Disabled

* I agree with Charles L. Lindner’s assessment of our local government’s inept behavior with regard to the implementation of the Americans With Disabilities Act (Opinion, May 8). Two years ago a friend of mine was subjected to bureaucratic runarounds when he tried to remedy a situation concerning a local restaurant’s policy of chaining off a designated-handicapped parking space.

Shawn frequented a nearby cafe for his daily cup of Java. When he politely asked why they had chained off a parking space he was entitled to use, the manager copped a caustic attitude that “everyone is equally denied access to the parking lot.” Shawn then called the police only to be informed that there was nothing they could do. Shawn elicited help from various city officials and was met by sympathetic, impotent responses.

After many months of governmental inaction he took the owner to court and won, the judge strongly warning the owner to take down the chain as a matter of public policy and decency. But 1 1/2 years later the chain is still up and the owner removed the international handicapped lavatory signs from his cafe’s bathroom as a further act of defiance. Without effective enforcement the American With Disabilities Act is a mockery of the disabled community.

KEVIN JOHN De COMINES

Los Angeles