The Roving Activist’s Blog

Capitol Area ADAPT pulled off a regional action yesterday at the annual meeting of the National Association of State Medicaid Directors. My friend, Bobby Coward, wrote his take on the action, and sent it to me with his permission to post it here. I’ve made a couple of edits for punctuation and spelling errors.

Greetings all!

On Tuesday November 14, 2006, Capitol Area ADAPT, Delaware ADAPT, Maryland ADAPT and Northern Virginia Disability Advocates (NOVADA) joined forces to act at the Nation Association of State Medicaid Directors 2006 Annual Meeting held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel located in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia.

A group of 25 ADAPT members converged on the NASMD meeting to achieve our objective, which was to disturbed flyers addressing MFP and community involvement as well as demand a meeting with the NASMD. Our mission goal was completed with the highest level of success.

As the group entered the Gateway Marriott, we began passing out flyers and speaking about the need for community based services for individuals with disabilities and how MFP implements that need. We passed out over 300 flyers as we sought to sit in on the workshops to gain the attention of Chairperson Nancy Atkin, Commissioner, Bureau for Medical Services Department of Health and Human Resources, and Martha Roherty, Director, NASMD. We entered the conference room and passed out flyers to everyone in the room as we moved to position ourselves at the very front of the room. As we reached the front, Matt Barkley started passing our flyers to the panel presenters while their presentations were in progress. This act drew focused attention to ADAPT’s presence. One presenter tossed the flyer back at Matt in outrage.

As the workshops drew to an end, Gwen Gillenwater, formerly with NCIL and AAPD, and a strong supporter of National ADAPT, informed ADAPT that Nancy Atkin already left the meeting after a brief conversation with her. So ADAPT began the hunt for Martha Roherty. We found out there was a meeting agenda change and Martha Roherty wasn’t moderating the scheduled workshop that we were attending. ADAPT began stalking all conference rooms and staff inquiring about were was Martha Roherty. Our action became a very major concern to meeting participants and disruptive to the NASMD Annual meeting.

Word got out that ADAPT wouldn’t stop disrupting until Martha met with us. Mrs. Martha Roherty appeared without warning in the presence of ADAPT. ADAPT made our request to meet with NASMD before the end of ‘06. Mrs Roherty agreed. Editor’s note — It looks like that meeting may happen in the first week of December.

ADAPT then sought to sit in on plenary session in which former Secretary of HHS Tommy Thompson was featured speaker.

As ADAPT began to move to the ballroom where the plenary session was to be held, NASMD staff informed us that since we didn’t pay to attend the meeting, we couldn’t go in. ADAPT completely disregarded NASMD staff and entered the ballroom; we told NASMD staff to call the police to stop us. Once we were in the ballroom, NASMD staff knew we were focused on entry, so they said it was OK for us to attend, but ADAPT would have to stay in the back of the ballroom. ADAPT responded that we will sit up front near the platform stage, which we did. ADAPT waited for Tommy Thompson to arrive and when he arrived, he greeted ADAPT with a heartfelt welcome and acknowledged National ADAPT for their voice and role in community base living efforts for the disabled and MFP, and encouraged NASMD to work with ADAPT and community organizations.

I WOULD LIKE TO TRIBUTE OUR SUCCESSFUL ACTION TO ANITA CAMERON

Anita is leaving Capitol Area ADAPT

bobby c.

Thanks, Bobby, for the article, and the tribute. I am honored, but, as you probably know, embarassed, but you know how I am. As Bobby stated above, I am leaving Capitol Area ADAPT to take a job in Rochester, NY, so I’ll be with Rochester ADAPT. I’ll be leaving on Saturday, and can’t wait to get up there and get to work. The Rochester folks are ecstatic as well. With that in mind, there was no way that I could leave without going to a final action in DC. To be honest, I enjoyed working with the community, and will miss everyone here. I hope that I will be as successful, and even more so, in Rochester.

Bob, from SWPA sent out this note to Stephanie regarding the survey that SWPA/Tripil did on some of the polling places in their area. Bob drops by now and then, so I know that he won’t mind me helping to spread the word.

Here is the link to the front page newspaper article about our county’s polling places published on Sunday October 29, 2006. We surveyed 141 polling places out of 185 in our county using a HAVA survey tool created in Harrisburg, PA. We submitted our results two weeks ago to the county election office. We plan to progressively approach county commissioners, state legislators and senators, congressmen and senators depending upon respones and results.

http://www.observer-reporter.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=31581&SectionID=6&SubSectionID=15&S=1

I read the article. Keep up the good work, SWPA!

