Soapbox Time

You think I'm going to talk about the soapbox derby, right? Yeah, no!

I really love this little city we live in, Cookeville, Tennessee. It's charming, it's a college town, it's the hub of the upper Cumberland. While it lacks some amenities, I have to say there is one thing it really lacks and that is sidewalks.

For a town trying to attract retirees, it sure has not done much to make the area walkable. There should be some sort of sidewalks in residential neighborhoods. It is appalling to see someone in a wheelchair trying to navigate some of the side streets, for instance Chestnut and 3rd.

On major intersections such as Jackson and Willow, there is no way for pedestrians to get across the street. There are no walk/don't walk lights, and frankly, no crosswalks. And how is someone in a wheelchair supposed to navigate around a telephone pole in the middle of a sidewalk in that intersection without going in the street. And the area where sidewalks are installed, has no consistency which side of the street they are on. Children play in the street here because there are no sidewalks on residential streets. Maybe that would have been a better use of TARP money.

I think the new bus system is a joke. I don't think it will ever make money or even break even, because no one rides it. Well, maybe Tech students ride it down to Restaurant Row, but they ride for free, so what's the point. The bus schedule and route is not useful for the general public because of the lack of routes. If I could walk to Willow and pick up the bus to go downtown to the library, I would do so, but there is no route on Willow. And if you miss your bus, be prepared to wait an hour. I doubt Cookeville looked far into the future when planning this out.

Copyright 2010, ACK, for Generational