Although they were promised union membership and jobs in exchange for taking a 15-week apprenticeship course in 2010, the workers claim they were never hired on Ratner’s $5-billion mega-project.

“This was the biggest bait-and-switch in the history of Brooklyn,” said Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Fort Greene).

In a statement, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the settlement was fair and protected those who came to the aid of the city when it needed it most.

Those who sued the city included police officers, firefighters and other workers.  They claimed that the city failed to provide them with adequate protective equipment during the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, which led to respiratory and other illnesses that they suffered from later on.  Lawyers estimate that the payments to individuals will range from $3,250 to $1.8 million or more for the most severe injuries.

In legal papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court, 26-year-old Kyle Peterson claims he was riding his unicycle legally on Dec. 4, 2007 on a Bedford-Stuyvesant sidewalk.  Cops dressed in plainclothes asked him for his identification card and detained him for a half hour, according to the claim.  According to the suit, a city administrative code which prohibits bicycle-riding on the sidewalk defines a bicycle as a “two- or three-wheeled device” propelled by human power.  A unicycle has one less wheel.  

Peterson claims the cops also taunted him with circus music.  The summons was dismissed, but the circus performer is demanding $3 million in damages for the violation of his constitutional rights.

New York City law says passengers on B41 bus must wait until Gabriela Amari has left the bus before they can exit. (La Toya Tooles/The Brooklyn Ink)

by La Toya Tooles

It was after 10 p.m. when Gabriela Amari left midtown Manhattan for her apartment in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.

Hours later, the F train finally arrived at Church Avenue station. She exits the train and gets in the brand new elevator.

It doesn’t work.

And now, she is stranded in the subway station, just a few blocks from her apartment. Most people would just take the stairs, but she can’t.  She’s in a wheelchair.

An hour later, a G train operator, who is turning his train around, graciously offers to let her on so she can use the other side of the platform to use the working elevator.

Amari’s experience is not uncommon to New York’s disabled.

New York’s subway system is the oldest in the country and very difficult to make wheelchair accessible.

Of the 268 subway stops, only 57 of them are wheelchair accessible, according to MTA’s website.  Not many wheelchair users opt to take the subway in efforts to avoid disasters that leave them frightened or stranded.

“It happens, you know?” Amari said. “Every time I know I’m traveling by train I’m praying it doesn’t happen again.”

The city’s solution has always been the bus system, which is universally wheelchair accessible. This summer, however, MTA enacted several cost saving measures to help deal with an approximately $800 million budget deficit.  The cuts meant discontinuing several bus lines, laying off thousands of workers, reducing overtime and scaling back their accessible van program.  The vans, which used to be door-to-door, will now only take some passengers to the nearest bus route.  MTA has also decreased the number of people eligible for the service.

Three individuals and two disabled advocacy groups filed suit against MTA in response to the cuts, saying they disproportionately affect the quality of life for the mobility impaired.

“We think it is against the law for MTA to cut these bus lines and the access-a-ride system,” said Jane Greengold Stevens, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs in  the suit.  “People with mobility impairments have less access to public transportation than those of us that are currently not users of wheelchairs.”

The suit, filed in federal court on August 17, claims that the MTA is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

The ADA states that people with disabilities cannot be denied the same services provided to people without disabilities. The Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination against a protected class by any program that receives federal assistance.  MTA received money in the stimulus package from the government last year.

Stevens, lawyers from South Brooklyn Legal Services and a private law firm met recently with MTA lawyers to initiate the discovery phase of the federal civil suit.

Gabriela Amari waits for the bus after leaving the Park Slope Farmer's Market on a Saturday afternoon. (La Toya Tooles/The Brooklyn Ink)

Trials of this magnitude can take several years, said Stevens. At an October 1 hearing, plaintiffs’ lawyers urged that MTA bring back the B51 and B59 buses and restore the cuts made to Access-A-Ride during the rest of the trial. MTA said they were unable to meet these demands, according to Stevens.  MTA declined to comment on the lawsuit.

According to a press release from South Brooklyn Legal services, one of the plaintiffs, Anthony Trocchia, uses the bus and Access-a-Ride because his chair gets stuck in the gaps between the subway and the platform.

Amari has also had her chair wheels stuck, which left her legs half on the platform, half on the train.  Before passengers helped her, Amari said she felt panic stricken.

“I was scared that the conductor was going to close the doors and start to move. I could have been killed,” she said. “You can’t move, you can’t get out.  What am I gonna do?”

Trocchia, like the other plaintiffs RueZalia Watkins, Clara Reiss and the advocacy groups Brooklyn Center for the Independence of the Disabled and Disabled in Action are concerned that cutting borough bus routes that go through multiple boroughs and Access-A-Ride leave them with little options for travel.

“Elimination of any bus route tells wheelchair users to become shut-ins,” he said.

“We are trying to move as quickly as possible to get information from them giving us the facts that we need to prove that we are entitled to this interim relief,” she said. “We are hoping to make such a motion within the next several months.”

This is not the only case that MTA has faced in recent months.

