FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, June 24, 2000
Contact: Bill Adams
Tel.: (202) 366-5580
FTA 10-00
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater Presents
Ceremonial Check
To Ed Roberts Campus in Recognition of 10 Year Anniversary of ADA
Passage
In recognition of the tenth anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater today participated in a ceremonial check presentation to the San Francisco Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission and disability organization leaders for the Ed Roberts Campus, to facilitate a project that will be a model of accessible transit-oriented development.
"President Clinton came to Washington to put all people first, and the ADA helps move people with disabilities into the mainstream," Secretary Slater said. "The Ed Roberts Campus affirms that transportation is about more than concrete, asphalt and steel. It is the means by which people get to where they need to go: to jobs, to schools, to markets. All Americans must have access to the opportunities our great nation offers."
The Ed Roberts Campus (ERC) is a non-profit corporation formed by nine-disability organizations that share a common history in the Independent Living Movement. These organizations have joined together to plan and develop a universally designed, transit-oriented campus located on the eastern parking lot at the Ashby BART Station in Berkeley. It will be designed as a compact, mixed-use neighborhood center that encourages transit use. The project will put new jobs, services and retail businesses within easy reach of public transit. It will also bring together under one roof the nine disability-related organizations that form the corporation.
The nine partners include the Bay Area Outreach & Recreation Program (BORP), the Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT), the Center for Independent Living (CIL), Computer Technologies Program (CTP), Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), Through the Looking Glass (TLG), Whirlwind Wheelchair International (WWI), and World Institute on Disability (WID).
The Ed Roberts Campus organization and facility will function as a service center, where the development of collaborative, innovative programs will be encouraged and supported. The Campus will contain one-of-a-kind exhibition and library facilities which will focus on disability-related information, culture and research. It will also contain meeting and conferencing facilities that are specifically designed for maximum accessibility. These facilities will be available for national and international conferences, symposia, and celebrations.
The Ed Roberts Campus (ERC) is dedicated to the memory of Ed Roberts (1939-1995), an international leader and educator in the independent living and disability rights movement.
Secretary Slater announced the $300,000 grant for the Ed Roberts Campus on March 17, under the department’s innovative Transportation Community and System Preservation Pilot Program (TCSP), a key component of the Clinton administration’s livability agenda.
Vice President Gore in January 1999 launched a comprehensive agenda to strengthen the government’s role as a partner with state and local efforts to build livable communities for the 21st century. TCSP is an initiative consisting of grants and research that will assist communities as they work to solve interrelated problems involving transportation, land development, environmental protection, public safety and economic development. It was established by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), the six-year surface transportation law signed by President Clinton on June 9, 1998.
TCSP funds are used to help achieve locally determined goals such as improving transportation efficiency; reducing the negative effects of transportation on the environment; providing better access to jobs, services and trade centers; reducing the need for costly future infrastructure; and revitalizing underdeveloped and brownfield sites. Grants can also be used to examine urban development patterns and create strategies that encourage private companies to work toward these goals in designing new developments.
The event at the site of the future Ed Roberts Campus concluded Secretary Slater’s Coast-to-Coast Intermodal Tour that began June 19 with his and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s participation in the Merchant Marine Academy commencement at Kings Point, New York. It also included stops in Washington, D.C.; Wilmington, Delaware; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Sacramento, San Diego, North Hollywood, Oakland, San Francisco and Berkeley, California.
Secretary Slater reviewed a variety of intermodal programs and projects that apply new transportation technology and concepts, as well as those that contribute to future innovation by building a knowledge-based workforce and contribute to a climate that fosters innovation.
Secretary Slater continued his ongoing series of 2025 Visioning Sessions with stakeholder groups across the country. These sessions are designed to lay the groundwork for improving the quality of transportation choices and performance by clarifying a vision of transportation’s future over the next 25 years.
Secretary Slater has conducted transportation tours every year since 1994.
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