Making Oak Park Easier to Walk and Bike

What a great piece in the Wednesday Journal! Take a look: National walking and exercise expert Mark Fenton sizes up Oak Park



I love this guy! Imagine how much more people would ride bikes in Oak Park if, for example, they felt safer on the road with cars? If they always had a place to park their bikes?

I think this is really pretty

I love the look of brick pavers. I love them partly because the usual alternatives--concrete and especially asphalt--never look that great to me and eventually look pretty bad after they've started cracking, which they always do.

Besides being so lovely looking, the pavers allow water to return easily back to the earth instead of being routed through drainage systems. They also last way longer than concrete or asphalt, yet another reason to love them.

Here's the view of the parking lot now:

Under the pavers are layers of materials that support the surface. There's also electrical wiring under there to allow for the eventual move to outdoor lighting fixtures that will produce less light pollution.

Something I've learned during this project is just how many things you can do once you decide to change things: geothermal heating/cooling is the main feature, but we also decided on the brick pavers and underground wiring, both of which also reduce the church's environmental impact.