Writog

Friday, August 14, 2015

Found Object

Someone else was the culprit. I’m just the photographer.

Sunday, August 09, 2015

Saturday, August 08, 2015

I stopped by the marina area late this evening. The two porta-potties had been moved from the handicap parking spot. (Details here about the problem.) Just twenty feet to the side and the hindrance is no longer there. Good job.

Unfortunately that left an available space for a subhuman to leave a dirty diaper behind. At least the diaper should be an easy problem to fix.

Don’t you just love people who respect public areas?

Friday, August 07, 2015

Crappy Way To Treat The Disabled

PLATTSBURGH CITY, NY – Aug. 7, 2015

A copy of the above image was recently emailed to me. The photo was taken by John Farley of NCCI (North Country Center for Independence).

In a Press-Republican article published last Sunday Plattburgh City Mayor Jim Calnon stated “The city had dropped the ball,” but would do better with accessibility issues for the disabled community.

Really. NCCI had to contact the city about the problem of the two porta-potties blocking part of the handicap parking space for at the marina. The city said it would fix it. I haven’t verified whether the movable outhouses were relocated to a more appropriate spot.

Even if the hindrance has been addressed the fact remains that it shouldn’t have occurred in the first place. Does the accompanying image evince the city’s efforts to do better?

To me it’s more arrogant ball dropping. The same thing that has been going on over the last 25 years since the enactment of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).

Nothing else says second class treatment than blocking access to the disabled community with a couple of shit shacks.

UPDATE: I just learned that a private company is being blamed for the porta-potty screw up. So the city doesn’t get all the blame but…

A city employee did see the problem and contacted the private company to have the shit shacks relocated. Then he left for vacation without designating someone to do a follow up to make sure they were moved. I’ve been told that as of 4:30 PM today the porta-problems are still there.

Next time Plattsburgh City should hire a company that doesn’t sit on its brains when using the throne.

UPDATE 2: Saturday, 8/8/15. Late this evening I visited the marina area and the porta-potties were removed from the handicap parking spot. Of course someone else had to screw up a good job.

Wednesday, August 05, 2015

Mark Your Calendar

August 2, 2015. A turning point for the disabled community in Plattsburgh City?

The Sunday print edition of the Press-Republican featured an article entitled “Access for all, 25 years and counting.” (Page C1). It talked about the Americans with Disabilities Act and how much work remains locally since 1990 when ADA was passed into law. (The PR article can be found online here: http://bit.ly/1ILvdOF .)

Activist Debra Buell and North Country Center for Independence (NCCI) Executive Director Robert Poulin discussed the lagging efforts to make the city more accessible for people with disabilities. (My previous blog post, "ADA: 25 Years Later The Struggle Continues" [ http://bit.ly/1KPtSJ9 ], also covered some of the same issues.)

Plattsburgh City Mayor Jim Calnon was interviewed for the newspaper article. He said: “We have to be realistic to how quickly we can make up for what appears to be 25 years of inaction.”

He added: “We dropped the ball, but we’re trying to pick it back up.”

But this was in light of a previous statement about the chronic problem/excuse heard over the last 25 years: cost. As always the city struggles with its budget.

The mayor cited some progress with accessibility issues such as eliminating the hindrance sometimes created by sidewalk seating for downtown restaurants. He acknowledged that more work had to be done.

So mark the date of the PR article and check back in a couple of years to see if the city finally follows through on its plans for ADA compliance. Or not.

After two and a half decades the excuses are running thin.