San Francisco Chronicle 10/1/87

PHOTO by Steve Ringman, the Chronicle: A line of wheelchair protesters file down a hallway lined by other wheelchair protesters and supporters. There is one man directing and a policeman looks on. The line of protesters is lead by Greg Buchannan, then Mike Auberger, then Stephanie Thomas, another woman, then Joe Carle. Media, supporters and onlookers line the hallway.
Caption reads: Supporters cheered more than 100 wheelchair protesters as they rolled into court in San Francisco yesterday for arraignment.

Boxed Text: 'They're our heroes. They're standing up for us and everybody.'

Title: Wheelchair Protesters' Day in Court
By Jack Viets and L. A. Chung

The San Francisco protests by wheelchair demonstrators seeking better access to public transportation finally rolled to an end yesterday in a Hall of Justice courtroom.

Since Sunday, a total of 134 of the demonstrators have been arrested during a series of protests that ranged from a rally at San Francisco's City Hall to a 2 1/2 hour shutdown of the city's historic Powell Street cable car line by a wheelchair army Tuesday.

The protests were staged to oppose the policies of the American Public Transit Association, which ends four days of meetings today in San Francisco. Groups representing disabled persons contend that all transit vehicles, even the historic cable cars, should be accessible to wheelchairs.

Although there were more demonstrations yesterday, there were no new arrests.'

The 43 protesters who were held Tuesday night in a Hall of Justice gym on misdemeanor charges stemming from their arrests were all released yesterday. They had pleaded no contest to a charge of obstruction.

Municipal Court Judge Phil Moscone waived $50 fines in light of the time they had spent in custody. Some 90 other protesters who had been cited but not booked also pleaded no contest and their fines also were waived.

Outside the courtroom, the hallway echoed with cheers and applause from nearly 100 other persons in wheelchairs as the first group of 14 wheelchair defendants to appear before the judge were released.

"They're our heroes," said Connie Arnold of San Rafael. "They're standing up for us and everybody." Inside the jammed courtroom, 6-year-old Jennifer Keelan — the youngest person to participate in the demonstrations — sat in her wheelchair and watched the proceedings with her mother, Cynthia.

"I am her parent," her mother said. "But this is her disabled family and these are her brothers and sisters."

Earlier in the day, during a bizarre demonstration of just how tough the access problems of the disabled really are, a band of people in wheelchairs were denied access to the federal Department of Transportation offices at 211 Main Street. The entire building is leased by the General Services Administration.

When they rolled into the building's elevators to visit the 11th floor offices of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration and the secretary of transportation's regional representative, electrical power to the elevators was abruptly shut off.

The visitors were informed by a man in a blue blazer that they were in a private building and not a public building, and that police would be asked to remove them if they did not leave.

He identified himself as the building manager, but refused to give his name.

Amid cries that they were experiencing George Orwell's "1984," the protesters began chanting: "We will ride. We will ride."

However, the elevators did not move.

Shortly after noon, San Francisco police warned the demonstrators that they were "on private property, and we ask you to disperse." If they failed to leave, the demonstrators would be arrested, officers said.

Police did promise the wheelchair visitors that they would be given ample time to make their way out of the building.

Created on

Thursday 11 July 2013

Posted on

Thursday 3 August 2017

Tags

100% accessibility, access denied, accessible transit, APTA - American Public Transit Association, cable cars, Connie Arnold, court, Cynthia Keelan, DOT, elevators shut down, fines waved, Greg Buchanan, Hall of Justice, Jennifer Keelan, Joe Carle, Judge Phil Moscone, Mike Auberger, police gym, San Francisco City Hall, Stephanie Thomas, UMTA - Urban Mass Transit Admin., We will ride

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