A10 SUNDAY JULY 17, 2016 A11 … · of the network, DecoBike, plan to add kiosks in many areas and...
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John Ondrasik of Five For Fighting AUG 6 Solo Acoustic KC and The Sunshine Band AUG 4-5 Smokey Robinson JULY 26-28 GUESTS MUST BE 18+ TO ENTER CASINO AND RESTAURANTS. MUST BE 21+ TO ENTER THEATRE AND SPORTS BAR. PLEASE PLAY RESPONSIBLY. 619.445.6002 | SYCUAN.COM PLAY. WIN. TOGETHER. TICKETS PURCHASED AT THE CASINO BOX OFFICE ARE 20% OFF WITH YOUR CLUB SYCUAN CARD. George Lopez JULY 29&30 DOWNLOAD THE APP FOR FREE! BUY TICKETS ONLINE AT SYCUAN.COM OR ON YOUR SMARTPHONE. The Stars are Brighter Over S ycuan! A10 THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE SUNDAY • JULY 17, 2016 A11 THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE SUNDAY • JULY 17, 2016 A string of fights between dementia patients at a local memory care center, includ- ing a severe beating that led to the death of a 92-year-old woman, has put the facility’s operating license in jeopardy. Elmcroft of La Mesa is scheduled for a license-revo- cation hearing before the state Department of Social Services in late August, al- though public records show that concerns about inade- quate supervision and staff training had mounted since late 2014. In addition, the 56-bed center faces a civil lawsuit and an investigation by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. Over the years, the De- partment of Social Services has not been shy about tak- ing away licenses. It did so in 248 cases during the past five years, according to the agency’s records. This year’s license-revocation count is 26. Most of the shuttered fa- cilities are small — they have an average of 10 beds each. But there have been a hand- ful of cases involving large assisted-living facilities, in- cluding three with 100 beds or more. The Elmcroft case is the latest example of long- standing concerns about nonmedical assisted-living homes housing people with severe neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, patient advocates said. On March 28, the state formally accused Elmcroft of lapses in care that “violated the personal rights of clients.” It highlighted three incidents in early 2015 that involved resident-on-resi- dent violence. In a statement to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Kentucky-based Elmcroft Senior Living, which runs 82 senior-living communities in 18 states, said it is cooper- ating with California’s inves- tigation. “Elmcroft takes seriously its responsibilities to pro- vide a safe environment for its residents and to provide competent and appropri- ately trained associates,” the statement said. The company declined to discuss the incidents ref- erenced in the state’s documents. “In light of the ongoing nature of the inves- tigation and out of respect for the families involved and our residents’ privacy rights, Elmcroft has no further comment at this time,” the statement said. The first incident ref- erenced in the state’s accu- sation occurred Feb. 8, 2015, when a resident diagnosed with dementia and “known to be aggressive toward other residents” struck a fel- low resident in the ribs “without justification.” On Feb. 20, 2015, a differ- ent resident, again diag- nosed with dementia and known to be aggressive, at- tacked a woman in her room, ultimately causing her death. And on March 31 of the same year, a fight occurred between yet another set of dementia patients, this time resulting in a finger injury. An autopsy report indi- cated that the victim in the second fight was Norma Desick, 92, who moved to Elmcroft in 2011 with a diagnosis of advanced de- mentia, hearing impairment and osteoporosis. According to the medical examiner’s report, staff found the wheelchair-bound woman in the fetal position on the floor of her room at 11:27 a.m. on the day of the altercation. Stanley Brodke, who was believed to have as- saulted Desick, was found in an adjacent room “naked and crawling on the floor yelling, ‘get the hell out.’” Brodke had skin tears on both arms and scratches on his chest, investigators said. Desick had blood-filled con- tusions on both sides of her head. Both residents were taken to hospitals for treat- ment. The autopsy report found that Desick’s initial examination did not use X- ray or other technology to examine the widow before discharging her back to Elm- croft. Back in her room, Desick’s condition continued to deteriorate. Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa later found she had a methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection, two rib fractures and a collapsed left lung. Desick was placed on hospice care after these in- juries were discovered. She died on March 8, 2015. The medical examiner described her death as homicide by multiple blunt-force in- juries. Tanya Sierra, a spokes- woman for the District At- torney’s Office, wouldn’t specify whether any Elm- croft employee would be prosecuted for failing to pre- vent the altercation. “This case is under review for po- tential criminal charges,” Si- erra said. Desick’s nieces filed a civ- il lawsuit against Elmcroft in San Diego Superior Court, alleging negligence, wrong- ful death and breach of con- tract. Their attorney, Nata- lie Holm of San Diego, said the suit is about more than the day Desick was fatally in- jured. “For my client, this wasn’t one incident. She had a long history of aggression, acting out, they very obvi- ously could not control her, or the residents around her, to adequately protect her — even with the use of medica- tions,” Holm said. The attorney said it was Elmcroft’s duty, as specified in its contract with Desick’s nieces, to transfer the woman to a place with a higher level of care if she ever became a danger to herself or others. Elmcroft’s files show that regulators have taken issue with the memory-care cen- ter’s staffing levels and training protocols for more than a year. They also indi- cate that even seven months after Desick’s death, the De- partment of Social Services still cited significant con- cerns with