Big Red had a stack of paper on her desk yesterday which she said was all the documentation that the 2026 bid process has generated thus far. She said there was about 4,500 pages, though to be honest it looked more like about a thousand.
The document in question is the Paralympic Accessibility Guide, and it outlines the accessibility requirements that host cities must meet if they are to host a Paralympic Games. It lists the numerous technical specifications for stairways, pathways, ramps, etc. and is very detailed.
In July of 2015, Cllr. Druh Farrell put forth a Notice of Motion in Council calling for an improvement in accessibility in the city. It came after a number of complaints were received by Farrell regarding the lack of accessibility in the City. An article in the Herald from June 3rd, 2016 quotes Farrell as saying "We've got a long way to go." when it comes to accessibility.
So this raises some points: what would need to be done to make Calgary compliant with the IPC guidelines? My guess would be plenty and at a cost that would be over 10 figures. Would this have been taken into account as part of the current cost estimates for the games? Probably not, which is why I wanted to know if this document was in Big Red's slough of documents.
Since the Paralympic games now come hand in hand with the Olympic Games, accessibility now becomes a matter to be considered. How would it look if we were to be awarded the Winter Olympics but couldn't host the Paralympic Games because we're not handi-friendly. We'd look like total jerks.
My question to Big Red was simply this: was this 250 page missive part of the 4700 odd pages generated by the bid process? If not has this issue and the associated costs even been considered as part of it? Let's not forget, this wasn't an issue back in 1988.
D.B.C.
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