MyWHaT

(Two images looking north down Wellington St. in Traverse City: Gary L Howe Feb.19)

You have 5 minutes to get to a meeting, where do you walk?

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Street reclaiming: walking is a fundamental right

We spend thousands annually to keep the streets almost perfectly clear in the winter. We do this for the privilege of having a network of streets that we have dedicated to automobile use. Due to circumstance and priorities, a cleared neighborhood street vs. an uneven, slippery and inconsistent sidewalk (see above) is the unfortunate norm in Traverse City.

If walking is a viable transportation choice for you and you need to get somewhere conveniently and in a timely manner–hop on the fast track…

Walk in the road, get somewhere.

Safety is a concern, but be polite, be visible, be confident-it’s the motorist that by law must yield (meaning: slowing down and passing at a safe distance). US-DOT even suggest that you do it (albeit, they assume that sidewalks are usually cleared–sorry, not really).

Mini-poll:

When walking in the winter, are you comfortable walking in the street or do you stay strictly to the sidewalks?

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In a  2008 New Yorker story titled “Dymaxion Man: The visions of Buckminster Fuller“, you can find this gem of a quote that captures the crux of Intentional Design:

“I made up my mind . . . that I would never try to reform man—that’s much too difficult. What I would do was to try to modify the environment in such a way as to get man moving in preferred directions.“ – Buckminster Fuller

As this article points out, Fuller’s ideas & life had little concern for the way things have always been done.

Let’s not let legacies of the past get in our way.

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