I have been trying for the past four years to influence local businesses to accommodate the seniors in Fayette County, especially those with a disability, but to no avail.
When the Chick-fil-A in north Fayetteville first opened, the disabled parking was in a convenient place. Not so after they remodeled. I have asked the management for four years to please paint a pedestrian crosswalk from the restaurant door to the disabled parking out front. They have never seemed to feel that’s important – thing is, the cars zoom around the corner of the restaurant so fast that I could be hit. If I’m in a crosswalk and am hit, it’s their fault, not mine.
Needless to say, I have not been back there in months.
The Fayetteville IHOP is another example of not caring about senior citizens. For several years I have asked the district manager to install an automatic door opener, as the placement of its entrances do not allow you to be seen, and I can’t open the door pushing a walker. I am there every Tuesday at noon with the Kiwanis and they accompany me in and often other diners coming in or out will assist me. The district manager has never, in three years, given me an answer. A few weeks ago I wrote to the man who owns the Fayetteville IHOP and alas, I have not had the courtesy of a reply. I used to go to this eatery often in the afternoons but can no longer do so due to diners seldom arriving at 4 p.m. Oh well, the IHOP loss is a Waffle House gain.
A good example, however, is O’Charlie’s. Not only does it have adequate senior disability parking, but with a lobby that’s all glass, they can easily see you at any time of the day and let you in.
I spoke a week ago to a member of Fayetteville’s Planning and Zoning Committee, expressing my concerns over its lack of concern for disabled seniors. The person said to me, “we’ll have to talk that over and think about it.”
This has been the shortcoming of our city and county municipalities – knowing the number of concerned seniors in the county but giving them scant concern.
If this keeps up it won’t just be the millennials moving out of the county.
