Submitted by John Cooper, Greenwich
To the Editor:
Today, I made that crucial mistake most Greenwich drivers are aware of, trying to cross Greenwich Avenue heading east on Elm Street at 12:45pm on a beautiful weekday.
I was the third car in the waiting line, “not so bad, I thought.” The first car in line saw an opening and dashed across the intersection, great, now I’m second. Then came a procession of eight people who had just finished lunch somewhere, then lots of pairs crossing every which way and finally a single woman who walked west from Betteridge, but before reaching the opposite curb turned north to complete the modified diagonal cross!
I suggested, through open windows, that going all the way to the curb might lead to less second guessing on her intentions, she agreed and said she would. The car in front had now waited, stopped and started twice, before finally being encouraged by pedestrians to cross the intersection.
It’s now my turn, and the circus rises to new levels of chaos.
Through all of this, I am watching a TOG bicycle policeman standing at the corner of the Betteridge building, talking on his cell phone. My frustration tolerance exhausted, upon crossing I made the uncharacteristic move of yelling to him, again through open windows, “That’s not helping!” He looked at me in shock and yelled back “Did you say something?” to which I didn’t answer and continued to the Mason Street stoplight. As I’m sitting waiting for the light, the officer rolls up on me screaming, “You got something to say?” I said to forget it, wanting it to go away, startled that he had chased me in the first place. He said, “Do you even know who I was talking to?” suggesting that his phone call wasn’t personal, but in the line of duty, something I never alluded to.
After I mumbled a familiar curse word in stating that I had no interest in continuing our conversation, he derided me for my language…hand slap accepted. The light turned green and I drove away.
There are a few things evident from this encounter. The removal of stationary police officers from Greenwich Avenue has been a complete failure. Peter Tesei admitted his gross mistake in allowing Chief Ridberg to do so at the Lewis Street intersection, but only after he left office. The bump out at Elm Street causes confusion for both the drivers and pedestrians, daily! I’m sure this is to Officer Bicycle Observer as he watches and watches, but is not allowed to assist, even during the height of lunchtime activity from 11:30am to 1:30pm.
We’ve suffered this lunacy for three years now and perhaps it’s time to look back and make an adjustment. But wait, Chief Heavey doesn’t want the stationary officers to burden his budget, (FY 2024 = $25MM) so we’ll have to find another department to pay for the officers within our $500MM annual budget.
“We’ve redeployed officers on the Avenue, not taken them off the Avenue,” Heavey said. A quote from 2021, meant to justify the removal of stationary officers at the three main Greenwich Avenue intersections, Lewis, Elm, and Arch Streets.
Everyone in the entire town knows that this has been a complete failure, so why can’t we go back to a time that worked? That’s something that should be addressed and publicly.
If the current town administration will not correct this mess, perhaps we must research how to petition the RTM directly to effect that change, or get a referendum onto the ballot in the next townwide election?
Enough of waiting for a fatal accident to happen and suffering continuing chaos without allowing the bicycle officers to step in during peak hours and control both the pedestrians and the cars.
A mistake has been made, why won’t the town correct it?
John Cooper
Greenwich, CT
