2026-08-31 - Traffic and Parking Committee

0:02Evening everybody. This is uh um our

0:06Monday, August 31st traffic and parking

0:08meeting. It's actually the third one

0:09this month um that we are having. Um to

0:14start off, we have a principal staff

0:16assistant and fam with us. Um

0:18commissioner of department transition

0:20mobility uh Steven Raleigh. Uh assistant

0:23director Mr. Todd Karine. We also have

0:26with us from the Worester Police

0:27Department, Sergeant Foley. And uh

0:30councelor Rob Balato will be online. Um

0:34and uh we also have with us is District

0:364 city councelor Louis O'Ha. Um Jose

0:39Vera, district 5 city councelor. Right.

0:42Um and can you please start with the

0:44virtual attendance calling information?

0:46>> Yes, chair. So pursuant to chapter 20 of

0:50the acts of 2021 and in order to ensure

0:53active public engagement, the city of

0:55Fister currently allows for both

0:56inperson and remote participation at all

0:59council and standing committee meetings.

1:01To protect in the meeting, you may

1:03attend the meeting in person um at the

1:06Esther Halen Chamber. You can join via

1:09Zoom or dial the direct SL as indicated.

1:13The phone number is 1 16468287666

1:17and the access code is 1 161-411-9888.

1:22You can find the Zoom link on our

1:25website.

1:26If you are joining via Zoom meeting um

1:29or by dialing in with the phone number,

1:32we ask that when the item you want to

1:34speak is being heard, you can please use

1:36a raise hand function. You can use the

1:38ring function on the zoom or if you're

1:41calling in you can raise your hand by

1:42dialing star. Thank you to your chair

1:45and would you also like to do a roll

1:46call?

1:47>> Yes, please.

1:48>> Yes. Councelor Bilada, councelor O'Hara

1:52>> here.

1:52>> And chairs and councelor Rivera

1:54>> here. Here. And uh also I want to do

1:57approval of the minutes of the city uh

1:59council standing committee of traffic

2:01and parking hereby approves the minutes

2:03of traffic and park committee meeting of

2:04August 25th. Roll call. Councelor

2:07Bellada, councelor O'Hada.

2:09>> Yes.

2:10>> And cheriffs and councelor Rivera.

2:11>> Yes. So we're going to start with 3A.

2:14Children's petitions. Children's science

2:16petitions. Councelor John Fzola request

2:18installation of a Gold Slow children's

2:20sign on a portion of AIM Street between

2:23Vernon Street and Stockton Street. Is

2:26anybody here to speak on that item? Do

2:28we have anybody online

2:30>> to there's no one raising their hands?

2:32>> Uh Commissioner Raleigh.

2:34>> Yeah, Mr. Chair. So, this is a sign type

2:36that is uh no longer allowed by the

2:38MUTCD. So, um we're recommending file on

2:41the item. Um however, there is a a

2:44playground in close proximity to this

2:46location. So, if the committee was

2:49interested in having the official

2:51playground sign uh posted, we could do

2:54that instead through a chair's order.

2:56>> Sounds good. I'll do a chair's order

2:57requesting city manager request the

2:59commission of transportation and

3:00mobility install a

3:03what is it? MUTCD complaint playground

3:05advisory sign on aim street approaching

3:08Burning Hill Park. Sounds good. We're

3:10going to move to file the item. Roll

3:12call

3:13>> to a just like to um inform that council

3:16bil is now online.

3:17>> Okay.

3:18>> And uh the roll call is to file the item

3:21along with the chairman's order.

3:23>> Right. Councelor Bilada.

3:25>> I'll abstain.

3:27>> Councelor O'Hada and chairs and

3:28councelor Rivera. Oh, sorry. Councelor

3:30O'Hada.

3:31>> Yes. and chairs and casia.

3:34>> Yes. All right. We'll move to 3B.

3:38Alexander Volov request installation of

3:40children's signage in front of 457

3:42Granite Street. Anybody here speak on

3:45this item? Anybody online?

3:48>> Chair, there's no one raising their

3:49hands.

3:51>> Uh, Commissioner Ali.

3:52>> Yeah. Again, Mr. Chair, same sign type

3:54that is uh not allowed by the METCD. So,

3:57recommendation is to file.

3:59>> Okay. Move. Uh, none of my colleagues

4:02want to speak on this item.

4:05>> No. Move to file the item. Roll call.

4:09>> Councelor Bella.

4:10>> Yes.

4:11>> Councelor O'Hada.

4:12>> Yes.

4:12>> And chairs and councelor Rivera.

4:14>> Yes. Move on to crosswalk and lighted

4:17crosswalk system petitions. We have 4 A.

4:20Brian Theo request installation of a

4:22crosswalk with flashing beacon lights

4:24between 335 and 337 and 338 Park Avenue.

4:29Anybody speak on this item? Come on up,

4:31please. Name a residence.

4:35>> Yes. Uh Brian, residence uh 12 Wildwood

4:40Pax and Mass. Um so the petition is I

4:44own the property at 335 337 and at 338

4:48which is directly across the street. Um,

4:51I have an optometry office on the first

4:52floor and I have four apartments, an

4:55average of four tenants in each one. As

4:57well as there's a three family next door

5:00and this between patients, staff and

5:02these tenants, they're constantly going

5:05between the two parking lots as well as

5:07I think the neighbors go into Walgreens

5:09and nobody goes to the corner where the

5:11lights are and they're basically darting

5:13across the street regularly. So my

5:16petition is to put a crosswalk there and

5:18I know the city also likes to slow

5:20traffic on Park A and that is another

5:22positive.

5:23>> Right. So you're asking not for just a

5:25crosswalk. You want with the flashing

5:27beacon lights, right?

5:28>> I didn't put the flash on my let note

5:31but they added that and obviously that

5:33would

5:34>> be better but Gotcha.

5:35>> Not.

5:36>> Commissioner Raleigh.

5:38>> Yeah, Mr. Chair. So, um, this section of

5:41Park Avenue is obviously one of the

5:42busiest, uh, streets in the city. Uh,

5:46carries about 19,000 vehicles a day. Um,

5:49the average speed is 24 miles per hour,

5:51which is is not too bad, but the 85th

5:53percentile speed is is 34 miles per

5:56hour, which is is getting up there. Um,

5:59so it means we have close to 3,000

6:02vehicles a day traveling over 34 miles

6:04an hour in this location, which of

6:06course makes it a very dangerous

6:07environment for pedestrians. Um, the

6:11existing [snorts]

6:13distance between crosswalks on this

6:15section of Park A is is considerable

6:18between the two signalized intersections

6:20and and this location is at the midway

6:22point. Uh if there were a safe way to

6:25put a crosswalk there, it would be a

6:28location um where we'd want to see one.

6:30The issue is simply putting a crosswalk,

6:33even with a rapid flashing beacon, isn't

6:35by itself uh a safe enough pedestrian

6:38accommodation given the context of

6:40what's going on in Park Avenue. Um, you

6:43know, I'm hopeful that

6:47through the street resurfacing and

6:49reconstruction program, and we've talked

6:50with council a little bit about this in

6:52terms of being forward looking on Park

6:55A,

6:56we can reimagine this corridor a bit so

6:58we can get more safe crossing

7:00opportunities in because it is it is too

7:02far right now between the um the

7:04signalizing intersections. There's not

7:06really a standalone

7:08retrofit project that can make a

7:11crossing a new crossing location here

7:13safe. So, for those reasons, I'm

7:15unfortunately recommending to to file

7:17the item. But I want to be clear that in

7:19no way is suggesting that we don't need

7:22to think about a pretty significant

7:25transformation of Park Avenue to make it

7:27safer for all users, including including

7:30pedestrians.

7:32>> Thank you. Uh council, anything you want

7:34to add? Yeah, thank you to the chair uh

7:36to the residents. this something that we

7:38we commission I had spoke about um

7:41continuously on park a um a majority of

7:44park a um I'm really concerned uh we

7:47shared each side is my side the other

7:49side is uh councelor rivera's side

7:51district five and um just someone that's

7:54grew up my whole life in in the area as

7:56well um just really concerned about that

7:59area the speed um the distance literally

8:01I was grabbing a quick lunch and I saw

8:03the lady cross the street and I'm like

8:05she's not even at the crosswalk and this

8:06was about an hour ago. She was about 40

8:0950 feet away from the crosswalk cuz

8:11she's trying to get through an older

8:12lady and I'm like, she's got to use the

8:14crosswalk. But I get it. It's such a

8:15further walk down versus crossing over.

8:17So, I'm saying this now because it's it

8:19is on our on our it's on our you know,

8:22>> it's on our radar

8:23>> things and and you know, something that

8:25we really want to address. Um but in the

8:27meantime, we're trying to figure out

8:28what else can we do? um if it's, you

8:30know, maybe to put some trees or some

8:32planters or something that, you know,

8:34has been known to add some more calming

8:36measures that that that are known to

8:39slow cars down or there's something we

8:40could do with some painting on the roads

8:42and stuff like that. So, there's things

8:43that we're trying to work on and it's it

8:45may take a while, but I just want res to

8:46know we're definitely working on it.

8:48>> Okay.

8:49>> Thank you.

8:50>> Thank you.

8:50>> All right. We're going to move to file

8:51item roll call.

8:53>> Councelor Bilada.

8:55>> Yes.

8:55>> Councelor O'Hada.

8:56>> Yes.

8:57>> And chair and counselora. Yes. Going on

9:00to 4B. Joseph Corazini request

9:03installation of an additional crosswalk

9:05at 271 Southbury Street and Forest

9:08Street. Anybody here to speak on this

9:10item?

9:11>> Anybody online?

9:13>> To chair. There's no one raising their

9:14hands.

9:15>> Commissioner Raleigh.

9:16>> Yeah, Mr. Chair. So there um this

9:18location there is an existing crosswalk

9:20across Salsbury Street on the east side

9:22of the roadway. So pedestrians can make

9:24that movement. This is a request for an

9:27additional one on the west side of the

9:28street. Um, we're recommending file at

9:30this time because last year the city

9:32council did request that uh DTM initiate

9:36a uh design process to signalize this

9:39intersection. So that work will get uh

9:42underway later this year and crosswalk

9:44locations will be considered as part of

9:45that effort.

9:47>> Sounds good. Move to further item. Roll

9:49call.

9:50>> Councelor Bilada.

9:53>> Yes. Councelor O'Hada.

9:55>> Yes.

9:56>> In chips. Councelor Rivera.

9:58>> Yes. Going to 4C. Patrick Grady request

10:01installation of a solar powered flashing

10:02crosswalk indicators at the crosswalk

10:05located at Goldstar Boulevard in the

10:07vicinity of his intersection with

10:08Woodbury Street. Anybody here speak on

10:11this item? Anybody online?

10:14>> To make sure there's no one raising

10:15their hands.

10:16>> Commissioner Raleigh.

10:18Mr. Mr. Chair, we're going to have um

10:20several crosswalk items uh involving

10:23Gold Star Boulevard uh today. And you

10:28know, this is a a situation where there

10:31is actually an existing crosswalk there.

10:33It's crossing four lanes of traffic. Um

10:37it's really similar to what we just

10:39talked about on on Park F, but there's

10:41an existing crosswalk there. Uh the

10:43difference being in this case, all the

10:45traffic's going one direction. Um

10:49really the only way

10:52that we can improve the safety of that

10:54crosswalk is through a reduction in the

10:56number of lanes from four to something

10:59more reasonable

11:00or by stopping traffic at a signalized

11:02intersection. So a rapid flashing beacon

11:05is not going to improve the safety at

11:06this location with four lanes all

11:08traveling in the same direction because

11:09if you're in those middle two lanes,

11:11you're never going to see if someone's

11:13hit the light on either side of the

11:15roadway. Um, and our concern is that

11:20even though we know that's not

11:21sufficient, you know, there's a school

11:23of thought of, well, do you go ahead and

11:24put it in anyway, hoping that it

11:26improves it a little bit. My concern is

11:28that in this case, it can give the

11:30pedestrian a false sense of security

11:32that, hey, I've hit the light. I expect

11:34that traffic's going to respond to that

11:36and we're basically sending them across

11:38what amounts to a highway here. So, um

11:42I'll be frank, shouldn't even have a

11:44crosswalk there, uh in the present, um

11:47configuration, but adding a rapid

11:49flashing beacon isn't going to uh

11:51improve the safety of that crosswalk. I

11:53highly recommend that pedestrians

11:56um go up to the next signalized crossing

11:59uh to get across Gold Star. And it this

12:01is another one of those streets where we

12:03need to take a serious look at how do

12:04you

12:06how do you reconfigure this street in a

12:08way that is safer for anyone who's out

12:12there using the street. You know, even

12:13if you're working at one of the

12:14businesses, you just want to cross the

12:15street to get lunch or whatever. You

12:17really can't do it safely except at a

12:19signalized intersection right now. So,

12:21we recommend file on this item. It's not

12:24acknowledging that there aren't problems

12:26with that crosswalk. It's just a

12:28recognition that this tool while a good

12:32tool won't improve the circumstances

12:34here.

12:35>> Thank you. Move to further item brok.

12:38>> Councelor Bilada.

12:40>> Yes.

12:41>> Councelor O'Jada.

12:42>> Yes.

12:42>> And chairs and councelor Rivera.

12:44>> Yes. Moving on to 4 D. Councelor Jenny

12:48Pacill on behalf of Jodie Bishop request

12:51installation of a rapid flashing beacon

12:53crosswalk in the vicinity of Beverly

12:54Road and Rexham Road. Anybody here to

12:58speak on this item? Anybody online?

13:00>> To there's no one raising their hands.

13:02>> Commissioner Raleigh.

13:04>> Yeah, Mr. Chair. So w with regard to the

13:06petition itself, we recommend file, but

13:08um we do think this is a good location

13:10for a new crosswalk. It's just not a

13:13location where we'd recommend starting

13:14out with a rapid flashing beacon along

13:16with it as well. So, uh recommending

13:18file on the petition and then an order

13:21requesting um installation of a new

13:24crosswalk with ADA ProAG compliant ramps

13:28uh pavement markings and pedestrian and

13:30crosswalk signage uh pending funding for

13:33those improvements.

13:35>> Did you get that chair's order and you

13:37need me to repeat it

13:38>> to chair? Yes, I I got that.

13:40>> Sounds good. So we can move to file and

13:42the chair's order. Oh, wait. Yeah. Roll

13:45call.

13:46>> Councelor Bilada.

13:48>> Yes.

13:48>> Councelor O'Jada.

13:50>> Yes.

13:50>> And chips and councelor Rivera.

13:52>> Yes. Moving on to 4E. Councelor Jenny

13:55Pil on behalf of Michael Benz request

13:57installation of a rapid flashing beacon,

13:59improved crosswalk signage, and

14:02additional line painting at the

14:04intersection of Willowbrook Lane and

14:06Southbury Street. Anybody speak on this

14:08item? Anybody online

14:11>> to there is no one raising their hands.

14:13>> Commissioner Raleigh,

14:15>> Mr. Chair, similar recommendation here.

14:17There um there is actually uh an

14:20existing crosswalk at the location. Um

14:23we're not recommending an RFB at this

14:25time because it's again one of these

14:27exceptionally wide intersections. So the

14:30rapid flash beacon is going to actually

14:32be outside the peripheral vision of the

14:34the drivers. Um, so we think the place

14:37to start here is just getting the

14:39pedestrian compliant pedestrian crossing

14:41signs in through a chair's order. Um,

14:43and start there. You know, this is a

14:46location where we had um some discussion

14:49last year about what would intersection

14:51improvements look like at this at this

14:53intersection. It doesn't meet warrants

14:54for a traffic signal or anything like

14:56that. If we ever did get to the point of

14:58looking to upgrade the the safety of

15:01this intersection, it' probably be what

15:03we call a uh a mini roundabout. So, it

15:05would be a a very small footprint

15:08roundabout that fits within the size of

15:09the existing intersection. Um, but you

15:13know, short of that, we just recommend

15:14starting out with the uh the crosswalk

15:17signage.

15:17>> All right. So, before we move to file

15:19item, I we're talking about two separate

15:22chairs orders right here on the um chair

15:24requesting installation of ADA, PR, WAG

15:28compliant ramps and RFB pending funding.

15:33The other chair orders request

15:34installation of MUTCD compliant

15:37pedestrian and crosswall signage.

