Officials across Connecticut have seen the population’s future, and they say it’s getting grayer by the day.
Residents, representatives of nonprofits and elected officials Wednesday discussed the livability of communities in general and Seymour in particular during a program at the senior center.
State Rep. Theresa Conroy, D-Seymour, hosted a community conversation to get the ball rolling to plan for the ‘silver tsunami’ on the horizon.
…. Marc Anthony Gallucci, executive director of the Center for Disability Rights in West Haven, said “We are really talking about no less than a revolution.”
He said after World War II, the country began “suburbanization” where the ideal was “to have a plot of land, a picket fence, two or three kids, a dog and a cat, and you drove everywhere.”
Gallucci said planners back then had a “blank canvas” with which to work, and they did not build accessibility into their designs. Today, communities need to work on becoming accessible for all.
People need to be able to go about their daily business with accessible streets and sidewalks without needing to have someone to give them a ride to go a block or two, Gallucci said.
Towns need to perform an Americans with Disabilities Act “self-evaluation and transition plan to identify barriers” in the community, he said.