A Florida Not-For-Profit
501(c) (3) Corporation
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FREE POSTAGE
FOR THE BLIND
AND PHYSICALLY
HANDICAPPED
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19333 West Country Club Drive #1522
Aventura, Florida 33180
JUNE, 2007 JUNE, 2007
NEWS! NEWS! NEWS!
READ ABOUT OUR MOST RECENT
ADVOCACY ACCOMPLISHMENTS!!!
WITH
YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT
WE
CONTINUE TO GROW NATIONALLY
(NATIONAL GROWTH = NATIONAL
VICTORIES!!!)
JUNE, 2007
THIS NEWSLETTER IS ALSO AVAILABLE
ON-LINE AT:
www.adaaccessnow.org
(Bobby-Approved)
****Please Note****
YOU MAY
NOW FILL OUT OUR MEMBERSHIP FORM
DIRECTLY
ONLINE AT WWW.ADAACCESSNOW.ORG
THE MEMBERSHIP FORM IS ALSO ATTACHED AT
THE BEGINNING OF THIS NEWSLETTER
email: info@adaaccessnow.org
“ACCESS NOW, INC. ”®
(a Florida
not-for-profit, 501(c) 3 Corporation)
19333 West Country Club Drive
#1522
Aventura, Florida 33180
Tel. 305-705-0059
Fax 305-792-2665
info@adaaccessnow.org www.adaaccessnow.org
Membership Form
****IF POSSIBLE,
WE PREFER THAT YOU REGISTER ONLINE****
****JUST
GO TO OUR WEBSITE SHOWN ABOVE AND CLICK ON
**** “MEMBERSHIP” LINK ****
Date___________________________________________________________
Name (PLEASE PRINT)____________________________________________
Address________________________________________________________
City________________________State_______________ZipCode__________
Telephone_________________________Fax___________________________
e-mail____________________________________________
***(STRONGLY
ENCOURAGED – VERY HELPFUL!!!!!!)***
Non-Disabled_____________Disabled________________
If Disabled, give brief description:
(MOBILITY – WHEELCHAIR-USER,
PART/FULLTIME; VISION; HEARING)
________________________________________________________________
Do you use a service
dog?________Name____________________________
If Disabled, INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE
about being a PLAINTIFF?
YES______NO_______
Donation___________ (APPRECIATED BUT NOT REQUIRED)
Please send me:_#__________Newsletters
Please tell us how or
from whom you heard about “Access Now”® (if from the internet,
please tell us the site):
_______________________________________________________________
SIGNATURE_______________________________________________
PLEASE
SIGN!!!!!!!!!!
June, 2007
Dear Reader:
Once again,
we hope that you will enjoy reading our latest newsletter and that you would
like to join us in our mission, our goal and our achievements. (THERE
IS NO FEE REQUIRED.) also, please let us
remind you that our membership is open to both the able-bodied as well as to
the disabled.
If you would
like to become one among our growing list of members, please either fill out, SIGN and return the attached form to us or, preferably, you may fill out the form online by
logging on to our website at www.adaaccessnow.org and going to
the “Membership” link. (The latter method makes it much easier and quicker for
us to enter you into our database and is therefore particularly helpful.)
IF YOU ARE ALREADY A
MEMBER, PLEASE SHARE THE ENCLOSED MEMBERSHIP FORM WITH SOMEONE WHOM YOU
KNOW!!! THANK YOU!
We are very
proud of the strides we have made and we hope that we can count on you as one
of our members and, in an abundance of optimism, we thank you in advance!
Most sincerely,
Access Now, Inc.®
Phyllis F. Resnick, President
NEWSLETTER
UPDATE – JUNE, 2007
FROM PHYLLIS F. RESNICK, PRESIDENT
HELLO, AGAIN, EVERYBODY!!!!!
Well, another 6 months have passed since our last newsletter and much continues
to happen in the world of “Access Now”®. We have had several Class Action Fairness
Hearings, a trial and many Settlements.
It has been an active, interesting, challenging, sometimes aggravating,
but mostly gratifying time! Some things are happening in the overall
A.D.A. (Americans with Disabilities Act) world as well; more about all of the
above later in this newsletter.
We would like to point out to those of you who are receiving this
newsletter for the first time that,
sadly, many entities continue to fail to comply with the A.D.A., despite the
fact that the law was enacted in 1990.
As we have said before, we continue to press on with cases against a
variety of entities. On a continuing
basis, virtually daily, we receive complaints from disabled persons who are
routinely being denied their rights under this civil rights law. There is no such thing as a “large” or
“small” case, only a large or small entity and we take pride in the fact that
we do not limit our efforts to either category.
The resolution of high profile cases of legal “first impression”, as
well as of those involving neighborhood businesses have a great impact on the
daily lives of the disabled among us (although we want to make clear that it is
not our aim to put anyone out of business.)
WE WOULD LIKE TO
BEGIN WITH THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE FROM A MEMBER THAT WE BELIEVE SHOWS THAT THE
“ACCESS NOW”® WAY OF APPROACHING
LITIGATION IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE:
From:
Edward Zwilling
Sent:
Saturday, October 28, 2006 12:35 PM
To:
Gregory Schwartz
Subject:
Re: Ed in the newspaper
They
quote me — I spoke with the reporter on Thursday after the Bessemer meeting. Which reminds me, Jim Terry gave us and
Access Now a very nice compliment at our last meeting. He commented to opposing counsel and the city
engineer about how other plaintiff firms would be concerned with staying
adversarial for purposes of generating fees but about how we are more concerned
about collaborating to minimize expense to reach a resolution more quickly and
thus better promote the cause of access.
