| Lack of Accessible Street
Crossing in NYC Is Found To Violate ADA By
SDNY Judge
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
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SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Oct 20 – The ongoing lack of
accessible pedestrian signals
(APS) in New York City was the
subject of an oral argument on
October 2. U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of
New York Judge Paul A.
Engelmayer held the argument.
Inner City Press covered it.
The
plaintiffs have argued that
NYC is pitiful and that "in
comparison Phoenix has a
policy requiring APS in all
new pedestrian signals... San
Antonio, Seattle and LA do so
for all new pedestrian signals
AND all replacement of old
signals." They moved for
partial summary judgment.
Now on
October 20, Judge Engelmayer
has ruled: "the Court grants
plaintiffs’ summary judgment
motion in principal part. Most
significantly, the Court
finds, on the undisputed
facts, that the
near-total absence at
the City’s signalized
intersections of crossing
information accessible to
blind and low- vision
pedestrians denies such
persons meaningful access to
these intersections, in
violation of all three
statutes cited above. The
Court also grants plaintiffs’
motion as to liability on
their claim that the City’s
failure to add non-visual
street-crossing information at
particular intersections at
which it installed new traffic
signals after June 27, 2015,
violates the ADA and
Rehabilitation Act. The Court
otherwise denies plaintiffs’
motion for summary judgment.
The case will now proceed
promptly forward on two
tracks: (1) to determine the
remedy for the violations that
have been established; and (2)
to resolve plaintiffs’ open
claims."
During the
October 2 oral argument, Judge
Engelmayer zeroed in on
Broadway on the Upper West
Side.
The City of New
York on the other hand is
arguing that "the installation
of APS at every intersection
that contains a pedestrian
signal would fundamentally
alter the natures of the APS
Program and would impose undue
financial and administrative
burdens."
The case is
American Council of the Blind
of New York, Inc. et al v.
City of New York et al.,
18-cv-5792 (Engelmayer)
***
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