##VIDEO ID:lQ_Z8M14ELE## bless you whoever that was all right we're now live on YouTube all ready to go all right well good evening everyone thank you for being present tonight at uh the October 9th public safety meeting for the township of mwood my name is Jamaine kpe I'm member of your Township committee and the chair of the Public Safety Committee we have a lot of things to cover today um as I mentioned before we started on YouTube that we have probably a very large public uh comment section we believe there's going to be a lot of folks that have things to say and things to share um looking forward to hearing your comments um and when that time comes we will alert you but just to give you a breakdown of what today's meeting is going to look like we'll start off with our um office of emergency management update by our administrator Mr warry followed by our um fire department operations report by Mr DeLuca um followed by our chief of police report and the narrative by our police chief Al Sally and then we'll move into some discussion items we're going to be covering some traffic safety uh ticketing and traffic enforcement bike safety um an update on some possibility changes within uh our engineering Public Works in particular uh bik lanes and what kind of safety uh program we could possibly get coming back from the police department uh questions about our un hunt house neighbors as we roll into our colder season and then an update on the car theft situation the next item will be our public comment section which every member of the community will be allowed to speak for 3 minutes you'll share your name your address and speak for three minutes um if we need to break into executive session we will break into an executive session but as of stands right now I haven't heard anything that we would need to break for um and then we would adjourn to meet our our next meeting which will be on Wednesday November 13th same time via Zoom so let's get things yes sorry could I just given the um fact that there's you know people want to comment on that could we move public comment to the beginning just for tonight do we want to move it to the very beginning or um after we've we move it to the beginning and then when we go to you know the regular business people can choose to stay if they want to but it's just a suggestion no I'm absolutely fine with that were the other members of the committee okay with that yeah Dan's given thumbs up and okay chief are you okay with that all right looks good so yes Mr wear we are going to open up the public comment and we'll start with the folks who happen to be present in the well technically in the room right now via Zoom thank you Deputy Mayor if any members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now we'll move you over one at a time by promoting you to panelists where you'll have an opportunity to address the subcommittee and when you're finished we'll move you back over to the attendee role for those being moved over to panelists you'll have to accept the invitation to be promoted a panelist I will will be moving over Ain Sherer to panelist welcome to public portion you may unmute yourself and address the committee hi good evening my name is Erin Sherer I am an almost 12E resident of Maplewood I live on um at 49 Oberlin Street and I'm a parent of a Maplewood Middle School student um I'm reaching out today to speak about pedestrian safety particularly in light of the accident that impacted two Maplewood Middle students on Monday morning um as a parent as someone who has a child who loves to walk to and from school and actually often walks up by that intersection coming home with friends um where this accident took place I really urge the township of Maplewood to immediately um address this this the challenge with traffic on Prospect during peak hours the issue is not speeding as someone who regularly goes down Prospect during peak times the problem is drivers who are impatient they make Cuts around they make very quick turns for example from Prospect to Oak viiew to get down to the station they I've seen cars whip it really quick and have almost hit um middle schoolers and high schoolers that are are trying to get to school um I would I was I heard about this morning's uh engineering meeting and that changes are coming to prospect um closer to 2026 but we need an answer we need changes this week and something that I would like to see we have a 64 member police force I would like to see police officers at the intersection of Prospect and Oakview and Prospect and Elmwood directing traffic in the morning similar to how traffic is directed outside of MMS there's just way too many things happening at once and crossing guards technically by law are not permitted to direct traffic we need someone there a sworn officer to be able to direct traffic both to get our children and commuters to and from home and work but also to remind drivers that they're coming through that this is an active thoroughfare for bikers Walkers and drivers and I think that police seeing that car and having the officer with their command directing traffic will at least help this situation until other changes can happen additionally Prospect is the only street it's the busiest Street in Maplewood in the morning and in the evening there are none of those stop those uh pedestrian lights where you press the button and it blinks um it would be great to add some of the flags that we see in South Orange on um on Scotland Road near OAB Temple it would also be really good to have some cones that are in the middle of the street I live off Prospect in Harvard and before we had those stop signs we actually had like a little cone there or something that says pedestrians crossing here we have to take this very seriously we are lucky that a child wasn't killed just today as I was taking my child to sports practice she was still talking about what happened and how this incident could have been a lot worse had the child's backpack not been on her back that is that is we can't take risk in our hands like that and personally as a tax player here I would cut every other extra program so we can have more Public Safety for all of our Walkers and um and bike riders and scooter riders in town thank you so very much thank you Miss sh you're M now promoting Jacob Lambert to panelist Mr Lambert welcome to public portion you may unmute yourself and address the committee all right can you hear me yes we can so this is Kiron Angel Lambert my wife um our daughter was one of the students that was hit on Monday and I don't think I can I don't think I can say it much more eloquently than the previous panelist just said it um but I just want to say that when the police officer that I was talking to on Monday morning was kind of just talking about what's going on at that intersection and what had been tried um she had my wife has you can see it she had said that these little signs that had been in the middle of the road Well we'd had those um but they got destroyed so you know people were hitting them so we just you know we don't have them anymore and I find it incredibly discouraging that the town's response to the signs that were there for children's and adult safety but mainly children's safety the signs that were there were destroyed by reckless drivers and the town's response was to do nothing there's no crossing guard there and obviously it's a miracle that our daughter wasn't killed on Monday I'm sorry to use that kind of language but it's been it's been a week and I grew up here Prospect Street has always been busy but it's never been like this and something has to be done immediately this this can't this can't go on like this there was a a police car there on Tuesday morning but no cop actually directing traffic as far as I can as far as I know and we need a more a more urgent urgent response to this because this is not the first time that kids have been hit and if we don't do something it's definitely not going to be the last time yeah I drive every morning on Prospect 2 to get to work and there have been times where there's bikers on the road in front of me and cars have honked at me and tried to go around me cuz I was driving slowly so the biker can go people are just not and and there's no one ticketing like there's if people start getting ticketed for driving unsafely then they'll start taking it seriously to drive safely if there's a cop there ticketing often I think that that could prohibit a poor you know the poor driving and and speeding and you know people never CW like my mom has been walking up the hill to come up to to visit and she's scared to Ross the street she's that at that intersection specifically it's impossible there needs to either be a light or something a stop sign or these signs put back or someone there like something has to happen it's really scary that she's going to go to school every day now we're going to have to drive her because we don't actually feel like she can walk right now that's it sorry for salty language no no no no you're passionate I call that passionate don't even stress and again I'm I'm so sorry that um you have are navigating this right now with your daughter because I can imagine what she's going through thought wise herself thank you now promoting Meredith remm to panelist welcome to public portion miss brem you can unmute yourself and address the committee hi I'm Meredith brem I live at 3 North Crescent in Maplewood and I have a seventh grader at MMS um who actually knew the girls who were unfortunately hit this week and we live um near the intersection at Baker and Valley and just