[IABS-Talk] chicago minutes february 2020

[David Meyer]

Hello Everyone,

 

The minutes will be below my signature. If you have any additions or
corrections, please send them to me.

 

David Meyer, NFB of Illinois

Coordinator and Channel Administrator, NFB-NewsLine

Chicago Chapter President

 

NFBI CHICAGO CHAPTER MEETING

 

FEBRUARY 8, 2020

 

The meeting came to order at 1:01 pm.

In the absence of President, David Meyer, the First Vice-President, Patti
Chang, chaired the meeting.

PROGRAM:

Patti stated that we've been working pretty diligently on the dockless
scooter issue. We have several concerns as blind people, not the least of
which is that the scooters are hard to hear as they are coming at you.
They're a little bit like a quiet car except they're on the sidewalk where
they are not supposed to be. So we have been pushing for a couple of things
on the national level. There is only one scooter company that reached out to
us to find out what our concerns were and have a conversation with us. The
one that did was Lime and the gentleman that is here today is from Lime.
This will serve as our program item.

Nico Probst, a spokesperson from Lime, which was one of the ten scooter
companies that participated in the City of Chicago's previous scooter pilot.
They had reached out to our organization during the initiation of the
scooter pilot to ensure that we heard the concerns of the disabled
community. Lime wanted to reach out to the Federation to get our feedback
and also to get some ideas on how we can address some of the concerns that
have arisen. One of the most important things we did on this previous pilot
was institute Braille on all of our scooters. Lime has only 250 scooters and
there were 2500 that were allocated permits across the pilot areas. So Lime
only had one-tenth of the scooter fleet. But you may have come across ours.
Ours had Braille on them. The intention was that if anyone who is blind had
called our customer service center to report the scooter being
inappropriately parked. What we then did as a company was to go back and
trace which user improperly parked that scooter and ensure that the user is
hit with a hefty fine. 

What's going to happen in the next phase for scooters in Chicago? The City
of Chicago just announced 1 1/2 weeks ago that they will be doing a second
scooter pilot. One of the concerns that they have risen from the previous
pilot through hard analysis on the data of trips that occurred and where the
scooters were being parked was that 81% were parked correctly and that is an
unacceptable number. We obviously want 100% compliance and ensure that there
are not many issues that arise from new transportation service coming in. So
that is going to be a big focus on the City of Chicago, how to make sure
that scooters are 100% parked correctly and they're going to be leaning on
the providers to institute a whole new slew of technological advancements
and making efforts to ensure that our riders are practicing the right
behavior. We do not know what the parameters will look like and they haven't
decided where the pilot will take place, whether it will be citywide and
which companies will be allowed in.

