A month before activist Harry Wieder was tragically struck and killed by a taxi, he sent a 26-paragraph email to the city's Department of Transportation (DOT) telling the agency that parking and transportation regulations were progressively making his life more difficult.
Wieder, a paraparetic dwarf who drove a car for 40 years, said the rise of pedestrian malls on public streets prevent drivers with disabilities from directly accessing sidewalks, and that an increase in "No Standing" and "No Stopping" signs in the past few years have blocked parking at places including Lincoln Center, the Stonewall Bar and the West 47th Street Diamond District, where his family works.
“When I saw the Public Theater's production of The Pirate of Penzance at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, I could park easily right at the entrance at Central Park West and West 81st Street,” Wieder wrote.
“Thirty years later, when I saw the revivals of Hair and Uncle Vanya, I discovered that I could only park in front of a house of worship.”
Wieder addressed the letter to Margaret Forgione, Manhattan Borough Commissioner for the DOT. He titled it, “Focusing Right Now On Just One Upstanding New Yorker's Progressive Shut-Out, Because Sometimes Just One Upstanding New Yorker Needs To Matter The Most.”
In the letter, Wieder also discussed parking difficulties around New York University, concerns about the future 34th Street Tramway, disapproval that less than three percent of taxis are accessible and only one in five subway stations contain elevators, lack of reliability from Access-A-Ride and the limited number of wheelchair spaces on buses.
“Accessible buses supply only one or two wheelchair spaces, which is only good if the disabled person is a loner or finds himself just one companion to travel with,” Wieder wrote.
“It is not good, let’s say, if there is a major gathering of people with disabilities -- a wedding, a funeral, a fundraiser, whatever -- and everyone is headed towards the same destination.”
Wieder also used the letter to make jokes and tell childhood anecdotes about wearing “the heaviest orthopedic shoes one can imagine” in the early 1970s, and learning to drive in a parking lot for the Horowitz and Margareten matzoh factory in Long Island City when he was 17.
Wieder summarized his points by writing, “And should all of the above accessibility problems clear up in my lifetime, I could very well be one of the strongest advocates for car drivers with disabilities to be much less dependent on their vehicles and may even become supportive of much of what you guys are currently doing. But I see no real movement to eliminate those problems from any relevant agency.”
“DOT needs finally to engage in intensive, painful soul-searching regarding its mission and ethos where it, in effect, segregates or unduly burdens New Yorkers with disabilities in all aspects of transportation.”
The DOT did not respond to requests for comment.
Marvin Wasserman, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, said that drivers with Special Vehicle Identification (SVI) permits, such as Wieder, are prohibited from parking where there are “No Standing Anytime” signs, but are allowed to park in front of “No Parking” or “No Standing” signs.
“The problem is that valid parking for SVI permit holders is rapidly diminishing, as bike lanes, Bus Rapid Transit and other DOT initiatives create far more ‘No Standing Anytime’ regulations,” Wasserman said.
“People in the community who have SVI permits find that due to these changing regulations they have fewer and fewer places to park legally, making far more difficult their ability to fully participate in the community.”
Sylvia Friedman, an SVI-permit driver, former New York State Assemblywoman of the 74th District and former Co-Director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled in New York, agreed with Wieder’s concerns.
“I run into the same problems that Harry did,” Friedman said about “No Standing Anytime” signs. “It’s all part of the mayor’s plan to have fewer cars and more pedestrians. But for those of us who can’t walk, that’s a problem.”
Friedman said she is no longer able to park at Lincoln Center. She was also unable to park at a recent 504 Democratic Club party at the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge and had to ask a friend to put her car in the garage for her.
“I think that this move to eliminating parking spaces as a way to reduce the number of cars is a real problem, not only for people with disabilities but in terms of transportation in general,” Friedman said, citing a slow-down in traffic around pedestrian malls in particular. Wieder also had trouble parking at the Marriott.
“In fact, last summer, the National Little People of America organization had its annual conference at the Brooklyn Marriott on Adams Street, but because parking for people with SVI permits could only be found on a Sunday five blocks away, across a very dangerous boulevard at Brooklyn Heights, I did not attend,” he wrote.
Friedman ended her comments by saying she used to be in constant contact with Wieder to discuss issues such as these, and she feels lost without him.
This article was published in the June 2010 issue of Able News. Click here to read page one in PDF format and click here to read page two.
Comments