Handicapped Parking

[Lurking Dem]

I was not allowed to park in a marked handicapped space at the Hilton on Friday by the man in charge of valets/bellmen. He physically blocked me from the space stating that it was too busy (everyone was dropping off/checking in kids for Model UN) and that since it was private property they weren't subject to such things.

Now that is bullshit. ALL parking lots are private property. ADA laws are federal laws to make private businesses accessible.

So I reported it to the Codes department, giving them my handicapped placard number.

Today they inform me that they only enforce the availability/number of parking spaces, not the allowing of handicapped people to actually park there, making it a civil matter and I should contact an attorney.

I have to hire a lawyer and SUE this idiot? Anyone can do this and get a way with it unless a civil suit is filed?????

[Muddleoftheroad]

1. I bet you won't have any trouble

What they did was horribly wrong. I bet you can find an attorney to take it on a percentage basis and will quickly get a settlement and a change in attitude.

[Lurking Dem]

7. I can afford an attorney

it just seems a stupid way to go about this for what? a $50 fine??

I'm wondering if I should talk to the hotel manager and threaten a suit if they don't fire him.

[Pastiche423]

9. Unfortunately

it is the only way to go about it.

Hire an attorney to sue Hilton. It was on the Hilton's property. Let your attorney do the talking.

To prevent what happened to you, happening again, noise must be made.

[HFishbine]

19. I'd bet

the poor guy was just doing his job. Even if he hadn't been instructed to block that space, his worst "crime" is ignorance.

Which would make the world a better place?

a) The guy loses his job and his replacement does the same thing again.

b) The guy loses his job and the hotel never does it again.

c) The city instructs the hotel not to block handicap parking spots, they agree and understand, and the guy keeps his job.

[Walt Starr]

11. I believe you're right

I would also contact the media to advertise this widely. Holton does NOT want the publicity that they have handicapped spots but won't allow handicapped people to use them.

[sangh0]

2. Contact a local Legal Aid office

Many of them handle civil issues in addition to Criminal Defense.

[hlthe2b]

3. contact newspaper or local tv consumer /invest. reporter

If they nose into it, I'm sure things will change.. Bad publicity does have an impact.

[radwriter0555]

4. So take them to small claims court. But you'd have to prove what

damage you suffered as a result of this deprivation.

The action itself could well result in a legally filed on the record judgement against them.

You could, for integrity's sake, file the suit for $1.

[Tyler Durden]

5. ACLU

OBVIOUS civil rights case. HAVE AT THEM!

[Pastiche423]

6. Yes, now that the ADA

has been beaten, battered and watered down, it is up to the disabled to sue to enforce it.

Then it gets worse...

Due to the nomination of RW judges, good luck in winning your case. Presidential candidate, John Edwards, voted FOR the worse anti-disabled, RW judge.

After an extensive campaign by NOW and Justice for All, begging the senator to vote no, Edwards hid in an office across the hall and waited until the voting was finished.

He then crossed the hall and asked if his YES vote could still be counted. It still counted and the nomination for judge D. Brooks Smith passed.

If you decide to sue, there are a couple of organizations that could possibly help to gain publicity.

Publicity is the key.

[otohara]

8. ADA Laws Are Weak

and if you live in a state where most of the judges are conservatives, they favor business vs the disabled American. Before Mayor Webb left office he had a jazz concert at Red Rocks and ALL handicap spaces were closed off for visiting VIP's. There was a huge uproar over it by disabled folks who were told "too damn bad" -

ADA laws are much more effective in the area of access - suing an employer over ADA violations is virtually impossible - I learned a huge lesson after my suit with Clear Channel -

Let it go - I would definately write a letter to Hilton Hotel corporate office - maybe you'll get free rooms or something and save yourself money from atttorney - which I doubt would take the case anyway

[Pastiche423]

10. Letting it go

plays right into the hands of those that do not want the ADA upheld. The RW have been trying to do that very thing since the inception of the ADA in 1990.

That is another reason the ADA has been weakened. People just "let it go". If the ADA is not fought for, it will die.

[otohara]

42. Oh OK - Let's Be Naive

about suing for handicap parking spaces in private parking lots.

Imagine how many disabled folks would have nice chunks of money tucked away for what the courts would consider frivolous lawsuits. I'd be rich.

Having a disability does not guarantee you a lawsuit.

[DemBones DemBones]

12. The lack of empathy for the disabled is amazing. It seems that

a very large percentage of the nondisabled are convinced that they will never be disabled, never require the special facilities for the disabled (the ones they "never see anyone using.")

Incidents like this make me hope that karma really is a bitch.

[Pastiche423]

13. It takes only seconds

to become a member of the disabled community.

