let and the people.
the shows about to start
so we're at 8.
Yes, we do.
By my walk up music. It's Enter Sandman, right?
You know and while the public is coming in, we're going to
make up for lost time. We're going to go ahead and get
ourselves started.
The meeting of the committee on pedestrian and traffic
safety is now called to order for May 1st 2024.
We will now have a roll call to establish Quorum. We'll
order please make sure their microphones are unmuted.
to your personal spot up present Vice chair Cruise
all the person Hopkins
almond Robinson
all the person jansing
love it all the person Chico will be with you in a moment.
Alderman Quinn
Alderman Moore
Alderman Curtis
vice mayor Bernett
chairman Ervin CIA in just a moment odd person knutzen
on his way VIA CTA, uh all the person Lawson
not present, uh ottoman Moore Martin
an older woman Mana hoenor
You know, I can barely tell those 2 apart.
1 we have 8 members present. We have a quorum in addition.
We have Alters Irvin and Chico who have requested to
participate in the meeting remotely pursuant to rule 59.
Can I get a motion to allow orders Irvin and Chico to
participate remotely?
So moved all the women manah hoppenworth all those in
favor. Say I
love it. All those opposed say nay in the opinion of the
chair. The eyes have it Alters Irvin and Chico are present
here today by video conference and will be counted
accordingly towards the roll call. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Great to have you sir.
now at this moment, this is
a wonderful
this piece of Grist in the grill, uh the gears because we
now have to
wait for do we have any members of the public who are still
outside? Can anyone confirm?
Yes.
Unfortunately, they were not able to join us until we had
quarm in the rule but hopefully we can proceed with public
comment momentarily.
Are we waiting for folks to even come through security
right now?
Did we just start allowing people to come through security?
That's a fascinating policy, isn't it?
That's 1 that we're going to talk about.
Because factually we can't do public comment until those
who have signed up for public comment are in the room. So
That said we're going to have to start with the folks. Who
are
Well, well, we'll figure out who is here by starting the
reading through.
Uh is Mr. George, Blakemore?
Okay, we will start with our online public commenter. Um
Peter are you with us?
I am thank you.
My name is Peter snika. I live in the 45th Ward. The topic
is stop signs careless spota. Imagine if the busy Chicago
Ashland intersection and your award was controlled by stop
signs.
Stop signs are not appropriate given the traffic volume
traffic speed and sight distance.
Traffic signals are appropriate. Also imagine that the
lowest volume intersection of residential streets in the
First Ward was also controlled by stop signs.
Stop signs are also not appropriate given the traffic
volume traffic speed and sight distance.
See that perhaps bowing to political pressure from allders
routinely violate state law when it comes to stop signs.
I've noticed from this committee's minutes that new stop
signs are established in 3 ways direct introduction
aldermanic override of C dot acceptance of C dot
recommendations.
The applicable state law is 625 ilcs 5 which says in section
11302 the authority to designate stop intersections a local
authorities, May designate any intersection as a stop
intersection or erect stop signs at 1 or more entrances to
such intersections designation of stop intersections. And
the erection of stop signs are subject to the written
approval of the County engineer or superintendent of
Highways note. Well, it is unclear in this city if the
signatory requirement applies to the C dot commissioner or
the C dot senior traffic engineer and note aldermanic
override or direct introductions are not allowed by state
law the state law continues and section 11304 all such
traffic control devices shall be justified by traffic
warrants stated in the manual which is the manual on
manual on uniform traffic control devices the mutcd when
unwanted stop signs are used drivers must stop more.
More frequently Studies have shown they tend to drive
faster between intersections and order to save time on
warranted. Stop signs, encourage driver non-compliance
Studies have shown that drivers see little reason to stop
when there is no traffic on the minor Street these signs
Foster disrespect and disregard for the law and for the
stop signs because unwarranted stop signs are often
ignored. They can lead to a false sense of security for
pedestrians and motorists which can result in serious
accidents.
A stop sign in 1 location affects traffic patterns drivers
seek new routes to avoid the obstacle moving 1 neighbor's
problem.
to another
acceleration deceleration and idling increase in the
vicinity of stop signs increasing noise and air pollution
the mutcd states. Stop signs should not be used for speed
control. Stop signs should be installed in a manner that
minimizes the number of vehicles having to stop.
Um, I I would I'm going to comment next month, uh further
on this issue, but the city is liable for uh,
These illegal stop signs. Hey, thank you Peter. Uh and
welcoming older person Timmy knutzen for purposes of
Quorum. Um,
we will have Mr. Blakemore with us momentarily.
Zoe Le
again, I'm going to um always start with my voicemail
because I need
And aldermen to figure out where is my mother's money, uh
that the city owes her for illegally demolishing her
building that um,
was demolished in 2017 and the Law Department says
March I'm not sure if I've gotten the right.
Person or not? I'm calling from the city of Chicago Law
Department. Uh, I understand you are trying to get through
on on uh,
over the long weekend, um in any event
There are 3 things you can do if you want money for
demolished property if we're just talking about a little
bit of money the Alderman's committee on finance and I'm
surprised you're Alderman didn't mention that to you.
Yeah, so I'm going to keep coming here. Um, I don't care
what meeting it is if y'all talking about, uh, I don't care
stop signs all of that stuff. The city of Chicago is
corrupt and it's been corrupt and it's going to continue to
be corrupt. If no 1 does not continue to fight the we are
losing properties in our black communities every day and
nothing is being done about it. And we like David Moore
says you have 20 Alderman here and y'all can't even get a
ordinance and they only need 26 people to pass it. So you
only need 6 more people so and I don't even
like him because I have a vendetta on him because he's the
reason why my mother does not have her property and he is
an elected official and you guys should be asking him.
Where is my mother's money? And why do I have to continue
to come down here as far as you Mr. Banana suit man? I feel
like when it comes to you speaking on safety. Don't talk
about shot spider shot Spotter and what it doesn't do you
need to worry about why we don't have as many bicycle Lanes
on the south side and the west side. Are you as you're
concerned in the First Ward because I'm tired of sharing a
sidewalk with bicycles. That's what you need to be worried
about. Thank you.
I am indeed worried about it. Um
But let's move on to our next speaker. Thank you. So we our
next speaker is Mr. George, Blakemore.
This meeting late something wrong with all of you.
You started this late and then gonna help us out here. What
standing up?
This is dealing with nearly 90% of the traffic deaths in
Chicago involve Reckless Behavior by uh behind the wheel
Reckless Behavior of driving while black
driving white black
How many black men have been pulled over for for man or
whatever traffic a violation and kill?
Driving while black and black people are filed.
A few minutes ago that young lady was talking and then the
Ricardo was going on.
You you should give her addiction of many.
It's something evil here.
Is something racist here and they got black fake in high
places abusing black people. That's the idea that the
blacks are not here.
the black alum
drivers, why black
you can easily be killed driving while
this is a big picture. They got these white folks over
here. They talking about parking Lane.
And and violation f*** why they can drive a a down the
street. These streets wasn't designed for for for for bike.
They was not designed for bikes much but they going to
reinvent the wheel and that's good. So you want to share it
but my issue is driving what that
driving while black
now who else going to come up here with the same idea and
the same thought and the same pain that Mr. Blakemore have
did, you know, it's at risk all of us of black people are
at risk. Just drive it.
Why black?
Walking white black talking white black coming to these me
and being black. They teach the white folks in Hispanic 1
way and treat the blacks another way.
Now and then they got Walter burn in.
And then they sell all kind of violations. Oh, oh, oh
millions of dollars of being spent Millions.
I'mma leave this with public Faith how many time have you
seen a white policeman shoot a a black man or woman?
A white police Mr. Blakemore you too excited a black
policeman.
black lives matter
Black you understand what I'm saying? Black lives matter.
No. No. No Mr. Blackmore. That's not right.
white flag now
when you driving while white you you are privileged.
Thank you, Mr. Blakemore.
our our next speaker is Anthony p
Anthony
Good morning, um city council. Um, is this 1 of the panels
or you guys the panel where you guys?
Panel, okay.
Last time I was here this meeting went way too long for the
environmental. We still haven't gotten that posted online.
Not sure why.
That's a very important 1 but this 1 is also important Mr.
Blakemore. You left your glasses.
All right.
So so I want to talk about um walking here from my home
today.
Someone almost hit me in the crosswalk outside the Wind
Trust Bank wallet said you could walk.
I would have gotten hit by that Toyota Highlander. I
wouldn't be here right now. But luckily there was a power
greater than me. That was you know at work.
About a month ago. I was coming from a store in South Loop.
This guy are you awake?
All right, wake up.
And I walked out of the door.
And at the last second something had me look to the right
and there's an Uber Eats.
delivery guy on a
scooter doing about 20 miles an hour
I lowered my shoulder.
He hit me. I hit him he end up with 2 broken kneecaps. I
didn't have a scratch now. I'm not sure if you guys can do
that with Mr. Blakemore can do that but the bikes.
Are for Walkers not Riders. We don't need to reinvent the
wheel. We just have to look at other places in the world
that have the wheel already made Copenhagen.
right
Someone earlier said something about the River North Area.
They've got the elevated bike Lane right outside outside
outside. We don't have too many bike Lanes.
The sidewalks are flawed.
We have all these implants here.
That are from other places with scans in Texas right Ohio,
right?
parts of the various corners of the world
They aren't familiar with the way we walk the way we drive
or The Way We Ride or even rollerblade in this city.
I suggest.
that we continue to have forms, but we have to do something
because this summer is going to get even more crowded next
summer will be even more crowded there needs to if they're
writing tickets.
They need to write tickets for the people on the sidewalks
with the bikes. Especially those divvy bikes that have the
motors. They're doing 10 plus miles an hour if my little
asian wife gets hit I'm going to be upset wake up.
Don't go to sleep Sir Sir with all respect. If you would,
uh direct your comments to the chair to appreciate it.
