Richland city councilmembers complained that residents concerned about children being hit by cars at a north Richland intersection did not wait for two hours, to the end of the May 7 council meeting, to hear the councilmembers response to their comments.
The city clerk told the residents not to expect a response.
“Many questions require an opportunity for research and deliberation. For this reason, council will not provide immediate response to comments, question or concerns….” the clerk said in the two-minute recitation of the council’s rules that apply to all forms of public comment.
“I’m thankful that we have one member of the community that spoke tonight that is still here,” Councilmember Ryan Lukson said before adding, “They never get to hear our response to all of the comments, which I think is equally as valuable as receiving the comments.”
Mayor Theresa Richardson agreed.
The Observer emailed Lukson and Richardson to ask if they expected residents who commented to wait two hours until the end of the meeting after they were read the rules and warned that there would be no immediate response.
Also the Observer asked Lukson and Richardson if they felt they had responded to the residents.
Neither Lukson nor Richardson replied, although this message did come from Richardson –“Your message is important to me however, I’m away from my email. If an immediate reply is needed, please contact the City offices at 509/942-1104. Thank you”
Two children are the latest to be hit by a car at George Washington Way and McMurray Street.
Two children riding bikes to Chief Joe Middle School were hit in the crosswalk by a car at the intersection of George Washington Way (GWay) and McMurray Street on May 1. They were thrown onto the hood of the car and did not sustain serious physical injury.
Three children have been hit at this intersection in the last 18 months. The drivers made diagonal turns over the middle line.
In 2022, one resident suggested a method to make the intersection safer.
In November 2022, after one child was hit by a driver that didn’t stop, Franchesa Maier, former chair of the Richland Planning Commission and wife of Councilmember Kurt Maier, asked the council to install “hardened center lines” at intersections around Chief Joe Middle School
Tuesday night she told the council, “I’m actually wearing the clothes I was wearing on November 1, 2022. I forwarded you my public comment that I made that day because I don’t have anything new to say.”
Research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) shows that hardened center lines, bollards and rubber curbs, make roads safer for pedestrians. The bollards and rubber curbs block a diagonal path through the intersection, slow down that traffic and reduce the number of serious injuries.
Residents comment.
David Harvey began his comments by saying, “The clock is ticking, eventually someone is going to get seriously hurt if not killed.”
Family physician Penney Stringer, who biked to the meeting, said that she rides a bike to her office. “I think it’s not just a public safety issue. It’s a public health issue,” she told the council.
“I really want to urge my council members to spend some time, and yes money as needed, to provide for non-motorized commuters, walkers, cyclists, that sort of thing,” Rev. Jane Schmoetzer, rector at All Saints Episcopal Church, told the council. Schmoetzer had biked to the meeting.
Dori Gilmore thanked the city staff for the flashing light at Newcomer Street and GWay. “It has made it a lot safer,” she said.
She supported Maier’s recommendation, “There’s something called hardening that you can put out there, little barriers that can make it harder for drivers to turn left and turn right so that our kids are not being hit in the crosswalk.”
Jessa Szecsody explained how she had been walking her north Richland neighborhood collecting signatures on a petition, to ask for speed bumps on her street. She said she had 50 signatures and no one she approached had opposed the plan.
Councilmembers comment but don’t mention the intersection.
Four of the five councilmembers present seemed to believe that “communication” was the problem and residents just didn’t know what the city had done.
According to Councilmember Shayne VanDyke who was attending the meeting remotely, “There are some big things not just coming but some amazing things that happened within the city. I really want to encourage us to find the best balance but a better opportunity to help inform our community what’s happening.”
Both VanDyke and Councilmember Jhoanna Jones praised the Richland Police Department for putting three new patrol vehicles on Keene Road.
Richardson said, “It is unfortunate that the people that raised the concern aren’t here to hear about the answers.”
Richardson, “I hope that at some point somebody can tell them about the traffic calming plans that we have tried to implement and budget for. I believe it’s open for an application at this period or there abouts.”
Lukson said the council would never make everyone happy in terms of speed limits and they had to consider the majority.
Councilmember Kurt Maier, who lives in north Richland, pushed back, “I want to remain focused on our goal not being to make everybody happy. Our goal should be making everybody safe.”
On June 20, 2023, the council unanimously passed the “Safe Streets and Roads for All” program. The staff coversheet stated that the project would “reflect the city’s ongoing commitment to the safety of residents and all users of the City’s street system.“
Nobody on the council mentioned the traffic calming method, the hardened center line, that was first proposed in 2022, or any other improvements to GWay and McMurray.
Residents can watch city council meetings remotely.
The city council meeting is carried live on Cable Channel 192 and is also available online at Richland City View. The video is generally posted quickly to the Richland City View website.
The public comments about children being hit by cars at the intersection of GWay Way and McMurray began at about 6:15 pm and concluded at about 6:47 pm. The city council comments began at about 9 pm. By that time only one commenter remained.
Correction May 15, Francesca Maier is not a traffic engineer as previously reported. The Observer regrets the error.
Correction May 16, 2024: The name of the commentor is Jessa Szecsody and the signature collection described is an independent effort and not part of a city program. The Observer regrets the errors.
Correction June 2, 2024: The date of the crash has been corrected to show that it occurred on May 1, not May 2 as previously reported.
Isn’t the city in process of glorifying the Columbia Pt rd to a park at a dead end by putting those little fancy center mediums for workers to clean and us to look at? After refusing us a new pool and overhead walkways for pedestrian safety and now they won’t add road deterrents to protect kids! Oh what will these materialistic Christian minds think of next? Once they make G-Way and Jadwin one way you better be ready for races downtown. Look at all those little towns that do that and the city becomes an interstate. This whole city council is self serving it is clear. We need to vote in “any homeless guy” to humble these leaders.
Hi Michael, I appreciate your comment. I was shocked to see the construction on Columbia Point Road. During the discussion on the pedestrian overpass, Councilmember Theresa Richardson. who lives on a hill on the southside. said she’s never seen anyone cross GWay there. At the last city council meeting, the members lamented that residents didn’t know the good things they are doing. I guarantee my neighbors won’t appreciate the new construction at Columbia Point Road. Thanks for reading the Observer. Randy