State Senator Martin J. Golden and City Councilman Vincent J. Gentile appeared in court last month regarding a State Supreme Court lawsuit against the MTA in response to the cuts enacted June and the impact they have on the seniors and disabled of Brooklyn. The lawsuit states that MTA is in violation of ADA and New York State Humans Rights Law because removing the B27, X37 and X38 leaves the disabled and elderly travelers without enough transportation options.

Neither suit is expected to be resolved quickly.

*This story reflects a correction made on November 17, 2010.

Bay Ridge protesters gathered at the Kings County State Supreme Court to support a lawsuit against the MTA yesterday. (Alysia Santo/The Brooklyn Ink)

A new complaint of age discrimination under the City Human Rights Law was added Thursday to the lawsuit filed against the MTA by Southwest Brooklyn’s State Senator Martin Golden and Councilman Vincent Gentile.

Discussions took place behind closed doors for two hours at a hearing at the Kings County State Supreme Court in Brooklyn under Judge Kenneth Sherman. Councilman Gentile’s office declined to describe the discussions, but said that “negotiations were ongoing.”

A rally took place outside the courthouse in support of the suit. Another rally was held earlier in the week in Bay Ridge at one of the bus stops where the controversial cuts were made.

The lawsuit, filed this summer, alleges that the MTA cuts violated both the Americans with Disabilities Act and the New York State Humans Rights Law because of the high percentage of disabled and elderly who call Bay Ridge home. There are no wheelchair accessible subway lines in Bay Ridge, so buses are the only option for many who have trouble with stairs.

The changes were put into place on June 27, resulting in the elimination of uptown service on the X37 and X38, the elimination of the B37, and cuts to weekend bus service on the X27 and X28.

Jean Ryan, one of the plaintiffs named in lawsuit, said that the bus cuts made her feel isolated because now it is so difficult for her to go into Manhattan and see friends. “I’m trying to stay hopeful,” she said.

A statement released by Gentile’s office says, “Over the next couple of weeks, more information will be presented, and we may return to Court in November for a full hearing.”

City Councilor Vincent Gentile spoke at yesterday's Bay Ridge rally protesting the MTA's discontinued bus routes. (Evan MacDonald/The Brooklyn Ink)

About 50 people gathered at the corner of Third and Bay Ridge avenues on Tuesday evening, despite the chill. Several were in wheelchairs, and many carried walking canes. Most were elderly.

None approved of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s route changes.

The crowd was gathered to support a lawsuit that alleges the MTA unfairly affected citizens’ lives when it eliminated some bus routes on June 27. Bay Ridge, which is called a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community by urban planners, has a particularly high number of elderly and disabled persons.

The lawsuit claims that, by cutting routes, the MTA has caused unfair hardship for those elderly and disabled citizens.

“Many of our disabled cannot go up and down the subway steps, and we have no elevators or escalators here,” City Councilman Vincent Gentile said. “The subway is not an option.”

Gentile and State Senator Marty Golden filed the lawsuit, which will be heard on Thursday morning in Kings County Supreme Court. It alleges the MTA violated two laws: the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the New York State Human Rights Law.

The bus routes identified in the lawsuit include the elimination of weekend bus service on the X27 and X28, the elimination of uptown service on the X37 and X38, and the elimination of the B37.

Since the routes were changed, Golden said, it takes residents an average of about 40 more minutes to get to midtown Manhattan than it did before.

Bay Ridge resident Angela Vaccaro said the change makes it so difficult to get to Manhattan, that she has considered moving out of the neighborhood entirely.

“Going from 96^th Street,” she said, “it’s like a war zone getting into Manhattan.”

MTA officials were not present at the rally, but the agency’s original statement about the cuts, released on March 24, said they were necessary to fill an $800 million budget shortfall in 2010.

“The extent of our deficit requires that most of the cuts move ahead, but we listened to our customers and made changes where we could,” MTA Chairman and CEO Jay H. Walder said in that statement. “We were able to take a number of cuts off the table but unfortunately, many of the cuts moving ahead will be painful.”

Bay Ridge residents voiced their concerns throughout the rally, chanting “No way, MTA.” Some held up signs that read things like “If we need to pay more, we expect to get more service, not less,” and “More $$ for fewer services is unacceptable.”

Mary Gibbons, a Bay Ridge resident, said that she used to be able to take the B70 bus straight down Third Avenue from Lutheran Medical Center, where she receives treatment on her foot. Since the cuts have gone into effect, though, the B70 was rerouted and she has had to walk three blocks out of her way to catch the nearest route.

She wasn’t sure what difference the lawsuit would ultimately make.

“But what can you say, though?” she said. “You can’t fight city hall.”

Golden admitted that if the lawsuit were deemed valid on Thursday, the MTA would probably just get an injunction to stop it. He promised to keep fighting, however, until residents received the services they needed.

“The lawsuit, it’s very simple,” he said. “It goes after fairness. Fairness for our disabled, fairness for our elderly, and fairness for our community.”

Allen Bortnick, who has lived in Bay Ridge since 1957, said he spoke to the MTA back in February when the organization held a hearing about the proposed cuts. He said he doesn’t believe the agency has his community’s best interests in mind.

“City agencies like the MTA, they sit there and make their decisions, and they don’t care about you,” he said.

The corner of 5th Avenue and 52nd Street in Sunset Park. Photo courtesy of veesvision/Flickr Creative Commons.

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