The perfect is the enemy of the good. Every project involves compromises.

The overlook walk is 100% accessible. Once you take an elevator to the top of the new Aquarium, there are ramps all the way into the Market.

There was no room to ramp all the way down. Go to the SAM park and see how long the ramp would be to make up all that grade.

It's pretty steep for a ramp.

In other words there is a reasonable accommodation but not the one you pictured.

You’re missing the point. ADA is about EQUAL access. Not back of the room, can’t see the view, have to leave your partner and ride in a tin can, afterthought access. Equal. It’s a real shame they got this design wrong.

Another big problem with making elevators the sole means of access for people with disabilities is that when they break they tend to stay broke, because no one else cares.

"dripping with progressive ideals?" maybe get out of your downtown bubble and see what Seattle claims is part of the city. Did you know it extends north of the UW? Crazy, right? The boarded up stores and dreary car-choked expanses out here don't have much in common with the author's experience.

She kinda lost me at "my" honeymoon…did she go alone?

But yes, Paris is a terrible comparison, from my experience. 14 métro lines with 2-3 minute headways and < 1 minute dwell times, plus the compactness of a city with 6 times the density of Seattle makes for a very different experience. A lot of urbanists and city lovers need to learn that a lot of the voters in Seattle want to live in Atherton CA [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atherton,_California], not Paris or NYC. They want to claim a city as their address but don't want to live in a shared municipal/metropolitan environment.

But she obviously makes enough to live downtown, the closest approximation to an urban experience. Good for her. A truly progressive city would make that a walkable, accessible reality for everyone, not just those who can afford it.

Last time I went through the new waterfront I thought that there was a new big glass elevator right in front of the ocean pavilliion that goes up to the walk. Maybe it's not open yet? It would be cool if the ramps didn't require stairs, but they are quite steep.

The ADA isn't about "equal access", it's about "resonable accomodation". Looks like the elevator is a great solution.

No switchbacks
nor Spirals?
how is this
even Pos-
sible?

'tis time for a
“too far out!”
Landscape
Designer
to just
fix it

tho w/the djt's
Savage presidency,
'wish lists' may Soon
give way to shitlists & Hitlists

this mayn’t be the time to Fix Anything
other than our leetle
Experiment in
democracy

@9

yeah
but like
mentioned
above, elevators
like to Break & Then what?

who
can Af-
ford to Fix
Anything any more

Meh, Pike Place Market sits at 125ft of elevation. The overlook park has slightly more than that in horizontal distance to get down that far to sea level. It’s over a parking garage, road, and aquarium - not things that can be removed to make space for ramps.
And still, there are ramps where they fit - down from the market expansion, past old stove, around the kids play area and thru the main viewing area. But yeah, then you need to drop down about 80 feet in short space to reach the waterfront. That’s almost 1000 horizontal feet of ramp at the 1:12 slope required by ADA. There’s no room for that, and thinking the designers are shit designers because of this only demonstrates your selfishness and rejection of expert knowledge. Two big commonalities between the left and the right these days.

Those curbs you lament protect us all from vehicular traffic.
Why is your ease more important than our safety to you?

My wife has a disability. We both love the upper and lower walkways. We enjoy the ramps from Western Ave down to the elevator. We appreciate the elevator. The elevator ride takes approximately 10 seconds.
Do you realize what you sound like?
PS Girl! How was your Paris honeymoon? Did your parents pay for it?

Now do tents blocking sidewalks!

"But yeah, then you need to drop down about 80 feet in short space to reach the waterfront. That’s almost 1000 horizontal feet of ramp at the 1:12 slope required by ADA. There’s no room for that, and thinking the designers are shit designers because of this only demonstrates your selfishness and rejection of expert knowledge. Two big commonalities between the left and the right these days."

THANK YOU! I have two years of landscape architecture under my belt, but I haven't done slope/grade calculations in a long time. You read my mind. I also took a look at the Colosseum. Round!!!! You know what that means? A spiral of ramps are possible because a circle allows for much horizontal distance.

This is par for the course for The Stranger, however. We can't have convenient facts getting in the way of victimhood. I'll bet the author is a fan of the 'We believe in science" shit too!

@15

too far Out.
'science'!
what a
Joke:

we're
with
the
djt.

"How was your Paris honeymoon?
Did your parents pay for it?"

yeah.
Bingo.
you Shouldda
picked Poorer parents.

fawkin'
idjts.