Attempt to block sidewalks in La Crosse neighborhood knocked down by city council, as Mayor Reynolds, earlier this week, agreed

One La Crosse neighborhood may get new sidewalks, despite objections from people living in that area.

A plan to prevent sidewalk installation on three streets near Hintgen Elementary School was voted down 8-5 by the city council Thursday night, following arguments that the walks have been planned by the city for several years.

Council member Doug Happel said residents have spoken out clearly against the sidewalk proposal.

“Ninety-three percent of the residents in that neighborhood physically have signed petitions opposing sidewalks,” Happel told the council. “Somewhere along the line, we need to listen to the neighbors in our community.”

Monday, on La Crosse Talk PM, Mayor Mitch Reynolds explained the makeup of that potential sidewalk space, plus his position on the matter.

“ People have gotten used to this idea of a city right of way, which is publicly owned — owned by all the taxpayers  — as if it’s their own yard,” Reynolds said. “So, do we want that to be the legacy of our city, or do we want to say we’re using that right of way to ensure mobility access for everyone?

“And personally, I think that I’m going to follow along the lines of making sure that we’re ensuring mobility access for everyone and not saying that, ‘Yeah, you can just use that public property as your own because it’s connected to your yard.’”

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La Crosse Talk PM airs weekdays at 5:06 p.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk PM wherever you get your podcasts.

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The council Thursday also opposed a resolution to block sidewalks for a year between 27th and 29th streets. Residents argued that their area has gone without sidewalks for decades and generally has been safe.

Aside from the land adjacent to the road being city property, Reynolds added during Monday’s conversation on WIZM, there’s an unsaid message to denying that space be available to everyone.

 ”Once you eliminate sidewalks in neighborhood, you’re basically telling people with disabilities, you can’t go there,” Reynolds said. “If you have a mobility disability, that means you can’t go in that neighborhood because that means you’re going to walk out in traffic.

City engineer Matt Gallager argued at Thursday’s meeting that sidewalks are an easy way to protect pedestrians from cars.

“What really comes into question is the survivability,” Gallager said. “The reasons sidewalks are set back are because of distance, and also because you can get a barrier curb in between, and also because it’s just not safe to be walking next to them.”

The conversation on sidewalks with Reynolds included more of a big picture question of rethinking sidewalks in general.

 ”If you want to say, ‘Alright, instead of having a roadway and a terrace and then a sidewalk, instead of saying that we’re saying we’re having a roadway sidewalk, then a continual right of way space and then to a private yard,’ that’s fine,” Reynolds said, entertaining the idea. “But we’re not going to eliminate a separated walking space because people want to maintain a city property as if it’s their own yard, which is what is happening in multiple neighborhoods.

Reynolds noted that sidewalk standards are six feet so as to allow those using wheelchairs and the like can pass each other.

“ Our standard for sidewalks is such that we can have two people, that have mobility challenges, that can cross each other going opposite directions,” Reynolds said Monday. “So, people in chairs can cross each other going opposite directions.

“That’s our standard for sidewalks. So, we already have that and we want to put that in on all blocks, so anybody with a disability challenge can move around the city and do it in a way that it’s not limiting.”