Accessibility advocates are requesting for the Juneau Assembly to fully fund an elevator upgrade in the city’s public indoor track.
It is located in the Dimond Park Field House has an indoor track that is above the field of turf. School team, Little League, soccer clubs and other groups utilize the track all year long.
The stairs connect the track mezzanine level and connects to the track. There’s no ramp, and there’s no elevator. Joan O’Keefe, director of Southeast Alaska Independent Living, also known as SAIL said that this has left people without access to most of the facilities.
“A grandma called SAIL crying because she was unable to ascend the steps to watch her daughter compete at Girls on the Run,” O’Keefe wrote in an email for SAIL’s Assembly. “A young woman suffering from physical disabilities expressed her displeasure because she was unable to join her peers in social gatherings or exercising. .”
A draft of the Assembly’s draft Capital Improvement Plan, that outlines the plans for construction and funding over the coming years. It is a request for 450,000 dollars for an elevator. However, an estimate that has been updated by Engineering Department of the City suggests that it will likely be more expensive than $1 million.
In the meantime, as the Assembly is working in preparation for the next budget O’Keefe has asked the Assembly to support the project completely.
George Schaaf directs the city’s parks and recreation department. He explained that ADA specifications for the Field House are a bit tangled since the city purchased it from a private charity. In private structures accessible mezzanines, accessible routes aren’t always necessary.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”If the building was built in the present, it would need an elevator” Schaaf said. “A large portion of the requirements arise from new construction, or when you’re making significant changes to an existing facility, which isn’t the case. .”
However, Schaaf stated that he is in favor of adding an elevator, regardless of whether or whether it is legal obliged to.
It’s a good idea to style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We are keen for every facility accessible to all members of the community, therefore I’m fully in support of the request SAIL has made,” he said. “I believe it’s the best thing to do .”
The Assembly Finance Committee will consider the elevator’s financing as part of the budget process over the next few weeks. Bridget Thomson, SAIL’s Juneau program coordinator, said that city officials have been in favor of the idea.
It’s a span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I think that ultimately, everyone would like the same item,” she said. “It’s the question of how we obtain the resources necessary to ensure it happen ?”
Other community-based requests for the budget of next year include a grant to add 28 additional housing units in the Juneau Housing First Collaborative’s Forget-Me-Not Manor and also to upgrade that of the Nordic ski club’s Juneau equipment for grooming snow. In the Assembly Finance Committee will discuss the needs at its next meeting on Wednesday.
