New York City and Nonprofit Clash Over Accessibility of Roosevelt Memorial; New York Times, 5/9/16

David W. Dunlap, New York Times; New York City and Nonprofit Clash Over Accessibility of Roosevelt Memorial:

"Ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park opened on Roosevelt Island four years ago, City Hall has been arguing with the nonprofit group that built and runs the park over whether it is fully accessible to disabled people.

The little-known dispute has now reached an impasse, with the de Blasio administration declaring categorically that the park is not accessible and needs to be fixed.

President Roosevelt himself would have been unable to use a 12-by-60-foot sunken terrace at the southernmost end of the memorial. He was paralyzed from the waist down and depended on a wheelchair for mobility.

“There is a particularly tragic irony in a park commemorating the legacy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt — one of this country’s great historical figures with a disability, and a role model to so many — that is not completely accessible to those with disabilities,” said Natalie Grybauskas, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat."