PARKING THAT BLOCKS THE SIDEWALK IS MORE THAN AN INCONVENIENCE

IT PUSHES DISABLED PEOPLE AND PEDESTRIANS INTO TRAFFIC

MIAMI TRAFFIC, EVEN ON A SIDE STREET, CAN EQUAL A DEATH SENTENCE

Blocking sidewalks is a serious matter.

This is Andrew Loretta, a beloved father of 2 children.

He was killed in a hit-and-run crash while jogging in the street in Shenandoah a year ago.

People run and walk in the street when sidewalks are broken, missing or obstructed.

Cars frequently block the sidewalk on the south side of historic William Jennings Bryan Park in the Shenandoah section of Miami.

This destroys wheelchair access and safe pedestrian mobility.

Violators MUST be ticketed and towed.

But 99% of Miami police walk around pleading with people to move.

This inspires lawbreaking.

Heavy fines and towing would stop illegal sidewalk parking.

Those who block the sidewalk with their cars are a prime example of selfish, dangerous Car Brain.

I point out the danger to people with disabilities.

They say "I have nowhere else to park."

Mind you, most violators are driving less than 10 blocks--a distance they could walk.

Deplorable.

SUPER DISABILITY FRIENDLY, UNIVERSAL DESIGN VANGAURD

CURB EXTENSIONS MAKE THIS CROSSWALK SAFER FOR ALL

 

Kudos to these pedestrian friendly, super wheelchair accessible curb extensions.

They calm traffic while providing an excellent route for people with disabilities across Meridian Ave. at Lincoln Lane and just north of Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach.

Every Miami Beach official embrace this and bring it to hundreds of other intersections.

People with disabilities depend on safe crosswalks.

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.

MIAMI BEACH SHOULD BE SOUTH FLORIDA’S MOST DISABILITY-FRIENDLY CITY

BUT EVERY 10^TH STREET HAS A POORLY DESIGN, TERRIBLY BUILT        AND HORRIBLY MAINTAINED SIDEWALK

More than half of this sidewalk in a heavily pedestrian part of Miami Beach has a severe angle that makes it treacherous for people with disabilities.

It is on 16th St. at Lennox Ave. in Miami Beach.

Wheelchair mobility is virtually impossible.

Not only is the more level part closer to street (worse for pedestrian safety) but it also is an impossible route for wheelchair users -- because outside dining, valet stands and other obstructions block the pathway.

GREAT CITIES NEVER CLOSE SIDEWALKS DURING CONSTRUCTION

THEY VALUE THE LIVES, SAFETY AND DIGNITY OF PEDESTRIANS BY REQUIRING SCAFFOLDING TO MAINTAIN SIDEWALKS DURING YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT

High praise for the wheelchair accessible, well-lit scaffolding around the historic Alfred I. DuPont Building in downtown Miami.

Sidewalks must always be open and safe during renovation and construction work.

Every city I have lived in, unless it was a 24-72 hour concrete pour, window installation or facade cleaning -- it was required to keep the pedestrian pathway clear.

Scaffolding maintained pedestrian mobility.

The example on Flagler at the DuPont and across the street at the Olympia are bright, light and almost artistic.

It floors me when the city allows a developer to close an entire sidewalk for two to three years of construction.

It violates the ADA, PROWAG, great governance, best practices, good business and basic human decency and inclusion.

MAINTAINING SIDEWALKS DURING CONSTRUCTION IN THE RIGHT THING TO DO

CLOSING SIDEWALKS FOR YEARS VIOLATES THE ADA AND EVERY MORAL OBLIGATION TO SAFE MOBILITY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES PLUS ALL PEDESTRIANS YOUNG AND OLD

Wide, safe, lit, wheelchair accessible simple scaffolding to keep sidewalks open during construction.

What is so hard about this Miami?

How do we have this perfect solution by Flagler St. — then allow both sides of the street to be closed a few blocks north?

I am at a total loss for why Miami officials do not require scaffolding to maintain sidewalks during years of development construction.

Most solutions require tens of millions of dollars.

This requires zero. 

VIRTUALLY EVERY MAJOR CITY FACILITATES LARGE SCALE CONSTRUCTION WHILE MAINTAINING SIDEWALK SAFETY DURING DEVELOPMENT

MIAMI CLOSE SIDEWALKS FOR YEARS WHILE PEDESTRIANS, ESPECIALLY PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, RISK THEIR LIVES CROSSING THE STREET TO CONTINUE THERE JOURNEY

Is there something Miami’s water in that turns big developers & major construction firms into incompetent fools?

