Commission on Persons with Disabilities - Regular Meeting

Regularly scheduled meeting for the Commission on Persons with Disabilities, 05/13/2026. We will begin with roll call, please. Chair Mullings?

Here.

Vice Chair Bondsmith is attending remotely, although she has not yet joined us. Commissioner Beeler? Present. Commissioner Knedler? Present. Commissioner Lipp?

Here.

Commissioner Lyons? And Commissioner Schmitz?

Here.

Thank you. Okay. We'll move next to non agenda public comment. And we have with us this evening, Public Works Director, Erin Smith.

Hi, good evening chair and commissioners. I'm Erin Smith. I'm the city's public works director. I definitely know some of you and look forward to meeting others. So I'm here as part of general comment.

This came to me a little bit late, so I apologize it's not an agenda item, but I am just going to take a few minutes of your time. So over the last year, the city's been engaging with the community regarding infrastructure challenges. And during city council workshops last fall, they identified more than 800,000,000 in urgent need. This includes aging roads, storm drains, public safety facilities, accessibility in existing city facilities. That's me adding that into the talking points because I think it's important and where I get to, I think it will make sense.

So I'm here tonight to update you on this work and share how we're gathering community input projects. A recent example, we had a major power outage while the High Street Bridge was in the open position and we had to wait hours for this simple issue to be resolved. To prevent this from happening again, we're exploring backup generators to ensure residents can get on and off the island 20 fourseven. You likely remember the significant flooding this past January during King Tides, flooding that occurred even before the rain started. This is just a preview of how sea level rise will impact Alameda in the coming years if we don't take action now.

This is my personal note. And as I know you all are familiar with our ADA transition plan, which identifies nearly 8,000,000 in barrier removal needed to improve accessibility at our existing city facilities. Our facilities manager, Mike Billington, is going to be presenting to you later in August with a little bit more detail on how implementation of that ADA transition plan is going in our city facilities. But I can tell you at this point what we've learned is that the cost estimates in our ADA transition plan as it relates to the facilities upgrades needed is understated. So all to say it's more than $8,000,000 that we actually need.

And then there's other things like our pavement condition index is out of 100 at 66 and while that's slightly better than Oakland's, which is 58, it's far less than our neighbors in Emeryville and Pleasanton. And I wanted to note that more money for paving means when we pave, we're dealing with multiple accessibility issues, which includes curb ramp improvement if it's an existing one that doesn't meet code, or new ramps where ramps don't exist. So that project helps us meet the curb ramp deficiencies that were identified in the ADA transition plan. Additional paving also improves striping, slope requirements and crosswalks and other things that can be targeted for accessibility. Neglecting these needs now increases cost for everyone.

It shows up in our property values, vehicle wear and tear, rising insurance rate, and slowing emergency response time. Without a dedicating funding source, the city is forced to use the general fund for urgent repairs and these repairs become more expensive every year they go unaddressed. One option under consideration is a $300,000,000 local bond measure. This would create a protected dedicated funding source specifically for our infrastructure needs. If approved, property owners would pay approximately $49 per year for every $100,000 of an assessed value.

There's an example here, although I

think this assessed value is fairly low for Alameda, for a home with an assessed value of $500,000 that equates to roughly $245 per year. This funding could address things like improving accessibility at city facilities, paving additional streets, maintaining storm water systems to prevent pollution from getting into the bay, and ensuring our first responders can react quickly to fires and medical emergencies. We recently mailed Alameda voters an information guide and survey. And if you haven't yet, and I'll have Lillian send this out to you, there's a dedicated website which is at alamedaca.gov/strongertogether. That's the branding for the infrastructure bond.

And you can also review materials and also a summary of what I'm sharing now. So what we ask and we hope is that you'll help us spread the word, and we want to hear from as many residents as possible during this time as right now. We're surveying, getting input. And then in July, our city council will consider whether it goes on the ballot. And then the ballot would be this fall. So this isn't a Q and A. But Lillian can share my email. And I'm more than happy to follow-up with any questions you have. Thank you so much.

Thank you, director Smith. Any other public comment? Just take a moment to see if anyone raises their hand on Zoom. Okay. And, let's see. I'll also note that vice chair Bon Smith joined at 06:35, may have dropped off again. Hopefully, we'll rejoin. So just so you guys know, is popping in and out. We will go ahead and close non agenda public comment at this time and move forward to the consent calendar, which is only to review and approve the minutes from 03/11/2026. If there are any questions about those. If approved, someone can just make a motion to approve the minutes, please.

I motion to approve.

I'll second. Okay,

thank you. We'll move now to the regular agenda item.

Pardon me. Should there be a vote at this point? Once we made a motion, you need to vote then.

For consent calendar, it

can just be a

motion and approve okay. Yes. Sure.

Oh, because I'm I'm gonna I have to sort state I was not here last time, so I wanna do this properly.

Oh, yes. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. So we'll go ahead and do a vote then to approve the minutes. So

do you

wanna do should we do roll call or can we do I'll say aye. Commissioner Lutt?

Yeah. You can do all say ayes.

Okay.

Yeah.

So I'll say aye.

Aye. Aye.

Any nays? Okay. So approved

A vote

of abstention. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

I've noted the abstention, Commissioner Lipp.

Okay.

For the regular agenda item this evening, we have a presentation on the city parking enforcement and accessibility within the city of Alameda. This will be an informational item, obviously open to questions and comments at the end, but not necessarily an action voting item. And let me just get the slides over here. We're joined this evening by Ricardo De La Torre, the project manager for parking for the city of Alameda. And he is also has in attendance Kelvin Wong, the lead parking technician for this program. This will be information shared about current policies and context surrounding accessible parking and public spaces throughout the City Of Alameda and how parking enforcement responds to reports. Thank you.

Good evening, Chair, Vice Chair, and Commission members. My name is Ricardo De La Torre. I am the parking manager with Alameda's Public Works Department. I am truly grateful to be here tonight. We have a fresh set of slides, hot off the press.

This is going to be a fun exercise. We hope to use this slide deck in the future and ultimately this will be a dry run. If I could step outside of my role for just a moment, I want to thank the commission for the awareness that you raise and the things that you do. I am a father of a 14 year old son, teenagers, who has lived with an IEP for the majority of his academic life. In our household, cognitive and sensory overload can be real at times.

So I just want to emphasize, I thank you for the awareness that this commission raises and for the work that you do. Okay. So, tonight, I'm here to give you an update on our parking enforcement program with a particular focus on how we are enforcing ADA related violations across the city. This is a topic that our team cares deeply about and I am glad to have the opportunity to share our progress with you. I will cover a brief history of how our current program came to be, explain why ADA enforcement is such a priority for us, walk through the data we have gathered since 2022 and then close with where we are headed.

So, tonight, I am going to walk you through five areas. First, the background on how our parking enforcement program was organized and stood up. Second, why ADA enforcement is not just a parking issue but a safety and equity issue third, our enforcement data from fiscal year 2022 through twenty twenty six Fourth, where our fines stand compared to other agencies. And finally, what we are doing next to continue improving. By the way, the person pictured on that slide right there is the person in our audience.

Okay. So, to understand why we are here today, it helps to know how we got here. Back in 2019 and 2020, the city council held a series of hearings to address long standing gaps in our program. Council approved two new parking technician positions, adopted an automated license plate reader policy for parking enforcement and updated the municipal code to strengthen how we manage all of our curb space. Then, cliche, COVID hit.

Like so many other things, some of this work had to a pause. Hiring was delayed. Parking revenue dropped literally 92% overnight and the focus shifted to everyone's response, which was just the pandemic response. Accelerating into November 2021, council came back to this issue and approved a significant reorganization, thanks to our director of public works, Aaron Smith. Parking enforcement was moved from the police department to public works, a change that allowed us to rebrand the program completely as a transportation management function and align it with the city's broader goals around climate, mobility and economic vitality.

A unified parking fund was also created to make the program financially self sustaining. Something that is critical there is some agencies do not have a self supporting singular program where there is just a parking fund, but we do. Then shortly thereafter, in February 2022, counsel introduced an ordinance giving public works the legal authority to issue citations. Counsel Thereafter, in May 2022, the program officially launched. I came aboard.

That meant new vehicles, new branding, new parking technicians, and an active enforcement program that took flight citywide. That brings us to today where ADA violations have become an increasingly important part of our enforcement focus. So our parking enforcement mission is, it's pretty simple, to ensure that every Alameda Street is welcoming and accessible for every single person. But when vehicles block sidewalks, crosswalks or wheelchair ramps, that mission is failed. This is not just a parking inconvenience.

You see, when a wheelchair user finds a ramp blocked or when a person using a walker cannot get past a truck parked on the sidewalk, they are forced into the street and oftentimes into traffic. Now, that is a serious safety crisis. I am sure we would all agree. We have documented exactly the situation in Alameda and you will see photos of this in just a few slides. There is three dimensions to why this matters so much to our department and our program.

First, mobility barriers. Blocked curb ramps and sidewalks directly prevent people with disabilities from moving freely throughout their city. And quite frankly, that is unacceptable. Second, pedestrian safety. People forced off the sidewalk and into the roadway face real injury risk.

This is especially acute on some of our busier commercial corridors along Park Street and Webster Street. And then three, our legal obligation. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that accessible routes remain clear and enforcement is how the city holds, upholds rather, our legal and moral commitment. Since we launched the enforcement program in May 2022 through the end of fiscal year 2025 through '26, our parking technicians have issued four seventy one citations specifically for ADA related violations. Now, these violations have generated north of $64,000 in assessed fines.

That is just the fine that does not include penalties. Penalties are assessed in the event someone does not pay their original fine amount within a certain timeframe. The stacked bar chart on this slide tells an important story. In our first year, which is fiscal year twenty twenty two-twenty three, we issued 41 citations. We were just getting started at that point.

Staffing was limited and the program was brand new. By fiscal year twenty three-twenty four, that number jumped to 124 which is essentially a threefold increase as our team found its footing. Then in fiscal year 'twenty four-'twenty five, this was our highest year yet at 166 citations. Our current fiscal year 'twenty five-'twenty six continues to show strong growth. As of March, we have issued 140 citations, generating roughly north of 25 ks in revenue, making this our highest March year to date on record.

What does that reflect? Well, the fact that our fine amounts have been updated to better reflect the seriousness of these violations. Parking on sidewalks has consistently been the most common violation making up the majority of citations per year. Disabled parking violations have been rising steadily and are now one of our largest categories. So, this table here gives you the full picture by year and by violation type.

A few things stand out. Parking on the sidewalk, what we would cite under vehicle code 22,500 Frank has been our most common ADA violation across all years, accounting for roughly two ninety six of our four seventy one total citations. Now, that's 63% of all ADA related tickets. Disabled parking violations, and this is where someone parks in a designated disabled space without a placard or disabled plate, has grown the most in relative terms going from eight citations in year one to 46 in fiscal year twenty five-twenty six. That reflects both increased enforcement attention and frankly, a real problem that we have been seeing out there and addressing.

Crosswalk violations went from six in year one to a peak of 23 in fiscal year twenty four-twenty five and parking near handicap access ramps, citations under vehicle code 22522, has climbed, has rather been climbing as well going from zero in year one to 13 last fiscal year. The total fine revenue line also tells an important story from 4,600 roughly in year one to just over 25,000 in the last year. This growth reflects that more enforcement activity and higher fine amounts have been doing their job. So this map here was pulled from our citation processing system. It is a TurboData system.

It is one of the service providers that our department is in contract with. They provide citation processing services, a pretty awesome dashboard with, you know, this data platform here. It shows a geographic distribution of all four seventy one ADA citations issued to date. Now, that is from May 2022 to March 2026. The color coding works on a spectrum where the green areas represent the highest concentration of violations, which is our hot spots.

