LACKAWANNA, N.Y. — A Lackawanna woman took concerns to the city Monday evening saying people deserve better crosswalks on Ridge Road in the First Ward.
"It's a short walk for me, but it's difficult because I am disabled," says Sophia Shafal. "I have to use a cane, and I actually am deaf."
Shafal grew up in Lackawanna and moved back a few years ago without her car.
"With my bags and the weather, and trying to cross the street, you cannot do it," she said. "You get halfway across, and I've had near misses several times."
Shafal either walks everywhere or takes the bus and says Ridge Road in the First Ward is a problem.
"I've looked back and forth several times, more so than anybody else because of my impairment, and still managed to either have somebody blow their horn at me, or curse me out, or use foul hand gestures, but what am I supposed to do?" Asks Shafal.
One the biggest issues Shafal is upset about is the lack of crosswalks on this stretch of Ridge Road. Monday night, she took her concerns to city hall.
"I wanted to say something because I'm afraid that if I don't say something, and somebody got hurt, it would make me feel bad," Shafal said to a couple of council members before the meeting.
Lackawanna Mayor Geoff Szymanski is in Albany with the conference of mayors, but told 2 On Your Side’s Kelly Dudzik via text on Monday that there are no safety measures being considered for Ridge Road right now. Szymanski says the city did a traffic and pedestrian study about ten years ago, and it showed red lights on that stretch weren't warranted.
The mayor did point out a new cross light was installed in front of the library two years ago and says it's hardly ever used.
"I can go anywhere in the City of Lackawanna, and I can cross," says Shafal. "I don't have to worry about, am I going to make it across? Or, is my family going to plan my funeral today? But you try that in the First Ward, good luck. You aren’t going to make it across that street."
The mayor says no one has ever reached out to him requesting crosswalks on Ridge Road, and if it's something the city council and the new mayor want to do, they'll have to have a new study done.
UPDATE: Shafal told 2 On Your Side's Kelly Dudzik that after she spoke at Monday night's Lackawanna City Council meeting, the council president gave the city attorney a week to find out why the old traffic lights were removed on Ridge Road and who paid for it.
VIDEO: Last summer, community members painted new crosswalks in the First Ward.
