By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Mark S. Edwards uses ski poles to boost his wheelchair
over Honolulu curbs that block access.
A matter
of access
Spurred by a lawsuit, the city
By Jim Witty
will step up its access program
Star-BulletinFor most people, curb ramps rank right up there with standard roadway slope or the internal workings of the average signal light. You just don't give them much thought. But for Jim McConnell, Mark Edwards and some 31,000 other Oahu residents who rely on wheelchairs, walkers, crutches or other aids to get around, sidewalk accessibility is a daily focus. And a perpetual humbug.
"Being able to walk down a street is something people really take for granted," said McConnell, who has been using a wheelchair since an automobile accident in 1980 cost him the use of his legs. "It's frustrating. We need to use the sidewalks the same reason you need to use the sidewalks. I must have walked up hundreds of curb ramps before the accident and never knew the curb was missing. Then I got into a wheelchair."
What the retired Navy senior chief petty officer encountered in downtown Honolulu was a patchwork maze of substandard or nonexistent curb cuts that made navigating city streets an undesirable adventure. An intersection without a ramp onto the sidewalk meant a detour of at least a block, usually more.
Last week, the city settled a federal lawsuit filed by McConnell and Edwards that requires the installation of curb ramps at all Honolulu intersections within the next eight years. The city has 21 months to develop a plan, plus six years to implement it. The pair sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
The city has appointed Nick Kakaroukas, an architect in the managing director's office, as coordinator of the study of its 16,000 intersections. Under the law, however, many rural intersections will be excluded from the requirement, according to city officials.
Besides criticizing the sidewalks where there are no ramps, McConnell and Edwards complain that many existing ramps are too steep or force wheelchairs to maneuver into traffic in order to make a proper approach.
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Jim McConnell has nowhere to go as this wheelchair sidewalk access leads straight into the car's path. The car has stopped where it is supposed to, behind the crosswalk. The problem is that the wheelchair access was cut behind the crosswalk and leads into the traffic lane.
"Many of the curb cuts right now are so steep that they're a hazard," said Edwards, who was injured 12 years ago in a motorcycle crash. "Others you have to go out into the street in traffic to get up the curb cut. People drive so fast around here that they don't stop and think."Edwards, 38, has devised a way to bypass the ramps using ski poles to boost the wheelchair over the curb and onto the sidewalk. He pops a wheelie and uses the poles to push the chair up and over.
But the Edwards technique requires a great deal of strength and is not the solution for most people with disabilities, he admits.
On a recent tour of downtown Honolulu intersections, Edwards plowed his way up and over curbs using his novel approach; McConnell was stymied by several barriers.
He had no way to cross at Maunakea and King streets, where curbs obstructed his passage at all four corners. Another curb at Smith and King streets proved impassable.
Similar situations exist in Kaneohe, Kapolei, Pearl City and Kailua, said attorney Stanley Levin, who represented Edwards and McConnell. The settlement calls for the city to focus on urban areas during the first three years and then branch out into residential neighborhoods, Levin said.
City officials have been installing curb ramps around the city since the 1980s, so the settlement is not difficult to live with, said Robert Fishman, city managing director.
"The lawsuit gives the city an opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to individuals with disabilities," said Fishman. "It's part of what we've been doing. We're going to follow the law right down to the letter."
Which could be a challenge in some places, especially in the heart of downtown Honolulu where old buildings were built close to the road, leaving precious little space for a curb cut.
"We're going to have to be very creative," Fishman said.
Levin and Fishman estimated the cost of each curb ramp at $3,000 to $5,000. Fishman predicted that the city will end up spending between $10 million and $16 million on the curb cut project in the next eight years. Levin noted that Philadelphia spent at least $20 million bringing that city into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The city has tentatively set aside $1.1 million for the project during the next fiscal year, Fishman said.
It's an essential expense, argued McConnell.
"Government is expensive," he said. "This is not about cement, curb ramps or catch basins. It's about people."
Similar lawsuits are pending in Maui and Hawaii counties, Levin said.
In addition, numerous private businesses in Hawaii have been sued since the advent of the Disabilities Act, which mandated equal access to those with disabilities.
"A lot of people just take for granted that once you are in a wheelchair, you live a limited life," McConnell said. "But limits are man-made."
