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From YouTube: Committee on City, Neighborhood Services on Docket #0908
Description
Docket #0908 - Hearing to discuss ways for the City to increase communications access for people with disabilities to public-facing televisions
A
Good
afternoon
my
name
is
city
councillor,
ed
flynn
and
I'm
chair
of
the
committee
on
city
and
neighborhood
services,
in
accordance
with
governor
baker's
march
12
2020
executive
order
modifying
certain
requirements
of
the
open
meeting
law
in
relieving
public
bodies
of
certain
requirements,
including
the
requirement
that
public
bodies
conduct
its
meaning
in
a
public
space
that
is
open
and
physically
accessible
to
the
public.
The
city
council
will
be
conducting
this
hit
this
hearing.
A
A
A
Today's
hearing
is
on
docket
0908
order
for
a
hearing
to
discuss
ways
for
the
city
to
increase
communication
access
for
people
with
disabilities
to
public
facing
television.
This
matter
is
sponsored
by
myself
and
counselor
julia
mejia.
It
was
referred
to
the
committee
on
city
and
neighborhood
services
on
august
18
2029.
At
this
time
I'm
joined
by
my
colleagues,
councilman
mejia
council
president
o'malley.
A
And
I
think
at
that
time
this
is
all
we
have.
I
I
will
get
to
my
other
colleagues
when
they,
when
they
do
arrive,
um
I'd
like
to
offer
an
opening
statement
and
then
hand
it
over
to
my
coach
sponsor
who
is
counseling
me
here
and
um
and
to
the
other
city
councillors,
and
then
we'll
hear
from
the
panelists
from
the
city.
A
After
that,
my
colleagues
and
I
uh
can
go
into
q
a
and
also
we
have
public
testimony.
But
at
this
time
let
me
let
me
also
recognize
and
thank
the
administration
panel
that
is
here
with
us
now,
commissioner,
christa
mccosh
disability,
commissioner,
commissioner,
emily
shea
who's,
the
commissioner
of
aid
strong
and
susan
helmley
program
manager,
uh
human
rights
commission.
A
We
also
have
a
community
piano
as
well,
and
those
that
are
testifying
as
part
of
that
panel
include
bill.
Henning
who's,
the
executive
director
of
the
boston
center
for
independent
living,
lori
sedman,
my
ombudsman,
director
of
deaf
service
services,
disability
policy,
consortium,
island
who's,
a
member
of
the
city
of
boston,
disability,
commission,
advisory
board,
alex
gray
who's,
a
well-respected
disability
advocate
across
across
the
city.
A
A
Television
and
public
spaces
have
often
played
an
important
role
in
conveying
information
to
the
public.
Unfortunately,
many
of
these
public-facing
televisions
do
not
enable
closed
captioning
and
therefore
are
not
accessible
to
work
to
persons
who
are
deaf
and
hard
of
hearing
will
have
hearing
loss
due
to
age
or
illness.
Developmental
disability
challenges
sensory
disabilities.
A
Many
of
my
colleagues
on
the
city,
council
and
many
people
on
the
disability
commission
know
our
good
friend
felicity
was
a
passionate
disability
advocate
before
the
city
council
hearings
and
many
of
us,
including
myself,
would
talk
with
her
about
how
important
it
is
for
television
to
have
caption
so
that
persons
with
disabilities
can't
follow
what
is
going
on,
and
I
know
myself
and
many
others
would
would
arrive
early
to
the
council
meetings.
So
we
could.
B
A
C
I
hope
that
we
can
walk
away
from
this
conversation
with
some
marching
orders
and
to
figure
out
how
we
can
um
make
sure
that
everyone
has
access
to
these
spaces
and
that
information
comes
to
them
in
ways
uh
that
can
best
reach
them
and
this
for
me.
I
see
this
as
an
opportunity
for
information
justice.
um
We
we
can't
say
that
we
are
taking
care
of
all
of
our
residents
if
not
all
of
our
residents
are
able
to
understand
um
and
access
information
in
a
timely
fashion.
C
So
I
see
this
issue
not
just
as
information
justice,
but
also
civil
rights.
Right
like
this
is
important.
We
need
to
ensure
that
our
that
everyone
is
able
um
to
access
information.
So
thank
you
so
very
much
for
allowing
us
to
co-sponsor
this
alongside
your
office
and
it's
great
to
see,
alex
and
looking
forward
to
hearing
um
from
our
panelists
and
others.
Thank
you.
A
D
D
um
It's
a
very
simple
premise
that
we
are
affirming
today,
and
it's
simply
that
we
need
to
do
everything
we
can
to
make
sure
that
our
local
government
is
accessible
to
everybody
full
stop,
and
it
can
be
certain
policy
changes
that
we're
exploring
here,
um
as
it
relates
to
translation,
um
as
it
relates
to
sign
language
as
it
relates
to
making
sure
that
we
have
opportunities
for
every
individual
to
not
only
participate
but
uh
be
part
of
our
conversations
going
forward.
