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The next RTA ADA Advisory Committee meeting will be held on July 18, 2011 from 1:30 PM until 3:30 PM in the RTA Board Room. Pease contact Michael VanDekreke at (312) 913-3204 (voice), (312) 913-3122 (TTY) or by email at
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if you need an accommodation to attend the meeting at least three (3) business days before the meeting.
Welcome and Introductions: Mr. Michael VanDekreke, Chairman, welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked all Committee Members, RTA and Service Board Staff and members of the public to introduce themselves. A list of those in attendance is included at the end of this memo.
Reading and Approval of the 1/18/11 Minutes: A motion to approve the minutes as submitted was made by Bob Griffin. The motion was seconded by Barry Taylor. The motion passed unanimously.
Public Comment Request for End of Meeting: Mr. VanDekreke asked if there were any individuals of the audience who wanted to make a public comment at the end of the meeting. Ms. Marcia Trawinski and Mr. Garland Armstrong made requests to comment.
Universal Design Presentation by Jack Catlin, FAIA: Mr. VanDekreke turned the meeting over to Rosemary Gerty, Division Manager of Regional Accessibility to introduce the speaker. Ms. Gerty introduced Mr. Jack Catlin of LCM Architects in Chicago. Mr. Catlin is the first practicing architect to serve as chair of the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board). During his tenure at the Access Board he chaired the Board’s subcommittee on the revision of the ADA Accessibility Guidelines. Mr. Catlin was appointed to the Board in 1994 by President Clinton and completed his second term in 2002. This expertise has led to his involvement in the development of accessibility codes and standards for city, state and federal agencies; national and international speaking engagements on accessibility compliance issues; and the
Welcome and Introductions: Mr. Michael VanDekreke, Chairman, welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked all Committee Members, RTA and Service Board Staff and members of the public to introduce themselves. A list of those in attendance is included at the end of this memo.
Reading and Approval of the 1/18/11 Minutes: A motion to approve the minutes as submitted was made by Bob Griffin. The motion was seconded by Barry Taylor. The motion passed unanimously.
Public Comment Request for End of Meeting: Mr. VanDekreke asked if there were any individuals of the audience who wanted to make a public comment at the end of the meeting. Ms. Marcia Trawinski and Mr. Garland Armstrong made requests to comment.
Universal Design Presentation by Jack Catlin, FAIA: Mr. VanDekreke turned the meeting over to Rosemary development of accessibility compliance plans and consultation for many private and public entities. Mr. Catlin was also a member of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Transportation and Infrastructure Transition Team. Ms. Gerty turned the presentation over to Mr. Catlin. Mr. Catlin provided a twenty (20) minute presentation on universal design as a concept from an architectural prospective. He explained that in universal design there is no guiding standard for how to design for universal access and the message of his presentation was that for each project the design flows out of the various needs of the individuals identified that will be using the end product. He reviewed seven guiding principles when planning for universal design and gave examples of various universal design features. Mr. Catlin then highlighted his work with Access Living as an example of the planning process for universal design work. He explained that when LCM Architects began designing the Access Living building on Chicago Avenue, they went through a long planning period using a matrix exercise to identify all of the various accessibility needs of people that would be using the building. From this exercise the design of the building was developed and then revised as the building process progressed. Mr. Catlin stated that there is no design that can meet 100% of the needs of every person, but the goal is to strive for accessibility that is somewhere between the minimum ADA standards and the imagined ideal universal design. Ms. Amber Smock asked if he had any advice for the RTA moving forward with adopting the concept of universal design. Mr. Carlin recommended that if the RTA were to engage in universal design planning for a project that a working group, consisting of members of the disability community, should be set up to go through a matrix exercise to identify the various accessibility needs of the public using the service. He stated that trying to develop a standard or a policy for universal design doesn’t work very well because universal design planning has to work in conjunction with the built environment which can change from project to project. Mr. Catlin offered to work with the RTA to go through a universal design matrix planning activity in the future if we decide to go this route.
Chairman’s Report on RTA Activities: Mr. VanDekreke introduced Mr. Jordan Matyas, RTA’s new Deputy Executive Director of Governmental Affairs who provided a brief update on legislative activities that the RTA has been engaging in. Mr. Matyas discussed that there is now agreement between the RTA and the Service Boards on the ADA funding bill. The bill passed out of the House and is confident it will pass the Senate as well. Mr. Matyas next discussed Senate Bill 2194, which deals with the collection of sales tax. This bill allows for companies doing business in the region to invoice out of addresses in other regions to get tax breaks in areas with lower tax rates. The RTA would suffer huge negative affects by the passage of this bill because the RTA relies on sales taxes for a significant portion of its funding. The bill passed the Senate, and the RTA will be working very hard in the House to make sure the bill doesn’t proceed. Mr. Barry Taylor asked what assistance the Committee can provide to the RTA around these two pieces of legislation. Mr. Matyas stated that Committee members should contact their Senators and express support for House Bill 585 to support Paratransit funding. In addition, Committee members should call their member of the House of Representatives and state opposition to Senate Bill 2194. Mr. VanDekreke then gave an update of the Senior Ride Free Program. Mr. VanDekreke provided a handout of the timeline for the transition of the Senior Ride Free Program to a means tested program through the Illinois Circuit Breaker program. He explained that the Senior Ride Free program will mirror the structure of the People with Disabilities Ride Free program. Mr. Greg Polman asked what will happen if Illinois eliminates the Circuit Breaker program as proposed in recent legislation. Ms. Rosemary Gerty explained that we are currently planning for the transition that is mandated right now, but will continue to monitor this legislation closely to plan accordingly. Mr. VanDekreke next explained the planned expansion of the RTA Travel Training Program to a three tier model. He explained that one tear is one-on-one intensive travel training which the RTA has been doing for years. The second tier is an outreach classroom component where the RTA brings presentations to community organizations to educate their clients on trip planning and accessibility features of fixed route transportation. This tier is already underway. The third tier is a new program called the RTA Travel Companion Program which provides a companion to travel with an individual on fixed route for the first two to three times he or she is using fixed route transportation in order to provide emotional support. This tier is not intended to be intensive training, although some training will take place, but it is more intended to address concerns that many riders have reported surrounding fears of using fixed route for the first time. This three tier approach will be launched in upcoming months. Finally, Mr. VanDekreke reported that he went before the RTA Board of Directors to present the Committee’s recommendation to create a RTA Accessibility/Universal Design Policy. He explained that the next step is for Committee members to contact Mr. VanDekreke if they are interested in being a part of a sub-committee/working group to discuss the future of an accessibility policy and engage in a universal design matrix exercise.
