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 FiOS channel 962 and live streamed on YouTube and I will turn it over to our board chair West this West speaking thank you Andrea good evening everyone uh I'm going to just go ahead with the born meeting agenda uh the meeting has already been called to order and we will begin as we do with introductions I'm going to go first again my name is West Ireland I am the board chair and I'm a death person I will be using American Sign Language throughout the meeting and the voice that you will hear is by two female sign language interpreters uh and I live in the North End and let me I will call on people in the order that I see them so I'll call you by name at the moment I see Jerry so Jerry would you please introduce yourself sure happy to West my name is Jerry Boyd and I'm a member of The Advisory um Ward and I live in West Roxbury this Wes thanks Jerry thanks for doing that pette would you introduce yourself please my name is pette I live in the Madan section of Boston thank you forette Charlie would you introduce yourself please hi my name is Charlie Kim I'm a resident of the North End and I'm on The Advisory Board representing parents and caregivers and children with disability great thank you Carl it's your turn yes hi my name is Carl Richardson I live in Brighton I am the secretary and um of the board commission and I identify a de one thanks very much saryi hi everyone my name is Zary i'mi I'm a resident of South Boston and thank you Paul go ahead please hi my name is Paul Karen I live in the West End I serve as the vice chairman of the board and and I serve as an advocate for mental illness thank you thank you Paul Richard hello everyone member of the board and this is the sign language interpreter I'm not hearing Richard are other people hearing rich this is Andrea yeah we're not hearing you in the room either Richard um this is West Richard now you're muted do you want to try again over here but it's a the loud and clear for this West um sorry Richard um so we weren't able to hear that um but dcio would you introduce yourself please uh good evening everybody um my name is D the D Al short and I'm former Vice chair and I'm here and it's bad to see everybody thank you Mrs West have I missed any board members currently present okay uh commissioner mcos would you introduce yourself please sure thanks Wes hi everybody I'm Kristen mcos and I serve as the disability commissioner and Ada title 2 coordinator for the city of Boston glad to be here with you all thank you commissioner mcon all right I believe that's everyone uh so let's look at our agenda and see where we will continue uh next on our list is approval of the minutes from our prior meeting does anyone have any questions or comments uh from the for the minutes from last meeting uh which would be our March 2024 meeting if there are no comments or questions with them as written can someone make a motion please to approve the minutes as written car I don't move thanks Carl this jary second thanks Jerry okay so uh Carl has made a motion for the minutes to be uh approved as written and Jerry has seconded all in favor please signify by saying I or raising your hand uh I any opposed sorry I meant to say hi this is Jerry I was muted this is West not a problem Jerry so the motion passes the meeting minutes are approved from March with no opposition as written all right so moving on with our agenda we have a presentation this evening from the mayor's office of housing so please join me in welcoming Amanda quack for her presentation about homelessness in Boston hi everyone um as I mentioned m z qua of the Supportive Housing division director and along with me tonight is Jim green I'll let him introduce himself okay unmuted hi I'm uh Jim green I'm the assistant director for uh Street homelessness initiatives and coordinator of the annual um Street Count uh of the um the unsheltered homeless senses the annual point and time count thank you Jim and I will now share my uh or I don't know if Andre if you had perfect I'm happy too that way you can be on thank you so Jim and I talked about um just kind of giving some background information about Boston's response to homelessness and some context on how we're funded um so Boston's response to homelessness is through our continue Mo of care also known as the Boston cooc and the United um States Department of Housing and Urban Development also known as HUD Awards homeless assistance program funds through two communities through the COC coc's are a particular geographical region and the City of Boston is one of the many coc's in the um nation and it's a CommunityWide planning with the goal of ending homelessness um with the goal of providing funds to um to quickly rehouse people experiencing homelessness promote access to effective use of mainstream programs promote long-term stability improve data collection and performance measurement each COC has a lead agency and as the mayor's office of Supportive Housing division we are the lead um in the city of Boston each year we submit a competitive annual um HUD application and we are leading the planning coordination of all the above of listed COC responsibilities in addition to that we are designated and operating the homeless management information system also known as the hmis and um this is a database where all the different shelters both on the family side and the individual side funnel in and then we also oversee Des the designing a coordinated entry system for prioritization so really U being intentional in how we allocate resources so for the Boston COC 2023 award um we were awarded 47.7 million on January 29th 2024 um this is total funding total of 43 projects 39 of them are renewals and we have four new projects and HUD encourages coc's to prioritize funding for projects serving homeless serving households with highest level of need including those that are chronically homeless and the definition of chronically homeless is individuals with a disability as defined in section 401 by the mckin vento assistant act um which outlines you know living in a place that is not meant for human um habitation a safe haven or an emergency shelter has been homeless and living um as described for at least 12 months or on at least four separate occasions in the last 3 years um buet occasions equaling 12 months with breaks separating of at least seven consecutive nights and individual residing in an Institutional care facility for fewer than 90 days and met the definition prior to entering the facility um and any family with an adult head of household meets all the criteria of this definition including a family who whose composition has fluctuated while the head of household has been homeless and through the funding through HUD these are some of the services that are available through our continual care one would be the per permanent support of housing psh um permanent support of housing in which housing assistance is long-term and ongoing uh rental assistance and provides support services for the individual client rapid rehousing um is also considered hous permanent housing that provides either shortterm up to 3 months medium-term which is 4 to 24 months attendant based rental assistance with Supportive Services uh additionally it also provides transitional housing it provides temporary housing with Supportive Services with the goal of interum stability and support to successfully move an individual um to maintain permanent housing and then we also have supported Services only which include Outreach to shelter and unsheltered homeless individuals and families providing referrals to housing or other necessary services and safe havens um Supportive Housing that serves hard to reach home individuals who um have severe mental health illness who come primarily from the streets and have been unable or unwilling to participate in housing support um services and just to give a little bit of a recap of who we served in 2023 um 936 total individual adults exited into permanent housing and and of that 15 um s veterans exited to permanent housing and 113 young adults which consist of Ages 18 to 24 exited to permanent housing and I was actually able to run two other data points that I'll share here today um that did make it to the slide I'm sorry about that um 1,33 adult and children households or families exited into permanent housing and of all the um clients that we served 46.69 of clients served report at least one disability and and then the way that we engage um with different clients um is through our uh consumer um provider groups one is the Boston uh consumer advisory Council on ending homelessness also known as back home it consists of 13 individuals with lived experience they meet um to discuss housing stabilization and issues related to provision of Housing and then we also have a Boston cooc youth Council ages 18 to 24 who also um have lived experience and talk about ways to prevent and end youth homelessness in Boston so these are just um some facts and some data metrics to share with you but I'll also open it up to Jim to if he wants to share any of his insights um um thanks Amanda and just you know for all of you so just collectively so I've worked on the annual uh application that the mayor's office of housing is the lead on for HUD funding to fight homelessness for 21 years um the team collectively has done a really good job uh when I came to the city we got about 16.2 million a year this last year we got 47 million about three times as much and it's a very competitive Federal grant program um most of that funding the the award we got this year that was a record award um most of that goes into the renewal of programs that are predominantly used for the model mod that Amanda mentioned which is called permanent Supportive Housing that is Supportive Housing housing that has some degree of um case management and stabilization assistance for people moving in uh who as as Amanda suggested you know and would be of interest to this board have a high interest of high incidents of people uh with a range of uh uh disability uh issues that they're um kind of living with and and that are important to factor into their their um support for the housing that they move into uh we are still finalizing this year's annual census we have a lot to do to do data quality checks Etc um but our emergency system is for individuals is essentially overseen by the Boston Public Health commission and some nonprofit agencies you may be famili with the Pine Street in uh Rosy's place there are day programs at St Francis house uh and a range of Human Service Providers bve and victory programs notably and Elliot Community Health Services and others that we work with there're also a lot of folks in transitional units at the New England Center at home for veterans which ab buts City Hall Plaza so you may be familiar with that program at 177 Court Street uh and then emergency adult shelters where people can pretty much show up and seek a b or seek assistance um the board may your board may be familiar with the fact that we are seeing a lot of uh Asylum Seekers and refugees Etc who are um also turning to the shelter system that