CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL PASSES ORDINANCE TO INVEST $18 MILLION TO IMPROVE ADA ACCESSIBILITY IN 11 CPS HIGH SCHOOLS - April 13, 2011

April 13, 2011
Mayor’s Press Office
Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities

CITY COUNCIL PASSES ORDINANCE TO INVEST $18 MILLION TO IMPROVE ADA ACCESSIBILITY IN 11 CPS HIGH SCHOOLS

The Chicago City Council today approved an ordinance introduced by Mayor Richard M. Daley that will allocate approximately $18 million in TIF funds to support ADA accessibility renovations at 11 Chicago Public High Schools.

The ordinance marks the near completion of a five-year, jointly funded, capital commitment, which began in 2008 to make more school buildings accessible to students, parents, employees and community members with disabilities.

For the first year, the City and CPS committed to a total of nearly $40 million, with CPS committing to $23 million, and the City committing to $16.25 million. For each of the latter four fiscal years, CPS has committed at least $20 million annually, and the City has committed at least $5 million annually, or $20 million total.

The 11 schools that will receive accessibility enhancements are:

. Attucks, 5055 S. State St., (3rd Ward)

· Burke, 5356 S. King Drive, (3rd Ward)

· Banneker, 6656 S. Normal Blvd., (6th Ward)

· Armour, 950 W. 33rd Pl., (11th Ward)

· Hearst, 4640 S. Lamon, (23rd Ward)

· Lawndale, 3500 W. Douglas Blvd., (24th Ward)

· Plamondon, 2642 W. 15th Pl., (28th Ward)

· Schurz, 3601 N. Milwaukee Av., (38th Ward)

· Hayt, 1518 W. Granville Av., (40th Ward)

· Peterson, 5510 N. Christiana Av., (40th Ward)

· Chappell, 2135 W. Foster Av., (47th Ward)

Renovations generally include: adding wheelchair parking, installing ramps at building entrances, widening doorways, renovating restrooms, upgrading alarm systems, and, in some cases, installing elevators.

As a result, more youth with disabilities will be able to attend their neighborhood school, which will also serve to greatly increased access to before and after school programs near home. To that end, parents and grandparents with disabilities will also have far greater opportunities to participate in their children’s educations and recreational events.

Additionally, the renovations will allow the schools to enhance their use as community centers that can serve as polling places and emergency shelters and offer unique programming for students and the community at large.

Under this ADA initiative, the City and CPS hope to renovate at least 80 schools. Combined with the new and renovated buildings from the Modern Schools Across Chicago program, Chicago will have nearly 100 new accessible schools.
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