Latest / nondriver / How accessible infrastructure affects social participation
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- ND E015: After the video was released, the issue received a lot of local awareness. And it taught people that just because a building is accessible does not necessarily mean that getting there is accessible. I wrote a letter to the Tacoma City Council urging them to build sidewalks from the election center to the bus stops. The city and county worked quickly to build a sidewalk. And by February, the first section was built. Welcome to Nondriver.. Real stories of navigating our world from people who can't drive. I'm Devin Silvernail. And I'm Anna Zivarts. And today we have an exciting guest. Blake Duarte is a transportation and accessibility advocate from University Place, Washington, which is near Tacoma, Washington. Blake grew up in Olympia and is unable to drive due to cerebral palsy. So getting around means rides from his parents, transit, or rolling in a power wheelchair. Blake is a graduate of the Urban Studies program at the University of Washington, Tacoma. Yay! and serves as an ambassador and public speaker with University of Washington's Do It program, mentoring younger scholars along the way. Blake also helped plan and build inclusive parks in Seattle and U University Place. Serving on the Eli's Park Project Leadership Team and the University Place Inclusive Park Design Team. Welcome to the show, Blake. And I'll just add a personal note. Blake worked with me as a a fellow when I was at Disability Rights Washington. That's how we got to know each other. And we worked on a really exciting sidewalk infrastructure project, which we're gonna talk more about in a minute. So my first question for you, Blake, is As you were growing up, was there a point you realized you weren't going to be able to drive? Yes. I really wanted to try driving. Both of my parents are former driver education instructors. My mom told me that I wasn't going to be able to drive. She has a lot of experience teaching people to drive and knew that I wasn't going to be able to do it. I have cerebral palsy. And use a power wheelchair for mobility. I don't have a fast enough reaction time to drive a car safely. I also get startled easily by loud or unexpected noises, which wouldn't make it safe for me to drive. Finding out that I wasn't going to be able to drive made me sad. I just didn't want to depend on other people to get around. At that time I did not have any experience using public transportation. We lived about ten minutes outside of Lacey in a rural area. I didn't even know that there was transit that served my neighborhood. There was one day during my senior year of high school when I wanted to stay after school for some tutoring. My mom took the high school that I went to. She had to leave shortly after school, and couldn't give me a ride home. Me and my one-on-one assistant at the time discovered that there was a bus route that served my neighborhood. Once I learned that there was a way for me to get around on my own, I started riding the bus more often. I enjoyed not relying solely on my parents to get around. I was really glad that there was a bus route, but also frustrated at the limited schedule. Back then in 2008, the route only ran hourly. Six days a week. Which made it hard to use. One outlet that I have found to make up for being unable to drive is playing driving simulation computer games. I have two games where I drive a semi truck, and another where I drive a train. And it's fun to still be able to drive virtually. You know, I had never thought about doing a v video game. I'm gonna have to try that now. I was wondering how do you get around now? what does your daily transportation access look like? I live in University Place, Washington, with my parents. I live by a major bus route, which makes it easy to get around. I use the bus occasionally. My parents usually give me rides in our wheelchair accessible van. They're both retired and usually have time to drive me to appointments and other local events. Getting places by car is a lot faster than the bus. If I'm going to an event in Seattle, they will drive me to the Tacoma Dome station, and then I will catch the bus or sounder train into Seattle. Before the retired eye took the bus, if I needed to get somewhere. I so one of the challenges of doing this interview is so we we sent these questions to Blake just so folks understand the process and ahead of time so he could write out the responses, which makes it tricky for me to ask follow-up questions. But maybe we'll do a few just so because I I am curious, and this is not something I asked you in the in the questions from before, but on the ballot in November this year, there's a a ballot initiative in Tacoma. that's gonna increase if it passes transit service in that county by around almost fifty percent, which I think is is pretty exciting. Do you know I know a lot of bus routes in Tacoma currently are hourly or maybe maybe if you're lucky every half hour. do you have a sense of w what i it if transit will get better in university place and will your routes change with that? Yeah. If Prop One passes, it would see a major boost in service. It would run every fifteen minutes as opposed to thirty minutes today, and run until midnight, which would make it a lot easier to use the bus. That's a huge difference. my gosh. Well, fingers crossed, I know Tacoma has been waiting a really, really long time for more transit funding. So we will we will hope you get that 15-minute frequency. Blake, do you want tell us how did you first become interested in transportation advocacy? I became interested in transportation advocacy around 2010 when Intercity Transit had a proposition for voters to increase the sales tax rate that they collect to fund bus service. They said if the proposition failed. Then the bus route out to my home in Olympia might be eliminated. Me and my parents were concerned because if that route would have been cut, I would have had a more difficult time going anywhere. At that time, I was going