>> GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. I'M ANDREA PATTON. THE OPEN MEETING LAW REQUIRES THAT I NOTIFY THE PUBLIC THAT THIS MEETING IS RECORDED. THEREFORE, PLEASE BE AWARE THAT AN AUDIO AND VISUAL RECORDING IS
BEING MADE BY BOSTON CITY TV, PART OF THE CITY OF BOSTON OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS AND IS BEING BROAD CAST ON CHANNEL 26, CHANNEL 13 AND CHANNEL 962 AS WELL AS LIVE STREAMED ON YOUTUBE
WHERE A RECORDING OF THE MEETING WILL REMAIN FOR LATER VIEWING. WITH THAT I WILL HAND THE MEETING TO OUR BOARD CHAIR, JERRY BOYD. >> THANK YOU, ANDREA. THANK YOU, EVERYONE, FOR JOINING TODAY.
WE WILL START OUT WITH INTRODUCTIONS WHEN WE GET ON A BETTER IEW SO I CAN SEE EVERYONE WHO IS HERE FROM THE BOARD AND EVERYONE ELSE.
CAN WE START WITH PAULETTE? >> GOOD EVENING, PAULITY DUR DURRETT, I HAVE BEEN -- I THINK
I'M GOING INTO MY THIRD YEAR. I'M A BLACK FEMALE WITH SALT AND PEPPER HAIR AND I HAVE ON A GRAY SWEATER. >> THANK YOU SO MUCH. IF YOU COULD JUST GIVE A LITTLE
BIT OF A DESCRIPTION OF YOURSELF WHEN YOU'RE DOING YOUR INTRODUCTION THAT WILL BE HELPFUL FOR COMMUNICATION ACCESS PURPOSES. THE NEXT PERSON I SEE IS ZARI. COULD YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF,
PLEASE. >> THANK YOU. I'M ZARY AMIRHOSSEINI. I'M FROM SOUTH BOSTON, A FEMALE WITH SHORT DARK HAIR. I'M WEARING A GRAY SWEATER.
THANK YOU. >> GREAT. RICHARD, CAN YOU PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF. >> HAPPY TO. RICHARD GLOVSKY. A A MEMBER OF THE COMMISSION FOR A FEW YEARS NOW.
I HAVE A GRAY JACKET ON WHICH HOPEFULLY ACCENTS MY GRAY HAIR. I'M INTERESTED IN KIDS' MENTAL HEALTH. >> GREAT. TARA, CAN YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF, PLEASE.
>> HI, EVERYONE. I'M TARA. I AM THE BOARD SECRETARY. I AM WEARING A PINK TOP WITH GLASSES AND I USE A WHEELCHAIR. >> GREAT.
THANK YOU. OLIVIA, COULD YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF, PLEASE. >> HI, I'M OLIVIA RICHARD. I LIVE IN BRIGHTON.
I AM A WHITE FEMALE WITH CLOSE CROPPED HAIR. AND I'M CURRENTLY WEARING A CHECKERED SHIRT. >> GREAT. THANK OU. AND CARL, COULD YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF, PLEASE.
>> I'M PAUL CARON. I LIVE IN THE WEST END SECTION OF BOSTON AND I'M WEARING A BLUE TOP, SHORT GRAY HAIR AND SERVE Tall, short gray hair and served as a mental health advocate on the executive committee of .
Thank you. Great. Thank you. I will go next. My name is Gerry Boyd. I have the distinct honor and pleasure to lead this group of hard working advisory board
members that have been introduced to you tonight and it is my distinct honor pleasure. As I said, I am from West Roxbury very happily happy to represent that neighborhood as well and I am wearing a I think
it's royal blue actually the city of Boston t shirt from one of our past 88 events and you'll hear more of this year upcoming event shortly.
Have a I missed anyone from the board right now so I don't think so, Andrea, but sometimes your odds are better than mine . We've had a new member or a member join us, Elizabeth Oh, I see that.
Yes, I see Elizabeth, could you introduce yourself please? Elizabeth is confident unmuted at this time.
If not, that's OK. We'll try to make time for you to introduce yourself later. Oh, there you are, Elizabeth. OK, go ahead Elizabeth Jean Klauer from Chester.
I am a board member and I'm glad to do that crazy. And I see that was joined us as well. Where can you introduce yourself please?
Hi there everybody. This is West Ireland speaking I'm sorry I am a board member and advisory board member and I live in the north end and I am
using sign language to communicate. I will be doing that throughout the meeting so you'll be hearing the sound of two female sign language interpreters visually I am wearing a light blue shirt and I have to excuse
me I have a beard and I'm a white man. Thank you very much Grace and Commissioner. I don't if you want to take this time to introduce yourself as well as thanks Gerry. Welcome everybody.
My name's Christian because I'm the title to coordinator and disability commissioner for the city Boston. Glad to see so many board members here and also welcome members of the public. Oh sorry I am a white female and just wearing headphones with the background of City Hall on my green.
Great. Thank you. I think that's all the board members and present again if if I miss anyone please please feel free to alert me Andrea.
I don't think so for now I think we're going to move on to our next agenda item which is the approval of Aprils minutes to I have a motion to approve
make the motion improvements to the motion that approves and and Paul seconds any discussion all all those in favor signify
by saying I raising your hand I from West I looks like the eyes have it any I don't see any one
opposed so that motion passes great. The next thing that agenda would be a positive presentation from the office of Food Justice by Melissa Honeywill is did I get the
pronunciation of your name correct that anybody Shereen Marisol L.E. now there you are. There you go. OK, yes honey. What is correct?
Great. All right. So feel free to feel free to the floor. All right. First I'll check with Andre. Do you want me to share my screen or will you be pulling up the slides and either works for me whatever you prefer? Yes.
you might as well pull them up. Oh, I have a notes here on the side. Yeah. Give me one second. I will have that certainly while you're doing that I'll introduce myself as Jerry indicated I am Melissa Honeywood. I'm a deputy director for the
mayor's Office of Food Justice here in the city of Boston. I am a white female with dark hair currently wearing a green sweater and my hope is to review a little bit with you all about the work that our office does anticipate it
should take roughly ten minutes and we'll have time at the end for questions. However, if there is anything pressing I'll trust the board to decide whether or not it's worth asking them sooner rather
than later. So on the screen I'm showing a visual of some properties being sold at Haymarket. It's and we can advance on to the next slide to go through some of the agenda for today.
