There we were at Meridian Cafe again. I like the food; but I always get a bad taste in my mouth when I'm there, because there isn't any wheelchair access whatsoever -- and there could be.
This is a big old house on Meridian Avenue (112 Meridian Ave.) in St. Matthews. Admittedly, it would take a big ramp to provide access; the porch is up about 5 steps; then there's another step into the house itself.
But a ramp would certainly be possible. There's a yard big enough for a ramp; an enterprising and motivated owner could even do a clever thing with a deck/ramp and provide interesting outdoor seating possibilities, like the owners of Kashmir did after Metrosweep got on them about a ramp (see the photo here).
The thing folks don't seem to GET is this: access isn't simply a "feel-good option" -- it's THE LAW.
Businesses seem to think that's just not important.
When a business is pressed about installing a ramp, typically they yell about cost. A ramp doesn't have to cost a lot of money -- certainly no more than a deck. And restaurants are always adding decks, patios, patio tables and chairs, umbrellas, plantings...
Why not a ramp?
It is the law, after all.
A bad taste at a good restaurant
Old, old buildings
Bistro New Albany (148 E. Market St.) is in an old -- hotel, maybe? -- in downtown New Albany -- and by old I mean old: It's probably a late 1800's building, even.
The owners have a do-it-yourself wooden ramp to the door which seems serviceable enough, but forget using the restroom at this venue: It's back through a back door of the dining room, up steps into a drafty old hall, down some steps again... a real nightmare.
When one enconters places like this, one wonders (well, I wonder) what the business owners think. Do they think it doesn't matter that the restroom isn't accessible? Do they feel bad about it but not bad enough to do anything? Do they think they simply can't afford to do anything? Do they think about wheelchair patrons at all? Or do they figure, as most of us do, that either 1) they won't come to dine there if they think they'll have to use the restroom or 2) they figure nobody in wheelchairs will even come, but they had to put in the ramp because it's (grumble, grumble) required, or...
Or what?
A truly strict constructionist reading the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act would say that a restaurant opening as a new business after 1990 (which I'm pretty sure this one did) simply can't open in a building that isn't accessible to wheelchair users (this means restrooms, too).
But I know of virtually no business that has either known this or paid any attention to it.
Maybe it isn't to be expected for business owners to know all this, but it sure as heck should be known by the licensing poobahs. In Louisville that's the ... but we're talking New Albany, Indiana here -- but they also have licensing poobahs.