccine, to the programs that i oversee for sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness. residential behavioral programs have actually done a really great job getting their patients in to -- their residents into vaccine at musconi. they've been doing trips. it's gone really well over at the general. the s.r.o. is going to be a place where we're going to be doing mobile vaccine once they are eligible, and person living in high rates of transmission and limited access to health

care and populations with disproportionate access. many of these populations that i mentioned are already linked to health services through the department of aging and [indiscernible] through san francisco's health network, where we do street medicine and shelter healthy, and other health providers in the city that are actually themselves offering this service. so i just wanted to show everyone again what the get notified sf gov get notified website looks like. it's relatively easy to navigate, and i am a luddite. i'm not a computer person, and if i can figure it out, i think it's not that hard, and you can go on to register. it gives you information on eligibility, the vaccine sites are listed there, the phone numbers that i mentioned are on there in hours. you can book an appointment.

there's other websites and links to other partner websites lik the state website, and you can access lots of resources on that. so again, these are the different websites. i'm going to keep them on for a minute if that's okay, nicole. the first one is the san francisco department of health site. the second is the california site to get registered, and the third is the one that has all the information from the state on vaccine. so nicole, i have nothing more to say on here and i'm ready to answer questions. >> okay, thank you very much. >> is there anything you would like to add? >> so -- what i would prefer to do is open it up to the council to see what questions the council has and then i'm happy to talk more about disability

access and where we are with that. and to give the public a little bit of a sense of what we know has been going well and the things that we still need to work on. i'm happy to talk about these things now or after questions. it's up to you. >> why don't we do questions, and if there is an opportunity for you to jump in and add something, i don't know how off-script that's going to be, but i just think this is obviously new territory for all of us, and i'm listening more than -- i'm taking notes, so that wasn't [indiscernible] how does that sound? >> that sounds perfect. >> okay. >> and deborah and i work together pretty closely. >> i got that feeling, actually.

i was writing notes as deborah was introducing herself. i wrote "super woman," so thank you for -- you take on all the -- what i would imagine would be a very, very hard job in our city government, and as a resident i just want to thank you and let you know that i'm very grateful for that. >> oh, thank you. >> and no i'm not sucking up to her so i can get a secret code. >> i don't have the codes. but you know, i actually -- when we -- everyone with your questions, i just want to say thank you, helen, that means so much. so all of this information, what covid has really taught us is something i've known forever, is that health belongs to the people, and community organizations and community are the backbone and the foundation for how san francisco stayed healthy. so it is really important that we get answers to you and that you understand what's going on because health does not belong to the doctors. so this is -- so i really

appreciate, helen, that you -- it's not really about me. it's for what i stand for, and i stand for making sure that all of us have the info that we need to make the right choices for ourselves and for our health, so thank you. >> and thank you. without taking up too much time, just because this is very timely for me, then i got vaccinated yesterday and went through this entire process starting march 15. i shared all the anecdotal experiences that you have heard about not being able to find a vaccine, about how difficult the whole process is to negotiate. i know you are all aware of it. i'm a communications professional. this communications rollout has been way below the grade, and we're in it now, but i really

hope that somebody is, like, capturing what happens so we don't do it again and we get better. and my own experience, you know, once i got scheduled was fine. you know, the -- and i am -- i have an advantage. i'm not a -- i don't have the kinds of challenges in terms of mobility, although i am -- i use a walker and a wheelchair, but i have other options in order to get -- for access, but it's not -- the problem isn't getting there. the problem is getting an appointment, and i'll just leave it at that. >> thank you, helen. i'm hoping that this new -- the new -- i'm a person that likes to call on the phone. i have a hard time with computer stuff, so we're hoping that the phone call and the person-to-person is going to help it. we work really closely with

