ON CARS ILLEGALLY PARKED ON THE SIDEWALK AND
ON CURB RAMPS
We live in
the very urban part of Miami known at Little Havana.
But our
problem is relevant to anyplace where police tolerate cars illegally parked
over sidewalks and curb ramps.
You see, in
almost all of America, we still value cars 10 to 1 (maybe 100 to 1) over human
lives.
A person
would never park for the night out in a moving travel lane, because they know
they would be ticketed and towed.
Cities care
about cars being able to speed down the pavement – even in residential
neighborhoods – unobstructed by cars parked in the way of the through lane.
But when
those cars park over the sidewalk – forcing wheelchair users, children on
bikes, elderly folks, moms with strollers and others out into the speeding traffic…nobody
cares.
So long as
the parked car isn’t blocking traffic, all is well and good. No one cares that
an extremely vulnerable (because they are sitting at a low height that drivers
do not see) wheelchair user is likely to get killed in traffic, because there
safe path of travel on the sidewalk is blocked dozens of times in just a few
blocks.
I have
reached out to elected officials. They tell me if they start ticketing, people
will be in an uproar. If they have cars towed, they will lose votes. Great to
know that keeping the voters happy rates far and above my wife’s quality of
life…and the very real possibility of her losing her life.
Cops are
cowboys and thrill seekers. They join the force because they want to capture
bad guys. They cannot be bothered to do their job (one they can retire from
with full pension and benefits at age 50) and place warnings, then tickets,
then order towing if cars blocking curb ramps and sidewalks.
Once, I
posted a rant on the NextDoor social media platform. A caring police commander
offered to meet with me over coffee at my house. He really seemed to care. I think, for a few
days after, there may have been fewer cars violating the safe sidewalk space.
But now, I
think we’re two area commanders removed from that reassigned police official.
And things are worse than ever.
And the
illegal parking activity – which forces my wife to back track, find a driveway
graded well enough that she doesn’t fall out of her wheelchair using it, go out
into traffic (where the average selfish brute drives 50 mph in a 30 zone) whizzing
from behind her, then slow down and hunt for another not-too-steep driveway to
return to the sidewalk. Only to repeat this dozens of times on the way to the
bus stop just blocks from our 1922 home.
If she is
lucky, she is late for the bus, or drenched in rain, because she had to take so
much extra time because the safe sidewalk is violated with offending cars. The
day she is unlucky, I will lose my partner of more than three decades…my reason
for living…my love…my soulmate…just so some jackasses can have their extra parking
space.
In some
cases, it’s just laziness. There is a woman who lives very near us and has a
deep driveway and only 1 car. But she has a fence around her yard and evidently
parking on the sidewalk is more convenient then hopping out of her car to open
and shut the rolling gate on her fence at her driveway.
In most
cases, the illegal parking is created because of other illegal activity. People
have, without building permits or zoning clearance, illegally converted their
garage and half their driveway into a spare bedroom or family room. They have 3 to 4 unrelated adults in a small house, so one car blocks the sidewalk, another parks over a
curb ramp and two are in the driveway where they belong.
So the city’s
blessing their illegal activity puts my wife in harm’s way. Seems like the priorities
are correct, right? BS.
Oh, and
often time’s it’s even worse. People convert garages and build illegal
additions to create illegal rental units. With faulty electricity, plumbing and
construction – that could injure or kill a tenant, they make income enough to
buy a boat. The City of Miami endorses this illegal activity by never cracking
down on all the cars parked on sidewalks – because a little single family house
now has as many (illegal) units at an 8 unit apartment building and no on-site
parking.
If the City
of Miami, if my neighbors in Little Havana, if society as a whole gave a rats ass about human beings and equal for mobility for all – people would be
scared to death to illegally park in ways that block sidewalk and curb ramps.
But my city, neighborhood and society do not care.
A fender blocks a lane of
morning rush hour, the cars are towed out of the way in no time, so the all
mighty automobile can gain its rightful place among three lanes of break neck
one way traffic into downtown.
But expect a
growing City, one that takes pride in its diversity, to give a crap about safe paths
of travel for all pedestrians, especially those using wheelchair who cannot
roll up into a yard to get passed a park car – forget it. Not my job, not my priority, not in my nature
to have enough guts to hack off a few potential voters, even if it means doing
the right thing.
It is,
nothing short of disgusting.
