ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
“The accessible sleeper is the first room from the boarding door. It’s a pretty good size and has windows to take in the view.
The in-room bathroom is big enough to fit a wheelchair in
the shower,” she says.
DOTHAN CITY COMMISSION DISTRICT 3 ENDORSEMENT
David
doesn’t even know I’m writing this – he most certainly did not solicit it.
But I want
voters to know that David Haight is man of high character. Having worked as a
journalist covering politics and having worked for the Chair of the Miami City
Commission – I have seen more than my share of folks who run for office for
their own benefit.
My friend
and colleague David is running to serve. He brings virtually unmatched experience
as a town planner. His very hard work and dedication has improved hundreds of
cities in Florida and far beyond.
I’ve known
David for the better part of a decade. He came into my life when I was
transitioning from marketing urban design to writing and speaking about creating
a better built environment for people with disabilities. He experienced the
disability of a family member firsthand.
David has
been a wonderful mentor and coach to my labor of love – teaching planners and leaders
about Universal Design and creating places where people young and old can move
about safely.
As a
professional with a career spanning a half century, David has taught countless
planners – diverse folks from all backgrounds – who have gone on dedicated
their lives to making cities places that serve everyday residents.
David Haight will listen, draw from his experience, inject his strong moral/ethical character and flat out do good things for the good people of Dothan.
P.S. For the record, David and I would probably never agree on who should be in the White House or how it should be led. But that doesn't matter in a local election. He is a good man and a consummate professional.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
She travels twice a year on
Amtrak’s Floridian from Winter Park, Florida, to Raleigh-Durham, North
Carolina, to visit family and see specialists at Duke University.
Although a nonstop flight from Orlando
to Raleigh-Durham would take less than two hours, Vanessa swears by the
overnight, 13-hour Amtrak trip.
“I used to drive it before my diagnosis. Since then, I take the train,” Vanessa says.
“I have a breathing disorder, and my physician says the train’s air is much better than the air on a plane.
The station in Raleigh-Durham has excellent access.
The one in Winter
Park is a quaint little whistle stop, but I can make do with the access.”
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
She says the aisles were too narrow to
maneuver her power wheelchair easily.
There were tie-down restraints to
secure her wheelchair; however, the Red Caps (Amtrak attendants) didn’t offer
to help, so her personal care attendant (PCA) did the work.
The dining area was up steps with no
ramp or lift, so her PCA also did the food run.
Overall, Mindy rated the experience
higher than flying, but because of significant delays during her train trip to
Dallas, she would prefer driving in an accessible van to taking the train for a
journey of that length.
ARE DISRCIMINATING AGAINST PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Illegal car
parking destroys pedestrian safety and forces people with disabilities into
Miami’s dangerous street traffic.
Perpetually
2 or 3 cars park on NE 9 St @ Marina Blue mixed use tower.
Miami has a Downton
Development Authority that has a quality of life team in the streets each day.
I wonder if
they have any training on ADA accessibility.
I fear they
do not spend one day out of 365 trying to make mobility better for people with disabilities
in the city center.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
She described the five-hour trip from her home in Austin, Texas, to Dallas as a
“mixed bag.”
“Getting on the train was dreamy compared to air travel.
I could stay in my chair, and I didn’t have to worry about being lifted or dropped,” she says.
“The portable ramp from the platform
to the train was a bit steep, but the staff were good about standing behind me
so I didn’t flip.”
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
“From my home in Queens, I can take an accessible bus to the Long Island Railroad to the Amtrak station. From there, I can get to DC, Boston, and Philly,” he says.
“For most of my life, I couldn’t take trips independently.
I can’t tell you how liberating it is to be totally
independent.”
While the heavily traveled Northeast
corridor has many modern, accessible train cars, experiences on trains can vary
in other regions.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
“Trains, in general, are more accessible than air travel,” Dr. Rosa says.
“Amtrak is still a work in progress, with some of the 30- to 40-year-old trains requiring a sharp turn while boarding and aisles too narrow to access the dining car, but I find accessibility in the Northeast corridor is trending in a more inclusive direction.
Newer cars
have design features that make them generally more accessible to passengers
with disabilities.”
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
“I’ve used the accessible bedroom cars on the Auto Train,” David Capozzi says, describing a special Amtrak train that transports passengers and their vehicles nonstop from Washington, DC, to Orlando.
“They take my wheelchair van onto the train, offload it, and I have it
in Florida without having to drive 810 miles one way,” he says.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
Amtrak is boosting accessibility on trains with 576 new long-distance cars, 28 next-generation Acela cars between Boston and Washington, DC, and 83 new Airo trains on several train lines.
According to Amtrak, the new trains will have more spacious vestibules and restrooms, accessible café cars, and wheelchair lifts.
Amtrak also offers
wheelchair-accessible sleeper cars on overnight routes.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
Roughly half of the train stations Amtrak uses are
accessible now, and 173 station construction projects are scheduled through
2029.
David prefers to use stations that have platforms level with the train, so only a portable bridge plate is needed to fill the small gap between the train and the platform.
He suggests that
travelers who use wheelchairs look up their Amtrak stations to learn about
their accessibility before booking.
I’D LOVE IT MORE IF A REDESIGN PROVIDED WHEELCHAIR ACCESS
THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE OUTDOOR GALLERY
100 Years of Art Deco in Miami Beach features
100+ images from around the world create a visual journey through the evolution
of Art Deco.
In the spirit of inclusion, I wish the
journey through Lummus Park was more wheelchair accessible.
