Gettysburg projects held to higher ADA standards

The Gettysburg Times ^ | December 1, 2008 | SCOT ANDREW PITZER

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Disability regulations are likely to get “tougher” in Gettysburg, according to town administrators, to help the borough government avoid court time as it battles American with Disabilities Act (ADA) complaints.

The municipality is currently mired in 26 disabled rights suits filed with the state’s Human Relations Commission in Harrisburg.

(snip)

Property owners in Gettysburg, according to town officials, are responsible for sidewalks. Some driveway and sidewalk ADA upgrades, Lawver has predicted, could cost as little as $2,500 and as much as $10,000.

(snip)

President George H.W. Bush signed the American with Disabilities Act in 1990, making accessibility for disabled persons a civil right and federal law.

The municipality had been named in more than 30 ADA complaints, filed by Hampstead, Md., disabled rights activist Marilynn Phillips and Gettysburg resident Eugene Corwell.

(snip)

Also, the suits are having a negative impact on the downtown business community. The downtown was plotted during the Civil War era, when ADA compliancy was not a concern.

Now, many entrepreneurs are fearful that the ADA lawsuits will result in costly projects, or force the businesses to close.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Another one of Bush 41's legacies.

This is a local story in Adams County, Pennsylvania, the gist of which is that two wheelchair-bound shake-down artists are essentially terrorizing businesses in town under threats of endless ADA litigation. These birds apparently have nothing better to with their lives than to harrass small businesses and file one ADA complaint after another against them. My wife is one of these small business owners who got an ominous email from the woman shake-down artist a few weeks ago, stating that the Civil War-era building where she was located had been targeted for ADA compliance. Fortunately, my wife was then in the process of moving to a new location outside of town, but it only a matter of time before this woman shows up again on her door step threatening a lawsuit.

I'm just curious as to how widespread this type of activity is engaged in by ADA shake-down artists? Any first-hand stories?

[sneakers]

bookmark

[tubebender]

The same thing is happening here in Eureka Ca. The scumbag sends in a wheelchair bound shill and cites the business for something as minor as a grab bar 1/2 inch too high...

[ottbmare]

It is insane to try to retrofit a ca.1840s town to accommodate the perceived needs of ca. 2008 handicapped people. They’re going to have to demolish the town and/or add historically inauthentic, obtrusive, ugly ramps and widened doorways, as well as screwing up the battlefield.

Right now, most of the places a tourist would want to go—like Little Round Top, Devil’s Den, the Lee Monument, the Visitors’ Center, the PA monument, and the High Water Mark—are readily accessible to the handicapped. Having crutched around Gettysburg myself when injured after a riding accident, I know it’s possible to get around without forcing changes.

[Fast Moving Angel]

I hope General Lee comes back to haunt them.