Sunday, May 31, 2015

The Irony of Green Hills


From a recent article in The Tennessean, entitled Green Hills Project Ramps Up Traffic Woes, the author begins by saying:

'When Joy Richards needed to buy something from the Mall at Green Hills a week ago, the retired counselor left home at 9:35 a.m. to ensure she would find a parking space and get in and out before traffic worsened….'


LINK to article:



I want to point out the stinging irony of this article - The very 1st sentence details Ms. Richards, a resident of The Apartments for Retired Teachers needing to drive to The Green Hills Mall. Now, if you are not familiar with these two locations, you may not recognized that Ms. Richards home is directly kitty-corner from the mall.
It is literally across the street!!!  




To be fair, we never learn why Ms. Richards does not walk across the street to make her purchase.  She may have a physical issue that makes walking hard highlighting the lack of ADA compliance in the area.  If I can speculate,  I would say she felt unsafe to walk.  There is no sidewalk on the corner where the mall starts for which I can find no excuse.  The mall must be a huge trip generator and yet does not have adequate walking infrastructure in place.








In Nashville, we have literally designed away every mode of transportation except driving in the Green Hills area with its too-many-to-count ingress/egresses per block, super block design, dilapidated / missing walking infrastructure, lack of pedestrian awareness, and too many drivers trying to cut through from the Williamson Co. suburbs at high speeds.   

Rather than being so concerned about adding citizens to the area, why not hold the city & the developers accountable for building the infrastructure to support them?





What I fear is that our attention is being diverted and our energies are being wasted on complaining about more residents.  This is going to happen regardless.  We need to refocus the lens on to how to make the situation best for all.   People are not going to want to walk if they feel unsafe.  The plan currently has pedestrians crossing 6 lanes of traffic on Hillsboro with no pedestrian island in the middle.  This is the equivalent of crossing a highway and it doesn't feel good.  (I encourage you to try it!).  Lastly, there should be no right turn on red (onto Richard Jones as a driver is heading north) to prevent turning into pedestrians trying to cross.  




Richard Jones Rd. also needs some attention.  This road is HUGE (5 lanes) - but only a few blocks long ending in a cross street that does not line up.  It is weird little road but if done right could become its own urban center kind of like Hillsboro Village.  It has a number of businesses and a number of homes/apartments.  It is the perfect street to have pedestrian rest running down its center.  I would also strongly encourage a loss of the radius turn and making it so there is no right turns on red to prevent drivers turning into people crossing in the cross walk.  This road should not be a high speed cut through but rather the beginning of a mixed use neighborhood like the 12th So area.  


***

Shade Parade is for well designed sidewalks / walkability in all of Nashville. Instead of making the core of the discussion about traffic and parking spots - let's refocus and create walkable neighborhoods so that we can get around on foot.

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The big picutre here is to consider putting in pedestrian rests down Richard Jones and in Green Hills on Hillsboro so people do not have to cross a riduculous amount of lanes to cross the street.





Saturday, May 30, 2015

Opposition




One goal of Shade Parade is to create a forum for discussion around walkability in Nashville. 







In so doing, I have spent a lot of time and effort educating myself on sidewalks and have viewed the subject from a variety of angles (please refer to this blog, start date 11/2013, with hundreds of posts)

Right now, I am highly focused on what it takes to get a sidewalk on a major connector street (Bowling Av) that already has a portion of its sidewalk completed.  Just trying to finish an already started job.  A very good neighbor & I have written letters to each property owner on Bowling, held a public meeting, met with councilmembers, talked to neighbors, polled our whole neighborhood, discussed it with the mayor.  We have been at it for over 1.5 years.

***

I am much less inclined to push for a sidewalk on quiet residential side streets.  But those tree lines quiet streets are not off my radar.  In the meantime, I advocate for residential side streets to have a reduction in the speed limit to 20-25 mph for the comfort and safety of those walking them.  





The prettiest walks, were many people already choose to get out on foot, could be rezoned as Walking Districts with 20 mph speed limits.  The notion of Walking Districts in select neighborhoods could be a great 'brand' and a real draw for both tourists and citizens alike. 

