Trick or Treat

Hope everyone had a great night on Tuesday for Trick or Treat. All in all it was a great night. You couldn't beat the weather and my daughters are both at an age where they really get into the costumes and the candy so that made it all the more fun.

For the first hour I handed out candy from the house to seemingly endless groups of kids and parents. Everyone was nice, friendly, and polite. The kids all said trick or treat, or were being coached to do so, and most said thank you including the parents. Many even commented on the jack o'lanterns we had out front that my wife and daughters had carved.

The second hour I took the girls around town. Along the way we saw people we knew and didn't know, chatted with many from house to house, and stopped at friends' homes to say hi. By eight o'clock we were on our way home, candy bags filled and two tired little girls struggling to cover the final few blocks.

It seems despite any issues that may be taking place in town, at the schools, or personally at home, most everyone put them aside and had a great time. The weather probably contributed to what seemed like larger than usually numbers of people (not to mention that other communities didn't trick or treat on halloween and we had some extra visitors), but the point to me is that it demonstrated there are a lot of good people in this community. It also showed me (up on my soapbox) how critical it is to be pedestrian friendly.

People need to engage the community they live in on a physical, tangible way. Walking in town, going to stores, seeing people out and saying hello to them, can only be encouraged by making it as safe as possible for pedestrians to walk throughout town and to have destinations for them to walk to.

It is for these latter reasons that I am encouraged by the Nazareth News Agency's business shift, the upcoming opening of Dutch n'Such, as well as the special events that are planned by the Business Council, Chamber, Moravian Historical Society, and others. I think the Main Street Initiative can encourage and promote both business, events, and advocate more measures to ensure pedestrians are safe when walking in town. The borough has taken some small steps with crosswalks being repainted in some areas and the sign on Main at the Circle, but a more comprehensive effort will be needed and some additional enforcement at some notoriously challenging intersections would help as well.

I hope you all had as nice a night as my family and I did. If you walk a lot in town, feel free to post some intersections that you'd like to see improved for pedestrians, and when driving through town, try to give pedestrians a break (and don't forget, wait until they are across the entire street before going, not once there is enough room for your car to pass without hitting them- this drives me nuts;-)