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Stan's Donuts In Wicker Park Adds Wheelchair-, Stroller-Friendly Ramp

By Alisa Hauser | March 29, 2016 2:35pm
 A ramp for wheelchair users and strollers and anyone who needs it is being added to one of two entrances into Stan's Donuts.
A ramp for wheelchair users and strollers and anyone who needs it is being added to one of two entrances into Stan's Donuts.
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DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser

WICKER PARK — A sweet addition coming to Stan's Donuts has nothing to do with calories: A new ramp leading into one of two entrances will allow wheelchair users and those pushing strollers to more easily access the popular spot.

"I'm happy to hear that. I'll be eating some more Stan's Donuts than I have already," said Michael Knapp, a Logan Square resident who travels by wheelchair.

In the past, Knapp has bought doughnuts via Stan's walk-up window next to the CTA Damen "L" stop, but sometimes, if the lines are long, it is harder for employees to spot customers waiting at the window, he said.

A worker for Kern Construction, who was onsite pouring cement on Tuesday, said the ramp should be ready to use by Friday. 

Dan Labriola, the general manager of Stan's, said the main impetus for installing the ramp was the door, and a small step under it, creating "a trip hazard."

"It is an older entry area. The ramp will offer safer and easier access and eventually we will install an automatic door with a push button," Labriola said.

The construction worker said that the dimensions are "as close to [Americans With Disabilities Act]- compliant as possible" and that a wheelchair would be able to fit through the ramp and in and out of the door. 

Labriola added, "As far as I am aware, it is wide enough" for a wheelchair. 

Michael Mertz owns the building at 1560-1562 N. Damen Ave. under an enterprise named Chop Foo LLC, state records show. Mertz said he was not involved in adding the ramp and it was a decision led by his tenant Stan's Donuts.

Though the addition of a ramp is a boon for accessibility, the fact that the CTA Damen Blue Line "L" station next store, which underwent a $13.6 million renovation in 2014, does not have an elevator means that Knapp can't get to Stan's Donuts using the CTA Blue Line.

"They should have added an elevator when they remodeled the station. It makes me mad because I could take the train from Logan directly to Wicker Park" if there were an elevator, Knapp said.

By 2036, the CTA plans to make all of its stations fully accessible, the agency announced last summer.

 

A photo posted by alisa (@alyinwicker) on

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