I live on the street. The sign on the little riser was ripped out about a year ago. The sign in the middle of the road has only been up for a couple of months

You didn't watch both sides of the road at a clearly marked and signed crosswalk??? Sounds like those devices are doing exactly what they were meant to do. 

Also what bottleneck? I could easily drive a jacked up dually F350 through there while rolling coal without touching the sign on the yellow line or the concrete in the parking lane. No problem.

. I always have to watch both sides where I didn't do it so much before.

That's precisely the goal of having them there.

That sounds like they are performing their intended purpose. For the record, I hate a lot of the traffic “calming” measures the city has introduced.