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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-DAC-2012-05-02DISABILITY ADVISORY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK Regular Meeting 12:15 p.m. May 2, 2012 PRESENT: DAC Chair — Roberts DAC Vice Chair - Gizewski DAC Members: David McElrath Erin Sember -Chase Jason Anderson Andrew Rappaport Alderperson Rooker Jocelyn Scriber Information Management Specialist — Myers EXCUSED: Jaime Freilich Allen Walters APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Approval of the March 7, 2012 Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes — Resolution By DAC Member Sember- Chase: Seconded by DAC Member Rappaport RESOLVED, That the minutes of the March 7, 2012 Disability Advisory Council Meeting be approved as published. Carried Unanimously Draft Disability Advisory Report to Common Council: Chair Roberts distributed the following draft of the proposed Disability Advisory Council annual report to Common Council for the DAC's review and discussion. He explained that it has been three years since the last report was made to Common Council. Draft Annual DAC Report to Common Council Time line, DAC work, April 09 — March 12 April — September 09 • Met with Jes Seaver, the director of the Ithaca Festival • Received a presentation from TCAT about the Transportation Development Plan (TDP). DAC and FLIC were very involved in facilitating input to the TDP. The DAC authorized me to write a letter to Dan Cogan, Chair of TCAT expressing our support for much of the revised TDP • David McElrath asked the DAC to help clarify whether the housing authority has to provide accessible vans when using its vans to take residents on out of county trips. I asked Dan Hoffman, City Attorney to give the DAC an opinion • At the request of Mayor Peterson, worked with Tim Logue, the traffic engineer, to revise the city's Handicapped Parking Policy related to requests from residents for designated spaces at their homes • Got a presentation from Phyllis Radke, Building Commissioner. She gave DAC an overview of the mission of her department and specifically addressed ADA compliance and snow and ice removal. • 1 recruited a new member, Andrew Rappaport. He's with Holt Architects. I met him when he did a presentation to the Board of Public Works about the Hangar Theatre. The Mayor and Common Council appointed him at its September meeting May 2, 2012 October 09 — March 10 • Alan Walters was appointed to the DAC. • Eddie Rooker, fourth ward alderman, is the DAC common council liaison. I met with him to talk about the DAC. • We met with Duane Twardokus, director of information technology, to familiarize ourselves with the responsibility of the department and particularly to talk about adaptations his department has made for employees with disabilities and to talk about the update of the city's website • The DAC met with Tim Logue to revise and update the City's Handicapped Parking Policy. The Board of Public Works approved the revision. • The DAC worked with Leslie Chatterton, staff liaison, to develop goals and objectives. • David McElrath and George Eberhardt advised the DAC that the Ithaca Housing Authority doesn't have accessible vans. The problem is that the vans it has are used by the tenant's council to take out of county trips; that means that some residents with disabilities aren't able to take part in those trips. We met with Daniel Hoffman, City Attorney, to get his advice as to the issues and how to address the housing authority. Erin Sember developed a letter, Mr. Hoffman made some edits, and George brought the letter to the attention of Brenda Westfall, Executive Director of the housing authority. We had a very cordial and productive meeting with Ms. Westfall. • We met with a representative from the Cornell Union on Disability Awareness (CUDA). CUDA is interested in doing more work in the city and may put forward a student for membership on DAC. • The DAC received an update from Jennifer Kusznir, the project manger for the Commons repair and upgrade. • Jason Anderson raised an issue about table heights at food courts. Because he uses a large, tall wheelchair he can't independently use standard height tables and has to have someone assist him to eat more than he'd like. The DAC is looking into the issues involved in encouraging food courts to get higher tables. March 10 — September 10 • The DAC completed its goals and objectives discussion. Our major projects: Completion of the access map project; review and make suggestions to improve the access at Clinton Hall; hold a public hearing seeking input from pedestrians with disabilities • Met with Gary Bordoni, lead Community Service Officer, IPD. DAC had a conversation with him about handicapped parking; his unit is responsible for ticketing for these violations • Jason Anderson is interested in seeing if there's anything that can be done to vary table heights in food courts, so that people who are not able to use standard tables can dine more independently; he has raised the issue with Frost Travis, owner of Center Ithaca • We met with Katie Pangburn, director of the Ithaca Festival • Met with Bob DeLuca, Commissioner, Tompkins County Mental Health; the DAC supported the emergency declaration by Common Council allowing the continued fencing of city and Cornell bridges; DAC also supported the ten week extension and placing of black fences on the bridges, replacing the cyclone fencing; I testified at both Council meetings on the topic, representing DAC and telling my personal history depression, suicidal thinking and suicide attempts; Greg Gizewski, DAC vice -chair testified at a meeting as well; attended a public presentation by the architect hired by Cornell and the City to design approaches to means restriction for each bridge May 2, 2012 • We talked with Schelley Michell -Nunn, Director of Human Resources; Schelley described the work of Human Resources