Comment 86686

By Michelle Martin (registered) - website | Posted February 23, 2013 at 20:52:50 in reply to Comment 86628

Yes! Looking at the Centre on Barton from a pedestrian accessibility/universal design point of view, there is a lot of room for improvement: the sidewalks don't flow continuously, the distance a person needs to walk to get from one store to another is too great, and involves having to navigate vast parking lots and sidewalks that aren't easily reached. The stores themselves are quite far away from the bus stops that service this development. This would be reparable with a little thought and attention as to what it would be like to navigate the Centre if one needed to use some kind of mobility device, or had some other limitation (cognitive, visual, hearing). As someone who needs no aid to ambulate and whose hearing and vision are operating at 100 percent capacity, and who no longer needs to push any little ones in a stroller or lead pre-schoolers by the hand, even I find it a hair-raising experience. Even driving there can be hair-raising - my husband and I typically begin our Saturday errands pleasantly by parking on Ottawa St. to do the antique store rounds quickly(we're on the lookout for a couple of items), grab a coffee at Cannon, hit the farmer's market when the weather's warm. When we drive down to the Metro at the Centre to do groceries, our blood pressure goes up.

The fact that the streetwall for the Centre along Barton has no storefronts facing it makes it inadequate from the standpoint of personal safety- could that be fixed as well?

Comment edited by Michelle Martin on 2013-02-23 20:54:37

“Conviction without experience makes for harshness. ” Flannery O'Connor

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