Feet First Philly Guest Blog: PEDESTRIANS OF PHILADELPHIA

Feet First Philly is a pedestrian advocacy group sponsored by the Clean Air Council, that aims to raise awareness of issues facing pedestrians in the City of Philadelphia, improve the pedestrian environment, protect the rights of pedestrians, and encourage walking as a mode of transportation, as well as for exercise and recreation. Pedestrians of Philadelphia is a new Feet First Philly project that is intended to help put a face to the variety of pedestrian problems we face in Philadelphia and to inspire more action to be taken. No matter where you are a pedestrian, there are challenges that you will face that we can address through planning and advocacy. Making these challenges more personal is one way to encourage more people to get involved. If you are interested in sharing your personal story as a pedestrian of Philadelphia, please e-mail feetfirstphilly@cleanair.org.

PEDESTRIANS OF PHILADELPHIA: SUE AND REINHARD

A few weeks ago Sue and Reinhard, long time residents of Center City Philadelphia, were kind enough to take me on a walk around their neighborhood with them. This walk they took me on mirrored many of the walks they do weekly. Sue is in a wheelchair, while Reinhard pushes her, which made the walk very interesting.

The walk went like this:

We walked the block around the Academy House, which is where their condo is located, towards the Kimmel Center because they go there multiple times a week for concerts. We crossed various intersections where it was difficult for Reinhard to push Sue in her wheelchair into the street to cross the road. One of the intersections pointed out has a pole blocking the curb cut, which meant that we had to navigate the wheelchair over the curb. We had to pause every few seconds to maneuver around uneven sidewalk and areas where there are gaps or holes in the sidewalk.

Despite the difficulties of getting around with the wheelchair, Sue and Reinhard enjoy many aspects of walking around Philadelphia. They love that there is so much available in Center City that you can get to. They enjoy the library, museums and parks within walking distance. Reading Terminal Market is also a frequent destination. Sue and Reinhard are very social and attend a variety of FitC meetings and events. These activities are all things that they choose to walk to.

While they rely on walking as a way to get around, Sue and Reinhard recognize various issues that make their trips more difficult for them. Actually being able to get around is made difficult by obstacles such as poles, degrading curb cuts, bicycle riders on the sidewalk and more, which was made clear through the one walk we took.

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