There will be a candlelight vigil for Sandhya Khadka tomorrow night, Thursday, at 7:30 pm at the intersection of NE 115th and 5th Ave NE in Pinehurst. Sandhya was killed Monday morning at 8:20 am as she was hit by a truck while crossing 5th Ave NE on her way to catch the 41 bus to get to work and school at North Seattle Community College.
Sandhya was 17-years old and was the only child of her parents. Her father, Sahadev Khadka, lives in Seattle and her mother is in Nepal. Sandhya left Nepal in the past year to come to Seattle to join her father and to attend school. Her dream was to become an accountant. Her passing is greatly mourned by all who knew her.
Sandhya’s family will have some extra candles, but encourage those who join them to bring candles with them. They hope to honor Sandhya and to “create awareness so that no other young person has to die again.”
Lets honor her by renewing our efforts to make Pinehurst more pedestrian friendly. Now is the time neighbors! This is a clear call for action.
Per the above call to action, a friend who’s familiar with City politics and successfully worked to improve NE 75th St after the tragic accident there last year has the following advice. I’ll be following it and hope you’ll join me. Thanks.
Write to the mayor, Tim Burgess (council president), and Tom Rasmussen (council member who heads the transportation committee). http://www.seattle.gov/council/ http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/ Also write to Goran Sparrman, SDOT Interim Director (goran.sparrman@seattle.gov) and Dongho Chang (the traffic engineer who worked on the 75th St problem) dongho.chang@seattle.gov
And then get your neighbors to do it. It really does make a difference. And if there are any neighborhood meetings on the issue, go to them. The City definitely pays more attention when more people show up and more people write to them.
As I walked to the site right in front of me was the most massive, beautiful rainbow. Everything was perfect.
[…] we attended a candlelight vigil for a young woman who was hit by a car in our neighborhood. Her story is tragic. It was a senseless accident which robbed a father of his only daughter. They lived just a few […]
I received this reply to my emails about pedestrian safety improvements along this stretch of 5th Ave NE. Please try to attend one of these meetings so we can advocate for appropriate accommodations for the pedestrians, cars, bikes, buses, and kids in our neighborhood!
Thank you for your email to Councilmember Burgess about traffic safety in your neighborhood and the tragic death of Sandhya. The Seattle Department of Transportation has scheduled a couple of meetings on May 13 and 14 to discuss potential traffic safety improvements for this area. With the upcoming reopening of the Pinehurst School, this is a high priority area for the Department. You can find more information at this link: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/ped_srts_pinehurst.htm.