I must ask myself one question. Why would the Highland Park police department systematically harass morning runners by threatening to give them a ticket for running in the street rather than the sidewalk? Not to mention that "sidewalk" is counter intuitive to running, thus the term sideWALK. I'll get on to that later.
Really, maybe it's motivated by they genuine desire to ensure we (runners) are safe. Maybe somehow they must take the path of least resistance or effort to protect us. Perhaps they are unable to control automobile traffic on their roads. Let's just deal with this scenario for a minute. The crime rate in this most expensive and exclusive township in the Dallas metroplex is virtually non-existent. Yet Highland Park has a police force incapable of enforcing traffic ordinances on their streets despite the fact that they have very little else to do?? If this is the case, then I understand their need to push us up on the sidewalk where we can risk quite a bit more injury to ourselves. I suspect however, that this is not true. I submit testimony of the countless people I know who have been ticketed for exceeding speed limits there by just over 5 miles per hour. Sometimes the fines equal a hefty, monthly car note.
What's another scenario? We've been told that our morning runs are disturbing the morning commute of the citizens of this fair town. Plain and simple, this is horse hockey. Our morning running group runs as early as 5:30 am (usually 6am) and is always finished not later than 7:00am. And we run on the side of the road facing on-coming traffic and obey all traffic lights. BTW running in the road facing traffic is the ordinance of every other township in North Texas including the City of Dallas. This town is simply rich. In fact, it is the 41st wealthiest city in the United States. The median family in Highland Park, TX earns $200,000 annually. The households are made up of successful lawyers, doctors, independent business owners and CEOs. So, acknowledging the pink elephant, I don't anyone fitting these demographics who are required to be anyplace in a hurry at 6am each day. Could it be that the residents are pressed because their servants and gardeners are late in the morning because we runners are impeding their ability to get to work?
Sidewalk running is a joke, but no joke when somebody gets injured. These sidewalks in Highland Park are not evenly paved nor are they level. Since we run in the dark to avoid the Texas heat, we can't see a darn thing on these sidewalks. I know of two runners who have injured themselves from tripping over an obstacle on the sidewalk in HP.
And several days during the Texas winter we face freezing conditions on the ground. Many of the HP homeowners somehow feel it is necessary to have GREEN grass throughout the winter and defiantly keep on their sprinkler timers. You know what comes next, a wet sidewalk now becomes an icy one that lies in wait for an unsuspecting, law abiding runner. Side note, I have run in Highland Park for 3 years now and cannot remember a Summer when every lawn was not green. This in the midst of some of our driest seasons in North Texas and still every lawn is green despite the entire Metroplex being under water restrictions. Just pay attention next summer as you go thru this town.
So what is our resolve? I really don't know. We faced this about 18 months ago and changed every route that ran us through that town to get us off their busiest streets. We could lodge a former complaint to the police in the town but, I don't think that really works. I really think this will pass after they earn a couple thousand dollars from writing us citations. It certainly will do us no good to argue with the police officer enforcing some imaginary ordinance that I still have not ever seen. He doesn't care and he's simply following orders or maybe he's going to push his weight around (quite considerable weight, too) for a couple of weeks. We will avoid him and any other HP cop though for the next several weeks until they've had a chance to calm down. Let's face it, this is the most exciting thing that happens in this town, and it makes perfect sense for a bored, under utilized police force to choose such an easy target for sport. The Honorable Mayor would have been good to send about half of the force to Southern California to assist with getting people back in their homes. It really would be a pleasant surprise to learn that the Mayor has done just that. I really doubt it though.
My resolve? No matter what town, no matter how absent minded the laws in that town, never, never stop running.
Really, maybe it's motivated by they genuine desire to ensure we (runners) are safe. Maybe somehow they must take the path of least resistance or effort to protect us. Perhaps they are unable to control automobile traffic on their roads. Let's just deal with this scenario for a minute. The crime rate in this most expensive and exclusive township in the Dallas metroplex is virtually non-existent. Yet Highland Park has a police force incapable of enforcing traffic ordinances on their streets despite the fact that they have very little else to do?? If this is the case, then I understand their need to push us up on the sidewalk where we can risk quite a bit more injury to ourselves. I suspect however, that this is not true. I submit testimony of the countless people I know who have been ticketed for exceeding speed limits there by just over 5 miles per hour. Sometimes the fines equal a hefty, monthly car note.
