[at-l] The Nearest Trail

[daveh at psknet.com (Carla & Dave Hicks)]

These statement brought back memories of a comment made by a British friend of 
mine,

"In most of the world we walk to get somewhere.  Here [he was visiting on this 
side of the pond at the time] you drive somewhere to walk."

My reaction is the goal of that central Florida regional initiative is that 
they would do far better to have services (parks, libraries, theaters, 
restaurants, pubs, shopping, etc.) within a 20-minute WALK of every resident. 
Make that a within a 20-minute SAFE ( meaning safe from vehicles as much, or 
more, than the safety from crime, which most US citizens would assume from 
this statement) WALK of every resident.

My friend's comment was occasioned by the fact that he had flown into a small 
city, taken a shuttle to his hotel, and then found that although he could see 
a shopping center with restaurants and an outfitter, there was no legal way to 
walk the mile or two to get there -- an Interstate spur and other limited 
access roads isolating the hotel from the shopping center.  When I picked him 
up, we did a little recon and decided it would have taken nearly a ten mile 
walk (mostly along busy roads w/o sidewalks) to get there w/o illegally 
crossing a limited access roads or using a bridge that prohibited pedestrian 
traffic.  In fact, the Interstate spur was fenced in such a way that it was 
nearly impossible to cross it, albeit you could see places that locals were 
violating the law.

Chainsaw


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <bluetrail@aol.com>
To: <at-L@backcountry.net>
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 1:25 PM
Subject: [at-l] The Nearest Trail


>>
SNIP
She recently did a short write-up about the trail nearest my home (7 minutes 
away by car).
SNIP
The goal of one central Florida regional initiative is to have natural lands 
within a 20-minute drive of every resident.
SNIP
<<