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Home / Albums / Denver RTD 58
Post date / 2016 / मे
- ADAPT (90)
Denver Post [This article goes with photo in ADAPT 89] [Headline] Wheel Chair Delegation Accuses Board of Ignoring Them Howard Pankratz, Denver Post Staff Writer A 17-year-old crippled girl Tuesday told the board of the Regional Transportation District (RTD) it cost nine handicapped adults in wheelchairs $90 to take a four-mile trip to a Denver Bears baseball game at Mile High Stadium last summer. Her testimony and that of other Denver handicapped individuals highlighted a public meeting at which the RTD was accused of not caring about the handicapped and elderly. By the time the meeting ended board members voted not only to intensify their efforts to help the handicapped but to do everything in their power to see that 120 new buses the RTD hopes to buy have facilities for the elderly and impaired. The board authorized chairman John Fleming Kelly, to file an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for a $12.4 million grant to finance purchase of the 120 buses; and to build a new bus administration and maintenance facility and 100 bus shelters. At the meeting at the Colorado Highway Department building, it was obvious the board was moved by the presence of approximately 40 persons in wheelchairs, some who accused board members of not being “sincere” in their efforts to help the handicapped. [Subheading] NOT SURE OF CARE “I want to make sure we take care of these people,” board member Leo F. Sullivan, declared near the close of the session. “From the remarks I've heard tonight, I'm not sure we are." John Harper, another board member, assured the group that the RTD is sincere but he acknowledged that he thought maybe the RTD might have been a "bit-remiss" in regard to the handicapped and “could do a better job." The most moving testimony of the night came when Inez Regge, severely crippled and confined to a wheelchair, told of how nine adults from the Heritage Nursing Home had to pay $10 each to attend the ball game. “That is high by any standard, but for these young people whose total income was approximately $20 a month, it was exorbitant," she said. “There have been similar ‘rip offs’ in the past, including a $92 fare for one young man going from Heritage House downtown-and back." She said not all private companies who provide such services to Denver's handicapped are “mercenary,” but overhead forces them to keep their rates high. Until Sept. 7, the day Denverites approved the RTD bond issue, she said “there didn't appear to be any transportation alternatives for most of Denver's disabled. [Subheading] COMMITMENT SOUGHT But she said that a commitment by RTD officials prior to the bond election to provide bus service to the handicapped, plus a provision in the Federal Transportation Act which says special effort must be made to accommodate the handicapped on mass transportation, gave them an alternative. Miss Regge said Denver has one of the highest percentage of handicapped people in the country because of the large number of facilities here. “It is the goal of the handicapped community to see to it that all public transportation is accessible to the handicapped," she said. John D. Simpson, RTD executive director, said RTD had hired Al Coulter of the Denver Board for the Mentally-Retarded and Seriously Handicapped, Inc., to try to find out about the transportation needs of the region's elderly and handicapped. But he said RTD and Coulter had run into a business community which had refused to give the agency help in locating the handicapped. “We have been unable to ascertain where handicapped people want to travel to and from,” Simpson said. “There is some real difficulty in talking to companies — and we have approached half a dozen of the major employers - who have handicapped employees. “They either say ‘We don't know who they are' or ,‘We do know, but we don't want to tell you.'" Les Berkowitz, representing the Citizens Advisory Committee on Transportation for the Handicapped, reminded the RTD that not only does the organization have a moral and philosophical obligation to the handicapped, but also a “specific, expressed requirement” under federal statute. He quoted a public law which directs “that special efforts shall be made in the planning and design of mass transportation facilities and services so that the availability to elderly and handicapped persons of mass transportation which they can effectively utilize will be assured." Berkowitz, sitting in a wheelchair a few feet away from the 15 board members, said despite RTD assurance it is interested in the handicapped. “we have some reason to believe that RTD is not entirely sincere in its efforts." Although seeking assistance from a citizen’s task force, he said RTD has expected from that task force, composed entirely of volunteers, “far more than we can be reasonably expected to give.” He said the volunteers have had little or no training in the collection of data or research design. Further, he alleged that Coulter had only been hired for a 60-day period. While Denver's handicapped community asked that the RTD do more, a wide variety of spokesmen enthusiastically backed RTD's $12.4 million federal government application. They said the buses which the money would buy would do everything from helping alleviate Denver's air pollution problem to