Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the City's Committee on Persons with Disabilities. It's
Thursday, July 15th, and we'll begin at 3 o' one. Thank you for being here. Do we have
any public comments, calls? Good afternoon, Chair. No, not today. Okay, thank you. Okay,
welcome to items for consideration. CPD 21-022, consider the approval of the minutes for
June 18th, 2021. I move to accept the minutes as presented. I second. Thank you. And we
will just go on down the line. John? I think you're still muted, John. Oh, I think I'm
good now. I haven't said anything yet. So. All right. My name. Oh, different one. Okay.
Yeah, yeah, we're approving the minutes. Yes, sir. Okay, good. Sonia? Okay. Ali? Yes. And
Bao? Yes. And Sally? Approve. Okay. And Beth, you made the motion. Are you approved? Okay,
thank you, everyone. We will go down to our next item. Item B, CPD 21-023, Proclamation
Disability Justice Day. I can probably introduce that item and introduce the person who's giving
the proclamation. As everyone probably here knows, July is Disability Pride Month. And
it's really celebrated all month in recognition of the 1990 signing of the ADA. So we have
produced a proclamation in recognition of that. The mayor was kind enough to take time
to join this meeting to deliver it, not knowing we could deliver it in person, but to deliver
it virtually to the committee. And so I'll hand it over to the mayor. Right. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Ryan. Mr. Chair, fellow committee members, it is a pleasure to be
before you today in this capacity and to continue the work that is to be done and make sure
the city steps forward best we can. So I do have a proclamation that I'd like to read.
And I'll just get started here. It says a proclamation by the mayor of the city of Denton
to all whom these presence shall come. Greetings. July is the anniversary of the signing of
the Americans with Disabilities Act as the beginning of the modern day disability justice
and inclusion movement. And whereas we recognize the tireless efforts of the disability justice
advocates and allies who have pursued equal access for all citizens, regardless of abilities
abroad. And whereas on July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed
as a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all
areas of public life, including employment, transportation, education, and public and
private places that are open to the general public. And whereas members of the Denton
community, including the Denton committee on persons with disabilities, continually
champion the cause for disability awareness, inclusion, and an end to discrimination and
stigma. Now, therefore, I, Gerard Hutzpeth, mayor of the city of Denton, Texas, do hereby
proclaim July 26, 2021 as Denton Disability Justice Day and encourage the citizens of
the city of Denton to join in recognizing the 31st anniversary of the signing of the
Americans with Disabilities Act and to the work still to be done to ensure the rights
of those with disabilities. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, Mayor. Now, normally we would present this to a person and what we'll do is if anyone
wants a copy of this proclamation, happy to give you one as a committee member. And we'll
also make sure that we promote this proclamation on the city's social media on that day, July
26, to make sure that we do recognize the anniversary of the signing of the ADA.
Would you mind just emailing us a copy of it? I would be happy to.
Thank you. You got it.
Great. Thank you, Mayor Hutzpeth, for that reading of the proclamation.
Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, you know, obviously, we talk regularly, so I look forward
to your insights. Thank you for what you do. And I'm going to hang around. I'll just turn
off my screen and listen to y'all work. That'll be good.
Sounds good. Appreciate it.
Yes.
Great. We'll move on to Item C, CBD 20-024, Receiving Report, Hold the Discussion and
Give Staff Direction, Regarding the Status of the Industrial Street Park Revisions to
ADA Access and a New Art Installation.
Mr. Chair, this is John Whitmore. I'm the Park Planning Manager, and I am over this
particular park renovation that we're talking about at Industrial Street. I have a presentation
that I'm going to share. Just give me a moment.
Now this particular park, it's a pocket park, and it's right, we'll have a map coming up
here in a moment. But this is also the site where the Denton Women's Interracial Fellowship
Monument is going to be installed. And that when we were looking at the locations that
the DWIF members would prefer it to be done, they actually chose this pocket park at Industrial
Street because they used to meet at the grocery store that used to be located on that actual
spot. And so that's why this particular spot was chosen for it.
Let's see if I can get it moving forward. Our artist for this, and I'll give you a little
background of the art so that I can kind of show why the park was designed, what it was.
Our artist, Dina Fischer, a multimedia artist, and she creates many things with lots of color.
And she specializes in lenticular art, which is art that changes the picture, the different
angles that you would look at it. And we'll show some examples as we go with that. And
her inspiration is that it has every color of the rainbow. It's a beautiful piece. And
what it does is it celebrates the visionary women, the DWIF. And she actually had a very
similar circumstance. Her mother was one of the individuals that helped to build race
relations in her community where she grew up. And so she had a special connection to this
particular one. Now her art style is this animated disk, that lenticular art, I think
I mentioned. And there's several pieces of it that will be displayed for it. And this
is what the project actually looks like. And so you'll see this screen. And I'll show you
the placement in the park itself. And then lenticular art disks. This is about four feet
in diameter. And I'll show you that there's two of those, and they will be placed at the
entrance to the park. And when the screen's completed, it'll look more like this with
pictures and stories about all the people involved in this. But one of the really unique
things is that you can take a look at this with your phone and using an application called
Google lens, you can show a picture at that. And what happens is it comes up with that
person's story and that involvement, and what is the meaning of that. And so using a smartphone,
people can get much more depth of what the history and the different people involved
in this very historic group. All of these images that you see, those disks are two sided.
