Disability and People RantWoman is Fond Of
RantWoman has been clear to visit people she is fond of, as well as possible when people from many directions are gathered in one place so that RantWoman does not have to travel all over town making visits just because an entire Meeting for Business which declared RantWoman unwelcome in advance thinks the only thing RantWoman will care about is memorials, talking about people after they are DEAD. Can anyone tell RantWoman is deeply amused NOT?Let's just say, RantWoman is clear she has not been released from moral obligation to speak and that RantWoman is, believe it or not, also speaking from great tenderness and concern.
RantWoman is also "appreciating" being released from membership BEFORE the creation of an ad-hoc committee on disability AFTER RantWoman had been helping get that going for months, years. RantWoman deeply appreciates the efforts of those interested in serving but RantWoman is also detecting a little too much stand up and walk out of the room energy when the work hits difficult edges.
The Ad-hoc committee is not even clear about enough Quaker process to clearly request that previous decisions be slightly revised so that RantWoman's name can specifically be listed on the Committee Roster. Instead, yet ANOTHER clearness committee is being suggested. Key terminology has been eliminated from the minute creating the committee and working age adults are being allowed to indulge in the fantasy that it is acceptable to wait around for a year to address the words "reasonable accommodations" But hark, we have dog poop and foot traffic from a rapidly evolving neighborhood, and RantWoman's inner blowtorch.
RantWoman has still a bunch of "holy crap!" material lurking uncomposted in email and RantWoman is not necessarily opposed to help from a Clearness Committee but RantWoman is clear not to wait around for such a thing to come together.
RantWoman also finds herself meditating with bemusement about a moment from the muddlings of the Care and Accountability Committee. RantWoman is not sure whether the conversation was about RantWoman's 47 millionth comment asking for help about blind people in meetings or some other moment of people missing a point.
One Friend brought up a long-time member who was into tearing down the Berlin Wall long before that was actually fashionable and even sanctioned by the guardians of the wall. This leading so distressed others in Meeting that this Friend was finally pressured to resign his membership after which he attended faithfully the rest of his life. RantWoman is unclear how this light was supposed to relate to Blind Person in Meeting issues; RantWoman finds an implicit suggestion that RantWoman just resign over something she cannot help and that is not going to go away distinctly unhelpful. RantWoman also tartly observes that historical geopolitics about something far away and definitely fallen from its former greatness is kind of beside the point as far as poop on Meeting's property and growing streams of traffic in several directions and climate change and a city that needs to find a soul and a center as the next decades bring much growth.
Dog Poop Witness
RantWoman has been faithful to her Light, holding Meeting for Worship with attention to presence and observation lately. RantWoman has many observations. In particular, RantWoman observes many well-housed dogs with their humans out on Sunday strolls. The humans mostly seem to live in the apartment building which as arisen across the street from Meeting. They are generally quite conscientious about depositing their bags of dog poop in the small green container in the foreground. |
| For well-housed neighbors taking care of their dog poop. See sign in foreground |
RantWoman has been meditating about the ZERO public toilets after dark issue as well as times during the day when there are not necessarily many eyes on Meeting's property.
Visions of a trash can equipped with human waste sized plastic bags come to mind, but no. RantWoman is NOT nostalgic for an era when Meeting funded a portable toilet across a street from the back of the Meeting. RantWoman is NOT nostalgic because of all the things that tend to happen around untended public toilets. RantWoman is also not nostalgic because meeting has attracted a succession of homelessness-themed long-term renters.
Signage?
However since the question of signage is in the air and the supply of poop presumably from poorly housed humans persists, RantWoman suggests seeking light in the following terms.--A report suggests signage with what to RantWoman is very ungodly off-putting language. RantWoman thinks signage might be reasonable but strongly suggests seeing what kind of signage other faith communities use.
--RantWoman also suggests asking regular renters whether signage about their presence and schedule might be appropriate. RantWoman thinks some effective but not overly obtrusive signage would be possible
--RantWoman recommends research about public toilet options after dark within say 5 blocks of Meeting.and perhaps some signage as to location. RantWoman would be surprised but not distressed if the number of such toilets were greater than zero.
--RantWoman recommends asking the U District Partnership about possibilities to support some kind of public toilet somewhere in Meeting's part of the U District. This may be a long shot, but RantWoman suggests meeting needs to invest someone's time in listening in certain regular meetings, for want of a better term, to gather intel.
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| Image of car and roadway stuck in here as a prompt for another post about car and pedestrian flows |
--RantWoman fondly remembers many faithful years of labor by Nasturtiums in Salad Friend to establish the first composting toilet at a Seattle P-Patch. A Composting toilet at the nearby P-Patch? RantWoman wonders whether anyone in Meeting might be led to explore the idea for the P-patch (community garden) near Meeting.
As an aside, RantWoman also speaks as someone who books space for events, including events for people with budgets. RantWoman thinks it would be helpful to explore the meaning of the term "activating the space," that is planning ways for people to be present or for eyes on the property. RantWoman can think of several things that could mean but wants not to fill space here yet.
In terms of "activating the space," drawing in more renters, RantWoman thinks some thought about site topography and issues related to nearby bus stops would be on point. RantWoman considers this partly a disability / accessibility issue.
In terms of building management, RantWoman also recommends attention as to the restrrom needs of renters. RantWoman would err more on the side of having all existing restrooms available during large events even if there is some risk that people who need restrooms but are not explicitly connected to events happen in occasionally. That said, RantWoman also recognizes the need sometimes for various reasons to call 911.
Digressing slightly from matters of poo, Friends also complain about finding needles on the property. What would happen if Meeting just installed a sharps disposal container either near the trash area or closer to the street edge of the property? RantWoman thinks but has not checked that there is a safe-injection location somewhere in the U district. Would Facilities committee be willing to check about this location and consider just installing a sharps disposal option with signage about relevant resources in the U district.
Enough for now.
In Light and Faithfulness
RantWoman
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