Under the partial consent decree, the City has agreed, among other things, to devote a minimum of $44 million, and potentially up to $50 million, over the course of four years to the construction and/or remediation of thousands of curb ramps and the remediation of tens of thousands of square feet of sidewalks throughout Baltimore. The partial consent decree also requires Baltimore to ensure ongoing compliance with the requirements of the ADA and Section 504, to create new programs designed to increase sidewalk accessibility to Baltimore residents and visitors with mobility disabilities, and to improve its 311 system for requests and complaints related to the accessibility of specific intersections and sidewalks. In the third year of the partial consent decree, the Parties will begin negotiating a longer-term plan to make all of the City’s remaining curb ramps and sidewalks accessible to people with mobility disabilities. Read the partial consent decree.

“This partial consent decree puts in place the programs to ensure that Baltimore finally lives up to the promises of the Americans with Disabilities Act, so that people with mobility disabilities can navigate around the City of Baltimore just as safely and to the same extent as everyone else,” said Madeleine Reichman, Senior Staff Attorney at Disability Rights Advocates.

“Years of advocacy have led to this milestone toward a more accessible Baltimore. We’re grateful to have partnered with the IMAGE Center, the Baltimore area’s Center for Independent Living, our three named plaintiffs, and community members to make it possible, and we look forward to working with the City to ensure the obligations of the decree are met and that progress toward full accessibility continues,” said Gabriel Rubinstein, Managing Attorney at Disability Rights Maryland.

“Federal and state disability access laws were enacted decades ago to provide persons with disabilities an equal opportunity to fully participate in civic life,” said Tim Fox with Fox & Robertson. “Today, we stand together with the City of Baltimore to ensure that people with disabilities can travel independently throughout their communities.  Inaccessible curb ramps and sidewalks prevent persons with disabilities from being fully integrated in their communities.”

The case is Goodlaxson, et al. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, Case No. 1:21-cv-01454-JKB (D. Md.), filed on June 10, 2021 by three individuals with mobility disabilities and the IMAGE Center of Maryland on behalf of a class of pedestrians with mobility disabilities. The Court certified the following organizations and firms as counsel for the class: Disability Rights Advocates, Disability Rights Maryland, Fox & Robertson, and Dardarian Ho Kan & Lee (formerly Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho).