Why America is obsessed with a grandpa in high-waisted pants who is building sidewalks

 

Gary Miller in Danville's revitalized downtown, a project he led to completion on the city council.

Courtesy Henry Stevens

Gary Miller’s viral sidewalk crusade started with a nagging worry.

The cardiologist and longtime local politician couldn’t shake the thought that a young child was going to get hit by a car trying to cross a busy stretch of road in Danville, Virginia, to get to the grocery store. And what if he was behind the wheel?

“I go that way and go after dark,” the 78-year-old Danville councilman told me. “I was honestly afraid I was going to hurt somebody.”

So Miller began a four-year quest to build sidewalks along Kemper Road, a historically disinvested, predominantly Black neighborhood in the city. Along with the rest of the world, I learned of Miller’s successful push to install 1,600 feet of new sidewalks and crosswalks in his re-election campaign video, which caught fire on the internet this week.

“When you think about public safety, the first thing to come to your mind may not be sidewalks,” Miller, in gray slacks tucked high above his waistline, turquoise Under Armour polo and slip-on leather moccasins, says to the camera. “A street with a sidewalk is a safer street and a healthier neighborhood.”

“What happened here?” a puzzled Miller asks, arms spread wide, as he steps off a sidewalk to an impassable lot with grass and weeds.

The video has more than four million views on TikTok and X and some 175,000 Instagram likes. Singers like Clay Aiken have commented on it.