Follow-up on Planning Committee for the Congressional Transit Summit On Paratransit, Wheelchair Taxis and Medicars

Follow-up: Congressional Transit Summit On 

Paratransit, Wheelchair Taxis and Medicars:

We did not return to Washington in May 2014, but rallied in Chicago at the County Building that adjoins City Hall. Trip to Washington May 19-24, 2013 was a success. Just sharing the news with those who are newcomers to the blog about Planning Committee for Transit Summit coordinated by  Dr. Maat of IMPRUVE (Independent Movement of Paratransit Riders for Unity, Vehicles, Equality), The Soular Car Project and NPPMA (National Paratransit People's Movement Assembly)

Soular Car Project and Green Paratransit to Be Sub-Topics 

at Future Congressional Transit Summit 

The Soular Car Project is the project that Doug Larson and Sy Bounds established with IMPRUVE through the Green Think Tank for the Disability Community re: accessible, affordable solar-powered and electric cars (NEVs). Green Paratransit refers to an adjunct rider-owned paratransit to supplement though not replace government-run paratransit that includes a fleet of independent cars powered by solar energy.

Your Support is Welcome

Please renew your support to, join, rejoin or donate to IMPRUVE and stay in touch with what we are doing to improve Paratransit, Wheelchair Taxi and Medicars nationally and put people who are disabled (PWDs) , including military vets who are disabled, into green employment, so they can lift themselves out of poverty, followed by seniors, youth, and ex-offenders.
Engineers (Me, EE), students, and experts in nanotechnology  are welcome, too, as advisors and supporters of the Soular Car Project.


Recap of 2013 meetings at the Capitol:

As instructed by Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (my Congresswoman) when we met in her Washington office May 21, I made selections for the Planning Committee for the Transit Summit on Paratransit, Wheelchair Taxis and Medicars. She gave me until Tuesday June 4 to organize the Planning Committee and get back to her legislative assistant Brian Laughlin. Brian agreed to work with me to set up the first meeting in early September with the Congresswoman and the Planning Committee. She agreed to get the FTA (Federal Transit Administration) and U.S. HHS (Health and human Services) involved, and Congressman Bobby Rush as co-sponsor with her. Jeanette Exom met with Congressman Rush the same day and on May 23, we both met with U.S. Senator Mark Kirk and had a spirited conversation, but no commitment yet from him, Sen.. Durbin or any member of the Senate or the Senate Banking Committee or transportation subcommittees although all were contacted and we have lobbied or attempted to negotiate with them and the White House for 3 years (4 now as of 2014).

Note: due to cost of travel and work commitments or income considerations, some persons want to participate by remote access, such as: private Google hangout or AnyMeeting or Skype or Tango unless the House has  a special facility for the Planning Committee to meet remotely on the web.

There is a site that hosts videoconferences free during a 30-day trial, but the Planning Committee meeting has been postponed due to other priorities of the Congress that pull Congresswoman Schakowsky away and the human services issues that consume our time locally as well as nationally.  Her staff led by Cathy Hurwit and Brian Laughlin await our next move if we can find the funding to come to Washington again and a videoconference host and room in the Congresswoman's and everyone else's schedule to schedule the meeting in order to finalize plans.   

(See archived records of Committee member names and alternates)

Help Dr. Maat Travel to Discuss Soular Car and Green Paratransit with Congress and Disability Groups May 20-24, 2013

Dr. Maat has worked tirelessly through illness, pain, and without pay to help paratransit riders and the general disability community, and research Green Paratransit.  Now she needs your help. See videos on YouTube and donation link below: 

Talk video of Dr. Maat by Sy Bounds – Real need to examine solar energy for transit for  PWDs
http://youtu.be/CO86qGGQbq4

Talk video of Dr. Maat by Sy Bounds – Appeal to GEM Motors, Center for Neighborhood Technology for customized, accessible solar-powered or electric car for PWDs, Boomers, seniors – stimulate the local economy

http://youtu.be/2jjWC9yBVL0

Please like our page on facebook at National Paratransit People's Movement Assembly and send comments to our blogs or facebook. I look forward to your donations and your suggestions and attendance at our rally(ies). Thank you. Move forward with me and help this worthy cause. - Maat

Your Services and Funds Needed to Help Us Move Forward

We are looking forward to support from the paratransit community and their friends locally and nationally to continue working on their behalf. Please donate.  See link below.