15:40>> Yes.

15:41>> Yeah, Mr. Chair, I'm just going to

15:43modify my report slightly. So, um we

15:45were recommending the signage be

15:47installed uh initially and then at a

15:50future point in time when the crosswalk

15:51can be upgraded then an R would become

15:54appropriate. So, that's the reason for

15:55the two orders.

15:56>> Sounds good. Move to the item. Roll

15:58call.

15:59>> Councelor Bada.

16:01>> Yes. Councelor O'Hara.

16:03>> Yes.

16:04>> And chairs and councelor Rivera.

16:06>> Yes. Moving on to 4F. Councelor Robert

16:08A. Bilada requests installation of a

16:11rapid flashing beacon on Elm Street at

16:13its intersection with Maple Street. Um

16:17Council Ba, you want to speak on that

16:18item first?

16:20>> Sure. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

16:22Yeah, I was looking for a to do some

16:25type of rapid flashing crosswalk um at

16:28that intersection there of Maple Street,

16:29but I think now that the road is going

16:32to be converted for 2A, it would make

16:33sense to have some type of crosswalk in

16:35that intersection going across Elm as

16:38well.

16:40>> Thank you. Anybody else here to speak on

16:42this item on online

16:44>> to introduce no one raising their hands?

16:46>> Nobody here. Commissioner Riley.

16:48>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, um, as

16:50councelor Bilada indicated, this block

16:53of Elm Streets being converted to

16:55two-way this month, actually, and I've

16:58included a schematic showing, uh, what

17:00that'll look like. This is pretty much

17:02hot off the press.

17:04>> Um, as of I think it was Friday,

17:07actually. Um, so as part of that, the

17:11connector over from Maple Street will

17:13come under stop control. So, it'll have

17:15a stop sign facing traffic on the Maple

17:17Street connector. That means that

17:19crosswalk is no longer eligible for a

17:21rapid flashing beacon and should it need

17:23one because traffic has to come to

17:24complete stop there. Um, as the

17:28counselor indicated, he's interested in

17:30also getting a crosswalk kind of at that

17:34location, at that intersection across

17:36Elm Street itself, which I think is a

17:39good location for a crosswalk. We

17:41wouldn't do that under this this first

17:43um

17:45this first part of the project because

17:47this is all just paint work and sign

17:49work. Um whereas that'll require some

17:51modification of the the uh sidewalks and

17:54ADA curb ramps. That would be a later

17:56phase, but I think it is a good location

17:58for a crosswalk. So, I'd be certainly be

18:00amenable to a chair's order requesting

18:02um a crosswalk across Elm Street be

18:05added at Maple Street um pending funding

18:08for those improvements. But, uh in terms

18:12of the rapid flashing beacon, we'd go

18:14ahead and recommend that that uh that

18:16particular petition be filed.

18:18>> Sounds good. Uh and did you get the

18:20chair's order?

18:21>> Yes, I got the chairman's order.

18:23>> Uh council ahead.

18:24>> Yeah. Thank you. Uh through the chair to

18:25the commissioner. So, just so uh

18:27residents are aware, we're talking about

18:30um the intersection from Maple Street

18:33all the way down to I'm sorry, Elm from

18:38is that Chestnut or Maple down to Main

18:40Street. Is that going to be the two-way

18:43through to the chair? So, the the first

18:44phase will just be that one block from

18:46Chestnut down to Main Main Street. Uh

18:50later this year, that'll be extended to

18:52go back to London. So, all of Elm Street

18:54will be two-way at that point. Um, but

18:57there's some traffic signal work that

18:58has to occur for that second block to

19:00get converted. This first block can get

19:03converted with just very minor

19:05adjustments to the traffic signal and

19:06then the lane markings and signage.

19:09>> Okay. And then, uh, lastly through the

19:10chair, there's there won't be any

19:12parking.

19:14>> Correct.

19:15>> So, the um, we are proposing two parking

19:18areas on the south side of Elm Street.

19:22um each can accommodate about three to

19:25four vehicles. Okay.

19:26>> So, it's actually a little bit more than

19:28I believe is provided for today. And

19:30then the other thing that this um

19:34revision will do is on the Maple Street

19:36connector when you're going around that

19:38sweeping turn.

19:39>> Cars park on the right side. Currently,

19:42there's enough space with the revision

19:44to also have a parking lane on the left

19:46side. So, we'll be able to get some

19:47additional parking in on that block as

19:50well.

19:50>> All right. Great. Thank you. Thank you.

19:52Move to five item. Roll call.

19:54>> Councelor Bada.

19:56>> Yes.

19:57>> Councelor O'Hada.

19:58>> Yes.

19:59>> And chair. Councelor Rivera.

20:01>> Yes. To 4G.

20:02>> Mr. Chair, just to clarify, did we want

20:05to do a chair's order for Penny? Oh, did

20:08we do it?

20:08>> Yeah, you got that right.

20:10>> Yes. Sure.

20:11>> Okay. No problem.

20:13>> All right. 4G. Uh, councelor Morris

20:16Bergman on behalf of Paul and Aurora

20:18Brew request installation of crosswalks

20:21on North Parkway at at any and all

20:23appropriate locations.

20:26Name and residence, please.

20:27>> Paul Brule, 40 North Parkway. Um, thank

20:31you to the traffic committee for uh

20:34taking this petition. Thank you to

20:36councelor Bergman for filing it on our

20:38behalf and his for his continued

20:40support. Certain thank you to councelor

20:42uh Bilada as well for his continued

20:44support. Uh we'd be interested in the

20:46installation of a couple crosswalks on

20:48North Parkway to make it more pedestrian

20:51friendly. Uh we're particularly

20:53interested in uh the intersection of

20:56North Parkway and Davidson Road where

20:58the sidewalk has been uh a sidewalk has

21:01been installed to uh North Park. Um

21:05that's a particularly uh tricky

21:07intersection. Cars come around the

21:09corner. Uh so some kind of uh indication

21:12that there's a struct crosswalk coming

21:14or flashing lights or whatever. I'd be

21:16interested in Commissioner Ry's uh input

21:18on that as well as a crosswalk uh around

21:22uh 36 North Parkway. Um again that the

21:26road curves and and slopes down. Traffic

21:29tends to come into the breakdown the

21:31over the white line. So, we're

21:33interested in Commissioner Raleigh's

21:34take on curb extensions to narrow the

21:37distance that pedestrians need to uh

21:40cross the road. So, curb extensions and

21:42crosswalks. Thank you.

21:44>> Thank you. Anybody online?

21:46>> To chair, there's no one raising their

21:48hands.

21:48>> Anybody here wants to speak them? Good.

21:51Commissioner Ali,

21:52>> thanks.

21:53>> Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Council Ba. Sorry.

21:56>> That's all right. [laughter] No, thanks.

21:57I uh yeah, I just wanted to speak in

21:59support of trying to put some additional

22:01crosswalks on North Parkway. Um

22:05close to, you know, it's a pretty uh

22:07vibrant neighborhood there. There's

22:08we're close to Burn Code High School, so

22:10there's a lot of pedestrian traffic. I

22:12think especially having one um at the

22:14intersection of North Parkway and

22:15Davidson would be helpful because the

22:17city just uh extended the crosswalk from

22:20Davidson going uh believe that's south

22:23towards the entrance to Burnco Park. So,

22:25I think having um you know, if it comes

22:27down to a choosing one or two locations,

22:29I would really uh I think it would be

22:31great benefit to see one at uh a

22:33crosswalk across North Parkway at that

22:35intersection with with with Davidson.

22:37So, thank you.

22:38>> Thank you, Councelor Bada Commissioner

22:40Ali.

22:41>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, we did um take

22:44a sitewalk with uh various members of

22:47the administration um some uh the mayor,

22:50some counselors, as well as the

22:52neighbors uh not too long ago.

22:55And um that was very helpful to kind of

22:59get a firsthand understanding of um some

23:02of the discontinuities that are in the

23:04pedestrian network today and how those

23:07are um barriers given the the traffic

23:11that the the neighborhood experiences.

23:13So, we do recommend um installation of a

23:16new crosswalk at Davidson.

23:19And secondly, a crosswalk. Um I'm going

23:22to give us a little bit of wiggle room

23:24in the second one. Um it should be

23:27located somewhere in the vicinity of the

23:29driveway to the school out to about

23:32number 36. So, I believe I indicated um

23:35somewhere between number 22 and 36. Uh

23:38and that final decision would be based

23:40on the available sight distance

23:42available in each direction. Really, we

23:45have a preference to site it closer to

23:46the driveway. Um all things being equal,

23:49but we'll, you know, when we got to the

23:51point where we had funding to do this,

23:53we would go out and find the ideal

23:55location to do it. So, those two

23:57together should create a continuous

23:59pedestrian path through the

24:00neighborhood, which would be helpful.

24:01That doesn't exist today. Um, in both

24:05cases, this would be pending funding

24:06because there is some sidewalk and ramp

24:09work that needs to be done. Uh, my

24:12recommendation would be we prioritize

24:14Davidson uh, first if we don't have

24:17funding for both of those, but we do

24:19recommend uh, an order requesting that

24:21they both be um, designed and

24:24constructed pending funding.

24:26>> Sounds good. We move to approve the

24:28items. Roll call.

24:29>> Councelor Bilada.

24:31>> Yes. Councelor O'Hada.

24:33>> Yes.

24:33>> And chair. Councelor Rivera.

24:35>> Yes. All right. Moving on to 4H. Mayor

24:38Joseph M. Petty on behalf of um Dana

24:42Felicity. Request installation of a

24:44rectangular rapid flashing beacons at

24:46the crosswalk on Grove Street at his

24:48intersection with Chadwick Street.

24:51Anybody here this item? Anybody online?

24:55>> To the chair. There's no one raising

24:56their hand.

24:56>> Commissioner Ry. [snorts]

24:58>> Yeah, Mr. Chair. So, this item can be

24:59filed. There is a rapid flashing beacon

25:01that has uh been installed at this

25:03location. Move to further item. Roll

25:06call.

25:06>> Councelor Bellada.

25:08>> Yes.

25:08>> Councelor O'Hada.

25:09>> Yes.

25:10>> And chair. Councelor Rivera.

25:12>> Yes. For I, Mayor Joseph and Petty on

25:14behalf of Dana of Dana Felicity

25:16requestation of rectangular rapid

25:18fashion flashing beacon at the crosswalk

25:21on Goldside Boulevard at intersection

25:23with Chadwick Street.

25:26Using nobody's still here. Commissioner

25:28Raleigh.

25:29Yeah, thank Mr. Chair. So, this is uh

25:31same circumstances as we had talked

25:33about previously at another location on

25:35Gold Star Boulevard. This one's actually

25:36even more problematic because you can

25:38see that you've got the the side street

25:41coming in. So, you're really crossing

25:42five lanes of traffic with with one

25:45crosswalk. Um again, it's some pretty

25:48significant design work to get some safe

25:51pedestrian crossings in here. Um other

25:54than at the existing signalized

25:56intersections today. So, strongly

25:58recommend people use those signalized

26:00crossings. I know it's a lot of extra

26:01walking. Um, and then when we get in

26:04here with a resurfacing project, we need

26:06to really um

26:09understand that there are a lot of

26:12safety implications of having a street

26:14in the middle of our city that looks

26:16like like this one. So, for this

26:18petition, unfortunately, our

26:20recommendation is to file because the

26:22RFB by itself isn't going to going to

26:24help the safety out there. Okay. Move

26:27the follow item. Roll call.

26:28>> Councelor Bilada.

26:30>> Yes.

26:31>> Councelor O'Hara.

26:32>> Yes.

26:32>> And chairs. Councelor Rivera.

26:34>> Yes. Moving on to 4J. Mayor Joseph and

26:37Petty on behalf of Dana Felicity request

26:39installation of rectangular rapid

26:41fishing beacon at the crossoff city of

26:4360 Goldstar Boulevard. Commissioner

26:45Raleigh.

26:46>> Yeah, Mr. Chair. This can be filed

26:47because it was redundant with 4C that we

26:51heard.

26:52>> Move to roll call. I mean roll call to

26:54file.

26:55Councelor Bella. [snorts]

26:57>> Yes.

26:58>> Councelor O'Hara.

26:59>> Yes.

26:59>> And chair. Councelor Rivera.

27:01>> Yes. 4K. Councelor Robert Bada request

27:04the legion of crosswalk at appropriate

27:06locations on North Lake AB between North

27:09Road and Bell Court Road. Councel Batada

27:12want to speak on this item.

27:14>> Yeah, thank you Mr. Chairman. Um yeah,

27:16it was had some concerns from residents

27:19in this neighborhood in North Lake A.

27:21It's a very very busy street. I

27:23understand, you know, the lakes on one

27:25side, so there is not uh you wouldn't

27:27think as as much pedestrian crossings,

27:29but um there are some docks there that

27:33that people utilize. And also during the

27:35summer months, a lot of folks that are

27:37visiting Lake Park for different events

27:40still do park from um on North Lake A

27:44from I'll say North Road up to almost

27:47all the way up to Bellport. Um, so

27:50there's there's just very little uh

27:53pedestrian infrastructure here. I I know

27:56that might have been historically

27:57because there's no sidewalk on the other

27:59side of the street, but there are

28:00pedestrians in this area and having some

28:03type of safe uh designated area to cross

28:06it would be very helpful.

28:08>> Does anybody here want to speak on this

28:10item? Anybody online?

28:12>> To make sure there's no one raising

28:13their hand.

28:14>> Commissioner Riley.

28:15>> Yeah. Um, Mr. So certainly understand

28:18the the intent um behind the item.

28:23Unfortunately, there's just there's not

28:25a safe place to put pedestrians on that

28:27side of the roadway. I'm I'm looking at

28:29the one crosswalk that exists there

28:31today and it actually it just sort of

28:33deadends right into a guardrail. So if

28:35you're a pedestrian, you're sandwiched

28:36between vehicles going by you in that

28:38guardrail. So um that's not really

28:42something that we can encourage. um you

28:45know at some future point if we can get

28:47some sort of pedestrian accommodation

28:49along the lakes side of the roadway it

28:51would be great. Uh and then we can look

28:53at implementing pedestrian um crossing

28:58opportunities. But I think until that

29:00point in time, you know, my

29:01recommendation would be to focus just on

29:03general traffic coming and try to keep

29:05the speed of of vehicles down um on that

29:08corridor. So with regard to this

29:10specific petition, our recommendation is

29:12to file.

29:13>> Sounds good. Move to follow item. Roll

29:16call.

29:16>> Councelor Bada.

29:18>> Yes.

29:19>> Councelor O'Hara.

29:20>> Yes.

29:20>> And Cherson. Councelor Rivera.

29:22>> Yes. 4 L. Councelor Satcha Mitra request

29:25selection of a crosswalk at the

29:27intersection of Richmond A and Pleasant

29:29Street. Anybody else on this item?

29:31Anybody online?

29:33>> There's no one raising.

29:34>> Commissioner Raleigh.

29:35>> Mr. Chair. So, um, at this location,

29:38this is another one where there are

29:39crosswalks on three of the legs, so you

29:41can make all the movements you need to.

29:42It's a little bit less convenient if

29:45you're on the uh west side of Richmond,

29:48say, and you're, you know, you want to

29:49cross Pleasant Street, you have to cross

29:51twice. Um, however, the uh terrain is

29:55really challenging there. Uh, as you

29:57know, there's a very steep downhill

29:59section on Pleasant Street, which means

30:01that there isn't really a practical way

30:04to get an ADA compliant crosswalk and

30:08wheelchair ramps on that leg without

30:11completely rebuilding that intersection.

30:13So, it's not really feasible at the

30:15present time. Uh, and our recommendation

30:17is therefore to file.

30:19>> Move to file item. Roll call.

30:21>> Councelor Bella.

30:22>> Yes.

30:23>> Councelor O'Hara.

30:24>> Yes. and chapen casa.

30:26>> Yes. Moving on to no parking petitions.

30:295A. Joshua Calvie request installation

30:32of no parking anytime signage at the

30:35intersection of Bristol Street and Berno

30:38Street. Is anybody here to speak on this

30:40item? Is anybody online

30:42>> to there's no one raising their hands?

30:45>> Commissioner Raleigh.

