[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Um, we can get started though. I know that it's just us, but does anybody have any updates or anything generally that they'd like to. To say no. Okay. Did everybody have a minute to look?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Sorry, Gabby. It looks like Susan had her hand up.
[Susan Bibbins]: Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Hi. I just went to the RTAG meeting on Thursday last week, but I'll do that in new business.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Okay. Sounds good. Thank you for making that. Okay, anybody else? Okay. So for the meeting minutes from last month, they're pretty bare bones, but does anybody have anything to add or any changes or anything like that? No.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Great. If everyone's ready, I can make a motion to approve the minutes.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Linda. Does anybody second that motion? Great. Okay, so the first thing on our agenda for right now is nominating a secretary. If anybody is interested, please feel free to say so. If not, we can keep it open for a little bit longer. But just something to think about if anybody is interested in that role. Not right now.
[Tom Hamel]: Is someone taking notes for tonight?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: I just took notes on the motion. And I'm happy to continue doing that. It just gets a little bit like sometimes when we get into the weeds of conversations, my notes start to fall off. But I'm fine with doing it.
[Tom Hamel]: I'll take some notes too and send them to you at the end.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Thank you very much. I think that Shanine was planning on joining us. but I haven't heard anything. She sent me an email yesterday, so we can hold off on that. Sue, did you have any updates on the senior center that you wanted to share?
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: I had originally said that I'd get back to you because somebody, and I really apologize, I don't know who on our board, said they'd like to start reaching out and us being more present at more places and more events. And I think the senior center came up. This was last month. It's probably in the notes somewhere. Anyway, I went to the senior center and I had mentioned, I guess, that I thought I knew they did a St. Patrick's and that would be a great time. I'm going to be away, but a great time. for our presence to be known, and that's March 15th. I think I sent it to you, Gabriella. It's a lunch and entertainment, it's $5, and I don't know what, you mentioned it, I believe. I think you said we needed to get out more. Anyway. Who's you, is that me? Yes, I'm sorry, I'm pointing to the screen. Right. So anyway, oh, I'm sorry. Anyway, that would be a terrific place to be there. You know, one or two of us, and again, I'm away, I'm sorry. And I don't know whether it's already filled up, but I know in the past somehow, I knew somebody on the board there and they said it was always a big hit. So that's March 15th at noon. It's lunch and entertainment for St. Patrick's. Just saying that. The other thing is they have free tax help. And I don't know how we could get this out to people other than seniors. Free tax help through AARP from mid-February to mid-April. And there's a basic number you call for all the services I'm gonna mention right now. It's 781-396-6010. And they have that, and they have, if you don't drive or you can't access public transportation, then you literally can, it's called TRIP, T-R-I-P, and you can get money that goes to friends and family and so on who drive you places. So that number is different because that's a different entity. That's 781-388-4819. I haven't called it yet, but I do know people who could very much benefit from that option. And then the other one is free tech help. on all different devices, handheld, computer, so on. And it's one-on-one tech help, which I wanna do a sidebar. The library will do that with people also. And you have to reserve a spot. It's if you're a senior or disabled with very little tech experience. And again, that's 781-396-6010. but you have to reserve a spot. And the other one, which I think is fabulous, is home maintenance. So jobs like your smoke detector needs a replacement battery or light bulbs that are hard to maneuver or that kind of thing. And again, that's a 781-396-6010 number. And I just think That warmed my heart when I heard about that one. I just think it's fabulous. You know, there's people that wait for their young offspring to come to the house to fix a beeping smoke detector, that kind of thing. So anyway, anyway, that's all I have there. Pam Kelly is very open. I talked to her. I know her a little bit anyway. I talked to her and she's very open to us going there in any capacity.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: I have a question. Would any of these resources be something that we would want to list on our website? I think we should.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: I mean, it doesn't seem like there'd be any angst from the senior center. They'd like to get it out there. and it's another avenue to do it in.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Go ahead, Gabby. Go ahead. I was just going to ask, is this something we need a motion for? Does anyone know what the correct protocol is for something like this?
[Susan Bibbins]: I'm just curious as to whether they also provide services for people with disabilities.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: Yes. I wrote that down. I don't know if it's the. Definitely the driving one. The air P I think it's open. I you know, I have to be honest. I think that when they say seniors. Then that often times in parentheses. So I know people
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Tom, it looks like you got your hand up.
[Tom Hamel]: Yeah, were all three of these services provided by AARP at that number you gave?
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: No, the only one AARP was the tax help.
[Tom Hamel]: Okay, do you know who provides the other two services?
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: No, the one about driving, where you get money to give to friends and family, that's called TRIP, T-R-I-P, that's what they have with all the paperwork here.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: We're losing you. We're losing you. It's harder to hear you. Oh, I'm sorry.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: When I look down, you can't hear me. No. RIP. It's Mystic Valley Elder Services, TRIP Metro North Program. So and then the other one I mentioned, the maintenance fund. One is, it's funded through a Medford CDBG human services grant, which I don't know what the CBBG stands for. Help with small jobs. Anyway, it's through the Medford Senior Center, but it's funded by what I just mentioned.
[Tom Hamel]: So is that the number that you provided? Is that the number for the senior center?
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: Yes 7, 8, 1, 3, 9, 6, 6, 0, 1, 0, and they have wonderful receptionist that will say you need to talk to so-and-so and send you on to them. And they're very used to the phone calls.
