Terry Parisian had been in Dallas [Dallas Hot Wieners] for 45 minutes during a busy time of day. He said he saw pedestrians ignoring the traffic lights, crossing without looking. and nearly being run down by traffic. He told the Monday evening village board meeting that he had not seen a single policeman during that period. He asked police captain Stephen Filak whether the police scheduled patrols during the busy periods around lunchtime.
Filak said regular patrols were not scheduled for particular locations at specific times because the police don’t want people knowing when the police would be there and when they wouldn’t.be. However, one of the three cars on patrol during any shift is dedicated to the village, “unless there’s a major, major emergency,” he said.
“We were informed at our transportation meeting that the police had special money to patrol that particular corner this summer,” said special assignments officer Alex Wade. “What happened with that?”
The money to be provided through the grant program has not yet come through, Filak replied.
Mayor William Murphy said it is frustrating to see a pedestrian push the button to change the light and then cross before the light actually changes. “So they get across and then you sit there for 30 seconds. I know 30 seconds is minimal, but …” Several other trustees chimed in to agree.
The traffic lights are poorly placed, said trustee Jeff Helmuth. They are placed right over the crosswalks, and are too high to easily visible to drivers or pedestrians. “Say you’ve just come out of the movie theater, and you want to turn left on Partition. You can’t see the lights; they’re up here,” Helmuth said, gesturing.
Filak said the situation was under the control of the state Department of Transportation, and not the local police.
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