Project Civic Access:
Enforcement Initiative Under Title II of the ADA
Abstract
Access to civic life is a fundamental part of American society.
On August 23, 1999, the Department of Justice reached a settlement
with the City of Toledo, Ohio, in which the City agreed to remove
barriers and relocate activities throughout its city government,
including the municipal courthouse, district and neighborhood police
stations, a market-outlet complex, fire stations, parking garages,
museums, community and social services, the city's parks and recreation
centers, the health department, and other city administrative buildings.
In order to build upon that settlement, the Disability Rights Section
(DRS) of the Department's Civil Rights Division then began similar
reviews of other local and state governments and to develop technical
assistance materials so that communities could immediately begin
to come into full compliance with the requirements of title II of
the ADA.
The project now includes 134* settlement agreements with 128* localities
in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. In
most of these matters, the compliance reviews were undertaken on
the Department's own initiative under the authority of title II
and, in many cases, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
because the governments receive financial assistance from the Department
and are prohibited by the Act from discriminating on the basis of
disability. Some matters were undertaken in response to complaints
filed against the localities.
During the investigations, staff of the Disability Rights Section's
Investigations Unit reviewed compliance with most ADA requirements.
The Section has found that the vast majority of communities are
aware of their ADA obligations and have made progress in meeting
them. Settlement agreements resolve the balance of outstanding issues.
Typical issues addressed during the Department's investigations
include physical modifications of facilities to improve accessibility.
Facilities include city and town halls; police and fire stations
and sheriff departments; courthouses; centers for health care delivery,
childcare, teen and senior activities, conventions, and recreation;
animal shelters; libraries; baseball stadiums; parks (including
ice skating rinks, public pools, playgrounds, ball fields and bleachers,
band shells and gazebos).
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