HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-06-09 Human Relations Commission Summary MinutesADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
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HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Community Meeting Room
Palo Alto Civic Center
250 Hamilton Avenue
7:00 PM
REGULAR MEETING
ROLL CALL:
Commissioners Present: Alhassani, Chen, Gordon Gray, O’Nan, Savage, Stinger, Stone
Council Liaison: Council Member Wolbach
Staff: Minka van der Zwaag, Mary Constantino
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
I. ROLL CALL
II. AGENDA CHANGES, REQUESTS, DELETIONS
Chair Stone: Do we have any agenda changes, requests or deletions?
III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
(Members of the public are invited to address the Commission during the period reserved for
Oral Communications on any subject not on the agenda. In the interest of time, the
Commission requests that speakers limit the length of their remarks to five minutes.)
Chair Stone: Any oral communications?
IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chair Stone: We don't have any minutes to approve.
Mary Constantino: I sent out three sets. I sent out the Implicit Bias, and I sent out April and
May. They are verbatim and are 26 pages each. I did hear back from Valerie for the Implicit
Bias. I called the Clerk's Office today because I didn't want to make copies of 26 pages times 3
times 7. What the Clerk's Office said, since they're verbatim, the Clerk’s Office does not have
the Council approve them. We wanted to have it up for discussion on how does the HRC want
the minutes to be handled. Did you just want to have them approved or did you want to ...
Commissioner Gordon Gray: What are the options?
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
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Ms. Constantino: The options are the HRC could just have them approved, so you don't even
have to make a motion to approve them. We just upload them on the City's site or you can
review them and make changes like you were before.
Commissioner Savage: If they're verbatim, we've already heard them once. I say we just ...
Commissioner Chen: Just let it go.
Commissioner Savage: Yeah, let it go. Just upload.
Commissioner O'Nan: I do have one concern. Sometimes people's names are misspelled or the
organization is misspelled.
Ms. Constantino: I read through them. I go through the minutes and clean it up. I look at
different names. It's up to you.
Minka van der Zwaag: It is being reviewed; it's just not being reviewed—it would not be
reviewed then by the Commission. The Council, they don't have time to read six hours of
weekly minutes, so it's just entered into the record. That's basically what this would be, entering
it into the record.
Chair Stone: I trust Mary on her ability to read through it and catch anything, if you have any
concerns or there's anything that you feel that the Commission or a particular Commissioner
needs to review before proceeding. That might be the best way to go about it. Do we need to
vote on something like this?
Ms. Constantino: I know the Council doesn't.
Ms. van der Zwaag: No, vote on whether or not on that.
Ms. Constantino: I don't think so. It's just procedure.
Chair Stone: Does anyone object to Mary just reviewing the minutes and sending them alon g?
Commissioner Gordon Gray: You said you were going to upload them somewhere?
Ms. Constantino: I always do it, always up on that HRC page.
Chair O'Nan: I'm just wondering, if Mary should ever move on or retire, do we need a formal
process that somebody with a certain staff position is in charge of doing this?
Ms. van der Zwaag: There will always be someone in her position that is staffed to the HRC.
That will fall to the next person in that position.
Chair Stone: Thank you, Mary.
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
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V. BUSINESS
1. Presentation by Raul Rojas, Social Worker at Palo Alto Housing on mental health
challenges faced by residents
Chair Stone: Moving on to our business items. Tonight we have Raul Rojas; a social worker
from the Palo Alto Housing to discuss the mental health challenges faced by residents at Palo
Alto Housing. Mr. Rojas, if you wouldn't mind coming and joining us at the table, we've got a
nice spot here for you. Just make sure that your speaker is on. It's got a little red light there. If
that's on, then you're good to go.
Raul Rojas: I think it's on.
Chair Stone: No, it's not? Press the little button. Now you go. Thanks for being here with us
tonight. We appreciate it. We look forward to hearing what you have to say.
Mr. Rojas: First, I want to thank you for your invitation to speak with you about this topic that is
very close to my heart and is very important to me and the work that I do with Palo Alto
Housing, an issue that is very important not only for Palo Alto Housing residents, but of course
for the City of Palo Alto at large. I want to talk specifically about our residents, because that is
the experience that I have directly, working with them. I work at Alma Place; probably you
know Alma Place and the Barker Hotel. We have these SROs, single occupancy rooms.
Combined, we have about 130 residents. It's a very nice, diverse community. We have people
from almost every continent, from Africa to Asia, Europe and of course America. Also it's a
very vibrant, cultural diverse community. I think it reflects the community at large especially in
California. We have a great number of Caucasians, African-Americans, Asian-Americans,
Latinos and people from other countries. We have people from Turkey and Iran, Iraq. It really
makes a very nice mixture of people from different countries, different levels of education. We
have people with Master's Degrees and people with Ph.D., and also people with only a high
school diploma. They're able to really interact in a way that really creates a sense of community.
We have also in terms of health, mental health and physical health, it's also very diverse. We
have people with, in this part of the spectrum, really severe, chronic mental health issues, and
also people who are highly functioning. They hold a job; they have a life; and they are able to
survive in a normal environment, a normal life. For us, it's kind of like a microcosm. It's a
social place where we want to feel that everyone regardless of their mental health status or
gender or background, that they feel included, that they are part of this community. That's why,
even though we have about 20-30 percent of our population with severe mental health issues, we
try to really make sure that they feel like they are in a normal environment. It's like a good
practice. It's a good way for them to really learn to live and interact in society. That's part of my
job as a resident service, as a case manager, to really make sure they feel welcome. At the same
time—that's another thing. If they feel that they want to be autonomous, they don't want any
kind of support from us, we'll respect that. I try to outreach. Whenever a resident moves into
our properties, I go and I meet with them. I do an assessment about their needs and the situation.
We develop some kind of plan to help them to achieve the goals. If there is any kind of mental
health issue, substance abuse issue, we work together in developing some kind of treatment plan
with them. There is always something that they are willing to do. We cannot force them to do it.
Of course, it's about building relationships. My role is basically to be there, connecting with
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
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them, building the relationship, the trust. Whenever there is an issue, a concern, they will come
because they know that I'm there all the time. I have two offices, one in Alma Place at the
Barker Hotel. Our model is to have a case manager on site, because we think that's a really good
approach in terms of helping in the treatment by helping them take their medications, working
their treatment. If they need any help, they know that they can come to me. I work with
agencies outside Palo Alto Housing, like with Momentum for Mental Health, the VA. We work
also with the North County Mental Health, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, with other
organizations that are interested or concerned about mental health. The idea is once I have a
resident who has been diagnosed with any kind of mental health issue, I immediately contact
their other professionals who are involved in his treatment. If he has a social worker,
psychiatrist, therapist, I want to know because that's a good way for me to whenever there is
some issue or concern I can just approach them and say, "I'm concerned here about such-and-
such person. We need to work together and see how we can help him." That's the team
approach that we work with the residents. We also work with relatives. Unfortunately, most of
our residents are alone. Sometimes they don't have any relatives around. Sometimes it's an
issue. Whenever a relative is around, we really want to get them involved in helping us and
ensure that the resident is doing well. The challenges that most of our residents face is there is
not enough services for mental health patients in general. It's even more difficult to find mental
health services for people who don't speak English. That's really, really a gap. There is also they
are by themselves. They don't have a support system. What I have observed in my experience
working with residents is when the family is around, when the family is involved and I'm able to
build that relationship, that connection, we have better outcomes. Usually our residents do well.
