##VIDEO ID:YkyXePYozMQ## uh good evening welcome everyone to the December 10th Commission on disabilities meeting if we could um please salute the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic of which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all I'm going to do a roll call of the uh of the members uh myself Ralph Theo was present uh Jason Baron present uh Mario ganis present Ellie Vargas present am Marie fiori present and Pauline perno uh may may be able to attend but she if she does she's gonna be late um she had a a little Conflict at the last minute so I I'll start the meeting and then um we'll see if she can if she can join um so I will move on to um item number one uh is a motion to approve the meeting minutes from the November 12th 2024 meeting i' sent everybody out the meeting minutes from last month um uh to make sure that everybody could take a look at it if uh does anybody have any questions about it or were there any errors or any omissions that um were not in the meeting um minutes that anybody could remember motion to approve second motion to approve by Jason second by Mari okay uh item number two is a guest speaker we don't have any guest speakers for um for this month um so we can skip right over that um it's a busy time of the year so that's probably uh the reason being for that um item number three is updates from Paul Pauline and Emory regarding the calendar for future month guest speakers um I know Pauline uh had told me that she hasn't heard from anyone as of yet that she has uh phone calls out there still um and I'm assuming Emory is the same uh for you that we haven't heard you haven't heard anybody for any future meetings yet or anything like that yes same Hing for the new year and more programmed uh guest speakers I think I'm going to be focusing on so hopefully some will pop up in the New Year perfect perfect okay and the next item for uh for updates was um uh Pauline had uh created a draft letter um because we had discussions about the um the conditions down especially down at the Boulevard um viage Boulevard for crossing and whatnot I had sent a copy of that draft letter to everyone so I'm not sure if everyone was able to take a look at it um I sent it out I believe last evening did everybody receive that email with that draft letter yes is there any any questions or any suggestions or any omissions or anything that we should add to that of course it was just a draft um and it's going to go on our uh Commission on disabilities uh letter head uh we're going to send it to um the state delegation that represents that area um and um I didn't know if there's any other um suggestions or anyone else wants to comment on it open it up to the the members Amry no I think it thinks it looks good it's a a good motion and hopefully it will will go through and get some traction okay um what I'll do is I'm I'm gonna table this for a few I'm gonna table this for a few minutes to see if Pauline does come on uh and we'll take this up at the end and then we'll make uh see if she has anything else she wants to talk on it and if she does not come or whatever then we'll put it out there for a motion to approve this draft letter to send um but we'll we'll we'll wait till the end of the meeting we'll just keep we'll we'll move on to uh item number four was uh discussion regarding the Community Music Center of Boston proposals uh as a commission we always seek programs we we can Implement and R to benefit children and young adults with disabilities I know Amry you had sent me um some notes uh on the on information that you were going to have further disc discussions uh with uh with Rachel from um from the uh from the music program so I want to do you have any do you want to discuss that email that you sent me and any further information on that uh I don't know if you have an email that you wanted if you have it written down if you want to share it or if you just wanted to talk on it you have the capability of sharing your screen I can talk on it um I had a conversation with Rachel yesterday actually so it was helpful she gave me a lot of help information for next steps if we decide that it's something we want to move forward with um I think as we spoke about the last meeting uh the idea of maybe doing the workshops first and then the classes afterwards um she suggested that that would probably be a good way to go um just to make an introduction to the families to the community about what we're going to be doing um so we can choose the great thing about all of it is that they're very flexible to tailor it to what we need to what the community needs um so basically what she suggested is anywhere from one to three workshops um they're about an hour each at the cost of 250 an hour for each Workshop um so for example one Workshop would focus on like gross fine motor skills and how music therapy um could help with that another one would be for pro-social behaviors which she said she's getting you know a lot of feedback from families that's that's something they would like to see work on and a need for um so it's really going to be tailored to what we feel like we need and the response that we get um so it could be anywhere from one to three Workshops the cost 250 per Workshop okay um and it could be flexible times because I said you know if this is going to be something that's focused toward families parents family members caregivers what would be the best time to do that um I don't know if that would be during a school day if that would be on a weekend if that would be on an evening so that's something we would have to decide um based on the response that we get what we decide would be the best fit okay um so the work so the workshop is is basically what would the workshop involve just telling teaching them did she say what the workshop would involve motor skills or yep so the they would have their staff