Anchorage and Alaska are my home. We call ourselves a winter city, but are we really? We have winter weather, but we don’t deal with it very well. I am a proud Alaskan with a disability. Back in the 1980s, when we were rich, we built the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts and the Loussac Library, among other buildings. My guess is we hired architects from climates who had no idea about life in the north.
We’ve made some improvements to the library by removing the stairs. But the PAC is another story.
In case you haven’t noticed or thought about it, there is no way to enter the PAC without getting out of a vehicle into traffic. Young kids, people in wheelchairs, people on gurneys (and there are some); everybody exiting a car into traffic is at risk. I think we’re waiting for someone to be injured or killed. So what can we do besides cultivate awareness?
I have the following suggestions: • Reverse the directions of Fifth and Sixth so people can be dropped off at the curb.
• Build a sky connection between the Sixth Avenue parking garage and the PAC.
• Tear up part of Town Square Park to build a drop zone.
We need to fix this and stop burying our heads in the snow. We also need to change our building design methods to proactively include access by both wheelchair users, the walking wounded and blind, because face it: The easier it is for people with disabilities, the easier it is for all of us.
— Paula Johnson
Anchorage
Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.