Streetview of where a girl was struck and killed last night by someone driving a car as she tried to cross the street.

Mayor Hales and his interim PBOT Director Toby Widmer are on the hot seat this morning for their decision to make paving a higher priority than safety. The City's budget plan to "realign" $7.15 million in PBOT funds — $1.2 million of which would come from an already planned sidewalk project on SE 136th Ave — was immediately controversial when it was announced last week. And that was before last night when a five-year-old girl was tragically killed just blocks away from where that new sidewalk was slated to go.

According to the Portland Police, around 7:00 pm last night Morgan Maynard-Cook was visiting a friend across the street from her home on SE 136th. She was on the east side of 136th. Her home is on the west side of the street at the corner of 136th and Harold (map). When ready to come home, she went to cross 136th after a northbound car slowed to let her cross. She then left the grasp of the person she was walking with, ran out and was struck by a 69-year old woman driving a car in the opposite lane. Maynard-Cook died on the way to the hospital.

There are no sidewalks on either side of 136th in this location. The posted speed limit is 35 mph (a speed that results in a fatality in 65% of collisions, whereas a speed of 20 mph comes with 0% chance of fatality).

This summer, PBOT was planning to build a sidewalk on the east side of 136th between SE Powell and Holgate, just 0.4 miles north of where Maynard-Cook was hit. While technically, the money PBOT — under the direction of Mayor Hales — is proposing to "realign" for paving would not have built a sidewalk in the location of this tragedy, last night's news will weigh heavily on Hales' mind as he ponders the budget. Especially since, according a police spokesman I spoke with this morning, Hales visited the scene last night just minutes after police arrived.

Not surprisingly, the mayor is already hearing from the public about the lack of sidewalks in this area.

KGW-TV's story last night mentioned that Maynard-Cook's mom, "said the neighborhood has no sidewalks, no crosswalks and lots of children trying to walk around in those conditions." (Incidentally, an ad before the KGW online video was for a new Honda that comes with SMS texting in the dashboard.)

Executive Director of Oregon Walks Stephanie Routh released a statement this morning that said, "Proposing to cut a long-awaited basic sidewalk project in Portland's poorest neighborhood and severely cutting funding for ADA access [another proposal from Hales/Widmer] is not in keeping with the city's stated commitment to equity... Repaving streets is absolutely important for this city, but let's not fix potholes at the expense of children's safety and accessibility for people with disabilities."

Former Mayor Sam Adams was not shy about saying his top transportation priority was safety. PBOT staffers had even started calling him "our traffic safety mayor." And Adams put money where his mouth is by allocating $16 million to sidewalks in east and southwest Portland. Mayor Hales, looking to differentiate himself from Adams (perhaps more for politics than policy), has made it clear paving is Job #1.

Paving and maintenance is important. But it must be funding in a very careful balance with system improvements that will make people safer. No one has ever died because of a pothole or a rough road. (UPDATE That's not true and it was a mistake to write it.)

Would a sidewalk have prevented last night's tragedy? Of course we can't say for sure. But as someone with three young children myself, I can say from experience that the presence of sidewalks and curbs matters. Curbs are an important physical feature that communicates something to kids even before they can speak. When my almost two-year-old comes to a curb, he knows a street with dangers lies ahead.

When I asked Mayor Hales about PBOT's proposal to "realign" this sidewalk money for paving, he distanced himself from the decision. "It's a bureau budget. It's just a starting point." Asked if the sidewalk funding cut would be adopted into the final budget, Hales said, "I'd say it's about 50/50."

After last night, I have no doubt those percentages have changed.

UPDATE 11:52 am: Statement from Mayor Hales just released:

"My heart goes out to the family of Morgan. As a parent, I can find no words that are sufficient to describe this horrible occurrence.

My thoughts also are with the Portland Police officers who responded last night. Each of them has family, too, and each is affected by such tragedies in different ways.

Safety throughout the city has to be our first priority. I have been at work fewer than 60 days, and so far the city of Portland has experienced eight automobile-related fatalities, four of which were pedestrian deaths.

There has been a lot of talk of late about paving streets, and about sidewalks and crosswalks throughout our city. There has been a lot of talk about the backlog of projects, and about how to pay for these core responsibilities. As always, public safety has to be our North Star, guiding all of our decisions in every part of the city.

We will work through these decisions together, as involved citizens, as elected officials, as city employees, as residents of Portland, and as people who are holding our families a little bit tighter today."

Intersection of SE 85th and Division.

One person died and another person was taken to the hospital suffered minor injuries after a hit-and-run in Southeast Portland early this morning. The Police say the collision happened around 1:00 am this morning on SE Division at 85th.

After arriving on the scene the officers discovered the suspect vehicle dumped at 92nd and Southeast Powell Boulevard. They are still searching for the suspect, whom they describe as a male, Hispanic 5'6 inches tall weighing about 160 pounds and may have been wearing a hat. (more...)

On Sunday night, two young women were struck by a car while attempting to cross the street at SE 80th and Foster; one was killed and the other seriously injured. Several other traffic incidents in which people on foot were killed or sustained major injuries also occurred in the past week in Oregon.

Portland's pedestrian advocacy group, the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition (WPC), says these incidents demonstrate an acute need for more investment in complete streets. They plan to hold an awareness action at the site of the fatality on Foster Road to bring attention to this issue. Here are more details on the event: (more...)

Map of location.

Two women who were crossing SE Foster Blvd at 80th Ave on foot last night were struck by a car. One woman, 23 year old Lindsay Leonard, died on the scene. The other, 29 23 year old Jessica Finlay, is in critical condition.

According to the Oregon State Police, the women were crossing Foster in a crosswalk southbound from the Fred Meyer parking lot. Here's more from the OSP: "The vehicle was travelling westbound on Foster and witnesses stated that it appeared neither pedestrian saw the vehicle approaching."
(more...)

Update: A candlelight vigil for Gordon Patterson will be held at 8pm on Thursday, September 17th at Hudson's Bay High School (map).

NE 41st and St Johns in Vancouver
(See street view at end of story)

A teacher at Hudson's Bay High School in Vancouver, Washington was killed in a hit and run yesterday around 4pm while riding his bicycle through the intersection of Saint Johns and NE 41st St in Vancouver.

The Columbian is reporting that the victim was Gordon Patterson, 60, a well-liked technology teacher at the high school.

Eighteen year old Antonio Eugene Cellestine has been arrested and booked on felony hit and run charges at the Clark County jail. (more...)

[Updated 8/28/09: The Portland Mercury is reporting that the victim was 52 year old James Earl Wagner. The Mercury also has photos of the intersection where the crash occurred, and commentary on the difficulty of walking and biking there.]

Click for Google Map

The Portland Police report that this morning at about 2:15 am, a 52-year old man was killed after being struck by someone driving a car. The incident occurred around NE 122nd and Fremont. The motor vehicle involved in the collision left the scene.

Here's more from the police:

The Major Crash Team responded to investigate and believe this was a hit and run incident. It appears that the bicyclist was riding Northbound on 122nd when he was struck and killed. No vehicle description is being released at this time. The name of the deceased is being withheld until family members can be notified.

(more...)

The story below from the Oregonian was sent to me by a reader. It's sad on so many levels (emphasis mine):

A 97-year-old woman was killed Saturday in the parking lot of an apartment building in Milwaukie when she was hit by a car that was backing out of a parking space, the Milwaukie Police Department said Sunday morning. (more...)