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Home / Albomlar / Tags curb cuts
+ arrests 2
ADAPT (433)
Transit activists wheel into action on South Shore By PEGGY CURRAN Of the Gazette In March, Bill Bolte took a sledge-hammer to Hollywood's star-studded Walk of Fame because it wasn't wheelchair-accessible. Bolte was arrested, although the vandalism charge was dropped, he says, "in the interests of justice." Six months later, Bolte says the city of Los Angeles has come up with $360,000 to cut access ramps along the 2.5-kilometre sidewalk. On Monday night, the wheelchair-bound American was arrested again - for the 14th time - when he chained himself to the doors of the underground parking garage at Place Ville Marie. Released from Bordeaux Jail yesterday but banned from demonstrating on the island of Montreal, he joined about 20 disabled people who took their crusade for better public transit across the bridge. There were no arrests during the brief, boisterous sit-in at the Brossard bus terminal. But Bolte said another arrest was a risk he was ready to take as a member of ADAPT - American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit. [Subheading] `Not willing to go last' "Our only ability is to embarrass and expose the position of the able-bodied power structure, which is basically 'You go last,' " Bolte said. "Well, we aren't willing to go last any more." For about half an hour during afternoon rush hour, members of ADAPT and their supporters staged a rowdy demonstration at the terminal on Taschereau Blvd. Chanting "we will ride," about five disabled people parked their wheelchairs in front of a Montreal-bound bus. That forced the South Shore transit authority to empty the bus and have passengers board other buses idling on Taschereau Blvd. One of the disabled protesters, Marthe Bail of Quebec City, succeeded in boarding the bus by pulling herself out of her wheelchair and clinging to the handrails. Bail, one of only four Quebecers who took part in yesterday's protest, said disabled Quebecers have a fundamental right to public transit. And she said they shouldn't have to rely on the woefully inadequate service now provided. [Subheading] Sympathetic response In Montreal, for instance, she said disabled passengers must make reservations 48 hours in advance whenever they want to use the service. And the buses don't cross bridges, ruling out trips to Laval and the South Shore. Pierre Beaudoin, whose bus was blocked by the protesters, said he respects their demands. Beaudoin said he believes it would be possible to redesign regular buses to provide access to the disabled by installing lifts and setting aside space for wheelchairs. For the most part, commuters who witnessed the demonstration were also sympathetic. "They feel they have to do this to achieve their goals," said Andre Plante. "Who are we to complain? What's a delay of a few minutes? These people are handicapped for life." Brossard resident Francine Labrosse said she doesn't think ADAPT's demands are very realistic. I don't think the inside of the bus is wide enough for wheelchairs even if the lifts they want were installed," Labrosse said. "Of course, if the government decides it wants something anything is possible." But at least one South Shore resident was outraged by the demonstration. "How am I supposed to' get to work?" a livid Joseph Pacheco screamed at bus driver Beaudoin. "Am I supposed to take a taxi? That will cost me $11. Who is going to pay' for that?"
ADAPT (64)
The Courant 3/8/88 PHOTO by Skip Weisenburger: A man in a wheelchair [Claude Holcomb] wearing an ADAPT T-shirt with the no steps logo and with his small wooden letter board slung over his leg swings a huge sledge hammer at a curb. He is very much assisted by a man [John Bach] kneeling beside him. Behind the two of them is another man [Clayton Jones] in a manual chair; Jones holds a slightly smaller sledge hammer and gets ready to swing at the curb. They are in the street. Claude is looking up, with a look of determination, at a uniformed police officer standing just in front of them on the sidewalk side of the curb. John is looking down where their sledge hammer will land, and Clayton is looking at the curb, taking aim. In the street, mostly obscured by the policeman, is another person in wheelchair. Caption reads: Three men prepare to chip away at a curb Monday to protest the difficulty handicapped people have in using Union Station in Hartford. The men are, from left, Claude Holcomb, John Bach and Clayton Jones. They were arrested, as was a fourth protester. [Headline] 4 arrested during protest by handicapped By Constance Neyer, Courant Staff Writer Four people, including three with disabilities, were arrested Monday after they used sledge-hammers and a cane to protest the lack of full accessibility for the handicapped at Union Station in Hartford. The four tried to break a curb on Union Street for a “curb cut" to give handicapped people easier access to that entrance to the station. Almost immediately after the start of the 2 p.m. demonstration police rushed in and put the protesters into a cruiser. The four men, who were charged Monday afternoon with third-degree criminal mischief, refused to sign written promises to appear in Superior Court in Hartford today and were being held at the Morgan Street jail Monday night, Hartford police Sgt. Lawrence Irvine said. Early this morning, the whereabouts of the men could not be determined. Morgan Street jail officials were unavailable and Weston Street jail officials refused to comment. Morgan Street jail is not accessible to the handicapped, Hartford police said. One of those arrested was Clayton Jones, 39, of 41 Applegate Lane, East Hartford, who led a recent protest in his wheelchair to make the skywalk that connects CityPlace with the Hartford Civic Center accessible to handicapped people. Also arrested were John Bach, 40, of 10 Nepaug St, Hartford; Robert Baston,27, of 100 Executive Lane, Wethersfield; and Claude Holcomb, 27, of 2 Park Place, Hartford. "We're equal citizens and we're tired of waiting." said Lynda Hanscom of Manchester, who uses a wheelchair. Hanscom is chairwoman of the Connecticut chapter of American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation. She and others stayed at Union Station after police broke up the protest. They said that although handicapped people have access to the station, it is difficult to use. If a disabled person wants to use a train, the person must find parking near the Spruce Street entrance and enter here to get to a train, Hanscom said. The protestors said it is difficult for a disabled person to find the correct entrance because of a lack of signs at the station. A ramp at the Asylum Street side of the station is too steep for a person in a wheelchair, said Eugenia G. Evans of West Hartford, who was in a wheelchair. Evans and Hanscom sought to use a lift at the Union Street entrance, but it took more than [number unreadable] minutes for them to locate a building attendant who could use a key to operate the lift. Arthur L. Handman, executive director of the Greater Hartford Transit District, which operated Union Station, was angered by the protest. "People don't have to come attack with sledgehammers," he said. Handman said he told the protesters last week that it would take until later this week to make signs to point out the best entrances of the disabled. The station is near the end of a major renovation project. He said building plans for the station were approved by the office of licenses and inspection. If the ramp is too steep, that will be corrected, and more curb cuts will be made if needed, he said.