Opposing counsel took me aside and thanked me after the meeting.
(Note from the editors of this Newsletter: Jim Terry is one of the leading ADA architectural
consultants in the nation.)
AND NOW, THE UPDATE:
Membership – We now
have 972 members representing 47 states and Puerto Rico. We are also proud to claim members in Canada, Hong
Kong, Australia. Our Board of Directors stands at 40, our
Executive Committee at 8, our Attorneys represent 4 law firms and our
Consultants number 6. We want to
acknowledge here our debt to our Board of Directors and our Executive Committee
for their support, their encouragement and their many kinds of contributions to
our goals. Most particularly, we want to
express our appreciation for the efforts of our First Vice-President, Marla
Dumas. Above all, our deepest
appreciation to the attorneys and consultants who handle all our cases. Contrary to public opinion, they DO put
accessibility achievements ahead of fees.
We who work here every day at Access Now® can most definitely attest to that!
We would be quite remiss if we failed to mention the enormous
contributions of our computer consultants, Gregory Arkin and Alain Ginzberg,
without whom we would not be able to function!
I want to thank my assistant, Thomas Miller,
for his efforts in making certain that the administrative aspects of the
organization run smoothly and for undertaking the task of composing and typing
the bulk of this newsletter.
Finally, you may have heard that we have received our Florida
and our U.S. trademark registrations for Access Now®. Attorney Frank
Herrera has provided invaluable pro bono assistance in
achieving this milestone. Once again, we
wish to express our gratitude to Mr. Herrera.
The result of his efforts is the successful culmination of our
multi-year effort to protect the Access Now® name.
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF OUR LITIGATION:
Since
our December Newsletter, Access Now® has made progress in settling
cases in several states. We have filed a
total of 964 cases since our inception. Presently, there are 136 cases with outstanding
Settlement Agreements, requiring alterations or modifications which in several
cases should be completed by July 1, 2007, or later. (Cases involving hospitals and other large or
complex facilities have post-settlement compliance completion dates much
further in the future.)
During the past six
months, Access Now® has entered into 31 additional settlements
to make properties A.D.A.-compliant. They
include:
Hospitals 28
Government 1
Sport Venues 1
Stores 1
Access Now® continues to assert itself
nationally in scope. The 10 states in
which cases have been settled range from the South and the mid-Atlantic to the Great Plains and Pacific shore. Our headquarters state of Florida accounted for 29% of settlements over
the past six months.
We will keep expanding our
geographical presence as best we can as we continue to receive requests for
information and assistance from around the country and internationally. Please notify us if you become aware of
situations where access continues to be denied.
We remain solidly in the forefront of the fight for accessibility.
The following is a brief listing of the cases that
have been settled since our last newsletter:
Government
Florida Department of
Transportation, St. Augustine,
Florida
Hospitals
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Northlake
Surgical Center
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Atlanta
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GA
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Lawnwood Medical
Center
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Fort Pierce
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FL
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Florida Surgery
Center
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Altamonte Springs
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FL
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North County Surgicenter
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Palm Beach Gardens
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FL
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Central Florida Surgicenter
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Lakeland
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FL
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Same
Day Surgicenter
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Orlando
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FL
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Southern
Hills Hospital & Medical Center
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Las Vegas
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NV
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Hendersonville Medical
Center
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Hendersonville
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TN
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Horizon Medical
Center
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Dickson
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TN
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Englewood Community
Hospital
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Englewood
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FL
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Fawcett Memorial
Hospital
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Port Charlotte
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FL
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Gramercy Outpatient
Surgery Center
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Houston
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TX
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Green Oaks
Hospital
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Dallas
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TX
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North Florida
Regional Medical
Center
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Gainesville
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FL
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Oakhill Hospital
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Brooksville
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FL
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Delray Medical
Center
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Delray Medical
Center
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FL
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Garden Grove Hospital
& Medical Center
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Garden Grove
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CA
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Hilton Head
Medical Center
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Hilton
Head
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SC
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Los Alamitos
Medical Center
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Los
Alamitos
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CA
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San Dimas Community
Hospital
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San Dimas
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CA
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Sierra Vista Regional
Medical Center
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San Luis Obispo
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CA
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South Fulton
Medical Center
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East Point
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GA
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USC University
Hospital
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Los Angeles
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CA
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Florida Medical
Center
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Ft. Lauderdale
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FL
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Park Plaza
Hospital
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Houston
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TX
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Sierra Medical
Center
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EL Paso
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TX
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St. Francis
Hospital
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Memphis
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TN
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St. Louis University
Hospital
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St. Louis
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MO
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Additionally,
a settlement hearing was held on June 13th in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
Texas in Dallas
regarding the following Crestwood Healthcare, L.P. hospital cases:
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Medical Center
Enterprise
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Enterprise
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AL
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San
Angelo Comm. Medical Center
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San Angelo
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TX
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Denton Comm.
Hospital
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Denton
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TX
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Brownwood Regional
Medical Center
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Brownwood
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TX
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Flowers Hospital
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Dothan
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AL
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DeTar
Hospital Navarro
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Victoria
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TX
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Gadsden Regional
Medical Center
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Gadsden |