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Boy Scout working to fix unsafe streets

Posted at 11:25 PM, Nov 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-08 23:25:46-05

The intersection of Parkridge Avenue and Hewitt Avenue in Buffalo is a simple one. Parkridge is a oneway. Hewitt is a deadend. But the stretch of road has Dekari Jackson furious.

"It's been an issue with people running stop signs,” said Jackson.

Some of those drivers hit members of Jackson's family. 

“It was Good Friday, March 31st,” recalled Soyenia Gibson, Jackson's mother. “The car did a 360 and I ended up facing traffic in the wrong direction.”

The 15-year-old Boy Scout wants to do something about the intersection. So, he petitioned the City of Buffalo to place a speed hump just before the intersection on Parkridge. The city said there was no money for the project. Jackson won't take no for an answer. 

“Obviously, the stop sign isn't enough,” said Jackson.

Jackson says he needs to raise $3,000 for the city to put in two speed humps. One on Parkridge another one street away on Comstock. That’s where tragedy stuck three years ago.  

“It's a block over. There was a nine-year-old boy who was hit and killed the day before the first day of school,” said Jackson.

Jackson is planning a raffle at a nearby church to raise the money. He's hoping to have a date picked sometime in the next 6 weeks.   

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