COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A Downtown hotel is being accused of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by not being wheelchair-accessible.
A man with physical disabilities is suing the Westin Great Southern Columbus for several architectural features he said render much of the building inaccessible to wheelchair users. In his federal complaint, filed Feb. 13, the man said he encountered several ADA violations while visiting the hotel in November, including in the front entrance, multiple restrooms and the accessible room he booked for his stay.
Family of hazing victim Stone Foltz to be awarded damages against former Bowling Green fraternity presidentThe man, Spencer Neal, is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair. He comes to Columbus frequently to visit friends and said in his complaint that he chose the Westin, located on the corner of South High and East Main streets, because of its proximity to friends’ residences and its price.
But Neal encountered several “architectural barriers” he claimed impeded his full access to places including the fitness area, bar and dining area, multiple restrooms and his accessible room. The complaint does not detail specific inaccessible features but asks for full discovery in the case.
“Mr. Neal suffered a loss of his civil rights and his rights as a person with physical disabilities to full and equal access to public facilities, and further suffered from physical personal injury, shame, humiliation, embarrassment, anger, chagrin, disappointment and worry,” his complaint reads.
The building the Westin occupies was originally named the Great Southern Hotel and Theatre and is listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Opened in 1896, the theatre – currently run by the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts – is the oldest operating theatre in Central Ohio and one of the oldest in the state.
Dispute puts Ohio Statehouse approval of $1.4 billion in projects in jeopardyAs a place of public accommodation, the hotel is subject to federal and state accessibility requirements, regardless of its age or historic character. Neal’s complaint contends that the hotel not only violates federal and state disability accommodations laws, but falsely advertises itself as accessible. Neal seeks damages for his November stay and court-ordered renovation of the hotel to fix inaccessible features.
The Westin Great Southern hotel is operated by Marriott International. Marriott International did not respond to a request for comment. The owner of the building, a corporation called MHF WC VI, has until March 8 to respond to the complaint.
Read the full complaint below.
westinDownloadCOLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Restaurants, gas stations and stores are offering Leap Day deals on Feb. 29, like 29 cents off United Dairy Farmers gas, free Chipotle guacamole, $2 Dunkin' coffee, discounted glazed dozen from Krispy Kreme and more.
BJ's Restaurant and BrewhouseCOLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Koda, a dog up for adoption at the Franklin County Dog Shelter and Adoption Center, is a social butterfly among his own kind.
Behavior Coordinator Brandy Trott said the 5-year-old pit bull mix can be a little shy around people at first, but that's absolutely not the case with other dogs.
"He's not shy at all with dogs, and he's in our playgroups regularly and can play with anybody," Trott said. "With people, it also doesn't take him super long. He's really into treats, so that kind of will help warm him up."
Koda. (NBC4 Photo/Mark Feuerborn)Koda came into the shelter in January, and since then has shined as he interacted with the other dogs there. He also has worked on his people skills, and learned how to sit on command as well as proper walking on leash. But rather than needing to improve his interactions with other dogs, Trott described him as a role model at the shelter.
"If the dog wants to just wander, he'll do that, he doesn't really like press their buttons," Trott said. "But if they want to wrestle and rumble, he's all about that too."
Koda is available for meet-and-greets at the Franklin County Dog Shelter, located at 4340 Tamarack Blvd. in Columbus, and costs just $18 to adopt. Below are some additional dogs up for adoption as well:
Kai. (NBC4 Photo/Mark Feuerborn) KaiCOLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- From county artist Sam Hunt at Nationwide Arena to a production of "Beauty and the Beast" benefitting Nationwide Children's Hospital, here are things to see and do this weekend in central Ohio.
Blue Jackets vs. HurricanesNationwide Arena at 7 p.m. on Thursday
Ohio Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday
Palace Theatre at 7 p.m. Friday, 1 and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday
Nationwide Arena at 7:30 p.m. on Friday
Columbus Museum of Art from 5 to 8 p.m. on Saturday
Nationwide Arena at 7 p.m. on Monday
For more events, view NBC4’s community calendar.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Clocks are skipping an hour for the beginning of daylight saving time as Ohio lawmakers are advocating for a bill to observe the annual period permanently.
Daylight saving begins at 2 a.m. on March 10, beginning the nine months when U.S. clocks "spring forward" an hour in March and "fall back" in November. Yes, this means we lose an hour of sleep when the clock skips from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m.
Westerville, Harlem Township propose merger to combat development powered by IntelOhio is among more than a dozen states that have pushed to observe daylight saving permanently. The state's House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill in December to extend daylight saving to the entire year in Ohio and urge the U.S. Congress to pass the "Sunshine Protection Act," a bill to transition to perpetual daylight saving nationwide.
Reps. Rodney Creech (R-West Alexandria) and Bob Peterson (R-Sabina), the resolution's primary sponsors, said the biannual tradition is no longer needed given standard time is observed only for a third of the year. The pair also argue the change endangers drivers, citing a study that found an increase in car crashes occurring on the Mondays following the shifts to and from daylight saving.
"Switching to daylight saving time would increase the hours of sunlight in the evenings year-round and could help combat some mental health issues from the darker winter evenings we currently have on standard time," Creech said.
Columbus employers will soon be barred from asking about salary history in job interviewsHowever, Jay Pea, president of the nonprofit Save Standard Time, said daylight saving would delay Ohio's sunrise past 8 a.m. for more than four months, sometimes as late as 9:06 a.m., and noted Ohio rejected an effort in 1974 to enact daylight saving permanently. Rather, Pea advocates for extending standard time to the entire year.
"Permanent standard time would protect start times for schoolchildren and essential workers by letting most sleep naturally past dawn year-round," Pea said. "Standard time is the natural clock, set to the sun."
Creech and Peterson's resolution notes an effort to enact daylight saving in Ohio would be curtailed until federal law changes. Under the Uniform Time Act of 1966, states can change to standard time but not daylight saving, which requires a change to federal law to transition to perpetual daylight saving.
Passing the Sunshine Protection Act would mean later sunsets in the winter, but also later sunrises. For example, the sun rises around 7:15 a.m. and sets around 4:30 p.m. on the first day of winter in New York. The Sunshine Protection Act would change sunrise to 8:15 a.m. and sunset to 5:30 p.m.
How oversized ‘super loads’ will travel across Ohio to Intel site in New AlbanyTo become law, the act needs to pass in the U.S. House of Representatives and then be sent to the president's desk for signing. Though the act previously passed unanimously in the Senate, it wasn’t as well-received in the House.
While many other states have also hinted at permanently observing daylight saving, states like Colorado, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania want to observe standard time. As the rest of the U.S. switches to daylight saving, two states change time zones. Arizona shifts from the Pacific Time Zone to the Mountain Time Zone, and Hawaii from five hours behind Eastern Time to six hours behind.
Six in 10 Americans, 61%, would do away with the nation’s twice-a-year time change while a little over one-third, 35%, want to keep the current practice, according to a Monmouth University poll.