[Travelandtourism] Fw: What do you think about this article Dinner train story in the Columbia Tribune in Missouri

Tue Aug 9 13:50:11 UTC 2011

Gary Wunder isn't a member of our list, so he has asked me to post his response.

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Cheryl Echevarria
http://www.echevarriatravel.com<http://www.echevarriatravel.com/>
631-456-5394
reservations at echevarriatravel.com<mailto:reservations at echevarriatravel.com>

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----- Original Message ----- 
From: Gary Wunder<mailto:GWunder at earthlink.net> 
To: 'cheryl echevarria'<mailto:cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com> ; 'travelandtourism'<mailto:travelandtourism at nfbnet.org> 
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2011 9:20 AM
Subject: RE: What do you think about this article Dinner train story in the Columbia Tribune in Missouri

Hello Cheryl.  I don't think I have anything profound to say.  I which accessibility had been there from the first, but I also understand that businesses don't start out being what they want to be.  What bothers me more than that the train is not immediately accessible is that in too many cases accessibility never becomes a reality.  I remember a time when we started to complain about the lack of accessibility in Microsoft Windows.  We were told that accessibility would come in time but that first Microsoft had to capture some market share.  Once they captured market share, a significant amount of it, then the argument became that they could not easily retrofit all of their existing software to incorporate accessibility and that access for the blind would have fared better if it had been a part of the initial design concept.
In earlier days I probably would've said "well, this is only a train, what's the big deal?"  I would've focused my energy more on job-related accommodations.  I still him pushed in that direction, but I am finding that the line between what is work related and put his entertainment is ever harder to see.  It is very difficult to ask for some accessibility as a moderate position without finding that you've dealt yourself out of something you really need.

Gary

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: cheryl echevarria [mailto:cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2011 6:05 AM
To: travelandtourism
Cc: Gary Wunder
Subject: 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.

Leading the Way in Independent Travel!

Cheryl Echevarria
http://www.echevarriatravel.com<http://www.echevarriatravel.com/>
631-456-5394
reservations at echevarriatravel.com<mailto:reservations at echevarriatravel.com>

Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10

Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Absolute Cruise & Travel, Inc.