[img]1792|right|Jim Clarke||no_popup[/img]City Councilman Jim Clarke said this morning he would prefer to tweak colleague Andy Weissman’s observation, “I don’t think anybody was comfortable with the proposal” to reverse bus policy and charge blind passengers.
“I would almost turn that around,” the third-year Councilman said. “I don’t think we were uncomfortable with the idea of charging the blind. We were comfortable with the idea of making an exception for the blind.”
Mr. Clarke liked the suggestion by Sammie Shipman, who is blind, at Monday night’s meeting. Ms. Shipman urged the Council to charge the blind a quarter instead of 35 cents, the point being a single coin.
“There is a distinction that can be made (for the blind) for having to find (multiple) coins, and whether it slows run time,” said Mr. Clarke.
Further, “we don’t have a lot of blind passengers, so it is not necessarily a big problem. It could be a difference, though.”
Mr. Clarke found it “interesting” that Culver City was ready to charge the blind two coins before the Council crushed the plan.
Apart from the recommended dime and a quarter for blind passengers, charging 10 cents, one coin, also could have been an attractive option, Mr. Clarke said.
Regarding the stated plan of the disabled man who originally accused the Transportation Dept., of bias to board a Culver CityBus and forego the 35-cent fare, Mr. Clarke said, sourly, “good luck to him.”
