Go. I um I really apologize um uh for being a few minutes late, but here we are. So, whenever you're ready. >> Great. Let me give Cable the heads up. When they are ready to go in, I will give the open meeting law notice and I'll kick it to you. Great.
>> Great. >> Good evening everyone. 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 of this meeting is being made by Boston City TV, a part of
the City of Boston Office of Cable Communications, and is being broadcast on Xfinity channel 26, RCN channel 13, and FiOS channel 962, as well as livereamed on YouTube, where a recording
will remain uh and uh for viewing after this meeting. With that, I will turn it over to our chair, Jerry Boyd, to start the meeting. >> Great. Uh, thank you, Andrea, and welcome everyone to uh the first meeting
of the Disability Commission Advisory Board for 2026. It's hard to believe that uh a new year has started. Um but without much further ado uh let me uh let's kick things off
by having introductions for the advisory board members. Uh Olivia, why don't uh we start with you? >> Hi, my name is Olivia Richard. I'm the vice chair for the disability advisory
board and I hail from Brighton. >> Great. Um, Carl, why don't you uh uh introduce yourself? >> My name is Carl Richardson. I live in Brighton. I identify as death blind and
welcome. Happy New Year. >> Great. Pette, why don't uh you introduce yourself, please? >> Good evening, everybody. My name is Pette Durrett and I live in the Madapan section of Boston. >> Great. Um, Zaryi, why don't you
introduce yourself, please? >> Hey everyone, uh, my name is Zary. I'm your and I, uh, I live in South Boston and I identify myself as individual with disability.
>> Great. Uh, and Paul, why don't uh, you introduce yourself if you have a minute, please? My name is Paul Karen. I live in the West End and I serve as a mental health advocate. Um trying to advocate for family members and friends. And happy
new year everyone. >> Happy New Year. Um Andrea, am I missing anyone? Uh I don't see anyone else from the board currently on >> Jerry. It's Richard. >> Oh, Richard, there you are. >> Hi. Apologies every Apologies. I for
some reason I can't get my video to work but that may be scaring you actually. So it could be a benefit to all of you who are on tonight. But anyway, Richard Glosski, a member of the board. I live in Back Bay and uh happy to be here. >> Great. And I see Juan Carlos is on.
Juan, if you could introduce yourself. >> Yes. Hello everyone. I'm happy to hear all world members. This is from the cap is for the bathroom noise. Um everything we missed some of that uh Juan, but we
appreciate your uh dedication being on. It looks like you're on your commute, so we'll let you uh we'll let you mute and get uh safely home. Uh, uh, Andrea, I'm going to ask again, uh, any other folks that I I might have missed.
>> I think you've got all of the appointed members of the board. >> Great. Um, and my name is J. Go ahead. >> My name is >> Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Adrian. >> I was going to say Commissioner Marasha is on if you want to invite her after you finish out for the board. >> Oh, sure. Uh, I'll introduce myself and
then then we'll have the commissioner uh introduce hers. So, my name is Jerry Boyd. I u proudly serve currently as chair of the disability commission advisory board and I live in uh West
Roxbury. Uh and I am also a wheelchair user and I have uh salt and pepper hair with a uh Bruce Springsteen uh t-shirt on currently. Uh and go ahead, Commissioner.
>> Thanks, Jerry. Hi, everybody. My name is Kristen Macos. I'm the disability commissioner and ADA title 2 coordinator for the city. Um I also use a wheelchair for those on screen who can't um see my whole image. I am a woman with blonde hair and there is an image of city hall
in my background. Welcome everybody to tonight's meeting. >> Great. And moving uh right along on the agenda uh um is the approval of last month's uh meeting minutes, the December meeting
minutes. Um do we have a motion to approve? >> I have a motion that we approve the minutes. This is Carl. >> Any seconds? >> This is Paul. I second. >> Any discussion here? Hearing none. Do I have a uh uh
like to conduct a vote to approve approve the minutes? Please feel free to uh say I wave or or raise your hand. >> I I >> I believe the motion passes unanimously.
That's great. Excellent. Thank you so much for that. Um, and next on the agenda is a presentation regarding snow management in Boston from our very own Andrea Patton.
