New Haven Independent

As they approached, curious drivers slowed down on a brilliant morning that highlighted the calm beauty of Chatham Square Park and the neighborhood.

Then the little road-witchers, such as 6-year-old Alex Esparza, who goes to the Jepson School, and accompanying alder and other adults, handed each driver a cookie on a paper plate, at the bottom of which (witch?) Sturgis-Pascale, the neighborhood’s alderwoman, had written: “Thank you for sharing the road with us.”

The event, co-sponsored by the new citywide Safe Streets Coalition and the Chatham Square Neighborhood Association, is part of a cascading grassroots campaign to enforce and improve traffic rules and to make the city safer for pedestrians and cyclists. The movement was triggered by the recent traffic deaths of Mila Rainoff on South Frontage Road and Gabrielle Lee on Whalley Avenue.

This particular technique for reclaiming roads from their all-car purposes was pioneered by an Australian, David Engwicht, one of Sturgis-Pascale’s traffic-calming and neighborhood-building gurus.

Saturday’s “chalking” was very much in the spirit of art and play; it also attracted local kids like Ciera Viera and Johely Jimenez. It was also serious business. Even creating the median and bump-outs in chalk — the “witching” part — actually did slow down several sedans and pick-ups on the wide and often zooming Chatham Street at Maltby. Less than a year ago a red-light runner crashed into a crossing car there and grievously injured a little girl. (Click here for that story.)

That violating vehicle, it turned out, was stolen and contained drugs, which points to how traffic calming can lead to other benefits for the city. The organizers had chosen this particular intersection for a reason.

Safe Streets Petition coalition organizer Mark Abraham demonstrated how, on a grassed-in tree-planted median, a local resident might sit in a lawn chair, or even pause with a child and tricycle while safely crossing the street.

Organizers based the chalked creation on the improvements suggested in a survey by Dan Burden, an expert whom Sturgis-Pascale and the community had brought into Fair Haven. (Click here for a previous story on that.) The 40-foot wide Chatham roadway was provided with a 10-foot median in beautiful red and green pastel and two five-foot bump-outs, in blue and white, leaving two 10-foot lanes to pass.

“Look,” exulted Sturgis-Pascale, after much of the make-believe construction was competed and as a UPS truck slowed and passed. “There’s plenty of room even for wide vehicles. All they need, even the big semis, is a lane of about nine feet wide.”

The only disappointment was that a UPS truck driver did not stop for his cookie. Police officer Jeff Goodwin happily did accept his treat from Alex. There was no permit for the event, which was just fine with Sturgis-Pascale. “People should in general, on a quiet neighborhood street like this, absolutely not have to go downtown and go through paperwork,” she said. “The city has a classification for streets that they really don’t focus on: neighborhood streets, collectors, and arterials. This is the lowest volume, a quiet neighborhood street. Kids in suburbs play on their quiet streets; why shouldn’t city kids too?”

Indeed, during the hour or so that the road-witching crew worked, the number of vehicles that passed did not equal the number of artists. “Look, as long as we let the cars pass and we all share the road, it’s the way it should be,” she said.

Officer Goodwin had no problem at all with this. “Thanks,” he said, as he resumed his patrol and carefully turned his cruiser down Maltby. “Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite.”

Traffic-Calming Legislation and Safe Streets Petition Updates

As Sturgis-Pascale and Abraham chalked away creating pastel medians they hoped would soon become real and solid at the corner of Chatham and Maltby, the Independent asked what was going on, beyond the intersection, in their traffic-calming efforts:

Sturgis-Pascale: In September I hope to introduce a bill called Complete Streets Legislation. It will mandate that when the city, or a developer, builds or rebuilds a street, they must do it with equal attention to the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists. It’s a mindset change. They need to think not just cars, but pedestrians, the elderly, people who are disabled. Look, sharing is the key word. I don’t mind if the roads accommodate Hummers coming in from the suburbs, but let’s remember the kids and elderly I mentioned. Do you know that one in three New Haveners do not own cars?

NHI: So, specifically what features are you asking for more attention to be given to in the legislation?

Sturgis-Pascale: Traffic-calming measures, of course. Then good sidewalks, bike racks, narrowing of streets, which slows traffic and enables pedestrians to cross safely.

NHI: And, Mark, what is the status of the petition and next steps?

Abraham: Well, all 10 management teams have signed on, and we have about 1,600 signatures to date. That includes 31 elected officials, almost all in New Haven. Next step is to focus on getting businesses and churches and non-profits to sign.

NHI: Is there a finite number of signatures you’re after?

Abraham: I think 10,000 signatures would do it. That would be a good percentage of the city’s voters. Then we use the petitions as evidence of the popular will when we talk to the city about enforcing the traffic codes. We also want them, as you know, to have accident data by neighborhood, to focus on critical areas, and to do a lot more to reduce speed generally to the 25 mph, and in other sensitive zones.

NHI: Fair Haven seems to be the epicenter of traffic-calming. Beyond the citywide legislation you described, are there specific other initiatives for your ward?

Sturgis-Pascale: By January, we will be applying, with Fair Haven Middle School, for a Safe Routes to School federal grant, which actually goes through the state. It’ll be to enhance what we’ve done with educational efforts to get more kids to walk to school. We’re building into that traffic calming measures, another of Dan Burden’s designs, on Grand Avenue, in front of the school, between Bright and Atwater. A crosswalk and other features.

NHI: Are you and the Fair Haven Middle kids going to road-witch there and chalk that in?

Sturgis-Pascale: Well, that’s a busy avenue, not a quiet neighborhood street like this. We’d definitely have to get a permit for that one and close it down first. But who knows!

NHI: Thank you, and happy witching.