Inclusion Daily Express -- City Settles Accessibility Problems With Justice Department

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City Settles Accessibility Problems With Justice Department
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
December 16, 2005

WAUKEGAN, ILLINOIS--Public facilities in Waukegan will be made more accessible to people with disabilities over the next four years under an agreement to avoid a lawsuit announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The agreement came as part of the Justice Department's "Project Civic Access", under which 143 formal agreements have so far been reached with villages, towns, cities, and counties across the country.

Under the settlement, the city agreed to make modifications to parking, sidewalks, entrances, public phones, restrooms, service counters, and drinking fountains; inform the public about the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act; install additional TTY's; and develop a way to get information on accessible city services, activities and programs to people with disabilities.

"Making basic civic services accessible is essential to democratic government," said Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, in a DOJ statement. "I applaud the Waukegan city officials for working cooperatively with us to ensure that persons with disabilities will have the opportunity to participate in the full range of city services, from the new city hall to the city's libraries and shelters."

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