I’ve lived here since 1992 and never been tempted to write to the editor, but the insensitivity of the city to the real road traffic, patterns and near misses on Island Crest have made me less complacent. Our family lived for most of our time here in the northwest corner of the Island, and we weren’t as dependent on the main thoroughfare beyond 40th. Now that we live at the South end, we get to witness, on a daily basis, the near misses at Merrimount as people narrowly avoid being hit as they cross southbound traffic; the jostling as vehicles going southbound and northbound juggle for position before they have to ‘make the cut’ to a single lane at Merrimount; and the acceleration to 40-45 mph that many people make once they pass the people going 25 mph (in the 35 mph zone), going single file from the South end. The ‘road diet’ (a cute name for what’s likely to be traffic nightmare) will only exacerbate these problems. Does anybody who thinks this is a good idea actually live south of Merrimount?

I’d agree with the previous writers that the city administration suffers from a serious lack of confidence brought on from lawsuits settled, property bought for no apparent reason, grandiose school planning and now a road plan that makes no sense. We either need more transparency and information around the decision-making or citizen votes around the major decisions affecting life on the Island.

Irwin Goverman