Last week we looked at the results of the first traffic forum and today we’ll cover the second one. The second forum had about twice as many residents as the first, and fewer City staff. Most of the residents at the first forum were from the Foothill/Portola area of the City. At the second forum people came largely from the middle part of the City.
REVIEW OF FIRST FORUM
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In the first forum we identified general and specific concerns.
The general concerns were -
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No unified plan that made sense
Concern about Corruption at the City Council level
No idea about the General Impact of 5,000 new homes
No idea about the Specific impact of 4,000+ new kids on schools
Questionable validity of the traffic "model"
Poor communication with the residents
Marginalization of certain parts of the City
Need for better coordination with neighboring cities
The specific concerns were
Back ups at El Toro (esp. Raymond and Rockfield)
Congestion on El Toro below Rockfield
Failure to complete Portola Extension
Failure to complete the 241 toll road
Speeding traffic on Muirlands
Noise (especially from motorcycles)
Lack of synchronization on North/South streets
SECOND FORUM – RECURRING CONCERNS
As you might imagine, many of the concerns raised in the first forum were raised by the people at the second forum. These recurring concerns are listed below. General items are in bold.
No idea about the Specific impact of 4,000+ new kids on schools
Questionable validity of the traffic "model"
Poor communication with the residents
Need for better coordination with neighboring cities
Failure to complete Portola Extension
Back up at El Toro and Raymond
Congestion on El Toro below Rockfield
Speeding traffic on Muirlands
Too much commercial traffic on residential streets (e.g., Serrano, Lake Forest Drive)
SECOND FORUM – UNIQUE ISSUES
Here’s a list of the new items of concern raised by the residents at the second forum.
Dangerous traffic congestion around schools when children are being dropped off and picked up.
Danger to school children who are walking around these areas.
Need “no turn on red light” around schools to protect school children
Need to enforce 25 mph around schools
Changes in speed limit signs which are not clearly seen and which seem to change with no reason (esp. Jeronimo, Ridge Rte. and El Toro).
Failure of synchronization system when cars enter from side streets.
Failure of synchronization system when pedestrian use crosswalks.
Failure of City staff to act in reasonable time (over two months!) when notified of a problem.
Traffic congestion to and from the 5 Freeway.
Access to commercial areas is difficult in some areas (e.g. entering shopping center at Muirlands and Lake Forest Dr. from Muirlands going North, going from Arbors across the street to Petco shopping center)
40% to 50% increase in population in Foothill/Portola area will brings thousands of newcomers into City which will flood main arteries.
Make Bake Pkwy. 3 lanes East of Trabuco to Portola Pkwy (to accommodate the 2,300+ ne homes in Baker Ranch)
SOLUTIONS
Compared to the first group, this group was far more concerned with solutions. Next time we’ll discuss some of the solutions that were offered.
NEXT FORUM
Wednesday, May 21, 7 pm, Lake 2 Clubhouse. Please try to attend. The first two forums have been very valuable in giving the City staff fresh perspectives from the people who actually have to live with the traffic problems.
