Brownsville Fire Administration and Planning Offices Not A.D.A. Compliant as Elevator Remains Broken

El Tapiz Building(Formerly Flores Hardware, the Park Hotel)

Mark Lund, chairperson for the Metropolitan Planning Organization brushed past us while we were going up the stairs at El Tapiz Building, headquarters for the Brownsville Fire Department's administration and the city's Planning Department. He informed us tersely that the MPO's meeting had already occurred at Brownsville Metro.

Nena had wanted me to pay particular attention to something about the hardwood flooring on the third floor.  I get so involved in listening at meetings, sometimes I forget architectural features and other obvious items of interest.

What couldn't be overlooked is the broken elevator.  The alternative staircase is functional and solid, but more like maintenance or fire escape grade, not typical for a building housing city offices.  

The irony is, that were this building still used as Flores Hardware, as it was from 1938-1958, or as the old Park Hotel before that, the city might shut it down for want of a working elevator.(One downtown business owner reported that the elevator has been down for as long as 8 months at a time.) 

The American Disabilities Act of 1990 may not actually apply here, the building's last restoration said to have been around 1985 or 1986, but certainly no one will argue that those with disabilities should not have access to city planning, zoning and fire administration offices.