community-based organizations that are aggressively helping people that need support to register for vaccines. so if you work with a community-based organization, we have an aggressive what we call ambassador -- vaccine ambassador training where we're teaching everyone how to do that and how to help folks, but we do know that it's going to take a much more low barrier approach to help many people, especially people who have vaccine confidence concerns, still to get vaccines. i'm sorry for your experience. i'm grateful that you were able to navigate that and then you can teach us how we can help others. >> i'm never doing this again. >> well, hopefully -- this is my first pandemic and hopefully we won't have to do it again. >> yeah, exactly. i can speak for myself in my frustration of knowing how many people are exploiting the category, and that's the thing [indiscernible] the most. i don't have an answer for it,

but i know that that is something that i have shared with many other people. thank you again for your presentation, all your hard work, and alex, your hand is up. would you like to ask a question? >> yes, i do. hi, deborah. i have been getting frustrated . . . so my question

is how come the city keeps pushing -- the website and -- most times when it comes to -- doesn't have anybody with disability -- vaccine. and when it comes to --

apartment are not available. how come the city keeps pushing people to the website when it comes to scheduling appointments on the website doesn't really help people make an appointment. >> so alex, let me make sure i'm understanding. so you have your appointment. you got it, you called on the phone? >> yes, i'm thankful for that. >> yeah, me too. so would you recommend -- so would you recommend for people

that are having challenges with the computer to use that number has been helpful? >> yes. but my question, my question was how come . . . >> right. >> when on the website it doesn't have anybody. >> i get it now.

>> so that's my question. how come the city keeps pushing people to use the website? and the second question is the city going to fix the website. >> so thanks, alex, and i will tell you what i know, and nicole will chime in if you don't mind after i go through how it works for the state and i'm going to say i think we can answer 70% of your question. >> all right. >> so my understanding is that the my turn has state placement. so state placements are muscon irkdz, some of the pharmacies, the coliseum, they have under their belt, under the my chart, those particular locations. they get a certain number of vaccines and vaccine appointments daily, and they have to schedule it out.

so unfortunately what happens is we find out once or twice a week how much vaccine we're gonna have, and if you're getting two shots, so there's 26 people here, what i'm doing -- so say 20 of you got vaccinated, i still have to put the other 20 aside. so that's 40 shots that i have to plan for in a month from now. so it's very complicated, more than you think, for the city. and then the my turn locations are actually run by the coliseum is the state but the musconi is kaiser. the different places are different locations. it's also up to them to post it as well. so there's a lot of things that can go to that, and i do know that they don't say -- you have to go through the whole process and then find out. that is challenging. i'm not a web person. that's something nicole and i will actually need to forward up for you because it definitely sounds like the user interface

is challenging and the consumer experience, or something like that. so we'll definitely forward that. but the city, we want to get as many people to do it this way as possible, but we do know for the people that i serve, i mean, i have patients -- people i've worked with on the street, they still have phones and they can do stuff, but they can't get the internet or they ran out of cell whatever, so the providers coming up and helping them is really critical, and having places where people can just open access drop in also really important for the community that i serve. so that's why we need to have a broad portfolio for disabilities, but we don't want everyone to just call on that number. this number is for you. this number is for my patients. that number is for over 65. it's not for everyone really in san francisco if they can do it on the computer. so that answers a little of your question. it doesn't solve the frustration you have, but it sounds like the

user interface and that sort of -- and the person experience, whatever it's called, needs to get worked on. there are certain things we can and can't do about the state. that is just a state thing. and we are pushing it to the general population because the general population should be moving it. so it's great that you guys tried it. we know it's not the only way you're going to get access to vaccine, and you picking up the phone is exactly what we wanted you to do, alex, so thank you. >> yeah, thank you. >> i would just add to that that we do know, and i was just in a meeting earlier this morning about what we might be able to do to help with some of that user experience. one of the other issues that is happening that deborah didn't get a chance to mention is unfortunately all the different systems in california that schedule appointments don't talk to each other in one centralized mechanism. if we could make that happen, the experience would be a lot

more seamless, but it's just not -- it's not a function that we're able to achieve, unfortunately, and so i wanted to just highlight again that we have created that number specifically because we did anticipate that, unfortunately, this was going to be an issue, and we have had quite a bit of success with not just referring to vaccine appointments but things like giving people other services through the 628-652-2700 number. we really have tried to publicize through the information that's been targeted specifically for folks with disabilities through press release, through the information from our joint information center and through presentations like these.

