A couple years ago some local elected officials took place in an exercise that put them in wheelchairs and told them to try to get around. I remember Spokane City Councilmember Jon Snyder blogging about how hard it was to get from his home to his office, which weren’t very far apart, in the chair. If I remember right, he said there were gravel areas that were hard to roll the wheelchair through, crosswalk signals that didn’t give him time to get all the way across a street and long stretches of sidewalk without a wheelchair ramp to let him get up onto them.
Well prepare to experience being “transportation challenged” for yourself. Inland Northwest Lighthouse tomorrow is hosting “White Cane Day Walk” in Riverfront Park. The event is open to the public and gives you a sense of how it would be to try to get around using a cane instead of your eyesight. I’ve heard other communities have done this and its a fabulous event.
Because we have been asking for people with transportation barriers to talk to us about the issues they have with our transportation system, I will be there asking for input for our Horizon 2040. The event is 2-4 p.m. at the Clocktower Meadow in Riverfront Park, so come down and try walking a mile (or a much shorter course) in someone else’s shoes.