Photograph by George Sakkestad

Lonni Goldman with her daughter, Rebecca, and Karen Miller dash across University Avenue--without benefit of a crosswalk--to get from the new addition to the original buildings.

Complaints resurrect crosswalk at Old Town

By Jeff Kearns

Notice something missing at Old Town? Construction is finished, almost all of the tenants have moved into their new spaces, and issues over design changes on the new buildings have been painstakingly ironed out. But now that the stretch of University Avenue that runs through the middle of the project has been repaved, the crosswalk that formerly connected the two sides is gone.

Trouble is, old habits die hard, and shoppers and walkers have been crossing mid-block instead of using the crosswalk at the corner of Elm Street, which would be a direct contravention of human nature.

Indian Store owner Janice Benjamin noticed the missing crosswalk--and pedestrians scooting across the street in front of traffic. Benjamin fired off a letter to the town and got a council hearing on the issue. It wasn't much of a fight: councilmembers agreed with her, and ordered a new crosswalk.

Councilmembers debated a more upscale crosswalk, a raised walkway inlaid with brick or stone, but dropped that idea after Parks and Public Works Director Scott Baker mentioned that the whole street is set to be torn up and repaved in 2001.

The council also went Benjamin one better, and cut the speed limit for that section of the street down to 20 mph and approved a pedestrian crossing sign in each direction. They also asked the police department to step up enforcement in the area for the next six months, for both motorists and pedestrians.

"University Avenue has become a very different street to cross [than it used to be], and I'd like to direct the police department to do some directed enforcement down there," Joe Pirzynski said. He also asked for a report on getting another radar wagon (which displays drivers' speeds) for the town, which would bring the total to two.

The council also asked for a report on putting in two more crosswalks, one at St. Luke's Church and the other on the north side of the intersection of University and Elm, as well as a possible stop sign at that intersection. That report will come back to the council in September.

The crosswalks and curb cuts should be finished by the end of the week.

To speed up the process, Federal Realty Investment Trust, which owns Old Town, will hire one of its own contractors, who's still working on the shopping center, to do the work. The town had planned to cover the costs of the sidewalk, but Old Town construction crews accidentally cut down the wrong oak tree last week. Old Town now says it will cover the cost, estimated at about $5,000.

While they were out watching pedestrians dash across the street between the two halves of Old Town, town planners noticed something else: People were parking in the loading-zone bays cut into the sidewalk in front of the west side of Old Town.

Not only that, they were also doing it right, parking at the correct angle even though there aren't any spaces marked.

But instead of impounding the cars and giving the drivers a stern lecture, the town now plans to stripe the 10 spaces and classify the area as a loading zone from 6 to 10 a.m. After that, the spaces will be open to the public.

Local Excite@Home service plagued with bugs

Food dominates the conversation of columnist's family

Photo: SJCMT presents 'Chess'

Picture From the Past

Sports Briefs

South defeats North in Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Football Game

Los Gatos Pony League All-Stars win tournament

Little League All-Stars lose to Almaden

LG United Soccer League hosts camp