Truth In Taxation Hearings

It’s that time of year when we look at wish lists, see who’s been naughty or nice, and stretch the checkbook to the breaking point – city budget review time!

Last week we read two articles referring to “Truth in Taxation” and your local government –which as a council member I play a part. Matthew Stole’s article on November 24 reflected the advice of top state legislators, “State to Taxpayers: Don’t roll over”. In the same issue Pat Anderson wrote an article titled, “Low turnout will tell officials that you are satisfied”.

I certainly don't think I’m a “roll over’ sort of person and don't think that those of you reading this are either. Nor am I, or the others on the city council, naive enough to beleive that if you don't show up for the “Truth in Taxation” meetings you give us permission to spend your tax dollars foolishly, recklessly, wantonly. But we want you there anyway.

What is important is your help and advice BEFORE we make decisions – like now!

We're going to hold the annual Truth in Taxation/City Budget hearings starting Monday 12/12 Conference room 104 from 3:30 to 7pm.

Monday 12/12 -- Overview and general review;
Tuesday 12/13 -- Departmental reviews;
Wednesday 12/14 -- Outside agency requests and continuation of the operating budget;
Thursday 12/15 -- CIP (Capital Improvement Plans if not covered in previous sessions); backup/overflow if required.

If there's anything you want addressed during these hearings make sure you attend or, better yet, get the information to me. A general "cut our tax - your wasting money" won't help. We really do want to keep our expenses/tax dollars down. Almost everyone thinks government spends too much and wastes money. Show me where you think we're messing up. I've always had a standing invitation to listen to you, take your information (and you), set up a meeting with the appropriate party and try to do something to resolve yourissue. Waiting until all the discussions and reviews are done and we present the budget at the "official" Truth in Taxation hearing on December 21 won't get much accomplished. We need your input NOW!

I'll be attending a conference in Charlotte for the National League of Cities next week from 12/5 to 12/11 so we only have this week to meet but I will try to stay in contact via my trusty laptop while gone. Thanks

Police and Residents Collaborate to Make Streets Safer

A the request of several area residents who read my November 12 Post Bulletin article on speeding which referenced the Traffic Tamer's program here's a previous article on Traffic Tamers -- call me if you're interested.

“Slow down!” – a too frequent cry heard in our neighborhoods directed at fellow residents. “Somebody will get killed! You’ve got to do something!” Yes, but what?
Speed bumps, speed tables, chokers, median strips are somewhat effective but costly. Bumps and speed tables don’t mix too well with snowplows either! Stop signs are the most requested “fix” made to council members and public works -- most requested, least expensive, and least effective. (We have references to studies showing this.)
So what works? Having a Police car shooting radar and issuing tickets seems to work pretty well – for the time the officer is on station and for perhaps two or three days afterwards. With 440 miles of paved streets to patrol and less than a dozen officers on shift – well, its no wonder so many residents are frustrated and stand at the curb shaking their fists at offending drivers. A hopeless situation? Not any longer!

In a unique collaboration between Police and residents, a new program – Traffic Tamers – has been created to help bring safe streets back into our residential areas.

It’s a multi-faceted” program”, reports Crime Prevention Officer, Ken Plummer, who has taken the lead in its development. “Education, monitoring, reporting, enforcement - all play a key role in this program.”

How does the program work?

First, neighborhood volunteers distribute information flyers describing their traffic safety concerns and their role in the Traffic Tamer program to their neigborhood. Then the neighborhood volunteers, after screening and a short training course, monitor their streets at their chosen location, date, and time, using a police provided radar gun. They will work in teams of two or three – one person registering the actual speed, others capturing vehicle information. These logs will them be turned in to the Crime Prevention unit for processing.

Registered owners of vehicles exceeding the speed limit by 5 or more MPH will be sent a notification letter emphasizing the need for safety on our streets and requesting their cooperation in the future. No tickets will be issued nor will there be any notation on a driver’s record. Vehicle registration information will not be shared with the neighborhood volunteers.

Follow on phases will include the visible monitoring of the street with the mobile radar trailer and then actual police enforcement,if warrented, by the data collected from the Traffic Tamer effort and the radar trailer.

There are a number of benefits to this program. The residents are there every day. They are the experts of their area. They know best when to watch and can more effectively gather the data that will help our police and traffic safety engineers make more effective future solutions. In addition, they will also be able to validate their perception of their local speeding problem by capturing accurate speed information first-hand.

