The Willits Slide: Accessibility Advocates Mark Ten Years of Progress Mired with Problems
This week, The Willits Slide civic performance commemorated ten years of the Willits Settlement. Faced the with the pressure of lawsuit brought by disability advocates, in 2016 the city of L.A. committed to investing nearly $1.4 billion over 30 years to improve failing inaccessible sidewalks.
“Forward 1-2-3! Back 1-2-3-4!” called one performer, as other Angelenos – in wheelchairs, on foot, with white canes – marched back and forth to echo the city’s recent halting and uneven progress on maintaining and improving basic sidewalk accessibility.
The event was produced by a coalition called The Boo Boo Bandage Brigade, which is campaigning for safe accessible streets. [See earlier BBBB coverage at SBLA.]
“It shouldn’t take ten years!” stressed disability advocate Deaka McClain. “The ten year anniversary and we’re still talking about this?”
“Access and inclusion are not luxuries,” she said. “They are number one necessities.”
Advocates, including Paralympian Candace Cable, stressed the need for a city Capital Infrastructure Program that prioritizes sidewalk improvements which benefit everyone. Multiple speakers noted that, annually, the city typically pays more to settle sidewalk trip-and-fall lawsuits than it does to repair and improve those sidewalks.
Paula Pearlman, one of the attorneys who negotiated Willits, was asked to rank the city’s progress on Willits on a scale of one to ten. Pearlman responded that city curb ramps “have improved significantly.”
“Every time you see a curb ramp with yellow bumps – that’s this Willits settlement. But the rest of it is just a dismal abysmal disappointment.” Pressed for a number, Pearlman responded, “How about a three?”
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