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Olympia has many neighborhoods that do not have sidewalks and this is often an issue on dark and rainy nights where pedestrians tend to walk down the center of the roads because there is no good place to walk safely due to parked cars, puddles and brush that dominates the edges of our street. Many homeowners have appropriated areas that are actually part of the roadways into their landscaped areas, there are fences that are located on the city right of way and many many trees, bushes and plantings that obstruct the City right of way. On my block I see that a homeowner has placed raised beds in this area. It creates and unsafe situation for everyone. One solution is for the City to clearly delineate the areas that are the right of way (perhaps by spray painting the right of way line) and for the City to establish some work projects to be staffed by the many idle folks who are not considered a public nuisance. This is not a high tech issue; the construction of sidewalks requires some wooden form (or metal forms) a bunch of people with shovels and picks, a bit of work with a builder's level or transit and some fresh concrete. I personally built the portion of sidewalks that runs up the north side of Harrison and around the corner at Division in the early 70's and it was done exactly that way. If you really want to stimulate the local economy, the best way to do so would be to finish a system of sidewalks that is right now in bits and pieces all over town. The local economy is stimulated; its a great way to show young people how to work and it helps to promote civic pride and public safety. Yes, it costs money, it does increase taxes and property values, but almost all of that money is returned to the local economy in the form of increased consumer spending, employment opportunities for youth and better access for people in wheelchairs. Olympia should spend more and not less money to improve sidewalks