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The new Alliance for an Accessible City aims to create awareness and action for improving pedestrian mobility in Tulsa.
Lori Long and Christine Booth are founding members of the Alliance for an Accessible City.
Christine Booth watched them struggle through the grass. The baby strollers wouldn’t roll, the wheelchairs would get stuck, the journey was exhausting. The divots in the grass and uneven ground were not simply an inconvenience for pedestrians walking along South Utica Avenue and East Seventh Street near her store, Hawley Design Furnishings; she says they were a safety hazard.
“There were so many people in wheelchairs and pushing strollers struggling. I saw wheelchairs nearly falling into the street,” says Booth, watching from her store windows. “I was truly fearful for their lives.”
A group of Tulsans, including Booth and members of the Pearl District Association and The Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges, launched the Alliance for an Accessible City to address the issue of greater pedestrian mobility with more and better sidewalks.
“Walkability and getting out of our cars is very important,” Booth says.
The alliance was formed to correct the sidewalk problem on Utica Avenue between 11th and Third streets. The sidewalk directly affected individuals living in Murdock Villa, a five-story apartment building serving people with physical challenges, as well as those going to and from The Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges, a facility providing rehabilitative and recreational activities for people with physical challenges.
Today, the alliance has expanded its work to consider the entire city.
For the approximately 40,000 Tulsans with disabilities, sidewalks are often the deciding factor in whether they can go to the grocery store, get a haircut, attend classes and have freedom, says Lori Long, executive director of The Center.
“Sidewalks are absolutely integral to their independence,” she says.
Working with the alliance, the City of Tulsa has embarked on an extended project to diagnose and catalog the condition of sidewalks across Tulsa in an effort to create a more mobile community. A steering committee has been established to work closely with the city to determine and meet community needs, Long says.
“We’re not going to see sidewalks within the city next year,” she says. “This is a multi-year project.”
Booth says federal funding is available for sidewalk construction and renovation. In the meantime, the alliance will be focusing on providing representatives to speak with school-aged children about pedestrian-safety issues and the benefits of walking, as well as educating the public on the need for sidewalks across the city.
The Indian Nation Council of Governments, another alliance partner, has established WalkableTulsa.com to provide information and feedback on the condition of sidewalks in Tulsa.
“There is such a high number of disabled people across our city,” Long says. “It’s often an underserved population. They have so many obstacles already. Sidewalks shouldn’t be another obstacle.”