[Tom Hamel]: Thank you, Sue.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Do you know if they have web access? Any websites?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: That's what I'm looking for right now. So far, what I've been able to find is a Facebook page that links to the Medford Council on Aging page. It looks like a monthly newsletter. Definitely, they have a monthly newsletter. which we could link, oh, visit our website. What is this? It's definitely hard to find the website. Yeah, and then when you hit that link, it just takes you to like the City of Medford's Council on Aging page, but it does mention the TRIP senior transportation program and tax info for seniors. So those links could be helpful.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it would be great if we could get something in addition to a phone number for folks who have trouble with phone.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: Well, I think Gabrielle's idea of actually you could post the newsletter on hours. I mean, that's where the information is. Possibly, I don't know, I'm not tech savvy enough that we could circle within the newsletter, the items that would really be You don't need the knitting class and this and that, but the items like I just mentioned, maybe they could be highlighted when we put it on a website.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, we could link to, I guess I would have to see what the PDF looks like. It gets kind of tricky. Do you have, is this the link?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Did it send? Yeah, there we go. That's what I've been able to find for the newsletters.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: That's going to be tricky to see if that's accessible.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: I opened it and it looks like it does not have alt text.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: Well, maybe that's something that we could teach the senior center about, not me, teach the senior center about is how to link it to get it more accessible.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: I mean, they may have a word version of it, like their draft version before they printed it.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: So we could ask. But I do think that this would be helpful to have on our web page along with the resources. Yeah.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: It's definitely better than, like if it's a resource that's worth sharing, it's definitely better than nothing. It's unfortunate that it's not in an accessible format, but if there's, If there's like a way that people can sign up for the newsletter. Maybe it comes to them in a different format, or maybe they have a decent enough. Yeah, I just say it's something that like a screen reader would be able to read.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: But it could be helpful to some folks. Definitely, and I see at the bottom that I'll drop an email in the chat. It says that you can email, it says receive a newsletter via email. And then it just has that email and it says email us your information. So yeah, you can sign up for it.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. Yeah. And actually, it looks like there's already a link to the monthly newsletter on the Council of Aging's Like the City of Medford's Council of Aging page. So I wonder if our best bet for that would be actually linking to the Council on Aging's webpage. If they're already maintaining it, that way it doesn't duplicate and cause potential eroding information.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Oh, Tom, the version that you just sent might actually work. Wow, where did you get the PDF?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[Tom Hamel]: I typed it up. No, I'm just kidding. I press download on the... somewhere on the page that you guys were talking about, there was a download button.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Oh, okay. This is definitely a lot more user-friendly. I think there's still some things that won't get picked up, like the little calendar.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. Maybe, I don't know. It's a sideways table. It might work. The ads might not. Those might just be images. Yeah, but that's fine.
[Tom Hamel]: Is it okay enough to post on our Facebook group also, the disability community group?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: I think so. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So I'm looking at the Council on Aging's page again. And it looks like the link to the newsletter Yeah, it goes to the place, the link that you originally gave, Gabby, of like the place where I guess you could view the publication and then download it perhaps. Yes, download. Yeah, yeah, I see it now, Tom. Yeah. So I guess my recommendation would be that whatever resources we have that are connected to the Council on Aging would be to link just specifically to the Council on Aging's page and kind of explain what they offer. It looks like they've, you know, like the TRIP senior transportation program. They've got other, so we could say like transportation and tax info and a newsletter. Their monthly newsletter with which I think like you were saying is one of the more valuable resources because the resources that they post in their change. Yep.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, this was a great find. Thank you, Sue. I can post it in the Facebook group. And I think we have a working doc somewhere of the links that we want to have added to our website. Is that, Linda, would you have that? Oh, we do. I haven't seen that one. I think maybe I have one somewhere. OK. I can locate it and add this to it. And then maybe Linda, once we have that, we have like a list typed up, would you be, do you know who the contact is?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: I know who it was, but I can find out if that's changed. I'm happy to, happy to do that. I'm also happy to like whatever links people want to put on there, I'm happy to like review them for accessibility, like make sure the hyperlink text is okay and all of that, like before you pass them on so that whatever they do put on our page is, Is accessible from that point of view.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Okay, thank you so much. So I'll make that my to do. Update like, such resources, so then hopefully by maybe the next meeting, we can have an idea of what's going to work to get posted. And maybe what either needs revisions, or, you know, maybe we need to table until. Until further notice. Okay, great. And those phone numbers and things like that, I can add to the Facebook post. I think that's, I think that's fine.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, if you want to add them also to the, like, what gets added to the web. Yeah, whatever information you want on the web, and I can look at it all and make sure it's. Added all right, and then before we pass it on, thank you.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: I guess my ending question on this is. are there some people available to link up with Pamela Kelly, the director there, about having a small table or something at the St. Patrick's Day event at noontime on March 15th? I don't know.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: I'm also gonna be away that weekend. That's a big university, at least for my school and my friends, but that's a week off, so I won't be here. But it's a great idea if anybody is able to connect. I think it would be valuable. Yvette, you have your hand raised.