Walk...Walk...Walk...Crash!

I drove to downtown Portland today to have lunch with Sam.  We were roommates at Varsity House down in Corvallis 29 years ago.  We meet up downtown for lunch twice a year, around our birthdays, to catch up with each other with what is happening with our families, our jobs, and, my favorite...politics.

I usually pick Sam up and we drive down Barbur and pick a restaurant.

Today I  was early.  I kept driving around Sam's office at the Oregonian Building.   I don't like just driving around downtown, so I finally found a place to park about a block from where I meet Sam.

I pulled in behind a car and parked, and a car pulled behind me and parked.  With our massive van, I felt boxed in.  I got my walker out and walked down to meet Sam.  We walked about 3 or 4 blocks down to McDonald's.

Going all that way on a walker is a chore.  Much of the challenge was navigating the curb some are really steep and some are more like a mini step.

After lunch, after I said goodbye to Sam at his office, I was crossing Columbia at Broadway on the East side of the intersection.

I was watching the sign: Walk...Walk...Walk...Don't Walk.  My walker hit the curb cut.  My walker tipped forward and I landed on top of the walker.  My shin hit the bar pretty hard.  I  was so embarrassed!   I was hurting a bit, but I moved as fast as I could to get up.  I did not want anyone to stop to help me.  There was a line of cars going by.  I was thinking, "Please, nobody stop."

Nobody stopped.  I struggled and I got up.

There are good curb cuts downtown and bad ones.  But why so random?

I know, there is not enough money to fix all the curb cuts downtown.  But the City of Portland needs to acknowledge that real danger exists for the disabled downtown as long as that investment is not made.