THE IMPACT ON THE RESIDENTIAL SIDE STREETS

Anna DeAugustine and her husband live on Crescent Drive. She has asked that I post the letter she wrote to the City last week:

I want to thank Mayor Barford and the City of Anna Maria's Director of Public Works George Mckay and Sergeant David Turner for taking the time to understand the concerns of speeding traffic and the incredible density of traffic foisted onto Crescent Drive. Mr. McKay and Sergeant Turner were more than sympathetic to the fact that as a result of much needed bridge repair the unavoidable simple gesture of detouring traffic down a residential street, changed the face of Crescent Avenue from a quiet sleepy street to a very busy and dangerous street. Crescent escorted up to 30 cars per quarter hour, or, as simple math would dictate, 120 cars an hour. Loud motorcycle traffic, 18 wheelers, and a train of local work and landscaping trucks all won space on the road over our visitors and kids on bikes, people walking their dogs, the elderly who can only manage early morning or late night excursions, and the wildlife that crosses over from the canal behind Roser Memorial Community Church.

Dale Woodland, Harry Stoltzfus, and John Quam, also listened intently and even came to witness what I felt was the disfiguring of our sandy lifestyle and did not dismiss my concerns as rhetoric or localized belly aching, but encouraged me that the problem was indeed temporary. I am happy to say that they were right and that our street is back to normal. Except for those few who are determined to go at a speed that seems to be at least 35 to 40 miles per hour, we are back to what seems like an acceptable amount of traffic. Thankfully Sergeant Turner's immediate presence served as a healthy reminder that Crescent Drive is the epitome of what we think of when we say the word "residential" and his visibility as an agent of law enforcement seemed to put a damper on the excessive speeding. The efforts of everyone involved sent the message to me that the City of Anna Maria protects its people and property, but also reinforced that our lifestyle is unique and special and will be preserved– that those of us that answer to the sun, sand, surf, salt, and solitude, have been heard and will be protected.

Please let this example on Crescent be a reminder that the smallest change in our traffic equation resulted effortlessly in an obvious upset to the homeostasis of what we have come to love and the style of life we are attempting to preserve. For me, Anna Maria has been a safe haven for my family. We left behind the compression of the City of Chicago to decompress on the Island of Anna Maria. It is our dream to provide our family with the luxury of being able to say, "Hey, when I was a kid, I drove my bike down the street and no one had to worry!" The signs posted by the plaza near the post office are confusing to me as they practically shout in their red letters... NO SKATEBOARDS, NO DOGS, NO BIKES and it seems privilege is given to vehicular traffic rather than pedestrians, whom for some of us, dogs and skateboards and bikes are appendages we cannot leave behind. I still stand behind my statement in my first e-mail that passionately stated "What Happens on Pine Avenue, Should Stay on Pine Avenue." To clarify, it is not my intent to deliver a message that I am anti-development and that the appropriate commercial venues may benefit residents rather than the vulgarity of sloppy tourism, but to deliver a message that pleads for you to maintain the integrity of a residential street that is highly vulnerable to change.

Truth be told, I have often fantasized of how lovely it would be to be able to buy up all the available houses on my street. In this fantasy, I would prevent the demolition of elegant little ranch homes from being transformed into the dreaded homogenized saltine cracker box homes that pose in pastel clothing and arrogantly cast shadows over our smaller homes. Yet, this is merely a fantasy and does nothing to stop the apparent traffic planned for Pine Avenue. Therefore my only recourse is to pray that as leaders of this community you continue to pay special attention to the needs of residents as you have before and recognize and consider that the new traffic patterns created by stop signs, crosswalks, parallel parking and back out parking, may result in heartbreak on my street if the constant stream of traffic returns to Crescent due to the alterations tailored to the taste of developers that can not provide for their own parking on their own property.

From what I understand parallel parking is not a viable option, yet the continued push for the discussion regarding parallel parking makes it seem inevitable and I am sad at the prospect of how it might change the face of Pine Avenue if you succumb to the wishes of those who do not seem to have their pulse on the community, but rather their pulse on their wallets. How can looking at more cars be in any way, shape, or form more beautiful than what we already have? What venue is so important that we can't ride our bikes and walk to the storefront? Where is the big party and who is invited so that we feel compelled to clutter up Pine Avenue with parking? As leaders who shape the future of Anna Maria your choices will either make history or preserve history, and of course, I cast my vote for preservation of a lifestyle whose residents are the real historic treasure of the Island, not some “Disneyesque” recreation of Pine Avenue entrenched in fake authenticity that promises the world to its residents, but ultimately delivers to tourists.

Therefore, during your deliberations regarding the parking on Pine Avenue, please consider that American culture is innately impatient and lazy, thus the apparent desperate need for parking to accommodate retail shops in a commercial section only a few blocks long the first place. Please consider that if a back up occurs on Pine or if any other impediment to forward motion occurs at the Crescent or North Shore cross section, we may find that it actually encourages traffic down Crescent. Newton's Third Law of Motion states: " For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." I can only imagine that if a car is moving happily along Pine Avenue and sees a back-up on Pine due to a crosswalk, stop sign, or bottleneck of vehicles simply trying to figure out where to park, the natural recourse is to keep moving and swing a left onto Crescent or even North Shore. I commend the new developments that promise on sight parking and hope they will encourage the vehicular traffic down further down pine, but I suspect that like others before me, that the sun, salt, sand, surf and solitude are still the main event, and once again, the traffic will in essence be unintentionally routed down Crescent in an effort for locals and visitors to reach the waterfront. I pray that your efforts will prevent the loss of our street to the burden of overflow traffic on Pine. Furthermore, what if the sun, salt, sand, surf and solitude are not the main attraction? What if a venue so large and imposing creates an overflow into all of our adjacent residential streets? You have already witnessed what has happened with a simple innocent detour sign, what if the combination of unsightly parallel parking and a busy commercial space for example, block traffic flow down Pine?

For commercial properties without on site parking dare I ask, "Can they have their Saltine's and eat them too?"

Respectfully and Sincerely,

Anna Maria DeAugustine