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Jaywalkers and speedy drivers beware, Santa Claus is coming to town a little early, and he'll have police backup during the C-SAFE holiday pedestrian safety initiative.
Erwin Mack, executive director of the Takoma/Langley Crossroads Development Authority, will don a red-and-white trimmed Santa suit and join C-SAFE, a community-oriented crime prevention group, and area police to help spread the message of pedestrian safety in the Takoma/Langley Crossroads during the C-SAFE holiday pedestrian safety initiative on Wednesday.
Elected officials will pass out pedestrian safety information and promotions and officers from Takoma Park, Montgomery and Prince George's counties, the three jurisdictions that police the Crossroads intersection of University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue, will issue citations and warnings to unsafe drivers and jaywalkers, according to C-SAFE Program Director Mary Kendall.
"We just bombard people with the message," she said. "For pedestrians: Use the crosswalks. And for drivers: Yield to pedestrians, don't speed in areas where there are high concentrations of pedestrians."
So far, Takoma Park Mayor Bruce Williams, Takoma Park Police Chief Ronald Ricucci and Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger are planning to attend the event scheduled for 11:15 a.m. As many as 30 police officers will also be on hand.
About 15 volunteers will join police at the busy intersection to give out pedestrian safety pamphlets from the Washington Metro Region Highway Safety Office, promotional gear such as reflectors for pedestrian clothing and, of course, candy canes.
"Because, what's a holiday initiative without candy canes?" Kendall said with a laugh.
To help officers interact with Spanish-speakers, Leticia Goulias of the University of Maryland's Latin American Studies Center and several bilingual student volunteers will be on hand to translate. According to the most recent 2000 U.S. Census statistics, 67.5 percent of Langley Park's residents are Hispanic or Latino.
"I really decided, as a Latino, I was feeling so sad hearing about all these fatal accidents in the area, and I was thinking, what can I do?" Goulias said, remembering how she decided to motivate students to design bilingual brochures and posters for pedestrians and local businesses.
"If we can save one life then that is more than worth it," she said.
Mack, who has a long history of wearing the Santa suit and once arrived at a similar event 20 years ago in a private helicopter, has been working with Kendall and C-SAFE community outreach coordinator Gretchen Hilburger to make sure the event remains as magical to the children as they hope it will be informative to adults.
"You see the kids come out shopping and you see their faces just light up and they say, ‘Santa's here!'" Kendall said. "It's just something nice to improve the quality of life in the community."
E-mail Jeremy Arias at jarias@gazette.net.
