Equality at Concert Venue
Y.E.A.! Young Endependent
Advocates
6300 East
Virginia Beach Blvd., Norfolk VA 23502
Site: http://www.geocities.com/disabilityadvocacygroup/
4/10/07
Dear Venue Sponsor,
This
message is from the disability advocacy team of young
adults with disabilities. We hope you have time to read and take into
consideration the issues of this message. Are you aware of the discrimination
happening at one of the venues you sponsor? The venue we’re calling attention
to is the Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach
Amphitheater.
This particular
concert venue has been open since 1995, the same era as the Americans with
Disabilities Act was enacted. It doesn’t make sense as to why the venue hasn’t
already complied with the law. You see this is an accessibility issue we want
you to be aware of. The whole venue IS NOT accessible to people with
disabilities. People with disabilities would like to be able to sit on the lawn
with other concert patrons. We’re being left out; the lawn seats are not
accessible to us at the Virginia Beach Amphitheater.
The reason we cannot sit on the
lawn is because there’s no access ramp for wheelchairs and for people who use
walkers. The venue was built after the requirement that all public places be
accessible, so it’s frustrating that this venue is not. It is a type of
segregation. Since the fifteen years after the ADA
was passed, that tourists, residents, people with injuries, the elderly and
people with disabilities are able to find access in public places. What message
does it send to have a segregated area? We have been waiting for years
for these changes that will be enforced soon by the ADAAG
regulations. Why has the wait and fight been so long for
changes that will happen according to law eventually?
We deserve the same choice as
everyone else. It’s an equal rights issue and we hope we have brought that to
your attention. Our advocacy group is aware that the amphitheater has
accessible seating in designated sections. We would prefer accessibility to all
seating sections of the venue, including the lawn seats. Our money is just as
green as everyone else’s. We pay to see shows, as others do, we should have
access to all seating.
Here’s a link to all three news
articles that show how long and hard we’ve worked to advocate for
accessibility. They were published in our local newspaper, The Virginian Pilot.
http://www.geocities.com/disabilityadvocacygroup/articles/list.htm
Thank you for your understanding.
We hope you’ll support us in our
quest for equality.
The
YEA Advocacy Group
Motto: “Amphitheater show some
class, give us access to the grass!”
CC/ Honorable
Mayor Oberndorf, Virginia Beach
Members of
Virginia Beach City Council. Senator Harry Bevine, Senator Kenneth Stolle,
Senator Frank Wagner, Senator Nick
Rerras, Senator Yvonne Miller,
Delegate Salvatore Iaquinto,
Delegate Harry Purkey, Delegate Terrie Suit,
Delegate Robert Tata, Delegate Leo
Wardrup, Delegate John Welch
Amphitheater Sponsors: Verizon,
Absolut Company, The Daily Press, Miller Brewing Company, Checkered Flag
Dealerships, Gateway Bank, Aapecs Eye Care, f.y.e. Entertainment, Fairfield
Resorts, Hardee's, Value City Furniture
Matt Rogers, General Manager of
Virginia Beach Amphitheater