I think every town should be distinctive—even in the ordinary features that are a part of any community.

I was in Ocean City, NJ recently, and noticed these sunburst crosswalks along Asbury Street downtown. We need crosswalks at intersections. We don’t need uniform, identical, boring stripes at every intersection in every town and state in the country. It’s good to have a local spin on things.

I’d guess that Ocean City’s sunburst design isn’t unique to this shore town alone, but it’s at least unusual enough to make it distinctive. Imagine if State College, Pennsylvania transformed their crosswalks into etchings telling the stories of The Legends of the Nittany Valley, stories uniquely rooted in the folklore of the place.

We should do that.