Diversity & Community Relations Committee - Regular Meeting

But could lay out very well for us. Question about food trucks. No to the food trucks because they have the the food court there. They have music piped overhead, But if we want that turned off for our own music, we could. They have no problem with the speaker coming in if that is something that we wanted to do. There is a cost to it. I don't know what our budget is. So I just want to throw that out there. And also, we would have to provide some liability insurance to rent from there as well.

Yeah. We have to do that with Bicentennial. But the city provides us with the insurance. As far as cost is concerned, any estimates are?

$900 Wow.

Okay. That's a little bit beyond.

That's what I was. I wasn't sure of our budget.

I did get in contact with Bicentennial Park. And they offered an October 11 date, which they stated October's filled up. But they had some time before an event that we could use the three to four actually, eleven to three is what they preferred time period to hold the event. And all we would do is do the paperwork again. There'd be no cost.

And we could ask again the vendors to bring their own table. And I really would like to see it go. So I think that's our only option right now. And if we hold another event, we need to plan at least a year in advance to make sure we get the best accommodations. I visited also with the Green Community Center.

And I was told that because of the school being back in session, there is no openings any day or any weekend. Apparently, they're book solid. Again, if we're going to use that facility, we need to plan way ahead. So what is the committee's decision on where we should go ahead? Should we take advantage of Bicentennial Park and hold it the way we originally had planned.

Would we have an option to move it indoors if we needed to, to that lobby area?

Yeah. The lobby can only hold eight tables. I asked about that. And that's not near enough for the number of vendors that we have. One:

I'd like to ask the mayor if he was out and keep the money to go

Yeah. I was curious about that, too.

Okay. Pam wants to communicate with the mayor and ask him if he would foot the bill for the mall, which is quite a sizable bill. But all we can do is ask.

I would say the benefit with that is one, we wouldn't need a food truck. Two, we wouldn't need a DJ. Three, it's indoors. So we don't have to worry about weather. And it's in a an area where a bus stop goes. So, you know, people are able to get there and back who don't have reliable transportation. So it's definitely an attractive option. Obviously, the $900 bill is a big drawback. Mhmm. But, I mean, it is I mean, other than the money.

Other than the money, it's great.

Yeah. It's perfect. Yes. So, I mean, if there is some, you know, wave that that can happen, that would definitely get my vote. But I also understand that there's a chance that that can't happen.

Right. That's that's kinda where I'm at too. With Bison to Millennial Park, we kinda run into the same situation where the weather is going to be determinant of the success of the event. And it's just a lot for chance when we are trying to coordinate so many people and vendors to come out to this event.

Yeah. We're running into a period of more stabilized weather during the summer months with the heat and the cooling causes a lot of storms. And global warming is not helping. Probably the fall would be ideal to have something like this. So we can't afford to have it open without a decision coming up.

I would suggest we try to get ahold of the mayor. And we have a meeting next week with the committee members that are willing to attend less than six. So it can't be an official meeting and discuss this further.

I'm sorry, you said you have a meeting already set up?

No, I'm proposing a meeting, that we meet next week and make a decision as to where we're going to go.

We do have a meeting already set. Yeah. Remember last week, we discussed it that every week during this time period from one to two, we would meet unless there was an actual mayor or unless there was an actual meeting here.

Oh,

okay. We were meeting through Zoom. Tuesday. Tuesdays from one to two.

Okay, so this coming Tuesday we do have a meeting set up from one in the afternoon till two in the afternoon to further discuss this. And we need to get to a conclusion very fast.

Okay. I know in terms of what budget may be requested, I know it had been discussed. As of right now, there's nothing specifically within the city Of Joliet's budget allocated to any committees or committee events for the citizens with disabilities. I'm not sure what a request like that would look like going forward. But I can ask and see what that would look like.

Yeah, I have a proposal that I was going to submit to you on a budget. This is really necessary in order to get the word out to the people of Joliet with fairs that represent the people with disabilities in the city of Joliet, what services are available, what training is available, all of the things that would make them more successful and contribute to the economy of the city of Joliet. It should be in the neighborhood of $1,000 because one, for the rental space, two, for whatever equipment we would need. This is just something that is essential for us to operate.

