What were the reasons people were unhappy with sidewalks? I cannot fathom that. Montgomery County is a weird place.

The public sidewalk takes away from their private lawn, apparently.

There is definitely a type of suburban development where walking is treated with suspicion, but I wouldn't have associated that with this region. Admittedly, there are some fairly pedestrian hostile places near where I live in northern Virginia (Fairfax Circle, for example - and Tyson's Corner is notorious) but we also have one of the country's largest networks of mixed use (hike and bike - and, I guess, skate) trails. Way weird.