"In its early development in the UK in the 1930s, traffic calming was based on the idea of residential areas protected from through traffic. Subsequently, it was mainly justified on the grounds of pedestrian safety and reduction of the noise and local air pollution that traffic produces. However, car traffic severely impairs the social and recreational functions that streets are now recognized to have. The Livable Streets study by Donald Appleyard (1981)[2] found that residents of streets with light traffic had, on average, three more friends and twice as many acquaintances as the people on streets with heavy traffic which were otherwise similar in dimensions, income, etc."
The City of Lakewood's latest bandaid to fix something they broke forever is "Traffic Calming"
as described above, it is the new fondue of city planning! I mean who doesn't want calm
traffic, and a city that spends millions to prove we are cool, are deep into this.
The city has a serious sign fetish, this move will allow them to put up 21 new signs
on the block! You can feel their glee.
The place they want to try "traffic calming" ahhhhhhh that sounds so nice is Woodward Ave.
You know the nice little neighborhood that was big porches, nice yards and old homes, and
then a BIG MC DONALDS, with two entrances and exits on the residential side street, and
then the big lit McDonald's sign that shattered their little piece of heaven forever. So now
that a fast food place has an entrance and exit on Woodward, traffic is out of control and
needs to be "calmed."
Why didn't they try to calm the residents earlier? The residents I have spoken with see
this as making the best of a terrible situation brought on completely by City Hall.
The City and the ARB approved for McDonald's a national chain to place their sign on a
residential street instead of the front of the business, as is the LAW. Put their to protect
residential neighborhoods from unwanted encroachment.
Well before the city pushed McDonalds into their new location, traffic on Woodward was
pretty calm. Since the invention of the car, traffic on Woodward was pretty calm. It would
seem the only thing to shatter the calmness was Lakewood not just allowing a fast food
restaurant into a quality neighborhood, but assisting them in putting the entrances in
a residential neighborhood. As they insisted with Dunkin Donuts, Bob Evans, Social
Security and now the 150 seat sports bar in a church.
Maybe just maybe, City Hall should get some City Hall calmers and leave the residential
districts alone.
If you quit screwing stuff up you would have to keep fixing it.
.