Patti asked where Lime is with respect to the accessibility of their ap and
if they have one. Nico said that what Lime did just before the Chicago
scooter pilot took place was to make their ap fully compliant and their
website fully compliant. Patti stated that if Lime needed a letter to go to
the city, NFB would be write one because they reached out to us. Teresa
Jones asked if the pilot project is only for the city and if there was
anything for the suburbs. Nico said that Lime has been talking to several of
the suburbs about a scooter pilot. Lime's focus has been on Chicago first
and then expanding to the suburbs. Lime has an interest in Oak Park,
Evanston, Skokie, Naperville, Aurora, and those are some of the ones they
have been talking to. Teresa commented that they needed some scooter
programs in the south suburbs also, Chicago Heights, Park Forest, and
Olympia Fields. Nico states that one thing Lime wants to have is to get a
strong program going in the city of Chicago and once they have that in
Chicago, they can expand it. Lime definitely has been looking at some south
suburbs, west suburbs and north suburbs. Lime does have an interest in the
Chicagoland area, but it depends on what happens in Chicago. Jemal asked
what the advantages are for the blind community in general with the type of
scooters Lime works with. Nico says that Lime is piloting an adaptive
scooter in Oakland. The adaptive scooter has a seat on it, it has Braille on
it and there is a full training component that goes with the community
members who would like to try the scooters but would like to get an
education on how to do it first. So Lime is seeing how the test and pilot of
that go before Lime fully rolls it out, but Nico hopes that it is going to
be something that becomes nationwide as time goes on. The City of Chicago
has expressed interest in having an adaptive scooter come to the city and
they would like to open up to the broader community to ensure that it can be
used by everyone. Lime would be very interested in working with the
Federation and discuss ways that they can get community members on scooters
or trying them out, ways that we can do training together. Jemal also asked
what Lime's position would be if the city required docks. Nico said that
when we think about docks, we're open to the notion if there's a wide
availability of it and he quite frankly thinks that most cities will
struggle with wide-open availability of docks because what users find with
scooters and why they use them at such a high rate is the ease of use to
find them, get on them, go, park at their end destination and that makes it
a seamless transportation experience. Something that Lime has been doing and
evaluating with the data on in San Francisco is scooters with locks on them.
They sort of look like a bike lock and it detaches. If you're going to have
scooters that require locks, you're going to require a wide availability of
bike racks. Lime is evaluating all those results and will be looking at new
parking options. Lime has been trying to test the new components in our app
and technology to ensure that parking is better. Debbie Pittman asked what
is being done to make scooters so that people can hear them. Nico says that
Lime is evaluating a new tech right now to see if they can add some noise
alerts to them. One thing that Lime has been doing and this is something
that they have been doing in the Chicago program is giving a fleet of their
scooters to any organizations that are working with guide dogs and doing
training with those dogs to ensure that they understand the noise. The
second step is instituting some noise mechanisms replicating the work that
has been done in the electric vehicle industry and adding them to the
scooters. That will be coming relatively soon. Ken Borst commented that he
almost was hit by a scooter and his guide dog pulled Ken out of the way,
Teresa asked if Lime thought of putting in some type of chimes that will
make noise as you drive. Nico verbalized that Lime is working on the noise
notification technology. Nico also pointed out this is partially the
responsibility of Lime to ensure that our users are trained properly, but
it's also the responsibility of the city as well to help us with the
infrastructure side in this because the issues that we see a lot in terms of
scooters being improperly parked and an issue that arises especially with
the disabled tend to be in areas where the structure is dilapidated, the
sidewalks are already very narrow and so there's not a lot of space to
navigate and that's a big issue that we want to address. So what Lime does
on the parking side is very heavy education with users. Before you get on
your first ride, you go through an app education of what proper riding looks
like, where you ride the scooter, what proper parking looks like, When you
finish your trip, you actually have to take a picture of where you parked
the scooter and then there are a couple of things: 1. It nudges the user
into knowing what's good and bad parking behavior. 2. Lime has developed new
technology where they can detect if the scooter is blocking the public ride
away. It's easy technology, basically, you can tell. If it's in a wide-open
sidewalk, the user did not park it on the curbside and if it is going to
block the public ride away, and so the app will not let the user shut their
ride off and they're still getting charted until they properly remove the
scooter. The other component that Lime is working on is what they call
technology that works with parking corals; Parking corals are simple
concepts that a number of cities have started instituting. Basically they
use a car parking spot and allocate it for scooters and you can fit about 15
scooters in what would previously be car parking spots. Chapter treasurer,
Steve Hastalis, stated that in the past several years, people have carried
bikes on mass transit buses and trains. Buses have bike racks in the front.
Trains have times of day when you can or cannot carry a bicycle on board.
Steve asked if the scooter manufacturers and maybe the mass transit industry
across the country are thinking of the possibility that people might carry
scooters with them on mass transit. Nico says that Lime's system is based on
a share of mileage. The beauty of Lime's system is for end-to-end
transportation, you take it. You don't have to worry about taking it home
with you. What Lime sees with its users typically is that they're not taking
them on because the hope is that if they're using a scooter to get to the
train, they'll get to their next destination and then when they get off the
train, a scooter will be available, but Nico does notice that more private
users are utilizing them on public transportation. Nico has talked with a
number of public transit agencies who are thinking about dedicating more
infrastructures both inside the facilities and the vehicles themselves.
Patti says that we have the study results from the first pilot and she can
send them to people. There were more injuries than expected. It was a good
first pilot, but there were a lot of concerns that were raised. Patti asked
Nico if we can get information on how to reach him. Nico said he would leave
a business card. If anyone has any questions, please call him or email him.
Please do reach out if you have any specific concerns. 

