City Council - Public Safety Committee

Public Safety Committee Minutes September 10, 2024 Members present: Owen Zaret, Brad Riley, Salem Derby Members absent: Also in Attendance: The meeting called to order by Councilor Zaret at 6:00 pm 1. Public Speak Time: Joe Roy, 64 West Street – Spoke in favor of a lower speed limit. Radar patrol doesn’t happen much more, and a crosswalk worker should be present on West Street and Meadowbrook. He suggested larger signs should be present to display speed limits or one or two speedbumps. Betty Roy said it’s not just cars, the 18-wheelers do, too. Michael Furman, 46 West Street – Expressed that speeding is a concern. Motorcycles and cars pass on the double lines. He believes speed humps like in Northampton could solve the problems. Has concerns about the safety of elderly people. Donna Fermina said she walks down West Street up to the bend but not beyond it because it is treacherous. Her observation was that it seemed mostly like young people. It’s not just West Street, it’s other streets as well. Speed humps might at least slow them down. Michael also said the sidewalk hasn’t been revamped in decades. Sherry Lee, 20 West Street – Since becoming a homeowner in December, she was shocked at the speed on West Street. She works in trauma care and knows how bad being hit by a car can be. She said if you live, you will still lose your home because of medical costs, and livelihood, or end up permanently disabled. She bought a radar gun, and cars have gone as fast as 53 mph in a 25mph. Watched a boy on a bike who almost got hit by a pickup truck. She mentioned signs that say “Thank You” work when you are below the speed limit to correct behavior. Greg MacKinnon, 21 West Street – Seconded everything he heard. He used to live in Somerville, and it took someone dying to get speed humps installed. Whether it’s speed humps and flashing lights, something should be done because it’s not a safe street to be out on. Nancy Natale, 23 West Street – Since the sidewalk is only on one side of West Street, it becomes dangerous at the intersection of Route 10 by the curve in the road. The sidewalk could be vastly improved. Cathy Hartley, 43 West Street – She lives by the flashing light speed monitoring sign, just this morning she saw a car going 50mph. She backs into her driveway because she’s afraid to back out into traffic. She said she was scared for her kids and dogs and didn’t feel safe walking downtown from where she lives. She likes speed humps but thinks the flashing speed signs encourage people to see how fast they can go. Tonya Tiskus, 94 West Street – Lost a cat on the road a few weeks ago. Since she moved here in 1995, not only are the cars louder, but the volume of cars has increased, too. There’s a specific motorcycle that goes really fast all summer long.  Julie Gaudreau, 83 West Street – Said she is afraid to walk her dog or small family members out of fear they might break away and get hit. She also hears the motorcycle at night. It’s become more unsafe in the last three years. Martin Fleming, 13 West Street – He has a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old, the fence line was installed to keep the kids safe. His wife is terrified and wants to leave. When coming into the driveway, he said we’re afraid that someone may not stop in time and rear-end the car. Bruce Korona, 29 West Street – Wanted to weigh in and agree with everything that has been said. Also, there’s a lot of littering between his house and the Christmas tree farm. Councilors Deliberation Councilor Derby – Said we’ve heard this several times from multiple neighborhoods and assured the public we have tools at our disposal to mitigate the risks. These do require money, but this is the correct place to start and to get these issues to the right people. He suggested we could also do work on the curve in the road and look at repairs on the sidewalks, or a crosswalk. We can also connect with police to increase patrols or work with DPW to get temporary speed bumps. Councilor Riley – Reaffirmed Councilor Derby’s points and emphasized the public safety ramifications of slowing down the fire department and EMTs when responding to an emergency. He said he wanted a solution before someone dies, and asked people in the room to be careful if documenting traffic violations. Councilor Derby emphasized that evidence not witnessed by police can’t be used as evidence according to the law. Councilor Zaret – Affirmed that enforcement can’t happen all the time, but we can request an increase, we must work with city engineers and DPW to craft the appropriate response. He explained the policy process for allocating funding with the mayor and approval with the council. A crosswalk with a rapid flashing beacon can be a visual cue to help out as well. The Committee thanked the residents for coming out to speak and invited them to our next meeting on October 8th at 6:00 PM. Action items: share what we’ve heard to send to the Police and DPW and invite them to one of our meetings to have this discussion together at our October Meeting. 2. Approval of the April 9th meeting notes: Councilor Derby made a motion to approve, Councilor Riley seconded, Vote: 3-0 approved. 3. Continuing Business: • Review of Traffic Rules & Orders to add, amend, or remove language that is absent, outdated, inconsistent, etc. The rules were written in the 1950s, the language could be updated. No parking signs that don’t exist in the rules need to be included, as well as information about the location of new rotaries. The Committee will hold this as an ongoing agenda item to address issues at each  meeting until the task is complete. The Committee will look at the document and identify areas for consideration to be discussed at the next meeting. 4. Other: Next regular meeting: October 8, 2024, at 6:00 PM. Councilor Derby made a motion to adjourn, and Councilor Riley seconded. Vote: 3-0 The meeting adjourned at 7:09 PM. Respectfully Submitted, Councilor Brad Riley Chair of Appointments Clerk to the Public Safety Committee