30:46>> Mr. Chair. So, um, this item was held

30:49from a a prior hearing just to get some

30:51more information and and take a little

30:52bit deeper look into it. We are

30:54recommending approval of a no parking

30:56zone for extending 40 ft back from the

30:58intersection on the north side. Uh and

31:02the reason for that, you can actually

31:03see it in the the photo I've included in

31:06your your staff memo. Um those two

31:08vehicles are actually parked there and

31:10you can't even see the stop line as

31:11you're approaching the intersection

31:12because they're essentially occupying

31:14the what would be the travel lane. So

31:16that 40 ft will create enough room for

31:19car to pull over, get behind the stop

31:21line and let an opposing vehicle get by.

31:24We move to approve the item brok.

31:26>> Councelor Bada.

31:28>> Yes.

31:28>> Councelor O'Hada.

31:30>> Yes.

31:30>> And Chersonson. Councelor Rivera.

31:32>> Yes. Moving on to one and two-way street

31:35reconfiguration petition 6A. Steve

31:38Edwards requests Gay Street to be made a

31:40one-way street. Anybody here to speak on

31:43this item? Anybody online?

31:46>> Wait, sorry.

31:48Sorry.

31:49>> There's no one raising their hands on

31:51Zoom.

31:51>> Okay.

31:53Name and residence, please.

31:56>> Michelle Gurnie, 105 Gate Street.

31:59>> I'm hosting Charles. Charles Charles

32:00Gurnie.

32:01>> Okay.

32:02>> Um,

32:04we don't mind the um petition for the uh

32:08one way. Um but right now East Shelby up

32:13to Elliot Street there's a big it's a

32:16very steep hill and that is currently a

32:21two-way. Um I think it's

32:25that the name of the street Berkeley to

32:28East Shelby is a oneway already. So we

32:31would like from

32:34East Shel Yeah. No East Shelby. Oh,

32:38>> to Elliot Street to remain two-way

32:40because of the steep hill and we're

32:42worried about

32:44fire rescue stuff like that. Even

32:46garbage pickup a lot of times um

32:48dependent on the weather, they can't go

32:50down or they'll they'll go around and

32:52come up. So

32:54>> school buses also up and back. So that

32:56there's not one way for school bus uh to

32:58get up and down there.

33:00>> This item doesn't affect those streets

33:02you mentioned, right?

33:04>> U Mr. Mr. Chair, so the petition was um

33:07the petition was vague about the extent

33:09along Gage Street, but just spoiler

33:11alert, we're not recommending that the

33:13two-way section with the steep grade be

33:16be uh made one way and agree with the

33:19the um testimony that that particular

33:22section of the street really does need

33:24to function two ways because of the

33:26grade as well as the fact that it it um

33:28terminates up at the top of the hill.

33:30>> Thank you.

33:31>> Thank you. And we have somebody online.

33:34Oh, call. Sorry. Go ahead, sir.

33:36>> No. Come on. Oh, you're good with them.

33:37Okay. All right. Sorry. Somebody online.

33:41>> Thank you.

33:42>> Make sure there's no one raising their

33:43hands.

33:44>> Commissioner Ali.

33:49>> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm

33:50interested in hearing the uh district

33:52counselor's take on this as well. So, um

33:55Gage Street, of course, is a narrow

33:56street. It kind of has this sweeping

33:58curve as you're coming down from Eastern

34:00Avenue. It's a fairly narrow street.

34:02It's 27 feet wide. Um, parking is

34:05allowed on both sides of the street.

34:07That's basically as narrow as a street

34:08can be and allow parking on both sides

34:10of the street. But what that means is

34:12that the resulting travel lane that's

34:15left is only about 12 to 13 feet wide.

34:18So absolute minimum width that city

34:20ordinances allow. That of course is only

34:23wide enough for a vehicle to go one

34:25direction at a time. and two cars

34:26couldn't pass each other when the

34:28parking is is fairly well utilized,

34:30which it is there often. Um

34:34the traffic volume is not especially

34:36high. It's about 500 vehicles a day, but

34:38that's high enough that cars are going

34:40to regularly sort of encounter each

34:42other and then figure out, you know, how

34:44they're going to get around each other,

34:45whether it's uh, you know, if parking is

34:48lighter at that time of day, they'll

34:49have a space to pull over. Otherwise,

34:51they may need to pull into someone's

34:52driveway. They may need to back up a

34:54little bit. Um the uh we did take a look

34:58at the crashes along the corridor. There

34:59have been seven over the last five

35:01years. Um which remember this is a

35:05pretty short section of roadway we're

35:06talking about only has 500 vehicles a

35:08day. So if we translate into a crash

35:10rate it's actually an exceptionally high

35:13crash weight. It's 44 crashes per

35:15million vehicle miles. The

35:18average for a a local street like this

35:21is less than a tenth of that. So, it's

35:23more than 10 times as much. Now, you do

35:26see that in some of these narrow

35:27residential streets. It's not all that

35:29uncommon. Um, but it does indicate the

35:31crashes are occurring a lot more

35:32frequently than you'd like to than you'd

35:35like to see. Um, almost all of them were

35:38sideswipe crashes. Five of the seven

35:40were cars hitting parked vehicles. So,

35:42the kind of things you'd expect with a

35:44narrow street, sweeping corner, um, and

35:47then the, uh, the two-way operation.

35:50As the residents noted, Gate Street's

35:52already one way between Berkeley and

35:54East Shelby. And then from Shelby on up

35:57to the top of the hill, it's it's

35:58two-way again. Um, I think there could

36:02be some value in

36:05changing the section between Eastern and

36:08Berkeley to one way. So, you'd have the

36:11entire street be one way until you got

36:13to East Shelby, and then that last block

36:15up the hill would stay two-way. uh seems

36:18to work okay for circulation in the

36:21neighborhood. Would definitely eliminate

36:23those conflicts of vehicles coming

36:25around the corner and surprising each

36:27other. I will say we did look at the

36:28crash rate on the the existing um

36:32one-way section and it wasn't really

36:34much better. So, I'm not sure this is

36:35going to be a cure all for what we're

36:37we're seeing out there. I think that's

36:38more a byproduct of there's a lot of

36:40parked vehicles in close proximity to

36:42the the traffic there. Um, but you know,

36:47it would eliminate some of those

36:48conflicts if there was interest in the

36:50neighborhood. Um, I was sort of

36:53expecting we might hear a few more folks

36:54in this, but I'm open to uh to any input

36:57from I don't know if PD has any or if

37:00the district counselor has anything to

37:02add. Um, certainly don't see harm in it

37:04if it's something that the committee

37:06would like to

37:07>> Do do any of my colleagues want to speak

37:09on item?

37:12>> Sure. Oh. Um,

37:15yeah, I'm I'm in favor of this. I know

37:17Gage Street is is pretty narrow. Um,

37:20lots of on street parking there and

37:22especially during the winter time. I'm

37:25uh imagine and I've seen before that it

37:29gets very cramped up there making it

37:30very hard for cars um for two-way

37:33traffic. So, I would be in support of

37:35this. I would uh want to ask would it be

37:37possible to do a chairman's order just

37:39to evaluate uh parking on Gage Street at

37:43its intersections with uh Ford Street

37:49and

37:51uh Berkeley just to see particularly

37:54Ford because I don't know if with it

37:56being one way or if it's possible to

37:58just make sure my main concern is for

38:00the winter too uh if there if it's

38:02possible to eliminate parking across

38:05from Forge Street just to have bit of

38:08right of way. But I I think uh this

38:10would be helpful to just calming traffic

38:12down and and making it safer in the

38:14winter time.

38:15>> Did you get that

38:17>> to chair? Um I would I would just like

38:20to clarify. So you're looking for um

38:23kind like a review of Gage Street at the

38:25intersection with Fourth Street and

38:28Berkeley Street for the winter parking

38:30ban. Is that correct?

38:33>> Yes. Yeah, I just wanted to see if Yeah,

38:35in and for winter parking ban and also

38:37just to take a look at um whether it's

38:41feasible or appropriate to ban any

38:44parking directly across the street from

38:47Ford Street or

38:50on Gage like the uh northern side of

38:52Gage Street at its intersection with

38:55Ford.

38:57>> Thank you to your chair. I got it. Uh C.

39:00>> Thank you. All right. And uh and that's

39:02the case move to approve the item. Roll

39:05call.

39:06>> Chair we do have one person raising

39:08their hands. Um before that so to John

39:10Jurgos.

39:11>> Okay.

39:13>> You can go ahead and unmute.

39:15>> Hi. Yes. I'm actually I called in for

39:18item 74 C.

39:2174 C.

39:22>> So chair. Um we are currently on item

39:256A. Um 7 C will be coming up shortly.

39:29>> Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

39:31Okay. Move to approve the approve the

39:33item.

39:34>> And Mr. Mr. Chair, just to clarify

39:35before roll call. So, we are proposing

39:37to operate the oneway in the eastbound

39:39direction, which is consistent with the

39:41existing block that operates one way.

39:43So, from Eastern up to East Shelby, it

39:46would be one way that sort of

39:48counterclockwise direction.

39:50>> Doesn't doesn't affect the street that

39:51they talked about, right?

39:52>> Uh for Gage Street. Perfect.

39:54>> Yeah.

39:54>> All right. Approve the item. Roll call.

39:56>> Councelor Councelor Bilada.

39:59>> Yes. Councelor O'Hada.

40:01>> Yes.

40:01>> And chair. Councelor Ribera.

40:03>> Yes.

40:04All right. We're moving on to 6B.

40:07Councelor Robert Bada request Thorn

40:09Street be made a one-way street with

40:11cars traveling from east to west.

40:14Council Batada. I'll let you speak on

40:15the item first.

40:18>> Sure. Yeah. Again, this is another

40:19narrow street, tight street like Gage

40:21Street. Uh, Thorn runs from Plantation

40:25down to um I want to say Wall Street and

40:29it's just again there's the you have

40:31friendly house there. you have a lot of

40:33it's a busy area and I I wanted to

40:36particularly make or request that Thor

40:38be made one way from east to west so

40:41vehicles can get to the um the senior

40:47senior um assisted living what is it St.

40:50Anands there I believe so that's was the

40:53the purpose for this proposal and again

40:54Thorn Street uh excuse me St. Francis

40:58rehabilitation. That's where I wanted to

41:00see if we could make Thor one way going

41:02from plantation down to wall um for that

41:06reason. So, thank you.

41:07>> Thank you, Council Bada. Name and

41:09residence, please.

41:10>> Hi, my name is Maggie Grogan. I'm the

41:12program director of St. Francis Adult

41:14Day Health located on 37 Thorn Street.

41:18Um, so we strongly support making the

41:20street one way based on our experience

41:23every day operating our cars as well as

41:26our wheelchair vans that drop off our

41:28participants daily and the family

41:30members also dropping off the

41:31participants. Um, it would significantly

41:34improve the safety for all of our staff

41:36and participants. Um, we serve older

41:38adults with dementia, Alzheimer's. Um,

41:41it is a lot of work getting those fans

41:43unloaded and um, load them up at the end

41:45of the day. The two-way street makes it

41:48very difficult for traffic to pass while

41:50we have those vans out on the road. Um,

41:53it's also dangerous for our staff

41:54entering and exiting. Um, I've seen

41:57numerous accidents. I've seen

41:59altercations outside because of

42:01arguments from the traffic pattern. Um,

42:03it's a daily issue that we get called

42:06into the street to help handle. Um, so

42:08making it one way would make it much

42:10more safe for everyone at ADH.

42:13>> Thank you. Do I have anybody else

42:15online?

42:17>> There's no one raising their hands on

42:19sir.

42:19>> Come on up, please. Sorry. Yes. Name

42:21your residence.

42:22>> Trish Aert. Um 10 Baiting Brook Lane. Um

42:26also wanted to support uh this request

42:28to make it one way Thorn Street. Uh from

42:30the block down. My place of work is 36

42:33Wall Street, the corner of Thorn and

42:35Wall. That's Friendly House. And um

42:37we're really also at the corner of a

42:39cutthrough from Franklin Street to avoid

42:41all the traffic lights on Grafton. So,

42:44we see the same thing, a lot of sides

42:46swiped cars, but also because Thorne is

42:49so narrow and there's parking on both

42:51both sides where we are, people really

42:54have to go up on the sidewalk to avoid

42:56if you're going in two two different

42:58ways. So, this would make it um much

43:01better for everyone involved. I think

43:03also the neighbors at the top of the

43:04street who don't have um driveways,

43:08makes it difficult for them to park as

43:09well.

43:10>> Thank you. Name a resident, sir.

43:17Sorry about that.

43:19>> Uh, good evening. My name is Mrs. Diane

43:23Stanley.

43:25I oppose 6B. We oppose 6B. Considering

43:32police, fire, ambulance,

43:34there's citizens,

43:37school, transportation,

43:40even the St. Francis Homes

43:44Transportation.

43:45I live on the half of the friendly house

43:50side. Um, I love that street and yes,

43:56you have altercations and and people get

43:59angry and I often during winter time I'm

44:03out there widening that street so people

44:07coming up the street have a have enough

44:10space to get by or sit and wait and I

44:15often do the other side of a street

44:19parking spaces so that people have a

44:22place to ditch. It's a very busy area.

44:26Uh Friendly House has all kinds of

44:29events all year long. Um there happens

44:34to be a daycare center that does, you

44:39know, all day long, all night long. Um,

44:45also, uh,

44:47with all the apartments that are going

44:50up, you have Franklin Street Fire

44:54Department. Look at those apartments.

44:57What is the apartments that are on where

45:00the El Morocco used to be? The

45:03apartments on Orion Street. Okay. Chrome

45:07is a one way, branch is a two-way, but

45:11it's very tight. I understand what the

45:14people from St. Francis talking about

45:18having relatives and friends that don't

45:22have to stay there. Those vans are up on

45:26the sidewalk. I understand people just

45:29don't slow down. a speed bump maybe will

45:33help. But I I I did I love looking out

45:37my window and knowing that there was

45:40something that I could do so that people

45:42could get through the city a lot easier

45:47both ways on Se Street. You look at if

45:51you do this it's gonna be a nightmare.

45:55You have Wall Street that goes to uh

45:59John's son Suffach Street. You have

46:01John's sons. You have that restaurant.

46:04That restaurant often does a valet and

46:08they park on street or wherever they can

46:11so that people can enjoy that

46:13restaurant. Then you have on Norfol

46:16Suffach to Norphick. You have Vincent,

46:19you have Sis Rose, you have a Brazilian

46:22restaurant. Now you're at uh Norphick

46:26and Franklin Street.

46:29What are we going to do when those

46:32apartments are done? Everything is going

46:34to be bottled up. You have Wall Street

46:38to Drafting Street. That right maybe

46:42three cars go through there at Drafting

46:45Street School. Mind you, you have

46:47Draftton Street, too. So you're sending

46:51all the traffic into this hourglass

46:56and with road rage that they said you

46:59see people they get out they get mad

47:02they

47:03they just don't know how to take it easy

47:07this these days. So maybe

47:12where St. Francis home at a certain time

47:15I I don't think that's possible.

47:18So that way we could come up S Street

47:22and then take a right and then you take

47:24a left on the other side of St. Francis

47:28to get to Plantation Street. And not to

47:32mention you have a Rotary Draft Street.

47:36It's going to be a mess. I love that

47:39street. I live there for over 30 years.

47:42People just I don't know. They lost

47:45their mind. And if if there's a

47:48emergency and there have been

47:50emergencies, there's a lot of accidents

47:53where

47:55and sus. Well, this guy here have a high

47:58bushes. So when you go to a stop sign,

48:01you can't really see. You have to pull

48:04out a little bit to see. and you have

48:07high profile vehicles on Orient Street

48:10which

48:12you're gonna have accident during the

48:15winter time. Why don't we I know we have

48:20that big snow roller and a truck is in

48:24front of it and it eats up the snow and

48:27puts in a truck and it removed. I think

48:31if we did that

48:33that would make it a lot easier

48:36especially with the family house and all

48:39it does for the people of Worcester and

48:43elsewhere. Um I just I think it's a bad

48:48idea and I think you really need to

48:51consider it and maybe put it out there

48:54again because I barely made it here.

48:56>> Thank you sir. So, I I will appreciate I

49:00just want to make sure I'm not forget

49:02something. Uh the crashes I talked about

49:05that

49:06um

49:08let's not make someone street. If you

49:11made it on one way, right, people will

49:14be able to pack on both sides, right?

