Emergency preparedness, maybe there are elements that can be incorporated . Thats an excellent question. Could i get your card after and ill follow up with Maria Benjamin and see if she can get you an answer. Yes, thank you very much. Mr. Herman just a followup to my own question. The other issue is the bathroom accessibility. The ada bathroom in the units. People who need that. My question is, about the application and the use of the site. For people who are visually impaired. How is is there some way this was my question also about audio, is there some way to have somebody who is visually impaired fill out the application through a voice interaction . As opposed to having to have somebody sit there to help them fill it out . Is there some way to design digitally design the application so that its an audio application. And takes responses verbally from somebody who may have visual impairment . Okay. So just to make sure you understand, the applicant could speak an answer and then have the application ask a question, what is your name . And then the person speaks it. And then it gets filed into the application. Nicole through the chair, i think one of the things to check on christinas audit is what councillor herman is describing is something available through a voice dictation. And typically, if were following the current accessibility guidelines when were accounting for web accessibility, that is part of this audit. So my assumption is that were also testing specifically for what youre asking for. But it would be good to crosscheck that. Okay. I need to follow up with you on that. The only reason i brought it up, you said there was no audio content. And in response to the other Council Member. So i didnt feel there was any opportunity for anybody who was visually impaired to complete the application if there was no interactive audio content. Not built in. Thats why i asked the question. Thank you. Ms. Yu i think you can uncover a lot of this through user testing with people who are blind. My only thing is please pay your user testers. Thats all. Okay. Ms. Senhaux chair thank you. Any questions from staff . Nicole thank you for being here, emily. Im very sorry that our colleague maria could not join. I think there are other questions, but i think it would be good to, maybe collect those and help get some of these other questions. One comment that i have and again were happy to work with your team when you were talking about the slide that is not rolled out yet on the different disability categories that youre asking the agencies to account for, i guess my question is, lets see if i can be as succinct as possible if the unit has not been identified as a communication or mobility unit, are agencies still listing particular features . And what i mean to say is this, there is a certain number of units that we need to, by law, set aside for folks with mobility disabilities that have specific requirements and communication units, which are specifically for deaf individuals. Right . And then with specific visual features. There is not really in the code anything specific for low vision individuals besides requirements for external signage. So what im wondering is, if we surpass our number of available codeapproved units, are we still allowing for that distinction of the disability needs for or units. I guess my example, thinking about Council Member williams, who was unfortunately unable to be here, but is blind and has talked several times in Public Comment about working with her constituents at the lighthouse around trying to find housing. And many times individuals dont need specific other accessibility. They just need access to a unit. And so im wondering if the prioritization still happens if you technically run out of the coderequired units . And how that rolls over . Or if that is something we maybe need to take a closer look at . I think i understand your question. I think that is a conversation to be had with maria. I figured that, but i wanted to make sure [laughter]. The way that our categories are listed right now, there are other there are other disability types that we can account for, but dont match one to one to code unit, but that doesnt mean that that represents the number of people actually needing accessible housing. Right. Nicole so we can be thoughtful, i think, about how we list those disability categories. Okay. Nicole so whatever were representing is accurate to the actual inventory or not. Right. Nicole does that make any more sense . I think we need more discussion. I agree. I want more i would love more discussion, too, because i think its a conversation that could happen between yourself, myself and maria and then we could figure out the business side. The part between you two and then ill implement it. Nicole right. I want to make sure were not misrepresenting what is or isnt available. And when there is more available that could still be utilized by someone with a disability technically set aside unit for mobility, but it could still work. Still work because its an accessible building. I want to make sure, there are many people with disabilities who, beyond navigating our website, just have difficulty navigating the process of finding housing. Which i think we hear in every public forum, but people with disabilities in particular struggle with matching their particular needs to appropriate housing very