Silos

Photograph courtesy aggrowth.com

I’m writing here not about agricultural silos but the strikingly similar organizational silos. Merriam-Webster’s third definition of “silo” is

an isolated grouping, department, etc., that functions apart from others especially in a way seen as hindering communication and cooperation.

What I’m concerned about here is how different aspects of an accessibility project, or any undertaking for that matter, can be segregated into different entities, working against an integrated accessibility solution. An accessibility project at a transit station might belong to a transit agency, but the pathways to that station are the responsibility of, say, a local department of transportation. The funding for the accessibility project pays for the design at the station but not for pedestrian improvements required for safe access.

Approximate location of future Parkchester-Van Nest station. Photograph by Michael Cairl.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) recently announced the award of a contract to design and build Penn Station Access, bringing Metro North Railroad’s commuter trains along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor to Pennsylvania Station for the first time. Tracks and overhead electric power for the trains will be added, as will four new stations in the Bronx. For a lot of money this will give people in the East Bronx another transportation option and will be another baby step toward a regional commuter rail system. The new stations will comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) but there is no guarantee that station design elements that are problematic but ADA-compliant won’t result. See my previous post, “Armchairing.” In September 2021 I went to look at the sites of two of these stations: Parkchester-Van Nest (see my post “Central Bronx Mix No. 1” on the Other Walks Around Town page) and Co-Op City. My work assignment was to develop a work scope for the design of these two stations. The Parkchester-Van Nest station will be on a section of East Tremont Avenue approximately midway between traffic signals 0.5 mile (0.8 kilometer) apart. When I walked the site this looked like a ready-made speedway. The scope I prepared for the Parkchester-Van Nest station included a signalized intersection and crosswalk across East Tremont Avenue from the Parkchester housing complex to the station, and a bus lane at the station. This was deleted from the scope because (a) it was seen as adding to the bid cost, (b) it wasn’t included in the preliminary design, and (c) the street work was the responsibility of the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), not the agency awarding the contract, the MTA.

I’m quite willing to entertain a solution other than a signalized crossing here, as long as traffic is slowed to a safe enough speed that people of any ability can cross East Tremont Avenue safely. Let’s look at the best way to achieve this objective.

The site of the Co-Op City station is about a block from the end point of several bus lines. How will safe and accessible passage between the buses and the train station be implemented? The buses and trains are in the MTA’s jurisdiction but the bus stops and sidewalks belong to NYCDOT. One wonders.

The MTA and NYCDOT might well work together to create safe, accessible paths to the four new stations, and then they might not, for reasons ranging from cost to the boundary between the two agencies’ jurisdictions, to traffic engineers’ calculations of the impact on traffic flow. This is a clear example of siloing and disregards the fact that a complete, integrated project of this type has to be a safe and accessible one. Accessibility and safety cannot be add-ons, treated as checklists, or hoped for by the cooperation of separate entities. They have to be integral to the design and execution of the work, starting with conceptual design and continuing through regular operations.

Looking at this as an exercise in system engineering, let’s start by defining the system. The system is not just the train station. The system includes the train station, safe operation of local (Metro North) and express (Amtrak) trains through the station, and safe passage of the traveling public between the train and the side of the street opposite the station, and onward to connecting transportation (bus, taxi, ride share, paratransit). This has to be the system definition for projects of this type. Full stop. No exceptions.

Taking a system approach to accessibility is essential for the achievement of accessibility in public and private spaces. It requires the demolition of organizational silos. This requires different approaches to project organization and perhaps to project financing. So be it. Let’s organize accessibility about doing the right thing, not living with present organizational constraints and hoping for the best. We - professionals, advocates, elected officials, the general public - should accept nothing less. It is to this that I now devote my work.

"Armchairing”

I have taken the noun “armchair” and made of it a verb, “to armchair.” This came to me over years of activism and working for engineering firms and it means to devise programs and solutions from the comfort of one’s own chair, researching and applying accepted standards, not questioning the pertinence of these standards and not going out to see conditions first-hand or to engage with the people who will be the objects of one’s plans. I was once the chair of a stakeholder group looking to remove an elevated expressway on the Brooklyn waterfront to a tunnel. Later, I was one of the founders of the Grand Army Plaza Coalition, which worked to make a large roundabout and complex traffic junction in Brooklyn safe for all users. In both cases we had to work hard to get the engineers and planners to get away from their desks and walk the sites with us, and at least at Grand Army Plaza our efforts paid off. This is every bit the case in the field of accessibility.

New Utrecht Avenue subway station, N line, Brooklyn. Photograph by Michael Cairl.

This image is from one of the platforms at a subway complex in Brooklyn that was made accessible in 2019. Without a doubt every aspect of this accessibility project conforms to the letter of the Americans with Disability Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG). The ADAAG comprises hundreds of pages of standards about every part of an accessibility project, to the most minute detail. The ADAAG has value. The problem is not with the ADAAG as such but in how practitioners use it. The ADAAG becomes a checklist when it should be a set of minimums.

