{"id":6695,"date":"2024-02-15T18:12:40","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T22:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=6695"},"modified":"2024-02-25T18:20:27","modified_gmt":"2024-02-25T22:20:27","slug":"astor-theatre-users-upset-by-blocked-sidewalks-entrances-after-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/02\/15\/astor-theatre-users-upset-by-blocked-sidewalks-entrances-after-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Astor Theatre users upset by blocked sidewalks, entrances after storm"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Gorham Street sidewalk next to the Astor Theatre was impassable on Thursday. (Rick Conrad photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Rick Conrad<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some users of the Astor Theatre in Liverpool say the Region of Queens is not doing enough to ensure the building is accessible, especially after this week\u2019s snowstorm.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kim Lees lives in Liverpool. Her knitting group meets at the Astor every Thursday. She said when they arrived in the early afternoon, it was difficult to find an easy way to enter the building. It was especially difficult for anyone with mobility issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the municipality is doing a very great job considering you can\u2019t get up the wheelchair ramp and you can\u2019t get in the front of the building easily either because there\u2019s no clear pathway.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s horrible and if this is the municipality\u2019s property and it is a public building then it should be accessible to everybody.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The sidewalk on Main Street in front of the Astor had been cleared Thursday afternoon. But the pathway from that sidewalk to the front of Astor had not. The narrow Gorham Street sidewalk on the side of the building was not cleared either, forcing people to walk in the street from the rear parking lot, or use the sidewalk on the other side of Gorham.<\/span><\/p>\n

The accessible entrance at the back of the building cannot be used. While part of the wheelchair ramp to the back entrance is cleared, the rest of the ramp is blocked by a chain and filled with snow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Part of the ramp to the malfunctioning accessible entrance at the back of the Astor Theatre is blocked by a chain and snow. (Rick Conrad photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

The automatic accessible door at the top of the ramp has not been working at least since the fall, Lees said. The Astor has kept it locked because it has been malfunctioning.<\/span><\/p>\n

The region owns the Astor and Town Hall Arts and Cultural Centre. It leases the building to the Astor Theatre Society. The municipality is responsible for keeping the sidewalks and the entrances to the Astor clear.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jerri Southcott took over as executive director of the Astor last week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After concerns about access were raised, she asked one of the Astor\u2019s staff to clear the walkway in front of the building.<\/span><\/p>\n

Southcott has sent a letter to the region\u2019s accessibility co-ordinator detailing some of the concerns with the building. She has a meeting set with municipal officials on Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have made them aware of the issues with the ramp and we\u2019re all working together to try to get that done as soon as possible,\u201d she said Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Astor Theatre staff cleared the walkway in front of the building Thursday afternoon after people raised concerns about access. (Rick Conrad photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman thanked the Astor\u2019s staff for clearing a pathway to the theatre. She said the region\u2019s staff were busy Thursday clearing streets, sidewalks, parking spaces and other areas around Liverpool.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said that as mayor she can’t tell staff what to do. Adam Grant is the director of engineering and public works<\/a>, the department responsible for the maintenance of municipal infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Norman did not know why municipal staff didn\u2019t get to the Astor. She said the sidewalk on Gorham Street next to the Astor is too narrow for the region\u2019s sidewalk plows, so it has to be shovelled. She suggested people cross Gorham and use the wider sidewalk to Main Street.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd presently staff are clearing parking stalls and ensuring fire hydrants and accessible parks and roadways and all those things are clear,” Norman said. “Again, thank you to the Astor Theatre staff who shovelled out their walkway today before the region\u2019s crew were able to get there.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s many issues with snow removal. That sidewalk on the other side of the street is better for anybody with mobility issues. It\u2019s a few steps more.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the blocked accessible entrance, Norman says the region is working on it. She said she doesn’t know how long staff has been aware it isn’t working. She said she found out about it five days ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe try our best in the Region of Queens to make our properties as accessible as best we can. Sometimes we run into these unexpected matters. Council budgeted a fair amount of money to make that accessible and how unfortunate it is that we are now having issues with that door. But we are trying our very best to ensure that a building we own is indeed accessible for the public and for those who work there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the meantime, Norman suggests people call the Astor ahead of time if they need help getting into the building.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut there should be a way in which if someone\u2019s going and they truly need to get in through that door as an accessible doorway, that they\u2019ll be able to make contact with the Astor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kim Lees says she wants the municipality to make sure its own properties are accessible.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to get off their hands and clear the snow. There is an issue in Canada where accessibility is a problem. And if it\u2019s a public building, especially if the municipality owns it, I think that it should be cleaned. It should be accessible to everyone no matter if you are on foot, in a wheelchair, on crutches, canes. It should be accessible to everybody.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to an audio version of the story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/astoraccessiblestoryfeb1524.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rick Conrad Some users of the Astor Theatre in Liverpool say the Region of Queens is not doing enough to ensure the building is accessible, especially after this week\u2019s snowstorm. Kim Lees lives in Liverpool. Her knitting group meets at the Astor every Thursday. She said when they arrived in the early afternoon, it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[244,38,1421,79,1755,1553,1754,39,24,1756,1077,210],"class_list":["post-6695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-accessibility","tag-astor-theatre","tag-astor-theatre-society","tag-darlene-norman","tag-gorham-street","tag-jerri-southcott","tag-kim-lees","tag-liverpool","tag-region-of-queens","tag-sidewalks","tag-snow-clearing","tag-snowstorm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6695"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6771,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6695\/revisions\/6771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}