So some of the topics that I want to review is to go over the mission of the Office of Food Justice, some of the strategic goals that we have designed based off of that mission as well as reviewing some resources for residents on
the screen. I have offices with Justice's logo which is a fruit but is in the shape of a heart. We have some division in our in our office whether it's an apple or a peach or some other other lunch stock and we can go
to the next slide to provide a little bit of history on the screen. I have a timeline of the transition of our office for those who have been in the city of Boston for a while you may know that prior to twenty sixteen there was an Office
of Food Initiatives. At that time the mission of the office was primarily focused on food related businesses. Then after twenty sixteen the office had changed to become the Office of Food Access which
then transitioned the focus on connecting residents to emergency based food resources and then as everyone remembers in March of twenty twenty we really had to pivot our operations to respond to the covid-19 response and really
just that threw into motion the type of emergency food response that we were convening and collaborating with partners and then in February of twenty twenty two we transitioned to
the Office of Food Justice as opposed to just being seen as an office that deals with food access and assisting residents when they are in emergency food situation. We wanted to be proactive in thinking about the root causes that lead to hunger in the
first place rather than applying a Band-Aid to hunger really thinking about the root causes and what we as a city can do to prevent hunger it can advance the next slide the mission of the Office of Food Justice is to build a food
system that is equitable, resilient, sustainable and just it is our mission to make sure that we are expanding equitable access to nutritious food with respect to affordability, physical accessible and
cultural connectedness. And we do this because we want to support the food economy in Boston as well as in the region as a whole and thinking beyond that as far as the impact that it has on environmental sustainability and a resilient
food system on my screen I have images of some various food scenes in Boston including at a local market and outdoor farmer's market, a food packing station for food distribution
as well as in other outdoor market emphasizing our farmers market coupon program they can advance to the next line somewhat frustrating goals for the mayor's Office of Food
Justice have been broken down to four specific categories and the photo on the screen is when the mayor Michelle announced her food justice agenda and these goals were built out of that agenda and I'm going to
take some time to focus on each one and provide a little bit of context for what that actually means and the work that we do. It can advance the next slide. So the first goal of our strategic goals is to build an equitable access and
distribution systems for fresh, culturally relevant and or regionally grown food citywide for food insecure communities. Now we develop a sustainable model for food for accessible
food access and or toake sure that not only is food available for residents within the community but that they actually want to continue some of the programs that OSHA operates in order to support this work include our double up
food bucks program which for residents who participate in SNAP if they go to participating double up food bucks stores they get an additional 50 percent off discount for any fresh fruits and vegetables they purchase at that store is currently
operating in six locations throughout the city. Another program that fits that helps support the local after school is our Boston Summer program where we partner with
the Boston Public Schools and greater why the YMCA of Greater Boston to provide meals at no cost to use eighteen and under throughout the city at various open sites. And we do this because we know
that there is a gap in service for families who rely on the meals that are provided to students during the academic year and this is a way for us to ensure that they have access to healthy free meals when school is on session. >> Another program that we operate is our Farmers Market
Coupon Program in which we have in the past used a federal dollars and this year using operating dollars to essentially create coupons that residents who are not necessarily eligible or
participate in SNAP or have to encourage them to buy from their local farmer's market. We do that by issuing coupons. We partner with local community based organizations to distribute coupons to our target communities and that
those targeted communities include folks who are facing food security but for multiple reasons may not qualify or want to apply for SNAP or hit some of the reasons that folks may not choose to apply for SNAP or
EBT cards. Yes, they may have mixed documentation status and they are concerned about applying for a federal program. >> Another program that our office operates US supports building equitable access is
the community outreach program in which we actually offer grants to community based organizations to leverage the leadership that already exists in their communities to essentially use as liaison
sharing information about different food benefit programs because we realize they already have established trust and they have a good rapport with folks in their neighborhood. And so if we can build up their
knowledge based on different food benefit programs, it's more likely that they are going to be able to reach their peers in their community and get them to participate in what is myth busters on our behalf. We can advance the next line.
The second strategic goal that our office is to leverage city food procurement to increase city department purchases from regional producers and buy pork producers some of the ways that we the main way that we operate
under this goal is participation in the goods and purchasing program. The city has an ordinance that encourages city agencies to use value space procurement and purchasing food for your
department now right at current the Boston Public Schools Food Nutrition Services Program it is far and away the largest purchaser of food for the city of Boston and they have in compliance with this and are
what that means for is that they assess where they are buying food and making sure that it meets certain quality thresholds to ensure that supporting a sustainable environment that is supporting workers rights, that is
culturally affirming and that is nutritious for those students who are consuming the meals. There are plans to expand this to other city departments and this is a means of how we do that on the screen there is a picture of Mayor Michelle who
is eating Joe sickouts Farms which is a farm based in Massachusetts where she actually got to harvest sweet potatoes that were being used in Boston public school meals. There was also an image of an actual Boston public school lunch featuring an empanada
made girl saw empanadas which is another local not the local business within the city of Boston that may also feature locally grown black beans, corn and carrots as well as showing
the logos for food purchasing program. We can advance the next on the third call for strategic goal for the office Food Justice is to increase food recovery from public and private institutions
and strengthen pathways to connect food insecure residents with fresh, healthy recovering food allergy projects that support this school include our food recovery assessment. This past November we recently published our Food
Recovery Assessment which essentially interviewed folks all across the spectrum of the food recovery landscape within the city of Boston. That means folks who are consuming comfort food that means last organizations who
are receiving donated food to give them to residents to the institutions that are actually donating. And what we have found is that this is going to be our foundational level of information that we will
then both programs and ideas of how we can make improvements in the city. Some of the ways that we have already put that into action include our healthy access through food storage grant in which we have partnered with
the YMCA Greater Boston for them to purchase a large cold storage facility 30 Northhampton Street that will be used as essentially a food hub to support some of our other food
recovery organizations. We also know that the last mile of organizations that are small in neighborhoods needed actual infrastructure to receive additional fresh food items and so we offered another grant to 12 different organizations allowing them to build up that
infrastructure we can advance to the final which is on the next slide the next our final goal is to increase production in neighborhoods including public spaces like parks,
housing developments, schools and community centers. The way that we do this is through partnership with the our Office of Urban Agriculture or better known as Greater Boston. They really lead the work on
urban agriculture and some of the programs in which we get to partner with them include the race garden program in which eligible residents are able to receive a new starting but at no cost. This has included a Rose Garden
beds to accessible heights that are installed to four residents based off of their mobility needs and this also relates back to our first and second goal of increasing Bayport producers at farmers market
markets increasing purchases from Bayport farmers because if we address making food production more accessible to the city of Boston we will make that more accessible. We'll make the make it
accessible for all residents rent we can advance to the next slide and how this translates into the resources that we have
for residences that we cover long enough. The food justice is not just where you can get food when you're in an emergency situation. We're thinking about all the background systems that exist that lead people to needing
food in the first place. That being said, we although that doesn't fix the issue where folks need access to food in a pinch and so on the screen is a shot. A screenshot of one of our more recent food resource guides
where we break down available food sources throughout the city of Boston for those who are on snap or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program better known as and on snap resources we make sure that we partner with these organizations to make sure that
the information is up to date. So that way when residents are trying to get access to to food in the short term they are finding reliable information now I know that there had been a question about resources for
residents who may want pre prepared meals because some of you may know snap SNAP does not allow for folks to go to a grocery store and buy prepared meals such as something that
would be at a salad bar or sorry salvors is a bad example and like a meal bar or just read chicken. The exception to that is that there is a snack restaurant meals program in which there are certain approved restaurants and food trucks
that will allow folks to purchase premade meals if they meet certain quality patients whether that is they are currently experiencing homelessness or have mobility issues that prevent them from being able to prepare food independently current there are
six Boston restaurants participating. There is another agency that we partner with that also delivers medically telling meals through community service. However, I will say that upon recent communication with them
there is their wait list for new participants is almost twelve months long at this point. So we know that a need exists and we're trying to our best to be a convener and find out from different partners what resources are available and
identify may be able to expand on that to realize I've thrown a lot of information out there but the good news is that is the conclusion of what I have to say and we'll open it up to
questions I'm asking you. But then again you think after five years of remote meetings I would be better at that? Alas.
