[RP TownTalk] bus traffic

[marc stauffer]

thank you mr. farrington for a keen rebuttal to mr. hiles didaticism.

it seems to me that if riverdale park's town center is to remain a 
ghost town, then we should remove or hinder as much as possible all 
traffic through town.  and we should make it more difficult for our 
residents to be served by the minimal public transit systems our area 
possesses.  and in my view, we possess many more access points to that 
system than other parts of the county.

however,  i hear more people voicing interest in trying to create a 
vibrant and thriving town center than trying to keep it a derelict 
place.  in that vein, i agree with mr. farrington that it is the bus 
traffic that is manageable and currently is managed. perhaps it could 
be still better managed, but it is at least systematized and scheduled. 
on the other hand, car/truck traffic seems to me to be the harder issue 
to manage in a way that allows the town to be well-served and 
accessible without causing residents on heavy traffic roads to feel 
overrun or unsafe.

i feel like we, as residents of the town, have wants and desires to 
have the town center better serve our interests with shopping, 
entertainment, service venues, but at the same time we do not want to 
see the changes to infrastructure and townscape that could help bring 
those things into existence.  perhaps, the recent educational meeting, 
and the mutc meetings, held at town hall could be a venue to help us 
hash out many of the issues that arise from changes happening to our 
town.  in observing the towntalk content over the past few months, it 
seems to me that more issues become revealed as various development 
proposals are presented to the town. if we could use a public venue for 
educating ourselves about the issues, gathering information (both 
anecdotal and expert) about possible methods of dealing with such 
issues, and then reaching some sort of consensus about what approach 
the town residents like best, we could then offer precise suggestions 
to the town council for there deliberation.  i think ms. glaros is on 
to something with her organization of these meetings.

while we can all gripe mightily on towntalk,  it doesn't appear to be a 
venue where things move beyond the unmoderated debating stage. maybe a 
venue like the meetings she is trying to establish is a venue where we 
can move beyond the debating, and find some commonly-held suggestions 
that the town administration can then use to make policies that we 
residents believe in.

thanks,
marc stauffer