tandempower

I went to a local community meeting recently with regard to renovation of a public housing area. I asked about the fate of the road, which is a one-way street with parallel parking and trees growing from just outside the curb to shade the sidewalk and road with canopy. I was told that it would stay the same or widen only slightly because they are going to change the road from one-way to two-way (which of course will make it impossible to keep the trees unless they remove the on-street parking, which I hope is there plan because they said they planned to save the trees). Anyway, the point is that one resident said she favored changing the road from one-way to two-way because, she claimed, kids only looked one way before crossing and if someone was going the wrong way, which she said happens often, they would get hit whereas if they are used to looking both ways, they will see oncoming traffic and wait to cross.

Maybe there's some merit in this but maybe it's also just an excuse to advocate two-way traffic for driving convenience. Either way, there's going to be more parking and driving with two-way roads and more residents. Moral of the story: citizen participation can result in pro-driving reforms, even in a neighborhood setting with many children playing outside, narrow, shaded one-way streets, etc. It all depends on the mentality of the citizens participating.