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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGRAAC-2008-05-22Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee ( GRAAC) Thursday May 22, 2008 Kitchener City Hall, Conestoga Room PRESENT: Sharon Ward - Zeller (Co-Chair),, Taposhi Batabyal (Co- Chair), Brad Ullner, Saul Herzog, Myron Steinman, James Hunsberger, Ken Parker, Gordon Cummer, Amy Ross, Sharon Giles, Councillor Jane Mitchell, Leigh Golden, Val Hummel, Kelly Steiss, Linda Pretty (Recorder) PRESENT (OTHERS): REGRETS (MEMBERS): Gail Brunsdon, Sharon Giles, Rosa Bustamante REGRETS (OTHERS): Councillor Kelly Galloway, Councillor Karen Scian ABSENT WITHOUT REGRETS: Darryl Denny, Rik Louwagie 1.0 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS Taposhi welcomed everyone to the May meeting. 2.0 APPROVAL OF APRIL MINUTES AND REVIEW OF MAY AGENDA • A motion was made by Amy, seconded by Sharon Ward - Zeller that the minutes of the April 10th meeting be approved. All were in favour; the motion was carried. • Regarding the minutes of April 24th, Sharon noted a change to Item 9.0: Dr. Barry Wellar, Professor Emeritus from the University of Ottawa, was the speaker on April 1 at the Walkability Forum. With that change made, a motion was made by Gord, seconded by Ken that the minutes of the April 24th meeting be approved. All were in favour; the motion was carried. • A motion was made by James, seconded by Sharon Ward - Zeller, that the agenda of the May meeting be approved. All were in favour; the motion was carried. 3.0 BUSINESS ARISING 3.1 City of Kitchener Snow Update — Shayne Turner and Gloria McNeil • Shayne observed that Kitchener's experiences and challenges with snowclearing during the past winter were the same as Waterloo's. As reported at the January 24 GRAAC meeting (Item 4.1), if the city of Kitchener has to go out to remove snow from a sidewalk that is not on city property, the Council approved that the fee for this service increased to $300 for smaller properties and $500 for a larger property. As well, the amount of time that residents have to remove snow from their sidewalk has been decreased to 24 hours and finally, the requirement to issue a 2nd notice has been eliminated — owners will be notified once, then the issue will be forwarded to Operations for snow clearing. • Information transfer time to work crews has been reduced considerably and is now done electronically. May 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 1 Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC) Thursday May 22, 2008 • 2064 complaints were received regarding un- cleared sidewalks; 323 were forwarded to Operations for clearing, but 142 were actually cleared by work crews and bills sent to homeowners. • The number cleared was not much different than other years but this was the largest volume ever received for complaints. • Oftentimes, people do not call until after the 24 hours - sometimes 2 or 3 days later. • Sharon Ward - Zeller recommended that flyers be sent to everyone. Education for the community is key and this year, door -door flyers didn't go to every home. • It was also suggested to give something complimentary to people who do a good job with snow - clearing, possibly a; or maybe partner with a coffee shop business that would sponsor it. • A report will go to council from Operations to debrief them on the 07/08 season. Windrow clearance is a concern for council and staff is looking into options for a possible solution. • In response to a question from Myron, Gloria and Shayne noted that 67 households were repeat offenders with the charge for clearing added on their taxes. Repeat offenders are placed on a "hot list" for the following year and will get a letter at the start of winter to remind them of their snow - clearance responsibilities. • Councillor lane Mitchell said that in the past, a sign was posted in every bus with a phone number to call to report bus stops that weren't cleared properly. Deb Bergey will check into whether this is still being done and what number is to be called. • When reporting, it is helpful for staff if they have the house address, as it could save time when they send out Operations staff if that address is already on the hot list"". • To summarize, the number of private sidewalks that were cleared by the city was the same as in previous years but more complaints were received and there was a higher amount of compliance by private property- owners, including absentee landlords. ACTION: Kelly will forward GRAAC's feedback to Scott Berry, Operations manager of Kitchener and will arrange a meeting with him to talk about these ideas. Kelly will also co- ordinate a meeting with Colleen Collins from Communications to review the suggestions regarding flyers and other ""social marketing" initiatives. May 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 2 Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC) Thursday May 22, 2008 4.0 OTHER BUSINESS 4.1 Access Awareness Week Update — Kelly Steiss The event will be launched on May 27 with the goal to educate staff in both Kitchener and Waterloo. The plan is to provide staff with information on some of the barriers faced by people with disabilities. 4.2 Co -Chair Elections: Process/ Preparation — Val Hummel Referring to the e -mail she sent out to members outlining the procedure, Val reviewed the process for electing the co- chairs for the next term. ACTION: Members interested in applying for the co -chair positions are to submit a letter of interest to Linda by June 13. Copies of the submissions will be attached to the June GRAAC agenda and mailed to everyone. Please contact Val with any questions. 43 Co -Chair Report 4.3.1 Summer Meeting Schedule Sharon wanted to know if enough people would be able to attend the GRAAC meetings in July and August to warrant holding the meetings or whether the meetings should be cancelled. ACTION: GRAAC members are to e-mail Taposhi and Sharon to let them know if they will be available to attend GRAAC meetings in July and August. 