That is what many TABs (temporary able bodied) fail to grasp. When/if they become disabled, will there be anyone to fight for them?

[sangh0]

14. Yep. I hurt myself getting up from my couch (seriously)

and now I'm temporarily disabled.

[Pastiche423]

15. Was that supposed to be funny?

How fucking low can you go?

[DrWeird]

17. Hey now.

Some people can seriously hurt their backs doing simple things. It's not a laughing matter to get a herniated disk.

[HFishbine]

20. And he should know

He's a doctor.

[Pastiche423]

25. Who has a herniated disk?

Did you read that someone has a herniated disk? I din't. All I read was that someone was mocking my post.

The topic of this thread is about being denied the right to park, which is law under the ADA. It is not about people mocking the disabled!

Are you disabled? Do you know what a disabled person has to go through just to park a vehicle? If one can not get out of their vehicle, or is denied a space that would allow them to get out of their vehicle, they can't go anywhere!

[DrWeird]

28. What I read was...

that SanghO had seriously hurt his/herself getting off of the coach and is now temporarily disabled. How is that mocking?

[Pastiche423]

29. And I call bullshit

sangho's post added nothing to this topic, other than to mock.

This post is about the difficulties that long term (w/me it's lifetime) PWDs have w/parking.

The larger picture is the enforcement of the ADA and how we must sue to achieve compliance.

[DrWeird]

30. What the flying fuck are you talking about?

SanghO was replying to your post about who quickly one and easily one can become disabled by describing his/her own experience. Earlier in the thread SanghO even offers some advice to the original poster. You're flying way off the handle here.

[IranianDemocrat]

34. How do you become DISABLED just by getting up off of a couch?

.

[sangh0]

39. Tore a tendon

My shoulder had been weakened by previous injuries, so I used it less. In it's weakened state, it didn't take much to tear my rotator cuff.

[Lurking Dem]

40. I would guess that

most temporary disabilities are the result of people doing some mundane activity that went awry.

[Lurking Dem]

18. It's hard to generate sympathy

when you don't look disabled, too. People automatically assume I stole/"borrowed" somebody else's placard.

Most of the time I just don't even use it anymore. The media has made it even worse by doing all these stories lately on misuse of the placards and how "easy" they are to get.

Easy? Yeah the pages of crap I had to fill out barely equalled the pages of crap my doctor had to fill out. And these "news" stories have made it so people expect me to give them my entire friggin' medical history/life expectancy right there in the damn parking lot!

I only go out when I absolutely have to now.

[Beaker]

47. Screw them.

I have a placard as well, but to look at me, most people probably wouldn't guess that I have the disability that I do.
But it's none of their business- My Dr. reccomended I get the placard, the Secretarty of State agreed, and now I have it, and I use it. Fuck the people who doubt me, and that's exactly what I tell them...If they don't like it, let them call a cop- the law and what's right is on my side.

[HFishbine]

16. Typical Bureacratic Response

Bullshit! Take it to the elected body that overseas the code department (city council, county commission?). A space that is unavailable is no space at all. If there is an opportunity for speakers from the floor to the public body, make your point (be polite, that always helps). Usually press are in attendence and they'll surely see it your way.

On edit: You'll have a much easier time getting an ordinance enforced than trying to do something through a federal law.

[Lurking Dem]

23. I have a call in to the general manager.

I doubt this will go anywhere.

There is a restaurant here - sportsbar type - that is very popular so used to go. The owner finally drove me from the place by continually parking his car in the only handicapped spot (parking there was brutally inadequate all the way around). I would call the police, they would talk to him, he would move the car, they would leave, he would move it back.

This happened twice and he came over (drunk) to my table and started yelling at me. He never got a ticket. Never got a breathalyzer. Never got in trouble.

My >husband< almost got busted that night. Hehehe.

I'm kinda getting to the point where I no longer have the energy to care.

[dmr]

41. This story is all the more reason to take the issue further,

if anything, higher up the Hilton chain. That man represents Hilton, and I'm sure the chain (hopefully) would follow through.

I have a handicap lis. plate, and it still amazes me at how hard it is to find a parking place. So many times, there is a non handicapped car park in a spot or an expired tag hanging on the rear-view mirror. My neighbor has a tag for her disabled father, but uses it for her own convienence, (and she's a nurse who works with the disabled!) she doesn't stop and think that these spaces are limited and we either have to park elsewhere (if able), wait for an available space or just leave. At my bank, the handicap parking spots are further away than the regular spots - go figure. My son brought this to the attention of the bank manager, and he just shrugged.

Last week, after grocery shopping, my 14 year old son had to get in the car and pull it forward because an SUV parked so close to my car, I couldn't get in.

