A 5th-grade student at St. Stephen’s finds an easy way to make crossing the street safer in Coconut Grove. City officials love the idea.
After teacher Kate Hamm was struck by a vehicle last spring while crossing Main Highway near Greenstreet Café, pedestrian safety became top of mind for lots of folks in Coconut Grove. Including 10-year-old Lucas Kwiatkowski.
Unlike most folks, though, Lucas actually did something about it.
His idea – bright orange crossing flags that pedestrians can wave while crossing the street – debuted this week with a bit of fanfare at the Main Highway crosswalk at Fuller Street. Miami police officers, a local television reporter, city officials and Friends of the Commodore Trail joined Lucas and his parents for the official rollout.
There was even a surprise appearance by Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava who grabbed a flag and crossed Main Highway with Lucas at her side.
Lucas was definitely the center of attention, though, as a crowd of about two dozen people gathered next to one of the two sets of flags placed in white chest-high canisters on either side of Main Highway.
“We are very happy to support Lucas in his endeavor. We think it’s a great cause,” said Mark Burns, executive director of the Coconut Grove Business Improvement District, which is backing the installation of the “See Me Flags.”
“If this works, we’re going to put them all over,” said Javier Gonzalez, Coconut Grove liaison for Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo. “It’s a simple solution.”
Lucas, a 5th-grade student at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School, said he was inspired to propose the crossing flags by his experience with traffic in San Francisco.
“It was at my old school and at the top of hills, cars couldn’t see pedestrians, so they would wave it (a flag) while they walked by,” Lucas said.
Lucas said he was motivated in part by Hamm’s experience – the Ransom Everglades teacher was hospitalized in April with severe injuries after being struck in a crosswalk – and by his own observations.
“I saw the driving here and sometimes people aren’t paying attention, so I thought it would be a good idea,” he said.
Lucas and his parents reached out to Pardo’s office and the idea quickly took flight.
“We sent an email to the commissioner and then we got emails and all that, and then we had a meeting last week, decided we would have an opening today and it’s open now,” Lucas said.
One potential downside: late night revelers and other pranksters may grab a flag and keep it, rather than returning it to one of the canisters after crossing.
Anyone who is tempted to do that should know this: Lucas funded the initial set of flags with money he raised by selling lemonade. “The first set of flags was $200,” Lucas told the Spotlight.
I don’t understand why people wear Dark Clothing, at Night, while Riding a Bicycle and Walking down the Dark Steets in the Evening and at Night!
Kudos to Lucas Kwiatkowski! What a great idea. Mayor Cava (pictured waving this orange flag) should have stepped away from the encounter with SHAME – a 10-year-old is so frustrated crossing the street to get to school that he decided to make flags to keep him and others from getting killed. The citizens of Coconut Grove have been emailing, calling, and meeting with City and County officials for over a year. We keep getting told by Dist. 7’s Regaldo that she can’t do anything to “curb” the flow of traffic through our streets. She can’t help with policing the speeders who threaten pedestrians every day. We keep telling them flashing yellow lights on Bayshore are not keeping people safe. When politicians only care about constituents during election season – it’s time for those politicians to get another job.