Accessibility advocate disappointed in Saint John response to parking concerns

A New Brunswick accessibility advocate is disappointed in Saint John's response to her concerns about a lack of accessible parking.

Haley Flaro is executive director of Ability New Brunswick, a non-profit organization whose motto is "empowering mobility and independence." She said she's disappointed the city continues to defend its limited disabled parking.

"Citizens, tourists are disappointed and discouraged. And so it's time to be more vocal on it, and it's time for the city to get it done, get it past the goal line," Flaro said.

Tim O'Reilly, the city's director of public works, spoke to Information Morning Saint John on Thursday to address concerns Flaro raised about a tourist having trouble with accessible parking.

O'Reilly said the city has an interactive map on its website showing locations of accessible parking spaces, so people with disabilities can plan ahead to find suitable parking near their destination.

People with disabilities might want to use parking garages, O'Reilly said, because garages "align much closer with those accessible standards."

Tim O'Reilly, the director of public works for Saint John, said the city keeps a public map of accessible parking spots and welcomes upcoming provincial legislation that would make New Brunswick more accessible. (Graham Thompson/CBC)

"Saint John is a very old city. We have streets that were not designed, you know, for people of all abilities. So those are part of the challenges for sure. That leads to some of the issues of being able to make them fully accessible by the standards," O'Reilly said.

"But again, it doesn't mean that we're not doing what we can within the public realm to make them as accessible as possible."

Flaro said those comments are disappointing.

She said Ability N.B. visited the city and inspected several accessible spots and found them to be too narrow. So using a website to send people there isn't very helpful, she said.

Tourist not able to deploy ramp

Ability N.B. was contacted by a tourist who had trouble deploying a ramp from their vehicle and had to do it onto the street, on a hill, in moving traffic.

O'Reilly said the city places as many of these spaces as close to intersections as possible so people can use the ramps at intersection corners to get onto the sidewalk, but he acknowledged that "having those spaces fully accessible with all the amenities that they need to be considered accessible is very challenging."

But it's not just tourists that have concerns about parking, said Flaro

Flaro said it's not just tourists she hears from with concerns about parking, but also residents. (Colin McPhail/CBC)

"There's a lot of citizens that would like to access businesses in the uptown, but they can't," she said, adding that many businesses have been great about installing ramps and accessible features to their storefronts themselves.

While Flaro recognizes that Saint John does have aging infrastructure, she said other cities have been able to find ways to make parking more accessible, so Saint John should be able to as well.

Moncton is far more accessible, she said, with even non-accessible spaces meeting the length requirement.

Haley Flaro said a number of accessible spots her group inspected in Saint John weren't wide enough. (Submitted by Haley Flaro)

She said her group has been working with Saint John on this "for years" and has offered to conduct a free accessibility review to highlight problem areas, but was turned down.

With accessibility legislation introduced at the provincial level recently, Flaro said it's time for the city to step up and start putting together a plan.

"You know, there will be enforcement penalties for things like this. So now is the time for the city to get on top of it," she said.

O'Reilly said the city welcomes the new standards, which he said will come alongside existing standards the city already has.

"Those standards are going to help us set the actual bar we need to meet, because right now we're just trying to do the best we can and talking to all these advocacy groups to make it as accessible as possible," he said.