how Elmcroft was being run. The agency or- dered more hiring of staff members, better screening of residents and the use of a psychiatrist to improve staff training, but it didn’t start the process of license revo- cation. Regulators also did not ban new admissions to Elm- croft. Michael Weston, deputy director of public affairs for the Department of Social Services, said the agency does not discuss active legal cases. He added that regulators believe conditions have im- proved at the facility. “Elmcroft of La Mesa has implemented a plan that in- creases staffing levels on all three shifts. A new admin- istrator is in place at the fa- cility and a new divisional vice president has been ap- pointed to oversee Elmcroft of La Mesa. The department continues to monitor the fa- cility to ensure compliance with regulations ...,” Weston said. The facility’s hearing is scheduled to last from Aug. 29 through Sept. 1 in down- town San Diego. [email protected] (619) 293-1850 Twitter: @paulsisson SAN DIEGO San Diego’s bike-sharing network, a key component of the city’s plan to fight cli- mate change, will fail with- out greater cooperation from government officials and community leaders, a county grand jury report says. City and local transit offi- cials need to ease approval of rental kiosks along the struggling network so more can be located where poten- tial cyclists need them, particularly at trolley sta- tions and in high-tourism beach areas, the report says. Allowing the network to fail would be a big setback for San Diego’s aggressive climate action plan and would likely force the city to abandon its insistence on being one of the few cities in the world to not subsidize its bike-sharing network, the grand jury says. When Chicago’s first bike share partner failed, that city struggled to find a re- placement and had to pay full startup costs of $6 mil- lion to land a successor, the report notes. City officials haven’t for- mally responded to the re- port, but a spokeswoman said Friday that they have no plans to begin subsidiz- ing the network and remain confident in its long-term success. The city and the operator of the network, DecoBike, plan to add kiosks in many areas and will provide de- tails about those plans this summer, said the spokes- woman, Katie Keach. A Metropolitan Transit System spokesman said the agency has been highly co- operative with DecoBike, noting that it’s impossible to install bike-sharing kiosks in most trolley stations be- cause they are too narrow. The spokesman, Rob Schupp, said the transit sys- tem has a marketing part- nership with DecoBike and agreed to allow a kiosk in a highly visible area of the cru- cial Old Town Trolley sta- tion, but DecoBike declined. Schupp also noted that hundreds of DecoBike bicy- cles are available within easy walking distance of trolley and bus stations downtown, despite not being located di- rectly inside the stations. Leaders in beach com- munities haven’t softened their stance that DecoBike has damaged aesthetics by placing kiosks on board- walks, and that the network is threatening small bicycle shops that offer rentals. A large group of those leaders plans to lobby the City Council during a meet- ing scheduled for Tuesday to relocate or remove many beach area stations. The grand jury report says the city must try to sway such public opinion. “City leaders need to re- mind people in the beach communities that bi- cycling is an important 21st century trans- portation mode that re- places car trips and re- lieves traffic congestion, thus improving air quality and public health, and that bike sharing is an estab- lished transportation op- tion in more than 800 cities worldwide,” the report says. San Diego’s climate ac- tion plan, which is legally binding, requires the num- ber of people bicycling to work in the city’s densely populated neighborhoods to increase from about 2 per- cent to 6 percent by 2020 and then to 18 percent by 2035. With that in mind, the City Council unanimously approved in late June a plan to transform many vehicle lanes and some on-street parking in downtown into miles of protected cycling lanes. But the city’s climate goals are threatened, the re- port says, in the short term by city officials and beach community leaders, and in the long term by the transit system. Bike-sharing programs typically rely financially more on tourists initially, and can then focus more on sites that will get commuters out of cars by providing an alter- nate mode of trans- portation, the report says. Stats from Deco- Bike’s first year, which ended in February, sup- port that. Members of the network, who pay less than casual users in- cluding tourists, made up 23 percent of cus- tomers, while casual users were 77 per- cent. The report says the city has resisted relocation of some poorly performing stations in down- town, has objected to additional kiosks in Balboa Park and has allowed La Jolla to block installation of any sta- tions based on aesthetic con- cerns. Keach, the city spokes- woman, declined to address those issues spe- cifically. “The city’s bike-sharing program is still in its infancy, having launched in January 2015, and remains a work in progress as 95 of the 180 pro- posed stations have been in- stalled,” Keach said. “As we continue to add stations and build a more complete net- work, the city remains confi- dent that more San Diegans and visitors will take advantage of the program for both recreational and commute pur- poses.” In a bike-shar- ing network, people pay a fee to rent a bike at one station and can then drop it off any- where along the network. So the larger the network, the more functional it is. The report also criticizes the transit system for resist- ing kiosks at trolley and bus stations. Bike sharing is key to long-term efforts to reduce carbon emissions because rental bikes can fill small gaps in the transportation network known as the “last mile” problem, which en- courages more people to choose cycling and mass transit over cars. The report focused particularly on the Old Town station, a transfer