Walking allows you to see things differently.
Having feet on the ground and eyes on the neighborhood can be helpful. As all of Nashville knows, there is a lot of new building and remodeling going on. There are also a lot of rules around construction. For example, when a developer takes down one house and puts up 2 or more, they are supposed to put in their piece of sidewalk. With density, we are supposed to be getting a sidewalk network.
Going with the theme of rules, did you know that developers are supposed to also put in trees? All new houses are required to have one tree per every 30 feet of street frontage.
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I'd been walking by the above construction site for a few weeks...looking directly at the exposed pool and wondering about it. Since you don't see pools from the road, it was something new. Most pools are behind locked gates for safety reasons, so this struck me as a possible issue. I sent in a question about it to the link to codes below and 2 days later, see photo below. Nice!
Much safer.
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If you see something while walking you can report it at:
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Again, trees are an issue for walkers. They provide critical shade while out on foot. It is really hot out there, especially if walking on concrete. I see a lot of clear cutting of properties right as they prepare to be developed. Again, there is supposed to be a tree for every 30' of street frontage.
I hear people complain about 'big government' but one issue that seems to come up often in Nashville is that we do not have enough inspectors to identify issues. It really does take citizens to do this work. I was once told there were 2 people to monitor all the sidewalk issues for the whole of Davidson County. I have heard similar low numbers for trees. As a walker, YOU CAN HELP! If you see something that does not seem right...you can email it (along with pictures!) to the Codes Link above.
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I also wanted to introduce a new group in town focused on the tree canopy issue in Nashville. As you know, I LOVE SHADE (i.e.: Shade Parade = tree lined streets = many more people out on foot!). I can't seem to get enough shade these days as it is the dog days of summer & I find myself out on foot really early to beat the heat.
The new group is called The Nashville Tree Task Force. They are working on encouraging developers to do the right thing - protect older trees and plant new ones to compensate where one may need to be taken down.
LINK:
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/davidson%20/2016/07/23/nashville-residents-worry-trees-city-grows/87092260/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1157459857620239/1214896235209934/?notif_t=group_activity¬if_id=1469675228186086
As so often is the issue, there are not enough metro employees whose job it is to look for these types of violations. That is one reason why paying attention when out of foot can be very helpful for the good of all Nashvillian.
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I'd like to, in a similar fashion to The Nashville Tree Task Force, send in sidewalk violations at the codes link above for those developers who are not putting in their piece of the sidewalk as required. I highly encourage you to do the same. Maybe, if they know sidewalks are wanted, they will start enforcing the rules.
LINK:
Drop a pin where you believe a sidewalk should be in Nashville: http://thesidewalkfoundation.org
