Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Why Amish buggies should be banned

Amish Buggy Crossing Sign, Middlebury, IN
Frequently bicycle trails are opposed because people believe that improved bicycle access abets crime, even though automobiles are used to facilitate crimes far more often, and even with regard to bicycle trails, crime is higher in abutting residential neighborhoods and commercial districts (see "Sidewalks and Shared-Use Paths: Safety, Security, and Maintenance" from the University of Delaware Institute for Public Administration), recent problems in DC notwithstanding (see "Another bicyclist is robbed on popular Metropolitan Branch Trail" from the Washington Post).

My line about this is when crimes happen with automobiles, why don't people pipe up and call for banning automobiles, closing the road network and/or banning new road construction, since that is the course they recommend with regard to bikes.

The Associated Press reports, in "Amish teen with beer in buggy spurs police chase" about the use of a horse and buggy to attempt to evade police. Based on the idea of "one and done" obviously we need to ban such vehicles because their use may abet crime.

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