Mayor asks volunteers to help with 'walkability' survey

Sorry folks, but you can't do a survey such as this in Jasonville. That is because there are NO decent sidewalks that are able to be used unless you are on Main Street!

As someone who used to walk hours every day and have been forced to give up my pastime due to the horrible condition of the sidewalks, this has been a huge pet peeve of mine for nearly the past quarter of a century.

Many streets have never even had a sidewalk installed to begin with. Of those who did, most are totally impassable.

Part of that is due to places where the concrete walk cannot even be found because it is covered with mud and water that makes the sidewalk slippery at best. Some of these places are caused by the sidewalks being lower than the ground around it. Other times it is caused by ditches that are overgrown with weeds, full of tree limbs and trash that block drains and thus, push rainwater up out of the ditch and onto the sidewalks.

There are still other place where you cannot find the sidewalk because of the weeds and long grasses hanging over from lots that have not been properly mowed. You feel as if you need a machete to hack your way through the 'jungle'.

Limbs from the 200 year old trees planted between the sidewalks and streets litter the area where people try to step, making a trip and possible fall extremely likely.

At those places where you can actually find a sidewalk that is not covered with weeds, mud/water or limbs to block your progress; then you get your exercise climbing the stairs.

In this case the 'stairs' I refer to are the places where the walks have been broken and shoved way up and out of place by the tree roots from those same 200 year old trees, most of which are rotten and ready to fall on the head of some unsuspecting passerby.

Does none of the above apply to the area that you are walking? Good! But don't forget--Greene County is rural area. So of course that means the sidewalks have become out own personal parking garages!

When you encounter a vehicle parked on top of the sidewalk, it leaves few choices. You may trespass in someone's yard to make your way around the vehicle, wade through weeds, briars and trash to get around, or in some cases you have no other alternative than to jump the ditch and walk in the road.

And of course while you are being forced to go out of your way to get around the vehicle, don't forget to watch where you put your feet. Otherwise you might trip and fall over the hundreds of toys left scattered all over the walks for days or even weeks at a time.

I love to walk and it is the easiest form of exercise you can do except for swimming. But not when you literally take your life in your hands to pursue it.

Broken glass, rusty cans, plastic bags, empty milk jugs, pages from magazines or newspapers, kitchen utensils, empty motor oil cans, paint cans, broken boards with rusted nails sticking out, pieces of barbed wire...I have seen them all covering the 'sidewalks' of our 'city'.

Unless you are walking on Main Street it is nearly impossible to walk on a nice sidewalk in Jasonville. The only place that I know of where you could do it is in front of Watson's Heating and Cooling. The reason being that they were so fed up with their grandkids trying to play on the useless 'sidewalk' that they took it upon themselves to tear out the walk and totally redo it themselves. Wish I could afford to do that.

For those of us who do not have the option of fixing our own walks, the only only other option left to us is to walk in the streets.

When I consider that my father, a close relative and myself have all been run over and nearly killed by vehicles, that is not an option I am likely to take advantage of. Especially when yet another relative of mine was killed just last year when she was run over.

I also have one question about a safety issue for walkers that your article did not address. WHAT is the county/city going to do about the large packs of dogs that roam the city, breeding at will and attacking innocent walkers, bikers and even cars???

This is the second major reason that I no longer walk in town. In fact, when I do really feel the desire to go for a nice walk, I have to get in the car and drive down to Linton to make use of the park. At least there I am reasonably safe from being attacked and I am guaranteed a level, clean, debris free place to walk.

In the past fifteen years my daughter and I were attacked twice while trying to walk. My daughter, brother, sister-in-law and I were nearly attacked on another occasion. My father has been bitten six times while trying to walk and my mother was bitten once while walking through her own yard.

One night my daughter came home from work and was trapped inside her truck by a huge dog that decided it did not like her. Just a couple of days prior to this incident, I had stepped outside the back door of the house when I heard a low growl.

I looked to the side just in time to see this same dog coming around the corner of the house. His teeth were bared, his ears pinned back, his head low, hackles raised, body tensed, tail low, legs stiff and his eyes never wavered from mine. All signs of aggression. I managed to get back in the house just a split second before he hit the back door, trying to bite my leg. It was more than an hour before he finally went away so I could leave my home.

When I called the police I was told "It's not the department's responsibility to deal with dogs. Call the Humane Society. That's what the city pays them for." When I called GCHS I was told "Sorry, but the Animal Control Officer has to stay here today and is unable to respond."

On yet another occasion when my parents tried to speak to the police about several hundred dollars worth of damage neighborhood dogs had done to recently planted flowers, the officer asked dad if he had a shotgun. He was then told to "shoot em."

First of all, we live inside city limits where it is illegal to discharge a firearm. Secondly, I do not like the idea of killing a dog simply because the owners are too lazy to keep it tied up as the law requires. Lastly, I do not feel that I should be required to carry a handgun with me every time I want to take a walk around my neighborhood just to ensure that I won't be attacked by stray dogs.

The point is, there is more to making the cities and towns of Greene County SAFE to walk in than simply making sure the sidewalks, crosswalks and signals are in good shape, visible and useful.

A grant would be nice to fix up the walks so that people would not have to walk in the streets for a change. But the county, and especially the city of Jasonville, need to realize thaa it takes more than just money to solve the problem.

It also takes a team effort from those on several fronts. For instance, no new sidewalk will be usable if the street department does not keep the ditches clean of debris and weeds which can divert rainwater onto the sidewalk, thus creating a slippery situation for people.

The city also must address the issue of the very old trees that are ready to fall down on people, houses or vehicles passing underneath. Rather large limbs from these old and rotten trees litter walks and can easily catch feet to cause a trip and fall.

It will also take the efforts of local police AND the county Humane Society to keep the strays from forming packs that can attack walkers.

In addition to all of that though, property owners need to do their part to help keep toys, limbs, weeds, garbage and CARS off the sidewalks so people can walk on them as they were meant to.

Without everyone working together, getting nice sidewalks will do nothing but add a bit of curb appeal to city neighborhoods.

So getting information like this is nice, but first we should be asking ourselves whether or not we are truly ready to commit to the effort it will take on all of our parts to keep the new sidewalks safe for people to use? If not, then I say 'Why bother'?

This is being done Statewide. Mayor Patti is asking for assistance for Linton. Contact your local city/town to see if there is going to be one done in your area. It used to be the property owners responsibility to keep the sidewalk around their property in good condition. Has that changed?