This news article was sent to me by Jim Dickson at AAPD. After reading it, I was so amazed that I called my dear friend Sheila back in Denver to see how she fared at the polls. She told me that she waited in line for over two hours to vote. I heard similar stories from others back home. At the center of all this is the so called “voting centers bill” that the Colorado legislature giddily voted in a few months after I left. This was something that I was vehemently against, and so were other folks whom I’d worked with, but the powers that wanted it sold the idea to state lawmakers, who lapped it up like kittens at a saucer of milk. Now, the state is all a-flutter about this fiasco, and heads may roll in Denver. Anyway, here’s the story:

Voting problems overwhelm city

“This is a nightmare”

By George Merritt and Katy Human
Denver Post Staff Writers
DenverPost.com

Article Last Updated:11/08/2006 08:54:10 AM MST

A broken ballot scanner will prevent Denver from counting all its absentee ballots for days, adding to a series of Election Day problems that erupted during the city’s first general election with vote centers.

Frustrated voters stood in lines as long as three hours at several of the more concentrated centers. By 10 p.m., long after media outlets had declared Bill Ritter the winner of the governor’s race, problems in Denver and Douglas counties left voters stuck in lines still waiting to cast their ballots.

About half of the 55 centers in Denver had long lines because of problems with the centralized registration system, which stalled under an overload during in the morning and then went off line in the middle of the day.

Some people simply left without voting. Others tried three centers or more in an effort to vote as they faced lines that wrapped around the block.

FairVote Colorado, a nonprofit election monitor, tallied long lines at 26 of the 55 voting centers during the day.

The Denver Election Commission ran out of provisional ballots at one vote center and began using sample ballots - printed as practice sheets for people waiting in line - as substitute provisional ballots.

Finally, one of the city’s two ballot- scanning machines broke, further delaying the count of absentee ballots.

“The count is going to take a few days,” Election Commission Executive Director John Gaydeski said. “That’s assuming we get the machine fixed.”

The botched election effort drew the attention of the Colorado Democratic Party, which filed a request for an injunction at midday asking a judge to keep polls open an extra two hours.

Denver District Court Judge Sheila Rappaport rejected the effort, saying she did not have the authority.

The case produced several accounts of voters leaving the polls without voting.

“The computers have been up and down all day,” said Denver Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette. “This is a nightmare throughout the city.”

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said he was “angry” as events unfolded.

“It’s one of the most frustrating days, if not the most frustrating, I’ve had since becoming mayor,” he said.

Hickenlooper said he would not rule out removing Clerk and Recorder Wayne Vaden, a Hickenlooper appointee to the Election Commission.

“I want a thorough explanation of why these things were not anticipated,” Hickenlooper said.

Tuesday’s problems came after a series of mistakes and missteps in Denver’s voting system, such as typos and a race being left off the absentee ballot.

A recent city auditor’s report cited the Election Commission for a lack of written procedures and planning.

Denver wasn’t the only county with problems.

In Jefferson County, which has the most registered voters in Colorado, 40 of the 1,880 electronic voting machines were not updated for this election, election director Susan Miller said

State House Republican Leader Mike May said Douglas County also had trouble getting some vote centers up and running.

“We’ll be talking about that during the legislative session,” he said. “People shouldn’t be disenfranchised.”

Denver’s woes went on all day long.

Voters faced long waits around the city, from Park Hill United Methodist Church to Denver Botanic Gardens to Highlands Senior Center.

The lines moved slowly all morning, but around noon the problem grew worse as the system for verifying voter registration went down at centers around the city.

As early as 7:30 a.m., election judges checking in voters on laptop computers began noticing problems that slowed the system.

Several judges at various sites said the problem was systemwide, although commission spokesman Alton Dillard said it was limited to a few sites.

At Denver Botanic Gardens, more than 200 voters backed up in a line that stretched out of the gates and down the block toward 11th Avenue.

“We will not get to vote today,” said a frustrated Lauren Brockman as he left without even getting through the garden’s gates. “Some people have to work.”

Joseph Rodello, who stood in line for three hours and 10 minutes at the Scheitler Recreation Center at Berkeley Park in Denver, said he has not missed voting since he turned 18.

“To leave or to give up, I just can’t do that,” the 39-year-old registered Democrat said. “To have the chance and the right, it’s just one of the things that is the cornerstone of our democracy.”