We
ought
to
be
doing
it.
So
this
is
an
important
issue.
D
A
Thank
you,
councilor
o'malley.
Thank
you,
councilman
mejia.
um
I
don't
see
any
other
callings
just
yet.
If
they
do
come,
I
will
recognize
them,
but
at
this
time
um
I
would
I'd
like
to
start
in
opening
up
to
the
piano
that
is
here
from
the
administration.
The
piano
from
the
administration
includes,
commissioner
mccosh,
as
I
mentioned,
commissioner,
emily,
shea
and
susan
helmy
helmley.
um
So
let
me
start
by
um
asking
commissioner
mccosh
who
I've
known
for
many
years
and
of
great
respect
for
her
work
in
the
in
this
field.
A
E
Thank
you,
councillor
flynn,
councillor
mejia
and
council
president
o'malley
for
allowing
us
to
hold
this
hearing
today.
We
want
to
talk
critically
about
the
important
issues
of
communication
access
in
the
city
of
boston.
As
you
know,
I'm
the
city's
disability
commissioner
and
ada
title
ii
coordinator.
E
My
role
leads
the
city's
collective
efforts
towards
accessibility
and
inclusion
in
the
ada
requires
certain
levels
of
access,
but
we
know
we
never
strive
to
meet
the
bare
minimum.
We
strive
for
ideal
conditions
in
the
city,
so
this
hearing
today
focuses
on
inclusion,
although
it's
not
mandated
by
any
laws.
We
really
want
to
push
this
forward
so
that
we're
ensuring
that
we
have
access
and
inclusion
for
all
residents
and
visitors
to
boston.
E
E
E
This
will
enable
a
significant
communication.
Sorry,
this
will
eliminate
a
significant
communication
barrier
for
people
with
hearing
loss
and
others
by
providing
access
to
the
audio
content
of
tv
in
public
places.
This
will
also
increase
access
to
information
for
the
general
public,
because
tvs
are
often
located
in
noisy
spaces,
where
everybody
may
have
difficulty
hearing
next
slide.
E
E
E
E
E
And,
as
I
said
earlier,
this
is
really
serving
marginalized
residents
that
go
beyond
the
disability
community.
Of
course,
we
know
it
will
help
people
who
are
deaf
and
hard
of
hearing
and
the
capital
d
deaf
for
those
of
you
who
may
not
know
signifies
people
who
specifically
use
american
sign
language.
They
identify
as
capital
d
deaf.
The
small
d
deaf
is
refers
to
people
who
may
have
lost
their
hearing
um
at
a
later
point
in
their
lives
and
may
not
know
american
sign
language.
E
E
E
Many
older
adults
do
not
identify
as
being
hard
of
hearing
and
don't
realize
that
they
would
use
the
captions
once
they're
enabled
over
37
000
residents
have
a
cognitive
disability
and,
as
we
all
know,
our
weekday
population
swells
with
commuters
from
across
massachusetts
and
new
england
increasing
the
number
of
people
who
would
benefit
from
this
initiative
and
boston
welcomes
over
10
million
visitors
every
year
from
all
around
the
world.
Many
who
have
disabilities
are
older.
E
E
E
And
with
that,
we
have
been
working
closely
with
our
interdepartmental
colleagues.
We
are
working
with
the
office
of
economic
development,
the
licensing
board,
age,
strong
commission,
human
rights,
commission,
the
law,
department,
health
and
human
services
and
the
office
of
language
and
communication
access,
and
we
know
that
moving
forward.
We
would
certainly
loop
in
the
city
council
we'll
loop
in
ons
to
make
sure
that
the
neighborhood
businesses
know
all
about
this,
and
we
see
it
like.
I
said
a
minute
ago,
as
a
phased-in
layered
implementation.
E
If
someone
requests
the
captions
to
be
turned
on
we're
asking
to
make
it
automatic
for
two
reasons,
so
it
doesn't
put
the
onus
on
the
person
with
the
disability
to
have
to
ask.
And
secondly,
if
someone
is
deaf,
they
may
not
communicate
verbally,
and
it
may
be
a
challenge
to
them
to
communicate
their
request
in
american
sign
language.
If
people
in
a
restaurant
or
a
gym
don't
use
sign
language,
they
wouldn't
be
able
to
communicate
that
very
easily,
and
also
we
don't
want
to
put
wait
staff
in
that
position.
