Black History Lost and Found: Dorothy Jaymes and Accessible Transit

Black History Lost and Found: Dorothy Jaymes and Accessible Transit
By Jeremy Menzies

We continue to celebrate Black History Month by sharing the stories of SFMTA staff whose revolutionary work helped pave the way for future generations of Muni riders. Today, we look at the incredible contributions of Dorothy Jaymes, who played a critical role in helping advance accessibility on transit in San Francisco at a time when little was being done.

Employees standing in between shelving holding various items such as a umbrella, tennis racket and bicycles. The shelving is filled with additional various items.

Jaymes (left, holding tennis racket) with her assistant, Linda Westry in the Muni Lost & Found Department in 1977.

Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Jaymes started her career in Muni’s Lost & Found Department in the 1970s. According to a 1977 article in the department newsletter, Trolley Topics, she took her job seriously, accounting for every lost item no matter how small or large.

Around the same time, protests by local disability rights advocates exposed the issues of poor access to public transit to local officials. The city responded in part by seeking contracts for new buses with passenger lifts in 1978 and by establishing the Elderly & Handicapped Program, to which Jaymes was a foundational contributor.

Group photo of employees. The back row of three staff is standing. The front row of three staff is seated. One emplyee is wearing a Muni work vest.

Members of Muni Elderly & Handicapped Office staff in 1985, with Jaymes at center.

By October 1979, Jaymes headed up the E&H Office and was responsible for processing applications for discounted transit fare cards. An early version of the Free Muni for People with Disabilities Program, this program lowered the cost of transit for people who needed it most.

Jaymes’ role in the office played a critical part in improving access to transit for all San Franciscans.

Employee smiling and holding a vintage card camera

Working out of a room in the Muni Photo Department, Jaymes wields an ID card camera in this 1979 photo.

She left Muni in 1990 and finished out her career with the City of San Francisco at the Planning Department, before retiring in the early 2000s. Jaymes returned to Louisiana in retirement and passed away in 2015 at age 89. One of her former San Francisco co-workers remembered her as “a wonderful woman who was strong and always stood up for the workers.”

So often, we only hear the stories of major figures and their brave breakthroughs in history. Capturing the full story begins with also celebrating and recognizing the contributions of our “unsung heroes,” whose daily work is still helping Muni riders today.

Published February 28, 2023 at 11:01PM
https://ift.tt/CEeZw87

Comments

New top story from Time: U.S. Donates 500,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses to Moldova

https://ift.tt/3xs4Uud BUCHAREST — Moldova is set to receive half a million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine from the United States to help the small nation combat the coronavirus pandemic. The first 150,000 doses of J&J are to arrive in Moldova — a country of 3.5 million, Europe’s poorest sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine — on July 12, the U.S. Embassy officials in Moldova said.. Moldovan President Maia Sandu thanked the U.S. for the vaccines and said that they will “help save lives, preserve the health of our citizens and reduce the force of the pandemic.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “Now, we must mobilize ourselves and, in solidarity, get vaccinated,” Sandu, a former World Bank official, wrote online. The announcement came days ahead of an early) parliamentary election in Moldova that pits pro-Western reformists against a Russia-friendly bloc of Socialists and Communists, with recent polls giving a lead to the former. “This donation could not come...

24x7 RTGS for high-value transactions from December 14. Check details https://ift.tt/37TLyCy

The Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) for high-value transactions will be available 24x7 on all days from December 14. This would make India one of the few countries to operate the system round-the-clock. "RTGS 24x7x365 will be launched with effect from 00:30 hours on December 14, 2020," the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a statement. In October, the central bank had announced that RTGS will be available 24x7 on all days of the year. The RBI said India will become one of the few countries in the world to operate its RTGS system round-the-clock throughout the year.

New top story from Time: 70 Years Ago, the World Made a Pact to Protect Refugees. Too Many of Our Leaders Are Failing to Uphold That Promise

https://ift.tt/3BDBSKB How the world treats refugees is a litmus test of our common humanity. I say that as a refugee myself, having experienced the trauma and wrenching displacement of fleeing my home during the Korean War, when I was a child. The human suffering that I witnessed as I fled my burning village with my parents has stayed with me throughout my life. It’s something that our leaders acknowledged 70 years ago this month, when the 1951 UN Refugee Convention was signed — a landmark treaty that has formed the backbone of international protection for people fleeing persecution in their own country, and should remain the lodestar guiding all national and international policies. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The treaty is just as essential today as it was seven decades ago. The UNHCR’s latest Global Trends report found that a record 82 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes in 2020, including 26 million refugees who have fled their own country. Th...

