Walkable Hillsborough

Hillsborough wants you to get off your butt on Saturday.

Fostering community spirit and promoting the walkability of the town will be the main focus of the fourth annual Walkable Hillsborough Day this Saturday.

There are three different walks to choose from, all based on the level of difficulty. Each will begin at 9 a.m. at the old courthouse on the corner of King and Churton streets, she said.
- The News of Orange County, 6/9/05

The three different walking routes vary from 20-minutes to a vigorous hour-long hike. All of them are short enough that you can come into the cool air-conditioned lab for the Blog Teach-In after you get all sweaty walking around. ;-)

While these walks will be a great way to have fun and get some exercise, I don't see how they will affect folks' choices about whether to hop in the car or strap on the sneakers the next time they have an errand to run in town. Ultimately, the community has to be designed for pedestrians. No matter how much people want to walk, hardly anyone will if there are no sidewalks, unsafe spaces, and nothing to see or do along the way.

Issues: 

Comments

Ruby,

You are a week late. Walkable Hillsborough Day was on June 4th. The article you reference on the News of Orange County was from June 1st. Apparently they haven't yet updated their website with this week's edition.

With that being said, however, there are still plenty of other things to do in Hillsborough. So hop in the car and drive on up!

Occaneechi-Saponi Spring PowWow
Where: Park area behind New County Courthouse
When: 12:00 AM
Traditional Music, Dance, Arts, Crafts, and Food. Everyone is Welcome! Dancing continues until they can't dance anymore! Admission charge $4 for 12 and over; $2 for under 12

2nd Saturday Hillsborough Guided Walking Tour
When: Saturday, June 11, 10am & 2pm
Where: The Alexander Dickson House, 150 E. King St., Hillsborough. Explore Hillsborough's history on a 90 minute guided walking tour through it's historic district. $2-$6, More Information at 732-7741 or http://www.historichillsborough.org/

Next Week:

Hillsborough Hog Day
When: 9:00 AM
Where: Downtown Hillsborough
Music! Food! Crafts! Vendors! Petting Zoo! Kids activities! Classic Auto Show! and more!
KEITH HENDERSON (Elvis) WILL PLAY AT 4:30 ON SATURDAY!

Oops, left off the date for Hog Day. It's on Saturday, June 18th.

D'oh! And here I was being all proud of myself for sharing some Hillsborough news. In my defense, the website is usually updated mid-week, the story just said "this Saturday," and the URL for the article indicated 6/9/05.

Well, how was Walkable Hillsborough Day?

Thanks for the other events, Paul! What's the date on the Pow Wow and does it really start at midnight?

Opps again. The Pow-Wow is THIS SATURDAY, June 11th. 12 NOON. Wish there was an edit button.

I was out of town for Walkable Hillsborough Day so I did not attend.

And here is a link to Hillsborough Hog Day:

For more information ...
http://www.hogdays.com/

folks' choices about whether to hop in the car or strap on the sneakers the next time they have an errand to run in town. Ultimately, the community has to be designed for pedestrians. No matter how much people want to walk, hardly anyone will if there are no sidewalks, unsafe spaces, and nothing to see or do along the way.

I think one point that shouldn't be ignored about folks choices of walking vs driving is that even if there are things nearby to walk to and sidewalks and its safe, etc., it's still easier to drive to places. I know some would respond that if we make it harder to drive, then people will give up and just walk or take the bus. But here's an example that some of you may be able to identify with: I live three quarters of a mile from the grocery store I frequent and the walk is sidewalked and safe, etc. But I have two kids--age 2 and 4. So getting them to walk that walk is an ordeal--not even because of the length but keeping track of the so they don't run into traffic, etc. Add the return trip with the bags of groceries to lug and you can see why walking for some--no matter how much they would like to walk--is simply not an option. Please don't take this to mean that I think promoting sidewalks and walking is a waste of time or anything like but realize that despite all the efforts and good intentions devoted to walking, some people just can not do it.

PS: The preview feature is very cool!

One day driving somewhere it struck me that kids today are raised with very little experience of walking with a purpose. Before suburban sprawl and the 2 car family, young and old walked to do errands, to get to town, to go play in the park, to stop at the library, to pass the time of day in town, to see other people. Nowadays there are hardly any sidewalks, and (as Bill writes) even when you want to walk to the store, the distance between your home and the grocery may be quite a hike, especially with a couple of kids in tow. It's disturbing to think that nowadays most kids experience "walking somewhere" when they're inside the shopping mall, going from The Gap . . . to whatever.

Where I grew up, folks took sidewalks for granted. They were everywhere. They were often on both sides of a street. Growing up, walking was always an option for me to get to school or to the arcade or to the community pool.

Years later, after college and after moving to Hillsborough, North Carolina, I learned that getting developers to build sidewalks is a very difficult task (for some reason). I have to admit, I do not understand their constant (yet persistant) stance to fight building sidewalks.

As a member of Hillsborough's Planning Board, me and my colleagues put forth text ammendments to Hillsborough's zoning ordinance to require sidewalks in all new developments. In subdivisions, we require sidewalks on BOTH sides of the street. We did that about three years ago.

Still today, the occaisional developer will purposely leave sidewalks out of his plans. Those plans never pass, or, they get sent back to the developer with a suggestion to modify and resubmit.

With all that being said, it is important to remain realistic about the society we live in today regarding sidewalks. Human beings (to a large extent) are creatures of habit and convenience. If it is easier for a mother to load up her kids in the mini-van and drive to the Harris Teeter, she is going to do that.

However, having sidewalks does provide for excersize alternatives for adults and a primary method of transportation for older kids and younger teenagers. Sidewalks are also very practical in that they keep folks who do choose to walk from walking in the street.

"While these walks will be a great way to have fun and get some exercise, I don't see how they will affect folks' choices about whether to hop in the car or strap on the sneakers the next time they have an errand to run in town. Ultimately, the community has to be designed for pedestrians. No matter how much people want to walk, hardly anyone will if there are no sidewalks, unsafe spaces, and nothing to see or do along the way."

I believe that Walkable Hillsborough Day was created not so much to "affect folks' choices" or get some exercise, as to attract attention to the need for better designed communties. Its mostly publicity, and fun. The organization works slightly more quietly and behind the scenes for the rest of the year. It looks like they achieved some of that goal, they even got listed (although late), on Orangepolitics.org!

I went to hog day. It was cool except that they were out of pork. Yeah, hog day w/o hog. I heard some nice music and checked out the vendors. The old car show was neat and free.
One nice touch was the free bus from the old Wal Mart to down town. When Chapel Hill does it's street fairs it would be a good idea perhaps. I live close enough to Franklin that I can walk. We always do our street fairs on Sunday when bus service is weak; "U" and "NU" only. For the Airport-MLK renaming deal there was some extra busses running so old people wouldn't have to hike from town hall to Hargraves.

 

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