New Haven Independent

City Offers Parents A Traffic-Calming “Deal”

by Allan Appel | March 5, 2009 8:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

“I only have one kid and she’s my whole world,” this Calvin Hill Day Care parent told traffic chief Mike Piscitelli.

Ashley Griffin (at right in photo, with Piscitelli) confessed her daily fears that her three-year-old might die at the hands of unchecked aggressive speeders when she picks her up from day care.

“I just can’t imagine losing her,” she said.

The emotional exchange took place Wednesday night at the Celentano School, where Griffin and some 15 other parents and neighbors met with city officials to discuss a harrowing traffic problem in front of the Calvin Hill Day Care Center on Highland Street. (Click here to read a previous story)

The meeting, convened by Newhallville Alderwoman Alfreda Edwards, also drew traffic-concerned people from other schools in the Calvin Hill orbit, such as the Foote School.

Griffin declared she felt much safer in Manhattan traffic than on Highland Street, when she drops her kid off at day care. She hoped the traffic chief had truly absorbed her sense of urgency.

Piscitelli listened carefully and then offered parents, residents and school administrators, a “deal.”

First, he recruited their participation in two efforts: To take a safe driving pledge as part of the Street Smarts campaign, and to lobby for a state bill that would allow the city to use cameras to catch drivers who run red lights. Piscitelli himself spent the morning in Hartford urging for the latter.

“Sign up your parents” in those two campaigns, said Piscitelli, “and I’ll use everything I can from our traffic-calming quiver to address the problem in this area.”

Solutions Sought

The word “deal” was used in a tongue-in-cheek manner: There were no strings attached to his help, Piscitelli elaborated. What he was proposing was more of a “partnership.”

But the traffic chief got very specific when Calvin Hill parent Alix Schiavoni (at right in photo) told him, “I will sign up parents and go out there, but you have to tell us what the city is going to bring to the table.”

The solution on Highland Street would not be the speed bumps or humps that Alderwoman Edwards and several of the parents had called for, Piscitelli said.

“The solution is not physical entirely,” he said, “because when you have a hill like that, there are standards; you can’t put in a speed bump, because that will cause the vehicle to go flying.”

Piscitelli said he had already checked the equipment in the area, namely a traffic light at Prospect, and it was in working order. He offered to meet with school administrators — a committee was formed — and to send a traffic engineer out at the peak hours of danger, 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and then 3 a.m. to 4 p.m., pick up and drop off times.

The quiver of traffic-calming solutions that the city could offer is limited by a budget crisis, Piscitelli said. “Even if we determine that something electronic might work, like a flashing light, I’m not sure we have money in the budget for it.”

Piscitelli said that the light on Prospect and Highland could benefit from having a pedestrian button option installed. However he didn’t think there would be money for that either. “In the stimulus package,” he said, “my sense is that for those kinds of signal changes, the emphasis is on intersections in the center of the city, not out here.”

But his sense was that lights weren’t the solution: The answer lied in large part in behavioral change.

“Given the geometry of the hill and the whole area full of schools circulating with people dropping off kids and so forth,” he said, “well, we have signs, including new in-street signs that have proven effective in areas; and other tools, may just be the presence of people, crossing guards; maybe that will do it. We’ll see.”

Muriel Hamilton (at right in photo with Griffin), whose car-door clipping in December was the trigger for Alderwoman Edward’s convening the safety meeting, expressed particular concern for speeding school buses. Piscitelli said that although he had addressed the drivers of First Student at the beginning of the school year, he’d do it again.

“We’ll talk to the city police on the matter,” he said, “and also to the drivers again.”

“Tell them,” said Hamilton, “that we’re going to start taking down the numbers of the buses.”

“You won’t be the first ones to do that,” said Piscitelli, “but by all means.”

Other residents spoke about the erratic behavior of drivers of Yale’s buses, their stopping irresponsibly blocking flow on Prospect as well as Highland, Canner, and Edwards.

“We’ll also speak to the Yale police,” said Piscitelli.

