My Polling Place Criticized For Lack of Access

My old colleague Ken Bonacchi has a letter in the Salem News today, “Polling Place Not Disabled Friendly”.  He and I vote at the same precinct.  He doesn’t like our polling place.  Partial quote:

I live in Ward 2, Precinct 2, in Salem. My assigned polling place is Salem Heights on Pope Street.

It may have been appropriate for this purpose at one time, but that time has long since transpired. Allow me to share with you my experience at this vexing voting venue:

1.) Access: The building as currently configured is not in compliance with the ADA rules for access to persons with a disability. It may work as a building to provide housing, but it fails the test as a polling place.

[…]

Finally, I am at the doorway to the area set aside for voting. This is a small room, made smaller by the artifacts and the presence of poll workers.

2.) Accommodation: Tables to the right, tables to the left, voting booths ahead, poll workers, law enforcement and assistants on the loose; add to this mix the voters and their children, and there is barely room enough to enter, cast my vote and leave while trying to make way for those who are entering the same doorway.

How a wheelchair would have run this gauntlet is anyone's guess. I question the presence of children in the ballot area. This area should be restricted to those who are either poll workers, law enforcement or individuals who are voting. This is not the time for children to be present. [Blogger’s note—Ken’s opinion, not mine.]

The machine available for use by persons with impaired vision was not on and ready to use. I am forced to ponder the question: "Do they not expect participation from a person with a disability?" Are they trained in its use when it is time to do so? Who holds the key to initiate the machine?

The room is small, but in fairness it is probably the biggest turnout ever held there since it  became a polling place in 1996.

I do agree with Ken;  I don’t like our polling place.  But for a different reason:  It’s too far away.  It’s a long walk to the polls from my location;  this year, I just hopped the #456 to Proctor St., and got a ride on the way back.

Unlike other election years, there were no volunteer drivers to take people in my building to vote.  I assume the Obama drive in the “other Salem” (NH) sucked out all the volunteers who would have otherwise stayed in Massachusetts, and the McCain campaign had no one on the ground to speak of.  My colleague Jack Harris called for a ride on primary day six weeks ago from the Kerry campaign.  Never showed up, and it appears Kerry, like too many Massachusetts pols, takes his consituents for granted.  I wasn’t going to take that chance myself, hence the bus ride.

It’s less than a year to Salem’s municipal—and Mayoral—elections.  Obama may change our lives in DC, but the real control for Salemmites happens on Washington St.  I’d like to see change—starting with a new polling place for Ward 2 Precinct 2!

Halloween 2008 Closing Fireworks

Another Halloween in the books!  I had videoed the multimedia closing ceremony, but sadly, my camera wasn’t up to doing it.  Here are the closing fireworks, though:

See you next Halloween!

Election Day 2008

I’m back from voting.  Turnout at my polling place was heavy;  for the first time since we had the Votemark machines for the visually impaired, I had to wait in line to use that machine.  This is good!

I met two of my colleagues at the polls, Charlie Reardon, who has been a poll worker at my precinct for five years, and my chairman Jack Harris.  I talked with them about today’s election and what it was like for people with disabilities to vote:

Get out and vote if you haven’t already done so!  If you’re visually impaired, ask to use the new Votemark machines.

More on Question One

I’d thought I had all to say about Question One last week, but a few more tropes have popped up in the news.

“We have Prop. 2-1/2!  Property taxes won’t go up if Question One is passed!”

Nelson Benton has expressed this one last Friday.  To which I say:  Naw, Really!?

Cities and towns will see their local aid go down the toilet.  To say nothing will happen is to assume that Kim and her colleagues on the Council will say, “Oh well, we’ll shut down the city!”  It is to assume that citizens will, say, “Yup!  We gotta go without, just like New Hampshire!” when they have to do without elder services or snow removal or the public library.

No, there’ll be override votes.  Often.  In nearly every city and town in Massachusetts.  The rage and discontent will just shift from Beacon Hill to Washington St.  The T will still be broke, if it even runs at all.  Maintenance on state roads?  Bring your own rake and shovel!

“A vote for Question One is a vote against the Legislature!  Fire them all!”

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t share the cynicism, what with one state senator who’s been using Maidenform Mutual recently.

