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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Committee For Persons With Disabilities - 01/03/2007Committee for Persons with Disabilities (CFPWD) Page t of Summary Minutes — January 3, 2007 A. Call to Order was at 3:31 PM by the Chair, Ms. Fallwoll-Stover. B. Roll Call was taken and a quorum was established. i,` C. Requests for Excused Absences — None at this time.' In Attendance Absent Linda Fallwell-Stover, Chair Eloy Soza David Walker, Vice Chair Abel Alonzo, Secretary James Duerr Roberto Flores Toni Padilla * Brian Watson * Post Roll Call Leon Bazar Alonzo Garza Wanese Butler Doyle Curtis Sally Gavlik Guadalupe "Lupe" Rocha Other City Staff: Please refer to Presentation section Vacancies 1 (Mary Saenz) II. Approval of Minutes — Upon review by Committee Members, the Summary Minutes for the Committee Meeting on December 6, 2006 were approved. MOTION To approve the minutes as written was made by Mr. Alonzo, with a Second by Mr. Watson. There was no further discussion and the motion was passed by vote. III. A. Public Comments — No public in attendance. B. Presentations - Update on Accessible Parking Citations by Municipal Court Judge Tamez, Chief Prosecutor Trisha Dang; Accessible Parking Volunteer Monitoring Program by CCPD Chief Smith, Commander Uhler and Captain Vesely. Committee for Persons with Disabilities (CFPWD) Page 2 of Summary Minutes — January 3, 2007 III. Presentations (continued) • Judge Tamez provided an overview on accessible parking citation statistics from 6/15/06 to 12/15/06, reflecting an increase in the number of citations issued. He also discussed the number of, types of, and examples of dismissals, with 402 Dispositions, 175 Dismissed by Exculpatory Evidence, with 28 under payment plans. The Chair asked for clarification on the Dismissals by Prosecutor's Request and what type of scenarios do these occur. Chief Prosecutor Dang elaborated that of these 57 cases, 48 had disability placards in effect at the time that the citation was issued and had been dismissed. The example scenarios under the Prosecutor Dismissal category have included when: • accessible parking markings are unclear; • citations had been issued to the wrong defendant based on the latest but outdated vehicle registration information; and • accessible signage is obscure. Regarding parking space non-compliance, enforcement is complaint -driven but that the Court had no major issues in getting corrections, especially as Police Officers contact or follow-up with property owners. More discussion ensued in clarifying that the ADA logo on the parking space ground is not required by Texas law and that tackling the issue of illegal and/or abused placard usage is not within the City's or this Committee's jurisdiction. [Mr. Duerr had to leave at 3:40 PM; Quorum remained.] • Committee Member suggestions to the Municipal Court/Police Department include: (1) Cases such as the 48 out of 57 Prosecutor Requested Dismissals where the individual had a placard in effect at the time of citation may be better categorized under Exculpatory Evidence instead of Prosecutor's Dismissals; (2) Utilize volunteers to monitor accessibility parking in areas at times when Police Officers are not patrolling that area and use Human Relations process in cases of non-compliance in accessible parking space and signage; (3) Develop a means of tracking 2nd and 3r offenders; (4) Place awareness information on the City's website, including the difference Committee for Persons with Disabilities (CFPWD) Page 3 of Summary Minutes — January 3, 2007 between red and blue placards; (5) Approach the County to possibly collaborate on distributing educational information with disability placards and forms; and (6) Explore a possible project with college students and/or volunteers to conduct statistical sampling of parking lots as a means of assessing compliance and resample same lots months later for comparison. Chief Smith, Ms. Fallwell-Stover and Mr. Bazar will discuss and arrange for a planning meeting. • Committee requests: (1) Mr. Alonzo requested a comparison of accessible parking citation statistics from 2005 to 2006; (2) Ms. Fallwell-Stover requested written information on the volunteer monitoring program's structure, criteria, and standards; (3) the Committee would like to continue receiving the Municipal Court reports, but Members asked if another tracking factor for "multiple violators" could be added in accessible parking statistical reports and if so, to provide to the Committee on a quarterly basis. • Regarding a question about where does the $290 fine go, Ms. Dang responded that $40 of this fine is a court fee that goes to the State of Texas while the $250 goes to the City's General Fund. • Regarding a question on whether Police Officers could also write more accessible parking citations, Chief Smith informed the Committee that sometimes the Police Officers have to respond to calls of greater urgency of more life threatening; that the Police Department has experienced increasing call volume yet with the same number of officers as in 1997; and that one of the realities of citations is that these are issued to the "vehicle" based on the registration information and not necessarily a actual driver at that time. He also mentioned that Corpus Christi has poor statistics in citizens keeping their vehicle registration information up-to-date. • Chief Smith continued: With approximately 73.4% of citation cases dismissed due Exculpatory Evidence, there is a concern that some of the people that this program is designed to protect are also some of the same individuals appearing in court with their proof/exculpatory evidence of placards to request a dismissal. Some Committee Members echoed this concern. • General discussion ensued on possibly using public service announcements (PSA's) to: • Increase awareness and program effectiveness so persons do not violate accessible parking, nor abuse it; Committee for Persons with Disabilities (CFPWD) Page 4 of Summary Minutes — January 3. 