DOWNTOWN MIAMI MOBILITY IS A LIVING HELL

FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND OTHERS

 WHO FACE CONSTANT  BARRIERS

For more than a decade, downtown Miami has been a living hell for people with disabilities.

Dozens of sidewalks are illegally closed for construction for 3+ years.

Existing sidewalks are often narrow and rarely accessible.

This photo depicts a completely destroyed/too narrow sidewalk has festered for years.

It is an incredible danger to people with mobility/vision disabilities.

It connects to the nearby Brightline transit station.

This segment of NW 6 St. just east of NW. 1st Ave. must be fixed.

DOWNTOWN MIAMI = LEAST WALKABLE URBAN CORE IN THE USA

CITY IGNORES CENTURY-OLD SIMPLE SCAFFOLDING THAT COULD KEEP SIDEWALKS OPEN AND SAFE DURING CONSTRUCTION

How is it that the bankrupt Cleveland Ohio of my youth could maintain pedestrian and wheelchair access via simple scaffolding more than a half century ago?

But Miami destroys pedestrian safety in the name of development that blocks all sidewalks downtown.

This soul-killing photo shows urban policy that is unacceptable/illegal according to ADA.

Both sides of NE 6 St. west of NE 1st Ave. blocked for years of construction.

There is zero provision of legally required temporary pedestrian/wheelchair accessible pathway.

MIAMI BLOCKS WHEELCHAIR ACCESS AND WALKABILITY

TO A SHAMEFUL LEVEL UNAMATCHED BY ANY CITY ON EARTH

Wheelchair access is destroyed in the heart of Miami — a block of NE 1st Ave. south of NE 6 St.

The west side is construction without the legally required wheelchair accessible temporary route.

The east side has a bus bench advertisement that pinches the sidewalk to 2 feet wide.

This is an emergency that must be fixed immediately.

It violates the ADA.

MIAMI’S PEDESTRIAN MOBILITY IS SUB THIRD WORLD

A VISITING PLANNER IS SHOCKED BY LACK OF WHEELCHAIR ACCESS

I met a well-known urban planner at downtown Miami’s Brightline Station.

She was beyond shocked that we ran across more than a dozen sidewalks completely shut down for developers: She noted how this destroys the pedestrian and transit link.

My planner friend is from a relatively poor city — but it requires 100% of its sidewalks to remain open during construction.

This is achieved through simple scaffolding – it’s been around 100 years.

She said Miami only pretends as being a world class city.

My planning colleague has worked in cities after earthquakes and bombings.

She said the urban core of Miami is only slightly more navigable by wheelchair and on foot than those destroyed places.

CELEBRATING 1.5 MILLION BLOG READERS

My blog started out humbly, more than a decade ago.

 

Today, it has had more than 1.5 million unique visitors over its lifetime.

 

Sometimes I share simple photos of my cats or urban street photography.

 

Often, I share my passion for Universal Design and creating a better built environment for people with disabilities.

This year alone, I have traveled to more than a dozen major cities in eight nations – to work on removing barriers and making design more inclusive and wheelchair accessible.

 

I have appeared as an expert: in a major book, on stage at the world’s largest gathering of engineers, in a training video for the largest state gathering of real estate professionals, on national TV, in webinars and in countless articles that I have published in influential planning magazines.

 

Thanks to everyone who follows and supports my work.

 

WIDE, ACCESSIBLE, BARRIER-FREE SIDEWALKS BENEFIT EVERYONE

VISITORS ARE APPALLED AT THE MISSING, BROKEN AND BLOCKED SIDEWALKS THROUGHOUT GREATER MIAMI

OUR LEADERS SHOULD BE ASHAMED

Miami’s endless assault on pedestrian mobility—especially brutal for people with disabilities—is vomitrocious.

Developer builds a wider, welcoming sidewalk—then fire hydrant/posts subtract 40% of its space.

Clearly the hydrant could have gone in space outside sidewalk.

UNIVERSAL DESIGN:

THE ESSENTIAL TOOL FOR INTERGENERATIONAL COMMUNITIES

REALTORS® understand the importance of Universal Design.

