A sign says “All shirts must be solid-colored.”
A black-with-white-stripes Heritage Row is on one end of a teeter-totter.
A solid-puce City Place is on the other.
City Council stands in the middle on top of the board.
In the background is New Developer.

City Council leans toward Heritage Row and says, “I like you better, but you need to change your stripes.”

Make any number of panels where the stripes change color, but they are still stripes.

New Developer jumps on the City Place end of the board, and City Council and Heritage Row go flying off.

The End.

Not exactly a graphic. But here’s a draft timeline with most of the raw material: [link]

Now if only we could get the City to re-time all the other signals we’d be in good shape. Good signal timing should be a matter of policy, not a one-off reaction to complaints about a particular intersection.

Had Rees waited two days to write that comment, it would have marked the exact three-year anniversary of a column he wrote on pedestrian walk light timing: [link]. Fortunately, it’s not required to wait for a talk signal, in order to write a comment.

“Advanced technologies” are what got us into the current trouble with pedestrian crossings. Pedestrian signals worked fine until staff started playing with absurd timings and demand actuated signals.

Michael,

As indicated, at time of the the filing of this brief, the meeting for Oct. 24 was still scheduled, though it wasn’t clear what the council might do at the meeting. Now, it’s apparent that they will do something:

A resolution has been added (today) on crosswalks, sponsored by the mayor, which would make it the only “substantive” item remaining on the agenda other than the usual slots for public comment and for council communications:

RESOLVED, That staff be directed to make recommendations for improvements to the crosswalks throughout the City when advanced technologies are available and where appropriate;
RESOLVED, That staff be directed to begin the process to engage MDOT for pedestrian crossing improvements at Washtenaw Avenue near Tappan Middle School;
RESOLVED, That staff be directed to explore new alternatives for pedestrian crossing improvements at Plymouth Road near the intersection of Beal Avenue; and
RESOLVED, That on or about December 12, 2011 staff presents its findings and recommendations for implementation to the City Council for pedestrian crossing improvements at Plymouth Road near Beal Avenue.
Sponsored by: John Hieftje, Mayor