Thursday, January 14, 2010

Denville Hates Handicapped People

Recently, it came to pass that I was made aware of a handicapped pedestrian access issue along the main street of my town of Denville, New Jersey. The handicap parking spot is three or four parking spots east of the curb cut (the only access to the sidewalk for wheelchairs). This forces the person in the wheelchair to wheel in the street in order to reach it. There is a real danger of being backed into and ran over by parked cars that one is forced to pass should they back up and not be able to see the person in the wheelchair.

So I sent an email to the mayor of Denville in November. I did not receive a reply, not even an acknowledgment of his receipt of the email. Maybe I should have sent a second. But I'm not inclined to politely beg for my elected officials' attention. So I made this video:





The mayor's reply (ten days later, accused the video of having 'unfair connotations'. I think the mayor is giving my editing skills too much credit. No 'connotations' here, no fancy editing; simply a front-line view of Denville from The Chair. He promises, "We will investigate the area you mentioned. We would be glad to upgrade those areas that might be deficient." The mayor, albeit somewhat defensive, is a decent sort, so maybe they will. We'll see.