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Blind vendors urge Cook County to finish Layton Courthouse coffee kiosk and preserve vendor program; board refers related MOU for asset management review
Summary
Representatives of the Illinois Committee of Blind Vendors praised Cook County’s blind-vendor program, urged completion of water service and the coffee kiosk at Layton Courthouse, and the board moved to refer a memorandum of understanding related to the county’s blind business enterprise program to asset management.
A representative of the Illinois Committee of Blind Vendors told the Cook County Board the county’s blind-vendor program has been a model for other jurisdictions and urged action to finish outstanding infrastructure so vendors can operate fully at county facilities.
Donnie Anderson, a former chairman and current member of the Illinois Committee of Blind Vendors, thanked commissioners for the county’s Blind Vendors Act and described work by blind vendors on county property, including at courthouses and hospitals. Anderson said the committee is “in the midst of taking over from Canteen the remaining vending machines that we haven't taken over yet, as well as opening up the coffee kiosk at Layton Courthouse.”
Anderson told the board the vendor at Layton Courthouse has waited five years for water to be run to a Starbucks “Proudly Brews” kiosk. “Our blind vendor over there, Donnie Bell, has been waiting 5 years,” Anderson said, and asked the board to complete the work that will allow the kiosk to open.
Commissioner Alma Anaya thanked Anderson and praised his advocacy on behalf of people with disabilities. Later in the meeting, during consideration of administrative items, the board referred item 25-2710 — described on the agenda as a memorandum of understanding to renew the county’s business enterprise program for the blind — to the asset management committee for review.
No new county ordinance was enacted at the meeting; the referral sends the MOU to the bureau that handles county property and facilities for additional review and any required approvals.
What happens next: the asset management committee will review the MOU and related facility requests (including water service at Layton Courthouse) and the county will coordinate with the Department of Human Services and other partners to complete site work so vendors can begin operation.