has historically served just unhoused residents uh of Boston uh the the state oversees the family shelter uh portfolio what's called emergency assistance but we work closely with providers and partners in fact Amanda came to us from one of those agencies uh empath that used to be crint in house and it may be of interest to the board that um the prioritization when we appli to HUD we have to explain who has a priority for certain housing resources we work closely with the Boston Housing Authority and so they for example there Section 8 program for non-elderly disabled persons um we we use the Boston Housing Authorities standards and definitions for those housing resources um and for elderly and disabled um you know I would say the majority of our resources almost all them go to people who have some and sometimes compounding um medical mental health uh and uh often substance Ed histories but not always um so uh you know our our partners and uh provider Network in the city are people who serve folks with very high of uh kind of uh prevalence of um people with disabilities um I I'll do say I would be very interested in ways and thoughts that that your board has of ways you might help advise us on any of the facets of our work where we could um you know be more uh inclusive and and Center you know I amand that I can talk with our colleagues about this but you know whether a liaison to this board uh when we do Grant reviews uh for proposals or um because I you know I think you know that it's a facet of of homeless that unfortunately um the the prevalence of people with disabling conditions is High um we have done advocacy over the years for example HUD had a definition of chronic homelessness that Amanda touched on the length of time that you're homeless someone with a household with a disabling condition uh Charlie I heard you introduce your role on the board you'd be interested to know there there was advy on it used to be that the adult head of household had to have the disability but very often there were children with significant burdens of disabling conditions there was a lot of advocacy with HUD to expand the definition so that a family household uh would be eligible for a range of resources based on um you know dependent children in the househol with Bas disa condition so um but very happy to be here and thank you all really for the work that you do uh you know with the city but also on behalf of the communities constituencies that you serve chairman bus here um I just want to again thank you Amanda and for your presentation um I think that you know we can open the floor at this point in time for any questions or comments that the board may have um I see that Charlie has raised his hand go ahead with that hi this is Charlie Kim U thanks again for the the presentation and all the work that you're you're doing um Mr Green I I I think I've seen several of your presentations when you go to Neighborhood meetings I think you came to the North End um a little bit after the pandemic I believe to get a report to our our neighborhood um councel was it before the pandemic but there was a lot um a lot of activity going on and and you gave a lot of great information on how the neighborhood can Advocate and also deal with um some of the when there's excess evenings especially in the winter time when people are not um entering into some of the facilities like the the Pine Street end and everything so that was very helpful CU it was it was um it was a challenging winter and then also there was a lot of lot of over so I appreciate that um in the presentation I I I saw the metrics in there I I was always get surprised when I see actual numbers placed on these things um are those total numbers of all that were served or did you disaggregate to show specifically the numbers that pertain to individuals that identify that that have at least one disability I heard that there was a percentage but I didn't know if that included if that was the aggregate number or if that is the net number that was the net number um so the others were just um the total was the 936 and then I broke it down by veterans and young adults and um then had a separate for families okay and then follow a question to that then because there's certain categories like with veterans and also with young adults do you have the ability to uh I guess cross collaborate or um use funds from other like Veterans Affairs or if there's anything that like a student or family crosses over into Boston Public Schools that would say Force multiplier but to be able to add you know additional assistance from different resources um or does it all when these individuals fall under your purview you are basically following them in those funds for assistance only come from from the limited resources that you have I see Jim has his hand up so maybe I don't know Jim you want to take a yeah if I could maybe try to okay try to help with that and then someone can help me figure out how I lower my house and um so just to say Amanda was some of the numbers Amanda reported on that's not the total number of households or individuals served in a given year through our shelters through the shelters it's over 11,000 individuals I think it's an extremely high number for families there's a high number that moves through um and and also depending on whether we talk about the programs for individual adults or programs for family households the prevalence of disability that it probably is the aggregate number but it's it may be Tethered to people who are housed Amanda was really digging for a lot of information people who received Supportive Housing in the past year the the number of people who cycle through the systems is is much higher um there's a broad array of other Partnerships and resources for example the New England Center and home for veterans that I mentioned gets substantial funding from the Veterans Administration uh also the Veterans Administration purchased housing vouchers from HUD a program called bash uh the Veterans Administration Supportive Housing uh then and providers will get some resources through uh the state's veteran serving agencies of the Public Health commission Garners a lot of funding from the State Department of Public Health Bure of substance abuse Services we have a number of Provider partners with funding from uh both the State Department of Mental Health so Elliott Community Health that I called is the Statewide path provider path is an acon for program uh of uh assistance to the homeless um and um so there's a really broad range most kind of similar to the side of our mayor's office of housing that does Housing Development where there's usually a an assemblage of multiple sources of funding to build affordable housing projects uh our our programs and resources what we manage and administer and oversee here at the mayor's office of housing is substantially the HUD continue of care Grant although there are two or three other HUD programs that also come through us but then most of our providers get uh you know the the state does some of the funding of the individual adult shelter system Etc so and then a lot of services that people provide are uh some of them are billable to or reimbursable through Medicaid Medicare Etc Boston has the preeminent healthcare for the homeless program in the nation and substantial their programs are are through um uh Medicaid uh a little bit through Medicare and then some particular grants for federally qualified Health Centers um that come so yeah there's there's there are many other sources of funding across uh the homeless provider Continuum um we we wanted to talk about what we Center on W here uh I did also just want to recognize Richard and Olivia um have had their hands up for questions or comments so Richard you can go ahead thanks Wes um Amanda and Jim thank you so much um I apologize if I missed this but um how many homeless uh residents are there in Boston and what is your and and is there a percentage of them that are disabled I'm not sure I quite got that apologies if I if I missed it um and then my question my follow question is what how do you intersect with this commission to um address especially those with disability um I was able to run um a report through our warehouse so um to Jim's point the dates I ran were from January 1st 2023 to December 31st uh 2023 so for calendar year um 2023 um and we had about I think 14 thou 14,000 individuals that we've had you know touches Services either in shelter and of that um it was let me look at my numbers real quick I believe it was 46.69 % of of the individuals identified as having at least one disabling um condition so Amanda is the uh 14,000 is that a comprehensive total or is that just the number is it whether they get services or not it's all clients of um all ages um so it's yeah so very comprehensive um it's including families um so yes and it's not just like exits to permanent housing it's maybe if they're getting you know Support Services only so any touches within our um service providers is where that number comes from so but my question is are are there I mean I be incredibly impressed if every homeless person is touched by you guys I'm sure you do everything you can to reach as many of them as you can but is it really in the totality of what's out there in our city and I I see people I'm sure we all do in different parts of the city who appear to be homeless and my gut tells me there a lot more than 14,000 who are homeless and and maybe they're not all coming on your spring it's no fault of yours but or or is it really you pretty confident that it's 14,000 and that's the the population of the homeless in the city regardless of whether you touch with them or not Jim correct me or wrong I believe that is also probably on including the family side too it is why don't um Richard one thing that may be helpful and I'll just I'm going to look over here because I have it up on my screen but you know we do an annual Point time count so that 14,000 is all the individuals um veterans the unaccompanied you've seen by say bridge over Trel Waters um uh the people that cycle through the family emergency shelter system we also helped a lot of people through the pandemic with a program called rapid rehousing which was up to two years of rental assistance for people so it it it's all the people touched on by the programs that we fund and that report to us through a data system called the homeless management information system there is a report uh each year posted on the city website uh the homeless census summary and I'm just looking at the the the 2023 totals that's the count that we did in uh January of last year um and at that time 169 people we saw during one night at the same time that we counted all of this were on the street 1,343 individuals were in emergency shelter beds for adults many of them there's a higher prevalence there of disabling conditions than overall for the system there were 256 adults with no dependent children or families in transitional programs and 35 in a Department of Mental Health specialized program called a safe haven so we had 1,83 individual adults without children among all those categories for families we had 