The meeting concluded amicably enough, with a sense that more such meetings will come as new drivers and walkers come into the area. New commuters will include those who attend the new Worthington Hooker on Whitney, students at Yale’s two new residential colleges off Prospect, and a growing number of people living and working in Science Park.

Calvin Hill’s director Carla Horwitz (at left in photo) was very pleased with the meeting, but not everyone was.

Muriel Hamilton said she was relieved there was finally a dialogue going on, but “I’ll believe something’s happening when I see it.”

Ashley Griffin said she really wanted Piscitelli to personally visit Calvin Hill during the peak drop-off time. Before the meeting was over, she found the courage to ask him.

“He listened,” she said, though she didn’t hear a firm “yes.”

Share this story

Share |

Comments

Posted by: Streever | March 5, 2009 10:24 AM

As someone who has been heavily involved in these issues for years (with Elm City Cycling), I want to just let the participants of the meeting know that you could not be working with a better person. I've found Mike to be unceasingly helpful & very dedicated to these issues.

Good luck with slowing down traffic on your streets, and if you'd like to see what we're working on in terms of legislation, please do get in touch.

dls@davidstreever.com

Posted by: Beansie's Mom | March 5, 2009 12:13 PM

Speeding First Student drivers came up during a winter meeting of the Quinnipiac River Group. Since the city depot is on Middletown Avenue, their drivers race down Front Street and other side streets to make up time.

You have do more than just getting the FS Bus number on the side of the Bus. There are many FS locations in Connecticut and the same 182 or 207 can be in quite a few cities. You need to get the License plate # and try to identify the driver. You have to contact both First STudent at 772-0626 and the Transportation division at the NH Board of Ed. And you need to keep at it.

I've been trying to get FIRED a driver that left my child and dozen others in a depot for over two hours because something more important came up. That was back during the first cold spell in OCTOBER.

And yet, her union is sticking up for her.

She endangers my child one more bleeping time, she's going to be arrested. IT's really not acceptable for drivers to change the route and make little deals with their Amigos or homeboys to change stops. Children have an assigned bus stop. Either you can drive correctly or you can't. If you don't give a shit about the children on your bus, you need to get a new profession.

While we are on that subject, the DESK Sargents downtown at One Union need to take parents' complaints seriously. Don't tell us to call the bus company and work it out.

DO THE JOB that we are paying the NHPD to do.

Yes, Mike can do a good job, but it's all based on the resources that he's allotted. Why hasn't the city restriped the intersection of Quinnipiac Avenue and East Grand so that busses stop going over the turnbridge and use the renovated Ferry Street bridge. It shouldn't have taken an entire school year to make this happen.

Posted by: anon | March 5, 2009 1:05 PM

I think there are many solutions that would not break the budget in the short term.

How about just posting a 15 MPH speed limit on all downhill streets in Prospect Hill? 15MPH speed limits (posted on signs and painted in huge letters on the road) are installed in almost every town in Fairfield County, not to mention in Europe. They are often combined with bright yellow signage telling drivers that kids play on the streets.

Of course this doesn't solve every problem -- in the long term, more dramatic changes are needed, like roundabouts and narrower streets -- but if people are going 40-50 in a 25MPH zone now, maybe they'll only do 30-40 in a 15MPH zone.

At the very least, if you catch someone going 40 in a 15MPH zone, they get a much larger ticket than if they are going 40 in a 25MPH zone and that may be enough of a disincentive.

Or maybe you post a 10MPH speed limit, like on the hill in front of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. If legislators in Hartford deserve safe, walkable streets with 10MPH speed limits, why don't we?

In addition to Mike's call for red light cameras, how about also looking into stiffer penalties for speeders? I know that in some countries, if you are going double the speed limit and putting other people's lives and neighborhoods at risk, you face a $10,000 fine plus the confiscation of your vehicle.

These are just the tip of the iceberg.

Posted by: anon | March 5, 2009 1:23 PM

Beansie, hopefully the striping budget will be increased this year, because there are a ton of issues all over the city similar to the one you mentioned that could be solved with a little bit of paint. Striping also creates a lot of jobs per dollar spent.

