ypsi~dixit

Good to see the Depot Town Rag reinforcing the hegemony of the automobile.

That's right, boys and girls - even when there's no traffic, you'd better cross that street only at the crosswalk and only with the light! Remember: streets are for cars, not for people. (Honestly, sometimes I think the Depot Town Rag is the single greatest concentration of SMUG in Ypsilanti.)

I agree, though, that the high-rise penthouse dwellers of Ypsi have ne'er raised a peep of protest. Hardier stock, here.

When biking on the sidewalk, I always cross on the sidewalk and only with the light. Bikers have a bad enough rep as scofflaws and I hate seeing bikers sailing through red lights--they're red for a reason, people, and you are biking dangerously. And adding to the impression of bikers as irresponsible.

You know what bugs me. That stupid intersection of River and E. Cross. If one wants to cross from the Hudson Dealership to go to Sidetrack, they have designed the intersection so that a person has to cross E. Cross over to where the Thompson Bldg is and then cross River and then cross E. Cross *again*. Does anyone actually do that? I dont. I just cross and kind of mentally flip the bird to the "no pedestrians" sign.

Lynne, that intersection irritates me, as well. Unfortunately, my kids can read, and they scold me if I try to cross the unauthorized way. If I am by myself, I do cross with all caution thrown to the wind.

It's a bad intersection for anyone crossing east from the Sidetrack.

I do do what you describe, though, when biking home. Cars turning right, around the corner to south on River, offer too great a threat otherwise.

There must have been a fatality there sometime in the past, thus the no-peds sign.

I think it is because someone designed that intersection so that people who are turning right from eastbound Cross St to southbound River dont have to worry about watching for pedestrians. There is a double yellow line and a special right turn light. It works too, people in cars turning right from Cross to River typically dont look out for pedestrians. I always take special care to look out for cars making that right turn when I cross there.

I would rather see the area more pedestrian friendly than car friendly. But if they stopped allowing right turns at that intersection, people would have a hard time getting to Sidetrack's parking lot or to the Food Coop. Maybe they could get rid of the special right turn light and the double yellow lines and take down the "no pedestrians" sign and replace it with a "Right Turn Must Yield to Pedestrians" sign for the CARS.

I'm irked by the bicyclists who insist on using the sidewalks in Depot Town while whizzing along. I've seen too many close calls where some unsuspecting child almost got beaned by one of these 'racers'.