Hello All,
This thread has made me realize I perhaps should have mentioned an incident
in the neighborhood last weekend, which was different from these, but -to
us at least!- more disturbing. Our 2 teenage daughters were walking back
from downtown just before dark Saturday evening, and were verbally
harassed from a passing car on Park St, near Farish. As they turned down
Farish, the car- which had 3-4 white college-age guys- stopped, turned
around and sped up, and the guys then threw bottles at our daughters out of
their windows. Our girls then ran and hid in a known neighbor's yard, on
8th street, and called us to come pick them up to get through the block and
a half to home. They were terrified. (We did call the police and got a very
concerned and polite dispatcher, but the communication later with the
policeman supposedly patrolling was very dissatisfactory).
Just FYI, and sorry not to report this earlier- I'd hate for anyone else to
experience this kind of thing, and hope we can continue to feel mostly safe
in our neighborhood!
Lori and Matt on Lexington
On Mon, Oct 25, 2021 at 10:37 AM Jeff Roberts <robertsvilla1@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi Jessie,
Thanks for sharing this. My guess is that this was the young, 20'ish
black kid with short dreads with a dog? (Can't remember his name.) That's
disappointing if so; he's a friendly & likable kid (but he needs to get a
job).
I have been wondering whether it's simply a matter of having the windows
open now and hearing the traffic more, or a genuine change, but there does
seem to be more traffic on St Clair, and a much higher frequency of
speeders. People of a certain age will get why it makes me think of a
Bruce Cockburn song... If the adoption of the FLUM results in the
realization of the development projected by it on E High St there will be a
lot more cut through traffic on all the MJH streets (was discussing this
with the Pisters recently). Those who take shortcuts also tend to speed. I
discussed speed bumps with a city traffic engineer years ago and they
discourage them generally (even though there are legacy speed bumps in
existence in many places) and would rather adopt other traffic calming
measures. See link below--the 8m file won't attach/mail) on the topic and
come to the address below for any petition signing needed.
The most disturbing thing here is the absence of police presence and
municipal upkeep. But is that surprising?
Jeff Roberts
826 St Clair
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwir5sHw4eXzAhUvqXIEHSQhAKUQFnoECBIQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwmich.edu%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fattachments%2Fu883%2F2019%2FTRCLC_RR_17-10_0.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3D_KjnMi6ITWx240NamVPF
On Mon, Oct 25, 2021 at 10:01 AM Betsy Peyton <peyton.betsy@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Our cars (also usually locked) were rifled through last night (Sunday) on
the 800 block of Locust.
On Mon, Oct 25, 2021 at 9:48 AM Jessie Chapman <jessiecchapman@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hello everyone,
My neighbors Greg and Mary Pister report a couple of things over the
weekend:
One, a young man asking for money who later headed up the hill, then
returned and rifled through their car, which is usually locked. They tried
to report this to the police, but had a hard time finding a live person to
pick up the phone.
Two, a young-ish man driving up the hill at possibly 50 mph in the
afternoon. They were out front putting halloween decorations in the lawn
with their daughter and small grandchild, so it was very upsetting. We
wonder what the likelihood of a speed bump is, given that traffic continues
to increase in quantity and speed on East High Street. I know we told City
about the missing 25 MPH sign near Fabios well over a year ago, but I don’t
think it was ever replaced. Making a left onto High from Hazel is
practically impossible these days.
Related: I’ve noticed a lot more traffic coming along St. Clair from the
bypass at the top of the hill on Hazel, where Hazel makes a dog-leg. I
wonder if Google Maps is directing people to cut through there? It’s not
normal. Since there is no Stop sign at this sort-of intersection, it’s just
waiting for a collision.
Also: can you tell Greg Pister (copied here) how to get onto this list
please? He and his family are my very excellent neighbors!
Thanks very much,
Jessie