Thank you, sir. It's America freedom of speech. I read
somewhere that it was freedom of speech. I read somewhere
that I had the right to assembly. I read somewhere that I
had the right to bear an arm. I read somewhere that this
country was made for us. I read somewhere that migrants
were supposed to come in a certain way. They're the ones
who are taking up the sidewalks. Also, you don't have any
licenses for them, but they're driving. So I'm Black and
I'm Proud.
And you got to do something about that chairman, please
wake up, sir. Have a great day.
Thank you, sir. Our next speaker is Michael pairs?
Michael
Good morning, everybody. And uh Happy Mayday. Um, my name
is Michael podgers. I am the policy lead at better Street
Chicago. Um, I am here to express my support, uh on the
order.
Organization to lower the default speed limit in Chicago to
25 miles per hour. Um, I want to and of course to thank our
colleagues who have been working on getting this done. Um,
it is important that we note though that this is only a
first step and a Band-Aid to reducing traffic violence in
Chicago and eliminating it entirely
Um fundamentally at the end of the day lower speed limits
are good. Uh, we know that speed is a major contributor to
whether somebody who is hit by a vehicle is killed or not.
But unless we build out a massive arsenal of enforcement.
those numbers posted are only as good as the infrastructure
that is matched with them. So any speed limit reduction
bills that are passed by this body need to be matched with
robust funding and robust support for actually building out
the infrastructure that is going to guide driver Behavior
towards safe choices and as it has been mentioned before
and as I think many of the people in this room know that
infrastructure exists, we have examples of it in Chicago.
We have examples of it in other cities in the United
States. We have example, that's globally as the speaker
before him. He said we do not need to reinvent the wheel on
this we only need to take the best ideas that we have seen
elsewhere in the world. So as I have said we should pass
this
Reduction in the speed limit this is an obvious choice, but
if we're not actually building the infrastructure to ensure
people are driving at that speed limit. This is
an empty decision ultimately and we see this on our side
streets all the time many of the people who are sitting
behind me to my left are colleagues and friends of mine
many of whom who have experienced traffic violence
themselves. Just trying to get where they need to go on a
daily basis. There are people there are many people in this
room. So if we want to be serious about what we're doing
with this ordinance and what we're doing by reducing the
speed limit, we have to actually put the money where our
mouths money where our mouth is and build the
infrastructure necessary to make sure people are actually
driving at and below those speed limits. That is the
financial priority of the city that comes before other
priorities that have been mentioned recently for this city.
And that is what we should be doing immediately. So I
appreciate the mood that are being made today better. See
you Chicago wholeheartedly supports this bill. We thank our
colleagues for getting this here, but the next steps must
come quickly and that must be infrastructure changes. Thank
you.
Thank you, Michael our our next speaker and I I apologize
because I would not be able to adequately read your last
name, but it is Kimberly speaking on safety traffic. Thank
you Kimberly.
Thank you, um committeeman, um, thank you all of the um
committee and also the sergeant-at-arms. Thank you so much.
Um, my name is Kimberley Marshall and I am the mother.
Of hoyo David Marshall III his um stage name is Trey is
dope.
picture of him on my
Shirt, he was killed January 21st.
On 95th and Union a block from his home.
So I'm here to speak about um Traffic Safety a Traffic
Safety Committee, um pedestrian safety Bill of Rights for
the southwest side between 95th Street US Route 1220 and
Grant Memorial Highway Hostage Street, Illinois, Route 1
and con the Korean War veterans memorial and the Cal calat
segona Channel.
Um the vehicle that he that struck my son and took his life
was a stolen SUV.
It traveled westbound on hosted after striking my son and
was later found by the police torched.
Um
he um, my family the Marshall family and his father retired
Deputy District Chief hoyo, Marshall Junior is offering a
5000 reward for information leading to the arrest and the
conviction of my son's um,
assessment, um also um
my son was um the first Mark, um,
Winner of the Cook County inaugural Cook County hip hop
Olympics. He had a bright future very very funny. Wonderful
handsome amazing person and I would like to see something
done. Um with Gina waldruff did a very nice article, um, um
new feature in Channel 5 at the beginning of March and um,
I'm just crying out as loud as The Grieving mother can't
for some reforms. I understand that co uh has
had a lot of looseness with traffic people weren't being
stopped as much but we have to do something because um,
just like the gentleman said we avoided 3 traffic accidents
on the way here to stop at the light and the people behind
us are honking the horn because they wanted us to run it.
It seems to be very common. I don't know if you're familiar
with 79th and Stony Island. It's 1 of the most dangerous
intersections in the world and they're running those lights
now, so we have to be aggressive and the pedestrians need a
Bill of Rights and we have to do something soon and serious
serious, and thank you so much for having this forum and
letting me talk and um, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much Kimberly. Our next speaker is sativa VRE.
Good morning. Uh, my name is sativa. Um, and I'm here
representing the Sierra Club, um as a co-chair of our
transportation team, we're an environmental organization
and our transportation work focuses. I'm making Chicago
more walkable bikeable and Transit forward.
we're in favor of lowering the speed limit in the city to
encourage safer streets for everyone Studies have shown
that the survivability of an uh, impact greatly increases
the lower the speed of the vehicle and even a few miles per
hour can make up the difference between life and death
lower speeds are also an environmental bun that can help
reduce many forms of pollution, especially those that are
often ignored like noise pollution and light pollution.
However, given that people already tend to ignore the
current speed limit, we believe that this law also needs to
come with increased enforcement.
While I'm sure many other groups feel similarly, we want to
stress that when we say enforcement. We do not mean
increased policing traffic stops are some of the most
dangerous interactions people have with police and we've
seen that play out recently with the shooting of Dexter
Reed.
What we are asking for is that the city uses opportunity to
lower the speed limit and holistic way first by requiring
that c dot use traffic calming on roads to encourage
drivers to drive more slowly and carefully.
wide multi-lane roads, encourage drivers to ignore traffic
laws and speed there are already many Street designs
created, uh specifically to prevent this and they've been
sporadically installed in parts of the city. These
shouldn't be reserved for special cases. You should be the
norm going forward.
We need to increase resources and underserved communities
to reduce the dependence on cars.
Many parts of the city are difficult to access for so many
Chicago residents. I experienced this first hand. I live in
Grand Boulevard in the Fifth Ward in the middle of a food
desert. It can take me 30 to 45 minutes just to get to a
grocery store and I often have to dash these multi-lane
streets carrying heavy bags because cars refuse to slow
down for me at a crosswalk. I'm doing what I'm supposed to
be supposed to be. I'm not jaywalking and I still have to
run
our roads are built for the fast movement of personal
vehicles and this cannot continue.
Speeding is a symptom of a larger infrastructural problem.
We face in the city and going forward. We need to
acknowledge that Safe Streets are streets that are designed
for everyone. Thank you.
Thank you so very much. Sativa. Our next speaker is James
Anderson.
We have more than 100 politicians in Chicago. When you look
at the 50 members of the city council our representation in
the general assembly our members of Congress and the
Statewide elected officials, including the governor
lieutenant, governor.
Attorney General
Uh controller and Secretary of State and it is my concern
that almost all of them primarily drive around.
So Mr. Chairman, I think that uh
Many of the honourable members of this committee may not
have a lot of introspection about the way they drive and
the way other people drive. So let me
let me call this to your attention.
1 of the problems with a 30 mph speed limit is that
let's suppose that a driver wishes to drive as fast as
possible and comply with the law.
We have you know side streets where the stop signs are a
half a block apart and I would say it is impossible for a
driver to achieve 30 miles an hour mid block and still stop
at the stop sign. So what drivers do is they don't stop at
the stop sign some of them slow down more than others.
But compliance with stopping at the stop sign Ming meaning
at least for an instant. The wheels are not turning is less
than 10% by my observation.
The key here is if we can get drivers to stop at stop signs
that by itself reduces harm and if drivers are driving slow
enough approaching and departing from stop signs. That's
beneficial as well.
Mr. Chairman, I urge you in the committee to adopt the 25
mph speed limit for safety.
It's going to save lives. It's going to prevent injuries
and it's going to prevent millions in property damage.
You'll be doing the right thing.
I appreciate it James.
I'll tell you I don't know about the other 99, but at least
1 Chicago politician wrote the bike to the office. Yeah,
um, our next speaker is Mr. Tim Shambrook. Oh, by the way,
uh counting he's walking away, but can Lamont Robinson for
purposes of Quorum. Thank you Lemont.
Hello, my name is Tim Shambrook. Um been here a couple of
times like to continue to say thank you for the work that
you are doing because you are actually bringing forth the
questions that need to be answered in our city as far as
how we make our city move forward. It is impossible for our
city to grow without a proper bike pedestrian
infrastructure as well as a dedicated and proper CTA. If we
don't have those 2 things it makes it easier for people who
drive cars to get angry about infrastructure being put in.
So we need to be looking at it from all the way around and
to that point 1 of the things that drivers often speak to
when it comes to changing the way that things are done is
it's about their time and if we're going to be you know, if
the metric the drivers choose to reference can we all agree
that cities need to prioritize the time taken of all
transportation and wait the savings towards folks on bike
and Transit as these are the forms that are most likely not
to be a to B.