A
uh
Well
done
to
you
and
your
team
in
other
city
departments,
it's
something
I
I
support
a
thousand
percent
and
we
have
great
respect
for
your
office,
commissioner,
because
you're
you
advocate,
and
you
work
hard
to
make
sure.
Disability
rights
are
our
civil
rights
and
that
everybody
is
treated
with
respect
and
dignity.
So
thank
you,
commissioner
mccosh
yeah
at
this
time.
Let
me
ask
commissioner,
shea
of
age,
strong
commission.
F
A
Okay,
okay,
excellent!
Thank
you.
Thank
you,
commissioner
shea,
and
thank
you
for
your
work
to
commissioner
in
um
representing
persons
with
disabilities
and
in
our
seniors
as
well.
Thank
you,
commissioner,
and
thank
you
susan
for
your
your
tremendous
work.
um
So
at
this
time
maybe
I'll
ask
my
colleagues
to
go
into
a
q,
a
with
you
and
then
we'll
ask
the
community
piano
to
to
testify
as
well.
C
G
C
And
then,
when
it
comes
to
enabling
visual
captions
for
deaf
slash
hard
of
hearing
folks,
what
can
we
do
for
residents
who
cannot
read
english
and
could
read
another
in
another
language?
So
I'm
just
curious
about
what
that
will
look
like
and
then,
when
we
get
to
the
community
panel,
I
can
ask
some
questions
for
that.
E
We
know
the
city
pivoted
almost
instantaneously,
from
having
one
or
two
male
press
conferences
a
month
to
daily
press
conferences,
sometimes
more
than
once
a
day
when
covid
first
struck.
So
we
worked
closely
with
the
press
team
and
with
the
mass
commission
for
a
deaf
and
hard
of
hearing
to
ensure
that
we
had
asl
interpreters
for
all
the
emergency
press
conferences
that
the
mayor
held.
We
were
successful
throughout
the
state
of
emergency.
We
had
them
at
every
single
press
conference.
It
really
took
a
herculean
effort
on
our
part.
E
E
So
one
thing
that
I'm
very
proud
of
my
office
that
we're
doing
is
we're
using
our
opera
funds
to
hire
a
full-time
in-house
asl
interpreter.
It
will
be
the
first
one
for
the
city
of
boston.
We
currently
have
that
posted
and
when
we
get
this
person
on
board,
they
will
be
able
to
do
any
press
conferences
that
come
up
like
sometimes
they'll
be
breaking
news
that
the
mayor
may
want
to
respond
to,
and
we
don't
have
time
to
get
a
sign
language
interpreter.
E
So
once
we
have
this
position
in-house,
they
can
do
the
mayoral
press
conferences.
They
can
do
people
who
come
into
city
hall
just
for
services.
They
can
work
with
all
the
other
departments.
They
can
work
with
city
council
if
you
need
it
at
any
point
and
council
flynn.
I
do
also
want
to
re
reiterate
our
respect
for
felicity
lingo,
who
was
a
cherished
advocate
in
our
community,
who
recently
passed
away
so
um
to
answer.
Your
second
part
of
the
question
council
me
here
about
people
who
speak
languages
other
than
english.
A
H
H
E
Thank
you,
council
braden,
so
the
proposal
and
content
is
pretty
much
ready
to
go,
but
that
being
said,
we
haven't
worked
out
the
implementation
or
the
complaint
resolution
process.
We
are
not
proposing
any
fines,
but
it
may
take
some
funding
to
do
outreach
to
the
businesses
we
feel
like.
We
have
a
really
good
connection
with
the
disability
community,
so
we
want
to
take
plenty
of
time
to
get
the
word
out
to
our
community
businesses
we're
not
directly
in
contact
with
as
much
but
we
work
with
economic
development.
E
We
work
with
the
licensing
board,
so
we
would
have
them
reach
out
to
main
streets
and
licensing
board
when
they
do
entertainment
licenses
that
include
tvs,
they
could
do
outreach
and
also
neighborhood
services
to
get
in
touch
with
the
small,
like
mom
and
pop
shops,
who
may
not
be
connected
with
a
larger
agency.
um
You
know
to
get
this
type
of
information.
E
I
Thank
you
councillor
and
obviously
thank
the
commissioners
for
being
here
and
thank
you
for
sponsoring
the
cheering
hearing.
That's
an
extremely
important
issue
for
not
only
those
who
have
certain
disabilities,
but
for
all
of
us
in
government
that
have
an
obligation
to
ensure
that
important
information
is
disseminated
and
shared
uh
in
ways
that
are
accessible
to
all.
uh
So
the
hearing
is
obviously
very
timely.
