Closing Bell: Curb Cuts for the Stroller Mafia?
While we’ve been known to disapprove of brownstone curb cuts for front-yard parking purposes, it struck us yesterday that the curb areas at the cross-walks on the Fort Greene Park side of Dekalb could really use some attention. It’s one thing to get your stroller up over the curb, another to then have your wheels…
While we’ve been known to disapprove of brownstone curb cuts for front-yard parking purposes, it struck us yesterday that the curb areas at the cross-walks on the Fort Greene Park side of Dekalb could really use some attention. It’s one thing to get your stroller up over the curb, another to then have your wheels get stuck in the bBelgian bricks blocks.
The only reason they are hard to navigate is that they are spaced too far apart.. from generations of unscrupulous contractors taking them home for their patios. If they were packed as close together as they were originally, you could navigate them just fine in something like a stroller.
Also points off for not capitalizing “Belgian.”
Bottom line, as cool as this detail is, it is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and will, I presumably, be corrected sometime in the next few years pursuant to a settlement reached between the City and the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association (or whatever they changed their name to.)
Oh, for f–k’s sake, people, relax. It’s a totally legit idea to propose curb cuts for strollers, wheelchairs, whatever. Huge deal? No. But legit. And it could be done without paving over the stones with asphalt.
Also legit would be to ask Parks to restore those Belgian Blocks (who knew?) to something resembling a flat surface that people could walk on. Right now they’re rutted, as if the police had been driving on the sidewalks for about a century.
Better still: For Parks to fence off portions of the grass in the park periodically so it might recover, as they do in Central Park, and maybe to plant a flower here or there. Not to dog Parks too badly, though–they are spending money on the park, and the commish himself told me at an event that they plan to spend a lot more. And the scaffolding is halfway off the monument! Would be nice if they could pick up the pace a bit….
Why would anyone disapprove of curb cuts at corner/intersections?? – I can think of absolutely no reason (again not referring to curb cuts mid-block for parking cars)
I agree- can you imagine the city actually making curb cuts so that disabled people can wheel across intersections – those lazy cripples in their wheelchairs, they should just WALK across the street or stay home!!!
“While we’ve been known to disapprove of brownstone curb cuts,”
You disapprove of the handicap and the elderly being able to cross the street. Or you disapprove anything that would help a parent wheel their child across the street. So you wouldn’t be happy until someone gets stuck in the street then sideswiped by a car.
You always comment that its the “stroller mafia,” but I know of a few folks who have wheelchairs and scooters who are unable to navigate these corners. It’s far worse for these folks, that people like me, who are physically able to lift the stroller over the curb.
Without being too PC, can you not this for the future.
Thx
Oh, yeah, let’s get rid of all the attractive old school Brooklyn character and lay down some asphalt/cement when it’s more convenient for Mr. Brownstoner. That seems consistent with everything we’ve ever read here about what a shame it is to not salvage every piece of every house/building put in place before 1950.
Pick up the damn stroller or don’t have a kid.
Yeah I’d put this up there as a close #3 in priorities after world peace and global warming…