When there is no family around it is more difficult. It's more difficult to get them into the
process. That's a challenge. We have dual diagnoses, people with mental health issues and
substance abuse. It is another big, big challenge. There are very few treatments as well for
substance abuse. We rely so much on the County. They have a really good system, the County,
but most of the services are either in San Jose or South County. We don't have many services in
North County for substance abuse. In addition to the mental health issues, there are other health
issues. We have so many people with diabetes or hypertension or heart problems, obesity
because they gain weight when they're taking this medication. We have obesity, diabetes and
hypertension. It's mental health, dual diagnoses, substance abuse and also physical problems,
physical health problems. It's difficult for them to lead a normal life. What we try to accomplish
in our communities is for them to feel welcome and create a sense of connection and community.
Unfortunately, they don't feel sometimes that they belong to a larger community. Sometimes
they feel like they are not really welcome. That's probably one of the things that is a concern.
Still, we have a lot of stigmas and discrimination for people with mental illness and substance
abuse. Maybe you have some questions, and we talk more specifically about the things that you
are concerned about.
Chair Stone: Perfect, thank you. We'll open it up. Commissioner Savage.
Commissioner Savage: When the individual does have a mental health episode at the property,
what is the protocol?
Mr. Rojas: We just had one before I came here. That's part of my job, basically is to prevent
that. When it happens, I try to do some crisis intervention, try to get the person a little bit calm
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
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and try to get the person, if it's possible, to develop some kind of plan for the future. It's like
maybe you need to see your doctor, your psychiatrist. Maybe the medication is not working. If
that's the case, that I’m able to build that relationship at that moment, if I succeed in getting the
person really calmed down and able to talk, I will develop a good plan and follow up, contacting
the doctor, the psychiatrist, and make sure that we follow up. If it is not possible, we call for the
police. The crisis intervention team, we have a great team here in Palo Alto. They've been
trained in how to deal with mental health patients. They do a really good job. We have a really
good collaboration with them, and they've been very good in assisting us in treating our residents
with dignity and respect, at the same time protecting the safety of the other people.
Commissioner Chen: To follow-on that question. You may have already identified the people,
the persons who are in danger of the mental problem or substance abuse. Do you have any
specific program? Sometimes they have to be on medications, and they will not take the
medication unless you watch them. Have you had a systemic to make sure they stick on taking
their medicine? Maybe you have some counseling service at site to help them out, take medicine
and counseling to help them out.
Mr. Rojas: When we have developed this relationship and trust, they will come and tell me that
they are feeling a little bit off because something is happening. They approach me with
whatever is necessary to really get him or her back on track, taking the medications. I do the
monitoring. I make sure that he is doing it or she is doing it. If it's not possible because the
person is—again, we serve people who—it's about confidentiality also. They live in our
properties; we don't want to invade their space. If they are willing to share that information with
us, we immediately provide support. That's the challenge that we face as a resident service, as
case managers of our property. Unless they authorize us to intervene in their treatment, we can't
do it. If they want to remain—we do as much as possible, once they move in, to build that
relationship and to make sure that they come to us before it's too late, before we reach that level
of emergency.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I have a question. Do they get disability, the clients?
Mr. Rojas: Yeah, some of them.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Is there an issue of confidentiality with their therapist or their
psychiatrist? Is that ever an issue?
Mr. Rojas: In terms of confidentiality, if they don't authorize us to talk about those issues, we
cannot. That's the challenge for us. Even though we want to intervene, we know that it's
important to do it, but if they don't allow us to do it.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Do most of them allow it?
Mr. Rojas: Only if they sign the release of information. That's what we do. On the in-take
form, we say, "Would you allow me to speak with your social worker? Would you allow me to
speak with your doctor, your family members?" We make sure that once we build that
connection, we have the information that we can speak with other people outside, other health
professionals.
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
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Chair Stone: Do most residents agree to that when they—would you say there's a certain
percentage of residents who say, "That's fine"?
Mr. Rojas: I would say most of the residents. We have a few of them that decide they don't
want to get involved in any kind of treatment with us or follow-up with us, and we respect that.
Now, they have a relapse and they start—for example, they have a history of substance abuse,
and they have a relapse, and they're in violation of the rules. For us the management and me, it's
a good time to speak with the person and say, "We want you to stay with us. We want you to
keep your housing, but we need to address this problem, because it's affecting other people. You
are in violation of the rules." Sometimes that is how we encourage them to work with us in their
treatment and allow us to speak with other helping professionals outside Palo Alto Housing.
Commissioner Chen: Another question I have is that by your estimate, what percentage of
residents may have this problem, mental health or substance abuse problem? Just a rough
percentage. Among 110 residents, how many of them? Ten, 20?
Mr. Rojas: I would say it's about 25, 30.
Commissioner Chen: 25 percent? Wow, that's pretty high.
Commissioner O'Nan: Raul, I was curious about a couple of things. You mentioned that you
have residents with very high levels of education, such as Ph.D.s. Are these people who are
highly educated but not functional because of mental health issues or other issues or do they not
speak English well enough to function in their profession in this country?
Mr. Rojas: That's a really good question. What we have found is that they have the credentials,
they have the education, but sometimes there are some underlying issues such as psychiatric
problems, psychological issues that they have to deal with it that prevents them from fully
functioning and develop the potential by using their education. That's the answer.
Commissioner O'Nan: A second question I had was you mentioned that many of your residents
are lacking a support network. They may be alone; they don't have family. Is this a case where
there perhaps are relatives, but the relatives have disowned them or disengaged from them
because of longstanding issues or are some of these folks from another part of the world or
another part of the country and they're just far away from their families? What's the situation?
Mr. Rojas: I think it's both. Unfortunately, some of our residents have relatives probably in
California somewhere or in the Bay area, but they are not really involved in assisting them.
They feel discouraged because probably they have a history of 10, 20 years of mental illness.
They've been really struggling in trying to get the person. They just disappear sometimes, and
they are not in the picture. The other is the lack of social network, social support. We know that
social interaction, social support, social relationships is important for every human being. It's
even more important when you are facing this kind of challenges in your life.
Vice Chair Stinger: What is the age range of the residents?
