‘Road to Freedom’ Tour Stopped in St. Louis
This past Saturday, after visting the Jeff Smith 3 on 3 basketball tournament in Fairground Park, I quickly scooted over to the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park for the panel presentation as part of the Road to Freedom tour — seeking to restore the intent of the original Americans With Disabilities Act.
Interestingly enough, as I was nearly there I spotted the above crosswalk while waiting at the light at De Baliviere Ave and Forest Park Parkway. I’m sorry, when you have to stop painting the crosswalk lines because of a big intruding hunk of concrete with a traffic signal in the middle then you know you have a slight problem.
Looking the other direction we see problems with the newly constructed ramp and sidewalk area as well. I didn’t have my digital level with me but I can visually see the ramp and sidewalk area are too steep to comply. Perhaps Metro claimed, due to the design of the light rail system, it was infeasible to comply? Now imagine if you were in a wheelchair and were trying to cross the walk I just showed you — with the concrete barrier and signal in the middle and these corner ramps. Keep in mind that you’d be crossing with fast-moving traffic on Forest Park Parkway — do you dare maneuver out into the lane to get around the concrete barrier and than again to approach the ramp straight on to avoid tipping over?
As I arrived the bus was out front and to the right you can see a smaller bus from Paraquad delivering folks that don’t drive themselves.
Once at the top of the stairs you get a nice view to the north out of the front of the Museum.
The panel for the afternoon included, from left to right; Moderator Jim Tuscher, Paraquad; Jim Ward, ADA Watch and The Road to Freedom; David Newburger, Newburger and Vossmeyer, LLC and the Starkloff Disability Institute; Kyle Tate, Paraquad; Gina Hillberry, Cohen Hillberry Architects; and Max Starkloff, Starkloff Disability Institute.
The speakers were all very interesting and passionate about “keeping the promise of the ADA.” We heard stories about people having trouble keeping employment after getting MS (although fine but walking with a cane); sueing Metro to make sure the transit system complies with the ADA and so on. Although preaching to the choir, this was meant as a call to action in the disability community so that they in turn seek to get support for the ADA Restoration ACT now before Congress.
From a suggested sample letter:
When President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, he said that “every man, woman, and child with a disability can now pass through once-closed doors into a bright new era of equality, independence, and freedom.â€
More than 15 years after passage of the ADA, however, people with disabilities are still being treated unfairly. People with disabilities are in a no-win situation. The courts have allowed employers to say that a person is “too disabled†to perform a job, but “not disabled enough†to be protected by the ADA. The individual is never even given the chance to do the job. This is wrong!
Every American wants a fair chance to use their job skills and support themselves through work. Just like other Americans, people with disabilities can and want to work to their full ability. The ADA was passed – with overwhelming bipartisan support – to create a level playing field so everyone who wants a job has a fair chance to find and keep a job they have the skills to do.
Many people who are trying to work despite having an impairment are not being given a fair chance. The ADA Restoration Act would correct this injustice. This legislation restores the basic right of people who have a disability to be judged based on performance – just like women, minorities, and the rest of the American workforce.
The Road To Freedom site has a petition and encourages everyone to contact their members of congress for support.
It is a shame when we have people seeking work but are turned down due to a simple impairment. Sure, the guy in the wheelchair isn’t going to be hired as a window washer. Granted, the person who cannot speak is not going to be a phone representative. We have thousands of people that, if the richest country in the world decides to make it a goal, can lead very independent and productive lives.
Remember, one day it may be you that is disabled and suddenly the freedom of movement you’ve enjoyed is taken away from you. Look around your environment, can you get to the store without a car? Would you be able to navigate to the post office or to the nearest transit to get to work? If you say have a desk job, would you expect to still have a job if you found yourself without the use of your legs?
I urge you to think beyond your current circumstances at what your life would be like if suddenly you were injured in an accident or a disease left you less mobile than today. Think about as you and your family members age and wonder if they will be able to stay in their homes and do the things they had done for decades. We have the ability moving forward to create environments that allow people the independence that is supposed to come with being an American.