What’s wrong with what is shown here? A wheelchair user does not have a clear path to the elevator, out of view at the rear of the platform. Anyone wanting to go from the foreground of the photo to the elevator must get around at least the column in the foreground, and indeed the one behind it, on a tortuous path that is neither convenient nor safe. Making the structural changes needed for a clear path would have required eliminating at least the first column. This could have been done as part of the station rehabilitation. It might well have been expensive to do then but it would be a lot more expensive to make this change now. I am well aware that accessibility was one part of the rehabilitation of a station complex built in 1915 and 1916. Shouldn’t safety and accessibility be uppermost criteria for a project like this?

I don’t know whether the designers of this project visited the site. As long as the letter of the ADAAG was applied, the designers did what they were paid to do. This sounds harsh, and it is. I am sure not one person involved in the design of this project imagined themselves in a wheelchair in this station.

Another recent example of a facility that complies with the ADAAG but fails the accessibility test is the Hunters Point branch of the Queens Library. It is architecturally stunning inside and out, no question about it. But all parts of the library are not accessible for all users. Read all about it in two pieces: the first, about the architecture (https://architizer.com/projects/hunters-point-library/); the second, about the accessibility problems (https://ny.curbed.com/2019/10/4/20898755/hunters-point-library-queens-new-york-accessibility). Judge for yourself. Consider the Seattle Public Library’s Central Branch and the Bud Werner Memorial Library in Steamboat Springs, Colorado as outstanding examples of going beyond the guidelines.

Let me be clear: regardless of what is in the ADAAG, regardless of the architectural accolades that followed the Hunters Point library’s opening, it is unacceptable that all parts of the library are not accessible to all users. Full stop. Designers have a professional and moral obligation to ensure their work complies with the ADA and to go beyond that, to imagine themselves as users of a fully accessible facility and design accordingly.

Universal Accessibility is the term and the need. Armchairing works against universal accessibility.

In an upcoming post I’ll discuss the related issue of silos, where a project might originate with one agency and affect, or be affected by, another.

Zoning for Accessibility Update

On October 7, 2021 New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, the New York City Council, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced the approval of Elevate Transit: Zoning for Accessibility, a collaboration among the MTA, City Council, the Department of City Planning (DCP) and the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) to boost New York City’s push to make its transit system fully accessible. The initiative will allow the MTA to leverage planned private development to achieve a fully accessible transit system faster. The full press release from the MTA is at https://new.mta.info/press-release/icymi-new-york-city-adopts-zoning-rules-advance-transit-accessibility.

It’s about time. I posted about this proposal six months ago. This is a win for all people in New York, who will benefit from more accessible transit. This is a win for the MTA; zoning for accessibility will make it easier to make the transit system accessible. It is even a win for developers. For more information, follow this link: https://new.mta.info/accessibility/zoning-for-accessibility.

What if Disability Rights Were for Everyone?

Read this. Accessibility isn’t just ramps, elevators, and Braille signs. It’s not even just open, smart design. It’s certainly not treating laws and regulations such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as a checklist. Accessibility is acknowledging and embracing that all people are entitled to equal access to housing, employment, education, and the enjoyment of life. Everyone is entitled to be engaged, productive members of society. We need to bake that premise into everything we design, build, and do, so we don’t think about it, it’s just there as something we build upon. (Thanks to my friend Ben Treuhaft for this particular epiphany, among others.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/01/opinion/disability-rights-biden-us.html

Accessible Restaurant

Read this piece about a restaurant in New York that does more than just make mandated accommodations for disabled guests, but welcomes them (us). Following the mandates of the Americans with Disabilities Act is the minimum and should not be treated as a checklist. We have to open our minds, our imaginations, and bake accessibility into what we design, build, and do, so we don’t even think about it; it’s just there.

Thanks to my friend Lauri for sharing this.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/dining/contento-review-accessibility.html?smid=ig-nytcooking&utm_source=curalate_like2buy&utm_medium=curalate_like2buy_gnauQ5q1__d382d050-cb30-42db-8343-553aea38444c&crl8_id=d382d050-cb30-42db-8343-553aea38444c

Edith Prentiss (1952 - 2011)

Today the MTA unveiled a plaque honoring Edith Prentiss, a tireless advocate for accessibility and the rights of the disabled. This plaque is at the elevator from the street to the mezzanine at the 175 Street subway station (A train) in Manhattan. I only knew Edith from New York City Transit’s Advisory Committee on Transit Accessibility and I wish I had come to know her better. We need more people of sheer determination like her. I’ve attached the video of today’s unveiling ceremony.

Curb cuts (3)

Here are two street treatments less than a mile apart in the Bronx that could not be more different. The first one is at Webster Avenue and East 172 Street. The curb cut in the background leads not to the crosswalk but away from it. Years ago the City installed curb cuts like this to be minimally compliant with accessibility requirements. The result is just bad and could be fixed easily, including moving the lamppost away from a new curb cut. I chose just to step down from the curb into the crosswalk. For someone in a wheelchair, this is unsafe. The curb cut in the foreground is more recent.

The street treatment in the second image is one of two on the Grand Concourse south of Mount Eden Parkway. It is an inverse curb cut. Pedestrians and those in wheelchairs do not go from one level to another to cross the street. Vehicles turning onto the street must enter onto a raised, speed-reducing plate. This works for everybody and should be adopted more widely.

