Friday 27 September 2013

If you don't like it, you can always move

On a local Streetlife thread which I started about Elmbourne Road a comment someone made, I thought worthwhile sharing to a wider audience.

The broad thrust of the comment made, was that if you don't like how the streets are in your area all you need to do is move somewhere else. The issue is that for many parts of the UK, our streets are dire from a pedestrian or cycling perspective.

As the commenter alluded to moving home, I continued with the analogy. When people move into a new home, often changes are made quite early on as a fresh perspective has been given to the property in question. Things are changed because:

Why did the previous owners have that?
Why did choose that colour?
Why did they put that wall there?

I think once we have changed our streets for the better, we too will look back at how our streets are today, and ask similar questions.

Why did they do that?
Why didn't they just have safe cycle routes?
Why did they just let people drive and park their cars almost anywhere they want?

Below is the actual comment made, and my response.

James commented:
when people moved to this area they knew what the traffic situation was like and after a period of time you dont like it and  wish to change it for your needs i'm sorry its not going to happen. It draws a comparison to someone who moves to a village with the loverly village church where the bell's ring when ever and it starts to get on your nerves. I'm sorry but you best start thinking again where you might want to live my friend.

This was my response:
Dear James,

That's a very good point that people when they move to an area know what it is like, if they don't like certain things they can move elsewhere.

To continue using a house or home as an analogy. When you move into a new home, or purchase a property, you know what it's like, and what's it's issues may be. 

Many people look to do home improvements just after they move in to a new place, because they have a different perspective, or have a fresh view on things. They see problems where the previous owners didn't, and generally look to fix or improve their new home.

I see the local area as my home. I see problems in terms of how our streets are managed, and from the growing numbers of people signing the different petitions that I'm running, I'm not alone in that view. I think we can make 'home improvements' to our local area to the benefit of all. 

Where those 'improvements' can be run as pilots, to ensure that they genuinely deliver the benefits that are claimed (and repealed if they don't work) I find it hard to understand why some people are so dead set against any change at any cost. 

Thanks for your comment, and hope you have a good weekend.

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