Community Building Tip: Car-Free

[ysabetwordsmith]

For my current set of tips, I'm using the list "101 Small Ways You Can Improve Your City.

44. Organize a local car-free day. Every September 22 cities around the world participate in a global Car-Free Day, showcasing the possibilities of a more progressive commute and the advantages of walkable streets and biking infrastructure. Want to be inspired? Check out 14 beautiful car-free cities.

Regrettably, neither of the sites seemed to say anything about accessibility.  Now if you're blind, not worrying about getting run over by a car could be a great thing.  But for anyone with mobility issues, more often than not "car-free" might as well be "on the Moon."  And it's not like we don't have solutions for that, I just didn't see anyone advertising things like palanquins for places where wheelchairs can't easily go.  So if you're lobbying for car-free areas, remember to make them accessible to everyone.  Even normally able-bodied people can be screwed the moment they break a foot, get pregnant, or have a baby carriage to push.

Comments

Mobility Impairment

[ravan]

But for anyone with mobility issues, more often than not "car-free" might as well be "on the Moon."

Mobility impairment is not compatible with "car-free" or "bikes only" events.

They regularly close streets to vehicle traffic where I live, making walk or bike the only way to access certain areas for an entire weekend. If they do it near my neighborhood, I am almost literally trapped in my house.

They try to emphasize bike and walk, but don't have enough benches to sit on, and those that are there are made "anti-homeless" and uncomfortable for anyone bigger than a size 12 to sit on. They have those damned rent-a-scooters, and enough people4 ride the and bicycles on the goddamn sidewalk that even trying to walk very far means getting run over on the sidewalk. They, and the rental bikes, are supposedly "accessible", but in reality only work for people who have normal balance.

I'd like my city to be greener, but not at the expense of my mobility.

Re: Mobility Impairment

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Mobility impairment is not compatible with "car-free" or "bikes only" events. <<

In my observation, it really depends on how an event is arranged -- how big it is, how the travel paths are laid out, the texture of the ground, etc. And most of all: did they hire an inclusivity consultant and/or talk to folks from the local disability group(s) to get experienced input on accessibility?

One approach is to call an event's information number well in advance and ask to speak to their accessibility person. They usually won't have one. If they do not, give them a list of suitable consultants. If citizens nag and nag for long enough, usually events will start trying to meet that need. It's not universal yet, but there are a lot more vegetarian and allergen-free food trucks so people can fucking eat.

>> They regularly close streets to vehicle traffic where I live, making walk or bike the only way to access certain areas for an entire weekend. If they do it near my neighborhood, I am almost literally trapped in my house.<<

That is completely unacceptable. Quite possibly, it is also illegal under ADA standards. You and other disabled people in your area could band together and challenge them on that basis -- and even if they don't change, humiliate them in public. Make the event synonymous in people's minds with imprisonment of people with disabilities, the elderly, etc.

>> They try to emphasize bike and walk, but don't have enough benches to sit on, and those that are there are made "anti-homeless" and uncomfortable for anyone bigger than a size 12 to sit on. <<

That's troublesome, but straightforward to fix: add more benches and make sure they suit people's needs. If the city refuses, then shame them. SHAAAAAAME. Large people can take pictures of themselves not fitting the benches. People who can't walk far can unroll a green streamer from their house as far as they go, then have a friend run a red streamer from there to the nearest bench. Calculate the distances between benches and compare that to how far people can typically go with various limitations, including post-surgery medical advice. Post to YouTube or other public venues. SHAAAAAAAAME.

>> They have those damned rent-a-scooters, and enough people4 ride the and bicycles on the goddamn sidewalk that even trying to walk very far means getting run over on the sidewalk. <<

That is a harder problem to fix because of poor infrastructure design. In order to work, shared-use paths must be at least 8' wide and preferably 10-12' wide. A typical 3-4' sidewalk is nowhere near enough unless traffic is very low, and even then you can't get two wide vehicles (scooters, wheelchairs, strollers) past each other without going off the pavement. And many older sidewalks are more like 18-24" instead. 0_o They should be routing HPV traffic through the streets if cars are banned, not on the sidewalks. Though for long-term solutions, bike lanes or wider shared-use paths are better.

Plus of course, shared-use paths require that people A) know how to share them and B) are willing to share them. These are not guaranteed in this society, but they can be built up if enough people want to.

>> They, and the rental bikes, are supposedly "accessible", but in reality only work for people who have normal balance. <<

A responsible event makes sure that everyone can attend and also that it does not place undue burden on uninterested bystanders.

The easiest solution is often front/back travel differentiation. Even in carless parts of town, restaurants and stores need deliveries; nobody can hand-carry pallets of goods. So that's usually handled by routing the delivery trucks through a different street (e.g. side streets, alleys) than the front-facing carless promenade for pedestrians. The same route can then be used for wheelchair vans or other ADA vehicles.

