Written by St. George Mayor Jon Pike
As I write this, it’s another beautiful, warm day with clear, blue skies in St. George! We’ve already had many visitors this year wanting to get out of the cold and the inversions along the Wasatch Front. Of course, people also come to enjoy things such as the St. George Area Parade of Homes, sports tournaments, and so many of the other arts and entertainment events in the area. As usual, we have many activities indoors and outdoors during this time of year.
One thing that is always on my mind is the desire to keep our Southern Utah skies clear and avoid reaching unhealthy and unsightly pollution levels. We can all help in this effort.
I’ve written before about the city’s Active Transportation Committee. A question asked in one of their recent meetings was, “How many of you walked/biked to school or church when you were growing up?” Most of the people in the room, if not all, raised their hands. Then the questions were, “How many of your children/grandchildren walk to school today? How many of you walk to church or walked/biked to work today?” Very few hands went up. I know there are many reasons for this change in behavior over the last few decades. The manner in which our cities have been designed and grown is part of the change. It’s a challenge to build neighborhoods and streets in a way that accommodates the movement of people in cars, bikes, and on their feet. At the city, we’re trying to find ways we can improve this, including tying together some of the gaps in our paved trail system and increasing the width and numbers of bike lanes.
As individuals, I believe most of us could also play a role in reducing pollution while increasing our activity and health by finding at least some opportunities to walk or bike instead of driving in a car. It may require a little extra time and planning ahead, but surely there have to be times when we could walk to school, church, or a friend’s house in the neighborhood. We may also find that we can bike into town or other commercial areas to go to work or school or to do minor shopping and errands. Our city trails and bike lanes can help us do this safely and efficiently.
If you’ve been watching city council meetings lately, you’ve seen that both St. George and Washington City have made decisions to have what we call professional office or neighborhood commercial zoning in some areas adjacent to residential areas. While at first it can raise some concerns for those living closest to these areas, upon further investigation, most see the wisdom in going back to these planning concepts. It should make walking or biking more possible for at least some trips, and it should reduce the need to go all the way into town on already busy streets for other trips.
Just as we at the city need to plan diligently with residential and commercial developers to optimize where and how we build, each of us can plan our weeks and days so that we will be able to reduce our trips in cars and improve our health and wellness. If we do this together, I’m confident we can keep our clean, blue Southern Utah skies!
Great point Mayor Pike. I agree BUT there is one obstacle. “WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US” To quote Walt Kelly from the POGO cartoon strip from the 1950s – probably before your time. There needs to be a coordinated safety campaign across Washington County – i.e. from Washington City on one side, thru St George, to Ivins and Santa Clara on the other, that puts a spotlight on residential driving. Having 3 neighbors within a block of my house almost getting struck by speeding vehicles on a street with an elementary school close by and a 25 mph zone makes it difficult to promote your agenda (which is great by the way). Walking between 6am – 7am before and after sunrise is super dangerous as the norm is 35mph to 40mph for those trying to get to work on time. This is exacerbated by distracted driving as over half of the drivers in Washington county are on cell phones routinely while operating their vehicles. I met a women who spent 6 months in the hospital after being struck on Dixie road while walking in the morning for her daily exercise. I have seen 3 bicyclists get struck on Sunset. If you stand up for safety in your neighborhood you get a negative response and little if no support except from law enforcement. Try politely pulling over to the side of the road and letting someone pass that is tailgating you. 10% of the time you get mocked as they perceive it as an insult of some kind rather than a courtesy. I agree with everything you are saying, but how do you shift the culture towards safety in these parts when the cat has been out of the bag for so long. Lastly reckless driving in general is a common occurrence. The fruit is pretty low on the tree here. Local law enforcement could monitor the turning lane into the IN&OUT Burger parking lot and pull over a minimum of 20+ people a day that will risk driving head on into traffic on the opposite side of the road to get pole position to make a left hand turn in the direction of Costco. Or on Red Cliffs drive, where there is a blind curve and a 40 mph posting just prior to the lane around the corner where you turn into the backside parking lot on the west side of Pioneer Park. Almost was hit head on waiting there to turn into the park by a black charger speed racing 60-70 mph that came over the dividing line straight at me.., and yes last week I had a car coming straight at me in that turning lane into the IN&OUT parking lot for the third time that I described previously above. HONEST. Good luck and POGO’s wisdom stands the test of time. WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US.