Tag Archives: Open Air

Confusing Downtown Parking Signs in Amherstburg: A Disgraceful Situation

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On Friday, June 7, I emailed CAO Critchley and copied council members.

Is this funny? this is disgraceful; the attached photo was taken yesterday. the downtown is littered with these open air signs that do not even look like they can be enforced, even if people can read the fine print. this can be extremely confusing for people with disabilities trying to park only to encounter a sign disallowing them to park in a legitimate accessible parking space.

please confirm that this particular sign will be removed.

An August 2022 post showed the contradictory signs downtown.

Parking But No Parking Signs in Amherstburg

Downtown Amherstburg signs during ‘Open Air’ weekends are confusing. This is a no parking sign in a no parking zone in front of the post office that you can’t get to anyway.

This sign contradicts itself: no parking Friday at 3 pm but you can park until 6 pm Friday. Neither has any by-law number stated.

Open Air – If They Vote How Will They Vote?

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The Open Air Report is on tonight’s meeting agenda and I predict another majority vote in favour, not necessarily a 4-3 vote.

Everyone on council knows about the accessibility issues because everyone is aware of the number of times I complained, despite the rebuttals; but now the survey results indicate more people have noted the accessibility and parking concerns.

Councillor Crain: I’ll start with the sole opposition to this survey. In August, Crain said he can’t grasp why Open Air specifically; they’ve done an Open Air survey for residents and businesses so he felt a survey just on Open Air seems to be wasting staff time.

CAO Critchley confirmed in an email that they have surveyed visitors and the businesses inside and outside the footprint but not a resident wide survey.

On February 22, Crain asked staff, hasn’t the past Council already looked at ways to refine open air and that’s why some of the barricades were moved in closer? This feels a bit redundant to me if this has already been looked at by council. And from last night and from what we’ve been hearing, it’s pretty clear that the format is great. But based on my understanding, council’s already looked at this.

Crain was part of the team that created the THRIVE Open Air white paper; from the THRIVE website, ‘We believe that it should be a permanent summer feature.’ 

On March 13, Crain said he didn’t even think Open Air should have been a topic of discussion. He also thought they shouldn’t even be discussing this every year because eventually it’s going to be nothing.

On September 16, I asked Crain if he considered declaring a conflict of interest for Open Air discussions involving the event itself and the survey? No response.

As a candidate, in answer to one of the burg watch 2022 campaign questions to the candidates asking if they will remove barriers during Open Air weekends, Crain said yes. He voted in favour.

Councillor McArthur: has happily and consistently championed Open Air. As council’s rep to the Accessibility Advisory Committee, I expected he would advocate to remove barriers. He spewed out the statistics from an admin report on the number of parking spaces within a six-minute walking radius. ‘If there are persisting issues with accessibility, let’s work collaboratively to address them in consultation with the Town’s Accessibility Advisory Committee.’ But he’s on the committee. He voted in favour.

Deputy Mayor Gibb: wears a few hats: business owner, chamber of commerce member, family member, elected official but he publicly admitted he’s a huge fan. While he emailed, as Deputy Mayor, that he was ‘proud to say that I did complete the ADOA training that was offered to all members of council and I hope to put what I learned into practice not only in my “municipal life” but also in my personal life. And then he said, Open Air makes the downtown more accessible for people with in at least in wheelchairs because his mother-in-law and father-in-law both live at Richmond Terrace and he’s personally pushed a wheelchair from Richmond Terrace downtown. He voted in favour.

Mayor Prue: has given a few speeches at council meetings about being in the legislature when the AODA was introduced decades ago. He stated he has never seen any problem with access and cited his wife as Chair of the Accessibility Committee. I have discussed it with her, she has never once said that there was any accessibility problem brought to that committee or anyone on the committee. He acknowledged one complainant, but he doesn’t necessarily agree with what’s being said; so it is accessible.

Prue asked council to find it in their hearts to compromise with the other side; he broke the tie vote in favour.

Councillor Pouget: has consistently acknowledged the town’s obligation to remove barriers that prevent people with disabilities from equally participating in the community.