come in and basically kind of give a breakdown of what the classes we going to consist of so the classes going forward what what their children would be learning um what would be implemented so for example she gave one example would be working on Gross fine motor skills through music therapy okay um another one would be working on social emotional behaviors through music therapy another one could be pro-social behaviors through music therapy so workshops are three three a separate different workshops it's not the same Workshop three different times exactly so different topics for each Workshop okay okay and those are all in the workshops are in person not virtual so that was one point she gave all of this could be tahel um if that's something we decided would be a need so it it is an option okay that's yeah we would want to discuss as a commission um what what we think would work best and yes yeah yeah so and that was also something that I forgot to ask actually was if you know obviously if there are some people that can attend in person but others that physically can't is it something we can kind of like live stream hybrid yeah it's in hybrid yeah I would think hybrid would be a great Target just just just because if you're able to have like a nice space One camera showing what items that they would need at home I think hybrid would be great just just my opinion I agree ell I think that would be a really a really good fit and would reach more people maybe yeah it's not a cost per person it's a cost per Workshop so would they have that capability of of doing that or is it something that we would have to provide um and we could talk to Riv TV about um possibly streaming it if if they don't but I'm I'm hoping you know there's all different Avenues but do they have a hybrid component uh if not the other option is where we could talk to um Riv TV about possibly doing doing something like that that would be great and the the best thing about the conversation was they're very flexible they're basically going to tailor it to what we need and the needs of the community so it seems like a hybrid would be something they would probably be able to accommodate okay agree I mean I'll volunteer if they have the equipment I'll I'll I'm okay with computer stuff but I I like the behavioral stuff especially with kids with disabilities what well it's just gonna be yeah the beginning it's just going to be a workshop that they're going to tell people what the programming is going to be basically due after um so the workshop is just gonna it's just going to be basically am if I'm correct me if I'm misspeaking but the workshop is basically going to be informative what the program what the program will involve there they're basically just gonna is it's going to be on almost like on a high level um they would probably wouldn't I don't think they'd be demonstrating they would probably just be explaining it more is that the the feeling that you got well it sounded like they may demonstrate as well because she mentioned in the cost everything is built in for like setup uh equipment all of that so it could some of the the workshops could potentially involve demonstrations on on what the actual classes will be okay so they pack a lot into the hour for the hour Workshop yes yeah and anywhere from one to three I mean it's also our decision whether we want to have the workshops geared just toward family members caretakers or if we also want to have the participants in the workshop as well which I think we discussed that maybe we would like to break it up but that's also something that can be flexible as well yeah and that's that's what we you know we can we could do you know we could have a discussion on that I I'm figuring we probably want to have a discussion on that now um how we would want to move forward on it um so we could solidify if we're going to move forward this is how we're going to want to have the workshops um was there any other before we like figure out formally how we want to do it any other information that you wanted to go over that she gave us that she gave yep so the the classes um also can be tailored toward our needs it can be seasonal it can be we could do like a pilot program just to sort of see what the response we get is and if it's a great response and people feel there's a need for it we can add from there and build from there um so basically the the class could run anywhere from monthly 3 months annually U whatever we decide we need and then the classes are 106 per hour um they can be weekly bi-weekly then also something that she mentioned was depending on the age range that we get so say we get a mix of young children and also older teens they like to separate by age um so if we get a good mix of age range we would basically do like back-to-back classes for example so if we decided that we wanted to do an after school um session we would maybe do the younger kids first in the first hour and then the older kids in the second hour um so they would that 106 that 106 that's that's a flat rate or is that per student that's flat rate per class and I believe she said I believe she said 15 Max okay per class um okay so yeah so basically if if we had uh let's just say if we had an age bracket and it varied in ages we could have uh if we had students in in inspect in in the in a range from um let's say three years old to uh let's say uh 18 we then we would probably could have like a three to n year old and then a 10 to 18 or something like that to split it up that way uh depending upon the numbers of students um if if we had a a great turnout um let's say that we had 45 students that we possibly could break it down to a third session and break the numbers down to you know three to 3 to nine 10 to 10 to 13 and 14 to 18 depending upon how the numbers go and if we needed a third session we do a third session it would just cost enough an