It just makes sense for us to be able to do that. And if we
want to get people out of cars.
and into the other infrastructure, we need to build that up
but to the speed limit, you know, I I support going down to
20 miles an hour every study that you see from around the
world whether it's in the states or if it's over in Europe
when people drop the speed limit.
it's obvious that the fatalities injuries and everything
goes down some things that people have been talking about
with too many stop signs or
You know or the people not wanting to stop if we lower our
speed limits down to 20 miles an hour. We can start
removing some of those some of those uh, infrastructure
improvements like speed bumps because if everybody is going
to agree to try travel at the slower speed we don't need to
have as many impediments like speed bumps that said traffic
calming is a fantastic way and some of the west and
southwest sides where we have a higher preponderance of
people who are being hit and struck in the streets. We need
to find ways to slow those streets down and you know,
whether it's automated tickets or things like that. I know
there's a whole other aspect that goes with that, but when
it comes down to it, we need to slow our traffic down to
make our city safer to encourage small business growth to
encourage Community because people don't want to walk on
busy streets people don't want to have to try to cross busy
streets. If we want to have people walking from
neighborhood to neighborhood. I live in a great area for
that our aldermen are doing a wonderful job.
in our in the neighborhood that I live in in order to have
all the different 3 rewards working together and they
created a really wonderful space for people to be able to
free and walk around and we should have that for all of
Chicago. It should not just be for the Northeast side of
our city. We need to start spreading that out so that we
can start building community and start helping people feel
more connected to their neighbors by having slower streets.
Thank you very much.
Our next speaker is I believe Emily or Emil chaklas.
Hello, good morning. My name is Emily and I'm a Chicago
resident of 5 years as well as an organizer with the Sierra
Club. Uh, I'm here to join other community members and
advocates in support of speed limit reduction in our city
streets. We need to reduce speed limits to address the
traffic violence that our current road designs allow. I
know too many people who have suffered Serious injury on
potholes from cycling from car stopping short or not soon
enough and from pedestrians in crosswalks. I have lived
across 3 different Chicago neighborhoods in in each. I've
had to learn the streets where cars don't stop despite
whatever is painted on the roads or included in signage.
The state of driving behavior in Chicago is dangerous and
it's costing us lives. We continue to see fatalities result
annually from the status quo. It is past time to admit that
what is in place is not working.
Chicago must join other cities like Boston Seattle, Portland
New York and Minneapolis who have saved lives by lowering
their City speed limits to be clear speed limit reduction
is where the conversation begins not ends to truly have
Safe Streets for all and prevent traffic violence other
measures including traffic calming permanent
infrastructure, like curb bump outs will be needed and we
know communities also don't experience traffic violence the
same as many folks have shared here today already the
solutions have to reflect that understanding we know that
black Chicagoans are more than twice as likely to be killed
in traffic crashes than white Chicagoans and this disparity
results from super sized streets in high-speed traffic that
you know are happening in certain communities and not
others as people begin to observe traffic calming
infrastructure being implemented in some Wards and in some
parts of the
City but not theirs more will come to understand that these
deaths are preventable that we have the means to stop them
now.
this can't be the familiar story of selective disinvestment
people deserve to move freely without fearing for their
lives regardless of where in the city they live or what
community they belong to we urge you to protect pedestrians
cyclists drivers and all other Road users by reducing the
speed limit in Chicago. Thank you.
for your time
Thank you very much. We have 2 more speakers. Uh, our
second to last speaker is Neil Markland.
Hello, my name is Neil Markland. I'm more I'm a resident of
the 44 Ward. Um.
I'm pleased to hear this committee beginning the
conversation on lowering speed limit Citywide to 25 miles
per hour.
However, I'm wondering why it has taken us until the year
2024 to get around to this.
Back in 2012 Chicago released a Chicago 4 plan that called
for reducing speeds throughout the city to save lives and
create more livable communities.
Additionally in 2016 Chicago created Vision zero action
plan, which also called for the same thing.
We are far behind schedule and I urge the city council to
enact this legislation as soon as possible.
As we have seen the number of pedestrian deaths rise in the
past 5 years rather than decreased as our city. Wanted to
see back in 2012 and 2016.
I'm going to highlight a few facts for why it's stolen cars
in our city is a slow thing. It's a good thing.
Solar cars will not increase congestion or travel times
cars are already traveling through the city and average
speed less than 25 miles per hour due to all the traffic.
Due to traffic stop lights and stop signs. I have to wait
at
so they're mostly just being from 1 traffic queue to the
next I have seen this on my bike, uh, when a car will try
to speed past me because I think I'm in the way and then
when I get to the next traffic light, I see him wait in
line just like me.
Uh store cars make driving safer and less stressful. The
more cars are traveling at a slower speed on the road. The
more Reaction Time drivers have to break and it makes makes
it easier for drivers to turn on to busier streets. So the
number of car crashes decrease saving residents in the city
money in the process.
So what are cars makes your city more livable and generates
less noise pollution pedestrians, especially children and
people with disabilities are at less risk of being hit or
killed by drivers since as I said before there's more
reaction time for them to slow down and as mentioned
before, um, for every 1 mile per hour slower a car is
traveling when it hit a pedestrian the fatality rate
decreases exponentially.
For those concerned about enforcement. I know that changing
the number on a sign will not make every single driver slow
set number. However, a study was conducted in Boston when
they lower their speed limits from 30 to 25 miles per hour
and back in 2017.
And they found a 30% decrease in the average speed of all
cars on the road. So it's basically normalizes these solar
speeds for everyone and most drivers do want to follow the
law. So it will have some impact on that.
I know we can get that number down even further with
traffic call me as a long-term solution. But this is a good
term good short-term solution that will have an immediate
impact as we wait for C dot to get time and money to
redesign your streets.
Uh to the solar speeds. Thank you.
Thank you very much. And our fee. Uh, also counting
Alderman Brian Hopkins for purposes of Quorum. Our final
speaker is Dixon Galvez, sir, cereal. Sorry.
Thank you. Uh, my name is Dickson galves serl, and I'm here
representing the local community group the Southwest
Collective.
In my neighborhood of Archer Heights and in many of the
surrounding neighborhoods near Archer Avenue, our streets
have become downright dangerous whether somebody is walking
to the grocery store biking to a friend's house or even
driving in a vehicle that they assumed would keep them safe
A Deadly crash is a very real possibility.
Last summer our neighbor Alberto odor was driving to work
early in the morning when he was struck and killed by a
driver speeding down Pulaski near 59th Street. The term
speeding doesn't even begin to describe it judging by the
way. Alberto's vehicle was totally split in half. I
wouldn't be surprised if the driver who hit him was going
at least 100 miles per hour.
Earlier this winter our neighbor jaw Kuan Shu was walking
home from the grocery store when she was struck and killed
by a driver who ran a red light at the corner of 44th in
Pulaski a few days later. I saw her family members putting
up a small memorial on the street and a few days after
that. It was gone as cars continued to speed past.
Just a few weeks ago on Easter night. Our neighbor. Charlie
Mills was also walking home when he was struck and killed
by a driver on Pulaski between 603 and 64 Street.
A witness told the son times that a car matching the
description of the 1 that hit Charlie was driving outside
the traffic lanes and didn't stop or even slow down after
the crash.
These stories are tragically common place when I walked to
Pulaski in the mornings. I almost always see a bit of
leftover debris from a car crash and that's just at the
intersection closest to my house.
When I make my way further across the southwest side, I see
way too many roadside memorials consisting of candles
crosses and handwritten letters to loved ones.
My neighbors are pleading with the city to make our major
arterial streets safer. When it comes to our side streets
many blocks have embraced speed bumps and roundabouts
because we understand that slower cars present less of a
danger, but we have been unable to make any such physical
changes to Pulaski Archer or other wide and unwieldy
streets that are in desperate need of concrete safety
measures.
I have no doubt that a lower Citywide speed limit will save
lives. But in order for such a change to be truly
effective, it must be coupled with other changes. We need
pedestrian medians and concrete bump outs that make it more
difficult to speed at all times of day. We need abundant
and reliable bus service to take cars off the street and we
need better smarter enforcement to make drivers think twice
about speeding.
We also need to bring the Illinois Department of
Transportation to the table to make sure the many state
routes within the city of Chicago like Pulaski. For
example, adhere to the same safety standards as the rest of
our streets.
I urge the committee to pursue a comprehensive strategy to
reduce speeds and to transform our neighborhoods into
places where everybody can walk bike or drive safely.
Thank you.
Thank you very much Dixon this at this time public comments
that were sent out to committee members via email and will
be recorded on our May rule 45 report. Our first order of
business is the rule 45 report from April which was sent
out via email and distribute.
Be the 2 committees. Can I have a motion to approve the
April rule 45 report all our men Martin so moves all those
in favor of passing the report say I
all of those opposed say nay and the opinion of the chair.
The eyes have it. We will now begin with the items before
the committee.
We're going to go out of order and we'll begin with the
direct introduction ordinances on page 2 and 3. Can I have
a motion to recommend approval of all direct introduction
ordinances on page 2 and 3 by the same roll call vote as
was applied to determine quorum.
All the person Hopkins so moves.
hearing no objection so ordered
let us turn to pages 4 and 5 for the recommended portion of
the agenda. Can I have a motion to recommend approval of
all recommended ordinances on pages 4 and 5 by the same
roll call vote as was applied to determine quorum.
Alderman Quinn's so moves hearing no objections. So ordered
now, we will move to Pages 6 through 9ine of the agenda
which are items that received no recommendation from City
departments. These are ordinances. Uh, these ordinances
were submitted as overrides are on the agenda at the
request of the order person, or do not require a
departmental approval.
Can I first have a motion to recommend approval of all
ordinances on pages 6 through 9 to be passed without a
departmental recommendation by the same roll call vote as
was applied to determine quarum.
Alderman Martin so moves hearing no objections so ordered
we will report these items out at the next regularly
scheduled city council meeting.
We will now return to page 1 of the agenda and will begin
our subject matter hearing on lowering the Citywide default
speed limit in accordance with our 2024 day 0000083 91
sponsored by myself and Ormond Martin.
We will not be voting on this item. The purpose of this
hearing is to begin the conversation.
Begin the conversation and lowering speed limits in the
committee and city council.
I would like to make it clear that I would.
Let me let's talk a little bit and I'll take a moment and
then I will introduce our wonderful panelists today. I
don't want to steal their Thunder they're going to speak to
this comprehensively and thoughtfully, but I I do want to
make a few points clear number 1 sometimes you do a hearing
and there's an ordinance sitting under the table.
