Is it okay for kids to laugh out loud and erratically and enthusiastically wave the brightly colored pedestrian safety flags as they use them to cross Fremont Street? YES, is the right answer — the more these BWNA-installed flags get used by pedestrians, the safer our community. And it’s all the better if they provide a little fun, too.
Last year, when the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) informed BWNA that the bustling NE Fremont Street corridor in our neighborhood is considered a low-priority area for PBOT safety improvements, BWNA took action in response to resident and business concerns about the speed of traffic in the business corridor and the difficulty in safely crossing the street.
Led by board members Patti Koehler and Angela Frome, who also constructed and installed the flag receptacles, the Flags on Fremont project was implemented in late March at several NE Fremont Street intersections. The duo had researched other cities, including Kirkland, Wash., where flags had been used successfully to assist people to safely cross the street.
If the photos on these pages are an indication, the orange and yellow flags and their accompanying receptacles and instructions have been well received.
Greta, “not Garbo,” she said with a smile, is a fan of the flags. She uses them frequently near her home at NE 50th and Fremont. Recently she and her granddaughter were using a flag to cross near Nectar Frozen Yogurt at NE 43rd Ave. “I love them,” she said. “They’re a wonderful addition.”
Frome, who lives at NE Alameda and Fremont, notices a side benefit to the flags even when they’re in the receptacles.
“I watch cars slow down there because of the orange flags,” she said. “They think something is happening, and they move through the intersection more cautiously.”
Kudos are in order for the Beaumont Business Association, which chipped in $185 for the flag project; Beaumont Hardware, which provided the receptacle materials at cost; and Paperjam Press for the donation of the design and printing of the weather-resistant instructional signage. Thank you, everyone, for helping BWNA make this safety project a success. Look for flags at more intersections in the future!
Susan Trabucco is a BWNA board member and the volunteer editor of this newsletter. She was the founder, editor, and publisher of a regional business journal. Since 2012, Susan and her husband have called B-W home, where she practices zonal denial in her tropical-ish garden. Reach her by emailing Editor@BWNApdx.org.