Fixing the wrong problem

First, due to construction work on the Hongmei Road elevated highway, pedestrian crossings have been covered over and the only way for residents of the Gumei area to reach their home is to brave their way across several lanes of near-highway speed Humin Road traffic.

(Eventually, the construction work is supposed to result in something like the illustration above. Nice, but if Shanghaiist ever sees that many green trees in Shanghai we think we will keel over from an oxygen overdose.)

Second, an over-proliferation of brash moto-taxi drivers parking themselves on the sidewalk to cat-call female commuters and litter the ground with phlegm (oh, and to wait for riders) has led to the south exit of the station being dammed up by motorcycles during the evening rush hour, forcing disembarking passengers to re-route their walk down a miniscule stairway in front of the neighboring Taiwanese fast-food shop.

Last week, help finally arrived in the form of government officials. The police, you ask? No! Crossing guards. Would they rid us the annoying moto-taxis and make our street-crossing safer and more convenient?

No, what they do is ignore the moto-taxis and send street-crossers down the road to use the crowded, dirty, out-of-the-way underground tunnel that we must share with speeding bikes, scooters, and the dreaded moto-taxis.

Gosh-darnit, when's this city gonna get anything right? (Besides mud pies at the NYDC in Metro City... oh wait, that's Singaporean/American.)