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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-12-03 HRC Regular Minutes FINAL Human Rights Commission CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA 0 MINUTES Regular Meeting Monday, March 12, 2018 Palm Springs City Hall  3200 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way Council Chamber Present Present FY 2017/2018 FY 2017/2018 This Meeting to Date Excused Absences Unexcused Absences Jilska Chandrasena X 8 Denise Chappell, Vice Chair X 8 Sam Ciraulo 6 2 Ron deHarte, Chair X 8 Jim Gross X 7 1 David Morgan X 8 Nicki Randolph X 8 Zjarvre Crawford, Student Rep, Not Present Other Staff Present: Jay Virata, Community and Economic Development Director Dale Cook, Community Development Administrator, Staff Liaison 1. CALL TO ORDER: Chair deHarte called the meeting to order at 3:00P.M. 2. MISSION STATEMENT: “The mission of the Palm Springs Human Rights Commission is to promote and protect the diversity of our community and to improve human relations through ed ucation and community awareness” 3. ROLL CALL: Commissioner Chandrasena not present during roll call, arrived late. Commissioner Ciraulo not present, excused absence. 4. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Geoff Gilbert, Palm Springs Citizen, stated his concerns regarding a timeline of events with the City’s Vacation Rental Compliance Department. Mr. Gilbert and his wife report feeling discriminated against and given unequal treatment. Commissioner Chandrasena arrived at 3:06 p.m. Paul Hinrichson, Palm Springs Citizen, reported to represent smoke-free Palm Springs advocates looking to bring smoke-free policies to the City. Mr. Hinrichson noted that secondhand smoke and thirdhand smoke limits people’s ability to fully participate in public areas of the City due to the health hazards caused from it. He hopes to get the conversation started on how the Commission can provide endorsement and support to fight this form of discrimination. Human Rights Commission Regular Meeting Minutes March 12, 2018 Page 2 Suzanne Severn, Palm Springs Citizen, Ms. Severn reported to represent the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast Coalition and wanted to invite the Commission to their upcoming Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast program held on Friday, May 18, 2018 from 9:30am to 11:30am at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The programs flyer was distributed to the Commissioners and further details of the event shared. 5. COMMISSIONER, STAFF AND STUDENT COMMENTS: Commissioner Morgan – Thanked members of the audience for being present for the meeting and submitting their public comments. Chair deHarte – Announced there being two open Commissioner seats. Interviews are scheduled for March 28. After that date, the Commission should be getting news of the new candidates. 6. GUEST SPEAKER: Senior Advocates of the Desert – Chris O’Hanlon, Executive Director Chair deHarte introduced guest speaker Chris O’Hanlon, Executive Director of Senior Advocates of the Desert. Mr. O’Hanlon was invited to speak by the Senior and Dependent Adult Bill of Rights Subcommittee as a key stakeholder from the community to share the challenges they are aware of in the senior population in Palm Springs and the greater Palm Springs area. Mr. O’Hanlon gave his presentation describing the framework and support services Senior Advocates of the Desert provides. Handouts and sample applications were shared with the Commission surrounding senior safety nets and resources that many seniors are not aware of and have not applied for. Mr. O’hanlon finished his presentation by sharing success stories with the Commission. Comments and questions from the Commissioners and Staff Liaison were presented and discussed. Chair deHarte thanked Mr. O’Hanlon on behalf of the Commission for his presentation and raising the level of awareness that the connection to services for the senior community is lacking. 7. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION AND/OR VOTE: A. Master Calendar – Commissioner Chandrasena – The next events are the ONE-PS Picnic & Community Expo and the March of our Lives held on March 24, 2018. Sign-ups for the ONE-PS Picnic & Community Expo was taken during the meeting. Commissioner Gross, Morgan, Chandrasena, Vice Chair Chappell and Chair deHarte confirmed participation. Commissioner Randolph was confirmed tentatively due to knee surgery. Details of coverage, set- up/wrap-up, and materials to be included was discussed among the Commission and Staff Liaison. The Community Outreach and Marketing Subcommittee will be getting together to determine what materials are needed for the events as they see appropriate and will be coordinating with the Staff