49:17Pretty much, right? Going down the hill,

49:19they will pack on sidewalk here, the pat

49:21over here. And now you got there's many

49:24streets. Dartmouth, Angelide, the one

49:28way, go down those streets.

49:30>> That may defeat the purpose.

49:32>> It's very hard.

49:33>> But I uh I'm going to refer to

49:35Commissioner Raleigh to give us

49:37>> I hope so. Let's let's keep that

49:40halfway. Anyways, winter time. It's very

49:43hard. It's very hard. Go down that hill

49:46and you slide into Wall Street.

49:49I think we're asking for trouble.

49:51>> Okay. Thank you.

49:52>> Thank you very much,

49:54>> Commissioner Ali.

49:57>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, um,

50:01Thorn Street is another case where it's

50:04uh, you know, it's an older local

50:06street. Um, quite narrow. This one is

50:08only,

50:10of course, I lost my place now. Um, this

50:12one is only 24 feet wide.

50:18>> It's page 15.

50:20>> 15. Thank you.

50:22Thanks. Uh only 24 feet wide, which

50:25means that to answer the gentleman's

50:27question, it's actually too narrow to

50:29allow parking on both sides of the

50:30street. Even with oneway traffic, um you

50:33would still have just a 9 to 10 foot

50:36travel lane left in the middle. And by

50:37ordinance, we're required to have 12. Um

50:42the uh on street parking out here is

50:44moderately utilized. By our

50:45observations, the street's busier. It

50:48carries about 1,500 vehicles a day. So,

50:50it's, you know, for a local street

50:52that's getting to be a higher volume of

50:54traffic. Um, it's not completely

50:56saturated with traffic, but it's, you

50:58know, it's it's getting to be what we

51:00would call busier for that

51:01classification of street. Um,

51:04interestingly, about 65% of the traffic

51:07is traveling in the opposite direction

51:10um from what the the district counselor

51:13had suggested for this street, which is

51:1465% is traveling from west to east on

51:18that street, which surprised me a little

51:19bit because um you have both the um uh

51:25the adult uh daycare center as well as

51:27friendly house are located on the north

51:29side of the street, meaning that drop

51:30off activities typically you're going in

51:33the opposite direction, the westbound

51:35direction for that. So, um there have

51:38been 13 crashes over the last 5 years,

51:41similar to Gage Street, a lot of uh

51:44parked vehicles getting hit. Now, the

51:47good news is the crash rates half of

51:49what we just talked about on Gage

51:51Street. The bad news is that's still

51:53roughly 10 times um what you'd see on a

51:57sort of average in the uh statewide on

52:00similar types of streets. So, it's still

52:02really an elevated crash rate. Um, and

52:04with those two, um, uses in particular,

52:08we're especially concerned about safety.

52:11Um,

52:12the, you know, I think I think there's

52:15some merit to the the idea of making it

52:18one way. Um, what we don't really have

52:22figured out yet is exactly how that

52:24would work with the rest of the street

52:25grid. Uh, in this case, there aren't a

52:29lot of east-west streets connecting

52:32Plantation Street over. Um, and Chrome

52:35already operates

52:38from Plantation down toward Wall. So,

52:40it's already operating in the westbound

52:42direction. So, if we operated Thorne in

52:45that direction, too, that means you

52:47don't really have a good way to get back

52:50and to sort of provide the complimentary

52:52trip. So, you don't have a way to get

52:54back from Wall Street over toward

52:56Plantation Street. Um, half the block

52:59would be able to circle around to to

53:01Bleecker Street, but I think we need to

53:04put a little bit more thought into how

53:06the overall circulation would work

53:08before we make a final recommendation on

53:10this. Um and that would involve also

53:13some follow-up coordination with both

53:15the uh the uh daycare center and then

53:19friendly house as well just to make sure

53:21we understand their operations as well.

53:23So um definitely helpful conversation

53:26here but my recommendation would be to

53:27to hold it to allow us to follow up with

53:30the stakeholders in the neighborhood um

53:33and put a little bit more thought into

53:35just how that oneway would work with the

53:38overall street grid there.

53:40question is, um,

53:43would you be able to have that done by

53:45the September meeting or

53:48>> I would expect we would. Yeah.

53:50>> All right. So, I'm going to hold the

53:51item and let you guys do your

53:53investigation and then we'll bring it

53:55back for September.

53:57Roll call. I believe councelor Bada is

54:00raising

54:00>> Oh, sure. Please.

54:02>> Yeah. Just uh a real quick thank you. I

54:03appreciate the the residents input and

54:05and and uh input from Commissioner

54:07Raleigh and you know I think just

54:09looking at some other neighborhoods that

54:11are denser. I specifically kind of

54:13referenced in conversations the area

54:15around WPI. There's a lot of one-way

54:16streets there because those streets are

54:18narrow. There's a lot of pedestrian

54:19traffic. I'm looking to duplicate

54:21something like that for this

54:22neighborhood, but I definitely

54:23understand uh the impact. And it was

54:25interesting to hear that the majority of

54:27the parking is from west to east. I

54:29think that really makes the case that

54:30this is used as a cutthrough uh to avoid

54:33the Grafton Street Rotary. And again to

54:36whether one the resident that spoke to

54:38their point um with those new apartments

54:40coming online on Franklin Street, this

54:42neighborhood is going to experience a

54:44lot more traffic uh significant amount

54:47of traffic and I think it's really going

54:49to cause uh significant challenges for

54:52uh streets like Thor and especially in

54:55the winter time. So, um, this is a

54:57really dense neighborhood and the the,

55:00you know, cities has, you know, we're

55:03building those 300 plus units on on on

55:06Franklin Street. And again, I just

55:08really want to point out that, you know,

55:11as a city, we really need to do a better

55:13job of thinking about is our our is our

55:17infrastructure keeping up with this rate

55:20of development because when it doesn't,

55:22it negatively impacts quality of life

55:24for our constituents. um and and and and

55:27that's a serious problem. So, um with

55:29that, yeah, I appreciate TTM's

55:32um thoughts and notes on this and we're

55:35happy to coordinate to reach out to

55:36residents to see if we can get some more

55:38feedback. But I appreciate this. Thank

55:40you.

55:40>> Thank you, Councelor.

55:42>> Thank you, Chairman. Um I guess to the

55:45ch to Trish or sorry, I get your name

55:48the other resident. Um how is the the

55:52snow? I mean because this will probably

55:54play a factor on the snow removal as

55:55well. So if one of you can come up and

55:58just give me a a good idea of like the

56:00how the snow was plowed on the street if

56:02it's obviously it's it's probably

56:04becomes a big issue or is it plowed to

56:06one side the other side? And

56:07>> I think it's very difficult because

56:09people have no other place to park. So

56:12getting the plows to come through and be

56:13able to do a job near the the curbs is

56:16is really difficult and also we have a

56:19place there's no place to put the snow.

56:21So unless there's another vehicle behind

56:23it and it's blowing into a truck, um

56:28that's a real issue. So

56:33>> I I didn't tell you. Um like I said, I

56:38get out there. The problems, they don't

56:41really go to the curb. It's a road trip.

56:43It's like a boom.

56:45>> Okay. They don't go all the way on that

56:49curve up to Orient Street. So, like I

56:53said, if we have that much snow, then

56:57get the tractors, get the city boys, put

57:01municipal, get them up there, have them

57:03get rid of that snow, put it in the dump

57:06trucks and dump it over a hill

57:08somewhere. And I think that will

57:11alleviate a lot of a problem with the

57:14house. That's why I get out there and do

57:17it because I want the people to not get

57:21angry and want to beat each other up. I

57:25want them to be able.

57:28>> I want them to be able to commute as

57:31safe as possible. So, if you could help

57:33with that,

57:34>> thank you.

57:34>> That would be awesome.

57:36>> Yeah. I just thank you to the chat.

57:37>> Thank you so much for listening to me. I

57:39appreciate it.

57:40>> No problem. I just asked because you

57:42know understanding when it says further

57:44study does that also include looking

57:46into that. Um and then obviously we

57:48could probably look back at some of the

57:50issues that are taking place when it

57:51comes to snow removal you know if we can

57:54address those at the same time and try

57:55to look into that and try to get ahead

57:57of it. Thank you.

57:58>> Sounds good. Move to hold the item. Roll

58:01call.

58:02>> Councelor Bada.

58:05>> Yes.

58:06>> Councelor O'Hada.

58:07>> Yes.

58:07>> And chair. Councelor Rivera.

58:09>> Yes. Moving on to 7A, parking and

58:13parking meter petitions. Councelor

58:15Satcha Mitra and councelor Robert Balada

58:18on behalf of William Aldridge, owner of

58:21Theater Cafe, request removal of

58:23existing parking regulations and on the

58:27outside of Main Street from Federal

58:29Street to Franklin Street with 1 hour

58:31parking from 8:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. being

58:33installed in its place. Anybody here

58:35speak on this item?

58:38Councelor Bolato, want to speak on this

58:40item?

58:42>> Yeah, we were just uh this item we we

58:44had come up with to try to assist uh one

58:46of the really longtime legacy business

58:49owners down there in on Main Street

58:51Theater Cafe. I just wanted to see what

58:53we could do to you maybe provide some

58:56more flexible parking for customers.

58:58>> Thank you. Anybody else online?

59:01>> To chair, there's no one raising their

59:02hands.

59:03>> Commissioner Raleigh. Yeah, thank you,

59:05Mr. Chair. So, uh, we'll have a couple

59:07of items here on Main Street. Um, we

59:10have been actively looking at on street

59:12parking in the entire downtown. We've

59:14completed an inventory of that and we

59:16are working with a parking consultant

59:18right now. Um, both to reconcile some

59:22discrepancies between the signage that's

59:24downtown and what the actual regulations

59:26are. Unfortunately, following the the

59:29main street reconstruction project, you

59:31know, a good eight or nine years ago

59:33now, uh some of the changes in that

59:37street configuration did not get

59:39reflected in the parking signs that are

59:41up. So, getting that taken care of and

59:44also using this as an opportunity to um

59:48really to try to um optimize the parking

59:52availability downtown to the extent that

59:53we can. Um we talked about this a little

59:56bit. I believe it was two meetings ago

59:58where we found some curb space that was

1:00:00underutilized and identified that for

1:00:03two-hour parking. Um, in this particular

1:00:06case, it's actually the area in question

1:00:09for this one petition only is already

1:00:11signed for 1 hour parking. So, there

1:00:13isn't any change to be made. Um there's

1:00:17there's a possibility that when we come

1:00:18back with a package of changes that that

1:00:20might actually get extended to two hours

1:00:22because we find that one hour um is

1:00:26relatively short for a lot of the

1:00:28businesses down there, but not

1:00:31necessarily opposed to there being some

1:00:33uh some 1-hour parking, but really isn't

1:00:35a change needed on this block right now.

1:00:38So, we're recommending to file and then

1:00:40we can talk about the others separately.

1:00:42So I'm going to put 7B together as well

1:00:44cuz 7A and 7B almost seems similar.

1:00:47Councelor Satcha Mitra and councelor

1:00:49Robert Bad on behalf of William

1:00:50Aldridge, owner of Theater Cafe, request

1:00:53removal of the existing existing parking

1:00:55regulations in front of 44 Main Street,

1:00:58the site of the former Denome building

1:01:01with 1 hour parking from 8:00 a.m. to 6

1:01:03p.m. um being installed in this place.

1:01:07>> Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is

1:01:08directly across the street um outside of

1:01:10the den home building. This is a little

1:01:12bit different circumstance there where

1:01:14the existing parking lane um is largely

1:01:18either a commercial load zone that's in

1:01:21place all day uh or a no parking area

1:01:24and it doesn't this is another one of

1:01:25those areas that doesn't seem to make a

1:01:27whole lot of sense um why it's regulated

1:01:29that way. So that is definitely an

1:01:31opportunity. So for some additional

1:01:33parking, I think when we come back again

1:01:36with the package looking at the entire

1:01:38downtown that or at least a majority of

1:01:41that's going to make more sense as

1:01:44two-hour parking than one hour parking.

1:01:46Um but if the committee wanted to

1:01:50consider something in the interim there,

1:01:52we could certainly certainly do that. Um

1:01:55recognizing that, you know, we're going

1:01:57to be talking about every block in the

1:01:58downtown. It's going to take some time

1:01:59to get all of those ordinances through.

1:02:02Um so I in this case I would be open to

1:02:06um looking at 1 hour parking. I would

1:02:08recommend that we leave the existing

1:02:10commercial space in place until about

1:02:1210:00 a.m. just so there's a place for

1:02:15some delivery vehicles. Um but it could

1:02:17flip over after that. Uh recognize also

1:02:21that as I said this may be an interim

1:02:23thing. when we come back with the whole

1:02:25package of changes, we might want to

1:02:27look at a little bit different

1:02:28regulation there.

1:02:30>> Councelor Bad, anything you want to add

1:02:32to that?

1:02:33>> You know, I I'd agree with the the

1:02:34commissioner's assessment and trying to

1:02:36do something in the inter room, I think,

1:02:37though would would be great. So,

1:02:39appreciate that.

1:02:40>> Sounds good. So, in the meantime, we'll

1:02:42take 77B. We're going to file the items.

1:02:45Roll call.

1:02:47>> Councelor Bada.

1:02:49>> Yes.

1:02:49>> Councelor Ha and Cheriff and Councelor

1:02:52Rivera. Yes. Moving on to 7C. John

1:02:56Gilles requests metered parking spacing

1:02:59in front of 25 Harvest Street be

1:03:01reviewed for modification or removal.

1:03:04Anybody here speak on this item? Anybody

1:03:06online?

1:03:07>> To sure the petitioner is on Zoom. I

1:03:10will go ahead and unmute them now.

1:03:16>> Good evening and thank you for your

1:03:18time.

1:03:19>> Good evening.

1:03:22Uh yeah. So I petitioned um to either

1:03:25have it removed from directly in front

1:03:27of 25 Harvard or extend it past two

1:03:30hours. Um the the main use of the street

1:03:36parking that's in front of Harvard is

1:03:38used by the tenants at the building. Uh

1:03:41the commercial tenants. Uh there's no

1:03:43consumers coming in and out there. So

1:03:45when they go to park, uh they're limited

1:03:47to only two hours and most of them are

1:03:49working eight hour shifts. Um so it

1:03:52makes it very difficult uh for them to

1:03:55conduct business.

1:03:59>> Commissioner Riley, Mr. Chair, thank

1:04:01you. So uh for the same downtown parking

1:04:04study, we're also looking at Harvard

1:04:05Street. Um that's an area that we know

1:04:08is has significantly underutilized on

1:04:11street parking. And I think a large part

1:04:12of that is, as the gentleman just

1:04:14stated, it's all two-hour parking. It's

1:04:16metered. Um, but a lot of the businesses

1:04:18up there don't have that 2-hour

1:04:20turnaround with their uh customers or

1:04:23clients. So, um, you know, we recognize

1:04:26that Harvard Street is one where we're

1:04:28going to take a serious look at likely

1:04:32eliminating medium parking along the

1:04:33entire street. Um, haven't quite made

1:04:35that decision yet. um you know given

1:04:39that they're occupying the building

1:04:40right now and they have some present

1:04:42needs I would not be opposed to again

1:04:45it's sort of a stop gap measure if you

1:04:47wanted to approve this item to remove

1:04:50metered parking in front of 25 Harvard

1:04:52only recognizing we don't usually like

1:04:54to go peace meal like this

1:04:56>> but we're going to come back with a a

1:04:58more encompassing recommendation um soon

1:05:01I think for right now it's fine to to

1:05:03vote to to remove the metered parking

1:05:05just from in front of that property.

1:05:06Yes. In the meantime, can we do that?

1:05:08Remove the meter from that

1:05:11>> address and that.

1:05:11>> So, if we Mr. Cher, that's Yeah. If we

1:05:14went ahead and just recommended approval

1:05:15of this item, that would take care of

1:05:17it.

1:05:17>> Perfect. All right. So, we'll approve

1:05:19the item.

1:05:20>> Roll call.

1:05:21>> Councelor Bada.

1:05:22>> Yes.

1:05:23>> Councelor O'Hara.

1:05:24>> Yes.

1:05:24>> And chair and councelor Rivera.

