Wednesday, October 07, 2009

crossing flags

why do i find these crossing flags so adorable? the idea is you cross this part of baxter boulevard by grabbing an orange flag, marching - flag waving? - through the crosswalk, and then depositing in the flag in the holder on the other side of the street. i've crossed here many times, but i've never used a flag (i'm too shy to wave a flag while i cross the street). but i love that they're available, and i love that they are apparently either 1) never stolen or 2) frequently replaced. it's a kind of community/communal property, right? it makes me happy when these things work, when the community works together to not mess things up too badly, and can occasionally share stuff. like...parks, and the benches therein. i often see a sad-looking person sitting on a bench gazing out at the water when i walk around the back cove trail, and i think it's sweet how those benches are available for anyone who needs somewhere lovely to sit and feel sad for a while. and how then that person heaves a sigh, gets up off the bench and leaves, and is then eventually replaced by the next sad, solitary person.

all of this communal property talk makes me wonder, what ever happened with the white bikes in portland? did that work out? i've never seen one with my own eyes. boo tried to use one once, but was yelled at by the bike's owner (turned out it wasn't a white bike, it was just a white bike).

5 comments:

David said...

They have these flags all over Salt Lake City. I took advantage of every opportunity to use them. It was especially great when I was leading a large group of librarians across the street!

Liz Woodbury said...

i wish i had a picture of that!

pixiegenne said...

love this post - i always like seeing people sitting on those benches looking melancholy.

john was the one who started the white bikes. he's been stressed w/other stuff so he didn't rekindle it this summer - though we have a garage chock full 'o white bikes just waiting to be dispatched....

Liz Woodbury said...

i knew you'd know the answer to that, meg! i'm just happy to hear there's a herd of bikes waiting to be set free...

Mary said...

interesting - just saw a reference to white bikes in boston, aka "ghost bikes" evidently placed as memorials for bicyclists killed by cars...not so nice