When an Architectural Gem Is Not Accessible to All

what a disappointment. it's time for architects and designers to celebrate the challenge of creating all-inclusive spaces rather than scoff at the roadblocks that ADA requirements can create. beauty is not enough.

Not sure what happened to an earlier comment..... Accessibility is clearly an issue here for the disabled. All those stairs are not going to find favor with staff, older visitors or children. Narrow aisles in the stacks are also an issue. One elevator is NOT enough - something that should have been obvious to the architects. This is a public building with lots of floors. One elevator breaks and there's no backup. I would think 3 or 4 elevators should have been installed (cost could not be an issue in a $41 million dollar building). One of those elevators should have been reserved for staff use - saving them from continual stair climbing and keeping carts for re-shelving separate from visitors. It does not seem that the architects spent much - if any - time talking with the staff. They should have also spent time in different libraries - especially multi-floor ones and talked with the staff in those places about their concerns and complaints. Observing use and operations - like reading time for children - would have made clear the need for space to park strollers (and shown that one elevator was not enough). The architects came up short here. Function took back seat to appearance.

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) is Federal law at 42 U.S. Code Ch 126 § 12101 et seq. Though the management of cities, states and architects-who-malpractice may wish the law didn't apply to them, it does Title II of the ADA requires state and local governments, regardless of their size or receipt of federal funding or not, to provide an EQUAL opportunity to the disabled to use every part of a public building. As to newly built buildings, each part of the building must be accessible to people who are in wheel chairs and do not walk or climb stairs Cities must make necessary physical modifications immediately upon learning that any part of a new public building is not accessible to a wheelchair user A disabled person can force a city to immediately modify ab ADA noncompliant new building. If the city won't do so, the disabled person files a private lawsuit in Federal trial court against the city. Lawyers who specialize in ADA cases take them on a contingency, because the city is obligated to pay the plaintiff's attorney's fees. In that sort of case the city can file a cross complaint against the city's architect for malpractice in designing a new building which is not fully accessible It is NOT necessary to first file a complaint with the US Department of Justice or any other federal agency or to receive a "right-to-sue" letter, before going to court This library case will be like shooting fish in a barrel, in terms of the disabled person's lawyer winning it

In the From The Times section: "Riding While Drunk and Other Dangers of the Electric Scooter Craze" Tune of “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” (since the stores are forcing us into the holiday spirit already!) Santa got run over by a scooter Walking home from voting Tuesday night But it seems that scooter was electric And someone said it crossed against the ligh He had read the fine-print ballot 'Cause he cared a bit too much But he’d thought new legislation Made him safe from Segways, hoverboards and suc Though he may have lost his balance He'll be fine for the big day Still his lawyer has advised him He should stumble to his doctor right away Santa got run over by a scooter Now going out and voting gives him pause But he wonders while the elves make presents. Oh, why do people bother passing laws?

Donald Trump has some chutzpah coming to New York City for Veterans Day. Madison Square Park is where the St. Gaudens statue of Admiral David Glasgow ("Damn the torpedoes!") Farragut is. The president is a louse.

"It’s Thursday — don’t you resign just yet." In these recent updates where Spell Check seems to be changing stuff very easily, you have to be careful when trying to write "re-sign" and Spell Check seems insistent you must mean "resign." It's almost as bad as Barbra and Barbara. https://www.grammar.com/resign_vs._re-sign Yesterday was Alexa's 5th birthday, and I think Siri and Spell Check took Alexa out for drinks, but it's possible Spell Check may have forgotten to order food!

Sounds like another example of a product designed by someone who never actually tried using the product him/herself first! Helloooo.....

Why wasn’t accessibility considered from the beginning in the design unless the intention was to willfully ignore the disabled? A library is our last most democratic building and to ignore an entire sector of that population is just plain wrong. Retrofitting? Who pays for that?

The library is fundamentally problematic - the lack of accessibilty of course, but also the lack of books and the noisy environment/acoustics. A design for an architect's vanity, not for real people who use libraries. Egregious.

I spent most of my life in and around NYC and only when I left did I realize that I *rarely* saw disabled people in public. I realized it because I started seeing disabled people on the daily for the first time after I left. What a shame that a progressive city like NYC willfully ignores the needs of a a population by refusing to accommodate them. The only part of NYC that seemed vaguely supportive was the busses that had wheelchair lifts, but I have never actually seen them in operation.