The chair of the Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee says the city has gone a “litte backwards” in terms of accessibility issues in North Bay.

The committee’s annual report was released at Council this past week.

“They started off doing really good and I think their intentions are all good, I’m not sure what happened that we went a little backwards, I’m sure we can work on it and move forward again,” says Chair Nora Long.

She says one issue that came up was snow not being cleared from handicapped parking spots.

“When somebody tries to use that spot they can’t get in there’s no room to drop the ramp. Or if they drop the ramp it’s not touching the ground. It’s like a ledge there so they can’t use it,” Long says.

She says overall they have a good relationship, pointing out the city works with them and listens to what they say.

Another issue that came up was not enough sand near handicapped spots but once the city was contacted Long says something was done about it right away.

Meantime, plans are underway for Municipal Accessibility Awareness week from May 28th-June 3rd.

Long says the highlight will be the presentation to a local business that’s in need of a portable ramp.

“We would like to find the need and give it to that business. We’ve got L’Arche and PADDLE out checking businesses to see if they would be a good candidate,” she says.

Long says they’re working with the schools to have students do some of the work.

Filed under: north bay