NYC Mayor's Office Say Roosevelt Island FDR Four Freedoms Park Not Fully Accessible To The Disabled - Withholds Certificate Of Occupancy And Up to $900 Thousand Until Resolved

The Roosevelt Island Twitterverse reports:

De Blasio says Louis Kahn's "ha-ha" renders the FDR memorial — of all places — inaccessible to the disabled. https://t.co/JCWZ9YH1I5

— David W. Dunlap (@DavidWDunlap) May 9, 2016

FDR Four Freedoms Park in #NYC not fully accessible to those with disabilities. "Tragic irony"? https://t.co/QCojKhgc2N @nytimes

— Abundant Irony (@AbundantIrony) May 9, 2016

Interesting clash between "architectual vision" and "accessibility"... https://t.co/lt4bPt0Da5

— Cassie K Thompson (@cassiekt) May 9, 2016

Google maps shows us the sunken terrace steps in the Memorial's Room that NYC says is inaccessible to the disabled.



According to the NY Times:

... Though the park is open and operating, the city is withholding a permanent certificate of occupancy and hundreds of thousands of dollars in financing until the matter is resolved....

... The remedy favored by the de Blasio administration would be to install ramps on either side of the Room....

... At least one advocacy group, the Roosevelt Island Disabled Association, supports the conservancy’s viewpoint. The conservancy has helped guide and finance the association’s own project on the island, the F.D.R. Hope Memorial, which features a sculpture of President Roosevelt in a wheelchair.

Jim Bates, the president of the association, who uses a wheelchair and motor scooter, said there is a better view from the Room above than there is from the ha-ha below because of a wide parapet wall at the end of the sunken terrace....

Click here for the full NY Times article.