The orange indicates moderate frequency and red represents locations with fewer citations. And so, as you can see, the densest clusters are in our two main commercial corridors, that being Park And Webster Street area, but then also take note that there is a good amount of concentration along Santa Clara and Lincoln Avenue. Now, these are our busiest pedestrian areas and not coincidentally, the places where we see the most blocked handicapped, blocked sidewalks rather and curb ramps. What I also want to point out here is the breadth of the map. Violations are not just confined to just downtown areas.

They show up in the residential neighborhoods on the West End, even out towards Harbor Bay Isle, the Gold Coast, the Silver Coast and some of our school areas. Now, this is exactly why our enforcement strategy involves both targeted hotspots and rotating coverage across different neighborhoods every day, So no part of the city is overlooked. In addition to what our parking technicians observe directly, the public can report ADA access issues through C Click Fix, our online service request platform. And if I generated this QR code correctly, you should be able to pull out your phone, scan that QR code, and that will take you to our public facing request system. It's pretty easy, just a few steps.

You can submit a variety of requests either as a registered person or anonymously from blocked sidewalks, parking meter outages, street lights, traffic signals, you know, etcetera. When a resident, why this is important, when a resident sees a blocked ramp or a vehicle parked on a sidewalk, they can of course submit a report and then our team will respond. So there is an integration feature where a public person will submit a request. There is an integrator and then it will come into a supervisor's point of view and we have the opportunity to create a work order and issue to staff. In our case, as it relates to parking, a public request will come in typically with a picture because they speak volumes.

Myself do review these requests daily and then I will assign them to our lead enforcement technician and they will put a set of eyes on it and pending that we have adequate resources available, they will respond. Now, this is not something even though the public can submit requests in real time, it does not mean, and we do respond to the public once a request is made, this does not mean that we respond in real time. Think of PD. Just because a call is made to PD that, hey, there is a traffic accident, they are not there with, you know, not always, but within a reasonable timeframe. But at least what helpful is we are able to identify where some of these hotspots are, where some of these requests are coming from.

This is a true fact. This last year, we began to receive more and more requests by means of our outreach to the school superintendent with Alameda Unified, making them aware of this Fix platform, we began to see a ton of requests. What type of requests would you see in some of these school zones? Well, it was just parents dropping off their kids, trying to get them off to school. Unfortunately, however, our enforcement team's observations was there is not always a dedicated drop off zone.

So what happens is it complicates the scenario and they observe vehicles parked on crosswalks. They are trying to do the right thing. But at least the point I am trying to make is we are able to identify where some of these areas are so that we can align some of our efforts pending the resource availability. So, as you can see here, the data is striking here in calendar year 2023. We received 60 ADA related service requests through C Click Fix.

That grew to 102 in 2024 and then peaked to 161 in 2025, which is a threefold increase nearly in just two years. Moving into 2026, that figure of 34, the reason it's low is because it only reflects from January to April. So, it's just an ongoing active period and we do expect the full year to be substantially higher as the months progress. So, we take these reports seriously. As I mentioned before, each one reflects a real person who was unable to navigate their neighborhood as they had every right to do.

The growth in reports is a sign of both increasing community awareness and of the trust residents are placing in us to respond. Between our own citations and the community reports that we do respond to, we are building a comprehensive picture of where these access barriers are and of course, are working to address them. So I should have noted at the beginning of this presentation that none of these photos were pulled from Google. These are all photos taken by our citation team, our enforcement team. The photo on the left, of course, shows a pickup truck parked squarely across a marked crosswalk and a wheelchair curb ramp.

The yellow truncated dome tiles, those little textured yellow strips at the curb are completely inaccessible. A wheelchair user, someone with a walker, a parent with a stroller, none of them could have used that ramp. In this particular situation, the vehicle received citations under multiple vehicle codes for the wheelchair curb, blocking handicap access, and I would ask who can guess what the citation amount was, I will tell you it was north of $550 not a good way to spend your money. The photo on the right is from June 2025. You will see a white van parked entirely on the sidewalk.

There in the background, if you zoom in, you can see a man walking with a cane. This person was forced in to, rather, to walk around the nose of the van and into the roadway. Our enforcement team observed this. Of course, the van had received a citation. It is there on the window and visible. And these are one of many types of situations that we are trying to prevent. The lower picture shows a vehicle blocking a sidewalk as well. What is unique about this picture here, and I'll just speak on this, our enforcement coverage, our operating hours, if you will, are Monday through Friday, four a. M. To seven p.

M. So what we're trying to target in those two time slots are some of our early morning street sweeping hours and then towards the tail end of the day, some of the business districts. Initially, when we started the program, we were only enforcing to six p. M. But then we worked with our merchants and our business districts to see where we could improve.

And so we took it a step further and we expanded our enforcement coverage by one hour because there was an immediate need in some of these downtown business district corridors. What were these issues? Well, was, to be quite honest, it was the Uber Eats drivers and just the delivery trucks that were trying to do their business, but they were just parking right in the middle of the intersection, loading docks, landing right on a crosswalk and it was creating a variety of problems. So that picture there shows, demonstrates or rather reflects some of our early morning enforcement. So, of course, wanted the Commission to see that these images, they make concrete evidence what some of these numbers on these previous slides represent.

Every one of those four seventy one citations reflects a situation like one of these. Here we go. Here is another slide with a couple of pictures where vehicles you can see are parking on a sidewalk, an SUV parking on a crosswalk, blocking a curb ramp and you can see the fine amounts. It is no fun. And if you look further into the picture behind the black Toyota, you can see a truck that was parked 18 inches away from the curb facing the wrong side of the street and then adjacent to that, parallel to that rather, was another vehicle parking on the sidewalk.

I mean, this is a real, real, real common issue. Here's a couple more cities just to sort of demonstrate the territory by which our team canvases. So, this is, I believe, the 1300 Block Of 3rd Street near Encinal High School. There is a common occurrence where vehicles are blocking a, you know, an access ramp and the same vehicles will get a citation. Sometimes they pay them, sometimes they won't, but it just demonstrates that we are trying to be everywhere as much as possible.

And then here, near Encinal High School, the picture on the left you can see is where the pictures on the right are actually parked. What is interesting about these photos is not the fine amount and why the black vehicle received two citations and had to pay $298 but the vehicle just behind it, the red vehicle with the disabled placard, was trying to do the right thing, park in a designated accessible space. Unfortunately, the high school student that parked the black car had no regard for the red curb that they were parked next to or the blue curb line. So what was the outcome? Well, it ended up pushing the person with the accessible placard, that vehicle, back.

It is a little hard to see, but if you zoom in, it pushed that vehicle into a ramp, which is, you know, it is unfortunate for two situations. Number one, we did not end up giving the red vehicle a citation here because they were trying to do the right thing. The black vehicle did receive a citation. There was a decent or adequate ish enough space behind the red vehicle so that a user could use that curb ramp, but this happens all the time. Here is another one near one of our, I believe it is a class one bike lanes on Clement Avenue.

This vehicle received a citation, approximately $375 and the violations are clear blocking a bike lane, crosswalk, access ramp at eleven in the morning. Okay. So, I want to spend a moment on our fine structure because it is directly relevant to this deterrence question. Our current ADA related fines are already among the highest in our general Bay Area region with the exception of SFMTA, that being San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Authority. Parking at a designated space without a valid placard carries a $353 fine.

Parking within the access aisle adjacent to a handicap wrap is $316 Now, blocking a wheelchair curb cut is $237 Now, these are not trivial amounts and they do reflect the city's commitment to treating accessibility violations as serious offenses. However, staff has reviewed our fine structure against comparable agencies in the Bay Area and we believe that there is room to go further. As part of the upcoming master fee schedule update, we are proposing to increase these fines. That will be taken to City Council June. Now, the goal is not to generate revenue, but to increase compliance.

It is also, you know, there to create a stronger deterrence. We want the financial consequence to be significant enough that drivers think twice before parking in an accessible space or simply blocking a ramp. So I want the Commission to know that this work and as part of this master fee schedule update, it is underway and we are year over year committed to making sure that our fine structure is as strong as possible. So let me close with where we are headed. First, expanding our patrol coverage.

Also, to City Council on June 2 as part of our mid cycle update is the ask for one additional full time parking enforcement position. So currently, we have two full time parking enforcement technicians and three part time. I will say that again, two full time, three part time. Come June 2, as part of the mid cycle budget, we are asking for an additional, which means we would have three full time, three part time. Why is that important?

We have three zones across the city of Alameda from the East End to the West End with three full time enforcement technicians and three part time technician, parking enforcement technicians, we can have two enforcement human beings in per zone. And so, of course, we would naturally have an additional part time person just as a floater, you know, responding to calls and such, but it really is an important ask to counsel. We are trying to be everywhere and we cannot. So, our parking enforcement technicians, they follow routes and rotate through all areas of the city every day. We don't want any neighborhood to feel forgotten.

At the same time, we are using our citation processors heat map to direct any additional resources to the highest frequency hotspots, particularly around our school areas, our business districts. Second, proposed fine increases. As I mentioned on some of the previous slides, the upcoming master fee schedule update will recommend or rather include recommendations to raise these ADA related fines. And we believe that this is an important next step in strengthening this deterrence. The third one is education.

We will continue our outreach efforts on our commercial corridors and a lot of times that is just our presence, which also includes the residential areas to help drivers understand why these accessible routes must remain clear. And this is especially important, as I have noted earlier, for some of our loading and unloading situations where we often see commercial vehicles stopping on sidewalks or in front of ramps. And then fourth, the data driven enforcement. We are committed to using our enforcement data, heat maps, see click fix reports, citation trends to continuously refine where and how we deploy our team. So as the city grows and patterns shift, we will naturally adjust accordingly.

Our mission has not changed. Every street should be welcoming and accessible to every person. We know that we are not there yet, but the data shows we are making real progress and we are committed to continuing that work. So, I want to thank you for the opportunity to present this information to the Commission. I hope this gives you somewhat of a clear picture of where our ADA enforcement program stands and then the direction that we are heading.

I want to personally thank Chair, Vice Chair and the Commission members for all the work that you do. Your advocacy with, you know, for persons with disabilities in Alameda is exactly, you know, the kind of engagement that helps us prioritize what matters most. So please accept this presentation and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Speaker De La Torre. At this time, we'll do clarifying technical questions just to reiterate that this is just a time for any clarifying questions related to the presentation or data presented within. And we then we will ask for any public comment. And then after that, we can ask for a motion that might be related to the presentation or the material contained or anything that the commission would like to put forth, as well as then discussion amongst commissioners and other clarifying questions or, excuse me, discussion questions. Thank you.

I just have one. First of all, you for the presentation. That's great. You had mentioned that there is, or actually your charts showed the growing numbers of citations that have been given. So for clarification, is it because you have more people out there giving the citations? Or do you think it's because people's behavior is getting worse? Or is it both?

I think it's a thank you for the question, Commissioner Schmitz. Yes. I think it's a combination of both. You know, when we inherited this program in 2022, there was a couple things that were happening. We were training enforcement technicians how to do their job.

They were at the same time learning a laundry list of municipal codes and vehicle codes, so we're just learning like what do we have the authority to to cite. They were learning the 14 square miles of Alameda, and as years progressed, we said, hey, let's use some of this C click fix data to say how can we weave, bake some of these areas in. And just to give you some perspective, when an enforcement technician goes out, just because they have a designated route, let's say a street sweeping route, right, to do all some of the time zones, etcetera, They're not solely focused on hitting street sweeping signs. If in fact they're crossing a street and they happen to see a vehicle parked near a fire hydrant, boom, citation, or any other type of violation along their normal travels, they will issue a citation. So to go back to the question, you know, more enforcement means that we could just have more coverage to issue citations.

And I just want to touch on one piece. You know, when we inherited this program, we hired a parking consultant to help us with some of our revenue projections, right? How are we going to support our own program? Is this going to be a self sufficient program with the citation revenue? We had salaries that we needed to support, service provider agreements that we needed to support.

