Woodlawn Lake Community Association

DESIGN, DISDAIN, & DANGER

Aug 26, 2009

DESIGN, DISDAIN, & DANGER
Alejandro Soto, WLCA President
As I was completing my jog around the Lake, I saw 3 police
cars surrounding a black sedan on N. Josephine Tobin at W.
Woodlawn. I could not tell if there had been an accident, or if
the driver had been driving so erratic as to have caught the attention
of 3 SAPD vehicles. This intersection has seen many accidents.
Inside the Park next to where these cars were parked is a
damaged cable television box that was knocked over more that a
year ago. Also damaged in that accident was a wooden vehicle
access gate. The gate has since been replaced by one made of
metal. Just last week, a pick-up turning left onto W. Woodlawn
from N. Josephine Tobin was struck by a white sedan. The
truck spun around and landed in the Park inside the footpath.
Luckily no one was on that part of the path at the time. Having
been a driver for 45 years and an attorney for 30, I feel that either
the sedan was speeding, the pick-up ran a stop sign, or both.
A vehicle coming from a dead stop will not be thrown into a
spin by a smaller car traveling the posted 35 mph limit.
When writing my column for our July-August 2006 Newsletter,
I noted how I had just heard a loud crash and saw that 2 cars had
collided at the bridge on S. Josephine Tobin at W. Woodlawn.
One of the cars ended up in the Park. Two months after that, I
heard another collision at Lake Blvd and W. Woodlawn. Those
of us who live near the Park hear the speeding wheels of cars
and motorcycles on W. Woodlawn. We see cars speeding on N.
and S. Josephine Tobin. I have also seen cars ignore the crosswalks
at the W. Woodlawn and Lake / N. Josephine Tobin intersection.
If the school zone signs are flashing, most will slow
down, but they will not stop for a pedestrian trying to cross.
When the flashing lights go off, the speed of the cars turns up.
W. Woodlawn has become faster since it was resurfaced and
made smoother a year and a half ago. We have proposed several
ways to make the street safer. We have said make N. Josephine
Tobin one-way south, close the bridge at S. Josephine Tobin,
lower the speed limits all around, and outline the brick crosswalks
in white. The City will not consider an all-way stop at
Lake Blvd (March-April 2009 Newsletter), but one official at
Public Works suggested a traffic circle. This could work if a
structure of some type were placed on it to alert drivers to go
around. The circle at Blanco and Fulton has an art sculpture,
and the one at McCullough and Olmos has a fountain. Ours
could have some type of landmark to commemorate the Bandera
Stage Road that once carried carts, wagons, stage coaches, and
horses through here on the way from Bandera to San Antonio.
We should not wait for more damage before we act to prevent it.