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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-14-05 HRC Regular Minutes FINAL Human Rights Commission CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA 0 MINUTES Regular Meeting Monday, May 14, 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 Terri Andrade X 2 Jilska Chandrasena X 10 Denise Chappell, Vice Chair 9 1 Sam Ciraulo 7 2 1 Ron deHarte, Chair X 10 Jim Gross X 9 1 Ryan Miccio X 2 David Morgan X 10 Nicki Randolph X 10 Other Staff Present: Dale Cook, Community Development Administrator, Staff Liaison 1. CALL TO ORDER: Chair deHarte called the meeting to order at 3:00 P.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: Vice Chair Chappell not present, excused absence; Commissioner Ciraulo not present, unexcused absence, Commissioner Andrade arrived late, not present during roll call. 4. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Renato De Moraes – Shared information about two non-profit organizations. 1) Insurance Counseling & Advocacy (HICAP) which provides free and objective information and counselling about Medicare 2) Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) that helps Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries avoid, detect an d report health care fraud. Flyers and brochures were distributed to all Commissioners. Commissioner Andrade arrived at 3:06 P.M. A very brief period of questions and comments among Commissioners and Renato took place. Chair deHarte indicated that because there were no other speakers in the queue they spent a little extra time on that segment. Human Rights Commission Regular Meeting Minutes May 14, 2018 Page 2 5. COMMISSIONER, STAFF AND STUDENT COMMENTS: Commissioner Morgan – Commented on his very first Table Talk interaction with a resident who identified herself as a lesbian Latina whose family was being tormented in their neighborhood. Commissioner Morgan emphasized that the Commission discuss representing as many diverse communities out there as possible not just the majority of the population. He welcomed any Commissioner who would like to discuss bringing something forward to speak with him afterwards. Mr. Cook – Shared that City Council does look at the diversity and current make -up of all Commissions when reviewing applications to serve on Boards and Commissions. The Commission has had experience with neighborhood discrimination and hate crimes and has been in cooperation with the PSPD LGBT Liaison and neighborhood groups to try to mediate. Mr. Cook suggested the need to be more involved to get greater awareness of those incidents happening in the neighborhoods and bring them forward. 6. PRESENTATION: Community Recognition Chair deHarte announced the presentation was being postponed until later in the meeting. 7. GUEST SPEAKER: Jewish Family Services of the Desert, Maureen Forman, CEO Chair deHarte announced that the guest speaker Ms. Maureen Forman had a family emergency and was not going to make her presentation. Ms. Forman was willing to reschedule her presentation for the June meeting. 8. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION AND/OR VOTE: A. Master Calendar – Commissioner Chandrasena Commissioner Chandrasena – The next big event is the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast on May 18, 2018. Save the Date for the Elder and Dependent Adult symposium. Chair deHarte – Gathered pending confirmations to the upcoming events. Commissioner Chandrasena will be representing the Commission at the symposium. Commissioner Randolph will be participating at the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast. No further confirmations were pending. All Commissioners will be participating in the breakfast. B. Subcommittees – Chair deHarte and Vice Chair Chappell Internal:  Community Outreach & Marketing – Commissioners Chandrasena, Gross, Morgan and Randolph Commissioner Morgan – Explained the subcommittee’s Table Talk outreach efforts and reported on the upcoming dates and locations scheduled for Table Talk s. A volunteer sign- up sheet was passed around for other Commissioners that wished to participate in the upcoming dates. A general flyer with just the information of the upcoming dates Table Talk dates was also distributed. Commissioner Randolph – Has reached out to a former ex-client from television and radio advertising to ask if he would consider possible pro-bono work to create an identity for the Palm Springs Human Rights Commission that is separate from the national Human Rights Campaign (HRC) logo. More information to be forthcoming. Commissioner Randolph – Reported working on the Human Rights Commission’s $2000.00 financial budget for next year. She will bring forth a proposed budget draft that she would like to have on the Agenda to discuss for next year. Commissioner