Politics · Advice & Questions · Oct 16

I want the trees kept, but my neighbour needs room to pass the bench

Politics

I arrived at the street-improvement discussion with photographs of the trees. My neighbour arrived with a photograph of her wheelchair beside the bench.

We'd both read a proposal to widen the path by our bus stop. The drawing removes the bench and some trees. I wanted to object to the loss of the shaded place where my mother waits. My neighbour wanted the discussion to acknowledge that she often has to ask people to move before she can get past.

Someone invited us to sign a joint objection saying the existing layout should stay. I nearly agreed, until my neighbour said, "That's the layout I just showed you."

I don't know which changes are technically possible. I'm also uncomfortable asking her to wait for a perfect design while describing my own concern as urgent. How can I argue for keeping shade without lending my name to preserving the obstruction?

Discussion

3 community replies

@softfocus

Her sentence has identified the problem with the joint objection. If you want an alternative to the proposed removal, say that, rather than asking to preserve every part of the existing arrangement. The bench and the passage around it need to be discussed together. You don't have to abandon the shade concern to stop defending a layout she can't use comfortably.

@JulesAfterDark

Ask the people responsible for the design whether they have assessed an option that retains shade and gives her a usable route. Don't declare that moving the bench will solve it; you've already said you don't know what the site permits. An unanswered design question is a stronger request than a confident sketch drawn over someone else's access problem.

@MorganSays

Your mother's use of the stop belongs in the discussion too. "She waits under these trees" is a particular use, not an argument that your neighbour should keep negotiating her way past the bench. Invite your mother to describe what matters to her if she wants to, without treating the two women as rival examples.

I want the trees kept, but my neighbour needs room to pass the bench

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