Updates on Service Boards’ ADA Committees: Ms. Saundra Saunders gave an update on the recent Pace Chicago ADA Advisory Committee activities. She explained that the Committee has been discussing the new Pace Paratransit No-Strand Policy, paratransit vehicle cleanliness and policies on service animals. The Committee is happy with Pace’s responsiveness to the Committee’s topical requests. Mr. Brian Barnes gave an update on the Pace Suburban ADA Advisory Committee. He stated that their Committee has also been talking about the No-Strand Policy, but is also talking about the unique challenges of suburban communities where transit does not exist. The Suburban Committee has also been discussing the new IVR system. He also explained that his Chairmanship of the suburban committee ends at the end of the month. Lastly, Mr. Tom Groeninger, Manager of Pace Paratransit and Vanpool Programs, provided additional information on the No-Strand Policy per request of Committee Member Ms. Lynn O’Shea.
RTA Initiatives ~ Leanne Redden: Mr. VanDekreke introduced Leanne Redden, Deputy Executive Director of the Planning Department of the RTA, to provide a summary of the RTA Initiatives project that is underway at the RTA. Ms. Redden explained that with the RTA’s change in leadership, the new Chairman charged staff with the task of exploring five (5) priority areas he identified that could lead to increased coordination and cooperation between the RTA and the Service boards. The purpose of these five (5) priority areas could lead to more efficient service, regional cost savings and increased coordination and customer service. Ms. Redden explained that ADA related topics will be interwoven into each of the priority areas and will be addressed during discussions for each topic. Ms. Redden then summarized each priority topic area which included strategic capital investments, economies of scale, increasing the use of the transit system, enhancing the customer experience and coordinating government affairs, marketing and outreach. She explained that each topic area has an assigned committee made up of RTA staff members and staff from each of the Service Boards. Each committee will be required to provide long and short term recommendations for each priority initiative. These recommendations will then be turned into projects that will be directly tied to the 2012 RTA budget. Ms. Redden stated that the Committee will be kept apprised of the outcomes of these committees and the RTA will engage the Committee in the process once we get into implementation stages of the project.
RTA Eligibility Review Board (ERB) Elections: Mr. VanDekreke provided a reminder summary of the RTA Eligibility Review Board’s role in the RTA ADA paratransit certification appeal process. He also reminded the Committee that they are responsible, as indicated by RTA Board ordinance, to help select the members of the ERB. Mr. VanDekreke provided a ballot to the Committee Members of all the candidates found eligible to serve on the ERB through the staff interview process. The Committee Members were asked to vote on the ERB membership and were informed that they would be notified of the outcome of the vote once the votes were counted.
Public Comment: Mr. Garland Armstrong expressed his concern over Senate Bill 2194 and how that will impact the RTA. He encouraged everyone to call their members of the House of Representatives to state their opposition to the Bill. Ms. Marcia Trawinski stated that she attended a community meeting for the South Lakefront Transit study funded by the RTA and reported that the meeting was not accessible and there was not a contact listed to call to request accommodations. Second, Ms. Trawinski stated that recently she used Goroo to plan a trip and received inaccurate trip information. She reported that she emailed the Goroo administrators to discuss the inaccuracy and received an email back stating that they tested her trip on Goroo and got the correct information. Ms. Trawinski stated that she felt that if the RTA is asking people with disabilities to use fixed route more then they have to be better at working with the disability community to resolve issues with trip planning mechanisms. Mr. VanDekreke reported that he would investigate both concerns raised by Ms. Trawinski and get back to her and all the committee members.
Adjournment: A motion was made by Lynn O’Shea to adjourn the meeting. Emily Karry seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
In Attendance:
Voting Committee Members
Bob Griffin
Pam Heavens via conference call
Emily Karry
Lynn O’Shea
Amber Smock
Greg Polman as alternate for Dr. Janet Szlyk
Barry Taylor
Non-Voting Committee Members
Brian Barnes
May Beth Clark
Jim Ferneborg
Sandra Saunders via conference call
Michael VanDekreke
Other RTA and Service Board Staff:
Anne LeFevre, RTA
Rosemary Gerty, RTA
Tom Groeninger, Pace
Deane Rosen, RTA
Patty Mangano, RTA
Kevin Stanciel, RTA
Janine Farzin, RTA
Beata Welsh, RTA
Al Cacciottolo, Pace
Leanne Redden, RTA
Peter Fahrenwald, RTA
Clara Wells, RTA
Deborah Lopez, CTA
Public:
Heather Armstrong
Garland Armstrong
Valbona Kokoshi
Jack Catlin
Jamal Powell
Kristen Grapar, ASL Interpreter
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