By Samantha Saville
“Slipknot’s okay, but starting my day with that is not exactly inspiring,” said Bill Golsam when he was explaining how the parking crunch on campus is affecting his parking at his home one block away. “I often have to park down the block instead of in front of my own home.” Mr. Golsam explains, “if the same car sits in front of my house for several days, that gets annoying, especially when I have to read the same ‘All Hope is Gone’ (Slipknot) bumper sticker every time I pull in.” Carol Redding is upset because “this was decided with virtually no input from people in the neighborhood and I’m very unhappy with the situation.” Another community member claimed that most of the time their driveway is blocked by cars and they cannot see to back out safely.
Another big safety concern that several people expressed during a simple survey is their children’s safety. Along with the added trash to the street there is a lot more reckless driving on Sierra Avenue. “The streets in this area are narrow,” says Neil Hammer, a resident in the community. “Our parking spaces have gone in a wider area than ever before. Cars come down our streets to fast and with all the parked cars; it is dangerous for our children.” Everyone who took this survey agreed that the traffic has increased on Sierra Avenue and the traffic is caused mainly by speeding students who are ignorant of the fact that it is a neighborhood. Bill Golsam exclaimed, “If they would slow down I wouldn’t get so riled, but I have kids!”
The community is experiencing more than just a traffic increase. Bill Golsam’s home got broken into a few weeks ago. He says in response, “I also happen to wonder if a break in we suffered a few weeks ago wasn’t a result of this problem [traffic increase].”
The community’s response was not all negative. One member of the community said, “Save street parking for residents as it was meant to be! Not students at college! Students deserve their own parking!”
Bill Golsam had some suggestions about how to make the situation better for everyone. He suggested, “If they would make Monterey a two-way it would fix a lot of our problems. If El Rio didn’t have a ‘No Thru Traffic’ sign that might elevate some traffic [on El Rio], but they think they deserve a ‘gated’ neighborhood.” A lot of people remain hopeful that this situation is only temporary. We will not know if it will get better until next spring.
What’s Been Said…