| Speak with your feet at Atlanta Streets Alive |
 Enjoy people-powered fun at Atlanta Streets Alive this Sunday afternoon, May 20! To support PEDS' campaign for safe sidewalks, stop by our booth to place your footprint on our colorful, oversized petition. We'll present it to the Atlanta City Council soon. Our goal: lots of signed footprints from people of all ages.
Atlanta Streets Alive, like other Open Streets events worldwide, liberates city streets from cars for a day of playing, walking, biking, and other active, non-motorized modes of amusement. Activities include yoga, martial arts, aerobics, jumping rope, hula-hoops and dance.
Creating the footprints banner is an important part of PEDS' Campaign for Safe Sidewalks.
WHEN: Sunday May 20, 2012, between 2 pm and 6 pm
WHERE: North Highland Avenue between Corley Street & Virginia Avenue (specific booth location to be announced on facebook and PEDS.org by Friday of this week).
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Hidden costs of Atlanta's sidewalk maintenance program
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The City of Atlanta delegates financial responsibility for sidewalk repairs to abutting property owners. Yet property owners find that few contractors are willing to take on small projects. And if  property owners fail to make repairs, the City rarely does anything about it. As a result, pedestrians encounter crumbling and uneven sidewalks throughout Atlanta. PEDS collaborated with the Urban Land Institute's Center for Leadership to learn more about hidden costs associated with the City of Atlanta's sidewalk maintenance program. Their findings: "piecemeal installation of sidewalks is an inefficient use of capital resulting in unsafe, disjointed and poorly connected sidewalk infrastructure."
For standard concrete sidewalk, the cost per linear foot of a sidewalk less than 80 feet long is likely to be $9.50 per linear foot. If a project were over a mile long, the cost per linear foot would be $6.50, a 32 percent savings. The City is also spending large sums on payouts to injured pedestrians. Later this week, the City Council is expected to approve a $3 million payout to a person who experienced serious injuries at a hazardous sidewalk that neighbors had reported repeatedly. PEDS is organizing a forum on sidewalk maintenance where you can learn about better options for funding sidewalk maintenance. Stay tuned for event details.
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 Help make metro Atlanta walkable!
  
PEDS is a member-based advocacy group dedicated to making metro Atlanta safe and accessible for all pedestrians. 404-685-8722 peds.org
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