- LanguageAfrikaans Argentina AzÉrbaycanca
á¥áá áá£áá Äesky Ãslenska
áá¶áá¶ááááá à¤à¥à¤à¤à¤£à¥ বাà¦à¦²à¦¾
தமிழ௠à²à²¨à³à²¨à²¡ ภาษาà¹à¸à¸¢
ä¸æ (ç¹é«) ä¸æ (é¦æ¸¯) Bahasa Indonesia
Brasil Brezhoneg CatalÃ
ç®ä½ä¸æ Dansk Deutsch
Dhivehi English English
English Español Esperanto
Estonian Finnish Français
Français Gaeilge Galego
Hrvatski Italiano Îλληνικά
íêµì´ LatvieÅ¡u Lëtzebuergesch
Lietuviu Magyar Malay
Nederlands Norwegian nynorsk Norwegian
Polski Português RomânÄ
Slovenšcina Slovensky Srpski
Svenska Türkçe Tiếng Viá»t
Ù¾Ø§Ø±Ø³Û æ¥æ¬èª ÐÑлгаÑÑки
ÐакедонÑки Ðонгол Ð ÑÑÑкий
СÑпÑки УкÑаÑнÑÑка ×¢×ר×ת
اÙعربÙØ© اÙعربÙØ©
Home / Albums / Denver RTD 65
Creation date / 2013 / July
- ADAPT (100)
Rocky Mountain News, Mon., June 7, 1982 Denver, Colo. p.37 WE’RE ACCESSIBLE! We set our sights on July 1 for increased accessibility. We've beat our goal by nearly a month. During peak hours 50 percent of all Denver-area local service is now equipped with wheelchair lifts. Nearly 100 percent of off-peak local service is now accessible. Please check your schedule for times of lift-equipped buses. Trips will be marked with the wheelchair symbol. If you need special assistance in learning how to use the lift, just give us a call at 628-9000, extension 2118. We are pleased to be able to accommodate our handicapped patrons with expanded service nearly one month ahead of schedule! (signature) L.A. Kimball Executive Director and General Manager 3 PHOTOS (in clockwise order; no credits given). First: A man in a wheelchair sits on a lift into the front door of a city bus. An access symbol is visible by the driver's door of the bus. Second: A woman in a manual wheelchair entering the front of an accessible bus, by the farebox. Three: An RTD bus with RTD "The Ride" written on the side of the bus. In large print at the bottom it says: Striving for the Best Service RTD The Ride - ADAPT (108)
Denver Post (approximately 12/4/81) [Headline] Bus Life Decision Delayed By: George Lane Denver Post Urban Affairs Writer Local transit officials, noting that there were barely enough of them to make a quorum Tuesday delayed for two weeks any decision about whether to alter plans not to put wheelchair lifts on 89 new buses. It was suggested during a special Regional Transportation District board meeting that the board order wheelchair lifts on 45 of the 89 high capacity, articulated buses, rather than no lifts at all. Board member Norma Anderson told fellow directors that there was no reason for postponing the issue “when everyone on this board knows the outcome of the vote.”. She said following the meeting there aren’t enough votes on the board to reverse the earlier action, and the buses ultimately will be ordered without the wheelchair lifts. The announced reason for postponing the vote was that only 12 of the 20 board members attended the special meeting, and only 11 were left when the compromise proposal was presented. It takes a minimum of 11 votes for the RTD board to conduct any business. Postponing the action for two weeks could mean that RTD may have to pay some kind of penalty for not informing the bus manufacturer of the lift decision before the extended deadline of Dec. 10. But the board’s action delayed for at least two weeks another possible wheelchair-bound –sit-in following an RTD board meeting last month. About two dozen persons from the Atlantis Community for the disabled staged a 2 1/2 hour sit-in following an RTD board meeting last month. They claimed the board’s decision then not to order the lifts was a “breach of promise” subjecting handicapped bus passengers to second-class ridership. After the RTD officials agreed to hold a special board meeting to reconsider the decision against the lifts, the wheelchair-bound sit-in ended peacefully. It had been feared police force would have to be used to end it. Eighteen handicapped persons and supporters and representatives of disabled people spoke during Tuesday’s special board meeting. RTD officials again attempted to convince the disabled congregation that not putting the lifts on the articulated buses will free other buses with lifts and result in better service to handicapped people. - ADAPT (142)
