Pedestrian Safety

Pedestrian safety is two fold for me. I love to walk places but never do so when it's dark out. It's not necessarily the houseless that make me afraid. It's just people in general. You can't trust anyone these days not to jump you. I'd feel safer if there was more light on sidewalks. Even just walking along Old Fairhaven Dr while there are some lights, it's not very lit. I think having the police call stations like they have on campus, around town could also be helpful.

The other side of that is physical safety crossing the roads and on sidewalks. Bellingham has put in some of the crosswalks that have the stop lights attached, and those are great. If they also spoke to you and told you when to stop and when to cross and even what street you were on they would be a home-run. Overall we need more pedestrian oriented sidewalks that have a buffer between the roads, spots that are a pinch point for cars to slow down and shorten the distance for people to walk, and more of the crosswalk indicators I just spoke about. It's proven that a huge portion (if not the majority) of people want a walkable Bellingham. Imagine if the Merdian area were actually walkable! How many cars would be taken off of it and lessen the traffic! Even the new urban village in Sehome doesn't feel particularly pedestrian friendly.