 Green Mountain Support Services to empower neighbors with disabilities to be home in the community. Major support also includes Washington County Mental Health, where hope and support come together. Ala Israel. All people know limits. Welcome to this edition of Abledon on Air, the one and only program that in Vermont and beyond focuses on the needs, concerns and achievements of the different label. I'm Lauren Seiler. I'm Arlene Seiler. And welcome to this show before we introduce our guest, Mayor Anne Watson of Montpelier. We would like to thank our sponsors, Washington County Mental Health, Green Mountain Support Services, and Ala Israel. Welcome again to Abledon on Air. And what's new in City Council happenings and people with special needs? Sure. Well, so this isn't exactly the same thing as addressing people, folks, or the needs of some folks, people with special needs. But we did just at the last City Council meeting have a discussion about some of the needs of the homeless, or people who are experiencing homelessness. So a couple of meetings ago, we ended up forming a homelessness task force where we could see if there were any short-term things that the Council could be doing to address some of the most immediate needs. We know it's getting colder and so trying to think through what might be useful and doable. I mean, there's a lot of great support services that are out there currently doing great work. And so grateful for all of the stuff that they do. But also trying to think through, okay, so how can the City play a role? And are there any gaps that the City could be filling? Talking about the gaps, about the City filling, you know, there's a difference between homelessness and displacement. But, you know, if you're special needs and homeless, it's a double-edged sword there. Yeah. So your comments on that? Sure. Well, I mean, if someone has particularly special needs and they find themselves needing to move or to lose where they live, they just have more limited options potentially as to where they can go. And so, you know, being able to provide, you know, satisfactory options for those with different needs is pretty important and make sure that we're keeping that in mind as well. In terms of the homelessness task force, WCAX interviewed me, you know, that night in the street, you know, while you were meeting with the City Council. Businesses were complaining that or voicing their opinion. And that people that are homeless are causing a ruckus, quote, unquote, well, I wouldn't say ruckus, but causing a problem being, you know, in the street, bothering their businesses when homeless people are part of Montpellier as citizens. So your take on that particular thing? Sure. Well, I mean, I think I would just want to be clear that some of the... Yeah, let's lay it on the table then. Yeah, sure. Well, some of the folks who the businesses were complaining about are not necessarily homeless. They, for whatever reason, are choosing to do that with their time. And some of them may be homeless, but that's... I think it's probably not quite accurate to say that it's just a homeless population that was also bothering some of these stories. Loitering. Yeah, right. There's a loitering aspect to it. And there's... I think, you know, there was also some occurrences of... I'm not sure I've got the right phrase for it, but it's something like just disturbing the peace, that kind of behavior. And so that's a separate problem. That's not what... Can a homeless person in the city of Montpellier get arrested for doing something wrong in front of a business, or... Well, I mean, only just the same as someone might be arrested if they're not in front of a business, but for disturbing the peace, let's say. And there is the possibility of someone getting a no trespass kind of order, but if it's the city's right of way, then it's the city's right of way, and people are allowed to be there. So just to be clear, we do not have a no loitering ordinance in Montpellier, nor do we have any ban on panhandling, and those are perfectly legal protected activities. And so actually that was one of the reasons that we formed the homelessness task force, was to bring businesses together with people who were in tune with the needs of the homeless population and see if there was some way to meet everybody's needs, because if businesses are losing customers, because the customers are afraid to go into the building, or whatnot, then that doesn't work either. So, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Now let's change the topic. ADA compliance, and I understand that the... And of course we'll show some footage while we're talking. Do you know... Well, it's not a new art gallery, but the art gallery in Montpellier. Yes. Down the block from here just opened up their new elevator. Yes. So can we talk about the ADA compliance? Sure. Why it takes so long? And I mean, if you want to mention it. Yeah, sure. So the TWD Gallery, which is on Berry Street, it's a really wonderful gallery. And actually to be fair, the TWD Gallery is in a building called the Center for Arts and Learning, which houses a few non-profits. So TWD Gallery is one of them. There's also the River Rock School, as well as the Monteverdi Music School. And I think there might be one other that I'm leaving out right now, but they ended up just... Like you were saying, they just put in an elevator, because previously there was no elevator to the second floor, which is where the Monteverdi Music School is, as well as the TWD Gallery. Is it because of a grandfather clause in the building that it was hard to get an elevator? Well, it would be a historic structure, I'm pretty sure. That building itself actually used to be a convent where the nuns lived. Wow. Which nuns to where? Well, I think they were in association