providing a badly needed form of economical transportation. State Rep. Richard Lamm, D-Denver, said that after Denver “won the dubious distinction as one of the nation's six most polluted cities.” the Colorado legislature created RTD and charged it with developing a transit plan. “Tonight we are here to publicly discuss the first and a vital phase of this plan -- the early action bus program,” he said. “RTD will be able to improve bus service by more than 60 percent in the region with this one capital grant alone. That, to me, is an important first step toward cleaning up the environment." Gordon Appell, principal planner for the Denver planning office, read a statement by Mayor Bill McNichols in which McNichols said the demand for public transit in the Denver area “has reached almost emergency proportions." McNichols noted that in January, the Denver Metro Transit system had 1.9 million passengers, a 22 per cent increase over the same month a year ago. He forecast that the number of passengers may exceed 25 million this year. Thus, he said, the money for the buses is imperative. - ADAPT (125)
Rocky Mountain News 12/15/1985 Disabled Protest RTD Buses By Joseph B. Verrengia Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer Denver police Thursday, arrested a handicapped protestor who ignored police warnings and rolled his wheelchair in front of a Regional Transportation District bus on East Colfax Avenue. Police said Mike Auberger, who belongs to a Denver-based, militant disabled-rights group known as ADAPT, was arrested at about 1:30 p.m. at the intersection of East Colfax Avenue and Cherry Street. Auberger, who also was arrested in Washington, D.C. last October for a similar disturbance at a national transit convention, was booked into the Denver County Jail for creating a traffic hazard. He was released at 6 p.m. on a personal-recognizance bond. A court appearance has not been scheduled. He was one of four disabled demonstrators who disrupted bus service at the East Colfax intersection for about one hour. They were protesting RTD’s delay in repairing broken wheelchair lifts on 303 buses. Squads of four wheelchair-bound protestors also blocked buses at the intersections of the 17th and California streets and Broadway and East Colfax Avenue. Wade Blank, an able-bodied demonstrators who organized the protests, said ADAPT will hold similar “hit-and-run rallies” at randomly selected bus stops throughout the six-county transit district until the RTD directors vote to fix the lifts. "RTD spent $250,000 moving Ed Colby’s furniture,” Blank said, referring to the amount RTD reimbursed new general manager Ed Colby for his 1984 moving expenses and related taxes, plus his regular salary. “But,” Blank said, “they won’t spend money to make these lift s work.” RTD has budgeted $753,059 to modify the lifts’ electrical systems, where transit officials estimate about 75 percent of the lift breakdowns occur. On Tuesday, the agency’s planning committee voted to delay the lift repairs until the directors reconsider the agency’s handicapped-passenger policy at a Feb. 26 board meeting. With lifts on about half of its 750 bus fleet, Denver has one of the nation’s most accessible public transit systems. However repairs to the unreliable lifts are so costly and disabled ridership so small – 12,000 rides a year – that some board members would prefer to transport handicapped passengers in specially-equipped vans. Blank and his protestors reject “dial-a-ride” and similar van service as separate–but-equal treatment. RTD spokeswoman Diana Yee said Thursday’s incidents caused brief “inconveniences” for passengers and forced several bus routes to run behind schedule. She said transit officials would call the police again if protestors continue to do lay bus service. “We cannot solve this issue on the street corner,” Yee said. Yee said RTD has scheduled two meetings next week in which handicapped protestors can challenge the agency’s decision to delay lift repairs. Photo by staff Frank Murray [in the Top Right Corner]: Two men in suit coats and ties cross the street in from of a city bus that is being blocked by two people in power wheelchairs. A man [Larry Ruiz] and a woman [Ellen Liebermann] sit in their power wheelchairs in front of the middle of an RTD bus, #28 headed to Applewood Village, blocking it from going forward. Caption: Larry Ruiz, left, and Ellen Liebermann park their wheelchairs in front of an RTD bus at 17th and California streets Thursday as part of protest of chairlift repair delays. Similar rallies are planned at other bus stops. Highlighted quote on top left of page: “We cannot solve this problem on the street corner.”- Diana Yee, RTD spokeswoman - ADAPT (122)
