The Observation Deck

Docket Item for the next Council Meeting:

May 17, 2007

Dear Members of Council,

As you know, Warren Road between Franklin Boulevard and Madison Avenue recently received infrastructure repairs aimed at improving the quality of life for our citizens. While this construction may have elevated the quality of life through better delivery of utilities, it certainly has downgraded the experience of homeowners and drivers.

The repairs that were made to the surface of the road and the treelawns is simply unacceptable. The road is so uneven you would have thought that the City installed speed bumps on this stretch of the street. The treelawns were backfilled with substandard soil and have little chance of actually returning to the state they were in prior to construction.

We have seen this kind of work by contractors before and it is abhorrent. Taxpayers should not have to wait as long as they do for infrastructure repairs and City Council should not have to be in the position of putting good money after bad when a contractor fails as we have had to in the cases of Overbrook and Belle Avenues.

At this time I would like to know what the Administration intends to do to remediate the situation on Warren Road for both the residents and the community at large and what it will do to enhance the poor level of contractor oversight at City Hall.

Sincerely,


Ryan Patrick Demro

CC: Warren Road residents

Oddly, that's somewhat of a relief. I was beginning to wonder if that was the planned outcome for that stretch of road.

curious: was Terrace Construction the contractor for this project?

The City receives about $500,000 a year from the license registration fees. When the local fee was first added to the registration fee the promise was that the money would be used for street repair and maintenance.

Would it be possible to "lockbox" that $500,000 so that it can only be used for street resurfacing?

I would have thought that such a high profile street would have had extra supervision on quality of work done. Hopefully they are still addressing the condition or will be "pushed" to do so.

On a related note, my parents street was in awful condition as well and dates for repavement kept getting pushed back year after year. They finally went to the city and city workers and kept bugging them about the condition..the city found the funding and it was completed that year. So I guess our voices do make a difference.

As much as I value a smooth street, if the road condition slows people down, it's OK with me.

I live on a street popular with drivers because it's long, straight and a bit wider. Plus, since it was repaired last year it's VERY smooth. However, there are quite a few small children under six years old.

Drivers will literally get up to speeds in excess of 45-50 mph in seconds.

On the east side, portable speed bumps are used in summer months to stem the speeding on longer residential streets. Since Lakewood doesn't seem to have the "Speed Trap" reputation it once had. What is the feasibility of these.

(Perhaps this post belongs in its own discussion)

I value good work for the money invested, but if shoddy work means less traffic in residential areas, bring on the hacks!

Eric Conroy wrote:As much as I value a smooth street, if the road condition slows people down, it's OK with me.

I live on a street popular with drivers because it's long, straight and a bit wider. Plus, since it was repaired last year it's VERY smooth. However, there are quite a few small children under six years old.

Drivers will literally get up to speeds in excess of 45-50 mph in seconds.

On the east side, portable speed bumps are used in summer months to stem the speeding on longer residential streets. Since Lakewood doesn't seem to have the "Speed Trap" reputation it once had. What is the feasibility of these.

(Perhaps this post belongs in its own discussion)

I value good work for the money invested, but if shoddy work means less traffic in residential areas, bring on the hacks!

Great idea! I'd welcome temporary or even permanent speed bumps on the Wyandotte Raceway.

Would speed-bumps be possible with the amount of snow we get here? I have seen them in places like California and Arizona, but they don't have to plow snow.

Ryan

They make temporary speed bumps....Think in terms of putting a telephone pole across the road May 1 and removing it Oct. 1

Jeff

Good to know. I'm all for that on most side streets!

geez, you should see this guy speeding down Rockway. Even though there's a number of small children playing in their front yard and driveway, this guy blazes down the street doing 40 or more. And since he's driving a small little Mini, it's probably hard to see if someone darts in front of his car!