with St. Augustine. That's next door. But then, I think there was also an affiliation with the St. Michael's School. That's also sort of right there. But then... So there were a number of reasons why it took a long time. If you don't mind me asking those. No, no. Fair enough. I mean, my understanding is that there were at least a couple of challenges. One is that putting in an elevator is very expensive. Exactly. And these are all very small nonprofits with other obligations in terms of, you know, paying for just being in that space. But they were able to raise an incredible amount of money to actually just get that ball even rolling. So it took some years of fundraising and planning. And then the second reason was because it's not an easy building to figure out where the elevator ought to go. And you were there at the opening. It's right in the middle. What do you mean where the elevator ought to go? Yeah, it's often easier to add an elevator to the outside of a building if you're doing it in a retro fit kind of way. But this, for whatever reason that didn't make much sense. And so this elevator is right in the center of the building. And so that actually, I can't say this for sure, but I can imagine that that probably made it more expensive as well. So there was just a lot of planning in terms of the logistics and finances. They could have just easier have put, because I've been in places before where they've had wheelchair lifts, you know, and you have a door that closes and you push a button and the wheelchair goes up. It's like an elevator type of thing, but they wanted it enclosed, I guess. Sure. That would have worked for some of it, I think, but there were, at least on the second floor, there's actually multiple levels that are just offset from each other. So not only would you need to bring people up to one floor, but you'd have to also be able to bring them up like a half, you know, a couple feet more to the other side. So again, old buildings, especially that have additions, just get really complicated. Would you want to ask questions? Last question, go ahead. When are they going to fix the cracks? The cracks in the sidewalk? Yeah, there's a lot of cracks in supposed infrastructure. Yeah. Like, I understand there's new people in power now, but not in power, but helping the city of Montpellier. How is that going to... Sure. So just to help clarify that, so our Department of Public Works head has sort of semi-retired. He's no longer the department head. We have a new department head, Donna Barlow Casey, and so she is still just getting her feet wet in all of that, but, well, to be fair, she's also been active as a... I think she's worked for the city of Montpellier before, and I think she has experience in public works departments. So not wholly new to her, but... Does it all have to do with money, or is there other ways around it? Because it needs to be ADA compliant. Yeah, so it's a couple of things. One is money, for sure, but the other... I'll be not upset about the questions. No, no, no, it's a very valid question. The other factor is... Well, I can think of at least two other factors. One being that, at this point, it's sort of a race against the clock to get work done before winter, right? Yeah. And that actually affects the other reason, which is the list of priorities of jobs to be done, again, before the winter sets in. Does it have to do, in terms of the cracks in the sidewalk, does it have to do with the insulation problem, or... Do you mean why do they occur? Yeah, within a city's infrastructure. Yeah. Does it have to do with the materials being used, or is it that causes the cracks, or is it just weathering itself? So it's a little bit of both, and just from the way you asked it, but the real reason is because of freeze-thaw cycles. So if water can infiltrate either into an existing crack, or even underneath... If it's getting in from the sides, underneath the sidewalk from an adjacent green space, then if that water goes through a freeze-thaw cycle, then it will expand and contract, and the rigid and brittle material can't take that, and so it cracks, which ends up exacerbating it the next time because more water can get into that crack the next time around, and again, go through a freeze-thaw cycle and break it up more. So it's kind of a constant battle, actually, against that process. Because the snow and ice eats away the cement. Yeah, eats away, yeah. Yeah, well, and it causes it to break up. Let's talk about the environment more. I understand Montpellier had a huge event with the electric cars. Oh, yeah. And how does the environment play into... Because I don't know her last name. She's been a nationalist Greta. Oh, Thunberg. Thunberg. Yeah. And how, as far as the electric cars from Montpellier, in terms of people with special needs and the environment, how would it play into that or anything that's happened in Montpellier? Sure. Well, so one of the things that comes to mind anyway is as GMTA is expanding or changing their services, actually, a little while ago, wrote a letter of support for them to get an electric bus, which I think would be a great move. They've got new buses by the way now. Oh, do that now. I hadn't seen them. So maybe they're out there. I'm not sure. They're nice. They've got new buses, yeah. Are any of them electric, perhaps? I'm not sure. I didn't look, but yeah. Yeah, well, so that, of course, is the hope. I mean, as people start to transition away from gasoline, diesel-powered vehicles, I mean, electricity or electric cars are going to be the new norm. You still got to stop at the station and plug it in. This is true. So it takes a little bit of planning and it's a little bit of a different system. I've seen them in New York. Yeah, they had them in Yucca. They plug them into the thing, yeah. Yeah. Well, I've