2007-01-05 Committee on People with Disabilities Minutes

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C. Cholas said that his wife is invited to dinner parties and she has to go alone most of the time or say she cannot go because most of people’s homes are inaccessible. Therefore, they are eliminated from a lot of participation. His suggestion through this committee and agencies through the county is to encourage county government to pass an ordinance to make new construction of homes or apartments visitable. R. Amundson stated that this issue is a question of integration versus segregation. If this was left up to the construction industry, it would have been done long ago. He hope that we would have an ordinance saying all homes should be visitable. This issue is about being able to visit people in the community. People who have mobility impairment are restricted in who to be their friends because they cannot get into people’s houses. Many people don’t even know their home is inaccessible. Most homes have a concrete step from the driveway into the house which will keep wheelchair users from going in. C. Cholas reported that the next Disability Rights Hawaii meeting will be held on January 23, 2007, from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., in the Aupuni Center Conference Room to discuss Concrete Change. The presentation will begin at 1:00 p.m. MCPD decided that L. Scadden send a letter to the Mayor H. Kim and recommend consideration of an ordinance on the design of private residences to make them accessible to visitors. The meeting was recessed at 11:37 a.m. The meeting was reconvened at 11:41 a.m. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ISSUES None. ANNOUNCEMENTS L. Tobosa announced that Puna Kamalii Flowers will be having a family open house on January 17, 2007, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The next meeting will be held on Friday, February 2, 2007, at 10:30 a.m. in the Kona Mayor’s Office conference room. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 11:42 a.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, _______________________________ JEAN VIERNES, STAFF SECRETARY 5