So if

we want to try and do it this year I'm Lauren. I was helping No. Previously. Hi, everyone. But I definitely think that if we do want still and still try to have it this year, that we should plan for a backup. Just because there we do not have a budget right now. And, like, there aren't any committees that

that do, you know,

have one that the city pays for or does supply money for. So they can start that precedent. I'm not I'm not sure we can do that right now. So I I think we should try to think of a backup plan or think about by park still or what that looks like.

Has any event space been requested with maybe JJC or one of the university? I know JJC has a wonderful event space in their location here as well as their location, their other site as well outside of downtown. Maybe just some considerations

for

Have we looked into sponsorships to see if anybody could sponsor our events?

We we haven't looked into sponsorship yet but I I touched on that. There are a lot of organizations that have some funds that they can allocate for something like this. All we have to do is contact them and tell them what the purpose is and see if we can get some grants out for it.

It's free advertising. I'll

be honest, my first desire is by Centennial Park because it's so easy to get to and people are there all the time and it's free. There's a lot of advantages to keeping it local because so many people can get there. I know that a lot of people go out to the mall for their shop and enjoy to the restaurants there. But $900 is a lot for us to face. And if we can't get it, that puts a kibosh on it.

We think we need something solid to base our plans.

I mean, I would consider JGC as an option, as someone who graduated from there. They're very accommodating, and they have amazing spaces that I've utilized when I was serving a lot of different comedians around the students there. And there's

a bus stop there as well.

That's true.

So I

will the time and the the accessible, the bathroom is clean, the food are great, then maybe this is something that we can, like, talk to JGC and see if they can, like, you know, work a deal with us or something. Because if we already have some type of connection with JGC, maybe we can utilize that connection and see if they can, like, help us host this event.

Alright. Next Tuesday, we're going to have a meeting, and I'll I'll contact JGC to see if they can accommodate us at a reasonable price. But I wouldn't rule out Bicentennial because they are so willing and their staff is so accommodating. I've worked with them several times and they bend over backwards to accommodate us.

Yeah. Honestly, my only concern is is really more the weather and the sound system for Bicentennial Park. Otherwise, I mean, I think it's a great option. It's just the weather and but I guess we run that risk for anything. If they if they have like a a backup space but they just don't, there's not enough space in that area. No. But otherwise and I would just hate to see the event get postponed again. That would inconvenience a lot of people and I don't wanna do that, you know.

I I don't want us to get gun shy. I they have so many events there and the reason they have so many events because it's it's not a continual thing. It's occasionally they get rain out but most of it is it happens. So I would it's what I strongly recommend, but I do wanna look at the other options so we can discuss everything Tuesday.

So then is the plan right now for you to reach out to JJC? And then if they have an option, great. And if not, then we'll go to Bicentennial Park and do it then?

Yes.

Do it there,

I mean? Okay. Yeah.

Please just keep me updated with any continuing conversations.

I'll let you know.

Thank you. I appreciate it. And

Jackie, do you want us, like, to cc you in any emails?

Would that be helpful or, like, more annoying? No. That's perfectly fine.

That'd be

great if he did.

Okay. Yeah. Then I can do that. I just didn't wanna pester you.

You're fine. Thank you.

And and Lauren, would you mind getting cc'd as well?

I'm actually on the Tuesdays.

Oh, you're on the notes, On

Tuesdays, yep. So I'll be there

Okay, to help awesome. In those

Thank you. Okay.

Is there any further discussion with the event updates? We can move on to the ADA transition plan.

This is something that the committee really wants to keep up on because what happens is if you don't keep your eye on something, you don't know what's happening. And there are things that we should be made aware of. So if we have a quarterly update, I think that would take care of our getting to know what's happening with the city of Joliet and the transition plan. So do you have somebody that can tell us what's happening?

So unfortunately, Sean Micas is at a funeral this afternoon, and he's not able to join us. I know with the last request that was put in and the list of concerns of different intersections that was handed to him, he was able to review those. About 50 to 60% of them did fall under IDOT jurisdiction. So he was able to communicate the concerns with IDOT. One thing that we would just like to convey is the ADA transition plan is just that it's a transition plan.

