Screen Shot 2013-12-10 at 9.10.42 AM21-year old Cheyenne Jackson was carrying her only child, 18-month-old Ariana Matosek on the crosswalk at S. 6th and W. Hayes Ave., when a rental truck struck them and fled, killing Cheyenne’s baby girl.

The pain from the loss of a loved one is unbearable, but to couple that pain with the fact that your baby was killed while in your hands is just unimaginable.

This accident has become one of an all too familiar story for the area that stretches from South 6th and Becher to Hayes Ave.
According to a report published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the area where Ms. Jackson lost her baby had experienced from 2007 to 2012 “at least five crashes, including two hit-and-runs and two crashes with injuries” prior to this horrible hit-and-run crash that killed 18-month old ArianaMatosek.
After this death Milwaukee Ald. Tony Zielinski has moved to request that city engineers evaluate the safety of this intersection where a day care is located.
“We’re going to be working to get traffic calming at that intersection,” Zielinski said. “The sooner the better,” the Alderman tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Wait a minute! “…working to get traffic calming at that intersection”?

Did Alderman Zielinski just reveal that he has known that this area had serious traffic concerns that needed to be addressed? Apparently he did.
Nara Colton, owner of the day care Guard Your Angels stated to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “that she’s asked for changes a few times before because drivers tend to rush to make traffic lights, and nearby schools and the day care mean more children are crossing the streets. Until now, she got the runaround.”
“Something needs to be done. This isn’t an isolated incident,” Colton told the paper.

In an interview with the Spanish Journal, Nara Colton, owner of Guard Your Angels day care center, stated that on a few occasions she asked Alderman Zielinski to do something about the traffic at that intersection.

Colton stated that the Alderman told her before this accident that there was nothing the city could do. Really!

This stretch of road from 6th and Becher to 6th and Hayes has been in the news for the past several years regarding pedestrian deaths caused by vehicles, and Alderman Zielinsky did nothing because there was nothing the city could do?

Did Alderman Zielinski do nothing because the area this accident, as well as others, happened in wasn’t Bay View, another area in his district with more homeowners and higher income?
The stretch between South 6th and Becher and Hayes Ave. has witnessed several pedestrian deaths caused by moving vehicles over the past few years, and not one effort to CALM the traffic in this area has been initiated by Alderman Zielinsky. Why?

Why did it take the death of Ariana Matosek to prompt action to CALM the traffic in this area from your office Alderman Zielinski?