last week my daughter was nearly hit by a car and there is a crossing guard at that intersection and it didn't even matter a car was um coming through the intersection so quickly because there's so much construction there right now and they're just rushing and almost hit the the crossing guard too so I don't even feel like crossing guards matter like they're putting their lives at risk so maybe a police officer there would help I don't know I don't know what the answer is because crossing guards aren't even keeping our kids safe but she's so scared to walk to school now like do you know where I'm talking about all the construction at the intersection uh yeah and I know the crossing guard there she does both directions on Valley yeah but it's so hard for kids to walk around that corner um like she kind of has to walk through the park but then she has to cross in the street there's no good answer and I don't know why they chose literally the start of school to start all of this construction it's really horrible there's no sidewalk in some of the areas along Baker there's no sidewalk on Valley it's really hard for kids to walk right there and it's such a thorough Fair um that's it thank you Miss BM now promoting Jason TB to panelist welcome Mr TB you may unmute yourself and address the committee okay thank you very much and yeah that's tabby but that's okay it's in to be or not to be so sorry about that it's okay I I don't have a lot to add that hasn't already been said um my daughters or friends with one of the children who has struck they do go to Psalms and an MMS though um but I I walk around the town a lot I should just make this more of a general comment that this issue is not isolated my children have another friend who was struck by a car two years ago um in South Orange walking to Clinton Elementary um they know someone else who was struck by a car around here um this is obviously like a huge issue and again not just an issue on on Prospect where it's very urgent and I agree with what everyone has said so far um but I live near boen my I live at 37 Brookwood Drive we will walk in the summertime to the pool I can't count the number of times I've walked with my children and almost gotten clipped by cars the other day walking in Parker at an intersection a car just blew through the crosswalk and almost struck me um it it just happens all the time um yeah I'm a really tall easy to see person um I'm not a child um so I I think that it's it's obviously I think urgently necessary at Prospect to do something but this is a general issue and again it's not just in Maplewood uh fatalities of pedestrians is going up around the country for a variety of reasons reckless driving the size of vehicles I think we have to look at this holistically is what I would say um and and think about it in general what can we do around town to prevent this kind of stuff from happening so thank you very much thank you Mr now promoting Michelle Terry to panelist welcome to public portion Miss Terry May unmute yourself and address the committee right hi everyone thanks so much for for having us this evening um so I live at 563 Prospect Street that is right at the intersection of Prospect and Elwood um so my office looks right out to the intersection and the number of accidents that happen here on a regular basis um we've had cars that have actually um driven um out of control and into our front yard on multiple occasions um you know it's quite clear that that um this is is considered a thorough Fair through town um and many drivers are you know are really just seeing it as how fast can they get through we've had multiple cases of um my children crossing the street or my elderly F father crossing the street where a car will stop at the crosswalk and then another car will um go around on the shoulder or even on the left um not realizing that they have stopped for someone who's crossing the street so um I love the ideas that were presented already with um having active police officers um there directing traffic um it does feel like these are multiple traffic violations that are happening so I think that the idea of ticketing drivers that there is some penalty and and um you know you know dissuading the that idea that this is just you know how you can get through Maplewood as quickly as possible so appreciate your thoughts or or your attention um to this thank you Miss Terry thank you Kraken to Palace welcome to public portion M McCracken you may unmute yourself and address the committee hi everyone thank you for having me um my name is Meredith McCracken I live at 15 Norfolk Avenue my daughter is a seventh grader at MMS and was part of the walking group that was hit on Monday uh they were crossing Prospect at Oakland As We Know now she and a friend had just made it to the other side of the street but unfortunately there two friends who were right behind them were not so lucky my daughter and her friend turned around only because they heard one of the girls screaming uncontrollably and crumpled in the street with her belongings everywhere clearly a traumatizing experience for everyone my daughter made it through the rest of the school day and seemed to hold it together and then melted down Monday night crying uncontrollably like I've never seen her and started wondering out loud what would have happened if she had been 20 seconds earlier and been in the middle of the street like her two friends who were hit no person especially a child should be stuck with this kind of trauma so we all know how busy Prospect is let's please make it safer for our kids who are walking to school every day I'm requesting a crossing guard or a police officer to man the intersection of Oakland and Prospect or Elmwood and Prospect uh during the school mornings and afternoons thank you thank you Miss mcracken now promoting Isabelle to panelist hi there okay I couldn't figure out if I was allowed in but I think I'm I'm good um thank you for actually starting this meeting with this discussion um normally a meeting I would probably have not have attended but I was actually the person who called 911 for Kate um on Monday morning I saw the accident happen and I'm still traumatized as a mother over it um I saw the little girl fly back into the street she was almost to the sidewalk so I'm convinced that it was a distracted driver who just did not even realize that there was kids crossing the street they were already right in the middle of the intersection um so my son grew up with this girl in elementary school and he rides his bike to school every morning to MMS he's in seventh grade as well and I remember I walked him to school every day in elementary school and I remember in third grade or fourth grade when he was allowed to walk to school and bike to school on his own it was a huge milestone and I do not remember it being dangerous or me feeling like it was dangerous for him to get himself to school alone and feeling that sense of Independence and confidence to do that that's what's beautiful about her town is it was a walkable town and it's just not anymore and I asked I tell him every morning because I see what the traffic on Prospect and I see exactly what everyone else has described here the cars who are just just do not care they go around other cars how is it that if there is a car that is actually intending to stop for pedestrians to cross this crosswalk yet there's another car going around them how is it that that is even safe like I just feel like we need more protection for every pedestrian if we're going to actually have crosswalks with a a sign that says the law is to stop for the pedestrians in this crosswalk we need somebody to enforce it because and that and I really think it needs to be law enforcement because is not happening and I just I just feel really strongly that every major intersection where we see pedestrians and there's a lot on Prospect so this is going to take a lot but I just don't think that it's safe and we should not have our road say that this is a crosswalk for pedestrians where they have the right of way when they don't even have a chance um so I just I don't know what I need to do but I will never forget that day and what I saw and all I could think of is this could have been my child and now I he bikes to school every morning and he loves to I could take him and uh um I'm sure he would love the ride but he doesn't he likes the independence of getting to school on his own on his bike and with his friends and that's what's so beautiful about our town there's not a lot of you know towns in this country that still do that and I just really think that and and so what anyway what I've told him is he needs to now go on a route where there is a crossing guard and but we I feel like we need more of those crossing guards or police crossing guards along Prospect and in those crosswalks if we really want to continue to make this these intersections where the pedestrians have the right of way because they really don't have a chance to have the right of way so thank you thank you for owing us to have this forum at the beginning of this meeting like I said it's not normally a meeting I would have attended but um I think it's important for this group for all of you and these leaders here to hear this and I really hope that after Monday that we really take action and do something about the intersections and Prospect for these kids and even for our commuters who are trying to get to the train station in the morning thank you ma'am and I'm sorry that you had to even experience that um and thank you for calling it in and making sure those