New Sidewalk Wheelchair Ramps in the City of Detroit where no one lives

[DetroitPole]

Alright, all this talk of "no one" and "no where" is pissing me off. Look, just because you don't live there, and the place is shelled out and frankly hideous doesn't mean some people don't live in the surrounding area. And a disproportionate amount of these people in poor neighborhoods are disabled.

"no one" or "no where" is usually code for "middle class white people don't live there anymore" and justification to just abandon an area.

"nobody uses" and "abandoned areas" - now those are pretty sweeping statements. Can you verifty "nobody" or complete abandonment? Because you can make that civil engineering call based on flying past those areas on I-94 going 80mph?

Frankly, from a practical sense, anything to get people to use the damn sidewalks in this city is a blessing. Walking in the street is dangerous and stupid. I live in a totally in-tact, safe neighborhood and we still have roving bands of youth [[negligent parents: do you know where your children are?) walking in the street for no other reason than to be defiant little shitheads.

In my opinion, sidewalks should be up to code. Everywhere.

[Goose]

Alright, all this talk of "no one" and "no where" is pissing me off. Look, just because you don't live there, and the place is shelled out and frankly hideous doesn't mean some people don't live in the surrounding area. And a disproportionate amount of these people in poor neighborhoods are disabled.

"no one" or "no where" is usually code for "middle class white people don't live there anymore" and justification to just abandon an area.

"nobody uses" and "abandoned areas" - now those are pretty sweeping statements. Can you verifty "nobody" or complete abandonment? Because you can make that civil engineering call based on flying past those areas on I-94 going 80mph?

Frankly, from a practical sense, anything to get people to use the damn sidewalks in this city is a blessing. Walking in the street is dangerous and stupid. I live in a totally in-tact, safe neighborhood and we still have roving bands of youth [[negligent parents: do you know where your children are?) walking in the street for no other reason than to be defiant little shitheads.

In my opinion, sidewalks should be up to code. Everywhere.

must EVERYTHING be about race.... if you look at the pic, it IS a sidewalk to nowhere - IT FREAKING ENDS TWO SLABS OUT FROM THE NEW AREA.....

[j to the jeremy]

must EVERYTHING be about race.... if you look at the pic, it IS a sidewalk to nowhere - IT FREAKING ENDS TWO SLABS OUT FROM THE NEW AREA.....

Only in one direction. The sidewalk going to the right must go somewhere. Honestly, I know it looks weird to have these curb cuts going in in desolate neighborhoods, but it's a Federal mandate. And it's one that's damn hard to argue with. DetroitPole is right, 100%. Many of the people who live where "no one" lives, are elderly or disabled. I guess it's their fault for sticking around...let's not give them adequate sidewalks for their wheelchairs...it's not like the streetlights are on anyways...

I've heard people complain about these ADA sidewalks for a few years now, and it usually ends with them complaining that it was the city's choice to put them in. That is false. So there's no issue here.

[illwill]

Alright, all this talk of "no one" and "no where" is pissing me off. Look, just because you don't live there, and the place is shelled out and frankly hideous doesn't mean some people don't live in the surrounding area. And a disproportionate amount of these people in poor neighborhoods are disabled.

"no one" or "no where" is usually code for "middle class white people don't live there anymore" and justification to just abandon an area.

"nobody uses" and "abandoned areas" - now those are pretty sweeping statements. Can you verifty "nobody" or complete abandonment? Because you can make that civil engineering call based on flying past those areas on I-94 going 80mph?

Frankly, from a practical sense, anything to get people to use the damn sidewalks in this city is a blessing. Walking in the street is dangerous and stupid. I live in a totally in-tact, safe neighborhood and we still have roving bands of youth [[negligent parents: do you know where your children are?) walking in the street for no other reason than to be defiant little shitheads.

In my opinion, sidewalks should be up to code. Everywhere.

I abosolutely agree Detroitpole. You're 100% correct. This was a stupid comment by a selfish person and I'm surprised no one else said something earlier in the post.

[JBMcB]

Alright, all this talk of "no one" and "no where" is pissing me off. Look, just because you don't live there, and the place is shelled out and frankly hideous doesn't mean some people don't live in the surrounding area. And a disproportionate amount of these people in poor neighborhoods are disabled.

Personally, my problem isn't that they are bringing up the sidewalk ramps to code. My problem is they are spending all this money bringing the ramps to code when there are large swaths of sidewalk that aren't suitable for walking on, much less accessible to people with impairments.

If you want the sidewalks to be accessible, you start by making sure the sidewalks themselves are safe, instead of fixing the angle of attack on ramps. I understand the federal mandate and lawsuit and all that - it's the inefficiency of top-down, centralized, one-size-fits-all governing that bothers me.

[wolverine]

Can you verifty "nobody" or complete abandonment?

Yes.

In fact there are ares in the city with up to 10 contiguous blocks of abandonment. Wish I could post some visuals and data, but I can't do that. Guess you'll have to take my word.

This is why the city wants to be cut some slack. We all know there are spots that will have a grand total of zero population on a city block, and the block across from that. I'd rather see no investment in the unoccupied block, and new sidewalks placed in front places like bus stops. But since you don't seem to believe entirely empty blocks exist, I won't bother to go any further on this.

In my opinion, sidewalks should be up to code. Everywhere.

Cool, you wanna pay for it? If yes, we can choose the most desolate street corner and engrave your name in it lol!

Let's be rational here, the city has lost over half of its population. "Everywhere" may have places in the middle of nowhere.

Again, I'd rather have seen this money spent on improving handicapped access at bus stops or at busy street intersections. The place people will need assistance the most.

[animatedmartian]

In fact there are ares in the city with up to 10 contiguous blocks of abandonment. Wish I could post some visuals and data, but I can't do that. Guess you'll have to take my word.

Here's a few examples.

http://g.co/maps/mr8ry

http://g.co/maps/p4n98

http://g.co/maps/qca2n

http://g.co/maps/u36fu

Another thing is that these images are probably a year or two old ... If I'm disabled and live in these areas, I'd hope my wheel chair has all wheel drive. If I'm blind, fuggedaboutit.