 

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

Pam Gilmore reported that Ken Staley is going to be a permanent resident of
Warren Barr Pavilion. He gave up his apartment. He is looking for people to
call him and/or people to come to visit him. It's a lonely time for him. He
is at Warren Barr Pavilion, 2732 North Hampden Court, and the general phone
number for Warren Barr is 773-248-6000. Sometimes they move Ken Staley from
room to room. Right now he is in 204 bed 3; His direct phone number is
773-435-5629. Robert Hansen is in the process of purchasing his own home.
Ken Borst told us that on January 28th, he interviewed our state president,
Denise Avant for Adaptive Chicago Productions show for CAN TV and he will be
announcing next month when the dates for the interview will be aired on
Channel 19. Michal Nowicki says he is buying his own home. This is Kira
McCall's first meeting. She is new to Chicago. This is also Chris McCall's
first meeting. There were 32 folks present at the meeting. 

Patti mentioned that the Chicago Chapter dues are $5 for one year or $100
for a lifetime membership. We finally have a fully functional national
database. 

 

January 11, 2020, Chicago Chapter minutes were approved.

 

PRESIDENTIAL RELEASE #491

President Riccobono verbalized that the Washington Seminar was coming up on
Monday, February 10. We're looking forward to the Great Gathering In, the
time on the Hill, our congressional reception, and all sorts of great
things. If you are not coming to the Washington Seminar, we still need your
support to move our legislative agenda. First of all, you can keep up with
the activities of the Washington Seminar on Facebook and Twitter. You can
also tune into the part of the Gathering In on Facebook Live. You can
continue to be a strong advocate for our legislative priorities. All of
them, but especially our Washington Seminar priorities. The Access
Technology Affordability Act, the Access to Instructional Materials to
Higher Education Act and our Greater Access Independence for Nonvisual
Technology Act. You can find the fact sheets and information about those
bills on our website. 

Our NFB summer programs are recognized as being far better for young blind
people than anything else out there. Our programs are different and we have
attempted to market them all together either through our national
organization or through our affiliated training centers in Minnesota,
Colorado, and Louisiana. You can find information on that at nfb.org/summer.
You can also find a one-pager there that you can print off and give to
families. Closely related to our summer programs, our Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math education initiative continues to move forward. 

We do have a national convention coming up. Many people have already made
room reservations. Our chapters should be working with individuals who have
not yet been to the National Convention to help them understand what it is,
why it is important and how to navigate it successfully. We do have a First
Timers Guide, a document on our website that gives lots of great information
about the National Convention. In addition to introducing people to the
First Timers Guide, we do have a Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship Program. You
can find information in the Braille Monitor and on our website. Tracy
Sufrenko of Virginia is chairing the Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship Program
this year. We're looking forward to having a number of first-timers this
year at our National Convention in Houston. You can find all of our
convention information at nfb.org/convention. You should really bookmark
that and visit it often as we approach the Convention and, as registration
opens, there will be more information there.

The Braille monitor is our flagship publication. We have been publishing it
since 1957. It chronicles our history, discusses our progress, but also
publishes powerful articles that articulate and help us to shape our
philosophy, but also to raise questions about what we should be doing, what
should policy look like, where we should be going with things, and to spark
conversation about who we are and what's going on as a movement. So as we
get into 2020, we're looking to gather data from all of us about the Braille
Monitor. What do you think about it? What would you like to see it do? How
would you like to get it? How are you reading it? Do you even know about it?
We are asking members and anybody interested in the Braille Monitor to fill
out a survey. We're asking that you do it by April 1. It's a short survey.
We're looking to gather information about the Braille monitor to see how we
can continue to improve it and deliver on the high expectations and quality
content you can expect as a member of the Federation. You can take the
survey online by going to SurveyMonkey.com/R/ Braille Monitor. You can also
call in and give your answers by dialing 667-888-2454. Please complete this
survey. Please help members of the chapter complete it. It is an anonymous
survey. We want to gather as much data as possible. The more feedback from
members of the Federation, the better we can make our publications and the
Braille Monitor is our most important publication. 

The newest members of the Dream Maker's Circle this month are Chris Nussbaum
of Tawny Town, Maryland as well as Will and Patty Idington of Bethesda,
Maryland. 

There are new chapters who have joined our Preauthorized Contribution
Program (PAC) plan. NFB of Connecticut Central Connecticut Chapter, NFB of
Pennsylvania Central Eerie County Chapter and the Pennsylvania Parents of
Blind Children. 

