NOTE: The survey mentioned below will take comments until Dec. 8, not Nov. 24 as I said on Tuesday.
Gee, I hate to break off yet another pro-con tirade about transit (see comments on my previous post, many offered while I was on vacation last week). But here goes.
Even though today’s weather is making most of us vow not to be outdoors at all, today’s topic is walking: for pleasure, for exercise, for dogs and as transportation.
One of the biggest changes I’ve seen in Charlotte in the past 10 years is the number of people walking, for all the reasons listed above. Part of that’s due to the slow but steady improvement in the number of, and quality of, city sidewalks. Part of it’s due to newcomers who are used to living in places where walking is easier. If you’ve ever spent time in New York, for instance, you know walking five or six blocks is simply routine. You wouldn’t think of driving that distance. In Charlotte, most people wouldn’t think of walking that distance.
Why should the city try to encourage people to walk? Consider public health – most of us are getting fatter and we need the exercise. That drives up health costs for everyone, from our insurance rates to the cost of Medicare and Medicaid.
Consider transportation costs. It’s a heckuva lot cheaper to build sidewalks than to build – or even widen – streets. The more people can walk places, the less they’ll clog our streets with their cars.
Try recreation. Walking and hiking are immensely popular exercise.
Try household budgets. Walking is cheaper than driving.
And consider all the people who can’t drive. That would be kids, the disabled, and many elderly for whom loss of a driver’s license too often spells loss of independence.
Amazingly, the City of Charlotte’s Transportation Department now has a pedestrian program manager, Vivian Coleman (vcoleman@ci.charlotte.nc.us). She’s working on a pedestrian master plan to improve walking conditions throughout the city.
As part of that, she’s asking everyone who’s interested to take ">this online survey. It takes less than 10 minutes – more like 3 unless you read really, really slowly. It will be available until Friday, Dec. 8. Go to it.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Hoofing it? Sound off
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
26 comments:
OH MARY.....
Walking is great but you clearly can not compare Charlotte to NYC.
Charlotte is not designed for mass use of sidewalks and clearly developers will fight against having to install them in their neighborhoods.
How about Charlotte be the first to install moving sidewalks like the Jetsons going down the middle of Independence.... Surely it could be less costly than the light rail projects and I bet we could even cover them with plastic when it rains or gets cold.. NOW that would set Charlotte apart from everyone else..
Most useless sidewalk in Charlotte is on Old Stateville Rd between Statesville road and WT Harris Blvd. The road was widen to two lanes FINALLY.. with a bike lane and sidewalks on both sides. On one side you have a small trailer part and mainly industrial users on the other side is a nurseing home but for the most of the road it is bordered by the RR track that is hopefully going to be the light rail to Huntersville.
If the city wants to build sidewalks atleast be smart about it and put them where people will use them.
Oh Brad,
You miss the point. The City builds sidewalks, bike lanes, etc. wherever and whenever they can. typically, through redevelopment or capital improvement initiatives. Meanwhile, funding will come for neighborhoods to receive sidewalks and connector streets. It takes time. Charlotte is a typical, neo-southern, suburban functioning place. It will take time to change that way of thinking.
Mary here. Just a note, in response to Brad's comment. Since the late 1990s, the city has required developers to install sidewalks in their neighborhoods. And yes, the developers did fight against it. They lost.
I thought it was interesting that greenways were left out of the survey. Imagine what the Little Sugar Creek Greenway will do to improve connections between suburban residential and surburban commercial districts in South Charlotte
Having lived in NY, I can assure you that one walks trips of far more than six blocks. Without judging the benefits of that, it is less a choice for positive reasons for most New Yorkers than it is the default choice that is available. Driving is essentially impossible, since even if one owns a car parking is extraordinarily limited. (It often takes longer to find a parking place and walk to and from it than it does to simply walk to a destination.) Transit is fine, but for trips of a mile or so is usually slower unless one's timing is perfect and one is going to and from someplace directly on the line.
I don't know that most New Yorkers wouldn't drive if they could or if they had the time, but that's not a practical option. But then the city is so completely congested that WALKING traffic jams often occur around rush hour in some sections of the city.
Mary,
What are the rules on sidewalks.. I remember a fight about having sidewalks on both sides of the street but didn't the city settle on requireing them on 1 side only?
In the infill project that I live there is a combination of Townhomes and connected single family... The townhomes have sidewalks but the single family houses do not. The development was built in 2003. So not sure what the rules are that allowed this developer to not install them.
