Only slightly off topic. Stood on the corner of Jersey and Montgomery Streets and watch three cars go through a red light. Not yellow. Red. And three cars.

?It?s like a speedway?
Downtowners want to slow traffic on Grand Street; hit-and-run unresolved

by Ricardo Kaulessar
Hudson Reporter

SLOW DOWN AND READ ?This electric billboard, currently located several feet from the southern corner of Grand and Monmouth streets in downtown Jersey City, has posted information asking the public?s help in finding the driver responsible for the hit-and-run death of 48-year-old Shirley Kitchens on Jan. 30.

There is an electric billboard, the kind one sees on a highway alerting drivers to construction or an accident, several feet from the southern corner of Grand and Monmouth streets in downtown Jersey City.

Flashing across this billboard is a message from the Jersey City Police Department, a few words at a time, asking the public?s help in finding the driver responsible for the hit-and-run death of 48-year-old Shirley Kitchens on Jan. 30.

Kitchens, a mother of seven, had been discharged from nearby Jersey City Medical Center and was using a walker as she was crossing the street near Grand and Monmouth streets at around 5:45 a.m., when based on video of the incident, she was struck by a car and thrown across the road, then hit by another car.

The vehicles in question are believed to be, respectively, a dark gray SUV similar to a Jeep, and a black conversion van.

Last week, Jersey City East District Police Captain Brian McDonough said the investigation is still ongoing.

The billboard, meanwhile, continues flashing to remind drivers of the incident ? if they slow down long enough to read it.

Various parties in downtown Jersey City believe the speeding in that area, particularly Grand Street, has to stop.

From ?highway? to parking lot

Longtime downtown resident and frequent City Council meeting attendee Yvonne Balcer weighed in on Kitchens? death at the Feb. 9 City Council meeting. She recalled meetings in the late 1980s regarding relocating Jersey City Medical Center from its old site on Baldwin Avenue to the current Grand Street address.

?I said, ?Grand Street is not a street; it?s exactly a highway?, and when [the city] removed on-street parking, [the city] made it a five, six lane highway,? Balcer said. ?It?s so sad that someone in a walker could not move fast enough because we put her on a street that is a highway.?

Balcer suggested that buses that stop on Grand Street should be rerouted to loop around the hospital and pick them up at a back entrance to avoid Grand Street.

Balcer?s council representative, Steven Fulop, listened intently at the meeting. Last week, Fulop said in an interview that he has been studying the Grand Street situation for over a year and has communicated with the city?s Traffic and Transportation Division about getting metered parking for the street. He believes it would bring in revenues and also take away a lane of traffic in the area, slowing the cars down.

?It?s been very frustrating dealing with Traffic and Transportation, because they have not budged from their position that Grand Street is a major thoroughfare in and out of Downtown Jersey City,? Fulop said.

Fulop also noted that there is a traffic light at the corner of Barrow and Grand streets that has never been turned on since it was set up. He said he has been stymied for months in getting it turned on.

One of most traveled roads

Grand Street runs from the Ocean Avenue near the section of the city known as the Junction, to Hudson River waterfront. It is considered one of most traveled roads in Jersey City due to its running into downtown Jersey City.
_____________

?I wonder if the city is waiting for another person to get killed.? ? Peter Mocco
________

Peter Mocco, the developer of the 80-acre Liberty Harbor community that spans much of downtown Jersey City, complained last week about the Traffic and Transportation division?s failure to implement traffic measures on Grand Street.

?It?s like a speedway, and I wonder if the city is waiting for another person to get killed,? Mocco said.

The city?s speeding stance

Jersey City has a different take on how they handle Grand Street traffic issues, based on city spokesperson Jennifer Morrill?s response to questions.

On the issue of putting in metered parking to control speeding, Morrill commented in an e-mail: ?Parking is not a recognized method to control speeding. Traffic signal timing, speed limit signs, and police enforcement are acceptable and effective methods to control traffic speeds. [The Division of] Traffic and Transportation was recently directed to install all missing speed limit signs in the Grand Street vicinity. Furthermore, they will investigate and make recommendations for additional methods to reduce speeding.?

Morrill also emphasized that ?Grand Street is indeed a major thoroughfare linking the downtown with other areas of the city and to the NJ Turnpike. The prohibition of parking along Grand Street will become even more imperative as the Liberty Harbor developments impose the planned 9,000 units of housing and various retail and commercial projects.?

When asked what measures are being studied to control speeding, Morrill said, ?Other methods to control speeding are now being evaluated by Traffic and Transportation. The fatal hit-and-run accident would not likely have been affected by conventional traffic control methods. Most all traffic control methods rely on law abiding drivers.?

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.

Quote:

Well said.

The amateur CSI: Jersey City online game is in full swing, so it seems.

IMO walking in JC is a bit scary and I follow the rules (walk in the crosswalk when I have the sign, look both ways before crossing the street etc). On Grand it is definitely a bit scarier. Whether or not this person was on their cell phone is irrelevant. You do NOT hit something and then leave. Both drivers should get jail time for their indifference to someones life.
(side note)
IMO the victim may not like being called "elderly" being that she is only 48, but I know when the thread was started the age was not known.

A cell phone? The woman was using a walker. It takes two hands to use a walker. Can we stop blaming the victim, please?

And whether or not a pedestrian, who has right of way in cross walk, was using a phone is immaterial as to the driver stopping after hitting the woman -- or in this case, the second driver stopping as well.

Quote:


(off original thread topic)

Police officers are not given those shields from their departments. These shields are purchased from a law enforcement group and is for the officer and family members after joining the organization.

