Multimodal with Squish - Part 2

Squish is no longer as squishy as he once was. Rather than a bundle who can be toted wherever I need to go, he is a real-life person who walks around and has a strong opinion about which direction we travel.

We've discovered a new mode: baby cart

His understanding of our neighborhood at 18 months is amazing. He knows, as we stroll down the driveway, that turning left will take us to the school playground or the corner market and turning right will take us to the coffee shop or the tennis courts (a fascinating spectator sport for a toddler). Typically, he points in the direction he wants to go. Typically, if we don't follow his advice, he cries in outrage until distracted by, say, a leaf or an acorn.


In a thrilling transportation development for our family, we have finally managed to get Squish into a walking-distance daycare! In New Haven, where bus service is not exactly fabulous, this is a big deal. No longer will we have to make two short but terribly annoying drives each day. I'll just strap baby into his chariot and walk ten minutes down the street, dodging the irresponsible right turners and waving at neighbors (seriously, our neighborhood is idyllic). Then, I will cross the street to my co-working space. What a life.

Pedestrian safety / Roving Reads

Fall break - time to take a breath and write some things. I realized lately that I'm a kind of grumpy blogger and kind of get on a soapbox about things. Although I'm really a quite happy person, I find it hard to write cheery slice-of-life stuff when madness is always going on in this region. So, today I'm going to write about one thing that gets my goat and one super cool idea that I read about.


Walkable Ann Arbor?

 

The pedestrian and the car

Two weeks ago Ann Arbor saw two vehicle-pedestrian accidents, one of which was fatal and incredibly tragic. In the second, the Ann Arbor police chief exculpated the car involved because the runners in question were not using the crosswalk. This was at Beakes and Fifth, where I've run many a time, and anybody who's been a ped knows that whole area is a death trap, with cars whizzing over the bridge and taking sudden turns. The week before, a fellow urban planning student was clipped on her bicycle - and luckily not harmed - by a reckless right-turner at Glen and Fuller/Depot. In August, someone was hospitalized crossing W. Stadium. And of course, last year saw another tragedy of University of Michigan student killed at a crosswalk on Plymouth Rd.

Five cool things about Redford

So, sometimes I hate a little on my hometown for being a not totally walkable bedroom suburb with little to attract young people. BUT. I'm living at my parents' house during the month of August due to lease hullaballoo. and this throwback has led me to appreciate some of the wonderful changes, and wonderful things that have stayed the same. Ready for some Redford love? Here it comes.

America's Next Top Commuter?

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Due to the academic prowess of my homeskillet, who got accepted to med school at Wayne State, and my own choice to start a Master's program in Urban Planning at the University of Michigan in the fall,  I'm faced with choices that extend beyond the range of my heretofore uber-walkable, extremely local existence.

One might ask, Carolyn, how did you ever manage in the metro Motor City for six years without a car? Well, a few answers. My life for nearly four of those years revolved entirely around the city of Ann Arbor, where everything - school, work, friends - was in walking, biking, or bussing distance. The only thing that lured me away was my family back in Redford, and they kindly provided shuttle service whenever we wanted to see each other.

Redford Rambles: The findings of two (Sub)urban explorers

Adam waits patiently for his bus

New trees along Five Mile

What will new planters, new trees, and new benches at the bus stops bring to Redford?