And at the time, our parking consultants projected that one full time person should issue about 14 to 24 citations. So Ricardo comes in as the parking manager, first parking manager in the City Of Albany, he says, Okay, let's see how we can get there. I will tell you to date, on average, enforcement personnel are issuing between eighty and one hundred citations a day. How long has that lasted, Ricardo? That's been lasting since, I would say, January 2023.

It was very, very quick. The adoption rate on how to start issuing citations, understanding what our authority to cite was, was very quick. I will say that Alameda is a leader in the citation issuance. Our team knows the municipal code and the vehicle code very, very well. To further, go further on this topic, have we seen a decrease a decrease in compliance because we have been issuing more citations? I regret to inform you not really. Not really. It doesn't matter. People do not care. So we keep issuing citations.

The next question may be, well, Ricardo, have you been noticing that you've been issuing the same citations to the same vehicles for ADA related citations? Sometimes, but not often. Some of our frequent flyers are those that are parking near their house in a street sweeping zone or the people that are patroning some of our businesses and just not paying the meter. Whether they are service providers or what have you. So I hope that that's a very bachelor way of responding to the question but I was hoping that, you know, more would be better.

Yeah, I appreciate that. And then just another quick follow-up from that is you said your citation technicians, are they the only ones who write these tickets or do, does Alameda PD, an officer on patrol, write those tickets as well?

It's a great question. So currently, Public Works owns the parking violation. So as part of our master fee schedule, there is a list of violations that our team has the authority to cite. Currently, in the master fee schedule, weaved in are citations that are moving violations such as like mooring or parking in a class. There like a bike lane violation that only a sworn officer can issue a citation against because it is a vehicle traveling for an extended amount of time in a bike lane.

So we identified this, and it's been a task item of mine for literally two years, was to delineate and separate what exactly is public works authority and what is PD's authority. So that will debut likely July 1 as part of, as soon as, once counsel adopts the master fee schedule. But to answer the question about, you know, are we the only one? No. Our police department will issue citations.

They just do not have police technicians or non sworn staffing resources available to issue the types of citations that we do. And that segues into why Public Works Inherit took over this parking program, not to discredit our awesome PD staff, but they didn't have a dedicated parking program with parking enforcement technicians. One of our lead enforcement technicians did work for the police department as like a police assistant doing a variety of functions, but the need was greater and we identified it and said, hey, if we inherit this and create a program, create something out of nothing, then we can, you know, hopefully decrease, or excuse me, increase compliance and decrease some of this unsavory parking behavior.

Thank you.

No? Alright.

We're doing clarifying questions. Yeah. For Thank

you very much. Great presentation as well. And you kind of touched on this a minute ago, but you mentioned again the self sustaining feature of this program. Could you give me a little more information about what that means in terms of the overall budget for the program? Does that include all the equipment and the training? And how does it all fit into the new position you are going to be requesting funding for?

That's a great question. Thank you Commissioner Lipp for pronouncing it correctly. This is the first time at this Yeah. Okay, Commissioner Lipp, thank you. So the meaning of a self supporting program, what that means unlike some of the other programs that the city offers, we receive no general fund contributions.

So when we built this program out, we had to ensure that our citation revenue would support a variety of things which included staff salaries, our professional services, you know, the pensions, just a fully baked program. I wish I had a slide on it but essentially what's unique about Alameda is we have a parking fund, Fund two sixty five, and within that fund are three divisions. The first division is our civic center garage, the parking structure, so the revenue citations that lives in that division. Then we have the parking meters, which is all of our single space meters, curbside, surface lots and then pay stations peppered throughout the city. And then we have the enforcement division.

So, enforcement division is self supporting and everything combined, revenues go into the parking fund and that supports staff salaries, the professional services and everything that's baked into an overall program.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other clarifying questions?

Yeah, I have one. First, thank you for framing this in a way that this isn't just about accessibility, but it's also about mobility and safety and access to the city. Because when you mentioned going around a van in like a stroller or a walker, and then I'm thinking what about someone who's visually impaired? I can't even imagine not being able to see anything and taking the risk of walking into the street. So thank you for that. My clarifying question was about See Click Fix. So when citizens report violations, do you then issue violations or is that just for gathering data on what's happening where?

It's a great question. Thank you Commissioner

Knaedler.

Knaedler, thank you for clarifying. It's twofold. So, the public facing service request system serves a variety of purposes for public works and various programs in the city. As it relates to parking, we can use the data, write the C click fix data to see like where some of these, you know, our top concerns are and create a heat map. But we, it's just one of two avenues that we have where the community members can submit a request to say, hey, this, you know, car is blocking the driveway, this vehicle has been parked here for two weeks or this vehicle is always parking in the bike lane, right?

So, I review those requests every day and on average we will get overall, not including ADA, for parking related requests, maybe 15 to 25. Our lead enforcement technician will put a set of eyes on them and say, Okay, triage this. How can we mitigate anything? Because just because we received a request at 11:00 last night does not mean that the vehicle is going to be there the next day. But at least we can say that we have responded as part of our routine travels.

The other awesome way, because not everyone has a smart device or has access to a computer, is through our parking inbox. Bear with me. They can send an email to parkingalamedaca dot gov but the easier way is by calling 510522 All of this information is on our city's website. 522 Park is 522-7275. And what will happen is somebody can call and report a vehicle blocking an access ramp.

They will talk to a real human being in Alameda, our admin staff. Our admin staff will then jump on to Teams and put the RP information, the reporting party's information and then immediately in real time on our enforcement technician's handheld, they will get an alert that such and such a report came in at such and such address. So 510522 Park is honestly the easiest way, like the quickest way to get something reported but there is a couple different options.

Thank you.

Okay. Any other clarifying questions from the commissioners? At this time, I'll open it to Commissioner Bondsmith, if there's any questions there. I'm just watching for a hand raised. And now for public comment, we have speaker Denise Trepanier. Apologies. I will allow you to unmute. Go ahead.

Thank you. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Great. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. My name is Denise Trepanier, and I'm the board president for Bike Walk Alameda. So first of all, we wanted to thank staff for this presentation. I agree it was really interesting to see this data broken out and split out this way. And I know this isn't a Q and A session for the public, but I guess I just had a couple of questions or thoughts.

First of all, it's exciting to hear that we're going to have expanded traffic enforcement resources, hopefully, staff I'm sorry, assuming council approves the proposals. But I I wanted to see or or I'm hoping, requesting that that work or or those additional resources not just be used to, you know, increase our the number of people on the road at any time issuing citations, but also that we could look at expanding our hours. My understanding is that most of the traffic enforcement is, you know, either aligned with kind of street sweeping or during metered hours. But we're seeing lots of sidewalk violations, lots of bike lane violations that occur after metered hours, especially in our business districts. You've got the the food delivery drivers.

Because our bike lanes there are unprotected, you know, they're it's very easy for them to double park and sit in there while they wait for their order. So it's become a real problem after the metered hour. So that was one thing I was hoping we could look into. And then the other one was, I just had a question about AB four thirteen. That's the state law that was passed prohibiting parking within 20 feet of an intersection and I know we haven't started to really enforce that much.

So again, I know this isn't a Q and A, but I was just curious, will the expanded resources allow us to start finally enforcing 8b four thirteen? It's a real safety issue for pedestrians. Thank you. That was it. Again, thanks for the great presentation.

Okay. Thank you, speaker Trepanier. Just checking for any other public comment. If you have joined us remotely or via phone, you are welcome to raise your hand at this time. K. Seeing that there is no more, we will trans now go into well, just to ask the commission if there is a particular motion that the commission would like to put forth related to this presentation, not to lead anything. But as speaker De La Torre mentioned, he will be taking this information to counsel. So if there is a relevant motion from the commission or any sort of recommendation within that, otherwise, we will just do further discussion and questions.

No motion? Well, I think we need to discuss before we would do a motion. You

can do either way.

Okay. Yeah. Well, I was I would feel more comfortable, or I won't participate in a motion until, like, we have a little bit more of a discussion. Who but if others want wants to get started?

Staff secretary, a question. So I do, as part of one of the remote public comments, If I may, I'd like to respond. I think that there's some value in just providing some further follow-up clarification on those two items, if that's okay? Staff Secretary Jewell?

Chair Mullins?

I would be interested to hear, so yes please.

Thank you.

Okay, great. Fun fact, I have a meeting in a couple weeks with our bike walk Alameda group, and it's awesome they've got some new data, bike lane uprising, just to kind of plug what they are doing that has been helpful to parking enforcement where they have been able to identify some of the hotspots, not just in Alameda, for the Alameda team, but just overall within the Bay Area. So, it has really been helpful there. There is two points that I recall hearing. One, about expanded coverage resources if counsel approves this additional FTE full time employee and then a b four a b four thirteen, which if my memory serves me right, was effective 01/01/2025.

So the city identified, just as by means of some context, the city had identified, you know, through some of our high injury corridors where some of these vulnerable intersections are at. And while, so in response to that, we had daylighted a number of intersections, red curb, at all approaches. One of the unique features about AB four thirteen to my recollection is that we, agencies, have the authority to site vehicles that are parked within X amount of feet of an intersection that has no sign and has no curb painting. Is there abuse out there? Absolutely.

Does it happen? Absolutely. I will say this, that during our enforcement's routine travels, they will issue a citation if it is part of their routine travels. We cannot be everywhere all of the time. If we receive a C click fix or a call about a specific vehicle, one area that is a hotspot that hyper focused on AB 413 here, this daylighting lot, is on Alameda Avenue near the high school.

That's one area that does come to mind. So, I just wanted to note that. And part of the FTE would just further support when staff are in their routine travels, it is, you know, they can just be there and then carry on with, you know, whatever their enforcement activities are. So that touches on second point there, but going back to the first point about expanded hours, you know, what is helpful in these situations is a letter of correspondence, frankly a letter to city council. If we want to expand these hours, we need more resources And if we give here, something else is going to have to give, right?

So our enforcement coverage is currently from 4AM to 7PM. And even with three full time and three part time, it's not going to fit squarely or have a perfect marriage. There will be some gaps. So as our program continues to grow, we've already demonstrated as part of our staff report going to counsel that this is absolutely a self supporting program. We can support ourselves.

So there is no general fund contribution. So I welcome any letters of support so that we can hit those marks and expand coverage, say, to 8PM. Walnut Creek does it. Recently, the City of Oakland expanded their hours to late, I think it's 8PM, and then now on Sundays. Currently, the municipal code does not give us the authority, Alameda, to site or charge for parking on Sundays, but I'm not saying that it can't happen.

Alright. Who wants to get started? Do you have a question? Nope. Okay. Commissioner Luke, do you have questions?

Yes. So AB four thirteen, is that, and it's been, it says 20 feet. I was not familiar with that. So how come we don't paint all the intersections within 20 feet? Now let me just people know about that.

You know, that is a great question. With, so of course, painting things, putting up signs, there is this, you know, there is sign clutter. We can't just paint all the curbs red, as colorful as it would look and as clear as the message would be. I think that is one of the unique features of AB four thirteen is it does allow the agencies to not expend monies to painting curves. I am not familiar with all the bill text in terms of how AB four thirteen got to, you know, pass through legislation but, you know, will say this as part of some of the high injury corridors and daylighted intersections, there is a good amount of intersections that are daylighted, all four corners painted red and it is crystal crystal clear.

Clear.

Thank you.

Go ahead. Sure. I can kick us off in a different direction. I'm kind of curious a little bit more about how your department works and partners with other programs and departments, whether that's in the city or other programs around the county. We were looking at the chart.

One of the highest ticketed or cited violations was parking in a space that was labeled for disabled parking but with no placard. What, if anything, is your team doing to help make it easier for our community who we serve here on this commission to apply for and get those parking hangers and placards. Because I could imagine and I want to give a lot of people benefit of the doubt that they may see that space available, know that they have a disability that's visible or invisible, and need to go somewhere and cannot find any other parking that would be relatively close. So do you have any partnerships or programs that you could tell us about that makes it easier for our communities to comply with the law and be in compliance in parking?

