As a Lakewood citizen and parent, I want to comment on the continued concern of pedestrian safety and traffic calming throughout the city. I understand that there is a Safe Streets for Lakewood Plan in the works, but I do not feel the immediate issue of student safety walking or biking to and from school has been addressed fast enough. It should be the first thing on the action plan - increased crossing guards and police presence at major intersections just during morning and afternoon school bells would be a start. My student at Garfield has told me that on numerous occasions at the intersection of Detroit and Lewis - where TWO schools of students are exiting at the same time - cars attempt to run that red light or do not stop for students in cross walks. As far as I have seen there is one lonely crossing guard at the Nicolson light and NO police presence at this highly busy area. And now we've had a student hit by a car (not the first this year in the city) - if something doesn't change sooner it won't be the last. Our city touts itself as a pedestrian and bike friendly city, however, I feel we are far from it. Between my experiences of nearly being hit by a car while running or walking almost daily and being disregarded while using the bike lanes, and my children's experiences walking or biking to school or elsewhere, I feel we as citizens are being let down. Please share where we are with this Safety Action Plan, what will be implemented in the next year, and when the Public Safety Committee will be meeting to move this plan forward.
I respectfully oppose the proposed Bunts Road Multi-Modal project because, as currently planned, it presents SIGNIFICANT safety risks, lacks clearly defined maintenance and enforcement responsibilities, and provides no standards for speed, signage, or intersection safety, making it an imprudent and unjustifiable use of taxpayer funds for the Lakewood community.
As a Lakewood citizen and parent, I want to comment on the continued concern of pedestrian safety and traffic calming throughout the city. I understand that there is a Safe Streets for Lakewood Plan in the works, but I do not feel the immediate issue of student safety walking or biking to and from school has been addressed fast enough. It should be the first thing on the action plan - increased crossing guards and police presence at major intersections just during morning and afternoon school bells would be a start. My student at Garfield has told me that on numerous occasions at the intersection of Detroit and Lewis - where TWO schools of students are exiting at the same time - cars attempt to run that red light or do not stop for students in cross walks. As far as I have seen there is one lonely crossing guard at the Nicolson light and NO police presence at this highly busy area. And now we've had a student hit by a car (not the first this year in the city) - if something doesn't change sooner it won't be the last. Our city touts itself as a pedestrian and bike friendly city, however, I feel we are far from it. Between my experiences of nearly being hit by a car while running or walking almost daily and being disregarded while using the bike lanes, and my children's experiences walking or biking to school or elsewhere, I feel we as citizens are being let down. Please share where we are with this Safety Action Plan, what will be implemented in the next year, and when the Public Safety Committee will be meeting to move this plan forward.
I respectfully oppose the proposed Bunts Road Multi-Modal project because, as currently planned, it presents SIGNIFICANT safety risks, lacks clearly defined maintenance and enforcement responsibilities, and provides no standards for speed, signage, or intersection safety, making it an imprudent and unjustifiable use of taxpayer funds for the Lakewood community.