Where the sidewalk ends

By Jessie Kirk

The Southwest Community Connection, Jul 31, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Since undergoing surgery in June, Multnomah resident Donna Harris has become more aware of the inadequacies of sidewalks in her neighborhood.

Jessie Kirk / The Southwest Community Connection

For one Multnomah resident, the issue of how to get to the Village became more difficult last month after undergoing surgery to have her spine fused together.

For longtime resident Donna Harris, medication means she can’t drive and a cumbersome walker makes uneven ground and sidewalk cracks huge obstacles. Her temporary challenge has made her more aware of the need for sidewalks on major streets in Southwest.

“I can’t go out of my driveway either direction without coming across a place where there is no sidewalk or an inadequate sidewalk,” she said.

Walking is part of Harris’ rehabilitation process and she enjoys shopping in the Village, especially taking her six-year-old son to visit his favorite shops, Annie Bloom’s and Sweets, Etc. Yet she said venturing down Capitol Highway with a small child and a disability is “frustrating” and “exhausting.”

“If I want to go to the community center on Vermont [Street], there are no sidewalks almost the whole way,” she said, pointing to the larger problem that immobility creates: “Without sidewalks, it limits people from participating in the community.”

Harris said she worries about the elderly and people who have permanent disabilities.

“I wonder how many people in our neighborhood are so frustrated that they don’t venture out,” she said.

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