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access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
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Page 7 of 26
Mr. Rojas: Excellent question. That's another very great diversity. We have people in their 20s
and 92, 93. One of our residents, she has been with us since Alma Place opened. It's like 18
years, and she's turning 92 this year. It's a very nice group of people. Spectrum, diversity in
ages is also very important.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I had another question about families. Is there any kind of family
support? Like you just said, they're really affected by this. Sometimes it's hard for them to be
involved because of the stress of living with someone with a mental illness. Do you have any
kind of counseling for the families at all or provide any resources for them?
Mr. Rojas: Yes, we provide the services. When they come to see us and they're involved and
they ask questions, definitely we take that as an opportunity to talk with them, educate them
about different things and provide the support that they need in dealing with the situation.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: What would that support look like?
Mr. Rojas: For us?
Commissioner Gordon Gray: For the families.
Mr. Rojas: Sometimes it's just to listen. Just to listen to them and really provide any resources
in the community. It's mostly listening and trying to understand the stresses and the challenges
that they're facing and confirm they're not alone. There are so many people that are facing the
same situation. It is difficult. Just providing more of the support and listening.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Empathy.
Mr. Rojas: Counseling.
Commissioner Alhassani: I'm sure it varies a lot over 100 residents, but roughly how long do
people stay in Alma Place? Somebody's been there since the beginning. Is it like they get their
units, and then they stay as long as they can? They stay for a while. Is it people are there a year
or two and they find somewhere else to go? What's the average tenure at Alma Place?
Mr. Rojas: In terms of years, I don't have a figure. I don't know. People, in general, once they
get into Alma Place ...
Commissioner Alhassani: They stay.
Mr. Rojas: ... they stay. It's difficult to find housing.
Commissioner Alhassani: That's why I'm asking.
Mr. Rojas: It's such a nice location; it is close to downtown, walking distance to transportation.
They know the value of that, and they stay as much as they can.
Commissioner Alhassani: Another question was, I'm sure some of the residents have a lot of
doctors' appointments to go to. Is there a service, like a shuttle service, that goes to PAMF or
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
Page 8 of 26
anything like that? If they don't drive, for example, do they have easy access to get to PAMF or
a medical facility?
Mr. Rojas: Now we receive funding from the City of Palo Alto to have a shuttle bus to take
some of our residents to do shopping. We take them every week to different locations, especially
for seniors. That is very, very popular, so we're planning to expand the program for next year.
We have Alma Place and the Barker Hotel every week, two trips a week. That's a very good
question. Even though we have transportation, some of them don't have cars and it's difficult to
get by.
Chair Stone: Can you speak a little bit about how a person qualifies to apply to Palo Alto
Housing and how long a wait list is and issues like that?
Mr. Rojas: There are some income requirements, and it depends on the unit. The managers
would be more in a position to respond to that question. I don't have that; it's very specific.
What was the question?
Chair Stone: Is there a wait list?
Mr. Rojas: The wait list is probably 3-5 years. This is long, long for Alma Place. Barker Hotel
is probably less than that. In Alma Place, it's 3-5 years.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Where is the Barker Hotel? I'm not familiar with that.
Mr. Rojas: It's on Emerson between Lytton and University.
Commissioner Savage: Across from the Aquarius.
Chair Stone: Besides the location, are there any significant differences between Alma Place and
Barker Hotel?
Mr. Rojas: Location?
Chair Stone: Besides the location, was there anything that really distinguishes the two?
Mr. Rojas: The size. Alma Place is bigger. We have 106 residents. Barker Hotel is smaller; we
have about 25. Lower rents, the size of the units is smaller in the Barker Hotel than Alma Place.
Commissioner O'Nan: Isn't there some difference in the cooking facilities?
Mr. Rojas: At Alma Place, we have at least a community kitchen. In terms of the population, it's
about the same. I will say there are lower income residents at Alma Place because they pay less,
a little bit less in rent. Other than that, they're about the same.
Vice Chair Stinger: Is there a sense of community in each residence? I guess I’m wondering,
you said 20-30 percent of the people have mental health issues or substance abuse problems, do
they feel that they can access social support from other units or does each—is there a sense of
neighborhood?
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
Page 9 of 26
Mr. Rojas: In our community? At Alma Place? Yeah, we try. That's probably one of the most
important goals that we have as a program, to try to build that sense of community. We have a
lot of gatherings.
Vice Chair Stinger: That's what I wanted to hear.
Mr. Rojas: We have community gatherings. We have a coffee and friends every Friday. People
just show up and we talk about anything. We have food with friends twice a week. We provide
some food that is donated by a local company. We have a lot of opportunities for people to
really connect with each other. We have Thanksgiving dinner every year. We have a Christmas
party. We have other celebrations. That's a really good question. The idea is we know how
important it is to create that sense of connection, sense of belonging.
Vice Chair Stinger: Is there ever training for the families? There was training on how to listen
or how to respond to a question. Is there training for residents on how to listen, how to be
supportive?
Mr. Rojas: For residents or their relatives?
Vice Chair Stinger: For the residents.
Mr. Rojas: We have some in the counseling process. Part of my job in general is very diverse
also. I wear different hats. As case manager, I do resident service, community building. I also
do counseling, support counseling. I spend a lot of time one on one with the residents. The good
thing is I have a background in counseling, psychology, so that helps me. The one-on-one helps
the residents to improve communication, relationships, conflict management, dealing with
conflict, mediation. We do a lot of those things. That is part of the counseling process that I do.
I spend a lot of time of my day sometimes just listening to them. They come to my office; I have
an open-door policy. If I’m working on a report, they come just to see me. I stop whatever I'm
doing and try to connect with them, say what's happening, what's going on. They just leap.
Commissioner Chen: How many people in your position? Are you the only one there to do the
counseling? Is there a social worker there? Do you get help?
Mr. Rojas: No, I'm the only one. The good thing is that we get the funding. I want to really
thank you, the City of Palo Alto and the Human Relations Commission, for your support.
Basically, your funding has helped us to provide these kinds of services. Yes, I'm the only one.
Commissioner O'Nan: Raul, speaking of services, I was struck by your comment that many of
your residents have substance abuse issues, but there's not the services available here in North
County that are available in San Jose. Can you tell us what's missing here in North County?
Mr. Rojas: That would be more out-patient programs, counseling and support groups. We have
AA and other groups, which are great, wonderful, but not everyone really feels comfortable with
AA. They want more of the other type of counseling or substance abuse treatment.
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
Page 10 of 26
Commissioner O'Nan: What would be needed to bring that type of program to the North
County? Is it a question of getting enough staffing or is it a question of getting beds?
Mr. Rojas: Maybe getting more local organizations who can provide the service in other areas to
come here and to provide the out-patient services. We're talking about low-income patients who
have difficulties accessing in general those kinds of services.
Commissioner O'Nan: In your mind, what would be helpful? Would it be a residence-based
program, so they wouldn't have to travel? A program that would be held at Alma Place or at
Barker.
Mr. Rojas: A program in place in North County or Palo Alto that is closer to our residents; a
good out-patient or a residential program.
Chair Stone: You also mentioned that a significant gap was not having services for the different
languages that you have at Alma Place. How does your organization help fill that gap? Do you
provide translators? What do you do to help with that?
