Park curb no longer a step too high

The path from a parking lot into a busy park is a lot more accessible now that a curb in between has been cut down to size.

On July 13, we reported that a curb at the main entrance from the parking lot at Port Union Village Common Park was an obstacle to people who use wheelchairs or motorized scooters, or even parents pushing strollers.

The curb did not adhere to the city’s accessibility guidelines, which call for curbs at corners and gateway entrances to be flush with the surrounding pavement.

Goran Mitrevski, who recently became parks manager in the Scarborough district, said he’d make sure the curb would be cut down to size, to bring it into compliance.

Within a couple weeks of our column, we got a note from the same reader who first told us about it, thanking us for persuading the parks department to fix the curb.

Our July 3 column was about a utility cut that extended all the way across the sidewalk on the south side of D’Arcy St., leaving pedestrians who didn’t want to walk through the mud that filled it with few options.

The sunken dirt filling the hole in the sidewalk was often so muddy, due to the relentless rain this year, that cardboard had been laid across it to make the trek a bit less messy.

Toronto’s transportation services department said the hole would temporarily be filled with asphalt until the utility responsible for digging it was identified and held responsible.

Shortly after, we got a note from the department saying the hole had been filled with asphalt until permanent repairs are completed. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Send an email to jlakey@thestar.ca. Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.