Don Feldstein's response to Woman's Club fix
Regarding the post below about the Woman's Club event, Don Feldstein, wanted to make some things clear. According to Don:
"I have been misquoted and the description of events leading up to the legal issues is not factual. I never said I don't want money, I said I get no money from this. ADA cases do not provide for financial remuneration to the plaintiff (unless perhaps I was injured as a result of negligence). They are strictly for the purpose of preventing discrimination on the basis of disability.
"The Woman's Club was made aware of this problem some 2 years prior to the legal action that I took when I saw that they were doing nothing to remedy the problem and I was being excluded from Culture in the City events as a result.
"Also, please inform Dolly MacIntyre that having assistants helping people into the building is not acceptable, not to mention potentially dangerous. It may be possible to rent some type of external lift as a possible temporary alternative. Please don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to compound their problems. In fact, I have personally contributed money to their cause. It's just too bad that they waited until the last minute to move on this and are now looking to make a quick fix."
Editor's Note: I have to agree, Dolly was quoted in the Herald as saying that if they don't have proper access by Friday's event, they would carry disabled persons into the building. The whole scene seems quite disturbing to me -- very undignified and a liability.
"I have been misquoted and the description of events leading up to the legal issues is not factual. I never said I don't want money, I said I get no money from this. ADA cases do not provide for financial remuneration to the plaintiff (unless perhaps I was injured as a result of negligence). They are strictly for the purpose of preventing discrimination on the basis of disability.
"The Woman's Club was made aware of this problem some 2 years prior to the legal action that I took when I saw that they were doing nothing to remedy the problem and I was being excluded from Culture in the City events as a result.
"Also, please inform Dolly MacIntyre that having assistants helping people into the building is not acceptable, not to mention potentially dangerous. It may be possible to rent some type of external lift as a possible temporary alternative. Please don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to compound their problems. In fact, I have personally contributed money to their cause. It's just too bad that they waited until the last minute to move on this and are now looking to make a quick fix."
Editor's Note: I have to agree, Dolly was quoted in the Herald as saying that if they don't have proper access by Friday's event, they would carry disabled persons into the building. The whole scene seems quite disturbing to me -- very undignified and a liability.
posted by Tom Falco at 12:54 PM
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12 Comments:
Keep up the good work Don...You are a pioneer. The women’s club must be very unorganized to let this go for so long.
Its sad that so many people have to be sued to do the right thing. Anyone who has any knowledge of ADA knows that all federal buildings even historic ones have to comply with the access requirements. Think of all the activities that go on in there. Shouldn't everyone in our community have a right to participate.
And the , "well just carry him" comment isn't only ridiculous, it shows the absolute incompetence of whomever is in charge of the management. One of the most important supreme court cases on the ADA was a case involving a man in a wheelchair who could not even get up the stairs in an older style us courtroom to participate in his own case. The other side suggested someone would carry him. The supreme court held up the retroactive nature of the ADA to include the upgrading of buildings predating the act. its almost ironic to hear the same thing about carrying someone. We should all be thanking Don for ensuruing our local officials follow THE LAW.
We are talking about a club - run by volunteers. They are not local officials. I am sure if they had millions of dollars in their bank, all these issues would have been resolved a long time ago. For the ADA the womens club must be a small snack.
"Shouldn't everyone in our community have a right to participate."
Ummm, no actually, you don't have a "right" to participate. I don't know why you think this. It's a private club holding hosting events on private property. It might be open to the public, but that doesn't mean that it's owned by the public, not in the same way that government buildings are owned by the public, i.e. the people/taxpayers.
If they don't want to spend the money to install ramps and elevators and retrofitted bathrooms and everything else the ADA entails then that's their prerogative. Do you think you have the "right" to visit my house? What if my house isn't ADA accessible? Can I be compelled to make my house wheelchair friendly? How is the Women's Club any different? They are a private group. I don't know where these activists get off dictating how the Women's Club must spend their money.
The Women's Club does many great things for our community. For instance, they ran a swimming program over at Verrick Pool. Another thing they have done is preserved the grounds that the building sits on. They had other projects in mind and someone came up with the idea of renting out the building for functions so that they could fund these projects. When they did that, they became liable for the same kinds of guidelines that other businesses enjoy, like ADA laws. Its a Catch-22. These people are not paid. They act in the good faith of preserving a precious piece of Grove History.
Where is a good philanthropist when you need one? Every week we are treated to the society page filled with people who's job listing is philanthropist (no, I'm not kidding.). So many of these people live right here in the Grove. Has anyone approached these people's foundations for money?
If the public is invited, like a good host, we need to provide what our guests need. Or are we going to say "no handicapped people allowed?"
Carrying anyone inside is thoughtless and undignified.
Someone compared this to an invitation to a private home. Well, its not a private home.
Preserving the Grove's precious history? Give me the building and I'll preserve it too. Common...let's not be naive!
And if this club is so private and exclusive, maybe I don't like them very much...
I think it is disgusting that they are going to have to pour a concrete ramp just so one guy can get in. Talk about chutzpah...
Yeah, a ramp will look like hell there, not to mention the cost.
Elena said: "Someone compared this to an invitation to a private home. Well, its not a private home."
Property is either public (owned by the federal gov, state, county or city) or it's private (owned by a corp or a person). As far as I know there is no third category. So why can't they do what they want with it?
richard,
when you voluntarily register as a national historic site and open yourself to all kinds of benefits including tax related, you also subject yourself to federal regulation.
Whats more the ADA applies to both public and private property (which operates as place of public accommodation like a hotel, day care provider, or a womens club which rents out for events and provides services to the community).
rich, just because it's not owned by the public doesn't mean they don't have to accomodate. similar to discrimination, they can't say it's open to the public "except" for women and people of color.
I wouldn't suggest that the Women's Club isn't subject to ADA rules, but Mr. Feldstein's suggestion that he was just someone who happened to be seeking access to the Club is, er, misleading. Mr. Feldstein is a member of a group that brings ADA complaints against non-compliant businesses, clubs, and other entities on a regular basis. You can read about their work, here: http://www.ada2000.com/newsletter/nwsltr%2011-7-07.pdf.
In their newsletter that swlip references above there is a membership card to mail back. It states that postage is not needed to mail it because it's "free matter for the blind or physically handicapped".
That first part is right, but inapplicable. Material for the blind does not need postage, but a handwritten application which does not contain braille does not qualify. And the second part is just flat out wrong. Matter for the physically handicapped is not exempt from postage.
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