Mr. Rojas: That's a challenge. For example, last week we organized a community gathering at
the Sheraton. It was like a community health fair. We were able to provide translation services
for the Cantonese, Russian community and Spanish because it was a community event. It was
within our means as an organization, but we don't have the resources to really provide services to
this particular population. There is a need to have more onsite counseling and mental health
services for diverse groups, minorities in general.
Chair Stone: Do you see that as a gap across all areas of mental health organizations, that they're
not able to meet those needs?
Mr. Rojas: I think in general we're talking about a nationwide problem; it's not just Palo Alto.
It's nationwide. I think there's a huge disparity in terms of access to mental health services and
substance abuse services for minorities in general.
Chair Stone: That's not just up here in North County. You've seen that also down in San Jose?
Mr. Rojas: It's just a reflection of what is going on in the country.
Chair Stone: We have time for one or two more questions. Anyone else?
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Do you have volunteers that come to the center?
Mr. Rojas: Yes. In our program we have a couple of volunteers. We have a health coach; she
comes every other week, one on one, and talks to them about how to improve their nutrition and
health. We have others, teaching English as a second language. That's another important
resource. We rely on volunteers. Another volunteer activity is computer classes, especially for
seniors and adults. That's volunteer-based.
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Page 11 of 26
Chair Stone: Any more questions? Thank you so much for taking the time to come out here and
talk to us. That was really informative and interesting.
Mr. Rojas: Thank you very much.
2. Update on the upcoming landlord outreach event in regards to homeless veterans
Commissioner Alhassani: We are less than 1 week away, June 15th, 8:00 a.m.
Commissioner O'Nan: Why, dude why?
Commissioner Alhassani: It's a breakfast. We actually belabored this point a little bit. We
debated when best to do it, and we decided to go with the breakfast. Are we going to be able to
send flyers to the Commissioners?
Ms. van der Zwaag: We did once; I can do it again.
Commissioner Chen: I saw it in the Next Door neighbor.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I think one of the reasons, to add to Commissioner Alhassani, is when we
were reviewing the landlord list for the City of Palo Alto, most of them were individuals. Of the
300 or so that were listed, maybe less than 20 were what looked to be large corporations. We
felt like we wanted to catch these people either before they went to work or right after they came
home from work. The 8:00 a.m. hour is an attempt to get people before they go on with their
day. Tomorrow I will send out the flyer for you to send out to people who you know that might
be landlords.
Commissioner Savage: What's the location?
Commissioner Alhassani: Mitchell Park Community Center. Obviously we welcome anybody
who is interested to come join. The specific demographic we really want are landlords and
people from faith-based communities who may have housing options. Of course, any and all are
welcome. If you know especially landlords who may have units available, this is a great session
for them.
Ms. van der Zwaag: The intention is to make landlords feel comfortable at the event and hear
the information and able to direct the questions, and not individuals who are just curious about
the program itself. We can do something else on that.
Commissioner Alhassani: So far, we have the flyer out. We have an ad in Palo Alto Online.
This has gone to the realtors association. This has gone to several cities and Minka can speak
better than I can about all the different City email groups that it's gone out to.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Neighboring communities.
Commissioner Alhassani: Next Door, we sent it out to Next Door. The City of Palo Alto has
tweeted it out. We tweeted it.
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Page 12 of 26
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Project Sentinel, I assume they've been invited.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes, I invited them.
Commissioner Alhassani: Also, we're doing this with our partners, Destination Home. They've
also been putting it on their social media and emailing their respective lists as well, trying to get
the landlords recruited for this event.
Chair Stone: If it wasn't for Hillary Clinton's tweet, it probably would have been the number one
tweet. Oh, well. Any questions?
Commissioner O'Nan: I did want to comment. I received a nice email from Council Member
Karen Holman, who had seen our ad, I think, on Palo Alto Online. She just wanted to extend her
thanks to the whole Human Relations Commission for tackling this issue. She's a big supporter
of ours, as you know.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I had one question. What's the outcome you're hoping for?
Commissioner Alhassani: The outcome is that we get landlords especially educated about the
County's new incentive program. We get some of them to consider dedicating units and
participating in the program, which basically is that they would house a homeless veteran in one
of their units. They get paid through a combination of HUD-VASH vouchers and money from
the County directly. That is comparable to what they would get in the market.
Chair Stone: Thank you for that update.
3. Update on the Finance Committee discussion of the Human Services Resource
Allocation Program (HSRAP) FY2017 budget
Ms. van der Zwaag: Thank you, Commissioners. As I mentioned at the May meeting, there
have been some discussions at earlier Finance Committee meetings about the Fiscal Year '17
budget regarding the HSRAP budget and possible increases that they just wanted to discuss in
depth as a Committee. It was brought up again at the May 23rd meeting. Thank you, Vice Chair
Stinger, who was at the meeting, and Council Member Wolbach, who was there as well as one of
the four Council representatives on that committee. HSRAP increases were discussed. There
were discussions regarding some significant increases to HSRAP. There were discussions about
the emerging needs fund that staff had proposed for Council consideration, and there was a great
deal of discussion about both. At the end, as far as any significant increases to HSRAP for next
fiscal year, that at this point is mostly off the table. The feeling was this is in the middle of a 2-
year cycle for HSRAP. These types of conversations are better had at the beginning of the
HSRAP cycle. There was not consensus on the emergency need fund. At the end of that
meeting, further discussion about the HSRAP emerging needs fund was pushed off as an agenda
item for when the full Council considers the budget next Monday night, on the 13th. They also,
as part of that, made a referral for the Council to consider that and give a specific referral that
greater increases that actually significant increase to HSRAP be considered for Fiscal Year '18.
As you may recall, one of the barriers that we've had in the past is Council has expressed an
interest in increasing HSRAP, but a specific referral to a committee was never made. It was hard
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Page 13 of 26
to have some of those conversations, should it be at Policy and Services, should it be at Finance.
They specifically made a recommendation that the full Council consider referring this item,
referring increasing funds to HSRAP, to a committee. I'm hoping that very specific referral
happens so the next HSRAP cycle we can have a conversation about HSRAP. I will let you
know that I'm excited actually about both of those things. I'm excited because, if they do
consider the emerging needs funds for HSRAP, what staff had actually proposed is to take the
$50,000 that was in the Reserve Fund and convert it to an emergency needs fund. It was a wash;
it was the same $50,000. It's my understanding that if there would be an emerging needs fund, it
could possibly be a new allocation of $50,000. The $50,000 in the Reserve would stay there for
bad times, but this new $50,000 that is being considered would be something that would be in
addition. That is a positive. The hope for a referral to a committee for increases to HSRAP for
Fiscal Year '18, I think, is a real positive. The other real positive is the commitment of the
Finance Committee to go forward with a recommendation of refunding the collaborative we have
with the County of Santa Clara for homeless housing. That's $125,000 for a 2-year commitment.
