Supervisors adopt city agency responses to civil grand jury ADA report; advocates press for grievance staffing and training

The Government Audit and Oversight Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Thursday reviewed a civil grand jury report on Americans with Disabilities Act compliance and adopted responses from city agencies, sending a Board resolution to the full Board for consideration.

Manish Royal of the Mayor’s Office opened the committee’s presentations, thanking the civil grand jury and city partners including the San Francisco Police Department, the SFMTA and the City Attorney’s Office. "San Francisco is at the forefront of addressing disability rights and disability access," Royal said, and he emphasized that "the level of funding dictates our progress" on implementing ADA recommendations.

Susan Misner, director at the Mayor’s Office on Disability, walked the committee through the report’s six findings and six recommendations and identified which findings require Board response. Misner said the city maintains an ADA grievance procedure but noted it had lost a dedicated staff position; the grand jury recommended reinstating staffing to strengthen citywide handling of complaints. Misner also described two ADA transition plans — one for city-owned buildings and another for the public right-of-way — and addressed earlier cost estimates. While the report cited as much as $500,000,000 to complete sidewalk and curb-ramp work, Misner said that figure "is not entirely correct" and said the work is "much closer to a 120,000,000 to a $150,000,000 for curb ramps and, about a 150,000,000 for sidewalks."

Barbara Moy of the Department of Public Works told the committee that 'incursions' (obstructions, defects or temporary barricades) are handled through 311 intake and inspections; DPW pursues contractor corrections, urges private property owners to fix sidewalk defects and takes responsibility for repairs where the city is at fault, for example around tree basins and curbs. Moy said the department will continue inspections and look for more cost-effective enforcement methods given budget constraints.

Civil grand jury representatives summarized the investigation’s focus on Title II compliance (government programs and services), the grievance process, acceleration of transition-plan work and staff training for public-contact employees at the police department and MTA. Public commenters described continuing access problems: Paco Alfaro recounted inconsistent audio stop announcements on transit and urged stronger enforcement, and Elaine Feliciano said taxis sometimes refuse riders with guide dogs and that 311 complaints often go unresolved.

Representatives of the Mayor’s Disability Council and other advocates endorsed the grand jury’s recommendations, urged reinstatement of a full-time grievance staff for Title II matters and recommended more interactive training for front-line employees. "There needs to be more interaction between people with disabilities and people without disabilities," said a council representative, arguing that in-person contact improves training outcomes.

Supervisor Carmen Chiu moved to adopt the City Attorney’s response on finding 1, the Mayor’s Office on Disability responses on findings 2, 4 and 6 (and corresponding recommendations), and the Department of Public Works response to finding 5. The committee approved those agency responses "without objection," filed the hearing record, and forwarded the Board response resolution (Item 2) as amended to the full Board.

The committee did not adopt any new mandates for immediate hiring or bond financing; instead, the action transmits agency responses and makes the revised resolution available to the full Board for further action. The committee meeting record shows advocates pressing for restored grievance staffing and expanded, person-to-person training as follow-up priorities.