Anyway, thank you, Melissa for your presentation. Does anyone from the board have any any questions? This is where I do I go ahead
with I Melissa, thank you so much for your time and your presentation. Just one simple question actually for you if I may at the very end you just said that there's that twelve month waiting list for that program that it could take up to 12
months for folks to be served. What is the reason that that waiting list is so long and I don't know I guess that's my question. That's my question why so long do we know? Well, in all I will say this as
I can speak in general terms when it comes to food access programs not just in Boston but nationally is that the need for outstrips the supply as far as the programs that are able to
provide emergency food, whether that is through fresh programs or through prepare meal programs? We just know that there are more people who are struggling with food insecurity than there are resources to account for
those needs and community service is a particular demand because they do medically tailored meals. So in order for someone to be eligible they need to have a physician submit a medical note
saying that they are not able to prepare meals independently for a variety of reasons and because they may be experiencing some acute medical condition that makes it difficult for them to do so. Would you think that would be restrictive as far as the number of folks that would have
that need but unfortunately the demand just far exceeds our capacity. I think that's OK. Thanks so much. Do we have any other questions
from any members of the board? Nancy any I guess I will ask a question but I know you said there are six for example in
your presentation. Did a number of resources be necessary heavily on the site lists the names like like of the of the restaurants participating or whatnot. Is there a way that we can or
the public can get access to to the names of those like restaurants for example? Absolutely. So that exists actually through the DTA website, a Department of Transitional Assistance honestly the fastest way is
probably just to do a Google search on Internet search for SNAP Restaurant program that will get you down as fast as I can. Also more than happy to share at the conclusion of this meeting share with Andrea that can then be added on but I will
say be good to check that website because it not only lists restaurants in Boston but throughout the state. So if there are folks who may be on the cusp of neighborhoods you can find out about resources outside municipal boundaries. >> Sure.
And the question that I had, Melissa, was the food pantries do you know if you do you know, is there any list that discusses the accessibility of those locations?
Is there a list of locations? You know, when I say accessibility I mean I mean physical access for persons with disabilities. I or at least I've heard in the past that some are in churches and whatnot. Is there a requirement that they be physically accessible
as well? >> That's a great question. I'm not currently aware of any sort of list that wouldn't have that level of specificity. There is any food pantry that exists within the city of Boston.
They do have to get a permit through honesty. I'm just not personally familiar if there is a designation about the accessibility requirements at a pantry at EU level but we do
keep a current list of food pantry resources that we are aware of within the city of Boston and the Greater Boston Food Bank also has a food pantry finder for those who are trying to figure out where they exist within the
city and beyond as far as the recipients of food donations from the Greater Boston Food Bank. Sure. So in terms of finding out the accessibility of the location, the physical access of that
of the individual location, I guess the the best advice we can give anyone in our neighborhood would be to contact the locations or what would you suggest I would suggest is yes to definitely
call ahead in advance because some of these organizations may have may be able to provide accommodations that we may not be aware of as an office. So what we do have is through our food resource guide and in particular the resource that we
partner with the in fact through vital connections are organized where they are making monthly calls to make sure that food pantry dates, times, locations are up to date and accurate.
They would be accessing that resource in order to not only find out their location but we also include a phone number so folks can call in advance in case they have any questions. Sure.
And one final question from me is what can we do as a law to support your work and maybe to think about you know I know you said you're trying you know, because of the demand far
outweighs the supply in terms of in terms of just food access or what what can we do as a board to support to support your work into the baby develop
or some resources as to, you know, folks with disabilities who maybe, you know, paid meals or who may benefit from prepared meals say sure. That's an excellent question. I feel like there is always
room to have a voice at the table for for the experience of anyone trying to receive food resources right now the main or a food a resource really opens up a person's
eligibility to participate in food benefit programs is receiving SNAP or being part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program better known as BBT. The Department of Transitional Assistance is the state
organization that runs that program that determines eligibility of individuals and they do have a disability coordinator at DTA. However, it is always helpful
to have them here first hand experience about what the challenges might be for somebody trying to enroll in the SNAP program and to advocate for greater expansion of the Prepared Meals program and why that is important for
folks with disabilities. And just getting a little more context into how it is an unnecessary barrier for folks who are experiencing food insecurity. We typically partner with the Massachusetts law reform Institute. They are a great agency that
holds DTN accountable for the services that they are meant to provide. And so if this board is ever interested in hearing more about the work that's being done to make sure that DTA is providing for all eligible residents of the city and for
the state as a whole, I think that there could be room for great conversation. Great. Thank you so much. Any other questions before we move on to the next part of our agenda?
Jerry, this is Andrea. I don't see any other board members but if you'll allow me a quick question how did restaurants become part of that prepared food stamp program? Is there a plan to do outreach more restaurants and there may be information that our board
members could share when they're at their favorite neighborhood restaurant about why it might benefit them to join. That's not program. Yeah, that's a great question. I don't know the short answer to that off the top of my head
but I can try to connect you with folks out there to about there is information on their website about the process but again not as a as a restaurant as not being a current restaurant tour. I'm sure that there's more to the process that it would be
helpful for that to be able to advocate and be able to speak in real this is what the terms would mean as a restaurant to be able to participate in this program so I can collect that information, share sounds like some follow conversations that board might have with DTA or
Law Reform Institute or the as you mentioned things. Great. Thank you again. Listen, we and we look forward to an ongoing ongoing dialog as Henry has said and as just from
our our our conversation here I think there is some work and advocacy that we can do together so to to continue to improve food access for all residents, particularly residents with disabilities. So thank you.
