It wasn't the economy or capital projects that brought out concerned citizens at Tuesday's City Council meeting, but rather an intersection at the corner of Gick Road and North Jordan Drive that had residents in Saratoga Springs concerned over peoples' safety.
It wasn't the economy or capital projects that brought out concerned
citizens at Tuesday's City Council meeting, but rather an intersection
at the corner of Gick Road and North Jordan Drive that had residents in
Saratoga Springs concerned over peoples' safety.
Residents came out strong during the meeting's public comment period to speak out for a motion brought forward by Commissioner of Public Safety Ron Kim to make the intersection a three-way stop.
Karen Irwin of 7 Sherri Road said that traffic continues to go at higher speeds along the road and that the Kwang Pai Plaza that is proposed to be developed off of Gick Road is going to increase traffic.
"If we are going to make a difference we need to do it now and not wait until a tragedy happens on that road," she said.
Chris Olsen of 18 Sherri Road said one of the issues he has with the intersection is that it has become safer for people to cross Route 50 than it has to cross the intersection of Gick Road and North Jordan Drive. He said he likes to take his two daughters across the road to visit Loughberry Lake and just getting there can be treacherous. He added that they usually have to go down to Route 50 to catch the traffic light in order to cross.
"The speed of traffic on the road is crazy," he said.
Many residents in attendance also pointed to an accident that happened last week along the road, in which a man living on the road pulled out of his driveway only to be forced to quickly pull over to the shoulder in order to avoid a collusion with an on-coming vehicle. The vehicle subsequently collided into a row of garbage cans, a mailbox and eventually hit a telephone pole.
Commissioner of Accounts John Franck also echoed the residents' sentiment saying that he grew up on the road and it was dangerous when he was a kid in the 1970s.
Mayor Scott Johnson suggested Kim move the motion up in the agenda to accommodate the large crowd. After council members voted 5-0 the crowd erupted in applause.
Johnson said the intersection would probably not appear right away due to weather conditions, but residents could expect to see it in a couple of months.
In other business:
- Paul Male was appointed to the city's ethics board in a 5-0 vote.
- The council approved a 2009 Bond Resolution to bond capital projects already approved in the 2009 budget by a vote of 4-1.
Kim was the only one to vote against the measure stating that he did not think it made sense to pass such a measure when the council was unsure whether or not it would receive funding for specific capital projects under President Obama's stimulus package. Council members met with Senator Schumer's office on Friday, Jan 30 to discuss funding for such projects. Kim also said it did not appear from the meeting that money would be used toward such projects as the public safety building.
- In a 3-2 vote, the council approved an increase in rental rates at the Canfield Casino in 2010.
Kim and Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco voted against the measure. Scirocco said he would like to see more money put into the building to take care of renovations that are long overdue.
Residents came out strong during the meeting's public comment period to speak out for a motion brought forward by Commissioner of Public Safety Ron Kim to make the intersection a three-way stop.
Karen Irwin of 7 Sherri Road said that traffic continues to go at higher speeds along the road and that the Kwang Pai Plaza that is proposed to be developed off of Gick Road is going to increase traffic.
"If we are going to make a difference we need to do it now and not wait until a tragedy happens on that road," she said.
Chris Olsen of 18 Sherri Road said one of the issues he has with the intersection is that it has become safer for people to cross Route 50 than it has to cross the intersection of Gick Road and North Jordan Drive. He said he likes to take his two daughters across the road to visit Loughberry Lake and just getting there can be treacherous. He added that they usually have to go down to Route 50 to catch the traffic light in order to cross.
"The speed of traffic on the road is crazy," he said.
Many residents in attendance also pointed to an accident that happened last week along the road, in which a man living on the road pulled out of his driveway only to be forced to quickly pull over to the shoulder in order to avoid a collusion with an on-coming vehicle. The vehicle subsequently collided into a row of garbage cans, a mailbox and eventually hit a telephone pole.
Commissioner of Accounts John Franck also echoed the residents' sentiment saying that he grew up on the road and it was dangerous when he was a kid in the 1970s.
Mayor Scott Johnson suggested Kim move the motion up in the agenda to accommodate the large crowd. After council members voted 5-0 the crowd erupted in applause.
Johnson said the intersection would probably not appear right away due to weather conditions, but residents could expect to see it in a couple of months.
In other business:
- Paul Male was appointed to the city's ethics board in a 5-0 vote.
- The council approved a 2009 Bond Resolution to bond capital projects already approved in the 2009 budget by a vote of 4-1.
Kim was the only one to vote against the measure stating that he did not think it made sense to pass such a measure when the council was unsure whether or not it would receive funding for specific capital projects under President Obama's stimulus package. Council members met with Senator Schumer's office on Friday, Jan 30 to discuss funding for such projects. Kim also said it did not appear from the meeting that money would be used toward such projects as the public safety building.
- In a 3-2 vote, the council approved an increase in rental rates at the Canfield Casino in 2010.
Kim and Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco voted against the measure. Scirocco said he would like to see more money put into the building to take care of renovations that are long overdue.
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