Sidewalk clutter

I attended the Downtown Infrastructure Update meeting on Dec. 12, 2007. One of the objects of the Central Avenue project is to make the sidewalks more "pedestrian friendly," mainly by widening the sidewalks and thus narrowing the driving lanes.

It is already dangerous and scary to exit a parking place on Central, and traffic often has to stop from both directions when a vehicle backs out.

After the December meeting, I walked the downtown sidewalks and noted in the two-block area of Central from First Street to Third Street there were 17 sidewalk signs showing store names, hours of business, sales, etc., 16 newspaper/magazine vending machines or stands, nine stores with merchandise on the sidewalk (some with a lot of merchandise), several bicycle racks but only two bikes (I admit bikes and snow and ice do not mix well) and at least seven benches.

Some of the benches were narrow and do not take up much space, while others were large and rustic, and some have been the subject of vandalism. In addition, I noted in the rest of the business district at least a dozen similar items on the sidewalks.

Why has the city of Whitefish allowed all the signs, merchandise and vending machines or stands on the sidewalks? Remove these items along with the large benches, and the sidewalks suddenly become "pedestrian friendly," with no need to widen the sidewalks or narrow the driving lanes.

I hope the Whitefish City Council and city manager will consider and act upon this suggestion.

Karl Borchers

Whitefish