Exciting day at Hawthorne station yesterday. First off, we had County Exec hopeful Rob Astorino pressing the flesh and handing out handbills bearing his mug yesterday morning at his home station (You know what the Westchester political strategists say–if you win Hawthorne, you win Westchester). Then we had fliers greeting us upon our return from the big bad city announcing a “Train Station Meeting” this Thursday night at Mount Pleasant Town Hall.
Yes, our modest train station, happy recipient of some gloriously crisp crosswalks in the past few weeks, will be Topic A as the commuter constituency meets with supervisor Robert Meehan, police chief Louis Alagno, and other Mount Pleasant luminaries.
Topics for discussion include parking at the train, security, flooding in the lot, sidewalks (!!!), and something called “proposed taxi code,” though we’re uncertain what that means.
Spearheading the local activism is the community organization Mount Pleasant Today, which did a great job in getting the crosswalks created in the heart of Car Culture. If I had their ear for a moment, I’d suggest turning the crummy old Hawthorne station house currently used to hold the cab company’s junk into a coffee shop, I’d build a sidewalk for the poor pedestrians going to and from the station to points north on the skinny stretch of road over by Gordo’s, and I’d build some sort of sidewalk or path from the Taconic entrance at Memorial and Broadway, under the highways, to close to West Cross Street. Pedestrians are forced to use the shoulder, which is dangerous and extremely muddy.
Turn up and make your voice heard.
I’d echo those wishes and extend them by fixing the sidewalks on the east side of Commerce from Ft. Washington all the way to Bel Paese.
That means moving dumpsters, oddly placed telephone poles and other impediments from the sidewalk path. The rule of thumb should be that you should be able to safely walk a stroller all the way to the train station along the sidewalk and across the street. You cannot do that today.
The town should also look into providing better traffic control at the corner of Elwood and Commerce, by Gordo’s. That particular crossing is a deathtrap for walkers. It should be at least a two way stop for both cars coming north on both Commerce and Elwood. I think a blinking light with reds on northbound Commerce and Elwood and yellow on southbound Commerce before the split would help considerably.
Thanks for bringing this up. My family will be there!
So what ever happened at the meeting?? No report? The real danger is crossing 141 as it curves over the train tracks by the memorial triangle park. Cars barely slow down.