Pedestrian Safety “Top Council Priority” in Dec., Months Later $450K for Pedestrian Safety at Schools Voted Down

by Patricia Lesko

At the May 15, 2017 Ann Arbor City Council meeting, Ward 2 Council member Jane Lumm (I) put forward five of the seven proposed amendments to Ann Arbor’s over $350 million budget. Four of her amendments had co-sponsors, including Jack Eaton (D-Ward 4) and Sumi Kailasapathy (D-Ward 1). In every case, Lumm’s amendments dealt with safety and she identified offsets to fund her proposals. In Amendment 6-Amendment to Increase One-Time Funding In FY18 and FY19 for Pedestrian Safety at Schools, Lumm proposed that the hiring of city staff be put off for one year:

RESOLVED, That the proposed FTE additions of Boards and Commissions Coordinator in the General Fund City Clerk’s Office ($97,000), the Telecommunications Manager in the General Fund Water Treatment budget ($77,000), the temporary staff and an employee incentive program in the Administrator’s Office ($25,000), the Human Resources Temporary Pay ($1,000) all be deferred for one year, and the FTE budget reduced by 2.0 FTE in FY18;

Her proposed amendment was voted down, including by her Ward 2 colleague Kirk Westphal (D) and Mayor Chris Taylor (D), Julie Grand (D-Ward 3), Graydon Krapohl (D-Ward 4), Chuck Warpehoski (D-Ward 5) as well as a trio of Council members who are running for re-election in the August 2017 Democratic primary election: Jason Frenzel (D-Ward 1), Zachary Ackerman (D-Ward 3) and Chip Smith (D-Ward 5). Jack Eaton (D-Ward 4), who is also running in the August 8 Democratic primary election, voted in favor of the budget amendment.

This is not the first time Lumm, who is running for re-election in the Nov. general election, has brought forward a budget amendment to allocate more money to streetlights and pedestrian safety. In May 2016, Lumm co-sponsored an amendment which would have provided more money to install city streetlights, including on Geddes Rd. near Huron High School. Taylor, Westphal, Grand, Ackerman, Krapohl, Warpehoski, and Smith voted against Lumm’s budget amendment that year, as well.

At the May 2017 meeting, Frenzel, Ackerman and Smith voted to hire (among other new city staff) a Coordinator for Boards and Commissions, a new full-time FTE in the City Clerk’s office who will be responsible for the timely posting of meeting minutes and board/commission vacancies. In explaining his support for a new city staffer to oversee the posting of meeting minutes of more than 40 boards and commissions and vacancies per year for some 300-400 positions on citizen boards and committees, Ackerman pointed out “my friend in the red shirt,” a Ward 3 resident named Ed Vielmetti.

Vielmetti commented at the end of the May 15, 2017 City Council meeting about the importance of citizens having access to governmental meeting minutes. On May 14, Vielmetti Tweeted that he had used FOIA to obtain the meeting minutes of the Board of Review claiming in his Tweet that the minutes had not been posted for five years.

“I’ve been at this since 2010,” said Vielmetti, referring to his role as a self-appointed watchdog. The one-time lead blogger for AnnArbor.com wrote a weekly column called “FOIA Fridays” until he was laid off in 2011.

Pedestrian Safety as a Council Priority—Until May

At their Dec. 2016 Council Retreat, City Council members agreed that city staff should continue to work on priorities identified in previous years, including improving safety and infrastructure for pedestrians and bicyclists.

At that meeting, A2 Safe Transport member Stephanie Preston said: “We really appreciate the effort council has made to talk with us, to discuss the issues with us, and to include them in their priorities going forward. That being said, I have a little bit of concern about folding us into ‘safe systems’ because it includes cars and it’s very vague and it’s unclear what exactly that will entail.”

Another member of A2 Safe Transport at the Dec. 2016 Council Retreat, Ward 2 resident Kathy Griswold, a former member of the Ann Arbor Board of Education, said she hoped city officials would follow through and adequately fund pedestrian safety. Griswold has repeatedly spoken to the media and said children are being endangered every day by the city’s bad practices.

“We can’t do it in one year, but we better have a rapid plan for correcting the past wrongs of this city,” said Griswold in Dec. 2016.