And so people will be able to move to the front of the display and also around the backside
to be able to get the whole story. And also part of the walkway, there are other pieces.
These are bollards that are essentially like they're art lantern type things that will
be along the way. It's a few revisions since that particular picture has been done. They're
more circular instead of rectangular or square that you see there. But each one depicts children
that are actually in our community in different events, showing the differences between things
that have happened back in the late sixties, early seventies to how things have changed
up to this particular point as a result of the women that did this. And you can see towards
the that the bollards have actually changed more towards this. And the lenticular art,
you can see how things change through all the members of the group. And as people would
walk by these particular art pieces. This is what the park looks like today, Industrial
Street Park. And it really only has a couple of picnic tables and pads there at the current
moment. And some of the trees will come out and this will have walkways that come up from
this side of the street, which we don't have before. This park was is not really accessible
from this side at all. We have an accessibility in the park right now through a ramp that
comes around this direction here. And that's the only bit that's accessible. So what we
wanted to do was make it accessible from both sides. This is a curb in the front, which
is difficult to maneuver. And there's no way really to have, let's say a wheelchair pop
up there very easily unless somebody is very able with the wheelchair. And what we want
to take it to is something like this. And so what we're looking at is a top down look
for it. And so this would be the area there from where we were looking. That is the street
at Industrial Street. That's across from like Fuzzy's Taco Shop and those other places.
And back in this area over here, that's the parking lot. And this was the existing parking
lot and that's Rusty Taco, the Hickory Street Rounds and Hoochies are the businesses that
are right there next to it. There's actually a very small alley in this area here too. And
so what would happen is that anybody that got a wheelchair accessible this ramp through
here and also over on this side. So the stairs can be bypassed using this gentle ramp through
here. And then walkways that we don't have now will be put in through here and they'll
have access to this particular area. Now these are some steps that are here that make this
into more of a little amphitheater that the artwork is behind them. And so during some
of the music festivals and other things, we could have musicians performing here in this
park at that particular time. And then the walkway continues around this way to access
the art here. Also from this park, you can see that we recreated the ramp that's currently
in the park. And then we brought it down to here with a landing and then the ability to
roll a wheelchair all the way around this particular art piece so that there's no limitations
what people would have to be able to get into this area here. And so they can participate
in this area or they can come around this area and view from the front anything that
might be going on here such as a musicians playing or that such. We expect that we will
draw people from all over the school district and this will be a destination point to be
able to teach race relations and positive things and how people can make a big difference
in their communities by joining together and doing that. And so I think that we'll see
those types of things. We have good access with the parking lot over in this area for
a bus to come. It's not as good on industrial street. If anybody's been there, the parking
is not as good in that particular area. And this lawn area, we had originally designed
it to be an artificial turf, but we had some feedback from council that they really preferred
to have this as a still natural green. And so we're going to maintain that as a natural
green area here. We'll have built in more drainage so that if it does get super wet
in there, that'll drain quickly. Otherwise that will remain that lawn that you saw in
the earlier, currently existing pictures. Oh, that lenticular, those big disks I showed,
these are right in these areas here. So if somebody comes to experience the park and
to view the art, they have the option of rolling in if they're a wheelchair or using the ramps
this way and being able to walk to here. The existing parking over here, the handicapped
spaces are right over in this particular area here. They're currently the existing space
spaces. In order to be able to get this fully accessible, to have everybody all the way
around it, we actually had to take out a couple of places, parking places in that particular
area. And so most of all of this is concrete in the different areas. And so it should have
good accessibility and non-slip through most conditions other than our ice storms that
we have. Let's see. And this is a little bit more detail on what you're going to see where
that ramp goes through here and the accessibility. And this is a concrete bench that is easily
if somebody wants to transfer to that bench, they can do that either end or any in the
middle here if this is where they want to be able to sit. So those are the good things.
And we also have some other general seating that will go in in various places. It's not
determined right here on this particular one, this diagram. It's more to show where most
of the traffic and how to move around this park. It's not a very big park. It's only
.11 acres. But I think that it's been used well for this. Keep lots of greenery so that
when everybody sees in a different place and we'll have some built-in seating also in spots
to it with plenty of light. One thing I didn't mention so far is that these strings like
this, those are called catenary lights. And so these are lights that will be hanging directly
over the area. It'll be on timers and programmed. So there's enough light in this area that
it kind of discourages any negative activity, let's say, in the park area for it. And at
that, I will see if I can take that off the screen. And we're open for questions and comments.
Yes? >> Yes. I was wondering how would a person that's blind be able to interact to get the
information about the stories behind the people? >> I don't -- we don't have that part of the
actual art installation for it. Right now it can be audio. Some of the pieces that are
-- if they shine their phone at it or somebody does that, it'll have the audio of some of
the members that were recorded. UNT, University of North Texas, did one of those preservation
things where they had many of the women come and give testimony about what was happening
and what they thought and what they felt. And so the artist has combined that into it.
