tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440844456463948816.post5956623099996205053..comments2023-06-18T10:48:51.609-04:00Comments on I Dream of Bicycling: Public Streets, Public LifeStep-Throughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04568478913918338651noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440844456463948816.post-67493070066893861322010-12-02T16:53:00.239-05:002010-12-02T16:53:00.239-05:00I guess the "problem" with public spaces...I guess the "problem" with public spaces is that they breed something very dangerous - informed people who care. When I lived in the Highlands district of Louisville, KY I enjoyed numerous public spaces from the popular Olmsted parks to coffee shops with outdoor seating, benches on the sidewalks, pocket parks. People wanted to live in this old urban neighborhood because of the opportunity to walk and bike to places that other people who be. I enjoyed going to a locally owned coffee shop and sit for hours reading the newspaper and stopping to chat now and then with friends and aquaintances. I cared about the businesses in my neighborhood and the well-being of my neighbors. I was on a first name basis with many of my neighbors, had been in their homes, and shared meals and produce from their gardens. Even if I didn't know a name, I knew the faces and often exchanged greeting and a "how've you been?" from the front porch. A neighborhood like that has a way of motivating people to go to district forums where you get the chance to ask the chief of police what you, Joe Public, can do about graffiti or to pick up the phone and call the County Attorney's office if a porn shop just opened at the alley across from the elementary school yard. I was lucky enough at the time to be the legislative aide to the district Councilman there, a skinny senior citizen who road his bike or took a city bus everywhere and he prized our district for it sense of place and the public spaces that encouraged an active citizenry that valued community. Out here in Arizona, the philosophy is indviduality and every man for himself. If it weren't for my husband and a handful of like-minded friends, I'd be pretty lonely.She Rides a Bikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10269615938898501712noreply@blogger.com