Thank you. I will point out for the record that I'm also a resident of West Roxbury. So it's always nice to talk to a neighbor of course great. Thank you. Thank you. Next on the agenda is my report
which will be which will be brief but I wanted to I wanted to thank those board members and community members who took the time either in person or
online, took the time to come to the Disability Community Commission's annual community forum that took place on the eight we had we had a lot
of participation in the room and online. And you Commissioner, can you can you remind howling people were able to attend jury? I have that information in my
report if you want to just wait. I have a silent. Oh sure. Sure, sure. No thank you. Yes, Like I said, it was a very active active discussions. The mayor came again and she
took questions and posed for photos with with residents and it was a really, really good event. I would I would encourage I know it's difficult for board members who work to take time
their busy schedules to to attend but I think if at all possible, you know, in future years if we can if we can have more and more of us you know, at the event participated in the event that would be that would be great.
It's a great way to hear from, you know, constituents directly and hear some of the ongoing concerns and also so for us to be able to highlight through the commission's report highlight the work that the
work that the commission does and that we do as a as a broad you know, many, many of the participants were very impressed by the work that that we've been able to accomplish and you know, we should be
there to go out to hear those those words and to take take credit for what was a great event. I think that the commissioner and her staff and you and you'll hear more of you know her in the commissioner's
report upcoming the next thing I wanted to highlight was another opportunity for more community engagement which I'm sure the commissioner will talk about a little bit too. But I wanted to highlight is the Boston Public Library drive
ins that that Colleen Colleen is doing. I know she has a couple couple of them are coming next week in Roslindale and J-P Tuesday Thursday I think they're from
three to five but they can be a great opportunity to have a board member or two if you can ,you know, stop by and kind to sit with that sit with Colleen
and and meet residents right in their neighborhoods and to talk with talk with residents directly in here and again here there their concerns and the
last thing in my report is that that one of our board members is is stepping down and has submitted their resignation. Charlie Q Charlie King has
decided you know, due to other commitments that he is he is stepping down. I wanted to I wanted to thank him for all his work and he'll be sorely missed.
He'll be sorely missed on the board. I hope that we can continue to hear hear from Boston Public School parents on issues concerning suing them and
students with disabilities. I think Charlie played a vital vital Biovail role in that and he will be sorely missed. I will there was one other thing but I will let the
commissioner talk about she emailed earlier this week to all of us about the letter saying that the that the dissimilarly convention XPO wants to come back and is willing to work with us. I'm coming back to the city but
I'll let the commissioner expand on that in her report. So without further do we'll hear from Commissioner Hirsch. Thank you, Jerry. Thanks for that great lead in. Yes.
I just want to share the board the exciting news that the Abilities Expo has new owners and since I received your letter of interest and coming back to Boston, they are very interested in working with you all to see if that could happen.
So I didn't do a slide on this . I'll just talk about it for a minute then we'll go to my slides so as many you know the Abilities Expo is a group that comes to different cities across the country and it's kind of like a one stop shop for disability.
They have tables and vendors everything from wheelchairs to resources for people who are blind or divergent. It was a very successful event and a lot of people in the community look forward to it and then they stopped coming to Austin a few years ago and the
reason that they cited was the cost of hotels and transportation in Boston is a very expensive city. We know that. But when I received your letter they emailed us right back and said that they were interested in working with us. They were actually looking at Connecticut as a potential
option. So we want to try to convince them not to go to Connecticut but to come to Boston. So they were planning for a twenty twenty seven right now. So I'm going to huddle internally with my cabinet chiefs and see if there's any way we could ask them in the right direction. I make partnerships maybe with
the convention center or the hotels to see if there's any way that we can support them coming back to Boston we don't necessarily have funding to offer but maybe they make the right connections and we talk about the outreach that we'll do and we know that Boston was one of the most well attended venues that they had.
So we're really going to make a push over the next few months to see if we can make that happen. And if we do, I'm going to give a big credit to the advisory board for us staying on top of it and for writing the letter. So this is a great example of the impact that your work can have. So congratulations to all the board members on that committee
questions on the only thing on notice it's twenty twenty seven that they're looking they already have their twenty twenty six schedule planned it seems so just that way I still kind of a medium out but very exciting. Sorry to interrupt. Yeah no I think I said twenty seven but yeah just great.
Any questions on that before I go to my slides. OK and you can share my such oh Randy so we'll start with some
general city of Boston updates I lese OK so as many of you know every spring there this
neighborhood hourlies and these are a great opportunity to meet the mayor in person, meet cabinet chiefs, meet city staff from various departments and it's you know, they're really accessible to the public so we always promote them. If you want to ask a question
or get the latest information, there are still several days throughout the rest of May and June. So you after the meeting you click on this link that will be a list of all the neighborhoods that the mayor is still planning to attend Cosio. Also this year we are having
open streets again. Open street events take place from ten thirty to three o'clock and the dates and locations we have this year are Saturdays and Sundays. They are July 12th and Roxbury August 10th in Hyde Park
September 14th and Dorchester October 18th and Mattapan and November 2nd in Jamaica Plain. We're also doing outdoor I'm sorry open streets on Newbury so that will have been later on
in the season and I will we put that link in the chat when those dates come up and then also want to let you know that outdoor dining season is back. So outdoor dining began in twenty twenty during the pandemic as a way to keep
businesses open and also let people do something socially because nobody could gather inside in any type of group or cluster or anything like that. So the city made a big push to get restaurants to help them, you know, get the resources we
get off ramps to make sure that there was access. So now five years later outdoor dining has become a staple in the city Boston and many cities across the country. So our staff works very closely with multiple city departments to ensure that all outdoor dining is accessible. But we know the challenges
remain and we want you to help us as the eyes and ears of the neighborhood. We would love to help you let us know if you see an accessibility barriers you can report them to three on one or email them to ADA Boston Tucows and talking about food justice
we also see us as another area where people are able to, you know, have the same experience that other people who are disabled have as far as outdoor dining. So please help us. This is one way we can be very helpful to us as a department
by letting us know if you do see any accessibility barriers in any outdoor dining centers across the city and outdoor dining is in most neighborhoods not in the north end as you may know, but it is in a lot of other neighborhoods. So we'll go to the next slide.
OK, so a couple of other department updates now to recap the disability community Forum again as you expressed, I want to thank our advisory board members who attended in person and virtually the community was nice to meet the board members
and hear about their interests and expertize. So thank you all for taking the time to attend. We did have one hundred and twenty five to hundred people who attended plus Wu and other city officials. Again I personally think that mayor is very accessible to the public.
A lot of other cities, mayors don't really give up their time like this to meet and greet neighborhood residents. So we're always thrilled that the mayor makes an effort to attend our events and we also have penciled in for Ed which I'll talk about in a few minutes.
