Seattle Department of Transportation
and the thorn in my side. Sigh. I really did want
to work on my novel this
morning.
Intersection in North Queen
Anne:
Before you read this,
you should know that I have just crossed Nickerson (from Florentia) with my baby
and my dog and could have been hit by three cars ignoring my presence. Don't
worry about it. I'm used to it. It happened last week while I was trying to use
the crosswalk just after the Fremont bridge. It happened the week before while I
was crossing Florentia from the canal path. And these occurances aren't even
happening when the bridge is up. By the way, I've seen police cars blocking that
intersection when the bridge is up.
You
should also know that my baby is taking a nap, and the last thing I want to do
is write a letter to the department of transportation about an intersection that
I have contacted them on before. Numerous times. So have my neighbors. I don't
have much time during the day to that's my own, so please consider how angry I
am. I should not have to risk my son's life for trying to
walk.
So here are some
solutions:
1. Ticket people who block
that intersection. Don't warn them, they'll just do it again. Slap them with the
biggest fine you can. It happens almost every time the bridge goes up; it
certainly happens just after 6 pm & 9
am.
2. Post a speed limit sign on *
Ave. Despite the fact that it is narrow, people drive it like it is an arterial.
Sometimes in my sleep I dream about a tomato launcher attached to a radar gun
but I know that would be
inappropriate.
3. Do not allow
right-on-red off Florentia onto Nickerson. People are always looking left over
their shoulder for traffic on Nickerson. It's a special driver who looks over
their right shoulder for pedestrians. Other drivers get impatient and start
using their horn, causing the driver in front of them to go forward without
checking for pedestrian traffic.
4. Do
not allow Seattle Country Day School to expand. No, this is not part of a letter
writing campaign. I'm aware that my neighbors don't wand the school to expand.
It has a lot to do with how SCDS parents drive and the increased heavy equipment
traffic that will inevitably occur. We don't need any more traffic on., and we
certainly can't expect the upper 1% of the Puget Sound to bus their kids (or
drive reasonably through my
neighborhood).
Finally I want to note
that most businesses take complaints to heart. This is because for every one
person who takes the time to complain there are numerous others who don't. In
short, we're all a little pissed about the traffic in our neighborhood. I would
edit my language but I'm not sure you would get the point.
Posted: Wed - July 7, 2004 at 10:36 AM