But other than that, it's not anything there particularly that would be anyone that has
a vision disability. >> Yeah. I'm just thinking that -- I'm not sure, but I would think that
it's possible using Google Lens and directing that towards individual disks, as you were
showing in the presentation, would be problematic where it's like if there would be some way
that they could click onto a website that they could just, you know, play the audio
recording to tell about the different people that are mentioned there, that might be easier
for people to do. >> I'm pretty sure that the phones have the
ability to be able to do the voice, you know, and read that to them in that particular case.
But they'd have to be able to locate that disk. And they can do that by feel. People
will have the ability to actually touch these items. They're not restricted from that. There's
nothing on them right now that has Braille or that somebody could read physically that
way. >> Yeah. It was just a suggestion for there -- instead of people having to find
each disk, that there could just be the information in one stop. That would be easier, I would
think. >> Very good point. Thank you.
>> Thanks. I had a quick -- I'm sorry. I have a quick question, John. On the amphitheater
part where there's the steps and access is kind of around the side, will there be slantage,
directional slantage to show where the accessible path is to get onto the amphitheater area?
>> If you are there, everything is easily visible when you're there from it. So if you
are from the industrial street side, and if you have a wheelchair at the industrial street
side, you can -- it goes uphill from there. So you can see easily the paths all the way
up. If you are at the very top by the parking lot, you'll be able to look down and the path
will be noted right there for the accessibility. But I'll make sure there's signage there to
show that. >> Thank you. Somebody had a hand. John,
go ahead. >> I just want to know about -- I can't see
your pictures with -- maybe there's a gazebo or something. You mentioned musicians or people
playing music in the area, is there an actual concrete area or a small gazebo and electricity
there? >> Yes, we have electricity.
>> Awesome. Is there some area there for musicians like set up and play?
>> There is. And that is if you -- toward the grass side where you saw those steps,
that is the curtain wall, which is what's called as a backdrop. There's enough room
for musicians to set up there. >> That's great. I was just making sure.
>> Val, I have a question. >> Val, go ahead.
>> Thank you. I enjoyed your presentation and I think the vision for this park is unbelievable.
I like the idea. And I do have a question regarding the paths for walkers and individuals
using mobility devices. How wide is this path since it's such a limited amount of land?
>> I think it's five feet wide. >> Okay.
>> I'll have to check exactly on it. I don't have my ability to check that right at this
point. But what we wanted to do is make sure that it's wide enough for us two people easily
to walk side by side. Now, one of the issues that comes up is, yes, it doesn't have that
much room to be able to have people through there normally. And if we would build this
in a park, we would make this eight feet wide in a larger park for people that would go
and bicycle us and others so that there's enough separation for people in this particular area.
But you'd expect this to at least be five feet. >> And so where the benches are located,
thank you, are those the only possibilities for seating in this park?
>> We have opportunities that we can put benches in at other locations in there. You didn't see
some of the things there. But mostly what we're looking at in the park is to have like there are
like a large concrete type of bench like you saw in the back of the park that kind of is that
arc. But we'll have some of those on the sides of the park. So if somebody wanted to transfer,
let's say, from a wheelchair, they could easily do that. But most of those don't have backs,
let's say, to the benches and that. It's just really just a place to sit.
>> And so if we saw younger children in this park, what would be available for them?
>> There's no playground equipment in this particular area. There's, of course, the colors
and various things of the artwork itself. And artwork is durable. But it's not something that
the kids can -- we're having it built so that it's not easily hangable, you know, like the kids
climbing up and on that. But there's no play equipment in this particular one because of
its being downtown location. >> Okay. I would be nice if you could put
like a small piece of equipment, you know, just to help some of the younger children not be
uninterested in all that this park has to offer on some of the green space that I see around.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Just a recommendation.
>> Yes, ma'am. >> Beth?
>> I also want to commend you on the design. It's a fantastic design. And the artwork is
really amazing. And the concept of honoring these women is amazing. I love the bench seating so
that people can transfer to it easily. But I wanted to point out that a lot of people with
disabilities need some seating with a back to it. And not a picnic table. That doesn't count.
Just the regular park benches that you see in other parks that are flat and then have the back
on them. If those could be available maybe on the sides where there was some room, somewhere
where there was some seating with a back to it for people that can't sit on bench seats.
>> Yeah, we planned some of that seating along there. But we can take a look at having at least
a couple that would be able to have the backs for it. >> I think that would be helpful. Thank you.
It's a beautiful design. >> Thank you very much.
>> You mentioned the lights in the park. And I was curious just about those. Are they going
to be flashing lights? Are they just going to be on a loop? Or is it just going to be on and off?
And that's kind of how it is. >> They're dimmable. And so they're
LED lights. They shine straight down. And we are going to be dark sky compliant
so that no light actually ever shines upward to create glare. Honestly, we do have some residents
right next to that in the apartment complex or condo complex that's there. And they didn't want
that. But they also wanted to have more security. And so during events and various things and the
normal time that a park is open. And our parks are open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. officially.