Kathy Griswold attended the May 15, 2017 Council meeting and held up a black sign. “Darkness,” said Griswold, referring to streetlights uninstalled and crosswalks that remain unsafe. She spoke in favor of the budget amendment that would have allocated an additional $450,000 to pedestrian safety at city schools.

Chuck Warpehoski (D-Ward 5) voted against Lumm’s May 15 budget amendments which would have funded two additional police officers, as well as the pedestrian safety budget amendment meant to fund priorities.

At the Dec. 2016 Council Retreat, Warpehoski was quoted as saying the city has seen hours of traffic enforcement go up, but traffic citations have not gone up and traffic speeds have not gone down. He said, “that’s not success. I want to see better compliance with speed limits in Ann Arbor.” Warpehoski went on to say he wanted to prioritize pedestrian safety at schools as well as areas with high crash rates or injury rates, including Plymouth Road.

At the May 15 meeting, Warpehoski argued against hiring additional police officers because “evidence-based models of policing” did not support increasing the number of officers. He was not alone in his opinion. Police Chief Baird told Council he didn’t want two additional officers. When asked if Ann Arbor polices proactively or reactively, the Chief replied, “Yes.”

Former Police Chief Seto told Council the AAPD was unable to police the city proactively.

Recent data compiled by the Michigan State Police revealed that violent crime has risen in Ann Arbor.

“Seto could retire at any time,” said one Council member. “Baird needs to keep this job.”

Pedestrian Crosswalk Ordinance Passed in 2010

When it comes to pedestrians being hit by cars, Ann Arbor is safer than most cities.

Nonetheless, since Ann Arbor’s Pedestrian Crosswalk Ordinance was passed, Michigan Traffic Crash Facts show the number of pedestrians hit by cars in Ann Arbor has risen. Between 2008-2010, there were 139 crashes involving pedestrians. Between 2010-2012, that number rose to 168. The most recent data compiled by the State of Michigan suggest that Ann Arbor is on track to have nearly 180 pedestrians hit by cars in the two year period 2015-2017. In a 2013 article, Ann Arbor’s Transportation Manager Eli Cooper told a reporter he recognizes that city officials need to make sure the public is educated about crosswalks in Ann Arbor. “Engineering is only one component. Education is a fundamental element, as is enforcement,” Cooper said.

The number of vehicle-pedestrian crashes in 2011 and 2012 was higher than for any of the years between 2005-2009. During those years, as few as 36 vehicle-pedestrian crashes were recorded (2006).

Between 2008-2015, 421 pedestrians and 463 bicyclists were hit by cars in Ann Arbor. The most recent person to die in a city crosswalk was a 16-year-old Huron high school student in Oct. 2016. The driver was not charged. The crosswalk, which AAPS officials had asked city staff to be redesigned and lit, was designated as a “second-tier” priority by city staff just a month before the student was killed. After the student’s death, City Administrator Howard Lazarus designated the crosswalk a “first-tier priority” and a variety of safety improvements made.

In Feb. 2017, The Michigan Daily reported on the fact that at its Feb. 21, 2017 meeting City Council unanimously passed a resolution to approve funding for improvements to the pedestrian crossing on Fuller Road outside Huron High School, “where a high-school student was hit by a car and killed on his way to school in October.”

Kathy Griswold said at the Feb. 2017 Council meeting: “This would be a perfect example of what not to do if you wanted to create a safe crosswalk. Engineering 101, you would fail if you did something like this. This has three lanes of traffic, no refuge island and, until recently, no street lighting. We deserve better.”

Much to the dismay of citizens and Council members, a school safety report released by the city administrator in Feb. 2017—weeks after planned release time—did not contain crosswalk evaluations or cost estimates as the report was supposed to.

On Feb. 24, 2017 A2 Safe Transport submitted a report to City Council titled, “Ann Arbor School Crossings: Priorities for Improvement.” In that report, the group concluded: “Adequate illumination at all crosswalks is imperative.” The report goes on to state, “The data clearly show that increased traffic enforcement is essential for safety at every school.” The report, produced by citizens, evaluated every AAPS crosswalk and recommended improvements based on engineering and state crosswalk safety standards.

At the May 15 Council meeting, City Administrator Howard Lazarus said that city staff were still working their way through the A2 Safe Transport report.