What's another scenario? We've been told that our morning runs are disturbing the morning commute of the citizens of this fair town. Plain and simple, this is horse hockey. Our morning running group runs as early as 5:30 am (usually 6am) and is always finished not later than 7:00am. And we run on the side of the road facing on-coming traffic and obey all traffic lights. BTW running in the road facing traffic is the ordinance of every other township in North Texas including the City of Dallas. This town is simply rich. In fact, it is the 41st wealthiest city in the United States. The median family in Highland Park, TX earns $200,000 annually. The households are made up of successful lawyers, doctors, independent business owners and CEOs. So, acknowledging the pink elephant, I don't anyone fitting these demographics who are required to be anyplace in a hurry at 6am each day. Could it be that the residents are pressed because their servants and gardeners are late in the morning because we runners are impeding their ability to get to work?
Sidewalk running is a joke, but no joke when somebody gets injured. These sidewalks in Highland Park are not evenly paved nor are they level. Since we run in the dark to avoid the Texas heat, we can't see a darn thing on these sidewalks. I know of two runners who have injured themselves from tripping over an obstacle on the sidewalk in HP.
And several days during the Texas winter we face freezing conditions on the ground. Many of the HP homeowners somehow feel it is necessary to have GREEN grass throughout the winter and defiantly keep on their sprinkler timers. You know what comes next, a wet sidewalk now becomes an icy one that lies in wait for an unsuspecting, law abiding runner. Side note, I have run in Highland Park for 3 years now and cannot remember a Summer when every lawn was not green. This in the midst of some of our driest seasons in North Texas and still every lawn is green despite the entire Metroplex being under water restrictions. Just pay attention next summer as you go thru this town.So what is our resolve? I really don't know. We faced this about 18 months ago and changed every route that ran us through that town to get us off their busiest streets. We could lodge a former complaint to the police in the town but, I don't think that really works. I really think this will pass after they earn a couple thousand dollars from writing us citations. It certainly will do us no good to argue with the police officer enforcing some imaginary ordinance that I still have not ever seen. He doesn't care and he's simply following orders or maybe he's going to push his weight around (quite considerable weight, too) for a couple of weeks. We will avoid him and any other HP cop though for the next several weeks until they've had a chance to calm down. Let's face it, this is the most exciting thing that happens in this town, and it makes perfect sense for a bored, under utilized police force to choose such an easy target for sport. The Honorable Mayor would have been good to send about half of the force to Southern California to assist with getting people back in their homes. It really would be a pleasant surprise to learn that the Mayor has done just that. I really doubt it though.
My resolve? No matter what town, no matter how absent minded the laws in that town, never, never stop running.
6 comments:
I agree with you 100% about the Highland Park Police department. Sorry I missed yesterdays run.
This is ridiculous. I have been harassed by the same HP police officer on three separate occasions and when he accosted me yesterday (shining his flashlight directly into my eyes while I was a mere 2 feet away from him)I was running alone and not causing any sort of problem. Okay, so I can understand why they might harass a large group of people taking up half of the road. But one girl on the far left side of the street? These cops (or at least the one I keep getting harassed by) are pathetic, bored and get off on flexing their "muscle." They need a hobby or something. Hey - how about running? =)
Your comments in regards to Police harassment in Highland Park disguise an obvious bias against that enclave. Your blog entry spends a paragraph or two discussing the situation with the police and the rest making critical comments of the people that live there. Most of the people that live there are hard working. It is likely that at 5am, when you are running, they are getting ready to start the 16 to 18 hour work day that characterizes the jobs that they do to be able to afford to live there. Not everyone is a Jerry Jones or Bill Clements. Their properties look they way they do because they are proud of their homes and their community. The police do the job that is expected of them by the community. Sometime check out the police blotter in the DMN and see how much crime there is in Highland Park. You might also check the articles that have been written in the Park Cities News and the Dallas Morning News about traffic tie-ups because of the closing of Mockingbird lane for the next year. Pay attention to the statistics that discuss the fact that thousand s of people use Mockingbird, Lovers Lane, Preston and Hillcrest to get through Highland Park to other parts of Dallas. Also note that the publisher of the DMN's wife was struck by an inattentive driver while jogging a few weeks ago. As a runner I understand your concern about the conditions of the sidewalks and the streets. I came to the conclusion several years ago after a couple of close calls with drivers who were not paying attention that maybe the best thing to do was to run the sidewalks and maybe even find a jogging track or two to add to my run. My last comments to your are this: If you are so unhappy with your run through HP maybe you should find another route. Don't bother with UP because they have the same ordinance.
Hi Don,
You guys are always welcome to run with us on the Flagpole Hill run on Tuesdays at 5:30. The Dallas cops are way too busy to mess with us. ;)
Teresa Linder
To protest this I have a new and glorious idea. From now on I shall be running in a bannana hammock and a bowtie, however, I will stay on the sidewalks. After seeing me every morning, I think it will take the good citizens of HP about 5 minutes to unanimously repeal the sidewalk law.
It sounds like these cops are like the ones in Westerville, OH. The highlight of their day is investigating a vandalized bird bath. They have too many cops and most of them are bored.
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