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Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Media Activism: The Fountain Square handicapped accessibility story takes a life of its own
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
This item from today’s Enquirer political blog features a story that first got its momentum here at The Cincinnati Beacon. We are proud to see the story standing on its own, and we are eager to see how it grows and progresses. This column is a media round-up of the background on the story about handicapped accessibility at the Fountain Square garage.
Below, you will find a timeline of sorts, featuring the stories we posted as part of our explorations down at Fountain Square. While we made one mistake—thinking the Square’s staircase handrails were in violation of ADA when they were not—we managed to turn WLWT onto the story, getting two evening news broadcasts on television.
One of those featured Todd Portune, who has taken the story and pursued it. And given today’s item at The Enquirer’s blog, things are looking up for justice:
People in wheelchairs shouldn’t have to worry about being hit by oncoming traffic while trying to exit a parking garage.
They also shouldn’t have to worry about too-small parking spaces or bathroom stall coat hooks installed too high up, said Hamilton County commissioner Todd Portune He floated a proposal Wednesday that would require any new county-supported building project with a budget over $1 million be reviewed to determine whether it is “welcoming” to the disabled.
“I want to make sure ... what we construct is useful for all our citizens,” he said.
Portune, who used to be wheelchair-bound and now uses a walker, said he had a bad experience recently in the Fountain Square parking garage. Though technically compliant with the American with Disabilities Act standards, the handicapped parking spaces were too small, the ramps are poorly placed and the layout forces wheelchairs to turn blind curves into oncoming traffic, he said.
“It lacked in many respects,” he said. Portune sent the owner, 3CDC a letter to that fact and “they are working to address the problem,” he said.
Here is a stroll down Memory Lane, a picture book, so to speak, of our story growing from infancy into its fully grown form!
Timeline
Shocking Photos Revealed! 3CDC’s Renovated Garage Already Deteriorating!
Sunday, February 25, 2007
3CDC Opened Fountain Square Garage Despite Risks
Monday, February 26, 2007
Slippery Steps! Video of 3CDC’s Leaky Garage
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
WLWT Looks at 3CDC’s Leaky Garage
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
More Mistakes by 3CDC—Parking Garage Confusion Abounds!
Friday, March 02, 2007
3CDC Does Not Care About Handicapped People?
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Fountain Square Garage: Handicapped Accessibility Analysis
Sunday, March 04, 2007
3CDC Handrails Not in Violation, But Steps Still Unsafe
Monday, March 05, 2007
WLWT Strikes Again! Handicapped Accessibility Issues with 3CDC’s Garage Make Nightly News!
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
3CDC, Insults and Obfuscation, plus Jeff Berding Speaks!
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
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21 Mar 2007 at 09:09 pm | #
Too bad the project is within code.
The code requires a certain number of spots. It also states that you cannot have handicap spots on a slope. If you look at the garage the locations of the handicap spots are in the only place possible - on flat ground. Is it ideal? Probably not, but sometimes this is what you’re stuck with in a renovation versus new construction.
You could also argue for a curb cut on the east side. Take a look at the code and the size guidlines for a proper curb cut. Unfortunately one will not fit on the east side. Is this ideal? Probably not, but again sometimes these things occur with renovations.
The garage is completely within all guidlines; like it or not.
21 Mar 2007 at 09:22 pm | #
thank you for following up here.... came in from out of town to attended vigil on Monday and was disgusted with the parking below Fountain Square .... wheelchair assessibility was an obvious oversite ... my kids almost got hit by a car going around the corner as we were trying to find how to get up the curb with the wheelchair ...
The location for payment is equally ridiculous ... after you get your kids/wheelchairs into the car, you have to get everyone out again to pay? Or did they expect I would leave my kids in the car alone to make the payment?
It’s a mess in Cincinnati. I’ll never come back. ADA has become almost a voluntary compliance here. It’s no wonder Cincinnati is most polluted/impoverished. Instead of putting your money into rail system, you build more parking lots, widen roads, and do other stupid things with your money instead of taking the bull by the horns.
21 Mar 2007 at 09:38 pm | #
Mr. Chiquita and friends are dancing as fast as they can. Keep up the good work Cincinnati Beacon.
22 Mar 2007 at 06:30 am | #
Anon #1, the North wall of the garage is flat, and it actually looks like that is where lots of handicapped spaces used to be. Now, they are compact car parking.
It would be very possible to cut a wheelchair accessible curb on the East side of the elevator access, thereby not forcing wheelchairs and walkers around a narrow, blind curve.
(It would also be possible to include a sign by the Westin elevator. The wheelchair curb indicates that someone with a wheelchair might actually be able to get somewhere besides a long flight of steps at that end!)
22 Mar 2007 at 10:14 am | #
Dean,
In response anon #1 and your comment about the sign. I agree. It seems this would help. I’m not sure why the north wall doesn’t have handicap spots. You would still have to travel in the lanes, but the distance would be shorter. I took a look at the concrete on the east side. I’ll have to side with anon #1 on this one. There isn’t enough room for a curb cut.
I also like the point about this being a renovation. Sometimes you end up with less than ideal situations given the circumstances.
Anon #2 - you’re supposed to “Pay before returning to your vehicle.” I’m not sure why you would load up your kids and then walk back to the machine. Doesn’t make any sense. By the way, you can pay from your car on the way out as well.
22 Mar 2007 at 07:35 pm | #
Mike, what are you talking about? There’s plenty of room for a curb cut.
22 Mar 2007 at 08:10 pm | #
Once 3CDC started moving the handicapped parking places around they were under obligation to bring them up to current standards as much as practicable. As for the proposed curb cut on the East side of the elevator platform, one might have to extend the platform a little to put a proper curb cut in. But that would not be a hardship.
The garage is not even close to meeting the ADA requirements, like it or not. And the city would be liable if someone got injured because of that.
From the ADA Guidelines:
4.1.6 Accessible Buildings: Alterations.
(1) General. Alterations to existing buildings and facilities shall comply with the following:
(a) No alteration shall be undertaken which decreases or has the effect of decreasing accessibility or usability of a building or facility below the requirements for new construction at the time of alteration.
(b) If existing elements, spaces, or common areas are altered, then each such altered element, space, feature, or area shall comply with the applicable provisions of 4.1.1 to 4.1.3 Minimum Requirements (for New Construction). If the applicable provision for new construction requires that an element, space, or common area be on an accessible route, the altered element, space, or common area is not required to be on an accessible route except as provided in 4.1.6(2) (Alterations to an Area Containing a Primary Function.)
22 Mar 2007 at 08:39 pm | #
Alas, one cannot pay cash on the way out. For that one needs to make a visit to a separate payment machine. And the system is not well-explained. There are signs instructing drivers to take their tickets with them, and the strong implication is that one MUST use the payment machines to pay before exiting even if one is using a credit card.
Further, the payment machines are only at the North exit, not the South one. So if one were going South after parking in the garage and then coming back, one would have to make a detour to pay.
I’ll check again the next time I’m over there, but I don’t remember a sign at the South exit telling me this. I knew about it because the Dean wrote about his experience in an earlier article.
23 Mar 2007 at 02:57 pm | #
I’m not getting into this again because its pointless. If the garage was not within code then it would not have permitted, the architects would not have stamped their name to the drawings, and the City would be going nutts.
Is it an ideal design and situation? No. I will agree with you there. I took another look at the curb cut. You would have to increase the curb somewhat and loose 1 parking space. Do I think they should do this? Yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that in its current state it meets code.
I also think they should at least add a mirror so you can see around the corner.
23 Mar 2007 at 04:52 pm | #
So in other words, Mike #9, 3CDC is a champion of the bare minimum!
23 Mar 2007 at 08:38 pm | #
The fact that a staffer in Cincinnati may have approved the drawings is not all that important. I know of too many screw-ups that were officially approved. I have not checked the drawings so I don’t even know if the garage follows the drawings or if there was a “painting error.” An engineering friend of mine sort of agrees with you on one point—he says that there is no way an architectural firm would have specified handicapped parking spaces this wildly non-conforming.
One of the biggest disasters is the Hyatt skywalk collapse in Kansas City. Do you think that the Hyatt escaped liability because the plans were done by an architect and approved? More recently there was the cement panel falling down in the Boston Tunnel, killing one.
Then there are the two space shuttle disasters. I also know of new dams that have collapsed and a new bridge that collapsed. Screw-ups are not restricted to the government. In the 1980’s GM had its pick-up trucks with their famous exploding side-saddle gas tanks. Their excuse was that the Feds had no prohibition on side-saddle gas tanks, as if the federal government is supposed to have a regulation prohibiting every stupid thing someone can think of.
The fact that others may have said that a design conforms to some specification does not mean that it does, in fact, conform or is safe.
City Hall will only go “nuts” if someone is seriously injured and they are sued. Even then they may choose to ignore the problem. Look how many times they have been sued over various police problems and how they resist reforms.
23 Mar 2007 at 11:15 pm | #
Bare minimum? No. After a second look, is there a chance that they could do better in this area? Yes. I don’t think they have many options given that its a renovation. However, I will concede that they could do a little bit more to make the situation better. Do I think the sky is falling like many other bloggers on here? Not even close.
24 Mar 2007 at 10:45 am | #
With as much influence as they have, approval comes from the city without any oversight or we wouldn’t have the situation we have. When it is left up to bloggers to point out these defects and the corporate assholes have no response except we will lose a parking space(income) by making changes in the public interest then someone has to provide oversight. It is clear that the city government is in bed with these masters. When our politicians are on the corporate leash we get screwed every time and then lied to about it.
Time for all enemies, foreign and domestic, to get the hell out of our city and stop stealing the public property. Council out in November, corporations in December.
24 Mar 2007 at 01:06 pm | #
What is perhaps the most famous house in America, Fallingwater, was structurally flawed from the beginning. Everyone knows the architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. Almost no one knows the engineer who fought with Wright to stop the house from falling into the water. And he was only partially successful, the full repair not being made until recently. Even today Wright has his defenders who say that structural integrity is unimportant compared to the design visuals.
Though if the house HAD fallen into the water, I dare say the owner would have sued. Anybody who is injured because of the flawed design of Fountain Square can take comfort from the fact that both the city and the companies that make up 3CDC have very deep pockets.