>> Go take it away, Andrea. >> Thank you, Jerry. Yes, I will be uh presenting on snow management. We've had just a few light snow um snowfalls so far this year. Nothing too large yet,
but uh we live in Boston, so you never know when a when a snowstorm's going to hit, when a noraster is going to hit. Uh so with that in mind, I'm going to pull up some slides. Get it into slideshow mode. So snow clearance in Boston. Um
what are the rules when it comes to snow clearance in Boston? Um well, who does the clearing? Uh first and foremost, property owners. Um anyone who owns property in Boston, uh is responsible for um clearing the snow from the
sidewalk that is adjacent to their property. Uh they can pass this along to tenants. Uh if they put it expressly in a written lease or rental agreement, property owners can pass it along to a tenant. Um, if you are a tenant who is unable to uh clear snow by reason of a
disability, that gets into Fair Housing Act and Reasonable Accommodations requests. Um, but as far as the ordinance says, yes. Um, property owners can pass that responsibility on. When do people have to clear snow? Uh, well, they have to clear sidewalks and curb
ramps within 3 hours after it stops snowing. And if it snowed overnight, then within 3 hours of sunrise. The ordinance does not require you to wake up, set an alarm for midnight, and go out and start shoveling right then. You can wait until sunrise. And what is it
that folks have to clear? Uh, it's required in city ordinance to clear at least a 42 in wide path of travel. Obviously, if the sidewalk is not even 42 in itself, you clear the whole sidewalk. Um, but many of our sidewalks are wider than 42 in. And that is the
minimum that you are required to clear. If your property is on a corner, you're required to clear the curb ramps as well uh to ensure that path of travel into the crosswalk at the street. You're required to remove ice down to
pair bare pavement. Um so that may require salting or sanding or other things. Um but you know, just taking off the top layer of snow and and leaving ice behind is is not allowed under the ordinance. Uh nor is pushing or
shoveling the snow into the street. Um that makes it harder for everyone involved. Um got to find a place to pile the snow um elsewhere. And there are fines associated with shoveling into the the street if you are found to have done
that. Speaking of fines, there are fines if property owners fail to clear the sidewalk or the curb ramp that they are responsible for clearing. For commercial properties, uh that is $250 for each instance of snow or curb ramp. Two
separate fines uh that are not cleared. So, if you clear the sidewalk but you don't clear the curb ramp, $250. If you clear the curb ramp but not the sidewalk, which I've never seen, but that would be interesting. Again, $250. Uh if you clear neither, $500 um for for
not clearing those those pieces. Uh residential buildings that have more than 16 units, more than 16 apartments, uh have fines of $150 associated. Uh and residential buildings with fewer 16 or
fewer units uh have $100 fines for not clearing their sidewalks. So when we're talking about sidewalks and and curb ramps um and the city of Boston's operations, what does the city of Boston do um as a city government? Uh
well, first of all, just to level set, there are 1,600 miles of sidewalk in the city of Boston. If you didn't know that, it's a lot of miles. And City of Boston staff clear the sidewalks and the curb ramps that are adjacent to city property
just as any other property owner is responsible for doing. Uh yes, the public works department who's responsible for issuing fines for failure to clear have written tickets against other city departments. Um the Boston public library or the parks
department uh have in fact been ticketed by the public works department if they don't clear the sidewalks adjacent to the park adjacent to the BPL. So we do clear sidewalks adjacent to property that we own as a city government.
The public works department also piloted a limited curb ramp specific program in 2021 and made it permanent in 2022. This covers curb ramps in high foot traffic areas in every neighborhood. So there's at least one location in every
neighborhood of the city that they consider a high foot trafficked area, main streets, things like that. Um they call it their square work. There are a lot of places that we call squares in the city that are intersections. Um, so they do clear the curb ramps in these
designated areas. Uh, it's kind of a living list, right? People change, new developments grow up, new buildings get built by the city. So it's it's not laid out in ordinance what locations these are or anything like that. And it's important to note that it's the same staff, whether that's a city staff
member or a contractor who just plowed the roads. So, speaking of the roads, um these are uh the priority for the city um to ensure that public safety and emergency assets can get around as soon as possible after a snowfall, aka you
know, EMS, fire, police, the MBTA, um you know, these are critical services that the city is focused on getting around. And so between city staff and city plows and the 10 contractors approximately each year that we work
with who put out 700 to 800 pieces of equipment. Um all of those folks are out there responsible for 800 miles of road. And when you count each lane, you know, separately if it's a two-lane road or or going in each direction, right? Um, it's
about 1,400 lane miles that uh the city clears with those 10 contractors and their in-person uh or their in-house staff. So, after clearing those, 1400 miles of road, um those are the same staff who go home, get a shower, get a
bite to eat, and then hop into smaller equipment that can clear the curb ramps. Um, and the third bullet on this page is bike lanes because again that happens after the roads, after the folks get a break, get a shower. Um, they get into
their smaller equipment like a bobcat, if you know what what that piece of equipment is. Um, and they use that equipment to clear bike lanes and to clear the curb ramps in those high foot trafficked areas. All right, there's some other public areas that people definitely love to
know about and hear about. So, the first is bus stops. So, in the city of Boston, the bus shelters uh are owned by the city. So, if there's coverage and a bench underneath that coverage, uh almost certainly it's a
City of Boston asset. And we have a contractor who maintains those, fixes them up, puts up the advertisements that you see in them. Um and that contractor is also responsible for clearing the shelter um of snow when it snows. Um
they are required to clear for both um the waiting area right if snow gets kicked in to where you want to be waiting underneath the cover and they are required to clear such that you can board. So as I describe it sort of punching through that wall of snow that might get built up on the curb ramp um
so that you can step from the or on the curb. So you can step from the curb to the bus uh or the the ramp can deploy. That is a requirement of our contractors at those shelters. The MBTA um does do some clearance as
well. They clear snow from the stops on their 10, and I actually think this is 15. I wrote 10 and I meant to Google it. I think they upped it to 15. Their 15 highest ridership routes, which as I'm sure you can imagine are largely stops in the city of Boston, um and some other
municipalities as well. Um, but they clear the snow from those stops on those routes. MBTA stations, the MBTA is going to be responsible from clearing snow from their own property. They own, you know, a certain amount of the kind of front
yard, if you will, the plaza out in front of their stations. And they're also responsible for clearing any sidewalks that are immediately adjacent to their property, just as any other property owners would be. Um, so sometimes it's not always as obvious because it's not the sidewalk directly
in front of a station, but maybe it's next to like a railard. Um, if the MBTA owns it, you know, they're responsible for clearing it. And the same with state property, stateowned buildings, stateowned parks, um, are responsible for clearing the adjacent sidewalks to their buildings.
