Bankrupt Detroit builds wheelchair ramps to nowhere

I once worked at a business that was under bankruptcy protection, so yes, I know, bankruptcy complicates things.

But government has a knack for doings that defies common sense.

From the Detroit News:

This summer, Detroit spent tens of thousands of dollars replacing sidewalk wheelchair ramps in little traveled areas.

The bankrupt city put in ramps, costing about $10,000 per intersection, along crumbling sidewalks along Warren near Conner. In one half-mile stretch, from St. Jean to Cadillac, there are 52 new sets of ramps.

Some face brick walls. Others provide access to an empty lot where Helen Joy Middle School stood until it was razed in 2009. On many corners, sidewalks end after the ramps.

"You drive down some of these streets and there are blocks of no houses, but pretty new curbs," said Sherman Hayes, 84, a retired nurse who lives nearby on Lakewood Street. "Look at all these ramps to nowhere. It makes my blood boil."

That was an octogenarian speaking.

Are there populated areas of this city--I can't believe I just wrote that phrase--where there are no curb wheelchair ramps?

Of course there are. Yes, the ramps need to be built so Detroit is compliant, but how is building wheelchair ramps in abandoned neighborhoods helping the disabled?