‘The whole thing was obstructed’
Customer claims Mill Basin Home Depot’s garden center makes it diffi cult to access handicap parking
BY CHANDLER KIDD
Management at an Avenue
U Home Depot in Mill Basin
has converted their hardware
store’s parking lot into a gardening
center, forcing senior
and disabled shoppers to navigate
a challenging maze of
planters and fences to reach the
entrance.
The prospect of braving the
jungle of rubber trees and alocasia
was so exhausting for one
aging handy man, he’d have
had to take a breakhalfway
through if it weren’t for his
faithful son-in-law.
“My father-in-law actually
said it would take him a good
15-20 minutes to get there,” said
Peter Consolo, referring to, Mario
Bisongno his father by marriage.
“He would have to rest
along the way!”
Consolo and Bisogno traveled
to the big-box hardware
store near E. 58th Street seeking
electrical supplies on July
30, when they were confronted
by an unexpected jungle of consumer
plant stuff, which had
overtaken numerous parking
spaces near the entrance, narrowed
COURIER L 6 IFE, AUG. 9-15, 2019
the driving lane, and
attracted hordes of shoppers,
whom the Mill Basin man
claimed were using disabled
parking spots as ad-hoc loading
zones.
When the pair fi nally found
a space, it was at the other end
of the lot, and the elderly Bisongno,
a World War II veteran
who walks with a cane,
ultimately decided he was better
off waiting in the car while
Consolo headed inside to grab
the supplies they needed.
“The whole thing was obstructed.
They had the parking
space near the entrance obstructed.
They had it fenced in,
you couldn’t access that area. It
was like a corral — how were
you supposed to get in there?”
Consolo riled.
Home Depot is a privately
owned business, but Consolo
and his father-in-law claimed
the hardware store may be
in violation of the Americans
with Disabilities Act, a federal
law requiring stores to maintain
certain accessibility standards,
or else face civil suits alleging
discrimination against
disabled patrons.
An Aug. 1 investigation by
this paper discovered several
potential violations of the federal
disabilities act, including
planters blocking all but three
handicapped parking spots —
lots with over 100 spaces are
required to have at least fi ve
spots for disabled patrons —
along with handicapped spots
hedged in by planters, making
them too narrow, according to
ADA standards.
Consolo and his old man
didn’t say whether they
planned to sue — but if they do,
it wouldn’t be the fi rst time the
national retail chain had ran
afoul of federal disability laws.
The company has been dragged
to court on allegations including
improperly fi ring a mentally
handicapped employee ,
failing to provide cashiers with
adequate seating , and forbidding
a worker suffering irritable
bowel syndrome from
taking a desperately needed
break .
A spokeswoman for Home
Depot refuted allegations that
the hardware store doesn’t live
up to Uncle Sam’s lofty accessibility
standards, claiming a
review by the hardware store’s
in-house legal squad determined
that everything was on
the up-and-up with the Avenue
U store’s new garden center.
“Based on their perspective
the parking spot is ADA compliant,”
said Christina Cornell.
After this reporter contacted
the store’s corporate offi
ce seeking comment on July
30, however, Home Depot hastily
reorganized it’s garden center,
according to Consolo, who
admitted the store was easier
to access on a subsequent visit.
“When we went back, they
had removed the fencing on one
side, but it was still an obstacle
course,” he said.
Mario Bisongo, 92, walks with a cane and has had diffi culty accessing the
handicapped parking spot in front of the Mill Basin Home Depot.
Steve Solomonson