children were taken care of over iPhone 255 toist welcome in public portion you may unmute yourself and address the committee sorry hi sorry uh I'm Dana luchano sorry I haven't put my um uh like my name on my phone um I'm also very very tired after a long drive home and I missed the first part of the meeting so I apologize I'm I'm going to repeat things that people have said because I'm upset about the same things I may be raising things that are questions that have already been answered but uh I was just going to to call into this meeting tonight and not try to talk I just wanted to listen but uh my drive home takes me past um uh Prospect and Elmwood and I saw that the traffic speed monitor had been put out there again right um uh I'm going to guess that it was partly a response to Monday horrible accident right um and I had a very mixed reaction because I saw that there last week last year um you know that it was there for a while last year I assume because of many complaints about the traffic about the speeding traffic about the traffic backing up on Elwood also right so it's both a danger and a traffic problem um and I don't know what happened and I don't know what was done but I can tell you that as a person who walks their dog P there every day people slow down for those not really accurate judges of speed and I was also very upset because I thought okay so there's a sense that there's a problem here but if something had been done more quickly those kids would not have been hit right we are aware that there is a problem as a community and we're not doing something we're not doing something right away right um I understand this is being perhaps addressed as sort of an infrastructural problem which is important but I think at this point when kids are getting run over it's like a public health emergency and something need to be done right away I agree with people who are saying um at minimum a permanent crossing guard and for now um perhaps police directing traffic but I really think that the lack of interruption in that thoroughfare uh is probably the problem and a stop sign or um a red light would be the longer term solution I do know that this is not in our hands entirely I guess it's the county that decides but I really hope that that you guys are going to take immediate and sustained action because I do think this is becoming not a nuisance not a problem but an emergency thank you and thank you for again uh you know entertaining this at this meeting thank you Miss L any other members of the public would like to address the committee please raise your hand now moving Malia Herman to panelist welcome to public portion of a sermon you may address the committee okay um wait there we go uh so hi I'm Malia Herman I live in Maplewood on South Crescent which is between Valley and Prospect um so my teenager uses Prospect a lot she either walks to Columbia High School on Valley or Prospect and I want just want to make two points I've heard some people say that we should encourage kids to cross at either Parker or at Crescent but um I just wanted to point out that a lot of kids walk in Walking groups and so they're coming from different um neighborhoods and that's why you see kids crossing at points in between those two spots so I too would encourage the town to install a crossing guard at at Oak viw and Elmwood I think that's long overdue um I also want to point out that kids cross Prospect at all hours not just going to and from school they also use it to get to friend's house on the weekends um after school uh to walk to the football game at Underhill so I think that you know um we also need to be looking at how we can keep kids safe on Prospect and other parts of town at all times um you know IID asked my daughter what it's like to cross Prospect cuz she does it a lot she's got friends on Bernett um Oakland um she said that you just have to stand there and you have to wait for a car to let you cross um that's just wrong I think we can do better thank you for listening thank you Miss Herman if any other members of the public would like to address the committee please raise your hand now I see no other hands Miss K thank you Mr wary again thank you all for coming to the meeting and speaking up in regards to the safety of our children and and and our residents in general um I know that there is a lot of frustration a lot of pain out there right now and we are working as hard as we Poss possibly can um but there is absolutely room for improvement there absolutely is so thank you for bringing your concerns thank you for bringing your suggestions I've been writing things down since you all started and um it's I hope and I know the rest of the committee could probably concur with this too that we will find a combination of solutions that could possibly help resolve things um and a lot of it comes down to just behavioral change as well within our own driving Community um but how we create that is going to be a uh a process um um but we are on it and I hope that people don't take these responses or our conversation that we're going to have later on tonight or just Pat answers or we're politicking we're very serious about our Public Safety and we're very serious about pedestrian safety in particular since we're working very hard to make Maplewood truly the walkable Community we advertise ourselves to be and being walkable means safely walkable not just we have sidewalk c um so um thank you again for your time and your your concerns and um for your emails and hopefully over the next few months we will work harder towards some solutions that'll help make this area a lot less scary for our students to get in from they've got enough things to worry about to not add getting to school to that list of things um Mr Mr Jeff I'm sorry uh for interrupting you Deputy Mayor c um I wonder if we could have a little bit of a discussion right here right now with the chief as it relates to the one thing that we heard a lot about uh in terms of an immediate solution and that is um having officers assist crossing guards during those peak hours here on Prospect in light of the fact the prospect is very busy the volume of cars and more pedestrians including more students than ever before a lot of people are reaching out and saying hey I've lived here for 20 years I've never seen anything like this well yeah we're more densely populated and and uh we have more kids walking to school which is a great thing for a community like ours uh but we want to make sure obviously that they're safe so um so Chief what what's your reaction and or recommendation uh to this as a starting point as something we can begin implementing immediately you're muted sir yeah first want to say um sorry for the the kids that got hit in the parents um so before this happened uh we started a uh Department order um we call a traffic enforcement and pedestrian safety campaign we started uh uh two we weeks ago um where we are targeting these areas so we've been targeting Prospect Elwood uh four-way stop signs all the traffic concerns we have been hearing we this detail consists of multi officers on these details so it's not just one officer it's three four officers supervisors um aike we do it uh all of our shifts uh peak hours um and since we've been doing this detail um traffic enforcement tick summonses and also warning citations and education has increased uh we will continue to do that um and this is before uh this unfortunate incident took place um so as far as Prospect Street is concerned um we do have crossing guards on Prospect and spring uh Prospect Harvard Prospect um presence and Prospect in Tusket um the way it was um and we put this on our website is that um you know that if you're crossing the street walk to one of the crossing guards and cross there but I do understand there's a long stretch from cresence to Parker if you're walking down the street so if you're walking um let's say from Parker Avenue I don't know if we have kids walking that far but to middle school but if they are the idea is to walk to um the crescent and then cross because that's where the guard is but there's that long section where there's a whole bunch of intersections U where kids might cross um I think the thing is just to uh decide if we do put a crossing guard or officer there what intersection we put them at um I know the accident was on Oakland but I don't know if Elwood would serve us better because Elwood seems to be a little busier I don't have the data or statistics right now to um make that determination but um you know that is a long distance if uh you know if if you don't get to the Crescent um I got to look into uh officer we we do we did uh hire two extra crossing guards um as supplements so that could be um if if we decide that's a corner um officers are hard too because we have very limited officers during that time because they're already on corners I think there's Seven Corners that they're dedicated to already along with the crossing guards if a crossing guard calls out sick officer has to fill that um but I gotta look at and it depends on the day and how many officers we have and all that that that stuff um and that's why usually enforcement is a little um less during school time because officers are tied up on uh School Corners already as uh our schedule already shows um but um we do have extra guards that we can use and also I am going to look into if we do have extra officers available to cover that corner thanks Chief I appreciate that and I I didn't mean to get you to uh answer on the spot but but I I I like your approach that you're willing to consider it and