Maybe you’ve seen him around. He’s about 6 feet tall, made of aluminum, has a passion for keeping pedestrians safe and may be on his way to your neighborhood.
His name is Mr. Walker and he’s the “spokes-pedestrian” for SGF Yields, a pedestrian safety campaign launched by the City of Springfield Public Works department last summer.
As the number of pedestrian-involved crashes on Springfield streets hover above national averages, the goal of SGF Yields is to initiate a cultural change in Springfield to be more pedestrian friendly. The aim is to foster an awareness in motorists to actively watch for pedestrians and to yield to them at crosswalks.
Mr. Walker has played a significant role in boosting that awareness. Seven life-size Mr. Walker statues have been installed so far at various crosswalk locations throughout Springfield – downtown, on Commercial Street, near busy intersections and greenway trails. The presence of these brightly colored statues is intended to reinforce existing crosswalk signage and serve as a visible reminder to drivers and pedestrians.
This spring, registered neighborhood associations have the opportunity to partner with their local elementary schools to vie for their own Mr. Walker statue to be located in City right-of-way in their neighborhood.
“Since the kick-off of SGF Yields, we have received questions from schools and neighborhoods wondering how they can get their own Walker statues,” explains Traffic Safety Professional Mandy Buettgen-Quinn. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the funds to provide everyone a statue, but we thought a contest would be a fun way to get neighborhoods and schools to work together to find ways to promote pedestrian safety.”
To be considered in the Mr. Walker Neighborhood Contest, neighborhood associations must partner with their elementary schools to submit an application in conjunction with the City’s Neighborhood Works grant. Walker applications must include the following:
- Outline of Pedestrian Safety Efforts: The Mr. Walker statue will be awarded to an elementary school that puts an emphasis on pedestrian safety. The City of Springfield’s Public Works Department will review and grade each school’s pedestrian safety education efforts including work sheets, roleplays, walking school bus program participation, and parental education. Activities for submission may be school-wide or may involve one specific grade.
- Proposed Artwork: Applicant and/or participating teacher must contact Public Works traffic safety professional Mandy Buettgen-Quinn, mbuettgen@springfieldmo.gov, before March 15 to arrange for a life-sized Mr. Walker cutout to be delivered to their school. This cutout will then be used to create and submit a proposed design using bright colored paints. Public Works will work with the winning school to develop the final design of the sculpture.
- Video Clip: The application must also include a 20 to 60 second video clip promoting crosswalk safety featuring one or more elementary students that attend the school. Submissions could include an original poem, a report about crossing safely or a short documentary on driver compliance.
- Proposed Locations: Three proposed statue locations for the statue must be submitted either by photo, Google map, etc. Mr Walker sculptures must be installed in public right-of-way and not on private property. Public Works will work with the winning school to finalize the location and work through the logistics of installing the statue.
Interested applicants must contact Public Works traffic safety professional Mandy Buettgen-Quinn before March 15 with a letter of intent to receive an application form and life-sized Mr. Walker cutout for artwork design submission. For more information, contact Mandy at mbuettgen@springfieldmo.gov or 864-1801.
Final Mr. Walker contest applications must be submitted by April 2 in conjunction with the City’s Neighborhood Works grant application. The $600 cost of the sculpture must be included in the neighborhood’s Neighborhood Works application ($100,000 maximum), but the Mr. Walker statue will not be counted against the two-project submittal limit.
Submit both applications to:
Alana Owen, Senior Planner
City of Springfield
840 Boonville
Springfield, MO 65802
For more information on the SGF Yields pedestrian safety campaign, visit springfieldmo.gov/sgfyields.