When I was growing up in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, the major transportation discussion was “If we widen our roads, more people will move here, which would not be a good thing.â€
Well, we haven’t widened our roads and more people are moving here.
I have never seen the traffic in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ as out of control as it is now.
Red-light running, speeding and tailgating are common occurrences. Jaywalking is prevalent, a lot of our roads are in poor condition and weeds are everywhere.
In some areas of East Broadway, the road as been patched in so many places that it’s hard to see the lane lines. East Fifth Street between Craycroft and Wilmot is a mess.
Because our roads have not been widened, more drivers are using feeder streets like Pima, Rosemont, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Boulevard and Columbus Boulevard to get around town.
People are also reading…
These feeder streets were not built to handle all of the increased traffic and most do not have left turn signals at the major intersections.
This makes it more dangerous for drivers making left turns in the busy traffic hours — especially with drivers running red lights. And it is not good for the neighborhoods as more and more drivers cut through them to avoid the traffic.
ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ drivers have adjusted to the red-light runners as now when the light turns green there is a pause to let the red-light runners go through. Now the pause is getting longer.Homeless people seem to be at every signalized intersection and it’s sad to see more and more homeless people walking down the street carrying all of their possessions.Over the past couple of years ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ has been named the most dangerous city and poorest city in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. With that in mind, the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Police Department is now understaffed and until recently our police officers hadn’t had a raise in over seven years. A lot of our officers are leaving ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ to take higher paying jobs in other ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ cities.
I leave you with this: I was recently talking to a friend of mine about the Broadway Widening Project that is to widen a 2-mile stretch on East Broadway between Euclid and Country Club.
This widening project was approved by voters in 2007 but due to neighborhood opposition the widening itself has just now started.
Also, due the this opposition, two lanes on East Broadway were removed from the plan.
My friend mentioned that back in 2007 the country of Panama, due to the growing size of cargo ships, decided that to stay competitive it needed to widen the 50-mile Panama Canal. This 50-mile project was completed in 2016.
ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ can’t even do a 2- mile widening project in that time frame.
There is a baseball saying that “if you keep doing the same ole thing, you will get the same ole results.â€
We need to make some changes in our local leadership
Pat Darcy grew up in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, is a former major-league baseball player, is active in the community and works in real estate.