Welcome to the pond

Let My People Walk!

Today I went to the post office to ship a couple Christmas packages for internet friends. Typical post office experience - a bit of a line, but not too long and not too slow. I was in and out in about 8 or 9 minutes. However, getting there was a problem and I'm now going to rant about that problem right here on my blog.

The post office in my zip code is on a side street off the main road in my area, not too far behind the bus station on that road. The P.O. is located about halfway down that side street, maybe three to four minutes on foot. The problem is that, for a street with an important government office, it's not a very pedestrian-friendly street. On the side of the street where the P.O. is, there's only a few sections with any kind of sidewalk, interspersed with sections of gravel and grass. On part of that side, there's hardly any room to walk. There's just a tiny section of gravel on one end, and a semi-steep grassy area on the other - hardly any room to walk far away from oncoming traffic.

The last time I walked there, the post office-side of the street was blocked with a huge bush just before reaching the parking lot. I had to walk into traffic just to get by! I don't know if that same bush was there this time, but there were large water puddles on that side when I went today. Again, I'd have to either walk into traffic or risk getting my feet wet and muddy if i stayed there, so I crossed to the other side. There's no sidewalk on that end either. There were fewer puddles and a bigger space to walk there, but I had to wait for the right timing to CROSS the street, because the traffic was fairly heavy coming in and out of the post office!

My point, after that lengthy story, is that the city engineers or whoever is responsible for designing and maintaining that street have not taken into consideration the needs of pedestrians who would like to reach the post office. NOT everyone drives a car. NOT everyone can afford a car. NOT everyone who needs to do business at the post office uses a car. I really don't think it's fair, smart or safe to have such dangerous and frustrating walking facilities on that street. If it was purely a residential or industrial-use street, I could understand why. This street, though, has a post office and it's the only post office in our quite large neighborhood. Some people need to use the post office but cannot get there by car, so I think there should be, at the very least, a sidewalk of some sort the ENTIRE length of the street, and possibly a place to cross. That would hopefully reduce the likelihood of someone getting hit by a fast-moving car because they have NO place to walk on that street.

After that ordeal, I headed to Fred Meyer to purchase some Christmas gifts. I got something for my parents, and looked for stuff for my brother and his family. I'm going to wait and look at Wal-Mart to see if their prices are lower, though.