Osler's Razor

I was kind of fascinated by a recent report in the Waco Tribune-Herald, titled Study: City Should Push Grocery Store, Walkways, Restaurants Downtown.

The gist of the piece is that the city hired a consultant to conduct a 19-month study of downtown Waco and how the city uses special tax funds that are used to support businesses (and sometimes the Baylor football program). In short, this extensive study concluded with the following recommendations:

-- The money should not be used to fund apartments near Baylor or developments next to the interstate
-- Rather, the tax funds should be used to lure a grocery store, a three-star hotel, and certain other businesses to the downtown area
-- Also, the city should consider "walkways" in the downtown area

The last one really fascinated and confused me. It could mean one of two things, after all.

First, they may be envisioning the type of second-floor walkways that have turned downtown Minneapolis into some kind of wonderful Habitrail for humans, allowing for a second city to exist superimposed over the first one, essentially. That would be kinda cool, but weird. After all, Minneapolis has those because of winters that polar bears dream of.

The second conception would simply be adding walkways-- crosswalks, for example-- at ground level. That would actually be a great new focus for Waco, a city that is positively hostile to pedestrians in some areas. For example, when I lived there, a theater sat just a few hundred yards from my house. Yet, there was literally no way to walk there, because a big busy road (Valley Mills) lay between me and the theater, with no pedestrian walkways to be found to cross to the other side.

Either way, I am for the walkways!