But we also during the forum we answered a lot of questions pre submitted those on and then people in the room. So we didn't get to answer all the questions. So we do have a document that we kept track of questions and we are in the process of just filling out all the answers to
the questions that people asked me and we will send that out to all the registered attendees very soon. We'll also post it on our Web page City of Boston doggonedest ability. So speaking of a.D.A, as you know we celebrate a.D.A day
every July with a celebration on City Hall Plaza that includes a resource here and food and music and a speaking program. So this year we are going to do a little bit differently. We are going to do a collaborative in-person event
with multiple disability agencies. We're calling at eight thirty five and similar to the other big anniversaries like the twenty and the twenty fifth and the thirtieth. So this is the thirty five the anniversary. So we really want to instead of doing a resource sharing a
celebration we really want to do a march and rally to stand up for disability rights because we know the way things are going the last few months some rights have been looked at by different federal agencies and we want to make sure that they are not compromised or scaled back in any way.
So a.D.A thirty five is going to start with a flag raising as our first flag raising ever. So we have a disability flag that we're going to raise on City Hall Plaza. We've invited the mayor to say a few words and then DCL is going to rally the troops and have everybody marched up to
Boston Common to do a rally at the Embrace Memorial. We're not going to have a formal speaking program so we don't want to have like a host of elected officials. We really want to hear from community members and advocates about what means to them about disability rights and how we
really need to to fight for our rights and make sure that they're not compromised. So we really want you to help us spread the word. This is another way you can be very helpful because the more people will come, the more power we will have. We are not going to be doing a virtual event. This type of event doesn't really lend itself to a virtual
platform so it's going to be in person. Radosh, we'd love to have a big crowd. I know for the twenty first we had over two thousand people on the Boston Common on thirty and we had also planned a march and rally but covid struck so we
had to shift to a virtual march and rally. So we actually did a good job and we had over two thousand people in that event virtually. But this year we would love to get different groups from across the state and really try New England to come to Boston through the afternoon and help
us fight for disability rights . So the flag raising will be at 12:00 noon and then around twelve thirty will march to the common and start the rally around 1:00 p.m. on Boston Common. So we hope you all join and also spread the word excitement
. OK, so being in the Disability Community Forum made me think that maybe everybody doesn't know exactly what our department does and what type of work that we really try to focus on. So I want to take a minute just to go over so everybody you
know, we have a new board members and members of the public if they are interested in what we do. So our mission is to make sure that residents and visitors with disabilities have access to everything that Boston has to offer including employment, education, transportation and civic activities.
Our actual responsibility is to lead the city's collaborative efforts to ensure that all city services programs policies and infrastructure is accessible to people with disabilities and this is a huge left everything from every program that's put
on every meeting, every piece of property or facility that the city owned buildings, parks, recreation centers, pools, everything the city owns and operates has to be accessible for people disabilities. So we can't do that on our own because we don't on the streets
and we don't build sidewalks and we don't run programing EAF centers. So what we do is we work systematically with all city departments to ensure that everything they do is accessible. And just to give you a good example of the way we do this for the most impact is one way
we do it is through trainings which leads and they've done a great job with that and then me and my staff, we all participate in meetings with different departments to go over different issues we've heard since our last meeting or
to talk about policies, upcoming work that they're working on to see how we can ensure that it's accessible. So just as an example I put down some of our meetings that we have on a regular basis. So biweekly we meet with equity and inclusion Boston Parks and Rec, the press team and I meet
with the mayor's office of Housing to look at the lottery applications for the built out housing units to make sure that the housing units are going to people with disabilities who actually need those features. So those are some of the things that we do on a bi weekly scale
monthly meetings internally we work with public works BTD libraries, the elections has an advisory committee that Colleen sits on. I meet with a strong for resources and we meet with language and communications
access all in an effort to talk about any issues of accessibility that will come up or to look forward and policies or programs that they're planning to make sure that they consider access and inclusion of people with disabilities. We also meet with external agencies on a monthly basis
including system wide access at the MTA, the mayor's Office on Disability, our national group which is the municipal offices of people with Disabilities, the PC Workforce Council which I sit on and these meetings are really intended to talk about things we have in common,
things that we work on, things that we could problem solve or brainstorm on and we really get a lot of work done in these meetings and it also keeps us involved in the work that they're going on and keeps us updated on what they're doing and it reminds each other officers to always think access
when they're planning any initiatives, programs or policies. And then we have quarterly meetings with the cabinet that's writ large includes things like public works and everything from parking to bike lanes to sidewalks and things
like that. And I also sit on the Commonwealth Care Alliance board so I have a quarterly meetings with those and as any of you who are on that program know it recently came under new ownership. So that's a concern that many must have.
But I am involved in monthly quarterly meetings to make sure that they also consider the perspective of patients with disabilities. Next slide and then I just want to share with you updates and
opportunities for my members. So advisory membership as you heard Jerry say, Charlie will be stepping down. We know Doka has stepped down so we are working to fill these seats within the next few months. There's a lot going on in the
city so it hasn't been we haven't been able to prioritize it with the administration as much as we'd like to. But we are working on that and we do want to let you know how much you appreciate all of your hard work and dedication and we really look forward to sharing updates on your areas of interest and expertize that
you've expressed and hope that I can become a really important part of our board meetings every month and also I know I've mentioned this before but I do want to encourage any board members who may have time to join the Massachusetts
Commissions on Disability Alliance meetings. They used to be weekly but is now switched to monthly and that's a group of members from different disability commissions across the state and in so much of our monthly meetings that we have with different departments they shared I see you do mentioned
commiserate on things that aren't going well and talk about things that they need to do better so we know that all cities and towns are facing the same issues. So it's a primary goal of the group to make sure no one has to reinvent the wheel as far as problem solving things that have already been solved.
So it's a great a great meetings on my staff every month and it's certainly open to more members to attend if you're interested and I think that's the end of my report. But I'm happy to answer any
questions anyone may have. Thank you Commissioner for highlighting the very hard work and the wonderful work and important work that the Disability Commission does and also thank you for supporting
this board and helping us be a valuable resource for residents of the city and on residents as well. I really, really appreciate all all the resources and time you devote to to us as well.
So thank you. Do we have any questions for members of the board? I see a couple hearings. Why don't we start with this question for the commissioner? I'm commissioner.
I was wondering when does the Mukada committee meet monthly on Wednesdays at noon and we can put information if we can't do it in the chat we will send it out to the board and there's
a link on the slide deck so when get the slide deck you can click on that link. Thank you, Commissioner. This is Jerry. You know, how about how long those meetings are usually is it an hour? I believe it's an hour. OK, great. Thank you.
