To the editor:
Public Works has proposed removing the mid-block crosswalk on Elm Street between Third and Fourth as part of the repaving scheduled for this fall. The stated reason is low usage: a count taken over three days recorded an average of 31 crossings a day, below the threshold the department uses.
I would like to point out when that count was taken. It was February 4th through 6th. It was 19 degrees.
I am 74 and I cross there most days, because it is the only marked crossing between the senior housing at 340 Elm and the pharmacy. Without it, the nearest crosswalk is at Fourth, which adds about four hundred feet in each direction. That is not a long way for most people. It is a long way for some of us, and it is a long way in January.
I would also gently note that the people least likely to be out walking on a 19-degree Wednesday in February are precisely the people who most need a marked place to cross the rest of the year.
I am not asking for a signal. I am asking for paint, which is already there, and I am asking that the count be taken again in September when school is in and it is not 19 degrees.
The department has been good to deal with and I do not think anyone is acting in bad faith. I think they counted in the wrong month.
Ruth Ellery
Elm Street
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