Walk 3; Or, Missing the Walking Guru

Apparently I missed the walking guru, Dan Burden, who walked through town last week and led a Pedestrian Workshop and some neighbourhood walks. Or maybe I saw him walking around while I was walking around. Maybe he was just one of people who was walking around. He was quoted twice in the paper as saying that "walking is the absolute essence of life". I wonder what he means by that -- whether it's tied into the idea of upright man or whether he's really tapped into the spiritual dimension of walking, a zen of walking. Whatever he thinks he's made a career of it. I looked at his website for Walkable Communities Inc. I thought it was interesting that he does walkable audits of neighbourhoods to "review walking conditions"

So I walked from my house to the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts and back last night at approximately 7:45 pm. It was dark but I'll do an audit according to Burden's check list:

Sidewalk width and condition: well it obviously wasn't wide enough in front of the seniors building at Jackson and Hess because I waited for two women to get up onto the sidewalk from the road over the curb (no ramp) with their walkers. They were heading into the building so I ended up walking around them on the road because they weren't able to walk as quickly as I can and with two walkers on the sidewalk, there just wasn't enough space.

street crossings: I jay-walk often on this route both of necessity and just because. Most of the streets are pretty busy so you have to be careful. As it's much darker earlier now, I've been noticing that it's hard to see pedestrians because a lot of them wear dark clothing. I was wearing a black & white plaid jacket so mine wasn't as bad as it could be...I don't think.

connectivity to parking: not really an issue for me in this context but I did walk through the HCA parking lot at one point.

on-street and off-street parking: yes

screening: I don't understand this one so can't comment.

tree canopy: Could be many more trees. It's an older neighbourhood but Jackson Street and Hunter Street and Bay Street have been highrised and this has compromised the number of trees. I've always liked the stand of willows behind City Hall (near Hunter) but only from a distance. My one close-up experience taught me that this is lap-dog-poo haven - obviously very convenient for apartment dwellers with dogs.

building placement: Don't know what I should be looking for here. As I said there are lots of apartments but then there's a school and a cool curve in the road to take you alongside the railway tracks and some very old buildings along McNab and the McNab Street church and the HCA/GO parking lot and the HCA itself which is a lovely heritage building...

restorations: I guess the HCA and McNab church and Central School would be successes. St. Mark's Church is a failure. It's all boarded up. It's apparently in heritage limbo. Will it be saved? Will it become just another highrise? Will highrises built in the 70s ever be heritage buildings?

housing type and mix: my route was mostly apartments and "rental units". I could change the route and get into more of the single family homes but this one is more efficient. I definitely favour the stretch between Bay & James. It's dark and there are lots of trees in front of Central School. I like the little dip down Park and the curve around into McNab and I like cutting through the parking lot.