Several neighbors are calling on City Council, and specifically fellow neighborhood resident Councilmember Tim Burgess, to take action after a car accident early Saturday morning rehashes a two-year conversation concerning the dangers of one Queen Anne intersection – W McGraw Pl, specifically where it intersects with 1st Ave W and W Smith St.
Reader Julia Reitz wrote,
Yesterday morning (1/30/10), there was an accident at the intersection of 1st Ave W and W McGraw Pl (W Smith) in Upper Queen Anne. I don’t know the specifics but I heard a loud, awful noise from my living room and looked out the window to see a blue car had driven up and over the curb, onto the boulevard at the end of my street.
Julia also sent links to an album of pictures that her neighbor took of the accident and its aftermath, which clearly shows tire treads through the island and a sizable tree and two signs knocked over. (Maria Kaufman, who took the photos, gave us permission to re-post them here).
According to Julia, this accident occurred during daylight hours, at an intersection that her and many of her neighbors have been expressing concern about to City Council and SDOT for over a year.
Jedediah Kaufman is one of the neighbors who has taken to contacting local representatives concerning the intersection. Starting with an email sent to Councilmember Tim Burgess in October of 2008, Jed outlined the many problems contributing to the danger of the intersection, sighting his first hand knowledge as a resident living on the street and his medical expertise as a surgeon. Jed attributed the dangers where W McGraw Pl meets 1st Ave W to the following (taken from his letter):