[Nfb-kzoo] Meeting this friday morning

Mon Jun 18 22:37:39 UTC 2012

Sharmese,

Thanks for following up with me. I'm sorry I've not been able to put those talking points together yet. I actually had an emergency eye surgery last week and have had to be facedown to allow my retina to repair. Anyway, it should be pretty simple to put the points together. People who attend the meeting will need to try and figure out how they would express their concerns in their  own words--reading from a script will not be very engaging. I feel that it is important, though, that we are all in agreement on the three issues that we are going to discuss. I'm pretty sure we are. . 

I believe there will be several of us at the meeting from the NFB Chapter. JJ, Matt, jackie, and myself I am sure about. I ask those who are reading this note on the NFB list, please reply to all on this message and let Sharmese and I know if you'll be attending.

Sharmese, is there only going to be one person attending the transit meet from your group? I thought for sure we had a number of persons who were interested. Below is the information about the time, date and location of the meeting. This info was also in the notes that I sent out from our meeting a couple weeks ago. , 

We agreed to Attend the next Metro Transit Authority Board meeting which is on June 22nd at 8:15am. The board meetings are held at the metro building, just north of the bus/train station on Rose street. 

Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance as far as directions etc to the metro building. I look forward to seeing everyone there!
Timothy J. Paulding
217 Paisley Ct
Kalamazoo, MI  49006
(269) 598-7696
tjpaulding at gmail.com

On Jun 18, 2012, at 12:55 PM, Sharmese Anderson wrote:

