March 17, 2003

Attorney General Lisa Madigan
500 S. Second St
Springfield, IL. 62706


Dear Ms. Madigan:

The Unified Voice of Disabled America wants to thank you very much for filing a lawsuit against Walgreen's. I called your office Wednesday morning and left a message asking for you to return my phone call. Lisa Dana of the Illinois Bureau for Disabilities called me and left a message that everyone has been calling me. The only phone call I have received is from Lisa Dana so I don't understand where everyone has been trying to call me. If I am not home to get the call my machine will pick it up.

Ms. Madigan, just filing a lawsuit against Walgreens will not solve the problem for enforcing the ADA Accessibility. Walgreens had to get their permits from either the cities or suburbs zoning department. This zoning department had to approve the Walgreen's architect building plans presented for a new store. If we do not hold the cities and suburbs just as responsible, the Accessibility Laws will never be enforced.

The Unified Voice of Disabled America has been asking you and Lisa Dana for a list of the seventy-eight Walgreens stores that have not met the Accessibility Law. We asked for the name of the inspector that checked out the Walgreens store in Hanover Park, IL and said it met the ADA Accessibility Law. We wrote Senator Pate Phillips about the problem at this store. Senator Phillips wrote us back that he was informed that the inspector from the Illinois Bureau for Disabilities had checked this property out and it met the Accessibility Law. Lisa Dana personally checked this property and it did not meet the Accessibility. This is built either 1995 or 1996. Hanover Park had to okay the plans submitted. We asked to see these plans to see if access openings were in the plans.

Ms. Madigan, this is the Walgreens store I put the claim against. This is also why the Unified Voice of Disabled America was formed. We were told by the Illinois Bureau for Disabilities that they know the law, what persons with disabilities need and don't answer decisions for individual claims. We never had the courtesy of a reply to any of our letters from the prior administration.

The Unified Voice of Disabled America has been told that we should get a copy of the list of the Walgreens stores not corrected and a list of the stores already corrected. This will enable us to check before and after. To be told if this lawsuit has stopped all corrections by Walgreens stores on this list. How can Walgreens make corrections when they broke the law originally? What action you are going to take against Hanover Park. Illinois for approving the plans that did not meet the Accessibility Law and the inspector from the Illinois Bureau for Disabilities that said everything is okay.

The persons with disabilities are not going to be discriminated against anymore. We are going to take charge of our own lives. We are going to make sure the ADA Laws are enforced. We are going to make sure that the United States Access Board new suggestions for accessibility are the same as Illinois Accessibility Law.

Ms. Madigan, we are getting organized and are being advised step by step what we have to do to see we are not discriminated against anymore. We will appreciate hearing from you.

Cordially,



Rosemarie A. Botthof