Hey Mister, Can You Spare A Column Idea?
Tell you why I don't like Mondays?
Because the fresh start of the week means a blank sheet of paper for me. I've got two columns due and no plan.
Do I follow up on the Inaccessible City, the piece that's in today about Clifford Roberts trying to get into South Philly restaurants and shops with his wheelchair? Inky shooter Michael Wirtz made a cool video from my second interview with the violin-maker last week.
When I asked for reader help with that one, I got an e-mail from a blogger who writes about having a similar muscle-atrophying illness. You might want to check out Josh Winheld's World.
Josh wrote me in a note:
As much as I love Philadelphia, it is an old city, so a lot of places in Center City are inaccessible. That certainly doesn't please me, but I'm not sure what can be done because not every business owner can afford the necessary renovations. I also love trying new restaurants and was disappointed several weeks ago when, after visiting the new Perelman museum, I couldn't find any accessible restaurants nearby, except for a pizza shop. But hey, it's their loss because people with disabilities are known to be loyal customers, as the hotel industry has learned. As for cobblestones, they look nice, but I hate them! Uneven curb cuts are a bigger problem. Interestingly enough, a friend from England visiting New York with her boyfriend who was in a chair could not believe how awful the curb cuts and sidewalks were. As for banking, I now do that mostly online.
I picked up a few tips during the reporting that make me want to take a bigger bite of the issue.
Then there's another piece I'm considering, about a bunch of old fishermen who have been shut out of their favorite spot. That's out of the city, which is good, as I've been scuffing up my feet lately.
And later in the week, I'm going to help someone I wrote about move into a new home. Well, hopefully she's got some real help, too.
See you in the funny papers.
I enjoyed your piece on Mr. Roberts and his difficulties, and hope there are more to come. I'm not quite sure, though, why the story is so coy about not naming the "well-known chef" and his establishment even though it does name lesser-known spots in S. Philly. And the story did not mention those numerous Center City sidewalk cafes that block even the able-bodied among us. A related issue is the Parking Authority's "philosophy" on ticketing some illegally parked cars but not others that enforces the usual Philly ethos that the law is for profit/punishment rather than safety/quality of life: the PA will often ignore neighborhood cars that are parked on neighborhood sidewalks--blocking wheelchair access--even as they are quick to ticket Center City meter violators for an easy profit.
I was coy because I couldn't get to him for a comment before deadline. I wanted to. But what if Cliff was mistaken, and it was another chef who'd said that? That would have been a bad, bad thing.
I feel for those who can't get around Philly in a wheelchair, but I don't see that there can be any solution in most of the city, particularly Queen Village. There just isn't a way to make much of our 19th century rowhouse infrastructure accessible without destroying it and starting over. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that on many streets in Queen Village, if someone built a wheelchair ramp of the grade and width required by the ADA, he would actually break another ADA requirement regarding the width of the remaining sidewalk. In some cases, the law probably discourages reasonable accomodations . That would be a really interesting article: how the ADA in concert with our outdated building codes conspire to make it extremely dificult to make buildings accessible even when possible. Of course, bad liberal that I am, I always wonder whether, if you took all the billions spent on ADA compliance in the last two decades, you might just be able to design a stair-climbing wheelchair.
PS - This isn't your fault of course but I did notice that to submit comments to this blog and most others, one must enter impossible-to-read digits and enter them into a form, preventing auto-spam. The visually impaired can't do this if they use a reader. Some sites, but evidently not typepad, have a link for the visually impaired to follow, while others ask you to solve an arithmatic question instead.
hard to argue with that last point.
Thank you for this excellent article. I am lucky to not often need more than a cane (yet?), but understood immediately about the doors that are too heavy to open. We eat out often, and find that the bathrooms are down or up a flight of stairs, the narrow space between tables does not allow for a leg that sticks out, much less a wheelchair. This isn't an issue only for the old city streets. I live in Lower Merion, and the Main Line has more than its share of inaccessible places, too. I wonder what these places will do with us aging baby boomers, eager to spend our money but finding it impossible to get in?
Dan- I certainly appreciate you bringing this subject to light so more and more people can learn how those of us in wheelchairs live each and every day. But, I will also tell you that there has not been much that with a little help (and sometimes people with muscles) that I can't figure out a way to do. It's always easy to focus on what can't be done, but, I don't want your story, or others to pass over all of the great things that we can do in this great city that we live in. As a person with a high level, complete spinal cord injury I live a very active life. I am lucky that there are programs and places I can play wheelchair sports (I play tennis, but Philly also has teams/programs for basketball, rugby, soccer, rowing, track, etc.). We have parks and playgrounds that are accessible. Efforts have been made in many areas to make more and more places accessible. I have also found that we have great people in this city too, who will gladly help me if I get to a corner without a curb cut, or one that is too steep. When I was shot 11 years ago I quickly said if I could deal with that tragedy the way that I did, I could conquer just about anything. So why let steps keep me from doing something I really want? And, if steps do keep me out of a place I want to eat or shop, luckily for me there are plenty of others that have made it possible for me to be a customer. Take this as just positive and constructive from someone who wheels through the streets everyday. Thanks for making people aware of what we face and keep up the good work. Mark
This is exactly why we had to move from Philadelphia to Phoenix! Our slogan was: Pharewell Philly, Phoreward to Phoenix. I lived in the city for more than 50 years and miss it terribly, but here my husband can go practically everywhere!