Green space

One of the joys of bicycle is that you see lots more than you do in a car. The speed of travel on bicycle is enough reduced from that in a car that an enormously greater amount of detail is available for observation. One of the things I do in this blog is post pictures of things I see that probably would have gone unnoticed, at least to me, at auto traffic speed.

The same effect is present if you go walking through areas where you have done lots of bicycling. The speed of travel is enough reduced that more detail is available for observation. I am in the process of walking all of the streets within walking distance to gauge how ready those streets are for bicycling. I love my bike and I want to get started.

I have mentioned previously, I think, that I live in the SENW, 16-29-23. I am aware that many of the folks looking in know what that means but for those who don't I live in the Southeast Quarter of the Northwest Quarter of Section 16, Township 29 North, Range 23 West of the 4th Principal Meridian, Ramsey County, Minnesota. So do at least a few hundred other people. I am currently walking all of the streets in section 16 to check conditions and today I got over to the NWNW (Northwest Quarter of Northwest Quarter). I ride those streets, either coming or going, during about one half of all of the bicycle rides I ever take. Today on foot I turned off the street and wandered down into a church parking lot. I am certain I have never been there on my bicycle, I don't remember being in there on foot.

The NWNW looks to my practiced real estate history eyes to have been originally subdivided from open farm land into buildable lots in one of the common ways, someone sold off frontage along the road that ran along the south edge of that quarter-quarter, and then sold off frontage along the road that ran along the north edge. The result is this, wonderfully HUGE back yards.These aren't fancy houses on either side. Our house was built in 1975 and these are not much older, probably mid-60s or so. They are mostly standard suburban ramblers, some with a walk out lower level out into these back yards.

There has been some talk recently about lack of green space in the part of Roseville where I live. I can see why there are some neighbors who don't seem too concerned. What they have outside their backdoors running away towards the neighbors fence in the distance looks plenty enough like a park to probably satisfy most of these folks.

I never would have seen it in a car, I probably wasn't ever even going to see it on my bicycle. That's not a park, that is a picture of people's backyards.