Urban Afoot
  • Purpose
  • KNOW YOUR COMMUNITY
  • Urban Afoot Blog
  • Articles
  • Contact Us

Walk Every Street - Walk Five August 17, 2013

8/31/2013

0 Comments

 
This walk was an uneventful expedition into the quiet neighborhood of Pinebrook.  Despite being wedged between busy thoroughfares (County Road 125 aka Weaver Street; Quaker Ridge Road; Pine Brook Boulevard; and the Hutchinson River Parkway) and providing a cut through between Weaver and Pine Brook Boulevard, the neighborhood was very quiet.  Almost disturbingly so for a middle of summer Saturday although it may have been because it was a hot day.  No children out playing, not even in the playground which was partially shaded by trees and just a few people out walking dogs.  Most in evidence were landscapers hard at work.

No sidewalks!  Not a great surprise.  From what I have been able to find out this area was built in the 1950s, a time when cars were on the increase and shared use neighborhoods were still a thing of the future.  This is very clearly a single use residential area of single family homes of moderate size, now with some new much bigger homes pushing up against its Southern boundary.  It does have a playground, and trees although some were not looking happy.

Picture
Split canopies caused by utility pruning were very obvious.

Picture
The pruning work is contracted by the utility companies to standard clearance specifications.  Interestingly, some years ago in Los Angeles we saw many  wires in sleeves allowing trees to grow more naturally and in closer proximity to utility lines.  For some reason this has not caught on here in New York. Looking at all these divided canopies naturally led to discussion about putting utilities underground.  Not an easy task considering how rocky much of Westchester is as can be seen by the rooting of the tree below.
Picture







        If you can't go down...go out!

The point of this entry however was not supposed to be about trees, but rather what would happen to our informal noticeboards if utilities went underground?  Take a look around your local neighborhood and check out all the ways utility poles are used.
Picture
I don't yet know who owns the utility poles in New Rochelle and what agreements are made between utility companies and councils but it seems that whoever owns these poles could be missing an opportunity to rent them as advertising space.
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author: Nina Arron

    I am an enthusiastic pedestrian, urban planner, and project manager currently living in New Rochelle, New York.  I am grateful to be living in a walkable city with affordable easily accessible public transport (both trains and buses). My appreciation became even greater after spending three years back in New Zealand where  it was much harder to fit daily walking into my life in what is considered one of the great natural, green environments in the world.  

    Archives

    January 2018
    December 2017
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    Categories

    All

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.