Denver Post [This article continues on in ADAPT 123, but the entire text is included here for easier reading.] Photo by Lyn Alweis: A short haired man in a jacket and dark slacks [Mel Conrardy] is lifted in his wheelchair from the sidewalk to a bus. The lift comes out of the front door of the bus and has railings on either side of the lift almost as tall as the seated man. Just by the bus door is a sign on the side of the bus that says "RTD Welcome Aboard." Caption: An RTD bus with wheelchair lift provides mobility for Mel Conrardy Title: Leaders of handicapped rate RTD service best in country By Norm Udevitz, Denver Post Staff Writer Disabled Denverites just a few years ago had as much chance of riding a bus as they did of climbing Mount Everest. “It was brutal the way RTD treated us,” said Mike Auberger, an official in the Atlantis Community, for the disabled and a leader in the fight that has turned the Regional Transportation District’s handicapped service around. In the 1970s and early 1980s, RTD busses then rarely equipped with wheelchair lifts, often left wheelchair-bound riders stranded on streets. Drivers, lacking training in dealing with visually or language impaired people, panicked when blind or deaf riders tried to board buses. “It used to be that even in the dead of winter, when it was below zero, those of us in wheelchairs would wait 2 or 3 hours for a bus to finally stop," Auberger recalls. “And often the lift was broken and we couldn't get on the bus anyway. And usually the drivers were rude and angry. They would tell us that we were ruining their schedules." But conditions have changed, Auberger says: “Right now, Denver has the most accessible public transit system for the handicapped — and all the public - in the country." Debbie Ellis, a state social services worker who heads the agency's Handicapped Advisory Council, agrees, saying: “It took a lot of pressure, but RTD has responded and now the bus system is doing a good job of serving the handicapped." Leaders of national programs for the disabled also agree. In fact, the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped will bring 5,000 delegates, many of them handicapped, to its national conference in Denver in April. This will be the first time in four decades the group has held its national session outside of Washington DC. “One of the key reasons we're meeting in Denver this year is because it just might be the most comfortable city in the country for the handicapped,” says Sharon Milcrut, head of the Colorado Coalition for Persons with Disabilities, which is hosting the conference. “A very important aspect of that comfort," she notes, “is how accessible the transit system is for the handicapped.” It didn't get that way easily. In the decade between 1974 and 1984, handicapped activists had to pressure indifferent RTD administrators and directors. Each gain was hard won. “We used every tactic in the book, from lawsuits to bus blockades on the street and sit-ins at the RTD offices," says Wade Blank, an Atlantis group director. “The lawsuits didn't help much but when we took to the streets in the late 1970s, I think that's when we started getting their attention." Blank and others also say the 1984 hiring of Ed Colby as RTD general manager helped. Before he arrived, less than half of the 750 RTD buses had wheelchair lifts, which often were in disrepair. Training for drivers to learn how to deal with handicapped riders was minimal. Agency directors resisted change. RTD relied heavily on a costly special van operation called Handyride - a door-to-door pickup service for handicapped. It has cost $13[? glare makes number hard to read] million to run since it began in 1975. “Over the past couple of years the turnaround has been phenomenal," Auberger says. “All of RTD's new buses are being ordered with lifts and older buses are being retrofitted." By 1986's end, almost 80 percent of the bus fleet — 608 of 765 buses — had wheelchair lifts; 82 percent of the fleet's 6,242 daily trips are now accessible for the disabled. Plans call for the fleet to be 100 percent lift-equipped by 1987's end. “The lifts aren't breaking down all the time now, either," Auberger said, noting that agency officials found drivers had neglected to report broken lifts: “That way the lifts stayed broken and drivers had an excuse for not picking us up. A bunch of people were fired over that and others realized that Colby wasn't kidding about improving handicapped service." Driver training also has improved dramatically. “It isn't perfect yet,” Ellis of the advisory council says. "But everyone is working hard at it. What we are finding is that 20 percent of the drivers understand that they are moving people, all kinds of people, and they're really great with the handicapped. “Another 20 percent figure their job is to move buses and to heck with passengers, all kinds of passengers. That bottom 20 percent probably won't ever change. So we're working real hard on the 60 percent in between," Ellis says. Drivers, for example, learn to help blind riders. “That’s an improvement that helps the disabled, but it also helps regular passengers who are newcomers to the city,” Ellis says. All the improvements haven't come cheap. Since 1974, more than $5million has been spent on lifts and lift maintenance, most of the expense was incurred in the last three years. RTD plans to spend $9 million more in the next six years to keep the fleet up to its current standards and pay for more driver training. Another $4 million will be spent on HandyRide service. Ironically, Auberger and Ellis both say one of the biggest problems remaining is getting more handicapped people to use mass transit. “There are no reliable figures," Ellis says. “But we think there are about 20,000 handicapped people in the metro area and only about 200 or 300 are using buses on a regular basis." Auberger, confined to a wheelchair after breaking his neck in an accident ll years ago, complains: “The medical system builds a bubble around handicapped people and makes them think they have to be protected. "That's just not true in most cases. So one of the things we're doing now is educating the handicapped to overcome their fears. We've finally got a bus system that works for us and we want the disabled to use it." Photo by Lyn Alweis: A rather straight looking man [Mel Conrardy] in a white jacket, big mittens, and a motorized wheelchair, wears a slight smile as he rides the bus. Someone in a dark jacket stands beside him, and behind him, further back on the bus, other riders are sitting on the bus seats. Caption reads: A bus seat folds up to anchor Mel Conrardy's wheelchair to the floor. Conrardy commutes to work at the Atlantis Community. - ADAPT (91)
