Website Home   or   Forum Home

Riverside Info » About Riverside

31. JohnM
    Member

    The cops can enforce selectively, as they do now at Lionel Road, by not ticketing residents.

    That's a law suit waiting to happen.

    I'm hopeful that the acquisition of the Elgin rail line will move some of the rail traffic out there, and alleviate some of the congestion on Harlem.

    And, as you know (and have opined on may times) many of our traffic problems--particularly in the CBD--are caused by residents picking up their kids from school.

    I'm just surprised by the fact that people seem shocked--shocked!!--that we have a lot of traffic. We're surrounded by major arterial streets, we're in a densely populated area and we're close to a major city. It seems to me that the major problem is not so much traffic congestion, but speeders. Congestion doesn't kill anyone--reckless drivers do. Solving that problem requires law enforcement resources, not signs. I think we might need a few more cops, but if I recall correctly, the RCA doesn't, so this probably won't be happening.

    Posted Sunday May 10, 2009 09:46 #

32. spatny
    Member

    That's preposterous. Who's going to sue who. Do you live in constant fear of lawyers?

    I was addressing the initial post that this letter was about - cut-thru traffic. I don't want to hear about lawyers. We, and everywhere else have stop signs and speed limits. Some people don't honor them. Some get caught, some don't. Sometimes a cop is at the side of a road writing a speeding ticket for one person as other speed by. Who sues who?

    If you took a saw horse with a no entry or no outlet sign on it and put it up at the lane where cars enter, that would probably stop 90% of the cut through traffic, and that would take five minutes to do. We do it all the time for block parties, and some residents drive around and go their homes if it doesn't interfere. Why do you constantly strive to make everything so damned complicated?

    Posted Sunday May 10, 2009 11:19 #

33. JohnM
    Member

    No Don, I don't live in constant fear of lawyers. However, if a municipal police department selectively enforces laws--that is, by targeting non-residents while letting residents skate, the municipality will, at some point, be sued. Maybe you think this is a risk worth taking--that's your opinion.

    I'm not striving to make things complicated. Some things--like traffic engineering and municipal government--just are. We can put up signs that say local traffic only; we can make streets one way; we can do cul de sacs. All of these are legitimate, but all require that certain procedures be followed in order to implement them.

    Posted Sunday May 10, 2009 13:40 #

34. spatny
    Member

    You mean like if we close a street for a block party? Or construction? Or tree trimming? If some people on Herrick are having problems with traffic coming in to avoid the back up at Harlem, why not try and give them a little relief? What engineering does it call for? We have special "No Parking" restrictions on some of the streets that hit Harlem south of the tracks, don't we - aimed at keeping the overflow from Lalas from parking there. I didn't advocate anything that couldn't be removed in an hour or less if it didn't work. The railroad creates this problem, and people driving southget aggravated at the backup and try and get up to Deleplaine to avoid. the Harlem crossing. The eastbound people that take 31st in to Woodside to avoid what has become a regular afternoon backup southbound on our local crosstown - 1st Avenue - hen filter across the tracks in town or at Delepaline so they can head on into Chicago via Ogden or Pershing. We are never going to have any cops sitting there to ticket people - it's just a deterrent. If people see a No Outlet or No entry sign they won't go in there - most of them. Problem solved or reduced, low cost - I know, too simple for some.

    Posted Sunday May 10, 2009 15:31 #

35. JohnM
    Member

    You mean like if we close a street for a block party? Or construction? Or tree trimming?

    That's temporary. A sawhorse blocking the street is not an effective mechanism for traffic control for anything more than a few days.

    If cut through traffic is a major problem it should be addressed. I'm fine with that. I'm fine with no parking signs, I'm fine with one way streets, and I'm even fine with cul de sacs if that's what the residents want, if we can afford it and if they actually work. My view--and again--this is my view, I may be wrong--is that these measures will only funnel traffic onto the streets that are not blocked off. You make the folks on Herrick happy, but the people on Burlington and Addison will be furious.

    If we really want to keep traffic out, the best way would be to make most streets that enter Riverside one way (exit only), with the entry allowed at (for example) Burlington, Woodside, Forest, Barrypoint, Delaplaine, and Northgate. It would be a big pain for residents, and would probably result in increased traffic on those streets, but it would, over time, probably cut down on cut-through traffic. I would not advise doing this, but it would probably work--and at the low cost you are looking for.

    Posted Sunday May 10, 2009 16:26 #

36. spatny
    Member

    I am not looking for anything. Some residents wrote a letter, someone else started a thread to discuss this, and I just suggested that there might be more creative and cheaper solutions than were being discussed. I think traffic studies are crap. The TOD study wanted to install traffic signals inthe center of town, and reverse the flow on East Ave. around Centennial. That was when I knew they were imbeciles. District 96 is waving about some study that wants 12'sidewalks in front of Hauser and making that part of Woodside permanently one way Northbound, meaning all the southbound would be forced on to Kimbark and up to the three way at Forest. These things are always done by people waving their credentials that live somewhere else. I am really becoming totally dismayed how some of you want to argue about how many angels there are on the head of your stickpins as the flood laps at your shoes. Somebody here wrote that we are in the midst of millions. That's right, and I saw at first hand what happened to other unique places when the flood comes. What you have/had can be gone before you blink your eyes. You either sandbag and keep it out or you are inundated.

    Posted Sunday May 10, 2009 21:58 #

37. Catherine
    Member

    HR, the slogan Government on Demand refers to the accessibility of government records. What once had to be FOIAd, paid for, and waited for - if it ever came - will now be put online. This transparency will allow people to know what the government is doing and where the money is going.

    It does not refer to getting what you want when you want it. I asked the former police chief whether we could not have a patrol car, say in St Mary's lot, intermittently at night to crack down on speeders. He said we do not have the personnel. Also, it must be said a great deal of police resources are expended on Harlem Avenue.

    I don't think people want cul de sacs because of traffic, but because of crime. It is true that Herrick will have to contend with the rights of people on the other streets if they want to block access from Harlem, but I can't say I blame them for trying.

    I leave Brigadoon for Chicago, not Lyons, sorry.

    Posted Monday May 11, 2009 09:02 #

38. mrt
    Member

    Since I take this thread to be for all things traffic in Riverside, including c d s, from today's efash...

    Riverside Police Purchase New Traffic Radar Unit with Grant Funds

    The Riverside Police Department recently purchased a new Stalker DSR duel

    head traffic enforcement radar unit. The radar unit was purchased through the

    2009 Integrated Mini-Grant Enforcement (IMaGE) grant made available through

    the Illinois Department of Transportation/Division of Traffic Safety. With money

    budgeted in the grant, IDOT /DTS authorized the purchase of the radar unit. The

    unit will be permanently mounted in a regular patrol vehicle which is kept

    operational at all times when the vehicle is in use. This new unit will be a useful

    tool in controlling speed violators and making Riverside streets safer.

    Posted Tuesday May 12, 2009 15:48 #

39. spatny
    Member

    FYI: There is an article on DUI arrests on the Tribune web site, that shows what municipalities or jurisdictions do the most arrests for DUI. I looked at the data - Riverside has 7.33 arrests per officer ( for 2008 ) which is right near the top of the list in that regard.

    Posted Tuesday May 12, 2009 16:09 #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.