City Council - City Services Committee Hearing on Docket #0335

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Ed Flynn, District City Councillor and the Chair of the Boston City Council Committee on City Services. Today is August 31st, 2026. The exact time is 2-03. This hearing is being recorded. It's also being livestreamed at boston.gov slash citycouncil dash tv broadcast on Xfinity, Channel 8, RCN 82 Fios Channel 964. Written comments may be sent to the committee email at ccc.csit.boston.gov and will be made Part of the record and available to all city councilors. Public testimony will be taken at the end of the hearing.

Individuals will be called on in order in which they sign up, and we'll have two minutes to testify. If you are interested in testifying in person, please add your name to the sign-up sheet near the entrance of the chamber when you walk in. If you're looking to testify virtually, please email our central staff liaison and Shane Pack at shane.packatboston.gov for the link, and your name will be added to the list. Before I begin, I do want to say thank you to Shane and Ethan for being here, there are our city council central staff and I want to thank them for their work and professionalism. Today's hearing is on docket 0335 in order for a hearing to discuss accessibility issues in Boston City Hall.

This matter was sponsored by myself and city councilor Aaron Murphy who is referred to the committee on February 11th, 2026. Today, I am joined by City Councillors in order of arrival. Councillor Fitzgerald, City Council President Breadon, City Councillor Louijeune At this time, I do want to acknowledge a letter of absence I did receive from one of my colleagues. I'll read it into the record. Dear Chair Flynn, Mr Clerk, City Council Colleagues I regret to inform you that I am unable to attend this morning's Committee on City Services on Docket 0335. Order for a hearing to discuss accessibility issues in Boston City Hall. I will follow up with additional questions upon reviewing my staff's notes and watching the recording.

Please do not hesitate to contact my staff with any questions. Sincerely, Enrique Pepén Boston City Councilor District 5 I have the honor of introducing two exceptionally well-qualified advocates in the disability community and worked with both of them for a number of years on Accessibility Issues. But before I ask both Cassandra, Xavier and Bill Taub, before I asked them to give an opening statement I do want to give an opportunity to my City Council colleagues to provide an opening statement. I do wanna give my colleagues as much time as necessary for their opening statement.

I'm gonna give five minutes, if you go over five minutes that's okay, continue going and I will not cut you off. Let me start with Councilor Fitzgerald. Councilor Fitch-Gerald? You have the floor.

Thank you very much, Chair. I do appreciate it and am happy to be here for this important hearing regarding accessibility in and around Boston City Hall but also just the wider city in general and I think how we show up for accessibility in and around the property that we manage here at City Hall should certainly be the forefront and the leader of how we provide accessibility to the rest of the city. If we can't do it in our own backyard, It's going to be pretty difficult for people who think we can do it elsewhere in their homes and in their neighbourhoods. I look forward to learning a lot from both Cassandra and Bill. Thank you for being here today. and for educating us on what the problems that persist, what some of the new problems are. And how we can best learn and react

To what we're seeing out there and from you guys who are living it every day, putting us in your shoes and telling us what you need and how best we can support you I thank you for taking the time to be here and chair, and I look forward to both working with the administration, the advocates, and my colleagues. To make sure that we can see sure that some of these things are followed through on to make life a little bit easier for our residents.

Thank you Thank You council Fitzgerald City Council President Breadon council president Breadon you have the floor

Thank you Councillor Flynn, Mr Chair. Good afternoon Bill and Cassandra so nice to have you here I'm This is an important discussion just to evaluate where we're at in terms of accessibility in and around Boston City Hall. I know we've made incremental improvements over the years, and it's an ongoing project. We're not there yet. So I'd love to hear your impressions, your suggestions and hopefully we can actualize some of your suggestions City Hall Plaza and the environs around here in Government Centre more accessible to everyone, and across the city. So thank you for being here.

Good afternoon, everyone. I'm happy to be here. Thank you to my colleague, Councilor Flynn for hosting this hearing and I want to thank Cassandra and Bill for being here. We need to make sure... Yes, Cassandra our policy queen, thank you for being your advocacy queen It's important that we make sure the doors of City Hall are open to everyone and that it's accessible. We don't have a city for everyone if we're not remembering to bring the margins and making sure that those who have been historically excluded from our spaces And so I want to continue to learn from all of you to think about what we can do better here in the city of Boston and work alongside the administration and my colleagues to make that possible. I think that was only 40 seconds, so I'll yield all my time back. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Louijeune. I believe the Americans with Disability Act is arguably one of the most important pieces of federal legislation on the books. I filed this hearing order because it is critical that we make accessibility a top priority for all in our city, especially our seniors and persons with disabilities. We know that over the years Boston City Hall has made improvements to ensure compliance with the ADA, American Disability Act and improved accessibility for persons with disabilities. Some of these examples include a new accessible entrance on the second floor, and a sloping promenade in the City Hall Plaza renovation in 2022 which began under the leadership of Mayor Marty Walsh throughout Mayor Janey's time and completed under Mayor Wu. There was also the installation of a vertical lift at City Hall's third floor entrance

to the mezzanine area. However, there is more work to be done to improve accessibility inside the building Aging infrastructure continues to limit accessibility in certain areas such as the broken escalators connecting the second and third floor, as well as the half-floor between the second and City Hall, labeled the third floor on the north elevator. As we all know these elevators have been down for quite some time and it is important to review access within other parts of the building to ensure those with disabilities can fully access all floors, departments, meeting rooms when they are in City Hall. Residents and neighbors tell me it may be difficult and confusing for them sometimes to navigate City Hall when they are trying to obtain city services, especially when they have to reach multiple departments.

