[nagdu] New city TLC cab policy blind to needs of disabled

Wed Dec 8 08:25:25 UTC 2010

Mark,
    Great news! Please keep us in the loop as to your class schedule!

Fraternally yours,
Marion


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark J. Cadigan" <kramc11 at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 2:16 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] New city TLC cab policy blind to needs of disabled


> lol.
> I just had the Juno walk and in home interview from the Seeing Eye. Hope I 
> get accepted to a summer class. Parents are still not thrilled about the 
> idea, but things will work out.
>
> Mark and his long white cane that doesn't mind the cold
> Hopefully I can add a dog's name there soon.
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tamara Smith-Kinney" <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 12:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] New city TLC cab policy blind to needs of disabled
>
>
>> Mark,
>>
>> Yes, but does your cold-resistant long white cane get extra bouncy and 
>> cute
>> in the cold?  /grin/
>>
>> Tami Smith-Kinney
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
>> Behalf
>> Of Mark J. Cadigan
>> Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 8:22 AM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] New city TLC cab policy blind to needs of disabled
>>
>> Peter,
>>
>> Another question is why he doesn't just get a ride from one of the cabs 
>> that
>>
>> are allowed to pick people up near the terminal. Again, we only know 
>> what's
>> in the article, and therefore should not make judgments.
>>
>> Mark and his long white cane that doesn't mind the cold.
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue2 at satx.rr.com>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 11:13 AM
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] New city TLC cab policy blind to needs of disabled
>>
>>
>>> Hello everyone,
>>>
>>>    There are blind people in their eighties who are as independent as
>>> myself that use guide dogs. I don't like the potential harm this kind of
>>> dribble can cause us.
>>>
>>> Peter Donahue
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Mark J. Cadigan" <kramc11 at gmail.com>
>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 10:09 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] New city TLC cab policy blind to needs of disabled
>>>
>>>
>>> Peter,
>>>
>>> He is a 62 year old retiree. He may have lost his vision recently and
>>> therefore not have all the skills you have, or, he could find walking 
>>> long
>>> distances difficult for some unknown reason. We don't have the entire
>>> story,
>>> so it's not our position to make judgments.
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue2 at satx.rr.com>
>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 11:02 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] New city TLC cab policy blind to needs of disabled
>>>
>>>
>>>> Good morning everyone,
>>>>
>>>>    I thought he got a guide dog to enhance his ability to travel
>>>> independently including negotiating his way from the fairy terminal to
>>>> the
>>>> cab pick-up area. Johnny and I deal with similar situations all the 
>>>> time.
>>>> It's no big deal. If you have a mobility issue that's one thing but an
>>>> able-bodied blind individual including those accompanied by guide dogs
>>>> should be able to manage such routes with little or no trouble.
>>>>
>>>> Peter Donahue
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>>> From: "Ginger Kutsch" <gingerKutsch at yahoo.com>
>>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 8:24 AM
>>>> Subject: [nagdu] New city TLC cab policy blind to needs of disabled
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> New city TLC cab policy blind to needs of disabled
>>>> Published: Sunday, December 05, 2010, 5:53 AM     Updated:
>>>> Sunday, December 05, 2010, 6:01 AM
>>>> Jeff Harrell
>>>>
>>>> <http://blog.silive.com/around_the_block_column/2010/12/new_city_
>>>> tlc_cab_policy_blind_to_needs_of_disabled.html>
>>>> http://blog.silive.com/around_the_block_column/2010/12/new_city_t
>>>> lc_cab_policy_blind_to_needs_of_disabled.html
>>>>
>>>> STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It's tough enough getting to a cab outside
>>>> the St. George Ferry Terminal with your health fully intact.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Staten Island Advance/Hilton FloresLivery cabs not under contract
>>>> with the city line up on Richmond Terrace, waiting for ferry
>>>> commuters.
>>>>
>>>> Just making your way into and out of the terminal involves
>>>> following a convoluted path filled with cones, barrel barriers
>>>> and signs telling you to go there, turn here, and oh well ... too
>>>> bad if you end up at a dead-end.
>>>>
>>>> None of the signs wishes you luck if you're disabled and have a
>>>> special arrangement with a cab company that isn't one of the
>>>> city's Chosen Four allowed to pick up and drop off commuters on
>>>> the Ferry Terminal's property anymore.
>>>>
>>>> Just ask Dana Avant.
>>>>
>>>> Dana is blind and totally dependent on his new guide dog to get
>>>> around on foot, a black Lab named Aidan he just partnered with
