Disabled protestors in New Orleans block street over inaccessible streetcar line

From The Times-Picayune:

New Orleans mayoral candidate Jonah Bascle and approximately 50 demonstrators blocked streetcar traffic on the St. Charles Avenue neutral ground at Martin Luther King Drive for several hours Monday as they protested the lack of wheelchair accessibility on the St. Charles Avenue streetcar line.

Though the Canal Street line's red streetcars, in keeping with the Americans with Disabilities Act, are equipped with hydraulic pumps on both sides to accommodate wheelchairs, the St. Charles Avenue streetcars' inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places trumps the ADA and prohibits the streetcars from obtaining modern features, including wheelchair lifts or air conditioning.

The protesters assembled shortly after noon Monday and began chanting "Let him ride," referring to Bascle, who uses a wheelchair and has made the accessibility issue his raison d'etre since qualifying for the mayoral race in October.

Bascle said he had tried to speak with Regional Transit Authority representatives about the issue, but found that "the board does not want to take this is on."

"They're so concerned with the historical issue, they don't care about people," he said.

The people aboard the blocked streetcars first waited and watched, then began filing out and walking on the neutral ground. By 1 p.m., three streetcars facing downtown were stacked up at Martin Luther King, with two uptown-bound cars stopped there as well.

One woman ran out of the streetcar and began pleading with Bascle to desist, saying she risked missing her flight home to her two children.

"I work with handicapped children," said the woman, who declined to be named. "I understand their rights. But now they're infringing on my right to see my children."

Two New Orleans police officers were called to the scene and spoke with Bascle, but did not make any arrests, said NOPD spokesman Garry Flot. The protesters disbanded about 3 p.m. on their own accord, and streetcar service resumed, Breun said.

Derrick Breun, chief operating officer of Veolia, the company that manages the RTA, confirmed that Bascle had met with him or Veolia Chief Executive Officer Justin Augustine three times over the past month.

"It's not like we haven't been responsive," Breun said. "We explained to him that...it harkens back to the (Federal Transit Authority's) determination that it defers these issues to the National Register of Historic places, which falls under the Department of the Interior.

"Although they may think it is an RTA issue, it is not an RTA issue. It is more a Department of Interior issue."