April 19, 2004

Mr. Thomas Knox
Director Security Services
Little Company of Mary Hospital
2800 W. 95th St
Evergreen Park, IL 60805

Dear Mr. Knox:

We are in receipt of your letter of April 7th. This letter states you are allowing us only two sixteen-feet handicap parking spaces. Our original agreement was for four sixteen-feet handicap parking spaces. Eight-feet on the left for car or van and eight-feet on the right stripped. We agreed to this because you had valet parking. This was the only reason the Unified Voice for Disabled Americans went along with you on the four sixteen-feet handicap parking spaces.

Linda Stearns went to Little Company of Mary Hospital to visit some patients Easter Sunday. When she arrived at the lot the entire handicap spaces were filled and there wasn't any valet service. Linda had to go quite a distance to get to the hospital in her cart.

Mr. Knox, you have the nerve to tell the Unified Voice for Disabled Americans the ADA Law for accessibility handicap parking spaces and send our letter back to us. We know what the law is. We know that the federal law states all handicap parking spaces are to be sixteen- feet. We know that if there is valet parking you don't need as many sixteen-feet parking spaces. The federal law does not mention a compensation of eight feet individual handicap parking spaces. The law does not specify that valet parking is only for a specified number of days in a week. You offer valet parking it is suppose to be for seven days in a week. The hours could be compensated for the weekend. The rules were put into effect when the law was new. We didn't have automated wheelchairs, automated scooters or carts. The ADA law for handicap parking spaces as it is written is obsolete and when we spoke I pointed this out to you. Why is the medical profession the worst in making sure there are enough handicap parking spaces? You are to help people not make their lives harder.

The Little Company of Mary Hospital has three parking lots what is your problem in making sure there are ample handicap parking spaces and not tell the persons with disabilities what the law reads. Where is your MORAL responsibility to make our lives easier?

Mr. Knox, the Unified Voice for Disabled Americans expects Little Company of Mary Hospital to have ten sixteen-feet handicap parking spaces put in place of eight feet handicap spaces you have. We also expect the valet parking seven days a week since this is for everyone that visits the hospital. Please do not make this go into court. The Little Company of Mary Hospital will lose and it will just cause the Catholic Church and the Archdiocese of Chicago more embarrassment. Don't you think there has been enough negative publicity? The Unified Voice for Disabled Americans went through this with Christ Hospital and Medical Facility. There are more than ample handicap parking spaces at Christ Hospital now and it was done with out going to court.

You are a medical facility and the ADA Law for accessibility does not apply to you as written.

We expect to hear from you and the Archdiocese of Chicago within two weeks from date of this letter. Our web site is www.bonewits.net/UVDA-0.htm. The 0 is #0. The original letter to you is on the web site. You just made a fool out of yourself and Little Company of Mary Hospital by sending it back to us.

UNIFIED VOICE FOR DISABLED AMERICANS


Rosemarie A. Botthof
cc: Tim Clark, President
     Danielle DeHaan, 2nd Vice-President
     Cardinal Francis Eugene George, OMI
     Archbishop of Chicago