He was pleased with some of what he saw in Centerville (a pedestrian ramp behind the Wal-Mart that leads to a subdivision, for example). He praised city manager Steve Thacker and community development director Cory Snyder for their efforts to eliminate cul-de-sacs and connect subdivisions with walking/biking trails.

Sometimes municipalities need to change zoning ordinances that allow developers, for example, to build a sea of parking spaces between a store and the road, says Fenton, who sits on the planning board in Scituate, Mass.

Salt Lake City Council member Jill Remington Love invited Fenton to do a walkability assessment of places like the Salt Lake City Wal-Mart corner and the "Ninth and Ninth" neighborhood.

Fenton likes to grade areas on a 1 to 10 point system, with 1 being "the most miserable place you've ever walked in your life," and on this scale, Ninth and Ninth got nearly a 9. The sidewalks are at least 6 feet wide, and there are shade trees, a good mix of residential and commercial, curb extensions at the intersection, plus benches, colorful bike racks and whimsical sculptures.

What would make it a "10"? The addition of a roundabout in the intersection, and diagonal parking requiring motorists to back into the spaces, he said.

Earlier in the day, driving through downtown Salt Lake City on the way to Centerville, Fenton snapped pictures of outdoor cafes and people crossing the street waving orange flags. Gateway, he decided, was predictable, and the old downtown farther east could survive — with more character than Gateway — but only if it provided adequate alternative transportation, narrowed and quieted the streets, and created enough places to live. "If you give up on any of these, it will fail."

Later, Fenton walked down Sunnyside Avenue with neighborhood activist Robin Carbaugh and Utah League of Cities and Towns director of training Brian Hall. The sidewalk was narrow and was directly adjacent to the street, which carried along cars at a 45 mph clip. The problem, Fenton said, is that the road is too wide, thus encouraging the drivers to speed, and making it impossible for pedestrians to cross except at widely spaced traffic lights. One solution would be to widen the sidewalk, separate it from the road with landscaping, add a bike lane and put in a few raised, landscaped islands in the center of the street.

Cars are necessary and not even a necessary evil, in Fenton's mind. "It's not like they're Satan," he says. It's just that if we want communities and the people who live in them to be healthy, the car can't dictate everything else.

---

E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com