look into it further I think if nothing else um as you heard from some of the parents and and their children folks are traumatized right now now uh but School carries on and people need to still get to work uh and so I think having cops assisting crossing guards in this area for the time being in order to uh help Things become a little bit safer and more controlled and make everyone feel safer and more controlled in light of what happened would go a really long way um so we'll leave up to you to figure out the logistics of that as the chief um we know you can do it we have faith in you and we appreciate you uh looking into it thank you yeah also also want to add uh you know just just to let you know how we uh we do during the day when we have crossing guards and officers on the on the road uh we do have an officer that checks every corner in the morning just to make sure the guard is there and if the guard is not there and then is reporting then we put officer there so it's not it's always a check um we have officer that drives around and make sure that Each corner is covered um there's times where you know a guard might be out and won't even notify us so we got to you know we just got to make sure that those Corners are covered that we already have and then um again we we do have a surplus of guards two extra ones uh they're being trained right now once they complete training um but before that yeah we uh we'll um we'll look into uh our Manpower everything else and um have some extra attention on Prospect Street Chief besides the um enforcement and additional officers um on the other side of it are there things that members of our community besides walking up to the crossing guard which is a great suggestion um it's a practice so it's something folks will have to get in the habit of doing but are there other things um that we could do I know when I I'm I'm driving now mostly not doing as much walking previously um but I'm wondering if there are things that members of the community who notice aggressive drivers um can do to help law enforcement in this whole process I I don't I hate the fact that the default is give them all tickets but if that is the only way to deter bad behavior then is there something on the civilian side we can do to assist yeah the main thing is when we we're looking for um a description of a vehicle is the license plate if we get the license plate we can we can find where the person you know the address and identify and everything else so um I mean as as far as um you know reporting aggressive driving even if you can't if you can you know if you have time to take a picture or get a make a model of that person of that vehicle um a lot of these cars that are driving through that area drive around that time and that area at the same time every day cuz they're trying to go to work that's their route so you know and people us sometimes walk at the same time so you constantly see this vehicle um you let us know we can um we'll follow up if we're not there but we plan on being there a lot more now so um with our U new initiative and Prospect is definitely as as you know obviously is on our radar but also Parker and uh Valley Street and spring and even up on um Wyoming when we're having these burglaries so um you know where we're hitting different sections and we're hitting them with three or four officers at a time at a clip mayor look like you had your hand up for a second did you have a question no no I was just putting my glass down okay but I think Committee Member angled us Miss angle thanks mayor thanks mayor um I just wanted to I'm sorry I miss public comment in the beginning and maybe this was said but I just wanted to mention again we talked about this last year how with the intentional integration plan School placements have changed so the kids that are in Parker like Richmond like even toward south Orange and Oakland that whole area is now going to MMS and they used to go to Psalms and so I think some of this issues are new because it's different so there are kids walking from like Richmond and Parker farther to M Ms and I think we as a town could have done a better job communicating that walking to the Crescent is what we what we should do but it also just feels like really far from like a user perspective even if the distance is around the same when you're walking from you know Elmwood to prospect you're going to turn down like Oakland because there's also a light at Valley and so I just think that user Behavior has changed and also the school start times as we've talked about we know how that had a lot of uncon you know unintentional effects it's also making people get later to work because they have to drop their kids off and they have to get to work and they're like rushing and so I think all the the intentional integration plan while it's great had a big effect that I just think we need to make sure that we're paying attention to and keeping talking to the schools and and maybe changing things around a little bit and I I mean I personally believe that we should be looking at Oakland and Prospect or Elwood and Prospect for a cross and guard because of that issue yeah and you can see by the way where the crossing Ys are it's only on that side so you have spring uh Harvard tusin Crescent and then it stops and then all to Parker there's no crossing guard because just like you said the change of uh where these kids are going to school but even still by the high school and down in that area I oftentimes will see people particularly driving into the parking areas to get around someone who wants to make a left we actually have a cop on um Parker Academy that's one of our fixed officers there all right thank you did anyone else have any questions for chief Sally all right um we're going to continue with the rest of the meeting but we will still be discussing aspects that we've brought up during this section public comment um in other part other parts of the meeting so if you're willing to stick around we'd love to have you um and uh yeah so Mr wary you are up with our office of emergency management report thank you Miss K uh just uh only report that I went to uh training down in Atlantic City for uh coordination between incident command and emergency Operation Center so that was a uh a really good all day training put on by the New Jersey State Police so it's always you know me and um other members of PD and of FD who who are members of the OEM are always uh taking these trainings and that was a a real good one that I was able to attend recently that is it on Emergency Management if you'd like I can share some information on buyer Department as well that would be helpful I don't know how much bandwidth Mr DeLuca has in the stands yeah so yeah and it is the top of the ninth and the Phillies are up so the the big news is October is fire prevention month so scfd had fire open houses at all the schools or excuse me um at all their stations on October 6th they are touring the schools uh from October 7th through October 11th we'll also have um demos at the train station and at the farmers market where you can use a simulated fire extinguisher and they show you how to use it on a simulated fire which is more or less a TV screen and and show you how to best use that to put out a fire and then we are excited about the first fire prevention um chili cookoff which will be held October 20th at the Sloan Street Firehouse so uh those are the events for fire prevention month um and we thank scfd for all their effort and um and putting those on well thank you we thank you for not issuing Mr ducas pun from the uh Township committee meeting because that still Burns ha I said it um and uh we were I wanted to actually ask as a part of fire prevention month um does the safd have any materials or anything that they could actually add or we could put as a part of the weekly update in particular folks with their uh carbon monoxide alarms they're R changing the battery their fire alarm um detectors or smoke detectors um and general items like that just simple quick little poppy things that we could add um to supplement information we share with the community yeah I can make sure if it's not already included that we add some more of that information yeah that'd be great Mr Jeff I don't know if you were groaning or if you were making a gesture like you wanted to say something all right uh thank you for that um Chief Sally uh we're on to your report as far as metrics um do you want me to share screen or are you okay sharing your own screen and you are muted sir I want to share the screen every time we put it up there's something on there that um I don't think should be up there so you you take point then I'll just read it all um as far as August um so our our our our the major crime we've been having um all year has been and burglaries the uh Breakin uh take the car uh burglary um we were pretty pretty we're higher than last year during the summer we did start our burglary detail um and it has cooled off significantly um so right now we're kind we're almost um even as in um from last year it was 24 last year 25 this year um just an update on uh those that burglary d DET I gave update last meeting but um some other things has happened since then um the uh we had a we had one we had a burglar burglary on Ridgewood Terrace uh detectives utilized an unconventional vehicle uh conducted a burglary detail and were able to apprehend three juveniles attempting to steal a vehicle which was part in the driveway of this Ridgewood Terrace uh um address so that was that was an arrest Oakland Terrace uh just just recently