This is not that hearing this is as we just said to begin a
conversation about what this means but clearly this is a
conversation that we're beginning in this room.
our speakers who just spoke our panelists in the Box day
have been having this conversation in their communities in
their neighborhoods for years now. It is not new for the
city of Chicago to consider reducing our speed limit for
the purpose of traffic safety and for saving lives. Um,
it matters to me.
Because we know that it works the data that we've received
from the city of city city of New York for example proves
that when they reduce speed limits. This is a 25 miles per
hour in 2014 that step alone reduced traffic fatalities in
New York by 23% We know the same thing from data from
Boston. We know the same thing from data from Evanston who
recently reduced the speed limit on their major streets and
recently achieved what we talked about in Chicago, which is
Vision zero zero traffic fatalities for the last several
years in their City. We're talking about this today because
I don't think that there's a person in the room
particularly on this side of Chambers.
Who doesn't know someone or know of someone, uh who has lost
someone to traffic violence in this city?
Um
the stories that you all have shared individually the
stories that many who have given public comment. They they
strike me to the core and there is so much that I would
give
to have their lives back.
And this legislation does not.
Bring those lives back but it's starts a conversation on
legislation that potentially could save hundreds of lives
in Chicago over the next decade.
and I'm proud of that opportunity and I I will speak to
this because oftentimes
Folks think of speed limit legislation as a cash grab by
the city, and I want to be clear that I would never.
Introduce vote on bring Ford in this committee legislation
that was not coupled with Equitable enforcement reform.
Our goal is not and will never be to take more dollars out
of the hands of working Chicagoans in this city. Our goal
is changing actions to lead to safer streets and our city
in conjunction with stakeholders in the Box stakeholders in
the room C dot here would only introduce legislation that
is coupled with reforming How We Do enforcement in the city
of Chicago.
Now that said in addition to the speaker who have joined us
in person. We have received written testimony from Aaron
LaFarge at the New York City Department of Transportation.
We will make sure to is has been distributed to others but
also something that we referenced earlier. I'll just add 1
more thing 2023. That's a city that saw the lowest traffic
fatalities in their city in a 100 years.
In a 100 years a beautiful thing that I I would like to
believe we are only a couple years off from being able to
see in our city.
We are joined today by commissioner Tom Carney and
mentioned mentioning Depp managing Deputy Commissioner
vide, Krishna Murthy from the Chicago Department of
Transportation.
Commissioner Olas and Kate McMahon from the Department of
Public Health compler Chase referring call Audrey Wick from
the metro and planning Council Victoria Barrett from the
Chicago metropolitan Agency for planning and Amy rennell
from active Transportation Alliance.
Speakers. Please. Remember to identify yourself for the
record I ask that we reserve Reserve our questions and
comments until the conclusion of all.
testimony
Oh also we have ottoman Curtis with us for Quorum. Thank
you so much, sir. Um.
So, uh, I will turn it now to see do commissioner Kearney
Deputy Commissioner commissioner Murphy. Thank you.
Thank you, uh chairman, uh, Tom Carney commissioner, uh,
Chicago Department of Transportation. Um, thank you
chairman for having us here today. Um, good morning to uh,
the committee members. Um, thank you for uh, inviting us to
this important, um briefing. Um,
I wanted to uh, start off with a couple high-level, um, uh
points and then I will turn it over to my colleague here
Vic who will um walk through a presentation that um, the
department has prepared. Um,
We're happy to have this conversation. Um it it wasn't too
long ago, um that I was at the uh confirmation, uh briefing
with the uh, Transportation committee and um this topic did
come up. Um, we we had some good uh questions and dialogue
about that. Um, and I really, um,
Want to emphasize that that that conversation uh about the
the change to the speed limit.
Um really is an extension of what is 1 of the most frequent
calls. Um, I received from city council members and that is
regarding um, dangerous driving, uh, the uh challenges, um,
it's creating and the the, um, the negative uh impacts it's
having on on our city and and your Wards and your community
and ultimately your residents. Um,
And uh it it is 1 of the top requests top phone calls. I I
I received um, and it is a Citywide problem. There's no
there's no like it's over here and and and this Pockets or
this Ward it's it's all parts of the city. It's all Wards.
Um, so it is it is a very front of Mind topic. Uh, I know
for the members of the city council and and for us as well
at cadat, um,
At at that briefing, you know, I did reference that. Um
There are challenges to it. There are there are details to
it. You know, the the most obvious 1 is signage right and
figuring out how we you know notify people properly. How do
we uh have a have a appropriately signed if if you're
coming um from um, you know, Oak Park into the city or you
know, a a a an a suburb outside the city and and then you
know,
On different are different roadways throughout the city. How
do we how do we communicate this effectively, but as I
emphasized that at that hearing these are details
Um, and this is work that the Department of Transportation
is uh ready to help figure out. Um, I have um committed to
that. Um, our staff is committed to that. We are committed
to working with with city council and our other City
departments and relevant agencies to figure to do the heavy
lifting that's needed and and and we will figure this out
because we we are committed and we believe that this is the
right thing, um to you know address this the safety
concerns and and and and the challenges that that dangerous
driving is causing in Chicago, um a final thing that I want
to uh, emphasize before I turn it over to Vic is that um,
This is not the uh, the be all end all you know, this is
not the only thing we need to do. This is this is something
that is a component of our ongoing work and needs to be
viewed as a tool in the toolbox. Um, but it's got to be
part of uh in collaboration with all the other improvements
and things that see that it's working on um from our you
know, uh, complete streets design guidelines to you know,
all these things where we're looking at corridors and you
know, trying to add um, you know,
Curb bump outs, you know where we're trying to add speed
humps through, you know working with the various Wards, um
pedestrian Refuge Islands. It's it's got to be part of an
overall comprehensive toolbox of things. Um, so I do want
to emphasize that it's very important but we view it as
something of of an ongoing Collective, um, uh work and
investment, um to get us where we we feel, you know, it's a
much safer environment for all so I do want to emphasize
that and um,
Um with that um, again, I want to thank uh the chairman and
and the committee members for having us here today to be
part of this conversation. Um, and with that I will turn it
over to our managing Deputy who's going to walk through
some slides here that we presented for today.
All right. Good morning. I'm Vig Christian Murthy managing
Deputy Commissioner at Chicago Department of
Transportation. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Thank you
members of the committee and city council for uh having us
here today.
uh as we heard, um, both the chairman and Commissioners
speak to uh, we hear a lot about safety, uh traffic safety
and um as we build a better stronger safer Chicago, uh,
better stronger safer streets our foundational to that
vision of a prosperous City, that's because we rely on our
streets to connect us to so many opportunities to go to
school to go to work to see family sometimes our streets
are just the destination in about themselves with vibrant
sidewalk cafes or places to see Neighbors and meet. Um, but
that vision is held back if people don't feel safe moving
around their community and uh 1 of the things that um, you
hear a lot about urban planning research is that people
will travel to work to school to attend a meeting to do
those mandatory things in life that you have to do but um
for strong communities for those optional things like
seeing your friends seeing your family taking that extra
walk with your dog, you really have to feel safe.
Uh to to participate in those things that build strong
communities and strong cities.
Um and worse case, uh, when a life is cut short by traffic
violence, you know, the the impact ripples through our
community, um the mourning the loss of a family member that
economic impact on families and so it's something that I
think there's Universal support and we hear about safety
because it connects into so many of the things that we hold
dear and and want to have come true for our city.
Now unfortunately 1 of the ways we measure safety is is
sort of the worst case scenario where we want our safety
systems.
Haven't been able to all work, uh together as the
commissioner said and there is a loss of life. And as you
are all aware of I'm sure um both throughout the United
States in Chicago, uh, at the start of the co pandemic in
2020 and 2021. There was a very sharp rise in the number of
traffic fatalities in our city and across the country that
peaked in 2021.
um
When we look at what's happened since then as we're you
know continue to come out into the new normal.
Um our peer cities of New York City LA Houston, there's
sort of been mixed Trends in where they're heading. Um, but
we are seeing sort of a um positive movement and consistent
movement year-over-year 2022 2023 in the right direction in
Chicago, um, that can be attributed to many many things.
Our investments are work together in this body. And in the
first quarter of 2024, we continue to see that Trend
continue of um, year-over-year decrease in traffic
fatalities. So that does leave us with lots of work to do.
Uh, the vision is Vision zero, uh, but it does put us in a
place of momentum and uh, very good time to have this
conversation about the additional tools. We can add to our
Playbook, uh to continue and to stay in this momentum in
the direction.
We all want to move.
now when we talk about making progress that progress has to
reach everyone every Community every corner of the city
every race and ethnicity and um 1 of the things we do see
unfortunately and um cdph will speak to this as well is
there is a persistent place-based and raised base inequity
in the traffic safety data and in particular, uh, black
Chicagoans are almost 4 times more likely to be the victim
of a fatal traffic crash in Chicago compared to non black
Chicagoans. Um, the number 1, um, demographic we see in our
fatal traffic crash data our black Chicago on Wednesday.
They're driving or riding in a car.
and so, um, it's very important that when we discuss these
topics we keep these inequities in mind, um, including this
place based in equities that the highest concentration of
hi crash areas, um are on the south side and the west side
when we look at it through the lens of age. We again see
the same, uh patterns of inequities that Chicagoans age 70
plus
Are much more likely to be the victim of a fatal traffic
crash. And so, um
as commissioner and chairman said we need holistic toolbox
a holistic approach so that our progress reaches everyone
and we make um improvements to these uh Trends which are um
traveling
so our safety investment framework at the department just
at a very high level you could you could say there are 4
pillars and aiming to try to get to all these different
tools and ways that the end of the day the outcome, um, in
terms of safety. There's a lot that goes into it and it
starts with our dialogue with uh, this body and with your
constituents building interest working together and
co-creating projects. Um C dot in particular we've spoken
at this body, uh in January and februari about our efforts
to systematize complete streets Investments to build
complete cycling networks to build complete Transit
networks and coordinate our effort and delivery of those
Investments.
