Think Outside the Box

No doubt you've all heard the expression "think outside the box". I'd taken courses on this in the past and even taught a couple of sessions in my past life.

I like to think I do this from time to time.

Had an occasion last Friday, October 21, to think INSIDE the box -- a cardboard box -- and I spent a cool, chilly night in one along with about 200 others.

The event was a fundraiser for the Interfaith Hospitality Network, Dorothy Day House, and the Salvation Army to help raise funds to support their efforts to help the homeless. Now, I don't know of any homeless within the boundaries of the Fifth Ward and I'm thankful for that, but there are some who find themselves in need of help this way and so ....

Sort of got exposed to this as a favor to a friend who was designing the promotional brochure for the event and he asked for a little help. In doing this I learned more about the problem and recognized the names of two key organizers, Joanne Markee and Ginger Holmes. THanks for all your hard work and for all those who helped.

I guess you can guess the rest. Next thing I knew I was committed to represent the council and the mayor also graciously volunteered along with his grandaugther, Madison.

I was very impressed by the number of people who braved the cold and especially the young folks. From the Fifth Ward we had great representation from the Kiwanis K Club at Century HS. Five young ladies participated and three of my fellow Kiwanians did as well acting as chaperones.

I suggest that anyone reading this consider helping out next year.

Only suggestion to the organizers -- consider doing this a little earlier in the fall when it's warmer.

But then again, kind of would miss the point of being homeless wouldn't it?

Glendale Sign Change -- UPDATE

After publishing my previous blog and sending an e-mail notice to the residents of Glendale about our plan to remove the "Glendale" sign I received several concerned e-mails about this plan urging us to reconsider.

Several folks had the impression that we were going to denude the entire corner -- including the remoal of the conifers. No, that wasn't in our plan. We just wanted to clear the corner enough to improve driver visibility to on-coming cars on N'Valley Dr.

I had done a spot check yesterday with what I took as support for our plan but I didn't have an opportunity to touch base with all of the concerned parties and so I asked Mr Kramer to hold off on any action until we could look at the problem again.

We spent a couple of hours this afternoon looking at the area again and this time with Craig Springer who was one of the parties who brought this concern to our attention. Thanks, Craig for spending time with us.

The alternative of changing stop signs to place them on N'Valley instead of Rocky Creek has merit in addressing the "Glendale" sign visibility concern as this would force cars to stop at the offending corner, eliminating the need to remove the sign.
This alternative, however, creates another visibility concern looking from N'Valley facing south to on-coming traffic from the curve on Rocky Creek. A big clump of trees now are in the way. Should we remove them?

Unwarrented 4-way stop signs present numerous hazards and side effects that are spelled out in a study we can provide to you on request. Doing a 4-way stop is very much against engineering judgement and recommended procedure.

I very much liked changing the stop sign location and thought that there would be ample justification because of the school bus and city bus stop but once again I was shown to be wrong because studies across the country have shown this too, in fact, causes more danger to pedestrians mainly because they assume safety with the stop sign when actual experience shows that this assumption leads them into dangerous proximity to oncoming traffic. Can't seem to win no matter what we do.

We're still thinking about this. In the process we realized that the existing signage and plantings are likely in violation of the city's long standing corner visibiilty ordinance. We're checking into the details but may now be forced to consider removal or relocation of the sign as the only responsible course of action now that we've been made aware of the potential danger.

Seems to me to be a perfect project for the Glendale NA to help us tackle -- where might the sign be moved to and who wants to help do this?

Glendale Sign Change

Several of the residents of the Glendale Hills area have brought to my attention the intersection of Rocky Creek Drive and Northern Valley Drive. We looked at this about a year or so ago and removed the lower limbs of two pine trees that were obstructing on-coming traffic on N'Valley from those at the stop sign on Rocky Creek.

I'd also had several requests to make that intersection a 4-way stop -- partially to address the on-coming traffic vision situation and also in the hope of reducing speed on N'Valley.

On the latter, putting stop signs to slow traffic speeds has been shown consistantly across the country to be very ineffective and in fact studies show that other major problems are generated. Contact me or David Kramer, our Public Works Traffic Engineer, for details. A practical matter is that the intersection is so far removed from the residential area so as to not have any affect on speed.

However, Mr. Kramer and I took another look at the intersection and, after watching traffic for a while, came to the conclusion that there was a visibility problem and the most appropriate solution was the removal of the Glendale sign and surrounding large shrubbery. I talked to several of the area residents and all were in agreement with this as a solution.

The sign is on public property but we did get permission from the original developers, Mr. Gill and Mr. Hexum to remove this sign. A work order to that effect has been issued.

We will keep the smaller planting that surround the cable junction box to keep some of the aesthetics on the corner.

So ... if you suddenly see a dramatic change as you enter or leave the area that's why.

As always, feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.

Bob

Street Repairs Coming to an End

You read about the Roc 52 project finally coming to an end after 3 years and no doubt have come across Hwy 63 South renovation.

Well, the Fifth Ward hasn't been left out of this summer's street tear up and repair and they're getting closer to getting wrapped up. Thanks for your patience!

The Silver Lake sewer project is continuing to move along closer to its completion. Hitting a larger rock formation than was shown in geologic findings and a slight delay in the special 60 inch sewer pipe put a bit of a crimp in our plans but all is well and we're moving along.

North Broadway has been torn up for a couple of weeks and should be back in full swing very shortly.

The steam pipe from the Silver Lake power plant to Mayo is moving along well too.

With so much being torn up and all, the projected rebuild of 7th Street NW has been rescheduled to next year -- budget permitting. I think there are some mixed emotions on this one. Would have been nice to get it done and over with now but ... that's city hall for you!

Northern Hills Drive has been milled for a couple of days now with my neighbors and I dodging those big orange markers and tubs expecting the asphalt to be layed any hour now. In checking with Joe Fitzpatrick today, I learned that the street will be paved either next Monday or Tuesday (October 17 or 18). For those of you who thought I'd get special treatment .... HA!

Keep in touch and don't forget to visit me at Grandma's Kitchen each Friday from 7 to 8:30 that I'm in town. I buy the coffee you bring the problems!

Thanks For Voting

Just wanted to thank those of you who got out to voice your oppinion regarding the sales tax extension yesterday, October 4th.

The Fifth Ward had one of the best turnouts of all the wards in the city. This tells me that you are knowledgeable, interested in the future of the city, willing to help make decisions for the greater good of the community and I'm very proud to have been elected to represent you.

Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about issues coming up in the future or any problems or concerns you might have that takes away from your quality of life in the FIfth Ward. I'm here to serve you.

Thanks again for helping me help you.