Here's What's Hot On CBS11TV.COM:
Sep 29, 2009 9:17 pm US/Central
Cowboys Stadium Parking Tough For The Handicapped
ARLINGTON (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Every Dallas Cowboys fan wants the best parking spot available when they get to Cowboys Stadium. But a CBS 11 News investigation found game tailgaters in parking spaces that clearly didn't belong to them. In fact, the spots were marked for disabled drivers only.
A record setting 105,000 fans, enough to fill the City of Lewisville, descended on Cowboys Stadium for the first home game and set out to look for a parking spot. That day Gabriel Garcia faced the challenge of wheeling himself to Cowboys Stadium from a Cowboys parking lot at the Rangers Ballpark.
Garcia says the trip was, "close to half a mile, a little bit over."
Handicapped spaces at the $1.2 billion stadium are reserved for "season" ticket holders. But CBS 11 News video, taken on game day, showed that not everyone played by parking lot rules.
Workers for a catering company say they were told to park in a handicapped spot, although they wouldn't say by whom. A party van parked in a handicapped spot too. The handicap sign on their space was covered with a garbage bag.
Police, who say they would have responded had they been called, were just a few feet away.
Garcia, who can't use his legs and only has the use of his biceps, made his way to the stadium fine that day, but fell on the way back to Rangers Ballpark. "Trying to get over the curb, went down to the grass, went into a ditch and I fell out of my chair," he said.
Garcia says its luck his injuries weren't more serious. "Thank God it was on grass. I landed on grass. It's a little more forgiving than concrete. I just bruised a muscle right here, one of my main muscles that helps me push."
At the second Cowboys home game the handicapped parking situation hadn't changed.
CBS 11 News Reporter Carol Cavazos asked a fan about the handicapped space he'd parked in. "You didn't realize it?" she asked. The unidentified fan responded, "It's my friend's truck. We thought it was just open parking."
The man was part of a private party group that had filled seven parking spaces. Two of those spaces were marked for disabled drivers only. The group tour leader, Kathy Johnson, said a Cowboys parking attendant told them to park there. "I discussed that with them and they said that's okay because that was reserved for us," she explained. When asked about the covered up handicapped sign Johnson said, "The stadium actually is supposed to block that off and put a bag over that."
At the Rangers Ballpark lot there was another fan taking up a space that was in a lot entirely designated for handicapped drivers. Cavazos approached the fan and said, "This looks like a handicapped parking spot." After looking around and pausing for thought he responded, "Oh, it is? I didn't see them signs right there."
Another group of fans parked in the same lot had a red handicapped tag hanging from their rear view mirror. But, they told CBS 11 the vehicle belongs to an 86-year-old relative who no longer drives. Garcia confronted the group. "If it's your mom's why would you be parking here? Do y'all have a disability?" he asked. The fan replied, "They said we could park anywhere."
Garcia said the offenses are a 'sign of the times'. "Nobody accepts responsibility for their actions anymore. And, this is what you run into everywhere. Everywhere!"
CBS 11 News contacted the Cowboys Stadium about their policy but a phone call and email weren't returned. CBS 11 News checked other Cowboys parking lots and found that drivers were playing by the rules - at least from the tags and plates displayed.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Hollywood Hair
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