Liaison. Commissioner Chandrasena initiated the conversation of participating at the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast. This led to a discussion among the Commissioners and Staff Liaison surrounding past participation; sponsorship and alternative considerations; budget, expenditures and Commission donations; and forming a financial subcommittee. It was agreed among the Commissioners to proceed with tradition of the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast table sponsorship for the current year. Vote on the expenditure of $650.00 for a table sponsorship at the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast on Friday, May 18, 2018, 9:30 a.m., Palm Springs Convention Center MOTION: By Commissioner Morgan, second by Commissioner Chandrasena to sponsor a table at the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast, in the amount of $680.00 and if any Commissioner feels any kind of obligation to donate $65.00 for their self -back to the Commission. Human Rights Commission Regular Meeting Minutes March 12, 2018 Page 3 Motion carries, 5/1 (Commissioner deHarte Abstained) B. Subcommittees – Chair deHarte and Vice Chair Chappell Internal:  Community Service Awards – Chair deHarte and Vice Chair Chappell Vice Chair Chappell – The program was excellent. The PowerPoint presentation and the musicians playing music was a nice touch. Chair deHarte – Thanked all the Commissioners for participating. It was a great showing from the Commission. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback from City Council, the audience and individuals and organizations that were recognized this year.  Community Outreach & Marketing – Commissioners Chandrasena, Gross, Morgan and Randolph Commissioner Morgan – Community outreach has been occurring to hear the concerns of residents through table talks at 10 different locations. Table talks will be completed probably next month. After that, a report will be prepared on what the comments were fr om the citizens of Palm Springs. Commissioner Chandrasena – I’ve been working with OneFuture Coachella Valley and disconnected youth. It’s a group powered by very young people that is transforming business and civic engagement. Commissioner Randolph – Mentioned the subcommittee’s efforts to connect at a one-on-one level to hear community concerns. She shared their experience doing outreach at The Well in the Desert’s lunch program.  Student Representatives – Commissioners Morgan, Randolph and Student Representative Crawford Commissioner Morgan – Suggested that a solution to have some sort of guidelines be developed to ensure student representation is being attended at the meetings. Chair deHarte – Identifying a solution is the task that’s been given to the subcommittee. The Commission is waiting to hear your strategy. Further conversation carried among the Commission regarding the development of some sort of program before the new school year and putting together a timeline to present for April’s meeting. It was agreed that Commissioners Chandrasena, Ciraulo, Morgan and Vice Chair Chappell will be the new Student Representative subcommittee. Commissioner Randolph voluntarily resigned from the Subcommittee with suggestion to organize a Finance Subcommittee that she and the two new Commissioners can be a part of.  Senior and Dependent Adult Bill of Rights – Chair deHarte, Commissioners Gross and Ciraulo Commissioner Gross – Our subcommittee met via conference call. Commissioner Ciraulo and deHarte reported on what they had learned from their meeting with Councilmember Kors and Ms. Foat, Executive Director of Mizell Senior Center. The outcome that I agreed to take on was having Mizell Senior Center and 5 other service agencies come together in one place to begin some interconnection for seniors. Tentative timeline set for May. Chair deHarte discussed the following 3 points that the subcommittee would be tackling over the next 60-90 days: 1. Commissioner Gross will be taking the lead on creating the resource fair with Mizell Senior Center to help increase the connection between community and resources. Human Rights Commission Regular Meeting Minutes March 12, 2018 Page 4 2. Commissioner Ciraulo is tasked with coordinating with our City Council Representatives to meet with high-level key stakeholders from different fields that they’ve identified in the community to learn their concerns. 