Current CANBC Projects
Here are the current projects that CAN is working on.
Access Guide for Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows
Citizens for Accessible Neighbourhoods is creating an Access Guide for the Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows area. This guide will be found on our web site. The Access Guide will have reviews of the accessibility of businesses, venues, and parks. This project has several stages and will be an ongoing project for all of 2008. Our goal is to have the Access Guide completed and available for the 2009 BC Disability Games.
Members of CAN have been working to create accessibility checklists for restaurants, shopping, lodging, entertainment, places of worship, and parks. We will be considering accessibility from the point of view of wheelchair, scooter, walker, and stroller users. We have also gathered information regarding what makes businesses accessible for those with visual and hearing impairments.
In addition to working on checklists we have been speaking with other communities who have created Access Guides in the past. Burnaby has just finished updating their Access Guide which is available online as well as in a hard copy. For the time being CAN will concentrate on the online version. We want the Access Guide to be as user friendly as possible so we would appreciate your feedback as we progress with our online Access Guide. We will send a notification to all members when we add our first assessments to our site.
Volunteers will be spending the month of February assessing various businesses and venues in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows and we hope to have the first stage of the Access Guide up by the beginning of March.
We at CAN are very excited by this project as it will not only help residents, newcomers, and tourists but it will help to educate, and promote awareness to, the business owners in our area. We have discovered in past projects that business owners are open to suggestions regarding accessibility and that accessibility is often lacking because they are not aware of the issues. When we complete the review of the cooperating business we will give them a copy of the assessment so that they understand where their accessibility strengths and weaknesses are.
Citizens for Accessible Neighbourhoods has spoken with the Executive Director at BC Disability Sports (BCDS) and has received encouragement with this project. BCDS feels this guide will be a welcome addition to the games and for those coming to our community for the duration of the games.
If you have any suggestions, comments, or questions regarding the Access Guide please contact us by phone at (604) 437•7331 or by e-mail at info@canbc.org.
Accessible Transit in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows
Citizens for Accessible Neighbourhoods continues to hear from people who are experiencing difficulties with the transit system in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. Many of the people contacting us have quit using the system at a great cost to their lives. We have heard from residents who have had to change jobs, move, or quit school because of the inaccessibility of the bus system in our communities. It has been CAN’s greatest goal to improve not only the accessibility of the bus system but to improve the communication between Translink/Coast Mountain Bus Company and the residents who would like to use the system but have found they cannot rely on it.
To review, the largest problem concerning those with mobility aids who wish to use the transit system is that a person with a mobility aid is only allowed to board or disembark from a bus at designated bus stops. While the main route in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, the 701, has an acceptable amount of accessible bus stops it is the smaller routes, the shuttle buses, which maintain percentages well under Translink’s goal for accessible bus stops. The shuttle bus system in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, unlike the 701 which takes people out of our communities, is the main mode of getting around our two communities by transit. We still have a bus route that has zero accessible bus stops. This is very unacceptable and CAN has been working to get Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) to improve the percentages and the reliability of the system.
If you have any questions regarding accessibility and the transit system in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows please let us know. It is through your input that we learn of the various problems and work to improve the situation.
Participating in a Focus Group on The Maple Ridge Town Centre Area Parking Strategy
In addition to being a part of the Spirit Square stakeholder’s group we have been asked to participate in a Focus Group Workshop for Maple Ridge Town Centre Area Parking Strategy. This group will be creating a concept plan for parking that will be presented to council. Our first meeting will be at the beginning of October. We would appreciate any input you can offer us before the meeting so that we can represent as many experiences as possible. If you have any thoughts on the parking situation in downtown Maple Ridge please e-mail us at info@canbc.org or phone (604) 437-7331. We will continue to update you on this group as it proceeds.
Assisting Other Communities Through Our Web Site
Citizens for Accessible Neighbourhoods continues to be contacted by people in other communities. We receive e-mails weekly from people who have discovered our web site and who ask us to help them with information, guidance, or direction. We are pleased that people respond to our web site and that we are able to help others even if they do not reside in Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadows. We have realized that the CAN may be based in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows but that we are part of a virtual neighbourhood and we enjoy helping anyone who contacts us.
The BC Disability Games
A representative of Citizens for Accessible Neighbourhoods attended this year’s 2007 BC Disability Games in Powell River. As Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows are hosting the next Disability Games in 2009 we felt it would be useful to see how Powell River organized their games so that we would have input when it comes time to organize the 2009 games.
Attending the BC Disability Games in Powell River was a great experience and we at CAN are excited to assist in ensuring that the 2009 BC Disability Games live up to the athletes’ expectations. While we are aware that planning will not begin for another year we are glad to have experienced Powell River so that we have a better understanding of what works and what needs to be improved. We look forward to playing an active part in the 2009 Games when planning begins next year.
CAN’s Web Site
We, at CAN, are continually working to improve our web site and to keep the information up to date. We are excited by the fact that organizations from across BC have contacted us for information regarding accessibility because their search on the internet brought them to our web site. CAN would like to thank Doug Cook from DigiCom WebDesign for his ongoing support of our organization and his brilliant work with our web site. Many of the members of CAN are not computer savvy and Doug’s continuing assistance helps Citizens for Accessible Neighbourhoods get the word out about our organization, our goals, and accessibility in general.
We created our site in the hopes of sharing information and creating easier access to information regarding what is available within our two communities. We have support groups, local organizations, and upcoming events listed on our web site. We try to keep the information as up to date as possible. If you have anything you would like to add to our web site please let us know by e-mailing us a info@canbc.org or 604-437-7331.
