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From: Glenn Woodell on 19 Aug 2007 21:53
I had the occasion to relive an experience at Wal-Mart last night that
I'm going to act on.

I am an AK amputee but I am very mobile. I rarely if ever take
advantage of my handicapped parking permit but I fully apprreciate
those who do.

I hate to see when the parking spaces are abused and I'm not talking
about illegal use. Many Wal-Marts have two doorways, separated by a
fairly large distance with handicapped parking in front of each. No
problem.

The problem comes when at a certain time at night, management closes
off one of the entrances, making it very inconvenient for those who
happen to enter just before the closing. That's happened to me twice
now.

Imagine being in a wheelchair or worse yet, with a walker or otherwise
walking with very slow progress. You park near the entrance, shop for
15 minutes only to find out that your entrance is now blocked.

You have to go to the far end of the store to check out and exit which
of course puts you at in incredible distance from your vehicle. Let's
just hope it's not raining.

I did not use the handicapped parking but I'm sure some did and it's
just plain wrong and surely there's some law against this. Last time I
was told that there was a sign on the door stating when the doors get
locked. That does me a lot of good when there's already a dozen other
notices and ads plastered up there.

And what's more, last night they blocked off the exit from the inside
with a row of shopping carts. I will be contacting management and
local officials on two account. The accessibility issue and the fire
safety issue. We don't need another New Hampshire or Argentina night
Club tragedy.

Please speak out when you see misues like this which make life
difficut for others or even deadly.

Glenn
From: Scott on 19 Aug 2007 22:33
On Sun, 19 Aug 2007 21:53:12 -0400, in alt.support.amputee, Glenn Woodell
<letsrig(a)cox.net> wrote:

>The problem comes when at a certain time at night, management closes
>off one of the entrances, making it very inconvenient for those who
>happen to enter just before the closing. That's happened to me twice
>now.

Definitely a safety issue, especially with the shopping carts. Are there
any "this door to remain unlocked during business hours" decals on those
doors? There probably should be. It might be a good idea to call your
city's health and safety inspector to let him know about the situation.

>You have to go to the far end of the store to check out and exit which
>of course puts you at in incredible distance from your vehicle. Let's
>just hope it's not raining.

I have a related peeve about my local public library. The building is
designed for walking traffic, in a town where nobody walks. Parking is in
the back, but the entrance is out front, a long walk away from any parking
space. I've mentioned the issue to them, knowing that this building can't
easily be fixed, but hoping to influence future design decisions.

-Scott
From: Glenn Woodell on 19 Aug 2007 23:09
On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 02:33:53 GMT, nobody(a)xmission.com (Scott) wrote:

>On Sun, 19 Aug 2007 21:53:12 -0400, in alt.support.amputee, Glenn Woodell
><letsrig(a)cox.net> wrote:
>
>>The problem comes when at a certain time at night, management closes
>>off one of the entrances, making it very inconvenient for those who
>>happen to enter just before the closing. That's happened to me twice
>>now.

As a follow up on this issue, I called the manager on duty and told
him of my concerns. I suggested that they place bags or something over
the handicapped parking signs about a half hour or so before they
close off the doors so people won't inadverdently park there and get
the surprise when they try to exit later. I don't think my suggestion
was really heard.

>Definitely a safety issue, especially with the shopping carts. Are there
>any "this door to remain unlocked during business hours" decals on those
>doors? There probably should be. It might be a good idea to call your
>city's health and safety inspector to let him know about the situation.

I don't know. I was with others so I didn't go investigate. Typically,
if a door is marked with a lighted exit sign then it is considered a
fire exit and cannot be blocked.

I called the local fire chief there and am expecting a call back from
him tomorrow.

I also told the Wal-Mart manager on duty about this concern. He said
that they only did that on special occasions like when they were
stripping the floors but that it was not done that way regularly. By
the hesitation in his voice I think he was making that up. I suggested
that they rope it off with yellow tape or something. But I told him
that I had called the fire department for safety, not to get them in
trouble. I'm going to follow up on it.

>
>>You have to go to the far end of the store to check out and exit which
>>of course puts you at in incredible distance from your vehicle. Let's
>>just hope it's not raining.
>
>I have a related peeve about my local public library. The building is
>designed for walking traffic, in a town where nobody walks. Parking is in
>the back, but the entrance is out front, a long walk away from any parking
>space. I've mentioned the issue to them, knowing that this building can't
>easily be fixed, but hoping to influence future design decisions.

I love these engineered communities. Apparently some city planners
think that this is what we all want. I'm sure they all look great on
poster board at the meetings.

Glenn
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