by eila in Accessibility, Civil and Human Rights, Davis Square, Pedestrians, Seniors, Teele Square, Uncategorized, Ward 1, Ward 4, Ward 6, Ward 7
Posted on November 3, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Last Modified on November 3, 2010 at 8:57 pm
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Ward One
Precinct 3. Reilly-Brickley fire station, 266 Broadway
Above photo: 7 inch step in front of the only Entrance available to Voters at Reilly-Brickley Fire Station.
51.02(3) Entrance.
(a) At least one entrance to the building must be accessible to physically disabled persons. If the main entrance to the building is not accessible, signs must be posted directing persons from the ordinary path of travel to the accessible entrance.
Above photo: No safe path of travel provided from the right (Kenneson Road). HP parking with no curbcut. Sign is 4 feet high.
Above photo: No continuous 36-inch smooth path of travel provided from the left (Walnut Street) side of Polling site.
Above photo: Path to door not usable for people with visual or balance problems.
51.02(1): Site Access. A clear, reasonably lit, unobstructed path of travel must be provided from the designated spaces in the parking lot, and from the street, to the accessible entrance to the building where the polling place is located. Such path of travel shall have a continuous common surface, not interrupted by steps or abrupt changes in level greater than ½ inch.
51.02(2)(c)3: Identification of handicapped spaces shall be by a sign at each space or pair of spaces. The signs shall be at a height of not less than five feet nor more than eight feet to the top of the sign.
51.02(2)(d): If a sidewalk is provided at such parking spaces, a curb cut (sidewalk ramp) shall be installed at each space or pair of spaces. The slope of the curb cut shall not exceed 1:12.
51.02(2)(e): If no parking lot is available on the premises of the polling place, at least one on-street parking place in front of the polling place must be at least temporarily designated as a handicapped parking space.
Ward Three
Precinct 2. Cummings School, use Prescott St. entrance
Above photo: Cummings School basement gym, Prescott entrance, has a usable ramp- but the sidewalk doesn't have any curbcuts.
Above photo: The curb height on the school side of the Cummings School Crossing is over 4 inches.
51.02(2)(c)3: Identification of handicapped spaces shall be by a sign at each space or pair of spaces. The signs shall be at a height of not less than five feet nor more than eight feet to the top of the sign.
51.02(2)(d): If a sidewalk is provided at such parking spaces, a curb cut (sidewalk ramp) shall be installed at each space or pair of spaces. The slope of the curb cut shall not exceed 1:12.
Ward Four
Precinct 2. Reilly-Brickley Fire Station, 266 Broadway
Above photo: Reilly-Brickley Fire Station's designated HP spot is seen, with no curbcut access and sign 4 feet high.
For regs, see above, Ward One, Precinct 3.
Ward Six Precinct 2. Ciampa Manor, 27 College Ave.
Above, top: Intersection crosswalks on College Ave. at Ciampa Manor do not include safe curbcuts. Above, bottom: Ward 6 Pct. 2 HP designated parking offers no curbcuts and the signs are 4 feet high. (The curbcut nearest Ciampa Manor entrance is excessively sloped.)
51.02(2)(d): If a sidewalk is provided at such parking spaces, a curb cut (sidewalk ramp) shall be installed at each space or pair of spaces. The slope of the curb cut shall not exceed 1:12.
51.02(2)(c)3: Identification of handicapped spaces shall be by a sign at each space or pair of spaces. The signs shall be at a height of not less than five feet nor more than eight feet to the top of the sign.
Ward Six Precinct 3. L’Eglise Baptiste de la Bible (formerly the United Methodist Church), 45 College Ave., Chapel St. entrance
Above photo: nearest curbcut has a change in level at foot of over 1/2 inch; a 10.3% cross slope; a rise of 20.6%. Door has a slope of 12% in front of entrance. Designated HP signage is 4 feet high. More feasibly minimal slopes can be created here to allow safer pedestrian conditions for everyone.
51.02 (3) Entrance. (a) At least one entrance to the building must be accessible to physically disabled persons. If the main entrance to the building is not accessible, signs must be posted directing persons from the ordinary path of travel to the accessible entrance.
(b) The approach to the accessible entrance shall be a paved walk or ramp with a non-slip surface, uninterrupted by steps or abrupt changes in level greater than ½ inch. Such entrance shall have a level space 60 inches from the door on the interior and exterior of the doors.
51.02(2)(c)3: Identification of handicapped spaces shall be by a sign at each space or pair of spaces. The signs shall be at a height of not less than five feet nor more than eight feet to the top of the sign. The sign shall also contain the International Symbol of Accessibility and may include wording identifying its use.
Ward Seven
Precinct 2. Engine 6 Teele Square Fire Station, 6 Newbury St.
