Residents of Northside and College Hill who are fed up with vehicles speeding down Hamilton Avenue are planning a demonstration to tell drivers to slow down.
Organizers behind the College Hill Grass Roots Traffic and Pedestrian Safety (TAPS) group on Facebook have been organizing “Action Days” to promote pedestrian safety for more than a year.
On March 5, TAPS members pushed for College Hill residents to use the bus to attend a bluegrass concert at The Comet on Hamilton Avenue. On Nov. 17, organizers walked the crosswalks outside College Hill Coffee for a half hour to “show drivers that people live here and remind them to slow down.”
The next Action Day will happen on April 12 stretching up and down Hamilton Avenue in College Hill and Northside, which is a 35 mile-per-hour zone. TAPS is asking people to make homemade signs saying “slow down” or “drive safe” and hold them high for drivers to see starting at 5 p.m.
TAPS organizer Mark Ventura told CityBeat that some Action Days have a small turnout, but he’s expecting larger numbers for the “slow down” sign day.
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“It’s kinda hard to gauge turnout. Having planned many events in my life, sometimes you expect 800 people but only 500 show up. I think a lot of it will depend on weather, but we have participants confirmed from North College Hill down to College Hill, the biggest turnout, to Northside to Clifton,” Ventura said.
Ventura said Cincinnati police have assisted with past Action Days before, but he still thinks the department has work to do protecting pedestrians.
“The police mostly seem uninterested in pursuing traffic justice on their own but are willing to participate when we ask them to,” he said.
According to city crash report data, 231 pedestrians were struck by cars in Cincinnati in 2022. And 53 of those pedestrians were either killed or severely injured. Six cyclists were killed or severely injured by cars in the same year. So far in 2023, nine pedestrians have been killed or severely injured by cars in the city.
Plans from the city to promote more active transportation and protect pedestrians and cyclists are cropping up through projects like “Complete Streets,” which designs and operates streets with a focus on accessibility and safety.
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But as pandemic-era funds start to run dry in the city, council is asking citizens to speak up about their budget priorities as they decide which new projects to prioritize, including those related to pedestrian safety.
The city will need to finalize its budget by the end of June. In the meantime, council’s Budget and Finance Committee takes public comment at the beginning of each session, which are usually Mondays at 1 p.m. at City Hall.
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This article appears in Apr 5-18, 2023.