So as these intersections receive any updates, modernization, any roadwork completed, that is when the ADA updated rules and guidelines will be updated along those intersections and routes as well. The transition plan isn't something to completely overhaul every single intersection within the city of Joliet. It's to make sure that any continued improvements are considered with ADA access.

My interpretation of transition plan is to evaluate what you have there and to bring it to ADA standards. And so that's what I was really looking for, is what plans do they have? They found deficiencies that are going ahead and being taken care of. So we can postpone this till next month when he would be available. But we would like to ask him some questions.

That's fine. I'm happy to go ahead and invite him to the next meeting. That would be October. October.

Right. Okay.

The next agenda item that you had on was the formation of a research group.

Yes. I was researching what are the different possibilities for committees. And we have touched on these in the past, accessible transportation. One of the things that the City Of Joliet doesn't really have is taxi cabs that are wheelchair accessible. To your experience, do we have these?

I mean, we have the Uber, like the RAP program, the ride share access program.

But taxi cabs themselves?

So the way that I'm sorry. The way that like this one I don't know particularly about taxis although I I do think those are just generally becoming less common. But people utilizing accessible Ubers instead. I don't know how plentiful they are in in Joliet but I do have consumers that use them who are blind and low vision. I don't know about the ramp access though. I don't know if

you know.

Isn't that through Pace?

Dupace. Through Pace? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's through Pace. It's the ride share access program where basically if you are qualified as a paratransit ADA paratransit customer, then you are able to utilize Uber and after paying $2, you get $30 off of your Uber ride. But I'm not sure about taxis. I know that there is TAP, which is the Taxi Access Program, but I don't think that that's used in Joliet to my understanding.

Male Okay. This is something the committee had worked on about five years ago, is to reach out to the taxi companies and ask them to use accessible taxis, what they did is they came back to the city and said, if you buy us one, we'll have accessible taxis. And the city did not buy them any. So nothing really has been done as far as people picking up the phone and calling a taxi and saying, we need to get to a location and having them come out right away and take you there. So this is something that we can look at with the Transportation Committee and see if anything can be done about it.

But that's only one of the suggestions. Communication and working on continuing and improving communication access with individuals and advocating for their rights. Somebody that would look at the different a committee that would look at the different ways that the people with disabilities are communicated to and seeing if there's any improvement possibilities there. These do not have to be committees that have to make report every time. They can make the report maybe once a year and say, this is what's happening with communication.

But these are just proposed committees that we can have a group of people looking at. What do we need in terms of communication? How is the city of Joliet working to make sure that they're communicating with people that are hard of hearing, people that are blind, and make sure that they're included in the community.

Tony, can I just confirm? So you're hoping to form a research or a steering committee based on this one? Like from members of this one? Yeah. Okay. Specific to Okay.

Yeah. They can look in the different situations that may need improvement. But this is to establish the fact that we do have the proper communication. So we do have the proper transportation. So just like what the city of Joliet did when they did the transition plan.

Do we have the proper sidewalks? Do we have the proper street lights? Just an evaluation type thing that a committee can do and bring back to the whole committee the things that need improvement and make suggestions to the city that we need to invest in this to make it a city where everybody is able to move around.

So you're hoping just to create subcommittees? Yes. Okay.

But this is, again, something that I want us to start thinking about. What do we really need in terms of subcommittees? And what would their duties be going on? Health and wellness. One of the biggest complaints that I have as a member is doctors don't properly evaluate me.

They don't have the proper facilities for a person with disabilities for an examination. And what is needed is to I know Silver Cross has done a fantastic job of working with people with disabilities. But a lot of this came about because as a committee, we went out and visited with Silver Cross and made our opinions known to them. And they responded quite well.

So just as a reminder, I'm not sure how much purview this committee would have. I would have to look into the ordinance that it was formed or created under. I'm not sure if there's the authority to create subcommittees within this committee. I'll have to review the information and get back to you on that. I'm also not sure again, the city of Joliet can't control the hospitals. We can't control a lot of our local agencies.

