Warren's Accessibility Architect: Tony Baker's Long Fight to Make the City Work for Everyone

Frank A. Fiorello
1 day ago
5 min read

By Frank A. Fiorello | May 25, 2026

WARREN, Mich. — Cities spend a lot of time talking about development. New businesses. New construction. New tax revenue. Ribbon cuttings. Groundbreakings. Press releases.

What they don't always talk about is whether everyone can actually get through the front door.

That question has defined much of Tony Baker's public service in Warren.

While the Warren City Council's recent unanimous decision to place an eight-month moratorium on new gas station and car wash developments was largely presented as a planning and zoning issue, I, your humble writer see a different opportunity: a chance to finally address a problem that has lingered for years—accessibility standards that exist on paper but too often fail in practice.

Baker, a longtime advocate for residents with disabilities, has spent decades attending meetings, reviewing site plans, inspecting parking lots, and documenting accessibility concerns throughout the city. His mission has remained remarkably simple: ensure that people with disabilities enjoy the same access to businesses, services, and public spaces as everyone else.

According to the City of Warren, the Commission on Disabilities was created to advise city leadership on improving access to facilities, programs, and services while promoting compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

For Baker, however, advisory language means little without enforcement.

"All we want is for the people of Warren—all of them—to be able to participate in their community," Baker has repeatedly argued during public discussions. When accessibility standards are ignored, he says, residents are effectively excluded from businesses and public life.

The concerns are not theoretical.

Federal ADA regulations require public accommodations and commercial facilities to provide accessible routes, parking, entrances, and accommodations for individuals with disabilities. The ADA's 2010 Standards for Accessible Design establish specific requirements for parking spaces, ramps, door clearances, slopes, and pedestrian access.

Yet advocates say examples of non-compliance continue to appear throughout the city.

Among the complaints frequently raised are:

Accessible parking spaces clustered in a single location rather than distributed near building entrances.

Parking lot restriping projects completed without proper review of accessibility requirements.

Sidewalks and pedestrian routes lacking detectable warning surfaces where required.

Entrances and doorways that present barriers for wheelchair users and individuals with mobility impairments.

To the average resident, these may seem like minor design flaws.

To someone using a wheelchair, walker, or mobility device, they can mean the difference between independence and exclusion.

A ramp that is too steep isn't merely inconvenient. It can be dangerous.

A missing curb cut isn't an oversight. It becomes a barrier.

An improperly designed parking lot isn't a paperwork issue. It determines whether a resident can safely access a business at all.

The timing of these concerns is especially significant.

In 2024, the City of Warren initiated development of a comprehensive ADA Transition Plan designed to identify barriers within city facilities and establish a roadmap toward improved accessibility. The draft plan notes that municipalities are required under Title II of the ADA to evaluate barriers and develop plans to ensure equal access to government programs and services.

Advocates argue that the same level of scrutiny should extend beyond municipal buildings and into the development approval process itself.

Many are now calling for mandatory ADA compliance reviews and site audits to become standard components of planning approvals, building permits, and redevelopment projects. Their position is straightforward: accessibility should be verified before a project is approved—not after residents are forced to file complaints.

That conversation arrives at a moment when Warren is also revisiting broader planning policies. The city's Master Plan was adopted as a guide for future growth and development, providing city leaders with a framework for determining how businesses, infrastructure, transportation, and neighborhoods evolve over time.

The question facing policymakers is whether accessibility will become a central pillar of that vision or remain an afterthought addressed only when problems emerge.

Let's Be Frank

Public service isn't supposed to be a popularity contest. If it were, most of the people willing to spend countless unpaid hours attending meetings, reviewing plans, filing complaints, and demanding accountability would have quit long ago.

Tony Baker didn't.

For years, Baker has shown up when many others stayed home. He has combed through site plans, challenged city officials, documented accessibility failures, and fought for residents who simply want the same access to their community that everyone else enjoys. That isn't self-interest. That's service.

Yet anyone who has spent time around local politics knows that people who challenge the status quo often become targets. Instead of addressing the substance of Baker's concerns, some critics have chosen a different route—personal attacks, insults, ridicule, and attempts to diminish the man behind the message.

Those tactics are disgraceful.

If your response to legitimate accessibility concerns is to attack the advocate raising them, you've already lost the argument. The Americans with Disabilities Act isn't a suggestion. Equal access isn't a favor. These are civil rights protected by law.

The people who mock, belittle, or attempt to silence disability advocates reveal more about themselves than they do about Tony Baker. Quite frankly, those dirty rats have no business holding positions of authority if they cannot demonstrate basic respect for the residents they are supposed to serve.

Leadership requires character. It requires listening, even when the message is uncomfortable. It requires recognizing that government exists for all citizens—not just the loudest, wealthiest, or most politically connected.

Tony Baker has never asked for special treatment. He has asked for compliance with the law and dignity for people with disabilities. That should not be controversial.

Whether you agree with him on every issue is irrelevant. What cannot be disputed is his commitment. While others talk, Baker works. While others make excuses, Baker documents. While others move on to the next political controversy, Baker remains focused on ensuring that a wheelchair user can enter a business, a veteran can access a sidewalk, or a senior citizen can safely navigate a parking lot.

That's not the work of a troublemaker.

That's the work of a watchdog.

More importantly, it's the work of someone who understands that a community is judged not by how it treats the powerful, but by how it treats those who need a voice.

Tony Baker has spent years being that voice. Warren would be wise to listen.

Also to be noted that Lori Phillips Harris is at meetings and on the ground always an ally in the ADA fight here in Warren, thank you.

“Peace, love, and a loaded gun”

—Frank A. Fiorello

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