Country Club Colony resident seeks relief from traffic woes

To The Editor:

Mr. Mayor and Members of the City Council, congratulations on our success. I thank you with enthusiastic relief.

By obstructing access to the intersection-corner-cutters, speeders and trash debris distributors, our neighborhood is much safer now for everyone on the streets, much more quiet, and amazingly more clean. The trade-offs have been worth it.

A super majority of residents do not want to go back to being abused while the root cause of the traffic problem is not addressed. The plan to funnel traffic from the eastern side of El Dorado, and down 19th Street to the commercial district along North West Avenue, was not completed. By their nature, all funnels come to a pinch point — in this case the intersection of 19th Street and North West Avenue. The occasional congestion was inevitable.

The best relief from congestion, and the sometimes disrespectful human behavior which ensues, is to make the intersection function more efficiently by adding a turn lane comparable to the one across the intersection. All of us can support that fix. We are delighted that the Public Works Department is moving forward on this project.

Let me refute the recent suggestion that public traffic has some right to go wherever it wants. As a former attorney for the U.S. Department of Transportation, focused on highway traffic safety, I can tell you that the problem of controlling the anarchy of motorists left to their own devices has existed since the automobile became accessible over one hundred years ago. In the end, however, safety rules over individual privilege. It is a legal fact.

We appreciate the aspiration in Chief White's belief that police patrols in the neighborhood could be an alternative to the street closings. Frankly, however the Police Department does not have the resources to be consistent enforcers in our neighborhood or any other neighborhoods across the city. Any police presence before the barriers was ineffectual. I expect that would be the case again notwithstanding their good intentions.

The Country Club Colony did not create this problem; we have only suffered from it. We just want what every other neighborhood wants: security, safety, cleanliness and peace. Please let us know when there are to be any other discussions about this worthwhile project.

Thank you.

Aubra Anthony, Jr.

El Dorado