The Tourist Lane

Posted by Maximum Fun on 14th June 2010

I just returned from five days in New York. I was sad I didn’t get to see my pal Charlie Todd, founder of Improv Everywhere (he had late rehearsals), I was delighted when I came home and saw IE’s latest mission. They used chalk (the kind that marks playing fields) to denote a local lane and a tourist lane on the NYC sidewalk.

I don’t understand why sidewalk etiquette isn’t taught in schools. I think it is the number one problem that faces our nation today. The basics are simple. Walk with purpose, keep to the right, don’t spread out when in groups, pass on the left, step out of the moving traffic if you’re going to stop. I am not above dropping a shoulder when these basics are ignored.

Of course, New York’s incredible tourist population and hyper-crowded sidewalks make this all the more important, but I grew up with the same problems in downtown San Francisco. Little did I know that I would one day move to a new city – Los Angeles, where no one has any idea how to walk on a sidewalk at all.

Anyway: great job, IE. Glad to see you working on social justice issues.