hub in the trolley system. “The Old Town Transit Center is another ideal loca- tion that MTS has repeat- edly rejected,” the report says. Schupp, the transit sys- tem spokesman, disputed that. “We fully support placing their stations at our facilities where they will not pose a safety concern,” he said. “At Old Town, we met with DecoBike a couple of times and designated a spot for them at the corner of Taylor and Con- gress, a highly visible corner.” The report also suggests the city should appoint or designate one prominent of- ficial to be the single point of contact on bike sharing and refer communications about the program to that official. “When residents com- plain to their elected officials about the presence of bike- sharing stations, they re- ceive inconsistent respons- es,” the report says. “One of- ficial may tell them to talk to DecoBike, another to con- tact the Transportation and Stormwater Department.” Keach indicated Friday that the city wouldn’t be making such a change. “Transportation and Storm Water will remain the implementing department, with greater assistance from the communications direc- tor and assistant chief op- erating officer,” she said. Responses to the report from the city and the transit system are due Aug. 29. On subsidies, Keach said there are no plans to provide them. Some argue that sub- sidies would allow DecoBike to be less aggressive about targeting high-traffic tourist areas. Bike-sharing programs in northern cities, such as Minneapolis, are seasonal and require financial help. In contrast, San Diego’s mild climate allows year- round opportunities for strong revenue. The report says DecoBike has success- fully run an unsubsidized bike-sharing network in Mi- ami, another city with a mild climate. Kayla Race, director of operations and programs for the nonprofit Climate Action Campaign, said the network’s success is crucial. “In order to protect our quality of life from the im- pacts of climate change, and in order for the city to com- ply with its climate plan, it’s imperative we provide real transportation alternatives for folks to get out of their cars and still get to where they need to go,” she said. For information about the program, visit deco- bikesd.com. david.garrick@ sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 SAN DIEGO Local residents and peo- ple around the world are now a few clicks away from knowing where police and firefighters have responded to emergencies in San Diego, which city parking meters bring in the most cash and where tap water tests have raised health concerns. The city this month posted 44 datasets on its website that include those, along with where solar pan- els are being installed, the lo- cations of city-approved special events and many others. City officials posted the data sets — and plan to post roughly 70 more over the next four years — as part of a new “open data” policy to en- courage innovation and analysis that could lead to efficiencies. “The portal will give app developers, software engi- neers and the public the op- portunity to use this data in innovative ways that we haven’t even dreamed of yet,” Mayor Kevin Faulconer said. Two other goals of the policy, which has bipartisan support, are increasing gov- ernment transparency and allowing residents to know more about what’s going on in their neighborhood and citywide. Other posted data sets include leases of city- owned properties, street- sweeping schedules, cam- paign donations, code violations and typical traffic volumes on many streets. The goal isn’t to encour- age voyeurism but to poten- tially make life in San Diego easier, more convenient and simpler, said Maksim Pech- erskiy, the city’s chief data officer. “It’s digital information that translates to the real world,” said Pecherskiy, sin- gling out parking-meter data as particularly useful. “I already know someone who is using this to figure out where the best spot to park is around her building.” And that data could also have wide applications if software or app developers explore it, he said. “We’re trying to target software developers that will want to apply a machine- learning model to predict when a parking meter will be available on July 15th or July 18th in a certain neighbor- hood,” Pecherskiy said. Making the data easily accessible will also al- low city offi- cials, com- munity leaders and ordinary residents to make stronger cases when lobbying for new policies or programs. City officials or outsiders can also spot trends, such as whether more homeowners are installing solar panels in coastal areas versus inland areas or in poor areas versus wealthy areas. Data sets of particular in- terest to residents will prob- ably be the locations of emergency calls, details on upcoming special events, and tap water tests, Pecher- skiy said. Knowing when and where streets will be closed for events like the Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon and weekly farmers markets can help people choose different trav- el routes or plan to attend those events. The city tests drinking water quality at 85 sites per week for E. coli and coliform, and the results will be con- tinually updated on the site. Unlike other cities, San Diego will auto- matically update the major- ity of the data sets, giving the public reliable, up-to-date information in an easy-to- use format, Pecherskiy said. Data sets are broken up into smaller files and can be downloaded in common digital file formats that are easy to work with, he said. “Typically, agencies toss up a bunch of data on a por- tal and call it a day, but transparency means a lot more to us than that,” Pech- erskiy said. “Our team took the time to understand the data, explain the data and simplify the data available in this portal so that you don’t need to be a computer programmer to view it, ana- lyze it or build with it.” Residents can also use the data to help keep local streets clean by moving their car on days their street will be swept. Only 9 percent of city streets have parking restric- tions for street sweeping, but all other