Even though people will walk through this particular park to get from one place to the other.
But technically it's closed after 10. But those lights will be able to be on during the darkness
hours. And then they'll dim down to a security level so that people can still go through without
having any stumbling problems with that. >> Thank you so much for that.
That's all, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you.
Do we have any other questions or comments, suggestions?
>> I too like to design and understand the complex space that it sits on. So
the access that there is pretty much, you know, entry access and being able to
go through the park. My only concern is the transition from the pavement to the grass.
Sometimes I guess over time there's gaps or the drop becomes greater than what it is in the
beginning. >> That's a very good comment, I think, for any of our parks where we have sidewalks that
meet the turf. So we'll have to pay special attention to that. And this will be new turf
that we're putting in. We can't really preserve the old grass that's there because we're changing
the slope of that area so that it's less severe. >> Well, thank you, John, for your presentation
and for joining us today. We appreciate it. >> I thank you so much for having me here,
and I do absolutely appreciate your feedback for this. >> Thank you. We'll move on to our next
item. Item D, CPD 21-025. Receive report, hold a discussion and give staff direction
regarding committee areas of interest for fiscal year 2021-22. >> Let's see. That is me, Mr. Chair.
Let me pull up my presentation. >> Sure. >> It's been a bit since I've done this, so I'm a little
rusty. Okay. I think everybody can see what I'm looking at. So this is going to be maybe your
shortest presentation in a while, but I do want to start the conversation since we're coming into a
new fiscal year about what this committee might like to discuss. And so I'll walk through that
very briefly, and then I'll have pen in hand ready to take your comments down. So just background,
you know, of course, this committee was created in 2018 and implemented fully in 2019 to advise
the city and really a lot of areas of interest pertaining to disabilities, disability concerns,
accessibility, accommodations, and it's general, the advice and feedback is generally applicable
to city projects and activities. You know, things that we can actually take as actionable feedback
and do something about. Under the charge, it did list a number of different areas as examples that
the committee could provide input on and give staff recommendations on. That included sidewalks,
ramps, really public rights of way and pedestrian issues. Our ADA transition plan, which you have
heard a number of times before in presentation. Adaptive and accessible parks or adaptive and
accessible elements to parks, which you just heard about. Any new facilities that may be coming
online, you know, understanding how those are going to be designed and how someone with a
disability or a number of disabilities could have equal access to that facility. Signage was also
one of the examples given in the committee's charge. Everything down to improving city operations is
just quite general. So, you know, a lot of things can fall under that umbrella. And then improving
the operations of other entities, which is something that you guys have heard about with DART a couple
of times, most recently with the GoZone program. And then adaptive activities with parks and
recreation. So, generally, I'm going to go back to the previous slide. Generally, the charge falls
under kind of these three categories. These items were just to kind of give a little bit more meat
to the bone and more description on what the committee could discuss. So, what I'm hoping for
this discussion as we come up on our next fiscal year, 2021 through '22, which starts in October,
I just want to have a good understanding, a better understanding of what this committee,
either as individuals or as a committee in unison, really feel like they may want to talk about. So,
essentially giving perhaps a little bit more description so that we can continue to bring
items that you are interested in and concerned with to you for discussion. And so, I'm going to
open it up here in a second for you to just fire at me. But really, I want it to be more of a
discussion between yourselves. So, what I'm going to do is I'm just going to take notes today.
And I'd like to come back to you at our next meeting in September to essentially say this is
what I heard from you guys. Would you like to confirm that these may be some priority items
to bring back in the next year? And what we'll do once we get that feedback from you is to kind of
explore those items and see how we can best bring those to the committee for discussion.
I will say that these items aren't going to be your full work plan for the year.
Obviously, things of an important nature come up sporadically through the year and may just
kind of leap to the top of the pack. And we want to make sure that we bring things to you
while they are timely. So, whatever is discussed and whatever is prioritized,
that may not be your next two meetings worth of items, but they very likely might be spread
over the course of the year, depending on what other things pop up that we can't anticipate just
yet. And that, I believe, is my -- oh, I'm frozen. There we go. That's my presentation. So, I'm going
to stop sharing real quick and bring it back to you guys. And if you have any questions about
the purpose of the item, I'm happy to take that. But, really, I think this can be more of a
discussion with the committee on what items you might see as a higher priority in the next fiscal
year with discussion items. >> Beth, thank you for raising your
hand. >> Something that Val and I have talked about between us, but I haven't gotten to talk
to the rest of the committee about, is during the winter storm, it became real obvious that the
city's plan for an area for people to go really didn't work for people with disabilities. And I
think a disability disaster plan needs to be addressed. And just as an example, they were
sending people to MLK rec center, and, you know, great, but people were on cots, and cots really
don't work well for a lot of disabled people. There were concerns about medical equipment,
if you needed to bring medical equipment with you, would it be, you know, would you have a plug next
to you to plug it in? You know, how much space was each person given? Things like that. And I
think that that's something that, as a group, we really should address. >> I'm seeing a lot of
head shaking, so there may be some support with that. Would it be, since it's emergency management,
that can be a really gnarly topic with a lot of components, would it be good to bring forward
maybe just the sheltering component first, and then just kind of leap from there to maybe another
area of emergency operations or emergency management that might pertain to disabilities?
