San Francisco Examiner
October 24, 2001

[Headline] Laguna Honda plans make disabled sick

By Fred Dodsworth
Of The Examiner Staff

Chanting "I'd rather go to jail than die in a nursing home," more than 400 disabled activists, attendants and supporters blockaded the California State Office Building and closed the four surrounding intersections from noon until after 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Showing restraint and good humor, the San Francisco Police Department arrested 109 of them.

Representatives of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) flew in from around the country to protest the rebuilding of Laguna Honda Hospital as a 1,200-bed assisted-living community.

They said they hoped to meet with Mayor Willie Brown and a representative from Gov. Gray Davis' office to negotiate community-based alternatives to the hospital, but at the last moment Davis' office refused to budge, and the police moved in.

Disabled activists say Laguna Honda is an example of the worst possible solution for their needs. They claim the building is isolated, difficult to navigate in a wheelchair, demeaning, impersonal and more expensive than community-based assisted living.

"People with disabilities deserve to have a choice," said Jana Overbo, who works as an advocate at the Independent Living Center on Mission Street.

"A lot of the people at Laguna Honda are stuck there," she said. "They have no choice about it."

After negotiations disintegrated, Capt. Alex Fagin of the Northern District Police Station notified the group that they were participating in an unlawful assembly and would be arrested if they didn't leave.

[image]
[image caption] Karen Vibert-Kennedy/ Examiner. Protest for access: Anita Cameron of Denver hands out leaflets. The protesters blocked intersections around the state building.

[text resumes] He gave those with special medical needs about a half hour to leave the area. Between 10 and 20 persons remained at each of the four intersections, waiting to be cited and released.

"This is not how we wanted it to end, but the police did a fantastic job," said Walter Park from the Mayor's Office on Disability.

The activists agreed, saying the police went out of their way to help them negotiate with the Governor's Office and to accommodate the disabled.

The mayor has promised to meet with the activists this morning, said his spokesman P.J. Johnston.

E-mail Fred Dodsworth at fdodsworth@sfexaminer.com

[image]
[image caption] Moving along: Disabled protesters are forcibly removed by the California Highway Patrol after blocking the entrance to the State of California Office Building on Golden Gate Avenue on Tuesday/ Terry Schmitt/ Special to The Examiner

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