streets also get swept. The process is just less effective, because parked cars make sweeping harder. The volume of data the city controls is striking, Pecherskiy said, noting that San Diego has more than 10,000 employees and a $3 billion annual budget. “The concept of open data is opening that in- formation up to the pub- lic,” he said. “I think transparency is some- thing people really ex- pect these days, and it’s a pretty powerful thing.” Sensitive and private in- formation, such as the health records and social se- curity numbers of residents or city employees, aren’t in- cluded in the data sets. “Putting other people’s information out in public is something we are very care- fully making sure we avoid,” Pecherskiy said. Some studies have pre- dicted that open data, which has been gaining momen- tum since the concept was first suggested more than 10 years ago, has the potential to unlock trillions in economic value worldwide with innovation and efficien- cies. Councilman Mark Kersey said San Diego, the first government agency in the region to adopt an open data policy, is setting a strong example for others. “The quality of San Diego’s open data portal is unmatched,” he said. “Not only will software developers and the general public have access to unique data sets and formats, but our own city employees will be able to use it to make our govern- ment smarter and more effi- cient,” he said. The data sets can be ac- cessed at data.sandiego.gov. [email protected] (619) 269-8906 @UTDavidGarrick PATIENT FIGHTS THREATEN LICENSE Incidents at dementia facility reflect larger challenges with memory care centers BY PAUL SISSON MORE ON MEMORY CARE CENTERS SD1 • A raft of laws might improve conditions for residents; also, what you can do to advocate for patients. “They very obviously could not control her, or the residents around her, to adequately protect her — even with the use of medications.” Natalie Holm • attorney for nieces of woman killed at Elmcroft of La Mesa S.D. POSTS EMERGENCY CALLS, OTHER KEY DATA Not many years ago, the idea of defeating the resil- ient virus that causes AIDS was far-fetched. But as 18,000 people gather this coming week in Durban, South Africa, for the 21st International AIDS Confer- ence, the prospect of a cure is plausible enough that it is attracting increasing amounts of money, scientific research and attention. Discussion of a cure will lead off the conference, which comes little more than a month after the United Na- tions committed to action to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, despite formidable ob- stacles. Leaders of the global battle against HIV have de- scribed 2016 as a pivotal year in their effort. “Achieving such a cure is one of the great scientific challenges ever undertak- en,” Françoise Barré- Sinoussi, one of the discoverers of the virus, told reporters in a news briefing. “Our challenge is to take the science forward.” Worldwide funding for re- search on a cure rose to $201.8 million in 2015, up 25 percent over the previous year and more than double the $88.1 million spent in 2012, two years after the International AIDS Society launched a program to achieve a cure. The vast ma- jority of the money comes from governments around the world. On Wednesday, the National Institutes of Health awarded $30 million annually for the next five years to six U.S. research centers working toward a cure. Also scheduled for this fall is a large-scale clinical trial of an HIV vaccine, which will be conducted in South Africa and co-funded by NIH. “The two greatest chal- lenges remaining in HIV/ AIDS research are finding a cure and developing a safe and effective preventive vac- cine,” said Anthony Fauci, director of the National In- stitute of Allergy and Infec- tious Diseases, which is leading the vaccine trial. Research scheduled to be presented at the AIDS con- ference includes several strategies for a cure, includ- ing gene editing and stem- cell therapy. The positive long-term impact of anti- retroviral therapy also will be discussed. Transplanting stem cells from a donor known to be immune to HIV is expensive and risky. This technique was used on a patient who was being treated for acute myeloid leukemia and is not practical for other people. But it did produce the one recognized cure in the his- tory of the disease, accord- ing to a preview of the Inter- national AIDS Society’s up- dated scientific strategy for a cure, which was published online Monday in the journal Nature Medicine. The hur- dles to a cure include the adaptability and persist- ence of the virus. It took decades to turn HIV from a death sentence into a chronic, manageable dis- ease through antiretroviral therapy, and few are willing to predict when a cure might be feasible. AIDS CURE NO LONGER BEYOND IMAGINATION S. Africa conference draws attention to gains against virus THE WASHINGTON POST City officials hope to spur innovation BY DAVID GARRICK GRAND JURY: BIKE-SHARING SYSTEM NEEDS HELP Program struggling to attract users, get new kiosks approved BY DAVID GARRICK Peter Belich and Berta Garvey of Mount Shasta rent DecoBikes in Pacific Beach. In DecoBike’s first year, 77 percent of renters were casual users like tourists. MISAEL VIRGEN U-T
Transcript of A10 SUNDAY JULY 17, 2016 A11 … · of the network, DecoBike, plan to add kiosks in many areas and...
John Ondrasik of
Five For Fighting AUG6SoloAcoustic
KC and TheSunshine Band
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A10 THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE SUNDAY • JULY 17, 2016 A11THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE SUNDAY • JULY 17, 2016
Astringof fightsbetweendementia patients at a localmemory care center, includ-ing a severe beating that ledto the death of a 92-year-oldwoman, has put the facility’soperating license injeopardy.
Elmcroft of La Mesa isscheduled for a license-revo-cation hearing before thestate Department of SocialServices in late August, al-though public records showthat concerns about inade-quate supervision and stafftraining hadmounted sincelate 2014.