often. Okay. Lets talk more. Because there is other work were doing to think about, a search feature. How to make it easier to figure out which listings are best. Nicole that sounds perfect. Thank you so much. Id like to [inaudible] add a point would it be possible [inaudible] ms. Senhaux chair microphone, please. Again, im new, apologies. Would it be possible for us to have the dahlia link on the councils website. So when people are looking you know, they go to the council on disabilities, for those seeking housing, the link would be right there. It would be easy for them to find. That makes sense to me, but thats you know. Weve linked to other resources on the web page. That would be no problem, yeah. And dahlia will never be done, its a process. So even some of the things we found in the audit, without getting too technical, were going to have to do a full rewrite of dahlia because the language is being sun setted. So there are some things we can do now and some things that have to wait. Im excited about starting from scratch. The code were in, its like having a car where you cant find the replacement part. Its getting outdated. So im excited with the new rewrite well be able to do things better. We have more tools at a our disposal technically. Ms. Senhaux chair i want to thank you very much for doing both parts of the presentation. We look forward to a followup. Thank you, all, appreciate it. Ms. Senhaux chair okay. So we have room for Public Comment. We have another presentation. Im going to ask for Public Comment, you can speak for three minutes. Do we have any Public Comment . I believe we have zack. Nicole and bruce as well. Ms. Senhaux chair and bruce. Okay, thank you. My name is bruce morgan. I just turned 70 on tuesday. I have Cerebral Palsy and a couple years back, i fractured my back. And ive been trying to i live in north beach. I have 22 stairs to climb. Ive been climbing them for 40 years. But i need, as i get older, uglier, slower, i need to get more accessible housing. I spend several years as a doing social work in the tenderloin many years ago and im finding that, like with dahlia, when i was looking at the website this morning, because i just did a quick look, it was showing you had to be working to because there was how much money you had to be making and what your rent would be. But for me, im retired. And so i couldnt it didnt do me any good. Thats the information that its giving. Good for those who use it, but in my particular case, it didnt seem to be helpful. And this is more information i didnt see at the moment. Im finding there are a lot of agencies in the city that deal with housing in one way or another, but a lot of times the information they have is outdated, or you know, its such that even theyre not sure if its accurate. And a lot of times all they can do is put you on a waiting list. And ive been on a waiting list here and there for years. I was on im on one where 4,000 people applied for 92 apartments. Im like 1,000 out of 4,000. And the thing is, it is getting harder to find housing, especially if youre trying to find because im paying 60 of my income to my housing as of right now. And that is pretty steep. And but you know [bell ringing] i dont know how much longer ill be able to live where i am, until i cant afford to live there anymore. There needs to be more coordination among the agencies in the city that deal with housing, so that when someone is trying to find housing, especially if theyre senior or disabled and theyre on fixed income, like i am, and theyre trying to find, they can know that the information [bell ringing] theyre getting is accurate and that this coordination among the agencies, and that you know, its current and it needs to so youre not just running from place to place and finding out youre just too late. And so i mean i dont know how long its going to take me to find housing. I mean, im on waiting lists, but you know, its getting harder because its getting more expensive to live here. And if youre a senior, disabled and lowincome, youre being forced out or into areas where its not necessarily safe all the time. And so there needs to be better coordination among the agencies. And people dont, you know, can know that the information theyre getting is current. Its not two or three months old or years old. And if they got a chance to find some housing, whether theyre just spinning their wheels and hoping that something is going to come up. Thank you for your help. Ms. Senhaux chair thank you, bruce. Ms. Senhaux chair any more Public Comment . Zack . Okay. Id like to request just one extra minute to speak slower for the sign language interpreters. Ms. Senhaux chair unless its disability related you can deny that request, thank you. Ms. Senhaux chair im not denying it, im explaining it. Its a request and youre denying it. Ill continue to give my Public Comment. Bruces comment hit the nail on the head. Housing is the dark cloud that face the Disability Community that we dont want to talk about, but we need to talk about. To be severe disabled. If youre disabled in california to the point you cant work, the maximum amount of money is around 600. Thats everything. If emily shore can show me any place that is available for rent under 950, ill be happy to give all the money in my wallet and the shirt on my back, because ive been looking for a long time. Especially a place