They may come in from the City Hall Plaza or Congress Street from the garage area. They may use the south elevators to go and pay a ticket or get a birth certificate on the second floor or Visiting Assessing on third floor. But with the escalator down, they have to take the stairs to navigate their way to find the north elevator to get up to the Tax Collection Division or Taxpayer Assistance Center in that kind of half floor between the mezzanine area on a third floor and second floor. It does sound confusing, If you're not familiar with the building. Last November, I reached out to Commissioner Shelton who mentioned that the existing escalators have been fully decommissioned as they are beyond repair, not code compliant and no longer considered to meet accessibility standards.

He also mentioned that the city is working to replace these escalators with new stairs in a fully accessible four-stop elevator, and while the design phase is ongoing but the timeline for construction and completion remains unclear. I also highlighted the safety of the main staircase on a third floor in my hearing order, the short length of the bricks in the reflective shine Make it difficult to see, especially when you are walking down from the fifth floor to the third floor. And while the current guardrails help, I believe the safety of these steers need to be enhanced to prevent people from tripping and getting seriously hurt. Many people know exactly where I'm talking about, where they have the podium for speakers at the mezzanine level

But right next to it is the lift for people in a wheelchair so that they can get up. are pretty dangerous. If you fall, you'll literally fall the whole flight off the stairs. I look forward to this hearing to discuss these issues. Improving accessibility on the second and third floor must be a top priority, and for nine years, this has probably been my number one issue is how we ensure Persons with disabilities are treated with respect and dignity, and that's something I'm going to continue to work on. We're honored to have Cassandra and Bill And I do want to give Cassandra and Bill an opportunity to introduce themselves, give an opening statement. and after that, we will go to questions from my colleagues.

But I don't wanna rush you so I'm gonna probably give each person maybe 12 minutes and then after that we'll go to questions. So Bill or Cassandra, who would like to go first?

I'm going first.

Okay, Bill you're going first just give me an opportunity To set the timer. So Bill, you have 12 minutes. Introduce yourself. Give us your background. What's important to you in terms of a person with disability? Any recommendations that you might have and I want to say thank you to you Bill for your commitment to civil rights. Bill, you have the floor.

Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting me to this hearing. I have a long journey becoming blind. I was declared blind April 22, 2025. I used to live in Boston, and I recently moved to Cambridge because it's a brand new building and an accessible apartment. and I want to thank the Mass Commission for the Blind for helping me have this wonderful place to live. There are many issues facing the City of Boston They go beyond City Hall.

I'm gonna talk about one of them that has become quite frankly, one of the most important issues for me as a person who's blind with low vision and a senior citizen. The lack of public bathrooms in the city of Boston, the city should be ashamed of itself The city thinks that bathrooms in fire departments and police stations are public bathrooms. Firemen have told me they're concerned because they don't want people out digging in their bathrooms when they have to respond to a 911 call. Boston, I spend most of my time in the city now between City Hall and Back Bay. The bathroom at the Souvenir Concession Store

Park Street closes at 4.45 PM. If you don't know where the other bathrooms are, good luck! There is a temporary bathroom just before you cross the street to go public gardens. I attended Jaylen Brown's magnificent event yesterday Those bathrooms were closed for regular maintenance per a Boston police officer. Fortunately, there were water bodies there. What happens if it's not? Bathrooms closed? Walk down the hill, use your scooter. But you wanna go to the red line, gotta go back up the hill. The city says The hotels are considered public bathrooms. Do all the hotels in the city know that?

I also received information that the city has a website The bathrooms, great. But what if you are one of the more two million international visitors that come to this city and you have a five year old child who needs a bathroom? You're really gonna look For that website? No. This is a big concern. Additionally, there are many resources available. I will briefly talk about a couple of them. One is the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton. I'm an alumnus. That school transforms people's lives. The other one is Achilles International. Athletes with Disabilities. Offices are on Newbury Street, you can find out more information on the website.

Sighted Guides There are many resources available To people who, any citizen, anybody with sight, any other disability. But there's a huge problem in the city of Boston. There is no way For any person to find out all the magnificent resources the city has, because every department, every commission has its own silo. The question is, what's the city going to do about it? A little background about me. I am serving now my sixth year on the City's Eighth Strong Commission Senior Advisory Council As I said, I'm an alumnus of the Carroll Center for the Blind. Thank you to the school.

I am also a Community Accessible Monitor certified by the State's Office on Disability. I don't have legal power, but I can tell you about things you need to improve. Cassandra is going to talk about City Hall and the infrastructure of this city We both know it's Yeoman's work. Last thing, couple last things. Anybody want any city councilors staff wants to come to the Carroll Center for Bullying? You can reach me through Councilor Flynn's office. Happy to take you on a tour of this incredible place. The second thing and the last thing is I've made this offer and no city councilor has taken me up on it, so I'll repeat it again.

You want me to come to your district, walk with you citywide, any place, anytime? Happy to be your tour guide. We will both learn from each other. Once again, thank you for the opportunity to speak at this important hearing

Thank you, Bill. Thank you for your testimony and the important work that you are doing. We're also joined by City Councilor Brian Worrell and Ben Weber as well. Cassandra? The same with you. I'm going to give you 12 minutes, but if you feel like you need more time, please take it. I will not cut you off. But you have the floor.

