Wheelchair users fume over Montrose sidewalk issues despite improvement project: 'It's not safe'

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Many people take for granted just how easy it is to walk next door for a doctor's appointment, groceries, or coffee, but mobility and disability advocates say it's impossible in Montrose.

"You wouldn't find me rolling down the sidewalks here," Gloria Suarez, a disability advocate and wheelchair user, said.

It's not that she chooses not to use the sidewalks. It's that, according to her, she can't.

"It's very scary; also, it's not safe," Suarez said.

Sidewalks are uneven, crumbling, and have no ramps. The conditions require backtracking, rerouting, or not leaving home at all.

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"For people, it's 'let me get around it, let me walk around it.' For us, it's 'I have to figure out how to get around it,'" Barbara Romero said of wheelchair access in Montrose.

Montrose is a hub for people with disabilities. The multi-service center on Grey Street offers many services, but those who frequent the facility said rolling down the block for a cup of coffee is impossible and dangerous.

"We have to go on potholes and around the area just to get coffee," wheelchair user Yesenia Hernandez said.

When trying to demonstrate how bad the sidewalks have become, wheels got stuck, assistance was needed, and ultimately an Eyewitness News crew turned back less than one block from the starting point.

RELATED: Walk study lays out path for Montrose to become walking neighborhood

This became a tiring, frustrating reality for the 10% of adults estimated to have some form of disability in Houston.

"We have the right, just like everybody else. Just because we have a disability, or we use wheels or any medical device, we have the right to be able to enjoy the outdoors just like everybody else," Suarez said.

A redesign of Montrose Boulevard between Gray and Allen Parkway is expected to start this year. The $14 million project known as the Montrose Boulevard Improvements Project will improve drainage and sidewalks, but not everyone is on board.

"I know there's an issue of infrastructure that the drainage needs to be revamped, that has to be done, but whether it has to be done by taking out these mature trees, I don't know," one woman said after protesting the removal of trees along Montrose Boulevard.

A petition signed by 7,000 people says the project cannot go on because 57 trees will be removed.

SEE ALSO: Potential removal of trees leads to outcry over planned Montrose project: 'The height of stupidity'

Mobility advocate Mehdi Rais said trees can and are expected to be replanted, but the right to access the community is the only thing currently being walked on in Montrose.

"Let's make this a Montrose Boulevard for all, not just a few homeowners, but for all users of the boulevard so we can all use it together," Rais said.

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