3. Chair deHarte will be bringing in 3-4 key individuals within the community to brief the Commission itself on core issues. Senior Advocates of the Desert was the start of that. Office on Aging will be presenting in April and Jewish Family Services in May. Chair deHarte further reported that once all 3 tasks were completed, the Commission will begin to evaluate the core issues that have been identified. Then determine in what capacity that City can provide and get involved in. The possibility of the Commission bringing forward a Bill of Rights policy for City Council or recommending Ombudsman services was proposed. External:  Desert Highland Gateway Estates Community Association – Commissioner Chandrasena Commissioner Chandrasena – I attend the Gospel Fest hosted by the United Methodist Church. I also attended the Annual Awards Gala held at the Palm Springs Hilton. The Commission took part in the Black History Parade on February 24, 2018. The next Desert Highland Gateway Estates Community Association meeting will be April 10, 2018. Meetings are held every other month. I received a thank you letter for participating on Saturday’s event.  Homelessness Task Force – Commissioner Ciraulo (not present)  Mr. Cook – The new City Council Homeless Standing Subcommittee will be meeting in April and that information will be going out shortly. The final report for the Point-in-time-Count held on January 26, 2018 won’t be received until May 2018.  Main Street Palm Springs – Chair deHarte Chair deHarte – No human rights issues were brought forward at the meeting.  Organized Neighborhoods of Palm Springs (ONE-PS) – Commissioner Gross Commissioner Gross – ONE-PS is going through an extensive law and structure revision that doesn’t apply a lot to the Commission. If you have any questions in that area please let me know. To bring awareness at the neighborhood level, I will be suggesting to ONE-PS that presentations like we received today be arranged for ONE-PS Brown Bag Lunch Sessions.  PSPD LGBT Outreach Committee – Chair deHarte Chair deHarte – We had 2 incidences occur last month. One was a verbal hate-speech attack on two gentlemen that were walking in Little Tuscany. The other was hate-graffiti writing on a flag outside of one of the residents homes in Little Tuscany. The PD Sargent in charge of Crimes against Persons is updating us on a monthly on the activities. We’re continuing to look and follow-up on fastest graffiti solutions. There will be a Town Hall meeting with the Palm Springs Police Chief Reyes on April 3, 2018 from 5:00p.m to 7:00p.m. Everyone is encouraged to attend and bring questions/concerns. C. Topical Newsworthy Items – Commissioner Randolph – Students from Cathedral City High School will have a student walk-out demonstration tomorrow. The students are 16 years old and seem passionate to participate. I’m very proud of them. Commissioner Gross – Safe Schools Desert City had a wonderful youth summit this past weekend. Chair deHarte was there as well to receive an award. It was my pleasure being on the scholarships Human Rights Commission Regular Meeting Minutes March 12, 2018 Page 5 committee. It was wonderful to offer 19 scholarship and awards to deserving LGBT kids across almost 20 high schools. Commissioner Chandrasena – It has been a wonderful experience working with our team of Commissioners on our table topics. I’m thankful the four of us are able to meet. We don’t’ always agree but we come out of the meetings happy that we are moving forward. Chair deHarte – Hats off to the Palm Springs Unified School District for supporting the students in their right to protest. The youth summit was an impressive group of 200 students participating this year. There is great promise with the horizon of youth as they start to vote and make changes. Chair deHarte - We have a representative that sits on the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Citizen’s Advisory Committee. That committee along with Mr. Cook came together a couple of weeks ago to review grant submissions for the CDBG program funding of $403,000. The Committee makes recommendations to the City Council for funding direction. It now goes forward to City Council and it is in their hands. Mr. Cook – I received incredible feedback from the Com munity Service Award Program. The idea of less is quality and that was very apparent; Many recipients were appreciative It made quite an impact of all those involved. 8. AGENDA ITEMS FOR THE NEXT HRC MEETING: The following item was brought forward by Commissioner Randolph and agreed to by the Commission to be added: 1. HRC Finance Subcommittee 9. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mr. Cook announced that Ms. Annie Rodriguez, Housing Program Assistant and Assistant to the Staff Liaison has extended her maternity leave for the next 6 months and he will be the point of contact. 10: ADJOURNMENT: The Commission adjourned at 4:26 P.M. to a Regular Meeting, Monday, April 9, 2018, at 3:00 P.M. in the Large Conference Room, City Hall, 3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs, California. Respectfully submitted, Annie J. Rodriguez Housing Program Assistant