Hello, everyone. My name is Cassandra Xavier and I'm a resident of the North End. I am a disability advocate and I am here once again to continue the advocacy efforts for Residents of all backgrounds in Boston, the thing I would like to bring forward is the most difficult part and that is the concurrent street crossings. That is incredibly important, that we address the issue of concurrent street crossing Along with the already concerning infrastructure of a huge portion of this city, the concurrent street crossings are incredibly dangerous. Now, some of you may be wondering what a concurrent street crossing is.

And in the most simplest terms, concurrent street crossings are when the vehicle and a pedestrian can cross and drive at the same time. For some strange reason, The overseers of this does not believe it is a concern that needs to be fixed. Now, imagine your child or yourself or someone you know who's elderly or with a disability trying to cross the street. And as they have the right to cross, a large vehicle of any kind is also turning in towards them thus leading to A preventable serious accident or tragic incident.

I was on the radio with GBH talking about this not too long ago and how dangerous it is I really, really believe that needs to be fixed. And along with the concurrent street crossings which I hope to have some of you come see with me one day would be the city's infrastructure There are, there's a lot of street curbs and sidewalks that really need to be addressed. It's a accidents waiting to happen or have already happened to a lot of pedestrians. And I've been talking about this relentlessly over and over every time I come here, Every person I've been interviewed with by news reporters, it's been the same exact concern.

Infrastructure of Boston and many other places need to be corrected and addressed. The concurrent street crossings need to be addressed. Intruncated domes need to corrected. And if you're also wondering what an intruncate dome is, it is the little strips on the ground at the end of the curve that you could cross and there are bumps on the ground. It's not just floor decoration, it's for someone with a wheelchair, someone who uses a white cane, rollators and strollers to know that they're on the edge of the sidewalk So that they are able to stand at the end of the street safely. Some of those intruncated domes are broken and those need to be corrected. And once again, my name is Cassandra Xavier. I am a disability advocate and I live in the North End.

Thank you for your time and I'll hand the floor back

Thank you Cassandra. Thank you for your testimony, thank you for leadership in advocating for persons with disabilities here in Boston but also across the Commonwealth as We've come all the Massachusetts and we have tremendous respect for you. I'm going to start with Councilor Fitzgerald, I'm gonna give each city councilor six minutes And if a city councilor needs more time, I'm not going to cut them off and they can take the time that they need. But I'll give everyone six minutes. I'm gonna start with Councilor Fitzgerald then Councilor Breadon, Councilor Louijeune, Council Worrell and Councilor Weber Fitzgerald, you have the floor.

Thank you very much chair and again thank you Cassandra and Bill for your advocacy and testimony today So just sort of going over what we just heard. I heard truncated domes, concurrent signals, bathrooms around the city. What else would you add to that list? that we think is, and without having to delve too deep into any of it. I see the look on Bill but if we really wanna know what are some other things that persist that affect many with disabilities. Bill, why don't you go ahead? You can just start. Maybe you could just rattle some off. I'm just wondering what some of the other ones that are pertinent to what you think would prioritize.

I would, oh my gosh. I would prioritize the concurrent street crossings not just for myself there are many of us with all kinds of backgrounds invisible disabilities and very visible disabilities We're outside, we are active people or trying to become more active out and about. And we should not have to be in fear of our safety just across the street You know, it is the most disconcerting experience to be someone who went through numerous years of mobility training for their white cane and to have the right-of-way across the street properly. and to still almost get hit by a motorcyclist or a car. That takes all of your skills in training, and it flushes it right down the drain. Concurrent street crossings need to be addressed immediately please.

Yep, understood. So the truncated domes, concurrent signals. Yes. And anything else that you would sort of, that you come into on a daily basis where you say this is lacking in terms of accessibility and could be better?

Sidewalk infrastructure.

Yep.

You get your canes or your mobility aid caught in the crack of a ground, or you twist your ankle on a sidewalk where there are missing bricks. And that's just not cool.

I agree, and this is not something, again, not for anyone. Not even an accessibility issue necessarily for those that have any impairments, but this is for everybody. Mike, I turn my ankle in a loose brick all the time walking these streets. So I completely get it and I should see you coming.

Everyone deserves access to a sidewalk without rolling their ankle.

Yes, understood.

It hurts.

I believe. Bill, anything to add?

Yes. To follow up on Cassandra's priority. When I lived in West Roxbury, I took a city employee before road diet to walk Center Street and here's what you face. On one side is the latest equipment to cross the street, some talk, some don't. On the other side there's nothing On one side is a yellow dompet, on the other side there's nothing. You also have brown. Well folks, there's a reason why I wear this yellow cap in city hall It's a reminder, yellow is a better color than brown or black for those domed paths. Why does the city have sewers at the curb cutouts?