additional $106 to do that that's correct and she also mentioned you know for the younger kids obviously attention span isn't as great as for the older children so for the younger children would be more like a half hour class and then for the older children an hour class but it still is a one hour flat fee just because of setting up breaking down yeah um do they have a suggestion do they do so the program could be it could be once a month it could be weekly it could be bi-weekly and they don't have any suggestions on what what is beneficial or oh you it and then you can if it goes good you can just how how long how how far in advance are they know if you want to you know add on if you say you want to start and do it by you know on a weekly plan um do they have any leeway that they need to know in advance no it didn't sound like it it's sounded like you know if we say she said they're already in Rivier for another program on Tuesday so she said for example if you picked a Tuesday after school and we did a couple of weeks it sounds like that block would be open for us so then we could add from there okay so I don't I yeah I don't believe too much notice would be needed if we decided we wanted to start with just a few classes and then build from there yeah because I like I said I want to partner with the rec center and um see what their vill ility is for space and resources um and that would be able to let us know when we'd be able to have it um because I don't know presently what what they have for programs and if they where they have availability for us to go but if we can um if we can have some type of a um a draft plan of what we want to try and do um I'm thinking that we may we we you you can all tell me if this wrong if we're wrong I would definitely like to do the workshop first of all that's that's a definite to see what we get for engagement at least at least the two workshops possibly the three workshops um and I'm thinking that the workshops would probably to make it more accommodating for everyone uh possibly have the workshops on a Saturday um and see if um the rec center has any availability or space for us to use at the gothfield community center um with well the judge V Kella Community Center at the gothfield school um if there's any space for us to do it there and um I'm thinking that we would probably want to do it in three concession three consecutive Saturdays in a row um see what we get and see if we get people that are GNA sign up for it and then after the three weeks you know give it a a couple of week Hiatus and then start the start the program uh this way we'll give it a couple of weeks for people to um think about wanting to sign up for it and join and see what we get for um for inquiries in age brackets to see um what we would need for classes and be able to work with the rec center to see what what's available for for space and time um to do it that way I don't know if that sounds um like a reasonable idea of how to try and put this together I think that sounds like a great idea and that was my initial thought you know after school can be tough for families um during the day does that really work so my initial thought was the weekend as well and Rachel had mentioned that they usually do do most of their work during the week but maybe for something like a workshop potentially we could get it on a weekend so it's something we can try for absolutely yeah yeah because then I I think the community center is open during the week at night um for availability I know during the week for the programming it's going to be tough to do the programming uh to try and get space but that's something that you know we have to work out um we have to try and uh see about um what we have for uh participation see what's available what we need for spacewise they didn't give us uh any requirements for the type of space or size of a space that they would need no requirements for space the only requirement given was that there' be one other adult present okay that's like a child participant just one other adult present okay all right would you be able to write up a a high level plan of everything that we discussed right now uh like what we're looking to do we're looking to try and do three workshops possibly on a Saturday I'm trying to get something so that I can present to the rec centerx and Rex um formally to discuss what we're trying to do um there's going to be you know no cost for them um this is something that we're going to pay for through the commission and disabilities um but we would just need to partner with them for for the space uh and possibly if it is at the um the colala community center I know that they do have Staffing there so possibly if they would have a person there that would be the uh the adult body or the uh body that's there to to assist with it absolutely and I I think also if I'm not mistaken by adult she also just meant like maybe a parent um so I don't don't think that it necessarily has to be somebody formal on site maybe just another adult like a parent but that's something I can obviously confirm yeah okay um anything that else that you wanted to discuss or anything that I may have U missed or anybody else wanted to talk on anything else but you I'll let you finish and then we'll open it up to the other commission members sure I think the only other thing that I have is thinking about um kind of an Outreach plan how we're going to get this out to let the community know that it's happening um and reach the members of the community that it would be beneficial to so maybe I was thinking if we could reach out to and I don't know if this is something we can do if we can reach out to the schools um this would be yeah this that's why I really want to partner with the rec center uh because you know would be a program it would be a program it would be through them by us through with with them as a partner