This story is a continuation of the article in ADAPT 88 and the entire text is included there for easier reading. - ADAPT (88)
Rocky Mountain News 7/6/78 [This story continues in ADAPT 91 but the entire text is included here for easier reading.] NEWS Photo by Dick Davis: A city bus is parked at an angle to the street across 2 or 3 lanes. In front, a small woman in a power chair and dark sunglasses, sits holding a very large sign that reads "Taxation without Transportation" and has a wheelchair symbol of access. Two other people in wheelchairs are backed up to the side of the bus and a small group of other people in wheelchairs are in the street by the blockers. Mel Conrardy is in the wheelchair closest to the camera. Caption reads: A group of handicapped persons "seized" two RTD buses Wednesday, protesting what they called the firm's insensitivity to handicapped. [Headline] Buses seized, police decline to make arrests [Subheading] DISABLED SNARL TRAFFIC IN PROTEST By GARY DELSOHN News Staff Protesting what they said was the Regional Transportation District's insensitivity to Denver's handicapped, about 25 disabled persons "seized" two buses during Wednesday morning's downtown rush hour, snarling traffic and daring police to make arrests. While supporters helped them board two eastbound buses on Colfax Avenue at Broadway, several persons in wheelchairs surrounded the crowded vehicles. Early morning commuters had to walk two blocks to catch other buses while RTD drivers radioed their headquarters for assistance. Shortly after the 8:30 takeover, police arrived, admitting they weren't sure what to do. As commanders came to assist, police decided not to arrest any handicapped protesters because, as one sergeant said, “We don't want to be the fall guys on this.“ Police said they didn't want to risk injuring any of the severely disabled persons by loading them into police vans, nor did they wish to be pictured in television newscasts or newspapers arresting persons in wheelchairs. TWO PERSONS WERE arrested for refusing to obey police orders, but they were local counselors - not in wheelchairs - who work with many of Denver's approximately 8,000 handicapped. John Simpson, RTD executive director, arrived at the scene about 10 a.m. and talked with the demonstrators, asking them to leave the street and explain their grievances away from traffic. The protesters refused to move, saying Simpson and RTD have been meeting with the handicapped for years and done little to solve their transportation problems. "Handicapped people have a right to ride the bus just like everyone else," said Lin Chism, a disabled University of Colorado at Denver student studying rehabilitation counseling. “Today is the first of many times we will have to do this to get RTD to come to some agreement with us.“ Calling themselves the Colorado Coalition of Disabled Citizens, the protesters, organized and led by Denver's privately owned Atlantis Community for the handicapped, said the demonstration was a response to last week's federal court ruling that RTD was not violating the constitutional rights of the city's handicapped by not providing them access to RTD buses. ATLANTIS AND OTHER groups representing the handicapped and elderly last year sued RTD to require installation on all new buses of devices providing access to persons in wheelchairs. Wade Blank, director of Atlantis, which helps handicapped persons adjust to non-institutional life, said demonstrators hoped to get the attention of U.S. District Court Judge Richard P. Matsch, who made last week's ruling, and "others in the judicial system so they know what we‘re up against. “Like Martin Luther King. we have tried to go through the system," Blank said. "Now, like Dr. King, we must practice civil disobedience until the judges change their minds or Congress makes new laws." A clerk for Judge Matsch said, “The judge does not respond to reporters‘ questions and makes no comment on a ruling he has made." Blank said Atlantis lawyers will appeal Matsch's decision. He said the group also plans additional disruptive protests. “These people have no place else to go," he said, adding that they would not even be able to attend meetings on the subject proposed by Simpson because they could not find transportation. Simpson, talking with protesters, police and reporters throughout the morning, said RTD is trying to help disabled persons get around town and is one of the most progressive agencies in the nation in that area. RTD HAS I2 BUSES equipped with hydraulic lifts and locking safety clamps for persons in wheelchairs. Simpson said. Transporting several hundred persons to and from work and school daily, the "special service", buses appear to be the best way to move handicapped persons, he