Downtown ponders how to become more wheelchair-friendly
Published Friday August 15th, 2008
A Queen Street skateboarding store smoothed the way for a couple of its customers to have a wheelchair-accessible entrance to its store.
It didn't take a lot of cash and there was no reason not to do it, said Matt MacLean, manager of East Side Board Supply at 520 Queen St. "The entrance was originally a ground-floor entrance, aside from a one-inch bump," MacLean said.
Technically, a wheelchair can negotiate up to a three-inch rise, but since the store was renovating its front entryway, it seemed the right thing to do to make it easier for its regular customers - some of whom are disabled - to have greater accessibility to the store, MacLean said.
"It wasn't too bad. The owner did it himself after hours and it wasn't overly expensive," MacLean said.
The Canadian Paraplegic Association (N.B.) Inc. will soon be sending out letters to other downtown businesses with suggestions on how to make their businesses more accessible.
The Measure Up project is just starting to gear up and businesses will receive their accessibility survey results within the next four weeks or so, said Haley Flaro, executive director of the group.
Businesses that have already taken steps to improve accessibility will be acknowledged, she said.
Downtown Fredericton Inc. general manager Bruce McCormack said most downtown businesses are more than willing to do what they can to become wheelchair friendly.
It just makes good business sense, he said.
"But everyone in historic downtowns have a problem," McCormack said.
Older buildings in older downtowns all across New Brunswick are built right up to the public-right-of-way. Many are built with steps and it's difficult to reconfigure entrances without encroaching on the city's sidewalk.
"The city won't let you put even a temporary ramp in," McCormack said.
That's because the municipality is concerned obstacles such as extended ramps might protrude onto the sidewalk and impede pedestrian movement.
Some downtown business owners would have to completely change the facade of their buildings and that could gobble up a lot of money for major structural alterations, he said.
"We've met with their group (the paraplegic association) as a board and looked at their report and agreed to do whatever we can do to make our properties accessible within reason," McCormack said.
Downtown Fredericton - which represents and levies an annual fee on merchants within the city's downtown business improvement area - uses some of its cash to fund a facade improvement program which can help with accessibility costs.
In the group's shopping and dining guide, it has identified all the properties that are wheelchair accessible, McCormack said.
Anything less than a three-inch lip at a doorway can be negotiated by a wheelchair. Anything higher is an obstacle, McCormack said.
In the downtown, public buildings such as banks, provincial and federal buildings are accessible, McCormack said.
"If it's feasible, in most cases, people are more than happy to do it," he said.
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