Thanks to all who weighed in on the crosswalk flag project that Jon deLeeuw is working on. Jon says this update:
Many thanks to all the comments, and people who’ve come in the store with traffic data on their areas, especially the folks from down by JSIS!
Here’s the deal, I now have a budget of $400 now – $300 from the Council and $100 from the Chamber. Demand is going to outstrip what I can afford; however if the community can donate materials, then I can order more flags. The materials needed are 4″ diameter PVC pipe, and 4 inch end caps – stuff that many people have kicking around in their garage. I would ask these things of the neighborhood:
- Donations of 4″ PVC pipe greater than 12 lengths, plus 4″ PVC End caps
- Contact me before July 1st on what they have to donate – I need time to figure out how many flags to order.
- Bring the donated materials to the WCC booth at the street fair, July 9th
- Volunteer to assemble buckets at the booth (3-4 volunteers for a couple hours would be great)
- Decorate your bucket (yahoo)
- Adopt a designated intersection, hang your buckets and get extra flags for restocking.
Any questions/comments can be directed to me, or brought up and the next WCC meeting, July 6th, 7PM room 202, Good Shepherd Center.
Turns out I may have a lot of appropriate flag material kicking around my carport, so donations of 3/4 inch dowel rods are also needed!
I always wonder why these flags always disappear. Why do people feel the need to keep them and what the heck do they use them for?
Anita,
Perhaps you’re thinking like an adult instead of a bored14-year-old. My brother and his friends amassed quite a collection of street signs and other random bits during his high school years.
I’ve tried writing lots things on the flags to see if it helps:
“If you can read, then prove it by leaving this flag here.”
“Only A**holes steal flags”. This one actually lasted for several weeks, and then somebody crossed out A**holes and wrote in “People with no repspect”, of course this flag was then gone within a week.
So writing on them helps, but they still disappear. Once we have a number of buckets installed I will be curious to see if the flag attrition rate goes down. Maybe lots in the area will cut down the novelty and make them less attractive to steal.
Something to think about: a lot of these flags get taken by boaters who use them for their waterski flags. Orange is the color required for boat flags, so maybe try some sections with neon green/yellow to see if fewer are taken?
I think this is a great idea for Wallingford! This has worked well in other communities.
I have a suggestion for the sticks: Jon might consider using 1″ x 2″ stock ripped in half instead of dowels. It’s much more likely to be found left-over in folks’ garages than dowels and quite a lot cheaper to purchase. The corners would likely be sharper and might even be a bit splintery, but only enough to discourage hoarders without presenting a hazard to somebody using it only to cross the street.
Dunn Lumber used to have a ‘scratch & dent’ department with some very reasonably-priced seconds that would work just fine. It shouldn’t be hard to find somebody with a table saw willing to rip them for the project.
Annie- Do you have any proof that “a lot of these flags get taken by boaters” or is this just a theory? It sounds like you are stating this as a well known fact. I would like to hear how this has been proven?
I am a boat owner and while I know not all boat owners are responsible, I would highly doubt this is a common crime. I can’t imagine boat owners who have taken the time to buy everything else required to go waterskiing (including a boat!) are driving around at looking to steal orange flags.The flag is the cheapest thing I have ever bought for my boat. Fellow boaters can attest that when you own a boat, you are at the boat store frequently and easily can pick up another flag. I am sure a few boaters over the years have taken some but honestly, seems a little strange someone with a ski boat, which are commonly in the $30,000-$70,000 range, and a hundreds of dollars worth of waterskis, lifejackets, tow ropes, wetsuits, etc would not purchase a $5 flag. Please don’t accuse “a lot” of whole group of people unless this is really true.