You have a question for the commissioner. This is West. Sure. Hang on one second. Just need to rearrange my screen. Oh here we go. OK, yes. Commissioner Mikage thank you
so much for your presentation for your report and I just wanted to add one comment if I may. The disability commissioner is helping people find employment throughout the city of Boston and I just wanted to let you
know that the deaf community in Washington DC in particular is getting much smaller in real time. We're finding not only because Gallaudet University but also because there are many deaf and hard of hearing folks individual who have lost their job as a result of what's going
on at the federal level. And I am sure that many deaf folks are thinking about moving out of Washington, D.C. and in that relocation effort, especially folks or deaf who work in federal government and
I'm thinking that it would be nice if there were some sort of a link to the city of Boston if we offered ourselves as a relocation locale maybe we collected resumes or what have you been a source of opportunities for folks the
same way that Governor Healey did posted I can send a link. I can put it in the chat. Actually Governor Haley's just made some efforts in that way to try to recruit folks from other states to move to Massachusetts. I think we could attract some of these folks, people with disabilities who are moving out
of D.C. and potentially they could become a resource for us here. So that is what I wanted to share. I just put that in the chat and that takes us yes. So we we usually make a push for employment in October during national
Disability Employment Awareness Month we have a series of webinars. We do four different webinars that promote employment and last we did our first pilot interview day where we had people prescreened applicants who were interested in jobs came to the city to apply for
jobs and they were able to be granted a first round interview if they met the minimum qualifications. So we're hoping to do that again this year. We'd love to expand it but it just depends on capacity. But I do think that's an interesting idea that we could definitely make a dedicated
spot on our Web page or unemployment and take a look at what the state is doing. So that's something we can look into Andrea. Yeah, I just wanted to say I do happen to know through H.R. I'm
I'm the personnel officer for the department so sometimes I get some H.R. information. The city has joined a new website. It's a recruiting website sort of like indeed or a Dallas dotcom that's a it's called
like Fed match or something like that specifically for federal workers who might be looking for new jobs and for employers who would want to hire them to recruit. So there is that sort of backend rate.
We are advertising jobs on that platform and recruiting folks from that platform. We also have as commissioner mentioned, that work from last fall a sort of evergreen, if you will, a video on our YouTube that aims to demystify
how to apply for jobs in the city of Boston. We did have ACEL when we recorded live. It did not make it onto the resume recording unfortunately . So it is on our list to get that we recorded now which also
gives us the opportunity to maybe have a CD. I do it so it's a good call that we should prioritize that and then you can share that with anyone you know who might be leaving DC. Great.
Thank you. Great. And then I also noticed at West Point in the chapter of the North End neighborhood coffee hour is postponed tomorrow due to the nor'easter storm we're getting so and put in that you highly recommend the coffee hours. >> So thank you.
Yes, this is Jerry second that I'm sorry that I missed the the West Roxbury coffee hour this year. I have a lot of friends who try to go every year and actually try to go to go to multiple
Scorpio's it going to it is a good opportunity to connect with not only city leaders but also typically the state reps from that particular neighborhood or who cover that particular neighborhood will
come and stuff. So they are they are good resources. So I would encourage just like Commissionaire did in her report to for anyone to attend those events. So when again thank you
Commissioner for your report. Thank you for all the hard work that you and your staff do. We really, really do appreciate it. So next on the agenda is another hardworking member of the Disability Commission,
the Architectural Excellence Access Report with Patricia. This is Andrea apology. They may not have made it there
she is. Sorry about that. Patricia, you can mute yourself now. Hi, Jerry. I don't have a report this month but it's great to be here. Hi everyone. Thank you. Great.
OK, well that's OK. You know we we do know that you you work very hard attending the Architectural Practices Board meetings every month and and whatnot. So I know that if something comes up but we meetings you'll you'll let us know anything
that comes up so that we can we can have what we appreciate we appreciate your hard work. Thank you for the be on our systemic meetings. I'll add that Patricia said every other yes and so moving
right along on the agenda, it's a time for individual board members to highlight the the important work that they've been doing over the past month or so Terry, I see Olivia has a
handle. Yes, Olivia was in regards to this topic or another topic. It's in regards to Patricia actually OK, I wanted to ask
her a question about the AP s system in Boston and whether she's aware of the fact that she a couple of other locations
in the country have had issues with people asking the audience on AP asked an average extraneous things to them I can
send a video that I came across just in my YouTube but people are adding political messaging and all kinds of other nonsense to that.
But I'm wondering whether Boston has had any issues. I Olivia I've heard of that issue in the news but we haven't I haven't heard that we
in Boston have had the issue of somebody hacking the apps. It is it stands for audible pedestrian signals those of the crosswalk sound signals so if
you would like to send information I'll be happy to look. But we I have not heard that we have suffered those kind of hacks good. Thank you, Patricia.
Just following up on yes. Do you know if this something that the municipalities can do to help prevent or guard themselves against possible hacking that technology is over my head.
I don't know Jerry. I don't know how that works. OK, well let's with let's keep on it and thank you all of you for bringing up that issue or highlighting the issue or certainly wouldn't want that to
happen here in the city if at all possible. I mean there have been times when this very meeting's been been hacked as well. So so we do know that it happens but we want to try to try to be as safe as possible,
you know, around that. So but again next on the agenda was the opportunity for one member board member shout outs feel free, feel free to
highlight any and all important activities that you've been up to or you communities have been open up to the task a little bit or upcoming and now's the opportunity I see a couple of hands.
Why don't we go with Zori first and I just wanted to highlight a program that's happening at my side here. It's a program called Entertainment Initiative and it
basically it's a program that provides career opportunity and people were trying to work with the program offers a comprehensive training including assistive technology
,transferable skills but training and had a lot of success stories of placement for people and the vision I put in case people are interested in learning health care so I
actually do not work in the office but I just want to share a resource. Great. Thank you so much. Sorry for highlighting the next . We will go with Paul everyone
thanks again for a great for Commissioner was outstanding a lot of great reviews. A man's mental Health Awareness Month as you all know and as an advocate for mental health my mind is always open and all
thought care about and as we spoke at the forum was brought to my attention the Van Gogh exhibit in MFA it goes until September 30th and Van Gogh was a great artist with both physical and mental mental
health. He reaches out to a lot of the community through his artwork and there is subsidized passes through the Boston Public Library. If you go on the website and go on to services museum passes to
register for the event it goes until September and just a quick shout out to Malibu and Councilor Durkin during these times did a great advocacy for mental health. They're always accountable and available to us. Thank you.
