Rocky Roads

Sweating it Out on the Sidewalk

We moved up the block the other day, and MAN was it hard to keep our dolly from careening either into someone's yard or into a parked car. This hump is a dump and needs to be repaired!

View Take A Walk Project 2009 in a larger map

It's been a while since the last post. No no, the sidewalks have NOT been repaired. Status remains very much quo. However, our surveyors have been quietly taking their walks around the neighborhood to record every delinquent sidewalk here. Take a look at the map above to see the first cut at mapping the profusion of broken sidewalks in the target area.

Some are minor bumps, inch-high undulations in the concrete that a galloping pedestrian or speeding wheelchair user might easily miss. Other areas see bumps or sumps that would catch anything on foot, upend anything on wheels, appall anyone with a conscience. Suffice to say, many of our surveyors had to sidestep these broken places, using or crossing the street just to continue on their way. The status can NOT stay quo!

Stay tuned as we complete our survey of the neighborhood, compile a database of priority areas, and start canvassing to engage neighbors to demand change! Look out for more stories like Philip's below to emerge.

That Philip-in' Curb

Brighton Ave and Jefferson Ave

Philip had been making his way home late one night when something went wrong. The rear driving wheels of his motorized wheelchair wedged themselves in the cracked concrete curb near the intersection of Brighton and Jefferson. He had tried all he could think of to free himself but when his efforts failed he called out for help.

Having only moved into the Brighton house for maybe 2 months now, we were still familiarizing ourselves with the area. It was pretty late on this weekday night when I heard someone calling out from outside the house. I know he was calling “help”, but for the first few minutes I convinced myself that he was actually calling to another person, or that someone else would notice him and help him out, and that basically it wasn’t my problem. The fear of going out around the alley pressed on me for a good five minutes before I was able to realize I needed to help this person, so my housemate and I went too see what was going on. The distant streetlamps allowed us to see only Philip’s silhouette. As we approached him warily we could immediately hear the elation in his voice.

When I saw what had happened I scolded myself for not coming out sooner. Philip was stuck with just the rear of the wheelchair on the curb and most of his body exposed into the alleyway that cars frequently burn through to skirt the Normandie-Jefferson light. We quickly heaved him off the curb as he began to tell us what had happened, how he was just on his way home when the broken concrete caught his wheels, and when he was calling out he knew God would send someone to help him. He graciously kissed our hands as our other housemates came out to meet him and pray for him. He decided to resume his journey home on the street rather than the sidewalk. How wrong is it that to avoid the hazards of our sidewalks, Philip would prefer to expose himself to the dangers on the road?

MISSING: Great Chunks of Concrete

SUMP: 3026 Kenwood Ave

In many cities across the country, bicycle lanes have become a more and more familiar sight as communities realize the value of having designated lanes dedicated to cyclists to keep them safely away from automobiles. Keep bicycles apart from cars, trucks, and SUVs while maintaining fair usage of the street. It all makes perfect sense.

What does not make sense is the sight of kids on scooters/skateboards, people in wheelchairs, and parents behind strollers sharing the street with dangerous automobile neighbors. We need wheelchair lanes! Stroller lanes! Kid lanes! Then only will we mitigate the likelihood of an errant swerve from either vehicle or pedestrian into each other's path.

But wait, settle down--such lanes already exist. They are called Sidewalks, where kids, elderly ladies, mothers, and babies alike belong. A hole in the sidewalk, when scaled, is equivalent not to a pothole on the street, but a sinkhole. Sidewalks are just as important as roads: if funds can be invested to repair potholes in our asphalt streets, they definitely can and should be invested in repairing potholes in our concrete sidewalks.

Where are the missing sidewalks in your block?

A New Upheaval

HUMP: 30th St and Kenwood Ave

As we start up the Take a Walk project, we are hoping to spark a new upheaval. 

Not settling for the commonplace, inconvenient, unsightly upheavals we see every other block where humongous tree roots bulge our sidewalks--but a new upheaval, one that turns us from jaded, inactive observers into informed and active neighbors who care about reclaiming our sidewalks from disrepair and improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods. 

Broken sidewalks are no different from broken windows or graffiti-rich walls left untended. Other than marring the aesthetics of the neighborhood and diverting kids on skateboards and disabled pedestrians out onto the dangerous streets, they all breed a sense of hopelessness that nothing can or will ever change. 

But things CAN change! Will you Take a Walk with us?

Where Have All the Curb Cuts Gone?

BUMP: Raymond Ave and 30th St

The picture above is familiar scene in the neighborhood: sidewalk corners that are not wheel friendly, even where they are needed the most. Though many of us who walk these streets daily do not necessarily see a problem here, the many folks in wheelchairs, kids on scooters/skateboards, and mothers pushing their strollers will beg to differ. 

The Take a Walk project was first conceived as a community project during a Raymond Avenue Block Club meeting in Spring 2009. While at a glance the sidewalks in the Normandie 5 and adjacent neighborhoods may generally look fine, there are many shortcomings that we love to complain about and, unfortunately, have become jaded about as well. Uneven sidewalks. Broken sidewalks. Missing sidewalks. Tree roots gone wild. Corners with no curb cuts. These just some of the nuisances that the people in these neighborhoods have grown accustomed to over years of change. But we can make a difference!

The Take a Walk project aims to start the restoration process this very summer by mobilizing neighbors, identifying trouble areas, and turn conversation into action. This blog serves as a focal point to highlight targeted sidewalks in the project area. Various logistical information, action plans, and hopefully results(!) will also be available. Stay tuned! In the meantime, if you have pictures of nuisance sidewalks to share with others, send them (with address/locations) to arthur@redeemercp.org and we will enlist them to be posted here as well.