Sidewalks Are For Everyone (SAFE), a local nonprofit that came to being as the result of the tragic hit and run death of John J.J. Rearick on New Falls Road in August of 2013, are calling out the borough of Tullytown for being “cheap.”
Members of the advocacy group gathered prior to the Tullytown Council meeting Tuesday night. They were joined by former member council member Sally Madden-Mackenzie, who served on council in the late 80s.
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The rally greeted council members. The group demanding that borough officials install sidewalks on the 1/10 of mile of Route 13 that’s part of the overhaul to the busy roadway. The project has been taken place over the last 20 months or so with completion scheduled for October 2015.
President and founder of SAFE, Sharon Rearick said Tuesday night she just doesn’t understand why the council wouldn’t want to protect the public from the hazard of walking along the highway in Tullytown.
During the public participation part of the meeting, tempers flared as members of SAFE pleaded with council.
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SAFE, formerly known as Sidewalks for New Falls Road, came to life as the result of Rearick’s son JJ’s death shortly after he was the victim of hit-and-run crash in July 2012. Spurred on by an online petition that acquired thousands of supporters and signatures rapidly, and the political backing of state Sen.Tommy Tomlinson, State Rep. Tina Davis, Bristol Township Council and other officials.
At the time, the initiative was focused solely on getting sidewalks installed on the stretch of New Falls Road that runs through Bristol, Middletown, Falls and ending in Bensalem. The route cut through the heart of Levittown.
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Bristol Township Manager Bill McCauley cited the road as one of the most dangerous roads in Bucks County in a letter he penned to PennDOT officials in early 2013. He stated at the time the number of accidents and fatalities as a reasonable cause for the construction and installation of pedestrian walkways.
Rearick said Tuesday the focus of the initiative has now broadened in light of the many high-traffic areas in Lower Bucks County that don’t have pedestrian walkways and could be construed as dangers to the public who walk them.
Over the last year, SAFE has held on number of fundraisers, continued to meet with state and local officials, received its official nonprofit designation from the Department of State and is seeking funding for sidewalks to eventually be installed on New Falls Road.
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SAFE is currently in the running among a number of other community based Lower Bucks County initiatives to for a $10,000 grant from Browns’ Fairless Hills ShopRite .
Rearick pointed out to members of council that both Bristol borough and township are having sidewalks installed in their respective areas where the PennDOT construction work on Route 13 is ongoing. She added those towns are paying for the maintenance fees for when those municipalities have to pick up the maintenance tab.
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“They (Tullytown Council) have said they can’t afford the maintenance costs for the sidewalks and center median divide which would have flowers and plants seeded,” said Rearick and cited the borough’s approval of the work as long as sidewalks were not installed when the issue came to a vote years ago.
Councilman Ed Armstrong, who also serves on the Route 13 commission that developed and designed the plans for the work on the much traveled roadway, said it’s absurd that sidewalks were not included in the original deal. Armstrong said when the plan was voted originally, he was in the minority but was looking at the bigger picture in terms of the work for the roadway being done and voted for it.
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“People walking along the sidewalks of Route 13 from the south in Bristol Township to get to the Levittown Shopping Center or the soon-to-be new railroad station will be forced to walk along the shoulder of Route 13 shortly before they reach the jug handle that funnels traffic into the shopping center near Home Depot. There is no doubt in my mind that this will result in one or more pedestrian fatalities. In the last 20 years we have had something like 22 fatalities along the Tullytown portion of Route 13, enough is enough,” said Armstong.
The rally and pleadings by the sidewalk group and those speaking on behalf of them did not change any minds on council and there was nothing to indicate there would be.
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“This isn’t our problem,” said Councilwoman Mae Kucher. “It’s PennDOT’s responsibility, not Tullytown’s.”
Frustrations about the progress of the work on Route 13 have boiled over from time to time, with one Bristol Borough business owner along the roadway saying sidewalks aren’t needed because only “crackheads and welfare patients” would use them.
Rearick, Armstrong and others think differently saying safety issues not withstanding but current council members could be walking themselves into an anvil of lawsuits once the work is done and a pedestrian becomes a victim of an accident in the future.
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