Rocky Mountain News Sat., 11/9/91 PHOTO by Glenn Asakawa, Rocky Mountain News: A man in a wheelchair [Bob Conrad] sits on a lift in the raised position. A man in a dark suit stands beside the lift. The lift comes out of the center of the driver's side of the large over-the-road-bus. The bus fills most of the frame, and you can see another behind it. TheRide is printed on the side. Caption reads: Dean Shaklee, an RTD maintenance instructor, demonstrates the wheelchair lift on a new intercity bus to Bob Conrad of Denver. RTD unveils 21 intercity buses New coaches to serve routes linking Denver to outlying suburbs By Leroy Williams Jr., Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer Commuters who ride buses between Denver and its outlying suburbs will soon be traveling in new comfort and style when $4.9 million worth of new buses hit the streets. Twenty-one intercity coaches were unveiled yesterday by the Regional Transportation District for use on the agency’s regional route network. They are expected to be in service by next week. The buses, similar to those used by Greyhound Lines Inc., will be used on routes that link Denver with such cities as Boulder, Longmont, Brighton, Evergreen, Conifer and Parker. “These are the first intercity buses we’ve bought since 1987,” said Dick Reynolds, RTD’s bus operation chief. RTD ordered the coaches, built by Motor Coach Industries of Pembina, N.D., for $235,000 each as part of a 150-bus order by the Dallas-area transit agency, RTD officials said. They carry 49 passengers and are equipped with side-mounted wheelchair lifts and space to tie down two wheelchairs. The practice of tacking smaller vehicle orders onto larger purchases made by another city saves money and delivery time. The new buses will replace several MC-5 intercity buses built in the mid-1960s, Reynolds said. - ADAPT (101)
RTD bobbles budget, buys rejected lifts By: Burt Hubbard News Staff The Regional Transportation District board of directors rejected to move to equip its new buses with wheelchair lifts but unknowingly included $1.2 million in its budget to buy them. The revelation came one day after the RTD board approved a $185.8 million budget that includes $21.4 million to buy 89 articulated buses for 1983. But the buses will cost the district only $20.2 million. The remaining $1.2 million is slated for wheelchair lifts that won’t be put on the buses. RTD Executive Director L.A Kimball has said that handicap ridership on the more than 300 buses that now have lifts do not justify the cost for the new buses. “WE HAVE CARRIED as many as 50 (handicapped) individuals on any particular day using 331 vehicles,” he told the board Thursday. RTD board member Charlotte Houston said Friday she didn’t realize that fact when she made a motion Thursday to add $1.3 million to the 1983 budget to outfit all 89 buses with lifts. The board defeated the motion 10-5. Those voting against the lifts said current low-frequency ridership by handicapped people doesn’t justify equipping more buses and cited increased maintenance costs of the lifts. Asked about the snafu, Houston said, “I guess I should have known.” Nor did RTD board member Tom Bastien know the lift money had been kept in the budget when he moved to equip half of the new buses with lifts. The board rejected the move 8-6. “THAT’S INTERESTING,” said Bastien Friday. “Why didn’t the (RTD) staff tell us?” Even Kimball said he wasn’t aware that the lift money was still in the budget. Kimball blamed the error on a staff member who, he said, apparently had failed to delete the money for the lifts from the budget. The confusion dates back to July 1981 when the district signed a contract with M.A.N. Truck and Bus Corp. to buy the 89 buses for $21.4 million with the lifts included. The buses were to be delivered between June and September 1983. But in December 1981, the RTD board voted to take the lifts off the buses and reduce the total price by $1.2 million. The 1983 budget, however, failed to reflect the reduced price. Kimball said the omission won’t alter the budget. “THERE’S NO NEED to change it,” he said. “We won’t spend it.” About 80 percent of the cost of the lifts would have been paid by a federal grant. And Houston and Bastien said the fact that they wouldn’t have had to increase the budget to get the lifts didn’t affect the vote. “I don’t think it would have made much difference,” said Houston. “We needed 11 votes to pass it.” The votes on the lifts came after about a dozen people, including several politicians, urged the board to make the buses accessible to the handicapped. The handicapped community has vowed to try again for the lifts after a newly elected RTD board takes office in January to replace the appointed 21-member board. - ADAPT (140)