Persons who took our survey at the Disability Pride Parade voted overwhelmingly for us to remain in business and not dissolve, but most of them forgot to donate funds or join and pay dues, or volunteer their services or equipment or supplies.  

We are self-funded.  

We need your help now!

We seek donations, donors and volunteers:  We need funds; persons to make calls, email, do mailings, attend meetings, advocate with their elected officials on accessibility and paratransit or wheelchair taxis, and provide green research on use of nanotechnology and solar energy in the 
solar-powered car and Green Paratransit. 

We need computers, 4 PCs, 4 laptops), 1 printer, printer paper, copy paper, mailing supplies, postage, accessible meeting space, accessible space for 1 fax machine, 1 copier, 2 hotspots, 2 webcams, 2 wireless adapters for volunteers to use who help us raise funds, do research,  promote our services, do community outreach, assist persons who are disabled, youth, seniors and Boomers with forms and applications, and do information and referral.

To donate to our cause:

There are 4 ways to donate funds to us online: 

1. Through the Carson's Community Event Day link - Expired- next time will be in September -November 2013. They will mail a $400 discount book for each $5 donation. You can use the coupons to shop online or in any Bon Ton store (Carson's, PARISIAN, Bon Ton, Herberger, et al)  Go to this link:       http://bit.ly/RfbCeh Click here to donate to BNICEH for  IMPRUVE  
2. If you already have PayPal, gift us with a donation through PayPal at  www.paypal.com under Black Network In Children's Emotional Health go to bniceh@yahoo.com
3. If you do not have PayPal, then donate at PayItSquare under BNICEH-IMPRUVE (least desirable option due to fees that must be paid to both PayitSquare  and PayPal at www.payitsquare.com 
4. Individual donations can be made to specific persons or for specific persons for trip to DC, too May 2013 such as:  

Don't forget us!

Dr. Maats Neighborhood Electric Car: A Neighborhood Electric Vehicle for Dr. Maat

We are still working to change the face of independent accessible transportation for Baby Boomers afraid to drive large cars, the PWD's who have chemical sensitivities, oversize wheelchairs, can't ride high mini-buses, or want to drive or own their own vehicles or buy with others for local trips and safer travel.  Much gratitude to Sy Bounds and Mechanical Engineer Doug Larson for working with IMPRUVE to make this a reality - Dr. Maat    

You can follow Dr. Maat or IMPRUVE, BNICEH, NPPMA (National Paratransit People's Movement Assembly on facebook, G+, twitter and Pinterest

Donate to our work by gifting us at PayPal : bniceh@yahoo.com or impruve2@yahoo.com

Dr. Maats Neighborhood Electric Car: A Neighborhood Electric Vehicle for Dr. Maat: http://www.westsideinteractivetraininginstitute.blogspot.com/ Study These Remarkable Servants Who Have  Helped Change The World Thru The Act...

Barefoot Medicine lecture attended at United Church of Rogers Park Chicago IL by members and friends of IMPRUVE and former students of Dr. Frank Yurasek of Acuwerks. Photo by Dr. Maat

There is a link between improving the economy through green ventures and involving those who have skills to offer and those who want to learn new skills from the 20% of the population that is disabled.  Dr. Frank Yurasek, IMPRUVE and BNICEH recognize the value of  integenerational training and ventures that involve the disability community, seniors, persons from diverse communities and cultures  who meet on common ground, and their non-disabled peers.   Although Dr. Maat still believes that the key lies with inclusion of the Afrikan community in rebuilding America and making it green, and implementing ways to repair the damage done by racism, rape, forced poverty and incarceration, and withholding of financial aid and bailouts without interest  that have prevented students and business people of Afrikan descent from completing college or online courses, she learns and shares knowledge with many cultures with the purpose of implanting the vision that greater inner standing of  the purpose and real mission of people of Afrikan descent will reverse most of the hatred and  tendency to mistreat them, abuse their natural  resources or discount them if they do not have the wealth or DNA lineage of the 1% (aka wealthiest powerbrokers).  Ase.

