For wheelchair users, the unkindest cut is the one that's not made

Pike, 68, began using a wheelchair after suffering a stroke 12 years ago. The Placentia resident has become a voice for disabled people, arguing before city councils and transit authorities throughout Orange County for smoother sidewalks, wheelchair ramps and better access.

"We never ask for more than any other person, just what is fair," he said during a recent interview with his service dog, Fort, at his side.

Pike is a prickly thorn in the side of bureaucrats. At transportation planning meetings, he often holds officials accountable, reminding them that disabled people pay taxes and, despite their legal protections under the Americans With Disabilities Act, are not always provided the same services as able-bodied individuals.

Take bus stops, for instance.

Pike, joined by other wheelchair users, has kept a vigilant eye on the Orange County Transportation Authority, which had said that by December 2007, the county's 6,500 bus stops would have been modified.

"They're supposed to have fixed all these bus stops by now, but they're not done in north Orange County and they're definitely not all done in Placentia or Brea," he said.

Last week, OCTA approved $812,830 to modify bus stops in Brea, La Habra, Fountain Valley, Westminster, Seal Beach, Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach.

The agency now says bus stop modifications should be done by June -- at a final cost of $15.8 million. OCTA observers credit board members -- including Gregory Winterbottom, who uses a wheelchair -- and testimony of passengers such as Pike.

"Arnie is the real thing," said Christie Rudder, an advocate for the disabled with the Dayle McIntosh Center in Garden Grove. "But you have to understand that we have people in wheelchairs having to travel in the street because the curbs aren't cut and they have nowhere to go but find the next driveway.

"Some of the bus stops, like at the Brea Mall, leave you on an island stuck in the middle of the street with no curb cutoffs," she added.

The OCTA program is unique among Southern California transit agencies. Riverside Transit Authority has recently stepped up its bus stop improvement program by teaming with the city of Riverside in response to complaints from the disabled community, Bradley Weaver, an RTA spokesman said. Of 3,800 total stops, 36 were modified in 2006 and 76 are targeted for upgrades, he said.