Boston Courant: city to take up sidewalk in question

Posted by John B. Kelly

Not really being on the ball, I just saw a copy of the Boston Courant article about Neighborhood Access Group. The Courant comes out every Monday, is free, and is a great source for local neighborhood news.

Author Dan Friedman writes that

Following pressure from NAG and other groups, the city said that bricks will be removed from the stretch of Huntington Avenue near Massachusetts Avenue, including in front of the Symphony Towers, which houses mostly elderly and disabled residents.

This is news to me. And great news, if it happens.

Great reporting, Dan!

Here is an excerpt of the article:

NAG members showed up at Mayor Thomas Menino's August press conference announcing the reconstruction of streets around Symphony Hall, in what Kelly called an effort to embarrass the mayor. They held four subsequent protests on Huntington Avenue, including a march on November 2.

The group argues that installation of brick sidewalks is an aesthetic choice made without regard for the discomfort and danger bricks impose on disabled residents and other pedestrians.

"How outrageous [is it] that... people can't even come back from shopping without risk of peeing their pants, that people have to take the bus instead of using the sidewalk, go in the street or get sick so others can look at nice sidewalks on their way to their reserved parking places?" Kelly asked.

NAG continually calls for the city to remove brick along the length Huntington Avenue and eventually evaluate every brick sidewalk in Boston.

The city still has to repair the sidewalk in the meantime -- it is dangerous, especially going into winter season, when icy, uneven sidewalks can slide wheelchairs right into the street.

City Flouts State Order; Misses Deadline

Posted by John B. Kelly

As of 6 p.m. tonight, November 30, the city of Boston has missed a state deadline to to bring a stretch of Huntington Avenue into compliance with the state building code.

The city had 30 days to repair the sidewalk, and did not.

May the fines begin!

These three pictures above (sorry about the lack of formatting) were taken tonight by Alea Olson of Wheelock College.

Just click on the images for larger versions, which will show that the cross slopesare still quite a bit above 2%, the legal limit.

SUSPENSE! Will the city meet its deadline of November 30 to repair Huntington Avenue?

Posted by John B. Kelly

Left: 3.4% cross slope on Huntington Avenue. Click on image for larger version. Photo Serban Dragomir.

The city of Boston, never one to squander an opportunity to repair its relationship with the disability community, has until the end of tomorrow to repair the cross slopes on a short stretch of Huntington Avenue in front of the Utrecht art store and Symphony Towers West (across from the side entrance to Symphony Hall).

It is a long story, and one in which the city does not appear in good light. But let's see if the city can manage to have the sidewalk brought into compliance by tomorrow. If not, we will immediately file a letter with the Architectural Access Board.

As far as I know, the city has not done so, but I will have it checked tomorrow.

So will the city repair the sidewalk? Or will it ignore another deadline? Inquiring minds want to know.

Tune in tomorrow, and we will let you know....

Tedious, Complicated, Background:

In previous stories, I described how NAG and BCIL filed a complaint against the city on August 6, 2004, regarding the stretch of brick sidewalk between Massachusetts Avenue and Gainsborough Street, across from the side entrance of Symphony Hall (and in front of the Huntington Theatre and Pizzeria Uno). The city failed to respond to any notices regarding the hearing in January of 2005. The Architectural Access Board, meanwhile, respectfully listened to a lot of eloquent testimony from people with disabilities. So the access board found against the city .

Then the access board held a hearing to determine whether it should fine the city for its smug contempt for the access board's process . At this hearing, the city argued that it did not even legally own the sidewalk, that "care and custody of the sidewalk" remained with the MBTA. City lawyer Cook tried the George Bush approach of repeating the phrase over and over to see if magic would occur. It did not.

As in, no, just because the MBTA coordinated construction on behalf of the city doesn't mean that it is responsible for it -- 18 months later! The contractor supervised by the MBTA finished the sidewalk in early 2004, and now it was 2005, with the only construction remaining including a small amount of landscaping (those poor dead trees) and crosswalks (those controversial decorative ones just installed on Huntington Avenue).

For a homey analogy, consider that when a contractor finishes some construction on your property, and someone files a complaint against you about it , you are the responsible party, not the contractor who finished his work 18 months ago. Imagine the field of property law if such were the case.

In a hilarious exchange between board members and city engineer Para Jayasingh and Kate Cook, the board concluded that responsibility remained with the city (but then realized that it probably didn't have the right to fine the city yet).

So the city, ever standing on principle, appealed to Superior Court, which duly rejected the city's argument. I'm still waiting to read the decision!

Then the city seems to have had an idea, like "maybe if we told the MBTA to fix the sidewalk, it could get fixed and we wouldn't have to pay anything either."

This produced a farcical meeting on the sidewalk with probably 10 important officials, who squatted and squinted and tried to line up pictures of noncompliant bricks with the shifting, settling bricks in front of their eyes.

During this time we were gathering signatures at the Symphony Towers buildings on a petition to submit to Mayor Thomas Menino, asking him to take this opportunity to replace the terrible brick sidewalks with a functional, passable sidewalk surface.

The city then actually did get some work done, probably paid for by the contractor McCourt (the guy who owns the Los Angeles Dodgers), and in July certified to the access board that the sidewalk was now fully compliant.

Something smelled a little bit fishy, though. How could the city repair the cross slope problems on the sidewalk without digging up a lot of bricks?. After all, we had measured the sidewalk ourselves, and we saw that it was on occasion over 3.0%. The board was requiring the city to repair all slopes over 2.0%. Now the city was certifying that cross slopes were very low without having done any work.

In August, protesters embarrassed Mayor Menino as he announced federal money to reconstruct the intersections of Massachusetts Avenue and Huntington, Westland, and St. Stephen. I had with me the citizen petition, but before the event, I panicked a little bit and gave the 64 Symphony Towers signatures to Nikko Mendoza, the mayor's liaison to the Fenway community. (When I called her last month to inquire what the mayor said about the petition, Mendoza said that she would have to call me back, that the mayor had perhaps given the petition to Commissioner of Disabilities Spinetto or the Department of Public Works. Following what seems to be standard city practice, she never called back.)

Anyway, with a new Smart Level ™ paid for by the generous contribution of the Mission Hill/Fenway trust fund, a helper and I went out to the sidewalk and checked the cross slopes. Imagine that! Cross slopes reappeared with a 3.0%, 3.4%, etc. I wrote a letter, including pictures, to the access board.

So the access board told the city that it had to repair the sidewalk. The city waits until literally the last second, and sends Kate Cook over to the access board to ask for an extension, not an extension to repair the sidewalk, but an extension on the board order to reply to the order to repair the sidewalk. We couldn't make this stuff up.

The access board, becoming ever more feisty in the face of continual city contempt, immediately ordered the city to have the sidewalk compliant by November 30.

Dying in the Streets

Posted by John B. Kelly

Mary Johnson of the Ragged Edge Online has just posted a crucial story: how people in wheelchairs and scooters are being run down and killed on city streets across the country, because the sidewalks are inaccessible -- no curb ramps, broken up sidewalks, no access maintained during construction, and our local favorite, nightmarish brick sidewalks.

Above: Saddle the guide dog, Alyson Perry, and John Kelly on Beacon Street heading towards Kenmore Square. Photo Rob DuBuske.

I discovered this inaccessible sidewalk on my trip from City Hall on September 29, where I listened to Commissioner of Public Works Joseph Casazza tells some access advocates that he trusts the "good sense" of his supervisors to maintain access. It was a torrential downpour that night, and I spent much of my trip in the street. Alyson Perry and I checked out the route again two days later on Saturday. The sidewalk was still out of service.

Some Choice Paragraphs:

Wheelchair users nationwide risk their lives daily by being forced into the street because their communities, despite the Americans with Disabilities Act, have not bothered to install curb cuts or maintain sidewalks.

No national statistics are compiled on the numbers of wheelchair riders' deaths caused by inaccessible sidewalks. No national group monitors these incidents. And far too many communities ignore legal requirements to install and maintain sidewalks, virtually ensuring that sooner or later some wheelchair rider, forced into the street, will meet with an accident or death.

And in what can only be called a bigoted double-whammy, wheelchair users often risk arrest for traveling the streets in their wheelchairs. Local communities' responses to the "problem" of wheelchairs in the street is not to provide curb ramps and safe sidewalks but to cite and ticket them for operating an unlicensed vehicle in the roadway.

Perhaps the most famous case of someone harrassed for riding a wheelchair in the street because of missing curb cuts and bad sidewalks was Kelly Dillery of Sandusky, Ohio, who was repeatedly cited -- and arrested -- in the late 1990s for driving her wheelchair in the street. Disability rights advocates rallied to her cause. A lawsuit was filed against Sandusky, charging that the city violated Title 2 of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The city appealed, asserting that Title 2 was "not enforceable as a private cause of action." The Sixth Circuit finally overruled the city's appeal, telling Sandusky that "Title II does not merely prohibit intentional discrimination. It also imposes on public entities the requirement that they provide ... meaningful access to public services. (The case was Ability Center of Greater Toledo, et al., v. City of Sandusky). More on the case from The Ability Center.

Disability groups continue to sue communities over a lack of curb cuts -- a suit was filed against Vacaville, CA in the spring of 2004; the previous year, the U.S. Supreme Court had refused to hear an appeal from Sacramento over a lower court decision that required it to make its sidewalks accessible.

And just a few weeks ago, the Michigan Paralyzed Veterans took Detroit to court over the same problem -- missing or poorly constructed curb cuts. (Read more.)

The problem is that these suits are spotty and infrequent. There's no nationally coordinated effort to require cities to install curb cuts and maintain sidewalks. And in many cases, even when a lawsuit is won, it's a long time before a city gets around to putting in the curb cuts, or doing them correctly. Money is always the excuse.

Meanwhile, people continue to die. And most commuities, like St. Louis, have no idea why disabled people drive their wheelchairs in the street, or realize that disabled people are dying nationwide while city councils wring their hands over the requirement for curb cuts.

When the city of Sacramento appealed its loss in federal court to the Supreme Court (Sacramento vs. Barden), guess which city administration had signed on from the very beginning? Boston, cradle of liberty. No local media even mentioned it.

Back to the Grind: Compelling Boston to Obey the Law

Posted by John B. Kelly

Left: Huntington Avenue. Utrecht art store is to the left of this picture downstairs. For a larger version of the picture, just click on it. (photo by Serban Dragomir)

The Massachusetts Architectural Access Board just sent Boston's Department of Public Works notice of its most recent decision, regarding the Huntington Avenue sidewalk.

At a hearing on October 31, the board ruled unanimously that the city must bring the stretch of sidewalk, between Massachusetts Avenue (in front of Utrecht art store) and Betty's Diner, into full compliance by November 30, 2005.

This is the stretch of sidewalk that Neighborhood Access Group and Boston Center for Independent Living filed a complaint with the access board on August 6, 2004. Since then, the city has engaged in a pattern of indifference (not responding to meeting notices, not showing up to hearings), delay (asking for extensions at the last minute), obfuscation (e.g., mailing the access board the entire contract regarding Huntington Avenue rather than responding to specific questions), and buffoonery (trying to argue that the city no longer owned the sidewalk because a contractor had not finished working on it!)

It was delay that the city was engaging in this time. The city is certified to the board this summer that the sidewalk was completely compliant. I was not able to understand how the city was able to rectify the cross slope problems without digging up the sidewalk. So when I finally got my new smart level, I went out there and measured. Surprise, surprise. Those 3.2%, 3.4%, 3.0% readings were back, similar to readings from April 2004.

So I wrote a letter to the board with pictures showing the readings. And then the board wrote to the city saying that it had until October 27 to respond to this new information.