But where is there the provision in the bill to abolish The Great and General Court?  To convert the State House to condominiums?  Usually, when that kind of bill is written, it’s for a Latin American caudillo, or Emperor Palpatine.

“People have to learn they can’t solve all their problems with government!”

And I say in turn:  Yes.  But admit that when government needs to solve problems for you the citizen, that they cannot do it for nothing.  Question One is just asking the impossible.

Police Scanner Audio for Halloween

For this year’s Halloween, I have streaming audio of my scanner radio online.  Salem PD, fire, Peabody, Beverly, Danvers, Lynn, NEMLEC, commuter rail and T police are all in the mix.

I’ve had it running for the past several years, not just during Halloween, but year round for the benefit of Salem expats and others who follow things here.  For the past year, I had everything go wrong with my web stream that could go wrong, from computer problems and software problems to radio problems.

Finally resolved.   Direct link to Salemscanner MMS stream for your media player. 

Salem Depot Developments

Bypass Road Diary January 2007 013, originally uploaded by dmoisan.

The Salem News has an article and two editorials about Salem Depot.

Salem pushing for T garage:

SALEM — Mayor Kim Driscoll has shifted into overdrive in a campaign to build a parking garage at the commuter rail station, the busiest depot in the MBTA system.
“It’s now or never,” Driscoll said after a meeting of the Salem Partnership on Friday. The business lobby’s executive committee voted this month to make a new garage a top priority following successful efforts to help secure state funds for a new courthouse and a new waterfront pier.
The mayor has formed a committee of federal, state and local officials to explore development and funding options for the garage at the 5.7-acre site along Bridge Street.

But the T has no money, as usual:

[Joseph] Cosgrove, the MBTA official, made it clear
that his agency does not have the funds to build this or any other garage. The MBTA, he said, is “broke.” And building garages, he said, is not its top concern. It’s No. 1 priority, he said, is maintaining the rail system, tracks and cars.

So the committee is floating other ideas:

However, it appears the key piece will have to come from a private developer for a project that could include retail space and housing.“The challenge is trying to get the development community interested,” Driscoll said.

We need more condos yes! Earlier this year, there were tentative plans for food service (Dunks or McD's, for example) proposed for the new Depot.

It does need to be enclosed, as the News points out in "Salem facility should include passenger waiting area":

But city officials and business leaders are right to demand that when a new parking facility is finally constructed on the site of the existing depot off Bridge Street, it include an enclosed waiting area for passengers. As lawyer Joseph Correnti, chairman of The Salem Partnership, told an MBTA representative last week, the current station consists of “a platform on the river.”This makes for an extremely uncomfortable wait for passengers in the middle of winter when the wind is whipping off the North River."

Not to mention the other problems I have with the station, such as the Steps of Doom.

The comments thread in the News, as is often the case, is more interesting than the article itself. Most of the commenters bemoan the thought of a garage, citing safety concerns, and the magnet that a garage poses to traffic.

I don't drive, so I don't care so much for a garage as such. I just want to see something other than that scar on the river that is our present station. I want something I can be proud of when I catch a bus, and something that tells our visitors from the train what a proud, great community we are.

But realistically, there hasn't been enough parking from the day it opened in 1987, so parking it is. The traffic's already here. It's already here. I'd like to see fewer people compelled to drive because we improved our public transit, but we can't improve our transit without taking steps like this first.

One good idea--a flag stop at South Salem near Salem State College--got shot down because of parking concerns, despite the fact that this was not going to be a full station, but just a stop to service the college. Now the college shuttle bus takes up space downtown and students fill the 455 bus to bursting. Great.

Until we can respect our public transit enough to pay for it (and from the furor over Question One, we don't trust our government to do anything let alone spend money) I will be writing this again in ten years time.

(see also "Time running out for Salem, Beverly garages".)

UPDATE:  The station was on the list of matters discussed with Governor Patrick at a closed-door meeting at City Hall. 

Question One

Most readers know there is a initiative question one on our ballot this November.  Question One, if passed, would abolish the Massachusetts income tax, putting us in the company of states like New Hampshire and Florida, which have no income tax.

Supporters of Question One want to “send a message to legislators”.  Opponents predict Armageddon.  That’s simplified but not by much.  The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation points out that of  the $32 billion dollar state budget, $12.5 billion comes from the income tax.