Thank you for the question, Commissioner Beeler. Pronouncing that one first, so first for everyone. Thank you for that. So internally, our department does work with some of our neighboring departments, our planning, building, transportation department, specifically our transportation manager that leads some of our commercial streets. So, they'll, you know, add designated spaces on some of our commercial streets, you know, along Park Street and Webster Street.

And so, we will become aware and that will waterfall its way down to the community. Before I get too further, to touch on a point, the city, I am not aware of our, I know public works does not issue, of course, ADA placards. In terms of the outreach that our ADA coordinator does, I would have to turn to staff member Lillian Jewell to clarify some of those provide some clarification on what exactly the city is doing to provide resources to some of the community about, like, how they can get their placard or what we're doing. I do know that, as part of some of our capital improvement projects, we are in our ADA in transition plan. We are weaving in some of the accessibility stuff.

A couple locations that come to mind, excuse me, most recently at Harbor Bay Ferry Terminal, we had added a number of ADA spaces at that two fifty space lot. I think we increased the accessible space count by three or four. Over at the Civic Center parking structure recently, so we have about a million and a half invested over there to increase the aesthetics, the security and then provide some accessible EV spaces. And that's, you know, out of that three forty one space facility, there is approximately 12 spaces and we are increasing those 12 accessible spaces by like two or three. At our Seaplane Lagoon Ferry Terminal, another capital project that took off a few years back, we have approximately 400 public spaces.

Of those 400 spaces, approximately 12 are accessible. So, as we are building out some of, on some of these capital projects, there are additional accessible spaces and that is from a public works front but then of course our transportation team has a variety of projects as well.

Great. That's helpful. I know that my own family is going through this process, right? It's like years long, 8,000,000 doctors appointments, proof and all these things and can be really challenging. So just giving some of those violations may be some benefit of the doubt that maybe they truly did need that space and it wasn't available or easy to get the placard. So it's good to hear that you do have some partnerships there. I have some other questions that are unrelated. I don't know if anybody has another related question around the parking in the disabled space.

I have a smattering, so I feel like I'm just Go ahead going and take your time if you want. Don't know if we can go topically.

Right, right, right. My next question was about, again, with partnerships. I'm just curious how this team is working collaboratively. What are we doing to deal with these hot spots with the well intentioned people you mentioned like school drop off and pick up, right, getting congestion, maybe blocking crosswalks or the wheelchair ramps and accessible sidewalks? Sidewalks. What kind of programs are we doing to improve the compliance and also preserve that traffic flow and reduce, obviously, the violations?

That's a great question. I think it's twofold. One of the benefits, and of course it just speaks to the benefit of having an ADA coordinator join Public Works that we can raise that awareness, broadcast to the community and the public like this is what accessibility means in Alameda, how it functions and what its purpose is. And then, of course, on the enforcement arm, we are there to increase, raise the awareness. I will say some people don't care, but people do and we do combat, for lack of better terms, the unsavory parking behavior, absolutely.

So, it's a concerted effort, but there's always opportunity to do more and welcome to any feedback.

Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you. And I think you kind of already addressed my last question actually about the addressing in new projects or in areas that seem to not have adequate parking. I mean, certainly ADA accessible parking is an issue. But I think many of us have experienced issues no matter where we go on the island. We have a lot of people, a lot of cars, and not a lot of parking spaces. I know I struggle to find space around my home as well. So, it sounds like that's something that we are doing as a city and in the planning sessions. And I appreciate that your team is involved in that as well. And then, just one minor comment that I am sure that Lillian could actually speak to more than me possibly.

As your drive on feedback, I think that the hotspot data might be a little bit difficult for color blind individuals because the green and red were very bright. And I think that could be difficult to see. So I wonder if a color assessment on that slide would be helpful for future presentations.

Thank you for the comment. And just to respond, so I think that there's value in providing some of these heat maps or some of this visual data to the public, no different like, hey, this is where our street lights are at. You can go to a GIS, ArcGIS map, public facing, and just kind of click around. In terms of updating our enforcement web page, you mentioned that there was this reminds me of my undergrad years and color theory classes. The not complementary colors were red and orange, you said? Or they were just tough on the eyes?

Yeah, I think the red and green typically challenging for color blind individuals, which I am not one, it's hard. But I think that's right. And, yeah, I certainly understand that. We were actually speaking before this meeting about maps and GIS data being difficult to make accessible, but I think maybe a different color selection would make it even more accessible.

Okay. So, just to thank you for that information. Green red. Green and red? Okay. That sistering, if you will, of the colors is tough. Right. Okay. Yeah, so maybe we can get some guidance from staff on more appropriate colors.

And I am color blind. And so I was totally lost during that slide. There was actually a note I was going to make right down here. It was also even the graph, you had a graph with colors on it. And it was easier to follow. But if you can maybe use different formulas, not even relying on colors at all You

can do patterns.

Patterns. It would be a much more effective way, I think, to communicate that data.

I think this is really taking an interesting turn to visual accessibility and how there's just so many different kinds of accessibility. And I was about to say, like, one in five people has it. So someone in this room but we didn't want to call that person out. So thanks for speaking up. But yeah, different colors, different symbols. Like, there's just a lot of different ways to communicate visually so that people that have some sort of impairment or see differently can still get the same data.

Yeah, thank you for the feedback, commission members. We'll work with staff to identify some of those barriers, if you will, and then update our slides because, of course, it goes, you know, accessibility goes beyond parking enforcement. There's auditory sensory and just a number of things. So I welcome and appreciate any of the feedback.

And if you're working in PowerPoint, think it actually has accessibility check, not to plug a major corporation's products, but a of products will have accessibility checks built in.

Thank you.

Did you have a question?

I just have a comment and a suggestion. So you said that for community education, currently that's primarily your presence. Right? Yeah. So I just had a suggestion because I think there's an opportunity for more public facing accessibility education that helps people understand not just the rules, but the lived impacts that these have.

So like all four of the fines, because that obviously teaches people. But I still think a lot of people are open to learning. And I think that sometimes people just maybe forget. So one example might be signage that would be like, hey, this space is needed by somebody to exit their vehicle. Or I don't know, just I'm thinking simple, clear graphics, clear words to remind people or maybe let people know that don't know why it's there. And obviously, some people are going to ignore it like you repeat offenders. But that could be one way to educate and enforce at the same time.

Absolutely. So just to confirm what I'm hearing, this would be public facing signage, right?

Yeah. Okay. Like at the curb cut. This curb cut is for block, kind of like if it was a three year old and you want to explain it to them. But it's more for like public awareness, public education, and public engagement too.

Did you have more?

Nope, that was it.

Okay. Otherwise, was going to pile on because that was a big piece of thank you very much for the presentation. Very exciting to have this focus. I've struggled trying to get around and find parking when I need back when I had a wheelchair ramp in the van. It's not even just having an ADA spot per se. It's like a specific type of ADA spot where I can open to the right side. It can be a huge frustration and it can curtail activities. We would end up going home sometimes. So very important work. Really appreciate the efforts.

And I had something of a reaction about I have a concern that I worry about there being an association with ADA requirements and kind of a sum zero type of thinking and associating disabled spots with just a kind of a backlash. So I love the idea of winning hearts and minds on this journey. Don't not that it's your job to do this necessarily or it falls within your remit, but just something to keep in mind even in the communication about the project you are doing. I think it's important to have enforcement. It's important that folks understand in this community, we take it seriously and that the spot's reserved for certain users with the placards, with the certain rights to use those spaces, we're gonna take that seriously.

It's not just a suggestion. So enforcement is a piece of that. I also think awareness is a huge thing. I think I'm confused about the cutouts and the curb and, like, I didn't necessarily know that you couldn't park in front of a cutout, like, at the end of 3rd Street. Like, I, know, I might have committed that type of an error, you know, and then with the a b four thirteen example where signage isn't necessarily required, paint isn't necessarily required, I just feel like there's an element of a more, like, let's do this together, Alameda approach, you know, and not to say again, not thinking sum zero about this, not to say we don't pursue the enforcement aspect, which is, you know, I think it's it's a hangover from COVID as well when it was, you know, for years, there was almost no parking enforcement, which, you know, we were dealing with other things as a community.

But kind of as we get back online, so to speak, and come back, you know, and are having friction and bumping up against each other and trying to, you know, share this, what was it, 14 square mile space? Fun fact I learned tonight. I just think there's another element that collectively, you know, as part of what we're here to do is raise awareness and have people want to comply. And there's just this opportunity that we have with the human element. And I remember, like, when I would go around with my daughter and I would have this it was just like having a bullhorn with no bullhorn by just being human beings and just being like, are you gonna use that spot?

Because we really need it, you know, with somebody just kind of perched in an ADA spot. And I I just wonder if there's this is my thought that I had. I'm not a marketer, and I'm not a professional in this area, but I'm gonna pitch it anyway. It's like, do we have, like, this kind of lower level, quote, unquote, enforcement? It's like I had a little note. You know? It's friendly, and it's like, hey. Do you know you have neighbors here in Alameda who, like, really need this spot? Like, I don't know how we would articulate it, but something just along the lines of, you know, like, just part of the reason why it occurred to me sorry, I'm going to ramble here. But part of the reason why it occurred to me is also I don't know if increasing the fines is going to increase compliance.

And at the end of the day, our commission, I think, is really focused on how do we and not to say you're not, but, like, one of the things I feel like I I'll just use an I statement. I'm laser focused on how do we actually open up these spots or, like, keep them turning, you know, for the people who, like, are really like, desperately need to go to that store or go to that appointment, and those spots are, like, being misused. And so I just wanna get creative with the approach to it. And I I worry about the backlash, like, not really driving compliance, and I worry about the, like, a bigger, more societal thing is it's a form of a regressive tax. You know?

And there are folks who just are in a hurry. They have two jobs. They're in between. You know, they're on their way from one to another, and they just get another parking ticket. And it's just like it's a snowball effect. And I just think we need to be mindful of that. And we need to hold all these things and continue to march forward. So I'm just going to give that a voice here, not that it's yours to solve necessarily. But let me give you a chance to respond. I've had a lot of comments here. Not necessarily even any questions. But yeah, I'm interested in your thoughts.

Thank you, Commission Member Mullings. You know, it helps me think about what CHP did to address one of their issues, blasted on the freeway through some of these blackout signs, blank out signs, save a life, don't drink and drive, right? It was front and center. So some of your feedback helps me think about the work that we're doing at Civic Center where we're actively putting up some of our paid parking signage, right? I think there may be an opportunity to incorporate some non regulatory signage that has visuals that just, maybe that could be a pilot site where we educate the community of this space is made like a 24 square sign.

This space is for, you know, and there is a variety of images because there is a variety of human beings that should have access to this space. And then just to kind of transition into a clarifying question that you had, Commission Member Beeler, What are we doing as an agency or rather as a department, let me just zoom out, as an agency to work with some of our other agencies As it relates to signage, kudos to our transportation manager, Lisa Foster, who does a ton of work with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in trying to get grant funding for way finding signage. We have an on call graphic designer to create such signage. So, I do know that we are in the process of securing some MTC grant funding for way finding signage throughout our downtown areas. So, I'll make sure that, you know, we put our feelers out there and kind of see this inquiry to see if it's something that we can pursue because if it's going to help the human beings that have every right to be here, live here and have access to everywhere, it sounds like the right thing to do.

I love that.

I just want to comment. Oh, yeah. I got so excited when we started talking about that. I think that's such a cool idea. You know that this stuff is Yes.

You're the pro. This is the expert

over here. Yeah. Really do kind of geek out on this stuff because it's so important to so many people. And I want to believe that the majority of the people don't do things on purpose. They're not meaning to take away a spot from somebody who needs it. They're in a hurry. They're concerned about what their need is in that moment. But I think there's so much that we can do from an education perspective. I remember crossing a street and having someone making a comment about how annoying those yellow little things were to push a stroller across. And it's like, well, I get it. It is annoying. It's a little bumpy if you're on a bike or a baby is being pushed across. It's annoying. But do you really know what they're for? I don't think it was a malicious comment.

