[IABS-Talk] chicago minutes for december draft 2.

[David Meyer]

NFBI CHICAGO CHAPTER MINUTES

 

MEETING OF DECEMBER 14, 2019

 

President David Meyer called the meeting to order at 12:03 pm.

 

WHAT IS HAPPENING:

Ken Borst reports that he will be interviewing Gemara Watkins Brown on her
discrimination case  against one of the paratransit carriers We had 30
persons in attendance. 

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM NOVEMBER 9, 2019 CHICAGO CHAPTER MEETING:

Minutes were approved. 

 

TREASURERS REPORT:

No treasurers report this month. David asked chapter treasurer, Steve
Hastalis, an approximate  figure of what we have. As of 12/14/19, we have
$5,022.

 

PRESIDENTIAL RELEASE #489:

President Mark Riccobono says that this is the last presidential release for
2019. On December 5th,  we will open up the newly remodeled fourth floor,
Barney Street Wing, at the National Federation of  the Blind Jernigan
Institute. We are having an event for our supporters called Kindling Point
Sustained. The name is also a piece of art that is in the beautiful new
space that we have, which  includes 21 new sleeping rooms. Actually, they
are numbered from 1 to 20. Room #15 has an A and a B  because it consists of
2 interior bedrooms, a beautiful space. Soon you will be able to read about
it in the Braille Monitor. When reading about it, you will feel like it is a
place that is  home. If you are coming to our supporter event, you are going
to enjoy it. If you are going to be at  Washington Seminar, President
Riccobono encourages you to come on the tour and check it out in  February.
President Riccobono is looking forward to our donor event on December 5th
and our  National Board and Board of our tenBroek Fund also coming here to
celebrate and to plan for the  future.

The 2020 Washington Seminar Great Gathering In will be on Monday, February
10, 2020, at 5:00 pm  eastern. Everybody is encouraged to participate in a
number of activities beyond The Great  Gathering In. We are going to have a
legislative briefing and mock meeting that will also happen on  Monday,
February 10 at 2:00 pm eastern at the Holiday Inn. We will have another
congressional  reception on Tuesday, February 11. That will happen at 5:30
pm. We have got reserved a beautiful  room in the United States Senate. This
might be the best room we have ever had for a congressional  reception. You
will want to be at the congressional reception on the senate side on
February 11. Our  headquarters hotel continues to be the Holiday Inn
Washington Capitol at 550 C. Street Southwest.  The deadline to book a hotel
room is Wednesday, January 8, 2020. Our room rate applies, starting on
Friday, February 7 and goes through Thursday, February 13, so you can book a
room at the Holiday  Inn during the entire window. Our room rates are $189
per night. This rate does not include the DC  sales tax, which is currently
14.95%. You can make reservations by calling 1-877-572-6951 and
representing booking code N2F or you can visit our Washington Seminar page
at nfb.org and you will  find the link to the online form to book a hotel
room at the Holiday Inn. This is going to be  another great Washington
Seminar and you will want to be there. We need your help. We need as many
people  on the Hill as we can to push our legislative agenda forward. We all
know that next year is going  to be a short legislative window, as the
congressional, senate and the presidential race heats up.  Congress will be
spending less time in Washington than in some years. There is information on
our  website also about the cancellation policy for rooms at the Holiday
Inn, what the terms and  conditions are there, so you can check that out.

President Riccobono would also like to celebrate all of our Dream Makers
Circle participants. This  month we have one new participant. This is Lynn
Heitz from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. President  Riccobono would like to
thank all who have made the commitment and signed up to give some sort of
end-of-life gift to the NFB to have part of your legacy be the continued
work of the organized  blind movement.

Our National Board of Directors is coming into town. President Riccobono
reflected on the kind of  year that we have had int the NFB and it has very
solidly been a great year for us in this  organization. It has been a year
that has tested our staying power and our resilience. We have lost  some
strong people in our movement this year. The beauty in that, not that the
loss is easy to  overcome, but the beauty of it is the way our organization
has bounced back and new leaders are  emerging in our organization, new
individuals are taking opportunities to step up and help do the  work of our
movement. Its been so wonderful to witness new members and emerging leaders
coming to  find their voice as emerging leaders in our organization. Our
members continue to inspire with a  huge difference that gets made at the
local level and thats what makes our movement unique,  strong, powerful and
unlike anything else that is out there and that allows us to have a strong
base  from which we can operate. This year we deepened relationships across
the country. We have reflected  our organizational values in so many ways.
We have strengthened our discussions and continue to find  ways to deepen
the diversity of this organization. President Riccobono is proud of the
discussions  that we have had and the new creative ideas that have come
forward about how to continue to evolve  and strengthen our organization
while staying very core to what our unique mission is as the blind  civil
rights movement for this nation. 

