The document is a request from the Community Access Project (CAPS) to the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board regarding fines imposed on the owners of the Armory for accessibility violations. CAPS requests that the Board collect $45,500 in fines from the owners and use the funds to sponsor a series of community discussions at the Armory on civil rights issues. CAPS also requests conditions to ensure the City of Somerville does not financially benefit due to retaliatory actions against CAPS. The document provides background on accessibility issues at the Armory dating back to 2009, summarizes the owners' request to reduce fines, and argues fines should not be reduced given losses to the disability community and lack of proof for owners

1. CAPS Armory Fine Decision Statement, Request. April 9, 2012. page 1 of 7
April 6, 2012
Eileen Feldman, Director
Community Access Project, Somerville
CAPSom@verizon.net
Thomas Hopkins, Executive Director
Donald Lang, Chair
MA Architectural Access Board
One Ashburton Place, Room 1310
Boston, MA 02108
RE: V09-197 and C10 059
Dear Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Lang and Board Members,
CAPS has received the Armory's request, stamped 4/2/12, for abatement of the fine for the Armory.
After reviewing the AAB's attested Fine Decision, dated November 15, 2011; and the Armory's
request for the abatement of fines, dated April 2 or 3, 2012, we request the following:
For the MAAB to collect $45,500 from the Armory owners; and the use of these funds to be
negotiated, with the AAB and the owners permission, between CAPS and current Arts At the
Armory staff, to be used as a grant for a series of Community Civil Rights Conversations at the
Armory. as described below in II.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
RE: CAPS REQUEST FOR DISTRIBUTION OF THE ACCUMULATED FINES
page 2: I. For the MAAB to collect $45,500 from the Armory owners
pages 2 and 3: II. the use of these funds to be negotiated, with the AAB and the owners
permission, between CAPS and current Arts At the Armory staff
RE: ANALYSIS OF THE OWNER'S REQUEST FOR ABATEMENT OF THE FINES
page 3: III. Fine total is ~$75,500.
pages 4 and 5: IV. The owner's 1 explanation and 3 rationales for leniency are unproven,
and not fairly balanced against the human capital losses experienced by persons with disabilities,
and others, injured by these delays.
• Due to weather considerations...
• We have been under serious financial hardship..
• We are an asset to the community at large...
• We have gone to considerable expense to comply with the
Architectural Access Board...
page 5: V. The Armory should accept the fine as a method of re-establishing their
stated aspirations to benefit the community.
page 6: Appendix I- ongoing neighbor hostility towards CAPS
page 7 Appendix II- Partial list of programs offered by the Armory, 2009- present

2. CAPS Armory Fine Decision Statement, Request. April 9, 2012. page 2 of 7
I. For the MAAB to collect $45,500 from the Armory owners
When the owners appeared in November 2009 requesting a Variance for the ramp, they were
granted it on the basis that the 9.8% slope was infeasible to cure without altering significant
historic properties of that old ramp; namely that it was a faux-castle element. At that time, the cost
to remedy the ramp's excessive slopes was estimated at $30,000. This was a $3 million dollar
renovation on a building that had just been bought for $2.6 million- the cost estimate to integrate
equitable opportunities for persons with disAbilities to use this facility was less than .05% of the
overall costs already associated with this facility!
The cost estimate for the Ramp & sidewalk alterations completed between March 26-30, 2012 was
31,845.00 (CJ Doherty estimate, 3/15/12).
CAPS would encourage the MAAB to forgive the owners $30,000 of the fine in recognition of their
efforts to raise the sidewalks and create a ramp with a slope of 8.8% maximum, rather than up to
9.8%. Although this is not an ADA-accessible ramp- and should not be advertised as ADA-
accessible- it is a significant improvement over what has been there, and operating to an exclusive
public, since 2009.
II. the use of these funds to be negotiated, with the AAB and the owners permission, between
CAPS and current Arts At the Armory staff
At the October 31, 2011 Fine Hearing, participants saw a Notice for an MBTA Community hearing
to be held at the Armory on November 2, 2011. This Notice explicitly misinformed the public that
"The Armory is accessible for persons with disabilities."
Eileen Feldman asked the owners and architect, "who is still advertising this misinformation?" No
response was forthcoming. The AAB informed the MBTA that the Armory is NOT yet an
accessible facility; and, the MBTA immediately moved that November 2, 2011 meeting to a
(questionably) more accessible facility.
Nevertheless, the City of Somerville suggested that the Armory would be an appropriate venue for
the U.S. Surgeon General's launch of the "Mass in Motion" CDC/HHS-funded Middlesex County
Health & Wellness initiative, on March 23, 2012. Due to the inappropriateness of the Armory for
such a unique public event, CAPS informed the State that the Armory is still an inaccessible
facility. the State immediately moved that event.
In direct response to the relocation of that event, the City of Somerville sponsored egregious
retaliation against us. During the week of construction, and continuing for an unknown period of
time, CAPS and Eileen Feldman are also the targets of follow-up copycat retaliators, along with a
rash of unfounded rumors, by individuals who are deeply immersed in the activities of the Ward 5
in which the Armory is located.
Regarding the copycat retaliatory information: "letter... a boost for the Armory community"-Please
see Appendix I.