>>>> two weeks ago.
>>>>
>>>> When Dana needs a ride from the ferry to his apartment in Fox
>>>> Hills, the 62-year-old retired child welfare social worker calls
>>>> ahead to Grant City Car Service to be there waiting when he gets
>>>> off the boat.
>>>>
>>>> "I use Grant City all the time, and they're very nice, very
>>>> courteous," Dana says. "They say, 'Call us when you're on the
>>>> boat and we'll be waiting for you.'"
>>>>
>>>> Last Friday when Dana got off the boat, Grant City couldn't make
>>>> it.
>>>>
>>>> "They told me they were no longer allowed to come into the
>>>> terminal," Dana recalls.
>>>>
>>>> Instead, the cab sat out on Richmond Terrace - a hike, several
>>>> skips and numerous jumps from the terminal for even the heartiest
>>>> of commuters with 20/20 vision.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 0
>>>> Share  0 Comments
>>>> Staten Island Advance/Irving SilversteinDana Avant, ouside his
>>>> home in Fox Hills with his service dog. He's blind and having
>>>> trouble with taxis not being allowed on ferry termnal property.
>>>> (Staten Island Advance/Irving Silverstein)
>>>> "How in the hell am I going to know where that is if I can't
>>>> see?" Dana asks, still exasperated at the lunacy of the
>>>> situation. "I couldn't get out there if I had to ... and I had
>>>> to."
>>>>
>>>> Standing blind in a panic with Aidan by his side, Dana received
>>>> assistance from a passerby who helped him flag down a cab.
>>>>
>>>> The following Monday, Dana phoned the non-emergency 311 number to
>>>> complain. What he dialed into was a bureaucratic circle of
>>>> goofiness that made the Ferry Terminal's parking lot look like a
>>>> straight answer.
>>>>
>>>> The 311 operator told Dana to call DOT or TLC, the city's Taxi &
>>>> Limousine Commission.
>>>>
>>>> "They gave me the service number at the Ferry Terminal," Dana
>>>> says.
>>>>
>>>> Dana thanked the phone reps for playing pass the buck and called
>>>> the Ferry Terminal.
>>>>
>>>> The man who picked up assured Dana the honchos in charge were
>>>> doing everything to make the Terminal accessible for the blind,
>>>> including the installation of Braille directional signs
>>>> designated by "chirping birds." Dana was told to keep his ears
>>>> peeled for the chirping birds.
>>>>
>>>> "I never heard any chirping birds," Dana says.
>>>>
>>>> Then, the terminal guy got terminally chirpy with Dana.
>>>>
>>>> "He said, 'We have nothing to do with this. Try TLC. They're the
>>>> ones that made the ruling.'"
>>>>
>>>> Dana's snicker over going 'round and 'round for a ride home by a
>>>> cab company he deals with regularly is worth a thousand chirps.
>>>>
>>>> "I don't know what bureaucrat thought this up," Dana says.
>>>>
>>>> This, meaning, the city's contract that only allows taxis from
>>>> four companies - Clove Lakes, Island Wide, DeJoy's and Newport -
>>>> near the ferry ramp.
>>>>
>>>> All other car services, including Grant City Car Service,
>>>> Access-A-Ride Taxi and others that accommodate the disabled, are
>>>> prohibited from driving on the ferry ramp because the city's
>>>> contract forbids outside competition from picking up fares on
>>>> terminal property.
>>>>
>>>> "It's a public place," insists a lone United Cabs cabbie parked
>>>> on Richmond Terrace Tuesday afternoon waiting in vain for anybody
>>>> to hoof it out to the street through a drizzling rain looking for
>>>> a ride. "Why do you have a private contract that keeps us out?"
>>>>
>>>> Allan J. Fromberg, TLC's deputy commissioner of public
>>>> information, says the contract keeps "gypsy cabs" from converging
>>>> on people during the terminal's rush hours and transporting them
>>>> in vehicles that are unlicensed, uninsured, uninspected and
>>>> driven by cabbies who have not been drug-tested.
>>>>
>>>> "It was like the wild, wild west," Fromberg says of the taxi
>>>> free-for-all at the terminal prior to the contract.
>>>>
>>>> Since prohibiting cab companies from picking up pre-arranged
>>>> disabled passengers at a convenient spot outside the terminal
>>>> borders on the absurd, Fromberg says MTA is compiling a list of
>>>> "black car services" not stipulated in the contract that would be
>>>> allowed to pick up and drop off on the property.
>>>>
>>>> A DOT spokeswoman says those cabs, which would be marked to let
>>>> the terminal's enforcement personnel know they are "legit," will
>>>> be able to pick up and drop off passengers at a designated area
>>>> "at the former taxi drop-off/pickup ramp."
>>>>
>>>> "We're going to make sure there's a place they can do it,"
>>>> Fromberg says. "We just have to dot the I's and cross the T's. We
>>>> have an obligation to make sure that the car they hop into is
>>>> insured, inspected and safe."
>>>>
>>>> That's fine with Dana, as long as he and his guide dog don't have
>>>> to feel their way out to Richmond Terrace to hunt down a ride
>>>> home.
>>>>
>>>> "Suppose somebody has orthopedic or mobility problems," Dana
>>>> asks. "This could disenfranchise the disabled community."
>>>>
>>>> Even a blind man can see that.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
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>
>
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