Philo Road sidewalk work doesn't add up

At a recent Urbana City Council meeting, while the council people were discussing the Philo Road business district, a proposal was made, to wit: "Due to the estimated increase in pedestrian traffic on the new 4-foot sidewalks flanking Philo Road, we should tear up the new walks and replace them with 5-foot walks."

I drive on that section of Philo Road four to five times a day and I can see a definite need for 5-foot walks. I usually see 4,000 or 5,000 people on these walks, all of whom are fighting for position. It's a wonder we do not have sidewalk riots.

Extending this "logic" to the roads, should the city not widen Philo Road to eight traffic lanes in order to accommodate the influx of traffic?

What do the numbers show? Over a period of several years, Philo Road lost 16 businesses, i.e., four major food stores, two national fast food restaurants, two national gas stations, two national ice cream stores, one dry cleaner, one nursing home, one liquor store, one drug store, two banks. What has replaced them? One food store (which cannot seem to be completed), one bank, two convenience stores, one fast food place and one drug store which makes a total of six, all for a net lost of 10.

I guess this is a business district if you say so. Just what is a business district? I think it's the same as a beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

DON ALDEEN

Urbana