DSA ACC Member, Richard Skaff

The Division of the State Architect (DSA) is pleased to announce this charter member of the Access Code Collaborative (ACC). The following individual was selected for a specific constituency category, to ensure all stakeholder perspectives are considered in the collaboration efforts of the ACC. While each member has been selected for a specific constituency category, many members identify with more than one constituency group, which contributes to enhanced collaboration among the group.

Photo of Richard Skaff

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Skaff was selected to represent individuals with disabilities. Until July 16, 1978, Richard had been the General Manager (with almost 200 employees) of a major San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf Restaurant, the Franciscan Restaurant.

While trimming a tree that was blocking the view of the San Francisco Bay from their home in Mill Valley, the branch Richard was standing on broke and he fell 35 feet and became a T12/L1 paraplegic, who uses a manual wheelchair for mobility.  Up until the moment the fall happened, Richard had never considered the concept of physical access in the built environment for people with physical disabilities.  He wasn't opposed to it, he just hadn't considered it.

In late 1978, Richard and a group of individuals with disabilities living in Marin County, met and talked about the many physical and psychological barriers people with disabilities experience daily.  The group eventually decided that Marin County needed a disability rights advocacy organization run for and by people with disabilities, much like the Center for Independent Living, in Berkeley.  Richard became the first Board President and then the first Executive Director of the Marin Center for Independent Living (MCIL) and successfully applied for and received  a $150K first year grant from the San Francisco  Foundation (Managing the Buck Trust) to help with the purchase of the  building that MCIL presently calls home.

During that time, Richard successfully ran for a position on the Corte Madera Town Council and spent 4 years on the Council, with one year as Mayor.  During his tenure with the Town, Richard realized that a number of Marin towns and Cities within the Ross Valley had no Paramedic services. Richard created a public advocacy effort and was successful in getting the proposed paramedic service on the County ballot.  The ballot measure passed with a 98% positive vote.  He then again approached the staff at the San Francisco Foundation and requested and received a grant for $150K to pay for the first ambulance for the Ross Valley Paramedic program.

During his tenure as Mayor and Councilmember in Corte Madera, he was appointed as Chair of the County-wide 55 member Mayor's and Councilmember organization and also sat on the Marin County Transit District during his tenure on the Council.

Richard successfully created and managed three new positions within the City of San Francisco.  In 1989, he was hired by the City of San Francisco as its first Chief Building Inspector, responsible for accessibility in the built environment.  In that position, he assured that all City projects and privately owned building projects met the California Building Code, Title 24, the section of State Building Code that defines physical accessibility in the built environment.  He was also given the responsibility to train the City's Bureau of Building Inspection plan review/site inspection staff as well as the City's architects, engineers, and Project Managers.

In 1991, after the Americans with Disabilities became "the law of the land", the Director of Public Works asked Richard to become that Department's Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator (with oversight of 13 City Bureaus, including the Bureau of Building Inspection).  During his time with the Public Works Department, Richard crested the City's first formal curb ramp installation program.  He was also asked to serve on three of the U S. Access Board's Advisory Committees, including the Vessel Access Committee (creating national access standards for vessels from 35-foot charter fishing boats to 500 foot cruise ships), Recreation Advisory Committee (creating national access standards for all types of recreation settings), and the Public Right-of-Way Advisory Committee (creating national standards for access within the public rights-of-way).  While with the Department of Public Works, Richard worked with the French Company, Decaux, to assure that all of the sidewalk toilets being installed in San Francisco by that company were accessible.  He also oversaw the design and construction of the San Francisco Giants new baseball park, at that time, called PacBell Park.  It became the most accessible ballpark in the Country.  Anyone sitting in a wheelchair in wheelchair accessible seating location in most sports venues, unlike the Giants stadium, won't be able to see the field because people standing in front of them block their view.  At the Giants Stadium, when fans that are seated in front of a wheelchair user sitting in a wheelchair accessible seating location stand up, the person sitting in the wheelchair seating location continues to have an unobstructed view the field.  Their line of site isn't obstructed.

He remained in the position with Public Works until 1998, when Mayor Willie Brown asked Richard to open the City's Mayor's Office on Disability (MOD).  Richard helped create and open MOD in 1998 as the Deputy Director.  In that position, Richard was responsible for assuring that all of the City's public programs and all City buildings and facilities met the most restrictive requirements of both California Building Code, Title 24, and the Americans with Disabilities Act Standards.  During his time as the Deputy Director of MOD, Richard worked with a number of individuals with disabilities to create the first San Francisco sailing program specifically designed to teach individuals with disabilities how to sail and successfully negotiated free sailboat berths at San Francisco's South Beach Yacht Harbor located at Pier 50.  That organization, the Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors, is still, to this day, successfully teaching people with disabilities how to sail, something many thought would be impossible!

Richard retired from the City of San Francisco in 2004, 15 years to the day that he had been first hired in 1989.

Since his retirement from the City of San Francisco, Richard continues in his efforts to assure that the built environment is accessible for everyone, including people with disabilities.  When he retired, his former boss, the retired Public Works Deputy Director/Deputy City Engineer helped Richard create the non-profit organization he continues to successfully oversee, Designing Accessible Communities.