said. Equipping other buses with elevator lifts wouldn't be feasible, according to Simpson, because many handicapped persons can't get to bus stops located throughout town. Simpson pleaded with the demonstrators to move and let the two stalled buses continue down Colfax Avenue, even ordering one of the special buses into the area to handle the crowd. He also took reporters through the bus, demonstrating its features. But the protesters refused to move, saying their problem wasn't one of immediate transportation but rather a long-term dilemma exacerbated by the fact that only nine of the 12 special buses are in use. The other three, they said, are in storage at RTD garages. Simpson said RTD will have another 28 buses designed to carry handicapped persons in operation by September but their use has been delayed by mechanical problems. POLICE COMMANDERS repeatedly tried to mediate an immediate solution to the the traffic jam created by the protesters, but demonstrators said they would not leave unless Simpson gave them a written promise that all RTD buses would be made accessible to the handicapped. Simpson, declining this offer, said he would meet "with anyone, any time" on the issue. "We have been sensitive," Simpson said. "But some of these problems Congress will have to address." Demonstrators also expressed concern that the waiting list to get on the special buses is 1,000 persons long and the only alternative for persons without friends or relatives to drive them around is a private cab service that charges about $16 per round trip. Many city and state officials were on the scene, watching and talking to police and demonstrators. Mary Krane, a supervisor in the city's social services department, said she quit RTD advisory committee on the handicapped and elderly last year in frustration. "I resigned because it was so hard to get anything done, " she said. "We messed around with a few things but nothing really happened. No one has been willing to make the capital investment necessary to make buses accessible to the handicapped." JEROME SPRIGS, A member of the Governor's Council on the Handicapped, said disabled persons "know they're getting the run-around from the RTD because many of these special buses are being used in rural areas." Lisa Wheeler, 20, an Atlantis counselor, and Bill Roem, who runs a Lakewood home for the physically handicapped, were arrested about 11 am after they ignored a police order to leave the street. "Police are doing their jobs, " Roem said from inside a squad car. "But there has to be some awareness of the problem." Ms. Wheeler and Roem were book at police headquarters and released on $100 bond. Police blocked traffic on Colfax Avenue from Delaware on the west to Lincoln on the east. Traffic during the evening rush hour didn't seem to move any slower than usual, as protesters said they probably would continue their vigil throughout the night. - ADAPT (86)
Rocky Mountain News PHOTO, News Photo by Jose R. Lopez: A thin woman [Theresa Preda] with dark hair and a big smile stands facing a man [LA Kimball] sitting at a "classroom style" conference table. He has a sickly smile on his face as he looks up at her. Between the tables and beside the woman is a manual wheelchair and she is pointing to it. It appears a man in another wheelchair [Mark Johnson] is pushing the wheelchair toward Teresa. At the table next to Kimball another man, also a presenter, who does not appear to have a disability, stares at Kimball with a slightly startled look on his face. Caption reads: Theresa Preda presents a wheelchair to RTD Executive Director LA. Kimball, right. Disabled riders' flap marks parley By JERRY BROWN News Staff Acting under a court order, Regional Transportation District officials and members of Denver's handicapped community met Wednesday to discuss their differences, but a longstanding argument among the handicapped over the type of bus service they want dominated the session. The 90-minute meeting at the Cosmopolitan Hotel opened with two organizations that have fought for accessible service on RTD’s regular routes presenting a wheelchair to RTD Executive Director L.A, Kimball and urging him to use it to learn firsthand the difficulties handicapped people experience in riding buses. Kimball pledged to use the wheelchair presented by Atlantis and Holistic Approaches to Independent Living, but told reporters: “l probably won't tell you in advance when I'm going to do it." The meeting was the result of a negotiated court order between RTD and the two organizations stemming from a series of demonstrations the organizations staged at RTD buildings in January. Atlantis and HAIL were protesting the transit agency's decision not to put wheelchair lifts on 89 buses scheduled for delivery next year. They have filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court in an attempt to force RTD to put lifts on the buses. But more than half of the l00 or so handicapped people attending the meeting indicated they believed RTD should focus its efforts on the door-to-door service that RTD has provided the handicapped for more than five years — not the accessible service on regular routes advocated by Atlantis and HAIL. Kimball drew cheers when he announced that the door-to-door service, known as Handi-Ride, would not be discontinued this summer as planned. " Kimball said the door-to-door service would continue until