Mayor accepts accessibility challenge

September 23, 2015 · 0 Comments

Early on Saturday, September 12th, you may have seen Mayor Ken Bennington, navigating the sidewalks around Shelburne in a wheelchair.
Although Mayor Bennington does not require a wheelchair to get around, he accepted an accessibility challenged, put forth by local resident, Deborah Ellis.
Deborah is in a wheelchair because her Multiple Sclerosis (MS) has progressed, and can be seen scooting around town in her wheelchair quite often.
However, Deborah would like to raise awareness to the difficulties those who rely on wheelchairs face – trying to maneuver around town, especially on some of the less maintained sidewalks.
Ellis says when in a wheelchair “an inch is like a mountain”.
This quickly became evident to Mayor Bennington, not only in trying navigating the motorized wheelchair he borrowed from his mother, but he also felt the pressure in his lower back on the ride from Town Hall up William Street, to the end of Robert Street.
Town works employee, Steve Ellis, accompanied alongside the Mayor, along with a paint marker in order to highlight problem areas that required fixing.
Bennington advised that each spring going forward, the Town works department will walk “every square inch of the towns sidewalks” to make sure problem areas are identified, and repaired.
Once assessed, Bennington’s plan is to ensure the sidewalks are re-leveled, after winter ravages the asphalt and concrete.
Walter Bonotto, who accompanied the caravan in a town works truck advised, “Currently the Town only has a $5,900 budget per year allotted to the fixing and or replacement of sidewalks throughout the entire town”.
It was also noted that the older subdivisions in Town seem to have more issues than the new sections at this point. Bennington stated, “This is going to be an ongoing project to remove barriers starting today”.
Bennington plans on delivering a verbal report to council, with the hopes of developing and adopting a long-term course of action.
As chair of the Accessibility Committee, Bonotto advised “There are more accessible issues in the town then just sidewalks that the committee is working on, like a park similar to All Kids Park in Orangeville that is accessible to all; accessible parking issues on public property; and making the trail systems accessible”.

By Michelle Janzen