This description may send a false impression - that Clinton is a progressive, eco-friendly community where everyone rides bikes and has a compost pile in his or her backyard. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a farming town that just happens to be at the end of the longest bike trail in the country. We walked at least 5 miles today virtually all in the street. We were appalled at how pedestrian-unfriendly the place is. We are staying in a newer part of town that has a residential area obviously geared for seniors.* All of the housing (which is all new) is on one level and most places have a one-car garage. There are two grocery stores, a Walgreens and Wal-Mart, several restaurants, the laundomat, a movie theater** and other stores within easy walking distance. So you would think that there would be sidewalks and street lights, right? Not! We found these lacking not only here in Seniorville but also in many older parts of town, including the roads leading to the Katy Trail trailhead. It is very clear - the car culture is king. Not surprisingly, despite spending over 3 hours walking around town we saw only a handful of other people walking anywhere. Some of the oldest parts of town have sidewalks, but many are made of brick and totally overgrown with weeds, or are made of concrete and have heaved wildly due to tree roots, etc. to the point that it is actually safer to walk in the street. The intersection between the two main highways (Hwys 7 and 13/52) in town has no pedestrian walk signals (and no sidewalks of course). When we asked people for directions to the post office, etc. they immediately assumed we were going to drive there ("well, you get back on the highway and turn left at the third stoplight...") It is no wonder that we have a serious health problem with morbid obesity (a subject for another blog). I do not wish to bash Clinton alone for this disgraceful situation as it is a very common problem throughout our country. (There are no sidewalks in our own neighborhood in Colorado Springs, although Colorado is generally considered a 'health conscious' place to live.)
*A "senior" is someone who is at least 5 years older than you.
** We saw the new Star Trek movie last night (Penny is a dyed-in-the wool Trekkie) and it was very good. We rated it a 7/8 out of 10.
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