Memphians Petition for More Time to Make Comments on Accessibility

(MEMPHIS, June 28, 2002) Citizens of Memphis are asking the City of Memphis to expand the time for public comment on the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Transition Plan 60 days (to August 27th) by petitioning at City Hall today. The ADA Transition Plan will guide the City for the next 25 years in how our community becomes accessible; but, the department that created the plan has only set aside two weeks to obtain remarks from the citizens the plan affects. 

Activists with disabilities will be asking people to add their name to a request to extend the public comment period on the Transition Plan and leafleting the public with educational material about the ADA. The city has taken over 10 years to produce this plan, which was to include participation of people with disabilities not just comments.

The basis of the Transition Plan are 55 surveys the city has made of public facilities; yet, less than half of those surveys have been made available for public inspection during the comment period. From the surveys of less than 15% of existing public facilities, the city projects how it will address compliance at over 400 structures identified in the plan.

Increasing the time for public comment will not delay the work the city is doing to gain compliance; on the contrary, better planning can avoid problems in the future. Some of the possible problems in the plan that citizens have found so far include:

• The grievance procedure has no appeal or review process.

• The plan does not give details of compliance methods, a requirement of federal law. 

• The plan does not appear to include such obvious public venues such as the new Arena, AutoZone Park, and the recipients of the Center City Commission “facelift project.”

• The City Schools are not covered in the plan.

• The document is not signed or dated.

The Memphis Center for Independent Living is coordinating the effort and encouraging Memphians to review and make comments on the ADA Transition Plan.

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