New top story from Time: Larry Nassar Is in Prison, But Many Young Athletes Are Still at Risk. Here’s How We Can Better Protect Them From Sexual Abuse

https://ift.tt/3kU3o0y Earlier this month, the Department of Justice released a report about the FBI’s investigation into former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar that spotlighted what survivors like me have known to be true: the entire system is failing athletes. The FBI failed to conduct a thorough and timely investigation, and at least 70 victims were sexually abused after allegations had already been reported. The report was as outrageous as it was heartbreaking. The DOJ report found that the FBI failed to respond to the accusations against Nassar in an ethical and efficient way, proving that the FBI—a government institution that should protect its citizens—failed at protecting child athletes. It is unacceptable that multiple institutions, including the FBI, have failed to this extent and not prioritized the well-being of young athletes. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Read more: Aly Raisman Opens Up About Sexual Abuse by USA Gymnastics Doctor Larry Nassar A fail...

Pfizer seeks emergency use authorisation for its COVID-19 vaccine in India https://ift.tt/36IwecF

After securing a clearance by its parent company in the United Kingdom and Bahrain, Pfizer India has become the first pharmaceutical firm to seek from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) an emergency use authorisation for its COVID-19 vaccine in India. The firm, in its application submitted to the drug regulator, has sought permission to import the vaccine for sale and distribution in the country, besides waiver of clinical trials on Indian population in accordance with the special provisions under the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019, official sources said.

FOX NEWS: Misleading rainbow Christmas tree ads disappoint customer expectations Don’t believe everything you see on the internet.

Misleading rainbow Christmas tree ads disappoint customer expectations Don’t believe everything you see on the internet. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/372P3HX

Infosys shares at record high after winning billion dollar deal from Daimler AG https://ift.tt/3hUX6tm

Shares of Infosys gained over 2 per cent in early trade on Wednesday after the company said it has formed a long-term partnership with Daimler AG for a technology-driven IT infrastructure transformation. The stock jumped 2.31 per cent to its record high of Rs 1,249 on the BSE.

New top story from Time: Actor Farhan Akhtar Pays Tribute to Legendary Sprinter Milkha Singh, India’s ‘Flying Sikh’

https://ift.tt/3gTcTuw I played Milkha Singh—the Indian sporting legend who died on June 18 of COVID-19 complications at age 91—in the 2013 biopic Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. ( The title translates to Run Milkha Run. ) Singh was a child of partition, and who came from poverty, but he had a lot of faith in himself and the belief that if you work hard, you will be remembered. That, to me, is his legacy. Back in my school days, I remember how my physical education teacher would often point to Singh as an example when we would slack off on our training. Many of us were told that growing up: if you want to be successful in sports, you have to train like this guy. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] And the first time we met was at a running track in Mumbai where I was training for the film. Singh had spent time serving in the army before his athletic career; I expected him to be concise and terse in his demeanor. But he quickly put me at ease. He arrived dressed in a tracksuit, and tol...

New top story from Time: 2020 Saw an Unprecedented Surge in White Supremacist Propaganda

https://ift.tt/3bUCr8b Not even a once-in-a-century pandemic could prevent white supremacist groups from deluging American cities with extremist propaganda in 2020. Banners were hung from freeway overpasses. Stickers were slapped onto street signs. Fliers were dropped onto the windshields of parked cars. An Anti-Defamation League (ADL) study published Wednesday recorded 5,125 incidents of white supremacist physical propaganda last year, marking the highest level of cases reported since the non-profit began tracking such data five years ago. The findings average to about 14 incidents per day—and are nearly double the 2,724 cases reported in 2019. The data highlights the stunning growth of new splinter movements that did not exist when President Donald Trump took office. At least 30 white supremacist groups disseminated propaganda in the U.S. in 2020, but three of them —Patriot Front, New Jersey European Heritage Association and Nationalist Social Club—were responsible for 9...

New top story from Time: These Are All the Gymnastics Moves Named After Simone Biles

https://ift.tt/2UK2F7C At this point, Simone Biles is re-writing the book on gymnastics. With four skills named after her—on floor, beam and vault—her name will already live on in the sport’s history . The International Gymnastics Federation only names skills after gymnasts if they perform them at a major international competition, including the Olympics. And for Biles, the four skills she has named after her represent a natural progression of her natural gymnastic abilities. Most came about after her either she or her coaches thought she could add one more twist, or one more flip and give herself a little more of a challenge. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] At the Tokyo Olympics, Biles could have a fifth skill named after her in the Code of Points—a dangerous Yurchenko double pike vault that besides Biles, only male gymnasts have performed in competition. At podium training in Tokyo on July 22, Biles trained the vault, although it’s not clear when, or if, she will actua...

My precise view

Search This Blog