I love these activists almost as much as I hate Tacoma’s response.
One morning, they were just there: Crosswalks and a short bike lane in a Tacoma business district to help people get across a dangerous street.
Business owners loved it.
But the city recently spent $1,000 to grind away the illegal crosswalk paint, leaving one business owner to ask King 5, “How much is paint versus having this grinding machine…?”
I mean if the community liked it, you should consider leaving it. I assume there are legal concerns about treating something that isn’t a crosswalk according to the law like it’s a crosswalk. Still, it seems like they could just change the fake crosswalk into a real crosswalk with some legislation.
It may not be completely analogous, but I’ll mention it anyway:
When my college developed new greenspace on campus (around a new building, for example), they didn’t put in walkways right away. After users had defined the most useful paths, by wearing away the grass they walked on, only then did the college convert those paths into gravel or concrete walkways.
But that approach is way too logical for Tacoma, or so it seems.
But Carl, crosswalks can only be installed by Proper Authority, through an Appropriate Process utilizing Engineering Studies, Committee Meetings, and Public Hearings, to safeguard Car Traffic from unseemly disruptions. Rogue crosswalks put the City’s Economy at undue risk!
People have been trying to get a crosswalk at that intersection for at least a decade. The city should have left it alone.