The Homewood community, still reeling from the tragic loss of 9-year-old Courtney Carter who was struck by a car while biking, has come together to demand safety improvements on their streets. On August 18, Courtney lost her life on Rosedale Street, a mere block from where she lived. Last Tuesday, residents and biking advocates paid tribute by installing a ghost bike memorial and partaking in a commemorative ride, as reported by WPXI.
In response, local organizations and community members are seeking immediate action. During the event, Kennedy Goodson, a friend of Courtney, highlighted the need for a secure space for children to bike, “I ride down here myself, so to see that somebody a year younger than me got ran over right here where I ride my bike, is concerning because I feel like we should be able to ride safely without having to worry about cars hitting us,” Goodson said, per WPXI.
According to Homewood community leaders, there's an urgent need for road safety measures like speed bumps and crosswalks on Rosedale Street. Toy Broadus, the community coordinator at the Promise Center of Homewood, emphasized the day-to-day risks when she said, "We have to physically come out into the streets to cross our kids. We have to come into the streets to get our kids off the school bus, because we see it every day, we see cars going around the school bus, we see cars going around kids," in a report by WPXI.
Homewood residents will meet with city officials on Thursday to discuss changing traffic patterns on Rosedale and Tacoma Streets. Although past requests for traffic calming were approved, no specific timeline was set. After a recent tragedy, there’s now a clear need for these changes. "One loss of a kid is one too many. You understand what I'm saying? And I feel like if the city would have previously addressed this, like, with a speed bump or stop sign… we have a deer crossing sign before we had a child crossing sign. It’s just about what’s more important," Toy Broadus conveyed in an interview, cited by WTAE.
City leaders have acknowledged the Homewood community's safety concerns, with Mayor Ed Gainey's office of upcoming dialogues about the issue.
