Steve Broadbent Introduces New Way for Citizen Input! Got an urgent public comment? In traffic, or just lazy and do not want to attend in person?
No worries, Steve Broadbent introduced a dynamic way for citizens input. At Monday night's council's meeting, during public comment, he received a text message and read her public comment into the record.
Although this person happens to be Liz Hausmann, we know No cronyism or favoritism would ever occur at City Hall.
So if you have an urgent public comment, text Councilman Steve Broadbent at 678-897-7468 .
Completely inappropriate for ANYONE to text ANYONE on the Council and have their comments read into the record.
It reeks of cronyism and favoritism in the worst ways.
Will Broadbent be jumping anytime a message comes in from a Fulton County Commissioner? Will they also tell him how to vote?
Will he read my comments? Yours?
One would have thought that a Mayor Pro Tem would have known better.
Didn't they just pass a resolution on ethics in Johns Creek?
If Liz Hausman wants to comment, she can come down and speak for three minutes, just like everyone else.
I too felt it was inappropriate for Broadbent to be texted a public comment by Fulton County Commissioner Liz Hausmann to be read aloud at Monday night's city council meeting. It all seemed to be a "staged effort". Liz advocated for a roundabout to counteract the unanimous opposition voiced IN PERSON by many members of the Barnwell community. This was SO PLANNED!!! I have to wonder why a "political fix" was brought into this decision?
It seemed that Liz Hausmann lived near the proposed roundabout and felt she would personally benefit from it, hence her urgent public comment.
I don't see how anyone could benefit on Barnwell rd with 5 roundabouts. It's amazing what the city will try to do for federal dollars.
I live right above where Barnwell turns into Jones Bridge, I commute through Barnwell Road every morning after dropping my boys at Barnwell Elementary.
I just have to say that FIVE roundabouts is probably the most ridiculous idea I have heard to improve traffic at Barnwell Rd. The real problem is a Holcomb Bridge @ Barnwell, and a roundabout is not the fix, you still have to get through that light, dedicated turn lanes and a crossing solution from Kroger is another story, but not a roundabout, and certainly not five as they were proposing, this is an irresponsible waste of money and I for one would like to know who will benefit from this contract, because whoever it is I can bet they do not use that corridor for their daily commute.
According to the GDOT website, an estimated 9200 vehicles per day travel on Barnwell Road.
So it is confusing to me why we are willing to spend so much money on roundabouts on this road, when we have other, more serious issues elsewhere, affecting many more drivers.
If there are drivers speeding, then is it not reasonable to ask our JCPD to step up their presence?
http://trafficserver.transmetric.com/gdot-prod/tcdb.jsp?siteid=1210884
Above is a link to the GDOT Traffic Data. You can verify for yourself what I am saying.
Agreed, JCPD should definitely increase their presence, specially at peak hours.
The purpose of a round-a-bout is to keep traffic flowing continuously through it, not to slow rate of speed.
If the Federal Government were not giving away your Federal Tax Dollars for this nonsense, Johns Creek would have no interest in roundabouts at all.
So here we have a conservative local government who has no issue at all with running up the federal deficit because it is free money.
I wonder...do these council members pay Federal Taxes? Do they think their constituents pay Federal Taxes? We are one of the highest earning communities.
Why can't we be one of the cities in America that lead by example?
Is that too much to ask?
I'll clarify my comment. The primary purpose of a round-a-bout is to serve as an alternative to a stopping intersection and allow the flow of traffic to continue. It may also have the effect of slowing the rate of flow, but this is a secondary attribute and would not normally be the reason for their construction.
"Studies of roundabouts that replaced stop signs and/or traffic signals found that vehicle delays were reduced 13–89 percent and the proportion of vehicles that stopped was reduced 14–56 percent. Delays on major approaches increased as vehicles slowed to enter the roundabouts"
Let's be more specific. The roundabout slows traffic on the main road. It reduces the time the minor approach has to wait.
What this means is that there are 9,000 cars daily that will all be forced to slow for the roundabout for the benefit of 360 cars or so at Nublick (for example) to shorten their wait times to pull out.
Who benefits and who does not? The answer is pretty clear.
A round-about would be overkill and the wrong solution on one of the most scenic and well-moving roads in the city. It is really the only good route for getting into Johns Creek from the Dunwoody area in the afternoons.
But does a roundabout really work in keeping the traffic moving at a reasonable pace? (Especially with young, inexperienced and elderly drivers?)
Has anyone seen the confusion at the roundabout in the East Roswell shopping center by Target?
And what about pedestrian crossings at these roundabouts? Are they dangerous for kids going to school??
Dear John and Suzi,
The purposes of a roundabout, rotary to those from the northeast, are several. First, they are an alternative to a light or a stop sign at an intersection to handle merging traffic. Second they are traffic "calming' devices that lower the rate of speed because of the turning movements that are introduced. For example, the roundabout on Sargent Road is posted at 15 mph.
On a road like Barnwell, the first question is how much traffic is there? If there is not much traffic on the main road, a stop sign at an intersection is sufficient to ensure that entering cars at an intersection stop to look before entering the main road. If there is considerable traffic on the main road, then traffic lights are introduced to stop the flow of traffic as needed to allow cars to enter. The lights are controlled by sensors in the roadway that detect if there is a car waiting to enter. Otherwise the light is green for the main road to allow traffic to flow at a reasonable rate of speed. A traffic light costs about $150,000.
A roundabout is appropriate if there is a similar amount of cars on the intersecting roads. In this case, priority is not given to either road entering the intersection and cars are allowed to merge in a continuous motion. This merging action is undertaken in a continuous flow manner with all cars driving slowly and yielding to each other.
Roundabouts are traffic "calming" as Tom Black says because they force all cars to slow down. Even when their is no entering traffic at an intersection, the main flow of traffic must slow down to negotiate the roundabout turns. With a stop sign, the main flow of traffic never slows down. With a traffic light, the main flow of traffic only slows down and stops when cars are waiting to enter an intersection.
On a road like Barnwell or Sargent, if you put in three roundabouts. Main road traffic would slow down to 15 mph as it enters a roundabout and then would speed up as it exists to make up for lost time before it must slow down again for the next roundabout. This deceleration and acceleration comes at a cost of reduced gas milage for the driver.
The first question the community must ask itself is do we want Barnwell to be a 45 mph flow with high capacity to let drivers to get where they want quickly, or do we want it to be a leisurely country lane where drivers amble along and accelerate and decelerate between 40 and 15 mph. Should drivers in a rush use Barnwell Road, Nesbit Ferry, or Brumbelow road to get to Holcomb Bridge? My view is that we need descending order Nesbit, Barnwell, and Brumbelow to handle our traffic trying to reach Holcomb Bridge Road to head east. Old Alabama handles our traffic trying to reach Holcomb Bridge Road to head west.