RESIDENTS FEEL BETRAYED BY PLANS TO OPEN STREET

Residents of Timbergrove Manor and Holly Park are protesting the city's proposed opening of a neighborhood street to through traffic. Salford Drive is four blocks long and extends south from West 18th Street to what used to be a grassy 60 foot easement containing a drainage pipe. Salford and two other streets had dead end barriers erected when the subdivisions were built. The barriers protected the neighborhood from heavy industrial traffic using Minimax, an east-west street which parallels the subdivision. In September, 2005, neighborhood residents were taken by surprise when they learned Salford was to be extended to Minimax and opened to through traffic in a matter of weeks. A developer had purchased some warehouses on Minimax and platted the land for residential development. He wanted Salford opened for access to West 18th Street.

Realizing the negative impact this would have on the neighborhood, residents sent emails and made phone calls to the Mayor's office and to Council Member Toni Lawrence protesting the opening.The result was several meetings with the Council Member, City Planning Department officials, Public Works officials, and the developer himself. Residents were told they did not have to be informed of the street opening because the city was not required to do so. Opposition was heated, during the initial meeting but the street opening was considered a "done deal" by city officials. A week later bulldozers and excavators showed up at the street and an intersection was constructed. But in a second neighborhood meeting with Council Member Lawrence and Public Works, it was announced that the barrier would be put back in place and the street closed again until development began and traffic studies could be completed.

Six months later, Gladys Paradowski, a Timbergrove resident whose home abutts Salford, sent an email to the Mayor asking for permanent closure of the street. She received a response from the Director of Public Works who stated that the barrier would remain in place until the completion of new development warranted opening the street, and then only after traffic studies were conducted to determine if the street needed to be opened.

Mr. and Mrs. Paradowski have lived in their home at the end of Salford St. for forty years. They are particularly concerned about the street opening because their short driveway is situated at the end of Salford and they feel that backing into traffic so close to an intersection will be a hazard. They say other residents whose driveways are on Salford will also have a difficult time backing out with increased traffic on the street. "I don't believe some of our neighbors really realize the impact this street opening will have on our lives until they experience it", says Mr. Paradowski. "There will be all kinds of commercial traffic through here. And the shift workers from the warehouses will be coming through at late night and very early morning hours. We know, because we are next to Minimax and have heard the loud car noises for years."

Other residents are concerned about the danger increased traffic in the neighborhood will pose to children riding bikes, and people jogging and walking dogs. They feel that trucks and equipment vehicles will use the street if any construction begins. There also is concern that cut-through traffic, often speeding, will increase in the neighborhood. They point out that a fatal accident occurred in January near Salford when a cut-through vehicle sped out of control and crashed into a resident's yard. Marilyn Nowlin of Timbergrove sees the increased traffic in the neighborhood as lowering her property values. "We've been told by real estate agents that our property values will drop if that street is opened," she says.   

In April Council Member Lawrence alerted the neighborhood that construction on Minimax was to begin and the opening of Salford was imminent. A neighborhood meeting was then arranged with the Council Member and Public Works officials on May 1 to discuss the impending action. Residents, frustrated by the city's sudden apparent disregard for their neighborhood's quality of life, asked if the Mayor intended to honor the promise made in the letter to Mrs. Paradowski, that a traffic study would be conducted to see if the opening of the street was necessary. Council Member Lawrence said that the Mayor was "the most honest Mayor we have ever had," but that the letter was written last year in a "frantic moment." She said that now Public Works has come up with nine new options for Salford Drive. The best solution, she said, is to keep the street closed, but quickly added that that could not be done because the developer needed it open. Public Works says its best solution is to make Salford a one way street going south, with cement on one side of the intersection to prevent left turns. The engineer admitted that this would not stop truck traffic, but he feels it would discourage it. Other questions arose as to why the developer needs Salford open when he could construct other access streets inside the development. The Public Works engineer was asked if a traffic study could be done even though the plat had been approved. He replied that it could, and he might also consider looking at street standards.

Residents are left confused and uncertain about the future, and the protection of their neighborhood. They feel the city has reneged on its promise to conduct a traffic study on Salford, and has not justified its action to open the street. As Mr. Paradowski says, "If we can't deal with the City in good faith now, when will we ever be able to do so?"

The Paradowskis and Marilyn Nowlin at the Salford-Minimax barrier

(Near Northwest Banner, May 4, 2007)