This was the first general election in which Denver used vote centers rather than traditional precincts, trimming the number of places available for voting from nearly 300 to 55. And the problems became apparent early in the day as lines stretched around blocks.

Denver election officials made an emergency call for volunteer election judges to help, while the Ritter campaign and nonpartisan groups tried to shuttle voters from crowded centers to less crowded centers, or entertain voters with long waits.

Dillard said up to 100 city employees and other Denver residents were sworn in as election judges and deployed at midmorning.

Unfortunately, none of it seemed to help. By nightfall, lines at vote centers around the city once again grew.

There was a line of 275 people at the Tattered Cover Book Store on 16th Street, and the wait was about three hours.

The setbacks throughout the day and the estimated 66 percent turnout - much more than expected - led to a shortage of provisional ballots, which are used when voters can’t register or provide identification.

So election officials at one center began using the yellow sample ballots they had printed for voters to practice on.

“It’s embarrassing,” said Election Commissioner Susan Rogers, who was ready to give up on vote centers.

“I would say we go to all mail ballots, but that’s a decision for the commission in the spring,” she said.

“The lack of oversight, from the mayor’s office on down, is just reprehensible,” said Steve Welchert, a Democratic political analyst. “We better change the voting style in this city, or change the City Council in May.”

In a statement issued Tuesday night, Hickenlooper thanked voters in lines for their patience and assured them that, even though the Denver Election Commission is an independent agency over which he has no authority, “the city will do everything in its power to ensure today’s unacceptable problems never happen again.”

Staff writers Karen E. Crummy, Jeffrey Leib and Kate Bernuth contributed to this report.

Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 303-954-1657 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.
*******************

VOTING PROBLEMS
Denver was among several counties in Colorado that had problems of some type Tuesday. Here are some others:

ARAPAHOE COUNTY

Some election judges had trouble getting electronic voting machines up and running, but even during the morning rush, lines were no longer than about 30 minutes, Clerk and Recorder Nancy Doty said.

Voters went to their own precincts, not vote centers, Doty said, and the contrast with neighboring Denver confused many voters.
 
DOUGLAS COUNTY

Voters were still waiting in line at 8 p.m. in many Douglas County polling places.

Mary Niblack, a spokeswoman for the elections office, said voters would be done at about 9:30, then the office would begin counting votes cast at 29 polling places Tuesday.

The ballot was the cause of the problem, she said, with many voters taking longer than 15 minutes to get through it.

Douglas County spokeswoman Wendy Holmes said lines at some of the county’s 29 vote centers were two to three hours long during the day, too. One location - the Grange in the Meadows - closed for one hour at midday to deal with technical problems, Holmes said.

JEFFERSON COUNTY

The county used precincts and paper poll books, avoiding two problems that appear to have contributed to Denver’s long lines.

However, 40 of Jefferson County’s 1,880 electronic voting machines - made by Election Systems and Software Inc. - were accidentally not updated for this election, said election director Susan Miller.

As a result, election judges trying to set up electronic voting booths at 6:30 a.m. couldn’t get some of the machines running.

MONTROSE

Three of Montrose’s eight precincts had Hart voting machines go down, and voters were given photocopied sample ballots or absentee ballots. Some of those ballots contained questions that city residents couldn’t vote on, but Montrose County Clerk Carol Kruse said city residents’ votes on those issues will not be counted.

Two of the troublesome precincts were back up in the early afternoon, but at the Montrose Pavilion, one of the town’s largest precincts, the machines were mostly down all day.

I got this from ADAPT today. Wow, congratulations to the ADAPT Youth Community!

                             *****************************

ADAPT CLAIMS ANOTHER VICTORY WITH STARBUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s right, after an intense day yesterday of phoning and e-mailing Kevin
Stock at Starbucks, WE HAVE THE FAX!!

Kevin Stock and Starbucks have committed to the following, in writing:

1.  Fixing the accessibility issue at the infamous DC Starbucks by installing a buzzer and posting signage directing customers to the accessible entrance.

2.  Sending ADAPT copies of their customer-service and training policies, so we can  identify gaps and help them create a more welcoming environment for customers with disabilities.

3.  Continuing to work with ADAPT to resolve accessibility problems and customer-service issues, starting with a follow-up conference call before the end of the year.

So hang up those phones, stop composing those e-mails, and GO CELEBRATE!!!

This is ADAPT’s first-ever campaign purposely planned and led by young people under 30, but we couldn’t have made it this far without your support!! Your e-mails and phone calls made a big impact today — according to reports we’ve heard, Kevin Stock was really worried about what the flood of calls and e-mails would do to Starbucks’ company image.   