I
uh
Council
braden
just
asked
a
couple
of
the
questions
that
I
had
that
commissioner
akash
had
just
uh
answered
and
basically
are
there
any
adverse
impacts
on
businesses
to
enable
the
open
captions?
um
How
can
we
best
incentivize
or
encourage
businesses
to
do
so
and
also
was
just
curious
as
to,
if
not
having
open
captions?
E
The
biggest
complaint
seems
to
be
on
sports
programming
that
the
captions
scrolling
at
the
bottom
would
go
over
some
of
the
scores
and
that
patrons
would
be
annoyed
by
that.
I
don't
know
necessarily
that
any
patrons
were
annoyed
or
complained,
but
I
know
business
owners
did
express
worry
about
that.
So
that
would
be
something
that
we
could
work
through
um
and
again,
I'm
not
sure
if
you
were
on
for
my
whole
presentation,
but
we
are
not
proposing
any
fines
for
non-compliance.
E
Aware
of
so,
I
thought
that
was
that
shows
the
importance
of
this
initiative,
but
we
definitely
want
to
work
closely
with
the
businesses
to
ensure
them
that
there
are
no
fines,
it's
a
simple
process
and
to
work
with
them
around
the
sports
programming,
because
just
anecdotally
I
can
I
read
about
that,
and
I
can
see
how
that
would
probably
be
the
biggest
issue.
And
then
again,
if
there
are
some
like
smaller
shops,
that
have
old
tvs
and
they
don't
have
this
function,
then
we
would
have
some
sort
of
like
grandfather
clause
or
something
like
that.
E
I
Thank
you
very
much,
commissioner,
for
the
work
that
you
do.
I
see
that
you
run
the
the
uh
the
opposite
side
of
the
harbor
from
our
hometown,
so
hopefully
the
weather
in
east
boston
is
good
today
and
uh
thank
you
uh
council
fund
for
cheering,
and
I
look
forward
to
listening
to
the
rest
of
the
testimony.
A
Thank
you.
Thank
you,
council
flaherty,
and
um
I
don't
have
any
other
colleagues
on
now.
So
I'll
ask
my
questions,
um
so
I
use
this.
I
always
use
this
as
an
opportunity
to
educate
the
public
that
might
be
watching
on
on
television.
Commissioner,
um
so-
and
I
I
know
you,
I
know
you
referenced
it
as
well
about
the
the
sports
program.
But
what
do
you
think
is
the
number
one
obstacle
or
reason
why
um
a
business
might
be
against
it.
E
Yeah
um
another
thing
I
did
read
in
the
research
from
other
cities
is
that
um
businesses,
some
businesses,
expressed
a
resentment
of
government
reaching
into
their
their
business,
which
I
I
do
understand.
There
are
a
lot
of
regulations
um
to
opening
business.
um
I
know
boston
is
very
thorough,
with
its
fire
code
and
all
its
building
codes
and
it's
ada
codes
and
we're
grateful
for
that
and
they're
a
necessity.
That's
non-negotiable.
E
This
is
a
negotiable.
It
actually
is
negotiable
to
request
people
to
turn
on
captions
but,
like
we
said,
really
leading
the
way
as
a
world-class
city.
We
know
we
have
people
from
all
around
the
world
who
come
to
boston,
and
I
know
just
anecdotally
again,
my
mother
just
turned
80
and
she
said
that
she,
when
I
told
her
about
this
idea,
she
said,
oh
now,
that
you
say
that
I
realize
I
always
read
the
captions,
but
I
would
never
think
to
request
them.
E
So
we
really
think
it's
going
to
help
people
who
wouldn't
even
know
it
would
help
them.
So
we
know
a
lot
of
people
with
developmental
and
cognitive
disabilities
may
have
trouble
following
along
a
conversation,
but
if
you
can
see
the
words,
sometimes
it
helps
people
who
are
visual
learners
and
people
who
access
communication
visually,
and
one
thing
too,
like
you
mentioned,
to
educate
the
public
about
people
may
not
know.
I
explained
a
little
bit
about
the
capital
d
deaf
community.
E
Another
thing
that
we
like
to
educate
people
on
is
that
asl
american
sign
language
and
captions
are
not
interchangeable,
necessarily
because
people
who
are
deaf
with
a
capital
d
who
typically
are
born
deaf
and
grow
up
using
asl.
They
don't
necessarily
have
the
same
command
of
the
english
language,
as
people
who
are
hearing
would
asl
is
their
first
language.
E
English
would
be
a
second
language
and
then,
conversely,
with
captions,
you
know
sometimes
people
say
well
we're
not
going
to
do
captions,
but
we're
just
going
to
have
an
asl
interpreter,
but
that
doesn't
work
either,
because
people
who
get
older
and
may
lose
the
hearing
they're
not
suddenly
going
to
learn
american
sign
language.
They
are
going
to
need
to
read
the
transcript.
