That’s one reason I mentioned a ramp inside the garage. It would never get icy and slippery. The girl could get into the car without getting wet or snowed on. But, we don’t know the house’s layout.
Maybe they can negotiate something. Some of the neighbors could buy some box hedge and help plant it for the homeowners.
Threatening to sue was a huge, huge mistake. They have no legal standing. All that did was piss off the people with the ramp.
Wow, I was expecting some sort of ramshackle pile of rubble. That is a great looking ramp!
I’d rather buy a house next to/across from that than most of the shitty, overgrown, weed-infested yards in my neighborhood (and I don’t hardly mind weed-infested yards).
It wouldn’t bother me. It wouldn’t bother a lot of people. I don’t see it as bringing down property values, but if it does, too bad. You will always be at the mercy of your neighbors and how well they keep up their property, even without a wheelchair ramp.
And if they put the ramp in their garage, then they’ll have to park their cars in the driveway or in the street, bringing down property values.
Oh ffs, why on earth should they have to disguise a wheelchair ramp? If they painted the railings avocado green, carpeted it in harvest gold deep pile shag and festooned it pink flamingos maybe the bent-out-of-shapers might have a point, but it’s just an unadorned wheelchair ramp.
They got city permission to build the ramp and they’re entitled to a safe and convenient way to get their daughter in and out of the house. The neighbors can go pound sand. If they’re worried about their property values, they should sell now and find somewhere else to live.
CITE? Please show 1) that it brings property values down and 2) there are ways of putting a ramp on the front of a house that doesn’t bring down the allegedly surrounding values.
This is the neighbors’ theme tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szAJ3J44Zug
Seriously, your neighbours are dealing with their kid being in a wheelchair presumably for the rest of her life, with all the constant hassle that that entails, and all you can think about is they didn’t pay enough attention to YOUR needs? Not enough rolleyes in the world.
Also, the ramp looks perfectly fine.
I was expecting some ugly thing. That looks like a clean neat well-built ramp. I can’t see why it would bring down property values.
I wish the OP, say, six months in a wheelchair so he will understand how fucking inconvenient even supposedly “accessible” features are. Coming in through the garage?? Give me a break. My late husband was wheelchair-bound from time to time, and I was for a few months in 2007, and the average house is a royal pain to get around in. The front door may be the only one she can get through in her wheelchair. You people should thank your lucky stars that you don’t know what she has to live with and will have to live with for the rest of her life and get the fuck over your extremely shallow selves.
And I would definitely spend any amount of money on a house I wanted and wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about a wheelchair ramp across the street. However I would not want to live in a cold, uncaring, compassionless neighborhood like this one.
I’ll take the admittedly not particularly attractive ramp neighbors over the self-absorbed jackasses any day of the week. I think one of my neighbors has laughably tacky holiday decorations. Since I don’t own their property, I have no say in the matter. Same with these people who need to get over themselves.
I was most certainly not expecting a ramp of that quality to be the source of the ire here. Shameful. That is a nice fucking ramp. I hate people.
That ramp looks very much like an ADA-approved commercial ramp, actually.
I don’t see why the neighbors have their panties in a twist; it’s not like it’s shoddily built or painted in garish colors or anything like that. It’s just not “pretty” as they see it.
I personally think if my neighbors had a daughter with cerebral palsy and they went to the trouble and expense to install a ramp like that for her, I’d count myself lucky that my neighbors are that caring- they’re likely to be good neighbors to me and my family as well.
Am I the only one wondering if the OP is one of those displeased neighbors? Or just doing some Monday Morning R. O. ?
That’s a handsome ramp, for the back of Wal-Mart. In the front yard of a respectable neighborhood? What were they thinking? Just send the girl off to one of those schools.
There are times when I want to duct tape people to wheelchairs who give people who are handicapped a hard time for a minimum of twenty four hours. Not the nice made to fit you wheel chairs or motorized chairs but the standard issue out of the box kind that are found at hospitals. Then I’d like to leave them alone and find out how things worked out for them trying to get things done in their house, place of work, you get the idea. Perhaps the neighbors need this experience?
I would like to think that these neighbors do not realize the added costs associated with someone with a long term medical condition such as this. Many times funds for aesthetic purposes just aren’t available. Also, let’s say some bushes are planted in front of the ramp, they have to be maintained. The parents might not have the energy to do that after caring for their daughter. What happens if branches start poking through the railing?
These neighbors make me sad, and have poked me in my enragenous zone.
I didn’t see ThelmaLou’s post when I posted.
Well, I’m clearly on the losing side of this issue. 
I just don’t see the harm in expecting anything built on property to look as nice as possible. People generally don’t build plain, square concrete block houses. We pay architects a lot of money to design unique homes. Homebuyers expect stone or brick veneer to be added. Or they even clad the outside in painted wood or vinyl. Something to give the home warmth and curb appeal.
A residential ramp can be fully functional and convenient while still looking good. The railings could have been a nice wrought iron. Shrubby in front. This is a brand new house that probably cost 200k to 350k. Spending a few hundred extra bucks on the ramp isn’t unreasonable.
How much extra will it cost to “look good”? They probably have too much expense as it is.
Nice ramp. Looks looks you could skate the rails.
There is already a box garden in front of it. How many other houses in this new neighborhood have mature landscaping yet? How many are still under construction? How many 40 yd. dumpsters still line the street?
No way that is a 350 thousand dollar house. More like 150.
In that case, maybe they can use wheelchairs.
Another vote for the ramp looking fine the way it is.
There isn’t any harm in thinking your opinion on what someone else’s ramp looks like matters.
You’re just wrong is all.