Rocky Mountain News 10/16/84 Denver- Boulder rides offered to handicapped By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer The Regional Transportation District started offering special rides between Boulder and Denver for handicapped passengers Monday amid criticism from disabled activist that the new service is a form of illegal segregation. “We’re not looking for special, we’re looking for equal,” said Wade Blank, spokesman for the disabled protect group called Adapt. “Basically, we’re being segregated.” RTD contracted with Special Transit Systems Inc. of Boulder to provide the new service. It will operate on weekdays during rush hours between the Boulder Transit Center, 14th and Walnut streets, and down town Denver, outside the Market Street Station. Morning Trips leave Boulder at 6:30 a.m. and arrive in Denver at 7:15 a.m. The bus starts its return trip to Boulder at 8:30 a.m., arriving at 9:10 a.m. Afternoon trips leave Boulder at 4 p.m. and arrive in Denver at 4:40. The return trips leave Denver at 5:30 p.m., arriving in Boulder at 6:20. The rides require reservations at least three business days in advance. Special door-to-door service by STS is available the rest of the day. The fare is $1.75 each way, the same as a regular RTD express bus ride. RTD officials are offering the service as a compromise to handicapped riders who demand that wheelchair lifts be included on new over-the-road buses scheduled for purchase next month. Those buses would be used for express runs to Boulder, Evergreen and Conifer. Without the special service, RTD officials said, disabled people would have no public transit between Denver and Boulder. “Perhaps as an interim problem-solver, it (the special service) is done in good faith,” Blank said. “But I hope it wouldn’t be a permanent alternative. Most people don’t know their plans (for bus riding) three days in advance." - ADAPT (111)
Handicapped group sues RTD to have lifts put on new buses By Jerry Brown, News Staff The Atlantis Community for the handicapped and six handicapped people sued the Regional Transportation District Monday in an effort to force the transit agency to put wheelchair lifts on 89 buses to be delivered in 1983. The lawsuit, filed in Denver District Court, alleges that the decision not to put lifts on the high-capacity articulated buses violates: * A state civil rights law stipulating that handicapped people “are entitled to full and equal accommodation, advantages, facilities and privileges of all trains, motor buses, street cars, boats or any other public conveyances or modes of transportation.” * A negotiated 1979 court settlement in which RTD promised to put lifts on 176 buses it had purchased earlier and on all new buses, as required by federal regulations in effect at the time. RTD Executive Director L.A. Kimball declined comment. The lawsuit stems from a Nov. 19 decision by RTD’s board of directors to rescind earlier plans to put lifts on the buses. After members of Atlantis and other handicapped people protested, the board reconsidered the decision in December but stuck by its vote not to buy the lifts. According to RTD, the lifts would cost $1.1 million – or $ 12,571 per bus. Eighty percent of the money would come from federal funds, with RTD supplying the rest. RTD officials have said they plan to use the articulated buses – which bend in the middle and hold about 50 percent more passengers than a regular bus – for semi-express service on heavily used routes. RTD originally ordered lifts for the buses because federal regulations in effect when the buses were ordered required them. But the federal regulations were rescinded last summer. - ADAPT (133)
PATRICIA SCHROEDER 1st District, Denver Colorado Washington Office: 3410 Rayburn House Office Building Washington DC 20515 (202)229-4431 District office: 1787 High Street Denver, Colorado 80218 (303) 837-2354 ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE POST OFFICE AND CIVIL SERVICE COMMITTEE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SELECT COMMITTEE ON CHILDREN, YOUTH & FAMILIES CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUS FOR WOMEN'S ISSUES. CO-CHAIR Refer reply to: American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit/kc August 13, 1984 Byron Johnson Chairman of the Board Regional Transportation District 1600 Blake Street Denver, CO 80202 Dear Byron: I’m sure you’re well aware of my long standing belief in providing handicapped-accessible bus service for Denver. I’m well aware, and appreciate the fact, that RTD has done quite a bit over the years to provide and maintain regularly scheduled buses for the handicapped. I now ask that you keep your good record in mind when considering bus purchases for inter-city transportation. The routes between Boulder, Longmont, Evergreen and Denver should be driven by buses that can carry all the constituents of RTD. Sincerely, Patricia Schroeder Member of Congress PS : kcb - ADAPT (110)
