2005-03-04 Committee on People with Disabilities Minutes

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Executive Director of Hawaii Centers for Independent Living had to fly back from the mainland to Hawaii after ten days or two weeks so that she could go to Guam. N. Olesenwill report to the DCAB board on this issue. The National Council on Disability will be in Honolulu on March 9-11, 2005. The purpose of the meeting is an outreach program to gather public input from community members regarding what is needed. He pointed out that transportation was the major item with regard to persons with disabilities. N. Olesen will be attending the three-day meeting. N. Olesen reported that he serves on the Standing Committee on Parking and the Standing Committee on Facility Access. A response was made to the Facility Access Unit with regard to the new ADA requirements. Implementation of the new ADA requirement will be 18 months after the federal register publication of requirements.Thenewrulesandrequirementsaregoingtonecessitatethatallthe counties and the state review and update their plans with regard to compliance. The counties andstate dont like it because they would need to appropriate funding. The biggest single change is the high counter tops which will drop the requirements from 36 inches to 30 inches. N. Olesen recommended that all the counties and MCPD members obtain a copy of the Parking for Persons with Disabilities Reference Manual effective January 2005. The manual can be downloaded from DCABs website. The Honolulu Police Department has been called into court by the volunteer parking enforcement officers because they do not have the right to require people to show identification and it has caused some problems. The volunteer parking enforcement officers were told not to ask people for identification to avoid any confrontations. Therefore, the volunteer officers have said that their job is totally ineffective. The violators are usually adults and mostly teenagers according to the Honolulu Police Department. The DCAB board is looking into changes in the Administrative Rules and changes of the cost for the parking placard program because it has not been changed for four years. Administrative cost has risen so they need to take a closer look at what it is going to cost the counties effectively to provide that. It cost $10 for a replacement placard and theres a possibility it will increase to $12. C. ADA COORDINATORS REPORT T. SPINOLA-CAMPBELL T. Spinola-Campbell provided her report as the ADA Coordinator for January and February2005.ADACoordinatorsreportattached. MarianneHodappraisedanissueaboutaccessibleparkingstallsatParkerRanch. The access aisle is narrow; therefore, her son is unable to use the ramp. T. Spinola- CampbellstatedthatDCABcamelastyearandprovidedtwotrainingsonhowto design an accessible parking space. 3