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A Manhattan federal judge on Friday approved a settlement to a class action lawsuit that locks the MTA into equipping 95% of subway and Staten Island Railway stations with elevators or ramps — with a deadline three decades away.
The approval by Judge Edgardo Ramos caps one part of a long-running push by advocates for people with disabilities to improve access to a transit system where merely a quarter of the nearly 500 stations comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
— The City
As The City reported, the ruling makes the terms of last June’s landmark settlement official. Judge Ramos told plaintiffs that he knows the push would be a “very difficult thing to achieve.” MTA officials currently plan the upgrades in stages, with 81 stations affected by 2024 as... View full entry
Chicago will receive a total of $185 million in federal funding to make several of its Chicago Transit Authority and Metra stations accessible for disabled riders, officials announced Monday as part of a new program tucked into the bipartisan infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden last year. — Chicago Tribune
The money is part of the larger $1.75 billion provision set aside for accessibility improvements in various urban transit agencies by the federal infrastructure bill from last year. New York is the only city to receive more. Per the Tribune, a total of 42 of the CTA’s 145 stations are not... View full entry
The federal government is taking the Chicago Cubs to court over the team's recent renovations at Wrigley Field, claiming the changes to the ballpark don't comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). According to a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court by the U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago, the Cubs "failed to ensure that recent additions and alterations at Wrigley Field are readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.” — CBS Chicago
Between 2014 and 2019, Wrigley Field underwent a significant overhaul known as “The 1060 Project,” which included new seats, expanded bleachers, a new outdoor concourse, new concessions, upgraded restrooms, new team clubhouses, and more. The alleged violations to the ADA Standards for... View full entry
New York City-based legal group Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) has filed a class action lawsuit against a collection of public agencies representing the borough of Queens, New York "challenging the inaccessibility" of the new Steven Holl Architects-designed Hunters Point Library, according... View full entry
Yes, messy sidewalks are hard. But so are shops and restaurants with steps at their entrances. So are blocks that lack curb cuts or have ones that are poorly designed. So are broken elevators. So is the fact that in L.A., if you’re a disabled person (which is what Radcliff calls himself rather than a person with a disability), you generally have to spend more on rent, because the properties covered by rent stabilization are older ones less likely to be accessible. — The Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times takes a look at how a pervasive lack of universal design across Los Angeles makes daily life nearly impossible for disabled people. View full entry
Most planners and architects can speak volumes about accessibility requirements [...].
Tamara Petrovic and Garner Oh, partners of the architecture and design firm 0 to 1, are intimately aware of such needs. To address their son’s difficulty with balance and motor skills, the pair developed a range of products for the home that transform his living environment into a safe and appealing space for all members of the family and resist the institutional aesthetic often seen in special needs products.
— urbanomnibus.net