Because every city I have lived in + every city I have visited — does not close sidewalks for 3 years of work.

How is it that gigantic, 50-story buildings can be built everywhere else while maintaining sidewalks – but in Miami our development community is incapable of this simple task?

In Miami, we kill pedestrian safety for no reason.

There are 100s of American cities that require developers to maintain sidewalks during construction.

Simple scaffolding preserves safe mobility for pedestrians and independence for people with disabilities.

DEAR CITY/COUNTY:

IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO MARK AN INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS                   HOLE IN A MAJOR CROSSWALK WITH A CONE

When something is capable of tripping a pedestrian or tossing a wheelchair user to the ground, we fix it immediately. 

Double utility volts in the curb ramp and uneven pavement also are epic fails of pedestrian mobility.

A bad built environment is why people with disabilities are the most under- and unemployed of all marginalized groups.

Acknowledging a safety threatening hole in the crosswalk and buckled pavement, but neglecting to fix it…

This is like waiting to see a renowned cancer doctor. And she says yes, you have cancer, but I’m not going to treat it.

Pedestrians are not second class citizens.

ADA ACCESS AND MOBILITY MUST BE MAINTAINED DURING CONSTRUCTION

IT’S THE LAW.  MIAMI BEACH IS VIOLATING IT

This bumpy, steep & horrible 20+ feet of tar pretends to be an ADA accessible sidewalk.

This is Lincoln Road at West Avenue in Miami Beach.

It must be fixed immediately. 

Lengthy construction means temporary sidewalks and ramps must be compliant.

It’s the law.

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.

UGLY GIANT BOLLARD PLANTERS DESTROY SAFETY AND VISIBILITY

WHEELCHAIR USERS CANNOT SEE WHAT’S COMING BEFORE CROSSING  BUSY ALTON ROAD AND LINCOLN ROAD IN MIAMI BEACH

Every wheelchair user’s safety is threatened by bollards along Lincoln Road at Alton Road in Miami Beach.

The car in the photo is a lane over.

It’s impossible to see what’s coming north on the closest lane.

We all know Miami drivers run red lights serially.

The bollards are there on the one in 1 in 10 million chance that a terrorist drives onto Lincoln Road.

In an urban area that consistently rates as one of the most dangerous for pedestrians, the odds of an accident because of the bollards are probably 1 in 10,000.

Very bad planning guards against the extreme outlier while ruining independence, inclusion, mobility and dignity of all people with disabilities.

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.

MIAMI REFUSES TO PROTECT PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

CARS DANGEROUSLY BLOCKING SIDEWALKS ARE NEVER TOWED

Welcome to Miami — where we despise pedestrians.

Dozens of times I have asked cops to tow cars blocking sidewalks — because it forces people with disabilities into dangerous streets.

The answer always is NO.

But Miami Police does tow vehicles (because we all know 5000 pound trucks and SUVs are more important than human lives.)

The city tows vehicles that: slightly block the roadway, park in areas temporarily roped off for festivals, break down in traffic, etc.

Basically, if it slows traffic by 1% -- it's towed.

If it endangers people with disabilities & all pedestrians by 100% -- it's ignored.

PLEASE STOP THE ABLEISM NOW!

PEDESTRIANS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH DISABILITIES, NEED SMOOTH SURFACES

CROSSWALKS MADE OF BUMPY PAVERS AND COBBLESTONES 

MAKE NO SENSE

 

If you were designing a place for human being to cross four, sometimes six or more lanes of traffic – you would want it to be safe, right?

You would create a surface that is smooth and free of tripping hazards.

Something low maintenance.

What have cities done for decades?

The install brick, paver and cobbled crosswalks to look cool and urban.

The bumps and inevitable missing pavers jar wheelchair users from their mobility devices.

They trip older and younger pedestrians.

When the person falls and is injured by the fall – or terrible injured or killed by a vehicle…authorities call it an accident.

Poor design is no accident.

For ages, we have been planning, engineering and building urban corridors where the giant speeding vehicles that weigh several tons get the smooth surface.

Pedestrians – including those using wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, canes and other assistive mobility devices – are exposed to an uneven surface – as they are given 30 second or loss to avoid rubber tired killing machines racing 45 mph or faster.

If this makes sense, please tell me how.

I suggested smooth, pigmented concrete or painted asphalt.

But pedestrian-centered, urban-minded traffic engineer told me paint is rarely allowed under the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTACD) – created by the Federal Highway Administration to allegedly make the world safer for people walking, rolling and biking.

Painted crosswalks could and should be a better visual cue for cars, trucks and buses to slow down as they are approaching a crosswalk.