But then it really comes back to people right when we build
the street and put all that infrastructure out there. How
does it operate and so we have programs and tools and aimed
at nudging those behaviors? Uh, and we hope that this all
works as an ecosystem from start to finish working with
communities to design but working with Community to also
get that actual operation the actual safety that we hope to
see
Uh a little bit about our our results in the last few years.
We have significantly increased our our both, um design,
uh, toolbox of complete streets as bringing new types of
things like raised crosswalks or new configurations of
Transit stops, um new configurations of pedestrian
Crossings and um through those Investments as we document
their results. We we do see some um, you know, very
impressive results in certain cases, but in before and
after studies of um, 30 to 90% uh decreases in the number
of people, uh, driving over the speed limit so
infrastructure Investments surely is a powerful Tool, uh,
and 1 of the important things the department delivers
At the same time when we design our streets we think about
you know, what are the variables we're designing for. The
public way is a very, uh Dynamic environment with so many
modes. So many users people trying to live their lives and
get around, uh, and 1 of the the trends that we are up
against is some Trends in vehicle design that are
Uh exacerbating some of the safety hazards. We're trying to
address in our street design and um, there has been a
national, um movement towards larger vehicles, um, people
sort of moving away from uh, the typical passenger of sedan
car to more of a crossover style car or an SUV. Take a
moment. Excuse me. I know.
Now we have a second conversation in the back. Is it
possible for the conversation to be held outside of
Chambers?
Thank you.
Please continue. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um so across the
country around 2015 the market share of new vehicles for
uh, these larger type Vehicles exceeded the market share of
the more traditional passenger car.
And the concerns associated with that are are twofold. Um,
these larger vehicles are harder to see out of and the
image here shows how almost an entire person disappears in
the blind spot, um of a a small SUV, uh, and that just
makes it hard to seek right. So there's a crash risk
associated with visibility.
The second has to do with um, what what they talk about in
the industry is the taller hoods or taller bumpers. And so
um, if a crash does occur, it's more likely to strike
someone in their vital organs had neck brain, uh, and that
um crash is more likely to create a a fatal outcome just by
virtue of of where the impact point is. Uh, so
Uh, this is sort of important, uh, because a lot of these um
vehicle Trends, uh were not ill-intentioned. They were
actually rooted in the idea of how can we make progress on
safety, uh, the idea being those thicker pillars that
obscure the Viewpoint of this person increase the strength
of the car's roof. So if it rolls over it's less likely to
crush the occupants those pillars house the airbags for
your side curtain airbags. And so, um many times we have
well-intentioned, uh, safety efforts, but we have to look
at the holistic outcomes to understand that at the end of
the day as all these things work together. Do they achieve
progress or maybe actually set us back?
Now in terms of speeding, uh the heart of the matter today,
um as commissioner Carney said, I I wish I could say there
were a handful of places where speeding happened and we
could go address them and and um be on our way, um, but the
2 maps here with the uh, turquoise dots and the purple dots
show just a moment in time snapshot a single day of uh,
various data sources. We've assembled at seed Dot from
sensors and cars to GPS data that we get from various, um
data providers of specific instances of a person driving
either 40 miles per hour.
or 50 miles per hour and you can almost not see the
individual dots because there are tens of thousands of
individual data points and this represents maybe 3 to 10%
sample of all the vehicles on the road in a given day.
and each 1 of these dots is sort of a
a bad outcome waiting to happen. Unfortunately, um the
chart with the yellow line, uh, the punch line there is on
the on the bottom is the speed and uh on the chart is How
likely is someone just survive or uh be killed in a crash
at that speed.
Um, and the the punch line is a very small change in speed
and have a dramatic impact on safety and around 25 miles
per hour. There's sort of a sweet spot where you know, the
average person if Unfortunately they are in a crash.
There's more of a cushion of survival. There's a more of a
90% chance you will survive that crash.
as you get into 30 35 some of those speeds that don't seem
so fast the chance of survival goes down dramatically
almost to uh, a 5 times, uh increase in fatality between 25
and 35. Um, and that's biology that's you know, what our
bodies can sustain and that's physics, you know, there's
there's a lot of science there. Um, but the the policy, uh
implication is that a little bit can really go a long way
when it comes to speed management.
If I may just I hate to break my own rule, but going back to
the previous slide. Is that person? Uh, likelihood?
Of surviving a crash inside or outside of the vehicle, uh,
Mr. Chairman, that would be a person outside of vehicle.
So speed limit modification. Um
As we have many tools to modify, uh, the actual uh
performance of the street, right you go outside and we do a
lot of speed measurement is 1 of the things C dot does we
get a lot of requests for traffic studies?
The speed limit itself is 1 of those variables. There is a
a percent of people who follow it and so modifying the
speed limit can reduce speeding, uh by extension, you know
by your ability to have a little bit more time to react to
see to stop um, and adjust it can reduce crashes and then
as we just discussed by reducing crashes, you also have an
ability to reduce harm in terms of serious injury or fatal
outcome of those crashes.
Now, uh as we discussed we have in Chicago work with this
body and your peers to pursue, um, the corridor by Corridor
speed limit modifications, uh through an ordinance and um
what our peer cities have done, uh is taking that broad
that tool a lot broader to a Citywide speed limit, um
change and um, there are many different uh recipes if you
will to house cities have done it from 4 doors to zones.
But the most single common approach across the country, uh
such as New York almost a decade ago or Atlanta fairly
recently is a blanket 25 mph Citywide unless otherwise
posted
and I think that's become the most common approach because
it has Clarity operationally feasible. Uh, it's more likely
to be understood and so you do see other flavors, but
certainly that is the the main um approach that other peer
cities have chosen.
and in those, um evaluation studies that we've a peer
reviewed some of the evaluation studies done by those other
cities when they move from um, about 20 30 to 25, uh, the
results are significant just changing signs Alone. Um, we
see in those studies about a 9 to 50% reduction in
speeding.
and the important thing in this chart with the red bars is
perhaps a little bit counter-intuitively the worst speeding
if you want to call that that highest 40 mile per hour plus
or 35 mile per hour plus.
Actually comes down more than the maybe 1 or 2 miles over
the speed limit and the theory here is sort of um traffic
behavior is just like any other social behavior when um, we
all just slow down a little bit and model the the way we
want our streets to work. It creates a little bit more of a
move if everyone towards that direction we want to go at so
it's actually a highly uh targeted Tool, uh,
counterintuitively to to address some of that worst
speeding that that along with that comes the most danger.
In terms of safety outcome, uh, looking at Seattle and New
York City studies. Uh, you do see about a 20% uh as the
chairman said reduction in crashes injury crashes and
therefore fatalities as well, which is a fairly sizable, um
reduction when you think about the investment associated
with changing the speed limit and the return on that
investment in terms of safety benefit. It is potentially 1
of these high return on investment safety tools.
But alone, it's not adequate you need to take, you know,
100% of the problem and maybe make a 25% impact through
speed limit and you're left with 75% of the problem. You
you still have 25% more of that 75% with Street design.
You're left with a smaller number. And so these tools build
on each other and if you can um achieve these types of
double-digit percent reductions through various means
You start coming down to real single digit, um issue that's
left and that that could be significant.
Um, so we look forward to um, continuing the conversation
with this body. I thank you for your attention. I know it's
a lot of technical data. I'll hand it back to the chairman
for the other speakers. And uh, we look forward to your
questions and working together on this measure. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Commissioner Kearney Deputy
Commissioner Krishna Murthy. Uh, we will now go to
commissioner. Eay and Kate McMahon from the Department of
Public Health.
Hello, everyone. I am Dr. Symbol E. I am the commissioner
for the Chicago Department of Public Health. I'm a
preventive Medicine Specialists and our work is really
focused on changing behavior. Um, so our we want to say
thank you. Uh, I'm here with our policy director Kate
McMahon, um here as well. Um, thank you. Chela, uh Vice
chair cruise and the members of the committee on pedestrian
and traffic safety. Uh, we're excited to be able to join
the
discussion about traffic safety and to share the public
health consideration, um when we reviewed this proposal,
Um, we share the goal to make Chicago safer for everyone.
Um, in fact our mission at Chicago Department of Public
Health is to make Chicago safer and healthier, um, and our
approach to doing that is through a data-driven equity
centered public health approach and that requires
understanding the root causes of the issue that we're
dealing with.
And how best to tailor our strategies to ensure that
whatever interventions we put in place do not inadvertently
disproportionately impact communities of color.
So I am very heartened today to hear that there is real
intentional, um exploration of the complexity of the issue
at stake.
From our Public Health perspective. We want to understand
the issue first.
and then where they are inequities and then the root causes
so on the
slide there
What we have projected is the distribution of traffic
related mortality in the city of Chicago.
What we know is that traffic related mortality
disproportionately impacts people of color. We know that.
We also know that black and latinx Chicagoans experience
disproportionate model vehicle crash mortality compared to
White Chicago.
We also know that the higher rates of motor vehicle crash
fatalities are concentrated in the South and the West sides
of the city.
What we do not know is why?
Why are black and latinx communities disproportionately
impacted?
by fatalities
and so our approach to that is getting at the root causes
that contribute to disparate impacts.
of traffic safety and crash outcomes
We want to understand traffic safety.
And as with other public health issues, it is complex.
We want to understand why.
And what prevention strategies will work?
Not just what prevention strategies would work, but what
prevention strategies will work for those who are most
impacted.
