Municipal Building Crosswalk
The following letter was sent to Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh and Township Council members:
This year on July 26th, we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Some time after passage of the ADA, on July 13, 1992, the Township of West Windsor adopted a resolution approving its ADA Transition Plan (the Plan), as required by federal law. The Plan documented the items of ADA non-compliance and undertook to rectify them all by January 26, 1995, also as required by federal law.
In the last month, some West Windsor residents did a partial audit to determine which items in the Plan had been rectified, which had not, and which items post-dating the Plan, and therefore also post-dating the passage of the ADA, were still not ADA-compliant. I present to you our report. I assume that you will not grant me time to go through the report item by item at this time, but I will summarize by saying that there are major violations with virtually all the sites inspected, including the very stepped platform upon which you are seated, and which the Township pledged to make wheelchair-accessible by January 26, 1995, over fifteen years ago.
I have the following questions:
When can we expect these and other non-compliant items to be rectified? Until they are?rectified, the Township is in violation of federal law.- The Plan has never been updated. When does the Township intend to update its Plan, as required?by the ADA? The law requires that ?the plan should be updated periodically.” I suspect that 18?years is a rather greater interval than Congress had intended.
- Will the Township create an independent Accessibility Committee, as several New Jersey?Townships have done, to monitor its ADA compliance, ensure that such lapses do not reoccur,?and promote the accessibility needs of its disabled residents and visitors? It would be?appropriate for this committee to be formed and functioning well before the July 26th ADA?anniversary date.
- Will the Township and its officials, to show its commitment to the ADA, join with other local,?state and federal government officials in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the signing of the?ADA this July 26th, 2010?
When can we expect these and other non-compliant items to be rectified? Until they are?rectified, the Township is in violation of federal law.Respectfully,
Michael Ogg
Read the full report: 2010 Assessment of the Township of West Windsor, NJ, ADA Compliance
Read the West Windsor 1992 ADA Transition Plan
Read the ADA Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments
from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice
Read news reports:
- Times of Trenton, March 1, 2010
- Princeton Packet, February 25, 2010
- West Windsor & Plainsboro News, February 19, 2010