Whoop. So, what happens if you encounter an uncleared sidewalk or an uncleared curb ramp 3 hours after snow or 3 hours after sunrise? Boston 311. You can call 311, you can email 311boston.gov
or you can use the boss 311 app. Email or the app are particularly encouraged if you are comfortable using those because you can include a picture. So you can include a picture of exactly what the problem is and that is going to help both 311 and public works because
the 311 team is going to route it to the appropriate place which is usually public works but public works will actually then go find right they'll know who to find whether it's um a state agency themselves um you know a private property owner. Uh so that picture is
going to be really really helpful to see what the issue is and exactly where it is that that you need someone to clear. And in 2026, at least as of 4 days ago, when I pulled this number after the last snow, uh the city has already issued 290
failure to clear sidewalk of snow violations. We are out. Public works is absolutely out. Even those little, you know, gentle snowfalls that that still need to be cleared. Um just cuz it's not a blizzard doesn't mean folks don't need to clear their sidewalks and don't mean
the city isn't out um taking it seriously. Uh and for context, in 2025 we issued about we issued exactly 5,943 failure to clear sidewalk snow violations. So if you're curious, we are
out there um writing these violations. And I forgot to put a slide that says questions, but that is the end of my presentation. And so if there are questions um I can absolutely take them as I'm sure there will be lost Jerry. I think
>> I'm muted. I'm sorry. I was muted. >> I was trying to find you in the list to bring you up. >> That pesky unmute button. Um thank you for your report. Uh Andre, I'm surprised that we've already had 290
or so violations. Um does that mean that they've been issued fines? What what's is a violation different than a fine or or do you not know or >> Great question. Uh they are not different. So that is 290 fines that
have been assessed um because a violation was witnessed by public works. Do we ever uh do we have numbers or do we uh or can we track the followup whether those actual fines get paid or
or or what happens? >> Yes, absolutely. So, um this is one of the public data sets that the city publishes. I'll drop the link in the chat. Um, and so it'll list the address, um, the date of the violation, whether
it's open or closed, meaning whether it's been paid or not, uh, the amount of the violation, the, you know, code, um, and any notes. So, >> great, great. Um, thank you very much.
And I see Olivia has a question. >> Yes. Um, where does that fine money go to? Great question. I believe it goes to uh public works, the public works
department um budget, operating budget. I don't believe they have a specific fund that it has to go to, a specific set of actions it has to fund, but I will triple check that.
You >> okay? Um thanks Andrea. Thanks for that. Um uh I am actually I'm going to try to fix my microphone.
Um I know my report is is next. I don't know if we could skip down to something else. Maybe somebody else could uh or Olivia or you Andrea could could uh take a couple of the next items while I I try
to try to fix my audio issues. This is Andrea. Absolutely. Um, Commissioner, I don't know if you want to do your report. If uh, Commissioner Maros, if we want to go in that order, >> can we have Patricia go next? >> If you're ready, Patricia.
>> Okay. >> Sure, Commissioner. Thank you. >> Can you hear me? Okay. >> Yes. Hi everyone, my name is Patricia Mendes. I'm the director of architectural access
and today instead of my architectural access report, I'm going to share with you uh a new city of Boston website that is called citywide project
tracker. Uh, I'm going to share my screen and I'm going to share the project tracker live and I'm going to show you how to use it
and it's very easy to use. Um, I'm going to search for projects in High Park. And it gives me Oh, it gives me a list of projects in
the neighborhood. And when you you click on each project, it takes you to additional information and it takes you to recordings with information on the
project and the recording of the actual discussion and the actual questions from the neighborhood. So I I think it's a wonderful resource and very easy to use. Uh so I'm here in in High Park.
Oh, let's just play with the windows here. Okay. So, I'm looking I'm getting a list for I'm doing something wrong here. This is live everyone. So, I want to actually I want to
switch to Alustin. Alustin. Okay. and it's taking me to Alustin projects. And let's click here on the um North Beacon Street.
Okay. And this is an example. Uh it it is easy to read and it shows the phases of the project in this case and it's complete. It's going to show you a map of the location
as we have here on the right of of the page shown by the the red marker line. And it talks about the design details and more information about that that
particular project. This one has neighborhood context in this case and um where to contact the project and then a list of updates
and if you go in there you can find all right this one is an example of the recording of the virtual meeting. I find those very informative and fun to to watch.
Uh yeah, and things like that. So I invite you to search the name again is the citywide project tracker
and I'm happy to um answer some questions. Patricia, this is Andrea. Is this every development project in the whole city or just city of Boston run projects? This is um
this is um um both both uh city of Boston projects and uh private development projects too. Okay, I see Jerry is still off screen. Um, so
I think he may still be working on Oh, I have a DM. Ah, he's going to come on on screen. >> Yes. I don't know if um you can hear me any better now, though. >> Yes. >> Is it any better? I'm seeing nods.
>> It's better. >> Yes. >> Great. Thank you so much. Um, thank you so much. And, uh, any other questions for Patricia? I don't see any. Am I missing anybody, Andrea?
