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| [Kimberly clearing leaves, planting plants in the early spring, before the blooming.] |
Fun fact: I live and bike on Charles Avenue, one of the few bicycle boulevards in the Twin Cities that isn't a dud. Last spring, I happened across a woman who was weeding and planting plants on one of my favorite traffic circles on the street. There aren't enough traffic circles on Charles because the city did a half-assed job with this street, but that makes the ones that do exist all the more precious to me. And it's great to see people in the neighborhood spending a bit of time making them look nice.
Anyway, Kimberly was nice enough to chat with me and tell me about why she cares about this bit of public space. Here you go!
[Interview starts.]
Twin City Sidewalks [TCS]: So they install them and then they sort of let them go, the city… And then it’s up to neighbors to make them nice??
Kimberly [K]: Well when it was… so, this one specifically, it was installed probably 16 years ago, if not 17. And the reason was, at that time, I had a very young child. People could come speeding down here and go straight to Walmart. And so they wouldn’t stop here at all, and within two years there were lots of accidents. And this is ridiculous! My then husband, we petitioned the city for a stop sign. And they literally said “stop signs don’t work, but you can put in a traffic circle.” And, OK, sure. We had to go around and get all the signatures and everything. I think we needed 75% of the people…
TCS: … of every block, or just the corner?
K: No, this block, this block. [points] Just these blocks. And then they gave us money to plant in the beginning, but I became the official garden steward.
TCS: How official?
K: Right, well, I’m not paid for it. I just volunteer. I just go head and buy the plants, and Thomas helps and Joann here always helps as well. And many neighbors. If I had put it out on our little neighbors site [they might be helping], but today was when I had time. So I’m like, I’m just gonna go out and work on it now.
But I try to buy plants, annuals, to plant here. I just see that as my volunteer contribution for the neighborhood. But watering? We used to… we could get a permit from the city and go to the hydrant, but it just gotten to be a pain in the tush. And so Thomas and Joann will let us water with their hose, so that’s their contribution, so there’s a cost to that too.
TCS: Yeah cool. What are you just clearing leaves right now?
K: Yeah, I’m clearing everything out. And I’m gonna actually rearrange a little bit this year and plant a few annuals and I’ll get some mulch and we attempt to water and weed throughout the season. Last year was a little rough; we didn’t get to as much. But each year is hopeful.
TCS: Well, thanks for your labor, in this under appreciated venture.
K: Well, it’s surprising. You know, there are some people that don’t like traffic circles. And there’’s blowback about it. But for the most part people are kind, and when I’m out here people will just roll down their window when they’re driving past and say thank you. So overall I think they’re appreciated.
TCS: I appreciate them. They slow people down. On a bike, speeding is really my issue.
K: And that was the big thing, was the speeding and the accidents. This is supposed to be a neighborhood. Slow down people!
TCS: Thanks!
[More pictures of Kimberly's work; you can see it for yourself next time you bike around St. Paul!]