but we're concerned also that if it is broadly published right now that folks who are eligible right now who are people with disabilities would have the same problem in the call center with the call center being overwhelmed in the same way that the web-based system is. so i'll stop there so we can go to other questions, but hopefully that gives you a little more idea. >> thank you, nicole. i just want to -- window of monday, and i've been told that i don't need bring any documentation regarding my disability, correct? >> okay. that's correct. it is correct. >> alex, i tell everyone to drink water if you can before -- this is not -- drink water beforehand, and if you can move

your arm after the vaccine, people said that really definitely helps. and if you have any symptoms afterwards, which i didn't go over, our bodies are really smart, and when we get vaccines we make antibodies and in the process of making antibodies we can get fevers, chills or muscle aches because that's what happens when we get sick because that's our body making antibody. so i didn't have a lot of symptoms, but you know, usually some people do, and if you feel that, it's not that -- you should just know that your body is being healthy. >> i can add my experience -- >> thank you so much. thank you very much for that. thank you, nicole and deborah. >> i can -- since i had my shot yesterday, my vaccine yesterday, i will concur with the good doctor. my experience was that the pain really didn't kick in until about eight hours after the

shot, and it wasn't a pleasant evening -- i mean night's sleep, but my arm feels better, and i -- that's what happened to me, and i have multiple co-morbidities. i don't know if that means anything, but that's what happened. >> thanks, helen. you can also use cold packs. >> yeah, i put ice on it, yeah. >> i was an herbalist before i was a doctor, so i tend to use other sorts of things and remedies as well, and there's a lot of other, you know, ways you can support yourself. i'll hand it over to nicole -- >> we need to get to some questions. there are some people who have been waiting for quite a while. orchid, you're up. >> yes, first of all i want to say thank you, nicole, for having this town hall community-wide meeting. i really appreciate you creating that last wednesday. i learned so much content, so

much information, and one thing that i've noticed is, you know, working with hearing people -- working with the city, particularly for hearing people, who are not comfortable using technology to make an appointment, is there any walk-in appointment situation so people who for whom using such technology is not really accessible, do you have something like that? so there are deaf people who are disabled and homeless and experiencing other things who may not be on your radar. they are just very disconnected from resources. and then i also have to say i'm quite disappointed with the online appointments. i see lots of young people who are very confident at technology, very tech savvy, and using that to be able to go in to oakland, the coliseum and get these appointments even though they are not high risk while others are rather high risk and

not able to access them. so it seems like people who are at low risk are getting, you know, gaming the system and getting those appointments and the rest of us are still waiting. and then it seems like they are also in a hurry to go visit friends and be social with friends, and i understand they are not having a great understanding of those who are at high risk. i personally am high risk and have not gotten my shot yet, although as a deaf person i understand i now qualify. should i go forward and try to get an appointment or should i not since i technically qualify but i'm low risk? i mean, there are those who really need to get their vaccines in order to do things like look for work or whatever is needed, so it's a tough situation. >> nicole, do you want me to take the first shot? i'll be quick.

first of all, orchid, i love your name. nice to meet you. >> thank you. >> covid is the opportunity for us to be our best selves, and it's been a space where all of us can work together and be our best selves, and i hear what you and helen are saying in terms of people making choices that are for themselves and not for the community. so that's been very challenging. i work with a population that is often underserved, which is where i've spent my life dedicated to people that live on the street. you, for you, and for everyone with a disability, you need to take care of you and make the best choice for you. as i say to my staff and i'm saying to everyone on this call, the best thing for san francisco is the best thing for you. so you taking care of yourself, you are important, and you need this criteria. it's not about judging yourself

