LOS ANGELES - The ACLU of Southern California entered into a landmark settlement yesterday with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority in Beauchamp v. MTA, a case filed in 1998 to guarantee access to MTA's bus lines for passengers who use wheelchairs or other assistive devices. Mobility-impaired passengers were frequently left to wait by the side of the road because wheelchair lifts were not in working order, or because drivers simply did not stop to pick them up. Even when a bus stopped and the lift worked, restraints inside the buses were frequently not in working order, thus endangering passengers' safety.

The settlement agreement requires MTA to guarantee that a minimum percentage of buses with wheelchair lifts and restraints in full working order will be rolled out each morning and creates an oversight system to be carried out by an independent company using testers to ascertain how frequently mobility-impaired passengers are bypassed because of equipment or other problems.

"Concrete measures such as this one are the bricks and mortar of history," said Peter Eliasberg, staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California. "The Americans with Disabilities Act was the blueprint for meaningful change, and this case and this agreement are an example of the realization of that vision of equal access for people with disabilities. Mobility-impaired people will no longer be left stranded on the streets of Los Angeles."

Plaintiffs in the case told of being passed by again and again as they sought to go about the business of their daily lives in Los Angeles.

"Disabled riders have not simply been sent to the back of the bus," said ACLU staff attorney Dan Tokaji, "They have been kept off the bus entirely. Time and time again, the bus door has been slammed in their face. This settlement will change that."

The ACLU sought and received a court injunction to stop MTA's discriminatory service patterns. The August 9, 2000, agreement, subject to the approval of the federal district court, will settle the portion of the lawsuit aimed at improving service to passengers in wheelchairs. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to approve the agreement.

"Negotiations for this agreement were intense," said Eliasberg. "We're optimistic that the judge will see this solution as a just one and approve it."

Private attorneys David Warshaw, Danny Fisher, David Gross, and the late Stanley Fleishman joined the case as pro bono co-counsel.

LOS ANGELES - The ACLU of Southern California sent a letter today to the Los Angeles Police Department demanding that it immediately stop the harassment of protesters at their organizing headquarters, the Convergence Center. The ACLU, joined by private attorneys Carol Sobel, Robert Myers, and Karl Mannheim, the Midnight Special Law Collective, the Working People's Law Center, and the National Lawyers Guild, sent the letter on behalf of the Community Arts Network, the D2K Convention Planing Coalition, and the Rise Up/Direct Action Network. The groups have been using a four-story building at 1919 W. Seventh St. in Los Angeles to prepare for the Democratic National Convention.

The letter cites numerous instances of harassment, including surveillance, selective enforcement of traffic laws near the Convergence Center, and police visits without warrants.

"The LAPD is once again engaged in a dangerous game," said Dan Tokaji, staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California, "They've crossed the line separating legitimate security preparations from unlawful harassment that violates protesters' First and Fourth Amendment rights. The mere potential for a disturbance does not justify the suspension of our Constitutional rights."

"Throughout the process of planning for this convention, the LAPD has pursued an unswerving course of alarmism, division, and fear-mongering," said Ramona Ripston, Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California. "The tactics of intimidation and harassment targeting protesters at their organizing center are part of that approach. At each fork in the road during this process, the LAPD has had choices -- unfortunately, the department has too often chosen to lay the groundwork for a confrontation rather than build the framework for a peaceful convention. They envision another Seattle and their every action unintentionally contributes to just such a scenario."

"Harassment, surveillance, and 'visits' without any purpose and without a warrant create an environment that is ultimately hostile to free speech," said Tokaji. "These actions are intended to inspire fear and, as far as they succeed in doing that, they also put a chilling effect on speech."

The ACLU of Southern California has requested a satisfactory reply to its letter by August 9, 2000; without which, it will seek a temporary restraining order on August 10.

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union and the City of Los Angeles signed an agreement today that will allow protesters to engage in free speech at the Democratic National Convention. The plan wasdrawn up as a result of a preliminary injunction issued by Judge Gary Feess of the U.S. Central District Court in a suit brought by the ACLU of Southern California.

The agreed upon plan shifts the security perimeter, allowing protesters to demonstrate across the street from the northeast corner of the Staples Center and along Figueroa St. N of 11th and lays out a provisional system of permitting in lieu of the city's unconstitutional schemes. The agreement was submitted today to Judge Feess.

"This plan works for free speech and works for security; it's something we've said all along was possible," said Dan Tokaji, staff attorney for the ACLU of Southern California. "After nearly a week of intensive negotiation, protesters will be within sight and earshot of their intended audience. Moreover, the city's unconstitutional method of dealing with parade and park use permits is history. The agreement means that the voices of the people will not be silenced."

"This is welcome news," said Ramona Ripston, Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California, "especially in the context of the fear-mongering that has occurred of late. Free speech is not incompatible with planning for a secure and peaceful convention."