There are many different factors that contribute.
to mortality
their individual and Community level factors and many of my
colleagues have shared some of the different things they
have considered.
the driving behaviors
the vehicle design
the street design and then social assets are all
contributors to motor vehicle crashes the community assets
including access to public transportation options and
alternative travel methods working by King Etc have
influence on the outcomes.
These are just some examples of the social determinants of
Health that we consider when we are exploring preventive
strategies. We look at neighborhood conditions, and we look
at other factors that contribute to disparate outcomes
experienced by people of color.
To improve Traffic Safety. We want to recommend pursuing
strategies that focus on the root causes that explore both
personal and environmental causes that explore solutions
that Center racial equity and minimize unintended Harms.
We need information on what works in Chicago.
So that we can better tailor approaches that will work in
the traffic corridors most impacted.
And solutions that will work for the communities most
impacted.
such an approach is needed to ensure that Solutions have
their intended impact of making the city safer for all
pedestrians cyclists drivers and that these Solutions
reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries in Chicago.
Cdph We Stand ready to partner and to explore options
available to make us Street safer for all users, whether
they're drivers, whether they're bikers, whether they're
pedestrians, and we look forward to working together in
partnership with other departments the impacted communities
and this body to make Chicago healthier and safer. Thank
you.
Thank you. Commissioner. Uh, Miss McMahon. Are you
presenting as well?
Okay, uh, then we are going straight over to our controller
to use frequent code Chase. Thank you for being with us.
Thank you so much chair and uh members of the committee for
having me. Um, uh before I get into testimony. You've heard
me many times before. Um, I'm here, uh, uh just to discuss
the technical sides of those fines, but as an
Administration and
personally, um fines and fees are meant to change behavior.
Um, they're not meant to be a fiscal Boon to the city in
either way. Um and our policies, uh, we intend to make sure
uh, adhere to that goal. Um, so over the past few years,
The Department of Finance has implemented several programs
to combat regressive fines and fees burdening low-income
households, um launched in 2022 the clear path relief
program, which is up here, um provides low-income motorship
motorists the opportunity to eliminate vehicle related
debts such as parking compliance red light and speed camera
violations eligible motorists who pay off the original fee
for the ticket issued the uh in the last 3 years can be can
get all eligible older debt waved to qualify the applicant
must be a member of of a household currently enrolled in
the utility.
Billing relief program or the administrative debt relief
program or have a household income less than 300% of the
federal poverty guidelines CPR was set to expire on January
1st 2024, but the Department of Finance, uh worked with the
city council to permanently codify the program as well as
as so we can continue to provide, uh Pathways for residents
to get out of debt and into economic stability.
any initiatives to change the Citywide speed limit are
intended to be Revenue neutral with the sole purpose of
improving safety and preventing crashes in the that caused
fatalities or significant injury Street in uh injuries, ah
injuries apologies.
In addition to the clear path relief program. We also have
the fix it defense. This is eligible for all individuals.
Uh, and it is intended to be a relief process so that uh,
if uh, someone has an expired city sticker or expired
license plate that they have an ability to get under
compliance and not have the additional um, financial
burden. This is uh a way that we are obviously showing that
we're more interested in changing the behavior not so much
uh in receiving the revenue.
All time are uh clear, uh path relief has had 50300783
participants. Uh, We've forgiven 35 million, uh debt and we
have set aside pending graduation from the programming at
additional 5.2 million and the fix it defense has had
35,000 participants with an amount saved of 4.6 billion.
I stand uh here chair to answer any questions and I
appreciate you taking up this issue.
Uh, you're so very welcome. Our next speaker is Miss
Victoria Barrett from the Chicago metropolitan Agency for
planning.
Good morning. Um, okay, that's working.
Give us 1 moment, Miss Barrett. Yes.
Great. Thank you. Um, I'm happy to be here. Thank you for
having me. Um speak to the committee this morning. My name
is Victoria Barrett. I am a senior Transportation planner
at the Chicago metropolitan Agency for planning, which is
the Metropolitan planning Organization for Northeastern,
Illinois, including the 7 County region and the city of
Chicago.
I'm going to share some data and research findings today
that explain why we need to manage speeds, um today and
arguably 5 years ago or 10 years ago, but there are um,
there are conditions on our roadways today that make this a
particularly urgent issue today. Um speed management is the
practice of setting safe speed limits designing streets to
improve compliance with with safe speed limits and
supporting better driver Behavior.
My presentation will explain why existing speed limits pose
a greater risk today to all who travel on our roadways, but
especially to those who walk by and have other Mobility
challenges.
Many cities are reducing speed limits to reduce the
frequency and severity of crashes and it is proving
effective particularly when coupled with improved Street
design better signage Advanced information and an education
centered enforcement program.
Reducing speed limits in urban areas is a necessary
effective and systemic way to support improved safety
outcomes.
Uh, I'm going to Echo some of the points that you've heard
today. I wanted to talk a little bit more about the
historic Trend in traffic fatalities Nationwide to which
Vig referenced.
um, we see after Decades of decline since the early 70s
traffic fatality started to tick upward in a in about 2014.
This is true. Nationally. It's true at the Illinois state
level and it's true in our region 2014 marks, um some
significant changes in aspects of driving including the
proliferation of of cell phones in vehicles and other
devices on board it also signals a time when our vehicle
Fleet changed significantly in size, which I'll talk about
more in a bit.
As I mentioned this data is echoed at the regional level
and and Biggs data showed it a true at the city level as
well. Um, we do see a decline starting since the 2021 Spike
during the co 19 pandemic but traffic fatalities in our
region remain higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Another aspect of safety that's important to highlight is
the increase in pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities in our
region. These numbers have been trending upwards and it is
also um, well established that these crashes can often be
unreported.
And as has been mentioned by other, um other panelists
traffic fatalities are inequity issue. We see black
residents in our region over represented in traffic
fatalities at the regional scale. This can be explained by
a few factors. But um as indicated it is it is a a
difficult question to answer and um, it may be uh exposure
to Traffic Safety risks. We know that black residents in
our region usually travel longer distances and and for um
longer times to Access Health appointments school shopping
and jobs,
it's important to understand that the risks posed by the
transportation system in the United States are higher than
those in other developed countries. When you consider
traffic deaths as a generalized Risk by looking at the
fatality rate per population. The United States rate is
more than double that of Canada and Australia and more than
4 times that of Sweden and the UK.
Many of this country's indicated on this list have more.
stringent speed limit policies in urban areas
when we looked at Regional, um, the share of fatal and
serious injuries, involving speeding or aggressive driving
across the region. We saw that 41% of fatal and serious
injuries had speeding indicated as a contributing factor.
This is
both higher than the national average, which is generally
about 30% but it is also
Well believed that speeding is under reported on traffic
crash reports.
So this number is likely higher.
I'm going to talk make a couple points here about the
importance of managing speeds in urban areas.
The first point is that 30 mile per hour streets see the
highest rate of fatal and serious crashes in our region.
The second is that our vehicle Fleet size is much larger
than it used to be.
We see an increased acceptance of speeding both in
nationally and locally.
And we also know that small decreases in average speeds
save lives.
On analysis by cmap showed that the the this chart shows
the posted speed limits across the bottom of the chart. Um,
and you'll see that the the posted speed limit of 30 miles
per hour has the highest rate of fatal and serious injury
crashes for both vehicles and for pedestrians and
bicyclists.
Indicating that this is an area for for us to focus on the
30m per hour speed limit.
Another point to mention is that vehicles are larger and
heavier today as big indicated. This is data from the EPA
showing the passenger vehicle Fleet by vehicle type. You'll
see that on the left side in 1975 the large Blue swath
indicates that there was a very large percentage of sedans
in our passenger vehicle Fleet As you move across the
bottom of the chart towards the right where it's 2020. You
can see that sedans only make up 1/3 of all vehicles. The
rest of the vehicles are now much larger and heavier
Vehicles like SUVs pickups minivans and vans.
Larger and heavier vehicles produce more kinetic energy in
crashes, which means that they can result in more severe
injuries.
And the vehicle shape is also posing an increased risk.
Over the past 30 years the average US passenger vehicle has
gotten about 4 inches wider 10 inches longer 8 inches
taller and 1,000 pounds heavier. Many vehicles are more
than 40 inches tall at the Leading Edge of the hood on some
large pickups. The hoods are almost at eye level for many
adults.
Vehicles with hoods more than 40 inches off the ground at
the Leading Edge and a grill sloped at an angle of 65
degrees or less were 45% more likely to cause pedestrian
fatalities than those with a similar slope and Hood Heights
of 30 inches or less.
Another contributing factor to the speeding epidemic is our
historic approach to setting speed limits, which has tended
to accommodate and support the fastest drivers by adopting
an 85th percentile speed limit.
The 85th percentile is the speed at which 85% of drivers
are traveling at or below leaving only the fastest 15% out
of compliance with typical speed limits. This approach has
led to an increased acceptance of speeding.
And finally, I want to make the point that small decreases
in average operating speeds make big differences in
decreasing risk.
We don't need everyone to drive much slower to see big
benefits. This chart uses crash modifi modification factors
from the highway safety manual to calculate expected
decreases in pedestrian fatality rates. If the average
operating speeds dropped just 1 mile below 30 miles per
hour. We would see a 17% decrease in The Pedestrian
fatality rate.
My last point is that I want to um show that Illinois is is
in the smallest group of states with a 30 m per hour speed
limit 22 States in our country have lower defaults speed
limits than that in Illinois particularly for urban
districts.
and
pass it on to my colleague. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Miss Barrett. Uh, we will now go to
Audrey Wick from the metro and planning Council.
Thank you.
My name is Audrey wink. I'm a senior director at the
Metropolitan planning Council and thanks for the
opportunity to address the committee about this critical
health and safety issue.
As we have heard in recent years, there's been a rise in
traffic fatalities attributable to excessive speeding and
this was exacerbated by the pandemic. And now that we're
out of the pandemic it is not going down.
