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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear Bill and All,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Blame for bad planning on the Moscow-Pullman
Highway where there is a perennial accident waiting to happen is disbursable to
the many and varied.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It would be more helpful and accurate if one
were more specific as to "the negligence of the previous city council." It was
NOT the 2003-2005 Council who zoned the portion of A Street you speak of. Who
was on the Council when the zoning decision(s) were made? Which particular
zoning decisions are we talking about and when were the offending decisions
made? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>There has been and continues to
be considerable discussion about whether A Street was/is properly zoned as
a motor business/extensive commercial street. I recall (though I was not on
the Council from 83-93) debates about the proper zoning for that area. In any
case, if the apartments were not going to be on A Street, the next level of
zoning immediately north of A Street WAS to have been high density residential,
as I recall, based on the 1990 comprehensive plan and related documents. It
was generally contemplated that the area to the north of A Street would
have a substantial complement of residential housing. Those folks would probably
want to get to the university... and crossing the Pullman Road by foot, bus,
car, bike, wheelchair or otherwise could be assumed whether the block of flats
began on A Street or one street to the north.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The real problem as I saw it then and as I see it
now is the failure of the planning for the Pullman Road construction to include
adequate mechanized crosswalks (which I argued for during the design phase,
along with a green median for purposes of traffic calming, safety and
beautification). I lost that argument. The first claimant for blame is the
funders of these projects (state and federal sources), then the Idaho Department
of Transportation for short-sighted design, then cities and counties who permit
these kinds of roads to be constructed, and finally, we citizens who refuse to
pay the real cost of urban infrastructure or development. We are now playing
catch up and it is somewhat better. Great? No. Good? Not even. Safer? Somewhat.
It's a start, even though belated. I was even threatening a "Die-in" last year
where many of us would simply lay down on the pavement and demonstrate but
others saw more temperate, responsible solutions.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>But we don't get it very often, even with lessons
under our collective noses. I call your specific attention to the backtracking
of the Washington Department of Transportation in its design of the expansion of
Highway 270 which is about to get underway. What originally had more rational
design for a separated highway system has become, for budgetary reasons, a
speedier duplicate of the Pullman Road, with five lanes of traffic and a center
turn lane. I can only think of this as an invitation to high speed traffic
fatalities... and an ugly invitation at that, encouraging strip
development.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We are all responsible to some extent for the kind
of community in which we live. I urge all of you to press for better designed
streets for people as we continue to develop our community.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>All the best,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Linda Pall</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Moscow City Council (1977-83; 1993-2001,
2003-current)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=london@moscow.com href="mailto:london@moscow.com">Bill London</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=timlohr@yahoo.com
href="mailto:timlohr@yahoo.com">Tim Lohrmann</A> ; <A
title=godshatter@yahoo.com href="mailto:godshatter@yahoo.com">Paul
Rumelhart</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, June 30, 2006 9:58 AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] Crosswalks near
Wendys & in general</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>regarding the accident-waiting-to-happen where
students are crossing the Moscow-Pullman highway between the UI and the
apartments on A Street.....</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The reason this problem is surfacing now is the
negligence of the previous City Council. That A Street area was zoned
commercial, and the previous council just couldn't say NO when developers
wanted to put apartments there.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Now, we all have to deal with the problems that
have resulted from that bad decision-making.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>BL</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=timlohr@yahoo.com href="mailto:timlohr@yahoo.com">Tim Lohrmann</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=godshatter@yahoo.com
href="mailto:godshatter@yahoo.com">Paul Rumelhart</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, June 29, 2006 11:04
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Crosswalks near