>> I don't see any hands. No. >> Great. Thanks, Patricia. I really appreciate your report as always. >> You're welcome, Jerry. Thank you. >> All right. Um, Commissioner, if you're ready to go now, I'm more than happy to
have you go next. Or do you want uh me to give a brief chair's report? >> You can give your chair's report first. >> Sure. Um, my report will be very brief. I just want to hope that everybody had a good holiday season and I wanted to give
a shout out to the commissioner's office um um uh particularly around the uh the mayor's inaug in inaugural um uh the the the swearing in of the mayor and the and
the um city council and the mayor's uh inaugural address. Uh I was fortunate to attend. Uh you know I know Andrea particularly uh you know did a lot of work around that event making sure that it was
accessible. You know I spoke with her the morning of of the event uh when I arrived and and she said I think you said you had 12 or 14 uh 14 folks that had uh signed up requesting uh
requesting assistance. Um, you know, and I know not not that many at least wheelchair users uh attended it looked like, but uh the folks that did attend, we were, you know, very comfortable spots and and had a good view of
everything and and just wanted to uh give a shout out to uh you, Andrea, and the commissioner's office for uh making that uh event accessible to us. So, so thank you very much um for that and and
great work as as always. Um and I also just want wanted to encourage everyone uh when we get the opportunity to go to such events. Um it's it would be great to see more of us uh more board members
there and more folks uh you know who need us you know who need assistance folks with disabilities uh at these types of events uh you know as we say in the disability community nothing about us without us um and as representatives
of the city I think it's really important when we can to to to go to these events and to make our you know presence known and uh and just uh just to highlight the important work that
that uh that we do uh for the city. So I would encourage us you know again whenever possible to take advantage of of uh of these uh you know kind of more high-profile events when possible. But I also recognize that that everyone does a
a great job here and we all have busy lives and other work commitments and other family commitments that prevent us from taking advantage of some of these things. But I do think it's a you know important as part of our role for the city to uh to participate as much as we
can. Um again, thank thank you for you know all the work that that you know you have been doing on behalf of the city and and look forward to working with you in the coming year. I know we have you know elections coming up next month. um
who's ever you know in this chair in this uh you know leading the group uh next year. It's been my pleasure, you know, for the past year to to to lead the group uh you know, and I've had the opportunity to to lead us um on a couple
of different occasions now. And I really uh you know feel quite honored to have that opportunity and I look forward to to working with you all uh in the coming year uh you know in whatever capacity. So thank you very much everyone and with
that we'll move on to the commissioner's report. Awesome. Thank you, Jerry. All right, Andrea is going to pull up my slides. And is my microphone sounding better now, Andrea? >> Sounds good to me, but as you know, this room is tough that I'm in.
>> I know technical challenges. All right. So, as um Jerry mentioned earlier, opening the meeting, welcome to 2026, everybody. Um just want to start out by thanking you all for all the hard work you do and all the time that you
give to the city. We really appreciate your service and um value your input uh tremendously. So, thank you all. Okay, first slide up. Um I have a brief report tonight. It's not too long. Um just some updates generally on the city and my department. So, as we've talked about a
few times, um we all know about the city's office of participatory budgeting. Um voting is opening tomorrow and it runs for a month through February 15th. You can find the link there. And in case you don't remember, participatory budgeting is uh an aotment of funds that the city has set aside to
let residents decide what to do with it. So, um, ideas were proposed back in the fall and they've been, um, you know, narrowed down to a few ideas that will be posted and you get to, uh, vote on the ideas that you like. And I believe some of our board members may have
submitted an idea or two. Jerry, did you submit one? >> I did. I did. I And I believe Tara was considering sending one in sending one in anyway. I don't don't know if she did. Don't want to put her on the spot, but um, >> what was your idea, Jerry?
Uh my idea was around um around an accessible getting like an accessible van uh that the that uh that folks could use uh you know the disability commission could could use, you know, and kind of be available for folks who
who may need it. So >> that's great. And uh Tara, are you on? I don't know if you submitted anything or if you just had an idea. You're welcome to share. >> Hi everyone, I'm on um I unfortunately I
was unable to submit an idea. Um however, I did attend one of the nights um where we came together um a bunch of people from BCIL to kind of look at the ideas and narrow it down a little bit.
>> That's awesome. Thank you so much for doing that. Um, and like Jerry said, we love it when you participate in events that aren't just our meetings if you get involved in the city because that's really providing, excuse me, civic leadership, uh, with the disability lens. So, I'm really glad that you're
able to attend Tara and think about ideas for next year because, um, you know, the portal for ideas will be open before we know it. Okay, another update I wanted to give people. I don't know if the board members know this, but our office does a series of trainings and
what we call little segments called in then the know. They're little PSAs, public service announcements. So, if you go on our YouTube channel, and I'll link this into my report after the meeting, I'll put a link in, but on our YouTube channel, we have a series of u trainings that Kai, our former staff person, had
done. And we also continue to upload um different webinars that we do like our um trainings in um October during national disability employment awareness month. Um we do a monthly show called
disability access and action where we interview a city department kind of like the format where they come to this meeting. We have a convers I have a conversation with them. they talk talk about what they do and then after that segment we have a little PSA called in then the no where Andrea or Sylvie or
one of our other staff will give like a little five minute um segment on what you can do to get involved in the topic that we just discussed. So for example if I talk to the office of emergency management we might talk about the city's plans for an emergency evacuation and then the in the no segment Andrea
will say you can sign up for alert Boston and this is how you do it. So, super valuable information. Um, we'd love it if you want to log on, check them out, and also spread the word because there are a lot of different topics, too many for me to list. Um, Colleen works on this, Chris works on
this, Sylvie works on it. So, it's really um it it's a it's a lot of our work represented on this YouTube channel. So, I encourage everybody to check it out. Next slide. And then um I'm sure everybody got a copy of the um advisory board um dates
for 2026. Um they're all on a Wednesday, pretty much like the third, second or third Wednesday. Um and again, we'll be hosting we're planning for 11 meetings this year. Um combining November and December. According to our bylaws, we
have to have 10, but um this will be um our schedule for the year unless anything changes. And then my next slide is some advisory board updates. So we are still waiting back to hear on the names we submitted to Mayor Woo for new members. Um we're
