PITTSBURGH -- Some East Liberty residents who live in the neighborhood where a woman was killed by a falling light pole wanted the city of Pittsburgh to change the pole's location, and they got their wish.
Marquetta Grate, 28, of Homewood, had just dropped her 3-year-old daughter off at a Head Start program and walked across Frankstown Avenue when a furniture delivery truck rounded the bend and hit an 800-pound metal pole, which fell onto Grate.
Crews returned to the scene Wednesday to replace the pole -- but on the other side of the street -- after some neighbors told Channel 4 Action News they didn't want it to go back where it was.
Neighbors said the city put a pole up in the exact same spot on Tuesday. When a nearby resident expressed their concerns to the city, crews returned to the scene and took it down.
"From talking to the community folks, we decided to take the pole down and put the light on the other side because, also, it was going to bring back bad memories," Pittsburgh Public Works Director Guy Costa said.
Neighbors say it was important for the pole to be put in a new spot.
"They need light there. I mean, people need to see. But it probably doesn't need to be in the same place. It probably could be better situated," said Vanessa German, who lives in the area.
The area of Frankstown Avenue where the accident happened is near a bend in the road at Paulson Street, which the truck that knocked down the pole had trouble navigating.
"They have safety in this area right here, because that bend right there is a two-way and there's no yield sign, no stop sign or anything else like that, so we'd like the light pole back. But we'd like a big light up on top of it. And it would be a part of the solution," Cochise Watkins, another area resident.
Neighbors are also concerned with just how close light poles are to the road.
"Especially with cars coming around the curve. Obviously it ran up on the curb because the sidewalk is showing the impact of things running up on it," said area business owner Lee Hips.
Costa told Channel 4 that Frankstown Avenue hasn't been widened since the 1960s and that the distance between the poles and the street in that stretch of road is no different than in many other parts of the city.
Costa said all of the poles meet federal highway standards, which the city is required to meet in order to get federal funds.
Family, Friends Remember Victim
A memorial has been set up in the area in honor of Grate. Friends and neighbors have left flowers, balloons and stuffed animals near the spot where she died.
Visitation for Grate was scheduled from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Coston Funeral Home on Lincoln Avenue. Her funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at Mount Ararat Baptist Church, near the scene of Grate's death.
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