> Hi Tim;
> 
> I hope that all is well with you today and that you had a blessed weekend.
> 
> As we discussed at the combined meeting to attend the next transportation public meeting.  Can you tell me the specifics, time, location etc.  Who all will be attending from NFB?
> 
> I will be out of town, but I will have someone to go and represent KCBVI.
> 
> Thanks in Advance,
> Sharmese
> 
> From: Timothy J. Paulding <tjpaulding at gmail.com>
> To: 'Sharmese Anderson' <sharmese269 at yahoo.com> 
> Sent: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 6:09 PM
> Subject: RE: KCBVI Introduction
> 
> Attached please find the notes from the meeting. I will send out a draft of the talking points soon. We have a couple weeks to perfect them.
>  
> ________________________
> Timothy J. Paulding
> 269.598.7696
> tjpaulding at gmail.com
>  
> From: Sharmese Anderson [mailto:sharmese269 at yahoo.com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 12:56 PM
> To: Timothy J. Paulding
> Subject: Re: KCBVI Introduction
>  
> Hey Tim;
>  
> I hope that all is well with you and the family today.
>  
> Thanks again, for heading up the meeting last week.  I think it went really well...huh?  With God, all things are possible. :0)
>  
> When you get the opportunity can you please send me the meeting notes so that I may forward them to our members.
>  
> Thank You in Advance,
> Sharmese D. Anderson
> Acting President, KCBVI
> (269) 873-3953
>  
> From: Timothy J. Paulding <tjpaulding at gmail.com>
> To: 'Sharmese Anderson' <sharmese269 at yahoo.com> 
> Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 2:44 PM
> Subject: RE: KCBVI Introduction
>  
> Hey hey!
>  
> Sorry it's been a little bit since we last communicated. In no way does that reflect how happy I am to hear from you and how excited I am that our groups are gonna work together. Hopefully we can be an example to our greater organizations that cooperation is the way to go!
>  
> So, we feel quite strongly about the GPS configuration as well as the inaccessibility of the transit website. I think it would be wise for our two groups to meet to discuss the issues and to come up with a plan of action. One of the things we have discussed and would like to do, is attend One or more Kalamazoo County Transportation Authority business meetings. There, we will make our presence known and hopefully get an opportunity to speak about our concerns. A lot of blind people showing up to a few meetings will hopefully get some attention. If our collective voice is not heard, we can talk to the press too.
>  
> The upcoming KCTA business meetings are on June 11, June 25, July 9, July 23, Aug 12 and Aug 27. The meetings are held at 6pm at the metro transit administration building at 530 North Rose street.
>  
> Again, I think it would be a good idea for all of us to get together beforehand and talk about our plan of action. the KZOO NFB chapter meets on the second monday of the month at 6pm at Disability Network. I think you guys meet there too, right? I'm sure a number of us would be willing to meet outside of our regular meeting times to get together with you guys. When is your next meeting? Perhaps we should all just try to schedule something outside of our regular chapter meetings? what do you think? I have access to a contact list and can call our folks when we come up with a date and time.
>  
> I look forward to hearing from you, Charmese!
> Timothy J. Paulding
> 269.598.7696
> tjpaulding at gmail.com
>  
> From: Sharmese Anderson [mailto:sharmese269 at yahoo.com] 
> Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 4:15 PM
> To: Timothy J. Paulding
> Subject: Re: KCBVI Introduction
>  
> Tim,
>  
> Wow!  Yes, I totally believe in God.  From whom all of my blessings flow!!!!
> This is definitely God....right!
>  
> You guys have really been doing some awesome things around the city.  I'm impressed.  Thank you for the compliment, we (KCBVI) are trying to make a positive difference for all of us blind folks, like you guys are doing.
>  
> We would love to meet with your group, we're very much concerned about this as well.
>  
> I will talk with the group and check their availability.  What date did you all have in mind to get together? And where?
>  
> Hopefully I will hear from Tyler as well.
>  
> I look forward to all of us getting together and taking positive action.
>  
> Please feel free to contact me via e-mail or telephone, my number is listed below.
>  
> Blessings 2 U,
>  
> Sharmese D. Anderson
> Acting President, Kalamazoo Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired (KCBVI)
> (269) 873-3953
>  
>  
> From: Timothy J. Paulding <tjpaulding at gmail.com>
> To: 'Sharmese Anderson' <sharmese269 at yahoo.com> 
> Cc: 'Tyler merren' <twmerren at gmail.com> 
> Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 9:54 PM
> Subject: RE: KCBVI Introduction
>  
>                 Sharmese!
>  
> Of course I remember you! It’s absolutely crazy timing that you should contact us at precisely the same time we are looking to connect with you and your group. I’m not sure if you believe in God, but I’m thinkin’ that this is definitely a god thing.
>  
> A number of us blind folks have been meeting for several years now and are officially called the Kalamazoo chapter of the NFB of Michigan. We have helped support Goal ball tournaments in our area as well as assisted the Public library in organizing an assistive technology upgrade. I was personally impressed with your group when I saw you at the event last October at the library. You guys have matching t-shirts, a great big banner, and seemed very put together. A little more put together than our group, I might add.
>  
> We wanted to connect with your group because we are looking to persuade the Kalamazoo County Transportation Authority to make some simple changes to the current system. Here’s the issues in short:
> 1.       The Website that metro transit maintains isn’t entirely accessible. The inaccessible parts of the website happen to be some of the most important piecesof information on the site. The bus schedules themselves are only available in a PDF format and the PDFs are created in a way that make it impossible for a screen reader to interact with.  We would like to persuade the KCTA to make the bus schedules accessible to persons who use assistive technology
> 2.       The second issue has to do with talking GPS on the busses. We have heard that the busses will soon be outfitted with GPS systems that have the capability of announcing all streets andstops while the bus is on the route. We hear that the KCTA is planning to set the GPS systems only to announce some of the streets and stops. We would like to persuade them to set the systems so that all streets are announced.
> It would be awesome if our groups could get together to discuss this further and organize a time to bring our issue to the KCTA. What do you think?  
>  
> I can be reached via  email at this address or by phone. I hope our president, Tyler Merren who is CC’d to this email introduces himself as well and can add to my summary of the issues above. So happy we connected. My phone number is below. I look forward to hearing from you.
>  
> Tim Paulding
> 269-598-7696
>  
>  
> 
> 