Mad about sidewalks
We’re starving for good takeout places in Belltown, so the new place on Second should be a prime stop. But I’ve never tried it…because they have sandwich boards (plural) in the middle of the sidewalk, and that annoys me.
It’s odd to fixate on such things. Most people just walk around sandwich boards. But personally I take anything that intrudes on the middle of the sidewalk as an intrusion. Particularly if the sidewalk is narrow, such as passing a sidewalk cafe. So, often, I move the sign. And avoid that business like the plague.
Parking lots are worse than restaurants. At least the businesses are trying to reach pedestrians, but the parking lot signs are for drivers. If a sign is necessary, it should be by the curb, not in the main part of the sidewalk. Those signs are often heavier, but even the big hundred-pound ones can be rolled aside.
Let’s not get started on cars that roll into crosswalks at red lights. (breathe…calm…rippling stream…breathe…)
The City has a spotty record in sidewalk design. Lots of nice work has happened recently on Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth in Belltown, much of it associated with recent street repaves. Love the corner bulbs. But good lord, what’s with the oversized tree wells, particularly on Fourth? Are pedestrians supposed to walk in them? One assumes so, because at night we can hardly see some of them, and they’re inconsistent widths, and sometimes the sidewalks narrow to the width of two people so you walk in them just to pass. Putting gravel in the wells is a good idea in theory, but since we’re walking in the wells they become gravel dispersal systems. Safety issues include escaped gravel on the sidewalk, and the likelihood that at some point the gravel areas won’t be flush with the paved areas.
Then there’s the safety issue of those yellow rubber pads, which are slippery when wet, and are apparently intended to create disabled people.
As for those hanging plants at the Pike Place Market on First…they look great, but do they think we’re all 5 feet tall? Raise them, please.
As you can see, walking to work can bring a zen-like peace to one’s day!
Tags: pedestrian
