Red Rocks to apply tightens vise re: first four rows

Wouldn't just saying "thread title fail" be a lot more efficient?

Equally "accurate" maybe, but not as efficient.

>>>which delivers tickets digitally to a consumer’s phone.

What if you don't have a smartphone??<<<

I believe Flash tickets are also tethered to the credit card used to make the purchase.

Then again, I know of people who don't have credit cards ... so not sure how it'd work at that point?

http://www.9news.com/news/local/advocacy-groups-sue-red-rocks-over-disab...

Advocacy groups sue Red Rocks over disability access

DENVER- A coalition of local disability-rights advocacy groups filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of six disabled Coloradoans, alleging the city of Denver is discriminating against them.

The suit filed Thursday in Colorado’s U.S. District Court alleges the city is denying people who use wheel chairs meaningful access to the state’s favorite concert venue- Red Rocks.

Plaintiffs in the suit allege they don’t have “meaningful access” because the ticketing and seating policies “make it very difficult for such patrons to purchase tickets in the approximately one-half of the accessible seats located at the front of the amphitheater.”

Frank Mango is one of the plaintiffs. He’s been coming to Red Rocks for 30 years, but accessibility didn’t become an issue for him until three years ago, when he fell in a home-improvement accident. He’s now in a wheelchair.

“It’s just frustrating, cause I’m a big, huge, monster concert fan and I’ve always been even before my accident,” Mango said. “Now being in a wheelchair, a lot of my passions are out of my reach. That’s the least I can do [go to concerts], one of the easy things I can do now. It should be fairly easy. It’s just frustrating that it’s almost impossible to get front row here.”

Red Rocks’ unique structure only allows for two wheelchair accessible rows, one in the front, Row 1 and one in the very back, Row 70.

Mango doesn’t like sitting all the way in the back, and Row 1, he said, is almost always sold out for face value, but available at inflated prices on third party sites.

When buying the front row ticket, one site warns you’re buying accessible seating. But that apparently hasn’t stopped people, at least not in the experience of Mango and the other plaintiffs.

“I know that’s a lot of people coming in fraudulently, buying the front row seats,” he said. “That’s one of the biggest concerns, as they have no morals or no ethics. I can go in and press this button, they’re going to let me buy the ticket, when I get to Red Rocks, they’re not going to question me whether or not I need those seats or not for disability.”

“The city is allowed to ask them if they have a disability that requires them to be in those seats,” said Alison Butler Daniels, director of legal services at Disability Law Colorado. “They can’t further inquire about their disability, but they can ask that simple question. And if the answer is no, then they can be re-seated to one of the other 9,000 plus seats within Red Rocks and people who actually needs those seats can be reseated to those accessible seats.”

In their suit, Disability Law Colorado, Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center and the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition say Red Rocks and the city could, should and must do more. That’s why they sued.

“We brought this to their attention,” Butler Daniels said. “But they failed to commit to making these changes and because of that, we believe they’re in violation of the law.”

Butler Daniels said the plaintiffs aren’t asking for money.

“We’re asking them to make the necessary changes so that people who use wheelchairs can enjoy this amazing Colorado treasure,” she said.

The plaintiffs want the city to do a number of things, including clearly marking the accessible rows, similar to the way parking spaces are marked. They want further disclosure on the tickets purchased by the patrons and they want Red Rocks to allow disabled customers to exchange a ticket in another row for Row 1, if accessible seating is available. This would require staff asking people about their disability needs and moving them, which is allowed by Federal ADA guidelines, Butler Daniels said.

“We think a lot of self-policing would happen if everybody understood that was in fact the accessible section,” she added.

The city said it does what it can to provide access for people with disabilities, including those with hearing and vision impairments.

“What the real problem is that people knowingly buy those tickets knowing that they are for accessible patrons,” said Brian Kitts, spokesperson for Red Rocks.

He said starting with the 2017 season, the tickets will be more clearly marked.

“When you buy those tickets you know whether you’re about to take someone’s accessible seat and whether you’re willing to do that,” he said.

