WESTCHESTER, N.Y. - A group of turkey vultures is called a committee, and that’s what I ran into the other day, six or seven of these buzzards, gathered for some sort of sketchy roadside Zoom call, skulking on tree branches by the edge of Lake Katonah, pestering the water fowl and giving me the side eye as I trotted past. It had been a long, hard workout and I was flagging, which got me wondering if I was their target.
My worries flew away moments later when I spotted the handbill posted on the neighborhood bulletin board, advertising “an in-person discussion focusing on better pedestrian access in Goldens Bridge.”
That committee of vultures may have given me the creeps, but this enticing announcement for a different kind of committee was scratching me right where I itched.
As any walker, runner, or bike rider can tell you, our northern Westchester community is a wonderland of scenic dirt roads and quiet country lanes that make for exhilarating riding, hiking, and running. But try to connect the dots by venturing out to any of our narrow, shoulderless main highways, filled with zipping traffic and impatient drivers, and you take your life into your hands just trying to walk to the train or ride to the supermarket for a quart of oat milk.
The pedestrian-access meeting, organized by the Goldens Bridge Hamlet Organization, took place last Tuesday evening, March 18, in the lunchroom of Increase Miller Elementary. GBHO trustees were present and local officials were there to offer comments and take questions. GBHO chair Jon Monti was running the show.
Monti’s vision is straightforward: Ultimately, he and the GBHO—fresh off their success in helping create the Fairmont Corner Pocket Park—are on a mission to see as many of the residents of the Goldens Bridge community as possible safely connected with some form of bike or pedestrian access. To this end, they are “starting small on roadways that have some pieces of bike and pedestrian infrastructure,” said Monti.
Their geographical focus is the once and future downtown Goldens Bridge area, where highways 22 and 138 and 684 and platforms 1 and 2 add up to a real pedestrian nightmare. “Low-hanging fruit” was a key phrase of the night. What small project opportunities can be grabbed easily to give the GBHO’s mission a fast start?
One proposal was refurbishment of the pedestrian crosswalk across the 684 highway on-ramp on the Route 138 overpass. It is routinely used by parkers at the MTA’s east lot who are simply trying to scurry from their cars over to the stairway down to the train platform.
Some new paint, flashers, and blinking signs could help improve the daily interaction here between MTA commuters running for their morning train and drivers getting ready to rev up for a southbound trip to Gotham. As a bonus, bright new signage seen by thousands of drivers a day would be a great way to promote the pedestrian cause in general.
Some other ideas discussed were a possible new sidewalk here, and there a revamping to a too-narrow, non-ADA-compliant old sidewalk. As Monti made clear, the meeting was really an initial brainstorming session, with more meetings to be held in future.
If I had to highlight one takeaway from the night, it’s that the next time I see even a modest-seeming project such as a new crosswalk on any of our roads, I will know that the voices and efforts and cooperation of a large number of citizens and local and state officials and agencies and engineers and workers were what made it happen, finding the financing, getting the approvals, and surmounting the obstacles.
Jon Monti and the GBHO are starting small but thinking big, and they need your help. Visit goldensbridgehamlet.org for volunteer opportunities and more information about how you can contribute to the building of safe connectivity for pedestrians and riders and drivers.
Contact the.runaround1@gmail.com with your stories and ideas to help promote the local running scene.
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