Audit calls for accessibility upgrades at Long Beach City Hall, community center  

Long Beach needs to improve some of its city facilities to increase physical accessibility, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office said in an audit.

“City officials should assess the feasibility of taking additional steps to increase physical accessibility” at City Hall and the Long Beach community center, the audit recommended.

The report, released Feb. 27, looked at 500 “physical accessibility components” at the two facilities and identified 86 that could be improved to make them more accessible.

"We appreciate the comptroller's attention to this issue and have continually made improvements as we modernize our facilities," Long Beach City Manager Daniel Creighton said in a statement Tuesday. "Most of the comptroller's recommendations are for buildings constructed well before current ADA regulations, but we are committed to addressing as many as we can to ensure full accessibility to our residents, visitors and employees."

Creighton said in a response letter to the comptroller's office that "We generally agree with the findings based on the standards used by OSC [Office of the State Comptroller] and understand that improvements can be made in various parts of City Hall and the Community Center.” 

At Long Beach City Hall, the audit identified 61 components that could be improved. One that it suggested was widening parking spaces for people with disabilities, to add clearance. A photograph of one such parking space showed that it had no additional room for someone to maneuver upon exiting or entering a vehicle.

The audit also recommended changing signage inside the building so that signs include lettering and Braille; changes to doors to make them easier to use; lowering the height of some public service windows, and creating at least one wheelchair-accessible seating space in the courtroom.

At the community center, the city should consider 25 improvements including adding a van-accessible parking space, adding curb ramps, improvements to the doors, properly secured carpets, making a portion of public service counters lower, lowering restroom elements like soap dispensers and hand dryers, and covering restroom pipes to prevent injuries.

In his letter, Creighton said the city would work to implement recommendations that were nonstructural, while structural changes would be considered as the city makes capital improvements.

Town spokesman John McNally said in an email Tuesday that the city's new capital budget is being developed and will be adopted before its new fiscal year begins July 1. 

The state comptroller’s office accessibility audits review municipalities’ accessibility policies and facilities in light of ADA standards. The agency makes recommendations to comply with those standards but does not issue legal opinions, according to the audit.