Dearborn Commission on Disability Concerns

Ford Cultural and Performing Arts Center, Dome Room
May 20, 2004

Commissioners Present:
Cathy McAdam
Dale Swanson
Kim B. Hetrick
Claudia Damian
Dr. Cheryl Kreger
Sonya Tishler
Jane Nelson Thomas
Mary Hodak
Nancy Bower
Gary Filiak
Mona Ramouni
Susan Fitzmaurice, ADA Coordinator

Guests:
Ray Roberson
Jim Beckes

Minutes: Commissioner Dale Swanson: I move the minutes be approved with spelling corrections. Seconded Commissioner Nancy Bower, Unanimous approval.

Public Comments:
Ray Roberson said that bus stops were not being put up where construction was complete. Why?
How long would construction last?
When will the sidewalks be open?
Jim Beckes commented that the sidewalk steepness is still unacceptable - between Miller and Oakman in front of the Sunoco.
North bound Telegraph and East bound Telegraph on ramp near storage lockers have no curb cuts to cross street.
Several new bus stops have gone up that are the wrong color.
Chair McAdam, empathasized with the frustration of construction for all Michigan Ave. travelers. She asked the ADA coordinator to clarify the bus stop sign concerns Commissioner Filiak offered to view the signs as well.
It was also recommended that we revisit the area concerning curb cuts and have a report by next meeting.
(Commissioner Gary Filiak needed to leave ... 2:30)

ADA Coordinator Report:
(Comments during meeting in parenthesis.)
Building & Construction
Building in the city is underway for a number of projects.
• the City Hall bathrooms are complete
* the parking lot to the east of city hall is being changed - and accessibility has been addressed. The ramp to the Council Chambers is properly labeled as not a wheelchair ramp
* the Snow library entrance and Ford library auditorium projects were approved by purchasing so, can now move forward. The final bidding procedure will take place and construction will begin soon
* DPW is undergoing major change. The parking areas are going to be completely changed so that construction vehicles will have their own gated yard. The two buildings with office space will not be behind gates- allowing access beyond DPW work hours. Water is moving into where finance was and taking over the ADA Coordinator office and more. A new work station is being created for the ADA coordinator that will be adjacent a large conference room. I have spoken to Kurt about creating an automatic door entrance and assistive listening in this conference room and he has agreed. This is to be a large conference room and will make a good site for Commission meetings and other commission related business.
Complaints
• Bailey’s, Mason & Michigan. Sidewalk cafe obstructs any pedestrian traffic, eliminates wheelchair traffic. Received 1 year variance one year ago and up for renewal. Not currently on schedule for discussion - we will be informed when it is.
• Chelos, Michigan Ave. Parking lot & disability designated spots problematic. In discussion with manager solution was discovered and agreed to.
* Sidewalks. We continue to get complaints about specific sidewalks. I forward these complaints to the sidewalk supervisor and they are inspected and prioritized for repair. Unless a sidewalk creates a severe hazard - it is unlikely to be addressed until next Spring at this point in time.
• Many requests for help with yard help, info about moving to Dearborn with disabilities.
Communication
• New bulk email systems seems to work OK, so can be used for Enews.
• Website seems to be stable. A task that needs to be done periodically is to be sure that resource information is up-to-date. Anyone interested in tackling a page or two??? (Education was asked by the chair to continue to update resource information to pass on to Susan as the “web master” who will update the site.).
* Business cards - EVERYONE is going to get new business cards. Please send me an email with the info you want on your card - EXACTLY. I am going to look into the cost of having business cards done by the city and other places. Phone number??? Email Address??? Do we want to change the design at this point?? Dale’s design?? Another design?? ( Decided to stay with current design after a brief discussion.)
• TTYs are having problems of unknown origin. I took a TTY home and it seems to work fine at home, but does not work at work. I have a few possible problems to check - but the most obvious Paul Clink confirmed was not of issue.
• I think we need to add a comment about asking people to refrain from wearing fragrances to commission meetings. This has been a frequent issue brought up at CIL focus groups.
(Cathy will confer with Susan on this to clarify language.)
Voting
• Starting next week, every Friday from 9-4 City Clerk’s office will be doing polling place surveying. Other times/days possible. Wanted are volunteers to help. Sign up for part of a day, a full day, a few hours - whatever works for you. Sign up today.
• Surveys must be completed by June 25th. Survey equipment in my office.
(Mary has said she could help on Fridays, Sonya said she would try to help.)
Conferences
• At the Health Expo I noticed a pattern --Seniors who replied when I called out to them---I don’t need you yet. I think we need to think about a information campaign about seniors, aging, and disability - a part of growing older naturally
• At RIM I was approached by 5 vendors who had been at DAD who wanted info about this year as they hoped to attend. I was also approached by 2 vendors who knew of DAD and wanted to participate. I also received 2 phone calls after the event from vendors wanting to participate in DAD who had not previously but had learned of DAD from other vendors at RIM.
• The Abilities Expo is happening in Novi. We are cosponsoring a table with Troy and Warren. Warren will help us man the table. Warren and Troy will help us publicize it. We will have a table for 3 days. This table should be manned a good portion of each of the days, but when it is impossible - I live only 3 miles away and can check on the tables to be sure it is well-stocked with flyers.
ADA news:
• The Supreme Court decided that the state can be held to the ADA. Courthouses must be accessible. This was decided by a 5 to 4 vote - we won, but not by much. The future of the ADA hangs on who is made a Supreme Court Judge when the next Judge retires.
• Civil Rights Act of 2004. This is a movement in its infancy. The most important component of this act ( to people with disabilities) was partially help up by the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court did not go far enough. The Civil Rights Act of 2004 would give people greater rights in regard to upholding the ADA and getting damages when it is not.

Chair Cathy McAdam’s report:
Kyle Dubak from Michigan Protection and Advocacy wants to cosponsor with us a New Voting Machine Forum where people with disabilities can try out the machines from four vendors. Kyle will do all the work if we provide the location and get the word out to those we are in contact with.
Start thinking about what to include in a year-end review and annual report as we will be working on it soon.
The information requested by the mayor regarding reappointments as been forwarded to the Mayor.
The next meeting will be June 17th from 6 - 9 PM

Commissioner Dale Swanson DDAD report:
Commissioner Dale Swanson presented the attached report. A brief portion of a video called Black Light Dreams was shown by the ADA Coordinator that shows part of the show by Famous People Players.
Commissioner Kim Hetrick agreed with plan to use advertisements that make it clear this is primarily a visual presentation. Commissioner Cheryl Kreger stated the group is “absolutely fabulous.” Commissioner Mary Hodak asked how long the presentation would be and how would the Arts Council be involved? The 10 AM matinee performance would be brief and geared to children, while the evening performance would be longer and geared to adults. The Arts Council is the actual sponsor with support from the Commission. Commissioner Claudia Damian suggested we used professional closed circuit captioning. Next week there will be a meeting with Jack Raeburn for further discussion and planning.

DAD (PR) Report
Commission Meeting 5/20/2004
• Sponsors contacted
- Professional Home Health Care
- Wright & Fillipis
- Ford Mobility Motoring
- Great Lakes ADA ( pledged $500.)
• Sponsors to contact
- Rotary Foundation ( Cathy & Dale to draft a letter)
- Kiwanis (Cathy & Dale to draft a letter)
- Dearborn Schools Foundation ( Cheryl to draft letter)
• Famous People Players
- All 3 session (Morning performance, afternoon workshop, evening performance) booked.
- Meeting set for 5/26/04 with Jack Raeburn (Theatre Manager), Emmajean Woodyard, Tim Briody, Cathy McAdam, Dale Swanson, Cheryl Kreger, Kim Hetrick, and Nancy Bower.
- Education Committee to coordinate workshop
•Town Hall Meeting
- To be developed by the Education Committee
• Awards
- Banquet/ or other similar event to be developed by PR Committee
- Award nominations to be distributed by PR Committee ( Cheryl Kreger to coordinate with Dearborn Schools.)

Conference Report: Sonya Tishler
Commissioner Tishler described how much she learned and provided extensive handouts for Commissioners. The meet the legislature session did not have a big turnout, but John Conyers did attend.
Long term goals of Conyers include restoring full Medicaid funding and housing for people with disabilities. He needs our input to prioritize.
This conference was the largest attended ever - over 500 people with all sorts of disabilities from all over the US.

Committee Reports

Education: Commissioner Cheryl Kreger asked Commissioners to brain storm who might be interested in sponsoring the DAD events beyond Great Lakes ADA who had already given $500. Center for Creative Studies, Cranbrook, Meadowbrook, ARC, RCC were suggested.

Visitability: Commissioner Sonya Tishler reviewed what was accomplished at the May 4th meeting. A mission statement was worked on. A proposed name change was to Visitability and Housing. A meeting with builders is planned for July 14 from 12 -2 including lunch in Studio A.

Access: Commissioner Claudia Damian left the meeting early as the assistive listening was not working properly. See her reports at end.
Chair Cathy McAdam the previous Access meeting issues were discussed and clarified further. Everyone should read the reports provided by Claudia and send her comments and questions. The TTYs still work inconsistently and Chair McAdam recommended a follow up meeting with Paul Klink, Susan, and Claudia.

BREAK (4:05)

Strategic Plan
Using the education charter as an example we began looking at how to define short term results. There are overlaps in our work and Dr. Kreger used this example to point out the importance of clarity of each task.
After much discussion , a decision was made. Commissioner Kim Hetrick: I move to change the names of the current committees to:
Public Awareness and Education, Visitability and Housing, Communication and Awards, and Access. Dale Swanson Seconded. Unanimous approval.

