Show me your sidewalks and I'll tell who you are

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One morning last week as I rode my bike to the grocery I noticed the sidewalk was sparkling, paved with a rainbow of glitter from Carnival the weekend before.

I felt like a child in a Carnival globe (ie the tropical version of a snow globe) as sunlight danced on the metallic specks.

What if this usually taken-for-granted sidewalk had a permanent glittery effect created by sequins and small chips of shiny materials mixed into the concrete? We would marvel at the surface until the novelty wore off. However, visitors to Tobago, upon seeing the sparkly walkway for the first time, might find it appealing, like a permanent Carnival souvenir. The stretch might even become known as "Tobago’s Carnival Carpet" – a unique tourist attraction inspiring global foot selfies accompanied by creative hashtags – #allthatglittersistobago #tobagocarnivalcarpet.

On the sidewalk along the Scarborough seafront there is a beautiful fish mosaic embedded in the concrete. Imagine a colourful myriad of mosaics, created by different artists, adorning the capital’s sidewalks. In addition to bringing beauty to locals, cruise ship visitors would have something appealing to admire and photograph – other than the under-construction Scarborough buildings which, for some unknown reason, I noticed a few of them photographing on Carnival Monday after J’Ouvert.

Once while walking along a quiet English sidewalk, I encountered inspiring quotes neatly engraved in alternating concrete slabs. I would love to see something this uplifting on our local walkways.

The sidewalks of our nation are not given sufficient attention. While they could be creative and inspiring canvases, they are merely functional – albeit not for all citizens.

Years ago, in Trinidad, I saw a man in a wheelchair wheeling along the bus route past UWI, St Augustine. Huge maxis zoomed perilously close to him and I wondered why he was risking his life in that manner.

I had the opportunity to ask when I came upon him some time later, selling DVDs outside a store in Tunapuna. He told me that he was forced to use the bus route to get to work because the sidewalks are not made for people in wheelchairs and the maxis cannot or would not pick him up.

His perspective forever changed the way that I see TT’s sidewalks. Even now, years later, I notice how many sidewalks are not user-friendly for the disabled, elderly and children. Even the able-bodied among us may sometimes find them challenging with their sometimes abnormally elevated step-ups, gaping holes and other aspects that can render them treacherous obstacle courses.

Once, during a torrential downpour, a youth and I helped save an elderly man who, upon disembarking from a maxi along the EMR, Champs Fleurs, fell promptly through an open manhole where brown water surged rapidly through subterranean drains. Thankfully his quick use of his arms as a brace kept him from being swept underground. A small child from the nearby school would not have been as fortunate. Afterwards, the traumatised gentleman told me that he had been unable to see the hole because of his foggy glasses.

Horrified by the incident, I made a 2.5-hour pilgrimage a few days later from the Croisee to St Augustine, where I lived at the time. My mission: to count and take photos of the shocking number of dangerous manholes on the sidewalk. My intention: to publicly exhibit my Sidewalk Series of images, highlighting the need for these public hazards to be fixed swiftly.

This happened in 2010, yet I remember it clearly because of my detailed letter to the editor which outlined everything from the elderly man’s fall into the raging waters to the state of the manholes encountered along my walk.

The following is the last paragraph of that letter:

“The sidewalks in this country are deplorable. Manholes without covers seem to outnumber those that have covers. And even most of those with covers are either broken or function as see-saws. This country can more than afford to provide new covers for all manholes nationwide. Relevant authorities, please look into this as soon as possible, before worse occurs.”

A decade later, how much has changed?

Sidewalks are capillaries running through our national infrastructure, pulsing with life, connecting people, providing safe opportunities for a healthier lifestyle through walking. American cultural anthropologist, Margaret Mead, said: “Any town that doesn’t have sidewalks doesn’t love its children.” I would amend that to say: “Any country that doesn’t have well maintained, user-friendly sidewalks doesn’t love its citizens.

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"Show me your sidewalks and I’ll tell who you are"

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