even heard that, you know, at some point in the future, there may be systems which can wirelessly charge the cars, which would be very cool. Just for example, I don't know if you've seen the technology where you can charge a cell phone just from, like, placing it on a stand. You don't have to plug it in at all. They have a new device now, as far as the environment, for a blind person using a cane. It's a smart cane. It acts with your phone. So it's like a GPS. Oh, sure, yeah. So it's like a GPS. So, you know, if you need directions to get somewhere, the cane can point you in that direction. Yeah, cool. So as far as the environment, yeah. Sure, that makes so much sense with, like, the 5G sort of network with the Internet of Things, where, you know, the example I've heard is that, like, your toothbrush could talk to you, you know, that kind of thing. Then why not a cane? I mean, that makes so much sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That would be so helpful. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, one hose. But with the environment, people with special needs, like, because Vermont has so much greenery. Yeah. So how is that changing, you know, with new things happening in the environment? So did you have something in mind, particularly? No, like, okay. Environmental, how can I word this? Okay. You had the event with the electric cars. Yes. But how, in terms of special needs, like, in your opinion, are people with special needs affected by environment when it comes to their own challenges? Oh, sure. No. I mean, we know that particularly people... That's why I wanted to word it, yeah. Oh, yeah. Fair enough. Folks that are typically minorities, and whether that includes disability or not, are often, that is the population that is most affected by pollution. And just other environmental injustices. Lead poisoning, et cetera. Sure, yeah, exactly. Especially when it comes to the upgrading of homes and weatherization, if someone needs to be able to live in a certain accessibility-scale home, it's really important that those homes are weatherized, for example. And have proper ventilation along with them. Yeah. So that's, at least that's one thing that comes to mind, for sure. There's actually one other thing I want to... Go ahead, go ahead. One of the other factors in terms of the environment, as we move towards a more sustainable future, for Vermonters, roughly a third of the energy that the average Vermonter expends is in transportation. And so the more... Also... Well, because a lot of Vermonters just live way out in the country, and so they end up having to drive a half an hour to anywhere. Some Vermonters probably don't have... haven't experienced it, but some Vermonters probably don't, in rural Vermont, probably don't have a grocery... Or they have a little mom and pop store in there. Sure. Or if they want to get to a grocery store, or it's 30 or 40 minutes away. Yeah, for sure. And so we know that places that are more sustainable, just in general, are going to be places that are more highly densely populated, which, as far as I understand, is actually going to make it easier for those with disabilities to get around. You know, whether it's living in town to walk or, you know, be able to take their wheelchair around town to the places where they need to go, or whether that's even having a high enough density population to make public transit or mass transit a viable option. So that's something I certainly have been thinking a lot about lately. Let's talk a little bit about the new Down Street building that's happening along with the bus depot. Can you talk a little bit about, you know, accessible housing? I understand 30 units. Yes. And then the bus depot. Right, so the bus depot will be on the first floor, and then there's three levels of, I think it's mixed income and affordable housing above that, which is very exciting. It's great to see... No housing is popping up. You have the French block took a while, and then you have this and... It's just so encouraging to see all the new housing going into Montpelier. It's really great. Do you think, and I understand that they're trying to get rid of homelessness within 2020, you think that 30 units is a step in the right direction? Oh, it's definitely a step in the right direction. Is that going to solve homelessness? Certainly not. In fact, I mean, I think that is going to take some pretty significant system shifts. Shifts, yeah. Just changes in many levels of our system to help and homelessness. And in part that... I mean, my understanding of that is that that's going to involve shifts to the minimum wage, to the healthcare system, to supports for mental health, for other kinds of disabilities. And so, I mean, it's going to take a lot, but having more housing available I think is going to be good and will probably increase the density in Montpelier, which is a good thing. Okay. Let's talk about your mental health services. Sure. I understand that back in the summer there was an incident that happened in Montpelier with Mark Johnson. Yeah. And we did a couple of shows about gun violence to kind of educate people. Yeah. Thank you for doing that. You're most welcome. What is the status on how police officers in Montpelier and neighboring towns, how are they working to educate more people with mental health situations and working with the police? I mean, if that's the right wording of the question. Sure. So, the Montpelier police do go through mental health training. Now, to be fair, that investigation is ongoing. Still open. And so, it's still open. And so, I'm hopeful that it will wrap up soon. And actually, once it's wrapped up, we're planning on having some time during a city council meeting specifically to address this. I mean, we actually talked about... Because