patiently waiting and once we get those names we will set a date for an in-person swearing in hopefully with the mayor. So please stay tuned for more information on that. And I wanted to take a few minutes just to talk about the meeting format. So, those of you who've been on the board for a long time
may remember that we used to have um three presentations originally in our meetings and then we pulled it back to two, one city department and one nonprofit agency and then we switched to just one presentation per meeting to give people more time to um you know
listen, ask questions and you know speak about other things. And last year we added the shout out section. So, I wanted to ask if there are any other changes people would like to make starting this year in the meeting format. If you'd like to add another presentation, if you think this is a
good um kind of use of our time, um we could also talk about ideas for ordinances and city council hearings. Um I know people said they like the shout outs where everybody's picked their own kind of um topic that they want to focus on and then talk about that at the meetings. So, I really wanted to open up
to the board. um you know, the bylaws don't really say what the content of the meetings have to be, just that you give input um to our office um on things that are your concerns. So, Jerry, as the board chair, I will throw it to you to see if you have any suggestions or if
you want to ask board members if they have any. Um really just want to turn over to you. >> Yeah, no, no problem at all. Uh happy to happy to meet a discussion in regards to that. Um, anybody have any ideas or or
does the are folks happy with the with the current status uh or the current um format? I know you know as the commissioner said the feedback that I've I've heard or the disability commission has heard is that folks are happy with
the shoutouts but uh but as commissioner said I think the bylaws give us a lot of leeway on how we format these meetings. Um, so if anybody has any ideas for any changes, uh, feel free, you know, feel
free to, um, to to talk about it now, um, and or, uh, let us know. But, you know, I'd be happy to entertain any ideas now if folks or any feedback now if if anybody wants wants to say anything. >> Yeah. And I don't want to put anyone on
the spot. Um, but really the two things I want to bring up are the meeting formats because really this is your board and we we love it when you take the leadership and take the lead on things. So we want to empower you to do that. So again, two things I'm raising are the meeting formats. Um, we know the
executive committee um meets with Andrea to recommend presentations. Um, I believe Carl years ago you were the one who suggested that maybe three presentations was too many. So >> I thought three was too many at the time. Yeah. I I don't remember you said that yet, which is fair. Again, like we said, it's really your meeting. We want
to support what your priorities are. But if you think you'd like to do two, we can do that. Um, like I said, tonight may be a shorter meeting. Maybe we make the presentations shorter so you can can learn more because we really only have 11 times that we see each other a year. So, it all depends on what your priorities are.
>> Two, but not three. >> Okay. Have we also looked at what others I mean there are 351 towns in Massachusetts so there's a lot of commissions that meet. Have we looked at some of the formats of what some of the other commissions do?
>> No. But that's an interesting suggestion if people would want to look into that. I know um I've gone to Cambridge's meetings um a handful of times um and they post I get their um newsletter so I know they they post their agendas. Um we could look at that. But then also I think one of the board's biggest
successes since I've been here is the captions ordinance um that really really changed accessibility across the city. So if there any other ideas um you know we can get in touch with city council. We have to work with the um intergovernmental relations office but
we can certainly propose um city council hearings. we can look at other ordinances if there are things you notice around the city that you think um would benefit with the different accessibility component. Um you know that's really what you're empowered to
advise us to do and we're happy to to take your priorities under consideration and see if we can move the needle forward in any way. So really just want to say thank you all for your hard work and any ideas and priorities that you have. We're happy to um you know carry out some of the work to help you achieve
them. >> Thank you, Commissioner. And and like like commissioner and I said um uh Jerry as the chair um if you if you don't have ideas now or don't feel comfortable sharing now we can certainly uh discuss
this as part of the executive committee and and maybe hash hash out some some ideas for the for the early part of the of the year for for the format of the meetings. So, >> and um also thanks. I just wanted to
mention Andrea put in the chat some of the ideas for the participatory budgeting. Um she wrote that the 13 final ideas include fresh food access. I know that's something that Tara was concerned about. Workforce training, which we're all concerned about. Employment is a huge issue for people
with disabilities. Sobriety supports. And I was actually just meeting yesterday where the um you know talking about different um things that we want to get involved in. So this is something that I could see um you know having some sort of connection to
um housing stability funding for residents including residents with disabilities and several more. So I encourage you all to log on take a look at the ideas and um click on your notes. Thanks Jerry. I'll turn it back to you. Thanks so much commissioner and uh
really thanks for the reminder about you know how this is our meeting and and we can really for uh you know change the format you know as needed to to meet to to meet our needs. So I know we you've given uh food for thought for the
executive committee and the rest of the rest of the board members to to think about how we want to shape shape the meetings going forward. So, um, but now the next part of the meeting, um, is going to be the, uh, shoutouts. Again,
don't want to put anybody on the spot, but if anybody, you know, has had has, uh, had done something interesting or worked on something interesting since we've last met, now is the time to uh, to share it. So, please uh, please don't be shy,
>> Carrie. >> Yes, Carl. Go ahead. Right ahead. So, a couple of things. Uh, next week is the governor's state of the state on the 22nd, which is Thursday evening. And I am proud to say that we will have um
interpreters on camera with actual deaf interpreters doing the signing on camera. So, it'll be uh fully accessible to the deaf and heart of hearing community plus captioned. And so if uh the governor will be giving her update on the state of the union for the
commonwealth of Massachusetts more personal level I have been working on two issues over the last several months that I I feel impact um the disability community maybe more in particular the blind community. Uh one
is um service animal denials. Um, back in November, the service animal user community testified at two different bills for two different hearings. One was for S 2714 sponsored by Joan Lovely,
Senator Lovely, which was the bill to create a commission to look at the study of discrimination against service animals. I am happy to report that that has passed favorably out of committee and is now with the Senate Ways and Means. And I will be a number of us will
be meeting with Senator Lovely and Senator Kennedy next week actually to um discuss next steps in that bill. So stay tuned for the more on that. And that would just create a commission that includes all stakeholders from uh
children, families, and persons with disability comm uh uh committee at the state house to mod to um different organizations such as ARC and and all be involved in looking at how we can um better
uh enhance and and protect the laws that service animal users have. Second bill was H 2066 which was a bill to do with finding Uber and Lift drivers. That hearing was well attended.