Blind people, I know, can lose their cane if they don't have this ball. If they have a regular stick in it goes into the sewer. What are you going to do about it? When I was here in March talking about accessibility and snow removal, question for the city's administration. What are your plans to make sure sidewalks are more accessible to everyone Next winter. Storms are coming, are you ready? I offered a suggestion that not one city councillor took me up on. Create what I called the snow brigade. Briefly pay the kids. The money goes, not in an Amazon card, into a bank account. Not one city councilor approached me afterwards. That's embarrassing for the City Council because it's going to happen again

Snow doesn't go away. Cassandra's priority is also my priority. I walk all over Back Bay, Downtown Crossing, City Hall Plaza The city did a great job with Copley Square Park. Much more accessible. I'm usually there every Tuesday and Friday for the Farmers Market. It's a great place, it's more accessible and I feel safer. So, what's the city gonna do about snow removal? It's coming. Just a few months away. What's the plan? I asked the question. And lastly... Mayor Wu, I've been trying to speak to you for two years in person about this and your staff has never responded. Thank you.

Thanks Bill. I'm sure you're not alone there. The truncated domes, they are going around and repairing them now right? There is a federal law suit, I believe that was taking place. And so I know it's a long process but is it not they're going around to try and make them even on both sides of the road and taking it piece by piece from what I understand? And as for the Snow Brigade I think as many councilors do here in our own districts, we try to buy the kids ice cream if they shovel out a neighbor's sidewalk or hydrant. or an elderly neighbor, things of that nature. So we do what we can with what we've got Bill but I agree it could be more organized and substantial Again, that is my time. Thank you to both of you for your suggestions. Look forward to talking in the future.

I do want to acknowledge my City Council colleagues. They did go on record in support of my proposal, basically, to eliminate concurrent street lighting Several times, I believe. But I do want to acknowledge my colleagues for the important work and leadership they have provided on that issue. Certainly we have more work to do to try to convince the administration We need to make a complete change. I also want to acknowledge, and I think Councilor Fitzgerald mentioned it, but I do know Councilor Worrell was active and is active on trying continue to work with the city administration on street snow removal. And we had a hearing several months ago, but I think Councilor Worrell wants to have another one over the next month or two months. But let me go to the City Council President for six minutes.

Council President Breadon, you have the floor.

Thank you very much and I really I share your concerns about the concurrent street crossings. And I feel that there's a level of lack of enforcement and incredible Safety challenges with crosswalks in general, like I was talking to someone recently in the last few weeks about just the sheer number of incidents. Like we've had fatalities on crosswalk in Alston Brighton. We have had Near misses and injuries where drivers don't stop. They slow down, they stop and the person is like three quarters of the way across. And they drive on and then they clip them on the shoulder with the wing mirror and break their arm. That has happened in our district so I think, and the other aspect just to demography or the demographics of our

We have an aging population. As we get older, we have more mobility problems. We have vision and hearing and sensory issues that you folks can speak to very well. And it seems to be that our streets are not safe for all road users and I think it's really Challenging, like how do we in terms of your knowledge Bill and Cassandra of other municipalities maybe either globally nationally or locally The city belongs as a member of the Open Mobility Foundation.

It has had staff lead that organization. The question is, and I don't know the answer, what is the city doing to use the technology that's open source to improve monitoring of transportation and vehicles. For example, Minneapolis has been a pilot program with major companies like UPS to make sure the curb cutouts are not blocked for long times. As far as what City Council Fitzgerald said, That class action lawsuit said the city had 23,000 miles of sidewalks to fix those curb cutouts. According to the settlement The city only has to fix 1,600 a year. In 2024 it didn't meet the goal.

2025 the city was proud it fixed over 1,700. Folks do the math! How long is it going to fix those 23,000? And they'll never all get fixed because it's just gonna start over again with a lot of changes. I know city government moves slower than turtles, but the city needs to move faster because the world moves faster. Getting feedback. Hold on. Feedback went away, sort of. The question is what are you gonna do about these sidewalks and streets? What are you going to do about the trees and the roots? Roots don't go down they go out

Like I said, happy to come any time, any place to a city council's district and citywide. Walk with me. And also Cassandra in March 9th hearing she showed a very impactful video she made Anybody looked at it since it was shown March 9th, 2026? There's a lot the city can do but the problem is it's all in silos. I don't know how well City Thank you. In terms of the

The Tactile Pads, or the truncated domes as they're called. It seems that some of the yellow ones which are more visually... Yes. Accessible. Very often the material they're made in degrades very quickly, especially if it's been exposed. Is that something you folks are observing in your travels? The truncated pads deteriorate and basically need replacement in very short order.

Yes. Speaking of intruncated domes that need to be replaced, by the Edward Brook Courthouse there is an intruncated dome that is completely ripped off And it's missing. I don't know if they plan on fixing it anytime soon or if it was taken off intentionally, but that's a concern. and I believe that they should all be a standard color, like yellow for easy visibility for low vision. And for anyone that needs to be able to see it at a distance or up close to know where to stand properly. Yeah.

Thank you.

That's my time. I have two places to talk about the follow-up At the corner of Charles and Beacon Street, there's a fire hydrant right where the curb cutout should be as you cross the street from Charles to go to the public gardens. Next, and I saw this when I had better eyesight. Walk out the Back Bay commuter rail station turn right to go down Dartmouth Street at the intersection of Dartmouth and Stewart Street A couple of years ago, there was no curb cut out. I saw a mother push her child in a wheelchair and had to go up Stewart Street In the street, I actually got a phone call from some consultant. Couldn't figure out who owns that curb cutout. I was told it was the Mass Turnpike. It still hasn't been fixed as of last Friday.

I hope no other mother has to push a child in a wheelchair up Stewart Street, or wherever she was going. I think it was a doctor's appointment because I asked her. That's just one, two simple examples. A fire hydrant at a curb cutout and the mother having to walk up Stewart Street because there is no curb cut out there.