3. CAPS Armory Fine Decision Statement, Request. April 9, 2012. page 3 of 7
Regarding the rumors: For example, last week I was informed that I had "met with many staff
people at the Armory," and that "members of CAPS came and made trouble." These are surpising
and completely unfounded rumors. I've only spoken to one staff person at AATA for
approximately 5 minutes, at the most, on March 17, 2010. And, -no members of CAPS have never
stormed the castle!
Due to the hostile community environment that was embolded by the recent egregiously
retaliatory letter published by the City of Somerville against Eileen Feldman and CAPS, it appears
that there are still severe attitudinal barriers preventing persons with disAbilities from being
liberated to enter the Armory without fear of retaliation or hostility.
CAPS therefore requests that the AAB and the Armory owners negotiate an agreement to set-aside
the remaining $45,500 in fine funding to be used as a grant for a series of Community Civil Rights
Conversations at the Armory. Decisions regarding how this grant will be used will be made solely
between CAPS and AATA staff persons, working together, to create this series designed to heal
and benefit residents of Somerville with special emphasis on civil rights issues.
We only request that two vital requirements be firmly established in the administration of this fine-
associated grant program:
1. that the grant funds to be used solely as rent payments to cover this series of events at the
Armory; and
2. that All events within this series will be planned, facilitated and implemented only by
individuals who are non-City of Somerville personnel; or, if applicant/presenter/sponsor is a non-
profit organization, this organization must have absolutely NO financial connections with the City
of Somerville, from the time of their application until the day after their event is held.
The reason for the stipulations ensuring that the City of Somerville not benefit in any way
financially or through PR and other assets, is: The City of Somerville acted in an egregious
manner that generated a hostile environment, both for the AATA and CAPS, based on (now
published) presumptions that architectural accessibility improvements are insignificant and can be
deferred for as long as possible. These municipal-sponsored hostilities, retaliatory discrimination,
and illegal practices must be dealt with in another arena, utilizing formal civil rights resolution
standards.
We hope that this can allow the Arts at the Armory staff who were also harmed by many
unfounded, injurious and libellious rumors, to heal alongside CAPS. Together, we can work to
benefit the community as a whole.
RE: THE OWNER'S REQUEST FOR ABATEMENT OF THE FINES
III. Fine total is ~$75,500.
The owners failed to cure the noncompliance by the due date of June 15, 2011. By October 31,
2011, no reasonable explanation for why the work was not completed was forthcoming, and the
MAAB voted to issues fines of $500/day, which began tolling on October 31, 2011. The ramp did
not become functional for use by persons with disabilities until March 31, 2012.

4. CAPS Armory Fine Decision Statement, Request. April 9, 2012. page 4 of 7
Therefore, the fine has accumulated for at least 151 days, and totals at least $75,500.
IV. The owner's 1 explanation and 3 rationales for leniency are unproven, and not fairly
balanced against the human capital losses experienced by persons with disabilities, and others,
injured by these delays.
The owner's request for the relief and abatement of the fines is accompanied by no documents or
other pertinent exhibits to substantiate the owner's explanation of why the work was still deferred
until the week of March 26-30, 2012. They provide 1 explanation for deferring the work until
March 26-30; and 3 rationales for why the fines should be abated. The explanation is:
• "Due to weather considerations, EG; a potential hard freeze, none of the contractors we
received bids from would do any concrete work until spring, 2012. The City of Somerville
insists upon a 5 year guarantee for any work done on public property (sidewalks, in this case)
Therefore, the contractors would not guarantee their work prior to March 21, 2012. We simply
had no choice in the matter but to wait out the winter months. We commenced the renovations
at the earliest possoble date, March 26-30, 2012.
The owner's rationales for leniency and fine abatement are:
• We have been under serious financial hardship...
• We are an asset to the community at large...
• We have gone to considerable expense to comply with the Architectural Access Board... "
CAPS response to each of these concepts is as follows:
• Due to weather considerations... Since the owners have provided no proof of solicitations of
bids with regards to the entrance ramp and sidewalks, we believe the owners have not
established this as a proof. In addition, this was an especially warm winter with few freezes;
and, the weather reports clearly indicated a number of unusually warm weeks between October
31, 2011 and March 26, 2012.
• We have been under serious financial hardship... The owners have provided no proof that they
are under "severe financial hardship," and, have been collecting rent from many non-profit
tenants, plus a large and regular assortment of international, national, state, regional and local
sponsors of culture, conferences and other amenitites. Yet, this entire time, all of these
programs were operating exclusive of our participation and leadership. Any claims of hardship
should be balanced against the severe hardships the excluded class has been dealing with.
• We are an asset to the community at large... People with disabilities are also an asset to the
community at large. However, even a short list of the types of programs we were excluded
from (please see Appendix II) will prove that we suffered enormous losses of opportunities from
the moment the Armory opened its doors to the public until now. Our assets were lost; and our
rights to be integrated and welcomed members of the Armory community were utterly
destroyed by the owner's deferral of an accessible entrance ramp and threshold.
• We have gone to considerable expense to comply with the Architectural Access Board... If we