I know... I'm sorry. It's okay. I know that Disability Rights Remark just started a memorial fund on behalf of Mark Johnson. Yeah. Which is wonderful. And actually, someone came to a council meeting the other day to talk about that, which was really moving. It was a lovely talk that the gentleman gave. So, do you think there should be more training with police officers or more nonviolent ways to work with people with mental illness? So, I think there's always room for improvement. Just in general. But I'm going to say specifically, let's talk about that more once that report comes out. Because I think we can really get into some of the details of what happened and if there was a breakdown of anything, we can identify it and then think through what could have happened differently. So, yeah. If you don't mind, am I taking a rain check on that? But having said that, I think there are always ways to be better and to improve. Yeah. Okay. Now, anything new other than what you've spoken about that you would like to mention? Oh, sure. Well, so you mentioned the transit center is going to be opening pretty soon. And then the housing as well, very exciting. But then the other thing that I think is worth mentioning is that the shared use path that will go across town, a major portion of it is about to be officially opened as well. That's the bike path. Yes. Has the bike path taken, because I remember there used to be a Montpellier beverage place. Yeah. Has that taken over that particular space? The bike path? Yeah. Yes. But there's a couple of things that are going on with that space. So part of that lot will be used for the bike path. And there's no work happening right there at this very moment because we're waiting to do some environmental testing. What do you mean by environmental testing? Oh, they're looking for contaminants in the ground. And then once we know that, we'll be able to move forward anyway. But just next to where the shared use path will come through will be the road that is like the access road to behind like the drawing board in Shaw's. Oh. I'm not Shaw's, I'm sorry. The drawing board in Obashan's. Oh yeah. It gets to its parking lot. Yeah. And so, and then the space that used to be a parking lot right next to the beverage center building that we're just going to seed over with grass for now. So there'll be no more beverage center planning, I guess, or plans. Well, so we had, we're actually still in the process of looking for a place that could be a beverage redemption center. Because the only one now is a berry. I know. Yeah. Yeah, it's terribly inconvenient. For me, I mean, I have to drive my bottles to berry. It's not, I mean, I would prefer to just have it be right at the corner of berry. Yeah, my hand takes it back to Shaw's. Yeah, you can take them to Shaw's, that's true. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, there's a, there's quite a few reasons as to why we haven't been able to find a new place for it yet, but we're still actively looking. And my understanding is that it's easiest, or it's easier, to have a beverage redemption incorporated into another existing business. Okay. So it's still, it's still ongoing. And actually we're going to get a new executive director for the Mophealer Development Corporation starting in November. Wow. And so I hope to put that on. Our next guest. Yeah, you should definitely have her on. She's great. Her name is Lisa Maxwell. And she's going to be starting in November. Okay. Let's talk about traffic lights for a minute. Sure. I understand that certain traffic lights in Mophealer, when you push them, they speak. Yep. You know, for the blind or people's eye can't hear well. And there's one traffic light by the end where Shaw's is, that if you know what I'm talking about, it's a yellow looking pole and you push it. And it flashes. Flashes. Yep. Is there anything within the city's budget about putting more of those? Because I think it would help, I myself deal with the visual impairment. So it would help people with visual impairments to have more. Yeah, fair. So that was funded through the Mophealer Transportation Infrastructure Committee. Yes. And so they have a certain budget that they allocate every year. And they're also trying to, they work in coordination with something called the Complete Streets Plan. Yes. And so I would have to look at the Complete Streets Plan or talk to the Transportation Infrastructure Committee to, or actually there's a, there's also a committee for the Complete Streets. So I could talk to them as well, but see about what the plan was for more of those. But I should mention that the city also just adopted a vision for a few of the intersections actually in Mophealer. So one of them was, the plan anyway is to put a street light at the corner of Berry and Main Street. Where's, okay, where's Berry and, what do you mean? So by Shaw's, where that flashing yellow sign is, we're going to also probably put in a, well, probably the vision is to put in a street light there. And if I can make a suggestion. Sure. At night, you know, sometimes at night I have to wear a reflector when I go out. But at night it would be good because I understand that those lines, you know, the street crosswalks are not painted over, you know, some of them will fade. So it would be good to have reflectors for people like, or reflecting paint, maybe, that can glow so if you need to walk, you can see where you're going. Yeah, it seems like a great suggestion. Yeah. Yeah. I'll have to talk to Donna about that one. Okay. So going into the future of your campaign, what is your view with the current situation and going forth about, let's say the ADA Committee, if you want to talk a little bit about that, or anything else within your campaign. Sure. So, well, just to talk about my campaign a