Gail,
Right now Metro Mobility costs money for disabled veterans whereas Metro
Transit is free for Service Disabled Veterans only and not all disabled
veterans. Having ridden Metro Mobility when I was going through rehab at the
VA, I had to pay out of pocket to get to my appointments which were outside of
the metro area due to the fact that at the time the VA did not have a
chiropractor. I was in a wheelchair due to a military parachuting accident
paying for my own transportation to care. There was no support from any of the
veterans service groups including the Disabled American Veterans, the VFW, the
American Legion, or the Paralyzed Veterans of America like there was for free
rides to the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis and there was no support from the
Ramsey County Veterans Service office for rides to appointments. There was also
no reimbursement of expenses from the VA for transportation costs.
Adding insult to injury, Metro Mobility would be consistent at the time at one
thing - being late to pick me up for my appointments. I would schedule pickup
times two hours ahead of schedule and get picked up an hour late and then miss
appointments for rehab.
I had a handicap parking pass, and it was signed by my chiropractor, but I
could not drive due to the fact that the VA put me on narcotic medication. The
reason I was seeing a chiropractor at the time was because the VA did not have
a neurosurgeon to perform spinal surgery. When they finally did get a
neurosurgeon, from the University of Minnesota, I had surgery within a week and
then was able to walk again the next day!
I was so excited to be able to go back to work the next month. When I did, I
walked into Honeywell to meet my boss after the long wait only to find out they
laid me off. When I got home, I had a letter in the mail from the Minnesota
Department of Public Safety saying they were revoking my drivers license
because I was on prescription narcotics from the VA. I went to the VA and got a
letter from one of the two physician assistants in Neurosurgery stating I was
no longer on prescription narcotics with blood tests to prove it and brought it
back to the DPS in St. Paul that same day. They rejected the letter because it
wasn't written by the chiropractor. The chiropractor had since moved and was no
loner available since she was contracted by the VA. So, I went and had to get
the head of the VA hospital to write a formal complaint to the State of
Minnesota to get them to drop the revocation. I'm just one of many disabled
veterans who have experienced barriers to getting work put in place by the
machinations of government even as I worked so hard to learn to walk again. So,
when candidates don't have a position on helping veterans and are unwilling to
learn more and don't actively seek out what they can do to help, they don't
have my vote.
Many veterans are unable to get job training if they have experienced Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder severe enough that it resulted in behavioral changes
causing them to act out in a way contrary to the Uniformed Code of Military
Justice. So, the more severe the PTSD, the higher the risk of having a
discharge that is other than honorable which contributes to joblessness and
homelessness among veterans. While the DoD has made significant inroads towards
improving mental health care, many discharged veterans are unable to get VA
health care and job services. In other words, for many, many years, the DoD
dumped its problems on inner cities where homeless veterans have a shot at
getting food and a bridge to shelter them from the rain.
There are several restrictions on small business loans for veterans. Many
veterans loan programs only apply to post 9/11 veterans. If you were injured
fighting in Somalia, the Gulf War, any of the many places where angels fear to
tread with special operations before 9/11, you have fewer benefits to start a
business or get scholarships at Minnesota colleges and universities. If you
joined after 9/11, you simply have more benefits.
So, if I have a neighbor with a combat related injury from before 9/11, they
simply have fewer benefits, their GI Bill is not as generous, and they are less
likely to have disability benefits for their own PTSD because it was treated
differently back in the day than it is today. Their records may also have been
destroyed in the fire back in 1973.
Another issue is that we have a higher concentration of disabled veterans
living in Minneapolis and Saint Paul especially in poor neighborhoods. They
don't pay property taxes if they are 100% disabled and the burden falls then on
the locality to the up the costs. If you are a disabled veteran living in an
apartment, you don't get a housing tax break passed on to you. That's a bummer.
One thing that the next mayor could do is require city contracting to have
veterans preference and goals for veteran owned businesses like the federal
government does. Of course, since the federal government has never achieved its
contracting goals for disabled veterans' companies, maybe the city should set
an example for them to follow.
You see, these are issues that a mayor should be lobbying for. Nobody, democrat
or republican, has addressed these issues affecting veterans in our city.
Thanks,
Dave