Star Tribune
Meet the folks working to make Minnesota more accessible — more than 30 years after the ADA
To the staff members at the Minnesota Council on Disability, making businesses and government facilities accessible to everyone is long overdue. It’s been 34 years since Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act. Executive Director David Dively, Operations and Program Director Linda Gremillion and ADA Director David Fenley say there is much still to be done.
From drivers illegally parking in spots for people who are disabled to business owners who are unsure what they can do to improve their facilities, the accessibility champions get several calls a week for help.
Eye On St. Paul recently visited their offices at Snelling and University avenues to learn more about why it’s taking so long to break down even some of the most basic barriers to inclusion. Disclosure: Because of multiple sclerosis, I often need to use a wheelchair. This interview was edited for length.
Q: Is it true there’s a debate between people who look at equal access as a right, but are forced to ask, and those who think people with disabilities seek privilege?
DF: Yes.
LG: Why do [disabled people] even have to ask? No one else has to ask.
Q: Why are there still so many inaccessible businesses and buildings?
DF: Well, enforcement is a big deal. The burden’s on you. You either have to sue or complain to the Department of Human Rights. There’s no proactive mechanism. ADA is 100% reactive.
DD: You have to get hurt or discriminated against and then you can try to fix it. But nothing happens proactively.
Q: Why is that?
DD: That is how we designed the whole system. What it means is that if a certain type of family, or employee or voter has the means to push it, they need to. And that’s not going to be true for everyone.
Q: We’ve written stories about the attorney who threatens to sue Mom and Pop businesses because they’re inaccessible. What does the ADA really demand of small businesses?
DF: You’re referring, I think, to Paul Hansmeier, who’s not the most upstanding dude in the world. That’s not to say the lawsuits were frivolous. Just because a lawyer is shady, doesn’t mean there are still not barriers and discrimination happening. Initially, the burden’s on the individual with a disability. I’m pretty sure that was a compromise [in Congress]. How did they get the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on board? How was it bipartisan?
LG: [Former] Sen. Tom Harkin [Iowa] talked about how they had to take enforcement teams out in order to pass the legislation.
Q: So, they had to remove teeth in it to get it passed?
DF: No proactive teeth. It’s more of an administrative fix. Where a health code is proactive, inspectors come out and say, your food’s cold, there’s no rat poo. You pass and you can now serve food to people. This is reactive.
DD: There’s a public interest in ensuring safety, health, hygiene, spreading disease, all those things. We don’t place the same value on a smaller group of people’s lives.
Q: What percentage of people need to use a wheelchair to get around?
DF: You’re looking at 27% of the population has a disability as defined by the ADA. That’s everything from things like anxiety and ADHD, alcoholism — all the way to sensory disabled, quadriplegic. From ages 15 and up, the percentage of the population with an ambulatory disability, something that limits mobility, I think that is 14% or 15%.
Q: Yet, customers push back on businesses providing so many handicapped parking spots.
DF: Then you have people who need those disability parking spots who say, “Whenever I pull in, they’re all taken.” And you have folks who use wheelchairs saying things like, “Those spots should be for me only. Because I have a wheelchair and I need to be that close.” But most disabilities are invisible, and a lot of those invisible disabilities still require a closer spot, like a heart condition or a lung condition.
Q: How many tickets are issued for illegally parking in a disabled spot?
DF: You’d have to reach out to every [jurisdiction]. It’s very much locally driven.
Q: Have some police and sheriffs have told you they’re not enforcing that?
DF: Multiple agencies have told me without missing a beat, “We don’t enforce disability parking.”
Q: Why not?
DF: Because they have other things to do. Or, because they don’t want to issue fines on members of their community. They’re actively making a decision on who gets rights and who does not. ADA is civil rights legislation. People say, “Oh, how nice, you get to park close.” No, I get to leave my house.
Q: My wife will call neighborhood theaters and ask if a movie is upstairs or downstairs, because if it’s upstairs, we’re not going.
DF: Is there no elevator? They would have to move the show downstairs, legally have to, if you request it.
DD: You’d have to sue to make them. Theory and practice are not the same thing.
