Darrell Watson finds it hard to take a simple walk to the park because so many of his neighbors park across the sidewalks, leave trash cans our or erect portable basketball goals on them. Watson uses a walker and carries oxygen, making it harder to swerve into the streets and dangerous because he can't move quickly enough to dodge oncoming traffic.
It was obvious from the first few minutes I drove around Darrell Watson‘s neighborhood in Deerfield Hills that he wasn’t exaggerating about the problem.
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There were cars, trailers, trash cans and portable basketball goals blocking sidewalks on nearly every street.
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This is a problem for Darrell, a 66-year-old retired soldier who suffers from emphysema and needs a walker and an oxygen tank to get around.
Infractions are visible from space! Several examples of cars routinely parking on the sidewalks of Deerfield Hills, near Darrell Watson's home.
All the sidewalk obstacles make Darrell’s morning walks more strenuous than they should be. And it’s not safe for him to detour far into the streets since he can’t quickly move out of the way of traffic.
A typical sight in Deerfield Hills and other Colorado Springs neighborhoods where many think it's OK to park on sidewalks.
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Imagine trying to negotiate this sidewalk in a walker. Squeeze between the overgrown bushes and the mailbox, the duck down into the street to get around the basketball goal.
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In this case, the basketball goal was in the street. But the trailer made walking a challenge.
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Most of these I would venture to say are rental properties with the tennants caring very little about how the neighborhood appears. The City office of NON CODE ENFORCEMENT is also a big waste of time. What we need is an office of Slumlord enforcement but since this is a city of no government enforcement mentality they get away with perpetuating and developing ghettos throughout the area but primarily in the SE part of the city. Thank you Margaret Radford and Lionel Rivera former council woman from this area and our former Mayor.
Geez what a trashy neighborhood.
thank you so much for writing about this! I moved here last year and this was one of the first things I noticed. Colorado Springs is definitely not friendly to anyone who likes to walk instead of driving. Even simple tasks as walking a dog around the neighborhood are a challenge. Just because we are able-bodied doesnt mean everyone around the block is. Sidewalks are public and should be accessible to everyone. I wish the city did something about this.