“...From that, we get the Americans with Disabilities Act (you have to spend $100,000 on a wheelchair ramp because someday someone with a wheelchair might want to browse your store)..”
As an amputee (and a combat veteran of two tours in Vietnam) I STRONGLY resent your comment above...It is NOT a choice to become handicapped...
Take a hike. I resent your grabbing at some Grand Order of Victimology medal.
No one is saying ignore those who do have handicaps. We’re happy to make reasonable accommodations.
We just don’t like spending $250,000+ to meet arcane requirements of federal run-amuckism to do what a mega-office of FEDGOV dweebs think must be done.
I know it's not a choice to be handicapped. It's not a choice to be black either. The civil rights activists forced business owners to cater to them, even when the business owners did not want to. I think that's a shame. The ADA forces businesses to build accommodations for the handicapped. I'm sure you disagree, but I see that as government intervention and I think it works against property rights of business owners.
The actual story here, of course, is about homosexuals, and I do see that as a matter of choice -- which provides an even stronger argument for why a business should not have to cater to homosexual activists.
I strongly oppose anyone who claims that homosexuals are part of a civil rights struggle, "just like Martin Luther King". I think that's abhorrent.
I do recognize that the handicapped are part of a civil rights struggle. I may not agree with you on the ADA, but I would not lump you in with the homosexual activists.
“It is NOT a choice to become handicapped...”
However it is a choice to enter property owned by another individual. You would also have the choice to risk your own sweat and capital to start a business to cater to a market, specifically to other handicapped individuals.
The government meddling in private property and business decisions has done far more harm than good. This article is not even the logical conclusion of that meddling. It will get worse. Now, take it back to the root cause and you will see that the original poster has a very valid point.
Said sidewalks were, of course, unsuitable for wheelchairs but highly suited to folks who can walk (even with a cane or crutches).
In compliance with ADA, and at great expense, the stepped sidewalks were torn out and replaced with continuous surface. The supposed purpose of this remodel was to make them "wheelchair accessible".
Rot and nonsense. They are less convenient for bipedal (or assisted bipedal) locomotion ... as for wheelchairs?
Taking a wheelchair up the slope would be impossible. Taking a wheelchair down the slope should be done only by the friggin' moron who thought the remodel was a good idea, filmed, and submitted to MTV for airing on "Jackass".
Thanks.
ADA means spending millions of dollars to make the world worse for everybody.