uh and we would we would rely on them to help us promote it and add it as a program through the rec center in conjunction with the commission on disabilities so they have they you know they have uh they have their Facebook they have their recre Recreation um calendars that they have they they you know they have their programming booklets so if this is something that we'd be able to do uh in and sustain after this could be part of one of the programs that they' be able to offer so that's why I think it would be a great partnership um with the rec center and it's it's it' be it'd be a win-win for them uh because it's also bringing programs in for for children and young adults uh with disabilities uh in and helping bring that to the rec center in in the city Riv um as a new a new Avenue in new programming uh for those individuals in r that would be great and Rachel the last point is just Rachel mentioned that they could create something for us maybe something in the form of like a survey um just to send out to families to see if there's something that they would like or maybe this is even something they could include in the workshop a survey of something that they would like to see um in the in the classes that they think would be helpful or beneficial so that's something she can create for us for outreach for the um Workshop so that was something else that I thought would be helpful yeah definitely definitely um all right anybody any other members have anything El they they want to add to this any questions ideas suggestions I like the idea of my two inputs yeah okay and Emme do you need any help at all on this do you want want to do you want would you I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm going to use Ellie and see if Ellie would like to help you on this if you want the help yeah of course if if there's anything you think think of Ellie I would love the help absolutely so maybe we can collaborate and try to get this going awesome thank you because that's what once we have something written down in formal then we can present it to Riv Parx and Rex because I've already talked to them a little bit about it like I said they're trying to put together another type of a program too more programming we can get the beneficial it is for for children and young adults with h disabilities and all abilities in the city of Riv um it's a need so this is something that that would be great and something that we could we could help um could help fund um but as always we just don't want people to sign up for and not show up and um um you know and take the spot of somebody that would want to be there but because it's going to be uh there's going to be a limitation on the amount of people that we can have in the program um we're really going to need people that to to commit to it so any suggestions that we can have on how we're going to be able to do that that's that's that's going to be the thing that's why I'm thinking um we definitely we would want to Pilot it and see how it would go so it definitely have to be on a pilot plan to see how you know how how we would do it and I'm I'm I'm possibly thinking well once if we pil it we'd be able to get a better idea on what the feel is in the community for it and then we could we could probably break it down into maybe we had to break it down into a couple of different sessions um so if we get more participants than we needed um we could break it down to uh uh like by the season um spring summer fall winter this way we can get different different um different people involved in doing it um so it's not the same people doing it all the time and we can just have a a rotating or monthly or something else or bi-weekly different people bi-weekly or something like that if we get that much response yeah I think that's a good idea and then we can just see how it evolves and maybe build off of it right okay all right well I hate to put a lot of pressure on you guys and put PA this off but you're doing a great job in getting this information but like I said I'm just going to need a lot of help uh it's a lot of work I know it's a lot of work but once we if we can get this going and up and going as a pilot I think it's going to take care of itself after it's just the initial of trying to get it get it going I know that for a fact from the all abilities Beach day um but once you get things all together it it be I'm not going to say smooth ceiling but it will be a lot easier once we have you know a lot of the the the groundwork set for it absolutely okay all right all right so yeah so just I'm not gonna bother you on it I'm just I'm going to carry this over as next steps for the for the next meeting uh so whenever you get anything um you can either email me or we could say well we'll present everything for next month if it's done before that then I can present it to Fox and wreck uh and then we can go from there sounds like a plan okay all right thank you um item number five is um a Cote of commission on disability Alliance uh had their monthly meeting uh last Wednesday December 4th um just going to let you know that DPC which is the disab Disability Policy Consortium who hosts uh uh the monthly Coda meetings is in the process of hiring for a few positions such as a community organizer an executive assistant de in heart of hearing ab budsman and de of in heart of hearing AB budsman uh along with a few other positions for more information to apply you can visit their website at https um semicolon backback www. DPC ma.org um in DPC next item was that DPC also mentioned that the next Le legislative session begins again in January soon after they will start having advocacy updates for their new session um so that's what they did uh the next item at I at our monthly Kota is Newber report cood spoke about a new program that will be they will be implementing called project LIF saer and and there was a