That's again why we're at advisory committee. Right.

I would advise to maybe stay within the purview of what you could advise the city of Joliet on, that we have control and access to.

Well, I I

Just to say relevant to the committee's

do want to

add transportation. It's very, very tricky because my best friend lives in Addison, and she was coming down to see me by weekend. She already set up a transportation, a bus, and everything. She used a power chair. And they and we needed a chance on her, and they realized that they made a mistake and then used the excuse, oh, we are so sad, and then send her a taxi.

So I think that whole situation is not just the city per se, but it's the company. Pace has always been trying to cut a lot of budget, and they we went into like a little food after senior services, we went into a little food with PACE because they refused to put a bus aside from front of the Ovation Center in Wilmingtonville just to make it easier for those seniors and those with disabilities. So they literally say that these people can be dropped off at the end of the parking lot and they can just walk over to Ovation. And so I would think it's just the city or like the city's responsibility. I think we need to go up to the source and talk to the case and see what and have that conversation like how you guys have a conversation with Silver and advise them to do something.

We probably need to do the same thing with case and make them aware that this behavior, this is not it's not helping any of us. It's not helping our loved one with disabilities. So I think it's more of, like, pace itself and not just the city and Georgia.

I think that I'm sorry.

No. No. No. You go ahead. I'm sorry.

No. I was just going to sorry. I was just gonna say the advocacy is absolutely necessary. It's absolutely needed. I'm just not sure if it can be done within a committee or subcommittee within these chambers.

I would love to piggyback off the conversation. One thing that we can that we would love your the committee's advice on, the city of Joliet is revamping its website to be more accessible, to be up to ADA standards. So if I could give everybody a little bit of homework to just visit our website, let us know what areas can be improved, what could be more accessible, what may not have been considered in the past. I am working with our communications department to upgrade our website and make sure that we do have that accessibility to everyone.

Give us a quick tutor on getting to the website. Where do we go?

So even if you just go to the City Of Joliet website, just take your time to browse through it. If there's a specific area that you would like to be navigated to I'm happy to walk you through it right after the meeting.

Oh, the web address. Sorry.

Wasn't sure. Yeah. If if there's a specific area of the website that you would like to navigate through I'm happy to walk you through it and see what areas can be improved.

But to get back to your point, should the committee have subcommittees, our job so much is to advise the city of Joliet on different ways to improve the lives of people with disabilities and to include them in the community functions. And we need to be able to explore what is wrong to be able to get back to the city and say, this needs to be improved. You can see that subcommittees are essential so that we can get these reports back and say, this deficiency exists. But it's a way of getting to areas that need improvement.

Also, just perhaps, Tony, we can just, I mean, discuss various topics and just say like, okay, let's, you know, next meeting, let's focus on transportation and the main issues that we see in Joliet. And like Jackie's saying, because we're an advisory committee for the city of Joliet, focusing on things that the city can actually control. Because, I mean, they can't control private agencies. So if we are more so discussing what they can control first, I think that that would be better. Obviously, we can all advocate on our own time.

Right? Mhmm. But like when we're serving as like an advisory committee, wouldn't it make more sense to advise on literally what the city of Joliet can do?

Speaker: Okay. So the agencies that are out there, you're saying this is their job to confront not confront, but to advise these other areas. These are the things you need to do to improve conditions. But there's got to be some avenue to to communicate with them.

Yeah. I mean, don't necessarily think that communicating with them is a bad idea. I'm just saying like, especially if we're we're unsure if subcommittees can even exist in this committee, like maybe just discussing like issue by issue. Okay. Like, let's talk about transportation and let's kind of map out, okay, what are the issues that we see in regard to transportation in the city of Joliet? And And then kind of discuss, okay, within these things, what is within the city's control? Mhmm. What is not within the city's control? And then kind of navigate it based on that Mhmm. Is what I'm saying.

I I don't It's not that I'm saying that going to private organizations is like necessarily bad. I just don't know if it's like maybe like like appropriate in this setting. I don't know. I mean, could be wrong. I'm just kind of

I think that we sometimes need to push the boundaries to get things accomplished. That's the way I feel. But we do have to work within the constraints of the committee and what the rules and regulations are. But we do have to find some way to communicate with the areas that are deficient. If it's not through the city of Joliet, maybe through the various organizations like Cornerstone and your organization, that we can communicate not directly but indirectly with other areas of the city.

