Is Hudson Run By Fools Who Want To Kill Us? Or Are They All Just Blind?

For readers who are unaware, one of the city's speediest and most dangerous stretches of road is Glenwood Boulevard/North 6th Street (from Parkwood to Washington, likely close to a half mile in distance), and it is most definitely more dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists than it is for drivers.  

Glenwood (I'm going to leave 6th street out of it for now) has got it all: a pair of steep hills, one with a sharp bend, long straightaways, two park entrances, driveways, and zero police enforcement of the speed limit.  A few years ago, complaints from nearby residents forced the city to install a speed radar sign designed to slow down traffic headed into town, found at the end of the long straightaway prior to the hill and bend leading down to the lakes.  Or, more accurately, the sign was designed to tell drivers how fast they were moving.  Most of them, at least. You see, not only is there no speed limit sign near that digital sign, but a few weeks ago I noticed that if drivers approach the sign going 30 miles per hour or faster, it won't display their speed until their speeding car is beyond the sign.  In other words, the fucking thing is useless.  Think Mishanda Franklin cares that that sign is no help?

Between a year and two ago, at Vicky Daskaloudi's behest, a similar digital speed sign appeared along the straightaway between the lakes, facing outgoing traffic that had just come from the hill and past the park entrance.  That sign was battery powered (unlike the other one, which is solar powered) and was regularly not displaying anything.  Wouldn't you know it, that sign and the pole it was on disappeared about one month ago.  Nice effort, whoever you are!

Between the lakes, along the straightaway flanked by steep hills, there also happen to be shoulders on each side that accommodate plenty of bicyclists, e-bikers and people walking.  The asphalt on both shoulders has been in horrible condition for as long as I can remember, and there are two badly sunken storm drains to contend with.  If the traffic lanes were in such condition, the whole thing would have been repaved long ago.  I try to keep off both of the shoulders when biking, but it's not always possible given the amount of vehicle traffic coming and going inches away.  You're kind of screwed either way.  The condition of the neglected shoulders is just more evidence of a City Hall -- primarily Rob Perry, though he no longer works from City Hall -- that doesn't give a shit about cyclists and pedestrians.  One can come to no other conclusion.  (Doesn't HPD have the occasional bicycle patrol?)

During February's or March's meeting of the Infrastructure Committee (as far as I can tell, Code is no longer involved!), chair Jason Foster told Rob Perry that he had gotten an email from a constituent (not me!) about the dangerous conditions of the shoulders along Glenwood between and beyond the lakes, requesting that they be repaved.  Perry acknowledged Foster's plea, saying he would get to it.  That still has not happened and likely won't this year.  Why?  Because Rob Perry is full of bullshit.  And Jason Foster has probably already forgotten about that email he got from a constituent worried about their safety on Glenwood.

Someone had to know this was going to be  
the case for dozens of people every day.

During Monday's laugher of a meeting of the so-called SAFETY Committee meeting, Cheif Franklin announced that committee member and 5th ward representative Dominic Merante had requested a digital "traffic sign" to be put "at the entrance to Oakdale," adding that the sign will be there "for the duration of (summer) camp."  Merante thanked Franklin.  The sign appeared the next day, though it is located a few hundred feet from the entrance to the park and it is completely blocking the fucking shoulder, forcing all pedestrians and cyclists (including children, of course) into the inbound traffic lane at the bottom of the hill with the bend where vehicles are often moving at alarming rates.  If a car or truck going even 20 miles per hour at the bottom of a hill hits you, you are probably going to die instantly.  A helmet might not save you.  If it does, you probably won't ever walk again or eat on your own.  You may just want to die, to release yourself from the misery caused by a traffic sign meant to save children from being run over that some fool or fools making well over $100,000 a year decided would be best located completely blocking a shoulder.

She turned around to check for oncoming traffic
before being forced to cross the shoulder line and
 pass the sign while walking in the traffic lane.

Dominic Merante is nearly or completely blind.  He doesn't drive, he doesn't ride a bicycle or a scooter, nor does he walk in either shoulder of Glenwood Boulevard between the lakes (at least not while he is alone).  I've never seen him walking in the woods at Oakdale.  Being blind must suck beyond imagination, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.  

While at meetings, Dominic Merante often appears to be 
relaxing on a lounge by a pool.

I don't know Dominic personally, but from what I can tell from observing and listening to him at meetings over the past several years, he seems a bit clueless.  Maybe more than a bit.  And I'm thinking I would be saying the same thing if he had perfectly good vision.  He simply doesn't get it.  He has served on the council for too long.

If the corner of this sign hits you in the head as 
you are bicycling by at 20 mph, you are likely 
going to die, helmet or no helmet.

But, of course, Dominic may not know that his sign is completely blocking the shoulder along Glenwood at the bottom of the steep hill with a bend, waiting to kill someone or a few people at once, perhaps children headed to camp at Oakdale.  Maybe he had it in his mind that the sign would somehow be off the street (and shoulder) but still visible to drivers.  Where exactly was he thinking his sign would be located?  Dominic may not even know what his sign looks like or how big it is.  I'd like to think, though, that as an advocate for the disabled, he would not approve of where HPD and DPW located his sign. Was Dominic told that there was no way not to completely block the shoulder with his sign?  Was our "safety" mayor told?

I'm thinking that Cheif Franklin is perfectly fine with where that sign is located, as is Rob Perry.  Let's face it, DPW had to have placed it there, and someone had to tell the crew where it was to go.  Make no doubt about it, this was a DPW/HPD/Common Council collaboration designed to kill someone, perhaps a child or three.  Hell, maybe the "mayor" signed off on it, too!

If "mayor" Ferris allows this sign to remain where it is, he should be tarred and feathered and deposited across the river.

I see and hear it over and over at meetings:  Rob Perry, Mishanda Franklin, David Miller and others are not here to protect us.  They all make far too much money to protect us.  They obviously have other things on their minds.  Consider this.  Beginning this year during her HPD reports to council members on the SAFETY Committee and the public, Chief Franklin stopped mentioning vehicle "accidents" involving pedestrians or bicyclists.  She had been mentioning such incidents for almost two years after a request from Vicky Daskaloudi to do so but stopped the practice immediately after Vicky was gone from the council.  It's beyond creepy.  If that digital sign blocking the shoulder on Glenwood were to injure or kill a pedestrian or cyclist or three, the highest paid city employee wouldn't bother mentioning anything about it to the SAFETY Committee or the public.  And why would she?  Mishanda Franklin probably told Rob Perry where to leave the sign for the next few weeks!

SAFETY Committee, my ass!