Sidewalks: what a beautiful addition to a city

As someone who walks to work and loves to run and bike, I've come to greatly appreciate sidewalks.  Now, as we are working to become less car centric, the city of Edina, adjacent to the city of Minneapolis, is making plans to add sidewalks.  Not too surprisingly older residents are upset by this proposed change, "Longtime Edina residents 'up in arms' over plan to build more sidewalks." I know that in the past having written in the local newspaper in support of sidewalks in the city of Golden Valley there was a similar negative response by some long time residents.

People may have chosen to live in Edina to have a more secluded life in the suburbs.  However as the Twin Cities have grown dramatically in size they're no longer living in the outer fringes.   I hope that these oppositional citizens soften to this proposed change and get in step with plans to make their city more pedestrian friendly.

An earlier blog of mine, Sidewalks help to build community, also discusses this topic.

Setting a trend walking to church.... not yet

View from pedestrian bridge

Vegetation by the pond

I'm hoping at starting a trend for people to walk or ride their bikes to church.  Let's just say it hasn't exactly caught on like a wildfire quite yet.  I have  been encouraged however to see a couple of families riding their bikes to church.  I'm only a little over a year into the effort.

Bassett Creek

For me to walk to church takes about 20 minutes, rather than 8 minutes by car.  I'm just a bit over a mile from church. Thanks to a pedestrian bridge over the highway, I have a more direct walking route than driving. It is difficult to break habits, especially if they are more comfortable, quicker and easier than the alternatives.

Church

One of the challenges of walking in suburban areas, besides being counter cultural, is the lack of sidewalks.  Despite their many advantages, I've discovered lots of people are adamantly opposed to sidewalks eating into their yards.  They prefer the low maintenance, isolation and privacy of their sidewalk free yards.

Sculpture along the route

As we grow increasingly aware of the disastrous long-term effects of pollution and inactivity on our personal health and the health of our planet I hope that more people will be inspired to enjoy the healthy benefits of walking, even during the colder months of winter.  As the Norwegians are fond of saying, there is no such thing as bad weather, only poor clothing.

Sidewalks help to build community

Runner on sidewalk around park

What a wonderful thing sidewalks are.  They allow pedestrians to walk or run safely, without fear of being run over by cars and trucks. They also give kids a safe place to develop their bike riding skills, seniors a location for a leisurely stroll, all the while providing neighbors and community members a common ground on which to interact, face to face.

An article, "Thinking pedestrian thoughts", in the StarTribune, noted how the suburb of Edina has concluded sidewalks contribute to their goal of healthy living, neighborhood connectedness and livability.   

Minneapolis is a national leader of pedestrian friendly planning.  The city has a permanent citizen advisory committee that provides response to street reconstruction and planning from the perspective of pedestrians.  Minneapolis is also one of the top cities in the U.S. relative to people who walk to work, with 6.4% of residents walking to their work places.