The $250,000 for homeless housing is a huge commitment for the Council. Staff was really
pleased that it is going through as well. That is really where we are now. It's really up to the full
Council to decide in which manner it wants to bring up these two items on the 13th. Council
Member Wolbach, if you want to add anything to that, you're welcome to. You don't have to feel
that you need to. I wanted to give you all an update on that, because I know increases to the
HSRAP program is near and dear to all of your hearts as the recommending body and the review
body to Council and Finance Committee on this important program. I'll take any questions you
have.
Chair Stone: Can you explain a little bit what is the practical difference between the Reserve
Fund and what an Emergency Fund would look like?
Ms. van der Zwaag: How that is specifically different the Reserve Fund if the future the City is
going through tough economic times, many times what happens is we get the direction from our
budget department that says, "5 percent across the board, you need to make cuts to your budgets
or within your department you need to see a $1 million cut. You can figure out how best that
works." What Council did when they approved this a couple of years ago is gave the ability that
if recommended or needed cuts because of a budget crisis presented itself, that they can access
the reserve fund to lessen or negate the hit on the HSRAP grantees. The emerging needs fund
would be a new pot of money that we could use to help HSRAP grantees if something comes up.
Two perfect examples that I've thought about, that an emerging need fund could possibly help.
I'll use agency names not for the fact that they actually came to us, but just so I can illustrate the
type of need such as Adolescent Counseling Services. As you know we had deaths on the tracks
last year very tragically. The need for their services increased substantially. They could
potentially have come to us and said, "We're in this crisis situation. If we could get X amount of
money, it would be really helpful. We could hire another intern at XYZ high school, Gunn or
Paly or whatever, to be able to bring another intern in to meet the need of students that we're
seeing." Another example is Abilities United which is another HSRAP grantee. A couple of
months ago, you may have read in the paper that their storage trailer with all their camping
equipment for disabled adults was stolen. They could have potentially come to us and said, "We
do not have the ability to replace this equipment. We are in peril of not having this vital program
this summer that meets the needs of these participants, but also gives a needed respite for their
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Page 14 of 26
caregivers during that time. Could we possibly apply for such a funding program?" That's the
difference between the two, how I see it. The emerging needs fund, have we worked out all of
the criteria of how that will work? Of course not. We're still waiting to see if that will be
approved, and we're waiting for Council's direction if they would like staff to go back to them
with the specific criteria to have them approve it.
Council Member Wolbach: I don't have much to add, but just to phrase it slightly differently, not
to contradict what she said, but just another way of thinking about it maybe. The Reserve Fund
is for preparing potentially for a decrease in revenue. Whereas, the emerging needs fund is for
preparing for increasing demand. One's preparing for emergencies with revenue. The other's
preparing for emergencies in needs.
Ms. van der Zwaag: At this point, the Human Services budget is so incredibly lean that we are
not able to respond to any need in the community. Once those HSRAP funds have been decided
for a 2-year period, if one of our grantees had a need, we literally could not respond. Part of
these emerging needs, that's really the will of the Council, if that can be opened beyond HSRAP
grantees. For instance, a nonprofit that wasn't a HSRAP grantee had an emerging or an
emergency need, they could possibly apply for funding. The criteria are not yet set. It needs
more thought. Staff is hopeful to listen to Council's dialog on this next Monday night to see
where they come out on this.
Commissioner Chen: I have a question just to clarify things. We review HSRAP proposals
every 2 years, right?
Ms. van der Zwaag: That's correct.
Commissioner Chen: The budget goes in front of the Council every year.
Ms. van der Zwaag: That's correct.
Commissioner O'Nan: Minka, I had a question about the possible increase in funding. Is the
Council contemplating a one-time incremental increase for 2018 or are they looking at sort of a
built-in cost of living increase across the board?
Ms. van der Zwaag: It's my understanding—Council Member Wolbach would have to get his
sense of the conversation—at least the Council Member who was very much an advocate for this
is looking for, if there is an increase, that it is something that is ongoing.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I recently talked to somebody at the church that's starting a shelter
for just women. If they want to apply for a HSRAP grant, they have to wait?
Ms. van der Zwaag: They certainly do. They would have to wait until that RFP that Request for
Proposal probably goes out in December or January. The funding would not start until Fiscal
Year '18, a year from now.
Vice Chair Stinger: Could I just make a comment? I was at the first Finance Committee
meeting where there were words spoken about it's not enough and maybe we can do more for
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Page 15 of 26
HSRAP. I was very enthusiastic. I've come to appreciate how difficult it is to increase funding
mid-cycle. I'm really excited, and I think we've got a—if you can have a win-win situation on a
budget issue, I think we're in a really strong suit of being able to have extra funding for an
emerging need and to be able to administer it fairly. The logistics of trying to change the
HSRAP allocation mid-cycle could be such that we wouldn't actually be able to get the funding
to the agencies during the fiscal year. It wouldn't be beneficial to the organizations. In the
middle of a very numbers-oriented discussion, I thought that the conclusions that came out in the
recommendations were really very strong.
Ms. van der Zwaag: The reason why this is listed as an action item is during agenda planning,
the Chair and the Vice Chair of the HRC felt that it may come up—this is the will of the
Commission—that a member of the Commission might want to go and speak to the Council and
say whatever you wanted to say about HSRAP or the possibilities of some changes to the
creation of an emerging needs or so forth. This is not a staff recommendation. I'm just
presenting something that was discussed at agenda planning. If that's something that you wanted
to do, you would need to make a motion and authorize a member of the Commission to give the
HRC's feedback on HSRAP and any possible motions that might be made on the 16th. That is
up to you all.
Chair Stone: I'd like to discuss that. We did discuss this at the leadership meeting. I think both
Vice Chair Stinger and I agree that it would be beneficial to have someone who is our
representative. A lot of times at these Council meetings, this agenda item may be thrown on
there last minute. We won't have a chance to come together as a full Commission to discuss it.
As Minka has already said, I think we're all in agreement of pretty much what we want. Maybe
we will disagree on some semantics of it, but we all want additional funding and to have a
representative from our Commission to speak to Council. Of course, if we have time and we
know when the Council meeting is coming up and one of our normally scheduled meetings
comes up, then of course we can discuss further what we want that representative to say. In case
of that emergency, it'd be nice to have a representative. Anyone else have any thoughts on that?
Commissioner Gordon Gray: When is that meeting?
Ms. van der Zwaag: Monday night.
Commissioner O'Nan: Minka, you said the 16th?
Ms. van der Zwaag: The 13th.
Vice Chair Stinger: I guess I would like to just echo your sentiments. I thought the Finance
Committee had such a strong discussion. Not to be present and not to support that
recommendation feels almost not negligent, but not supportive. I think we need to be there to be
supportive and appreciative.
