Pedestrianism (walking around) and Dallas — mutually exclusive?

Councilman Angela Hunt's blog summarizes an almost laughable commentary today from a Brookings Institution/Univerity of Michigan guy saying Dallas is on the cutting edge of urban pedestrianism — that Dallas is becoming a great place to walk around. (The Brookings Institution, fyi, is one of the nation's best-known think tanks.) I had to chuckle when I read that, as Hunt apparently also did, because she then spends a few paragraphs knocking down the guy's thesis and talking about things she's going to work on downtown and elsewhere to try and make his commentary a reality.

Still, at this point, "pedestrianism" and "Dallas" really don't belong in the same sentence. It's not as if people don't like the idea of walking around the city; we just don't seem willing to commit the economic resources and zoning chutzpuh to embrace higher densities, which are really going to be the key to making pedestrianism a reality here.

Hunt cites a number of places she's planning to focus on — Victory, Uptown, Arts District, West End and others — and naturally they're in relatively high-density (for Dallas) locations. Higher gas prices and environmental concerns give us all a good reason to think twice about turning on the car — hybrid or otherwise. And there's nothing more invigorating than a walk through a high-density commercial/retail/residential area. The problem in Dallas today is that you have to go to Europe, New York, Chicago or Boston to do that...

Comments

[MG]

I'm an avid walker of the streets of Lake Highlands. The state of pedestiran amenities, like smooth sidewalks (without cracks,ruts or gaping holes that cause all sorts of mishaps if one is not careful) and visibly marked crosswalks at major intersections are sorely lacking in our area. Recently I asked the City to remark several crosswalks to make them visible to vehicular traffic. Last week the stripers were out remarking the crosswalks. Sadly though, the driving public has forgotten it is state law to yield to pedestrians in cross walks. Until the driving public gets off their cell phones, drives the speed limit (a novel concept) and actually yield to pedestrians, Dallas will never be a pedestrian friendly city.

[chris]

I wonder if it would ever be too much to ask for bike lanes in this city? In a lot of cities in the NW, bike lanes are almost a standard and people don't have to feel like they are taking their life in their hands to ride a bike on city streets. I think it helps to make it a more pedestrian city as it gives drives more pause when on the road.