The Irving Daily News
Thursday, November 13, 1986

[Headline] Curb cut policy called 'slap in the face'

continued...

Installation of the ramps would cost utility companies $300-500 over the costs of the work being done, he said. The city would have to change the present ordinance if utility companies are expected to install the ramps, he said.

The additional costs arise in most cases because both utility companies and the city tear out only a portion of the sidewalk corner. In order to install a ramp, 14-15 feet of the corner must be torn out, said Lewis Patrick, director of Public Works.

But Thomas and other handicapped representatives present at the meeting said some action must be taken by the city, either to change its policy or correctly interpret the policy.

“It is the ultimate in stupidity and asininity to tear down a structure and re-create it with as much of a barrier for the disabled as existed before,” Thomas said.

The lack of action by the city is a “slap in the face, a spit in the face and the ultimate insult,” he said. “It says to the handicapped, ‘We don’t want you around.’ Without the ramps, transportation does us no good.”

Thomas said every corner in the city without a curb cut needs to have a ramp installed. His argument apparently was convincing to City Council members, who agreed to look into the current ordinance to see if changes are needed.

“It appears to me as time goes on whether we choose to accept or resist changes, they’re going to come about,” Councilman Jack Nulty said. “It would behoove the city in the long run to try to be ahead of the game and lay the curbs. It is inevitable that it will have to be done because of the growth in the handicapped population."

Nulty said that any work being done on a curb at an intersection warrants installation of a ramp. The city can come up with the extra funding that will be needed, he said.

Council members agreed that the ordinance could bear some examination.

“We need to look into an ordinance change so that the curb can be done right while we‘re already doing the work,” Councilwoman Fran Bonilla said.

Created on

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Posted on

Monday 29 February 2016

Tags

cost, curb cut policy, Danny Thomas, Irving TX, maintenance, ordinance, sidewalks, utilities

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