Councilman Phipps meets the enemy -- and finds that they are him.

Several times in the recent past we've cast a flabbergasted glance at these duplicitous machines of sheer uselessness.

The "distracted pedestrian" is a myth, but distracted engineers and planners are another topic.

Neither City Hall nor HWC Engineering sees a problem with this mishap-plagued intersection. Maybe we should appeal to Floyd County government for help.

This means you: "STOP FUCKING DRIVING YOUR CAR AT PEOPLE."

At Strong Towns: "4 Reasons We Must Build Our Streets for People (Not Just Cars).

3rd district councilman Greg Phipps' first mistake was to accept Jeff Gahan's watered-down two-way street grid paving project without a substantive murmur, insisting all the while that to question mayoral authority was even more treasonous than breaking bread with Vladimir Putin.

A neighbor's social media post yesterday about those idiotic solar-powered pedestrian danger crossings puts it all into perspective.

Just throwing it out there: there needs to be a highly visible driver education campaign to teach drivers what this sign and signaled light actually mean. I pushed this button to turn on the light to signal drivers I wanted to cross the street, and had I proceeded, I would’ve been mowed down by nothing short of 10 to 12 cars. Drivers did not even hit the brakes. I think these are a great safety move and I am glad they were installed, but they will not be effective in actually protecting pedestrians until drivers are educated.

A respondent tagged the councilman.

Greg Phipps....any ideas? Or any changes that the city is planning on implementing?

Phipps:
I have mentioned this at least 5-6 times at council and board of works. They are unwilling to add signs in the middle of the street like at the high school :(

Citizen:
What about a public education campaign? It’s seriously a tragedy waiting to happen. I shudder to think if someone made the assumption the traffic would slow and stop. Or children growing up and learning to cross the street. Scary stuff. The street was actually safer without these lights installed. These provide a dangerous false sense of security.

Phipps:
There has been an article in the tribune, but very few read it.

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Let's go back to this: They are unwilling.

Who are they, anyway?

Isn't Greg Phipps "they"?

Phipps is a Democrat. BOW is populated by Democratic Party appointees, and party appointees trashed Jeff Speck's street grid plan and installed these pathetic, non-functional pedestrian crossing sitting duck mechanisms. 

Phipps passively notes that no one reads the newspaper, and laments being ignored at Board of Public Works meetings?

Seriously?

They and them ARE he and him, one and the same. Phipps was elected to office with C-minus junta support, and has voted with the governing clique roughly 95% of the time. He's one of only nine councilmen (not a single woman) in the entire city, and yet he cannot determine a way to make his voice heard.

Instead, he merely whines in response, not unlike a lashed cur.

But he has the means at his disposal to make "them" listen, doesn't he? After all, he's one of them. Phipps' council vote has immense significance should he ever decide to wield it tactically.

Just imagine if Phipps' vote in favor of the Reisz city hall relocation boondoggle had been made conditional on his fellow Democrats actually DOING something about the pedestrian safety problem, rather than ducking, covering and kicking sand in his face.

A "no" vote on the Reisz Mahal's first reading in May, accompanied by some genuine spinefulness, might well have resulted in both of Phipps' desired outcomes: real-world safety measures on streets AND relief for the oppressed, inhumanely housed city workers. 

The election's next year.

Isn't it time for a change in the 3rd district? 

#EightIsEnough