DF: That would be adjudicated in court if you sued and the decision was made by a judge. Are you disabled enough to require this accommodation?
DD: Is it appropriate, is it reasonable? Depending on what you asked for.
Q: Are inaccessible businesses grandfathered in?
DF: It’s not true at all. It doesn’t matter when your building was built. If it was built in 1890, you still have an obligation to remove barriers on an ongoing basis. Obviously, some things are technically infeasible. Some things are so expensive that you just won’t do it. You’re not going to put in an elevator in a Mom and Pop flower shop on Main Street Alexandria.
Q: They can make a case and say, “It’s too expensive?”
DF: You see it in the news media when it comes to these types of things. Most of the stories are framed, oh, poor businesses. They had to shut down because they couldn’t be ADA compliant. Well, there’s Title II and Title III of the ADA. Title II applies to governments. Title III applies to businesses. The main differences being businesses only have to make things accessible if it’s cheap and easy. Only a judge can determine it. There’s no equation. People have this notion that it’s black and white, all or nothing. It’s a case by case basis. Find creative ways to be accessible. If it’s going to break the bank, you don’t have to do it.
Q: What’s the incentive for business?
LG: I think when you put the onus on the disability community to enforce an unfunded mandate, you create ill will. You’re participating in what can be a fair and equitable society. If your business model has anything to do with fairness and equity, it just behooves you to be in a leadership position. It’s in your best interest in multiple ways to do the right thing.
DD: It’s entirely economically based. A hundred-plus years ago, we had people returning from wars overseas with disabilities. They couldn’t work or get into their government buildings or be part of society in that day. That issue started things like vocational rehabilitation to get people able to work. I think it’s all economics. There are very few times where how you design your store excludes 15% of your customers.
DF: Let’s use the theater example. If they don’t move the movie, you just don’t go. I guarantee you folks with disabilities know where they can and can’t go to spend money. So, you have that perspective. Then you have the perspective of the business owner who says, “Oh, I never see those people in here anyway.” They don’t view that as lost revenue. There was a time when folks with disabilities were just institutionalized or hidden away. Now we’re taking steps, but you still don’t have that ongoing removal of barriers. The places that are accessible get all that business.
Q: You’ve said government has a greater responsibility to be accessible. Talk about that.
DF: They have no excuse.
DD: They don’t even have the opportunity to say it’s too expensive.
Q: So how can they take years to act?
DF: Because the enforcement is exactly the same.
Q: People have to sue?
DF: Yes. Unless somebody makes a stink and fights for it, and it usually takes years, things just stay inaccessible.
A 19-year-old driver trying to get around slower vehicles collided head-on with an SUV in Wright County and killed one person and injured several others, officials said Thursday.
SUV passenger Janice Evelyn Johnson, 92, of Arden Hills, died Monday at HCMC from injuries she suffered in the collision on Oct. 22 in Monticello Township on County Road 37 near County Road 12, the Sheriff’s Office said in a search warrant affidavit filed in Hennepin County District Court.
The driver and two other people in the SUV survived their injuries, according to the affidavit, which the Sheriff’s Office filed to collect Johnson’s medical records at HCMC as part of its investigation.
According to the affidavit:
Deputies arrived at the crash scene and spoke with the car’s driver, Christian Kabunangu, of Brooklyn Park, who said he was heading west on County Road 37 and found himself behind two vehicles traveling below the speed limit.
“He was late for work, so he decided to pass them,” the affidavit read. Kabunangu said he saw the oncoming SUV and estimated it was about a half-mile down the road.
As he attempted to pass one of the slower vehicles, he explained, the other driver “sped up, preventing him from getting back into the westbound lane,” the filing continued.
As the Honda drew near, he swerved to the left, but the SUV did the same and they collided.
Star Tribune
University of Minnesota researchers find that native plants can beat invasive buckthorn on their own turf.
If the invasive buckthorn that is strangling the life out of Minnesota’s forest floor has a weakness, it is right now, in the shortening daylight of the late fall.
With a little help and planning, certain native plants have the best chance of beating buckthorn back and helping to eradicate it from the woods, according to new research from the University of Minnesota.