Thank you. And just to piggyback back on that, the museum also has a as wonderful access program where we're particularly keen for more visitors who are blind and
and will vision if we call ahead or email access at and they say the word you can get a you can get a tour of either, you know, a specific exhibit or
a specific area of the museum that you're interested in. You can get basically an audio described too or they have actual trained guides go around with says I mean with patrons
to provide the service for them and to make the arts more accessible for all we're hoping to have at a future advisory board meeting. We're hoping to have the
director of the of the Access Department at the MFA, our own Jessica Deunan come and speak about the access services that they have to make make art
accessible to all so so we're looking forward to that. I see Richard had his hands in his hand up as well thanks to so I just finished being involved in earlier today that my focus a out of my focus
aside from that which I get paid for is about his mental health and I had mentioned a previous meeting for those in the commission and the public aware of the Baker Center for Children and Families which was
previously known as the Judge Baker Children's Center which was founded on Mission Hill responded well over a hundred years ago by friends in the first juvenile court justice in Massachusetts who was disturbed
by the fact that back then children could be arrested and imprisoned effectively and it was looking for alternatives for children who had serious mental health problems and really didn't deserve to be in prison. They really needed help with
their child mental health challenges so his friends of his founded the Baker Center on Mission Hill and it's become the premier entity in Massachusetts and Boston in
particular to help children and families and find the school systems in which they're in the public school systems inadequate to deal with the kids. So they're a school they have a unique and incredibly effective
back based treatment program for children and families and they do first rate research well. So last week we had an event that the butterflies which are
missing out on somebody and several hundred people there and the primary guest of honor was General Dunford who maybe you've heard of he was in tears the Joint Chiefs of Staff
recently and has been the focus of this has been, you know, the mental health of veterans, especially those serving abroad and we're in combat and it was quite an event. And for those of you who aren't
familiar with the V.A. center, I urge you just visit the website and get familiar with it because that's a tremendous resource for, you know, children who are disabled through the mental health
challenges and they have all kinds of ways for people to afford to go there, including free services when necessary. So you know, if it's called upon again at these meetings, maybe talk about it a little
bit more. But I encourage everyone to take a look and if you have any family instead of of this nature, you might tell them to consider contacting the V.A.
center because the stories of its successes are quite incredible. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks for highlighting that that Richard. You know, I actually know some
staff and some former staff at the at the school and they were very, very dedicated staff members and loved their work so and so it's it's important it's
good to hear that that the work is appreciated throughout the of the city and it is a good resource. Hey, I I noticed that another board member slipped in earlier
in the meeting and I haven't we haven't had a chance to to have that person introduce themselves and say hello. So Juan Carlos, if you could take a minute to introduce yourself that had not put you on the spot know you want to
highlight anything that you've been doing over the past month. But I did I did see myself at an event recently that you might want to learn to discuss
. Yes. Certainly one of these for a meeting and this is what kind of I mean this live in Boston something also commission member. Yes. The charity was great seeing you up there so long missing persons always different and
always glad to see you are the best. As you know, I'm involved in sports so I'm continue bringing awareness about all the opportunities and people with disabilities for participating in the sport. As a matter of fact, next week
there will be a meeting to see twenty seven Cabelas Foundation through and because she's going to be leading a conversation about opportunities about the sport it can be a foundation. So this is a meeting that is
going to occur around five thirty next do you see so you wanted to share that with the group? I'm happy to share additional details as I learn more with the board and another and a great event was led by our
common friend. His name is Gene Weiss as you well some of you may know he was basically writing a play related to the disability on trial. He wrote a lot of folks to participate in these today
event design centers in Sutherland as well. So I am very familiar with the area but the topic was very important for a lot of people who want to discuss the
importance of that terminology, whether we should be a we should we should use we should continue using the term disability or that he was trying to bring up both arguments to apply and I guess
it was a big event for an opportunity for discussion in the community and I was surprisingly glad that a lot of people with disabilities showed up in the event. Yeah, it was the feedback on this is Jerry.
Yeah, I was I was a great event and Jim was a great friend of this board and the commission actually has written a play as tapped into his
creative side in his retirement and he wrote a play basically it's kind of like a disability one on one but through the lens of , you know, trials and including the actual word
disability on trial and it was it was very well received and it was very provocative and he's going to, you know, refine it and maybe maybe have it be part of you know, curriculums go to schools anywhere from
middle school to to college age and it was great and it just highlights how people with disabilities. Yeah, you know, I that you know, it's well, not just people that, you know, sit on the sidelines but we like to
participate and we are creative and we are are tapping into creative creative veins and genes. So it was great and once said it's always great to see each other in person.
You know in this age of Zoome and everything so but anyway so thanks everybody for participating and highlighting just a little bit of what you what you the great work that you do. And next on the agenda I think
we have a few more hands from the ball. I'm sorry. I am I am I'm still having to refine my myself and always right back here. Hang on one second. I see less and Pallette both have a hand.
Oh yes please. CNN OK go ahead again please.
Thank you Jerry. I was waiting for my turn and thank that one short Cheryl I received the business cards from the city of Boston for the
closed captioning for individuals to turn on their TV in the restaurants so I am showing them to you all through the computer screen. It says that required by law
the city of Boston requires that you turn on your captioning to your television televisions in public settings and this is phenomenal. I finally have a stack of them and I gave them to one of the
newer restaurants. They make awesome chicken cutlets. There's this new place that I go to and when I gave them the card they immediately turned on the caption for me it was an Italian related movie but it
was on TV and it was repeating itself over and over. So was great willingly and I didn't have an Asian that's outstanding but standing what
what a great success story and again I apologize. I thought I have looked at all pages all three pages on my screen here of folks but I forgot it in the first page. I apologize. Go right ahead please. That's OK. I have I have two things.
One is kind of related to what W was talking about in terms of the business covid do we have any business cards that we could use if we see a situation we want to pass them out to
somebody munity stickers for instance I noticed that during the winter the tendency for snow plows to put leftover snow
in the handicapped parking spots still have in some places and so I mentioned to a couple of other places and they said that they would take care of it because I said basically we have two parking spaces for people with disabilities that they can use because it's full
of stuff. So I was just wondering if the commission has speakers and alert the public and if you have an issue with this parking space or is not accessible or whatever that they could call
such and such and no. So that was my first question. Am I my share out is that I tend to Americans day at the
state house and the T.S.A. or the representing the PCRs spoke very emotionally about some of the proposed cutbacks that are being proposed for them.
And so I just wanted to alert people that that that whole issue of them cutting salaries and hours and being resolved. So those are the two issues that I had. Thank you for highlighting the
BCA issue and again that's something that the board may want to follow closely and do some advocacy work on or as needed and does anybody from the commissioner's office have
any and can respond to that first issue question? Hi Jerry. This is Andrea. We don't to the direct question of business cards. We don't have ones for the board.
We do have what we call our generic office cards that say Disabilities Commission and that you can call the disability's commission to the specific example of snowplows pushing into the accessible
parking spaces if it's in a private lie it's a little complicated. That wouldn't necessarily be the city. It would be potentially a complaint to it might be a little complicated. So let me follow up with you on that one specifically.
I'd hate to give them the wrong information to give you the wrong information to give to them. But we can absolutely talk about OK, thank you and I can respond to the IPCA rally issues so thank you for raising
that. Yeah, there's always concern that IPCA services will be cut or scaled back and I do serve on the Workforce Council at this time they're not talking about cutting any services and definitely cutting OK because that's all Baragon to a collective bargaining there in
a union so their pay is actually increasing. The thing that they're looking at is ways to make the program sustainable. It has the program has a large rate of growth that mass health thinks is unsustainable.