We had oh I don't know 15 to 20 service animal users testify. The legislators took a lot of interest in it and I've heard that the speaker's office is looking at this bill. But there's a couple things there. the union and lift
riders are trying to unionize and they don't want to necessarily find the drivers. So, we don't know what to do with that bill yet. That hasn't passed out of committee. It's passed the 60-day decision deadline, but um it'll have to it'll have to be voted on by March and
that's the deadline to vote bills out of committee. So, stay tuned for more details on that. And last thing, very briefly, I don't want to monopolize monopolize all this time. As many of you know, my newest thing is autonomous vehicles because I really do believe that'll improve the lives of people with
disabilities. As you know, we testified at two city Boston hearings on the ordinance banning autonomous vehicles and and a no vote was taken. So that and the city council's legislative term ended.
So um nothing happened. But in the meantime, Bill Hannon of BCIO, I think Jerry, you were at the meeting, right? weren't you? >> Yes, that's correct. >> Right. Uh Bill Hen, the BCIL, um invited a number of advocates from the
disability, including myself, Jerry, um uh Chris Hart, who many of you know from systemwide access at the MBTA, Norah Nagel, to meet with the union. And we had many union representatives. It felt
like David versus Goliath to be honest. We had the tinkers. We had the MBTA mechanics union. We had the food and restaurant union. We had the um SDIU509. It was it was a it was a bit um
it was it was a good presence by both sides. Um we both explained our point of view. Um, and I think we did a good job of listening and understanding that it's not necessarily one side fits all and let's see if there's things we can agree
on. Um, so I don't know that anybody's mind has changed either way completely, but we at least understand that we're going to have to roll up our sleeves and find a common common ground to um go forward. And I I we're waiting to hear
what the next steps are, but that's it for me. Great. Thanks, Carl. Um Olivia, um I see that you have your hand raised. >> Yes. Uh this is Olivia. Um
normally I'm a bit of a ray of sunshine when it comes to BHA and public housing. Joke. Um, but one of the things that the housing authority has done is they're changing
their front door buzzing systems, the access systems to a control panel called butterfly MX and the app that comes with it is very
voice over accessible. I will say the user terminal down in the lobbies is not blind accessible. This is something that the task force
brought to me. I've noticed and I don't know what the housing authority is going to do about it, but this is a system that they're rolling out. Uh, we got to do something.
>> Olivia, this is Jerry. Can you clarify what the what the butterfly system I mean what what the system will do? >> It allows for digital control over the locks down in the lobby.
>> So, you can allow visitors to access the building using your smartphone. >> Oh, okay. So, does that mean that buildings will no longer BHA BHA buildings may no longer have like doorbells or
>> No, it's a doorbell that goes to your phone. >> Okay. >> Through an app on your phone. >> Okay. I could see that. I could see that being a challenge though for for folks who who don't easily use a use a smartphone. Oh,
it's been it's been interesting trying to get the information access out to particularly the older Russian speaking community in my building. >> Okay. >> Um they've had challenges and have had
to do some oneonone training. >> Great. Well, thanks for sharing that. And to to me, you always are a ray of sunshine, Olivia. So no matter what, no matter what topic, no, I'm serious. No matter what topic
you bring up, you always try to look at the at the positives before before pointing out the accessibility negatives or the lack of accessibility, you always try to stick at least something positive in there anyway. So So I appre I
appreciate that. So kill them with kindness, right, Olivia? Kill them with kindness. >> Yep. >> Right. So, thank you, Richard. I see you had your hand. >> Yeah. Thanks, Jerry. Um I have um some of you may be familiar with the state
pension system. Um it is an extraordinarily um underresourced and um uh uh slowm moving to say the least. So, I've um taken on now three cases
proono in federal court to require the appropriate agency to determine the rights of those who are disabled who have applied for benefits. some of whom have been waiting 10 years for the
process to play out before they get a determination as to whether or not they're entitled to benefits. So, I'm about to start the third case um this week. And so far in the first
two I was able to get the uh system to decide the two cases of people who'd been waiting for many years for a decision. So >> Richard Yes. >> What is it? It's only a fivep person commissioner headed by Secretary
Goldberg. What what what's the red tape or is it there so many demands? It's it's it's a long story but um uh there is um do you know who DAL is? >> Yeah.