little bit, I mean, I will be probably officially announcing in November that I'm going to be running for May or again. But that is the plan. So hoping to be Mayor again for another term. And that, you know, just in terms of what your question was about, the, you know, the thoughts about like ADA plans moving forward. So we just this last year, within the last couple of months, actually, got an ADA master plan for the city, which is great. Now, of course, there's so much in there that's very expensive, that we can't do it all at once. Like what, for example? I'm sorry? Like what, for example? Give me some examples. Well, sure. So actually, one of the things that I know is going to, well, actually, I can think of a few things off the top of my head. For example, there are a number of municipal buildings that don't have access ramps. For example, the wastewater, or the water resource recovery facility, for example, doesn't have a ramp that needs to change. But there's a whole wonderful list of things that need to be done. And another one that I know is going to come up in the near future is the wreck building. So the city just decided to not build a new wreck facility, but to rehabilitate the existing one. What's wrong with the existing one? Oh, my goodness. So many things. There's, well, I shouldn't say it like that. It needs a lot of work. It's a great building with great bones to it. And I think with the right investment, it could be just amazing. Anyway, so for example, I think there's some asbestos issues in there. I look forward to converting that building to a renewable heating source. There's not great ADA access to that building. And that, I know, is going to be a really important factor when we consider how to rehabilitate that building is how to make it fully ADA accessible. So that's one aspect. Will there ever be where everything, because I know some restaurants are still not accessible within one barrier. I mean, I know we're supposed to be ADA compliant. Do you think everything, I know a little bit at a time. I understand. Yeah. But do you think will there ever be a time in Montpellier where everything will be accessible? Well, one hopes, right? Of course. But I think the answer to that is that it will, even if we're able to check off all the things on that list, undoubtedly there will be, there will continue to be challenges. Where business owners won't, won't. Because you're sessioning off, like I'm not mentioning businesses. I wouldn't do that. Sure. Right. But your people with special needs deserve a right to go into a restaurant on a Saturday night and have a meal. Yeah. They can't get into a, or if they can't get into the restaurant because it's too narrow or they're having problems getting in, then it's lost of revenue for people. So just to be clear, the city's master plan is strictly for, for municipal infrastructure. So our plan. I'm sorry. No, it's okay. I just want to make sure that, you know, I wasn't, you know, misleading or anything. So the city's plan is, is just for municipal buildings. And so it's, you know, that does not include things like making restaurants or other establishments. I don't think it's fair, but. Yeah, no. That would be fair. That's, that's a good observation. And so, you know, how do we encourage or incentivize buildings to, you know, when they do renovations potentially to, to also include ADA modifications as well. And my understanding is that there is some requirement that if you have a renovation of a certain size that you, they are, a business may be required to put some of that towards ADA compliance. But, I mean, that, that's a long time. And so even if all the restaurants were ADA compliant, I mean, we were talking about the sidewalk cracks earlier, that is just going to be a continual thing that, like a perennial problem that we're going to need to keep our eyes on and make sure that we're funding properly in a way that is able to address them. But we might find ourselves in a time like right now where, you know, we're probably a couple of weeks out. Actually, I think there was a frost warning recently, but either it was recently or it's, or it's not far along where basically we're not going to be doing any more, you know, sidewalk work, generally speaking, over the winter. And so, you know, over the winter things will probably get worse and then we'll try to fix it, you know, when the weather breaks, just because that's the climate we live in. But that will be a continual process. Yeah. Well, and I think I should want to mention before we end. No, I think that's it. Okay. Any more questions? No. Okay. Well, we'd like to thank you, Mayor Anne Watson and Teacher Anne Watson. Well, thank you. For, you know, I mean, you gotta give a plug to them before you go to high school. Yeah. We'd like to thank you for joining us on this edition again. Oh, thank you. For Ableton on Air. This puts an end to this edition of Ableton on Air and in a couple of weeks we will be having a couple of guests from the Special Needs Alliance talking about what if you need a guardian or you need help with guardianship when your loved one passes away. That's on the next episode. We would like to thank Anne Watson again and this puts an end to this edition of Ableton on Air. I'm Lauren Seiler. I'm Anne Seiler. And thank you to our sponsors, Washington County Mental Health, Green Mountain Support Services and Arla Israel. Thank you. And I'm Lauren Seiler. I'm Lauren Seiler. See you next time. Major support for Ableton on Air, Green Mountain Support Services to empower neighbors with disabilities to be home in the community. Major support also includes Washington County Mental Health Services. We hope and support come together. Arla Israel. All people know limits. And the OSEM group working to get better for you at any moment.