Dear Reader:

I am asking on behalf of many pedestrians and cyclists, if you are able, to please remove the blackberries, bikes, cars, bushes and other stuff that is moveable out of the path of travel in front of your home, business, government or municipal building, park or other place where people walk or bike. The very narrow strips of land designated for pedestrians and cyclists are often unusable and/or dangerous due to the variety of stuff in the way.

People of all ages and abilities will appreciate your consideration when walking or biking in front of your home or business. And, you, your family members, and friends might also enjoy and appreciate the safety of an unobstructed path should you decide to stroll or roll about town.

Now, just for fun, let us discuss protrusions and obstructions — the easy version, not the technical one.

Protrusions are objects such as tree limbs or blackberry bushes that stick out into the path of travel and are roughly between 18” and 8’. Protrusions are difficult to detect by someone who is blind or low vision using a white cane because the cane basically only gives information about what is at ground level. Also, many sighted folks consciously render themselves oblivious by walking about in highly distracted states, looking at phones and other devices, or it is dark, or for whatever reason aren’t watching where they’re going. So, they too can easily smack into a bush, tree limb, guy wire or other object that protrudes into the path of travel. This often hurts and pain, as you know, is painful.

Obstructions are generally at ground level and are directly in the path of travel, cars, sandwich boards, some outdoor seating areas, phone poles, mailboxes, fire hydrants, bikes, basically anything that is directly in the walkway.

We have an aging infrastructure in our fabulous land and in many cases, obstructions were built directly into the middle of the path by design. Yikes! In such cases we know they cannot be easily removed. However, if there are items you can move, trim, generally maintain, please do so.

Thanks from many of us who walk and bike around town,

Peggy Martinez,
Board member, Coalition for Responsible Priorities, CRTP