The great WCCO Radio personality "Dark Star" reported one day about a lone person seen walking alongside a busy road in the Twin Cities. I was amused. "Dark Star" reported this in a light way - he could put many things in a light context of course - by suggesting this individual was forlorn, a lost soul of sorts. There might be a story behind him.
And so a conclusion to be drawn here is that our urban planning in the U.S. is based on everyone driving their own personal motor vehicle. Pedestrians are like an afterthought. You want to walk somewhere? Please explain yourself.
Are you so sure the U.S. should stay so dependent on fossil fuels? With what is happening in the Middle East? Well we won't see a wholesale withdrawal from the personal motor vehicle model.
On Sunday I was driving downtown from my residence like I have done for what seems like time immemorial. And I see a group of young people walking along the service road just east of McDonald's. Have you noticed that the service roads out in that neck of the woods have become a much bigger deal? ("Big deal" is Upper Midwest Scandinavian-speak.)
These changes can happen slowly. We adjust to the new norm pretty seamlessly. Our City of Morris has made clear that the highway development on north end of town is quite the big deal now. (There we go with "big deal" again.) Our City of Morris has left downtown with its liquor store and gone out to the fringe.
Thrifty White Drug pulled this act too. We used to have two pharmacies in "downtown Morris." The old City Center Mall place has effectively been replaced by Homestead. John Schmidgall remains the go-to guy. By force of habit I still use Thrifty White Drug.
I may look forlorn myself someday along the highway as I want to cross over to Thrifty White Drug. This will be when I no longer drive. I shouldn't have to hit you over the head to make clear to you we have an aging population. Don't you notice the Morris Transit vehicles with a fair amount of frequency?
If all our businesses including the city's liquor store remained concentrated "downtown," a senior citizen might arrange for a "lift" to downtown Morris and then proceed with their list of things to do. But look at our two pharmacies, along with the new Dollar General which looks like a valuable option for shopping.
If I'm downtown and then decide I need to go out along the highway development, I'll walk. I'm still in good enough shape to do that. But I'll have to cross the highway at some point, on foot. The highway is often quite busy. I know, you want to get out your little violins. But the population is aging.
Me, I won't even consider buying a new car if there's a risk that I'll fail the vision test at the DMV for license-renewal time. That's a very real concern based on the cost of a new car today. I maybe shouldn't confess my health shortcomings but frankly my vision is tanking. I'm age 71.
Urban planning should of course make accommodations for people "on foot." There was a time when this attitude got some traction. It's a "progressive" idea. All such ideas are dying in the age of Trump, even if your average person sees merit in them. Your average person gets too influenced by "MAGA." But I have written enough on that.
Getting back to the group of kids I saw along the service road Sunday morning, I thought it obvious that these service roads were not designed with pedestrian traffic in mind at all. And, more and more business activity is moving out to the highway in the windswept expanses north of town.
What does "downtown" mean anymore? What does the "business district" mean anymore? I write more on this in my June 12 post on my companion blog "Morris of Course." Here's the link and God bless all of you.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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