Fight over Beach Trail toilets not over yet, woman says

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Posted with permission from the Hamilton Spectator.
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Oct 05, 2015

Hamilton Spectator
By Carmela Fragomeni


The city is checking accessibility at its park washrooms after a woman who relies on a scooter to get around fought for improvements to the ones on the Hamilton Beach Trail.

Debbi Bernacci, 55, who has Parkinson's disease, says she had to rely on strangers to open the outer door to the washroom buildings on the trail because there were no automated push buttons.

Her other problem was a lack of privacy in the accessible stalls — she says they are too small for her scooter so she has to leave the door open to use them.

City staff last week installed push buttons at the entrances to the washrooms closest to the lift bridge, but could not widen the accessible stalls inside.

Bernacci said Saturday the buttons will make her beloved trips to the beach trail much easier. That said, she felt she won the battle, but not the war.

"I'm grateful. However, I still don't fit in the stall … It's going to be a battle to do something about the stalls."

By Sunday, however, after checking the washrooms, Bernacci was angry, crying and feeling she had been lied to because only one of the three trail facilities (near the lift bridge, at Lakeland Centre and between Centennial Parkway and Gray's Road) had new push buttons.

"I was told by Coun. Chad Collins' office that all three would be done … I live between Highway 20 and Gray's Road. Does that mean I have to pee my pants to get to one (that is accessible) at the end of the trail?"

Putting in the automated buttons cost about $3,400 but "to change the stalls would be cost prohibitive," said city facilities director Rome D'Angelo. "A quick remedy for now was to put the buttons in at a low cost."

D'Angelo said the city installed buttons only at lift bridge washrooms because Lakeland belongs to the Hamilton Conservation Authority and he was unaware of the need at the third location.

However, his staff is conducting an inventory on washrooms without automated buttons or larger stalls, with a plan to report to councillors by December with upgrade costs.

D'Angelo said the washrooms meet accessibility rules because they conform to the requirements in place when they were built in 2003. Upgrading to the new stall standard of 72 square inches from the current 60 would only happen if new or expanded facilities are built, he said.

Bernacci launched a one-person campaign in July to get the automated push buttons and widen the stalls, presenting Collins with a 519-signature petition.

Many who signed it thought the push buttons were mandatory and could not believe they weren't on all buildings, she said.

"Honestly, people were just in awe there wasn't accessibility."

The buttons were installed at washrooms near the lift bridge after Collins raised the issue at the August public works committee meeting.



cfragomeni@thespec.com

905-526-3392 | @CarmatTheSpec


http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5944445-fight-over-beach-trail-toilets-not-over-yet-woman-says/
 
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