[RP TownTalk] Children in streets - Ravenswood Road area

Thu May 12 18:44:34 UTC 2016

I think this is a topic for the Public Safety Committee meeting tonight
at 630 PM.  I am attending with another matter, and if you are not
there, I will be sure to bring it up.
bob smith

On 5/12/16 2:30 PM, adrian limmen wrote:
> I sent this before but I received an auto message that the moderator had
> to review it first.  Looks like it never made it to the group.
> 
> 
> As much as the kids and parents should be aware of traffic we should
> also focus more of our attention on the growing number of cars abusing
> our neighborhood as a cut through. We are seeing more and more traffic
> especially on Ravenswood Rd.  Cars that cut through don’t stop at the
> stop sign on Ravenswood and 48^th  where all the kids seem to be
> playing.  I think many are people are using our area to circumvent
> traffic on 410 and cutting through Ravenswood to get to their
> destination outside of our neighborhood.  With Whole Foods coming the
> potential cut through traffic will increase dramatically.  Could we do
> something to make it much less attractive to vehicles trying to save a
> few minutes?  The kids should be able to ride their bikes and play on
> our neighborhood streets without worry.  Hyattsville and University Park
> have some interesting ways of managing their neighborhood traffic.  They
> have more *one way streets*, *speed bumps, concrete
> blockades* and *traffic patterns* that make it annoying to try weaving
> through their neighborhoods to get around busier roads.
> 
> Here are a few things I think Riverdale could do to make it safer for
> the children on our streets.
> 
>  
> 
> 1.       *Letters to the neighbors. *Not everyone is on this list serv.
> We should hand deliver a letter to all the houses in the area with
> requests to inform their children to be more careful as well as
> neighborhood drivers to keep their eyes open. I would volunteer to do
> this for all houses starting on Lafayette and heading east to the park.
> 
> 2.       *More speed bumps.* People race through the neighborhood at
> high speeds especially at night. More speed bumps would slow them down. 
> Some kind of enforcement would also slow them down.
> 
> 3.       *Children playing signs.* Something that could help keep people
> alert.
> 
> 4.       *Stopping people from using our area as a cut through.* How can
> we make it less desirable to use our area to avoid 410 traffic or as a
> quick way to get to the new Whole Foods? Maybe something like the “do
> not enter” signs on Queensbury road in Hyattsville that do not apply to
> residents but people just passing through at certain times of the day. 
> A few more one way streets and police to enforce it.  Imagine if
> Ravenswood road was a one way street that you could only travel east. 
> Cars would be much less likely to want to go through the area since it
> makes it that much harder to get to their destination, and possibly
> deter traffic from cutting through the neighborhood overall.
> 
>  
> 
> Since I am not a traffic specialist I am only making suggestions based
> on what I see in the area that seems to work.  I would love to see the
> city make a stronger effort to consider what Wholefoods could be doing
> to our area in terms of traffic and our children.  How can we make it
> less attractive to use our area as a cut through?  How can we inform the
> parents and children of the neighborhood to be more careful as we work
> on making the town safer for them to play in?
> 
>  
> 
> It would be great if someone could add something like this to the agenda
> to the Public Safety Committee Meeting on Thursday, May 12, 2016,
> at 6:30 p.m. in the Conference Room of Town Hall (5008 Queensbury Road).
> Can anyone come?  Did they ever send out an agenda?
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Adrian
> 
> Ravenswood Rd
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
>     On Fri, May 6, 2016 at 8:27 AM, S Collins <ugglywump at yahoo.com
>     <mailto:ugglywump at yahoo.com>> wrote:
> 
>         There'd been 2 posts last months about kids playing in the
>         street on Ravenswood Road; just a note to say I've noticed a
>         bunch of kids playing in the streets as well, don't know if it's
>         the same group or not (about 8-10 elementary school-age kids). 
>         I don't drive and when I get a cab to come home from the store,
>         several times the cab has had to slow down to a stop in the
>         4700/4800 block of Ravenswood, as this group of children is out
>         in the street on bikes or playing.  They make no move to get out
>         of the way of the cab.  Yesterday, I left my apt. and saw this
>         same bunch of kids walking from Ravenswood up Lafayette, in the
>         street w/ their bikes and scooters, just goofing around.  They
>         were almost under the EW Highway overpass and a pickup truck
>         came around the corner at speed and had to swerve way to the
>         left to avoid hitting the children.  I yelled at them to get out
>         of the street or they could get hurt, but either their English
>         isn't that good or they were just ignoring me, as they made no
>         effort to get out of the way.  I know kids need a place to play,
>         I know children tend to be careless, but if this keeps up,
>         sooner or later one or more of these children is going to get
>         hit by a car, or cause an accident if a vehicle has to swerve
>         around them and ends up hitting another vehicle.  Can't say what
>         should or could be done, I know the police cannot 'babysit' a
>         particular area all the time. Perhaps the school could send out
>         a flyer, telling parents to watch over their children, or maybe
>         handouts at the Farmers' Market or the "Night Out Against Crime"
>         event?  Esp. with summer vacation coming up, children will be
>         out and about more than ever.  At any rate, drivers in the area,
>         please, please be careful. 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
>     -- 
>     Adrian
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Adrian
> 
> 
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