BRONX, NY––United Spinal Association, a national disability rights organization, is proud to announce that its Accessibility Services group has been selected by the New York Yankees to ensure that the new Yankee Stadium, scheduled for completion by Opening Day 2009, will be fully accessible to all fans with disabilities.

The Yankees announced plans for the new stadium last June and the compliance contract was awarded to United Spinal by project manager Tischman Construction. Accessibility Services will be working with the architectural firm of Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum (HOK) Sport+Venue+Event to develop what Director Dominic Marinelli predicts will be “the most accessible ballpark in the country.”

In an effort to gather feedback on preliminary elements of the design, United Spinal hosted the first of what will be a series of informational meetings for fans with disabilities at Yankee Stadium on September 28th. The meeting drew an overflow crowd of well-informed participants to the Yankees’ “Great Moments Room” and representatives from HOK provided a general overview of the new facility, after which Marinelli and HOK engineer Ed Roether led discussion on general concerns of those in attendance.

United Spinal’s Associate Executive Director Terry Moakley opened the meeting by saying, “We know you’re Yankee fans and we know you’re going to be vocal, and that’s exactly what we want today. We want to get the accessibility features perfect for the new Yankee Stadium and we can’t do that without your help.”

As an example, Marinelli noted that the Americans With Disabilities Act Manager for the Yankees, Carol Laurenzano, suggested electrical outlets be installed in all wheelchair viewing areas so that people needing to plug in medical equipment during the game will be able to do so. He said the idea is not part of any building code or ADA requirement, and Laurenzano learned of this need simply from her experience working with fans with disabilities. Marinelli said outlets are a good common-sense suggestion and will be implemented.

Among other suggestions were:
• Provide adequate depth at wheelchair seating locations to prevent fans in wheelchairs from being bumped or pushed by able-bodied people when passing such locations.
• Clearly marked points of departure for fans needing transportation pickups such as “Access-a-Ride” vehicles.
• Avoid unnecessarily long distances between accessible entrances and parking lots or mass transit arrival areas.
• Ensure adequate vertical clearance in parking garages.
• Ensure that access aisles between cars in handicapped parking areas are wide enough so that people in wheelchairs have enough room to navigate.

Thursday, January 19, 2005
1 pm to 3 pm

I. Update and Introduction

A. Carol Laurenzano, New York Yankees

B. Terry Moakley, United Spinal Association

C. Minutes/Feedback from 9-28 Meeting

D. Web-Info: Accessibility Requirements at the new Yankees Stadium

II. Accessible Parking Issues

A. Player’s Garage at new Yankee Stadium - HOK

B. Area Garages & Lots - New York City Office of Parks & Recreation

C. Accessible Parking Plans - New York City Office of Parks & Recreation

Topics Future Meetings:
Access A Ride Drop Off locations, NYPD Enforcement of Accessible Parking

III. 100% Design Development

A. Changes impacting Accessibility since 9-28 Meeting - Tristan Anderson, HOK

B. Understanding the Lines of Sight & Integration of Wheelchair Viewing Locations - Ed Roether, HOK

C. Companion Locations

Topics Future Meetings: Assistive Listening Devices, Closed/Open Captioning, Signage Requirements

Elevators – visual clues indicating up/down travel.

HOK has indicated that this feature will be provided

Bathrooms - Provide push plates for people with visual disabilities indicating Men’s/Women’s room.

Follow-up required on this suggestion

Request that Family toilet room(s) provide lower changing tables for adults with disabilities.

Follow-up required on this suggestion

Dedicate locations closer to field level or install monitors for people with visual disabilities.

Follow-up required on this suggestion

Ensure wheelchair locations will not be “bumped” by fans walking in front or behind these clear floor spaces.

This is not just a design issue – providing an accessible route to the wheelchair seating area leaves a gap for anyone to walk through.

Ensure color contrast on signage and at stairs.

HOK has indicated that this feature will be provided.

Provide Induction Loop type Assisted Listening Device (ALD) to accommodate people with hearing disabilities.

Follow-up required on this suggestion.

Companion locations - folding chair versus “readily removable” chairs was discussed.

Follow-up required on this suggestion.

Provide “drop-off” areas for Access-A-Ride buses closer to entrances of the stadium.

Day of game traffic is controlled by the NYPD, not by the Yankees. Representatives from the City have been invited to the next meeting to answer questions.

Rail Heights – concern that obstructions will obstruct view.

HOK can minimize obstruction to views of the field of play and can provide images that will demonstrate views from seating areas, but the building code requires a rail height that would obstruct views of someone sitting a couple rows in front of a wheelchair seating area.

Lack of enforcement - abuse of reserved accessible parking and access aisles necessary for a wheelchair user to enter/exit their vehicles.

Parking Garages are not controlled by the Yankees, but will be built and operated by the City. Representatives from the City have been invited to the next meeting to answer questions.

Ticket Policy - discuss abuse of wheelchair viewing locations.

Ticket policy will be discussed in detail at future meetings.

December 27, 2005

On behalf of the New York Yankees, HOK Sports Architecture and Tishman Speyer Properties, I wanted to thank you for attending our first outreach meeting on Wednesday, September 28th. The purpose of this meeting was to highlight accessibility features of the new Yankee stadium and get feedback from Yankees fans with disabilities. Our first meeting was a great success – the Great Moments Room was packed with fans that were eager to provide feedback! As advocates for people with disabilities since 1947, we were proud that we had such a great turnout as we begin to discuss issues that are important to all of us in building the most accessible sports stadium in the country.

In order to enhance our ability to communicate with each other, we will begin to post information on the accessibility being provided at the new Yankee Stadium on our Accessibility Services web-site: www.accessibility-services.com

Once you are on our site – click on the Yankees’ logo to access information on the dates, locations and topics to be discussed at upcoming meetings, as well as updates on the accessibility features that will be provided. There will also be an opportunity for you to provide us with feedback on the accessibility features that are most important to you.

We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting, which is scheduled for Thursday, January 19, 2006 from 1 PM to 3 PM at Yankee Stadium. We plan to discuss issues relating to the completed Design Development of the new Yankee Stadium and will emphasize issues related to accessible parking.

Additional meeting information will be posted on www.accessibility-services.com and distributed through a variety of list serves.

Please call me at 518-945-1606 if you will be able to attend or if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Linda Volpe
Compliance Specialist