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As you can see, the right-hand side of the street had a sidewalk, but the left hand side had none. If you were parked where the red van is parked, you had two options: You could walk through the grass to get to your car, or (if you didn't want to walk through the soggy grass) you could use the sidewalk on the other side of Taylor until you got to your car, and then cross the street. Wilson-Mueller chose to use the sidewalk. When she went to cross, a southbound car struck her, breaking several of her bones, collapsing her right lung, and causing severe brain trauma. Chrissy never woke up. She died in the hospital in early February, at just 47 years old.
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We can talk about "sidewalks to nowhere" and trying to incentivize people to build massive additions to their homes rather than building new ones, or whatever else the Council is trying to pull off here. But the fact is, had there been a sidewalk on the other side of the street, perhaps even one that dead-ended just past where her car was parked, Chrissy would probably still be here. Building our sidewalk network out to the fullest extent possible, as quickly as possible needs to be a priority. It's a matter of life and death, and I hope the Council will treat it as such tonight. If you can, help remind them by either showing up to the meeting and letting them know in person, or by emailing them beforehand (City Clerk Laurie Asche, aschelb@kirkwoodmo.org, will pass your message along and make sure it gets entered into the record as an official public comment).
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- There are two other new items on tonight's City Council agenda:
- The first is an agreement between Mayor Gibbons and Amtrak to allow the Amtrak to replace the two passenger platforms while the city overhauls the building itself (which has already started). I've been advocating for years to try and get the city to push Amtrak for raised platforms at the station so that people can get on and off the train more easily and more quickly. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the platforms will be getting any higher. I issued a FOIA request to Amtrak back in January for the plans (you can download them here if you'd like to view), and as you can see on page 17, the plans call for the platform to be 0" above the rail (atr). That sucks because the standard platform heights for Amtrak are 8", 15", and 48" ATR (page 89 of this pdf), all of which would've been an improvement (even an 8" platform would mean the conductor wouldn't have to break out the yellow stool to help people on and off the train).
- The last item on the agenda is a purchase order for 11 speed feedback displays for $60k. These are the screens that tell you what speed you're going when you drive by. The council is purchasing them after the city's recently published speed study found significant evidence of cars regularly exceeding the posted limit at various locations. The study found that such feedback displays lower the speed of those in the 85th percentile of speeders by 3mph. That's not nothing, but I would have to imagine that equipping these feedback displays with cameras that could ticket speeders would be even more effective at ensuring drivers follow the law. More to come.
- Finally, now is the time to request for the city to plant a street tree in your neighborhood during the Fall 2025 planting season. You can request the city plant a tree either by filling out the form here or by calling (314) 884-5907
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That's it for this week! Email your council members! Have a great weekend everyone!
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