View of Speed Hump on Dolores St. between 15th Av. & Santa Lucia Av., towards Santa Lucia Av.Date: Sunday, March 16, 2008
City Council Minutes
Regular meeting
February 5, 2008
VI. APPEARANCES
Peter Boyle, Rod Schinnerer, Bruce Moore, Charlotte Boyle, Dr. William Greer, Margot Phillips, Roberta Miller, John Rainey, and Michelle Moore addressed Council about the speed hump on Dolores between 15th and Santa Lucia.
Highlights of Concerns (by Category) Expressed by Public Speakers during APPEARANCES:
• A “lack of due process”
“...no prior public discussion, no letter, no phone calls and nothing to the majority of us who live” on Dolores St.
“No proper procedure, warning or discussion with the residents along Dolores St.;" overwhelming majority of Dolores St. residents opposed to the speed hump and City tactics.
• Violation of Municipal Code
Carmel-by-the-Sea
Municipal Code
Chapter 10.16
TRAFFIC-CONTROL DEVICES
AND SIGNALS*
10.16.010 Placement by Council.
The City Council shall have the exclusive power and duty to place and maintain or cause to be placed or maintained official traffic-control devices when and as required under this chapter to make effective the provisions of this chapter and may place and maintain such additional traffic-control devices as it deems necessary to regulate traffic under this chapter or under the State law, or to guide or warn traffic. (Ord. 196 § 20, 1938; Code 1975 § 519).
Speed humps not recognized by the California Vehicle Code as official traffic control devices, raising the potential of liability.
NOTE: The City Council did not hold a public hearing on the installation of the speed hump. Ergo, the City Council never authorized the speed hump installation by a vote of City Council Members.
• Violation of General Plan
Speed hump installation “contrary to the spirit, if not the letter of the General Plan.”
• Dangerous
“Extremely dangerous;” a driver trying to avoid the speed hump at 10:00 P.M. ran into a neighbor’s parked car, when there had never been a problem previously; “a liability,” another accident just waiting to happen.
There are probably 30-40 more dangerous locations in Carmel-by-the-Sea than Dolores St. between 15th Av. and Santa Lucia Av.
Speed hump “unnecessary, illegal and dangerous.”
• Unwarranted
Due to three Police Reports which found “no accidents, no pedestrian injuries” and an average speed of 19 MPH.
No “speed epidemic”
• Aesthetics
“Aesthetics are deplorable;” “ugly” speed bump and signage
Two big hump signs are even more offensive.
Speed humps “un-Carmel;” an “eyesore.”
Speed hump,,,”appalled by the unprecedented eyesore”
“Extraordinarily unsightly”
• Property values
Property values “threatened now that it has been singled out for arbitrary treatment” of speed bump installation.
• Miscellaneous
“Temporary” speed hump to be on Dolores St. for 60-90 days, now over 110 days.
In mid-December, City Administrator Rich Guillen had the speed and traffic data, indicated that the majority of residents on Dolores St. opposed the speed hump and there was no reason not to remove the experimental speed hump; the speed hump remains in place.
Questions requesting answers about who approved installation of speed hump, who approved appropriation of $5,000 for installation, et cetera.
Installation based on petition signed by many residents who don’t reside on Dolores St.
City found $5,000 for the installation of the speed hump, but could not find $3,000 for repairs to a fire truck.
“A bad mark” against the City Administration
“As a taxpayer, so many more important things that I would like to be spending my tax dollars on.”
City should decide if it wants speed humps and then develop consistent, uniform policies which relies on objective data rather that deploying them piecemeal which will lead to “chaos and inefficiency.”
COMMENTS:
• The installation of the speed hump on Dolores St. between 15th Av. & Santa Lucia Av., like the removal of the Post Office bump-out and the installation of 80 lights in the Ocean Av. medians, is the most recent example of a pattern of unilateral, covert decision-making and lack of due process by the “City” under the aegis of Mayor Sue McCloud.
• After more than 150 days, the speed hump is still in place on Dolores St. between 15th Av. and Santa Lucia Av. (see photo)
3 comments:
Certainly no one with an interest in Carmel city govrnment can doubt that the following have been an everyday occurence under Mayor Sue McCloud's micro-management for the last eight years: lack of due process, violations of the Municipal Code, violating the General Plan, violations of state law. This has never bothered McCloud because she has convinced the majority of residents, the people who don't pay attention to how badly Carmel is being mismanaged, that everything is going well. McCloud is a terrible administrator but a competent enough politican for a town as small as Carmel.
I agree with the implication of the comment about the city finding money to spend on pet projects but not finding money for other items; the speed hump vs. the fire truck repairs.
And the city manager told the Dolores St. residents the speed hump should be removed and yet the speed hump in still in place on Dolores St. I think the city has a big credibility problem and a big mismanagement problem.
For those of you who doubt Sue is the power behind the city administrator, one needs to look no further than this speed hump, or the mailing of the mayor's state of the city address in March to coincide with her campaign and election, or the fire department mess. What gets me is her suppport from council members who should know better and stand for something other than stooges for Sue.
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