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LAWSUIT
SEEKS TO REMEDY DISTRICT’S INACCESSIBLE PARKING METERS
AND DISCRIMINATORY PARKING POLICIES
PRIOR TO THE WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL OPENING CEREMONIES
Washington,
D.C. Today, two organizations representing
people with disabilities and two individuals with mobility
impairments filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court
for the District of Columbia against the District of
Columbia, charging that its parking program discriminates
against individuals with disabilities. The suit charges
that many parking meters in the District are inaccessible
to people with disabilities. Nonetheless, the vehicles
of people with disabilities are ticketed at expired
meters if they do not display a special District parking
placard, even if those meters are inaccessible, and
even if the cars do display a valid parking placard
from another state. Moreover, many people with disabilities,
especially visitors, find that the requisite annual
application process for obtaining a District placard
to be discriminatorily onerous and time consuming, as
well as unnecessarily intrusive.
The
Disability Rights Council of Greater Washington and
United Spinal Association join the two individual plaintiffs
in filing this action. The DRC is a local membership
organization that advocates for the rights of people
with disabilities. Formerly known as the Eastern Paralyzed
Veterans Association, the United Spinal Association
is a nonprofit national veterans service and disability
rights organization, with over 2,700 members in the
United States, who have disabilities of the spinal cord.
The Association participated in drafting parts of the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Fair Housing
Amendments Act (FHHA). The action brought today notes
that on May 29, 2004, the National World War II Memorial
ceremonies will bring thousands of World War II veterans
with disabilities to the District, many of whom will
be unable to operate the District’s inaccessible parking
meters or comply with its onerous placard application
process.
"People
with disabilities have no problem being asked to pay
for parking like everyone else. Just don't make it impossible
to pay and then give us tickets. " says Robert
Herman, of the DRC's board. William Hannigan, spokesperson
for the United Spinal Association, adds, “The United
Spinal Association strives for the independence of all
Americans with mobility disabilities, including myself.
Ironically the District, where the laws that protect
our independence have been created, has and continues
to place barriers preventing persons with disabilities
to move about freely and enjoy this city.”
The
individual plaintiffs, Russell Holt and John Folan,
are residents of Maryland and Delaware respectively.
They have been granted state disabled parking placards,
but have not applied for the District’s placard, as
they object to the process and the intrusive questions.
They travel frequently to the District, and run the
risk of having their vehicles ticketed each time they
park on-the-street in DC.
The
suit alleges that the District’s parking program violates
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
as well as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The
action seeks to require the District to bring its parking
meters and parking program into compliance with the
ADA and Section 504, as well as its own laws and regulations,
so that persons with disabilities may have access to
on-the-street parking in the same manner as all other
persons. The lawsuit also seeks to require the District
to alter its current application form and process for
its parking placard program for persons with disabilities
so that it complies with the United States Constitution
and federal and District disability rights laws.
"It
is disturbing that more than ten years after Congress
enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act, persons
with disabilities who visit the Nation's Capital for
business or personal needs or as tourists are still
made to feel unwelcome due to the District's discriminatory
parking policies," says Doane Kiechel of the law
firm of Morrison & Foerster, one of plaintiffs'
attorneys. Plaintiffs are also represented by Elaine
Gardner of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil
Rights and Urban Affairs and Seth Galanter, Jennifer
Richter Maurer, and Matthew Schruers of Morrison &
Foerster. Morrison & Foerster, an international
law firm with offices in Washington, D.C., has an awarding
winning pro bono program and a commitment to matters
of public interest and service to the local community.
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