What if. . .

What if the theory of Peak Oil is correct? What if cars and personal transportation will change? There are many negative sides of these questions, but I've been thinking about one of the positives for our little town.

Our little hamlet celebrated the New Millennium prematurely in 2000 and then again in 2001, then again in 2002, then again in 2003. They have continued, but have begun calling it a New Year's Celebration. It was and is a wonderful production with fireworks, a Doodah parade and plenty of small-town revelry.

Something hit me as I was standing in the center of the main intersection of town, talking to my brother near a fire pit. What if the downtown was closed to cars all of the time instead of just tonight? I have since thought about his many times. I walk or cycle downtown when I need to go there. I've thought about how and where to close the roads. I'm sure there would be opposition and I'm sure there are downsides. But what would some of the positives be?

Our town has many murals and promotes self-guided mural walking tours. Why not add to the walking aspects? Friday nights a few local restaurants have music. Why not make it easier and more pleasant to walk amongst them? On a few occasions during the year one of the streets is closed for Chamber of Commerce functions, weddings, etc. This would make the entire downtown available for such functions. People would be encouraged to linger and walk about more. We have a new cafe/winebar with seating on the sidewalk, except there isn't much room for tables outside. If people walked on the street, the former sidewalk could be opened up for more tables. We had a chance to go to the Gaslamp District in San Diego recently. What a nice place to walk around. And it hasn't always been like that. Could our hamlet's downtown look similar?

Certainly traffic flow would be effected. Round-abouts and diverting traffic through alleys would allow cars to move through and near the downtown area, freeing the central core for pedestrians. It's just a dream, but what if. . . ?