Court fight wins first-class seats on third-base line
LeLacheur Park retrofitted to give wheelchair users an up-front view
LOWELL -- The afternoon that LeLacheur Park opened in 1998, Scott Swanson, Charlie Carr, and a half-dozen other people in wheelchairs headed over to check out the new stadium and to catch some baseball.
LeLacheur was the new, city-financed, minor league stadium next to the Merrimack River, and Swanson, a hard-core baseball fan, had taken an interest in the design. What he found when he got there, however, ticked him off big time.
All of the 49 handicapped accessible seats were perched on the last row of the 4,700 seat stadium, 18 rows off the field. There was no access to box seats and no way to upgrade. It was, Swanson believed, a clear violation of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, and to him it sent a very definite message: Get to the back of the bus.
And that was just for starters. A substantial number of the handicapped accessible seats were roped off for opening day ceremonies and filled with dignitaries, Carr said.
``We were stunned," Carr said. ``Scott, in particular, was just furious. He went up and confronted" the people sitting there, ``and it got pretty nasty. They told him to leave. He was livid."
Swanson, who had become paralyzed in a car accident 16 years earlier, left, but he never really went away. He channeled his rage into a bruising lawsuit that divided the city of Lowell and disabled people in the Merrimack Valley; the case took the next six years to wind through federal court in a legal battle that ultimately cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys fees.
Finally, on Wednesday night, more than eight years after that first opening day, a number of the original plaintiffs took their proverbial victory lap at LeLacheur Field. They bought out a bank of box seats along the third-base line, seats that just this year have been made accessible to the disabled as a result of the lawsuit.
``Great seats," Carr said with a smile when asked about the view. ``And it only took [eight] years to get them."
The battle fought in Lowell is emblematic of disability law cases popping up around the country. Although the Americans with Disabilities Act became law 16 years ago, only about 25 percent of the nation's buildings are fully accessible to the disabled, said Stan Eichner, executive director of the Disability Law Center in Boston, which handled the case. Buildings built before 1990 are grandfathered, but anything constructed after 1990 must be up to code.
When new construction fails to meet federal standards, activists have to think long and hard about taking the case to court. Contesting a design takes resources, and a loss can set a dire legal precedent.
``The courts have offered mixed results on the ADA," Eichner said. ``You have to be really careful when you pick your battles."
The case in Lowell hit a particularly sensitive nerve, because Swanson was involved in the planning process from the start and felt duped the day he showed up at the park, Carr said.
``This was them telling us to go to the back of the bus, sit down, and shut up," said Carr, executive director of the Northeast Independent Living Program in Lawrence. ``This was about claiming our civil rights."
The stakes, however, were high. A retrofit would be expensive, and for the architectural firm it could set a troublesome precedent. From the first, the case was contentious. Lawyers for the city and the architecture firm argued that because the stadium is so small there are no second-tier seats and thus no need for the choice guaranteed in the Disabilities Act.
Swanson and the Northeast Independent Living Program, which piggybacked on the case, insisted otherwise. People in the local wheelchair community were split. Some were happy with the seats they had. Others wanted more.
The Lowell Sun editorialized that the activists were demanding too much.
``It is important for people with disabilities to freely be able to use public facilities," the paper said on May 1, 2001. ``They should not, however, expect the earth to move."
John Miller, a community advocacy liaison with the Northeast Independent Living Program, was among the plaintiffs.
When asked why it was important to win the suit, he told this story. A few years ago he went to a program in Manchester called Dragon Tales with his wife and 5-year-old granddaughter. All the seats for people in wheelchairs were high in the balcony, but the actors were coming off the stage and engaging the children on the first floor. Miller asked an usher if he could go downstairs. The usher told him his wife and granddaughter could go, but there was no accessibility for him. He would have to stay.
``My granddaughter took one look at him and said, `If he can't go, I'm not going,' " Miller said. ``Even a 5-year-old knew what fair was. Well, that's what this is about: Equal access; fair is fair."
On Aug. 30, 2004, Judge Rya Zobel agreed. In her ruling she wrote that ``the ADA requires that wheelchair users have the opportunity to view baseball games and other activities at this stadium not only from the last row, but also closer up."
Then the judge brokered a settlement. Seats on the third-base line were carved out for wheelchair accessibility. Lowell paid $50,000 for the fix, said city solicitor Christine O'Connor.
``The question was how many choices do you have to provide, and that was an interpretation that we got wrong," said Diana Prideaux-Brune, project manager for the stadium.
Wednesday night, with a smile and a beer on a picture-perfect evening for baseball, Carr and his friends soaked in the game as the Spinners pounded the State College Spikes, 12-4.
``In my lifetime we've gone from being called crippled to being called handicapped to physically challenged to being a person in a wheelchair," Carr said. ``I can look back and see incredible changes. But tonight the fighting is over, and we can set a new tone."
Swanson, however, was not there to enjoy it. Five years ago, he died from complications related to his paralysis. He never sat in the front row.
Carr and Miller are hoping they will be able to erect a small plaque with his name on it near the seats.
``If he was alive he'd appreciate that," his sister, Lynne Gilbert, said from Michigan. ``But I'll tell you what. He's up in heaven right now, rejoicing they finally won. And he's smiling, I can tell you that."
Douglas Belkin can be reached at dbelkin@globe.com. 