that is wheelchair accessible. Thats a pipe dream as it is. Thats if its the whole amount, you know, let alone clothes, other needs. Ive had to request multiple times to get housing lists, as bruce says, theyre accurate. Im on their email list, they dont send me what theyre supposed to. Im in a unit right now that doesnt have wheelchair access to the door and there is no law that requires my landlord to provide that. They cant force my landlord to provide that. There is a law that says i can pay for it, if i have the money and can hire construction workers to do all that, which i dont. And so thats a really big problem. I think there is great comments made about pictures to show for the units that are on the market. I think thats a nobrainer. The fact that some of that stuff is coming across as news here, is shocking to me. Getting interpreters and not just using google to interpret different languages. I mean thats ridiculous. Why are you using private corporations like computer speak to translate for members of our community . You could be hiring interpreters, creating jobs. And i think Council Member tiffany made a great point about paying people for that as well, whenever youre doing any kind of testing and market research, or for people in the community. There are, as of 2019 point in time, 3205 people with psychiatric or physical disability living on our streets. 801 seniors. These are conservative numbers. Over 70 of [bell ringing] of San Franciscos Homeless Population is previous San Francisco neighbors. These are not traveling hippies. These are people we know. To be severely disabled in San Francisco right now means to be homeless. Unless you have a special circumstance, family members to help you out, you have a special situation, to be severely disabled in San Francisco for the majority, it means to be homeless. [bell ringing] ms. Senhaux chair thank you. Were going on to information item number 8 which is curb Management Strategy. I want to welcome our presenters and thank you for waiting. Hank wilson, parking policy manager with sfmta and francesca napolitan, curb access manager with sfmta. And alex jonlin, transportation planner with sfmta. Thank you for waiting. Good afternoon, my name is francesca napolitan. Hank and alex couldnt be here today, so its just me representing the parking and curb management group. Im here to talk about an effort that theyre undertaking. So quickly what is curb management . Were the Agency Charged with managing the curbs, so were responsible for regulating the curb, dictating who can use it and when, for what purpose and if they have to pay. Before i dive into the strategy and some of our draft recommendations, i wanted to talk about why curb management is important and we as an agency are creating this document. So curb management has been a challenge for a long time in the city. Photo on the screen is a picture from the 1970s when the first transitonly lane was implemented. Even then, double parking was a problem with the bus having to veer into on coming traffic to get around the cars. Jumping ahead to the present day, were still facing many of the same challenges which negatively impact modes that the agency wants to support, like muni, para transit and taxis. And within the past few years, weve seen explosion of new services, such as bikeshare, carshare, Services Like lava may and the meditation bus, uber and lyft, Food Services and parkless which are putting additional pressures on the curb. In addition, were seeing high demand for loading space from a variety of users such as small businesses, schools, nonprofits, Funeral Homes and hospitals. We get hundreds of requests every year for yellow, white and green zones to serve these users. And this increased pressure on the curb has created a number of issues that this policy document seeks to address. So the lack of loading space creates safety hazards. As illustrated in the photo on the left, when vehicles double park, bikes are forced to veer out into traffic. On valencia street, a review of collision data found that up to 50 of bikecar collisions were directly related to loading. Pedestrian safety is impacted when pedestrians block crosswalks to load, forcing people to veer into the travel lanes. A lack of loading space also leads to transit delays and congestion. The sfmta has expended considerable capital to put in transit only lanes, but double parking undermining that investment. Double parking has a significant impact. Its a major contributor to increased congestion. A study showed that eliminated ring double parking could ease delays up to 30 . Lastly, curb management is essential to making the projects that sfmta works on successful. Especially bike and transit projects where we want to make sure that the facilities are not blocked by doubleparked vehicles. This requires ensuring that we provide adequate curb space for other users in the vicinity of our project areas. However, with our current policies programs and fool tools, there are limitations how we can address the safety concerns as well as ensure the success of projects. Curb Management Team was created last were why two angles. The first to do more wholistic curb planning that is based on a place. Looking at a neighborhood as a whole, instead of block by block level. The second is to create a curb Management Strategy, which is what this presentation is