The City of Athens hosted an open house Wednesday to receive recommendations on making the city more accessible for people with disabilities.
The city is currently implementing an Americans with Disabilities Act transition plan to ensure the city is up to national accessibility code. In doing so, Athens hired Sunday Creek Horizons as a consultant to evaluate city infrastructure, according to past reporting by The Post.
During the open house, SCH’s evaluations were displayed on large posters, highlighting inaccessible structures within public facilities, including bathrooms, parking lots, pathways and doors.
Sam Tuten, director of planning and project funding at SCH and Kianna O’Brien, a fellow at SCH and a junior studying economics and finance at Marietta College, began working on the city transition plan last summer.
During the evaluation process, O’Brien documented each structure not up to ADA standards within Athens public facilities, including the City Hall, Community Center, Police Department, Fire Headquarters, Fire Station, City Pool, West State Street Park, ALCO, Arts West, the City Law Department, Parking Garages, Code Enforcement and the Engineering and Public Works Department.
Tuten said the evaluation of each location involved a different process to determine accessibility barriers. He also said SCH took individual experiences of how disabled people interact with spaces in Athens into consideration when evaluating solutions.
“I think the biggest reason we decided to do something like an open house, rather than talking to individual people, is so that way we could get input from people with varying disabilities,” O’Brien said.
Joe Brumfield, a member of the Athens City Commission on Disabilities, said he hopes the event will solve the disconnect he believes exists between the many organizations trying to make Athens more accessible for people with disabilities within the city.
“It's one thing for them to go in with a tape measure and say this doesn't work,” Brumfield said. “It's another thing for somebody with, you know, accessibility issues to go in and make something work, right? And when you don't have that level of input, things get done wrong, and then they have to go back in and do it again.”
Brumfield encourages people to get involved with the transition process because everyone knows of someone, or will know of someone, who needs accessibility changes to be made. Brumfield said accessibility measures are not being implemented fast enough in Athens, but more pressure from Athens residents might spur government action.
According to O’Brien, the accessibility barriers of highest concern to attendees of the event will take priority during the transition.
“This was just a first stab at getting that public input,” O’Brien said. “There will be other opportunities for public comment. There will be a public comment period. So, next steps of the transition plan is obviously going to be, you know, the sidewalks, getting the priorities straight, getting the budgeting done.”
Tuten said the community’s prioritization of accessibility issues will be presented to the city, but the improvement process will ultimately depend on available funds and other ongoing city projects.
Dianne Bouvier, the vice chairperson of the Athens City Commission on Disabilities and committee member for the Accessibility and Advocacy Committee, as well as the Communication and Outreach Committee, said the ADA requires higher standards for new construction projects than already developed facilities.
To meet those higher standards, Bouvier said she would like the city to include the Commission on Disabilities in the construction of new projects.
“So, and when it's new, of course, all of those things can be more easily met,” Bouvier said. “They don't cost a lot to change. You just have to think about it ahead of time, and that's partly where the disability commission comes in.”
However, the city is not required to involve the commission in new construction projects nor take their suggestions into account, according to Bouvier. Bouvier said there is nobody identified to regulate the city’s accessibility.
“So, part of the ADA transition plan is to make sure somebody is identified,” Bouvier said. Under the ADA, cities can decide, ‘Okay, we'll have each manager be responsible for making sure things are accessible within their program or building,’ but there's no city accountability.”
