The Sideways Development of Sidewalks

Sidewalks are ”the most bizarrely funded thing ever,” said Emiko Atherton, Vice President for Thriving Communities at Smart Growth America.

I was driving south down Stribling Avenue recently, a narrow, sidewalk-less city street with a considerable amount of two-way vehicle and pedestrian traffic, and an older woman using a cane was walking toward me on the other side of the street. A car was coming up behind her, moving pretty fast, and to my surprise, she wheeled around and stuck out her cane. The car passed so close to her that her cane grazed the passenger side door. She then shook the cane and said something I couldn't hear after the driver.

So, yes, Stribling needs sidewalks - as do many streets in Charlottesville. How complicated can that be? Have a seat.

As part of a long-planned and finally approved 170-unit housing development (a mix of single-family attached, townhomes, multifamily buildings, and 26 affordable housing units ) by Southern Development along Stribling, new sidewalks are actually going to be built by the City along the roughly half-mile stretch of road. Thanks in large part to pressure from the Fry…