So Boston legal department rising star Kate Cook arrives on October 27 with their request for an extension until December 27. An extension to repair the sidewalk? Of course not, it would be an extension to respond to the new information that it had (cough cough) perhaps not supplied accurate information before.

The board would have none of it.

We will be supplying a steady stream of complaints to the access board this winter, and I look forward to detailing the city's creative responses.

Menino record on access not too good

Posted by John B. Kelly

The Menino administration's indifference to access

• Opposed the Americans with Disabilities Act in federal court (Barden vs. Sacramento)
• Took money intended for the repair of sidewalks and put it into a slush fund to extend its own operating expenses. Still has not accounted for all the money, still ignores patched sidewalks that it promised to repair.
• Never developed any plan to increase access throughout the city.
• Much of downtown is completely inaccessible, busily traveled sidewalks and intersections are broken up and lack ramps
• Unsuccessfully tried to convince a State Superior Court judge that a Huntington Avenue sidewalk did not belong to it during work it had contracted out (maybe we should all try this at home, and say in a pinch that our house and property belongs to the guy painting our house or exterminating termites)
• Has refused to maintain access during construction. Department of Public Works Commissioner Joseph Casazza said at a September 29 meeting that he "trusts the good sense of his supervisors."
• Does not shovel snow from curb ramps
• Does not inspect resurfaced streets and reconstructed sidewalks and ramps. Much of it is not in compliance.
• Breaks promises
• Does not respond to citizen input
• Continues to lay down brick that is dangerous for everyone with a disability or unsure on their feet.

"We Live Here Too" March and Rally

Posted by John B. Kelly

20 people, with and without disabilities, marched Sunday afternoon up Huntington Avenue and rallied against the city's refusal to replace the inaccessible and dangerous brick sidewalks from Parker Street to Massachusetts Avenue. Activists and allies took the only route available to them, in the street.

At the rally which followed, almost every participants spoke about their terrible experience with brick sidewalks. Mayoral candidate Maura Hennigan arrived toward the end of our march, and spoke first to the group. This video will also be made available. I introduced Maura and thanked her for her commitment to clean government, which discovered the city's trick of putting money aside into a slush fund rather than repairing sidewalks. Hennigan promised to reverse the city policies which violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. She said that she believed in following the law.

I thanked her for her work and said that I would deftly be voting for Maura Hennigan on Tuesday. Many of us put Hennigan stickers on.

City councilor Michael Ross arrived and spoke about how "cruel" the bricks are. He encouraged us to try to round up support from the Fenway Alliance and Symphony Hall. Even though the Fenway Alliance pushed hard for the brick, perhaps they will be able to see the danger they pose.

The march started at the new Northeastern glass building at the corner of Parker Street, where we strung up our signs and prepared for the march. Elizabeth Fahey from Senator Steven Tolman's office was the only politician who arrived, unless we count Commissioner of Disabilities Stephen Spinetto, who kept to the background, from which he mainly took pictures and made cell phone calls.

After all the participants had described their nightmares with the brick sidewalks, I asked Commissioner Spinetto what had ever happened to the brick working group, which met once to my knowledge, in September 2003. When asked by counselorRoss at the November 2003 city Council hearing on brick sidewalks win the group would issue a report, Spinetto said that he could not give a firm date but was really looking forward to working on it. The question I wanted answered was, why had the group stopped meeting, or was it meeting in secret?

With some hesitation, Spinetto took the microphone, said this was not the time or place to discuss such a matter, mentioned some other meetings and projects that I was involved in, and then shocked the group by reprimanding us for having such an event in light of the recent murder of a resident across the street. People at the rally were appalled.

Said East Fens resident Tracey Cusick, "Everyone I've talked to was horrified about the recent murder at Symphony Towers. But Spinetto's attempt to link the murder to the lack of access protest on Huntington Avenue is simply wrong. It's shocking that rather than actually address the problems with the sidewalks, Spinetto decided to claim that his sensibilities were offended."

Maura Hennigan said his remark was "disgraceful."

When video is available, it will be posted.

