Is it just me or have people lost the ability to share a sidewalk?
I spent the day in New York City today and was amazed by how difficult it is to navigate the sidewalks these days. Families of four people walk four abreast – basically covering 90% of the width of the sidewalk and preventing anyone from passing or walking past in the opposite direction without stepping off onto the street. Sometimes groups have decided to stop dead in the center of a sidewalk and conduct a meeting. I don’t care who is going to dinner where and I’m more than happy for you guys to have that conversation, however, can’t you just pull off next to the buildings and have your meeting there so the rest of us can pass? Is it too much to ask? I kinda feel like it’s not. There's a reason the word "side" is part of sidewalk, am I right?
Sure, we could put yellow lines down the center of the sidewalks like our roads, but that feels so excessive. Is it so hard to understand that sidewalks are two-way? What do we need next, traffic lights for the sidewalks? All I’m asking for is a little courtesy.
I’m glad people come from all over the world to take in the splendor of our city. There is always so much to see and do. Happy to share it. As long as they learn to share our sidewalks.
Thanks for reading.
Frosty
I live in a much (much much) smaller city, and my experience has been that people here are much more aware of personal space ever since COVID. It's like the new normal has been to give people space. In residential areas people will typically go as far as crossing the road to avoid getting too close to people, or at the very least walk in the road for a bit.
ReplyDeleteWhich is maybe a bit much, but there we are.