Record-Journal
08-30-2007, 01:08 AM
MERIDEN -- What started out as a scramble for handicapped parking spaces at Harbor Towers in the city has escalated to violence, as one resident has had a cinder block thrown through her car’s windshield.
Kathy Castello, who is handicapped and lives in one of the Harbor Towers apartments, 60 Hanover St., fought to get an assigned handicapped space close to the building because she cannot walk long distances.
But her battle and eventual victory also created some animosity among other residents, who are angered at what they see as special attention.
One or several, in fact, apparently got so angry that, on separate occasions, they have scratched her car with a key, egged it, and then Tuesday night, heaved a cinder block into its windshield.
The damage totals nearly $4,000, and Castello said she no longer feels completely safe.
Wednesday night, tenants had an organized meeting to discuss issues.
Mary Ouellet was determined that her anger would be put to good use and she led the meeting, doing her best to keep everyone on topic.
“I realize we have a number of issues that we’d like to talk about, but tonight we’re going to talk about handicapped parking,” she said.
“We will have other meetings in the future. If, by law, the management has to provide handicapped spaces for everyone who has a handicapped sticker, then they should do that. And if one person gets an assigned space, we should all get it.”
Castello initially approached Carabetta Management Co. about getting a handicapped space close to the building, but when the company declined to help, she took her case to the Commission for Human Rights and Opportunities.
She filed a formal complaint with the Fair Housing division of CHRO and won permission not only to have a designated space, but to have other cars towed from the space.
Since then, Castello had cars towed from the space, but acknowledges that because the management refused to let her put up a sign identifying the space as belonging to her, drivers may not have been aware that they were not supposed to park there.
Phyllis Dupuis had her car towed in recent days, and can’t afford to pay to get it back.
“I’m a quiet person. I keep to myself,” she said. “But when they towed my car, with a handicapped sticker on it, from a handicapped spot, I lost it. That’s just not right, and even the police officer who was here said it’s not right. The space doesn’t have a name or apartment number on it, so I was legally parked there. They shouldn’t have towed it.”
Dupuis hopes to convince Carabetta to pay for the towing charge.
“Meanwhile, Carabetta just wants all this to go away,” Castello said.
She and others at the meeting claimed that a representative from Carabetta insisted that the tenant meeting be canceled, and one person, she said, even went so far as to tell her the situation was “all my fault, that I asked for this.”
Castello said there are no longer enough handicapped spaces at the building for all the residents who need them, but Norman S. Isko, attorney for Carabetta, has said in a statement that “handicapped parking arrangements at the site are in full accordance with applicable codes.”
Isko did not return a call for comment late Wednesday.
Rafael Pichardo of the Connecticut Fair Housing Center attended Wednesday’s meeting and said people with disabilities have a right “as a protected class, to request reasonable accommodations.”
The question is: What is reasonable?
While the building may not have enough parking spaces for every person who lives in the building, it does have to follow codes regarding how many spaces must be provided for a certain number of units.
Of those spaces, a certain number must be designated as handicapped. Pichardo was not sure of specific numbers for Harbor Towers, but promised to find out and get back to the residents.
Pichardo also told residents they should band together to present issues to Carabetta, and that “the management cannot retaliate against you for filing a complaint. That’s definitely illegal.”
Harbor Towers receives federal subsidies from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, and has additional requirements that regular apartment buildings may not.
“It’s always worth it to ask the question,” he said.
Ouellet said Carabetta has asked for a meeting at 1 p.m. today with five tenants who can present parking and other concerns.
“Let’s see how far we get,” she said.
Kathy Castello, who is handicapped and lives in one of the Harbor Towers apartments, 60 Hanover St., fought to get an assigned handicapped space close to the building because she cannot walk long distances.
But her battle and eventual victory also created some animosity among other residents, who are angered at what they see as special attention.
One or several, in fact, apparently got so angry that, on separate occasions, they have scratched her car with a key, egged it, and then Tuesday night, heaved a cinder block into its windshield.
The damage totals nearly $4,000, and Castello said she no longer feels completely safe.
Wednesday night, tenants had an organized meeting to discuss issues.
Mary Ouellet was determined that her anger would be put to good use and she led the meeting, doing her best to keep everyone on topic.
“I realize we have a number of issues that we’d like to talk about, but tonight we’re going to talk about handicapped parking,” she said.
“We will have other meetings in the future. If, by law, the management has to provide handicapped spaces for everyone who has a handicapped sticker, then they should do that. And if one person gets an assigned space, we should all get it.”
Castello initially approached Carabetta Management Co. about getting a handicapped space close to the building, but when the company declined to help, she took her case to the Commission for Human Rights and Opportunities.
She filed a formal complaint with the Fair Housing division of CHRO and won permission not only to have a designated space, but to have other cars towed from the space.
Since then, Castello had cars towed from the space, but acknowledges that because the management refused to let her put up a sign identifying the space as belonging to her, drivers may not have been aware that they were not supposed to park there.
Phyllis Dupuis had her car towed in recent days, and can’t afford to pay to get it back.
“I’m a quiet person. I keep to myself,” she said. “But when they towed my car, with a handicapped sticker on it, from a handicapped spot, I lost it. That’s just not right, and even the police officer who was here said it’s not right. The space doesn’t have a name or apartment number on it, so I was legally parked there. They shouldn’t have towed it.”
Dupuis hopes to convince Carabetta to pay for the towing charge.
“Meanwhile, Carabetta just wants all this to go away,” Castello said.
She and others at the meeting claimed that a representative from Carabetta insisted that the tenant meeting be canceled, and one person, she said, even went so far as to tell her the situation was “all my fault, that I asked for this.”
Castello said there are no longer enough handicapped spaces at the building for all the residents who need them, but Norman S. Isko, attorney for Carabetta, has said in a statement that “handicapped parking arrangements at the site are in full accordance with applicable codes.”
Isko did not return a call for comment late Wednesday.
Rafael Pichardo of the Connecticut Fair Housing Center attended Wednesday’s meeting and said people with disabilities have a right “as a protected class, to request reasonable accommodations.”
The question is: What is reasonable?
While the building may not have enough parking spaces for every person who lives in the building, it does have to follow codes regarding how many spaces must be provided for a certain number of units.
Of those spaces, a certain number must be designated as handicapped. Pichardo was not sure of specific numbers for Harbor Towers, but promised to find out and get back to the residents.
Pichardo also told residents they should band together to present issues to Carabetta, and that “the management cannot retaliate against you for filing a complaint. That’s definitely illegal.”
Harbor Towers receives federal subsidies from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, and has additional requirements that regular apartment buildings may not.
“It’s always worth it to ask the question,” he said.
Ouellet said Carabetta has asked for a meeting at 1 p.m. today with five tenants who can present parking and other concerns.
“Let’s see how far we get,” she said.