The march went by the law school, the main plaza for the university (one of the worst brick sidewalks in the city -- we will be inviting officials to come take a ride on it) , and the YMCA, on to Pizzeria Uno's, where we shortly thereafter paused in front of the Huntington Theatre.

For me, this was the smoothest trip up Huntington Avenue I had taken in two years. Of course we did not get off that easy, because the city has been busy installing the new "decorative" crosswalks, which are obnoxiously bumpy. Along the way, I pointed out some terrible spots, such as missing bricks, collapsed bricks, noncompliant transitions between brick and other surfaces, and the use of asphalt to patch (very badly) the sidewalk.

Eileen Brewster paused in front of the Huntington Theatre and drew from her storyboard to describe her fall and point out the metal rim which still has not been prepared. The fall now requires her to wear a full body cast, and the pain is too great to go over the sidewalk. She must use a bus or go in the street.

Thanks to everyone who came and spoke!

Maybe next time we should get a parade permit :-)

Civil Rights March a Success; Updates to follow

Above:Pictures taken by John Healy of today's event.

Top left:
Gathering before the march

Top right:
Candidate Maura Hennigan stands next to JohnKelly and Galeen Jones after speaking.

Second left:
Another picture of Hennigan

Second right:
After the rally --Alyson Perry, John Kelly, Jackie O'Sullivan

Third left, third right:
Before the march

Bottom large picture:
Site of Eileen Brister's accident on Huntington Avenue in front of the Huntington Theatre. Eileen described the accident today in a march up Huntington Avenue to demand access to our own sidewalks.

Although it was more than two years ago, notice how the metal rim, which is what shredded Eileen Brewster's tires and threw her to the ground, has still not been repaired.

Also notice how uneven the bricks are.

A more complete update will follow tomorrow.

Must go to bed

Decorative Crosswalks on Huntington Avenue Are Terrible!

Posted by John B. Kelly

Have you seen the new crosswalks along Huntington Avenue? They are really quite pretty.

The only problem is that some of them, like this one crossing Forsyth Way, are very bumpy.

"It's just one thing after another," Symphony Towers resident Pam Beeler told me. "First you have the brick, and then you have the bumpy brick street. There's no relief! Whose fault is this? Is it Menino's?"

I thought the fact that no brick crosswalks had been installed represented a small victory for us, and the first few thermoplastic crosswalks I went over were smooth. But the latest ones we've ridden over are awful. It's just adding insult to injury.

I first heard about this "steelprint" process at a meeting with the Department of public Works on September 29. Other advocates and I heard about a crosswalk that had been placed on Melnea Cass Boulevard as a test. The process supposedly resulted in perfectly smooth crosswalks.

Next thing we know, they start popping up all over Huntington Avenue. First few seemed great, but I still felt sour that the city was spending money on decoration rather than repairing the dangerous brick sidewalks.

So far as I know, Forsyth Way, and both sides of Gainsborough Street are terrible. I wrote our liaison at the Department of Public Works about this, and am still waiting for an answer.

Join Chuck Turner, Maura Hennigan in saying "We Live Here, too"

Posted by John B. Kelly

Please come join us on Sunday, as we march up Huntington Avenue to demand safe sidewalks for everyone.

City councilor Chuck Turner and mayoral candidate Maura Hennigan have confirmed their participation.

You can come at 2:00 p.m. at Huntington and Parker Street, which is across from the Museum of Fine Arts and Forsyth Way.

Or you can come at 3 p.m. at Symphony Towers, 333 Massachusetts Ave, right across from Symphony Hall.

Come see our storyboards about what brick does to us.

Come here us speak about our experiences.

The poster above is "parasited" from the Fenway Alliance's Columbus Day "Opening Our Doors!" celebration. The Fenway Alliance, the consortium of 22 institutions in the Huntington area, was instrumental in putting these bricks down in the first place, in its selfish desire to keep up with the Joneses (Harvard and BU).

Sunday, 2 P.M. November 6, Civil Rights March on Huntington Avenue

Posted by John B. Kelly

Here is the press release that started being sent out yesterday.