Thank you Bill. Thank You Mr.

Chair. Thank you Council President. Councilor Louijeune, you have the floor.

Thank-you and I want to thank you both for your testimony. Bill, I do want to take you up on your offer Flynn, they're not here or they're coming right? The disability commission? No. Their staff okay but I have been they they have been really gracious and The administration has come out to my street. to really look at the disability and accessibility issues. And so I think that we do need to do more of that. I wonder, because they're not here it's a difficult question to ask, there are so many silos regardless of the issue Especially when it comes for the needs of folks who are too often marginalized. I'm wondering if anyone knows whether the Disability Commission right now has meetings where they try to bring everyone together, where that issue is just on

I'd like to speak about Commissioner McCosh and her team. They do yeoman's work, they need to be thanked. They have to evaluate 217 city buildings for accessibility, thousands of miles of sidewalks. And you gotta figure out, she told me, who owns the sidewalk? Who owns the bridge? That gets really complicated. And when you're looking at road diet, I was told you have federal state and city laws. They conflict with each other on many levels and that was from the project manager who managed the road diet program in West Roxbury. I'm happy to speak to you afterwards. Thank you for taking me up on my offer.

But the commissioner's team does great work. They need more people and they need better budget, more money.

Thank you, Bill. Either Cassandra or Bill on the issue of general accessibility, on the issues of concurrent street crossings are there examples of cities who are doing So accessibility concerns should always be

It should be prioritized. Oftentimes, whenever an accessibility need is brought up to the forefront or is at least attempted to it is always an afterthought you know I always remind everybody, at some point many of us will become older and we will develop disabilities by age. So right now, many of can avoid those Thanks for watching! Anyone can become a part of the disability community. No one is exempt from acquiring a disability, not even 20 minutes from now. So whenever these things are being... Whenever construction

and reconstruction of certain places is happening. Accessibility should always be woven into these things, you know? It's a compliance thing I'm going to keep repeating it over and over and until we see it happening. And I'm also open to some further discussion after this hearing as well with anyone.

Thank you, Cassandra. Are there areas in the city that you think are like the most problematic? The most difficult, the most inaccessible for our residents here?

Oh my gosh! I can list one of the many of them. Along Comm Ave in the area by the area where they have the elephant standing, those streets or those blocks on the Commonwealth area, a lot of them do not have APS buttons, and that's shortened for audible pedestrian signals. Those are incredibly dangerous street corners. And I believe that is where someone had unfortunately passed away because of lack of, you know the audible pedestrian signals and the street crossing signals. And that is also where the concurrent street crossing issue is also heavily noticed as well.

Okay. I'm not qualified to talk about other cities, but the final one, what Kirstanda said, I don't know who said it, but everybody in the world has a disability in waiting Just kind of, you don't know when it's gonna show up. I did not know until 2015 that I had an eyesight disease called macular degeneration Have any of the city councils talked to all the doctors at Mass Eye and Ear who are doing research? The doctors who are teaching students at the College of Optometry. You want to meet them? Come and see me. I'll introduce you to Dr. Ross at the New England College of Optometry. Amazing woman, amazing doctor, amazing research she's doing. That's just one example of my journey.

Thank you. I wanted to follow up on something that you stated earlier, Bill. And I want to read it just to make sure just to make sure that I got it right. I think when you were talking about the issue of public bathrooms, you stated that hotels is in the city of Boston Or is it in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that they are by right, by law public? No. Okay I just want to clarify what you stated.

Okay. I filed a complaint with 311 about the lack of bathrooms I received a form letter from Christa Makasha's office. It stated that the city considers public bathrooms and hotels What are you going to do? That's a public bathroom? Yeah, I use the bathrooms at the Copley Family Hotel a lot. because it's a shorter walk than going to the library. And what happens if the libraries close at 5 o'clock and you've got a five-year-old kid who needs to use the bathroom? They're not gonna look at their websites, they're not all gonna look away for that's in the letter that I, the form letter I received. I recognize that Christian McCosh, the commissioner team has human work. I can't talk about what other cities do I only know about Boston. I'm just beginning to learn Cambridge.

It's a fascinating journey. Come on, come and join me. You'll find out what it's like to become blind in the city of Austin. Sometimes it's amazing, sometimes it's hilarious. And some times as Chrysandra says, tightrope dangerous to navigate these streets and we're in better shape than some other cities. My mobility trainer's husband is from Mexico, she's described as where he lives. Oh my God! Good thing she has sight. So... Is the city gonna move slow? Or is it going to move fast and be careful. We've got over 200 million, 2 million visitors that come here every year from across the world We've got a great example at the World Cup. They're coming back, folks! What are you gonna do to make sure they know about accessibility in this wonderful city?

That's the question. I don't have the answers.

Well, thank you. Thank you for your time and your testimony. I started my day today at the National Braille Press. And I just know that it's important that we do everything All of our communities here, especially those who are living and trying to thrive with disabilities. So thank you for your testimony Bill. And to you Cassandra and everyone at the National Pro Press the work that they do to make sure accessibility is a real thing for everyone.

Later, I'd like to hear about it. By the way, if any other city councilor like Ed Flynn wants to come and see it talk to me. Brian, the CEO to welcome you with open arms. Thank you.