happened um a burglary occurred on Oakland Terrace during the overnight hours where the uh the actors were attempting to take the homeowner's vehicle by entering the home through investigation detectives were able to identify two juveniles from video uh and uh juveniles were attempting to take the car the previous night um we we were able to get get a a fingerprint from the door and it's currently be analyzed by the New Jersey State Police but we do know who the kids are so we were uh waiting for the prosecutor's office for charges for those kids um this is not uh there was a commercial burglary on Springfield Avenue where uh the actor went in and actually stole the ATM machine on Springfield Avenue um through investigation along with Springfield Hillside and other agencies uh we identified and we charged a 32-year-old male for that U burglary so we're able to make a rest in that um Park a uh which one is this Park Avenue uh armed robbery attempted robbery took place on Park Avenue three juveniles attempted to take an adult female cell phone uh patrols were able to place one of the juveniles in custody and uh we're seeking further charges through the Prosecutors office so those are um four major incidents that took place where we have arrest either we arrested or we have arrest uh charges pending so we're um we so that a lot of this came off of that burglary detail um so uh again burglaries have uh cool off for us a little bit uh thefts are up um are up uh 24% these are package STS uh that we're receiving but we have been making arrest in those to so um Auto thefts um each year has have been like straight Auto thefts not the burglary style ones on the street have been trending down for the last few years so um we had 38 at this time last year we're at 30 uh this year and that's all I have Chief are you able to give any um information at all on working with other municipalities or the state or is that premature yeah so for um for example uh that ATM uh robbery uh ATM burglary we work with Springfield PD Hillside PD other agencies also there was um we we have identified um some juveniles and we located their address and with the uh State Police um we we um we we with the state police's help we U made these arrests their home also uh there was also a um uh we had a detective who was undetected and um located one of the vehicles that was that was involved in one of our burglaries um and that vehicle ended up on the uh NJ Turnpike State Police assisted us with that we're able to catch uh uh those uh they end up being adults so we made arrest for that burglary and stolen car that they ended up on New Jersey a Turnpike and we made that arrest so we're out there we're active and this is not even mentioning um where our our our officers are out there and we detect something suspicious and they take off they'll take off out of town so we deterred a lot of stuff from this as well not just the arrest that's great and we've helped the state police too so everybody's I guess the point of making is that everybody's working together it's not just us it's not just our town incidents happening but I would say a lot of these other agencies um got the identification of these people from us from our detectives don't work that's great please pass on our gratitude to the detectives because I know they're working weird hours trying to NAB these people so appreciate it all right thank you as far as the package stuff and um folks are are are recommending to are being recommended to use the ring cameras and the forward footage to you are you um able to get responses back from folks in regarding those yes okay it does seem like most everyone's got cameras now yeah the cameras are great because even like the Oakland terrorist um uh burglary uh we're able to identify the kids through the camera because we had them before so um even with the package steps the cameras are great and uh because we identifi a lot of lot of uh these juveniles so what if we see there on a camera we can we're easily identifying all right thank you Chief does anyone else have any questions for chief Sally thank you that sounds Vic yeah um Chief I uh provided some statistics today on the moving violations um now those are those go up till August and I know you know we talked about it last meeting and you talked about it [Music] tonight am I the only one that lost Mr duca's audio Yeah but the uh no I lost it but he did did he share that uh spreadsheet he did with you Chief as well I did see it yes okay yes so um can you give can you hear me hear you wait congratulations VC thank you thank you I did nothing I did nothing no I know but you know you're a fan okay yeah yeah yeah so yeah so I just had a question if you know what what is your reaction are we going to see some uptick in these numbers right so um yes those numbers are extremely low um some some of them are uh a lot of times when an officer stops somebody for speeding they might necessar they might not necessarily issue a speeding ticket but they are still low uh we did start I don't know if you heard we started a new uh initiative traffic initiative um a couple weeks ago we we're doing multi officer details and uh radar details for speeding uh crosswalks uh illegal left turns in the center we were in the center last uh couple days ago um Prospect Street all the all the major streets um and speeding is also included um just a ear check on the radio I heard a couple issued um today and yesterday so officers are in this detail they're doing it and they are these details are with a sergeant or Lieutenant on these details so it's um multi officer and well supervised so we should see an uptick um and chief chief you Al about getting some of the bosses out on the street have you been doing that I know you just said that you know and I because we heard we heard before people are clamoring for more enforcement and we've been talking about this and and you know we we've got to see some some numbers and I'm glad to say that we're going to be seeing them correct yeah so there always a sergeant on there and if uh we have it's a certain situation where a lieutenant can come out and when that if that that situation is is present then the lieutenant comes out on these details as well also our captain well that is good to hear because I know when we first moved here and I'm dating myself back in the 2003 that was something that was talked about a lot in and around Maplewood as it being the place that you do not want to get hot speeding and that stopped being the case fairly I would say probably within the five ten years later um so I I'm I know I speak for myself exclusively but I've had conversations with other folks if you're speeding in a community that's supposed to be walkable and you're doing it in areas there's a lot of pans you deserve the ticket plain and simple you deserve the ticket um especially if you're being aggressive in areas where pedestrians are allowed to be like crosswalks um so I would personally like to make a specific ask go go hog I mean go go out there and just start ticketing if you see it hit people even if it is you just pull them aside sometimes something as simple as just pulling them over and you knew those I'm preaching to the to the master you know sometimes pulling someone over is enough of a deterrent for them not to do it again for a while maybe not ever right but start pulling folks over with a heavier hand I don't think the people in this community would be upset about that not at this juncture I always I always have my stats in front of me before the meeting but then when I get on the camera I can't find them uh but the uh checking the the stats from the last two weeks in this detail I think it was it was it was half and half it was like half were actual summonses and half of were warnings so um used to be more warnings than the summons so it seems the summons seems to be uh picking up well maybe the summon need to go higher yeah because if the nice if the carrots not working it's time to start using the stick you know folks have to Deputy Mayor I entirely agree with you and I don't think I I I'm not gonna speak for Miss angle or Mr daffis but I have a feeling they would I think Chief what you're hearing is there at least a majority of the township committee who would like more tickets not warnings tickets and more visibility of people being pulled over because it's it's definitely deterrent you know of having people where they're going to get pulled over yeah and and that's part of the reason why we do multi officer details so it's two three officers on a detail and just the um is and actually is easier for us so when when we pull a car over you have to you have to have backup right yeah the backup's already there because they're on the detail so it it you know it makes it a little f faster with us all right I guess there's eyes on eyes on PD now to see that these uh citations get picked up right and you Chief don't make Liars out of any of us please I beg you because we'll oh we're not lying we want it we don't we people saying I didn't see them today I didn't see them at all it's been all week I haven't seen anybody so you yeah I know but I I hear them out there on the detail and it's it's like I don't know like if they're on um Parker and the person is on Spring and doesn't see like it's it's you know I want yeah I want the visibility too and um you know I want them to be seen so that's why we're we're doing it so hopefully we'll be more visible thank you yeah well we're going to dig into a lot of these um details a little bit um in our discussion section but are there any other