People looking for more information can see stories by people with disabilities here, here, here, here,and elsewhere.

People looking for information on brick sidewalks and how we got to where we are can check here, here, and here

MARCH FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND PUBLIC SAFETY UP HUNTINGTON AVE, SUNDAY NOV. 6, 2:00 PM

Join Eileen Brewster as she rolls up Huntington Avenue, in the street, from Parker Street to Massachusetts Avenue, to protest how she and other people with disabilities are being excluded from the sidewalks of Boston. All citizens concerned about civil rights and public safety are invited to gather at the corner of Parker Street and Huntington Avenue, on Sunday, November 6 at 2:00 p.m. A rally organized by Neighborhood Access Group (NAG) will follow the march, at about 3:00 p.m., in front of the Symphony Towers elderly/disabled housing complex. People of disabilities will be speaking about their experience with brick sidewalks.

Public officials are invited to march in support of the right to neighborhood travel.

Access advocates are also furious about the new decorative crosswalks being installed along Huntington Avenue. "It's just one thing after another," said Symphony Towers resident Pam Beeler. "First you have the brick, and then you have the bumpy brick street. There's no relief! Whose fault is this? Is it Menino's?"

The new crosswalks along Huntington Avenue consist of thermoplastic "brick" patterns imprinted into the asphalt. The original streetscape design called for crosswalks of brick pavers, which had not been installed. The decorative crosswalks had been promised to be completely smooth.

Brewster said, "I moved to Boston for better accessibility and everywhere I turn there are bricks around me. And after the sidewalk in front of the Huntington Theatre shredded my wheelchair tires and made me fall, I've been in a full body cast ever since. I can't go on the bricks now because it just adds to my pain. Now to go down Huntington Ave., I have to use the bus. I tried to go protest against Mayor Menino when he announced the Symphony Streetscape Project, but my bus got me there too late!"

Brewster will pause to tell her story at the spot in front of the Huntington Theatre where she fell.

"Sooner or later, these bricks are coming out," NAG founder John Kelly said . "Where are the people, who will be the leaders to declare that civil rights and personal safety are more important than some powerful people's idea of 'beautification?'"

Huntington Avenue had concrete sidewalks until two years ago, when they were replaced with "Boston City Hall Pavers," bricks specially manufactured to be uneven and pitted for an "historic" look. Institutions like Northeastern University and the Fenway Alliance consortium pushed hard for the bricks as a way to "improve" the neighborhood.

Bill Henning, executive director of Boston Center for Independent Living, said "We cannot passively watch as people with disabilities are forced from the city's sidewalks because some group of people think it's cute that Boston in 2005 look as it did in 1905 or 1805. In an era when diversity is rightfully desired, some are quite content to essentially expand exclusion via public works."

Hundreds of elderly and disabled people live right next to the brick sidewalks, and have been forced to go in the street, alter their travel routes, or stay at home. Despite protests, testimony before the City Council, and complaints filed with the Architectural Access Board, the Department of Public Works has refused to budge on the issue. Indeed, brick sidewalks have continued to go down throughout the city, from Washington Street to Cambridge Street downtown.

To get their story out, Brewster and protesters will be showing off "storyboards," which describe the problems brick sidewalks cause, both for people with disabilities and non-disabled people.

"When I see bricks I think of the pain it is going to cause me to go down the street. When I see bricks I look around desperately to see if there is another way I can go," writes Brookline resident Stacy Berloff. "Brick sidewalks rattle my brains and I get a stiff neck from trying to stabilize my head," writes Brighton resident Tony Horne. Symphony Towers resident Billie Tyler asks the public to "Help us get rid of this brick, please!" The Huntington Avenue brick sidewalks make her and other disabled women incontinent.

Symphony Haunting a Success!

On Sunday afternoon, five NAG members (and a boney friend) haunted the island between Symphony Hall and the Towers, passing out keychains and encouraging people to call the mayor's hotline about the dangerous bricks that are plaguing the city.