2006-06-02 Committee on People with Disabilities Minutes

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C. TRANSPORTATION TEAM B. WHITNEY No report. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. VOLUNTEER PARKING VIOLATION ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE SGT. D. VERIATO Sergeant D. Veriato submitted program statistics for the Volunteer Disabled Parking Enforcement Program for January to March 2006 which was distributedto MCPD members with theApril agenda. B. UPDATE FROM DCAB C. FLEMING/N. OLESEN/K. SHAW The May report from K. Shaw, DCAB was distributed to MCPD members. C. ADA COORDINATORS REPORT T.SPINOLA-CAMPBELL T. Spinola-Campbell provided her report as the ADA Coordinator for May 2006. The April report will be mailed with the minutes. ADA Coordinators report attached. D. PARKS AND RECREATION REPORT A. MITCHENER A. Mitchener provided a report on Administration, the Elderly Activities Division, Aquatics, and Recreation. The report is attached. E. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS L. SCADDEN S. Golden reported about a new group that has been established called Disaster- Disability. The World Bank is doing it and it looks at disaster preparedness for vulnerable people around the world. S. Golden mentioned that the biggest problem in any disaster is communication. The problem with cell phones is you have to be able to recharge it. The first thing to go down in a disaster is electricity. Therefore, she recommended to DCAB that they ensure every recreation site have a backup generator for electricity. NEW BUSINESS A. UPDATE ON IMPROVEMENTS FOR ACCESSIBILITY DWAYNE YOSHINA/JOAN BIRD, OFFICE OF ELECTIONS D. Yoshina reported that in 2002 the President of the United States signed into law the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which has amongst other things a requirement that voting places and services be accessible to individuals with disabilities. This is not a new mandate orrequirement. There is the Voting Rights Act, American with Disabilities Act, Elderly Voters Act, and numerous acts that have ruled society towards making opportunities for independent voting a requirement. Unfortunately, its a requirement that has been put on the back burner many times. The Office of Elections has tried to implement various portions of the act over the years. For example, accessibility assessments have been done at polling places in themiddleandlate1990s.Theyfoundthatmanyprivatefacilitiesthatarebeing used are not as open to accessibility as they should be. With HAVA, the Office of 2