(WSVN) - A group of homeowners never stopped fighting to protect their neighborhood from out of control cars. After sharing their story with 7News, they are finally seeing results. The Nightteam’s Brandon Beyer shows us how their “Crash Concerns” were solved.
Neighbor: “There you go. Victory! We have won!”
It may seem like a small victory to everyone else, but for residents in this Pembroke Pines neighborhood, it was a matter of life and death.
Susan Samson, neighbor: “The police are very busy. They can’t be everywhere at once, so we needed something that would be permanent.”
They needed something to keep out-of-control cars from barreling through the hedges along Sheridan Street and potentially crashing into their homes.
Susan Samson: “And it’s gotten progressively worse.”
We first told you about this accident in February. The driver of the white car lost control on Sheridan Street, crashed through the bushes and sped down the access road before stopping. The neighbors believe a metal guardrail could have kept it from happening.
Nancy Reichenbach, neighbor: “It’s not a matter of if, but it’s a matter of when someone’s going to get seriously hurt.”
And the residents here did get the guard rail installed, but the city put it at the entrance to the neighborhood and not where all the accidents were actually happening.
Jay Schwartz, Pembroke Pines Vice Mayor: “It was this section of neighbors that initiated the whole thing, so it seemed a little bit odd that the section of housing that had initiated the project — the project wasn’t completed in that one section.”
Vice Mayor Jay Schwartz has worked with the neighbors for years to bring their safety concerns to the city, but he couldn’t get the support needed to finish the project.
Jay Schwartz: “The last accident that had occurred — car going through the bush — I said, ‘That’s enough. We gotta do something,’ approached the city administration, and your story complemented that effort.”
Nancy Reichenbach: “It’s been six years!”
Our February report showed how dangerous that stretch of road was becoming for the neighbors and how long they have been asking for help.
Jay Schwartz: “It was placed on the consent agenda in June, approved unanimously, and then the work order went out.”
Years of waiting came to an end in only a few hours.
Susan Samson: “By the end of the day, the whole barrier was done. It’s very rewarding.”
A job well done thanks to a group of neighbors committed to making their community safer.
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