Last post Sat, Jun 14 2008 2:06 PM by Daisies. 9 replies.
Everyone -
Check out this article - http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/06/13/carollloyd.DTL
Comments?
This is a very interesting, in-depth article. It points out that voluntary programs with grant money for compliance don't work very well. How about a NON-voluntary program but WITH grant money so that small business owners can get some help doing renovations that they otherwise could not afford?
This guy, Frankovich is a gangster. Why doesn't he get a gun and really commit a stick up. I can hear him now: :::::In his best Tony Saprano vioce::::: "This is a nice store you have here. Be a shame if something happened to it." Does he have teams of gimp roaming the cities to find small mom & pop operations? Notice he doesn't go after the big boys. There are a ton of big corporations that are not ADA compliant. No, he's rather go after the small businesses that are barely making their payroll and staying alive. The ones that can't afford a team of lawyers that can prove that a building or store cannot be made accessible. I've dealt with many a small business owners about their accessiblity issues. Most are more then willing to take suggestions or guidance on where to find help. I've only had one that pretty much told me to get lost. It was as simple as a ramp at the front door. I simply turned him into the city (Boston). The city forced him to do it or threatened to revoke his liquor/meals license. Months later the store front was all torn up. A concrete ramp was being installed and he was fined for none complaince.
Like I've said, I don't roam around with a copy of the ADA in my pocket. Hell, I don't even have it bookmarked on the computer, but I do know that the key wording is "Reasonable Accommodations". But in my opinion, forcing someone cutting up historic buildings and forcing owners to do such extensvie construction that it would put them out of business, is not reasonable. That's equal to saying "Well, if I can't go in there, nobody can".
How far does it go? Should the US Navy be forced to cut up the decks of the USS Constitution to install an elevator shaft? Try that I'll chain myself to the deck.
I used to hang out a a local pub. It wasn't totally accessible and the age of the building grandfathered him to not having to do anything. Well he did anyway. Installed not 1, not 2, but reserved a good chuck of his parking for HP parking. Originally all the tables were the standard pub height for standing at. He installed lower table tops so that wheelers could have a comfortable place and not be out of place. Rest rooms were and issue because there was not any space to put it. But he did the best he could. Again reasonable Accomidations were made. When he built a new place down the road, he did everything the ADA (federal/state and local) called for. He went above and beyond. Their were no stairs. Everyone used the ramps. It was very cool. But his grand opening got delayed by a week. The day before the inspector asked where the wheelchair height water fountain was. A water fountain? In a pub? That's nuts but it's in the law. At the same time there is no law saying there had to be one for standung height. That's just and example..
From the article: ******Frankovich told me he doesn't keep count but he guesses that he's filed between 1,500 and 1,800 ADA accessibility lawsuits since 1994 and he currently has about 50 active ADA suits in San Francisco. Last year, he was the subject of a San Francisco Weekly cover story "Wheelchairs of Fortune," detailing his multi-million dollar business in ADA suits.******
Frankovich is no hero to the disabled. He's a legal gangster. He's found away to extort money from small businesses. If they have to close the store to pay it, he doesn't care. Well, to me he'll go down in history with some famous names. Capone, Bugsy Seagal, Jess James. Only difference is, he's got the ADA and not a gun. With any luck, he'll forget to pay his taxes like Capone did.
I really think the ADA has done some great things. At the same time, I think it's turned many small business people against the disabled community. It forcing them to choose between the financailly/physically impossible or closing shop. FYI: I realize that it's not the case with all, but it is with many.
That article highlights the exact reason why there needs to be a system in place for compliance that does not require such drastic action. It's ridiculous that we have to hire a lawyer and sue for people to comply with the ADA. It is equally ridiculous that we can sue for money above and beyond the cost of the suit itself. In other words, any type of punitive damages, whether they are called punitive or not. This is the sort of thing that makes people think we want special treatment and that enforcing access standards is wrong. It does us all so much harm.
