Lakewood Washington City Hall Access Problems

STATUS

UPDATE and CLOSURE: 21June 2007

On 20 February 2002 I announced to the Lakewood City Council that I had finally reached that point where their lack of action on ADA compliance matters at their new City Hall demanded that I submit an ADA Title II complaint to the US Department of Justice.

Some time later I received a call from a DOJ investigator (Ms. Eduardo?) that the DOJ would be sending two investigators out from Washington, D.C. to look at the problems I had recorded on my website.

Once I got that call, I basically "backed off" on my personal pursuit of the problems, and let the professionals take over.

I did get occasional minor updates via the DOJ ADA site, just hints really,  that their investigators were working with the City of Lakewood.

Shortly before I moved out of Lakewood, to University Place (just a 3 mile move), I was called to jury duty at the Lakewood City Hall. Not only were there drastic changes in accessibility to the courts (for the better), but I was amused during jury selection when the City Attorney challenged me and asked that since I had been in a disagreement with the city if my actions as a juror in a case of the city against a citizen would be unbiased. I assured her they would be and was accepted on the jury.

Just recently I was contacted by an instructor in the Interior Design Program at Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood, WA who had been using my little website as a small part of the course. The instructor was curious about the final outcome of the problems my site presented.

We swapped e-mails for a bit, and I filled in the details and promised to update my site to give the story some closure.

THIS is that update: In 2004 the City of Lakewood signed an agreement with the US Department of Justice to fix and or upgrade various ADA compliance problems, and to appoint a city official as the point of contact for all future ADA compliance questions. The agreement itself is on the ADA website HERE:

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/lakewoodsa.htm

The mere knowledge that the DOJ ADA inspectors would be looking over their properties in response to my complaint also seemed to spur the city into action on the problems I had highlighted at their new City Hall. Seems they wanted to be in compliance before the inspectors arrived.   :o)

As promised, the DOJ inspectors did look at all city owned or controlled properties for compliance, and asked for a number of compliance actions. The city of Lakewood is also on notice that they can be re-inspected at any time for compliance.

The system works!

Take care,

Cartoon image of Tom Tom

UPDATE: 07May 2002

At the Lakewood, Washington City Council Meeting held at 7 PM on May 6th, 2002 I said the following to the Lakewood City Council and the Mayor, General Bill Harrison (ret.), from the speakers rostrum:

Each and every one of you up there on the dais has accepted the responsibility of ensuring that the City of Lakewood runs efficiently, legally, and well.

I know that General Harrison has military experience, and I just saw that others of you do, also.

While each of you may not feel personal responsibility for the details of the operation of the city, that responsibility is indeed yours.

People who work for you, whom you have delegated the authority to accomplish their tasks, are your responsibility.

Why am I making these obvious statements?

Because the City of Lakewood did not meet their legal responsibilities in constructing this building. This building does not comply with either state or federal requirements, some of which have existed unchanged since 1973 or earlier.

Lakewood employees have acknowledged many of these errors for the city, and have promised, in writing, to fix them by specific dates. Some of those dates are long past and the problems - those things that are not in compliance with the law of the land - still exist, uncorrected.

When I was in the military, especially in combat but also at other times, I expected those with the responsibility for a mission to complete that mission.

General Harrison, this new command of yours is both more free and more restricted than those you had in the past. The one thing that remains the same is responsibility for the mission.

It's your watch.

All of you.

The mayor then asked the City Manager and the Director of Public Works for the status of the required work, and the response was that there were only two major items remaining to correct, and that they were both being delayed by someone outside the city. Rather than calling them liars, since there are many more than "just two" major items left to fix, I simply turned and left the speaker's rostrum.

Shortly thereafter the City Manager left his position at the lower dais and came over to speak to me privately. In this conversation he promised to make this an item at his morning meeting (May 7th) and to send me e-mail with details on what will be done, who will do it, and when.

I look forward to yet another letter from the city telling me once again that everything will be made better "real-soon-now."

Yeah. Uh-huh.

Further details will be posted at my Lakewood City Hall site as they occur.

Am I an annoyance to the City Council? I sure as Hell hope so. I plan to continue to be an annoyance until they meet the legal requirements of the ADA, state building code, and state fire code. That's all it takes to rid themselves of this annoyance: Completing this one mission. Doing their jobs, correctly.

Tom's Handicapped Logo


UPDATE: 02 April 2002

The attached is from a list provided to me by the Lakewood City Manager. Comments in RED have been added by me.

3/18/2002

I will continue to monitor the City's progress (or lack thereof).

It is interesting at this point to have a document from the City Manager with allegedly cast-in-concrete dates that are not being met.

I am also comparing this list prepared by the city to the list given to the city and will be noting the missing items here in the near future.

Take care,

Tom

UPDATE: 01 April 2002

A major national magazine covering disability issues, NEW MOBILITY, has a short editorial about this site in it's April 2002 issue on page 72.

