A question about handicapped parking spaces being plowed in after it snows, making them inaccessible, garnered a bunch of reader comments – many echoing the sentiment of Bruce Blower, director of Handicapped Services in Suffolk County. Blower believes that property owners, not the people who do the snow plowing of parking fields, should be fined if they violate the law by blocking the handicapped spots. To that end, he’s trying to lobby state legislators for the change so police won’t have to “stake out” plowers to catch them in the act and can instead issue tickets to owners for violations.
Here are some excerpts from the reader feedback, and you can read all of the comments here, including the ones too disparaging to repeat.
--The simple solution is to fine the property owner then - even if that property owner is the town.
--I don't know why the property owner wouldn't be the one held accountable anyway. He/she is the one responsible for the lot to be cleared. If the owners started paying the fines, they would swith to a company that didn't plow in the spots.
And to all of you saying this is a non-issue: It is against the law to block a handicapped parking space. If you disagree with the law, contact your congresman. But to disagree with having a law, any law enforced is just silly. We have laws for a reason.
--Special privleges for the handicapped? You mean like job discrimination? The high price of presecription drugs? Chronic pain? Insensitive people who park in the cross-hatched areas next to the handicap spots. Those areas are for wheelchair lift vans who need space to load and unload. I can't tell you how many times I've people in wheel chairs unable to get into their vehicles because some inconsiderate dolt parked in the cross-hatched area. And there are degrees of disability as well. Some people with mobility problems only have them on bad days. I personally have a "good days and bad days" disability. I got rid of my license plate and got
a"hanger" due to all the people who would chew me out for parking in a regular spot when I had a handicapped plate. There's no reason why a store manager shouldn't contact the snow removal company and tell them to keep those handicap spots clear. It's a customer service issue primarily; and the way to address it is to tell the store manager that you'll take your business elsewhere if they don't obey the law. It's much more effective to take that approach than to call a cop. And to that idiot who writes in all caps: expecting a law to be obeyed is not "crying."
--The handicapped spaces should be cleared of snow. I have seen many parking lots where the parking lots were cleared of snow, and snow was piled into the handicapped spots. What's up with that?
Why the hostility towards people with handicaps? I see my share of high heeled women parking in the handicap section, leaping out of tall suv's and running into stores. I think those people surely are using someone else's pass. But I don't take it out on every disabled person who isn't in a wheelchair. The disabled do not have to justify themselves to everyone else in the parking lot.
If you do not need to park in the handicapped section do NOT park in the handicapped section, do not use someone else's parking permit, do not ask for a permit if you truly do not need one.
Why do people always have to act like such greedy pigs?
--I feel that too many people obtain handicapped permits just because of laziness. Also, if you have a breathing problem, acclimating your lungs to the cold with a decent stroll would be better than parking 2 feet from the building and never having to actually make your lungs work.
--This has always been a problem. The person who should be fined is the owner of the parking lot. If the property owner is continuously fined, he/she will make sure their plower doesn't block the handicapped spots.
Also. since Mr. Blower is aware that this is a problem, he should take more action, or some action. He or his staff should educate the various plow operators to the problems handicapped people have when they block the handicapped spots.
--It is a parking privledge that is widely abused, that's why so many negative responses. Although disabilities may not be apparent to the naked eye, it is obvious when the privledge is being abused. When I see construction workers getting out of their Ford F350's at he LIRR train station at 5:30AM from a handicap space with tools in tote, I can't think of a single reason why this person is entitled to the space. Same with a bunch of teenagers piling out of an SUV at the strip mall. Unless the abuse is removed there will always be that question mark!
--My issue with the permits is too many are handed out. I totally agree with people in wheelchairs needing a wide/close spot for safety, but I love it when grandma and grandpa need a spot close to the mall so they can go inside and walk all day. If you can walk for a while in the mall, you can park in a regular spot and leave them for people that really have a handicap.
--I'll never understand why they find it easier to plow snow into the handicapped spots instead of the spots farthest away from the stores. It just makes no sense to me.
Comments (1)
"I'll never understand why they find it easier to plow snow into the handicapped spots instead of the spots farthest away from the stores. It just makes no sense to me."
2 reasons (and you answered one of them already)
1- the handicap parking sign post make it difficult to plow around
2- "instead of the spots farthest away from the stores"
whats faster and easier to do?