Look-a-like gold shields can be purchased on the net and a few years back NY did a clamp down on bogus shields and if you actually look up close you might find some that read "supporter of ....police".

IMO, the shields in the windows are very misleading and should not be used by anyone other then actual law enforcement officer.

Quote:


Hahaha Agreed 100%

Was a cell phone recovered at the scene, if so when was it last in use ? Pedestrians seem to distract themselves with this dangerous activity.

I did enjoy getting tailgated as I drove through Liberty State Park today by an SUV with a police shield in the window. The cops are some of the worst drivers around. They, like teenagers, seem to equate driving aggressively with machismo.

Unfortunately it would SEEM that the city and cops will only get serious with speeding motorists and those running red lights downtown, if one of their siblings or SENIOR employees are hit & run - I am only talking about councilors and district commanders, the rest are just regarded as position numbers!

Quote:

You don't need police 24 / 7. What you need is visible enforcement for a few days. Not only will the offenders get the message, but everyone who drives by and sees someone getting a ticket. Then enforcement stops and everything goes back to normal, but drivers will be more cautious for some time. When they get back to being comfortable speeding, its time for another dose of enforcement.

This is seriously a problem and really disturbing. How do you hit something and not stop to see what it is? How do you just swerve around someone laying in the street? It really is sickening.

I agree about the increased enforcement but the reality is you police for other activities as well. Maybe using speed bumps or rumble strings along the road to force a lower speed limit without the need for police 24 / 7. One other alternative is red light cameras but I'm not sure if they would've helped in this case/. Either way, something needs to be done.

Quote:

I don't think you have to worry about complaints of over-enforcements of laws on this list. Most posters seem to want more enforcement. And I believe more enforcement of the speed laws is essential and effective. A steep speeding ticket will make a speeder think twice about speeding where s/he got the ticket for a long time.

What is wrong with people? A SECOND driver also may have hit her and kept on going?? WTF? He just swerved and kept going? Is getting to work on time really that important?

Also, I live near Grand and Marin, and while traffic tends to get a bit less crazy once Marin is crossed, people are still out of control with their speeding straight down to the waterfront. Last fall JC painted huge 25 MPH notices on the street on the block with the OLC school, but they do not work!! Ask the crossing guards.

That being said, I don't really know what the solution is. I guess this is fundamentally an issue of urban design. Perhaps more street trees, medians, brick pedestrian crossings etc. will give drivers a clue that they're in a residential neighborhood not the NJ turnpike.

Quote:

JP, The sad part is when enforcement gets beefed up on a particular issue within days you will see threads pop up on sites like this one from folks complaining they received tickets for breaking the law and the cops are....blah, blah, blah.

It seems like so many of these tragic incidents could have been avoided if people just followed the law and this is why I have a no "gray area" on certain topics. IMO this is some of the reasons that certain laws are in effect. There may be consequences to our actions that can cause harm to others for that reason alone is why a person needs to comply with the law.

(Rant done)

And ~ I agree with you, Grand and also Montgomery, CC Drive, Newark Ave, etc...is a pedestrian death trap and there needs to be many things done to make it safer for people on foot.

This is awful. My heart goes out to the family of the victim.

Way too many drivers treat Grand Street as a highway. I know many residents of Liberty Harbor and Gulls Cove have said that this is one of the biggest concerns in the new neighborhood. I never liked crossing that street when I lived in the VVP neighborhood, and I don't like it now in Gulls Cove.

What can be done? First of all, enforce the damn speed limit. Its supposed to be 25 mph on Grand, just like every other city street.

Second, allow parking on the south side of Grand. If it slows down traffic, then that's a good thing. It also will help the retail when it moves in.

Once you get east of Marin Blvd, Grand Street narrows and is just another pleasant neighborhood street. Look into doing that further west.

Too bad the police cant post pics of these vehicles so maybe we can identify it if we come across it or see it on one of our streets.
Hopefully these guys get caught!!!

Update:

Woman killed in hit-and-run on Grand Street ID'd as Shirley Kitchens

The woman who was killed by a hit-and-run driver this morning on Grand Street in Downtown Jersey City was identified this afternoon by Jersey City police as Shirley Kitchens, 48, authorities said during a news conference.

Police could not provide a home address for Kitchens.

Police said Kitchens, who had recently been hospitalized and was using a walker, was crossing Grand Street near Monmouth Street when she was struck and thrown between 80 and 140 feet at 5:48 this morning. Police said they are not sure where exactly she was in the
intersection when she was struck.

Police, who say they have video of the hit-and-run, said the driver struck Kitchens without slowing down and failed to stop afterward. Kitchens was struck by the front end of the vehicle, police said, making it impossible for the driver to not know he or she struck a person.

Police also said another driver may have struck Kitchens when she was thrown across the road. The second driver either hit Kitchens or swerved around her prone body on the cold pavement, police said.

Police are looking for two vehicles -- a dark gray SUV similar to a Jeep and a black conversion van, authorities said this afternoon at a news conference. It was not clear which one struck Kitchens initially.

Kitchens was rushed to nearby Jersey City Medical Center.

Let me guess. Driver ran a red?

I just saw a story about this on WABC news. They said the woman was struck and her body landed 180 feet away.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... ver_kills_woman_in_d.html

Hit-run driver kills woman in Downtown Jersey City
by Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal Friday January 30, 2009, 11:47 AM

A Jersey City woman died after being struck by a hit-and-run driver early this morning in the city's Downtown section.

The woman was struck while crossing Monmouth and Grand streets at 5:48 a.m., Police Lt. Edgar Martinez said.

No additional information is available at this time but the police department has scheduled a news conference at the location of the incident at 2 this afternoon, Martinez said.