Walkabout Pasadena this Saturday with fellow pedestrians

Update: Due to the weather, the Walkabout has been postponed until March 1.

Live in Pasadena? Then clear your Saturday for the Downtown Pasadena Walkabout. Join Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard and your fellow Pasadena Peeps to make Downtown Pasadena a more walker-friendly city -- by -- walking together.

Basically, the walkabout is a walker's audit of Dowontown Pasadena. You'll show up, enjoy a FREE continental breakfast, hear Bogaard give a speech, then split up in small groups to start walking and assessing 25 downtown walking routes. You'll evaluate and record your walking experience, ideas and recommendations. Then you'll meet back up and enjoy a FREE lunch.

When: Saturday, January 26, 8:30 am to 2pm.
Where: Meet at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, South Hall, 585 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena
RSVP: Contact the Playhouse District Association at 626.744.0340 or email info@playhousedistrict.org.

A main goal of the event's to make walking the favored way to get around downtown Pasadena. At the end of the day, Pasadena will have a specific plan of action "to improve Downtown Pasadena walking conditions in the short-, medium- and long-term."

The event sounds like it could be a lot of fun -- and I'd totally be there if I lived there. It's sort of like my Walking Santa Monica project, except with more than one person, and an end action plan --

Comments

[m]

Thanks for posting this.. Nice idea, but I think the event is almost ridiculous at this point. Why? I think the downtown Pasadena area has been under construction the last 3.5 years that I have worked (and walked all over) in the city! The city hall was under construction for a while, which meant all of the nearby sidewalks and streets were blocked. Now the convention center is under construction and the sidewalks and buttons to activate crossing signals are blocked around the entire thing. Just last week they were ripping up the street in front of the Del Mar train station, making it pretty much impossible to go east from the station on foot without running into issues and competing for walkway space with vehicles. The nearby sidewalk still has an "open trench" in the middle of it. Right across from the Del Mar station there has been constant construction for the last year or so, which has resulted in nails and other odd construction materials on the sidewalks, blocked off sidewalks and dramatically increased walking times to destinations after crossing streets to avoid it. Additionally cars don't know what to do with the construction lane closings, so I've almost been hit a few times. In fact, the entire length of my walk from the train station to my work has been under construction at some point in this last year. I wonder if they will just accept input from regular Pasadena walkers as I already have plans for Saturday. I actually drove to work this week after not doing so for 2.5 years because my whole route is so messed up...

[Damien Newton]

I just got an email that the walkabout has been postponed until March 1st on account of weather...

[Siel]

Well, m -- The sidewalk situation doesn't sound good by your description, but it sounds like the walk's about getting input about how to improve things (i.e. hearing complaints such as yours and taking them in), not to convince walkers that things are already perfect. But maybe it's a good thing the walk's been postponed -- hopefully some of these temporary construction things'll get resolved before March 1.