Commissioner O'Nan: I've been one of the leading advocates for increasing HSRAP funding
over the past few years. I have addressed Council a couple of times in the past. I'd be happy to
represent the HRC on Monday night. I'd certainly love to get my colleagues' feedback on some
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Page 16 of 26
of the things you'd like me to emphasize. I don't know that I'd have time to prepare a formal
presentation. I'd probably speak during oral communications.
Ms. van der Zwaag: It would be your option during oral communications.
Commissioner O'Nan: I'm certainly willing to go. If anyone would like to partner with me and
go with me, that would be awesome too.
Commissioner Alhassani: I think it would be beneficial if we prepared—I don't know if the
easiest way to do this is if we allocate a subgroup of three members to draft a statement together
on behalf of the HRC. I think if we're going to ask for money, it would be good to have some
data in there that is compelling.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I think right now you just have to ...
Commissioner Alhassani: Make it more informal.
Ms. van der Zwaag: ... have a consensus of—if the consensus is that you are in support of an
emerging needs fund for HSRAP and the motion is that you authorize one or two Commissioners
to go to the Council meeting and during public comment time express your support for this
possibility, then I'm not sure if there's a need for a subgroup to do that. It seems like there could
be a discussion tonight. If there's three points that you're interested in having the person make
and if there's an agreement of that and authorizing those people to state those two to three points
that evening. We can't be deciding things over email and having a statement redrafted over
email. I don't want to put words in your mouth. If there are three things you can agree to.
Depending on how many people are there for public comment time, it's not been my history
that—I don't know the controversy of any issues for other departments, but there could be loads
of people there. There could be hardly anybody there for public comment time during the budget
hearing. It can go both ways.
Chair Stone: I do agree. I think that Commissioner O'Nan has got a great grasp on this subject,
this material. She has presented to Council before, and she knows HSRAP probably better than
anyone in this City. I think you'll be good to go on that. I would be interested if Vice Chair
Stinger would be also interested in joining you, since you have been following this very closely.
Vice Chair Stinger: I would be happy to do that. I feel pretty strongly that we could put together
a good 2-minute statement.
MOTION
Chair Stone: I'll make the motion to appoint Commissioner O'Nan and Vice Chair Stinger
as our HRC representatives to address Council on HSRAP funding.
Commissioner Alhassani: Second the motion.
Chair Stone: We've got a second. All the ayes. Any nays? Then the motion passes.
Thank you very much, Commissioner O'Nan and Vice Chair Stinger. Does anyone else
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Page 17 of 26
want to make any recommendations on what should be some talking points on this issue or
just trust the two of you to go ahead and represent us?
Vice Chair Stinger: I've given some thought to it, so I could give you an idea of what I might
like to say, what I might like to share. I would like to thank the Finance Committee for its
prudent discussions and careful thoughtfulness. I'd like to support the Reserve Fund and the
emerging fund and particularly support the proposal to have a major increase in the fiscal 2018
HSRAP budget. Basically just supporting the recommendations that are on the table.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I think the one is more a referral to staff to come to our committee where a
greater conversation of HSRAP can take place.
Chair Stone: Sounds good. Council Member Wolbach.
Council Member Wolbach: Just to piggy-back on something that staff mentioned earlier. Since
this is an action item, if the HRC wants to make a formal motion supporting particular points,
even if not supporting the exact wording of what the comments would be, but supporting any
particular points. We've heard that as a Council that is really representing the HRC. That would
probably be useful. If you wanted to put whatever talking points you want in the form of a
motion.
Ms. van der Zwaag: The two motions that I discussed earlier. One is for the motion that came
for the emerging needs fund, and the other was for the specific referral. If you can refer back
to—I think that's what Council Member Wolbach is saying—those specific recommendations
from the May 23rd Finance Committee meeting, that the HRC is in favor of both of those. Is
that more powerful?
Council Member Wolbach: I'm sorry. I'm not sure if I understood the question.
Ms. van der Zwaag: You said it was useful that the HRC very specifically spoke to motions that
the Council had made previously on the topic at hand. I'm asking you if they should refer back
to those two specific motions from the May 23rd Finance Committee meeting.
Council Member Wolbach: I don't want to make recommendations to the HRC.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I understand.
Council Member Wolbach: I just want to suggest that if they are able to take a vote and have a
formal motion on whatever the recommendations are to Council that would be useful to have
clarity from the HRC on what your position is.
Ms. van der Zwaag: That's all I wanted.
Council Member Wolbach: Whatever your recommendations are to us.
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Page 18 of 26
Commissioner Chen: I want to make it clear. One thing I heard from your report is that we have
separate, the Reserve Fund versus the Emerging Needs Fund. We want to keep both rather than
combining them together. That's one thing I understand. Is that one motion?
Ms. van der Zwaag: That could be part of a statement. The statement that you make has to be
the opinion of the HRC.
Commissioner Chen: We could raise that specific question about separating ...
Ms. van der Zwaag: If you so desired, you could do so.
Commissioner O'Nan: I'll try to come up with a resolution on the fly here, if that's okay with our
Chair and Vice Chair.
Chair Stone: That'd be great.
Commissioner O'Nan: What if we resolve that we support the two recommendations that came
from the Finance Committee at their May 23rd meeting, the first being to establish an emerging
needs fund that would coexist with the already existing Reserve Fund of $50,000 each,
respectively. Second, we support the recommendation to refer the issue of increased funding for
HSRAP to a specific committee to be discussed in more detail in the future. We would like to
work with Council further if these things are passed.
Commissioner Chen: I have questions about your answer. Your specific committee, that means
a committee from HRC that would discuss ...
Ms. van der Zwaag: No.
Commissioner O'Nan: No, the Finance Committee.
Ms. van der Zwaag: The Finance Committee or Policy and Services.
Commissioner Chen: I understand.
Commissioner O'Nan: I know that wasn't super articulate, but I was trying to just get the gist.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: That was pretty good on the fly.
Commissioner O'Nan: Do we feel like we could approve that kind of resolution?
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Yes.
Chair Stone: I think so.
Commissioner O'Nan: Is there a second? I'm sorry.
Chair Stone: Was that a motion to approve?
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Page 19 of 26
MOTION
Commissioner O'Nan: I'll make the motion that my on-the-fly resolution—I'll put that
before my colleagues if anyone wants to tweak it or change it and then maybe discuss. If
not discuss, then can we second and approve it?
Commissioner Chen: I second.
Chair Stone: We have a second. All those approving, say aye. Anyone abstain? No nays.
The motion is passed. Thank you very much for that on-the-fly, very articulate.
4. Chair Stone: If there's no further discussion on HSRAP, we will move on to our reports from
officials. We'll start with ...
Commissioner Chen: No, not yet.
Chair Stone: Where are we? I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Valerie. Our next is update and the next steps
from the recent forum on Implicit Bias. Vice Chair Stinger.
