Public Testimony on July 15 Re "Good-Bye Full Accessibility."

Public Testimony on July 15 Re "Good-Bye Full Accessibility." Information Bulletin # 253 (7/08).In Information Bulletin #250, entitled "Good-Bye Full Accessibility," Steve Gold summarized the U.S. Department of Justice's June 17, 2008 ProposedRulemaking which propose significant amendments to Titles II and III'sfederal regulations and which will profoundly affect access to publicfacilities and to public accommodations and commercial facilities. On June 30, 2008, DOJ announced a public hearing on these proposedamendments and scheduled the hearing for July 15, 2008 at the MarriotHotel, 775 12th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. If you wish to presentcomments at the hearing, you are "encouraged to register in advance."Telephone 800-514-0301 (voice) and 800-514-9383 (TTY) by July 7, 2008. "Comments will be limited to five minutes per person or organization, butcommenters who wish to may supplement their testimony with writtenstatements. "Our basic problem is with the proposed regulations are that the "safeharbor" provisions will significantly limit accessibility in publicfacilities (e.g., playgrounds, swimming pools, buildings) and publicaccommodations (e.g., stores). We will not review the specifics alreadyoutlined in Bulletin #250. Some people pointed out that even without the "safe harbor" provisions,many stores and other public accommodations had not, sixteen years afterthe ADA federal regulations were initially promulgated in 1992, removed"readily achievable barriers" and had not made their facilitiesaccessible. These accommodations had tax deductions and tax creditsavailable, and still did not make their facilities accessible. With theproposed rules, DOJ provides added excuses for not making facilities fullyaccessible. Even though DOJ has not provided a lot of time either to plan to come toDC or to testify, we think DOJ should hear about your efforts to implementaccessibility and the excuses/successes provided in the past under theexisting regulations. For example, the Philadelphia Inquirer on 6/25/08 quoted Liberty Resources' Executive Director Thomas Earle who had identified 42 businesses with a single step barrier. Despite Libertywriting letters to the owners of inaccessible restaurants, e.g., to theSnow White Restaurant and to Pandora's Lunch Box, owners neither respondedor wrote back, nor made their facilities accessible.So the bottom line, why would DOJ propose regulatory amendments that willreduce accessibility? Who are the forces behind these proposals? Why didnot DOJ propose to strengthen the existing regulations to improveaccessibility? We thought the ADA was supposed to "eventually" result in a barrier freecountry. Silly us. Power concedes nothing without a struggle! Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continuesBack issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects. To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com