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Speak Out
What about speed bumps on the Avenue?
A simple solution; even a gaming one. Install speed bumps along the Avenue every 20 yards. And erect goal posts at Minnesota and Willow streets. Also an electronic scoreboard. Pedestrians versus Vehicles. Daily scores posted. With gambling casinos sneaking in everywhere, this could be the beginning of another one.
No, seriously--would speed bumps along the commercial part of Lincoln Avenue be feasible?
John A Maloney
San Jose
Use common sense when crossing Lincoln
I feel compelled to comment on the unfortunate woman who was struck in the crosswalk on Lincoln near Willow.
Of course I feel very sorry for her being hit. I do want to say that having crossed that crosswalk dozens of times, I've experienced that EXACT circumstance and I learned to hesitate before walking across when there is an SUV in the first lane. Two things here are big red flags for pedestrians to watch out for. One, the van. When at a crosswalk, and the vehicle in the lane closest to you is a van or ubiquitous SUV (that's a whole other topic) it should be apparent and obvious to the pedestrian, that the outside lane will NOT SEE YOU. It has been my experience with the Lincoln Avenue curbside parking, vehicles often just stop and wait for other cars to pull out, at or near crosswalks, or to make deliveries. Whenever one of these vehicles is an SUV (which is 99 percent of the time it seems) even when NOT at a crosswalk, I stop when driving if I am in the outside lane (to the left of the stopped vehicle), because people jaywalk, and if I cannot see a pedestrian coming around the SUV to cross, they cannot see me.
At a crosswalk this is just a given. I'm not saying the pedestrian was to blame for being hit. I am saying it is common sense when crossing a crosswalk, when you cannot see the outside lane because of a large vehicle in the inside lane, to be cautious. You cannot see the oncoming vehicle, and the oncoming vehicle cannot see you. That oncoming vehicle may also think that the parked SUV is waiting for a parking spot and not yield to what they cannot see (albeit, they should stop anyway).
To make matters worse, the car manufacturers are making these "off road" SUVs bigger and higher, and for some reason, people feel some compelling need to drive them down Lincoln Avenue for coffee and a bagel. Besides making the crosswalks more dangerous, they use two parking spots in the already very cramped lots behind all the merchants. Everyone, please be very cautious at crosswalks and elsewhere, especially when you cannot see around the vehicle in the lane closest to you. I would not rely on lights and flags, just your own common sense.
Name withheld by request
Lester Avenue
Reasonably priced food is in demand
Jake's of Willow Glen is open and appears to be doing very well from what I could see during my first two visits. Makes you wonder how much better they will do when they actually get a lit sign on the front of the building, letting everyone know they are open!
Perhaps the other business owners, and future business owners on Lincoln Avenue, should take note. I believe there is a big demand for good family food at a reasonable price in Willow Glen. Is this a new trend? Perhaps we have seen the last of the new coffee houses and upscale restaurants on Lincoln Avenue?
Charlie Wilson
Glenwood Avenue
Sex between adult and child isn't 'consensual'
In response to the Around the Glen article by Chantal Lamers ["Muir encounter may be isolated incident," Feb. 9], I believe the representation that the sexual encounter with a 12-year-old student was "consensual" is irresponsible journalism. If the police spokesperson [Rubens Dailson] indicated the "encounter could have been consensual" that also was irresponsible and unprofessional of the police department. I am not aware of any sexual encounter with a 12-year-old to be legal or consensual. As adults, no encounter with a 12-year-old should ever be considered consensual. Where I come from it was called statutory rape.
Kent McLaggan
Crescent Drive
Remembering good old neighborly days
My parents, Peter and Della Crisham, owned Crisham's Market, the corner grocery store pictured in Cookie Curci-Wright's article "A trip to today's supermarket can cause a super headache" (Remember When, Feb. 16).
My parents would have enjoyed the article so much. Their corner market thrived during the 1940s and '50s. It was a kind of meeting place for the shopping families in the neighborhood. My parents and their three children, Della, Peter Jr. and Patty, enjoyed their customers so much, and tried to provide friendly, individual, prompt and supportive services. The family would provide free delivery and, if a neighbor's shopping was too heavy, then someone in the family would take the shopper home and carry in the groceries.
In those days, most of the women stayed at home. If the family had a car, the husband took it to work, so the wife walked to the corner store for the family grocery shopping.
Gradually the families got second cars and could drive to the supermarkets. My parents lamented the change. The corner store was the place to exchange stories, and the fun that ensued from them. With the passing of my mother in the late '60s, my father eventually remarried, and ran the store with May until they retired in the late 1970s. As the neighborhood children grew up, and the parents moved away, the store became more like a 7-Eleven; more of a quick pickup store.
It doesn't seem possible that my parents' corner store once thrived and supported a family, and I'm glad to say I was a part of it. Thank you for remembering those good old neighborly days.
Della Crisham Felicetta
Georgetta Drive
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