In addition, the 56-bedcenter faces a civil lawsuitand an investigation by theSan Diego County DistrictAttorney’sOffice.
Over the years, the De-partment of Social Serviceshas not been shy about tak-ing away licenses. It did so in248 cases during the pastfive years, according to theagency’s records. This year’slicense-revocation count is26.
Most of the shuttered fa-cilities are small—theyhavean average of 10 beds each.But there have been a hand-ful of cases involving largeassisted-living facilities, in-cluding three with 100 bedsormore.
The Elmcroft case is thelatest example of long-standing concerns aboutnonmedical assisted-livinghomes housing people withsevere neurodegenerativediseases like Alzheimer’s,patient advocates said.
On March 28, the stateformallyaccusedElmcroftoflapses in care that “violatedthe personal rights ofclients.” It highlighted threeincidents in early 2015 thatinvolved resident-on-resi-dent violence.
In a statement to TheSan Diego Union-Tribune,Kentucky-based ElmcroftSenior Living, which runs 82senior-livingcommunities in
18 states, said it is cooper-atingwithCalifornia’s inves-tigation.
“Elmcroft takes seriouslyits responsibilities to pro-vide a safe environment forits residents and to providecompetent and appropri-ately trained associates,”the statement said.
The companydeclined todiscuss the incidents ref-erenced in the state’sdocuments. “In light of theongoing nature of the inves-tigation and out of respectfor the families involved andourresidents’privacyrights,Elmcroft has no furthercomment at this time,” thestatement said.
The first incident ref-erenced in the state’s accu-sation occurred Feb. 8, 2015,when a resident diagnosedwith dementia and “knownto be aggressive towardother residents” struck a fel-low resident in the ribs“without justification.”
On Feb. 20, 2015, a differ-ent resident, again diag-nosed with dementia andknown to be aggressive, at-tackedawomaninherroom,
ultimately causing herdeath.
And on March 31 of thesame year, a fight occurredbetween yet another set ofdementia patients, this timeresulting in a finger injury.
An autopsy report indi-cated that the victim in thesecond fight was NormaDesick, 92, who moved toElmcroft in 2011 with adiagnosis of advanced de-mentia, hearing impairmentandosteoporosis.
According to themedicalexaminer’s report, stafffound thewheelchair-boundwoman in the fetal position
on the floor of her room at11:27 a.m. on the day of thealtercation. Stanley Brodke,whowas believed to have as-saultedDesick, was found inan adjacent room “nakedand crawling on the flooryelling, ‘get thehell out.’”
Brodke had skin tears onboth arms and scratches onhis chest, investigators said.Desick had blood-filled con-tusions on both sides of herhead. Both residents weretaken to hospitals for treat-ment.
The autopsy report
found that Desick’s initialexamination did not use X-ray or other technology toexamine the widow beforedischargingherbacktoElm-croft.
Back in her room,Desick’s conditioncontinued to deteriorate.Sharp Grossmont Hospitalin La Mesa later found shehad a methicillin-resistantstaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) infection, two ribfracturesandacollapsedleftlung.
Desick was placed onhospice care after these in-juries were discovered. She
died on March 8, 2015. Themedical examiner describedher death as homicide bymultiple blunt-force in-juries.
Tanya Sierra, a spokes-woman for the District At-torney’s Office, wouldn’tspecify whether any Elm-croft employee would beprosecuted for failing to pre-vent the altercation. “Thiscase is under review for po-tential criminal charges,” Si-erra said.
Desick’snieces filedaciv-il lawsuit againstElmcroft in
San Diego Superior Court,alleging negligence, wrong-ful death and breach of con-tract. Their attorney, Nata-lie Holm of San Diego, saidthe suit is about more thanthedayDesickwas fatally in-jured.
“For my client, thiswasn’t one incident.Shehada long history of aggression,acting out, they very obvi-ously could not control her,or the residents around her,to adequately protect her—even with the use ofmedica-tions,”Holmsaid.
The attorney said it wasElmcroft’s duty, as specified
in its contract with Desick’snieces, to transfer thewoman to a place with ahigher levelof care if sheeverbecame a danger to herselfor others.
Elmcroft’s files show thatregulators have taken issuewith the memory-care cen-ter’s staffing levels andtraining protocols for morethan a year. They also indi-cate that even sevenmonthsafterDesick’s death, theDe-partment of Social Servicesstill cited significant con-cernswithhowElmcroftwasbeing run. The agency or-dered more hiring of staffmembers, better screeningof residents and the use of apsychiatrist to improve stafftraining, but it didn’t startthe process of license revo-cation.
Regulators also did notban new admissions to Elm-croft.
Michael Weston, deputydirector of public affairs forthe Department of SocialServices, said the agencydoes not discuss active legalcases.
Headded that regulatorsbelieve conditions have im-provedat the facility.
“Elmcroft of LaMesa hasimplemented a plan that in-
creases staffing levels on allthree shifts. A new admin-istrator is in place at the fa-cility and a new divisionalvice president has been ap-pointed to oversee ElmcroftofLaMesa.Thedepartmentcontinues tomonitor the fa-cility to ensure compliancewith regulations ...,” Westonsaid.
