On Wednesday, TSTC and La Casa de Don Pedro, a Newark-based community group, held a press rally to celebrate pedestrian safety improvements won as a result of joint advocacy efforts. The City of Newark recently installed three flashing street signs at the intersection of Crane Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., giving additional safety to children playing in nearby Coretta Scott King Community Playground and students attending the Barringer 9 Success Academy. In addition to the new lights, the intersection had also been repainted alerting drivers to pay attention to pedestrians.

Over a two-year period, Tri-State and La Casa conducted three walking tours of several Newark neighborhoods to call attention to unsafe conditions for pedestrians (see “Newark’s Children Call for Safer Streets” [Oct. 2007], MTR # 542). Working with the City and County, our groups were successful in winning some visible changes. Besides the improvements described above, the earlier walking tours have helped win improvements at eleven other intersections in the Lower Broadway neighborhood.