08/06/2002 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 8/6/20112 concerned neighbor. Mr. Scullin said several people have talked to the neighbor, and they basically have broken all ties with the neighborhood. Pavlosky said the neighbor told him she didn't think it was safe for the kids playing on the street with cars coming down. He said everybody on the street has children and everybody drives slow except for the person who is complaining. Councilman Limpert said he had never heazd about dedicating a street as a play street. Is this done in other communities? He used to live on a cul-de-sac street with no sidewalks. The neighbors all drove responsibly, but other motorists did not always do so. Law Director Dubelko said he had never heazd of the concept of a play street. Generally, the streets aze for the purpose of vehiculaz traffic. We have a very mobile society-people come and go and they move out of houses. If you could designate it as a play street based on the present configuration of the neighborhood, five years down the line, houses could be sold and new families move in. You could have kids at the from of the street and people at the back of the street that are racing down. He's never come across the concept of a play street under Ohio law. Mr. Scullin said he believed Westlake had the ordinance-it is old, about 1945 or so. If it can't be dedicated as a play street, what are the alternatives? President O'Grady said Mr. Scullin's question leads to a question of policy procedures for the Police Department. He asked Safety Director Thomas if that could be looked into. Perhaps the gentlemen could initiate a conversation with her. Mr. Scullin asked what steps, other than talking to the Safety Director, do they need to follow? There are a Large number of children (32) under the age of 16 that play together. It's a waste of time for the Police Departmern to be coming down, approximately three times a week, for these kind of complaints. They are now threatening to cite the children for $110 apiece. Mr. Pavlosky said today the police took the names of about six children and said, if they see them playing in the street again, they will cite them. President O'Grady said that the conversation needs to begin with the neighbors and the Safety Director. Mr. Scullin asked, while this is getting corrected and if the children were to be cited, aze they the only ones whose children aze being cited for this? He does not believe the police have cited others. Mr. Pavlosky asked if the police were warning pazerns on other streets that their children should not be playing in the street. President O'Grady again suggested that they discuss this matter with Safety Director Thomas. Councilman McKay said a good source of information would be the city Traffic Engineer. He did have a situation in his ward where kids were playing in the cul-de-sac of Georgette. The kids had a basketball hoop at the end of the cul-de-sac. They were required to remove it. He believes what they were told is that the streets were made for cazs and playgrounds were for the kids. He suggested they check with the Traffic Engineer who probably has all the information they need about street regulations. Amy Gongwer, 3410 Dawn Drive, said her house would be one of the houses affected by the no parking. She has lived there for over 12 yeass and has never experienced an accident. She has worked at home all day and been there constantly. She has never seen cazs back up to Chase Drive waiting for a bus to turn. She has pulled out of her driveway watching a bus approach-you use common sense and don't pull up to the stop sign. You give the bus time to turn. She will wave the bus driver on, or the bus driver will wave her on. She never noticed a problem. Please think about that before their rights aze taken away. Mrs. Kasler said the committee meeting is just to open the discussion and she invited Mrs. Gongwer to attend so the committee can heaz both sides. 14