***

I want to hear your thoughts whether they coincide with mine or not.  Along these same lines, I am really quite pleased to hear what exactly someone would take offense to when it comes to putting in sidewalks.  Recently, I encountered some opposition to sidewalks (read below) from a neighbor… 

***

'The Other Side of The Issue:

I am among others who strongly disagree with asking for sidewalks on Bowling Avenue.  From Whitland to Lynbrook to Golf Club, Forest Park and the rest, there are many quiet, safe areas for walks or exercise.  Our neighborhoods are green, tranquil and well-preserved.  They do not need to be "urbanized".  People who want sidewalks can go live in a high rise downtown or in the commercial area of Green Hills where sidewalks prevail of necessity.  We treasure our lush lawns and tall trees and are fighting to preserve the ambiance we enjoy here.  The few people who want sidewalks are newcomers who also think that sandwich boards and tacky signs on the lawn are acceptable (they are not!).  We who appreciate the beauty and rarity of our neighborhoods do not wish for the crushing urbanization that Nashville is in danger of.  The last thing we need is more of an infestation of concrete!



***


Do you agree?  I very much encourage you to form your own opinion.  I love this email as it shows real passion and can help clarify what the opposition may be.

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Friday, May 29, 2015

Hillsboro Road to be ADA Compliant Only On the West Side

Hillsboro Road to be ADA Compliant Only On the West Side


A lot of people ask me how to get a sidewalk in their neighborhood.  In Nashville, were we have never honestly funded a sidewalk plan and where we have a severe deficit of walking infrastructure compared to other cities with the same population the answer to how has not been clear.  

This is the story of one person deciding to do something in honor of her daughter.  She wrote this in January and there is a change happening that I belive can be directly tied to her actions.


***

This is GOOD NEWS.

An ADA grievance request has been filed for Hillsboro Rd and Public Works takes these very seriously.  

Repairs are coming - starting June 1st.  

It must be noted that this is a minor repair plan - to make this stretch ADA compliant but it is not a step to correct this sidewalk to the preferred dimensions of a 6' buffer and an 8' sidewalk.  

 This does mark an improvement BUT it is bittersweet.  Instead of making it right, we are just going to put a temporary band-aid on it until the area redevelops…likley many years down the road.

  






MEDIA ADVISORY

Hillsboro Pike Sidewalk Project To Begin Monday, June 1
Intermittent Lane Closures will be in place throughout the 3 week project

Nashville, Tenn -  Metro Public Works will begin constructing new sidewalk to fill in gaps that exist along the west side of Hillsboro Pike between Crestmoor Road and Hobbs RoadMonday, June 1.  The project, approximately 1 mile long, also includes repair of existing sidewalk and will address ADA needs. 

Construction is expected to take approximately 3 weeks.

There will be intermittent lane closures during the project.  Access to businesses within the footprint of the project will be maintained throughout construction. Police officers will provide traffic control.  
Travelers navigating through this and any construction area should be alert and plan for possible delays during the construction period. 
Please refer to the attached map for affected area. 

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About the Metro Public Works Sidewalk Program:
The goal of Metro Public Works sidewalk program is to provide safe comfortable, continuous, and convenient pedestrian facilities.  Metro Public Works currently maintains over 1,070 miles of sidewalks.  For more information about the sidewalk program, visit: http://mpw.nashville.gov/IMS/Sidewalks/StrategicPlan.aspx.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

You Know You Have Made It When…


You know you have made it when…you find a photo of yourself on a US Department of Transportation web site while searching for photos of people 'walking - lack of sidewalks'.




This photo is me walking to the public park in my neighborhood.  This is the quality of many many streets in Nashville in the Urban Service District & it is frankly unacceptable.  You can see the flow of traffic - it isn't minor - and the speed limit is 35mph although, I suspect, that many go a lot faster.  

Would you let your children walk alone here?

This is also my Sidewalk Project #1.  Bowling Av, Nashville, TN.  Trish Mixon & I have been working on this street - which would allow an entire neighborhood to walk to our public park, our middle school, the bus stop on West End, churches, synagogues, and many businesses.  

You can help - we have created a non-profit called The Sidewalk Foundation to raise funds to accomplish this goal.  $350 per linear foot.  We are also looking for one homeowner on Bowling to put in a piece of sidewalk (to Public Work specs) with the aid of crowdsourcing and volunteers to occur in October for Walk Nashville Month.



