Monday, July 16, 2012

Easton: It Has It's Ups And Downs

This is an odd post to make. We here at Ugly Easton like to focus on the ugly, the inappropriate, the tacky, the ill-designed homes around us. But this one is different because of the intent of the ugly in question.
A gentleman recently moved into this apartment in the West Ward. He has to use a wheelchair. This is an unfortunate reality for this gentleman and we can understand that his quality of life would be improved if certain allowances were made for him.
So the landlord installed a wheelchair elevator for him.
What at first looks like a refrigerator left at the curb, is in fact an elevator. The installers actually CUT OUT the fanciful century-old stonework and installed this monstrosity RIGHT THERE IN FRONT!
Now, a number of questions come up;
One: Why wasn't this installed in the yard? Or at the side of the house?
Two: Is it safe for kids? there are a lot of little kids in this neighborhood, and there are NO SAFEGUARDS around this thing!
Three: Why, with so many other much better suited properties nearby (Bushkill House for instance) would someone in a wheelchair choose to live on a steep hill? Remember, he's RENTING here!
Four: Why were none of the neighbors asked about this? If this was a Historical Neighborhood, it wouldn't fly, but the aesthetics are clearly affected nonetheless. Some years ago when a neighbor up the street wanted to install a garage, the neighbors were surveyed, but not in this case.

The sidewalk in this block is just a mess, and the DOT hasn't gotten around to installing ramps on any of the corners yet. What will this person do in the winter? He doesn't drive but uses his motorized chair to go everywhere.
But back to our whole reason for being: this thing is just plain ugly and impractical.

Discuss.

2 comments:

  1. what kind of zoning department does Easton have???

    ReplyDelete
  2. like the rest of the city government: dysfunctional.

    ReplyDelete