[Travelandtourism] {Disarmed} What do you think about this article Dinner train story in the Columbia Tribune in Missouri

[Jaquiss, Robert]

Hello:
     This is an interesting article. I am of two minds regarding this situation. I certainly hope this venture gets off the ground, and that they get an accessible train car. It would have been better if they had obtained an accessible car in the first place, but could they have started their enterprise. Living in Baltimore, I often come across inaccessible public places. I can think right off of two restaurants that are not accessible. They are in old buildings and retrofitting these places would be very difficult and very expensive.

Regards,

Robert



Robert Jaquiss
National Federation of the Blind 
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, Maryland 21230 
Phone: 410-659-9314, ext. 2422

-----Original Message-----
From: travelandtourism-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:travelandtourism-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of cheryl echevarria
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2011 7:05 AM
To: travelandtourism
Cc: Gary Wunder
Subject: [Travelandtourism] {Disarmed} What do you think about this article Dinner train story in the Columbia Tribune in Missouri

Hoping to get some discussion going on here. I have also copied it to President Gary Wunder of Missouri.  Maybe we can get him to comment to our list as well. I know it says wheelchair users, and not the blind, but this could affect all as well if they are not following ADA.

here it is.

Providing for access
By Henry J. Waters III<about:/staff/hank-waters-editor-and-publisher/>

Columbia Daily Tribune 
Monday, August 1, 2011<about:/news/2011/aug/01/>

The new Columbia-to-Centralia-to-Columbia dinner train is highly anticipated by most prospective customers, but for the time being that number won't include wheelchair users. 

Rail platforms and the oldie-but-goody rail cars don't meet federal standards contained in the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Columbia Star Dinner Train managers say they have located a more suitable car and will add it to the train as soon as their new enterprise proves it has lasting power. Protesters say this is not good enough. The train never should have left the station without proper access, particularly since it received a city subsidy. They say it's not so much a matter of complying with the law; the underlying issue is how our community will abide by "universal design," a concept providing full access in public places.

Of course the protesters are right in a broad sense, but apparently the train operators are not technically breaking the law; they got official permission, and it makes sense to give them a few weeks of slack to see whether the train will continue operating at all.

As for the city subsidy, chalk that up to amateur politicians' exuberance. No doubt the city representatives who handed over $45,000 and pledged another $20,000 to help launch the bold new enterprise did not intend to snub the disabled. Certainly, they know now the lack of access can't continue indefinitely.

For a reasonable interim, we should give the dinner train operators time to hatch their baby. They are taking on a very risky enterprise that offers more in the way of early public excitement than any guarantee of long-term patronage that will make it sustainable. One can make the argument they never should have gotten started without providing disability access, but one also can assume that might have been an economic stopper.

Even more to the instant point, the deal was done, and its evolution is where it is. Access is promised if the train succeeds. If it does not, access will be a moot issue. The operators and city officials have the issue plainly before them. It's time for time to tell.



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Cheryl Echevarria
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