[NFBV-Potomac-Announce] July 2023 Potomac Chapter Minutes

[John Halverson]

Hello,

Please find attached and below the Minutes for the July 2023 Potomac NFB Chapter Meeting.

John Halverson, Corresponding Secretary

July 12, 2023 PCNFB Minutes

Our in-person meeting at St. George's Church, Arlington, VA, was called to order by President  Sandy Halverson at 7:10 pm. Initially ten people were present, but two more joined  the meeting later.
We went around the room and each person said what their favorite part of the national convention was. Also, Mitch Ford, one of our national scholarship winners, related his experiences as part of a group that was denied service by Uber in Houston on the first night of convention. He said it was complicated, and took several hours to resolve. He left at around 1 a.m., and things still were not resolved. Uber eventually found the policy stating that service dogs must be allowed in vehicles, and law enforcement was called and they were not sure how to respond at first either. Mitch said it was certainly interesting, but not fun. The driver was fired, and Uber is in dialog with NFB about this persistent problem.
John Halverson followed with a philosophy discussion. John posed the question of why should our rights concerning service animals go beyond drivers' religious beliefs or claims of allergies to dogs. It was noted that the Supreme Court has recently sided with businesses that they don't have to serve customers in situations where it is against their religious beliefs. Further, someone wondered how long it would be before people with disabilities could be denied services due to religious beliefs. It was pointed out that all drivers must sign a contract saying they will carry service animals. But it was pointed out that a small minority of handlers do not keep their dogs well-groomed.
Following the philosophy discussion, both the minutes of June 14 and the Treasurer's report were accepted. For the period June 14-July 12, 2023 the General fund beginning balance was $768.68, with the ending balance being $632.35. The Youth Fund had a beginning balance of $0, and an ending balance of $1,000 due to a  $1,000 deposit of a Kiwanis check that was thought lost but later found and deposited on June 23.
John will present to the Kiwanis on July 26.

We discussed the Museum of the Blind People's Movement. Tracy said there were three major questions people were most concerned about from our May 13th state board meeting: Will the Museum positively impact the NFB, and will people show up? A second question concerned whose thinking about the exhibits and what will be contained in the exhibits. A third question is whether our affiliate can afford to make a $50,000 investment. Tracy reminded us that the target audience was the general public, and the goal of the museum is to change the public perceptions of the blind and what we can accomplish. The affiliate board will vote on the project at its August 5th meeting.
We discussed our upcoming state convention to be held at the Doubletree in Williamsburg from November 2-5. We need to think about transportation options and presentation ideas. Agenda ideas can be sent to Tracy via email. Some ideas mentioned so far included home management items not usually talked about, for example staging your home for selling, or ways to fix things. Our suit pertaining to blind prisoners in Virginia. Issues for blind parents, parenting, parental rights, first aid, or grandparenting.
Sandy discussed having a chapter get-together in late August for long-time and new members of the chapter. We would listen to a banquet speech with discussion afterwards, followed by social time to make new friends. More details to come.
Leroy talked about the accessible pedestrian survey.
He told us that there is a new Director of Transportation in Arlington. She has expressed interest in meeting with us. He's not sure if she's interested in the history of of the pedestrian signals, or if she wants to look ahead. The County seems to be moving toward percussive signals which have no audible announcements which most of the 52 survey respondents do not want.
The meeting was adjourned at 9  pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Patty Droppers on behalf of Julie McGinnity

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