1,129 families at that time who were in emergency shelter but you know that's 3,395 were about uh an average of close to three family members per household uh and then a a model that HUD kind of uh that that agencies moved away from a transitional housing um they were just four families and two families um so in in that mix there are some domestic violence shelters included Etc so about 2/3 of about 60% of the population of person served at a point in time were uh families in mostly an emergency shelter um but the data system counts other people that are in transitional beds and shelter programs Etc so um it's a it's a kind kind of a patchwork bu of multiple systems the 14,000 that cycle through the system is partly reflective of the fact that as all of you know Boston is the principal is the major Metropolitan City between Manhattan and Montreal we have a lot of people who come into Boston from uh across Eastern Massachusetts and the Commonwealth and sometimes Beyond in part because we do maintain a safety net of shelter here um I I anticipate although we haven't finished finalized the numbers that that the numbers of people in shelter will increase this year uh because a lot of beds were added to address the Asylum seeker and and immigrant U population that has been much in the news um and also just to restore the fact that we also have the the opioid epidemic creates a lot of the visible homelessness that people sometimes see going around the city um so it's but yeah 14,000 is that's actually significantly higher than it was um sort of probably pre pandemic but a lot of its people who are here sort of very briefly maybe in a bed for one or two nights it's unclear whether they're just unstably housed and then turning to shelter briefly or whether they have longer term histories of homelessness but we use our data system to track to try to to understand the people who've been in shelter and systems the longest and cluster around their needs I would just say to your other question I think that sometimes when the city has certain kinds of hearings like the the Boston Housing Authorities uh action plan or we have our own um uh HUD continu of care action plan at times there may be public meetings where your board and commission uh interact with us I know that commissioner MOS and the the staff uh include our director Sheila Dylan and other Representatives around certain kinds of of planning so I think there's some back and forth but I think there's probably more um potential for cross collaboration as well as we sort of do our strategic planning apologies to you Olivia there that went on a little long don't worry about that that's fine um it's okay um so we'll move on at this point to Olivia and your comment or question go ahead Olivia yes Olivia Richard um my question is how many of the emergency night shelter that very first point to contact are accessible for people with disabilities uh I can take that one a minute so Olivia they are all um required to be accessible that doesn't mean they're all built and designed so for example I actually worked at Pin Street in for 16 years before coming to the city you know they had to put in some for example uh ramps for people with Mobility assistance needs that they had to build it to the lobby Etc um there are some programs that are just uh you know somewhat better designed the large individual adult Emergency Shelters uh are to my knowledge all ADA Compliant um there is uh one program run by um uh B Human Services the Boston night Center where there is one elevator uh that's use that's a place that's really more of a drop in it doesn't have beds but it has um uh people can sort of uh because of zoning and other things it's it's people can sit in chairs and after midnight they can kind of set up mats or things on the floor it's unfortunate it's just the original design was based on a program New York um you know that that does have a lot of stairs uh it's next door to the former temporary home for women if you went and looked at the temporary home for women during covid that building was vacant uh it's over I think on it's near Stanford Street or balker Street um you will see a very large accessibility ramp outside that would had to be built and connected to I think a second floor entrance to make a very old uh Municipal Building uh more accessible for people but places are required to to plan and certainly renovate and try to make things make bathrooms ADA Compliant um uh but uh you know a number of our programs and buildings Pine Street in main building is in the former Fire Department headquarters that was built in 1892 their women shelters a former sewing machine factory but a lot of work was done internally to try to improve uh accessibility they also have and we Bo in our continue of care but um all of those agencies have accessible services around translation around sort of TTY and uh other things for clients who need um you know either who you know deaf blind or um having other disability needs so um uh as far as I know that compliance is it's a requirement actually I think of some of the licensing and to receive the the city and federal funding um I don't know how much work the commission your your board and commission do uh in Partnerships but hi it's Kristen I can jump in for a minute um just to say that uh we've worked more closely with Jerry Thomas um who ow CC shelters that the city owns rather than Pine Street in which are private nonprofits so we have worked with them on like a a policy for when the elevator's broken and um they have a whole policy where they can move people with disabilities and other shelters and um you know we've done some long-term planning with that uh with that part of bphc but always welcome to collaborate further yeah that's great we'd be welcome to just get Reflections from the the the board and the the team at the mayor's office and uh think about hearing about other um potential for partnership Etc Jerry also retired after I I think 40 years between city and state so Gregory Gray Thomas is her successor um but we do try to Center equity and access uh as far as it's possible and we certainly have language to that effect you all the the contracts we have with partner agencies who we the pass through for federal funding this Wes thank you this is Wes um um I actually have a comment as well a followup that I would like to ask um after Olivia and Richard's questions so I uh just read this eye opening book actually and I wanted to mention um this book that I got from the Boston Public Library called rough sleepers and IT addresses a lot of these issues of homelessness uh here in Boston over the last 40 years and I'm amazed um you haven't talked about rust sleepers as opposed to folks who are experiencing homelessness people who are sleeping on the street in that way it's an older term for folks who aren't uh familiar with it it's a old British term that was SL for people who prefer to sleep on the street um and I'm wondering whether the office is keeping track of data around those folks um folks who are what we would call rough sleepers um especially information from the Boston Public Health commission on that population um so Wes that's a great question and I'll just say that when I was initially invited that is the population my title is assistant director for Street homelessness initiatives and that's the population I've substantially served uh throughout my career uh with the city and prior to this um we don't use the term uh rough sleepers it's a it's a term that Dr joim McConnell dearly loves um he spent some time at University of Cambridge and England and brought carried back that sensibility with him but we uh one thing I didn't mention is addition to the 47.7 million we got from HUD generally last year we were awarded 16.5 million over the next 3 years through a highly competitive special funding opportunity to address unsheltered homelessness in Boston um I I I would be happy to come back in the future and give an overview of that we have really robust Partnerships um uh with a range of providers covering Street Outreach the medical van the the van in the book rough sleepers that Dr Jim oon goes out on is actually the Pine Street and Outreach van which has gone to the street since 1986 I helped found Pine Street daytime outreach program with HUD funding from this department that I now worked for back in 1997 so I've worked with unsheltered populations for a long time during the covid pandemic we started an initiative called Street to home which began in June of 2021 and closed out October 31st of last year we housed 300 individuals who had been sleeping on the street uh who had substantial histories of unsheltered homelessness through a range of any kind a strong partnership with Boston Housing Authority a lot of covid related um housing resources that were specially given to cities Etc um we the the funding we receive from HUD is about 5.5 million a year for 3 years and uh we are just going through a list we we just assessed about 2 200 people with what's called a housing Pathways assessment over the last several weeks we have 372 housing opportunities for people who uh Jim okon would refer to as rough sleepers over the next 3 years um we also have an executive leadership uh board and it could be we can loop back with uh our team uh it could be that having a liaison from this this board and commission would help us to be uh as inclusive and thoughtful on issues of advocacy and support for people uh with disabilities which I would say is is easily 90% 90% of the people that we see uh Dr Jim McConnell's uh Tracy kter gets that right that there's a very high prevalence of the the unhappy word TR morbid conditions um High medical need or medical or physical disability um mental health and substance use needs but but yeah that's the work I mostly do I sort of deferred I thought you might be interested in a larger picture of all the work the mayor's office of housing does on homelessness but um that's my area this is thank you very much uh any other questions or comments from the board all right well I really do want to thank you both again Amanda and Jim for your presentations and you know really you we learned quite a bit about what you've given to us this evening um so I hope you have a very very good night um and we can go ahead and proceed with the remaining of our board agenda thank you all right so now it's time for the chair person's report uh there are four things I want to mention so in my chair person's report last month I mentioned the bill that would be was sponsored by Governor hey to remove the outdated and discriminatory terms used to describe people with disabilities I just found out that the bill was passed by the State House Representatives and now is on the floor of of the state senate it's what I'm seeing on the news and media however when I look at the Massachusetts legislative Bill search engine website it looks to me as if it's already underway with the house way means which the purpose of this bill would be to replace or rename the Massachusetts re commission MRC excuse me would be now Massachusetts ability and the terms age hand handicapped and disabled and the