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RIGHT OF WAY Access success? Randolph continues work on removing obstacles

Randolph Herald (MA) - 11/28/2015

With the 25 th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act making headlines, where does Randolph stand on being open to all?

Keith Wortzman, who served on the Randolph Commission on Disabilities from the late 1990s until his election to the Randolph School Committee in 2010, said the commission had done critical work in town.

“The prior commission worked diligently with what was the former Board of Selectmen and the Randolph Police Department to increase the fine for anyone who abused the use of parking in a designated accessible parking spot,” Wortzman said.

He highlighted the work the commission did to help make the Showcase Cinema de Lux Randolph accessible.

“(The commission) provided guidance on accessibility for individuals with both mobility impairments and individuals with hearing loss,” Wortzman said.

Nonetheless, Wortzman said the commission became inactive soon after he departed for the School Committee.

But now Wortzman has taken the issue into his own hands and has reached out to previous members in an attempt to revitalize the commission. The group recently got back into action.

Although Wortzman and his new commission will have work to do, Marc Craig, the Director of Community Programs who oversees the Randolph Senior Center, said there was good work already being done.

“(Randolph) is at the forefront of being accessible to anyone,” Craig said.

He highlighted how the Randolph Town Hall was more accessible than its predecessor, Stetson Hall.

He added how parks and playgrounds had become more suited to residents with disabilities.

“Within the last seven years, basically all the playgrounds in town have been rebuilt to industry standards that allow them to be handicap accessible,” he said.

A project currently in motion is the renovation of the Turner Free Library on Main Street. The work that began in 2013 aims to “create a library space that fulfills the needs of all of our community members to the best of our ability,” said Meaghan Thompson, the library’s director.

“A major and important addition to our renovation is the installation of a wheelchair lift, giving folks access to our mezzanine where our nonfiction books are shelved,” she said. “It has always been an unfortunate circumstance in our library to not have equal access to all of our materials… We are so excited to fix this problem permanently.”

Additionally, Thompson specified that the library’s hand-railings would be made ADA-compliant by becoming easier to grip. The library also aims to ensure furniture and book stacks leave enough room for wheelchairs to move through the library easily.

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