Improvements made at Thomas & Mack

By Steve Kanigher

Thursday, Sept. 7, 2000 | 11:34 a.m.

The Thomas & Mack Center is now easier for physically disabled individuals to access, thanks in part to a 12-year-old UNLV Rebels basketball fan who encountered seating problems at a February game.

More than $1 million in university and private funds have been spent to make UNLV's arena and Sam Boyd Stadium more accessible for wheelchair users and others who need assistance.

Fans who attend Rebels basketball games beginning in November will notice new wheelchair seating at the floor level and more convenient handicapped parking spaces.

Joseph Santiago, the arena's marketing director, said Wednesday the facility will seek about $1.5 million in state and private funds to make further improvements designed to improve accessibility.

"We're doing our best to meet the standards of the new buildings being built now," Santiago said. "As part of our plan, we're putting a pamphlet together to give people in the disabled community as much information as we can about the arena before they arrive. We're taking our entire staff through Americans with Disabilities Act training."

Much of the credit goes to Las Vegas resident Stephen Quinn, the fan whose plight was first reported by the Sun in March. Quinn, who has restrictive joint movement because of a rare birth defect, was prevented by arena employees from going onto the floor level in his wheelchair for a Rebels game even though he was accompanied by boosters with seats nearby.

One of those boosters happened to be Quinn family friend Jeff Guinn, son of Gov. Kenny Guinn, a former interim UNLV president. The ordeal led Jeff Guinn and Vicki Quinn, Stephen's mother, to hold a series of meetings with arena director Pat Christenson and his staff.

"Not only do I think they're on the right track, the incident opened up their hearts," Vicki Quinn said of arena officials. "I feel happy and proud. It shows that if you work with people in the right way a lot of good can come from it."

Jeff Guinn said he was pleased that they were able to convince arena officials to renovate the 17-year-old, 18,500-seat facility without having to resort to litigation.

"We were there to try to help them, not crucify them," Guinn said. "The university cannot fix all the problems at once, but you have got to have a plan to make improvements. That's all we were looking for."

Members of the local disabled community complained for years about insufficient access to Thomas & Mack and stopped going to the arena.

Arena officials, who also operate the football stadium, began making renovations to both facilities before they heard of Stephen Quinn. But many renovations were added and more are planned for the future as the result of his ordeal, which also included problems getting from the parking lot to the arena.

There will now be nine wheelchair-accessible seats on the floor level for Rebels basketball games, along with nine adjoining seats for companions. Some of those seats will go to season ticket holders but others will be held for the general public on a first-come, first-serve basis.

There also will be 63 handicapped parking spaces just outside the arena that can be reached from the Swenson Street entrance. Up to now, VIP parking spaces were closer to the arena than were handicapped spaces.

"My father was upset when we told him the VIP parking was closer than the handicapped parking," Guinn said.

Other renovations to the arena include TDD phones for hearing impaired users, lowered pay phones for wheelchair access, lowered concession and ticket windows, directional signs and plaza ramps. Stadium improvements include new elevators, directional signs and lowered concession windows.

Santiago said future arena renovation will include improved sight lines for wheelchair users on the concourse level by removing the seats in front of the designated wheelchair sections. There also are plans to replace the existing retractable seats with new seating that will benefit disabled individuals.

"This isn't something we'll cure overnight, but we're sensitive to it," Santiago said. "We are making small steps to improve the facility."

Guinn said he hopes UNLV also will begin paying more attention to other access problems on campus.

"I would hope we could take care of any Americans with Disabilities Act issues before we build another university," he said.