As I fell asleep last night I began to think of sidewalks. I grew up with sidewalks. Our home in Hardin, MT had sidewalks. They were great for walks; chasing toddlers, trikes….our town now has no sidewalks. Most the spots we visited had no sidewalks.
Does this say something about our society? We no longer need sidewalks because we aren’t home to leisurely enjoy those afternoons on the sidewalks? Or we’re too lazy to edge around the sidewalks….much easier to mow to the curb? Or we’re more territorial and don’t want our neighbors to have easy access to our yard?
And what happened to Front Porches – which the SIDEWALKS led up to???? What about your area of the country? I'm interested in now in this sidewalk issue. I think I want our next assignment to be to a place with sidewalks. ::snort::
Does this say something about our society? We no longer need sidewalks because we aren’t home to leisurely enjoy those afternoons on the sidewalks? Or we’re too lazy to edge around the sidewalks….much easier to mow to the curb? Or we’re more territorial and don’t want our neighbors to have easy access to our yard?
And what happened to Front Porches – which the SIDEWALKS led up to???? What about your area of the country? I'm interested in now in this sidewalk issue. I think I want our next assignment to be to a place with sidewalks. ::snort::
Does this matter at all? Probably not, but it seemed profound at mid-night
16 comments:
We have sidewalks! Come to Scott for your next assignment! Actually, it's kind of mixed here. Some neighborhoods (like ours) have them, some don't.
My SIL made a comment recently that she thought it had to do with when the neighborhood was built. Hers was built in the 60's and doesn't have sidewalks. She thought that they didn't build them in that era. But that was a completely new theory to me. I don't really buy it.
You present some interesting theories, something to think about. I wonder if it just has to do with space? I don't know. But, I too LOVE sidewalks. And I shake my head over the ladies in our neighborhood who still walk in the street! Apparently it is easier to walk in a group in the streets, but it's not so easy for drivers to avoid them!
Ooooohhhhhhh...I have the best memories of playing on the sidewalks, learning to ride my bike...I hate that my kids don't have that. It almost makes the front yard not so safe!
In Fort Worth, the city just made sidewalks in my in-laws neighborhood. I thought it was great! Wouldn't it be awesome if San Angelo did that!!??
We have sidewalks here in south central PA. We also have big front porches in most of the older homes.
Woops, I needed to delete that last one to fix a grammatical error! LOL We have a sidewalk, but every family on the block parks their car right over the top of the sidewalk where it meets their driveway. They do have room to move forward and allow free passage, but I think they just roll in and don't think about. So most folks around here simply walk in the road. I'd love to live in a neighborhood with sidewalks and thoughtful people. I wonder if that's asking too much?
De'Etta, I do find the lack of sidewalks quite irritating. But the other thing that I notice, especially in your neck of the woods, is the driveways in the alleys and the privacy fences. You have no way of knowing if your neighbors are home, and vice versa. I really think it's a busy life theory, but you can't get away from the fact that people just don't WANT to interact w/their neighbors...seems that people like to hide...IMHO
BTW, in OUR part of town (older homes), we have sidewalks.
Sis:
Our town has sidewalks except in two places. 1) where people voted to not have them or even paved roads, and this is in the city limits. 2) most subdivisions in our area make the choice as to sidewalks or not and until the 2000's it was a toss up. Everything in the 2000's have no sidewalks unless a place is built where they already exist.
I get a kick of watching people walk down the street instead of using the sidewalks on all sides of our intersecting streets? Go figure!
I miss front porches but lots of the newer homes are putting them in. ???
l/p
LOL Well, the things that seem profound at midnight often are the things that should be viewed as profound! I agree with you ~ I miss sidewalks. We live in a neighborhood that was built in the early to mid-80's ~ but we don't have sidewalks. That has always amazed me, especially since the smallest allowable lot in our subdivision is an acre and a half. There's plenty of room for sidewalks, and yet there aren't any. I think sidewalks are friendly ~ you may have a point in suggesting that sidewalks have disappeared as life has become more and more hectic. Not enough time to just sit and enjoy a glass of iced tea on the front porch; not enough time to play with the kids outside; it's not safe to let the kids play out in the street and ride their bikes up and down the sidewalk, so why go to the extra expense of putting them in? Interesting......
My current house has a great front porch, covered, where I love to sit. Dh would rather sit in the back (covered patio) because he doesn't want to see anyone, lol.
Our new house has a 12' wide porch spanning the whole front of the house. There won't be anyone to watch from there, but you can bet we'll be sitting on it. :)
We won't have sidewalks, but it's very rural. I'm thankful we have a paved street (which all of the homeowners pay for)!
We have sidewalks! Our house was built in 1923. I don't know if that makes a difference or not.
The next town over also has sidewalks. Also an older neighborhood.
I've noticed that if you live in the city here (not huge cities though) there are sidewalks. If you are more out in the country, no sidewalks.
I like sidewalks! At college in WY some of my favorite times were spent strolling sidewalks looking at the architecture/yards.
Here we don't have sidewalks in our subdivision, but we do beside the roads into the subdivision. I like using the sidewalks to get the children to school. We have greenbelts too that people walk on. People are friendly and will wave as they go by if we're out. I like that neighborly feel.
I like cities w/paved trails too. Ft. Collins, CO and Anchorage, AK do a nice job w/that. Haven't visited others places that do.
We have sidewalks here in Az. We also have bike lanes where the "shoulder" usually is. Not sure what the deal is where you live. I know my grandparents who live near El Paso tore theirs out when it needed to be replaced. The city wasn't responsible for it. They just planted seed to the curb.
I began to think sometime yesterday that REALLY I would love to live in the country and there are no sidewalks there - but I would have a big front porch. LOL
AND....Deja...I agree about the garages being BEHIND our homes - entered through the ally - you NEVER see folks....
We have sidewalks and front porches in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA.
When it snows I wish that we didn't have sidewalks. lol
Laura
We live in the country and have never had any sidewalks out here. We don't even live close enough to neighbors to have an over-the-fence conversation and we wouldn't sit on a porch if we had one because of all the mosquitoes (LOL).
Sorry... I don't have much to add to the sidewalk conversation.
Post a Comment