NEW HOPE, Pa. - You stroll down the sidewalk, step around trash cans, file past planters and maneuver along without much concern.

Take the same trip in a wheelchair and the path quickly becomes an obstacle course.

Every time Nat Grupp, an 18-year-old high school senior who has used a wheelchair since he was 3½, ventured into New Hope with his parents, he found getting around the small historic town almost impossible.

"He knows we love New Hope," said his mother, Fran, "but he never wants to come because he can't get around."

Narrow sidewalks, some blocked with signs and flowerpots, created problems. Nat couldn't navigate his motorized chair between telephone poles and fences. Obstructions inhibited his travel up and down South Main Street, the heart of the borough's shopping and restaurant district.

And while he didn't deliberately set out to enlighten community leaders, he did want to document his experiences.

"He saw it as a place that could use improvement," said his mother, speaking for Nat whose speech is impaired as a result of his cerebral palsy. "Nat feels like he's a good advocate. ... He's been physically disabled his whole life. He'd like to see more places be more accessible."

As he thought about his difficulty moving through the picturesque riverside town, the Council Rock High School-South student decided his experiences there might make a good graduation project. With the help of his family, he made a video of his trek around New Hope. His brother Jake, 14, narrated.

Grupp's father, Jerold, a member of the Council Rock school board, gave the video to borough Councilwoman Sharyn Keiser, with whom he works. She shared it with council President Richard Hirschfield and borough Manager John Burke.

"It brought tears to my eyes," said Keiser.

d quickly reappear.

After learning of Nat's project, the borough council amended its sidewalk ordinance to prohibit the display of merchandise or the placement of signs, planters, tables, chairs, flags and other objects that obstruct "the convenient use of sidewalks."

Not every business owner in the tourist-dependent town is pleased with the changes. Bob Gerenser, owner of a popular ice cream shop, said it's the wrong way to address the problem.

"I'm very sorry for Nat that he's wheelchair-bound," said Gerenser, adding the town has a responsibility to comply with the American with Disabilities Act.

However, he said, "businesses need to be able to display."

He suggested a less "heavy-handed" approach would have been better. "Manners and courtesy are the answers, not the law," Gerenser said.

Jim Kenny, Nat's social studies teacher and senior project adviser, said the project was never intended to place a hardship on businesses.

"We try to challenge kids to do projects with meaning ... to take topics that are significant to them," said Kenny. "I'd be the last one to try and make it a hardship on business ... but they have to understand people are their business and handicapped people are here, too."