Kitts provided specific language that will be printed on the assessable tickets starting in 2017: 

• WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE: Intended for patrons & companions requiring wheelchair seating
• LIMITED MOBILITY: Intended for patrons & companions requiring accessible seats (non-wheelchair)
• LOW VISION,BLIND,DEAF: Intended for patrons & companions w/accessible seat requirements

Kitts said the city has had a pop-up disclaimer about the accessible seating since 2015 for all its venues.

Kitts told 9Wants To Know the city would be willing to mark the accessible rows.

“That’s something that’s easy to do,” he said. “We can mark Row 1 and Row 70 as accessible seating. If that helps then, sure we’re happy to do that. In my gut, I’m not sure that marking those as handicapped seats does anything except change the semantics.”

The other issue brought up in the suit, is the access to the shuttle available for guests with disabilities or who are mobility impaired. On its website, Red Rocks said the shuttle is for guests with disabilities or mobility impairments that “possess tickets for the front section of the amphitheater.” The site also says, “Guests who require the use of a wheelchair will be asked to present a Row 1 ticket to gain access to the shuttle.”

The suit says, “this policy makes it almost impossible for Red Rocks to reseat patrons who use wheelchairs who have purchased tickets to inaccessible seats in the lower part of the amphitheater.”

Kitts told 9Wants To Know, the city has had a “longstanding practice of allowing any ticketed patron ….to get on the shuttle.”

Kitts said the line about presenting the Row 1 ticket “may have been confusing,” but no one has been denied access to the shuttle. Kitts said the city was changing that line to avoid confusion.

Kitts added the city continued to meet with advocacy groups and hoped to have some new options for the community soon.

Kitts stressed the way to solve this issue, is through new federal legislation that could change the current loose laws.

The issue is now in the hands of a federal judge, who could decide if the city is doing its best or not enough.

The suit filed against Denver Thursday is one of two before U.S. District Court. In the second case, the plaintiff, among other things, also complains about being able to purchase accessible seating.

Director of the Office of Disability Rights for the City and County of Denver, Aisha Rousseau, was not aware of the six-plaintiff lawsuit early Thursday afternoon, during a phone call with 9Wants To Know.

She did say the office has been working with Red Rocks staff and management to make sure city services are equitable for people with disabilities, including facilitating listening sessions and relaying concerns from the disability community.

Please let’s stay on topic here, which is OP’s horrific butchering of the English language.<<<

And luckily for you, the zone is primarily engaged via the written word.  What are the odds there'd be mass confusion if you started pronouncing any of the following:

"I'm sorry, I was out of town."

"Yeah, hey there!"

Who’s going to read that last FOM post?<<<

I find it interesting how you often cite a post and "appeal to the group for 'validation'" in a "kiss up kick down" sort of way ... 

>> Then again, I know of people who don't have credit cards ...<<

They (them) really don't deserve to be in Rows 1-4.<<<

What a long strange trip it's been.

Would you also say the same thing if bio chip implants become ubiquitous and serve a similar purpose as credit cards?

Yes.
Go up-top with your analog ass.<<<

Termites depend upon the microbes in their gut or digestive tract to digest wood.

ned, do you really want to play the role of the "microbe in the belly of the 'machines'"?

^ and what of the "groundlings class" who might not be fully "converted" said technology?   Surely, the Globe was considered a "top level venue" of its time, yet a provision was made for their inclusion:

"At the base of the stage, there was an area called the pit,[32] (or, harking back to the old inn-yards, yard)[33] where, for a penny, people (the "groundlings") would stand on the rush-strewn earthen floor to watch the performance."

While feudal systems were clearly non-egalitarian, at least there seemed to be built in "societal pressure release valves" ... on the other hand plutocratic systems are nearly entirely blind on this front.

And here's the official email from Red Rocks on the matter:

Dear Red Rocks 2017 season ticket buyer – 

As 2017 comes to a close, we’d like to thank you for visiting Red Rocks Amphitheatre this year.  It’s been a record-breaking season with more than 140 shows and 1.3 million fans going through our venue.

