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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Hi Robin,<br>
I can't speak to the specifics of the current status of the lift,
since I'm not actively involved in building maintenance right now.
However, I can give you the historic background, which might be a
starting point to try to improve access as it stands now.<br>
<br>
The lift remains Post Office property and is their responsibility
as far as maintenance is concerned. There are three reasons for
this, which wa s written into the sale and lease documents when
the building was purchased by the IMC and the PO leased back space
to continue the service window and PO box operations. <br>
<br>
First, the PO provides us with the magnificent sum of $1 a year
for the 10-year life of the current lease. They paid us up front
for the whole term, but even wisely invested it provides no
significant income from PO use of the property.<br>
<br>
Second, the lift can only provide service when the PO lobby is
open. For security reasons, the entire PO lobby is locked and
closed afterhours. While it can be used to access the rest of the
building when the PO is open, the lift is otherwise locked.<br>
<br>
Third, in light of the first two points and the fact that we felt
the PO would have both the deep pockets and legal obligation to
service the lift, it was best to leave it in PO hands. Obviously,
that has worked less well lately as the PO struggles financially.
I'm fairly certain they're deferring servicing the lift because of
that. <br>
<br>
Contacting the Postmaster is probably your best bet in terms of
learning what their plans are. If it was a part they were waiting
on, it should have arrived by now, etc, etc. And I'm fairly
certain their responsibility to provide access requires them to
address this. In any case, the lift is only available to access
the rest of the building when the PO is open.<br>
<br>
As for the rest of the IMC building, we have plans but not much to
show in terms of results due to limited funding. We eventually
want to make the basement accessible by rebuilding at least one of
the entrances so it is served by a ramp. Likewise, we plan to
improve the very limited access that exists to the first floor.
The second floor is unlikely to become accessible, because it is
broken up in three different levels, so even an elevator would
provide only very limited additional access, depending on where it
was located. We were quoted around $250,000 to install an
elevator, so that seems rather impractical, given the minor gain.<br>
<br>
As I noted, there is limited access to the first floor and it
often depends on having a chair that is unpowered due to the
limited turning area involved. This is not a good situation, but
it's what the building's legacy left us. There is a set of double
doors on the south side of the building. These open to a ramp. But
the ramp takes you to an entrance that requires two 90 degree
turns with very limited space to maneuver and getting through a
door that is relatively narrow. All of the doors involved are
manual and have no auto-openers. Essentially, this option is
available only for those with chairs small enough to navigate the
south entrance's restricted facilities and who can call ahead and
contact someone inside the IMC to assist them with the doors or
who bring along someone to help with the doors. <br>
<br>
We do have an accessible restroom on the first floor, installed
during the conversion process, so we are making incremental
progress when we get the chance.<br>
<br>
I've been involved in doing what was within our resources to
improve accessibility since we opened the original Main St
location, where I built a ramp to deal with the step at the
entrance there. Accessibility improvements are made whenever the
opportunity presents itself, as we're acutely aware of the
building's deficiencies in this regard. I do know that plans are
being made to seek city grant funding to make some repairs and
improvements. I'm not currently involved in that, but in the past
the plan was to try to address some of the access issues in
connection with such work and I presume that's still the case.<br>
<br>
So that's the background on access at the IMC building. Others can
better address the current situation with the lift and the
potential for improvements to access elsewhere in the building. If
your chair is able to navigate the south entrance, then making
arrangements to visit should be possible, even if not up to where
we hope to be. If it's not able to make the turns, then access is
limited to when the lift is working and the PO lobby is open. We
need to do better.<br>
Mike Lehman<br>
(who's not officially speaking for anyone but himself here, but
who probably knows this history better than most)<br>
<br>
On 9/2/2013 7:36 PM, Robin Arbiter wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:1378168582.39831.YahooMailNeo@web161905.mail.bf1.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times
new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt">
<div>To Whomever Reads This,</div>
<div>I attempted to access the IMC building for the purpose of
collecting mail for a group I'm part of this past Saturday
morning. I went to the south side of the building where the
entrance to the lift is located. The outside door was locked,
an no one responded when I pushed the buzzer near the door. I
went to the front of the building and asked a person leaving
if he would notify the postal worker that I required access.
He left and came back to say the worker said the lift was out
of order. Because I was expecting something critical in the
mail and had traveled by bus to get it, I asked a stranger to
retrieve the mail for me.</div>
<div>The lift was also out of order several months ago, when I
wanted to attend an event at the IMC.</div>
<div>I don't know how long the lift's been out of order or
whether there is a recurring problem with it. I was
disappointed when I couldn't attend an IMC event a few months
ago. But I am really much more frustrated at not being able to
retrieve mail, and by the lack of notice on the door that the
lift is unavailable. I expect you understand the importance of
accessibility to federal services for people with disabilities
(I use a wheelchair), and ADA access. If the building is
exempt, or if the post office inside of it is exempt, I would
like to understand the reason. If it's not, I'd like to know
what it will take for me to be able to access the building in
a predictable way.</div>
<div>Thank you.</div>
<div>Robin Arbiter</div>
<div>(217) 344-2005</div>
<div> </div>
<div> <br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
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