Beacon Councilmember Silenced By City Administrator Over Traffic Safety Awareness
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City Administrator Chris White silenced City Councilmember Pam Weatherbee during the 10/21/2024 City Council Meeting at 1 hour 10 minutes, when she rose awareness about known dangers to bikers and pedestrians on Rte. 52/Fishkill Avenue, which is where Barking Frog, Auto Zone, Lanks Automotive, Family Dollar, Margaret’s Laundromat, Industrial Arts Brewing, and other establishments are located. It is a connecting road to numerous communities, including Groveville and the Hedgewood Home For Adults. During the meeting, he told the public that she had opened up the city to more lawsuits than the 3 “trip and fall” lawsuits they City is already contesting.
Hedgewood Home For Adults on the left on Rte. 52
City Administrator White’s scolding and silencing of Councilmember Pam demonstrated how important topics are talked about behind the public’s view when the cameras turn off after public City Council meetings. Some people call this “behind closed doors,” where councilmembers can speak with the City’s attorney about legislation, city employees, or other sensitive topics. It can be the reason why some councilmembers speak meekly in public on a topic, despite having strong viewpoints about it.
What Did Councilperson Pam Say?
Councilperson Pam was answering a seemingly organized turnout of bike-lane advocates, which included adults and kids, pushing for the Council to consider and implement bike lanes in different areas of Beacon, including on Rte. 52. Sidewalks have also been advocated for in this area because several senior citizens who live at the Hedgewood Home For Adults walk on the road as part of their daily activity and errands. These senior citizens are often in wheelchairs, with rolling walkers, are holding hands with one another, or are walking alone. They do not have a generous sidewalk to walk on, and often walk in the street, within the white line.
In her Report, Councilperson Pam said: "I myself live only one block from 52, and would love to ride a bike, but I'm fearful to get out onto Route 52. So I definitely hear that something needs to be looked at for safety. You know, my husband Stew has been biking lately on 52, and there's so many obstacles now for a biker, that it is shocking that nobody is killed. And it's not just from vehicles. It is from even just the how the side of the the road is for them, that it it's really…there's so many dangerous obstacles. So I would love a feasibility study. I know we keep talking that ‘we can't do it…we'd like to do it…’ Is it a reality and what could we get for it there before we start putting in new sidewalks."
City Administrator Chris was initially adverse to the creating of or fixing sidewalks in Beacon in various areas, including Rte. 52, as he said in the past that he was very busy with projects like the new Firehouse which recently completed. However, he has been paving what seems like everything in Beacon this summer and fall as he works with federal grants to pay for some of it, like the sidewalks on both sides of the streets of Fishkill and Teller Avenues crossing over Main Street and Verplanck. The City of Beacon’s Highway Department has been paving as well. Central Hudson has been doing line work underground, which has necessitated some of the paving.
What Did City Administrator Chris Say?
During Councilperon Pam’s speech, City Administrator Chris was otherwise occupied in his computer while she spoke. Until she said: “It is from even just the how the side of the the road is for them that it's really…there's so many dangerous obstacles.” With that, he looked up at Councilperson Pam from his computer work, fired up his phone, and took to the microphone to interrupt the Report session. He said:
"Mayor...Mayor can I just ask that the Council please not say things about infrastructure in the city that could come back and haunt us for a lawsuit. If [City Attorney] Nick was on [the call for this meeting]...I don't know exactly what you're talking about...but...um...you just put on the record that it's unsafe to bike, which is, I...I would challenge that assertion and I...I...I think we should be careful about what we say publicly."
Councilperson Pam persisted: “I’ll send you pictures of the ___,” her final word was muffled as City Administrator Chris spoke over her, saying: “I get that Pam, but we're in like 3 lawsuits already about trip-and-fall things, um so I, I would just ask the council if you have issues about our infrastructure, please talk to us and we can mitigate that. If you announce it in your Report, you're basically putting it on the record so that it can be used against us if somebody falls there. [City Attorney] Nick isn't on to usually say that, but I would have texted Nick to say something.”
While the regular attorney Nick was not in attendance, another attorney, Christian, from their firm was there, but did not speak at that time. Mayor Lee Kyriacou responded by saying: “Ok,” signaling his acknowledgement to move on. But City Administrator White continued: “I think you can make your point without saying ‘Our facilities are not safe.’ I've never been notified by anybody about something unsafe on Fishkill that we haven't immediately addressed. So just knowing what we're going through with the lawsuit at Teller Avenue, I would be very careful about what people say about our our infrastructure.”
What Is The Lawsuit At Teller Avenue?
The lawsuit at Teller Avenue that he may be talking about regards the grandmother, a Beacon resident Carla Giuffrida, 75 who was hit by another grandmother in Beacon, Jacqueline Milohnic, 59, at 3:11pm on a Wednesday, December 1, 2021, as reported by A Little Beacon Blog. Carla died 5 hours later from her injuries.
Jacqueline was driving her 2019 Jeep Rangler on Main Street and was turning left onto Teller Avenue when she struck Carla who was reportedly in the middle of the crosswalk. Jacqueline was ticketed for “failing to yield to a pedestrian,” as reported in the Highlands Current. According to the reporting, “Milohnic, who told police that Giuffrida had not been visible because of a blind spot caused by the front left pillar of the Jeep’s frame and sun glare.” Jacqueline contested that ticket, which Beacon City Court Judge Greg Johnston dismissed, ‘saying it would have only applied if traffic control signals were not in place at the intersection or not working correctly.” However, the paper reported that Judge Johnston did find her guilty of “failing to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian,” which is a lesser offense.
Jacqueline was due in court for sentencing, which could be 15 days in jail and up to a $500, the newspaper reported. During the trial, Detective Brian Lawrence testified that the traffic sign read “Don’t Walk” when Carla as in the middle of the crosswalk. However, back then, it was unclear if that traffic signal turned to “Walk” at all, and was broken at the time.
Readers of A Little Beacon Blog chimed in then, saying: “@janetmelissa: “So awful!! Sending healing thoughts to everyone reeling from this tragedy. Just FYI…the pedestrian lights were out at that intersection for some time. Idk if they’ve recently been repaired…but that makes an already dangerous crosswalk even more difficult for pedestrians to safely navigate!”
And @firstrun said: “Ah, my sister was seriously injured when she was hit by a car at the same intersection.”
When sentenced for her conviction, Judge Johnston fined Jacqueline $750, revoked her drivers license for 6 months, and ordered her to complete a driver’s safety course, according to the newspaper. However, she appealed that sentencing, which got reversed by an appeals court, who also dismissed the ticket.
But the pursuit for justice in Carla’s death and improved traffic safety for Teller Avenue was not over for Carla’s family. Her two children filed a civil suit in February 2023. According to reporting in the newspaper: “It names Milohnic and her husband, who is the owner of the vehicle she was driving; the City of Beacon; and Kearns Electric, the company that services the city’s pedestrian signals.”
Carla’s family’s lawsuit also pointed out the dangers of the Teller/Main Street intersection, by alleging “that between Jan. 1, 2018, and Nov. 30, 2021, there were at least 35 crashes there, at least two of which involved pedestrians. It charges Kearns and the city with failing to program the signal correctly to provide a “leading pedestrian interval” of at least three seconds before the traffic light turns green,” the Highlands Current reported.
ALBB does not have confirmation if this is the Teller Avenue lawsuit mentioned, or if there is an additional one.
Back To Councilmember Pam and City Administrator Chris:
After City Administrator Chris mentioned the Teller Avenue lawsuit, Councilmember Pam did not back down, and said: “We definitely need the Fishkill Avenue Concepts Committee here because it has been recorded there.” However, City Administrator Chris tried talking over her again to drown out what she was saying.
He persisted: “You can make that decision, I'm…I'm just saying, I…I would rather this the council not hand lawsuits to people because we're in 3 right now and our insurance is going up because of them.”
Mayor Kyriacou tried to move the meeting along, by saying “Okay, so let's go on.”
By the very end of the meeting, as Mayor Lee wanted to end the evening, Attorney Christian, who was there, did chime in that he agreed with City Administrator Chris.
