DP Theme Day: What Really Annoys Me In My City
This month's theme day was hard. I have a few issues with Stayton, and have mentioned a couple of them in the past (new homes being built everywhere, reduced green spaces, and similar themes). But when I learned of this month's theme, the first thing that popped into my head was sidewalks and curbs.
As a person with a disability, I've been keenly aware of what areas of town do and don't have handicap accessibly sidewalks, what streets have no sidewalks at all, and things which temporarilyy block sidewalks, like garbage cans, cars, overreaching sprinklers, etc.
It's like running an obstacle course to try to go down many streets in town in a wheelchair or on a scooter. It requires darting in and out of traffic just to get a few blocks down the road.
So that's my annoyance. The photos above show a few sidewalks without curb cuts, which are the sloped corners you see on newer sidewalks. The big photo is on a busy street (Washington St.), and for anyone in a wheelchair or scooter wanting to get up on that sidewalk, they either have to go several feet out of the way, or go up that little "ramp" on the upper right side of the photo, which requires going out into traffic, and doesn't quite reach the sidewalk so it doesn't do much good. Not even remotely safe.
The others are near the elementary school, where children ride bikes, etc., every day. You can see part of the photos show sidewalks going only one direction, broken blacktop on the streets, and definitely no handicap access.
This is an issue I've raised in the past to the city council, letters to the editor, etc. Granted, these sidewalks are older, and it requires funding to fix. But still, it's been many years with no improvements in a lot of areas. I hope it gets fixed someday soon.
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Over 50 Daily Photo sites are participating in the 1st February theme, "What really annoys you about your city", please use the links to below to visit them.
Due to time zone differences and other factors, the theme photo may not be displayed until later if you are viewing early in the day.
1 (Porto (Portugal)) -2 (Stayton, OR (USA)) -3 (Albuquerque, NM (USA)) -4 (Tenerife (Spain)) -5 (Greenville, SC (USA)) -6 (Dubai (U.A.E.)) -7 (Evry (France)) -8 (Jakarta (Indonesia)) -9 (London (UK)) -10 (Sequim, WA (USA)) -11 (Buenos Aires, (Argentina)) -12 (Seattle, WA (USA)) -13 (Minneapolis, MN (USA) ) -14 (Stavanger (Norway)) -15 (Joplin , MO (USA) ) -16 (Nelson, New Zealand) -17 (Milano, Italy) -18 (Singapore (KeropokMan)) -19 (La Antigua Guatemala (Guatemala)) -20 (Nottingham, UK) -21 (Singapore by Zannnie (Singapore)) -22 (Budapest (Hungary)) -23 (Not Strictly Seattle, USA) -24 (Bandung (Indonesia)) -25 (Vantaa (Finland)) -26 (Hyde (UK)) -27 (Madrid by Dsole (Spain) ) -28 (Oulu (Finland)) -29 (Saarbruecken (Germany)) -30 (St. Paul [Carol]) -31 (Sydney (Australia)) -32 (Tokyo (Japan)) -33 (Kyoto (Japan)) -34 (Trujillo (Peru) ) -35 (Shanghai (China)) -36 (Rotterdam (NL) ) -37 (Chicago, IL (USA)) -38 (Nice, (France)) -39 (Naples, Florida (USA)) -40 (Hong Kong) -41 (Santa Clara, CA (USA) ) -42 (Quito, Ecuador (South America)) -43 (Cottage Grove, MN (USA)) -44 (Paris, (France) ) -45 (Manila (Philippines) ) -46 (Brussels (Belgium) ) -47 (Auckland (New Zealand)) -48 (Newcastle upon Tyne (England)) -49 (Houston, TX (USA)) -50 (Sydney by Nathalie (Australia)) -51 (Mumbai (India)) -52 (Anderson, SC (USA)) -53 (Constanta (Romania))
Labels: DP theme days
posted by Celine at
2/01/2007 12:00:00 AM
Photo & text copyright © 2006-8 Celine Chamberlin, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved, including reproduction and/or republishing. Do not copy, redistribute, or otherwise use these photos without permission. If you wish to link to these photos, please link to their web pages and not the images themselves. Thank you.
21 Comments:
I'm honestly surprised that not everyone has updated sidewalk curbs by now.
Hi Celine, I'm wishing you the best in getting these improvements made. Curb cuts are the law in a lot of states. Maybe a letter from a lawyer or disability rights groups will help bend the ears at city hall.
-Kim
And it could be so easy to fix, too - if the authorities cared to
this post is very good example to show that considering the needs of disabled people or families with babies is not question of money. To make the sidewalks more wheelchair friendsly is very cheap!
snap
I'm running with exactly the same issue. #26 Hyde
Hi Celine, an important point you raise !
Sydney and Australia generally is quite good with curb cuts. Wish it could be the same everywhere.
Minneapolis finally got (most) of the corner curbs cut....but it takes a long time. Hopefully Stayton will eventually accomplish the task!
Great post. This is the kind of thing I wouldn't notice -- and yet so important! Thanks for enlightening me.
in the last month, all the curbs where i live have had addition tactile tiles installed so that the visually disadvantage knows how to move around and have better safety
I'm shocked that local disability groups would allow the council to get away with this.
Angela
Bravo for your post and all the other photos you have shared while facing this challenge. Curb cuts should be available. It is the law. In a recent trip to Washington DC I noticed that some of the curb cuts were a single cut used to serve both directions. I was riding a segway at the time and the effect was to throw you toward traffic as you described. Very dangerous indeed.
I agree with Ham, it's not that difficult - nor that expensive - to fix. How come they don't do it?
I do understand how annoying it must be for you. If you petition on the web I will sign!
I agree with Zsolt.
Good point for all the civilised place.
bravo, tres bonne idee de theme
cheer, very good idea of topic
We have the same problems with our sidewalks here too. It can be really very frustrating. Not only do we not have cut curbs in many places, in others the sidewalks will just end completely! And in the newer parts of town there are no sidewalks at all.
I'm glad you brought some attention to this.
It's an important point... I agree with you!
This definitely needs attention.
yeah, that's really annoying... I don't know how it could be that they don't made it properly in the very first time... well, I know, because they really don't care about that! what a shame!
Yes, this used to annoy me too when I was pushing a baby in a stroller.
I agree! They should do something about it!
I hope they do something about it soon....and such inconvenices is a matter of CONSIDERATION.
I hope your post brings to many the consideration one should has for others too.
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