CINCINNATI -- Hamilton Avenue has become a hotbed for car crashes, according to Northside residents.
“I have never been angrier in my life," said Sasha Suskind on Monday.
Days before, a car struck his mother on Hamilton and broke her leg in five places; a week before, his boss, restaurant owner Sarah Cole, died after being hit while walking across the same street.
And Suskind is not alone in either his grief or his concern about the safety of Hamilton Avenue. In a packed meeting Monday night, residents like him demanded change from the Northside Community Council.
“I was here last month,” said Cincinnati Vice Mayor David Mann. “And there were concerns expressed about speed on Hamilton, and somebody said, ‘What’s it going to take? Somebody being killed?’"
The Northside Community Council now asks the city for improved signage, a safety study of the road and closer enforcement of traffic and pedestrian safety laws on Hamilton Avenue, and Mann promised his neighbors that he would call for an immediate vote on their concerns before City Council Wednesday.
The city’s power, however, may be limited by the fact that Hamilton Avenue is a state route.
In the meantime, Suskind said he has a message for drivers passing through his neighborhood.
“Slow down,” he said. “We have loved ones, too, and they are right here."
