CHICAGO CHAPTER MINUTES September 10, 2011 Exchequer Pub and Restaurant 226 S. Wabash, Chicago CALL TO ORDER Chicago Chapter President David Meyer called the meeting to order at 1:02 P.M. following the fall membership tea. The meeting began with a moment of silence in recognition of the tenth anniversary of the September 11 tragedy, and Pam Gillmore led the singing of "God Bless America." Thirty-four people were in attendance, including first-timer Bennette McHerron. PROGRAM Cara Levinson, ADA compliance officer with the Chicago Transit Authority, spoke about access for people with disabilities on the buses and subways. The CTA hopes to extend service and create more elevator-equipped stations. The Infrastructure Accessibility Task Force is identifying stations that should be made accessible. CTA also hopes to get dynamic signage that will be integrated with an audio announcement system. Cara urged everyone to write to feedback@transitchicago.com or call 1-8 8 8-9 6 8-7 2 8 2 (your CTA) with compliments and complaints. SECRETARY's MINUTES The minutes from the meeting of August 13 were approved as submitted. TREASURER's REPORT There was no official treasurer's report, as the quarterly report was given in August. The treasury currently has a balance of $5,944. We have about $3,800 in expenses coming up, including payment to the Van Galder Bus Company. Fortunately other funds are due to come in, offsetting some of the expenses. Treasurer Steve Hastalis thanked all of the people who work to raise funds. PRESIDENTIAL RELEASE NFB President Marc Maurer presented state-by-state statistics on attendance at the 2011 national convention. In addition to the numerical count of attendees from the top ten states, he listed the top ten states by percentage of their population who attended. Maryland was Number 1 with .468 percent of the population at convention. Registration for the 2011-2012 Braille Readers Are Leaders contest opens on October 1. The reading period extends from November 1, 2011, to January 4, 2012. To register, visit www.nfb.org/bral. Contact Natalie Shaheen with questions at 410-659-9314, Extension 2293 or email braillereadersareleaders@nfb.org. Mike Hingson's new book, Thunder Dog, describes his experiences escaping the World Trade Center with his guide dog. Jim Gashel played an excerpt from the book on BLIO. October is Meet-the-Blind Month, a nationwide effort to spread awareness about blindness. Dr. Maurer urged chapters to plan Meet-the-Blind activities. Melissa Kobelinski is this year's coordinator at the national office. The NFB and the Maryland Department of Disabilities Technology Assistance will present the second annual Web Accessibility Training Day on September 19. There will be speakers from eBay, the World Wide Web Consortium W3C, Adobe, and many other organizations. Dr. Maurer recently went to California to talk with senior staff members of the Google Corporation about access to Google products and services. Dr. Maurer received the Paul G. Herd Award from the American Bar Association for helping bring accessibility to blind lawyers. Dan Goldstein also received an award. John Paré and Fred Schroeder recently attended a meeting in Japan on quiet cars. Efforts are underway to pass a UN resolution on this topic. STATE REPORT President Patti Chang announced that we need fifteen more reservations for Oktoberfest to make a go of it. Because not enough people made reservations, Oktoberfest has been canceled. All of the speakers for the NFBI convention have been confirmed. We will have nine or ten families present, which is a very good number for a convention outside the Chicago area. Convention pre-registrations must be mailed to Kelly Doty. We are going to begin a guide dog committee in Illinois. Anyone interested should contact Patti Chang. Joe Monti announced that he had extra gift certificates to sell on the spot. Patti asked for volunteers to take two-hour shifts in Kids Camp between 8:30 and 5:30 P.M. Greg Rosenberg, Dave Meyer, Bart Hickey, Debbie Pittman, Veronica Chavez, Jessica Lopez, and Bill and Roberta Reif will work in Kids Camp. Resolutions must be submitted to George Villa by September 26. CHAPTER DOOR PRIZES AT CONVENTION Denise Avant will donate three door prizes to be given in the name of the Chicago Chapter. Greg Rosenberg also has four donations. IABS IDOL The theme for this year's Battle of the Chapters at IABS Idol is musicals. The Chicago Chapter voted to perform "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better." Glenn Moore, Gina Falvo, Anthony Thomas, Denise Avant, Pam Gillmore, Debbie Stein, Patti Chang, Greg Rosenberg, Mary Grunwald, and Vandana Chaudhry volunteered to sing. OLD BUSINESS The October chapter meeting will be held on October 15 at 1 P.M. at Exchequer. Kelly Doty will have tickets for Games Night, which sell for $25. Games Night will be held from 5 to 9 P.M. on November 5. The chapter voted that tickets must be purchased by October 22. Dave Meyer, Pam Gillmore, Bruce Paul, and Howard Wilson will staff a table at the Wright College Health Fair on September 22. Ken Staley thanked George and Linda Villa for delivering candy for the fall candy sale. NEW BUSINESS Anthony Thomas reported that he just passed his twenty-fifth anniversary as an assistant public defender. Roberta Glickman celebrates more than twelve years with her kidney transplant. Horizons for the Blind will hold an open house on October 18 at their new headquarters at 125 Eric Street, A-103, Crystal Lake. Gina Falvo has been having trouble with her ears since convention and asked for everyone's thoughts and prayers. Hap Holly and his wife celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. Anthony has a blind student in his class for the first time, and it's Chris Jeckel. Denise Avant was honored with the Imaginator of the Year Award at National Convention, and urged everyone to solicit contributions. Steve Hastalis encouraged people to buy tickets for the Van Galder Bus to convention, which will leave at 9 A.M. on October 7 from the northwest corner of Clark and Lake. People should have their money in by October 4. There are still plenty of seats available. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Debbie Stein, Secretary