TIMELESS UNIVERSAL DESIGN

VS BEGRUDGING ADA COMPLIANCE

Textbook example of the difference between lousy ADA compliance and welcoming Universal Design.

Main entrance to Perez Art Museum Miami all steps.

Ramp narrow and hidden to the side.

It says you should be segregated and ashamed if you can’t do stairs.

The Americans with Disabilities Act is the floor, not the ceiling.

Competent architects, planners and designers seek creative ways to mainstream all access and mobility.

Others build monuments to their lazy shortsightedness. 

This structure was designed two decades after the ADA.

Checklist, isolating compliance is NOT a winning approach for a major civic building on the waterfront of a major international city.  

DOUGLAS ROAD IS A MAJOR CORRIDOR

NARROW SIDEWALKS AND PINCH POINTS DESTROY WHEELCHAIR ACCESS FOR MANY SW 37 AVENUE SEGMENTS BETWEEN CORAL GABLES-MIAMI

After walking 7 blocks on Douglas Road today:

I can confidently say if I am given the choice between 2 days in jail or walking 12 blocks of Douglas & crossing its dangerous traffic 4 times—I’m picking time in the lock up.

Narrow sidewalks.

No shade.

Power polls and other barriers that destroy wheelchair access.

More than 1/3 of people in Miami-Dade County cannot or do not drive.

They deserve a multi mobile experience on this major artery also known as 37th Ave.

Let’s fix this.

The people of Miami and Coral Gables deserve better.

WHEN I WENT TO WORK FOR MIAMI CITY COMMISSIONER JOE SANCHEZ IN 2002, NO ONE WOULD HAVE IMAGINED THIS BEING POSSIBLE

NOW, YET ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL BOUTIQUE HOTEL HAS OPENED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF LITTLE HAVANA’S ART AND CULTURE

Fabulous art and wheelchair access at El Jardin Inn Miami.

“A boutique neighborhood hotel where local art & modern hospitality meet in the heart of Little Havana”

A welcome addition to the community, a block from the heart of Calle Ocho, at 1568 SW 7th St.

https://www.eljardininn.com

ADAPTIVE REUSE OF AN OLD BUILDING

CANNOT CREATE SUBSTANDARD ACCESS 

FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

This is what happens when lazy/ableist city officials allow a new business to gut an old building but NOT make the entrance accessible to people with disabilities.

The high threshold results in no wheelchair access.

This is on Giralda in Coral Gables – where the city spent millions creating a people-friendly pedestrian district.

The city also could have raised the pavers to meet the threshold, but it neglected that as well.

Nearly a year ago, I was promised this would be fixed.

Lack of access means it is not friendly to people who use wheelchairs for mobility.

PICNIC TABLES MUST BE ACCESSIBLE TO ALL

 UNIVERSAL DESIGN IS THE KEY

This is an outstanding example of Universal Design.

The high design picnic tables at South Pointe Park all feature an area where a wheelchair user can roll up to in comfort.

Kudos to Miami Beach.

IT’S AN EMBARRASSMENT TO WALK AN URBAN NEIGHBORHOOD – WHEN THE SIDEWALK SHRINKS TO 2 FEED WIDE – CRUSHING ACCESS FOR WHEELCHAIR USERS

MIAMI'S NORTHEAST SECOND AVENUE IS SUPER WIDE AND DANGEROUS – WHILE PEDSTRIAN MOBILTY IS IMPOSSIBLE:                 THIS IS UPSIDE DOWN 

Miami’s Upper Buena Vista is exploding with great restaurants & shops.

But a sidewalk less than 2 feet wide means wheelchair users must go out into incredibly dangerous NE 2nd Ave.

The City of Miami and Miami-Dade County MUST fix this on east side of NE 2nd Ave. at NE 49 St.

This is a screaming violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

It defies every planning goal of having walkable, pedestrian friendly urban neighborhoods.

Many sidewalk sections -- why destroy independence for and rob dignity of people with disabilities -- exist in this redeveloping urban enclave.

PERPETUALLY FLOODED CURB RAMP IN MIAMI

ABLEISM IN DESIGN = NO INDEPENDENCE FOR WHEELCHAIR USERS

Dear public servants: design for people with disabilities is NOT an onerous task to be completed to check a “done” box & neglect.

Curb ramps only work when they don’t perpetually flood, then destroy the motor and battery of a wheelchair.

If architects neglected roofs the way cities neglect mobility for people with disabilities, only flimsy cardboard would protect people and their possessions from wind and rain.

Ableism destroys mobility for wheelchair users.