We had an outstanding national convention this year. We almost broke the
all-time record. It was a  great convention. A lot of great things came out
of it and President Riccobono is anticipating our  2020 convention with a
lot of confidence that we will break our all-time attendance record better
than 3,360 people or so and that we will reach a new height in the work of
our national convention  in 2020.

We also reached out in so many new ways in many communities in getting the
word out about NFB and  the biggest news item that comes to mind is our Uno
Braille effort and its really cool to be  receiving stories of families at
this time of year going to the Target store and finding the NFB  logo in
Braille right on the store shelf. That is because of the collective work
that we are doing in  this organization, making such a great difference in
so many places. 

So we have truly had a great year. President Riccobono says it gives him a
lot of optimism for  2020, the year that he would like to call the year of
blind wisdom. We know that a lot of people  are going to designate the year
2020 as something having to do with vision. We know in the NFB that
blindness does not define us for our future. 

On this release, President Riccobono would like to give a special welcome
home to our newest  members this year. We are pleased to have you in your
first holiday season with NFB and we look  forward to sharing with you many
more Federation family events and holiday seasons.

We have had some marchers in our movement that come to mind especially this
time of year. We have  lost a few over the last month and ask you to keep
these individuals as well as everybody that  contributed to the movement
that we lost in the last year and their families in your thoughts and
prayers. In the past month, this includes Daniel Dinnisner who was a member
of our Springfield,  Massachusetts chapter. Daniel was just 27 years old.
Bill McGalnick of Connecticut the death of Kathleen  Knox, a member of our
Southwest Chapter in Connecticut. Sharon Weddington, our president in North
Carolina reports the death of James Bebbels, who was the treasurer of the
North Carolina affiliate.  He died somewhat suddenly from cancer in the last
month and, undoubtedly, you have received the  news of the death of Donald
Capps last month. Dr. Capps was a longtime leader of NFB. Last December  his
wife, Betty, died. Dr. Capps first became a member of the NFB in the early
1950s, so he served  with distinction for over 65 years and he served as a
member of our national board for better than  50 years. Many people across
the Federation have felt very significantly the death of Dr. Capps and  the
passing of the torch that his death represents. Its also worth noting that
we have published  in the December Braille Monitor about Dr. Capps and also
a reprint of an article for the season of  giving that Dr. Capps wrote a
number of years ago. 

President Riccobono stated that he is grateful to continue to have the
opportunity to serve you in  this organization. He and his family love the
opportunity that they have to get to meet so many of us  around the country.
President Riccobono would like to thank everyone who sent prayers and warm
wishes to his family this year, as they have dealt with some personal
challenges. Its because of  the strength of the Federation family that they
are able to push forward and get through personal  difficulties. 

In now somewhat long-standing tradition, at least this being the fifth year,
President Riccobono  would like to offer you holiday greetings and
blessings. Be safe. Be well. Have great and happy  holidays and lets prepare
for 2020, the Year of Blind Wisdom. 

 

All in attendance at the meeting recited the One Minute Message and the NFB
pledge. 

 

STATE PRESIDENTIAL REPORT:

Our State President Denise Avant wished us all happy holidays. As some of
you may know, we have  been talking to the city about the pilot project that
has been going on for the electric scooters  and that project ended in the
middle of October. But its been extended and, during the time of the
project, a number of us met with Karen Tamley and a number of city officials
to express our  concerns because, while we do think the electric scooters
are coming to our city on a permanent  basis, we feel like the city could do
some things in order to alleviate danger to us. So the first  thing is to
put Braille and large print with the3 name of the company and a telephone
number that  people could call because not everybody has a smartphone in the
event that a scooter is left at  your doorstep and you accidentally step on
it or trip on it. The other thing that we ask for is to  make sure that the
ap is entirely accessible for voiceover users on IOS and talkback users on
the  Android platform because that is another way that the smartphone user
could file a complaint in  case of any kind of danger. The third thing that
we ask for is to make sure that drivers or renters  of these scooters
receive proper training on how to store these things and park them, so
someone  could not hurt themselves. This is important because Denise was on
a call the other night and one  Federationist said that as she was crossing
the street, a scooter was in the middle of the  crosswalk as you step up on
the curb. Her cane was under the scooter, she fell over the top of it  and
then it proceeded to fall on top of her. She had scratches and bruises.
Fortunately, nothing  happened. While they are going to be with us, electric
scooters can pose a serious danger. Next  month, we will have someone from
one of the scooter companies, Lime, here to speak to us about the  pilot
project. So Denise would urge all to come to the Chicago Chapter meeting,
ask questions, hear  about what this company is going to be doing, We on the
national level are looking at ways that we  can advocate for things. After
all, there was a national resolution at this years convention.  There was
also a resolution passed at the state convention. So this is a serious
issue. There are  other smart share devices such as bicycles that are also
going to be part of our lives for the  future. We need to have a say so. 

