Last night, the Common Council approved encumbering $139,565 of the City's ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds to be added to the $200,000 received in the host community benefit agreement with Stewart's to pay for improvements to the intersection at Green Street and Fairview Avenue. The Council also received some information about what the plans for improvement entailed.
Responding to a question asked by Alder Margaret Morris (First Ward), Council president Tom DePietro said there would be "a whole new traffic light system," pedestrian crossings, and "a whole new traffic pattern system." Peter Bujanow, Commissioner of Public Works, further explained that there would be a camera-based signal system and the turning radius would be modified. Bujanow said it had been determined that the idea of having a pedestrian island, as seen in Matthew Frederick's drawing below, wouldn't work because this was a truck route.
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Any mention of the $60-65,000 portion of the $200,000 that was earmarked for zoning and planning study?
ReplyDeleteExcept for the zebra crossings, it looks the same to me. And for this we are paying over $300K? One great way to unsnarl traffic here is to get rid of the unnecessary parking on Fairview. All of those people have driveways and parking lots and shouldn't be parking their cars there, simply because they are too lazy to use their provided parking. Every time they open a door or unload, it causes issues and forces drivers northbound head-on into the southbound lanes. No reason at all for parking in such a busy intersection area.
ReplyDeleteany idea of how many dwelling units there are? how many cars are owned/driven by the units' occupants? how many off-street parking spaces are available? I think blaming the traffic snarls on the "laziness" of the people who live there is unfocused, to say the least.
DeleteYou have a valid point. However, at least two of the duplexs in that particular section do not have off street parking. Figure two cars per unit, that's eight cars having to park on Fairview. Those with off street parking are faced with the task of then backing down their driveway, ( there is little to no room to turn a car around in the rear of those buildings) and onto Fairview. Picture backing out of a parking spot at Walmart on black Friday except you have eighteen wheelers to also contend with. Not an ideal situation. To say that the residents are "lazy" is lazy on your part to fully educate yourself on the what for and why for in regards to why people park on Fairview. I can personally attest that is not only inconvenient but also dangerous for the person parking there. Especially when unloading groceries or small children. Typically the parking spot you managed to find was never directly in front of your house/apt.. Not to mention the risk of having your driver's side mirror taken off or your vehicle being completely sideswiped. Being the long time resident that you are, I am sure you are aware of the alternative routes to the big box stores in Greenport that many of Gossips have such a great disdain for. Have you tried Harry Howard? Used to be quite the scenic ride. Perhaps Glenwood is a more direct route for you? I am only trying to offer some insight and a solution to YOUR immediate problem. Your welcome. I have noticed over the years that people are parking further down and closer to the intersection. I have also noticed that the city hasn't kept up with the white no parking markings on the curb or on the road as they once did. Perhaps there is a direct correlation? Widening that particular section of Fairview may be something to look into but would create a whole other set of problems in regards to emminet domain, existing driveways with an already steep grade/incline, construction cost and the list goes on. I have complete faith that the six figure studies they are conducting will figure it all out.
DeleteCan the painted stripes become plantings inside the curb line? This looks like an entry to the New York Thruway.
ReplyDeleteGood for Morris for pushing Bujanow for more information before committing $140K of taxpayer money to a project that was originally to cost Hudson nothing as part of the agreement which allowed Stewart's to redevelop a non-conforming site at the cost of several housing units.
ReplyDeleteBujanow seemed unprepared during the meeting to get into the particulars of the proposed plan, but it's hard not to wonder whether the current purpose of the project is to improve traffic flow coming into and out of Stewart's, in which case Hudson taxpayers should not be footing the bill.
I'd say all very good points, certainly there is a way to paint a few crosswalks and put up some stop for pedestrian signage or a couple of street crossing lights for $200K. Let's stop wasting taxpayer dollars.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of parking on Fairview described above is also valid, unfortunately there may be no way to fix it without widening the road. People have to realize that allowing the construction of large apartment buildings creates more households, more cars and traffic. This leads to widening of roads, which leads to more buildings and more traffic. It's a snowball until your small rural city is gone and becomes a totally congested Urb-burb.