Katie Tracy•3 years ago Good afternoon-- I am appreciative that the city is taking action to implement calming measures on Nicholson St. I hope this will greatly improve the safety of the neighborhood.I live on Nicholson Street across from Edward Felegy. On a daily basis, cars and trucks for local businesses, as well as city-owned vehicles like school buses, police, firetrucks, ambulances, speed rapidly over the hill leading from Ager toward the school. My husband parks on the street and loads our children up for daycare each morning and unloads them in the afternoon. It is a big concern for us every day. I can tell you countless stories about speeding drivers down Nicholson St. During the school year, I see the elementary children cross outside of the crosswalks all along the street many times a day, some forgetting to look both ways before they do. I understand that this proposal addresses the area of Nicholson from Ager to 31st Street, but problems further up the road in front of the school and beyond need to be considered. Accordingly, I propose the city consider adding speed bumps/tables along Nicholson Street from Ager to the school--as well as adding speed bumps by the school in the next phase of the project. If nowhere else, a speed bump past 31st street stop sign before coming over the hill at Felegy is critical. I also support the idea proposed by another commenter of adding a roundabout here-- I think a roundbout should include speed bumps/tables. Additionally, a stop sign, not just a stop bar, should be added at the 30th street intersection. The stop signs at 30th and 31st should blink red. I fully support the optional crosswalk across Nicholson at 31st street. I cross here frequently so that I do not have to cross once I get over the hill and no one can see me. I support the road narrowing proposals, although I am concerned that more cars from the apartments will spillover into the parking areas for homes down the road and on the sidestreets, which are already overfilled. One measure that might assist with parking issues is for the city to enforce the parking permits it already requires (and not just selectively).The city's Draft Toolkit from Toole Design lists numerous tools for traffic calming, but few are being used here. I don't understand why more is not being done given that this road is a neighborhood road with residences, a park, and a school on it. Similar measures to narrow the road were already implemented by the church on the other end of Nicholson Street and Queens Chapel. While useful, it has not stopped cars from speeding over that hill onto Nicholson St. I'll also note that another related matter should be factored in-- the issue with the traffic during school pickup/dropoff. Cars that stop in the street and block traffic cause aggressive driving on this street. Lastly, I find it somewhat difficult to meaningfully and thoroughly comment on this proposal because the proposal does not specify what considerations the city has already made, whether there is a cost/benefit scenario that has factored into this proposal, or what feedback the city would like. In future proposals, I hope there will be a written summary clarifying all of this.
