I attended the Open House on the 16th. There were nicely printed signs about the whole room showing every possibility that there could be regarding Diffley. There were short term & long term solutions presented on these boards. There were police/patrolling boards-side note the speed checker machine was removed from the road after 2 weeks and still no patrolling during school times.

There were people dressed really nicely to tell you about the different boards and what they mean even though there were words printed ever so nicely on the boards going over every possibility and reasons for why things are the way they are (engineers like to over explain-if you know one, you'll know what I mean) and why they should stay the same or have a really drastic improvement done: a tunnel under Diffley between Braddock and Daniel. Commissioner Joe Atkins was leaving at 4:23pm-the meeting had just started at 4pm.

Just yesterday as I was heading home, an adult crossed at Daniel over Diffley at 12:15pm to Northview. He had a Cub Foods bag in hand. My only guess is that he's an employee of the school. But this also proves the point of THERE SHOULD BE A CROSSWALK THERE. Image included from my mounted camera.

Now the news: School Dist 196 is trying to hire 2 crossing guards for the CONTROLLED intersection of Braddock and Diffley. Why would you need crossing guards at a light??
The district isn't putting up school zone signage unless the guards are in place. I heard this from Mark Stotts (Dist 196 chief financial and operations officer) as he chatted with Laurie Halverson on 12/12/19 just before the Pedestrian and Bike Safety Forum started. The guard job listing wasn't filled as of 12/20/19 as found out by PACE chair person Theresa Eisele even though the job was open until 12/17/19. It has now been extended until Jan 5th, 2020 which is ONE DAY before school goes back after break. The promise was that school zone signage would be up by the time kids got back from break, but it isn't happening due to the conditions set by the school district.

I'm saddened by the lack of community involvement at these meetings.  I have to ask, why are you not outraged? These public officials are stalling over nothing and they are counting on you, the public-the residents, the get comfortable and let this go with a shrug. I implore you to email every one on the list and attend meetings when possible. I know the holidays are here, but there is a family who has a Patric shaped hole in their hearts. Please pass this along, please stay apprised of what is happening in your county, your city, your every day life.
Thank you.

List of emails for the commissioners:
mike.slavik@co.dakota.mn.us
kathleen.gaylord@co.dakota.mn.us
thomas.egan@co.dakota.mn.us
joe.atkins@co.dakota.mn.us
liz.workman@co.dakota.mn.us
maryliz.holberg@co.dakota.mn.us
chris.gerlach@co.dakota.mn.us