against anyone else. it's your criteria is here for you so that you can get a vaccine, and that's the way that the system has been built. now i've had friends who are professors who probably would never listen to this and were working from home and they chose to do it. they went and met with an ethics person and made their decision. i have my own feelings about this, but you are in this category, and i want you to make the best choice for you. the best choice for you is the best choice for san francisco. we have open access locations. we are making more and more every day for people in community, and we're going to be bringing vaccine. like we've been doing with the vaccine in the shelters and mobile vaccines and s.r.o.s, we're going to be doing mobile vaccine. that's one of the things that i do is mobile care so that we make sure that people with all sorts of disabilities feel safe. nicole knows that we've been working on the conversation, so this is an opportunity to have conversations with you, but for

many communities that have had a lot of historical racism, the people that i served have a lot of what i call sanctuary trauma where they've gone to get care and has been very traumatizing for them. they don't trust doctors. they don't trust the health system, so we've been spending a lot of time having mindful spaces and training the people that they trust and with faces that look like them to have those conversations with them. so that's also been a very large part of what we're doing. i hope that answered some of your questions. nicole? >> i would just add that quickly -- >> sorry, orchid, nicole. >> oh, i'm sorry, nicole. >> orchid was just saying yes you're right, and that's an additional problem that people who have experienced trauma at the hands of the health care system are difficult to convince that it is, in fact, safe to get a vaccine, and like you're saying, it is a personal decision, and what i'm hoping is

that public services are becoming more open and accessible to people in order to get the vaccine so that they are safe. even with masking and distancing and everything. >> well, we would love to train all of you to be -- nicole is an ambassador right now, and she's been doing a lot of training with people, and we would love any of you that are interested to take our vaccine ambassador training. nicole, if you want to come back, we could do that as well, anyone -- really, we need you to have conversations. like alex is experienced, everyone is experienced. we need you to have conversations because you're leaders in your community. >> that's a good idea. i will include the ambassador training link and information as part of my report. i just wanted to add quickly, i saw a hand up earlier, we and our colleagues in public health knew that as we were making the decision to make sure that the

process for vaccine allocation was as accessible and barrier free as possible, we knew that there would be some people that would potentially take advantage of that, and we really talked about that, and we really feel as a city that the benefits to having access for anyone who identifies as a -- with a disability who is impacted by covid, the benefit to you outweighs any other behaviors that may be happening because we need to get as many folks vaccinated as possible. and i just want to say that i'm very proud of san francisco for the steps that we did take to really open it up right now for those with disabilities in san francisco and broadening the

health condition criteria as well. it's really a model that i wish more counties had an opportunity to follow. i'm very proud of what we've been able to do here. so please use the process, and also if there's something about the process that's not working. we're one week in and we've got a long ways to go, so we are improving and evolving our process with every day, so we need to hear your feedback so we can make the changes necessary when it's within our control to do that. >> thank you, nicole. denise, you've been very patient. are you with us? >> i'm still here. >> okay. >> i was kind of thinking exactly what i was going to say because everything's really been addressed so articulately by m.o.d. staff and our presenter, and from the council members, and the presentation, i got a lot out of it.

i kind of understood why the different systems and different mechanisms don't talk to each other, because some of my questions and thoughts on improving that process i didn't know about the incompatibility, so i won't even address that. i do appreciate having that number that i call the customer service number for people with disability and seniors on the call, because a lot of the questions that i get are from seniors in my community and people with disabilities that didn't understand when this first rolled out about, you know, the eligibility, where to go, you know, my doctor doesn't provide it. then they send you to your pharmacist and then they say you have to go through the department of public health, so i kind of understand why that succinctly did not work as far as the systems talking to each other, but i think this customer service number will be very helpful for people to call in and kind of get a better idea. i think that they talked about concerns about people even though they don't have to show

proof of their disability, that certain people there's a balance in the system between people trying to get in, you know, and get their shot versus, you know, individuals and their privacy and sharing information, so i can appreciate how challenging that is gonna be because i kind of fall under one of those descriptions. so that is kind of tough. i have known some people that have kind of jumped in line, and i've deterred them from doing that because i said it takes vaccination from someone that needs it. sometimes they listen, sometimes they didn't. but i think from the beginning to have something in place to give people alternatives, whether it's disability or they don't have access to technology to have some way of communicating not only their frustration but how to work through the different tiers in the future, hopefully we'll never have to go through this again, and if this becomes part

