02-08-2010, 01:36 PM | #41 (permalink) |
Husband of Seamaiden
Location: Nova Scotia
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While I have no beef with the handicapped spaces, what really pisses me off is the Maternity spaces, which in many cases are closer to the store/mall/Wallmart/what-have-you than the handicapped spaces. And I will park in those without remorse. Why should I give up a close parking spot so some pregnant woman doesn't have to walk an extra 20 feet to the mall which she is going to wander around in all day?
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I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. - Job 30:29 1123, 6536, 5321 |
02-08-2010, 01:40 PM | #42 (permalink) |
Paladin of the Palate
Location: Redneckville, NC
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My favorite around here is someone that drives a HUGE Dodge Ram 350 with a lift kit, handle bar to lift yourself UP to the bottom rail that is sitting 3 feet above the ground, and have a handicapped tag. I've watched people JUMP out of their trucks and have a tag hanging on their rear view. Now, if my knees/legs/ankles/whatever didn't work, I sure as hell wouldn't drive a truck that you had to climb a ladder to get to the front seat.
I knew two kids in college that stole handicap hanging tags to use when there wasn't spots on campus to park. They got away with it for years. One actually used it to park at a half-marathon event so he wouldn't have to walk as far back to his car after it was over. Point: A lot people need them. Some of people abuse it. If my stubby hobbit legs ever fail me, I'll be glad they are there.
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Vice-President of the CinnamonGirl Fan Club - The Meat of the Zombiesquirrel and CinnamonGirl Sandwich Last edited by LordEden; 02-08-2010 at 01:42 PM.. |
02-08-2010, 01:46 PM | #43 (permalink) | |
zomgomgomgomgomgomg
Location: Fauxenix, Azerona
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*facepalm* You really can't think of a potential use for these? Don't understand? Then you haven't had a pregnant wife. HAVE had a pregnant wife, and she popped a baby out during the final stretch of a marathon because she's just that hardcore? Good for her, for every one of her, there are ten women who for months can only get the energy up to get out of bed for half an hour a day. If I watched anyone male, or not obviously pregnant (you included) park in one of these spots, I'd be quite tempted to plan9 your tires for being such a self-centered douchebag.
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twisted no more |
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02-08-2010, 02:33 PM | #45 (permalink) |
Invisible
Location: tentative, at best
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To compare pregnancy to being disabled is ridiculous and thoughtless. How many disabled people made a conscious choice to become disabled? Any OB/GYN will tell you that exercise is an important part of a healthy pregnancy.
I started a thread about maternity spaces about 7 years ago. A grocery store I used to frequent put up signs; they came down within a couple months. Even pregnant women were complaining they didn't want to be patronized for their choices. Not all of them, of course.
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If you want to avoid 95% of internet spelling errors: "If your ridiculous pants are too loose, you're definitely going to lose them. Tell your two loser friends over there that they're going to lose theirs, too." It won't hurt your fashion sense, either. |
02-08-2010, 03:24 PM | #46 (permalink) |
Alien Anthropologist
Location: Between Boredom and Nirvana
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The worst offenders are the people who have THE Fake Handicap TAGS.
I see it often around Youngstown, Ohio and it's just shameless. I've been known to say some comment to someone who pulls it outta their glove box, looks around for a cop or witness and parks in a space and then walks (in perfect normal health) 10 feet into a busy store. Often they are folks in very nice cars and look like they could use the extra "excercise" IMHO. Yep, I'll probably get shot around here one day. Whatever. It's so wrong. More lazy sleezeballs, less spaces for those who are handicapped.
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"I need compassion, understanding and chocolate." - NJB Last edited by hunnychile; 02-08-2010 at 03:27 PM.. |
02-08-2010, 03:43 PM | #47 (permalink) |
Let's put a smile on that face
Location: On the road...
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You are many things plan9, many many things...
My favourite thing to do at busy stores, other than get the hell out of there that is, is when I follow cars in from the main road. I head straight for the back of the lot with all the open spots, while the other car makes a B-line for the front row. I get out of my car and walk aaaalllllllllll the way to the store, turn around and see the car I followed in still circling around trying to find a space close enough. Then because I backed into my spot, I just hop in and take off. And there are no cars trying to drive anywhere near me at the time because apparently I park too far away with the "un-cool kids". Ahhh shopping. |
02-08-2010, 06:34 PM | #49 (permalink) | |
Eat your vegetables
Super Moderator
Location: Arabidopsis-ville
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My friend with a non-visible handicap is often given crap for her use of these parking spaces. With her type of epilepsy, the seizures are often unpredictable and occur many times a day. She may be fine when she walks in the door to the store, but when something sets her off on a seizure, she requires significant assistance to leave the building, much less return to the handicap parking space. It pisses me off when I hear, yet again, that someone has given her flack on her way into a store.
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"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq "violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy |
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02-08-2010, 06:53 PM | #50 (permalink) | |
peekaboo
Location: on the back, bitch
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That takes as much nerve as parking there without tags. Being the seasoned smartass that I am, my quick answer to those ignoramuses (ignorami?) would be, "thank your god your only handicap is rudeness. Mine could have you dialing 911 at any given moment."
