Edgewater Open House in West Salem on Thursday

Holy Smokes! If this parking lot with narrow sidewalks is "pedestrian friendly," you'd hate to see the "pedestrian hostile" version!

Thursday night the City will hold an Open House for changes in the Edgewater District in West Salem.

While the rhetoric around many of the changes is bike-and-walk-positive, the actual positivity of the plans is much less clear.

• Rather than planning a bicycle boulevard or rails-to-trails conversion that prioritizes walking and biking along the old railroad on Second Avenue, the City adopted plans for a parking lot with skinny sidewalks.
• At the intersection of Rosemount and Edgewater, increased automobile through-put facilitated by a new signal and intersection widening is pitched to offer safety "for all modes (cars, bicycles and pedestrians)."

You don't have to squint too much to wonder if this is more wish and wash than substance.

The Open House will be at 5:30pm on Thursday the 12th in the West Salem Medical Clinic Lobby, 1223 Edgewater St. NW. Summary brochure here.

If you live or work in west Salem, consider going and letting staff, urban renewal committee members, and neighborhood association members know that you care about making it easy for people to leave the car at home when they visit the Edgewater district.

More on the Second Avenue plans here and here, and on wayfinding here.