Sidewalks are for walkers

Some say city sidewalks are no place for this foursome. (Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff/file)

I am a full-time pedestrian, and find (even in winter, on poorly shoveled and dangerously icy sidewalks) that I am sharing sidewalks with: bicyclists who don't belong there and who treat pedestrians as obstacles; runners who do the same, or who run in pairs with neither dropping back to accommodate walkers; dog owners who walk their dogs on extra long leashes or no leash at all.

Several weeks ago I looked up to see a man riding his bicycle toward me while simultaneously walking his dog, and I thought that nothing could be dumber than this. I was wrong.

In the article titled "Basic Instinct" (City Weekly, Jan. 18), we read about a gentleman who rides a wheeled vehicle on city sidewalks in Boston, pulled by three sled dogs. The article is all about him and his dogs and his needs and their needs and a club that he belongs to and all the fun they have, etc.

Give me a break. Sidewalks are for walking. They are not bicycle paths, running tracks, or training grounds for the Iditarod. That people can be so self-absorbed and into their own pleasures and passions at the expense of those who want to simply walk on sidewalks is blatantly inconsiderate. That police and city officials don't do more to reclaim sidewalks for those who simply want to walk is absurd.

Hans Jaegerstatter
Cambridge