Once again, black wins over white - and 2 dimensional thinking succeeds in the face of the future.
Wiley Drive will be closed.
Which is understandable, considering the nature of the issue. However, there is always a middle ground.
Yes, the park - the picnic area - the low-water bridge, all of it - is now off limits to the disabled.
I think we could have done better than that.
Parks and Rec is still going to use some sort of road to get to the inner parts of the park - be it the greenway, or a remnant of Wiley - we should keep that option open for the Handicapped. We do it on Mill Mountain, with the access road to the zoo open as an option for the handicapped, we can damn well do it in the parks.
And we need to. The closest someone in a wheelchair can get to the water itself is the low water bridge.
I'm not disappointed, I actually find myself still hopeful that at some point during the process of the bench cut, someone will speak up and the access needed by the handicapped will be kept.
If not, well - then I'll be disappointed.
2 comments:
Just to clarify: Not all of Wiley Drive will be closed. It's the stretch from the parking lot at Wasena Park's west end to where Wasena Bridge passes overhead (by the skatepark).
The stretch from the skatepark through Smith Park to RMH will remain open.
I think you knew this already, but it wasn't entirely clear from the blog posting.
I do think a lot more people will get fired up about this once the bench cutting starts and the trees start to come down.
I have some great pictures and video from Sunday's rally at Wasena Park on my blog. It is something to remember as a "before" part one then later an "after" part two. I attended the meeting last night and the rally Sunday.
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