It was truly an uneducated comment. And so I also believe that we are a very small, island. And I love all the things like everybody belongs here. That's like such a cool thing for us to have a platform for. So I want to come from a place of I don't think you were doing it on purpose. I think we are here for each other. And if we start with education, I think that would go a long way. So even giving a ticket, because you've got to get a ticket. I mean, if you're blocking a sidewalk, you need a ticket. But adding something into it, I think, is an amazing idea.

Just to note, did you know that there's somebody in this neighborhood who is in a wheelchair and can't get through. I walk my dog every night and I can't I made the joke a while ago that I wish we had badges because I'm like dying to walk around with a ticket book. I walk my dog through the neighborhood and I can't get over how many people block driveways.

Oh, yeah.

And my mind immediately goes to a wheelchair or a stroller or just a mother pushing her kid into the street to get around a car. And it's infuriating. Again, do I think they park there and say, I'm going to block this driveway so no one can get by? No. I think they can't find a parking spot and they pull in and they don't think about it. So I love the idea coming from an educated perspective because guess what? If you're not gonna pay that ticket, you're not gonna pay that ticket. You know what I mean? Like the ticket has to happen but a lot of people just don't pay their tickets and they don't care.

Yeah. So anyway And not to get like too too down the rabbit hole, but like even could be like you get a ticket, but what if we had like an not an amnesty program, but like a volunteer program. Like Yeah. You know, and we say like, hey, you know, I just I do worry about the financial burden just because ticket snowball. Yeah. And maybe it's like my past experience when I was a student. Like Yeah. We get a lot of tickets and then, you know, it just it can be really burdensome. And I just I don't wanna create that adversarial relationship, especially in the ADA context. If we can to the extent we can avoid it. Or, you know, like, if we can mitigate it a bit, I think it just it could be great. I don't know.

Totally agree.

Trying to see the opportunity in the crisis. But, again, I'm not asking for you and your department, you know, in in all that you have on on your plate to solve for this, but just it's maybe an idea, you know, where we can I don't know? Take on more like, put it in our newsletter. Lillian's here, we'll solve it.

Or ask the community to get involved. Have a contest where somebody creates. Something that they can include in their ticket. We're not asking you to solve it. We're saying, would you participate in something if could we do some sort of combination with a group of people that allows you not to actually do the work but maybe distribute the education?

Thank you for feedback. A unique alternative that may complement this is and it just helps me think about, from time to time, staff will receive an alert email saying, hey, we have some undergrad interns or high school interns looking for work, and it's a paid position, right? And so what I start to think about is, you know, downtown parking ambassadors that could say, hey, I'm here to tell you the rules. Here's a fun flyer before they give you a citation, right? And then on that flyer, it's just like how to save a life or how to, know, perk squarely and

How to be a good perker.

Absolutely. And then just, I'm just thinking out loud in terms of like the actual, on the actual citation itself, we have language on the front, language on the back. We could think about maybe incorporating some sort of tagline that is neutral, universal, but just kind of touches on like, hey, like, you got this. Yeah. Here's something to think about. And I just come what comes to mind is like a fortune cookie. It is literally five to seven words. Mhmm. But you'll sometimes just remember that and just that'll hit home. Mhmm. Yes.

You know? Yeah. And I think we've just again, going back to the theme of how much this area of living in Alameda has changed in the last five years and just all the changes with the what is it? Project Zero? I can't remember what it's called. Is that what it's called? Yeah. Like, just and just the different bike lanes and, you know, for those of us who took our driving test many, many moons ago, you know, it's not and it wasn't even what we learned originally. So I think, again, assuming good intent, you know, and just, like, knowing people, for the most part, wanna do the right thing. So how do we, like, tap into that a bit as part of this whole big picture? And then I would just want to also say

yeah absolutely to both of the all the things you've all said and to reemphasize that like community building aspect which is something that we really care about and our next item will kind of talk about. And I like the idea of that incorporation of the language on signage or even the citation itself, that something that's saying, we're all in this together. We all belong here. Be considerate and think about your neighbors who maybe you did inconvenience at this moment when you were rushing into the store because you just needed one thing.

And I think staff would accept feedback from what to essentially model what some of our neighboring agencies are doing too or within the region just to further support a unified approach for this type of guidance signage.

If I may, oh, go ahead. Just when you sorry. After your comment, commissioner, let Vice Chair Bon Smith has her hand raised online.

And then I have commissioner Lyon's list that I have not forgotten. So just for the record. But go ahead, please.

Well, think we're kind of on the same page in terms of the focus on education. And I noticed community education was your third priority there as well. And I might throw out that rather than hiring another code enforcement person, why not look at some of those funds to hire a community education manager to help work with the community to broaden this message? A million years ago, I was the citywide volunteer director for the city of Tempe in Arizona. And we had a huge we had over 1,000 volunteers, every department, including the police department.

And I think there's really room for a volunteer initiative here in terms of education components, the warm fuzziness. Also, can still take your phone out. And you can take the picture if they're repeated offenders as well. So I would encourage the department to maybe step back and look at some of those options in terms of that overhead person and what they could do for the department and the community.

Thank you, Commissioner Lip. Commissioner, excuse me, Vice Chair Bondsmith, you can unmute to communicate, please. Okay, go ahead.

If anyone got that, can you repeat it?

Something about violations, ADA spots.

Okay. Sorry. Vice Chair Bondsmith, I just emailed you. Can you just email me your question so I can read it to the group? I'm afraid we couldn't quite understand the audio.

Apologies.

For audio accessibility.

If it's okay, maybe I'll

We'll just Yeah,

right we'll now with Commissioner Lyons.

Yes, I'll give her join, but did send some questions. One that I just want voice in the meeting, but I think you've answered it, but it was something about, is there a way for citizens to take photographs and submit misused ADA parking spots to parking enforcement? And I think you've addressed that by the examples from See Click Fix. Do I have that right?

That is correct.

Okay. And then just to be clear, that's somewhat asynchronous. Like, it might not result in immediately, you know, someone driving up and dealing with it. But at least it's been logged. And to the extent, it sounds like you all consider how you could respond to it, whether it's, you know, you know, something less than in real time. But, yeah, go ahead, please.

That is correct. So I look at, so the see click fix request comes in, it integrates with our enterprise asset management system, not to get all techy, but then it comes into our work order management system called Lucid. So every morning between seven, 07:30AM, I hop on Lucid. I look at all the requests that come in. I'll make staff aware.

I will generally look at Lucidity around the afternoon hour, no guarantee. Sometimes it's once a day, but it is absolutely once a day. While that's a good thing that we have this platform, a better way to make staff aware of this is absolutely call in 5105227475522 that is.

Thank you. I was going to try to show off that. Remember that.

I didn't really

I haven't, no, but it's very good and you've like, you've given me the mnemonic to remember it. So that's awesome. And I think that goes more it sounded to me like from your earlier comments, that's a potentially more calculated to get a quicker response if the other timings and elements line up.

Correct. And for clarification, it's 7,275. Going back to my elder millennial mind when we used to memorize everyone's number. Yes, 7275, and they will be able to talk to one of our public works administration staff who will take in that report and then broadcast it via Teams which will land on our enforcement staff's handheld device.

Got it. And then continuing on the theme of misuse of the ADA spots. It wasn't clear from the visual. Is the Nob Hill Shopping Center considered a hot zone? Or it wasn't clear to me. That's I I don't wanna attribute that to commissioner Lyons, but just we wanna talk about the Nob Hill Shopping Center, and I don't know if it qualifies as a hot zone just based on what we looked at today. I won't claim color blindness is the reason, but I just couldn't quite figure it out. But if it's not a hot zone or I don't know if you know offhand. I know we talked about Park Street and Webster being known hot zones.

Yeah. So thank you for bringing up the question. The city of Alameda, when we inherited this enforcement program, we, unlike PD, we only have the authority to cite in the public right of way or any public owned space, so streets, off street lots, parking garages, etcetera. So places, think of like South Shore Center, Nob Hill, those are out of public works jurisdiction. Now, this kind of ties into the question that you had asked like, you know, so who issues citations to what?

Well, PD does have authority to issue citations in these private lots. If, you know, there is a number of private streets, HOAs in the city. Those are outside of our enforcement jurisdiction. So we truly rely on PD and their efforts. I cannot report on the data for that, but I wish I could. We get calls all the time from HOAs, apartment complexes, where this is an issue, especially on the base, but ultimately citywide and unfortunately the, our hands are tied.

Got it. So I'm gonna push on that a little bit. I understand that how that's clearly true in the enforcement sense, but I'm wondering, you know, and specifically Commissioner Lyons has like outlined a specific recurring problem spot in front of the UPS store. There's a a ADA spot that's it sounds like misused quite a bit. There is an ice cream place right next door, and sometimes the UPS truck even is in there.

So just with an example like that, and we have, you know, a great well well defined scenario to consider, is there a way that your what's under your remit, like, could incorporate information like that into kind of that broader picture of, like, how are we dealing with this, you know, across the city. You know? And not to say, like, you you obviously can't send in your enforcement technician out there, but, you know, we could do outreach to the shopping center or, you know, you pass it on to another department. Like, I don't know if that I have no idea how back to your question, how do people, you know, in different departments work together or who do we you know, how does that not just go into a void? You know, and just like it's everybody's pointing a finger and I'm not saying you're doing that nefariously, but it's like if it falls in the interstices, like how do we get it addressed because it sounds like it's a pain point.

Yeah.

That's a good question. If you turn something into C click fix and it was Nob Hill, would you then hand it over to PD?

Like it wouldn't go to you if it's like not public right away, it sounds like.

Yeah, so there's no discrimination when the person submits a C click fix request. They can just click anywhere on the map and say I'm gonna submit a street light outage over on the Bay Farm Bridge, right? So, but to answer the question, if I receive a let me just back up. When we receive these C click fixes, we have a canned response with a good amount of language that will cover most of the typical questions that we will receive. When I come across a specific C click fix that has that that has to do with a private area, I will I will chain I will not send that canned response, and I will send a public message to that person so that they get an email that says, like, hey, this is this is what's going on in this area.

I will note one of the unique differences between public works and PD is PD has the authority to site blocked driveways. We do not.

So

I would say of, let's just say an arbitrary number, of the 100 CCLAY fixes that we get into a day, I would say 30% would be block driveways. So, what happens in that scenario? We notify the person via our canned response that blocked driveways are under the authority of APD, Alameda Police Department, and then what they should do is call the non emergency dispatch line, (510) 337-8340. If it's not a block drive and I feel like it's a unique scenario and the person provided their contact information, I'd say 70% of our requests come in as anonymous. I will reach out to that person and say, hey, just letting you know that this is outside of our jurisdiction.

That way they can talk to a human being and hear someone say that this is how this can be mitigated. This is who you can call to talk to another real person.

I'm just wondering, like, as a city, do we have any engagement with South Shore Corporation and Nob Hill Corporation, you know, and just say, like, hey, you know, our residents are reporting that the ADA spots are, like, not being honored as a I don't know. Because it's I assume they're responsible for that enforcement.

I will say kudos to our often awesome I think she stayed in the movie with she's still maybe with us. Our public information officer, Sarah Henry, does a phenomenal job, operates out of the city manager's office. So she really leads all of the public communications that's just not in the public right of way. But it really canvases all you know, 80,000 ish people, which includes some of these private areas. We are onboarding a new well, the city has a new PIO coming aboard.

So, again, probably a concerted effort between them and maybe our department working with our ADA coordinator to figure out how we can push this information to some of our subscribers, you know, make it easier for folks to access on the website. I mean, let's face it, not everyone has access to the Internet Mhmm. Whether it be door hangers or or mailings or something, you know?

Mhmm. Okay. So it sounds like for that type of situation, if you're in front of the UPS store and seeing this issue, calling the nonemergency number is probably the most reasonably calculated effort to get that addressed.

Absolutely.

