Regarding the letter from Jack Singleton (July 3, 2003), my reaction to Mr. Singleton’s observation of never seeing any pedestrians on Civic Center Way and Winter Canyons is, DAH. Would any responsible parent allow their small children to walk to their school in this area? I think not. As Mr. Singleton himself estimated there are hundreds of motorists who take this route daily. There are only two practical purposes for motorists to be in that vicinity and they are (1) to drop their children off at one of the elementary schools and (2) for individuals who reside in the area to enter and exit. All other motorists are there for the single purpose of a mistaken notion that they are saving time on their Z commute. Mr. Singleton apparently feels that his time is so vital that the endangerment to the lives of small children pales in comparison.
Furthermore, there are well over 300 tax-paying residents who reside in the area abutting the two elementary schools that must exit or enter their residences to attend to their daily lives. With a cul-de-sac in place, many of the residents could safely walk their children to their nearby schools and their church instead of clogging the area with their SUVs. The children and their parents have no choice but to use Civic Center Way, but you and the other Z drivers do have a choice, i.e., use PCH.
It appears that Mr. Singleton has no regard for the lives of small children at risk or the gross inconvenience of the residents in the immediate vicinity, what with his “single-minded” pursuit of saving a minute or two, and/or his inability to slightly deviate his five-day-a-week routine. I invite Mr. Singleton to expound on his thoughts of how installing an “off-the-shelf” traffic light 100 yards from the existing traffic light would save him time, alleviate congestion, end child endangerment and curtail hundreds of Z motorists a day that are creating pollution to the residents’ homes with gas emissions, soot and noise and diminishing their property values in the process.
There is only one solution to alleviating the problem, and that solution is not the installation of another traffic light, but to simply reroute the offending hundreds of motorists who barrel up and down Civic Center Way for no purpose other than to save themselves a minute or two.
Even Dagwood Bumstead could figure this out.
Marlene Branch