So
it
is
important
to
separate
the
two
asl
and
captions
are
not
interchangeable.
A
A
um
So,
at
this
time,
if
it's
okay
with
your
team,
commissioner,
I
was
gonna,
go
into
the
community
piano
and
give
them
an
opportunity
to
testify,
and
then
we
can
kind
of
have
a
discussion
from
there
I'll
try
to
coordinate
it,
but
let
me
give
the
community
piano
an
opportunity
to
testify
at
this
time.
As
I
mentioned,
we
have
bill
henning
who's,
the
executive
director
for
the
boston
center
for
independent
living
laurie
selman
who's.
A
My
my
ombudsman,
director
of
deaf
services,
disability
policy
consortium
wesley
island,
as
you
mentioned,
commissioner
wesley
was
the
person
that
brought
this
to
your
attention
into
your
team's
attention.
So
thank
you.
Wesley
uh
he's,
wesley's
with
the
boston
disability,
commission,
the
advisory
board
and
alex
gray
who's
a
disability
advocate
throughout
throughout
greater
boston.
So
at
this
time
let
me
ask
bill
henning.
If
you
would
like
to
provide
an
opening
statement,
hi
bill.
E
A
B
A
B
Hi
there
um
good
afternoon,
first
of
all,
I
just
want
to
say
thank
you
so
much
to
commissioner
makash
for
your
presentation,
I'm
so
happy
that
this
day
is
finally
here
and
again,
thank
you
to
um
commissioner
flynn
and
commissioner
mejia
and
o'malley,
as
well
as
commissioner
flaherty
and
everyone
who's
here
on
the
call
today
and
hearing
about
this
docket
0908,
and
I'm
just
so
happy
that
this
is
finally
being
brought
to
the
table.
I
have
lived
in
boston
here
for
almost
20
years.
B
B
It's
really
interesting
to
see
that
in
public
places
for
the
last
40
years
that
the
captions
haven't
been
on,
and
I
have
so
many
stories
to
tell
I
love
going
out
to
restaurants
bars
going
out
celebrating,
and
I
can
tell
you
the
frustrations
um
that
the
closed
captions
have
never
been
turned
on.
For
me,
I've
had
a
few
instances
where
I
have
asked
managers
to
put
on
the
closed
caption
for
me
as
a
patron
in
their
business,
and
they
said
that
they
would
not
um
and
a
lot
of
times
it
was.
B
As
commissioner
mccosh
was
saying,
because
of
sporting
events,
that
they
were
saying
that
the
captioning
was
blocking
the
scores
and
I
felt
humiliated
in
front
of
my
friends
when
they
told
me
no
and
um
at
that
time
I
didn't
know
what
I
should
do.
But
another
big
example
that
I've
had
in
my
life
um
on
this
coming
sunday
will
be
the
um
11th
anniversary
of
a
death
in
boston.
B
And
I
remember
I
was
sitting
at
the
bar
with
my
girlfriend
who's.
Actually,
my
wife
now
and
I
remember
there
was
breaking
news
on
the
television
at
the
bar,
and
I
remember
it
was
what
was
going
on
here
in
boston,
and
I
was
trying
to
follow
what
was
happening
with
the
case,
and
I
said
to
my
wife,
I
said,
tell
them
to
turn
on
the
closed
captioning
and
I
remember
that
they
were
able
to
quickly
turn
on
the
closed
captioning
for
that
segment.
B
But
I
remember
that
it
can
be
very
stressful
in
that
situation.
I
remember
feeling
very
stressed
that
way.
You
know
when
there's
breaking
news
and
we
don't
know
what's
going
on
and
we
have
limited
access,
it's
very
stressful
and
I
would
like
to
ask
the
city
councilors
to
really
consider
going
ahead
and
passing
this
um
docket.
A
J
J
Yes,
it
is
perfect.
Thank
you,
councillor
flynn,
for
gathering
us
and
councillor
mejia
for
your
leadership
on
this.
uh
Thank
you
to
city
council
president
o'malley
uh
councillor
braden,
councillor
flaherty,
for
your
interest
in
your
leadership
on
this
issue
and
to
uh
commissioner
makash
for
all
the
great
work
that
she
does
and
her
team
on
a
daily
basis
to
improve
the
lives
of
people
with
disabilities
in
boston.
J
J
I
was
naive
to
the
uh
mobility
issues
that
so
many
faced
in
terms
of
uh
navigating
parts
of
our
city,
so
you
know,
I
think
it's
really
important,
that
we
continue
these
types
of
conversations,
because
it
allows
people
with
disabilities
to
interact
and
engage
throughout
all
aspects
of
our
city,
and
I
think
it's
also
important,
because
people
with
disabilities
have
a
very
valuable
perspective
to
add
to
our
city.