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Yes. So when I went there a couple of meetings ago, one of the things that I was speaking to the young lady about who works with organizing the different events was for us to have a regular presence there. you know, like once a month where we actually have a table. There were things that you all had asked to find out and transportation was one of those. So there were some topics that that group of individuals wanted to hear more about. I think vision was another one. And so when I met with them, it was about us being there on a Maybe like on a monthly basis just with the table organizing it and also to provide them with a piece of paper that we can at least put on their boards or an email that invites them to our meetings. Right? So now those individuals that are there from, you know, the age, individuals, senior individuals, individuals with disabilities, whatnot, that way they would be able to have more access to what we offer. And that way we're bringing them into our space and expanding and maybe we get more members, right? Or individuals that want to be involved. So that, I just wanted to say that was my, take away from my meeting with them. Then like what Susan is talking about on the March 5th, we'll have a monthly thing that would be there where people from anywhere, they would know that, hey, the disability group is going to be at the senior housing, senior center on X days. Yeah.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: That's a great idea. This is jumping a little bit, but one of the things on our agenda is kind of ideas for recruiting new members and kind of having more public participation. And part of that is definitely going out into those spaces and meeting people and letting people know that we exist and we can be a resource. But you just made me think that maybe we could talk to Pam Kelly. maybe we could have some space on the newsletter to kind of say that, you know, we have these monthly meetings and there has to be other city newsletters that go out where, whether it's like a small newsletter or things like that.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: Maybe even at Kiwanis must have a newsletter, you know, those kinds of places, Chamber of Commerce, I don't know.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: That's a really good idea. I can send some emails and see if there's a possibility for just to have like a small blurb of like, you know, the commission has meetings on Wednesdays and just kind of like a quick thing. And then maybe having, we don't have a commission email, but some sort of like, bit of information, whether it's for our website or something like that, so that people can find out more and do it that way. I think that also would be helpful. I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner. I think that would be a good addition. Great.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: I think definitely driving them to our website, like starting starting there is a really good, a really good practice to get going. And then because then if we're having resources and things like that on our website, then we can kind of like build that traffic and kind of point people to those resources and then kind of in like a one place. And then if there's There is there's a link I'm on our I'm on the boards and commission page anyway there's an online city calendar. There I wonder if there's one on our particular trying to find this here we go. I wonder if there's like a calendar. Meeting agendas, meeting minutes. It might be helpful. I don't see one here. It might be helpful for there to be a link to the city event calendar from our page. It says the commission typically meets the fourth Wednesday of the month, but having a link directly to the calendar so folks can check. To see and verify that we are having a meeting and fashion that it's not like an off month or something like that.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and access to the agendas to, like, yeah, access to the agendas.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, there's a button for meeting agendas and a button for meeting minutes on there too. So, like, maybe just adding a asking if they can add a button to the calendar so people can verify and plan ahead.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Perfect what about the city council meetings? Can we go there and make an announcement? Reminder, upcoming meetings?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: That I'm not sure. I think my understanding from past experiences is that you can, of course, go to a city council meeting as an individual. But I think that anything that would be on behalf of the commission, do we need to vote on? Susan, do you remember?
[Susan Bibbins]: First of all, you need to get on the city council agenda in order to speak. Right. I don't know if they're going to deem it speak worthy. It would need a motion and a vote. to speak on our behalf. But I don't see that as a problem. I see the stumbling block as being getting on the agenda and the city council or the city clerk deeming it noteworthy enough to put on the agenda.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Well, our seniors and our disability community is noteworthy for it. That's what I believe. I agree. And so I don't know whatever is the next step, but if we could figure out what the next step here is, then that way I can do the next step and reach out to them. Because why is it there? I think...
[Susan Bibbins]: what we would have to do is figure out what we wanted to say.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: When I think about it, there's nothing specific except for saying that we just want to provide a reminder that the Commission of Persons with Disability holds monthly meetings that are open to the public. and you can find the Zoom link. I don't know if our Zoom link is available out on the committee website or not, but that's all I'm thinking about saying. I mean, it's just to put us back out in the forefront.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Is it to remind the city council that we're, who's the audience?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: The audience is whoever's watching the city council meetings.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Do you know how many people do that? Do we know what traffic that gets?
[Susan Bibbins]: It depends on what's on the agenda.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: But it's also videotaped and people go back and watch them. If we're on the agenda, that means that when they look through the agenda, they at least see that.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Sue, did you have something to add? I saw your hand.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: I was wondering if also on the Medford Public School website or their basic advertisement when you go on to look them up, whether we couldn't have a little block that says there is a disability commission in the city of Medford. Because of course, there's a lot of disabled students and if we could have a little block somewhere on that. I don't know. On the Medford Public Schools website?
[Susan Bibbins]: Yeah. I would also suggest the CPAC.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yes. It's the Parents Council Committee, yes?
[Susan Bibbins]: Yeah. It's the Special Education parents, back to the council.
[Tom Hamel]: Yeah, I think that's right.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think those are all great ideas. I don't think that it hurts to reach out and see if, you know, maybe if they don't want to put the info on their website, if it could be thrown into a newsletter or something like that, just to get a little bit more, a little more traction. I can add those to my list of places to reach out to.