That’s not an small drop, nor is it “cutting the fat” as the libertarians might put it. 

This week, we got a taste of what the consequences would be like:  Governor Patrick announced his Fiscal Action Plan to close a $1.7 billion gap in the state budget.

$1.7 billion.  Not $12.5 billion.

Notably, these cuts are hitting programs for people with disablities and the elderly.  People are already screaming.  The state’s  audio service for the visually impaired, TIC Network, is getting its budget cut.

In the past week, I’ve read this and other articles on Patrick’s budget cuts and have been drawn to the comments before reading the articles themselves.   There are several tropes—commonly expressed ideas—I’ve seen in those comment threads that I just have to respond to.

On cuts to elder services:  One commenter on Boston.com talked about her elderly mom and the problems arranging care for her.  The retort was:  “Well, you should be responsible for looking after your parents!”

Well, yes.  But who can do it alone?

I helped care for my mom in the last three years of her life.  It’s been over 14 years since she died.  I do not regret looking after her for even an instant.  Never did I think of running away.

But I didn’t do it alone.  Mom had an array of care workers to look after her.  She had elder services to look after ordinary things like transportation.  She had visiting nurses.  She had a homemaking service.

Caregiving is very hard work with no small amount of stress.  Even after I admit I loved my mom so much I’d do the three years with her over and over, I say also that it changed me for the worse, just from the emotional stress that all caregivers experience at one time or another.   

A caregiver is more often than not an adult daughter, maybe the youngest or oldest in her family.  Maybe she has the “least” amount of obligations to look after Mom (or Dad).  Does she give up her job to look after her?  Can she? 

This applies no less to people with disabilities and those who care for them.  A child who becomes disabled can upend a family.

What happens when no one is there for the caregiver?  Elder abuse is already worrisome.   A few years ago in Nevada, an elderly man was dropped off in the street in his chair and a pack of diapers;  his relatives were too stressed to look after him any longer.  Will we see elderly and disabled left in the streets of Salem?

Responsibility is nothing without support.  The state service agencies, however maligned, are for many the first, last and best source of support.

“Just fire the managers!”

We all love Indians and hate chiefs.  Management has a role, though;  do we want all our caseworkers to do all their own management tasks?  How about closing offices?  Would that be a good idea?  If you’re in Springfield and your caseworker has to work out of Worcester, maybe that’s not so good.

“Vote for One and send a message!  Those no-good hacks will never let it pass anyway!”

Then what’s the point?

We hate our legislators.  They are hacks.  I distrust them all, from Washington St. to Beacon Hill to the Capitol.  I have never known a government that was not ineffective or corrupt, I have never looked at a politician with anything but cynicism.  My earliest memories of being politically interested is in reading “All The President’s Men” in grammar school.

That’s all true.

So why are people saying they’ll depend on the legislature to set things right?

As someone at Governing.com pointed out, taxation is equivalent to legitimacy in our government.  Ever since Proposition 2-1/2 was passed in 1980, we have not believed in our government, and we have not trusted it.

That’s the real problem.

One final meme to address:

“Well, Deval will just undo the changes after Question One goes down!”

I don’t think so.  From the Globe:

State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill said yesterday that the state must take dramatic steps - borrowing at a higher interest rate than usual and tapping the state's rainy day fund for $310 million - to make sure it has enough cash to make local aid payments due next week to cities and towns.

The extraordinary moves are a direct result of the troubled credit markets roiling Wall Street, and they portend more dire decisions looming for state lawmakers, Cahill said. The turmoil arises as state revenues are decreasing, making access to credit even more important.

"This is no longer a Wall Street issue, this is a Main Street issue," Cahill said. "I don't want to be constantly beating a dead horse. But it's a crisis. A full-blown crisis. We have to slow down or cut spending."

Whatever happens with Question One, this is not over.

UPDATE:  Excellent suggestions from Steven Crosby via CommonweathUnbound, but of course this isn’t as “fun” as watching people yell at each other.

UPDATE 2:  Vic DeGravio reminds us that mental health programs are already seriously affected by the cutbacks.  I know from personal experience that mental health programs have been the unwanted stepchildren of health spending in the state.  Small wonder it is going to get worse.  Another trope in the comments:  “Well, just cut the waste!”  

Sure.  Not.