There Is No Isolated Solution

To Queen St Problems

To the Editor:

A big thank you to all those neighbors along Main, Glover, and Queen Street who have been hard at work this winter, after each snowstorm, shoveling their sidewalks. The new sidewalks brought a lot of work and responsibility to the homeowners so all of Newtown can enjoy wonderful and safe walks along the borough streets. And shame to those few home owners who seem to neither have the time nor the concern for their neighbors and neglect to shovel their walkways.

I also want to commend the residents on Queen Street for championing the cause of managing the flow of traffic in the Borough of Newtown. Newtown will continue to grow and the flow and volume of traffic is an issue that needs to be continually managed and addressed. It is an issue of safety and quality of life for us all.

The traffic issue, however, is not limited to the southern portion of Queen Street. Efforts to deal with traffic issues on southern Queen Street, without dealing with the entire traffic issue in the borough, will merely result in shifting volume, noise, and speed issues to adjoining streets such as Glover Avenue, Church Hill Road, the northern side of Queen Street, and other side streets. Some of the actions reported in The Bee, such as spending additional dollars to study only southern Queen Street traffic and diverting police focus and speed displays to southern Queen Street traffic enforcement may unfairly divert traffic to neighboring streets.

Police Chief Kehoe, the Police Commission, the police captain, and borough and Newtown authorities need to approach this issue from a holistic and community point of view. The interest and needs of the entire community, including residents living on other streets and in other parts of town, the business community, shoppers, our school bus drivers, children, and their parents need to be taken into consideration. We know we have a problem; let’s try to solve these issues for the entire community.

The borough is a wonderful place to live. Working together and accepting our responsibilities will keep it that way.

Sincerely,

Bruce Walczak

12 Glover Avenue, Newtown                                    February 5, 2005