It'll be difficult to discuss all aspects of emergency management, I think, in one meeting,
in one item. >> Well, I think that's a good idea, Ryan, and if you can move it to enhance it, just
a taste on we're talking about sheltering, but then identifying and locating individuals and helping
them get to the shelter would be another component, and I think we could put both of those together.
It'll be intense discussion, but I think they go together. >> Yes, transportation definitely needs
to be included in that, because that was one of our concerns, was how would handicapped people get
to the location with all of their equipment? You know, that would need planning, and it might need
maybe the cooperation of an ambulance service or the fire department or other city services.
Another concern was when so many people were without water, and I was without water for several
weeks, they had a facility open where you could go shower, but it was a rec center, and I didn't know
how safe it would be. I'm used to having a shower bench and handrails, and my son flat out wouldn't
take me because we weren't sure that it was set up for a handicapped person and that it might be a
fall risk. So, you know, people need to feel safe with what the plan is, or they won't utilize it,
and that's exactly what happened to me, and I know, Val, you had some issues with your water
and your electricity, too. >> I think maybe looking at this issue in an organic way
of first seeing what is provided in an emergency situation to the general public,
then how can that be made inclusive and accessible? So, we're looking at transportation,
what kind of transportation is provided? Is that accessible? Are there sign language
interpreters available at the shelter? Are there any items that need to be read that can be
put in braille or large print? I mean, it's a very big, organic, big chunk of piece that we have to
look at element by element. >> Maybe perhaps this becomes a series of discussions that we kind of hit
several elements. One thing that's probably good for the committee to know is that we,
I think it's complete now, but we did have a consultant study, our emergency management
operations, and so as I understand it, there are going to be some deliverables coming out of that,
and we will be, I believe, seeking to hire a new emergency management coordinator, and so I don't
know the timing of that, but I think that makes this perhaps ripe for discussion. It's a good
timing. You know, new person coming on board, new strategies, new plan, you know, why not have the
discussion then? >> I wondered if there might be, along those same lines, if there might be some
type of federal monies to help people that need electricity, you know, for breathing or any other
reasons, if people, if there could be some type of way to access federal money to help buy generators,
it could be rechargeable generators, so people could maybe stay in their houses, because,
you know, not everybody can afford a generator. >> That may be something we could perhaps just do
a small bit of research on and deliver in a report. I'm not sure what the committee would
discuss for that one, but we can certainly track down some information. >> Yeah, I just thought
maybe if there was a link that we could let people know about, it was on like the city website or
something, and so people would be told you can go there, and if you need help purchasing a generator,
because, you know, you would get a doctor's note or whatever to, you know, say that you fit into
this category. >> Gotcha. That's really good, Sally. >> Thanks. >> So moving a little bit ahead of
emergency management, because that is so large, and we do have different chunks that we can pull off,
but I need some follow-up, and I don't know about the other group. I haven't had a chance to speak
with them on the police department presented to us on their efforts to work with individuals with
mental health and other disabilities, and they had a registration process. I think we had a good
discussion on that, but I don't believe -- I don't remember follow-up. Was there any follow-up? >> I
believe we did have a follow-up memo that came after -- I think you're talking about the Take Me
Home program? >> Mm-hmm. >> Okay. We did have a follow-up memo after that. I'm happy to send you
that, and if that's not what you were looking for, one thing we can do is we could probably just have
a follow-up, just another follow-up report sent to you guys that just kind of -- it's been in effect
for a bit of time, and just almost like a -- here's where the program's at now. >> Right. It would be
very good, because I don't remember that, so please help with the memo. >> Well, it's probably
outdated by now. It's been a bit, so we can probably get a new one generated. >> And I was
involved just a little taste here at the end of the year in the midst of the COVID and quarantine
on the ADA compliance contacts. Do we have all that cleared? Everyone knows who to contact and
when, and there was a vacancy, and what's that position feel? >> So we still have three positions
that serve as ADA coordinators. One of them is -- I believe that position has been hired. I don't
believe the person has started yet. That's going to be our pedestrian coordinator, bike and pedestrian
coordinator, traffic planner. We do have two others still. The person who right now handles
accommodations is Debbie Skowinski, and all that information can be found on our website
at cityofdenton.com/ADA. So we can -- if there's maybe consensus on the committee to discuss that,
we can, or if you just need the information emailed out, I'm happy to do that as well. >> An email
sounds good. So do these individuals serve for the citizens of Denton? Do they also support
employees who have ADA concerns? >> Yes. So anyone who needs an accommodation for a program
or for employment, just kind of all things related. >> Across the board. >> Exactly right. >> Okay.