[Susan Bibbins]: I would suggest we get Francis's feedback before we take the vote and make the decision to go to whether or go to the city council. I would want that.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: I agree. I also think that there have been instances where we have thought about, like, maybe we'll write a letter to city council or maybe we'll, you know, like, if there's a specific ask that we want of the city council, I think that it makes sense to kind of save those asks as much as we can. into then at the same time kind of raise awareness that we exist and we're here and you know we're always looking for new members and kind of using that as a a segue when and if we need to go in front of them. But I'm also interested in hearing Francis's feedback because I do think it is true that city council meetings and school committee meetings obviously get a lot more traction. But I think there is a lot of interest that intersects. If you're interested in city council and school committee, chances are you may also be interested in the commission. Yeah, we can we can check with Frances and see what she thinks she may have other kind of like strategic suggestions on kind of using that as a way to raise awareness that we're here. So yeah, if that's okay with everyone, maybe we can start by asking Frances her thoughts and and take it from there.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I think also I was like, digging through my emails and things like that to find out like what the like protocol is for these things. I'm not finding it like I read through the bylaws. I'm not finding anything about like how this how we're situated with CityCamp. But I know that it's there. Like I know that they're there. Like I know there's protocol. I just don't know where I can go to find them. Like, And I know there's like open meeting law, and I know that there's like certain things covered like in our ordinance and whatnot. But yeah, I would definitely, I'm having trouble finding anywhere written down somewhere where we can reference this. So yeah, I definitely would want to like double check with Francis to make sure that we're like crossing our T's and dotting our I's and staying our lane and doing things in the right order.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yes. Yeah, that sounds good to me. I think that all makes sense. It's better to double check before making those decisions.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I think being like having something written up being specific about like this is what we would want on the agenda or the letter like this is what we would want in a letter or like this is our goal. Like what would be the best channel for this? Would the best channel be to try and get on an agenda or write a letter or ask someone to make an announcement at these people's meetings? Like what would be the best channel for what we're trying to achieve?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. great, great thinking.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: I'm gonna do we need a motion to ask Francis or should we just ask? No. Okay.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Susan, you're muted. Which Susan, so Susie, so
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Sue, Sue Bibbins.
[Susan Bibbins]: I'm muted. I'm sorry, I forgot. We don't need a motion to ask Francis. I think we put it in the minutes so that it's down on paper to consult with Francis about the route we want to go through and what What is our eventual goal?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that sounds good. Sorry, my cat is meowing. But I wrote that down, so I will make sure that it's included in the minutes. Okay. So I know that the next item was for Commissioner Casey to update on Gillis Park. So we will skip over that for now. I'll also try to shoot him an email just to see if he's able to make it or if he's planning on joining later. But in the meantime, Cameron, did you have anything that you wanted to share on the walking court feedback or anything like that?
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, thanks, Gabby. So I was Approached by uh medford citizen um who is feeling like the aged and disabled in uh medford housing development are not being heard um, so they Submitted um some detailed feedback to the project managers um and I think my Question really is, you know, I think there's a process when I go and I look at the slides that the Maldit the Medford Housing Authority, you know Produces and the steps that they go through They check with a number of different city departments They consult with buyer and the historic department as well. I'm wondering when the housing is intended to be affordable, and in this case, also for the disabled, if there should be an opportunity where they consult with those folks specifically and maybe we can help help them understand how to do that in the best way possible. But it sounds like these folks are not currently being heard in the process that we use currently. And I have the slides up, Gabby, but I can't screen share. I don't know, I could send a link in the chat if people wanna look at what I'm saying.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: I think I can give you screen share. What if I make you the co-host?
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, I think this works. Perfect. So you can see it's a multi-year project, and the public engagement process started in 2022 and 2023, and there's a number of resident and community and abutter meetings, and then a number of meetings with city entities. It's intended for elderly, disabled, and deeply affordable. And so, you know, I think this is all great. I think there are awesome goals. I'm just wondering if maybe there's an opportunity for us to suggest a refinement to the process where the designers meet with disabled residents in a smaller group setting.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. There was specific accessibility concerns. You may have said it and I missed it. Was it more like the architecture of the building or was it, do you know?
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: I think there's a number of concerns. I don't know. I think there's probably different opinions. One of the concerns was like, yes, less screen space. And I also think that the project has way more affordable apartments and so I could see city officials making a trade off. Some of the other pieces of feedback are like yes we worry that this won't be as accessible. the accessible units are pushed up against the side of the property, and the property abuts the metro, and so there's concern about noise and pollution. And these people, you know, kind of wouldn't have a way to escape that. You know, they'd be harmed by their environment. And so, you know, I think the concerns that they raise sound legitimate to me and I worry that the person that emailed me is saying that the concerns are not being heard. And so it just suggests to me that there could be a step in the process where if this is a funded by city dollars for disabled people that we make sure that the resident meeting is accessible and that these folks have the opportunity and weren't accidentally crowded out from giving their thoughts.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. And it sounds like they tried to communicate some of these concerns to, is it the Medford Housing Authority directly?