Okay. Another question, and I don't know if you're gonna have this information. So just about parks and rec and, like, do we know what the requirements are in terms of percentage of ADA spaces for a park or a pool, for example? Like, sounds like, and interestingly, like the Incidental High School pool was the example, and there was only one space, and we actually had a visual of that one space earlier. And then the note was that the bike being locked to that post actually would prevent, you know, the probably the use of a ramp if that was needed in that space.

And just kind of trying to understand is that really sufficient for that type of public location and whether we know what the minimum requirement is for that.

That's a great question. Just to speak more broadly on that, I know that the eight transition plan does identify note. It's a healthy six digit plan helps identify a variety of public facing sites. I cannot speak to all sites that I think Bureau Veritas was the one who did the assessment. But I will say that provided funding availability, if we can incorporate or at least chip off some of these items that are identified at some of these sites, then we will.

Okay. And I think the the ask here is just understanding what the and maybe that's part of that ADA transition plan. I'm sure I don't remember. But trying to get a little more insight into what that minimum percentage of ADA spots? Or do you know?

I have a little bit of experience that just from my work. So there are different requirements, and it depends on the building use type or the facility use type. But then also those requirements generally aren't triggered unless the owner or the landlord is doing work. So say a place has one space. It may not be currently compliant, but it was when it was built. But unless they're not starting a new project there, they're not going to make them

go The project.

Because that's just not realistic or feasible.

Yeah. And this question was about city run parks and recreation sites.

I know how to look into what the requirements are for minimums.

Okay. And just like maybe just advocating that seems to be an area where we want to make sure folks are coming in and being able to use the facilities and not unable to park in the first place. But yeah, go ahead.

Yeah, and then just to piggyback on that, so one of the triggers for the project they're managing at Civic Center Parking Garage, when submit an application to the building department for a project, of course, they're going to say, well, what is the valuation so we know what amount of fees to assess. For Civic Center Garage, for example, it was $40,000 in fees because of the valuation. Further, because of the valuation exceeded that quarter million dollar mark, that, in fact, triggered a variety of accessibility requirements. Got it. So of course in turn restriping a number of stalls.

And then a similar sort of flag on Shoreline Boulevard Drive, whatever that long Street is near Crown Memorial that it looks like there were, like, commissioner Lyons noted, it looks like there are four ADA spaces between Broadway and Grand just by visual observation. And they're all on the interior side. So, you know, all inland, not on the beach side. So and then there were none near the bird watching area. So just a a notation that that might not be a sufficient offering for that access to that area.

So the question is, is it possible to expand those or, you know, rethink what kind of access? I not to answer that question, really. I would think, like, it would be hard to have them on the exterior side because it it would open into the bike lane, wouldn't it? It would either be open into traffic or open into bike lane for a ramp.

Traffic, mostly on that side.

And it has to be on the interior because it opens on the sidewalk. But anyhow, that's my, like, 2¢ on that.

That's a great question. So just to clarify that, it sounds to me like you're referencing Shoreline Drive on the North Side. And if I could turn to one of our subject matter experts who knows, has an intimate relationship with Shoreline Drive. Accessible spaces on Shoreline Drive on the South Side, so on the beach side, are you aware of any spaces, accessible spaces, ADA spaces? No? No?

Interesting. Okay. And so and then the other part of that was it seemed like they were more concentrated on the gosh. I'm gonna try to do it west. I don't know. I guess that's the West end, the West side and not the the, like, more eastern end towards Broadway where the bird watching area is, and that seemed like a potential lack. So just noting that and seeing if, you know, if there's a list of wish list of places where some ADA accessible parking is.

Yeah. And then so who would typically take the lead on that would be generally public works. It's outside of the State Route 61 that runs through Alameda east to west, then it would generally be public works. And they would incorporate any sort of additional accessible as Director Smith previously mentioned during some of these pavement improvement projects or even when they do some of the curb and gutter replacement projects.

Okay, thank you.

As in that, I will highlight as part of our awesome sidewalk program that is ramped up. No pun intended.

Very good. You know your audience. Vice Commissioner.

Yes, if I may, Vice Chair's questions. So I'll just ask them as if she were asking them. Speaker De La Torre, you may have already answered this one in its entirety, but I want to just honor the question. This is the one she tried to say over the phone. My question is about ADA spots located in private parking lots.

Is there a difference in the enforcement of ADA spots and lots owned by private businesses versus those on city streets? My concern is if there is an equity issue between the enforcement in public versus private parking lots and ADA spots. So since you already spoke to a bit of that, I'm going include her follow-up question. The number of ADA violation parking citations that are issued by APD, is that data publicly available? And if not, would it be possible to get and share that data to provide a comparison with the ADA parking citations issued by Public Works?

That's a great question. I have the capability of pulling the data that some officers issue as it relates to ADA citations. I would recommend the public submit a public records request for, I would assume, the majority of citations that sworn officers cite.

To get a complete picture, like a FOIA, Yeah. It might be

then combine the data. Okay. Just take the two data sets, you know.

And then another question, somewhat related as well, if you'd like to speak more to that. I think my concern is about a possible disproportionate response to ADA parking violations between Public Works versus Alameda PD. Do you know the ratio of reports via C Click Fix or other mechanisms that result in a citation for both Public Works and Alameda PD?

I'm not privy to what opportunities or platforms that APD offers the public separate from their non emergency dispatch line. I do not believe APD participates in the I say likely for certainty that APD may not participate in seeing the C click fix requests related to parking. I know for a fact that that comes to me.

That was all of her questions. Thank you.

Yeah. Just to piggyback on that, it does seem to me that it kind of couches a lot of the information you brought and, like, taught us about, which is, like, that's a subset. You know? It's not to say, like, if you're on the island or, you know, on Bay Farm, like, you're this is your gonna be your experience, you know, thanks to the good work that you all are doing in public works because it doesn't affect the private lots. It doesn't affect, like you said, the HOA or privately owned roads or you know, it's just good for us to to keep that in mind as we, you know, try to solve for some of the, like, more holistic aspects.

I think the general public, I mean, I certainly didn't know that. I thought if you turn something into see click fix and it wouldn't be public works, then it would be then sent to APD.

MISC Miscellaneous. I just wouldn't

I would think that it would go into somebody. And it doesn't sound like that is the case. I mean, you had mentioned you would email the person back, which I think is great. I don't know if that's feasible all the time for you to personally respond to every person, because I'm sure there's a lot. So I would think that setting up some communication with APD so that you don't have to do that seems like a good partnership.

Agree. It can be very trying. Would say that one of the unique features of Alameda is we are not San Francisco. It does require effort. It can be an uphill lift.

But I want to highlight what makes this city awesome and what makes every department awesome. I feel like we have more of a better opportunity to have a connected relationship with the community as opposed to everyone being a number or what have you. So, offer, you know, the public my desk line so that they know that they can call, that someone will hear them and their concern. And it it closes the loop. It no one likes calling PG and E, IRS, and you just you talk to someone, maybe an AI chat bot or what have you, and that's one of the awesome things about Alameda is we do have the opportunity.

It can, I will say, be trying at times and maybe not the best use of staff's resources, but I have identified that? I identified it very quickly and said we need to staff up on our admins so that we have the adequate resources where human beings can respond so I can, you know, adjust my workload efficiently, just sort of optimize my operations.

Great. Really insightful. Like, thank you so much for the presentation and your patience with all of our follow-up on it.

And I thank everyone for the dry run. Like I said, this was a fresh set of slides, first time presenting here, so it was certainly an exercise and we look forward to presenting again.

And then to revisit our parliamentary aspect that I definitely wanted to table up front. Just I don't know. I'll just be very candid. Like, we're gonna have a little sidebar over here. I don't know what the options are. Like, I don't I don't have anything proposed. We do have our resident parliamentarian in in attendance today. So

Yeah. So in general, if if the commission would like, you could put forth a basic motion, which would just be a comment about the presentation or the information therein that's related to our audience, our community. So it could be something along the lines of a particular recommendation, a particular note related to his presentation, or something that speaker De La Torre might include in his presentation to city council as a note from commission on persons with disabilities. So all that being said, the person who would like to put forth a motion, they can craft it however they'd like. It does not necessarily mean that the commission is required to second and adopt that motion.

Another person could suggest a different motion as well. But it just is a way to fine tune some of the conversation that's happened tonight, and maybe put forth a comment.

So their next step is to go to city council, right, to talk about the Oops, sorry, I'm so loud. I didn't think I needed it, sorry. So the next step is to go to city council about raising those citation fees, right? And get a sign off on that. So could we add something to that about the education piece? That would be our suggestion.

Just to clarify, thank you for the comment. So just to clarify, there's on the horizon in a meaningful way. There are two items. One is to adopt the mid cycle budget. That mid cycle budget includes an additional full time parking enforcement technician just as for, you know, context. The other item is the FTE for the mid cycle and then the master fee schedule update both going June 2.

So that would be my only suggestion would be that could we add something to that citation like hey I think the citations good right I don't think anybody's against raising the citation amount but maybe adding in that education element.

I like that idea.

Yeah. Like, I don't know how to do that. Yeah. I'm just we're on brainstorming. We're not wordsmithing yet, or I'm not. Something along the lines of, like, recommend continuing with the effort, like, you know, recognize the progress and the impact on the community and with the hope or, like, the recommendation in mind to incorporate The education piece. Yeah. And, you know, try to think of or, like, try to incorporate more carrot

Yeah.

And not only stick and win hearts and minds and, you know, kind of make it more of a, like

Humanize it.

Yeah. We're neighbors. Like, the and, like, help people remember, like, who your neighbors are and, like, why it matters to, you know, your neighbors who need those spaces.

I'm I'm not convinced hiring another parking enforcement technician is gonna help meet our goals.

For that. Yeah.

For that. Yeah.

And and and to the the presentation itself, the data, you I think you said earlier that it doesn't change behavior. Right? You just all we do is give out more tickets. And so I'm not sure how that's going to help us move the needle forward in terms of education and more of the carrot approach as well. So I would really encourage the recommendation that, you know, I mean, we stick with one voice.

Sure.

We would use those resources maybe differently.

Mhmm.

So we hire maybe a community education outreach person. Mhmm. To work with the code enforcement staff.

In lieu of that third person or in addition to that third person?

Repurposing the third position.

Repurposing the third position. Or

another option might be, like, have a full time another full time and then make one of the part time people the communication liaison just as an idea.

I I had like, my I I respond to that. Like, that resonates with me. I think I think my my inclination is it seems appropriate to be neutral or silent on the inner workings of the public works budget. But, like, our advocacy is about, like, what we really see is a need for raising awareness and humanizing that, you know, what what the why is behind.

I agree. I don't know that we know enough about their budget or their staffing or their to make that decision or that recommendation.

Right, right. I just wanna make sure that we're supporting this that we're not

That makes sense. Yeah. No. I Of course. What you said resonated

with me.

We're supporting

conceptually the the concept of education and the program without getting in the weeds Mhmm. Of the management team.

Yeah. Yeah.

I agree.

Anybody have proposed language?

What was the question?

Do you have proposed language? I feel like you were on a roll.

Yeah. I think that I think we could probably come up with that proposed language. Yeah. So how do we do we do that?

It's just now.

Oh, it's right now. We have to look on the fly?

And you make a motion, for example, hypothetically.

Okay, what you said.

Yeah, I'll make a motion. Okay, thank you. This commission recommends parking ambassadorship or some sort of ambassador, I think we said that word, inclusion in this presentation to the city council in the context that we've already spoken about. I think we've already talked about different ideas, what that could entail, whether that's volunteer not volunteer, I'm sorry intern programming, signage, and including the community aspect of and engaging with the community when it comes to enforcement. So in addition to, I think, the fee schedule and the additional staffing, that's fine.

But in addition, we'd like to see ambassadorship and education as a big focus in the presentation to city council.

I appreciate it. And I just want to speak to that. Thank you for that. The way I see this just playing out is how can we polish the schematic design here? And I feel like we can achieve that.

