Disability and Urbanism: The Rise and Fall of the accessible American City

 Today is Friday, November 6, 2020. Not that it is important but in a nod to Star Trek I thought I would put a stardate. I am not going to write on Thursdays unless something big comes up in terms of news.

To get a scope of what we are talking about tonight we first have to define what it means to be urban. This may seem simple but it is not, I will give it my best shot by using the American Sociological Society's definition. "It
is a densely populated downtown area" The adjective urban can describe the people who populate these areas. The adjective of being urban can carry a negative connotation with it. 

Why does the definition matter? Definitions matter in my disciple because it gives us a scope of which to work and today the scope in which we are working is in this above-stated ideas of densely populated areas. There are some cities like Chicago and Tampa Bay that are beacons of accessibility and other cities like Boston and Louisville/Cincinnati that really drop the ball. 

When we talk about disability and urbanism it is always shoehorned with the idea of great public transit. This is the basis of this argument. A city with solid public transportation is a good foundation for accessibility. This, of course, comes with a few caveats and exceptions it is not a hard and fast rule like always and that will be addressed later. First, let's address the good. Chicago Illinois and for the record, I would not be a good sociologist if I did not mention Chicago at every opportunity. Chicago is the birthplace of American Sociology and has truly come to define urban sociology as a disciple. With that being said I personally would never live there although the L trains have become the centerpiece to the most successful and accessible public transportation system in North America. It begs the question of what makes Chicago the most successful? The answer is quite simple and it begins and ends with this, Chicago invested time and money into making the transportation system accessible for all. The reason for doing this of course was not exactly because they wanted to help out disabled people. It is mostly because they had a goal to reduce carbon emissions from the city and the best way to do this was to have fewer cars on city streets. You can get anywhere in Chicago on a train or bus that is accessible and this includes the Chicagoland area that can take you all the way up into Gary, Indiana. 

Sometimes, it takes action to induce change and that is what happened earlier this year in Hartford, Connecticut where the State's Transportation Authority was sued for noncompliance with Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Which is the rights to goods and services. The lawsuit alleged that over seventy-five percent of tram stops on the Hartford Transportation lines were not up to the ADA standard. Most of these stations were only accessible by the stairwell, there was also no Braille or auditory cues present for visually impaired riders. Instead of seeking damages, the plaintiffs called for the state to invest in the accessibility of the tram lines. The state pledged over one hundred million dollars into the tram system all allocated toward accessibility efforts. 

Then again there are the places that will never get it and hide behind legal loopholes to stifle progress. Boston will not add ramps to some of its train stations because the train stations are listed on the Massachusetts registry of historic places. As a history teacher, I love the state registry of historic places program but we can't be naming every single brick building in an urban area to the registry to ignore progress. 

Louisville's excuse is less creative than that, The Kentucky Tourism Board flat admitted they ran out of money halfway through it tram revisited program and didn't want to burden the people of Northern Kentucky with another temporary tax hike to finish. The KYTB has since resumed the program in 2018 with a target completion date of 2023. This was only after complaints from Louisvillians that the tram system was once again becoming a black eye on the region. 

What can we learn from this, we can learn that if a state, county, or city ask for a quarter of a percent sales tax increase to help the transportation system we take it. That however can open its own can of issues which lays in gentrification and gentrification or revitalization has become synonymous with the displacement of the disabled community living on a fixed income so it can also be dangerous. Proceed with Caution. 

As always, Stay Safe and God Bless