Cities 07

All this talk of sidewalks makes me think of a poem I read over and over again as a child. In grade school my librarian introduced me to “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” by Shel Silverstein. The poem starts out:

“There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins.
And there grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from he flight
To cool in the peppermint wind…”
(taken from: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/where-the-sidewalk-ends/)

As children we were taught that the sidewalk is safe, just as Shel Silverstein and Jane Jacobs depict. The sidewalk is a place for a child to draw with chalk, learn to ride a bike, be safe from cars on the street, and during the winter it isn’t slippery to walk on. The sidewalk is a place of transition, you can see your life evolve, and if you don’t have one, you want one.

Everyday people walk on sidewalks, but do we really think they are safe? Jacobs seems to think so. Although we often don’t pay much attention to the sidewalks and their purpose, but they really do provide boundaries and protection for people. In “The Uses of Sidewalk Safety,” cities are compared to organs and that sidewalks play a vital role in keeping the city alive and healthy. This illustration demonstrates that it is important to maintain all aspects of a city, even the concrete we walk on!

But not all sidewalks are safe. In certain neighborhoods, not necessarily minority neighborhoods, the sidewalks are a place not to be touched; almost as if it were a sin to step out of your door. In these neighborhoods the crime has taken over and the sidewalks aren’t really the place of safety. These neighborhoods are rough, tough and bad to the bone. Where children don’t exist because they have seen too much to be children, and innocence has become just a faint idea.

In order for sidewalks to be safe, certain criteria need to be met. Sidewalks need to be accessible and reasonable, they need to bring people places as a means of travel, stores and establishments need to exist, and store and establishment owners need to patrol the sidewalks with their eyes as a means of safety. Sidewalks need attractions, and lots of people in order to attract more people. It is unlikely that crime and violence happens in crowded streets and that when others are looking no one will rob a store. Sidewalks also bring people together. They are a place of meeting and exchange, they provide for entertainment and learning. The sidewalks may end, but it is there to protect and provide, and after you cross the street another sidewalk awaits.

“Where the Sidewalk Ends” – Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

Posted By: Kari J.