Meeting Time: March 31, 2022 at 6:00pm PDT
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Agenda Item

a. REPORT 22-0173 AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA) STUDY SESSION (Public Works Director Joe SanClemente)

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    Karen Klink almost 2 years ago

    I support the installation of an accessible pathway on the greenbelt as a trial. I supported it a long time ago. What I don't understand is why our attorney's can't make it clear that there wouldn't be an avenue for people to sue the city for going forward (hardscape). It seems we (the city would have a clear understanding of this by now (before going forward). That they would explain this to all interested parties, which they have not done.
    They also haven't explained to all interested parties the chance of being sued by ADA or someone in a wheelchair.
    If the city gets this out of the way, it will less confusing to residents. The arguments made by residents about bikes and ebikes and shopping carts are absolutely absurd. So we should penalize the disabled because others break the law? or because Hermosa might not be able to enforce the law? That is absolutely incorrect. These people are also not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts because they are concerned for the people in the wheelchairs. They are worried, it will affect them! I have a Mom that uses a walker and a nephew in a wheelchair, they take walks on the strand all the time, why the heck now the Greenbelt? Decomposed Granite on the side of the woodchips is not going to destroy "the vision" for the Greenbelt. Are people afraid that the disabled will?

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    Dency Nelson almost 2 years ago

    I support the installation of an accessible pathway on the greenbelt as a trial. After all of the years we've spent talking about it, the only way we will know exactly what it is, if it works for the folks who need it, and to demonstrate to those who oppose it that it isn't the travesty they think it will be, is to put it out there for a period of time for all to see and to use. I also believe the trial has to be the originally suggested four blocks long, and not just one block, as I believe it's the only way to give it a real test. In addition to those comments, and comments I have made previously in support of the disabled folks who are in wheelchairs and the elderly or disabled who use walkers or canes who believe the suggested decomposed granite will provide them the access to the Greenbelt they have otherwise been denied, I would like to add one other thought. I am not disabled in any way, but like many in our community, I spend most of my days not wearing shoes, but walking our streets in sandles. It's Hermosa Beach after all, and that's what a lot of us wear a lot of the time if not all of the time. I avoid the Greenbelt because the woodchips are not sandle-friendly! Very uncomfortable to walk the Greenbelt in sandles. I know that I would be very much more inclined to walk the beautiful Greenbelt and enjoy its solitude if I could walk on a surface like decomposed granite that I have experience in many parks and coastal pathways. It is as "natural" a surface as woodchips and appropriate for the natural setting that we cherish that is the Greenbelt, but a much more comfortable surface for walking, or running for that matter, than woodchips. Let's give it a try and once and for all deal with this dilemma.

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    Geoff Hirsch about 2 years ago

    I support the installation of an accessible pathway on the Greenbelt as a trial project to determine if this is feasible for a longer span.
    It has now been over six years that we have been discussing this project back-and-forth, weighing the pros and cons, hiring not only a landscape consultant but an accessibility evaluator. Both of their reports suggested that a trial pathway of approximately four blocks
    be installed to allow for a proper study of this project’s feasibility.

    It is important City Council specify some evaluation criteria for this project; specifically, durability of the material, what maintenance is required, overall stability of the surface, and ease of use for wheelchairs and strollers.

    I believe that an adequate evaluation. period would be anywhere from nine months to one year, this would allow for an adequate trial under varying weather conditions. Hopefully, this project could then be approved as a CIP Project during the next fiscal year.

    Please give this necessary project the consideration it deserves and approve this trial. Making a Greenbelt accessible is not a privilege, it is a citizens right, both from a moral snd legal perspective.

    Thank you,