We will be protesting the budget repair bill and the effects that it will have on public transit.

We will meet for lunch at Plaka located at 410 E Wilson St at 12:00.
…
Please email Charles Buggs if you’re planning to join us.

Charles Buggs
(608) 218-4222
clbuggs@tds.net ]]> http://nfbrock.org/2011/02/transit-in-trouble/feed/ 0 http://nfbrock.org/2010/11/city-council-approves-2011-budget/ http://nfbrock.org/2010/11/city-council-approves-2011-budget/#comments Tue, 23 Nov 2010 02:22:53 +0000 Jeremiah http://nfbrock.org/?p=21 Reprinted from the 11/23/2010 Janesville Gazette.

By: MARCIA NELESEN

JANESVILLE — A group of passionate bus riders convinced the Janesville City Council to restore reduced bus service along West Court Street and Kellogg Avenue during non-peak hours.

That was the only change Monday as the council approved the 2011 budget. The budget calls for an increase of .46 percent in expenditures, a 2.3 percent increase in the tax levy and a 1.64 percent increase in the tax rate.

Councilman Tom McDonald was the sole “no” vote, and that was in protest to continued borrowing for street maintenance.

The council will set the tax rate for all taxing jurisdictions Monday, Nov. 29.

Councilman George Brunner said the cuts in transit funding bothered him the most of any discussed during budget study sessions. That’s because they affected people who have no choice but to ride the bus because they either don’t drive or have disabilities, he said.

Brunner suggested diverting $25,000 in savings that City Manager Eric Levitt renegotiated with the Rock County Humane Society for animal control. Levitt had suggested the money be put into cash reserves.

Brunner suggested that $15,000 go to restoring the routes and that $10,000 go into cash reserves. He said the transit department could find the other $125 from its own budget.

Brunner did warn, though, that the council couldn’t continue draining its reserve year after year.

Councilman Russ Steeber agreed that the bus service is a lifeline to the rest of the city for those people living along that corridor.

McDonald noted that Milton Avenue is the only other street in the city that is served by bus every half-hour. Still, the vote to restore the service was unanimous and was greeted with claps and hugs in the audience.

Jeremiah Beasley, 339 S. Division St., president of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin, Rock County Chapter, said the reductions would have been a hardship.

“Once they start cutting services, we find that they continue to get cut,” he said.

The council declined to restore two hours cut from the schedules of the city’s two wading pools, or to lower fees at the senior citizen center.

The 2011 budget includes a $25 mandatory fee for seniors compared to a $15 voluntary fee this year.

Councilman Yuri Rashkin in a recent news article urged residents to come out and speak in favor of the amenities. One resident spoke in favor of returning the wading pool hours and another spoke against the senior center fee.

Councilman Frank Perrotto, though, reminded council members that the city would pay an $180,000 subsidy to the senior center in 2011.

“I’m very proud of the city for providing that subsidy,” he said. “Raising fees for anybody is not easy. But one of the things that we discussed is the fact that we’re trying to get everyone to bear the burden.

“I personally do not believe that raising the fee from $15 to $25 is out of line, frankly,” he added.

McDonald said the senior center subsidy is the largest for any recreational facility.

Rashkin said that every $30,000 the council spends costs the average homeowner $1. Reducing the senior fees might cost a person another 20 cents, he said.

“These are not the people on whose backs we need to balance the budget,” Rashkin said.

But McDonald said everything the council includes in the budget adds $1 here or 33 cents there.

“If we look at everything in the program like that instead of looking at the global budget, we would end up with an incredibly large budget,” he said.

Voting to retain the $25 fee were council members Bill Truman, Kathy Voskuil, Perrotto and McDonald. Steeber, Brunner and Rashkin voted to decrease the fee but find the lost revenue somewhere else in the senior center budget.

A motion to reinstate wading pool hours failed to get a second.

Letter to the City Council

By FRANK SCHULTZ

JANESVILLE — If you see someone blind

Stop 10 feet away or find

That you are driving like a fool!

—from lyrics composed by WSVH students several years ago

The blind led the sighted Thursday at the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped.

