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Friday's Internet Edition, November 21, 2008.
City council candidates spend less than $10,000 – so far
Stanhope fails to file
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As a school bus goes zipping along Marengo Road headed toward picking up students from the newly opened Estrellita High School, residents of the Lake Park Avenue neighborhood have concerns that traffic issues will only worsen for them when Liberty Ranch High School, seen under construction, opens next year.
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By Gwen Stevenson
Staff Writer
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A meeting was held on Monday at McCaffrey Middle School for concerned citizens who live on or near Lake Park Drive in Galt. Those residents have voiced their opinions to Galt City Council and Galt Police Department regarding traffic and speeds on their street. The purpose of the meeting was to explain the options available to the residents.
Present at the meeting from the Galt Police Department were Sgt. Gerald Stoffel and Sgt. Craig Walton; Paul Cavanaugh, city engineer for the Galt Public Works Dept.; George Apple, Fire Marshall for Cosumnes Community Services District (CSD); and Galt City Councilman Barbara Payne.
Approximately 15 to 20 residents attended the meeting and listened to possible answers to the dilemma of vehicles exceeding the speed limit in the residential area. Parents are concerned for their children’s safety, among other things, because of those speeding by.
“Every day, I’m yelling at someone to slow down,” said one individual who notices the speeders when she loads her children into the car.
The section of road concerned is Lake Park Drive between Carillion Boulevard and Marengo Road. One of the residents had circulated a petition that contained 34 signatures; others had called asking for some help from city council and also the police department.
Since those calls, a speed survey has been conducted by Cavanaugh using speed tubes that determine traffic volume and speed. The testing was done on Lake Park between Carillion and Bay Shore, and also between Park Terrace and Marengo Road.
With the information gathered from the speed study, decisions can now be made to help slow down the traffic and enforce the posted speed limit.
“It’s a good thing when people get together and voice their opinions,” said Walton. “Then we can act on it to make changes.”
Several options were presented at the meeting. A few citizens suggested speed bumps, but Apple discouraged the idea. He stated that speed bumps make it difficult for emergency vehicles to get where they need to go. Also, speed bumps can damage the oversized vehicles.
“Any time the fire department has to go over a speed bump, they have to slow down considerably,” said Apple.
Stoffel also mentioned the danger of cars going out of control when a speed bump is not seen and is hit.
“If we are in pursuit, a police car (or any vehicle) could end up in someone’s front yard,” said Stoffel. “Speed bumps also cause a liability issue.”
Other suggestions and possibilities included imaginary speed bumps, reflective dots in a pattern that causes considerable vibration to a vehicle, and also a project called a street diet which causes a street to appear narrower with the installation of bike and parking lanes.
“Studies have been done, and it causes people to slow down when the street seems narrower,” said Apple.
The gathering ended on an encouraging note by Walton who said that the meeting was not in vain.
“It’s not a dead issue,” said Walton. “You didn’t waste your time. All of this gets brought back to the engineering department, all things will be considered, and city council gets the final decision.”
For right now, when available, Galt police will be stepping up the radar enforcement of the speed limit in that area.
“I will be tasking an officer to go out and write tickets,” said Walton. “You will see results
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