<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Thank you for the update. It gives me enough time to be ready to be in person on September 30. I sure appreciate the advance notice.<br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr">Have a great day, Ileen Gallegos</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Sep 10, 2025, at 8:40\u202fPM, Tim Keenan via Colorado-Talk <colorado-talk@nfbnet.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr">\ufeff<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style>@font-face { font-family: "Cambria Math"; }
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Hi, all,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I wanted to post this while it\u2019s fresh in my mind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Before the Committee could even vote on the Board\u2019s motion with the $2.50 fare and unrestricted area, Director Harwick amended it with a new proposal which he called a compromise:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">A $6.50 fare with no area restrictions but with hourly restrictions, which would allow multi-stop trips.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I\u2019m not sure how going from $2.50 to $6.50 can be defined as a compromise, but I digress.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">This proposal passed, 5-1, so that\u2019s what will be recommended to the Board on September 30. Director O\u2019Keefe was the lone no vote.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I should note that Director Buzek wasn\u2019t there, and he has always been a supporter of keeping the program as-is as much as possible.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Also, several directors who have been supportive of our positions are not on this committee. The original staff recommendation with the $6.50 fare and area/hourly restrictions passed this committee 5-2 back in July, yet the full Board significantly amended that proposal.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">So, this is a setback, but there is every reason to believe we can convince the full Board to amend this recommendation as well. One reason for my guarded optimism is that Director Nicholson advocated for a $1.50 fare for LIIV program recipients. He ultimately withdrew his amendment when Deborah Johnson pointed out that LIIV fares are typically 50% of the regular fare, and this would make the Access on Demand fare significantly lower than the Access-a-Ride fare.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">However, the solution seems simple. Make the AOD fare $4.50, and the LIIV fare by definition would be $2.25, not much more than the $1.50 he was advocating for. So, I think we really need to push that and that it should make sense to the Board.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">What I do not understand is the Committee\u2019s apparent willingness to accept staff delineating the cost of wheelchair accessible vehicles as part of AOD without accounting for this by lowering the Access-a-Ride budget. So, they\u2019re accounting for this money in two places, which is certainly not an accepted accounting practice and appears solely designed to make the AOD program seem more expensive.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Committee members were also silent on the inclusion of cutting bus routes in the memo, which was slammed by a few public commenters, including our Maureen, as almost a threat.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">We even got admonished by Director O\u2019Keefe to only attribute the best of motives to what people are doing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">So, bottom line, we still have more work to do on September 30. Dr. Folska hit the nail right on the head when she commented how stressful it is for us to constantly be fighting to protect this program that has done so much for so many so efficiently.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">But we\u2019re gonna have to go back to the ring for one more round. Directors, particularly Harwick and Nicholson, seem determined to move this forward. They comfort themselves by saying that they can review it in a year and make any needed changes, seemingly oblivious to the fact that a year is a very long time if you suddenly can\u2019t use a service you\u2019ve come to depend on. That\u2019s exactly what\u2019s going to happen to me if Harwick\u2019s proposal is adopted, since I work a lot of overnight shifts at Amazon, which means my rides either two or from, depending on the shift, will not fall within the AOD service hours.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">So, please, let\u2019s have all hands on deck at the September 30 meeting. Apparently, we\u2019re not getting through sufficiently, so we\u2019ll have to raise our voices again, loudly and proudly, as we always do.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">We\u2019ll have more specific info on the September 30 meeting in the next couple weeks.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Thanks for all you do!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">-Tim<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Colorado-Talk mailing list</span><br><span>Colorado-Talk@nfbnet.org</span><br><span>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org</span><br><span>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Colorado-Talk:</span><br><span>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org/ileenshere%40gmail.com</span><br><span>List archives can be found at <http://www.nfbnet.org/pipermail/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org></span><br></div></blockquote></body></html>