Teen Leads Safe Crosswalk Campaign in Wake of Friend's Death, But Will Cities Listen?

The shock and grief over a young person's tragic death can be paralyzing. Not for Kimiko Nishitsuji.

Her friend's sudden death last month after being hit by a car at an intersection long known to be dangerous for pedestrians instead spurred her to action and mobilized a community. Kimiko created a petition on Change.org in the weeks after her friend Bo Feng, 17, died on July 16th. Bo had just graduated from Gabrelino High School in California.

In recent weeks, Kimiko has joined Bo's family in advocating for improved safety measures at the intersection of New Avenue and Shorb Street where Feng died. More than 1,200 people in the community have signed her petition to both the cities of Alhambra and San Gabriel (the intersection and existing crosswalk span the city line, a serious bureaucratic complication), and more than 100 attended a vigil and silent demonstration held at the streets. They are also started a facebook page for supporters and are holding a fundraiser for pedestrian safety. 

Organizing in the wake of a death is surely difficult, and Bo's family and friends are doing so as impressively as anyone. They have now presented the petition signatures at city council meetings to both cities, and a wide array of local and regional reporters have covered the campaign (San Gabriel Valley Tribune, CBS 2 in Los Angeles, Alhambra Source, Pasadena Star News). You can read a detailed account of the emotional petition delivery to the Alhambra City Council here.

"It shouldn't take a tragedy like the death of Bo Feng for the city to make a change and unfortunately she isn't the first," Nishitsuji, who partnered with Bo in drama class, told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Numerous people in the neighborhood have testified and provided video evidence of accidents and scary close calls at this intersection for years. Though there is a crosswalk, the traffic situation encourages cars to blow by it to try to make a green light ahead, often failing to stop for pedestrians.

The petition advocates a common sense solution to ensure driver caution—reflectors and button-activated LED crossing signs.

Seems simple enough. Unfortunately, these advocates for pedestrian safety are still facing an uphill battle. After presenting the signatures to the Alhambra City Council on August 8th, Kimiko reported that the mayor remained non-committal, saying no more than "we'll look into it" in the face of Bo's mother's tears (you can watch a stream of the whole meeting here).

As we have learned by following the recent story of Raquel Nelson, whose 4-year-old son died crossing a dangerous intersection in the Atlanta suburbs, issues of pedestrian safety can often be easily ignored until something terrible occurs. Kimiko has it right. It should take a death of a city to pay attention to this. Safe pedestrian movement affects the very fabric of a community—and clearly San Gabriel and Alhambra need to pay more attention (these cities ranked respectively 7th and 16th for California cities with the most pedestrian accidents, according to a 2009 study).

We'll keep you updated on what happens with Kimiko's campaign, and will look to see if the cities of Alhambra and San Gabriel move to take action. In the meantime, pay attention to danger spots in your community and learn from these examples. See if you can do something about them before a tragedy strikes.

Update: Kimiko reports that 2 days ago, the Alhambra Public Works Department tore down the memorial left in Bo's honor and ruined many of the photos and other mementos left at the spot, mixing some with trash from the street. She sends the photo below. Looks like the city needs to take what happened at this intersection far more seriously.

Photo at top of post: Bo Feng, from Facebook group

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