Lawmakers plan to address handicapped access issues

By Steve Kanigher

Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2003 | 10:51 a.m.

A legislative panel that is studying disability issues plans to address access problems in state-funded public buildings after fielding complaints about two sports facilities at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Las Vegas resident Vicki Quinn, accompanied by friend Monica Guinn, daughter-in-law of Gov. Kenny Guinn, told the Legislative Committee on Persons With Disabilities Monday that they still have concerns about wheelchair access to UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center and Sam Boyd Stadium despite university improvements to both facilities.

Quinn, the mother of 15-year-old wheelchair user Stephen Quinn, and Monica Guinn have been fighting for four years for improvements in handicapped seating and parking at Thomas & Mack, some of which have been made. Vicki Quinn said some of the arena improvements have been "wonderful."

But at the Oct. 24 National Basketball Association exhibition game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings, folding chairs were placed in front of Stephen on the floor near one of the baskets five minutes before game time.

"He had to stand up the whole game," Vicki Quinn told lawmakers at the Sawyer State Office Building on Monday.

Quinn said she is not only fighting on behalf of her son, but for all disabled Nevadans who have had access problems at state facilities.

"State-operated facilities should be mandated to meet the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)," Quinn said. "We have state-operated buildings that do not adhere to the ADA."

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, chairwoman of the legislative committee, and fellow lawmakers vowed to consider complaints about access to state buildings in a formal hearing at a later date.

"This seems to be a major issue and it's not just the Thomas & Mack," Titus said. "It's all public buildings."

Stephen, who has limited use of his arms or legs, said he had to lean upright against his wheelchair for most of the game to see above the adults seated in front of him. Because he arrived early, he had been sitting in his wheelchair on the floor for about an hour before the seats were placed in front of him.

Thomas & Mack director Daren Libonati, reached after the hearing, said the Lakers had control of the basketball floor as the host team. He said the Lakers made the decision to place the folding chairs in front of Stephen Quinn to accommodate media representatives, Lakers team public relations employees and Lakers players who were not in uniform.

Libonati said Vicki Quinn has a valid complaint that the 18,500-seat arena should have more handicapped spaces. Quinn said she would like to see at least 180 handicapped spaces in the arena, which would match the 1-percent ADA requirement for such facilities. But because the arena was built before the 1990 federal act, Libonati said it does not have to comply with that regulation.

A new raised platform that will accompany four wheelchairs and companion seats near one of the baskets will be ready for the Dec. 18 UNLV Rebels men's basketball game. With as many as four additional wheelchair spaces on the floor, and 40 spaces on the concourse level, the arena currently has room for 48 wheelchairs, which is less than one-third of what Quinn believes Thomas & Mack should have.

But Libonati said the arena's lower bowl would have to be ripped up at great expense in order to accommodate more wheelchair spaces.

"I don't know if the state is willing to do that," he said.

The Quinns and Monica Guinn also said there need to be improvements at Sam Boyd Stadium, where the Rebels play football. Wheelchair spaces are available halfway up the stadium at the portal level but they said they would also like wheelchair access closer to the field.

"The seating should be fairly dispersed," attorney James Wadhams, who represents the Quinns, said. "There is not lower-level seating for wheelchairs."

But Libonati, who also oversees the stadium, said no money is available to add wheelchair seating to the lower portion of the stadium.