Does This Look Safe?

May 25, 2022 | Ken Blanchard: “I have met leaders in organizations around the world who act as if leadership is all about them. They want everybody to recognize that they are in charge. They believe that all the brains in the organization are in their office. People who think that way certainly aren’t servant leaders. They are self-serving leaders who miss out on the reality that their people are capable of much more than they are given credit for. As a result, the best people exit the organization as soon as possible and search for a company where leaders see their people as partners rather than subordinates (subordinary people).“

Ken Blanchard was making a business world analogy. This analogy applies to the Town of Evans. Over the years, many talented residents were removed from advisory boards or just ignored. In other towns, advisory board members attend the town board meetings and answer residents’ questions. In Evans, the party bosses make the decisions and their minions follow their marching orders.

Think about it. Did residents have any input on the $100,000,000 water project? The $1,500,000 pool? The money pit senior center? This goes back to the early 1980s when the decision was made behind closed doors to build the new town hall on Route 5.

This post looks at pedestrian safety in the Town of Evans. The Old Lake Shore Road is designated as the Seaway Trail. After 4 plus decades of “talking”, Old Lake Shore Road has few trails. Most of the road is very unsafe. The Roat Acres section of the trail is already in disrepair. Many neighbors are not happy with what was constructed.

Kennedy Avenue has many unsafe points along the fairly new sidewalks.

A new sidewalk is planned along the Old Lake Shore Road from Kennedy to the A.J. Schmidt school. The town did not hold any public meetings. The board voted to approve the project without residents getting a chance to ask questions.

Local government in Evans has transparency and open government issues.

Below is a Buffalo News article published on 3-28-2024 titled “Safety advocates say to keep pedestrians safe, redesign streets“.

It is a good starting point for future sidewalk and trail projects.