Over at Yale, I've heard that the city will also allowing students to go paint the roads themselves, around the hospital, similar to programs in many other cities. Could neighbors in this area do this too?

Posted by: Chris O | March 5, 2009 2:29 PM

This section of Highland needs traffic calming in a physical way. Essentially this area is a campus. Once Foote builds more athletic fields on the St Francis site the need will be more apparent. My laymans suggestion is a paving change for the entire block such as concrete brick like pavers. The noise this creates alerts people to cars especially all them Hybrids and alerts the driver that they are in a high pedestrian zone. Bump outs may help too.

Posted by: anon | March 5, 2009 2:52 PM

Great suggestions, Chris O.

Posted by: jawbone | March 5, 2009 5:11 PM

Its only a matter of time before a major incident occurs with First Student at the center.
Major traffic infractions, poor policing of their drivers both within the organization and on the city streets, inadequate background checks, poor pay, poor maintainence on the vehicles, drivers with MAJOR attitudes, drivers talking on the cell phone while driving, a union to protect the guilty...
It all adds up to a situation that I pray will never harm a child.
Too bad we had a priviatize our society in order to save a buck. Now we have low-bid gumshoe outfits like First Student driving our kids around.

Posted by: observer | March 5, 2009 10:48 PM

Thanks, Mr. Piscitelli, for being serious about the possibility of cameras at intersections, and for pushing the idea in Hartford.

Scene: just today, going westward on Whalley, intersection of Sperry Street (I think; it was not as far west as Orchard). About 3:40 PM. The light is red -- has been red for a noticeable time -- and the car in front of me just ambles on through. Doesn't slow down, doesn't speed up -- doesn't blast through, as is so often the case -- just rolls along. The speed was not excessive. I have seen a lot of red-light running in this city, but this one literally made my jaw drop. The driver was so totally INDIFFERENT! This is true lawlessness -- there's not even a recognition (as speeding up would show) that there's any law involved, to be outsmarted, in the first place.

Suppose Hartford approved intersection cameras, and made a deal that half the violation revenues generated by scofflaws would go to the state, and half would go to the city? Wouldn't that be a win-win situation for everybody (except the lawless drivers) and give the state an incentive to act?

Is there money from the stimulus bill that would help cover the cost of installing cameras? Wouldn't the installation work generate jobs?

Drivers in this city are OUT OF CONTROL.

Posted by: anon | March 6, 2009 10:05 AM

If a bus driver breaks the law, e.g., talking on their cell, shouldn't they be IMMEDIATELY fired?

In any other job, if you put 30 of your clients plus others at that level of risk, you would be shown the door right away.

Can First Student, the NHPD et al look into these policies? Seems like it would be another good place to put pressure.

Posted by: Pedro | March 6, 2009 12:29 PM

While there are many problems with streetlight cameras, part of me just wants to see them go up to stop that very lawlessness that Observer mentions.

To be clear however, stoplight cameras are NOT a panacea. There are many problems with them, the most damning being that they are used as ATMs for municipalities that employ them, and the yellow lights are frequently "gamed" and made shorter to increase revenue, the side effect being increased rear-end collisions. In some cities they haven't measureably reduced the accident rates at the intersections they have been installed either.

There needs to be comprehensive speed and red-light enforcement by real live police and improvements of dangerous intersections as can be allowed by the budget. I'd gladly volunteer to help paint the streets in my neighborhood!

Posted by: Streever | March 9, 2009 12:17 PM

Pedro, check out the bill currently in place.

It requires municipalities to use the yellow timing of the State DOT recommendation if they will install a camera on the site.
It also has strict regulations on a variety of other problems which have plagued the american red light cameras.... I think you'll be happy with it, Senator Looney said it had come a long way from the original incarnations, which he found troublesome for the same reasons you cite.

City Offers Parents A Traffic-Calming “Deal”

Comments

Special Sections

Legal Notices

Some Favorite Sites

Government/ Community Links

Flyerboard

Sponsors

N.H.I. Site Design & Development

NHI Store

News Feed