Blog For Arizona

DaBait in Da Desert (Part 3)

Peter and I found HQ fairly easily. The office is at 3105 N 24th Street, just north of Thomas and handy to the 51. It is a good location and has ample parking.

However, when we pulled up we began to be concerned. As we got out of the car and walked toward the building, we grew more agitated. Peering around the building, locating the only two exterior doors, it became obvious that this property was not accessible to the disabled.



As you can see in this photo, the entrances are steep concrete steps with rails and manual doors. There are two of these and they are identical. There is a tell-tale in this photo: an empty wheel chair. Obviously the occupant was unable to get the chair into the building. Perhaps a manual chair was carried inside and the occupant of the vacant chair carried in to it? Who knows. The point is that the building is not accessible. We went inside to inquire about the problem.

Inside we met Joan Fitz-Randolph, an officer in the Democratic Party, a former candidate for State Representative, and a staunch support of Governor Dean. She didn't know why the building continued to be inaccessible to the disabled. She thought that someone was working on the problem, and I hope that is so. The ADA doesn't require a landlord to make their property ADA compliant, it is up to the tenant to do so, if accessibility is desired. It might cost the campaign a considerable amount of money if the landlord is not willing to make the needed improvements.

We chatted with Joan for some time about the campaign in Maricopa and her experience with converting the PCs of her district to Dean. Her technique is very effective; she politely but pointedly ignores them unless they profess allegiance to Dean. If they want her attention, they quickly learn about Dean and become supporters. She's gotten nearly all of them this way. Go Joan :)

The hour of the debate was approaching, however, and we still had to get downtown, find parking, and take up our volunteer duties as security personnel for the party. It was already past 4PM and the debate was starting soon. Parking in the area was likely to be full. We sped off toward downtown.

Next Time: The Watching Party, Dean's Address and more...

posted by Michael Bryan @ 10/14/2003 09:37:00 PM