Don't get me wrong I think sidewalks are great and I usally don't disagree with what Mary has to say about urban design but to spend money on sidewalks that are not used and were installed to satisfy some mandate from the government or to make our city seem more healthy because just because we added so many feet of sidewalks is pointless unless they are used.
"The more people can walk places, the less they’ll clog our streets with their cars."
Am I the only one who finds this sentence a little odd? Who is "they" and who is "our?"
I can only imagine the job description for the pedestrian program manager. Hopefully this person shares office space with the bicycle dude.
As the Director of Historic South End, I am currently working with the City of Charlotte and Department of Transportation to examine the best way to link South End to Uptown in terms of pedestrian and bicycle usage. I can tell you clearly that there is a new day in Urban Planning in Charlotte. They do make mistakes in my opinion but so do we all. The point is that the City leaders are looking 10, 15, 25, 30+ years out to make sure the next generation can enjoy the Queen City as much as we did. The growth is not going to stop, so we all need to understand that growth comes with consequences. The City finally seems to be grasping this reality.
james Mathis
I have been a Charlotte Urban Walker for the past 7 years, ever since moving Uptown. It was by design, it was a lifestyle I sought out.
I often bore my friends with my singing the praises of shopping for food every day, always getting fresh, never throwing out unused food, etc. I have 2 grocery stores within 3 blocks.
I have 15+ restaurants within walking distance as well, not to mention the library, the arena, BOA stadium, a couple of parks, post office, etc, etc, etc.
The physical attributes of walking are widely described in almost every health journal.
One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is that unlike driving where you honk your horn when you see a friend, walking encourages stopping and talking to other people! Additionally, you can really see things when you walk, instead of just watching the road, there is a lot of life all around.
Walking is a choice, and waiting for someone to make it easier for you is not the answer. Get out there and put one foot in front of the other.
Uncle Dennis,
I couldn't agree more. I too moved uptown 4 years ago and love it for all the reasons you mentioned. I feel more connected to a neighborhood, a place that's alive. I felt dead in the Burbs. Come home, pull car in garage, close garage, sit in front of t.v.
Oh....mow lawn. The usual trips to Home Depot, shopping to fill up countless empty rooms with crap that I didn't need for rooms I never went into.
I can't tell you enough how much my life has changed for the better. Never a dull moment. I so rarely watched t.v. anymore that I finally canceled cable. If I am in my condo I am reading, listening to music or cooking a great feast for friends with food and drinking wine from any number of specialty shops. Then it's out and about. Walking, biking, grabbing a beer at a pub or a great late night desert while listening to live blues or jazz.
Catching a concert at the arena or a show at Blumenthal. Life is good indeed.
I live just off of East Boulevard so I am constantly walking to HT,Starbucks,Brixx etc etc. I also run several times a week. I guess I am just an urban oriented person. I love leaving the car behind. There is something very freeing about going for a nice long stroll and its great to bump into friends or make new ones. Charlotte is very suburban oriented. A walkable lifstyle is tough to experience beyond the city neighborhoods but creating pedestrian friendly environments wherever possible throughout the region is a very worthwhile endeavor.
Another "urban walker" here, and I agree with everything Uncle Dennis has to say.
I truly don't understand the mentality that prevails in the suburbs: trying to get closer to "small town life" by isolating yourself as much as possible. The whole *point* of small town life is personal connections; and you only make those when you get out of the car and have a little contact with the world!
Not to be utopian -- god knows, in most large cities pedestrians won't even look you in the eye -- but I truly think that Charlotteans would be a much closer community if we were able to just stroll down the sidewalk once in a while and actually see the faces of the people with whom we share a city.
Agreed ! Well, at least the uptowners agree (Dilworth too). Walking is the best way to be.
No Burbanites today ? Too busy prepairing for the feast tomorrow I guess. Stuff the mouth and sit on the couch. Me and mine will be walking to the Westin to meet the family. They have a great Thanksgiving meal there. Then it's off to the parade.
Maybe a jog afterward.
What a narrow minded, elitist little bit that was! Now we're treated to people getting judgemental about how others celebrate holidays based on whetehr they live in urban or suburban settings?
Get a grip on this thought: you don't make your candle burn brighter by trying to blow out someone else's.
What makes any of you "anonymous" urban walkers think that those of us who live in the suburbs don't walk?
I walk almost every day...run every other day...in the clean air of my neighborhood with plenty of trees and other neighbors who are out walking & running as well.
