Blue Dog Bakery and Cafe (2868 Frankfort Ave.) has a nice flat entrance. The folks who run the place had the building gutted and renovated, so the inside is new. And because of that, the access portion of the building code kicked in, and so the restrooms are accessible. The store portion flows into the dining room via a ramped flooring with a slope so gentle you have to be thinking about it to realize it's a ramp.
The tables are spacious and wide apart and it's really a pleasure for a wheelchair user to dine here.
A few doors down you'll find a business with a step at the entrance, though.
That's the way it is all along this section of Frankfort Ave., and I don't know why.
When Just Creations first opened, on the corner of Frankfort and Bayly Ave., its door -- right on the corner -- had a step. So Just Creations wasn't accessible.
But the store right next to it, to the east -- at that time a Home Textiles Outlet -- had a completely flat entrance.
Go figure!!
For a long time Just Creations seemed to dick around with the city (the IPL folks) about putting a ramp on the sidewalk. The IPL folks don't seem to like that ( although they allow every other possible type of "intrusion" onto the sidewalk -- 200-lb planters, street trees, bolted down benches, bike racks, sculptures, sidewalk tables and chairs) and they wouldn't let Just Creations put a ramp in.
I still think that "no ramps onto the sidwalk" is an issue ripe for a lawsuit. But nobody's done one.
Anyhow, back to the Doorways of Frankfort Ave:
Just Creations solved its entrance access problem by simply expanding into the adjoining storefront when the Textile Outlet moved, doing just what Blue Dog had done, expanding the business and ramping the interior rooms together.
That can happen elsewhere along Frankfort, and I hope it does.
The only thing I hope for even more is for someone to get IPL to get over their ridiculous "no ramps onto sidewalks" mentality.