questions for chief Sally as far as his report um before we move on great all right so our first item up for discussion we've kind of already started it but I don't think it's a problem to go back we have heard via email and uh phone calls in some cases texts for sure um and of course social media that there are a lot of Sears right now for Traffic Safety in this community and particularly The Pedestrian roots that our children use um going to and from the middle school and the high school but our elementary schools are not Exempted either and so the general question is what can be done we understand their crossing guard posts and I believe that that was actually published and shared through the school district as well as posted on the township website um so folks know where the crossing guards are posted but obviously something more needs to be done so what can we do we've we've mentioned the signage we've mentioned additional uh officers present um we've mentioned having um uh possibly even some materials going to the schools inform people hey these are where the cross guards should are this is where you need to start crossing the street but are there additional things that we can do possibly from other departments um uh one thing that came to mind I remember the conversation we were having about Parker further back on the other side of boen was the conversation the fact that that is an emergency route so we couldn't do things like speed humps to slow people down um so we put the crosswalk signs that I believe it was Mr Mr Loom Lumis had posted showing a picture of that had gotten ran over we had multiple residents show us those lovely signs in the road one week and the next week them smash to Pieces um so they're not it's not enough is there addition stff that we can do that maybe we don't know about um to help get people to slow down so um here I'm uh chairwoman C thank you I I if um committee man Duca is available he could possibly summarize from an engineering perspective some of the immediate and longer term things that we talked about during earlier this morning um to Prospect Street specifically that I'm here can you hear me can you talk yes can you hear us yeah okay can you talk about Prospect so on uh just on Parker we've come up with a plan uh a four-way stop uh putting in some crossing signs putting bike Lanes there prohibiting parking and we're going to spend the rest of this year talking to the community and getting by in uh the Parker Community to getting Buy in on that and then implementing it uh hopefully next year on Prospect um we looked at some curving and uh uh pedestrian signs uh particular at Elmwood in Prospect and Oakland in Prospect and also we talked about signs uh high-intensity Beacon crossing signs along Prospect we are planning to pave that uh most likely in 2026 and we will spend next year doing a plan as to how we might um incorporate additional traffic safety measures Poss some uh accommodation for bicycle Lanes uh but that's that's still is a is a topic to be discussed um in the short term we are going to be putting some of the signs up in the street again we're going to be looking at temporary um uh let's say temporary uh buffering using either cones or these quick curbs that we've used over at Bernett and Tuscan road so we've looked at those and you know we've looked at a couple other streets and but those are the two primary things that we discussed today I know that Parker is that Thor it's an emergency route so we really can't do a whole lot to it without the county say so but I'm wondering if there's more things that we could do to create I don't want to say slowed or stoppage but we can't put speed humps down but can we put those speed strips you know those things that sound like I hate driving over it makes my hair stand up um yeah they're barely those are really hard in a residential area because they're noisy for when you live there we did I don't know if uh Mr Deluga mentioned uh the bike lane part I didn't he cut out or I cut out he did mention the bike Lake plan that was going to be disc that was being implemented so it's a combination of things so okay I I just again I worry because on Prospect which some of the folks had said and some of us have even experienced when you're stopped waiting for someone to cross in the crosswalk people will sometimes use the parking to the right as they're quick Get Around the cars in front of me so I don't have to wait for them um which could put somebody in danger because if you don't see that person the crosswalk um and it's the bike lane is the same thing it's just another bit not to take away the desire for bike Lanes please please please give us bike Lanes we need them but I don't know if that is going to be enough if we could do something um to cite an example in New York City they have areas in town where you can't make a left turn at certain points during the day you just can't it helps traffic keep flowing people aren't happy about it but they know hey if you go to this Street between 7 and 9 you can't make left so if you want to make a left you need to go elsewhere find an alternate route has something like that or is something like that possible for the intersection of say Parker and Valley where we end up having a very large Log Jam of people trying to get through to get to the train station as well as cross town as well as just get their kids to school we can talk about that at engineering see if it's warranted and stuff like that the normal that you do yeah we we would have to have the county way in there because the county runs Valley we we have Parkers so it it would be we would have to analyze how that would impact you know not not allowing left turns um you know we have to see the the yeah how it would Stack Up and things like that yeah because if folks were forced to go through or the right um I don't know how much it would stack you're forced to keep going um you can't make the left so sitting there's not going to change it um yeah but whenever whenever you do anything you have to look at it holistically because if they can't turn left there then they're going to turn left someplace else on Prospect or on you know Maplewood Avenue whatever which I think is actually some of the Elmwood issue I know U I'm just thinking from excuse me sorry I had to sneeze um I know that some of the folks that are avoiding Parker now are coming through El with as a way of avoiding that whole area which is good in the sense that they if they don't need to go the high school or be in front of the high school in that school zone Great don't go but if you're being aggressive and creating that problem in another pedestrian area school zone or whatever um then how do we move them from there to maybe someplace else or shift them or encourage them to leave early I don't know I'm just I'm at a loss and I don't want to see another kid hit that's just where I'm sitting at right now um so sorry Miss Cree I feel like we had a really convers engineering this morning and even like short-term Solutions we talked about using some of those temporary I don't know what any language is but maybe Vic could say that we can put maybe in the middle like those signs like top sign things for pedestrian Crossing so I think this morning we had a really long conversation talking about short-term Solutions and long-term Solutions um so I don't know if the minutes of that meeting are going to go around but perhaps we can like review it and then continue the conversation and Engineering that would be great maybe May Mr usually distributes them so I'll get them thank you yeah all right um all right so ticketing and traffic enforcement again we kind of already talked about this um in regards to Prospect and some of the school routes and The Pedestrian routes to the train station um but we still have some ongoing behavior problems in certain areas hotpots in town uh ruers near the industrial area that's there um last week I I don't know if you were aware of it but I know mayor madams and I got informed and and witnessed this uh the businesses just decided to one of them to move a truck in the middle of the road and just block all directions of traffic why because they wanted to or had to for whatever event or or thing that they had going on and I know that happens that happens in communities constantly but there's a way of doing it a way of not doing it and just randomly deciding I'm just G to move all my vehicles out into the street and block traffic and everyone else just has to suck it up versus contacting the police department and letting them know I need police presence to help me move this vehicle D following the rules all is good um are the businesses unaware of this as an option are are the businesses in contact with the police department for this type of activity it's just it's starting to get a little ridiculous that that one last week was straight ridiculous no we're not contacting we don't know till somebody calls us yeah that's part of the issue they need to call dispatch and not you know not call Dispatch they can't if the police don't know they can't go over there in time but aside from that I know Mr worry spoke to some so go ahead Mr wory yeah people should call the non-emergency number when it happens because know texting um or calling someone other than the police department just delays the PD getting out there and it you know a lot of times they'll get out there and the person who is blocking traffic is gone so I'd encourage any member of the public who sees traffic being blocked to call the police department you can call their non-emergency