Sometimes a good answer is staring you in the face for years and you don't see it until a newcomer arrives and asks why you've been ignoring it. So it was Thursday night at Fayetteville's Kiwanis Recreation Center, where residents gathered to brainstorm issues that the City Council and staff need to consider at their upcoming annual retreat. That session will result in the council's priority list for 2018 and beyond.
One of the contributors Thursday was Joe Hallatschek, a 57-year-old newcomer to Fayetteville. Hallatschek moved here last year from San Antonio. He's a civil engineer at Fort Bragg and familiar with traffic safety measures that are common on military posts. He noted that pedestrian deaths are altogether too common in Fayetteville, but are comparatively rare at military installations. That's because on military posts, sidewalks are the rule, not the exception, and military police are renowned for strict enforcement of speed limits.
That solution has been sitting on Fayetteville's doorstep for decades. And since the city annexed the most populous part of the post, the solution has been within city limits.
But we're still not moving swiftly to build sidewalks where we need them, and we're certainly not enforcing speed limits with the sort of rigor that we see every day on the post.
OK, council members. You see what the answer is. You've just got to show us you can get it done.