Pedestrian Safety

I’m a volunteer at the monthly Bethlehem EAC meeting and also with the L.V. Chapters of the Sierra Club and the Citizens’ Climate Lobby. My wife, Gisele, and I live in a Condo off Linden St. just before Butztown Rd.We moved here in 01/2006 from South Orange, N.J. , where lived for 13 yrs. Prior to that we lived in NYC for 23 yrs. Most persons there tend to be very aware of the surface on which they need by to walk. The 12/23/23 New York Times, beginning on the front page, has an article: “On U.S. Roads, Dark Is Deadly, That’s a Puzzle.” It begins with: “Sometime around 2009, American roads started to become deadly for pedestrians.” On Linden St., beginning at the Public School, and walking towards the very large shopping area just before Rt. 22, there are frequent missing sidewalks. The above article continues on page A15 with 3/4’s of the page. I send relevant NY Times & Wall Street Journal articles to Lynn Rothman at the Bethlehem EAC. I’m going to send the above article to her and to some of the members of the two above groups which I mentioned. Would you like me to send you a copy separately? The question of who’s responsible for the curb and sidewalk on their property is not clear. When you walk by a house without a sidewalk, I think it raises several questions. Is the person a house owner, a house renter, etc. One might say that since the municipality provided the road for auto & truck access, should they be responsible for the curb since it provides support for the road surface to keep it from shifting and the curb also provides a channel for the road water. But the curb also supports the soil between the sidewalk and the road/street. And without the curb the sidewalk has less support. The question arises; if the city has the responsibility for providing access for autos/trucks via a street, etc., who’s responsibility is it to provide access for pedestrians to walk on a surface other than the street, road, highway, etc.? I think this also means the initial access and the continued access. But there are houses on Linden St. that appear as if they never have had a sidewalk, including along the above mentioned public school, the side of the school and its playground fence. Again, with a rental house, the LandLord should have the responsibility for the sidewalk but not for the curb, Also, the “home-owner” should also have the responsibility for the sidewalk but not for the curb, even though I recently I advocated that the home owner should not have to be responsible for the sidewalk. Perhaps the city could work out something like a dual responsibility for the sidewalk, especially with situations where a tree planted by the city between the curb and sidewalk begins to push up the sidewalk. That’s a situation where the city should have the complete responsibility unless the house owner or LandLord planted the tree. But that would mean accurate record keeping and the need for a permit, and thus a record, when the house owner or LandLord wanted to plant a tree between the sidewalk and curb or in a front yard adjacent to the sidewalk. Thanks for listening. -William Egbert