[csda] submit comments to FTA on fragrance-emitting devices and accessibility (fwd)

[Guest guest]

" Disease is the retribution of outraged nature. "

Hosea Ballou

" Some remedies are worse than the disease. "

Pubilius Syrus

" Toliet water was MEANT to be FLUSHED, not WORN! "

Angel

" If having endured much, we at last asserted our 'right to know' and if,

knowing, we have concluded that we are being asked to take senseless and

frightening risks, then we should no longer accept the counsel of those

who tell us that we must fill our world with poisonous chemicals, we

should look around and see what other course is open to us. "

Carson

" My toxicasa (world) is your toxicasa (world). "

Judith Goode

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 17:18:43 +0000

From: elise.craig@...

csda

Subject: [csda] submit comments to FTA on fragrance-emitting devices and

accessibility

I would like to urge all listmembers to submit comments to the FTA on the Safe

Accountable Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA) -- on the

critical necessity of requiring publicly funded transportation carriers and

facilities to be free of fragrance-emitting devices (FEDS) in order to maintain

accessibility for persons with respiratory, immune, other disabilities in these

new programs serving PWDs (see below forwarded email for more program details).

Please submit public stakeholder comments at http://dms.dot.gov (Docket Number:

24037).

You might want to refer FTA officials to US Access Board recommendations that

specify avoiding the use of FEDS in order to make them facilities more

accessible to persons with disabilities:

http://ieq.nibs.org/om/ra_cleaning.php

http://ieq.nibs.org/om/bi_fragrances.php

http://ieq.nibs.org/om/app_cleaning.php

This is especially critical for programs that are targeted to PWDs. These

programs often contract with cab services that typically use LARGE amounts of

solid air fresheners, making these critical programs useless for many of the

lowest income PWDs. RIght now, the typical M.O. is for ADA coordinators to claim

that they have no control over what their contractors do (uh, ever read the ADA

language on contracted services?) or, if that hurdle is overcome, they try to

weasel out by globalizing the request and stating it is " unreasonable " to

request a completely fragrance-free vehicle because they have no control over

the other passengers' use of fragrance. I encourage people to be very clear that

we are not requesting that they ask all passengers to be fragrance-free! We are

requesting the discontinuation of fragrance-emitting devices in publicly funded

transportation, especially transportation targeted to people with disabilities

in order to ensure accessibility of those program!

s to PW

Ds. I personally favor using the terms asthma, COPD, and other respiratory

disabilities in addition to or instead of MCS since these are so prevalent in

the elderly/disabled populations they target and are noncontroversial.

Program info:

The Safe Accountable Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act

A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) includes three human service

transportation programs administered by the Federal Transit

Administration (FTA): The Elderly Individuals and Individuals

with Disabilities Program, the Job Access Reverse Commute

Program, and the New Freedom Program. These three programs

provide formula funding for States and communities and are

targeted to enhance transportation services for specific

populations that depend on alternative transportation options for

their day to day mobility. During the past year, FTA has been

actively seeking input from stakeholders across the country

regarding implementation strategies. As a result, FTA has

developed and released Draft Circular Guidance for each of these

three programs: Elderly Individuals and Individuals with

Disabilities; Job Access and Reverse Commute; and New Freedom.

FTA has also issued a Federal Register Notice outlining the

responses to comments submitted regarding an earlier proposed

notice. FTA encourages stakeholders to submit comments to

http://dms.dot.gov (Docket Number: 24037). Public comments will

be accepted through November 6, 2006.

This is provided to you by United We Ride. Visit us on the web at

http://www.unitedweride.gov.

GovDelivery, Inc. sending on behalf of United We Ride * Office of

Information Technology * 400 7th Street, SW * Washington, DC 20590

* 202-366-4000

______________________________________________________________

For more transportation news issues, see:

http://www.aapd.com/News/transportation/indextrans.php

# # #