Special Events Can Create Access Issues Before, During & After

Living downtown is great, most necessary goods & services are within a short walk (or wheelchair ride) away. One of the few downsides can be large special events which present issues of accessibility not only during the event but before and after.

Crews set out barricades often a day or two prior to an event. As you can see from the above image it is almost like they are doing their best to block the sidewalk. I encountered these twice — first when I walked down Washington Ave to 14th from 16th to meet friends for a Friday lunch – the day prior to them being used for a weekend event.Then on Saturday I encountered them in the morning heading to Lucas Park for a cleanup project.

Later in the day I encountered issues with the actual street closing. Having two blocks of the street closed sounds like a pedestrians dream but with stages, seating and other stuff getting through is often a challenge. In the image above I was trying to get back home from the grocery store. I was able to cut South across Washington Ave and then cross 14th heading West. I had to come very close to the front of the fire truck to get through.

Neighbors that live in this immediate area that they been stopped before just trying to get home — event workers trying to charge them a cover to pass through the event to get home.

Like valet parking it often comes down to the quality of the individual company and how caring the organizer happens to be.  I don’t want to end the events — they have their place and they often bring new people to the area — I just want more thought on the part of the organizers and event management companies. I’d also like to see more oversight by the city to ensure a major street like Washington Ave remains accessible.