By Tim Enloe; Accessmilton.com
Talk is brewing up once again about the very sensitive topic of road privatization and abandonment in Milton.
Each extreme is very passionate about their stance.
Those for state that in the long run, the city will save money due to not having to maintain and patrol such routes. In addition, they believe that it empowers those citizens that would benefit by such closure.
Those against state that tax payers have paid for these roads and therefore should have full access to them. In addition, the same lot believes that such action dumps more traffic onto the already burdoned two lane residential roads and residents who reside on them while hindering the overall focus of road connectivity within the city.
So what is your take? Is this a hot topic for you or could you care less? Will each candidates stance on this issue have any impact on your vote this upcoming Fall or not? Have your say in the comments section below.
7 comments:
I'm in the anti-privatization camp on this one. We know that the road to privatization of streets results in gated communities. Logically, costs for policing in GCs are reduced because patrols are no longer necessary. However, there are costs in increased response times for police and fire that should be considered. Should the subdivision privatizing the roads be required to purchase the roads from the municipality? Probably.
Additional costs are the impact on congestion of the arterials that surround the community. The same people that privatized the roads inside the subdivision, will be screaming to widen the arterial roads outside their subdivision when they become too congested. This will cost all the taxpayers not just those that benefited from the privatization of their roads.
I believe we should be focusing on connectivity as much as possible while ensuring neighborhood streets are designed in a safe way so that safe speeds (25mph or less) are dictated by the street and that through traffic is not encouraged. This would eliminate some local traffic on arterials and thus reduce the traffic there.
Some other considerations are:
1. Pedestrian Impacts
2. Bicycling Impacts
3. Crime Reallocation
4. Time lost due to increased congestion
5. Land use impacts
An interesting page to look at is Roadway Connectivity: Creating More Connected Road and Pathway Networks on the Victoria Transport Policy Institute’s page vtpi.org
Mike
NewUrbanRoswell.com
Crooked Creek should enforce their own within their community. I work in there and always someone is on my tail and then all of a sudden they slow down and yes, there you go, the garage door is opening up. Your problem is your own people. Work there first then if all else fails try to get your permit for gating. That will really upset them. Waiting at the gate to get in and out! Can't wait!
Gate the entire city, put up large wooden fences and close off the city to all the outsiders. Get rid of the police and replace with security guards and gates. Privatize the fire deparatmet. Instead of a city council, have all the sub-division homeowner's associations send a representative to a council. Pay for our own roads and only allow people who live here in the gates.....THERE, THAT'S THE MILTON WE ALL VOTED FOR!
In an ideal world, Milton would have been developed with the connectivity to allow drivers to move freely north-south and east-west through Milton, but unfortunately that is not the case.
Residents of the east side of Milton are already "screaming" (to use Mike Hadden's words) about the north-south traffic on Highway 9 and Cogburn Road, but CPAC and the Mayor and Council don't seem to care.
The solution to the north-south traffic problem has been to allow commuters from north Milton and Forsyth and Cherokee counties to use Creek Club Drive as a bypass to avoid the traffic on Highway 9(like drivers use I-285 to bypass the Atlanta traffic on I-85.)
There has to be a better way - the City needs to make improvements to Highway 9 and Cogburn Road to allow the traffic to flow.
I live in Milton. I travel on these roads every day, and I am definitely in the pro-privatization camp.
If Tina was still on council this would not have happened!
If a frog had wings he wouldn't bump his arse every time he jumps.
Hwy 9 traffic will go even slower when the new medians are put in for pedestrians and speed limit to 35mph. Enjoy!
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