Comments on: Council agenda for Monday, Jan. 25

By: CitizensAgainstCrime

CitizensAgainstCrime — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

How many of you saw how much traffic was on a particular street when you looked for homes? You probably ran around town with a realtor and quickly saw home after home. Your focus was on the home. In the maybe 10 minutes or less you stayed there, you saw how much traffic here?
I could see someone saying it about Point Brown or Ocean Shores Blvd because they are main roads, but all the others are really residental roads.
Some GPS systems did not even show the other roads here in the past. That is how significant they were.
State Law recommends 25 MPH on residental roads. Strange that Aberdeen and Hoquiam are 30 MPH on the main road in their town. I guess we can use them to justify EMS and School taxes. I guess we can use them to say how many police officers and firemen we have. However, we can’t use them for speed limits? I think there is a disconnect.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I hear about people living on “impacted streets” complaining about the traffic. People pay extra to live on side streets, cul-de-sacs, etc. without that traffic burden, and those that bought their property at a discount, because it was a busy street, are now complaining. The streets were there long before the houses. I, for one, don’t have much sympathy for those complainers.

By: Seeking Solutions

Seeking Solutions — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I agree that it would be wonderful to have 4 or 5 more Officers.
The same argument could be made to have 20 or 30 more. (Think of how safe we would be then.)
Where do you draw the line? This whole discussion boils down to “What can we afford?” or “What are we willing to pay or give up?” I don’t know about some of you, but I really can’t afford much more in the way of taxes and therefore I am willing to take on additional risk in order to keep my household together.

What am I willing to give up? The city has already pretty much divested itself from the Library/Interpretive Center and is leaving it up to the citizens to find a way to keep them open on very reduced schedules. What’s next? Convention Center? Closing it would save whatever it costs to run, but the Convention Center comes reasonably close to paying for itself, so there wouldn’t be that much of a net saving. Closing it would also reduce the amount of B&O taxes collected due to the reduction of tourists that it attracts.
That pretty much leaves City Hall and whatever portion of Public Works is funded from the General Fund. There have been cuts there also, but for some reason nobody seems to be too upset about the folks that lost their jobs in those departments. Maybe we should cut them even further? Cut enough services and/or raise the taxes far enough to drive enough people out of town and then the reduced Police Force will be “properly” staffed for a smaller town. (Talk about thinking ahead of the curve.)
whatever it

By: SteveL

SteveL — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

As I sit in my livingroom just off Point Brown Ave SW, I hear the
cars and trucks go by. If they’re doing the speed limit, I need to
re-assess my concept of speed. I remember when Pt. Brown was 50mph,
and don’t remember too many accidents that were caused by speeding
traffic. Actually, the only accident I remember was a friend whos
old Ford pick-up had a steering linkage failure, and wound up in
the weeds with no damage to the truck, other than needing a new
tie rod…

SteveL

By: Maryanne

Maryanne — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Maybe they were too busy on other calls to sit and do traffic enforcement? Because you complain when they sit by the side of the road, but then complain that they are not doing any enforcement on the speed limit. Sometimes two will sit together and get the traffic going both directions. But if they are on other calls then they wouldn’t be available to enforcement the speed limit. Sounds like you need more cops, not less, if you want enough people to respond to all the calls AND regulate the speed limit.

By: Sunshine Sally

Sunshine Sally — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

The biggest speed traps are on the north end of dolphin, the grade school, and around the cinema. I used to see the guys out there a lot during the day. Last time I got the paper, it showed that on the police log too.

By: CitizensAgainstCrime

CitizensAgainstCrime — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

They are really busy on Dolphin these days. I am sure a copy of the Police Log would show that. It is the new speed trap of Ocean Shores.

By: Rafael

Rafael — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Remember the word ENFORCEMENT? I don’t even see citizens worried or paying any attention to the new speed limits, as there is no one out there to enforce them. No, the answer it not more cops, for even when our police force was totally staffed, there was no enforcement, so that excuse just doesn’t work anymore. If you buy a magazine but never read it, is there any sense in renewing your subscription? That is the situation in Ocean Shores.

By: CitizensAgainstCrime

CitizensAgainstCrime — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

How about a poll of the people living on the impacted streets? It is there street and probably their children and familes walking and biking down them. Everyone else will just have to abide by their decision. What people forget is that drivers are required go give bikes and pedestrians sufficent space on the road and they have the right of way at crosswalks and sidewalks. Yes, that does mean the roundabout too.

By: Rafael

Rafael — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Everyone would like to see the police department we had several years ago. The only problem with that theory is that the unions have priced those days out of existence with their contracts. Soap box editorials won’t bring that back. Concessions by the police union will. There is only so much money in the kitty, so let’s hear about what city service you suggest we give up to grant your wish? Even if we close the convention center to pay for your wish, which is the only thing they haven’t gone after yet, you are still stuck with paying for that out of the general fund in a few years when the county stipend disappears. Its great to dream, but sooner or later reality gets in the way.

As far as the speed limit thing goes, how many signatures do you think would be necessary to force a council vote on this? I understand that our “EMS committee” is doing a citizen poll about EMS. If the city really wants the public’s opinion on this, why don’t they include the speed limit issue as one of their questions? Did anyone ever ask us about the roundabout and the fire station? Inquiring minds want to know.