So at this point they're not looking cutting anything but they are looking at containing it meaning next year as the budget will be fine. There aren't cuts proposed moving forward. We're worried that they may cap
the program or take away some non vital services. But at this point there's nothing being cut so you can be rest assured of that and the PC wages are also not being cut there in the union and they have to collectively bargained for raises through twenty
twenty six. Thank you. Great. Thanks for everybody and for those shout outs and I will continue to to work on making sure everybody gets gets heard.
I appreciate your patience on that. So next on the agenda is all business and I see it we have the incentive for independent living as a possible help help
and working with the members of the advisory board on a male candidate survey for the upcoming Boston mayoral election. So I know where you were. You were gracious enough to try to take the lead on this issue.
So is there anything you'd like to discuss? Yes, this is a couple of things
. Let me scroll for a moment. You just catching up on something. I sent an email to Bill for the
initial meeting and I have not heard back and I'm hoping to hear from them soon from Bisio and thinking about the survey the board did that last year
and where do we want to prioritize the focus I think to the priorities could be shifted and turn them into possible questions for the mayoral
candidates. I'm just wondering if anybody here has thoughts on that this is Andrea. The only reason I'm chiming in on the thought is as a reminder
to the board you are special employees of the city subject to some of the political activities restrictions so I just want to note that because we may need to get some more specific direction on what you
all can produce if it's a so generally speaking, for example, in our office we can encourage people to vote and that's really the extent of what we can do as public servants. We can engage in a lot
of really any political activity. So I just if you're looking to produce the survey, we may need to get more guidance on what that survey can can look like if you're producing it. Does that make sense? Yeah.
So I guess that I guess this is Jerry I'm sorry to talk over you with so I guess from your guidance last month in your you
said that we as a board could work with an organization like crafting some sort of disability support access survey or something like that. We we we can necessarily
produce it ourselves or we would be if we wanted to produce it, we we would have to get further guidance from the city on that. Is that correct? My my understanding I'm not a lawyer is that you could, you
know, promote and help educate the disability community about the survey that's out there and then it might be something people want to look at review see the results of but I do not
believe you all as a board can actively like contact candidates to to take the survey or things like that. OK, so that's a how should we
proceed you think? And I'm looking for input from the from the advisory this is Wes. OK, go ahead Wes.
I do have another comment and a suggestion. I know the disability community in Boston may have some disability related questions for the mayoral candidates and
I'm wondering if there is a way for them to share their question and if we could take some if we could collect some
of those questions for them. And yet again, I hate to put you on the spot but it's a great question. I am not as familiar. Let me take that to the council .
I just want to talk to you all . Thank you. So it sounds like we have some more clarification needed from the from the city. >> In addition to trying to find an organization that we
may want to work with the advisory board on Unnice I do think it's very important for this community to have our voices heard, you know, during
the election and I want the candidates to to to be able to hear our questions and concerns. But it sounds like we may be limited as thought as to how we can do that.
So we may need to need again research. We will get some more input from the commission. I can commit to, you know, taking this back to the executive committee and trying and trying to find out the information from from legal and
NGO go from there and maybe put this again on next month's agenda. Richard Quest, there is a point is very as I if she is like
this before another context and among other things we were all appointed by the mayor and then I believe we consider to some extent pleased with the city. Yeah, it's my understanding as
well you said we have to tread very lightly on this until counsel for the city tells us we can. Even then I think we can talk about it because it's our comfort level in the mayor's race with the mayor appointed
us. You know, I just I think it's a lot to think about. Sure. If we even if we get past the legal issue. So that's what I had to say. Sure. WDIA final before you move on
to business. Yeah, actually I think this has actually been really helpful. I think it's a really important conversation that we have to Richard's point to decide where we stand in addition to the legal case. All right.
So I you know, we will try to we will try to connect with with legal to see what we're able to do as board and and we'll put this on for this under all business for next
meeting. So thank you again for taking the lead on it with and we'll try to get further clarification and I and I to echo his comments that this is
always you know, it's fruitful for us to have these types of discussions so moving on, let's see under new business I see that we have the court
capturing capturing the area. Would you mind would you mind, you know, kind of summarizing that issue? Absolutely. Thank you, Jerry.
So this was a bill that we brought to your attention in Commissioners' board report. It's a newer version of a bill that has been brought up in the state legislature a number of times it is a bill that
among other things would increase the state the established payment rate for stenographer's court reporters . So yeah, at that meeting sort of live in the last meeting and
since then I have been contacted by the president of the Massachusetts court reporter's Association who has some additional information they wanted to to share with you, which includes that they are not opposed to a rate
increase. I think that doesn't surprise anyone but the legislation in question a eliminates the word stenographer and this concerns a court reporters association because it opens a door for EHI
and speech recognition other nonhuman software to replace the use of humans geographers they have sent me quite a long amount of description of their
concerns and what's come up related to that which I can read out or email out to the board if you are interested in hearing that perspective as you consider any action related to supporting or not supporting
this book or partially supporting it or doing nothing where you want to email if you if you can so that folks can kind of at their leisure take a look at it and just see if
that's OK. I'm happy to do that. Great. And thanks for your further research further research so so I guess we will also put this
under under business for your next meeting unless anyone has any questions or comments now or clarification that they'd like from, we review the
document that Andrew is going to share. This is Andrea. I will just note that West has put in the chat that he's interested in seeing this email. He says I have always found I
and speech recognition tools to be positive but would be interested in seeing other views against. So I will further thanks for voicing voicing that chat message Andrea. I appreciate that.
But moving on the agenda is now is the time for public public comment, public input and Arianism we asked folks to raise their hand and there's a two minute two minute time
limit that we try to hold people to, is that correct? That is correct. If you have a question or comment for the board, please use the raised hand function on Zoome raise your hand your own
hand on camera. I'll click through to to look for you or indicate in the chart that you have a question we do ask you to limit your public input to two minutes whether it's a question or a comment. If you would like to sign your question please also let me
know that in the chat or by signing for an interpreter and I will ensure that you have multi pen access to work with the interpreters. So now is the time for public
input and just to be another set of eyes and really does it look like we have to have any anyone eager to to share any public input at this point?
I currently do not see a Hendry's function nor do I see a hand being raised around someone's head or face nor do I see a chat. We'll give it another few
seconds but see no I would say that we need a motion to adjourn the meeting. I would like to make that
motion on the motion. I think misery and poverty stricken solution favor say Averys raise your hands.
I have I would tell anyone my poster name to discuss their so seeing that the motion passes unanimously this meeting adjourned. Thank you everyone for a great
discussion, a great meeting and all of the fine work that you do and thanks for you know, shouting out some of that good work and we look forward to next meeting as well and please everyone be safe and have a
good evening.
Take care
.