focusing on. So the curb Management Strategy is a policy document that seeks to guide how we allocate curb space and supports our agencys other goals such as vision zero, transit first, equity and accessibility, Climate Action strategy and economic vitality. I just need a point of clarification. Sorry. [inaudible] were talking about the area alongside the sidewalk. So kind of the curb zone. The whole zone. Driveways, loading, bus stops. Everything that is alongside the curb. Sorry for that confusion. So there are two elements of the curb Management Strategy. The first is the framework which sets priorities for how we allocate curb space to all these different users across the city. The second element is the strategy which has three main parts. The first is Design Guidelines for the project managers. This provides best practices how to allocate curb space, guidance on where to put different zones, like yellow zones, bikeshare stations, things like that and what the dimensions of different types of zones should be. The second element is process improvements to streamline how we as an agency do outreach for the implementation of curb management and lastly, policy recommendations how to improve curb management going forward. Today, ill focus on draft policy recommendations that seek to improve accessibility at the curb. Our first recommendation is to expand para transit loading zones. It needs to get as close as possible to given destinations, but often doesnt have enough curb space station. Were recommending curb space. Para transit loading zones are not defined in the transportation code. Were recommending that there is a definition of para transit loading zones that is codified. So that there is increased availability of loading space for these types of vehicles serving people with disabilities. Our second recommendation is expand accessible loading zones, or white zones, throughout the city. Right now, the sfmta focuses on blue zones to serve the needs of people with disabilities and they have strict guidelines. However, these zones are not always available and often have vehicles parking in them for extended periods of time. They can also be difficult to sight. So we want to increase accessibility by focusing on adding more white zones that are designed in an accessible way. Those can serve people, including para transit, as well as accessible, taxi riders, or folks who just need assistance and time getting out and need to be close to their destination. Ideally, we would design the zones as close to the blue zone recommendations, but thats not always possible. So we think, in addition to aiming for that, we should also aim for just creating more accessible white zones. Is this for parking for unloading and unloading and getting in the vehicles . White zones legally can only be used for loading, where blue zones can be used for parking. We want to increase the availability of white zones for destinations where people are dropped off or picked up, versus just focusing on blue zones, where only one vehicle is occupying for a significant period of time. Its not expanding parking by turning white zones into blue zones. No. Okay, thats too bad. Our third recommendation is improve the availability of green zones as another source of parking. Green zones are shortterm parking zones. They can be metered or unmetered and have a time limit between 1530 minutes. Currently people who have disabled parking placards are not subject to green zone time limits which restricts their availability because people will park in them for extended proceed of time periods of time. We have a couple of ways to increase the availability. One is to physically put in more green zones, but the others are how to manage the zones. One option is to place meters at unmetered green zones. This would encourage turnover in areas with high parking demand and easier to enforce the time limit. Another is to remove the placard exemption for green zone time limits and enable those with placards to park for free, with a stated time, but not indefinitely. Our fourth recommendation is to replace muni flag stops with curb side bus stops. Many are flag stops are the bus or train stops adjacent to parked cars. These flag stops force people in wheelchairs to go into the street to access the buss lift ramp. And then seniors and people with disabilities who are not in wheelchairs are also still effected because its more difficult to step onto the bus when youre coming from the street, versus on the curb. So our recommendation is that the agency adopt a policy to avoid creating new flag stops and gradually replace them with bus zones ensuring safe equitable transit for everyone. This would eliminate a flag stop to put in a bus stop removes parking. And lastly, we think there are opportunities to utilize enforcement to improve accessibility. For example, parking on the sidewalk that is shown here. Its common throughout the city. Its enforced only upon complete, not upon site by parking control officers. So that policy could be changed from officers to site on site for obstructing the sidewalk. This could significantly reduce sidewalk parking across the city ensuring there is an accessible path of travel for everyone. This would also require engagement with communities where sidewalk parking is common. Another opportunity is to shift the focus of enforcement to prioritize the most