January 16, 2013 

More than a few months ago, city crews acted on orders from the city’s Public Works director and began the removal of traffic signals at a number of key intersections throughout the city. At two of those intersections along St. John Avenue (St. John and Quincy and St. John and Topping), the school crossing signals were disabled and now flash yellow, creating an extra hazard for students crossing the street there as well as the crossing guard assigned to the intersection to keep those students safe. As this news-pooch has noted on repeated occasions, this creates not only confusion from a motorist standpoint, but an additional hazard to students and crossing guards alike.

How long is it going to take for someone at city hall to fix this dangerous situation? This isn’t rocket science, it’s public safety 101. If city hall had the slightest interest in “public safety,” control of the crossing signals would have gone back to those that use them a long time ago. Sadly, however, we fear this scenario is being repeated across the city and wovn’t change until there’s a body count.