While the city has been improving its roadway design to
create self enforcing roads that's roads that give signals
to drivers to slow down, uh visually according to design
this takes time for such a large roadway system as we have
in Chicago.
and we need to use multiple tools to address traffic safety
and as has been said reduce reducing the speed limit is 1
additional tool in the toe box that we really should be
considering seriously.
Just want to point out here that this um traffic fatality
Trend graphic for the last 6 years in Chicago, uh shows
persistently High rate of fatalities. Um, but we have many,
um people dying in cars as well as vulnerable users. We're
we're incredibly concerned about pedestrians and cyclists,
but slightly more than half of the those killed are in
cars. And so we
We need to keep in mind that these policies will address,
uh, both drivers and pedestrians and non-motorized users.
Additionally we want to highlight that this graph only
shows fatalities. There are many more crashes that occur
that cost Serious injury, uh, and people have to live with
debilitating injuries for many years. Um, there are many
more crashes that are very disruptive to our city that may
um, not even cause injury but that uh, create an
environment where there's a lot of uh, emergency response
going on all the time and where we don't where we have an
incredible burden on our emergency rooms. Um, and where
we're not having livable neighborhoods, which is what we
all want to live in.
So we need to do everything we can to prevent these crashes
from happening in the first place.
as has been noted, um
Small changes in speed can have a huge difference, uh as
you see here and as has been noted already at 20 miles per
hour. There's a 90% chance of a pedestrian surviving a
crash and at 30 miles per hour only 60% of pedestrians Will
Survive a crash. This is such a dramatic difference, um
with only 5% of 5, 10 mile per hour, uh difference in this
graphic. However, a 5 mile per hour reduction can increase
survival rates for
From 60 to 70 percent without significantly impacting
drivers travel times, especially in urban environments
where we have so many stop lights which are already uh,
having an a large impact on the ability to move throughout
the city.
It's really a matter of physics as um.
Vic Cristo Murthy, uh noted earlier
speed confers directly to reaction time when you're
driving. So this graphic shows how many feet it takes to
stop a vehicle when you're going in different speeds. So if
we were uh, if cars are operating at 20 M 25 miles per
hour, um, it takes 85 feet to stop the vehicle. Um, but you
can see at 30 miles an hour. It's 120 feet. It's it's a
very dramatic difference for every 5 miles per hour in
terms of the ability to stop and think about how this
happens. Uh, when drivers are approaching the many
crosswalks we have in our city.
If a driver is uh operating at 20 miles per hour they may
be able to see everyone who's about to step into the
crosswalk
if they are operating at 30 or 40 miles per hour they may
not even notice people that are about that are at the edges
of the crosswalk. And by the time they get there, um, the
pedestrians in the middle and they have difficulty
stopping.
So as it has been noted, uh by other speakers this
intervention to reduce the speed limit.
To 25 miles per hour works and has been done in many other
large cities in the country. Um, we have seen the data that
shows that um fatalities and speeding have been reduced in
New York.
in Seattle
in San Francisco
and in Boston and we're seeing um significant, uh data,
that's very encouraging about this policy working. So in
conclusion, I just want to make a point that
hopefully we will move forward with the change in this
policy. And if we do we must make education a central part
of the roll out. Um as has been noted by the controller the
intention of such a policy is not to raise revenue it is to
change behavior. And uh, and and and as our our colleagues
that work in health have also said it's critical that we
try to in fact have as few citations as possible because
people will be following
The law um, and so that that should be the goal and that we
must have uh, we must ensure that people don't feel
surprised by this policy. And this is a great opportunity
to change Behavior through education and then secondly, um
any finds that are collected through enforcing uh, such a
new policy. We should strongly consider directing them
towards infrastructure changes as has been noted. Um, you
know, we want to build self enforcing streets. Uh, I think
people that would receive a fine from speeding, uh would
would be happy to know that those fines would be redirected
into making a self enforced these streets and in upgrading
the infrastructure over the long term. So that's uh, that's
a proposal that we would hope the city would consider. So
thank you for the time today.
Uh, thank you very much. Miss wink. And finally we have Amy
by now, um active Transportation Alliance.
Hi Amy, right now executive director of the active
Transportation Alliance. Thank you so much chairman and
vice chair and committee members for holding this hearing
and advancing this long overdue conversation.
we want a city that is
Vibrant, that's climate resilient. We want Mobility choices
that reach into all of our neighborhoods and uh allow folks
to get around any way. They need to safely.
But we won't grow the number of folks who are walking who
are biking or rolling to get around if they aren't safe on
our streets and we've seen a lot of data today that um
backs up the feeling that people have that they don't feel
safe.
We run a free crash support hotline and here far too often
about the experiences. People are having just trying to get
around you heard today from Miss Kimberly. We heard from
Dixon, um, and some other folks that even getting here
today. Uh did not feel safe.
The toll that speeding is taking on our communities and and
lives losses really tremendous. We've heard a little bit
about it today, but I just want to hammer home that um, it
includes lost lives. Uh, it includes losing neighbors
friends teachers workers.
It includes lost wages because a lot of these crashes, uh
that results in severe injury take people out of the
workforce for an extended period of time.
Uh, it results in significant medical debt and other
financial hardship strain on our emergency response system.
You saw that c do map is so terribly troubling on speeding.
Um, and uh, we're taking our First Responders time
primarily to responding to traffic crashes and there's a
really significant cost to our neighborhoods in terms of
livability the economic viability of businesses where
people don't feel safe C. Oh my goodness Crossing to get to
their grocery store or their hair salon and what have you
So all to say that speed is just very incompatible with
safety. I pulled a few headlines just from februari, uh in
our city that are illustrative of what's happening every
day.
Thankfully this hearing is happening and we're hearing that
the human toll. Um
Of these preventable tragedies while immense can be
prevented.
We've also heard that safer speeds is 1 piece of the
puzzle.
This is a graphic of something called The Safe Systems
approach for eliminating.
Fatal and serious injuries for all Road users. This is
coming out of Decades of research that shows we need
redundancy in our traffic approach to traffic safety.
So as you've heard speak the lower speed limit and speed
policies are a piece of the puzzle that pair with a bunch
of other things that will save lives.
the um
Evidence, we've already seen tells us that a lower speed
limit will result in fewer crashes.
Um, there's some other things really importantly that this
unlocks.
Lower speed limits lead to safer Street design. We've
talked a lot today about how we need safer Street design as
well. We haven't talked about how the streets are currently
designed for the speed limit. So this is a resource from
nacto that c dot is a part of it has helped lead. Um, but
essentially
Gets to the heart of the fact that our streets are
dangerous by Design. So we're designing a street for a
speed limit not the other way around. So right now at the
30 mph speed limit on our arterial streets, we cannot add
safety elements because there's a speed limit of 30. So
it's a very counterintuitive, um that Essential Safety
items we need we can't do um, because it's too dangerous to
build safety infrastructure.
So lowering the speed limit allows.
Our city to put in more safe safety in addition to lower
speeds.
We've also heard and I just want to Echo the city
controller that safety is the goal here and
And not Revenue that and as well as the chairman we need a
policy in our city that values the ability of people of all
ages and abilities to get around safely.
And um lowering the speed limits is a key piece of that.
But not as a revenue generator.
We have been working really hard as a city to make uh
traffic enforcement practices more Equitable to address
fines and fees and this is just another opportunity to keep
digging into what an equitable approach to community
accountability and traffic safety can be
Automated enforcement, which is the 1 of the key tools
that's used right now.
Is something that Chicago has had a mixed history with and
I think it's important to say that it's not a race neutral
approach to enforcement there needs to be really clear
guard rails in an equitable approach again to the fines and
fees.
We don't need we need to be less reliant on punitive
measures and more reliant on Pro Behavior change elements.
our neighborhoods with the poorest Street design our wider
streets that have many Highway entrances and exits and high
traffic violence are the ones where we saw, uh, inequitable
ticketing through automated enforcement and I think the
city continues to work on this but it's an important thing
as we roll out a lower speed limit, which I hope we do, uh
that we also pay a lot of attention to
the other thing that folks have mentioned that is really
important piece of this puzzle is designing what what are
called self enforcing streets that encourage driving at
speeds consistent with the posted speed limit.
So that I'll just give a few examples of this that we
already do uh, having fewer roadway Lanes on a road driving
Lanes on our own neighborhood Greenways adding a bike lane
shortening pedestrian Crossings are some of the tools
Chicago's already using that reduce speeds.
We also use um, in some areas the variable Dynamic speed
feedback signs, which uh has been proven effective at
reducing high-end speeds. Um, and the effects on things
like that last over time. So we have a lot of things in our
toolbox that we could put together if we have this
particular policy change that happens.
I I'll read this slide even though I haven't read the
others, um unsafe speed on our roadways is not an
inevitable fact of life.
No traffic related death is acceptable when the tools exist
to prevent the conditions and behaviors that lead to these
tragedies.
The time for Action is now we all share a fundamental right
to Safe Streets and the ability to move freely and
confidently through our neighborhoods.
This basic expectation has been increasingly threatened as
our streets and our city have become places where speed and
efficiency for drivers has taken precedence over life.
This seemingly Small Change of lowering. The speed limit
will have an outsized impact on the safety and well-being
of everyone who gets around by car foot bike assisted
device. What have you?
Thank you for your time today.
Thank you, Miss. Bye now and
despite the need for redundancy is in traffic safety. It
would be redundant of me.
To repeat or try to restate what is up on the screen here.
There's nothing more.
clear or commanding than
That slide I'm really grateful for our panelists for their
thoughtfulness their expertise and the compassion that they
bring to this issue. Um, we're also uh with the committee
that is following after us committed to not ending any
later than we started. So we're going to create a hard out
for 1215. But if you have questions for our panelists, uh,
we do have time for questions and comments.
Also, uh, autumn no more. Yes, sir.