number um if you'd like as for the specific inent last week I spoke with the owner of the company that we believ to have blocked traffic and seemed understanding and uh will work to speak with his drivers so that that doesn't happen going forward and we'll continue to monitor the area you know I'm not under the impression that that's going to solve all of the issues but I think you know specific to that one that you raised it'll certainly help okay thank you um also the business deliveries um down in the village in particular I'm we're still seeing and hearing I'm witnessing when I'm down in the village that there are certain trucks and certain deliveries that they just stop in the road including the door Dash and the lift I me the Uber Eats folks that just pull up in front of the business even though there is no parking and it is is not a parking spot and throw on their hazards and run inside and get their their delivery but sometimes it's not a quick run inside so they're blocking traffic the whole time they're sitting there waiting um which is causing people to drive on the other side of the street into sometimes where people are walking to their cars which are parks legally um I haven't really seen any enforcement of that um either the push away for folks to not do that and I've spoken to some of the folks while doing it and like you can't do that but I'm a civilian who am I some lady that just came out nail salon why they top the um so I would also recommend if there's some additional Patrol maybe in the evening hours around meal times in the village and near some of the businesses that do food to discourage you have any plans to do that behavior yeah uh part part I detail yeah we have been down there so uh they've been addressing the left turns and um all those that parking situations so we we did have do a couple of those multi officer details down the center we'll continue to do that as well as the other complaint streets we've been doing because we don't want to discourage people from ordering and eating from our restaurants and and visiting but they've got to respect the flow of traffic and safety um folks that are down there because it's dark in the The Village at certain times of night and you don't want to be stepping off the curb thinking you're safe and get nailed by a car because they can't see you um during a big bike safety conversation um I was having with a a parent who's a part of the South oranges uh walk Bike Run crew um we were discussing the fact that there used to be a bike safety program run by the police department many of us remember it um it was over at crft park in the parking lot I believe and I think it was also brought up in health and Community Services Mr W you can correct me on that if I was wrong um where we were teaching folks in our efforts to get people to bike more and to register their bikes they would have a program done by the police department um that would allow them to license their bikes utilize um the the the the the the expertise of the police department and how to safely get around town on a bicycle um as well as possibly get a helmet somebody said they gave away helmets I don't remember that part but I do remember like reflector Banner badge uh wristbands and armbands for kids that were riding um is there any way of re rebuilding that bringing that back bring back some of the pre-co stuff like the selling you know the stolen bike sales and stuff like that yeah we used to do U yeah we we used to hand out out the bike helmets uh we did the Bike Rodeo right that's it yeah like the obstacle course and everything we had um was um we we partnered I can't remember the the name of the the organization but they set everything out for us and then they would um have uh the kids are uh go through the opicle course and learning how to ride their bike and maneuver and um free helmets and slap pans and everything else yes can you try to can get that definitely you did talk about this on Monday in health and Community Services because as we talk about bike Lanes we're talking about bike safety so I think um Miss Melissa reach out to you to talk about singing efforts to start up back our the bike safety things with the PD and she's working on some programming as well and so we can have like a coordinated effort just for like bike safety in general and um Miss Davenport was also interested in maybe having the PD at um the healthare with some of those bike safety items and education items and stuff like that so I think Pat um they were going to reach out right to help to to PD to help figure this out and we're thinking about the spring remember at the time we had we had so many we had so many helmets um so we had you know decorate them we every size and everything so we we well we've noticed that a fewer and fewer people are riding around town with helmets on weather on their bikes and just in general um so maybe an initiative or a push to get folks to start wearing them again bring back that fashion statement um so that folks will be safe out there because we do want folks to bike and walk more Y and the bike registration too yeah do that and the bike registration particularly for the bikes that are being stol taken or being misplaced um we already discussed the bike Lanes he mentioned it Mr DeLuca Miss um angle had mentioned as far as engineering um I remember a conversation being held in regards to bike rack availability but this might have been a school district Thing versus a Township thing um folks were concerned about the fact that when they ride their bikes in parts of town if they wanted to leave them outside they had to like chain them to a tree because there weren't any bike racks anywhere nearby do we have an inventory or can we get an inventory of our bike rack situation and if we need to include a few more or purchase a few more could that be on for yeah Mr Year's budget season well or Mr warry can you maybe have uh Mr kittner have somebody take give us account of at least Municipal ones because we did hear the same thing this morning regarding lack of bike rkes at the train station I mean I know the Conservancy installed with PW several along Dell uh across from the train station but they're apparently full all the time so maybe it's something uh engineering Public Works can take a look at so we can see where they're needed and do sort of a inventory this morning's feedback was helpful because it was specific in that we see the bike racks of the train station are full and so that's something where we can address that I'd expect you know in the near term if you know of areas like that specifically if I give you an in we can give you an inventory that's no trouble but that may not specifically show where the gaps are would no but I mean if we we don't even know where all of them are and none of us can go around and see the utilization so I think maybe either PD um when driving around checking out PNG lighting for example can take a look at utilization i' I'll have engineering do it you know just to get kind of a inventory did I did I freeze sure I think I froze no you're still G you all right all right well the final item I have listed for well because we've gotten the car theft update uh Chief Sally went through that earlier was the out house neighbor concerned I had a one of the local uh congregations reach out and ask um what the Township's plans or um things in position for unhoused neighbors they were hoping they would be able to get some kind of material materials that they could distribute to the um folks that come by the pantry um folks that go by the community fridge as well um regarding the Colder Weather months and what they can do to find someplace warm a warming station I remember we had the lists last year so I'm not worried about it being created it's just wondering if we could get them out earlier rather than later um because already they're having folks reach out and ask what the options are for folks in town if they need blankets and pillows and whatever um I think our department has already started assembling some of that information and they have Flyers so we can coordinate with them our social workers and such and I imagine our Outreach team is also because they're doing um face to-face contact and helping connect um our houseless to services and other needs so imagine that they're also doing that Outreach and have their old yeah beyond our local warming centers there are other Regional warming centers that our uh providers cspnj can connect folks to and and that is already I think in a flyer we just need to talk to our health director and um our health officer Candace D import and her team about this okay because yeah the the general feedback I got from the Interfaith Council is like if they could get that information earlier rather than before the snow hits or before it starts to get like regularly 40 degrees at night um that would help them yeah to be able to to do that so great um does anyone else have anything they'd like to lift up in discussion um yeah I have I have one item hear me yeah thank you received some feedback from our C team members that they don't feel that they're being utilized have uh any communication from uh police department and um Mr weary sir is under OEM so I would suggest that you could speak to the two sergeants who are monitoring the CT operation and see if um you can Revitalize that yeah we can schedule a meeting absolutely uh I forget is assisting crossing guards part of their duties could be part of their duties for sure uh no I don't think so I don't think so no no can it be is there a reason why