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Avaleht / Albumid / Märksõnad protest
+ Wade Blank + RTD 2
ADAPT (118)
The Denver Post, Metro section, Tuesday Jan. 5, 1982 2 PHOTOS, The Denver Post / John J Sunderland: First: Through bars that look a bit like the ropes in a boxing ring, a man in a wheelchair (Mark Johnson) sits, chin resting on his hand, and looks on thoughtfully as a police officer writes something on a piece of paper on a surface in front of them. The officer is leaning forward almost over Mark, and Mark looks calm and very thoughtful as he watches. Caption reads: Mark Johnson, 30, was one of two protesters cited Monday at Regional Transportation District offices. He later left and was not charged. Second photo: In a brick covered room, a person in a wheelchair has his back to the camera and facing a man who is blocking his way. The man standing faces the camera and points toward it. Caption reads: Bob West, Regional Transportation District director of security, tells demonstrator he won't be allowed to obstruct business. Bus Plan Protesters Chain Selves By GEORGE LANE, Denver Urban Affairs Writer Wheelchair-bound protesters chained themselves to stairway railings and blocked the main entrance to local transit offices for about 90 minutes Monday until police removed them from the building. Two persons were cited for trespassing as 13 disabled persons in wheelchairs and about an equal number of attendants and supporters participated in the protest at the offices of the Regional Transportation District. Spokesmen for the group vowed they will return today. The demonstration was organized primarily by members of the Atlantis Community for the disabled and Wade Blank, co-administrator of Atlantis, to protest a decision by the RTD board of directors not to put wheelchair lifts on 89 high-capacity, articulated buses slated to be added to the RTD bus fleet in 1983. RTD officials allowed the demonstrators access to the building at 1600 Blake St. about 11 a.m. and raised no objections as the protesters held a press conference. During the press conference RTD was accused of reneging on a promise and violating the civil rights of the disabled by not ordering the lifts on the new buses. Following the press conference, “out of order" signs on two elevators foiled the group's plan to stage a sit-in at the third floor offices of L.A. "Kim" Kimball, RTD's executive director and general manager. “Kimball is as accessible as his buses," remarked one of the demonstrators. A brief scuffle occurred about 11:20 a.m. when Blank and several attendants attempted to carry three wheelchair occupants up a spiral stairway to Kimball‘s office. Mike Hughes, an RTD security officer, blocked the trip up the steps. The three wheelchairs with their occupants eventually were chained and padlocked to the handrailing of the stairway. Two more wheelchairs later were chained and padlocked to the landing of another stairway. The front entrance to the building was then blocked by five or six motorized wheelchairs as about a dozen policemen waited across the street. Capt. Bill Brannan ordered the demonstrators to leave the building. He then said those refusing to leave the building would be cited and ordered to appear in court it he believed they understood what they were doing. When the policemen and paramedics entered to evacuate the building, only Stephan Saunders, 31, and Mark Johnson, 30, would give their names to police. Both men were given misdemeanor citations for obstructing a government operation and obstructing a public passageway. The charges against Johnson, however, weren't filed because he later decided to leave the building voluntarily.
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