and the city's diversity initiative; Erin Sember applied to join the city's Workforce Diversity Committee; several DAC members will receive training in order to take part in city hiring committees as community representative (and to get an overview of how the city does hiring) • 1 met with Vicki Taylor, Downtown Ithaca Alliance, and Julie Conley - Holcomb, City Clerk; Vicki is taking on the accessibility map, and will work with DAC as the project moves forward • Leslie Chatterton reviewed the complicated history of access at Clinton Hall. The DAC has decided to identify still existing problems and suggest possible solutions; Leslie has invited the owner of the building to meet with us; he has agreed to meet with us in early 2011 • DAC is hosting a public hearing seeking input from pedestrians with disabilities; the hearing is Wednesday, November 3, at 12:15 at City Hall October 10 — March 11 • We hosted a public hearing on pedestrian issues. Very few people attended the actual hearing but we did get several comments through an online survey posted on the City's website • The DAC met with Ray Benjamin, assistant superintendant of public works for streets and facilities. He gave a description of the responsibilities of his division and updated us and answered questions about snow and ice removal • I've arranged for DAC members to take a tour of Clinton Hall as our April meeting • Greg Gizewski, Erin Sember -Chase and I are trained diversity representatives available to sit on City hiring teams • Erin Sember -Chase was appointed to and attended her first Workforce Diversity Committee meeting. • Jody Scriber, clinical director at Franziska Racker Centers; Courtney Glenn, Ithaca Youth Bureau; and Allen Walters, Ithaca resident have been appointed to the DAC. The DAC has one vacancy at this point. • Erin Sember -Chase arranged for a colleague to review a draft of the city's new website; Sherry is planning to look at it; and I'm going to take a look April — September 11 • 1 arranged for DAC members to take a tour of Clinton Hall. The purpose was to give feedback to the owner about the conditions at the rear entrance. Several members and city staff took the tour. Working from a draft from Leslie Chatterton, I wrote a letter to the owner summarizing our feedback. • Greg Gizewski, vice chair, is leading the development of PSAs on disability - related city issues. It's something he's suggested several times over the years. • We met with Vick Taylor, Associate Director, Downtown Ithaca Alliance and she outlined her plans for developing an accessibility map for downtown; she also discussed the redesign of the DIA's website. • The DAC met with Leslie Chatterton, city planner and staff to the DAC. She retired in August. She outlined her thoughts about issues the DAC needs to address, including updating the city's ADA self- assessment. • DAC met with Julie Conley - Holcomb, city clerk, to discuss updates to guide dog and service animal rules and to discuss issues pertaining to service animals on the Commons. Q May 2, 2012 • Marcia Lynch, Public Information Officer, Tompkins County, updated DAC on the status of the Handicapped Parking Education program. (There were supposed to be PSAs and emails directed primarily to returning college students. This didn't happen.) • Tim Logue, city traffic engineer, talked with us about signalized, audible crosswalks. The city maintained all the crosswalks including those on state routes. That changed recently, with the state assuming responsibility for signals on its routes. The city allowed Cornell University to install a fully (state of the art) audible crosswalk at an intersection near Thurston Avenue bridge. Tim is pursuing a policy that when crosswalks are installed or upgraded (especially audible crosswalks) that the city will install state of the art universally designed cross walk indicators. • 1 met with Ray Benjamin, assistant superintendent for streets and facilities, Department of Public Works, to talk about snow and ice removal from curb ramps. Because of the physics involved (weight of snow, number of ramps, and power of plows, and staff time) a `solution' doesn't appear feasible. • The DAC reaffirmed its support for suicide means restrictions (mesh nets) on the city -owned bridges on the Cornell University campus. October 11 — March 12 • We had a conversation with former mayor Carolyn Peterson and a conversation with Mayor Svante Myrick at the December meeting • We, and the Tompkins County Office of the Aging, held a well attended meeting to gather input for the City of Ithaca Comprehensive Plan • As a result of discussion at the public input session about the doors at Center Ithaca, we met with Frost Travis, its owner, to express concern and to hear from him about his plans to install automatic door openers; he thinks he'll be able to address this in the beginning of 2013 • DAC had a conversation with Tim Logue, Traffic Engineer; Lynne Yost, Sidewalk Program Coordinator; and Danielle Conte, Tompkins County Office for the Aging about the NYS Complete Streets law • We heard from Tomo Shibatta about problems she's encountered in Ithaca • Greg Gizewski, Vice - Chair, met with Julie Conley - Holcomb, City Clerk, to begin planning a PSA campaign on topics such as parking across sidewalks, how to get a handicap parking permit, and snow and ice removal • 1 spoke at the Common Council meeting at which the suicide means restrictions on the City -owned Cornell University bridges were approved. The DAC supported the installation of means restrictions Chair Roberts stated that he would e -mail the draft report to DAC members to review and provide any feedback to him either by e -mail or at the June DAC meeting. He will have the DAC review the report at the June meeting, and then plan to present it to Common Council after that. A brief discussion followed on the floor regarding the construction taking place on Green Street in front of City Hall and in the City Hall parking lot which is affecting access to City Hall. Chair Roberts will speak with staff from the Department of Public Works about the need to work with New York State Department of Transportation (who is one of the contractors) about the need to maintain accessibility for everyone to the building and sidewalk. Il May 2, 2012 Public Service Announcement (PSA) List of Ideas: Chair Roberts noted that Vice Chair Gizewski has made a lot of progress on developing some PSA's and working with City Clerk Holcomb on them. Chair Roberts further noted that at the June 2011 DAC meeting the following topics were suggested for PSA's: 1. Maintaining complete access to sidewalks (i.e. no parking on sidewalk creating an obstruction to pedestrians; and the need to keep trees and bushes trimmed along sidewalks. 