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It Just A Takes A Request To Keep The Concrete Away
Editor,
In the Mid-West, the pedestrian-safety strip of grass separating the sidewalk from the curb is un-affectionately referred to as the "Devil’s Strip". While the origin of this expression is a mystery, it’s probably based on the fact the strip belongs to the community, but whoever’s property it fronts is responsible for the upkeep. But possession, they say, is nine-tenths of the law. Seeing the remarkable job Cecille Lindsted and Merry Sanders have done on Main Street should inspire us all to take a look out our own front doors.
It’s not just Main Street, though. A number of individuals from Lower Main to High to Parsonage have also done miraculous improvements for those on foot, in cars or rockin’ on their front porches to enjoy. This has personally inspired me to get out there and do battle with my well established weeds and try to get soft-on-the-barefeet grass growing this Fall planting season.
My point here is that beautiful things like grass and flowers and trees grow in dirt. They do not grow in concrete, not today and not tomorrow. So if you think you or someone else might ever like to see a tree growing gracefully over "your" sidewalk, offering cool shade and contributing to that small-town, tree-lined street spirit, it’s time to speak up. The Village of Cold Spring is currently redoing sidewalks and apparently they are continuing the concrete from the sidewalk right out to the curb unless you make the effort to request dirt and grass and trees. It would be time well spent in the long run to make a very simple request today; calling or writing the Village Office and saying you’d prefer grass and trees to concrete for your front, and for the village as a whole. In front of an institutional building I somewhat understand, in front of a residence I don’t, so speak now or forever look at bare concrete as more and more of the green goes.
Although it saddens me to watch the large trees disappearing from Village-owned property at an alarming rate (has anyone else noticed this trend), even the DEC agrees that some trees just are too big and dangerous to have hanging over the street. So as long as what are known as Street Trees (genetically restrained growth patterns) replace them, my optimism continues. But, again, you can’t plant even a Street Tree in a concrete slab. Narrow tree-lined streets not only look better than an unbroken expanse of asphalt and concrete between your front yard and your neighbor’s across the street, but they’re safer. Even if they’re only a foot wide. People who might drive up over a curb onto concrete would hopefully think twice about running through someone’s flowers, even if they are close to the roadway. And I always felt safer having a tree, even a small one, between our baby carriage and the big, bad cars.
If everyone wanted the convenience of maintenance-free, concrete frontage, who’d want to go out for a stroll? The overall benefit to the community of green, shady pathways for pedestrians and vehicles is enormous and its cost to taxpayers negligible in the grand scheme of things. A small price to pay (plus a bit of weeding, planting and mowing from individual good citizens) for so many benefits.
John Teagle
Cold Spring
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