Inclusion Daily Express -- Mayor Supports Alioto-Pier In Wheelchair Ramp Flap

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Mayor Supports Alioto-Pier In Wheelchair Ramp Flap
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
March 19, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA--San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced this week that he would block any move by a group of City Supervisors who want to stop construction on a wheelchair ramp in the Board of Supervisors' Chamber.

The 10-foot ramp is supposed to help District 2 Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier and other people with physical disabilities to get to the podium, which now can only be accessed by climbing five steps. The ramp is required under the ADA, and has been debated over the four years since Alioto-Pier was appointed to represent her district.

Two weeks ago, the board voted 6 to 5 to reject a $1.1 million design for the ramp. The city has already spent more than $200,000 on a total of 18 different designs.

Disability rights advocates and Alioto-Pier, who has used a wheelchair since her spine was injured in a ski lift accident at age 13, have said the actual cost of the ramp would be more like $100,000, and another $40,000 for a railing.

Supervisor Chris Daly said this week that he plans to channel the money that had been allocated for the wheelchair ramp into programs -- including in-home nursing care -- which Mayor Newsom has cut from the budget.

Newsom, however, said he would veto any move to transfer the funds away from the ramp project.

"If I have to veto it, I will," Newsom told the San Francisco Sentinel.

"Make no mistake, the steely resolve on this, I want them to know that we’re going to do this because it is the right thing to do."

On Wednesday, the Fog City Journal reported that the board's Budget and Finance Committee decided to freeze the funds for the wheelchair ramp while new designs are considered, instead of transferring the money to the other programs as Daly had proposed.

Related:
"What does it take to make the Board of Supervisors' chamber wheelchair accessible?" (San Francisco Bay Guardian)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/2008/red/0319a.htm

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