DOJ, Memphis Negotiating Over Liberty Bowl Accessibility

Wow.  Here's a matter that predated my time at DOJ and is still going on.  See this article, which begins:

The city of Memphis and the federal government are working on an agreement that would bring the aging Liberty Bowl into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

According to a settlement agreement obtained Monday, the federal government would promise not to file a lawsuit against the city if certain corrections and additions are made to bring the 47-year-old stadium into compliance. 

If both parties sign the agreement, it could bring to an end an issue that has plagued the city for years, stretching back to the administration of Willie Herenton.

Don't Blame the New ADA Regs for the Green Bay Packers' New Ticket Policy

So, apparently the Green Bay Packers have decided that they are no longer going to sell tickets for accessible seating locations to customers with disabilities on a single-game basis.  Instead, accessible seats will be sold only as season tickets.  As I understand it, Lambeau Field sells basically no single-game tickets, except on the rare occasions when a visiting team returns a piece of its allocation -- in which case, I would hope, customers with disabilities would have an equal opportunity to purchase those returned tickets along with other customers -- so the new policy puts customers with disabilities in the same position as customers without disabilities in terms of their opportunity to purchase single-game tickets.  Still, a number of fans with disabilities, some of whom live on SSDI benefits or other fixed incomes, are understandably upset that the new policy makes it impossible for them as a practical matter to afford to go to Packers' games.  The Packers are claiming that their hands are tied, because the new ADA regulations require them to offer tickets to customers with disabilities on precisely the same terms that they offer tickets to customers without disabilities, no worse and no better.

Let me do my best Marshall McLuhan impersonation here:  There is nothing in the new ADA regulations that requires the Green Bay Packers to stop letting customers with disabilities buy single-game tickets to accessible seating areas, even if the rest of the seats at Lambeau are sold only to season-ticket holders.  The ticketing provisions in the new ADA regulations prohibit teams and stadiums from giving customers with disabilities less opportunity to purchase accessible seats than is afforded to nondisabled customers seeking seating generally.  So the team has to at least make the same sorts of tickets for accessible seats available to customers with disabilities, during the same hours, during the same stages of ticket sales, through the same methods of distribution, in the same types and numbers of sales outlets, and under the same terms and conditions as are available to customers seeking seating generally.  So the Packers are likely not violating those regulations by selling accessible seats on a season-ticket-only basis, if I'm right that nobody without a disability can purchase tickets on a single-game basis.

But to say that the ADA regulations require this result -- which is what the Packers are saying -- is just flat wrong.  The preamble to the new regulations is completely clear on this point (emphasis mine):

The Department interprets the fundamental principle of the ADA as a requirement to give individuals with disabilities equal, not better, access to those opportunities available to the general public. Thus, for example, a public accommodation that sells out its facility on a season-ticket only basis is not required to leave unsold its accessible seating if no persons with disabilities purchase those season-ticket seats. Of course, public accommodations may choose to go beyond what is required by reserving accessible seating for individuals with disabilities (or releasing such seats for sale to the general public) on an individual-game basis.

If the Packers want to keep selling some accessible seats on an individual-game basis, they can.  There it is, in black and white.

Chronicle of Higher Ed on Proposed ADA Regs

See this article, which begins:

As Congress considers a bill that would bolster the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Justice Department has proposed new regulations that would limit the accommodations universities and other entities must provide under the existing law.

The lengthy new regulations, which detail requirements for handicapped-accessible seating and qualifications for service animals, among other issues, are scheduled to be published today in the Federal Register.

The balance of the article discusses two significant changes that the regs would effect: (1) a reduction in the number of accessible seats that are required in assembly areas; and (2) limitations on the species of service animals (and an express refusal to cover emotional support animals).

U. Michigan Stadium Access Litigation

See this from the Chronicle of Higher Education:

A group of disabled veterans has sued the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor over what they say is an attempt to evade the requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act during the renovation of Michigan Stadium, the Associated Press reported.

The federal lawsuit, filed by the Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America, accuses the university of characterizing the $226-million project as merely a series of repairs rather than a wholesale revamping of the giant stadium, which will add seats, enlarge seats and aisles, and, perhaps most important, install 83 luxury suites.

The disability law would call for 1,000 wheelchair-accessible seats scattered throughout the 107,500-seat arena, but only if the project is considered an “alteration,” according to a lawyer for the veterans. Wheelchair-bound fans are currently restricted to 45 seats in each end zone.

Accessibility Problems in Washington Capitals' Practice Facility

See this article, which begins:

When Arlington County officials revealed a new ice complex as the Washington Capitals' practice facility, they said it would be a community resource for diverse groups, particularly the disabled.
So Rosemary Ciotti, who lives nearby and uses a wheelchair, was dismayed when she visited the new facility shortly after it opened in November and discovered there was no room in the bleachers for her to watch the action on the ice.

Despite its $42.8 million price tag, the Kettler Capitals Iceplex is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"It makes you want to bang your head against the wall," said Ciotti, a member of the county's planning commission.

Another disabled Arlington resident, Sheri Denkensohn, said she visited the iceplex after hearing about the problems from Ciotti and later filed a complaint with the Justice Department.

Arlington officials say such glitches are common in construction projects. They say they already have addressed most of the ADA problems noted by building inspectors before the facility opened and that they are working to correct the problem with the bleachers.