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+ Austin + ADAPT - American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation 1
ADAPT (194)
San Antonio Express News 4/24/85 PHOTO by Joe Barrera JR: A very intense looking older woman (Edith Harris), hair pulled back in a woman's headband, determinedly grasps the windshield wiper of a city bus. A police officer in a motorcycle helmet with a gun on his hip, grasps her wrist in his gloved hand, trying to get her to let go. Behind them another officer in sun glasses watches them, and behind him you can see another policeman's arm. Caption reads: Edith Harris grabs on to a bus windshield wiper as police try to remove the protester. [Headline] Buses blocked by protesters by Gary Martin, Express-News Staff Writer Handicapped protesters rolled their wheelchairs in front of VIA buses Tuesday morning, demanding access to all public transportation and a meeting with Mayor Henry Cisneros. About 40 members of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation (ADAPT) - most from other cities or states - blocked buses at five downtown intersections, creating massive traffic jams. Police called to clear the streets had to remove some of the protesters, who clung to bus windshield wipers or bumpers. Police issued citations charging two protesters with blocking traffic. The misdemeanor charges were filed against a woman from Poughkeepsie. N.Y., and a man from Austin. The protest marked the third day of by ADAPT members. The group is in San Antonio to voice opinions at a conference of the American Public Transportation Association, which regulates interstate and intrastate public transportation. The conference closes Wednesday afternoon with a discussion in the Regency Ballroom West on serving the handicapped. Cisneros met with the protesters Tuesday afternoon at the Convention Center. “I think it's a productive thing you're doing in this city," he said. He told the group his father, who recently suffered a stroke, is a patron of VIAtrans, a system of 20 vans designed to carry people in wheelchairs. ADAPT members criticized the VIA system, saying it is inaccessible to the handicapped. They also denounced VIAtrans, saying service must be arranged 24 hours in advance. Cisneros said he favors l00 percent accessibility to public transportation. But he said the goal cannot be met immediately because of the cost of installing wheelchair lifts on all of the buses. He proposed adding lifts to buses on certain routes. But ADAPT rejected the proposal, saying it would amount to segregation. After hearing a list of demands, Cisneros promised to write letters to Texas congressmen and to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, seeking support from the group's cause. The protesters asked Cisneros to write to President Reagan asking for the reinstatement of federal regulations mandating wheelchair lifts on all buses purchased in the future. But Cisneros said he will not send the letter unless financial assistance is made available to local and state governments. The ADAPT members said they could not promise that they will not hold another street protest. During the Tuesday demonstration. protestors blocked buses from ll a.m. to noon. Police had to remove Edith Harris of Hartford, Conn., who refused to let go of a windshield wiper blade. They unhooked the battery on her motorized scooter and carried her to a sidewalk. Police directed traffic as people poured out of offices to watch.