the Controversial Committee Report
“We don’t raise sacred cows...we just butcher them.”
“Save the Geezers”
Help! Geezers in ‘beautiful downtown Irving’ are daily being put at risk when driving around town. And the city manager, with assistance and prodding from the city council, should reach a quick resolution on two, of several, traffic issues staff of the CCR has been informed of.
While there are other traffic issues which lead to dangerous driving conditions in the city, the following two should be considered at the top of the city’s priority list ASAP.
(1) Story Road/Hwy 183 underpass: When traveling south on Story Road and approaching the traffic light to continue going south, there are three lane markers showing you have to/can go straight in that lane.
Guess what! When going under the overpass, the left lane directional marker suddenly has changed to reflect one must now turn left onto the East bound service road. What?
And the erroneous marking at the traffic light creates a major and dangerous traffic issue as folks, who thought they were able to go straight, now have a very short and narrow ability to change lanes to proceed going south on Story Road. Very dangerous and confusing!
The horn honking, quick stops, and immediate merging of traffic into the south bound lane creates dangerously unsafe driving conditions and certainly increases a driver’s blood pressure and use of profanity…in both lanes.
However, the problem is not the driver who needed to immediately change lanes to continue going south…the dangerous condition is the result of the contractor not reflecting a turn arrow in the lane when stopped at the Story Road south bound traffic light at Hwy 183.
What could be corrected, in a matter of minutes, is to repaint the straight arrow to a turn only arrow at the South bound traffic light. This issue has been ignored for weeks on end!
(2) Irving Boulevard lighting: This issue has been a problem, with no resolution, for years. When the concept was approved to utilize solar panels to light the major section of Irving Boulevard, many thought this was a rather imbecilic way to “conserve” energy. And this point has been proven many times in the ensuing years…at the expense of driver safety.
Due to recent weather conditions, there has been NO lighting on Irving Boulevard, where these solar panel lights are located, for a goodly number of nights! The solar panels, as in the past, cannot carry the charge necessary to light the roadway under extended conditions of no sunlight.
The going-home traffic continues to zip down the road driving with a loss of night time lighting. All are vulnerable for a potential fatal accident…and not just Geezers attempting to drive safely under these dark conditions which seem to be overrun by Spawns of Satan speed demons.
While there have been discussions to “fix” the issue of no-lighting at night due to the poorly chosen solar panel equipment, no relief has been provided.
How long should it take before the city staff not only recognizes the issue, but actually has Reddy Kilowatt string an electrical line and plug the lights in so drivers may have a safer route through the city…especially on rainy-night conditions?
Should you have experienced these driving perils and want to register your concerns, staff of the CCR recommends you contact the city manager, or your council representative. The city manager can be reached by e-mail at: chillman@cityofirving.org
Be polite, but be firm. Let them know Geezers are rationale and generally do their homework before offering solutions for ‘beautiful downtown Irving.’
……………………………Mark Holbrook
Note: Considering several significant issues which have been popping up in the city (ARK, law suits, collusion, and ‘dark money’ funding of city council campaigns), Dylan Westie, Executive editor and Part-time Wordsmith and Social Media Troll for the CCR, is starting to explore the possibility of running for the At-large city council seat in the next election. Dylan still believes an elected official should serve the citizens, who would elect him, and not be beholden to crony, string pulling, or special interest concerns. We’ll keep you posted as Dylan still has his campaign signs (Dylan Westie — “Almost Mayor” of Irving) in storage. A slight alteration could be performed for the At-large city council seat.