Commissioner Reports

Commissioner Mary Hodak brought a petition to have an Assistance Dog stamp. She also let us know she would represent the commission at the Senior Expo.

Commissioner Mona Ramouni mentioned that a 45 minutes meeting with ACCESS was scheduled to include Commissioners Hetrick and Bower.

Commissioner Jane Thomas described new survey and auditing documents at the Wayne Center.

Commissioner Cathy McAdam described Disability Mentoring Day on October13th and the need for participants who will agree to have “job shadowers” for the day.

Adjournment: Commissioner Kim Hetrick: I move we adjourn. Seconded by
Commissioner Jane Thomas. Unanimous approval.Commissioner Claudia Damians’s

Reports follow:
April 29, 2004 Access Committee Meeting

Present: Claudia Damian, Chair; Cathy McAdam, Commission Chair; Gary Filiak and Sonya Tischler Commissioners.

From a prior list of things that still needed to be followed up on:

Cathy will follow up with Denise about the shower chair-if one was purchased.

One van has been ordered but there is no clear decision on how it will be used by the seniors/City.

Claudia followed up on the Red Notebook use by the Centennial/ Dearborn libraries.

Informational City broadcasts and emergency announcements still need to become a part of CDTV. We will ask about City Council meetings being closed captioned as an initial step.

Barrier Free Funds are available for closed captioning computer equipment and programming.

Susan will be asked to find out who do we approach: the City or the City Council and must City Council approve the captioning service, equipment
and money?

Use of closed captioning, open captioning on re-runs or interpreters in an inset?

Gary spoke with Mr. Eric Peterson about putting ADA-approved language in all contracts with all City services vendors and programs. (Kurt, Legal,
Susan and Cathy met to discuss contract language).

Gary spoke about Homecoming: a new tent configuration, more flooring for wheelchair users and vendors. Octoberfest activities will also need to
address accessibility issues.

E-mail Cheryl Kreger about announcements and commitment by the Dearborn Public Schools to make graduation ceremonies accessible to the disabled.
Education Committee should do a specific follow up.

1. Can anyone from the Commission follow up and make spot checks? Is anyone attending any local graduations?

2. Has security been trained to check parking of vehicles in HC parking only and not across curb cuts?

Gary-Parks and Recreation: The South End Neighborhood Association has gotten litigation funds ($50,000) and wants to improve three parks.

1. Lapeer: spend $40,000 to make the park wheelchair accessible and barrier free. Permanent benches, ADA picnic tables, pathways, and new jogging path.

2. Canterberry: $5,000 towards accessibility and barrier free. Accessible surface materials and smaller play ground equipment.

3. Morningside: $5,000 towards accessibility and barrier free. New surface materials and play ground equipment.

City has 43 parks. Gary and Susan took photos and marked what needs to be done at every park to make it accessible and barrier free. Also where Emergency phones are needed, accessible playground equipment, new paths and barriers need to be removed. Community parks will be focused upon first, then summer programs (27). Pools must be accessible, too. Must be new signage and water fountains($1700 each to install). Susan to keep a record of what has been accomplished and what still needs to be done.

Susan and Gary will look at the park restrooms next: doors, stalls, accessibility to.

HVA funds have been released and by 2006 voting should be accessible to all. Michigan is looking at the Vogue Automarker. Susan did a training
session. Another letter was sent to Kathleen Buda offering the Commissions help to complete the State survey. If Ms. Buda does not want our help, we want a copy of survey results. Survey results must be in by June 25, 2004. We are asking all Commissioners do spot checking at their neighborhood polling areas i.e. parking to sidewalk accessibility, building entrances to polling areas, etc. Take a digital camera or write notes of possible violations. HVA funds will not be released until the survey is completed. We are offering to train poll staffers. We can register voters at the Homecoming. Susan can find out and do training for Commissioners who will be at the Homecoming.

Cad:5/2004
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Notes by Claudia Damian, Commissioner for May 20, 2004

1 TTY/911 testing. 9 tests were done. All were successful; Call- backs and checks were all successful. 100% success rate. Mr. Paul Klink has stated that funds have been acquired for new console/tty installations. A Uniphone will be placed in the jail as soon as space can be determined and a contractor can be found.

2 We are asking all Commissioners to spot check their neighborhood polling areas i.e. parking to sidewalk accessibility, building entrances to polling areas, etc. Take a digital camera or write notes of problem areas.

3 I had an extremely difficult time trying to access the Dearborn Public Schools informational pages. I could not find the information I needed for graduation dates nor would most of their programs work with my computer programs. It was extremely frustrating to work with and I did not get the information I needed.

What are the dates for graduation at each high school? Is anyone attending any local graduations? Can anyone from the Commission follow up and make spot checks on seating of wheelchair users, use of interpreters for the deaf, security is not allowing unqualified vehicles in HC parking nor allowing cars to park across curb cuts, etc. Again, if you have a digital camera, take a photo or make some detailed notes.

Cad: 5/2004