5. Update and next steps from recent forum on Implicit Bias
Vice Chair Stinger: I will give you a quick update. The same task force that met for the March
forum has been meeting. That would be Rabbi Lewis, Pastor Smith, Minka, Mary,
Commissioner Gordon Gray and myself. We've been examining ways to follow up with the
Implicit Bias forum. We've looked at social events, and we've looked at more serious content
events, small events, and big events. We came to a conclusion yesterday at our most recent
meeting that the way that we would meet our objectives of community building and conversation
and dialog would be a series of roundtable conversations that might be held over a period of a
year, every other month, with a very diverse audience and a set conversation guide or topic
guide. We realize that there are models for this, and some have been successful. We propose
that our next step would be to do some benchmarking, doing some research with the success
factors and hurdles, so that we can be successful in putting our program together probably in the
fall. One of the things we realized as we were doing this was that we're an ad hoc committee,
but we're proposing something that we want to do very well and sustain it over a longer period of
time. We're going to recommend or we're going to change orientation and ask staff to help take
this on. Instead of staff supporting us, we're going to support staff. It fits in with the
community-building charge that Human Services has. It gives it more validity, more stature in
the community, allows us to access resources that we really can't do with an ad hoc committee.
We'd still like to have Commissioners working with staff. We have support from Rabbi Lewis,
Pastor Smith, and we can recruit other community members to go forward.
Commissioner Savage: Is it okay with staff?
Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes. Staff, Mary and I, the grand Human Services staff. We're really
excited. Mary and I have been in dialog for a while now to expand what we're doing in what we
call community connections. That's reaching deeper into our connections with the nonprofit
community, the faith community, and working on issues of importance in the community. We
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Page 20 of 26
really feel like working on this issue of bias, bringing people together to have important
conversation is core to what we think the Office of Human Services should be about. This was
on our work plan to do, and we're really happy that we have a community-based committee that
is working with us on that and are happy to invite more people to join this committee of
supporting the work that Mary and I would like to do in the community.
Commissioner O'Nan: I wanted to share that another resource for this ongoing program of
conversations might be the Palo Alto Mediation Program. They have just trained a whole new
sort of cohort of meeting facilitators. These are people who have had very special training
beyond what the mediators normally get. I know that Anky and Martin Eichner have just
deployed them for the first time at the most recent Mountain View HRC roundtable. They were
a big success there. They're looking for opportunities for the facilitators to come in and use their
skills. I believe this is all pro bono. I would really encourage staff and Commissioner Stinger
and her team to reach out. I can put you in touch with Martin Eichner if you need his email.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I have it.
Commissioner O'Nan: I figured; Minka knows everyone. I thought the facilitators did a great
job at the Mountain View HRC roundtable. I think that they could really do a great job in
facilitating these kinds of conversations as well.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I had a question. You said you wanted to do some benchmarking.
Are you looking for different frameworks or structures for the conversation?
Vice Chair Stinger: That'd be great. We have a list of about nine, I think, organizations that
we'd like to benchmark.
Ms. van der Zwaag: The Human Services will have an intern again this summer. We feel like
this is a wonderful, good use of his time to really be able to work with us to create a really
meaningful program for the community in which we can have important conversations.
Chair Stone: This is really moving this issue and this ad hoc committee outside of the HRC and
into the purview of Human Services.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Right.
Vice Chair Stinger: That's exactly what it is. That just gives me a great deal of excitement that
we test something and we can formalize it. It'll be much more sustainable going forward.
Chair Stone: That's great. Well done. Thank you very much, Vice Chair Stinger.
VI. Reports from Officials – Chair Stone
1. Commissioner Reports
2. Council Liaison Report
3. Staff Liaison Report
Chair Stone: Now we move on to reports from officials and Commissioner Reports.
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access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
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Page 21 of 26
Commissioner Chen: I have a report. I went to see the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
They had a film show on the 17th of May, last month, at the Aquarius Theatre about Buena
Vista. It was a very good film, very well done. Basically the film interviewed several residents
there and talked about their stories and showed their lives there. It was pretty good. It was
followed by discussion. I just wanted to share with anyone who is interested. Actually the
person in charge is called Vu-Bang Ben Nguyen. That's the first time I've met him. It was well
done.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I had something. I visited the Downtown Streets Team. That was
one of my HSRAP visits. I met this gentleman who was in a special journalism program at
Stanford. He made a film about the homeless people from Downtown Streets Team. He got
some technology from Google where it's kind of this panoramic film where you see all sides of
where the person is, the person and then their surroundings. He's an interesting fellow. I guess
Mehdi knows about this. On the 29th of June there's going to be this media blitz about
homelessness. Every media outlet in the Bay Area is going to cover this. Anyway, I thought he
might be an interesting speaker and maybe we could see his film.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Jaime, I don't know his last name. Mehdi do you know? He said
he just met you. Do you know who I'm talking about? He's like a journalist.
Commissioner Alhassani: I wonder if he came to the homeless event last October.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Yes, he did.
Commissioner Alhassani: I have his email.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I do too.
Commissioner Alhassani: I don't remember his name, his last name.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I don't remember his last name. Jaime. He's an interesting guy.
He lived in El Salvador for 2 years as a reporter. He's been around. He's a young guy. He's
ambitious and interesting.
Chair Stone: How long was his video?
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I don't think it's that long. I could find out. If it's 10 minutes,
what would be our max?
Chair Stone: About a half hour or 20 minutes to a half hour.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Want me to email you or talk to you?
Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes, you can email me or staff could look into that with our contacts at the
Streets Team.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I can give you his contact information.
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
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Page 22 of 26
Ms. van der Zwaag: If you have it, that'd be wonderful. I'd appreciate it.
Vice Chair Stinger: I went to the Age Friendly Task Force meeting yesterday.
Vice Chair Stinger: Part of the Healthy Cities initiative. She spoke with us. She did some
backgrounding at that meeting for a professional group that was joining. That was much the
same as we heard in our session. She said one thing that really pleased me. That was that a lot
of the goals that WHO has identified for a senior segment are the same goals that the millennials
have. They want urban density, vitality, small houses, and walkable communities. As we start
to work those goals, it just struck me that this is age friendly. It's not age isolation. We're
building a better community all around. It just was very motivating. The next step for that group
is to do some professional focus groups, and then start to do the needs assessment so they can
make their recommendations. That was my report.
Commissioner Savage: Also, Vice Chair Stinger and I went to the Palo Alto Housing Corp. a
few weeks ago. We met Kate Young, and she was great. I just took a few notes. We went to
360 Sheridan, where they have senior and disabled residents, 57 units. Each unit has a kitchen as
well as a community kitchen where there is donated food. It's really a very nice facility. They
offer cooking lessons. They have many activities. They have a coloring book club. They have a
pool table there and a grand piano in the room. It was a lot more than I expected. Our HSRAP
funds provide their transportation service which includes taking them to La Comida for lunch or
the Mountain View Senior Center or they go shopping at San Antonio Center. They go to
Grocery Outlet and Safeway. Those are also the first things to go if they have less funding from
us. Half their residents no longer drive. They also have a podiatrist who comes in once a week
to look at their feet. They have a computer lab. There's a 3-5 year waiting list to get in there.
