[Nfbf-l] NFB Training center

Sat Jun 5 17:29:34 UTC 2010

Dear Jody,

I sit on the LCB for Palm Beach County and have since 1993.  If I can be of 
any help in understanding the in's and out's of the regulations that govern 
the Transportation Disadvantaged Program, let me know.
I would say that you need to get any new changes placed in the annual 
transit plan that the LCB approves and submits each year.
Martin County is not very progressive and Public Transportation is low on 
their list as most of your County Commissioners still think it is a waste of 
tax money and that all of their residents drive.
Brenda Gillis use to set on the same board and she use to have some real 
fights with the county over their regulations and with Community Coach.
She had a good one with them over bag limits.  She pointed out to them that 
as a Blind mother and going shopping with her baby in a stroller that she 
needed a hand for the stroller and one for her cane, which left the problem 
of carrying the bags and a diaper bag too.  The Driver needed to helpand her 
purse and diaper bag could not count as part of the bag limit.
I would say that you need to get your County Commissioners to find a 
deadicaided funding source for funding Public Transportation growth in the 
county, such as part of the gas taxes or a penny sales tax.
You will not grow unless you have something to do it with.  That is what it 
took here in Palm Beach County.
The County has to match the TD Trust Fund contribution and then some.  WE 
worked on our commissioners here and got them to over match the TD funds and 
open up the types of trips our TD people could get.
I also got them to adoptee a policy of "a family of one.'  This basically 
says that anyone over the age of 16 is viewed as a family of one.
this is needed by young disabled people to have the freedom to begin cutting 
the apron strings, and  gain their independence of the parents by being able 
to get work experience and learn to live on their own.  We also did not let 
them tie anything to someone else in the household being able to drive or 
own a car.  We only look at the income of the individual and not the people 
they just happen to live with.  Right now, their are federal funds to 
stimulate Public Transit and your county should be going after them.  This 
will be hard as most grants require a match from the local government.  That 
is why having a dedicated funding source is so important.  You also have to 
be careful as the "road builders" will try to hog it all or take it away 
from you, especially the property developers.
Palm Beach County has started a fixed route express from Martin county to 
Palm Beach county that runs only for commuters, which  uses a federal grant, 
but the ridership is low and I don't know if it will live long term if more 
people don't use it.  It does not run all day, but early in the morning and 
in the rush hour in the afternoon.  It is the only cross county connection 
at this time.
I also sit on the South Florida Regional Transit Authority/Tri-Rail and the 
Tri-Rail does have plans to extend up to martin and maybe even Saint Lucy 
Counties at some time in the future, but that is still some time away.

Your County needs to establish some form of fixed route services before ADA 
will come into play.  It would help if we could get some cross county 
service into Jupiter as it would begin to let people in each county cross 
that line and stimulate more service.
I know that there are over 2000 vets that live in Martin county that need to 
come down to the VA hospital in Palm Beach County.  It would help them 
allot.
I look forward to working with you to establish better cross county 
connections and generally expand the Public Transit.

David Evans, NFBF and GD Jack.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sherri" <flmom2006 at gmail.com>
To: "NFB of Florida Internet Mailing List" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 3:55 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfbf-l] NFB Training center

> Hi Jody,
>
> congratulations on getting on the LCB. Could you please tell us briefly 
> how
> transportation works in Martin county? What if you are visiting another
> county? Is there any kind of county-to-county transport? For example, if a
> person takes the train or the bus to get to Martin County, the person 
> either
> ends up in West Palm or Fort Pierce and has to depend on the kindness of a
> friend to get the rest of the way. *smile.
>
> Sherri
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jody W. Ianuzzi" <jody at thewhitehats.com>
> To: "'NFB of Florida Internet Mailing List'" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, June 04, 2010 11:22 AM
> Subject: Re: [Nfbf-l] NFB Training center
>
>
>> The transportation in Martin County is limited but it is better then it
>> was
>> a few years ago.  I put my frustration to work and I am now on the LCB/TD
>> board.  We have a meeting this Monday if anyone has any comments they 
>> want
>> me to relay, please let me know at jody at thewhitehats.com
>>
>> JODY
>>
>>
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