2. Guide /service dog information 3. Handicap (accessible) parking needs 4. Encouraging people with disabilities to prepare for emergencies It was suggested that at the end of each PSA that information be provided to the public on the DAC and what it does. Vice Chair Gizewski stated that he developed a catch phrase, which City Clerk Holcomb thought would be useful in PSA's which is "accessibility matters ". The timing of the PSA's needs to be right as well so that the reminder about keeping sidewalks clear of ice and snow is done in the late Fall — rather than now. The DAC thinks that it is important to get at least one PSA completed and on the air sooner rather than later. They supported Vice Chair Gizewski working with City Clerk Holcomb to do that to help move this initiative along. Vice Chair Gizewski will set up an appointment to meet with City Clerk Holcomb (who was going to write some PSA's for the DAC) to see what she has completed that he can do the voice for and get to the radio stations for play. Tomo Shabata, who was a member from the public, suggested that a possible topic for a PSA would be information about preventing hate crimes against people with disabilities. Chair Roberts responded that a PSA could be developed on that topic, but it would have to wait to be broadcast until the others that the DAC has been working on have been completed, and he also noted that the City also needs to approve any PSA before they are released for the public. DAC Member Sember -Chase stated that a good topic for discussion would be what are approved mobility devices. Chair Roberts stated that he would work with Alderperson Rooker to invite the Chief of Police to a meeting to discuss that as well as other topics of concern that have been raised. He stated that a meeting could be devoted entirely to this topic as well. Goals and Objectives - Refresher and Ideas: This topic was not discussed today, but it was suggested that a future DAC agenda be devoted only to this topic. Updates: Commons Redesign Protect: Chair Roberts reported that currently decisions are being made regarding design elements, i.e. which trees to save, transplant or lose; furniture, seating /planters. He has expressed his support for fixed /immovable seating because of his concern with safety in the use of semi - moveable furniture. He has also suggested that the height of tables be considered as well so that they accommodate everyone. He has also suggested and encouraged the use of way finding signs, as well as tactile and visual warning signals. Comprehensive Plan: Chair Roberts reported that the committee is seeking public input into the plan, and noted that additional information is available on the city's website. `1 May 2, 2012 Titus Towers: Chair Roberts reported that as a result of the DAC meeting with the Ithaca Housing Authority Director, Brenda Westfall, regarding an accessible van for trips that residents of Ithaca Housing Authority take, that she has been talking with staff from the City of Ithaca of Ithaca Youth Bureau regarding the use of their accessible van. She has run into problems with the use of the van because of its poor gas mileage, and who is allowed to drive the vehicle, etc. Chair Roberts stated that he would set up a meeting with staff from Ithaca Housing Authority, David McElrath, city staff, and himself to see what other options are available. Workforce Diversity Advisory Committee: DAC Liaison Sember -Chase reported that currently the committee is reviewing information from all city departments regarding their diversity goals, how they will be met, and current diversity within each department. She said that the committee is focusing on multiple aspects of diversity other than race and gender. She is scheduled to report at a future committee meeting on the DAC, the make -up of its membership, and its work and goals. Other: Vice Chair Gizewski asked when the accessible taxi from TCAT would be available. Chair Roberts reported that it was expected in March but due to problems and complications between the maker of the taxi and the distributor it will not occur until sometime later this year. Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Council: DAC Liaison McElrath reported that the newly revitalized BPAC had its first meeting on Tuesday, May 1St. The meeting focused on members getting to know one another and to discuss goals and work to focus on. The new meeting date and time for BPAC is the first Tuesday of each month, at 5:30 p.m. in the Second Floor conference room at City Hall. Request for Assistance with the Accessible Map and Handicapped Parking Program (are there members who would take the lead with these ?) Vice Chair Gizewski volunteered to work with Marcia Lynch and City Clerk Holcomb on writing and voicing public service announcements that the DAC has recommended. DAC Member Sember -Chase volunteered to work with Vicki Taylor from the Downtown Ithaca Alliance on the accessible map. ADJOURNMENT: On a motion the meeting adjourned at 1:25 p.m. Sarah L. Myers Larry Roberts Information Management Specialist Chair, DAC