>> The Department of Administrative Law Appeals. >> So once somebody applies for pension benefits, there's a whole process they have to go through. >> Um they apply then they sometimes they wait a year or two for hearing anything
else. Finally, they may get a notice as to how they proceed. Next, there are a set of rules that are incredibly complex. They qualif for people, most of them are doing this on their own, to comply with rules that require the size
of the type they use and the pages size and all kinds of incredibly I think um burdensome aspects to it with sometimes very short deadlines met by delays by the agencies involved. So there's it's a
multi-step process um at the end of which uh a final determination administratively is made by the contributo retirement appeal board. And the appeal board the case two cases right now that I uh one I just got
resolved. But just that piece alone, people have waiting for over four years for the appeal uh for the CRA board uh to make a decision. Um I've been told by the lawyer who represents crab,
you know, he's been pretty candid with me about how limited the resources are they have. There are three people who decide each matter. They meet only once a month. Um, one of the cases I had when I asked where my client was in the
queue, they said he was number 141 and they only meet once a month to decide cases. Um, and I believe that those who are on the board do their
best, but the resources they have are so inconsequential. It's just them. I think they have a parallegal. That's it. And they literally have hundreds of these backlogged. Um there there are two types essentially. One are those with
disabilities and then there are the others who are just trying to get their pension for whatever reason. And um and so far as those with disabilities are concerned, they meet only once a month. And uh as I said, the clients that I've
taken on have been waiting some four years or longer just for the last piece of the process, the crab appeal to be determined. Um and that's after five or six years to get to that point. So what what I'm hoping ultimately
because in each instance, you know, the the agency decided to, you know, decide to decide the case. I'm just hoping that eventually I'll get some judge who um who will make a decision that will send
a message that um the state really needs to do something about this. It's very unfair. So uh thank you Richard for um for taking on this issue. Just a brief question for clarification. Does every
any everyone every state worker who who you know tries to collect their pension have to go through the same process? >> Yeah. Now some people um you know will will get their pension in a shorter period of time but you know others where
there are contested issues um go through years and years of the process. One I have now um at an earlier stage she won and uh in front of Dallas and then Crab
appealed and then she's been waiting four and a half years >> for a decision there. If I just retired, I'm a state employee, right? If I just retired but did not put in the disability claim, I would just be putting in for my pension. That's a routine matter. They tend to just let
those go, >> you know, because it I think you're talking specifically about people who put in disability claims. Let me ask you this, Richard. Is it the same if you become disabled meaning because of an
accident on the job or whether you become disabled because like you had a heart attack you know there there are two types of dis I forget what they called but there's two types of disability claims one on the job and one if you just physically become disabled
is it the same ownerous procedure for both >> well it's different if you're disabled on the job then you have a worker's comp claim >> okay that's what I thought okay Yeah. >> Well, thanks for advocating uh on behalf of of folks, Richard, and thanks for
bringing the issue up to the board. Anyone else on the board have anything that they'd like to share? Not seeing anything. I guess we'll move on. Um and I may need some clarification. Uh in regards to this
next agenda item, uh it's uh the executive committee elections. I know we're going to um hold uh elections next month, but is there something that that we should be doing in preparation uh for those elections, Andrea or Commissioner?
>> Yeah, great question, Jerry. So note of um order is that um you cannot nominate and vote in the same meeting. Uh so the intention is to uh have people nominate
you can nominate yourself you can nominate someone else. Uh as has been the tradition for the last several years at least since I've been here folks who are interested have communicated with Commissioner Macos and she will formally nominate the slate today. Um folks who
wish to accept the nomination will do so um verbally or in the chat so we know you you agree. Um and then at our next meeting um you know your names will be listed in the agenda. Um we'll do a second call for nominations just to make sure that if anyone's changed their mind
um but we'll be able to vote in February after um nominating folks today. >> Okay, great. Um, so should I ask on the from the floor if there's folks are interested or or are
we ready to take up a slate now or how should we proceed? >> If you open the floor for nominations, anyone who has them can speak and I do happen to know commissioners got some. >> Okay. Uh I well uh um based on that I
will open up the floor for nominations. And commissioner, would you like to would you like to um put some forth? >> I'd be happy to, but I just want to make space at the beginning for anyone else who hasn't communicated with me if they are interested in nominating themselves
or anyone else. I'll just give the board members that opportunity before I speak. Okay, hearing that. I don't see any. Do you see any hands, Andrea? Jerry. Okay, >> I don't. So, go right ahead, commissioner. >> Thanks, Jerry. So what I would like to
nominate for the 2026 year of executive committee is Zaryi for board chair, Jerry for vice chair, Olivia for secretary, and Tara for treasurer.
>> Commissioner, have all these four people been communicated with and accepted the nomination >> or accepted the willingness to serve? >> Yes. We would ask that they all indicate in this meeting as well if you could unmute
or put in the chat. >> Happy to serve. >> Thanks, Jerry. >> Absolutely. I'm happy to serve and uh looking forward to the next steps. >> Thanks. Sorry.
>> Olivia said Olivia said she accepts in the in the chat. >> Thanks, Olivia. Tara, are you still happy to serve >> in the chat? Tara has accepted. >> Yeah, I want to see a detailed budget.
>> I see a thumbs up from Tara. >> So, um I believe the next step is we wait until next month to do the actual vote. But um in the meantime, you know, if anybody has any other thoughts, um you do have these next few weeks to uh
consider nominations and also consider who you would like to vote for. >> Great. Thank you, Commissioner. And uh and as I said in in my report um you know it it's it is my honor to to serve
with everyone and it's my continued honor to to serve and particularly serve on the executive committee and I I know that Zary's Zary um uh will do a great job if she is formally u formally
elected and I you know I know the entire executive committee will do a great great job if formally elected next month. So >> on that note, Cherry, could I just add um sorry I I would be remiss if I didn't thank Paul for his service on the executive committee. Paul, I know you've
been on for several years now and we really appreciate your your advocacy and um you know all the work that you do on behalf of people with mental health. So thank you for your service, Paul. >> It's been an honor and a pleasure. Uh thanks for including me and I look
forward to serving on the advisory board still. That's a great slate nominated. >> Yeah, I want to second that. Paul, thank you so much for for stepping up in leadership and I'm glad that you're staying on the uh on the advisory board.