Thank you. >> Any other issues that the group feels like we need to -- >> One thing just to maybe --
oh, go ahead. My apologies. No, no, please. >> Oh, it's okay. I was just thinking off the top
of my head. I know we've talked about different events in the city that come and go that have some
accessibility issues. So would it be something that the committee could work on and/or with staff
to create an accessibility checklist or an inclusion checklist? Were any city-sponsored events
were -- have that available to them? Or does that exist already? >> We have a special events
application process. I do not know off the top of my head in what way that speaks to accessibility,
but if it does, great, let's walk the committee through it. If it doesn't, okay, let's walk the
committee through that and get some feedback. So I think that's something we can definitely bring
forward. >> Great. Thank you. Beth? >> Along with what you were talking about, special events that
happen in the city, we talked before about the need for increased disabled parking at events,
especially like arts and jazz fest because they tend to close down areas where a lot of the
handicapped parking is. And one thing I think we talked about and hadn't moved forward with was
the possibility of getting some of those signs that you could put in a parking space and then
move it to another space, portable handicapped parking signs that the city could have available
for events and, you know, put them out and take them down to increase the amount of handicapped
parking for big events. >> I think accessibility and special events would be a good topic and we
can make sure to address parking as part of that for sure. With a couple of events coming up,
I may just go ahead and ask the question if we do have that capacity right there for the temporary
portable signs. >> Thank you. >> You got it. Thank you. If it helps the committee get the
thinking -- kind of get the thinking going, you know, one of the things that, you know, is, again,
city operations. So you think about all the operations, all the services we provide. Is there
any that you feel, whether it is how we ask you to pay for your utility bills or how people
interact with the library or animal shelter or just kind of anything under the sun, think of all
the services that we provide. Are there any areas where you feel like you would like to know
if there are opportunities to improve accessibility? So I know that's kind of a broad term,
but there's a lot that the city does. So there may be items there to discuss.
>> I had one thing that -- I was going to say it before you just said what you did. But one thing
I continue to be frustrated with is how difficult it is for people in wheelchairs to get from one
location to another. Like one thing I bought up in the past and I checked it out recently and
nothing had changed is we've got this great convention center, this fancy hotel, you know,
welcome to Denton. We want you to come and have all your conferences here. And if you're in that
one specific area, yeah, you can get around from one place to another. But if you're coming down
from the hotel towards university and you want to go over to Albertsons or to the medical supply
place or to a restaurant over by Albertsons, you have to actually go into oncoming traffic
to get there. There's no way a person in a wheelchair can get from that area over to
Albertsons. People walk across the grass there, but there's a curb. There's no curb cut. There's
just no way for it to happen. I've emailed many years ago about it. And it just -- there's many
areas in the city like this, but this in particular just really chaps me because, you know, it's like
we're so proud. We're the city of Denton. We have this great new space. But then, yeah, you just
got to stay here the whole time. >> Gotcha. And that's one thing that we do have planned,
I believe. Maybe our September meeting is to at least start the discussion on sidewalks
and pedestrian access. So I definitely -- that's a great sentiment to bring up at that meeting. But
Sally, if you would like to email me specifically about the one route you just mentioned, I could
get started on getting some answers on that. But I do plan to have pedestrian sidewalks
probably multiple times next year, if I'm quite honest. >> Thank you.
>> Allison, Addie, you had your hand up. >> Yeah. I have two things to just bring up.
Well, in library services and all around the community, opportunities for -- volunteer
opportunities for people with disabilities. I'd like the library to maybe revisit their
accessibility for volunteer opportunities. Last time they were here, they told us that
it wasn't something that commonly happened and that they weren't allowed to volunteer and I'd
like that to be revisited. I'd also like to address children's safety for invisible
disabilities in parks with play areas. >> So I understand that correctly. Invisible
disabilities. >> Like autism. >> Oh, okay. Gotcha. I'm invisible. >> Yeah. >> Indeed.
So I'm one for follow-up and evidence that communications were heard and actions were taken.
So before the pandemic, we had discussed seating in some of the public spaces, individuals with
disabilities, the weight of the chairs, the size of the chairs. We talked about the weight of doors
being exceptionally heavy for some individuals to open. We also talked about the location of
the restroom spaces, cubicles designed for individuals with wheelchairs being at the
furthest part of the entry from the restroom. And I know those were topics some brought by
citizens who had an opportunity to speak to us. But I'd like to know if it was heard, is there
anything being done about it? You know, it's good to hear, but then we'd like to know it is, you
know, financially impossible for us to do this. We have a plan to get some of these things corrected
over time. I believe a building was being renovated. We were talking about counter height
for individuals that, you know, can't handle the standing if they need to write and transact business
with the seating and the heights of tables in some of the meeting rooms.
>> When you say public spaces, do you mean like city facilities?
>> Yes, for the city facilities when groups are meeting and some of those individuals in the group
may need an accommodation, which leads me to the contact. Do we have that contact for our citizens
to say I need support with ABC and D when I come to a public event on city property?
