adrian_turtle (
adrian_turtle) wrote in
accessibility_fail2010-12-28 04:24 pm
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clearing snow from sidewalks
We just had the first major snowstorm since my town passed more rigorous laws requiring property-owners to clear their sidewalks. It's a real improvement. It looks like 3/4 of the sidewalks have been shoveled, and half have been shoveled really well (as wide as the sidewalk, clear down to pavement, with a path cut through the drift at the busstop.) It's not enough...I know that having FEWER impassable barriers between me and where I want to go is really no solution at all.
In places where hardly anybody clears their sidewalks, it's really hard to complain when a particular uncleared section is making my life difficult. It feels like I'm exposing a hidden disability, demanding special privileges, being generally unreasonable. (That's what it feels like, at least.) If sidewalks are mostly getting cleared, it starts to feel like there's a cultural expectation that they're supposed to be cleared. Knowing that expectation is there in the background among my neighbors is valuable to me, and it makes it a lot easier for me to speak up about the uncleared sections.
Easier. Not actually EASY. (That's why I'm posting about it here, in hope that you'll back me up and tell me I'm not being at all unreasonable to complain.) The new CVS in Arlington, MA had their parking lot plowed, and cleared a little path (maybe 18" wide) from the parking lot to the front door. Most of the sidewalk in front of their building and lawn is covered with deep snow. Their neighbors cleared their sections of sidewalk, but there's no safe way to cross the street in the middle of the block. I tried to talk to the store manager about it this morning (almost 24 hours after the end of the storm.) She said she had no control over the snow removal, and suggested I contact headquarters. When I talked to CVS HQ (800-746-7287), I waited on hold for over 10 minutes, then tried to alert them to the problem (with store #278, at 833 Mass Ave, in Arlington, MA). The person I talked to gave me the option of an anonymous complaint, or giving him a bunch of information about my CVS loyalty card and the reasons I shop at CVS, so he could follow up with my complaint. I'm feeling a bit dubious about the whole project.
In places where hardly anybody clears their sidewalks, it's really hard to complain when a particular uncleared section is making my life difficult. It feels like I'm exposing a hidden disability, demanding special privileges, being generally unreasonable. (That's what it feels like, at least.) If sidewalks are mostly getting cleared, it starts to feel like there's a cultural expectation that they're supposed to be cleared. Knowing that expectation is there in the background among my neighbors is valuable to me, and it makes it a lot easier for me to speak up about the uncleared sections.
Easier. Not actually EASY. (That's why I'm posting about it here, in hope that you'll back me up and tell me I'm not being at all unreasonable to complain.) The new CVS in Arlington, MA had their parking lot plowed, and cleared a little path (maybe 18" wide) from the parking lot to the front door. Most of the sidewalk in front of their building and lawn is covered with deep snow. Their neighbors cleared their sections of sidewalk, but there's no safe way to cross the street in the middle of the block. I tried to talk to the store manager about it this morning (almost 24 hours after the end of the storm.) She said she had no control over the snow removal, and suggested I contact headquarters. When I talked to CVS HQ (800-746-7287), I waited on hold for over 10 minutes, then tried to alert them to the problem (with store #278, at 833 Mass Ave, in Arlington, MA). The person I talked to gave me the option of an anonymous complaint, or giving him a bunch of information about my CVS loyalty card and the reasons I shop at CVS, so he could follow up with my complaint. I'm feeling a bit dubious about the whole project.
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"My manager will tell you the same thing I'm telling you, so I'm not going to get my manager."
"I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to tell me that."
"Well I'm telling you that."
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It didn't occur to me to suspect they were actively trying to shunt me off and ignore me, when I walked into the store this morning and asked the first employee I found, "Good morning. May I please speak with your manager?"
Her response: "I'm on the team. How can I help you?"
I explained the problem with snow clearing, and she convinced me that she sympathized, but was powerless to do anything about it. Well, yes. That's why I asked to talk to the manager. She convinced me there wasn't anybody on site who could help me, and the only way to get anything done was to call HQ. In retrospect, I don't know if she meant the store manager didn't have the authority to deal with snow removal, that the store manager wasn't in the building and wouldn't want to talk to me (so go away), or that the store was managed remotely (from HQ).
It's been almost 10 years since Walgreens did something really outrageously offensive to me. Maybe I should change my prescriptions over. *sigh*
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For what it's worth, I've only ever once had one negative experience with the Rite Aid in Davis Square, and that was because the pharmacy was so overwhelmed one afternoon that they brought the regular cashiers to work pharmacy. But for the most part I find that to be a very pleasant place to pick up my prescriptions.
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I used to be in retail management so it's a problem I know all too well. Often I'd be the ONLY managers employees would refer issues to, because they knew I was the only one who wouldn't get mad at THEM for allowing a customer to (gasp) actually speak to me.
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Last year I complained to the owners of Menotomy Beer and Wine about how they only cleaned access from the parking lot and they didn't do a good job shoveling their sidewalks and their curb cut. They apologized, and promised to do better. As of yesterday, they had done better than usual, but still not good enough for real accessibility -- but that was early, only a few hours after the snow had stopped falling. I figured I would check on them again later this week and complain if they haven't fixed it.
I'd like to say that your best bet is complaining to the town to see if they ticket the offenders, both business and residential, but I'm not sure if they will. God knows the town needs the revenue, so they might.
Now, as may be evident from the reference to "Menotomy beer and wine" above, I have a vested interest in more people around here complaining. So I hope you do, but that doesn't mean it's the best thing for you.
Yesterday when I was going out after the storm I started making up the hypothetical post I'll never actually make, with lessons in shoveling for people who AREN'T douche bags, but just don't understand accessibility. Things like "I know it's easier to shovel a path to the street somewhere other than the curb cut, because the plows cover the curb cut with about 7 feet of snow, but by not shoveling out the curb cut you are one of the reasons that people with mobility problems have to spend the entire winter indoors."
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That "combination of health and financial duress" is presumably because the fine is only $25/day, and you can get a kid to shovel your walk around here for $30. So basically, if you can show that you can neither shovel it yourself nor afford to $30 to pay local kid to do it, you can get out of paying the fine.
(I physically can't shovel my walk either, so I usually end up paying the local kid $30. Although this year my neighbor did it for me, because he's a sweetheart.)
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Was just one of those things, they pop up and make me curious. Thanks for explaining.
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That's very true for me. It's not just that businesses have somebody there at predictable times. It feels more like they're set up to interact with the public--I don't feel like I'm intruding on somebody who just wants to mind their own business and be left alone. If they wanted to mind their own business, they wouldn't have a business in the first place.
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I'd try another call to CVS, and describe it as a fire hazard. (Hey, in a fire people would have trouble exiting quickly.) Or as a maintenance issue.
It's warming up here so I decided to risk it and schedule no paratransit rides tomorrow. I'm on my own! Wish me luck. The hardest thing is boarding the bus from the gutter, when the ramp tilts at maximum.
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