Link:
https://www.dot.gov/fastlane/big-week-bicyclists-and-pedestrians

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Living in a Walkable Neighborhood May Be Better Than Brain Games

Sorry for the wholesale copy & paste but this is a good article about one of the many benefits of living in a walkable neighborhood.  


Want To Stop Your Brain From Getting Old? Live In A Walkable Neighborhood


Put down the brain training computer game and try walking someplace interesting.

Brain training companies say that carefully designed computer games can make a brain work better, but neuroscientists and Alzheimer’s researchers have warned the public that such conclusions can be misleading. Now, some researchers say that neighborhoods could impact how well the brains of older people function.
At Kansas University, assistant professor of psychology Amber Watts is gearing up for a large study on how the walkability of neighborhoods impacts cognition—and maybe even dementia. An initial pilot study on 25 people she conducted with a fellow Alzheimer’s researcher and two architects found that the sample of older adults who lived in more "walkable" neighborhoods performed much better on cognition tests. Another sample of adults with early dementia living in walkable neighborhoods also showed promising signs, but the results were more complicated.
"I wouldn’t say that moving to a walkable neighborhood will prevent you from getting Alzheimer’s," Watts says. "This could be a relatively small contribution, but it could be important. We can’t change our age, we can’t change whether we have genetic alleles that put us at risk, but we can change how we live."
Watts explains that "walkable" neighborhoods have a couple of key characteristics that hold great promise for the brain. Using mapping software called Space Syntax, she and her colleagues pinpointed neighborhoods that maintained the most connectivity, meaning the number of places there were to visit within a half-mile radius of a person’s home, and the most integration, the complexity of navigating such a space.
"Higher connectivity across the board is associated with better cognitive function. It could be that there’s more places to walk to, more people to socialize with, more opportunities to get there," Watts says.
The integration factor, on the other hand, is a little trickier. For people who aren’t cognitively impaired, navigating a more complex neighborhood could be linked to better cognitive function. But that same characteristic could end up backfiring for people with Alzheimer’s. If the neighborhood is too complex for those with dementia to remember how to find their way out, walkability could work against them.
Now that Watts and her colleagues have the preliminary results (which was funded by the National Institute on Aging and presented at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America last month), they’re hoping to do a follow-up study with pedometers on 100 older adults and those with early dementia. Even after controlling for other factors like age, sex, and income, the walkability results look promising, Watts says.

Link:
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3039276/want-to-stop-your-brain-from-getting-old-live-in-a-walkable-neighborhood

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Were You Confused When You 1st Moved to Nashville? This is for you!

When I wear my Nashville Needs Sidewalks sign, I tend to have people say one of two things:

- 'Nashville does need sidewalks'
or
- 'You are right.  When I moved here, I was so confused!'

I hear this all the time but I want to know more…






Have you moved to Nashville and thought to yourself, "How am I supposed to get around this town?'  Did the lack of mobility, sidewalks, and public transportation leave you confused?



  Have you grown up here, left for a while, moved back and equally had a sense of uncertainty about what we were doing in Nashville in regards to transportation?



Well, this is for you!  We are collecting your stories!

Please share with us your first impression of Nashville's walkability.





Monday, May 25, 2015

It Takes Courage To Invest In Infrastructure…Will Nashville Do It???



It Takes Courage To Invest In Infrastructure…Will Nashville Do It???





On this Memorial Day, with the striking continuance of violence and war in the world, consider the gnawing issues we have right here at home.  Right before our eyes, we have infrastructure that is rusting, crumbling, or possibly worse, promised but never materialized.  




I very much encourage you to watch the video link below to learn more & think hard about what we can do to invest right here at home.




Solutions?
  • Elect individuals who are heavily educated and committed to improving infrastructure.  (Avoid those you say the issue 'needs more study'!)  
  • Promote civic philanthropy:  there are leaders in the US who donate to important causes.  This qualifies!  
  • Create alternative revenue streams:  Increase the gas tax.  We have no choice but to 'confront the privilege of private cars'.  Create a congestion charge on those entering the city from out of town.  Use these funds to improve alternative modes of transportation:  walking, bike, and public transportation
  • Be willing to do your part!  We all understand that government cannot do it all:  build and maintain your own piece of sidewalk?  Donate to The Sidewalk Foundation?  Support investment in infrastructure in your community.