The other thing that President Riccobono mentioned was that the sleeping
rooms and the quarters  down where the sleeping rooms have been remodeled at
the NFB Jernigan Institute. Denise had the  privilege to be in Baltimore
last week to be part of the unveiling process and hey are great  sleeping
rooms. They really did a great job of remodeling. Its very comfortable.
There is a living  room space where you can sit by the fire, There is a
hangout room where they have a computer in the  area. So all that is
available You can read about it in the Braille Monitor. The Braille Monitor
is  the NFB flagship publication that comes out 11 times a year on a monthly
basis and you can find out  what is going on in our organization. It really
is a great publication. People like Pam Gilmore and  Steve Hastalis can
attest to what a great publication it is. You can also submit articles.
There  was an article that Leslie Hamrick had about something she did in
regard to her music career. 

We have Braille Readers are Leaders. That contest started December 1st and
the idea is that for a  six week period, Braille readers read whatever they
want in Braille. They count these pages and  they can compete for prizes,
money like $25 or $50. Its a K through 12 categories and this year,  they
have brought back the adult category. Before this year, Illinois was
essentially running a  contest for kids, but the American Action Fund has
reassumed the responsibility for Braille Readers  are Leaders and they have
added back in a category for the adults. So Denise urges all who are new
Braille readers or if you just want to read books in Braille, to participate
in a contest. Even if  you dont win a prize, it helps you test your Braille
reading skills. 

We have 9 people who are going to the Washington Seminar. We have 2 parents,
Nellie Gamino and Liza  Jager. Then we have 2 people from the Student
Division, Ellen Bartelt and Dustin Cather. Then the  rest are from the
Chicago Chapter. We have Marilyn Green, Denise Avant, Steve Hastalis, Juliet
Walker and Marylou Grunwald. They will be representing our affiliate at
Washington Seminar.

Marilyn Green: On February 10th, you should be at the Washington Seminar.
Our legislative  initiative for this year: We are hopeful that the HR 2086
Access Technology Affordability Act is  across the finish line. It is
included in an end-of-the-year package for Congress. So we are  working very
diligently so that soon we will have a $2,000 tax credit for our access
technology, our  Braille display, our screen readers. We also have HR 873,
which is the Transformation to  Competitive Employment Act. We have had
different names over the years, but it is to phase out the  subminimum wage
clause and 14C provision. We had a new piece of legislation introduced in
the  House. It is HR 5312, which is the AIM HighAct, which is accessible
instructional material in  higher education. This will create a consortium
to create guidelines for universities when they are  developing a curriculum
for our blind students. Marilyn will give you an update at this time. On HR
2086 (Access Technology Affordability Act), we have 5 members of congress in
the house  cosponsoring. They are Rodney Davis from downstate Illinois,
Darren LaHood, Jesus Chuey Garcia,  Jan Schakowsky and our newest cosponsor
Bill Foster. On our Transformation to Competitive  Employment Act (HR 873),
we have Bill Foster (he just recently cosponsored the bill), Jesus Garcia
and Jan Schakowsky. AIM HIGH was most recently introduced. At this time, we
do not have any  Illinois cosponsors. We have 1 cosponsor for GAIN (greater
access to independence through nonvisual  access technology). We have one
cosponsor from Illinois on that bill, We expect to get more.

Denise says that while she was at the board meeting, John Pare gave a
special shoutout to Illinois  for all the work that is done to bring
cosponsors to our bills and the person most responsible for  that is Marilyn
Green. The other thing is that the city of Chicago had recently passed an
ordinance  to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and within that, they
are going to eliminate 14C  certificates over a 4 year period of time till
about 2023. So a company doing business in Chicago  will not be permitted to
pay workers with disabilities below the minimum wage. We will have a
statement on the website soon. It came out right at Thanksgiving time and we
were alerted to that.

