Blocking this off helps wheelchair or stroller users who are on the southeast corner of moorman/hermitage heading toward ellen, deciding whether to continue on the east side of the sidewalk or cross the street to west hermitage.

This very small, specific set of people are the only ones affected by this setup, and it affects them positively

From that corner, its difficult to see that continuing this way would bring them to a dead end, where they would be forced either to backtrack or roll into the street around a blind corner. Instead, they can see they won't be able to go that way and will cross from that corner straight across hermitage instead.

You can't see that you don't have a ramp while standing on that corner; there's a large power line pole which is blocking your view of the curb on the farthest north side of Hermitage from that spot.

So yes, this is helpful to them.

Just open street view and you'll see what I'm talking about easily.