Denver Post RTD, Handicapped Protesters Come to Undisclosed Accord By: Howard Pankratz, Denver Post Legal Affairs Writer Heeding a judge’s advice that a court-imposed resolution of their differences could lead only to more problems, handicapped Denver residents and the Regional Transportation District Friday hammered out a solution to their dispute. Although the agreement’s terms won’t be made public until a court hearing February 2, representatives of RTD and the handicapped seemed quite pleased with the accord. A compromise was suggested by Denver District Judge Daniel Sparr. It ended a hectic several weeks during which RTD property has been the scene of demonstrations by wheelchair-bound handicapped and in which RTD sought a court order to prevent such demonstrations. The demonstrations were sparked by a decision of the RTD board of directors not to place wheelchair lifts on 89 high-capacity, articulated buses to be added to the RTD bus fleet in 1993. The RTD responded by going to court, seeking a court ban on demonstrations. But on Thursday, saying he was convinced the gulf between the handicapped and RTD would widen if he entered a court order at RTD request, Sparr called both sides into his chambers. He strongly suggested they work out an agreement among themselves. At all costs, Sparr told them, he wanted to avoid an “us-against-them” climate on both sides, which he said would result if he were forced to rule on RTD's motion for a temporary restraining order. After a total of five hours of talks Thursday and Friday, an agreement was reached. Both sides praised Sparr. “I think Sparr took the correct approach,” said RTD attorney Russ Richardson. “I believe his philosophy is right. When I was in private practice, I advised clients in divorce proceedings that agreements between them and their spouses were much better than a settlement imposed by the court. Court action is one-sided. One side will lose, or sometimes both sides will lose.” John Holland, representing the Atlantis Community for the disabled, said neither side really desired a restraining order and recognized each had rights. Holland said that the agreement is a “fair adjustment of those rights.” Holland added both sides “found out how to relate to each other. I think talking about it, and the judge’s input, were creative,” said the attorney for the handicapped. Richardson said that as part of the agreement, RTD will no longer seek the restraining order. - ADAPT (104)
Denver Post Tuesday, January 19th, 1982 Editorials, Opinion, 2, 3 Weather 4 Ski Report, 4 Suit over Bus Lifts Hits RTD By Howard Pankratz, Denver Post Legal Affairs Writer Some of Denver’s handicapped, who believe the Regional Transportation District has broken a promise to install wheelchair lifts on 89 new buses, turned that belief into action Monday by suing the district. In a lengthy brief filed in Denver District Court, seven wheelchair-bound individuals and the Atlantis Community for the disabled accused the district of violating both state and civil law and a settlement reached in federal court several years ago. In that settlement, alleges the suit, RTD agreed that all new buses would have wheelchair-lift equipment. But that promise has been broken, said the suit, which asks that RTD be required to install lifts on 89 new buses due for delivery beginning next year and on all new equipment in the future. The Monday suit is based on RTD’s having contracted for 89 new buses, worth $21.3 million. The suit says that 80 percent of the purchase price is to be paid by the federal government. Originally, said lawyer John Holland, who represents the handicapped, all the buses were to have had lifts to make them accessible to the handicapped. But last November, the RTD board decided not to have lifts installed. The total cost of the lifts would be $1.1 million, with the federal government again paying 80 percent of the cost. The suit alleges that it wasn’t the cost, technical feasibility or the maintenance of the lifts that caused them to be dropped, but rather a decision by RTD to use the new buses on “express bus service” from which the handicapped are to be excluded. This, claimed the wheelchair-bound complaints, blatantly violates the state’s civil rights act. Reacting to that alleged broken promise, handicapped individuals demonstrated on the RTD properly, for three straight days in early January, an action that caused the district to go to court seeking an order banning such demonstrations. However, late last week, Denver District Judge Daniel Sparr told both sides he feared that if he issued a restraining order against the handicapped, it would only widen the gulf between the two sides. He noted that the handicapped had legal avenues to follow if they felt a promise had been broken. On Friday, heeding Sparr’s advice, the two sides reached an accord, whose points will be made public February 2. RTD lawyers Alan E. Richman and Russ Richardson said Monday that RTD has a policy of not commenting on such pending lawsuits. - ADAPT (127)
Rocky Mountain News 8/5/83 RTD proposes bus changes for disabled By Tony Pugh, Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer The Regional Transportation District, in an open forum with handicapped citizens Thursday, introduced changes designed to make buses more accessible for disabled riders. Mike Smith, director of transit operations, outlined the proposed improvements, which include a new material to improve traction on bus wheelchair lifts and a metal “kickplate,” designed to minimize wear on lifts from hitting curbs. A new rotary control panel, said to be easier for drivers to operate, and a new lift wiring system also were introduced. Although many people in the attendance voiced displeasure with bus driver insensitivity and mechanical failure of the lifts, others expressed gratitude to RTD for its efforts in accommodating handicapped riders. Bill West, chairman of RTD’s handicapped advisory council, said he is reasonably pleased with RTD officials’ commitment to the disabled community. “I think they’re committed to making the best of what they’ve been mandated to do, but I believe they have a tendency to focus more on the lifts rather than better driver training,” West said. Larry Ruiz, 29, typified the problems encountered by handicapped riders. Earlier this week, he was passed up by four buses as he waited at a stop outside Colorado General Hospital, said Ruiz, who is confined to a wheelchair. The first bus had no lift, the next two buses had lifts, but the drivers did not know how to operate them. After waiting more than two hours, the driver of the fourth bus called a HandyRide disabled vehicle which took Ruiz home. But that lift malfunctioned, Ruiz said. He had to be removed manually. This gathering was a forerunner to a meeting in late October between the American Public Transit Association and the newly formed American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit. A spokesman for the access group, Wade Blank, said it will made three demands to the association: * “Wheelchair accessibility by all public transit systems in the nation.” * “To serve notice to all bus manufacturers that only wheelchair accessible buses will be purchased by its members.” * “For the federal government to stand behind this moral position and develop laws and regulations supporting total access for the wheelchair bound public on public transit.” - ADAPT (136)
HCC [Handicapped Coloradan?] 2/84 Two photos by Bob Conrad: Top photo of person in a sports jacket and in a manual wheelchair on a lift getting ready to enter a bus with "Ride" written on the side. He is facing in toward the door of the vehicle. Bottom photo is of a person in a wheelchair sitting on a lift facing out the door of a bus. A man [Wade Blank] with long blonde hair and a plaid jacket stands beside the lift watching. Wheeler for a Day Jay Bear Baker, an RTD district director, finds out first hand what it's like to travel via "The Ride" when you're in a wheelchair. Baker was accompanied on the mid-February excursion by members of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT). Baker boarded buses at Broadway and Colfax and traveled along Lincoln and Alameda. Four out of the five buses he attempted to ride had functioning lifts. in the bottom photo ADAPT member Wade Blank watches as Baker is lowered to the curb. Baker's rides included a trip on one of the 89 new articulated buses. Those are the buses which were equipped with lifts only after the newly elected RTD board voted to reverse a decision made by the old appointed board and former RTD General Manager L.A. Kimball. "The lift worked beautifully, " Blank said. "I've heard that a lot of drivers are praising it, too. " The expedition with Baker is part of a plan by ADAPT to encourage RTD to continue to make its system totally accessible to wheelchair riders. Blank said he's encouraged by some of RTD's 177 more lift-equipped buses as well as to correct wiring problems in many of like current lifts. RTD has also approved the use of a lift equipped over-the road coach on the Denver-Boulder run on an experimental basis. Blank said he has met with new RTD General Manager William Colby and warned him that Colorado’s three favorite sports were "skiing, hiking, and criticizing RTD." - ADAPT (81)
Rocky Mountain News PHOTO, News Photo by Jose R. Lopez: A sweet looking woman (Terri Fowler) in a wheelchair in a tank top sits on a porch. Behind her is a shady yard. Caption reads: The bus strike is hampering Terri Fowler's quest of a school diploma Handicapped hardest hit by RTD strike By NORMAN DRAPER, News Staff The strike by union employees of the Regional Transportation District has ayed havoc with 26-year-old Terri Fowler's education. Paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair as a result of a congenital spinal defect, Fowler expressed concern that the strike could jeopardize her efforts to obtain a high-school-equivalent diploma. Fowler is one of Denver's 16,000 physically handicapped residents, most of whom are in wheelchairs. They are among the hardest hit by the strike, according to Bob Conrad, a co-administrator of the South Federal Boulevard office of Atlantis Community Inc., an association formed to help mentally and physically disabled Denver residents. THOUSANDS OF THESE people were dependent on RTD for transportation to and from their jobs, Conrad said. A lot of them, stranded by the strike, fear they may lose their jobs. “People are really beginning to worry about that," Conrad said. “We've gotten a lot of calls from disabled people wondering how they can get rides." Fowler makes a living by tutoring at the Atlantis Community learning Center for the disabled. That hasn't proved to be a problem. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, she can wheel herself to the Atlantis office on 194 S. Federal Blvd., a few blocks from her home. It's no problem getting to the Atlantis Office at 429 Bannock St. either. She works there Tuesdays and Thursdays. One of the other employees picks her up and takes her home in a van. That's when she does her grocery shopping. But getting to the Community College of Denver Auraria campus, where she is working on her GED (general equivalency diploma), is another matter. WITHOUT THE BUSES to take her, she hasn't been able to go to school since the strike began. She's been in the GED program for a year, and now she's afraid she might flunk. "So far, I'm doing good in school, but if I miss too much, I‘ll be behind," said Fowler, from her wheelchair on the back porch of the Atlantis Bannock Street Center “As long as I keep reading and do some math every day, it’s not too bad." Still if the RTD strike continues much longer, Fowler said that she may get so far behind that getting her diploma will be impossible. She's [unreadable] degree in December, then go on to a job. She attends classes Tuesday through Thursday mornings, [unreadable]. Unfortunately, said Fowler, the strike came at a time when she was making progress in her reading comprehension. - ADAPT (103)
RTD Executive Promises To Try Wheelchair Bus Travel Firsthand ATLANTIS From 1-B The Handi Ride, 12 buses which provide curb-to-curb service for 150 handicapped persons each day on a flexible schedule, was to have been eliminated in July. It will be retained for the rest of the year, Kimball said. Starting in July, 334 buses equipped with wheelchair lifts — plus the Handi Ride - will circulate on more than two dozen routes, the RTD official said. Specially equipped buses now operate on only 11 routes. He also promised that the Handi Ride program would continue until another program has been developed. The official also told the group that “RTD alone can’t solve all (their) transportation problems" and urged them to think in terms of a “regional consensus” of agencies dealing with the disabled. He also suggested that they seek state funding. Spokesmen for the Atlantis Community for the disabled, one of the parties to the lawsuit, on Wednesday declared the Handi Ride shouldn't be phased out, and many attending the session agreed. They included Don Burton, executive director of United Cerebral Palsy, who said he feared many disabled persons would lack access to community services; Barb Sokol, a social worker with Western Dialysis Center, who said other transit alternatives weren't “as reliable or flexible,” and a number of handicapped persons, who asked for continuation or expansion of the service. Teresa Breda, executive director of Holistic Approaches to Independent Living (HAIL), said, “In no way do I want Handi Ride to stop. “But that’s just one segment of transportation services tor the disabled,' she noted, adding that it was “one part of a lot of needs.” - ADAPT (97)
Rocky Mountain News, Tues., Oct. 19, 1992 Denver, Colo. RTD seeks to nullify handicap law By SUE LINDSAY News Staff Another skirmish in the ongoing battle waged by Denver’s handicapped to gain access to the city's bus system was staged Monday in Denver District Court, with the Regional Transportation District asking the court to declare the Colorado Handicapped Act unconstitutional. An organization of the handicapped has asked Judge Harold D. Reed to order RTD to purchase no buses that won't accommodate the handicapped and to retrofit older buses according to an agreement reached during a federal court case in 1979. The district court suit, filed in January, was triggered by RTD’s purchase of 89 buses to be delivered in 1983 without wheelchair lifts. RTD is trying to sidestep the provisions of that agreement, arguing that the federal regulations on which it was based no longer exist. RTD also wants the judge to declare the Colorado Handicapped Act unconstitutional because it is overbroad and too vague to be followed. THE JUDGE HEARD arguments by both sides Monday and said he will rule on the matter Nov. 9. Lawrence D. Stone, an attorney representing RTD, argued that the Colorado Handicapped Act is merely an expression of the Legislature's