One committee is trying to make it easier for wheelchair-bound Whitehorse residents, and others with disabilities, to navigate the city.

The Persons with Disabilities Committee meets with city staff and councillors once a month to advise them on how to make city amenities more accessible.

'We work with the planning people and building inspectors to solve problems with building codes standards, which are not being met,' said committee chair Rick Goodfellow.

He gives the example of the Chilkoot Centre as a wheelchair-bound residents' worst nightmare.

'There's Ricki's restaurant, which has been open for two years now, and the curb doesn't dip, so a wheelchair can't get over the lip,' he said.

The ending sidewalk and vast distances between box stores in the Chilkoot Centre also make traversing sprawling parking lots difficult, and potentially dangerous, he said.

Goodfellow himself is a wheelchair user, and says when he first arrived from Calgary four years ago, things were difficult.

'Well, the winters here are too long,' he joked. 'And it's really hard getting around in the winter, but it's getting better.'

He estimates there are 150 to 225 wheelchair users in Whitehorse who have trouble getting around.

Goodfellow said when he first arrived and was getting a haircut, the stylist and he got to talking about his work as a disabled persons' advocate.

'She said to me, I really hope you do some good work.' It turned out her mother was in a wheelchair, and she said she just didn't go out because it was too difficult,' he shared.

'There are an awful lot of folks who just don't bother going out, because it's too hard to get around.'

Goodfellow and the committee tell council what existing problems need to be fixed, but that can be hard and costly to do because the structures are set and cement's been laid down already, he said.

The city budget for 2008, released last Monday night, allocates $245,000 to accessibility upgrades, which will see elevators installed at the Canada Games Centre and Mt. McIntyre Recreation Centre. These changes are occurring step by step, Goodfellow said.

Recently, however, the committee has been involved with the city at the planning stages, making designers aware of potential problems before the groundwork is laid.

'We start at inception, making sure the stuff is there in the drawings and plans,' Goodfellow said.

'They respond very well,' he said of city staff.

'We're not moving at breakneck speed, but at a reasonable pace.'

Goodfellow gives the example of the audible crosswalk signals on Main Street. He said businesses were complaining they were too loud, so city engineers have now planned to lower the volume and aim the sound down to the ground.

The signals emit either a cuckoo or a chirp sound. Vision-impared pedestrians then listen to the flow of traffic to determine if it is safe to cross.

Goodfellow said the city also has plans to install audible signals at the intersections at Black Street and Second Avenue, and Wood Street and Second Avenue.

Evidence of the city's willingness to become more accessible is evident elsewhere, said Goodfellow, pointing out that disabilities are not always about wheelchairs, but encompass a whole slew of disabilities.

City council meetings air with closed captioning, and city documents are released in reader-friendly and larger fonts, which helps out the hearing- and vision-impaired residents. Goodfellow said.

The committee is also working with bylaw services officials to better enforce the parking rules for vehicles with disabled occupants, and possibly to increase fines for misusing the spaces.

The city's transportation department is also trying to make the Handi Bus service more effective, and to offer sensitivity training to bus drivers, said Goodfellow.

Snow removal services staff have also been made aware of certain challenges posed to wheelchair-using residents who can't make it over giant snow banks. Goodfellow said last year Mayor Bev Buckway, a former accessibility advocate in her past career, explored downtown in a wheelchair.

'She couldn't get over the curb at the Elijah Smith Building because the snow plow had left a big pile,' he said.

Buckway and city councillors have been committed to accessibility issues, Goodfellow said, and businesses ought to follow, because it makes business sense to improve customers' ability to enter and navigate through stores.