Sidewalks
Sidewalks are important. Why? A neighborhood without sidewalks–whether commercial or residential–might as well have signs posted that read “those not in cars can leave now.” Last I observed, people in cars are incapable of having conversations with each other (other than via cell phone, which doesn’t count and achieves the opposite of goodwill and sociability), greeting each other, or getting to know each other.
Just look at the Amherst neighborhood: lots of houses, lots of kids, but almost no one on the street. Those that dare run the risk of being clipped by a speeding car. I seem to recall that not long after I moved to Manhattan that there were a couple of pedestrian fatalities in the Amherst area. Really, is it worth the supposed aesthetic merits of no sidewalks to expose pedestrians to traffic? I would think not. Even more foolish than no sidewalks, perhaps, is putting a sidewalk on just one side of a street, such as mine. Just try trick-or-treating on such a street in the dark with little kids and it becomes rapidly apparent that it’s a dangerous undertaking.
I rode past the commercial properties on Dickens between College and Browning today, and noticed that the city evidently permitted them to build these rather nice buildings right next to a school with no sidewalks. That’s insane. Doesn’t the city have some sort of building code that dictates that property facing a street provide accommodation for pedestrians? I would think so.