But
it's
very
hard
to
add
the
perspective.
J
If
you
don't
have
all
the
information
that
you
need-
and
I
think
you
know
this
has
been
brought
up,
uh
information
has
been
so
important.
Always,
but
most
certainly
over
the
last
year
and
a
half
during
the
pandemic-
and
you
know
people
with
disabilities
provide
so
many
perspectives.
You
know
we
are
people
of
great
empathy.
J
The
world
certainly
needs
more
empathy
now
than
it's
ever
had.
We
are
a
highly
adaptable
and
innovative
group
of
people.
I
think
oftentimes.
We
don't
always
get
included
in
the
conversations
when
we
talk
about
you
know,
innovation
in
our
world,
but
folks
with
disabilities
are
innovating
on
a
daily
basis,
and
you
know,
I
think,
by
the
work
uh
being
discussed
here,
to
to
provide
and
share
more
information.
It
just
allows
folks
with
disabilities
uh
to
continue
to
be
a
bigger
and
bigger
part
of
the
conversation.
A
Thank
you
alex.
Thank
you
for
your
testimony
and
your
leadership.
We
also
want
to
say
thank
you
to
um
asl
english
interpreter.
That's
also
here
with
us
lisa,
so
thank
you
lisa
for
being
with
us
as
well.
um
I
know
I
initially
mentioned
that
bill.
Henning
was
joining
us,
but
I
see
another
gentleman:
um
andy
foreman
who's
from
the
same
group,
boston
center
for
independent
living
um
andy.
Do
you
want
to
provide
an
opening
statement.
K
K
It
eliminates
a
couple
different,
obviously,
the
major
barrier
of
of
communication
access
for
all
people
with
disabilities,
whether
it's
people
with
people
who
are
deaf
with
a
capital
d
or
people
who
are
deaf
with
a
small
d
uh
people
with
hearing
loss,
whether
it's
due
to
age
or
disability,
uh
people
with
sensory,
sensory
disabilities
or
any
kind
of
developmental
disability
and
just
say
the
access
to
information
for
everyone
in
the
city
of
boston
is
really
important.
And
I'm
so
glad
for
the
work
of
of
commissioner
rakash
and
just
this
bill.
A
Thank
you
andy!
Thank
you
for
being
with
us
at
this
time.
I'm
going
to
go
back
to
my
city
council.
Colleagues.
Ask
them
if
they
have
any
questions
for
the
um
the
community
piano
and
then
after
that,
we'll
see
about
public
testimony
as
well.
So
at
this
time
I'm
going
to
start
with
council
and
mejia
uh
council
me
here.
This
is
for
the
uh
community
q,
a
presentation.
C
Thank
you,
councillor
flynn,
and
thank
you
to
the
community
members
for
um
your
testimony.
I'm
just
curious.
You
know
our
office
has
had
to
read
through
some
of
some
of
the
older
transcripts
of
meetings
and
we
found
that
it
can
be
hard
to
read
not
only
because
of
the
software
used
to
record
the
dialogue
because
we
know
it
can
make
mistakes
but
because
the
way
we
naturally
speak
always
doesn't
convey
information.
Clearly,
we
tend
to
speak
and
run
on
sentences
and
trail
off
at
the
end
of
ideas,
and
so
I'm
just
curious.
C
E
Thank
you
for
that
um
question.
I
I'll
just
jump
in.
um
I
think
that
a
lot
of
captions
right
now
are
generated
through
ai,
and
sometimes
ai
has
difficulty
with
people's
names
in
particular
and,
like
you
said,
sometimes
accents
can
get
in
the
way.
I
know
I
have
a
very
strong
boston
accent.
Sometimes
my
words
don't
come
out
correctly
on
the
ai.
E
Some
platforms
have
better
ai
than
others,
um
and
we
always
turn
to
our
advisory
board
to
get
their
input.
I
know
they
prefer
say
like
a
zoom
over
google
chat
for
the
automated
captions,
or
vice
versa.
I
can't
remember
right
now
which
which
is
which,
but
I
think,
as
technology
improves,
um
that
will
always
get
better
and
better
as
we
move
forward.
A
H
um
Thank
you
and
thank
you
to
all
the
community
members
who
have
testified
this
afternoon.
um
You
know,
I
think
the
covet
experience
over
the
last
18
months
has
forced
us
to
modify
our
use
of
technology
and
I'm
just
curious
in
terms
of
community
access
to
public
meetings.
um
That
may
be,
you
know,
city
city,
related
meetings,
like
bpda
meetings
or
whatever
um
are
there
particular
um
improvements
that
you
would
suggest
with
regard
to
accessing
zoom,
or
are
there
particular
shortcomings
with
with
the
technology
you
use
right
now?