RW and autistic would be removed and replaced with the current currently appropriate terminology uh person with a disability and a person with an intellectual disability and the artistic term would be replaced with the term autism so with this being said and these with these new terminology changes I'm you know I'm propos I'm not as concerned about the terminology and how we are as the disability advisory Council and the disability of board um secondly there was an oped article in the Boston Globe about 3 weeks ago it was in regards to someone's opinion on Governor Healey's budget cuts proposed that feeling that it would be you know it really threaten about 50 years of disability rights such as slashes of fundamental personal care services for people with disabilities if legislation legislators agree it's approximately 6,000 people who will be losing as many as hours of weekly support and so that makes it this support makes it possible for them to live with their disabilities and in some cases they'll be removed and the they'll be taken out of the care for others it allows them to live with dignity and then I also want to encourage the board members to schedule oneon-one meetings with me to discuss any ideas you may have for the board um please reach out to me by email if you are interested in scheduling some time with me and the fourth item I have tonight is with the later sun setting happening in throughout these upcoming months of May June and July it tends to be that you know the sun sets until after 7:30 until September so I'd like to pull the board about possibly posting um an in-person meeting while you know hybrid will remain as an option you know maybe we can schedule one more Month in May and see kind of I was curious to know what the board's thoughts were um this will be the end of my chair's chair report now so if there are any other questions or comments I'm open to them now co go ahead so um this call and there were a number of members who are new to the commit well not new but they're new since we went the hybrid format completely and I think and I and I think we should probably keep the majority of the meeting hyrid but I wouldn't mind one meeting so that we could just meet everybody in person get to know each other say hello and and just get a sense of who other who who everybody is so I think it's a good idea okay thank you Carl any other thoughts or ideas um do we should we take a poll and see if this is something we should do do we want to have an inperson inperson meeting during the month of May this is Andrea if folks want to just put in the chat or maybe do a thumbs up um this is not a Robert's Rules of Order official position um of the board so we don't need can a com I think that you're muted so you're I'm not sure if you're talking I was going to make a comment were you waiting to speak Andrew can you hear me now we can't hear you yes or no oh okay hold on I don't know what's happening while Andrea is looking into the uh technical issues um can everybody hear me go ahead yes yeah go ahead okay great um I could also offer to um maybe we could organize a get together in person after the community Forum which is to weeks from today so if people are able to come and stay a little bit afterwards we can always do that I'll just throw that out there on the table okay sounds good to me um Zary yeah I actually like that idea of maybe doing it after the community get together um I just want to be very um they aware that some of us are in compromise so this is really the best to do these meetings um mus zo so I I understand that we going to get together and see each other in person and iire to go to as many of these meetings as possible but it is not really necessary for us to me in person I would prefer not to um just to be respectful of some of the members here who have not been able to attend any of the meetings um so that's what to put that as well thank you Z I do know that you know the idea of having it in person may not be the best opportunity that which is I was suggesting maybe once or twice a year um and thought maybe that was like a minimum to ask for I do see that Jerry has his hand up and then fall Jer CH one um I apologize um about that I didn't realize I was muted um thank you Wes this is Jerry um I would support uh getting together U after the community Forum if possible um you know I would try to make any meeting you know that we would have in person if I could um you know but I also I second and I appreciate Zary bringing up that for a lot of us you know inperson meetings are very very you know difficult due to health and and other reasons so hybrid gives us the best opportunity to participate um but again I would support I plan on coming to the community Forum in person and so I would be happy to to meet um informally uh or formally there afterwards if if uh if that's what the rest of the you know if that's what majority of the board decides okay um thank you for that Jerry and Paul I believe you are next um yes I just got unmuted I was on mute I'm having a little trouble with the it tonight yes I'm for the inperson meetings as we talked about in the executive committee meeting um I understand that people still have to go hybrid um for whatever reasons but I noticed that um when we do in person it is you know a lot more personable and we would get to know each other a little bit better I'm not saying to come to every one of them but preco we did have them we we were pretty effective and we even we even all made a documentary we put in the mayor's documentary about the city of Boston which was really interesting also and got in details about what we do in person and how we do our meetings thank you all right uh thank you Paul for that uh Andrea I know you have your hand raised thanks uh Wes just wanted to clarify from a logistics perspective from you know the the staff here um all meetings would be hybrid uh so there would there would always be that option um I think we were looking for a sense of should we expect more than half of you to come you know to a um dedicated somewhat in-person meeting that way we can make sure that the space is arranged um correct me if I'm wrong West we're not considering like a requirement that everyone comes in um but a poll from y'all about whether you all wanted to agree um to maybe the May meeting uh that those of you who are interested in in person would may be a good time to come would there be a different lth that way we can just make sure we're prepared um if you want to do that uh but we do recognize that the community forum's in person in two weeks as well so maybe for a poll um West do you want to ask about May if folks like indicate in the chat maybe whether they would be interested in coming to City Hall for the May meeting does that make sense yeah I think that makes sense um I think maybe you know we can put it in the comments your thoughts on this in the chat and then from there you know we can figure out Andrea can update um and track the chat and then will save us a little bit of time and we can move forward um are there any other questions or comments from my Chairman's report all right thank you chairperson I'm ready for your report commissioner MOS commissioner MOS excuse me thanks Wes and Andrew is going to share slides all righty so I'm just going to start off with some of the events that we're planning um as we talked about earlier in the meeting the disability Community forum is 2 weeks from today Wednesday May 1st from 2: p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at suffk University law school on Treman Street the same place it was last year or you could attend virtually by zoom and we did a fully hybrid event last year that worked out really well um we had a lot of people attend in person which as we've all talked about the benefits of really getting to see each other in person and you know it's kind of makes for a nice Community interaction but for those of you who can't um we know there are still concerns like Zary mentioned um Zoom is a a fine option but I would love to know um from the board who plans to attend I know a lot of you attended in person almost everybody attended last year so if you could RSVP to Andrea by April 24th which is next Wednesday uh that would be great because um we love to have as many of you as possible and we're working on um accommodations so that everybody can see the program they won't have to be looking at the screen behind us so we'll follow up about those arrangements as well but everybody did a great job last year and the community really appreciates being able to meet the board because you really hold some standing in the community like what we mention The Advisory Board um people know that you were appointed by the mayor and that you really look at the issues that we bring to you and that you bring to us so um it's a great chance for you to meet the the people that you elevate to uh the mayor and then um we'll also I will also present the commission's annual report for fy2 24 so that will just be uh a summary of all work we've done in the office and I'll also summarize work that the board has done over the last fiscal year which runs June I'm sorry July 1st through June 30th uh We've also scheduled Ada day for this year that's going to be on Wednesday July 17th from 12 noon to 2 p.m. on City Hall Plaza as usual this will be the 34th anniversary of the Ada so we love that it's a festive atmosphere with music and food um we always have great t-shirts we're in the process of uh designing them now so um you have to come out to get one um just kidding we'll give you one even if you can't make it but um we also have a resource f with 30 plus disability organizations and many City departments so please spread the word um when it gets closer to the date invite you know your people from your different networks and groups we'd love to see a lot of people people from BPS there Charlie um and anyone else with big networks please uh invite everybody to come this year we will be recognizing the city of Boston Department of innovation and techn technology we call it do it internally uh we're working with them we're beginning to work with them on a Citywide digital accessibility plan as part of um our Ada title 2 requirements as a city so we know that the do department does a lot of great work now on access but we're trying to bring it all together into um a plan that can be transpar transparent for the public so stay tuned for more information on that this year and then we're also going to be launching the disability data and standardization guidelines and you may recall I've been talking about this for a few months but it's actually going to be guidance for City departments on when and how they should collect data on disabilities what language they should use and um to be transparent about what they're going to do with any data that they collect so um that will be rolling out in the next um month or two so I'll have more information uh on that coming up next slide so um I thought the board may be interested in um work that we have coming up for the year and I know this was some feedback from the executive committee like not to just report about