harmful violations, such as double parking, sidewalk parking, blocking intersections and stopping in red zones. Then lastly, enforcement could proactively cite for the use of unloading zones, which means citing people who are staying over the stated time limit to make sure there is more room for people who need to load and unload. So in terms of next steps, our group is going to continue stakeholder outreach, gather feedback and well be revising the strategy based on the feedback received. And ultimately, well bring the final curb Management Strategy to the sfmta board for adoption. And id be happy to answer any questions or take any comments or suggestions. Council members, keep the questions short. Mr. Madrid two questions. I saw this before, and it was suggested to alex to change the board accessibility the word accessibility. Can you go to slide 10 i believe . Its a little bit confusing when youre saying equality and accessibility. You think more clarification on what that means. Mr. Madrid i think its more like accessibility, right . In this case, because were talking about the space, but if there are suggestions on visual accessibility or other things we should take into account, we would be happy to hear that. Mr. Madrid something to think about. Okay. Mr. Madrid thats one thing. And the second thing, when you in charge of the curb section, are you also in charge of or no . So the Planning Department is the agency that authorizes curb cuts. Mr. Madrid San Francisco mta . No, we do not approve or deny curb cuts. That goes through the Planning Department when theyre doing project level approvals. Mr. Madrid okay. So when do you go through the flag bus stops, and there is no curb cuts, do you guys notify the curb cut department . Or how does that work . With the flag stops, we would have to work with the residents or businesses that are fronting where the flag stop is, because we would have to remove the parking or whatever is currently occupying the curb space. And they would have an opportunity to weigh in on if they wanted that parking or whatever happened to be there removed. Mr. Madrid and then, if someone if the place has no curb cuts, do you guys notify the department . Yes. So we would have to work with public works, because theyre the ones that physically construct any changes to the sidewalk, including curb cuts. Mr. Madrid thank you. Ms. Sassouni yes. I am a bicyclist and i see a whole lot of problems with the curbs, especially with the bike lanes with double parking, with trucks in the way, and not just that, but uber and lyft, i feel we need a lot more vacant corners where people can pull out of the traffic without double parking. And i see people double parking on the white line all the time. Like if theyre running in to pick up food. People abuse that. Its a terrible issue. I think we need to educate people about what to do in the case of even a momentary dropoff. I think the white lines are a great idea for dropoff, pickup. So at each corner there is something available versus having people pull right into the bike lane. And then i cant get out of the way fast enough. Its very dangerous. Im just not sure how to address this. Its very frustrating as a bicyclist. For example, there is also not enough yellow zones for ups parking. Theyre all taken over by the bicycle share things and people in the neighborhood are upset about it. And double parking as a matter of course. And there has been no Community Input opportunity or anything. We completely agree. And that is actually the whole reason were doing this plan. So i think i mentioned briefly how were working on corridorlevel plans as part of Planning Efforts that our agency is undertaking. One corridor that we have been working on is valencia where we actually did extensive Data Collection and saw the huge negative impact there are from uber and lyft, food delivery services, loading, and we completely agree there needs to be a huge increase in the amount of white loading zones, as well as yellow loading zones. And that the way that we do it right now isnt working. Where those types of requests are generated by individual property owners. And really as an agency, we need to look more proactive at whole neighborhoods and look at the needs of the whole area and go in and add an additional zone. I agree and that is what were working towards. Ms. Sassouni thank you. I hope its successful. I hope there are more Community Businesses that get involved. I agree with your comments. Ms. Pelzman im curious how are you conducting your stakeholder outreach. And how you would recommend if there isnt enough input from our community, how we can provide meaningful input . So right now we are focused on looking both internally within sfmta because a lot is internal coordination required as well as talking to sister agencies, like environment, planning, public works. We havent started working into external stakeholder outreach. So i would welcome suggestions on groups you think we should go out and meet with and what other stakeholders you think would provide input, because were still working on what the external stakeholder outreach would be. So suggestions would be greatly appreciated. What is your timeline . Were hoping to have a completed draft by the end of the year. For the next few moments. So its pretty quick. Yeah, if you have information youd like to share, that would be