STOP! In the Name of...

From the KC Star's Watchdog:

Virginia Schaefer is concerned about pedestrian safety on the County Club Plaza [as you might recall from a previous PlazaBUZZ post], specifically at the intersection of 47th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Schaefer says she was promised a new stoplight more than a year ago.

Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus. And there is a stoplight in your future, not just in your stocking.

Kansas City Public Works Department spokesman Dennis Gagnon says design work has been completed for a signal at the intersection and the project is out for bid.

"It is expected that the construction phase will begin shortly after the holiday season and should be complete in time for the pedestrian traffic increase that occurs in late spring and early summer," Gagnon says.

P-BUZZ commentary:
I dunno about you, but I stood in the middle of the street for almost 10 minutes on JC Nichols yesterday after running around the park a few times. Traffic coming south on that road, even school buses for goodness sake, will not stop to heed a pedestrian in that crosswalk right there.

Kinda like Frogger

A local Plaza resident wants the speed limit on the Plaza, namely 47th which is currently set at 35mph, to be reduced to 20mph. Now that I'm a fellow Plaza resident, I've seen how careful you must be when dipping your toe into the river of flowing machinery.

I met a friend for lunch yesterday and we were nearly hit twice walking from CPK to my condo. The first one was a car flying out of a parking garage and the second was another driver trying to slip through the crosswalk without stopping.

I've never understood why pedestrians assume that cars will see them in a crosswalk. It's your life, better take care of it. Motorists realize that pedestrians have the right of way in a crosswalk in many of the places that I have lived. But here, I can stand in the middle of the street and watch car after car blow past without regard for the crosswalk.

Each one gets the evil eye as they pass by. Perhaps I should give them a little bit more.

Alas, the Public Works "traffic engineering staff" assessed the concern and gave our local resident the middle finger.

"If the speed limit were too low, many motorists might ignore it. That means that a road can have motorists traveling at widely varying speeds — those abiding by the new limit and those going at a higher rate — and that creates more problems than it solves."

Such as?

PlazaBUZZ suggests that Plaza residents return the favor and give the middle finger to any motorist that fails to recognize pedestrians trying to cross the street.

Ideally, I'd love to see the Plaza become more like the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA.