In the first place, you're way above traffic climbing out, especially at shorter runways, so crossing over them is not normally an issue. If it's a long enough runway where a high performance airplane might be near TPA as it passes the departure end of the runway you can extend and get behind it just the same as if you had taken off or made a go-around behind it. You could also break out of the pattern and reenter. Entering upwind affords a great view of the surface action and any departing aircraft. A turning descent into the downwind while the nose is pointed mostly away from the action doesn't allow that, so I don't agree with your blind spot comment.
The downwind leg is offset from the runway a different distance for each pilot. It isn't the same, like always drawn in textbooks and advisory circulars, so allowances need to be made for where somebody else might prefer to fly it. The ASF figure #9 says "two miles beyond the pattern" before starting a descent. If that can't be done or if the practitioners simply don't comply then the procedure itself isn't safe.
You seem to be a fair observer, why not give the upwind entry a try and see if you like it? Don't cross over any portion of the runway though. There might be somebody squeezing past the mountain to enter downwind on a 45 from the opposite direction.