Above photo: Teele Square Fire Station sports 3 stairs- no access for wheelchair users at all.
Above photo: No alternate accessible entrance provided at Teele Square Fire Station, Ward 7.
51.02(3) Entrance: (a) At least one entrance to the building must be accessible to physically disabled persons. If the main entrance to the building is not accessible, signs must be posted directing persons from the ordinary path of travel to the accessible entrance.
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Dear Eila, I wish I had the answer. How come complaints to Federal and State authorities isn’t effective?
Other ideas include :
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Get an attorney to file a lawsuit against the city. He only seems to respond to lawsuits. I am sure there is an attorney who would take this case on.
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Barry: I would run against him and use this issue. It is ridiculous how Eila is being treated. I look at Walnut Street with its giant trees that take up an entire sidewalk and imagine how can someone in a wheelchair go up it. They would have to go out onto the road. He is awful!
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Janine, are you declaring your candidacy for Mayor in next year’s election? How exciting!
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Trust me, I would run against him in a heartbeat. But it will take a huge effort on many others to help me. This issue is amazing. He is ignoring a group of people and it is awful.
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Janine, all you, or anybody has to do is stand up with a message of reform in front of the many who are currently being ignored, and they will rise with you, carrying you handily to victory in the Mayor’s race. What do you say?
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I would do it in a heartbeat. But, let me speak with my family about whether or not they could handle something like this. I see so much more potential for this city. I wish the same people were not always running for office in this city. I am an outsider and have fresh ideas.
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Janine – If you live in Ward 3, I really, really think you (or anyone with a grasp of the issues) could quite easily give your alderman a run for the money.
I’d start there. A political novice taking on Curatone right now would be quixotic.
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Tricky, I don’t live in Ward 3, but I haven’t heard complaints about Ald. Taylor. So it might be less quixotic to challenge Curtatone. Of course we don’t even know whether the mayor will seek another term.
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Well, that’s the thing. You don’t hear complaints about Taylor. You don’t hear *anything* about Taylor. The guy is a relative non-entity on the board, and isn’t he pretty much a rubberstamp for the Mayor?
You get enough alderman who aren’t (automatically) in lockstep with Curatone, and he’s got to start governing differently. But the Mayor is generally well-liked, and barring a major scandal, that job seems to be his for as long as he wants it.
Now if Capuano knocks off Scott Brown in 2012, and Curatone is elected to the House, this would be an all-out political free-for-all.
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Tricky, anyone who pays attention to the local news would be familiar with Ald. Taylor’s name.
Ald. Tom Taylor has been in the local news quite a bit. Previously, he has opposed Curtatone on such things as the partial privatization of the school custodians. More recently, he’s opposed the affordable housing development at 162 Highland Ave, which many affordable housing advocates actually did complain about. Perhaps he’s vulnerable on the affordable housing issue at least.
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Gentlemen: As a resident of Ward 3, I am FAR from satisfied with Taylor. Decisions he made regarding construction on Benton Road and what is happening across the street from my house have caused me to not support him. I have thought about running for election over the last few years but each time I was pregnant. I am seriously thinking of running against him.
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There’s at least one person in each ward that I think can beat the elected alderman. Janine: I think you can take Taylor. Barry: where do you live? You could beat your alderman probably. I’m kinda ok with the ward 6 alderman, but she can annoy me sometimes-same with two. I don’t know much about ward 5, but I do like that chick that started the ward 5 website and I would like to see her run. Ward 1 can do better than the white haired dude because I never hear anything from him. What about all the at large guys? I only like one of them.
I should probably get names before I comment-haha.
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Dexter, thanks for your encouraging words! I live in Ward 7 and I think you’re thinking of Courtney O’Keefe who started Ward5online.com . Have you thought about running yourself?
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Thanks, Barry. I have thought about it, but I am scared and not afraid to admit it…it costs a lot of money and I don’t think I know enough. You and Janine sound like you know more than me so that’s why I think you two should run. I just left Courtney a comment on her website. I probably should have asked if it was ok before I posted here on somerville voices.
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Hi Dexter, of course you, or anybody, is welcome to post here. You can put as much or as little of your own money into a campaign. If you have a good fund-raising strategy you might not need to put in much of your own money, though. You might be interested to check out the MassAlliance campaign trainings.
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Thanks for the link, Barry. I’ll check it out this weekend.
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Does anyone know why my ears are ringing?
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These examples show two problems: dismissal of people’s rights to participate in the political process (and whatever else is happening at each site) or a desire to provide access but no attention paid to the details needed to make things truly accessible. A ramp to steps? A flat surface with no curb cut? That kind of business is just sloppy and as unaccessible as the former problem.
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While this one is fresh in my mind. On Nov. 2 I drove my 98 year old Mom to the Brown School to vote. The HP entrance door on the side of the buliding was clearly marked for HP use. But there was no signage on the street marking spaces for HP placard or plated vehicles.