what we've done but to think about what we're doing that you may be interested in so we have our budget hearings next week and uh every year every city dep department has to creade their budget and align their priorities and then go before the city council to present what our priorities are and our plans are and hope that we get approval for the fiscal year ahead so we're entering FY um 25 which will start um oh I put the wrong date July um oh no yeah that's right July 1st 2024 through June 30th 2025 so that starts um in July so the things that we have outlined as our priorities for the year first of all it is ensuring Ada title 2 um ensuring access to disability uh to City programs policies and infrastructure so as you know as the Ada title 2 coordinator of the city I am required to ensure everything the city does is compli with the Ada that's everything from City buildings and Facilities like parks and pools to policies and programs so in this vein we're going to be updating the Ada title te transition plan all municipalities were required to create uh to do a self- evaluation and create a transition plan when the Ada was first passed it was due um to the feds in 1993 so we did create this plan and there's a link to it um on the slide deck which we'll send out after the meeting um it's not very user friendly it was typed on a typewriter um it's certainly not complete the city did the best they could um you know 30 years ago 31 years ago but now we'd like to bring all the information together into a really user friendly uh transparent format either a web page or um you know some different uh tables and Graphics that we can show you like how much work the city has done to uh achieve compliance in school buildings and uh facilities and different policies we've implemented like online voting um and a lot of things like that so that's one of our big goals for the year we've also been working to create uh trainings for City departments on the the requirements for title 2 access reasonable accommodations and modifications to policies and effective communication so we'll be working more on that this year and then also as part of that we are working to disseminate tools to City departments to increase access systemically things like checklists uh language that they can put on their websites but combinations and other resources the second goal that we have for this year is Ada title 3 which is improving disability access in places of public accommodation so as you may know I don't have any oversight over um businesses that AR under the prview of the city however we do have some ways to interact with these businesses through our licensing board and uh the Boston transportation department which um has you know oversight of the streets and sidewalks things like um Trolley Tours and things like that we were just looking at recently restaurants that deny people access with the service dog for example so we are working um several different ways to increase this access first of all we're working on Outreach and enforcement of the captions ordinance um we've had relatively few complaints but we have had a few complaints of restaurants not being in compliance with the ordinance so when we hear that we follow up with them to remind them of their responsibility and then we're able to take next steps if that doesn't change we're also working on a training um on free and lowcost barrier removal for small businesses because we know they don't have big budgets to install an elevator or you know totally redo their stores but there are lots of free and lowcost ways that they can improve access so we want to work with the Boston main streets department to um get this training out to small businesses across the city and then we're also um working on sending a letter that um if I do hear a complaint about a service animal being denied or um something being denied that is required by the Ada we work on sending out a letter we call it a do the right thing letter because although I have no oversight of enforcement I can still remind them of their responsibilities and sometimes just getting a letter from the city is enough to make them think twice and assess their policies uh for compliance and then the third thing that we're really going to focus on is financial empowerment and economic mobility of people with disabilities so for years we did disability mentoring day this is part of a national initiative where different towns and cities can um mark this day in October during National Employment National disability employment awareness fund so we always held a day in City Hall where we brought in 10 residents with disabilities who were looking for jobs and ready to go to work so they would uh we'd match them with different departments in City Hall and they would um have a day of mentoring in the afternoon we would bring in other employers who were looking to hire people and have like a mini job fair so it was a really fun and uh productive event but um unfortunately we stopped hosting in person during the pandemic so we're hoping to bring that back this year we are also um during the pandemic we kind of pivoted to holding webinars online during National disability employment awareness month so um we've de developed a really good one on how to get employment with the city of Boston so we're going to do that again this year but we also might increase um the webinars to add two more one about housing cuz there are so many housing programs in the city for people with disabilities so we want to spread the word on that and then one on savings and banking um because people with disabilities have a lot of restrictions um on income and saving and things like that so um we're going to try to put a webinar together on that and then finally we're talking about hosting either an interview or a hiring event for qualified job ready Boston residents who are disabled so that will be a one-day event where we have different um city managers who are hiring who have positions to come to an event uh meet people with disabilities who are interested in jobs and hope they have um the ability to get an interview right on the spot so um again I just wanted to give you a snapshot of the work we have coming up if anyone's interested in more details or has questions um I'd be happy to talk through them more in detail but for now we can go to the next slide commiss do you want to take a question first or who anyone have a question I I have a quick question commissioner so two quick questions one on the um transition plan you said that was committed in 1993 has they been given thought to update it to me today standard because there are a lot of best practices we do now that weren't thought of back then so that that's number one and number two I'm glad to hear that you're working closely with the digital accessibility team particularly since doj just released um for title 2 entity um that what the new Ru making on acceptability of websites and things like that so that's perfect timing on your part so um that's great because once that's anned city states and local government will have 2 years to make sure all their web stuff is uh fully compliant um so just but mainly more on the Ada transition plan have have thought been given up to update it to make it more current and more relevant yeah so I'll briefly touch on the second part of your question which is the digital access and yes the new ruling is key and we really want to elevate that and I have to say Boston um Boston's municipal government our partners are really allies in this work they already do a great job and whenever we notice anything on a website that's not accessible or needs um some tweaking whenever we report it they get on it right away so um they're actually very interested in pursuing this work with us um we've sent them to different um trainings before and they're always very eager to to find out the latest information so yes it's a ke key time to elevate the work and we'll definitely um announce the new ruling at Ada day and make a really big deal about it because we're excited about um the prospects that this will bring and then to talk about the transition plan um it's a little bit complicated um for me to explain but um so the transition plan in 1993 was a snapshot of the facilities that the city had at the time it was only a transition plan on infrastructure it had nothing about policies or programs it was just buildings they did include pools and um schools as well as like City buildings like City Hall and things like that so when I say we're going to update the transition plan I don't mean that we're going to be doing new building assessments because the city continually does that like the Boston public school department just did a full facilities assessment of all the school buildings in the city so we have all that data but if someone were interested say Charlie we're interested in seeing like which schools are accessible it's a lot of data to get through so we are in the process of hir hiring a consultant who can look at all the data that's been done and I mean just to I'm sure you know but all the work the city does now is fully up to standard um they would never do a project that's not only not need compliant but our office always pushes them to go beyond compliance and they're very receptive to that so we want with this update we really want to make um like a portal that people can um access the information that already exists so we know the schools have done a full facilities assessment uh Property Management department is working on a a facility assessment of All City buildings parks department has some assessments um the streets cabinet has some sidewalk data so we're just looking to pull all that together so people can see like how many miles of sidewalk we've done how many Cur Rams we've done so you don't have to worry about the standards they will definitely be met but I can understand the confusion because when we say updating the plan it's not like we're updating the standards those have been updated all along it's just that we're trying to make the plan more accessible to people to be able to understand and find the data they're interested in does that make sense yeah that did that so that's your way of complying with the rule that the plan has to be updated what every 3 years I think there's something but no city has done that but I mean so you're telling me the information's there just a matter of how we act that it and you're trying to create a portal so we can AC that it more easily and be more easily understood by people exactly yeah but in that plan we'll so um we're going to start with the facilities but we're also going to add in things like policies and programs the different work we've done um to make sure that the city's in compliance with the Ada because um it's you know it's it's a huge picture that we're trying to make digestible so um it will be done in different iterations but we're going to start with the facility assessments that already exist yeah we're excited about it any other questions on our work um or events okay um okay so then just um a list of some city of Boston events that are coming up the mayor just posted um