The facility’s hearing isscheduled to last from Aug.29 through Sept. 1 in down-townSanDiego.
[email protected](619) 293-1850Twitter: @paulsisson
SAN DIEGOSanDiego’s bike-sharing
network,akeycomponentofthe city’s plan to fight cli-mate change, will fail with-out greater cooperationfrom government officialsand community leaders, acounty grand jury reportsays.
City and local transit offi-cialsneedtoeaseapprovalofrental kiosks along thestruggling network so morecan be located where poten-tial cyclists need them,particularly at trolley sta-tions and in high-tourismbeachareas, the report says.
Allowing the network tofail would be a big setbackfor San Diego’s aggressiveclimate action plan andwould likely force the city toabandon its insistence onbeing one of the few cities intheworld tonot subsidize itsbike-sharing network, thegrand jury says.
WhenChicago’s first bikeshare partner failed, thatcity struggled to find a re-placement and had to payfull startup costs of $6 mil-lion to land a successor, thereport notes.
City officials haven’t for-mally responded to the re-port, but a spokeswomansaid Friday that they haveno plans to begin subsidiz-ing the network and remainconfident in its long-termsuccess.
The city and theoperatorof the network, DecoBike,plan to add kiosks in manyareas and will provide de-tails about those plans thissummer, said the spokes-woman,KatieKeach.
A Metropolitan TransitSystem spokesman said theagency has been highly co-operative with DecoBike,noting that it’s impossible toinstallbike-sharingkiosks inmost trolley stations be-cause they are toonarrow.
The spokesman, RobSchupp, said the transit sys-tem has a marketing part-nership with DecoBike andagreed to allow a kiosk in ahighly visible areaof the cru-cial Old Town Trolley sta-tion, butDecoBikedeclined.
Schupp also noted thathundreds of DecoBike bicy-clesareavailablewithineasywalking distance of trolleyand bus stations downtown,despite not being located di-rectly inside the stations.
Leaders in beach com-munities haven’t softenedtheir stance that DecoBikehas damaged aesthetics byplacing kiosks on board-walks, and that the networkis threatening small bicycleshops that offer rentals.
A large group of thoseleaders plans to lobby theCity Council during a meet-ingscheduled forTuesdaytorelocate or remove manybeacharea stations.
The grand jury reportsays the city must try tosway suchpublic opinion.
“City leaders need to re-mindpeople in thebeachcommunities that bi-cycling is an important21st century trans-portationmode that re-places car trips and re-lieves traffic congestion,thus improving air qualityandpublichealth, andthatbike sharing is an estab-lished transportation op-tion in more than 800 citiesworldwide,” the report says.
San Diego’s climate ac-tion plan, which is legallybinding, requires the num-ber of people bicycling towork in the city’s denselypopulatedneighborhoods toincrease from about 2 per-cent to6percentby2020andthen to 18percentby 2035.
With that in mind, the
City Council unanimouslyapproved in late June a planto transform many vehiclelanes and some on-streetparking in downtown intomiles of protected cyclinglanes.
But the city’s climategoals are threatened, the re-port says, in the short termby city officials and beachcommunity leaders, and inthe long term by the transitsystem.
Bike-sharing programstypically rely financiallymore on tourists initially,and can then focusmoreon sites that will getcommuters out of carsby providing an alter-nate mode of trans-portation, the reportsays.
Stats from Deco-Bike’s first year, whichended in February, sup-port that.Members of thenetwork, who pay lessthan casual users in-cluding tourists, madeup 23 percent of cus-tomers, while casualusers were 77 per-cent.
The report saysthe city has resistedrelocation of somepoorly performingstations in down-town, has objected toadditional kiosks inBalboa Park and hasallowedLaJolla toblockinstallation of any sta-tions based onaesthetic con-cerns.
Keach,the cityspokes-woman,declined
to address those issues spe-cifically.
“The city’s bike-sharingprogram is still in its infancy,having launched in January2015, and remains a work inprogress as 95 of the 180 pro-posed stations have been in-stalled,” Keach said. “As wecontinue toaddstationsandbuild a more complete net-work, the city remains confi-
dent that more SanDiegans and visitorswill take advantageof the program forboth recreationaland commute pur-poses.”
In a bike-shar-ing network, peoplepay a fee to rent abike at one station
and can then drop it off any-where along the network. Sothe larger the network, themore functional it is.
The report also criticizesthe transit system for resist-ing kiosks at trolley and busstations.
Bike sharing is key tolong-term efforts to reducecarbon emissions becauserental bikes can fill smallgaps in the transportationnetwork known as the “lastmile” problem, which en-courages more people tochoose cycling and masstransit over cars.
The report focusedparticularly on the OldTown station, a transfer hubin the trolley system.
“The Old Town TransitCenter is another ideal loca-tion that MTS has repeat-edly rejected,” the reportsays.
Schupp, the transit sys-tem spokesman, disputedthat.