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Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em. |
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02-08-2010, 07:12 PM | #51 (permalink) | |||||
Junkie
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Wow! I started this thread Saturday, left the computer for a couple of days, and look what happened. Now, as the original poster, I've got lots of things to comment about.
First of all, nowhere in my OP did I suggest that we should eliminate specially privileged parking for the handicapped. Nowhere. I merely suggested that perhaps the need (I don't deny the need) could be satisfied with a smaller number of spaces. I did not suggest that drivers should park in handicapped spaces if they are not so entitled, and I do not do so myself. Otherwise, I would just have just appropriated one of the blue tagged spaces and would have had no problem or complaint. Quote:
And I don't blame jerkfaces. (whatever they are) The blame for the excess probably lies with some bureaucrat or lawyer (working strictly in the public interest, of course.) Quote:
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02-08-2010, 08:24 PM | #52 (permalink) |
Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
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just so that you know, other people use different skins and red is not visible on many of them. if they can't read it, they will just scroll right past it.
As far as how many, depending on the state determines the minimum amount, but really most of the time it's at the discretion of the land owner to figure out how many to designate for them. That is the way that I understand it for many municipalities across NY, CA, and NV.
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02-09-2010, 01:56 PM | #53 (permalink) |
Invisible
Location: tentative, at best
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Federal ADA Guidelines:
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If you want to avoid 95% of internet spelling errors: "If your ridiculous pants are too loose, you're definitely going to lose them. Tell your two loser friends over there that they're going to lose theirs, too." It won't hurt your fashion sense, either. |
02-09-2010, 02:23 PM | #54 (permalink) |
comfortably numb...
Super Moderator
Location: upstate
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damn, i love the way you think...
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"We were wrong, terribly wrong. (We) should not have tried to fight a guerrilla war with conventional military tactics against a foe willing to absorb enormous casualties...in a country lacking the fundamental political stability necessary to conduct effective military and pacification operations. It could not be done and it was not done." - Robert S. McNamara ----------------------------------------- "We will take our napalm and flame throwers out of the land that scarcely knows the use of matches... We will leave you your small joys and smaller troubles." - Eugene McCarthy in "Vietnam Message" ----------------------------------------- never wrestle with a pig. you both get dirty; the pig likes it. |
02-09-2010, 08:40 PM | #55 (permalink) | |
peekaboo
Location: on the back, bitch
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Try this just for kicks: Get a watermelon, about 9-10 lbs, strap it to your hips. For real fun, get about 4 lbs of apples, split them into two bags and strap them around your neck so that they hang just above the watermelon. Now, get into your car. Don't forget to buckle up! Drive to said mall. Park at the middle of the lot. Start walking.
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Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em. |
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02-09-2010, 09:05 PM | #56 (permalink) | |
Lover - Protector - Teacher
Location: Seattle, WA
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You aren't owed a close spot, no matter how many handicapped spots there are. Also, red is one thing, bold and red is another, and bold, red and embiggened is another thing all together. No need to think yourself special simply because we didn't answer the question to your satisfaction.
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"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel Last edited by Jinn; 02-09-2010 at 09:08 PM.. |
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02-09-2010, 10:37 PM | #57 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: My head.
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This also drove me COMPLETELY nuts!! No! I refuse the invention of new words. No more "verbiage/verbage". I say NO! No I say!! |
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02-10-2010, 01:42 PM | #60 (permalink) | ||
Junkie
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Jinn, you missed the point of the embiggening, which was not that I was special. The point, and reason for the embiggening, (sorry Xerxys, I kind of like the word) was to draw attention to percy's post, which was actually ON TOPIC after many of the others went off hither, thither, and yon. I'm certainly not the only one on this forum that is annoyed by the idea of the wandering thread. And while I will grant that the red was perhaps overly embiggened, (I'll edit to tone it down a notch) there was no bold of any size or color anywhere in my post. My "satisfaction" with the answers had nothing to do with it. I hardly think that it is unreasonable to ask that posters stay reasonably close to the topic of the thread. Isn't that why we give a title to the thread in the first place? Quote:
You have my permission to just go ahead and vandalize my valvestems if you ever find my vehicle in a handicapped space. Which you won't. I've read a lot of your posts, Plan9, and in most of them (smart assery aside) you are pretty rational. I also notice that you seldom refrain from cleverly making light of someone else's sacred cow. There must be something about the handicapped that throws rationality out the window for you. I fail to see in my OP or my comments any attack on the handicapped. My OP addressed the seemingly irrational allocation of a scarce resource. My college major, graduate studies, and general nerdiness, make me notice things like that. Why have twenty blue signs when two ( or four, or six, or ten) would be sufficient. I never said we should do away with handicapped spaces. I merely asked why we had to have so many of them. And I certainly never condoned taking a handicapped space to which you are not entitled. Lindy |
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02-10-2010, 02:06 PM | #61 (permalink) |
I Confess a Shiver
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Lindy, I was being 100% sarcastic. One of my best friends is missing a leg and I'm tired of how much society shits on them over it. My comments were attempts to poke fun at those in the thread that don't get why people with physical disabilities should have better parking spots. There is a huge amount of injustice in the US for those with prosthetic limbs... just in the insurance angle alone. My personal favorite is that most insurance companies will pay for a goddamn wheelchair instead of paying a percentage for a leg so the person can walk. Quality of life? Fuck it, too expensive. This ties into the parking spot thing in that my friend is using a prosthetic leg that is painful to walk on because they don't want to have to sell their car, get a van, and use a wheelchair to get everywhere. It's pathetic. Some insurance companies even call it a preexisting condition. No, I woke up and it was gone!