Thank, thank you Councilor Ouijanin. Next up is Councilor Worrell just stepped out One thing I do want to mention, I'll go to Council Weber. I visited the Carroll Center for the Blind several years ago serving all ages in all stages of vision loss. But talking to Bill and Cassandra, I plan to do a visit sometime in October and would like to invite all of my colleagues, if they are able to join us. I'll give people plenty of notice But I think Cassandra is going to join me and ride over with me over to Newton. Then we're going to go to one of those ice cream places after, I think so. All my colleagues are welcome to join us. Weber. Next up is Councilor Weber, you have the floor.

Okay, thank you very much. Nice to see the panelists, nice to see Bill. Cassandra, like Bill was talking about, Other cities, and he knows what's going on here. Is there another city in the country somewhere else that we should be looking to for how to approach these issues?

Other cities that we should look into for like, I would say Minneapolis. Minneapolis has a very, how do I say? They can be an example of how to make sure a city can be as accessible as possible, especially the Southeast Minneapolis area. Audible pedestrian signals, a lot of infrastructure accessibility in many ways. but it has been a while since I had last visited Minneapolis. But when I went there, I found it to be pretty cool like well not cool but like pretty accessible because I was there at a training center for the blind, at the time.

And it was pretty easy to navigate and though every city is not perfect, but I kind of was wishing that Minneapolis and Massachusetts could trade resources in a way If that answers your question.

Yeah, yeah, no, that's good. I have the current or former city councilor for Minneapolis on speed dial in touch. So I can give them a call and see what they're doing there.

City Council Weber to interrupt you since you're going to make that phone call. Minneapolis is one of the cities that runs pilot projects for the Open Mobility Foundation that I mentioned earlier. You might want to ask him or her what their involvement is with Open Mobilities Foundation. It's a non-profit. And cities across the world belong to it, and that includes Boston, Massachusetts. Good question to ask them. Cassandra, thanks for bringing up Minneapolis.

Oh yeah, Minneapolis is one of those special cities for me.

Okay, yeah I've been there, went to law school in Iowa so took some trips up to Minneapolis really interesting city. And yeah, I can't wait to reach out. So I guess Cassandra also mentioned concurrent Lighting, and as the chair mentioned you know he filed a resolution I think at least one that we voted in favor of of getting rid of them in the city. One of the reasons why I support it is because right my district on Hyde Park Ave, where I think you made your video this winter. And Tower, Glen Ingram was killed by a bus on a concurrent light and so he's crossing in the green it was a couple years ago. We heard from the Chief of Streets when we asked him I think the chair asked him about concurrent lights and I think If we did a blanket concurrent light band across the whole city, it would cause a lot more traffic, some insurmountable issues. I guess my question for you is

Is there a way to do it in a targeted way where we create zones where there's no concurrent lights? Or are you just thinking, would you just want the entire city just to ban them from one side or the other?

My thing is, I would ask this person what do they think is more important? The safety of a person on the street walking around or a car stuck in traffic. You know, the person they just need a couple of seconds extra to cross the road. The car could always get to their destination a lot faster than a person So I mean, I've never driven in my life before. I've always been living with blindness and deafness together so I don't know what the urgency is to be behind the wheel and want to rush through even with someone trying to cross. I've always been the pedestrian, but maybe some of the most active or highly trafficked

Spots in the city could have no concurrent street crossings. And as a matter of fact, just get rid of it. Just take it out. Take it out It's okay. They can stand in the traffic light a little bit longer. They have air conditioning in their car, they have a heater in their cars. The pedestrians are exposed to the heat and cold. They'll be fine.

Sounds good.

Just take it off.

Yeah, Bill you got your hand up.

As a person who used to be able to drive And I lived on West Rock Street, and now I'm just walking Center Street. I think to myself, I used to drive on that road? What am I crazy? OK, and that's before and after the road died. So since you brought it up, how about doing a pilot project in West Roxbury? You've already got road diet. You still have problems. I know it's still a big issue for you as the city councilor. You got the bike riders who were here in full force in March. Pick a neighborhood, pick a street Let that gentleman pick the street he wants to do the pilot project. It's dangerous out there, you know? The question is... How many mothers are going to get killed with a stroller with a three-year old in it?

And I know I'm being very blunt and very direct. How long is it gonna take for another adult to get killed on the streets of Center Street and West Roxbury? That happened a few years ago. I almost got killed crossing Center Street, a few year ago when I was not legally blind. How many deaths is it gonna take for that person to wake up and have a pilot project? And I know I'm in your face, and I'm being direct. I don't care. I don't want another person to get killed on the streets of Boston because you got concurrent things. You've got domes that don't work, you've got bad lighting. On one side there's a button and on the other side there is nothing. From Roach Brothers all the way to the Faulkner Hospital. More than once, I lived about a mile away. You want to come on a walk with me at Center Street? Anytime, anyplace.

Okay, thanks. I see my time is up. I just have one quick follow-up Bill, this is for you. And I waited until my time was up so just a short answer.

I'll try not to be long-winded.

Good luck. But just I know you advocated for accessibility at the libraries.

I can't answer that question anymore.

Okay.

But what I will tell you is ask Christian McCosh that question.

Okay, so it's something we need to follow up on.

You want to have a conversation with me later?

Absolutely.