2007 • Increase the awareness to persons with disabilities of their responsibilities for maintaining proper placard, documentation and updated vehicle registration to avoid citations and court proceedings; • Positively reinforce voluntary ADA compliance. Another item discussed was the need for assessment of "where we really are" as a City regarding accessible parking compliance. IV. Chair's Report by Ms. Fallwell-Stover • The Chair will email information on a young leaders program by the Federal Transit Civil Rights Section — July 27-28, 2007. • A planning meeting for the Barbara Jordan Media Awards is set on 1/8/07 in the RTA Board Room from 11:30-1:00 PM. • The Chair will send an informational email on the 2006 Disability Perspective. • The Chair will send an informational email on the National Council on Disabilities new law regarding autism. V. Subcommittee Reports: A. Title I ADA Employment — No December meeting; The January meeting is pending confirmation of individual schedules of Subcommittee Members. B. Engineering — Accessible Parking at McGee Beach Report by Lupe Rocha of the Engineering Services Department Handouts: 1. Map of Seawall Project denoting accessible parking 2. Timeline Chart of Bond 2004 Projects Mr. Rocha provided an overview of the Seawall Project layout and informed the Committee that the project was undergoing a re -bid process within a month due to bonding requirements of contractors. During this discussion Members inquired about: • Possibly adding more accessible parking along the seawall, Mr. Walker informed the Committee of the extreme difficulty in trying to add more parking spaces as the gutter sides have significant high and low sections along the seawall; • Possibly adding handrails to the "steps/seats" along the seawall, Mr. Walker provided information that installing holes for poles/plates for railing could accelerate the deterioration of the rebar; and if handrails were somehow provided, it may encourage persons to use this steep area as steps/seats when Committee for Persons with Disabilities (CFPWD) Page s of Summary Minutes — January 3, 2007 this steep area of the seawall was not originally designed as a public venue. Mr. Rocha also informed the Committee regarding: • the Staples/Leopard/6 Points project, approximately 95% of plans are due next week so that he will later bring this item to the Committee for input; • the Downtown Project, this item would also come before the Committee; • the Lindale Drainage Project's, a public meeting will be held this month; • questions on Weber Road's east side of sidewalk curb ramps, these are delayed due to financial constraints and a need for a change order beyond the funding of 80/20 TXDOT match that Staff is addressing. VI. Staff Reports/Comments: A. Non -Discrimination - Mr. Bazar provided handout and overview on ADA Compliance Summary from October 2006 to December 2006. B. 1. Park and Recreation Outreach/Marketing — No report at this time, but Ms. Gavlik assured the Committee that the department will continue using the list of agencies and contact persons provided by the Committee previously when it is time for distribution of the Summer Program. 2. Development Services Key Projects — No report at this time; Mr. Garza was out of office due to a funeral. VII. Old Business — None at this time. VIII. New Business — A. Mr. Bazar shared that the Human Relations Commission's Fair Housing Subcommittee has a project to collect data on accessibility in single family dwellings and that subcommittee may be contacting the CFPWD for input, along with HUD, Legal, Development Services, Neighborhood Services, Agencies, Contractors, Builders and Stakeholders. Mr. Walker suggested contacting Judy Telge of Accessible Communities Inc. regarding a grant she Committee for Persons with Disabilities (CFPWD) Page 6 of Summary Minutes — January 3, 2007 may have to conduct feasibility studies in housing and that some of its data may benefit the Fair Housing Subcommittee. B. Mr. Bazar informed the Committee of an administrative change in that Ms. Butler would be taking the Committee's minutes at this time, beginning with today's meeting. IX. Committee Concerns/Agenda Item Requests — During this meeting's discussions: • Ms. Fallwell-Stover requested a hardcopy of the Volunteer Accessible Parking Monitoring Program's structure, criteria and standards. • Mr. Alonzo requested that the Committee receive accessible parking citation statistics comparison of the years 2005 and 2006. • Ms. Fallwell-Stover requested the status of the City's former Bond Package regarding ADA projects. X. Announcements — None at this time. XI. Adjournment — MOTION To adjourn the meeting was made by Ms. Padilla, with a Second by Mr. Walker. The meeting adjourned in unison at approximately 5:20 PM.