All HP marked vehicle spaces were clear around the corner from the HP entrance. This is the second time (first was the special election to replace Sen. Kennedy) that this has occured. I did verbally report it directly to Election Commissioner Salerno then.
This time, I’m not wasting my time. I’ve found a sypathetic ear at the SOC’s office and will be filing an official complaint against the city.
BTW, I did park adjacent to the HP entrance, prominently displayed Mom’s placard, marched her right into the polling room and watched in amazement as she filled out her ballot without hesitation. Full disclosure: she had her “note to self” on who to vote for but asked me to help her with the ballot questions.
It never ceases to amaze me how this administration courts the senior vote when it wants something from them but can’t seem to perform a simple task like a temporary HP streetsign on voting day.
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Yes!- Accurate Federal and state complaints are absolutely effective, and they definitely facilitate improvements!
Perhaps the larger community can be more proactive, though, to demand that minimal architectural and communications access standards are met, equal to our demands for minimal sanitary, safety, and other code standards… so that the ‘Ville’s diverse disability culture gets an equal chance to enjoy and be enjoyed.
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Yes, so what would it mean for the larger community to be more proactive and make those demands? What would that look like in real terms? Accessibility advocacy being incorporated into existing campaigns and efforts? Something entirely new?
When you say the larger community, who are you thinking about? Non-profits? Schools? Media? All of the above? Anyone in particular?
Has any group(s) been especially responsive or not to this issue? How to begin?
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What kind of Federal and State complaints have been made and when might we see some results?
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@Barry, yes, it seems like we need to incorporate knowledgeable diverse disability representatives into all the other great efforts that are ongoing in the ‘Ville, such as affordable housing, low-income programs, sustainability, etc.
For example, how can any program be sustainable if it doesn’t remove barriers to participation right from the start?! Yet, architectural access is still not mainstreamed even in standards for social and cultural sustainability. Are Somerville’s green programs accessible at the offices?! Similarly, diversity benchmarks often exclude the diversity of disabilities, which means that a whole range of interesting ideas are left out. Or, for example, the wonderful artists programs throughout the Ville- still largely inaccessible, even though artists with disAbilities are movers and shakers in world culture throughout history.
Looking forward to hearing everyone’s ideas!
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These images alone could trigger a DoJ investigation and will likely interest the MA Disability Law Center. Someone should post the SOS polling place reports online. If you can’t get access to them, Somerville residents should download the DoJ Voting Accessibility checklist and do their own survey – maybe invite the aldermen and Mayor along to help measure…See: http://www.ada.gov/votingck.htm
See also: http://www.ada.gov/publicat.htm#Anchor-TitleII-47857
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One John F. Babin reports of an elderly woman having been denied her right to vote on Election Day in his letter-to-the-editor today in the SNews. For her, the accessibility barrier was language.
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From what I read in the article, she wasn’t denied the right to vote.
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Knut, it seems two of the woman’s rights were violated according to the Massachusetts Voters’ Bill of Rights
#5
You have the right to request assistance when voting from anyone of your choice. If you do not bring someone with you, you have the right to have two (2) poll workers assist you.
#7
You have the right to vote if you cannot read or write or cannot read or write English.
Furthermore, with regard to the focus of this post…
#6
You have the right to vote if you are disabled. The polling place must be accessible, and there must be an accessible voting booth.
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The election staffers could’ve and should’ve done more to help this woman, but she was not denied her right to vote. To say that is dishonest and sensationalist.
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Knut, the right to vote does not simply mean the right to hold a ballot – although many, especially voters with disabilities are not even able to get that far as this post makes clear. As I and eila have pointed out, voter’s have many types of voting rights at the state and federal level. It seems pretty clear that this woman’s rights were violated, do you disagree? If so, why?
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Thanks so much for connecting us to this important story in the Somerville News, Barry.
As you’ve pointed out, communication and information accessibility during voting is covered by Massachusetts state law. It’s also covered, to a certain extent, in the Federal Voting Rights Act, Section 203, which says: “Whenever any State or political subdivision [covered by the section] provides registration or voting notices, forms, instructions, assistance, or other materials or information relating to the electoral process, including ballots, it shall provide them in the language of the applicable minority group as well as in the English language.”
(Just like with disability-related rights, minority language rights are often sliced and diced according to who is counted. In order to figure out if your language is covered by the Federal Voting Rights Act Section 203, you have to determine if: there are 5% of the total voting age citizens who are members of your minority language group, if those persons have depressed literacy rates, and if they are counted as “not speak[ing] English very well.”)
