So the irony goes on about common sense. Reading this story sounds like maybe some is missing.

$3,000 for a crosswalk? Guardian, let’s you and I grab a couple of paint brushes and go out there; we could do if for $2,000; we’d each get $1,000 and the county would save $1,000. Sounds like a win-win-win deal to me.
Meanwhile, someone could investigate why somebody would get $3,000 for painting a couple of stripes.

(Not sure what all this has to do with your first sentence, though, about electronic filing.)

EDITOR NOTE– The ACHD wanted a PAPER letter after all parties had agreed and sent an e-mail to ACHD.

Extreme ease of access to public buildings should be a primary concern when constructing them. In this regard, the Ada Co. courthouse is a MASSIVE FAILURE! There are vital services offered at the courthouse and nowhere else in the county, and getting inside is a huge pain in the ass. First of all, it sits facing a busy 6 lane highway masquerading a downtown street, so there’s no parking out front. The parking they have provided is PAY PARKING! I am outraged every time I am charged money because I have business that must be conducted at a public building. If you don’t want to pay to park in their garage, you can try the streets, but last I checked most of that has either been flagged “No Parking” or more meters have been put in place. The fee to park isn’t much to many people, but for the poorest among us it may simply be something they cannot afford. Parking a couple blocks away may not bother many people, but many people have difficulty getting around, and even the few blocks from free parking to the courthouse can be a significant barrier. All in all it adds up to a government more concerned with how the building looks from the street (it has an impressive facade, I’ll grant them that) than with how people will actually get inside to conduct county business.

Casual Observer is obviously not aware that Front Street is on the State Highway system and therefore is the responsibility of the Idaho Transportation Department. 3rd Street is one of ACHD’s roadway’s which is why they are targeting a crosswalk for that roadway.

It seems some clarification is in order.

There are two proposed crosswalks. One is between the employee parking lot west of Third Street and the courthouse, which is on the east side of Third Street. Employees in the courthouse have a side entrance, which provides them access without tying up the security entrance at the front door.

The cost of the Third Street crosswalk is about $3000 in order to put in the required ADA accessible curb cuts.

Could employees walk down to the crosswalk at Third and Front Streets and then walk back up to the employee entrance? Yes. But human nature is such that the vast majority of people cut across the street mid-block. In the grand scheme of things, I would rather keep our employees safe, and spend the $3000 to put in the ADA-compliant crosswalk. The cost of even a minor accident would be far greater.

The front of the courthouse is a whole different situation. There, we have an average of 80 people per hour jaywalking through a heavily trafficked area. Nearly 27,000 travel that stretch of road per day. The cost of putting in a signalized crosswalk there, that would be timed with the other signals along Front Street, is $200,000. For that project, I am looking for grant funding.

Why spend these dollars when people COULD use the existing crosswalks by walking a few blocks? It is counter-intuitive to walk a block in the wrong direction to access a crosswalk in order to cross a street and then walk back the other way again. Ideally, everyone would do it anyway. But they’re not. So I will continue to try to get a signalized crosswalk in front of the courthouse to ensure the safety of those folks who have to access services at this inconvenient Front Street location. For more information, please see my blog at http://www.sharonu.com/blog .

To Carl, Sara, Sharon, and everyone else who talks about how hard it is to get a signalized crosswalk across Front Street, I direct your attention to the signalized, non-intersection, crosswalk about 0.5 miles west on Park Blvd.

Or, how about the two associated with St. Lukes, across Main, and Idaho streets.

If they can do it for MK/Washington Group/URS/St. Lukes, it ought to be easy to do it for the third largest governmental body in the state.

Timm is exactly correct. Having a government building, at which some people are required to appear, without free or easy access is pathetic. The people who designed the thing may get the blame. From current incumbents, we need fewer excuses, and more completion dates.

Casual Observer – I don’t know the history but do you know if St. Lukes or MK/Washington Group/URS, or whatever they were called at that point, paid for the installation of the flashing lights. If so I would guess that the issue has more to do with who pays instead of how difficult.

I’m sorry, but to both commissioners, you are saying that because city/county employees are too lazy and too self-engrandized to walk to an existing crosswalk, it is incumbent on the county to solve their lack of energy and lack of concern for the law? What a royal crock!! You are both way off base on this one if that is your only reasoning!

Carl,

I too don’t know if MK et al paid for their own crossing. And, I don’t really care. Sara and Sharon get style points for fiscal conservatism. However, scrimping on the cost of the crosswalks is a little like the current owner closing the gate after the previous owner let the whole herd out of the barn.

The cost of the courthouse, at over $100 million, and the way it was financed, is a scandal. But, it was done prior to Sara’s and Sharon’s shifts and is money that we will never get back.

To claim that the crosswalk on Front might not be possible because, at $200,000, it is too expensive, is like leaning back in your chair after being treated to a $100 meal, and trying to dodge picking up a 20 cent tip! Frugal is one thing, this comes off as just plain cheap.

Yes, they say that crosswalks require wheel chair access by having a ramp cut into the sidewalk… unless that crosswalk is on Vista Avenue. On the south west corner of Vista and Cassia there is no wheel chair access, nor is there one for the crosswalk in front of the Din Fung Cafe in the middle of the block (again, the south west side of Vista between Cassia and Camas Streets).
I am convinced that this city ignores the citizens who live on the Bench when it comes to taking good care of them.
No side walks on Kootenai or Roosevelt Streets even though there are three schools within a few blocks – Sacred Heart, Monroe and South. But this is off topic, sorry.

If I ever get called for jury duty again I will refuse to show up and they can put me in jail. I hate that part of town and will never go there again on purpose.

Meanwhile the Main St. and Fairview roads west of downtown are ghost towns…what great planning in the past.