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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-03-07 Committee on People with Disabilities Minutes Action required: MAYOR'S COMMITTEE ON PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES Letter to Mayor and County Council regarding closed captioning Î B. Friday, March 7, 2003, 10:30 a.m. Whitney/A. Mitchener Department of Liquor Control Conference Room, Suite 230 PRESENT: Michael Gleason, Chair; Betsy Whitney, Secretary; Alisa Mitchener, James Souza, Laura Tobosa, Ted Yamanaka EXCUSED: Elizabeth Mason, Lisa Onorato GUESTS: Bob Dunkley, ADA Coordinator Hawaii Volcanoes National Park; Lester Ishado, Corporation Counsel; Andy Levin, Mayor's Office; Interpreter; Norman Olesen, DCAB Board Member; Linda Rink, DCAB; Malina Thorpe, Interpreter; Barbara Toles CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 10:35 a.m. An introduction of committee members, staff, and guests was made. MCPD presented leis to L. Rink and B. Lewis for their dedicated committee. L. Rink will be retiring effective April 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES T. Yamanaka made a motion to accept the minutes of February 7, 2003 as submitted. J. Souza seconded the motion. The motion was passed with B. Whi STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ISSUES None. TREASURER'S REPORT The treasurer's report was reviewed. L. Tobosa made a motion to accept the treasurer's report as submitted. B. Whitney seconded the motion. The motion was passed. CORRESPONDENCE A. Letter to P. Engelhard from A. Levin regarding the Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan for Programs of the County of Hawaii Department of Parks and Recreation A. Levin reported that he did not receive a response from P. Engelhard yet. However, he spoke with Joe Kamelamela from Corporation Counsel and he was of the opinion that whatever is in the transition plan is binding. P. Engelhard also mentioned in a conversation that the all-terrain vehicle with a wheelchair lift will not be well utilized. B. Letter to B. McClure from A. Levin regarding the County Parking Lot on Kuakini A. Levin reported that he received no response yet. C. Resignation letter to Mayor H. Kim from J. Beimborn A. Levin stated that it may be appropriate for MCPD to call J. Beimborn and tell him to withdraw his resignation even though he cannot attend all the meetings. B. Whitney offered to contact J. Beimborn. D. Position Description of the Personnel Program Officer A. Levin reported that this job description is a draft of the ADA Coordinator's position. The salary range is $50,900 to $69,600. This position is expected to be included in next year's budget effective July 1, 2003. The job description may be changed until the day it is advertised. E. National Organization on Disability To be discussed under New Business, A. Disaster Preparedness Î Civil Defense and FEMA. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS A. EDUCATION/PUBLIC AWARENESS SUBCOMMITTEE Î M. GLEASON M. Gleason reported that this subcommittee did not meet. B. RECREATION SUBCOMMITTEE Î A. MITCHENER A. Mitchener reported there was a workshop for the Parks and Recreation staff on Deaf Awareness February 14. Alan Atkinson from Maui led an interactive session on the culture of people who are deaf, signing songs for Summer practice using the TTY. A. Mitchener submitted seven names for recognition to the Education/Public Awareness Subcommittee. Also, interviews were completed for the Therapeutic Recreation Specialist position. B. Whitney asked if all the county TTY numbers are listed in the Verizon TTY directory. She just learned that you need to special register a TTY number. A. Mitchener offered to check if the Department of Parks and Recreation TTY number is listed. J. Souza responded that only a few basic TTY numbers are listed. He remembered that N. Olesen provided a TTY directory of government phone numbers in the past. B. Whitney asked whether or not a TTY and a TDD would both be considered appropriate for the Verizon directory. J. Souza said most people understand and know the difference. Deaf people prefer to use TTY because that's the original term. A. Levin mentioned that he wrote to both the Transit Agency and the Department of Parks and Recreation telling them that their TTY numbers weren't listed and giving them the information to get it listed. The Mayor's Office is listed in the directory. 2 L. Tobosa reported that she read in the Honolulu Advertiser that Verizon will no longer be the provider for relay service. Verizon is looking for a new provider to take over the service. J. Souza responded that Verizon already told the FCC that they will stop providing relay service for people who are deaf. But, they will continue new provider. C. TRANSPORTATION SUBCOMMITTEE Î B. WHITNEY B. Whitney reported that this subcommittee did not meet. L. Tobosa reported that she provided the CIL-EH's old TTY to Keola Laulima O Leikula. She provided training on how to use the equipment. B. Whitney mentioned that the Real Choices Access website is now putting together their transportation section. They are asking for people to send either questions that they would like answered or information about transportation to them. Their e-mail address is info@realchoices.org or send it to B. Whitney at brailleit@aloha.net. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. VOLUNTEER PARKING VIOLATION ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE Î A. LEVIN A. Levin reported that he has no new information. B. UPDATE FROM DCAB Î C. FLEMING/N. OLESEN/L. RINK L. Rink reported that due to changes in their parking rules a person no longer has to show proof of Hawaii residency to qualify for a placard. However, a person still needs to show proof of identification. The new application forms have been created and are being distributed to the issuing agency statewide. The application form now has three parts which include the application form, the instructions for the person with the disability, and the physician instructions which include information on the penalty for committing fraud. On DCAB's website, Program Specialist D. Jackson has included some recent information on airports and traveling for people with disabiliti receiving a lot of complaints regarding the security guards at different Hawaii airports regarding ticketing persons with disabilities and who are displa but are not actively loading or unloading in the load zone. An interpreter on the Big Island has been tested and credentiale nationally certified sign language interpreter has moved from the mainland and is now living on the Big Island. Sign language interpreters are having difficulty getting from their home base to sign language assignments because of enhanced security at airports. J. Knox, Communication Access Specialist of DCAB, has information on a ne 3 video remote interpreting. Interested people can contact J. Knox at DCAB for information and this might be the wave of the future. Verizon is abandoning the relay system and will be put out to bid by interested companies who would like to take over. DCAB has introduced some bills to the legislature. Topics include: Parking for persons with disabilities, telecommunications relay services, administration of the parking for persons with disabilities program, prohibition of discrimination by public entities against individuals with disabilities, and services for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. L. Rink mentioned that her position will become frozen once she retires on April 1. The decision will be up to Governor Lingle to fill the position. However, DCAB will remain committed in sending a written update on all committee meetings that she attends on a monthly basis. C. Townsend will review the agendas meetings and she will decide if there is an issue DCAB needs to address, if there is a need for a DCAB staff member to attend a particular meeting, or a need for training in a particular area for MCPD members. L. Rink expressed her gratitude in networking and sharing information with MCPD. N. Olesen reported one issue that will be brought up at the next DCAB board meeting in March is "what is the mission of DCAB over the next year." He will provide a full report at the next MCPD meeting in April. Secondly, he raised the issue of the Cost of Government Commission's recommendation that the County Council abandon the television broadcasting of council meetings. He suggested that MCPD take action on this issue because it's illegal. C. ADA COORDINATOR'S REPORT Î A. LEVIN A. Levin reported that there were six applicants for the Therapeutic Recreation Specialist position not seven as reported in the previous meeting. A decision will be made within two weeks. D. PARK PROJECT VISITATIONS After some discussion, MCPD decided to review the list of Schedule 1 projects provided by A. Levin and make a selection at the next meeting. M. Gleason suggested that MCPD have a committee meet outside of the regular meeting date to tour a particular site or review a project. Also, MCPD may invite J. Beimborn, N. Olesen, or someone with expertise to provide input on the project. MCPD agreed to communicate by e-mail on the tour and forward suggestions to M. Gleason. L. Tobosa asked A. Levin for an update on the crosswalk between Building and Aupuni Center. A. Levin replied that the county position is that there is no crosswalk and there shouldn't be a crosswalk. The action tak two parking spots on the mauka side of Aupuni Street. It was done to make it safer 4 for people to cross because they knew people were crossing in the area, but they didn't want them crossing between cars. Also, the county didn't want to set up a crosswalk in the middle of a street or to incur the cost of curb cuts. The crosswalk or curb cuts would not be of any benefit for a wheelchair user because the accessible path would be on the sidewalk around to the corner and along the sidewalk to Aupuni Center. NEW BUSINESS A. DISASTER PREPAREDNESS Î CIVIL DEFENSE AND FEMA A. Mitchener reported she would like to review the National Organization on Disability letter to see if MCPD wanted to pursue creating a new committee for emergency preparedness to include people with disabilities in emergency planning. Also, to promote a comfort level between the emergency teams and people with disabilities. L. Tobosa felt we all need to be responsible for our own plans i B. Whitney suggested that MCPD get an update from O. Bergin, American Red Cross, on Project Impact. A. Mitchener said we should also get an update from Civil Defense and Parks and Recreation. L. Tobosa offered to contact O. Bergin and get a status report. B. Whitney suggested having a panel discussion through Disabilit A. Mitchener offered to contact R. Amundson and suggest coordinating a panel. J. Souza suggested that the deaf people get involved in the panel discussion. Every month the deaf community on the island has a meeting and issues on disaster preparedness have been brought up. A. Levin reported that MCPD sent a letter to the Mayor dated April 2002 referring to the letter from the National Organization on Disability. A response from B. Davis was sent to the Managing Director dated May 3, 2002. A. Levin read the response. Interested members should provide their names to A. Levin or Civil Defense directly if they want to get involved. N. Olesen said that there are certain conditions for people with disabilities in case of an emergency that are above and beyond what the normal person would be exposed to. It was left up to the community to provide their input. J. Souza raised concerns about the recent article in the Hawaii Tribune Herald about having people who are deaf or hearing impaired accept post-meeting written summaries rather than expensive video captioning of council meetings. He suggested that MCPD send a letter saying we are not in favor of closed captioning. 5 B. Whitney made a motion to send a letter to the Mayor and County Council regarding closed captioning. L. Tobosa seconded the motion. Th passed. B. Whitney will draft the letter with assistance from A. Mitchener. L. Ishado explained that a letter from MCPD is important to educate people about this issue. The Cost of Government Commission worked really hard for eleven months. Many of the ideas they came up with may not be the best. However, he felt education is a very important part for MCPD to participate in. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NON-AGENDA ISSUES B. Dunkley reported that they have been gradually making the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park more accessible. They are remodeling their visitor center and moving the emergency site facilities. They have a new campground that has 30 fully accessible sites. It has state of the art features that other national parks on the mainland don't have. They are building new trails, sulfur bank accessible trails. They are in the process of adding another 118,000 acres of land (Kahuku Ranch) to the park. It will be a wilderness addition of resources, lava flows, etc. J. Souza asked if they have interpreting services for the deaf for movies and interpretive tours. B. Dunkley responded that they are getting a captioned movie at the visitor center. He will inquire about the interpretive tours since it's not available. B. Whitney asked if the interpretive movie have audio description for people who are blind. You can have both captioned and audio description. B. Dunkley replied that they have funding for that, but it's just a matter of getting it and putting it in place. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next meeting will be held on Friday, April 4, 2003, at 10:30 a.m. in Kona. Location to be announced. B. Lewis thanked MCPD for working with the committee. It has be experience for her. She has learned about disability issues besides issues for people who are deaf. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 11:55 a.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, _______________________________ JEAN VIERNES, STAFF SECRETARY 6