Image by MGN.

WEST WILDWOOD — The fate of an 80-year-old woman’s handicapped parking space outside her home rests in the hands of the borough.

Frances Dalessio, 80, has lived in her home in the 700 block of Glenwood Avenue for almost 60 of those years.
About a decade ago, Dalessio became caretaker to her son, Nicholas, who was terminally ill. Prior to that time, the family contacted the borough to obtain a handicapped parking space for their mother. The parking spot outside the home was deemed handicap parking only, making life a bit easier for Frances, as well as her son.

During the time she tended to him her health began to deteriorate. She was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, and cancer on her legs. The ailing mother tended her son until he passed away from cancer three years ago.

“She was sick,” said her son Dan Dalessio, of Ridley Park, Pa., “but he was sicker.”

According to Dan Dalessio, the handicapped space outside the house was just what his mother needed in order to remain mobile. Her son told the Herald that his mother cannot walk great distances because of her lung problems and problems with her legs.

Frances Dalessio left her borough home in November 2011 for a few-months stay with her son in Pennsylvania while seeking treatment for her cancer.

A letter was sent to the Glenwood Avenue address telling Frances Dalessio that the handicapped parking space outside her home was up for review. The 80-year-old sent the borough what she thought was the documentation necessary to keep her spot.

While staying at her son’s home, Dalessio received a phone call from a neighbor in the borough telling her that the handicapped parking sign outside her home had been removed and the blue curb designating a handicapped spot had been repainted gray.

Dan Dalessio contacted the Herald to seek help in ascertaining why the handicapped parking spot outside his mother’s home was removed. According to him, the borough never contacted his mother to let her know that the spot was being removed or why the decision was made to remove it.

“I spoke with Chris Ridings (code enforcement officer) and he said the parking spot was my brother’s parking spot. It’s not. It’s my mother’s,” said Dalessio. “He said it has to be approved by the mayor and he denied it because she has a Pennsylvania driver’s license.”

In their quest for the reasoning for the removal of the sign, Frances Dalessio, accompanied by her family, went to the Feb. 4 Borough Commissioners’ meeting.

“I’m here on behalf of my aunt,” said Ben Powell, of Ridley Park, Pa. “I’m curious, who has the audacity to take down a handicapped placard that’s been there since the early 2000s?”

“That is a matter that is being reviewed,” responded Mayor Chuck Frederick. “I believe the sign that was there had expired and a new application was made and that is being reviewed.”

“So you take that down automatically?” asked Powell.

“There is no ordinance and no state law to support it,” said Frederick. “It is under review.”

Another resident addressed commissioners on behalf of the senior citizen. “We’re not even handicapped accessible here (borough hall),” said Chris Fox. “And we’re going to go bother people on the street?”

“Why would you take down a handicapped sign that could have stayed there until you researched everything and made her come into compliance, if in fact she was not of compliance? It’s wrong. One hundred percent wrong,” said Fox. “You know we’ve lost everything in this town about do good by your neighbor, and it starts right here with you guys. It’s a sad thing. You are a disgrace to your community.”

According to Dan Dalessio the borough did not contact him nor his mother once the application was received.
“We were never contacted about discrepancies,” he said. “We handed it in and thought it was okay.”

Removal of the handicapped parking space has had an ill effect on his mother, said Dan Dalessio.

“If I go out, or go to church, I come back and there’s no parking,” Frances Dalessio said in an interview with the Herald. “I can’t walk too good.”

“As a 60-year resident, she feels hurt by this and she feels trapped. I’ll jump through hoops to get that sign back. It’s just not fair to my mother,” Dan Dalessio said.