2008/06/17 Council Agenda Packet

q7/08 %.6j,_61-"ea LAW OFFICES OF • JUDITH A. LONNQUIST, P.S. Autzt 1218 THIRD AVENUE,SUITE 1500 SEATTLE,WA 98101-3021 TEL 206.622.2086 FAX 206.233.9165 LOJAL@aol.com JUDITH A.LONNQUIST* * ALSO ADMITTED IN ILLINOIS WENDY L.LILLIEDOLL** ** ALSO ADMITTED IN CALIFORNIA MITCHELL A.RJESE,OF COUNSEL June 17, 2008 Drew Nielsen President, Everett City Council 2930 Wetmore Avenue Everett, WA 98201 Re: Proposal of Everett Transit to change Route 1 in View Ridge neighborhood Dear President Nielsen and fellow council members: This firm has been retained by Kelvin and Patti Barton to represent them regarding the circumstances of Everett Transit's proposal to change Route 1 in the View Ridge neighborhood. The council is receiving Everett Transit's report on this matter this morning. For the following reasons, we have grave concerns that the proposal of Everett Transit to modify the route is discriminatory and retaliatory against Mr. and Mrs. Barton. Accordingly, we wanted to bring this to the council's attention before the council adopts Everett Transit's proposal, as we are concerned that this will necessitate legal action. This matter of service cuts to the View Ridge neighborhood has been a topic of discussion since the fall of 2005. Kelvin Barton has been employed by Everett Transit for years. His wife, Patti, and he reside in the View Ridge neighborhood. Patti Barton is visually impaired and legally blind, and substantially dependent upon public transportation. Mr. and Mrs. Barton have previously testified at city council meetings on this matter, specifically in the fall of 2005. Patti Barton has also been active in advocating for certain accommodations by the City of Everett for visually impaired individuals, such as requesting that the City's transit website be modified to make it more accessible to visually impaired individuals. Mrs. Barton has also advocated for such things as the City making holiday brochures available in Braille. In the fall of 2006, Everett Transit conducted a View Ridge loop headcount. Several other route deviations were surveyed as well. However, in July of 2007 and again in September of 2007, the City conducted additional View Ridge loop headcounts, and did a fourth one in March of 2008. No other neighborhood headcounts have been done by Everett Transit since the fall of 2006, and no other service has been cut since 2003. Everett Transit administration has never stated why there was such a need for repeated headcounts on the View Ridge route. This is particularly striking, given that no other routes, as mentioned above, have been surveyed since 2006, and no service has been cut in the entire Everett Transit system since 2003, when City voters passed the transit tax increase.