2021-11-22_4:48pm - Toledo Community Visioning at the City Council

I decided to walk to tonight’s Toledo City Council meeting where members of Toledo’s Community Visioning group were seeking a resolution from the city in support of our efforts going forward. The council voted to draft just such a resolution.

The route that I choose to the Reinig Center is unlike any that I’ve walked before. This route passed to the north of the Dollar Fresh supermarket, south of a property to be developed by Kwik Star, and around a retaining pond recently constructed as part of the new Birkwood Village retirement community. The portion of this route between US 63 and Fee Street might be a feasible alternative to a relatively expensive proposed route along West 2nd Street.

I took a number of photos along the way.

• The first is the southernmost point on the map. It was taken from the end of the sidewalk at the SE corner of 2nd Street and US 63, looking northwest toward Dollar Fresh. This is an exceptionally busy intersection where a pedestrian crossing is proposed from the NE to the NW corners of the intersection.

• The second, taken from the NE corner of the 2nd Street and US 63 intersection, looks north where an alternative sidewalk could be constructed to provide a safer pedestrian crossing to pass along the north side of Dollar Fresh and just south of a soon-to-be-built Kwik Star station.

• The third photo looks west across US 63 at a possible alternate crossing location.

• The fourth looks west along an existing access route to Chyma’s Welding.

• The fifth looks northwest toward my destination, the Reinig Center.

• The sixth is at a location where I had to make some decisions. At this location there’s a drainage ditch running roughly from Chyma’s Welding north into a low-lying area and farm field. The photo looks northwest with the new Birkwood Village stormwater retention pond on the left.

• The seventh looks back to the east toward the US 63 and Business 30 intersection. There’s a mound of dirt, presumably from the Birkwood excavation, on the left and the retention pond embankment on the right.

• The last two photos, taken 24 hours apart, were taken looking north and south, respectively, along Fee Street opposite the east side of Premier Estates of Toledo. This is the point where I turned north to the Reinig Center but a pedestrian route here could go in either or both directions. If the route turned south it could easily parallel 1st Avenue to the west to make a connection with the South Tama Rec Trail near Deer Creek.