Residents urge urgent safety fixes after pedestrian fatality at Cole and Stevenson

Multiple Enumclaw residents used the council’s public-comment period on June 22 to press city leaders for faster action after a recent fatal crash at the Cole and Stevenson intersection.

A resident who identified no name at the podium said a person hit in January had since died and asked the council for an update and “some pedestrian funding” so improvements can happen sooner rather than later. “We’ve lost a person,” the resident said, and asked the city to explain how it is progressing on the Stevenson–Cole area.

A veteran who said he served in the Navy recounted daily crossings at the same corner and urged stepped-up enforcement and traffic-calming. “People just zoom by,” he said, asking the city to consider unmarked patrols and speed checks to prevent further deaths.

Nora Tackenboge, introduced herself as a city resident and said the family of the victim, identified in comments as Eileen Griffith, deserved action rather than delay. She asked the city to consider interim, low-cost measures such as handheld flags or other visibility aids at the stop sign while funding for permanent work is sought.

Longtime resident Cindy Proctor outlined safety problems across several neighborhood corridors, including excessive speed, drivers running stop signs, obstructed sight lines from on-street parking and outdated or missing ADA curb ramps at Trella/Trilla and Melody lanes. She said she has video documenting drivers running stop signs and warned that the current configuration forces people onto the street, increasing risk for children and people with mobility devices.

Why it matters: residents described an urgent safety hazard in a commonly used walking route, pressed for both near-term fixes and longer-term infrastructure and pointed to equity and ADA-access issues that affect vulnerable pedestrians.

City response and next steps: council members received the comments during the public-comment period; specific funding or timelines were not committed during the meeting. Residents said they had been told some improvements might not occur until January; speakers urged the city to consider lower-cost interim measures and targeted enforcement while larger projects move through planning and budgeting.

What’s next: council committees and staff will carry ongoing discussions about traffic-calming and infrastructure improvements. The public-comment speakers requested explicit follow-up; the meeting did not include a formal vote or directive that established a timetable.