Hindsight really is always 20/20. It’s easy to inveigh against anything that retroactively appears to be poor decision making by asking, “What on earth were they thinking?” And that’s precisely what disability and accessibility activists are likely to do if they ever roam the perimeter of the downtown Hartford’s XL Center, a massive events complex
I’m supportive of almost all efforts to improve the accessibility of public spaces and commercial buildings to those with access and functional needs. Whether blind, deaf, mobility impaired, or some other characteristic that impedes one’s ability to get around in situations that 95% of us take for granted, I’m hard pressed to find much to
The Roaring Fork River in central Colorado offers a bicycle and pedestrian-friendly riverfront greenway on one side of its banks…exactly as one might hope from a waterway with such an roaringly evocative name. Or, rather, that City of Glenwood Springs has provided this greenway, which is, again, exactly what one might expect from a pristine
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” This line from Wizard of Oz (the 1939 movie, not the Frank E. Baum book) has ascended to such currency that’s it’s essentially a catchphrase. And those who use it, from age five to eighty-five, often forget the full connotation to its original function. Sure, it
As garbage-strewn as my last article was, it was a pristine Eden compared to the content in this one. And though the example I’m about to feature is the worst I’ve seen, I have a feeling it wouldn’t be that hard to spot similar settings that out-trash the photos here. Just go to the closet
Many years ago, I met up with a friend in Belgium who took me to the nearby Dreiländerpunkt, where Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany converge, with boundaries lines vaguely resembling the logo for Mercedes-Benz. How appropriately German. The glories of the Schengen Agreement have, since 1995, eliminated the fortified boundaries that straitjacketed these small countries for
I don’t really think of myself as a slouch, but I’m sure there are times when I walk where my eyes tend to lurk more toward my feet than straight ahead. The photo below captures one of those moments: What are these weird rectangles in the unusually sandy ground? They look almost like cemetery plots,
I think the majority of Americans would at this point would agree that, in most respects, day-to-day urban life has deteriorated since COVD-19: higher costs to everything, escalating crime, visible vandalism, irregular cleaning and maintenance, and—perhaps this is just me (but probably not)—a general malaise that is either a cause or the effect of those
“Too many cooks…” It was an aphorism decades before it became a cult short film–maybe even centuries. We all know how it ends. And we can all think of examples. After thirteen years at the helm of this blog (American Dirt is finally a teenager!), I had to use my website’s own search function to
It’s rare that I create a follow-up post so quickly on the heels of the original, since both articles deal with more or less the same topic. But my post at Pickwick Commons back in late May investigated the possibility of taking an existing utility easement and doubling it with a pedestrian easement. That is,
Hindsight really is always 20/20. It’s easy to inveigh against anything that retroactively appears to be poor decision making by asking, “What on earth were they thinking?” And that’s precisely what disability and
I’m supportive of almost all efforts to improve the accessibility of public spaces and commercial buildings to those with access and functional needs. Whether blind, deaf, mobility impaired, or some other characteristic that
The Roaring Fork River in central Colorado offers a bicycle and pedestrian-friendly riverfront greenway on one side of its banks…exactly as one might hope from a waterway with such an roaringly evocative name.
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” This line from Wizard of Oz (the 1939 movie, not the Frank E. Baum book) has ascended to such currency that’s it’s essentially a
As garbage-strewn as my last article was, it was a pristine Eden compared to the content in this one. And though the example I’m about to feature is the worst I’ve seen, I
Many years ago, I met up with a friend in Belgium who took me to the nearby Dreiländerpunkt, where Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany converge, with boundaries lines vaguely resembling the logo for Mercedes-Benz.
I don’t really think of myself as a slouch, but I’m sure there are times when I walk where my eyes tend to lurk more toward my feet than straight ahead. The photo
I think the majority of Americans would at this point would agree that, in most respects, day-to-day urban life has deteriorated since COVD-19: higher costs to everything, escalating crime, visible vandalism, irregular cleaning
“Too many cooks…” It was an aphorism decades before it became a cult short film–maybe even centuries. We all know how it ends. And we can all think of examples. After thirteen years
It’s rare that I create a follow-up post so quickly on the heels of the original, since both articles deal with more or less the same topic. But my post at Pickwick Commons
