Courthouse Access Advisory Committee Meets in Phoenix March 11, 2005
The Courthouse Access Advisory Committee held its second meeting February 10th and 11th in Phoenix. Members toured area courthouses, including a new municipal facility (right) and a Federal courthouse, to see how accessibility was addressed. They were also briefed on ac cess surveys of 35 courthouses conducted by the Arizona State Bar Association's Task Force on Persons with Disabilities. The meeting also featured presentations by architects on the committee on courthouse design, including traditional and customary courtroom features, and recent courthouse projects.
The committee's charge centers on promoting access to courthouses, which pose unique design challenges, by identifying issues and barriers, developing solutions and best practices, gathering resources, and exploring ways to disseminate the information it develops most effectively to various audiences. The committee's members include designers and architects, disability groups, members of the judiciary, court administrators, representatives of the codes community and standard-setting entities, government agencies, and others with an interest in the issues to be explored.
Three subcommittees organized at the committee's first meeting in November met in separate sessions. The subcommittees on education, courtroom access, and courthouse spaces other than courtrooms discussed ways of conducting sessions and sharing information in between meetings of the full committee, which are scheduled to take place on a quarterly basis. Subcommittee chairs provided reports on their discussions to the full committee. The committee also approved meeting dates and locations for the remainder of the year. This tentative schedule includes meetings in Washington, D.C. (May 5th and 6th), Chicago (August 4th and 5th), and San Francisco (November (17 and 18th).
For further information on the committee or its meetings, contact Elizabeth Stewart at (202) 272-0042 (voice), (202) 272-0082 (TTY), or stewart@access-board.gov (e-mail). To be added to the list for e-mail updates on the work of the committee, send a message to caac@access-board.gov with “add to list” in the subject field.
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