Had a neighborhood meeting this morning. Conversation turned to a high rise public housing building being renovated in our neighborhood. It's about 4 blocks west of us. All the people on our block had noticed that when the building was occupied, residents walking down our street invariably walked down the middle of the street and virtually never on the sidewalks. (our street dead ends a few blocks away so there isn't much traffic). None of the neighbors at the meeting had ever walked down the middle of the street themselves instead of the sidewalk. I don't believe the public housing project is screening for residents who only walk down the middle of streets. We also noticed that conversation between the people walking down the middle of the street was always at a considerably higher decibel level than other people who walk down the sidewalks.
What's going on?

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13