In recent years, the towns along Route 1 between D.C. and the Beltway have put time, effort, and money into becoming safer and more accessible for pedestrians and cyclists. However, when “Science of the City” started asking our neighbors how things were going for people with disabilities, we learned that safety and access didn’t just depend on how spaces and buildings were designed, but also on how well they are maintained.
In response to questions posted to the HOPE (Hyattsville Organization for a Positive Environment) listserv on Aug. 18, locals most commonly criticized the Hyattsville Post Office on Gallatin Street, which was built in 1935, for its inaccessible design. Though its parking lot offers an accessible parking space, you can only enter via a stone stairway. There is no ramp or elevator.
Some much newer spaces that were built to be more accessible still have design flaws that make them hazardous for people with disabilities.
For example, Charlene Johnson, 78, a clinical psychologist who uses a wheelchair, said that in mid-August, she nearly got clawed in the face by a bear. The blue, life-sized sculpture is in Bear Square, in The Station at Riverdale Park off of Route 1.
“I was trying to maneuver between the sculpture and a sign they had put in the middle of the sidewalk,” she said. “Fortunately, I didn’t get hurt because the sides of my old, bulky wheelchair are wider than I am. Someone in a sleeker wheelchair or an electric scooter could have been seriously injured. ”
Johnson believes that before a project is completed, its architects and builders should go through it or on crutches or in a wheelchair, while there is still time to make changes. “Able-bodied people usually take mobility for granted,” she said, “but things that look accessible on paper can be exhausting or nerve-racking if you’re elderly, someone with a disability, or even an athlete with a broken leg.”
The problem is that the sharp steel claws on the bear’s right paw reach past the sculpture’s base and extend 9 inches out over the sidewalk. The Americans with Disabilities Act considers this a protrusion; such protrusions are usually the greatest risk for people with vision problems, because they’re hard to detect with a cane. But at 4 feet, 5 inches off the ground, the bear’s claws are the perfect height to spear a child in the face, or cut someone in a wheelchair. There’s also evidence to suggest that Johnson was not the first person or object to encounter this threat. The paint on the bear’s left claws, which don’t extend beyond its concrete base, is in perfect condition. The paint on its protruding claws is chipped off in several places.
Members of the HOPE listserv also sent photos and reports of various obstructions to sidewalks that are supposed to have a clear space of 4 feet wide. These included utility poles right in the middle of sidewalks near the intersection of Church Place and Hamilton Street, and several fire hydrants sticking straight up through the sidewalk on the east side of Route 1, south of Queensbury Road.
In addition to permanent obstructions, inadequate maintenance can also create barriers. Hyattsville resident Alexi Boado described the sidewalk on Queens Chapel Road between Madison Street and Manorwood Drive as tough going for people with handicaps because it is often blocked with bushes that grow through homeowners’ fences. Boado noted that there may be some confusion over whether the Maryland State Highway Administration or Hyattsville Code Enforcement is responsible for keeping the sidewalk clear. Boado said, however, that when he emails City Councilmember Edouard Haba (Ward 4), the bushes get cut back.
And, the Hyattsville Municipal Building is an unfortunate example of a seemingly properly designed facility that is only partly accessible. The elevator to the second and third floors has been out of service since early July, which means that, as of press time, the offices of the police, the mayor and other departments could only be reached by the stairs.
An Aug. 25 Hyattsville Aging in Place (HAP) meeting in the municipal building featured staff from U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey’s office, who came to discuss how President Donald Trump’s decisions at the federal level were impacting senior citizens. However, when the topic turned to local issues, HAP Program Coordinator Rosanna Weaver explained that several of her members wanted Ivey’s help in alerting the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) that its July redesign of all the bus routes was a real burden.
Renee Robinson, who lives in the Friendship Arms Apartments, on 42nd Avenue, told “Science of the City” that the new changes to the bus routes have made accessing the Mall at Prince George’s much more difficult. Robinson uses a heavy-duty electric wheelchair, and the bus that picked her up near her apartment building used to stop on the northwest side of East-West Highway/Maryland 410, near Target — giving her relatively easy access to it and other stores at the mall. However, the new route goes directly to the Hyattsville Crossing Metro station on the southeast side of 410, providing access to the mall via the pedestrian bridge that rises about 30 feet above the highway.
“The big problem is that the elevators on both sides of the pedestrian bridge have been out of service for months,” Robinson explained. The nearest crosswalk is east, at the intersection of 410 and Belcrest Road, but the sidewalk had been blocked for new construction. As a result, she has to go west along the sidewalk and cross the seven lanes of traffic at a point that adds about half a mile to her total trip, she said.
“That extra distance sometimes makes me worry that my batteries are going to run out,” Robinson said, “and the sidewalks have cracks, and there can be a lot of mud or potholes in the street. I’ve already worn out an electric scooter, and now I’m afraid that I might destroy my wheelchair.”
The broken elevators don’t just make the pedestrian bridge impassable for people in wheelchairs, they’re also a struggle for people with small children who must carry the child and a stroller up the steep stairs. WMATA is responsible for maintaining the elevator, but on its sign explaining that the elevators are out of service for maintenance, the expected completion date has been left blank.