1:05:26>> Yes. Moving on to 7D. Councelor Jose

1:05:30Rivera on behalf of Jason Dilva request

1:05:33installation of twohour parking directly

1:05:35in front of 4347 Stafford Street with

1:05:38parking being allowed closest to the

1:05:40curb and the bike lane being made more

1:05:42consistent with other selections with

1:05:44other sections of Stafford Street.

1:05:47Um I guess the reason of this petition

1:05:50is uh I just noticed on Stafford Street

1:05:54um the bike lanes are on the um outside

1:05:58when the cars can park on a on a curb

1:06:01and then when it hits a certain part of

1:06:03the streets they take out the parking

1:06:05space and they bring the bike lane from

1:06:07over here over here. So it's like not

1:06:10consistent. So the the um owner of that

1:06:15residence of 43 and 47 says he there's

1:06:20parking the visitors can't park cuz I

1:06:23went there personally. He goes they

1:06:26there's no parking for them in that

1:06:27area. Um there is res they do have a a

1:06:32driveway in in that area but the

1:06:34residents who live there park in the

1:06:36driveway but no nobody else comes can

1:06:40park in that area.

1:06:43Commissioner Ali.

1:06:45>> Yeah. Thank you Mr. Chair. So, um, when

1:06:48Stafford Street was, uh, reconfigured

1:06:52about a year and a half, two years ago,

1:06:54um, with a series of safety

1:06:56improvements, there was, um, there were

1:06:58series of crosswalks that were added.

1:07:00Um, parking was consolidated to one side

1:07:03along the corridor, uh, as you noted.

1:07:06Uh, and then bike facilities were

1:07:07established up and down the corridor.

1:07:09So, the width of the street is such

1:07:11that, um, parking can only be

1:07:13accommodated on one side at a time. Um,

1:07:16and as that design was made, essentially

1:07:19what we did is we went block by block

1:07:21and figured out where there was the most

1:07:23parking demand and where the uses had

1:07:25the least amount of off- streetet

1:07:27parking. So on that block, sort of from

1:07:30this location up toward um Webster

1:07:34Square, there was sign significantly

1:07:36higher parking demand on the north side

1:07:38of the street uh as well as um

1:07:42uh fewer uses with with driveways. So

1:07:46that's where we could get the most

1:07:47number of parking spaces in. So we went

1:07:49ahead and put the parking lane on the

1:07:51north side. Then um from this point

1:07:54south, and I'm blanking on the cross

1:07:56street um but uh from this point south,

1:08:00we then switch the parking back over to

1:08:02that same side of the street. So um the

1:08:07issue is that every time you switch,

1:08:09there's a little bit of inefficiency. So

1:08:11you lose some parking spaces when you do

1:08:13that because you have to gradually

1:08:14transition the lanes back over. Um, it's

1:08:18not too bad in this location because

1:08:20we're doing it within an intersection

1:08:21where you can't park anyway. Um, but we

1:08:25really didn't have a way to provide

1:08:28parking in front of this establishment

1:08:31without taking away a significantly

1:08:34greater number of parking spaces

1:08:36elsewhere on the corner. So, there's

1:08:38there's not really an easy fix. Um we

1:08:41have talked with the uh

1:08:44the property owner and there is you know

1:08:46there is parking um sort of to the

1:08:51west southwest of Young Street on the

1:08:53same side of the street. So that's about

1:08:55it's about 100 ft away. Um and then

1:08:57there's some parking on the north side

1:08:58of the street as well and that has a

1:09:00crosswalk now with a rapid flashing

1:09:02beacon on it. So it's a much safer

1:09:04crossing it used to be. Uh, as we've

1:09:06been out there, we there is parking in

1:09:08the area, so it's not as convenient as

1:09:09it used to be. Um, if there are any

1:09:13changes to the regulation of the parking

1:09:15spaces that would be helpful for the

1:09:17business, we can certainly look at doing

1:09:18that. So, for example, if you know,

1:09:21making some of those spaces 1 hour

1:09:22during the day, um, the ones that are

1:09:24closest to their business, uh, if that

1:09:26was helpful or twohour or whatever the

1:09:28case may be, um, that's something we

1:09:31could look at. But uh short of going out

1:09:34there and kind of starting over with the

1:09:37roadway again, there's not a way to to

1:09:39fit parking spaces directly in front of

1:09:41the business.

1:09:42>> So even if you uh move it from 2hour to

1:09:461 hour,

1:09:48it still wouldn't be able to fit that,

1:09:50right? The 1 hour won't fit or the 1

1:09:51hour would fit.

1:09:52>> It would be in the existing parking

1:09:54spaces. So we wouldn't be creating any

1:09:56new spaces. we would just be changing

1:09:59>> essentially what we'd be doing is

1:10:00prioritizing those spaces that are

1:10:02closest.

1:10:03>> So if they as I understand they have

1:10:05pretty regular turnaround right

1:10:07>> there. So if they're looking to get a

1:10:09lot of people through there

1:10:11>> for example we could look at the two

1:10:13closest spaces in each direction and say

1:10:15you know this ought to be one hour

1:10:16parking. It's still not right in front

1:10:18of the business, but that means that the

1:10:20two closest parking spaces now are going

1:10:22to see more turnover rather than say

1:10:25someone else in the neighborhood parking

1:10:26there and leaving their car there for 10

1:10:28hours.

1:10:29>> Gotcha.

1:10:29>> So, that would be an option. Um, but

1:10:32there's not a way physically to get

1:10:34those parking spaces back where they um,

1:10:37you know, where they're right in front

1:10:38of the property.

1:10:40>> Thank you very much. I move to Father

1:10:42Idol. Roll call.

1:10:45>> Councelor Bada. Yes.

1:10:47>> Councelor O'Hara.

1:10:48>> Yes.

1:10:48>> And chair. Councelor Rivera.

1:10:51>> Yes.

1:10:53Moving on to

1:10:558A. Resident

1:10:59resident permanent parking items. We

1:11:02have Edward Shahu and Laurent Miha.

1:11:05Request removal of residential parking

1:11:08permit parking on Wsura Avenue.

1:11:12Anybody here to speak on this item?

1:11:15Anybody online

1:11:16>> to ensure there's no one raising their

1:11:17hands on

1:11:18>> Commissioner Raleigh?

1:11:20>> U Mr. Chair. So again, I was hopeful

1:11:22we'd have someone who lives on WADA so

1:11:25we could understand if they want to keep

1:11:27the RVP or not. Um

1:11:31so this there there's one very

1:11:34interesting aspect of this which is that

1:11:36uh Wetta is actually two different

1:11:39streets. There's a public street and

1:11:41then there's a portion that's laid out

1:11:43on a plan, but it doesn't exist as a

1:11:45street. And then there's another section

1:11:48um that's a private street and that's

1:11:50out at Pompa uh PMSA Street to the west.

1:11:54That portion is a private street.

1:11:58Somehow in 2014, the city passed a

1:12:01residential parking zone on the private

1:12:04street, which we're not allowed to do.

1:12:05>> Gotcha. So um there are no permit

1:12:08holders that live there. So we ought to

1:12:11correct that. So my recommendation is to

1:12:12go ahead and approve removing from

1:12:15Pamska to the west from the ordinance so

1:12:17we can get that cleaned up. In terms of

1:12:21uh the section that is the the public

1:12:25street, there are four permits that were

1:12:26issued there last year. Um, I'm a little

1:12:30reluctant to recommend removing the

1:12:32residential parking zone without anyone

1:12:35here, including the petitioner, saying

1:12:37sort of the rationale behind it or that

1:12:39they talk to their residents. So, I

1:12:41think my recommendation is to go ahead

1:12:43and um and file that aspect of it. I'm

1:12:48looking at on to see if we can split the

1:12:51petition that way. Um or maybe it's just

1:12:53to approve it but only for the portion

1:12:55that's the private street and that'll

1:12:58retain the

1:12:59>> I think that'll retain the thing is we

1:13:01will approve the um removal or the

1:13:04pasley

1:13:06uh terminus but uh just the private area

1:13:09and don't touch the public way

1:13:12call. Councelor Bilada.

1:13:15>> Yes.

1:13:16>> Councelor O'Hada.

1:13:17>> Yes.

1:13:18>> And chair. Councelor Rivera.

1:13:19>> Yes. Right. Move on to 8B. Alyssa

1:13:23benefit request removal of resident

1:13:25permanent parking on South Flag Street.

1:13:28Anybody speak on this item?

1:13:31Anybody online?

1:13:32>> Two. We do have two people raising their

1:13:34hands on Zoom. The first speaker can

1:13:37recognize Alyssa.

1:13:39>> Okay.

1:13:40>> Hi, good evening. Uh hopefully you can

1:13:42hear me. Um thank you for having me. I

1:13:46um I filed this petition because I

1:13:49believe back when uh the resident permit

1:13:52parking was added, it was due to um the

1:13:55Worcester State students that were

1:13:57parking on our road. And since then

1:13:59they've built a garage and they have

1:14:01various um other modes of

1:14:03transportation. Um, we've never had

1:14:06anyone sort of policing the road in the

1:14:0811 years that I've lived here to check

1:14:11um, for that. And I think, you know, to

1:14:14pay to park in our own houses or to have

1:14:17visitors at our own houses at this point

1:14:19seems a little ridiculous. I've spoken

1:14:21with neighbors and some of them um, you

1:14:25know, don't even um, actually f you

1:14:28know, do their resident uh, parking. And

1:14:31so I feel like at this point um with Bet

1:14:35Shalom at the end of the street um and

1:14:38they they are parking you know the vast

1:14:40majority of that part of the road. The

1:14:43rest of us um it it seems to be a wasted

1:14:47effort and wasted money to have resident

1:14:50parking on the street at this time.

1:14:53>> Thank you very much. Anybody else

1:14:55online?

1:14:55>> Thank you. The next speaker can identify

1:14:58is John S. Meyer. And we do have two

1:15:01more people just raised their hands.

1:15:02>> Okay.

1:15:06>> Hi, can you hear me? This is John

1:15:07Icemire. I live at 201 South Flag before

1:15:11the permit. As indicated, the pressure

1:15:13from Worester State was a problem, but

1:15:16we still have two other businesses that

1:15:18put traffic pressure. I'd be really

1:15:20concerned that Worester State traffic

1:15:21would continue to cause a difficulty.

1:15:24But we have Bet Shalom and a mental

1:15:26health service at the corner of Hadwin

1:15:29and Chandler that put traffic pressure

1:15:31here. I I see this as a safety issue.

1:15:34There's a lot of children that ride

1:15:36their bikes in here before the permit.

1:15:39We weren't able to get out of our

1:15:40driveway at times. Even this weekend, we

1:15:42had someone who was practically blocking

1:15:45a driveway exit on a Saturday night,

1:15:47which didn't impact me personally, but

1:15:49if I had an emergency on a Saturday

1:15:51night, I'd be concerned about it. This

1:15:53permit does offer some safety to us.

1:15:57>> Thank you.

1:15:57>> Thank you.

1:15:58>> Next person.

1:16:00>> Thank you. The next speaker can Sean

1:16:03Johnson.

1:16:07>> Hello. Yes. Uh Sean Johnson. I live at

1:16:10uh 177 South Flag Street and um I would

1:16:14uh I mean I would definitely be opposed

1:16:16to it uh directly across from the street

1:16:18from my home. Uh I live the directly

1:16:21across the street from me is a wooded

1:16:22area and that's where a lot of the

1:16:25Worcester State students actually would

1:16:26park. They'd park there and then I also

1:16:28in uh [clears throat] as John stated as

1:16:31well there is also B shalom we would

1:16:33have uh some uh parking for extended

1:16:35periods just in specifically in that

1:16:38area. Um and uh so I would I would be

1:16:41opposed to it for from my view.

1:16:47>> Thank you. And next person identifies

1:16:49Luke Lucas.

1:16:53>> Miss Hi, this is uh Cheryl Zupett. I'm

1:16:55at 182 South Plag. Um I am opposed to

1:16:59removing the resident parking as well um

1:17:02for very similar reasons. We initially

1:17:06wanted the resident parking for the

1:17:08Worcester State students that would park

1:17:10directly in front of our house all day

1:17:12long in front of the wooded area and

1:17:14then would walk through the woods

1:17:16through our yard which poses the safety

1:17:19issue um between all the kids in the

1:17:22neighborhood and then we have Bet Shalom

1:17:24right next door to us. They have an hour

1:17:28parking which works for their business.

1:17:31Um, but as soon as students catch on

1:17:35that there's open parking on our street,

1:17:38it's just going to open the floodgates

1:17:41whether they can park on, they can't

1:17:43park on Haven, but now there's no

1:17:45parking there. And also Clarage, so it

1:17:48will just push them onto our street. We

1:17:51don't pay for resident parking because

1:17:52we only have two vehicles and we have a

1:17:54driveway that can fit both vehicles. So

1:17:57it we're not paying anything extra just

1:18:00to have the signage up to keep the

1:18:01parking off the street.

1:18:05>> Thank you. Is there anybody else then?

1:18:08>> Ch. There's no one else raising their

1:18:10hand here.

1:18:10>> Commissioner Rally.

1:18:13>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So um this

1:18:15residential zone is established on the

1:18:17east side of South Flag from Clarage to

1:18:19Hadwin. Uh, and the original purpose, as

1:18:22you heard from the testimony, was to

1:18:24protect against parking impacts from

1:18:26Worcester State as well as some of the

1:18:27other institutional uses nearby. Um,

1:18:31the, you know, given the hours that

1:18:33those institutions have, the permits are

1:18:35actually only required during the

1:18:36daytime, Monday through Friday, 8:00

1:18:38a.m. to 5:00 p.m. After that time, you

1:18:41can park there without a a residential

1:18:43permit. So, the restriction is only in

1:18:45place during the day. Um, we were able

1:18:48to confirm there are 11 permits that

1:18:50have been issued eligible parkers there.

1:18:53That's about

1:18:5540% of the properties have purchased a

1:18:58residential parking permit. So, that

1:18:59demonstrates that there is use that's

1:19:01happening. Um I do I will acknowledge

1:19:04there is um there is presently a lesser

1:19:07impact from Worcester State uh as a

1:19:10result of the um you know the garage

1:19:12that they built as well as some

1:19:14fluctuations in their um in their

1:19:17student population but that can

1:19:19certainly change at a future time too.

1:19:21Um, so given, you know, that we heard

1:19:24from several people who uh testified

1:19:26that they are in favor of keeping the

1:19:28RPP, I wouldn't feel um compelled to

1:19:33approve the petition and would recommend

1:19:35to file.

1:19:37>> All right. So, we're going to move to

1:19:38file the item. Roll call.

1:19:40>> Councelor Bada.

1:19:42>> Yes.

1:19:42>> Councelor O'Hada.

1:19:44>> Yes.

1:19:44>> And chairs and councelor Rivera.

1:19:46>> Yes. Moving on to 8C OC go request

1:19:51removal of resident part permanent

1:19:52parking on Shirley Street. Come on up.

1:19:55Name a residence.

1:19:56>> Yes. Uh actually I am the owner of the

1:20:00building on 477 park off and owner the

1:20:04laundromat. I also own the laundromat.

1:20:06Uh I would like to remove the resident

1:20:09on my side too because um they say a

1:20:12resident parking only that is installed

1:20:16between my space you know like my

1:20:18building like this and the resident

1:20:20parking only is on my property you know

1:20:24and I I feel I need more space because

1:20:27my my space is small and the street is

1:20:30never nobody park because the house is

1:20:33is you know way behind my building And

1:20:37you know, I need the parking, you know,

1:20:40more parking, you know, when it's busy.

1:20:43I I don't have enough uh parking for my

1:20:45business.

1:20:48>> Thank you.

1:20:48>> Yeah.

1:20:49>> Is anybody online to speak on this item?

1:20:52>> Uh to there's no one raising their

1:20:55hands.

1:20:55>> Commissioner Raleigh.

1:20:56>> Oh, wait. Council,

1:20:58>> thank you. Um yeah. Um, as a district

1:21:02counselor, um, I've spoke to to many

1:21:04residents on the streets. Um, this has

1:21:07been something that residents have been

1:21:08wanting to keep for many, many years.

1:21:11Um, there is the fact that the college

1:21:14students are in the neighborhood as

1:21:15well. Um, there is parking on Bert

1:21:18Street, which is which isn't too far.

