Commission: Californians with developmental disabilities need better service

By RIA ROEBUCK JOSEPH THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

oversight and a focus on reducing racial disparities.

The right to services and individualized programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in California was codified in

Services Act, when care for individuals with developmental disabilities was expanded beyond Down syndrome to include “people with cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism and other neurological handicapping conditions.” This care is executed through a network of 21 nonprofit regional centers.

The system has been facing a number of challenges around variations in the availability and quality of services among racial and ethnic groups and

Trump

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CRIMINALIZED THE JUSTICE SYSTEM,” Mr. Trump posted on TruthSocial. “THIS IS NOT WHAT AMERICA WAS SUPPOSED TO BE!”

Mr. Trump’s family and many Republicans have centered their criticism on Bragg, a George Soros-backed prosecutor who has been lax on many violent criminals during his tenure. Mr. Soros is a billionaire donor to Democrats across the country.

“The entire system is rigged!”

Eric Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday.

Republicans have repeatedly said the prosecution is politically motivated.

“The indictment wouldn’t happen if President Trump didn’t run for office,” U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote on Twitter.

Mr. Trump blasted leaks from the prosecutor’s office as well.

“Speaking of LEAKS, Special “Prosecutor” Jack Smith (What did his name used to be?) leaked

Parklets

Continued from Page A1 she said. “Off-state accessibility violations will be issued removal notices early next week.”

The next accessibility inspections are scheduled for Friday. “For design and stormwater (promenade only), inspections will coincide with license application review.”

So far, only one parklet has been removed due to noncompliance, she said.

Several downtown Santa Barbara restaurants focused on meeting the deadline for design requirements and spent the time and money necessary to make the improvements.

The major changes to State Street facilities included painting to match the approved color palette (dark grays, browns, and black); removal of lighting from trees and over sidewalks; removal of visible advertising, signs, logos, etc.; and removal of turf grass, according to Sarah Clark, the city’s downtown plaza parking manager. Some of the restaurants had help from others to make sure they complied on time.

“We’re glad to see businesses working together to improve the appearance of the promenade,” Ms. Clark said.

When the outdoor parklets were first allowed, they were considered vital in helping restaurants on lower State Street survive during the COVID-19 pandemic when indoor dining was prohibited.

But along the way, the outdoor massive amounts of information to The Washington ComPost,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial.

“This is illegal, and I assume this Radical Left Lunatic, much to the chagrin of his Trump

Hating wife and family, will be PROSECUTED? He is a totally biased Thug who should be let loose on the Biden Documents hidden in Chinatown, and the 1,850 BOXES secretly stored in Delaware, which Biden REFUSES to give up. Biden is guilty of Obstruction, I am not!”

While the indictment naturally presents challenges for Trump, analysts speculate that the legal battle could propel Trump as a martyr of the “rigged” system he regularly makes a focus of his message.

A recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll reports that Mr. Trump’s numbers among Republicans have spiked since the indictment. The latest poll puts Trump well ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, assumed to be the biggest threat to Mr. Trump’s chances to win the GOP nomination for president in 2024, by 26 percentage points.

Casey Harper works at The Center Square’s Washington, D.C., bureau.

News-Press Managing Editor Dave Mason and News-Press correspondent Caleb Beeghly contributed to this report

Disabilities

Continued from Page A3 among localities across the state alongside infrastructural limitations. These perhaps were exacerbated by periods in the department’s history where “cuts imposed on regional centers in the early 1990s were never restored. Regional centers are overwhelmed with unfunded mandates, rising expectations of consumers and their families, and the inability to retain an adequate number of employees.”

Tamar Foster, Deputy Executive Director of the Little Hoover Commission gave the following summary of recommendations for improvement in the report:

• Increase consistency of service across all centers.

• Target and reduce ethnic discrepancies.

• Strengthen the state oversight of the system.

• Modernize technologies - a single system to track services.

• Standardize the system for vendor service.

• Strengthen the regional government boards.

• Improve service coordination. Parents and stakeholders spoke at the report’s release meeting expressing a wide range of reactions. Some were understanding about the challenges of service with limited staff. One person, perhaps in response to board member Dion Aroner, who said she’d like to see “more standardization,” voiced concern about standardized care for all regional centers as some had fought long battles to get the care for loved ones and didn’t want a well-intentioned proposal to have unintended consequences and disrupt the service consumers had worked hard to attain.

The vast majority of speakers however, spoke of the difficulty of navigating the system to get the help they sought.

“I was moved by the people who had the nerve and the ability to share their story with us,” board member Gil Garcetti said.

The California Department of Developmental Services has oversight responsibilities for the regional centers. The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act established the framework for a statewide system of community-based services and supports which, as was mentioned at the meeting, serves 400,000 individuals through this system. While it was noted that the system had failed many consumers, it was felt that the report should move forward to the legislators and not be delayed by edits to wording.

