Category: Life in the Big City

How communities are seeking safer streets

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

What a great idea! It looks like a sculpture — and reminds me of Target:

Communities across the United States are attempting to address pedestrian safety by implementing changes designed to slow vehicle speeds and protect pedestrians. This concept, known as “traffic calming” is the use of narrower roads and pedestrian amenities to adjust the speeds at which drivers feel they are able to travel down a particular street. In St. Louis, the symbol of traffic calming has become the “Ingrassia Ball” – a giant concrete ball set on a concrete foundation that is placed at intersections or in areas not intended for vehicle use.

 

The term “Ingrassia Ball” is a St. Louis moniker, representing the involvement of Alderwoman Christine Ingrassia in getting the barriers installed. But the use of these spherical barriers is not limited to St. Louis. “These types of barriers and speed-reducers are popping up across the nation,” said Gary Burger, a personal injury attorney with the Burger Law Firm in St. Louis, Missouri.  “As urban living becomes more popular, the issue of protecting pedestrians becomes critical. Creating situations that reduce speeds and create barriers between vehicles and individuals should be beneficial for all parties.”

 

Drivers can be held liable not only for injuries to individuals, but also for damage to property that results from negligent driving. However, it is very unlikely that a driver who strikes one of these Ingrassia Balls or other barriers could attempt to be reimbursed by the city for any damages done to their vehicle. “You would have to be able to show that the city was at fault,” says Buger.  Unless the city improperly mounted or placed a barrier, a driver’s failure to be aware of their surroundings, even if new, would not normally be the city’s fault, he said.

 

But take the case of a driver that hit one of these new Ingrassia Balls with enough force to knock it off its mounting base – had that Ingrassia Ball hit someone or something, the driver’s insurance would likely be the primary source of reimbursement for any damage or injuries.

 

What does this all mean? Traffic calming measures are likely here to stay, and attempts will continue to be made to slow traffic in dense area of population. Drivers will need to be that much more aware of their surroundings to avoid liability.

Starbucks helps widen the great divide

~ odd man out ~ 1 Comment

Headline from a opinion piece by a lifelong black resident of Philadelphia:
“Starbucks wasn’t created for black folks, it was made to push us out.”

The piece appeared this week in response to the widely reported arrest of two young black men at a Starbucks in Philly’s affluent Rittenhouse Square section. The store manager called the cops on the men, who were sitting at a table but hadn’t yet bought anything. A customer recorded the arrest with her phone, the video went viral, and protests ensued.

The Starbucks story sounds like it’s about racism, and it is, but it’s also about classism. The fact that arrests were made, and made almost immediately, demonstrates how high a priority Philly cops place on protecting residents of affluent neighborhoods from real and imagined dangers.

Put another way, it’s likely that arrests wouldn’t have been made — that police wouldn’t even have been called — if the incident had occurred at a Starbucks in a poor neighborhood, where people are less likely to raise a fuss unless something truly criminal is taking place.

Wait, I forgot — there are no Starbucks in poor neighborhoods. The mere presence of a Starbucks in a neighborhood indicates that property values are booming to the point where poor people, black and white, have been pushed out, or soon will be pushed out, by people who can afford higher rental and mortgage payments.

(Check out the Zillow study, conducted in 2015, that documents the role Starbucks plays in the “gentrification” of city neighborhoods.)

Now Starbucks has announced it will close 8,000 stores for an afternoon next month in order to hold “racial-bias education” sessions for its employees. This may be a smart corporate strategy for avoiding lawsuits, but it will do nothing to allay the xenophobia and intolerance so prevalent in wealthy enclaves where residents have enough clout at City Hall to make cops jump through hoops at their command.

Racial bias sessions won’t keep wealthy residents from raising a stink when someone plays a flute in the square, or when the so-called Friends of Rittenhouse Square try to ban wall sitting there.

More broadly, the sessions will do nothing to relieve tensions in big cities like Philly, where the gulf between rich and poor residents continues to widen.

Two more congressmen not running

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Trey Gowdy Just Sealed Robert Mueller’s Fate With One Shocking Reveal!VP Joe Biden and US Rep. Bob Brady seeing eye to eye. (10/16/14)

The big shocker on the national stage is that teabagging Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) has announced he won’t be running for reelection this year:

But the announcement from Philadelphia Rep. Bob Brady, boss of Philadelphia’s Democratic patronage machine, is seismic — and possibly a step ahead of a criminal indictment.

This is good for Philadelphia, because not only are we still paying for patronage employees, we’re also paying for people to actually show up and do their jobs for them.

Brady was also the guy who handled all those private settlements for House members, by the way. Probably came in handy!

Are self-driving cars coming to New York?

~ susie

Self-driving car crashes can trigger a complex blame game

In May, Governor Andrew Cuomo put his signature on a bill that allows testing of self-driving and self-parking cars on New York public highways. The new law was part of a budget bill and will be in effect for one year.

Under the law, each vehicle that is being tested is required to have a human driver in the driver’s seat as it is being operated. Each vehicle is also required to carry at least $5 million in liability insurance.

