To the Editor:

What started as a legitimate effort to calm traffic on Queen Street has now turned into a fiasco. First two speed bumps, then three, and now five are planned.  Ten-mile-an-hour speed signs were posted. Now we learn that the Police Commission wants to make sure no driver can go more than 25 MPH in between the speed bumps.  Do any other roads in Newtown have that objective?

The Police Commission’s obsession with Queen Street has moved from calming traffic to trying to reduce traffic on Queen by diverting traffic to neighboring roads. Perhaps that was the original goal driven by some high level political residents of Queen Street. But who really pays for this preferential treatment? The taxpayer. To date over $100,000 has been spent on Queen Street, while every other road in Newtown has been neglected. Many residents of other roads have come to the Police Commission for help with speeders only to walk away empty handed. The town’s traffic management program has come to a screeching halt, but not efforts to satisfy a handful of people on Queen Street. 

Traffic has been calmed on Queen Street, more than any other street in Newtown. Additional bumps are clearly intended to divert traffic, and that should not be unacceptable. Their problem should not now become their neighbor’s problems. There should be equal protection for residents of all roads in Newtown, not just politically-connected residents.

Bruce Walczak

12 Glover Avenue, Newtown                        June 11, 2013