The issue with the corner curbcut that’s pictured here is a problem all over St. Louis. What is the point of curbcuts which force you to steer into oncoming traffic in order to reach them?! How much money is saved by creating one corner curbcut, rather than two cuts centered with the crosswalks?
I’m not in a wheelchair, but I constantly push a large stroller around the city, and I find this problem perplexing. At every busy intersection, you have to ask yourself whether to risk strolling into traffic or simply muscle your way over the high curb. Obviously, the latter isn’t even an option for people in wheelchairs.
It’s idiotic and outrageous.
And regarding Metro’s crosswalk work: You should take a stroll (if you dare) farther west on Forest Pk Pkway and see the utter mess they made of the crosswalk at the Des Peres Ave. bridge. Apparently our alderwoman is going to pay to correct the situation out of her funds, because Metro refuses to do anything.
Wouldn’t it be great if any developer who gets any kind of subsidy would have to move around the area he/she wants to develop in a wheelchair for a day before and after completion? And I don’t mean some flunky should be allowed to do it for them.
Some Metro bigshots could be included, too. We could even have a day for people in the street department, who approve plans, to travel by wheelchair every few months. Drop them at the northeast corner of 11th and Locust and tell them to get to City Hall with no help. First thing they’d have to do is travel away from City Hall, since that corner doesn’t have a ramp. That would be better than a few blocks away where illegally parked cars routinely block the sidewalk ramp.
Maybe have the politicians who give our tax money out so willy-niily do the same thing.
I don’t mean this to be cruel, but I think these people who use and give out tax money to make their developments accessible should see how accessible they really aren’t.
You’re correct, your examples don’t comply fully with Sections 405 & 406 of the ADAAG. The lack of a cut-thru on the center island is a classic case of cutting corners (bad pun) and “it’s not my job”. Again, the city could’ve (and probably should’ve) required Metro to modify the center island as a part of the Cross-County Extension, but apparently chose not to. As for the ramps set at a 45º angle from the main traffic flow, they ARE an acceptable solution. One, it reduces the number of ramps required on a typical corner from 8 to 4, two, it recognizes that a ramps with vertical sides would be a trip-and-fall hazard (especially for people travelling perpendicular to them), and three, it maintains a vertical curb that works better for the majority of pedestrians – remember why the curb’s there in the first place, to channel water. During heavy rains, it cuts the width of the water flowing at the edge of the street in half, making it possible for many people to step over the stream and not get their feet wet. Still there seems to be an ongoing misunderstanding locally that when you put in a corner ramp, you also need to widen the painted crosswalk. One stripe needs to be parallel to the existing curbs’ flow line (which this example does correctly) and the other stripe needs to be moved back provide a minimum of 24″ flat sidewalk (with a curb) on either side of the flare (the triangular parts connecting the ramp and the sidewalk), where the stop line is on this example. Bottom line, the new work here appears to be pretty close to complying, but leaving the existing work unchanged maintains a non-functioning condition – some entity has already spent 80%-90% of what it’s going to “get it right”, so why quit now?! It gets back to attitude and commitment.
There’s the ideal and then there’s St. Louis – is it best to spend our time a) where the new stuff is 98% right (like here, except for the stupid omissions already identified), b) where there’s new, really-stupid stuff (like the signal light bases in the middle of some curb ramps along Manchester), c) the multiple existing intersections that have had absolutely no work done to them (and no plan to do so), and/or d) “connecting the dots”, looking at the sorry state too many of our sidewalks are in, making it difficult or impossible for pedestrians of all sorts to get from corner to corner?! It’s too easy, sometimes, to lose sight of the forest by focusing on individual trees. We need a viable pedestrian SYSTEM. It’s more than individual curb ramps being 2% beyond the maximum allowable slope, it’s all about creating and maintaining a viable pedestrian network in an autocentric world!