of a norm as far as this vaccination, the next round will go more smoothly, and i know that's really not at a city level. it's more of a federal level, but then there's more communication and dialogue between, you know, state and federal. you know, in the city and trying to get these guidelines that are understanding and in place. i just got my second shot by -- they said they had leftover vaccine. come on down. i just left my laundry and everything and just ran on down and got it, and i'm going to get my second one in about three weeks, so i was excited. it was like winning the lotto for me. but i do appreciate, and i will be sharing this number with people that have been coming up to me that say anything that you find out, and i would very be interested in the ambassador training so i can share more information and when i'm clear about i can refer people too. so i thank you for your time and m.o.d. for setting this up and the council members and their

questions. >> thank you. you're hired. i do want to say -- nicole doesn't know i'm going to say this. she has been such a fierce advocate for all of you. she has -- i've been working at the city for 15 years and working with this department, and a lot of your previous leaders are people that i love dearly and have done a lot of work with. she has been such a fierce advocate and educator so those of us who don't have disabilities, and a lot of my colleagues don't understand what it's like to live with a disability or with a challenge, and doctors are the worst for this as well, too. so it's been really -- she's been a humble and powerful educator, and she really has been your champion. so i hope i didn't embarrass you, nicole. and i do want to say that we all need to learn how to find our voices, and that's how we're going to help san francisco, and nicole's voice has been amazing for all of you at the table.

but all of you on this call are leaders, and there are a lot of people that are not going to hear what i'm saying, not going to hear this training or hear how to get access, to it's important that we're empowering all of you to help us with getting the message out and helping have conversations. sorry, i sound like a hallmark greeting card. >> i actually, first of all, i can't speak for nicole, but thank you, nicole, and i think we're very lucky to have you working for us and with us and i'm sure whether it's the council people can share this, but it occurred to me while i was listening to the issue around notification night, i had no idea that there was a specific phone number that was available when i attempted to make my -- you know, when i was attempting to get scheduled. would it be possible for you to share that number with the medical institutions here, let's

say ucsf, sutter, who would know who their disabled patients were, or patients who had multiple morbidity challenges, would it be possible -- in order to get the information out, because you know, i went to my internist first. i've been getting emails all the time from ucsf. i do know that they have a leadership program within that particular institution that addresses accessibility and disability concerns. it could be a partner for -- they could be partners for you to get the phone number out. just a suggestion. and i'm sure we need to turn this over to the public. iman, how many questions do we have, or people with -- >> excuse me, could i please put in one more? >> sure, go ahead. >> i'm sorry, i'll make it quick.

i don't know if this is something that can be answered over the phone or maybe side bar. for people that have approached me that are afraid of taking the vaccination because of the different side effects that they may hear from family and friends that have received the shot, who is that conversation best to have? i'm afraid to take it because of x, y and z. i may have underlining medical conditions that's preventing me from taking the shot. who should we direct them to? their just primary care physician or the person administering the shot? who would you recommend they have that dialogue with? >> thanks, denise. one of the things we teach everyone in the ambassador training is something called a truth sandwich where you let people know that the vaccine is safe. some people might be concerned that they have side effects, but the truth is that there's -- no one has died from the vaccine and there's very few people have had an allergic reaction and the

vaccine has been proven to be pretty safe. you all get on social media and talking about your experience so the people that know you can hear i feel is the most powerful thing. >> thank you. >> we need to get to the public, and we have five minutes according to our schedule right now. iman, how many people do we have waiting? >> if members of the public want to make public comment, can you please raise your hand so we can know how many -- >> while we're doing that, i want to make two more announcements. first of all, thank you, deborah, for those kind words. it takes a village. every time we preach that stuff, somebody else learns it. that's my philosophy through this whole thing. i want to make two more announcements, though. one is that our get help seniors and people with disabilities