LINK:


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Don't let Nashville continue to be the town where the sidewalk ends…





While looking for photos for this piece, I found a picture of my son Henry and me on the US Dept of Transportation website!  The original picture was published in The Tennessean.









Sunday, May 24, 2015

Considering Sham Sidewalks and Other Weird Ideas in Nashville


One reason, I have come to understand, you don't see many pedestrians in Nashville is because we stay off the main drags.  Too dangerous, uncomfortable, noisy, stressful. 




We can tell that many places have clearly not been designed for real use by walkers but are more window dressing.  These sham sidewalks never make it - they are down right ridiculous and therefore are dead.  Not a sole in sight.  Ever.  A sham sidewalk - killed by its very design.





There is a lot of change occurring as we progress quickly into being a real urban community here in Nashville but sadly we don't seem to much care about stitching pedestrianism into the fabric of life.  In fact, we appear to try and shut it down.  As many vociferously and bitterly complain about gridlocked traffic and lack of parking - we seem to not be able to see that we, collectively as a city, are the problem.   

We allow for poor design.










Link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2015/05/21/children-on-bikes-arent-welcome-on-my-neighborhood-roads-it-doesnt-have-to-be-that-way/

Friday, May 22, 2015

Honking at Women with Strollers and other Tales of Pedestrians…

Living in Nashville, I am all too familiar with these kinds of situations.  I am routinely honked at in an aggressive way, because I am slowing a driver, when I am out on foot.  I often just wave and smile.  Frankly, there is literally no other place for me to walk but on the road on too many streets in Nashville.  

We have literally allowed single passenger vehicles to take over the PUBLIC SPACE of roads.  There is no law that says cars own the road.  It really doesn't have to be this way if we collectively decide against it.


From The Washington Post

Children on bikes aren’t welcome on my neighborhood roads. It doesn’t have to be that way.

 May 21 at 8:00 AM

Recently, while on a neighborhood walk with my 2-year-old son, a woman in a red truck gave me the finger. I suppose she had her reasons.
My son and I had been playing on a boulder several feet from the road. Our game went like this: he would climb to the top of the rock, hold my hands, and then jump to the sidewalk. But just as the red truck approached, my son let go of me and bolted for the street.
In that moment, time slowed. I reached out to grab him. The truck swerved slowly away from us. I pulled my son back to the sidewalk before he set foot on the actual road. It was close-but-not-close, a moment that could have ended badly if neither the driver nor I had been paying attention. But we were, both of us, and so I was surprised when the driver turned her head, looked me in the eye, and flipped me off.
Only two days later, on a similar walk, my son stopped to play in a puddle at the end of a neighbor’s driveway. School had just let out, and so there were dozens of children scattered throughout the neighborhood. A silver SUV blasted through and, as he passed us the driver honked on his horn aggressively, as if there were a law against puddle jumping.
Together, these incidents conveyed a clear message: children aren’t welcome on my neighborhood roads.
Perhaps this should have been obvious to me, but this was not the case when I was a child. After school and on weekends I rode my bike wherever I pleased. I rode on sidewalks and jumped off curbs. I zigzagged through the road. This does not mean I wasn’t cautious. I looked and listened for cars. When they approached, I got out of their way. I was mindful of them and they were mindful of me.
I wasn’t alone. The boys at the end of my block played street hockey every day after school. They set goal nets on either side of the road and whenever a car approached its driver would stop and wait for the game to clear. This was a common sight of my childhood, a collaboration between preteen boys and motorists. It’s possible that on occasion an impatient driver might have leaned on the horn or rolled down the window to holler, but I don’t remember this. What I remember is that children and adults peaceably shared the roads.