Randolph expressed interest in allocating funds for an awareness campaign in social media and creating an identify for the Commission. Comments and questions were presented and discussed. Mr. Cook will be working on setting-up a meeting between the Community Outreach and Marketing Subcommittee and the Director of Communications and the Director of Fund Development. Human Rights Commission Regular Meeting Minutes May 14, 2018 Page 3  Student Representatives – Vice Chair Chappell, Commissioners Chandrasena, Ciraulo, and Morgan Commissioner Morgan – The committee is excited to meet with Michael Ventura, Vice Principal at Palm Springs High School on May 17, 2018 at 12:15PM. Different student groups will also be present during the meeting to discuss what the Commission is looking for in the Student Representative.  Senior and Dependent Adult Bill of Rights – Chair deHarte, Commissioners Gross and Ciraulo Commissioner Gross – Reinforced that the term Senior Expo will be used for the event. At a recent planning meeting, there was consensus to push for a much better and larger scale event and they are now looking to move the event into October. A date has not been identified. Other elements of discussion that occurred during the planning meeting was having the Commission and the City take a fresh look at contributing financially. Two-to-three budget items have come-up and those will be forwarded to the Community Outreach and Marketing Subcommittee to incorporate. Comments and questions were presented and discussed. Commissioner Randolph remarked on affordable housing that led into a brief period of comments and questions being presented and discussed. She will be attending the Affordable Housing Standing City Council Subcommittee on May 15, 2018 at 4:00PM. She will also be meeting with Councilmember Holstege next week to discuss some out of the box ideas that she has. It was agreed that a new Housing Subcommittee would be formed. Commissioners Randolph and Andrade volunteered to serve on the Committee. Chair Deharte – Stated anyone who has an idea for a July Speaker or if there’s a resource out there that they would like the Commission to hear about please let him or Mr. Cook know so they can work together to get an invitation out for July’s meeting. A summary of the remaining steps were mentioned, with a final target of getting some form of recommendation to City Council’s hand by the fourth quarter regarding Senior Bill of Rights. External:  Desert Highland Gateway Estates Community Association – Commissioner Chandrasena Commissioner Chandrasena – Was not present at the meeting last month. Meetings are held every other month. Their next meeting is in June and she will be attending.  Homelessness Task Force – Commissioner Andrade Commissioner Andrade – Reported the meeting being the first meeting under new leadership with Councilmembers Kors and Holstege. The Task Force is meeting every 3 months. Commissioner Andrade felt that some of the business items on the Agenda were not finalized, such as the discussion of subcommittee structure and assignments. The meeting entailed hearing about what Path Of Life Ministries (POLM) has been doing up to the present point. Comments and questions were briefly discussed regarding the POLM’s Housing First Model.  Main Street Palm Springs – Chair deHarte - No report updates. Human Rights Commission Regular Meeting Minutes May 14, 2018 Page 4  Organized Neighborhoods of Palm Springs (ONE-PS) – Commissioner Gross Commissioner Gross – No updates. One-PS will have a sponsorship table at the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast as well.  PSPD LGBT Outreach Committee – Chair deHarte Chair deHarte – Reported that Captain Peeters will be retiring. The new Staff Liaison has not yet been announced. The conversation continues on hate crime speech and graffiti occurring throughout the City and Valley; and concern on whether that’s a growing hate crime i ncrease to LGBT or hate crime across the board (ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation). Comments and questions were presented and discussed regarding the report given. . C. Instagram Usage Commissioner Morgan brought-up the suggestion of being engaged in social media to promote what the Commission is accomplishing at no cost. He would like to take the lead on starting an Instagram page if the Commissioners agree and if it is allowed per City procedures. Mr. Cook will be following-up on the policies and procedures surrounding social media for further discussion. D. Changing Meeting Time It was discussed among the Commission to change the meeting time as a trial period (June – September) to make the Commission more available to the Community and increase the level of participation. There was a consensus to have 6:00PM and 5:00PM as the two possible start times