sometime next year, and suggested that the handicapped groups present join in a regional effort to devise a system under which someone else would provide the door-to-door service when RTD ends it. RTD began providing wheelchair-accessible service on some regular routes last summer and has promised to have half of its peak-hour service and virtually all of its off peak service wheelchair accessible by July 1. Saying RTD cannot afford to provide both types of accessible service, RTD officials had said they would discontinue the HandiRide service after July 1. The threatened loss of HandiRide service has created a split within the handicapped community, which dominated Wednesday's meeting. Spokesmen for Atlantis and HAIL said they believe both types of service are necessary, and promised to fight any efforts by RTD to discontinue the HandiRide. They accused RTD of using the HandiRide to create dissension among their ranks and “stacking” the audience by sending invitations to HandiRide patrons. But Atlantis spokesman Wade Blank said: "In a way RTD did us a favor." Blank said the meeting would help open communications between the two handicapped factions. - ADAPT (78)
PHOTO by Gen Martin, Denver Post: Four men and women are lying wrapped in sleeping bags or blankets on pads in the street in front of a bus. The bus (15 A) once bound for Lowry AFB, now appears empty and on the front are 3 handmade posters. Two are outside under the windshield wipers. One says "Taxation without Transportation!" with a drawing of the access symbol; the other has a picture of a stick figure person next to an equals sign and the words Free Ride, and then an access symbol guy next to an equals sign and the words No Ride. Inside the window a third sign is partially visible with the access symbol and the words Right to Ride. There are police/traffic barriers down the middle of the street and a manual wheelchair. There is a bus parked on the opposite side of the street and behind it a city building with a big sign that says "lease canceled." Around the people lying down are small piles of stuff and there is a cooler by the curb. - 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 (131)
Denver Post Thursday October 11, 1984 Photo by Damian Strohmeyer/Denver Post: In a wide open plaza with almost no one in it, a lone person sits in a motorized wheelchair, back to the camera. In the distance at the other side of the plaza is a city bus, and behind it a group of people stand in a cluster. On the back of the wheelchair there are several bumper stickers, including "Disabled but able to vote", "Bill Armstrong", something with diagonal stripes that is unreadable, and "Build ramps not steps" with a picture of person in a wheelchair doing a wheelie. Caption reads: Lee Jensen at the scene of the ribbon cutting that opened new RTD Broadway station. Eight disabled Denverites protested the opening. Official contends transit funds scarce by Judith Brimberg If metropolitan Denver wants federal help for something like light rail, it must come up with a combined highway-transit plan for improving transportation in the region, the head of the federal Urban Mass Transportation Administration said Wednesday. Even then, administrator Ralph Stanley acknowledged, officials would be better off to rely on local money and public/private partnerships to finance light rail or some other system of mass transit. In Denver for the opening of the turnaround facility at the Civic center shuttle station, Stanley said in the interview that the days of big federal money for such projects are past. Because of tight federal budgets, cities must rely on the income from the 1982 gasoline tax increase for new projects. The 1 cent dedicated to public transit amounts to 1.2 billion a year, only 400 million is for new transit projects nationwide. Noting that cities asking for $36 billion worth of projects are ahead of Denver, RTD board chairman Bryon Johnson said in a separate interview, “it’s clear we will have to do it with our own money. Waiting for federal money is like queuing up in a store that is running out of merchandise.” Stanley said if gasoline tax were raised again, more money would be available for new projects. But noting that the 5 cent a gallon tax barely got through Congress two years ago, he said he thought waiting for another increase in the near future would be a waste of time. There still is federal money available for construction projects, and Stanley announced Wednesday that RTD will get more than $6 million to plan and construct a new central shops facility. Buses now are repaired and painted in shops at the Alameda and Platte garages. RTD General Manager Ed Colby said the new centralized facility would have more sophisticated repair equipment. - ADAPT (130)
ial/ Letters City Edition 2/20/85 Cartoon: A person sits in a wheelchair blocking a bus from moving. A group of police officers stand on the side-walk impatiently. The bus driver says to another person standing by the bus, “...By the way, speaking of arrogant displays of self-interest we’re going on strike.” [Cartoonists name indecipherable] - ADAPT (129)
