RESOLUTION 2000-04

WHEREAS
The lack of adequate public and paratransit transportation is sited as the number one problem facing the elderly, disabled, economicw disadvantaged, our youth and especially the blind community; and

WHEREAS
Last year more than one million trips were denied to qualified riders in the State of Florida making it impossible for people to get to and from the work place, travel to medical appointments, shop for necessities and participate in local government; and

WHEREAS
This situation ultimately results in higher costs as the unemployment rate rises and seniors are placed in nursing homes  and assisted living facilities where their transportation needs are no longer an issue; and

WHEREAS
The State of Florida is presently facing the reality that the senior population will increase by 70% and the blind community specifically is expected to swell by between 18 and 25 per cent by the year 2015; and

WHEREAS
The State of Florida has one of the highest concentrations of residents who are considered to be "transportation disadvantaged” in the Nation; and

WHEREAS
In the past seven years, the Legislature has not increased the Transportation Disadvantaged Trust Fund, to meet the needs of the State’s growing Transportation Disadvantaged population; and

WHEREAS
Funding provided to the 67 counties within the State of Florida by the Transportation Disadvantaged Trust Fund is the primary source of disadvantaged transportation services for a majority of these counties: Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED
by The National Federation of the Blind of Florida,  in convention assembled, this second day of September, 2000, in the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that we support the efforts of the Transportation Disadvantaged Commission to ensure the passage of legislation to increase by $10 million the Transportation Disadvantaged Trust Fund.