Karnofsky Addresses Council Regarding Skibitsky's Letter

Mayor Andy Skibitsky's letter to Gardens residents regarding the crosswalk at Highland Avenue and Sinclair Place was addressed by Highland Avenue resident Brian Karnofsky, one of the leading opponents of the location of the new crosswalk, during Tuesday evening's Town Council meeting.

In the letter, Skibitsky addressed the petition Karnofsky and his wife, Karen, submitted to the Council last week. The mayor wrote that he wanted to address the concerns the couple had been bringing up for several weeks and explain the process used to locate the crosswalk. The new crosswalk will cross Highland at the intersection with Sinclair and have the crosswalk next to the Karnofsky's driveway. The couple has said the new crosswalk would be unsafe for children since cars would back out of their driveway into the crosswalk, along with other factors. In his letter, the mayor said safety issues were factored into the town's decision making process.

"The Town of Westfield would never take any action that endangers pedestrians, especially our precious children," Skibitsky wrote. "And rest assured that there are no legal restrictions on marking a crosswalk that is in close proximity to an established residential driveway anymore than there are restrictions on placing sidewalks, which are pedestrian through fares behind a driveway. (Remember legally, a crosswalk is an extension of the sidewalk.)"

In the letter, Skibitsky said Town Engineer Kris McAloon conducted several site observations before making a recommendation to the Council's public safety committee about the proposed site. In addition, material from federal transportation safety officials recommending keeping the crosswalk in an area with fewer crossing points for pedestrians was cited in the reasoning explained by the mayor. The Karnofskys have proposed moving the new crosswalk to the other side of Sinclair, adjacent to their property but in what they say is a safer location.

In his letter, Skibitsky also notes that many students and parents walking to Franklin School already utilize the Karnofskys' driveway as a crosswalk and the proposal from the town would remove the pedestrians from the driveway, providing increased safety to the couple and the pedestrians. A petition supporting the moving of the crosswalk was signed by 300 residents.

During his remarks Tuesday night, Karnofsky said he wanted to know what the Council planned to do regarding the safety concerns of the neighborhood. During last week's meeting, the Council indicated that they did not intend to change the location of the new crosswalk, citing the reports from the professionals. Karnofsky also cited an informal traffic study conducted by his wife of cars at the intersection. Skibitsky, traveling in Europe on business, was not present at the Council meeting to hear Karnofsky's remarks.

The Karnofsky study witnessed 101 cars making turns at the T-intersection on Friday, 94 cars on Monday and 108 cars on Tuesday. The entire study was done during the morning commuting hours. Previous visits from town officials and members of the Council also occurred during the morning commuting hours. Karnofsky said the informal study also showed twice as many of the cars making left hand turns on Highland from Sinclair crossing the route of the new crosswalk.

"Given the tremendous amount of traffic during the time period, we'd like to ask for a professional traffic study," Karnofsky said, noting that if a traffic study was conducted by the town engineer, the residents would like a copy of the data. The Karnofskys, who have been citing conversations with state transportation officials and federal transportation safety data during previous presentations on the crosswalk, have been calling for an outside traffic study for the intersection.

In his letter, Skibitsky said the intersection had been observed by town officials, in accordance with policy on the placement of crosswalks, and met the requirements as recommended by state and federal transportation officials. In his letter, the mayor did not indicate a formal transportation study by outside experts as a criteria for placing a crosswalk.

In the letter, Skibitsky also addressed what he characterized as inaccuracies, including the photos submitted by the Karnofskys in conjunction with the petition. The photos showed the proximity of children in the proposed crosswalk to the Karnofskys' driveway. The photos were taken in a controlled experiment by the couple, which was supervised by parents for safety reasons. He also cited the new proposed location of a utility pole. The petition was put together before PSE& G chose to relocate the utility pole to another location at the town's request.

Karnofsky said he wanted to bring the matter to the attention of the Council for the third straight week, because he wanted to address his perceived inaccuracies with Skibitsky's e-mail.

"At previous meeting, petitioners have said loudly and clearly that safety must take precedence over convenience," he said.

Karnofsky's comments were largely greeted with silence from Council. During last week's Council meeting the four members of the public safety committee voiced support for keeping the crosswalk in the new location.

"I think those were addressed by the mayor's e-mail," Acting Mayor Mark Ciarroca, the chairman of the public safety committee, said when pressed for answers from Karnofsky.