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: I don't know. I think this is where I'm not sure it's their job to navigate city departments. And like, you know, if we're the Commission for Disability, could we help figure out either we can give the feedback to the Department of Housing or I think what I'd like to see is the Department of Housing adopt a process that includes specific resident meeting focused on folks with a disability.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. I don't know how helpful. uh, like a letter would be, but if we drafted or started to work on drafting something that kind of highlighted, you know, a member of the public came to us, uh, raising some concerns regarding, you know, X, Y, Z, um, you know, our understanding is that maybe they're, they weren't, you know, properly consulted in these plans, um, and as a result of that, it seems like some of the, the housing and the resources and what's available are inadequate. And I think that's the easy part, but the hard part is figuring out what can we actually do. I think definitely encouraging and asking and probably reminding annually, monthly, however much we need to that that we are happy to, members of the commission are happy to sit in on those meetings and that we would love to be informed of when those meetings occur. So that one, we can let our limited network of community members know in advance, but also so that we can sit in and get an idea of what that process looks like. But as far as remedies, to my cat is really going crazy, remedies for this particular, that's preventative, that measure, but what can we do now to remedy what has already happened? That, I don't know. Linda, did you have some thoughts?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I'm wondering if, part so in the vein of the letter and like recommendations that we can make i'm wondering and i don't know what goes into this this is just a spitball idea but wondering if we can recommend that they work or provide a work with like an accessibility third party firm consultant or something that provides like a report of certain accessibility concerns or kind of like an audit of of that. I know that they exist in the digital accessibility space. I'm not sure if something like that exists in like the physical accessibility space.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: I think that they do. I know that in the past members of the commission have gone to do like site visits of parks and schools. And I believe that you need a separate training to be able to do that. And I'm not sure if that's through the city or if that's through the state or I could ask Francis. I know that Francis does it.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I think that's why I'm wondering like if they could even like get like a third, Like not like a, I guess I'm thinking like third party impartial was what I was thinking. You know, as opposed to like to kind of separate out any sort of conflict of interest or I mean, it sounds to me that this is city built housing. Is that correct? Or state built housing? Or?
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: Yep, Medford Housing Authority. And so it seemed to me like both.
[Susan Bibbins]: It's it's state funded and city funded.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Okay. Okay. So yeah, I mean, I would I would think any accessibility audit would be better than none. But like, I think the like, ideal would be like get a third party Um, that's just another, like, idea if we wanted to recommend something, we can make a motion to recommend something like that to the to the folks if if we thought that was a good idea. And I don't know if that would help in this particular case, or if that would be a future looking recommendation.
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, I, I'm. wondering if we just do a little bit more fact finding first. So like, I'd be interested in if we could have a member of the Medford Housing Authority come present to us next month and tell us what the process is, and tell us how they engage disabled community members. And if they can't tell us how they do that, maybe then we can make a recommendation.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah yeah do we need to make like a motion to oh go ahead Sue I'm sorry I keep I keep talking. Sorry what? Oh go ahead I was gonna stop.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: So I've written down a number of notes so Kim I'm really listening to you and I hear that you're saying that this is what I'm hearing um that you feel like uh some of the people that contact you feel pushed aside They're living, even though it's, say, affordable, disability accessible. They're really near loud trains. They're really in the basement of things, whatever. You get what I'm saying, right, Cam?
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, and I think we should make sure that they're being heard. And so I'm interested.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: I'm gonna go on. So one thing that is really standing out in me is that I think our board has to say, you have a voice in Medford. I think that's what our board has to get across. You have a voice in Medford. Are you a senior 60 plus? Are you disabled at birth? or a teenager, or 40 years old, or 60 years old, and you're disabled, we are the commission that will give you a voice. And Cam is saying that, and I'm sorry, there's too many people, Linda is saying that, and so on. And so these are my things that I'm thinking about. I know about disabled being pushed aside, even though I think it was last month or the month before, talked about somebody who got a wonderful place to live. It's a basement apartment, basement project. So do we say that's okay? For this person, it is wonderful, but is it okay for somebody who's visually impaired? Maybe not, because you have to go up X amount of stairs, it's darker, when you have a beautiful condo, but it's in the basement level. I'm just thinking about all these things. Pam, you're bringing things, I'm thinking about that. So there's a number of options. You can do a state audit because even though I love Medford in a number of different ways, it is an interesting community. And you can go out to state audit, you can go out to Senator Jalen. Patricia Jalen is awesome on a lot of stuff. You can go out to Catherine Clark, our state senator, awesome. You can reach out to those people. But I think the biggest thing is that we can help you have a voice in Medford that we can help you, please come to us. And when you contact these people, Pam, and you say, come to our next meeting or meet with like Tom, I think it was Tom and I met at the Medford library and talked to them about all their services. They're wonderful services at the new library. You have a voice. between our board, between, I'm saying I really believe in it, senior center, between whatever, and I'm not gonna mention the board that you mentioned, Cam, because there's still stuff somewhere, that we have a voice and we can do it and help, whether it's an individual or group in a senior center or a group in apartments that you know about, That's a voice that we have to get out there. And I love that you did that. But I'm saying a lot of these people are pushed aside. I run early in the morning. I see them on the curbside. And all they need to know is there's a place, a commission they can go to that give that bump up to get a house or apartment or whatever.
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, perfect. Thank you, Sue.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: I think you're absolutely right, Sue. I think one idea I think was it Linda that you said, or maybe it was Cam about inviting them to hear what the process is so that if we have to take steps such as reaching out to senators and reps and things like that, you can say, this is what we heard from the community member, maybe this is what was found from the third party review. This is what we heard from the housing authority and making this recommendation of either whatever it may be, whether it's their own standards are not being met, they're not following their own guidelines, whatever it may be, I think, If we do go that route, like contacting reps and things like that, I think we want to be in a position to give them as much information as possible. So I think that starting with having them at a meeting and asking if they would be willing to share with us a little bit more about their process, I think is a good starting point. And we can kind of be prepared with some questions to just kind of get an idea of what happened. And taking it taking it from there and then, of course, if we, if we feel like, based on that, we want to write a letter. Or start any other contacts. With whoever it may be, we can do it. Do it that way. I don't know if we need a motion. I think we do need a motion for.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I feel like I remember the recesses on my brain that we need to make a motion to invite somebody to a meeting.