to school at St. Martin's University for my bachelor's degree, and had a one-seat ride to school. My mom and I attended a public meeting about the proposition, where people could testify. I didn't have a speech device at the time so my mom spoke for me. Fortunately, the proposition was approved by voters and the bus route continued. My sidewalk advocacy started in 2014 when the City of University placed it a project to construct sidewalks on the main road through town. It was a great project, because it extended sidewalks and bike lanes by nearly a mile. The problem was that during the construction project, they tore up the curb cuts and bus stop for my street, which meant that I had to use the stop before mine. Tripling the time it took me to get home. I decided to go to a city council meeting for the first time. During public comment, I told them that the construction project was very disruptive to my ability to catch the bus. I had to go a much farther distance to catch the bus, because the curb cuts were torn up, and I couldn't get on or off at my regular bus stop. While they told me that it should be finished by the end of the year. It took them a few extra months to finish the project. I feel like a lot of transportation advocacy is making people aware of the issues that non-drivers face. For drivers and most pedestrians who walk through the intersection, it wasn't a problem. Because they could just drive by or walk around it. I could not do that as a power wheelchair user. And needed to find another route that was accessible. Blake, I'm gonna have a an offline conversation with you about yeah, distance to to bus stop. So we're having a big fight up here in Seattle right now around bus stop consolidation and just for people to understand the difference between, you know, what might feel like a short distance to someone who isn't disabled or doesn't you know, move more slowly for whatever reason, it can feel like an insurmountable distance, right? Even if it's just one bus stop away. Yeah, I mean I can I I'm just so glad that, you know, you're out there fighting the good fight. Like you know, that's Anna and I, the last thing that we did together when I was still in Seattle is we worked you know, to upgrade and get sidewalks in Seattle. so really appreciate that. could you share the story of the fight for sidewalks to the Pierce County Voting Center? we're also going to play a clip University Place, Washington. I have cerebral palsy. I use a motorized wheelchair and speech device. The Pierce County Elections Center is in the South Tacoma neighborhood. The first time I went there to vote was in August 2014. I took Route 3 to South Pine Street and South 35th Street. When I started heading eastbound on South 35th Street and realized the sidewalk ended, I became confused. I would have thought the area surrounding a public building where people with disabilities can exercise their right to vote would have accessible infrastructure. I was very surprised at the lack of sidewalks and accessibility to the voting center. Previously lived in Thurston County, and at their election center, there was a fully accessible sidewalk from the bus stop. A new sidewalk needs to be built on the north side of South 35th Street. A new sidewalk also needs to be built on South Steel Street, from South 35th Street to South California Avenue. These improvements are critical to ensure that people with disabilities can safely access the Pierce County Elections Center, a public building that has accessible voting equipment that allows people with disabilities to vote freely and privately. I moved to Pierce County in 2013. And when I voted for the first time here the following year, I was really surprised at what I saw. While there were some sidewalks on the street that the election center is on, there were notable gaps that made it hard to use, while the election center is located on a side street. The nearby Costco store generates a lot of traffic on that street, because it's directly south of the election center. When I would go vote, once I got off the bus, I had to drive down the side of the street and To get to the voting center. Because there were no sidewalks. My mom was horrified when I told her that. But she worked at the time and couldn't take me. One time. I tried to speak at a Tacoma City Council meeting about my concerns with the lack of pedestrian infrastructure by the Election Center. But got turned away because they only allow public comments for items that are on the agenda for that day. In 2019, you asked me if there were any accessibility issues that I experienced in Pierce County. I immediately thought of the Pierce County Election Center in Tacoma. It's the only place in Pierce County that has accessible voting equipment for the entire two and a half weeks prior to Election Day. That November, I had my mom film me getting off the bus and taking a precarious trip to the election center. You edited it and put it on Twitter, where it generated a lot of views and local attention by elected officials, the local newspaper, and the general public. It really made people aware of an accessibility issue that most people have not thought about or experienced for themselves. Washington is a vote by mail state. So most voters just mail in their ballot or place it in a drop box. They don't need to physically go to the election center to go vote. So most people did not know about this accessibility issue of the lack of sidewalks. Yeah. I think that is that's sums it up, right? That there's this lack of awareness because we are such a vote by mail state that people assume that's that's how it happens for everyone. But if you need to use an accessible voting machine to be able to vote privately, which folks do you know, just standing there. I think I visited that voting center with you a couple of times, and I was always surprised at how many folks were coming in and out to use those voting machines. there's there's definitely they're definitely used. And you know, as you see you see in the video, the that lack of sidewalks was a real issue. so