More than 50 people packed into Wednesday night for in the Grace Manor and Havre de Hills neighborhoods.
A follow-up meeting is scheduled for June.
Quality of life and safety concerns were the theme of the night.
David Klein, of Grace Manor Drive, summed up the main concerns that most residents seem to voice Wednesday.
"My quality of life has dropped tremendously in the last 11 years and it saddens me when I come home. This is not a road, this is a highway," he said. "That’s where you find trash, that’s where you find people just throwing things on the road, that’s where you find people angry because they can’t go the speed they want to go and they can’t go the speed they want to go because my children are trying to cross the street to play with other kids."
Rose Marie Russells, a community HOA board member, complained that walking to her mailbox has become unsafe and children have nowhere to play.
"Safety is definitely the No. 1 concern," she said.
The residents suggested various solutions to alleviate the dangers that have weighed heavily on their minds. Robert Frank, who resides at Spinnaker Way and Jennifer Zehmer, of Grace Manor Drive, suggested speed cameras.
"Drop the speed limit to 15. We all know that State of Maryland speed cameras are set 12 miles over the speed limit. All they have to do is 27 [mph] and they get a ticket," Zehmer said.
City Councilman David Glenn, who lives on Lewis Lane in the neighborhood, agreed with Frank and Zehmer on the possible use of speed cameras and how dangerous drivers can be.
"I talked to the chief of police. She said if some would like to volunteer and get first-hand knowledge of speed cameras, she is willing to teach two or three with her officers and maybe witness first hand if speed is really a problem."
Glenn also suggested placement of speed bumps to slow drivers down or drop the speed limit, but reminded residents that these problems will not be solved overnight.
The evening came to a close with a presentation by city spokesman John Van Gilder, which offered two possible solutions.
“I didn’t want to play the dominos. We fix one problem and create two more,” Van Gilder said to begin.
See the attached PDF for Van Gilder's presentation.
The first solution he gave was eliminating the bike lane on Ohio Street and expanding the approach to the five-way intersection with U.S. Route 40 to a two lane road. He said it would allow 60 percent more traffic, increase the efficiency of the red light, and reduce traffic back up. He explained that this would be the quickest and most effective solution for the time being.
The other suggestion was to extend Camilla Street to Ontario Street—but residents just saw this as causing a heavy traffic problem for another neighborhood.
Jim Clark, of Joe Hill Drive, questioned the council’s timeline.
“I think you owe everybody a time frame, a time table, when something’s going to happen," he said. "I think you owe it to us to say 'Here’s what’s going to happen. Here is the time frame it’s going to happen in,' and to make some of the changes we talked about because it just keeps going round and round and round. Let’s make a decision, let’s come up with a time frame when some of these changes can take place because that’s all we’re here for."
A final solution will require further discussion. Mayor Wayne Dougherty assured he would work on getting speed bumps and crosswalks installed, and see that the speed limit would be lowered.
TELL US: Do you use Grace Manor Drive and Lewis Lane as a short-cut to Route 40? What solution do you see for the issue? Leave a comment.
Running a stop sign in a residential neighborhood while using it as a cut through, my oh my
Really, WOW
Excellent post.
Yes and no. You bear the burden of heavier traffic, and while the road wasn't well built for the task, you can very well bet it was meant as another path to Rt 40. Either poor oversight, laziness, or an assumption that narrow roads would discourage speeding is the reason it is what it is and that is such a problem. I would almost argue that if Grace Manor and Lewis Lane were just 5 feet wider and double-yellow lined like they are supposed to be, then we might not be having this discussion.
Naughty Naughty Naughty
At the meeting and do not recall anyone making claims to having a perfect driving record. Moreover, you miss the point. Folks went to this meeting not vilify their neighbors from other developments, but to raise concerns over how the 'city' has poorly planned and because of this GM has been the recipient of the mother of all cut-through's. In your need to defend your point (which, I am sad to say, is to only find fault in your neighbor) you have called out your HdG brothers and sisters instead of realizing the main enemy here is the land developers, the policy makers and indeed the city which we reside. Sir, that is lame. Your truth--is that you are deflecting the focus of the problem. I agree with you that GH has been defaulted to be used as a cut through--does that make what we are saying any less correct? The town has failed us. They need to fix things. It is us against them--and no, I don't mean GH vs GM. Respect.
Second- The Martha Lewis Blvd and Pulaski Hwy intersection is not much better than Ohio and Ontario St. Sometimes, it's worse- there is no traffic light there, and seeing how long it's taking the anyone to convince the state something needs to be done on Ohio or just up the highway at Blenheim Farm Rd, I don't think moving more traffic there is smart. Finally-it only helps Bulle Rock. They're still a private, gated community- unless the plan involves negotiating right-of-way you're not gonna have outside traffic able to take advantage of such a connection. Even supposing you can, it's gonna be meaningless 11 hours a day when the gates are closed. So this solution, is only really gonna benefit Bulle Rock... and that's assuming they don't get stuck with the traffic they don't want, although keeping traffic out wouldn't benefit the rest of the neighborhoods. or just puts this argument back in square one. And they don't need it anyway, they already have their own entrance onto Pulaski via Blenheim Farm. It's just inconvenient that residents in the eastern section have to leave the neighborhood and travel down Chapel Rd to reach it because Zachman Way is not ( AFAIK cannot) be completed to link both halves inside their gates.
Really, in a school zone and you have the nerve. Everyone at that meeting blamed your surrounding communities for speeding in your neighborhood. Guess you dont care about anyone elses neighborhood and school zones for that matter
As if yours wasn't enough in March, your wife got popped a month later. Guess the family cant learn a lesson. You sir, are embarrassing yourself
Second, if you are claiming that my wife and I are bad people and that our 'citizen cards' should be revoked because of a couple of moving violations you are completely hopeless. I say your citizen card should be revoked because of exactly what you are doing on this forum. Make up however many names you like, the fact still remains that you and your pseudonyms are lame. Bottom line, you make my point, you are here to bash your HDG neighbors and you completely miss the point. The true culprit here is a developer that lied to a community who purchased homes and sought to start families in a quiet, safe place. The city hasn't stepped up to do anything and has consistently shown how it backs developers and poor planning over all else. The frustration isn't with those who use the cut-through--that is just statistics at work. What the community wants is solutions that don't place GM at the center of all traffic in HDG. Is that wrong that we want our government to do something productive? Whose side are you on anyway? You really can't believe that everyone in GM is crazy and/or bad citizens. Can you?? Finally, I appeal to your logical side--you have my name--come see me if you want to truly talk this over in an intelligent manner. I have no problem debating you face to face. You have my address, just knock on my door. Peace.