GREENVILLE RADIO STATION, PARKING OFFICIALS APPEAR TO DENY NEEDS OF HANDICAPPED MOTORISTS

An amateur videographer grabbed some interesting footage of a Greenville radio station apparently denying parking access to handicapped motorists and a parking official harassing someone who needed the parking space.

The above video, which just surfaced on YouTube, showed a van for B93.7 illegally parked in a handicapped parking spot (or loading zone blocking it) on Main St. in Greenville during some sort of publicity appearance. When a disabled woman was forced to park in a loading zone instead, she was reportedly harassed by a parking official. The official seemed to ignore the station’s van and allowed it to leave completely un-ticketed.

An email to B93.7 about the incident was not returned (see update).

The footage isn’t sensational, but it demonstrates the all-too-often frustration endured by anyone who relies on parking access because of a disability. And it shows the disappointing disregard that many police officers, meter maids, etc have for enforcing the law handicapped parking.

As a wheelchair user and someone who would be royally screwed without handicapped parking spaces — not because of the proximity, but because of the striped-off area needed to get in and out of the vehicle — I know how annoying it is to see some lazy Jerry Springer guest roll up in their rusted-out 1992 Buick Century without a placard and nab a spot. Worse yet is when they park in the striped-off and literally block someone from getting back into their vehicle.

These folks often aren’t evil-minded and are usually just ignorant or think they can get away with it (because they usually do, like in the video above). But that’s why they need a little $500 reminder.

If you disagree or think this isn’t a big deal, go sit in a Wal-Mart parking lot for an hour while you wait for some moron to come out of the store so they can move their illegally-parked car. Then we’ll talk.

__________

UPDATE: Just got a response from Chase Murphy with B93.7:

It looked like they pulled in, then attempted to back out AFTER they realized it was a handicapped space. Because of the traffic volume downtown, they weren’t able to back out immediately. The incident looked accidental and the employee will be talked to.

B93.7 and the entire Entercom group of stations go out of their way to adhere to traffic laws and continually support the men and women who work in public service. Some of the ways we do this is with our on-air, and on-line public service announcements, as well as other fund raisers that the stations and company have participated in the Upstate and across the country.

Murphy then sent me this second e-mail:

For the record, it was a loading zone that our station vehicle was temporarily parked in and not a handicapped spot as you reported. The handicapped spot was the spot adjacent to the parking spot in question.

I was in a meeting when you sent me an email regarding this issue, but I did respond within 90 minutes after the time you emailed me. Your article stated that your email was not responded to. In fact, most media outlets, give me a reasonable amount of time to respond.

Just to be safe, I am forwarding the article and video to our legal department.

I could be wrong, but I think that last part was a threat.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 20th, 2008 at 1:45 pm and is filed under Around the state. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.