do you wanna tell us sort of what happened then after that video, after all the there was I think a to come in news tribune story, there was definitely a lot of TV coverage. What changed? After the video was released, the issue received a lot of local awareness. And it taught people that just because a building is accessible does not necessarily mean that getting there is accessible. You hired me at Rooted in Rights as a transportation intern. I wrote a letter to the Tacoma City Council urging them to build sidewalks from the election center to the bus stops. The city and county worked quickly to build a sidewalk. And by February, the first section was built. It went from the voting center to the nearby intersection at 35th and Steele. I was very pleased at how quickly that section was built. However, there is another bus stop a little bit further down on South Pine Street, served by another route. There were still gaps in the sidewalk to that bus stop. And I wanted to see the sidewalk extended all the way to South Pine Street, which is about one fifth of a mile, when I voted in the primary that August. We had a press event to highlight the new sidewalk. For the event, I took the bus to Pine and 35th, and rolled down the side of the street in my wheelchair once again, by the time that I went to vote in the November election just three months later. The sidewalk was extended all the way to South Pine Street. It was really exciting, because now pedestrians can safely get to the voting center. No matter what bus route they take, they Yeah, I couldn't believe how fast the sidewalks got built. it was pretty impressive. And I think, you know, because you you you was such a compelling story and the way you talked about it, I think really did you know, it takes I I mean, Devin Devin's worked for a city, he knows how long it is takes to get Funding aligned and allocated and projects under construction and to get something built that quickly was I don't know, it was pretty miraculous. It made me feel that anything was possible and it's been a slow, slow grind since then. Nothing's been quite that easy. but it was pretty cool. You know, and we had mentioned at the top of the show that you got your masters in urban planning from UW Tacoma. what how did you decide to go and get a planning degree? Because transportation issues and inequities are really important to me. I want to work in transportation, but kept getting jobs and advocacy and supporting disabled folks. While I have used public transportation for 18 years, I did not have any formal training in transportation. And felt like getting my master's degree would help me have a better educational foundation into other areas of transportation that I really didn't know or thought about before. What has it been like being in planning school as someone who comes to it, you know, from that you know as someone who's been using transit, as you said, for 18 years? My master's program was really helpful in giving me a holistic perspective on transportation. The overarching theme of the program is that the United States and other countries have invested heavily into making cars easy to use while other modes of transportation such as transit, biking and pedestrian infrastructure has been undervalued for decades. The Federal Aid Highway Act of nineteen fifty six set the stage for the US to become auto-oriented by building approximately forty thousand miles of highway over the next four decades. This led to significant growth in the suburbs, and a lot of development was built in a design mostly meant for cars. Meanwhile, funding for transit, cyclists, and pedestrians Is commonly an afterthought in most places. These are the fundamentals of the Master's program. Because when you think about systems, climate change, or environmental analyses, which were all classes that I took, the United States dependency on personal vehicles has had a profound impact on shaping our transportation system and how people use it. The Pierce County Election Center is one example of this. When it became a voting center, and for the years that followed, the street design assumed that everyone would drive there. While most people drive to the election center. Because it's the fastest, most efficient way to get there. That doesn't mean that everyone can, or frankly, wants to get there by car. Transportation planners must do a better job at considering all users of the system, not just the ones who have historically had the most power. Yeah, I mean yes to everything. I wonder if you can share with us or I guess what could you share with us about your your master's thesis? My capstone project looked at the relationships between transportation and accessibility. Social isolation and health outcomes for people with disabilities. This topic is important to me because I have personally experienced social isolation throughout my life. Because of my disability and transportation barriers, I collected my data by having participants fill out a survey that examined modes of travel, experiences being unable to go to desired destinations or events. and transportation issues. Many of the respondents' transportation modes were based on how their disability affected their ability to drive and transportation options available to them. I asked respondents their transportation mode for a few destinations, including family gatherings, medical appointments, and socializing with friends. The majority of responses included taking the bus, And having a caregiver drive. I found that there were a variety of obstacles disabled people face in accessing transportation. Costs were the most common barrier. This included the large costs of wheelchair-accessible vehicles, personal vehicles, vehicle maintenance, and wheelchairs. Many respondents mentioned that the lack of transportation options was a significant obstacle for them, and that it affects their mental health. Major themes included the lack of independence, maintaining a social life and sense of belonging, and difficulties accessing transit. Limited bus schedules can significantly impact one's