Here is the content of that editorial (I did remove my last name from this on-line copy).

We Love This Web Site

First, Tom L___ got mad at city hall -- the Lakewood,
Wash., seat of government is not accessible, and when he
tried to talk about the need for accessibility, he was
repeatedly brushed off. So now he's getting even.
L___ takes his digital camera on regular field trips
through the building, snapping shots of all the inaccessible
features and posting them on the following Web site:
home.earthlink.net/~zip98498. He's documenting his access
battle with the city step by step, both his victories and not-
yet-victories, hoping that his dids and didn'ts will help other
wheelchair users take on their city halls, too.
His quality photos and the red circles around features
he's addressing help a lot; his narrative is easy to follow and
his persistance is admiragble. Log on, take notes, and enjoy this
white knight's crusade for access.

--Josie Byzek

Josie is Associate Editor at NEW MOBILITY. Thank you, Josie!

There are numerous discussion forums at NEW MOBILITY's website, and if you wish to see some of the discussion about this problem simply click HERE.

Take care,

Tom

UPDATE: 01 March 2002

West end of the new Lakewood City Hall, 01MAR02, 4PM

To the left the gentleman in the red shirt is walking toward the "Main Entrance" to the building. Notice next to the curb the "DROP OFF ZONE" marking the recess in the curb as being a passenger loading zone. Note also that there are no curb cuts allowing handicapped access as required.

There is another passenger loading zone on the south side of the building, again with no curb cuts. The south side passenger loading zone would also require those in wheelchairs to go nearly one block farther to reach the building lobby than it would the able bodied even if there WERE curb cuts . . . Very poor design, and one that does not meet the ADA standards. *sigh*

UPDATE: 01 March 2002, 5PM - Wednesday, the 27th of February, I stopped by the City Hall briefly to see if any changes had been made in the past week since I told them I had finally filed an ADA complaint with the DOJ, and gave them a copy while at the City Council meeting. I was hoping that had galvanized them into some action, and that I would possibly see some actual physical work being done.

What I saw was not work being done to correct the accessibility problems that had been called to the City's attention several times (and that they had agreed did exist), but nevertheless was genuine progress.

It seems about every 20 feet inside on the first floor are what appear to be computer printed signs directing the disabled toward facilities that are accessible. Not only that, even outside there are signs now identifying the accessible routes into the building and directing the disabled away from non-accessible entries and to the accessible ones up to a half block away.

Best of all, though, were the signs that identified the non-accessible exits as not being wheelchair accessible so that the disabled in wheelchairs would not be handicapped and put into danger by the building design.

Thank you Lakewood for putting up those signs you fought so hard against. I know they can be embarrassing, since there is no excuse for needing them in a new building, but they really are necessary to protect the public until the actual problems are fixed.

I suspect the number of signs inside the first floor showing the way to accessible routes may be a bit excessive, but it is probably better to have too many than not enough. It really is a shame that the design of the building requires the signs at all.

I was also amused - and appreciative - of the EXIT Signs now taped above the accessible exit doors on the southwest corner of the building.

Thank you.

I understand the directional signs on the exterior are permanent, and that the interior signs are temporary until the problems can be fixed.

Some of them will need to be replaced with permanent signs, but thankfully once the problems with the existing exit routes have been corrected, many of them, most especially the "NOT WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE" signs that are so embarrassing, can come down.

I suspect that I will again be attending the next Council meeting, I actually find them interesting, and the coffee's not bad, either.

Take care,

Tom

UPDATE: 20 February 2002, 7PM - Yesterday evening I went to the Lakewood City Council Meeting and spoke during the "Public Comments" time. The following is my very short presentation:

Two weeks ago I spoke here complimenting the Council on our new building and thanking them, and the rest of the city, on their promises to take care of the life safety and handicapped access problems I identified to the City starting last November.

Sadly, so far there have been mostly words rather than deeds.

Since the hazardous conditions have not yet been corrected, and since there is no one at county or state level who can take action, I today filed a federal 'ADA Title II Complaint' with the Departent of Justice.

They will not be able to respond for several weeks, so there is still opportunity to correct the problems before they investigate.

I have a copy of the filing here - should I give it to the city clerk?

(Response from Mayor: "Yes, sir, if you would please.")

(Hand copy to Alice Bush, City Clerk, seated next to me.)

I guess that's all I have to say. Thank you.

In the discussion that followed, one of the city departmental representatives was asked what the schedule was for completing the needed corrections. The response was that there was no schedule. The rep said he would check further and get back to the council with that information. One of the city prople then said that they already had my e-mail address so that they could keep me informed of the progress.

At the end of the council meeting, during the "Council Comments" section, one of the council members, Mr José Palmas, asked if there wasn't something that could be done to provide me with a better position from which to address the meetings, since he could only see my forhead when I was behind the lectern. After a short bit of discussion between the city clerk, the city manager, the mayor and council members it was suggested, by the mayor, that it might be a good idea to discuss it with me, if I would be willing.