>> Thank you, Feelings Mutual. It's been a privilege. >> Thanks. And thanks everyone. But again, you know, again, uh feel free, as Commissioner said, to to think about it. If you want to throw your hat or
somebody else's hat in the ring, uh next month during during uh during the election, please feel free to uh feel free to do so. Um you you know it's my hope that you know everyone will serve
in an executive u uh capacity at some point during their time on on the board if if at all possible. So so it it is a great experience. So uh thank you everyone for considering it and thank
you for for for uh nominating uh us commissioner and and we look forward to serving. So um now under old business I see we have autonomous vehicles. We had a we had a great presentation in
December uh from uh professor from north northeastern and uh any followup to that? >> Thanks Jerry. Um yes and no. Um there's no formal uh motion or anything on the table right now from members of the
board, but um I have heard from folks that this is a topic that you want to continue discussing because it is um sort of ripe for the advisory board to give some advice, right? Um there is this question of what should be the city's policy when it comes to
autonomous vehicles. And so I have heard from board members that you do want to continue discussing and learning more. um and to potentially give advice, um give testimony, you know, write a letter, something like that may come out of it. So, with that in mind, we um as
staff are continuing to search for uh a second presenter. We've heard from a technical expert about what they are. Uh there are some some policy experts out there, some uh officials in other cities where these vehicles have deployed like Austin and um San Francisco, Los
Angeles. Uh so we'll be working with uh the executive committee to identify the best next presenter to talk about this issue with you all. Um so just leaving it on the agenda mostly as a heads up unless and until there is a motion uh from you all to do something or to let
it drop. Does anyone u on the advisory board now is there something that they would like to um to say on this topic or or are we comfortable u waiting to discuss it further in executive in in as part of
the executive committee? >> The only thing I'll this is the only thing I'll say is I do think we should it's coming whether we like it. For instance, last night in the New York governor's state of the state, she proposed legislation to allow
autonomous vehicles in the state of New York except for New York City. So, it's coming and I'd like the disability community to have a voice on the accessibility for blind people, wheelchairs users have a voice on making sure they're away vehicles, people with
um hidden disabilities, make sure they have the ability to use the vehicles. I don't want this to be a wild wild west like it was with Lift and Uber where now we have no way of enforcing discrimination whether it isn't just service animals that are being denied on
Uber. Um wheelchair users who can manually transfer into a car but drivers are making assumption when they see them so they pull away. People with cane they pull away um before they even pick up. So I'd like I'd like us to be involved. It's coming.
I don't know what the next steps are. I don't know where to take this. But I would like just this to be an ongoing subject as the matter of uh as the subject evolves over time that we just occasionally look at it and see how we
can help shape policy. >> Uh this is Jerry. Thank you, Carl. And I think I think you're you're speaking uh the language of the executive committee. you know, I I think that's that's what we want to try to do. We want to try to
help shape the city's policy and and and and be part of that discussion. Uh so I I I think I think the exe the the current executive committee is right is right in line with you. So So let's hope
>> let's hope we it's true in the going forward as well. So So um but anybody else like to weigh in on this topic now? Seeing none, uh I will uh move on. Um and now now it's time for public input
uh uh portion of the meeting. Uh Andrea, can you give a little uh two-minut spiel, please? >> Absolutely. Um hi everyone. Uh all members of the public are invited to give a comment or to ask a question. Um,
you may notice you are not able to unmute yourselves on your own right now. If you have a question or comment, we ask that you use the Zoom raise hand function. Uh, come on camera and and raise a hand or wave at the camera or indicate in the chat that you have a
question or a chat. Once recognized by the chair, you will have two minutes to give your question or comment. uh if you would like to sign your question or comment, please note that as well in the chat so that I can pin you uh so that folks watching at home have equal access
to your comment or question. So again, please indicate that you have a question uh if and when you are recognized by chair Boyd, I will send you a request to unmute and time your comment or question. So, does anyone from the public like
would would like to make a comment or have a question? >> Am I missing anyone? Andrea, >> I am scrolling to see if anyone's coming on camera, but not seeing anyone.
>> Oh, Jerry. >> Hold on. Just one minute. Just want to give anybody Do you see anybody from the public? Was there anybody from the public on tonight? Andrea, >> we do have a few members. Um,
>> okay. We don't want to put them on the spot, but you know, now would be the be the time, but I think we've given them opportunity. As always, uh we we do appreciate folks from the public uh attending our meetings and and would
encourage you to to to uh speak up uh at future meetings. Continue to attend and and speak up at future meetings uh when you're comfortable. So, uh hearing that, um uh Mr. Richardson, uh do I would you
like to make your motion to adjurnn? Since you're wearing a Bruce Springsteen t-shirt and you are the boss, I want to ask um for a motion to adjurnn. >> Oh, I thought you were going to say you were going to ask for a for a motion to
run to born to run, Carl. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Uh uh but I'm sure you're on air. Uh anyway, any seconds to that motion to adjourn? >> I second. >> Paul, I second. >> Uh Paul, let you to Paul. All in favor?
>> I >> All right, we are adjourned and we'll see uh everyone uh next month. I really appreciate uh everybody's work and it was a great meeting and and uh and stay safe and we'll see you next month. >> Thanks everybody.
>> Good night everybody.