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Step #1 Organize with your neighbors |
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If you are concerned about safety on your street, talk to
your neighbors and find out what they think.
Collaborating with others builds awareness, community, and
solidarity. In order to move this process along,
you'll need 40% of your neighborhood to agree that something
must be done. To gather support you can: |
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| - | Create and distribute a flyer asking people to contact you if they are concerned. |
| - | Create a survey and interview your neighbors about their concerns. |
| - | Go door to door on your street getting the names and phone numbers of interested neighbors. |
| - | Ask
each person you talk with to recruit someone else. |
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Step #2 Contact the Department of Public Works |
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| - | Send a letter to the DPW. |
| - | Make a telephone call to DPW staff Dan Bradley (865-5832) or Justin Rabidoux (865-5831). |
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Attend an orientation session to learn more about the
traffic enhancement process. |
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Step #3 Be Realistic and Be Patient |
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Once you have attended the orientation session, request that
DPW hold a meeting with you and your neighbors to hear your
concerns. If the concerns on your street are
determined to be a priority by DPW engineers, a plan will be
set for traffic calming and your street will be put on the
work list. (Note that some measure of patience will be
required when you reach this point; it usually takes about a
year before the work is carried out, and three years from
whence the project began until it is completed.) |
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Step #4 Leverage Help |
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| - | Contact your City Council Members |
| - | NPA Steering Committee Members |
| - | Department of Public Work Commission Members to assist you in your efforts. |
| - | Contact your neighborhood A*VISTA or Ita Meno at CEDO, 865-7172. |
Improving Your Streets and Sidewalks |
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| Autumn Engroff lives at 139 North Willard Street. Originally a duplex, she and her husband converted the building into a single family home and have experienced many challenges moving into a home located on a busy intersection. “We looked at all the things that were impacting us and our surrounding neighbors and chose to focus on the issue that we could have the most positive influence on. In this case it was traffic.” Engroff decided to focus on traffic speed at the intersection on North Street and North Willard that had a traffic light. Engroff started by contacting the Department of Public Works (DPW) to explore options. |
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Residents worked with the Department of Public Works to change a traffic light to a 4-way stop at the intersection of North Willard and North Street. |
DPW first asked Engroff to take a petition around the neighborhood to see if her neighbors felt similarly. She visited the houses that were within a certain distance from the intersection because they were the people most affected. After collecting signatures it was clear that other neighbors were also concerned about traffic in the neighborhood and a traffic study was done by DPW shortly after.
Once the data had been collected and processed, the Department of Public Works then looked at whether a lighting system was necessary at the intersection . They determined that the traffic light could just as easily be a four way stop to slow the traffic going through the neighborhood.
In the fall of 2004 DPW and residents had a trial period where the traditional traffic light was changed to a four way stop. DPW then asked for feedback from the surrounding neighbors and got a very positive response. From there, DPW went ahead and installed the stop signs.
Autumn and her neighbors agree that the four way stop was a change for the better and is just a piece of a greater vision that she and her neighbors share for the neighborhood. They intend to put in stenciled crosswalks, Welcome To The Neighborhood signs, and to encourage truck drivers to not use Jake Brakes, which are very loud and have been banned in other cities for this reason.
“We are working to change people’s outside perspectives to match the perspectives of the people that live here. When we look around, we see a neighborhood full of children, families, and college students; not a major thoroughfare.” She also mentions that increasing the positive visual impact of a neighborhood will help remind others to treat their neighborhood with respect.
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