Making the Transition to an Accessible Community
It has been nearly 20 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act became law. Much work remains. Nobody expected every place to magically become accessible overnight. Private buildings, especially those built since 1990, are pretty good.  A big chunk of the work to be done is in the public right-of-way and government buildings. Part of the ADA requires units of government (cities, school districts. etc) to create and maintain a Transition Plan.
One important way to ensure that Title II’s requirements are being met in cities of all sizes is through self-evaluation, which is required by the ADA regulations. Self-evaluation enables local governments to pinpoint the facilities, programs and services that must be modified or relocated to ensure that local governments are complying with the ADA.
This document contains a sampling of common problems shared by city governments of all sizes that have been identified through the Department of Justice’s ongoing enforcement efforts. The document provides examples of common deficiencies and explains how these problems affect persons with disabilities. The document is not intended to be comprehensive or exhaustive.
The Department of Justice is finding governments are not doing the self-evaluation.  The are taking some to court! To assist government in understanding the importance of and how to do a self evaluation, I’ve been serving on a committee with the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Together (mostly others) we’ve put together an excellent 1-day workshop: Tuesday October 20, 2009:
ADA Transition Plan: Do You Have One?
The American Institute of Architects St. Louis Chapter and the City of St. Louis Office on the Disabled present a one-day seminar on the components of a Transition Plan and its enforcement elements. Speakers from the National Access Board and the Department of Justice will prepare you for your Transition Plan.
The American with Disabilities Title II requires that all municipalities and public institutions have a Transition Plan on file for review with regular updates.
The major purpose of a Transition Plan, as it relates to buildings and facilities owned and operated by a public entity, is to document the barriers to persons with disabilities. The purpose of the Transition Plan is to propose the structural modifications that will be undertaken to provide program accessibility.
The speakers we have coming into town are excellent, they include:
Lois L. Thibault, Coordinator of Research, U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (the Access Board)
After a decade’s work in the private practice of architecture and six years at The American Institute of Architects, Ms. Thibault joined the US Access Board in 1992 to direct its training activities, taking on the Board’s research program in 1998. She also assists in agency rulemaking, currently working on Public Rights-of-Way and Classroom Acoustics; develops advisory material on ADAAG provisions; provides technical assistance to public and private entities; and conducts training. In 1999 she authored ‘Accessible Rights-of-Way’, a design guide for pedestrian facility accessibility. Lois also serves on the board of The Washington Ear, a radio reading service for persons with visual impairments.
Bill Hecker:
Bill Hecker, AIA is an architect and accessibility consultant at Hecker Design, LLC in Birmingham, Alabama. He has been involved in a number of landmark ADA lawsuits. He splits his expert witness services generally between ADA Title III for plaintiffs and ADA Title II facility compliance issues for state and local government defendants. Since 1994 he has been an expert witness/consultant for the Department of Justice on ADA and Fair Housing Act cases. He has been retained by DOJ to assist with the development of the Project Civic Access “Tool Kit” checklists for state and local government entities. He has been involved with the development of ADA transition plans for: Charlotte, NC; Birmingham, AL; Jefferson County, AL; University of Florida; Auburn University; Towson University; Oakland University; Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources; Teton County, Montana, ADA County, Montana; Jackson, Mississippi; San Francisco, California; Maui County; Hawaii County; and, the City & County of Honolulu.
Others include Dana Jackson from the Department of Justice, local Architect Gina Hilberry and David Newburger representing the City of St. Louis. It is great having Newburger on the city staff to address this. But with hundreds of units of government in our region and thousands within a few hours away, he only represents a tiny fraction of the region. It is safe to say that most of the units of government in our region out out of compliance by lacking a transition plan.
Interestingly cities from Illinois have outpaced cities from Missouri in early registration. Some seats remain, the fee is $75 (includes lunch). The registration form can be found here and once filled out can be faxed to AIA St. Louis at (314) 621-3489.
If you are with a local unit of government ask yourself is it worth the risk to not have a transition plan? Do you like addressing access piecemeal? If you answered no to these then you need to attend this seminar on Tuesday. I’ll be doing live tweets from the event, follow me at Twitter.com/UrbanReviewSTL.
– Steve Patterson