Kathleen Murphy, Running for Distric 24 Councilperson, Talks Sidewalks on the South Side of West End in Nashville.

Kathleen Murphy, Running for District 24 Councilperson, Talks Sidewalks.

I wanted to thank Kathleen Murphy, who is running for district 24 councilperson, in Nashville.  

Kathleen is from district 24, having grown up in this neighborhood.  She was willing to hear Trish Mixon and I talk, at length, about a single subject - need for the completion of the sidewalk on Bowling Av.  She was willing to explore the idea of turning Bowling Av into a pilot project - such as Nashville's 1st Walking District - something we have been very interested in.  

She is keenly aware of West End Middle School at the corner of West End and Bowling and its lack of sidewalk infrastructure.  Near West End Middle School, our SPI is 45.  Sharing this corner, we have a huge public park (Elmington Park), and numerous churches and synagogues.  The synagogues should receive some special attention as many of the attendees walk to services on Saturdays. 

She also noted that the south side of West End, unlike the north side (which includes Sylvan Park) has not had any real attention paid to it.  We haven't had any upgrades in our infrastructure.

Another very good idea, that came of our discussion, was to try and get one of the more prestigious addresses on Bowling Av to go a head and build their piece of the sidewalk.  This would create a 'gap' in the sidewalk infrastructure - something that Public Works has stated they take into high regard and which would add richly to the Sidewalk Priority Index (SPI) scoring system.

Currently, Public Works is sidewalking SPIs of 20s.  In this regard, it seems unfathomable that the school, and Bowling Av, is not next in line.  

Now that the Sylvan Park Roundabout has been completed - The south side of West End is hoping it is our turn to have some modernizing improvements such as a really well designed high quality Walking District created along Bowling Av!