/NEWS-PRESS dining facilities have drawn more and more flack from critics.

Some were upset that they blocked people from seeing into the front windows of their retail neighbors and/or had expanded beyond the restaurant’s exterior.

Others said it was unfair that the restaurants could provide more room for diners without also being compelled to increase

KRAMER, Gail Woodford

Santa Barbara --- Gail Woodford Kramer (née Gail Allen Woodford), 83 years old, died peacefully on Monday, March 20, 2023. She was predeceased by her husband of 51 years, Edward John Kramer.

Gail was born in Paterson, New Jersey to Dorothy Jackson Woodford and Donald Sage Woodford. Her early years were spent in Ridgewood, New Jersey. The family later moved to Pennyhill, a northern suburb of Wilmington, Delaware. There, Gail attended Mount Pleasant School and Mount Pleasant High School (class of 1957). In her junior and senior years Gail was awarded the school athletic award in cheerleading. She also excelled at golf as a teen, winning junior tournaments at the DuPont Country Club. Among her classmates was her future husband Ed, who lived down the same street. While not high school sweethearts, they went to sophomore and senior proms together. Gail continued her education at Ohio Wesleyan University, majoring in Psychology (B.A. 1961). Out of college she worked at the George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania, and married Ed in 1963. While Ed was a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University, Gail earned a Master of Education degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1966. After settling down in Ithaca, New York, Gail taught sixth grade at the Henry St. John Elementary School. Her gradual disillusionment with the 1970s educational system led to another career as an office manager, first with the United Way and then with Spoken Language Services, a pioneer of foreign language remote learning.

Gail was a very active person who liked to be in community but also someone who enjoyed time alone with independent study and pursuits. In her seventh grade autobiography, Gail declared her favorite hobbies to be swimming and collecting anything related to foreign countries. Such youthful enthusiasm has a way of reemerging and ramifying in adulthood. For decades, the pool at 6 a.m. became Gail and Ed’s shared daily fitness routine in the Cornell Masters Swim Club and subsequently, with Masters Swimming at Santa Barbara’s Los Baos. Another strong theme in Gail’s life was an enriching immersion in different cultures. Her openness to travel and living abroad likely shaped the arc of Ed’s career by enabling him to make strong connections internationally. She spent months and entire years as an academic spouse in Oxford, England; Lausanne, Switzerland; Gottingen as well as Mainz, Germany. In addition, her extensive travel included trips to Japan, Korea, Australia, Brazil, Kenya, Israel, France, Spain, Netherlands, and Italy. Gail’s outgoing and irreverent style, her great memory for names and faces, as well as a sharp and wicked sense of humor, endeared herself to people she encountered. She made lasting friends with ease.

Gail embarked on a slightly more relaxed journey into retirement following the move to California in 1997. Her fitness, reading, and gardening activities expanded with more available time and a new community. Gail volunteered for many years as a docent at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and obtained certification as a master gardener.

At home she cultivated an outstanding succulent and cactus garden with a focus on plants native to southern California. Living close to the Santa Ynez Valley, and with a beautiful view of the Santa Barbara sunset from the foothills, it is no wonder that wine became one more hobby for Gail to enjoy with friends and family.

In 2013, Gail unfortunately suffered a serious stroke as a complication of surgery. The following winter she lost her beloved Ed. She worked hard to regain some movement and stabilize her condition through physical therapy and a battery of daily exercises. Not one to shrink away under adversity, Gail found conviviality in new traditions. A sorority of fellow swimmers from Los Bañwos, “mermaids”, uncorked her wit and elevated her spirit with a weekly happy hour at the Kramer residence, dubbed Wet Wine Wednesday.

To her friends and family, Gail’s positive attitude, her resolve, perseverance, and good humor in the face of severe physical challenges were exemplary. She will be fondly remembered and cherished.

Gail is survived by her children; Eric (Marta) Kramer of Tucson, Arizona, and Jeanne (Michael) Kane of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey; grandchildren, Matthew Kane, Allison Kane, and Cecilia Kramer; her sister Sara Jane (William) Lasko of Lake Mary, Florida; stepsisters Judy Rosser of New Harmony, Utah, and Sandy Mason of Los Gatos, California, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

A memorial service is planned for early summer 2023.

the number of restrooms to accommodate them.

Still others said the parklets interfere with people being able to appreciate the downtown’s famed architecture, which has drawn many thousands of visitors to Santa Barbara eager to see “America’s Riviera.” attracting increased numbers of rats to the downtown area. Some went beyond criticizing these unintended ramifications to harping on the appearance and construction of the parklets themselves, referring to them simply as “wooden boxes.” email: nhartsteinnewspress@ gmail.com

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