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: Sure, I'll make a motion. I make a motion to invite any of the Medford Housing Authority employees that would be appropriate to come.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: I think Sue seconded that, so I think we need to do a vote.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: All in favor? Aye. And any abstention? No. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you for that reminder, Linda, that I was supposed to do that. Yeah, Kim, was there any specific Anything that you wanted to get back to that individual right away? Or was it kind of more like, I'll touch base and... Yeah, just touch base.
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: I think they're exploring lots of ways to share the feedback and are mostly just hoping that the community is listened to. more appropriately on an ongoing basis, even if it wasn't perfect this time, we can just make it a little bit better moving forward.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, great, great thinking. And always feel free that if you do, you know, get approached by community members who, you know, have concerns and you don't Don't know too much about, you know, how to respond. We can always add things to the agenda and kind of brainstorm that way too. But thank you for bringing this to us. Hopefully we can, we can find some sort of solution. Okay, next.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Sorry, before we move on, I wanted to circle back to what you met with the thing about, and Sue also was saying about maybe having more of a presence. Did we have a motion or anything like that about them or a decision on having a presence monthly at the senior center? Did we decide we were going to table that? were we going to gather more information first?
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: It seemed like nobody could show up on I'm an Irish citizen so I'm sorry that I can't be there but March 15th nobody could be there it seemed like but maybe we'll look at April but it seemed like you were saying that we should just find a date and go there.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Are you saying you being me? Yes. Okay. So what I was saying is that I should go back to the woman that I was speaking to and organize a date for the Disability Commission to be able to have a table in the senior center to kind of address whatever questions. So based on my conversation with them a couple of months ago, that's what I'd like to do.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: Great.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Second. Thank you.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Third. So was that a motion by Sue, seconded by?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yes. Sorry, just to make sure I'm understanding the motion is that the motion is to go back to find a date. So is this like something we would maybe want to figure out the availability of folks to be able to attend it before we ask them to come up with a date? I'd hate for them to go through the trouble of coming up with a date and then we wouldn't be able to attend.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Well, I'm going to work with her directly and I would be taking responsibility for organizing the date and making sure I'm available. Yeah. I see. So the idea is that you would be attending. Right. Right. I mean, I take the lead at sitting at that table for right now.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. So the motion is that we would negotiate a date that would be already manned and
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Yes, I'm gonna go back to them and find out what kind of calendar they have and what would be the best date for us to come in. And then after two or three times, we'll be able to figure out when we can, if we need to make any adjustments.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Sure, that sounds great. Thank you. And feel free if they throw out a bunch of different dates, if you want to send an email, just to give people a heads up, that would be great too.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Okay. Yeah, I think that's the kind of thing that we probably have to discuss in the next meeting. I think like any sort of decision making, I just was looking at the open meeting last slides, and it's like avoid email at all costs. So unless they were just reporting back up to you, Gabby, but then we'd have to like stick it on the agenda for the next meeting to actually talk about dates.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I was thinking more like sending out the dates. And just so we have them and then we can, we can kind of talk amongst ourselves at the next meeting. Yeah, the refresher on the bylaws and all that fun stuff is always appreciated. It is quite the learning curve for whatever reason.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: I almost have to have them open while we're meeting just to refresh because otherwise I'm not in them enough to have them memorized.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Would you all like for me to invite her to our April meeting? The person, I don't know if it's the same person that Susan spoke with, but- Pamela Kelly. Yeah, but I don't think I spoke to Pamela Kelly there. So, but whichever, you know, maybe the person that I spoke to, she was a person in charge. She also wrote the grants for the senior center. And you know, that of course was a good thing because A lot of reasons, but you want me to see about inviting them for April, then that way it stays in-house. At least they get to make a presentation and accept or something.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, do we need to make a motion for that to to send an invitation?
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: I was just gonna comment. I really liked the original idea of us showing up there. You know, I'm just like, I, you know, just like, it's hard for them to join our stuff. I, um, I would be willing to put in the work to go to them. And I would love to do that. And so I, you know, it.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Why don't we do it together? And the only reason I was saying invite, it's just a senior director so she could speak on behalf of the senior center, not everybody else.