But today there is little sharing—at least not in my community. I live in Washington state, and our state’s department of health sends me letters about child development every time one of my sons has a birthday. When my older son turned 6 this year, the letter addressed road safety. “Children this age should not cross streets or bicycle on the street without an adult,” it said. The letter goes on to suggest that my 6-year-old should only bike on designated trails in parks.
In our current car-centered culture, I’m not yet ready to let my 6-year-old son ride on the road unattended. But I worry about the suggestion that I confine his bicycling to city parks. To me, this sends the message that roads are for cars and cars only, and that bikes are for recreation, not transportation. While it’s true that bikes are fun, I want my sons to understand that they are also an efficient means to travel from point A to point B.
As Carleton Reid points out in his book Roads Were Not Built For Cars, our public roadways were designed for everyone: pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists alike. Over time, those of us without the protection of steel and speed have largely ceded our right to take up space, and motorists have become increasingly belligerent and self-righteous any time they must slow down or change course to accommodate a protest, a cyclist, or a child exploring the world beyond his front yard.
As a parent who lives in a neighborhood where only some of the streets have sidewalks, I claim my children’s right to the roads. I claim my younger son’s right to jump in puddles, and my older son’s right to practice safe cycling, to train to be a future wanderer and bike commuter. I propose a contract between motorists and parents of young children: I promise to be there, to pull my two-year-old safely to the side as cars approach, and I promise to guide my young cyclist to the right side of the road, and teach him to stop and look at every corner.
From the motorists, I simply ask that you expect to find us there, to drive as if we might be around the next corner and, when it turns out that we are, slow down, wave politely, and give us a little space.







Link:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2015/05/21/children-on-bikes-arent-welcome-on-my-neighborhood-roads-it-doesnt-have-to-be-that-way/

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Can You Walk to Work? Can You Bike? In Nashville???


As many Shade Parade readers know, I have been reading Happy City by Charles Montgomery.  The book has recently veered off into a section on bike riding - typically not my jam - although I am highly supportive of it for others.   The book is brimming with wonderful quotes including: 'So if we really care about freedom for everyone, we need to design for everyone - not just the brave'.  This sentence was prefaced by a bit about bicycle riding on modern streets being the stress equivalent of riding a roller coster.  This, I can attest to as I have been trying to ride more often after reading about how we have literally allowed our transportation options to be designed out of our cities.  

'If you woke up this morning and decided to try a completely different method of getting to work, could you do it?  
Could you walk there?  
Ride a bicycle?'



This lack of freedom gets to me.  I feel, living in the Urban Service District in Nashville, I should have urban options.  I should be able to walk and bike comfortably to work, to shopping, to my children's school, to playgrounds and to public transportation.  Otherwise, why call it urban?  Why be taxed at a higher rate?

After reading that bicycling, at an average rate of nine to twelve miles per hour, 'cyclist achieve the same average speeds as drivers (and even shorter trip times, if you take into account time spent parking),' I thought I would put it to the test.  Bicycle to work.  On a Tuesday.  During rush hour both ways.  And, I was amazed that riding took EXACTLY the amount of time it takes to drive.  TO THE MINUTE.

Like the book suggests, I understand that biking is not for everyone.  It truly is for the bravest individuals.  My heart was beating like a drum when I arrived at my office from the adrenaline (I had to ride in rush hour on Woodmont from Hillsboro to One Hundred Oaks - those in Nashville will know what I mean by it being busy, 40mph  and very narrow but I will say it was less harry than I imagined it would be).  

Despite my recent adventures on a bicycle, my interest is more in tune with a mode of transportation for everyone - that is why my passion is truly tied to walkability.  Everyone is a pedestrian.   I am putting my hopes and dreams in a mayor who will make it her or his thing to fund sidewalks in a truly meaningful way.    If we don't get a mayor in Nashville who funds the sidewalk plan, I then hope that council is ready to run with it! 










I encourage you to get involved:  talk to your council person, write to the mayor.  Call public works - you can request an evaluation for a sidewalk and a running of the Sidewalk Priority Index on a site that you believe is lacking.

'We are the ones we have been waiting for'
- June Jordan


Shade Parade is for well designed sidewalks in

 all of Nashville

- Our pilot project is to complete Bowling Av from West End to its terminus at Woodmont
- We are working on 2 projects for Walk Nashville Mo in Oct: ---Pop Up Walking Districts 
---Having individuals, with the help of crowdsourcing and volunteers, put in their own piece of sidewalk to start the process of  sidewalk 'gap' creation on high volume streets.