We cannot keep creating the hazardous pathway of bricks, pavers and cobbles – and pretend it is for pedestrian safety.

WHAT KIND OF GOVERNMENT BLOCKS PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

FROM ACCESSING A SAVE, PAVED GREENWAY PATH?

Here’s an idea. An exclusionary one. 

Let’s pave miles of safe pedestrian trails ideal for wheelchair users. 

But let’s end the sidewalk before it connects to them. 

This is in Coral Gables just west of Segovia traffic circle at Granada Golf Course.

City official claims Miami-Dade County is approving a traffic circle that will fix all of this.

Looks to use like a simple few feet of concrete or asphalt would fill the gap and provide access.

Check out the image below.

Super-inviting, safe pathway.

Two blocks from Coral Gables downtown.

But this entire intersection, zero ways to access the path from city sidewalks -- if you use a wheelchair for mobility.

NARROW BUS STOP

WITH NO WHEELCHAIR ACCESS TO ADJACENT PAVED PATH

Cruel and unusual bus stop in Coral Gables.

This problem festers on Coral Way at South Greenway.

There are miles of smooth paved pathways along Granada Golf Course are a few feet away.

But the bus stop pad ends in a cliff that prevents wheelchair users from accessing the paths.

A city official tells my Miami-Dade County is fixing the issue.

But I think that might be a crosswalk, not an accessible link to the safe, paved paths.

NO VALENTINE'S WEEK LOVE FOR PEDESTRIANS

FROM FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

This is how little we think of human beings.

Tiny sidewalk space, barely wheelchair width and choked with utility vault tripping hazards forced against dangerous traffic.

Giant pole farther from traffic — to protect out of control drivers from hitting it. 
The barely navigable pedestrian space is on Miami Beach at Collins Avenue and 26 Street.

It has a walk score of 87 — meaning thousands of pedestrians are endangered by this automobile first design.

DANGEROUS SIDWALKS

CITY OF MIAMI ROUTINELY BLOCKS SAFE PEDESTRIAN AND WHEELCHAIR ACCESS

A sign for vehicles blocks the sidewalk to wheelchair users and others on SW 16 Avenue near Coral Way in Miami. A neighbor took pictures, sent a complaint and after waiting more than a month with no answer, the city moved the sign three inches -- and left it still in ADA violation.

My wife uses a wheelchair for mobility and she's been going out with me while I continue to walk to lose weight. 

We can barely make it a few blocks without running up against some kind of obstruction to the sidewalk – a sign in the middle of it, stop light equipment boxes blocking it, or cars illegally parked over it perpetually and not one police officer who cares to ticket that illegal behavior.

This isn't silly or annoying. It's a death sentence.

When my wife goes out in the street, she is risking her life.

I’m not always around to try to guard against bad drivers.

The way Miami drivers drive, the street could be empty one moment, then a person going 45 mph or faster can turn off another road and plow her over.

She cannot leap out of the way.

She has a top-of-the-line wheelchair, but it does not move quickly.

It disgusts me that every day, our city leaders are on national TV, recruiting tech firms and giving away public land to billionaire developers.

But they don't spend 10 minutes taking a common-sense approach to removing barriers and making sure future public works employees never repeat the same mistakes.

Half the time when there isn't a sign right in the center of the sidewalk, there are too many driveways at a sharp angle.

Imagine being in a wheelchair and riding at a nearly 45-degree angle and hoping gravity doesn't take over your 200-pound mobility device and flip you into oncoming traffic or topple over on you -- leading to series injury or your death. 

Progressive cities keep the sidewalks level while using more space for the driveway to go out into the right of way.

But in Miami, every yard and right of way has been taken for one more lane of breakneck traffic -- even on sleepy side streets -- so the sidewalks are ruined.

One day, they hire a consultant for hundreds of thousands to promote walkability and bike use.

But the other 364, they are lazily, stupidly creating danger and chaos.

I'm not genius, but at 10 years old -- without an engineering, architecture or town planning degree -- I could have figured out that a sign post (think metal or huge concrete) blocking the safe pedestrian sidewalk…is a damn dumb idea.

How can trained professionals paid incredible salaries, with top shelf benefits and an early retirement age unheard of outside city employment -- keep making the same idiot moves?

Whenever I need an image of how NOT to do things (close a city block of desperately needed sidewalk on Calle 8 for 2 years to allow a developer to profit more) -- I only have to walk within a mile of my house to get images that show idiotic city design.

I hate to state these facts and state them in anger – but when my adopted hometown favors profit over people 99% of the time, the truth must be shared.