I adore the Miami Design Preservation
League & will forever be grateful for its exhibit of my photography.
But I do challenge it to use temporary interlocking plastic pavers to make the entire Art Deco 100 exhibit accessible to people with disabilities.
The exhibit runs through January, so there is plenty of time to fine tune its accessibility and Universal Design.
The Miami Beach Pride Festival and
Parade uses heavy plastic interlocking mat material to provide wheelchair
access and inclusion on the beach sand.
That same product could enhance access
along the mushy grass and varying topography of Lummus Park.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
However,
he understands the nation’s passenger rail agency did a poor job of addressing
ADA issues in the first 20 years after the legislation passed.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
“From the station by Baltimore/Washington International Airport, we can go right to the Moynihan Train Hall in Manhattan.
It’s easier than a flight.”
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
The Maryland resident worked for the US Access Board for 28 years, including more than a decade as its executive director.
He became an Amtrak board member thanks to disability rights activist and US Senator Tammy Duckworth, who pushed to require the board to include at least one person with a disability who has experience with accessibility in passenger rail.
This change was made after Amtrak came under fire in 2020 for trying to charge a group of wheelchair users traveling from Chicago to Bloomington, Illinois, $25,000 to accommodate them by removing seats. A one-way ticket for that route was $16.
Amtrak backed off
after public outcry, but more inclusive representation on its board was needed.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
Seasoned travelers point out that a regional train ride of two to four hours is just as expedient as a one-hour flight because a flight includes early arrival, security screening, and an uncomfortable boarding process involving transfers between their personal wheelchair, an aisle chair, and the plane seat.
Even for
long-distance routes, accessible sleeper cars can make train travel more inclusive.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
“You can’t stay in your wheelchair on a plane, and it will be ages before you can,” Leah adds.
“On the train, you
have that independence.”
Train travel is a viable option for people with disabilities who are tired of having their wheelchair mishandled in an airline industry known for treating mobility devices poorly.
In 2024, a
single air carrier was fined $50 million for its treatment of passengers
with disabilities and their mobility equipment.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
When the Zelaya family travels from their home in Brooklyn, New York, to Boston or Washington, DC, they take an Amtrak train.
Leah Zelaya, a former MDA National Ambassador, and her dad,
Jaime, live with scapuloperoneal spinal muscular atrophy (SPSMA).
“When we travel on an airplane, we rush to get through the terminal, and I never know if my wheelchair is going to come back to me in one piece,” says Leah, a 17-year-old actor, dancer, and model who walks with bilateral leg braces and uses a wheelchair for long distances.
“Using the train is like a different, stress-free world.
It’s way
better.”
DAILY READERS
I learned journalism at the storied Akron Beacon Journal.
Its daily print circulation is below
22,000.
It’s not an apples to apples comparison
-- but I am proud to be getting so many readers.
My blog focuses on building a better environment for people with disabilities, placemaking and urban photography.
It began more than a decade ago and
has had nearly 1.5 million unique visitors.
GREAT STAFF, TINY ROOM, GOOD LOCATION NEXT TO GARE MONTPARNASSE
The wonderful Marche Edgar Quinet sets
up on Wednesdays and Saturdays less than 5 minutes from Hôtel de Paris
Montparnasse.
Historic Cimetière du Montparnasse is
footsteps away, as are the famous Catacombs underground boneyard.
I would strongly suggest heading south
of the hotel through the various low key, very French neighborhoods of the
14th.
There are old villages that became a
part of Paris.
Marche aux Puces de la Porte de
Vanves, open Saturdays and Sundays only, is the second best flea market in all
of Paris.
In perfect 72 F weather, I zig zagged
through some not so tourist-choked Paris and -- 2 km and less than an hour from
hotel -- turned up at the Marche aux Puces.
GREAT STAFF, TINY ROOM, GOOD LOCATION NEXT TO GARE MONTPARNASSE
Barely 100 SF if that.
Basically a place to store some
clothing, take a shower, hit the bathroom and sleep. I was there two days.
I don't think I could recommended it for more
than 3 days stay -- and I'm the kind of person who goes out early and comes
back late each day while traveling.
It's a typical old, tiny European
hotel room -- modernized with plenty of outlets -- regular and USB.
GREAT STAFF, TINY ROOM, GOOD LOCATION NEXT TO GARE MONTPARNASSE
It is a smallish, family-run hotel and
I made a couple special requests -- having an extra flat sheet in the room upon
arrival -- and they had this covered.
It's my test of front desk
responsiveness.
They have fresh filtered water and
large glass bottles for you to use for free.
This was an excellent way of saving
money on buying water while also saving the planet by not tossing away plastic.
The location is crawling distance from
Gare Montparnasse -- which was a big draw for me because I was catching the
high speed train to Bordeaux at the end of my Paris stay.
MODERN BUILDING WITH GALLEY KITCHEN FOOTSTEPS FROM TRANSIT
Code 23, a fabulous bar with live
music and a cozy vibe, is less than 15 minutes walk from the property.
Le Petit Commerce, one of the
greatest, most unpretentious seafood houses in all of the region, is 15 minutes
walk away from Aparthotel Adagio Bordeaux Centre Gambetta.
Boulangerie Jocteur, an outstanding
bakery, is a brisk 5 minute walk from the hotel.
Chartrons and its great homes and
bistros are 15 minutes by tram.
Cite du Vin is less than 25 minutes by
tram.
Bassins des Lumières, in a WWII
submarine bunker also to the north of town, is less than 45 minutes by public
transit.
