It was a case of democracy in action last night at Walt Whitman High School. About 250 residents, almost entirely from the Bannockburn neighborhood, turned out to weigh in on the Maryland State Highway Administration's latest proposed fix for the River Road intersection where 3 people died in a horrific crash just over two years ago. It was the largest turnout yet since community leaders began holding meetings to discuss how to improve safety at both the vehicular intersection with Braeburn Parkway and the crosswalk at Pyle Road along River.
The crowd was not fully satisfied with SHA's two-component plan: make the temporary turn restrictions permanent with concrete curbs at Braeburn, and add a pedestrian-activated traffic signal to the crosswalk at Pyle Road. However, there was a strong sentiment that the pursuit of something better shouldn't prevent obtaining the benefits of the SHA project as soon as possible.
Ultimately, after a series of votes, attendees fully endorsed the SHA plan for the Pyle crosswalk signal. They voted down a straight endorsement of the SHA's Braeburn part of the project. Instead, by near-acclimation, the crowd voted for an "enhanced" version of that, which would still have the proposed concrete curbs, but also the designation of that stretch of River as a "school zone," which would permit the use of speed cameras there.
A full traffic signal at Braeburn has been sought by Bannockburn residents for decades, but that idea has lost favor in recent months, with the realization that such a signal might generate more cut-through traffic in Bannockburn. SHA is expected to begin construction of their project later this year.
11 comments:
How is that section of River Road a school zone? Whitman's address and entrance are about a mile up the way on Whittier Blvd. It seems like a stretch to call it a school zone.
"About 250 residents"
Unless there are a lot more sitting behind where you took the photos, I count just under 100.
"By near-acclimation, the crowd voted for an "enhanced" version of that, which would still have the proposed concrete curbs, but also the designation of that stretch of River as a "school zone," which would permit the use of speed cameras there."
Dyer is AOK with the War On Cars when it's in his backyard.
And I don't think he understands what the term "acclamation" actually means.
...Or how to spell it.
This was a good step in the right direction, there were many people there and many voices heard. The School Zone designation is the most important way to make sure all other safety measures are enacted, Whitman High School is on River Rd. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N3-AS2-Y20lhLxrsTSbhybZZxH-MkBVS/view?usp=sharing
7:46: I did not endorse speed cameras - I just reported what happened at the meeting.
I've actually served on an elected body that operated under Robert's Rules, so a auto-correct misspellings in no way means I don't know what acclamation means.
Auto-correct just did it again - I backspaced to delete the "s" at the end of misspellings, and it simply put it back as I resumed typing. I can't spend all afternoon retyping things for a troll.
7:35: Many more people came in late.
The back entrance to Whitman is less than 100 yards from river road.
during the voting the largest vote counted was 211 - on the vote DISAGREEING that SHA's plan to convert the plastic poles at the Braeburn intersection into concrete curbs was SUFFICIENT. If you are on NEXTDOOR you can read a more detailed account here: https://nextdoor.com/news_feed/?post=81157089
6:35: While that is correct, the alternative that was endorsed by "near acclamation" included the SHA plan to convert to curbs, but added the school zone and speed camera elements.
So my headline and article are completely accurate, and most people don't want to slog through a numerical recap of all of those losing votes that were taken. Meanwhile, some local media outlets didn't even bother to show up. My readers were supremely well-informed on all of the critical points the next morning.
Post a Comment