RantWoman missed what sounds like a wonderful Cascade Bicycle Club presentation about walkable cities. Instead RantWoman and Thwack the cane went out into sunshine and braved the oozing Denny Way rush hour marmelade of transit, single occupancy vehicles, and the occasional other form of mobility to attend the #JusticeForJaahnaviKandula event at Dexter and Thomas.
Various observations from the event and many strands of media.
1. Massive shout-out to @DivestSpd, @EricaCBarnett and other dogged journalists for staying on the story, to the conscientious police department staffperson who flagged the video documenting outrageous comments. RantWoman apologizes: at time of writing she has not found all the citations that turned up earlier and will update with the articles she is looking for.
2. RantWoman wonders how many people besides RantWoman and one of the speakers were at the vigil partly because someone(s) close to them have been killed or badly injured in some kind of #TrafficViolence
3. The part of Dexter where #Jaahnavi was killed is still a construction mess. It has evolved a bit since January. Then RantWoman put on her best #DressLikeATrafficCone hi-vis fashion gear and dragged @AmbassadorThwack the white cane out into the cold to go try to find another vigil. RantWoman did not find the vigil. RantWoman did find various indicators of construction. RantWoman also walked up one side of Dexter to Mercer and down the other side. Sidewalk quality was medium crappy in places. A traffic signal at Dexter and Thomas, in particular an Accessible Pedestrian Signal (#APS) would be lovely. The temporary barriers that will turn into a protected bike lane are to be treated with care by pedestrians during rush hour.
4. It's not a walkable city if a person can't walk home at night without getting mowed down by a police cruiser who apparently was rushing to an apparently not super emergency call without sirens and gunned his engine to 74 mph just as he hit the intersection
5. It's not a walkable city if an investigation of a pedestrian traffic death is lackadaisical, profunctory, and chock full of people who already have problematic history in the line of duty. Add blame the victim spin such as understating the killer driver's speed or the distance traveled by the body and dawdling 3 months about a toxicology test for the pedestrian killed.
6. It's not a walkable city if the President of the Seattle Police Officers Guild is too busy going on Fox news and complaining about Black Lives Matter, urban stresses and whatever all comes up that rantWoman has so far ducked away from. What should he actually be doing to address gun violence, record pedestrian deaths, ...?
7. It's not a walkable city if the City Council can't negotiate a police contract with both teeth to deal with bad behavior and incentives to recognize people doing a good job.
8. It's not a walkable city if police all over the city, not just Officer Dave the night #Jaahnavi was killed, are in the habit of turning on lights and sirens for short bursts just long enough to get through intersections when they don't want to wait for the light. RantWoman has observed this a number of times in her neighborhood. Occasionally, police leave their lights and sirens on, indicating they are probably actually going to a call. Other times, RantWoman peculiarly wishes the siren were an ambulance or fire truck because at least those drivers leave their sirens on long enough that RantWoman can assess peril and adjust her travel accordingly.
This concludes this episode of Dial a Tirade. DO BETTER PEOPLE!
Below are a number of media citations including occasional further commentary.
January 2023 Seattle times: officer who killed student identified
Before that reported by @DivestSPD and Publicola
January 2023 Seattle Times What police have said so far
September 2023 Seattle Times" Investigation occurring
Some comments from Indian Press.
How many Indian families send their children to Seattle for school and to work in the software industry. Cops who cannot treat all lives as valuable should NOT BE COPS.
Hindustan Times: India fumes, seeks probe
WION: Seattle cop makes racist remarks
NDTV: Gruesome deaths. Where does the buck stop?
Story mentions involvement of the Consul General in San Francisco.
Mirror Now Why did the US cop...after mowing down student
India's tough message to US after student's death
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