{"id":12566,"date":"2016-09-11T20:16:29","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T00:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/?p=12566"},"modified":"2025-10-27T13:04:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T17:04:22","slug":"opponents-to-sidewalk-in-irondequoit-say-not-in-my-front-yard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/2016\/09\/opponents-to-sidewalk-in-irondequoit-say-not-in-my-front-yard\/","title":{"rendered":"Not In My Front Yard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Some neighbors who live along this road in Irondequoit would like sidewalks. Others would not. [IMAGE: RochesterSubway.com]\" rel=\"lightbox-nimfy\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/images\/photos\/no-sidewalk-sign-01.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin:0px 0px 6px 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/images\/photos\/no-sidewalk-sign-01.jpg\" border=\"1\" alt=\"Some neighbors who live along this road in Irondequoit would like sidewalks. Others would not. [IMAGE: RochesterSubway.com]\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<small><i>By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/2009\/01\/contributors\/#about-mike-governale\">Mike Governale<\/a><\/i><\/small><\/p>\n<p>When Andrea Chervenak received a letter earlier this year from the Town of Irondequoit notifying her that a sidewalk was being proposed for her street, she was thrilled. Unfortunately for Andrea, her neighbors&#8217; front lawns are more important than her children&#8217;s safety. To hammer this nonsensical point home, some people even made lawn signs&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><a title=\"Some neighbors who live along this road in Irondequoit would like sidewalks. Others would not. [IMAGE: RochesterSubway.com]\" rel=\"lightbox-nimfy\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/images\/photos\/no-sidewalk-sign-02.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin:0px 0px 6px 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/images\/photos\/no-sidewalk-sign-02.jpg\" border=\"1\" alt=\"Some neighbors who live along this road in Irondequoit would like sidewalks. Others would not. [IMAGE: RochesterSubway.com]\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nMost of the streets in Irondequoit already have sidewalks, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/place\/378+oakridge+drive\/@43.2346789,-77.5883776,3a,75y,85.68h,81.47t\/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1suDb4TB7UGH1lipVLxLFZ7A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xd000383284a08542!6m1!1e1\" target=\"_new\">Oakridge Drive <img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position:relative; top:2px;\" alt=\"external link\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/images\/icon_link.gif\" width=\"15\" heigth=\"11\" border=\"0\"><\/a> is in a wooded section near Lakeshore and there is a gap in the existing sidewalk for about a one-mile stretch. Oakridge Drive is the only access in and out of this neighborhood. The sidewalk project was proposed by residents who argue that a sidewalk is necessary to keep children, walkers and bikers safe.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Some neighbors who live along this road in Irondequoit would like sidewalks. Others would not. [IMAGE: Google Maps]\" rel=\"lightbox-nimfy\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/images\/photos\/oakridge-drive-01.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin:0px 0px 6px 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/images\/photos\/oakridge-drive-01.jpg\" border=\"1\" alt=\"Some neighbors who live along this road in Irondequoit would like sidewalks. Others would not. [IMAGE: Google Maps]\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nWest Irondequoit school district does not offer bus transportation for students beyond the 3rd grade. As parents of three children (ages 12, 9, and 4) Andrea does not feel comfortable allowing them to walk the 1.5 miles to school because they&#8217;d have to walk along the narrow and curvy road with no sidewalk. <\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Some neighbors who live along this road in Irondequoit would like sidewalks. Others would not. [IMAGE: Google Maps]\" rel=\"lightbox-nimfy\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/images\/photos\/oakridge-drive-02.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin:0px 0px 6px 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/images\/photos\/oakridge-drive-02.jpg\" border=\"1\" alt=\"Some neighbors who live along this road in Irondequoit would like sidewalks. Others would not. [IMAGE: Google Maps]\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n&#8220;Drivers rarely adhere to the 25 mph speed limit and the numerous bends of the road decrease visibility,&#8221; Andrea explained in an email to RocSubway. &#8220;Everyday, I see commuters driving anywhere from 40-55 mph on our street. It&#8217;s infuriating.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Some neighbors who live along this road in Irondequoit would like sidewalks. Others would not. [IMAGE: Google Maps]\" rel=\"lightbox-nimfy\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/images\/photos\/oakridge-drive-03.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin:0px 0px 6px 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/images\/photos\/oakridge-drive-03.jpg\" border=\"1\" alt=\"Some neighbors who live along this road in Irondequoit would like sidewalks. Others would not. [IMAGE: Google Maps]\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nTo be fair, those who oppose the sidewalk have cited <a href=\"http:\/\/www.democratandchronicle.com\/story\/news\/2016\/07\/30\/irondequoit-sidewalk\/87666582\/\" target=\"_new\">numerous reasons <img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position:relative; top:2px;\" alt=\"external link\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/images\/icon_link.gif\" width=\"15\" heigth=\"11\" border=\"0\"><\/a> including possible conflict with underground septic systems, trees that would need to be removed, taxes that are already too high, and a general disbelief that cars really do speed on this street. <\/p>\n<p>But as Andrea also points out, and I agree, providing safe passage for children to walk to school should be <em>the<\/em> priority for any community. Just try telling that to a guy and his magic marker.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align:center;margin:20px 0px 0px 0px;\">\u2022 \u2022\u00a0\u2022<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mike Governale When Andrea Chervenak received a letter earlier this year from the Town of Irondequoit notifying her that a sidewalk was being proposed for her street, she was thrilled. Unfortunately for Andrea, her neighbors&#8217; front lawns are more important than her children&#8217;s safety. To hammer this nonsensical point home, some people even made [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,788,114,3],"tags":[3313,3901,794,3898,151,3900,63,14,3899],"class_list":["post-12566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-old-photos-of-rochester-ny","category-rochester_news","category-mass_transit_infrastructure","tag-active-transportation","tag-andrea-chervenak","tag-irondequoit","tag-oakridge-drive","tag-rochester-ny","tag-safe-routes-to-school","tag-sidewalks","tag-suburbs","tag-west-irondequoit-school-district"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12566"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14459,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12566\/revisions\/14459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}