[Durham INC] Oppose repaving Cranford Rd; more info needed by residents and others; sidewalks; learning from Cranford Rd experience

[Laura Drey]

Dear Marvin Williams, Dwight Murphy, Mayor Bill Bell, Durham City Council members, neighbors, and InterNeighborhood Council (INC) members,

If Cranford is to be repaved I believe that residents and people who are working for residents on the street would like the following information to be included:
1. Do you have a better handle on if the work will occur? That is will it be on July 23 or later than that or will you not know until closer to the starting date due to possible rain?  
2. Do vehicles need to be parked on a different street beginning the night before the repaving is to start, the day the paving is to begin and/or off of the street during the entire repaving? If so when and what street(s) would you recommend? I do not know if the repaving will only take place on my block or surrounding blocks as well. If vehicles are to be parked elsewhere how long is the repaving expected to last? I understand that unexpected issues may arise. A concern about parking on a different street is that cars have been broken into. 
3. What are the hours the repaving will occur? I hope that work on the street will not commence until after 8 am — when the noise ordinance is no longer in effect. 
Do you want our vehicles parked on a different street? 

I like to kept in the loop neighborhood and I believe that it is only fair and right for others to be well informed too.

Could you answer my questions so that people will be better prepared and/or deliver another round of notes that include this information? If you are not the appropriate people to receive this email could you pass it along to the supervisors and other staff members? Thank you. 

A reason to include the InterNeighborhood Council, a coalition of neighborhood associations throughout Durham, on my emails is that other neighborhoods may be able to learn from and anticipate how their streets will be treated by city staff and how things could be improved upon when it comes to repaving and in other traffic calming measures. I recommend that my concerns be included on future notes that the city circulates to residents when repaving streets. In addition my preference would be that information be provided prior to a few days before the repaving work is to begin so that neighbors can have a discussion about whether they would approve of the proposed repaving or not. Having additional information can assist residents in making preparations.

Having lived for 25 years elsewhere in Durham on a street without a sidewalk and having been here for 4 years I can say that people will walk whether there are sidewalks or not. For those of you  who would like a sidewalk I suggest that you might consider buying a house on a street that already has a sidewalk in place if having a sidewalk is a high priority to you. You knew there was not a sidewalk when you moved here. I do not like the idea of having sidewalks here because of the damage to the trees and other plantings. I can see putting in sidewalks in some new developments since sidewalks were neighborhood and planned for from the beginning.

My opinion is that having a discussion via the list serve is a very appropriate use of the list serve. I could respond in greater detail to some of the points that were made on the list serve but I want to get this out as soon as possible in order to provide the staff more time to respond. 

Laura
(919) 403-2248

---

On Jul 18, 2014, at 5:09 PM, Laura Drey lauradrey at ncrrbiz.com [cranfordrd] <cranfordrd at yahoogroups.com> wrote:

