[speaking foreign language ] [speaking foreign language ]

[speaking foreign language ] >> i have been a long-time resident in san francisco. i rely on my vehicle to go to work and run other errands. my question, i am wondering why, does the -- why does the closure of the jfk equate to extra boundaries to so many people, especially those who depend on the motor vehicle? and also, because of that, the traffic it creates traffic jams. especially around areas like 19h avenue. i oppose the closure of the jfk

and i want it to be more feasible to everyone. not just to certain people. especially to the senior who relies on and wants to get access to the jfk park. but because of the closure, people whose families want to drop them off are unable to. i am here to oppose and have the council to reconsider the accessibility to everybody. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. our next commenter, you have been permitted to unmute. >> thank you so much. good morning, councilmembers. i am here to speak on behalf of the fine arts museum of san francisco, which includes the legion of honor museum. she was heard earlier in this meeting, the museums were not

engaged or included as equal shareholders throughout the process or in this proposal planning. it is the fine arts museum's responsibility to make sure the museum is accessible underneath this ship -- city charter and the s. -- on the san francisco park code. these were commissioned by the museum and conducted by mig. the report details how the city is reducing program access and is not meeting its obligations under title ii of the ada. i attended several department outreach events that they put together, including one of their access stores. every person who was at that access to tour event was able-bodied. the feedback that he heard from other events from people with disabilities was vehemently against closure, simple giving multiple presentations does not equate support. there was never even a question asking about disabilities. i am grateful to hear the comments from members of the

community throughout the meeting. we have spoken to many people during the period, hundreds of him who have written letters explaining their frustrations with the road closure and the city neglecting their needs and rights to access. we serve a diverse audience at our museum. many are elderly and/or have disabilities. we offer free admission to people with disabilities. it is fully accessible and has a variety of access programming to serve people with different kinds of disabilities. there are not a whole a lot of other places that can offer that and that is being taken away from so many. the museum attendance is down nearly 15% from precovid. when compared to the legion of honor museum which is also located in the richmond, attendance is only down 18% due to the impact. there is a huge impact between our tenants of the huge museum because of the jfk road closure. people are struggling to get here with these closures. the conservatory and the academy and the various gardens are all

impacted. there are multiple art and cultural institutions in this and the park belong to everyone. thank you. >> thank you. our next commenter is caller ending in 3979. you have been permitted to unmute. >> good afternoon, everyone. thank you, everyone, for being here and thank you commissioners for listening to us. i would like to request that, number 1, that all the members of the mayor's disability council strongly take a resolution and vote that the road must be immediately reopened because all of these mitigations that have been

described are, in the future, they are a promise, but anything that has been discussed, the only thing i have heard is about a shuttle. the road needs to be reopened immediately because, the suffering that it is causing, it has caused for two years. it cannot be described because only someone who has wanted to go and see the live show at the conservatory in the winter has not been able to go or it is someone who wanted to see the enchanted garden and wasn't able to go. and those of us who want to go to any of the other amenities along jfk drive, other than the museums, have strictly being denied because we can't walk there. so it is causing a lot of pain. you can stop it if you take a strong and firm stance and say, in defence of the communities with disabilities, stop it. reopened the road immediately.

you are talking and doing all of this. in the meantime, reopen the road immediately. there is no decent reason that this should remain closed. this proposal is a solution in search of a problem. there was no problem that we had. everyone was sharing the road. the able-bodied had their driving path and the bicycle path and we had our cars so we could just drive up, park, and walk a short distance to the museum or to the garden or whatever we needed to go. it is up to you, disability council, to stand up for us and to say, no, we don't approve of this proposal. there is no equity in this. they have another road they could use, the middle road. if it is really about recreation, just crowed -- just close little drive. it is smooth and it has been repaved. let that be the road that is

closed. it even has a pond. it has a little late. it is lovely. is on the other side of transfers drive. it is in golden gate park. but to close this one piece of real estate, why? there must be malice in the intent. millions of people use this road to have access. and there's people from throughout the world and the state and the city who need to take a car to get to jfk drive and there's communities -- their whole family needs to come and they need to use a car to bring the entire all three generations into the car together. everybody needs free access. we need equity and for it to be open to all vehicles and all people. i don't know why this goes off on my time isn't up yet, but please stick up for us, disability council. you are our line of defence. you are the ones who can say, no, this is the wrong.

reopened the road immediately. take a stand. when you have a chance, say open jfk drive immediately and permanently. thank you very much. i am trusting in your courage and integrity. thank you. >> okay. our next commenter, you have been permitted to unmute. [speaking foreign language ] >> i usually take bus 29 to go to chinatown, and also i take my

grandchild and go to school, but now jfk drive is closed. it is very inconvenient for us, and also not only do i take my grandchild to school, sometimes i the park, and also i go through the park and go to chinatown for dim sum, but since the road is closed, it makes it very hard for us to access all this area. i strongly opposed to close jfk drive. thank you. >> okay. our next commenter, you have been permitted to unmute.

