Published in the Moreland Leader, Monday 21 July 2014
A BRUNSWICK East laneway will be used to trial sawn-cut bluestones to allow disabled access.
The laneway, at the rear of Raffaela and Giuseppi Peruzzi’s house on Hickford St, will be converted from standard bluestones to smoother, sawn-cut bluestones at a cost of $16,000.
Moreland Council’s approval of the works followed the Peruzzi family’s two year campaign to make the laneway wheelchair accessible. The Peruzzis’ son, Joe, said he was happy the council committed to the work, but it had “been a really long process” and he still hadn’t been told when it would be completed.
Moreland Mayor Lambros Tapinos said the Peruzzis’ complaint only came to his attention in May this year, adding “if they’ve been waiting for two years, that’s disappointing”.
The council stopped all work on bluestone laneways in the 15 months leading up to the adoption of bluestone preservation policies in September last year.
Joe Peruzzi said it was during that period, in mid-2012, that his family first asked the council to modify the laneway, because Mrs Peruzzi had suffered a stroke that left her reliant on a wheelchair.
“They came out and laid 5m of bitumen, which is not enough for her to access the driveway,” he said.
Joe Peruzzi said the council then suggested his parents convert the front of their house to allow Mrs Peruzzi access, because the back laneway was by then protected under the bluestone policy.
“It’s not an acceptable answer that the look (of the laneway) is more important than disabled access,” Joe Peruzzi said.
Cr Tapinos said because the Peruzzis’ house was also accessible from the front, the council did not initially agree to convert the laneway, but councillors were “sympathetic” to the Peruzzis’ situation and found the laneway entrance was the “primary entry”.
In the bluestone policy the council resolved to complete trials on how best to convert bluestone laneways to comply with the disability discrimination act, which Cr Tapinos said was why they agreed to convert the Peruzzis’ laneway.
“It’s a win/win in the sense that if it wasn’t for the trial we might have used a cheaper option, like asphalt, or we may not have done it at all,” he said.
Jemimah Clegg 