As we prepare for the 2018 season’s on-sales, you should know about some changes that will affect a number of fans – we hope for the better.  We are making these changes in an effort to prevent tickets meant for wheelchairs, and patrons with mobility impairments or other handicaps from being sold on the secondary market.  And, we want premium seats closest to the stage to be used by fans who really want them – again, not those buying them for resale on the secondary market.

Starting with shows after February 1, 2018, the following procedures will be in place:

• The Flash Seats digital ticketing system – currently in place at Pepsi Center and other venues in Denver – will be the required provider for delivery of tickets in Rows 1-4 – no paper or print-at-home tickets will be issued for these four rows. Flash Seats will be the preferred ticket delivery method for all other seats at Red Rocks. Flash Seats is currently available for download and will be available through a new Red Rocks mobile app available April 1.
• Tickets purchased in Rows 1-4 will not be transferable.  The original purchaser must be in one of the seats purchased in Rows 1-4 and photo ID matching the purchaser’s Flash Seats account will be required for admission to both the venue and the first four rows.
• Tickets purchased in the first four rows also will require that all ticketholders in that group enter the venue at the same time.  Incomplete parties will not be seated.
• Tickets purchased in seats meant for handicapped patrons will be required to confirm the need for these seats during the ticket purchase and seating process and may be subject to relocation or cancellation once the patron arrives at the venue if the tickets have been purchased fraudulently.  Tickets may be cancelled or subject to relocation if it is determined that tickets were purchased fraudulently.

These requirements mean that those who wish to buy handicapped-accessible seating may only do so by confirming their need for those seats and by actually attending the show.  Actually attending the show also will be required for those who purchase tickets in other parts of the first three rows not reserved for handicapped patrons.

These new requirements also mean that buyers should beware of purchasing tickets in the first four rows at Red Rocks from secondary markets including StubHub, Ticketmaster, Craigslist or other third party brokers.  Similarly, tickets bought on other sites for Rows 1-4 at Red Rocks – not delivered by the AXS and Flash Seats system – are likely fraudulent and will not be allowed access to the venue.

Please visit RedRocksOnline.com for concert announcements and on-sale dates.  Shows will begin to be announced and sold this week and will continue weekly through next spring.  It’s going to be a great 2018 and we look forward to having you with us.

Sincerely,

The Red Rocks Team

so you're aware, but "do it anyway"?

just a matter of time

lol @ the both of you's

"critiquing" someone you NEED as a foil in order to perpetuate your respective online "personas"

if I were to somehow shed all of my "bad habits" would you engage me as if we were all sitting around sipping tea?

>if I were to somehow shed all of my "bad habits" would you engage me as if we were all sitting around sipping tea?

this is what im talking about<<<

Don't you ever ask yourself why something is "obvious" or "familiar"?

Or are you simply content accepting everything at face value?

Since going to a performance is by some definitions, frivolous, and not a basic human right such as access to food, they will either have to adopt or do without<<<

True enough about the "amenities" in life, but what about the larger movement to a "cashless" economy ... do we simply allow the less fortunate to slip further through the cracks re: food / shelter?

Perhaps those solutions (for those who don't have credit/debit/smartphones because they are less fortune) will keep pace with the overall market's trajectory to "eliminate" cash transactions.  Was mostly thinking about 10+ years as you had mentioned re: tix ... imagine "waking up on the street" like Dan Aykroyd in Trading Places, but having absolutely zero knowledge of how the cashless system works ... and there's no way to even get thrown a couple bucks by someone passing by on the street???  Or, will good samaritans simply have to stock up on a number of $1 or $5 dollar preloaded debit cards?

"This about a venue providing access for people with disabilities."

That is a text book definition of civil rights<<<

It's possible, but it seems you're seeking to merely address the abstraction of "civil rights" (ostensibly via a political lens) vs. the fairness of the situation at hand ... that Highnote has summarized pretty well.