I have the utmost respect for those who wake up every day, slide on a plastic leg, and kick more ass than all the dickheads in this thread combined. That's my rub. I've got nothing but love for those with the stub. This is a good thread... I can better see who's a heartless asshole. Ya know, aside from my dad. TheJazz. ... I'm sure you're good people, Lindy. I just wanted to bit in my bit about the discussion topic in the way that I know best. Last edited by Plan9; 02-10-2010 at 02:26 PM.. |
02-10-2010, 02:15 PM | #62 (permalink) | |||
zomgomgomgomgomgomg
Location: Fauxenix, Azerona
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twisted no more |
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02-10-2010, 05:14 PM | #63 (permalink) | |||
Junkie
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Didn't mean that you should. The skin/appearance thing was just an FYI for people that (like me) for a long time didn't even know that appearance COULD be changed. I bet that if we had a show of hands that there would be quite a few on this forum that are still using whatever skin appeared the first time they got on TFP. When Cynthetiq mentioned in his post (#52) that red might be hard to read in some skins I checked several of the ones in the lower left corner menu and red seemed to show up fine in all of them. Using Safari Browser 4.0.2 on a MacMini with a Dell monitor. Your mileage may vary. Quote:
Lindy Last edited by Lindy; 02-10-2010 at 05:35 PM.. |
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02-11-2010, 01:36 AM | #64 (permalink) |
Upright
Location: here...come visit
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Spaces
Had this rant while looking for a very quick in and out of an electronics shop...result, I drove home and bought it online. But I am always reminded of two things...a Wizard of Id cartoon... Sir Rodney to the stable "One with a limp, the King wants to do some shopping and wants to park in a handicapped zone" and a weird UK prank sow where the Devil guy painted handicapped symbols on every carparking space, then they filmed the response..priceless...! Centres should put a few 10min spots in for those in a hurry... adios
And yes I did get the dose of sarcasm thoughout the thread...healthy
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts." Mark Twain |
03-01-2010, 08:08 PM | #66 (permalink) | |
Addict
Location: Sarasota
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As the above chart points out, there are requirements. But those 'requirements' are merely 'Guidelines'. The official answer to the question 'How many handicapped spaces are required?' is ....'enough'. I own quite a few commercial properties and deal with this issue directly. The answer really is, 'enough'. Enough for who? Basically, if anyone ever calls the Federal government and it gets as far as some bureaucrat in charge of such things, they will make the property owner add more handicapped spaces. If you don't, you will be subject to pretty substantial fines which continue until you provide the spaces. That is why you see different amounts of spaces at different establishments. Wal-Mart/Sam's evidently knows their customer base includes a large number of disabled/handicapped customers. In order to provide 'enough' the first time, with no one ever complaining, they provide a large number of spaces. The owner of the local watering hole in small town USA who knows all his customers by first name probably provides one regular sized space with a blue sign hung haphazardly on a stake. To him this is 'enough'. And until someone complains, it is. I own a medical office building in a town with an average age of 60. That building has way more spaces, by number and percentage, than my retail building in an area of younger people. How many? Enough so that no one complains.
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03-02-2010, 11:47 AM | #67 (permalink) |
Invisible
Location: tentative, at best
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^^Good point^^
Those are the federal minimums; actual number required is per local zoning code and land use. As DDDDave pointed out, a medical office complex for seniors will require a higher percentage than a skateboard park.
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If you want to avoid 95% of internet spelling errors: "If your ridiculous pants are too loose, you're definitely going to lose them. Tell your two loser friends over there that they're going to lose theirs, too." It won't hurt your fashion sense, either. |
03-02-2010, 11:56 AM | #68 (permalink) | |
Her Jay
Location: Ontario for now....
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Never will I use a handicapped spot though unless I'm taking my grandmother shopping, as she has a pass from when my grandfather drove. |
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03-17-2010, 12:26 AM | #69 (permalink) |
Psycho
Location: OMFG BRB
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Why so many? I think the fast answer is that while 47 spots aren't needed for when the lot is half or quarter full or even nearly empty, those spots are almost assuredly packed when all other spots are packed. Plus, the consequences for not having a disabled spot are extremely large to a disabled person, whereas even an extra 500' (yes I know that's a ways!) isn't a big deal.
If I was handicapped I'd sure want enough spaces to go when the store is very busy. Life would be hard enough without having to schedule around when I think there might be enough handicap spots open! |
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handicapped, parking, places |
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