There are a few Federation family individuals and family members that you
should keep in your thoughts and prayers. In the last month, we have lost
John Espira of the Mountains and Plains Chapter of Colorado. Also from
Colorado, we lost Ms. Margaret Williams who was president of the Grand
Valley Chapter of the NFB of Colorado, Taha Branch of the Shoreline Chapter
of the NFB of Connecticut who died in late December, also Bill Neil of
Columbia, Missouri, and Dennis Russack of Sacramento, California. Betty
Woodward who was president of our Connecticut affiliate died on February
5th. 

President Riccobono told us about the birth of Isabella Michelle Martinez,
who was born on January 16, 2020, at 11:15 pm, weighing in at 6 pounds and
11 ounces and measuring 19.5 inches long. 

 

We recited the One Minute Message. 

 

STATE REPORT:

Patti gave the state report in the absence of Denise Avant. Our next meeting
is not on March 14. That's being taken over by St. Patrick's Day. We will
meet on March 7 at Exchequer Pub at 1:00 pm. We will not meet in April. We
will return in May on May 9th and elections will occur in May. The Spring
Student Seminar will take place at the Holiday Inn O'Hare on March 20
through March 22. Patti was in Houston and she stated that our convention
hotel is awesome. The people are wonderful. The meeting rooms are all one
escalator ride down from the hotel and there are 3 floors on top of each
other. The dates are July 14 to July 19th, President Riccobono talked about
the Jernigan Fund. We also have a state fund that is called the
Chappel-Dennis fund and you can apply for assistance to the convention.
Neither of these is going to cover all your expenses, but we do want to
encourage people to go. If you want to go and you find the convention to be
a little steep for you, then please apply. If you are a first-time
conventioneer, apply to the Jernigan Fund. If not, apply to the
Chappel-Dennis Fund. If you are chosen to receive one of these funds, you
will be expected to help during the convention. On August 29, we have our
face-to-face board meeting at our convention hotel. It's the Sheraton
Lisle-Naperville in Lisle. If you wish to attend the state board meeting,
you can stay at the hotel. We will be at the hotel all day planning for next
year and planning for our convention. The state convention will be October
30, October 31 and November 1. 

 

CommitteeReports:

Local Legislation Committee: Legislative chair, Kira O'Bradovich, says that
we are going to be thanking formally and inviting both Karen Tamley, who
about a week ago was the commissioner appointed for the Mayor's Office for
people with disabilities. She is now the president of Access Living. We are
also thanking Mayor Lori Lightfoot on behalf of the work that she had
already done in less than a year. We are going to be reading you the
resolution that we would like to pass today specifically for Lori Lightfoot.
Next month we will have a resolution for Karen Tamley as well to pass. We
will be presenting them a plaque as well as inviting them to come and speak
at our May meeting. Debbie Stein read the resolution for Mayor Lightfoot.
The legislative committee recommended that we pass the resolution. The
resolution passed. 

Membership Committee: Robert Hansen, states that we're doing a good job. He
always asks Jemal what the program is. He does his fan outs. He always
encourages everyone on the committee to keep doing their fan outs.
Membership is up. We always have a good turnout. Tell people about Games
Night too, that it's $25. See Steve Hastalis about getting that money to
him. Robert puts the meeting announcement on the Illinois affiliate Facebook
page and just spread the word. Patti asked if anyone did not get a fan out
call. If you did not, we'll have to make sure we get your updated contact
information. The people who did not get a fan out call were Debbie Stein,
Pam Provost, Teresa Jones, and Sarah Luna. Text messages count as fan out
calls. 

Fundraising Committee: Nick Robertson, fundraising committee chair, reminded
us that we moved Games Night from the January meeting to the March meeting.
Our annual Beggars Pizza fundraiser will be April 22. If you have any
questions, feel free to call or text Nick at 641-660-2475. 

Patti stated that she is really excited that the committee structure has
been updated especially the Chicago legislative committee that Kira is
chairing. That is an area that we need to be in.

 

OLD BUSINESS: 

No old business.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

Debbie Pittman asked if we have considered paying for Games Night online
besides paying for At-Large membership. Patti stated that it was a little
more complicated than people think. The reason that you can do at-large
online is that that's from the state. Patti and Francisco are expecting
their grandchild any day. It is a high-risk pregnancy. They will have their
grandchild 6 to 7 weeks early. Rebecca is doing very well. 

 

The meeting adjourned at 2:15 pm.

Respectfully submitted: Eileen F. Truschke, Secretary, NFB of Illinois
Chicago Chapter.