So go buy a coffee, do a happy dance, and be on the lookout for changes coming to a Starbucks near you as we continue to work on making it a better, more accessible coffee company!! 

FREE OUR PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!

Candice Clark, Eric Clow, Stephanie George, Sarah Watkins and the rest of the ADAPT Youth Community

Here is the fax/letter that was sent by Kevin Stock:

November 1, 2006
Ms. Sarah Watkins
ADAPT Youth Community
Fax #: 312-663-0631
RE:  Starbucks Washington D.C. Store

Dear Sarah:

Thank you and other ADAPT members for your emails and telephone calls requesting an update on the status of our efforts to improve access at our store at 325 7th St. N.W. in Washington D.C. as well as your requests that we sign and return ADAPT’s fax that you sent to us by email on October 16. We very much appreciate your willingness to keep the lines of communication open on these issues. I am happy to give you an update on where things stand.  
 
Yesterday I received an update with respect to our efforts to improve access at the Washington D.C. store. We are actively engaged with the landlord of the adjoining common area to install a buzzer as we previously discussed. Conceptually the landlord does not have a problem with our proposed solution to install a buzzer but the landlord’s representative wanted to meet with the architect first. We are waiting to hear the results of that meeting. As we previously mentioned, Starbucks does not have control over the common area but is willing to bear the expense of installing the buzzer with the approval of the landlord as well as post appropriate signage at the main entrance.  
 
With respect to Paragraph 1 of your October 16 fax, as we stated on our October 5 conference call, we will work with ADAPT to resolve the access issues it has raised regarding the D.C. store. We are diligently working with the landlord to resolve the issue as described above. That solution will likely include the buzzer and signage referenced in Paragraph 1 of your fax. I will give you an update as soon as I have more information.  
 
With respect to Paragraph 2 of your fax, as we previously indicated we are also agreeable to providing ADAPT with copies of the section of our Store Operations Manual regarding serving customers with disabilities along with copies of various training materials with the understanding that ADAPT will hold those materials in confidence. I will have those documents copied and mailed to the address provided. Thank you for confirming by email that you will keep those materials confidential.  
 
With respect to Paragraph 3 of your fax, I want to reconfirm the commitment we made to you and other ADAPT members on our October 5 conference call: Starbucks is committed to continuing to meet with ADAPT whenever ADAPT has specific concerns about physical access and customer service to people with disabilities. We are happy to conference with ADAPT at a mutually convenient time before the end of 2006. 
 
Thank you again for your patience as we work to resolve the access issue with respect to the D.C. store. Starbucks is committed to ensuring that our stores are universally accessible. We take very seriously our commitment to develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time.  

Please give me a call if you have any questions or concerns.

                                   Very truly yours,
                                   Kevin L. Stock
                                   director, corporate counsel

Don Locke, of Spokane, WA sent this note about an event that he attended. Don and I are buddies, so I know that he wouldn’t mind me posting it here. I’ve done some editing for minor punctuation and spelling errors.

                                  ****************************

Hello again everybody out there! We here in Spokane, WA had a chance to talk to two US Senators from different parts of the US. They were Senator Maria Cantwell, from Washington state, and Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa. We thanked Tom for the  sponorship of MiCASSA, and Sen. Cantwell for voting yes on MFP in the state of Washington. Sen. Harkin also mentioned about ADAPT, and how it was started. Karen Baker and myself were the only two people there from the Spokane group. We were both sitting in the front. Karen had a national shirt on and I had a Spokane one on. Tom also talked about the bus issues in Denver as well as some other ADAPT issues. He says hello to all of you other ADAPT people out there.

Talk to you all later.  DON LOCKE & KAREN BAKER- -FREE OUR PEOPLE NOW!!!!

Now, that was cool! Keep up the good work, Lilac ADAPT!

Yesterday, at the request of a member of the ADAPT Youth Community, I went to the infamous Starbuck’s where we’d had our action in September to see if it had been made accessible. It wasn’t, so I went back home and decided to call Kevin Stock, lead counsel for for Starbuck’s. I’d gotten the action alert and posted it here after I got home, and decided to make the call. 

Speaking directly to Mr. Stock was not something that I expected to do, but when he answered on the first ring and identified himself, I took a deep breath and began by stating my business. I said nothing about the action alert, but indicated that I had been at the September action, and had been briefed about the ongoing communications with the Starbuck’s corporate office. I asked if he was going to fax the agreement with ADAPT, and if he hadn’t would he do so.

