What Is Disability Law in Yonkers?

The Disability Rights Lawyer Yonkers New York

Yonkers, New York has been home to a number of disability rights lawsuits throughout the years.

Many of the cases involved discrimination against people with disabilities in Yonkers NY, which is not surprising given the city's large population of people with disabilities. Some of the discrimination occurred because of the lack of access to public places, which was made worse by the fact that people with disabilities were often forced to use taxis or other privately owned vehicles to get around.

Many of the lawsuits have come about as a result of the city's efforts to create a "wheelchair friendly" community.

The Wheelchair Accessible Transit (W.A.T.) Act was passed in 1990 and required the construction of new buildings and the retrofitting of existing ones to be wheelchair accessible. This law was passed in response to the high rate of traffic fatalities that had occurred when people with disabilities were forced to walk long distances to get to bus stops or train stations.

In order to ensure compliance, the W.A.T. Act required all new buildings to be wheelchair accessible and gave the city the power to issue citations to businesses that didn't comply.

While the W.A.T. Act was an important step forward for Yonkers NY, the city still faced a problem. Many people with disabilities were living in the suburbs, which weren't subject to the same laws as Yonkers NY. As a result, many people with disabilities were forced to live in Yonkers NY, despite the fact that they had a more dangerous environment.

The Yonkers NY Access Board was created to help address the problem. The board had the power to issue citations to businesses that violated the W.A.T. Act and also had the authority to provide grants to non-profit organizations that helped people with disabilities.

Unfortunately, the board was never very successful and wasn't able to meet its goals, due to a combination of factors. First, the board was limited in its ability to act as it was funded through local government funds and not private donations. Second, the city of Yonkers NY never provided the funding that the board requested. Third, the board was only able to issue fines to businesses and didn't have the ability to issue citations to individuals.

W.A.T. Act

In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case involving the W.A.T. Act and held that the act was constitutional. In doing so, the court ruled that the city of Yonkers NY could enforce the law without having to rely on the board to do so.

In 1999, the city of Yonkers NY brought the first suit to enforce the W.A.T. Act. The case was brought against a restaurant that was located in the heart of Yonkers NY and was built before the law went into effect. The case went to trial and the judge sided with the restaurant, arguing that the city didn't have the authority to issue citations under the W.A.T. Act. The city appealed the decision and won.

The city of Yonkers NY later sued the owners of the apartment building that was built in violation of the W.A.T. Act. The judge sided with the city and issued an injunction requiring that the building be wheelchair accessible. The case was later appealed and the New York State Court of Appeals upheld the ruling.

Yonkers NY also faced another problem in the area of housing. While the W.A.T. Act required the construction of new buildings to be wheelchair accessible, it didn't require the retrofitting of existing structures. As a result, many older buildings were not wheelchair accessible.

In 2002, the New York State Legislature passed a law that required the city to build new housing developments that were wheelchair accessible. The city was required to pay for the cost of construction and the law also established a fund that the city could draw from to make up for any costs that they couldn't pay for themselves.

While the law was a positive step forward for Yonkers NY, it had little impact on the overall problem of access to housing. The city's housing stock remained largely inaccessible to people with disabilities.

Yonkers NY has also faced problems with its parks. The W.A.T. Act did not specifically address the accessibility of public parks. As a result, there was no requirement that new parks be wheelchair accessible.

In 2005, Yonkers NY passed the Accessibility in Parks Act, which established new requirements for public parks. Among other things, the act required that new parks include accessible parking, an accessible route to the park, a covered playground, an accessible restroom, and a designated handicapped seating area. It also required that existing parks be made wheelchair accessible.

Yonkers NY was given a grant by the state to implement the new requirements, but the city had a difficult time meeting the deadline. As a result, the city was not in full compliance by the time the deadline came and was required to give the state a refund.

The Accessibility in Parks Act expired in 2010, but Yonkers NY was allowed to continue the program with a one-year extension.

In 2014, Yonkers NY was granted a second extension to the law and the city has been in compliance since.