Enough is enough: Arbor Lodge neighbors to hold vigil after spate of tragedies

The crosswalk on Greeley (on the left, nevermind the incorrect label) at Bryant where Stanley Grochowski was hit. Bryant is a designated neighborhood greenway.

It all started on the evening of March 30th.

Brian Duncan, the former chair of the Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association, was hit while trying to bike across North Rosa Parks Way at Greeley. He’s now paralyzed from the neck down. Then at the same intersection just three months later, Diana Miller-Dixon died after someone ran a red light and crashed into her car. Then two months after that on August 30th, and just two blocks away, Stanley Grochowski was walking in a crosswalk when he was hit by someone driving a car. Grochowski died from his injuries 10 days later on September 9th and police are still looking for the person that ran into him.

These tragic and violent acts committed by people driving dangerously on neighborhood streets have forever altered the lives of Brian Duncan and the families that Diana Miller-Dixon and Stanley Grochowski left behind.

And they’ve also filled residents of this usually quiet and family-oriented neighborhood with anger, fear, and sadness.

This Thursday night the Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association is hosting a vigil for Grochowski — a man who was homeless and had very few connections to local family or the community at large. Neighbors also want to bring attention to these safety issues.

Christopher Jones is trying to work at a neighborhood level to raise the profile of these incidents and make changes that will lead to safer streets for he and his growing family. “But change is slow going,” he shared with us in a recent email.

All three of these crashes happened on N Greeley Avenue, a busy corridor that’s a main conduit to Arbor Lodge Park and Chief Joseph Elementary School.

Thursday night’s event will take place at 6:00 near the crosswalk on Greeley at Bryant. Here’s the description from the neighborhood’s Facebook page:

Please come and show your support for safe streets, honor this man who was killed by a hit and run driver, and bring a sign. We will have some signs asking folks to slow down, to look, some saying, “this was preventable”. But bring your own too!

We will stay for 30 minutes. Please join your neighbors in the visible show of support for safer streets and to honor this man who died.

All over Portland neighbors are rallying together to reclaim their streets from dangerous driving. The city and advocates are doing their part to help, but change isn’t happening fast enough.

If you live, work or ride in this north Portland neighborhood please consider showing up and get involved to make things better.

— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org

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