page as literally just been updated. i just got a ping while we were in this call to include the vaccine information. thanks for your help with that. i also wanted to recognize that our colleague jennifer walsh from the community living campaign, would like to make an announcement around additional transportation options. so i'm just going to read this in from the chat. the community living campaign can help residents in our networks get free taxi rides for at least the next few months. if residents in our network sign up for the program that was mentioned earlier, the coc will pay the residents' portion of the fares. remember the etc program isn't free. it's 20%, so clc can help pick up that 20% if that is a financial burden for you, while

the funding lasts. and then so to qualify for the enterprise card program, and for more information, you can contact the clc support email at cathy@sfcommunityliving.org. or call 415-638-9183, and that's all except to say thank you very much to everyone again. >> and nicole, we will be posting all that information on the website, correct? >> we will put together resources following this presentation as part of my director's report to council. >> and the website is again for everybody? >> so the website? we a question about the jfk

drive, but is this the right time to do that? >> i would say the -- we had an earlier presentation, but we will be taking general comment at the end of the meeting -- at the end of --

>> oh, okay. >> i couldn't figure out how to log on. thanks. >> thank you for understanding. >> we are at the point of today's meeting where we are going to take a break, so we will take a break for 15 minutes and then begin again. so this meeting is being adjourned for a 15-minute break. >> hello? okay, we can begin. >> okay, great. so we're ready to start. i hope you had a pleasant break. our next presentation is from nicole borne, director of the

mayor's office on disability. and nicole, the floor is yours. >> thank you very much. hello again, everyone. welcome back from break. thank you for continuing to be with us today. i am going to give you just a few more highlights of an overall report of activities since the last director's report, and as always i will write up a document and make sure that it's posted and sent out to our distribution as well. i have mentioned at the beginning of the meeting some resources that i will be including around and specifically around asian and asian pacific islander and trauma, so i will be posting those as part of my report, just to acknowledge the meeting

today. and then -- okay, so i just wanted to recap again. most of m.o.d. time in this month has been really focused on vaccination rollout. as you might imagine, vaccination preparation and communication. so you have heard a lot of information in the previous presentation about this, but i wanted you just kind of give you a very broad overview of the things that we know we're still -- they are still in progress. deborah didn't get a chance to talk to specifics about, but i wanted you to know we're working on them and they are on the list. so one is exactly how we're going to continue with our mobile vaccination and homebound strategy. we are working on targeting

particular neighborhood sites that will directly serve residents with disabilities, so that's very exciting. too soon for dates or locations yet, but we're getting pretty close to be able to have that along with a more coordinated -- differently coordinated, i should say, registration process that might make it easier for some communities, so stay tuned for that. we're also working on identifying how we're going to be reaching our -- the folks in our community who really cannot get out of their home or place of residence for vaccination, and we've done some highlights of literally sending our colleagues into homes to help people with the vaccine -- be

sure we have our strategy aligned, that we're ready for that and we are really getting there, and so that's very exciting for the homebound residents who have been able to receive a vaccine this way so far. majority of residents are over 65 and are still awaiting vaccine from the first round of things. we have the press release for the rollout for the town hall that many of you participated in, and our colleagues helped us put up in very short order in response of the press release. i want to encourage folks one more time if you have any

questions or concerns around the vaccination process or around the covid command response, around vaccination or anything happening around covid response, please do let m.o.d. know at mod@sfgov.org, or call our main number. i want to plug two more things. one is if you are not signed up to receive email distribution and you have access to email from m.o.d. and you would like that, you just go to our home page at sfgov slrg mod and then you go to the bottom of the page and you ask to subscribe to our news feed or you can just call us or send us a message at the email i've provided earlier and say you'd like to be added to our news feed, and especially now remaining in communication

and in contact is really critically important. the other thing, one more time, i want to just reiterate the call center number if you're having any difficulty with -- if you have any questions or need accessibility help, if you can call 628-652-2700, that number was put up to specifically help [indiscernible]. so one more time, m.o.d. has been also involved in the stakeholder's working group that was set up by supervisor fewer and continued by supervisor chan. as mentioned earlier in today's meeting, we will forward the information about the march 23 public meeting that will be happening so that you can have

