Windsor walkers to bikers, boarders: Stay away

In their golden years, the residents of Brooks Creek subdivision in Windsor think they should be getting more respect — at least from the bicyclists and skateboarders whizzing by on the neighborhood path.

“You’re walking on the path — say you are on a walker or a cane — and coming on a blind curve is a bicyclist speeding right at you, and you try to get out of the way,” said Marilyn Reynolds, 74. “It’s just a matter of time before someone is badly injured.”

It’s been an on-and-off-again controversy since the Town Council gave the go ahead to the path in the late 1990s, and then about seven years ago connected it along a woody trail from Los Amigos Road to Natalie Drive along Foxwood Drive.

The concerns flared up again last month when a 79-year-old disabled woman complained about almost being struck by two male skateboarders on the 10-foot-wide path.

Sara Bleibaum, a retired civil servant, said she was pushing her walker when two skateboarding teenagers approached from the front.

“I stayed far to the right to let them pass, but the one on my right came up towards me and my walker. He was playing ‘chicken’ and finally veered off without hitting me,” she wrote in a letter to Windsor’s weekly newspaper.

Bleibaum said if she had fallen to the ground, she would not have been able to get back up. Because of that, she said, she is no longer willing to risk walking on the path.

“Skateboards are a menace. Bikes aren’t quite as bad,” she said.

As a result of the incident and a subsequent clamor from a half-dozen seniors who said they have experienced, or know of similar close calls, Windsor officials this week posted signs along the path instructing cyclists to yield to pedestrians.

Some of the Brooks Creek residents are asking for more: They want the path devoted exclusively to pedestrians.

“You should not be running bikes through a senior community,” said Ed Corley, 78, a former clothing store owner who has neuropathy, a condition that causes him to stagger sometimes.

On occasion, he said, “you put your foot down and it doesn’t go where you want it to go. You can wind up moving in the way of a bike.”

But Windsor officials have indicated they are not inclined to make the path off limits to bikes and skateboards.

“It’s not likely,” Councilwoman Debora Fudge said Thursday. “It’s been a part of the town’s trail system since the very beginning.”

The Town Council intended it as a multi-use path and reaffirmed that several years ago, according to Town Manager Matt Mullan.

Putting up cautionary signs was the first step to handle the latest demand for action, he said, adding “we’re looking at any and all options. We haven’t come to any conclusions.”

In the meantime, “we’re trying to get everyone to respect the various uses and get along,” Mullan said. “You would think if they come across a senior with a cane, or walking slowly, they would slow down and respect that person walking on the trail.”

Some of the concerned seniors walked the section of the path that leads from the senior center on Foxwood Drive to their neighborhood of 200 homes. Their neighborhood is replete with names from the Big Band swing era — streets named after Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, Harry James, and chanteuse Ella Fitzgerald.

Over a period of about 90 minutes late in the morning, only four bicyclists were seen on the path, something skeptics say is an indication that the problem is not that acute.

“It’s not that big a deal,” said one woman in her 70s who stopped to talk with the Corley, but asked not to be identified.

“The reality is, it’s not used very much by kids,” Fudge said in an interview later. “When one person feels afraid, the whole situation blows up again.”

All agreed there is more traffic during the school year.

“One bike coming along can spook somebody, shake them up,” said Corley.

“Our reflexes are much slower when we get older,” said Ken Marshall, chairman of Windsor’s Senior Advisory Council, who said a cyclist going 15 mph can appear to be going twice as fast.

And seniors say a fall and a broken hip can be tantamount to a death sentence because it makes older people immobile and more susceptible to ailments like pneumonia.

“I wish they had a bell, or said something like, ‘I’m coming!’” said Juliana Austin, 91. She said it’s hard to detect the cyclists until they are right beside her.

“I have good hearing, but you just make one step and you have a collision — and a lawsuit,” said Glen Mary cqMurray, 84.

Those seniors who want to see more done to address the problem have scheduled a meeting for 2:30 p.m. on July 28 at the senior center.