Councillor Courtney: has also acknowledged the importance of accessibility, removing barriers and considering the interests of the whole community.

Councillor Allaire: considered pros and cons and seemed to want to compromise in favour of a shorter time frame.

Councillor McArthur’s Open Air Comments Appalling

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I was appalled by Councillor McArthur’s comments during the February 22 Open Air discussion.

I missed part of the meeting because the agenda and link to livestream were not posted on the town’s website but I did check in and found council was discussing the tourism budget.

McArthur’s speech lasted about 5 minutes; Open Air, programming, hotel, the February 21 delegates/ businesses wanting to give the town $20,000, the reception given to them and he was shocked.

How did anyone act like they were urinating on the rug? Listen to the audio. Weren’t members of council just asking the delegates questions?

During the February 21 meeting, Councillor McArthur said everybody he talked to loves Open Air the way it is. He also said he didn’t think that now was the time for speeches on Open Air, that there was no motion on the floor when Councillor Pouget spoke about it.

I emailed him questions: did he not give a speech about the bike trails when there was no motion on the floor? Did he not recall emails I sent to members of council in opposition because it creates barriers to persons with disabilities? Did he only consider the views of people he ‘talked to’ and not consider emails? As council’s rep on the accessibility advisory committee, how will he represent the interests of the disability community?

Councillor McArthur did not respond by the time of writing.

Thrive Amherstburg Wants Open Air To Continue And More Money Spent On It

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Thrive! Amherstburg will present its white paper on Open Air to council at its Tuesday, October 12 meeting.

The group recommends:

  1.  Continue with Open Air in 2022
  2.  Invest at least an additional $20,500 in new programming in 2022

Some municipalities closed their downtown to support retail operations and specifically did not include entertainment or additional costs to the taxpayers.

Open Air Amherstburg Access Questioned

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This opinion by Linda Saxon was published in the River Town Times, March 31, 2021.

RE: Open Air Weekends Approved March 24, 2021

It was interesting to read about the variety of ideas that might possibly entice visitors or change the purpose of the weekend events.

The article mentioned, “Councillor Marc Renaud said there is a lot of parking a short walk from the downtown core, noting many will walk to and around shopping malls.”

In a report to council, Anne Rota and Nicole Rubli noted what the transportation planners suggest is an acceptable range of walking distance for retail, employee and special event parking.

The figures mirror those in an article originally published in 1994 when the authors discussed conditions that should be taken into account to determine how far people using parking garages should be asked to walk. It was determined that there was a lack of consensus for what is considered maximum walking distance.

The report mentions beliefs, perception and“the travel distance acceptable to an individual is contingent on an individual’s willingness to walk.” Transportation studies mention a willingness to walk in terms of close proximity to transit.

Notably absent was any reference to accessibility guidelines or consultation with residents with disabilities and the Amherstburg Accessibility Advisory Committee which has a mandated duty to advise council about the requirements and implementation of accessibility standards.

A separate report to council regarding accessibility requirements noted, “no consultation with the committee was possible at this time” due to COVID, yet the committee met previously during COVID on zoom, as has council.

Given mandatory training on the human rights code and accessibility legislation, why was there no checklist identifying potential barriers and their removal? If persons with disabilities had been consulted, barriers could have been prevented. For example, placing a group of accessible parking spaces on Dalhousie street is unacceptable, considering the slope on the southwest side.

Administration would also recommend the elimination of the Kings Navy Yard Parklot being a primary accessible parking location. Why? These spots were allegedly under-utilized. The town is obliged to provide a specific number of accessible parking spaces so it should not remove them, unless they cannot be accessed due to road closures.

Other potential barriers should have been identified. How many accessible parking spaces are type A? type B? What is the percentage of accessible seating in the eating areas? Are there any rest areas? How many accessible washrooms are there? Are the pathways unobstructed? Is signage accessible? Is marketing material available in alternate formats?

If there is a parking problem, maybe the problem is with the plan that barricades access to the downtown area.