> I suggest that we have a meeting to discuss the matter although I would think it is too late to have much of any input into the paving but we could talk about having better speed humps and/or possibly closing one end of the street to public traffic. Where I grew up there was one side of one street that had a wooden gate that permitted people to turn out but not turn in.
> 
> 
> Charlotte I am concerned about how fast people go and the number of cars on the road. My goal is to try to look out for you. I hope that you do not get hurt. Perhaps you could consider purchasing a bright triangle and attaching it to the back of your Elf. I knew one person on a tractor who was cut off on a windy road and killed. Jack and Melissa were both involved in accidents while on a bike and I know someone else in Durham who was in a very bad bike accident.
> 
> Laura
> 
> 
> ---
> 
> On Jul 18, 2014, at 2:40 PM, Charlotte Clark cclark at duke.edu [cranfordrd] <cranfordrd at yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> 
>>  
>> 
>> Of course for every view an opposing one exists. When riding my ELF down Cranford, I find the holes and crevices in the road difficult to manage and hard on my bicycle. So, I would personally like to see the repaving. Sorry to disagree Laura, but I don’t think the condition of the road causes anyone in a car to take a different path or route… 
>> Charlotte
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> Charlotte Clark
>> Assistant Professor of the Practice of Sustainability
>> Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University
>> Faculty Director of Sustainability, Duke University
>> NOTE NEW PHYSICAL ADDRESS
>> Environment Hall 3106
>> 919.684.3159
>> cclark at duke.edu
>> 
>> From: "Laura Drey lauradrey at ncrrbiz.com [cranfordrd]" <cranfordrd at yahoogroups.com>
>> Reply-To: "cranfordrd at yahoogroups.com" <cranfordrd at yahoogroups.com>
>> Date: Friday, July 18, 2014 at 2:36 PM
>> To: Sreets Durham Head of Public Works Marvin Williams <marvin.williams at durhamnc.gov>, Street Durham supervisor Public Works Dept Dwight Murphy <dwight.murphy at durhamnc.gov>, Durham City Council members <Council at DurhamNC.Gov>
>> Cc: inc listserv <inc-list at durhaminc.org>, InterNeighborhood Council President 2014 Scott Carter <carterjs at us.ibm.com>, list serve Cranford Rd <cranfordrd at yahoogroups.com>, Mark Schultz <mschultz at newsobserver.com>, News & Observer Durham news <wlemus at nando.com>, News & Observer Durham News reporter Jim Wise <jwise at newsobserver.com>, News Observer Editors <metroeds at newsobserver.com>, Herald Sun Editor <bashley at heraldsun.com>, "news at heraldsun.com" <news at heraldsun.com>, Herald Sun web editor <hruger at heraldsun.com>, "lsorg at indyweek.com" <lsorg at indyweek.com>
>> Subject: [cranfordrd] Oppose repaving Cranford Rd
>> 
>>>  
>>> Dear Marvin Williams (Durham Director Public Works Department), Dwight Murphy (Durham Supervisor Public Works Department), Durham Council members, Cranford Rd neighbors, InterNeighborhood Council members, Elf and transportation activists,
>>> 
>>> I would really like it if the city would not repave Cranford Rd (near the Nasher Art Museum) between 751 (also called Academy Rd) and Anderson St for a number of negative reasons relating to the street being a cut through street and the layout of the road.
>>> 
>>> 1. If/when the street is resurfaced I can guarantee that the traffic will increase.
>>> 
>>> 2. I thoroughly believe that the speed of the vehicles will intensify. Faster vehicles will be dangerous to pedestrians as well as the numerous joggers, bicyclists and dog walkers that frequent the street and the few Elf (solar powered vehicles with 3 bicycle tires that are produced in Durham), especially given the curves. The street is driven on by those who live on the street, use the street to get to Duke's Fitness trail and others. When driving on the road you do not see the others on the road until you are very close to people.
>>> 
>>> 3. It is already extremely difficult to back out of my driveway and with more vehicles this will make getting onto the street even harder.
>>> 
>>> I wish the city would reconsider and leave the indentations in the road as a means to having the number and speed of the vehicles remain as is. I understand that this is a last minute request but I did not learn until today that repaving the street is planned for next week. 
>>> 
>>> I realize that there are 2 speed humps. I did not live here prior to the speed humps being installed but I did live on Dollar Ave. Dollar has speed circles and in all of my years of living on the street I did not notice that the speed helped to decrease the speed of many vehicles , except perhaps to the few vehicles that were unfamiliar with the circles and those who were already driving slowly.
>>> 
>>> I would not have moved onto the street if I had realized that Cranford Rd was a cut through street because I do not find cut through streets to be peaceful.
>>> 
>>> I would appreciate your considering my position. I am speaking only for myself and not any other residents on the block. Could you please pass the note along to other appropriate departments?
>>> 
>>> Thank you.
>>> 
>>> Laura
>>> Laura Drey
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> __._,_.___
> Posted by: Laura Drey <lauradrey at ncrrbiz.com>
> Reply via web post                       	•	 Reply to sender                       	•	 Reply to group                       	•	Start a New Topic           	•	Messages in this topic (5)                       
>  
> Yahoo Groups
> Improved Group Homepage!
> The About page of your Group now gives you a heads up display of recent activity, including the latest photos and files
>   
> Yahoo Groups
> Control your view and sort preferences per Yahoo Group
> You can now control your default Sort & View Preferences for Conversations, Photos and Files in the membership settings page.
> VISIT YOUR GROUP
> • Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use 
> .
>  
> 
> __,_._,___

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20140721/99767c8e/attachment.html>