Details on accessible parking:

For more information on permits, see http://www.commuting.cornell.edu, email transportation@cornell.edu or call 5-4600.

For disability information, see http://www.cornell.edu/disability/resources.cfm or email accessibility@cornell.edu.

A new Accessible Parking Program for staff and faculty, endorsed by the University Assembly, will help Cornell Transportation Services manage increases in demand for central campus accessible parking and offer an equitable basis for providing accessible parking options. The new program uses the municipal handicap placard process to determine eligibility for long-term accessible parking.

Currently, Transportation Services issues more than 250 accessible parking permits each year. Permit holders can park in any space, including accessible spaces, on campus at no charge.

"Under our current program, the only way to keep up with increasing demand is to designate additional spaces as accessible," said David Lieb, associate director for Transportation Services. "However, in many areas, we are not able to create additional (or any) accessible parking spaces, due to terrain and other limitations." The new policy will help campus officials better manage "this important and limited parking resource, to provide the best service we can for people with disabilities," he added.

The new program, effective Feb. 1, was developed by an ad hoc Accessibility Committee composed of human resource, facilities, and transportation staff members, and other internal and external experts. Committee members consulted with the United Auto Workers Diversity Committee, the Human Resource Council, the Executive Disability Steering Committee, and the University Assembly and its Campus Infrastructure Committee.

The process for issuing short-term disability parking permits for up to two months will not change; Transportation Services will issue these permits at no charge for general accessible parking spaces across campus.

However, faculty and staff members needing longer term accessible parking will need to obtain municipal handicap placards from the town/municipal clerk of their places of residence or accessibility license plates from the Department of Motor Vehicles. With such identification, drivers can opt for either:

The PO and AP permits do not allow parking in reserved spaces or in metered spaces without paying the meters. Both the accessible municipal placard or license plate and the Cornell hang tag must be displayed together at all times, even when the vehicle is not parked in a marked accessibility spot. As with all faculty and staff, PO and AP permit holders will be able use their Cornell IDs to ride TCAT buses around campus, Mondays-Fridays. All TCAT buses are accessible.

"In many cases, parking in the perimeter and using transit to approach the central campus can provide the most direct access," Lieb said.

"Departments will work with employees with disabilities whose daily work takes them to several central-area buildings to find reasonable accommodations to permit them to fulfill their work responsibilities, including remote video conferencing, accessible parking permits and other means," said Patti Bennett Riddle, associate director of benefits. "Cornell's Medical Leaves Administration is available to review requests for disability accommodations in such cases."

In addition, "a review committee has been formed to assess cases of financial hardship and [has been] empowered to defray the cost of an AP permit," said Lynette Chappell-Williams, associate vice president for inclusion and workforce diversity and a member of the university's Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator Team. This committee will also assist with decisions regarding specially designated, individual reserved spaces.