Wendys & in general</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV> Visionseekers,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Mr. Rumelhart makes some good points. </DIV>
<DIV> The pedestrian crossings on that part of
the Pullman road really can be pretty scary. </DIV>
<DIV> Worrisome is right. </DIV>
<DIV> There have been new crossing signs with flags put up on the
road in a couple of places and that's great. But,
unfortunately, this doesn't seem to have helped the situation all
that much. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Several on here have likely had some close
calls.</DIV>
<DIV> Same here. </DIV>
<DIV> The last one happened while returning from the
Pullman at dusk, going the speed limit or a little
under. All of a sudden, a guy in one of those charcoal gray
warmup suits was right in front of me in the middle of the lane. I had to
brake really hard and veer over or it would have been pedestrian crunch
time. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> The guy wasn't being careful or using a real cross
walk. </DIV>
<DIV> But that wouldn't have been much consolation for
either of us if he'd been thrashing around under my tires--that came within
inches of happening. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> With all the new apartment construction out that
way, maybe something new does need to be done. More people are crossing
wherever they want...without regard to marked crossings.</DIV>
<DIV> I'm not sure that more jaywalking enforcement is the
answer. I don't think word would get around on that. </DIV>
<DIV> Would some flashing caution lights and reflective traffic
bumps or just reflectors be a good way to mark the crossings? It's a
state highway and that makes it more complicated but it's worth
looking into. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> The rest of the crossings on other streets in town need
better marking too.</DIV>
<DIV> It seems like the white paint marking the crossings
wears out so quickly. </DIV>
<DIV> I've been told the ice melt, gravel, sand and snow tires
all do a job on the paint. </DIV>
<DIV> Then after the weather clears up it takes quite a
while for the city to get the markings re-done. </DIV>
<DIV> That's understandable with all that needs doing but the
crossings aren't defined very well in the meantime. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Maybe some different approach--possibly raised marking
would work better. </DIV>
<DIV> I'm sure this would be more expensive in the short
term. But if a different marking system saved
the expense of repainting every year and made the crossings safer
it might make sense. </DIV>
<DIV> TL</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> "Those 'technicalities' have a name, Bobby. They're called
the Bill Of Rights."</DIV>
<DIV>
----Hank Hill</DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV> <BR><BR><B><I>Paul Rumelhart
<godshatter@yahoo.com></I></B> wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">My
apologies if this has been discussed here before, but I wanted to
<BR>state my opinions on this.<BR><BR>I worry that someday some person
(probably a college student) is going <BR>to be seriously injured or
killed at this crosswalk. It has all the <BR>makings of a death trap. It's
on one of the few four-lane streets <BR>(five, really) around with a
higher-than-average-in-Moscow speed limit. <BR>I've seen so many drivers
just cruise on through without even thinking <BR>about it being a
crosswalk, and I've also seen people just pop up from <BR>the slight
incline that leads to it's entrance on the UI side and just <BR>start
hoofing it across the road. I'm aware of the dangers here, and <BR>watch
it closely, and I've still been surprised to find someone in the
<BR>crosswalk there. They either popped up like we're playing whack-a-mole
<BR>from the UI side or they were hidden by the other cars that were just
<BR>blithely driving through the crosswalk ahead of them or behind them.
<BR>The signs are nice, but they are not enough.<BR><BR>I appreciate the
need for a crosswalk there, since you either have to <BR>jaywalk or walk a
block in either direction or more to get to a valid <BR>crosswalk. As it
stands, though, I think we'd be safer letting them <BR>jaywalk - at least
they would be cautious of the traffic. With a legal <BR>crosswalk there,
the old UI-taught behavior of "just walk out there, <BR>they'll stop"
appears to kick in.<BR><BR>Some minor suggestions that might help would
include a yellow light <BR>suspended over the crosswalk, or maybe
spotlights on both sides so we <BR>can see better at night, or possibly a
concrete "staging platform" that <BR>is easily visible amongst the grass
so we have a better idea where to <BR>look ahead of time. A better idea
would probably be to just put a light <BR>there, one that turns red only
if a pedestrian pushes the button.<BR><BR>Anyone have any other ideas? Are
there plans for something to happen <BR>there that just haven't been
completed
yet?<BR><BR>Paul<BR><BR>=====================================================<BR>List
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<BR>mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>====================================================<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
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