In response to Tim Engstrom’s July 8 column on great neighborhoods in Albert Lea; many will disagree, but after living on Bridge Avenue for almost 40 years I still like this area of our fair city. Centrally located, I can reach any part of town in 10 minutes or less. What an advantage especially when making last-minute decisions to go to the theater or to pick up an item. I often think of the time it takes to accomplish these same jaunts in the Cities, making me thankful for where I live.

Getting out of my driveway isn’t the problem many think it is, even during the fair. My older friends have just become more alert to traffic and how they back out after a couple of visits, never mentioning it causing concern thereafter.

It was a great location when our children were in school, within walking distance to grade school and junior high (Brookside was still a junior high back then). It was close enough to walk to high school (at its old location) or for hitching a ride to school with a fellow student, which one of my daughters used to do. For the children it was also within walking distance of the library, the movies and downtown activities; no need to transport them everywhere they wanted to go.

Bridge Avenue is a great location for watching parades; it’s walking distance to the fair and let’s not forget winter when my street is the first one to get plowed free of snow!

Rachelle Fliehman

Albert Lea