Let's go to the West Foxbury Library someday. and let's go to the Central Library. And read every, all you city councilors, read what's on the library's website today about accessibility. You might be surprised what it says, good and bad. It's an issue. I will tell you this, the library is trying to improve it. Really working hard at it but they've had pitfalls. You're going to spend the money. It always comes down to the money Is the city going to give the Boston Public Library the money to be the best library in the world? Last suggestion, take a look at what Seattle does. Seattle has approximately the same size population as the city of Boston. Both cities are under 700,000 in residents.

Okay, yeah, thanks Bill.

You're welcome.

I look forward to seeing you in West Roxbury and...

I still cruise the streets of Senate Street at least once a month.

Yeah, well, send me a text message when you're there. I'll meet you on the street. Okay, thanks a lot, Chair.

Thank you, Council Weber. I'll set the clock now for myself as well. Thank you, Bill and thank you Cassandra again for being here for the important testimony you are providing but also Your incredible leadership on civil rights issues, supporting persons with disabilities, supporting our seniors, ensuring our open spaces throughout the city, Commonwealth are accessible. Disability rights are civil rights. Cassandra, I know you spoke eloquently at the beginning about concurrent street crossing lighting, and we continue the conversation.

And I agree with everything you said Both the pedestrian and the vehicle can't have the right of way at the same time. To me, it's really about respect for The pedestrian, respect for the person with disability. Respect for our senior citizens or a parent taking their little kid across the street in the crosswalk. So on that note, I was at a location and there was a guy that was driving a car. And he had a New York license plate. making the turn at the same time when people were trying to cross. He almost missed them.

He was about one foot or two feet away from the person in the crosswalk, and I said to him, you have to let the people by, cross. He said to me, he didn't know me. I didn't him. He said well why do you have but the like he had the right of way which he does have the right-of-way? He said I have the Right-Of-Way and I said Well, you do have the Rite of Way But so doesn't the Pedestrian. And he said, well this is my first time here. How do I know that?

Well now he knows.

But now he The city that doesn't know that particular intersection and they're making the right turn at the same time pedestrians are crossing. But it's really not that person's fault because they really don't know the neighborhood. They don't own the lighting and I'm not here to blame anybody, but why can't we come together Acknowledge that it is a public safety problem that we have in the city and if they're not going to make change here at City Hall, I do believe we might have to make in the court system.

Absolutely.

Because I don't think the Chief of Streets is going to make the change for us. I've asked them a bunch of times, my city council colleagues have asked them as well They're not going to make the change. But do you think we can bring this to court? That's my question.

I would like to ask one question first. Sure, go ahead. Is the Chief of Street even from Boston? Like, do they live in the perimeters of the area to even see this themselves?

I think every department head is required to live in a city.

Okay good and then the other part is Yes, it needs to be escalated to a higher level. We've already tried everything we could to reason with them. We have done the best we can to make sure pedestrians are safe. But they don't want to, you know, make that simple gesture to be like okay cool pedestrians are important too and not just the drivers. Yeah so without any further Let's just go to the next level with it.

Yeah, I am concerned the longer we wait, the likelihood that there could be another accident

We want to stop that before it gets worse.

That's exactly right. You're exactly right, we wanna stop it before it get worse and what happens if its a child in the crosswalk? What happens if it is a senior citizen What happens if it's a person in a wheelchair? What happens, if it is anybody?

It's a preventable situation that could have been avoided and that needs to be addressed immediately, like as soon as possible. Hopefully before the end of this year to take them to court for it if it's even possible and if possible me and Bob can go along as well to the court. Yeah, let's go to court and make sure pedestrians lives matter too

Yeah, I agree. I don't think anyone really wants to go to court. I think that's our last option but like you Cassandra, I don t want to wait until an accident happens again. There have been several deaths in the city of Boston because of this concurrent jurisdiction, street lighting related issue. But my time is almost up. Let me just ask one final question. I'm gonna shut off the clock in one second, it's about to run. So one issue that I've focused on along for a while is the lift. For people in wheelchairs on the third floor, the entrance to the third-floor on City Council The Plaza area.

When you're going in with the bricks and you go through the security, and you kind of go around past the elevators and there's the lift that will bring you up to the mezzanine where there is a lot I don't believe that area is necessarily accessible to persons with disabilities. Yes, we do have a lift But it can be challenging. I know many people have not used the lift for various reasons, but I am uncomfortable with that particular area of City Hall, and I love this building. But I am comfortable with that part of the building because I feel it is not accessible to persons with disabilities and seniors.

Seniors also trying to walk up the stairs coming from the third floor center plaza, very challenging, very difficult Also the hand railings, if you notice the handrailings are kind of awkward and they're almost in the center of the brick steers. They're not laid out properly in my opinion. I do want us to study on how we can make it more accessible. But Bill, I think you wanted to speak and want to give you the opportunity because I'm out of time but Bill, you have the floor.

I actually visited the third floor last Friday. There's a wonderful volunteer, he's only there on Fridays, his name is Jerry. He probably knows the building better than all of us. According to one of the volunteers that was there today, he did bring me to the lift. He said you just have to have security or a volunteer help you to open it to go up. I didn't do it, so I can't address that. I will talk about the railings across City Hall. I brought that up when we did the walkthrough earlier this year. A lot of all the railing are rectangle. Why not have them round like our canes? Easier to handle. Now, there is a problem with City Hall and it looks beautiful. The stairs are nice and shiny

Boy, I think they're dangerous now that I'm legally blind with some eyesight. They were dangerous in the beginning even more so. I walk very slowly up and down those stairs, and I can demonstrate to you folks how I was taught at the Carroll Center for the Blind by a wonderful mobility trainer named Augustine. Yeah, I'm giving him a plug. He saved my life a number of times recently through his training. And I can demonstrate to you after this how I was taught to navigate crosswalks that don't have these systems. It's very interesting to watch the traffic stop because of what I was taught. All the railings in this building need to be changed, very expensive but they'll be safer for the seniors who come to this building, actually anybody because they're not rectangle. Round.

