Governor Patrick is sacrificing his commitment to civil rights in a rush to get billions of fast money through the federal stimulus package for Massachusetts.
Will you let him get away with it?
President Obama’s stimulus act gives between $1.6 billion and $2.8 billion to our state. Governor Patrick has indentified about 1,800 badly needed "shovel ready" improvement projects that only need state funding for cities and towns to begin them. Included among these items, are 380 plus construction projects that citizens with disabilities may not be about to enjoy, if Governor Patrick is successful in gutting regulatory protections ensuring their handicapped accessibility.
In the past, construction companies with contracts to repair government properties have had to make them handicapped accessible. Since the 1980’s, the Architectural Access Board (AAB) has protected the interests of the frail and elderly, with its power to levy fines of up to $1,000 per day on properties not built so everyone can use them. Without the Architectural Review Board, contractors and realtors are tempted to save constructions costs by building the least expensive way possible.
Why did Governor Patrick gut the power of the Architectural Review Board?
A statement on the Massachusetts government’s website says the Governor thinks requiring compliance with like state’s civil rights regulations (CMR 521) and the federal American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) would "hamper the success of the Federal Act package."
Some things get sacrificed when you’re looking for a whole lot of money—like civil rights, Governor? In this case, it is politically expedient to ignore the Massachusetts constitution (Article 114).
President Obama in his February 24 speech, warned the recipients of stimulus funding that he would be watching for fraud and abuse. Would he condone abandoning the Civil Rights of people with disabilities?
Who is influencing the Governor’s decision?
The state’s website says the granting exceptions from disability rights protections has been discussed and agreed upon with the Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) and the Executive Office of Communities and Development (EOCD). The Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Architectural Access Board, has indicated to the AAB that it intends to sign an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regardless of the AAB action on such an MOU.
Who are they?
The DCAM is a state agency that looks after the interests of construction and real estate companies. The EOCD is a state agency administering housing development, mortgage and finance agencies. In other words, they are the builders—the ones that people with disabilities complain about to the AAB, and who have to pay those hefty fines for non-compliance with civil right laws.
Governor Patrick has asked the nine-member AAB for a Memorandum of Understanding allowing these powerful business groups to be exempted from laws promoting civil rights. The AAB is appointed by the governor, and is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Public Safety. A member of the AAB commented at Monday’s meeting that "this will be a bad message to be sent to the construction industry... that it could open to door to other abuses."
What can you do about it?
Call Governor Patrick today at 888 870-7770 (TTY 17-727-3666) and tell him to stop the effort that sacrifices disability rights in the name of expediency.
Let’s pack the next meeting of the Architectural Review Board! Let’s show up to protest and show them we won’t tolerate being treated as expendable in a big grab for money.
At the next meeting on March 9, 2009, 10 AM on the 21st floors of One Ashburton Place, the AAB expects Department of Public Safety, DCAM and EOCD to attend to discuss AAB’s suggestion of an expedited process in a Memorandum of Understanding that will protect our civil rights as well as meet the needs of expediting stimulus-funded projects.
The AAB points out that in 2007-08 they handled an avalanche of complaints (537) regarding the City of Boston. It also wouldn’t hurt if DPS was so concerned about an effective process if DPS would assign additional staff to the AAB from stimulus funding.
The Disability Policy Consortium is alerting the media! We hope for news photographers, print journalists, and TV cameras.
The March 9, 2009 meeting of the AAB is at One Ashburton Place, near the state house in Boston, 21st Floor, Rm 1 from 10am-4pm.
Please contact the Disability Policy Consortium, cell: 617-499-6957 or email: info@dpcma.org
Agreement Reached
AAB Board members Myra Berloff, Vice Chairman Donald Lang and Tom Hopkins met with Adminsitration and Finance and Department of Public Saftey on Monday the 16th to finish the final written language of the MOU.
The proposed agreement was presented to the Board on Monday the 23rd, at 9:00 A.M., and was approved at that time. There has been a great effort to by all of the parties to move away from the “Blanket Time Variance Language” and to secure an expedited variance process that will assist in advancing the Federal Stimulus Projects. 521 CMR will be applied to each project, where applicable, insuring the rights of persons with disabilities while still maintaining due process rights in the variance approval process, whether it be a state project, funded by the federal stimulus dollars or a private public venture.
John Kelley, Neighborhood Access Group, Bill Henning, Executive Director of the Boston Center for Independent Living, and Bill Allan, Executive Director of the Disability Policy Consortium had an opprotunity to review the docuement and ask questions.
The MOU has been posted on the Governor's stimul web site (MOU for AAB) as well as a disciaimer on the statement in the Recommendation that ignited this fight over Civil Rights. The disclaimer is written on the Recorver report pages and is as follows:
These documents include a number of recommendations that were generated during the planning process. All recommendations appear in an effort to be transparent. Not all recommendations were accepted, approved or endorsed by the Governor.
Bill Allan
Governers' Approved Project List