125 replies to this topic

[Sibley Resident]

The city has done vehicle counts in our neighborhood and from viewing the numbers on the different streets you can make reasonable assumptions on where they are coming from and going. Honestly though, the residents here didn’t need it because all we have to do is stand in our front yards and watch almost every vehicle coming from and going to Folsom Blvd.

The information the Lembi Resident gave you is what we have been trying to say. This is not only a Sibley problem. This is affecting our entire neighborhood. These people are cutting through all of the side streets to get to and from Sibley.

Our Neighborhood looks different than the newer neighborhoods do but the basic concept is the same. In the area you live in I’m sure you have a main road (arterial) that has no houses facing it. Then when you enter your neighborhood you are on a pretty significant main road with houses facing the street. From that road you have additional side streets and cul-de-sacs. Imagine that the arterial street became congested with vehicles and they started to cut through the main road in your neighborhood with the houses facing it. Then imagine that road becoming so congested that it then spills off onto your side streets. That main road in your neighborhood is suppose to be the street that the residents in your neighborhood use to move them in and out of the neighborhood to and from the main arterial road. It was not intended for the drivers to use it from one main arterial to the next.

This is what has happened to us. Sibley is our main road and instead of being used to move residents and the few businesses and their customers in the neighborhood to and from the main arterial it is being used by commuters and others from one arterial to the next. We believed the proposal we had would have reduced the cut through traffic on every street in this neighborhood and returned Sibley to the residents and business that are here.

It’s hard to believe that if this happened to any other neighborhood the residents there would be ok with it. I believe they would want the city to get them out of their neighborhood and put them back on the arterial road where they belong.

Thank you for the thoughtful questions, its nice to have someone actually trying to understand the issues instead of just telling us……. Well I leave that alone, just know we’ve heard it all.

[Lembi Resident]

Ditto the message of the Sibley Resident. Thank you to those readers and citizens who are trying to understand our plight........Some of you have even stated that you don't think a street closure will be the answer, but why not give it a try?.....One of our points, exactly!

Let me add that this type of traffic problem is not unique to the Sibley area. It is not unique to Folsom. It is a problem that our vehicle-oriented society must address on both a small scale and on a large scale.

But... it won't just go away! We must DO something!

[Terry]

I was pleased to see this morning around 7:00 am that Folsom's finest were ticketing on Sibley - one was writing a ticket at Sibley and Lembi, the other was writing a ticket at Diamond Glen, and the radar speed display trailer was out there on Sibley also. This indicates the severity of the problem - two tickets within two blocks - I would guess one was speeding and the other was blowing the stop sign at Lembi.

This I believe is a response to Tuesday evening's City Council meeting wherein the residents laid out their traffic problems and while council members voted down a closure, they promised to come up with some solutions.

Thanks anyway to any and all who are responsible for this current heavy patrol!

[DalOwnerX3]

Glad to hear that. Another side benefit is that the fines collected will help close our budget problems. [disclaimer: for those that are sacrastic-handicaped, the preceding sentence is not meant to be taken seriously]

On a side note, I noticed a motorcycle cop camped out on Iron Point road across from Folsom High to discourage people from stopping their cars in the 'No stopping' zone.

[Terry]

Well, once again, I'm impressed - about 4:15 pm I saw a patrol car parked on Sibley at Diamond Glen waiting for speedings going north on Sibley from Glenn. Almost had the guy pass me over double lines, but then he thought better of it when he saw the cops. Nothing like a high police presence to encourage proper behavior.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to whomever is responsible for this high level of enforcement! Keep it up!

[john]

I love these signs...

[Orangetj]

Hello all. I'm new to the board, but have been a Folsom resident for 20 years (since I was a school aged kid). Having attended both the initial meeting to deal with Sibley area traffic back in October and the more recent meeting at the beginning of January, I was deeply disappointed to learn that the 60 day trial closure was denied. The overall message I got from the January 5th meeting was that the 60 day trial WOULD take place so that the city would have an opportunity to learn what the impacts might be. To learn now that the whole plan was shot down is truly disheartening. Given that the citizen's advisory committee has now produced three distinct traffic calming plans for the area, and given that all three of them have been rejected, I can't help but wonder what it is the Traffic Safety Committee and the City Council are looking for. Will the only acceptable solution be one which obstructs no roads, includes no physical traffic calming devices (speed humps, chicanes, etc.) and causes no inconvenience for cut-through drivers?

As a resident of Lembi drive very near the intersection at Sibley, I can say with confidence that this problem has gotten progressively worse over the past year or so. Both speeding and traffic volume on Lembi and Sibley are at completely unacceptable levels. Until something more serious is done to help mitigate this problem, I can only ask that those of you who do drive down Sibley or Lembi PLEASE watch your speed and keep an eye out for those of us who live in this area and need to be able to get out of our driveways. Both Sibley and Lembi seem to "pull" a speed of about 45 mph from drivers for some reason, so I really think that many people don't even realize they're speeding. I can tell you that almost without fail, every time I drive down either Sibley or Lembi at 25 mph, I end up with somebody behind me catching up very quickly.

