to everyone
To everyone who is healthy and not in need of close to destination parking, be thankful that you don't need it. For a handicapped person with limited mobility, those special parking places mean the difference between independence and dependence. I carry a small electric scooter that I can remove from the trunk of my car with an electric lift. This makes it possible for me to shop in malls, go to museums or other facilities, provided I can get an adequate parking space to unload my scooter. Without this, I would have to stay home.
I detest those who fake or abuse handicapped parking more than I do others without handicaps in some ways. They demean the credibility that the special space need. They undermine compliance by the public and raise issues like the one we are discussing here.
ossobuco wrote: However, there were six empty spots right beside the HC one being talked about and pingpong chose that one. In principal, he could have chosen one of the others.
I think this point is up for questioning here Osso. Yes, pingpong did say there were 6 more spots but didn't say whether they were regular spots or if they were also handicapped parking.
People here have assumed they were regular spots but that may not be so... If they weren't then he/she didn't have the option of pulling up in front of one of those either and there is even less reason for him/her to have gotten a ticket.
fishin, Good point. I support BBB's point whole-heartedly. That's not the issue; the issue is some reasoning applied to why "consideration" sometimes goes both ways. 'nuf said. c.i.
I feel a lot of arrows at my shoulders here. Why exactly? Because I said handicapped people need consideration? (and why do I keep bringing that up?) No.. I think we all agree they do. And most of us including me agree the ticketer was extraordinarily zealous.
I seem to be being nudged for not being sympathetic enough to people who block handicap parking spaces. But I agreed, that was overzealous. Still, much of getting around is a great challenge for the disabled person, and even minutes add up to almost overwhelming effort.
As an aside, there is a design question here, why isn't there a free drop off space in front of the facility, whatever it was..
all those posts ago.
But back to difficulty. I walked into Winco Grocery store today, just after I bought stick on numbers at Staples, thinking I'd pick up sandwich makings so we wouldn't have to worry about lunch at work. As I went in the door, there was a woman in a wheeling apparatus trying to extract a giant cart from the long chain of them. I didn't intercede, but made sure she nabbed it. I saw her in the store steering that big thing to accumulate what was on her list. I have no doubt that took a lot of stamina. Maybe she is used to it and the idea of courage didn't occur to her. But maybe it was her first time trying that by herself.
Where I live now, there are many people who are extremely high in weight and have to get around in devices because their knees cannot take the weight. Moving is hard for them, tires them out. They shop at this store.
There are hc spaces left for them, and I will bet you a good half are filled by able people just running in for one thing or the other.
I am not chastising everybody posting, including pingpong, and surely not CI. I am just commenting that keeping the spaces free for the disabled is important.
Do I think that a disabled person can't wait a few minutes?
Sure, plenty of times they can. It adds to the overall effort of a trip to the store, though.
Osso
Osso, I can't tell you the number of times I've circled around and around a huge parking lot trying to find not just reserved handicapped parking, but any parking space close enough to my destination so I could manage it. I sometimes have to give up and return home because my search was unsuccessful.
BBB
I don't know.
