![]() Friday, July 7,
2000
Sun Letter:
Traffic 'solutions' don't come close to solving the
problem
I think any narrowing of University Avenue, Main Street or SW Second
Avenue is an incredibly stupid idea.
Not long ago, the big idea was to widen Main Street. Go figure. The
current fad of ruining good streets - and flimsy new cars - with speed
bumps, in lieu of traffic-law enforcement, is also stupid.
Is it in the local water? Or is there a new principle of governance:
"Do something even if it's wrong?"
Bruce DeLaney strongly suggested the latter in his guest column on June
25. He blames some group of citizens for causing the Metropolitan
Transportation Planning Organization to turn 180 degrees on "one-way
pairs" (34th Street area).
If DeLaney is correct, MTPO members should find other work. And it's
not true that their flip-flop left them no choice but to narrow University
Avenue.
If they can't back off from these cockamamie non-solutions, our main
roads will become traffic-choked bottlenecks. Downtown will be a cutesy
little ghost town. People won't go there unless forced by legal matters.
As one example, I will leave my Anglewood premises, drive over our
idiotic speed humps, stop to have my car's suspension fixed, and sprawl
west to do my shopping. Anyone who imagines that I or anyone else can be
forced by humps and bottlenecks to walk or pedal east, is smoking the
wrong brand of cigarette.
A modest proposal: block any street-narrowing proposal. Pave those
streets, sign them and line them (see SW Second and 36th Street for what
not to do).
Tear up all speed bumps. Insist on vigorous traffic-law enforcement.
Most importantly, stop giving in to the Chamber of Commerce, builders and
The Gainesville Sun on growth - the main "devil" that makes our leaders do
so many stupid things.
Enough with the misleading slogans. Growth is a cancerous shell game
that flourishes mainly because the few people that benefit from it are
heavily subsidized by the existing rate payers. We all get higher taxes
and fees, more aggravation and street congestion - then more stupid cures
that don't get close to the disease.
Byron H. Wise,
Gainesville
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