“We fully support placingtheirstationsatour facilitieswhere they will not pose asafety concern,” he said.“At Old Town, we metwith DecoBike acouple of timesand designateda spot forthem at thecorner ofTaylor andCon-gress, ahighly
visible corner.”The report also suggests
the city should appoint ordesignate one prominent of-ficial to be the single point ofcontact on bike sharing andrefercommunicationsabouttheprogramto that official.
“When residents com-plaintotheirelectedofficialsabout the presence of bike-sharing stations, they re-ceive inconsistent respons-es,” the report says. “One of-ficialmay tell them to talk toDecoBike, another to con-tact theTransportation andStormwaterDepartment.”
Keach indicated Fridaythat the city wouldn’t bemaking sucha change.
“Transportation andStormWater will remain theimplementing department,withgreaterassistance fromthe communications direc-tor and assistant chief op-erating officer,” she said.
Responses to the reportfrom the city and the transitsystemaredueAug. 29.
On subsidies, Keach saidthere arenoplans toprovide
them. Some argue that sub-sidies would allowDecoBiketo be less aggressive abouttargetinghigh-traffic touristareas.
Bike-sharing programsin northern cities, such asMinneapolis, are seasonaland require financial help.
In contrast, San Diego’smild climate allows year-round opportunities forstrong revenue. The reportsays DecoBike has success-fully run an unsubsidizedbike-sharing network inMi-ami, another citywith amildclimate.
Kayla Race, director ofoperations and programsfor the nonprofit ClimateAction Campaign, said thenetwork’s success is crucial.
“In order to protect ourquality of life from the im-pacts of climate change, andin order for the city to com-ply with its climate plan, it’simperative we provide realtransportation alternativesfor folks to get out of theircars and still get to wheretheyneed togo,” she said.
For information aboutthe program, visit deco-bikesd.com.
(619) 269-8906
SAN DIEGOLocal residents and peo-
ple around the world arenow a few clicks away fromknowing where police andfirefighters have respondedtoemergencies inSanDiego,which city parking metersbring in the most cash andwhere tap water tests haveraisedhealth concerns.
The city this monthposted 44 datasets on itswebsite that include those,along with where solar pan-elsarebeing installed, the lo-cations of city-approvedspecial events and manyothers.
City officials posted thedata sets—and plan to postroughly 70 more over thenext four years—aspartof anew“opendata”policytoen-courage innovation andanalysis that could lead toefficiencies.
“The portal will give appdevelopers, software engi-neers and the public the op-portunity to use this data ininnovative ways that wehaven’t even dreamed ofyet,”MayorKevinFaulconersaid.
Two other goals of thepolicy, which has bipartisansupport, are increasing gov-ernment transparency andallowing residents to knowmore about what’s going onin their neighborhood andcitywide.
Other posted data
sets include leases of city-owned properties, street-sweeping schedules, cam-paign donations, codeviolations and typical trafficvolumesonmany streets.
The goal isn’t to encour-age voyeurism but to poten-tially make life in San Diegoeasier, more convenient andsimpler, said Maksim Pech-erskiy, the city’s chief dataofficer.
“It’s digital informationthat translates to the realworld,” said Pecherskiy, sin-gling out parking-meterdata as particularly useful.“I already know someonewho is using this to figureout where the best spot topark isaroundherbuilding.”
And that data could alsohave wide applications ifsoftware or app developersexplore it, he said.
“We’re trying to targetsoftwaredevelopersthatwillwant to apply a machine-learning model to predictwhenaparkingmeterwill beavailable on July 15th or July18th inacertainneighbor-hood,” Pecherskiysaid.
Making thedata easilyaccessiblewill also al-low city offi-cials, com-
munity leadersandordinaryresidents to make strongercases when lobbying for newpolicies orprograms.
City officials or outsiderscanalso spot trends, suchaswhether more homeownersare installing solar panels incoastal areas versus inlandareas or in poor areas versuswealthy areas.
Datasetsofparticular in-terest to residents will prob-ably be the locations ofemergency calls, details onupcoming special events,and tap water tests, Pecher-skiy said.
Knowing when andwhere streets will be closedfor events like the Rock ’n’Roll Marathon and weeklyfarmers markets can helppeople choosedifferent trav-el routes or plan to attendthose events.
The city tests drinkingwater quality at 85 sites perweek forE. coli and coliform,and the results will be con-tinually updatedon the site.
Unlike other cities, SanDiego will
auto-
matically update themajor-ityofthedatasets,givingthepublic reliable, up-to-dateinformation in an easy-to-use format, Pecherskiy said.
Data sets are broken upinto smaller files and can bedownloaded in commondigital file formats that areeasy toworkwith, he said.
“Typically, agencies tossup a bunch of data on a por-tal and call it a day, buttransparency means a lotmore to us than that,” Pech-erskiy said. “Our team tookthe time to understand thedata, explain the data andsimplify thedataavailable inthis portal so that you don’tneed to be a computerprogrammer to view it, ana-lyze it or buildwith it.”
