Reading is a city plagued with crime that has a budget that makes it nearly impossible to make life better for the people within the city limits. In a city that has declared Act 47, why are city council members worried about a little ordinance matter at one of its colleges?
The ordinance matter in question is in regard to two separate issues — a four-way stop sign at 13th and Richmond streets, and several crosswalks on 13th and Bern streets near College Avenue.
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So what’s the big deal? According to City Council member Stratton P. Marmarou, the four-way stop sign and crosswalks are currently illegal, and people who fail to stop for pedestrians can’t be ticketed. “They had no authority,” said Marmarou repetitively in an interview. But some people think Marmarou may have ulterior motives in his enforcement of such a petty issue.
Maybe Marmarou is just looking out for the best interest of our fair city of Reading, Pennsylvania. He might really be trying to show that a law is a law, and nobody — not even Albright College — can skirt around it.
But is the removal of the four-way stop sign and the crosswalks really in the best interest of the city and its residents?
Let’s start with the first issue – the four-way stop sign on 13th and Richmond streets. Barbara Marshall, associate vice president of college relations and marketing at Albright College, said, “We had petitioned the city way more than a year ago to install a four-way stop sign [on 13th and Richmond streets]. I personally witnessed three accidents out here on this corner. The traffic is very very heavy, and the pedestrians and students and people from the neighborhood have a terrible time trying to cross the street.”
The intersection is directly across from Albright’s tennis courts, and the dormitories are also very close. Students can be seen attempting to traverse the busy intersection throughout the day. In addition, pedestrians from the neighborhood also cross the intersection every day. Pedestrians have to cross through the intersection to get to the two grocery stores, Wawa, Wachovia Bank and the other shops that dot the small strip mall on 13th and Rockland streets.
In an effort to illustrate the need for a four-way stop sign at the intersection, Marshall set up a video camera outside of her office, which is located on 13th and Richmond streets. She kept the camera rolling for a twelve-hour period, and then posted the videos on Albright’s YouTube page. The videos have been sped up so they are easier to watch.
In this video, you can clearly see people not stopping at the stop signs, and you can also see a pedestrian scurrying across the street to avoid getting hit.
This next video was taken between 4 and 5 p.m., and it really exemplifies the amount of traffic — pedestrian and automobile — that passes through the intersection during rush hour.
Now for the second issue — the crosswalks on 13th and Bern streets. The area serves as a pedestrian highway for students walking from the dorms to go to class or grab a bite to eat.
In its current state, the intersection is pretty confusing. For drivers, streets just seem to come out of nowhere. But the scary part is — pedestrians seem to come out of nowhere too. While driving through the intersection, it’s hard to pay attention to all of the potential dangers at the same time. Cars and pedestrians are coming from all directions while driving southeast on College Avenue toward Bern Street, and drivers must use extreme caution.
So what’s next? Marshall and Vice President for Administrative and Financial Services William W. Wood met with Jones and Reading Police Chief William M. Heim to discuss plans for the intersection at 13th and Bern streets. They were asked to develop a proposal for the intersection, but they were sent back to the drawing board after presenting their proposal.
Marshall says the second proposal is currently being developed by an internal committee, and Wood will be meeting with several city representatives March 29 to discuss the progress. Among the solutions are proposals to turn the entire intersection into a crosswalk or to make Bern Street a one-way street so people are only driving west to east.
Marmarou said that no further action can be taken with the stop sign situation until a solution to the crosswalk problem is decided upon. Wood said, “Now why would you hold one safety issue hostage to another. … I have told the city manager and anybody else that it’s absurd. These are two separate issues, and they’re not related whatsoever. They’re both safety issues, they both need to be addressed, not held hostage.”
Both issues have been on the City Council agenda for several months, but they have not been discussed in any of the recent council meetings.
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