Beacon Hill Civic Association sues to stop installation of sidewalk ramps

Neighborhood aesthetic preservation is load of hypocritical bullshit. I have precisely ZERO sympathy for BHCA blowhards. You think citizen participation at the local level of government is bad? I wonder what the neighborhood participation is on these neighborhood councils claiming to speak for the community. I imagine it's often a minuscule minority.
 
I bet they exclude anyone they don't like, either.
 
Can we add a stipulation to the resident parking that it's only for horse and buggies?
 
I agree that these curbs don't degrade the aesthetics of charles circle much but I don't like them for the rest of the Hill. At the end of the day, this is all kind of absurd. It's like debating what color uniforms we should send to the Ukrainian army...IE: these new ramps aren't going to make a damn bit of difference when A, the sidewalks are narrow and overrun with heaved bricks, and B, the gradient of Mt Vernon Street, Pinckney etc sure as hell don't meet FDA requirements. Most of the old ramps I see don't appear problematic. Short of pulling up the street trees, widening the sidewalks and replacing the bricks with concrete, the flat of Beacon Hill will never be accessible to people who have disabilities...and the hill is virtually impassable.
 
Another example of how morality and legality diverge.

Anyway, this judge is at Suffolk. The regulations are state and Federal. Out of her league, so to speak.

Hopefully a higher level can move quickly enough to rescind the injunction.
 
Nobody tell the BHCA, but 290 Cambridge Street (old Grampy's Gas/Villa Mexico) rebuilt their sidewalks with concrete and bright yellow tactile pads after wrapping up construction.

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No, no...you don't understand! My great-grandpappy told us that the BTD horsebuggies always used to spraypaint a single red stripe on the corner of all Irish-free streets, as was the custom of the times.

This is a completely accurate period piece. Including the Subaru!
 
cden4 said:
My eyes! They're burning!
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Actually, my eyes are burning. That's not the proper installation of a tactile pad at a corner, nor is the sidewalk grading correct. This is a mess.
 
There's a few things wrong. At least the tactile panel guides the crosser in the right direction. If the City was against it, they should have brought it up during PIC approval. The signs are also supposed to be 18 inches back from the curb and rotated 45 degrees and the parking meter is not in yet!! It's been a few weeks since it was given the ok to install...

My bigger concern over here is the "rear" egress from Charles/MGH that isn't actually alarmed (though signed) and is super convenient. The problem is that it lets you out in the middle of a busy intersection with no crosswalks.
 
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Ew. They opted for the wide single-curbcut instead of a curb cut for each crosswalk.
 
sm89 said:
My bigger concern over here is the "rear" egress from Charles/MGH that isn't actually alarmed (though signed) and is super convenient. The problem is that it lets you out in the middle of a busy intersection with no crosswalks.
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I swear at some point in the last few months they escalated the super-seriousness of the language on the signs. And right after I took this pic I noticed a T cop sitting in his cruiser in the cobbled bit of the median. Maybe waiting for people to take the shortcut?
 
BostonUrbEx said:
Ew. They opted for the wide single-curbcut instead of a curb cut for each crosswalk.
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So when they do the single curb cut (as shown) why are they not required to use a crescent shaped tactile strip -- so the full curb cut is protected?
 
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JeffDowntown said:
So when the do the single curb cut (as shown) why are they not required to use a crescent shaped tactile strip -- so the full curb cut is protected?
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+1 Given the purpose of the strip is to alert people to an "edge" this one seems to neither be near such an edge nor to point to one.
 
Arlington said:
+1 Given the purpose of the strip is to alert people to an "edge" this one seems to neither be near such an edge nor to point to one.
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In accordance with MassDOT's Construction Details and Standard Drawings (June 2014 edition), the detectable warning panels are typically located 6" from the roadway gutter line at the ramp opening. In this case, where the ramp is located in an area of continuous travel, the panel is typically oriented along the path of travel. These panels are typically cast-in-place (placed into the wet concrete) and cutting them to fit makes more of a mess than it's worth.

In this particular instance above, the panel really should be up against that 6" concrete buffer strip.
 
North Shore said:
In accordance with MassDOT's Construction Details and Standard Drawings (June 2014 edition), the detectable warning panels are typically located 6" from the roadway gutter line at the ramp opening. In this case, where the ramp is located in an area of continuous travel, the panel is typically oriented along the path of travel. These panels are typically cast-in-place (placed into the wet concrete) and cutting them to fit makes more of a mess than it's worth.

In this particular instance above, the panel really should be up against that 6" concrete buffer strip.
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My point was not to cut a rectangular panel. My point was that rectangular panels are clearly meant for linear (rectangular) curb cuts.

Why are there not cresent shaped panels (it is molded plastic, not hard to make) for the rounded curb cuts?
 
JeffDowntown said:
My point was not to cut a rectangular panel. My point was that rectangular panels are clearly meant for linear (rectangular) curb cuts.

Why are there not cresent shaped panels (it is molded plastic, not hard to make) for the rounded curb cuts?
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There are crescent shaped panels available, I noticed some metal ones in Medford just yesterday.
 
Certainly looks like what should be used by a competent contractor at rounded curb cuts.
 
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