great. My email is on the presentation. Ms. Pelzman okay. Would it be possible to provide some kind of either a guide book, or whatever manner is necessary to be an Effective Communication tool to our community, something which explains what our options are and how they work. So we understand what the white line means. We understand the options with the green line. I mean, i dont know if there is a place where that information is available. How to use your placard . When you can use the placard . I would request that you build that into your outreach material or your notification materials. And the final question or point is, i think this is great. And thank you for doing this, but how is it going to be enforced . So i think we need to acknowledge the reality that there are limited enforcement resources in this city. And were going to have to prioritize what enforcement does. Enforcement, unfortunately, is already stretched pretty thin. The opening of the case center are putting more strain on the enforcement resources. I think our approach is we need to proactively design for the users and the demand we have. We have double parking because we havent provided adequate loading space. And so i think what we are hoping is that we can at least alleviate some of the issues by actually designing our streets to meet the demands we see now. Most of the streets were designed in a time where everything was private out parking. While that still is an important component of the street, we also, like i mentioned, are seeing many more different types of users who need access to the curb. So our hope is to start to alleviate some of these issues by reallocating at the curb in a way that represents the demand were seeing today, but i dont think, unfortunately, we can rely on enforcement of the zones. I want to relay a personal anecdote. I was going to the ball game and had specifically requested, because i have a crosswalker that, i be walker, that i be dropped off at the curb cut, berry and 4th street i think. My driver, uber driver, accommodated me and then got a ticket. And i went as fast as i could with my walker over to the mta person who was ticketing him, or ticket enforcement to explain what was going on. And there was no negotiation. So i would, you know, in these situations there needs to be some accommodation and acknowledgment that those people are trying to accommodate us, have to do so in that location and they should not be penalized for it. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Herman to things. In terms of two things. In terms of expressing some of the changes youre looking at making, that is going to be tricky because you have a dmv booklet that is statewide and if you change the rules about white zones and blue zones and green zones in San Francisco, how are you going to communicate that . Im not looking for an answer right now, but i think its something to think about, because you have a booklet that comes out from dmv which may be counterproductive to what youre trying to do. The second comment i have is, as somebody who used, when my husband was alive, the blue parking placard, we often found it was very difficult to find a spot, because those placards are given out like jelly beans. And i dont know the answer to that, but there seems to be you know, if you start expanding blue zones, more blue zones, im very ambivalent about that because of the experience ive had with people who get those placard and really dont need them, and have them for a while when they do need them, and continue to get them. And take up the spaces. So if youre adding more blue zones and adding blue zone availability to green zone or white zones, youre kind of compounding the problem. So im ambivalent about the expansion of the use of those placards, unless we can really get on top of being accountable for who really needs them and monitoring that better from a state level. I just want to clarify because it sounds like some of our recommendations didnt come across clearly. We completely concur with what youre seeing about the blue zones. There is rampant abuse of blue zones. There are efforts to have placard reform at the state level, because thats where it has to occur. I didnt want to suggest we were moving toward more blue zones. I think what i was trying to highlight was that there are other types of zones that can be used by everyone and so we would like to focus on expansion of those with some adjustments. So increasing white zones is a great way to provide loading for both people who have blue parking placard. They cant park in them. Theyre not legally allowed to park in yellow or white, but its a way to provide more access without tying up a spot all day long like you would with a blue placard with someone who is abusing it. The green zone, we see abuse of those zones because people with placards are not subject to the time limits, which is why were suggesting there is a reform, as you stated, would require state legislation as well that people who use those are not exempt from the time limits with the disabled parking placard. Maybe they get twice the time limit because you need more time to get in and out of the vehicle, but as a way to reduce abuse in those types of zones. Ms. Smolinski thank you. Ill be brief. Thank you for presenting. I love a lot of the ideas, more white zones, reducing flag stops, et cetera. Im curious, of