Several parents turned up the pressure on public officials Tuesday during a public forum designed to address a stretch of 127th Street that includes Eisenhower High School and Memorial Park in Blue Island, where several pedestrians have been struck by vehicles this year.
“We don’t need another child to get hit,” John Banks said. “We’re just asking for something better.”
His son Jamarie, a freshman at the high school, was hit Aug. 24 on 127th Street near Eisenhower, causing severe damage to his leg and other medical issues, Banks said. The accident derailed Jamarie’s hopes of playing football and shook the family, which also has a senior at the high school.
“It really messed me up,” Banks said. “Nobody ever expects for something like this to happen to their child. Nobody.”
The comments came during a pedestrian safety meeting at Eisenhower, led by Democratic state Rep. Bob Rita and including representatives from the Illinois Department of Transportation, city of Blue Island and High School District 218.
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“I think it’s good to bring everybody together, start the dialogue and look for a positive outcome so we don’t have to go through these tragic events in the future,” Rita said. “When you look at how many events have transpired in a short amount of time, it means there’s something that’s causing this.”
Officials are targeting a stretch from Kedzie to Western avenues. Eight pedestrians are known to have been hit by vehicles over the past three years just outside of the high school, including two who were killed and one who was paralyzed, according to Blue Island Mayor Fred Bilotto. Five of those incidents have taken place in just a year’s time, police Chief Geoffery Farr said, with two pedestrians killed and two high school students injured in that span.
“It could be multiple different issues,” Bilotto said. “Whatever it is, we have to work together to find a solution to eliminate it.”
Possible short-term solutions include signs, traffic routes and a safety study, while long-term solutions presented include lighting and visibility changes, speed enforcement, a physical barrier and infrastructure. Flashing beacons were also pitched.
Several students spoke about Lanayah Vazquez, an Eisenhower sophomore who was struck by a vehicle Oct. 1 at 127th Street and Highland Avenue and remains severely injured. They described Vazquez as a singer and a volleyball player who can no longer do either because of what happened.
“More than just meetings need to happen,” said Wilson Vazquez, Lanayah’s father.
Vazquez said he was on the phone with his daughter when she was hit. She almost died at the scene and then again at the hospital, he said. Vazquez said he has been left to question his community’s response.
“What got underneath my skin: the fact that it wasn’t the first accident,” Vazquez said. “It was one of many kids getting hit.”
He pleaded with officials to enforce laws already in place, use crossing guards to help protect students and move on other solutions.
“It don’t take that long to put up a stop sign, a streetlight,” he said. “We got a camera to catch everybody and get a ticket on Western, but we don’t have one at the park district where kids go all summer long.”
Erica Vazquez, Lanayah’s mother, said the family just moved to town in June and was unaware of the prior accidents. Just this April, another Eisenhower student was struck at the same intersection. Erica Vazquez has two more children who will attend Eisenhower soon, and she is fearful about traffic.
“It shouldn’t take all these kids to get hit for somebody to do something,” she said.
John Murray, a Blue Island detective who is a school resource officer for Eisenhower, said they have made some traffic flow changes, including shutting down a left turn lane in the morning, putting up a barricade, limiting traffic on Sacramento Avenue and creating one-way streets before and after school to move traffic in one direction.
“We’re doing whatever we can to prevent that stuff so you don’t need to worry about your students walking to school,” Murray said. “We are looking for any additional ideas.”
But traffic has spiked in part because not as many students are riding the buses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Typically, Murray and a security employee for the high school are the only two directing roughly 500 cars before and after school.
“There are times when our shift is at our bare minimum,” police Chief Farr said. “During that time they are answering calls for service. It does not allow for an extra car to be at the high school.”
Farr said Blue Island has hired four new part-time officers who are going through a six-month training program. He said a second officer recently trained to be an school resource officer and would be available immediately if the district wants to hire a second.
“Help is on the way,” Farr said. “It’s only a matter of time before that help arrives.”
Jim Poelsterl, superintendent for the Blue Island Public Works Department, noted they fixed some lights a few months back and have looked at signs and trimming trees in the area.
But part of the problem is jurisdiction. The school can address some issues on school grounds, while the city can help on side streets. But 127th Street is a state highway under the control of IDOT, and many students cross it more than a half-mile east of the school near Memorial Park.
Michael Sinde, a park board member who grew up in the city, pledged any help the park district can provide.
“It’s been a problem my entire life,” Sinde said. “I’ve yet to see any solutions. I think this is a good first step to have this meeting.”
Jose Rios, the Region 1 engineer for IDOT, said the department is taking the issue seriously. He noted they are doing multiple assessments, including a safety review that should be done in less than two months with the aim to consider speed limits, school zones and anything else that could be modified quickly. But the study is required before changing lighting and signage because IDOT needs to know how those changes will affect traffic.
Eisenhower Principal Erik Briseno said he brought the issues to IDOT before the pandemic in hopes of slowing vehicles on 127th Street. While some changes have been made around the school, Briseno noted they are seeing more problems away from the building, particularly near Memorial Park, where many students cross.
“These kids will be standing at the crosswalk, and nobody’s stopping,” Briseno said. “There’s got to be a different way of grabbing driver’s attention and saying, ‘Hey, you’ve got to stop right at this crosswalk. There’s a park right here and there’s kids trying to cross.'”
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Briseno said there have also been pedestrians struck who luckily walk away with just bruising. He said efforts are being made internally to educate students on where to cross. Security tries to push them toward the traffic light.
“But you have teenagers who like to walk with their friends, so if one friend lives on the south side of 127th Street, they’re going to walk with their friend and then cross,” Briseno said. “So we still fight the nature of adolescence.”
Officials also discussed how proximity to the expressway and train tracks may play a role. Rita also addressed “dark spots,” noting LED lighting has brightened much of the city but the IDOT routes have not changed lighting. He asked the department to review speed limits, extension of a school zone, possible traffic control devices and fences along the roadway. Laws prevent the use of a speed enforcement camera there, as one resident suggested.
“If some of these solutions need to happen legislatively, I’m here to do that,” Rita said.
Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.