[tabi] Re: City of Miami To Spend Thousands Upgrading Trolleys That Don't Serve the Visually Impaired
- From: "Easy Talk" <Easytalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 12:17:32 -0400
This is wonderful news. I know Matthew Dietz
in fact a few years back he filed a suit against the city and if I remember
correctly it was against Tal Tran and pertained to a wheel chair issue by a
guy that lived in the disabled subsidized apartments on Ross Road. He use
to have another attorney that was a professor at FSU that did his leg work
for him locally.
Maybe I'll give Matt a call. He is also pretty good getting the defendants
to pay for his legal fees and is the same attorney that handled Darla Rogers
suit against Protective services which was settled out of court.
When I sent my letter to the city commissioners, I requested a read receipt
and so far haven't received any thing.
Robert
----- Original Message -----
From:
Fred haynes
To:
Sila Miller
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 8:43 PM
Subject: alumni
We have some people from 1967 and earlier that are coming. They are
requesting a
tour of the south campus. Especially the area where the blacks were
housed.
----- Original Message -----
From: <mccaulo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2014 10:16 AM
Subject: [tabi] City of Miami To Spend Thousands Upgrading Trolleys That
Don't Serve the Visually Impaired
Attached is an interesting blog from the MIame NewsTimes. There may be
lessons to learn here regarding StarMetro. It might be worthwhile for
someone to reach out to Mr. Gomez to discuss the steps taken in his legal
battles. (As an aside, I will note that my experience with stop
announcements on StarMetro has been very hit or miss. Some drivers are
excellent and literally annouce every stop. Some are more sporadic and
some make no announcements at all.)
By Michael E. Miller Mon., Apr. 14 2014 at 9:00 AM
via miamigov.com
When the City of Miami unveiled its highly anticipated trolley system two
years ago this month, city officials were clearly satisfied with
themselves. Mayor Tomás Regalado -- who had championed the idea for
years -- grinned as he snipped the ribbon from the sleek orange-and-green
machines in Mary Brickell Village. The rubber-tired trolleys were supposed
to be a sign that Miami had traded smog and sprawl for smart urban
planning. The Huffington Post gushed that Miami was the next San
Francisco. The trolley system's motto: "Ditch the car and hitch a ride."
For many visually impaired Miamians, however, the new trolleys turned out
to be a harrowing ride to the wrong part of town.
This week, city commissioners are expected to finally order upgrades to
the trolleys 24 months after their much-publicized debut. The fixes are
part of a legal agreement with Andres Gomez, a 26-year-old who claimed the
trolleys violated the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).
Gomez was initially excited about the trolley system. When he was 18, the
Coral Gables native was diagnosed with macular degeneration, a disease
that gradually causes blindness. The trolleys promised an easy and free
form of public transportation. But when Gomez got on one, he quickly
realized something was missing.
"There were no stop announcements," he says. "I immediately got lost."
When Gomez tried asking the trolley drivers for help getting off at his
stop, many of them refused or were rude to him, he says.
One time, Gomez tried to catch a trolley to Brickell from the Omni
district. After a series of silent stops, another passenger reassured him
that he had arrived in Brickell. But it was only after stepping off the
trolley that Gomez realized he was in the middle of Overtown. At night.
"That was pretty scary," he remembers. "You know, when you are visually
impaired, people see you in a bad neighborhood, they try to mug you. When
you're disabled, you're always on guard. You've always got to think the
worst."
Gomez escaped unharmed but swore to do something. He called the city's
transportation department, which admitted the trolleys were supposed to
have speakers and announcements.
"The Metrorail, Metromover, and buses all have stop announcements," he
says. "But the trolleys were out of compliance with the ADA. I'm young. If
I'm frustrated, someone else who rides these is going to have even more
trouble.
"A lot of disabled people don't like to come out of the house because of
stuff like this," he says. "They just give up." With the help of
disability lawyer Matthew Dietz, Gomez sued the city.
Last month, the city belatedly agreed to add stop announcements at a cost
of $8,000 per trolley. Limousines of South Florida, the private company
that runs the trolleys, agreed to train its drivers to assist people with
disabilities. Commissioners are expected to approve the deal this week.
Now Gomez is the one feeling satisfied. He says the lawsuit isn't about
him, but it has left him feeling empowered.
"My girlfriend is proud of me," he says. "She tells me: 'Look, there are a
lot of barriers you face, but they don't seem to stop you.'>
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and please make suggestions for new material. If you find something
out-of-date, and you'd like it to be updated, please let the list owner know.
Without comments as to what is helpful, and what should be included on the TABI
resources page, it's unlikely that any volunteer work will occur.
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