1:21:21So, residents um, so Biz, sorry. So,

1:21:24customers can park on Bert Street as

1:21:25well. um you know maybe

1:21:30I I mean we can't look into the parking

1:21:31on park a that's just too crazy there

1:21:33but um there is um those opportunities

1:21:34to park on Bur Street but like I said a

1:21:36lot of residents are opposed to it

1:21:37because of the fact of you have the

1:21:39college students there and that would

1:21:41that would just fill up we have some of

1:21:42the issues going on around uh the

1:21:45neighborhood as well with a lot of

1:21:46parking and then in the winter time um

1:21:48it poses a a bigger issue and a lot of

1:21:51the residents um some of them you know

1:21:53they have people that come in to provide

1:21:55uh services for them and they they they

1:21:58park on the street as well for them. So

1:21:59they they have um uh what's it called a

1:22:03resident sticker or you know you can you

1:22:06get the permanent parking but then you

1:22:07can purchase an an extra one for someone

1:22:09that's coming in or just they have the

1:22:11commercial plates. So that poses an

1:22:13issue with um the residents year after

1:22:17year. Um I know some of them wanted to

1:22:18get on. one gentleman unfortunately he

1:22:21was uh injured so he couldn't make it on

1:22:24but a lot of residents had asked me to

1:22:25speak on their behalf and I agree I've

1:22:28seen where uh the traffic gets really

1:22:31out of control sometimes um we do have a

1:22:33couple um the parades down Park a so all

1:22:36the people just come in a lot of our

1:22:38streets are are blocked up um so you

1:22:42know that's that's just my my take on

1:22:43that so um I mean I would be willing to

1:22:46you know sit down and talk with the the

1:22:47the business owner to see you know if

1:22:49there's other areas or other ways where

1:22:51we could support them but you know for

1:22:53me it would be tough to support this.

1:22:55>> Okay. Uh just before we go to Male is

1:22:58there way you can uh work where her

1:23:00business maybe like you guys talked we

1:23:04did another one just take out of that

1:23:06area you know um only that what affects

1:23:10her business area. Well, through the

1:23:12chair, one of the other issues is um the

1:23:15auto body gentleman who always puts this

1:23:17on doesn't show up.

1:23:18>> Oh, okay.

1:23:19>> Um the issue is he fills the streets up

1:23:23if he'll fill the street up whenever

1:23:24he's moving his cars and he'll leave

1:23:26them there and that causes another

1:23:28issue. Gotcha.

1:23:29>> Um so that's what residents are really

1:23:31concerned about. Um him being able to do

1:23:33that. Um he'll just fill up the street,

1:23:36put all his cars while he's working on

1:23:38the cars. Um, and then once that's

1:23:39there, they can just sit there for as

1:23:41long as they want, as long as they have

1:23:42tags or whatever on them. They'll be

1:23:45able to to park there for for as long as

1:23:46they want. So, it would even hurt her as

1:23:48well because then he'd park park on the

1:23:50other side and then we can't tell him

1:23:51not to park there. So, that becomes a

1:23:54bigger issue as well.

1:23:56>> Commissioner Ali,

1:23:58>> uh, Mr. Chair, so we did um

1:24:01we we did look at again here we looked

1:24:04at the existing utilization. There's 12

1:24:06permits that have been issued out of 18

1:24:08um potential properties. So, that's a

1:24:10pretty high utilization

1:24:12uh in this neighborhood. Um I wouldn't

1:24:15want to suggest something on the fly,

1:24:17but we could look at something creative

1:24:19perhaps in terms of um maybe there could

1:24:22be down by the businesses a 1-hour

1:24:25parking exclusion

1:24:27um without a residential permit. So,

1:24:29that's something I would want to try to

1:24:31work out the details of rather than

1:24:33trying to do it here on the floor. But,

1:24:34that might be a way that we could

1:24:36provide just a little bit of additional

1:24:38business parking down toward Park Avenue

1:24:41that then then didn't get overwhelmed

1:24:43by, you know, the auto shop across the

1:24:45street. So, happy to happy to meet with

1:24:48with you and the the business owner if

1:24:50that would be something you'd like to

1:24:52do. Um but you know in terms of the

1:24:54overall RPP, we'd recommend retaining

1:24:56the the RPP.

1:24:59>> Gotcha.

1:24:59>> Yeah. No, I appreciate through the

1:25:00chair. Um you know, we see this issue

1:25:03throughout the district, right? There's

1:25:04a lot of uh auto body shops where

1:25:05they're doing business business and

1:25:07they're doing well and they're starting

1:25:08to grow, but they're taking up a lot of

1:25:10the parking in in in the in the streets.

1:25:12Um you have Mason and uh Chandler, you

1:25:16have uh Pedmont and uh L Street. So, a

1:25:20lot of those businesses start to grow

1:25:21and then they're allowed to take park

1:25:22and now the residents have nowhere to

1:25:24go. So, once you allow this, it becomes

1:25:25a bigger issue down the road for

1:25:27residents and people moving into the

1:25:28neighborhood as well. So, I'll

1:25:29definitely love to speak with, you know,

1:25:31the commissioner and and the business

1:25:32owner as well to to figure out what we

1:25:34could do and then bring the residents

1:25:35along as well to, you know, have more of

1:25:37a a neighborhood meeting on discuss, you

1:25:39know, how how do we support you and how

1:25:40do we support each other.

1:25:42>> Okay.

1:25:43>> So, the counselor would work with you on

1:25:45that on your issue. And for this item,

1:25:48we're going to move to file roll call.

1:25:51>> Okay. All right. Thank you so much.

1:25:52Yeah. Thank you.

1:25:54>> Councelor Bada.

1:25:56>> Yes.

1:25:56>> Councelor O'Hara.

1:25:57>> Yes.

1:25:58>> And Chiff and Councelor Rivera.

1:25:59>> Yes. Moving on to 9A speed and traffic

1:26:03enforcement petitions. Katherine Olri

1:26:06request installation of a speed

1:26:08monitoring sign on Level Street going

1:26:10uphill towards Main Street in the

1:26:12vicinity of the Rotary. Anybody speak on

1:26:15this item? Anybody online

1:26:18>> to know when raising your hands?

1:26:20>> Commissioner Ali.

1:26:22>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, um, Level

1:26:24Street is classified as a local roadway

1:26:28uh, in name only. I would say this is a

1:26:30classic example of a street that

1:26:32probably should have been reclassified

1:26:33as a collector street um, over time. So,

1:26:36it carries about 5,400 vehicles a day.

1:26:39Um, looking at the average speed, we

1:26:42took a look at the average speeds

1:26:43specifically in that uphill direction.

1:26:45Uh average speed is 23 miles per hour.

1:26:47That's within the the statutory speed

1:26:50limit. 85th percentile speeds a little

1:26:52bit high at 29, but it's not really

1:26:55outside of the range you would expect to

1:26:57to see on a street like this. Um you

1:27:00know, in terms of whether that corridor

1:27:03makes sense for deployment of one of the

1:27:05temporary signs that uh WPD deploys,

1:27:08I'll defer to Sergeant Foley on that.

1:27:10Um, but just wanted to provide that

1:27:12background context in terms of the data

1:27:14we do have available to us.

1:27:16>> Sergeant Foley, you have anything for

1:27:18us?

1:27:19>> We can add it. I'll I'll have I'll put a

1:27:20request in from our guys to add a sign

1:27:22there and we can try to monitor it and

1:27:24see what the what he's collecting for

1:27:26data. I don't think we're going to see

1:27:28high speeds at that location.

1:27:30>> Perfect.

1:27:32Okay.

1:27:34So, move to

1:27:35>> So, Mr. Chair, I think um I think you

1:27:38can probably just file the item and

1:27:40Sergeant put the request in.

1:27:42>> Thank you. Move to file item roll up

1:27:44call up.

1:27:46>> Councelor Bilada.

1:27:47>> Yes.

1:27:48>> Councelor O'Hada and Cheriffson.

1:27:49Councelor Rivera.

1:27:51>> Yes. Now we're down to 9B. Council Jose

1:27:54Rivera on behalf of Heather Fleven

1:27:57request installation of a dynamic speed

1:27:59monitor display on May Street between

1:28:01Channel Street and Pleasant Street.

1:28:04Um I'm just going to Is there anybody

1:28:07online?

1:28:08>> Chair, there's no one raising their

1:28:10hands.

1:28:10>> Anybody here on this item? No.

1:28:12Commissioner Ali?

1:28:13>> Yeah, Mr. Chair. So, this is referring

1:28:15to the upper portion of Main Street, of

1:28:17course, um kind of from uh Worester

1:28:21Magnet School on North.

1:28:23>> Yes.

1:28:23>> Um so, this segment carries about 1,400

1:28:26vehicles per day. So, it's a local

1:28:29roadway, but on the busier end of of

1:28:31things, there is some cut through

1:28:32traffic, of course, that comes down that

1:28:34corridor. Um, the average speed is 27

1:28:37miles per hour and the 85th percentile

1:28:39speed is 34 miles per hour. So, that's

1:28:41that's getting faster than you want to

1:28:43see. Um, you know, going through a

1:28:45residential neighborhood like this,

1:28:47that's the 85th percentile speeds about

1:28:509 miles per hour over the uh the

1:28:52applicable speed limit.

1:28:54Um

1:28:56there have been eight crashes over the

1:28:58last five years um in the you know

1:29:01recorded in the mass DOT um crash

1:29:03portal. So that's not going to get us up

1:29:05anywhere near as high as the crash rates

1:29:07we were talking about earlier, but

1:29:08that's still an elevated crash rate.

1:29:10It's going to be higher than the the

1:29:11statewide average. Um for a street like

1:29:15this though with that light volume, we

1:29:16usually reserve the speed feedback signs

1:29:19to collector and arterial corridors

1:29:21because of the amount of traffic that um

1:29:24sees those signs and then can respond to

1:29:26them. Here we have a lot lower traffic

1:29:28volume. So we think the the best way to

1:29:31start is to go ahead and post it with

1:29:32the 25 mile per hour speed limit signs

1:29:34that are now uh legally available to us.

1:29:38So, um, and that's, you know, frankly,

1:29:41consideration number one is cost.

1:29:42There's a significant cost to putting in

1:29:44the the speed feedback sign. So, our

1:29:47recommendation here is to to file the

1:29:50petition, but then um certainly a

1:29:52chair's order uh requesting that

1:29:54statutory speed limit signs be placed

1:29:56would be appropriate.

1:29:58>> Um, and did you get the chair's order

1:30:00>> to chair? Yes, I got the

1:30:02>> Okay, we're going to move to file the

1:30:04item. Roll call.

1:30:05>> Councelor Bada. Yes.

1:30:07>> Councelor O'Jada.

1:30:08>> Yes.

1:30:09>> And Sheriff Council Rivera.

1:30:11>> Yes. Moving on to 9C. Raymond Augustine

1:30:14request installation of radar and force

1:30:16speed limit warning signage facing both

1:30:19directions in the vicinity of 22 Valmore

1:30:22Street. Anybody here on that item?

1:30:25Anybody online?

1:30:26>> To make sure there's no one raising

1:30:27their hands.

1:30:28>> Commissioner Raleigh. Yeah, Mr. Chair.

1:30:30So, Valmore Street is a local roadway.

1:30:32It does see a little bit of cut through

1:30:34traffic, but we're not seeing really

1:30:36much traffic um on the road at all. We

1:30:38had reports of cut through traffic, but

1:30:40according to our data sources, looks

1:30:42like it's under 300 vehicles per day.

1:30:45Speeds look fairly well controlled at 17

1:30:47mph, average speed, 20 m hour, 85th

1:30:50percentile. So again, you know, there is

1:30:53considerable cost behind these signs.

1:30:54We'd recommend file on this item in the

1:30:58future if residents are finding that

1:31:00traffic coming is needed here. This is

1:31:02the kind of street that's a candidate

1:31:04for uh consideration for speed humps.

1:31:07>> Sounds good. We move to file item roll

1:31:09call.

1:31:10>> Councelor Bada.

1:31:11>> Yes.

1:31:12>> Councelor O'Hada.

1:31:13>> Yes.

1:31:13>> And chair. Councelor Rivera.

1:31:15>> Yes. Moving on to 10A. Stop sign

1:31:18petitions Lee request installation of

1:31:20stop signage at the intersection of

1:31:23Newton A North and Terrace Drive.

1:31:27>> Name and residence please.

1:31:29>> Yeah. My name is David Chester. Uh I'm

1:31:32at 114 Newton AB North. I'm actually

1:31:35opposed to this. Um it's very rare when

1:31:39I'm driving through that I even see a

1:31:42car on on terrorists. It's it's just not

1:31:45a you know high volume street at all.

1:31:48But the only time it gets traffic is if

1:31:51there's construction or something on

1:31:53Newton AB North and that's the only time

1:31:55other cars will go through there. So, I

1:31:58really really don't see the point in

1:32:00spending money on that.

1:32:03>> Thank you.

1:32:04>> That's about it.

1:32:05>> Appreciate it. Anybody online?

1:32:07>> Two. There's no one raising their hands.

1:32:09>> Commissioner Riley.

1:32:11>> Uh, Mr. Chair, thank you. So, um, we did

1:32:13the analysis for both allway stop as

1:32:16well as oneway stop at this location.

1:32:18There's actually two different

1:32:19intersections of Newton A North and in

1:32:22Terrace. We did confirm with the

1:32:24petitioner that they were referring to

1:32:25the southerntherly one. So that that's

1:32:28um the intersection that kind of there's

1:32:29a picture actually on your on page 24 of

1:32:32your memo. It comes in sort of like a

1:32:34what we call a Y intersection. So

1:32:37instead of being a straight street and

1:32:39then a street hitting it at an angle, um

1:32:43it sort of three equal lateral angles

1:32:47connecting the streets. As the resident

1:32:49noted, there's very little traffic using

1:32:51Terrace Drive. Um, our estimates are

1:32:55fewer than 50 vehicles a day. Um, there

1:32:58hasn't been any crash history there. We

1:33:00actually looked back 20 years in the

1:33:02crash records and and did not find a

1:33:04recorded crash at that location. So,

1:33:08really doesn't seem to be a problem at

1:33:10all. And, uh, I'd agree it does not

1:33:13merit stop control either all way or uh,

1:33:17you know, a single stop sign facing

1:33:19terrorist drive. Um, that being said, it

1:33:22is kind of this wide open intersection

1:33:24and when you first approach it, if

1:33:25you're not familiar with the

1:33:26neighborhood, it can be a little bit

1:33:27confusing as to who has the right away

1:33:30and which, you know, which street goes

1:33:32which direction. Um, given that an

1:33:36appropriate, certainly not a required

1:33:38one, but an appropriate traffic control

1:33:40facing Terrace Drive would be a yield

1:33:42sign. So, just to convey to someone on

1:33:45terrace as they're coming up to the

1:33:46intersection that that it's actually the

1:33:48cross traffic that does have the

1:33:50rightway. Um, that's certainly something

1:33:53we could consider installing if we'd

1:33:55like to do that. Um, again, I don't in

1:33:57any way feel compelled to say that it

1:33:59should necessarily be there, but it is

1:34:01appropriate if we'd like to help clarify

1:34:03what the rightway is. There

1:34:05>> sounds good. So, would you sign facing

1:34:08drivers appropriate for you guys?

1:34:11I couldn't I couldn't get real quick.

1:34:13>> I said, "Is a a yield sign facing

1:34:15terrace drive appropriate?"

1:34:16>> That makes more sense than a star.

1:34:18>> Sounds good. All right. So, we're going

1:34:19to move to approve the item. Roll call

1:34:22for the yield sign facing terrace drive

1:34:24108.

1:34:24>> Councelor Bada.

1:34:26>> Yes.

1:34:27>> Councelor O'Hara.

1:34:28>> Yes.

1:34:29>> And chairs and councelor Rivera.

1:34:32>> Yes. Right. Moving on to 11A. Traffic

1:34:35lane reconfer

1:34:37reconfiguration petitions. Lauren

1:34:40Cordderero request installation of turn

1:34:42signal lights and a turning lane at the

1:34:45intersection of Park Avenue and Pleasant

1:34:46Street. Name a residence please. Oh no,

1:34:50he's moving up. Anybody

1:34:53are you here? Uh for 11 A

1:34:58request installation of turning signal

1:35:00lights and turning lane at the

1:35:01intersection park street.