After adjournment I spent a considerable time talking with Mr. Palmas about that and about the other problems with the building. He appeared very atentive and interested. Thank you Mr. Palmas.

All in all an interesting evening.

Take care,

Tom

UPDATE: 19 February 2002, 10AM - Talked with the State of Washington folks who handle the State Building and Fire Codes, and they confirmed that enforcement of the Codes rests with the cities and counties, and that there is no one at State level with the ability to enforce or even apply pressure to the City. Their recommendation was to go immediately to the federal DOJ folks to start an official ADA complaint. The only other course is a legal action against the city through the courts.

I'm bothered that by being a "nice guy" and giving the City an opportunity , since November, to correct the problems, I've delayed filing an ADA complaint. It had already been nearly three months with no action by the city to correct the life safety problems with the building exits on the south side of the building, and will probably be another couple of months before the DOJ can initiate their response to the complaint process.

I offer as my only excuse for not just starting out with an ADA complaint my "trust" in the City to take care of the problems in a timely manner. From what I've seen since letting them know of the problems, only those problems where an external force can be applied, such as by the Fire Marshall, who is NOT a city employee, will prompt action be taken.

Today I am filling out the three page ADA Title II complaint form, attaching information and details of the problems, and sending it off to the DOJ.

My DOJ ADA contact also recommended trying to contact local advocacy groups to see if any of them wish to become involved with any parts of this. I'm sure that an advocacy group will be able to stir up more activity, and in a quicker time, than just one nearly unknown person.

18 February 2002, Lakewood, WA -

Well, I went to the Lakewood City Hall last Thursday to see what progress had been made, and was disappointed by what I saw.

Other than the items I've already mentioned, the only changes that were visible were the replacing of the bench that was partially blocking the door opening pushplate near the Council Chambers with a table (this is a GOOD change as it leaves the pushplate accessible to those who need it since the table is not in front of the switch - see the pictures to the right).

The other recent change to problem areas was the removal of the pushplate to open the South exit door from inside the Southwest vestibule area.

This makes it much less easy for those who might need the physical assistance offered by a powered door to use the only marked exit from this area, but still leaves the City with the only marked exit from the southwest corner of the building an exit that is UNSAFE FOR USE by those in wheelchairs.

Why a person in a wheelchair should not use this exit, and also the main doors exiting from the lobby, is that they place the wheelchair user on the raised plaza area on the south of the building with no way down to ground level other than concrete steps. As marked emergency exits this is contrary to Washington State Building Code and the Federal ADA regulations.

Since these doors are plainly marked as emergency exits with the required lighted signs, and are not marked in any way to identify the hazard, simply making them non-powered does not fix the problem.

The city has had more than enough time to respond to this hazard by placing temporary signs identifying the exits as being "NOT WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE" and directing wheelchair users east or west to doors that do present a safe and usable exit, and marking those doors as exits. An even better response would have been to actually fix the problem.

Simply removing the remote switch for the door opener from the inside wall is not a sufficient response. (See image to your left.)

My next step must be to take this to the State of Washington as an official complaint.

I was assured nearly 4 weeks ago that signs were unnecessary because the physical construction of a means of egress ("ramp") was to begin the following week. Not only did I disagree with the decision to not mark the doors as a hazard, the construction did not happen. This unsafe condition has been left uncorrected in any way by the City for too long.

Rather than involving the federal DOJ folks in an ADA complaint and other official inspections and actions, I have chosen at this time to address this at the state level since it does not comply with the Washington State Building Code (WAC 51-40).

If I do not get a rapid response by following this path, I will pass this to the DOJ people in Washington, DC, whom I've already spoken with, as an official ADA complaint.

I expect to be at the next City Council Meeting, and will see what progress has been made, if any, beyond what I saw last week.

I started this expecting to just have to mention the problems to the city back in November, and getting a rapid response at least to those items that presented a distinct hazard to citizens. However, I got no visible response until after I published this website with descriptions and pictures in January.

What is especially distressing in some ways is that the only problems addressed then were those that affected the able bodied as well as the handicapped. Those hazards that affected ONLY the handicapped have still not been addressed. I have not wanted to believe that only things that can affect the able bodied would receive proper attention from the city, but I am being forced to think that by the actual actions taken and not taken to date.

I will not stand for it, and I'm hoping that others will not stand for it either. Handicapped citizens are NOT second class citizens who's safety can be ignored.

Today is a Holiday. Tomorrow I escalate the problem to the next level, the State of Washington.

MAIN PAGE

Progress Report
Effective date: 09FEB'02

Outline of found problems with
City response and action for each
Effective date: 23JAN'02

Other Comments
(From one of my limited access sites.)
(UPDATED 23JAN'02)

Marked Images
(Showing problem areas and including
explanations of each problem.)

Link to City of Lakewood official site.

COPYRIGHT 2002 zip98498@earthlink.net, Lakewood, WA
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