Back in 1976 it was common to see cars south of Market Street parked on the sidewalk. This left only the center of the street for walking.

A comfortably wide sidewalk had been constructed. But then the owners of this property built oblong planter boxes for trees that cause the width of the sidewalk to be cut by more than half. Now the sidewalk is so narrow that two couples have difficulty passing each other.

Trees are traditionally planted in the sidewalk rather than between parking spaces in the street. Odd how amenities for cars, such as parking meters reduce the size of the sidewalk, whereas amenities for walking, such as tree shade, and newspaper racks do not reduce the size of the road.

As trees mature, their trunks become wider. Sometimes their root systems crack the pavement around them. Here is an extreme example of a sidewalk whose width was dramatically reduced by placement of trees on the sidewalk, rather than placement between parking places.