From Mr. Babin’s description, it sounds like a frail, elderly Spanish-speaking citizen did all the right things: she showed up to vote, followed all procedures, and requested help from poll workers to translate her ballot. Sounds like she was not accorded even minimal standard response under the law. Nor was she treated with friendliness, due consideration, or even ordinary customer-care courtesy. When Mr. Babin stepped in, he said he was rebuffed. His witness, Mr. Haslett, doesn’t deny that. Most importantly, it sounds as though the woman’s right to choose whether she preferred Mr. Babin’s assistance was also denied.
This is absolutely relevant to the story here. Access to our rights is only meaningful if it’s connected to inclusive opportunities. This woman was disenfranchised in Somerville, also.
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First of all, I only can comment on this based what I read in the article so it would be hard to get to the details – for example, did the woman specifically point at the writer and say, I want him to help me? If not, perhaps the staffer was trying to protect her from a polical predator that was lurking in the polls that under a disguise of offering help was trying to get her to vote for Mickey Mouse
. Although her rights might have been violated by the staff (probably unintentionally), she was not denied her right to vote. I think there is a significant difference there, don’t you?
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Knut, the article said the woman “requested help in translating her ballot” and “poll worker told her there was nothing to be done to assist her”. Doesn’t that denial of assistance constitute a violation of her right to vote?
Which of “her rights might have been violated by the staff”, if not her right to vote?
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Where is this story of the woman trying to vote?
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@Janine,
Somerville News: http://www.thesomervillenews.com/archives/9492
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Thanks Courtney. After reading the “Letter to the Editor” and not an actual story covered by the newspaper, there seem to be to very conflicting sides to this story. I could understand the poll person not allowing Mr. Babin to assist as he is a fellow voter and may try and sway a vote. But I believe the poll place should have had someone there to help translate ballots.
Not to toot my own horn, but this issue was one of many issues that Jim Henderson ran for as the independent candidate for SOS. The current SOS does not care about this issue and never has. Too bad the media basically ignored this race and pretty much gave Galvin a free pass.
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At tonight’s Ward 7 ResiStat meeting, I asked Ald. Trane about the lack of accessibility at the Teele Square Fire Station. He said that Precinct 2 used to vote at the church (I think he was referring to the Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church) but then they moved it to the fire station because it is more accessible and there weren’t other good options.
He mentioned that his father uses a wheel-chair and votes at the fire station. When he takes his father there, the election staff just open the big garage door. I pointed out that there was no marked accessible entrance. He said folks needing such an entrance should just wait for the officer on duty to walk around the building and help them through the garage door. I said that could mean someone might be waiting around for a while, but he didn’t think it would take long at all. At least he promised to talk to Elections Director Nicholas Salerno to try to improve the signage. But this is clearly not an acceptable or ADA-compliant polling site.
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I was inside the Ward 7 Fire Station most of election day.
I heard someone complaining about handicapped entrance not being available. This woman was not handicapped herself, she had a large baby stroller with her. However she could hardly be expected to leave the baby and the stroller outside while she voted. I do not recall seeing any people in wheelchairs come in to vote. (I was there from 7 am to 3:30 pm).
It was a cold day. No one was hanging around outside to see if anyone needed the front door opened. The police officer was inside the majority of the time. Alderman Trane of course would know enough to come in and ask them to open the door for his father. Regular voters would not know that. There was no sign I was aware of.
Another issue I saw was with the special electronic voting machine for people with disabilities. The machine sits on a low table. No chair was placed anywhere near the machine. People would come in and have to stand and try to vote in a very awkward position. Awkward to see it and awkward to reach your hand down to make your selection. It is designed to be used by people when they are sitting, not standing. As I watched a visually impaired voter struggle to use it from a standing position I asked the poll workers to please get him a chair. It had never occurred to them. They did get the chair after he was more than halfway done.
These poll workers did pretty well with people who needed language assistance…well better than I have seen at many a polling place in the past. They did not try to influence the vote in these cases….yes, I have seen that happen in the past unfortunately.
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Katie, thanks for your first-hand account. Were you a poll watcher for a campaign?
How did the woman with the baby get in, through the garage door?
Did you see Ald. Trane come in to ask for the door to be opened? Or was he assisted by an officer outside?
The low height of the voting machine table sounds like a serious problem.
What type of language assistance was offered? Were there translated ballots? Interpreters?
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Katie, thanks so much for that first-hand report.
Barry, thanks so much for asking the Ward 7 Alderman to respond to these issues.
Now we know how the Alderman swats the community’s legitimate complaints away with a story about how he, as an entitled member of the community “has no problem” with these issues. Of course, Katie’s report is the accurate report. This Alderman is disrespectful of these issues, and has no awareness that people with disAbilities have a reasonable expectation to be able to participate with independence and dignity- just like him.
How unfortunate that this elected official is so ignorant of the laws that govern nondiscrimination in public programs for individuals with disAbilities!
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