Naturally: Beacon Hill group sues to stop historically inaccurate handicap ramps

So, you want us to just go along with what the group suing wants and say nothing. Well, in Europe in the 1930s there was a group of people who just went along with what a vocal minority wanted.

Or,

All you little Eichmans on Beacon Hill think you can do whatever you want.

Yes, both statements are wrong, and I honestly don't believe them, not only because I think there's a middle ground in this issue, but mainly because THIS ISSUE IS NOT WORTH COMPARING PEOPLE TO NAZIS ABOUT.

Are you really this thick about the Nazi analogy thing?

I like Walsh - but he's going to come out on the bottom on this one as he will ultimately get blamed for the delay under his watch.

It's not going to stick to Walsh any more than the big, costly cock-up over the reconstruction of the Copley Sq. subway portal stuck to the pig-headed MBTA.

The politics of identity and class are going to trump reason here, and the residents will eat the blame for the delay.

Do you have a cite to where the Beacon Hill Civic Association has stated it will pay for the more expensive materials it is seeking? I feel like I have not seen that mentioned. I do not see it listed on the BHCA web page in their statement about their objections.

I bet at the start of this there were residents who were opposing any ramps, but if this is the proposal that is on the table now, why not?

Consequences:
Beacon hill people -- they spend some money, they get ramps in whatever pretty color they desire.
People who need disabled access -- they get access.
City -- saves some money, doesn't get the satisfaction of forcing its way on a group of city residents who have been irritating it for some time.

So if it really is just about that last point, then that is pretty petty, and should be something we all have a problem with.

I think there are occasions when allowing the rich to opt out of a publicly provided service can dangerous (i.e. lead to underfunding of that service over the long-term) but I cant see that argument applying here.

The trimountain is just a bit of conceit that can sit there for all anyone really cares.

It's a great dartboard though.

The wealth inequality is a far more pressing matter because there is growing consensus that it is a rigged game with lots of rents and fees in strange places, banking fiascos, earning stagnation and so forth.

Fixing it is easy... just roll tax rates back to the 1950s and that old time GOP prosperity will bounce back.

I mean Eisenhower GOP, not the nutjob shills for rich assholes we have now.

In some strange Orwellian somersault, the principle 'Takers' have contrived to gull the ever distracted public into thinking they are 'Makers'.

Once the incentive is gone to hog huge useless piles while cheer-leading the pauperization of everyone else, it'll sort itself out nicely without pitchforks and torches.

Those people from {neighborhood} suck!

Charles Street sidewalks are very tiny for what they are expected to handle.

It's sort of understandable when the sidewalks are on one of BH's small streets and there are historic space constraints. But Charles Street is not a small street. You can line up 5 cars side-by-side in the motorway. If Charles Street is supposed to be a preeminent shopping street in a historic neighborhood, it makes no sense to have tiny sidewalks. That strikes me as a decision that was made in the 1950s, treating Charles Street as a bypass rather than a neighborhood street. The fact that wheelchairs can barely get through, and that people are tripping and falling, is just the result of incredibly stupid design. It's senseless to fight over scraps of space when there is so much right-of-way available in the overengineered motorway.

The next fight that the city should pick, after the ramps get resolved, is to do something about the tiny sidewalks on Charles Street and also on Bowdoin Street. There's no reason that Charles Street needs 3 travel lanes going in the same direction. That's highway-like design. If it were up to me, I'd restore two-way travel flow with a single lane in each direction. No reason for the one-way travel, it's just confusing. Then have parking/loading lanes. And widen the sidewalks up to a minimum of 10 feet each, more if possible. That's what a shopping street should look like.

One of the reasons I have little sympathy for the BH residents is that I feel they are partially responsible for the ridiculous sidewalk situation on Charles Street and Bowdoin Street. If they claim to be a historic, walkable district, then those sidewalks should have been expanded years ago. The fact that they weren't tells me that the residents, many of whom are long-term, are full of bullshit. They don't actually care about people with disabilities, nor do they care about making it easier to walk. Maybe it is true, as Bob says, that it is all about the color and that's easily fixable. Or maybe there's something else going on here. I'm inclined to think the latter, again, because of the existing conditions on Charles and Bowdoin Streets.

Nobody is opposing ramps.

This is about keeping government in line now?

Cut the horse shit, man. It hasn't taken two years of discussing and now finalizing this because the government is the one that has been out of control.