And I'm just thinking creatively here with our awesome new ADA coordinator. I mean, we work our offices are maybe 60 feet away from each other, so I feel like I will be leaning on our ADA coordinator coordinator to think creatively on how we can use some of our existing resources to achieve those goals and measures, hit those metrics of communicating like this is the benefits of parking in such way.

I

feel that is something that we can achieve short term as opposed to trying to figure this out for the long term. But I do, I would say, as part of our next budget cycle, just ensuring that we're budgeting appropriately for the next budget cycle, I can tell you that it does make sense that we would be having an additional admin person dedicated to our parking program and I would envision this person leading a lot of that communication effort because quite frankly, staff member Jewel cannot do the entire city just with one person, so.

Okay, thank you. So is there a motion and then a second, please? I don't know if you want just repeat Can reiterate

that motion?

Yes, Yeah,

thank you.

Okay, so the reiteration of the motion, I'd like to motion that we recommend the ambassadorship and education of the community as part of the plans going forward, the looking ahead as we're seeing on the slides. Do I have a second? A second.

Okay, we'll take a vote to adopt that motion moving forward from the commission for speaker De La Torre's future presentation and moving forward with the parking enforcement. So just do a roll call down the line. Okay. So commissioner Beeler? Aye. Commissioner Kneedler? Aye. Chair Mullins? Aye. Commissioner Lipp? Aye. Aye. Commissioner Schmitz, thank you. And then commissioner Bondsmith, if you wanna raise your hand if it's a yes.

If you're voting, okay. Alright.

So the ayes have it, and, we'll go ahead and adopt that motion. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, that

closes this portion of the agenda. Thank you so much, Speaker De La Torre.

I just want to say thank you for the presentation. You guys are doing amazing work, and thank you. I just got my disabled placard two weeks ago. And now I'm much more aware of what it means and what it doesn't mean. And when I drive and I see there's only one spot, if I can find an alternative parking space, I will try to do that. So we need more for sure. But thank you for your great work. Really grateful.

Very welcome. And again, I truly appreciate the eyes and ears. Definitely, it commands togetherness in working towards achieving some goal.

Great. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you.

For being here.

Okay. We have hit the two hour mark. It is 08:30. So if you if the commission would like to continue the agenda and and keep moving forward, we'll just need to approve additional time for ourselves. And then also, if anyone would like to make a motion for a five minute recess, you could do that as well.

I'll make a motion to power through.

Great. Okay. So we'll allow ourselves more time to continue with the agenda. Moving on to the next regular agenda item. This is our regular scheduled agenda item, to have open conversation and discussion amongst the commissioners about commissioner participation in local events, boards, and commissions. Scheduled conversation amongst commissioners about participation in local events and meetings that may promote the commission accessibility and the ADA transition plan to members of the community. Commissioners will share updates about what they have attended and what they might attend in the future. So again, as a reminder, this one is very fluid, not necessarily as structured as other agenda items might be.

Are we gonna keep this as a standing item or not necessarily? I don't remember. Yes. Okay,

great. Yeah, I can kick us off. I reviewed several of the agendas that from the library board and the public utilities board. And I didn't see anything that was necessarily relevant to this commission. So I'll continue to do that for the next meeting and then perhaps try and drop in. The library board is meeting right now. I ran into some folks going there earlier before I came into the room. So I think if we do want to attend, we might have to coordinate on quorum and things that. But, yeah, nothing to report on the boards that I'm monitoring.

I don't have anything to report.

I don't have anything to report except I am planning on going to the Recreation and Park Commission meeting tomorrow night.

That's on my list as well, I haven't been able to attend yet.

Yeah, this will be my first.

I can't see if vice chair Bon Smith has her hand raised. So I just I'm trying not to forget to check if she might have

You're fine. I'm monitoring my email and text in case she chimes in. Yes. Thank you.

If there isn't anything else, I thought we could talk about the library screening, but I don't wanna prematurely move us on to that.

I'm good. Okay.

So that would be the only update that I have is that we did get a response back from one of the producers for Crip Camp. He's so excited to be able to come and do a Q and A after the screening, is super exciting. And I think they allotted it two hours. It starts at 02:30. So I just encourage it's a bit of a funky time because it is Friday in the middle of the day. So if you can encourage your friends and neighbors to attend if they can, that would be great. I want to make sure that we have a good turnout for him. I've told everybody that I can see. And I'll post that on social media. And I assume that we'll put it out in social media, right?

The city will? Yes. And I'm not using Sorry.

No, you're fine.

No one ever gives me a microphone because I'll some

kind of flyer that we could distribute?

Yes. So I am working with the library now that everything has been finalized to figure out how we're marketing that. Because obviously, the library has their own marketing channels and methods for their typical events, but I would love to see what we can push out. So trying to figure out what that looks like for social media and other communication. So, yes, definitely wanna promote as much as possible.

I just wanted to clarify, too, about the number of attendees. And we have to give some sort of notice, right? So, by a certain date, we have to know how many people, just in case we have to do a public notice to say that the commission is officially meeting if enough of us are going. Is that right?

Correct. So if it's three or more commissioners, then we will need to post a special meeting notice, which is required typically twelve days out, if at all possible. I would imagine we can presumably just post that. And then that way, there's no pressure to RSVP or not. So that way, it's just there. Yeah.

Great. I will definitely be going. So that's one.

I plan to go. Okay. Like, you know, barring something unforeseen. Yep. Okay. Same here.

So then we probably should post it. Yeah.

Cool. There's not

a lot

of downside risk, I think.

And then maybe before we come up with a flyer or something, let me just reach out one more time to his co producer and see if she wants to commit. I'd hate to leave her off of the post, so I'll do that tomorrow.

Thank you. Sounds good.

Very exciting. Thank you for

Of course. I'm so excited for them to get attention, truly, because it's such a

good It's

so so good. Good.

Anything else about the events or anything within the packet that was also printed out if you wanted to use it for reference? Those are a myriad of city events coming up in the next several months.

Fourth of July parade.

Yes.

But our next meeting will be after that. So what are we doing for that?

Yes. I'm so glad you brought that up.

How are we doing?

We are signed up for it. I've put out an ask as well to the commission as well as to the city staff who manage the parade just to see how we'd like to participate. If we want to use a vehicle, like a cool car, because you know they put out a public request for cool vehicles, or if we want to do a few commissioners maybe riding recumbent trikes or using pedicabs or whatever the case may be. So there's a lot of freedom there for how we'd like to represent ourselves in the parade, but we are signed up for it. We do have a spot. I'm I'm going to gather some swag as best I can. And we have a banner, of course. So it's really up to the commission how they'd like to represent themselves.

I'll be there in spirit, but I'll be on vacation.

Didn't even look, honestly.

I

I don't know if I think it's probably in poor taste, though. But I think, you know, I was thinking, could we use scooters and wheelchairs? Or what do I was thinking too, and then I thought, is that I know people might get offended by that.

But just to show all the different types of existent, different mobility issues or different modes of transportation people might be using.

Maybe maybe not riding in them, but, like, can you have a little trailer of them? You know,

like, where community. You know, we want people on manual chairs or power chairs or you know, it would be nice to have something visual that people look at it and go, oh, that's the commission on Yeah. You know?

Well, in a little more like demystifying like Yeah. People can like touch it or, you know,

there could be some anybody. So I don't know how PC that is.

I feel like it could be offensive.

That's dicey. If

we, yeah,

wrote them.

Yeah. Let me think about that. Maybe ask some people.

But we could have people ride with us

in Well, that's

what I was thinking. We got people in the community who were in equipment.

Right. Right. Exactly. This is sort the support for the commission agenda. Right?

Yeah. There's I mean there's plenty of people in Alameda. Mhmm.

But then also like how do we honor silent disabilities too? Because it's not just about the ones you can see. Yeah. I feel like you gotta think about that.

Yeah. Maybe we should think about that. Yeah. The best way to represent that, I don't know.

I like the idea of, like, taking advantage of the opportunity of bringing visibility. Mhmm. But it's all about how do you do that respectfully in good taste.

Mhmm.

You know, it's like even coming from the best of intentions. Right. Hear you.

And Yeah.

Well, think it you as our creative genius.

I'm just thinking, like, well, what can we throw off? Like, we throw off fidget spinners because that's, like, that's something that a lot of autistic people use, but that's just I don't know. I need to think about it. I wonder if

I've now I'm inspired by the fortune cookie example. And, like, what if we just have, like, little strips of paper of, like, of just or just of, like, all the different all the differences we have. Like, not even, like, a negative difference, but, like, I don't know. Was just something about it's kind of a a low easier lift of just I was actually maybe represent, like, the spectrum of all the things.

I was playing around with ideas of what kind of graphics we could eventually start to develop and create. And I have this idea of little, like, cards that talk about what accessibility is. And I have examples I can send out. But it could be you're thinking of it sounded like it was something along the same lines. But the card would have something visual description, like what is accessibility, having a place for peace.

So what would that look like? Finding shade under a tree or finding a bench to relax at. There was just yeah, that's one example. But I feel like there's a big opportunity for visuals too. Because I'm particularly into graphics and design too. So I'm like, what can I make this look like that would be really cool to hand out that people would be interested in?

And I think this was your idea, I'm stealing it from earlier discussion. But what about having, like I don't even know what kind of vehicle you could get, but, like, having a poster board on it, like, with that what does accessibility mean to you? And then just having, like, it crowdsourced and, like, as you go through the parade and, like, have more people add. Like, by the end of that, that's gonna be really cool.

Yeah.

I don't know. Just

There's one of my favorite graphics that I'm trying to find. I promise I'm not texting anybody, is there's a graphic of people in different mobility devices and then there's just a person standing that visually it doesn't look like they have a disability and it says not all disabilities are visible. So I think something like that would cover all things, you know, things you can see and things you can't. Mhmm. And I feel like that might be more in better taste because Yeah. We're not specifically calling out certain disabilities.

You know what

I mean?

Mhmm.

Because Yeah. You can't look at a person and say they're blind necessarily or they're color blind or they're

Or they're

deaf. Visually impaired or yeah. I think if we stayed I'm trying to find it. If we stayed with a graphic like that where it's covering all of our bases but not listing off every single thing, might be a good idea. I mean, we have time. Not a ton of time because holy cow, it's gonna be here in a minute.

Well, we don't have a meeting between now. That's the other pressing. Got it. Okay.

I was just gonna suggest that we could if there are a few commissioners who would like to brainstorm and be part of the fourth of July presence, then we could call a special meeting just for that purpose of brainstorming and developing the plan for fourth of July parade.

I will not be available either. So I'm not but I I would request in any printed materials, if it's possible and time light might be a problem, that we have some braille or like a QR code that goes to an accessible website. I would definitely prefer something to get them there as well. But, love the visual representation as well. But I'll leave it up to the special committee because I probably won't be available.

Well, maybe we should start there. Who can go to the July 4?

I'll be out of town. Okay.

Can I need

I'm out of town? Oh, shoot.

I'll be here. You'll be there. Okay.

Commissioner Lyons is also out of town. Oh, commissioner Bondsmith has raised her hand. I believe that means yes to the parade. Okay.

Okay.

I think I'm here as well if nothing pops up. So maybe we should have a separate special meeting and then for that so we don't have to make a decision tonight. Yeah. And

it would be cool. Commissioner Smith, you mentioned like putting a call out there like, hey, anybody interested in coming with us and celebrating who we are as a community? I think that would be fantastic. I'm sure family and friends would love to do that. Yeah. I

love that idea. I have a note. I need to check with ARPD how they manage who signs up and how large the group is. So once I get a little more detail on that, then I can submit that to that special meeting.

My allergy medicine is wearing off. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to

cover Cinderella.

Got to

wrap up I

could like set a clock to it. Okay. So maybe we should do that, is schedule another meeting, a special meeting for that. It sounds like that might be the answer instead of drawing this out.

So in order to schedule a special meeting, I would suggest just trying to do it now, if at all possible, to nail down a date. Otherwise, we'd have to issue a special notice in order to have that conversation because there's three commissioners that are potentially involved.

