The Central Oregon Coalition for Access has a beef with the city of Bend. The city, its members charge, has failed to live up to a commitment to make its facilities fully accessible to the disabled members of our community. The city, its members claim, may talk the talk about access, but so far it has failed to go too much beyond that.

The issue resurfaced recently when COCA asked the city to keep its fixed-route buses in the garage until each and every place they will stop is fully accessible to all community members. Thats not a slam-dunk: Curb cuts that allow wheelchair access are a relatively new innovation and at some proposed stops theyre nonexistent. There may be other difficulties, as well, that make it difficult for a person of limited mobility to use a bus efficiently. And, according to Pete Schannauer, one of the citys lawyers, the city is not obligated to provide full access at every intersection. Rather, it can use a more practical standard at stops that takes other things into account. It must make its central transit station, which still is to be built, fully accessible, however.

In a perfect world, the city would opt for full accessibility at every proposed stop from the first moment fixed-route buses begin running in just under two weeks. That wont happen, however, in part because the City Council decided to start the system only a couple of months ago, leaving little time to make all the changes that might be required.

While I dont agree with the notion that the city should keep all who want a fixed-route system waiting while bringing stops up to snuff for a relatively small portion of its riders, I can understand COCAs impatience over the whole question. COCA officials make the case that the city has dragged its heels on the broader question of access in the community, and if its right it has good reason to complain.

People without disabilities and without close acquaintance to someone who has a disability sometimes dont understand just what a critical issue it can be. In school, it meant for most of this countrys history that kids who didnt learn the way everyone else did either were denied education or were forced into seriously second-class citizenship to get it.

Where school is concerned we most often think of such students as having intellectual disabilities, but it goes far beyond that. Equal access to public education now means schools must make sure that kids who cannot hear, who move in wheelchairs, or who have a host of other problems get the same shot at a good edu-

cation as anyone else.

Thats not only fair, it makes for a stronger society, it seems to me. People who are educated can work, can be productive and happy and can make a positive contribution to society. They know it watch a kid with an intellectual disability bring home that first-ever paycheck, and you get an insight to the workaday world youve likely never had before.

Beyond school, the Americans with Disabilities Act promises adults the same access to the public world that the rest of us enjoy. People with limited mobility should not be relegated to the front row of a theater because theres nowhere else to park a wheelchair; they should have the same ability to use a public rest-

room that you or I have. And, they should have the same access to government at all levels as anyone else.

Going back and bringing older facilities, whether courthouses or grocery stores or sidewalks, up to snuff where access is concerned can be expensive, however, and the ADA allows both businesses and communities some leeway in getting the job done. The city of Bend, COCA charges, has taken that leeway and stretched it far beyond what is reasonable. Thus, its members say, new curb cuts, among other things, still dont meet ADA standards and the city still allows businesses to occupy buildings that violate accessibility standards.

If thats true, and the federal Justice Department is looking into the matter, it demonstrates a clear lack of commitment on the citys part. Nor will the hiring of an accessibility overseer do much good unless that person is given adequate access. If he or she is unable to talk to those at the top in city departments, if the job is simply to file reports that never see the light of day again, the city will have accomplished nothing.

Bend, it seems to me, should take a lesson from the Bend-La Pine School District, which has a long and proud history of genuine commitment to its students with special needs. Things at school may not be perfect all the time, but theyre very good most of the time and not bad most of the rest. The district has put strong administrators in charge of its special programs, then taken what they say seriously. Thats what the city needs, and if it doesnt have it now, it should move quickly to correct the situation.