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Architects To Design New Stadiums And Arenas For Better View By Spectators In Wheelchairs

WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's largest architectural firm agreed to design new stadiums and arenas so spectators in wheelchairs still have a full view when other fans stand up, the Justice Department announced.

The agreement settles a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department in October 1996 charging that the Ellerbe Becket firm had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act with its designs of arenas in Boston; Buffalo, N.Y.; Cleveland; Philadelphia; Portland, Ore.; and Washington, D.C.

The agreement was approved by the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on Friday.

The disabilities law requires that stadiums and arenas built after Jan. 26, 1993, provide seating for wheelchair users that allows lines of sight to the floor or field that are comparable to those that other spectators have. When fans stand during exciting parts of a game, wheelchair users often are blocked from seeing the event.

The government said that six Ellerbe Becket arenas, all built after the law took effect, did not provide wheelchair users a line of sight over standing spectators. The arenas are: the Fleet Center in Boston, the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, the Gund Arena in Cleveland, the Corestates Arena in Philadelphia, the Rose Garden in Portland and the MCI Center in Washington.

The government had sought a fine and an order requiring the company to stop violating the law; it settled for an agreement by the firm to design future sites along guidelines that the government said will meet the law's requirements.

Ellerbe Becket maintained it was complying with the act all along.

"Now people with disabilities will be able to see what they are paying for," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Bill Lann Lee, head of the civil rights division. "Equal opportunity means more than just being able to attend an event; it also means the opportunity to watch it."

Individuals with disabilities and disability advocacy groups have filed lawsuits against several of the same arenas, seeking to force the owners of the arenas to modify the wheelchair seating.

In Washington, the Paralyzed Veterans of America prevailed in a lawsuit against the MCI Center, and several modifications have been made to wheelchair seating there. In Portland, a U.S. District Court ruled that wheelchair locations in the Rose Garden were not required to provide lines of sight over standing spectators. Private lawsuits are still pending in Boston, Philadelphia and Buffalo.

Ellerbe, which is based in Minneapolis, agreed to take into account the likelihood that some spectators will stand for part or all of events like basketball games and rock concerts and to design wheelchair seating so its occupants can still see when others stand.

The agreement includes detailed measurements for the average heights of standing spectators and the average height of a person in a wheelchair to be used in calculating sight lines for wheelchair users that the Justice Department said would be comparable to those for other spectators.

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