Rocky Mountain News RTD pleases disabled, reports wheelchair lifts on buses to be fixed By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer A Regional Transportation District committee voted unanimously Tuesday to fix the wheelchair lifts on 127 buses, ending a week of heated showdowns that led to the arrest of three disabled protesters. Amid cheers from the demonstrators who twice last week blockaded downtown buses, the transit directors reaffirmed RTD's policy that much of its regular service be handicapped-accessible. “lt was all emotional," RTD chairman William Rourke said of the events preceding the compromise. “Everyone kept reinforcing perceptions and speculation, rather than getting down to cases." The confrontations started last Thursday when three members of the militant handicapped-rights group ADAPT were arrested by Denver police for rolling their wheelchairs in front of buses along 17th Street and East Colfax Avenue. Mike Auberger, George Roberts and Renate Rabe face fines of $250 apiece or brief jail terms if convicted in Denver District Court next month for causing traffic hazards and disrupting a government agency. They were among 20 handicapped demonstrators protesting a Feb. 12 decision by RTD’s planning committee to delay fixing the balky electrical systems on 303 buses. RTD officials said the repairs would cost $753,059. With lifts on about half of its 750-bus fleet, RTD is one of the nations most accessible public transit systems. This winter, however, electrical and mechanical problems have made the lifts so unreliable that disabled passengers said they frequently suffered frostbite while waiting for an accessible bus. Handicapped protesters originally wanted all 303 broken lifts fixed. They relented Tuesday when RTD officials explained 176 of the buses with broken lifts would be retired next year. Fixing those lifts would be a waste, officials said. “If we had our druthers, we would like to see all of the lifts rewired," ADAPT spokesman Wade Blank said. “But those 127 (that will be fixed) are going to be around for 12 years, so we accepted in the interest of compromise.” Blank said the protests were sparked by rumors that some RTD officials wanted to scrap all of the wheelchair lifts and replace them with door-to-door vans. ADAPT members consider such “dial-a-ride” service“ to be unconstitutional because it would be separate from regular bus service. Rourke said two of the five bus manufacturers bidding to replace the 176 buses heading for retirement would include wheelchair lifts. RTD is required to accept the lowest bid. Rourke declined to comment on what RTD would do if the low bid does not include wheelchair lifts. - ADAPT (128)
Accent on Living Summer 1983 Transportation Denver Busing Its Disabled Highlighted text: A failure in many cities, Denver has made accessible mass transportation work as an increasing number of disabled use it everyday. The Rapid Transportation District (RTD) in Denver is one of the most accessible transit systems in the nation – and the disabled community will take credit for it. For the last ten years, since 1973 when the RTD initiated “Handy-Ride,” a door-to-door subscription service, accessible buses have been a real issue. To date, disabled advocates have been the winners. “It has been a political victory for us,” says Wade Blank, co-director of the Atlantis Community, a highly active disabled group in Denver. He explains that they did not rely on 504 but instead used a successful strategy. Blank said that in 1973 when HandyRide was implemented, the disabled took the same stance the Blacks took during the civil right movement. “Separate in not equal. We agree that this type of service was fine, but what we really wanted was to have the entire bus system accessible. HandyRide would just be an extra.” Disabled people began demonstrating for accessibility on public buses – and in 1978 RTD agreed to develop mass transit accessibility. By June, 1982, it had met its commitment of having fifty percent of the buses accessible (two hundred twenty buses were retrofitted with lifts and one hundred twenty-seven new buses purchased in 1981 had lifts). In the meantime, however, Blank said the RTD reneged on its commitment of total accessibility because it announced in November, 1981, that eighty-nine buses to be delivered in late 1983 would not be lift equipped. These new buses are articulated buses, twice as long as regular buses. Wheelchair Ridership Graph - Shows ridership by month in 1981, 1982, and part of 1983 (up to April. ) Ridership pretty much rises except in fall and winter there is a downturn, and July of 1982 a sharp drop to a low point of about 300. Highest mark is almost 1300 in October 1982. Caption reads: There was a sharp drop in wheelchair ridership in July, 1982, because there were no accessible buses running. - 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 (126)
