Activists Swarm Vans In Protest
by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
July 24, 2001
This article is reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion
Daily Express Email News Service.
PHILADELPHIA --Karin DiNardi was supposed to be to work at 9:30
last Wednesday morning.
So she was ready for her ride on the SEPTA paratransit van at the scheduled
pick up time of 8:15.
But the van did not arrive at 8:15.
The van did not arrive at 8:30.
At 8:50 a.m. DiNardi's fiance was informed by a SEPTA dispatcher that the
driver was lost in another county.
At 9:30 they were told that the driver was in an accident.
At 10:15 a SEPTA dispatcher said the ride was just a few minutes away.
By the time the van finally arrived, at 10:55, DiNardi and another rider,
Antonio Cancel were very angry and very hot.
And the two got even angrier and hotter when they found that the van's air
conditioning did not work and the driver gave no apology for being more than
two hours late.
So, DiNardi parked herself on the wheelchair lift and refused to budge until
she got answers from the head of SEPTA.
What SEPTA hadn't counted on was that DiNardi is a counselor for Liberty
Resources, a disability resources agency that employs and serves people with
disabilities.
Before long, two dozen of DiNardi's associates showed up to support the two
and to protest the problems that the transit program continues to have.
They didn't leave until they got results -- nearly five hours later.
More from the July 19 Philadelphia Inquirer (link may expire):
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