[blindlaw] Municipal and Legislative Proposals
Fred Wright Lopez
fwlopez at comcast.net
Sun Sep 13 22:10:20 UTC 2009
William
Your state and county of residence would likely determine your
approach in this matter. I reside in a suburb near san Francisco,
CA. For several years I have been involved in transit issues (audible
signal lights, curb ramp cutouts, tactile dome mats, smart crosswalks,
paratransit and fixed route services). For a few years I sat as my
city's representative on a county transportation advisory committee.
Waht I've taken away from all of this is as follows: The State has
retains jurisdictional responsibility for State operated bridges,
highways and freeways in California. For historical reasons, many
former highways particularly in urban areas have become local streets
or boulevards. However, the State retains ownership and therefore
all maintenance responsibility including that for any signal systems
or crosswalks. All other streets, roads and siganl systems are the
responsibility of the local City authority (or if in an unincorporated
area, the local County). In each instance the Public Works Department
has authority for maintenance of local roads, signal systems and
crosswalks. At the State level, the California Department of
Transportation has the corresponding responsibility for state operated
highways, streets, signal systems and corsswalks.
It is my understanding that every state and by extension every county
and city that is a recipient of Federal Transportation Highway funds
is required to develope Short and Long Term Transportation Plans. In
California the short range plans are five years and the long range
plans are twenty years. These plans must also be modified and
updated in accordance with changed circumstances. Most large urban
areas have Metropolitan Transportation Agencies, which serve as
repositories for all Transportation Plans form local county
transportation agencies. The Federal Highway Transportation Agency
has a web site with extensive ADA compliance information. In sum,
State, County and local municipalities must assure that their streets,
roads and pedestrian crossings are complaint with the Americans with
Disabilities Act... For at least a decade or two, these
jurisdictions have been required to complete an inventory of streets,
roads and pedestrian corssing that do or do not meet ADA compliance
standards and specify plans for correction.
How individual jurisdictions go about this ADA compliance is both at
times a mystery and baffling. Many jurisdictions through responding
to local pressure have undertaken extensive ADA correctie actions.
San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland for example have for decades
installed and maintained audible signal systems, curb cutouts and
other other ADA complaint measures. Yet smaller jurisdictions simply
ignore these ADA requirements or continually postpone them citing
financial constrains. Absent local citizen pressure or the filing of
a legal complaint for ADA non compliance no corrective action is taken.
With regard to corsswalks, if it is a local issue, your best coruse of
action is to approach your local public works department in your city
and aks for the short or long term transit plan and for any vehicle or
pedestrain flow studies that pertain to said crosswalk or lack there
of. In my experience, the engineers at these public works
departments are friendly and generally aware that many of their
streets are non ADA compliant but will tell you that the problem is
MONEY and PRIORITIES. If its a state road, the State Transportation
Agency will have simailr data on the lcoal road or intersection of
concern to you.
If you are trying to get a crosswalk, a stop sign or a city signal
light (hopefully one that is audible) that you should only go to your
local city council person or state representative after you have done
your research, spoken with the traffic engineers in your city, county
or State Transportation agency. The best success I have had locally
is when I have been abel to build coalitions with seniors, the
disabled, local schools and parents and churches.
Hope this is of some help.
Fred W. Lopez
On Sep 13, 2009, at 12:00 PM, WB wrote:
> Does anyone in the list have experience with approaching their local
> and/or
> state legislature with proposals to improve various issue points (i.e.
> accessible crosswalks)? I have done some research but want to ask
> those who
> may have experience in this for their suggestions as to approach and
> resources.
>
>
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
>
>
> William
>
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