In The News
Council approves traffic circles
Thursday April 16, 2009
By Jon Chown of the Register-Pajaronian
source: http://www.register-pajaronian.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=7015&page=72
The Register-Pajaronian, April 16, 2009
http://www.register-pajaronian.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=7015&page=72
Council approves traffic circles
Posted: Thursday, Apr 16th, 2009
Posted: Thursday, Apr 16th, 2009
Traffic circles may be coming to a neighborhood near you, and if you don’t like them, they might not stay.
The “traffic-calming measures” proposed by the city were passed on a 4-3 vote at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. The circular barriers, at a cost of $60,000, will be installed at the intersections of Arthur Road and Hammer Drive, Blackburn and J streets, Clifford Avenue and Hammer Drive, Holm Road at the trailer park entrance, and Hushbeck and McKenzie streets.
The “traffic-calming measures” proposed by the city were passed on a 4-3 vote at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. The circular barriers, at a cost of $60,000, will be installed at the intersections of Arthur Road and Hammer Drive, Blackburn and J streets, Clifford Avenue and Hammer Drive, Holm Road at the trailer park entrance, and Hushbeck and McKenzie streets.
It was Nancy Bilicich’s first night representing District 7, and the meeting lasted more than six hours. Among the agenda’s many items, the council decided to extend Ceiba College Preparatory Academy’s lease on the Porter Building until 2014, voted to recalculate the council’s grades regarding Strategic Plan priorities, and approved paying for a Master Environmental Impact Report for the Manabe-Ow Specific Plan.
The vote to install the traffic circles was one that Bilicich lost, along with Councilmembers Manuel Bersámin and Emilio Martinez. Bilicich said many of the senior citizens in her district were not comfortable with the circles.
“They felt this would not help — just create more problems,” Bilicich said.
Martinez said he walked his district along Arthur Road and saw a tremendous amount of speeding,
“The people want a stop sign, not a circle,” Martinez said.
One of those residents, Dr. Peter Nessler, showed up Tuesday to ask for stop signs or speed bumps.
“I’ve been living on Arthur Road for 50 years. The idea of a circle is beautiful … if you live in Paris,” he told the council. “We don’t need a traffic circle on Arthur Road. It’s ridiculous.”
But Councilmembers Kimberly Petersen, Greg Caput, Luis Alejo and Mayor Antonio Rivas said the circles would improve traffic.
“I feel as a council, we need to be aware of what residents want, which is slower traffic. We have been shown data that shows traffic circles do slow traffic down and are safer,” Petersen said. “I actually received e-mails from residents that said they would like traffic circles.”
Alejo agreed.
“I don’t like killing an idea when we know it’s the best practice,” Alejo said. “I would hope folks would be willing to try these new ideas.”
“I think the Watsonville constituents we represent don’t care about data,” Bersámin said. “They want a physical stop sign that they can see and touch.”
Martinez asked for his district to get a stop sign at Arthur Road, saying that the councilmembers who are for traffic circles could have them installed in their districts. Caput, howeer, made a motion to approve all locations; it was seconded by Alejo and passed.
The City Council decided to recalculate the priorities of the city’s Strategic Plan after Bersámin pointed out that
Bilicich never had an opportunity to vote and Martinez had yet to do so.
The current rankings, which include the vote of deceased Councilmember Dale Skillicorn, put preventing layoffs of city staff at the top, with a host of other issues — led by downtown revitalization — ranking far below.
Alejo argued against having Bilicich and Martinez vote, but Bersámin’s motion passed unanimously.
The council also approved paying $95,000 to RBF Consulting Inc. for the preparation of an Master Environmental Impact Report to establish environmental documentation for all future development in the Manabe-Ow project. Much of the cost will be picked up by the property owner.'
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*Photo by Tarmo Hannula*
(Published in 4/16/09 edition)
CORRECTION: REGISTER-PAJARONIAN APRIL 23, 2009
In the April 16 front-page story "Council approves Traffic Circles," it was incorrectedly reported that Luis Alejo argued against recalculating the Watsonville City Council rankings regarding the priorities of the Strategic Plan.
After reviewing the videotape, it is clear that Alejo was only clarifying a point on the importance of the rankings and not arguing against their recalculations.
In Mr. Alejo's words, "If I make a clarifying point on the way the document is being construed by one councilmember, it does not mean I am arguing against his entire proposal."