Jackie, I want to ask, I mean, love the idea of tasking this committee with homework to look at the website. Would there be, because again, I think this would be the purview of this committee is us maybe as this committee develops looking at policies, procedure, ordinances, and having this committee provide feedback through the eyes of people with disability back to the city on those. And maybe that's the work of this committee is kind of influencing the overall policies of the city that then will translate into how day to day citizens in Joliet live.

Absolutely. Having this as an advisory committee, just on the ADA transition plan, but when it comes to our communications, when it comes to our citizen view, when it comes to, you know, to see it through the lens of somebody that is within the agencies you guys work with, the organizations, or the needs of you yourself, the feedback that you give is very much appreciated and vital not just to you guys, but to Joliet as a whole.

Yeah. I'd welcome more work like that

for this the committee to city of Joliet, to me, has jurisdiction if somebody is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, they should be able to do something about it.

Well, city can't control these companies or industries, but they can influence them.

You can still go over that.

What I was wondering, I mean, couldn't we draw upon the citizens themselves for our direction? If we what I'm thinking at our resource fair, we have a survey. We have a questionnaire out of people to get their feedback. What do you need from this city? And then use that as our guideline to kind of direct ourselves.

This is something I've advocated for a long time is to get feedback from the citizens of Joliet as to what are their concerns? Where would you like us to go? The voice of the people.

That they're the people that we're Right?

Yeah. There

has been multiple times that we've also invited members or staff members from Pace, staff members from other organizations where these concerns live to join us to be part of the agenda to have the discussion openly. I think that is also a really important task that this committee does and can continue to do.

Is there any prohibition with us contacting other mayor's committees or maybe the statewide independent living council and get their feedback on what they're working on. But I think that there's an awful lot of good in having having the knowledge of what's happening in other areas that, one, could give us ideas on things that we should be working on, and two, that we give other people ideas of what they should be working on. So it's a cross communication type thing. So there's no provision against it as far as you know, or is there a provision?

So to my knowledge, I'd have to review our information. As your liaison. I'm happy to find the information for you. All of it should be public knowledge public information posted. If they're part of a committee or council it should be posted within their agendas on their sites that I'm happy to look into for you.

Okay. Yeah, we can take a look at that October meeting. By then we should have had our disability fair. And I hope everything works out fine. So next Tuesday, we're going to have a meeting, 01:00.

One of the other things that I proposed committee on was employment. By that is to update the committee on, for instance, there's a job fair coming up under the workforce organization on Thursday, August 28 from 10AM to 2PM at the Glenwood, 2400 Glenwood location. People need to be aware of this. If we can get it broadcast with the city channel that we have, we need to get that kind of information out to people. Because I'm not sure they're aware of what's happening in terms of employment for people with disabilities.

Workforce works a lot with people with disabilities.

Could you repeat the date again?

October 28 from 10AM to 2PM at 2400 Glenwood Avenue, Joliet.

You said August?

I'm sorry. August 28.

The twenty eighth.

Oh, August. I

will be able to share the information with our community cares event group. They share the flyers. They disperse it amongst all of their institutions and organizations and agencies that joined us. Workforce is actually part of the community cares group so I'm sure that they've already shared that information but I'm happy to as well. Okay.

Any other new or old business? Okay. We can open for public comment if anybody would like to comment. Seeing none, is there a motion to adjourn?

Motion. Ms. Riley. Thank you,

Riley. I'll second. John.

John second. Before we go, is there anything happening at Cornerstone we should be aware of? It's a wonderful organization. On

September 4, we have our art show going on. So that is at our main location, 777 Joyce Road. And I believe the hours are five to eight. Maybe five to seven. Five to seven on September 4.

Yeah, because this is something they can add to the city. All right. Now we can go on.

So there was a motion and second to adjourn?

In favor?

I'm sorry. I didn't

hear it.

All right. Motion carries. All right.