You can help.












Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Crosswalks - 60' Rule



Have you been in this position in Nashville - trying to cross a very busy multi-lane intersection with all the noise and whirl of traffic? I can be psychologically daunting!  

But, what if there was an island, with greenery, in the middle that you could pause at?  




“There are a few general rules of thumb,” Mongelli said. “If you have to cross 60 feet or more of pavement, you may want to put in refuge islands or other treatments that can break up that crossing. And as far as the style of marking goes, on busier intersections with multilane roadways, uncontrolled crossings or a lot of pedestrian activity, we recommend high visibility markings, like on the Beatles’ "Abbey Road" cover.”




Link:

Monday, May 18, 2015

Can you Walk To Work in Nashville?

When I read books like Happy City:  Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery my mind start twirling:  I live only 4 miles from work.  Could I make it on foot?  Could I ride my bike?  What about the hills?  The heat?  The traffic?  There are no sidewalks.  Hmmm.  There is no designated bike lane.  The road is really busy with commuters (aka likely grumpy drivers).   Hmmm…

These kinds of thoughts are off-putting and typically shut my desire down.  



The thoughts below, straight from Happy City, help put this problem in perspective:

'If you woke up this morning and decided to try a completely different method of getting of work, could you do it?  Could you walk there?  Ride a bicycle?  Or catch a bus or a train that would get you there in the time it took to read the paper?  Could you mix and match your modes?  Now take it further.  Does getting to a grocery store or a doctor's office or a restaurant without a car seem like a pretty big chore?  Can your children walk or cycle to school safely on their own?  If you think these are unreasonable questions, then chances are, real choice has been designed out of your city.  You may still benefit from the tremendous utility of your automobile, but the system is impoverishing you and your family and friends in ways you may never have imagined.  How do we build systems that truly make us free in cities?  Sometimes it takes a radical shift in the urban imagination to point the way'.



Sunday, May 17, 2015

Priorities…


Priorities


A reader of Shade Parade wrote yesterday to say 'Metro spent $75 million on the new Sounds Stadium & is offering Bridgestone $56 million in tax abatements to build an office building' (links below).   Accounting for the money a city spends does show where our civic priorities lie but my hope is that this will not be for much longer.  With strong leadership (i.e.) a mayor who will fund the sidewalk plan - there could be a significant change and quickly.      

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***
A major goal of this blog is to raise awareness of how Nashville compares to similar cities in regards to walkability.  It is important to understand that Nashville, compared to other cities, has a true deficit in sidewalks.  
   
The city of Nashville has just under 1/2 mile of sidewalks on one side of the street for every mile of roadway for a population of >600K.  This statistic is ONLY for the Urban Service District and does not apply beyond where the statistic takes a rapid nose dive going from bad to worse.

By comparison, Minneapolis has almost 2 miles of sidewalks to 1 mile of roadways for a population of 400k.  To better understand what this means is to know they essentially have sidewalks on both sides of the street on every road in the city.  

A visual of this would be:





http://shadeparadenashville.blogspot.com/2014/09/a-comparison-of-nashvilles-sidewalk.html


***
Linking back to city spending, the budget for sidewalks this year was increased from 18M to 25M. Half has to cover existing sidewalks and repairs. The other half goes to new sidewalks. Sidewalks average $350 per linear foot making the 12.5M for new sidewalks create exactly 6.75 miles of new sidewalks. I am thankful for the increase but I cannot accept that this is true funding for sidewalks. 6.75 miles in a city of 600,000K with the second largest land mass in the nation, totaling 533 square miles? I think we need a leader with a REAL PLAN.







Saturday, May 16, 2015

Walking Infrastructure in the Urban Service District, Nashville, TN

This type of walking may be fine in a bucolic setting but this is the urban service district in Nashville, a city of 600,000 people (the same as Baltimore).  

To quote Happy City, a book by Charles Montgomery, this 'road edge is hostile'.



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Friday, May 15, 2015

Just Saying…Nashville Needs Sidewalks!


Just saying…




























These are just a few of the pictures we have collected.
Have you seen any of these around town?  If you see one, please snap and share a photo!



Want one?

thesidewalkfoundation@gmail.com