Someone's Been Listening to Councilman Ciarrocca

Safer streets for pedestrians has been a concern of town government for years, with new thermoplastic crosswalks being laid townwide, new stop signs being installed and task forces being convened, among other things. Councilman Mark Ciarrocca, the chairman of the Council's public safety committee, talks about traffic hot spots weekly.

Someone is listening to Ciarrocca and his colleagues on pedestrian safety - geese in Mindowaskin Park. On Christmas Day, a gaggle of geese choose to cross East Broad Street at the intersection with Park Drive by using the crosswalk. The geese were headed in the direction of the park and it is not known where they were coming from.

Geese from the park traditionally head to the various side streets off of East Broad when puddles and other water conditions are evident outside of the park. The geese crossings on East Broad Street hold up traffic on the busy road. During this summer's heavy rains, geese were found on Elmer Street and Lenox Avenue sipping from puddles following the rains.

Due to the light traffic conditions in town on Christmas, it appears that few cars needed to stop for the safety conscientous geese. In early September a gaggle of geese, most likely from Tamaques Park were seen snacking on the front lawn of the high school.

Editor's Note: Thank you to Ellie Mroz for sending in the picture of the geese crossing East Broad Street.