notice of her Coffee hours the neighborhood Coffee hours are held throughout the city um from April 22nd through June 26th and you can click on the link The Heading link there in blue to find um specific locations but they are held um from 9:30 to 10:30 in Parks across the city weather permitting um there sponsored by Dunkin Donuts so you can go out and have a cup of coffee with the mayor the parks department gives away plants so it's a really nice um it's a it's an enjoyable event you get to mingle with City staff and the mayor and it's a great opportunity to speak directly with the mayor and other staff um to talk about how you can improve Parks public areas and other city services in each neighborhood I know that some of you go um some of you are regulars at these events but um every Department tries to get at least one staff person to attend every coffee hour so if there's anyone that you're interested in talking to this is a good place to reach them and also if you can't make it or if you want to help inform what the mayor will talk about at these Coffee hours you can take the community input survey which was just posted you can um ask a question um that you like the ma or discuss or just um list your concerns um through that survey and then the city also listed the open streets for 20124 there are uh an expanded number this year I believe there are six 2 4 six um so they're going to be starting in May and wrapping up in October they're half day events that allow local businesses to expand their goods into the street they make safe uh they make safe space for communities uh music games bicycling um a lot of City departments and agencies do tabling with information so I don't know if you've ever gone but um they are a big deal um a lot of planning goes into them my office is involved in all these Mee things to plan so we make sure that um if blocks are um if the programming is in the street that we have ramps um in midblock areas so people uh in wheel teair or with Mobility impairments can get up and down we work closely to make sure that um any buses that are diverted um that they get the information out to Neighborhood residents so there's a lot of planning that goes into it but if you have any um concerns you'd like us to look into or any questions just uh let us know any questions on these events okay so the last um two slides I'm going to talk about um have to do with the city council hearing order um most of you may have heard that um councilor Fitzgerald called for a hearing to discuss the potential of expanding um accessible parking placards to those who are pregnant and um the word handicap is throughout this hearing order um I'm just going to switch it out for accessible because that that's in the language of the law as Wes talked about earlier but I'll just switch it to accessible so um I just summarize some of the main points of the hearing order it's not verbatim uh I didn't have a link to the actual order because it's it's kind of hard to find on the website but we can email you a copy of the order after this meeting so you have the exact language that the counselor proposed but I'm just going to highlight a few of the points that um are made in this hearing order so it starts by saying the city has a rising population which is causing the availability of parking around the city to become uh it's it's an ongoing concern for Citizens and especially most vulnerable citizens such as pregnant individuals um the council goes on to state that those who are pregnant may need access to accessible parking spaces for four reasons one is for mobility issues because of physical discomfort or limitations during late stage pregnancy um medical conditions um sometimes people get gestational diabetes or high blood pressure safety concerns of being close to an entrance to reduce the risk of Falls um an emergency situations in the event of a medical emergency having access to a disabled space may be able to expedite um access to a facility so those are the four reasons that the hearing order is wanting to discuss this issue and then on the next slide I just um listed some more of the hearing order which says um the counselors thinking that most pregnant folks in the last trimester have a hard time walking more than 100 to 200 yards they could be short of breath um two states right now have a parking policy that explicitly includes pregnant women um it gives them use of a disability pla card for 90 days um there's a bullet that says if a physician certifies a pregnant person has a walking disability they may qualify for a temporary plard um and then the last bullet just says um along with examining Logistics surrounding the current parking programs such as resident parking and visitor parking the city could use this as an opportunity to explore the potential need to expand um expand it to pregnant people to get a temporary disabled past in the third trimester of pregnancy so because of all this it was ordered that um this be um given to the appropriate Committee of the Boston city council to conduct a hearing to review the potential for expanding pregnant persons um in the last trimester of pregnancy to request a temporary plard for accessible parking so um my staff and I met with the counselor and we talked through some of the um the issues related to this order and really we approached it from um a position of learning because we felt from the things we read um we felt that the counselor wasn't um as familiar with the current existing um plard um requirements that he may have been um can you go back to the last slide for one minute Andrea the one that we wanted to point out to the counselor is the one that I highlighted and that is the one that says um if a physician certifies that a pregnant person has a walking disability they may qualify for a temporary disabled parking permit under both state and federal law so this already exists and that's what we wanted to make sure the counselor knew currently anybody who has a temporary disability can apply for uh a a disability pla card through the registry of motor vehicles if they're pregnant or not and if pregnancy causes a temporary disability that's a perfectly valid reason to be able to be approved for a pla card um we also let the councel know that it wasn't anything the city could approve it would have to be done on the state level so the only thing that the city council could do was to make recommendations to the registry of motor vehicles so again we approached on meeting with the counselor as um a learning opportunity to tell him about um you know the disability Community um some language respectful language and things like um the program that exists right now so there has no um no hearing has been called but we will um certainly keep people up to date if and when a hearing is called but I wanted to bring it up because it was in the news um it's died down now but we did hear from some people in the public um with concerns about this so I wanted to let you know that we are um definitely on it we're working on it we'll work closely with the city council and we will keep the public informed of any next steps should there be any a hearing may never be called about it we don't know but we do know that the city council is busy right now with budget hearings so the budget will be the main um topic of hearings for the next few months so if there is a hearing it won't be anytime soon so I will leave it at that and turn it back to West to um see if anyone has questions thank you for that commissioner I appreciate your resp report um I know that this is the last topic on your report um in regards to pregnant women and the possible parking placards being offered um it's a topic that you know we may want to have that we may have opinions on but because this was already part of the report Um this can be discussed at the next board meeting this is Andrea just to clarify uh taking action can happen at the next board meeting which I think is what Wes was saying but reactions and questions are certainly welcome now yes that's correct um [Music] so Olivia you can go ahead with your your question or comment um and thank you again yeah the commissioner answered what my first question was and that was whether Boston was going to use home rule or some other legal mechanism to try to uh get the R&V to issue the permits but um thankfully it's it's up to the rmd and um pregnancy is a medical condition it's already you know if it causes disabling side effects it's already qualified yep you're right on both counts so I like I said I think that we our conversation with the city counselor was really just to educate them on a new city counselor he was just um inaugurated so it was a learning opportunity I think but the city hard yeah the city won't be pursuing any home worldle petition on this okay from West here I actually have a comment um that I wanted to proceed with my comment uh before others um I just just wanted to let the commissioner know that under the Ada guidelines pregnancy is not considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act however there is some there are some pregnant women who may have disabilities that are you know they may be impaired by their pregnancy so I'm not sure if maybe we need to look to federal guidelines and um you know so I just kind of wanted to throw that out there and have that comment made um Jerry Zer excuse me Jerry did you tell did you Derry interpreter misspoke I apologize Jerry Jerry oh thank you yes thank you uh West this is Jerry um I I appreciate uh commissioner you uh you taking this learning opportunity with the U counselor um was his office receptive uh and appreciative of your comment of your of your meeting very receptive and like I said I think it was very well intentioned I don't think it was you know done to to you know cause any harm I think it was all with the best of intentions just um you know not being familiar with the program um so we did talk about still if um he's still interested in hosting the hearing that we can use it as an opportunity to spread this information to people who are pregnant because they may not know they can apply for a plaque card and we would certainly encourage that if they do have disabilities so um yes he was very receptive and very friendly and like we said we there was no ill intent at all for sure it's just um being new and not really knowing all the program that are out there oh yeah um when I saw a news story on this I didn't I didn't take it as um him being U ill ill meaning at all you know he just wanted to to try to increase access for for folks that he thought might need it um you know which is which is always a good intention um but I'm glad your your office was there and and was able to uh to to meet meet with him it sounds like it was a very educational so that's great and just a note on what Wes said about the Ada um yeah so the Ada doesn't list any specific diseases because it's not about like a categorical disease it's about function and how it affects like M major life activities so it's pretty similar with the R&B except they do list a few explicit conditions um off the top of my head I can recall too um so making pregnancy an