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The Big Drawback



A local realtor I know posted about a dozen houses and asked, “Which one is your favorite?” Strangely enough my top two were in Oakland Mills. Probably my very favorite was a house on Wandering Way. Wandering Way is exactly as the name suggests; it meanders along at a rather casual pace until it comes to a suitably Columbian cul de sac ending.

One of the reasons I have come to adore Wandering Way is that there are a number of “original” Columbia homes which have been updated and customized by subsequent owners. It’s almost the laboratory for new thinking about our older houses. Most people in Columbia wouldn’t even know they exist, because Wandering Way is off the beaten path. You’d have to try to find it.

In the end I had to admit that this house had a drawback I couldn’t get around: no sidewalks. 

To me a neighborhood has to have sidewalks. Otherwise you are saying everyone must drive or walk in the street. It suggests that you aren’t expecting neighbors to be connected to neighbors. Sidewalks can be for roller-skating, trick-or-treating, canvassers encouraging you to vote in the Village election, people out walking for exercise, beginning bicyclists, a trip to the grocery.  I can’t understand why any neighborhood in Columbia wouldn’t have been built with sidewalks as an essential. 

I’ve heard that not everyone likes sidewalks. Somewhere in the back of my mind is a story about a neighborhood that actively fought sidewalks, but I can’t remember which one. Columbia Hills? Allview? If you know, fill me in. For that matter, if you don’t like sidewalks I’d be interested to hear your point of view. 

My little house, a quadroplex on a road dominated by single-family homes, remains my top choice because it is so easy to walk anywhere in the Village I want to go. I don’t have square feet, I don’t have acreage, but I have sidewalks. Sidewalks make for connections. Interestingly enough, our slogan in Oakland Mills is: We Value Connections.

What about you? Are you connected? Do you wish that you were? Share your views in the comments.

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