1:35:03>> Yeah, Mr. Chair, there's actually two

1:35:05items that are the same. So 11 A and

1:35:0711B. 11 A 11B Michael

1:35:11>> or related I should say not the same but

1:35:13related

1:35:13>> got you request installation of

1:35:16designated left turn lanes on Park A at

1:35:18intersection with Pleasant Street that's

1:35:2011B right

1:35:22>> that's correct

1:35:23>> that one and 11A are the same

1:35:25>> uh so 11 A is a request for protected

1:35:28left turns so that's the the green arrow

1:35:30and B is related in that it's requesting

1:35:32turn lanes so dedicated turn lanes on on

1:35:35Park Avenue so I think it does if you're

1:35:37comfortable with It makes sense to take

1:35:39them together.

1:35:39>> Yeah, we'll take them together. Name

1:35:41your residence.

1:35:42>> Uh I'm My name is Vinnie Moho. I'm from

1:35:45uh 265 Park A. So I'm on the corner of

1:35:48Park and Pleasant. Um I'll give you my

1:35:51two cents. I've

1:35:52>> Go ahead.

1:35:53>> I've been here since 2018. My building

1:35:55has been hit three times. Um you know, I

1:35:59don't know what the right answer is. I

1:36:02think some type of turn signal would be

1:36:04fantastic at that intersection. I can't

1:36:06tell you how many times I've witnessed

1:36:10accidents or you know almost

1:36:14uh but there definitely is a big issue

1:36:16on that corner. So if there is something

1:36:18we could do I think it should be a good

1:36:22thing.

1:36:22>> Thank you. Is anybody online

1:36:25>> to ensure there's no one raising their

1:36:27hands?

1:36:28>> Commissioner Riley.

1:36:34>> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, anyone

1:36:36who is familiar with this intersection

1:36:37realizes just how difficult turning left

1:36:40is. I drive through this intersection

1:36:42every day. I walk through it. I

1:36:43occasionally bike through it, so I

1:36:45experience it in all different ways. Um,

1:36:49it can be difficult for vehicles on

1:36:51Pleasant making a left turn, but they

1:36:53already have a left turn lane at least.

1:36:55Um, on Park Avenue, you're in a shared

1:36:58lane, which means that traffic behind

1:37:00you is probably trying to go straight

1:37:02forward and getting frustrated as you're

1:37:03sitting there waiting to make try to

1:37:06make a left turn. Um, and you're having

1:37:09difficulty seeing the opposing traffic

1:37:11because of the two oncoming lanes. It,

1:37:13for whatever reason, the sight lines

1:37:15there um, just line up in a way where

1:37:18that outside lane is very, very

1:37:20difficult to view when you're in that

1:37:22center lane trying to make a left turn.

1:37:24Um, so, you know, all things being

1:37:27equal, if there were is an if there was

1:37:29an easy way to create either a left turn

1:37:33pocket there, left turn lane, um, or to

1:37:36add a protected face, I think absolutely

1:37:38it's something we'd we'd want to do. Um,

1:37:40but there are there are some real space

1:37:42constraints there. uh given the existing

1:37:44cross-section of the roadway and the

1:37:47fact that that block north of Pleasant

1:37:51Street in particular is one where the on

1:37:53street parking is really critical and is

1:37:55heavily utilized. It's one of the few

1:37:57places on on Park A where there is just

1:38:00regular use of that on street parking.

1:38:03Um

1:38:05so we did uh we did look at the data

1:38:07here. Park Avenue carries almost

1:38:10actually just about 20,000 vehicles a

1:38:12day through here. So, it's a very busy

1:38:14arterial. Uh, Pleasant Street itself

1:38:17carries um almost 9,000 vehicles a day,

1:38:21also quite busy. Um,

1:38:24in terms of the crash history, there's

1:38:27been 90 crashes over the last 5 years,

1:38:3021 of which involved left turning

1:38:33vehicles at Park A. Um, and I suspect

1:38:37that a number of additional crashes have

1:38:40also indirectly involved those left

1:38:42turning vehicles. So, people making a

1:38:44lane maneuver at the last minute trying

1:38:45to avoid the congestion that's causing

1:38:48and that kind of thing. So, um,

1:38:53you know, there's a lot of merit to

1:38:55trying to do one or both of these

1:38:57things. The where it gets tricky is how

1:38:59do you accommodate it and what are the

1:39:01impacts of that in terms of do you need

1:39:02to remove parking? Do you need to remove

1:39:05a travel lane, a through travel lane to

1:39:07do it? What does that look like? One of

1:39:10the things we find on four-lane roadways

1:39:11is they actually don't operate that

1:39:13efficiently because of the the vehicles

1:39:17turning left blocking through traffic.

1:39:19So sometimes you can get rid of travel

1:39:20lanes, have just a single travel lane,

1:39:23and then get all the turning traffic

1:39:25into that left turn lane, and you get as

1:39:27much throughput as you would otherwise.

1:39:29So those are all things that merit

1:39:32consideration here. But I guess what I'm

1:39:34trying to get at is this is a very

1:39:36involved process and would involve some

1:39:39pretty significant restructuring at this

1:39:41intersection. Um the good news is the

1:39:45city did apply for and has received

1:39:47what's called a bottleneck grant that

1:39:49affects this intersection as well as the

1:39:52other intersections on Park Avenue um

1:39:56from here all the way up to Salsbury

1:39:58Street. So all of these signalized

1:40:00intersections are going to get looked

1:40:01at. Um there are going to be

1:40:04improvements that are planned for each

1:40:07of the traffic signal systems there so

1:40:09they operate more effectively. And

1:40:11that's also an opportunity to work in

1:40:12safety improvements such as this. So for

1:40:15this particular item, we're going to

1:40:18recommend file because um it's not the

1:40:22kind of thing we would really be

1:40:24prepared to execute on right now.

1:40:28But through this bottleneck process

1:40:30that's going to occur over the next 18

1:40:33months, 18 months. Um, these are just

1:40:36the types of things that'll be

1:40:37evaluated.

1:40:39>> Just real quick before I get to you,

1:40:40sir, I have a question because I live in

1:40:43this area. I just want to confirm this

1:40:44is right where the gas station is down

1:40:47street, right? So, I see they have the

1:40:49lights, right? They they just can't do a

1:40:52left turn signal light first. You know

1:40:53how they do in the other places. they

1:40:55take their left and then it's green and

1:40:57you know what I'm saying back and forth

1:40:58like

1:40:58>> yeah through Mr. Chair. So um that is an

1:41:02option. Okay.

1:41:03>> Uh it doesn't it it has limited

1:41:06effectiveness because basically it helps

1:41:09for if you have a left turning vehicle

1:41:11at the front of the queue,

1:41:12>> right?

1:41:12>> Then it helps gets a green arrow. He can

1:41:15clear out of the way. Everyone else can

1:41:16be on their way. The problem is you're

1:41:19also going to have other left turners

1:41:20further back in the queue. So it really

1:41:22it gets you a little bit of a boost.

1:41:24>> Got you. but it doesn't get you a whole

1:41:25lot. Um, that is an option that will be

1:41:28looked at as part of the bottleneck

1:41:30grant. You know, they'll look at just

1:41:32adding those left turns and having it

1:41:33continue to be a shared lane. They'll

1:41:35look at what happens if we make it one

1:41:37lane in each direction and put a

1:41:38separate left turn lane in. They'll do

1:41:40the traffic analysis for all of this and

1:41:42show us how it operates, how it would

1:41:44operate under each of the configurations

1:41:46as well as what the safety anticipated

1:41:48safety benefits would be. So

1:41:51there's a lot of analytical work that's

1:41:53going to happen as a result of this this

1:41:56grant to improve the intersection and

1:41:58you know our recommendation is that's

1:42:01got

1:42:01>> right around the corner. So let's see

1:42:03how that plays out.

1:42:04>> Name a residence please.

1:42:06>> Uh Steven Hopkins 270 Park.

1:42:10>> I'm Blue Jeans Pizza.

1:42:12>> Yes.

1:42:13>> With an architect many many years ago.

1:42:17Ironically the street department.

1:42:21>> Do you mind just because we're recording

1:42:22this right? You speak in the mic.

1:42:24>> The an architect and I met with the city

1:42:29DPW

1:42:31and in a offthe cuff remark they said

1:42:34well you can take some of the sidewalk

1:42:36because it's oversized. It's a 12 foot.

1:42:40Obviously, we weren't going to take the

1:42:41sidewalk, but the the point is if you

1:42:45look at the Highland and Park Avenue

1:42:47intersection at the corner that's on the

1:42:51westerly side, not in the park, they've

1:42:55reduced the pedestrian passageway down

1:42:59to about three feet

1:43:01in order to widen Highland Street. If

1:43:04you're familiar with if you're heading

1:43:07south on Park A and you're going to turn

1:43:10right onto Highland Street, at that

1:43:13intersection, they took away sidewalk

1:43:17dimensions to expand the street and

1:43:20allow that lefthand turn that you're

1:43:23referring to.

1:43:24>> Do you know where I mean?

1:43:27>> So, through the chair, um that is

1:43:29correct. So, they did do selective

1:43:31widening at Highland Street at that

1:43:32point in time. Um the dimensions that

1:43:35were just described are actually no

1:43:36longer legal. Uh it's too narrow for a

1:43:38sidewalk. Um that's something we would

1:43:41want to avoid in this context where it

1:43:43is a highly walkable neighborhood. 12 ft

1:43:45sounds like a lot of sidewalk. That's

1:43:47actually kind of the minimum for a busy

1:43:49commercial area. Um you really want to

1:43:52be careful at chipping away at that. So

1:43:55again, in this process, they're going to

1:43:56look at all of the available options.

1:43:59Um, but I just want to caution that what

1:44:02might look like an opportunity when

1:44:04you're really trying to create a

1:44:05successful vibrant neighborhood often

1:44:08isn't because that 12 feet is really

1:44:10what we know now is kind of the minimum

1:44:12you want to have.

1:44:13>> And isn't now Park A and Highland Street

1:44:15the left there there's no left turn

1:44:17there, right?

1:44:18>> That that's correct. Uh there is a

1:44:20shared left. So it's the same thing

1:44:21where you have to do it out of the out

1:44:24of the um the through lane. There is a

1:44:27right turn lane

1:44:28>> right

1:44:28>> at at Highland. So that that they were

1:44:31able to carve out enough space to get a

1:44:32very narrow right turn lane there.

1:44:35Coincidentally, as part of the paving

1:44:37project that just happened, we looked at

1:44:38the um possibility of adding a left turn

1:44:41lane there and thought about even taking

1:44:43that right turn lane out because from a

1:44:46traffic operations perspective, even

1:44:47though it seems a little

1:44:48counterintuitive given the amount of

1:44:50right turning traffic, um there's some

1:44:52real advantages both operationally and

1:44:54safety-wise. Uh but we couldn't make

1:44:57that work within the existing

1:44:58constraints. So, it did go back

1:45:00basically the way it it was with a

1:45:02little more width in uh in the travel

1:45:05lanes.

1:45:08>> Name your resident, sir. You want to

1:45:10speak? Come on up.

1:45:13>> Um my name is Robert O' Conor. I live at

1:45:16539 Pleasant Street, uh couple houses up

1:45:20from Blue Jeans Pizza. And uh that's a

1:45:24really dangerous intersection. You you

1:45:27even mentioned that, Commissioner

1:45:28Roberts. You've watched the vehicles

1:45:31there. You've gone through it. You've

1:45:32taken your bike there. Um if there could

1:45:35be some way of having some dedicated

1:45:38lanes, turn lanes both at Park AB and

1:45:42Pleasant Street. Uh once this is

1:45:44reconfigured, it would really make a big

1:45:47difference even if it was altered just a

1:45:49little bit because it's it's it's a

1:45:52dangerous extremely dangerous

1:45:54intersection. And what I heard in the

1:45:57past is that of all the intersections,

1:46:00it's number three for accidents in the

1:46:03city. So, it's something that really

1:46:05should be looked at. Um,

1:46:08granted,

1:46:10you only have so much room to work with

1:46:13and this is that's the challenge. Um,

1:46:16but I don't know if there could be

1:46:17something done with the the actual

1:46:19traffic lights themselves in the lanes.

1:46:22I you know this is out of my area of

1:46:25expertise. So

1:46:26>> no I appreciate

1:46:27>> hopefully u something positive can

1:46:30result if they're going to spend money

1:46:33to

1:46:34>> mitigate this. Okay.

1:46:35>> I think based on the grants he talked

1:46:38about the project coming up. I think uh

1:46:42definitely some

1:46:45better it's gonna betterment is going to

1:46:47come in this area.

1:46:48>> Right.

1:46:48>> Councelor you want to say anything on

1:46:50this?

1:46:50>> Yeah real quick. Uh again, we share this

1:46:53part of the district. Uh is it safe to

1:46:55say Lyrams is is the building? Okay.

1:46:58>> And you've been there for a while, huh?

1:46:59>> Yeah, I've been there for a little

1:47:00while.

1:47:00>> Yeah. Um yeah. So, my question to the

1:47:04chair to to the commissioner real quick.

1:47:06Um it does get real tight on that term

1:47:08when you come down Pleasant making a

1:47:09right turn. Um, is there anything that

1:47:11we can do now as far as um adding some

1:47:16lines where it does bottleneck? But I

1:47:19think it does make sense to go um into a

1:47:22single lane and then when you get down

1:47:24kind of towards past what is that? Is

1:47:26that Townsen?

1:47:29Town? Yeah, Townsen. Past Townsen it

1:47:31becomes a two-lane again because you

1:47:32have all the all the businesses there

1:47:34with all the cars parking there. Is this

1:47:37something that we can do sooner rather

1:47:38than later? Another thing too is um I

1:47:41was in Rhode Island um the other day and

1:47:43I noticed that a lot of times when you

1:47:46made the right turn, you wanted to park,

1:47:48they would be parking wouldn't be

1:47:50allowed to like 20 30 feet away from

1:47:53that that that that side of the road. Um

1:47:56and right here looks like a good place

1:47:58for that. So it can again turn into a

1:48:00single lane and then further down open

1:48:03up to a double lane. But my question is,

1:48:06is that a long process or was that

1:48:08something that

1:48:09>> through?

1:48:09>> Yeah, through the chair. So, um I mean

1:48:12that's the kind of thinking those are

1:48:13the kinds of opportunities they're going

1:48:14to want to look at. Um it is more than

1:48:16just some simple striping. We're still a

1:48:18little bit too constrained to do that

1:48:20here. Um definitely taking parking away

1:48:25immediately adjacent to the intersection

1:48:27is often how you address this. But in

1:48:30order to get a meaningful turn lane in,

1:48:33you need to take it back quite a quite a

1:48:35distance. Um, which is why one of the

1:48:38options they're going to want to look at

1:48:40is actually, hey, what happens if

1:48:42instead of having two lanes go through

1:48:45the whole corridor, we know we need two

1:48:47lanes down at Chandler Street to get

1:48:49through that intersection acceptably and

1:48:51not have congestion just blow up, but do

1:48:53we actually need it through this middle

1:48:55portion? And if not, does that then give

1:48:57you the opportunity to take care of the

1:48:59left turns in a a separate lane? Also

1:49:01create some better separation from um

1:49:04the travel lane and the parking, which

1:49:05is a problem on this block. Anyone who

1:49:08parks there, I mean that outside lane is

1:49:1017 ft, which means that um when you have

1:49:14cars parked there going to the

1:49:15businesses,

1:49:17and you know, if you've driven it in

1:49:18winter in particular, you're going to

1:49:20cheat into that next lane over because

1:49:21it gets really tight through there. So,

1:49:24that's one of the things they're going

1:49:25to want to look at. Um, they'll look at

1:49:26the intersection configuration. A

1:49:28problem that we have is the traffic

1:49:31signal pole that is currently in the

1:49:34middle of Pleasant Street. That thing, I

1:49:36think we're on par with you for getting

1:49:38hit. Uh, that thing gets hit about every

1:49:41four months.

1:49:42>> Wow.

