On nextdoor, #CambMA CM Patty Nolan says that she wants to legalize curbside EV charging (using ADA cord covers).
I think this is a bad idea, and commented saying so. 1/2
https://nextdoor.com/p/2dJ7tfsZFK8L?utm_source=share&extras=MTU4OTYyOA%3D%3D
2/2 Here’s a big thread I did on my old account running through the folly and many many pitfalls of making the public streetside in cities a default for EV charging, and how it should be the absolute last priority in our EV transition efforts.
3/2 anyway, legalizing the pockety-pock of ramp covers every 50’ on a sidewalk upholds our long tradition of every transportation advance taking something (small or large) from people outside cars.
@szeis4cookie @bikepedantic My grad student transportation prof made us do that for an afternoon and sure, it's something you remember, but it's also deeply offensive to cosplay a disability. There are so many perspectives people who design or control the public space need to consider (or elevate), and you can't master them all by trying them on for a week or an afternoon.
@HayiWena @szeis4cookie in this case, we’re also going beyond ADA strict compliance, and more into universal design territory. I’ve been thinking a bit about what our ‘design vehicle’ should be for an ideal universal sidewalk, and for the vertical stuff at least, “young kid on rollerblades” and “older adult pushing wheeled walker” are my frontrunners
@bikepedantic @HayiWena @szeis4cookie
I don't see how any of those cord ramps can avoid being unpleasant to someone in a wheelchair. I've been over a few on a bike, my default wheel is slightly larger (w/ the big tires) than the largest wheelchair wheels, I am midway between wheels instead of sitting on top, and have the option of foot/hand "suspension" out of the saddle (which has suspension/springs), and they can still be a bit of a bump.
@HayiWena @bikepedantic I can understand how that would be offensive - I just think a lot about how so many people seem to have lost any kind of ability to have empathy without personally sharing the experience. It's a pervasive problem in my own field of software, where accessibility is too often an afterthought (and a pattern that I've fallen into at times as well)
@bikepedantic our neighbors tried stringing a cord across the sidewalk to their Tesla once. When they wouldn't stop on our request we called the city, which sent out a very upset fire marshal: it's a huge fire hazard.
@bikepedantic a friend who works for the regulatory division of a major utility company (and owns an EV) said that for this reason, under California state law, anyone who places a power cord across a public right of way is regulated like a utility. It's not well enforced, but it would be a legal barrier if a city proposed to encourage trickle charging across sidewalks.
@bikepedantic sometimes I wonder if we need to somehow force people to live wheelchair or knee-rover bound for a week before allowing them to run EV cords across the sidewalk