access to that if you are interested in -- and as we learn more information around the public engagement process that will be facilitated we anticipate from here by recreation and parks we'll provide that as well. please know for those of you who were engaged in the meeting that m.o.d. held, the community engagement meeting in december, we have consolidated and provided all of your feedback and all of the comments from the previous public meeting, all 75 of them, all of the notes from the community engagement meeting, we've provided that, and we continue to advocate through that lens, and we will do the same thing with any comments following this meeting today. so last thing that i wanted to -- >> excuse me, nicole. could you just remind our audience what that was all in reference to because you didn't

state it in the beginning. >> i believe i -- okay. so regarding jfk drive, stakeholder engagement. >> okay, thanks. >> so if that wasn't clear, i apologize. >> okay. >> and the last thing i would like to mention is the shared spaces program has put forward permanent legislation that was referenced to the board of supervisors for the -- of tuesday of this week. again, if you want to look it up, the number is 210-284, and i really strongly encourage the council to bring back the folks that are working on the legislation and also the shared spaces program in particular to talk more about this. although we made progress in the temporary program on elevating

access and disability equity within the policy framework, there's a lot more of course to be done in order to be truly prepared for a permanent program, so i would really like to consider -- for the council to think about considering the shared spaces as something that they would think about publicly as part of your april meeting. if there are members of the public that are specifically interested in shared spaces, there is also some interest in developing a focus group around the permanent legislation, so if you particularly are interested in this issue, please contact us at through email or phone. and that concludes my report for today. >> thank you, nicole. just a quick question. again, sorry everybody, it's

helen pelznan, co-chair, and you can't see me. is it possible if we know in advance when the public opportunities are for the public to comment on shared spaces or what that schedule of legislative procedures is? can we make that available so people know in advance about when they can weigh in? is that possible to put on our site as well? >> so the best way to track that would be to follow the file -- follow the filing through the board of supervisors. this number is 210-284. i'll provide that reference number in my report, but unfortunately we have as much visibility as the board of supervisors has on how they agendaize things, and so that really is the best way to track

it, and so we will provide as much notice as we possibly can in advance when we are made aware of what was coming next, but the best way is to follow the board of supervisors from moving forward week to week. they meet every tuesday at 1 p.m., and so that's the best way. provide the reference number, and we do anticipate there will be times should the council choose to put shared spaces directly back on the formal public agenda as part of the april meeting, we do anticipate there will be still time for the approved legislation or processes would become permanent because there's a 30-day waiting period, i believe, after final adoption, so there's a little bit of time, but it is moving quickly, so that's my feedback on that. >> okay, thanks a lot. i think there's a very good chance we'll be discussing this

in april. it will be hopefully a presentation. so that concludes the director's presentation. so we have any questions from the council? okay, moving on. so now there's an opportunity for anybody who would like to make a public statement or address any of the issues we have raised during today's meeting, please let us know and we will provide you with the technical assistance to do that. >> before we do that, we just need to confirm one more thing, and just check and make sure that there's not any more correspondence from -- >> oh, i'm sorry, correspondence. well, i thought we covered correspondence -- >> we covered correspondence in relation to jfk drive, but not any other correspondence. >> sorry, my mistake. >> there was no other

correspondence. >> okay, that clarifies that. thank you very much. >> do we have any -- do we have any people who are waiting to make a comment or question? >> yes, we do, and i would like to remind the members of the public that if you want to make a public comment, you can raise your hand by clicking on the raised hand button in the menu in the middle of your screen, and if you're calling in by phone, you can raise your hand by dialing star 9. and so far we have one person in the queue to make public comment. snool hi, everybody, it's will rehling again, accessible san francisco. just responding to the shared spaces comment that the director just made, we look to engage in every opportunity, and i would

really appreciate it if someone could explain a little further how there could have been a public engagement meeting without -- like, who was notified and how because there's nothing on the website. you know, i was monitoring the website for information about this meeting, and i mean, were there members of the commission notified by email? i mean, i do think there's probably -- i'm sure, i'm confident that there will be more opportunities for engagement, right? but i mean, we're pretty diligent in keeping an eye on what's happening, and so i would just really appreciate if somebody could explain, you know, how there could -- you know, how this came about, and somebody mentioned that it happened to quickly there was no time to notify people. that doesn't really sound like a good process, i would just say.