Denver Post 1987/1989? PHOTO by Denver Post's Duane Howell: A man [Greg Buchanan] in a motorized wheelchair is being wheeled up a very steep ramp into a van. A uniformed policeman is pushing him up, and another man is standing behind them. Greg has a sign taped across his legs and on the side of his chair is a bumper sticker that reads "S.T.E.P.S. spells discrimination." Caption reads: ACCESS PROTEST: Police Capt. R.H. Kaspersen carts away Greg Buchanan, one of 26 wheelchair-bound protesters arrested Monday outside the entrance of the Radisson Hotel. RTD move to privatize bus routes praised: Transportation leader says city a step ahead. By Terry Kilewer Denver Post Stafl Writer Denver’s Regional Transportation District, which is contracting 20 percent of its service to private operators, may be a step ahead of other public transit systems with dwindling public money, delegates to a transit symposium were told Monday. Alfred DelliBovi, outgoing head of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, praised Denver’s move to the forefront of privatization -- a trend toward government disengagement from transit that is catching on nationwide. RTD expects to save millions in future operating costs by farming out some bus routes to private companies, state Sen. Terry Considine, R-Cherry Hills Village, told an audience of 800 at the opening session of the two-day conference. Considine sponsored a bill last year to privatize a fifth of RTD's service. Now he wants to go even further by redirecting RTD tax revenues toward other transportation needs, notably a Denver encircling beltway. He said it’s time to reevaluate public transit, which is “21 times the tax cost per passenger-trip taken by private automobile." And he charged Gov Roy Romer with failing to “tackle the tough decisions that need to be made“ in state transportation legislation. A transit-and-highways bill Romer favored and Considine opposed died in the legislature last week. Romer disputed the senator's claims in remarks to the conference. Later, in an interview he said Considine is "out in left field" and out of step with his own political leadership on transportation issues. I agree you‘ve got to take advantage of all the savings you can. You've got to innovate with RTD; I signed (Considine’s) privatization bill last year. But more privatization won't take care of our highway problems." Considine and DelliBovi seemed in-step on privatization; though. The UMTA boss said the key to emerging federal policy in the public arena is "dwindling resources." During DelliBovi's two-year tenure at UMTA, the agency maintained the Reagan administration's bent toward frugal funding for transit construction and operations. - ADAPT (124)
Rocky Mountain News Photo by Rocky Mountain News staff photographer David L. Cornwell: An officer pushes a man in a motorized wheelchair [George Roberts] across a wide brick sidewalk, as 2 buses and a car go by on the downtown street. Further up the sidewalk 2 other uniformed officers are standing and even further down, a motorcycle policeman. Caption reads: Officer Gerald Fitzgibbons pushes George Roberts from scene of Friday's demonstration. Roberts and Renate Rabe were arrested in protest. Pena staff to mediate RTD tiff with handicapped By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer As handicapped demonstrators blocked Regional Transportation District buses with their wheelchairs for the second straight day Friday, Mayor Federico Pena's staff stepped in to referee a growing dispute over broken wheelchair lifts. “Perhaps part of the ultimate answer will be to allow the disabled community to be part of the decision-making process," Pena aide Dale Sadler said Friday. “What we're hoping for now is to get everyone to talk." But Sadler could only watch as Denver police quickly arrested George Roberts and Renate Rabe as the pair rolled their wheelchairs in front of an RTD bus at 17th and California Streets at 12:25 p.m. Roberts and Rabe were the second and third members of the militant disabled-rights group known as ADAPT to be booked into city jail in two days in connection with obstructing a government agency and blocking traffic. Mike Auberger of Denver was arrested Thursday at the intersection of East Colfax Avenue and Cherry Street when he rolled his wheelchair in front of a bus with a broken lift. Auberger, who was jailed for about three hours, is scheduled to appear in Denver District Court March 12. He faces $250 in fines. Roberts and Rabe were released Friday afternoon. Roberts is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 25. Rabe is scheduled to appear March 15. ADAPT protesters have vowed to block buses at busy intersections throughout the six-county transit district for 80 days — or until the RTD board of directors agrees to spend $753,059 budgeted to fix the balky electrical systems on 303 lift-equipped buses. RTD has one of the nation's most accessible public transit systems with lifts installed on about half of it's 750-bus fleet. However, disabled passengers complain that they frequently suffer frostbite in the winter as four or five buses with broken lifts pass them. They said they have a right as taxpayers to ride regular bus service, rather than plan their lives days in advance around the limited schedules of van services. “A wheelchair lift on a bus means a disabled person can live wherever he wants and shop wherever he wants," Auberger said. “The (RTD) board doesn't have the right to tell me where to live and shop. They might as well put me back in a nursing home." The demonstrators offered to cancel Friday's rally in exchange for a meeting with RTD General Manager Ed Colby. RTD officials said Colby had taken the day off Friday, but agreed to meet with the protesters minutes before their scheduled protest. That wasn't good enough, ADAPT leaders responded. “Colby had all last night and this morning to respond to us,” said Wade Blank, an able bodied demonstrator who organized the protests. “He was just a little late." RTD board members will discuss the transit agency's handicapped access policy for the handicapped and its lift repair record Tuesday at a committee meeting.