I attended to Seward Walk on July 13th that toured several of the East
African businesses on Franklin Avenue. It was a great experience and I
thank Kerry, Faisal and Dick for organizing it.
One troubling thing emerged from the walk. During the visit to the Seward
Market we all poured into the aisles, filling the entire space. Faisal
introduced us as people from the neighborhood that wanted to know more
about their business and products.
Immediately one man spoke up, âThis is the neighborhood?â he asked. Then he
spoke very passionately about something he thought the neighborhood should
do something about: the dangerous crossing of Franklin Avenue from the park
to the Seward Market. He said people have to wait for 20 minutes before
they can cross, that cars do not stop for pedestrians, that people have to
run to escape being hit, and that they see many near misses every day.
Someone was going to get killed he said and we had to do something about it.
This was heartbreaking and totally true. I agreed with him, we do need to
do something. I know we (the neighborhood, SNG and Seward Redesign) have
been working on this for years and have recently been promised a possible,
but to many, unsatisfactory, solution in a year or so. Meanwhile the danger
is real each and every day.
It was clear that the store employees watch with horror as their friends,
family and customers risk their lives just to do a little shopping at the
market closest to their home.
But maybe there are things we can do:
We can take videos of people trying to cross the street and post them on
social media to illustrate the problem (and also show them to those who
make the decisions.)
We can invite someone from the city or county to come and spend an
afternoon at the corner to witness the problems first hand.
We can begin an education campaign with signs along the street that say in
effect:
*Franklin is NOT a Freeway.*
*You are driving through a NEIGHBORHOOD!*
*Drive Carefully.*
*Respect Pedestrianâs Rights.*
What else can we do?
Marilyn Matheny