Straight Talk: Parking restrictions Published May 26, 2011 By Col. Stacy L. Yike 66th Air Base Group commander HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- Comment: Please pass my concern on to leadership. I would hope this base would make provisions for the handicapped, especially when we see GS-15 spots available in front of our building with healthy people walking a few steps to the door. When our office read this email, there was much criticism on putting handicapped folks after our senior folks. As the wife of a handicapped husband, it should be the opposite. Please give the handicapped consideration. Also, a blind individual works in our building. Response: Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This implementation has been ordered by the Department of Defense and is not relegated to Hanscom alone. When we reviewed the facilities meeting the criteria requiring standoff, we took care to ensure facility managers understood handicapped parking must be provided from the remaining pool of unaffected parking spots at each facility and those spots must be closest to the main entry of the facility and clearly marked. If you think we didn't get it quite right, contact your facility manager. On the other hand, restricted access parking, like that in front of Buildings 1305 and 1606, is exempted from the standoff requirement because these parking spots are controlled by card entry. Only those personnel whose cards are coded for access are authorized to use those parking spots. I understand these parking restrictions may be more burdensome for some than others and appreciate everyone's efforts in making this as painless as possible for all.