New Electric Car in the Works by 2013 for Drivers In Wheelchairs

See link below to article on the Kenguru electric car whereby a person can drive the car from his or her wheelchair. It has rear entrance.

However, seems that I saw a Cruise Car at an Ability Expo or Access Chicago or online 2 years ago where the driver could enter by ramp from the driver's side and still carry one other passenger in a wheelchair and  an ambulatory person.  It was in the $25,000 or up range, too.

http://media-dis-n-dat.blogspot.ca/2012/07/kenguru-first-drive-from-wheelchair.html

IMPRUVE, BNICEH and NPPMA Recruiting Help for Green Paratransit

Click here for link to up-to-date information on our activities 

We can justify the need for a rider-owned Green Paratransit and individual solar-powered cars.  Taxi drivers in green wheelchair vans don't want to pick us up as a priority and New York says they don't have to!!!  Chicago taxi drivers (only 2,000) are on a limited Monday-only strike for higher meter fares in lieu of higher leases on them by owners or to keep the vehicles for 24 hours. 

"Accessible transportation is a basic right and the disability community is not a one size fits all community. We and our supporters are concerned that Congress did not consider in the Surface Transit Bill, the best interests and needs of the people who are disabled who ride paratransit and are forced by FTA policy to pay as much as twice the fixed route public transit fare despite having the lowest disposable incomes in the nation; and the drivers and providers of paratransit, wheelchair taxis and Medicars whose jobs and ability to provide services at reasonable cost to taxpayers are at stake. The stalemate between the parties is hurting people who are disabled (PWD’s) worse than ever, plunging us deeper into isolation and rushing us to a lower quality of life that places us at risk for avoidable, though catastrophic illness or premature death as funds for paratransit diminish and we are unable to access appropriate affordable transportation to meet our needs and pocketbooks, and get to regular healthcare, worship service, and the activities that allow us to be on equal footing with our nondisabled peers in terms of employment and quality of life ..." - Ayo Maat, Ph.D., founder, IMPRUVE and NPPMA (National Paratransit People’s Movement Assembly) 


That is why we as members of the disability community who ride paratransit and have the lowest employment rates and lowest disposable incomes and our supporters request that our voices be heard by Congress, the President, and the public. We made  the rounds to various Congressmen and Senators to support designated funding, which did not pass in the  Surface Transit Bill. The bill does not come up for renewal again for 27 months.  The bill was both a success and a failure.

Without designated funding, paratransit operations will not be funded.

Although  House Bill HR 7, which excluded designated funding, failed, some of its provisions sprang up in the Surface Transit Bill that passed anyway on June 29, 2012. The Conference Committee of both houses was formed to work on the Surface Transit Bill AND GET IT PASSED BY June 30, 2012.  There were 47 members-14 from the Senate, 33 from the House.

 We have a solution to lower costs of paratransit and put some persons who are disabled back to work, but for now, we are focused on getting the Surface Transit Bill passed. We salute those in C

Chicago - July 2012  Our highways will be repaired and those workers will not lose their jobs.     Unfortunately, riders who are disabled and use wheelchairs will not see much change in getting picked up one time and drivers in Chicago of the green wheechair taxis will not see their demands met  until the drivers come together with the riders to effect change.  Drivers need to make a substantial living and riders need to be picked up on time.  The green taxis were ordered specifically to pick up riders in wheelchairs first. Instead, most of the drivers sit at the airports, hotels, etc.,  to pick up ambulatory passengers.  They have high leases and say they can't afford the new raise in leases effective July 1, while the Mayor of Chicago refused to raise taxi meter fares.is right?

New York - 2012 -- Taxi drivers are not required to pick up wheelchair cleinst in their wheelchair taxis??  Unbelievable. They didn't even pick me up when I was not using a wheelchair.

It is past time for us to form our own businesses, buy our own solar-powered cars and create jobs for ourselves and those ethical and reliable drivers who want to drive for us, if we can't drive ourselves.

See  www.groups.yahoo.com.group/IMPRUVE 
www.greenthinktankfordisabilitycommunity.blogspot.com 

 This is just a basic design. There are custom options available for this solar-powered car.