Sacramento Bee

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Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, October 6, 2007


Letters: Basketball Town, shrinking middle class, textbooks


This is a civil rights issue

Recent news coverage of the reported decision of the owners of Basketball Town in Rancho Cordova to shut down rather than comply with accessibility requirements has focused primarily on the loss of this valued community resource.

Unasked and, thus, unanswered is the question of how this new facility could have been designed, constructed and approved without meeting building standards that were in effect many years before the facility was built.

And for those who direct their anger at the lawsuit -- what recourse do they believe people whose access has been denied should have? Should they simply ignore violations? Should there be no accountability? When noncompliant buildings are constructed, frustration should be directed to those responsible -- owners, architects, contractors, building inspectors -- rather than those whose rights are violated.

The tenants cite "mounting legal costs" of a disability access lawsuit as the reason for the closure. Most likely, they have spent more money paying their own attorneys than they would have making the facility accessible.

What would the public response be if Basketball Town's operators had said the upstairs banquet area was for whites only? Disability access laws are more than building standards; they are civil rights laws intended to ensure equal access.

- Eric Gelber, Sacramento
Managing Attorney,
Protection & Advocacy, Inc.