This also works for most temporary events which tend to be either lines or small squares. As long as the perimeter-to-area ratio is good, disabled folks can simply be delivered to their destination or hopped along the outer perimeter. This is best handled with event planning, because if you make too big of a blob, the center is difficult or impossible for disabled people to reach. Same with large areas of grass instead of pavement; if you put stuff in the middle, it's out of reach. Plus big blobs are also a pain in the ass for emergency services, residents or irrelevant businesses stuck in the middle, and so on. Poor event planning ruins everyone's day. 0_o Hire a consultant who knows how to avoid that.

If they do not, pan the hell out of the event with details of what they fucked up and how a competent planner could have done it better. Send the complaints to event planners in the area and point out that they could easily do better. Band together with other people bothered by the bad planning -- there is strength in numbers.

Another option is to provide complimentary service to disabled folks. Are there pedicabs, horse and buggies, trainlets, or other alternative conveyances? Make them free and give disabled people first dibs on seating. Can't remember if it's Indiana or Illinois, but one of our state fairs has a trainlet that loops around the perimeter and is Extremely Useful. I think that one's on a track but the little electric ones are getting more popular. What about housebound folks, are any of the vendors willing to do door-to-door presentations? It's not common anymore, but it used to be.

Solutions exist, and while not every solution may work for every person or event, it is usually possible to find a combination that will be acceptable. If people care to. If they don't? SHAAAAAME.

Yes, all this takes work. Not everyone has the energy for that, especially disabled folks. But that's what organizations are for. They can find people with the energy for activism to rag on the authorities until they give in and behave decently. People with less energy can support the organization in other ways. Strength in numbers, again. There are already many national groups from the ACLU to condition-based organizations, but some folks prefer to start a local group to pester their city council. It's easier to go to town meetings if you actually live there, and your local group will care about local events that a state or national group may not.

Plus of course, if you get your town in good shape, you can advertise it and attract more people there. Bloomington, Indiana did that -- it was the first place I ever heard chirping stoplights for vision-impaired folks, very clever.

>>I'd like my city to be greener, but not at the expense of my mobility.<<

That is a valid complaint. While it is essential for species survival that humans quit cooking off the atmosphere, it is not decent to abuse disabled people in the process. There are many interventions, such as planting trees or producing things locally instead of shipping long-distance, that reduce the carbon footprint without impairing anyone's access to public life.

Re: Mobility Impairment

[(Anonymous)]

>>This is best handled with event planning, because if you make too big of a blob, the center is difficult or impossible for disabled people to reach. Same with large areas of grass instead of pavement; if you put stuff in the middle, it's out of reach. Plus big blobs are also a pain in the ass for emergency services, residents or irrelevant businesses stuck in the middle, and so on. <<

Like how animals depending on oxmosis for oxygenation/hydration/etc are limited in size. Circulatory systems for the win!

Re: Mobility Impairment

[ysabetwordsmith]

Exactly! That's not just sociology, it's physics. Perimeter-to-center is a critical concern for everything from wheelchairs to chilled-food-travel to firetrucks and ambulances. For fucksake, if someone has a heart attack at the center of the event, how far must the EMTs run with the stretcher to fetch the victim and then run back to reach the ambulance?

Some examples:

A classic "ribbon" layout with a long event between a park (closed to traffic) and what look like parking garages or lots. You simply put the vehicle traffic on the paved side and foot traffic on the grass side, and everyone can reach most or all the stuff with minimal cross-traffic. That site is super well designed for inclusivity, and aside from the hardscaping that also shows in all the dingbats for everything from ADA seating to water stations. \o/

More or less a cross shape cutting a big blob into little blobs, accessible if function and ADA vehicles can use the roads.

Lobes break up the blob, but the middle trails may not be as accessible.

What the fuck were they even thinking?

Really, studying physics and biology can teach you a LOT about urban design and event planning. Nature uses the same systems because they work. Why reinvent the wheel when you can piggyback on millions of years of evolution? A traditional neighborhood design has kind of a fractal pattern with busy wide streets, medium streets, and slow narrow streets -- as opposed to the stupid and inefficient suburban design.

Re: Mobility Impairment

[(Anonymous)]

And thawing or cooking meat...

Monoculture design?

I mean, if you can leave 'car spacing' down the middle of a street fair you coud have people step back, as demonstrated by these nice protesters:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cwFHZbRZZuQ

Re: Mobility Impairment

[thnidu]

What the fuck were they even thinking?

¿¿¿"Preferred" and "VIP" and "Staff" and "Vendor Sponsor" parking, but no Handicapped parking???

Re: Mobility Impairment

[ysabetwordsmith]

I hadn't even gotten far enough to notice that, I was mainly looking at large-scale geometry of event layouts.

Based on your further observations, they may have been thinking "Let's keep the crips out." >_<

I stumbled across one store where absolutely every garment had some weird, aggravating feature like scratchy fabric, lace panels, fashion seams, etc. How do you keep freaks out? Make products they can't stand to touch. I'm not even sure it was deliberate, but it was very thorough. Most places only have a high percentage, not totality.

Re: Mobility Impairment

[fianna9]

Handicapped parking appears to be hiding back in the Preferred parking. behind the VIP and Vendor Sponsor parking. Good luck finding it.

Good luck getting from there to the bathrooms.

they also misspelled parking in the "Handicapped Parkiing Area" of the map legend.