Date: Fri 28-Nov-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

disabilities-complaint-Beres

Full Text:

Access Issue Leads Disabilities Panel To File A Complaint

Members of the local Persons with Disabilities Committee filed a complaint

against the town with the US Department of Justice last Friday because they

say public hearings and meetings are held in locations that are not

handicapped-accessible.

The complaint, signed by committee chairman Wendy G. Beres, Patti Clay, Arthur

Bennett and Robert Berkins, specifically cited meetings held on June 6 and

June 20, 1996, by the Planning and Zoning Commission in the Alexandria Room at

Edmond Town Hall; special town meetings called by First Selectman Bob Cascella

on May 29 and July 31, 1997, in the Mary Hawley Room of Edmond Town Hall; a

Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on September 3, 1997, in Canaan House at

Fairfield Hills; and public hearings by the Board of Assessment Appeals in the

tax assessor's office at Edmond Town Hall on September 16 and 20, 1997.

The complaint cites former P&Z Chairman Steve Adams, Mr Cascella, ZBA Chairman

Charles Annett and Board of Assessment Appeals Chairman Charles V. Framularo,

Jr.

Problems between the ADA committee and the town date back to a grievance which

was filed with the town after the June 6, 1996, P&Z hearing was moved from

Town Hall South to the Alexandria Room at Edmond Town Hall. The hearing

involved a proposed change in the regulations involving handicapped ramps.

"The Alexandria Room is not handicapped-accessible," Mrs Beres said. "Patti

Clay and others who wanted to attend this meeting were not able to do so. The

grievance the committee filed has never been addressed because the town

continues to hold public meetings in inaccessible locations."

In the complaint, Mrs Beres said that she had notified Mr Annett that she was

on crutches and intended to attend the ZBA meeting. When she arrived, she

found the only handicapped-accessible door was locked and "constant knocking

produced no assistance."

The grounds for the complaint are discrimination by denying equal

participation and services by conducting public hearings and meetings in

(handicapped) inaccessible locations, a violation of Title II of the Americans

with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. Title II dictates how state and municipal

governments must accommodate persons with disabilities, ensuring them access

to public meetings.

This week Mrs Beres said that she was prevented again on November 5 from

attending a ZBA meeting in Canaan House because, although the exterior door

was unlocked, the interior door was locked.

"It's humiliating," she said. "It makes you feel like a second-class citizen,

standing there like an idiot, unable to get in.

"All the chairman had to do was walk down the hall and check the door," she

said. "It just takes a little caring. It doesn't cost any money."