5. CAPS Armory Fine Decision Statement, Request. April 9, 2012. page 5 of 7
stack up the owner's expenses to "comply with the Architectural Access Board" alongside the
number of hours and amount of energy the AAB has had to expend (over a 2.5+ year timeline)
to deal with the owner's unreasonable delay and trivializing attitude, such as that the code
issues were merely "minor repairs"1 , we fully believe that the owner's reasoning here is spurious
at best.
V. The Armory should accept the fine as a method of re-establishing their stated aspirations to
benefit the community.
Substantial losses to residents with disabilities have been sustained. Many persons with disabilities
have been unable to use this facility's community amenities since it opened in February 2009.
These ongoing conditions have created class separation, inequality and loss of opportunities for
persons with disabilities.
For the loss of these economic, social, political and cultural opportunities and activities-
including the loss of the ability to just drop in and mingle with neighbors and make new friends
since 2009- there is no remedy available for persons with disabilities.
A partial list of the many local and municipal-sponsored educational, cultural, recreational, social
and political programs, opportunities and events that have been held in this facility, exclusive of
talented, creative, diverse and vibrant persons with disabilities, beginning when the Armory
opened in Winter, 2009 , continuously until March 31, 2012 is seen in Appendix II.
Prior to completion of renovation; and again when the building was about to open to the public,
the owner Joseph Sater stated his aspirations for this facility:
October 2004: ""Hopefully this will be a small nucleus, a center that pulls neighbors and artists
together and supports the city of Somerville and the Somerville Arts Council," Joseph Sater explains
when we talk at the Middle East."2"
January 2009: "Joseph Sater had a vision of turning the run-down Armory into a community arts
center for the city of Somerville.3
Ongoing PR: "The new community arts center developed by Joseph and Nabil Sater of the Middle
East. Arts at the Armory is devoted to celebrating dance, music, theater and visual arts while
promoting arts afterschool and summer programs for children and youth. "4
Now is as good a time as any to begin.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Eileen Feldman and Community Acces Project, Somerville
1 In June 2010, the "Armory co-owner Joseph Sater told the public that the problems were “minor” and said that many
had already been fixed. “On the door, you had this paper signage – they wanted us to paste numbers … we’ve done
that already. He’s also fixed non-compliant bathroom signage.” SEE:
http://amandabouttown.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/accessibility-violations-at-armory/
2
October 2004 http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/events/state/documents/04156142.asp
3
Jan 09: http://somervillenews.typepad.com/the_somerville_news/2009/01/arts-at-the-armory-receives-entertainment-
license.html
4
http://tinyurl.com/82vhk57

6. CAPS Armory Fine Decision Statement, Request. April 9, 2012. page 6 of 7
Appendix I
The below screenshot of the Ward 5 Online announcement
shows the type of copycat retaliation attitudes
we are now being exposed to,
by people who are neighbors and leaders in the Armory community

7. CAPS Armory Fine Decision Statement, Request. April 9, 2012. page 7 of 7
APPENDIX II
Partial list of events, programs and amenities offered by the Armory, with an emphasis on City of
Somerville programs. (Does the City of Somerville pay rent to the Armory?):
• -2009: free citywide celebration on the ocassion of Somerville being named "All American
City;"
• -all of the 2011 season and November 2011- March 31, 2012 of the Winter Farmer's Markets
vendors and free events (a program of Shape Up Somerville, held every Saturday between
November- May);
• -"Spring Fever Markets" between Winter and Summer Farmer's Markets- April and May 2011;
• -Children's after-school and summer programs;
• -Weekly drop-in crafts classes for parents and children
• -City of Somerville's Community Stakeholder Meetings, and final Community Presentation,
called "SomerVision"- "to discuss Somerville's Future"- Winter, 2011
• -the City of Somerville's CDBG-funded Housing Division's Housing Symposium (Sept, 27,
2011) ;
• Harvest Fest 2010 and 2011 (Oct. 9, 2010 and Oct. 15, 2011) ,
• -the City of Somerville Arts Council Arts Salons programs, which began in the Fall, 2011;
• Armory Cafe, open 7 days/week, offering food and drink, performance and shows (opened
October 2011)
• -Halloween "Ghost Stories" event with local politicians (Oct. 27, 2011),
• -Chamber of Commerce "After Hours event (Dec. 1, 2011);
• -Snow Malls- Somerville's Holiday Indoor Marketplace featuring local craftspeople, vendors
(Dec2010 and Dec 2011)
• -Curtatone's 2012 Inaugural reception (Jan 2, 2012),
• -Somerville Arts Council exhibit, Jan 2-29, 2012,
• -Teen Empowerment Open Mic Nights, begun March, 2012