Date: Fri 01-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

referendum-Beres-ADA-complaint

Full Text:

Referendum Draws A Complaint Over Access

Wendy Beres says she couldn't vote in Tuesday's budget referendum because

there wasn't a legal handicap parking space accessible to the Middle School

gym where the voting took place.

Mrs Beres, who is the chairman of the local Persons With Disabilities

Committee, filed a formal complaint on Wednesday with Tom Paternoster, the

town's Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) coordinator.

In her letter, Mrs Beres said she went to the middle school twice, at

approximately 6:45 pm and 7:45 pm, and both times was unable to park in an

accessible parking space. In previous years temporary handicap parking spaces

have been placed opposite the curb cuts to accommodate voters with

disabilities, she said, but this year that was not done.

"I did locate one parking space that was designated as handicap, unfortunately

this was not legally wide enough to be usable for individuals that have a

disability," she said.

The location of this parking space also would have required an individual with

a disability not only to cross traffic to get to the gym but also to head into

on-coming cars to access the curb cut, she added.

"I believe the Town of Newtown has violated my right to vote as well as the

voting rights of the residents with a mobility disability by not providing

legal handicap parking and safe access at the voting place," she said.

Mrs Beres made her complaint as a private citizen, not as chairman of the

local ADA board.

Registrars of Voters Linda Connor and Shirley Lawrenson said they had not

received a copy of Mrs Beres' complaint.

"There is a marked handicap space at the back of the building near the Board

of Education office," Mrs Connor said. "The voter would have to come around

the building on the sidewalk to the gym. So we use yellow signs to mark two

spaces closer to the gym on the side of the building."

Mrs Lawrenson said temporary handicap spaces can no longer be located in the

horseshoe driveway in front of the middle school because it is a designated

fire lane. If cars were parked there, as Mrs Beres also alleged in her

complaint, the cars were parked illegally, Mrs Lawrenson said.

Mrs Beres said there is not a parking space on the Board of Education side of

the building that meets the width requirement to accommodate a handicap van.

And none of the spaces are near a curb cut, she said. Handicap parking spaces

must be at least 96 inches wide and have a minimum adjacent access space of 60

inches; parking spaces for handicap vans must be 96 inches wide with an

additional 96-inch-wide access space, she said.

"People with walkers or crutches -- not to mention wheelchairs -- need space

alongside their vehicles to be able to get out and maneuver," she said. "And

it is hazardous if they have to go through traffic to reach a curb cut."

"Does the town not want the elderly and the handicapped to vote?" she asked.

Mrs Lawrenson said there was a complaint at the polls by a voter on the issue

of handicap accessibility. An elderly voter who used a cane complained that

the parking lot was not level and presented a hazard, Mrs Lawrenson said.