Residents can also usethe data to help keep localstreetscleanbymovingtheircar on days their street willbe swept.
Only 9 percent of citystreets have parking restric-tions for street sweeping,but all other streets also getswept. The process is justless effective, becauseparked cars make sweepingharder.
The volume of data thecity controls is striking,Pecherskiy said, noting thatSan Diego has more than10,000 employees and a $3billionannual budget.
“The concept of opendata is opening that in-formationup to thepub-lic,” he said. “I thinktransparency is some-thing people really ex-
pect these days,and it’s a pretty
powerful thing.”Sensitive and private in-
formation, such as thehealth records and social se-curity numbers of residentsor city employees, aren’t in-cluded in thedata sets.
“Putting other people’sinformation out in public issomething we are very care-fully making sure we avoid,”Pecherskiy said.
Some studies have pre-dicted thatopendata,whichhas been gaining momen-tum since the concept wasfirst suggestedmore than 10years ago, has the potentialto unlock trillions ineconomic value worldwidewith innovationandefficien-cies.
Councilman MarkKersey said San Diego, thefirst government agency inthe region to adopt an opendata policy, is setting astrong example for others.
“The quality of SanDiego’s open data portal isunmatched,” he said. “Notonlywill softwaredevelopersand the general public haveaccess to unique data setsand formats, but our owncity employeeswill beable touse it to make our govern-ment smarter andmore effi-cient,” he said.
The data sets can be ac-cessedatdata.sandiego.gov.
[email protected](619) 269-8906@UTDavidGarrick
PATIENT FIGHTS THREATEN LICENSEIncidents at dementia facility reflect largerchallenges with memory care centersBY PAUL SISSON
MORE ON MEMORY CARE CENTERSSD1 • A raft of laws might improve conditions for
residents; also, what you can do to advocate for patients.
“They very obviously could not control her, or theresidents around her, to adequately protect her— even with the use of medications.” Natalie Holm • attorney fornieces of woman killed at Elmcroft of La Mesa
S.D. POSTS EMERGENCY CALLS, OTHER KEY DATA
Not many years ago, theidea of defeating the resil-ient virus that causes AIDSwas far-fetched. But as18,000 people gather thiscoming week in Durban,South Africa, for the 21stInternational AIDS Confer-ence, the prospect of a cureis plausible enough that it isattracting increasingamountsofmoney, scientificresearchandattention.
Discussion of a cure willlead off the conference,whichcomeslittlemorethanamonthafter theUnitedNa-tions committed to action toend the AIDS epidemic by2030, despite formidable ob-stacles.Leadersof theglobalbattle against HIV have de-scribed 2016 as apivotal yearin their effort.
“Achieving such a cure isone of the great scientificchallenges ever undertak-en,” Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, one of thediscoverers of the virus, toldreporters in a news briefing.“Our challenge is to take thescience forward.”
Worldwide funding for re-search on a cure rose to$201.8 million in 2015, up 25percent over the previousyear and more than doublethe $88.1 million spent in2012, two years after theInternational AIDS Societylaunched a program toachieve a cure. The vastma-jority of the money comesfrom governments aroundthe world. On Wednesday,the National Institutes ofHealth awarded $30 millionannually for the next fiveyears to six U.S. researchcenters working toward acure.
Also scheduled for thisfall is a large-scale clinicaltrial of an HIV vaccine,which will be conducted inSouth Africa and co-fundedbyNIH.
“The two greatest chal-lenges remaining in HIV/AIDS research are finding acure and developing a safeand effective preventive vac-cine,” said Anthony Fauci,director of the National In-stitute of Allergy and Infec-tious Diseases, which isleading the vaccine trial.
Researchscheduledtobepresented at the AIDS con-ference includes severalstrategies for a cure, includ-ing gene editing and stem-cell therapy. The positivelong-term impact of anti-retroviral therapy also willbediscussed.
Transplanting stem cellsfrom a donor known to beimmune toHIV is expensiveand risky. This techniquewas used on a patient whowas being treated for acutemyeloid leukemia and is notpractical for other people.But it did produce the onerecognized cure in the his-tory of the disease, accord-ing to a preview of the Inter-national AIDS Society’s up-dated scientific strategy fora cure, which was publishedonlineMonday inthe journalNature Medicine. The hur-dles to a cure include theadaptability and persist-ence of the virus. It tookdecades to turn HIV from adeath sentence into achronic, manageable dis-ease through antiretroviraltherapy, and few are willingtopredictwhenacuremight
be feasible.
AIDS CURENO LONGERBEYONDIMAGINATIONS. Africa conferencedraws attention togains against virusTHEWASHINGTON POST
City officials hopeto spur innovationBY DAVID GARRICK
GRAND JURY: BIKE-SHARING SYSTEM NEEDS HELPProgram strugglingto attract users, getnew kiosks approvedBY DAVID GARRICK
Peter Belich and Berta Garvey of Mount Shasta rentDecoBikes in Pacific Beach. In DecoBike’s first year,77 percent of renters were casual users like tourists.
MISAEL VIRGEN U-T