>> We do. So that would again be that accommodations. Citydent.com/ADA is where the
information is. You know, when we are bringing back our ADA transition plan here likely in the fall,
and this plan, it's focusing on facilities and parks, so I'll make sure that these become
discussion items in that discussion and that we hit on those specifically, because that plan will
be when we look at, okay, what should be and needs to be updated to be ADA compliant. And so that's
something that our consultant, if they're not already looking at, they should be looking at,
and they can speak to kind of their process for reviewing doorway, counter height, restroom
proximity, all those things. That's excellent, and we are planning on bringing that back with the ADA
plan. >> Okay. And we used to get little updates as a committee on some of the previous topics
and where the status for those topics happens to be. If I'm missing out, you guys just, you know,
ring my bell and tell me. But if you could just do that, start bringing back the little checklist
to say, okay, this is where we were, and this was what we did about it, or it's pending.
>> So more follow-up content like in our report that we have at the end of every agenda?
>> Yes. And I'm through talking. >> I was going to say, I think most of those
are addressed in those staff memos. I just think the way we did it previously was more
visual on screen with a checklist where people can see. >> So you prefer something, a report on
screen? >> I personally am okay with the memo. I just think that's -- correct me if I'm wrong,
Val. Maybe that's what you're alluding to. >> I don't remember a lot of memos, but I do
remember the chart that we received. Have I been missing something? You all are getting memos and
I'm not. >> It's at the agenda packet. It's usually the last item. >> I haven't seen that
in a while. I guess I'll put it that way. >> So every agenda item at the bottom with the staff
memo or report, a lot of the updates from previous are there. >> We used to go over them verbally
at the end of the meeting. And I think that's part of what we're missing is we're maybe not
going over it verbally and talking about it. So, you know, you might read it and it doesn't stick
because we haven't really processed it. At least I know for me it was more helpful when we went over
it verbally and it was on the screen or verbally and it was on the paper. >> I see your hand up.
>> So there is an actual list of things that the committee has kind of addressed and wanted
those things to be addressed by the city? >> I don't believe there's a list of specific
things that we've presented and come back to the committee with. We did keep a meeting topics list
that we would -- this is probably pre-COVID that we included with the committee packet. Of course,
COVID kind of -- things got a little wonky. But I think if the committee's desire is to perhaps at
the end of every discussion maybe recap any to-do items and then keep those tracked from meeting to
meeting, I think that is certainly doable. And we can just, you know, however it ends up being
presented, whether it's a -- you know, we keep a list in our general report of, you know, these
things are done. They're in the report. You got these. These things are still working on. And we
can certainly include that as part of the agenda item and that last kind of summary report that we
give. >> Sure. I think that if we -- if we form something like that, that it should be done outside
the meeting at least have people email you, Ryan, or whomever to list things that they feel should
be on a list to kind of be addressed. Because if we do that in our committee meeting now, you know,
they might get a little long-winded and crazy. It'd just be easier. You know, there's so much stuff.
I mean, it's kind of overwhelming how many things could be addressed if we tried to address all of
them. >> I hear what you're saying. I think we would have to get a committee consensus.
>> Right. >> I think it might get
>> That's what I mean. >> Difficult if we -- yeah.
>> That's what I mean. It would just get a little nuts, you know, and I don't want anybody to get
frustrated because we can't get this one thing done or this one thing. It's just so much stuff.
So maybe we can pick apart a few things and possibly change one of them or a part of one
of them or any fraction of an idea. So anyways, I just wanted to know if there was an actual list
or not. Thanks. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> I think I might be in the minority where I prefer the memo
and be able to read it prior to the meeting. And I think how it was executed way previously was
very much shooting darts in the dark and really ran long. So maybe we can come to a compromise
between the two. But I would encourage everyone to read the agenda packet before the meeting so
that way it makes these conversations a little more effective. >> I think I can work to find
a happy medium even if it's just an image of a checklist of what's been done and what's not
left out that can accompany the memo. Maybe that would kind of give everyone what they're looking
for without being terribly cumbersome one way or the other. >> Great. Any other thoughts on other
topics? >> We had talked about back when we first started talking about the crosswalks
around the courthouse and we just never came back around to it was a stop light feature called
initial pedestrian delay. That was what they had around the courthouse stop lights
initial before they upgraded to the all walk crosswalk. And we asked the traffic coordinator
at that time when he did his presentation if that initial pedestrian delay could be used on any
crosswalk or every crosswalk in town because that made it safer. It gave the pedestrian
an extra three seconds to get out in front of the cars and be seen. And we never went back
and talked about would we want to try that in other locations or maybe everywhere and see if
it cut down on the problems people were having getting across the street in time or being seen
when they went across the street. >> Gotcha. We can get a follow-up on that for sure.
>> Thank you. >> Ryan, is that also something that could be addressed through the
Engage Denton app? >> It could. I think that that's probably more of a if it's a specific
stop light or I should say intersection. That's something someone could submit through
Engage Denton. We could do an evaluation and respond either yes, we can do that,
no, we shouldn't for some other traffic management or pedestrian management reason.
