The Haight of Insanity: Safety Overview of a Street with Four Schools

[XLFD]

"The height of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." -Albert Einstein

 

Protecting our children should be one of our highest priorities.  We can expect them to be reasonably safe at school, and safe at home, but what about the areas in between.  Haight-Anderson-Lawndale Streets are all on the same line going across Ludington from east-west starting at Nelson Road and ending at M-116:

 The front doors of Franklin Elementary and Lakeview Elementary open out to these streets, and this meridian also abuts Ludington High School, which attaches to the Middle School.  Four schools that serve our community. 

 

We can bus or drive our children to and from school; most do.  Particularly if they have seen or experienced the difficulty in walking or biking safely to any school due to a lack of sound policy in our basic infrastructure.  Is this a good idea though—to get them accustomed to using vehicles to get from one place to another.  Such habits may lead to obesity, laziness, increased traffic and pollution, and rising demands/costs of fuel.

 

Our local government will apply for grants from the federal Safe Routes to School program, and ignore the extent of the problem, which would require a lot more dedication and financing than a couple thousand dollars used for pamphlets and walk-throughs.  Of course, once they receive the token monies, they are free to devote their attention elsewhere, and ignore the growing problem as they continue to devote less and less to the city sidewalk maintenance budget, and less will to developing solutions for the growing dangers.

 

So here’s the scenario—we are going to do a virtual walk down these avenues (the orange arrow on the map) and try to identify the existing problems and think of possible solutions.  We start at the corner of Lawndale and Nelson.

 

Surprisingly, there are a few kids who start their travel to school before they get here.  Kids in various residential areas on Jebavy , Limouze, Barton, and Bonnie Streets will take this path to get to their school.  Those areas are outside the city proper and have little facility for bikes and walkers.  This year the school day is starting the same for all, but in the past, the older kids would go through this area in complete darkness (check the absence of street lights and dense trees), nowadays it will still be dark most of the school year.  Although the north (your right) side of the road is in the City proper, and sidewalks should have been put in by law when Pineway was constructed, there is none.  The south side has no such mandate, but the addition of street lights and sidewalks on the north side of the road would make a difference.  Note also how the trees and hills block the kids from walking much off the road.

 

Around this point some street lights exist, and Pineway kids join the mix.  As before there are no sidewalks or shoulder on the sides of the road-- the sidewalks near the AFC to the far right just go around that facility.  The right-of-way (ROW) opens up a little, allowing kids to walk to the side of the road.

 

The lighting situation is still sparse after getting past the hospital.  The north side ROW gets cluttered.  No sidewalks, amazingly, all along the back border of the hospital, and abutting the medical office buildings that have been built since 1984, and should have by law had sidewalks along Lawndale.  Safety and sidewalks bad for business, perhaps?

 

The Lawndale Apts. builders in 1994 (to the left), made a home for senior citizens; they didn’t want them to walk down the roadside safely.  To the north, a few sidewalks have been installed, but they also get their share of parked vehicles on them, making them effectively useless. 

 

The end of Lawndale sees landscapers winning the battle against sidewalks and the hidden stop sign on Staffon.  Pedestrians who should be travelling on the left side of the road, should not cross until they reach Staffon, and then continue on the un-sidewalked shoulder there.  Kids don’t always have such patience, so as a motorist be careful at this corner, and the streetlights are still not very good here, though they will be adequate past this point.

 

Kids coming up Staffon join the mix, some of these come from points to the southeast.  North Staffon homeowners  (as well as Pine, Maple, Jackson Streeters) have already travelled in the road from their houses due to the near complete absence of sidewalks or paths.  A block from the Franklin Elementary School and these intersections scream danger for all that pass through.  The only thing safe about this area is the visible stop sign on this corner.

 

The north side has sidewalk thoughout Anderson, but check out dearth on the south side.  One homeowner has put up two ROW-blocking structures on his property, practically across from Franklin Elem.  It’s amazing how a code-enforcer can get on your case for a ‘yard sale sign’ put in the ROW, but has no problem with this perennial jerk that endangers our kids.

