CINCINNATI — Some city council members want to use a surplus of money from last year's budget to invest in pedestrian safety.
The council announced an $85 million surplus at the end of the fiscal year. While council members won't decide on how to spend that money until next week, Mayor Aftab Pureval and others are pushing for $3.4 million to be used to address pedestrian safety in the city. This would be in addition to the $5.85 million for the fiscal year 2023 budget and $2.349 million from the fiscal year 2022 budget.
Their plan includes new crosswalks and bump-outs in Columbia Tusculum; new sidewalks, curbs and signage in Bond Hill; and new streetlights in Corryville's business district.
"We've seen a continued aggressive driving and pedestrian crashes," said council member Mark Jeffreys. "What we have been able to invest is certainly progress, but it hasn't been enough, and this is a longer-term issue that we need to tackle so this helps advance it."
In our Carryover Budget, we are building on our commitment to improving pedestrian safety throughout our neighborhoods — so that residents can feel safe coming together and using the public spaces they depend on. pic.twitter.com/BMJQiKS53k
— Aftab Pureval (@AftabPureval) October 11, 2022
Jeffreys said if and when the council approves this additional funding, crews can start fixing things right away.
"We got very far behind on this project because there was not the political will in the past to do it so now, we've got to catch up very fast," said Councilmember Jeff Cramerding. "In the past for decades, we've had a very car-centric system of planning, everything was planned around the automobile and getting cars to other places very quickly, we're taking a more comprehensive approach."
Matt Butler of the Devou Good Foundation has been pushing for more road diets through the Tri-State area, especially after recent pedestrian deaths where speed played a role.
"I think it's a start, and I would challenge them to find more," Butler said. "St. Louis' mayor is proposing $40 million of their surplus to go to pedestrian safety."
Butler set up radar boxes on Jefferson Avenue to see how fast some people are going. While he is still analyzing his results, city data shows in this same area, between Oct. 5-6, 86% of the 32,612 drivers were traveling at or below the speed limit, which is 35 miles per hour.
However, it found quite a few cars going well over the limit, as one car was driving between 71-75 miles per hour. On an early Tuesday evening near the University of Cincinnati campus, WCPO saw several UC Police officers patrolling the area where two UC students got hit by a car. One of the students, 18-year-old Cayden Turner, died.
At the next city council meeting, members will vote to appropriate one-time money for pedestrian safety.
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