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, we should maybe do that as well. I didn't want to lose the original point that you made, which is like showing up there in person and hearing from them, I think would be very powerful. Awesome.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Okay. Yeah. Okay. So what's the new motion?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: I think it's a two-part new motion is that one, we're going to show up and find a time to be at the senior center on a monthly basis for the commission to have a table there. Then the second part is to invite one of the two leaders at the center to be at our April meeting. The woman Susan spoke with or the woman I spoke with?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yep. So it sounds like we have a 2nd. So, uh. I guess we need to put it to a vote all in favor of the. Those 2 motions I. Any go ahead, Gabby.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: No, I think I think that motion passes unanimously. Um. great I think I think that is those are all great next steps I just want to make sure that now for our agenda for next month so perhaps it will be public participation from senior center contacts Then would we also want to, we made the motion for the invitation for the Medford Housing Authority, and I think we can just leave that at that. We don't need to run anything by Francis before putting that on the agenda. I don't think so.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: Can I pull in the Medford Public Library? because they are doing so much with disabled. I'm not just talking about a sensory room where kids with autism can feel good, blah, blah, blah. They have a, what do you wanna say? Nonprofit coffee shop and you look behind the counter and there's a Down syndrome teenager. and some of the teenagers I have taught through the Medford Recreation Department. And they are doing wonderful stuff for disabled people, not just a coffee shop, the whole library. And I'd love to pull them into our site. I'm sorry, I've already brought in this piece, but they are really doing wonderful stuff for disabled.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: I can add the Medford public library in resources to our ongoing list of things that we want on our website. I know that when we had the resource there, I spoke with. someone representing the library who informed me of a lot of the free rentals that they have, which some of it does include accessibility tech and things like that, which I never knew about. So yeah, I agree. That's a great resource.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: Call them in. Yeah. We have to link all these things. We have to keep bringing them all together.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I'll look into, the Medford Public Library has at least a digital newsletter that I get.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: Oh, they're really on top of stuff, yep.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: About possibly putting our info in that newsletter as well.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: And then sending us their stuff also.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, definitely. So we can have it all linked. I did just want to loop back on one thing. So we are going to invite someone from the senior center for next month. And we were also going to invite someone from Medford Housing Authority. Do we want to split those into separate meetings, like in April? No, March is the next month. My goodness, March and April. Or do we think that it is doable in one meeting?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: I think it's yeah.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I think I think based on just what we've what our typical meetings are, like, 1, we usually get through like, 1 speaker. It'd be tough to squeeze into and I'd hate for them to show up and then us not get to them or us feel rushed to get through stuff.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: So maybe my suggestion would be that we would have Medford Housing Authority for the next meeting, just because that is, although, you know, public participation is important. I think that this is, you know, something that we have kind of a duty to look into a little bit further. And then the following month, invite someone from the senior center. And that way, Cam and Yvette, hopefully you already have a pretty well established connection with this. Would it be okay if I amended that motion for next month?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: I second that motion. Thank you. Yes.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: I have not heard anything from Shanine or from Joe. So, if anybody has anything else they would like to yeah Tom go ahead.
[Tom Hamel]: She did text me she said she hasn't made progress on the one pager. She did send a vet she sent you and yes. She sent you an email, I should check your email, about one pager from Shanee.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Yes, can you hear me? Can you hear me? No. Okay, so yes she did, and I actually spoke with a mother who has disabled, well, she had two disabled sons. One just passed away last year. They're like 25 up. And she gave me a lot of things and I just need to get that back to Shadina. So thank you, Tom.
[Tom Hamel]: Okay, I'll let Shadina know.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Okay.
[MCM00001366_SPEAKER_06]: So I actually have to leave. Sure. I have to go. I don't want to even tell you why, but I'm going to leave. And this was one of the most productive meetings. It was really good. Thank you, Gabrielle. Thank you so much for all your suggestions. Thank you, Susan. Thank you a lot, Cam.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: It was a good meeting. Thank you so much for all your contributions and your feedback, Sue. We'll see you next month. Bye. Bye. And if there's nothing, there is nothing left on the agenda right now. If nobody has anything that they want to add, we could make a motion to, Tom, is your hand still up? Or did it go back up?
[Tom Hamel]: I put it up again.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: No, no, go ahead, please.
[Tom Hamel]: Rick, did I see on the agenda talking about the 2024 event similar to the Disability Resource Fair? I can't remember if that's what we called it. I don't know. I'm not sure how early we need to start planning for it.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Tam, I think you started to reach out to Bobby Maloney. Is that right? Yeah.
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: everyone's waiting for us to suggest a date. And I think we were gonna pull together a calendar of events for the year. And that would help us figure out when we wanted to have the disability fair.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: And that got lost from the agenda, didn't it?
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: Oh, good. Um,
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for bringing that back up, Tom. Do we still have a quorum?
[Tom Hamel]: I think we only need a quorum if we're going to vote on something. I think we can... Do we need to brainstorm the list of the events? Or do we have that listed somewhere?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: I don't think we still have a quorum. I think five of us is a quorum. I think there's nine open spots on the... If I'm not missed or eight, eight open spots. And so if we had five, then I think we're good. So I think we're good either way.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Okay. As far as I know, we don't have a calendar yet for 2024. I can look at the city website. There's certain things that I know there's like Oktoberfest in the fall that I think we try to have a presence at. There's also some energy related thing in the spring. I should know better than what that is, but that's as far as it's going to come to my head right now.
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: Let me. And then just to say it out loud, you know, Janine had made the point that we might want to wait to have it until the inclusive park is done. So if we do, then, you know, it would be great to kind of launch it together, maybe. And so. I just know that if we want to do something nice like that, it will take some planning and coordination.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, definitely. Do we have an estimate on when the park would be done? Do we know? I guess maybe that's something to ask Shanine. No. Okay. Well, I'm looking at the March and April calendars right now. I don't see anything. Not for May either. I think the summer is usually, oh, Circle the Square is in June. I think we usually have a presence at that. But that looks like the next thing on the city calendar. That's kind of like a community event. So maybe we can, for our next meeting, I can put together a list of like the community events that we typically attend and kind of we can see what looks like a slow month. We did October this fall, and I think that that I think October, November, October, and I think that timing worked well. but if it's something where the new park updates are gonna be in November, maybe lining it up to be November would also work. Yeah.
