When Erin Sturgis-Pascale brought her gospel of traffic calming to Whalley Avenue, not everyone was ready to accept the new faith.
Sturgis-Pascale, a Fair Haven alderwoman, has made a crusade of slowing down drivers and making city streets safer. She spoke of her efforts at Wednesday night’s Whalley-Edgewood-Beaver Hill (WEB) management team meeting.
At issue was the chronic speeding and sometimes chaotic traffic conditions around Hillhouse High School, specifically the dangerous intersection where cars racing down curving Crescent Street cross Munson. Cars nudge perilously out trying to cross or turn.
The vehicle issue is also complicated by the many pedestrians — often kids in groups from school or going to or from nearby Bowen Field — who were described as taking their lives in their hands.
Currently there is a stop sign and a blinking light, but the squeal of breaks and accidents are commonplace, according to area alderman Moti Sandman (pictured). The city’s traffic and parking office has done a study confirming some remedy is required. “It’s a miracle,” he said, “no one has been killed yet.”
The question Sandman and other WEB members debated was which remedy should be applied. Francine Caplan was all for a full-fledged light with walk and don’t‑walk signals. Sandman wasn’t certain of that approach.
So he brought his aldermanic colleague and the city’s traffic-calming guru, Sturgis-Pascale, to explain the advantages of a roundabout to a full-fledged light.
“The idea here is to reduce speed,” she explained to, among others, (left to right in the photo at the top) Nadine Herring, chair of the Whalley Avenue Revitalization Committee; Stephanie Fitzgerald, secretary of WEB, and Jennifer Blennings of ALSO-Cornerstone, Inc, “With a light, a driver will often just speed up just to get through it. A light will likely not achieve the goal.”
Instead Sturgis-Pascale recommended a roundabout or rotary, which would force people to reduce from 40 to 20 miles per hour. “With warning signs that a rotary is coming and zebras in both incoming directions, that’ll do the trick.”
Francine Caplan and Robert Caplan, WEB’s chair, were unconvinced. They challenged Sturgis-Pascale about the effectiveness of the roundabout recently installed at Woodward Avenue in the East Shore, where there have been reports of less than great success, including poor visibility of the roundabout at night.
“Plus,” added Francine Caplan, “the issue is more than speed on Crescent. It’s lots of people crossing, at high volume times to games at Bowen Field or for events at Southern. Plus, rotaries are known in Massachusetts but not here. People don’t understand them.”
Sturgis-Pascale concurred that education of drivers is in fact critical, but maintained that it could work. She also pointed out that dollar for dollar a traffic light and a roundabout or island costs the same. “However, a light over the years costs a lot to maintain whereas a roundabout is virtually self-maintaining.”
WEB member Peaches Quinn (pictured in the background) suggested the real problem is not the single Crescent-Munson intersection, but the entire traffic pattern in the area and what Quinn called a lack of city leadership to promote sensible driving. Sturgis-Pascale said amen. “I’m fearful,” said Quinn, “we’ll be reactive, solve one problem but only at one intersection, and it’ll be a band-aid without addressing the larger issue.”
(On the larger issue, the city has instituted a “Pace Car” campaign. Click here to read about that.)
So where would Alderman Sandman come down on all this?
“Come here, Francine,” he said. “You know the problem is not just ours but Southern’s and Hillhouse’s. It’s their traffic in the area. And also let’s not forget there’s speeding there from drug dealing. It’s a kind of a drive-by drug market on Crescent and Ellsworth. They call ahead by cell phone, arrange a deal, stop, and speed off. We need to talk to all these parties and not go it alone. I’m going to secure the funding first.”
“So we’re not going to go for the light?” Caplan asked.
“At this point I’m neutural about the device, light or roundabout, but I will be very active in securing the funding first, and I think we can get the relief if we push for it. Then we bring all the parties together and figure out the best solution.”
“As long as it won’t take forever,” she said. “There’s a fatality there waiting to happen.”
Bike Racks For Hillhouse
In a related transportation and safety matter, Sandman reported that he received an approval from Hillhouse’s principal, the police department, and Sue Weisselberg, coordinator of school construction, to have bike racks installed at Hillhouse. Currently there are none for the entire 1,200 students at the school.
In the past month kids — often truant from school — have been stashing their bikes for safety in the backyards of houses on Norton Street. “When an old person on Norton Street,” said Sandman, “looks out their window and sees a kid in the bushes with a bike, that’s not the way it’s supposed to be.”
No one seems to know how many kids ride bikes to Hillhouse. Sandman said he expects the racks to be up in January. There will also be some indoor storage space for the bikes in the bad weather.
Bad Guys Don’t Go Away in Winter
In other news from the WEB, Harry’s Package Store, long a community eyesore at Blake and Fitch, has finally been demolished, to be replaced by, yes, another Dunkin’ Donuts. This one, apparently has its caffeinated eye on the java drinkers from Southern.
District manager Sgt. Stephen Shea reported that car thefts, burglaries and robberies — especially of pizza and more recently Chinese food deliverers – are troublingly on the increase. But shootings are way down.
“I attribute that,” he said, “both to the good work of a force that up until the new recruits arrived, was depleted but still really working hard. That, and also the truces effected by the Street Outreach Workers. That’s made a major difference.”
As the eggnog was being stirred for the holiday party to follow this briefer than usual WEB meeting, Shea also advised people against leaving their cars running in parking lots during the cold weather while they run in to do a brief errand. “There are people who will try for your stuff while you’ve dashed inside. Bad guys don’t go away in winter.”