There is an electric billboard, the kind one sees on a highway alerting drivers to construction or an accident, several feet from the southern corner of Grand and Monmouth streets in downtown Jersey City.
Flashing across this billboard is a message from the Jersey City Police Department, a few words at a time, asking the public’s help in finding the driver responsible for the hit-and-run death of 48-year-old Shirley Kitchens on Jan. 30.
Kitchens, a mother of seven, had been discharged from nearby Jersey City Medical Center and was using a walker as she was crossing the street near Grand and Monmouth streets at around 5:45 a.m., when based on video of the incident, she was struck by a car and thrown across the road, then hit by another car.
The vehicles in question are believed to be, respectively, a dark gray SUV similar to a Jeep, and a black conversion van.
Last week, Jersey City East District Police Captain Brian McDonough said the investigation is still ongoing.
The billboard, meanwhile, continues flashing to remind drivers of the incident – if they slow down long enough to read it.
Various parties in downtown Jersey City believe the speeding in that area, particularly Grand Street, has to stop.
From ‘highway’ to parking lot
Longtime downtown resident and frequent City Council meeting attendee Yvonne Balcer weighed in on Kitchens’ death at the Feb. 9 City Council meeting. She recalled meetings in the late 1980s regarding relocating Jersey City Medical Center from its old site on Baldwin Avenue to the current Grand Street address.
“I said, ‘Grand Street is not a street; it’s exactly a highway’, and when [the city] removed on-street parking, [the city] made it a five, six lane highway,” Balcer said. “It’s so sad that someone in a walker could not move fast enough because we put her on a street that is a highway.”
Balcer suggested that buses that stop on Grand Street should be rerouted to loop around the hospital and pick them up at a back entrance to avoid Grand Street.
Balcer’s council representative, Steven Fulop, listened intently at the meeting. Last week, Fulop said in an interview that he has been studying the Grand Street situation for over a year and has communicated with the city’s Traffic and Transportation Division about getting metered parking for the street. He believes it would bring in revenues and also take away a lane of traffic in the area, slowing the cars down.
“It’s been very frustrating dealing with Traffic and Transportation, because they have not budged from their position that Grand Street is a major thoroughfare in and out of Downtown Jersey City,” Fulop said.
Fulop also noted that there is a traffic light at the corner of Barrow and Grand streets that has never been turned on since it was set up. He said he has been stymied for months in getting it turned on.
One of most traveled roads
Grand Street runs from the Ocean Avenue near the section of the city known as the Junction, to Hudson River waterfront. It is considered one of most traveled roads in Jersey City due to its running into downtown Jersey City.
“I wonder if the city is waiting for another person to get killed.” – Peter Mocco
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“It’s like a speedway, and I wonder if the city is waiting for another person to get killed,” Mocco said.
The city’s speeding stance
Jersey City has a different take on how they handle Grand Street traffic issues, based on city spokesperson Jennifer Morrill’s response to questions.
On the issue of putting in metered parking to control speeding, Morrill commented in an e-mail: “Parking is not a recognized method to control speeding. Traffic signal timing, speed limit signs, and police enforcement are acceptable and effective methods to control traffic speeds. [The Division of] Traffic and Transportation was recently directed to install all missing speed limit signs in the Grand Street vicinity. Furthermore, they will investigate and make recommendations for additional methods to reduce speeding.”
Morrill also emphasized that “Grand Street is indeed a major thoroughfare linking the downtown with other areas of the city and to the NJ Turnpike. The prohibition of parking along Grand Street will become even more imperative as the Liberty Harbor developments impose the planned 9,000 units of housing and various retail and commercial projects.”
When asked what measures are being studied to control speeding, Morrill said, “Other methods to control speeding are now being evaluated by Traffic and Transportation. The fatal hit-and-run accident would not likely have been affected by conventional traffic control methods. Most all traffic control methods rely on law abiding drivers.”
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.