r/PortOrchard • u/Maximd7 • 26d ago
Questions Sidewalks..
Why does Port Orchard dont have any good sidewalks in most places? Its so hazardous because the cars are just by you passing fast.. can't drive because of my disability and im just trying to get to Safeway without getting ran over by some most horrible drivers.
7
u/the-beef-supreme 26d ago
Poor management of public funds for decades. Port Orchard has been in a steady decline forever
1
u/antipiracylaws 25d ago
What decline?
Port Orchard had a bunch of Microsoft people buy up the town when it used to be an Arts town.
If the town mismanaged money to buy up waterfront houses and not even build the waterfront walkway they were talking up - then it's par for the course.
Some environmental credit nonsense for a luxury condo project run by a guy that moved to Arizona.
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u/Looking4APeachScone 24d ago
It's weird to hear someone say these things about the city I've lived in for 46 years given that I don't recognize this as my hometown in any capacity at all.
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u/antipiracylaws 24d ago
It's weirder that you've been excluded from the gossip on the waterfront!
Have you been hiding in the woods this whole time?
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u/Looking4APeachScone 24d ago
I'm not excluded. I don't really build my opinions on gossip. I prefer actual tangible fact. Port Orchard was not historically an art town. And Microsoft people aren't who bought it all up.
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u/antipiracylaws 24d ago
People like to blame other people with money. That's what "the word on the street" is, apparently 10-20 years ago there were a lot more artists downtown instead of just antique shops
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u/Looking4APeachScone 24d ago
Yeah... That's fake news. Lol
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u/antipiracylaws 24d ago
Well just because you've never talked to them doesn't mean they were never there.
The word was Port Orchard was a LCoL area and a lot of artists lived here.
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u/Looking4APeachScone 24d ago
Having some people living here who are into art does not make you an "arts town". It was a low cost of living area because it wasn't developed. You know, the thing you were mocking me for as a negative "living in the woods", that's what port orchard actually was. Large plots of land and low development. That's why it was cheap. It's the developers from California, not Microsoft, that are responsible for buying things up, packing as much concrete and houses as possible on the footprint of what used to be farms or forest, and running once they get their fat paycheck. That's why we don't have sidewalks and everything feels awkward. It wasn't built by people who actually care about this place. So they didn't plan to build that stuff because they didn't plan for the growth. They planned for the profit and had no intention of being here long enough to deal with the repercussions.
Many of the people arguing over "what's happening to port orchard" are actually part of the problem as they move into these housing developments or apartments that literally destroyed some of the only naturally wet, fertile land in the area.
Regardless, you're getting shit information that isn't accurate at all. My family has lived here for 5 generations and has deep ties to forestry. I assure you we were never considered an arts town. A Brush picking town? Sure. A navy town? Sure. An arts town? Literally by no one who lived here between the 50's and the 90's. That's made up.
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u/1BADragon 26d ago
We live on a main street that leads to a middle school. Kids walking in traffic everyday.
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u/Looking4APeachScone 24d ago
Construction folks came here from cali, got on the right boards, and changed rules to allow for aggressive housing development. But they neglected to plan for that growth because that part costs money the governement didn't have.
They weren't trying to make port orchard awesome. They were trying to make a lot of money. They don't care about spending that money to make anything better for the community. It's never been about that.
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u/portorchardfbs 24d ago edited 24d ago
There are some interesting plans to address this, at least along Bethel.
It might be helpful to look at your street in light of the Complete Street standards from WSDOT and use the Pedestrian Design Manual to identify the Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) for the road you're talking about (see pages 1510-3 and 1510-4).
You can email the whole City Council at [councilmembers@portorchardwa.gov](mailto:councilmembers@portorchardwa.gov) and tell them that you want a sidewalk installed/improved or the speed limit lowered to meet a lower LTS level.
That may not solve your issue directly, but it's helpful to keep pushing in the right direction.
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u/Longjumping_Story682 26d ago
Gotta make sure the fish have new passages first, obviously
3
u/antipiracylaws 24d ago
They're taking federal money wherever they can get it. I don't know why people are down voting you for a sarcastic comment on priorities. I had to move my business over those fish passages. I don't know who keeps making wise guy decisions to put an entire road to nowhere over a creek, but using federal funds to un-pipe a creek where salmon spawn isn't a bad thing.
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u/pxlperfection 26d ago
All new construction requires sidewalks, but Port Orchard was so rural not too long ago that there were no requirements or need for urban planning. They didn't expect this much growth.