The state’s school for the blind invited students from nearby Van Buren Elementary School to learn what it’s like to be blind and especially learn about those white canes they carry.

Today is National White Cane Safety Day.

Van Buren and WSVH kids go to school in the same neighborhood, noted Sue Kokko, WSVH dean of students, so it’s likely the sighted kids will be in the car when their parents see someone with a white cane trying to cross a street.

“Now you’ll know about the white cane law, so you can tell your parents,” she said.

The program lasted more than an hour and included these moments:

Most fun: The auditorium was divided into three groups. Each was given a word, and they took turns shouting at the tops of their lungs: “White! Cane! Day!” The kids broke the indoor-voices rule, with gusto.

Technology update: Jeremiah Beasley, WSVH’s information technology expert, said that for all the high-tech stuff he deals with, his favorite piece of technology is his cane.

“It allows me to go wherever I want to go,” including planes, trains and buses around the country.

Just like you: Blind people travel all over the world. They ski, hike, swim and climb mountains, said WSVH student Mark Doering.

Early education: The kids learned that visually impaired children as young as 18 months are given canes, so they learn early how to “see” the world through the sensations passed from the cane’s tip to their hands.

“They’re learning at that age that it’s OK to be blind and OK to have a cane,” said David Hyde of the outreach department at the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired—of which WSVH is a part.

“My cane gives me information on where I’m going,” said student Charles Burke. “It’s really cool to have a cane.”

Eye opener: Blind people travel the world, Hyde said. He told of visiting Poland to work with blind people.

Teacher Kim Batten caned her way to Australia.

“They use canes over there as well,” she said.

Photo by Bill Olmsted

With his white cane close at hand, David Hyde addresses a group of Van Buren Elementary School students at the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped auditorium Thursday. The students were visiting to learn about and help celebrate White Cane Day.

Pointers: Hyde said not to fear the cane: “If it touches you, it’s not going to hurt.”

Student Chris Mathews said young children sometimes grab the cane and shake it.

“They think it’s a light saber or a pool stick, or something weird like that, and it’s not. It’s something to help guide someone who can’t see well. …

“If you see someone with a cane, you can offer to help, but don’t grab the cane … because that will scare us,” Chris said.

It’s OK to ask blind people if they need help, Hyde said, but don’t do it when they’re concentrating on traffic noises to cross a street.

Blind drivers: “How do you drive?” one Van Buren student asked.

Blind and visually impaired people don’t drive, Chris said. They rely on public transportation.

However, Beasley said, people are working on technology to change that. Beasley tells his 6-year-old, who is blind, that sometime in his lifetime, he’ll be able to drive a car.

Practicality: What if your cane breaks? a student asked.

Then you need a new one. The Wisconsin Council for the Blind will supply a new cane to a blind person each year, Chris said.

“One easy fix: duct tape. It’ll fix all your problems,” Mark said.

Lyrical moment: Music teacher Karen Heesen taught everyone a song for which her students had written the lyrics several years ago to the tune “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue.” It included this admonition:

Please act smart, knowing that

If cars hit you, you’ll go splat

Remember, always use your cane!

Bottom line: “Blind people are just like you, it’s just that they don’t see well, Mark said.

Reaction: “They’re not much different from us. We do the same things,” said Van Buren third-grader Chris Hancock. He added: “But I didn’t know that blind people could play the piano.”

PREPARATION FOR THE Bowl-A-Thon

• Set a personal goal.  Set a goal of raising $100 or more.
• Encourage friends, family, co-workers and neighbors to sponsor you.
• Please collect all of the money in advance and turn in $25 or more in sponsors to register for the event.
• Ask sponsors to make checks payable to “National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin, Rock County Chapter.”  Then bring your sponsor sheet and the money you’ve collected to the event.

Drawings for prizes from local businesses!

Prizes for highest and lowest scores!

COST:

$15 minimum donation per adult*

$12 minimum donation per child*

*includes shoes and unlimited games for the time period

WHERE :

215 S River St, Janesville, WI 53548

Download Pledge Form