Okay. Would it be on just a virtual meeting or a in person meeting?

Either one. Okay.

I just think, like, availability might be easier to pin down.

Yeah. It probably would be easier.

As long as it's publicly open to the public. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay.

Or should we try to do visual remote?

I don't know. I'm just trying to, like Yeah.

I think it would probably be easier, right, than trying to get everybody in person?

Yep.

Okay.

So we have to pick a date now?

If possible.

Should we do two weeks from today?

What's

that? Two weeks from today or a week from today or is that too soon?

Sure. Just throw out a date. I'll try to.

May 20 or May 27.

I'm sorry. What was the date?

Say May 27. I

can do May 27.

Okay. I'm texting commissioner or vice chair, Bondsmith. Vice Chair Bon Smith did mention that if we open the parade plans up to individuals with disabilities to join us, I, again on her behalf, could reach out to the AOSD Deaf and Hard of Hearing teacher teacher team, excuse me, to see if there are any students with hearing differences who might wanna participate. So that would be a possible community connection. She says she is free on May 27 until 8PM for a meeting.

Any preference for time? You wanna do a lunch hour meeting or post work?

I can do either of those.

Post work would be better for me.

Okay. You wanna do, like, if she said till 8PM? Mhmm.

Do you

wanna do, like, six? Yeah. Yeah. On the twenty seventh?

Okay. 6PM on May 27. And I believe we're trying for remote, correct?

Yes. Okay.

Okay, thank you, Vice Chair Bondsmith. Anything else on this agenda item?

I have one one suggestion. I'll make it short because I know we're over time. So I've been thinking about whether the commission could experiment with a small recurring community presence at places like the Alameda Farmers Market. It feels like a really approachable setting for conversations around accessibility, belonging, and public space in a more informal and community oriented way. I think there'd be opportunities for lightweight engagement like interactive prompts, public feedback, or small visual educational materials like the little cards, board and with writing accessibility that make accessibility concepts easy to engage with for the public.

And I'd definitely be interested in helping staff a booth or interact with the public as something like that moves forward.

Like that idea. Yeah, like that.

Because I saw it and then I looked at the farmer's market schedule. I don't typically go to them often, but there's the one on Webster. I can't do weekdays, but it's every Saturday, 9AM to 1PM. Like I would totally be willing to do like one Saturday a month to staff a booth down there just for visibility and outreach.

Do have to sign up for it? Like do you know what it takes to sign up?

I don't know.

Is Or it just like

But I did read that there was another Alameda commissioner group that had from the city that has had a booth there before. I don't know if it was the library or parks department, but it sounded like it would be fairly simple to pull off with minimal supplies like table cloth and board and markers for people to write on.

Okay. I can look into that. Vice Chair Bonn Smith confirmed she likes the farmer's market idea as well. Think I just community engagement in general, you know, keep talking about that. So as opportunities arise, I, you know, will try to send out emails and things. And so if something strikes you, please chime in and claim that opportunity so we can move forward with some of these. That would be great.

Cool. I'd be interested in and I don't know if it's necessary, but I have a hesitation. I'm like, oh, I feel like I wanna know the dos and don'ts if we do that. You know? Or, like, whether we as a commission, if there's a fee involved, I'm sure it's not much if anything. What are the dues? Can we each pitch in $5 or does the city have to do it? Like, how do we go about requesting that? Just I don't know how to operate in this space at all. So

Yeah. Thank you. So I've asked this question before about budgets for commissions and boards, especially when it comes to things like swag or merch or whatever the case may be. So I believe some commissions, there there is no budget line item. Some commissions will have everyone pitch in an equal amount, obviously less than a certain number or something that we can establish in order to purchase additional items.

Often, the department that the commission is under would offer, like, a small budgetary, you know, allowance of some kind. So, obviously, the commission is now under public works. Whereas when the staff secretary was Sarah Henry, it was under her office. So it's switched over to public works. And so we've you know, we as a department then can cover some expenses. But again, there's no actual, like, tried and true budget. So that's a very gray area answer, but it's very much case by case. Let's talk about what would we want to spend money on, what would be beneficial, and and then go from there.

And then the other part of the dos and don'ts I'd be interested in learning is, you know, is it okay if I like, we can identify ourselves as, like, we're not we serve on the commission. Like, obviously, we don't we're not representing, you know, the commission point of view, like, in that kind of thing. And if there were or more of us, it sounds like we'd have to notice it.

Right. So we would post a special meeting notice to say that the commission on persons with disabilities is this is a special meeting announcement because they will be attending the Farmers Market, for instance, on Webster Street and, as as representatives of the commission. One thing we talked about in the past is, even doing, a simple button that's, like, ask me about the commission on persons with disabilities. And so one thing I've looked at is just buying a button maker so that as people it could even have a template generic thing on it of accessibility is. And then they would just create their own buttons.

So that was an idea I had too to tie in some of the ideas that have come up as we've brainstormed. So yeah, there's options for that. We can definitely represent the commission. You can be clear that's why I'm here and that's who I am in this moment. And then but we can talk about what the expenses might be as well.

I was also thinking about numbers and, like, in a way we in a way to avoid having us to declare a special meeting if, you know, ideally I'm I'm not saying this is realistic, but because it happens every Saturday, like, we could potentially have visibility there every Saturday. And if we rotated and just had one or two people there at at the booth at a time, we wouldn't have to worry about the conflict of having too many people. And then it wouldn't be as much burden on one of us.

I agree with that. And as a counterpoint, I think being able to declare it as a special meeting allows us for like advertising or marketing the event so that people will know we're going to be there. And maybe if it's a budget constraint, once we find out how much it could be to table there, maybe we could focus on certain months like disability awareness type months or different community type months that we would really want to celebrate or maybe partner with other commissions maybe and share a table expense if that's possible. I don't know. Maybe we could focus our efforts if that becomes a burden and we find out the budget is too much.

I mean, I'm sure someone has a folding table too. I feel like some of these things we could actually like source and provide ourselves rather than try and find room and a budget for it.

Well, guess I mean more of like the vendor booth area, right? Even if we have our own equipment, I think they're going to charge us for the

stall. Agreed. Separate.

Wonderful. I love it,

though. Thanks.

And it's nearby. I'll definitely try to stop by at least one one weekend.

Okay. Anything else on agenda item? Okay. If we're okay, we'll close that. Do you wanna do a motion to close?

I move to close.

I second.

Close what? The meeting?

No. That item.

Okay. Okay.

Just the item.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We will now move to the final sections, commissioner communications. This is just an opportunity for everyone to share open communications related to our context. And if I may, I'll start with Commissioner Bondsmith. She did wanna share sorry. I'm pulling it up here. She'd want to share the Hearing Loss Association of America is holding its annual Bay Area Walk for Hearing on May 30. The purpose of the walk is to raise awareness about the impact of hearing loss, and to create an opportunity for people to come together and raise money for deaf and hard of hearing programs in our community.

If you would like to cheer the walkers on, the walk will start at 11AM, again on May 30, at Crown Memorial Beach, and we'll proceed down Shoreline Drive. Anyone else?

Cool. So I've mentioned this before. Vermont just became the first state in The Union to ban the use of Paraquat. And there's a national initiative to do that. And it has a direct connection to neurodegenerative diseases. And so I think would like to request formally that we give maybe a report from the Public Works Department and from the Parks and Rec Department about what kind of herbicides and pesticides we're using in parks and golf courses here in the city of Alameda. And so I'm not sure the best way to do that or how we get that on the agenda, but I wanna put that out there.

Thank you. If you like let's see. Would you need to make a motion in order for it to be added to an agenda? Okay. I think when I read through our bylaws recently, I've I'm pretty sure that you as commissioners can suggest those agenda items. I know you brought this up before, so I wanna honor the fact that you have said it before. And and I have talked with ARPD about it bef as well. So, yes, if you'd like to make a formal request for an agenda item of some kind, even if it's an informational memo from ARPD as opposed to a full presentation, that can be an option as well. So anyway, if you'd like to add to the agenda, think you can make a motion and someone else can second it to just have it added.

Okay. So I would like to make a motion that we get an official report from public works and the Parks and Rec department about what pesticides and herbicides are currently in use with our parks and our golf courses.

Great, I second.

Okay, all in favor say aye. Aye. Thank you, we'll add it to a future agenda. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Of course, thank you Commissioner Lipp. Any other Commissioner Communications?

Okay,

this moves us into staff communications. Thank you, vice chair Vonsmith. She also eyed. Okay. Staff communications. The first thing, speaker De La Torre sort of dropped it. I don't know if you guys caught that, but Sarah Henry is leaving the city of Alameda, if you weren't already aware. Obviously, she'll still live here. She's very Alameda in all the ways. We celebrate and grieve her departure as she goes to the city of Oakland for a position with the mayor there.

I'm sure we'll still see her around at events and things. I think this is her last week, although I'm not sure of the exact date. But anyway, if you all wanted to send her greetings, I'm sure she would love that. Next item, of course, was a July 24, 02:30PM film screening at the main library, or free main library. I don't know where free goes. But anyway, so that'll be for Crip Camp screening as well as a q and a. I will be sending out invitations to Helping Hands East Bay and just some local orgs. If you guys have any contacts, as Commissioner Schmidt's already mentioned, you know, send those invitations out far and wide. We'd love a good showing for that. Let's see.

I have I did meet with a representative from AUSD, the school district, about if they have events as a district that would be relevant for us to participate in and table at. They do not necessarily have community events of that nature that invite outside vendors or groups to participate in. However, there is an opportunity for us to maybe share some information within their newsletters that then get shared with family members or families within the district. And specifically, they may have a couple of tailored newsletters to some of the special education families as well. So still working through what that would mean because we want to collaborate well with AUSD, since we want to make sure that their ADA coordinator and accessibility initiatives and things like that within the district would be well matched for anything that the city might communicate, if that makes sense.

So something I've been in the works with with the library for a little while, and that is related to something Commissioner Knedler mentioned at another meeting. They have implemented sensory kits at all branches. And this came up. They had a learning moment, and so we really pushed for that, which was great. So they've already been well used and well loved.

I instructed them on some easy passive signage that really communicate what the sensory kits are for, so that people don't have to verbally ask or request any of the items. But they are just fully available for people to come and use those items, which is great. And then finally, the digital accessibility rule from the Department of Justice that would have gone into effect for all compliance was 04/24/2026. I think on April 2021, they extended it by a year. So everyone took a breath.

And I slept that night. And then, so we're now working towards the deadline of 04/26/2027 for our municipality of our size. Related to digital access though, maybe I'll just pitch myself to do a presentation on this as we talk through communications accessible in both digital and written spaces. But we have added Doc Access as a third party vendor to a third party service, excuse me, to all City of Alameda domains, of course, our primary one. And then we also run, I think it's nine or 10 other domains as well for side initiatives or other department projects.

So they all are equipped with doc doc access, which all that is is a PDF transcription tool that converts the PDF from a flat image that is not accessible to most assistive tech, especially if it's not created correctly, to an accessible HTML format. HTML just meaning a default web page text based format with descriptive text included for images, graphs, complicated data, etcetera. Doc access also includes a 20 fourseven help tool on the side, should someone who's interacting with that PDF need more clarification on what the page says, or what the image shows, or what the graph shows, or anything along those lines. So it's a great bridge to compliance. It is not a primary format compliant tool.

I hope I'm making sense. I realize I'm saying lots of things. It's not going to fulfill the requirement for primary format to be compliant if the PDF itself is inaccessible, but it does provide a bridge to make that in the moment interaction with the PDF accessible to users. Okay, that was it for, I would love to, I could talk about that all day. So I believe that's it for my staff communication. We have lots of agenda items coming up that I think will be of great interest to our commission as well. So if there's nothing else, do we a motion to adjourn?

I'll move to adjourn.

Okay. Second.

Okay. All right. Thank you so much, commissioners.