tony jeter dot com

I recently heard about a couple of programs that Parks Department is offering to local homeschoolers.  The Summit began its Home school P.E. program this fall. The well-received program will run a total of 12 weeks through December 5th. The class is weekdays from 2 to 3 P.M.. The class utilizes a very structured curriculum ranging from team sports to personal fitness. Students also learn about nutrition and the human body during the course of the class. At the end of the 12 weeks, students with good attendance will be recognized with a patch and certificate from the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.

The Wilson Park Recreation Center has a slightly different program for homeschooled students. This program offers month long courses that take place each Friday afternoon from 1 to 2:30 P.M.. This program offers parents the freedom of registering their kids at the beginning of any month.

I want to commend our Parks staff for the entrepreneurial spirit they are bringing to their jobs! The hours that they offer the programs are during the slowest times of the day for the facilities. An opportunity was seized to use that excess capacity to serve a group in our community. It amazing what a little forethought and planning can accomplish.

Click here to view a PDF of last week’s building permits.

There are currently a total of 77 speed bumps installed on 17 streets in the City. Those 77 speed bumps cost the taxpayers approximately $115,000. As a disclaimer, I am unaware of any citizens having paid for their own. Click here to view detailed location maps for every speed bump in the City. Please be patient for the file to download, as it is a fairly large file. Your homework assignment is to drive the streets where these bumps are located and report back to me if you think they have been a bad investment. While you are out and about be sure to visit with residents that actually live on the streets where the bumps are located to get their thoughts.  I’ll bet you they love ‘em.

Once last thought…. What if the City were to budget $60,000 a year for speed bumps? Yeah sure, we would have a lot of irate speeders but they would be driving a whole lot slower.  That wouldn’t be a bad thing would it?

I have received numerous inquiries as to the cost of a speed bump. A City policy adopted in 2002 set the price of speed bumps at $1,500.

In October of this year we had Council workshop on speed bumps.  Staff provided an overview of the current policy. Click here to view the presentation.

“Tony, when you have a minute, I’d like to talk to you about the possibility of installing speed humps on 15th street.  We continuously see cars traveling at 50+ mph (no exaggeration) day after day and would like to explore the possibility.”

This afternoon I received the above email requesting help with getting speed bumps. This is the second such request for speed bumps that I have received in the last few weeks.

If you read my posts from last week you would know my thoughts on speed bumps.  For the benefit of those that didn’t read my elegant prose, I think speed bumps are a very effective traffic calming tool. Most people tend to agree that speeding in neighborhoods is a BIG problem.  This is one of the most common complaints I have heard while on the Council.  From my perspective there are really only three options to slow people down.

1.    Do nothing, keep our fingers crossed and hope that nobody gets killed because somebody is in real a hurry to be somewhere.
2.    Start to aggressively enforce current neighborhood speed limits. If you read my 411 on 911 post a few days ago you would know that this is not really a viable option.  This course of action would require either having more officers on the streets (more officers equal higher taxes) or having officers on duty focus on speeders rather than emergency calls. I can’t think of many citizens that would be inclined to support either alternative.
3.    Become more proactive in the installation of speed bumps and other traffic calming devices to force drivers to slow down.

The choice seems pretty obvious to me. What about you?

Click here to view a PDF of last week’s building permits.

I got a couple questions concerning my reference to 911 calls in the preceding post.  I thought the information below might be of benefit.

The policy of the Police Department is to respond to all 911 calls.  However, they are automatically no longer considered emergency calls because the vast majority of them do not pan out as anything significant.  That can change based on what the 911 Operator deduces about caller’s situation.  The Operators will upgrade calls that are deemed as emergencies.

In any given month the Communications Center will receive about 15,000 911 calls. Pure 911 calls for Temple, which basically means a call has come in on 911,
but the call-taker cannot determine the nature of the situation, have averaged 438 per month over the past 3 months.  Total citizen calls for service using the 911 system are averaging 5,300 per month as well. Sensible people would understand that 911 calls should be used for emergencies only.  So where have all of the sensible people gone?

I like speed bumps. I can’t, for the life of me, comprehend why some folks are having such the conniption about them. The workshop we had about speed bumps several weeks ago really stirred the pot. This is the first year I have had people calling to have them removed. The neighborhoods that get’em love’em.  It’s the folks that commute through these neighborhoods that are in such a tizzy. You know the ones… the ones that don’t have kids at home anymore. What about the folks that like to take shortcuts through neighborhoods to miss a few lights on the way to work or school?  They hate those speed bumps too. I wonder why?

The question always arises as to why use speed bumps.  The answer is simple in my humble opinion. They work.  They work because they force people to slow down.  Maybe they lose a muffler or two but they will slow down or they will find another route. Either outcome is fine with me. What about enforcing speed limits and stop signs you ask? This is a question that begs an answer.  On any given day we may have anywhere between 12 and 18 police officers patrolling our streets.  Think about that number for a second. At any given time they may be responding to a 911 call or an auto accident. They might be patrolling a neighborhood or pulling traffic duty. There is just no way they can patrol every neighborhood regularly enough to ensure compliance with posted speed limits. Enter the speed bump.  For the record, I am in favor of trying to accommodate any neighborhood that requests speed bumps.

Click here to view a PDF of last week’s building permits.

Click here to view a PDF of last 58 months of new single family home permits.