By Allison Steele
Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer
After six years of legal wrangling, a judge has ordered SEPTA to install
elevators for disabled passengers at two major stations.
Ruling Friday in a lawsuit by Disabled in Action of Pennsylvania, U.S.
District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter ordered SEPTA to build elevators in the
courtyards at 15th and Market Streets and in the center of City Hall.
Those areas have staircases or escalators leading to the Market-Frankford
and Broad Street lines.
"This is, purely and simply, about civil rights and equal access," Steve
Gold, the attorney for the disability-rights organization, said yesterday.
"Disabled Americans have the right to access these stations."
SEPTA spokesman Gary Fairfax said yesterday that he had not seen the
ruling and could not comment yet.
Nancy Salandra, president of DIA's board, said she was thrilled. "The
judge did the right thing," she said. "This was a very frustrating process
for us."
The lawsuit argued that SEPTA should have installed elevators in 2002 and
2003, when escalators and stairways in those areas were replaced. SEPTA
argued that disabled passengers could get to the 15th and Market station
by taking an elevator on 16th Street between JFK Boulevard and Market
Street, which takes passengers down to a concourse.
That elevator is about 340 feet from the station, DIA argued, meaning that
disabled people would have to travel significantly farther than other
passengers.
"When you're talking about equal access and discrimination, it's not a
money issue," Gold said.
According to the ruling, SEPTA's director of engineering said installing
the elevator at City Hall would cost about $2 million and said in a
deposition that as far as he knew, it could be done.
Disability-rights organizations have been battling SEPTA over compliance
with the American With Disabilities Act since the law was enacted in 1990.
In 1993, a group of people in wheelchairs sued SEPTA because buses were
not always equipped with working lifts. In 2001, a judge ordered the
agency to improve access to its paratransit vans, which transport disabled
passengers and seniors, and implemented steep fines if SEPTA failed to
provide a rider with a requested trip.
Contact staff writer Allison Steele at 215-854-2641 or
asteele@phillynews. com.
SEPTA ordered to install elevators for disabled | Philadelphia Inquirer |
09/13/2009
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20090913_ SEPTA_ordered_ to_install_elevators_for_disabled.html
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