But it certainly is something that anyone could submit on Engage Denton. But I think we can come
back with a question of if the question is would this be good to apply to more or all crosswalks,
I think that's a question we can answer. It may be something where we can't do it for all of them,
but maybe we should do it for some because they are pedestrian heavy and there would be a safety
benefit there and it wouldn't be disruptive to traffic flows. And that's certainly a question
that we can answer. >> Any other thoughts? >> At some point I would like to talk to the
people from the therapeutic recreation at Parks and Rec again and see if we can coordinate with
them and help build their program. We met with them once early on and traded ideas back and forth,
but we never got to follow up. >> I believe we have some new staff members with that program,
so it would be good for everybody to be familiar with everybody. >> If there are no more additions,
I have a really good list, so I'll bring that back in September. And if I can get any of them
that there was a pretty clear consensus on in that September meeting, I will. But we'll know,
you know, I have a good slate of things to draw from in the coming meetings for sure. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Ryan. We'll go to item E, CPD 21026, staff update memo. >> That's me again. Did
everyone get a chance to look over that memo? It was one pager, so I saved you from a lot of time
this time around. I think the big news is that the council had previously directed that all virtual
meetings would conclude at the end of August, and the governor recently indicated that he would
essentially rescind the suspension of the open meetings act that allowed virtual meetings. So
the council said that they intended to do it. The governor said, well, now you have no choice,
essentially. So this committee will return to in-person meetings beginning with our September
meeting, which is slated for September 16. And if you guys remember back when we first started the
committee, we kind of packed in a little tight in the work session room. And so I'm going to
look and see if there are not other opportunities, other spaces where we're not going to be so close
to each other, you know, from a COVID precaution perspective, but also just an ease of access
perspective as well. So right now we're looking for just an alternative space to house our meeting,
but it will be in-person. What I will do as well, you know, we've been doing these 3 p.m. meetings
for a while, and I'm going to reach out to each of you individually. I might do a quick little web
survey. If you can't fill that out, I might just call you, or you can just email me back. But I
want to know, Thursday seemed to work well, and I want to know everyone's individual thoughts on
whether to keep the 3 p.m. time frame that we've been working with, which may be convenient
virtually, but may not be convenient in person, or to revert back to the 6 p.m. time frame that
we had when the committee originally began meeting in person. We're not posted for this discussion
now, so we can't have it now, but I will reach out, kind of do an individual poll with everyone,
and if there's a clear consensus, that'll help make the decision a bit easier on what works for
the committee. But I do want to let you guys know that that's coming your way.
And does anyone have any questions on just the return to in-person meetings at all?
Will wearing masks be an option if we are, are we, assuming we're still going to be recorded and?
You will be recorded. I don't believe there are any prohibitions with wearing a mask while
being recorded, although I will check on that. So I don't think we can
prevent you from wearing a mask due to TOMA law. So I'll verify, but I'm pretty sure if
you want to wear a mask, you'll be free to do so. Additionally, there are no city requirements
relating to wearing a face mask, so if you don't want to wear a face mask, you wouldn't be required
to. So it would be completely individual choice. John? I may need somebody to, I don't know,
talk to me on the phone or something. I've never been in person with a meeting,
so I might need a little bit of help with some further description of exactly where I'm going.
So yeah, I can talk to a couple different people and figure it out. Maybe you, Val,
message you, or I'll figure it out. But yeah, is it the, it's something that came in somewhere, right?
Yeah, we would be in city, we previously were in city hall. We'll find a location. We'll nail
down a location and try to give you some more space. I'll give you a call, John. No worries.
We'll make sure we reach out to you. Sandy, you have a question? Yes. Well, we have input
into the location or not? If there's options, yes. I'll certainly try to work with, talk to
you guys and work with what works best. We have to find a room that we can record from so that you
guys can be broadcast and that we can also fit everyone in comfortably. And so you have to fit
in there comfortably, be oriented in such a way that we can get a camera on you and that the sound
works as well because sound is very important. No sense in broadcasting if everything turns out
garbled because it's a maybe a cavernous room. So we're trying to hit a sweet spot there. But if
we do look like we have multiple options, I think we'll come with a recommendation,
but we'll also get some input from the committee. Thank you. Yeah.
All right. Well, the only other item is just an update on the closed captioning recommendation
that this committee made that has been submitted to council through the budget process. And it'll be
part of their consideration of the budget here through July and August. So just wanted to follow
up on that. And our next meeting is September 16th at TBD. I do not have a time location or room for
you yet. That's all I'll be working on over the coming weeks. And that is this item. Go back to
monthly meetings or are we going to, during the pandemic we did like every two months, every three
months, are we going to go back to monthly? What I'll do is I'll put an item on that September
meeting to where we can discuss the, you have an adopted schedule through the end of the calendar
year, which is every other month. So we can consider it when we adopt a new schedule,
or we can have just a discussion item prior to that, to where this body could consider its
meeting frequency. Two months may work for you. It may not feel like that's enough time to talk
about the things you want to talk about. So this committee could make that decision.
Okay. Any other questions regarding the in-person or captioning? All right, great.
Any concluding items? Announcements or? No. All right. So looks like we are ready to adjourn.
Do I need to have a motion to adjourn? I make a motion to adjourn.
Second that. Great. All right. Well, thank you everyone for being on time and being here. And I
guess we will see each other in person next time. So thank you, Ryan and the staff for helping us
with all the virtual stuff this past year or whatever it's been. So absolutely. It'll be good
to see you guys again. It'll be nice to be in person again. Thanks. See you guys later.