Agenda - Public Works Committee - 02/17/2009

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Myth 3: Instead of closing 142 Avenue, closing Argon Street south of 142 Lane would be more convenient and will still prevent cut - through traffic between Dysprosium and 47. Facts: It would only be more convenient for those of us south of the barricade. That includes Mr. Greb and this is why he is proposing this and against closing 142 Avenue. Those people north of the barricade will still have to go around. It would also be much less safe to place a barricade in front of homes as opposed to 142 Avenue . where there are no homes. Vehicles will be forced to turn around in driveways. Large dump trucks, garbage trucks, snow plows, etc. will be forced to back all the way up to 142 Avenue to turn around. There will be no place to pile snow. Plus, it will be an eyesore for those folks who live there. Yes, this alternative would be more convenient for some of us including me, but it's just not a good alternative for most of our neighbors. The barriers on 142 " Avenue would be far away from all of the homes, it's safer and it "inconveniences" everyone equally. Myth 4: They slid this past us without our knowledge, Facts: The city has a very structured and deliberately slow process for everything they _ do to remain fair and to avoid these types of accusations. The city did not force anything on us, This process h'as been in the works since 2004 or 2005 when a group of us (not just me) approached the city because we were concerned about the large volume of cut- through traffic. They were gracious enough to listen to our concerns and take them seriously. In fact, Mr. Greb was involved in the process early on. When the closure of 142n Avenue was first suggested at a Public Works meeting, Mr. Greb expressed his concern that he did not want to drive out of his way to Super America. That is a fair and valid concern, but that was the last meeting he attended. At the last Public Works meeting in which this was discussed, I recognized some of our neighbors but Mr. Greb was not there. Why he decided to drop out of the process until now is a mystery. There is a process in place that has been followed fairly to its conclusion. It's the same process carried out for every issue in every neighborhood in the city. I have taken the time away from my job and family to show up to the meetings with other neighbors and sit through the minutia that didn't pertain to us so that we could voice our opinions and concerns. The meetings for the past 3 years were openly announced and conducted. I subscribed on the City of Ramsey website to get email notices of Public Works Meetings because I wanted to be sure to attend any meetings where Argon Street was discussed. Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine anyone being opposed to Tess traffic on their street or I would have gone door to door to remind people of the meetings. I saw some of our neighbors at every one of the meetings and I assumed if people weren't there that the issue wasn't important to them. I'm not the type to go door to door and hound people to 19