McKenna Says Residents Should be Notified in Advance of Traffic Changes

Ward 1 Councillor Joanne McKenna said residents should be notified in advance of any traffic changes made on local streets.

McKenna expressed her displeasure at Monday’s Council meeting that three streets in Beachmont – Endicott, Bradtsreet, and Crest – were transformed to “one-ways” over the holiday weekend without notification to residents affected by the changes.

“Signs were put up and then people came home and they found out their streets were transformed,” said McKenna. “I’m the councillor and I didn’t even know that this was happening.”

McKenna said that robo-calls from the city went out at 3:30 p.m. “and these signs went up at 10 o’clock in the morning.”

The councillor said she received more than 50 calls, 20 text messages, and a number of Facebook comments objecting to the lack of notification about the changes to the streets.

“Going forward, I am asking that the city be more transparent in their communication to our residents and city departments be more responsible to communicate the changes taken place in the city to the proper channels so that our residents have at least two weeks notification,” said McKenna.

Councillor-at-Large George Rotondo suggested that letters could be sent to residents affected by the changes. “It’s a safety issue,” said Rotondo.

Councillor-at-Large Dan Rizzo said he received a number of calls as well.

“It’s not a matter of whether people were for or against it,” said Rizzo. “It’s the total lack of communication. We had a situation in Councillor McKenna’s ward when they demolished an entire building and the neighbors didn’t know it was coming down. There was absolutely no communication.”

Ward 2 Councillor Ira Novoselsky said when the Traffic Commission approves a one-way street, “it may take two or three months to get to a public hearing.”

“Then they have to send the request to the Public Works sign department to put up the sign. I’m not blaming anybody. But maybe there should be some notification from Public Works to the ward councillor, or somehow get out the notice to the people of those streets that are affected.”