H
I
know
when
we
have
a
crisis
that
always
forces
us
to
innovate
and
improve
things.
So
um
just
this
moment,
I'm
trying
to
capture
this
moment
when
you're
all
together
that
have
you
any
just
from
your
experience
or
have
you
suggestions
how
we
might
improve
things
uh
for
um
remote
uh
meetings
first,
so
that
we
can
improve
community
participation.
H
A
H
A
L
And
I
can
say,
with
this
pandemic,
there's
been
so
many
changes,
yes
and
I
think
with
captioning
with
when
you
talk
about
zoo,
zoomer,
microsoft
teams,
it
would
be
really
nice
to
see
real
live
captioning
where
a
person
is
actually
listening
and
captioning
it
rather
than
the
ai,
and
so
I
do
hope
that
it
will
get
better.
But
from
my
perspective,
it's
a
benefit
to
have
both
the
asl
interpreter
and
the
captioning
functioning
at
the
same
time,
and
because
I
may
miss
something
in
one
mode
of
communication
and
grab
it
with
the
other.
L
A
J
Captioning
uh
is
very
important.
You
know,
I
know
for
folks.
This
is
slightly
off
this
direct
topic,
but
folks
who
are
blind
and
visually
impaired.
You
know
if,
if
folks
are
presenting
a
powerpoint
or
if
they
are
providing
any
sort
of
visual
um
things
in
the
center
of
the
zoom,
you
know
to
maybe
either
ideally
before
the
meeting
for
those
signed
up
or
maybe
with
a
follow-up.
After
just
to
send
an
attached
document
of
the
you
know,
powerpoint
or
or
what
have
you?
And
you
know
this
is
just
a
10
000
foot
view
question.
J
I
think,
just
generally
speaking
when
uh
invitations
are
being
sent
out
for
any
meetings
to
just
have
a
blanket
statement.
If,
if
you
need
accommodations
for
this
meeting,
uh
reach
out
to
you
know
so,
and
so
at
you
know
boston.gov
or
what
have
you
and
I'm
sure
for
most
on
this
meeting.
That
is
the
case
that
this
has
already
been
in
place,
but
I
think
I
read
something
not
too
long
ago
that
somewhere,
I
think,
was
more
than
85
percent
of
organizations.
J
A
A
How
do
you
think
um
city
officials,
whether
it's
myself
and
the
city
council,
the
mayor
commissioner,
mccosh
and
other
city
officials,
what's
the
best
way
to
engage
residents
across
the
city?
What's
the
best
way
to
engage
businesses
across
the
city
about
enacting
such
a
proposal?
Educating
them
on
this
proposal
and
implement
implementation
of
the
proposal
so
I'll
stop
there,
and
if
some
of
the
people
from
the
um
community
piano
panel
might
want
to
answer
that,
just
let
me
know-
and
I
can
call
on.
J
Thank
you
counselor.
I
appreciate
it.
um
You
know,
I
would
start
with
you
know
we
do
have
a
great
I
s.
As
I
said,
disability,
commissioner,
and
she
has
a
commission
working
under
her
that
you
know.
I
know
that
represents
a
variety
of
disabilities
in
a
variety
of
neighborhoods.
I
think
that's
a
first
starting
point.
I
think
you
know
communicating
with
uh
the
agencies
within
state
government
that
represent
the
disability
community.
They
tend
to
have
very
large.
You
know,
communication
chains,
I
know,
as
somebody
who's
blind.
J
J
uh
You
know,
disability
policy
consortium,
so
you
know,
I
would
say
you
know,
starting
first
um
with
those
channels
uh
partners
within
you,
know,
city
government,
state,
government
and
the
non-profit,
and
then
you
know
I
would
also
just
work
out
through
uh
through
you
know
the
list
that
I'm
sure
uh
ons
has,
if
not
your
offices
have
with
uh
neighborhood
groups.
If
you
know
they'll
be
willing
to
to
pass
it
out
through.
You
know
the
various
civic
associations
and
what
have
you
um
and
you
know.
J
A
Thank
thank
you
alex,
and
I
I
know
we
can
go
to
the
um
public
testimony,
but
before
I
do
that,
I
just
wanted
to
ask
commissioner
mccosh
one
one
question
before
we
go
to
that.
um
Commissioner:
what
what
type
of
outreach
would
be
needed,
or
what
type
of
engagement
would
we
need
to
do
with
boston,
public
schools?
Certainly
many
of
the
students.
A
E
A
A
G
A
G
A
Okay,
okay,
so
having
having
gone
through
the
public
testimony
um
no
public
testimony
but
gone
through
the
community
testimony
and
the
administration
that
is
testified,
I'm
going
to
probably
go
to
closing
statements,
and
let
me
start
with
um
commissioner
mccosh
as
a
closing
statement
and
then
I'll
go
to
my
city
council.