The scholarship application for our state is now on our website at
nfbofillinois.org. You can let  blind students who are in college pursuing a
degree, either undergraduate or graduate, and  if theyre legally blind and
will be attending a school as a full-time student in the fall, they  can
apply for our state scholarship program. The applications are due to Debbie
Sein by 11:59 pm  central time on March 31st. The student will need a letter
of recommendation plus the application  and a transcript and also an essay.
Similarly on the national website, if you go to  nfb.org/scholarships, you
will find the process for the national scholarship application and the
requirements are essentially the same. Those applications are due to the
national office by 11:59  pm eastern time. One of the things that the
scholarship applicant has to do is to seek an interview  with a state
president. So thats the added requirement of the national scholarship
program. We  will be having a Midwest Spring Seminar. The dates are from
March 20 to 22. It will be at the  Holiday Inn Ohare.

We do have dates for our 2020 NFBI State Convention. The dates are from
October 30 to November 1  and the state convention will be at the Sheraton
Lisle Naperville Hotel and more information will  follow about that.

 

Our membership chair, Ed Birmingham, gave out commemorative coins to Alex
Munos Giovani Francese,  Nithiya Nishajima, and Donnie Anderson.

Denise reflected that its been a great year in the Illinois affiliate and in
the Chicago chapter.  She wanted to thank all of us. We all are active
members of the NFB. We have done much and will  continue to do much. Denise
wishes us a Merry Christmas, happy holidays and a happy, prosperous and
healthy new year. 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Nicholas Robertson, our fundraising chair, reports that we had a great start
with our read-a-thon and  money is still coming in. We have Games Night
coming up, so get your $25 into Dave Meyer or Steve  Hastalis. We will be
having pizza, salad, and soda. We have a fundraising committee meeting on
January 11 at noon before the general meeting. If there is anything anybody
wants to discuss with  Nick, his number is 641-660-2475. His work email is
nicholas.robertson2 at va.gov . His personal email is
nicholas.s.robertson at outlook.com .

Kira Obradovich, Chicago legislative committee chair says we are looking at
several wonderful  things that Mayor Lightfoot has done since taking office.
One of them being the city council has  passed an ordinance to raise the
minimum wage for people with disabilities as well as the fact that  she has
committed to making the city itself more accessible with street lights, with
stations and  other things. So we have been discussing adopting a resolution
to thank her and hopefully, to  invite her at some point in the next few
months. We are going to try to get the word out and thank  her as well as
thanking other individuals such as Karen Tamley who has advocated a great
deal on  our behalf. That was our main focus the other night at our meeting.
We will have another meeting on  Tuesday, January 7th at 7:00 pm. Bill Reif
asked is there a way that the city could step in and  confiscate scooters or
take some action to make these companies ensure that its safe for everyone.
Denise stated that we just had a pilot project and we dont know what is
happening in the City of  Chicago. The story that Denise related had
occurred in Baltimore, Maryland. We told the city that  we wanted full
accessibility so we could report to the companies. If it turns out that the
companies dont respond to us, then we need to go back to the city and have
the city do something  because when the incident over in Maryland, the city
told the individual that hey couldnt touch  the scooter, that that was going
to be the province solely of the company. Because our pilot  project here in
the city was limited to a very small corridor in the city and we have no
idea of  the results of what the pilot project revealed, whether any blind
person in the City of Chicago  reported a problem. Denise emailed
Commissioner Tamley to see if there had been any reports about  the electric
scooters during the pilot project. Second vice president, Jemal Powell says
that he  read that the city of Atlanta was confiscating scooters. 

OLD BUSINESS:

No old business.

NEW BUSINESS:

Steve stated he now serves on the Metra ADA Advisory Committee which talks
quite a bit in detail about  the acquisition of new equipment, refurbishing
existing stations to make them more accessible, etc.  If anybody has any
thoughts or concerns about rail items, you can contact Jemal, the chairman
of  the NFBI Transportation Committee, or Steve, who is vice-chair. Jemal
now serves on the Pace Bus  Fixed Route Committee. 

The meeting w

as adjourned at 1:11 pm.

Respectfully submitted: Eileen F. Truschke, Secretary, NFBI Chicago Chapter 

 

 

 

David Meyer, NFB of Illinois

Coordinator and Channel Administrator, NFB-NewsLine

Chicago Chapter President