And hardly any cars to disturb anyone...its great!
Because I've lived in the Burbs and the pecent that walk are no where near the percent in the city. You are one of a small group. But good for you. Better than getting in the car, isn't it ?
I love my car too...what have you got against cars?
This shouldn't be a question of city living is better than suburban living...I know plenty of fat, or skinny, under-exercised people living downtown.
Whether you choose to live in the city or the suburbs...its your choice. People can be happy either way.
LORD PEOPLE...
This is not about city life verse suburb life. Last time I checked we all were human beings...
The issue is about sidewalks and the need for them in the right places where they will use.
People who live in the city will surely say they walk. I will when I move in Uptown to events and local shopping.
What is not asked in the survey is how far do you walk.. or how far are you willing to walk to get so say a grocery store or starbucks or any type of shopping district.
Mary should agree with me that everywhere can't be Uptown. But instead of Planning shopping district and residental districts we need to intermix the two so that people are able to walk to them.
Burkedale was a good start but instead of locating the shopping in the middle with houses all around at equal distance from the outside its near impossible for someone in the very back of the housing development to walk to shopping.
Another example is grocery shopping in Uptown. If I lived in 1st ward I would not walk to the Harris Teeter and yes there is the grocery store in 7th street station but that is more of a specialty store and not a general merchandise grocery store and you will pay higher prices to shop there.
I think the posters were just trying to make the point (badly) that the burbs don't make it convenient to walk. Most of the times the sidewalks end all of a sudden. They never go anywhere. It's impossible to walk to the store, restaurant, etc. We are talking true suburbs. Not neighborhoods in and around the city. More like Pineville, Ballantyne, etc.
First Ward,
If you lived in First Ward you would soon be able to walk to Whole Foods in Elizabeth. Hell, you could walk to H.T. now. I walk 5 blocks to get there as it is. If you lived at Brevard in First Ward, say Courtside, it's the same 5 block walk. Five blocks is nothing. I walk ten blocks EACH WAY to the YMCA 6 days a week. Plus walking to work and usually out afterward.
That's the difference these people are talking about between suburban and urban. It's a lifestyle, that's all. Neither one is better than the other. It's whatever fit for you.
Mary again:
Brad, I'm buried on pre-holiday deadline today, but will try to dig out of our archives a bit of information about the sidewalk ordinances adopted about 10 years ago. There are some exceptions, but generally if a street isn't a cul-de-sac, developers are required to put sidewalks on both sides.
Have a safe Holiday Mary...
Its really not that important to look up the rules... I am sure the developer got around it one way or another....to get it approved without sidewalks.
I enjoy walking in my neighborhood. I live in one of those older neighborhoods with nice wide streets that have a low traffic so sidewalks are not critical in my area. I see many walkers in the neighborhood. For me, getting well designed sidewalks along the major roads is more important so that I can walk to shopping areas. The sidewalks along the major roads are too narrow and are right up against the road in many cases. Charlotte was never designed with walkers and bikes in mind, but times are changing fortunately for the residents of Charlotte.
When I lived briefly in University City, I tried to use the buses to get Uptown, as a cheap and easy alternative to using the car.
The problem was that there was NO SIDEWALK at the bus stop! I ended up having to walk down the side of the four-lane road, then stand on a grassy hill until the bus came.
Personally, I find it absurd to even bother placing a bus stop where there is no sidewalk. These kinds of things are what make people move out of the suburbs; it's not just the prevalence of auto traffic, but the fact that you can't conveniently use an alternative even if you want to!
I no longer live in Charlotte, but when I did I lived in Meyers Park, 4th Ward, Elizabeth, and Plaza-Midwood; I walked a lot. Unfortunately, in Elizabeth, Plaza-Midwood, and even in parts of Meyers Park, the sidewalks were often so ill-maintained that using them was a good way to court a broken ankle even for a young fit person, and would have been even more dangerous to an elderly or infirm person.
Where I live now, I ride my bicycle everywhere. I do still have a car, but it sometimes sits for weeks without being used. I'm thinner and fitter.
The majority of trips (according to the USDA) that Americans make are less than 5 miles; a majority of those are less than 2 miles. Not beyond walking or biking for any able-bodied person.
Considering that such short trips are the ones in which the infernal combustion engine is (a) least fuel-efficient and (b)most polluting, and considering the epidemic of obesity with its attendant ills, everything should be done to encourage walking and biking for short trips.
Post a Comment