Zoning for Accessibility

This is a presentation by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the City of New York - Department of City Planning on zoning for accessibility improvements at subway stations in general, with particular application to Brooklyn Community District 6. Worth watching for the presentation and the Community Board’s feedback.

Accessibility Design at Houston METRO

The March 2021 issue of Mass Transit magazine has an article about the renovation of a transit center in Houston, Texas into a model of accessible design. Here’s an excerpt from the complete article that you can find at https://www.masstransitmag.com/technology/facilities/article/21213268/houston-metro-transforms-aging-transit-hub-into-flagship-facility. Note that Houston METRO’s principles of Universal Accessibility exceed ADA requirements - exactly the direction we need to take.

Houston METRO Evaluates 10 Concepts

In 2016, Houston METRO partnered with HNTB Corp. to provide planning, final design services and construction phase support for the $35-million expansion and improvement of the Northwest Transit Center. The federally-funded design-bid-build project included a National Environmental Policy Act phase, after which HNTB began design in spring 2017 and completed it in summer 2018.

“METRO required three design concepts,” said Vince Obregon, HNTB project manager, “but we had so many ideas and variations that we actually presented 10 concepts. The client selected three to develop further. From there, we arrived at the recommended alternative.”

“The recommended alternative included everything we wanted,” said Bridgette Towns, Houston METRO vice president of project management and engineering. “We liked its versatility, its welcoming atmosphere, the user-friendliness and it incorporated all eight of our Universal Accessibility principles.”

Design Incorporates Accessibility Goals

Improving patron access to all services had been a METRO priority for years. To advance that goal, Houston METRO developed and adopted eight principles of Universal Accessibility that exceed the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.

  1. Equitability: Everyone, regardless of ability, should be able to use the same environment.

  2. Flexibility: Services or facilities should accommodate a wide range of uses.

  3. Simplicity: Unnecessary complexity should be eliminated; the facility should be easy to use and understand.

  4. Perceptibility: The design should effectively communicate information regardless of the user’s sensory abilities.

  5. Mobility: Appropriate sizing and spacing should maximize mobility.

  6. Safety: Elements should be arranged to minimize hazards and provide warnings.

  7. Suitability: Everyone should be able to use the facility efficiently and comfortably.

  8. Usability: The environment, accessed by disabled or non-disabled patrons, should offer the same experience in effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction.

“Universal Accessibility not only includes those who are disabled but those patrons who ride their bicycles or walk to the transit center,” Towns said.

The new Northwest Transit Center would be the first of the agency’s facilities to incorporate all eight principles. A virtual reality model of the facility’s design helped Houston METRO visualize how patrons would interact with the new transit center.

"The virtual tour simulated the transit center access from a walking perspective and from a wheelchair, giving all patrons the experience regardless of their abilities” Obregon said.

“We were very pleased with the final design,” Towns said. “It is well-thought-out and addressed all our needs.”

A Capitol Idea!

Ramps and elevators and doorways aren’t nearly all of what accessibility is about but they’re often where accessibility starts. Listen to this great piece about the Colorado State Capitol being retrofitted to accommodate the state’s first wheelchair-bound legislator. Note how he says these changes will allow him to do his job. It’s about enabling full opportunity for a full life for all.

It's not just about what's built

We can have all kinds of accessibility features in our built environment but in a real sense it’s people’s attitudes that matter. Supportive attitudes give rise to more and better accessibility enhancements, and negative attitudes or outright selfishness can mitigate them.

Take the humble bus stop. Bus stops in my neighborhood in Brooklyn often are treated as lay-by or parking areas even though all are marked with ”No Standing” signs. On Jay Street in downtown Brooklyn, a bus stop near a major subway station routinely is occupied by for-hire vehicles waiting for fares, delivery trucks, and people picking up pizza. On Flatbush Avenue across from the Barclays Center arena, no-standing zones on both sides of the street are filled with cars driven by people picking up food from Shake Shack or, next door, Chick-Fil-A. Today we were waiting to board a bus at a stop where a car was parked, tailgate open, only the front passenger seat occupied. As our bus approached, three other people approached the car, no hurry at all, exchanging hugs, and I said to the driver “If I were in a wheelchair I could not board that bus.” One of the passengers said “Are you serious?” and the driver said “You only have to walk two feet out to get on” (it was in the travel lane, actually). No, I wasn’t in a wheelchair and I did board the bus, but suppose I had been in a wheelchair?

This is where built things, including signage, fall short. The police can’t enforce everything. People need to not be self-important, not be jerks. It’s a minor symptom of a cult of selfishness that is killing our society. With all due respect to Paul Krugman (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/opinion/us-republicans-coronavirus.html?searchResultPosition=1), it’s not just on the political right. Odds are the people parked iin the bus stop consider themselves “progressive.” Need to load or unload a vehicle? Put it somewhere else and walk a little bit farther. Spare a thought for those with disabilities. We all need to be mindful and responsible. And those of us in the disability community, don’t be shy. Speak out.