Poor Quality of Work on Downtown Improvements

[Novine]

"Nope you can thank ADA and lawsuits for these new curb-cuts. The old ones for some reason were not up to snuff so the City has to spend tens of millions fix stuff that ain't broken."

You mean you can thank the city for not doing it right in the first place. Anything put in within the last several years should have been done that way in the first place.

[ScienceFair]

Amen. Thank you, Novine!

[DetroitPlanner]

You mean you can thank the city for not doing it right in the first place. Anything put in within the last several years should have been done that way in the first place.

ADA lawsuits have cost municipalities hundreds of millions of dollars over the last few years. The law was written by congress but the courts have made previous requirements more stringent as cases have been lost over the last several years. In many cases the Cities had ignored the disabled populations. Detroit was a leader in sidewalk ramps. Detroit however has been putting in sidewalk ramps since the 1970's, well before the law was passed or the lawsuits that made them more stringent. At issue here is minute slope differences.

[kraig]

ADA lawsuits have cost municipalities hundreds of millions of dollars over the last few years. The law was written by congress but the courts have made previous requirements more stringent as cases have been lost over the last several years. In many cases the Cities had ignored the disabled populations. Detroit was a leader in sidewalk ramps. Detroit however has been putting in sidewalk ramps since the 1970's, well before the law was passed or the lawsuits that made them more stringent. At issue here is minute slope differences.

Detroit may have been a leader, but the city's not up to par right now. Jefferson and Randolph between the Tunnel, Ren-Cen, Millender and CAYMC has to be one of the worst pedestrian crossings around. I can only imagine how bad it is for someone with a disability. The City needs to sit down with whoever is suing and work out a good plan. If the issue is a matter of minute slope differences. Then the City may only have to make minute changes to the slopes. Unless of course, the City is looking to maximize the amount that campaign contributors, cough cough, excuse me, I mean honest working contractors receive for the work that needs to be done.

[EastsideAl]

Detroit Planner is precisely correct. The reason all this work is being done [[and it's being done all over the city, not just downtown) is not because the city previously screwed things up. It's because of some very recent changes in case law and standards that have changed the way that the federal ADA statute is interpreted and enforced, and changed how these ramps need to be built to meet the new requirements.

Specifically, they have to conform to a certain slope, have a contrasting color area near the street, have the bumpy raised area you see on the new ramps, etc. Failure to meet these new requirements could potentially leave the city open to essentially bottomless liability from lawsuits and fines. Unfortunately, this has all come at a time when the city can least afford to perform the work needed, and has a reduced staff to do it.