ability to participate in social activities and maintain their health. Some study participants reported skipping trips because they were uncomfortable asking others for rides. Others indicated that they need time to make plans and coordinate logistics. They typically can't meet up with some on the same day, which can lead to missing out on social activities if they're planned at the last minute. Lastly, I asked participants to identify changes to transportation services or infrastructure that would improve their ability to participate in their communities. The two primary themes that I saw were transportation improvements and infrastructure improvements. Among the suggestions to improve transit, answers were typically based on what transportation mode the participant used. Fixed route bus users wanted improved transit service coverage, more frequent transit, and more availability of restrooms. Paratransit users sought improvements to the service, including greater span of service hours, the ability to schedule paratransit trips for the same day, and the ability to schedule trips online. There were also several recommendations for how to improve infrastructure that would make it easier or safer for participants to access their communities. Many of the recommendations included improving sidewalks. This included accessibility, including curb cuts, continuous sidewalks, and improved parking lot accessibility. One participant said that she is unable to stand for a long time and needs places to sit down. She recommended placing more benches in cities. She said that benches are becoming increasingly less common due to the unhoused population. One solution for this is for cities to invest in benches with seat delineators, which would prevent people from lying down on the bench. I concluded that the lack of accessible infrastructure, including transit service, sidewalks, and bike lanes, make it challenging for disabled people to go out and meaningfully participate in their communities. The results make it clear that more transportation services in communities could foster additional participation among disabled people. and possibly reduce the negative impacts on their mental health. Thanks, Blake. I was really excited to hear about this project and to support it. I think, you know, there's it's so It's so necessary for there to be more research around the needs of folks with disabilities. And I think to understand too what you were talking about at the beginning that the social isolation that results from people skipping trips and not having the option and the opportunity to go where we or where they want to go. I just, you know, I think for any of us who hasn't been able to drive, that's something we've definitely experienced. you know, as you were talking right now, I just kept on thinking about Even, you know, here in Washington State where I have a fair amount of mobility where I live, being in Seattle, being near a light rail, being on a bus line. My whole family lives in Washington State at this point, but none of them live in places that are on transit. And so I do feel that sense of social exclusion all the time because they're getting together, they're seeing each other, they're visiting each other, and for me to see any of them I have to call up someone and ask for a ride. And so, yeah, that's just what came to mind as I as you shared that that piece. what is what is next for you now? I I guess and and maybe if it's all right with you we'll we'll share we can we can talk about this, but if we are comfortable with us sharing a link to your capstone project, I think it's really important for this research to get out there more in the world and for people to you know to see and and understand this experience more than they they already do. That would be great. I'm currently taking a break after three years of grad school. I will be looking for work in transportation, accessibility, or advocacy. What's your dream job? Can I ask you that? I think it's good to put it out there in case someone's listening to this and is like, hey, I'm gonna hire Blake. Would like to help people learn more about how to use transit. I'm also interested in working on making transportation more accessible for all users. Not just looking at transit, but also for multimodal transportation users like cyclists and pedestrians. As someone who has used a power wheelchair for over 30 years, I have a unique perspective on traveling through cities. And what works and what could be improved. Well, I really hope a transit agency or a transportation department sees that value. you know, as as I continue to harp on. There's so much knowledge and expertise in the disability community among folks who are and you know have been navigating these systems for a long time and that just isn't unfortunately isn't recognized enough I think as expertise. So I'm really excited for you, Blake. I'm excited for whatever agency or organization gets to to have you contribute your knowledge and you definitely enjoy some some well-earned rest until then. You is there anything else you wanna share, Devin, do you have any other questions? just wanna say thanks to Blake for coming and sharing all that information with us. I think it's really important for policymakers to hear you know, that study especially, you know, your your thesis. So I really hope that that can get out to people and if we can help share that, that's what we wanna do 'cause that's important work. So thank you so much. Yes, I think that would be wonderful. Thank you so much. Alright, thanks Blake. Have a good rest of your day. Thanks for listening to Nondriver.. I'm Anna Zivarts. And I'm Devin Silvernail. If today's conversation resonated with you, please subscribe and share the show with a friend. You can also leave us a review wherever you listen. It genuinely helps other people find the show. NonDriver is brought to you by the NonDrivers Alliance. Find more info at non drivers.org. And this episode was produced by Devin. Want to get in touch? Email us at non driverpodcast at proton.me. We'll see you next week.