Up until the law was signed, testing of self-driving vehicles was banned because New York law requires there be at least one hand on the steering wheel of a vehicle in operation at all times.

New York joins several other states that have passed laws to allow testing of self-driving vehicles, including Arizona, California, Florida, and Pennsylvania. As more and more states allow testing of these vehicles – and looking to the future when they may actually become part of commuters’ daily lives – the question of liability in the event of a traffic accident has become a legal issue open for debate and one that needs to be determined once and for all.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Society of Automotive Engineers, there are six different levels of automation in self-driving vehicles. If a vehicle is at level two, one, or zero, then it is considered to be operated by the human sitting in the driver’s seat. Any level above two, then it is the vehicle that is behind the operation.

Many legal analysts predict that as self-driving vehicles become part of society, vehicle manufacturers will begin to bear accident fault responsibility. This will create the need for more specific tort legislation to be passed, as well new regulation in the insurance industry.

Upon hearing of the passage of the self-driving vehicle testing bill, Attorney Goldstein commented, “It is important for all accident attorneys to become very familiar with the new law – as well as keep themselves well informed of this developing industry – in order to be fully prepared to successfully represent a victim who has been injured in a self-driving vehicle accident.”

 

Northglenn launches Connect Northglenn, its first bike lanes pilot project

~ susie

Bike Lane (2)
Grant Drive now lays claim to Northglenn’s first bike lane and the pilot program will make the city safer for all residents, pedestrians, drivers, and cyclists alike. The pilot program, which will give residents a chance to try it out before any permanent changes to the road is made, will last through at least October 2017. Grant Street was chosen for this pilot because it encompasses three distinct land use categories within a half mile stretch: a school zone, a residential area and a business district.

There are now two striped bike lanes on Grant Street between Malley Drive and Emery Road; there is also painted “sharrow” symbols (the two arrows with the bike symbol underneath) on the road between Emery Road and Muriel Drive, by Stukey Elementary School, in an effort to slow down drivers while driving near the school, a common complaint. Without bus service the Elementary School’s students either walk or bike to school every day; these will greatly increase their safety as there are different lanes for biking, parking and walking.

Families are more active now and want to enjoy the outdoors; more trail connections will make it easier for people to walk across town rather than use their cars, cutting down on traffic and pollution. These trails will also connect the residential neighborhoods with the shopping areas and parks, further reducing everyday road traffic as more and more people use the trails. Other streets may also be tested for additional bike lanes, once the Grant Street project is evaluated.

The project also includes a city-run website, ConnectNorthglenn.com, where Northglenn residents can give feedback on the pilot program and get information about navigating around Northglen to create “a more bicycle- and walk-friendly community, which will support active living.” Polls were given to residents through the site to determine how “safe, practical and easy it is to walk or bike around town.” Only 36 percent of residents said that

biking in Northglenn is safe and easy, and 50 percent said that walking was safe and easy. Close to 80 percent said the city needs to give the residents more access to biking and walking lanes on the streets and find ways to slow drivers to make biking and walking safer from cars.

 

“The pilot program will be a great step forward in making the streets for our residents safer by introducing designated lanes and widening the sidewalks to accommodate the bicycles, toddler strollers and trailers, which are common sights in our community,” said Amy Gaiennie. “There are far too many bicycle accidents due to reckless driving and we are here to help you navigate through your options if you were injured while on your bicycle. There are many factors to consider, including medical costs, property damage, and dealing with the insurance companies – we are here to protect you.”

Fly, Eagles, Fly

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

I hate football. You know this.

I can’t stand watching people inflict brain injuries on each other. I hate the heavy haze of alcoholic excess that surrounds post-season play. I don’t watch football games, and last night was not supposed to be an exception.

But I watched a half-hour and I was hooked. And it wasn’t a typical ugly nailbiter of a Philadelphia win — it was a romp by a team that gloried in its underdog status.

And I love underdogs.

It was also my sister’s birthday, and all she really wanted was an Eagles win. She got it, and then some. (I knew in my bones we would win when I saw that Vikings fans decorated the Rocky statue with their team colors. “Oh, you’re gonna pay for that,” I thought to myself.)

This morning, that situation was rectified and all was right with the world.

My siblings, nieces, and nephews had family text messages flying back and forth all night, and of course we thought, “Boy, Dad would be so happy.” My dad, who was buried in his Eagles sweatshirt.

Everybody’s happy. Everyone’s in a good mood. And so, although I hate football, I’m happy, too.

E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles!

Truck terror attacks are very hard to stop

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

The NYC terror attack suspect had been planning for weeks and did it 'in the name of ISIS,' NYPD says

People saw this coming. In the aftermath of the attack in lower Manhattan yesterday, I was reminded of a conversation I had almost a year ago with a veteran counterterrorism chief in Madrid. He had just written a report to his superiors warning about the urgent threat that terrorists would use trucks or cars to mow people down in public places. Continue reading “Truck terror attacks are very hard to stop” →