While Access Success Day was meant to celebrate all the improvements the Town of Qualicum Beach has made to support access in the community, the town still has some work to do.
Universal Access Qualicum Beach (UAQB) and Accessibility Oceanside Association (AOA) held a walk-and-wheelabout event through Qualicum Beach Friday (June 23) to highlight some areas in the town’s infrastructure that still need some work, but also areas that the town has worked to improve.
Regan Myers, a longtime advocate with AOA, said the group would be taking the same route as last year to scope what work has been done and anything that still needs improving.
Myers showed the town’s director of planning Luke Sales — the only town staff employee who participated in the event — how some uneven sidewalks still need work and how businesses’ sandwich boards can get in the way.
However, Myers did point out an improvement in front of the Qualicum Commons on Primrose Street. Since last year’s event, the town has added a lip to the sidewalk next to a utility pole for people in scooters and wheelchairs to better manoeuvre around.
But while on that stretch of sidewalk, the lineup of about 10 or so people participating in the event came to a halt when a resident in their own scooter was coming from the opposite direction. There wasn’t enough room for scooters to go side-by-side. Myers, along with everyone participating, pointed out how that could be problematic.
Accessibility Week in Oceanside, which included Access Success Day, finishes up in Parksville on Saturday.