few Chuckles it's not the candy it's not the Lifesavers candy it's called a project Lifesaver um and they what it is is they're going to be partnering with their local police department and Council on Aging uh this technology has a success rate of being able to locate a lost individual within 30 minutes uh much faster than others than other types of Technologies that's out there their initial cost to implement this will be approximately $9,800 for the first year uh this includes risk are ankle transponders for 14 individuals along with equipment for three police cars and other equipment needed to be installed throughout the community it also includes all the training necessary for the police offices and for more information on this technology can be found at the website https uh semicolon back project lifesaver. org um it's it's it's almost um it's almost like that the um it's not the low Jack for C but there's a low Jack that that that's out there for uh children of autism on the Spectrum um it this it's it's pretty similar to that but this has a much quicker uh success turnaround rate um so Newberry report is going to be implementing at their Cod and their Cod is is uh is paying it so this is something that um they'll they'll get back to uh monthly meetings and let us know how it's going if anybody wanted to take a look at it unfortunately the the down part the downside about it is they can only um they can only pay for 14 individuals in their Community um because it's because of the expense but the main the main part of it is the technology um is expensive on the back end I believe they said for each additional um each additional person to get a a transponder a wrist transponder or an ankle I think it was approximately um I I I don't want to misquote but I think it was a couple hundred dollars um so there are they're looking at other grants to do that but families can pay for that themselves the most expense is the back end that they're paying to have all the equipment in the community the police officers to be trained so that would be uh wouldn't be a cost for the families if they wanted to get the transponder himself for themselves and then they probably could be uh be added to the towns um the town system so that's something that they're looking into also but like I said they're just they're limited right now to being able to offer to 14 uh individuals in their in their Town um the next item at the meeting is various cods discussed construction related issues causing accessible root problems for pedestrians we know about that when they're doing construction um especially when they're doing sidewalk work they don't block it off they don't make temporary sidewalks um and that caus that's been causing a lot of problems with uh with h various cities and towns um Riva seems to have a pretty good beat on it uh the only issue sometimes I believe they have is when it's a state highway or a state road and you have the state agencies involved that um cities and towns really don't have oversight so I know cities and towns are trying to work and trying to get that corrected um but there's a there's a lot of discussion on uh MBTA or different agencies that are doing work in different communities and uh not doing the proper uh the proper things that they need to do uh if a sidewalk is going to be shut down for for a for a number of times or or a day or two they need need to be able to provide um a way to uh you can't just be able to put caution tape up because a because a person who is visually impaired uh is not going to know that there's caution tape there uh and where to go so there has to be um something other than that to let them know and have a ramps to getting down to get to a temporary sidewalk beside it uh with with barriers and not just caution tape to to to say that this is the accessible way to go it really needs to be buried off as as a as a point information like they've done down um on Ocean AV they made a temporary sidewalk and it's all Jersey barriers as a as a walkway where the sidewalks up closed that's the proper way to to make a temporary sidewalk uh you don't do with caution tape or with cones you have to make it a permanent structure to close it off so nothing can get in or get out and cause any injuries for anyone um item number six is um any commission members late items or any information that they wanted to add that um was not on this on the agenda going once going twice gone three times okay um item number seven was residents concerns and issues I have not received um any and just going to let you I'm just going to Public public um information just to let people know because I did get a couple requests that uh couple of residents have received uh ping tickets say stating that they were PED in a handicap spot they had a placard and they sent it to me anytime you have something like that you would just either contact the parking department or appeal the ticket um doesn't come to the commission on disabilities uh because that's just going to delay it so you just want to contact the parking department or you would just do the appeal process that's that states on the back of the ticket with your explanation for asking for a hearing uh and then you would go for there so we just wanted to put that out there for public information to let people know on that um before I move any further um I just wanted to go back to uh item number uh item number three the draft letter that Pauline created um just to uh as we had nobody had any that they wanted to add or change to it um I'll ask what the will of the um commission is is do we want to table this and wait for Pauline to next month or do we want to make a motion to uh to accept the draft letter and submit it um so what the will of the the commission I read it I like it I mean if you want to wait for calling that's up to you but seems good want to do a roll call of the