“Brickell Financial District Pedestrians Beware”

Today the Miami Herald published this editorial:

I commute from Fort Lauderdale to Miami every day on I-95 which, as most of us know, is one of the most dangerous highways in America. I’m an excellent driver and don’t take chances. But, every single time I become a pedestrian anywhere around Brickell Avenue the ante is upped. I seriously fear for my life.

A woman in an SUV roared north around the bend south of me looking straight at me, but ignoring the fact that I was in the pedestrian crosswalk. I put my arm out to alert her to my crossing, but she didn’t slow until the very last moment — and then she flipped me off, angry that I had the audacity to impede her progress.

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve had to literally run out of clearly marked crosswalks to escape being hit, like the time a woman who was busy texting nearly smashed into me as I crossed at the same location, or the time I ran from the path of a Brinks armored truck near Mary Brickell Village. The scene created quite a stir among other pedestrians, who asked if I was OK.

It’s utterly ridiculous that somebody can’t do something. Where are the police? Where is the notion that keeping people safe has some importance in urban planning? Flesh and bones are no match for several thousand pounds of steel going well over the speed limit. Lowering the speed limit has been suggested, but won’t have an impact on Miami’s drivers, who are aggressive and, essentially, autonomous. There are no funds for hiring cops to enforce the law, remember? It’s a free-for-all out here, with tragedy literally right around the corner.

If Miami cops can hand out 47 tickets in just over one hour, on just one Brickell intersection to drivers ignoring the rights of pedestrians as reported in the May 30 article, Miami cops crack down on Brickell motorists who won’t yield to pedestrians, then doing a lot more of the same throughout the Brickell financial district just seems to make good financial, and common, sense — at least to this shell-shocked pedestrian!

Laura Parker, Oakland Park

 

Non-Existent Brickell Sidewalks

Why is it so difficult to put down a temporary piece of plywood so that women in heels, mothers with strollers and handicap people in wheel chairs don’t need to go off-roading in the Brickell Financial District? This is embarrassing. Actually it’s pathetic.

And Miami is a “World Class” city right?

Invisible Crosswalks

SE 1st Avenue must be one of the worst roads for pedestrians in the Brickell Financial District. SE 1st Avenue is a two lane, one-way road where cars move uninterrupted for 5 blocks from SE 8th Street all the way to SE 13th Street in excess of 40 mph. Needless to say the deck is stacked against pedestrians crossing to and from the Brickell Metrorail Station. It is also worth mentioning that there is an elementary school just a few blocks away and I see parents with children trying to cross this death trap on a daily basis.

Please help us identify the invisible crosswalks on this street. Why is it so difficult to get some paint in this town?  All we are asking for is the most basic level of safety and service for pedestrians-proper crosswalks.
This is a City of Miami Street

What crosswalk?

A recipe for disaster.

Between the lack of enforcement and planning and a growing Brickell population conditions are getting worse for pedestrians with each passing day.

Under construction for over a week? How are parents with strollers and the disabled expected to navigate safely through Brickell. This is not a third world country!

Please send Commissioner Sarnoff an email and ask him if he thinks these are acceptable standards for a “World Class City”.