Thank you chairman, uh definitely want to thank um, my
colleagues for bringing this for us. I always respect the
type of ordinances that they um, bring, um, especially when
it's trying to improve um, our Comm our communities and
safety, but I I really want us to look at this situation.
Um,
Can anybody provide because I don't I don't think we have
anybody to hear from CPD. Um.
At least from year to year or even the past 5 years if
we're tracking. Um, how many speeding tickets?
Have been written in the city of Chicago have that number
gone up down. And and what does that number look like?
Is there an individual from C commissioner? Uh, sorry
controller.
Yeah, Alderman, I I don't have that with me, but I can
provide that to the chair. No problem. That should be thank
you. We will get that to you through the chair only more
and I know just to clarify just speed or do you want speed
and red light?
Excuse me. Did you want just speed or did you also want the
red light tickets? No not red light. Just speeding speeding
tickets. Yeah, because you can go 20 miles an hour and go
through a red light.
No problem. Um, the other thing is as we and I know we were
looking at things by Community. Um, but
in areas as we talk about the South and West as in the
north side, um,
there's been an increase in um more people relying on CTA
have we looked at those numbers in terms of the north south
north south and west has uh, um, you know the use of public
transportation.
so all ottoman more
the
It's a jacent to uh, the topic in the room. Unfortunately,
um CTA is under the jurisdiction of Transportation in
public way, although if you're asking for
Data related to EWR ship. Yes, because um when you have when
you have places that are walkable communities like the uh,
north side and of course, you know, we we don't we don't
don't have the suburbs suburbs in this number be in
Neighborville or anywhere else. Um, but we're focusing on
the city, uh,
when you help walkable communities people are driving less
and as we're taking on this approach and when we're looking
at things like this. This is why it's important that um
development is important. Uh, anytime I'm looking for money
to spend on anything. I want to see development you all
hear me talk about and this Administration know and they
will hear me talk about so I'm blue in the face until we're
building on 69th Street between Ashley and Damon I tow it
back in because
when they have to go somewhere that people in my residents
in that Community have to jump in a car.
which increased anytime you're driving and the more you
drive just automatically increase your risk and so
therefore but if I have a walkable community in places that
I can go or if it's close by where I'm not flying to and
I'm just down the street. I'm driving 25 miles an hour, you
know, or even keeping the speed limit now of 30 to get
somewhere where I need to go because it's straight. It's
down the street. It's a mile away or whatever versus. I'm
having to go over to Evergreen Park or I have to go further
out to get somewhere. And so I want us to keep that in
mind.
We are talking about spending dollars because there is a
cost to this. I think commissioner Connie pointed out
there's a cost to this and and and changing this and I want
to make sure that any dollars that we're using are going
towards always going to a development first and then we can
begin to I'm all this thing of the 8020 rule, right you
take care of the 20% of the problems that other 80% will be
taking care of and so um, I think when we're developing
this thing of um, speeding and all that what would have a
uh,
a a positive impact that you'll see you'll see a a positive
impact from that standpoint. So I want us to make sure
we're focusing on building communities before we um are
really focusing on putting money. Um out but also looking
at what CPD is doing, um right now, uh, I want to look I
want to look at those numbers, but I know I'm I have no
doubt that ottoman Curtis call, um others call. Um, I I I
see where this is happening at but if there's nobody to
give you a ticket there, it's just whether you 25 or 30,
I'm not you know, if I'm not getting a ticket I'mma I'mma
still go, you know, the 40 the 50 or whatever and that's so
I think we got to we got to redirect.
our efforts and making sure those other things are done
first and not saying that we don't do this, but I think you
you make sure those other things are being done first and
then see what's happening there. I appreciate no framework
that you're bringing to this. Sorry. I really do. Thank
you. Um old woman mopping worth
Thank you chair. I wanted to thank uh all of our public
speakers who came today.
And um everyone in the box and thank you.
Uh C dot for also presenting. I'm I learned so much today
and um, you would think that these things are um,
sensible things that we're thinking about um, the impact of
vehicle designs, right and um,
the use of phones that are increasing, um these uh
fatalities but uh as a as a physical therapist who worked
in the Cook County system that I and I appreciate the
comment 1 of the speakers who talked about, you know, the
lifelong debilitating, um effects of an accident and uh,
who Bears the cost of that it's everybody. Um,
I also am thinking about um, you know, I really appreciate
to the comments about um,
education of um
of everyone not not only those who live here, but those who
use our streets coming in from other places and suburbia.
Um, you know Lyft and Uber drivers.
That's really important and Central to all of this is
through lens of equity so that we can save lives because
everybody should be able to use our public ways no matter
where you live or you know the color of your skin, really?
um
I also appreciated the um, the many conversations about a
self-enforcing street.
Um, I and when we're talking about enforcement, you know
who's responsibility is it? Um, I wish that um CPD was here
so that they could um contribute to the conversation. Um,
and I also would hope that we uh loop in for instance the
other committees including Public Safety and also, um, for
instance the economic development task force that happened
this week, um talking about ways that we can modernize all
of our systems. Um, so that we are moving in a more
Equitable way, you know in terms of enforcement. Um, I
think that's really important to to talk about but I um,
I I would like some help also because of course we've had a
lot of upgrades to our bike Grid in the 40th Ward and of
course we have Sheridan and Broadway Clark Street and all
of the um streets that go to to Sabo Lakeshore Drive that
is used by so many people 40,000 people just on the
intersection of Broadway and and brenmar.
to get to um to get to work or whatever and um
And the upgrades that you have provided in the community
that I represent are appreciated by so many people and
they're also a board because they they don't understand it,
you know, so I would like um help in that way. I think um a
public
meeting of some kind to bring um, everything that we talked
about here to folks who are really interested in getting
around in multiple ways. Like you mentioned by car, you
know by um foot, you know, um, we have a lot of our word
Trends older adults, you know, people want to get around
safely and they want to do it in ways that um, they
Um, that makes sense. If you're doing something right in the
crosswalk. You shouldn't have to feel like you're, you know
running through your lives to the other side of the street.
So I just want to thank you and appreciate your free work
and I I look forward to working more with you, um on all of
these issues.
Thank you, Jerry. Thank you very much. All the woman. Uh,
we are going next to ottoman Curtis.
Uh, thank you chairman. Uh first I would like to thank all
our speakers today. Uh, this is very informative. I I know
I've been uh working with uh, commissioner Kearney on a
couple issues. Uh,
uh, basically about speeding and I remember, uh,
At 1 time I wasn't uh, uh fan at all of of red light
cameras.
but
now I I um.
I I was I was hoping that we could probably redraft uh
ordinance to allow red light cameras.
on in places where we have uh these accidents, uh,
and and and and there's 2 basically locations, uh in my
ward, uh where I'm having issues and they're just a small.
uh area so basically Columbus
From from just Western to kedzi is is actually a highway
once you get to 87th Street.
you know, so uh as so as we go from
from basically 2400 West
uh Western and then 3,200 South
I've had I've had at least
10 accidents and 4 fatalities in the last 2 years
I would really love for us and and and right now uh, uh,
the ordinance says that the red light camera could only be
at uh schools parks.
but places like Columbus, which is really a highway needs
those feeding red light cameras because 1 thing I do agree
with our Commissioner of Public Health. It's all about
behavior modification.
Guess what?
Our drivers today are not getting it. So we we we we um
I remember when secretary and state used to come out and do
monitor, um speeding sometimes or is very hard now, uh, we
don't have enough.
police on the streets to sit there
and and watch the drivers.
uh
even even as of now
I don't care what the age is I don't care what the color is
a Creed know 1 is stopping that stop signs anymore. So my
main uh requests now for my constituents I speed humps.
Which that that was never the case.
But now everyone wants to see speed humps because everyone
flies straight through those stop signs.
So again, it's behavior modification that I really don't
believe.
um will happen because people know that
there's not enforcement not real enforcement that will cost
them money.
uh out there, so I I really don't know what that
answer is or or what the
I I I don't know but
Again, I think that we need to uh, consider.
Changing some ordinances, uh to allow some red light
cameras on places that is not Parks or schools.
uh
But also uh deal with this, you know, I I've been to other
states and I saw little small speed bumps right at the
corners.
Of intersections, right? But we don't have that in the city
when we do speed humps we go up from the corner and what
maybe 20 feet in and then measure it like that, correct? So
I think the only way to solve some of this is to put
the humps maybe at the at the edge of right by the stop
sign I guess but no 1's stopping at the stop signs.
right at the schools right in the center of uh, a
neighborhood and also when it comes down to
uh
the highways which Columbus what a state. Is that a State
Road?
Will the entire?
entirety be State word from Western to 87th Street
So it would be so basically it's a highway.
Just in the city. It's called Columbus. Once you cross over
to the suburbs. It's become a highway.
So I'm I'm looking at uh addressing that issue at some
point. Thank you.
I love it Alderman Curtis. You got to check out these
raised sidewalk crosswalks that see doc can do with us
these days sounds exactly what like what you're describing.
Um,
with respect to
y'all with with with and I do this out of respect to
Chairman Hopkins who was a meeting that's directly
following up with us.
Non members Vasquez and sector Lopez. I will make sure that
we get your questions answered through the chair same um,
uh ottoman y or only closed by saying before we adjourn
I really appreciate very sincerely the dialogue. I
appreciate the time of our members. I I believe that our
Council has the moral and the political imagination to
confront this issue thoughtfully and effectively and I look
forward to going on that Journey with all of you.
with that said and with their
Being yes indeed. We should have that very quickly.
And you wanted the last few years. Yes.
Shouldn't be a problem. And I I believe the controller's
office will follow up via email to make sure that we are
very clear on your request with that being said and what
they're being no further business before the committee may
have a motion to adjourn.
So many motions but I will give this 1 to Vice chair
Cruise. Um all in favor say I