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Sacramento Bee

December 29, 2009

Teen, city of Sacramento settle over disability access at theater

By Denny Walsh

Alex Stoffel, 16
Alex Stoffel, 16, and her mother, Laurie, filed a federal lawsuit to get the city of Sacramento to modify seating for disabled patrons in the Community Center Theater. For her trouble, Stoffel will be paid $50,000 and will receive show tickets.

"It could have been a lot simpler," observed 16-year-old Alexandra "Alex" Stoffel.

A St. Francis High School student dedicated to theater, all she wanted was a good orchestra seat at the city-owned Sacramento Community Center Theater. But there was none for a patron in a wheelchair.

Before Alex changed things, persons in wheelchairs on the orchestra level were relegated to the back of the auditorium, 29 rows from the stage, in an area with no theater seats. Alex's mother, Laurie Stoffel, had to sit on a folding chair. The area, which is not tiered, is behind 28 tiered rows.

Laurie Stoffel had planned to buy season tickets for the 2007-08 Broadway Sacramento series, but balked upon learning of the lack of accommodations for persons with disabilities such as her daughter's. Alex was paralyzed as the result of cancer treatment and spine surgery when she was 7.

After doing some research, Laurie Stoffel turned to Paul Rein, one of California's most respected disability access attorneys. He presented a detailed administrative claim in January 2008, but the city let the time for reply lapse.

A reluctant Alex and her mother sued the city the following May, alleging violations of federal and state access laws.

"I don't make waves," Alex said in a recent interview at her family's Land Park home. "I'm a peacemaker. But then again, it wasn't fair, so I went along with it."

Settlement of the suit, in the form of a consent decree approved last month by U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory G. Hollows, calls for the city to make structural modifications to the theater at an estimated cost of $80,000. Two rows of orchestra seats eight and nine rows from the stage are to be renovated to make room for four wheelchairs and four companion seats and a wheelchair-accessible path to the seats, all of which will result in a net loss of 25 seats, each with an average value of $60 per performance of the Broadway Sacramento series.

The agreement also requires modifying the service counter of the main lobby's concession stand and a landing at doors used by persons in wheelchairs. All the work is to be completed by Feb. 2.

The city also has paid $50,000 in trust for Alex and $140,000 to Rein. It will provide Alex with two tickets for each of the four shows remaining in the current Broadway Sacramento series and two 2010-11 season tickets roughly valued at $1,206.

Alex acknowledges the suit was a worthy effort. "I'm satisfied, because other people will have these seats now and won't have to sit in the back," she said. "It was a simple solution and could have been done without suing."

Rein described the settlement as "a public interest win. Alex is a very together young lady and should be commended for being willing to go through with litigation that will help others who want to enjoy theatrical productions."

Although the biggest thing in her life right now is a new driver's license, Alex continues to love everything about theater. She is part of an acting troupe and was last in St. Francis' production of "Taming of the Shrew," in which she played Biondello, servant to a rich, devious noble.

Now a junior, she is a member of the Tech Club, which provides sound and lighting for school productions. This year she is taking the school's highest acting course for the second time and says she will take it again next year.

A highlight of a European excursion with her mother and sister last summer was a visit to the venerable Victoria Palace Theater in London's West End for a performance of "Billy Elliot: The Musical."

"They put me in a pretty good seat and even gave me a booster seat," the diminutive Alex said. "They took my chair, brought it back to me at intermission and again when it was over. They were so polite!"

Rein, of Oakland, who has practiced disability access law for 35 years, is incredulous that the Sacramento theater has remained out of compliance. "It's amazing, especially since we're in the state that was 20 years ahead of the (federal) Americans with Disabilities Act," he said.

The theater was built in 1974, six years after passage in Californi of what Rein said was the nation's first accommodation statute, which mandated that all government-owned buildings in the state must be constructed or modified so as to be fully accessible to disabled persons.

The first foray to the theater by Alex and her mother was for a performance of "Jersey Boys" on Sept. 7, 2007. It was not a happy experience.

Alex was there not just to be entertained, but also to learn. She wanted to observe the facial expressions and movements of the actors, as well as details of the sets and lighting.

A packed house in front of her made all of that impossible and an overhang distorted the sound. Lights illuminating the nearby sound mixing board and other electronic equipment were distracting, as were ushers going in and out the doors to the adjacent lobby.

They returned on Nov. 11, 2007, for "Whistle Down the Wind." At intermission Alex rented binoculars, but she experienced back pain and arm and eye strain. The disappointment that she did not have a good view of the actors was even greater because two schoolmates were in the cast.

The experience was made worse by the fact the six rows in front of them were completely empty and Alex was mortified when a family friend came up and asked why she and her mother were sitting "all the way back here."

In a report filed in the suit, Deputy City Attorney David Womack said the theater "has regular seating for 2,398 patrons, of which 54 are reserved handicapped seating, providing full wheelchair accessibility."

Thirty-eight wheelchairs will fit where Alex and Laurie Stoffel sat. The second and third levels each have eight seats "reserved for handicapped patrons," Womack said. But Alex says the upper tiers present just as much of a challenge to someone desiring her type of critical viewing.

Womak said in the report that the removal of the barriers alleged by Alex was "technically infeasible and/or financially prohibitive."

The parties and counsel met twice in October for talks presided over by Hollows, who successfully herded the recalcitrant participants toward agreement. At the second meeting, they agreed on everything except the amount of Rein's fees and costs, which were negotiated later. Hollows signed the consent decree on Nov. 23.

It said the city continues to deny the suit's allegations and settled "for the purpose of resolving this lawsuit without the need for protracted litigation and without the admission of any liability."

Court papers show that $10,366 of the $50,000 damage award to Alex was disbursed directly to Laurie Stoffel. Some of the money will pay for Alex and her mother to visit western colleges Alex may want to attend. Laurie Stoffel will make application to Hollows next year for trips to eastern schools in the spring.

Ideally, Alex said, she'll go to school in or close to New York City, with live theater choices unmatched anywhere else.

"It would give me a lot of options," she said, her eyes twinkling.