Four years ago, a driver hit and killed Jason Gordon while he was walking in Sherman Heights. He was 41 years old. He left behind 1-year-old twin daughters and his wife, Katie.
“It was very tragic for our family to be a solo mom at such a young age in their development,” she said, her voice breaking. “He was just that family guy, that friend guy, and just a loving person that’s so missed.”
Katie Gordon and others rallied Friday at the site of her husband’s death, at the intersection of Market and 19th Streets. It’s one of the 15 deadliest intersections for pedestrians and cyclists in San Diego. Advocates call them the “fatal 15.”
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed budget puts $33 million toward efforts to eliminate traffic deaths, including adding traffic signals, guard rails, bicycle facilities and other projects throughout the city. But advocates say seven of the fatal 15 intersections — including where Jason Gordon was killed — aren’t on the list.
Those intersections are:
- Clairemont Mesa Boulevard and Doliva Drive
- Rosecrans Street and Moore Street
- Federal Boulevard and Euclid Avenue
- Mira Mesa Boulevard and Black Mountain Road
- Westview Parkway and Mira Mesa Boulevard
- Imperial Avenue and 26th Street
- Market Street and 19th Street
They’re asking the City Council to add funding for three kinds of safety improvements at these intersections: stripes, signals and sounds. That means white stripes at crosswalks, crosswalk countdowns and sounds letting pedestrians know whether to wait or go.
They estimate it would cost about $100,000 per intersection.
“The simple fixes recommended here, by Families for Safe Streets, by Circulate San Diego, by Bike San Diego, would add a mere $700,000 to the FY-25 budget, mere pennies for the preservation of the lives of San Diegans,” Bike San Diego Executive Director Anar Salayev said.
Smart Growth America published a report Thursday analyzing the most recent national traffic death data. They found that in 2022, a historically high share of traffic deaths were pedestrians or cyclists.
Smart Growth CEO Calvin Gladney said elected officials have the power to fix streets he calls “dangerous by design.”
“At some point, these decisions are decisions of where to allocate budgets, where to make investments and where to say, ‘Enough is enough. We’re tired of teddy bears tied to poles. We’re tired of candles on sidewalks.’ That it is just not acceptable for this many people to die,” he said.
Advocates say, if San Diego leaders don’t allocate more funding, some intersections will remain deadly for at least another year.
“Small investments can go a long way in saving a life,” Katie Gordon said.