In Illinois, the Heartland REALTOR® Organization used a $15,000 housing opportunity grant from the NAR and partnered with the city of Woodstock, Ill., the Woodstock Community Unit School District 200 and Illinois REALTORS® to build a prototype model home.

It will incorporate Universal Design elements that will be used as a national model to educate communities about building with “Universal Design from the ground up.”

Upon completion, tours of the home’s features will be promoted to the public.

The prototype is being used to ignite interest in new inventory for homes that are designed to allow aging in place.

The project has drawn interest from AARP and Metropolitan Mayors Caucus.

 

UNIVERSAL DESIGN:

THE ESSENTIAL TOOL FOR INTERGENERATIONAL COMMUNITIES

More aggressive policing of blocked sidewalks and bike lanes is a simple policy change.

Calming traffic can be achieved with restriping and simple redesign. Visitability simply requires a change in code.

Paying for retrofitting housing for accessibility can be folded into standard economic development incentives that virtually all cities offer.

Transit training can be refocused to ensure drivers are serving disabled passengers safely.

Adding elevators to century-old transit systems is expensive, but there are billions in federal dollars available for this.

 

UNIVERSAL DESIGN:

THE ESSENTIAL TOOL FOR INTERGENERATIONAL COMMUNITIES

In less dense cities, the problem often is a lack of accessible/protected-from-the-elements bus stops.

And if a bus driver is not well trained in deploying lifts or in safely using tie downs for those in assistive mobility devices, the benefits of rapid transit are destroyed for the 80 million people with a disability in the United States.

Without transit, multiple generations cannot connect to exchange ideas, gather healthy food, keep fit or break the boundaries of isolation.

Simply taking away benches along streets, in an ill-intended attempt to reduce use by homeless people, can prevent an elderly person from staying healthy by walking a half dozen blocks to the library, grocery store or neighborhood shop.

People cannot age in place if their housing, sidewalks, transit, parks and civic buildings exclude them.

Children cannot safely move about the community independently if sidewalks are blocked by parked cars, bike lanes are blocked by delivery trucks and streets are too dangerous to cross because of speeding traffic.

 

 

UNIVERSAL DESIGN:

THE ESSENTIAL TOOL FOR INTERGENERATIONAL COMMUNITIES

Transit must be frequent and accessible.

Author Anna Zivarts’ research has proven that up to one-third of people do not drive.

When Driving Is Not an Option -- Steering Away from Car Dependency is the Island Press book by Zivarts.

Transit can provide mobility for people too young to drive, too old to drive, unable to drive or unable to afford a car.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of older subway stations in New York and elevated trains in Chicago do not have elevators for access.

This makes essential transit off limits not only to wheelchair users, but those who cannot walk tons of steps because of respiratory or pulmonary issues, bad joints or even young children who can’t negotiate stairs.

UNIVERSAL DESIGN:

THE ESSENTIAL TOOL FOR INTERGENERATIONAL COMMUNITIES

When it comes to housing, less than one percent of it is move-in ready for a wheelchair user—and most of that is in multifamily buildings.

Eleanor Smith created Visitability, a concept for accessible housing and for creating a community where people with disabilities can visit their neighbors, a huge factor in creating a cohesive multigenerational neighborhood.

It simply requires a level entrance, accessible bathroom on the first floor and space to maneuver around a kitchen.
It still allows all kinds of unique details and multistory, single-family homes.

Cities that have enacted Visitability have NOT seen a decrease in housing development despite pushback from builders.

Creating accessibility in multifamily buildings can begin with an entrance not obstructed by bikes or scooters, a large elevator and a roll-in/walk-in shower instead of a tub.

Most hip hotel chains aimed at savvy young business travelers have walk-in showers instead of tubs.

This means Universal Design can equal high design, NOT dreary old hospital architecture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNIVERSAL DESIGN:

THE ESSENTIAL TOOL FOR INTERGENERATIONAL COMMUNITIES

The late architect, planner and leader Ron Mace created Universal Design as an approach to places and products that make life easier and more inclusive to everybody.

While Mace used a wheelchair for mobility, he very intentionally did NOT call his creation disability design or wheelchair access design.

That’s because a barrier-free built environment works for everybody.

Wide sidewalks with no speed limit signs or utility poles plopped down in the center of them serve everybody of every age.

