Council of Phoenix Disability Meeting - Assignment Example

Council of Phoenix Disability Meeting The meeting by the council of Phoenix on disabilities was held on Wednesday, February 27th 2013, in the phoenix fire department’s administration conference room, located on the second floor of the building. Since the meeting was open to the public, the conference room was almost stacked to capacity, putting into consideration, the sensitivity of the issues to be discussed. The Chairperson had to calm down the murmuring crowd before formally starting the meeting and welcoming the audience and participators. The pastor of a local church led a very brief opening prayer. Although scheduled to begin at 4.15 pm, the meeting began a few minutes late due to some technical hitches. The Phoenix mayor was also present during the meeting. Commissioners of different committees reviewed the minutes of their meetings that had been held previously in December 19th 2012 and the most recent being held in February 4th 2013 relating to the issue of disabilities. As the chairperson led the meeting through the formality stages, the series of events went swiftly and had a smooth transition. She asked for approval of the meetings from either the members of the commissions or their officials. No issues arose during the review process, with members of the various commissions unanimously supporting the review. This indicated the seriousness with which the various commissions had taken the issue and discussed it in depth before presenting their ideas to the meeting. It was easy to tell that the agenda was the focal point of the discussion, with minimum deviations from the subject matter. The chairperson, seemingly experienced with discussion meetings manoeuvred through the agenda by taking the various speakers through the process to get the meeting at full speed. Arguments and suggestions were given a close examination, while supporting statements were not given much time. The agenda of the meeting made the discussion between the proposing and the opposing sides raise heated arguments regarding the proposed changes to the human relations ordinance, with at times different sides choosing candid and concrete statements to support their ideas. Other speakers chose to use more live example and personal experiences. At some point, somebody could tell that people with disabilities and lesbianism was a sensitive and emotional issue. A number of changes were proposed by the commissioners, most of them exciting the public. After the proposed amendment changes were raised by the various commissions, the meeting was set for the reports, discussion and possible action regarding the 2013 strategic plan assignments stage. Each work group was required to report individually regarding the progress and planning. The reports were overwhelming with various incidences of people with disabilities and accounts of their experiences. Factual revelations from the meeting indicated that at least 25% of people living in Phoenix were either disabled or elderly, with 18% of these being the disabled. The argument of this reality was the need for stringent measures and policies to look into the problem of people with disabilities. Among various pressing issues and possible action regarding the 2013 ordinance were job security, equal treatment and housing to all residents. According to a proposal by Angela Hughey, the ordinance had unique differences from other ordinances. The perception that human relations ordinances have proven to be a burden to business people had been eliminated in this particular ordinance. She argued that the proposal did not focus on creating unintended consequences to businesses. Her affirmation was that the phoenix lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community had found six employment plans and one public accommodations program that made it necessary to consider further investigations into the plan. The report further stated that the inclusion of sign language in the public sector was reason enough to make the council adopt the ordinance. What was more interesting with the report is her argument that over 100 businesses had signed the ordinance to show their support, including small organizations, and horticultural firms. These firms had agreed offer equal opportunities to residents of Phoenix regardless of their sexuality or whether they were disabled or not. They had agreed on equal protection, equal treatment in hospitality and housing, to employees, residents and consumers of the city. The proposal acknowledged that there was no major problem with people living with disabilities, and the lesbians, gay, and bisexual people in the city. The councillor wanted to know why Angela Hughey personally supported the ordinance after she finished her presentation, even after acknowledging that there was no existing problem. Her argument was that people living with disabilities, lesbians and gays were not fully represented in the current ordinance, and did not enjoy equal rights as other people. She cited that this group of minorities faced the risk of being sacked or exemption from various opportunities due to their status. At this point, the crowd cheered so loudly that they had to be asked to calm down. However, a member of the panel interjected, indicating that it was not right for anybody to ask personal questions to the speakers regarding their views, concerns or proposals on the issue. This incidence brought the whole conference room awake, with more cheering, and made the formal mood of the discussion a bit informal. The biggest question that was put across to the floor of the council was the reason it would choose to reject the proposal, while business organizations had chosen top support it. To be allowed to speak formally, the public was allowed to fill a speaker’s card. Only people who had cards were allowed to speak during the public’s speaking time. It also was a way of limiting the number of people who would speak in the meeting. Each member of the public was allowed 3 minutes to speak and most of these members threw their support behind the proposed amendment changes in the ordinance saying that they would be beneficial to Phoenix residents. The sentiments were echoed by speaker after speaker, citing the benefits the changes would bring to the hospitality industry of Phoenix. After hours of debating the motion, the proposed amended ordinance was passed on to the voting stage. Although the members of the public were not allowed to vote, they witnessed the process, which was by secret ballot. The voting took a reasonable time, mostly because most of the committee members had made up their minds on which side to support. It was a smooth process, with every member choosing to either be for or against the ordinance. The tallying of the votes was made under the watch of the public in the open conference room. The ordinance was passed with a 5-3 vote, meaning that the proposed amendments were to be accepted by the council. The various proposals that were adopted included saving parking space program, which would be carried out together with the Phoenix police department to educate the public on the importance of saving some space for people with disabilities. The other program to be adopted was the education, employment and training grant program which would help residents of Phoenix living with disabilities to reach their employment goals through training, higher education and employment- related funding assistance. The residents with disabilities would be allowed grants of between $500 and $ 3000, with an allowance of two grants in a lifetime, which would not exceed a maximum of $ 6,000. Just as is the normality with the Phoenix city council meetings, this particular one covered extensively a number of issues. The topics included certain key issues that affect the society such as lesbianism, people living with disabilities, and employment issues, public financing and education. The meeting gave me knowledge on how certain issues are handled by the local government, the procedure of making laws and its decision regarding various problems affecting residents of the city. Read More