WHEREAS, the Maryland vending program for the blind affords 86 blind Marylanders opportunities for rewarding and remunerative employment as small business managers on state, municipal, and county properties, and;
WHEREAS, the vending program is the best public relationswe, the blind have, since it provides us with daily opportunities to prove to members of the general public that we are normal, competent people; and
WHEREAS, the blind of Maryland have long had an interest in strengthening and clarifying sections of Annotated Code of Maryland that give blind vendors priority to operate all vending facilities on state, county, and municipal properties, and that assign part of the profits generated by vending machines on the state, county, and municipal properties to blind vendors, or to the blind vendors' program in cases where no vendor is on the property; and
WHEREAS, it has come to our attention that vending operations exist in three Baltimore subway stations and vending operations may be established in other stations, yet the blind are not benefiting in any way from these operations; and
WHEREAS, blind vendors have raised serious concerns about set-aside and other issues: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland in Convention assembled this fourth day of October, 1987, in the City of Frostburg, Maryland, that this organization shall take all necessary steps to strengthen the vending program in Maryland including working with the Governor and General Assembly to improve the law where possible and to enact new legislation where necessary to insure a clear priority for blind vendors on al1 state, county, and municipal properties in Maryland.