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: That sounds great.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Okay, thank you. Yeah, I will add that to the Word doc of links and whatnot. Adding some calendar events will be on there too. Go ahead. No, go ahead.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: I'd say just for point of reference, I think last year when we were originally planning the disability fair, we were hoping to overlap with the disability pride month, which is July. So just to put that out there, if there was something else that we wanted to plan for July, or if there was like, if there was ever an occasion where we would want to have the disability fair in July, you know, if we wanted to plan like really far ahead of time, if we didn't want to do it this year, could do it the following year. or also depending on whenever the inclusive park is going to go live. Sorry, I'm using website terminology. Whenever it's done and open, then if that's going to be next year, not this year, then maybe this year we can have it in July and next year do the opening of the park.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think that's a great idea. Yvette, did you have something to add?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: I just have a question. Yeah, I have a question regarding disability pride. Will somebody just clarify to me what that means?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: I think it's about representing and being proud of your disabilities and kind of embracing differences and different abilities. And that's kind of the idea around it. I think is it, let me see.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Does it relate to the LGBTQ community in any way when we say disability pride?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if it directly relates. I'll send you, this is from the US Department of Education, some info on Disability Pride Month. I'll drop it in the chat.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I found something else too from The ABA, apparently, it was basically saying they could celebrate each year in July and initially started the day of celebration in 1990, the year that the American Disabilities Act was signed into law. And actually, that same year, Boston held the first Disability Pride Day. Um, so I don't think it has any, like, natural, like, it was not originally meant to, like, Pride Month is more June, um, so I don't think that there's any, like, intentional overlap there, but, um, I think what you're thinking of, Yvette, was that last year when we had the event, um, we were having it advertised by another, commission or another group. I forget the exact group. They were part of it or connected in some way. That's how the connection got in our event from what I remember.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Okay. Well, going back in and looking at what Gabby just said. I want us to be inclusive of everyone. Inclusive of everyone and that definitely has to evolve whatever our title is of the event or make sure we explain that. I just wanted to put that out there right now because I know I had the same thought last year.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I think that's what I'm saying. I think it was specific to last year because of the particular circumstance through which they were helping us out with something. I forget exactly what they were helping us out with, but I think that's why we threw like a logo on there for them or attributed or said that. I forget what I was making the little graphic that we we recognize them because I feel like there was a bigger connection with specifically that group that's not normally part of disability pride.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: When you say that group, who are you referring to?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that's the thing. I can't remember who it was.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: The LGBTQ community?
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it's LGBTQ, and I can't remember which group it was, but there was a special connection with an LGBTQ plus group, and so we wanted to make sure that that was recognized.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Right. And we definitely want to make sure it's recognized that everyone is welcome. And okay, I'll leave it alone now. I'm just wanted to have a clearer understanding for myself. Thank you.
[Tom Hamel]: And I'll just want to support your point, Yvette. Like, we want to make it inclusive of everybody, right? We're not trying to say it's only for folks in the LGBTQ community and have disabilities, right? We're trying to make it inclusive of everybody. And so it's confusing to use the Pride... It could be confusing to use the Pride name in our event. We could have it during Pride Month, but maybe not use that word so that it's clear that it's inclusive of everybody.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Correct, correct.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I think keeping it disability fair is pretty clear. Like, I don't think anyone's suggesting that we change it to disability pride fair. I think that's what it started out as.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: that we were initially going to go with Disability Pride as the name. Then I think when we switched it over to, I think ultimately it was just Disability Resource Fair is what we referred to it as. We could change it to Disability Community Day or something like that. It doesn't necessarily need to just be a resource fair. We do want it to be a very inclusive, day of community and we want it to represent the whole community. So I agree. I think that that's something that we can definitely brainstorm as we plan more kind of some ideas on how can we make this as inclusive as possible. I think I think we we We have the resources available to us to make that happen. So I think hearing everybody's feedback and perspective will be valuable.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: And I'm sorry, may I throw out one last thing? It's about, is that okay? Yeah, of course, go ahead. Okay, so I do some festivals in Somerville and this organization called Baby Safe Haven reached out to me because what they do for organizations that are having events, they'll provide you with a stage as long as we allow them to put their name on their baby safe haven. And what that organization is about is if someone has a baby, then they can take it to a police station or a fire department or a hospital if they don't want the child, and it has to be within certain hours. So they're trying to get their word out on things as well, but they offer a free stage. So just wanted to put that out there.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's something to think about. Thank you, Kamya. Go ahead. Thank you so much for your feedback.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Okay then.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, that's something that we can think about. I think that the locations that we've talked about, mostly schools, I think namely schools, have stages there. But that's something to keep in mind.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_06]: Right. Okay then. Thank you guys so much.
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_02]: All right. Thank you so much. I think we need to make
[MCM00001367_SPEAKER_04]: a motion to adjourn but it is a motion to adjourn all right thank you Yvette does anybody second that motion yeah i second it i just went ahead just real quick i just went ahead to our web page and found that it was disability fair is what we have yeah so i feel like going with that is okay then i don't think any changes need to happen to that it's pretty rewind but i second the motion adjourn great okay thank you so much everyone for for all your help and your time