it's can't be I think it's a training yeah one I mean it's training but also that's not the uh purpose of sech you know they are an emergency response team and generally are operating in shorter windows and more difficult environments I think if we discuss ideas for uh increasing pedestrian safety we'll want something longterm and and C doesn't fit that and even if it's going to be short term I think we have better applications of either police officers or crossing guards for that was there anything else I know we had a public comment already um but if there are any folks that are still in the room maybe who came late um would we be able to open public comment up for those folks it does seem like a fewer number of people sure yeah if any members of the public are interested in speaking please raise your hand now I see Max Co who will be promoted to panelist welcome to public portion Max you may unmute yourself and address the committee hello uh thank you I just want wanted to address a couple of points throughout the meeting regarding bike safety specifically uh regarding Parker regarding Prospect um some of the key points I noticed of issues were uh what I call the Jersey pole around the left hand leftand tones uh a lot of that especially on Prospect is facilitated by the wide how wide the parking Lanes that there are that are underutilized and I just really wanted to advocate for the implementation of bike lane specifically a long Prospect I know it's more difficult along Parker specifically around Prospect as bit of introduction I'm a CHS student I'm a senior uh every morning I ride my bike to school along Prospect down from Oak viw to Parker uh I'm on Prospect all the time all the day I notice there's parking Lanes on both sides that are wild underutilized there was more so much more parking capacity that needed such that I ride along the parking um through the parking Lane on the east side of the road on the uphill side it functions as a bike lane for me which is wonderful although so much of the issue of having that as a not a protected bike lane as there is clearly the room to do is that on the the offand chance that a car still can park there or for example in between Elmwood and Parker again on on that north side there is a traffic camera which is wonderful I love that there were traffic cameras to encourage drivers to slow down but parked but right in that parking Lane and again whenever there's a car the only viable option for me as a bicyclist is to look behind me and merge into the car traffic which feels a very unsafe option same thing the only way those left turn the P around someone waiting for put waiting to make a laugh is enabled is through those wide parking Lanes where while I I know it's a longer term solution but implementing implementing uh protected bike Lanes ideally uh parking protected bike Lanes but any sort of curb or physical infrastructure will prevent those Jersey laps will keep the bike lane clear for because as much as I love the discussion about working with the PD for more bike safety advocacy as much as we can advocate for safety I no amount of helmets or registration is going to make me feel safer moving on Parker without either protected space or simply slowing traffic down the far away the best way to improve bike and pedestrian safety is to slow traffic down it's um specifically on Parker well with uh I know this is again a far off concept but there's been concerns about like we can add speed humps and such due to it it being a emergency Corridor like there are ways still to work around that uh with if mix use paths and bike lanes are made wide enough those can be used for emergency vehicles uh there are other Solutions in other municipalities where speed humps can have Cuts in them since the front front uh profile of a fire truck is wider than that of a sedan or an SUV there can be cut such that a fire truck can drive through without going over the hump but any other car going over is small enough that one wheel must go over the hump again slowing cars down there are so many more solutions that can be looked into and I just really wanted to advocate for bike Lanes as number one a way to Simply slow traffic down which will make everyone a lot safer on the street and to provide more physical infrastructure for cyclists while some of the physical infrastructure is far off things like the flex postu on the corner of brunette and Springfield and tuskin can be installed if if there was the support for it I understand there needs to be engineering reviews and such but can be installed within the week things like just setting down down traffic cones to see how the community reacts would go such a long way to number one improving safety and number two gauging just how much interest there is regarding bike racks every day at Columbia bike racks out front I understand that's outside of of town jurisdiction but the bike racks out front are completely full like they are at the train station people want to ride their bikes around town it's just we don't have the infrastructure set up to make people feel safe only wearing wearing a helmet can be hugely helpful but can only do so much compared to keeping cyclists separate from the fast moving traffic so I just speak to emphasize how critical it is that our Township invests in separated protected bike facilities like multi-use path that can be used by Runners used by people strollers any any and all uh people outside of a car it will make things safer it will slow down traffic it will reduce uh incidents such as the horrible incident this past Monday because there's no reason why any child should be getting hurt on their way to school it's just it is completely intolerable that we design our would uh to be such fast wide the Affairs I'm apologies for being so long-winded um but thank you for your time thank you Max moving over Chris to panelist hello can you hear me we can hi this is Chris Russell I live on Ridgewood Terrace sorry I joined a little late and you might hear my two-month daughter cry there she is hopefully not um I just want to say really Echo and appreciate this meeting I was in the infrastructure meeting this morning as well super passionate about people Centric infrastructure and then the town really taking it seriously to make this a walkable Community U my comments are you know I'm all for I believe as Miss kpe said tick it away and not everyone said tick it away for these uh failure to yields um I I honestly am so for that as well as can we do some sort of public awareness campaign around that so A very famous National one for wearing seat belts is click it or ticket you know is there something like that fail the yield pay the shield I don't know whatever you guys can use chbt to figure out something but we can uh you know make sure that the whole town is aware that this is a problem we're all going to be looking for it because if you just like we're going to park cops at these intersections people just find ways around it to know that this is deterrence and that everybody cares and then I just want to confirm if Chief Sally you're okay with us sending video of you know I I do this all the time walking with my son or daughter and have five cards fail to yield you know I can videotape that you're fine with me sending those um uh uh that video to you guys uh you know I'm all for that but I just want to confirm that that is the case yeah send send away yep send it to us fine with that also um the uh what I was talking about with our detail we're actually GNA um put out a press release regarding that tomorrow and um also we Al also part of clicker ticket so we get grant money for those different um you know a federal uh you know campaigns like that so we we we we join in that all the time and um so when it comes out we we we we do that and also um click or ticket is another one for um cell phone uh and different you know different things like that are we part of fail to yield pay the shield I love that I was loving that I was like it sounded like the thing from the Thunderdome bust the deal face the wheel like Chris made that up himself I like it though that that was Chris GPT there but Trad Ste steal it take it make a sign I would love it but you know I'm I'm all for it I'll tell my uh neighborhood WhatsApp group that this is like a thing we should be looking out for should a slogan contest that could promote it I mean seriously it sounds stupid but maybe we need it promote engagement I think it's a great idea in education yeah okay de you do that I see no other hands that sounds like Deb's area that's communication you do that we'll get the new PR person or the public information offic that's communication I gonna say p and I have talked about the too about education for pedestrian and traffic and stuff so our new public information officer can come up with catchy slogan but I wanted to just say um Chief Sally I wanted to thank you and your officers for um how safe we felt at the Russia Shana event in the park last Wednesday night so um thank you so much for all the work that you do to keep our community safe appreciate you all thank you and also they did a great job with the scissor U appearance on Valley Street yeah pza yeah Byron playing her songs over the Boh horn that was genius awesome I moved to a journ chairwoman I I have I was actually about to ask that um I second that um we will be meeting again on November the 13th at 7 pm via Zoom if anyone has any questions reach out you have our emails some of us hours good night all right I know de and I spend every morning together on this second week of the month