course, the competing interest is parking. How do you balance that . Curious what the analysis is like . [laughter] so one item i didnt touch on in the presentation is the framework. And so the idea of the framework is to say that in different parts of the city, there are different needs and priority. If were in a residential part of the city, then, really, most of the curb space is for peoples private vehicles. However, if were in downtown, i think you may have noticed, there is virtually no parking for peoples private vehicles on the street. It happens offstreet in the garages, and the street is more muni, commercial loading, white loading. In the neighborhood, commercial areas, like valencia, its kind of this mix of both. And so there its really using our Public Outreach and planning process to work with the neighborhood to find a better balance and say, you know, you have a lot of loading needs and were going to have to accommodate more loading and that means youre going to lose car parking on the street. But trying to find the right balance for each neighborhood. I do think it is a tradeoff. And it will not make everyone happy in every situation as is the reality of most planning in San Francisco. Thank you. Staff . Nicole im going to forego, except to say, thank you and i have thoughts we can talk about outside of this meeting before it goes in front of the mta board. That would be great. Nicole also want to give permission to nate to leave because he has to catch a flight and were at time. You can go if you need to. Okay. Thank you, nate. Thank you so much. Thank you for waiting. Its coming up on 4 00. Do we have any more Public Comment on this agenda item . Zack . Right now were finishing Public Comment on this information item. 8. Thank you. Hi. Im a wheelchair user. I need to use blue zones frequently and i do find them to be really helpful. I think they are abused by people who are not disabled. And think thats a separate issue. Its an important one, but i think its separate. They recently added a blue zone to a park, holly park, near me. It was a huge help. The blue zone is nowhere near the entrance, but it did help. I think blue zones are worth adding because that says specifically this is for disabled people. And i think thats what is really lacking. A green zone or white zone does not say that. And we have to compete with uber and lyft drivers and cab drivers for my caretaker to drop me off at the hospital. I also think that when you cite people for violating blue zone especially, where does that money go . Let me ask again . Where does that money go . I think it goes into the general fund. It should go to disabled people. It should go to disabled services and programs. Dont just collect money and cite people who are harming the disabled population and use the money for somebody else. Thats a problem i see. Also i want to know what sfmta is doing about private bus drivers blocking bus zones. In my last two hearings with sfmta, which were horrible, the level of discrimination from sfmta against me for my disabilities has been unreal and is well documented with all my email communication with mod. My last two ada hearings, both of which were because a driver would not pick me up, a muni driver would not pick me up in a bus zone, this is a bus zone, not a flag stop. The appointed officer in both hearings used obstruction of the loading zone by private companies as an excuse for not picking me up in wheelchair. I dont feel i should be punished not getting on a bus because someone is blocking a bus zone. My last hearing was friday last week, specifically, they said that there was construction and that explained why the bus driver didnt have to pull up to the curb. I couldnt even get into the bus off the sidewalk. So if youre going to have construction in a bus loading zone, build a temporary ramp. If youre going to tell people that [bell ringing] there is construction thats why the bus driver want stop there, build a temporary ramp so we can get off the sidewalk. They did it on van ness. They have a great temporary ramp just a few blocks from here. Theyre doing better, but i would love to see more efforts in that vain. Again, i think blue zones are great. I want to say im very much of the limitation, the time limits for green zones. Its been helpful for loading and unloading and [bell ringing] i dont think eliminating disabled peoples access. Ms. Senhaux chair number 9. Public comment. Items not on todays agenda. Any speaker cards . Okay. Staff . Zack . Hi, i just i want to express concerns that i have for the way these meetings are held, but also i think the meetings are a good thing and its why i have these concerns. I want to make that clear. The reason i fight for better access, i want people to know about them, theyre good meetings. This time crunch we get in is a problem. There is only been like two or three Public Comments today. And i feel like the council could do a better job of allocating more time for Public Comment. And not making us just like crunch in. I think that there could be better outreach for the meetings. At the peak of the meeting i think there were 10 people in the audience. And someone spoke today they wished theyd known about the meetings a long time ago. I have been here before speaking about how to do outreach through hospitals, organizations that disabled people commonly go to. I