Caldwell Takes Public Safety Measures to Stop Speeding in Neighborhoods – TAPinto.net
CALDWELL, NJ — Concerns raised during public comment at Caldwell’s borough council meeting on Tuesday regarding a lack of police presence in areas prone to speeding sparked a conversation about traffic safety among the mayor and council.
Nicholas Monte, a resident of Ravine Avenue, was one of many residents who spoke about speeding issues on his street, which he described as a residential area with families and small children that “has become a cut-through road for drivers to avoid the traffic lights on Bloomfield and Passaic Avenue.” He added that his own car was nearly clipped by a speeding vehicle recently as he was backing out of his driveway, stating that the car sped up to beat him rather than giving him the right of way.
According to Monte, 12 of the 13 houses canvassed on Ravine Avenue have signed a petition he implemented in the hopes that bringing this issue to the mayor and council would inspire them to come up with a solution—whether this incudes speed bumps, additional law enforcement and/or radar signs on scene.
Robert Massot, a state police officer who also lives on Ravine Avenue, said he often parks his patrol car on the street in hopes of deterring speeding, but that there still needs to be more of a police presence on Ravine during peak traffic hours.
Michelle Corbot, who has lived on Ravine since 1989, added that the problem has only escalated through the years and that things need to change.
“Ravine needs to become known to the community that if you are speeding on the street you will be stopped and ticketed,” she said.
Mayor John Kelley responded that the council has been made aware of this problem and that it is a top public safety concern. He added that he has been in conversation with West Caldwell Mayor John Tempesta, Jr. about how to combat this issue and work together toward a solution.
“We hear you, and we are going to do our best to address this and solve this problem,” said Kelley. “Our goal is to work with West Caldwell and both the Caldwell and West Caldwell police departments to educate the police on the safety issues and to acquire new digital signage consistent with those used in West Caldwell. We are looking into digital signage so we can be strategic about traffic law enforcement.”
According to Kelley, digital signs capture data such as the speed of vehicles, the number of cars and the time and date that speeding occurs in order to assess the problem and help determine the best course of action. Kelley said that he hopes that digital signage will help the police be strategic in identifying peak times that speeding occurs.
Resident Rudy Miller, who said that he rarely sees police presence on Ravine, pointed out that Fort Lee in Bergen County recently proposed an ordinance to keep non-resident vehicles off of certain cut through streets during peak traffic times and suggested doing something similar in Caldwell.
However, the council reported that courts ultimately ordered that Fort Lee reverse this ordinance because a municipality cannot legally limit access to public roads.
Councilman Henderson Cole, chairman of public safety for Caldwell, added that Ravine Avenue was number one on the list of discussions at the recent public safety meeting. Other major discussions included the implementation of crosswalks on Central Avenue and other roads and complete signage throughout Caldwell, especially signage pertaining to pedestrians, he said.
Regarding the resolution to implement a crosswalk on Central Avenue, Councilman Jonathan Lace noted that Central Avenue is a county road that divides the intersection of Central Place and Wakefield Place, which are municipal streets. He said that this intersection does not allow pedestrians to legally cross from one municipal street to another because there is no crosswalk and the current speed limit is 35 miles per hour (mph).
“Throughout the year, pedestrians illegally cross Central Avenue, and this is particularly true during Halloween, which many children do so as well,” said Lace. “This resolution will petition Essex County to do two things: one, lower the speed limit to 25 mph and two, grant authorization for a crosswalk to be installed across Central Avenue, connecting Central Place and Wakefield Place.
“Pedestrian safety is a top priority in any local government, and this resolution is the first step in ensuring that any resident who wants to cross from Wakefield Place to Central Place can do so without having to walk an additional 907 feet to the nearest crosswalk in order to safely cross Central Avenue. Our borough should be more, not less, pedestrian friendly.”
In other news, Kelley welcomed new Borough Administrator Thomas Banker to Caldwell during the meeting, stating that he was pleased to have Banker on board and looks forward to working with him to resolve existing problems within the borough.
Banker, who has been on the job for less than a week, said he has already been immersed in discussions with most of the department heads and is holding a “Meet and Greet” this week with borough employees and the mayor. Banker said that he was thankful for the opportunity and that things were “off and running.”
Joy Scally, president of the Caldwell-West Caldwell Kiwanis Club, announced that Kiwanis is looking to sponsor an upcoming youth program or event. According to the club’s website, more than $400,000 has been raised and donated back to the Caldwell-West Caldwell community over the last 10 years. As every penny earned through fundraising is used for a designated project, Scally requested that community members reach out to him with any suggestions. Learn more HERE.