Kevin didn’t address that question, but did say that he’d e-mailed a response to Sarah Watkins. I went on to ask about what would be done about the DC Starbuck’s. According to him, he has been in contact with the landlord of the building, who cited the building’s historical designation as the reason for the inaccessibility. He told me that he offered to have a buzzer installed at the side entrance at Starbuck’s expense. Kevin stated that the landlord had a meeting yesterday with his architect, and is supposed to get back to him.

I asked Kevin what will Starbuck’s do if the landlord gets back to him and refuses to allow the buzzer to be put in. He said that he would meet with the governing council for that building and do everything possible to to get the buzzer put in, and that he hoped that they would, especially since Starbuck’s would pay for installing the buzzer. I asked about signage, and he said that there would be signage as well. I asked about the time frame for this, and he said that he wanted to do this as soon as possible.

I told Mr. Stock that I was a regular Starbuck’s customer, and that I lived just up the street from a Starbuck’s that had been made accessible. I went on to say that I usually found Starbuck’s staff to be extremely helpful and friendly, and was astounded at the rudeness that we encountered when we visited the Starbuck’s at 7th and Indiana, in Washington, DC. Stating my knowledge of Starbuck’s policy of supporting social justice causes and issues, I expressed surprise that it seemed that this policy did not appear to include access for people with disabilities. Kevin responded that Starbuck’s is committed to universal access. He confided that he had received many e-mails and calls from ADAPT members, and was afraid that we were painting an incorrect picture of Starbuck’s, that it’s image would be hurt by the escalation of the situation. He reiterated that Starbuck’s cares about all of it’s customers, and that it was in their best interest to resolve this problem to the satisfaction of all. He went on to aplolgize for the rudeness of the manager of the DC Starbuck’s.

Kevin asked if he could get my e-mail address so that he could send me copies of any correspondence with ADAPT. I agreed, but said that since he had been communicating with the ADAPT Youth Community, that I felt that the youth needed to continue to be the lead in this, and he agreed.

All in all, the conversation lasted about 15 or 20 minutes, and Kevin Stock was very nice. Not once did he get impatient or angry, or raise his voice, even when expressing his fear of the tarnishing of the Starbuck’s image by the action alert. Frankly, I was surprised that he spent so much time with me, and I did express my appreciation of both his time, and his kindness. Despite this, I have taken a wait and see attitude because I have been in many situations where negotiations were pleasant, yet, there was no follow-up. I’ll let you know how this pans out.

On September 10, as part of the ADAPT Youth Summit, ADAPT youth held an action at the Starbuck’s located at 321 7th St., NW, in Washington, DC. This Starbuck’s is inaccessible at it’s front entrance. There is a side entrancewhere a person using a wheelchair can enter the building and get into the Starbuck’s, but that entrance is kept locked. The manager at that location was rude and called the police, but youth leaders negotiated and was able to obtain the corporate number in Seattle. In October, there was a conference call between ADAPT youth leaders and Kevin Stock, the head legal consel for Starbuck’s USA. An agreement was drafted and fax, and while Mr. Stock agreed verbally to work with ADAPT, he has managed to stall and make excuses. In response, ADAPT sent out this action alert:

ACTION ALERT: CONTACT STARBUCKS HEADQUARTERS TODAY TO DEMAND THEY WORK WITH ADAPT!!

The ADAPT youth community has been negotiating with the Starbucks corporate office in Seattle since the middle of September 2006 to improve accessibility and service to customers with disabilities at Starbucks nationwide. Kevin Stock, the head legal counsel for Starbucks USA, verbally agreed to work with us at a conference call meeting we had in early October, but has so far refused to put this commitment in writing and fax it to us.  First he said he never got the agreement we sent him, then he said he’d return it “promptly”.  Now he says he will “follow up”, but after three weeks of waiting, we are sick of his excuses!!

So we are starting a three-day campaign to pressure Kevin Stock to send us the fax, and we need your help!! We want to bombard him with faxes, e-mails, and calls so he gets the message that his stalling is unacceptable and that ADAPT is serious about changing things at Starbucks!!

Please call, fax, and/or e-mail Kevin Stock on WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1; THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2; and FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3. 

Phone: (206) 318-6324 (voice only)
Fax: (206) 318-0733
E-mail: kstock@starbucks.com 

Tell Kevin to sign and fax the ADAPT agreement to (312) 663-0631 right away.

Thanks for your support and we’ll keep you posted on our progress!