The Outdoor Stairway

When our subdivision public improvements were constructed back in 1989, the village had the developer put in two sidewalk connections. One connection was from the end of the cul-de-sac to another street, and the other dead ends to the school property that sits behind the west side of the block. For some reason, the school never completed the path. Instead, in an act showing how ridiculous a school administration can be, they put tennis courts behind the then pre-K and K building. This second connection, has two flights of stairs to get up the change in grade from the street to the school property. This is a story of the path with the two stair flights

Stairways on path

Many years ago, when the school did an addition to the high school, they moved the tennis courts to the elementary school. The tennis courts block the path. Not only that, they have a drainage channel, with limestone chunks as rip rap in the base and part of the sides, that separates the tennis courts on the east side from this path connection. To the school authorities, this path connection never seemed useful.

Top of stair view to tennis courts

However, we often see residents behind us and on our street access the school path to take and drop children off to school. Regardless of the difficulty of traversing the terrain. Often accompanied by a younger sibling these parents will use that path. The younger sibling is often on a bike, and will bike the path at least until they get to the stairs. They then have to navigate around a narrow ledge, that is the top of the sidewall of the ditch to reach a more suitable walk surface. Our house is the third house southerly of this path. 

This year, for some reason, middle school aged children have taken to riding their bikes down the sidewalk and the stairs earning the ire of the two residents who live on either side. Maybe other middle schoolers over the past 24 years were smart not to do it, or perhaps dumb not to try. A resident whose house adjoins the path and a resident a house away have taken it on themselves as path guardians. These residents have been calling the police. By reporting on the children doing this, my wife has told them they are encouraging the children to do it more regularly. The thing is, I am not sure there is an ordinance against children riding bikes on the sidewalk; it is a regular feature in town by young and old children, and even adults. As a planner, sidewalks are meant for pedestrians, not bikes.  Not all think like a planner, however.

Rip-rap channel by tennis courts, note teh embankment, too 
narrow to walk on safely.

Here is the catch for the police: How do they cite for riding on this walk, but not when it is done elsewhere in the village? They can't cite a middle-schooler, without citing the three year or four year old with the mom. One police officer apparently laughed about the complaints, earning more the disdain of one neighbor. 

Location of pathway between homes, dead ends at property line

Sunday night arriving in McFarland about 7:10 pm, we saw a bunch of middle schoolers on Farwell St, the main street in town. They were riding all over the street lane coming toward us as we headed home. No helmets. One showed great dexterity while biking with no hands, and no eyes on the road, as his hands and eyes were occupied by his busy use of his phone. When we arrive on our street, sure enough there is a police car by the path and an officer is talking to one of the neighbors along the path. 

Looking down from embankment to street

Some of the children have now taken to ringing her door bell and then ditching, which my wife refers to as "doorbell ditchers." The neighbor has a photo of the boys who did this, and this is a citable offense. She wanted them cited for disorderly conduct for yelling as they went down the stairs on their bike. A neighbor to the south of us told me that after that Sunday incident, the children were whooping it up about how mad they got the old lady. Middle schoolers, at least these boys, seems to take a perverse pride in making a lady mad. 

Tennis courts and path

Part of being a community is putting up with the good and the bad. In this case, yes, riding a bike down stairs is not being totally smart, but no one ever said that middle school brains were always fully functioning. I suspect it could be a fading series of events, but one should not egg them on by complaining about it. The outdoor stairway was seldom used until the past few years, and the school sure makes it difficult for it to be used, by a rip-rap lined drainage ditch, and the odd grade. I midblock path was a good idea, it was just not accepted by a school district who favored tennis courts and cars over pedestrians and bicyclists. This is the same school district that several years ago spent $250,000 to "fix" car drop-off and pick up of children, only to see it exacerbate the problem of back up on the village streets. I told them it would not work, but what do I know? Now the outdoor stairway to nowhere is attracting middle schoolers who like to race their bikes down the stairs.

Image sources:

Airphotos from DCI Map

Photos by author, 6/1/2023