and there are really significant accessibility defects with shared spaces that we've looked the other way about because of the desire to, you know, help businesses. [please stand by]

>> the accessibility community is going to have an opportunity to be notified. >> thank you for that. i unfortunately can't address -- i'm sorry, is there anyone else

waiting? >> there are no other people who have indicated that they want to make public comment at this time. >> is there anybody who can respond to the last caller's question, either on the council or on m.o.d. >> i recognize that, but he's asking for information about [indiscernible]. >> we can get the information and give them the advice.

>> okay. if that is the last caller that we have, i see -- >> excuse me, in the q&a section of microsoft webinar, there's a question or a comment from [all talking at once] -- >> i was just going to announce that. >> do you have a way of allowing him to speak? >> yes, one moment. >> are we on general public comment right now? >> yes. >> i'm really excited to see the improvements in accessibility here. the addition of a zoom webinar is significant. it's something i've been fighting for since the beginning of covid. it's great to see the changes

and i want to commend people for making them. at the same time, i would be remiss if i didn't point out that it's taken 10 months or more to get people to pay attention to the gross inequalities for those in the city especially during covid. it was really terrible to go through. i'm noticing that i can't actually see everyone who is present on the mayor's council or with m.o.d. there's only two people, the sign language interpreter and another participant in the zoom call. there are some improvements to be made. i've been pisht with those. i think a lot of us have. i want toatient with those. i think a lot of us have. i want to point out the funds

donated to the disability community for p.p.e. was not properly distributed to our community and i brought up to people of color are not talked about in these meetings and how they're disproportionately affected by covid-19 due to systemic racism and lack of access to resources in our city. as was pointed out, if you are african-american in san francisco, you are twice as likely as all other ethnicities to be disabled. if you're african-american in san francisco, you are twice as likely to be disabled as all other ethnicities, yet, we have almost no black leadership. the bodies never talk about the release of covid vaccines and information release. we have very few people leaving

public comment and very little outreach. i never see these groups reaching out. i'm extremely concerned that i have to remind the community about the charter for filing complaints. the charter online is very clear and this department continues to refuse to follow it. you're supposed to have a written draft that is sent to the department. i'm supposed to get a written response. it's clear online, but the department refuses to follow its own charter. i don't see why that's cautionable. i don't see why we need to not follow our own charter and rights to protect us when we are most vulnerable to disease and mistreatment. thank you for your time.

>> thank you for that. are there any other discussion items that the council members would like to bring up. >> this is tiffany, can i bring up a comment? >> i think so. is there any reason why she can't? go ahead. >> i think that is my okay. so i just want to reiterate something that nicole said. in addition to being disabled, i'm also an asian woman. what happened in san francisco on wednesday to our asian elders is horrific. what happened on tuesday is in the one area is actually as horrific. as a community, it's important to think about the mental health

ramifications that this will have on the asian community and how representative we are here. as we think about racial equity and intersectionality, i think we need to include asians in that conversation as well. >> thank you for that, tiffany. i can speak for myself that we will speak your guidance on how we can do better to engage. with that, are there any other asks for speaking? any other public requests to speak? okay. >> helen, there's one comment that we have from a member of the public in the chat that i want to elevate from eric that says. having intersectionality on [indiscernible] agendas and inviting some of the under-represented groups to join this conversation would be a good thing.

>> i will concur. we will do our best to envision that. with that, i would like to adjourn this meeting. do we have a second? >> second. [laughter]. >> thank you. anybody opposed? okay then. so moved. have a nice weekend, everybody. stay safe, wash your hands, wear a mask. [♪♪♪]

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