explicit condition um I'm not sure if that's what the council had in mind but um like we said we don't think it needs to be because if it causes a disability it can already be um approved Zary did you still have a question yeah I just wanted stay out so it makes a lot of sense to me that if as a result of this as I see there are some complications that may result in temporary disability then that individual would be of course eligible um but my um initial understanding of his proposal was that he wanted to basically give pregnancy a legitimacy of being able to get a platform for a permit which is different than what we explaining now which is as a result of a to be something that is also in a disability you would be then eligible for par space and I just want to be even though this is not a city issue um I think if you wanted to you could take this further and F very the difficult for many of us for whech users with use Mobility AIDS and I hate to have yet I mean I don't want to be cold harded but I also hate to have a competitive grou by other competition for it's already very limited space for people who use real andil just for the fact that this representative was thinking about his life and the difficulties she had um the other thing that really worried me though wasn't the temporary insurance of this but then I heard something about the women who got it would then be eligible to keep it for 90 days after it sounded just outrageous I mean why I mean maybe I understood that but if that's the case I I would that one yeah I like I said I think if there is a hearing it will be more focused on um getting the information out to people who are pregnant about the requirements that already exist we don't have to pass a new law it already exists if you are pregnant you have a disability make use of what's there now don't wait for the legislation to change anything cuz you don't have to so I think that that makes the most sense just using it as an opportunity to spread the word cuz a lot of people like the council's wife maybe didn't know that she could have applied for one so yeah I think we're all on the same page and I think the counselor is too I think like I said it was just a learning opportunity uh I wanted also to follow up with the question the point that was just made from Zary because some uh drivers with disabilities or people with disabilities people with disabilities who can drive right some of us um do not qualify for those parking plers so then why would we give pregnant women something that we are not eligible for um when I you know folks with permanent disabilities are not eligible um so that's another example I think of maybe some concerns about this and the reason that um people residents of Austin who may or may not be eligible for this would argue with expanding the population who can use it um but then I will turn the floor over to pette go ahead pette I actually have uh two comments one um the the placket for the uh individuals who are pregnant would be a temporary one it wouldn't be um a permanent one and the second comment that I want to make is that some of the private um institutions in the city already do this routinely as long as the person brings appropriate documentation saying that they have physical limitations and that they need um you know this accommodation now it is on private property but um it's it's already happening in certain sectors of of the city I just wanted to bring that point up well I know that and it was in the hearing order I didn't include it in my report but there is um the council did acknowledge that some places like stores and businesses have pregnant parking pregnancy parking spaces so um again I didn't include it in my report but it it is in there like you said it's a courtesy right now so it does exist in some places but the city doesn't have control over that if it's on private property Wes terrific thank you Paulette I appreciate that comment I would also um I would also like to mention that the person who made the proposal lives in Dorchester um and I know that parking is extremely Limited in Dorchester so that may have been a factor in their thinking Paul go ahead hi this is Paul and I just want to touch base with um what the commissioner just said I'm kind of reiterating this was my comment but also I want to keep H Fitzgerald as an ally because he's on another note he's a very strong Ally for mental illness and and U he's willing to be on board with us and whatever we need he's looking out for all aspects of of all of us in general and um I know he's already met with commissioner MOS about a lot of these things thank you yep he's definitely wants to be an ally and U we'll definitely work with him moving forward thank you Paul Wes okay great thank you uh thank you commissioner thank you Paul all right any other questions or comments about the commissioner's report or any of these topics I guess this would be uh something that we can discuss in next month's meeting as well we can continue it um we'll see what action we might like to take as a board all right other questions or comments from the commissioner before we wrap up this part of our agenda okay great thank you commissioner for that report following on our agenda we have the architectural access report from Patricia Patricia Mendes thank you chair hi everyone my name is Patricia Mendes I'm the director of architectural access for the disabilities commission um my architectural access report uh today would be a brief discussion about door openers uh Olivia one of our members um brought up the question a couple of meetings ago about a particular building that did not have the door opener towards the outside and so we we looked into that we looked into that report we talked to our sister agency the inspectional service um the department and they reported that in that particular instance the door was an Eris only door therefore it did not require uh an automatic door opener um the building provided another entrance to the business to it it was a pharmacy towards the parking lot to a different side of the building and that was meant to be the entrance um so I hope that answers that that concern for that particular example um so okay so what are automatic door openers automatic door openers are the the buttons that we see in building that allows us to open the doors without actually pulling on the door uh and they they also close automat atically SL are automatic door openers required the answer is nope they're not required unfortunately they're very good and they provide uh enhanced accessibility but the building code does not require what the building code requires are two things the amount of force that is required to open a door and it also requires the maneuvering space around doors um so what happens is that when there's a a building that has limited space and they cannot provide the maneuvering space around door they can install the automatic door opener and then those space requirements are waved so are it's like an exception um similar with the force of the doors so the building code requires that the force for opening the doors are 5 lb for interior doors and 15 lb for exterior doors so when a door is harder than that heavier than that they have to provide an automatic door opener to mitigate that Force required um so we we find those the the automatic door openers a lot in retrofits in existing buildings we have a few of them here at City Hall especially at the entrances because the doors are heavy and the weather is windy so it's um it's difficult to open and close those doors so we have that's a good example for the automatic door openers um in a landlord scenario a renter can start by asking the building manager to adjust the door closer so the door can be open with the required Force so that means that they don't necessarily we need an automatic door opener um the first step from a renters point of view should be to speak to building manager and try to First adjust the door closer which might be like an easy uh immediate fix something that you know done with the screwdriver that's all um next slide uh okay I already talked about this so the requirements for doors is 5 lb maximum Force for interior doors and for exterior doors is 15 lb maximum and then I included a link to 521 CMR which is our Massachusetts architectural access uh board code and in that link there's more information about the specific space requirements around doors on the pull side and on the push side so you can you can uh refer to that if you like and that's it and if there's any question and I'm happy to elaborate can I jump in for a moment before we take questions from the board West yep go ahead thank you um Patricia could you also talk about just briefly about um door handles because I know with my particular disability they make a difference okay I didn't put anything on a slide but I can make other slides for for future um meetings so the handle on the on the doors are um are the shape are related to the shape of the door handles in Old buildings we find that the old doors have knob door handles which is are difficult for people with dxterity issues because um the building Cod requires that the door handle are uh the lever type and they don't require any to twisting um so a compliant accessible door handle would be the lever kind not the knob kind and another requirement for the the door handles is that it have to be in a range of height of of the doors they can't be too low or too high thanks Patricia you're welcome okay thank you this is Wes and Olivia I see your hand go ahead I highly appreciate this Patricia thank you and welcome and um I'll be sure to spread this information to the apartment complex I live in to the task force because we are directly across the street from this location so so um a lot of the elderly in my building are like why isn't that door have handles so it was something that I took on and agreed what so knowing that that's exclusively an egress store uh is something I can give them an answer for perfect this was a great question it's a common uh question that our office received about the the door the automatic door openers okay this is Wes Zer I see your hand up for a question or comment thank you Pisha this is great so my question is for people who are not able to use the lever that's his never um what are the options then because I'm familiar with the 5 Max and the 15 P but there are still a lot of people who don't have any use of their hands and I and I know that this is not a city like more of a federal guideline that we are following but at the same time I wonder if there's a way for us to I don't know add advate for uh automatic doors to become part of that accessibility because for example people who are have high level spinal cord injury are not going to be able to push the door with their hands so there needs to be they don't some of them are not even able to use those push buing automatic doors as opposed to a sens of so we need to kind of think a little bit about outside of the box about what are the population of people that really need to have this access um but I don't know this is a question or comment but just something to just