City Sidewalks. Speed Bumps

Now that I am officially ensconced in my new job in the midtown Manhattan neighborhood I have become increasing critical of the lack of sidewalk etiquette from both tourist and locals, but mostly tourist.   I get the wanting to look up thing, but would you stop your car in the middle of I-70 to look up when you drive through Glenwood Canyon, or would you stop in the middle of the Garden State Parkway to admire the Manhattan Skyline.  No.  Then please do not stop in the middle of the sidewalk to take a picture of St. Patrick's Catherdral.  




If cars create gridlock just walk through it!  Don't worry they won't run over you.  They have nowhere to go.

In New York City a sidewalk is a constantly moving pedestrian roadway.  When you literally have millions of people pouring out of the subways and descending from busses the sidewalk flow has to be in motion or human gridlock will quickly ensue. Do not come up from the subway and stop at the top of the stairs to get your bearings.  Move to the side, check out the street signs, look at your map, and then proceed. 



Why do tour groups insist on congregating on sidewalks. This group was on 5th Avenue and Rockefeller Center. Really?

The Rockefeller Center neighborhood is unique in that it is far enough off of the tourist path of hotels, Broadway, and Time Square that it still maintains a corporate neighborhood feel, but with Radio City Music Hall and the NBC Studios in the center of the area it is an equal blend of tourist and corporate suits.   I am not a tourist hater.  I was one for many years before moving here.  But when a school group of 20+ students and chaperons stops in the middle of the sidewalk to count heads they need to understand that they are causing countless professionals lag time in getting to work.  I wonder if anyone has ever formed a statistic on how many manpower hours are lost due to sidewalk congestion.

For those of you familiar with Sex in the City you will remember many scenes where the four woman are walking down 5th Avenue four abreast.  Four woman from Manhattan would NEVER do that.  A family of four visiting from a hamlet in Great Britain would.  Jeff constantly complains that Cameron and I leave him out of conversations when we are walking because he always lags back when we need to make room on the sidewalk for coming pedestrian traffic or for someone to pass.  Walking with three people side by side is almost impossible to sustain for more than a few seconds.  It's actually an acquired skill to be able to walk with someone and carry on a conversation while you jockey from walking side by side, front to back, and with a stranger in between you. 

 

This is not to say that tourist are the only people lacking sidewalk etiquette.  More offensive to me is the passive aggressive local.  Those are the people who walk down the sidewalk slowly and deliberately taking up the center of the sidewalk.  Because there is almost always someone coming towards you passing this person becomes difficult.  More often then not you have to pick up your already fast pace, walk in the street, and pass them that way.  For the obvious passive aggressive pedestrian do not attempt to say "excuse me" and expect them to move to the side.  You are much more likely to encounter an altercation of words.  It is safer to brave the brief step off of the curb to get past them. 



When all else fails walk down the road with the cars.