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Greenway should be for all to use

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Staff

Debbie L. Nichols

I find your Flora columns fascinating and informative, specifically the 2/4/10 issue connecting Avatar to nature. It is most imperative that all citizens be allowed to partake in nature observations.

Unfortunately, in this same issue there was a disturbing letter (“Carrboro misguided,” 2/4/10), symbolizing a trend. The writer objects to sidewalks or bike lanes. Without sidewalks, people in wheelchairs find it almost impossible to travel. Everyone should be allowed access to public land, especially nature trails.

I think about the recent 50-year anniversary of the Woolworth sit-in and how this country has changed in racial relations. Yet the country’s attitude towards the disabled is out of step in terms of equality. As a disabled person with multiple sclerosis, I face discrimination daily. I have been told that I “wasn’t worthy of owning a dog,” that I shouldn’t live independently, etc. I only need a cane, but friends in wheelchairs cannot leave their houses due to so many hindrances. And now the property owners around Bolin Creek are saying that a disability access is not good for the environment. Where were they when the residents of southwest Orange County were fighting against the airport flying over our property and the waste transfer station? This is the bread basket of the county. Are they nuts? Now they are organizing against any kind of access for the disabled, using an environmental excuse when it doesn’t hold water.

According to online records, Orange County paid for half the Adams Tract property in Bolin Creek. And Orange County paid for a lot of Bolin Creek Greenway. Denying access to the Bolin Creek trail would be a travesty to the disabled. The same people were happy when the county helped buy the land. Yet now they only want the most agile people in the neighborhood allowed in. I think the environmental arguments are just euphemisms for keeping the general public out, including the disabled, of public lands. This is just like the old Republican Southern strategy for obtaining votes in the South in the late ’60s. Except this time it’s the political left using a convoluted environmental argument, and they are not being honest about their intentions. While I am a leftist, I could never possibly agree with the elitist arguments that they are using to bamboozle the Carr-boro Board of Alder people. Tell it like it is; you just don’t want anyone to access what you think is your land. This is public land. I will continue to stand up for disability equality as loudly and as often as needed.

5 thoughts on “Greenway should be for all to use”

  1. Mary Sonis says:
    February 11, 2010 at 5:29 pm

    I do not think that the Salamanders that breed on the creek trail represent any leftist elite. I oppose the paving because it interferes with the wildlife population. Many nature preserves are unpaved…because they are the refuge of wildlife, not humans. We are the visitors in this territory.

  2. Chris Bond says:
    February 12, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    Debbie, you must realize that if you pave nature it is not nature anymore. So, in fact, you would not be going into nature if this path paved.

    The preserve is not about access to nature, it is about preserving nature. I am against all work they do in that forest, even the trail repairs.

    I am disabled as well, and I understand the discrimination we face, but this issue is far from discrimination. In fact, I would say you are being a specisist, favoring humans over all other forms of life and not allowing the equal access of nature.

  3. Pingback: Chris Bond weighs in on accessibility « Save Bolin Creek
  4. Debbie L. Nichols says:
    February 21, 2010 at 9:20 am

    I did not say that the greenway should be PAVED. I said that it should be accessed. Please look at many Canadian forests where they do not PAVE their handicapped accesses.
    I was in favor of paving sidewalks due to the danger of traffic for people in wheelchairs. But I did not say that the nature trails had to be paved. Be careful before you put words in my mouth. Thanks.

  5. Park McArthur says:
    February 24, 2010 at 6:18 pm

    On exactly this topic of access as a civil right, I am organizing a community arts project to take place at The ArtsCenter Saturday March 6th at 2 pm. Participation is encouraged; please see http://presenceisprogress.wordpress.com/ for more information.

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