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Taking to the sidewalk
By MELIA BOWIE, Times Staff Writer NEW TAMPA -- As a New Yorker, Joseph Taylor never needed to drive. His destination was always a bus, a cab or a walk away. Now retired, he lives in Tampa Palms, where miles of sidewalks sprawl. But in master-planned communities, the walkways seem less like tools of transportation than of recreation, some homeowners say. "People got so used to the cars, they don't do any walking," said Taylor, who makes the half-mile trek each morning from his neighborhood in Wyndham to buy a newspaper and a bag of groceries at Publix. Only the occasional jogger or bicyclist crosses his path. "I've been down here for 10 years," Taylor said. "I started walking the second day I moved." New Tampa is a relatively walkable area, with shopping centers, restaurants, banks and doctors near each community if people are willing to abandon their cars, he said. Because it is so new and developers are required to install sidewalks with each project, "there are more sidewalks in New Tampa than any other place," said Mahdi Mansour, a transportation engineer with the city of Tampa. Within individual planned communities such as Tampa Palms, Hunter's Green or Cross Creek, the curving concrete sidewalks are popular, say homeowners who go inline skating, wheel baby carriages, bike and run when the weather is cool. The paths serve as bridges, connecting the myriad neighborhoods. "I have about seven walking friends," said Julie Perrin, who walks inside Hunter's Green for two hours each night during the summer. "That's our way of socializing." But the long corridor of sidewalks bordering Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, the area's major artery, often goes unused. "You'll see a skater here or there, but it's an anomaly," said Perrin, citing pollution and poor scenery on the traffic-laden road. "There's too much distance from one point to another; from one housing project to another, you have to go a mile or two. "I think they should have spent more time widening the road." To get in or out of New Tampa, "it's a must to have a car," added Taylor, who does not drive. A walk along the five miles of sidewalk along Bruce B. Downs -- from Amberly Drive to Hunter's Green Drive -- comes with little shade and no benches. A cab ride from Taylor's home in Wyndham to Fletcher Avenue, where the city buses run, is $7. So Taylor says he stays close to home and will continue to walk his quiet, landscaped route to Publix each morning. "It's relaxing to the mind," he said. "It keeps you in shape, and you stop and see things more than in a car. It's a pleasure." Sidewalk talkEvery year, Hillsborough County compiles a list of the top sidewalk projects under consideration for construction. Before those projects go to the County Commission for approval, the public gets an opportunity to see and comment on them. This month, the county will hold a series of public meetings to present the sidewalk plans for the 2003 fiscal year. County staff will be at the meetings to discuss the sidewalk program, answer questions and receive input from residents. The meetings scheduled for the north of Tampa area will be: July 29 at the Jimmie B. Keel Public Library, 2902 W Bearss Ave. July 30 at Citrus Park Elementary School, 7700 Gunn Highway. Both meetings are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. For more information, call Steve Valdez in the county's communications department at 272-5275.
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From the Times |