4.3.2 Member Update Linda Cole has resigned. The co- chairs sent a letter to her thanking her for her contribution to the committee during her time with the group. 4.3.3 Members' Evaluation Members were asked to fill out their evaluation form and send it to Sharon and Taposhi as soon as possible. Electronic versions will be sent out again for those who did not receive a copy. 4.3.4 Presentation to Regional Council Sharon and Taposhi updated Regional Council on GRAAC; Council passed along their gratitude to the committee for its work. May 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 3 Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC) Thursday May 22, 2008 4.3.5 Update on Niagara AAC Forum — Amy • Amy attended an AAC forum in Welland on May 10, enjoyed meeting other AAC members, and brought back lots of useful information. E -mail Amy with any questions. • Amy also remarked that the accessible parking by -law circulated on behalf of the city of Kitchener was a good initiative, but that by -laws shousl be reviewed more frequently. • Rainbarrels at the April 26th distribution, sold out early. The program will extend to future years, but a different distribution method will be used. Deb Bergey and Leigh Golden of the Region, will keep GRAAC updated and will check to see if any extras are available from this year's event. 4.4 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 4.4.1 Creation of GRAAC Priorities — Deb /Kelly • Deb /Kelly prepared a list of GRAAC priorities to be used as a starting point and that was put together based on theme areas used by the AODA and GRAAC's previous priority lists. • Tapohsi noted that this document informs the work done by the committee; the plans made and the advice given. Therefore, what does the group want to see on behalf of people with disabilities; what principles do we want to underline? • To prepare for further discussion at the June GRAAC meeting, members are asked to review the document, list their personal priorities and consider how they want the document to be used. This is GRAAC's document and members can add to or change anything they want. Consideration should be given to the best impact for the community and associated cost. • Saul suggested that to get a bigger picture of how to prioritize, should the group gather information from the wider public, rather than simply its own experience? • How should GRAAC keep track of the success of its recommendations? • Kelly mentioned that this is the document that guides staff. Taposhi and Sharon Ward - Zeller observed that they considered this to be a GRAAC priority list, mainly for the group that need not necessarily be shared with staff. Sharon's opinion was that preparing a list for GRAAC to use for its purposed is doable, but preparing it for staff in general will involve much more work. • Taposhi advised members that they will each have to decide how the document will be used. • The June meeting agenda will include this item & co -chair elections. • Members may rank the 6 categories in order of priority. May 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 4 Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC) Thursday May 22, 2008 4.4.2 Information and Communication Standard Geoff Eden, as a member of the Information and Communication Standard Development Committee, just issued draft 3 for information and communication standard. He has requested feedback from colleagues and members of the Ontario Netowrk of Accessibility Professionals. It is anticipated that the Standard will be available for public review in the Fall of 2008. It is not necessary for GRAAC to make comment at this time but individuals may make their own individual comments. Deadline for comments is May 30. James indicated that he is personally interested in sending commentary. ACTION: The June GRAAC agenda will include "Creation of GRAAC Priorities" and the election of the co- chairs. 4.5 SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS 4.5.1 Built Environment — Kelly Steiss • G -BESC did not meet in May; the next meeting is June 16. • The group has had a request to review access over railway tracks in Waterloo. It will also be looking at the plans for the new Regional Heritage Museum. Councillor Jane Mitchell suggested that the committee look at the plans as a whole. After discussion, Kelly and G -BESC members agreed that the plans would be available at the June 16 meeting and GRAAC members would be invited to attend if they wished to see the plans. Only G -BESC members would be able to comment. 4.5.2 Transportation — Sharon W -Z • The sub - committee took a tour of 2 roundabouts and a pedestrian refuge island on May 13. • Members gave lots of feedback and a written report is being compiled that will be brought to this committee. • Seeing sub - committee members navigating the roundabouts and refuge island made an impact on staff. • The next Transportation meeting is on the 2nd Tuesday of June (June 10). • The roundabouts started out with the Region installing them in rural areas mainly utilized by vehicles and then the idea moved to urban areas. The city of Waterloo, for example, is now putting them in, using different criteria for design, markings and location. • Councillor Mitchell said that although the safety of pedestrians is still a concern, the roundabouts have been viewed as a huge success, thus the decision to move them into cities. May 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 5 Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC) Thursday May 22, 2008 5.0 ADJOURNMENT A motion was made by Sharon Ward - Zeller to adjourn the meeting. All were in favour; the motion was carried. The next GRAAC meeting will be held on Thursday June 26 at Kitchener City Hall in the Conestoga Room on the main floor from 1:30 -4:00 p.m. May 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 6