Friday, July 1, 2011

City Paper Calls Cleveland Park Service Lane "Sidewalk of Shame"

City Paper has a good article on how Cleveland Park would be a better place if the service lane on Connecticut Avenue were replaced with a wide sidewalk, returned to its historical design. In the 1960s a swath of sidewalk was carved out to create more parking spaces at the expense of a pedestrian-friendly place to walk.


Restoring the historic sidewalk would not only bring back a more pedestrian-friendly sidewalk, but a friendlier sidewalk in general. The service lane feels like a wall at times: The double row of cars along Connecticut Avenue makes that side feel disconnected from the rest of the neighborhood.

Sometimes it's hard to envision what change looks like, but with Connecticut Avenue between Macomb and Ordway Streets we have historic photos that show how beautiful this block once was -- and could be again. The photos are at http://www.iwishthiswasasidewalk.org.  You can sign the petition to restore the sidewalk here.

City Paper also filmed a stroll along the narrow sidewalk. Watch the video and you'll see how hard that sidewalk is to walk on.

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