I doubt any of the five people that read this blog drive around Clifton in the wee hours of the morning, but chances are all of us know at least one person who has to drive to (and from) work in the middle of the night.
In my case I'm thinking of a relative, an ob/gyn, who drove in Clifton thousands of times in the middle of the night to Good Samaritan hospital which is right off MLK Drive, the subject of one Cincinnatian's communication to councilwoman Leslie Ghiz:
I am writing this email to you hoping that something can be done about the amount of traffic accidents on West Martin Luther King Drive. My wife and I reside at 620 West MLK Drive and we have had both of our vehicles totalled in the last 10 months by drunk drivers. Both vehicles were parked legally in front of our house.
Last March we came home to find my wife's car completely smashed against our house-- the vehicle was parked on the street and was moved approx. 30-40 feet by the first drunk driver. She blew a .238 and was arrested for OVI. Needless to say she had the minimum insurance coverage and we did not receive but a fraction of our damage.
The second time was Feb. 8 of this year and the same thing happened around 2:30am we heard a crash right outside-- I ran downstairs and outside to find out car smashed and moved about 25 feet from where it was parked and the driver of the other vehicle had completely flipped his car over in the middle of MLK Drive. He was lucky not to be injured but was also arrested for OVI and blew a .311.
On top of all that our neighbor who resides at 616 West MLK Drive had her house smashed into during evening commute about 4 months ago. The lady of that vehicle was arrested for no insurance and driving without a license.
I doubt there is anything special about MLK that attracts drunk drivers (and .238 and .311 is VERY drunk), so it is probably safe to presume one of two things: Either drunk drivers come from the west side, or drunk drivers are all over Clifton in the middle of the night. Maybe it's best to steer clear of both areas.
The letter is document no. 200800199 and the document type is "communication" on council's website.
4 comments:
My big Clifton drunk driver story is about 25 years old now but it's good for a sad shake of the head.
My freshman year, a dope I knew from Cleveland named Ralph was drinking heavily with a group of my friends in what was then Tapps (now gone, near Clifton and Calhoun).
A friend named Dennis demanded his keys when he was leaving but Ralph swore that he was just walking home. Instead he drove towards Hyde Park but on the way hit two pedestrians, a truck, and a police car very close to District 3.
The police cuffed his hands behind his wrists and apparently broke one of them. His cool "80s" ear ring ripped right through his ear. I saw him again by chance a few years later. He was still a drunken idiot but he no longer had a license and the pedestrians' civil case was still in court.
Despite it all, I really miss Clifton.
I remember Tapps... just barely. You remember JC's? They had the case of peanuts in the corner. It's Thai Express now.
And then there was Ripley's, the Clifton Yacht Club, Kilgore's, and who can forget BURGUNDY'S?
Burgundy's radio ad: "Great guys! Great girls!"
Burgundy's! I'd almost blotted that from my memory.
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