 

The south side on Anderson continues to have gaps in the sidewalks.  The first gap here happens to be the house of Mike Nekola, a member of the City Planning Commission, and the chairman of its’ Special Land Use Committee, and he is also on the Block Grant Steering Committee.  His community involvement is commendable—but maybe he could plan on steering some of his money for a special purpose—to build a sidewalk across from the schools where our children go. 

 

Haight Street begins at Washington.  A common sight, no sidewalks to be seen down the street.  The ROW isn’t as blocked as other areas have been.  This is one block away from both the high and elementary schools.

 

Sidewalks are on the next block to the south, about halfway down they start to the north, after a difficult ROW to start.

 

The next block, sidewalks go halfway to the south and north, reducing their effectiveness.  Note the two vehicles blocking the sidewalk to the south.  That could be two parking tickets worth $60 total.  Parking enforcers don’t bother with these, I’ve noted, in this city.

 

The end of the prior block, shows the hilly ROW to the north with no sidewalk, and then the lack of sidewalk down the next block’s south side.  Notice a pattern of helter-skelter paving yet?

 

Next two blocks, still nothing to the south, a bit better to the north.

 

Further down, the trend continues, the north side will be sidewalked all the way to Lakeview Elem. , and the south side will have none, yet be passable. 

 

 

 Lakeview Elem.  Notice when school starts partial or total blockage of the north sidewalk by parked vehicles.  The south side and street also has its blockages by an inconsiderate homeowner, as seen on the bottom picture. 

 

 

 West of Lakeview.  Those who come up or down from this side to get on Haight, will be disappointed about the lack of pedestrian facilities, particularly to the south.  My pictures from the Gus Macker tournament show more of the deficiencies in this area.

 

 Improved lighting where needed, clearer right-of-ways everywhere, stricter enforcement on ROW/sidewalk obstructions, visible traffic signs, enforcement of mandated sidewalks that haven’t been built, and more sidewalks close to the schools are a bare minimum of what we should be doing as a community.  The fact that we aren’t will likely lead to another unnecessary death in the near future, and impel caring  parents to drive their kids a couple of blocks to school and back. 

[AQUAMAN]

Two wrongful JOHNS does not make a right, imho. Anyone for porta-johns?

[AQUAMAN]

I tonight watched a National TV show on how the infrastructure in the entire country has eroded, to a D- condition, per the national civil engineers ratings, people employed to keep track of this stuff. Most issues are over 50 years old. We are talking about roads, sidewalks, bridges, drainage ditches, water supplies, sewer systems, tunnels, and the list is end-list. NYDE and others around the country are seeing the total collapse of the main infrastructure breakdown scenario. Literally falling apart. And this is responsible governing for the people? The list of examples is pretty endless and compounding everyday. Word is we are heading for a crash, of untold magnitude. The last time the country got a very favorable rating was in the Eisenhower administration. That tell us something about good governing nowadays? It's estimated the total to the annual budget should be around 14% to keep up with maintenance, not the 2.5% now allocated. Pretty close to Our Own Ludville's budget, sick. Anyone want to make their own observation? Thanks.

[Mary A.]

Pretty frightening, and at this degree of deterioration nobody wants to pay for it.

[XLFD]

Fourteen percent is probably unattainable in today's current political system when you have outrageous salaries, increasing fringe benefits, extravagant pork, and silly pet projects taking up such a large percentage of public spending. When you get past the allotments, including the ones allocated in the general funds, you don't have a lot left for maintenance of the infrastructure.

There has got to be a completely different mindset in the political animals, and the Tea Party movement is a good start to get off the tracks we are on that are about ready to collapse.

[AQUAMAN]

Checkmate X! Thanks. Too bad it's just not a local problemo! It's on everyone's list of things to do, and put off WAY too long!

[XLFD]

True, Aq, and we need to get things running OK in our own backyards before we go out to take on the rest of everyone else's problemos.

[AQUAMAN]

After witnessing the national article on tv about our USA infrastructure, I think you hit the nail on the head again X. We are so concerned and occupied as a nation about all the other nations well-being out here nowadays, that we have ignored and gambled our own citizens safety and priorities away in the process. At best, I can only feel now that this subject is a national disgrace to us all, and not get any better without immediate change. Didn't the current guy at the WH promise change, if so, where is it?

[Edie Lindsey]

For November, here's some change we can believe in.