The list is now closed. When it does open, it opens 1 day every 3-5 years. They gave the
example of Webster Wood which is the other end of Downtown. They recently had a 1-day
open, and by 7:00 a.m. the line was around the corner. They had 300-400 applications.
Chair Stone: Thank you.
Vice Chair Stinger: If I can add onto that. I went on then to another residence and saw the
daycare afterschool program that they do which is an outstanding program. One of the things
that Kate Young said was that they can't do a preschool program and if funding were increased,
they'd be able to do some preschool work and help the residents' children be ready for school as
well as keeping up with their classmates. It was a great visit.
Commissioner Chen: If anyone wants great visits, there are two coming next week. One is to go
to Adolescent Counseling Service on Wednesday afternoon at 2:00. The other one is Vista
Center for the Blind. It's right in Palo Alto, here; it'd be very close. It's 2:00 Friday. I'm
recruiting people to come with me.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: When is the Vista Center visit?
Commissioner Chen: It's Friday afternoon.
Chair Stone: Did you say 2:00 p.m.?
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
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Page 23 of 26
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Tomorrow afternoon?
Commissioner Chen: Next Wednesday and next Friday, 15th and 17th.
Chair Stone: For Vista, did you say that was 2:00 p.m.?
Commissioner Chen: It's 2:00 p.m. It's 1:30 actually, 1:30.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired is its full name.
Commissioner Chen: They had a temporary office on Hillview Avenue. Anyone interested, let's
go together.
Chair Stone: Any other reports? We'll go on to our Council Liaison report. Council Member
Wolbach, do you have anything for us?
Council Member Wolbach: A couple of things. One, actually something I attended recently, and
I saw Vice Chair Stinger. At an event this past Sunday that was moderated, maybe organized by
the gentleman who had moderated your Implicit Bias event, Pastor Kaloma Smith, who was
calling it Night of Hope, commemorating a year just this past Sunday at the First Congregational
Church over on Louis at Embarcadero. It was this past Sunday. There were representatives from
a number of faith communities and from throughout the community there. I also saw Council
Member Berman there as well. It was commemorating a year since the Charleston shootings at
Mother Emanuel Church and focused on trying to heal and heal the community and heal the
country and ensure that Palo Alto in particular can be a welcoming and diverse place for the
future.
On another note, I know that this Commission has been interested and active regarding
exploration of revamping the City shuttle program. You were instrumental in collecting
feedback from seniors in particular regarding the use and hopes for the future of the Palo Alto
City shuttle. City staff was working on a revamp proposal to bring to Council. Due to some
losses of staff members to other opportunities elsewhere and also due to the uncertainty resulting
from VTA's proposals to change and perhaps eliminate much of their service of buses to Palo
Alto will not be coming to Council for several months. That has been significantly delayed. On
an alternative note, I've been hearing some discussion about the possibility that our nascent TMA
might be an agency which the City could potentially hand off operation of the shuttle to at some
point in the future, should Council decide to pursue that as a policy and should funding be
adequate for that to happen. Just one of the points of discussion. There's a discussion on
Monday about the future of the TMA following the discussion about the budget. That should be
quite interesting, especially considering the TMA funding plans for 3-5 years range from about
$2.5 to $ 3.3 million, but staff is only asking for 100,000 right now. I'm looking forward to that
discussion.
Chair Stone: Thank you very much. Minka, do you have a staff liaison report?
Ms. van der Zwaag: I do not.
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
Page 24 of 26
VI. TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR NEXT REGULAR MEETING: July 14, 2016
Chair Stone: Anyone want to suggest anything for the tentative agenda for our next meeting on
July 14th?
Commissioner Savage: I was just going to suggest—I know we recently had Police Department,
Zach Perron, but we haven't had the Chief lately. That might be an idea, if he's available.
Ms. van der Zwaag: We can check into that. I know that he specifically wanted to come when
the body camera policy was more defined, but we can definitely check into that. What I was
going to interject is tonight we had Raul come to us, which is really a kickoff for a mini or a
longer mental health series. I can look back at my notes, because at one point we had
brainstormed some names of individuals that could come for that mental health series. It's
somewhere in the binder. We can look for a second person to come for our mental health series.
Do you recall, Chair Stone, who—I'll look at the list.
Chair Stone: I'll have to look through my notes. I don't think I have them.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I'll look at the list, and then Mary or I will make a contact to try to get
someone as part of that series to come to us.
Chair Stone: Should we see if Commissioner Savage is able to get, since you are primary liaison
to the Police Department, to see if Chief Burns is available for that day? If not, then we can go
with whoever was on that list that we put together.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I can give you Jaime's contact information if you want to invite
him.
Ms. van der Zwaag: Let's take in all the ideas and then we can see what's possible. If you want
to make that and you give that to me, we usually just try to have one speaker.
Commissioner Savage: He's the first choice at this point?
Ms. van der Zwaag: Is that the consensus?
Chair Stone: I think so. We haven't had Chief Burns here in a long time. Thank you very much.
Commissioner O'Nan: Other agenda items could be—I think that will be the day before the
landlord event or that will be after the landlord event?
Commissioner Alhassani: We're having that next week.
Commissioner O'Nan: Right. Maybe an update on the landlord event. I don't know if we'll have
any input from Council yet based on the meeting that we're going to attend Monday. Do you
know, Council Member Wolbach? Will anything have been decided by then?
Ms. van der Zwaag: Budget discussions will happen primarily on the 13th if there's holdover, on
the 20th. That could be an agenda item or I could just give the results during my—I'll probably
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
Page 25 of 26
just send you an email for those that aren't able to attend the meeting. I could do that in my staff
report for next time.
Chair Stone: Perfect.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: It looks like there's two items on here already. A retreat. Do we
have a hard date for the retreat?
Ms. Constantino: The 11th.
Chair Stone: For the retreat, is August 11th?
Ms. Constantino: August 11th.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: That's going to be our meeting for August. We're not going to
have a separate HRC meeting.
Chair Stone: Any other suggestions?
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Are we going to talk about the study session on September 12th at
the August meeting?
Ms. van der Zwaag: It's already on the tentative agenda.
Commissioner Gordon Gray: I know, but when are we going to talk about actually preparing for
that?
Commissioner Gordon Gray: Retreat?
Ms. van der Zwaag: No, that's on the tentative agenda already for July.
Commissioner O'Nan: Minka, I just wanted to confirm the date for the study session? For some
reason, I had the 19th down on my calendar. Is it definitely the 12th?
Ms. van der Zwaag: It went from the last week in August to the 19th, but we did settle on the
11th.
Chair Stone: 12th.
Ms. van der Zwaag: The 12th.
Commissioner Chen: You sent us an email September 12th.
Ms. van der Zwaag: I will resend a confirmation out for September 12th.
Chair Stone: Thank you, everyone.
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to
access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with
government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
Page 26 of 26
VII. ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 8:31 p.m.
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