Two of our readers, Ida and Michael Rodriguez, who are not able to attend the Community Board 10 meeting where the topic of St. Paul Avenue’s proposed reversal is to bediscussed, are requesting to have this letter to be read at the meeting.
“To the entire Community Board 10 Members and Pelham Bay residents:
The reversal of St. Paul Avenue has become a controversial issue around the surrounding areas of Pelham Bay. I have live on St. Paul Avenue for the past 13 years. When I first moved into my new home my son was 2 years old. He was the only child on the entire block. I came to believe this was due to the speeding traffic that flowed through the street from the Pelham Parkway exit up to Westchester Avenue. Cars would fly off the highway and continue down St. Paul never stopping at the stop sign and continuing up to Westchester Avenue. My car actually got hit while I was pulling into my own driveway because the driver behind me was to impatience to slow down and tried to pass me. Accidents occurred on the corner of St. Paul and 196th street regularly. I would say an average of 1 every two weeks. This does not account for the near misses when cars come to a screeching stop nearly colliding. Residents on St. Paul would have to wait an average of 15 minutes just to pull out of their driveways because the flow of traffic was so intense. My son was never allowed to play in the front of the house for fear of being hit by one of the speeding cars. Only since the street has been reversed have families with children moved into the homes on this street. Children who go to the surrounding school. Families that spend money in the neighborhood stores. The last three summers there were children actually playing on the block together enjoying being outside. Pelham Bay is a neighborhood where everyone should be safe, not just on selected streets or on the streets were the residents have friend and family on the Community Board. The last time that I took off of work to attend a meeting on this subject I was told by a Member of the Community Board that this subject had been passed on to the Department of Transportation for handling. Why has this changes?
I understand the residents of Burr Avenue are upset but the things that they are complaining about, the things they don’t like themselves, they are expecting the residents of St. Paul Avenue to be subjected to AGAIN. Don’t forget how long the residents of St. Paul Avenue had to deal with this problem. Burr Avenue is a service road for a highway and the owners knew this when they purchased their homes. Burr Avenue’s problem became worse when they installed a light at the corner near Westchester Avenue which now backs traffic up on Burr Avenue. I find it very interesting that Burr Avenue throws out the comment that St. Paul is a private block but what about Colonial Avenue. Colonial Avenue has been a private block in one direction for more years that I have lived on St. Paul. St. Paul is not a private block because people who work in the medical building on Westchester Avenue or take the 6 train each day to work park on our block. When the residents on the block come home in the evening we have to wait until after 6:00 pm when people start coming home from work just to park on our block. Also, the people that back out of the block are not people who live there but people who just park there for the day.
Maybe a solution to this ongoing problem would be to close the exit off of Pelham Parkway and create another road into the area that will not impact any of the surrounding area residents. If the problem on Burr Avenue is a problem then do something to fix it don’t just make it the same problem on another street. Correcting the problem is not just moving it to another neighborhood street. Please help us and make a decision that would be good for the entire neighborhood not just Burr Avenue.
Sincerely,
Ida and Michael Rodriguez
2111 St. Paul Avenue
Bronx, NY 10461″