I wish so many times it didn't have to be this way, but it is. I only go out when I have to because it's so damn draining and painful.

No one knows when it's going to happen to them. I use to walk 5 miles a day until an accident did me in.

EDIT: spelling

[NNN0LHI]

21. Contact the Secratary of State in the state where this happened

Same thing happened to my dad and thats what I did. It was taken care of the next day.

Don

[spindoctor]

22. Sounds like you have a hell of a law suit coming your way

Next time we go out...you're buying.

[Lurking Dem]

24. LOL!

I doubt I'll sue but I'm flush. You come to Nashville, I'll buy!

[spindoctor]

31. That's only 1,000 miles away.

I've done crazier things for a free drink ;)

[Lurking Dem]

32. 1000 miles for a drink?

Maybe I better serve it in a fishbowl!

>HIC!<

[Beaker]

26. the Devil's Advocate has a couple questions...

Was that the only handicapped spot?
If not- were all of them blocked off, or just that one?
Is the valet service offered by the hotel free of charge? was the valet service offered as an alternative by the manager who denied you access to the spot?

As the holder of a permanent placard myself, I have come to learn that it in no way guarantees me a spot.

On another matter-
The city that I used to live in designated a certain number of metered parking spots on the downtown streets as "handicapped only", and then removed the parking meters from those spots only...something that doesn't seem like it would be right, especially under the ADA rules- if non-handicapped people have to pay to park, why shouldn't the handicapped pay as well? it's hardly equal treatment.

[Lurking Dem]

35. No prob!

Yes it was the only handicapped spot and it wasn't really blocked off he just physically blocked it with his body. I guess I coulda.....nah!

According to the manager their policy is to valet park (did not mention "free" but I kind of assumed it) the handicapped parkers. This was not offered to me - I was told to leave the vehicle over "there" and surrender the keys so it could be moved. I was not given a ticket for said keys.

Where I live you can park at any meter downtown but you don't have to feed it. The only place I've had a problem was at the Federal Building (!) where some cops were making use of assigned handicapped spots, there was no street parking, and the garage was closed. I got a ticket which I payed. I have no idea why police officers were standing/idling in the handicapped spots.

[Beaker]

37. It must be a pretty small Hilton-

If they only have 1 handicapped parking space in their entire parking lot- I'm pretty sure that the law says that a certain percentage of spots must be designated as handicapped parking.

regardless- I don't think that this incident rises to the level of something worthy of being taken to court over. a lot of people in our society are already too sue-happy.

[Lurking Dem]

38. It is kinda small

but this was a separate parking lot by the front entrance for picking up/dropping off. They have another parking lot for guests/valets that has additional handicapped spots but it is some distance form the entrance.

[Beaker]

46. were you dropping off or picking someone up?

I still don't see what the basis of any lawsuit would be.
BTW- were all of the handicapped spots in the Hilton's main parking lot full?

As you stated- the hotel had a special event going on, and they have a right to allocate their parking lot spaces as the demands of their business dictate. Just because the other handicapped spots were further from the entrance doesn't change the fact that they were there. I can park in the handicapped spot closest to the door at Home Depot, but if what I'm shopping for is in the back corner of the store, I'll still have a long way to walk.

[Lurking Dem]

49. Dropping off a child.

I couldn't have made it with bags from the other parking lot. But read post 48. I'm done.

[Fescue4u]

27. You should sue them.

Im sure you can get an lawyer to take this on contingent.

I would be shocked if they don't settle for a nice sum.

[drfemoe]

33. How

"available" is a space with a guy standing there blocking it??

they only enforce the availability/number of parking spaces

[Lurking Dem]

36. I have asked that very question.

No one at Metro government, or state government seems to have any jurisdiction over this.

[evil_orange_cat]

43. DON'T DIP IN PARIS'S TRUST!!!

LOL

[BurtWorm]

44. Report it to the Human Rights Commission or the Office for PWD

A handicapped space is for people with disabilities. What city do you live in?

[Character Assassin]

45. Sue? That seems a bit extreme. Why don't you talk to the management?

[Lurking Dem]

48. I have talked to management.

He was pissy and didn't even apologize for my rude treatment until I told him I had reported it to Codes.

I've gone over the posts here and decided to not pursue this. I rarely go out on my own anymore and that truly seems easiest. I never had any intention of suing. All I wanted to do was report it to the authorities so he could be fined the $50. Sadly, no one in any department appears to have any authority to levy this fine and it was THEY who suggested I sue since they couldn't do anything.

Since no apparent law was actually broken there is nothing I can do except maybe kvetch to Hilton Corporate and I don't even have any intention of doing that.