Crossing Swords Over Crosswalks

Last night, at the Public Works and Parks Committee meeting, it was revealed that water and sewer rates were going up $5 a quarter and that CSX's decision to review the plans for the new Ferry Street Bridge, in addition to the review by Amtrak, was holding up progress, but the topic of heated discussion was crosswalks.

It seems Alderman Shershah Mizan (Third Ward) has requested a crosswalk on Prospect Avenue for the benefit of hospital workers going to their cars parked on Rossman Avenue. He cited a $5,000 grant for new crosswalks as evidence that there was plenty of money for this crosswalk. The grant money is actually two grants, one for $1,500 received in 2019 and another for $2,500 received this year, both the result of efforts by Mayor Rick Rector, for a total of $4,000. DPW superintendent Rob Perry cautioned that, once a new crosswalk was created, it had to be maintained, and there needed to be adequate money in the budget for perpetual maintenance of new crosswalks. He said his budget for materials was regularly cut by the BEA (Board of Estimate and Apportionment), and the thermoplastic product needed to maintain the crosswalks that now exist costs $15,000 a year.

When asked how many new crosswalks could be created with the $4,000 in grant money, Perry cited a figure for crosswalks at a single intersection which DPW critic Bill Huston claimed was incorrect, saying he had checked the prices online and found that the cost was significantly less. 

Perry argued that there needed to be some kind of process for determining where crosswalks should be installed, asserting, "It's not like ordering a pizza." He said the consent of the neighborhood was needed, because crosswalks eliminate parking spaces. It was finally suggested by Peter Bujanow, the commissioner of public works, that he and the police commissioner should go out and survey the crosswalks and intersections and make recommendations.

Whenever there are these passionate conversations about crosswalks, it always seems that the people advocating for crosswalks think that white lines on the street have some magical power to stop cars and protect pedestrians. I am reminded of the crosswalk at the Hudson Opera House, which the late Christina Malisoff  wanted so desperately. A woman, not playing attention, had walked into the street in front of the opera house and been struck by a car and seriously injured.

During my four years on the Common Council, I tried to make that crosswalk happen, at first encountering opposition from then police chief Ellis Richardson, who argued that local residents had the right to drive along Warren Street unimpeded by having to stop many times for pedestrians crossing the street, but finally succeeding in 2009, only to have Malisoff tell me that the crosswalk put people in greater danger. They stepped into the crosswalk confident that cars would stop, and they didn't.

Recently, a reader, reacting to a previous Gossips post about crosswalks, suggested that Hudson might address the problem as they do in Kirkland, Washington, with pedestrian flags, or Pedflags, "intended to assist pedestrians in gaining the attention of motorists." The flags are kept in holders installed on utility poles at intersections, and pedestrians crossing the street are expected to take a flag, carry it as they cross the street, and deposit it on the other side. Pedestrians can be ticketed for crossing the street without a flag in hand. The maintenance of the system is carried out by volunteers, who "monitor, replace, and redistribute the flags." But even with this system, which the reader, who has visited Kirkland, attests is taken very seriously, the Kirkland website cautions, "Pedflags are not intended as a substitute for the vigilance and safe crossing techniques that pedestrians must use for crossing any street, whether it has crossing treatments or not." 
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