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Not long ago my disabled husband and I attended The Ed Roberts Campus Community Meeting at the South Berkeley Senior Center. In attendance were disabled people from around the East Bay and homeowners who are concerned about plans to build a facility in their neighborhood that caters to the disabled community. 

The Ed Roberts Campus will be home to nine non-profit organizations that work with the disabled: BORP, (recreational opportunities); CforAT and CTP, (job training skills); CIL, (daily living resources); DRA, DREDF and WID, (disabled civil and world rights); TLG, (children with disabilities); WWI, (makers of wheelchairs for third world countries). On the drawing board are plans for a 98,000 square foot building to be erected above the parking lot of the Ashby BART Station. Existing parking spaces will be saved, plus more underground parking will be added.  

The city of Berkeley wants the project to proceed. Many of the neighbors do not. They expressed concerns about traffic, safety, property values, and blocked views. They asked why the project couldn’t be built at the MacArthur BART station or on the west side of Martin Luther King where business is poor. “It’s an area that could use a lift,” a man said.  

When one of the neighbors who supports the project suggested that what she was hearing was “not in my backyard” there were loud disclaimers from around the room.  

“It’s not that we don’t want disabled people in our neighborhood,” an able-bodied homeowner explained. “It’s just that those blue disabled placards allow them to park all day in front of our houses.” Another voice shouted. “It’s not that I don’t want the campus near my home, but aren’t people in wheelchairs afraid of being mugged?” Someone asked, “Do disabled people use BART? How does a blind person do it?” A voice added, “Why do you want to ghettoize disabled people? They shouldn’t be clumped together.” “Who owns the air rights to above the station?” someone interjected. “I think the people who used to live there, before BART came in, still own the air. You need to check with them to make sure it’s okay.” 

Project representatives answered each question.  

“People with disabled placards are allowed to park in legal spaces for as long as they need to, but we can come up with restrictions that will limit the amount of outsider parking in the neighborhood.” Heads that could move in the disabled community nodded in agreement. But there were mumbles of skepticism from the neighborhood residents. 

“There are probably some disabled people who are afraid of being mugged, just as some able-bodied persons are, but crime can happen anywhere. The majority of our clients will use the facility during weekday hours.” A deaf woman used sign language to explain that she wasn’t scared. A homeowner said she’d been mugged in her own yard. 

“Disabled people use public transportation. Our clients tend to be on the bottom end of the economic scale. Many of them cannot afford specially equipped vehicles, private drivers or taxis. For a lot of people with disabilities, the stations on the BART line are as far as they can get.” “Are you sure?” asked a woman. “I never ride BART. It doesn’t go anywhere I want to go.” 

“We don’t think the campus will ghettoize us. We’ll be able to share our resources. Clients will receive assistance from multiple organizations housed in the facility.” “I don’t understand why you want to be together,” said a woman in the back. “You should spread yourself out for more visibility.” 

“We don’t know who owns the air rights, but we’ll find out.” “You better,” warned a neighbor. “I think you may be stealing.” 

The evening dragged on. A woman in a wheelchair raised her hand to speak. Before she said two words someone yelled, “We can’t hear you, stand up.”  

And that’s when it became clear to me that any neighborhood, including the one on the east side of the Ashby BART station, could benefit from an Ed Roberts Campus being built nearby.  

*To learn more about the Ed Roberts Campus go to: www.edrobertscampus.org. To learn more about the neighborhood’s concerns go to: www.ercneighbors.com. 

Susan Parker is a writer who lives in North Oakland.