a deadly crash last fall that claimed four lives.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI was out here that night. It was a horrific crash scene,\u201d Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw Lieber said.<\/p>\n
In response, the city immediately began looking at changes to improve pedestrian safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t wait for these things to happen, but when they do, we make sure to put extra attention on those areas where they are occurring,\u201d Mobility Director Brandon Campbell said.<\/p>\n
The plan includes repaving, which is already underway, portions of 7th Avenue to narrow lanes, adding nearly 45 on-street parking spaces and installing two bus bays. On the stretch between Nebraska Avenue and Nuccio Parkway, 36 of those spaces will narrow the roadway \u2014 a design intended to slow drivers. Speed limits along the corridor will also be reduced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe longer term or intermediate term, we will be continuing to partner with the community redevelopment agency and look for thoughtful opportunities to add to their rebricking effort with the potential for speed-rated bollards and further protect those sidewalks,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n
The project will cost about $40,000 and is funded by the mobility department.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of families come here. A lot of people enjoy the nightlife here. We want to make sure people feel safe and are safe,\u201d City Council Member Guido Maniscalco said.<\/p>\n
In Ybor, some say the changes are needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething that even happened today is we have the lights that signal people to slow down and stop so we can cross the street, and some people still ignore that,\u201d said Kayla Holloway, who lives near Ybor.<\/p>\n
But not everyone believes infrastructure is the main concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first initial reaction to that is that\u2019s not our problem down here in Ybor, pedestrian safety. It\u2019s deeper than that,\u201d said Aryes House, who lives near the district.<\/p>\n
Others say behavior, especially at night, still plays a role.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like more law enforcement too \u2014 that would help with people feeling more safe,\u201d said Saniyah Abram, who also lives near Ybor.<\/p>\n
Mayor Jane Castor says overall safety in the district remains strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have additional police officers, more than you would have in any other area. So the safety of Ybor City is really not in question. It\u2019s just the perception,\u201d Castor said.<\/p>\n
The paving work is expected to wrap up within the next two weeks, with additional upgrades rolling out later this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa leaders announced new Ybor City safety upgrades after a deadly crash last fall, drawing mixed community reaction.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-176903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}