"It's not just about Obama is a young black man, and McCain is an old white guy."Shelley!
Good points. There is a reason why there is the phrase frivolous lawsuits. Making a living from breaking the financial backs of regular people with small businesses is a crime - the legal gangster moniker fits to a T...When you add to that the dilution of legal precedence for ADA issues that need to be addressed makes what this guy (and others) does a real travesty of justice and a mockery of the legal system in America. I now live in Germany, and when you deal with a government that is extremely resistant to the needs of the disabled (no ADA here), you learn to appreciate the gains in America - the sloping sidewalks, the chirping streetlights, the ramps everywhere, the braille bumps on ATM machines, all of this is because of the decades of grass-roots efforts of many people - NOT the lawsuits of a guy who does this as a job.
I agree with TriDog, this clown is a disabled gangsta. He was up here in the wine country a few years ago threatening to sue all the tasting rooms who's counters were an inch off the ADA regs. I know I hated him, many just closed thier tatsting rooms for the season to comply to his gangsta ways, messing with the economy. In person, he's a jerk as well. I've been ignored by many people, but NEVER by someone who said they were fighting for my rights as a disabled person. He acted like I wasn't there when I asked him a question at a impromtu meeting he'd had in Sonoma County. This guy was running around to all the tasting rooms with a damn measuring tape in his pocket and the ADA in the other. Can we say overkill? I don't care if my wine is an inch above what some idiot deemed in some office somewhere else, just pour the damn glass! He really makes me feel like a damn whiner because honestly, AB's are getting sick of stuff like he does.
Like TriDog, many of the Mom and Pop places around me have gone out of their way to make it easy for wheelers to get inside. Maybe not to the tight ADA standards, but it works for us. At a local pub, it was a simple ramp at the back entrance with a wheelchair placard notifying us where to enter, and a few lower counter spots. 'Nuff for me and my pals, we want to be as normal as possible anyway.
:::runs off because I hate being politcial, but I met this guy and needed to add my two cents::::
He is like the 3rd grade bully that picks on the 1st graders because he knows he would get his @$$ kicked with the big boys. If he really wanted to do some change then go after the big companies, file one suit at a store and they might open their eyes and fix all their stores across the country! A lawyer could make a killing here in Arkansas, the malls and big department stores that are inaccessible are all over here. The big thing is these little strip malls, I have one they just built by my house and they put a curb up all the way around but there is a ramp going into the door once you are over the curb...lol. I am going to call the phone number they have on the building to see if they can fix this before people start moving in because it is up for lease right now...
ArkanzanWheeler: they put a curb up all the way around but there is a ramp going into the door once you are over the curb...lol. I am going to call the phone number they have on the building to see if they can fix this before people start moving in because it is up for lease right now...
Ark, I like that approach. What's the old saying? "You get more bees with honey......." Ya, it doesn't always work becaue there are a lot of jerks out there, but more often then not, it works.
Contact the local building inspection office first. You might find that the local ADA requirements were over looked and they will have to fix it before opening. My dad was in the trades and he spent more time fixing other peoples mistakes then doing his own work.
I also agree with Tridog and the others here. This guy is giving the rest of us a bad name. Shameful. Shimas, he sounds like a real jerk. Thanks for adding your 2 cents!
Becky
Levon:I now live in Germany, and when you deal with a government that is extremely resistant to the needs of the disabled (no ADA here), you learn to appreciate the gains in America -
Well, in my opinion the ADA sure isn't the... der Weisheit letzter Schluss, the end of it all.
I, like any other wheelchair user here, have my own, private parking spot in front of my door. Nobody is allowed to park there, not even other handicaps with blue parking permit.
And in case I don't find a blue parking spot I can park my car wherever is room, and it isn't in the way of moving traffic.
Yes we don't have ramps everywhere, but if I need to go to offices or things and know I can't get in, all it takes is just a call. My administrator will come to my car, meet me somewhere else altogether, or somebody will meet me at home.
Can You say the same things of Your country?