Colleagues,
uh
before
we
end
before
we
end
the
meeting,
if,
if
that's
okay
with
everybody,
so,
commissioner
akash,
would
you
like
to
offer
closing
statements.
E
uh
Sure,
thank
you.
Thank
you
again,
council
flynn
and
thank
you
all
to
the
city
councilors
who
attended
the
hearing
today.
um
I
really
like
the
way.
Councilman
mejia
frames
this
as
marching
orders,
because
that
means
that
we
get
to
take
action
on
this
initiative.
So
I'm
excited
about
that.
So
I
think
our
next
steps
will
be
to
I
really
do
want
to
loop
in
businesses,
because
I
don't
want
this
to
come
as
a
surprise
to
them.
E
So
I
think
moving
forward,
we'll
work
with
alex
and
economic
development
main
streets,
the
licensing
board,
to
really
reach
out
to
our
businesses
in
the
city,
and
then
we
will
work
on
internally.
Our
programming
ideas
try
to
map
out
what
implementation
will
look
like,
um
create
a
formal
complaint
and
resolution
process
and
really
start
to
move
the
initiative
forward,
maybe
even
pick
a
launch
date
that
we
think
would
be
important
and
coincide
with
an
event
that
may
be
happening
in
the
city
or
in
the
disability
community.
So
we
can
work
towards
that
goal.
E
I
know
we
have
a
big
celebration
every
year
at
ada
day.
That's
in
july,
I
don't
know
if
we
want
to
wait
that
long
to
implement
it
it's
november,
but
um
we
can
certainly
see
so.
I
think
we
have
our
marching
orders,
as
the
council
so
aptly
described,
and
we
will
move
forward
with
it,
beginning
with
the
businesses
and
then
circling
back
to
the
disability
community
and
our
internal
partners.
A
C
I
always
talk
about
them
because
they
also
serve
the
public,
so,
let's
really
think
about
who
are
all
the
the
types
of
businesses
that
we
should
be,
including
in
that
conversation
and
I'm
happy
to
help
brainstorm
or
at
least
introduce
you
to
some
of
the
businesses
that
we've
been
working
with
um
during
covid.
um
If
that
helps,
and
thank
you
again
for
your
leadership
and
looking
forward
to
partnering
alongside
you
and
my
colleague
counselor
flynn,
um
to
move
the
work
forward,
thank
you.
A
Thank
you
thank
you
councilman
here,
and
I
think
councilman
here
mentioned
the
the
critical
um
immigrant
community
in
boston.
So
that's
an
important
part
of
the
discussion
as
well.
So
thank
you
councilman
here
for
bringing
up
the
our
immigrant
neighbors
across
the
city.
That's
that's
very
important
and
um
I
just
wanted
to
say
I'm
honored
to
have
shared
this
meeting
with
my
colleague,
council
mejia,
and
this
issue
is
personal
to
me.
A
So
I
think
of
this
type
of
initiative
that
you
guys
are
sponsoring
is
something
that
would
benefit
him,
but
also
benefit
people
in
the
throughout
the
disability
community,
and
so
I'm
very
honored
that
you
came
forward
with
this,
and
this
is
about
respect
and
dignity
for
persons
with
with
disabilities
and
there's
nothing
more
important
in
the
city
than
making
sure
that
persons
with
disabilities
are
treated
fairly
with
empathy
with
respect
and
dignity.
So
I
just
want
to
say
thank
you
to
everybody.
A
That's
here
for
your
testimony,
but
more
importantly,
for
the
incredible
work
that
you
have
done
for
so
many
years
in
this
field.
I
I
haven't
been
involved
in
this
field,
all
that
long,
I'm
active
with
the
disabled
american
veterans,
and
we
do
a
lot
of
outreach
to
disabled
veterans
across
greater
boston
plus
across
massachusetts
as
well,
but
just
so
proud
to
work
closely
with
you
and
as
councilor
mejia
said,
we
have
our
marching
orders
and
we
need
to
work
together
to
try
to
get
this
implemented.
A
um
I
also
want
to
say
thank
you
to
the
city
council,
central
staff,
for
your
assistance,
uh
cora
and
and
kerry.
Thank
you
for
helping.
I
want
to
say
thank
you
to
the
asl
interpreters
that
are
here
as
well,
so
at
this
time
um
I'm
going
to
call
this
meeting
I'm
going
to
have
this
meeting
adjourned,
but
we'll
come
back
in
terms
of
a
follow-up
meeting,
maybe
in
a
working
session
at
some
appropriate
time.