The sprawling bush has been one of the most formidable invasive species to take root in Minnesota since it was brought from Europe in the mid-1800s. It was prized as an ornamental privacy hedge. All the attributes that make buckthorn good at that job — dense thick leaves that stay late into the fall, toughness and resilience to damage and pruning, unappealing taste to wildlife and herbivores — have allowed it to thrive in the wild.
It grows fast and thick, out-competing the vast majority of native plants and shrubs for sunlight and then starving them under its shade. It creates damaging feedback loops, providing ideal habitat and calcium-rich food for invasive earthworms, which in turn kill off and uproot native plants. That leaves even less competition for buckthorn to take root, said Mike Schuster, a researcher for the university’s Department of Forest Resources.
When it takes over a natural area, buckthorn creates a “green desert,” Schuster said. “All that’s left is just a perpetual hedge, with little biodiversity.”
Since the 1990s, when the spread became impossible to ignore, Minnesota foresters, park managers and cities have spent millions of dollars a year trying to beat it back. They’ve used chainsaws and trimmers, poisons and herbicides, and even goats for hire. The buckthorn almost always grows back within a few years.
It’s been so pervasive that a conventional wisdom formed that buckthorn seeds could survive dormant in the soil for up to six years. That thought has led to a sort of fatalism: even if the plant were entirely removed from a property there would be a looming threat that it would sprout back, Schuster said.
But there is nothing special about buckthorn seeds. They only survive for a year or two.
Eden Prairie Eagles (6-3) at Maple Grove Crimson (9-0), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Maple Grove faithful are understandably jittery about getting Eden Prairie this early in the playoffs, but they should trust their eyes. The Crimson are loaded, with quality playmakers at every turn, like safety/receiver Dylan Vokal. Eden Prairie is built for games like this, but while the Eagles will keep things tight for awhile, Maple Grove will pull away in the second half, leading to a seismic sigh-of-relief from northwest metro. The pick: Maple Grove 35, Eden Prairie 21
David says: Eden Prairie’s time, however decorated an success-filled, is done and over. Provided the Crimson are able to take it. Maple Grove is capable of success as long as players don’t make the moment too big. Former coach Matt Lombardi cracked the code. What about his replacement, Adam Spurrell? The pick: Maple Grove 21, Eden Prairie 14
Edina Hornets (7-2) at Eagan Wildcats (5-3), 7 p.m.
Jim says: On paper, this leans toward an Edina victory. The Hornets have top-end talent on offense (QB Mason West, WR Meyer Swinney), an under-appreciated defense and a season-opening 35-14 victory over Eagan. But the Wildcats are resilient and don’t back down from anyone. Quarterback Brooklyn Evans is adept at running the Wildcats option offense and will keep them in the game. The pick: Edina 28, Eagan 15
David says: Tempting as it is to pick against Edina and revel in another office cake party, let’s go with the Hornets in this one. Expect an improved Eagan team to keep Edina within reach, however. The pick: Edina 21, Eagan 20
Alexandria Cardinals (7-2) at Moorhead Spuds (9-0), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Alexandria came oh-so-close to beating Moorhead on Oct. 11, falling 36-34 when a game-winning field goal went wide-left. While the Cardinals hoped for this rematch, Moorhead has the look of a team on a mission. Outside of the head-to-head matchup, Moorhead dominated every other opponent with a series of 30-point plus victories. No one mashes the Spuds. The pick: Moorhead 44, Alexandria 34
David says: The Game of the Year, Part II. Only thing to make this more juicy would be an upset. Is Alexandria up to that task? I don’t have the courage to go out on that limb in this space. The pick: Moorhead 42, Alexandria 24
Andover Huskies (7-2) at Elk River Elks (8-1), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Another highly anticipated rematch. Andover handed mistake-prone Elk River it’s only loss, 47-31, on Sept. 20. With three lost fumbles, Elks’ coach Steve Hamilton called it the worst game they’ve played in five years. You can bet they’re itching to prove they’re better than they showed that night. The pick: Elk River 49, Andover 37
David says: Bet the over when these two teams clash. Andover’s quarterback Joseph Mapson is a much more polished and proven signal caller that he was in late September. The Pick: Andover 49, Elk River 48.