Finally, I want to express my thanks to those of you who gave so much of your time to try to come up with some solution to this problem. I was quite vocally in support of your plan at the January 5th meeting and I had the pleasure of speaking with several of you following the meeting. I truly believe that you were trying to engage in a good faith effort with the city to improve the quality of life and safety in the neighborhoods along Sibley road, which, as has been pointed out is NOT a main arterial despite the contentions of those who treat it as such. It is quite disheartening to learn that not only was your proposal rejected, but no other alternate plan or compromise was proposed by the city.

[Sibley Resident]

Thank you so much for your kind words. For those of us that were on this committee and have given so much of our time away from our homes, jobs and most importantly our families believing that this could give us the quality of life that we deserve as residents of this city, are very disappointed with the results of our efforts. For some reason there are people that believe their right to cut through someone else’s neighborhood is more important than that neighborhood or the quality of life of the people living there. We have been disappointed and shocked by people’s reactions to us wanting to protect our neighborhood and our families. We even recently attended a city council meeting were their was another neighborhood in there fighting for their right to keep the proposed EVA by the developer (Emergency Vehicle Access only, the same thing we are asking for) instead of it being made into a through road from one arterial to the next in there neighborhood. They were concerned the same thing would happen to them that has happened to us. It looks as if they have won (and I’m happy for them) but when they were asked about our neighborhood and if we should receive a closure (EVA), only 4 raised their hands in support of us. I must thank those 4 but it’s amazing that there were so many of them that wanted this for themselves and their neighborhood but would not support us receiving the same thing they have. I guess their neighborhood, their quality of life, their safety and the safety of their children is more important then ours.

This is not even close to being over yet. This city has problems in their neighborhoods (primarily speeding), not only this one. Our neighborhood is unique because we incorporate almost a 1/3 of the cities Historic District. Its issues will need to be handled differently than how most neighborhoods would be handle. However, unlike many other cities, Folsom does not have any procedures in place for any neighborhood coming to them with their issues, whatever those issues may be, cut through traffic, speeding etc….. Folsom is trying to catch up but is far behind many other cities in handling these type of issues. Not only for us but for the city as a whole we are going to keep going with our efforts until the city does right by it’s neighborhoods and the residents that live in these neighborhoods and even for those neighborhoods that have not yet been effected by some of these issues. Hopefully we can provide them a smoother process to go through than what we have had to endure.

Again thank you so much for your support.

[tony]

Sibley Resident: Was the EVA acces issue to which you referred regarding Terciera Way and the proposed Fieldstone Meadows development? How did the council vote on that one?

[Sibley Resident]

I did not want to mention names. Just in case it was ever lifted. I do not want another neighborhood eventhough they were not in sport of us to ever have to go through what we are, but yes. This is who I'm reffering to and from what I got out of the meeting the city is going to do the right thing by them and leave it in place.

[bordercolliefan]

Where is Terciera Way? I didn't know Folsom had any streets that were for emergency vehicles only.

This is the first place I've ever lived where closing streets to traffic was even an issue. (Of course, arguably the dam road closure is an extraordinary situation).

Sibley resident, as you know I don't agree with the idea of closing the road, but I must complement you on your politeness and civility throughout. Given how frustrated you are (as you yourself state), it is very admirable that you have conducted yourself in such a reasonable and polite manner.

[Sibley Resident]

Thank You, I appreciate very much what you said. The city of Folsom is not the only city that has used these measures to protect their neighborhoods, their are many cities that are very proactive in protecting their neighborhoods and Residents. I do not want to make any other neighborhood go through what we are and I wish there names had stayed out of this. So I will not help anyone find out about them or any other neighborhoods that may or may not have these. If this neighborhood had theirs removed, I have no doubt that in a matter of time they would be dealing with the same issues we have. I will state that it is a newer neighborhood that the city had the foresight to protect. And I applaud them for that.

[Sibley Resident]

The only reason I mentioned them is to try and show how hypocritical people can be when it is something that effects them and how quickly their attitudes can change. We are not the first to deal with issues and we will not be the last. Everyone should be concerned about how the city and the community handles us. Who knows when something will happen that will cause another neighborhood to need the cities help or the support of their community.

[Orangetj]

Bordercolliefan,

Just a note - the city of Sacramento has closed several streets in the midtown/downtown area to through traffic as part of it's traffic calming efforts.

Orangetj

[Sibley Resident]

Tony, I was talking to another member of the committee and we do not believe they took a vote on it. It looks like it might be going back to the traffic safety committee. I will need to watch the meeting again on my tape to verify this. However, myself and the other individual do believe they have the support of the city council to keep their EVA. That is the impression that we both received from it. I hope that we are not wrong and I hope if it is going back to the Traffic Safety Committee they will receive their support to protect their neighborhood. If you know anything different about this issue. Please let us know.