This data will allow the Police Department to position traffic enforcement officers at the proper locations and at the proper times for most effective use of these valuable resources. It’s a win-win situation.

For information on how and when you can be a Traffic Tamer call the Rochester Police Department, 281-6045 or send an e-mail to kplummer@ci.rochester.mn.us OR call me at 285-0295.

Bob Nowicki

Speeding a City Problem -- Not so Fast

Speeding, whether actual or perceived, is one of the most frequently received complaints from all quadrants of the city. There is also an increasing trend toward running through stop signs and red lights, failing to stop for pedestrians at intersection crosswalks, and just plain rude driving. What is going on?

Are we so rushed in our daily living that we ignore safe driving practices? Are we so accustomed to our personal "rights" so as to extend them to owning our share of the roadway and darned be those who get in our space? Is it that we believe laws are for others to obey? Should we blame the increase of speed on the improved technology that gives us quieter, easier handling cars, vans, SUV’s, and pickups as well as quieter, smoother roads with greater visibility?

I think it’s ridiculous that we have to try to engineer around personal responsibility. We put up stop signs or traffic signals and studies show an increase of accidents or an increase in the seriousness of accidents -- even an increase of speed to "make up" for the lost time at a signal or stop sign. Appalling! Just the opposite of what you would want or expect. We now have to resort to "big-brother-watching-you" technology like Photo-cop to catch red-light runners -- something being studied in the Twin Cities – and they are issuing thousands of tickets in their trial run!

Soon it will be photo cop for speed as well. Then what? Un-signaled lane changes? Rude hand signals? (Since elected I have learned to wave to someone cutting me off on the road with ALL of my fingers!)

It's not only ridiculous to try to engineer solutions to make up for the lack of personal responsibility but very costly as well!

I, and others on the council and in planning, have been looking with a much more critical eye at developments with long, straight streets - especially where grades are concerned. I've been a proponent for narrower streets, curves, medians, and, yes, mini-roundabouts. These solutions generally increase the cost of development, cost of maintenance, or otherwise impact the economics of future development. There are parking and emergency vehicle issues to consider as well.

I helped develop a practical, low cost means to combat at least some of the residential speeding issues with the Traffic Tamer's program -- you get to use a radar gun, log speeders, give the license number to the cops, and then they send a "warning" to the vehicle owner -- which is really effective in the case of kids using mom and dad's car! (contact me for more detail.) You get to educate your neighbors about the program, do it, have an organized follow-up program with the cops and all kinds of stuff.

We get very few takers because the expectation is that "the city" caused the problem by building streets and roads so "the city" has to fix it. Folks, if "the city" workers were the ones violating the driving laws I'd be first in line to kick butt.

Let’s try to use some care especially as winter and the holiday season approaches.

To quote one of my favorite contemporary sages, Pogo, "We has identified the enemy and it is us!" Thanks

UPDATE -- N'Valley/Rocky Creek Drives

The data is in from both the N’Valley speed table effectiveness study and the traffic study of the Northern Valley/Rocky Creek intersection.

In both cases, at present, they are a table of numbers and I’ve asked Mr. Kramer, our traffic engineer for a written analysis and recommendation that I can give you all.

The intersection study shows that there haven’t been any reported accidents at that corner in the last 6 years. It also seems to indicate that we are a long way from meeting the criteria for a 4-way stop. The study I forwarded to those of you interested in this gives all the rationale as to why meeting the criteria is so important .

I hadn’t heard back from the neighborhood as far as your desire to relocate the “Glendale” sign. I’m in favor, based on the data collected, to not remove it unless you want to. I believe we can make a case to keep it there but I would recommend that we do a bit of clean up – perhaps remove the big dogwood to help visibility, and clean up some brush. I’d leave the plantings around the sign but perhaps doa bit of trimming which I believe one of the residents does anyway.

We’ve been giving a lot of thought to swapping the stop signs between N’Valley and Rocky Creek Drives but here’s another fly in the ointment.

You have asked me to push for signilization on N’Valley and CR22. It’s in the CIP (Capital Improvement Plan) for next year – possibly next summer if all goes well with traffic counts and all that again. Big concern is that the traffic signal installation may affect the traffic pattern in your area – specifically the intersection – as our experience has shown it to do in other areas of the city.

Our engineers are reluctanct to make a change now and then later, shortly after you all adjust to the new signage, they may have to change it again. This is where we can really cause accidents instead of preventing them. I think you can see their point.

Anyway, just wanted you to know what was happening in the area and will get back to you with somekind of an “official” report from public works.

Thanks