members to see if they want to table it and if you want to table it you just say uh yes if you don't want to table it you say no and then we take a vote what happens with that then we would take another so we have a h a motion for a roll call to table the draft letter uh created by PA until our next meeting um uh Mario ganis um I don't know maybe we should wait I don't know like yes the table I'm not sure yes okay and Marie yeah okay yes Jason Baron yeah I'm okay with that I mean I I don't think hen has a lot to say on it but I think we could just to be confirmed before it gets sent out okay just to make sure she doesn't have a couple more things to do you know she may not have anything she just may you know but since she's not here I don't want to say that we're going okay and um and Ellie I'll go with yes because everyone's agreed to it so it's fine okay and I will vote Yes and what I will um should I read do you think I should read the draft Yeah so that you know so that we have it in our in our meeting um we have so far uh okay can we just just get it here hold on one second have it here okay so uh this is what we have so far for the draft the city Riv Commission on disabilities has been discussing some pedestrian sa safety issues along the beach and Rivier pedestrian traffic has been on the increase as a result of new construction people commuting to the MBTA station as well as individuals who walk uh uh daily for their Wellness with this increase day Daylight Savings Time change in the approach of winter pedestrian safety continues to be of utmost importance and will continue once spring and summer returns although lighting along the boulevard is present there is a clear need for pedestrian Crossings to become illuminated sign signage alone is not enough while crosswalks caution cones and barrels signify pedestrian walkways illuminated flashing signs indicating the presence of person Crossing would be an added safety net for individuals walking walking along the beach additionally illuminated signs such as rectangular rapid flashing beacons um which abbreviated is rrfbs RF rrfb signalization is proving to increase the driver's attention to foot traffic and decrease accidents in injuries that being said we are urging you to bring this matter to the appropriate persons at the state level for further discussion and implementation as a commission we appreciate your attention to this and look forward to having further Communications regards and it will all be signed um by Vi Commission on disabilities with each one of our members names uh to it um so what we'll do is we'll table this till next month and what this will also do is please review it and if you want anything else added to this um please have that ready you can email it to me and I can add it to it and we can discuss it before we formally um make a motion to approve and send it at our next monthly meeting if that sounds okay sounds good okay great all right um see where we were back to um Regular Next Step next steps so next steps we have um Mar will be uh [Music] working on a formal what did we say we G to call a formal plan yes for music program which includes preliminary Workshop three we want to do three right three preliminary workshops yes yes two or three and so that we could uh present and and then the regular programming so that we could present um uh a formal letter to the riv Recreation to let them know what we're looking to do uh TimeWise suggestions um things of that nature so see what's available for space um and part because we want to partner with them so I'm going to say we want to be able to present to re okay U that's that uh the next thing we we for next steps is we [Music] tabled draft letter regarding pedestrian crossing at River Beach in surrounding area you know those uh caution signs they have like the Oran height those are great yeah those those are yeah those are the ones yeah I almost got hit a bunch of time during night stinks oh yeah those those are what the rfbs are awesome Yes um I think and of course the normal um any updates for uh calendar what we usually put it on here uh calendar for future monthly gu okay all right I didn't forget anything or was there anything else we needed those were the three items I believe yes okay absolutely all right um I I'm doing a dual role tonight so I apologize I'm trying to take notes at the same time so I apologize if if I'm going a little too slow for everyone um item number nine is the reminder the commission on disabilities office number is 781 286 8267 residents can also call R 301 directly and speak to their staff Monday through Friday they will answer most questions but if they cannot or if you want to talk to our department directly ask be transferred to the disability office please leave a detailed message and someone will get back to you soon as always don't hes don't hesitate to contact us if you want something discussed or added to our monthly meeting agenda you can also let us know if you want to speak about any issues or concerns the commission is here to help and assist all the disabled residents and their families of R see um uh we have a uh um a motion to adjourn motion second and first second okay um our next meeting via Zoom will be on Tuesday January 14 2025 the New Year oh no oh no and I wrote it right on the on the on the agenda if you noticed I didn't put 2024 so I did something right um so I wanted to wish everyone uh on the commission and their families a happy holidays Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah uh Panza um I don't think if am I forgetting any uh whatever holidays uh everyone uh anyone celebrates uh especially to all our R residents uh please be safe and also um a happy New Year because we won't meet until next year please be safe and I hope everyone has a posture a prosperous and healthy new year thanks you all right have a nice night now