didnt hear about these meetings for an extremely long time. Many, many years. I would have loved to have known about them sooner. I spoke just a minute ago about my hearing with sfmta on friday. It was appalling. I was bullied for twoandahalf hours for a hearing that is supposed to be half an hour. They refused to record it. They refused to allow me to record it. Even just myself. And so there is no documentation of what was happening in that meeting. The hearing officer, socalled neutral officer had leading questions, informing the driver how to give their testimony. Refused to let me ask the driver questions directly or the muni representative directly. I still dont have working evidence, public video footage that i requested multiple times. Theyve not given me a functioning evidence. A slew of unbelievable they cancelled my original hearing and tried to do all sorts of slimy stuff around that. And just an incredible degree of ableism ive not experienced with any other organization in San Francisco. And ive sent a lot of documentation to mod about that incident and would love it if mod would take a stance and do something about the corrupt ada hearing processes that are not at all neutral, not unbiased. Theyre extremely biased. And they [bell ringing] literally help the driver come up with excuses why they dont pick us up in the middle of the hearing. When i try to talk, they yell over me. Its terrible. I want to reiterate the point, of making the notices on trees accessible for disabled people when dpw want to cut down trees. Those trees are gone forever. I ask that this body ask dpw to suspend that [bell ringing] for disabled people until they can make the notices accessible for disabled people. Thank you. Ms. Senhaux chair thank you. One more Public Comment. Flo . Thank you for waiting, flo. This is my first time here commenting. My name is flo and im a San Francisco resident, a native, born and raised here. Now im an adult and i have children and as a parent, i come here to talk about, there is issues, times ive been very frustrated in my communication with city agencies. Theyve asked me to lip read, or i feel stress and i asked them, can you provide an interpreter . They say we dont have anyone. You provide other languages, why not provide asl . And then, well there is a Service Called video relay interpreting, or video phone interpreting. In the event theyre unable to find a live interpreter, you can go to the app, this Software Service and there is asl interpreter and i can have access to the services. Here when city hall surprised they have a video interpreter before for that exact service in city hall, but then was moved to another department i believe the Mayors Office on disability, but i believe that service should be available not only in city hall, but other city agencies. Id like to see every city agency be helpful and Work Together to provide access for asl users as opposed to being separated. I feel ive been discriminated than other people who have Language Access issues. Im requesting that the barriers be removed. Im not the only one. I have friends who are deaf who are afraid to approach the city for help because of this issue. Im recommending we take action. And i thank you for your time and attention to this issue. Ms. Senhaux chair thank you, flo. Any more Public Comment . Were going to close Public Comment and go on information item number 10, which is correspondence. Nicole there is no correspondence today. Ms. Senhaux chair were going to move on the information item quick comment. I have a quick comment. I want to thank you for your patience. Flo was struggling, she was asking me who should i talk to and was very frustrated. So i think the problem really is that there is a system out there, Video Relay Interpreting Service out there, but its not being taken advantage of. And i feel that in many agencies have this attitude of looking at people who are deaf and expecting them to lip read. Which is very offensive. And really, i think they should be saying how can we communicate best for you . Its Language Access. I needed to put that in there. Thank you. Ms. Senhaux chair information item number 11. Any Council Member comments . Yes. Two things, there is an event i would like to mention. One of my colleagues, city college, informed me about. And it is called coming of age stories by people with disabilities. Its friday, september 27 at 6 00. At a temple and the address is 290 delores street. Its a book of best voices of disabled writers. And it should be very interesting. I plan on going. I just wanted to mention that and get that on the record. Nicole if you could send that to us, well make sure it gets out to the distribution as well. Great, ill do that. And then the second thing is as a new member, i also have a question. Is there some way we could hear back when people make Public Comment and you are responding to them on behalf of the council, or behalf of the staff, is there some way we can be in the loop of how that communication went . Nicole yes. So youll learn at your First Executive planning meeting on tuesday that we have a process by which we delegate how the council is going to respond and what the response is. Great, thank you. Ms. Senhaux chair thank you very much. Im going to proceed to adjourn. I thank everyone for their time and patc
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