Miller near Bruce

There is now a clearly-marked, white-striped pedestrian crossing on the stretch of newly-repaired East Catherine Street near the busy UM Medical Center, complete with two accompanying signs on each side of the street saying “Stop Here for Pedestrians.” The signs were installed through teamwork of the UM Council for Disability Concerns, the UM ADA Coordinator, the University Planner and the AA City Engineering & Traffic Department.

Such unambiguous signage is good for busy streets. I stopped at the HAWK signal (near Chapin/Third on Huron) the other day (the first time it had been activated as I drove up to it). That was really needed.

Yes, indeed, the HAWK is a very important addition to West Huron St. Groups of children from the Y day camp can now safely cross to go to West Park, and residents of Lurie Terrace, and others crossing in the opposite direction can also take advantage of the signal. I tried to have such a pedestrian-activated mechanism installed over fifteen years ago but was told then that it could not be done because Huron is a “state trunk line” and the state won’t allow it. I am glad that with the intervention of Fifth Ward Councilman Mike Anglin, the HAWK light signal is now available to help pedestrians cross West Huron.

Not to deny Mike Anglin’s interest, but the achievement of the HAWK crossing took many years’ work from John Hieftje, former CM Easthope, and a lot of city staff. Mike may or may not have played a role, but it’s not like he could just phone the State offices and have them suddenly do what he wanted—this was a long term and group effort in which city staff, the mayor, and past and maybe present CMs worked hard to overcome just that reaction you cite, that as a business thru-road it couldn’t be changed. Turning it into a campaign slogan for Mike is ungenerous to all the others who kept on the issue for a long time.