Stacy Berloff hates bricks -- will anyone respect her experience?

Posted by Stacy Berloff
Stacy Berloff came to the Boston city Council hearing on brick sidewalks in November, 2003. This hearing was called by counselor Michael Ross after Neighborhood Access Group and Boston Center for Independent Living mounted a protest about the bricks going down on Huntington Avenue that September. Stacey uses a wheelchair for mobility.
There was a lot of compelling testimony that day, but it has not been heeded.

Dear City Council Members:

My name is Stacy Berloff and as you can see I am a wheelchair user. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today.

I would like to share with you my experience of using the sidewalks in the City of Boston. When I see bricks I think of the pain it is going to cause me to go down the street. When I see bricks I look around desperately to see if there is another way I can go.

I know the City is in the process of redoing many of its sidewalks, and for that I am grateful. Currently I am often forced to go out into the street because the sidewalks aren’t passable at all. Maybe I’m a whimp. But I have to tell you that every time I have to ride in the street my heart is in my throat. I know I sit below a driver’s line of vision and that drivers don’t expect me to be there. I consider myself lucky every time I finish my journey in the street and end up back on the sidewalk.

The thought that new sidewalks are going to be constructed out of bricks truly makes me sick. I was hoping that new sidewalks would mean that I would be safer. Brick sidewalks will only mean that I may have to continue using the street.

Have you ever pulled a suitcase on wheels down a brick sidewalk? Can you remember how it felt in your hands as the case rolled over the joints? That is the way it feels to me in my wheelchair. Every joint causes my body to bounce. The longer I bounce the more pain I’m in until often I end up with such a bad headache because of the jarring that I’m forced to go to bed.

Please don’t build new sidewalks that will force me to make a choice of either enduring pain or being forced out into the street.

Thank you for listening to me.