A street with curb ramps and level entrances to buildings makes life inclusive for people with mobility disabilities but it also makes life easy for those pushing strollers.

A crossing time longer than the standard 30 seconds—to make it safely past four or six lanes of traffic—saves the life of a child who hesitates or bolts away from mom as much as it provides more protection for a wheelchair user rolling to work.

Some cities are raising crosswalks, so they are level with the sidewalk on both sides of the street.

This not only makes it easier for the one in four people that have some level of disability, but it also forces speeding cars to slow down and obey a stop sign or red light.

THRILLED TO SHARE THE SECRETS OF INCLUSIVE DESIGN

 WITH THE OHIO REALTORS THIS MONTH

I've contributed Universal Design expertise to the National Association of REALTORS for 20+ years.

We all deserve to live barrier-free.

I would love to speak – in person (best) or virtually (still great) to your downtown authority, business improvement district, AIA or APA chapter, school of architecture or healthy living nonprofit.

Please email me at stevewright64@yahoo.com

IMPRESSED WITH TURISMO DE LISBOA

ACCESS FOR ALL GUIDE TO LISBON

Steep topography, narrow winding alleys, centuries old buildings, historic trams -- the very things that make Lisbon so charming -- create difficulty for those who use wheelchairs for mobility.

That why we're so impressed with Lisbon’s guide to wheelchair access.

First off, we appreciate that the introduction, written by the then deputy mayor for social rights, acknowledges that the city has a long way to go to provide the kind of inclusion that people with disabilities deserve.

The second thing we like is the specific details. 

Many times, a route to an attraction is mapped – with routes that are independent and route that don’t have steps, but may have cobblestones so bumpy that a wheelchair may requires a companion to help navigate.

The attractions themselves have vivid details. So you know if one floor of a museum is barrier-free, but other parts are not.

Elevators, accessible restrooms, direct links to the attractions and other fine details make the guide an excellent English-language wheelchair access guide to access to sunny Lisboa.

file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/lisbon-accessible-tourism-cml.pdf

ADA @ 30 -- PART E

TRUTH

If a city -- large, medium or small -- cannot fix, maintain and patrol its sidewalks (the most basic, inexpensive, democratic means of mobility for all people of all incomes & abilities), it has no business:

Paying for pro sports stadiums.

Building shiny things for influential billionaires.

https://kcdisabilityadvocacy.wordpress.com/2015/10/09/the-importance-of-sidewalks/

ADA @ 30 -- PART D

TRUTH

You are a planner/urban designer/transport engineer/architect claiming to make a healthy impact on society. 

But you steadfastly refuse to consider people with disabilities -- who account for upwards of 20% of population -- in your public and private sector designs. 

You cannot make a positive impact if you are refusing to accommodate people with disabilities.

ADA @ 30 -- PART C

TRUTH

Disability is everywhere in nature.

Should we fill in a waterfall because the river is "broken?" 

Should we cement up beloved rock formations because the wind had "disabled the landscape?" 

Disability is natural.

Disability is Diversity.

Diversity is Strength.

ADA @ 30 -- PART B

TRUTH

I have NEVER (thank goodness) heard a city manager or elected official dare to say "we can't do this because the damn 

blacks...

women...

Hispanics...

Jews...

are bankrupting us with their needs."

I could fill a room with those who (illegally) say this about simple accessibility accommodations. 

Hatred is hatred.

ADA @ 30 -- PART A

TRUTH

We would be ashamed to say "you're competent..despite your race, religion, orientation, gender..." 

But bigoted people routinely put qualifiers like that on people with disabilities.

CELEBRATING THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ADA -- Part 14

WITH A DOZEN DAYS OF RANTS ABOUT DISCRIMINATION

I have been saying for a quarter century that Urban Design is broken. 

Too many of its practitioners create brand new things that are barriers to wheelchair users, blind people, deaf people. 

We must fix the environment, not the person.

People are fine just the way they are.

"Normal" is not 5-foot-10, athletic and age 25.

Normal is a range of physical conditions and abilities in human being.

It is as diverse as the sea, dessert, forest, lake, jungle, river, mountain, valley and canyon are in nature.