Round! I will in closing thank Commissioner McCosh as she and She addressed a very serious question I had about the new elevator. There are buildings in the city, commercial buildings that don't have the button panel anymore on the elevator everything is video monitor Thank God for security when I was doing work two years ago in the Seaport area. Commissioner McCosh's response was wonderful. She said, and I'm going to quote with paraphrase, There will be no video monitors in the elevators in this building. Thank you, Commissioner McCosh for being that clear.

Well thank you Bill and thank you Cassandra. My time is up. I do want to give my colleagues an opportunity if they want to have a closing statement, but I do wanna give an opportunity for Cassandra and Bill Let me give you the opportunity as well if you'd like to give a closing statement.

You ready? I'll go first this time. Okay.

Weber. No, I'm sorry. I'm going to give my colleagues two minutes for a closing statement and then I'll give both of you and opportunity to give a closing statement as well. So, Councilor Louijeune, you have the floor.

Thank you. I'll be brief. I want to thank you Bill for your advocacy and for being here. I wanna thank you of course Cassandra for all the work that you do. Yeah, really appreciate it. And we obviously both made it clear, Cassandra made it clearly that the city has a lot more work to do. I look forward to hearing from the Disability Commission or from the administration about Their efforts to understand from their perspective why we are lagging behind so much. But I know, like I stated that even in my neighborhood on my street there were major accessibility issues I want to help solve in the city, so thank you for your work. I wanna give another big shout out to the workers at National Bail Press for all that they do for all of our communities and especially those who are blind. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Louijeune. I want to give Council Weber the opportunity to give a closing statement as well. Two minutes, Council Weber?

Okay thank you very much Cassandra and Bill it just It's great to see you here, and I hope you realize how much of a difference your advocacy makes for people in this city. You know it's like you really elevate this issue when we talk about Luege, and my other colleagues will be thinking about what you have said today and what you've I just want to thank you for being the folks who You know, highlight this and elevate this for us to sort of take and do more with. So I know we have our marching orders and just want to thank you for being here. Thanks chair.

Thank you Council Weber I checked with Shane. We do not have any public testimony, but before I give a closing statement, I do want to say thank you to Shane and to Ethan for conducting organizing a very Helpful hearing. Well, I'm gonna hold off on my closing statement. I wanna give Cassandra and Bill the opportunity to you to go first, and then I'll kind of briefly conclude after. So Bill, who would like to go for us?

BILL ALFORD JR.: I want to go up first so you can propose.

CHRISTIE WOODARD- OK. Cassandra, you have the floor.

I would like to say to everyone, thank you for taking the time to invite us into this space to have our voices be heard. I consider these opportunities pretty rare and great opportunities to be heard, to be a part of the progress and advocacy throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It's been a long time coming for a lot of us to speak on really important situations happening, and we hope to continue coming back for more discussions. And I hope that what we talked about today also makes more progress and we get what we are looking for so that everyone can navigate the Commonwealth of Massachusetts safely and comfortably.

Thank you Cassandra. Excellent testimony, excellent closing statement. Bill? You have the floor.

Thank you State Council Flynn for this opportunity to come before the council again and the most important thing for me is I hope you listen. I hope all the commission heads, department heads also listen. This is real time. It's not Facebook It's not Instagram. When I walk out this door and head for the streets, I have no idea what the two of us will be facing. Changes every minute. I thank you for the opportunity Once again, any time, any place in the city, the district. Lastly, Mayor Wilk you're also invited I've been trying for two years hopefully one of your staff members will respond this time Thank you all. Last thing, advocacy has a little secret. It's a lot of fun.

I've met incredible people over the last six years. Very lucky. Wonderful support. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Bill. I'm going to give myself two minutes as well. First, I want to say thank you to my City Council colleagues for being here For their important dialogue and input that they provided, excellent questions as well. I want to say thank you to Bill and Cassandra for your advocacy and for being here as well I think your testimony, and you've testified before this committee many times, but it's important for me. It's important our colleagues to listen to you, to hear from you to understand what you're going through. And for your life experience, for your testimony

That makes us better city councilors because we can be more effective in advocating for persons with disabilities. We know Disability rights are civil rights. There's more work we need to do as a member of the disability rights community, an active member in the Disabled American Veterans I do want to say thank you to you because what you're advocating for is helping all persons with disabilities across the Commonwealth, not just yourself. You're making life easier, healthier and more accessible to so many more people whether they are older or younger but you're setting the example for

A new generation of persons with disabilities to advocate on their behalf, to ensure that they are treated with respect. They are treated dignity because as we all know Disability Rights, Civil Rights. And we can't do enough for persons with disabilities in this city. We have a lot more work to do and I'm honored to work with you, to call you friends and let's keep up the conversation in advocacy as well.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

This hearing on Docket 0335, order for hearing to discuss accessibility issues in Boston is concluded.