but why don't you back that up?

Joyce was a YPP endorsed candidate and I am happy that she is blogging here post-election. If you have a concern with the legislation she is backing, have the courtesy to treat her like the intellectual equal she is and explain your rationale for disagreeing.

I don't know much about this issue myself, but saying that "a few more curb cuts and elevators throughout the city" would be helpful, when i know that the entire city-owned West Philadelphia trolley system and trolley subway has no ramps, elevators or handicapped equipped vehicles seems like a pretty big issue to me.

and you are most insensitive to the needs of the disabled and the handicapped. Ray is correct regarding the inaccessible nature of the trolley system.

There is a Commission on Person with Disabilities or some such creature. Commissions are creations of the Mayor and can therefore be dissolved by the Mayor. Many if not most of the progressives in this area, including the Legal Clinic for the Disabled, the Disabilities Rights Network, Liberty Resources Inc, Center for Independent Living, and many individual disabled persons all believe that there needs to be this type of mechanism to make a reality for them the promise of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Persons with disabilities are second class citizens without a voice and many of us, such as you, do not even realize the inequality, because we take for granted so much. You sarcastically say that a few more curb cut and elevators would be better. You cannot possibility mean to reduce the right of the disabled to equal access to curb cuts and more elevators.

Yet, I am sure you know nothing about the curb cuts through the City. I am sure that you do not know how much struggle was involved in securing the funding for the curb cuts and how the Mayor at that time fought tooth and nail to prevent curb cuts. I am also sure you are not aware that many of the curb cuts in Center City are defective , in that the gradient is too steep resulting in puddles of water-no drainage, and ice. I suppose your position is that the disabled should be happy that the curb cuts are there at all and do not complain about the defective nature.

And once we secure the curb cuts and more elevators, what and when do we deal with the taxi cabs that refuse to stop and pick up a disabled person with a wheelchair or other assistive devices? And when do we begin to secure or insure that City Hall and the Municipal Services Building is accessible to the disabled? And when do we deal with housing,employment and employment related issues, and what about defective products, such as motorized wheelchairs that costs thousands of dollars and there is no recourse in Philadelphia for a "lemon chair". And least we forget the untold numbers of disabled and/or handicapped school age children. WE are all so concerned about quality of life issues, but are we really? Whose quality of life? I think you need to step back and reevaluate your response. You are able to pick up and go anytime you want, without any barriers to your going, any place you want, any building that you want to go into. You are able to hop on any trolley, eat in any cafe, grab a drink anywhere and as quiet as it is kept, vote without physical barriers to your voting. I have only scratched the surface in my rebuke of your sarcastic response.

This City is made up of many different types of people, able bodied and disabled, among them. As I said, I believe you should check yourself.