considerations. Mr. Cook will relay the time frame recommendations with the Cit y Clerk’s office and cable access staffing to see how structurally it would fit with scheduling. Mr. Cook will keep the Commission updated on whether the time change would be set for June’s meeting. Chair deHarte – Announced the Community Presentations would be postponed for the next meeting since the Student Representative was not present. A special acknowledgement was given to Councilmembers Kors and Holstege who were present to be part of the presentation for the students who organized the March For Our Lives rally held on March 24, 2018. Councilmember Kors on behalf of City Council prepared certificates of acknowledgement for the students in addition to the Commission’s plaques. The Commission will endeavor to get all eight students together to make the presentation. Chair deHarte – Shared that 80 community members were being recognized as part of Palm Springs 80th birthday as outstanding voices of Palm Springs who are standing for LGBTQ rights and equality. Four students from Palm Springs High School were to be part of that recognition. E. Topical Newsworthy Items Commissioner Chandrasena – Commented that she toured the Mizell Senior Center and came across a scam pyramid flyer for elder populations. The f lyer was passed around the Commission to view. Commissioner Randolph expressed wanting to comment on a positive note and shared comments regarding women’s rights are human rights and people standing-up for themselves. Commission Gross – Commented on Pride Prom being a great event last Saturday night. It was successfully run with over 350 students attending from 15 to 17 High Schools and 1 Middle School. Chair deHarte announced that the Commission start thinking of an Annual Retreat date and set time period of 2-3 hours to discuss the make-up of the Commission. It was agreed that they will be doing a doodle poll and get a date agreed before the next meeting. Human Rights Commission Regular Meeting Minutes May 14, 2018 Page 5 Commissioner Gross initiated the conversation of expiring Commissioners terms. Mr. Cook reported that two Commission seats have an expiration of June 30. He will be getting in contact with the City Clerk’s office to see when the HRC representative recruitment process will begin. Applications are currently being solicited and City Clerk will contact those currently seated if they wish to reapply. 8. AGENDA ITEMS FOR THE NEXT HRC MEETING: Chair deHarte asked if there were any other agenda items that needed to be brought up next month other than finance/budget. No other items were requested to be added. The meeting proceeded back to Agenda item number 6. Presentation – Community Recognition Chair deHarte on behalf of the Commission welcomed once again Councilmember Holstege and Kors who were in attendance to present the community recognition. Chair deHarte commented on the Commission direction to thank the student organizers of the March 24, 2018 rally that took place across the country and locally. He introduced John Terry, a student representative from Desert Hot Springs High School and all the students as organizers who participated, for displaying leadership, courage, and activism during the ambitious student driven movement that emerged after the South Florida High School Massacre and has elevated gun control as a key issue and inspired generation of peers to register to vote . The Commission is proud of the local students from high schools throughout that valley who participated in organizing one of the 800 protests that occurred around the world. Councilmember Kors and Holstege presented Certificate of Recognition from the City and the Human Rights Commission Award plaque to John Terry, thanking him for his leadership and organization on important social issues. John Terry accepted the honor and made brief closing comment s of the experience. 9. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Councilmember Kors commented on Commission vacancies. He and Councilmember Middleton will be asking at the next City Council meeting that terms be extended for people whose terms are expiring, if they are willing to serve until the end of the year. They are recommending that the City hire a diversity consultant to do a broader outreach. Councilmember Kors suggested that the Commission appoint a Commissioner to work with Councilmember Middleton and Himself in the Diversity Ad Hoc group when appropriate. Mr. Cook will be informed of the next Diversity Ad Hoc meeting. 10: ADJOURNMENT: The Commission adjourned at 4:21 P.M. to a Regular Meeting, Monday, June 11, 2018, at 3:00 P.M. or yet to be scheduled in the Large Conference Room, City Hall, 3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs, California. Respectfully submitted, Annie J. Rodriguez Housing Program Assistant