[speaking foreign language ] >> okay. i oppose to close the jfk drive because i need to take my son to

see his grandmother, so i need to use jfk drive, but now it is closed. so my grandson cannot access and visit his grandmother. i strongly opposed to close jfk drive. >> thank you. our next commenter, patricia, you have been permitted to unmute. >> hi. i just want to reiterate what everyone is saying that our fate is in your hands. i am just asking you to please do the right thing and do not agree with m.t.a. the best thing to do for the majority of san franciscans is to close jfk drive.

i would also like to say something about the survey. most of the respondents, 65% were white, and these people made between $100,200,000 a year, and most of them lived around the park. there were absolutely no respondents at all from the southeast portion of san francisco, only to .6% were black and only five-point one% were hispanic. i want to caution you on putting these on the surveys because we know that they are skewed in favor of members of the bike coalition because the bike coalition is given advanced information about the survey,

and they are skewed and unfair. it gives everyone the false assumption that the majority of san franciscans want all of these roads closed, like jfk. also, let's say i did and i was able to get onto jfk with my walker. the bicycle riders are not, in any way, monitored by the police, and they do not obey stop signs. they are going, like the caller said, 30 miles an hour. they are rude and arrogant. the yellow people to get out of the way. that is another problem for disabled people. also, the parking. the only way that parking can be equitable is if jfk drive is open. all i have to do is walk 200 feet if jfk is open.

it is far -- the distance is far too far for a disabled person who is weak and lacks stamina and energy and is afraid of falling. please do not agree with this. the right and honorable decision is for you to say to these people who lead with jfk, keep jfk open. thank you. >> to the chair, this is nicole speaking. we have 15 minutes remaining in our meeting. it is my understanding that we have seven callers in the q. and a video comment. we must and the meeting, unfortunately at 5:45 pm because

we need to break our interpreters and our caption nurse, who have been working really hard since 1:00 pm this afternoon. we will continue until 5:45 pm. if you have a comment that you feel has not been heard after that time, please submit your comment to us via e-mail, if possible. or you can call us. with that, we will continue with public comment. >> okay. we currently have three members of the public still in the queue to make the comment. john kennedy, you have been permitted to unmute. >> hi, can you hear me?

>> yes. >> great. my name is john kennedy. i wanted to call in to set the record straight about my legacy. my road with my name on it. i am encouraged to hear so many passionate voices talking about the best way to enjoy my smooth paved surface and i am particularly encouraged that some these fine san franciscans have decided to speak publicly about equal access. 's only people have called in to protect the city they love. i am, however concerned that with all this discourse, we, as a city, as a society, may have forgotten our core and fundamental sentence -- sensibilities when it comes to public service. public service. the highest form of love in the highest standard of ethics comes when we serve others selflessly. i recall seeing congress in 1961 in my state of the union address where i have pledged myself and my colleagues to a continuous encouragement of initiative,

responsibility, and energy in serving the public interest. i'm glad that my road has served folks so well for so long, but is that what we have now? with the people that are presenting this plan? is that what we have here with my road, in this city? are we witnessing public-service or personal agenda? as i seem to recall, i was billed for the public to be used by the public. and yet, we seem to be discussing how or whether to restrict public access. this is not the way. i hope that those of you who have been proponents of restricting my access to some, instead of sharing with all will reflect carefully on motives. their desires and their intent. ask yourselves why so many people have been raising their voices and ask yourselves whether this plan to restrict public access advances the public need to share public resource. ask yourself if you are working in the public interest as a public servant. finally, when you are finished

reflecting, take a long look in the mayor and ask yourself, why on earth you would want to prevent a handicapped person from accessing and enjoying a museum or a park? at that point, if you still want to close the road, then there is really only one last question to ask yourself. what the fuck is wrong with you? you should be ashamed. what the fuck is wrong with you? >> okay, thank you. >> what the fuck is wrong with you? >> our next caller is public. you have been permitted to unmute.