intention of how the handicapped should be treated. Stone argued that the statute prohibits discrimination but doe§n’t require any specific “affirmative actions” — such as buying only buses that contain wheelchair lifts. “The Legislature intended to enact the statute simply as an encouragement for the handicapped to be brought into the mainstream of society," Stone said. “They were encouraging rather than mandating better service for the handicapped. Any efforts are voluntary, and the voluntary efforts of RTD have been substantial.” Stone said that 50 percent of RTD buses are accessible to the handicapped during rush hour and all of them are during non-peak hours of operation. Stone also argued that the statute, which sets maximum criminal misdemeanor penalties of up to 60 days in jail and a $100 fine, is too vague and too broad to be enforced. Stone said the act doesn’t specifically define who is included and what must be done to comply with the statute. “We must guess at its meaning,” Stone said. "lt is clear that the act is a declaration of state policy. But is it a crime to fail to heed a policy of the state?” Stone argued that, apart from the Colorado statute, lawyers for the handicapped have misconstrued the meaning of a stipulation signed by RTD to resolve a federal suit over the handicapped buses issue. John Holland, an attorney representing the Atlantis Community, which filed the suit, said he and his clients understood that RTD was agreeing to purchase buses with wheelchair lifts and retrofit all buses purchased after February 1977 in compliance with federal regulations in effect at the time. Stone said RTD merely agreed that its “intention” was to achieve accessibility at the earliest practical date. He argued that RTD never promised that all of its buses would accommodate the handicapped. Calling the dispute “a legal and political war between the disabled and RTD," Holland said, "There was no doubt whatsoever that RTD knew for certain (that) what the plaintiffs wanted was total accessibility of buses. This has been our consistent demand everywhere. It's very simple what the agreement means. lt means that all buses must be made wheelchair accessible.” HOLLAND CHARGED THAT RTD was trying to weasel out of the agreement because the federal regulation in effect at the time it was reached has changed. At the time, federal regulations made it mandatory that new buses accommodate the handicapped. The mandatory regulation was dropped in July 1981, leaving the earlier regulation in force that encourages localities to do this and provides federal funding for the wheelchair lifts. “RTD made an agreement with us, and now RTD argues that it should not be bound by the settlement but to the law as it evolves and changes," Holland said. Reed called the stipulation “about as unclear a stipulation as I’ve ever read in my life. I don’t know what it means yet." The judge wondered aloud whether the parties had purposely used “tortured language” to solve the immediate problem, knowing they would wind up back in court. - ADAPT (116)
Denver Post (This article continues in ADAPT 115 but the entire text is included here for easier reading.) "Talk,” Judge Tells RTD, Atlantis By Howard Pankratz Denver Post Legal Affairs Writer Citing what he fears to be increased “polarization” between some of the Denver’s handicapped citizens and the Regional Transportation District, a Denver judge Thursday abruptly halted a hearing involved the two parties, called them into his chambers and asked that they negotiate a settlement to their dispute. The unusual action by Denver District Judge Daniel Sparr came in the midst of a hearing on RTD’s request that Sparr ban some handicapped people from engaging in disruptive demonstrations on RTD property and buses. At all cost, said the judge, he wanted to avoid an “us against them” climate. “It appears it is a confrontation that is not going to do anybody any good,” he said. On January 4, 5 and 6, handicapped individuals, some organized by the Atlantis Community for the disabled, demonstrated at various RTD offices protesting a decision by the RTD Board of Directors not to place wheelchair lifts on 89 high-capacity, articulated buses slated to be added to the RTD bus fleet in 1983. Many of the estimated 16,000 handicapped people in the Denver area feel that the district broke a promise to them when the lifts weren’t provided. Sparr said he felt that if he had to issue a temporary restraining order against the handicapped at the end of the hearing it could only lead to increased polarization and animosity between the district and the handicapped, something he said needs to be avoided. The judge noted that if that order, or subsequent orders were violated, it might result in contempt citations, fines and jail terms for handicapped people.