be aware of and maybe advocate for in the future yes sir absolutely so the the technology exists in the motion detector technology and um retail stores they use it because they they want everybody to come in and spend money so the technology is there as um and they do it uh voluntarily not because they're they're required by code so when we are involved with uh projects in the article 80 we always Advocate uh for automatic doors course and we Advocate against um revolving doors they're awful um so that that's why we do a day in and day out because yeah the technology is up there but not as a code requirement um I actually had a quick question J here about those W here excuse me about the automatic doors um as far as City Hall goes um I know that they have several doors that are automatic within City Hall and I'm assuming that not all doors are automatic though is that the issue that needs to be addressed I mean would we think um the the exterior doors have automatic door openers so for example in the first floor towards F Hall those have automatic door openers um going up on the second floor the newer entrances those have also automatic door openers they they have buttons so that one is taken care of so that's also accessible and the one in the third floor uh they are combination there is two revolving doors and two regular doors and one of the regular doors has an automatic door openers so those the three the three entras are accessible with openers with automatic door openers did I answer your question you did yeah um what about above the third floor though okay so above the third floor um there's no more entrances I don't think that are uh that are presently used did I answer your question yes you did yes okay were there any other questions from board members and us to this report thank you so much you're welcome all right next on theend agenda is the announcements do any board members have any announcements to [Music] share all right um now let's talk about old business we need to uh have a motion for two votes the first being uh the letter of support report for the Statewide dissemination v um did anyone have any other comments or questions um from that letter that you read just to clarify the Statewide captioning Bill captioning Bill W this is Jerry I move to approve the U uh open caption umill uh Bill approve the letter of support for the open captioning uh okay who like to second that motion Jerry made second okay and all in favor please raise your hand or say I I I any [Music] opposed okay so this letter of support will move to pass thank you the second we need a motion to vote on is the statement of our V boards neutrality on the end of life options does anyone have any questions or captions about the statement Charlie has his hand raised you can go ahead I uh this Charlie I did miss last week's um meeting and reviewed the the minutes and then also the video I I just wanted to reiterate I know that the commissioner brought this up when when this came up about the um you know taking a position on something may require that we have to reach into our constituencies we have to do polls it requires work so my question is I based off the principle I I'm not absolutely clear and understand what a position of neutrality means is you know and so I'm having a difficult time um with with this but if the board goes to vote then of course we have to take a vote but I I didn't know if anybody had a definition clear definition of principle of what the statement of neut neutrality is this is Carl I didn't see the statement of neutrality I thought that it was such a complicated decision that the board can't come to content this though rather than come to a Content that let everybody individually do their own thing outside of the board hi is Kristen Andrea put a statement in the chat and Charlie just so Clarity the neutrality is on the bills it's not on the topic it's your neutral on both bills so you're not taking position on the bills so the board will not be taking a position on the bills Charlie uh does that answer your question yes thank you for the clarification okay thank you Jerry has his hand raised can we go ahead yes thank you uh Wes um I'm a little bit uh I'm a little bit U uh unsure myself because I thought at the last uh last board meeting we had decided that it didn't need to be uh we didn't need to make a formal statement uh uh regarding neutrality uh around around the two bills and and yet um and yet uh here it is uh being brought up uh at the at the next meeting so um I'm just wondering about you know why maybe why the executive committee felt strongly that it needed to that it needed to be uh you know formalized I'm happy to take this if unless you want Wes go ahead Andrea great so um for the recording and the notes that we had generated um a question was raised should we have a statement um and Wes as chair said we can certainly draft a statement if folks would like it no one objected to that so the executive committee took that to mean that the board did in fact want a statement that could be referred and sent um if requested by you know constituents or folks that you interact with um so the vote was already taken the position has been taken um but there there was that question raised about um an agreed upon sentence to share if members of the public ask any of you for your for the board's position okay again I I I guess I was uh unclear at the conclusion of of the last meeting uh thank you for for clarify thank you Andrea that was exactly what I was about to say so um Richard I see your hand is right yeah I I I sort of had the same question Jerry had um to whom is this letter going where the statement going well as of right now the letter will not be or excuse me the statement not a letter just to be clear uh will not be going to anyone is for the event that somebody may ask what our ADV advisory board's position is so that we do already have a neutral statement available to show um if nobody asks for it we won't be showing it it's just in preparation in the event of so if any of us get an inquiry what we're going to do is um share the statement yes yes any other questions or comments about the statement okay does anyone want to make a motion to approve this statement from the board of neutrality this is Jerry I I'll make a motion to approve would anyone like to Second Jerry's motion okay so that was AR okay great um all right so all in favor of this statement please raise your hand or say I I hi I'm see for the record I'm I'm a as I said at our last meeting I've studied the bills and I think they're worth supporting so I can't really support um state I'm not sure who's speaking who's who speaking okay so we have voting okay that was all right so seven voting I in favor and one who please raise your hand if you're opposed to the bill to the statement to the statement excuse me okay so we have one opposed and seven in favor all right so let the record show we do have one oppose to the statement the statement has passed thank you and now I would just ask for uh absent exensions abstention so no exension this is Elizabeth I'm a yes I had problems with my um okay thank you Elizabeth all right so 8 to one this statement motion has been passed thank you any other old business that needs to be discussed then we move on to new business does the board have any new business they would like to bring up go ahead Charlie hi this is uh Charlie um I I'm not sure how to frame it for new business but if it could be a and I know that we're running out of time but the just a conversation um in both chair uh chair West that you had kind of put this in there about communicating with you or vice chair about any um topics or issues to be brought up and then commissioner mosh brought this up in a report to kind of showing um some of the things to to achieve for 2024 I would just kind of ask is and I think this happened last year early on in the commissioner's report and maybe also in the chair's report kind of the goals and the objectives uh for the commission um and also The Advisory board for the given year if there is an exercise or if there is some sort of deliberation that we have to kind of discuss that uh uh and bring up topics that we'd like to see achieved for this coming year and I don't know if it's going too far out but U you know anything longterm and shortterm uh for this commission so that we can um you know kind of project to to the communities uh what we're trying to do uh for a given Year westes Charlie thanks for the question um I think that maybe working subcommittees that could be established to talk about the goals and objectives for the current year um I think it's it sounds like something that sub commmittee would be responsible for and I think the board can certainly do that when you participate in the discussions uh outside of our monthly meetings I would recommend that to be a sub's responsibility any other thoughts or comments about that question commissioner Just one thought I had um it could always be something that um the board could take a vote on at a meeting if you want to propose something that you're particularly interested in or the subcommittee could potentially brainstorm some areas where they are interested in and think the board may be interested in and you could um figure out a way to create priorities but I think there there is some work that can be done with that um whether through subcomm commes or do some um work with the executive committee but we can take that back in our office too and try to think it through a little bit Charlie thank you for that this Wes yeah we can think about that um and if folks are interested in participating um then please let me know if that's something sounds interesting to you um we'll figure out what is possible and we can have conversations in further detail next month um also feel free you know to like I said set up one-on-one meetings with me if you have particular ideas you'd like to share as I mentioned in my report I'm very open to that okay so I know we're running a little bit over time I'm just looking to see what's next what's left on our agenda uh sorry with me one second yep yep I see you sorry my kids hold on one second okay so now is the time of our meeting that we reserve for public input would anyone members of the public like to comment and question this is Andrea for members of the public if you'd like to speak uh please raise your hand or use the uh chat function to let me know I can send you a request to unmute public comment is limited to 2 minutes thank you let's give that one minute or a few more moments um to see if members of the public would like to be recognized W I'm not seeing anything in the chat for members of the public seeking to be recognized okay all right seeing none may I request a motion for adjournment please Carl did have to leave a little early so someone else might need to step up this is Jerry I will move to uh to adjourn I also see Olivia who will second Jerry's motion to adjourn I'll second great thank you pette okay all in favor of adjourning this meeting please raise your hand or signify by saying I meeting is officially adjourned at 7:36 p.m. I hope to see e