>> hi. [speaking foreign language ] >> i am a retired person, even though i am retired, but i use golden gate park a lot. i always go to golden gate park with my friends and also use golden gate park to purses -- participate in activities and i sometimes go to golden gate park

to go to the other area for dim sum, also for grocery shopping. so jfk is very convenient for me, but now if jfk drive is closed, it makes it very inconvenient. i oppose to close jfk. thank you. >> thank you for your comment. to the chair, how many more public comments remain, please? >> we have one more public comment in the queue. >> i do believe we have correspondence as well on the remaining part of the agenda. i would like to suggest that we continue with the remaining public comment and then

correspondence will be provided to council as part of the meeting after the meeting if we run out of time today. thank you. >> okay. walter, you have been permitted to unmute. >> thank you very much. i would like to thank the commission for allowing this public testimony today. it has been a very democratic process after what seems to be a couple of years of fairly undemocratic process. this is a very much that mtc and recreation and parks started with a conclusion and raced through some details and then announced the conclusion. i agree with them that fossil burning, single occupancy vehicles are killing the planet, killing san francisco, they are bad for the park, but to start off by then closing the main thoroughfare, the main

attractions to the park, doesn't -- a long-term exhibit, and people with disabilities and families who live in the neighborhood and families who live all around the city and around the world want to use is a very bad plan. the surveys have been involved -- debunked adequately at this point. it seems to me that the place to start in this is not the place where they started. the place to start is with an accessible mobility plan for golden gate park. golden gate park is not a byway, it is not a trail in the woods. it is a huge national facility. we need a way to get around within the park that works for everybody, and a single shuttle with a single mode or even a couple of modes is not going to do it. it can be done. of course, it can be done. we need to plan that access within the park from one point

of the park to another. we need to connect that to the immediate neighborhood in easy ways. i don't had a car. i probably had a car about half of my adult years. i am on public transit. i spend more time waiting for public transit making the transfer than i do actually on the bus. that is a horrible situation. we need to have a plan that works for the park and the transfers who work for people with disabilities, vision disabilities, of all the kinds of limitations. we need to connect to the arms of san francisco. we need to be able to get easily. it takes money and it takes attention. the way this was done reminds me of ronald reagan's wonderful plan to de- institutionalize people with disabilities by shutting down all the

institutions. okay, we moved everybody off. there is no plan for how to deal with that closure. we wound up with millions of people on the streets, with no facilities. they were moved back to the community, but there were no community services. that is kind of what we are trying to do by shutting down jfk drive. you don't shut it down first and then work it out later. this just needs to be worked out in the beginning. thank you. >> thank you. we have another caller who wants to make public comment. caller ending in 2080. you have been permitted to unmute. perfect. >> hello. thank you for having this meeting. i have been listening to the last hour or two in the

comments. it really emphasizes how we, the city, us, the community, everyone has failed to address an issue that has been going on for years at golden gate park. the issue is, the park has not been accessible. many people ended up using -- [ indiscernible ] -- to solve the issue. at the same time, a car, as a sensibility issue, is also one of the most hazardous things to do for everybody. it creates -- it injures people, it creates pollution, but that was the only way to have it. if the park was made accessible, and there's many ways to make it accessible to everybody then closing down jfk. it wouldn't be such a bad idea. because of this, for many, many

years, we have people who have to drive no matter what. and then we have others to close it down and really don't address the accessibility issue if you do close it down. we have learned, i hope we have learned, and right now the city, recreation and park, m.t.a., it has been reaching out. they don't have a plan right now. it is not finalized. they are looking at how to make it successful for everybody. it actually has a ramp in front of it so it is easy to go in and out. have taxis allowed to pick up people in the park. have paratransit actually go down jfk. have them away signed to go out.

have designated parking and designated pickups. extend the free parking at the garage so it is easy to drop off people and go out for free. and there are many other ways to do this. and they are looking at that and they are trying to make it so it is accessible so we are not getting into the car. it is creating an accessibility problem in the long run which is why we have 500 entries a year. we have over 30 deaths per year due to cars. we need to sit back, look at what the plan is, and also communicate with the city and the city needs to communicate with us on how to make jfk accessible to everybody so we

don't have to use something like a car that causes so much damage. physically, emotionally, and to the environment. please, patients on both sides. that is all i am asking. thank you. >> okay. that is the final public comment. >> i am a councilmember with the mayor's disability council and interim cochair. i wanted to thank everyone for giving public comment. mod, i might need some support on knowing what the next item on the agenda is. is it to close off the meeting? >> the next section on the agenda is a correspondence and open public comment, however, as i mentioned, we unfortunately need to close the meeting in

four minutes. what i would like to suggest for consideration is that we provide any remaining public comment to the councilmembers following the meeting that we receive. i will give the e-mail address for the mayor's office on disability again. mod@sfgo.org, so that we have all the information from the meeting in one place. this meeting is also archived on san francisco government t.v. with that, you can