1:49:42>> Um, four to six months. It's just not

1:49:45where you want to keep it. So that'll I

1:49:48can you know I don't have a crystal ball

1:49:50but I can tell you that pole's going to

1:49:51move as a part of uh as a part of this

1:49:54design. So I I don't we'll continue to

1:49:57look at it and if we see some interim

1:49:58treatments that would make sense we

1:50:00we'll certainly execute on those but I I

1:50:02think most of the things are going to be

1:50:03stuff that we want to have this design

1:50:05consultant look at. Um just real quick,

1:50:08I don't want to uh be on this too long,

1:50:11but um if and when that pole does get

1:50:14moved, um it kind of acts as a barrier

1:50:17in a way for the building. Is there

1:50:20potential for I know we had talked about

1:50:22this, some type of ballard or something

1:50:24like that to protect because I know at

1:50:25night there's residents, you know, going

1:50:27out and, you know, having a good time or

1:50:29whatever. They're they're just sitting

1:50:32pray pretty much to someone that can

1:50:33just drive off the side of the road.

1:50:35>> Yeah. Through the chair. So any any

1:50:37roadside object there would need to be a

1:50:39breakaway object, which means it's not

1:50:40really going to provide that that sort

1:50:43of barrier that we're looking for. I

1:50:45think what we want to do in this case is

1:50:47look at curb curb extensions where

1:50:49there's parking lanes. So that gets the

1:50:51curb further out away from the building

1:50:53and now instead of being 12t from the

1:50:55building, you're more like 18t away from

1:50:58the building. It creates more uh

1:51:02horizontal separation.

1:51:05>> All right. So with that that Oh, sorry.

1:51:07One more thing. Go ahead, sir.

1:51:09>> It's a question I I'm afraid to ask.

1:51:14>> What's the possibility of eminent domain

1:51:18taking some of my parking? I don't want

1:51:21that to happen.

1:51:23>> Yeah, I don't.

1:51:24>> Yeah. Uh, Mr. Chair, it's something that

1:51:27would certainly be an absolute last

1:51:29resort here, and I think we're going to

1:51:30find some some improvements that aren't

1:51:32going to require that.

1:51:33>> Good. Um certainly not our intent to to

1:51:36to go and and get additional. You know,

1:51:39we've got constraints up and down this

1:51:41whole corridor. And one of the things

1:51:42you find is if you go and you try to

1:51:45deal with a problem in one spot, often

1:51:47what you're doing is just pushing it

1:51:48further down the road. So I'd rather

1:51:50work within the constraints that we have

1:51:52and figure out the best way to to

1:51:53operate the corridor.

1:51:55>> I can sleep better now.

1:51:56>> Thank you. All right. So, we're going to

1:51:58move to follow item, but I want to do a

1:52:00chair's order requesting that safety for

1:52:02left turning traffic be prioritized and

1:52:05addressed at Park Avenue and Pleasant

1:52:07Street during the upcoming uh bottleneck

1:52:09traffic sign improvement project.

1:52:13Roll call.

1:52:14>> Councelor Bilada,

1:52:16>> yes.

1:52:17>> Councelor O'Hara,

1:52:18>> yes.

1:52:19>> And chen councelor Rivera.

1:52:21>> Yes. So, we're moving on to 11B. I would

1:52:25say that was 11B. We did 11B. Sorry. And

1:52:2811 A. Right. Those we did together. Just

1:52:31confirm with N. 11 A 11 B.

1:52:34>> Yes, that's correct.

1:52:35>> Okay. Good. 12A. Nicole.

1:52:40Oh, I'm going to kill this name. A music

1:52:43request the school zone signage of on

1:52:45Blackstone River Road be reviewed for

1:52:48the physibility of

1:52:50changing the time from 8:30 a.m. to 8:45

1:52:53a.m.

1:52:55Anybody online?

1:52:57to there's no one raising their hand.

1:52:59>> Commissioner Rally. Uh Mr. Chair, so

1:53:01we're actually in the process of

1:53:02updating all the school zonage sign

1:53:04across the city um and standardizing the

1:53:07time. So one of the things is that

1:53:10school kids tend to be around schools

1:53:12early. Sometimes there's before school

1:53:14programs, there's kids coming and going

1:53:16during the day, there's after school

1:53:17sports. Um, so rather than trying to

1:53:20pinpoint the exact times that kids are

1:53:22coming to and from each individual

1:53:24school, um, what we've done is gone to a

1:53:27standard time of 7 am to 4 p.m. that the

1:53:30school zones will be in place. So this

1:53:32particular item can be filed. That was

1:53:34all taken care of um, last year when we

1:53:37voted on Okay.

1:53:38>> establishing all of the additional

1:53:40school zones around the city.

1:53:41>> All right. Can we take it together with

1:53:4312B? Nico request existing school zone

1:53:45signage on Blackstone River Road be

1:53:48updated to include flashing beacon. Oh

1:53:50no, it's a little different than the

1:53:51other one. All right, we're going to

1:53:53first uh roll call to file 12A.

1:53:57>> Councelor Bada.

1:53:59>> Yes.

1:54:00>> Councelor O'Hada and Cheriff and

1:54:01Councelor Rivera.

1:54:03>> Yes. Uh 12B. Nicole Amus request the

1:54:07existing school zone signage on

1:54:08Blackstone River Road be updated to

1:54:10include flashing beacons. Commissioner.

1:54:13>> Yeah, Mr. Chair. So, we're recommending

1:54:15file on this um simply because the yeah,

1:54:18there is a cost involved in um in the

1:54:22adding these flashing beacons to them.

1:54:24We're at a point now where we're still

1:54:25just trying to get all of the

1:54:26appropriate school zone sign signage in

1:54:28place. So, that's where we really really

1:54:30need to put our resources. Um but we do

1:54:32work with the safe rest to schools task

1:54:34force which includes um staff from our

1:54:37department, the school department,

1:54:38public health, public works, traffic

1:54:41division of of PD and others um to

1:54:45identify locations where there are

1:54:46recurring safety problems that we can

1:54:48then go and put additional resources

1:54:50into. So um there is a mechanism for an

1:54:54ongoing look at this, but at this point

1:54:56in time, we're recommending that uh this

1:54:58particular item be filed.

1:55:00Okay, we're going to move to file item.

1:55:02Roll call.

1:55:03>> Councelor Bilada.

1:55:06>> Yes.

1:55:06>> Councelor O'Hada and Cherson. Councelor

1:55:08Rivera.

1:55:09>> Yes.

1:55:10>> Yes. [laughter]

1:55:1212C. Councelor Robert Bada request

1:55:15installation of three-way street signage

1:55:17at the northern corner of Tampa Street

1:55:19in the vicinity of 47 Tampa Street.

1:55:22Councelor Bada.

1:55:24>> Yes. uh just a resident had reached out

1:55:27asking for a throughway sign because a

1:55:28lot of folks don't realize that Tampa

1:55:30Street does almost like a U and connects

1:55:34back to um

1:55:38Atlanta Street. So, uh and a lot of

1:55:41folks are doing U-turns and turning

1:55:42around not thinking it's a through

1:55:44street. So, they just requested a uh

1:55:46sign just notifying that it is a through

1:55:48street.

1:55:49>> Commissioner Riley.

1:55:51>> Yeah, thank thank you for the

1:55:52explanation, counselor. Um, so we had

1:55:55misinterpreted this a little bit. I had

1:55:57presumed they were looking for a not a

1:55:58through street sign, which it's

1:56:00obviously not, so we couldn't put that

1:56:02up. Um, there is no sign in MUTC that I

1:56:06Todd stepped out of course.

1:56:08>> Uh, just when I needed them, um, there

1:56:10is there is no sign in the MUTCD to

1:56:12designate that a street does continue

1:56:15through. Um,

1:56:18trying to think what we could do to help

1:56:20convey that. I think one of the problems

1:56:22here is that this street has an an

1:56:24absolute 90 degree turn, right? And so

1:56:27as you're coming up upon it, it probably

1:56:29looks a lot like a dead-end street

1:56:31because you're just seeing a guardrail

1:56:33straight ahead at the end of the street.

1:56:35Um so perhaps if we put the sharp curve

1:56:39sign um particularly for that I think

1:56:43it's westbound direction. So, you're

1:56:45you're going down this long street

1:56:48>> as you see this guardrail and you're

1:56:50starting to think, "Oh, geez, I need to

1:56:51turn around." If you see that left turn

1:56:53sign, right, you're going to know that

1:56:55the road continues on. That might be a

1:56:56way that we could help convey it. So,

1:56:59um, in that regard, if if the district

1:57:02counselor thinks that might be helpful,

1:57:03I'd recommend file the item in a chair's

1:57:05order for a um sharp curve sign.

1:57:10>> Sounds good to me. That's good with you,

1:57:12Councelor Bala.

1:57:13>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I just have one quick

1:57:15quick question. Would it do any harm to

1:57:17install it through street sign or

1:57:19>> through? I mean, it's not technically

1:57:21going through anything else.

1:57:22>> Yeah, through the chair. We're not

1:57:24allowed to install non-standard signs.

1:57:27>> Got it. No, I appreciate that. I think

1:57:28yeah, a sharp left turn sign would be

1:57:30very helpful. I appreciate that.

1:57:32>> All righty. So, we're going to file the

1:57:33item on the chair's order for a sharp

1:57:35curve sign. Roll call.

1:57:39>> Councelor Bilada.

1:57:41>> Yes.

1:57:42>> Councelor O'Hara.

1:57:43>> Yes. and chairs and councelor Vera.

1:57:46>> Yes. And we're moving on to 13A.

1:57:48Miscellaneous item petition of councelor

1:57:50Christian King and councelor Robert

1:57:52Balada request the intersection of

1:57:54Plantation Street and Orian Street be

1:57:57reviewed for the purpose of installing

1:58:00speed caling measures at the location.

1:58:03Commissioner. Oh, wait. Uh council Bada.

1:58:06>> Yes. Thank you. Um, couser King and I

1:58:09had petitioned this because it's a bit

1:58:10of a uh challenging

1:58:13intersection. The uh crosswalk at Orian

1:58:17Street is very long because the road's

1:58:20coming in at an angle. There's some

1:58:22difficult sight lines there. So, wanted

1:58:24to see what we could do to clean up this

1:58:26intersection, making it safer, maybe uh

1:58:28limiting or cutting back on the amount

1:58:30of space that uh folks are crossing on

1:58:34Orient Street. wanted to see also if it

1:58:36would be possible to do like a crosswalk

1:58:38across Plantation there, but also uh

1:58:41again road redesign and see what we can

1:58:43do to calm traffic there because a lot

1:58:44of times people are coming uh up

1:58:47Plantation Street and we'll just take

1:58:49that right onto Orient. It'll take it

1:58:50pretty quick because it's just basically

1:58:52like an exit ramp, the same kind of

1:58:54angle there. And again, cars are going

1:58:57across Plantation to take a left down

1:58:58towards Brown Square. So, it's just a

1:59:00challenging intersection. I want to see

1:59:03what we could do with that.

1:59:05>> To chair, sorry, it's interjecting to

1:59:06have one person raising their hands on

1:59:08Zoom.

1:59:09>> Please go to that

1:59:11>> to speaker Sandra Cross. You may go

1:59:14ahead and begin testimony.

1:59:16>> Yes. Hi. Um, I'm calling about the uh

1:59:20item number 12C since you skipped over

1:59:22me and um the uh one that uh you just

1:59:26talked about on Tampa Street. I live at

1:59:2847 Tampa Street.

1:59:29>> Yes. Go ahead.

1:59:30>> Okay. You're talking about a long street

1:59:32and needing a guardrail. Well, the

1:59:34street is very short. And yes, it does

1:59:36take a U-turn like many, many streets in

1:59:38Wester do. And it's not a guardrail.

1:59:40It's a railroad track. The people that

1:59:42live in the condominium at the corner of

1:59:45Tamper and Plantation Street, there's

1:59:48probably I would say

1:59:5215 to 20 cars on the street at any time.

1:59:55and uh maybe they just don't look at the

1:59:57map and don't understand it goes around

1:59:59a corner, but in all reality, if you

2:00:01want to put a a street sign on the

2:00:03corner, put it across the street where

2:00:05no one lives. It abuts the railroad

2:00:06track.

2:00:08>> Thank you.

2:00:09>> So, let's go back to that one. And let's

2:00:11see what happens.

2:00:12>> Okay. Thank you, Sandra.

2:00:14>> Oh, yes. You're welcome.

2:00:17>> All right. Commissioner Raleigh, we are

2:00:19miscellaneous 13A.

2:00:21>> Okay. Um so for 13A

2:00:25um

2:00:27back in 2024 we actually looked at this

2:00:29intersection um at the request of the

2:00:31former district counselor. So you know

2:00:34obviously that um predated a lot of the

2:00:36the current counselors um but to just to

2:00:39summarize um the findings of that and I

2:00:42I can provide a copy of that study um to

2:00:45councelor Bada just so he has uh he has

2:00:48it and can review the the findings but

2:00:50>> thank you. Essentially, we found exactly

2:00:52what he just described, which is that

2:00:54the real challenge there is um there's a

2:00:57little bit of a sight distance issues.

2:00:59You're trying to look down Plantation

2:01:00Street. Um and it's just the the

2:01:06configuration of that intersection

2:01:07allows people to take a really

2:01:08high-speed right turn because you don't

2:01:10it's not teed off at all. It's just a a

2:01:13straight shot down Orient street. So,

2:01:15the answer to that is at whatever future

2:01:19time that street is due for resurfacing

2:01:22um to tee that intersection up. And

2:01:24we've been doing that across the city at

2:01:25a lot of locations. You can see it at

2:01:27Russell Street Park um as well as a

2:01:30couple of the intersections there where

2:01:32those used to come in at an angle like

2:01:34that and now they they tee up. um that

2:01:36both slows traffic down when it makes

2:01:38the turn and it also improves your

2:01:40ability to see when you're at the

2:01:42intersection because now instead of

2:01:44being at a strange angle, you're 90° and

2:01:46you can see both ways. So, that's a

2:01:49recommendation that was made in that in

2:01:50that study. We did look at the

2:01:52possibility of is there anything we

2:01:54could do in advance of that with paint

2:01:56and we could. I honestly don't see a lot

2:02:00of benefit um from it because there's

2:02:02just such little room to work with. and

2:02:05one of the neighbors driveways comes out

2:02:06right at the intersection. So, I I think

2:02:09that's really uh hey, when we're out

2:02:11there resurfacing next, let's get that

2:02:13cleaned up at the corner. Um we did take

2:02:17a look at the crash data. You know,

2:02:20fortunately, the crash history is not

2:02:22particularly um bad at this location.

2:02:24It's lower than the average for um

2:02:27similar intersections. There hasn't been

2:02:29a crash since we did that study in

2:02:32January of 24. Um, so that's good. It

2:02:36doesn't mean there aren't still some

2:02:37risks there associated with that

2:02:38high-speed right turn that both

2:02:40councelor Bolad and I spoke of. Um,

2:02:44probably worth just um, briefly

2:02:45mentioning that there's some other work

2:02:47on plantation further down toward the

2:02:49park to improve the pedestrian crossings

2:02:52um, that is planned uh, here in the

2:02:55future. And then the last thing that the

2:02:57report I'll mention that the report uh

2:02:59had identified was that uh at the time

2:03:03we could not sign it as a 25 mile per

2:03:05hour street even though we knew speeding

2:03:07was an issue there. That's now a

2:03:09possibility. So this is another street

2:03:11where it makes sense to get some 25 mile

2:03:13per hour statutory speed limit signs. Um

2:03:15that would certainly be a worthwhile

2:03:16chair's order uh to request that DTM um

2:03:21install the applicable 25 mile per hour

2:03:23sign now that it we're able to do so.

2:03:27>> You get that in your yes I got it.

2:03:31>> All right. So we'll do that chair's

2:03:32order and uh move to file that item roll

2:03:35call.

2:03:36>> Councelor Bada.

2:03:38>> Yes. Thank you.

2:03:39>> Councelor O'Joa.

2:03:41>> Yes.

2:03:41>> And chair councelor Rivera.

2:03:43>> Yes. Uh with that being said, um agree

2:03:47to adjourn the meeting. Roll call.

2:03:49>> Councelor Bada.

2:03:51>> Yes.

2:03:51>> Councelor O'Hada.

2:03:52>> Yes.

2:03:52>> And chair. Councelor Rivera.

2:03:54>> Yes.