Date: Sunday, 15 February, 2009, 6:52 PM
 Hello Everyone,
 
 Concerning A Boards.
 
 I would just like to let you know that my husband is disabled and  also has macular degeneration and glaucoma. 
 I bought him an electric scooter a few years ago and it has  now become almost impossible for him to use, apart from going up and down the promenade.   The pavements in Brighton are very often narrow and are busy with pedestrians.   I have had to accompany my husband when he is using his scooter and can assure everyone that the A Boards are a nuisance and a danger to those who are disabled.   Not only
 in this area but in East Street, it would be impossible for a disabled person to travel alone with the number of A Boards which are obstructing the pavements.   I physically have to move them out of the way to get by.
 
 I cannot see that they serve a purpose and they are hardly aesthetically pleasing.   Does anyone run into a shop just because of an A Board  outside the premises and does it really increase their business?   All shops have windows and they could possibly make better use of those to advertise their wares.   It has become so bad for my husband that he prefers me to push him in a wheelchair and believe me, that is not easy either as  I still have to move the darned things.
 
 So often, lately, the council and a number of others have tended to be more lenient  with various issues  and use the economic downturn as an excuse.   I too, as many others who do not have businesses, am suffering from the economic downturn which is likely to continue for decades.    Is this any reason to lower standards?   It would seem that this could be an excellent time to try to raise the bar.
 
 To suggest that one could live in another place might not be an easy task in this economic climate.   It  would be costly to move, even if one could sell one's property and why should one have to do that.   Perhaps Brighton and Hove should advertise a disclosure to all potential newcomers that if they are disabled or become disabled that
 the town will not be suitable  for getting around due to the clutter that they allow on the pavements.
 To sum up.   The pavements of Brighton being cluttered by A Boards  are a nightmare for us in our circumstances and  most definitely give my husband a reduced standard of life because he dreads going out because  of the obstruction they cause.   How can this be right?

 
Date: Monday, 16 February, 2009, 8:59 AM
 Hi bill,
 
 I think there should be some consideration of whether the boards a  placed in a location the obstructs visibility for cars pulling out of  junctions. This is currently a problem at the top of Brunswick street east and the juggler a board.
 
 Keep up the good work.
 
 Best regards
 
 J

Date: Monday, 16 February, 2009, 10:06 AM
 Point taken.  And if my brief email was read carefully  then one would have  noticed that the issue of nuisance and danger was explicitly stated.  However, I was complaining about the hectoring tone of  the exchanges. And frankly I  do not think this is the way to get things  done.  It makes people dig their heals in and officials resentful and  uncooperative.
 
 A Boards may or may not increase business, I don't really know.   They've  been in use for hundreds of years (I'm looking at a photograph of  Waterloo Street circa 1890 - A Boards in evidence.)  And I can imagine  they're useful to advertise a deal. 
 And at the risk of patronising people here is a simple economic  lesson:
 
 Without small businesses there will be no employment, no income  tax
 receipts, no profits to tax, no VAT revenue, no business rates revenue...the  list
 goes on: so it follows — no money for pensions;  benefits; pavement maintenance;
 improvements to local services this list too,  goes on.   
 And yes I recent my current and future taxes bailing out bankrupt  banks.
   
 
 Mark