Rhonda, I love seeing you on your Scooter. I've been researching online the great freedom a push scooter can add to my daily Lakewood commuting. They are push scooters like the ones you see the kids using. But the Xooter made in PA has a few adult models that are very popular for urban settings. Do searches on UTube and you'll see. Or visit their website at
http://www.xootr.com/kick-scooter_mg.htmlAs much as the word "Walkable" is used to describe Lakewood I think we should truly understand the limitations to Lakewood's walkability.
1. Yes we have sidewalks all through town. But did you know Medina, Ohio has just as many sidewalks as we do. (Saw this in somewhere in online researching awhile back). Residents there are just as able to walk out their doors for a good walk.
2. Yes we have many businesses, schools, events, parks to walk to. But how many of you have actually walked to more than one destination in one outing? It is most likely that you can only go to one place and walk back to your home without taking lots of time or walking long distances. This also limits the use of biking and walking as a sole means of transportation to our most physically fit single population who doesn't need to carry lots of groceries home or take/assist another family member along and make the distance. As most productive people will want to accomplish more stops in a typical day this leads to the need for a car or public transit options.
3. Yes our Lakewood street grid is densely and orderly laid out. But for the best walkable communities these street grids aren't small enough. What I'm talking about is the "block" size to give more options to make the distance to a destination smaller. The streets that go North and South between Detroit and Clifton are the worst. They are too long. As most of us have fences and discourage walking through our back yards having to go these longer North and south stretches loses walkability. Have you seen the new school map if Lincoln school closes? Many will have to go far North and South just to get directly behind them to Horace Mann straight west of them.
4. Oh, I'm sure I'm forgetting some more valid points. Do you have any to add?
We are fortunate that Lakewood was built around the turn of the 20th century when towns were set up to be sustainable, efficient, and accessible. But the former streetcars were key to allowing everyone the opportunity to do their business and have the quality of life that every human being has a right to pursue.
It's unfortunate that Lakewood can no longer assume RTA would always serve Lakewood at least as well as it had been before cuts started two years ago. It is the responsibility of the City of Lakewood to see to it public busing is restored to at least what it was before the local Circulators left and big bus cut backs. This is no small task, City Hall could use residents and businesses help in finding the resources to do this. My impression is that he is trying to do this alone and is not getting very far or that he truly doesn't see it as a priority over other things on City Hall's plate. It's been since September the mayor has been telling the public he is working on it. I ask others at City Hall and of City Council and they tell me they don't know where the mayor is with the status and that he has been working on it.
The loss of losing the RTA buses has not appeared on any City Council Meeting Agenda that I can recall. But the public keep showing up anyway for the public comment part of the meeting. City Hall must admit residents have been pretty patient.
What's the status?
What are you working on?
What do you need help with from the residents?
What can I help with?
Except for those who live around the downtown Lakewood area, Lakewood is not a city that is all that walkable. Yes we can all take a walk. But as I pointed out below so can Medina residents! Most cannot use walking as a primary mode of transportation.
According to
http://www.walkscore.com . Lakewood has an overall walkable score of 74. Depending on your address it can be as high as 93. At some of its less accessible it is as low as 45. To make it worst even this website admits it has faults that skew the numbers. For example, it only measures a straight line from point A to B instead of having to go through the street routes of following the streets/sidewalks on our longer grids/blocks. And it tries to identify everyday goods and services such as where the closest grocery store is but it many times considers the local convenient store as a viable option for meeting grocery needs.
Walkability is a very relative term. The more important term I hope Lakewood can get back to is being "Livable".
Again, I'm taking the chance to invite you to
http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org.We all could use some education on what was common sense to the original planners of Lakewood and all towns at the turn of the 20th Century. Whereas, the original set up of Lakewood isn't the most walkable of communities it was not meant to be auto-dependent either. It was built around using a public transit option to enhance the productivity and convenience for it's population. I believe some day in my lifetime it will be common sense in the U.S. once again just as it never stopped being for many international thriving towns.
Lakewood has a huge opportunity in bringing back public transit that works for Lakewood. We need to find ways to make Lakewood stand out from the other suburbs not allow us to be more like the other suburbs.
